Arcturus Black
By: Katerinaki
Published: 12/2/2016
Beta'ed: No
Chapter 16: Christmas at Hogwarts
"I'm sorry Arcturus, but with Dora in Auror training, Ted and I thought this might be a good chance to spend Christmas with his family in Cornwall. They're muggles, and while I'm sure they would welcome an extra for the holidays…"
"The Squibs would have a fit," Arcturus finished for her. "And anyways, they're your family. I wouldn't want to impose."
"Arcturus you are never imposing—"
"Thanks, but I think I'll stay at Hogwarts for Christmas this year," Arcturus replied. "Have a good holiday, Aunt."
He pulled his head out of the Floo before Andromeda could protest or insist that he should come along with them to Cornwall. He didn't really want to spend Christmas hols with a bunch of boring old muggles anyways. Dusting the soot from his robes, Arcturus rose from the Gryffindor fireplace and strode across the room to where McGonagall had posted a sign-up for those staying for the Christmas holidays this year. He signed his name with a flourish and an added pointed flick to his crossed "t".
"Well, fancy seeing you here," Fred commented as he and his brother climbed through the portrait hole.
"This is the Gryffindor common room," Arcturus replied dryly, "and I'm a Gryffindor."
"Huh, did you know that George?"
"Certainly not, Fred," George piped up.
But Arcturus really wasn't in the mood for the twins' antics. "Would you two bugger off?" he growled.
"Aw, Archie boy, where's your Christmas cheer?"
"Off to Cornwall," Arcturus muttered under his breath.
"Well fear not," Fred declared as he signed his name on the stayover list and handed the quill off to George as he slung an arm over Arcturus's shoulders. "Mum and Dad are off to Romania this year to visit Charlie, so looks like you're spending Christmas with us!"
Arcturus snorted. "At least your Great-Aunt Muriel won't have to turn down the invitation this year."
Fred sighed wistfully, grinning. "The best dungbomb we ever purchased."
The last week or so to Christmas passed relatively quickly, although the castle was feeling a bit draughty and Professor Snape seemed to take it upon himself to ensure nobody enjoyed their Christmas holidays by assigning mountains of work and docking points for even mentioning the hols. Of course that didn't stop Arcturus or his friends from enjoying the snow in their free time.
"Careful, he'll see you!" Arcturus hissed as he, Fred, and George hid behind a white-frosted tree in the Transfiguration courtyard. All three of them had their eyes on Professor Quirrell, who was making his way along the cleared path, muttering to himself as he often did.
"Mental, that one," George muttered, making a face at Arcturus.
"Alright, ammunitions ready," Arcturus whispered, as he placed the final packed snowball on top of their small pile.
"Watch this," Fred told them, grinning. He pointed his wand at the small pile of snowballs and they rose in the air. With a brisk flick of Fred's wand, they zoomed off, flying towards the unsuspecting professor. Arcturus had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep quiet as the first snowball exploded over the back of Quirrell's ugly purple turban. The professor turned suddenly, but the snowballs went right with him, bouncing off the back of his head before coming around again for another try. It seemed they had made it their mission to follow their compatriot, but always seemed to bounce right off, as if Quirrell's turban was suddenly made of rubber.
"Brilliant, Forge," George grinned.
"Indeed, Mr. Weasley."
Arcturus froze, recognizing that thick Scottish brogue in his sleep. Professor McGonagall stood behind them, having just exited her Transfiguration class and did not appear to be all that impressed by Fred's Charms work.
"Would you care to explain, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Black?"
"Just a little holiday cheer, Professor?" Fred replied, hesitantly.
Professor McGonagall looked pointedly to Quirrell, who was trying to fend off the snowballs as he hurried inside.
"Not your best work, Mr. Weasley," she sniffed. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and I will see all of you in detention tonight."
She didn't wait for their protests, not that they would've made a difference. It could've been much worse. That McGonagall only took off twenty points meant one thing to Arcturus.
"The old dame thought it was funny!" he declared, incredulous.
Sure enough detention only consisted of a few half-hearted lines about not pranking faculty members or something like that. Arcturus had long ago learned to write lines without actually paying attention to what he was writing. It was a gift, he told Fred and George wistfully after they returned to the common room.
When the holiday at last started and Arcturus couldn't help but enjoy having the castle mostly to himself. Sure Lee wasn't there, but Fred and George kept him well entertained and Arcturus had never really had the opportunity to explore the castle without having to worry about the suspicious glare of professors or nosey prefects. They took advantage of the hidden passageway to Honeydukes and often took trips down to the Hogwarts kitchens where the house-elves practically fell over themselves to give them sweets and any other manner of food. As Arcturus sat back in his chair in the Gryffindor common room on Christmas Eve, having just finished off a warm Butterbeer and the last of the pumpkin pasties, he couldn't help but wish he could just spend all of his time at Hogwarts like this.
Christmas day dawned and Arcturus was the only one who remained behind in the Gryffindor second year dorm. He stretched languidly before his eyes landed on the modest pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Grinning, he grabbed the first one and knew immediately it was from Tonks. The bright yellow paper made his eyes hurt this early in the morning as he tore into the wrappings and pulled out what appeared to be a small, glass top with a small note written in Tonk's haphazard penmanship.
"Happy Christmas, Arcturus. Since I'm not around to watch your back, I thought you might need this Sneakoscope. It will tell you if someone around you is doing something untrustworthy. Of course, knowing the twins I wouldn't be surprised if it never stopped! Your friend, Tonks."
Arcturus looked down at the Sneakoscope, which remained silent and motionless for now. But he was sure it wouldn't remain that way for long. The next present was just under Tonks' and it was from Andromeda and Ted. They got him an assortment of sweets and Arcturus wolfed down a Chocolate frog before moving onto the neatly wrapped box that was sure to be from the Squibs. Despite their mutual disdain of each other, the Squibs continued to give him mostly meaningless gifts each year for Christmas. Last year it had been a fine stationary set. This year it looked like he was getting quills and a new gold inkpot. Of course they thought Arcturus would be pompous enough to use an actual golden inkpot. He promptly wrapped the thing up in the velvet bag it came in and tossed it with the eagle feather quills into his trunk to languish at the bottom with the stationary set before continuing on through his presents. A lot of it was sweets, though there was a fresh pack of dungbombs from Lee. From Fred and George, he got a collection of toffees but one glance at the present and Tonks' Sneakoscope immediately started whirling and whistling. He wrapped those up and set them aside, sure that he could find some use for them somewhere down the road. Maybe Draco Malfoy liked toffee.
He had just finished when Fred and George themselves burst in without even a knock.
"Happy Christmas!" they exclaimed, practically tackling him.
"Did you open our present?" George asked.
The Sneakoscope on Arcturus' bed immediately started up again.
"We're hurt!" Fred groaned.
"I knew there was something wrong with them," Arcturus declared, shoving the twins off him. "What did you do to them?"
"Why don't you eat one and find out?"
The Sneakoscope gave a pointed whistle and Arcturus grabbed it and shoved it away in his trunk.
"Maybe later," he told them. When he finally got a good look at what the twins were wearing over their pajamas, he winced. "What are you wearing?"
Fred tugged at the blue sweater with a large "F", grinning proudly. "It's a Weasley sweater, from mum. She makes them every year."
Arcturus snorted. "I guess she's afraid you're going to forget your names or maybe she does it to tell you apart."
Fred and George looked at each other with those well-known, mischievous grins, a sure sign they were planning something.
"Come on, let's go see what Ronniekins got for Christmas."
"No thanks," Arcturus replied, flopping back on his bed. "Christmas and no Squibs means I get to spend the whole day all by myself."
"By yourself?" Fred exclaimed. "No way! Christmas is a day for family, and since you're stuck here with us this year, George and I decided we are officially adopting you into the Weasley family." He grabbed the box of toffee. "So here, have a sweet."
Arcturus's trunk started whistling again.
"No thanks."
But Fred and George weren't having it. Exchanging a nod, they each grabbed a hand, hauling him off the bed.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
"Let's go, Archie boy!" George threw Arcturus's robe and it smacked him in the face while Fred seemed to be trying to shove his slippers on his feet. Arcturus fought them, but it was no use.
"Alright, alright!" he declared at last, pushing Fred off as he slipped his robe over his shoulders. The twins let up just long enough for Arcturus to make himself look semi-decent before frog-marching him down to the first-year boys' dormitory. They threw the door open without even a knock and the two boys inside jumped.
"Merry Christmas!"
Arcturus joined them, leaning in the door to watch as Fred and George practically accosted someone else.
"Hey, look—Harry's got a Weasley jumper, too!"
As Fred held up the lumpy, hand-knitted green sweater Arcturus's stomach churned and there was a sour taste in his mouth. The words came off his tongue like bile.
"Did she knit it with her eyes closed?" he scoffed.
"Don't say that," Potter growled, taking the sweater back from Fred and pulling it over his pyjamas. He ran a hand over the wool reverently. "Tell your mum I said 'Thank you'?"
Ron and the twins grinned and Arcturus snorted, folding his arms over his chest. Like he would ever wear something so lumpy and hideous.
"What's all this noise?" Percy the Prefect, ever in other people's business, stuck his nose through the door carrying his own hideous rag.
"P for Prefect! Get it on Percy, we're all wearing ours." Arcturus had to dodge out of the way as Fred and George attacked their brother, intent on wrestling him into his own lumpy sweater. As Arcturus watched their family, he decided he'd had enough of the Weasley's Christmas for now. Nobody noticed as he slipped back to his own dormitory to dress for the day and make plans for destroying the Squib's presents. He needed to work on the Confringo Curse anyways.
It seemed, however, that the Weasley twins did not want to let Arcturus enjoy a quiet Christmas alone. After Christmas dinner, they tracked him down and proceeded to stuff snow down the back of his jacket, instigating a combination hex and snowball fight. He ended the fight with hair nearly the same shade as Fred and George's but it didn't matter because he was too out of breath from laughing at the elephant ears he'd given Fred. It also didn't hurt his mood that he managed to nail famous Harry Potter right in the face with a snowball. So much for his amazing Seeker reflexes.
They ended up back in the common room, lounging around the fire and enjoying a selection of turkey sandwiches, trifle, and Christmas cake provided by the ever-indulgent Hogwarts house-elves. Arcturus was feeling quite round as he lay with his back propped by a few pillows in front of the fire. Fred and George were taking turns poking Percy and pretending it was the other while Potter and Ron were polishing off the last of the food.
"Oh, would you look at this! Happy Christmas, George!" Fred jumped up and made a big show of kneeling before his twin and presenting him with, of all things, Percy's shining Prefect's badge.
"How did you—?" Percy sputtered, leaping from his seat to make a grab for the badge. "Give that back! That is my Prefect's badge and you are certainly not permitted to handle that—no, stop that!"
"Why thank you Fred, but I couldn't possibly accept this!" George called, as he slipped just out of reach. He tossed the badge across to Fred, laughing.
"Wizard!"
Fred caught the badge over Percy's head, laughing "Witch!"
He tossed it into Arcturus's lap, who jumped up at Percy lunged for him. He danced out of the way, tossing the badge back to George. "Goblin!"
"Troll!"
"Keeper!"
"Chaser!"
"Beater!"
"Snitch! Oof!" Percy tackled Fred, wrestling his Prefect's badge back before standing and attempting to straighten out his once impeccable robes, scowling at the lot of them.
"You are all fortunate it is Christmas," Percy growled. "Good night!" And he pivoted on his heel and proceed up the stairs to his dormitory.
Arcturus, Fred, and George exchanged a glance before they burst out laughing again. Arcturus groaned as his side ached and his stomach grumbled. Being stuffed full of turkey and tea cakes, this was certainly not the time for mischief!
"I'm going to bed," he said when the laughter had died down. Groaning he dragged himself off the floor and began the long trod up the stairs to the second-year boys' dormitory. He barely got out of his robes before he collapsed on the bed, sleeping a deep and contented sleep. He certainly wouldn't admit it to the twins, but with the Weasleys about, this Christmas maybe hadn't been as bad as he thought it would.