James' gift to Lily turned out to not actually be that bad. The first part was terrible: a plush love heart wearing a Santa hat with a moving face that spat out different cheesy Christmas related pickup lines every time you touched it.
"Aww, James that's so...sweet?" Abbey said, slightly confused.
Lily on the other hand was not amused. "Really, Potter? Why am I not surprised?"
The second part however, was much more up her alley.
"This is just going to explode or something when I open it, isn't it?" Lily asked, holding up the small box she had found inside the larger one.
It turned out to contain a small silver bracelet with a little lily pad shaped charm. She tried her hardest to keep back a smile. "Oh uh, thank you James."
And much to James' delight, she even put it on.
The rest of the gift giving then ensued. Everything from muggle trinkets to Quidditch guides and equipment – including a new pair of gloves for Grace who had somehow managed to loose both of hers – and plenty of books, socks, chocolate and other confectionary to go around.
Lily had given both Remus and Grace a pair of Sound Proof Earbuds that were charmed to not let any noise get through whatsoever, for them to "block the other three out whilst you're studying for your O.W.L.s".
On top of all of the chocolate, Grace had given Remus a small, fabric book mark depicting the moon behind some leafless trees. Being a magical book mark, however, it changed with the phases of the actual moon, providing an easy yet discreet method of checking how far away the next full moon was.
Ely had given Sirius a muggle encyclopaedia of motorbikes, an area that he was beginning to develop a bit of an interest in. He wasted no time in picking out his favourite one and announcing it to everyone.
Sirius' gift to Ely on the other hand was a little bit more extravagant. It came in a plain box with a few small misshapen holes cut in the top, although it was too dark inside to see anything through them. The whole room snapped their heads around when they heard Ely gasp.
"What? What is it?" Sam asked. "Is that a good gasp or-"
Ely reached inside the box and pulled out a tiny, sleeping kitten with sparkling black fur, as if the night sky covered its skin.
There was a chorus of "aww's" around the room.
"You got me a cat? Not even that, you-you got me a space cat?" Ely beamed, having wanted a cat since his early Hogwarts years. "That would've cost you so-"
"You're welcome. And don't worry about it, my aunt's given me money, the one that got disowned too, and you know my family. They're practically swimming in it."
The kitten was soon dubbed Nebula on account of the beautiful patterns on her fur and passed around the room for everyone to have a look at.
Once the gifting frenzy was over and they had all helped to clean up the mess they'd made, they moved into the living room for lunch where the Potters had put together an absolute feast. Fleamont Potter's potion making skills made him an excellent chef.
They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting, messing around with their new items and even playing a modified version of Quidditch in the backyard before setting up a small fire for them to all sit around as it began to get dark.
Grace and Remus were cuddled up beside each other with one of the Potters' old blankets wrapped around their shoulders, their faces lit up by the fire in front of them. They were playing truth or dare as a group, which never ended well.
YOU ARE READING
The Forest - R.L.
Fanfiction(Remus Lupin - Marauder's Era ) She was wandering through the forest when she saw it. A wolfish being, about as tall as herself, with scruffy grey-brown fur and a snarl forming on its lips. But she wasn't afraid. --- Grace Thorne is an eleven year o...
