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CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE - 🍂 ୧ potter . . .
christmas ও🦌

AS WINTER APPROACHED, Autumn's family arrived at the Potter household, where they were astonished by the display of magic that had been implemented to decorate the residence.

The sleigh hovering around the rooftop, along with the holiday decorations that appeared to be moving, resulted in an overwhelming perception for the visitors, who could scarcely believe their senses and the extent to which the Potters had taken the festivities to a new level.

Even though the magical family members had presumably grown accustomed to the stunning scenery, the presence of the guests seemed to make it even more spectacular.

Autumn's father was astonished by the extravagant array of magical phenomena surrounding the home, whereas her mother seemed rather nervous with the unusual occurrence of the animated decorations that approached them.

With the holiday magic on full display, the Potter residence appeared to take on a life of its own, as each ornament and decoration possessed an interactive element.

Autumn was smitten with the adorable attire that had been selected for the numerous animated statues, which seemed to have the same appeal she would have felt had they been real animals.

Although the statues were devoid of fur, she nevertheless felt inclined to stroke their coats, as their realistic appearance and adorable appearances were sufficiently persuasive to tempt her into forgetting the artificiality.

"Darling, look at the luminescent deer! They are running across the yard!" August enthusiastically pointed at his wife as Aurelia averted her gaze from the statue animals prancing around their daughter.

Raven snorted as she approached Autumn and her parents, who were also gazing with amazement at the animated Christmas decorations. She uttered, "I see your parents are just as captivated by the decor as well."

Autumn let out a long-suffering sigh as she turned to face Raven and commented, "Let's just head to the front door; because I swear our parents will become the spectacle of the Potter's neighbours from how much they're enamoured with those decorations."

Raven nodded as she and Autumn walked to the front door, and shortly after she knocked on it— it swung open to reveal James and Sirius grinning madly. Both of them had on ugly Christmas sweaters and were adorned in festive attire; James was sporting fake elf ears, while Sirius had affixed himself with a fake Santa beard.

"Happy Christmas!" the boys shouted in unison, with James quickly hurrying forward to greet Autumn and smile at her, but before he could get a word out, both boys noticed the girls' parents getting sidetracked by the festive decorations.

"Bloody hilarious," Sirius snorted as he witnessed the four adults getting distracted by the animated decorations, unable to avert their eyes from them.

James proceeded to enjoy watching the adults with Sirius to such an extent that they completely forgot about Raven and Autumn, which ultimately resulted in James' parents walking over to the entrance to reprimand the boys for not letting them into the home.

Eventually, Euphemia and Fleamont succeeded in catching the attention of the adults, which led all of them to finally make their way inside the home. Before the families had fully entered the residence, however, James' parents approached Autumn and began to embrace her lovingly, sporting wide grins on their faces.

"I just knew it the second I laid my eyes on her!" Mia uttered as she embraced Autumn tightly. "I knew she was the girl who would inevitably capture my son's heart."

Sirius let out a small, derisive snort as he stated, "She already had his heart way before you even met her." The comment was followed by James delivering a sharp kick to his friend's leg, which caused him to squirm in his place. After this, both boys were then met with a stern glare from Autumn's father, which instantly caused James to recoil profusely.

"My daughter, who is only 16 years old! My sweet angel who is only 16?!" August wailed, while Aurelia simply rolled her eyes at her husband over his overprotective behaviour.

"I'm almost 17," Autumn added, which caused her father to let out a frustrated huff.

"'And still too young for a boyfriend!" August insisted as he pointed his finger directly at her.

"Do I really have to remind you of how young you and mum were when you first started dating?" Autumn muttered, annoyed, while her father was childishly throwing a tantrum.

"But he's a boy! A male!" August yelled out and the remaining individuals who were observing the spectacle attempted to stifle their laughter, albeit with varying degrees of success.

Autumn then sighed and pressed her palm to her face, her irritation plainly visible, before turning towards James' parents, who were completely unbothered by her father's antics.

"Darling, why not save your childish tantrum for a later time?" Aurelia spoke up in an irritated demeanour towards her husband, who was currently crouched down in the corner while muttering to himself.

The sight of August acting the way he was doing provided James with a sense of relief, as he had previously been concerned. As things stood, though, it appeared to be going well in terms of him getting the approval to date Autumn; nevertheless, James acknowledged that the holiday had just begun and therefore concluded that it may have been premature of him to already assume that the outcome would be in his favour.

A whole hour later, Lily, Remus and Peter, along with their families, arrived, and the Potter residence was now filled to the brim with people, with the adults congregated together while the teenagers were left to mingle with each other.

The teenagers were now positioned in the living room; James was sprawled out on the ground while Autumn was seated and situated between his legs, with his head resting on top of hers.

Raven and Remus had both settled down on the ground, albeit in seats situated directly beside one another, while Lily, Sirius and Peter had taken up residence on the couch.

"So your sister has chosen to spend her holiday with her fiancé and his family?" Autumn remarked as she turned to address a rather exasperated Lily who promptly let out a heavy sigh and responded in the affirmative.

"Thank Merlin for that indeed. I was worried that my parents to force me to accompany them, but as soon as I proposed the idea of coming to Potter's residence, they were so quick to approve that concept." Lily replied while reclining back on the sofa.

"Oh, your sister certainly would have been thrilled about that concept," Raven replied with a hint of sarcasm, being well aware of the fact that Petunia was most likely upset and enraged over the fact that their parents had chosen to proceed with spending their time with Lily rather than accompanying Petunia herself.

"I'm certain that Petunia's future in-laws would be capable of diverting her attention," Lily responded in a rather nonchalant manner, however, she remained saddened by the way that her relationship with her sister currently stood, although she was still not entirely sure as to how to correct the situation which they had found themselves in.

The teens continued to engage in an inane bantering, yet one particular individual was not involved and was seemingly withdrawn from the activity, namely Remus as all his peers were well aware of the fact that the full moon of that particular year in December was slated for the day of Christmas itself.

With this in mind, it came as no surprise that their friend had withdrawn himself, for the reason which everyone was already familiar with, except for Lily.

So Hope and Lyall had requested that the holiday gathering be held earlier than usual, citing a planned trip as their cover for their son's transformation.

This was the very first occurrence of Remus' transformation for the month of December taking place during the holiday itself; before this occasion, his peers had managed to obtain the ability to transform into animal forms via becoming animagi, however, their schedules for the season in the year 1974 had made it such that they were unable to assist their friend in his time of need.

Subsequently, in 1975 as well as 1976 the full moon occurred before Christmas break had even started, so aiding him was possible.

During that year 1977, the full moon fell on the same day as Christmas, and although his best mate's families remained completely oblivious to the boys being able to become animagus and also the secret of Remus' condition, all of the boys were still clueless on how to deal with the situation which had risen.

"So, what do we do?" James asked with a troubled tone as he remained completely lost as to how they would be capable of helping their friend out on the approaching night.

While everyone else was awake and ready, Lily continued to slumber away in solitude, allowing the teens to take advantage of the window of opportunity and delve into the necessary discussions regarding what to do.

James was the one who had initially posed the query regarding how they should approach the approaching night, and the ensuing discussions consisted of the individuals sharing their ideas on how best to tackle the predicament that they were to find themselves in.

Autumn lifted one side of her lips upward, expressing a thoughtful mood, and presented a query concerning how they had assisted Remus on prior occasions. She began by saying," For the duration of the summer, how did you guys help?"

"Well, throughout the summer, Remus' parents are usually busy with their work, so they often just assume that he's holed himself up in the cellar located at their residence," Sirius elaborated on the manner in which they had proceeded to help their friend.

Raven then placed her right hand on her chin and contemplated for a moment as she glanced towards Remus who showed a distinct lack of energy to participate even if the topic of discussion had been focused towards himself.

They had all been stumped in coming up with a definite plan regarding how they were to handle assisting Remus on Christmas night, however, once he had offered his own insight, everyone within the group, except for the still-sleeping Lily who had been none the wiser in regards to their friend's condition, had ultimately decided to discard his comment about his capability of managing on his own.

Seeing as they had a full week until Christmas was set to commence, the group had concluded that it would be best to take the time needed to devise a thorough strategy as opposed to rushing into a plan.

Instead, they decided to take the opportunity and enjoy the holiday they had remaining by being with one another and with their parents, the whole while residing in the comfort and safety provided by the Potter's vast and lavish home.

For the duration of the holiday week, August and James had assumed the role of being the main attractions, which was undoubtedly due to the fact that Autumn's father seemingly had been completely determined to maintain his stubborn and antagonistic attitude towards his daughter and James' romantic relationship.

Due to this, the focal point of each and every single one of the days had in fact transformed into the spectacle of August challenging James.

Unfortunately for James and Autumn, they were simply unable to find any peace by being able to be by themselves, for her father was adamant in continuously monitoring them as if he was a hawk, constantly watching over every one of their moves.

At a particular point during the afternoon, Autumn somehow managed to elude the ever-watchful gaze of her father, who was occupied with the rest of the teens, allowing her the brief opportunity to enjoy some quality time with James.

James was, however, oblivious to any plans regarding this and consequently became quite baffled after suddenly finding himself removed from his home. Nonetheless, upon recognizing Autumn as the culprit for his unexpected departure, a sigh of relief escaped his lips as he was released from the state of uncertainty which had been taking over him.

"Merlin's beard, I thought I had been kidnapped by a bloody death eater or something of that matter," James remarked with a large sigh as he expressed his intense relief.

Autumn responded with a simple raised eyebrow and then inquired playfully," Okay, but now, why the bloody hell would any death eater kidnap you in broad daylight, and by just snatching you from your home?"

"Dunno, Love,  maybe they don't have very high standards anymore, for some unholy reason." James responded with a chuckle, but then added," Or perhaps there's a bloody secret organization of death eaters out there, which has chosen to lower their standards of recruitment, and they have decided to use me of all the bloody folks."

As Autumn stepped towards James, he had been taken by surprise as she wrapped her arms around his torso, yet his surprise was swiftly replaced with contentment as he returned her embrace and pulled her closer, squeezing her gently.

"I missed this" James responded in a somewhat breathless tone while also leaning his head on top of her head, however, he quickly leaned forward to lock his lips with hers, which did nothing but increase the intensity of the moment exponentially.

James moved his body towards Autumn's and proceeded to deepen the kiss between them, wrapping his hands around her to further press her closer to him. Autumn reciprocated the movements and leaned back while James pulled her into a tighter grasp.

When their lips eventually separated, the two appeared quite breathless from their passionate embrace and simply remained in their position, with their hands wrapped around each other and remaining in one another's embrace.

"That was intense," Autumn responded in a mildly breathless tone as she let her hand rest upon James' glasses, having indeed noticed that they had been fogged up as a result of the previous moments, "It gotten a little foggy."

"You bet it was intense," James responded with a chuckle as he nodded his head in agreement and proceeded to place yet another lighthearted kiss upon her lips, one which was quick but filled with a great deal of affectionate energy.

"Love, I suppose you're right on that." He added with a grin of his own and then softly laughed as he teased," I suppose now I need to memorize every single one of your features so that I'll be able to recall them, even if I can't see clearly."

"Now how long did it take you to come up with that?" Autumn made a face.

"Well, it didn't take very long." James admitted as he gave a small smile and shrugged his shoulders gently; but then, he gave off a coy smirk and stated in a rather playful manner," See the thing is, when it comes to you specifically, being clever on your behalf comes as easy as breathing."

As Autumn leaned forward to plant another kiss upon James' lips, she then let out a small gasp as she detected the presence of her father and withdrew from his embrace.

"Noo, I need more- " James murmured in slight annoyance as he watched his girlfriend step away from him, yet, he then noticed her pointing a finger and let out a small cry of surprise as he suddenly realized that her father was probably going to be his newest Boggart.