The Marauders' Years: Year One
Chapter Eleven

Letters for Black


Sirius,

I wrote to Remus and Peter to ask if they found out anything on that monster we saw, but I haven't gotten a reply yet. Oh…wait… there's Remus's owl.

Hmm, nope. Remus didn't find anything either. He got your letter back, what's this about overthrowing the Ministry? Why didn't you include me in your plot? Shame!!!

See you in a week! Wait till you see what I got for Christmas! Oh, and Remus said he forgot to tell you Happy Christmas. So, there- a happy and merry Christmas to you!

Happy Christmas!

James Potter

P.S. My dear idiotic and mentally challenged friend. Have you yet realized that on Christmas, the Christmas presents arrive?

-

Sirius blinked at the last line of the letter, as the large horned owl James owned, waited silently, blinking superiorly down at him. He...Had...Forgotten...About...PRESENTS!

Sirius rushed up to the dorm, where he noticed for the first time, the pile of colorful packages at the foot of his bed.

His eyes glittering with excitement, Sirius tore into the first unsuspecting parcel, then the next, and then the next, his grin growing larger as the wrappings were tossed aside.

James's parents had sent him a small gift package from a joke shop in Diagon Alley; apparently they didn't realize that was like giving a bomb to a deranged Muggle.

Remus's mum had sent him a plate of homemade Christmas cookies. (Which she mentioned Remus had helped cook.)Sirius snickered; he now had a bit more blackmail against his friend.

Peter's mom had also sent cookies, which made Sirius's mouth water as he deeply inhaled their tempting, home-baked smell. Resisting temptation, he put them away for later.

Finally he finished opening packages, till only one was left. He grimaced as he tore open the small green envelope attached, which bore the Black Family seal- a lion being throttled by a serpent.

-

Sirius,

I hope this book will prove useful. Your brother was thrilled with his copy. You had better be doing the Black family name justice in Slytherin.

-

"Better be doing the family name justice," Sirius repeated, imitating his mother's voice. He couldn't wait to see her face whenhe got around to telling her that he'd been sorted into Gryffindor. Thankfully, she didn't know yet, so no Howlers, but it had been quite a task,blackmailing all of his cousins to keep quiet.

Sirius smirked, he always found the term 'black'mail amusing. Bellatrix had been most displeased with the pictures of her at five years old...playing with a doll. He thought she would curse him right then and there.

He stared thoughtfully at the book for a moment, and then pondered how chilly it was getting; the fireplace was a little low on fuel...

-

Sirius enjoyed dinner in the Great Hall that night; it was splendidlydecorated with red and green tinseland the usual impossibly large Christmas trees.

Everyone had been inclined to sit at one table with the teachers, since there were so few students there that each house table would have had only one to three students sitting at it.

Sirius had amused himself for most of the evening, by staring, in feigned eagerness,every time McGonagall started to drink from her goblet. Halfway through Christmasdinner, she had disposed of the goblet's contents with a wave of her wand and had it refilled.

Teachers could be so paranoid.

The one he'd really poisoned, would be the Potions teacher, McGonagall should have known that. Sadly, Professor Hikage seemed to be used to attempts to put things in his drink, and after he had sniffed it, promptly disposed of it in a similar fashion as McGonagall.

All in all the evening had been fun, with crackers and everything else imaginable. It had also been amusing to see Snape, (orSnivellus, as Sirius had now dubbed him, due to a cold Snape had caught, thanks to Sirius's blizzard), attempt to keep as far away from him as possible.

Entirely too soon, it was time for bed, and all of the students made to go their separate ways.

-

Upon arrivingin the common room, Sirius was greeted by Peter's family's owl, which looked quite peeved at being outside in the wind.

-

Sirius,

Had a good Christmas? No luck in our library, but we don't have many books. Sorry. Not much to say, can't wait to get back to Hogwarts. Hope you're looking in the school library; it's not fair if you don't have to do any work. By the way...Maybe we can call the entire thing off? Isn't there another way to get house points? Any other???

-Peter

-

As Sirius scribbled a reply, he pondered a quick jaunt to the kitchens. It was rather risky;you never knew where the teachers were likely to turn up.... Siriuspaused, mid thought, he'd just had a brilliant idea! Wouldn't it be useful if you did know where the teachers were?

With this thought utmost in his mind, Sirius raced upstairs and retrievedthe Marauder's Map, before hurrying back downstairs and out ofthe portrait hole. He had a week to fulfillhis mission; he had to get to the library immediately to get it done.

-

As the Hogwarts express slowed to a stop, James Potter waited impatiently to get off. His other three friends, Remus, Peter, and Frank were waiting behind him. The scarlet train gave a slight jerk as it finally halted, and James immediately jumped off into the near two-foot deep snow drifts.

Remus unloaded next, and as he stood uplooking around and brushing the snow off his robes, he commented, "Looks as if Sirius's harmless little blizzard stretched all the way to the train station. No wonder it was in the Daily Prophet."

Frank shook his head wordlessly, as he jumped down next to Remus; they all knew that he thought Sirius was an insane threat to their sanity, even their lives.

Peter leapt off last.

"Why don't we attempt to sneak up on Sirius?" James asked, as they started the long, difficult trek to Hogwarts.

Remus and Peter nodded, but both were more interested in avoiding dropping down into the deeper drifts.

"Mental..." Frank muttered, obviously referring to Sirius, as he glared at the snow.

The walk to Hogwarts wasn't exactly a wonderful experience. Frank had made several more remarks about Sirius, and Remus had noticed the change in Frank's attitude toward their fifth dorm mate quite suddenly. It was true enough that Frank hadn't exactly been chummy with Sirius or James, but Frank was acting a bit more hostile towards Sirius than before. It was slightly unnerving how much could change over Christmas holidays. James quickly jumped to defend his friend, as Frank made another scathing remark.

The good thing about the walk to Hogwarts was that, after the first argument, there was only one uncomfortable silence, the bad thing was that the silence lasted the entire distance to Hogwarts.

As soon as they were through the door, the four boys parted company, Frank heading off toward Gryffindor tower and the Marauders wandering off in search of their friend, anxious to find out what he had done to entertain himself.

-

Sirius smirked dubiously to himself as he walked down the corridors toward the entrance hall and kept one eye on the piece of parchment held in his hand. Before he had quite reached his destination, he turned abruptly to the right and stood in the shadows, studying the parchment. After a moment of silence, he left his place in the dark and walked hurriedly into the entrance hall and toward the grand staircase. He had to hurry if he wanted to catch James and the others, and if he was right they were just about on the fourth floor. Sirius cast a quick glance at the parchment and once satisfied with his findings, sprinted up the stairs.


- Jade-chan