The Twelve Fucks of Christmas: A Wolfstar Story

The Perfect Distraction

Monday was usually a busy day for Remus; his mornings would be spent tutoring the Johnsons' daughter, Angelina—a smart girl whose mind was more occupied by Quidditch than Arithmancy—and in the afternoons he would head over to the Warringtons' to get their young son, Cassius, up to speed with his lessons in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. But as it was technically the start of his Christmas holidays, he had the whole day to himself. It was a rare occurrence and one that he enjoyed immensely. After a long lie in in bed, he had made himself a tasty breakfast (scrambled egg on toast with bacon, his favourite) before heading into London to meet with James, Lily and Harry for the afternoon.

After a quick shopping trip to Diagon Alley, they popped into Florean Fortescue's to buy Harry an ice cream. They had asked if he was sure that's what he wanted considering it had been snowing, but he was unwavering in his decision. Remus decided to treat himself to a chocolate ice-cream too, and so the four of them made their way back to Muggle London to one of the nearby parks, cones and Christmas shopping in hand.

In this weather, the park looked picturesque: the trees, benches and pathways were hidden under crisp, untouched snow. Several other families and young couples were out enjoying the beautiful surroundings, too; they passed a number of people who were out walking their dogs and building snowmen. The heavy snowfall and cold weather had chased away the birds and instead of the usual sound of bird calls and cars rumbling passed the park, all Remus could hear was the soft crunch of snow underfoot and laughter from a group of strangers nearby engaging in a snowball fight. He took pleasure in the false sense of isolation and eerie calm at that moment—you would never think that they were in central London.

"This is Daddy's park," Harry declared cryptically, licking his sticky fingers clean of the remnants of his melted treat then wiping his hands down the front of his winter coat.

"Is it?" asked Remus curiously. Harry nodded.

"Daddy says so."

"That's right, son!" James interjected, slapping Remus on the shoulder. "Don't you know, Moony? Everything in this park is mine: the geese, the pelicans, the ducks..."

"Even the squirrels?" Harry inquired, looking up expectantly at his father. James grinned.

"Exactly!" he said brightly. "Everyone thinks this is the Queen's park, but she's just keeping an eye on things for me."

Remus glanced at Lily for clarification and she rolled her eyes, "This is St James' Park."

"Ahh..." Remus smiled and nodded in understanding. "Then by all accounts, I have a strong claim to the holy city of Rome."

James scoffed, "I lay my claim to one park and you have to go one better and bagsy a whole city."

"You better not mention this little game of one-upmanship to Sirius otherwise he'll try and argue that he owns the whole sky," Lily teased.

The three friends chatted as they wandered through the park, stopping every so often when Harry saw a squirrel or Lily needed to rest her feet. Pregnancy had been more challenging this time around; she insisted that she could take swollen hands and feet in her stride, but needing to pee constantly was, in her words, 'a pain in the arse'. Despite the physical discomfort, the Potters were excited to welcome another member to their small family.

Harry was more hyperactive than usual (Probably thanks to the ice-cream, Remus thought) and was running circles around the three grown-ups, trying to coax his father into chasing him.

"I'm the snitch Daddy, you need to catch me!" he cried, running off in the direction of a nearby pond filled with ducks. James sighed and passed his shopping bags to Lily.