CHAPTER FOURTEEN
↳ christmas presents from who?

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"Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the wa-," Christmas was only a few days away. Hufflepuff's common room was decked out with shiny Christmas lights a Muggleborn, Juliana Walters, had her mum and dad send her all the way from Wales, all of them glittering and sparkling brightly. This year, Cedric decided to spent the festive season at Hogwarts with his friends. Wisteria's mums had decided to go visit America and told her to stay at Hogwarts. Lois was in the festive spirit, belting the lyrics of Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs. Daphne was playing with her pet Niffler, who Elara knew was called Pepper ( Daphne was a massive fan of the Marvel comics, Pepper Potts being her favourite character ). Pepper was snuggling close to her, humming as Daphne scratched her stomach.

"Bloody hell woman," Gaia sighed, slapping the back of Lois' head, quieting her. Elara was sat closely by them all, braiding Wisteria's hair and adding some red and green ribbon in between the strands of hair. "That's the tenth time you've sang that one song,"

Elara's fingers wrapped around Wisteria's thick brown hair. "Tell me if I'm hurting you, okay?" Wisteria replied with a quick 'okay' and Elara continued listening to Gaia and Lois argue like an old married couple. Morgan and Cedric were cuddling close, a thick red blanket wrapped around both boys and hot chocolate in their hands. Cedric was leaning on Morgan's shoulder, the dark skinned boy kissing Cedric's head frequently.

"Well someone's got to keep the Christmas spirit!" Lois gasped dramatically. Gaia laughed at the girl and gave her a soft smile.

"Of course you do,"

Elara didn't miss the blush on both girls' faces.

"Here you go Wis," Elara let the short brunette stand up, spin around and suddenly envelop her in a massive hug. "You look amazing!" Elara laughed out. She got up, a bright smile on her face. "Hang on, this calls for some celebratory Cadbury chocolates,"

The girl failed to notice the blanchard look that was on Cedric's face. "El, how about I get us some eclairs?" The boy offered. Elara shook her head and before Cedric could grab her, she disappeared up the stairs to her common room.

"Five," Lois started. Gaia also started counting down with her and then so did Morgan and finally Wisteria's bell like voice joined in the counting. The moment they all said 'one' in unison, Elara began running down the stairs, a glare fixed on her face.

"CEDRIC AMOS DIGGORY WHERE IS MY CHOCOLATE?" The girl stomped up to the taller boy, looking significantly threatening despite how short she was in comparison.

"Wait how did you know it was-- OW!" Elara had slammed a hardback book copy of 'Alice in Wonderland' on his head. "What was that for?" Cedric rubbed the spot where she had slammed the book. Morgan, Lois, Gaia and Wisteria all laughed out, Cedric glancing coldly at them.

"You ate my chocolate," Elara blurted out.

"LOIS HELPED ME GET THE CHOCOLA--OOMF" Lois had sprinted towards them and wrapped her hand around his mouth. She looked up nervously at Elara.

"Yea-yeah-- El, Cedric did this all on his-- ew!" She placed her hand off his mouth, looking down in disgust. "Did you just lick me?"

"And what if I did?"

"You are such a child,"

"So true," Cedric said, then turned to Elara and said as quickly as he could. "LOISHELPEDMEGETTHECHOCOLATE-"

"You daft dimwit!"

"I paid you five galleons!"

"And those went towards good things!"

"Cedric," Elara spoke up. "What did you do with my chocolate?" And with that, the boy tried running towards Morgan, only to be tackled to the ground by Elara. Wisteria and Pepper the Niffler were cheering her on as she straddled him on the floor. "Tell me," she pushed for an answer.

"Cedric," Lois threatened. Behind her, Gaia was passing Morgan a few sickles with a defeated look on her face. "Don't,"

"I BRIBED LOIS WITH MONEY INTO GETTING ME YOUR CHOCOLATE!" The boy admitted. It was quite fortunate the majority of people had gone home for Christmas. It was only Elara's group and a few other people in the Hufflepuff common rooms. The group had even bribed Professor Spout with some galleons if she let Morgan and Gaia stay with them during the holidays. The head of Hufflepuff was easily swayed and thus Gaia was staying with Lois and Daphne in their dorm. If everyone in Hufflepuff was here, Elara knew they'd all be concerned.

"SNITCHES END UP WITH STITCHES!" The brunette threw a heavy book of transfigurations at Cedric. The boy groaned at impact.

"Why do I always get hit with books?" He murmured rhetorically. Elara stood up and offered her hand to him. She gave a small smile. "Thank you?" He was unsure why she was suddenly so happy and kind. However just when she started to lift him off the ground, she let go of his hand and he fell to the ground, a loud bang echoing at contact.

"That was for my chocolate,"

"Why doesn't Lois get any pain?"

"Because she's going to give me the money you gave her,"

"I am?" Lois looked confused, tilting her head quizzically. Elara gave her a blank look and Lois' eyes widened significantly and she nodded vigorously. "O-oh yes! Yes! Hang on let me just go- erm- get you the money," the Holin girl awkwardly scurried away, her footsteps echoing as she ran up the stairs to her room.

Gaia turned down to Morgan and whispered in his ear. "Didn't she use the money on--" the boy shushed her and put on a smile at Elara.

Wisteria was bouncing in her seat, excited to see Elara's reaction to what Lois had. Daphne had given her Pepper, who was playing with her shiny ring. The rodent-like creature happily squealed out. "D-Daphne a-are y-y-you su-sure I can-can't k-eep P-pep-pepper?" The girl stuttered out, offering a small smile.

"Oh no," the ginger haired girl patted Wisteria on the back. "Pepper is quite the trouble maker. Last visit to America she tried taking my Aunt's diamond wedding ring," Daphne scratched the niffler who was nudging her head like a cat.

"That must've been unfortunate," Wisteria commented.

"Oh it's quite alright, Auntie Queenie bought her a diamond necklace to replace the ring,"

"GAIA GET YOUR ARSE HERE AND HELP ME!" Lois bellowed. Gaia, who was enjoying solving her rubix cube ( Cedric was convinced it was magic ). She audibly sighed and got up, placing the nearly solved cube on the table.

"Ced, if you mess up my work, I'll have your head," She threatened before yelling at Lois to wait a moment.

"I swear, she has a switch," Cedric conspired. "Last night she was telling us how she and some of the other first years have started teaching the mermaids sign language so they could communicate and now she threatens me over a stupid cube with coloured squares on it,"

"It's a rubix cube," Elara sighed.

"Rolex cube?" Morgan patted Cedric's back, sighing audibly.

"How long does it take to get money?"

Elara shook her head, a small smile on her face. "She spent it didn't she?" She chuckled to herself. Typical. She thought with a flicker of amusement as her eyes followed where Gaia had disappeared off to.

Pepper was also snorting now, trying to take the spoon Daphne was eating with. The ginger haired girl exasperatedly sighed and handed the niffler her spoon. "Mark my words, I'm going to start using plastic utensils,"

"You said that last week," Cedric moaned out. "And the week before, the week before that, the week before that one-- oh and second year when your Aunt had finally managed to convince Dumbledore to let you take Pepper with you to school!" Wisteria shushed the tall boy, her eyes now listening to the footsteps of both Gaia and Wisteria.

"Ow Lo that's my foot!"

"Oh shut it Gai!"

"You want to start?"

"Sure,"

"If you even try I'll drop this on your foot,"

"You wouldn't"

"Try me,"

"When's the wedding?" Elara called out to the two, who she betted were blushing like mad. The silence was overwhelming the two and then all of the sudden Lois' head popped out from the corner where the stairs were. "What took so long? Were you and Gai snogging or something?" She gave a cheeky grin at Lois who looked unimpressed.

"No of course not," She said bluntly, , almost too blunt if Elara had a say in it. She placed something behind her, Elara had no clue what it was. "El, i used the money Ced gave me," Lois admitted. Elara blinked a few times, no surprise on her face. "But-" Lois sang out. "I put the money to good use," Cedric snorted and grunted when Daphne hit him over the head. He muttered a 'what was that for' and then sat back and watched. Elara's eyes were wide when she saw a massive box wrapped in red wrapping paper. "Me and Gaia planned this for ages- we had the galleons and used an owl to buy something from an enchanted antique shop," Elara's hands fumbled with the present, ripping the paper off it. She opened the box to see yet another box wrapped in green paper in it. Lois scratches the back of her head. "Erm- I did order a parcel to be extra wrapped," she laughed lightly.

"Haha very funny," Elara rolled her eyes at them.

She opened the parcel once more and saw another box wrapped in silver wrapping paper. Gaia leant into Lois' ear. "How wrapped did they say this was?" Lois shrugged and Elara went to unwrapping the present once again. Her eyes widened significantly when she saw what they had bought her.

"You. Did. Not." She said in disbelief, mouth agape and staring in shock at them. "They costed like 30 galleons! No Lo! I can't," she tried to refuse. Lois shook her head at the brunette. "Seriously Lo, you shouldn't have,"

Gaia gave the shorter girl a warm smile. "Lars, you've been going on about record players for ages! Lo's mum managed to find one in a wizard's antique shop down London, it won't malfunction with magic so you can play whatever," Gaia wrapped the girl in a hug. "Honestly you've been nothing but kind to us, you really expect us not to buy you this?" Gaia reached into the big bag she held in her hand and pulled out some muggle records. "Queen and ABBA, mum sent me them all the way from Cardiff using Lumo," Lumo was a snowy white owl that Gaia cleverly named after the spell Lumos. He was an absolute sweetheart ( way better than Prince ). Speaking of animals, Elara wondered why Laurie was. She had let the snowball run outside for some fresh air a few hours ago and he had yet to return home. Knowing Laurie, he had probably gone for a stroll in the Forbidden Forest, he quite liked it there ( Elara had yet to figure out why ).

"Lois, Gaia, everyone," Elara began. "I can't thank you all enough," Wisteria ran up and hugged her tight. "I love you all so much,"

"We love you too Larie," Wisteria sang out. "We all pitched in and had Gaia owl her mummy some muggle money so that Mr Everlong could buy some muggle records!"

Elara laughed out. "Cedric I still hate you for taking my chocolate," Cedric chuckled at her and enveloped her in a warm hug, kissing her on the head.

"I love you dork," he mumbled.

"Love you too you ditto,"

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Despite it being 2am on Christmas Day, Elara and all her friends were still wide awake. Professor Sprout had come hours ago at 11pm to tell them to get some sleep and they all reassured her they'd be asleep faster than you could say "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Evidentially, it was a lie when the plump professor said the word and all the group was still wide awake. So instead, the head of Hufflepuff sighed, left the entire group alone and wished them a merry Christmas.

"By law of me," Cedric started. "Whoever falls asleep first has their face drawn on by the other participants," Wisteria was excluded from this bet, considering how young she was.

"D-Daphne h-have y-you seen m-my r-ring?" Wisteria queried, looking Daphne's way. Daphne sighed and shook her head, tipping Pepper upside down and tickling the niffler. The small golden embroidered ring landed on the floor and Wisteria grinned and picked it up, smiling at the Scamander girl and offering many thanks. She passed Pepper a spoon, the niffler tilting her head at her and then snatching the spoon.

"Cedric, pick some music," Elara passed him the back of a Queen record. The older boy scanned the whole list of potential songs. He decided on the song 'Thank god it's Christmas', mainly due to the fact it was Christmas Day. He placed the vinyl on the record player and the song thundered in the common room. Wisteria was jumping out of her seat, grabbing Elara's hand and pulling her to dance.

The entire group danced and laughed, all until Professor Spout had forced them all to go to sleep. Their dreams were filled with nothing but joy and none of them noticed Laurie sneak in with a large black, shaggy dog who carried a sliver present.
None of them noticed or awoke when the shaggy dog took the form of the man who's screams were captured in wanted photos. Even with Wisteria's constant stirring and Lois' sleep talking, none of them awoke to see him, Sirius Black, standing by the fireplace. He took it upon himself to eat the cookies left out and also drink the milk that was in a small paper cup. His eyes darted until he saw the small light brown skinned girl who was smiling in her sleep. Laurie nudged Sirius, purring and then plopped himself on Elara's stomach. Sirius looked at his daughter lovingly, a solemn smile on his face. She was beautiful. Sure he has seen her many times, but the moonlight reflecting on her face highlighted the beauty she held. Her curls were sprawled around the floor and her blanket had already fallen off her. Sirius longed to talk to her, but he couldn't. So instead, he grabbed the yellow blanket and draped it on her figure and caressed her cheek with his thumb. He looked at her once more, gave her a teary smile and disappeared Into the night.

A few hours later, Wisteria was squealing for joy when she saw some presents from her mums under the tree. "Everyone wake up! It's Christmas!" She cheered.

Cedric rolled out from under Morgan, groaning. "Wis, we were up for the majority of the night, it's been Christmas for hours," he yawned causing the rest of the group to yawn as well.

Elara saw Laurie sleeping on her stomach and, strangely, a blanket was draped across her figure. She gave that blanket to Wisteria last night, she wondered to Merlin on how that got on her. She stroked the small kitten's fur and softly smiled. "Merry Christmas, Laurie," the cat purred, which Elara assumed was his way of wishing her a merry Christmas.

"E-Ellie c-c'mon!" Wisteria grabbed her hand, yanking her up. She passed Elara her stocking which was filled to the brim with chocolates. Chocolate frogs, dairy milk chocolates everything filled with chocolate was in here. Cedric and Morgan had left the common room to make a quick escape to the kitchen which was next to the common room. Their mission? To bring back some hot chocolate.

Soon enough, the entire group was awake. Daphne had gifted Pepper a nice shiny present which she immediately unwrapped and then was forced to wear a Christmas jumper with golden lace on it. Laurie was curled up besides Elara. She wondered why he was so tired.

On the topic of questioning, Elara wondered what type of dream she had. She saw the full moon high in the sky, a howl and then she saw Sirius Black... hugging her? It was all so bizarre. Most of her dreams were. Dreams of dragons and broomsticks, mermaids and hostages, dances and midnight kisses. Her dreams seemed like nothing but a fantasy that would never be true. Of course, her wild imagination and free spirit shone through and those passionate dreams that formed during the alluring hours of the night were welcomed home in a diary filled to the brim with drawings, words and vivid imagery.

She'd never share these personal dreams with anyone. Most had been occuring ever since she was younger. But those dreams were just her imagination. She never brought these up with her papa, mainly due to how worried sick he always was. If he learnt of these strange and... oddly specific dreams, he'd be taken aback and forced into a state of worry for his daughter.

Cedric nudged Elara, passing her a mug of warm hot chocolate. "Happy Christmas, El," Elara smiled back, taking a cautious sip of the hot chocolate which was so delightful.

"Merry Christmas," Wisteria had forced a present into Elara's lap. She flipped the tag and saw the cursive handwriting inscribed on it:

'I hope these broughts make you smile as much as you make me smile'

Elara blushed furiously at that on its own and her eyes widened when she saw that Hermione had bought her a collection of Shakespearean plays. She turned to read the blurb at the back. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, so many great plays written by a wondrous and imaginous person. She opened the first page and the smell of old pages lingered.

'All that glitters is not gold' was etched into the pages, marking it. It was Hermione's handwriting. Elara would recognise that handwriting from a mile away. The ink was faded, meaning she had wrote this in years ago. It was brilliant.

Christmas was a wonderful time. She had opened all her presents. Mrs Weasley had sent her a Christmas jumper that was mustard yellow. Elara made a mental note to thank the woman for that in a letter. She had received some nice earrings from her papa, they were golden hoop earrings. It seemed foreign to receive such a luxurious present, considering how lost in poverty the Lupin family was. She smiled fondly, knowing her papa was most likely smiling at the thought of getting her something nice.

Laurie suddenly awoke and waddled down to fetch something. Elara furrowed her eyes and saw him carrying a small box that was wrapped in silver wrapping paper. The white kitten nudged his fluffy head against her head and placed the present on the floor. There was no name on the present. No gift tag or anything. Elara assumed that her papa had bought her the present as he never put his name on her gifts and they were always wrapped in silver.

Laurie sat contently as he watched Elara unwrap the present. It was a music box. The box was brown, laced with golden outlining. She opened the lid and inside was a golden locket. Her hand reached down for it and on the front she read:

'My little poppet, our little moon,'

Elara stared confused for a moment. 'Our little moon'. Her papa usually says 'My little moon' and no one has called her poppet since- since her other dad was in her life. Perhaps papa had it kept for her years ago when Sirius was around and that was why it had 'our' instead of 'my'. Yeah that must've been the case. Quickly, she dismissed that drastic thought. There was no way Sirius Black could have possibly managed to buy a present in broad daylight. That was simply too risky, anyone with a brain would realise that.

Laurie was now on Elara's lap, purring as she stroked him tenderly. For a few hours, they all decided to just hang out. Wisteria had asked Elara to french plait her hair with a new ribbon her mother had bought her. They had also received a nice howler ( yes, I know a howler ) from Wisteria's mums, both wishing her a Merry Christmas. It was now time for the Christmas feast and while everyone who remained went to the great hall where food would be served, Elara had decided to go visit her papa. It was a day after the full moon and it was Christmas, this was the perfect excuse to go visit him.

By now, she had Remus' room and the way to it memorised. She'd always go and visit him after the full moon. Balling her hand into a fist, she knocked three times on the door. Hearing a groggy 'come in', her hand turned the door knob and she entered his room. The room was a basic beige painted bedroom. There was a oak wooden desk and nightstand, a rickety bed that had blue covers and a great big bookshelf filled with philosophical novels written that her papa enjoyed reading. "Hey," she smiled awkwardly, shifting. Remus was sat up on the bed, biting a chocolate bar and fumbling with the pages of a book.

"Hey Lars, Merry Christmas," he smiled weakly at her. His eyes caught a look of sympathy that crossed her face as she looked at where a new scar was. He patted the spot besides him, moving to make some room besides him.

"Merry Christmas, papa," the younger Lupin smiled, leaning in and hugging her dad close.

Despite how odd their family was, Elara found herself content with the life she lived. An estranged owl who was always biting people, a strange cat who was young and loved disappearing off places, a werewolf who was a single parent and a young witch with a deeper family history. This was Elara's life and she lived every moment of it with no regret.

Oh and there was Snuffles. He was always a member of the family ever since Elara had given him that sandwich in the forest months ago.

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I BARELY WRITE ANY FLUFF- SJDDJDJDHJDKD--

Okay so like I know there was barely any Elmione, but like this is more of a filler chapter. Elara's life doesn't revolve around Hermione so every chapter doesn't need cute couple stuff. However, I will promise some elmione in the next chapter.

OKAY SO LIKE 10 GOLD STARS TO ANYONE WHO WORKED OUT A NEW GAY SHIP-

And we stan Daphne and her niffler who is adorable. I have the fattest crush on Pepper Potts so that's why Pepper is named Pepper.

AND OH MY GOD SIRIUS AND LAURIE ARE A BROTP-

I SWEAR THE NICKNAME POPPET WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME-

also, if anyone is curious why Elara is named Elara, here's the explanation: so Elara is the moon of Jupiter. What's Remus' marauders nickname? Moony. So Sirius ( the clever son of a bitch he is ) decided to incorporate Moony into Elara's name because the fact that when Lily and James saved her, Sirius and Remus were busy as it was a full moon. So not only does the name Elara link to Remus, it also links to the night Lily and James found her.

This chapter was nearly 4000 words, I made some people cry when talking about it to them and so I apologise for the emotional pain you've endured.

ALSO!!!!! THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH FOR 3K- IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME THAT PEOPLE READ THIS AND LOVE THE CHARACTERS I HAVE WRITTEN!! YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AND I LOVE YOU ALL FOR THAT !!!!!