Chapter 7. Holiday and Homicide
Sirius woke up to the sun shining through his window. That's funny, he thought. I'm pretty sure my window is on the other side of my bed.
Suddenly he remembered; he was staying with the Potter's for the holiday! He jumped out of bed smiling brightly and proceeded to shower and get dressed. He spent a lot of time on his hair; more than most 11 year old boys do, and looked at himself in the mirror that was in his room to make sure his appearance was acceptable.
He remembered yesterday and smiled. Be remembered his parents not coming to pick him up from the station and the Potters inviting him for dinner, saying they'd Floo him to his house afterwards. He smiled as he remembered his mother saying that as punishment he wouldn't be allowed to stay for the holidays. His smile widened as he remembered the Potters staying he could stay over for the holiday.
He opened the door to the room he had been sleeping in and saw that the door to James's room, across the hall from his, was still closed. Smiling mischievously to himself he crept into his best friend's room. Quidditch posters covered the walls and there was a Gryffindor banner over James's bed. Sirius smirked again as he went to the side of his friends bed and flipped the mattress over.
"ARRRGGHHHH!" James yelled as he landed on the floor, his mattress on top of him.
"That's what you get for flipping me over on the first day. Sirius said smugly watching as James struggled to get up and then put his round glasses on.
"What? You mean from the first day of school? Seriously?" James asked, before realizing his mistake. Sirius smirked again as he said "I'm always Sirius." James rolled his eyes.
"Whatever Mr. Grudgey Pants." James replied.
"Grudgey Pants James, you serious?" Sirius said looking at his friend skeptically.
"First off I'm James, not Sirius. I don't know how you confused us as I'm clearly more attractive." Sirius snorted at that but James ignored him. "Secondly, it's Mr. Grudgey Pants." James said, looking at Sirius as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Now it was Sirius's turn to roll his eyes.
"Whatever, I'm gonna go for breakfast." Sirius said turning away and leaving the room. He got lost for a couple minutes as a result of the overall largeness of Potter Manor and when he finally got to the kitchen James was already there, eating pancakes, his wet hair in his face.
"What took you so long? you left like 10 minutes before I did." James asked looking up from his breakfast.
"I got lost." Sirius mumbled not looking at James.
"What was that? I couldn't hear you." James said with a growing smile.
"Leave the poor boy alone it takes a while to get user to this castle of a house, it's practically as big as Hogwarts!" Mrs. Potter said walking in with her husband.
"That's a bit dramatic honey." Mr. Potter said, putting his arm around Mrs. Potter's waist.
"Oooooooooh!" Sirius said, with fake realization. "That's where he gets it from!"
Mr. and Mrs. Potter laughed at that as James's cheeks turned slightly red. Sirius smiled at his friends embarrassment 'what's the harm in poking fun' he thought to himself, sitting down next to James and beginning to eat the breakfast put out for him by the Potter's house-elf, Misty.
Misty was a free elf and did get paid (though not too much or she'd throw a fit). She was almost a part of the family, and was treated with great respect. Sirius had taken an immediate liking to her, she was much better than Kreacher (his house elf), not that that was very difficult in his eyes.
Life at the Potters' was great. It was different from everything Sirius knew living at the "Noble and Most Ancient House of Black". They were very informal and nice, two things not accepted in his house. He had to refer to his parents as Mother and Father, and they never showed affection for one another, and as for niceness, it was almost a requirement to be a horrible person (with the exception of his cousin Andromeda, an Uncle of his, and Regulus).
Sirius loved it. Everything about life with the Potter family made him happy and after all the misery he felt at home it was welcome. It was shaping to be the best holiday Sirius had ever had.
Dear Lily,
I'm really 'really' sorry about what happened. I swear I didn't know anything about that. Avery said that Peter had stolen his stuff and I never would have joined them had I known the true reason. Please meet me at the park. I'll be there at one.
Love,
Sev
Lily looked down at the letter and smiled. She was extremely happy that she hadn't lost her best friend. It had all been a misunderstanding. Her smile widened as she saw that it was already half passed twelve. She grabbed her jacket and, after telling her parents where she was going, began walking to the park, still smiling about having Sev back.
"Merry Christmas!" James yelled, jumping onto Sirius's bed and hopping over his groggy and disoriented friend.
"It's Christmas?" Sirius asked.
"No it's Valentine's Day." James said sarcastically.
"Really?" Sirius asked looking James over. "I don't see my chocolate and flowers."
James rolled his eyes as he got off the bed and left the room, not checking to see if his friend was following him. Loud and quick footsteps behind him told James he was but James acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing towards their large, fully decorated Christmas tree, a large pile of presents underneath it.
"PRESENTS!" James heard someone shout from behind him. He turned in time to see Sirius jump the remaining steps on the staircase he was galloping down and run forward.
"Yes, hopefully that is okay with you." James's dad said, walking into the living room with James's mom.
"Merry Christmas Mum, Dad." James said hugging them.
"Group hug!" Sirius yelled before crashing into the Potters and giving them a bear hug. James rolled his eyes at his friend's antics but did nothing to stop him. After what James had seen of Mrs. Black she wasn't very caring and Sirius deserved people who were.
Mr. Borris Sinistra, age 43, an Unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries, was killed last night along with his wife. Their daughter, 10 year old Aurora, had to move in with her grandmother, the ex Astronomy professor at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Auror Department is doing all that they can to catch the killer, but people are wondering if Mr. Sinistra's death is related to that of Mr. MacDougal, ex Auror, as well as the other recent deaths...
"That's the seventh death in the fortnight Liz, there's something going on here, something bigger than the Minister thinks." Harold Potter said looking concernedly at his wife.
"Harry, do you think you're overreacting just a-" Elizabeth Potter began before her husband interrupted her.
"Liz, we're in a time of peace, there shouldn't be this many murders. And have you noticed that all of these people are high up in the Ministry or holders of what could be considered valuable information? Aurors, Unspeakables, and Heads of Departments, why would someone need to kill them? I think someone is trying to accomplish something by this, these aren't the random murders of madman."
"Harold, please." Mrs. Potter said stopping her husband's train of thought. "Aren't you supposed to be retiring soon? Just talk to Crouch, he will be taking over for you, maybe you can let him deal with this."
"I just don't know Lizzie, why does it have to happen now, and James, what of we get-" Harold Potter started before his wife interrupted him again.
"Harold Potter, don't even think of finishing that sentence. There is no reason to believe that will happen and if it did James would be fine. Do you think that because we would be gone that no one would take care of him? What about all of our friends, and even excluding all of them what about Albus and Minerva? They would easily be able to arrange something for times when he isn't in school. But I refuse to continue this conversation any longer. Your worrying won't help anything."
"Yes Honey." He finally acquiesced.
James stayed still for a minute, making sure his parents were done talking before he crept back into his room, barely making a sound. He lay down in his bed and pulled his covers around him thinking over what his parents had said. Was it just a coincidence or were these deaths related? And if they were, what did that mean for the future? These questions circled around James's head for a while before he fell into an uneasy sleep. He'd see what his friends would say tomorrow on the train.
A/N: Hope you liked it. I've noticed that I'm getting a lot of alerts and hits but not as many reviews. Please review what you think and thank you to all of those who review and/or favorite/alerted this story.
Ps. For anyone wondering Alice Dearborn is future Alice Longbottom.
Pps. If anyone has any prank ideas you can put them in ur review and if I use them I'll give u credit.
