I peeked through the kitchen door, quiet for once.
Sirius and Remus were playing chess as always.
Grinning widely, I pushed the door open and fell down in a grand attempt to make a surprise entrance.
"Hi!" I said enthusiastically from the floor. "I'm out of the hospital!"
"And clearly searching for a way to get back," Remus said helping me to my feet. "Are you hell bent on hurting yourself?"
"Well I didn't hurt myself," I said. I looked over and saw Sirius with a smirk on his face. "What's the smirk about, Cousin?"
"What did I tell you?" he asked, the smirk suddenly gone from his face. "'It's too dangerous' I said, 'you could get hurt' I said. But no, nobody wants to listen to Sirius. He doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Well, half the time you don't actually know," Remus pointed out.
"Go to hell, Moony," Sirius said frowning at him.
"Look, Sirius, I'm sorry, but at least I accomplished my mission and I'm not dead and no lasting damage has been done. I live to not take you advice another day," I said.
He smiled. "I'm really happy you're okay," he said. "Now you can help us prepare for Christmas!"
"Sure, I'll help you throw up a few decorations," I said.
Sirius laughed. "A few? Who are you? Scrooge?"
"When we were 15 we came over here for Christmas. He made us hike a mile to his house carrying a half dead, live Christmas tree," Remus said. "He doesn't joke about Christmas."
"Mistletoe and holly! Chestnut roasting on an open fire! Santa Claus! I go all out," he said. "So are you going to help?" he asked.
I sighed. "Do I really have a choice?"
"Not really," Sirius replied. "So I need you to pick some stuff up for the house. I reckon any decorations here are probably too old and rotted to be of any use."
"I suppose. No one's lived here in ages," I said.
"And then when the children arrive they'll be made to be my Christmas slaves," Sirius said.
888
The next few weeks were spent buying Christmas decorations and re-cleaning the entire house preparing for Christmas and the children's arrival.
"Just think, two more days and all the children will be here again," Sirius said.
"It'll be pretty nice to see them all again," I said.
"What did you get Hannah?" Sirius asked.
"A music box," I replied.
"Why did you get her a music box of all things?" Sirius asked.
"Well I got one for Christmas when I was a little girl from my mum and I think every girl should have one so, I got her one," I said.
"It doesn't have a ballerina spinning in the middle does it?" Sirius asked, leering at me.
"No. It's like a jewelry box that plays music," I said.
"What kind of music?" Remus asked.
"Probably the Weird Sisters. That way every time Hannah goes to put on an earring she can also 'Do the Hippogriff'," Sirius teased.
"First off, it's Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven and b, I can change the music if she doesn't like it," I said.
"First and b? You're a regular Albus Einstein," Sirius said.
"It's Albert Einstein. If you're going to insult me at least don't embarrass yourself," I said. "Anyway, Hannah said it was her favorite piece of classical music."
"How could you possibly know what 15-year-old girl's favorite piece of classical music is?" Sirius asked.
"I asked her. You see, asking questions is how most people generally obtain information," I said.
"Weird girl. Who on Earth has a favorite piece of classical music?" Sirius went on. "I bet Remus does."
"I don't as a matter of fact," Remus replied.
"Yes! Because it never occurs to anyone to think about that—except for you and Hannah apparently," Sirius said.
I yawned. I didn't have the strength to put up with his nonsense anymore tonight. "I'd better go to bed. I'm so tired from cleaning this place."
"Well you wouldn't be so tired if you weren't completely useless with cleaning spells," he said.
"Well you're completely useless all together, so I've still got one up on you," I said.
"You are quick with the comebacks, Nymphadora," Sirius said.
"That's Tonks to you, Tumbles," I said.
Sirius gasped, horrified that I knew this name. "Who told you about that?"
"That is a secret," I said.
Remus had told me about the nickname. He wouldn't tell my why the children at Hogwarts used to call him that, only that it was humiliating.
"Hmm, you win tonight, but tomorrow I shall have my revenge," he said.
I got up from the table, saying goodnight to my cohorts as I went.
I only managed to sleep a few hours before there was a loud banging on my door.
"Whozit?" I asked.
The opened and Sirius ran in.
"Get up, now," he said in a panic.
"Why? What's happened?" I asked.
"Arthur was attacked at the ministry," Sirius asked.
"What?" I asked, very suddenly awake.
"Arthur was attacked at the ministry," he said.
"When?" I asked.
"Just now apparently. Harry and the Weasley children are on their way now," he said.
"And Arthur?" I asked.
"Molly and Kingsley are taking him to Saint Mungo's as we speak," he said.
"But is he alright?" I asked.
Sirius didn't answer me. "Moody's bringing the children."
And with that he left.
I was horror stricken. What if something was really wrong with Arthur and he didn't recover. . . What if he didn't make it all? I'd known him since I'd started Hogwarts, since I was a little girl. . . The thought of losing him was terrifying.
I jumped out of bed and slipped on my house shoes. I could hear the children piling in downstairs.
I walked downstairs and into the kitchen. The twins, Ron, Ginny, and Harry all sat there, quiet as a mouse, not speaking a word to one another, looks of absolute concern covered their faces.
Asking if they were okay would be pointless and insensitive. So instead we all just stood in the kitchen quietly, waiting on news about Arthur.
The children were struggling to stay awake as the hour got later and later. Sirius, Remus and I all exchanged glances amidst the silence.
Finally at nearly three in the morning, Kingsley came in. The children looked on at him eagerly, waiting to hear about Arthur.
"He's pretty messed up but he's gonna make a full recovery," he said.
We all breathed a sigh of relief.
"We'll take you guys to see him tomorrow morning. Go on to bed now," Remus said.
The children all got up and walked upstairs to bed. I closed the kitchen door quietly. And turned round to Kingsley.
"So maybe I was asleep when all of this was explained but, what happened?" I asked.
"Voldemort's snake attacked him in the department of mysteries while he was on patrol," Kingsley explained.
"How could we have found that out? None of us were there," I said.
"Harry," Sirius said. "He had a 'dream' or a rather a nightmare, said that he saw Arthur getting attacked by Voldemort's snake."
"And it just turned out to be true?" I asked. Remus nodded.
"The theory is that he could see what Voldemort was seeing," he said. "Of course Voldemort is still completely unaware of his connection with Harry, so while he's using Hannah, he's unintentionally helping us."
"When he's being careless?" I asked.
Sirius nodded. "Now it's just another reason for him to freak out on top of his sister being possessed."
"You mean it's another reason for you to freak out?" Kingsley asked.
Sirius sighed. "This is getting complicated."
"And it wasn't before?" Remus asked.
"Well of course it was before. Don't be absurd," Sirius replied. "I'm just saying, it's going to get harder and harder to keep things from them now. They were already suspicious that we knew things before. Now they'll be trying to get information out of us every day. Not to mention we'll have to tell them a million times that there's nothing wrong with them and have absolutely nothing to back it up."
"They trust you, Sirius, more than anyone else in the world," Kingsley said. "Trust yourself and they'll trust you."
I nodded in agreement. "I'm going to send and owl to Hannah and Hermione to let them know that they'll be leaving tomorrow instead of Sunday," Kingsley said. "You three try to get some rest."
He went out the door leaving us in silence in the kitchen.
"Harry will be fine," Sirius told himself. "But Hannah likes to panic, apparently."
"She's going to flip out when she discovers what's happened," Remus said.
"And she'll be more concerned for Harry than Arthur," I said.
"Well she knows Arthur will be okay. She and Harry walking a very thin line as far as their mental stability goes and they're both very aware of it in each other," Sirius said.
What a tragic start this was to a seemingly normal Christmas break.