Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. That privilege solely belongs to JK Rowling.

Chapter 8 Christmas Interlude

Vesper sighed and changed positions, shifting off of her now sore bum. Her eyes were begging for a rest, and she was tempted to let them. It was nearing midnight; the logs in the fireplace had long since been reduced to glowing embers, and Remus had fallen asleep in the armchair Vesper was currently leaning against. She supposed that she should wake him up. The full moon had risen two nights previously and Remus was still exhausted though he tried his best, as always, to hide it from her. The old, lumpy chair probably wasn't the best place for him to rest his aching body. But if she woke him, then he would insist on Vesper following him upstairs and send her to bed. After all, they had a long day ahead of them.

They had started a tradition of watching the sunrise every Christmas morn. It had been Vesper's first Christmas with Remus and he had warned her that she wasn't allowed out of her room to go open her presents until the sun was in the sky. Being the impudent girl that she was, Vesper had waited up all night til she could see the very first rays of dawn peeking over the horizon and then woke Remus up, who insisted that since they were up, they were going to watch the sunrise first. She was asleep in his arms before the sun had halfway risen. Vesper smiled softly at the memory. Remus hadn't let her forget it for weeks after the fact.

And then, after watching the sunrise, would come breakfast and presents followed by an hour-long car ride to the Edevane's house for mingling, tea, treats, and more presents. After the ride back to their house, she and Remus would have supper and laze around the lounge, most likely reading or possibly playing a game of chess (which Vesper would lose,) before finally calling it a night and head upstairs for bed.

But despite the early morning wakeup call and long day that would follow, Vesper was reluctant to stop the task that had occupied her since she had come home for Christmas holiday. Several books from the local muggle library were scattered around her with many more still tucked away in her room. All of them had to deal with legends, mythology, history, and anything else that held the promise of possibly mentioning one Nicolas Flamel.

Ever since Hagrid's slip up, Vesper, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been combing the Hogwarts library for any mention of the mysterious man. They hadn't made any progress in their efforts by the time break had come around except for knowing what books did not have any useful information. Harry and Ron were staying at Hogwarts for the holiday, so they could continue searching the books there. Hermione had given them a not so subtle hint to check the Restricted Section of the library while everyone was gone. Vesper later confessed on the train ride home that if she had known it would be so easy to get Hermione to break the rules, then she would've started bribing Hermione with books weeks ago. Hermione just blushed and muttered something about 'pranks' and 'good causes' and' big difference'.

She got the idea to check the muggle library a few days into the break while watching Remus go over a lesson plan. Muggles had stories and tales about other important magical persons, so why not Nicholas Flamel? Remus had looked at her strangely when she first asked him to take her to the library, but said nothing. It wasn't until the day after they'd returned home with over a dozen different books that Remus had spoken:

Vesper heard Remus sigh from somewhere behind her.

"Vesper, what are you up to?"

"What do you mean?" she asked after hesitating a brief moment.

"This," he said, gesturing to where she was seated at the kitchen table. One of the books lay open next to the notes she was currently taking, while several other books were stacked up, awaiting their turn. Picking up the topmost book from the stack, Remus read, "Magical Tales and Fables of the Medieval Period? Why are you looking at this?"

"It's for an assignment," said Vesper, blinking. "For History of Magic."

"Mmhmm." Remus stared at her for a few more seconds before placing the book back on top of the pile and walking off.

Vesper knew that he hadn't quite believed her, but Remus hadn't pushed the issue again since he first brought it up and she certainly wasn't going to inform her godfather that she was investigating a mysterious man who had some kind of connection with a secret trapdoor guarded by a Cerberus in her school. That probably didn't fall in the range of Don't get into trouble.

Searching through muggle books had proved futile so far. Vesper knew that it probably would, but still…she had to try. She could only hope that Harry and Ron had more luck searching through the Restricted Section. If they didn't find anything then they'd all be at a dead end of where to look for information on Nicolas Flamel. The Hogwarts Library was huge; even between the four of them, it would be impossible to read through every book in there.

Ding – Ding – Ding – Ding –

Vesper stopped her musing to listen to the soft chimes of the clock striking midnight. She waited until there was silence once more before slowly pulling herself up into a standing position. With gentle hands, Vesper reached out and shook Remus' shoulder.

"Moony, it's time to go to bed."

He shifted and batted her hand away. "Isn't that my line? And I've told you not to call me that."

Remus slowly opened his eyes and took a big stretch before glancing at the clock. "You should have woken me sooner. Now Father Christmas won't come because naughty little girls aren't asleep in bed." He gave her hair an affectionate ruffle, smiling when Vesper rolled her eyes. "Come along, Vesper, up to bed. We've a long day come morning."

"Which one do you think will win?" Vesper asked.

The five-year-old in her arms scrunched her face in deep thought. "That one," she said, pointing to a fat raindrop sitting on the window pane.

"Alright, Emily," Vesper said, smiling. "Let's see if you're right. Mine's already pulling ahead."

"No, no, no! C'mon, Rainy, go!"

Vesper laughed, and hitched the little girl higher on her hip. She was probably too old to be picked up, but Vesper didn't care. Emily had been the Edevanes' foster child a few years after Vesper went to go live with Remus. The then two-year-old had charmed Robert and Amy so much that they had started the adoption process. Their finally custody hearing had been a few weeks ago. This was their first Christmas as an official family.

"I hate to call the race short," said Robert from behind her, "but Amy would like your help in the kitchen, Vesper."

"Sure," said Vesper, putting Emily down. "We'll race later, okay?"

Emily nodded. "I'll go ask Danni if she'll play."

Emily ran off to go find Danielle, and Robert returned to the sitting room where he and Remus had been talking for most of the afternoon. Vesper walked into the kitchen to find Amy washing their dishes from lunch. She automatically rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a dry dishtowel, and started drying.

"Thank you," Amy said, putting down the dish she was in the middle of washing. "I normally would ask Danielle to do this but I wanted to speak with you alone."

Heart skipping a beat, Vesper asked, "What about? Is everything alright?"

Amy smiled. "Don't look so worried, Vesper." She picked up the dish again and started washing it. "It's nothing terrible. With everything going on with Emily's adoption, I've just been doing a lot of thinking recently."

"About what?" Vesper asked, genuinely curious about how that could possibly relate to her.

"I'm so glad that you and Remus have kept in touch," confessed Amy. She passed Vesper a clean dish. "I like knowing how you are, that you're happy and safe with someone who loves you." Smiling softly, she continued. "You know, right before Robert and I got the news that they had located your godfather, we were actually getting ready to start the adoption process for you."

"Danielle probably wouldn't have liked that much," Vesper said before the meaning of Amy's words hit her fully. Her hands paused. "Wait. You - you were going to –"

"Adopt you, yes, if the state allowed it." Amy turned her smile down on Vesper. "But like I said, I'm happy things worked out the way they did. You have Remus, and we have Emily. I couldn't imagine my life without her. I'm sure Remus thinks the same about you."

Vesper never thought about how her life would be different if the Ministry had never given its approval for Remus to take custody of her. As nice as the Edevanes were and as much as Vesper cared for them, she couldn't imagine living and growing up with anyone other than her kind and gentle godfather.

"You know," Amy continued, breaking Vesper's train of thought, "Emily reminds me of you when you were her age. Do you remember that one time when tea got spilt on your favorite book and the next day it was good as new?"

"Of course," said Vesper. "I always thought you or Robert got me another copy." At the time, Vesper had believed that. It wasn't until later (after she had gone to live with Remus) that she realized it had been accidental magic that had returned her book to pristine condition.

"We never got the chance," Amy said. "Robert and I always knew that you were a very special child, Vesper. Things were never dull with you around." Amy laughed fondly for a moment before turning serious again. "But there was also something else about you, something...wild. Unexplainable.

"Emily's like that," she went on. The dishes lay forgotten between them. "Things just...happen when she's around. She has a stuffed rabbit. A few months ago, the dog got ahold of it and ripped one of its ears off. Emily started crying, but before I could even move to tell her we'd fix it, the fabric knit itself back together.

"I thought I was hallucinating at first," said Amy. "But then I started watching Emily more closely and these kinds of things kept happening; small thing, blink and you miss it types things, but all of them: impossible. Just like you," Amy said, meeting Vesper's eyes.

Vesper was unsettled by desperation and confusion and worry in Amy's gaze, and felt a wave of sympathy for her and Robert. To think, of all the children in the foster care system, Amy and Robert had ended up with two magical children. Vesper longed to ease Amy's mind; to say, Emily is a witch and so am I. It would be so much simpler that way. But the law was clear.

So, Vesper thought, grinning internally, it's a good thing I'm an expert at exploiting loopholes.

"She would probably like the school I'm going to, when she turns eleven," Vesper said after a moment, choosing her words carefully. "It's made for..." she hesitated, "special people like us."

Her answer seemed to be enough for Amy. Her former foster mother smiled and pulled Vesper into tight hug and kissed her on the top of her head. "You're a good girl, Vesper," Amy whispered against her hair. "You know that, right?"

Vesper just laughed, happy that if she couldn't find answers about Nicolas Flamel, at least she could provide answers to ease Amy's worries.

AN: Hey guys! Words cannot describe how sorry I am for not updating this long. I had serious writers block on this chapter and school has been mega crazy.

I won't abandon this story. Ever.

Chapters 9 and 10 are already written. I'll post Chapter 9 when I'm close to finishing Chapter 11, so probably in 2 weeks or so. There are only 12 chapters planned for this story so hopefully it'll be completed by the end of the year.

There was a slight edit done to Chapter 7 to add Emily to the letter addressed to the Edevanes. Nothing else is different.

Thank you for your continued support of me and this story.

Love, Lora