Chapter 62

Meredith rushed down the stairs at the knocking at the door. She opened it quickly to allow David to come in out of the cold.

"Gott!" he cursed. "It is freezing out there!" Meredith took his coat and scarf.

"Come on into the kitchen," she said. "I'll make you some tea. It will warm you in no time."

"I think this may warm me faster," he said. She giggled as her pulled her close and kissed her long, slow and deep. A need for air made her pull away.

"Well," she said after the stars had cleared from her eyes. "Did that help?"

"Piping hot," he said. She laughed and led him into the kitchen. He was leaving tonight for Germany to spend the holidays with his parents. They were going to have dinner and exchange gifts before he had to leave and she had to be at the hospital for her double shift.

"How long till your train leaves?" she said waving her wand. The knives flew from the drawers and started cutting up vegetables and peeling and chopping up potatoes. She put the kettle on for tea and got two cups down from the cupboard.

"Four hours," he said. "Will your father be joining us?" She shook her head.

"He's working the night shift at the store," she said. She poured them both a cup of tea and floated them to the table.

"I'll apparate you to work before I head to the station," he said. "I don't want you walking to the subway in all this." She nodded. It did look bad out there and that would give them a little more time together.

"So your first double- shift," he said as she floated him a plate of baked chicken, potatoes, and steamed vegetables. She smiled.

"It'll be worth it," she said. "I'll have Christmas Day off."

"Grab sleep whenever and wherever you can," he said. "Even if it's only ten minutes. And don't wait to eat until you're designated time. You'll find yourself stuck with a patient and ten hours will go by and you won't have eaten anything. You'll want to keep some food in your cubby. An apple or some crackers. And don't forget to keep drinking water." She nodded taking his advice to heart. Having been doing this for many more years than her she would always yield to his expertise.

"If I'd have known you'd be working I'd have gladly switched shifts with Bloomton," he said referring to the other trauma healer. Meredith shook her head.

"None of that," she scolded him sitting down with her own plate. "You've been working so hard lately you deserve a break."

"I suppose," he said. "And I did promise mother I'd be home this year for Christmas. I've been on shift for the last four years. If I miss another year she'll kill me."

"Well I wouldn't want that," Meredith said. He reached over and touched her hand.

"I won't see you for four days," he said. "That's a long time." She smiled sadly. It would be strange not seeing him at work, taking breaks together, eating dinner together at the little café across the street from the hospital. Walking her to the subway in good weather and apparating her home in bad.

"You will miss me won't you?" She tilted her head thoughtfully. She would miss him of course but she decided to play with him.

"I suppose," she said. "Maybe. A little." His eyes narrowed and she laughed. He pulled her close to him kissing her fiercely. When they pulled apart she was out of breath.

"Promise me," he said touching his forehead to hers, "that you will miss me just as much as I shall miss you."

"I promise," she said. "Now eat before it gets cold. We still have to exchange gifts." Once dinner was finished and the dishes washing themselves in the sink, they went to the living room.

"Goodness," David said at the huge pile of gifts. "You either have more friends and family than you told me, or you have a secret admirer." Meredith blushed. Most of the packages were gifts from Sirius.

"Should I be jealous?" he asked taking her hand. Meredith shook her head.

"No," she said. "You are my only admirer David. I promise." She reached beneath the tree and pulled out a package wrapped in red paper with a gold ribbon. She took it over to the fireplace and held her hand out to him. They sat together on the rug as she lit the fire with her wand.

"Merry Christmas," she said handing him the package. He smiled and handed her a flat package wrapped in gold paper.

"My wrapping is not quite as nice as yours," he said. She laughed.

"Oh that doesn't matter. Open yours first." Her insides were tingling as he carefully tore the paper from the box. She hoped he would like it. She bit her lip as he lifted the lid.

"Meredith," he gasped as he lifted out the small model of an antique car out of the box.

"The shopkeeper said it was a…" she couldn't quite remember.

"It's a 1962 Alfa Romeo," he said turning the model in his hands. "The detail is extraordinary." Meredith smiled shyly.

"I remembered you said that they were pretty rare," she said. He seemed delighted that she remembered this conversation.

"They are indeed," he said. "I've been trying to find one to fix up for years."

"Well," Meredith said looking at her hands. "I couldn't really afford to get you a real one. Not on a first year HIT's salary." The truth was with the gold Sirius had placed in the vault he'd opened for her on her birthday she probably could have afforded two or three such cars. But she was very reluctant to touch that money. Though her dad claimed that he was fine with it, it made her a little uncomfortable knowing that she had access to more money than her co-workers could earn in four years combined.

"This is wonderful my dear," he said. He leaned forward and kissed her. "Thank you." She smiled.

"You are welcome," she said.

"Open yours," he said. She took the package in her lap and lifted the wrapping carefully to reveal a box in dark green velvet.

"Oh David," she whispered as she lifted the lid. Inside nestled in cream colored satin was an antique comb. It was silver with stones of blue, red, green, and gold. She didn't know when she would find such an occasion to wear such an ornament but it was still beautiful to look at.

"It's so lovely," she said touching it gently for it must be very old and she feared it would break if not handled with a delicate touch.

"I saw it in a shop window on my way home from work," he said taking it from the box. "I knew it belonged in that lovely hair of yours." Meredith giggled and blushed. She stood up and stepped over to the mirror in the front hall. She used her wand to sweep her hair up into a twist. David came behind her and carefully placed the comb in her hair. She turned her head a little so she could see the gems sparkle.

"How does it look?" she said. She felt a warmth in her belly as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips against her neck.

"As beautiful as you, mein leibling," he said. She sighed as he kissed the side of her neck, and upward to kiss her cheek. She turned in his arms and raised her chin so he could kiss her lips. She trembled inside. He had never kissed her like this before. It was passionate and made her dizzy. The sound of growling made them break apart.

"What's that?" David said. Meredith was mortified as she saw the huge black dog come from the kitchen.

"I didn't know you had a dog," David said. Meredith's mind was moving a hundred miles a minute. What was Sirius doing! Was he mad?

"He's…um…not ours," Meredith said quickly. "He's just stray that comes around here every now and again begging for scraps. My dad's such a soft touch he gives the mongrel food when he comes by. Now he thinks he's our guard dog." Sirius barked as David put his hand on Meredith's arm.

"Padfoot that's enough!" Meredith scolded. "Just give me a minute I'll put him in the basement." She seized Sirius by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to the basement. She shut the door behind her and quickly cast a silencing spell around the door. When she turned around the dog was gone and Sirius stood there.

"Are you out of your mind?" she shouted at him. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Arriving just in time from the look of things," Sirius said scowling up at the ceiling. "I saw the two of you. He was moving in for the kill."

"You are being ridiculous," Meredith said. She knew Sirius had never approved of her dating David but this was just going too far.

"David has never been anything more than a perfect gentleman," she said. "And if you saw everything then you saw that I was not exactly objecting to the attention."

"He's too old for you," Sirius shot back.

"He's twenty-seven," Meredith said. "Nine years older than me."

"A man learns a lot in nine years. You're too young to be getting so serious with a man nearly a decade older than you."

"Oh that's rich," Meredith scoffed. "Coming from the man who got my mother pregnant when she was only seventeen."

"Exactly," Sirius said. "I don't want you making the same mistakes your mother and I did." Meredith looked at the floor.

"Is that what I was? A mistake?" Sirius softened and he embraced her.

"Never my darling girl," he said. "Never could I think having you was a mistake. Only the situation. Your mother and I were too young and it's you who suffered for it. I'm just trying to protect you." Meredith smiled.

"I understand that Sirius," she said. "But you don't need to protect me from David. He's never pressured me to do anything I'm not comfortable with." Sirius sighed.

"Forgive me darling girl," he said. "Just promise that you'll be careful."

"I always am Sirius," she said. She glanced at her watch. "Oh lord, I've got to get back to David. Just stay down here out of sight till we leave." She hurried back up the steps and found David in the living room.

"Everything all right?" he asked. She nodded. She hated lying to him but she just couldn't risk exposing Sirius.

"Yes," she said going to him and sitting on the sofa. "I believe we still have about an hour before we have to get going."

"Well then," David said sitting beside her. "Where were we?" She grinned and leaned over to get close to him.

"We were about here," she said pressing her mouth to his.

David had been quite correct in his advice to sleep and eat whenever she could. The seventy-two hours she was on shift were some of the busiest she'd ever seen. All manner of illness and injury were brought in. Every time Meredith turned around the Third Year on shift was summoning her to assist on another patient. The quick ten minutes of sleep she was able to grab here and there were a godsend. By the time Enuk arrived to relieve her she was ready to drop. She was grateful that her dad came to get her, she was not sure she could have made it to the subway on her own. She stayed awake long enough to have a cup of hot chocolate with Sirius and her dad before she fell asleep at the table. One of them, she wasn't sure which, had carried her upstairs to bed and magically swapped her clothes for pajamas. She woke up around nine the next morning and dressed in a dark blue dress and tights. She pulled her hair up into a partial twist and slipped the comb David gave her into the twist. It wasn't as fancy an occasion as such an elegant piece deserved but she wanted to have a part of him with her today. She was feeling a little remorseful this year. This Christmas was going to be so different. Patricia would not be knocking on the door begging to stay after a row with her parents. Plus there was the added guest this year. She shook her head and pasted a smile on her face. This was Christmas and she absolutely refused to be gloomy. She hurried downstairs where she found her dad busy making banana pancakes and Sirius stuffing his face.

"Sirius," Remus scolded the other man. "Save some for Meredith."

"Won't be able to if she doesn't make her appearance soon," Sirius said. "These are just too good Moony."

"Good morning," she called coming into the kitchen. She gave them each a hug.

"Merry Christmas love," Remus said. "You look rested."

"I am," she said. "Lord knows though I won't be volunteering to work double shift any time soon."

"Indeed not," Sirius said. "When you came home last night you were pale as a ghost." He glanced up at the comb in her hair.

"Your Christmas present from him I assume," he said a note of disapproval in his voice.

"Sirius," Remus scolded. "You promised. No harsh words today."

"Yes, yes," Sirius said waving a hand. "Forgive me darling girl." Meredith shook her head and sat down to the plate her dad set before her.

The day was fun, with Sirius entertaining Meredith with tales of Marauders and their escapades as kids. She laughed hysterically when he told her of the first time Remus tried to ride a broom.

"There he was hanging onto the broom with the very tips of his fingers as it headed out for the lake. James and I yelling at him to let the damn thing go."

"What happened?" Meredith asked.

"He let go and crashed into the lake. We thought the poor fellow was going to drown. Fortunately the Giant Squid plucked him out." Meredith laughed and looked at her dad who was covering his face which was a brilliant shade of scarlet.

"Well, he got over that didn't he," Meredith said.

"Yes, indeed Moony learned soon enough how to handle himself on a broom. He was never as brilliant as James though."

"Who was?" Remus said smiling wistfully at the memories. Meredith glanced back and forth between the two of them. They seemed as close as brothers. No matter how confusing the matter might be for her, she was happy for her dad's sake that he had his old friend back.

"Well, now that we've heard all the tales of my awkward school days, shall we move on to presents?" Remus said. They took their hot chocolate into the living room. Remus settled into his usual chair, Sirius on the sofa and Meredith settled on the rug. She pulled out two packages, one blue paper with silver ribbon and one in white paper with gold ribbon. She handed to blue package to Sirius and the white to Remus.

"After you Moony," Sirius said. Remus smiled and opened the paper. The box was sturdy plastic and when he opened it he found several vials of gray potion. Meredith was grinning from ear to ear.

"Meredith," he said. "Is this?"

"Wolfsbane potion," she said. "I asked Chief Healer Flanagan two months ago if there was anyone in the hospital who knew how to brew it and could show me how. As luck would have it, there was one healer who knew how it was done and it just so happened to be the healer I'm currently dating."

"You brewed these?" Remus asked. Meredith shrugged.

"Well David did really, but he's been teaching me."

"This is going to force me to reevaluate my opinion of your boyfriend," Sirius said with a sigh. "And I so wanted to hate the man."

"This is wonderful love," he said kissing the top of her head. "Tell David thank you." Meredith smiled.

"I always knew our girl was a smart one," Sirius said his eyes misty. Meredith swallowed hard.

"Um…now you Sirius." Sirius eagerly tore off the paper to reveal a book.

"The Count of Monte Cristo?" Sirius said suspiciously.

"I know you're not much of a reader," Meredith said. "But that book in particular I thought might appeal to you."

"What's it about," Sirius said flipping the pages.

"It's about a man who is framed for a crime he didn't commit by his close friend and sent to prison. He escapes from prison to seek revenge on the ones who put him there," Remus explained. Sirius raised his eyes.

"That does sound appealing," he said. Meredith laughed. The rest of the morning was spent opening presents. She received a navy blue Weasley sweater from Mrs. Weasley, a basket of scented oils and lotions from Tonks, an antique hand held vanity mirror from Andromeda and Ted. Oliver had sent her a muggle book called Pillars of the Earth. There was a card with the book.

Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas with your dad (and anyone else who might be joining you). Mum and Dad and I are touring the old Cathedrals this Christmas. One of beaters on my team told me about this book that was all about them. I haven't read it but I thought you might enjoy.

Happy Christmas, wish you were here,

Oliver

She was so happy that Oliver had remembered her. She couldn't say the same about Percy. The ambitious little climber was most likely too busy licking his boss' boots to remember that it was even Christmas. She shook her head. She didn't want to dwell on old friends who had left her behind. Better to think on the present. She smiled down at the snow globe Harry had sent her. Ron's name had been hastily scrawled on the card as well. She didn't mind too much, she was just glad the two friends were speaking again. Hermione had sent her a red and gold hand knitted scarf. Meredith could only hope that this had distracted her from her crusade of freeing all the house elves in Hogwarts. The teenager had sent a copy of her petition to her asking if she would pass it around St. Mungoes. Meredith had sent her the most polite reply she could muster considering the letter had come during hour thirty five of her shift. The general idea was "give it up kid, you're fighting a losing battle."

"You look happy," Sirius said coming into the room with two glasses of wine. He offered her one which she took. She didn't drink alcohol much but she'd found the occasional glass of wine soothing.

"It was a lovely Christmas," she said.

"It's not over yet," Sirius said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box wrapped in white paper.

"Another present?" she said in disbelief. She didn't know where she was gonna find room for all of the things that Sirius had given her. Clothing from high end stores, flashy jewelry she knew she would never wear, expensive perfume from a boutique that witches on her salary couldn't afford to even stare through the window. Her dad had tried to make it seem like he wasn't uncomfortable with the lavish gift Sirius was giving her. The truth was that the photo album Remus had given her with pictures of her mother and Sirius and all of the Marauders when they were younger meant so much more to her than the trinkets from Sirius that would sit in her jewelry box collecting dust.

"Sirius you've already given me so much," Meredith said. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but she did not need another useless gift that would only remind her how little her father really knew her.

"This one is different," he said. "I wanted to give it to you in private." She took the box and opened the paper. It was a simple box, made of wood. She lifted the lid and what she saw brought tears to her eyes. Pictures. A small baby wrapped in a pink blanket with a few tiny wisps of hair the color of carrots. A woman, no a girl not yet a woman staring down at the tiny pink bundle in her arms, a look of sadness in her eyes. The boy she'd seen in the memory book last year holding up the tiny baby as though she were the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes on. A few more pictures of the baby, some with her mother and quite a few with her father.

"We knew we would only have a short time with you. Angela, your mother didn't think it was a good idea to take photos but I just had to. Somehow, I knew that one day I'd find you again." Meredith was too choked up for words. This was the first time she'd ever seen pictures of herself as a baby. The first time she'd ever seen herself with both her birth parents.

"There's this old tree in Godric's Hollow," he said. "Not far from the house where James and Lily…anyway I buried these at the foot of that tree just before they went into hiding with Harry. I placed a spell on the box to keep the pictures hidden in case anyone ever found the box. It was too hard for your mother to see them after we gave you up and I knew it wouldn't be safe to keep them with me so I buried them near where I knew James would be. Maybe in a small way I felt better knowing James would be nearby even though he didn't know about you. That sounds silly but…"

"No," she said covering her hand with her own. "It doesn't. I'm honored." She took the album that Remus had given her and found an empty page. She placed the pictures in the album. She picked up her wand and waved it over the page casting a spell to preserve the pictures so they would not yellow or fade.

"Thank you Sirius," she said. "This is the nicest Christmas gift I could have ever gotten." She rose to her knees and kissed his cheek. Sirius seemed surprised but the biggest smile she'd ever seen spread across his face.

"Merry Christmas my darling girl," he said.

"Merry Christmas," she said staring down at the photos. Maybe her father wasn't as clueless as she thought.

I know this is short but more will come soon. Review if you love me!