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Euphemia Potter had dropped everything she was doing as soon as she heard a thud that echoed through the whole house and the yelp that followed after. With her baking apron covered in flour and her hands still wrapped inside of oven mitts, she arrived into the living room and was delighted to see Genevieve Lewis in a tight embrace with her only son.
"Genevieve, my darling!" Euphemia cried ecstatically and rushed over to Genevieve, removing her from James's hug and throwing her own arms around the girl. "It's been too long since I've last seen you, far too long!"
Euphemia Potter was a tall woman with kind features. She had smile lines even when she wasn't smiling (which was rarely ever), her hair was perfectly curled and pinned into a half-do, and her brown eyes were always softened and filled with comfort. She was old, older than most parents, but her spirit kept her young.
Genevieve laughed into the hug. She didn't care that Mrs Potter was coating her ruby red flared jeans in flour. "I couldn't agree more," Genevieve smiled, "Between me and you, I'de much rather have your company than the rest of the boys."
She looked over Euphemia's shoulder to send James a wink. He had his jaw dropped offendedly.
"Well, I'm just happy you haven't grown as much as the others. I can actually give you a hug without reaching upwards!" She said, and glanced pointedly at Remus. "Tall as anything that one, makes him useful for grabbing jars from the high cupboards though. I reckon he's getting tired of me asking."
Genevieve's gaze momentarily lingered on Remus. He was stood with crossed arms, leaning on the fireplace, watching the scene in front of him. His hair was messy as ever, and the freckles that littered his cheeks stood out proudly amongst his scars. She smiled. He smiled back.
Genevieve glanced briskly at the patch of soot covering the carpet near his feet. That was her fault. Euphemia must have seen, because she flashed a kind smile. "Don't worry about that, it'll be gone in two minutes. Charmed carpet that automatically cleans up any mess, you see. Fleamont insisted we get it. As for your suitcases," she waved her wand, and they soon vanished, "They're now in your room."
Sirius scoffed. "I'm feeling left out. You've not seen me for what, a week? And you would much rather hang around with my Mum instead of me?"
"Wasn't that the point of this whole trip?"
Euphemia let out a loud laugh. "You're not getting her away from me that easy, Sirius. Come on, honey, you can come and help me finish baking the rest of my sugar cookies."
"Now hang on a second," James interrupted quickly, "She's our friend, Mum. We want to spend time with her." He grabbed Genevieve's hand and hastily began to drag her out the room. "And besides, we need to do the thing."
Euphemia's eyebrows rose in remembrance. Her gaze flicked from Genevieve, to Remus, and then understandingly to James. "Fine, but I'll be stealing her later!" Euphemia called after them.
James had brought them all into his room. His red walls were still covered in Quidditch posters and Gryffindor flags, but his bed seemed to have gotten bigger. On a notice board, amongst photos and souvenirs from treasured memories a letter was attached to it by a pin. Genevieve recognised the scrawled out handwriting.
"Oh," James said as he noticed what she was looking at, "Yeah, that's from Anna. Owlbert sent me it a couple days ago."
"He flew into the kitchen sink while delivering it," Peter recalled with a snort, "Padfoot was doing the dishes and let out the most girlish scream ever."
"Moony had to stop me from drowning your owl on the spot," Sirius admitted. He flopped onto James's bed. "He threatened to put soap suds down my throat if I did."
"I'm sure Genevieve wouldn't have liked a dead owl as an early Christmas present," Remus said dryly.
"The ink on the letter didn't run, luckily," James said.
Genevieve read over the letter quickly:
James,
Genevieve said that you don't like me. Is that true? If that's true, then you're a git and I never even liked you in the first place. Actually, I did use to like you, but if that's true then I don't anymore, and Remus was always my favourite anyway. He always gave me chocolate, and you didn't. Don't tell mum that I called you a git or I'll get told off, and then I won't like you even more. Sorry for calling you a git if you do like me though, you're still the coolest.
From,
Anna.
Genevieve stared at the letter, her jaw hanging slightly. "I feel like I've just gone through the five stages of grief."
James snickered. "My exact reaction. I made sure to send her a letter back informing her that I do like her, and that I swore on my first caught golden snitch that I wouldn't tell Mrs Lewis she called me a git."
But Genevieve was barely listening, her attention had been brought to a different letter. The ink was still fresh on it, and the parchment barley creased.
Potter,
Fine, I'll come over for Christmas, but just to be clear— I'm only going for Genevieve, got that? Not you, just Genevieve.
From,
Lily.
Genevieve pointed to the letter. "Do my eyes deceive me, or is Lily coming here sometime soon?"
James grinned and shook his head. "Your eyesights perfectly fine. Lily Evans, soon to be Potter, is coming here for Christmas," he announced.
Genevieve glanced around the room at the other boys, and they all just nodded at her shocked expression. They already knew, as they had been here five days prior and stayed ever since.
"Shocking, isn't it?" Peter said.
Genevieve shook her head as she stared at the letter of response. "Stupid, stupid girl," she muttered in under her breath. She hoped this wasn't another one of Lily's methods to lead James on, because frankly, Genevieve was getting tired of her doing that and didn't know how many more scoldings she could hand out. Maybe Lily had come to her senses and realised that James wasn't as bad as she thought, and this was her first act of redemption.
"Anyway, wanna see my new broom?"
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Not too many hours later, Genevieve had been shown the room she would be staying in and had unpacked her suitcases. She gazed around, still slightly shocked that this was the place she would sleep in. It had a balcony that overlooked the vast gardens, windows that stretched from the ceiling to the floor, and a ceiling mural of cherubs dancing around baby pink clouds and twinkling gold stars.
All the other times Genevieve had stayed at James's house she had been given the same room, but the inside still surprised her every time. Sometimes when she was younger she liked to imagine she was a princess in here, but then she would hear Sirius or James stampeding up the stairs and be snapped back into reality. All the other rooms were just as elegant as hers, but it wasn't called 'Potter Manor' for no reason.
She was surprised Euphemia and Fleamont hadn't demanded she pay rent.
Stood on the balcony, Genevieve watched as the snow fell around her delicately. The evergreen trees stood in the garden looked beautiful wrapped in white, and there were still traces of snow angels in the ground which Peter and James had made earlier. She wrapped her arms around her chest tightly, huddling deeper into her jumper for warmth. Going back into the warmth of the room would be a good idea, but the view was far too pretty for her to watch from inside.
The door to her room flew open suddenly, and in marched all the boys with brilliant grins on their faces. All except Peter though, who was still recovering from having snow scooped down the back of his jumper. James had been the one who caused that. She had watched from the balcony with a smile when it happened.
"So this is where the draft is coming from! Any reason why you're staring at my garden instead of playing in it, Gingy?" James asked as he made his way on to the balcony.
Genevieve hummed. "Was just thinking about how it could be bigger," she responded sarcastically, the corner of her lip twitching upwards. "A pond could do as well. With fish. Gold ones."
"Could be bigger?" Sirius scoffed. "You can't even see the end of it, Genny. I've never seen the end of it, and I live here! However, a pond is a good suggestion..." his gaze drifted to James, but the boy was too busy plotting something out in his head.
"Merlin, it's cold," Peter muttered, trying to keep his teeth from chattering together.
Genevieve tutted and brought the boy into a hug. "This is your fault," she said, sending James a glare from over the top of Peters head, "The poor lads going to get hypothermia."
"Well, I suppose it would be a shame spending Christmas in St. Mungos. Moony!" He said to the werewolf who still standing in the room, basking in the little warmth still left in there. "Fetch Wormtail a blanket."
Remus raised an eyebrow. "Or he could just come inside?" He said pointedly. "The simple solution?"
"No, he wants a blanket."
Peter shook his head quickly. "No, I would actually like to go inside very much, thank you," he blurted and began to hurry inside.
Before he could even reach the threshold that connected the balcony and the bedroom, Sirius had grabbed the freezing boy by his arm and kept him in place. Clearly, he had caught on to whatever James was doing. "Moony, bring the blanket!" he ordered. Sirius whispered something in Peters ear, and the smaller friend suddenly understood and nodded.
"Yes, the blanket! I would like the blanket!" Peter called out, but the way he shivered said otherwise.
Remus stared at them in bewilderment, but didn't question it. He had learnt not to question his friends actions at this point. He grabbed the grey blanket from the armchair in the corner of the room, stepped across the threshold and wrapped Peter in it snugly. He gave him a pat on the head for good measure. Peter smiled up at him gratefully in response.
"Now!" James shouted and took off from the balcony back into the room. Sirius and Peter did the exact same, and once they were all back inside, they closed the glass doors behind them and locked them with the key that was once sat upon the dresser.
"Nice one, Prongs."
"Was your idea, Padfoot, I just found the placing convenient. Brilliant acting, Wormtail."
"I know you're lying, but I'll pretend you mean it, Prongs."
On one side of the glass stood James, Sirius and Peter, all grinning to themselves and high-giving each other. On the other side, Genevieve and Remus were glowering at them, hammering on the door and shouting to be let back inside.
"Let us in or I swear that baubles won't be the only thing hanging from the Christmas tree, boys!" Genevieve demanded furiously, her face twisted in anger.
James shook his head. "Request denied! We're not letting you out until we're certain that you've made up!" He informed them sternly.
"Or made out," Sirius added cheekily.
"We heard that," Remus snapped.
Sirius grinned. "You were supposed to."
Remus tried to rattle the door open, twisted the doorknob, banged on the glass, but it was no use. "Please," he pleaded, but the boys shut the balcony curtains shut in response, leaving Genevieve and Remus completely alone.
Gen brushed her snowflake-drenched hair from out of her face while cursing bitterly under her breath like a sailor, but nonetheless leaned on the balcony, accepting that she was trapped. Remus, on the other hand, proceeded to yell at them through the glass, shouting all kinds of threats and obscenities. Knowing the boys, they were probably still inside the room, giggling like little girls over their defeat and just waiting for their plan to take action, but they showed no sign of hearing them, or even being there.
"Merlin, Remus, give over! They're not going to let us in," she said tiredly, massaging her temples at the sudden headache coming on. "I'm sure you can bare being within a two meter distance of me for a couple minutes," she muttered bitterly, but she forgot that an effect of lycanthropy was having good hearing.
"We could be here longer than a few minutes," Remus countered. "And it's cold... I don't feel like losing my fingers."
Genevieve glanced at the ground below her. "We could always jump," she suggested jokingly, but Remus didn't laugh. He only looked at her pointedly. "Right. Stupid idea."
A quiet settled between them, awkward and far from endearing. Silences like these weren't common between the two of them, but recently they started to happen more and more. Usually, the two would talk for hours on end. They would debate on things, share opinions on book characters, speculate the lives of others, share laughs, share secrets, tell truths, and occasionally tell lies, but they never once got tired, and they never once ran out of something to say.
But now there was nothing. Not because they didn't know what to say, because they had thousands of words ready to roll off their tongue, but because they didn't know how to start.
"I feel differently about you to the way I feel about James, Sirius and Peter," Remus began quietly. "It's— it's just not the same. There's a different dynamic to how I feel about us to how I feel about them. I'm a lot more... protective, over you. And I suppose that's why I'm so against the whole Animagus thing."
Genevieve longed to interrupt him more than ever, but she kept her lips tightly sealed and carried on listening.
Remus focused on the snow falling around them, dainty and fragile, because he didn't know if he could look at Genevieve while feeling so vulnerable. "If I was to hurt you on a full moon, I..." he swallowed and shook his head at the thought, "You don't deserve that, Genevieve. Not you."
"I know i've been hostile with you, and I know that's unfair, but you doing this was just one big reminder that there are people who do actually care for me, and knowing that scares the living shit out of me, Genevieve," he admitted weakly, voice cracking as he laid himself out bare to her. "When you spend so much time convincing yourself you deserve nothing, it's hard to remember people care for you."
In two large strides, Genevieve was in front of Remus. With cold hands, she rested them on either side of his sharp jaw. Unconsciously, he found himself melting into her touch. "Don't attempt to push me away because I care for you, Remus," she said in a whisper, but he heard her perfectly clear. "I won't let you do it."
Remus rested his forehead against hers."But what if you get too close? What if you see me, and you get scared?"
"The only person whose scared of you is yourself."
Remus's head moved to nestled in the crook of Genevieve's neck as his arms wrapped themselves around her lower waist and settled in the duo of her back. She waisted no time in hugging the boy back, standing on the tips of her toes as she raised her arms around his neck.
"I really have missed you," he mumbled into her neck. The feeling of his lips moving against the bare skin raised more goosebumps than the harsh cold she was standing in.
She clung onto him a little more tightly. "I've really missed you too," she whispered, and Remus was happy her hair covered the blush rising to his cheeks.
With the curtains drew back slightly, James, Sirius and Peter watched their two friends embrace through the glass doors.
"How adorable," James cooed with a lovesick smile on his face. "Mum and Dad are back together again." He snapped a photo of the scene with Genevieve's muggle polaroid camera.
"I'm happy," Peter said. "It was sad seeing them so miserable without each other. Do you think they'll realise they're in love now, or will we have to wait another year?"
Sirius snorted. "Don't count your owls before they're delivered, Wormtail. They're both as daft as anything when it comes to each other."
"That's what love does to you, dear," Euphemia said from a short distance away. Little did they know, she had been watching the whole thing from the gardens below. "Turns you daft, but it truly is the most beautiful feeling."
"That's so... wise," James murmured thoughtfully. "Is that why I act like an idiot around Lily?"
Euphemia rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Let them in, boys. I think it's obvious they've made up."
And they had. They well and truly had.
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a/n: thank you for 200k reads! i am always so so amazed by the amount of love and support you guys give me, truly. here's one big hug to all of my readers, even the ones who read the first chapter and never ended up reading the rest.
merry christmas, my loves!! my present to u all is the first chapter of my fred weasley fanfic <3
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