· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎ COUNTING STARS ▎
»»————-　act one. young, wild & free
TWENTY ━━ a holly jolly christmas

    ᵒ .༄ ࿐ ࿔* ✨🌙💫
♯ ❝I MISSED YOU TOO! ❞
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"ARE YOU SURE YOU PARENTS WONT BE MAD?" JULIA ASKED UNSURELY IN A HUSHED WHISPER AS THE TWO GIRLS BUNDLED UP IN THEIR WARMEST CLOTHES INSIDE THE HALLWAY, both Cardell and Lillith oblivious to the true plans the girls had devised. The sun was slowly sinking beneath the suburban houses and Annabelle had told her parents the two were going for a little walk.

Neither girl had mentioned, the walk would be a little bit further than a couple blocks around the neighbourhood.

"Erh—I hope not." She whispered, checking once more if she had enough money before pulling the door open to embrace the cold winter air.

"This is crazy." Julia whined as she crossed her arms. "Why couldn't we just ask your parents to apparate us, or use the floo network?"

"Because I want to do it this way." Annabella argued stubbornly.

"What the unnecessary hard way?" Julia quirked an eyebrow

If she was honest, Annabelle would say going out of her way to take a trip to Remus with the Night Bus  was extensive. She even was a hundred percent sure, she was making this way harder than it should. But if she was really honest with herself, she just wanted the route that took the longest. It was cowardice –something she normally would not be at all. But this time, she was truly unsure and afraid.

What if Remus didn't want to talk? Or worse, what if he didn't want to patch things up?

She had played such a large part in the argument, and she was ashamed to admit that she used his insecurities against him in such a way. She wanted things to go back to normal. And the fact that it might not ever would was enough the scare her to death.

So instead, she opted for the Night Bus, to hopefully gather her wits and actually formulate a way to apologise to Remus.

Annabelle, however would never admit she was scared to Julia—or to anyone for that matter.

Well..." Annabelle tried to compose a believable reason as she shrugged carelessly, " I haven't been on the Night Bus in ages. It's lots of fun. And Steve is a very funny guy."

Julia didn't look like she believed her, but didn't say anything about it. "You are bonkers Belle."

"All the best people are my dearest Julia." She laughed, but even she couldn't deny the nerves that trembled through her voice.

The dark skinned girl didn't pick up on it, as she stared at the ground and grumbled underneath her breath, kicking small piles of snow to release her frustrations. "And how exactly do we get on the Night Bus?"

"That's simple." Annabelle grinned mischievously. "By being stranded witches."

"Stranded witch— Argh!"

Annabelle laughed boisterously, for a moment forgetting the reason for this trip as she pushed her friend forward, the unsuspecting girl falling backwards into a big pile of snow next to the curb.

Julia spluttered angrily, wiping away snow from her face. "You bit—"

Loud honking echoed and a bright light filled their sight as a large purple triple decker bus appeared on the road at a high speed, no sign of slowing down as it approached them.

Annabelle took a cautious step backwards as the bus skidded to a sudden halt, the friction causing another wave of snow to be thrown to the side, and sadly covering Julia.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus! Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Steve Shunpike!" an older man appeared as he spoke to the two witches giddily before his eyes fell on Julia laying on the ground. "What are you laying on the ground for?"

"I just thought it would be fun." Julia replied sarcastically, shrugging off the snow from her hair and coat.

"Weird thing to find funny." The man tutted, "Let's go now, before the snow starts to melt."

Julia just huffed as Annabelle hauled her to her feet, snickering gleefully as she dragged her friend on the bus, Steve following close behind them.

Falling on the first empty bed in sight, both girls turned their attention to the peculiar conductor. "That be twelve sickles each."

Both girl mutedly gave the man their money before Steve whistled, tapping on a glass panel at the front of the bus, "Take it away Ernie!"

"So..." Julia trailed, unwrapping her scarf, "do you actually know what you are going to say once we get to Remus' house?"

Annabelle blushed, rubbing her arm awkwardly, "well...I didn't think that far."

Julia groaned, falling back on one of the beds inside the bus. "This is one of your worst plans ever Belle. This is actually pretty bloody stupid for you. Your parents are going to be so mad."

"Maybe they won't even notice we'd be gone so long."

"Merlin have mercy."

"Don't be so dramatic Jules, it's Christmas. Christmas miracles do happen."

"When did a Christmas miracle ever actually come true?"

"Now, with that attitude it won't." Annabelle tutted, a small yelp leaving her lips as the Knight Bus took a far too sharp right, sending both girls sprawling on the dirty floor.

"This is not worth twelve sickles." Julia complained angrily, glaring at the chauffeur at the front, and to Steve who casually leaned against the wall, as if the whole ordeal didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Watcha looking at?"

"I need this trip to be over already."

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HOPE WATCHED HER SON WITH A FROWN ON HER FACE, THE MELACHOLY HANGING IN THE AIR DESPITE THE JOLLY CHRISTMAS MUSIC playing from the record player in the living room where her husband was busying himself with sorting through the Christmas ornaments. Normally Remus was very invested in the process, demanding his father wait for his return before decorating their Christmas tree. But this year Remus didn't even bat an eye at the boxes gathered in the hallway. And they did try—Lyall had taken it upon himself to sing Christmas songs very off-key during the day, hoping to nudge Remus to join him, but the boy never even cracked a smile.

And when her famous hot chocolate didn't even bring the boy some joy, both parents knew that something was really eating away at him.

Bringing three mugs of hot chocolate with her to the living room, Hope, spotted Remus perched on the couch, a book open in his lap, but it didn't look like he was reading the words on the pages. He had a faraway look on his face that clearly meant he was lost in his thoughts.

Lyall glanced at his wife to see her look at their son with sad eyes, the very same sad eyes she once had casted in his direction when the conversation about the possibility of going to Hogwarts was brought up. Neither parents had an answer then.

Life in the Lupin household wasn't easy after that dreadful night that changed their lives forever. And seeing their son like this brought them back to the time before Remus went to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts made Remus happy, he fitted in among his peers and made friends. Both parents were concerned when Dumbledore delivered the news that Remus could attend Hogwarts but after easing their nerves they finally let him go. It was one of the best decisions they had made.

"Remus dear. What's wrong?" Hope finally had enough as she sat down in front of her son.

"Nothing" He mumbled nonchalantly, eyes trained on the book.  

"Remus, we can see something is wrong. You've been sulking for days now." Lyall gave him a solemn look, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder hoping it would encourage the boy to open up.

Remus sighed, hesitantly peering up at his parents. "I made a friend really mad at me." He confessed.

"Who?" Hope wondered, voice soft and sweet.

"Annabelle." Remus replied.

     Annabelle. Hope remembered her to be one of her sons first friends at the Wizarding School. The amount of letter exchanged between the two in the first year during Holidays was unsurmountable.

Hope put a comforting hand on her son's shoulder. "What happened, Remus?" Hope asked sitting down beside him.

"You know Sirius and James." Remus began slowly, "And how they can be sometimes."

Hope nodded. "Darling of course we do."

Pranksters. Just like Remus even if the boy denied it.

Remus nodded sheepishly, "You see, sometimes they taunt this boy Severus, he always provokes them and stuff. But they went a little too far this time and Annabelle's friend Lily was really close with him. They hexed him and all. Lily of course tried to defend him. Only they didn't stop and Annabelle started to interfere. They finally stopped when they had drawn their wands at them. Only the boy Severus took his anger out on Lily called her a-a... mud-blood."

His father gasped. "He did not say such a thing."

"But I don't get why she is mad at you, you didn't do anything?" Hope asked with a furrowed brow, placing a hand on her son's shoulder.

"That's the point. I'm their friend I should have stopped them. And besides, it was my job as Prefect but yet I did nothing and Lily got her feelings hurt because of it and Annabelle blames a part of it on me." Remus sighed.

"When I went to talk to her I made things worse and she hates me now." He mumbled.

"I'm sure that's not true." Lyall dissuaded.

"You should have had heard the things she said to me then."

"I think everyone just needs to cool down a bit. I'm sure she'll forgive you." Lyall assured him as Hope pulled his son in a comforting hug.

"I hope so."

"Now come on it's almost Christmas, turn that frown upside down and smile." Lyall grinned.

A small smile pulled on his lips.

"Did we expect anyone?" Lyall muttered when the doorbell rang, cutting through the otherwise silent night.

"Not that I know of." Hope shrugged as she moved to open the door followed close by Lyall while Remus remained seated at the kitchen table.

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ANNABELLE NERVOUSLY WRINGED HER HANDS, STARING AT THE FADED YELLOW DOOR IN FRONT OF HER, as she waited for someone to open up. Julia was a couple steps behind her, opting to stay in the background. A natural blush was coated on her cheeks as the freezing winds brushed her skin, but she didn't even notice the cold anymore. At this point she wouldn't be surprised if a fever had spiked from the sheer amount of nerves that had gathered in her chest.

Suddenly the door swung open, light flooding her sight as a woman appeared in the doorframe. She looked confused for a second before recognition flashed across her face. "Annabelle dear." Hope Lupin smiled in greeting before looking at Julia. "Julia."

"Erh." Annabelle awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "Hello Mrs. Lupin, sorry to interrupt your evening. But we—well I, was hoping to talk to Remus about something. I didn't think it could wait till after the Holiday, or be done through letters."

"Please, come in dears." Hope ushered them inside quickly, "It is freezing outside."

Both girls immediately stepped inside the cosy cabin-like house, shredding their scarves, coats and in Julia's case earmuffs. "Thank you Mrs. Lupin."

"You know you can just call me Hope."

Annabelle smiled awkwardly, the nerves spiking once more as her stomach swirled with butterflies. "Right."

"I'll go and get Remus for you."

The brunette nodded, feet tapping on the hardwood floor as she gazed around the little hallway. Family portraits were hung on the wall, most of them containing Remus throughout the years. But her eyes remained fixated at one particular. It looked to be the first picture after being bitten, and his first full moon. Unlike Remus' other toddler pictures, this one portrayed the boy with a large scar running up the side of his jaw, and behind his ear before disappearing in his hairline.

Once again shame and guilt flooded her.

"Annabelle?" The voice was soft and hesitant, and more whisper-like than anything else.

She spun around, brown eyes meeting the concerned ones of Remus Lupin peeking around the corner of the doorframe. The large sweater he was wearing was pulled up to his fingers, his hands barely peeking out from the green coloured material. "Remus." She spoke breathlessly, eyes scanning his hunched posture and nervous stare.

She moved forward, almost as if she went to hug him, but she stopped herself and cringed, averting her eyes back to the family photos on the wall.

"What..." He paused, slowly tilting his head, "what are you doing here so late?"

There was no malice in his words, and it eased some of the nerves that were coursing through her veins. "I...I wanted—no I needed to stop by." She turned her head to look at him again.  "I have no idea how to say this...and I had a long time to think about it, I mean I didn't go with the Night Bus for nothing you see. And still I don't know how to do this..." Her rambling continued, voice stammering and eyes darting around.

Julia coughed, and Annabelle slowed down again. "What I am trying to say..." she took a deep breath. "I feel terrible and I was way out of line and I miss you and I am so sorry."

Remus blinked, and Annabelle felt the tension tenfold in her body.

"You're sorry?"

Annabelle didn't know what to make of his response. It didn't sound accusatory at least. She nodded when she couldn't find the words to reply.

Slowly Remus face morphed into a smile, relief in his eyes when he took a step closer to her. "Thank you." He whispered. "I'm sorry too for not doing anything it was stupid and inresponsible—uhmp."

He was cut of when Annabelle rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck to pull him into a warm hug. She buried her head in the crook of his neck, shoulders slouching in relief before laughter spilled from her lips.

Remus' tightened his arms around her, "I missed you too by the way."

"Group hug!" Julia exclaimed from the side lines before joining the embrace, rocking her two friends back and forward.

Maybe it would be a jolly Christmas after all.