Sorry it took long but I have been busy with studying for my exmas. I hope that you can forgive me! Enjoy!

Chapter Nine

A loud piercing squeal issued from reality woke Raine up with a start, and then she was greeted with four young girls from first and second year clambering onto her bed and smiling and yelping with delight.

"Raine, get up! It's Christmas day!" they chorused in unison.

At this moment in time, Raine would have loved to throw them all out of her bed and return to the land of nod. However, the small girls had adopted Raine as a mother figure, therefore took it upon themselves to involve her in all of their chaotic ideas. It's actually sweet of them, mused Raine as she literally dragged her body out of the comforts of the bed and donned a dressing gown.

The common room was decorated wonderfully with gold and red, matching the house's colour, and stirred the Christmas feeling in the students. The girls had settled themselves around the fire and near the tree while Raine positioned herself on the couch. It reminded her of her bed, which she missed very much. All four pair of eyes gazed at her with anticipation.

Waving her hands in a shooing motion, Raine announced, "Go ahead and open the presents!"

In a matter of seconds, there was a flurry of activity, with wrapping paper flying through the air. With every present the girls unwrapped, a squeal would escape from their mouths and a collection of oohs and ahhs from the rest. It was quite amusing for Raine to watch. Her Christmases were often a quiet affair, since either Dad was working or Mum was. She never could remember a time when both parents had been there for Christmas, but they had always tried to make up for it with holidays in the summer.

In fact, this Christmas could be considered one of the best. There were only fourteen Gryffindors staying for the holiday break and most of them were young.

Raine gathered her presents, surprisingly intact, from the mayhem and started to peel off the wrapping. First, her mother and step-dad. They had sent a lovely card with a letter inside saying that Mum was a bit of a lost without her, and John missed her too, joking saying that this was only because he believed she was the only one who could bring sense to her mother's idea of Christmas. This made Raine smile, for she knew her mum would be smiling or whacking a large pillow in John's direction. After her dad's death, Raine's mum never smiled or laughed, until one day she met John, who was determined to bring a smile to her face and succeeded. If only Theo would understand that John is what Mum needs. Along with the letter came a massive box of sweets and some muggle novels for light reading.

Sara had given Raine a basic make up kit and a hair clasp. There was no card. Raine found this off-putting but forgotten it when she noticed a large white box with a huge red bow tied around it. This was when she became aware of an audience. Smiling shyly as the girls crept forward, looking very interested in this gift, Raine untied the bow and gently lifted the top off.

Murmurs of gasps were received in Raine's direction. Inside the box lay several kinds of roses in different colours. There were dark blues, violets, reds, yellows and pinks but the one that stood one was the white rose that glistened in the light, sparkling like a diamond.

"Who sent you that?" a small girl called Gail whispered in awe.

"No idea," replied Raine as she started looking for a card.

"Your boyfriend perhaps?" said gossiping Sophie.

Raine pulled a face. Why did everyone assumed that nice, romantic gifts came from a boyfriend? The girls giggled at Raine's expression of disgust.

Finally Raine spotted a piece of paper. All it said was 'Remember Practise!'

She was gob-smacked. Sirius must think of her as a true friend to spend time getting a present for Christmas. A very well thought-out gift, as Raine loved flowers, especially whites roses. She hadn't thought about purchasing a present for him. She could tell by now that her face resembled something very red, but Raine was incapable of stopping herself.

"Look!" screeched Sophie. "I bet it's from a secret admirer and you have an idea who it is, don't you, Raine?"

Raine again shook her head in denial.

"Your face tell us otherwise," crowed Sophie.

"I'd better put these in water," muttered Raine, thinking of a way to get out of the common room. "I'll be back down in a minute, and then we can start having some games."

This placated the girls, who were about to intervene with Raine's escape route. Careful not to damage any of the petals, Raine gathered the exquisite bunch in her arms and made headways to the stairs. As she entered the room and laid the roses on her bed, she started to search for a container which could be used as a vase. The quest allowed Raine to think about the question of why Sirius would do anything like this to her. I'm not pretty like the other girls he's used to, and not once has he given me such special treatment. Sara is probably more likely to get further past the friendship stage than I ever will. Raine shuddered in disgust at Sara becoming one of Sirius' girlfriends. She would be so unbearable if that happened, I think I would have to move to the Great Lake!

Finding a chamber pot in the bathroom, Raine used one of the spells that Black had been teaching her over the last months to transfigure it into a tall, dark blue vase. Completely satisfied with her handiwork, Raine hummed a merry tune while placing the roses in such an order to show off all the colours. Busy at the task, she did not first hear the tapping at the window.

Flustered, Raine dashed across the room and opened the window, where a barn owl flew in urgently and collapsed on the bed, breathing as if it was about to die. Raine hurriedly untied the weighty envelope from its leg. At its release from the letter, the owl darted back out into the morning light in a great hurry.

As she scrolled the letter open, Raine noticed the handwriting as that of her brother and became excited at receiving news from him.

Dear Lorraine,

How much I miss you at this time of year! Merry Christmas! I am so sorry for not writing sooner, but I have been preoccupied with my decisions about my life. I must tell you now as your brother that I have come to realise that I can no longer contact Mother while she persists to live with that mudblood we're suppose to accept as a substitute for our father. I know that I am putting you in the middle of things, but I do not believe that I should hide behind my choice. I sometimes think that you already know this, Raine, as I remember you were quiet and perceptive child. Severus and I could never go through with our tricks and pranks since you always found out! Oh, the plans you used to spoil! I know that this is short, but I have another engagement to attend- the Potter family's ball. It's tonight and I am quite thankful of the companionship of the Malfoys, or there would be no point of going at all!

Love from your only brother,

Theo

She had a feeling. The same kind of feeling that had warned her of Theo's childhood pranks. She knew that from his association with Malfoys and free use of "mudblood" that he was treading on dangerous ground. She now prayed that her worst fear would not come true.

To have your dad die at the hands of He Who Must Not Be Named and then have your brother openly join the monster and cause your whole family destruction was more than Raine could bear.

All happiness drained from Raine's face. This must be what Severus was hinting at, thought Raine. If he had not gone home like the others, I could ask him!

The skipping of light feet on the stairs interrupted her thoughts. Raine suddenly sprang from her bed, moved quickly to her trunk and thrust the parchment to the bottom, hoping that no one would find it. As the door gave way to Sophie and a fourth-year girl, who on all accounts looked like she had been dragged up the steps, Raine forced a smile to her face and pushed the contents of letter to the back of her mind.

"What game are we going to play now, Raine?" pouted Sophie.

The fourth-year rolled her eyes with exasperation behind Sophie's back and smiled at Raine.

"What about…hide and seek first?" said Raine. "Boys and girls."

"That's boring," cried Sophie.

"Not if we have to play it in the boys dormitory," replied Raine. "That would give you enough time to rake around the drawers of your favourite boys!"

The gleam in the young girl's eyes was enough to show her immediate agreement to this game. "I can search through Sirius Black's boxers and breathe in the smell in his bed!" Sophie giggled at her imagination.

The fourth-year was struck dumb with shock from the revelation while Raine ventured, "Isn't he a bit old for you?"

"NO!"

xxxxxx

There will definitely be more fluff in the other chapter especially when Raine meets Sirius in the bathroom! All will be explained! Hee hee hee.