Hogwarts: The Hidden Serpent - BOOK 2 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

6: Christmas

'We are going to use the potion during the holidays!' whispered Hermione one Potions lesson.

Snape was sneering into Neville Longbottom's cauldron at the other side of the class so it was safe to chat.

'I'm going home for Christmas, so make sure to tell me what happens!' I said whilst chopping some weeds and throwing them into my cauldron.

'Ok! What if Draco does confess! What will we do? We can't exactly say, "We used the Polyjuice Potion to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room and Malfoy said to us he is the Heir of Slytherin" can we!' said Hermione whilst stirring her potion.

I checked to make sure my potion was cyan then stirred it until it was dark blue.

'Just say me and Nico made it and forced you lot to use it! We didn't use it ourselves in case it went wrong!' I said grinning.

'No way!' said Hermione looking appalled, 'We couldn't get you two in trouble!'

'It happens all the time!' I said, 'It's really nothing to us! Anyway, they can't tell Nico off now.'

'Anyway, no-one would believe that you can't make the potion! As much as I hate to say it, you are the best at Potions of all of us!' said Hermione.

'Polyjuice is the hardest potion in the world! Well, after the Wolfsbane that is!' I said.

'Wolfsbane?' asked Hermione.

'It's a brand new discovery which allows werewolves to keep their human mind during their transformation!' I explained.

'Good! Maybe that will change peoples minds about werewolves. I mean, they aren't monsters, they are people!' said Hermione and I stared at her in shock. I had never found anyone that agreed with me on werewolves.

'What? Don't you agree?' asked Hermione, catching sight of my shocked face.

'No! I agree completely! I have just never found anyone with the same opinion about it as me!' I said.

'Time up! Bring your potions up here to be tested!' said Snape then he caught sight of Ron's acid green potion, 'Blue not green, Weasley!'

I scooped up some of my potion in my flask and headed to Snape's desk. I handed him my potion and he examined it.

'Full marks, Black,' he said quietly. He was always surprised when I made a potion well, despite it happening every lesson. In my opinion, he didn't want to admit a Gryffindor was one of his best students.

Grinning, I walked out of the classroom and to our next class.

At the beginning of the holidays, after I said goodbye to Ron, Harry and Hermione, I ran along the train to find an empty carriage. After a while, I found one. I immediately lay down on one of the seats, hoping nobody would disturb me.

The journey seemed to last forever. I was relieved when King's Cross Station finally came into view.

'Hello!' said a voice from behind me. It was Remus!

'Hey!' I said and hugged him.

'No Nico?' he asked. I hadn't told him and completely forgot that Nico was meant to come for Christmas.

'Not here... I'll tell you at home,' I sighed.

'Well, let's go!' he said holding out his arm.

I ran through to my room to ditch my stuff and smiled at the sight. There was a bed in one corner and a desk cluttered with parchment, quills and ink in another. I had a massive bookcase filled with books against a wall and the walls were covered in posters of Muggle movies and bands like McFly, the Weird Sisters, Linkin Park, Muse and much more. I had a calendar hanging loosely on a wall and on my chest of drawers were ornaments. I had a werewolf, a dragon, a phoenix, a centaur, a chimaera and, my favourite, a big black dog. I don't know why it was my favourite, it wasn't even a magical creature! It seemed to remind me of something important to me but I didn't know what.

'Tea!' called Remus and I ran out of my room.

'So, Nico?' he asked and I explained, choking on every word.

Remus pulled me into a hug and I sighed into it. I missed Nico a lot and prayed that he would wake up soon, but I knew the antidote was nowhere near ready.

On Christmas morning, I woke up and ran out of bed. I ran to the living room where Remus was smiling at me.

'This is your pile!' he said pointing to a neat stack of presents.

I opened the first one. It was a necklace from Josh Freeman!

'Who is that from?' asked Remus.

'Josh!' I said, smiling.

Josh was a Slytherin from our year who was nothing like a Slytherin. He was way too nice for that. I sighed when I saw Nico's present. He had obviously planned in advance and it made my heart ache.

I opened Nico and Remus' presents. Nico had got me a selection of sweets and Remus, a book called Hairy Snout, Human Heart and I promised myself I would read it soon. I thanked Remus then opened sweets from Harry and Ron and a book on werewolves from Hermione. Ever since the conversation in Potions we had been talking about werewolves a lot. Her letter said that Draco was apparently not the Heir of Slytherin and that Harry and Ron looked hideous as Crabbe and Goyle.

Remus left then came back a minute later.

'This just came!' he said, handing me a letter.

I didn't recognise the handwriting so I carefully opened it and read.

Dear Molly,
I am so sorry I have not seen you for 11 years. I haven't even had the chance to write!
I finally got permission to write to someone and I decided to write to you.
I hope you are doing well at Hogwarts and are getting up to mischief! Don't let Remus stop you! I take it you are in your second year! I hope you are doing well in class! Just because you can get up to mischief does not mean you can get bad grades.
I wonder, are you friends with Harry Potter? He is the same age as you so I take it you will have met. Say hello to him for me! He won't know who I am but I still want to say hi.
Anyway, tell Remus I said hello!
Hope you have a great Christmas!
Love,
Your father
Sirius Black xx
P.S. If you want to write back, I will not get it because I am not allowed to receive letters.
P.P.S. I've given you access to the vault. I'm so sorry, it never occurred to me before. Consider it my Christmas gift to you.

I looked up in shock.

'Who was it from?' asked Remus and I slowly handed it to him.

He read it over several times then looked up, his face white. He handed me back the letter and I shoved it into my pocket. I didn't care my dad was in Azkaban, I would still keep this forever.

When it was time to go back to Hogwarts, I had had a great time. Remus was also happier than I had ever seen him. I had almost forgotten the pain of Nico being gone, but it wasn't to last.

'Bye!' I said to him as I boarded the train.

I waved until he was a little speck in the distance then prepared myself for Hogwarts...