Because of the new year, you all get an extra update!
Have a great 2024.
Lots of love!
LB
It wasn't mature of me, but I avoided being alone with the twins since that evening in the kitchen. Not perse because I was embarrassed, but I think I would jump their bones the moment we were alone. The night before the ball, I had just packed an overnight bag and headed down to the common room. I felt the eyes of the twins on me before I saw them. I quickly darted over to Harry.
"Hey, Harry. Are you ready?" I leaned against the table where he was reading a Quidditch magazine.
"Yeah, give me a minute. I'll get my bag." He said before he started upstairs.
"Will you be back in time?" Angelina asked behind me. I turned around to see her sitting with Lee, Fred and George near the fire. I walked over to them.
"Yes, I should be back by eight the latest. I'm going to get ready there and my uncle will apparate us back to Hogsmeade. I think McGonagall would have my head if we're late." I chuckled.
"You're probably right." Lee laughed, placing his arm on the back of the couch, to play with Angelina's hair. "Ready to lead the ball?"
"I try not to think about it too much, just knowing that all eyes are on me." I scrunched my nose.
"It's the same with the tasks though." Lee said.
"Not really, because there was a dragon in front of me." I chuckled. "And I placed a charm over my ears to block out the noise." I adjusted my bag on my shoulder as Harry came down. I turned back to my friends with a small smile. "I can't wait to see you all dressed up tomorrow." I said, my eyes flicking quickly over the twins before turning away again. "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas." They chimed, and Harry and I turned to walk out of the common room.
LB
When we arrived at Sirius's house, Uncle Moony took me aside for a moment and asked the same question for the twentieth time.
"Are you sure? We have spent Christmas with just the two of us for the past twelve years." His hands resting on my shoulders, leaning his head down to look me in the eye.
"I'm sure." I assured him again, a smile on my lips. "Besides we will still have our alone time. While Sirius and Harry prepare dinner, we're going to the Christmas market in London, right? Or did something change?"
"No, no." He squeezed my shoulders. "That will still be just the two of us." He smiled. "We're going to make some gingerbread houses, make Christmas decorations, shopping. The whole works."
"Good." I grinned, I looked over my shoulder to Harry and Sirius in the kitchen. "Are you sure they don't mind, though?"
"No, Sirius understands that we have a tradition. I think he's just over the moon by the fact that you want to spend Christmas with him, even it's for a few hours."
"Dinner is ready!" Sirius called from the kitchen.
Moony wrapped an arm around my shoulders and guided me to the kitchen. Harry and Sirius were already sitting on one side of the kitchen table, unpacking the food. I laughed.
"Normally when people say, dinner is ready -" I said sliding on the stool opposite of Harry. "They mean home made."
Sirius grinned. "You know how hard it is to go over to Chow Meng's and bring it all the way home, that's hard labour, little Lupin." I raised an eyebrow at the nickname, Moony chuckled. "Or don't you like Chinese?" He suddenly asked nervously.
"No, I love Chinese takeout." I said, already filling my plate to the brim. I bit my lip, debating to ask Sirius about it. It's been on my mind for a while now. "Sirius?"
"Yeah?" He stopped his fork full of noodles just before his mouth.
"I was wondering..." I took in a deep breath. I felt three sets of eyes on them, but I kept my eyes on my plate. "I was wondering if you could tell me about my mum." The room was silent, and I slowly looked up. Sirius was just looking at me, an expression I couldn't read. "Uncle Moony already told me a little about her, but you were closer with her."
Sirius drank a bit of water before he cleared his throat. "What do you want to know?"
"How did you meet? She was a year ahead of you, right?"
"Yeah." He cleared his throat again. "I don't think we had an official meeting moment; you know. She was a year older and in a different house, so we didn't share classes or a common room. The first time we talked was at a party in the Hufflepuff common room. She was there with her boyfriend who was on the Ravenclaw quidditch team. So, drunk of my ass and still sore of losing against them a few weeks prior, I walked up to them. I started talking about the game and that they cheated, all nonsense, believe me." He laughed a little. He looked down at his plate for a minute before he continued.
"And then Cor started quoting all the rules of the Quidditch guidebook. Apparently, she was the unofficial coach of the Ravenclaw team. She didn't play herself, but she knew every trick in the book." He had a dreamy look about him. "We got close during the war when she joined the Order. It wasn't like we just went crazy over each other the moment we saw each other again. Your mum thought I was cocky and too full of myself." He chuckled. "She wasn't wrong. Back then I thought I could beat You-Know-Who himself if he stood right in front of me. My cockiness almost cost the lives of my friends. We were paired up together by Dumbledore in the hopes she could keep an eye on me. Which she did. We got close when we were sent away on assignment for a couple of months."
I hated that tears started to fill my eyes, but I couldn't help myself. Hearing about my mum and who she was, even after all these years it was still painful. Moony clasped my hand in his, squeezing it softly. Sirius must've taken que from that because he reached over to hold my other hand. I blinked away the tears and looked up at him.
"Your mum was brilliant, funny and beautiful. She was one of the bravest people I have ever met. She will always have a special place in my heart. And you look so much like her, Alec. I know she would be proud of the brave, courageous young woman you have become."
I pulled my hands back to wipe away the tears that escaped. I stood up and rounded the kitchen island to Sirius's side. He stood up immediately when I stopped in front of him. His gaze concerned. I didn't say anything as I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my face in his chest as I sobbed.
Sirius stood frozen for a moment before he rubbed my back gently. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Thank you for telling me." I said against his shirt. His grip around me tightened.
"It's my pleasure, little Dubois." I chuckled with a sob against him. "Any time you want to talk about her, just ask."
We stood there for a long moment. Sirius rubbing my back as I tried to control myself. After my tears had stopped, I excused myself for a moment to freshen up. When I came downstairs, Harry was excitedly talking about the Quidditch game they had played a few weeks ago. With the mood changed, I sat back down next to Remus, happy to note he had placed a warming charm on my plate.
LB
"Happy Christmas!" Sirius and Remus shouted as Harry and I came downstairs the next morning. They had woken us up by charming little bells to fly and jingle above our heads until we woke up.
"It's break." Harry grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, like me. "We're supposed to be able to sleep in."
"Sleep is for the weak." Remus mused and I pursed my lips at him as he smirked.
"It's our first Christmas as a family and since you two need to be at the castle before eight tonight, we should start early." Sirius said excited. The word family still made something clench inside of me, but I smiled a little to hide my discomfort. Moony noticed, of course and redirected the conversation.
"Breakfast or presents first?"
"Breakfast." Harry and I said in unison. We smiled to each other as we walked to the kitchen. A pot of fresh tea was already waiting for us, and we gulped it down.
"So," Harry started after he finished his first omelette. "You and Remus will go galivanting around the Christmas market while Sirius and I do the heavy lifting?"
I snorted. "It's probably going to be more like this. We will have an active morning, while you two sit on the couch watching television as magic will do the work for you." I looked from Harry to Sirius with a raised eyebrow. Sirius grin told me enough. I chuckled a little.
"Do you already have a dress for tonight?" Sirius asked. "I got Harry dress robes when we got the letters this summer."
"We had a lot of dances and balls at Beauxbatons, so I have enough dresses for the occasion. I don't need a new dress." I said. And it was true. I had a full closet with different types of dressed, cocktail to gala and in every colour imaginable.
"But this isn't just a dance." He countered. "You're a Champion"
I shrugged as I sipped my tea. Harry nudged my arm with his. "Alec doesn't care about that. She didn't even care if she had a date or not." He snickered.
"You don't have a date?" Moony and Sirius asked baffled.
"No, I have a date. But even if I didn't -" I turned to Harry with a little grin. "I had a back-up plan."
"Who are you going with?" Sirius asked.
I cocked my head. "Aren't you going to ask Harry who his date is?"
"Of course, but you came up first."
"I'm going with Parvati Patil. She is a girl in our year." Harry said. "But I don't know who Alec is going with, she hasn't said."
"It isn't a big secret or something." I laughed. "He just asked me last week."
"Why so late?" Remus asked curiously.
"The whole school thought she and Jack were dating." Harry said as he buttered his toast. "So, nobody asked her, thinking she was going with Jack."
"So, when news broke out that Jack was going with another girl, I got asked to the ball."
"By whom?" The three men around me asked.
I chuckled internally. "Cedric Diggory."
Sirius looked between Harry and Remus gauging their reactions, to see what they thought of Cedric since they had met them, but Sirius hadn't. Harry didn't seem surprised, and Remus smiled a little.
"Cedric is a good guy." Remus said to Sirius, then turned to me. "You're going to have a great time, cub."
"I believe so." I said as I hopped off my stool. "I'm going to shower and get ready, then we can go." I emptied my mug before I headed upstairs.
After my shower, I stepped back in my room. I glanced around the still bare room, tapping my wand against my chin. I changed the wall behind my bed into a blue grey colour and did the same with the wall of my door. I left the two other beige and changed the drapes to the same blue as the walls. Next time, I would put up some pictures, and some trinkets from Beauxbatons and Hogwarts but for now this was enough. I still didn't know if I would stay the summer here or somewhere else. But I knew Remus wouldn't want to leave Sirius and Harry. So, it was safe to assume this would officially become my new room. I got dressed into something simple, just jeans and a sweater before I headed down.