CHAPTER ELEVEN:
A VERY WEASLEY CHRISTMAS, PART TWO
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Nova was very surprised when she received a strong hug from the newcomer at the door.
It had been months since she'd seen Remus Lupin in person, though she'd kept a hesitant contact with him through letters. Mostly, he asked about how she was doing at school but always ended with a question about how Harry was doing, also. It didn't matter how many times she replied that she didn't talk to Harry much anymore; Remus still asked.
"How have you been, Nova?" he asked, looking more ragged and tired than he had when they had gone to the Ministry.
"Fine, and yourself?" she asked politely, moving so Mr. Weasley could take his bags and put them in his designated room for the night.
"Fine," he said, looking nothing of the sort. She politely didn't mention his state. He was probably well-aware of it.
She and the twins had gotten back from the village and had immediately started a game of Exploding Snap. Nova didn't play, but she watched the twins and even Ginny mess around with the cards and laughed at the appropriate times. Her eyes, however, were always on the youngest son of the Weasley family, who was sitting with Bill and Fleur and looking quite sourly at the twins. Harry was talking to Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley was singing along to a Christmas song. Lupin gave Nova another small smile before making his way over to Harry and Mr. Weasley, both of which who were looking solemnly at Nova.
Nova jumped at their stares, sending Harry a questioning look. He glared in her direction before turning back to talk to Mr. Weasley.
It wasn't the first time that night Harry had sent her odd looks. She couldn't think of anything she'd done to warrant his annoyance, since she hadn't even really interacted with him since the night of Slughorn's Christmas party, but maybe his best mate had finally gotten to him and spread nasty lies about her and their relationship. She didn't think Ron would be the type to do that, but admittedly, she didn't know him well anymore. George slapped her leg lightly to get her attention back on the game, which he had just won.
"Having fun?" he asked.
She didn't want to tell him that she was mildly uncomfortable. His family was sweet, there was no doubt about it, but she'd feel a lot better if she was at the flat, snuggled in with a blanket. She couldn't relax at The Burrow, and Christmas was meant for relaxing. "Yeah," she lied, nodding her head. Her eyes swiveled to the table, where Mrs. Weasley was levitating everything whilst singing along to her Christmas carols, and she nearly had a heart attack. She was going to sit and eat dinner with everyone and be expected to talk. She was dreading it already.
It seemed that too soon, Mrs. Weasley was calling out that dinner was ready. Nova gingerly stood, walking over to the kitchen table. She claimed a seat between Fred and Ginny, the former who patted the back of it with a wicked grin. He pulled it out for her, then pulled it out even further when she tried to sit in it, sending her body careening backwards.
Two strong arms caught her underneath her elbows before she could go crashing down to the ground. "Gits," the voice behind her said, releasing her almost immediately. She recognized the voice, and she turned slowly to look at Ron. "You alright?"
The way he was looking at her, it was like he was asking about more than the stupid prank. He was asking if she was alright after their breakup, after spending a summer without her family, after seeing Katie Bell get cursed, and after finding out that he had moved on so quickly. He was asking if she was alright, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat.
"I'm fine," she said quietly, turning away from him and sitting in her seat.
Dinner was an eventful affair. Where dinners at the Nott Manor were quiet and terse, dinners at the Burrow were lively and energetic. There were at least four conversations that started up, Nova's head swiveling back and forth to try and keep up with them. Fleur was muttering something in French that Nova loosely translated to "where is the foie gras?" The twins were talking to Bill about their brother Charlie's adventures in Romania, Harry was talking to Ron and Ginny, and the adults were all discussing things with one another. Nova was the outsider, sitting back and observing the scene in front of her as she delicately ate pieces of turkey and ham.
"You're a twin as well, aren't you, dear?" A voice suddenly cut through. Nova, so engrossed in not interrupting any conversations taking place, didn't realize it was directed at her until Fred elbowed her. When she looked up, she found the entire table staring at her and realized Mrs. Weasley had asked her the question.
"Yes. Er, yes ma'am," she corrected, stuttering out her answer in surprise.
"And you two are close?"
She swallowed her bite. "Very close."
"And what do you and your twin want to do?"
Harry suddenly snorted on his drink. Ron shot him a warning look, but The Boy Who Lived didn't seem to care. "Yes, Nova, what would you and Theo like to do after school?"
If he was expecting her to rise to the bait, he was going to be disappointed. "I'd like to be a professor. I don't have a preference for any one subject. Theo wants to be a healer." She wasn't even sure if he could be one anymore, but it was nicer than the alternative. She wasn't going to ruin Mrs. Weasley's dinner with talk of her brother being a Death Eater.
"A professor! How lovely." Mrs. Weasley seemed oblivious to the tension at the table. Fred and George were glaring at Harry, as if they were mad at him for baiting Nova. While Nova looked back and forth between the twins and Harry, she didn't see Mrs. Weasley try a piece of the cake she had made and promptly spit it out into a napkin.
"Got a problem, Harry?" Fred asked as his mother dissolved into another conversation with Remus.
"Yeah, actually, I do. Why were you talking to Snape and Malfoy about Death Eater things the night of Slughorn's party?" Harry whispered, looking around to see if any of the adults in the room had heard him.
Nova's fork clattered to her plate, her eyes widening. Then, the annoyance set in. "Were you listening to a private conversation, Potter?"
"So you admit it?"
"In case you've forgotten, since I went and helped you out at the Ministry, I'm not allowed to talk to my brother. Snape and Draco are the only ones who give me any updates on how my brother is doing. I'd tread very carefully if I were you." Nova's eyes flashed icily, her voice stopping any argument he might have had ready on his tongue. "Whatever you think of Draco, fine. I can't stop your opinions. But don't push those opinions onto me when I risked everything to help you at the Ministry."
When Harry opened his mouth to retort something, George gave him a glare. "Don't try it, Harry. I can't believe you're even bringing this up. What, are you accusing Nova of being a Death Eater?"
Ginny snorted. "Pretty stupid of you, Harry."
Harry's cheeks went unbelievably red and Nova looked back and forth between he and Ginny. He was staring at her like she had just hit him over the head, his eyes lowering when she went to tousle his hair playfully. Nova kept her observations to herself, simply taking a sip of her water and uncomfortably clearing her throat. She wished she was old enough to Apparate so she could be anywhere but the dinner table. Maybe she could get George and Fred to Apparate her back to their flat.
As soon as dinner was over, Nova excused herself and made her way to the room she would be staying in. She could tell what side of the room was Ginny's and which side was Fleur's, as the pretty French woman had more trunks full of clothes than Ginny's did. There was a small little mattress on the floor that Nova assumed was hers, as her overnight bag was sitting on it. She changed out of her dress and into the pajamas that the twins had sneakily packed her, happy at least that they weren't super embarrassing.
Ginny entered the room as soon as Nova finished changing. "Smart move, getting in your pajamas. Sorry about Harry being a dolt at dinner. Ron chewed him out when you left."
"He did?"
"Of course he did. Harry was being stupid. Pass me those flannel pajama bottoms, would you?"
Nova handed over the green and red pajama bottoms. Ginny left the room for a moment, presumably to change in the bathroom, and came back into the room wearing her own pajamas. They looked more festive than Nova's, but since the twins had picked hers out, she wasn't going to complain. "You going back down there?" Nova asked.
"Yeah. You coming?"
Nova shook her head. "I'm really tired and...well, I'm not feeling the best. Will you tell your mum for me?"
Ginny shot her a sympathetic look. "Sure. Don't let what Harry said bother you, yeah? He's just a stupid boy."
"Thanks, Ginny."
The redhead smiled at Nova and left the room, closing the door behind her to give Nova some privacy. As soon as Ginny was gone, Nova lowered herself down onto her mattress and pulled the blankets up to her chin, closing her eyes against the onslaught of tears that threatened to come.
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"Silencio."
Nova cast the charm around herself and slowly sat up on her mattress. She had been asleep when Fleur and Ginny had wandered into the room, but she had woken up in the middle of the night and had been unable to fall back asleep. It was quite rude to go pilfering through the Weasley's kitchen. She knew it. But she desperately wanted something to drink and she wasn't sure if she would be able to go back to sleep anyway. So she cast the silencing charm on herself and found her feet moving towards the door, making her way slowly down the several sets of stairs.
The leftovers from dinner were still in the fridge, but Nova grabbed a teacup from the cupboard Mrs. Weasley had shown her earlier and filled it with water, leaning against the kitchen counter. She still couldn't believe she was standing in the Weasley's home, a feat that would have driven her father mad. Many months had passed since she gave a damn what he thought, but now she considered the pure fury on his face when he saw her conversing with them, staying in their "blood-traitor home."
"Can't sleep?"
Nova jumped, nearly losing her grip on the teacup, but she caught it before it could shatter to the ground. Ron stood across from her, rubbing the back of his neck in that way he tended to do when he got nervous. "No," she replied hesitantly, unsure on if she should even answer him or not. When he looked at her in confusion, she realized her mistake. "Oh." She waved her wand, ending the silencing charm. "Sorry. Silencing charm. I didn't want to wake anyone up."
"It's fine," he said awkwardly. "You want a cuppa?"
"Hm?"
He moved around her, picking up a box from the counter. When he held it up, she wanted to burst into tears. "Mum picked up more from the shops. Want me to make us some?"
"Sure."
He started on the pumpkin tea, working the kettle in a way Nova never could. She didn't quite understand muggle contraptions yet, and anytime she wanted tea at Nott Manor, Rinks had given it to her. "You're being weirdly nice," he commented.
"I don't fancy being thrown out of your house on Christmas."
"Mum wouldn't throw you out."
Nova bit her lips to keep from replying. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't throw any of her kids out, but her father would. Ron seemed to realize his mistake, if the sympathetic expression on his face was anything to go by, but he thankfully didn't say anything. He just kept his eye on the kettle and watched the water boil.
"Sorry about Harry," he said after a couple of moments. "I tried to tell him how barmy he was sounding, talking about you being a Death Eater with Malfoy."
"It is what it is. Things have just changed between us all in the past few months."
That statement hung in the silence between them for a few moments. She couldn't even fathom that last Christmas, she and the boy in front of her had shared their first kiss, courtesy of his brothers' pranking. Now, they were as unfamiliar as strangers could be, sitting across from each other and waiting for the tea kettle to boil. Unbidden, a thought of him wrapped around Lavender in the Gryffindor Common Room made its way into her head and she closed her eyes, trying to fight against it. She didn't want to think of him kissing Lavender, so obviously happy with someone else when she was still nursing her broken heart.
"Can't we just...be friends?" he asked quietly, his back still facing away from her. "We were friends before. Maybe we weren't very good at it, but we were."
"I..." She couldn't find the right words to say. It felt like her mouth was full of cotton. "I don't know if I can be friends with you."
"Right."
The tea kettle suddenly let out a whistle, and he was quick to curse and hastily cast a silencing charm over it before it could wake the whole house. Without another word, he poured her a cup and handed it over to her, their fingers brushing slightly and shooting what felt like electrical sparks through Nova's fingertips. The smell of the pumpkin tea brought back memories, sitting in the kitchens with him while he raged about the latest Quidditch game and held her hand in his. She quickly took a drink, happy that her tongue burned with the heat and distracted her from the memories.
"I, er...got you something."
She looked up, surprised. "You did?"
"Yeah. I had actually picked it out...you know...before, and I was thinking about not giving it to you, but I figured, I bought it for you, right? So you should have it."
Nova found herself for the first time in her life, truly stunned. Her mouth opened and closed, looking for something to say, but the words wouldn't come. "I didn't get you anything."
He shrugged. "That's fine. Didn't really expect anything, if I'm honest. Let me go grab it."
He left her in the kitchen, dazed and taking another sip of her tea to calm her sudden nerves. When he returned, he was holding a small box in his hands, unwrapped. "Didn't have time to wrap it. Sorry."
"It's fine." She took the box with shaky fingers.
She opened it up and saw the small little glass object sitting inside. When she pulled it out, she sent a questioning look at the redheaded boy in front of her. "What is it?"
He turned a little red at the cheeks and ears. "It's a Sneakoscope. It's supposed to detect any untrustworthy or dark magic. I originally got it for you before the Ministry stuff, just because...well, because I wanted you to feel safe."
The thing was about the size of her palm. She held it up and examined it, smiling softly at the little trinket. Her heart ached in her chest as she imagined him sitting and thinking of the perfect gift for her, finally settling on something that would make her feel protected. "Thanks. It's actually...perfect."
This seemed to calm him down. "Bloody hell, was it hard to think of a gift for you."
"I'm not that hard to buy for!"
"It was my first Christmas with a girlfriend, I wasn't about to muck it up." The two of them let out small laughs before they realized what he had said. It technically was his first Christmas with a girlfriend, but it wasn't her.
"Well," she said quietly, trying hard to keep the hut out of her voice, "it's still your first Christmas with a girlfriend. Got that milestone down."
"Nova...the thing with Lavender..."
She didn't want to hear the sordid details. "I'm really tired. I'm going to go back to bed." She set the teacup down on the counter and gave him a grim smile. "Thanks for the Sneakoscope. And it's past midnight, I guess, so...Happy Christmas."
"You too, Nova."
She forced her body to move, trudging herself up the stairs and back to Ginny's room. Fleur was sleeping quite beautifully, her hand tucked underneath her pillow and not a peep coming out of her. Ginny was turned over on her stomach, her head facing Nova's mattress with a bit of drool coming out of her chin. When Nova passed by, she let out a light snore.
Carefully lowering herself back onto her mattress, she held the Sneakoscope in her hands and closed her eyes against the onslaught of emotions. Gently, she whispered "reducio" and watched as it shrunk, turning about the same size as the emerald on her mother's necklace. She unclasped the necklace and slid the little Sneakoscope onto the chain, watching as it fell against the emerald.
She refastened the chain around her neck and clutched it, falling asleep to dreams of a wonderful red-haired boy meeting her mother.
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Please enjoy this meme I made specifically for this chapter