TO BE THE DAUGHTER of Anne Rowle had always been a blessing in every way to Claudia, and that was extra clear during Christmastime.

Anne would always put in all the effort in the world to make sure that Claudia's christmases would be perfect. She would find the perfect gifts, the perfect tree and the perfect decorations. She would make snowmen, bake gingerbread cookies and decorate the house with, and for, her daughter.

The house would constantly be covered in glistening lights and red decorations. It would smell just like a Christmas tree in every room, and candles would be lit everywhere.

But, what the house looked like or how the gifts were wrapped wasn't the only thing Claudia was thinking about the moment she first took in the home that was Potter manor.

Claudia felt like she went back five years in time, and suddenly she was eleven years old coming home for the very last Christmas she would spend with her mum.

As always, everything was perfect.

Claudia had her mum. They would read, watch movies, listen to Christmas music and bake.

Claudia had her mum, and absolutely everything was perfect.

And, as she went back to being 16 and back to standing in a room with a Christmas tree, candles, a warm fireplace, family photos and presents under the tree, she felt it all coming back to her.

Because, for the past three christmases, Claudia had been all alone. In a house with no decorations, no warmth and no love.

And two out of those three christmases had been spent in physical agony as she was either in a pool of blood or recovering from the Cruciatus curse.

But, somewhere in her memory, she remembered just what a perfect Christmas felt like. And, she knew when she came inside the Potter manor that she was bound to experience it again.

"Wow," the girl said airily as James and Sirius immediately went to go pry on their gifts under the tree. "This is beautiful."

"Thank you, dear," said Euphemia proudly, appearing next to the girl with a smile, only for it to drop at the sight of the slightly solemn expression on Claudia's face. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Claudia said, turning to the woman with a genuine smile despite her slightly teary eyes. "Everything's perfect. Actually perfect. Thank you so much for having me."

"Of course, sweetheart," she said, placing her hand on Claudia's arm.

Euphemia was surprised to find the girl in front of her flinching slightly.

"Are you sure that nothing's wrong?" Euphemia asked again, removing her hand.

"I'm sure," Claudia smiled. "I'm just a little jumpy sometimes, is all. It's nothing personal, don't worry about it."

"Of course," Euphemia smiled, a smile that quickly shifted into a stern face as she caught her son in the act of shaking one of his presents to figure out what was inside of it. "James!"

"What?" James asked with an innocent smile, slowly placing the gift back down as if Euphemia had seen nothing.

"Quit being so nosy!"

"Yes, mum-"

"That includes you, Sirius!" She continued as she caught eye of him doing exactly the same thing.

"Yes, mum," said Sirius without another thought.

Euphemia blinked, and then a big smile came over her face.

That was the first time Sirius had ever called her mum.

"Alright my loves," said Euphemia. "Let's go eat."

•••

"So, Claudia," Euphemia said after they had nearly finished the delicious meal that she had cooked. "Surely you must understand that I'm curious. It's in my nature."

"Curious about what?" Claudia asked.

"About you and Remus, of course," she laughed. "I want to hear everything!"

"Mum," James sighed. "I thought I already told you to leave her alone-"

"What do you want to know?" Claudia asked, shrugging when James gave her a confused look.

"How did you two meet?" Euphemia asked, a dreamy look in her eyes as she took her husband's hand.

"Well," Claudia chuckled. "We first met-"

"Claudia was stealing a book," Sirius interrupted with a grin. "It's actually a quite funny story, you see-"

"Actually, the first time we met was on the platform our first year," Claudia said.

"What?!" Sirius and James chorused.

"Oh, that's adorable! Was it love at first sight, then?" Euphemia asked excitedly.

"Something like that, I guess," Claudia chuckled. "But, yeah, then we met again about a year ago-"

"When she was stealing a book!"

"-And then I guess it just kind of fell naturally-"

"After like five months spent barely speaking, three spent flirting all the time, five spent fighting and then like two months spent flirting all the time again!"

"Yeah," Claudia nodded. "It took some time, I guess."

"Some time?! Some time!" Sirius scoffed. "It's been the longest year of my life watching you two going back and forth! And the most confusing year!"

"Then you're bound for greatness if your friends' problems bother you that much," Fleamont pointed out. "Imagine when you need to deal with a situation like that with your own girl. Which reminds me, whatever happened to that french one? What was her name...? Babette? Bonny? Brune?"

"Betty," Euphemia sighed. "That was months ago, Fleamont!"

"It definitely wasn't!"

"It definitely was!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Alright," Fleamont gave in, because he knew he wasn't going to get past his wife anyways. "So, Claudia, why were you stealing a book?"

"Uh, well-"

"So," James interrupted. "Claudia pretty much-"

"I think we should talk more about Remus in private, dear," Euphemia interrupted with an amused smile. "There's no way to escape them interrupting otherwise. They're such boys."

"Sounds good," Claudia chuckled. "Thank you for the dinner, Mrs. Potter. It was delicious."

"Of course, and don't forget to call me Mia," Euphemia smiled, turning to her two sons. "Now, I've made dessert, but you two will only get some if you show Claudia around the house and where she's sleeping, alright?"

"Will do!" They said, and before Claudia knew it James had grabbed her by the wrist and started his weirdly formal tour around the house.

"And here's your room!" He then said as they arrived on the next floor by one of the guest rooms. "You've got your own bathroom and everything! And there's a bookshelf and a desk, and you've got one of the-"

"Seems like you've got this tour memorised," Claudia said amusedly.

"That's because he does," Sirius grinned. "You're lucky, though, I'm telling you. When I first came here it took him thirty minutes to get through the first floor!"

"Lying is a sin, Padfoot," James said. "Well, anyway, your bags are already here and if you need something just tell me!"

"Thank you, Jamie," Claudia replied.

"Of course, anything for moony's girlfriend," James grinned. "Who also happens to be my sister, of course."

"Hey, since when were you two on sibling-basis?" Sirius asked in a pretend way of being offended. "Do I mean nothing to you, Claudia?!"

"Shut it, Sirius, you're my brother too," Claudia sighed.

"You don't sound so pleased about that," Sirius murmured. "Which leads to me telling you that my room is next door so no funny business when Remus arrives, alright?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Claudia asked, her cheeks heating up slightly at the thought of the intimate acts that had gone on between her and Remus a few nights back.

"Nothing much," Sirius said with an amused look in his eyes at the sight of the flustered girl. "I think you know already."

"No, I don't," Claudia sighed. "Enlighten me."

"Wormtail may have opened the door in the middle of something interesting," Sirius said slowly.

Claudia's cheeks got even redder by the second, "Oh, Merlin!" She groaned. "I can't believe this, that's so embarrassing!"

"Well, at least you're not Wormtail!" James laughed. "He's completely traumatised!"

"Why is it always him?!"

"Well, I don't know about you, Prongs, but I sure like that it's always him," Sirius grinned. "The poor lad, though. His virgin eyes has seen way too much at this point. He walked in on me and-"

"Please, shut up!" Claudia groaned, burying her face in her hands. "I'm not going to be able to look at him ever again!"

"Well, he won't be able to look at you either so that's a plus," James grinned, patting Claudia on the back.

"I really hate asking this, but do you know how much he saw?" Claudia asked hesitantly.

"Not much, don't worry," Sirius lied.

Yes, lied.

"How the hell didn't we notice?!"

"Well, you probably were a bit...busy," James said, trying his hardest not to laugh. "And he's a rat as well, so maybe that helps with being quiet."

"I feel so bad! His poor, poor eyes-"

"Our poor, poor ears," James pointed out. "I think we should stop talking about this by now."

"Yeah, just remember to at least be careful if you do something here so our entire family doesn't feel the need to leave and never return," Sirius said. "Let's go eat dessert!"

"I don't have an appetite now-"

"Come on, Virgin Mary-"

"James, I swear to Merlin I will murder you in your sleep."

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a/n: this chapter is so boring sorry!! just wanted claudia to spend some time with her boys! remus will be there soooon, i promise! ;)