I woke up to the sound of James excitedly pounding on my door.
"Wake-up Addie! It's finally Christmas!" he exclaimed eagerly.
I heard his feet retreat down the hall, probably to go make sure mum and dad were already awake.
I took the moment of relative silence to sit up in my bed and rub my eyes sleepily. We had stayed up late last night since our parents had hosted a Christmas Eve party for their colleagues, most of whom were from the Auror Department. James and Sirius had also taken the opportunity to try and get as much information as possible about the war by going around and mingling with the department officials.
Alastor Moody had been in attendance as well and had made sure everyone from their department remained tight lipped about any classified investigations and headed off the boys' antics.
I had met Alastor a couple of times before and always found him to be extremely interesting. Mum and dad were always going on about how he was the top auror in the department and had the most arrests amongst anyone.
I also knew he held a reputation for being highly intimidating and noticed that he was the only one James never confronted for information. But, I always made a point of approaching him since I knew he wasn't as scary as he wanted the world to see him and would often regale me with at least one or two of his stories from work. Then he would wink at me afterwards and shoo me off to go and contain James. He was going to have his hands full when James and Sirius sent in their applications in two years and I guessed that he was already dreading it.
I smiled at the memory of James sulking when I had talked to Alastor and he had only gotten chastised.
Sirius had also attended the party last night since he had spent the entire holiday with us so far. Things with his mother were at an all time low and I also had a slight suspicion that his family was under some sort of investigation from the Auror Department. My parents had insisted that Sirius stay for the entire holiday when usually they would at least suggest that he try and see his family once during the holidays.
But Sirius hadn't shown any hesitation or regret for not seeing his family. I knew how horrible they were, but I also frowned at the thought of not wanting to be around your own family at Christmas.
"Are you up yet Ly?!" I heard a pounding at my door again.
I rolled my eyes as I recognized Sirius' voice at my door.
At least James and Sirius didn't barge in anymore like they used to when they were younger. Dad had put an immediate stop to that about two years ago when he started to notice I wasn't his little girl anymore.
I begrudgingly threw back my blankets and hurried for my robe which was hanging on the back of my door. Our large manor was often hard to keep warm during the winter, especially in the bedrooms which were all down the east wing of the house. Our parents had a fire place in their master bedroom, but us kids had to make do with extra blankets.
I then exited my bedroom and was immediately met by my brother who had his arm extended as if he were just about to knock on my door again.
"It's about time Addie!" James exclaimed before he bolted down the hallway again towards the kitchen.
I could already hear clanging of pots and pans which meant that Garrick was probably starting on breakfast.
"I can't believe how excited he still gets about Christmas," I said, shaking my head.
Sirius laughed from beside me.
"Come on Ly, where's your Christmas spirit?"
I frowned slightly as I thought back to the years where it had been both James and I waking our parents before dawn to go and open presents. I could remember the excitement being almost palpable as we ran through the manor with our new toys.
"I guess that sort of thing just goes away over time," I said with a shrug.
"Nah, I don't believe that. You still have it somewhere deep down, but you just refuse to let it out. Christmas spirit thrives off excitement, you just have to figure out what to get excited for," he said as we continued to walk together, hearing the raucous sounds of my brother in the distance.
I thought about this more. I guess when we were younger I had always been excited about the gifts and being able to eat sweets for breakfast and going outside to play in the snow with James until our parents called us in for dinner.
Maybe Christmas could be exciting over things other than getting presents.
"What about your Christmas spirit?" I asked reproachfully.
Sirius scoffed.
"The Black's don't believe in smiling let alone celebrating anything other than their sacred namesake," he spat.
I frowned at him as I noticed his look of utter disgust. But then he turned to me, with a smile replacing his expression.
"You guys have given me my Christmas spirit."
I returned my own smile towards Sirius as we reached the living room. My parents were already sitting with their cups of tea while James paced around the room in anticipation. When Sirius and I sat down James proceeded to dive under the tree and root around for his presents.
I couldn't help but think that this is why Lily Evans refused to date my brother. He was an absolute child.
However, despite my brother's juvenile tendencies, I found myself truly enjoying the day spent with Sirius and my family.
Sirius and I did oblige James by going out and building a snow fort outside as well as going tobogganing at the end of the property. It wasn't until the sun was setting that we decided to go in and warm up with some steaming hot chocolate.
"Look what I found?" my mother exclaimed as she came into the living room carrying a photo album.
The three of us were sitting with out hot chocolate while dad drank some fire whisky and told stories about some of his childhood Christmas'.
'Mum!" James groaned as he realized it was the album mum had kept from our childhood filled with Christmas photos.
Most were highly embarrassing.
"Have a heart James," mum chastised as Sirius eagerly moved to sit beside her and I grudgingly went to join him.
Sirius was already laughing as my mum opened the book.
"Why is Addie in a box?" Sirius asked as he looked at the picture which showed James trying to stuff a Christmas box with peanuts as I cried to get out.
"This was Addie's first Christmas and James was still upset that she was too young to be his playmate, so he got the idea to send her back to Santa and ask for an older sister," Euphemia laughed.
I scowled at James who sheepishly shrugged.
Mum turned the page which showed James and I as a few years older and James was waving around some mistletoe.
"What in the name of Merlin is James doing with the mistletoe?" Sirius chortled.
Fleamont laughed.
"Oh, I remember that one. James and Addie were the best of friends by that point and James had seen Euphemia and I kissing under the mistletoe. So, I ended up having to explain to James that because Euphemia was my wife and I loved her very much that I was allowed to kiss her. James then got a chair and snatched the mistletoe before chasing Adeline down and telling her he loved her more than anything in the world. He then kissed her on the cheek," Fleamont mused.
James turned red.
"Well, it made sense at the time. I didn't know what type of love dad was talking about and it just seemed obvious that Addie should be the one I should kiss under the mistletoe."
I rolled my eyes at my brother while Sirius howled with laughter.
"So, you were always this thick," Sirius said before we heard a crash in the kitchen.
Mum got up and rushed out of the room check on Garrick before announcing dinner was ready moments later.
The turkey was a little burnt but still delicious.
James' excitement was dampened slightly by Sirius who wouldn't drop the mistletoe story. It got worse afterwards when Sirius took some from the archway and chased James throughout the manner with it.
I stayed to help mum and dad clean up with Garrick.
"Trying to keep away from the boys?" mum asked knowingly.
"They're just being idiots," I scoffed, shaking my head.
"You know, not too long ago it was you egging James on and chasing him around," dad commented with a smile.
"Yea, well I've learned James doesn't need to be egged on to get in over his head," I blurted before quickly gathering the rest of the dishes and carrying them out of the room.
Euphemia and Fleamont shared a look after they watched their daughter leave the room.
Fleamont sighed. "Do you think James has done something?"
Euphemia continued to stare after her daughter. Adeline usually kept quiet about James to avoid being reprimanded for his actions. It seemed that her son may have done something that surpassed Adeline's own self-preservation.
That made Euphemia anxious.
But over the next week Adeline remained silent on the matter and didn't show any further indication that she was fretting about her brother.
Euphemia remained suspicious of her children, especially since she knew Adeline was always guarded with her emotions. Opposite from James, who often spoke without thinking, she knew Adeline only confided in others if it presented a beneficial outcome for her. She was quite astute as a child, and it only seemed to become amplified as she got older.
Euphemia only worried that her daughter would become too closed in while her son became too exposed. There was a war brewing after all and Euphemia only hoped that she had prepared her children to be able to survive it.
XXX
There was a knock at the door which sent James bolting down the stairs.
"Remus!" James greeted as he opened the door and beckoned his friend inside.
Blythe, Elodie, and Fern were already here as we waited for the rest to arrive for New Year's Eve.
Our parents had gone out to one of their friend's houses for the evening and had allowed us to invite our friends over for the occasion.
"Grab a marshmallow," I said as Remus joined us in the living room where we were making smores with the others.
We had a stock pile of junk food to last us for the rest of the year.
"Is everyone else on their way?" Remus asked.
"Yup! Max is on his way with Zel and then we are just waiting for Peter and Wendall," I answered.
Remus nodded and took a seat beside Sirius who passed him a finished smore before putting another marshmallow onto his roasting fork.
The others arrived shortly after which seemed to kick off our little party.
James found the stash of dad's fire whiskey in no time and started handing out generous glasses full. I stared down at the amber liquid when Fern handed me a glass. I had tasted the fiery drink a couple of times before but had never had a full cup.
I took a deep breath as I surveyed my friends who seemed to have no problem greedily gulping from their glasses.
Sighing, I closed my eyes and tipped my head while the fiery liquid burned my throat.
It was getting close to midnight and the boys had secretively gone off into the other room while the rest of us sat in the living room. I was lying on the floor, trying to get the world to stop spinning.
I could hear the boys almost giggling as they re-entered the room. Obviously, most of them were some level of drunk.
"What were you guys doing? It's almost midnight?" Zelene asked.
James was giggling as he surveyed the room with an odd look in his eyes.
I sat up and turned my gaze to Sirius who only shrugged and gave a mischievous grin.
"Guys! One minute to go!" Elodie exclaimed excitedly.
I stood up, losing my balance for a moment, before steadying myself and going over to my friends.
"Wait a minute, guys!" James whined.
"Shut it James," Sirius retorted as he walked over towards me.
"Ten seconds!" Fern squealed.
"We did the math wrong," James continued as the others ignored him.
I continued to look in between the boys who all had mischievous grins and were blatantly ignoring James.
"Nine!" Elodie started counting down.
I noticed the other boys were also approaching specific people.
"Eight!" I joined in, still watching the boys.
"Seven!"
"This isn't fair!" James howled, still being ignored.
"Six, Five, Four…"
Sirius was extremely close now. Wendall was next to Elodie, Max next to Blythe.
"Three, two…"
What were they doing?
"One," Sirius breathed before leaning down and kissing me on the lips.
My first kiss was with Sirius Black.
What. The. Fuck.
When Sirius finally leaned back I still hadn't closed my eyes. I was now staring into his deep, gray eyes. It was followed by his cocky grin.
I was absolutely shocked before I started to feel an anger surge through my stomach.
What the hell was the idea with the boys kissing all of us. We were all friends, what was the big idea?
But, before I could say anything James stormed over and picked Sirius up by the scruff of his shirt.
"What the hell Sirius?" he asked, a slight slur in his words.
"This was the plan wasn't it James?" Sirius said plainly.
"Well, yea, but…" he sputtered.
Sirius cut him off. "So, I did nothing wrong," he continued innocently with a shrug.
James' face turned red.
"But she's my sister!"
"And you wanted someone else to kiss her?" Sirius said, a slight challenge in his voice.
I could see James trying to form an argument in his head.
"But, I didn't get to kiss anyone!" he whined instead.
I took this moment to look around the room and see who had been kissed by whom.
It looked like besides Wendall kissing Elodie and Max kissing Blythe, Remus had surprisingly kissed Zelene, and even more astonishingly Peter had kissed Fern. There was a mix of affronted, confused, and staggered reactions. It was hard to tell if anyone was happy or even intrigued by what had happened.
All I knew was I had had enough.
"Alright, well I'm going to bed," I said as I stood up and looked at all the girls.
Fern was at my side faster than I thought possible and Blythe closely followed. I could see Elodie at least saying good-bye to Wendall while Zelene still sat beside Remus.
"Coming Zel?" Fern asked.
She nodded before standing and slowly following after us. I was already out of the room.
"Ly…" I heard Sirius say from behind me.
I didn't even look back as I lead the way to my bedroom.
What a year this was already turning out to be.