Sirius was gently playing with Anna's hair the next morning when she woke up. Quickly scrambling off the coach, Anna turned to face Sirius, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm Sorry, I—"

"I'm dating Jackson, Sirius!"

"I know—wait, WHAT?!" Sirius roared.

"You—" suddenly Anna remembered the events from the night before, and she collapsed back onto the coach, burying her face with her hands.

"Hey Anna, don't worry about it," Sirius said, cautiously putting his arm around her. "He's a bloody wanker, but nothing happened, and now you know, so you can just break up with him and move on." Anna nodded, and allowed Sirius to pull her closer to him. They sat in silence like that for what must have been a couple of hours, before the other Gryffindors began coming down for breakfast.

The next couple months passed by smoothly; Anna had officially ended her relationship with Jackson, she and Sirius had been getting along well again, and Gryffindor had won the first quidditch game of the season, despite nearly half the players being rookies.

The marauders, Alice, Frank, and Taylor were already seated in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, when Lily and Anna sauntered in.

"Lily-flower!" James said, a wide grin spreading across his handsome face, "Are you joining us yet again? I knew you couldn't resist me!"

"Shut it Potter," Lily said. "I'm only joining you because these five," she gestured to Anna, Alice, Taylor, Remus and Frank, "are mental enough to actually enjoy your presence." James covered his heart as though Lily stabbed him there and pretended to cry. Lily merely rolled her eyes and sat down between Alice and Taylor. James and Sirius slid over to make room between them for Anna.

"Thankfully," Lily added after she was comfortably seated, "my next two weeks are James Potter-free. Gotta love Christmas."

"I hate Christmas," Sirius stated, glaring out the window. He and Moony had both been rather moody the past several days, and while everyone knew that Remus was just upset the full moon fell on Christmas this year, no one could figure out what was wrong with Sirius.

"What are you, the Grinch?" Lily asked. "No one hates Christmas."

"I do."

"Why?" Lily asked, despite everyone in the compartment gesturing for her to drop the subject. Lily could tell Sirius was moody, but she didn't care; she didn't like him anyway.

"Mind your own business, Lily," Anna said angrily. She and Lily were good friends, but Anna often got annoyed with the way the red head treated James and Sirius.

Sirius spoke anyway, gritting his teeth; "Because my family hates me and I spend the entire holiday being bitched at by my mother or kicked around by my father or just plain ignored." Silence followed that comment. Lily was shocked; she knew Sirius came from a family of Slytherins and that he didn't get along well with his brother or cousins, but she had no idea the whole family hated him and was awful to him. No one else knew what to say.

"Well this year will be better," said James finally. "You'll be at my house, and I think my parents love you better than me and Anna combined."

"Why's he going to be at your house?" Lily couldn't help but ask, though she knew she was being too nosy for her own good.

"Because he lives with us," Anna snapped, sending a death glare Lily's way. Lily didn't say another word, and the compartment was uncomfortably silent until finally Taylor suggested a game of Exploding Snap. The mood in the compartment quickly changed to one of excitement and relaxation, which continued the rest of the way to King's Cross Station.

At the station, the friends all said their goodbyes, and parted ways. As Sirius made his way towards the Potters with Anna and James, he could feel his mother's gaze following him. Quickly glancing back, he noticed that sure enough, his mother was glaring at him while his father scowled at the train. Regulus, Bellatrix, and Narcissa hadn't gotten off yet.

Mrs. Potter hugged Sirius when he reached her, as she had her own children, and Mr. Potter shook his hand. The Potters had a car, which they drove back to their Mansion, Anna, as usually not shutting up the entire way home. When he walked into the mansion, Sirius could smell a delicious dinner cooking. There was a large tree in the living room, with many presents surrounding it. Maybe this Christmas won't be so bad after all.

"So boys," Mr. Potter said as the family sat down for dinner, "any girls' fathers I need to worry about coming after you with shotguns while you're here?" Anna snorted. Ever since hearing the joke of muggle fathers' cleaning shotguns while talking to their daughters' boyfriends from a movie (the Potters lived in muggle London), Mr. Potter had always jokingly warned James that one of his many ex-girlfriends' fathers would come after him with a shotgun.

"No girls this year," James said.

"No girls this year," Sirius confirmed. Both Potter parents looked shocked.

"Well this is new," Mrs. Potter said. "You know I've never approved of you boys having a new girlfriend each week, but it's ok to date."

"Lily Evans won't go on a date with me, and I don't wanna go on one with anyone else," James said.

"Lily Evans?" Mr. Potter asked. "Isn't that the girl you talked nonstop about how much you hated the summer after first year?"

"Lily Evans, the girl he's liked since second year," Mrs. Potter corrected her husband.

"Ha! I forgot you hated Evans in first year Prongsie!" Sirius laughed. "Man no wonder I'm so sick of hearing about her! First year all you talked about was what a prat she was, and since then all you've talked about is how wonderful she is." Everyone laughed.

"Well, why no girls for you, Sirius?" Mrs. Potter asked. "I thought Sirius Black was 'irresistible.'"

Sirius smirked. "Oh he still is." The family laughed again. "Actually, there is a girl, but she uh.. thinks I'm a bit of a man whore, so I'm trying to show her I can go without girls, and then hopefully she'll realize I can stick with one girl." No one caught the meaningful look he gave Anna.

"Aw, both my boys have found special ladies," Mrs. Potter cooed jokingly.

Mr. Potter turned his attention to Anna, "Any boys I need to go after with a shotgun?" Everyone laughed once more.

"Not yet," Anna said, looking across the table at James and Sirius and silently begging them not to mention Jackson. Fortunately, they both complied. Dinner had been rather late, and Anna and the boys were tired from the long train ride, so it wasn't long after that they all went to bed.

In the morning, the three slept in late, and then spent most of the day playing quidditch and having snowball fights, as they did everyday of break except for Christmas. Christmas really was good for Sirius that year; he was with people who loved him, and the Potters had spoiled him as much as they had their own children. Sirius' favorite gifts were a two way mirror and a knife that could open any door, both from the Potters. James of course received the other two way mirror.

Though he didn't even get a letter from his parents, he did get a Christmas card with some homemade cookies from his cousin and fellow family outcast, Andromedia. Overall, the only downer of the whole day was knowing that as the moon came out that night, Remus would be alone in his transformation.

A/N: I'm not going to require a certain number of reviews this time before updating, but please don't stop leaving them! I really do appreciate them! I'm really not all that happy with this chapter, but I'm posting it anyway because I want to get on to things I have planned for later chapters.