Hey, I AM SO SORRY for being away all this time, I just got stuck! And I've been working on stories for my pokemon fics, so with that and being laid off from work, and getting hired at a different place, well, it's been a bit hellish so far.

Here's an update saying I'm sorry again, and please review!

PS. Hedwig didn't die

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After the present openeing was finished, he and Saoirse decided to slip on their Weasley sweaters under their robes (his had a skull on the front, hers, a snake) and head to the Great Hall.

He could tell his sister was in a cheerful mood, but he was still angry, both at his father and at their mother. She had sent him a huge box of sweets, including his favorite chocolate covered cherries.

He let her sit at the Gryffindor table with him and they waited for all the students to get down so they could eat.

"Where's Calico? She usually follows you around more than Mrs. Norris follows Filch," remarked Surk, simply to take his mind off his mother.

Saoirse turned in her seat and Surk noticed her pupils dilate as her eyes flashed milk white. Blinks later, they returned to their normal color. Calico came running int the Great Hall, tail held high, intent only on her mistress.

"You should really stop teleporting things like that, sis," he said, frowning. Saoirse laughed and scooped up her cat in her arms, stroking its patchy colored black and calico fur.

"It works, doesn't it?" she replied scathingly.

"Mao!" Calico meowed as if agreeing.

A small swarm of owls came soaring through the roof just then with the Christmas post. Among them they noticed a rather large snowy owl coming for the both of them. It was carrying a rather large parcel wrapped in indigo.

The owl stopped at their seat and shuffled closer to them, shoving the parcel at Surk in particular.

Just as curious to know what it was and who it was for as his sister, he pulled it towards him and read the label.

"To Surk and sister, from family?" he read aloud, puzzled.

"Open it!" Saoirse urged.

"What if it's from the Trio?" he qhispered. There were a few Gryffies nearby that were already throwing deeply disapproving looks at his sister in her slytherin robes.

"Who cares? Just do it," she replied, frowning, and Calico mewed in response, purring loudly as she pet her.

The owl took off and Surk ripped the paper off the parcel to reveal two seperate cardboard boxes, each one wrapped a second time, one in red, the other in green. He took that to mean the red was for him, in Gryffindor, the green for his sister, in Slytherin. HAPPY CHRISTMAS was spelled out in large block letters on both of them.

"Meet me in my office after the Feast, and you can bring the cat with you. I have no time for you to take it back to your dormitory," muttered a voice from behind them, and they both jumped and turned around. Their father stood behind them, staring ominously at Calico.

"Mew!" it meowed at him, batting at the ends of his long hair with one of her paws. Saoirse smiled warmly at the little cat but their father merely smirked, pet it lazily and walked away.

"Here. I think this one's for you," he said, handing the green box to her. She let the cat down on the table top, where she curled up and rested her tiny head on her furry paws.

He let her open hers first.

She took the top off the box and was surprised to see that it revealed nothing more than an old, wrinkled scrap of paper and what looked like a homemade pie. Surk smelled the warm, delicious scent of freshly baked blueberry even from where he sat.

"Kreacher must have made it," said Surk, smelling the pie and wishing the feast would hurry up and get here. The Great Hall was already almost full. They were all just waiting for their father to return from wherever it was he went.

Surk opened his own box and saw what looked like another homemade pie, this on smelling strongly of apple crisp and cinnamon, along with a second note, this one brand new.

Saoirse smoothed out hers first and read aloud in a hushed whisper.

Dear Padfoot, Thank you for Harry's birthday present! It was his favourite by far. One year old and already zooming around on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself. I'm enclosing a picture so you cna see. You know it only rises about two feet off the floor but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course, James thought it was so funny-"

Saoirse stopped reading and set it down. It was obviously very old, if it had been written when Harry Potter was a year old. Why had they sent it to them??

"Well, it is ripped in half, and dad IS suspected of murdering Dumbledore in the Order, maybe they think he has the ripped off piece and they want us to get it for them? Hang on, I have a note too," he said. He topok his, wiped a crumb of brown sugar from the pie off it and began to read his as well.

"Dear Surk and Saoirse if you're there.

We are still on the go, setting up enchantments and things, and we are no longer staying at the Headquarters, obviously, or this would have gotten there sooner. At the moment we're in the forest of Dean, and it's quite cold, but Harry had Kreacher send you some pies he baked himself, he's been ever so much kinder since we gave him Regulus's locket. Anyway, Harry found a half of a letter his mum wrote to Sirius Black when he was younger and thinks your dad has the other half, Could you try and get it back for us, or if you can't, could you let us know what it says? I wouldn't ask, normally, what with the ministry situation what it is, but we've hit dead ends no matter where we've gone, and we think it may help us.

Happy Christmas,

Hermione and Harry"

He set fire to it, to make sure no one read it, and sensing hers was far too precious, Saoirse tucked hers inside her robes.Now it looked as if all they had received were homemade pies from someone. They did look good. He levitated them out of their boxes and set them down on the table. He would share his with the rest of Gryffindor. What he wanted was the blueberry.

"Well, dad did say to see him in his office after the Feast. Shall we try then?" asked Saoirse.

Surk shrugged and began cutting a slice from the blueberry pie with his wand. It was still warm and the filling was gooey and smelled like heaven to his stomach. He began to eat with his fingers, dripping blueberry filling all over the table, staining his lips and fingers deep purple.

"Surk!" Saoirse tutted impatiently, but she was smiling. She cleaned the surface of the tablecloth with her wand and at that moment, their father returned to the Great Hall.

"Eat!" he called deeply. He looked peeved about something.

At his words, food appeared on all four tables and they all began piling their plates heavily with everything from baked turkey a delicious looking golden brown color to mashed potatoes floating in gravy. They both filled their plates with turkey, potatoes, corn, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, pie and chocolate mints.

While he stuffed his face, his sister fed bits of her turkey with Calico. Up at the staff table, all the teachers simply ate and refused to talk to one another. It seemed that what with the desperate situation, the ministry, the death eaters at Hogwarts and the dangers of being overheard by the wrong people, no one wanted to gossip.

"Hey. We're having a secret meeting in the Room of Requirement! Meet us there after the feast!" hissed a round faced boy with a Scottish accent.

"Can't, Neville. We have to meet our dad after the feast, but if it's anything to do with stopping the death eaters, me and my sister are both in," Surk hissed back.

Neville looked taken aback that they would go against what apepeared to be their father's true loyalty, but he said nothing on it.

After the feast was over, all the food except the pies they had been sent disappeared.

No one talked as the benches all scraped out and then in when they all got up to go, no one pulled any wizard crackers, no one said a word. The atmosphere was definitely solemn. The menacing hulked figures of the Carrows at the front of the hall made sure of it. Neville, Ginny Weasley, Surk, Saoirse and quite a few other Gyrffindors all glared at them with looks of pure loathing, but did nothing for the moment.

They headed to their father's office located in the dungeons. All in all, it was definitely not one of their most memorable holidays.

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PLEASE REVIEW!