𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸, remus lupin

˗ˋ 72

CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY REACH
THE VILLAGE

. . .

By the time Euphemia was ready to leave, laden in woollen clothing and shopping bags stuffed in the pockets of her coat, the group of boys had managed to scrounge up enough of their own winter-weather approved wear to clothe the entirety of their school. Pandora, however, needed only a small fraction of that and herself, Euphemia and Remus set off with her wearing Peter's old knitted hat, Remus's scarf, Sirius's gloves (he had the smallest hands) and a number of James's jumpers that had been kept from when he was further down in the school. 

And as Mrs Potter had pointed out whilst the group at their breakfast, Godric's Hollow was teeming with tourists and holiday-makers as they experienced the very Muggle-esque magic that was the village in December. It was a very small community of which the Potters lived on the outskirts of, but had plenty of shops to appease the crowds who had come to see the famed quaint village in all it's Christmastime glory. 

The air smelt of the cold and something minty coming out of the jam-packed cafe they passed by first, Mrs Potter's sights set on a small supermarket on the other side of the highstreet, close to where the iron fence surrounding the church's graveyard came to a stop. As her predictions were correct, many Muggles had come to visit the village that, whilst being home to several select Wizarding family, had it's own Muggle population too that made an effort to profit off of the tourist sweep at the end of each year. 

And, whilst Pandora had never quite been in such a busy place and certain hadn't been surrounded with so many Muggles since she last ventured into the village her own home had been on the edge of, she seemed to understand the appeal. 

Lights adorned every tree, stalls of red, green and white adorned the cobbled street, shop fronts had Christmas offers and the promise of seasonal goods within, as well as their windows painted with scenes of snow, sledging and trees decorated in orbs of varying colours. Spanning across the width of the street, from tree to tree or the various wires on the front of each building were even more lights, except these seemed to depict a man with a beard, a present and snowflakes. 

With the mass of people beneath it was a touch overwhelming, but Pandora didn't seem to mind as she thought she would. Instead, she seemed to thoroughly enjoy the busyness, Remus believing that perhaps, whilst she had insisted that the Castle was her home, she was glad to not have been there, left alone.  

Remus and Euphemia had been watching her, unknowingly, and as Pandora came to, no longer distracted by the mass of lights, colour and decoration Mrs Potter turned to her. "We can have a look around after we shop, if you'd like." She offered. "I'd say you could just go now, however I may need your thoughts on  the next few nights of dinners."

"Okay." Pandora agreed. "I would..." She looked slightly cautious as she prepared to ask. "I'd like to try some of the roasted chestnuts that man over there is selling."

"I think we can organise that, right?" Remus smiled, adjusting the scarf once so carefully wrapped around her neck having now slipped and muffling her words. "Come on."

Pandora agreed to this and the three of them managed to reach the grocery store without much more distraction and they set off with following Euphemia around, agreeing and disagreeing on her question on upcoming dishes that would last them to the three day period of what was considered tradition to the Potters; homemade dishes on Christmas Eve, a roast dinner on Christmas day and a buffet of leftovers and other mixed bits, 

The pair of teenagers lagged behind, hands still dug into the pockets of their coats and nose tinted with pink. Euphemia carried on forwards through the aisles of fruit and vegetables and it was then that the intrigue returned to Pandora as she scanned the sight. 

"Not used to how Muggles get their food?" He asked. She nodded. 

"I've never been somewhere like this before." 

"How did you get food then?" Remus continued before he could stop himself, before backtracking hastily. "Sorry - it's just... I've wondered, a lot, about how you got by in the six years."

Pandora shrugged. She picked up an orange. "I had an house-elf." She replied.

He stared at her for a moment. "You left a house-elf? You didn't... you didn't go back?"

"No."  She looked indignant, eyes almost rolling. "I set him free. He works at Hogwarts now, so he was not to be alone. Do you think Mrs Potter would allow me to buy this?" 

"Er - yeah, yeah, it's an orange, why wouldn't she?" 

"I don't know." Pandora said, the orange ball of a fruit rolling in her palm. "My mother never used to allow me them, I assumed that there was something wrong with them." She turned away to catch up with Euphemia and slip the fruit into the basket and Remus hurried to follow. He still was entirely unaware of the realities of her childhood past what she had told him - and it hadn't been a lot.

Remus got the sense that he would only feel hurt if he knew.

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