Hey everyone,
So, I'm going to be honest with you. There are probably going to be daily updates until either Tuesday or Wednesday and then I am going to take a short break until my break from work starts. Once that starts, I will have more time to write and will have worked up a bit of a backlog of chapters. Then I will restart my daily posting schedule. I really love this, but from time to time, I just need to take a break.
Now what can you expect for the next three to four chapters? Well, this chapter is going to cover Harry and Sirius and their Christmas together. Next chapter is going to cover the same, but then for the Weasleys. And the following chapter will be on the trial of one Dolores Umbridge. Oh, and the potential fourth chapter might just be on Eversoul and the other one. And I don't want anyone thinking that I forgot about Lupin.
I haven't,
Venquine1990
Chapter 23
Christmas At The Shack
25th of December 1995
Shrieking Shack, Scotland
Harry's POV
I feel a rugged hand running through my hair. The touch is incredibly soft and while I slowly wake up, I feel like I could fall asleep from the way that the hand runs through my hair. And the love I can feel flowing through the motion makes me smile as I wake up. I put on my glasses and look up at Sirius, who is sitting on the edge of my bed, an equally large grin on his face as he softly says: "Morning." I repeat the sentiment and sit up.
"Merry Christmas." I tell him and he repeats the sentiment himself before he asks: "Did I wake you?" I shrug and say: "Maybe, but I didn't mind. Your touch and the way you ran your hand through my hair made me feel like I could fall asleep from the same motion, so yeah." The grin on his face grows at this. I notice him looking down and grin as I ask: "Do you regret giving it to me early?" But the man shakes his head and says:
"Not at all. I am just beyond glad that my spell is working so well." My own grin widens and I grip the comforter a little tighter with my right hand as I say: "You can say that again. I mean, I know that the nightmares were already lessening before you guys came here and they definitely didn't affect me as much after dad cured me. But I actually haven't had one nightmare since I started sleeping under this thing. Seriously, it's helped me so much."
I can easily tell that my words are doing Sirius a lot of good as the man's whole face seems to light up and I really smile at this. I then reach for the small gift that arrived with our meal the other night and say: "I have no idea what this is. Ron didn't tell me and Dobby didn't leave a note either." The man shrugs and says: "I prefer it this way. Now we both get to be surprised. That's always half the fun of getting something."
I definitely agree with him, especially because the man is always so open about his emotions and because that is the same reason why I always try so hard with my own gifts for my friends. Then I laugh and say: "I know. I remember how surprised Ron, Hermione and I were when you got me my Firebolt." Yet then I remember something that instantly makes me stop laughing as I worry over how the man will take the information.
Sirius looks up and I rub the back of my head as I say: "I – I sent my Firebolt to Ron. Both as – as a sign that I was back in the Shack and – and so I could keep myself from being enticed to do something with which I could risk my secrecy." The man smiles, puts his gift to the side and pulls me close against his form as he says: "That's good. I'm glad that you're being so responsible." And I release a breath in relief at hearing his words.
The man pulls away and goes back to his gift. And when he pulls the wrapping paper from the gift, both of us are intrigued and surprised to find a picture frame with a very nice dark brown maple wooden frame. I also notice a note stuck in the back of the frame and mention this. Sirius takes the note from the frame and reads Slideshow Wizarding Frame. For all your most precious memories, whenever you want/need them close.
The man's eyes widen and I ask: "Is that special?""Not just special, it's pretty expensive. How much money did you allow Ron to spend?" I shrug and say: "Just told him not to drain my vault. I had Dobby give a note with my permission for this to the Goblins ahead of time. Why? I mean, it's not nearly as expensive as the Firebolt, right?""No, but it's definitely almost as expensive as half your booklist." The man mumbles and this does amaze me.
Yet then I notice tears in the man's eyes and I ask: "You don't – hate it, do you?" But the man responds by retorting: "Would you have bought this for me?""To be honest, I don't really know what it does. I mean, it's like an enchanted picture frame, right?""Yeah, one that can store up to two dozen pictures and that can show them off like – I believe your mum called it a diorama or something. You only need to tap it with your wand to get it to show the picture of choice."
I look from the man to the frame and then I mutter: "Yeah, I definitely would have bought something like that. And then I probably would have asked someone at Hogwarts to copy some of the pictures in my photobook before sending it off. You know, pictures of my parents." And the man responds to this by pulling me close against his form and softly whispering: "Thank you, Harry. I – I love it. This – this is exactly what I would have needed."
"Would have?" I ask and the man answers: "Say I had still been a wanted man, stuck in London? This frame would have been the one thing I would need to keep my mind off of where I was staying and how annoyed I was with the Order. Especially Lupin." I grimace at this as the news that the man gave a half-hearted apology still hurts me deeply and then I decide to take a shot at a thought that comes up more often than not.
"Sirius? You know Lupin better than me. Tell me, do you know what I – what I did wrong to –?" But then the man puts his finger to my lips and says: "You stop right there, young man. This is by no way and under no circumstance your fault. This whole thing is entirely on Lupin and he only has himself and his stupid idea of a spell to thank for it." But his words confuse me and I ask: "Wait, what spell?" The man groans and asks:
"You mind waiting with hearing about that until tomorrow? I really don't want that kind of info to ruin our first Christmas as a family." And to hear the man say that about us, about the bond between him and myself almost brings tears to my eyes and I give him an easy nod of acceptance. And then we share another hug and whisper words of gratitude to each other over the gifts we got each other – or that Ron got for Sirius in my name, but I ignore this detail with a silent snicker.
Then I ask: "Hey, you know what? Over the last two weeks or so, the other Hogwarts House Elves have been letting Dobby do more and more chores by himself and he has been really using that private time well. He actually started visiting me at random times and – well, I might have slightly taken advantage of that. Want to see?" The man has an amused smirk on his face and he nods as he says: "Lead the way."
I beam at him and while I am only wearing an oversized shirt with chocolate and a few other stains on it, I don't care. I get out of bed and say: "Okay, first of all, and you are not going to believe this. But the Fidelius? At full power? Actually has a different kind of reaction to Muggle electronics as other magical wards. As in, there is no effect. I think that, because the magic is supposed to –." But just then I pass by the windows and my eyes widen as I look through them.
"Harry?" Sirius asks and he looks through as well. "There is no way Ron would tell him I am here – would he?" I whimper ask the man behind me and Sirius steps closer and puts his hands comfortingly on my shoulders. "No, I think he just finally decided to visit this place again, wanting to feel nostalgic for who knows what reason. Just ignore him, Harry. Remember, Dobby has the place enchanted. He won't be able to see us."
But to this I can't help but whimper: "But Sirius, the – the full moon –.""Was almost three weeks ago, on the 7th. The next one is on January 6, so don't worry. His senses are as sharp as those of everyone else. He can't see us, he can't hear us." I take and release deep breaths as the man speaks and slowly his words help me to calm down. The man wraps his arms around me and whispers: "Forget him, Harry. Today is for you and me."
"But he's your friend." I can't help but whimper, but Sirius growls: "And he let you get hurt. And he knows just fine that if I ever had to choose, it wouldn't be him I'd pick. He made his bed, Harry, and now he has to sit in it. Just like I did when I decided not to tell anyone that we switched Secret Keepers." At this I turn around, but the man smiles and says: "I know. I stopped blaming myself for Pettigrew's betrayal or his actions after that. But it was still silly and stupid of us to keep it secret the way it did. That was still on us."
I really want to disagree with the man and yet I can't. Instead I take one last look outside and the look in Lupin's eyes, even from this distance, almost makes me feel for the man. "He looks so – so lonely." I whimper, but Sirius turns me so that my back is turned to the windows and he says: "All three of us have been lonely for the past 14 years, son. But Remus has had chances galore to change that the past four years and he only did so on other people's orders, not of his own volition.
And remember, we agreed to forget about him and his little spell until tomorrow. So go on, show me what you meant about the Fidelius and Muggle technology." And while it's meant as a distraction, I still happily accept the man's proposal and guide him over to one of the other two rooms on the top floor. "Get a load of this." I tell Sirius, my concern for Lupin entirely gone and my excitement having taken its place.
And when I open the double doors, Sirius' eyes widen. A huge television, several kinds of gaming consoles and even two different kinds of recording players, one for VHS tapes and one for DVD's. And on both sides of the TV, there are cabinets full of cases of different sizes and with obviously different purposes. "What the heck is all this?" Sirius asks and I say: "Basically everything that Muggles use for home entertainment these days."
The man turns to look at me and I say: "Can you believe that one Galleon is like 5 pounds? And while yes, a television and those consoles each cost about 300 to 400 pounds, most of those VHS tapes and other things only cost about 30 to 60 max. The consoles might have been about 1200 pounds all together, but that's still only 240 Galleons and Dobby got the Goblins to assure me that my vault can definitely spare that and still have enough for my classes next year."
The man looks at me shocked and then he asks: "And those cases?" I sigh and mutter: "I had Dobby spy on the Dursleys. Dudley might a big mean bully who unfortunately learned how to punch more precisely now that he started wrestling, but he does have good taste when it comes to games. And as much as Petunia is a drama queen, she does know what's hot when it comes to movies. Though at the same time, surprise, surprise, she's clueless when it comes to child's entertainment."
"So how did you get those?" Sirius asks, while he is staring at the consoles with a lot more intrigue on his face than I had expected and I smirk as I say: "The Dursleys might have always hated anything that was, well, fun, but even they couldn't stop the school from holding movie afternoons. And every year, the school would show several of the most famous kids movies of the time.
And because the majority of those were all of the company, I just had Dobby buy all of that company. Not the company itself, just all of the movies it ever produced. Can you believe that this company has existed since the 1930's? It actually managed to keep making movies even during World War II and has even been making a comeback the last few years.""Really?" Sirius asks and I ask: "Yeah, want to see the movie that helped it from going bankrupt? It's really good."
The man nods excitedly and I tell him to sit down. But while I grab the DVD, as Dobby actually managed to get his little hands on both versions somehow, I say: "Just a heads up, some people call this a girl's movie, because the main lead is a princess. I personally don't really see it and just think the graphics are amazing and that the songs are awesome. To be honest, I can even sing some of them myself." The man smiles and says: "Well, if you want to sing along, I won't mind."
I beam at the man over this as I always hid myself away when I wanted to sing, even though part of me always believed that it could help me stand out and step out of the shadow of the Boy-Who-Lived. Yet I always ignored this, at least until I went down under. "Want to know something, Sirius? I actually made singing a part of my daily routine after I went down under. I usually sing either first thing in the morning or just before I go to bed."
The man pulls me close against his side and says: "I would love to hear my boy sing." Again I notice his choice of words and decide to mention it. But my fear of rejection, which stems from years of the teachers, both Hogwarts and primary, never really helping, comes up and it makes my voice almost non-existent as I ask: "Your boy?" Sirius pulls me close and even puts a hand under my chin to turn my head his way.
I notice an incredible and intense sense of emotions shining in his eyes and determination is one of them and is stronger than any emotion I have ever seen in anyone's eyes, even Dumbledore's when he attacked Crouch Junior in anger. "Harry, I promise this to you here and now. The minute that the Fidelius falls because the Order got off their asses, I am coming back here, I am taking you to Goblins and the Ministry – and I am adopting you. And I don't give two damn wands if you're fifteen, seventeen or 25, I am doing it. I promise."
Tears sting my eyes and I cuddle close against the man, who gently wraps his arms around me. "If it were up to me, pup. I would adopt you and then give you enough De-Aging potion to turn you back into your infant self. Just to have back the chance we lost so long ago. But – I know that's not wise. It's not wise and it's not what's right. Not for you or me." At this I can't help but nod and mutter: "I know. I've been studying such potions myself."
"You have?" Sirius asks curiously and I nod again as I say: "Yeah, I played with the thought myself. Dobby even got me a few books on the subject. Turns out Potions are a lot easier and a lot more fun when I don't have someone breathing down my neck." Sirius rolls his eyes and I know he does so over the fact that I'm not specifying Snape as the one to do so. But I don't care for this and just go on: "Apparently, Healers advice against De-Aging someone more than 10 years.
So even if we did do this, I'd rather just go back to the age of 8 or something." The man smiles at this and then, while he still holds me close, he turns to the screen and says: "Let's watch our movie. And talk more about this later. It's no use to get our hopes up for this when the Order is still being thick-headed like they are." I definitely agree with the man, even if it does hurt to agree with him, and then I turn the screen and the movie on. And I just forget everything else.
Merry Christmas, Harry.
Also, OF COURSE Dobby is there and using a camera while being hidden. And OF COURSE Sirius is going to find his new Christmas gift suddenly having some new additions later. I just didn't really feel like mentioning this as I considered this point to be a fine one to end on. Also, I just wanted to have all of Harry's other gifts to be the same as in canon, but then I remembered how specific those were. So I think I will just have to mention those next chapter.
You'll see,
Venquine1990
PS. I know that Disney didn't start releasing Disney DVD's until 1997, but for those who want to complain about this, I advise you to turn to To Read and To View and to The Unspeakable Escape Program. Short said, I don't care.