#vcnities

Emma Vanity

Andromeda Black

Nikolai Selwyn

Lucrezia Zabini

Narcissa Black

♡ = complimenting them . 

The two fifth-years stood out in the courtyard, bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked from the crisp December holidays. Fresh snow frosted the trees and iced the cobblestones, a periwinkle sky spread cheerfully above, and everywhere you looked, students were trundling small suitcases to bring home with them during the holidays.

“Go on then, open it now,” Remus urged, shoving his mitten-clad hands deeper into the pockets of his winter robes. There was always a sense of excitement he felt in giving presents, especially Christmas ones. Creativity was key when funds were limited, but somehow it made gift-giving even better.

Emma shot back a snarky remark as she peeled open the neatly wrapped package, but it only made Remus smile. He was a little nervous, since he’d never given Emma a present before – sure, her birthday was in autumn, but they’d all chipped in for a small room at the back of the Three Broomsticks for her gift and thrown her a little celebration on a Hogsmeade weekend. 

This was different, and Remus found himself fidgeting as she turned the little notebook over in her hands. (Merlin, maybe she doesn’t like that sort of thing. Hopefully she doesn’t think it’s lame, how bloody embarrassing would that be.) She flipped to the first page, a bit of a smile twisting her lips at the neatly glued picture of a group of friends at the lake: James and Peter, grinning jauntily, vibrant Lily and smirking Marlene, Mary and Remus both windswept and laughing, Sirius posing, and Emma, alive and shining and unfettered.

“Thanks, Remus.” Genuine, grinning, heady off of happiness and the holiday spirit. “It’s really sweet of you.”

“It’s nothing,” he beamed, secretly elated that he hadn’t completely screwed it up. A friend’s happiness was the highest praise there could be offered, and Remus was proud to have brightened Emma’s day.

There were memories, snapshots, windy twilights on the Astronomy Tower and captured smiles, something to keep and something to treasure, and the two friends spent a few minutes chatting over the notebook’s contents. Eventually it was time to go, so the two students said their goodbyes. Remus waved, a broad smile almost hidden by the thick scarf around his neck, and watched her retreating figure disappear into the crowd. 

location — the three broomsticks, hogshead inn, any bar atmosphere

one sidelines.

“Oh, of course,” Remus said, a wryly lopsided smile on his lips. “Wouldn’t dream of saying otherwise, Vanity.”

She grinned right on back, another scintillating retort tagged with “Lupin” at the end. It was a strange habit of theirs, considering that they were certainly close enough to be on a first-name basis. Six out of seven days of the week they most likely were, anyway. But on certain days, when their witty repartee reached a certain rhythm that they both knew, they were Vanity and Lupin, because Emma and Remus just didn’t have the same punch when tacked on the end of a marvelously clever quip.