Chapter Text
The Potter house was bustling with life. It was the day before Christmas Eve, and final preparations for the day were being made. James had explained that every Christmas Eve, his family would make gingerbread houses together and sit by the fire, in their matching Christmas pyjamas, where they exchanged presents with each other. Christmas day was always a bit of a blur, Remus was told, they would wake up late and have a small breakfast before family and friends started coming over for Christmas dinner, which would last well into the night. In the Lupin household, Christmas was a much less festive event. Lyall would sit in his office all day, ignoring everyone while Remus and Hope would watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while munching on shortbread. Remus' last Christmas before his mother died, was spent in her hospital room. They still watched the same movie, and ate the same food, but the consistent beeping of the machines hooked into her arms really soured the mood. If Remus had known it was his last Christmas with his mother, he might have done things differently, but he didn't know, and there was nothing he could do to change the fact.
As Remus looked around the living room, he took in the Christmas tree in awe. It was positively glowing, with a variety of coloured ornaments, tinsel wrapped around the branches, and fairy lights bringing the tree to life. It was no where near as neat and uniform as the tree Remus used to have, but it was so much more alive. He looked closely at the different ornaments, some from other countries, many had "James", "Mum" and "Dad" inscribed and some were handmade. The ornaments were radiating so much love, filling Remus with a feeling of content he hadn't felt in a long while. A small picture ornament caught his eye, it had a golden frame with "Family" engraved with large swirly letters. The frame housed a photo of Effie, Monty, James and Sirius wearing matching sweaters and mid laugh, arms wrapped around each other as they stood in the snow. The photo was taken within the last two years, if Remus had to guess, but something in Sirius' eyes looked off, something Remus couldn't quite place.
"Remus!" Peter called, breaking him out of his trance.
"I need your long limbs to put this up for me!" He called again. Remus blinked and slowly moved towards the sound of Peter's voice, still thinking about the ornament. Once he reached the source of the voice, he looked up to see Peter teetering on the top of a chair, attempting to hang a sprig of mistletoe over the doorway.
"Mistletoe? Isn't that a bit childish?" Remus asked upon arrival.
"Hey! Don't be a grinch, Remus" Peter sulked.
Remus sighed. "Okay, okay, just get off that chair before you fall," As Peter came off the chair, Remus plucked the mistletoe out of his fingers and stepped onto the chair, tying it to the doorway.
"Happy?" Remus looked at the boy below him, who was grinning mischievously.
"Remus, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but we're both currently under the mistletoe, you know what that means right?" Peter smirked.
"Oh my god, you are ridiculous." Remus rolled his eyes.
"You know, if you wanted to be kissed, you just have to ask, Pete." Sirius said, suddenly appearing in the hallway.
"Come on, don't be shy Pete, give me a kiss!" Sirius taunted, reaching his arms out to Peter, who began to run towards the kitchen, Sirius chasing after him. Remus tried to suppress his laughter as he heard Peter screech in the living room.
"-don't get to make that choice for me!" Remus heard, as the door to Effie and Monty's bedroom burst open, and a red-faced James stormed out, stomping up the stairs and ignoring Remus entirely. Remus turned to see Effie, silently watching her son in his anger.
"Oh my god Effie, I'm so sorry, I wasn't eavesdropping, Peter just needed-" Remus said quickly, realising how it might have looked.
"No, no honey, it's fine, I know." She cut him off.
"Is... he okay?" Remus asked tentatively, motioning to the stairs.
"He's got a lot going on right now, I think he just needs space."
"Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'll be seeing what Peter is up to." Remus said dejectedly, it seemed like the same excuse that James had used about Sirius and he felt like there was something everyone was hiding from him.
"No, Remus, I have something I wanted to show you," Effie said suddenly. "I mean only if you want to see."
"Uh, what is it?"
"Last night, I found some photos of your mother and I, and I know we haven't really talked about her but I thought you might want to see them?" She asked gently.
"I-, yeah sure okay." Remus stuttered. He hadn't talked about his mother with Effie since that first day and had entirely thought he had imagined the whole conversation. Effie stepped to the side, motioning for Remus to beckoning Remus into her bedroom. She made her way to her bedside table and picked up a small stack of photographs and handed them to Remus, who stood by the doorway, watching silently. Remus' breath hitched when he saw the photo that sat on top, his mother sat beside Effie behind a roaring campfire, smiling at the camera, with marshmallows on their sticks.
"I'm just going to check on Jamie, you can stay here and leave the photos on my bedside table when you're finished." Effie said, sensing Remus needed space. Remus nodded gratefully as Effie left the bedroom and he moved to sit on the floor. He looked back down at the glossy photographs that sat in his hands, Remus lifted the first photograph off to see another, both girls at the beach, running towards the ocean with wind blowing in their hair, laughing together, not a care in the world. As he held the photo, Remus felt a strange indentation on the back of the photo. He carefully turned it over to reveal a note.
Mia,
I can't wait for us to bring our children here one day, and watch them get swallowed up by waves, gobble ice cream, and find home within each other, just like us.
I will treasure this beach day forever, thank you for taking me.
Yours, Hope
Remus stared at the words before him, he had no idea his mother was ever this close to Mia, she only spoke of her wistfully, not as if she was someone whom she had planned a future with. He took a deep breath before looking at the next photo. His mother and Effie were sitting in a tree, legs hanging off the branch, sticking their tongues out and looking into the camera. They couldn't have been older than nineteen. He looked through all the photos, most with only Hope and Effie, some included Monty, and a lot had people Remus didn't recognise. In every photo through, Hope wore a bright smile that Remus saw more and more scarcely as the years went by. He clutched the photos as he imagined what Hope's life might have been like if she hadn't got married; Remus had never seen Hope so full of genuine joy and he felt a tugging in his heart. He shook the thoughts from his head and pushed himself to his feet.
"Oh, you're still in here," Remus turned to see Effie reentering the room, a smile on her face and began to pick up the photos quickly.
"No, don't leave on my account, take your time," She added sensing Remus' haste.
"They're really lovely you know, I'm glad Mum had a friend like you," Remus said quietly. Effie mumbled something that Remus couldn't quite make out.
"Sorry?" Remus asked quickly.
"REMUS WHERE ARE YOU!" Peter hollered. Remus always seemed to be interrupted.
"I guess, I'll go see what Pete needs," Remus said, handing the photos back to Effie and making his way out of the room.
"What?" Remus asked when he had located Peter sitting by the Christmas tree.
"Where were you? You disappeared for like half an hour!" Peter cried upon seeing Remus ascend the stairs.
"I'm fine, what did you need?"
"You had a missed call from your girlfriend," He responded raising his eyebrows suggestively. Remus patted his pockets in confusion, he normally had his phone on him all the time.
"Oh thanks," Remus said as he took his phone from Peter's outstretched hand. He opened it to see 2 missed calls from Marlene and a short string of text messages.
Marlene: remus???
Marlene: are you okay?
Marlene: im about to lose reception, call me back!
Right, Marlene was going into the middle of nowhere to ski and wouldn't be able to talk to him for the week of Christmas. He quickly called her back.
"Remus!" Marlene exclaimed.
"Hey Marls, how far away are you?"
"Less than thirty, so the reception will cut any minute. I know we were texting this morning but it's just nice to hear your voice you know?"
"Mm yeah, what did you do today?"
"Driving, duh," Marlene laughed.
"How about you?" Marlene asked.
"I found some photos of my mum!" Remus said excitedly. He hadn't told Marlene much about Hope, but she knew that she had passed away recently and Marlene was always happy to hear Remus talk about her.
"I ca... -ou"
"Marlene?"
"A- u s...g"
"Marlene?" Remus called again, then the line went dead. Remus groaned, before sending a text.
Remus: sorry marls, i couldn't hear you, i hope you have a great time skiing and happy christmas!! let me know when you get back :)
It never went through though.