Chocolate Covered Strawberries [Remus Lupin]

𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢-𝚘𝚗𝚎

Chapter seventy-one; Pins and letters

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A particularly chilly wind swept Lily's red hair up and made a mess out of it as she carried blankets outside to the backyard of James's house. Night has fallen and the group decided to make a bonfire to sit around in the summer evening. None of them anticipated for it to be really cold, hence why Lily carried blankets to the boys who were already sat around the fire on even more blankets.

''Hey, where's Jasmine?'' asked Lily as she passed a blanket over to Peter before settling down beside James.

Her eyes went to Remus but he was sitting alone. James nudged her softly for her attention and she looked at him. He nodded towards the house where light was pouring out of a kitchen window. Inside Jasmine was standing by the sink cleaning something with a familiar smile on her face, beside her stood James' mum, deliberately talking about something.

''She almost seems to be so cosy in any kitchen she finds,'' James observed with a laugh. ''And my mum totally adores her. As far as I know, they were baking together before.''

A knowing 'ah' escaped Lily as she nodded understanding. It was the same when Jasmine came to her house, she somehow was able to woo her parents the second she stepped foot into her house. As far as the group was concerned, everyone's mothers loved to cook and bake and that's something Jasmine had in common with them.

''I'm telling you guys, Jasmine has the parent charm,'' James said shrugging, eyes settling on the fire in front of him.

''The parent charm?'' Remus asked confused.

Lily took it upon herself to explain. ''No matter which parents she meets she gets along with them and it's all so natural to her. She could bake with any mum probably.''

''Not with my mother,'' Sirius commented with an easy laugh.

It produced a few chuckles from the group, each knowing stories about Walburga but none of them said anything further. Remus glanced at the house as well, seeing Jasmine through the window laughing and nodding at something James' mum said. His own lips curled into a small smile as a peculiar thought crossed his mind. Maybe he should invite her home once to meet his parents. He wondered how she would react, but considering everyone agreed that she's natural with parents, he hoped it wouldn't scare her away. He was certain that his mum already knew something was going on even though he never spoke a single word about Jasmine. That Christmas gift was enough of a hint despite that back then Jasmine and he had nothing going on at all.

''I hope you are craving something sweet.'' Jasmine was carrying a platter of muffins before passing it to Lily who looked at the dessert with new hunger in her eyes.

Jasmine chuckled lightly at her reaction, urging her to take one before passing the platter on so everyone would get a taste of it. Her light eyes travelled across the group until they settled on Remus and she circled around the fire to sit down beside him. On her other side was sitting Sirius, next to Remus was Peter and across from them, James and Lily. Jasmine pulled the sleeves of her jumper over her hands before she leaned into Remus seeking warmth.

Remus looked from the fire down at her and noticed that she was in fact wearing his jumper and not one of her own. It was a lot bigger on her smaller frame but he must admit that it looked good on her. He slowly wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her even closer if that was possible. They smiled at each other before their eyes settled back on the raging fire in front of them.

''Who's ready to open the letters?'' asked James eagerly protruding a wand from his back of the pocket.

A series of mixed sounds came from the group, some excited, some not so much. They received the Hogwarts letters this morning but they didn't feel like opening them right during breakfast ruining the whole day by it. So they rather waited for the evening. The letters contained their end of term exam marks as well as prefect pins for the next year. Most of them had nothing to worry about, but Jasmine was pretty anxious to open hers.