[Completed on 31st March, 2017]
Remus Lupin is a sad little eleven year old with no hope of attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though everything changes when Dumbledore comes knocking at his door. Remus is told he can attend Hogwa...
A day before the holidays started, Sirius received a letter from his brother.
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Sirius balled up the letter in his hand and before James could ask any questions, led the way down for breakfast.
Sirius was still lost in his thought, the letter still weighing him down in his robe's pockets as James and Remus bickered about something and Peter tried to catch up, when they all entered the Great Hall to find all the Professors putting up Christmas decorations. Mistletoe and holly wreath adorned the walls and twelve gigantic Christmas trees stood around the room, some decorated with hundreds of candles, some with tiny icicles. There were even a few which had fairies around them- tiny little humanoids with large, multi-coloured insect-like wings.
Sirius sat down at the Gryffindor table with the others feeling quite impressed, as Professor McGonagall waved her wand and dazzling silver ribbons shot out of its end and wrapped beautifully around the nearest Christmas tree.
He thought back to the Christmases he had spent back home, and how identical yet different they had been. The Christmas decorations at 12 Grimmauld Place were pretty much similar to the one he was sitting amidst now, except there was only one tree which looked quite cold and uninviting in the drawing room along with his mother's most prized Dark-objects.
"I can't wait to get back home," said Peter, bringing Sirius back to the present. "It's been so long."
"So what are you guys planning to do during the holidays?" asked Remus, ladling porridge into his bowl.
"Enjoying ourselves of course," James replied.
"Merry Christmas!" squealed a girl behind Sirius and Remus. They both turned around.
"Happy Christmas, Selena," said Remus smiling. "Have a nice holiday," Peter added.
"I heard you guys are staying?" she asked as Sirius turned towards his bowl of porridge.
"Nah, that's just James and Sirius," said Peter.
"Oh, good then. You won't mind if we share compartment on the train then, would you?"
"What about your Slytherin friends? Haven't you signed up for the Malfoy fan-club yet? I bet they'll be annoyed to see you hanging with us filthy Gryffindors," Sirius said rather coldly before he could stop himself and turned around again to look at her.
Selena narrowed her eyes at him and replied in an equally icy tone. "Black, I've heard loads about you."
"Of course, that would be great," Remus cut in as Sirius opened his mouth to retort.
"Well, well, well," came a lazy drawl. Apparently Lucius Malfoy, the wiry fifth-year Slytherin prefect with a pointed chin and straw coloured hair, had joined them.
Sirius concentrated again on his porridge, not wanting to create a scene even though he could feel the letter in his pockets, his brother's words smouldering inside it- 'She got a note from Lucius'.
"Making friends with the Gryffindors now, are you, Nightshade? And I thought you could sink no lower. But then again what else can you except from a filthy mudblood?"
Sirius stopped eating and turned around in his chair shocked, though he wasn't as nearly as shocked as James, whose silver spoon clattered out of his hand, or Remus, who stood up at once toppling his chair in the process.
The Malfoys were close family friends of the Blacks and Sirius knew them to be equally prejudiced believers of pureblood superiority. He himself had heard the word 'mudblood' being used on a daily basis at his home and wasn't doubtful that the Malfoys, including Lucius, used it too.
But Sirius knew mudblood wasn't a decent word. It was about the most disgusting thing to call someone who was a Muggle-born, someone with non-magic parents. It wasn't the kind of word one usually heard in polite conversations.
"Take it back!" growled Remus but Malfoy merely looked at him with the same bored expression. Selena Nightshade sighed in resignation and spoke, to Sirius's astonishment, in a pretty calm voice.
"I've told you before Malfoy, I'm not a mudblood."
"You're just as bad though," he sneered. "Talking about your Muggle father and your filthy Muggle friends. And now here you are making friends with these nasty little Gryffindors. I wonder, when I look at you, whether the Sorting Hat has lost its touch because-"
"See you around, guys," said Selena Nightshade and walked off before Malfoy could finish, leaving him hanging in mid-sentence awkwardly. Forgetting all his anger, Sirius snickered at the look of outrage in Lucius's face as he stormed off towards the Slytherin table.
James gave him a piercing look. "That wasn't funny," he said, his tone absolutely severe.
Remus picked up his chair and sat back down. "No, not in the least."
"Well, c'mon guys," said Sirius, still smiling as he watched Lucius sit down fuming at the Slytherin table. "Did you see the look on Malfoy's face?"
James shot him another harsh look. "Honestly," he said, "I can't believe she let him go so easily. I would have hexed him at the least, if it were me."
"Didn't she tell us she loved it with the Slytherin?" Peter asked Remus who shrugged.
"You know," Remus said after a while, "I sometimes do wonder how she ended up in Slytherin. She's just so unlike any of them."
That night Sirius lay awake in the Gryffindor dormitory wondering what his family was doing. He knew his parents would be pretty mad as he had not only refused a direct order to come back home but also caused some big trouble with the green and silver. However, he knew Regulus at least would miss him- probably. He turned in his bed picturing Regulus decorate a Christmas tree in an olive-green drawing room with heavy silver and green velvet curtains as his mother paced around cursing Sirius under her breath.
"Is it really that bad?" came James's voice from the bed beside his. Sirius poked his head through the drapes, bewildered. "Huh?"
"You know..." James said, still staring at the canopy of his bed and flipping his wand absent-mindedly in his hand, "back home, at the Black House?"
Sirius looked at James blankly. He didn't really know what say or how to explain in addition to the fact that he didn't really want to say or explain anything.
"I told you- you needn't stay," he mumbled, withdrawing his head back. "I would have been alright, you know. And you could have actually enjoyed your Christmas with your family."
"I didn't mean it like that- I mean-" said James, "It's just that I've never heard you talk about your home or family..."
"Well that's because I haven't got one," snapped Sirius, before he could stop himself. He heard the clatter of James's wand on the floor and heard him clambering out of bed to retrieve it.
"You kno-" James began.
"It's quite late now. Good night," Sirius said before James could react and crossed his fingers hoping he wouldn't pursue the topic any further. He didn't.
A/N: This is one of the chapters I wrote a couple years ago. It probably needs some proof-reading but I'm already falling back on my schedule. I'll edit it asap, until then sorry if its too cringy to read. =P
I would really appreciate your comments and votes on this chapter (if you think its good enough). =P :)
