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Lily Evans had arrived at the Potter Mansion via the front door rather than the fireplace. With a kind smile, and her hair placed in perfect ginger curls, she had instantly charmed Euphemia and Fleamont Potter. They were delighted to finally meet the girl James had bragged on and on about, and they made sure to tell her this.
"You're just as beautiful as James described!" Euphemia said to Lily while folding the washing by hand. Unlike most witches, the woman preferred to not use her magic for simple things. If muggles could do it, so could she. "He wasn't exaggerating, not in the slightest."
Euphemia had managed to steal Lily and Genevieve away from the boys to chat to them. She had to suffer their complaints, especially James's, but she ended up winning in the end.
"He talks about me to you?" Lily asked, eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Of course he does, my dear!" The woman laughed, a hearty sound that lit up her whole face. "You're all he ever talks about. And who can blame him? You're a darling."
Lily's cheeks turned pink, and although she tried hiding her blush behind her hair, it stood out defiantly against her porcelain skin. "What does he um— what does he say about me?" She tried her hardest not to sound too interested.
"That you're extremely smart, a beautiful girl, a kind-hearted person. He's said so much more, but we would be here all day."
Genevieve had been listening intently to the two women converse, a smile playing at her face. It was like they were mother-and- daughter-in-law already.
"My boy is head over heels for you," Euphemia said almost proudly, casting Lily a smile and wink.
"Oh, you don't know that."
Genevieve had to bit down on her bottom lip in order to resist a laugh. Lily should have known better, acting like she wasn't sure if James did or didn't like her. He had pestered her non-stop ever since first year to go on a date with him— Genevieve figured that was good enough confirmation.
"I do know that," Euphemia corrected, and placed down the bedding sheet she had been folding to look at both of the girls. "When a boy talks about a girl to his mother in such ways James talks about you, he's most definitely on his way to falling in love, and there's nothing that'll stop him. When a boy talks to his mother about a girl in any scenario, he definitely has taken a liking to her. Perhaps when, or if, you choose to have children of your own you'll understand that."
Genevieve thought about that for a moment. With her brows furrowed in thought, she wondered if any boy had ever spoken to their mother about her. She had never really spoken to Mary about boys or girls as she had never had a crush on either. Perhaps that was because she had always had a hidden crush on a certain boy and it felt like betraying him to take a liking to another, but she was still in denial of that.
"Right, time's up, love," Fleamont told his wife as he entered the washing room, a sorry smile on his face. "The boys keep asking for the girls. They're getting impatient."
"Oh, fine," Euphemia sighed, and gave the girls a small smile. "Sorry, darlings, but I'm sending you back into the war zone."
Genevieve laughed and stood up from her seat around the washing table. "Don't worry, Mia, I'll be coming back to you later," she assured, giving the woman a short side hug before running out of the room.
"And me too," Lily agreed. She didn't know whether or not to give Euphemia a hug herself, but the matter was settled when the woman pulled her into a hug anyway, one full of warmth and newly found love. After she pulled away, she smiled and said a quick goodbye before following after Genevieve.
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It was Christmas Eve and everyone was sat in James's large room together. The teenagers hadn't planned to stay in the same room for Christmas Eve, but after feeling too drowsy to make their way back their own rooms, they decided to stay put.
James, Sirius and Peter had all decided to share James's large bed and Lily had taken hostage the armchair in the corner (I'm staying far, far away from Potter). That left Remus and Genevieve.
James had donated them some of the many pillows, cushions and blankets that had been on his bed, and so together they made the floor comfortable enough to sleep on. Between the two of them was a row of pillows as Genevieve had insisted on putting a 'pillow wall', and Remus had obliged because he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.
Genevieve woke up early, per usual. Upon hearing the several snores within the room, she was aware that she was the only one awake. She went to stretch out her arms after being curled into a ball all night, but stopped abruptly.
At some point in the night, the pillow wall had been abandoned, as it was no longer creating a barrier between the two. Genevieve didn't have to roll onto her other side to know this, as she heard soft snores closer to her than they should have been and felt a weight on the side of her waist. She came to a realisation.
Remus Lupin was behind the girl, blissfully unaware that in his sleep he had latched himself onto her. She felt his chest pressed against her back, moving in time with her breathing, and his forehead tucked into the back of her neck. His right hand was rested gently on the curve of her waist, while his left arm had woven itself underneath her head, which meant at some point during the night Genevieve had moved to meet his touch.
They were like puzzle pieces, connected perfectly and shaped to fit each other. She didn't know if it was right to move away from Remus and leave him empty without her, or stay with her back against his front, wrapped in his arms and stay finding pleasure in the feeling. She forced herself back to sleep to avoid the dilemma, and once again found herself asleep, but this time she was aware of the boy being pressed against her.
And she liked it.
Remus found himself awake a few minutes after Genevieve had drifted off, his eyes going wide as he realised how he had slept with her against him. His first thought was to detangle himself from their entwined limbs. She had, after all, set down the pillow wall for a reason, and he wanted to respect her boundaries and personal space. He stopped removing himself from her when he caught sight of Genevieve's slender hand laid gently on top of his larger one that sat on her waist. His eyes softened.
With that, he tucked his head further into the back of her neck, and found himself caving into his sleepiness once again.
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James had let out a startlingly loud yelp of delight when he woke. "It's Christmas!" He cried and turned to shake Peter awake. "Worms, wake up! It's Christmas!" When he heard a groan of response from Peter, he turned to disrupt Sirius's sleep with his excitement, but Sirius was no longer beside him. "Padfoot?" he asked confusedly.
"Piss off, Prongs," a voice said groggily from the floor. "It's too early for this."
Peering over the edge of his bed, James's lips tugged into a grin as he spotted Sirius on the floor sandwiched between Genevieve and Remus.
"Fall off the bed?" Peter asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes and resisting the urge to yawn.
Sirius scoffed in response. "Yeah, something like that," he said, and passed a glare at Remus and Genevieve, who were both slowly waking up themselves.
From the armchair across the room, Lily's eyes pried opened at the sudden commotion. "What time is it?" she yawned, pulling the long, ginger hair that had wrapped itself around her neck during her sleep behind her.
"Early enough for me to know it's Christmas Day," James declared and pushed himself from off his bed. He grabbed Genevieve's shoulders and shook her, "Which means," he shook her again, "you must," and again, "wake up!"
"I have severe intrusive thoughts about killing you right now," Genevieve muttered irritatedly, her green eyes heavy with sleep staring at him in way that made her words sound like she was promising to follow through with those thoughts.
"I get several of them daily," Lily admitted proudly, pushing herself from the armchair and stretching her limbs. She was pretty tall, taller than Genevieve, and being curled up on a tiny sofa all night had caused her some nasty back pain.
James watched as she did this, taking a moment to admire her in her still sleepy state, trying to shake herself out of it. His eyes followed her carefully, but then she caught him staring, and he snapped his eyes to the ground instead.
"Coffee."
Peter looked at Remus, who had his blanket tugged over his head and was curled into a little ball. "Sorry?"
There was a shuffle under the blanket, and then Remus poked his head from out of it, his never fading eye bags as prominent as ever."I need coffee," he whispered hoarsely, clearly suffering the most from being woken so early. "Urgently."
"And you can have coffee once you wake up," started James, "I'll even make it for you myself as an apology, but we need to go have a look at all the presents under the tree first!"
"How old are you, James?"
James looked at Genevieve in bewilderment. "16, why?"
Genevieve nodded, confirming something to herself. "Just checking."
"Come on then, chop chop!"
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Genevieve had made sure to avoid all eye contact with Remus throughout the whole of Christmas day, but she didn't seem to be having too much trouble doing this, as he had been avoiding hers as well. She couldn't bring herself to ask if he had noticed their... sleeping position during the night, but that was ok, because neither could he.
Ultimately, they were too scared to confront each other.
They had even been too scared to look each other in the eye while thanking them for their gifts. She had bought him a ton of comics. He got all giddy at this, a sight that brought a smile to her face, because he loved comics but never had the money to buy any. And then it was her time to get giddy when she found out he had bought her the movie Psycho on video tape.
Sirius hadn't mentioned how he caught them sleeping, either. Genevieve supposed she was thankful for this, but at the same time she wished he would admit that he disturbed them on purpose. He was really starting to lay the whole falling-off-the-bed act on thick just to embarrass them.
The Christmas dinner had left everyone stuffed, but Lily found that she still had room left for hot chocolate when Euphemia offered them all one. The others, not so much. They had greedily devoured everything in sight, and were now laid lazily on the living room sofas dealing with painful stomachs.
Sat in the kitchen around the island table, Lily had resumed talking to Euphemia with her hot chocolate cupped in her hands, letting the heat sink into her fingers and palms. It didn't take that long for Euphemia to excuse herself to bed, after all, she had cooked a whole feast for everyone in the house and had been dealing with six teenagers all day. Shortly after, Fleamont had came into the kitchen and offered Lily a goodnight before going to bed himself. That left her alone in the dimly lit kitchen.
Until James walked in.
"We were wondering where you went," he started, "Would have come looking for you earlier, but we're all struggling in there. I'm the first to recover." He took a place next to Lily at the island table, but stayed a distance. Genevieve had told him before she suggested he went hunting for Lily to respect her personal space if he did happen to find her.
"Your mum is cooler than you," mused Lily, sparing James a small side-glance. "So is your dad."
"Y'know, I really am getting sick of inviting people to this house just for them to like my parents better," James said.
Lily let out a small smile, but tilted her head to the side so he wouldn't see this. Once her lips were back into their resting place, she turned back to James. "Well, if I said you were better than your parents, I'de be lying, and I was raised by my own parents to be truthful."
"So every time you've called me a git, or a prat, or a arrogant... what was it again?"
"Toerag," supplied Lily.
"Right, an arrogant toerag— you were just being brutally honest?"
Lily raised her hot chocolate to her lips and took long sip from it, peering at James amusedly over the top of it. She didn't want to say yes to the question, but she didn't want to say no either.
James shook his head and laughed to himself. He watched as the redhead put down her hot chocolate steadily. "Can I try a bit? Mum always makes the best hot chocolate. " He gestured to the mug.
Lily passed the mug to him in answer, keeping her eyes straight forward as she did so.
As James brought the mug to his face, the heat of the drink fogged up his glasses. Lily resisted the urge to laugh. He took a sip, and just as suspected, the hot chocolate was amazing. He hummed in approval and went to take another sip, but Lily had already taken the mug from his hands by then. "Don't be drinking it all," she said harshly. "It's mine."
"I wasn't going to!" James protested as he took off his glasses to wipe away the steam.
"I don't believe you." Lily brought the mug to her lips once again, almost like she was teasing James. She definitely was. The hot chocolate mixture still on the side caught Lily's eye, and then the milk pan that was still on top of the gov. An idea popped into her head. "I can make you one, if you'd like?"
James's eyebrows furrowed. "Sorry?"
"Hot chocolate. If you want, I'll make you one. It probably won't be half as good as Mia's but—"
"I would love for you to," James answered quickly, perking up in his seat.
"Like I said, it won't be as good—"
"I don't mind," James cut off Lily once again, watching as she went to fetch the milk from the large fridge. He grinned. "You could give poison, Evans, and I would still drink it."
Lily looked over her shoulder and grinned back. "You really shouldn't have said that." A few moments passed, and the milk was now simmering in the pan. "I prefer Evans, by the way," she admitted quietly. "Over Lilyflower, or Lilypad. Evans is nice."
James made a mental note of this. "Ok, no more Lilyflower and Lilypad. Only Evans, and maybe one day Potter."
Remus and Sirius had been long passed out on the sofas since the start of the pairs conversation. As soon as Genevieve had heard quiet chatter from the kitchen, however, she had dragged Peter from out of his own seat (despite his groans and complains of being sick) and stationed them just outside the kitchen door, hidden from James and Lily's sight.
They had heard, and witnessed, the whole conversation, and were now watching Lily fight a blush from the crack in the door.
"They're... talking? And... getting along?" Peter mumbled to Genevieve confusedly. "Did Evans accidentally drink some of Fleamonts firewhiskey at dinner? She's being far too nice to Prongs."
"That's not Lily, that's Daisy. Or rose. Or Daffodil. Anyone but Lily," Genevieve whispered back, just as confused.
Peter's eyes went wide. "What if she's being nice so she can lure Prongs into a trap and actually poison him?"
Genevieve's eyes went just as wide as Peter's.
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a/n: i've just plotted how this book is going to end. literally laughing maniacally right now. you guys are going to hate me :D
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