Part Twenty One – The Approaching Holidays

The end of term was approaching fast and once the last full moon of the year was out of the way Remus started to look forward to the holidays, thankful that he would not be missing any of his holidays this year because of a full moon.

James and Peter were equally enthusiastic about the coming holidays, but Remus was the first to notice that Sirius was not as excited about going home as the rest of them.

"Do you know what your parents are getting you for Christmas?" Remus asked one bitterly cold afternoon as they sat in front of the roaring fire of the common room. "I've been asking for a new owl and I think that this year I may get one. My parents' owl just can't keep making the trip all the way up here."

"I'll probably get some book on dark magic and curses or some such rubbish," Sirius muttered without looking up from the morning edition of the Daily Prophet.

"Well it might be interesting to read," Remus said with forced enthusiasm. "There's talk about dark happenings in the papers, it could be good to know how to defend yourself."

"I agree, but I doubt that the my Christmas gift will have the same aims."

Seeing that there was no talking to him Remus went to talk to James to see whether he had any ideas.

"He said as much the other day in class," James confided in a hushed tone. "His parents didn't even take him to Diagon Alley for his school things."

"I know," Remus replied. "Nor to the station either, remember."

"Maybe he can come and stay at mine for some of the holidays," James suggested, almost to himself.

"Will his parents let him?" asked Remus.

"From the little he's said about them I doubt they'd even notice he's gone," James answered with a snort of contempt for the Black family. "He could come with me from the station and they'd never know the difference."

Right up until the week before they were due to go home for the holidays Remus, James and Peter did their best to try to find out more about why it was that Sirius didn't want to go home. But unfortunately for them the normally vocal Sirius Black was unusually tight-lipped about his home and despite what he said to try to convince them otherwise, he clearly didn't want to go home.

"I'll be fine," he insisted over breakfast one morning. Remus would have believed him but for the fact that he was looking steadfastly at his glass of pumpkin juice rather than at his friends.

"You'll have to visit us all though," Peter said, Remus and James nodding in agreement.

"You can stay at my house," James offered yet again, but Sirius only offered the same reply he had previously given.

"My parents might not notice when I am around, unless I'm doing something I shouldn't of course, but I'm sure they'd soon notice if I wasn't home at all."

"But you can come and visit?" James asked; he was determined to get the answer he wanted.

"I'll see," answered Sirius with a shrug.

In Potions class Remus sat with Peter at the desk behind Sirius and James and listened quietly whilst James continued to chat about the holidays.

"Mum and Dad are throwing a New Year party like they do every year," James announced as he added dragon scales to his potion. "You've got to come and see the fireworks they put on."

"Can't," mumbled Sirius, keeping his face averted as he sliced the roots on the table with a fervour he rarely showed in potions class.

"But everyone's going to be there," James argued.

"The Black family have a New Year bash every year too," said Sirius in a tone that sounded like he was looking as forward to that as he would be for a funeral.

"Couldn't you floo over for an hour or two?" pushed James. Remus held his breath, Sirius was normally easygoing but the business with his family was bringing out another side of him and Remus suspected it was only a matter of time before he snapped.

"I doubt it," Sirius scowled at the roots that were now too thin to use. He went to fetch some more from the store cabinet across the room.

"Can you get us some too?" called Remus with a sigh, as Peter scrambled on the floor for the roots he had just dropped because he was too busy listening to the conversation at the table in front of them too.

Sirius came back to the table and deposited some roots on Remus's bench before turning to slice his own again.

"Thanks," Remus offered, but before he could say anything else and steer the conversation onto another topic James spoke again.

"Everyone is going to be there," he insisted.

"The Black family won't be," Sirius muttered.

"There'll be live music too," James announced as though Sirius hadn't spoken. "Not sure who yet but mum has contacts and always gets someone great."

"I won't be allowed to come over." Sirius forced the words through gritted teeth.

"Well can I come over to your house for an hour then?" James asked casually. Remus watched Sirius carefully as they waited for his reply. In all the time they had been talking about the holidays and everyone had been invited to everyone else's homes, Sirius had not once suggested any of his friends come to visit him.

Now James had brought the idea up and it was plain from the whitening of Sirius's face that he didn't want any of them to visit him.

"Okay, bad idea," James backtracked. "If you didn't want me there you only had to say."

"It's not that mate," whispered Sirius. "You've not met my family. They're…well…they…"

"What?" asked James curiously.

"They're like him," Sirius hissed with a nod in Severus's direction. Remus looked towards Severus and saw that he too had been listening intently to the conversation between James and Sirius.

"Like Snivelly?" James snickered.

"Well not exactly like him," Sirius amended. "They aren't cry babies for one thing. But they are purebloods and they think that all other wizards should be too."

"Is Snivellus a pureblood?" James asked absentmindedly. "I've never heard of the Snapes. Anyway Sirius, the Potters are as pureblood as the Blacks. Why can't you come over?"

"Because the Potters are very vocal in their campaigns for equal rights for muggle-born wizards. Something the Black family has been against since forever. They'll never willingly let me set foot in the house of a Potter. As for you coming over to us…" Sirius's voice trailed off and he shook his head.

"That bad huh?" asked James. Sirius nodded.

"Doesn't sound like you're going to have much of a Christmas."

"Never do," Sirius joked with a flash of his usual humour returning.

"Well if you can try and sneak out for a while."

"I'll try," agreed Sirius as he added the newly sliced roots to the potion and sat back to watch it simmer.

After that the conversation returned to the subject of potions, it hadn't gone unnoticed by Professor Slughorn that all four of them had made a mistake in their potion and had obtained extra ingredients.

Remus watched Sirius gradually return to his usual self and hoped that James wouldn't continue to press him. If Sirius wasn't looking forward to the holidays it wouldn't be made better by James constantly pestering him about visits.

The train journey back to London was a joyful occasion, presents were exchanged and students were giggling and laughing as they tried to guess what their friends had bought for them.

Remus sat in the corner of the compartment that James had commandeered for the four of them. With James and Sirius stretched along the seats they were hoping that no one would interrupt them whilst they finalised their schemes for the holidays.

In the end all it had taken was James commenting that Sirius was afraid to sneak out for Sirius to agree to one madcap scheme after another for the holiday season.

"So you're all set for coming over New Year's Eve?" Sirius asked James. "You know the plan?"

"Well we've been over it a dozen times mate, so I think I know it by now," replied James as he laughed.

"You wait until you get my signal." Sirius stressed the word wait and Remus smirked as James asked him to define wait for him.

"I got it, I got it," James insisted. "You signal, I come over and keep you company out of the way of your family and their friends."

"Just remember to wait," Sirius sighed. "If you come over too early I'll still be stuck making the rounds of being criticised and being a disappointment and…"

"You're getting high marks in all your classes," Remus pointed out in surprise. "Won't that count for something?"

"The only thing they've had to say to me since September is Slytherin this and Slytherin that. If I was in that house with these marks they'd be pleased enough. But a Gryffindor in the family means that anything else I do won't matter."

"They're letting you come to my house for a couple of days, right?" Remus asked to check yet again although he had seen for himself the parchment the Black family owl had delivered two mornings ago.

"Yeah," Sirius said. "They couldn't find out enough about your family to say they were unsuitable. They're probably hoping to convert your parents to their way of thinking since they aren't known for being muggle-lovers like the Potters."

"My parents won't want anything to do with the dark arts," Remus said with a roll of his eyes.

"We know that but as long as the rest of the Blacks don't I'll be allowed to come and visit."

"You've got the address?" Remus asked as he looked at each of his friends. Peter nodded and Sirius pulled a scrap of parchment from his robes. Only James seemed to have lost the paper in the clutter that he had crammed into his messily packed luggage. Remus shook his head and wrote it out again, this time making sure that James had got the paper safely put away.

"If he loses it again and doesn't turn up, one of us will have to floo over to his place and get him," Sirius said, earning a friendly glare from James.

"Just wait until after we've had choice of the best food," Peter snickered and the others laughed in response.

They arrived at King's Cross Station and Remus saw that his parents were both waiting for him and eager to check that he was okay.

James and Sirius were still on the train but Peter was nearby as he scanned the platform for his father who was picking him up. Remus hovered next to him until Peter let out a shout of recognition and they made their farewells. James and Sirius were still on the train, having intended to let off some dung bombs as a parting gift for those who were lagging behind. Unfortunately they'd forgotten that a lot of the ones lagging behind were the prefects, checking that everyone had their belongings and so forth.

"You waiting for someone?" Remus's mother asked as he looked back at the train just as James hopped off with his luggage. His parents were waiting to help him and they moved away. Sirius was still nowhere in sight.

"We'll miss our connection if we don't hurry," his father said as Remus continued to look back at the train through the light falling of snow that offered the tantalising promise of a white Christmas for London.

"I'm coming," Remus said with a sigh as he waved to James who waved back the piece of paper with his address on. He grinned and called out his goodbyes before following his parents to the muggle platform that would take him on the next leg of his journey home.

"You've been all right?" his mother asked once they were safely cocooned in their next train. "No one suspects?"

"No," Remus replied shaking his head. "But I don't know how I'm going to keep it secret for seven years."

"If you think you can't handle it, you don't have to go there," his mother assured him.

"No, I don't want to leave," Remus exclaimed, the last thing he wanted was for his parents to think that he wanted to leave the school he had dreamed about for so long.

"As long as you're sure?"

"I'm sure," said Remus with a firm nod of his head. "I don't want to leave my friends."

"No one's going to make you leave," his father assured him with a kind smile and Remus settled back in his seat, content to enjoy the holidays and the forthcoming party.