For Ash (VanillaAshes) of Hogwarts Secret Santa Exchange 2021, I hope you enjoy.
And So It Begins - In Which Annoying the Women Is Not Wise
"Is everyone ready?" Lily called out as she came down the stairs with her best friend, Marlene. The two women were dressed in Gryffindor-red fur coats, perfect for carolling down Diagon. In the sitting room, their husbands were chatting with Remus about the latest in werewolf legislation. Outside, the kids could be heard having a snowball fight.
James and Sirius rose to greet their wives…
Marlene was quite enjoying Sirius' enthusiasm, and from the sound of it, Lily completely agreed. Unfortunately, Remus had to interrupt. Honestly, you'd think he had a frog in his throat clearing it that much!
The couples remained stubbornly together until the man threatened to take the kids carolling without them.
Taking a moment to straighten their outfits, eventually all the adults were ready to begin though Remus' hat, which had originally been a perfectly normal black, suddenly started flickering through all the colours of the rainbow just as the man walked out the door. If Marlene just happened to be putting her wand back into her sleeve at the same time, no one noticed but Lily, whose own spellwork just might have been involved in making the hat stick to the man's hair.
Now came the hard part… wrangling up the kids–a task the males left to the ladies of the group.
"Harry! Iris!" Lily called her two from the hoard of children playing on their street. Iris's vivid red hair was just visible by old Mrs Bagshot's place. As she started making her way nearer, it was obvious that a clowder of cats was following her. Lily just sighed as her daughter's patented Doe Eyes of Pleading made an appearance.
"Not a chance."
"But Mummy!" With a little difficulty, Iris hefted up a tiger-striped cat in her arms. On her shoulders, two kittens completed the picture. "How can you say no to these cuties?" She turned to her father, "Papa?"
Over her shoulder, Lily's glare promised a week on the couch if he caved. Even still, it was obvious that he struggled. "I see that you left your mittens inside, Iris. What do you say to running in, and after you get them, you can get a little snack for your friends?"
Iris squealed before running inside, Lily's admonition that the animals stay outside completely ignored though they thankfully seemed to all follow the eight-year-old back outside readily enough.
While all of that was going on, Marlene's cry for her adopted daughter, Hermione, brought two other teens with her. Harry was anticipated. Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, was not. Oh, Sirius' second cousin was a common enough sight, being a friend of both Hermione and Harry, but his presence had been notably absent from any events this winter break, a consequence of Hermione's letter gushing about her changed "relationship status" and the merits of her boyfriend back in September and Sirius' inability to recognize that his baby was growing up. Seeing Sirius' glare, Marlene made a point of aiming her elbow right in Sirius' ribs before lifting a brow at their daughter.
"Dray used the Knight Bus to come to the snowball fight, Mum. We got to talking, and would you believe it? He's never gone carolling before. Considering the training he's had in the musical arts, it's practically a travesty, so I invited him to come along."
Marlene looked from one teen to the other. Hermione's chin jutted out in a move that she just knew came from herself while Draco tried and failed to look like he couldn't care less about the proceedings. A glance at Sirius showed precisely what he thought about the situation, and Marlene smirked. It would serve her husband right for his latest pranks.
"Welcome to the Marauders' Christmas Carolers, Draco. We'd love to have you!" she exclaimed, making Hermione grin. "Harry's sister has recently become more independent. You can help us keep an eye on her." The smile disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. Everyone knew that keeping Iris in sight was a full-time occupation. Her husband looked like he'd just eaten a lemon whole, and remembering the hot-pink hair she'd sported at work last week, everything felt right with the world.
Accio-ing an extra Marauders Christmas Carols book from inside (technically the one meant for Iris once she became more adept at reading), Marlene was the cat who caught the canary. Beside her, Lily was wrapping a scarf around Iris as James called the Knight Bus. Diagon Alley, here they go!
Down in the Alley–In which James is Paranoid and WWW is the Best
"God rest ye, merry hippogriffs, Let nothing you dismay!" James belted out at Ollivanders while surreptitiously fingering his wand. Every year, they went carolling. Every year, the prank wars between him and Padfoot got more memorable. Unfortunately, Sirius hadn't begun pranking yet, and it was making James feel nervous. They'd already passed three stores; Pads had to be planning something epic.
"Owww!" he broke off from his musings as an elbow to the stomach reminded him that it was time for the next song.
As the opening verse of Christmas at Hogwarts started up, James let his eyes wander over the kids in the group. While Harry and Iris were dutifully singing (probably due in no small part to the presence of their mom and aunt standing nearby), Hermione and Draco were whispering to each other. Thank Merlin Harry wasn't interested in girls yet. While it was amusing to watch Padfoot squirm at the thought of Hermione with Draco, James was perfectly willing to postpone a certain… discussion with his son for as long as possible.
They'd just left Ollivanders for the Apothecary when Hermione spoke up. "Aunt Lily? Draco's never heard the Muggle versions of these songs. At the next stop, can we sing 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year'?" While most of the songs in the Marauders Christmas Carols were traditional wizarding songs or reworkings of them in which various members of their wonky family played a central role ("Have a Very Harry Christmas" came to mind), the book also included several Muggle pieces as well. In addition to making Lily happy and paying tribute to her and Hermione's origins, it also served to anger the more… uptight members of the magical community. It was honestly quite surprising that Draco had never happened upon their group while singing one of the songs before now even if just while shopping.
"It's the Most Wonderful Time" gave way to "Last Christmas" and "All I Want for Christmas is You". Things got a little fuzzy at that point as Weasley's Wizard Wheezes had a mistletoe at its entrance, and well… after asking Moony to keep an eye on the kids, James became a little preoccupied, so much so, that he never even noticed when his hair was turned Slytherin green. Considering Sirius didn't seem to notice his own blond tresses, however, all was reasonably right with the world.
Down the Lane - In Which Remus Regrets Being Single and Iris' Interest in Cats is Explained
Remus' quickly turned away from the other Marauders only to find that the teens and Iris were no longer at the entrance of WWW. Thankfully, the contrasting hair colours made them rather easy to spot despite being on the other side of Gringotts and turning down…
Moving in a light jog, a million thoughts ran through Remus' mind as he tried to figure out why the three teens (and eight-year-old) would choose Loup Lane for the continuation of their carolling adventures. He could almost understand the Potters pulling such a stunt, but it seemed rather more foolhardy than he'd come to expect from Marlene's daughter (for in that area, Hermione was completely unlike Sirius). That Draco, a boy who lacked even the slightest reason to hold a positive opinion of werewolves, would blithely go down a lane full of lycanthropes seemed proof positive of the blindness caused by love.
By the time he caught up with the kids, they'd begun singing outside of Ozouf's Football Supplies… to the obvious confusion of both Ozouf and all the other lycans in the immediate vicinity. Remus had no choice but to add his voice with the kids in the hopes of settling the crowd before he dragged them out of there. The only positive was that Iris was at least staying put in the arms of Hermione's boyfriend.
From Ozouf's, they went to Rahoul's Home of the Third Eye, and after three songs there, he was finally able to seek some answers.
"What do you mean, 'Why are we here?'" Hermione asked as though the answer should be obvious.
"What do I mean?" Remus fought not to let out a growl of frustration. "What do I mean? This is hardly the normal route we take for carolling. Your parents will be worried sick when they can't find you."
"Eh, not really," Harry opined. "They know you're with us. Besides, what's the purpose of our singing if it isn't to bring joy? The only reason we didn't suggest going down Loup Lane ages ago, is we couldn't shake Dad and Padfoot. Making the shopkeepers deal with them in full prank war mode would be cruel and unusual punishment. Just us, however, it's all good."
Remus wondered if the teens were being willfully blind to the distrust held by many of the other werewolves towards their little troupe. If they'd told him beforehand, he might have been able to figure out a way to mitigate things somewhat (not that he'd have let them down this way regardless but in theory it was possible). As it was however, he could only hope to get them back out as fast as possible and make apologies later.
"Just a few more stops?" Iris must have seen that he wanted to leave and decided to unleash the Doe Eyes on him.
"...Fine," he sighed.
They'd just made it through their first verse outside of Beowulf's Books when a shadow fell over the group.
"Brought some snacks, I see, Lupin. Never thought I'd see the day when you'd be offering up members of your so-called human pack for the biting." Greyback's voice sent shivers down Remus' spine even as his words turned his blood to fire. Only a mild Glacius spell placed towards his shoes and a Silencio sent towards his mouth prevented him from tearing the foul man to pieces.
To his horror, Hermione stepped up with the boys flanking her.
Greyback laughed. "You offering yourself up first, sweet thing like you?"
Remus could only watch as the young lady smiled benignly at the apex predator. "I wouldn't say that, no, Alpha. Though I am rather concerned for your health. Surely, a lycan so attuned to his senses as yourself ought to be able to recognize that we are not all that we seem. A few weeks oughtn't be enough to wipe away our ties, should it?" This question was addressed to Harry who shrugged and added, "Even if it was, we hang out enough with Remus that it should be obvious going after us would break pack etiquette, with the exception of Draco, that is." He turned apologetically to the blond.
"Eh, I've gotta admit, there's worse fates than being bitten. Do you think dear ol' dad would finally kick me out if I was a werewolf?" Did Remus detect a hopeful note to the boy's voice? And where did the kitten in his arms come from?
Remus could only watch in confusion as Hermione followed her mum's example and elbowed him in the ribs. "It'll make things ever so more difficult to push change without the Malfoy influence, darling. I'm afraid you'll have to suffer through being tied to him a little while longer though don't Malfoys bequeath the Headships before passing on? Once that happens, feel free to kick him out of the family as quickly as possible. Wouldn't want him poisoning our future kids, you know."
Greyback looked similarly confused as a minor squabble between teens seemed to take priority over his threatening presence. Seeming to declare the two a lost cause, he turned to Harry only to be interrupted by the foolhardy teen.
"Can we just move on? You hate me on the basis of my being a wizard who is getting too close to the local werewolf population. I'm not a fan of you because rampant biting of children really makes it hard to push reform. You can threaten to bite me or my friends all you want, but doing so would be political suicide among your own kind for a number of reasons. My uncle is due to get free any minute, and at least one other alpha seems to have taken offence to your threats this morning. What say I wish you a Merry Christmas, and we all go on our way?" Only then did Remus realise that he could wiggle his toes and that the owner of the bookstore they were in front of, Beowulf, had come out and was glaring impressively at Greyback.
A staring contest between Greyback and Beowulf gave the Glacius spell just enough time to wear off, and, seeing he was outnumbered, Greyback turned away in a huff. Remus tried to explain why they were there but was interrupted. "Come inside," ordered the other werewolf.
"Wait, where's Iris?" Remus asked in a panic.
"Don't worry; I've got her," Draco called out; before Remus' eyes, the reddish kitten changed into his niece.
Remus could only watch in silence as the teens and Iris walked calmly into the bookstore as though they belonged there. His head shook in disbelief at learning that Hermione was a well-known connoisseur of their books, and all three were a good friend of one of Beowulf's cubs, Amou, who was at Hogwarts. There were even some statements that suggested all three were Animagi (which admittedly, made believing what he'd just seen Iris do slightly more comprehensible)! Beowulf suggested that he and Remus lightly scent-mark the group to avoid further incidents on the Lane, and the kids complied readily enough, claiming that it was a common enough practice at the school.
After that, watching after the group of teens was at once both easier and harder than before. It was easier because Remus' instincts and the instincts of those around them no longer viewed the kids as outsiders who didn't belong. It was harder because the group had suddenly grown from four to keep track of to close to three dozen as various cubs decided that they wanted to join in the carolling too.
Truly, Remus didn't think he'd ever been quite so happy as when Sirius rejoined them, having used his dog form to find the group. Sure, he seemed completely oblivious to the whole insanity of the situation and was annoyingly focused on whether or not 'Malfoy' had behaved inappropriately with his daughter, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and backup was backup.
Remus decided to give Padfoot something to think about. "You know, he technically offered to get bitten in her place when Greyback showed up. Maybe you could ease up on the overprotective dad act?"
Remus looked hopefully at his friend who watched the young couple like a hawk.
"Or not." Remus just hoped that Sirius would learn his lesson quickly and with minimal mistakes egregious enough to leave him in the doghouse. That always meant him coming over to his place for a sleepover, and a moping Sirius was not his idea of fun.
Back to the Alley - In Which Sirius Sees Something that May Put Malfoy in a Positive LIght
Despite Remus' best efforts, Sirius couldn't help but look at Malfoy Jr with suspicion. Sure, when he was younger, the boy may have done a nice job of seeming discontent with his lot, a rebel who'd found a cause in being friends with his daughter and godson, but Sirius couldn't help but think of the many war crimes that he just knew Lucius had gotten away with. If the apple didn't fall far from the tree, he didn't want Malfoy's spawn anywhere near his little girl… especially not holding hands or *gasp* kissing.
Unfortunately, Remus disagreed, claiming that the boy's actions before Sirius got there could not possibly be the result of a long game, and handholding at 16 was a perfectly acceptable way for two teens to bond.
They'd just left Loup Lane after what must have been a dozen stops for carolling, when unfortunately, another catastrophe showed itself. Iris had gone missing! Quickly stepping into the shadows and turning into Padfoot, Sirius was forced to leave his boyfriend-watching duties in order to find his niece. Sniffing the ground, he fought to ignore the hundreds of scents flooding the area. Only one mattered…. Ah Ha! The sweet mixture of strawberries and fresh-baked cookies made him scrunch up his nose, but Padfoot was off after the mixture that was uniquely Iris, ignoring for the moment the distinctly feline twinge that was mixed up with it. The child was always playing with cats, after all.
The next block over, a group of wizards seemed to be congregating towards something or someone. Their sneers and grunts of disgust made the part of Padfoot that was Sirius concerned. Iris' scent seemed to be coming from there! Slipping between the legs of the wizards, Padfoot came upon quite the strange sight indeed.
A kitten (Iris! Sirius distantly recognized) was hissing at the audience, who were throwing rotten fruits and flinging curses at two house-elves who huddled in the corner. Both looked like they'd not had a home for quite a while and appeared to be weak. Despite that, they seemed to be focusing their energies on putting a light shield around their indignant defender.
Padfoot joined the kitten and made a point to use his form's similarities to the Grim to its fullest. The crowd, who had been perfectly willing to attack the elves and risk hurting a kitten to do it, seemed less interested when an angry Grim-like dog raised its hackles menacingly and threatened to bite any who came near. Soon enough, the threat had passed, and Sirius could assess the situation from a more human perspective. Before him, his kitten of a niece (and wouldn't James be proud of that bit of magic?) was licking at some of the injuries on the two house-elves and mewing pitifully in sympathy. For the last few years, Hermione had been on a kick about elvish welfare, something Sirius knew for a fact Lucius couldn't give a rat's ass for and definitely did not teach his son. (Sirius himself only sort of understood the concept after endless lectures from the ladies in his life who supported his daughter's cause).
Things could not be more perfect. Gently grabbing kitten-Iris from the scruff of her neck, he carried her back to an alleyway near the others. If he could just get her to change into a human again, she could take the group back to the elves, and Hermione would see her boyfriend's true colours. For the first time, worry came to the fore of his mind. Memories of the times he and James had almost gotten stuck in their forms haunted him as he tried to figure out how to convince the kitten to turn into a human. Deciding the first step would be to shift back to his human form, he did so only to get quite the surprise when with no effort whatsoever, his niece did the same.
"We have to help them!" Only quick reflexes honed on both the Quidditch pitch and the battlefield allowed Sirius to scoop Iris up before she could run away again.
"Don't worry, Kitten," he soothed. "We'll do what we can, but first, let's get the rest of the group so that they can help too, yeah?"
"Okay," she sobbed worriedly.
By the time they got back to everyone, James, Lily, and Marlene had joined them.
"Iris! What do you mean running away like that?" Lily admonished as she checked her over for injuries. Sirius worried at his lip. Yes, the child definitely deserved a scolding for her disappearing acts, but he needed her to lead them back to the elves so that Hermione would break up with her boyfriend.
"But Mummy, they needed help!" Iris tried to defend herself.
"Who needed help, sweetheart?" James asked, permanently destined to be wrapped around his daughter's little finger, thank Merlin.
"The house-elves!" Iris squirmed away as Hermione asked to be shown to the house-elves in question. Soon enough, the adults were once again left to catch up while the kids raced on ahead. As they jogged after them, Sirius gave a rundown of the circumstances in which he'd found the youngest Potter, leaving out one minor detail.
"How dare they raise a wand to our daughter!" James and Lily both seethed, making Sirius rather happy that he'd found the girl first. Lily's temper was a thing to behold, and unleashing it on the Alley was not the best thing for keeping them out of trouble with the law.
"Well, at the time they didn't exactly know she was your daughter orawitchatall." Sirius mumbled the last bit.
"What do you…" All conversation stopped as they caught sight of their kids. Iris was singing "Accio Christmas" to distract the two elves (they really did need to learn their names) as the teens worked together to clean up the two's wounds. Sirius was shocked to see Draco just as firmly intent on the act of kindness as the other two, even waiting until he had the male's permission before performing any kind of healing. That was not like any Malfoy he'd ever heard of.
On seeing them and realising that his friends had everything covered, Harry walked over to the parents. "They're without a home," he explained. "Dobs was kicked out simply for following his conscience and trying to smuggle a Muggle child out of the Malfoy basement where she was being kept. Winky's crime was even less than that. Her master dropped his wand, and she dared to pick it up to hand it back to him, embarrassing him in front of his friends. We have to help them. They don't deserve to freeze here in Diagon, unknowing where the next attack will come from." Harry's emerald-green eyes almost seemed to glow. His sense of right and wrong not allowing him to ignore the plight of two who were suffering so badly through no fault of their own.
Sirius looked at Marlene meaningfully as James exchanged a silent conversation with Lily. The two couples turned to look where three kids were still working frantically to make the elves feel a little more comfortable. They really, truly, did not have a choice.
Just like Sirius didn't have a choice in accepting Draco, it seemed. If the boy was willing to help house-elves of all people for Hermione's sake, he couldn't be that bad. He still drew the line at kissing, however. No kissing until she was at least thirty!
Sirius watched on as the lady-folk gently approached to come up with a plan to help the little guys. He nudged Remus. "What about you? For all we know, they're part of an underground community of freed house-elves. Would you want one to help out at the loft?"
Remus snorted and shook his head. "Any house-elf would be bored within days at my tiny place. The only real excitement, the days immediately leading up to and after the full moon are just as likely to scare them off as endear me to them. Naw, you and James can figure out what having elves looks like in the same households as some of the most formidable pro-elvish welfare ladies we know. I'll just stop in occasionally to take advantage of the cooking if you don't mind."
Sirius chuckled. He wasn't wrong. Having house-elves around would be an adjustment for everyone, but he was pretty sure he could handle it. Sirius still remembered how they'd fought to protect his niece. He owed it to them. Speaking of owing people…
Sirius swallowed before walking up to Draco who had quietly left the vicinity of the elves while their futures were being discussed with the Ladies Potter and Black. The young man who had seemed so self-assured while providing care to strangers flinched at his arrival. A small flinch, but one that he recognized from his own childhood.
"I," he started before gulping. It felt like all eyes were on him. "I want to apologise to you, Draco. I've known you since you were Iris' age, but on seeing you with my little girl, I thought horrible things against you and judged you on your family name. I shouldn't have done that. I know what it's like. All I can say is, Hermione's my world. I don't like that she's growing up and has a boyfriend, but if it had to be someone, I guess she could have done worse. Treat her right, yeah?"
Draco nodded solemnly. "Yes, sir. She's everything to me. I won't let you down."
"See that you don't." Sirius paused there, unsure if he could extend this next part, yet knowing what it would mean to Hermione. "I suppose your family's hosting its usual Christmas Ball?"
"Yes, sir."
"While I won't allow Hermione to go to an event where she'd be looked down upon for her birth, I wonder if you'd be interested in coming to the Marauder's New Year's Party the week after. I think she'd like to see you there."
Draco had seemingly gone mute such was his shock at the invitation. While he'd been to the event in the past, everyone knew what couples did at midnight.
"You'll be sleeping in separate bedrooms though, understood?" Sirius tried to look strict, but the boy's shock was thawing him out better than almost anything else could.
"Draco!" Hermione came bounding over and hugged her boyfriend as Sirius suddenly understood Remus' incessant need to clear his throat during PDAs. "We've a plan to help them. Winky's to stay with me while Dobby's going to live with the Potters. Isn't that wonderful? Draco? What did you do to him?" she turned towards Sirius with a frown on her face.
Thankfully, that seemed to shake the teen out of his stupor. "No worries, Mione. He just gave me my Christmas present early, is all."
"Some would say it's late given that you won't be able to receive it until New Years." Sirius chuckled.
"Not that. Or at least, not just that. What you said before, sir, about Mione and me, that's the real present."
Sirius smiled. "Well then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" He raised his voice so the others could hear, and soon everyone was expressing well wishes to the group.
"And Merlin Bless Us, Everyone!" Iris shouted from where she stood with her new elvish friends.
THE END