"Sit down Sirius." Harry said calmly to his godfather, as he himself pulled out a chair at the kitchen table. Ginny stood by his side, her hand on his shoulder, looking intently at Sirius.
"Why?" Sirius said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes, and crossing his arms defiantly.
"If you really want to know, have a seat." Harry commanded him, also crossing his arms.
"I think I'll leave this to you two." Mr. Weasley murmured while walking out the door into the living room.
"Sirius it really would be best if you sat down." Ginny said kindly walking over to the stove and putting on a teakettle. Sirius stared at the young couple for quite sometime before pulling out a chair and turning it round so he could sit on it backwards.
"Now, do you want to tell him or should I?" Harry smiled and asked Ginny, who was gathering mugs from a cabinet over the sink.
"Why don't you do it?" She replied, nearly dropping a mug, but catching it just before it hit the floor.
"Sirius," He paused, causing a period of silence, in which the only sound was that of Ginny setting the mugs on the counter, "You're going to be a grandgodfather… or something like that."
"Harry, that makes no… Oh, you mean… you and… her," He said with an amazed look on his face, eyes darting between the two, and his finger moving to point at each of them in turn. "You're going to have a baby!" He finally jumped up and shouted, his voice going extremely high-pitched.
"Well, actually two babies, Sirius." Ginny handed him a mug of warm tea, which he took and set down on the table.
"Two… you mean twins!" He exclaimed, then began pacing, mumbling to himself all the while. "That's wonderful, what are we going to name them, of course I'll have to teach them to be good marauders, uphold the family honor…" Sirius rambled like this for several more minutes before stopping to ask, "When are you due?" His tea still sat on the table, completely forgotten in the excitement.
"In about… six months, I think it is now." Ginny told him, laughing.
''
Two days before Christmas a resounding crash filled the Weasley house and shook it's very foundations. Seconds after the noise of the original crash, another, softer cracking noise could be heard from the attic. Finally, silence fell, the Weasleys all sat in waiting. Then, what most would call an explosion of epic proportions, emerged from the kitchens.
"Fred and George Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at the top of her lungs, "Get down here at once!"
The two offending Weasleys came tumbling down the stairs, both knowing better than to challenge their mother. They stopped short when they saw Mrs. Weasley, standing erect, with a soapy spoon clutched tightly in her hand.
"What," She questioned them sharply, glaring something fierce. "Was that?"
"Experiment gone wrong." Fred muttered cautiously, becoming suddenly interested in the floor.
"That explosion nearly collapsed this very house!" She said waving the spoon, and flinging soapsuds onto the walls. "Now, get outside and degnome the garden. And don't you dare to come back until every last one is gone." The twins turned and ran up the stairs, "And don't forget your coats, we don't need you lot to get sick." She called after their' retreating backs.
''
Remus was, once again, sitting in his armchair in front of the fire. He also had his cookie, and cup of tea. Today he also had his newspaper sitting in his lap, and he cautiously closed his eyes, and moved to take a bite of cookie. When he got the cookie half way between where his arm rested on the chair and his mouth, he opened one eye a crack. No sign of Sirius. Good, perhaps he was busy elsewhere. A little farther, still no Sirius. Finally Remus took a bite of the cookie, and, as if on que, the door to his office burst open.
"Hellooo, Reemmmyyy!" Sirius shouted as he came running through the door, wearing a red Santa hat.
"How did I know you were going to do that?" Remus asked him, looking up at the man, who was now standing next to his chair.
"What! I'm becoming predictable! I must do something spontaneous!" He squealed and bolted from the room.
"Well that got rid of him." Remus mumbled and continued eating his cookie in peace.
''
Lucius sat in a secluded corner of a dark cave. His once proud demeanor was gone; his hair was knotted and filthy. He shivered in his tattered robes. Lucius was suffering severely from the cold, but had resolved not to use magic; that would only make him easier to track.
"Narcissa, I envy you." He muttered to himself, "You are probably enjoying a comfortable fire, and a nice mug of tea right now." He burst into a fit of feverish coughing. Lucius' head ached and his vision blurred and cleared, only to blur again. He would die if he stayed much longer, and he knew it.
"Go on, use your wand to light a fire." A voice in the back of his head told him, "It won't make any difference, and then you'll be warm again. Just like you were at home."
"No," He thought, "I will get caught if I use magic."
Lucius continued to fight like this for several more hours, until he came to the conclusion that it was create a fire or die. Though the warmth of a fire did nothing for the chill settled over his heart, the one that kept reminding him where he should be.
''
The Weasley twins stood up to their knees in snow, shivering from the cold. George unburied a gnome from the snow and held it up for Fred to see.
"Hey Fred, you recognize this one?" He asked his brother.
"Yeah, that looks like the one we used to decorate the tree." Fred responded.
"GER' OFF!" The gnome yelled angrily.
"No, I don't think I will." George told the poor creature, who was putting up a gallant effort to get away.
"George, my brother, I believe we have found our new test subject." Fred smiled and looked around the garden. "This also seems to be the last one."
''
"Peter how goes the search for Lucius?" Voldemort asked his servant as stalked window to look out onto the deserted street outside. Peter stood defiantly behind him and said not a word. Voldemort- not being a patient man- turned and glared at the fool he called a servant, but despite his penetrating gaze Peter remained silent. "What do have to say, Peter- or shall I probe your mind for it?"
"No Master, that won't be necessary." Pettigrew said confidently," Lucius is evading capture, sir. The Death Eaters have scoured every nook and cranny for him, but there is no trace."
"Have you searched Malfoy manner?" Voldemort asked quietly turning back to the window.
"Yes Master, we searched that establishment just yesterday. And sir, if I may be so bold as to enquire, why are you so bent on catching Lucius?"
"Peter, when did your vocabulary become so immense?" What would have been eyebrows were scrunched up in the center of Voldemort's face.
"Master, I grew up in a pureblood home, I was taught advanced magic, thus my vocabulary had to be expanded so that I could fully comprehend what I was learning."
"Very well," He told Pettigrew, though he didn't seem convinced. "Go to Narcissa's chamber, send her to me."
"Yes sir." Pettigrew turned around and walked haughtily to the door.
''
Narcissa jumped at the sound of a knock on her door, but quickly ran to open it. Her shoulders sagged and her expression became one of hatred when she saw Pettigrew, in all his sniveling glory.
"The Dark Lord requests your presence. Come immediately." He told her and turned to leave. But Narcissa's feet were frozen. She knew those commands; even though before they were said with a different voice, she would recognize that tone anywhere.
"Lucius?" She whispered in disbelief. Pettigrew just looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Lucius, is it really you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said before grabbing her arm and dragging her down the hallway.
''
Sirius read over the contract one more time. Everything was in it, a fair, unbiased trial, guardianship of one Mr. Potter, and compensation for thirteen years unemployment due to unlawful detainment. Sirius, looking around the room noted the look on each person's face. Scrimgeour, to his right looked solemn. Mr. Weasley, next to the minister, broad grin firmly in place. Mrs. Weasley's motherly compassion, Remus' teary smile, Dumbledore's blindingly twinkling eyes, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny's teary faces, Tonks' lopsided grin, Ron's equally lopsided grin, and the indifferent look on each of the three of the minister's body guards. He felt a tear escape from the corner of his eye as he nodded toward the minister.
"This contract must be signed in blood." He told the group and pulled out a slender black quill, which looked remarkably like the one Umbridge had made Harry write lines with. "Mr. Black if you would please."
Sirius took the quill and signed his name, as he did so the letters appeared scarlet on the back of his hand. He grimaced slightly, before wrapping it in the cloth that Hermione had dunked in murlap essence before handing him. After the minister had signed Molly, Arthur, Remus and Tonks added their names to the scroll, and were each handed a similar cloth for their bleeding hands. Then Dumbledore made a magical copy of the scroll and handed the original to Sirius, and the copy to the minister. And on Christmas Eve, Sirius felt as if, with that scroll of simple parchment, his life had been given back to him.
Several minutes pasted in silence before the minister finally spoke. "Well," He said, "I best be off, I have a meeting to get to, and I'll see to getting that trial scheduled." He turned and walked out, followed by the others. Harry and Ginny, the last two in the queue, stopped to talk to Sirius.
"Congratulations Sirius." Ginny told him, smiling.
"Can you be my Guardian even if I am of age?" Harry asked him, his arms wrapped around Ginny's waste.
"Yeah, actually. But let's not talk about that right now. Thought of any names for Baby one and two?"
"You really have to stop calling them that." Ginny giggled.
"Haven't really given it that much thought, actually. But how do you know which one is one and which one is two?" Harry told him.
Sirius stopped to think for a moment, "Well, I guess which ever one is born first will be one, and the twin that is born second will be two," He took a breathe looking very proud of himself. "You know what would be really cool?" Sirius continued excitedly, but didn't wait for a reply before giving them the answer, "If the boy had brown eyes and black hair, and the girl had red hair and green eyes."
"That would make a first." Ginny told them.
"For what?" Sirius asked, a confused expression on his face. Ginny and Harry rolled their eyes at him.
"Well, most Weasleys do have red hair you know." Harry said, with one eyebrow raised, Ginny just shook her head at Sirius' ignorance.
"That doesn't mean they all do. So any wedding plans yet. These babies are going to need proper parents." Sirius said pointedly.
"Well Sirius what we were thinking was…" Harry began to explain when Dumbledore interrupted him.
"Sirius, I am sorry to interrupt, but I need a word with you. Before you ask, no it can not wait, if it could, I would leave you be until you are no longer busy."
"Very well. Harry, Ginny, get to bed, or do some homework, or something." Sirius said before walking off after Dumbledore.
"I think he may be more excited about this than we are." Harry told Ginny as they left the room, heading back to Gryffindor tower.
"Well, he does have a point you know. We should start making wedding plans soon." Ginny told him.
"I was hoping we could wait until after the trial, so he could be there. And either way, I hope you don't object to Ron being my best man."
"Not as long as you don't mind Hermione as my maid of honor."
"Not at all love, not at all."