#hpcu

their relationship had been fairly new. they hadn't even knew one another that long, and everyone was convinced that she was a distraction for the boy, away from his infatuation with lily evans. the relationship was destined to be short lived.

and so the girl didn't get her hopes up.

but she had been having a bad day, and she hadn't seen her boyfriend all day. nor, had she seen her friends, or anyone she could truly reach out to. the girl felt stuck, like she was trapped in a never ending cycle of classes and overcrowded hallways.

until the clocktower had chimed for lunch. she was able to make a swift exit from her current class, and dart toward the openness of the great hall. yes, there would be chatter and she would likely be equally as overwhelmed, but the space wasn't as constricting.

she had reached the hall, stepping through the threshold of the large oak doors. her shoes clicking across the flagstone as a particular group of gryffindors had watched her enter.

"uhm, james.." peter squeaked anxiously, gathering the bespectacled boy's attention rather effectively.

"yeah, pete," the boy brushed off, still picking at the food on his plate.

"is that, uhm, your girlfriend? by the door?" he asked, gesturing with his head in the vague direction of the entryway.

james might as well have given himself whiplash with the haste which the boy turned his head around, a goofy smile dancing on his lips. pushing himself away from the gryffindor table, he bound over to her, a spring in his step as he oozed with excitement.

as he approached, he could see the discontent on her face, his own mirroring her expression in an attempt to locate the cause.

"heya y/n," james excitedly exclaimed, opening his arms to her as he became at arms length. she jumped at the opportunity to hug the boy, resting almost her entire bodyweight on him.

"hey jamie," she mumbled into his shoulder, released an exasperated sigh as they continued their embrace. "are you alright?" he pulled his head away from her slightly, to examine her face, a mild look of annoyance still present on her features.

"yeah, today's just been a lot, sorry jamie," y/n used the nickname once more, which further instilled his worry toward her. he ushered her back to where his friends were situated, putting food on her plate and making sure she ate, deciding to try to unpack her feelings later in the day.

however, once staying in his presence over their lunch period, the girl felt herself relax. and his friends observed as the boy became equally relaxed upon seeing her calm.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

rain pattered rhythmically on the cobbled stone pathway as james and his friends began to make their way back to hogwarts castle from hogsmeade. his arm was slung over y/n's shoulders as they dodged the open air underneath the awnings. the boys laughed with one another, referencing several of their inside jokes.

the village was a ghost town, each of the people of hogsmeade were taking refuge in their houses as they waited out the rain. the only people who appeared to be out as the street lamps flicked on were themselves, and other students who had stayed out slightly too late.

the music shop stood across the road. string instruments charmed to softly play a melodic rhythm to match the sound of the rain. y/n began to sway as she walked through the village, matching the beat of the music she played.

stepping away from james, she grabbed his hands, and swung them in time with her swaying.

it didn't take long for james to understand that she was trying to dance to the music, and he removed himself from the conversation with his friends.

he pulled her out from the safety of the awning, and into the pattering of the rain. he moved his hands down to her waist, and clasped her hand with his other, swaying her gently in a slowed waltz. his friends noticed their sudden silence, sharing a laugh amongst themselves for a beat, before continuing their walk back to the castle.

the pair continued dancing with one another romantically, in the rain, the tempo of the charmed music changing to match their rhythm as their surroundings faded away and all he could see was her.

snow surrounded the potter's estate, the jukebox charmed to hum merry melodies as christmas decor was wrapped throughout the entire house. james had invited his friends around to his parent's house for christmas, a tradition started in the early years of their time at hogwarts, and had continued through to their adulthood. it was something that in spite of whatever loomed on the other side of the door had kept the group together.

sirius and james had been running around the house, boxes of decorations in hand as they put hung ornaments throughout the house. the sweet smell of eggnog and gingerbread lingered between the rooms as james' parents had busied themselves with cooking festive treats in the kitchen whilst remus and y/n decorated the main tree in the living room.

boxes were strewn around the room, various red, green, and gold spilling from them. she danced and swayed to the beat of the music, hanging ornaments methodically throughout the faux pine needles. digging through a box in the corner, remus glanced up for a moment, watching the way y/n found joy in the tradition, eager to make the potter estate feel cosy at christmas. a small smile had found it's way onto his face, the same way it had in first year when she made sure that she was included in the maraudic group's antics. she glanced over at him as if to show pride in her progress with the tree, reciprocating the smile already on his face.

"have you seen the garland with the little holly's on it?" he suddenly asked her, standing up fully.

"uh.." she hummed in thought, "have you tried to box over there?" she said after a while, pointing to a box closer to the fireplace. she herself moved over to it, crouching to sift through the contents of it. remus shook his head, before moving to a different box to look for the remaining garland for the entryway.

"aha" the girl exclaimed joyously after a while, excitedly pulling the holly garland out of the box she had been searching and showing it to remus. she walked over to him, handing it to the boy with a small "there you go"

"why thank you" he mused, moving away to string it up and complete the display as y/n put the star at very top of the tree. just as she did so, james and sirius had made their way down the stairs, laughing amongst them and carrying empty boxes as a receipt of their work.

as the night went on, euphemia and fleamont had finished their preparations for christmas day. the fire crackled as it was stoked, the potter's and their guests having fun into the night, perked up on the anticipation of the day to follow. eventually, the owls began to coo and the trees began to rustle, signalling that it was time for everyone to take themselves upstairs to get ready and into bed.

the six of them climbed the stairs, and manoeuvred through the corridor before forking off into different corridors or rooms until it was just remus and y/n left. a blanket of silence was wrapped around them as the moved through the house, until remus' door was in sight. he paused in front of it, hand hovering over the brass handle as he fought an internal battle. however, he soon moved rather quickly, muttering a quick 'wait here' before disappearing behind the door he had just been hesitating in front of.

after a beat, he reappeared from the void of darkness in his room, a colourfully wrapped box in his hand. "here you go," he rushed, holding the box out to y/n, "merry christmas," he smiled at her.

"oh, remus," she said quietly, "thank you," she moved to detach the card on top of the box, only to frantically told to open it once she gets to her room. with a nod and an awkward farewell, she turned on her heel and walked the rest of the way down the corridor to her bedroom.

pushing the door softly shut behind her, she leant against it, fingers making delicate work of opening the box. she revealed a necklace, with a singular pendant of a wolf on it. smiling, she clasped it on herself, bringing her hand to it as she read the card that had been attached. a smile was etched on her face as she realised he had written her a letter, in his signature scrawny writing, as he detailed the depth of his feelings for her.

determination in her step, she marched back down the corridor, softly knocking on remus' door. it swung open in front of her, and she wasted no time wrapping her arms around his shoulders. confused, yet relieved, he wrapped his arms around her waist, sighing in relief as the charmed jukebox hummed faintly in the background, the clock ticking over to midnight.