The Lupin siblings went home that Christmas, eager to get some rest and distance from everything going on at Hogwarts. Between classwork and friend problems, they were drained.
Most of the break, Elise spent her time in her bedroom. It was a normal size, painted black with different tapestries and band posters hanging on the walls. Her queen size bed was suffocated in blankets and pillows of yellow and black. A sheer silver canopy was hanging above her bed and she'd sloppily hung white fairy lights all around the room. She had a small walk-in closet that clothes were haphazardly thrown into. A white desk cluttered with books and papers in one corner across from her bed, and a quite large black dresser in the other corner. Atop of it, a cage for Frodo that the rat never seemed to actually be in.
She sat on her bed, her back against her many pillows, with a novel in her hand. Remus knocked and she called 'come in!' before he opened the door and walked in, flopping onto his back on the bed.
Elise chucked and threw a plush badger at him. He caught it and tossed it up and down in his hands.
"What's up?" she said with a grin, shutting her book and setting it beside her.
"Not much," he sighed dramatically, before turning his head to look at her. "Was just thinking of the journey ahead..."
Elise quirked an eyebrow at her brother. "The bloody what? Why are you talking like an eighty year old?"
Remus shot up suddenly, pointing the plush badger at his sister. Her eyes widened in confusion. "The journey to a galaxy! Far, far away!" He yelled.
Realization dawned on Elise and she jumped out of bed, the two pushing and shoving each other, laughing hysterically, as they raced to the living room. They plopped onto the couch, Remus handing his sister a bowl of popcorn, before turning on Star Wars: A New Hope.
The two spent the rest of the night like this, until the movie ended and their mother ushered them to bed, telling them that "Santa won't come if you aren't in bed!"
The teens just chuckled at their mother, but headed off to bed.
-
"Wake up, Moony!" Elise shouted as she bounced on her brother's bed. "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!"
Remus groaned loudly and rolled over, trying to ignore the jumping sister on his bed as he put a pillow over his head. "Will you ever get less annoying?" His muffled voice complained.
Elise giggled and ripped the pillow off his face and smacked him with it. "Never!" She replied, before leaping off the bed and bolting to the living room.
Her parents sat on the couch, the small Christmas tree twinkling with multicolored lights from beside the television, presents wrapped in festive paper beneath it.
"I take it your brother is coming, then?" Her father mused, with a grin on his face as he'd heard her wake him down the hall.
"If he isn't, I'm claiming his presents," Elise replied with a mischievous smile, plopping down on the floor next to the tree like a child. She sorted through the boxes, making a separate pile for hers and another for Remus'.
Soon, her brother sluggishly made his way into the living room and sat next to his pile of gifts on the floor.
"Ladies first, as always," their mother said softly with a smile.
Elise opened first a present from her parents, which consisted of a nice leather jacket, a pair of blue skinny jeans, and a Pink Floyd t-shirt. She beamed and thanked her parents.
The two took turns opening their presents. Elise had gifted Remus a bottle of Wolfsbane - which she'd asked Snape for - and a new brown leather bag to carry his books in. A special, safe pocket was inside of it, made to carry and protect a vial of Wolfsbane to keep with him.
Remus got her an adorable plushie raccoon - which she squealed about - and a beginner's book on magical creatures. He knew that she'd always dreamed of working with them somehow as an adult witch.
And a few presents had come in the mail from her friends, as her parents told her, so she opened those next.
Warily, she looked at the boxes from Sirius and James. I didn't expect them to get me anything, with everything that's been going on. She opened them, revealing an oversized black hoodie with a tiny Hufflepuff logo on the left breast that was from Sirius. From James, she received some chocolate frogs and liquorice wands. A large smile formed on her face, a bubble of hope in her stomach that she hadn't lost two of her best friends completely.
Next, a gift from Willow, which was a pair of all-black Converse and Evelyn had sent some new, sparkly quills along with ink that could change to whatever color she wished. Both were so fitting of her friends and she absolutely adored them.
"You have one more, Elise," her mother said, pointing to a small black wrapped box beneath the tree that the girl had missed.
Curiously, she grabbed the box and saw a little note attached that simply read: 'Merry Christmas - S.S.'
She felt her heart skip a beat and she smiled down at the note. Remus' looked over her shoulder at it.
"Um, is that..."
"Yeah," Elise said quietly, before opening the box. "I didn't expect him to get me anything."
"Well, you are his only friend now."
She frowned at her brother, then returned her attention to the gift. Lying in the soft velvet lining of the box, was a short silver chain. Delicately, she lifted it up. It was a bracelet, and a small beautiful emerald dangled from it.
"Honey, have you had a boyfriend all this time and not told us?" Her father quipped, an eyebrow raised at his youngest.
Elise shook her head violently and felt her face get hot. "N-no," she said quickly.
"He's just a weird kid who nobody speaks to," Remus said, though she could tell he didn't mean any harm by his words, she hated that people called Snape 'weird.' "Elise is the only one who shows him any kindness, really."
Their mother smiled adoringly at her daughter, petting her head. "That's my sweet girl." She cooed.
Elise shook her head, smiling and rolling her eyes as she clipped the bracelet around her wrist. The emerald twinkled in the lights of the Christmas tree.
That boy is not the dark, future Death Eater the others saw him as. She knew it.
-
Note: I know 'A New Hope' didn't release until 1977 and in the story it's currently December of 1976, but listen... I wanted Elise and Remus to be Star Wars nerds, okay? LOL