Chapter 5: A White Christmas (8 pages pls)

"Insolent boy!" Walburga hissed from her armchair. "You'll regret this disrespect. If you won't honour our family traditions, then perhaps you don't deserve to be part of this family at all" she went on, her face twisted in fury.

Sirius, a half-smile on his face, let the words wash over him. "I'm not joining any of your sick pureblood parties" he asserted, "I'll go out that night".

Walburga scoffed at this, frowning at her eldest son in thought "and where will you go, boy?" she asked. Sirius did not reply, and Walburga merely laughed back "you've nowhere to go" she added tauntingly. The laugh she emitted was almost joyous, and Sirius reflected on the fact that most of her joy did appear to stem from the misfortune of others.

"That's what you think" he taunted back unfazed by his mother. He suddenly felt a deep sense of awkwardness, stood in the middle of the parlour waiting for her next taunt. "Just because nobody invites you anywhere nice –" he began.

"Enough!"

"Not so nice when you get told you have no mates, is it?" he continued, his reckless abandon flowing freely now.

Taking a barely perceptible breath, "One more word Sirius, and I'll call your father back from the Ministry to deal with you".

At this, Sirius stormed out, leaving the haughty woman on her own. Storming up the staircase to his bedroom, he began pulling a piece of parchment out from his desk drawer, slamming down a quill and ink pot onto the desktop as he did. He pulled the desk chair out with such force that it bumped along the hardwood floor before he threw himself down into it with a dramatic sigh.

Dear James,

I hope everything is going well at Potter Manor, it's been far too long since we were at school. Merlin knows I could use a laugh right now.

Speaking of laughs, I'm writing to you from the depths of what can only be described as the infernal pit of despair. The ancestral home is as gloomy and oppressive as ever, and so too are its inhabitants. Every day it's the same tedious routine: endless lectures on blood purity, stiff formal dinners with insufferable pure-blood bigots…you get the picture.

But enough about my woes. How are you doing? I realised I accidentally packed your transfiguration book as well as my own, so old McGonagall will be having you're neck when we get back. Send my best wishes to your mum too! Tell her the biscuits she sent through were divine, though slightly nibbled by one of the owls in transit.

Yours in mischief,

Sirius

Looking down at the letter, Sirius thought it might be a bit too gloomy to send. He didn't want to ruin the jovial mood that was likely to mark Potter Manor at this time of year. Still, he thought, he needed to talk to someone sane about how he was feeling, and James was the best man for the job. Folding the letter in two, he walked to the windowsill that Grim was perched on and tied the letter to his leg.

"New robes for the occasion" Sirius tuned into the end of his mother's sentence with a roll of his eyes as the family sat at the dining table that evening.

Regulus had been engaged in the conversation, his head swivelling back and forth between his mother and father as each of them spoke. "Can mine be green?" he asked excitedly, as his father waved a hand to quieten him.

"Of course," Walburga indulged her youngest child, "and you?" she asked Sirius, the warmth immediately leaving her voice.

Sirius shoved a large piece of roast beef into his mouth just after she asked, staring at her in silence as he chewed it slowly. He had no desire to get any new fancy robes for some pure-blood dinner in which he was likely to be introduced to his prospective future wife. "I don't need any" he answered, reaching for his glass of water in an effort to avoid her piercing gaze.

"I will not have you in those decrepit robes you destroyed last Christmas" she advised him angrily, a brief glance at her husband in hopes he would support her.

"Good job I won't be there then" Sirius answered, also glancing at his father who was too busy perusing a letter he'd received from some Ministry official.

Regulus frowned at this, "why?" he asked curiously.

Standing, Walburga made her way to stand behind Sirius' chair. Sirius, in turn, refused to turn his head to look at her and instead focussed on cutting up a roast potato that he had no plans of eating. "You will be attending" Walburga leaned forward, whispering it into his ear in a scarily soft voice.

Sirius did not speak. He shook his head inconspicuously; his back having stiffened. "I won't" he answered just as quietly, glancing again at his father who had begun to lower the letter he was reading.

"What is it darling?" Orion asked his wife, frowning at the sight of her stood over their eldest son.

"Your son refuses to attend the annual Black Dinner" she answered matter-of-factly. "He believes himself above us now, Orion" she answered, talking to her husband but very much looking at her son.

Orion looked appraisingly at the boy, as if first noticing the child. "So be it" he answered as he stood, "I will inform the house elves not to set his place" he spoke directly to his wife. However, he then turned on the boy, "they will likewise be informed that anybody who is not at dinner, shall not eat". With that, the man left and retired to his study where he was likely to stay for the remainder of the evening.

Walburga finally smiled at her eldest son, though not the nurturing smile of a mother. It was the satisfied smile of someone who had gotten their way, and whose way was likely to result in the misfortune of another. Sirius, for his part, forced a fake smile back at her before standing and leaving the room too.

Sirius glanced around the bustling street nervously, where is he? He thought, bouncing his leg slightly where he stood in place. He'd managed to sneak out of the house whilst his mother had taken his Aunt Druella out shopping, and his father had gone to the ministry for a meeting.

"Hey Sirius, sorry I'm late" the voice cut into his thoughts, and he looked up to see Kevin rushing over towards him. "Mum almost didn't let me out" he added, clapping his new friend on the back.

"No stress" Sirius answered cooly, "just glad you could make it out" he added with a laugh. Kevin began walking, and Sirius stepped into motion beside him, walking along the busy street that was flooded with shoppers. "What's the plan then?" he asked.

"Ever been to the cinema?" Kevin asked, nodding towards a picture house on the corner of the main road and a side street.

Sirius shook his head as he looked at it, "no" he answered honestly.

"Well, you're in for a treat" the boy grinned back, "though I've got no money so we're going to have to sneak into a screen".

"Brilliant" Sirius responded with a smile.

"Not the best I've been to" Kevin spoke as the two left the picture house together. They'd managed to sneak in under the guise of using the picture house toilets, and Sirius had one-upped it by then managing to sneak some sweets from the person sat next to them.

"That damn song is stuck in my head" Sirius laughed, as the pair again began walking along the main street away from the picture house.

"Singin' in the rain?" the other boy laughed, beginning to imitate the song, "don't tell me that's the first you've heard it?"

"Is it popular?" Sirius asked in return, for it had been the first time he'd heard the song. At the other boys' nod he continued, "bit of a weird song to sing whilst you're assaulting someone" Sirius added, thinking back to that particular scene.

"Yeah I s'ppose" Kevin agreed, "guess it just shows how much joy some people get from hurting other people".

"Yeah" Sirius agreed.

"Where were you?!" Orion Black's voice boomed, ricocheting off the walls of the narrow hallway as Sirius stepped back through the front door later that evening.

Edging back slightly so that he was now firmly pressed against the front door, he muttered "nowhere".

"Nowhere?! Don't lie to me!" the voice continued to boom, and Sirius could not edge back any further as the man came storming down the hallway towards him. "Empty out your pockets" he demanded in a low voice, standing so close to the boy that Sirius could see every nose hair.

"What do you want with my pockets?" Sirius asked somewhat quietly, careful to avoid pushing the man too far.

Orion Black did not speak, he held a firm hand out in front of himself, waiting expectantly for Sirius to empty his pockets into the awaiting hand. Shoving both hands into their respective trouser pocket, Sirius pulled out the contents and dumped them into the upturned hand. He watched nervously as his father poked through the contents, watching as the eyes widened at the cinema ticket stub that had been folded in his pocket.

"What is this?" the man demanded, "A Clockwork Orange" he read the title aloud, "what nonsense have you been engaging in?".

"I went to the cinema" Sirius answered simply, "that's the name of the film".

"The cinema?! A film?!" he began yelling, his face reddening as he repeated the words. "A muggle place I assume" he added coldly after a moment.

Sirius could not help himself, despite his awareness that his father was at a point of fury that ought not to be escalated. "I'm not sure if anyone's told you, but Wizards haven't quite got the hang of film making yet" his voice laced in sarcasm.

Despite his mental acceptance of the fact, Sirius was physically unprepared for the sudden assault, his father grabbing him by the collar and launching him so far down the hallway that he stumbled and skidded across the hardwood floor. He forced himself not to wince as he felt the splinters embed themselves in his knees as he slid along the floor. Immediately standing up again, he turned around to face his father. "What's next?" he asked angrily, glaring at the man before him.

Orion stormed again towards him, and Sirius forced himself to stand still despite the hammering of his heart ringing loudly in his ears. Preparing himself once again, he stood stock still as he watched his father raise his right hand high, the hand coming down and stinging across his face in almost slow motion. Sirius tasted blood in his mouth, and though every emblem of his being told him not to, he spat the blood onto the floor at his fathers' feet. "Is that it?" he asked, working hard to control his own breathing.

"Sirius stop!" he heard a sob from the top of the staircase, turning himself to look up at Regulus who stood surveying the scene with wide, watery eyes.

"To bed" Orion's ominous voice ordered the younger boy, though he did not turn to look at the child, his eye's remained fixated on his eldest.

Sirius shook his head at the child, turning again to his father as the two stood staring at one another. "You are a disgrace" the man spoke, "a stain on my family name, on my honour" the man continued. "Get out of my sight".

The evening of the annual Black Christmas dinner had arrived, and Sirius watched as house elves dashed around Grimmauld place, desperately trying to ensure that everything was prepped to perfection for the arrival of the guests later tonight. He'd spent the days since the cinema incident hauled up in his room, sending letters back and forth to keep himself entertained.

Dear Sirius,

Christmas at Potter Manor has been fantastic! I do wish you could be here to join us though. Mum sent some extra biscuits through to you, so I hope these one's make it to you in once piece.

You'll never guess what I've been up to here though. Dad took me out onto the frozen lake and taught me how to skate on it. He say's he'll show you too if you're ever up here during winter. I've got a lot of practicing to do anyway, I've mostly just been slipping about a lot. I did manage to do an accidental 360-spin before landing straight on my back though!

Mum's really gone all out with the decorations this year, and the house elves are making all my favourite stuff – Mum says its because they missed me while I was away, you know? I do wish you were here to enjoy it, though it sounds like you're making enough fun with your cinema visits.

All our love from Potter Manor,

James

Sirius smiled at the letter as he read it again, imagining that Potter Manor likely smelt of freshly baked minced pies. Folding it up for safe keeping, Sirius tucked it inside his Potion's textbook along with the other letters he'd gotten from James over the Christmas break. Christmas hadn't even come yet, and Sirius was counting down the days until he was waking up in the Gryffindor Boy's dorm again.

A loud rapping at his door startled him slightly, and Sirius rose, cracking open the door enough to peak out. "Shower and dress" his mother demanded impolitely, not waiting for his response before she turned away and walked to her own bedroom.

Running a hand through his damp curls, Sirius tightened the towel that was wrapped around his hips. He'd taken a particularly hot shower, and the steam followed him out of his ensuite bathroom as he sat down on the edge of his bed and glanced over to his wardrobe. His dress robes had been hung on the outside of the wardrobe, likely by some poor house elf who'd been instructed to do so. The robes were stiff looking and looked to be the same material as the one's Regulus had requested.

Sirius pulled the robes on, glancing at his reflection in the mirror once he was dressed. He couldn't help but think he looked uncannily like his father; not someone he particularly wanted to look like.

"Sirius" a small voice called from the other side of his door before the door was thrown open, "Mother says to come downstairs, they'll be here soon" he explained, jumping onto his older brother's bed.

"Alright Reg, I'll be down in a minute".

The table had been set, huge flower arrangements donned the centre of the table, accented by gold cutlery, and gold rimmed plate settings. Sirius was well aware of the protocol of these dinners. The children were to be silent and proper, speaking only when spoken to and even then, only saying what was necessary to say. By the time the main course had come, Sirius had lost the will to live.

" – about the new Minister of Magic? A mudblood if you can believe it" Sirius managed to tune into the conversation taking place opposite him, and immediately regretted it.

Lestrange, Sirius thought his name was, did not wait long to answer, "dreadful business".

"Quite right" the other man confirmed, gulping down the remainder of the mead from his glass. "A blight on our society" he continued, "diluting bloodlines".

"Absolutely" Lestrange confirmed, "it's a disgrace we've let them infiltrate our once esteemed institutions" he added.

"Indeed" the first man agreed, "Is it not bad enough that we have to tolerate them in daily life?" he asked, "but to think they could hold influence at the Ministry – it's preposterous!" he asserted.

Lestrange lifted his glass and inclined his head towards the other man, "to the purity of the bloodline, may our heritage endure for generations, free from the stain of impurity".

"Hear hear" a chorus erupted, Sirius only now noticing that all ears at the dinner table had tuned into that particular conversation. His mothers' eyes caught his own, and she looked pointedly at his glass that remained firmly on the table. Sirius, in response, widened his eyes and pretended that he had not noticed that every person at the table, man woman and child, had lifted their glasses in toast to the statement.

"How are you finding your studies, Sirius?" slurred one of the men on his left, who had consumed far too much alcohol to speak coherently.

Sirius could feel his mothers glare, her silent warning to avoid mentioning his House or anything else that might be taken negatively by tonight's attendees.

"Very good, thank you" he answered, a pointed look back at his mother. There was no way in hell he was going to tell a dining room full of pureblood loyalists that he'd been sorted into Gryffindor; he didn't have a death wish.

It was after the main course, but before dessert, that Sirius felt the unwavering urge to disrupt the meal. Thus far he'd heard the word Mudblood at least six times, and he had told himself on the sixth that if it happened again, he'd follow through on his plan. It was with an almost disappointed expression that he turned to Yaxley, the man just finishing a statement on the magical inadequacy of mixed blood.

Reaching into his sleeve, though keeping his arms under the table so that he could not be seen, Sirius extracted his wand. He very carefully tapped the tabletop as he muttered, before quickly slipping his wand back up his sleeve as he watched on. Almost instantly the flowers that formed the centre pieces began releasing brightly coloured miniature fireworks in random directions. Guests jumped aside as fireworks shot directly at them, plates being overturned in the chaos, and pieces of China cluttering to the floor. In the midst of the chaos, Sirius lifted a hand to his mouth to provide cover as he allowed his laughter to bubble up at the sight.

"Brilliant" Yaxley laughed at the display, "these dinners never fail to entertain" he continued, assuming the display to have been part of the planned dinner service. In response, Walburga merely inclined her head towards him in acknowledgement of the complement, only turning blazing eyes towards her son when she was sure her guests were otherwise distracted.

Dear James,

Merry Christmas, mate!

I've attached a small parcel with this letter, it'll be your Christmas present at least until I can get out and get you something better. In the meantime, I've got the gift of a tale for you instead.

So, picture this: It's the annual Black Family Christmas dinner, you know the one with all the purebloods? Well, it was possibly even more boring than a double period with Professor Binns, at least it was until I added some much-needed entertainment. Lestrange and some other fellow kept banging on about the new Minister for Magic, apparently he's a Muggle Born? Anyway, I'd had enough of their banging, so I thought I'd do some of my own. You know that spell we were working on for the first feast back? Well, I can firmly attest that it works in full. You should've seen their faces! Fireworks just kept shooting out of the flower arrangements, you'd have loved it.

Anyway, enough about all of that. We need to sort out our plan for New Years Eve. I've got a few ideas, though I've not heard back from Remus about it yet.

Oh yes, and the parcel. It looks odd, but its something I've been working on over the break. Its just a prototype for now, and I'll need you and Remus to help with the revisions, but it seems pretty good so far. I'm calling it the extendable ear…give it a try.

Wishing you all the best at Christmas

Your friend always,

Sirius

"Bloody brilliant mate, how'd you think of it?" James enthused the moment he found Sirius inside the Leaky Cauldron. He quickly pulled his friend into a tight embrace before handing over his own wrapped parcel. "Didn't want to send it in the post" he explained, "what with how your family have been and everything".

"Cheers mate" Sirius smiled, tearing into the wrapping as James quickly ordered them two butterbeers. "I've been trying to listen in on my Fathers meetings" Sirius explained, answering James' earlier question. "Kept getting caught in the hallway, so I thought it needed a workaround".

"Brilliant" James enthused, "D'you have any idea how useful this is going to be at Hogwarts?".

Sirius smirked back, "thought it might be". He glanced around again at the floo in the corner of the bar, "you heard from Remus?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, said he'd be late" James answered, "something about his school supplies".

"What time have you got to be back?" Sirius asked.

"No time really, told Mum and Dad I was staying at Franks house".

"Frank?" Sirius asked.

"Longbottom" James clarified, "Mum and Dad know his parents, so they said yes without even checking" he added with a laugh. "so, what do we want to do?"

"I just don't understand how it does it underground!" James enthused in awe as the trio jumped off the Central Line at Marble Arch. It was Remus who had suggested they try the underground, having heard about if from a comic book he had read when he was younger.

"Please mind the gap between the train and the platform" a voice rang through the walls, startling the boys who all swivelled their heads looking for the source of the sound.

Remus pointed up at a grey device on the wall, "it sounded like it came from there".

Sirius was likewise awed by the Underground train service, and the three spent some time on the platform watching as the tube-like trains emerged from tunnels onto the platform. "And all of that without magic" Sirius marvelled, impressed at the ability to establish such a train network with no magic.

"Let's go up, I want to see that park Sirius mentioned" Remus spoke, encouraging the three to abandon the wonders of the platform. Going up the escalator was slightly less scary than it had been going down, Sirius thought, particularly as he felt he was returning to Earth rather than leaving it.

Sirius led the way out of the station, emerging onto a busy road that felt as if they were at the centre of a roundabout. Cars shot by, but so did busses, bikes, scooters, and pedestrians. It seemed that everyone knew exactly where they were headed, and all three boys stood slightly closer together to avoid being separated.

"Over there" Sirius pointed at the park gates, "we just have to cross this street" he answered, walking the group over to a set of traffic lights.

James inquisitively pressed a button on the streetlight, which immediately lit up with a small red man. "What does that mean?" he asked. Neither of his friends had time to respond before all the cars suddenly came to a stop, and the small man lit up in green.

"Must mean go" said Remus, the three walking across the road towards the park.

"Brilliant" James enthused again in wonder.