Home Sweet Home

When Isabella got home she went straight to her room and changed, before taking a short nap.

She woke up, hours later, by someone knocking on her door. "Come in!"

One of the family house elves, Misty, entered the room and curtsied. She was wearing a blue dress that had the family crest on the breast. Straighting up she looked at Isabella with wide brown eyes. "What is it Misty?"

"Mistress has told Misty to come and tell Miss Isabella that dinner is ready."

Isabella smiled at the house elf. "Thank you Misty, you can tell Mama that I'll be down in a minute." Misty nodded and left.

Most purebloods had at least one or more house elves. Isabella's parents owned three, Misty, Missy, and Minny. Them and their parents, and their parents, and their parents had served the Griffin family for years, but they weren't treated as slaves, but they weren't paid either, they were just treated like equals.

Isabella got out of bed and left her room, straightening her robes as she walked down the stairs and into the dinning room where her Mama and Papa were sitting at the dinning room table already. She sat down next to her Mama, and across from her Papa. She started to fill her plate with food as her parents made conversation.

"So how was school so far sweety?" Her Mama asked.

Isabella smiled. "Hogwarts is great, everyone is so nice and I've made so many friends. Classes are pretty easy, Potions and Divination are my favorite subjects. Of coarse the Divination doesn't have the best teacher, but the class is still fun. Plus James, Sirius, and Peter are in that class too, so that makes it even more fun, even if they are a bit distracting."

Her Mama smiled. "That's wonderful honey, and your friends seem like very nice people, don't you think Robert?"

Robert forced a smile. "Of coarse, but Isabella tell me about this Sirius boy, you said that he was your...boyfriend? What's he like?"

Isabella nodded. "Yes we've been going out since the end of September, he's very funny and sweet, he's a pureblood. You'd like him Papa, he's beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he gets good grades, and is a very loyal and caring friend. He's also one of the school's pranksters and wants to be an Auror." She waited for her Papa's reaction. She sighed in relief when she saw approval in his eyes.

"What's his last name? And who are his parents?"

Isabella looked down nervously, before looking back up. "His last name is Black, Sirius Orion Black." Her Papa raised his eyebrows in surprise, he'd heard of the name Black, they were considered dark wizards and witches to some. Isabella continued. "I don't really know anything about his parents or his family, except that he only likes his cousin Andromeda, she was in Ravenclaw and married a muggle named Tonks, I think she was disowned for that. Actually I think Sirius was disowned too, his parents no longer considered him family after he ran away. He lives with the Potters now, he told me that they think of him as a second son."

Robert felt a little better after hearing that; he'd heard of the Potters, Mr. Potter was the Head Auror. The boy must of been okay if he was living with the Potters. He nodded in approval and both Isabella and Patrica let out the breath they were holding. "I was planning on inviting the Potters to our Chistmas party, he can come too, meet the family."

"Our family?" Isabella muttered.

Robert nodded and smirked. "Yes, all of them."

Isabella sighed and looked down. Oh boy.

They rest of dinner was spent in silence with the occasional comment or two. Isabella helped her Mama bring the dishes into the kitchen for the house elves to clean. when they were alone Patrica turned to Isabella and hugged her.

"Bella I'm so proud of you, you've found such good friends, and that Sirius boy is very cute, he's a keeper. You'll probably have lovely children." She sighed wistfully and Isabella blushed scarlet.

"MAMA! We only just started going out! And you'll scare him away if you start talking about kids, plus Papa would kill him! You have to swear that you won't talk like that in front of anybody!" She pleaded. Her Mama giggled and waved her hand dismissing what Isabella said.

"Oh I was just playing around, don't be so serious, it'll give you wrinkles." She giggled and left the kitchen and a gapping Isabella behind her.

She shook her head in disbelief, sometimes her Mama could be a serious parent and other times she could act more like a teenager than Isabella did. "Mothers should not act like that."

Over the next couple of weeks nothing big happened, but it did feel nice to be home. Lily came over a bunch of times, they went swimming, to the library that was in the house, and outside to play in the snow.

Both Lily and Isabella got letters from all of the Maunders. Isabella's parents had asked her to invite Lily and her parents to come to their Christmas party.

Isabella got positive responses from James, Lily, and Sirius that they were all coming, and the closer the day of the Chrismas party was coming the more nervous she was getting. Wondering if Sirius liked her dress or if he would notice that her braces were gone.

Isabella sighed to herself and waited in her room untill all the guests arrived.

Angel had arrived first with her parents and brother. The rest of Isabella's family, on her mothers side, arrived by floo powder, and they were only the ones that knew about magic; the close family. The rest of the family apparated. Lily and her family drove, and Sirius and the Potters apparated.

Everyone was either in dress robes or formal clothing.

Isabella, who was currently coming down the stairs, was wearing a Aqua blue dress that went down to the floor, black heals, her charm bracelet, and the present Lily had given her for Christmas: a silver ring with an aquamarine jewel. Lily had one too, but with her birthstone.

When Isabella saw that Lily had arrived she ran over, well as fast as you can run in heals, and gave her a hug.

Lily was wearing an emerald dress that was tight at her waist and flowed out all the way to her knees. Her hair was just held back with a simple green headband.Overall Lily looked beautiful.

"Oh I'm so glad you could come Lily!" She looked at Lily's parents. "Thank you for coming Mr. and Mrs. Evans, you can put you coats in the closet and Mama and Papa are in the living room." She turned to Petunia. "Petunia you look lovely, thank you for coming. Come on Lily lets go wait for James and Sirius to arrive!"

Before anyone could say anything Isabella grabbed Lily's arm and ran over to the apparation point in the house. They only had to wait five minutes before they arrived. Isabella gave Sirius a hug, and Lily gave one to James.

Isabella looked at Mr. and Mrs. Potter. "Thank you for coming to our party. It's very nice to meet you, I'm Isabella." She curtsied. Lily also greeted them also with a curtsie.

The two adults smiled at the two girls. "Oh what polite girls. We've heard all about both of you James and Sirius, they never stop talking about you, but it's wonderful to finally meet you." Mrs. Potter said.

Isabella smiled. "Thank you Mrs. Potter, your too kind. If you'd go through those doors over there you'll enter into the living room, where everyone is, I hope you have a wonderful time in our home." She gave them a dazzling smile.

They went through the doors, talking about how polite Lily and Isabella were. When they were gone James,Sirius, and Lily looked at her like she had two heads. "What?"

"You're teeth..." James trailed off.

Isabella smiled. "I know, I finally got my braces off."

Lily smiled. "Well now your teeth are perfect."

Sirius nodded and put an arm around her waist, leading her into the living room. "I guess I can't call you metal mouth anymore."

She gave him a look. "I hope you weren't calling me that behind my back."

He shook his head. "Never."

Isabella smiled and grabbed his hand. "Come on, my family wants to meet you."

Sirius's eyebrow raised. "Your family? Are they all here?"

She nodded. "Almost everyone."

He gulped and she laughed, introducing him to the men first.

Mike, David, Lewis, and Jeff were from her father's side. Mike and David were identical twins, both 21 years old, and both engaged to two Bulgarian witches, Ali and Mattie. They were tall and broad shouldered; very intimidating. Both shook Sirius's hand and asked him questions. Isabella had to translate for Sirius since the twins only spoke Bulgarian. They had not gone to Hogwarts, they went to Durmstrang. Their mother married a Bulgarian man named Elton Krum and they didn't take the time to learn English.

Lewis was 10, going to Hogwarts the next year. He asked Sirius about Hogwarts and Quidditch. He was very excited when he heard that Sirius played, and very easy to please. He told Sirius how his father, Alan Griffin, Isabella's uncle, had played when he went to Hogwarts.

Jeff, who is only 3 and Lewis's little brother, was the hardest to impress. It was quite funny, Sirius won him over after he accidentally tripped and fell, making Jeff laugh.

Angelo, Jimmy, Gino, and Laurence were from her mother's side and were muggles. Angelo was 18 years old, Angela's (a.k.a Angel) twin brother, and her polar opposite. She was a witch, he was a muggle, she was a hyper person, he was a serious person, she loved Quidditch, he hated sports, she was becoming an Auror, and he was becoming a Lawyer. But even with their differences they were very close. When Angelo met Sirius he acted indifferent and civilized, they didn't really hit it off, but Sirius was polite, that was all that Isabella cared about.

Brothers Gino and Jimmy, ages 9 and 10, both liked Sirius. They thought he was one of the funniest people they've ever met. They probably would have followed him all night if Isabella's Uncle August hadn't come to take them away.

The last male cousins, Laurence, 4, thought Sirius was a cool guy and enjoyed playing with him.

Isabella next pulled Sirius to her female cousins, who were very eager to meet the handsome boy with their different looking cousin.

Margret, Tiffany, Brittany, Sylvia, and Clara, 25, 20, 17, 16, and 15, were all witches and all from Isabella's father's side.

Margret and Tiffany, Lewis and Jeff's sisters, were married to two American wizards named Jake and Henry, two very nice men. The girls had both gone to Hogwarts, Tiffeny was a Ravenclaw and Margret was a Slytherin, both girls greeted Sirius with a hug.

Brittany, Sylvia, and Clara, sisters, were Isabella's least favorite cousins. Their father was a French wizard and the each girl was had gone or were in Beauxbatons. They had always made fun of Isabella and thought she was inferior because she was halfblood, course they never said anything like that in front of the rest of the family, only in the privacy of their own home; it was the influence of their father, who believed in pureblood surpremicy. The girls acted very girly and whinny, they were considered 'daddy's girls', got whatever they asked for, and would whine and cry if they didn't get it, it sickened Isabella.

When Isabella introduced them to Sirius they openly flirted with him and acted as if she wasn't there. Sirius seemed to love the attention, but then again what boy wouldn't? Isabella got annoyed and angry. So as politely as she could she said goodbye to her cousins and dragged Sirius away. He winked at the girls and they sighed wistfully simultaneously. Isabella hit him over the head.

Her last female cousins, Sophia, Eliza, Veronica, Vanessa, Grace, and Gabriella, were her muggle cousins from Isabella's mother's side. They were 30, 27, 22, 18, 18, 3, and 2.

Sophia, an only child, was married to a German squib, Stanley Gizela and had a 1 year old son, Eric. Sophia was very glad for Isabella and thought Sirius was charming. Eric kept pulling on Sirius's hair, it was quite funny.

Eliza, was also an only child and was also married, but didn't have any children yet. She married an Italian muggle boy named Philip Fario; he knew about the wizarding world. They both liked Sirius.

Twins, Veronica and Vanessa, both found Sirius cute and playfully flirted with him, Isabella didn't mind, knowing that they already had boyfriends.

Grace and Gabriella, sisters, both grabbed onto one of Sirius's legs and wouldn't let go. Almost all of the relatives thought that it was so cute and laughed when Sirius started dancing with them on his legs. The girls were giggling and laughing the whole time.

After meeting the cousins, Sirius met Isabella's Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. Everyone liked Sirius, even the family members that didn't speak English, but Isabella translated Italian, Bulgarian, and French for him.

The party finally came to an end and Isabella and Lily were giving their goodbyes, separately, to James and Sirius.

Sirius pulled Isabella in to a corner. She looked at him and smiled.

"Thank you for coming Sirius, I'm sorry that we had to spend most of the time meeting family. But most of them really seemed to like you. Especially Gracy and Gabby."

Sirius grinned. "Yes, well, what can I say, I'm a chick magnet, they can't get enough of me."

Isabella hit him on the arm. "Let's hope you can get enough of them, unless you want me to be one of those paranoid girlfriends, always with you, checking your mail, listening to your conversations, just to make sure that your not cheating on me."

Sirius playfully rolled his eyes and put his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. He tried to kiss her but she turned her head. "Ahhhhhh, don't be like that, I would never cheat on you. Come on one kiss." She shook her head.

He pulled a long thin box out of his pocket. "Okay, if your not going to give me a kiss then you don't get your present."

She looked at the box, eyes shinning and a smile on her lips. "You got me a present?!" She reached for it, but he pulled it back again.

"Uh Uh Uh, not until I get my kiss."

She sighed, but their was a smile on her lips. "Fine." She leaned up and gave him a quick peak on the lips, but before she could pull back Sirius pulled her closer and took her lips as his, kissing her with hunger and passion. She moaned, giving him access to her mouth, which he greedily took. Sirius pulled back after a minute and smirked when seeing the silly smile that spread across her face.

He took the black box and opened it, she gasped. Inside the box was a beautiful golden chained necklace with a crystal hanging from it. Inside the crystal blue and black fog was swirling together.

"Oh Sirius it's beautiful, where did you get it?" Sirius took it out of the box and helped her put it on.

"I made it." He said simply.

Her eyes widened. "You made it?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yes, well not the chain, I bought that. It's charmed to never break or get taken off by anyone but you. I found the crystal and charmed it so that as long as we care for each other the two colors with mix. Blue is you and black is me, and if one of the colors goes out then that means that one of us doesn't care anymore, hopefully that doesn't happen, and it the crystal fills with green smoke one of us is in danger, which is why I have one too." He took out an identical necklace from under his shirt" So with this I'll always know if your okay."

Tears came to Isabella's eyes. "Oh Sirius, that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, Thank you." She kissed him. "I'm sorry I can't give you your present yet, but I promise you'll get it soon."

Sirius smiled. "Ohhhh, what you get me?"

She shook her head. "No Sirius, you have to wait."

He took her hands and pouted. "Plllleeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssseeeeee, what's my present?"

She laughed and patted him on the cheek. "Sorry Sirius, you have to wait."

"Aaaaaawwwwwwww, your no fun."

She just laughed and walked him to the apparation point, where the Potters were waiting.

Isabella sat on her couch, staring at the fireplace, waiting.

WHOOH!

There was one of her friends now.

She stood up and greeted Remus, who was dusting off his robes, looking around the house in awe, and it was understandable, the house was pretty big.

"Hey Remus."

He looked at her and smiled. "Hello Izzy, am I the first one to arrive?"

She nodded. "Yup, welcome to my lovely home, what do you think?"

He looked at the well furnished living room, the paintings on the walls, the elegant shandalire, and the very big staircase. "You have a very nice house." He looked down at his second hand robes, then at the light purple robes that Isabella was wearing and felt very out of place.

Isabella walked over and gave him hug. "Well my home is your home, feel free to come over whenever you like." She pulled back. "Also just so you know my parents and family won't judge you because of what you are. You're my friend, and have become something close to family over the past couple of months."

Before she could pull back totally, Remus pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank you." He said into her hair. She smiled lightly and hugged him back.

Remus could smell her sweet scent and his heart ached with longing.

POP! POP!

Remus quickly pulled back.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You know if I didn't know you two better I'd be making the wrong assumptions, so what's up?"

Isabella smiled and gave Lily a hug. "Nothing Lily, just saying hello." She gave Peter a hug also, he started blushing.

She pulled back and looked at Remus. "How long do you think we'll have to wait before Sirius and James get here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, depends on how long it takes for James to wake Sirius up and how long Sirius takes doing his hair."

Lily giggled. "Knowing Sirius it'll probably be ten minutes before they show up."

Isabella smiled. "Well in that case lets go sit down in the living room and wait."

Remus, Peter, and Lily followed her into the living room and sat down. Peter looked at the TV in confusion. "What's that?"

"It's a television," Lily answered, "Muggles watch it to entertain themselves."

"How would they be entertained by watching a square box?" Peter asked.

Isabella giggled. "Well you have to turn it on." She picked up the remote and turned it on. The Peter stared at it in awe while the rest smiled amused, all knowing what the television was.

When James and Sirius walked into the room they saw Peter sitting in front of some sort of box, looking at it wide eyed. Lily, Isabella, and Remus were sitting on the couch watching it also. Both girls were looking and Peter in amusement and Remus was reading a book.

"What are you guys doing?" James asked and everyone but Sirius jumped.

"Watching TV." Isabella answered. She picked up the remote and turned it off, ignoring Peter's disappointed groan. "And now that you two are here I think we've watched enough. I think it's time that we all exchanged gifts, what do you think?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and Sirius and James sat down.

Remus gave the each of the girls books. Lily was given Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms. He gave Isabella Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms, an Ancient Ruins book. They both thanked him with a hug. Sirius watched Remus closely as he wrapped his arms around Isabella.

Remus smiled and handed James and Sirius books, but they weren't as excited about this gift as the girls were.

"Open them." Remus said.

When they did they saw that there was a secret compartment inside the books.

They smirked. "Wonderful Moony, exactly what we needed." James said.

Sirius nodded. "The teachers will never know."

Remus nodded and gave Peter a box full of fireworks and candy. James and Sirius gave the other two boys prank things and t-shirts. Peter's was yellow and has a picture of a rat on it. Remus's was funny it had a picture of a bunny on it and on the back it said My 'furry little problem'. Everyone laughed at the inside joke.

Lily gave Peter a homework organizer, Remus a big box of chocolate, Sirius Jinxes for the Jinxed a Defense book, and James season passes to Quidditch.

Isabella gave Peter a new broom, to his amazement, and Remus a whole set of Defense Against the Dark Arts books.

"Thanks Isabella, it's exactly what I wanted, but, wasn't a little too much?" Remus asked as he watched Peter gazing at his broom.

She shook her head. "It's no problem, I got a bunch of money for Christmas, having a big family has its perks. Hey James." She handed him a chest. When he opened it something gold flew out. With his quick reflexes he grabbed it; it was a golden snitch, signed by his favorite seeker. He was in a shocked silence and opened the chest all the way, there was a Quaffle and two Bludgers, also signed by his favorite players in those positions. His eye twitched and he looked at Isabella. "...How..How did you.."

"I know the team, met them once or twice, I could introduce you if you want." She suggested.

James stared at her before hugging her tightly. "I love you."

Lily cleared her throat and Isabella motioned to her. "And it's even better that Lily gave you the pass so you can have a chance to meet them."

James quickly caught on and kissed Lily's cheek. "I love you." He said seriously. Lily blushed.

Isabella smiled and turned to Sirius, who looked excited. She handed him a big box. He opened the box and found another box, opening that box he found another box. This went on for another couple of minutes, Lily and Isabella started to giggle when he got frustrated. Finally he picked up a small square box, the last one, and shook it. He heard metal sliding over cardboard and looked at his girlfriend.

"You didn't get me jewelry did you?"

She gave him a look. "Just open it."

He opened the box and lifted the object. "A key? What's it for?"

Isabella got up. "I'll show you."

Everyone followed her into the garage, even Lily was confused. When she opened the door and turned on the lights they saw something was in the middle of the room, covered by a tarp. Taking Sirius's hand she pulled over to the object.

"Okay, you can remove the tarp."

He removed it quickly and looked like he was going to faint. "You...you got me a...motorcycle!"

Isabella nodded happily. "Actually it's a flying motorcycle!"

His eyes widened. "Flying..flying motorcycle!"

Before she could say anything he lifted her up in a hug and spun her around. "Thank you so much." He put her down, but kept his arms around her waist. "How much did this cost?"

"Not much, my uncle gave me the bike for 100 gallons, and I charmed it myself to fly, it only took an hour or so." She lied, it really took about a week.

Sirius smiled and kissed her. He looked at his friends, they were looking at the bike wide eyed. "Look at my new bike!"

Lily and Isabella went back in to the house and left the boys with the bike. They came back into the living room fifteen minutes later.

The rest of the night was spent watching movies and eating snacks. Peter went home first, Remus left shortly after, leaving Lily, James, Sirius, and Isabella.

After watching another movie, a chick flick, much to the boys' displeasure. When it was over Lily said that she was going to walk home, James told her he'd walk her. He told Sirius that after he dropped Lily off he was going to apparate home. Isabella and Sirius were left alone.

Isabella, who was sitting in Sirius's lap, looked up at him from where her head was laying on his chest. "Thank you for coming Sirius..Did you like your gift?"

Sirius smiled. "I love my gift." He paused for a second and put a hand on her cheek looking into her eyes. Such beautiful eyes.

"And I love you."

Isabella gasped sitting up. "What?"

He brought her closer to him. "I love you Isabella."

She smiled happily and put her arms around his neck. "Oh Sirius...I love you too."

He smiled and kissed her. It started as a loving kiss, then became more passionate. Sirius pinned her on the couch and his hands ran over her curves, while she played with his hair. She quickly pushed him back and pulled off his shirt. Sirius paused and looked her in the eyes. He could she the emotions clearly, lust, trust, love, happiness.

"Are you sure?" He asked in a husky voice.

She pulled him closer and kissed him, running her hands over his chest. Sirius pulled back and grinned down at her, hands on either side of her head. She smirked back and pushed him back, straddling his hips. She gave him a long kiss before sitting back up and started to undo his belt, but paused.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.

She smiled seductively and pulled him off the couch. "Come on, we'll go some where more comfortable." He smiled and followed her as she lead him up the stairs to her room.

Once inside she pushed him on to the bed and crawled on top of him, kissing his up his chest and then his neck, making him shiver. She smiled and leaned in closer to his ear.

"I want you Sirius." She whispered. Sirius moaned and rolled them over so that he was on top. He looked at her again and smirked.

"How unfair that you're still wearing a shirt."

She smiled and arched her back as Sirius took off her shirt. He starting to plant open mouthed kisses to her neck and she moaned, grabbing his face and bringing his lips to hers. He pulled back and stared into her eyes, his lips hovering over hers for a moment

"I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too."

Sirius grinned and kissed her again.

READ & REVIEW

LadySoftball