Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter forty nine

        Burnt toast and back swirl around the young blonde witch's nose as she perches upon one of the wooden stools along the kitchen table. A deep, maroon blanket wrapped around her aching shoulders as a mug of hot cocoa sits squarely between the palms of her hands.

A full moon had graced with a tough night, though Winnie supposed she should be grateful for the lack of scratches bearing her skin. She had only awoken with a purple bruise forming on her left calf, which had pulsed with each step she had taken. Winnie remembers most of the night as cracking bones, whimpering and fighting with her wolf. It seems her mind is an array of worries, which really, can anyone be surprised?

Sirius was perhaps, the only one in their home of Grimmauld Place that seemed happy that morning. Currently. He was humming over a stove with a bright, maroon St.Nicholas hat over his head. Seeing the man who essentially adopted her humming muggle Christmas songs in a bright violet robe with fuzzy Rudolph socks on his feet was amusing.

The blonde couldn't even be sure where he got the socks from, but she sat, bones aching and sleep clinging desperately onto her bones with a hazy smile across her face as she watched Sirius.

"Is he always like this?" Winnie quetsioned softly, speaking to Remus, who sat beside her, his cup of cocoa in his hand. The sight made the blonde almost resentful of her former self; having spent the last Yule break here, she had forced herself to stay shut down in her room for those rare moments she felt like speaking to people.

"Oh always," Remus grinned, leisurely taking a sip from his mug before speaking again. "Back during Hogwarts, he would wake all of us super early, the sun wouldn't even be up, and he'd be jumping around screaming about presents and silly little Christmas songs." Winnie snorted, lips pushing into a grin as she looked over at the disowned male who radiated enthusiasm. She couldn't help but think it made perfect sense.

"Yeah, and you guys loved it," Sirius grinned, placing two plates in front of the werewolves. Blackened buttered toast, scrambled eggs and crispy pieces of meat that Winnie amused was bacon sat in front of them. The blonde crinkled her nose but smiled warmly up at Sirius as he beamed proudly.

He may not be the best cook, but at least he tried.

"No, you sang horribly off tune. It was disastrous," Remus spoke, taking a bite of the black toast, seemingly used to the bitter taste of Sirius' cooking. Winnie, on the other hand, held tighter onto her hot cocoa.

"Oh, you're just taking the piss. I sing beautifully," Sirius argued, smiling the entire time as he nodded towards Winnie. "Right, Poppins?"

"Oh yeah, simply the best Sirius," Winnie agreed, ignoring Remus' roll of eyes as she slowly stood from the stool. Placing her mug on the counter, she kissed Remus softly on the cheek before walking towards Sirius and repeating the action. "I'm afraid to sleep is calling me. Wake me before the Weasleys, please," she finished, wrapping her blanket tighter around her.

The blonde's sock feet padded up the long staircase, hand collapsed around the cotton fabric of her blanket as she made her way to her room. Winnie did need to sleep, which was something she did plan on doing. However, it had been nearly a week since she last spoke to Cordelia. Years after being raised in a home with slithering snakes, she had come to the ways of their life. Including Gala's, many of them attended, and just like she had missed Malfoy's annual Yule Gala, she knows Cordelia was there last night.

Slipping inside her room, the female sank onto the mattress of her unmade bed. Books were scattered over the left side as she slept on the right side. The blanket stayed strapped around her shoulders as she reached inside her bedside table, grasping a blue compact. Winnie had no idea if Cordelia would answer, making her heart sing in nostalgia from the year before, when their relationship had been momentarily shattered.