Chapter 11: The Theory of Tea

The fireplace on the side of the expansive living room burst with green flames. Cressida is the first to jump from her seat as the familiar figure steps out of the flames untouched.

"Remus!" she cries, sprinting towards him. He barely has time to put his small trunk down before she encases him in her embrace, dragging his towering figure down to her height. "I've missed my favourite friend!"

Remus laughs in her ear, welcoming the gesture.

"Don't flatter yourself," Sirius snorts from somewhere behind. "She just wants your help in the homework Slughorn set for Potions over the holidays."

Remus pulls back, narrowing his eyes accusingly at Cressida who purses her lips. "I was going to wait a day before asking," she defends. "And I have a gift to offer you in exchange."

"A gift?" Remus repeats, his interest piquing. "I'm listening."

Cressida' eyes dart around, landing on James who has just come back from the kitchen with a steaming mug of tea in his hand. Running on the tips of her toes towards him, she comes to stand directly in his path. James raises a brow, curiosity ruling his expression. "Can I have that?"

James's brow furrow, peering down at his perfectly made tea. "Uh, sure," he says with a hesitant chuckle. Carefully taking the mug, Cressida takes it back to Remus who is stifling his amusement.

"Thank you," he says as she hands it to him. "Exactly what I wanted."

"I think you broke James," Peter calls.

Cressida grins, tossing her head over her shoulder. James is indeed standing in the same place, his fingers curling around a mug that is no longer there with a perplexed expression. "You stole my drink," he declares.

"Correction," Sirius comments, holding a finger in the air, "she did technically ask for it and you technically handed it over."

His hand finally drops, slapping against his thigh. "I thought she just wanted a sip," he laments.

Cressida pouts her bottom lip. "Poor diddums." James sends her a mild glare and flops onto the lounge with a sulky attitude.

"Can you stop with that look?" Remus comments in a mocking tone. "It's making me feel guilty about drinking the best tea I've had in months."

James' head lops against the back of the couch. "I know it was!" he cries. "Merlin this day sucks."

Cressida chuckles to herself, leaning closer to Remus so she can murmur into his ear. "He split his breakfast everywhere when Peter scared him this morning. And he lost his favourite pair of socks." Remus makes a noise of understanding, hiding his grin behind the mug. Rolling her eyes, she says, "Heaven's sake, James, I'll go make you another one."

"I'm going to go raid your fridge," Remus quickly adds, trotting after Cressida towards the kitchen. She puts the kettle on and prepares the sugar and milk on the bench.

"Tea and water first," she recalls James' words. "Then the milk and sugar last so you don't burn it. Add a drop of honey for extra sweetness."

Remus begins opening up different cupboards, sourcing down something to quench his appetite. "Please tell me nobody here has a waterbed this year."

"Waterbed?" Cressida repeats slowly. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

Remus closes a cupboard door, leaning his forehead against it. "Because my parents brought themselves one as a 'special treat'," he hisses, "and now I hear them at night."

Cressida's brows furrow for a few seconds until she understands what he's implying. "Oh lord," she whispers, failing to hide her laughter behind sealed lips. "Oh that's horrible." Tears spring to her eyes as she braces herself against the bench, trying not to envision Remus' experience. "Is it rhythmic?"

Remus cocks his head to the side, lips peeled apart. He looks as though he's trying to burn the memory from his mind. "Yes," he manages to spit out. "Stop! You're making me think about it."

Cressida's head is thrown backwards, her laughter travelling throughout the manor. By the time she settles herself, the kettle clicks off and James saunters in. She can already tell by the glint in his eyes why he's come in. "James, I can make you tea," she sighs. "I know how you make it."

"It's fine," he smiles softly, brushing past her towards the kettle. "I don't mind."

Cressida's smile drops to a deadpan, looking at Remus as James moves about behind her. "He won't let me make him tea anymore," she says to the sandy-haired boy. Guilt floods her knowing that it's because of her that he has to make one all over again – never mind how simple it may be. "And he won't tell me if it's because I've messed one up or he doesn't trust me."

"Neither," James responds simply. Cressida doesn't bother glancing over her shoulder, only raising a brow to Remus as her point is proved. "And what were you cackling about earlier."

Forcing herself to forget about the tea for the time being, Cressida swivels on her heels with a growing smirk. "Remus' parents have a lot of fun together on a waterbed."

James frowns, carefully stirring in his milk. "What's a waterbed?"

"A mattress filled with water for your bed," she sings. "All the rage in the muggle world at the moment."

James huffs with a smile, wiping the back of the spoon against the rim of the mug then adds the sugar. "That sort of sounds like fun. But I'd imagine that-oh." The realisation comes to his face in the same way it did for her. Pressing his lips together, he swallows any laughter that threatens to show. "No wonder you look so tired."

"You're making it very hard to forget," Remus grumbles. "I just want peaceful sleep. I can't even tell them I know so they'll stay quieter. I don't think I could ever look at them again."

"Good thing you've come to a place with almost soundproof bedrooms," James grins, leaning his hip against the counter.

"Emphasis on the almost. You will still hear screaming," Cressida interjects. James and Remus look at her oddly. "What?" she shrugs. "I've woken up enough times to you lot running around like lunatics before the sun is even up." And she could hear Sirius perfectly well the other week. With a fleeting glance at James, she adds, "And please give me warning if you ever manage to bring Lily back here."

Remus spits his tea back out into the mug, turning away as he almost chokes. James' blanches, his lips falling apart. "What?" he chokes out.

"I doubt Peter and Remus are ever going to bring a girl back here and try and do that while we're all in the house. And Sirius doesn't even look at them so I'm assuming that he'll be the least likely of all of us to bring someone home. You, however, would." Cressida cocks her chin to the side, almost daring him to argue with her logic.

James stares at her like a fish out of water, his eyes darting over her shoulder to Remus every few seconds. "I don't think James wants to bring Lily here," Remus interludes the silence.

Cressida snorts, turning back around the face the window. "Perhaps not," she agrees off-handed. "At least not while we're all here still." Shrugging, and with nothing left to do in the kitchen, she strides out to rejoin helping Peter with his crossword puzzle.

Xx

The day is long but fulfilling as the group of friends are able to all be in the same place once again after nearly two months of being separated. Cressida and Peter spend much too long on the crossword puzzle, only giving up once Sirius suggests playing some Quidditch and the spend the entire afternoon on their brooms.

James, Sirius and Cressida had managed to hide almost all the evidence of her mishap; burning the bloody clothes and cleaning themselves spotless before they even arrived home. The only thing that Cressida did have to tell them was about Sirius' mirror since they couldn't use magic to repair it yet. She had told Sirius that she managed to come up with a lie, but she doesn't feel guilty about telling Fleamont and Euphemia the truth about what happened with Sirius. They promised to not say anything.

As plates float around the dinner table, clearing themselves up by the power of magic, Cressida leans back against her chair, laughing as Sirius tries to reach for a half-eaten chicken wing on one of them.

"Your father and I are going to head to bed early," Euphemia says kindly. "We have a business meeting with this American man tomorrow morning about the possibility of marketing your father's potion to South America."

"Thank you for dinner, Mrs Potter," Remus says, raising his glass. The rest of the table follow suit, Cressida downing the rest of her drink before she places it back on the table.

Fleamont raises with his wife, but places a delicate hand on her back. "Why don't you head to bed, dear, and I'll bring you a nice peppermint tea?"

Euphemia smiles at her husband, kissing his cheek with the same delicacy he treats her with. Looking over the table, she says, "He never lets me make my own tea. An old fashioned man."

"Not old fashioned if he was alive during the time," James snorts, facing his mother's glare. Fleamont tips his head from side to side.

"I'd argue, but my back aches more and more each day so he's probably right."

Cressida smiles softly at the family exchange. They soon move into the living room where Remus brings out his projector and a stack of films to go with it. "What do we want to watch?"

Cressida leaps from the lounge, being the first to Remus' side and quickly picks out one that she's come to realise Sirius would love watching. "We can watch a horror after," she bargains at Peter's flat expression.

"Deal," he agrees easily and Remus begins putting the film in.

As Remus fiddles around with the tape, Sirius and Cressida entertain him and Peter with the story about how she was shot by muggle hunters. Now, many days later, the pair are able to laugh it off and begin to consider it as a strangely fond memory.

"You were sweating so much," Cressida laughs, slapping her thigh as she recounts Sirius' struggle to drag her back to the house. "I thought I was going to have to drag you."

Sirius flips her off from the far side of the couch. There's a space next to him for Remus, next to that Peter and Cressida sits between him and James who has taken his favourite spot on the extended portion of the lounge.

"We were in the newspaper a day later," Sirius adds. "I've got a clipping of the article. The reporter thinks the guys are lunatics. Black bears in England?! Outrageous!"

Remus shakes his head, finally getting the projector to work. "You two are idiots," he exhales. "You're lucky they didn't get a photo."

"I wonder which side is my good side as a dog?" Sirius wonders, eyes pointing up to the ceiling before shaking his head. "What's lucky is those wards around this place. Cressida probably would have bitten at anyone that came close."

"Piss off," she huffs with a roll of her eyes. "You would be too if you were shot."

Sirius shrivels his nose, contemplating the scenario but it's clear he's going to deny it.

"Excuse me."

The lounge rises slightly next to her as the weight of James disappears. Cressida watches his back move farther and farther away until it disappears behind the hallway wall and into another part of the house. Cressida glances back at her friends, only to find them with the same bemused expression. "I might just go check on him," she decides. "Keep the movie going when it starts."

Remus nods so Cressida pushes off the lounge as well, trailing after James in the direction he strode off to.