A/N: This chapter has been a bit struggle to write as I've had chapter 16 planned out in my head for ages, but needed something in between. But I hope you enjoy it =)

This chapter's mainly based on Sirius

And the title is borrowed from the Blink 182 song of the same name =P


Chapter 15

I Won't be Home for Christmas

November past in a flurry of bad weather and annoyed Hogwarts students who were forced to stay inside due to the heavy showers that flooded through the grounds. It was so bad, in fact, that all Herbology classes had been cancelled and the first Quidditch match of the season had to be postponed, much to the Quidditch teams and James' disappointment. It wasn't long until the pitiful month became colder and colder, turning rain into sleet before washed itself away, bringing December in with a downpour of fresh white snow. Now in renewed good moods, the students prepared themselves for the Christmas festivities.

"What are you guys doing for Christmas?" James asked his fellow dorm mates one bright morning, not too long before the big day.

"My family wants me to come home to see them" said Peter with a little grin on his face as he thought of going back to his parents for the first time in three months.

"Mine too" Travis added "It's great learning magic and all, but I think it'll be nice to have some time off for a while, go back to living the muggle way."

James gave Travis a confused look then shook his head "I still don't understand how muggles get around without using magic"

"You don't understand much James" Sirius said with a laugh, chucking a pillow at the bespectacled boy.

"Hey!" James yelled as the pillow caught the back of his head "Shut it Siri! Anyway, what are you doing for the holiday?"

Instead of answering, the long haired boy remained silent, his smirk growing wider as he watched his friends' expression become more and more frustrated.

"Sirius!" James eventually yelled, throwing the pillow back at the young boy "I asked you a question! Answer dammit!"

"Sorry mate, but you did tell me to shut it, I was only following orders"

James growled "You can be so irritating sometimes you know"

"I know mate, I try my best" Sirius laughed before finally answering the question "I'm staying here over Christmas, there's no way I'm going back to that house, and I seriously doubt my family want me back before summer. Come to think of it, I doubt they want me back at summer, but they're gonna have to. Anyone staying with me?"

At his words, the other four boys look slightly guilty.

"Um, my parents would like me back to" Remus said in a small voice, looking anywhere but Sirius.

"Mine too" James added lamely "Christmas is always a time for family at mine and it'll be the first time I'll see Harry since the Halloween incident. But I'll write to you Siri!"

"Oh" Sirius said slowly as realisation dawned upon him. "Oh well, lets go out and have a few epic snowball fights before you all desert me" He laughed and ran out of the room, closely followed by Peter, James, Remus and Travis.

80)

Sirius stood at the train platform wrapped up in his long black overcoat in an attempt to keep him warm. He couldn't help but feel a slight prang of jealousy as he watched his best friends disappear around the corner as the Hogwarts express brought them ever closer to their families, whereas he was stuck at the castle on his own. With a heavy sigh, the first year pulled his jacket over his nose to keep it from getting any colder before turning to face the bitter wind and make his way back to the warmth of Gryffindor common room. As he trudged his way back, Sirius couldn't help but notice how empty the frozen grounds look now they were void of the many students building snowmen, having snowball fights and generally creating chaos with the freezing white stuff scattered over the grounds. He was just about to walk through the front doors when a large icy snowball collided with the stone wall.

"Dammit, miss the bugger!" Rabastan Lestrange barked, crouching down to gather up more snow. "All on your own Black"?

"No, can't you see all these people surrounding me?" Sirius replied sarcastically, only to receive a confused look from the older boy.

"Don't try to be funny with me Black!" He growled after realising Sirius was joking. He then turned to the boy beside him that Sirius had failed to notice "Come on Snape, let's teach this smartass a lesson"

The Gryffindor whipped his wand out quickly as the two Slytherins advanced on him, each drawing their own wand.

"Locomotor Mortis!" Sirius cried, aiming at Rabastan, who quickly pulled Snape into the path of the jinx for protection. The burst of blue light hit Snape in the forehead, causing his to keel over in the snow, his legs now locked together.

"Deprimo!" The fourth year jeered. Sirius just managed to dive out of the way as a shot of green light headed forward, blasting a hole in the wall with a loud crack.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

Filch hobbled through the front doors, obviously alerted by the noise.

"I should've know" He growled, looking from Sirius beside him, to Rabastan who still had his wand pointing at the first year, to Snape who was still laying face first in the snow, unable to move his legs. "The three of you come with me, NOW!" He snapped "Lestrange, help the Snape boy up and drag him to my office if necessary."

The three boys followed the caretaker in silence into the entrance hall as he muttered on and on about duelling in the corridors and students getting into trouble.

Sirius spent the remainder of his day scrapping Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from the underside of the desks in the Transfiguration classroom with a blunt knife he'd borrowed from the kitchens. After frustratingly wrestling with the rather sticky pieces of gum he vowed never to chew Drooble's Best ever again, no matter how sweet and delicious they were. Hours later, an exhausted Sirius collapsed onto the big comfy sofa by the fire in the empty common room. Knowing he was the only Gryffindor left at Hogwarts over the holidays, the long haired boy lay lazily on his back, allowing the warmth of the flames to wash over him until he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

80)

Sirius awoke on Christmas day, once again on the common room sofa. He stretched, yawned widely and swung his legs off the comfy chair, stretching once again then heading up to the dormitory to find some fresh clothes. He kicked the door open noisily, just because he could, but regretted it instantly when three owls started squawking loudly and flapping around the room.

"OKAY! OKAY! I'M SORRY!" He yelled, covering his ears "JUST CALM DOWN!"

Ignoring Sirius' pleas, the owls continued to fly around the Gryffindors head until he caught each of them and tore the letters from their legs. Once they were free, the owls swooped angrily out of the open window to rest in the Owlery. Sirius grinned as he recognised the writing on each of them and decided to open the letter from his best friend first.

To Siri,

Happy Christmas mate! Hope you're having fun at Hoggywarts and not missing me too much.

Sirius laughed. Typical James.

Anyway, I left you a present in the first draw of my bed side table. Hope you like it.

Enjoy the holiday!

From James.

Sirius dropped the letter onto his bed and crossed the room over to James bed. He opened the first draw but instead of finding a present, he was confronted by a draw full of James' socks. On top of the pile he spotted a note with his friends' scrawled writing.

Haha, just kidding. Your present is in the third draw.

Sirius, knowing James' terrible pranks too well, opened the second draw instead, this time to find more of his friends' clothes and another note.

I knew you wouldn't trust me. Siriusly (See what I did there?) your present is in the third draw. James.

Sirius shook his head in despair, making a mental note to teach his friend some better jokes when he got back. Finally he crouched down to open the third draw and was relieved to find nothing but a poorly wrapped present and yet another note from James.

Got there in the end then! Happy Christmas! From James.

The long haired boy laughed again and tore the paper from his Christmas present. Out fell a box filled to the brim with Zonkos products he must've gotten from his brother. Sirius smiled and placed the box onto his own bed side table. He then turned to the remaining two letters, picking up the one covered in the neat curly handwriting of Remus Lupin.

Dear Sirius,

I hope you're having a good Christmas. I'm sorry we couldn't be there with you but we'll be back before you know it. I've left you a present on my bed, I hope you like it.

From Remus.

Now Sirius walked over to Remus' bed and pulled back the hangings to find a carefully wrapped box waiting for him. He ripped off the tape and was very pleased to find a box of sugar quills.

"Lessons are going to get better now" Sirius smiled, placing the quills next to his Zonkos products then picking up Peters letter.

Hi Sirius

I wasn't sure what to get you, but James and Remus said these will be good. I hope you like my present, it's under my bed.

Happy Christmas

From Peter

Sirius led down on the floor to search underneath the bed nearest the door. As he searched he pulled out many odd socks, screwed up pieces of parchment, broken quills and empty ink bottles and loads of half eaten sticky sweets. Sirius shook off a sherbet lemon that stuck itself to his hand, looking revolted. Finally he found another poorly wrapped, slightly smaller packet and ripped the wrappings off. Out fell a pack of Self Shuffling Playing Cards and a small note.

James said these should get you into less trouble if you want to play snap at the back of class again. Remus said you shouldn't be playing snap at the back of class but thinks that at least these will be quieter. From Peter.

Sirius gave a bark of laughter and put the cards next to his other presents and the notes from his friends. He smiled at them for a moment before remembering the reason he had come up to the dormitory in the first place. Quietly, he got changed.

80)

Sirius ran down the staircase as fast as he could, his stomach rumbling at the thought of the Christmas feast that awaited him. He dived into the Great Hall and skidding to a stop in front of a small round table with ten seats around it. From the other end of the table, Dumbledore gave a loud laugh.

"It's nice to see you're so hungry Mr Black" He chuckled as the boy took a seat next to a small Hufflepuff boy. "Now we're all here, I say we eat!"

Just like the first feast of the year, after Dumbledore had spoken, food appeared on the once empty plates in front of them. Sirius hungrily tucked into his turkey, potatoes, stuffing, the works, as he looked around the table at the other guests. On the headmasters right side sat Professor McGonagall, looking odd with a party hat perched on her head. Beside her were Rabastan and Snape, neither of which looked happy to be sat next to the teacher. Next came two seventh years, who Sirius realised were the Head boy and girl. They sat side by side holding hands, which, for some reason, reminded him of James and Lily. Smiling at his own thought, the first year continued to look around the table. On his left was the Hufflepuff, who Sirius couldn't put a name to but thought he was in third year. Then came a shy looking Ravenclaw girl Sirius recognised from his Herbology class. Finally, on Dumbledore's left was Argus Filch in a smart looking suit. Every so often he would check nobody was watching before sneaking a piece of turkey under the table to Mrs Norris. Sirius finished his large feast first and waited patiently for every one else, listening to the different conversations.

"Why aren't you at home Mr Lestrange?" McGonagall asked the Slytherin, who didn't look to happy to be spoken to.

"Decided not to" He replied simply, gulping down a potato.

The professor looked slightly taken aback by the short answer. Instead she turned back to Dumbledore to talk to him.

"Are we all done?" The headmaster asked, seeing everyone's empty plates. "Good good, time for puddings!"

Once more the plates were loaded with different sweets and cakes. The ten at the table ate their way happily through the food and soon the plates were empty again. The Christmas feast continued a little longer with a very merry Dumbledore getting everyone to pull crackers and giggling at the different prizes that fell from each. Sirius retired to the common room a while later with a wide smile spread across his face. He went up to the dormitory to grab his new cards from Peter to play a game of Solitaire before falling asleep on the sofa again. For the second time that day he opened the door to find an owl waiting for him on his bed. He trotted across the room and snatched up the letter and small packet, a slight look of horror and confusion on his face.

Dear Sirius.

We thought we'd remind you who you are. You're a Black and there is no escaping the fact.

From Your Mother and Father.

No "Happy Christmas", no "Wish you were here". Sirius sat down on his bed to unwrap the tiny parcel. Out fell a heavy golden ring with a large emerald stone at the front, the Black Family Crest engraved onto it.

"Great" Sirius growled, spinning the ring around in his hand to take a good look at it "I wonder if there's a spell to get rid of that"

He threw the ring to the back of his sock draw, seized his cards and headed back to the fire knowing he wouldn't be sleeping all too well that night.