Howl of The Moon (A Remus Lupin Fanfiction)

Chapter 23

"We should wake them now. They've been sleeping down here for the whole night." A voice whispered, gaining Jasmine's attention. "I'm not sure about that." Another voice replied. Lily's. "Whatever you say, Lily-flower." The voice of James Potter, full of mirth and laughter, said. "Where's Padfoot?" Peter asked. "Sleeping. Lazy bug, he is. Won't get up no matter what I tried." Hazel sighed, shaking her head. "Did you try pulling him up?" James asked, too much innocence showing for Jasmine's liking.

"He pulled me down." Hazel whined quietly in indignation. James and Peter snickered and Jasmine decided to tell them she's awake. She opened her eyes and said, "Psst. I'm awake." At the sudden new interjection of Jasmine's voice, Remus woke with a start. He looked around and remembered what happened last night. He looked down at Jasmine who looked up, her face reddening. The rest watched with curiosity burning. Everybody then turned to look at the stairs when two violent thumps were heard overhead and a door slammed open.

Sirius came tearing down the stairs. "Christmas time!" He shouted joyfully. "Hey Sirius, what's wrong with those two? We can't figure out." Hazel motioned to Jasmine and Remus. He looked at them, his eyes moved from Remus' happy face to Jasmine's blushing face repeatedly. Sirius then turned back to the group with an incredulous look that suggested are you serious?!. "What happened?" Peter pestered, seeing that Sirius seemed to know.

"They kissed." Sirius said in a matter-of-fact tone. There were all sorts of reactions. Lily dropped her book, Hazel started choking, Peter's eyes grew as round as moons, Sirius smirking and applauding and James was yelling "MOONY! YOU KISSED A GIRL?!?! YOU ACTUALLY KISSED SOMEONE ON THE LIPS?!?!?!" He asked.

"No. I kissed a gnome." Remus rolled his eyes. "Prongs, darn it. How long will it take to get it through your thick skull? Yes I did." Remus performed another eye roll. Jasmine snickered from her place beside him. "Well, I never would have thought that you, that you..." James trailed off, flabbergasted. Lily and Hazel smirked at them, Peter gave them thumbs up.

Breakfast was quite nice. Euphemia had pancakes made and put them on the dining table alongside the syrup and butter and the jug of fresh milk. "Good morning everyone." She beamed as the 7th years made their way to the table. "Tuck in." Fleamont said graciously when nobody ate. Upon hearing those words, everyone picked up their cutlery and began their breakfast. "Pass the milk, please." Jasmine, Hazel and Lily asked at the same time. They looked at each other in mild surprise before starting to suggest who gets the milk first, and ended up having a very confused James pour the milk for Lily, then Hazel and finally Jasmine.

"Presents!" Lily squealed excitedly. James laughed as she bolted the room, heading to the Christmas tree. "Who's going first?" Euphemia asked when everybody settled down. "Me." Everybody said at the same moment, laughter then followed. "Peter can go first." Jasmine suggested. Peter shook his head. "Ladies first. Jasmine, you go first." He said. When nobody protested, Jasmine pulled her presents over. The Potters had gotten her a small jewellery box, Sirius and Peter gave her a new notebook to scribble in, the girls gave her a huge bag of chocolate, as did her parents, and she finally got to Remus'. Cautiously, Jasmine unwrapped the paper. "You know you can rip it right? You're unwrapping all the paper, not tearing it." James asked. Remus bit his lip nervously, afraid that she wouldn't like his present.

After what felt like 9 centuries later, Jasmine lifted up a beautiful necklace with a wolf pendant, their tails intertwined. Jasmine's breath caught in her throat. Words failed her, she simply turned to where Remus was and kissed him. Remus was startled for a few moments and kissed back when his shock faded. "That's enough PDA." Sirius interrupted, smirking. The couple broke apart, blushing madly. Hazel and Peter applauded and James wolf-whistled. Jasmine and Remus glared at them playfully.

After admiring their presents, they went back to the sofa and continued their chattering. James and Peter were planning more pranks, Sirius had Hazel nestled in his arms and they were chatting among themselves, smiling. Lily challenged Remus to a game of chess and Jasmine kept on giving pointers to Remus, who was now winning. "Not fair." Lily whined on protest when Remus and Jasmine won, grinning. As if to tease Lily further, Remus swooped down and gave Jasmine a light kiss on the cheek. "Eww... Do a PDA alert next time!" Lily cried out, laughing as she said so. Jasmine smirked, "No promises." She joked. "Oooh! Look! It's snowing!" Hazel said suddenly from her position, pointing at the whindow, squealing happily. "Let's go and play in the snow." Peter suggested. "All in fav-" Lily started and Jasmine cut her off. "No need for that, Lils. Anyone who doesn't come out here with be feeling left out anyways. We'll make sure of that." Jasmine waved her hand at her.

Turned out, everyone had decided to come out. Remus and Jasmine were the last to leave, Remus held the door open for Jasmine. "Stop being such a gentleman. It's weird." Jasmine laughed.

"But-"

"I'm honestly just another normal, average 17 year-old." Jasmine insisted.

"You're my girlfriend." Remus objected.

"Fine. Good point you have there, Rem." Jasmine said, walking through the open door, smiling all the way. Remus quickly caught up with her in a few large strides. "Where are they?" Jasmine asked as they crossed the back garden with two rows of bushes on each side. Jasmine stopped suddenly and Remus got hit by the whizzing, white snowball coming from their right flank. "Oi you two! Choose your teammate! Wormtail's the only free person left!" Sirius barked at them from their right. Remus grabbed Jasmine's hand without hesitation and dragged her to a bush. "Are you kidding?! Why doesn't anyone choose me?" Whined Peter from opposite. Jasmine cupped her hand in the snow floor and created a snowball.

"They should be around here somewhere." They heard someone whisper. Remus quickly gathered some of the fluffy snow in his hands and they crouched, waiting for the person to arrive. James and Lily swung into view as soon as they hid carefully, Jasmine's white coat camouflaging against the white, snowy floor. The couple took careful aim and they shot their balls, hitting James on the back of his head and Lily on her back. "Arghhh!!!" Lily screamed and hurled her snowball at Jasmine who just laughed as she dodged easily. "I played as Chaser back at Beauxbatons." She crowed. Lily sighed and tried again, aiming for Remus instead. Jasmine flicked some snow at the ball and it shattered among contact. "Jasmine, really?" Lily asked, bending down to form another snowball. "Well, they are a couple." James pointed out, narrowly missing a snowball Remus flung at him.

Then, there was a barricade of snowballs, splattering over all four of them as Peter, Hazel and Sirius popped up from the bush behind. "Cross-teamers!" Lily shrieked at them, pelting them with as many snowballs she could managed. Hazel yelped and ducked behind Sirius.

The games was childish, there's no denying that, but the 7 Gryffindors spent a splendid time, tossing white spheres at each other. Finally, Peter and Jasmine called for a break and everyone tottered back into the house, leaving snow trails.