Hogsmeade was on of Gretas favourite places to visit. Despite visiting numerous beautiful places across the EU, Hogsmeade held a special place in her heart. The small village felt homey and was host to so many fond memories with her friends, as was Hogwarts, which set it apart from the other places she's travelled to.
The sun beamed down on the village, the snow covered roof tops sparkling as if they were coated with thousands of little rhinestones. The streets were filled with students trying to decide where to go first, the once clean untouched sheet of snow now flattened with hundreds of boot marks imprinted into it.
"Where to lads?" James called as Greta and Remus caught up to them.
"Honeydukes, before all the good stuff is picked over!" Peter suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Remus agreed.
"Me too." Greta added.
"Me as well." Sirius said, shooting Remus, who still had his arm over Greta, a look with a raised eyebrow.
Remus' face began to turn red not just from the wintery air and removed his arm from Greta as the group made their way into Honeydukes.
Greta was somewhat disappointed that Remus removed his arm, the place where it once rested across her shoulders felt colder and empty without his presence.
As they wandered around the store, Sirius found Remus in the chocolate section of course, and grabbed the arm of his coat roughly.
"You idiot! Why'd you take your arm away?" he whispered harshly
"You gave me that 'what the hell are you doing' look."
"No! That was my 'look at you go' look."
"How was I supposed to know that?"
"I don- y'know what forget about it. She looked upset when you took it away..."
"Youre making things up."
"Am not!"
"Are t-"
"I knew I'd find you here." Greta chuckled approaching the two boys.
"Where else?" Remus laughed.
"I'll take this and this." Sirius said grabbing two chocolate bars out of Remus' hands "and be on my way."
As Sirius walked away, down another aisle, a loud "caw caw" filled the busy store, then almost immediately after a distant "coo coo" which of course was James, could be heard. The cawing and cooing went on several times until the boys located eachother.
"Dont get mad but I'm gonna have to ditch you guys."
"How come?"
"Christmas shopping. Dont tell the others or they'll try and see what I got. Ill meet you guys at the Three Broomsticks later okay?"
"Okay."
"I'll be super quick I promise."
Remus nodded, not trying to hide the disappointed look on his face as he watched Greta leave the store.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Greta scrambled around Hogsmeade picking up anything she thought the boys as well as her dorm mates would like, while making sure they had some sort of personal meaning behind it. Everything she bought was quickly, but neatly placed into her bag which her Mrs. Potter had enchanted to be bottomless, something that always came in handy during the holiday season.
After less than an hour shopping, Greta made her way to the Three Broomsticks hoping to find the marauders there already.
She opened the old wooden door, the chatter of students filling her ears, unable to make out what a single conversation was about. She glanced around the pub, already warmer than she was moments ago, until her gaze landed on a table in the far corner. Stomping her snow covered boots on the mat, she strolled across the pub to the loudest table.
"There she is!" Sirius said stretching his arms out over the table to grab Gretas sleeve. "Didnt I tell you she'd ditch us. For who this time? A Hufflepuff this time? Merlin forbid you ditched us for a Slytherin."
"No actually. I picked up some Christmas gifts for mom and dad." she half lied.
"Why wouldnt you take us with you?" James asked, a fake hurt look on his face.
"Because if I saw something I wanted to get any of you I wouldnt be able to."
"YOU GOT US GIFTS?" Sirius shouted.
"No."
Greta sat down next to Remus with a smirk at Sirius' sudden change of expression.
"Have you ordered yet?"
"No, we were waiting for you." Remus said.
"Moony insisted we wait." Peter added.
"What if she had taken hours? Days? Years even? we'd just sit and rot in this booth?" James spoke dramatically, with big hand gestures to go along with it.
"Well I'm glad one of you has manners." she said giving Sirius, Peter, and mainly James a dirty look.
The rest of the day was spent in the in Three Broomsticks, chatting and joking over several rounds of butterbeer until the pub started to clear, signaling it was near time to head back. As the group opened the door to leave, snow began to fall, each flake shimmering in the setting suns golden light.
As they followed the path back to Hogwarts, a chunk of snow smashed into James' back causing all of them to snap around to see who threw it. To everyones surprised, Lily Evans stood a large grin on her face, along with Marlene, Iris, and a Hufflepuff girl Greta recognized from classes, Adrielle Hogan, Iris' step sister.
"Sorry Potter, I was aiming for your head, trying to knock some sense into you."
Greta and Remus both sniggered at Lily's comment, before a lovestruck James could even respond, Sirius had formed a snowball and hurled it in the girls direction which they all swiftly dodged.
"Whose team am I supposed to be on?" Greta whispered to Remus.
Just then, a snowball thrown by Marlene hit Gretas arm, little pieces of snow sticking to her jacket.
"Looks like youre with us." Remus responded with a smile.
The two quickly began forming snowball, joining the others in the icy fight as the snow continued to fall over them. Snow whipped back and forth between the teams, none of them bothering to use magic to ruin the good old fashioned seasonal game.
Remus was about to throw another ball having the perfect shot at Lily, but noticed one heading right towards and unsuspecting Greta's face. He dove, tackling Greta into an untouched pile of snow, her body sinking down into it under as she laughed hysterically under Remus.
"You saved my money maker." she joked.
"Wouldnt want you with a face like Filch."
He smiled down at her, several snowflakes stuck to her eyelashes, cheeks rosy from the cold, her long hair splayed across the snow beneath them. He brushed his thumb over her face, pushing a stray piece of hair that was stuck to her lip back to its place, bringing his attention down to her lips, her smile. He forced his eyes back up, connecting them with hers. Without even fully realizing it, he found his face getting closer to hers and she wasnt trying to get away. Remus could feel her heartbeat pick up as well as his own. Was this really about to happen?
"WE SURRENDER!"
Remus jumped off of Greta quickly at the sound of James' yell, then stuck a hand out to help her up. The pair walked over to the larger group gathered around a coughing Peter who had a mouth full of snow.
"Nice shot Marls." Iris said offering a fist bump which Marlene gladly took.
"Congrats ladies, you didnt win fairly, but you 'won'" Sirius said using air quotes.
"Was a pleasure beating you. See you at dinner!" Lily called back as the girls headed for the castle.
"You okay Pete?" James asked as he pulled him off the ground.
"Super duper." he responded sarcastically.
As they made their way back to the castle, Greta and Remus walked next to each other in silence, both wishing James had given them another few seconds.
wc: 1287
a/n
i really struggled writing this so sorry if it wasnt great but Greta and Remus almost kissed... and that was the main thing i wanted to get to. ill try to update tomorrow night but it might be later, and i dont think ill be able to update on saturday again but ill try my best. thank you so much for supporting this! xx
i wanna start doing questions each update to get to know people so ill go back through each chapter and add one!
todays question: have you ever been to any of the harry potter theme parks?
my answer: ive been to both the universal studios ones in florida and california, ive always wanted to see the one in london though!