Tis the Season:

As the Holidays began to come closer, she was faced with the realization that she wasn't sure what she was going to do. Sure, there were places she could go. Lily & James were going to Lily's parents house, and she had made it clear that she would be invited if she wanted to come, but she didn't want to intrude on their family. Peter was spending the night with holiday at his parent's house. She knew Remus would probably be going to his parents as well. Which left both Sirius and Doe without any plans.

" Let's just do something together" Doe told Sirius a few days before Christmas. They were sitting on the floor of his cubicle filling out reports for Moody.

" Like what?" Sirius asked.

"I'll make dinner and we can watch Christmas movies or something festive" Doe told him.

Sirius looked at her suppressing a grin.

" What?" she asked him.

" I'm trying to picture you cooking is all" Sirius said.

" Well I can," she told him, " But if you'd prefer to spend the night at the Lively Portkey, I don't have too"

Sirius shook his head, " No I want to see this"

So after work, Doe dragged Sirius with her to the muggle grocery store near his apartment, to get the supplies she would need. Sirius found the whole experience very amusing.

" What are these?" he asked picking up a box of cheese its off of the shelve. Eliciting some strange looks from the muggles near him.

" They're a muggle snack" Doe told him, " You can try them if you want"

Sirius wrinkled his nose, " No thanks, I'll stick to Pumpkin pasties"

They walked around the store collecting supplies. Every so often Sirius would point to something or pick something up and ask her what it's purpose was.

It was very entertaining. Sirius was fascinated by even the simplest of the muggle inventions.

" Haven't you ever seen some of this before, surely you had a potato peeler in the kitchen?" Doe asked him.

Sirius shook his head, " Our foul house elf Kreacher made all the meals, so I never saw anything".

" What was it like having a house elf?" she asked him as she walked to the registers.

Her dad had had one growing up, but was very against it, so he never got one for them.

" Ours was a foul little git" Sirius said, " Evil little thing, he adored my parents and Regulus, but he hated me. Some aren't so bad, though. Kreacher was just the exception"

" Well he sounds awful" Doe told him, while she paid the muggle cashier for the groceries.

Sirius helped her to carry them out of the store and back to his apartment.

Doe began putting all of the groceries away in his cupboards. Sirius took two bottles of butterbeer out of the fridge and handed one to her.

" Thanks" she told him.

Sirius pulled himself onto the counter and helped her unload the bags.

" You know, I wonder what Peter's been up to lately" Sirius said, " I haven't seen much of him"

" I talked to him about that" Doe told Sirius, "I told him James thought he had a girlfriend"

Sirius laughed, " and what did he say to that?"

She shrugged, " He said he didn't have a girlfriend and that he was just busy at work"

Sirius rolled his eyes, " What could Peter be busy with at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office?"

Doe shoved him in the knee, " Don't belittle his job"

Sirius rolled his eyes, " Since when are you Wormtail's biggest defender?"

" I'm not" she told him pulling herself onto the counter next to him, " I'm just trying to keep you from being a dick"

Sirius grinned, " You've got your work cut out for you then"

Doe rolled her eyes at him, " You and I both know that that's not true"

Sirius simply shrugged. She watched him take another sip of his butterbeer. For the first time she thought she noticed a small crack in Sirius' confident demeanor. She didn't know how to respond to it.

Sirius was the most confident and self assured person she had ever known.

Doe dropped her head on his shoulder, " Well I think you're pretty great"

Sirius laughed, " That's why I keep you around, Beautiful"

Sirius and Doe's plans for Christmas were interrupted by the Order. All of the McKinnons were planning on being at the Mckinnon manor for Christmas and Moody thought that posed a huge threat, so he decided that he needed people to patrol all day. The problem however, was that everyone was spending time with their families. So Moody needed Sirius and Doe to patrol during all of Christmas Day.

They got there early, Sitting underneath the invisibility cloak in the snow outside of the Mckinnon's house.

" Some Christmas huh?" Sirius commented.

Doe frowned, " I was going to make that whole dinner and everything"

Sirius laughed, " I dodged a killing curse with that one"

" It was going to be good" Doe told him.

They heard music playing from inside the Mckinnon house. It seems they had begun to sing carols.

" So that's what a normal family christmas sounds like" Doe said listening to the voices of the mckinnon's.

Sirius shook his head, " I don't think they're any normal families, just the ones that aren't dysfunctional"

" Well, I'd of liked to not have been in the latter" Doe said.

Sirius laughed darkly, " Tell me about it"

He grimaced slightly. She knew firsthand how bad Sirius' family was. They made her mom look like a walk in the park.

" Have you heard from them at all?" Doe asked him.

Sirius shook his head, " To them, I'm the biggest blood traitor there is, they're glad that I am gone"

" Why do you think that blood status matters so much? Why do people care?' she said looking forward.

Sirius shrugged, " Ask the Death Eaters, they seem to know all too well"

" Sirius, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters, those who believe wrongly all have different reasons for doing so" Doe told him.

Sirius didn't say anything.

The light was still pouring out of the house. Their Christmas tree obscured most of their view into their house, but around it Doe could see all of the Mckinnon family happily enjoying each other's company.

There was a noise that sounded like someone was apparating to their left side. Sirius and Doe peered over quickly and notice two cloaked figures approaching the house.

They were Death Eaters, that much was obvious.

Sirius and Doe sat watching them. They approached the house. Sirius pulled the cloak off of them slowly and gestured to for Doe to follow him.

The two Death Eaters hadn't seen them yet. They waited a minute before they jumped out, wands drawn.

The Death Eaters reacted quickly, casting killing curses at them.

Doe tried to stun one of them and darted to the left narrowly missing a killing curse.

Sirius was dueling with the other one. The door to the house opened and all of Marlene's six older brothers came out, wands drawn. The Death Eater in front of Doe was momentarily distracted.

" Stupefy!" Doe shouted pointing her wand at him. He froze instantly stunned. The other Death Eater took one look at him and disapparated.

" Did you just?" Sirius asked staring at the stunned Death Eater in front of her.

Doe reacted instantly. Pointing her wand at the Death Eater and shouting " Petrificus Totales" and performing the full body-bind curse on him, in case he woke earlier than she expected.

Doe walked over to the unconscious Death Eater and took his wand from his hand. She moved it over his face and the mask disappeared like a mist.

The Death Eater was Evan Rosier.

Doe froze, remembering how much she had hated him at school.

" Is that Rosier?" Sirius asked wide eyed.

" What is going on out here!?" Mr. McKinnon asked darting past his sons to where they were.

She took out her wand and conjured her patronus. The Gazelle appeared out of a silvery mist.

" Go to Moody, tell him we've just caught a Death Eater" she ordered it. The gazelle disappeared and Sirius hunched over Rosier's unconscious body.

" You do realize what you just did right?" Sirius told her, " You've just caught your first Death Eater"

The fear that had been bubbling inside her chest settled for a moment while she let what Sirius had just said sink in.

Doe had caught a death eater.

There was a loud pop and Moody appeared on the McKinnon's front lawn, flanked by Dumbledore.

He stopped and looked at the Death Eater on the floor in front of them.

Moody eyed Sirius and strangely, " How'd you do this?" he asked quickly.

" Doe did it" Sirius pointing to her.

Moody turned to her eyebrow raised, " How'd you do it"

" I just stunned him" Doe said quickly, " there were two and Sirius and I were dueling them and they just kept sending killing curses so I stunned this one and the other one disapparated"

Moody looked at the way the Death Eater's body was sticking together, " Full body bind curse?" he asked.

She nodded.

Moody surveyed the body carefully.

" Alastor, I suggest you take him to the Azkaban, I'll alert the Minister" Dumbledore told him quickly.

Moody nodded, " Thank you Albus"

Dumbledore nodded to him and disapparated.

Moody turned back to the Mckinnons who were all huddled together on the front porch.

" Black" Moody said waving Sirius over to him. Sirius came to where Moody was standing.

" Get all the McKinnons inside and then make sure that they hae protect enchantments on the house and the estate."

Sirius nodded and jogged over quickly to where the Mckinnons were standing. Doe saw Marlene was comforted by his presence.

" Meadowes, you're coming with me to Azkaban" Moody said taking out his wand.

" Azkaban?" Doe asked, " the prison?"

Moody nodded and waved his wand, watching the Rosiers body lift to the ground.

" You've caught your first Death Eater" Moody pointed out, " It's time you learned what happens next"

Moody offered her his arm, obviously to side apparate. She took it, and a moment later felt their bodies tug and be sucked up into the air.

They landed on a rocky path. The Death Eaters body was on the ground in front of them.

Doe stood up and looked at what was surrounding them. They appeared to be on an island. They were completely surrounded on every side by the murky sea and crisp fog. But the surroundings were not what was commanding attention. Across a small bridge stood a towering building. It was shaped like a triangle, with only three walls. But it rose into the air so high Doe couldn't see the top.

It was cold. And depressing. Doe felt incredibly sad.

" Be careful" Moody warned raising his wand to levitate the Death Eaters body as they walked, "there are dementors everywhere?"

" Dementors?" Doe asked.

Moody nodded, " The soul-sucking demons, they guard this place"

Doe tried not to think too much about the Dementors as they walked towards the front of the Prison.

Dumbledore and the Minister were waiting for them there, with two Wizards in uniform who were the Azkaban guards.

" Follow us inside" One of them said opening the door.

" Well bring him up to the one of the cells while you fill out the paperwork" the other said.

The two guards each took an arm of the Death Eater and wrestled him down the hall and disappeared around a corner.

" And I presume you are the auror who caught him?" the minister asked.

Doe nodded.

" Well what a curious way to spend Christmas Evening" the minister said slightly humorously.

He waved his wand and conjured chairs for them all to sit down. A scrawny young wizard came into the building and sat down beside him.

" This is Barty Crouch, head of Department of Magical Cooperation" the minister said, " he'll be taking your statement"

A new type of rage filled Doe inside as she looked at Barty Crouch. He was the one who had fired Remus and made it impossible for him to get a ministry job, due to his condition. Doe's eyes narrowed.

Moody noticed.

" You alright there?" he asked.

Doe nodded, not breaking eye contact with Barty Crouch. Who was also noticing her intense gaze.

" Im sorry, have we met before?" Barty asked.

Doe shook her head, " Not directly, but I think you know a friend of mine, Remus Lupin?" she said icily.

Barty Crouch's face grew pale, " Oh yes I did"

He seemed to now understand her irritated disposition. Moody, however, did not. He stared at her with his eyebrows raised.

" Well yes why don't we start the statement" Barty suggested quickly.

" To begin, What is your full name?" he asked.

" Dorcas Euphegenia Meadowes" she told him.

" Barty" the minister said, " this is Auberon Meadowes' daughter"

Barty nodded, " Ah, yes. I knew your father, good man"

" I'm aware" she said curtly. Moody snickered slightly behind her, but disguised it as a cough.

" And could you please tell us what happened?" Barty asked, his voice slightly shaky.

She told them exactly what happened, leaving out the part where Sirius and she were on an Order mission.

" And what were you and Black doing at the McKinnon residence?" Barty asked.

" We were invited for Christmas" Doe lied effortlessly. Moody nodded slightly.

Barty wrote that down on the parchment too, " Okay Ms. Meadowes I think that that is all for tonight. You may go. We will be contacting you Monday at work. You will need to testify at Mr. Rosier's trial"

Doe nodded and got up to leave, Moody did as well.

" Thank you for your help" the minister said extending his hand. She shook it.

" My pleasure, Sir" she told him.

Barty reached out to shake her hand too, but after seeing her gaze dropped it quickly.

" Er, thank you" he said stiffly.

Doe eyed him carefully and left the building.

She could hear Moody behind her, " Did Barty Crouch kill your Owl or something?" he asked.

She shook her head, " He's awful. He fired Remus for being a werewolf" she said to Moody.

Saying Remus' name out loud reminded her of how much she missed him. She tried to repress the feelings.

" He's a discriminatory bigoted git" Doe said fiery.

Moody laughed, " Well you certainly put him in his place tonight. Thats good, he deserves to be knocked down a few pegs"

Doe took a deep breath.

" You did a good job today, Meadowes. Nice save with the 'invitation' excuse. I'll see you in the office Monday and we discuss the trial" Moody said and with one last glance he disapparated.

Doe did too, back to her apartment, where Sirius was waiting to find out what had happened.