Harry clutched his sides and gasped for breath as the tears of hysterical laughter rolled down his face. Beside him, Ron had nearly slipped off his seat he was laughing so hard and Fred and George were banging their fists on the table, mouths wide open in silent hysteria.
Sirius was standing in the middle of the table, jigging from side to side on the spot. Every second step he wiggled his behind in quite a sexy way, all while singing 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs' at the top of his voice. He saw how close Harry was to losing his breath and stopped with a flourishing bow. "And that" he declared grandly "is how most of the Slytherins spent their Christmas Eve lunch!" He gave another bow and jumped off the table into his seat.
Ron regained some of his sense first and gave a wide grin. "I would have loved to see it" he chuckled "you must have got into heaps of trouble though".
Sirius shook his head, "nah, not much, only a little detention."
"For the whole term" Remus interrupted wryly, speaking for the first time. He had not seemed even the slightest bit phased by Sirius' wiggling. "Every night cleaning cauldrons" he finished.
Sirius gave a casual shrug "worth it" he stated.
Harry gave a last hearty chuckle and took a large swig of Butterbeer. "I wouldn't have the guts" he said.
Sirius looked at him affectionately, "you've probably got more brains that your Dad and me ever had" he said kindly "we never quite figured out how to keep out of trouble."
"Understatement of the Century" muttered Remus, ignoring the fake scowl Sirius sent in his direction.
"True inspiration" the boys said in perfect unison.
Suddenly the kitchen door banged open and Molly stormed crossly into the kitchen. "Time for bed" she ordered, flapping her arms as if to chivvy her children and Harry along. Fred and George gave a noise of protest and resolutely stayed put.
"You can't send us to bed we're seventeen!" they cried together.
Their mother puffed up like a furious balloon and turned her attention to Ron and Harry. "Fine" she snapped "Ron, Harry, bed please now. You are not sitting here for a moment longer listening to this…" here she trailed off, leading to an awkward silence.
Sirius, who had so far sat watching fairly peacefully, turned his head towards Molly and stared coldly at her. "Care to finish that sentence Molly?" he asked, his voice pleasant enough but everyone in the room could sense the underlying anger and frustration.
Ever since the Weasleys had moved into Grimmauld Place Molly had been difficult. She seemed to resent Sirius, for reasons that nobody could quite understand, and often made snide comments in the guise of a joke. Sirius, despite his reputation, was actually quite an amiable person, and so far had not taken much notice. He had stayed out of her way, and been polite in the face of her rudeness.
However, all of this had changed when Harry arrived. Sirius had been determined that Harry feel as at home as possible in this terrible place, and he did not want to be badmouthed in front of his Godson any longer. Harry, for his part, was both confused by Molly's attitude and hurt that she was making her dislike of Sirius so obvious.
It seemed that even now she was not to be put off. "Well, really Sirius, do you not think these children get into enough trouble without you telling them ridiculous stories of your bullying ways?" She said this in a sickly sweet voice, as though nobody could possible disagree with how reasonable she was being.
Remus' eyes narrowed but it was Sirius' reaction that surprised everyone the most. He suddenly paled and lost his earlier bravado. "I..I never.." He stammered nonsensically before standing up abruptly, accidentally knocking over his chair and almost fleeing from the room.
Molly looked a little stunned but still determinedly self- righteous. Fred, George and Ron looked confused and angry. Remus was downright furious.
Harry, however, simply stood up and followed his Godfather out of the kitchen.