Disclaimer: All characters and plots from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling
A/N: So this story is based during December of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts. This is an AU story - everything is explained in the story except that there will be no Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts (But don't worry, there'll be plenty of other drama to make up for it!) :-)
Christmas Wishes
Godfather:
Sirius Black, who was sat dozing in a chair in the kitchen of Number 10 Grimmauld Place, jumped as he heard the doorbell ring. Cursing himself for falling asleep, he heaved his body out of the rickety chair and trudged down the darkened hallway to answer the door. A gust of cold, winter night air blew into the house as the door opened to reveal a man with sandy blond hair, wrapped up in a woolen scarf, perched on the doorstep.
'Moony! You startled me, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow', Sirius greeted his best friend, opening the door wider to allow Remus over the threshold.
'Sorry Padfoot', was Remus' reply as he made his way into the house. 'Though I suspect you fell asleep?' Remus said, a knowing look in his eye.
'Hey! Don't judge me, it's been a long day', Sirius replied as the two men walked into the kitchen and sat down on opposite sides of the long table.
'Ah yes', Remus said, 'And how has Harry settled in?'
2 days earlier:
'BOY! GET THAT DOOR NOW, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING WASTE OF SPACE! IT'S BAD ENOUGH YOU'RE HERE AT CHRISTMAS, NOW YOU CAN'T EVEN ANSWER THE RUDDY DOOR!' was the roar that could be heard as Vernon Dursley sat in front of the fire in the very pink living room which was festively decorated with tinsel and baubals,, a tub of chocolates on his lap.
Harry was used to being summoned like this, after all, this was how his aunt and uncle had been treating him for the past 13 years, especially since he had started at Hogwarts. But Harry did agree with his uncle in one aspect; the fourteen year old had been extremely dismayed to find out he had to return to number four Privet Drive for the Christmas holidays. Hogwarts had been evacuated over December because one of the Slytherin students had placed a deadly and life-threatening curse on the doors to the Great Hall, meaning any student who entered there would face almost certain death, so the school had had no choice but to send their pupils back home for a month. With the Weasleys visiting Charlie in Romania and Hermione spending some time with her parents, Harry had had no other choice but to return the house he despised throughout December.
Tearing himself away from the Quidditch book he had been reading, Harry headed across the landing, tiptoeing past his cousin Dudley's room so Dudley wouldn't come out and terrorise him, and down the stairs to answer the door. Expecting it to be one of Dudley's friends wanting to know if Dudley wanted to come out for a snowball fight (no doubt Harry being the preferred target), Harry was incredibly shocked to find his headmaster standing on the doorstep, smiling at him, his blue eyes twinkling.
'P-Professor Dumbledore, what are you doing here?', Harry stuttered. 'Has Hogwarts been reopened?', he asked hopefully.
'Unfortunately not. The school is still under the care of the Department for Dangerous Curses', Dumbledore replied, sighing.
'Oh', Harry said, he head drooping slightly.
The sound of his uncle's bellow from inside the house shocked Harry out of his thoughts.
'WHO'S AT THE DOOR BOY?'.
'Um...just someone trying to sell us something', Harry called back.
'Well I hope you told them they can bugger off, we don't need anything!', was Vernon's muffled reply, his mouth full of chocolates.
'Of course Uncle Vernon', Harry said, rolling his eyes.
'Ah, your uncle is as pleasant as ever I see', Dumbledore said cheerily with such an innocent expression on his face that Harry had to stifle a laugh.
'Now Harry, Hogwarts may not be reopened, but I do have some news that I think will please you even more', Dumbledore said mysteriously.
Harry was confused; "what could be better than leaving his aunt and uncle and going back to Hogwarts?"
'Come for a walk with me Harry', the bearded professor said, gesturing for Harry to follow him.
'I'm going out!', Harry called into the house, slamming the door shut before he could even hear his uncle's reply. Shivering as he stepped out into the biting cold wind, Harry rubbed his hands together in an attempt to keep warm, wishing he at least had a pair of gloves he could wear.
'Don't worry Harry, we'll be in the warm in a minute', Dumbledore said, suddenly stopping in the middle of the street. 'Take my arm Harry', he told the shivering teenager.
As soon as Harry had grasped the crook of his headmaster's arm, he felt like he had been pulled into a whirlwind; his head was spinning and his feet were no longer touching solid ground, but not for long. Just seconds later, Harry's feet landed on a soft, carpeted floor. It wasn't until a few moments later that Harry realised he was clutching onto Professor Dumbledore's arm to keep himself balanced, and let go immediately, blushing slightly red with embaressment.
Looking around, Harry instantly knew he was no longer on Privet Drive. He was stood in the doorway of a dark room in which there was a bar and several sets of table and chairs, all laid out for supper. But this was no ordinary cafe. Flying over his head were dirty dishes and cutlery and behind the bar, Harry saw the scrubbing brush washing various pots and pans by itself: The Leaky Cauldron.
'Professor Dumbledore, what are we doing here?', Harry asked, sounding confused, looking around to try and take in all the magic that was in front of him.
'I am guessing the first few days of your Christmas Holidays have not been very pleasant, my dear boy?', Dumbledore asked gently.
'Unless you count having to spend almost every waking minute as a snowball target, then no', Harry said bitterly.
'I guessed that might be the case, so I thought I ought to give you a bit of an early Christmas present', Dumbledore declared, winking at Harry. 'Oh Tom, I just thought I'd let you know, Harry Potter has arrived. I trust you have already had his luggage delivered to his room?'
'Of course Mr Dumbledore, Mr Potter's belongings are upstairs waiting for him', a short, bald man told Dumbledore, bowing as he said so.
Harry jumped at Tom, the housekeeper's, reply, having not yet noticed his presence in the dark room. More confused than ever, he followed his headmaster up the rickety stairs, knowing from past experiences to not ask any questions and just wait for the answers. The two proceeded along the candlelit corrider to a room numbered '34' at the very end of the hall.
'After you', Dumbledore said, his eyes still twinkling, as he pushed open the door.
'Sirius!', Harry exclaimed, shocked to find his godfather standing in the middle of the room, beaming. Sirius quickly walked over to Harry and pulled his godson into a tight hug. Sirius was in a lot better condition than when Harry had last seen him; 6 months ago, Sirius had been clothed in rags with gaunt, yellowing skin and dull eyes, but now he was no longer worringly thin and his eyes had a newly found sparkle.
'W-What are you doing here? Has something happened? What's going on?', Harry asked, pulling out of Sirius' hug and looking from his headmaster to his godfather.
'I'll let you tell young Mr Potter here the good news, whilst I go and get myself a butterbeer downstairs' Dumbledore announced, smiling at the pair before leaving the room and quietly closing te door behind him.
'Sirius what's going on?', Harry asked turning to his godfather, becoming slightly impatient to find out what everyone was hiding from him.
'I'm free!'
A/N: So that's chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed it and found it was long enough :-) I'm aiming to make most of the chapters this length, though sometimes I end up writing quite a bit so there may be some longer ones too :D I'm trying to make this story as realistic as possible - I firstly wanted to give the story a bit of an introduction and so the first two chapters will be looking at Harry and Sirius' relationship and then in Chapter 3 will be the beginning of James and Lily's return. Apart from James/Lily, I don't have any other pairings planned but that doesn't mean there won't be any in the future :-) I'd love to know your thoughts on the chapter and any improvements I could make/bits you liked, so please REVIEW! Thank-you so much for reading,
MyMessyLittleRaindrops
P.S: I'm going to try to update as regularly as I can :D
