Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

The Christmas Wish

Fourth Year-

Christmas in Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts was the most different of them all, mostly because he wasn't actually at Hogwarts for the holiday.

Apparently he had a Godfather who had been serving time in prison for the murder of twelve muggles and one wizard. The only problem was that, apparently, he'd never been tried for his alleged crimes. The wizards in charge right after the end of the war had just assumed he'd been guilty, and had thrown him into Azkaban. Thirteen years later, just after Harry had returned to the Dursleys for a miserable summer, a clerk in the Ministry had discovered Sirius Black's nonexistent trial, and had immediately gone to his superiors with the information.

Harry sort of found it interesting that it was a Weasley who had found the information, considering that Ron Weasley hated him with a passion that Harry would previously have thought only the Dursleys could hate him with.

Current Ministry officials were mortified, and Sirius had received a trial almost immediately. Well, relatively speaking. It took several weeks for the trial to be completed and for Sirius to be declared innocent of all charges with a full apology from the Ministry, and then another month until Sirius had recovered enough to be released from the Healers at St. Mungo's. From there, Sirius had apparently gone after Dumbledore with everything he'd had, since Dumbledore was the Executor of the Potters' will, and apparently Harry never should have gone to be with the Dursleys under any circumstances.

That wasn't even mentioning that, as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Dumbledore should have made certain that Sirius received a trial. Harry hadn't known any of this prior to the summer, but he'd learned a lot during the fallout. The Daily Prophet was incredibly informative when it was actually reporting accurately.

Of course, he learned of the final results before anybody else. His Godfather had shown up on the Dursleys' doorstep towards the end of the summer and ordered him to pack his bags as he'd finally gained custody of Harry. Harry had done so with no objection, and the rest of summer had turned out to be one of the best ever. His Godfather adored him, and had spoiled him rotten for most of it. He'd even invited Neville over for the Quidditch World Cup and the two weeks surrounding it.

And when he'd returned to Hogwarts, things had been incredibly different. The Headmaster had resigned over the summer. The reason he'd given was that he was an old, tired man who had only been trying to make the best of a bad situation. He'd said that he'd made mistakes that he regretted, and that he hoped the children of the Wizarding world would do better with another person to guide them. He'd lost his position in the Wizengamot as well over Sirius' lack of trial, and was quite the persona non grata in the Wizarding world at the moment. That left Professor McGonagall in charge, and elevated Professor Snape to Deputy Headmaster. It was quite the change for the school, but Harry thought that maybe it was a good one.

The second change apparently came from his sudden status as a member of pure-blood House, despite the fact that he wasn't technically a Black. Suddenly the Slytherins were downright friendly with him. Malfoy had even offered him a Courtship gift. Harry had damned politeness and had flung it back in his face. Literally. He'd drawn blood with it. Neville had laughed when he'd told him about it.

Other than that, the year had been relatively quiet. There were some rumors of the Tri-wizard Tournament coming back, but it hadn't come to fruition. Apparently the school being in such a state of flux made it a bad time all around, and there was a good chance that it would come next year instead. Harry enjoyed the school year, and he was looking forward to Christmas break as well, even if it meant that he wouldn't see Neville on Christmas day.

And he did enjoy his break with Sirius. His Godfather took him to one of the Black family homes hidden inside London proper. They spent the first few days their break doing some of the fun things in London that Harry had never had a chance to do and that Sirius had missed in his years in prison. They rode on the London Eye, went to the Tower of London and Sirius took him through the Wizarding sections, and they saw a play at one of the Muggle theaters. It was wonderful, but exhausting, which was why Harry found himself quite relieved when Sirius told him that they'd just be having a nice, quiet dinner alone on Christmas Eve.

They were through the first course when Sirius cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, Harry," he began, and shifted in place.

"What is it?" Harry asked, and grinned at his Godfather. He couldn't help it. Despite missing Neville fiercely, there seemed to be a grin almost permanently stuck to his face these days. He was just so happy to have a Godfather of his own, and to never have to deal with the Dursleys again. Sirius had promised that, no matter what, he was there to stay.

"You... You're enjoying it here, with me, right?" Sirius asked, and took a hasty sip of his wine.

"It's been wonderful," Harry said honestly.

"Good, good," Sirius muttered. "So, I'm your Godfather, and I do have legal custody of you, but I was wondering if..." Here Sirius stopped, stared down at his plate, then continued with, "I was wondering if maybe you might like to make things a bit more... solid. Magically speaking, that is."

Harry frowned. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean," he finally said, and stared down at his own plate as well. Had he done something wrong? Was that what this was about? Maybe... but no. Sirius had asked if he wanted to make things more solid, which meant that he wanted to keep Harry around.

Sirius cleared his throat again, then took another gulp of his wine. He was pale, and his hands were trembling on the glass. "There's... there's this ritual that we could do, you and I, on New Year's Eve. It's a special, magical thing that would make you a Black, legally speaking. Magically speaking. You would... you would be my son. It's an adoption ritual."

"My... my parents wouldn't be my parents anymore?" Harry asked, and was surprised by the way that his voice shook. He hadn't thought that he cared so much about that. They were dead, after all, and though they hadn't left him with the Dursleys they certainly hadn't made that many contingency plans.

"Well..." Sirius exhaled sharply and was very quiet for a few moments. "They would be, I suppose. You would still be the Potter heir. But you would also be the Black heir, and you would legally become a pure-blood. It would be more like..." Sirius stopped, considered what he was saying once more, and then his face lit up. "It would be like you had two fathers and a mother, instead of just having the one of each. I wouldn't be replacing them, I would be joining them. But you would share the status of your father and I, because there are two of us. It's… complicated. I get lost studying the theory. Oh, Merlin, I'm babbling. I should stop that. I should let you think so you can answer." Sirius fell silent, then, and stared down at his plate.

Harry thought about Sirius' offer over the next few courses of dinner, and the table was awkwardly silent while Harry considered. Sirius opened his mouth a few times to say something, probably to change the subject or do anything to break the silence, but he never actually got around to saying much of anything.

Finally, as he was finishing up his dessert, Harry said, "I would be honored to have you as one of my fathers, Sirius Black."

Sirius let out a whoop of joy and sprung up from his chair. Before Harry knew what was going on, Sirius had him in his arms and was spinning him around in a circle, Harry's feet not even touching the ground. "You don't even know how happy that makes me!" Sirius crowed, and planted a kiss on Harry's forehead before settling him gently on the ground. "You won't regret this, Pup, I promise!"

Harry laughed, a light and happy sound. "I don't know, maybe I already do," he said teasingly, and laughed when Sirius roughly tousled his hair.

He went to bed that night with a smile on his face and a song in his heart, despite knowing that he wouldn't see Neville the next afternoon. Now he really couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts to tell Neville about this new development. He just hoped that Neville was as happy for him as Harry was about this.

When he woke up the next morning, it was to an excited Padfoot jumping around on his bed, barking madly at him. When Harry finally sat up, Padfoot slurped madly at his face for a minute before hopping off the bed and barking some more.

"Gross!" Harry protested through his laughter, and wiped the slobber off. "You're disgusting, Sirius," he complained through a yawn.

Sirius transformed back, laughing madly. "How can you still be asleep at ten o'clock on Christmas morning?" he asked. "It's like you aren't even a child, Harry!"

Harry fought down the urge to remind Sirius that this year marked the third year of Christmases he'd actually been looking forward to celebrating. It would only upset his Godfather, and Harry didn't want to bring the mood down on Christmas morning. Instead he said, "You know, I'm still technically on my winter break. I think one of the rules is that I'm allowed to sleep as late as I want to sleep."

"And ordinarily I would agree with that," Sirius said cheerfully. "But it's ten o'clock, and we've got guests waiting for us downstairs. You should probably get dressed so that you don't look like an idiot when you greet them."

Harry paled, then flushed. "You could have told me we were having company!" he shouted, even as he headed to the bathroom. Merlin, he was a mess! He had to take a quick shower and get himself dressed. He didn't want to embarrass Sirius so soon after his Godfather had decided to adopt him, after all.

"It's a Christmas surprise, Harry!" Sirius shouted, and laughed that dog-like laugh of his. "And your first present, by the way, will be laid out for you when you're done with your shower. Do me a favor and wear that downstairs, would you?"

"Will do!" he called back, and rolled his eyes. He hoped that it wasn't one of the appalling Muggle Christmas sweaters they'd passed in the shops during their explorations. He wasn't sure he'd be able to stand wearing one of them, and knowing Sirius there was every possibility that was what he was getting.

He took as fast a shower as he dared, and dried off briskly. He ran a brush through his hair and hoped that it didn't look as miserable as he knew it did. The raspberry the mirror blew at him certainly didn't help with that. When he stepped out of the bathroom, he nearly dropped his towel in surprise. There was a stand in the middle of the room, like one he'd seen in Madam Malkin's shop, and on it was one of the most beautiful set of dress robes he'd ever seen.

They were a deep, dark grey like the sky just before a thunderstorm. When Harry hesitantly touched the fabric the colors shifted just a bit to a slightly lighter shade of grey. The under-robes were simple and black, but still somehow looked expensive. Maybe it was just because Harry had never owned anything so fine in his life, other than the torque Neville had gifted him, which he hadn't taken off since the day he'd received it.

Okay. So their guests were pretty important, and Sirius wanted him to dress for the occasion. That was more than a little frightening, but it was okay. He trusted Sirius to not have brought anyone to the house that Harry was uncomfortable with, at least, not on Christmas day. Maybe it was one of Sirius' old girlfriends? Maybe a current girlfriend? Or boyfriend, actually, since he wasn't quite sure how his Godfather leaned. That was just about the only thing that Harry could think of, anyway.

He got dressed slowly and carefully, then made his way down to the sitting room. Sirius was waiting for him just outside, wearing dress robes of his own. His Godfather looked quite handsome in his solid black robes, with a roguish grin on his face.

"Shall we?" Sirius asked, and waited until Harry nodded before opening the doors to the sitting room. "Lady Longbottom, may I present to you my soon-to-be Heir, Harry Potter?" he asked as he entered the room.

Harry's heart jumped as he found Neville and his grandmother waiting for them in the sitting room. Neville was dressed just as nicely as Harry, in navy blue dress robes. His grandmother wore a gown of cream with just a hint of sparkle to it. And both were smiling brightly at him.

"Hi," he managed, attacked by a sudden wave of shyness. He ducked his head when Sirius laughed and fought the urge to elbow his Godfather, who was still standing by the door. "It isn't funny," he hissed.

"It is," Sirius insisted. "You're adorable. Seriously."

Harry fought down a groan at the pun and didn't bother to fight the urge to reach behind him and smack his Godfather. Puns like that were never to be encouraged. His Godfather was ruthless with them.

"Happy Christmas, Harry," Neville said, and Harry's eyes snapped back to his Suitor. Neville had crossed the room and was standing before him, looking for all the world like he wanted to give Harry a hug. A moment later he apparently decided that resisting the urge was useless because he curled his arms around Harry and whispered in his ear, "Congratulations on your impending adoption. I'm so pleased for you."

"Oh, Augusta was right. You two are adorable together," Sirius crowed. "You're so cute together I might even overlook the fact that technically this Courship's been all wrong for the Heir to the Black house."

Harry paled and turned around to stare at Sirius. "What do you mean?" he asked, his hands beginning to shake. Did Sirius not approve of Neville? What if Sirius wanted him to give up the Courtship? He couldn't do that. He was young, yes, and foolish, but he was already starting to think of crazy things like love and forever with Neville.

"Technically speaking, the Black house is higher in the ranks of Ancient and Noble houses than the Longbottom house. It has been around since before the founding of Hogwarts itself, whereas we Longbottoms can only trace our lineage back to the early sixteen hundreds," Augusta answered. "But I believe that Lord Black and I have come to an agreement regarding the matter of the Courtship."

"Indeed we have, which is part of the reason you both are here today," Sirius said agreeably. "It wasn't just because Harry pouted every time he thought I couldn't see him because you wouldn't see each other on Christmas day. The Courtship will continue as is, but at the end of it, Neville, you'll be taking on the Black name instead of carrying on the Longbottom line. You've got a few cousins who will be able to take on the responsibilities of Lord Longbottom, whereas I'll likely only have Harry as my heir."

Harry felt Neville's arms tighten around him. "Gran already explained this to me, Lord Black, but I thank you for the second explanation. I'll tell you exactly what I told her: It will be an honor to be Neville Black, so long as I get to stay with Harry."

Harry let himself lean back against Neville with a small sigh of relief. Everything had worked out just fine. He really had to stop panicking at the smallest sign that something was going to go wrong. So far nothing had. And it was clear that Neville intended for this to be forever just like Harry did.

The rest of Christmas day passed in a flurry of laughter and family and presents. Harry received such a haul of gifts from Sirius that he didn't know what to do with it all, and couldn't remember half of it by the time the day was over. The best of that was a broom of his own, a lovely Firebolt. He wasn't on the Quidditch team, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy the freedom that came with flight.

Harry had purchased a snow globe for Neville this year, an enchanted one that contained a rose which bloomed as the day progressed and played a soft tune when touched. Neville loved it, just as Harry adored the utterly frivolous gift of a massive stuffed dragon that Neville had purchased for him. He even intended on taking it to Hogwarts, despite Sirius' advice. Fortunately the thing would shrink down to a slightly more manageable size so that his housemates wouldn't see it when he brought it into the dorm, and Harry had long since learned to keep his bed safe from any sort of tampering.

In the end, Neville and Augusta stayed all the way through Christmas dinner and the house was filled with laughter and warmth and joy. Harry was certain that he'd never enjoyed a holiday so much as he enjoyed that one.

A/N: Sorry for the slight interruption in updates. I was away for the New Year. Also, happy New Year everyone! I hope it's a good one.