I'm glad people liked the last chapter, I know it was one a lot of people were looking forwards to. And I'm sorry about the long wait, I got home from Vacation and have had to work every day since I got back, they even called me in on my day off! (I wasn't happy about that but oh well!) This is a fairly long chapter so I hope that makes up for it a little. Please enjoy!
With the secret out, Remus was a bit looser, he laughed a little more easily and his stories seemed a bit more believable, he had wanted to apologize for all the lies he had told about his sick mother but James wouldn't let him, he said that they didn't matter and there was nothing to forgive Sirius couldn't make himself be angry either and calling him out on lying seemed to be the last thing on Peter's mind as well.
Somehow, meddling in Remus's personal life had only bonded their friendship and made it stronger, they were bound together now by a secret and it was like being part of a club, James had begun organizing midnight excursions around full moons so that Remus was never left out, by night they traversed the castle and grounds under the invisibility cloak and after only a month Sirius was sure they knew more about the school than most of the teachers, they found secret passage ways that cut their time getting to class in half but somehow still managed to be late and they discovered rooms that had been untouched in decades. It was all a sort of fun, unlike any other, there was something exciting about being out of bed past curfew and being the only ones out and about, they had the whole castle to themselves and with the invisibility cloak, no one could stop them. They spent whole classes planning adventures and mapping them out, Remus proved to be very good with maps and remembering where things were and that was when James came up with the idea to create a map of the whole school. At first they had just laughed at him, it was impossible and besides, parts of the school moved but James reasoned that that was where magic came in and after a while of him bringing it up at ever available opportunity they agreed and began a lengthy process of mapping the school in their free time by sections.
But this slowly was pushed to the back of their minds as their teachers began piling on work and as the Christmas Holidays drew near.
Sirius had already made plans for the Christmas holidays despite a very strongly worded letter from his parents demanding he com home. He and James were all set to spend the holidays at school, James had said he wanted to see the decoration and Sirius had just not wanted to leave. Peter had said forlornly that he had to go and Remus was still waiting to hear from his parents. He had written a letter both asking to stay and telling them that his secret was out. He had put off telling them for quite a while but eventually given in and written, it had been a long letter and then Sirius and James had both added extras at the bottom, assuring the Lupins that the secret was safe with them and also wishing them a merry Christmas.
Sirius had not replied back to his parents; he had an elaborate and not at all convincing story to tell them after the holidays when they would write him demanding a reason as to why he hadn't been on the train. He was entertaining a story in which, like a good son he had gotten on the train full of hopes to see his beloved parents but halfway to London, the train had been besieged by a pack of hypogriphs and he had been carried off back to the castle. In the story, he was only one of a handful of survivors and his parents shouldn't complain about his absence since he was lucky to be alive at all.
James had told him it was a wonderful story and any mother would instantly forget her displeasure after learning her son had faced such peril.
Lily Evans had overheard and told him he ought to just tell her the truth and it was horrible to lie to his parents like that. Sirius had just shaken his head and laughed. "You don't know my mother." He had said. "If this happened she'd want to know why I let a damn hypogryph take control like that. She'd say: You're a Black, why didn't you turn that horse-bird around?" James had laughed and Lily had shaken her head and walked away.
Sirius received another letter from his parents less than a week before the Holidays, this one was more troubling than a simple summons home. This one was about his cousin Andromeda. It was an angry one written by his mother though eh guessed parts of it had been dictated by his father.
"Dear Sirius, While we know you were fond of your cousin Andromeda, we must insist that you cease all contact with her as she has recently announced her engagement to the mudblood Theodore Tanks. She has brought shame to her family and her actions will not be condoned, she will be disowned and any children she and the trash mudblood have will not be part of our family. Take warning from her, if you go down the same path you will face the same fate. You will be disowned and expelled from the family! Your brother has been sent a letter as well, although I don't have o tell him these things, he has a good head on his shoulders and knows to stay out of trouble. I really do hope you learn from your cousin and amend your ways before it's too late.
Sincearly, your mother, Walburga Black."
Sirius folded up the letter and tossed it into the common room fire. "You know, it's my cousin getting married. It's her she's mad at, I don't see why this has to be about me."
"Your cousin is getting married?" James asked. "The one who graduated last year, the Slytherin?"
"Yeah her, she's marrying her Huffelpuff boyfriend. My family is disowning her for it."
"Harsh." James said.
"Yeah, my mum just told me this was a good lesson to me." He looked at what remained of the letter in the grate. "Guess I should just marry a cousin like my mum did."
"That's a problem with pure-blood families today." Remus said, looking up from his magazine. "If they want to stay pure-blood they have to inter-marry."
"Well I'm sure as hell not doing it." James said.
"Me neither" Sirius grunted.
"You sure you don't have a hot cousin stashed away somewhere though?" James teased.
"Lay off, just the thought makes me wanna puke." Sirius said, thinking of Bellatrix in particular. He shuddered at the thought and then settled down in front of the fire and began writing a note. "I'm gonna tell Andromeda Congratulations." He said.
"Tell her from me too." James said, not looking up from his potions essay.
"Will do."
Sirius didn't think any more about the letter, he had gotten stories before about relatives who had strayed from the pure-blood path before and the only difference now was that it was in his time and not his great-great-great something or others. But evidently, his brother had taken it to heart and confronted him a the breakfast table.
"Did mum write you about Andromeda?" Regulus asked, marching up and only giving a small nod to James and nothing to Peter or Remus.
"Good morning, lovely weather, no I don't think it will rain, yes I passes my last Transfiguration quiz, flying colors! Thank you for asking." Sirius looked up at his brother. "Those are all the answers to all the questions I will answer."
Regulus scowled. "Never mind, I know she did but are you going to do what she says and shape up?"
"Shape up?" Sirius said the words with disgust. "I'll shape up when you get your head out of your ass and stop doing everything she says. Did she tell you to do this? Did she tell you to come over here and bother me? You know, I hear Gryffindor is contagious, you had better be careful or you might catch it."
James leaned forward seriously and in a grave voice said: "Symptoms may include but are not limited to: strong feelings of loyalty, courage, Chivalry, daring nerve and for God's sake, if you start feeling brave of heart, head for the nurse and don't look back!"
He and Sirius broke out laughing and Remus added: "A preference to red and gold come with it."
Regulus glared at them, clenching his jaw. "I'll tell her that I couldn't find you." He said.
"You do that and when you go up to the Owelry, would you mind sending off my congratulations letter to Andromeda? I would hate for it to arrive after her wedding."
Regulus opened his mouth as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Can you read?!" He said. "Didn't mum warn you what would happen if you kept acting like this?"
Sirius noted a tiny hint of panic in his brother's voice but wrote it off. "Listen, you've got a brain, why don't you think for yourself for once, Andromeda doesn't deserve this! All she's doing is getting married."
"You know it's because of who she's marrying."
Sirius leaned forward and looked his brother right in the eye. "Have you met him? Did you know mum misspelled his name in her letter? She called him Tanks His name is Ted Tonks and I bet you every Gallion, Sicle and Knewt in Gringotts that you've never even seen what he looks like."
Regulus straitened up defensively and drew in a breath. "I don't know why you have to act this way, all you do is upset mum and dad."
Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, if that's the worst thing I ever do to a family member then we're all in luck." He raised his eyebrows, hoping Regulus would get the message which he apparently did as he turned promptly away and stalked off.
"Oh, Sweet kid!" James said mockingly. "You must be so proud."
"You've no idea." Sirius said darkly. "He'll probably end up making prefect or something too."
James made a sad noise. "Such a shame."
They turned their talk to Christmas and Remus opened a letter telling him he could stay for the holidays and that his parents were so grateful to them all for sticking with him that they would send them all presents. Sirius had thought that that was a great outcome and it was only then that it occurred to him that he probably would not be receiving any presents from his parents this year. He was only mildly troubled by this. Not that he didn't like 'things' and not that they were bad presents, but he could live with a few less. And anyway, he had decided not to come home this year, it was his fault.
James finished his breakfast and they headed to class, Sirius thought blandly bout all the trouble he would cause for himself but found that he really didn't care, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.
The following week they said goodbye to Peter and Sirius, James and Remus settled themselves in in the common room. The Christmas Holidays were officially there and it was strange to have the whole school move from study to celebrating. The whole school was relaxed and largely empty.
They spent a great deal of time in the Great Hall watching the Christmas decorations go up, the huge groundskeeper Hagrid lugged in gigantic Christmas trees and then tiny professor Flitwick decorated them.
On the second day of their watching, Flitwick invited them to help decorate so long as they didn't smash anything and Sirius and James both promised that in the spirit of Christmas they wouldn't do so, although it was very tempting.
Decorating was more fun that Sirius would have guessed, he had never done so at home. It was always Kreacher who did the work and sometimes Regulus who for some crazy reason liked the elf.
When the decorating was finished, Professor Flitwick awarded them each three points and added an extra point for their fine and for once appropriate use of the levitation spell.
James was very pleased when he learned that Lily Evans had stayed, he called it a Christmas present and Sirius had almost thrown up.
Over the first few days they took to wondering around the school, occasionally accompanied by Nearly Headless Nick who was morose even during holidays, but they didn't mind, he told them interesting stories and even showed them a few secret passage ways they hadn't known about previously.
One of the passageways however had lead directly to the Headmistress's office which had not ended well when they'd come tumbling into McGonagall's office. She had been furious and had sealed up the passage with magic and deducted ten points from Gryffindor.
Sirius received a letter three days after break from his parents. His mother had sent a howler and it had gone off at breakfast screaming that he was a rude, nasty boy.
"How dare you disobey your parents?! We gave you strict orders to return home! You are a nasty little boy and you had better be glad we haven't come up to the school to retrieve you! Your brother tells us also, that you sent a letter to Andromeda, CONGRADULATING her! I expressly forbade you to do so, of all the rude, nasty, impudent children in the world, you may be the worst. Does it make you happy to know you've upset your mother? Does the idea of your parents shame make you smile? He tells me you also still associate with that Potter boy, and after the sight of your friends and their parents in Diagon Alley, I can honestly say no mother has ever been more ashamed of a son."
The letter tore itself up and the shredded bits floated down into his porridge. Sirius stared at them for a moment before realizing that with so few of people at the Hogwarts, the whole school had heard the letter, including the staff, several members of which were looking down at him in curiosity. He bushed his porridge to the side and got up, feeling they eyes of he Great Hall follow him out.
There was a scuffling behind him as James rushed to gather up his things and follow but he held up a hand, ignoring the stares. "I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be right back."
He walked quickly out the door and to the nearest bathroom, locking it magically behind him. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, looking at himself in the mirror. A sort of grim satisfaction ran through him as he stared into his own gray eyes. If his mother had complained before that his hair was too long she'd have a fit when he cam back for the Summer. He ran his fingers through his hair again and sighed, before turning on the faucet and splashing water on his face, school day or not, it was too early for this.
He returned to the Great Hall and grinned ignoring the renewed stares and the small amount of whispering surrounding him. He plopped down right in his seat and pulled himself up a plate of eggs. "So, what are we thinking of doing today?" He asked.
"Oh, I don't know." James said, kindly ignoring the howler all together and looking down the table at Lily. "Do you wanna borrow some brooms and go down to the Quidditch pitch?"
Sirius grinned. "Sure, sounds fun. Do you wanna bring in a few more people?"
"I don't see why not?" James turned to a group of boys down the table. "Any of you lot interested in a game of Quidditch?" He asked.
Several of them yelled out replies and an hour later they ad a game underway, so blissfully engaging that Sirius forgot the letter all together.
So this was a little more of Sirius's family, Regulus was in this chapter and I think that although we as readers know he betrays Voldemort, Sirius will have trouble seeing him as anything other than his parents' todey. Next chapter is Christmas!