'You never said this wasn't what you wanted.

Was it, was it?'

Blood and Family

The weeks for Christmas were drawing closer and Riley was debating on staying at Hogwarts or going home. It was the first of December and it had just started to snow. Riley was sitting in the Great Hall with Lily and Mary, reading the Tales of Beedle the Bard. She had finished it a while ago, but she still liked to go back and read it. The morning's post was still to arrive and Riley was expecting a letter from her parents asking her what she wished to do for the holidays. Normally, she would go home but Lily said she had plans to stay and Mary was going home.

The situation between the three girls had become somewhat a routine. They would have breakfast, lunch and dinner together with Lily and Mary talking mostly and Riley joining in sometimes. Riley would study alone in the library whereas Lily and Mary would study in the common room and when Mary was at Quidditch practice, Lily and Riley would take a walk around the castle together.

Usually when Riley was in the library, there would at least be one Marauder there to keep her company. It usually varied from Remus and Peter, to Sirius and Remus to just James. Sometimes they would be there individually though it was mostly Remus, Sirius was time to time, James was once in a blue moon and Peter just didn't go anywhere by himself.

"Good Morning, ladies," Sirius said, sitting down next to Riley.

Lily and Mary carried on talking like he wasn't there. Riley turned to him and smiled.

"Morning," she replied.

Sirius nodded towards Lily and Mary.

"Good conversation?" he asked Riley sarcastically.

"Excellent," she said. "It's so good I can't even get a word in."

Sirius laughed as James, Remus and Peter joined them.

Riley and Sirius were getting along better than ever. They weren't close but in classes they would make small talk and whenever they saw each other they would always say hello. Saving someone's life really did change their attitude towards them.

Riley watched as James and Sirius piled bacon, toast, beans, eggs, black pudding and brown sauce onto their plates. She felt sick at the smell of it. She scrunched her nose up.

"That is disgusting," she noted.

James looked up, a bit of bacon handing out of his mouth.

"What?"

"What you're eating- it's disgusting. And don't talk with your mouth full!"

James swallowed.

"I'll have you know, Miss Martinez," he said, pointing his fork at her, "This is absolutely delicious and is good for growing boys like Padfoot and myself."

"I think I'll stick to my cereal." Riley said, looking away from their plates.

She looked up as she heard the screech of an owl and soon enough, the Great Hall was filled with owls. Lily had received a package of homemade cakes from her mother and shared them amongst the three girls, with Riley sneaking two more and giving them to James and Sirius without her noticing. Riley noticed an owl flying over to Claudia and dropping of a letter and then it flew over to the Gryffindor table and gave one to herself. Before she could reach into her pocket for owl treats, the owl was gone.

She turned the envelope over and opened it up.

Dear Riley,

Are you planning on coming home for Christmas? I know you mentioned possibly staying at Hogwarts with a friend but your Father and I would prefer you to be home this Christmas as we will be having some guests stay for two nights. It's only business, but we would find it more homely if you and your sister were here together. Your Father and I will explain more when we see you.

Hope to see you soon,

Mum x

Riley sighed and folded up the letter.

"Sorry, Lils," she said. "Looks like I have to go home for Christmas."

"Oh, it's ok." Lily shrugged. "I think Severus is staying so I won't be alone all of the time."

Riley smiled and went back to her breakfast. She still couldn't register how Lily and Severus Snape had became friends. Yes, they were both excellent in all there classes but he was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor. It was strange how they became friends.

"Bloody hell," Sirius mumbled as he saw his own family owl fly down the Gryffindor table and land in front of him.

"'Sup?" Riley asked him.

"It's a letter from dear Mother…" he said and looked at James who was staring with his mouth open in shock.

Sirius never ever received letters from home. Not even when he got them sent home for getting into trouble. His parents seemed to of given up on him, claiming him to be a 'lost cause' and a whole lot of other things.

Sirius opened the letter.

Sirius,

We request you come home for the Christmas holiday's. Your brother is coming too.

Sirius was laughing. How blunt was that. Two sentences was all he got. He threw the letter over to James.

"Short and simple, eh?" James said and gave it back to him a grin on his face.

"Oh yeah," Sirius said with a nod. He took the letter and scrunched it up and stuck it into the pocket of his robes. "Short and simple."

X

"So what made you want to stay for Christmas?"

Riley and Lily were walking along the third floor corridor, talking randomly. This is what usually happened when the two girls were left alone. They would talk about the first thing that popped into their head and Riley preferred it that way. Although she and Lily were rather close, she really didn't know much about her.

"My parents are going to Wales for Christmas to visit my grandparents and they were taking Petunia with them. So if I went, I would need to spend ever waking hour with Petunia and her snide remarks. Whereas, if I was back home, I could easily avoid her."

Riley nodded. "I see…You do know James is staying, right?"

"Yes," Lily sighed. "I know."

"Your Christmas should be interesting."

"It will."

The two girls laughed and walked out of the corridor but stopped immediately when they turned to head up the staircase.

Claudia was walking down the stairs, laughing with Bellatrix Black. Bellatrix Black. Riley couldn't believe what she was seeing. She stood there, her mouth wide open, staring at the two girls.

"Did you see their faces?" Bellatrix laughed, almost doubling over. "They almost pissed themselves."

Claudia nodded, laughing hysterically, her eyes watering.

Riley and Lily shared the same confused expressions then looked back to Claudia and Bellatrix who had now noticed their presence and were now calming themselves.

"Riley," Claudia stated.

Riley gave her sister a look of disgust and shook her head.

"Let's go, Lily," Riley said and went to walk by Bellatrix, but she stopped her.

"Ah, Riley." Bellatrix said. She turned to Claudia. "She's in some of my classes. Bit of a quiet one. Wouldn't think she was related to you," she said and then looked back at Riley. "Especially with the friends she has. A bunch of blood traitors and…mudbloods." Her eyes lingered on Lily and Riley saw her hand slowly moving into her robe.

"Girls, what is going on here?"

The four girls turned around and saw Professor McGonagall walking up the stairs towards them.

"Nothing, Professor." Claudia answered. "We just bumped into each other."

"Very well," McGonagall said. "But it's almost curfew, so I suggest you all get back to your dormitories. We wouldn't want your houses to loose points."

Riley knew the last part was directed at her and Lily and the two of them left immediately. Lily was quiet the whole way up to the common room and before they entered, Riley stopped Lily.

"Lily, listen to me. I didn't know Claudia and Bellatrix were friends. And if Claudia is taking lessons from Bellatrix about blood status, I am most certainly nothing like her, neither is my family. Ok? I have never uttered that word Bellatrix said because I really couldn't give a rat's arse about your blood status."

Lily nodded and pulled Riley in and hugged her.

"Are you alright?" Riley asked, pulling away.

"Yeah," Lily replied. "I think I'm going to go to bed, though."

"Ok," Riley said and they entered the common room. Lily went straight to her bed but Riley sat by the fire with Remus and Peter.

"Everything alright, Riles?" Remus asked her and set down his quill.

"Just peachy."

Remus knew when it was best not to bombard Riley with questions when she was obviously angry or upset about something and right now, she was both. She was silently praying that this was all a dream and that she hadn't seen Claudia and Bellatrix getting along…being friends. She knew that her father worked in a business which included the Black family but he never mentioned anything about the meetings or who within the Black family he was meeting so she doubted that Claudia and Bellatrix knew much about each other. She just couldn't understand it all. Claudia knew the people that Bellatrix went around with. She knew that Claudia knew that Bellatrix and her friends were known for praising the Dark Lord. So why befriend her?

Riley grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, frustrated. Luckily, the common room was empty except for herself, Remus, Peter and a few seventh years so not many people would be able to say she was crazy. She heard a clutter of people walking through the portrait hole and ran straight towards James and Sirius.

"James, I need your cloak. Now."

It took James a few seconds to register that Riley was in front of him and he went to say something but he fainted.

"What the-?"

"I accidentally hit him across the head with my bat on the way up here," Sirius explained. "He's been feeling rather dizzy ever since."

"Right," Riley said, pursing her lips. Did Sirius know about his girlfriends new friend? She decided not to bring it up. "Do you know where his invisibility cloak is? I really need to use it."

"What for?" he asked.

"Sirius, please. I swear, once I know why, you'll be the first to know."

"Right, fine. Come with me," Sirius said, leading her up the stairs to the boys dormitory.

X

"All four you designed this?" Riley asked in astonishment.

When they entered the dormitory, Sirius had went straight over to his bedside cabinet and pulled the Marauder's Map out of his drawer and handed it to Riley and explained how it worked.

"Yep. Only just finished it a few months ago actually."

"And it really works?" she asked, eyeing Bellatrix's dot.

"Definitely."

"You lot are amazing, d'you know that?"

"Well, I don't like to brag…" Sirius said, but Riley hit him playfully on the arm.

"So where is James' cloak?"

Sirius walked over to the trunk at the bottom of James' bed and opened it up and then pulled out James' invisibility cloak. She remembered during one of their nightly trip's down to the kitchens, he let slip that he had one and from then on, due to Riley insisting on it, he brought it along with him so Riley could hide under it so she wouldn't get caught. She wasn't sure how here parents would take it if they got a letter home saying she had been caught out of bed after hours.

"Thank you," she said and wrapped it around her neck, only leaving her head visible. "I love this thing. It'd be a really good joke at Halloween just to walk around with your head floating around, wouldn't it?" she laughed.

"That's not a bad idea actually…" Sirius laughed.

"Hey! I thought of it first, so I get to do it!"

"Ok, ok! Know you better get going. You know, do whatever it is you gotta do."

"Right," Riley nodded and put the cloak over her head. She went to turn around but she stopped and took removed the cloak from her head and went over to Sirius and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for the help."

After that, she put the cloak back on and left quickly, leaving a dumbfounded Sirius behind and also trying to hide a blush that no one could even see.

X

She was alone. Perfect. Riley muttered 'Mischief Managed' quietly and stuffed the map into her pocket and answered the question the portrait before her and entered the Ravenclaw common room. She had only been in the common room once and that was only because she had heard Claudia was having some sort of mental breakdown because of her O.W.L examinations. A lot had changed in a year.

Riley saw her sitting at a table next to a large window. Claudia was sitting with books open in front of her and her quill scribbling down furiously.

"Were you too busy with your new friend to do your homework?" Riley scowled, removing the cloak.

Claudia dropped her quill and looked at Riley. She looked scared.

"How did you get in here? You aren't allowed."

"Well that's a bit of a shame, isn't it?" Riley said. "So when were you going to inform me on this new friendship you've formed, hmm? I bet Sirius would love to hear about that. His beloved girlfriend with his most hated cousin…I can tell he'll take it well."

Claudia was suddenly on her feet and in front of Riley, staring down at her.

"Don't you dare. Don't even think about it Riley."

"Why are you friends with her then?" Riley spat. "Of all the people in Slytherin you could of befriended, you go for her! Why? She is absolutely horrible and she goes against everything we were brought up to think!"

Claudia laughed bitterly.

"What we were brought up to think? And what was that? How thick are you, Riley? Remember all those muggle friends you would make back home? Hmm? Did you never stop and think why Papádidn't want them in the house? Why he didn't want you to play with them anymore?"

Riley stared at her sister, not wanting to believe what she was telling her.

"It's because he didn't want you socializing with people like that. He's just the same as every other pure blood. He. Doesn't. Like. Muggles."

Riley shook her head. "You're lying. Abuelo wasn't like that. He encouraged us to befriend muggles."

"Yes, and why do you think they never got along?" Claudia said. "Just admit it Riley. You knew exactly that Papáwas like that. You just never wanted to believe it. And I cannot wait to see his reaction when he finds out that you're friends with mudbloods."

Riley saw the satisfaction in Claudia's eyes. She had finally broke her sister. Riley was shaking with anger and tears were streaming down her face.

"You disgust me," she said quietly.

"Get over it. I'm more disgusted at the fact my own sister is acting like a blood traitor."

Riley slapped Claudia hard across the face, actually knocking her to the floor. She picked the cloak off of the couch she had left it sitting on and made her way over to the portrait hole. As Claudia sat up, a hand cradling her face, Riley looked back.

"You are no sister of mine."

And with that, Riley put the cloak over herself and left the common room.

So I lied. I had to update the story, I just had to. After the last chapter, so many idea's popped into my head and you have no idea how much I love this chapter. The longest one yet! But I seriously think this is the last of the continuous updates for now. I'm making a video you see for my friend's birthday so I really need to get that done. It's for the fifteenth and I know it may seem like I have a long time, and I do, it's just I'm paranoid, haha. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Abbey xoxo