"the stars protects us..." whispered Regulus ✰ "the stars protects us..." whispered Lia
they're changing destinies and used to be's... makeshift families and lost promises to the seven seas
[complete]
[marauders era]
[oc x Regulus Black]
{tw: death...
It was nothing of which Malia was previously used to. Christmas with The Crouch was a very different occasion, and the Potter was not quite sure how she would describe it. There was a warmer atmosphere waking up on Christmas morning in her new room at The Crouch Manor, though there was no twin brother to jump on her bed and wake her up.
Instead of James, Malia had Barty creeping into her room at midnight, and she woke up to the boy snuggled under the covers beside her. It was a sweet sight to behold, and Malia regretted jumping on the bed like James would do to her.
Barty bolted upright, clearly forgetting in his sleepy state that he wasn't an only child this Christmas.
"Merry Christmas, Barty!" she attacked him with a squashing hug onto the bed. Had she been anyone else, he would've reacted quickly and escaped in a flash, feeling intensely uncomfortable. But Malia wasn't anyone else, she was his sister in everything but blood.
"Sorry about the— this —" he motioned to himself in her bed with a sheepish smile and Malia smiled.
"You don't have to apologise."
Barty smiled too, "Thank you. It's just— I've never had anyone to share Christmas with before... I thought that maybe if I woke up, you wouldn't be here, and I'd have my hopes crushed again."
Malia pulled her best friend out of the bed, so they were both standing on the cold floor, "Well, I'm here for the rest of the Christmases from now on."
Someday they'd move on, both move out, have families of their own and their own Christmases, but that didn't need to be stated right now.
Instead of her own mother barely registering her presence, Mrs Crouch was doting over her new daughter and only son. She wasn't elderly, but was fragile, that didn't stop her from insisting on cooking with the House-elf, Winky, that Christmas morning though. She'd gifted Malia one of her old dresses for the ball that evening with appropriate jewellery and silver heels to match.
Mr Crouch was just as fond of Malia as her own father was, he cared for neither the new girl nor his own son. He was a man only interested in his work at the ministry and was hardly around for the special occasion.
Malia was pleasantly surprised as to just how many presents; she received this year—much more than she'd ever had in her life! There were gifts from Narcissa, Andromeda, Bellatrix, Rabastan, Rodolphus, Lucius and, of course, Barty. There were even some from James, Sirius, and Remus to her surprise.
But of course, why didn't she guess? There were none from her parents. She didn't need them either way, Mrs Crouch bought enough for the entire Slytherin house.
Life with The Crouches was more than Malia could have dreamed of, Barty obviously thought less of it than she did, but coming from the home she did, Malia couldn't find much to complain about.
At noon, Barty and Malia dressed in layers of warm clothes and escaped the house to dance and play in the freshly fallen snow. They spent hours tossing snowballs at each other and sledding down the backyard's decline to crash into the fence line.
This was easily one of the happiest days of Malia's life and it wasn't even over yet. For the first time in her life, Malia felt like a real kid.
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