A/n: Hey! Another chapter. Hope you enjoy. I had not expected to be writing about Christmas at Christmas. Well, I sort of didn't write for a couple weeks, so… It set me behind. I did not expect to be writing about Christmas at Christmas time. What a cool and weird coincidence, huh? Anyway, this chapter, like that last one, is somewhat sad, but… things will get better towards the end and will pick up in the next chapter.
Eva Yasha: No, things are not off to a good start… Read to see if things get any better… Will not say… But I will say that there will be more fun in the future.
The all mighty and powerfulM: The reply to your review will be in Chapter 23.
Chapter 9
The first few days went well. Sirius and Remus managed to hide anything that might give away the fact that they were together. No one seemed suspicious. And they enjoyed their nights together. They both thought it was wonderful to spend every night with the other by their side, and wake up to them in the morning. They loved it. It was wonderful. They ended each night with a goodnight kiss. (Or a few of them if you haven't figured them out by now.)
Things only went bad at Christmas Eve dinner. Aiden brought up a subject with his parents, that maybe he shouldn't have.
"What do you think of gays?" He asked them. "And bisexuals?" So as not to make anyone suspicious.
Sirius and Remus jumped slightly and looked at each other and then at Aiden. They were both thinking the same thing. What's he trying to pull? What is he up to? When in actuality, he was only thinking on his little brother's behalf. He only wanted Sirius to know how his parents felt about what he was. He should know. He couldn't keep it a secret forever. One day he would fall in love, and his parents would have to know.
"What?" said Mr. Black, taken by surprise at the question at first. Then, "I don't like them. Personally, I have nothing against them, I'm sure they're nice people and all, but… I just don't think it's right for people to like someone of their own sex.""It's just not right." Mrs. Black agreed. "They should keep to themselves and not speak anything of it in public. Keep matters like that private."
"They can do whatever they want, I just don't want to hear anything of it. Ever." said Mr. Black. "I don't want to know or hear anything of it."
Sirius felt like crying. Remus wasn't all too well himself. Sirius just couldn't take it. He had to leave.
"May I go to the bathroom?" He asked, standing up, not wanting for an answer, and left the room.
The whole table looked at themselves in shock. Aiden (who had been sitting next to his father), Remus (who had been sitting next to Sirius, of course), and James (who had also been sitting next to Sirius, as well) had also looked at each other in shock. None of them had expected Sirius to react like that. Remus pointed to himself and out the door where Sirius had left and Aiden and James nodded and Remus left to talk to Sirius.
When Remus got into the next room, he saw Sirius standing there, with his back to him, and his head down.
"Sirius?" Remus asked. "Are you ok?"
Remus heard a sniffle as Sirius fought back tears, and then Sirius turned around sharply. "Did you hear what they said?" He cried. "They hate people like us. How can I be ok?"
"Sirius," Remus said, "that was without them knowing about us. If they knew, I'm sure they wouldn't think that."
"How do you know that?"
"Because," Remus said, walking toward him. "You're their son. They love you." He said, putting his arms around Sirius's neck.
Sirius sighed. "But, what if they don't love my being gay? What if they disown me when they find out?"
Remus gave him a kiss on his cheek. "They won't." he said. "Why don't we go back inside?"
"Ok." Sirius agreed, as Remus gave him another kiss on his cheek and released him. Then they walked back into the dining room, not suspiciously.
When they sat down, everyone looked at them for a second and then went to talking or eating or whatever they were doing before. James and Aiden, however, looked at Sirius for a little bit longer, both worried about him. Then, they vowed to discuss it with him later and went back to eating and talking.
That night, when everyone was getting ready for bed, James and Aiden walked to Sirius's room and looked in. He was getting ready for bed. Remus, they noticed, was already ready.
"Sirius?" Aiden asked.
"Yes?" Sirius responded.
"I'm so sorry about this evening at dinner." He said, truly sorry. "If I had known that they would react like that, I wouldn't have asked, I swear. I am so sorry."
"It's ok." Sirius said. "There's no way you could've known how they were going to react unless you knew beforehand."
"I know, but I feel so bad." Aiden said. "I was only thinking on your behalf. I mean, I know you're going to fall in love one day, and I thought you had the right to know how our parents felt about people like you. I –"
"Aiden," Sirius said, interrupting him. "I'll be ok. I promise. It just hurt me a little. Ok, it hurt me a lot, but I'll get over it, I promise."
Aiden took a deep breath. "I am sorry. But, you're strong, Sirius. You'll be fine. Eventually."
Sirius smiled at his older brother. He had meant well. But it would still hurt to know how his parents felt. "Yes, I will." He replied.
"Sirius, you are ok, right?" James asked. He knew Sirius too well, and knew it had hurt him.
"Yes, James. I am. Or I will be."
They all then said their goodnights and then James and Aiden went back to their rooms. Then Sirius and Remus got in bed.
"Sirius, are you sure you'll be ok?" Remus, still very concerned about him.
"Yes," said Sirius. "And I wish everyone would stop asking me that!"
"Well, Sirius," said Remus. "You aren't usually upset very much. We all care about you and were worried." Remus gave Sirius a kiss, and Sirius pulled him closer to him.
"I'll be fine, beautiful," said Sirius. "Don't worry about me." He said, giving Remus a kiss.
Remus sighed and said, "Something tells me I don't need to worry about you."
"You don't."
And with that, they drifted off to sleep.
The next day, it was time to open presents. The Christmas tree had tons of presents underneath. Everyone wanted to open right when they got up, but that was at about 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. Half of the people there weren't awake yet. "We should wait 'till everyone gets up," said Mr. Black.
And they did. But it took longer than expected.
Remus got up at 10.
"Good morning, Remus." Greeted Mr. Black.
"Good morning, sir." Greeted Remus.
"Is Sirius still asleep?" he asked.
"Yes." Remus replied. "I tried to wake him up, but… you know Sirius."
"Yes," said Mr. Black, chuckling, "I do."
"He's out like a light." Remus said.
"I bet," said Mr. Black. "We'll open presents as soon as everyone gets up."
"Ok," said Remus, and he went to sit by Aiden and James.
Within the next hour, almost everyone got up, except Sirius. People were starting to get annoyed. They wanted to open presents, and Sirius (who was such a sound sleeper) wasn't awake yet. Some people (some of Sirius and Aiden's younger cousins) vowed to go and get him up, but Mrs. Black warned them, "You don't want to wake up Sirius Black. He'll be so mad you'll be afraid to look at him. Just let him get up on his own."
Sirius finally got up… at noon.
"Can we open presents now?" asked Alisa, a young 7-year-old cousin of Sirius's.
"Yeah," said Jonas, "can we?"
Mr. Black looked at his brother and sighed. "I swear, Jonas, you're as bad as the kids."
Jonas just smiled.
"We'll open presents right after we have lunch," said Mrs. Black.
They had lunch in the dining room, and then moved into the family room for the present opening.
As Mrs. Black was about to go into the family room, Mr. Black held her back. "Alexandra, wait." He reached out and grabbed her arm to prevent her from going into the family room.
"What is it, Angus?" She asked.
"I want to talk to you about something." He said.
"What?"
"Our son, Sirius." He said.
"What about him?"
"His relationship with his 'friend', Remus."
Alexandra caught the way Angus used the word "friend" and immediately became suspicious. "What are you implying?" She asked, defensively.
"I'm implying nothing." He said. "I just think-"
"Think what?" Her defenses still on.
"I just think there's more to it than friendship." He said, calmly.
"ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT OUR SON IS GAY?!" She yelled.
Angus shushed her. "Be quiet. Keep your voice down. We don't want anyone to hear."
"What exactly are you saying? Are you saying that our son is gay?" she said, clearly still but keeping her voice down.
"I am saying nothing, but hear me out." He said. "Just look at the way they act around each other. The way the look at each other, the way their eyes linger on the others, the way they touch each other. Have you ever noticed that they always seem to sit next to each other? I mean, I understand that friends sit next to each other, but always? And when Remus left after Sirius last night at dinner…" Then Sirius sat down next to Remus in front of the Christmas tree. "Look at them. You'll see what I mean."
As Remus opened Sirius's present to him, and Sirius opened Remus' present to him, she came to a realization. She put her hand over her mouth and gasped. "Oh, my god."
"You see it, don't you?" Angus asked.
"Oh, my god." She repeated, as she turned her face into her husband's chest.
"It's not that bad." He said, comforting her.
"It's not that." She said.
"Then what is it?" he asked.
"Last night at dinner… What we said…"
Angus gasped. "Oh, my god… No wonder he walked out…."
"We insulted him!" Alexandra cried. "He must hate us!"
"Oh, I'm sure he doesn't hate us! He was probably just hurt." Angus said, comforting his wife. "We'd better go over and join the crowd." They walked over and sat down with rest of their family and acted like their conversation never happened.
Sirius walked into the family room and looked for Remus. Then he saw him. He was sitting right in front of the Christmas tree next to James. Sirius walked over and sat next to him.
"Here, before you do anything, open my present first." Sirius said to Remus.
"Ok," said Remus, as Sirius handed him his present. The box was rectangular shaped and wrapped in gold Christmas paper. Remus took off the wrapping paper and underneath it was a rectangular shaped jewelry box. He could feel Sirius's eyes on him the whole time. Remus opened the box and gasped. Inside was very beautiful (and very expensive by the look of it) watch.
"S-Sirius… W-what… I…." Remus stammered, unable to say anything. Behind Remus, James's mouth was open as well. Neither one of them could believe that Sirius would spend that much on a Christmas present.
"Oh, my god, Sirius." Remus finally managed to say. "I – I don't believe it. It's – beautiful – expensive –"
Sirius put his hand up on his mouth to silence him and leaned in, and whispered. "Anything for you." Then returning his voice back to normal, he said, "You always you said you wanted a watch but never got one. So I decided to get you one."
Remus was still staring, open mouthed, at the brand-new watch in the jewelry box in his hands. He still couldn't believe that Sirius had bought this for him. Maybe this relationship is more serious than I'm giving it credit for, Remus thought. His insides turned with that thought. Werewolves mate for life. He thought about telling Sirius that (later, of course) but decided against it.
Remus looked up at Sirius. Sirius was staring directly at him and no one else. Remus knew that Sirius wanted to kiss him. He could tell by the way he was looking at him. A heavy blush crept across his face with that thought.
"What?" Sirius asked, smiling, at his blush.
"Nothing." Remus said, knowing full well Sirius knew why he was blushing.
Remus cleared his throat. "Here, Sirius. Open mine." He said, handing Sirius his gift. "It's nothing compared to yours-"
Sirius leaned in and whispered, "As long as it's from you, that's all that matters."
Remus blushed again and Sirius smiled. He then handed Sirius his present for him. Sirius took it and opened it up.
Sirius gasped.
It was a beautiful photo album. The outline of the cover and the binding and the pages was gold but the covers were a beautiful shade of blue. It remarkably resembled Sirius's eyes. In the middle of the front cover and the back cover was a square outlined in a beautiful shade of reddish-pink. In square on the front cover was, "Photo Album" in gold. The square on the back cover were the words, "From: Me, To: You, With Love" in the same gold.
"Remus, I – I don't know what to say." Sirius stammered. "It's – it's beautiful! I – I love it!"
Remus blushed. "I'm glad you like it. I thought you would. You've always wanted a photo album."
"Yes, I have." He said. And then lowering his voice to a whisper, he said, "And it's even better because it's from you." Remus blushed.
Sirius and James exchanged presents then. Sirius got James a Quidditch Care Kit and James got Sirius a book all about Quidditch. Both were satisfied.
They spent the rest of the day talking and laughing and spending time with Sirius's family. They went to bed pretty late (well, at least Sirius and Remus did) and got up pretty late in the morning.
A/n: Wow. That is way longer than I expected. I planned to New Years' in the chapter, but obviously (since it's more than 2200 words…) I can't. I'm moving to the next chapter. (I needed something to do in that chapter anyway.)
