A CHRISTMAS CAROL

♡

fast approaching, when Maxime stops Briar before she leaves the carriage's small classroom, telling her that she needs to speak to Professor Moody about something. Maxime alludes to it being about her grandfather, but Briar gets it, Maxime wants to be careful about what she says, in case she upsets Briar about it. Briar's fine, if she's being honest; she thinks it's helped, having her friends know why she was upset at first, because now she can understand that a lot of her grief was because she thought she had killed him. But now there's rumours of him being found, potentially having been struck with the Killing Curse... And even what her father said. If it was a werewolf attack, there would be a bite. And, with that logic, if there's not a bite, then someone would've stopped the werewolf... Meaning there would be a dead werewolf lying near the body.

But there's not.

Briar steps out of the carriage, and Fred's waiting for her. She feels her cheeks warm up, which she knows is strange, because he used to wait for her, to go to dinner. It wasn't exactly every day but he tended to, mostly when he had lessons near the carriage before dinner. Now, though, it's every evening, he'll wait for her outside, and they'll walk to the hall together. Briar thinks it's sweet.

She doesn't really know what's going on with them, though. They haven't kissed yet, but he's said to her that he fancies her. Briar doesn't know if they're going out, or what. Fleur keeps on telling her to just ask him, but Briar thinks she's going to wait until after the ball. Whatever's going on, Briar's happy.

"I've got to find Moody before dinner," says Briar.

Fred frowns. "Why?"

She shrugs. "Maxime told me to," she explains. "I think it's gonna be about my grandad. I dunno, maybe Moody knew him or something, or he's been a part of the investigation." Briar pauses, and she glances across at Fred, holding onto his hand. "So how was school for you?"

"Well, you know how it is," says Fred, and he squeezes her hand. He looks happy that she held onto his, because normally it's the other way around. "Got a detention, pissed off Snape..."

Briar laughs. "The usual, then?"

Fred grins at her. "Yeah."

He walks her to the Defence classroom, and she tells him that she'll meet him in the hall, but he shakes his head and says he doesn't mind waiting. I fucking love you, she thinks to herself, when she looks at the clock on the wall, and tells him, "OK. If I'm not back in ten minutes, then go."

"All right," says Fred. "See you."

Briar winks at him, giving him a little salute before she knocks on the door into the classroom. There's no response, so she pulls a face, and thinks, fuck it. She opens the classroom door, and it's empty, but the office door's locked. So, Briar closes the classroom door behind her, walking towards the office. She doesn't know what exactly this is going to be about. Like, have they found her grandfather's murderer? Or is this just I knew your grandpa bullshit?

"Uh, hi..."

"Miss Crouch," says Moody, who's sitting at the desk. Briar inches into the classroom, which in her opinion, is covered with random shit. Strange, metallic objects sit on shelves, looking half like torture devices, half like junk. A lot of it looks as if it's rusting, patches of metal going an awful orange colour. There's a huge trunk to the side of the desk, with six different locks keeping it shut, and Briar feels a little nervous.

"Madame Maxime said you wanted to speak to me," says Briar. She doesn't know if she should sit down, or if she wants to. Part of her wishes she made Fred come in here with her. At least then she could hide behind him, maybe...

"Ah, yes," says Moody. He looks across at her, furrowing his brows a little bit. "You can sit down, this won't take too long..."

Briar does so, even if it's reluctant. She can feel a pit in her stomach.

"I found out through my old colleagues that your grandfather was killed with the Killing Curse," says Moody. Briar nods, beginning to frown. She can't act relieved, because how weird would that look? "They still don't know who killed him, though..."

"Oh, well, I hope they do soon," says Briar.

"Yes... I hope so, too," says Moody.

Briar glances around. Can I... go?

"I heard your uncle died in Azkaban," says Moody.

"Oh, Uncle Barty?" says Briar. "Yeah, uh, yeah, he did..."

What the fuck?

"I suppose you never knew Uncle Barty, did you?" says Moody. "Well... He gave the Ministry some grief, that's safe to say..."

Briar smiles awkwardly. "Well, uh, I never really knew him," she says hesitantly, and she thinks about the letter, the warning he left for her and her little brother. "But I dunno... Sometimes terrible people aren't completely terrible."

"Hm," says Moody.

Briar awkwardly asks to leave after a couple of minutes, and as soon as she leaves the office, she quickly walks back outside to the hallway. Fred's still waiting for her, leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets. He has a cute look on his face, and when he sees her, he looks up, his eyes lighting up. Briar's this close to swooning.

"So it was the Killing Curse," says Briar.

Fred puts his hand on her arm. "So it wasn't you!"

Briar nods. "It was weird, though," she says to him, and they start to walk towards the hall. "I'm sure he's a good teacher, but he is weird, isn't he, Freddie? Like, have you seen all of those weird things, he has lying around in his office? Freaky."

"Maybe you're just used to Maxime," says Fred. "Your dad's office was a little weird. Not as weird as Moody's, but there was still some weird stuff in there. Normally it was just stuff for lessons, but still. Weird stuff in there... He had some of your baby pictures."

She shrugs. "I was a cute baby."

"Still are," says Fred, without a pause.

Briar smiles at him. "Wait, so — if you've seen my dad's office, does that mean he's given you a detention?"

"I'm just that devilishly charming, I can't help but get detention," says Fred, shrugging. Briar rolls her eyes. "He stopped when he realised we were friends... And by that I mean I told him so he stopped."

"Aren't you cunning," says Briar, smirking.

"You know me," says Fred, and he grins back at her.

God, she loves him so much.

The two of them walk towards the hall. They sit down at the Gryffindor table, and Ron raises an eyebrow when he sees Fred holding Briar's hand. "I thought you hadn't found a date yet, to the ball," says Ron, to his older brother.

Fred shakes his head. "I said I was working on it."

Ron looks at Briar, his mouth opening in shock. "You said yes?"

"Uh-huh," says Briar, and she grins, sticking her fork into a piece of carrot. She puts the carrot in her mouth, covering her mouth with her hand so she can keep on talking.

George glances at Ron. "I dunno why you're surprised, mate."

Ron looks at Fred, unimpressed — he's not unimpressed with Briar, but rather, he looks unimpressed that Briar actually said yes. Briar tries not to laugh. "Hey, Hermione, have you seen this?" he says, and he nudges her, which is enough to make her frown at him.

"Yeah...?" she says. She looks over at Briar. "Hi, Briar..."

"Hey..." says Briar, in the same way they tend to. She likes Hermione, but a lot of the time when Briar sits with the twins at dinner, she ends up eating her dinner to the sound of the Weasleys arguing. And, normally, what tends to happen is at some point, Briar's gaze will fall onto Harry or Hermione, and they'll smile weakly at each other. All of them suffering, in the same small boat.

"Yeah, so, Hermione, who are you going with to the ball?" says Ron, turning to her quickly.

"He keeps on asking," says Fred, leaning towards Briar to fill her in.

"Oh," says Briar.

"He thinks if he startles her enough, she'll say it," says George.

Briar nods. "Right," she says, frowning slightly. She isn't sure how sound that logic is. But, as some time passes, and Hermione leaves to go to the library, Briar stands up, saying she'll walk out of the hall to her. Fred begins to stand, to walk Briar to the carriage, but she puts her hand on his shoulder, as she tells him to not bother with it. When she leaves, she hears Ron try to take the piss out of Fred, and Fred quickly shutting him down. Something about having no date to the ball yet. Anyway.

"Hey, so," says Briar, and she smiles at Hermione. "Who's your date?"

"I was actually going to ask if you could help me out," says Hermione.

Briar frowns. "What with?"

"Well... I have my dress and everything, but I'm not very good at doing my hair, or makeup," says Hermione. "And you always look really nice." Briar smiles softly. Sue her, she likes being complimented. "So I was wondering if, maybe, you could show me how to do some stuff..."

"Yeah, sure," says Briar. "You can borrow some of my makeup, if you want?"

"Are you sure?" says Hermione, her eyebrows rising slightly.

Briar nods. "Oh, yeah, it's fine," she says. "Honestly, I've got enough makeup to last years... I'm not even joking, I've got every shade of light-pink in my dorm room..."

♡

CHRISTMAS DRAWS CLOSER AND CLOSER, and before Briar knows it, it's Christmas morning. Briar wakes up and Fleur's already in their shower, washing her hair and getting ready for tonight. She gets out of bed, rubbing her eyes, and she takes out Fleur's Christmas present from her trunk, along with Livvy's and Gabrielle's. The flowers Briar and Fleur have bought for Madame Maxime, a bouquet made up of blue and white colours, sit in a vase on their room's mantlepiece.

Fleur walks out of the bathroom, changed back into her pyjamas.

"Oh, good morning Bria—"

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS!" says Briar, and she launches herself onto Fleur, hugging her tightly. Fleur stumbles backwards, the towel wrapping her hair falling out and onto Briar's head. Both of them start to laugh. "We've got to open our presents! I'll go and get Liv and Gabby, and then we can open our presents! You're love mine."

Fleur grins back at her. "You're very happy today."

"You know I'm excited," says Briar, smiling. Tonight's the night!

Sergeant barks, sitting on Briar's bed. She pulls away from Fleur, and walks towards him, stroking him. "You're not getting your present, Serge, until later," says Briar, and she hugs her dog.

Fleur smiles. "Oh, I've gotten him a bone, if you want to give it to him now, to calm him down..."

"You're a star," says Briar, and Fleur takes out the dog bone from the bag with her presents in. Sergeant jumps down from the bed, onto the floor, and sits, waiting for Fleur to give him the bone. Briar stands back up. "I'll be back in a couple minutes?"

"See you then!" says Fleur.

A few minutes pass, and Briar walks back into her dorm room with Livvy and Gabrielle behind her, both of them holding some presents for them to open. Briar slows down to follow them into her dorm, her inner eye beginning to whisper about when an owl is going to reach their window. As Gabrielle hugs her big sister, Briar slips past all of them, unlocking the window, to let the owl in. It drops a letter in her hands, unfamiliar handwriting addressing her, and she furrows her brows for a minute. The owl has already flown off, and Briar looks down at the letter.

Briar Crouch... or is it Lupin, now?

Livvy walks over to his sister, and peers over at the envelope.

"I'll deal with it later," says Briar, as she looks up at her brother, as if to say, everything's fine, don't worry. It's Christmas Day. If things are turning sour, then she wants to have some happiness first. For the first time since she left for Beauxbatons, she feels happy. She worries about the full moons, sure, but a lot of that weight is gone now, because her friends now, she doesn't live in constant fear of them finding out... She even has her headteacher now, looking out for her, using the school's money to make sure she's looked after every night the moon's full.

They begin to open their presents, Briar and Livvy sitting next to each other cross-legged on her bed. She opens the presents from their dad, small things like new lipsticks and cassette tapes. Livvy gets a Frank Sinatra album on vinyl so they play it on the record player, the one that Briar and Fleur bought together, for their dorm room. Fleur buys Briar a box of face masks, which is ironic considering Briar got the same for her, and the two end up sitting next to each other, both wearing one of the face masks the other got for them.

Briar starts to paint her nails white, as Gabrielle sighs.

"It's so sad I can't go to the ball tonight," says Gabrielle, and she frowns in such a way her lips curve into a downwards U.

Livvy looks across at her. "There'll be other balls like this one," he tells her, smiling softly. Briar thinks it's sweet. For a while she's felt as if she views Gabrielle as her little sister, but she thinks it's especially cute, when Livvy does the same, acting like Gabrielle's big brother. He stands up, and extends his arm to Gabrielle. "Wanna dance?"

Gabrielle grins at Livvy.

Briar finishes her nails, and she sits back on Fleur's bed, where she moved once they both put their face masks on. Fleur smiles brightly at Briar.

"I'm so excited," she says.

Briar nods back, being careful how much she moves so she doesn't displace the sheet mask stuck to her face. "You know what, the best part isn't even the actual ball, is it?" she says. "The best part's getting ready."

"I am my most content with a face mask on," says Fleur, and Briar has never agreed with her more.

Fleur's date is the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, Roger Davis. Briar thinks he's quite good looking... Briar has a bad feeling in her stomach, though — she doesn't think he's going to be nasty, or anything, she just doesn't think it's going to last past this school year. Which is fine... He's still nice, and Fleur likes him, which is enough for Briar to be cool with it. But, for now, Briar won't tell Fleur the couple of dreams she's had about her, meeting someone that Briar knows, they're just never shown properly, in her dreams...

Anyway.

They end up finding Madame Maxime whilst Livvy and Gabrielle go to get ready, Livvy planning to go up to the castle to wish his old friends a merry Christmas. Briar and Fleur carry the bouquet to Maxime's office, and Fleur knocks on the door, Briar holding onto the flowers. They share a smile.

Maxime opens the door.

"Oh, hello, girls..." she says, and she looks at the flowers. "What are these?"

"Happy Christmas!" the two say together, smiling happily.

"We didn't know what to get you, but we thought that you'd like flowers," says Fleur, and they both walk into Maxime's office. She smiles at the two of them.

"You didn't have to do this, girls, this is very kind of you," says Madame Maxime, and she conjures up a vase, so that Briar can put the flowers into it. "Thank you, very much."

Briar and Fleur stand next to each other. Briar smiles awkwardly.

"Well, uh, I really appreciate how you've been, with everything," says Briar. "I... I can't thank you enough, really, for offering to help me..."

Maxime looks down at her, smiling... fondly at her? Briar's surprised.

"I am happy to help, Briar," says Maxime.

When they get back to their dorm room, Briar sees a note on the parchment. She sees Fred handwriting, which says Yo, we're all in the common room, if you wanna come up here in a few minutes and give each other presents?

Briar writes back, See you then :-)

She glances across at the letter. Briar Crouch... or is it Lupin, now? For a second she thinks, may as well get it over with, but then she stops herself, and she thinks, not right now. She doesn't know what's inside the letter — but from the dread in her stomach she knows it isn't going to be a good thing... So, she's going to wait until later. It's Christmas, she wants to be happy.

Briar gets dressed in something not too uncomfortable, blue jeans and a white turtleneck, throwing on her coat for when she walks up to the castle. Over the past few days the grounds have been covered with snow, and because of it, the air has been far chillier. So, she wraps her scarf around her neck and pulls on her hat, too, knowing she's got to wash her hair soon anyway, so it's not like she's got to worry about the hat messing it up at all.

She walks up to the castle with Livvy, who leaves her to go to the dungeons. Briar hugs Fred, George, and Lee when she sees them in the common room, wishing all three of them a happy Christmas. She sees Harry, too, who's stopped in his tracks by someone in front of him reacting to a Canary Cream, one of the joke products the twins have started to sell around school. Briar grins at him, and pulls him into a hug. "Happy Christmas," she tells him. "Excited for later?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," says Harry, although he doesn't look like he is.

They open their presents for each other. All of it's pretty, Briar thinks, and if anything it makes her realise how well her friends know her. Lee gets her a couple packs of scrunchies, some of them plaid, some of them fluffy, and then also a toy for Sergeant. The twins buy her one of the fancy boxes of chocolate from Honeydukes, and Briar checks that the plastic's still wrapped around, so that they haven't tampered with it.