Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling.

A/N: 'Lia' is pronounced the same way you'd pronounce Leah ('Lee-ah').

- I -

Christmas With the Lestranges

"Okay, just give me a clue, then."

"No!"

"Can you at least tell me what letter it starts with?"

"I'm not telling you anything! You'll have to wait 'till Christmas like everyone else."

"Lia, please!"

"Marlene Elizabeth McKinnon!" I said, pointing a finger at her. "Stop trying to ruin the sanctity of Christmas!"

Marlene settled back into the seat, folding her arms across her chest. "Spoil sport. Party pooper. Grinch."

I grinned and grabbed the deck of Exploding Snap cards that were stacked on the seat next to me and threw them all at Marlene.

"Ow! Help me! I'm being attacked by a Lestrange! She's using Dark magic!"

"Just give her a clue, Lia," said Olive Honeycutt, who was sitting on Marlene's left. "She'll probably follow you home if you don't."

"But it's only two days 'till Christmas!" I protested. Olive shot me a pointed look over the top of her big, round glasses. "Fine. It's blue. There's your clue, McKinnon. Are you happy now?"

"Blue?" murmured Marlene, settling back into the seat of the train.

I shook my head fondly, wondering how I'd ever become friends with this lunatic. I suppose others wondered about that, too. Not just about Marlene, but Olive as well. Why was a Slytherin sitting with two Ravenclaws? Why was a pure-blood Lestrange friends with two witches of mixed blood? Why was a girl whose family was rumoured to be involved in the Dark Arts sitting with a McKinnon when the McKinnons were a prominent family of Aurors and Ministry officials?

I could see why others thought it was strange. But others didn't know that our house had been searched by Aurors four times for Dark artefacts. Four times they'd burst into our house, brandishing a search warrant, and four times they'd found nothing (they were looking in all the wrong places). Others didn't know that we Lestranges were smart, and others didn't know that we had a plan to dispel the Ministry's suspicions.

One facet of that plan was that we had to associate with half-bloods, Muggle-borns and blood traitors. That's why I was allowed to have friends like Olive (half-blood, daughter of a blood traitor) and Marlene (blood traitor). Unfortunately for my family, I didn't believe in pure-blood supremacy. But they didn't know that, and neither did my fellow Slytherins (I'm a good liar).

It'd taken time for me to realise it. I was a bit ashamed to admit that, but it had. I didn't just wake up one morning and realise that the thing my family prided itself most on was complete rubbish. It was Hogwarts that had really opened my eyes for me. How could pure-bloods be better than everyone else when there were Muggle-born witches like Lily Evans who was one of the best in our year? And Olive's dad was a Muggle-born but he was one of the Ministry's best Aurors. It hadn't made any sense to snooty little eleven-year-old me and so I slowly began to question everything my family had ever taught me. Marlene would probably say I was still snooty, though.

"I reckon we're about five minutes away from London," Marlene said, peering through the train window. "I'm so excited for Christmas!"

"It's not going to be much of a holiday for me," I grumbled, "I've got three essays due the first week back."

"Do you think it might snow this Christmas?" Marlene said dreamily. "We haven't had a white Christmas in so long!"

"What's so good about snow, anyway?" Olive said as she used a Levitation Charm to get our trunks down from the overhead rack. "It's just cold and wet."

"Olive, you're starting to absorb Lia's Grinch qualities," Marlene admonished as the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross Station.

"I don't have Grinch qualities!" I protested, "I even gave you a clue!"

"Well, out of the three of us, you're the most likely to steal Christmas."

"No way. Olive's the most likely to steal Christmas," I said as we weaved our way through the mass of students that crowded the narrow corridor of the Hogwarts Express. "Have you seen her in the morning? She's definitely Grinch material in the morning."

"I'm not that bad in the morning!" Olive protested.

"Plus, she's half Malfoy," I added. "Remember Lucius Malfoy? He'd definitely steal Christmas if he could."

"That's true," Marlene said as we finally made it out onto the smoke-filled platform. "Oh! I see Mum and Dad! Let's go, Olive!"

Olive was going home with Marlene. I felt a pang of jealousy and resentment then. Dad tolerated my friendship with Olive and Marlene for the sake of keeping the Lestrange name out of trouble. But that tolerance didn't extend to permission to stay over at either of their houses.

"See ya, Lestrange!" Marlene said, throwing her arms around me.

As soon as Marlene let me go, Olive moved in. "Bye, Lia! Make sure you write. Daily."

"I'll send you a letter every hour," I said, rolling my eyes playfully. "See you!"

I watched as Marlene's tall, dark-haired figure and Olive's honey coloured curls disappeared into the smog.

My eyes scanned the station, looking for any sign of Mum, Dad, or my brothers. I walked around, wondering if maybe they'd forgotten I was coming home today. Then I spotted Mum standing next to a column, our house-elf Polly beside her. I quickly made my way towards them.

"Hi, Mum!" I grinned.

"How are you, amore mia?" she asked, wrapping her arms around me and enveloping me in the scent of the flowery perfume she always wore.

"Bene. Sopravvivo. E tu?" Good. I'm surviving. And you?

"Bene, bene, tesoro," she replied, sniffling. Mum always got teary at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"Where's Dad?" I asked in Italian. My mum's from Italy and we always speak Italian with each other. My brothers Rodolphus and Rabastan could speak a bit of Italian, too, but they'd never been as interested in learning the language as I was.

"He's away."

Away = on business for the Dark Lord.

"And the boys?"

"They went with him," Mum replied. Her expression was very solemn now – she hated the fact that my dad and brothers were Death Eaters. Mum and Dad fought a lot about that. The fights usually ended with my mum threatening to go back to Italy, taking me with her.

"Will they be home for Christmas?"

"They said they would. But I guess we can't know for certain," she sighed. "Could you take us home, please, Polly?"

"Of course, Mistress!" squeaked the elf.

…

We had dinner as soon as we got home and afterwards I sat with Mum in the lounge room while I wrapped my presents. Mum was chatty, but she'd put a Candida Castiglione record on so I knew she was sad - Dad and the boys weren't back yet. Of course I wanted them home, too, but I don't think I could ever be sad enough to want to listen to Candida Castiglione who mainly just wailed in Italian over sad violin music.

"Who's that for?" Mum asked as I carefully placed a set of robes inside a big white box.

"Marlene. She fell in love with these when were out shopping once, but she didn't buy them 'cause she thought they were too expensive," I said as I stroked the soft blue fabric. I placed the matching set of gloves on top and sealed the box.

"What did you get for that other girl – Olive?"

"A necklace with an amethyst pendant. Olive's obsessed with birthstones and crystals and stuff so I thought she might like it. Her birthday's February 7th and amethyst's February's birthstone."

Mum sighed. "I'll tell you the truth, sweetheart. I'm not sure how much longer you'll be allowed to be friends with those girls."

"I know," I said quietly.

I wondered what would come first. Would Dad tell me to stop speaking to them? Would the Slytherins turn on me and label me a blood traitor for associating with them? Or would the Aurors find out that my dad, brothers, sister-in-law, auntie and uncle were all Death Eaters? The Aurors already suspected it, but they had no definitive proof – yet. Sooner or later their names would be all over the Daily Prophet. How could I look Olive and Marlene in the eyes after that? They probably won't want to have anything to do with me.

I don't really have many friends outside of Olive and Marlene. My only real friend in Slytherin is Zara Shacklebolt – but she's best friends with Clover Flint so I always feel like a third wheel when I spend time with them. Truthfully, I felt like a bit of a third wheel with Olive and Marlene, too – I was the odd one out.

"Have you spoken to Sirius Black recently?" Mum asked suddenly, sipping at her tea.

I flinched at the name. "Of course not. Why?"

"His uncle Alphard passed away suddenly the other day," Mum said sadly, "Apparently, he left everything he had to Sirius. I heard it from Druella Black."

"That's horrible. I remember when we were little he used to idolise his uncle Alphard – he followed him around everywhere."

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I digested the news. I continued wrapping presents, my mind on Sirius Black. I felt awful for him, truly. I decided I'd write to him later – I felt like I had to do something, even though he probably hated me.

"You and Sirius Black used to be attached at the hip when you were kids," Mum said fondly. "You two were inseparable. When it was time to go home you and Sirius would hide and pretend you couldn't hear us calling your names, do you remember?"

"I remember," I mumbled, busying myself with cutting a strip of Spello-tape.

…

There were a lot of things I wanted to say to Sirius Black (I miss you. I hate you. How can you act like I don't even exist?). But I didn't say any of that. Instead, I wrote him a short letter that said I was sorry for his loss. He'd probably throw it away as soon as he realised it was from me, but I wrote it anyway.

I made my way out of my bedroom to go and find one of our owls, but I stopped to look at a picture on my wall. It was a photo of Sirius and I. We must have been around nine when it was taken. Sirius Black stood conspiratorially with his hands behind his back, a mischievous smirk lighting up his little face. I was standing next to him – a small, scrawny little thing grinning with a mouth full of crooked teeth. My teeth looked a lot better these days (I'd gotten them fixed) but admittedly I was still quite small and scrawny.

We were best friends once – now when we passed each other at school

his eyes slid over me like I was a part of the wall. But at least that was better than the looks of pure loathing he used to send me back in first and second year. I never admitted it to anyone, but I spent half my childhood with such a crush on him. I even used to secretly write 'Mrs Aurelia Black' in the corners of my parchment. It was funny how it all turned out.

I kept watching the photo as it played on a loop. We'd stand there smiling and then we'd twirl these sticks we were holding, pretending they were wands. It was from a game we always used to play called Archer and Savage. In the game, I was Auror Archer and Sirius was Auror Savage and we pretended to hunt an evil wizard called Professor Darkshadow. We used to spend hours running around the garden with our pretend wands, trying to bring down the elusive Professor Darkshadow. But that was a long time ago. And Professor Darkshadow was real now, only he called himself Lord Voldemort these days.

…

I woke up on Christmas Day to the sound of panicked shouts.

It was still dark outside and the clock on my bedside table told me it was half past three in the morning. I quickly climbed out of bed and raced downstairs towards the source of all the shouting – I could make out the voices of my parents and my oldest brother Rodolphus.

In the lounge room Rabastan was lying on the sofa – Mum, Dad and Rodolphus huddled around him. Empty vials of potions littered the expensive rug. Mum was clutching a book full of Healing spells, flipping frantically through the pages.

"What's going on?" I demanded fearfully.

"Oh hi, Lia. Glad you could make the family meeting," Rabastan answered weakly.

I clapped a hand over my mouth as I caught sight of Rabastan. His face and neck was covered in blood. There was a large, deep wound near his temple and blood was pouring from it profusely, glistening in the flickering candlelight.

"Bast, what happened?" I breathed, moving closer. He looked like he would lose consciousness any minute now. Of course Rabastan was making jokes whilst practically bleeding to death – typical.

"An Auror got me," he replied, wincing as Mum tried another spell to get the wound to stop bleeding.

"It's my fault," Rodolphus said. He was kneeling beside Rabastan, his face buried in his hands. "I should've been watching him. I should've – "

"Never mind that now," Dad said quickly, his head bent over the book Mum was holding. "Lia, get him another Blood-Replenishing Potion."

A normal family would've taken Rabastan to St. Mungo's. But we weren't a normal family and Rabastan had a Dark Mark on his left forearm that would mean a life-long sentence in Azkaban if a Healer caught sight of it.

I gingerly poured the potion into Rabastan's mouth. He was so weak from the blood loss he couldn't lift his arms to do it himself. I couldn't believe how much blood there was. It must be some kind of Dark curse. Maybe a more sinister version of the Cutting Hex.

"Try this one, Vittoria," Dad said, pointing to a page in the book.

Mum breathed in and pressed the tip of her wand to the wound. "Concresco!"

A burgundy coloured light faintly shone above the wound before the bleeding abruptly stopped.

We all breathed out a sigh of relief.

Mum quickly set about wiping away the blood with a damp cloth, tears spilling over her cheeks.

Dad ran a hand over my hair. "Go back to sleep, Lia," he said tiredly.

…

Later that day we opened Christmas presents. It felt like a strange thing to do considering what had transpired only a few hours ago, but Mum insisted.

I was sitting on the floor beside our Christmas tree, surrounded by what looked like a mountain of discarded wrapping paper. I moved to open a large, rather shoddily wrapped box addressed to me.

"That one's from me and Dolphie!" Rabastan called from the sofa. Next to him, Rodolphus bristled at the nickname we always used for him, but didn't say anything. Rabastan still looked a little pale, but it was a big improvement from the bloodied, barely conscious state he was in only a few hours ago.

"The shocking wrapping already gave it away," I grinned.

I tore open the wrapping. It was a cage, like the one you might use to put your owl or your cat in. I didn't have either. Maybe they'd been so wrapped up in Death Eater business they'd forgotten that little fact? I was surprised they'd even remembered something so trivial as getting me a Christmas present in the first place.

"To get part two of the present you have to close your eyes," Rabastan said, grinning.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "What's going on, Bast?"

"Just close your eyes, Lia!"

"Fine," I said, sighing. I couldn't believe I was falling for another of Rabastan's tricks. I'd probably open my eyes only to get a Dungbomb to the face or something. I heard the soft pop of a Disapparation and then another pop when whoever had Disapparated returned.

I felt someone put something on my lap.

"All right, you can open your eyes now, Lia!"

I opened my eyes and looked down at my lap.

"Oh, my God!" I squealed excitedly. It was a tiny little pure white kitten.

"She's supposed to be a quarter Kneazle," Rodolphus said, "At least that's what the saleswoman at the Magical Menagerie said, anyway."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I squealed, running over to kiss both Rodolphus and Rabastan on the cheek. "Are you sure I'm allowed to keep her? What did Dad say?"

Rabastan shrugged. "We told him we were getting a cat for you and he seemed fine with it."

I held the kitten close to my chest and gently stroked it's soft, white fur. I'd always wanted a cat, but Dad always used to say it was "unseemly" for a pure-blood witch to be running after a cat. I guess he'd changed his mind. Or maybe he just didn't care about pure-blood decorum anymore because he had bigger things on his mind.

…

I named the cat Pixie.

Pixie was currently nestled in between my feet under the dinner table while I ate Christmas dinner with the rest of my family, including Grandma and Granddad. I hoped Pixie stayed quiet, otherwise Gran would undoubtedly cause a scene about there being a cat at the dinner table which would lead to a long speech about how the youth of today had no respect for propriety or something.

Our dining room was beautifully decorated. The Christmas tree in the corner was groaning under the weight of its ornate baubles and sparkling fairy lights. More fairy lights and Christmas garland had been strung from the ceiling, elaborate candelabras glittered up and down the table, Christmas wreaths adorned the walls and extravagant centrepieces made from holly and pine were interspersed among plates and platters piled high with food. Meanwhile, the mouth-watering scent of succulent roast turkey, gravy, roast vegetables, mince pies, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, cranberry sauce and ruby-red Elf-made wine hung tantalisingly in the air.

I tucked into my roast turkey, vaguely listening to Grandma as she regaled us all with the latest gossip.

"Of course I don't blame Walburga for being so angry with Alphard, goodness knows I would be, too. But to be stomping around Gringotts, absolutely screeching about the injustice of it all is positively vulgar!" Grandma shook her head, her diamond earrings glittering under the fairy lights. "There's always some kind of scandal with those Blacks. What was the name of that Black girl who married that Mudblood?"

"Andromeda Black? Bella's sister," supplied Dad.

I was secretly glad that my sister-in-law Bellatrix wasn't with us today. She was intimidating, and truthfully, she scared me a little. Most of our interactions consisted of her pinching my cheek and saying "Little Lia!" in a mocking sort of way.

"No no, not Andromeda. The Mudblood was an Auror – Honeycomb, or whatever his name was."

"Honeycutt?" I offered.

"Yes, Honeycutt! That's the one!"

"That was Valeriana Malfoy, not Black, Grandma," I said gently. "She has a daughter in my year, in Ravenclaw. Her name's Olive."

"Hmph! Well, you never see us Lestranges causing a scandal. We're a different sort, aren't we?"

I'm a scandal waiting to happen, Grandma, I wanted to say.

"We are," Dad said from the head of the table, inclining his goblet of wine towards us.

I pulled a few more roast potatoes onto my plate.

"Valeriana Malfoy, I remember her now," Grandma continued. "She was such a beautiful girl – what a waste." Grandma took a big gulp of wine. "Of course, she wasn't as beautiful as me – let that be known. The beautiful Avis Selwyn, that was me. The prettiest girl at Hogwarts in my time. You know, I once received six invitations to Hogsmeade in one week! Six!"

Across the table Rabastan was hiding a smirk by covering his mouth with a napkin.

"Have you ever had six boys ask you to Hogsmeade in one week, Lia?" Grandma asked.

"No, Grandma, I haven't," I said patiently. Rabastan was now coughing loudly to conceal his laughter.

"Hmph. You know why? It's because you're too skinny, Lia. You need to put some meat on those bones, then the boys will come running."

"Thanks for the advice, Grandma," I said, rolling my eyes at Rabastan.

"And what are you smirking at, boy?" Grandma said, turning to Rabastan. "Twenty-three years old and still unmarried," she tutted.

I smirked at Rabastan and shot him a smug look over the top of my goblet of wine.

"Soon, Grandma. I promise," he said.

I rolled my eyes. I knew Rabastan had no intention of getting married any time soon. Rabastan wasn't the settling down type. I couldn't imagine wild, unpredictable Rabastan who found a joke in everything with a wife and kids. In many ways, Rabastan was the polar opposite of Rodolphus, who was serious, thoughtful and dutiful. Rodolphus had gotten married right out of Hogwarts because marrying a pure-blood witch was the respectable thing to do. Rabastan would never do something like that.

"And you, Rodolphus, dear," Grandma continued, "Can I expect a great-grandchild any time soon? Surely you won't let your poor old grandma die without ever seeing her great-grandchildren, will you? Since your brother has seen fit not to marry, it's down to you to – "

Grandma abruptly stopped talking. Everyone stopped what they were doing. All eyes were on Dad, Rodolphus and Rabastan who wore similar grimaces of pain. Rabastan was gripping his left forearm.

"Let's go," Dad said, "quickly."

In an instant, the three of them had Disapparated. Across the table, Mum's tear-filled eyes glistened under the fairy lights.

…

At half past two in the morning I was wide-awake eating biscuits in the kitchen. I couldn't sleep. I had no idea why I felt so restless, but it was a bad time to be staying up so late – I had to be up early to catch the Express back to Hogwarts in a few hours.

I made to reach for another biscuit, but my hand stopped in mid air when I heard the unmistakeable sound of two Apparitions in the hallway.

"I don't agree with it," I heard Rodolphus say.

"How can you question the Dark Lord?" snapped Rabastan.

"I don't believe we should be spilling magical blood! It's a waste! The McKinnons are an old family, surely they can be persuaded…they can be made to see…"

My ears pricked at the mention of the McKinnons. I hardly breathed as I strained to hear the rest of the conversation.

Rabastan scoffed. "You think the Dark Lord hasn't already tried? The McKinnons are blood-traitors through and through! On March 31st it ends, and there'll be one less blood-traitor family in our way."

…

A/N: Disclaimer number 2: I don't speak Italian so sorry if I got anything wrong :S If you do speak it feel free to correct me! Anyway. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think so far! x