metanoia

Chapter Twenty-five

After dinner ended, the night before students could go home for Winter Holiday, Alex was walking a few feet ahead of the Marauders as they made their way back to the Gryffindor Tower. As she passed a frosted window pane, she saw the grounds of the Courtyard blanketed in thick, white snow. She turned around, abruptly stopping in her tracks, "Guys, it's snowing!"

Without another word to her companions she sprints down the corridor, running outside to play in the snow, giggling like a child. It hardly ever snowed in Marseille, so every year since her arrival at Hogwarts, when it snowed she got excited like a child on Christmas morning. The Marauders watch her take off down the hall and immediately following her until they too were in the snow.

Sirius and James reach down, ball up some snow and beam them at Alex and Remus. Peter laughed like a madman when the snowball Sirius threw hit Alex square in the face. She wiped the freezing sludge off her face with a gleeful smile, squatting down to make her own snowball ammunition before turning to Sirius, "Oh you're going to get it, you little prick."

The five of them played in the snow, throwing snow at each other and making snowmen, letting themselves feel like they were children again. When they all finally got too cold and wet to continue on, they made their way up to the Gryffindor Tower to change into dry clothes and warm up, meeting Lisette and the rest of their friends in the Common Room.

"Hey, I forgot to ask, what are you two doing for Holiday, Twilight?" James asked after everyone else had gone to bed, leaving only the pair and the Marauders.

Realizing she was the one being addressed, Alex quickly looked around the circular room at each of her companions, her fidgeting hands automatically gravitating to the token of her late mother. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she answered, "Oh, I almost forgot about that being my nickname. We normally stay here at Hogwarts with Charlie and Frank."

Sirius pulls his eyes from the bright fireplace, appalled by their answer, "What, why do you spend Christmas and your birthdays alone?"

The blonde watches the metal hands of her old watch tick away, slowly inching its way around the gold face. Lisette sadly smiles at her best friend, knowing that this time of year is particularly hard on Alex because it's yet another birthday she doesn't get to spend with her twin. Another year she gets older and he doesn’t.

"Because we haven't been home in years, not after mum and Noah died. And we don't really celebrate our birthdays, not anymore, " she whispers, fingering the end of her shoelaces as the blonde hypnotically watched the second hand chase itself around the watch.

Sirius and James exchange a look. They both knew what they wanted to do and they know that Mrs. Potter would be approve of it because Sirius has been living there for a while and the other Marauder's spend their holidays at the Potter residence. And... James had already owled his mum yesterday in his weekly letter, "Come stay with me for the holiday."

Those seven words were enough to catch Alex's attention and cause her to look up from her watch, surprised by the generosity of her friend, then to her best friend in shock, "What? No we couldn't-"

"You can and you will. My mum is already expecting you two. And besides,  it's a Marauders tradition to spend the holiday with my family so you have to," James argued, not taking no for an answer.

Lisette and Alex turned to each other and had a silent conversation. They'd never even taken the Prewetts up on their offer to spend Holiday with them and that offer has stood for years. Neither wanting to impose on their time with Molly and their nephews, something they look forward to all year. Letti nods her head, on board with accepting the invitation, while Alex rolls her eyes and reluctantly gives in, "Fine."

As Alex and Letti were packing their things for a winter holiday at the Potter's, the blonde somehow felt herself absent-mindedly slipping back into her prophecy state. She folded her favorite jumpers into her trunk, mumbling what she believed to be nonsense to herself, "In the death of the tenth month, the deaths of two will result in three. Living amongst the dead, a splinter latched onto the unsuspecting victim. The faithful servant turned disloyal to his family. "

Realizing what she had just done, Alex grabbed a piece of parchment out of her school supplies and a pencil from her case addressing the letter to Headmaster Dumbledore.

PROF. DUMBLEDORE,

I HAVE ANOTHER MESSAGE FOR YOU. WOULD YOU LIKE FOR ME TO SEND IT TO YOU THROUGH AN OWL OR THROUGH ANOTHER MEANS? I THINK IT WAS CONNECTED TO THE LAST ONE.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS,

- ALEX WORTH.

The next afternoon, the Marauders, true and honorary, pile onto the humming Hogwarts Express all ready to go home for Holiday. The train wasn't as abundant as it was previously in September but still was full and alive with noise and laughter. Typically during the trips to and from Hogwarts, Alex and Letti would be sitting alone until the Prewett twins found their way to them but this time they had four friends that automatically claimed a compartment for them.

Alex claimed the seat nearest the window, staring out the plexiglass as the train rolled out of the Hogsmeade station and Hogwarts suddenly didn't seem as big. Remus sat beside her, reading a Muggle book that she lent him and lightly scribing his annotations in pencil. It was her favorite, The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Letti sat across from them, propping her head against the wall and drifted off to fall asleep. By the time the trolley cart stopped at their compartment, Sirius and James bought loads of sweets, including chocolate frogs for Remus, Letti and Alex.

The six of them were all enjoying their candy. Alex watched as Sirius caught Droobles in his mouth, momentarily comparing the sight to a fond memory. She twisted the ring on her middle ring, randomly saying exactly what she was thinking, "Noah would have liked you. I mean he did. He did like you, he looked up to you lot in 1st year. The pranks you pulled, the friends you had, he thought guys were so cool. He would have loved being friends with you."

"Yeah, you guys actually remind me a lot of him. James and his unshakable passion, Remus and his kindness, Peter and his loyalty to you guys and Sirius with his obsession over his hair," Letti laughed, lightening the mood, understanding exactly where Alex was coming from and why she finally decided to be friends with them.

The boys didn't know what to say, how were they supposed to know it's not a typical conversational topic. Of course they knew how other kids treated them and that many wanted to be friends with them but most of the time, they kept to the four of them. Keeping the circle small. Sure, they knew and had fun with loads of others, but not close friends like they have been to Alex this year.

Remus gently laid his hand on Alex's, giving her a second to either accept the contact or to pull away from it. She didn't pull away, she actually found some comfort in his kind gesture and smiled at him. Remus smiled back, "We would have loved your brother if he's as brilliant as you. I'm sorry that I didn't get to be his friend."

"We all are. He sounds like a pretty cool bloke from how you lot and the Prewetts have spoken of him," James finishes tossing another chocolate frog on her lap.