The Mysterious Case of Sirius Black

.Eleven.

December had came by quickly. 

The auror duo had sent in the request form to have Pettigrew's remains exhumed, but there was still an extremely long and exhaustive process to wait for. They had to wait for Pettigrew's mother to approve and a warrant had to be received. Then, the magical forensics department would have to go through a series of tests which would show which spells, potions, and other magical effects have occurred to the body (finger in this case). If anything ran positive, they'd have to run more tests. At the current moment, all they could do was wait.

In the meantime, Rose had been visiting Sirius every night since the day she first discovered his hiding spot. Slowly, he was warming up to her and they were able to hold conversation about anything. Rose would catch him up on the current events of the wizarding world and he would listen intently. 

Ever since Martin had mentioned her excursions, Rose stopped visiting Sirius each night, instead going every other night. 

She, in turn, had also noticed something about Martin. The hickey, she decided, was from Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin. She had come to this conclusion from the countless glances shared between the two as well as the time she had seen Martin push the older man into a broom closet. 

It made her heart warm, but even so she was wary to see what her partner's reaction would be when he came to learn that Remus was a werewolf. Martin had never shown signs of being prejudice but the topic of werewolves had never come up in conversation.

"Sirius," Rose called, entering the shack. She had cleaned it up a little bit since she had first gotten there. The floor was no longer covered in pieces of debris thankfully. It was also now dust-free with a permanent fire burning in the fireplace, brightening up the room slightly. 

The sole couch that remained slovenly tossed in the center of the room was centered near the fireplace, no longer sporting broken metal springs. The formerly destroyed mattress was now softer and patched up. There were less creaks on the main floor, though she left some for dramatic effect.

Rose felt quite proud of her efforts in cleaning up the Shrieking Shack. 

Today was quite the special day. Even though there was barely any evidence to lock up Peter Pettigrew yet, there was still something to be happy about: Christmas.

In Rose's hands was her usual grey container of food, but this time she also had a neatly wrapped box. Given the holidays, she felt like it would do Sirius good to have a little bit of cheer. 

"Rose," the man said with a grin, "Happy Christmas!" A small tree branch was placed in the corner of the room as a mini Christmas Tree. Rose pointed her wand to the tree, causing it to grow slightly and become more full with clusters of green needles. 

"Neat trick," Sirius smiled, walking away from the fireplace.

"Happy Christmas Sirius," she said warmly, "I brought you a gift." She held out the stuff she bought him and his face turned into a scowl.

"I told you not-"

"I know," she sighed, exasperated, "But you'll it's Christmas! And it's also freezing here, you need some of these things." He groaned, but shook his head, running a hand through his hair. 

"I'm sorry for yelling," he said quietly, "I appreciate that you care so much." Rose punched his shoulder with a small smile.

"Of course I care," she replied, the grin growing, "Now open your present! Come on I wanna see your reaction!" He laughed at her eagerness, bringing the box closer to him. 

He began to gently open the box, tearing the maroon wrapping paper. Inside, from what Sirius could see so far, was a bunch of neatly placed sweets from honeydukes and two pairs of thick woolly socks.

"Socks, oh thank Merlin my feet have been freezing to be honest," he admitted, slipping them on immediately. Rose grinned.

"I knew it," she said teasingly, placing a container of food on the table. He took out the last thing from the box and tears came to the man's eyes.

"A gryffindor sweater," he breathed.

"I know you said not to and that it wasn't safe-"

"Thank you," he cut her off, "I know I don't need it but thank you so much." A shy smile came to Rose's face as Siris stood up, wrapping his arms around her. Her face darkened slightly as she hugged him back gently as well. She leaned her head against his shoulder gently, allowing herself to take him in for just a moment before pulling away. 

"These are all amazing, Rose. Seriously, thank you," he said, now standing a few inches away from her. 

"It's absolutely no issue at all," she said, mischief shining in her eyes, "I also brought something special. Butterbeer from Rosmerta's!" His mouth dropped open. She pulled out a bottle from the bag. The golden liquid shined brightly, foam bursting at the top of the clear bottle. It made Sirius' mouth water just looking at it.

"How'd you get that?" he asked in shock. 

"A witch never reveals her secrets," she said proudly. In truth, she had just bought a mug of butterbeer and poured it into a bottle when Rosmerta wasn't looking. 

She sat down on the couch, cracking a bottle open and passing it to him as he sat next to her. In front of them was two plates of food that Rose had separated while he was unwrapping his gift.

With a wave of her fingers, the flames in the fireplace brightened significantly. A warm glow filled the room, traveling to every corner of the tattered shack. The frost that has etched itself into the windows slowly melted away as heat spread across the room. 

"This is the first Christmas in a long time that I've spent with someone," the older man said honestly, looking at Rose with a glow of happiness in his eyes. They were dark and Rose could've sworn she saw them twinkle a little bit. "I just-Thank you. Thank you for believing in me." Her heart skipped a beat as he sent her a soft smile. 

"All it takes is one person to make a change Sirius," she breathed, "I'm glad I could be that one person for you." She held eye contact with him for a moment before looking away. There was a long pause in the room, where the only sound that could be heard was the fire crackling gently. 

"You know, in Azkaban," Sirius started, "There was no Christmas. The only hint of it we would have of any sort of date was visitors. I could hear the echos of children and families coming to visit other prisoners." His throat was tight as he tried to finish speaking, but couldn't seem to. He coughed dully for a moment and Rose placed a gentle hand on his own.

"It'll never be like that again," she promised, "Once we get you out of this mess you'll never have to spend a Christmas alone again." He lifted both his hands and shakily wiped away the falling tears on his face. 

Rose looked to the fire once more, trying to think of something else to talk about. 

"Have you heard? Harry Potter got a Firebolt for Christmas," she said with a slightly grin on her face. She had an idea of who sent it to the boy. Sirius let a chuckle slip past his lips.

"You're not going to lecture me are you?" he asked incredulously, turning to the auror as he took a sip of his drink. 

"No, I'm sure you know that is was reckless, I trust you," she said calmly, despite her brain egging her on to lecture the man. "Just be careful. His friend and Professor McGonagall both think you're the one who gave it to him. It's being checked right now." The convict sighed and bit into a piece of turkey.

"Don't worry about me, love," there it was again, the annoying skip of her heart, "I didn't curse it or anything. It'll come off clean. I haven't even seen the broom. I just made the purchase and had it shipped." 

"Alright, just please stop trying to interact with Harry. It's too dangerous," she said softly. She could see irritation flash over his face and he opened his mouth to say something back, but she shoved a forkful of mashed potatoes into it. She laughed at the look on his face.

"You're cheeky," he teased after swallowing his food, "Very cheeky."

-yayyyyy! it's a christmas special!!!!!!-