✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
"Well I must say boys," Mary began once they were all seated at the breakfast table. "I didn't expect you all to be around so early, especially at... what time did you say again, dear?"
"Seventeen minutes past five," said Genevieve, casting them all a 'I hate you all but my life would be boring without you' look.
"At least they're enthusiastic," Thomas smiled at them all, his own rebellious youth playing back in his mind at the sight of all the boys.
"Very," Peter agreed although it was hard to hear what he had said because of the mouthful of pancakes he hadn't swallowed.
"We are-" Remus started.
"You are-" James interrupted.
Remus casted James a sharp look before turning turning back to Mr and Mrs Lewis. "I am sorry for being here so early-"
"No need to be sorry," Mary cut off Remus before he could go into a five minute long apology, a smile on her face reassuringly.
"I like it that they're here," Anna gave her own opinion, grinning fondly at the boys.
"Only because you have a crush on all of them," Genevieve scoffed.
"No I don't," Anna denied from across the table, her nose sticking upwards in a snobby manner that seemed all to familiar to Gen.
"It's ok, Mini Genny. I would have a crush on me too," Sirius told Anna, giving her a pat on the head reassuringly.
Anna turned bright red, not from a blush but from a simmering anger. Gen tried to conceal a snort as Anna turned to Sirius with squinted eyes.
"I'm not a dog, so don't pat me on the head," Anna warned him through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, she doesn't like that," Genevieve told him from many experiences before.
"How would you like it if I treat you like a dog, hm?" Anna asked.
Peter started choking on his pancakes, Remus spluttered into the orange juice he had been drinking, James and Sirius bursted out laughing while Genevieve sat with her head in her hands disappointedly.
Mary and Thomas exchanged a confused look, receiving shrugs from each other when neither knew what was so funny.
"What?" Anna asked bitterly, not expecting her sentence to create such an outburst.
"You wouldn't understand," Remus answered for them all.
Three knocks suddenly came from the front door, the sound echoing through the house walls. Mary pushed her chair backwards, the sound of wood on smooth tiles screeching through the air before standing up with an excited smile.
"That should be the other one," she gushed, walking out of the room to go answer the door.
Genevieve looked at her father with one raised eyebrow. "Other one?"
"You'll see," Thomas said earnestly, taking a sly sip of his tea which only made Gen more nervous.
They all went quiet at the table, their heads turned towards the door so they could try and hear bits and pieces of the conversation and who the unknown person was.
"You've grown so much!" She could hear her mother say with in cheerful, octave higher tone that only came out when she greeted people.
"I have? I thought I got shorter!" She heard the familiar voice of a certain redhead.
"Lilypad!" James shrieked from one side of the table, his knife and fork clattering harshly against the porcelain plate in a way that made Anna cover her ears and Peter jump a little.
She glanced over at James, a look of disbelief mixed with happiness on his face. Already knowing what he was about to do, Gen pushed out her seat and started running at the same time he did.
"Where is she?!" Genevieve demanded to know with the greatest of impatience, both her hands on either side of the doorway as an almost mad look embraced her face.
Mary stepped out of the way with an amused smile, revealing a wide-eyed and extremely frightened Lily Evans.
James pushed his way from behind Gen and sprinted towards the girl he had gawked over for five years of his life with greatest speed she had seen.
"My Lilyflower!" James cried, throwing himself at her with wide, open.
Lily didn't catch him, she didn't want to touch him at all. Instead, her bottom hit the wooden floor with a thud that sent a jolt of pain through her body, and then an extra jolt of pain when James landed straight on top of her.
"You didn't say it would be here," Lily groaned while trying to squirm her way out from under James.
"I didn't know it was coming," Genevieve said as she pushed a lovesick James from off the top of Lily, outstretching her hand for Lily to take.
James jumped to his almost like he had springs attached to his feet, his lips curling upwards as he brushed a hand through his hair obnoxiously. "You're as gorgeous as the last time I saw you."
Lily's face turned red as an already bubbling anger scorched the insides of her stomach, her teeth pressing down on her tongue harshly as she tried not to splutter out a string of curses at the face in front of her.
Mary flickered her gaze between the angered face of Lily and then in-awe one of James. In a way it reminded herself of the days when both her and Thomas were young. "Lovers?" She whispered to Gen inquisitively.
"Soon to be lovers," Genevieve assured her before grabbing James's bicep tightly.
"What are you doing?" James asked with a frown as Gen dragged him back down the hallway, trying to tug his bicep back out of her surprisingly firm grasp.
"I don't think Lily can breathe the same air as you any longer."
"But I want to breath the same air as her!" James whined as if he was a child that was refused a new toy from the store.
"I hope the lack of oxygen goes well for you then," Genevieve smiled before shoving James across the threshold to the kitchen and closing the door a note lower than a slam behind her.
"Are they all here?" Lily asked reluctantly, worry flickering within her eyes.
"Would lying to you make you feel better?"
Lily slinked down to the ground, her head resting on her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Have I perhaps made a mistake?" Mary said while taking Lily's suitcase from beside her.
"Perhaps. Or you've made the best choice," Gen told her.
"Let's hope it's the best choice then," Mary hummed before taking Lily's suitcase upstairs.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:
"I don't know which one to open first," Genevieve said as she looked at all the presents of different sizes and shapes around her.
Thomas chuckled and handed over the present nearest to him wrapped neatly in polka dotted paper, a bow on the top to add some detail to it. She didn't have to read the tag to know it was from Lily, as her face swelled with pride at her wrapping skills.
Gen peaked away the layers of paper to reveal a new set of clothes. One red jumper with tribal like patterns, a black skirt that Thomas raised his eyebrows at how short it was and a pare of black jeans that flared out at the bottom.
"Oh, they're beautiful Lily," Genevieve looked over at her with an in awe smile that James was often seen wearing.
"Lily is beautiful," James added with a coy wink.
"There's a reason I cut up all of your letters."
"At least you were thinking of me."
"Mine next!" Peter chided before the argument could get anymore heated, passing over a heavy box that things could be heard moving within.
Genevieve unwrapped the paper, and ripped open the box underneath it, her eyes growing wide at the sight in front of her.
"Peter, how much junk food is in here?"
Peter puffed his chest out a little. "Thirty chocolate bars-" She noticed Remus sit up a little straighter. "Twenty packets of sweets and ten bottles of Coca-cola."
Genevieve gawked at him, then back at the box and then at her parents.
"You're not eating all of that tonight, you'll be sick," Mary quickly told her, noticing the ravenous look on her face.
"I'll eat the majority tonight then," Gen said as she reached over to pick up James and Sirius's joint gift, noticing it was there's as they had made sure to write 'Prongs and Padfoot are amazing' in big capital letters across the wrapping.
"We got advice from Remus on this, it's some weird muggle thing," Sirius informed her.
"Weird muggle thing?" Gen asked Remus with one eyebrow raised.
"You'll see," Remus told her, gesturing for her to continue opening the present.
She did so, and was automatically greeted with a pair of bright red roller skates. She brought a hand to her mouth in shock, remembering of how she had always wanted a pair but never had the money to buy some.
"We know you enjoyed ice skating, so we got you those things," James explained to her, toothy grin on his face due to her shock.
"They're amazing!" Genevieve laughed in delight, the corners of her lips pulled upwards into the most ecstatic smile.
"I bought a pair but it didn't go well," James admitted.
"He fell flat on his arse," Sirius told them all, making a sly giggle erupt from Anna.
"Language," Thomas joked, pointing a finger warningly at Sirius.
"He fell flat on his bum," Sirius corrected himself, which only made Anna giggle even more.
Remus bent forwards in the living room chair and passed two presents to Genevieve who was sat on the floor, the wrapping precise and tucked where needed.
Remus Lupin, always the perfectionist, she thought to herself.
"These are for you," he said, letting her take the gifts from his hands with a thankful look on her face.
She opened the bigger gift first, revealing a box. When she took of the lid, the sweet smell of gingerbread filled the room and made Gen practically drool at just the sight of them.
"Did you make these?" Genevieve asked, reaching in the box to pull out a gingerbread cookie.
Remus nodded, slightly nervous as he hadn't tasted them himself.
She bit into it, her eyes going wide before taking another and another. "These are so good," Genevieve spoke with a mouthful.
"I'm glad," Remus smiled before gesturing to the other present. "Open that one."
She did as she was told, taking the smaller box and carefully peeling away the wrapping in order to not break anything within it. Once the paper was discarded and tossed to the side she was met with a silk black box, and when she opened it she couldn't help but hold her breath.
Inside a gold chain had a butterfly attacked to it, no bigger than a fifty pence piece. The colours switched from blue to white repeatedly, slowly fading into each colour like a cloud would slowly dissolve into the thick blue of the sky.
"Is it ok? I got it because your patronus is a-"
"Butterfly," interrupted Genevieve, her eyes detaching from the piece of jewellery and moving towards Remus's face. "It's beautiful."
"It is?" Remus asked, surprised that he had managed to get something she liked.
"Of course it is," she smiled while passing the necklace over to him. "Put it on for me?"
Remus nodded, taking the necklace and fumbling with it in his hands to get the clasp open. Genevieve lifted up her still-tangled hair from getting thrown into the sea, the back of her neck being revealed to him along with wisps of baby hairs. He wrapped the necklace around her, ignoring the wiggle of Sirius's eyebrows and the sly smirk on Lily's face. Remus attached the necklace back together, letting the chain touch her skin before clearing his throat awkwardly.
"There you go."
"Thank you," Genevieve dropped her hair back down, her fingers automatically finding the butterfly pendant hanging just below her collarbones and fiddling with it.
"Our love and kindness is our gift to you," Thomas started jokingly.
"I was expecting something more like money."
"Expectations are not reality," Mary spoke wisely, but brought out a present from behind her back nonetheless and handed it to Genevieve. "This is from all of us."
Genevieve lifted off the lid of the round shaped box, a polaroid camera sitting in the bottom of it.
"The pictures on your wall are getting a bit old, so we thought we would get you this," Anna explained.
"That is quite true, there's pictures of pre-pubescent me on it," Sirius grimaced at the thought of himself years ago.
"You still look rather pre-pubescent," Lily commented, earning a crude gesture from Sirius which earned him a glare from Mary.
"The third finger should not be used in our household," Mary scolded, although her voice showed hints of teasing.
"Genevieve does that to me all the time though!" Anna protested.
"Genevieve must stop then," Mary sent her daughter a discreet warning glare that only members of the family could see.
"Don't be a hypocrite, Mary. You swear like a sailor," said Thomas with a raised eyebrow.
"Not in front of the children, though."
Anna and Gen shared a disagreeing look.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*