"What do you think you're doing?" Sirius asked Rhia.
"Being myself?" Rhia talked back.
"Don't you remember the talk I had about you with Harry?" Sirius demanded.
"What talk?" Rhia asked.
"She doesn't remember Harry, remember?" April said to Sirius. Sirius clenched his fists.
"Who's Harry?" Rhia asked her parents.
"Next time I see that scoundrel Jordan Winters I will personally strangle him." Sirius said. "I'm going to bed!" He said storming out of the kitchen. Rhia sighed with relief and stood up.
"Good night mum." Rhia said with a smile. She went past April but April grabbed Rhia's arm and forced her back into the chair.
"I know that you've forgotten everything about Harry but don't tell him anything about tonight ok!" April said sternly.
"Why?" Rhia asked.
"Because he's your boyfriend!" April said. Rhia's eyes widened.
"What? Since when? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Rhia asked. April sighed. She pointed her wand at Rhia.
"Finite Incantatum." She said. The glamour melted away revealing the mark on Rhia's neck. Rhia put a hand to her neck. "I'm not hiding it for you." She said. "I would love to but you have to learn not to take these kind of potions Rhia." Rhia looked at April very confused. "Go to bed now." April said tiredly. Rhia nodded and left the room.
"What happened?" Orion asked as Rhia went up to her bedroom.
"What's that on your neck?" Kaylee asked. Rhia saw images of the evening flickering through her mind.
"Stop it Jessie." Rhia said.
"Ok." Jessie said. Rhia looked at Jessie slightly surprised then went into her room.
"You're a boring sister!" Kaylee shouted.
"So?!" Rhia shouted back.
Harry had just turned over in his bed when he felt someone jump on him.
"Ah!" He said in annoyance.
"Christmas!" Emma said happily. "Come on Harry! Mum and dad said we can't open presents until you're awake!" Emma said.
"Go away!" Harry muttered. He was in no mood to open presents. He was about to pull his duvet over him when it suddenly disappeared all together. He sat up in his bed to see Emma standing casually in the middle of his room with his duvet in her hands.
"You little…" Harry muttered as he clambered out of bed. He grumbled as he followed Emma down the stairs and into the living room. The Christmas tree was richly decorated in the corner, Emma had gotten a little too carried away the other day. There were ceiling decorations filling the ceiling and there was no need for something to frost the glass, it was cold enough outside to do that naturally. Harry glanced at his parents, his mum was in his dad's arms with her usual mug of coffee. They gave Harry a smile.
"Good morning." Lily said brightly.
"Gmm mmn" Harry mumbled in reply. He still felt upset about the whole Rhia thing and he just wasn't in the mood to open presents. Emma sat down by the Christmas tree and began to separate the presents into piles.
"Harry, mum, me, mum, dad…" She said as she put the right presents in the right piles. James laughed.
"Calm down Emma." He said.
"No, it's Christmas." Emma said happily. "Me, me, Harry, Dad…" Lily rolled her eyes and put her head on James' shoulder. He turned and gave her a soft kiss that made her smile. Harry watched them, slightly disturbed but he was used to his parent's closeness. He sighed as he suddenly thought of Rhia. There wasn't any point in going to see her right now. She still probably hadn't remembered who Harry was. He sat in a chair and watched Emma moving the piles of presents around. She was like this every Christmas.
"You ok?" James asked Harry. Harry looked at his dad.
"Yeah." He muttered. James sighed and slid from under Lily. Lily gave a slight noise of protest but settled on the sofa on her own. James nodded for Harry to follow him. Harry groaned as he got out of his comfortable sitting position and followed his dad to the kitchen.
"Are you sure you're ok?" James asked, "I know Rhia did some stupid things over the past few days-"
"It's only because I cheated on her." Harry said as he sat down in a seat in the kitchen.
"You did what?" James asked shocked. "I thought you liked her too much to cheat on her."
"Well, it wasn't my fault, there was this cursed mistletoe. If you don't believe me Ron and Hermione were there." Harry said at his dad's expression.
"No I believe you." James said. "And Rhia didn't take it well I guess." He said.
"Well, no. Someone took photos of me kissing everyone that I kissed. But they conveniently forgot to put in the mistletoe." Harry muttered. "So Rhia thinks I actually cheated on her. She won't listen to me." Harry said. James scowled but Harry felt better. Someone who was listening but wasn't blowing up at him for accusing him of cheating or betraying.
"Well, We think Rhia took the potion at about lunchtime. So she'll remember you at lunchtime. Just talk to her and explain everything to her" James said.
"That's what I was going to do. I hate not being with her." Harry said. James smiled and clapped Harry on the back.
"You feel better?" He asked. Harry nodded. "Good" James said with a smile. "Lets go and see if your sister has made peace with your mum yet." Harry smirked slightly and got up. He went into the living room with his dad but Emma and Lily were perfectly silent, well almost. Emma was humming Christmas songs.
"Can we open presents now?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, sure, why not." James said with a smile.
"Yay!" Emma squealed.
Jenny sighed as she stared at the Christmas tree in Grimmauld place. Lily and April had both offered to have Jenny round but she didn't want to intrude on either one of their Christmases. She was worried about Bo, he hadn't actually spoken to her for a while now and when she'd tried to go to Katie's house he'd refused to come home. Jenny got up and threw the tea in her mug down the sink. She washed up the cup and stared at the fireplace. The photo of Remus still rather prominent on the mantle piece. He was grinning at her and his usually tired face looked rather animated in that picture.
"What did I do wrong after you died?" Jenny asked the picture. She hugged herself and just stared at the picture. There was a shuffling at the door and Jenny straightened. The door opened and Mrs. Weasley came in.
"Jenny dear, are you here on your own?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Jenny nodded. "Where's Bo?"
"He went to his girlfriend's house." Jenny said. "What are you doing here?" Jenny asked uncertainly.
"I came to see if you wanted any help with anything. Hermione has everything under control at my house, surprisingly." Mrs. Weasley said. Jenny smiled.
"That's Hermione." Jenny said.
"Yes, lovely girl. Do you want me to stay here with you or would you like to come home with me?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"I'm fine here. I'm going to the Potters for dinner." Jenny said. Mrs. Weasley frowned.
"You shouldn't spend Christmas day on your own." Mrs. Weasley said.
"She won't be on her own." Came Bo's voice. He walked into the kitchen and threw a bag onto the table. Jenny smiled at Bo. He looked at Mrs. Weasley. "Everything is ok, thanks." He said. Mrs. Weasley nodded and bid them bye then Disapparated out of Grimmauld place. Bo looked at Jenny and frowned.
"How angry are you?" He asked uncertainly.
"I'm not." Jenny said.
"You're not?" Bo asked.
"Nope." Jenny said. Bo grinned, obviously relieved. Jenny stood up properly and went to hug Bo. "You're ok, that's the main thing." She said as she hugged Bo.
"I'm really sorry." He said, "But Katie's family were really nice." He said trying to get Jenny to let go. Jenny sat down and looked at Bo.
"Why did you run away Bo?" Jenny asked. Bo sat down uncertainly and didn't look at Jenny.
"Because I was upset." He said. "I don't want you going out with someone who isn't dad!" He said.
"Then why didn't you just tell me?" Jenny asked. Bo shrugged.
"I don't know. I didn't think you'd listen." Bo said.
"Bo, I'm your mum. Of course I'm going to listen." Jenny said. Bo looked at her sceptically.
"A lot of people don't take me seriously because of what I am." Bo said.
"And you think that matters to me, Bo?" Jenny asked, "Look who I married. Your dad. He was a werewolf. I got disowned for loving him. I'm not going to dismiss your opinion." Jenny said. Bo looked at the table guiltily.
"I'm sorry." He muttered. "But don't go out with anyone please." He said, looking at her pleadingly.
"I'm not going to fall in love with someone else, if that's what you mean." Jenny said, "In my life, it's only you and your dad…was your dad." Jenny corrected herself. Bo laughed slightly.
"I have a present for you." Bo said as he got up and ran out of the room. Jenny looked at the door curiously as Bo came in holding a rather large box under his arm. He put it on the table in front of Jenny and sat down. "I got a bit of help getting the money to get it but I really wanted to get it for you." He said. Jenny looked at him curiously and started to unwrap the box. She pulled the lid off the box. There was a long brand new racing broom inside the box as well as another smaller box.
"Bo." Jenny gasped. Bo seemed to be going slightly red. Jenny looked at the broom, it wasn't the best broom but it made no difference to Jenny, a Nimbus two thousand. She rested it on the table and got out the smaller box. She opened it up and the first thing she saw was something glittering and red. She pulled out three different masks, a red one, a blue one and one with a few singed peacock feathers around them.
"I knew how much those masks meant to you so the other day I went back to the old house and did some salvaging." Bo said. Jenny blinked back some tears and hugged Bo.
"Thanks Bo." She said. Bo gave her a smile and looked at her beaming.
"Oh and there's these!" Bo said. He left the room again and came back holding a few larger boxes. He threw them on the table with a thunk. He lifted the tops off them and let the contents spill over the table. "Dad seemed prepared and put a fireproofing spell on these." Bo said as Jenny looked at the photos of her past. A wide grin spread on Jenny's face and she wiped some tears from one of her eyes.
"You really are the best son anyone can ask for." Jenny said to Bo.
"Nah," Bo said, "I was just…I don't know. I thought you'd be angry so I wanted to do something special. Dad would have wanted it." Bo said with a smile.
Rhia pulled on her hiking boots and then grabbed her long black coat. She loved her coat, it made her look a bit taller and unlike a lot of clothes made her look slimmer. She wanted to get out of the house. Everything that she did the previous night was plaguing her. Feelings of incredible guilt was racking her body as she thought of Harry, she just needed to get out of house and just…be free for a while. And besides playing quidditch and playing the piano there was another thing that she could do that wasn't going to mean she'd have to be in the house.
"I'm going out!" Rhia shouted into the house. Sirius appeared in the hallway from the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"To see Pegasus." Rhia said. Sirius looked at her sceptically. "I haven't seen him since two days ago, I have to go and exercise him!" Rhia said.
"Fine. We're going to the Potters at two so just go straight there." Sirius said.
"Ok." Rhia said, she pulled on her Gryffindor scarf.
"Where are you going? Can we come?" Kaylee asked running out of the living room with Jessie.
"No-" Rhia saw her dad's expression. He was still very annoyed from the previous night. "Alright, is that alright dad?" Rhia asked.
"As long as you look after them, and don't leave them on their own." He said.
"Alright, come on Jaylee," Rhia said opening the door. Kaylee and Jessie grinned and pulled on their coats and gloves. Rhia knew they were itching to go outside and have a snowball fight, Orion had stolen the snow in the garden to make a sort of half pipe so he could 'snowboard' on it with a spare skateboarding deck. Rhia walked towards the Potter house with Jessie and Kaylee giggling behind her. Under all their winter clothes all Rhia could see were two lines where their eyes were and their necklaces hanging on their coats. They came to the road that went to the Potter house and when they got halfway between the house and the town she turned down a thinner smaller snow covered track. It soon fizzled into nothing and the snow crunched under foot.
"AH!" Kaylee screamed as she slid down the slope of the hill. She slid to the bottom and lay on her back. Jessie laughed and Rhia sighed.
"That's why I wear hiking boots Kaylee." Rhia said.
"But that's just boring! What's the point in doing that?" Kaylee said. Jessie coughed and Kaylee looked at Jessie then laughed. Rhia looked at her sisters.
"What!" Rhia asked.
"Jessie said that you're just annoyed." Kaylee said.
"I'm not annoyed!" Rhia said, "Well I am because I had to bring you two."
"Only because you got Hickle!" Kaylee said.
"Hickie" Jessie corrected in a quiet voice.
"Yeah a Hickie!" Kaylee said, "On your neck!" Rhia put a hand to her neck,
"How do you know about that?" Rhia asked self-consciously. Jessie and Kaylee looked at Rhia innocently. Jessie pulled Kaylee to her feet and they linked arms as they followed Rhia to Pegasus' paddock.
"We were staring at it last night when you were asleep." Kaylee said. Rhia turned to the twins.
"You were in my room!" Rhia nearly screamed. The twins both gave her identical grins. "How many times have I told you to stay out of it?"
"We wanted to talk to you." Kaylee said pouting.
"About what?" Rhia asked. She started walking again.
"Harry-"
"Don't talk to me about him." Rhia muttered. "Stupid cheating-"
"He didn't cheat on you" Kaylee said quickly to get Rhia's attention. Rhia ignored her and went to where the white winged horse paced impatiently in his paddock. There were muggle-repelling charms around that Lily and James had put up for Rhia so that no muggles saw Rhia's horse. Pegasus neighed and pawed the ground. Rhia jogged over and climbed onto the fence. Pegasus stretched out his wings and nuzzled Rhia. She smiled as she kissed her horse's nose.
"Hey." She whispered to the horse. "Impatient are we?" Pegasus snorted in reply. Rhia laughed. Kaylee and Jessie just stood on the other side of the gate awestruck. They had always loved Pegasus but never usually came down with Rhia to see him. Rhia turned around and looked at her sisters.
"Do you want a ride?" She asked them. Jessie and Kaylee nodded frantically. Rhia turned to Pegasus. "Behave and be nice." She said hitting the horse gently on the neck. Pegasus snorted again and pawed the ground.
"Come on." She said to her sisters. Kaylee stayed back while Jessie ran forwards and put her arms over Pegasus' back. She was still too small to get on so Rhia helped her up. Rhia slapped Pegasus' flanks to get him flying. He went into a trot and soon lifted into the air. Jessie screamed in excitement and wrapped her arms around the horse's neck. Rhia laughed and turned to Kaylee.
"Is he safe to ride?" Kaylee asked, climbing onto the fence.
"Perfectly safe." Rhia said. Kaylee watched her twin worriedly. Rhia laughed and turned to look towards the Potter house. She saw a figure running down then slide down the hill.
"Oh crap." Rhia muttered. Kaylee turned.
"What?" She asked.
"It's Harry." Rhia said. She turned and looked in the air. She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled for Pegasus. He flew down and landed gently on the floor. Jessie had a huge grin plastered on her face. She slid off Pegasus. Rhia started for her horse when Harry called her name.
"Rhia! Wait, Rhia!" He shouted. He jumped over the fence with one hand on the top of it. He grabbed Rhia's hand and pulled her around.
"Go away Harry." Rhia said shaking off Harry.
"No," He said sternly. "I want to talk to you about last night."
"What's there to tell you?" Rhia asked.
"Oh lets see?" Harry said pretending to be clueless "Jordan!" He said.
"I was under the influence of a potion!" Rhia said.
"Why did you do that anyway?" Harry asked. "What happened exactly?" Rhia looked into Harry's eyes and tried to fight the charm they held over her.
"Rhia got a hickle." Kaylee said with a grin, "I mean a hickie." Harry looked at Kaylee then slowly turned to Rhia. Rhia was no longer looking at him.
"Rhia?" Harry asked for confirmation. Rhia didn't answer. Harry put a hand to her scarf and pulled it off. Rhia felt the cold air touching her neck and shivered but Harry looked rather angry with her. He threw the scarf back at her and turned around.
"I'll see you two later." Harry said to the twins. "I have something for you two." Kaylee and Jessie nodded.
"Harry." Rhia said lamely.
"No, me kissing a few girls under mistletoe is nothing compared to this Rhia." Harry said.
"I was under the influence of a potion." Rhia protested.
"And you wouldn't have had the potion if you'd just tried to talk to me Rhia, I would have told you everything. I'll see you later" He said angrily. He headed back to his house. Kaylee and Jessie then turned to Rhia once Harry had left. Rhia kicked a lump of snow and turned to Pegasus.
"I'm sorry Rhia." Kaylee said.
"Just be quiet." Rhia said. She sounded hurt and Kaylee frowned slightly.
"I didn't mean to tell him." Kaylee said.
"Just shut up about it ok!" Rhia said turning around. "I don't want to think about it."
"Ok." Kaylee said quietly. Jessie cuddled her sister to help comfort her. Rhia mounted Pegasus and clicked her tongue and jabbed her heel gently into his side. Pegasus started off slowly around the paddock before Rhia instructed him to begin flying.
Harry watched the TV with Bo. There was some movie that he'd watched before, something like the Nightmare before Christmas. Some stupid movie that Emma sometimes made him watch. Now he was watching it on the TV voluntarily. Emma was with Orion and they were huddled around the Hi-fi stereo. They were whispering and planning something but Harry ignored them. He looked determined at the TV. He couldn't believe what Rhia had done. It was one thing kissing Hermione in order to get free of curse Mistletoe but to kiss someone because they were annoyed! Harry held the remote even tighter and moved his legs onto the sofa.
"I don't understand girls." Harry said to Bo.
"Neither do I." Bo said. "I mean I really like Katie but I know I can't love her because, well…" Bo stopped talking and looked towards Emma. Harry glanced at his sister before looking at Bo.
"Emma's an idiot" Harry said quietly.
"No, she just said some stuff. I know I don't have a chance anyway because she'd never go out with a werewolf" Bo muttered quietly so Emma couldn't hear.
"What?" Harry asked Bo. Bo made a motion for Harry to ignore what he just said.
"Nothing, we just had an argument that got a bit carried away." Bo said.
"So that's why you're not talking to each other?" Harry asked. Bo nodded. The door to the living room opened and the sound of the adults laughing in the kitchen could be heard. Kaylee and Jessie, as far as Harry knew, were in Emma's room trying to get near Emma's new TV. Rhia came in and looked at Harry. Bo got up and left the room after giving Rhia smile.
"Thanks." She said quietly. Bo nodded as a reply while Harry just stared at the TV. "Harry can we talk?" She asked after a few minutes of silence between them. Emma and Orion turned around and grinned at each other. Orion shut the cassette player and left the room. Emma soon followed, switching off the TV as she left. Harry sighed and turned to Rhia.
"What?" He asked.
"I'm really sorry." Rhia said, "I didn't mean whatever happened yesterday to go so far." She said. Harry looked at her sceptically.
"Really? Because I get the impression that you weren't exactly stopping it." He said, looking at the dark bruise like circle on Rhia's neck. She put a hand to her neck and covered it up.
"I didn't know you were my boyfriend last night, as far as I was concerned you were just my friend and I was still single." Rhia said. Harry looked at Rhia and scowled.
"I don't know Rhia." Harry muttered.
"Harry, I'm sorry. It's not like you didn't cheat on me." Rhia said. Harry looked at Rhia seriously.
"I wasn't cheating on you. I was forced to! A kiss with Hermione and the others is slightly different. There was cursed Mistletoe, if you'd have been there you would have understood!" Harry said to Rhia. Emma and Orion looked at each other. Orion held a remote control in his hand, pointed into the Living room.
"Not yet" Emma whispered.
"What, so even Ron just let you?" Rhia asked.
"Yes, he was right there. Those photos that you have, they just show my head and the girl's head. It doesn't show the mistletoe or Ron or anyone else." Harry said. There was silence between the two.
"Now?" Orion whispered. There was a burst of laughter from Sirius and Emma nodded. Orion pointed the remote at the stereo and the play button went down on the cassette player. There was silence for a moment before some music started. It was from Emma's Disney tape. Rhia and Harry looked at the Stereo and Rhia muttered something.
"Percussion, strings, wind, words…There you see her, sitting there across the way-" came a Jamaican voice. Emma grinned and peeked into the living room. "-She don't got a lot to say but there's someting about her-" She prayed that this would work.
"I'm sorry." Rhia muttered. "If Ron was there then-"
"-And you don't know why but you're dying to try you wanna kiss the girl" There was silence while the song kept playing. Emma and Orion looked at each other. "Yes you want her, look at her you know you do, possible she wants you two, there is one way to ask her. It don' take a word, not a single word go on and kiss the girl-" Orion scowled at the lack of noise from the living room. He pushed the door open just a tiny bit and looked at the sofa. Harry and Rhia weren't there. "Sing with me now, shalalalalala my oh my, look like the boy too shy aint gonna kiss the girl, shalalala aint that sad, too bad he gonna miss the girl"
"They've gone missing!" Orion hissed to Emma. Emma went into the doorway and looked in.
"Oh crap." She muttered. "They're up to something." She poked her head in and felt something hit her in the face. "AH!!" She screamed. She wiped her face and looked at her fingers. Cream! She heard Rhia and Harry laughing. "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" Emma screamed at them.
"Nice look by the way." Rhia gasped. She was holding her side. Orion had dashed off before he could be hit with cream. Emma stormed out of the living room leaving Harry and Rhia on their own. Their laughing subsided quickly and they looked at each other.
"Nice shot." Harry said, waving a hand absently to the door. Rhia smiled and tried to look away from Harry. He looked a bit calmer then before. Less angry.
"-Now's your moment, floating in a blue lagoon, boy you better do it soon, no time will be better-"
"Um, so are we ok on everything?" Rhia asked. She was glad they'd talked things out. They'd whispered to each other once it became evident that Emma and Orion were listening. She was still uncertain as to whether Harry wanted her back though.
"Um, yeah"
"-She don't say a word and she won't say a word until you kiss the girl-" The music went on. Harry felt suddenly awkward and too hot to say anything. He never felt so awkward with Rhia before. He didn't know what to do. He was inclined to go with the song that Emma had set playing but he didn't know.
"-Shalalalala don't be scared, you got the mood prepared, go on and kiss the girl, shalalalalaaa, don't stop now, don't try and hide it how you wanna kiss the girl-" Harry gave in he leant forwards and pressed his lips against Rhia's. She was surprised to say the least, she wasn't expecting it at all. She thought Harry would still be too angry with her.
"-Shalalalalala float along and listen to the song, the song say kiss the girl. Shalalalalaa hear the music play, but the music say you gotta kiss the girl." Rhia put her arms around Harry's neck and pulled him closer. She felt Harry push her gently towards the sofa and soon her legs hit it and she stopped. Harry didn't. After a few seconds Rhia fell backwards onto the sofa, letting go of Harry in surprise. Harry smiled and Rhia grinned. She held onto the front of Harry's shirt and pulled him onto the sofa and nearly on top of her. She kissed him hungrily as Harry's hands went to her jumper and slowly began to pull it upwards.
"I don't think you need this." Harry muttered. Rhia laughed as he pulled her jumper off then slowly worked at her t-shirt underneath. Rhia lifted her arms and let Harry pull her shirt off as well.
"Me neither." She whispered. Harry pressed Rhia down on the sofa and let his hands wonder her body, while Rhia's hands became slightly tangled in Harry's hair.
A/N:-ok, it's like 1 minute past midnight for me, so I thought i'd update cause i'm unlikely to have time later, it is therefore technically CHRISTMAS on this side of the pond (aka the Atlantic). Not really feeling the x-mas cheer but what can we do eh? Emma's got a great reaction to toys eh? She's a cool character, really complex and has issues man, serious issues (You'll see in a few chapters time). Harry and Rhia are officially still a couple and the next chapter there is the talk on the birds and the bees given by all of their parents, which was rather fun to write. So i hope you guys all have a great christmas and have a great day stuffing urselves with food and other goodies. Get great presents and have a good time