𝕯ecember 25th, Christmas Day. A day when young children wake their parents at five am, giddy and excited to open presents downstairs under the tree together, drinking hot chocolate, spending time with family, eating the delicious food and playing with toys. As you grow older, the magic of Christmas slowly fades and it doesn't seem as excitable, not the same it used to be when you were younger and everyone forever wishing to go back in time and relive the Christmases everyone dreams of.
Typically.
This is what typically happens.
For me instead, I still had my giddy child, waking me up at five am because he was far too excited. I groaned, feeling him shaking the bed with anticipation, his leg bouncing up and down, small giggles escaping his lips every couple of moments.
"Quit shaking the bloody bed" I mumbled tiredly, the boy having also kept me up late last night talking about the morning and everything he was going to do today. All in all, I had five hours sleep and it was already going to be a long day.
"I can't, don't you understand, Lunes. It's Christmas!" He grinned, sitting up abruptly and shooting out of the bed and over to the window, "And it's snowing!"
"Brilliant" I muttered, digging my face into the pillow more, bringing the covers up higher on my body to savour the warmth. "Come back" I huffed, stretching my arm out towards him, reaching for him. He hopped back over, sliding under the covers and opening his arms up for me. "Warm" I hummed, cuddling into his chest, the boy wrapping his arms around me tightly, kissing my head every couple of moments.
"I wolf you" He whispered, my lips twitching into a smile, my eyes rested closed.
"I wolf you" I returned, "Wait half an hour and I'll let you get up, okay?" I compromised, brushing my lips over his neck.
"Okay...but I do want to give you yours on our own first. Just you and me" He announced, using one hand to trail his fingers up and down my back, the other arm reaching out to his bedside cabinet, pulling a small wrapped box out of his drawer. He pulled me up, the both of us leaning on the back of the bed. "Merry Christmas, my love" He voiced softly, handing me the red papered gift.
"I love it"
"You haven't opened it, Elody"
"I already love it"
"Good" He chuckled, as I began un wrapping the gift, a small black box. I swallowed thickly, opening the box to reveal a dainty gold ring, with a red heart in the middle made out of ruby, my heart rate increasing rapidly. I felt my words caught in my throat, gazing down at the stunning ring before looking up at him, a nervous smile on his face, "I-its uh a promise ring, a-a promise to love you forever, no matter where we are, i'll always love you" He explained, my chocolate eyes softening and my heart bursting with love and adoration for the boy.
"J-James, I love it, thank you" I whispered, pressing my lips to his softly, not caring about the morning breath. He smiled against my lips, cupping my cheeks with his large hands when we pulled away. He reached down, picking up the ring and sliding it on to my left ring finger.
"Hm...this finger is going to be quite heavy in the future" He murmured, my pink lips parting when he lifted it up to his mouth, brushing his lips over the ring. I smiled, running my hand through his hair afterwards, my fingers tracing down to his cheek before I leaned forward capturing his lips again, my mind going dizzy from the tingling feeling.
"I'm so in love with you" I sighed softly against his lips, resting my forehead on his, his glasses a little bit crooked. I didn't care, that's what made him, him. James wouldn't be James without his crooked glasses and grin, "You want yours?"
"Do you even need to ask?" He chuckled, my heart warming at my boy who was just like a child at heart. I leaned under his bread, bringing out the wrapped gift and handing it over to him.
"I-its not much, I found it when I was in Diagon Alley with Mia last week, she was helping me collect the presents, because you know my minds been all over the place with mum and dad-"
"Lunes, darling, I adore it. Thank you" He cut me off my ramblings, glancing down at the small gold bracelet, a man's bracelet, with JP and ML engraved on the inside. Mia thought it was quite funny when you thought of it, James Potter and Melody Lupin. James and Melody, Prongs and Lunes. Obviously she had no idea what the nicknames meant but our initials also matched for the other names too.
"You do?" I breathed out, a sigh of relief escaping my lips when he handed me the bracelet, gesturing for me to put it on him. Perfect fit.
"Elody you could give me a hug for Christmas and i'd be thrilled. This is- this is amazing" He replied, connecting our lips together as the door banged open.
"Look! They are sleeping together I knew it!" Sirius yelled, the two of us staring at him blankly as Monty came storming into the room, frowning when he turned back to Sirius, "Hey I said sleeping, you assumed" He said in defence, eyeing our clothes.
"More importantly dad, you came in when you thought-"
"Who wants hot chocolate?" Monty cut James off, all of us nodding eagerly as everyone gathered in the hallway, he turned to Remus and I, raising his eyebrows.
"We'll make it, Monty, don't worry" We chorused together, all of them shivering, "Great minds think a like, huh?" We continued, Sirius pretending to cry and back away from the room.
"Fucking six in the morning, in the holidays, who fucking thought of that" Regulus grumbled, trudging in and collapsing on top of James and I, James pulling him up higher, and rubbing his palm over Regulus' nose, causing me to laugh.
"Rub, rub, rub"
"Get the fuck off me, you absolute idiot" Regulus growled, trying to swat James' hand away as he continued to rub his nose in a circular motion, laughing.
"Cheer up Reggie, it's Christmas. No one does Christmas like the Potters" James chirped proudly, puffing out his chest. Adorable.
"Come on, you two" I chuckled, sliding out of the bed and sliding my feet into my slippers, beginning to make my way down to the kitchen of the manor, Remus already starting the hot chocolate.
"Merry Christmas, dear" Mia greeted as I immediately walked over to and wrapped my arms around her, nuzzling my head into her neck, completely melting into her motherly stature.
"Merry Christmas, Mia" I mumbled, reaching up and kissing her cheek.
"Where's my hug, little wolf?" Monty pouted, folding his arms over his chest behind me.
"I'm her favourite, Fleamont"
"No, no, Mia darling, I'm Melody's favourite" Monty declared, smirking when I wrapped my arms around him, his comforting scent filling up my lungs.
"I think you'll find i'm here favourite Potter" James snickered, holding his arms out for me to which I dodged, walking into Regulus' arms. "Elody?!"
"Aha, she's mine now Potter" Regulus grinned, hugging me back, resting his chin on the top of my head, Sirius gasping behind him.
"You're engaged?!"
"WHAT?!"
"No, we're not" I shook my head, glancing down to my ring on my finger, smiling when James wrapped his arms around me from behind.
"Not yet" He mumbled, "It's a promise ring not an engagement ring, Padfoot" He informed them all, holding my ring out for them all to see, Mia winking at me.
"Thank Merlin" Remus sighed over by the stove, making the hot chocolate.
"Oi! Moony, what if I had proposed?" James scoffed offended, his arms encasing my shoulders tightly, pecking the top of my head a few times.
"Oh it's not to do with you, it's to do with Padfoot crying that you don't love him anymore" Remus sighed, all of us looking at the long haired boy as his bottom lip started quivering dramatically.
"Well do you? Do you love me Prongs?!"
"Of course I do, Padfoot. Forever and ever"
"Good, good"
"Idiots" Regulus, Peter, Remus and I commented as Remus served up everyone's hot chocolate in the mugs Mia had lined up on the counter. Three M's, two R's, One S, One J and one P. We all had one special one.
"Presents time!" James and Sirius jumped up and down, rushing into the living room, all of us following them until Remus tugged on my arm. I turned around to face him, his honey eyes soft as he opened his mouth and closed it a few times.
"I-I know this our first Christmas without mum....and dad coming over, I-I just want to tell you I'll never leave you, El. We'll stick together forever" He spoke quietly, swallowing thickly, knots forming in the back of our throats. I hugged him, sniffing and blinking away the tears in my eyes, the sound being muffled by his chest so no one else would be able to hear us.
"Connected for eternity, Remmy" I mumbled, feeling a tear drop on the top of my head, his hands shaking slightly as he held me closer to him.
He didn't correct me on the nickname. The nickname only she used to call him.
"Connected for eternity, El" He muttered, kissing the crown of my head, the two of us holding on to each other, needing to feel the sense of family. The Potters and everyone here was our family, yes, but we needed a Lupin. He was my Lupin, always has and always will be. We'll always be twins no matter what, "I love you"
"I love you"
"You two okay?" Peter quizzed quietly, popping his head around the corner, Remus giving him a thumbs up, "Take as long as you need" He told us before leaving the room, the two of us alone together again.
•••
"I just don't understand!" Regulus huffed as we gathered around the table after dinner, glancing down at the object in his hands, "What is the use? Is it a machine?"
"It has absolutely no use whatsoever, you take it in the bath with you and let it float, Reg" Remus commented, elbowing Sirius as he laughed at the present he bought his brother. A rubber ducky, "Stop it, Pads"
"Your reaction was priceless, Reggie!" He guffawed, holding his chest and throwing his head back, fully entertained.
"You didn't even know what it was, you asked me!"
"Be quiet, Moony"
"What if it comes to life though?" Regulus quizzed unsurely, placing the duck in my hands and scooting away.
"What? Are you scared of ducks?"
"Yeah, he is" Sirius nodded, laughing even more as Regulus grumbled incoherent words under his breath.
"They flap their wings and you never know what they are thinking! Normal birds are up in the sky, why do they float in water?! And their little orange legs, they creep me out!"
"Sirius, you bought him something that scares him?" Mia scolded, swatting the long haired boy as Regulus shivered, glancing at the duck in my hands every couple of moments.
"One tried to run at him when Andy took us to the park once and he-"
"I did not cry! You are making that up!" Regulus cut him off sternly, pointing his finger at him, everyone flickering their eyes between them amused.
"We had to go back because you were sobbing! Andy had to carry you-"
"It was going to bite me!"
"You had bread in your hands it wanted the bread, your supposed to feed them!"
"It had evil eyes! And they aren't even straight they are on either sides of their heads!"
"So what?!"
"It's fucking scary!"
"Langauage" We all piped up, sniggering at his expression. He huffed folding his arms over his chest.
"How do you like Christmas at the Potters, Reg?"
"It's spectacular"
•2037 words•
•Melody's promise ring•