Till Forever Falls Apart

Chapter Ten: Christmas at Its Finest

December 25, 1991

It was officially Christmas morning.

    Val sprung from bed and ran to the bathroom, brushing her teeth and combing her hair. She had been in such a hurry to make it down the stairs and into the living room, realizing she could hear voices coming from the room below, that she had overslept on one of her favorite days out of the entire year.

    Quickly swapping out her pajamas for the matching soft grey sweater and pants Lily had bought her some time ago, she flew down the stairs and flung herself into the kitchen, expecting to see all of the adults gathered to start their meal preparations for the day.

    But Remus was the only one there. He sipped his tea casually, leaning against the kitchen counter as he read the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.

    "Morning, love," he closed the newspaper and bent over to kiss her forehead. Rubbing her eyes in a dazed state, Val opened the curtain to see that it was still dark out.

She had woken up hours before everyone else.

    "I thought... I thought I heard voices down here."

    Remus' calm disposition did not waver. "Your dad got up to read this," he waved the copy of the newspaper. "Something he wanted to see."

    Val did not press the matter anymore, but opened the refrigerator to grab a snack to satisfy her appetite.

    "You've been in your room quite a bit since you've gotten back," Remus put the paper under his arm and carried his cup to the sitting room. Val followed, taking her own small meal, and sat on the carpet, leaning her back against the leather sofa.

    Val didn't know what to say to this, so she shrugged, popping a grape in her mouth.

    "Nothing important, really. Finishing wrapping a few gifts, reading, playing with Ruttledge."

    Remus did not push her any further, setting the mug down as he took out his book.

    "There's a kid I'm friends with," Val said nonchalantly. Remus put the novel down and listened intently.

    "His name is Anthony Goldstein? Says his dad was friends with you?"

    "Goldstein... yes," Remus scratched his head for a moment. "He was in Ravenclaw?"

    Val stiffly shook her head.

    "I guess you could say we were more acquaintances, really," Remus said. "Had a few classes together, but we were never close. He did try very hard to be friends with James, though, which was fun to watch. But your dad and I didn't know him that well. He usually hung out with P-"

    Remus stopped himself, a wave of sickness flattening the charming expression he had worn moments only moments ago.

    "He hung out with other people," Remus said flatly. "That's all there was to it."

    Val thought she had said or done something wrong to make her father switch emotions so suddenly, but she remained in the room and ate quietly, mindlessly watching her father read.

Val had always liked watching Remus do anything. She found that it was soothing and calmed her nerves. She just couldn't help but think he was so interesting, the way he never told people everything that was going through his mind, and when Val would tell him crazy things that happened to her and Harry, never once did he doubt her. Her dad was her biggest supporter.

    She had learned a new word from Padma, who often gave her book recommendations. There was a thing in literature called "comfort characters", and Val knew that if her father was a character in her favorite book, he would be the character she would turn to for comfort on her darkest days.