The rest of Christmas Day at the Potters went by quickly and with more joy in the holiday than Estelle had ever seen. The family was wonderful to be around, and anyone in their presence could feel the love surrounding them. After dinner James, Sirius and Estelle were all sitting on in the living room.
The soft glow from the fireplace lit up their faces, as Estelle sat comfortably on the sofa while James and Sirius were kneeled around the coffee table. After a few moments of James whining to Sirius, Estelle decided to distract them from the intense game they were playing.
"Interestingly enough, I actually got you guys something..Do you want to open them now? " Estelle asked, while watching Sirius brutally beat James in Wizards Chess.
"Stella! You didn't have to do that." Sirius said, taking his attention off the board.
"Ooo! What did you get ussss. Lets open them now!" James squealed in a very high pitch, before jumping up on the couch beside her.
"Oi! We aren't finished the game. Ive just about won." Sirius said with a pouting face, gesturing to the board.
"Oh yes we are. You can just wine mate, so... Gifts!" James said, rolling this eyes at Sirius before turning to Estelle with a wide grin.
Estelle chuckled at the two of them, shaking her head slowly. "Wait here, I will go get them."
She ran up to the guest room she was staying in, and popped open her travel case. She rummaged around the tightly packed case that held all of her belongings from home, until she found a couple neatly wrapped and labelled boxes.
She had a wide variety of collectable items, and random things at home. So one of the nights after she had locked herself in her room, she had rummaged through it to find gifts for all her friends.
The first interesting thing she found was an old penknife, the handle was thin and glossy. It looked brand new, but she knew it was old. Her mind fell on one person she knew would use it best, so she opened it up to make sure it wasn't broken.
The knife could unlock any lock or untie any knot, and she couldn't recall where she had gotten it, but she knew it would be perfect for Sirius. So after making sure it all looked right Estelle set it aside, her mind racing with all the pranks he would get away with after receiving such a handy tool and she couldn't help smiling to herself.
James was more tough to search for, but she set back to rummaging through drawers and cupboards in her bedroom and closet. In a small box she found a set of old mirrors wrapped in a silk cloth, an ornate one with golden flowers embellished on it, a silver one with small stars etched in to the frame, and another that had silver vines and leaves around it.
She looked into the one with flowers, confused when she couldn't see herself but was looking up at the ceiling. She looked back down at the two other mirrors, realizing exactly what they were. Her face lit up, and she set them aside ready to package them up.
As the memory of finding the boys gifts faded away, Estelle looked at the two boxes labelled for Sirius and hid one of them back in her bag, picking up the other as well as the one for James. She raced back downstairs with the boxes in hand, and went and plopped down on the carpet in front of them.
She handed the boxes to each of them, teasingly pulling away as they went to grab at them.
"Stellaa, you know I can't handle the suspense." James said, crossing his arms and pouting.
Sirius and her laughed at him, before she finally gave them the gifts. As they opened them, she could see the confusion on their faces as they looked at each others reflections staring back at them.
"Are these what I think they are?" Sirius asked after a moment, his eyes flicking up to Estelle with a smile.
"Two way mirrors?" James said, taking his eyes off the mirror.
"Three way mirrors actually." Estelle said with a proud look on her face, holding up her own mirror for them to see.
"Merlins beard, these are so wicked!" James said loudly, turning the mirror over in his hands and examining it.
Sirius grinned at her cheekily, looking at the mirror and back to her. "Curious about what goes on in the boys dormitory there Stella?" He asked, winking at her.
"If I was curious I would just go up to them Black." She said, rolling her eyes. "But a thank you would work, you know." He smiled at her, and she felt a small shiver go down her spine. His eyes were piercing and every time he smiled she felt the corner of her mouth jerk into one herself.
"Thank you, these are going to be great." James said animatedly.
"Yes, thank you for aiding the pranking to come this term." Sirius said with another wink.
"That was the plan!"
They chatted for awhile longer, Euphemia and Fleamont joined them after a few minutes and looked over the mirrors themselves. Fleamont engraved each of their initials into the back of the mirrors, charming them so that if they were ever stolen they would read insults to the person who had taken them.
When it came down to opening the gifts under the tree, Estelle perched herself beside Sirius on the sofa, a blanket draped over their legs. Sirius and James opened their gifts from James's parents, and then the ones from each other.
At the end, Euphemia pulled out a wrapped gift and held it out to Estelle. She looked at it in shock for a second, her eyes flicked back and fourth between the gift and Euphemia slightly confused.
"Go on then love, take it. It's for you." Euphemia said with a smile.
"F-for me?" She asked, slowly reaching out and taking the gift.
"Of course silly, it's Christmas." Fleamont said with a chuckle.
Estelle held the package in her hand, flipping it over slowly and unwrapping it. Inside was a hand knitted, scarlet coloured jumper. It was incredibly soft to the touch, and it was the perfect Gryffindor red.
Estelle stared at it a moment, thinking about all of the green coloured clothing items she had been given before starting Hogwarts and how they had all gotten buried in the bottom of her trunk when she was sorted.
"Do you like it? I know it's not grand, but it was kind of last minute and I figured Gryffindor colours was a safe bet, and-" Euphemia began to nervously rant, before she was cut off by Estelle who had pulled her into a deep hug.
"Thank you Mia. Oh, thank both of you. It is wonderful." Estelle said once she pulled away, gesturing to her and Fleamont.
"Oh, of course my dear!" Euphemia said, stroking Estelles cheek in a very motherly way.
"We got you things too you know.. But we sent them with my owl to your house... I suppose he should come back with them soon if no one accepts them." James said, scratching awkwardly at his head. Sirius nodded along with him.
"Thank you boys. You don't understand how wonderful you have all been to me." Estelle said with a teary smile. She pulled James into a hug, followed by Sirius. She held on just a bit longer to him, craving the safe feeling she got back in the kitchen this morning.
***
As the hours went by Euphemia and Fleamont went up to bed, leaving the three of them to chat about the new term at school, and about the things they had received for Christmas. They were sat in a circle on the floor, their backs up against the base of the sofas.
"So, are you still having the annual New Years party?" Sirius asked James.
"Mm, yup! That's what annual means Black." James said with a smirk, picking at the pastry on his plate.
"Hah. Funny." Sirius said as Estelle threw her head back in laugher.
"A party hey?" Estelle asked.
"Yeah, we do it every year-"
"Yeah that's what annual means." Estelle cut him off, and he shot a glare at her. Sirius snickered and James turned his glare on him.
"No, if you two would shut it. I was trying to say, we do it every year and- Don't fucking say it- we invite a bunch of our family friends and its a really good time."
"I have been a couple of times, it's awful. There is so many people, but there is a ton of alcohol so-"
"Sirius, we are not getting drunk at this years party." James said with a glare, the events of last years party flashing through his head.
"We might not be, but I sure am." Sirius said back with a grin, the same memories running though his mind.
"What happened last year?" Estelle asked, leaning forward in interest.
"Hmph. Sirius here decided it would be a great idea to convince my very drunk Uncle Billius that he should shoot sparks at all the guests from the stairwell. He set a curtain on fire! Then, instead of helping to put it out, Sirius ran off and drank a bit more. When I found him, he vomited on me."
By the time James had finished his story, Estelle and Sirius were both cackling with laugher. James shook his head at them, trying to hide a snort of laughter himself.
After a few minutes of small talk, James finished his pastry and let out a large yawn.
"Well, Im off to bed. Sirius can you walk Stella up when you two go to bed?" James said, standing up and tossing his blanket to the sofa.
"Aye-Aye Captain." Sirius said with a salute and James flipped him off.
"Goodnight Stella, goodnight demon." James said with a head shake, before walking out of the room.
Sirius and Estelle sat in silence for a minute or two, both of them not sure what to say, or maybe just comfortable in the silence.
"Stella-" Sirius began to say, in a low sad tone.
"No, don't." Estelle interrupted. "Lets not ruin the day with that yet, we can talk about it tomorrow. Or when you give me a couple sips of fire whiskey at the New Years party." She finished, nudging Sirius arm.
He chuckled at her, shaking his head slightly. He knew she needed to talk about it, but he could wait for when she was ready. Whether that was tomorrow or a week from now.
"Ooh I know! Okay, promise not to tell James?" Estelle asked, turning to face Sirius. They were only a couple inches from each other, when she turned her head, and she looked directly into his eyes.
He cleared his throat awkwardly running a hand through his hair, and she moved to put a bit more space between them.
"Uh, you were saying?" Sirius mumbled.
"Oh uhh, right. You can't tell James, promise?" She asked again.
"Er, yeah okay.." Sirius said, his heartbeat picking up.
"Okay, wait here." Estelle said with a big grin, taking off to her room to get his gift. Leaving Sirius deflated. When she got back she sat down in front of him, legs crossed and hands behind her back.
"When I was looking for gifts, I found something really perfect for you... But when I found the mirrors I was a bit torn. So I wanted you to have this, but I didn't want James to be upset...You know how he is about gifts." Estelle rambled out, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. Sirius nodded, he knew James would never let it go if he knew she had given him two gifts.
The smile crept back on her face, and she held the gift out to him. He took it slowly, not taking his eyes off her smiling face. A smile that was caused by something as simple as giving him a Christmas gift. He took his eyes off her just to unwrap the box, taking the thin penknife out of its mold and studying it carefully in his hands.
Estelle watched as he looked at it, but as seconds passed she started to get worried that he wouldn't like it. He was playing with it in his hands, passing it back and forth between them. He even opened the knife, looking at it another moment.
"Stella..." A grin formed onto his lips, and he lifted his head, making eye contact with Estelle. She was kneeling, and picking at the skin of her thumb. As soon as she saw the smile on his face, her hand dropped.
"Do you know what it is?" Estelle asked her worried expression replaced with a smile.
"Believe it or not, I know exactly what this is. This penknife... it can unlock any lock! I remember I wanted one so bad as a kid... I used to ask my Mother for it every. single. time. we went to Diagon Alley, every time she said no.." His face fell for a moment. "So I tried to save my money, with every single loose Knut I found around the house or on the street. When I finally had enough, I went to the shop to get it.. But someone had bought the last one."
"Oh... Sirius, that sounds like a horrible thing for a child to go through. She wouldn't just buy it for you?" Estelle asked.
Sirius chuckled, shaking his head. "No, no.. My Mother isn't the warmest women out there. She is quite the opposite in fact."
"Ah... Yeah, I know how that feels." Estelle said, looking down at her hands.
"Hey... You know, we could talk about it?" Sirius asked, but Estelle stayed quiet. "No rush of course, whenever you are ready."
"Thanks Sirius." Estelle said, looking up from her hands.
He smiled at her, holding up the knife. "At least Ive got one now, take that Mother!" He said, holding it up and looking towards the roof playfully.
Estelle laughed at him, and moved so that she was sitting with her back against the couch beside him. She rested her head against his shoulder sleepily, and closed her eyes. It had been a very, very long day and her eyes felt heavy.
"Happy Christmas." She muttered, and slowly, she drifted off comfortably rested on Sirius's shoulder.
"Happy Christmas Stella."
Hey everyone! Thanks for your continued support and reading of the book! My life has become a lot busier than expected over the last couple of months... But its looking like I will be publishing a few chapters today/ Tomorrow and then back to weekly or biweekly!
Love you all!
Em