Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the Christmas season had started and Number 12 Harwood West was aglow with Christmas cheer. Sirius was singing "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs" as he strung up lights and garland with Remus, Mimsy appearing with the largest roast and ham Harry had ever seen, Alice spending the vacation with them, and Sirius had even managed to invite "the only family he could stand" to the festivities.

That was, when the floo roared to life, Harry wasn't on guard. The first to step out was a brown haired woman with kind eyes, followed by a big bellied man and finally, a girl with alternating red and green strands of hair. Harry quietly wondered how long that dye job had taken while Sirius thundered down the stairs like a boy on Christmas.

While there was still a haunted look in his eye, Sirius as a whole looked far healthier than when Harry had freed him. His gaunt, almost completely hollow cheeks had filled out to reveal aristocratic features, his hair, free of grease and dirt, was neck length and flowing instead of being matted to his head. His eyes only occasionally held the hollow, haunted look in them.

This wasn't one of those times, his grey eyes alive with joy as he ran up to give the woman a hug, "Andy!"

"Hello Sirius, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's good to see you again. You remember Ted?"

"Of course!" Sirius said, giving the man just as tight of a hug, "I'll always remember someone who made my hag of a mother as unhappy as you!"

"And this is our daughter, Nymphadora."

"Just call me Tonks," she said, as her hair turned bright red.

—

Nymphadora Tonks, who had cursed people for calling her by her first name, looked around the manor in interest, wondering how a Campione lived. The answer, in this case, was quite modestly. There were enough couches and chairs to seat a decent amount of guests, a muggle TV turned on to one of those cheesy '60s Christmas movies. A Christmas tree, ten feet tall at least, sat in another corner, decorated sparsely with ornaments and with an angel on top.

Then her eyes landed on Harry Potter, her mouth went dry and she went dead still. He was sitting on one of the couches snuggled up to a blonde girl watching the TV, wearing a loose fitting button up and pants. He glanced over at her as introductions were handed out and nodded, before he reached for a cup of hot chocolate and drank from it. Finally, after a moment he said casually, "Well then, don't just stand there, take a seat. We're going to be living in the same house for the next week, it's gonna be awkward if you stare at me like a monster the whole time. Can we get you anything, Tonks? Mimsy is letting the treacle tart cool for a few minutes, how about that?"

Tonks sat in one of the chairs next to him, not taking her eyes off him. The was the boy who, two months and some change ago, had entered the Ministry of Magic, stood down the Auror's, and ordered Millicent Bagnold to give Sirius a (still pending) fair trial. It wasn't surprising it was being held off, Bagnold was dealing with the fallout of the average wizard learning a new Campione had been crowned and the general public hadn't been informed. It had tanked her and the Wizengamot's popularity rating. Pureblood families were unhappy to no longer be the top of the food chain, instead a half-blood was, and the average folk were unhappy that such a dangerous individual had been hidden from them.

"I'll take a slice, yeah," Tonks finally said.

"And dinner should be ready soon," Harry said, checking a watch on his wrist, "So if you want to wait till after that, that's fine too."

—

Andromeda watched as the Devil King carefully took a tray from their House Elf, thanking them. Putting it carefully on the table in the living room, as everyone filtered in and out of the kitchen, she watched Harry grab a bottle and carefully uncork it, pouring the contents into a cup of hot chocolate. He kept doing this, in a clear and practiced order before handing the potion filled concoction to the blonde girl leaning against him with a tender softness.

"What do you want to eat?" Harry asked softly

"Some breast and mashed potatoes, please," the girl said, "I'll ask for more if I feel up to it afterwards."

Harry nodded, then disappeared into the kitchen. Andromeda swallowed the bite of turkey thigh she was eating and said, "I don't think we've been introduced?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, I'm Alice Goddodin, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'll be staying for the next week as well."

"What were those potions?" Andromeda had got an O for her NEWTs, though she hadn't really used it for anything.

"Health potions," she smiled sadly, "unfortunately I'm rather delicate, so if I want to spend time anywhere other than my home, I need to take them."

"Lord Potter seemed comfortable with them?"

"We spend a lot of time together," she said.

Glancing at Sirius, she saw him hide a smirk under his hand as Harry came back into the room, placing Alice's plate in front of her before sitting down next to her.