morning sun {r. lupin}

twenty seven

Greta ran her hands over her red dress in attempts to brush out any wrinkles. Usually she wasnt a big fan of wearing dresses, but as she looked at the reflection in the mirror, she felt truly beautiful as dumb as it sounds.

She wore her hair down which was a rare occurance nowadays as she almost always wore it in a bun of some sort as it tended to get in the way at school and when lounging around. She wore black flats since the last time she wore heels she couldnt walk the next day, swearing she would never make that mistake again. She swapped her usual pale pink lipstick for a vibrant red, only applying a little bit of mascara before heading downstairs before their many guests would arrive.

The annual Potter New Years Eve party was always crowded, filled with many people Greta had never seen before in her life but claimed to know her since she was small. There wasnt any dancing, just a lot of conversation, drinking, and eating.

As she made her way down the stairs, the doorbell rang and she was shoved aside by James and Sirius sprinting past her towards the door. Greta could hear her mother greeting someone at the door, then the boys groaning, clearly not the person they wanted it to be.

Greta entered the foyer area just behind the stairs to find James and Sirius standing in the middle, kicking the ground, clearly impatient about the arrival of the other two marauders.

"Mum put us door duty." James groaned, not even bothering to looking at his sister.

"You clean up nicely." Sirius smirked, sending her one of his signature winks which would usually cause any girl to faint.

"I know." she said, her voice dripping with the cockiness that Sirius' usually does.

"Is this your way of impressing Remus?" James asked.

"NO! Can I not just dress nice for the occasion and for myself?" she snapped.

Shocked by his sisters sudden outburst, James struggled to find a response after his failed half joke.

"I-I was only kidding."

"Youve better been."

The room went quiet as the three stood there somewhat awkwardly for a few moments, before Sirius broke the silence.

"I got this shirt for Christmas from your parents."

"Sirius." James said sternly.

"Our parents." he corrected himself as it was definitely something to get used to, the twins being persistent that they were now his parents as well.

"Well it looks great, suits you." Greta complimented.

"Mom got me the same one." James added, tugging on his shirt which was infact identical to Sirius'.

Before Greta could spit out a response, which was going to be somewhat rude, the doorbell rang and both boys jumped towards the door, quickly straightening up when James swung the door open, revealing who was on the other side.

"MOONY!" the two said in unison, immediately tackling their friend in a hug.

Greta stayed put as she watched their little reunion, her eyes meeting Remus' while he was embraced by the Sirius and James. They both smiled at each other, itching to be close again. Remus couldnt help but notice how stunning she looked. Of course he always thought she did, but seeing her hair down and the way it perfectly framed her face brought a different light to her beauty.

Finally he was relased and Greta stepped forward slightly, as did he, pulling each other into a tight embrace like it had been much longer than just over a week since the last time theyd been in the others company.