scars || sirius black

17 - a merry little Christmas

Christmas Eve was even colder than the day before. Emmy opened the front door to ten inches on snow outside and quickly shut it again. They hurriedly lit the fireplaces and huddled around their bowls of steaming porridge for breakfast.

Thankfully the plumbing was still working fine and the electrics just needed a kick start, but the central heating was a bit rusty.

Hamish came round mid morning to help and seemed to enjoy showing Remus the ropes. But whilst Remus had an extremely soft spot for the old man, there was only so much DIY he could stand, so it took plenty of furtive hand gestures for Emmy to succeed in preserving their sixteen-year long relationship.

She, on the other hand, spent most of the day sorting through their father's belongings, cleaning out the kitchen cupboards and covering the walls with plenty of paintings to disguise the peeling paintwork.

They could sort that some other time, but it was Christmas and she just wanted it to look nice for a while.

As the sun began to fade from the sky, the moon rose from the mountains and the stars twinkled from their heavenly perches.

Emmy sat in the middle of the living room surrounded by wrapping paper and ribbons carefully assembling each friends' present, humming away to Nat King Cole's dreamy tones.

Remus was in the kitchen peeling potatoes for their dinner and whilst he could have easily done it with magic, they lived in a muggle village so he would be picked up by the Ministry in a matter of minutes. He glanced over at Emmy as she excitedly rifled through the boxes; it was quite overwhelming seeing her in their old home, especially without their father there. He didn't blame his dad for sending him away to live with their ancient uncle in Devon, but it still sometimes hurt that he chose Emmy over him, not that he would ever hold it against her.

Memories of full moons drugged up in the basement of their uncle's house surged back to him. He winced quietly and had to close his eyes for a minute to clear his head, leaning against the counter top.

He'd never felt so alone as he did on those long nights. But it had changed when he arrived at Hogwarts four years ago; within a month, his room mates had discovered his secret. It was unlucky that Professor McGonagall had bunked him in with three of the smartest people he knew, but the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if she'd done it on purpose.

He set their dinner in the oven to keep it warm and peered out the window. The snow had slowed enough during the day that he reckoned they could head out for a late night stroll.

With swathes of wrapping paper stuck to her and a smile that could outshine the angels, Emmy looked like you would find her in a Quality Street tin.

"You want to head out for a walk?" he asked, moving to close the curtains at the window.

She titled her head in consideration, "It'll be freezing though?"

"I'll get you a jumper," he grinned and jogged up to her room.

He returned to find her lacing up her boots by the front door with a candy cane stuck crookedly out of her mouth.

She tugged the jumper over her head and linked her arm through Remus' as they left the house.

They wandered through the village together, pointing out the Christmas trees that twinkled in the windowpanes until they reached the end of the main street.

No one else was about, but it wasn't quite silent either. Carols were being sung in the old church a few houses away and owls hooted from their high up perches.

"I'm so glad you're here, Rem," murmured Emmy, gazing out over the village and mountains beyond.

He had nothing to say, so he just wrapped her in a hug and held her tight.