Some people found comfort in sitting next to a fireplace or having someone hold onto them and whisper sweet nothing into their ear. James Potter did not find comfort in any of these things, instead finding comfort in food, specifically sweet food th...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter twenty one: underneath the mistletoe
The Potters weren't lying about their celebrations for the Christmas holiday, inviting all sorts of witches and wizards to the spectacular dinner. Matilda watched some food she had made be munched down by them all, a delightful smile on their faces. Music played in throughout the entire house and a small smile spread onto her face. She wore a lovely black sweater with a white collared shirt underneath and a slim tartan skirt paired with some stockings. Matilda usually didn't care what she wore but she had never actually been to a celebration like this and felt a bit self-conscious.
Her happiness faltered as she looked at them all, all of them so sure of themselves and sure of their abilities. Matilda couldn't help but feel positively out of place among the wizard folk as plenty had asked her what she wanted to be after graduating to Hogwarts and they seem less than delighted at her response of "I'm not quite sure." She had answered all of their questions but they didn't seem to care about the answers all too much. Who wanted to talk to a teenager they had never met before amongst all their friends.
Sirius had noticed her slightly sad attitude and done his best to cheer the girl up as she was hit with a little bit of sadness due to her feeling of not belonging. James had been dragged away every time he had tried to get close to Matilda by a lot of witches and wizards encouraging him to do all sorts of things within different departments. James answered all their questions with a bright smile on his face but his eyes remained on Matilda, the boy noticing her attitude dim throughout the night.
She had remembered the nights that she and her grandmother had spent, knitting as they were watching some telly, laughing at the character's silly interactions. It was her norm and the situation she was in now was very far from what she was used to. But she slapped on a smile and mingled as best she could without feeling alone. It almost felt suffocating being in a room where everyone knew each other and was friendly and it was only around dessert that she finally decided to escape the charades and get some air.
She escaped out of the front door and decided to sit down on small steps that led up to it, watching as the snow fell down on her shoes and the lovely skirt she had put on. She heard the front door open slightly before hearing a loud shut, rolling her eyes because it was probably Sirius coming to check up on her, worry swimming in his eyes. The boy had been frantically checking on her and had been just about the only one that evening that seemed to care what she did, probably feeling exactly like she did. Like an outsider.
But to the surprise of Matilda, it was not Sirius that followed her through the door, it was James with the same worry swimming in his eyes as he stepped forward and sat down next to her. Their shoulders brushed and both let themselves become more comfortable next to one another, their body heat warming each other.
