I am so sorry about the lack of updates! This chapter has actually been written for a couple of days, it is just that for some reason there was a glitch and the site wouldn't let me get into my doc manager to transfer from microsoft word. Thankfully, the problem seems to be fixed so I will keep this very short considering how long I kept you waiting.

Sometime before next Monday I am going to be posting a one-shot, somewhat similar to She's My Hero. I might not have another chapter of this up to tell you about it so just keep a look out.

Lastly, please enjoy this new chapter and leave a review. Somewhere in this chapter is the thirty thousandth word ofthis story and there have only been eleven reviews. It would be much appreciated if you could leave a review so I know that you like the story. That is all. So without further adieu, this the the 13th installment to A Black and White Story:

The hour had finally arrived. The bags had been packed. Arrangements had been double checked. The only thing keeping the Black twins in Grimmauld Place was the time James had sent them. To avoid five families trying to come out of one fire place at once, the Potters had given each family fifteen minute windows to floo to Potter Manor.

The first to go would be Elyse. Mr. Potter used his old connections in the ministry to get her fireplace hooked up to the Floo System so he would get them first. Then the Lupins, followed by all the Whites, then Peter and his mother would arrive.

Ursula and Sirius were last, much to their chagrin.

They couldn't really complain though. It was a miracle that their mother was even letting them go. The only reason they were allowed to go after their display at Christmas was because they had already agreed to go. Plus, in Walburga's eyes, the Potters and Whites meant power. Even if they were blood traitors, they held a lot of influence in the wizarding world.

So they sat on top of their trunks and waited. They had another fifteen minutes to wait before it would be their turn. They had been waiting for over an hour. The clock seemed to slow down as their anticipation sped up.

Finally the clock in the hallway chimed. Sirius jumped up from his seat and quickly disappeared from the fireplace. Ursula looked around the empty parlor room and waited a moment, waiting for her mother or father or younger brother to say goodbye. No one came.

She sighed and grabbed some floo powder.

"Number 18, Godric's Lane!" She shouted.

When the world stopped spinning, she was transported into a different world. There was holly lining the trimmings on the walls; the leafy green contrasting with the cream walls. Golden tinsel twisted around the stair banister up to the second floor. A wreath hung over the door to her left. The smell of honey roasted ham and freshly made biscuits filled the air with their decadent scent.

Her eyes were wide as she stepped out of the fire. The second she was out, the fire roared back to life and warmed the whole room. Her feet felt like they were floating on the plush, vibrant red carpet that covered the entire living room. Sirius was currently being hugged by Gryffindor's favorite Irish muggleborn. Remus, Peter, and Ben were standing off to the side, talking to each other and suddenly Peter and Ben burst out laughing at something the other said. James was standing right next to her.

"Sirius looked the same way when he got here." He said with a grin on his face. It wasn't his usual grin, the one that his victims often saw behind the wand. Not the one his friends saw all the time when he was being snarky or cocky, or both. Now it looked warm and inviting. Like the world would be a better place as long as you were near his infectious smile. It wasn't arrogant or conceited; it was one of complete and genuine happiness.

"Sweet Merlin, James. You're house it's…it's…" She couldn't find words.

He laughed and pulled her into a hug, "I know it's a bit different from Grimmauld Place but do you think you can deal with it for a week?"

She snorted in a very un-lady like manner, "Think? More like know."

James laughed and patted her a little roughly on the back. Ursula was about to go over to say hello to Ben and Remus when she was attacked by her little red headed friend.

"URUSLA! God, init 'tis ;oose amazin'? I's been 'ere fer two 'ours 'n it still 'asn't worn oof."

She laughed at her friend's enthusiasm. She heard raucous laughter from behind her and she turned to see James turning red from trying not to laugh. Standing next to him was Sirius who was literally doubled over and had tears streaming from his eyes. Ben and Remus were in no better condition.

"Woot's so funny?" Elyse asked, putting a hand on her hip.

Sirius wiped the tears from his cheeks, "Nothing you need to concern you little Irish head with."

Ursula raised an eyebrow, "What about my British one?"

He just dismissed her with a wave of the hand. It was Ben that answered, "You don't want to know Ursula. You really don't want to know."

She was about to interrogate Remus who seemed to know what was coming as he shuffled behind Peter a little bit.

Remus was saved by Mrs. Potter who walked in from an adjoining room.

"What is all this noise, I swear…" She left the threat empty.

If Ursula was asked how to describe Mrs. Potter she would have said to take a picture of her mother and make everything opposite of what it was. Mrs. Potter's light grey hair was pulled into a loose bun with a few curls escaping and framing her face. She wasn't skinny, a little plump one might call her, but she wore regular muggle clothes around the house; not a wizard robe in sight. Her eyes were framed with wire rimmed rectangular glasses, but even then, the corners of the lenses weren't even sharp. Her face screamed of love, laughter, and kindness.

When she saw Ursula standing right before her, her hazel eyes lit up in a way that Walburga's never would upon seeing her only daughter, "Oh, you must be Ursula. Welcome to our home, I hope you mum didn't give you too hard a time."

She did something that Ursula could never remember her own mother doing.

Mrs. Potter walked towards the young girl that was a complete stranger to her, but a friend to her only son, and gave her a hug.

Ursula felt warmth and love envelope her in the hug. At first too shocked to respond, Ursula quickly wrapped her arms around Mrs. Potter's waist and held tight. She just felt like a mother. It's like the people you know that are just made to be a mother; everything about them says mom.

The hug was over much too soon in Ursula's opinion. But without missing a beat, Mrs. Potter walked over to Sirius and pulled him into a similar hug. When he was released, the twins looked at each other in shock. Had they been missing out this much? Is the way they grew up not the norm for other wizard kids?

"Now that everyone's here, why don't you all get settled in your rooms? I'll have Harold bring your stuff upstairs." She smiled at them kindly before turning around the get her husband.

"James," Ursula began, still trying to understand what happened.

"You're mother is bloody amazing. How did you turn out so bad?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

His response was a smack to the head. Of course, his parents walked in just after he hit Sirius.

"Mrs. Potter, your son is abusing me!" Sirius whined, making puppy dog eyes.

She gave James a stern look, "James, no hitting guests."

Mr. Potter smirked, eerily similar to James, and said, "Just make sure you don't get caught."

The first thing that Ursula noticed about James's dad was his resemblance to his son. They could have been carbon copies of each other if they had the same color eyes; Mr. Potter's were dark blue. His face was wrinkly, but not with worry lines. Instead, it appeared that the lines had been formed of years of laughter and joy. He was up in his years, even from a wizard standpoint. But youthfulness and happiness seemed to radiate from him.

He turned towards the Black twins and raised his eyebrows, "Now what do we have here? Blacks friends with a Potter? Oh, Dumbledore must be having a right good laugh about this."

"What are you talking about Dad? Was your mortal enemy in Slytherin?" James asked with anticipation, baiting at any excuse he could have for hating the Slytherins.

Mr. Potter laughed heartily and clapped his son on the shoulder, "Something like that James."

"Enough dilly-dally," Mrs. Potter interjected with a benevolent smile on her face, "I'm sure you want to catch up with each other. I will come get you when lunch is ready sweethearts." She hurried back to the kitchen to talk with the other parents and other siblings, minus Annabelle who opted to spend the rest of her vacation with her boyfriend's family.

Mr. Potter quickly made all their trunks weightless so they could carry them up the stairs to the second floor. Once he was done, he too went back to the kitchen area.

"So where are we rooming, mate?" Sirius asked as they all moved travelled up the stairs. He and Peter were carrying opposite ends of his trunk while Remus and Ursula were carrying hers.

"You're in my room. Mum put a second bed in there. Since three beds didn't fit, Peter, Remus, and Ben have their own room right next to us. Elyse and Ursula are in the room right across from mine." He pointed to the doors as he explained them.

Elyse opened the door and Ursula stopped in shock. She dropped her end of the trunk, causing Remus to be caught off balance and topple forward.

The room was like a dream. Back at Grimmauld her walls were covered in a grayish color and green trim. Her sheets were Slytherin colors as were her drapes. The heavy, dark green velvet always darkened the room on even the brightest of summer days.

But this room was light and airy and free. The windows' curtains were pulled back, allowing natural light to flood the room. There was a bright reflection of light off the warm hardwood floors. The furniture matched the floors but it was not overly dark. Elyse's bed was a sky blue had had a fun quality to it.

Ursula walked over the empty plush, red bed. When it fully sunk in that this is where she would be living, she smiled widely and took a running leap onto her bed.

This place honestly couldn't get any better.

It got better.

After spending dinner talking and laughing with everyone's parents, the kids ran upstairs to exchange Christmas gifts. They sat in a circle in James's and Sirius's room, the gift they brought wrapped in front of them.

"Who wants to go first?" James asked everyone.

No one answered right away so Elyse hopped to her feet and bound over to Peter. She handed him the decently sized package and went back to her seat, "I hope you like it Pete."

He quickly tore away the paper and looked confused when he pulled out a bunch of twisted plastic. All the purebloods looked confused but Remus smiled when he realized what it was.

"What is it?" Peter asked, inspecting it.

"It's a muggle water gun. You fill it with water and when you pull the trigger, you soak someone with water. When other people have them, you can have water gun fights. It's what muggle kids play with during the summer," Remus explained.

Looks of comprehension dawned in their little circle.

"So it is basically aguamenti?" Sirius clarified.

"Basically." Remus nodded.

"That's so wicked. Muggles are so creative." James mused as he moved closer to look at the new toy.

Ben laughed, "Just don't turn into Arthur Weasley on us mate. The world can barely handle one of him."

Everyone laughed; they had heard the Prewitt twin's impression of their brother-in-law when he saw some muggle items. It was hilarious to the entire house; to those that knew him and those that didn't alike.

"How about Pete gives his gift next and we'll just do that from now on." Sirius suggested.

Peter shrugged and passed over a fairly large box over to Sirius, "Thought we all could use this."

Sirius looked confused before he destroyed the carefully wrapped package. When he saw what was inside, his face lit up. He began to dig into his new present.

It was a box literally full to the brim of Zonko's products. Everything from Dungbombs to fireworks to trip wire. It was every prankster's dream and Sirius happened to be a very devout prankster.

"Pete, I think you are officially my best mate." Sirius said in awe as he organized his new loot.

James, annoyed at being annoyed for so long, and seeing that Sirius got him a gift, he began to try to hurry things along, "Hurry up! I want to get my present."

Sirius rolled his eyes and passed over his slim box.

James looked disappointed at the size until he opened it. Then when he comprehended what was in his possession, it looked like tears were close to spilling over his eyes. He held a signed jersey from the best Seeker, Josef Wronski. He held the shirt up to the light like he was hold his first born son.

"I have never received a better gift. We're the hell did you get this?" James asked is shock.

Sirius shrugged, "Uncle Alphard knew some people and two days ago that showed up at a store in Diagon Alley for us to pick up. You're turn to give a gift." Sirius said, wanting to get moving a little with the gift giving.

"Fine. Here you go Ursula."

James handed her a large but light package. It was obviously wrapped by his mother. Ursula took the bow off the top and stuck it onto James's hair before she opened the box.

"What in Merlin's name…" She trailed off as she looked in the box.

Red. That was the only thing she could see in the box. She reached in and pulled out a Gryffindor pennant from 1956.

"What?" She asked as she sorted through more old Gryffindor memorabilia.

James smiled lopsidedly, "It's a bunch of old Gryffindor stuff. Some of it I got from McGonagall and some I got from my dad. There's some old pennants, posters, and there are some of the old team Quidditch jerseys in there."

"Wicked." Ursula breathed as she started to organize her new gift.

The black haired boy smirked and leaned back against his bed and put his hands behind his head, "I thought that since you grew up in Slytherin House, you need to be able to show your Gryffindor pride like a true Gryffindor. Think you're parents are going to be happy?"

"My mom will breathe fire." Ursula said with a laugh.

"Hey do you think you can let your brother in on some of that, Sissy?" Sirius asked, craning his neck to see what was she got.

She shook her head and put the box behind her, protecting it from his greedy eyes. When she turned around, she had a small package. She handed it to Elyse, 'Pass this to Remus would you?"

Elyse handed the gift off to Remus who carefully opened the present, careful not to destroy the wrapping paper.

When he got the top piece of paper off, his eyes practically fell out of his head, "I don't believe it. Is it really…? Could it be?"

Ursula laughed a bark like laugh at his face, "Yup, it is."

"Woot is it?" Elyse asked.

"It's a book made of chocolate." Remus said in awe, now to being careful as he tore away the rest of the paper away from his precious chocolate.

"No way," Peter said, not believing it.

"Yes way," Ursula countered, "The man at the store explained it. When Remus eats the book, he will remember what was written. It's only from fiction books though; no school books because Hogwarts considers that cheating. The book we got him is a combination of muggle and wizard fairy tales. It will never go bad or be inedible. He could leave it under his bed for weeks and eat any part of the book and he won't have to worry about getting sick."

"That's amazing? Where in the world did you find that?" Peter asked.

Ursula was about to answer when Ben jumped in, "I don't think she should answer or else the headline of the Prophet might be 'Hogwarts Student breaks into Candy Store' and Remus will have a mug shot where his face it covered in chocolate! " Ben laughed loudly at the mental picture. The rest of the room followed him and soon they were all in hysterics.

Finally, Remus got himself under control and he handed Ben a small, flattish present, "Here you go." He said with a few chuckles

Ben took a couple of breath to calm himself before he went to open it. When he did open the present and he looked confused at the quill and music sheets, "What is this for?" he asked, looking back up at Remus.

Remus turned a little red, "I know you don't like people making a fuss over your music, but I thought you would like these. Once you place the tip of the quill on one of those staffs, whatever you sing or play, the quill will write down. It will even do articulation if you are clear enough."

"That's amazing." Ben said, examining the quill with a cream colored feather. He seemed to span out of his daze after a moment and he handed Elyse a small rectangular present, "Let's finish this up. Happy late Christmas, Elyse."

She ripped open the paper, throwing some in Peter's and Ursula's faces. The swatted the paper and Elyse smiled when she saw what was in her hands.

"A camera! Iz 'tis a wizardin' un 'hat makes people move?"

Ben nodded, "You just need to add some things to the pictures after they are developed, but this speeds up the process and will give the most accurate movements of a person and or people. Plus, you can make the pictures color, sepia, or black and white."

"Oh! First shoot! Everyboody get tehgether! Yeh's going teh take a picture." She ordered them.

The all grudgingly got to their feet. Being the shortest out of the guys, Ursula was standing in the middle front with a smile on her face. She didn't see the devious smiles of the boys behind her. She certainly didn't expect to be grabbed and held horizontally to the floor. She flung her arms up, hitting her brother in the face who let go of her and stumbled back. James lost his balance, causing the others to follow and they ended up in a heap on the floor. They looked at each other dazed and confused, wondering how it happened so fast.

It was fast enough that with one click of the button, her camera caught the entire thing.

Sitting on the hardwood floor with her bum sore from hitting the ground and her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest after being scared like that, she decided one thing as she joined in the laughter of her friends.

It was the absolute best Christmas she had ever had in her entire life.