A/N – Sorry this took longer than usual to update. I feel like I haven't thanked my reviewers in a while, so...

Aah my reviewers, how I love thee. Let me count the ways : P You're comments acctually make my day and this wouldn't have gotten remotely as far as it would have without your support! There's still lots more to come, so keep on reviewing, favouriting, sticking me and this fic on your alerts.

Thanks again! I send acctual love to you all!

"SIRIUS" screamed his mother, banging loudly on his bedroom door before unlocking it

"Merry Christmas mother" snapped Sirius sarcastically, he gave her the coldest look he could manage

"Quite. Your father requests your presence down stairs. He, Regulus and I have been waiting for you to arrive for almost one quarter of an hour"

"Merlin, sorry for keeping you waiting" he sneered

"I suggest" she growled "you watch your tone in front of your father"

"Whatever" he grumbled getting out of bed. He hitched up his red pjama bottoms a little and picked a scruffy t-shirt up off the floor, as he pulled it on, his mother frowned at it

"Is that a muggle I see on your shirt"

"Ziggy Stardust is the muggle manifestation of a spcae alien, who wishes to do nothing more than spread hope through rock and roll"

"I have absaloutley no idea what that meant" she said flatly, she tutted "just come down to the drawing room"

"I'm coming!" he whined. He and his mother went down stairs, her walking primly with her head held high, him stomping and slouching as lowly as he could. They reached the drawing room, where Orion Black sat in a high back leather chair in front of the fire, Regulus crouched at his feet. Opposite them, sat an ostentatiously tall tree, decked out in green and silver. Under it, sat a small pile of mostly, green and silver neatly wrapped presents. Sirius's gifts had been wrapped in red paper which was adorned with gold Gryffindor lions

"I see you have finnally woken our heir Walburga" said Orion. Sirius hated that his father clearly thought, our heir was a term of affection.

"Merry Christmas father" said Sirius coldly

"Quite" he replied in a tone alarmingly similar to his Mother's. When Sirius had worked out his parents were cousins, he had been throughly disgusted, and it had gradually began to disturb him over the years how alike the two were. They looked alike, sounded and spoke alike and behaved and thought alike, so much so they could have passed for brother and sister. Perhaps even twins. Even the thought made Sirius curl his lip with sheer abhorrence

"I believe we have gifts to exchange" said Walburga, her nostrils flaring at Sirius's curled lip

"Indeed. Regulus" he commanded. Regulus scurried over to the small pile and seperated them out. There appeared to be three presents for each of them. Noiselessly he scooped up one trio of gifts and gave them carefully to his father, he picked up another three, cradling them, he gave them uneasily to his mother. He came with Sirius's presents, handing them over much more casually, he sat down by his own pile of presents. Sirius and his parents watched him do this in total silence.

"Would my heir like to go first? As always" Orion smiled cruelly, Sirius did not take the smile personally, they always looked like that.

"No Reg should go first, he deserves to go first for once, plus, he's the baby" Sirius smiled affectionatley at his little brother, who returned the smile and looked approvingly up at their father

"Very well" he said, waving his hand nonchalantly. Regulus smiled again at Sirius and tore the wrapping away from his Gryffindor wrapped present. Inside, lay a book called Playing Quidditch For Begginers: Tips, Tricks and Flying advice

"A bit boring, I know" said Sirius

"No, it's brilliant. I've always wanted to play Quidditch. Thanks Sirius" He beamed adoringly at Sirius. Sirius blushed and shrugged

"No problem" Regulus nodded and tore into his parents gifts for him. They had gotten him a new broom

"Wow... this is such a surpise. I mean, I could tell what it was from the wrapping. But it was a surprise to see a broom shaped package" he grinned. His other prensent was a broom maitenance kit . Regulus was left with a big smile on his face. He spent the rest of the morning purched on his new broom, hovering a few feet above he ground as he flicked through his book.

"Sirius, if you will" said his father, ushering him to begin opening his presents. Sirius sighed and opened the two presents fom his parents first. They had gotten him an awful book on Wizard genealogy, Pure Blood, Pure Magic, and a new set of dress robes.

"Thanks" he said as sincerely as he could be bothered to pretend to sound. He opened Regulus's thin rectangular present, wondering what it could be.

"It's a painting" Sirius said surprised. A rather beautiful black and white painting of him and Regulus, he looked about eight and Regulus looked around six. Regulus was on the old wooden swing they had found in an abbandonned park while exploring, Sirius was standing behind pushing. The sun was high in the sky, birds twirled around above them and the grass behind them swayed softly. They were both laughing "I remember this photo" Sirius laughed "It took me so long to work how to get the camera on timer... Where is that photo?"

"You gave it to me, ages ago... when you went to Hogwarts" Regulus blushed, still looking adoringly at Sirius

"Did you paint this Reg?" He nodded slowly and blushed even pinker

"This is amazing" He said examining the painting in more detail, the brushwork was flawless, the tone and depth made Sirius feel as if he was looking out of a window into a black and white muggle film.

"Thanks" he said shyly. Regulus had also done paintings for his parents, which made Sirius's gift of Firewhisky look more than a bit pathetic, not that Sirius cared. For their father, Regulus had painted an old photo he had found of Orion with their grandfther (his father) Arcturus and his father Sirius (whom Sirius was named after). For their mother, Regulus had painted one of their wedding photographs, but put them infront of the family crest. Upon seeing their paintings, their parents excahnged a warm glance and had harmoniously remarked

"Impressive"

After a long day of spending time with his parents, Sirius was finnally allowed to retire to his bedroom. Just as he was about to curl up with one of the muggle records that James had gotten him last summer along with an old record player, his mother let herself into his room.

"Sirius"

"What do you want mum"

"I am here to request that you behave yourself when the family come on the 28th"

"Right... If I do can I go to the Potter's New years Eve party?"

"I suppose, but only if you are absaloutley perfect, all evening"

"alright"

"No mentioning any of your little mud blood friends"

"Fine" he scowled and she scowled back, she left the room, closing an locking the door behind her

*

Remus heard the softest knock on the door, he wouldn't have heard it, had he not already been awake

"Remus sweetheart?"

"Just getting dressed mum" he called as he buttoned his jeans. He pulled a tidy grey shirt on and quickly buttonned it. He followed his mother downstairs and was delighted to see a stack of very bookish looking presents piled around beneath the small modest christmas tree.

"We wanted to get you a new broom, but we couldn't really affored it" said his Dad nervously "But you only asked for books, so I thought-"

"This is Great" Remus smiled earnestly "I hardly fly any way, it would've been a waste of money getting me a broom"

"well there you go" said his Mum brightly, in her usual almost whisper "go on then" she aid smiling pushing him toward his presents. Remus tore keenly into his gifts. They'de gotten him about twelve books, a mixture of magic fiction, muggle fiction, an advanced defensive spells text book and an advanced transfiguration text book

"We thought they'de help with your tutoring" nodded his Dad

"This is really great. Thanks mum, thanks Dad"

"No problem sweet heart" his mother nodded, she pattered over to her presents, of which there were only two. His Dad had gotten her a peicrcingly blue sapphire necklace "Oh John... this is far too much. We can't afford this" her mouth was wide open as she oogled the glittering stones

"They aren't real Sapphires Rhea, it's alright, it's well within our price range" he smiled, she sighed

"Thank Merlin for that... it's just gorgeous" they kissed, he bent down and she stood on her tip toes to do so. She put on the necklace, which was a few shades darker blue than her eyes and brought the already staggeringly blue orbs out very nicely. She very carefully unwrapped Remus's present. Remus had clearly been on a similar train of thought to his dad when he bought his mum's present; a rather beautiful azure scarf, woven from unicorn hair. Remus had been careful that the material was an exact match in clolour for his mother's eyes. She held it to her face and rubbed her cheek gently on the fabric, she nuzzled it. "Beautiful... so soft... thank you sweet heart... I love it" she kissed Remus softly on the forehead.

"Er... Dad"

"What is it Remus?" he asked coolly

"I didn't get you anything because the last time I was in Hogsmeade, we weren't on speaking terms"

"That's fine" he said sincerely "I wouldn't have gotten me anything either"

*

"SIRIUS, THE FAMILY IS HERE" Screamed Walburga from the landing before going back down the few flights of stairs to greet their their relatives. He heard the murmours and squeaks of enthused greetings, whether the enthusiasm was feigned or not, Sirius could not tell. He stepped off his bed and put on the dress robes he'd been given three days previously. Some how, they were a tailored to him exactly and Sirius was sure he'd grown about a foot since he was last measured. Sirius checked his reflection in the floor lenghth mirror in the corner of his room. They were simple, smart and black. And, as much as he hated to admit it, his parents had excellent taste in robes and he looked damn good.

"SIRIUS, DO HURRY" Called Orion from the bottom of several flights of stairs. Sirius sighed and trudged down the stairs. The ancient and prune like Grandfather Arcturus was shuffling into the drawing room, to throw himself down into an old armchair, his equally ancient wife Melania followed him, she had gone to the effort of putting on her best dress robes, but had failed to remember to remove her slippers. His Aunt Lucretia, in mournful Black as she had recently lost her husband, was fawning over Regulus who looked as if he would've traded a thousand galleons to be somwhere else. Walburga was greeting her father, Pollux who was alone, his spouse also recently having died. Walburga's brother, his uncle Cygnus and his wife, Aunt Druella, followed Grandfather Pollux in, clutching a large present. Behind them was the tall and handsome Rodolphus Lestrange with wife, a tall and handsome cousin Bellatrix, in tow. And trailing in last was Narcissa and her boyfriendLucious Malfoy, who had his arm possesively wrapped around her. From the moment Malfoys cold grey stare penetrated his own, Sirius knew he was in for a rough evening.

Half an hour later, all fourteen of them were sat around the very large and grand dining table. His mother had made a very unwise descision in her seating plan. Sirius was quite happy to be sat with Regulus on his right and he supposed he wasn't completely adverse about sitting across from Narcissa, her recently having been so uncharacteristically civil to Remus, but why his mother had thought it necesary to sit Malfoy next to Narcissa, Sirius would never know. As Kreacher struggled to carry a stack of heavy plates into the room, Malfoy leaned over to him

"Why so glum Black, missing your boyfriend?" he muttered, smirking, Sirius tutted and shook his head "Merlin, you aren't even bothering to deny it any more, are you? I knew Severus wouldn't make something like you and Fruit Lupe getting off with eachother up, it-" Sirius interupted him with a furious slam of his fist down on on to the dinner table

"Shut the fuck up Malfoy" he snarled

"Touchy subject? As I was saying, it must be fairly serious if you can't bring yourself to refute it"

"I'm warning you Malfoy" Sirius scowled furiously at him. He was sure that if looks could make people burst into flmaes, Malfoy would've been burnt to a crisp by now

"I can't believe it, Sirius Black, A Black for goodness sake, is-"

"Lucious, leave him alone" said Narcissa, fluttering her mascara clogged eyelashes at Malfoy

"But Cissy..." he pleaded

"Please Lucious, I don't want you to cause a fight, it would ruin my christmas"

"It would?"

"Yes. Please, stop it" she cooed at him, she fluttered her eyelashes again and pouted Malfoy smiled lasciviously at her

"For you my love, I will stop" she giggled. He leaned over again as Kreachur set their plates down,and whispered "I'll see you at school Black"

Kreachur was about to snap his bony fingers and have their meal appear before them, when he was interupted by a great crash of someone forcing themselves through thte front door.

"Evening all, sorry I'm late" a tall, dark, older man grinned as he stumbled through the dining room door, Kreachur took his cloak hurried away to hang it up. It was Alphard, Sirius's favourite Uncle. He rarely appeared for ocasions like this. Kreacher scurried around and set him another place on Sirius's left.

"Sirius m'boy, it's so wonderful to see you. Have you had a nice christmas?"

"As nice as they ever get in this hell hole" Alphard gave half a smile

"Watch how loud you say that" Sirius nodded huffily. Kreachur snapped his fingers and the first course of tomato soup appeared infront of them, most began eating but Alphard ignored the sudden appearance of food and continued to talk to Sirius "How's things at school, I hear you got on the Quiddith team last year"

"Yep, I'm beater for Gryffindor... obviously"

"I was beater too you know" he clapped Sirius affectionately on the back "Though for Slytherin... obviously. Gryffindor's working out well for you then?" Sirius grinned at his uncle

"Spectacularly" he felt a pleasant warmth wash over him as he remembered, he'd be back in his bed at Gryffindor tower in a couple of weeks, back with James and Remus, back with Remus

"Ha ha! I know that look, someone's got themselves a girlfriend" Alphard grinned back at him and winked, Malfoy inhaled his spoonful of soup from laughing and promptly began to choke, Narcissa pounded his back

"You might say that" said Sirius, smiling knowingly

*

"Rhea, John, Remus! How nice it is to see you!" Said Charlus Potter, James's Dad, enthusiastically helping them from the fire, they had travelled by floo poder. They stepped into the living room of the Potter's very nice, vey large cottage. There was loud muggle music playing and a loud murmur of chat filled the room. The Lupins had arrived a little late and the cottage was beggining to reach maximum capicity "How's the post office? Recovering from the aftermath of the Owl pandemic nicely?"

"Very nicely indeed Charlus, thank you very much" beamed Remus's dad "How are things down in the department of Magicl law enforcemnt?" he asked excitedly

"Aah, really quiet over the last few months. They say there's no rest for the wicked, but it's like they've all gone on holiday" A young black man was stood just behind Charlus, he piped into the conversation

"I reckon this is just the calm before the storm" he said shaking his head

"Oh, John this is Kingsley Shaklebot, one of our newbies... how long ago was it you completed training?"

"About two or three weeks" he said smiling "I think I remeber you from Hogwarts" said Kingsley pointing at Remus "You were probably only in second year when I left though" Remus shrugged and nodded awkwardly "What's your last name again?"

"Lupin" he said curtly

"Lupin... Lupin... I deffinately know you... wait! You're the kid that bastard Malfoy used to torment aren't you?"

"Yes... I am"

"Hey woah, hang on a minute! You never told us about this Remus!" said his dad shakily, his mother dropped her jaw open and said, well mouthed as she was inaudible over the music.

"you were being bullied?"

"well er... sort of..."

"He was, but me and a lot of other prefects sorted him out, didn't we Remus" said Kingsley

"Yeah they did, he left me well alone after they spoke to him. They gave him a years detention"

"There was that one thing with the Verit-" Remus shook his head and Kingsley quickly understood and stopped talking. James had appeared from another room smiling brightly at the group of people, he put his hand on Remus's shoulders

"I'm going to steal Remus away now, if that's alright?" beamed James

"That's fine, James, isn't it?" asked Remus's dad, James nodded and then dragged Remus through the cowded living room upstairs. He pulled Remus into his bedroom, which was, in comparison to Remus's, huge! It was bright red, with a golden coloured carpet, a big plushy bed, with a gryffindor bed spread and several bean bag chairs near a stand for James's beloved broom. James flopped into one of the chairs and beckoned Remus to join him. Remus sat in the chair opposite, finding it almost insanely uncomfortable

"Moony Moony Moony, I must inform you of the location of our friends. Peter's not coming. He says he's busy with family stuff, but I reckon he just doens't want to leave his mummy" they snickered "Sirius is on his way, apparently. He said he was having a bit of trouble getting away"

"Why? The last letter you sent me said he was allowed to come"

"He was... his mum heard somethign about a blood traitor family being invited... big rivals of the Black clan... I don't even kow who they are, but anyway, she's refusing to let him use the floo network, so he's flying"

"Oh no!"

"What? He's a good flyer, he'll be alright"

"Prongs! He lives in london!"

"And?"

"Well you live in Devon! In the middle of no where, in Devon! It's about two hundred of miles away, it's dark and-" Remus got up and wrenched James's curtains open, the sun had been set for a while, and it had been snowing on and off again all day, about three inches of snow lay on the ground "- it just started snowing again!"

"Bloody hell, it's coming down pretty quickly isn't it?" James's jovial expression changed into one of panic "He could get lost..."

"He could crash..."

"... Muggles might see him!"

"He might hurt himself!... Oh James I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him" Remus felt his voice waver, he felt sick a the thought of something happening to Sirius

"I know Moony... I'm scared too... look, Remus mate, don't take this the wrong way... but, is there something going on between you two?" asked James

"James... I... no" he almost considered telling James the truth. But he felt it was wrong to do so without Sirius's consent

"No?" James curled his lip in disbelief

"No" he lied firmly. Remus decided to change the subject "Did Lily accept your earrings?

"I din't send them to her... I completely bottled it. I was just so scared she'd send them back... I like her so much Rem and she hates me... I should just give up on-"

James was interupted by someone entering his room. Familiar long dark brown hair, crazed hazel eyes and a rather large nose... ugh, and that awful high pitched squeal

"Where's Siri?" asked Marianne madly

"Who invited you?" snapped Remus

"Ugh! You are so rude" she snapped back "James's mum is friends with my mum and she told her to bring me along"

"Fine. Who said you could come up here?" asked Remus irritably

"James's mum! She said I should go up to James's room with the boys because I'd be bored downstairs ith the adults" She said mater of factly, placing her hands on her hips. Remus opned his mouth to reply, but James cut him off

"Come on Moony, she an stay. I don't mind her" He smiled lustfully at her. It was at this point, that Remus realised James was not thinking of how annoying the girl was, or how pissed off Sirius would be, this was because James's cock had clearly temprorarily taken over brain function. Seeing that there was no arguing with little James, Remus slumped back in his bean bag and scowled.

"So... where's Siri?" she asked again. James smile fell a little.

"He's flying here, so he'll be a while yet. But while he gets here, you can talk to me babe" James winked. Marianne giggled. Remus was sick in his mouth a little.

"I suppose" she said "Do you think Siri would mind me talking to his best friend when he's as fit as you?" she deliberately crossed her arms beneath her breasts, pushing them up so if James hadn't notcied them, he deffinately had by now

"He's pretty easy going"

"You know, I was thinking of breaking up with him-"

"You were never going out with him in the first place you loon" snarled Remus through gritted teeth, Marianne ignored Remus and contiued

"- he's been growing a bit distant lately. You don't seem like a distant person James"

"I'm the opposite of distant" he said getting out of his bean bag and strutting toward her and rumpling his hair up

"I bet you are" she said breathily, she ran her hands through his hair

"Oh for the love God! I can't believe you're doing this when Sirius is potentiallt lost, or hurt or worse!" said Remus angrily. Recieving no agknoledgment from James what so ever he leapt up and exited James's room, slamming the door closed behind him. He ran down the stairs, leaving the sound of muffled giggles behind him, Marianne's reputation as the Hufflepuff bike solidified. Remus wandered around between people, uncomfortably and aimlessly, in the Potter's living room. He still felt sick with worry of Sirius, he had begun to shake, his stomach was wound so tight that hethought he might be sick. He was about to go and speak to Mrs. Potter, when he realised he would surely have to face questions as to why he was not with James. Not willing to explain to her that her son was upstairs doing god knows what to Sirius Balck's stalker, he quickly ducked out of sight, behind a table full of bottles of drink and plastic cups. He sat for a minute, his stomach feeling like it was being whisked, he decided to go out doors and watch for Sirius. He crawled to the front door and rose to his knees, he quickly opened it, slipped outside and closed the door behind him.

Now, Remus was a very intelligent boy, a genius perhaps. But it had not occoured to him that going outside in 5 inches of snow, at night, in jeans and a t-shirt would be not just a bad idea, but an iditotic and potentially life threataning one but until he knew Sirius was safe, he made the decision to remain out doors.

Snow fluttered gracfully but quickly from the sky, and in large heavy flakes. There was no wind, and Remus began to wander among the tree's of the small forest the surrounded the Potter's house. The Potters had strung lights among the closest ring of tree's to make their house easier to spot for flyers, Remus prayed the snow wouldn't be to heavy for Sirius to see them. Remus was now so cold, that the snow stopped melting when it contacted his skin and clothes, and clung to him. He scanned the navy clouded sky for Sirius or any sign of him. Suddenly Remus heard a distant cry of

"Fucking hell!" and another of "shit shit shit!" Finnally he heard a painful sounding crash and a weak "o-o-o-ow! Bollocks..."

"Sirius!?" He shouted

"Remus?!" Sirius replied

"Hang on, I'm coming for you!"

"ha... I bet you are" Remus frowned at this, but continued to search for Sirius. He found him about twenty foot from where he'd been standing tangled around the trunk of a large fir tree. His left arm was a little mangled, it was bleeding and bent in an odd direction, his broom was also now chipped at the front and had a crack running right down to the tail. Sirius looked twice as cold and damp as Remus felt. His face was bright red and his hair had frost forming on it.

"Christ, are you alright?"

"Yeeeeeah... m'fine"

"Your arm looks broken! And your acctually frosty!"

"Is it..." he poked at his limp twisted arm "ouch... ha shit... it is as well. Help me up. Arse is freezing" Remus pulled Sirius up from the ground and brushed snow gently from his hair. He reeked of alcohol

"Have you been drinking Padfoot?"

"Yeah. I saw the weather and when I found out I was going to flying... so I though a bit of elf made courage might help" he coughed "bottle said it was like two hundred years old or something" he giggled "Orion gonna be aaaangry. I swiped some fire whisky too, for warmthing purposes. Still got some of that acctually" he guestured to a bag he'd had slung round his shoulder, but now lay on the ground by his broom. He went to pick it up with his broken arm "Ow!... No picking up for Sirius" he grumbled, he rubbed his good hand on his face "I feel weird Mooony... I've like completely gashploofed myself..."

"Gashploofed? That's not a word Sirius" Giggled Remus

"It is! It's an ad...verb... jective"

"An adverbjective"

"yeah" he stumbled on the spot and Remus caught him, he supported his weight and wrapped a caring arm around Sirius's icy frame

"Come on, let's get you inside"

"No! I want to stay out here!"

"You're joking, right"

"No! It's so beautiful and sparkly and white! And you look fucking hot... all snowy and wet and flushed"

"God you must be pissed"

"No you look so fucking fuckable right now Moony"

"Shut your face and get indoors" Remus pulled gently, but Sirius dug his heels in the ground

"No! Lets fly some where secluded and just... just fuck"

"Sirius please..." Remus tried to pull him again, but Sirius broke away and grabbed his broom and began to sing an old muggle song into it

"Come Fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away!"

"Sirius, You're going to catch pnuemonia at this rate"

"If you could use some exotic booze..." Sirius thought for a moment and began to add his own lyrics to the song "...then I've got some Fire whisk-ay"

"Come on!" Remus tried to catch Sirius, but he jumped out the way and ran a yard back

"Come fly wth me, let's float down to... is it Peru?"

"Yes, now get the fuck in doors"

"aah yeah... In llama land there's a one man, who'll toot your flute for you" he pointed at him self and winked suggestively

"Yes, hilarious. I'm not kidding Sirius, I'm scared for you" he said concernedly, making a small run to catch him again. He backed off again

"Come fly with me, let's float down to the blue....something something something... We'll just glide with your sexy gold eyes"

"That one didn't even remotely fit with that line. Seriously, come on now!"

"Whatever Once we get up there, I'll be holding you so near, you may hear the ang-OOF" Remus had had enough. He'd rugby tackled Sirius and knocked him to the floor. Keeping him pinned, Remus leant over to Sirius's bag and broom and picked them up, slinging the bag round his shoulder and the broom under his arm, he took full advantage of his lychanthropic strength and tossed Sirius over his free shoulder. He began to trudge the short distantance back to the Potter's

"Merlins beard Rem!"

"I'm sorry Sirius, but you forced me to do this"

"What'cha sorry for, I'm fucking loving this... I should get drunk and annoy you more often"

"Please don't"