AN: Enjoy!

Chapter 10 - A Black Christmas

It was Christmas Eve. Bellatrix was not working during the winter holidays and the Blackthorn had been decorated with great enthusiasm by her and her House Elf, Niki. Harry had not been idle either and he had helped them by levitating various ornaments on demand and even applying Sticking Charms too when instructed to do so. It looked rather amusing that a building with such gothic architecture and old-fashioned furniture and chandeliers could exhibit such warmth and colour during Christmas. The only caveat was that they could not show it off to their neighbours because the entire place was hidden by a Fidelius Charm.

The scene that happened a few days ago was never mentioned again by Bellatrix and Harry had enough tact to not bring it up himself. He was just glad that she had returned to her energetic and slightly sarcastic self. While he was curious about what had made her so emotional, he was not going to push her into talking about it.

Now, the two of them were having dinner together at the light of numerous candles floating above their heads. All kinds of delicious dishes were spread over the long table in the kitchen: turkey, chicken, several types of salad, soup, pumpkin and apple pies, jello and a chocolate cake too. There was enough food to feed eight people, not only two.

It felt so domestic and peaceful. Harry could not remember the last time he had spent Christmas in such a chill and laid-back atmosphere.

'Last Christmas I was torturing information out of four Vampires in Hungary with the Cruciatus...'

After dying for the third time at the hands of Harry Potter, Voldemort chose not to reincarnate in England again. Instead, he came back to life in Albania and set his base of operations in the Balkan Mountains. Whereas Grindelwald had attracted wizards and witches of all kinds by promising them victory over Muggles and coming out of hiding, Voldemort changed his strategy from attracting purebloods to his cause to attracting all kinds of magical creatures unhappy with the status quo. The addition of Vampires to his already dangerous faction consisting of pureblood wizards, Werewolves, and Giants, had shaken the entire Europe. The community of Vampires from Transylvania was old, powerful, numerous, and bloodthirsty. They had tipped the scales into Voldemort's favour heavily.

'Even Goblins were debating whether to join his cause or not towards the end of the war...' Harry reminisced.

But he shook his head and willed that line of thought away. He did not want to think about the terrible war from the past.

'I'm making new memories now. Happy, peaceful memories, in a different world, with a lovely witch.'

It was just him, Bellatrix, and Niki. And a swarm of tiny Fairies that were arguing over the best spots in the large Christmas tree outside, in the courtyard. A flutter of wings and a hooting sound reminded Harry of the other inhabitant of the house: Hedwig had her own perch in the kitchen too. It looked like Bellatrix had fallen prey to her charms as well, not just Harry. A perch had been installed for her in the living room next to the fireplace, one in Harry's bedroom, and one in the kitchen. Hedwig had become a part of their impromptu family too.

"Would you like to come with me to Grimmauld Place tomorrow? Grimmauld Place is Sirius' home, my cousin. My sister, Andromeda, will be there as well together with her husband and her daughter. We're planning on having lunch together, on Christmas."

"Can you tell me more about them, about your family?" he asked and he made sure to keep his face straight and not betray his excitement. Inwardly, he could not wait to see Tonks and Sirius again. He realized that they could be completely different from how they used to be back in his previous life but he wanted to at least see them once.

"Well, the Black family motto is - was - "Toujours pur". It means 'always pure' in French. They valued one's ancestry a lot." Bellatrix said and Harry paid close attention to her words.

"So they were like Draco Malfoy? Calling muggleborn people mudbloods and such?"

Bellatrix made a small grimace.

"Pretty much, yes. My relationship with my family used to be very good...until I graduated from Hogwarts and received an internship offer at the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable assistant. After that, everything changed."

Her expression became cloudy and hard to decipher emotions flashed in her black eyes.

"There was a huge argument. My aunt Walburga did something unforgivable and I made sure she paid in full for it... But I ended up being burnt off from the family tree and broke off all contact with them. The only one from the family that helped me back then was aunt Cassiopeia. She never married and she had no children either. Seeing as I was her favourite niece, she helped me financially when I had nothing. After she passed away, she left me everything in her will: this house and her vault at Gringotts too."

Though Bellatrix had brushed over her conflict with her family succinctly Harry thought that whatever happened back then must have not been as simple as she made it out to be.

'Was it her broken relationship with her family the reason why she turned out to be a completely different person from my past life?' he mused. 'Peter Pettigrew is an honest man working a full-time job in Diagon Alley, Bella of all people was forced out from the Black family and Sirius ended up in Slytherin and he didn't run away from home, acting instead as a filial son...oh, and Fleur is a serial killer. This world really is upside down. Sheesh'

"I'm sorry, it's Christmas Eve and here I am, bringing our mood down with the sob story of my dysfunctional family," Bellatrix said apologetically.

"It's alright. I'm the one who asked. But if it's so bad why do you want us to go there tomorrow?" he said.

"Well, the old and bigoted generation died out. Nowadays, Sirius, Andromeda, and I are the only ones left from the Black family. There's Narcissa Malfoy too but she's got her head so far up her husband's pureblood arse that we haven't spoken in more than a decade."

Harry chuckled a little at her colourful language.

⁂

Christmas with the Blacks was not quite what Harry had expected.

'When I heard Sirius was a 'respectable' member of society I thought he'd be something like Lucius Malfoy. A proud and elegant man with his nose in the clouds... not this slob...'

Harry and Bellatrix arrived at Grimmauld Place at noon yet Sirius Black was already too drunk to differentiate between his own House Elf, Kreacher, and the young Harry Potter.

Bellatrix was embarrassed on his behalf but there was nothing she could do about it. Apparently, Sirius was a drunkard and a half whenever he did not need to attend Wizengamot meetings.

'How disappointing. After 12 years in Azkaban with the Dementors, my Sirius still had more life in him than this guy. How did this Sirius end up like this?' Harry said to himself.

"What about your sister? Is she not coming?" he asked.

"Kreacher said that the Tonks have already been here earlier in the morning," Bellatrix said.

If Harry was disappointed, it was nothing compared to how bummed out Bellatrix herself was. She had wanted to introduce Harry to the rest of her family and have a nice time together with them but her sister had come earlier than established and her cousin was too drunk to count to 10.

⁂

Once they left Grimmauld Place, the two of them returned to the Blackthorn, Bellatrix's home.

"Bottoms up!" she cheered and downed her glass of gin in a quite unladylike fashion.

In front of Harry, a foaming pint of butterbeer lay. However, he looked like he had no intention of touching it even with a stick.

"Um, I don't like butterbeer. I'd rather have some apple juice or pumpkin juice."

Bellatrix looked at him curiously because the pint of butterbeer was clearly untouched.

"Are you sure? Give it a taste at least. Trust me, it's very sweet, you'll love it." she tried to tempt him but Harry shook his head stubbornly.

His petulant refusal of even taking a small sip from the drink actually relieved Bellatrix because she was seeing him acting his age. Sometimes she was weirded out by how mature he was.

Niki, the House Elf, popped up in the next moment with a glass of apple juice and served it to Harry. His ears became red in embarrassment because of the look of amusement on Bellatrix's face and her giggles but he drank it nonetheless.

Ever since the Weasleys were killed at the end of 2004 until 2020 when he stepped into the Veil of Death, Harry had not taken even a sip of any kind of alcoholic drink. He had never forgotten how he had failed to Apparate on the first try on that fateful night because he had been too drunk on Firewhisky. Although on a mental level he knew that arriving 10 seconds earlier would not have changed anything, in his heart, he was still blaming himself that maybe he could have saved at least one of them if he had arrived a few seconds earlier...

His embarrassment at being made fun of by Bellatrix was now forgotten as the scene of the Burrow in flames played at the front of his mind. The fire, the Dark Mark, and the dead bodies of his family. He had never forgiven himself for refusing the Weasleys' invitation that night. He had never forgiven himself for getting too drunk to Apparate to their home instantly after getting that vision.

As he had had the chance to notice on multiple occasions before, his mastery over Occlumency was no longer as good as it used to be in his past life. Due to this young body, he had a hard time controlling his emotions sometimes. It was one of those moments in the present as well. Feeling his mask slipping up, he quickly stood up from the table.

"I'm sorry. I'd need to use the loo," he said, forcing himself to keep a steady voice.

Then, he left a befuddled Bellatrix alone at the table as he all but ran out from the kitchen.

"Maybe I shouldn't have laughed at him?" she thought out loud when she saw his uncomfortable-looking face and the way he almost ran away. But she shrugged her shoulders and giggled a bit. This was considered nothing compared to how they teased each other sometimes. She thought he would get over his embarrassment soon and come back.

However, even after six more glasses of gin, Harry did not return. More than a bit tipsy now, Bellatrix wobbled to the living room and fell asleep on her favourite sofa in front of the fireplace.

⁂

Harry went outside the house and the chilly air of the snowy Christmas night did wonders in helping him reign in his turbulent emotions. He took long and deep gulps of air and exhaled slowly, focusing on his breathing. It was a popular method of emptying one's mind because it was simple and it could be done anywhere, anytime. Nevertheless, he knew that shutting down his emotions completely was not healthy and that bottling them up could lead to them exploding even worse after some time. So he closed his eyes and started thinking about the happy memories he had made in his past life with the Weasleys, trying to drown the agonizing memory of their deaths with the happy ones.

His first time meeting Ron on the train... he and Ron saving Hermione from the Troll... Ron and the twins coming to rescue him from the Dursleys with their flying car in the summer before his second year... Hermione sticking up to him while the entire school shunned him in his fourth year... Dumbledore's army in the fifth year... Fleur and Bill's wedding... Ron and Hermione helping him in their Horcrux hunt... Fleur and Bill sheltering them at Shell Cottage after escaping from the Malfoy Manor... Ron and Hermione's big wedding after the war...

He drew out his fir and dragon heartstring wand and chanted:

"Expecto Patronum!"

However, the corporeal Patronus he had been expecting to see did not come out. Right when he spoke the incantation, the image of the Burrow in flames and the burning corpses of his loved ones appeared at the front of his mind. From the tip of his wand, only a few wisps of mist came out and they too dissipated rapidly.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he brandished his wand again and shouted as he focused his will harder than before on the happy memories.

But it was all for nought. This time, even the protective mist did not come out. Outside of his control, his eyes glistened and tears started rolling down his cheeks. Even his Occlumency could not stop the torrent of emotions boiling in his heart. It could not push away the tragic scene from the front of his mind anymore. He could not even empty his mind of thoughts like before. For the first time since he had woken up in this new world, Harry cried.