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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
christmas, almost
BETTY LUPIN SHOT up in her bed quite suddenly at her alarm. She looked over at her ringing alarm, silenced it and saw the time: 9:00 am. She wiped her face and stumbled over to her mirror — fixing her hair into two braids however, a few strands fell out as she did — framing her face. She pulled one of her brother's old jumpers over her pajamas and slipped on some socks and padded downstairs. No one was down, despite it being Christmas Eve, so she presumed the boys were still sleeping in Remus's room and she couldn't even think about where Lyall was. She stood, quietly, looking at the messy Christmas tree that the boys had decorated a few days ago and the tidy kitchen. She could almost smell the sausage Hope would make and hear her call for help with tying the apron at the back.
She carefully walked forward and opened the second drawer down — one that no one had touched since she left. Stacks of her scribbles were everywhere with recipes that she came up with during lunch or in the middle of the night. Betty picked one up and held it, tracing her "B"'s and "Q"'s. She swallowed the lump that started to rise in her throat as she shifted the loose papers to the side and finally reached the apron. It had a pink and blue floral print and was only a half apron with a blue frill around the edge that came all the way up to the top and tied in the back. Hope had spent about an hour making it and Betty could remember her carefully sewing — up and down and under and over again and again.
Her hands shaking, she carefully tied the apron around her waist and without a second thought — not allowing one to enter her mind lest it took away from the joy she was supposed to be and imposed upon the sorrow she wanted to wallow in — she turned towards their fridge and gingerly took out bacon, eggs and a few pears. She set the pears aside and started to struggle to open the package of bacon. Her fingers turned white as she pulled at it, but she couldn't seem to make it budge. The plastic film seemingly fought back as she tossed the bacon back down in frustration — leaving it disfigured. Instead, she turned her attention towards the eggs and instead turned on the stove, placed a pan on it. She took a bowl out and cracked a few eggs into it and whisked.
She could hear the boys start to murmur awake as she cut up onions, chives and oregano. She scraped them in and added in some salt, pepper and a pinch of chilli powder. She slowly poured it into the pan. The murmuring became louder as the smell of cooking food filled the house and one by one, she heard them come down as she tended to the food.
Remus stood, frozen at the end of the stairs. Peter was making himself comfortable on the couch and Sirius and James were behind him, however, he could've sworn that his mother was it in the kitchen. But blink once and twice and he realized it was Betty by the way she moved her feet.
