Redamancy | R.A.B

Twenty-eight

Betsy

Christmas was a big deal in the Potter household. Lights hung from all the ceilings and tinsel was wrapped round each and every door meaning you had to spend five minutes pushing it out the way before a door would shut properly. Though the house was decorated almost as soon as James and Betsy, and also Sirius now, returned from school, the tree was always left till Christmas eve. This Christmas eve they were also joined by an annoyed Lily Evans. She had burst in through the Floo earlier that evening, her face almost as red as her hair.   

"You okay?" Betsy had asked from the chair she was sat in, watching as Lily pulled pins out of the elaborate hairstyle it was put in.

"No." Was the girls reply. She sighed and collapsed into the chair next to Betsy, pulling her knees to her chest.

"What happened?"

"Petunia. That's what happened."

"What'd she do this time?"

"We were trying on the dresses for next week. First off, who plans a wedding for the end of December in England?! And secondly, she got me an orange one! And orange one?! With my hair?! She knows it'd look awful, and when I asked her if she was able to get another colour she threw a fit saying I was ruining her wedding day! It's not even her wedding day for another week! All I asked is if I could swap with someone so I didn't look like a carrot! Now I'm pretty sure she's not letting me a bridesmaid and fucking Vernon's coming round for Christmas and he keeps talking to me like I'm three years old. He's only a few years older than me." The redhead sighed, looking round the room. "You not decorated the tree yet?"

"No not yet. Waiting for mum and dad to get home."

"James, Sirius, Remus and Peter in?"

"James and Sirius are outside playing quidditch I think." Both girls looked out the window where the rain was battering down. "I tried to tell them they'd get sick, they didn't listen. Remus and Peter went home this morning."

"I thought Remus was staying here?"

Betsy shook her head. "No, his dad wanted him back." Remus's mum, Hope, had passed away a year before and Remus had expected that he would be spending Christmas at the Potter's since him and his dad didn't get on particularly well due to Remus's condition. 

The door to the room burst open and in came a soaked James and Sirius. James did a slight double-take at his girlfriend being there but quickly got over it. "You alright Lils? I thought you were trying on dresses today?" 

After Lily had recounted the tale to the two boys they headed through to the kitchen. James and Sirius excused themselves to go warm up in the shower and the girls began flicking through the recipe books that Euphemia had stacked up in the kitchen. 

"What about these?" Lily asked, showing Betsy the recipe she was looking at. It was one for some gingerbread men. After agreeing on it, the two girls began to make them. They were joined by the two boys and had finished baking and cleaning up before Euphemia and Fleamont got home. 

"Something smells nice." Euphemia commented as she entered the kitchen. "Lily, dear, aren't you supposed to be trying on dresses today?"

After Lily had told her story for the third time, Euphemia and Fleamont were in charge of making dinner. The group of teens sat at the kitchen table catching the two parents up on the latest gossip of Hogwarts. 

"What about Regulus?" Euphemia asked as she chopped up some vegetables. "How is he?" Everyone turned to look at Betsy.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's at home for the holidays." She answered.

"Poor boy." Euphemia joked. "Maybe we should send him a present?" She mused. "I doubt he gets many. Would you do that Sirius?"

"Can do. Though Betsy's probably in contact with him more than I am. And if Walburga saw my handwriting on a letter it'd be burnt before it even entered the house."

"Yeah, i'll do that later." Betsy told them. 

After dinner Betsy sat in her room. A box filled with different sweets that her mum had put together lay beside the blank parchment on the table. She had made three drafts of the letter that she was going to send with it but couldn't quite decide on the right way to word it. 

Dear R̶e̶g̶u̶l̶u̶s̶, B̶l̶a̶c̶k̶, R̶e̶g̶g̶i̶e̶

She scrunched the parchment up and threw it across her room. She let out a groan and ran her hands through her hair.

"Betsy?" Lily asked, entering the room. "That's me going. You okay?" 

"Yeah, fine. Have a good Christmas Lils." She got up out of the chair to hug the older girl. 

"You too B." Lily must have spotted what Betsy was doing as she told her. "Don't think about it too much, the more you overthink, the harder it's going to be. See you soon." She told her as she left. Betsy sighed and returned to her desk. 'Don't think too much.' She told herself and, following Lily's advice she managed to write a letter that she was decently happy with. She sent it off with the parcel before she could overthink and decide she hated it. 

She was awoken the next morning by a tapping on her window. 

"James. If that's you, I swear to Merlin I will not hesitate to break all your fingers." She threatened, not opening her eyes. The tapping didn't stop. "We had an agreement. You can't wake everyone up before six on Christmas." The tapping still continued. "I'm going to kill you." She finally opened her eyes and realised that the tapping was, infact, not James. Instead it was her owl. Sighing, she opened the window to let her in. "Sorry about that." She apologised, stroking her feathers. "Thought you were Jamie." The owl dropped the letter that she was holding in her beak onto the table before flying into her cage, in a huff. 

She recognised the handwriting straight away and couldn't stop the small smile that crept onto her face as she opened it. 

Dear Betsy, 

Tell your mum thank you for the sweets. I did try to make you something in return whilst my parents were out the house. However, though we both know that i'm an amazing cook, baking is seemingly not my strong point. I figured you wouldn't want burnt biscuits, so instead I will take you for drinks in Hogsmeade when we get back to school. Your brother seems to have charmed my mother, she hasn't stopped going on about you since the party. Though the way she says it is like a pros and cons list so take with that what you will. Have a good Christmas and remember we have that essay for Slughorn due the first day back. 

- R.A.B

She had forgotten about that essay. Before she could really think about it though there was a loud knocking at her door. 

"IT'S SIX!" James shouted. "EVERYONE UP!"

"Prongs." Sirius shouted back. "Shut up." 

"NO! IT'S CHRISTMAS! COME ON!" 

Betsy opened up her door. A scowl on her face. 

"RACE YOU B," James shouted at her before tearing down the corridor. Betsy laughed at the sight of him before joining him in running through the house.