We still had no solution to Regulus's anti-gravity problem, and, although he seemed to be used to it, it was annoying when he'd float upside down behind you and startle you by saying something. I was about ready to lather super glue on his feet and stick them to the ground.

However, Sirius's sword was more worrisome than Regulus's floating. After two days, Mum had banned the use of it in the house. Less than an hour after that, I ended up taking the sword and hiding it after Sirius nearly chopped his own arm off.

Needless to say, he was still looking for it.

We'd cancelled the annual Christmas party; with everything going on, we thought it best. At last, Sirius seemed to have forgotten about the whole deal with my accidental magic.

"Hey, James, I think I figured out what happened that day! You know, when you fell off the roof?"

Or not.

"Please tell me you're not still on about that?" I said. Sirius just grinned and flopped down onto the couch beside me, shoving a large book on my lap and flipping it open.

"Look," Sirius said. "I've been reading-"

Across the room, Regulus started laughing. I snickered as Sirius gave him an unimpressed glare. Regulus coughed awkwardly and held up the book he was reading. "Uh... funny book."

"Hogwarts: A History (The Abridged Version)?" Sirius asked dubiously.

"Er..." said Regulus. "I'm just gonna go read in my room."

With that, he zoomed out of the room as fast as he could fly, which was, admittedly, pretty fast.

"I read," grumbled Sirius. "He shouldn't sound so surprised."

"Mate, you aren't, er, the studious type," I pointed out.

"It's not that funny, though," said Sirius. "Anyway, look, read this. I think I've figured it out."

I glanced down at the page to read, but stopped, and squinted, before rubbing my eyes. All I could make out on the page were strange squiggles and symbols, somewhat like the Egyptian hieroglyphics Lily had shown me once before. I looked back at Sirius. "You're joking, right?"

"It's cool, isn't it?" asked Sirius. "What do you think? You agree?"

"Very funny, Sirius," I said. "Give me a book written in a different language and pretend it has something important in it. Alright, so what have you really been up to?"

Sirius frowned, and grabbed the book, flipping through it. "This is in plain English, Prongs! It's really interesting- why do you think it's in a different language? Look, I'll read you a passage."

He began speaking, but not in English, instead in the strange language of the Heart I'd decided to jokingly call Heartian (like Martian? Get it? Yeah, okay, not that funny). I tapped him on the shoulder. "Now you're not speaking English."

Sirius looked at me, and exclaimed something else.

"English!" I said slowly. "Is that so hard?"

Sirius shook his head. "Well, that's great. I probably should have guessed this wasn't in English; it is, after all, from the Heart."

"Yeah, thought so," I said. "When you started speaking Heartian on me."

Sirius stared at me for a moment. "Heartian?"

I turned red. "I had to call it something, didn't I? That was the best I can think of."

Sirius just laughed, closing the book. "Alright, mate, if that's what you're calling it. Heartian it is. I'll try to translate the passage, kay? Or at least find a way to read it aloud in English."

"I can't believe it," I said.

Sirius blinked. "What?"

"You're actually doing something academic!" I exclaimed. Sirius scowled at me. "Shame it isn't homework. Remember the essay McGonagall assigned us over break?"

"Oh crud!" Sirius exclaimed, hopping up and muttering more curses under his breath. "I forgot! I've gotta go finish that! Bye!"

With that, he raced out of the room to complete the essay he probably should have done a week ago.

I knew something was wrong when I heard Sirius yelp upstairs. Panicking slightly, I raced up to his room, shoving the door open.

"Sirius, are you okay!?" I asked.

Sirius, who was clearly trying to hide something behind his back, waved with his left hand. "Er, I'm fine. Nothing to see here, Jamie- uh, do you have any dittany?"

"Why do you need dittany?" I asked suspiciously, inching forward. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," said Sirius too quickly, pulling his right arm farther behind his back. There was a clang, and I caught sight of his sword clattering to the ground behind him. I crossed my arms.

"Show me your arm," I ordered. Reluctantly, Sirius held out his right arm. A long cut was visible, seeping red blood that stained his sleeve. I frowned deeply. "I told you that sword was bad! How did you even find it?"

"It was an accident," said Sirius, ignoring my last question. "Now get me some dittany before your mum finds out."

"I think Mum should see that," I said crossly.

"C'mon, James, it's just a little cut," Sirius insisted, gesturing to his bleeding arm. I raised an eyebrow, and Sirius quickly covered his arm with his hand.

"Little?" I asked. "I'm getting Mum."

"She'll take away the sword!" Sirius exclaimed. "All I need is some dittany, or, heck, you could heal it, right?"

"I could," I said. "But this is your fault. Therefore, I'm going to let you handle this on your own. If that means going to Mum, so be it. Good luck."

"James!" Sirius whined. "What if I bleed to death?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Stop being dramatic, Sirius. You won't bleed to death from that little cut, relax. It'll heal on its own in a day or so if you do nothing; you'll probably want a blood replenishing potion, but other than that you'll be fine."

Sirius scowled, obviously upset his plan to get me to help didn't work. "Fine, don't get me dittany. I don't even know where it is!"

"Good luck finding it," I replied cheekily. "Now put up that sword before you cut your arm off."

"What's happening?" asked Regulus floating in the room. "Hey! Sirius is bleeding!"

"Yes, let's just announce it to the whole house," Sirius grumbled sarcastically.

"Who's bleeding?" I spun on my heel at the female voice, mouth falling open. Lily had just walked into the room. "Oh my gosh, Sirius, you're bleeding!"

"I noticed," said Sirius dryly.

"Lily! When did you get here?" I asked, walking over and greeting her with a quick hug.

"Just a minute ago," replied Lily. "I'd like to know why Regulus is floating, Sirius is bleeding and- Merlin, is that a sword!?"

"That's a sword," I confirmed, crossing my arms. "Evirah got it for him, and now he's gone and nearly cut his arm off."

"What was she thinking!?" Lily exclaimed. She dug through her bag for her wand, before quickly healing Sirius's arm. "There you go, Siri. All better. Why did either of you heal him sooner?"

"I was trying to teach him a lesson," I replied crossly.

"Thank you, Lily," said Sirius. "Least you're nice."

"I'm nice!" Regulus protested. "But you're an idiot, Aunt Carol told you not to mess around with that sword. See what happened?"

"They're both right," said Lily. "You need to be more careful."

Sirius seemed bewildered by everyone ganging up on him, and I felt sort of guilty, until Sirius spoke up. "Well, James fell off the roof!"

My mouth fell open. "Are you still going on about that? Drop it!"

"You fell off the roof?" Lily asked in alarm, looking me over carefully as if checking for injuries. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," I said. "Sirius is being overdramatic. There was a bit of accidental magic and I landed softly."

Lily sighed in relief. "Well, that's a relief. Alright, so what did Sirius do to Regulus?"

Sirius mouth fell open. "What!? Why does everyone immediately assume this is my fault? For the record, I didn't do this!"

"This time," Regulus added. "But he did blow up the Christmas tree."

Sirius turned bright red. "That was an accident. How was I supposed to know Regulus's gingerbread reacts badly to eckeletricity?"

Lily blinked, and I snickered, fondly remembering hearing an explosion and walking in the living room to see a scorch mark, no Christmas tree, and Sirius covered in ash.

"Oh dear," said Lily. "You're just a walking disaster, aren't you?"

Regulus and I both snickered. "Yep! He is!"

I was having the strangest dream. Okay, so maybe I'd had stranger. I was following Sirius (who was, for some strange reason, wearing all white) across a field, and he was not talking.

"Okay," until now, apparently. "We're here."

"Where is here?" I asked curiously.

"I don't particularly know," admitted Sirius. "Uncle Alphard calls it the Field of Memories. It took me forever to find it so I could talk to you."

"Huh?" I said smartly.

"I cannot believe you time-travelled without me," Sirius exclaimed, though he was grinning. "Although
I understand why you did. Gosh, I'm so jealous. The me in that timeline has a sword! How come you never got me a sword, James?"

"You'd've cut your own arm off," I said dryly, before blinking in surprise. "Wait- you- you're Sirius from my timeline?"

"Course I am!" Sirius beamed. "I must say, I'm touched you want to save me."

"Sirius!" I exclaimed, and, without thinking, I rushed forward to grab him in a hug. Instead, I stumbled through thin air, and I turned in shock.

"Unfortunately," said Sirius, a slightly glum expression on his face. "We can see and hear each other, but not touch. So no hugs or high fives or anything."

"Oh," I said. "I'm so, so sorry, Sirius."

"See, I wish I could have gotten to you sooner," Sirius laughed. "You're still blaming yourself! I'm going to tell you something every single person you know has already told you: it wasn't your fault."

I smiled bitterly. "It was partly my fault. Maybe not completely, but definitely partly."

"Survivor's guilt," grumbled Sirius. "I think you plenty make up for whatever part you think you played in my death. After all, you went back in time to save me."

"I feel like I'm doing more harm than good," I muttered. "I mean, you're almost killed every other week."

"You have helped that timeline more than you could ever know, James," said Sirius. He looked like he wanted to grab my shoulders and shake some sense into me. "So I get hurt every so often. Do you really think I care? So you might have destroyed the last remnant of Regulus's sanity-"

"What?"

"He has more fun this way!" Sirius continued. "Do you realize how many deaths you've inadvertently prevent? How many Death Eaters you've inadvertently stopped? How many people you've inadvertently helped?"

I smiled hesitantly. "Well, I... er, it can't be that many."

"That was supposed to be an ego boost," Sirius deadpanned. "That was supposed to make you walk around for two weeks boasting with a huge head."

"Ah, Siri, you know how Lily feels about bragging," I replied cheekily.

"True," Sirius laughed. "Well, I'm going to have to go now."

"No!" I cried. "No, don't go!"

"I have to, James," Sirius said. He started to fade, and I reached out towards him, eyes starting to mist over with tears. "I'll see you again. Don't worry. Merry Christmas, Jamie."

With that, I shot upward, gasping. My eye felt moist, and I wiped at them, salty tears on my fingers. I was so glad I got to see him, but it had once again reminded me of everything that had happened. I wiped my eyes agin, and leaned over and grabbed a picture of me, Sirius, and Regulus I kept on the table beside. I traced Sirius's figure, biting my lip to keep from sobbing uncontrollably, completely overwhelmed by what might or might not have been a dream. Nonetheless, I let a watery smile creep onto my lips and a few tears fall down. "Merry Christmas, Sirius."

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Gosh, that part at the end made me tear up as I was writing it, but I really had to add it. I hope you enjoyed. I don't have internet as I'm writing this, so this might not be up on Christmas like I'd hoped. :P Still, I hope you enjoyed! Thanks to N. E. Person, jeremiah123, sk8boards4ever, Red Moon Lollipop, and Kazo Sakamari for reviewing! Free Christmas chocolates! Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate!) :D!

I do not own Harry Potter!