Jheez this is a long chapter but it's Christmas! (It isn't really...it's April but whatever!) And thank you so much for 20k it's honestly surreal!
Eloise was woken by kisses being pressed to her face. Her eyes fluttered open and she squinted at the brightness of the room. Sirius was lying next to her, a large grin on his face as he tucked a curl of her brown hair behind her ear,
"Good morning, Gorgeous." he whispered and she smiled, pouting her lips in her wordless request for a kiss. Sirius chuckled and kissed her quickly before jumping up, "As much as I'd love to lie in bed with you all day...IT'S CHRISTMAS!" he began to do a little dance and Eloise giggled, sitting up and stretching,
"Merry christmas, love." she said and Sirius stopped dancing, walking to next to where she was sat and offering her his hands. She flopped onto her back on the bed and lifted her arms and legs in the air, like she did every morning. Sirius chuckled and bent down, letting Eloise wrap her arms around his neck and her leg around his waist before standing up. He picked up a hoodie from the end of his bed and carried Eloise down to the Common Room, humming Jingle Bells as he went.
Being the only Gryffindors to have stayed at Hogwarts, Lily having to font to stay with Petunia and her husband for the funeral, the Marauders (minus Peter who went back to see his mum) sat around the fire as James threw them gifts from under the tree. After they all had their piles and James had sat back down, they all gaped at Eloise,
"Why do you have so many presents?" Remus asked, glancing down at his significantly smaller pile. Eloise laughed and shrugged,
"I suppose I have more friends." she said with a smirk and began opening her first present from Evan.
Eloise got many, lovely presents from all of her friends: some earrings from Mary; a bracelet from Alice; a beautiful red, hooded cloak from Marlene; some muggle contraption called a pen and some rabbit slippers from Lily; some carrot cake and some customised pink sugar quills from Peter; a The Police t-shirt from Evan; some fancy perfume from Regulus; some lacy underwear from Nathan; and more boxes of Peppermint Toads than she could count from everyone. When she opened Nathan's present she laughed so hard that she fell over. She read the note with Sirius reading it over her shoulder with a frown:
'Berry,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I think it's time to tell Joker about our secret relationship,
Nathan
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Sirius looked at the note with a raised eyebrow and rolled his eyes, hiding the present under a blanket. Had it been anyone else who had sent it he may well have killed them, but since it was Nathan- who favoured a joke and had also just started seeing Evan, he brushed it off with a laugh.
When it was the boys' turn to give Eloise their presents, they looked like excited children. Remus passed her a beautifully wrapped box. She gasped with a laugh and looked at a smiling Remus,
"You remembered." she whispered and Remus nodded.
It was First Year and a small girl was sat in a window seat, knees pulled to her chest as she cried heavily. She had run from the Great Hall after receiving a letter from her father about how much of a disgrace she was for befriending a muggle-born. She had been trying to hide that fact from her father and had succeeded for two weeks until her older brother had heard of the blossoming friendship, immediately informing their father. The girl, Eloise Malfoy, hated that her friend was thought so low of by her father. Despite only knowing the fiery redhead with bright, emerald green eyes and a heart of gold for a fortnight, she was one of the best friends she had ever had.
Being so caught up in her own thoughts, Eloise didn't notice a young boy join her on the window seat, his scarred forehead furrowed as he watched the girl cry,
"Oh, Remus." she muttered, looking up in shock when he placed a hand on her shoulder. The pair knew each other, Remus had befriended three boys that she was also close with and they spent time together every day, although they had never really had a conversation.
"Eloise...are you alright? Wait, that's a stupid question, you're crying." Remus ran a hand through his sandy hear and shook his head slightly, "Um, what's the matter?" he asked softly and Eloise sniffed, wiping her eyes,
"My father found out about my friendship with Lily." she told him and the boy's eyes widened in understanding, having been told about the Malfoys and their prejudiced views that Eloise didn't share. "Before I got on the train in September he said there'd be consequences if I had contact with any muggle-borns." she said sadly, hanging her head and letting her pale blonde hair fall over her face, "He destroyed my record player..." she told him, tears falling over her cheeks and Remus sighed, placing his arm further around her shoulders, "It wasn't just any record player either, I had found it in the attic and it had initials carved into the wood, it said E.Q. and M.Q." she said and met his eyes, "I think it was my aunt's." her bottom lip trembled and Remus felt his heart clench at her sad eyes,
"I'm really sorry, Elle." he said, the awkwardness of the new friends disappeared as he rested his cheek on her hair, "I think it's really brave to stand up to your father and brother." he told her, "You're a true Gryffindor."
"I don't feel like one, Remus." she whispered, "It sounds silly, that I'm crying over a record player, but it was the only thing keeping me sane back in that huge, empty house was my music...and now it's gone." she started crying again and Reus felt anger boil up in his stomach at Abraxas Malfoy for doing this to the kind girl who stood up for everyone,
"I'm going to get you another one." he decided, "I'm going to save up and one day, I'm going to buy you a record player and you can carve your own initials in it." he felt Eloise move back and look at him surprised,
"Really?"
"Yes, and it'll be so beautiful, that your father won't be able to destroy it."
Eloise looked at the record player. Eyes glistening as she caressed the polished, mahogany with her fingertips. She looked up and smiled at Remus,
"Rem..." she felt her breath hitch it her throat when he fingers brushed over an indent in the wood. Looking down, she saw four letters carved into the side in Remus' blocky scrawl. Eloise ran her fingers over the E.P. and R.L. and smiled. She put the present aside and threw herself at her friend, knocking him over,
"I love you, Moony."
"I love you too, Puff."
"Well, isn't this adorable...wow, super cute can you stop now?" Sirius put his hands on Eloise's hips and pulled her backwards, onto his lap, nuzzling his face into her neck. Remus sent her a look and she rolled her eyes,
"Stop getting so jealous, Pads, it's Remus, the boy who is in love with a certain Robyn Morrow?" she smirked as his cheeks flushed,
"W-What? Me? Robyn? Psshhh...no."
"Whatever you say, Moony...whatever you say."
"MY TURN!" James screeched, passing Eloise a very poorly wrapped gift. She raised and eyebrow at her grinning brother and began to unwrap it.
"Your old Quidditch jersey?" she asked, holding up a red and gold striped jumper with Potter 09 on the back, "Wait...your number is 03..." she frowned and James smiled wider,
"It isn't my jersey." he said, practically jumping up and down, "It's Dad's! I found it in the attic and I charmed it so it wouldn't lose it's smell, since you love Dad's aftershave so much and I know you miss him when we're at school." he finished as Eloise sent him a watery smile,
"J, this is so thoughtful...who are you and what the fuck have you done with my big brother?" she asked jokingly and James gasped,
"How very dare you? Are you forgetting the photo album I got you for our birthday?"
"I'm joking, Beastie, this is great, thank you." she pulled him into a hug and grinned as she slipped the jersey over her head, breathing in the scent of her father. The familiar expensive aftershave that she always teased him about,
"OOoh, J, look, Dad's wearing his posh smellies again!" she would chant before her parents went anywhere and Fleamont would chase her around, tickling her when he inevitably caught her.
Last but not least was Sirius' gift. He gave her a small box and James eyed it apprehensively. Eloise opened it and gasped, covering her mouth. James narrowed his eyes,
"Padfoot, I swear to Merlin's right earlobe if you got her a ring-"
"It's a ring!"
"Of course it is." James muttered, moving to sit next to his sister on Sirius' lap to look at the ring. It had a silver band with two small diamonds on each side of a large emerald in the middle. On the inside of the band it had Toujours Pur engraved into it.
"It's a family heirloom." Sirius explained when she raised her eyebrows at the Black Family Motto, "And I know I hate my family but it belonged to my Uncle Alphard- the only person I actually like in my family, and he gave it to me...for whatever reason." he took to ring from Eloise's hand and gestured to the writing "I think the 'Always pure' bullshit that is my family motto should change a tad." he had a mischievous gleam to his eye as he pointed his wand at the ring and muttered something under his breath. Soon enough, the writing on the back had changed from Toujours Pur to Toujours le Tiens...
Always Yours.