All of Sirius' Christmases had been the same. Sirius was awoken by a grumpy Kreacher who immediately forced him into his most stiff and uncomfortable dress robes, and he was forced to interact with his manic pureblood relatives for the whole of Christmas Day. The only good part about Christmases for Sirius growing up was Christmas Eve, before the party. He and Regulus would sit in his room watching the snow fall out the window sipping mugs of hot chocolate which Regulus had coaxed out of Kreacher. They would watch the clock strike twelve and exchange their gifts to one another with whispered Happy Christmases before going to bed. Regulus always got Sirius something he actually wanted, even if it was just a box of Every Flavored Beans or a new toy. It was the happiest Sirius had been at his old home, but now he had a new home, and with it a new version of Christmas that was odd but not at all unwelcome.
This year on Christmas day Sirius awoke to the sound of James Potter screaming his name, and soon after jumping on his bed and shaking him as if his shouts could have ever failed to wake him.
"Wake up mate, it's Christmas!"
"Yeah, I know. Merlin, Prongs are we not a little too old for this sort of thing?"
"No one's too old for presents Pads, come on."
James practically dragged Sirius downstairs so quickly that he barely had time to pull on his Gryffindor robe over his pajamas.
"Mum! Dad! Come on!"
Only James Potter could have the enthusiasm of a five-year-old when it came to Christmas morning. Sirius found the whole thing incredibly endearing and looked forward to watching him open his numerous presents. When they arrived in front of the tree Sirius was astounded. Even for the Potters it felt extravagant. A mountain of presents that would surely take James hours to open all by himself.
"Nice." James said, diving in before his mother and father had even made it down the stairs, an act that would have resulted in a hard smack with Sirius' parents.
As James got to work sorting through the presents Sirius watched, taking a seat in one of the armchairs in the family room. He smiled as James reacted with such joy and enthusiasm before he stopped, noticing that Sirius was not joining him.
"Sirius? Aren't you going to open yours?"
Sirius reacted with confusion at first before realizing of course the Potters would have gotten him something. They were always so polite after all and even before he'd lived with them Mrs. Potter had sent him a couple things.
"Yeah, sure where is it?"
Sirius asked looking for something with his name. But he was astounded when he saw that not just one present bore his name but at least half the pile under the tree.
He heard footsteps behind him and saw Mr. and Mrs. Potter standing there, the former with a cup of coffee and the latter a cup of tea, clearly unaccustomed to the early hour themselves despite their son's early bird tendencies. Sirius looked at both of them with great hesitance as if waiting for them to laugh at him, telling him this was all just a big joke at his expense and all of the presents were for James of course, he was their son. But Mr. Potter just looked at him with a smile and said:
"Well, go on."
And with that permission Sirius ran to his pile of presents with glee, understanding for the first time James' enthusiasm for the holiday.
"A Nimbus 1700? Brilliant! Dad this doesn't even come out until January." James shouted as they got down to the bottom of the pile.
"Well, I may have pulled some strings at the magical games and sports office. You're welcome son."
"You're the best!"
They'd been opening presents for the past hour and a half, and Sirius was in complete awe. Not only had he received numerous gifts from the Potters (as many if not more than James) but each and every gift he received had been something he actually wanted. Among the highlights were more candy and sweets than he could eat in a year, a large number of muggle records which he had grown rather fond of in his years of rebellion, a brand-new racing broom (The new Shooting Star, which he preferred to the Nimbus believing it turned smoother) and a brand-new leather jacket which Mrs. Potter had charmed to stay comfortably warm throughout the winter and cool in the summer.
"James said you were running around in that secondhand muggle shop jacket practically freezing your arse off." She said as he tried the thing on, beaming at the thoughtfulness of his chosen family.
Sirius had never had such a Christmas. He couldn't remember a time when he had received any gift without the cold indifference that so defined his own mother and father. A gift given with actual warmth behind it. And to top it all off the Potters had gotten him his own owl. He stroked the charcoal grey bird which he had decided to name Thatch after the current muggle prime minister. James balked at that, but Sirius just laughed telling him that he would see, she was going to do great things for England, wizard or not.
"You better use him to write us Sirius or so help me I'll take him back."
Mrs. Potter said but there was no real bite to her words.
"Thank you. Thank you both so much." Sirius said, at a loss for words at the kindness the Potters had shown him since the moment he moved in.
"Well, of course sweetheart. Your first Christmas might as well be a proper one, now let's go get some breakfast."
The boys leapt up from their piles of gifts, heading towards the kitchen, and if the Christmas party had made Sirius feel like a new part of the family, Christmas day made him feel as though he had never known anything else. The Potters accepted him as theirs, no strings attached, not a moment's hesitation, and he couldn't be happier.
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts Lily was fast asleep in her four-poster, while a light snow fell over the Hogwarts grounds.
"Lily, it's Christmas."
At those whispered words Lily's eyes fluttered open and she smiled.
"Happy Christmas Mar."
"Happy Christmas Lils," Marlene said.
And without another moment's hesitation, the girls both ran to get their gifts. They started with the gifts from their other friends and family members. Marlene tore open a number of gifts from her parents while Lily watched politely, feeling a slight pang in her heart but happy for Marlene all the same.
"Oh, there's something here for you as well Lily." Marlene said, handing her a gift that said
To: Lily From: the McKinnons.
"Oh, Marlene, they didn't have to."
"Just open it, I'll tell them thanks from you."
She tore the gift open, smiling at the homemade fudge and scarf that the McKinnons had sent her.
"Thanks Marlene, really."
Marlene shrugged, as if she had nothing to do with it when Lily knew she had written home They then opened the gifts from their friends, receiving some candy from Susan, a couple muggle records from Mary, which Marlene giggled at, saying "it's so strange that the pictures on the cover don't move." They then opened a couple of new books each from Alice, charms theory for Lily and a beginner's guide to transfiguration for Marlene (she'd been struggling in the subject). Lily then opened her gift from Remus, which turned out to be a sort of quill which would correct spelling errors as she went along in her essays. She thought that was very thoughtful as he knew writing had never been her strong suit. And finally, George got her a book on werewolves within which he had written the inscription
"Don't lose faith. We'll get there someday."
He also gave her a charm bracelet, the first charm being a simple heart with a tiny LE + GF engraved onto it. Marlene obviously made a big deal out of that, but Lily insisted they move on, threatening to take back the gift she had gotten Marlene if she didn't switch gears that instant. With that threat in mind Lily went first, opening Marlene's gift to her with excitement given Marlene's wide smile indicating how proud she was of her effort.
Under the wrapping was a box much like that which George's charm bracelet had come in, Lily assumed it must be a common wizarding jewelry shop that she was as yet unfamiliar with, and once she'd opened the little box to see what was inside she felt tears prick her eyes. It was a necklace with a simple, circular pendant, which opened up. Inside was a picture of Lily and her family, mom, dad, even Petunia, and they were waving at her, enchanted to forever stay with Lily despite not being there physically anymore.
"Marlene,"
Marlene looked at her sheepishly as Lily pulled her best friend into a tight hug.
"Thank you." She said, unable to hide the break in her voice.
"Oh, Lils, I'm glad you like it. Now, enough of that sad business, on to me." She said, trying to ease the tension as she tore open Lily's gift to her.
"No way." She said, double and then triple checking to make sure what she was looking at was real.
"How did you get these?" Marlene squealed to which Lily shushed her with a giggle, out of habit as Marlene had been scolded for being too loud in the common room on more than one occasion.
"I have my ways." Lily said with a smirk, as Marlene pulled her into a tight hug, jumping back and nearly bouncing with excitement as she stared at the tickets in her hand.
They were tickets to hers and Sirius' favorite wizarding band, The Stomping Trolls. They had been sold out for months, but luckily Lily knew Remus Lupin, and Remus Lupin knew James Potter. When Remus had put it into James' head that the tickets were for Lily, and getting them could earn him some serious points with her James had jumped on the opportunity quickly begging his dad to weasel some tickets out of his connections. And long story short, Mr. Potter called in a few favors and the tickets were hers.
"I figured you and Sirius could have a nice date night, sneak out of the castle, make some mischief or whatever it is you two do."
"Lily, this is unbelievable really. I can't believe you got these. Thank you."
"Happy Christmas Marlene."
"Happy Christmas." Marlene said, pulling Lily in for another hug.
The girls then moved into tidying up at Lily's insistence, as she didn't think it was right to leave their Christmas litter all over the common room. As they were doing this Marlene saw something they had missed, and called out to Lily who was trying to get a fire going with the remains of their Christmas morning.
"Oh, Lily you have one more." Marlene said bringing her a gift crudely wrapped and shoved to the back of the tree, almost as if the sender had hoped Lily might not find it.
Lily felt herself almost burst with joy. It hadn't been lost on her that she hadn't received a gift from her sister, and although she had tried to push down those mixed feelings of anger and sadness, she was thrilled to learn that maybe her feelings had been misplaced after all. She ran to Marlene, tearing the gift open before even looking at who sent it, but was confused when she saw a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans inside. This couldn't be from Petunia, as Petunia didn't know anything about the magical world, and even if she did would never buy Lily a present from it.
"Was there a note?" Lily asked, looking at the package as Marlene picked up the wrapping, noticing a note taped to the inside.
"Here." Marlene said, handing the note over.
Lily scanned the note, which read:
Dear Lily,
I know you've had a rough go of it lately. Hope this helps. Happy Christmas.
-James Potter
"Well, who's it from?" Marlene asked, curiously looking over Lily's shoulder.
"James." Lily said, about the same time that Marlene had read the name and gasped in shock, before having to stifle her laughter.
"Potter got you a gift? Awe, that's so cute." She said, beginning to cackle hysterically as Lily read over the note again and again, unable to stop thinking about it.
"Yeah." She joined in Marlene's laugher halfheartedly, her mind drifting to James Potter who had been thoughtful enough to send her a gift in her time of need, and more importantly…guess her favorite type of wizarding candy right. It was quite a strange sensation, thinking about James Potter without her usual amount of loathing, strange but not unwelcome.
Meanwhile, Sirius and James were basking in the leftover joy of Christmas morning, James reading one of his new Quidditch books, while Sirius read a muggle novel that was actually quite good. It was called the Catcher in the Rye, and it was about a muggle kid whose little brother had died of some disease, so he dropped out of school and spent the rest of the book travelling around New York City in America. Sirius had always been interested in travelling and thought it would be brilliant to go there with James after graduation. He related to the kid, feeling like he had no family, and that everyone around him were "phonies" as he called them.
"Damn Padfoot I've never seen you so invested in anything, let alone a book."
"Shut up Prongs," Sirius said, setting the book aside and looking over at James who had set aside his own book in favor of a new one.
"What have you got there? I thought you were reading about your quidditch wankers."
"Not quite. You remember this?" He asked, holding out a book which Sirius immediately recognized.
"Oh, wow! I thought your mum threw this out when she caught us reading through it."
"Oh, she tried. Dad snuck it back to me after Christmas, how do you think I remembered the potion instructions?"
"I just figured your nerd memory shone through. You always did have a proclivity for transfiguration, didn't you Prongs?"
James shoved him, and Sirius laughed, flipping through the book's pages, noting the specific details of the Animagus potion written inside. He thought back to all those years ago when becoming an Animagus was still just a far-off fantasy.
It hadn't taken long for the boys to come up with their Animagus plan. James and Remus were sitting in the Gryffindor common room before a full moon, and Remus was having a particularly rough go of it that month.
"You alright Remus?" James asked, noticing the way he winced with each movement as he tried to get through his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay.
"Yeah, you know how it gets before a full moon. I'll be fine." Remus said, trying to smile at his nervous-looking friend. James' eyes went to Remus' forehead almost involuntarily.
"That's a new scar. It hasn't healed yet?" He asked.
"The wolf really doesn't enjoy being cooped up. It's getting a little more powerful. I'll be alright though. I'm a little tired James, I think I'm going to turn in." James just watched Remus leave, defeated.
The next day Professor McGonagall gave her presentation on animagi. She transformed before their very eyes. Sirius and James shared a pointed look.
"But how will becoming animagi even help Remus? He could still bite us, and then we'd all be werewolves."
"Werewolves can't infect animals, Peter. And they don't try and attack them regardless. It's perfect!"
"Alright, well if we're going to do this, we're going to need all the help we can get. You know what that means James?" Sirius asked.
"If the restricted section doesn't have it, Father's library will. We can check over Christmas." He said.
Peter glanced between his two friends before finally speaking up.
"Guys, this is illegal, not to mention dangerous."
"It's for Remus, Peter, don't tell me you're chickening out now." Sirius said.
They spent their last two months at Hogwarts combing through the restricted section in the dead of night for any information on the detailed animagi process. There were a handful of books, but none of them provided any details, sticking with the bare specifics that they had already learned in Transfiguration. The group was defeated, seeing no future in this endeavor if they couldn't find out how exactly it was possible.
It was Christmastime in their third year, combing through Mr. Potter's library when they finally found it, the book which described the process in full.
"I don't know James this is a really complicated potion." Sirius said, scanning the book with a furrowed brow.
"Well, we've got to do it don't we? Remus needs us Sirius, I don't know what else to do. Besides, this'll be the greatest adventure ever possible. Are you with me?"
He asked, that mischievous smile gracing his still boyish features.
"Always am, now come on, we can't do anything more about this now. Up for a game of quidditch?"
"You really get me." James said, running out the back door with Sirius on his heels.
It took a quick sweep of James' room for Mrs. Potter to find the book he had pilfered leading to the most intense screaming match the Potter household had ever seen, and that was saying something. Finally, Mrs. Potter won, taking the book, and threatening to burn down that entire bloody library if she caught them messing with anything so foolish again.
"You're liable to get yourselves killed or worse yet transformed into a half-animal hybrid, and good luck flying on a broom with hooves or paws or whatever the hell else you might get. Of all the foolish, irresponsible…"
It went on like that for…quite a while. And so, having had only a quick look at the thing, the boys' Animagus dreams were officially crushed. That is until Mr. Potter knocked on James' door the night before the end of winter break with a suspicious smile and something behind his back.
"What is it dad?" James asked, writing in his notebook in a futile effort to remember the exact details of the extremely complicated Animagus process.
"I've got something for you." He said, and without further ado, presented James with the book that his mother had so quickly snatched away. James went to reach for it, but his father pulled it away.
"Now, I know you're interested in all this stuff son, but you have to promise me you won't try it out on your own. You can do the research, even mess around with the spell if you'd like, but this process is illegal without ministry oversight for a reason. Just give it a few years, and I know you can become whatever animal you want, but until then…here."
He held out the book while James jumped forward. "Yeah dad of course I promise, thank you!"
"Yes, well. Don't tell your mother." He said this with a whisper and a wink before heading out of the room.
James flipped through the book, quickly scribbling down all the instructions in case by some unlucky circumstance the book slipped out of his hands again. He hated lying to his father, and he knew that this was dangerous, but the fact was he couldn't wait four years or more to become an Animagus under ministry supervision. They had to do this…as soon as possible.
They returned to the castle with a new spring in their step, describing to Peter the entire process. He was incredibly nervous, as was his way, and spent about a month trying to convince the boys that it was a terrible idea. Meanwhile, James and Sirius began preparing. The problem was, there were no mandrakes at the school that year, Professor Sprout's crop having been sent off to St. Mungo's to unpetrify a handful of aurors who had a bad encounter with some death eaters. So, they could prepare all they wanted, but without the mandrake leaf they couldn't even get started.
"What are we going to do, James?" Sirius asked after their fifth consecutive search of Slughorn's private stores had turned up nothing once again.
"We don't have much choice, do we? Mandrake leaves are already so rare. We have to wait."
Sirius nodded, begrudgingly, but the boys knew what they were trying to do. And if they didn't get it just right than they really would be in trouble.
After that first summer anxiously awaiting their return to school, and so their ability to finally get started on this transformation, the boys were more than ready, except Peter of course. The hardest hurdle to get over was definitely keeping the mandrake leaf in their mouth for a whole month. This was hard enough as an individual, but if one of them lost their leaf they all agreed they had to restart so that they would all be able to transform together. Sirius was the first one to lose his leaf. Luckily it was only a few days in. The gang was at breakfast, having been struggling for a couple of days to eat with the leaf stuck less than skillfully in their cheeks, Sirius took a big swig of pumpkin juice and immediately began coughing like a maniac. The whole of the Great Hall looked his way, and he glanced at James guiltily, but James shrugged spitting his own leaf in his hand, shoving it carefully in his pocket so Remus wouldn't notice. It was getting near the next full moon, so Remus wasn't too observant anyway.
The next one to lose the leaf was Peter. The boys were pulling a particularly amusing prank on Snivellus, and Peter became a tad too…enthusiastic with his laughter, causing his leaf to fly straight out of his mouth and stick itself to Snape's forehead, infuriating him even further. That one cost them three detentions and thirty points from Gryffindor, plus two weeks of Mandrake marination.
James lost the leaf the third time, after a well-aimed bludger slammed into his gut, pushing the leaf out of his mouth while Sirius' groans in the stands were mistaken for relating to the match before him. A laugh here, a misplaced swallow there, soon three months had gone by with 24 wasted leaves between them.
"We're running out of leaves mate; at this rate we're going have to wait for the new mandrake crop next year." Sirius said.
"We can't wait, we have to get it right this time. No mistakes, no problems, we just have to grit our teeth…and do it." James replied, a look of fervent determination on his face.
This time the boys were as careful as possible, barely eating or drinking at all, taking only slight sips of water and tiny morsels of food. They even put pranking on hold, much to the school's confusion. James was extra careful at quidditch practice to the point where he was berated by his captain, and Sirius was quieter than he'd ever been, twitching uncontrollably with pent up energy and desire to run his mouth, which had proven to be a surefire way to either accidentally swallow or spit out the leaf. It was the final day, the rest of the potion already prepared, their leaves stuck firmly in their cheeks as they sat in transfiguration, anxiously awaiting that night when they could finally spit them into the vial and expose it to moonlight as the potion instructed.
It was in this class when Professor McGonagall took one final look at them, seeing that glint of mischief lighting up their eyes after the strangest month the school had ever endured in the four years the boys had been at the school. She looked at their cheeks, stuffed with something, watched the way Sirius moved his mouth around what looked like…
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Pettigrew I need you to spit out your gum right now." She said, knowing that their response would confirm what she already suspected.
"Professor, we don't know what you mean." James began with a charming smile.
"Don't try that Potter. Spit it out."
"Professor there really is no rule against gum in class, and if you'll see the school rule book, it is actually vindictive and cruel of you to try and…" Sirius tried to talk his way around it, but McGonagall would not budge.
She moved towards the boys, leaning down to get eye level with Sirius Black, who was nearly at her height, but shrunk down like he was still that little boy who had come to Hogwarts all those years before.
"Spit it out or I swear I'll take 100 points each from Gryffindor." She said, to which the surrounding students screamed their protest at the group of boys, insisting they stop being so stupid.
The boys had no choice, and so, on the final day of the month, they spit out their mandrake leaves, shoving them into a handkerchief. It was lucky Remus was recovering from the moon that day, or else he might have caught on to the meaning behind their strange behavior of the past month, clever as he was, and then they would really be in trouble.
Once class had ended and the boys were groaning about their need to start yet again, planning on heading up to the dormitory to grab one of their last sets of mandrake leaves, McGonagall called out to them. "Potter, Black, Pettigrew, I need to talk to you." She said.
The class chuckled hooting and hollering as they filed out, leaving the three Marauders alone. The boys gulped, approaching McGonagall, and trying very hard to not look too guilty.
"Now, I don't know what you think you're doing, but it ends here. This effort is beyond a silly prank, you are going to get yourselves killed. And I cannot let that stand, not while you're in my care." She said, looking sternly between the three. Sirius avoided her eyes, putting on a practiced mask of cool indifference, James tried and failed to smile innocently, and Peter just looked like he was about to throw up. James spoke up first.
"We really don't know…"
She put up a hand.
"Enough Mr. Potter. I have let a lot slide with you three, but this is beyond foolish it is…suicide. What could have possessed you to…"
"We care about our friend Professor, since when is that a crime?" Sirius cut her off before he could stop himself.
McGonagall looked at the boys with confusion before realization set in and her gaze turned to pity.
"I understand. But still…" She tried once again, determined to talk them out of this plan.
"Look, Professor, we're not saying we're trying to attempt what you're saying we are," James began, while Peter tried to work out exactly what that meant, "but if we were…could you blame us?"
She paused, looking between the boys, determination, and a healthy amount of fear on their faces.
"I cannot condone it, if I see you with those leaves in your mouths again, I will have no choice but to report this to Professor Dumbledore." She said, her stern tone making it clear that this was the end of the discussion.
"Yes Professor." The boys said resolutely, wondering what the hell they were supposed to do now. They turned to leave, assuming the conversation was over, but McGonagall spoke up once more.
"And Mr. Black, Professor Flitwick needs to see you. He said that you have been struggling with your sticking charms."
Her face did not change but the boys looked between each other in awe. Could she be implying what they thought she was implying?
"Thank you, Professor." Sirius said, his beaming smile implying far too much excitement for what amounted to a forced-upon tutoring session.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I am your head of house, and as such am very concerned about your education."
Sirius nodded, a silent understanding settling between the boys and their professor.
"Now off you go."
The boys took off before she could say anything else. McGonagall shook her head as they left. God help her, but she believed in them.
This is why so many years later it was not just Remus keeping the secret of how Sirius Black might have been getting into the castle. And the guilt ate McGonagall alive every day, but she thought back to that starry eyed boy standing next to James Potter like a brother. The boy who laughed despite all that he had been through and ran into danger without a second thought to save his friend; this boy that the ministry claimed had turned into a murderer, and she wondered for the thousandth time if somehow…they could have been wrong.
"Nearly a year and a half now. Did you ever think we'd do it?" Sirius asked, thinking back on how long they had struggled even after getting the leaf to stick properly.
Because following this there had been the complication of making sure that the leaf was hit by moonlight immediately after spitting out, collecting dew from the grass in the early hours of the morning and hiding it in a closet in their room without Remus noticing, and hiding the finished phials once again in a place where Remus wouldn't find it until the next lighting storm. There had been some close calls, having to convince Remus that it was a new prank idea and then having to start all over because he had disturbed the phials ruining the potion. It was no wonder that the thing took them nearly two years to sort out.
Once that was all finished the transformation itself was still the hardest part. It had taken all their focus, skills and expertise to manage it. They complete the potion twice during fourth year and had to start once again for their failures. They were certainly lucky, Sirius' canines staying sharp while Peter grew whiskers that he was proud to claim as his own after their first couple attempts. Based on the pictures in James' father's book it was certainly possible that they could have stayed halfway between animal and human permanently, rather than just retaining some traits. But James refused to give up, encouraging Peter the whole way, helping him practice the charm over and over again, telling him to focus or it would never work. And Sirius helped in his own way…telling Peter that whiskers were going to be the least of his problems if he messed it up again. They decided that it would be too difficult to accomplish the transformation over the summer, being in separate houses with their parents breathing down their necks, so they made a pact. By the end of fifth year, they will have accomplished it.
James thought back to these days of stress and difficulty, pushing Peter until finally they were able to achieve it. "Did you ever think we'd do it?"
And he answered Sirius' question with: "Of course, there was never a doubt in my mind."
"Yeah, sounds like you Prongs." Sirius said.
"Now, come on, Mum'll be making dinner."
And so, the boys ate dinner with their family, laughing as they shared stories about school, ideas as for the use of their new gifts, and plans for after the holiday. They opened Christmas crackers, putting on hats and spinning magical tops, and went to bed with stomachs full of food and eggnog, both feeling warm and fuzzy after what had turned out to be "the most brilliant Christmas in the history of Christmases ever!" as James Potter put it.
Meanwhile, Remus ate Christmas dinner with his parents for the first time in a long time, the full moon having ruined last Christmas. It was wonderful, being able to spend time together like a normal family, opening his presents and just being together. So, Remus Lupin also slept well in his bed, stomach full of turkey and the slightest nip of whiskey that his father had snuck into his eggnog with a little smile despite his mother's insistence that he wasn't ready for such things due to his condition.
Peter had a much more somber dinner, just himself and his mother eating the roast in silence, finishing it off with a slice of treacle tart each before making their way to bed. Peter had received quite a few nice presents, some from his mother and other relatives and from his friends of course, but he couldn't enjoy any of them. It was their first Christmas without his father, and as a result it was not a good one.
Regulus was at the Black family Christmas party, conversing with his cousins, introducing himself to Bella's new husband Rodolphus and smiling appropriately as they told him stories of You-Know-Who.
"He's a visionary Regulus, a true visionary." Bellatrix said with a wild gleam in her eye. "You won't get to meet him right away of course, he doesn't accept just anybody into his ranks, but Rodolphus and I will put in a good word for you, and I guarantee you he'll have a mission sent your way in no time, once you've graduated of course. Learning as much as you can is the most important thing you can do right now."
Regulus nodded, only half-listening as he looked around the party. It felt emptier than before, the number of blood traitors having stacked up considerably over the past couple years. No one mentioned the fact that Andromeda and Sirius were among the missing from the family table that year. No one mentioned the fact that Uncle Alphard was sitting in the corner with a glass of whiskey and a dark glint in his eye as he watched Regulus talk about his future as a death eater.
And Christmas dinner at Hogwarts, well, it was quite strange to say the least. There were only a handful of people as usual, and seeing Dumbledore wearing a pirate's hat from the Christmas cracker was…odd to say the least. It was Lily's first Christmas where the crackers had prizes bigger than the usual tiny muggle ones, and hats that were not made of cheap paper. She ended up putting a princess hat on at Marlene's insistence, gathering a number of varied prizes from candies to a potion that promised to make her breath fire after drinking.
All in all, it was a good Christmas, but Lily couldn't help but look at the bats flying out from the blue smoke surrounding them, or the men and women with their robes and pointed hats rather than suits and dresses and feel…out of place. She looked across the way at Bertram Aubrey, who had a wizard father, but had been raised in a muggle orphanage after his father died on an important Auror mission, and she saw the same glint in his eye. Being at Hogwarts could be wonderful, and thrilling, but the holidays were the time that Lily got to have a break from all the magic and just be…normal. Magic certainly made things easier, and it was a spectacle to behold, but for a girl raised in muggle traditions until the age of ten, being stuck in the magical world nine months out of the year could get exhausting sometimes. She felt a homesickness aching deep within her soul that she hadn't allowed herself to feel since her parents' funeral. She felt a hand squeeze hers and looked over to Marlene who was shooting her a reassuring smile. That smile grounded her and reminded Lily that, after all, it was still Christmas. Her parents weren't here, and they never would be again. But she had her friends by her side, and with that to hold onto Lily knew that she could make it through.