A/N: I wanted to include another scene into this chapter, but I've had some computer problems this week and my laptop is currently out of commission, so...next chapter will have the extra scene, which I think you'll all enjoy! .

Anyway hope you're all having a wonderful week :)

Chapter Twenty Six | Multarum litterarum

[Many letters]

Before Vivian is quite prepared for it, it's the week leading up to Christmas. If anything, the coming holiday only makes her even busier at work. She finds herself exhausted when she returns home in the evenings. This is bad because she's starting to feel rather worn-out, but good as well, because it means that she's so tired that she ends up sleeping deeply each night, with no nightmares to speak of. Such dreams have been plaguing her for months now, ever since the gala. Each one feels realer than the last, and each time she wakes up, she's left with the jarring sensation that she is still stuck in that cave. It's always the same dream. The only deviation is what follows her. Usually, she sees the glowing eyes of the Inferi, but lately she's been seeing other things, too. A dark, cloaked figure one night; a beady, tawny gaze the next.

She tries not to think about her dreams, and Sirius doesn't ask. To her knowledge, he doesn't seem to be aware of her nightmares, likely because he's been just as busy as her and therefore just as exhausted with his Auror Training. There's also the fact that she's been turning to several mild sleeping potions specifically meant to instill peaceful dreams in its subject, sort of as a last ditch effort to get a normal sleep. They aren't always effective, but she finds that on particularly busy days when she returns home late, they work like a charm.

The Order has, thus far, been quiet since their last meeting. According to Sirius, Moody has been pulling his hair out trying to figure out a pattern to the recent killings conducted by the Death Eaters. Despite having a specific victim type, the murders seem randomly inspired, as if Voldemort's followers are simply drawing names from a hat. The only thing that links the deaths together is the fact that they are all muggleborns, which isn't good enough for Moody, who seems to think that there's more to this than meets the eye. Sirius and James hadn't found any trace of the missing person when they'd gone to scour the forest, which is even more concerning to Moody. After all, people don't just disappear without a trace unless there's something truly nefarious going on. He's been coming around to Vivian's belief that these victims are being added to the Dark Lord's Inferi army, but he hasn't made any conclusions yet.

There have been several more deaths since then, all following the same, seemingly random pattern. Muggleborn witches and wizards, with Dark Marks hanging ominously above their homes and no traces of their bodies for miles around. Only one case has differed from the others, but it seems to be more fluke than anything else. There's been a body of a muggle discovered near the residence of a Mrs. Loren near Bristol. Considering the fact that he was her neighbor, it seems as though he'd gotten caught up in the crossfire of the attack, and the Death Eaters had been only too happy to end his useless, non-magical existence.

Sirius has been busy searching these properties, looking for any traces left behind by the Death Eaters that might give them some clues regarding what their goal is, but so far he and the other Aurors haven't found anything. He's been growing increasingly agitated by this lack of clues, which is precisely why Vivian intends on ensuring that they both enjoy their first Christmas together in the cottage. He needs to get his mind off of things, and so does she.

Only…this isn't exactly what she had in mind.

"Bloody hell, why does your place look like it's been swallowed by greenery?" James rudely asks as he steps into the cottage on Christmas Eve, his arms loaded with bags. Lily follows on his heels, with Peter and Remus coming in after them. They all pause to take in the truly profound sight of Sirius Black's decorating abilities.

With a smug grin, Sirius sniffs, "This, James, is what art looks like."

Across the room, Vivian rolls her eyes.

"These holly leaves are five times their normal size," James points out, dumping the bags onto the couch and then proceeding to bend over and examine the bough of holly draped over the back of it. It's literally everywhere, hanging from doorways, slung over chairs, piled atop tables…

With a grimace, Vivian says, "He got a bit carried away."

Sirius shrugs and unapologetically returns, "You didn't feel like decorating, so you're not allowed to complain, Godric."

She rolls her eyes again and elbows him in the side for the 'Godric' bit as she passes him.

"What's all this?" she asks, glancing at the bags that James had dumped onto the couch. Some of them seem like gifts, with tissue paper poking out from the top.

Lily starts arranging them around the pile of oversized holly on the coffee table and explains, "We got you both a little something, and Mrs. Potter also sent over some food since she was concerned that you wouldn't have anything to eat for Christmas dinner."

This is delivered with a slight smirk sent Vivian's way, to which Vivian snorts and mutters, "I'm not that bad of a cook."

James pushes his glasses up and gleefully reminds her, "You burned three dishtowels since you moved here, Pride."

The ease in which he says this makes her narrow her eyes over at Sirius, who clears his throat when he catches sight of her expression and coughs, "What? I had to tell someone, it was hilarious."

Her eyes narrow a touch more as James nods, "Marauders don't keep hilarious things from each other. It goes against the Code."

She might strangle him at some point tonight. Unfortunately, Remus steps in before she can make an attempt.

"We brought this along with us," he says, and starts patting down his pockets in search of something. "If I could just remember where I put it…"

A moment or two later, he's pulling out something small and green as his mouth curves into a grin. By his side, Peter shifts, glancing between the item in Remus's hand and the confused expression on Vivian's face.

"You brought us a tiny tree," Vivian says in a flat voice, arching her eyebrow as she peers over at Remus, who laughs at her expression.

It's roughly three inches tall and fits into the palm of his hand. When he goes to place it over in the corner, though, that changes.

"I saw it in a little shop last week," he explains, waving his wand over it. "You don't have a Christmas tree and it is your first Christmas in the cottage, so…"

Magic is a wonderful thing, really. The moment Remus is finished with his spell, the mini tree begins to grow back to its original size, its trunk expanding as its branches unfurl into the room. Remus controls the growth so that it fits snugly in the corner, just tall enough to barely scrape against the ceiling. Then, tucking his wand away, he turns to them with a smile and shrugs, "The other bags are filled with a few ornaments. It's not much, but Happy Christmas."

"Thanks, mate," Sirius tells him, clapping Remus on the back, then cheerfully says, "Now the place looks even greener."

Vivian quirks her mouth into a small smile and dryly adds, "At least one of you can do a proper enlargement charm."

As the Marauders plus H.M.s go about unloading the ornaments, Lily brings the food into the kitchen and sets it on the small table. The boys start up a competition to see who can magically hang more ornaments (which involves a lot of crashing and many a murmured 'repairo'), so Vivian makes herself scarce lest she wants to get caught up in the crossfire. She joins Lily in the kitchen and starts rooting around in the cabinet for some wine as Lily puts the food safely away.

"Maybe next year, we can do Christmas at my place," Lily says with a smile. "James and I found a flat. We're planning on moving in soon."

"That's exciting," Vivian responds, throwing Lily a small smile.

They chat about Lily's plans for a short while until they deem it safe to venture back into the living room. The boys seem to have ceased with their competition and are now lounging on the couch and the chairs in front of the fireplace, reminiscing about past Hogwarts Christmases spent together, which usually included several pranks targeting the professors (their very favorite sort). James is exuberantly reminding them of one involving Mrs. Pince and her dearly beloved library, though he chokes back his cheery recollection when he sees the unimpressed look on Lily's face, and sends her an angelic smile that is probably meant to save face but naturally only makes him look all the more mischievous.

Vivian snorts at his expression and sits down on the end of the couch near Remus, chancing a glance at the tree, whose ornaments are all hanging at odd angles courtesy of the boys' haphazard competition. She lifts an eyebrow at the sad sight. All the decorations are concentrated at the front of the tree, its sides completely bereft of ornaments. The whole thing looks like its seconds from toppling over. Vivian fixes this with a single flick of her wand and a generous eyeroll, magically rearranging everything so that it looks less like a victim of the Marauders' ridiculous competition. The boys don't much appreciate this.

"Oi! We spent a lot of time on that!" James exclaims, shooting Vivian a rumpled look.

Vivian's only response to this is an indulgent, "Shut up, Potter," to which James's expressions turns a shade more frustrated.

"…No sense of artistic creativity, honestly," he mutters underneath his breath, though he notably doesn't complain again.

Thankfully, the Marauders don't stay for too long. After another hour or so, they begin to file out, dispensing with a few cheerful partings and several 'Happy Christmas's on their way out the door. Once they're gone, Vivian goes about cleaning up the bits of wrapping paper covering the table and floor by the couch, which had been left there upon opening a few of the presents the Marauders had gotten for each other. Sirius dutifully assists, waving his wand to direct it all to the trash bin in the kitchen before returning to the living room and throwing an arm around Vivian's shoulders.

"So," he grins, turning to shoot her an eager look. "Want to open your present, Godric?"

Vivian turns to him, too, and cautiously replies, "That depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not it's something dangerous that might end up attacking me the moment I open it."

Sirius sniffs, "I guess you won't know until you try."

This thoroughly unhelpful comment doesn't make her feel any less cautious, though considering the fact that Sirius hasn't returned to his pranking ways since moving into the cottage, at least with her as the target, she supposes she can handle it. Besides, she can always threaten him with that warding spell again if he tries anything. She wasn't lying about the fact that she'd come up with a way to make the wards around the house more selective in who they choose to let inside.

With that in mind, she smirks and agrees, "Alright. Hand it over, then."

She needn't have worried. Sirius can be quite thoughtful when he puts his mind to it, though he would of course deny this if someone were to accuse him of such a thing. He has a reputation to maintain, you know.

Vivian feels her eyebrows lift when she peels back the wrapping paper some moments later. There, nestled amongst the patterned paper, is a book. A collection of books, rather.

Her mouth curls up.

"You got me Austen's full collection?" she says, running a finger over the gilded title. It's a thick tome and looks expensive. She raises her eyes to Sirius, who is sitting beside her on the couch as he watches her, a smug smile tilting up his mouth.

"You lost some of them, didn't you?" he asks. "Besides, I reckoned you didn't need to disguise them as hex dictionaries, seeing as you're not pretending to be a scary Slytherin prefect anymore."

She laughs at that and leans over to attempt to hug him, only for Sirius to prod her back and nod to the cover of the book with a gleam in his eyes.

"There's more," he tells her, grinning at her confused expression. "Open the cover."

She does, flipping the front cover open curiously. Tucked beneath it are two pieces of paper. She tilts her head as she turns one around and reads the text on it. It's printed in English, but it's all gibberish to her. She lifts her eyebrows dubiously and wonders, "…What is this?"

Sirius smirks and leans back with a satisfied expression. "Two tickets to go see The Clash. I did tell you I'd be opening your eyes to muggle rock music."

Her mouth quirks up a little higher. With a hum, she studies the tickets closely before looking over at him. "The Clash?" she repeats, arching an eyebrow as she sets the tickets back into the book's cover and leans closer to him.

His eyes flash with excitement. It's a good look on him.

"They're great. You're gonna love them," he eagerly says, throwing his arm over the back of the couch behind her head and leaning in to press a grinning kiss to her cheek. "Took me a while to get these. They're pretty popular with the muggles."

She hums with a smile, turning her head to kiss him more solidly on the mouth before saying, "A muggle rock concert…Merlin, my life has really gone downhill since I let you into it."

Sirius barks out a laugh and smugly responds, "Complain all you want, I know you love it."

She only shakes her head with a wry smile and sets her gift down on the coffee table. Then, standing up, she tells him, "Wait here. I'll go get your present."

She'd stashed it in her school trunk in their bedroom, which is shoved into the small closet next to his. Actually, if she's being honest, it's been stashed in her school trunk for months now, right where she'd left it when she was clearing out her dorm at the end of Seventh year. When she reaches for the small bundle, she allows herself a moment to thumb over the corners of each paper, her eyes softening just so as she studies the familiar paw print that signs every page, then she tucks the letters into her pocket and continues her search.

She takes the other gift she'd stashed there some week prior as well and heads back to the living room, handing that one over first.

"It's just a little something," she tells him, as she reclaims her seat beside him. She watches as he turns the small box over in his hands a few times as if he's trying to guess at its contents, before his impatience seems to win out and he begins to unwrap it.

"A bracelet?" he asks, lifting an eyebrow as he pries open the box. It's made of black leather, just one single strap that's held together with a small snap. Upon closer inspection, he sees etchings running along the top of it, pressed into the leather. He tilts his head as he tries to decipher them, recalling a few of their meanings from Ancient Runes classes with Professor Gillanders.

"It's a spell. I put the runes on myself. It will tell me when you're in danger," she tells him, then rolls up the sleeve of her shirt to show off a matching leather bracelet, this one a chestnut color. It bears the same markings as his. "I made one for myself too, that way we can stay connected. The runes will glow faintly when one of us is in trouble."

Sirius lets out a grunt and snaps it around his wrist. "That's brilliant, Viv," he tells her, twisting the bracelet around so that the snap sits on the back of his wrist. "You know, you could've gotten a job in experimental charms. Fancy a career change?"

She doesn't miss the hopeful way he asks this, and just replies, "It's more of a hobby, Sirius. You know that."

He snorts, "Yeah. It'd just be nice knowing you weren't working with Mulciber is all. What's that?"

Vivian is pulling out the stash of papers from her pocket now, and his attention is captured. She hedges, "Well, it's not really a present, see…I just thought it'd be a fun add-on."

It takes Sirius a moment to realize what it is she's holding. She can tell when it clicks in his head, because he sits up straighter and stares down at the letters with wide eyes, his surprise great enough to make him speechless.

"When I handed you that box with the burnt letters, it was just to spite you. I didn't actually burn them…I wanted to, at first, but I couldn't bring myself to," she murmurs, laying the poems onto the coffee table. Her eyes flash as she glances over at him and adds, "'Course, I couldn't just let you get away with your prank. I am a Slytherin, you know."

He releases a short chuckle that's still breathed with speechlessness and reaches out to touch the letters, as if he thinks they're just an illusion.

"I can't believe you saved these," he murmurs lowly.

Vivian threads her fingers through her hair with a shrug. "Well, as much as I hate to admit it, you are rather good at poetry."

He laughs again, this time a little louder. "I'm good at everything, Godric," he smirks, sending her a sidelong glance.

She rolls her eyes at him. "And that is exactly why I didn't show you these earlier. You're so bloody arrogant."

"It's a part of my charm."

"It's annoying is what it is."

"You love it," he calls her out, smirking wider. He edges closer.

"Only sometimes," she grumbles, and edges back.

Sirius catches her before she can escape and, with a playful shriek, she ends up on her back beneath him on the couch, with him hovering over her wearing that wide smirk.

"Admit it," he lowly tells her, leaning down to nip at her jaw.

With a breathless laugh, she denies, "No."

"Stubborn woman. I suppose I'll have to drag it out of you."

There's a smug warning in his voice that she immediately catches onto, but before she can reply to it, Sirius is kissing her into silence, and Vivian can't for the life of her complain.