Happy Thanksgiving to Americans!!! Yummy… TURKEY! Sorry, I get excited about Turkey Day. So in honor of Turkey Day, here is another chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please R/R!

I do thank everyone for the awesome reviews I have been getting. I am glad that everyone likes the story. A few comments..

skahducky- thanks for the review. Um, it kills me to write in Peter, cause I just want to "twist his filthy little neck." But he will be in here a lot. I do imagine Peter as being the onlooker, but at the same time one of the gang. Kinda both… to make some sense.

Someone Reading- hey thanks again for another awesome review. I like to think of Dumbledore as someone who loves jokes, and appreciates them. And with Malfoy, I don't see him actually doing too much work. In OoP at first he was like, "Get them." Or something, and he only joined in when things started going bad. I just think of him as like above stuff like that, he likes to order people around.

Thank you to everyone else for the awesome reviews. You guys rock!

**

"Those aren't 1st years." Was the general agreement among the crowd. "There is just no way."

Andromeda made her way to the center of the crowd. "HeadGirl coming. Move!" She called as she made her way in.

There in the center stood Sirius and James Potter looking very pleased with themselves. She put her hands on her hips and looked at them, "What did you do?"

"We didn't do anything," Sirius shrugged.

"This time." James finished.

"Somehow… I don't believe that," Andromeda looked around.

"Malfoy challenged us again," Sirius sighed and told her.

"So we had to stick up for ourselves," James told her.

"You have to be more careful with him," Andromeda told them.

"We know."

Andromeda looked around at the group, "Off to class with all of you! The bell rang!" Andromeda turned back to James and Sirius. "Please promise me you will be more careful. He has powerful friends."

"We aren't scared of his goons," James told her.

"I was thinking of my sisters. They have no heart."

"I know," Sirius nodded.

"I don't want to see you hurt," Andromeda walked closer to Sirius. "Please be safe."

Sirius nodded. He looked around, Andromeda was still looking at him in a motherly way. He looked at James, and then back at Andromeda, "Oh James, this is my cousin, Andromeda. The only other decent relative I have."

Andromeda rolled her eyes, "You can't stay serious for a minute can you?"

"I'm always Sirius," Sirius laughed. James laughed too.

"That one will get old very quickly."

"Its nice to meet you Andromeda," James stuck out his hand.

"Oy! Remus, Peter, come and meet my cousin," Sirius called over to the two boys who to stay out of trouble stayed back from the crowd.

They came forward, " Andromeda this is Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Remus, Peter, this is Andromeda Black."

"Its nice to meet all three of you," Andromeda smiled seeing her cousin's friends. She glanced at Sirius, he was so happy now; she couldn't stay mad at him for fighting with Malfoy.

"Go to class you four," She told them. "You will be late."

Andromeda smiled as she watched the four of them grab their bags and go off. She was so proud of him, she was careful not to let it show too much though. Again they had beat off Malfoy and his goons, and no doubt used advanced magic for first years. She shook her head though, Sirius was playing with fire, and Malfoy would not let Sirius and James go without retaliation.

**

That night in the common room, James and Sirius were sitting near the fire talking. Remus was doing homework as usual, and Peter was listening in to their conversation.

"Maybe you two should do homework," Remus interrupted their conversation. He looked over his book at them.

"Homework?" James looked at Remus, "Why?"

"To help you learn the material, and because teachers assigned it."

"Its too close to Christmas to be…" Sirius stopped. "No… we will do homework. We need to do homework."

"Are you mad?" James looked from Sirius to Remus, and then back to Sirius.

"We need to do homework because Christmas is coming," He looked at James, "the time for the perfect trick. We can do it before we leave."

James slowly grinned, "Ah yes, homework. What is our topic?"

There was silence.

Remus went back to his book, he knew he had lost.

"We could…" Sirius started. "No nevermind."

"What?"

"It's not good enough," Sirius shook his head.

Silence again.

"What about?" James started.

"What?"

"Er, enchanting snowballs to hit people?"

"Not big enough."

Silence.

Ten minutes went by.

"We could make… the food disappear."

"Ummmm. Bigger," James thought.

"We can make the food seem like its there, but when someone tries to eat it, it disappears."

Two identical grins slowly formed on the boy's faces. Their eyes glowed and they looked up at each other.

"Yess…" Sirius hissed.

Remus looked up from his book, "That's very advanced."

'We can find out how to do it," Sirius shrugged. "It has to be in a book."

"I doubt the library would have a book like that," Remus told them.

"Well then, I guess we will order books," Sirius looked at James. "Early Christmas presents to each other."

"Its perfect," James nodded.

They were silent again, Sirius looked into the fire, and he could imagine people trying to eat, but not. He could see their confused faces as they had so much food on their plates but weren't able to eat any of it. He looked over at James and knew he was imaging the same thing.

A loud tapping on the window interrupted the silence. The common room looked at the window to see an owl there.

"I think that's a Black owl," Sirius got up and went to the window. The owl let Sirius take the letter but flew back into the night.

Sirius Black

"Ah, I was right. The owl doesn't even want to be near me," Sirius brought the letter back over to their seats. "Wonder what they want." He opened it.

Do not come home for the holidays. Blood traitors are not welcomed.

It was unsigned. Sirius stared at it for a long minute. He didn't need it to be signed. He knew. Then, suddenly, he got up, and threw it into the fire, "I HATE YOU!" He screamed, turned and ran to the dorm. The other Gryffindor's eyes followed him up the stairs.

The three boys left looked at each other.

"Wonder what they did now," Remus muttered.

"I'm going to go and see," James got up and looked at the stairs to the dorms.

"Should I get Andromeda?" Peter asked.

"No, no, let me deal with this." James looked back at them. "She won't be there forever for him."

James ran up to their dorm. He knocked softly on the door. "Sirius?"

There was no response.

"Sirius I'm coming in," James knocked again and then opened the door.

He looked quickly around and found him standing by the window looking out. He stood still, his hands on either wall, looking out.

"Sirius?"

"I hate them, I never want to see them again!" Sirius said his voice full of hatred.

"What was in the letter?"

"They told me to stay here for the holidays," James heard him sigh. "I hate them, I know what they think of me, but for them to write that, not even wanted home… I didn't think they hated me that much."

"You don't need them Sirius."

"Don't I?" Sirius asked still not turning to look at James. "No matter what, they are my family. Its so confusing, I want family, but I hate them. I want approval from parents, but not from them." He turned around, "I'm not making sense. I just… its official, I don't have family anymore. Family wants you home for the holidays. I'm an orphan."

"No, you have family. You have me, Remus, Peter, Andromeda, your Uncle Alphard."

"I don't have parents," Sirius sighed.

"You don't need parents, you have us. In time, you will have brothers."

"Maybe I should have gone to Slytherin. That would have gotten their approval." Sirius muttered.

"But you didn't, because you aren't like Slytherins. You are a Gryffindor."

"I'm being stupid. I know they will never love me again, but they are my parents. Christmas use to be so much fun, all my relatives would come over, and the food… we would eat for days. That's all a memory though now. I'm not who I was, and I can't go back."

"I'll stay with you this holiday. We will have a good time," James told him.

Sirius nodded, "I just miss them already. My childhood just a memory."

"We could get Remus and Peter to stay," James continued planning. "We can plan tricks on all the teachers. Imagine the possibilities."

Sirius couldn't help but grin. He looked at James, "You're right. I just… do I want to be ignorant? Or a Gryffindor… a blood traitor?"


"You aren't a blood traitor, you just think differently. Forget about them! You are stronger and better than them."

Sirius nodded. He turned back to the window, he wasn't sure what he wanted anymore. Family? Friends? A home? He knew though he could not have it all.