In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*A Marauder's Christmas

The day after the Yule Ball Briar was heading home for Christmas day and the rest of the Christmas holidays. She wasn't heading home home, but instead was heading to see Sirius and Remus. They hadn't told her where she was staying in case someone found the letters.

When Briar dismounted the Hogwarts Express her eyes landed on her dad waiting for her on the platform, so she hurried towards him and threw her arms around his torso

"Hi, honey" He grinned and kissed the top of her head

"Hi," she smiled

He led her around the back of one of the pillars, and held her around the shoulders in one hand, and her luggage in the other. "We're going to apparate to see Padfoot, and be warned that most people are sick the first time"

"Fun" She chuckled and squeezed her eyes shut in preparation. There was a sudden, unexpected feeling as if her insides were being squeezed and pulled around. The ground beneath her seemed to disappear and it was like her body was being spun through the air

Then everything went still and she could feel concrete beneath her shoes so she opened her eyes and before she could take in where they were, she clasped a hand over her mouth to stop the sick feeling in her stomach rising

"You okay?" Remus asked her and she swallowed hard, before nodding. He opened a door right in front of them and ushered her inside. Briar found herself standing in a dingy, cold hallway. But Remus walked ahead of her and led her up the stairs, into a living room which had the fireplace lit and a familiar man on the sofa

"Sirius!" Briar exclaimed and the long haired man stood up to hug her

"Hey, paws," he kissed her forehead "You alright?"

"Yep" She grinned "What is this place?"

"This was my old house, I grew up in here, and sadly there is still a painting of my mother up" he shook his head, as if it was painful to remember "But I've labelled your room so you can go see it and when you come downstairs we'll get decorating" he clapped his hands together and Briar went up the stairs with her trunk

When she was done settling in, she went down the stairs to help him and Remus decorate the dingy house

They hung fairy lights, tinsel, and mistletoe, put up little statues and pictures and Sirius enchanted fake reindeer to fly around the house, the kitchen had candy cane decorations up and then they went to do the Christmas Tree

It was in the drawing room and stood tall nearly touching the roof. They covered it in tinsel, lights, baubles, fake snow and then finally Remus lifted Briar up so she could put the star on top

They did it all while listening to some of Sirius' favourite muggle bands and dancing around like lunatics

For the first time since the school year started, Briar felt relaxed and she felt the stress of the Triwizard Tournament disappear

But over lunch Sirius and Remus wanted to talk to her about it, and namely about how Harry was doing

"I'm worried about him and with Igor Karkaroff in the building, I do not trust his safety!" Sirius was exclaiming "Karkaroff was a Death Eater and no one stops being a Death Eater. If anyone had reason to put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire it's him"

"The Death Eaters went into hiding 14 years ago." Remus replied "If Karkaroff wanted to kill Harry he could have just done it on his own. Whoever put his name in the cup is too afraid to do it themselves"

"I can't believe Mr Crouch let him compete" Briar added "How can they let a fourteen year old boy compete? And all the rubbish that Rita Skeeter puts in the Daily Prophet makes it sound as though he entered because he wanted to!"