It was that time of the year to leave for Christmas, thankfully.
We had been training vigorously in Quidditch for the match in January, against the Slytherins. Gideon had been a great Captain and would continue to be one up until the last day of this year, he was helpful, encouraging and very enthusiastic. The team was also improving every day, getting better with every practice, scoring and saving more between us, aim getting more accurate and time getting faster.
There was one thing that I also knew, James' parents had invited myself and Sirius for Christmas again. They had also invited Remus and Peter, but they were going home to their own families. James' parents had also said something about Lily, but James had been too scared to ask Lily if she wanted to spend a day or two for Christmas or New Years at his house. It was quite cute how he liked Lily, and would settle for nothing less, but she only found it annoying.
Getting off the train, and walking with Sirius and James (after saying goodbye to the others) towards Euphemia and Fleamont Potter, was always one of the best feelings. They were always so homely, and treated us like we were their own children, I was even sure that Euphemia once called me her daughter last summer and had to correct herself.
We apparated to the Potter manor and it was as welcoming as ever, it was also decorated inside and out for the festive season.
*
I woke up on the Christmas morning rather early, not nearly as early enough though apparently, as Sirius and James, who were already awake, were creeping rather loudly down the stairs. I got out of my bed and pulled on a jumper, opening the door and walking down the carpeted staircase myself, and into the kitchen where the two boys were. It was already assumed that they were making a mess, and rightly so there was a small clatter from their direction.
Walking in, I took in James trying to find something from the cupboards and Sirius pouring himself a drink of what I hoped was water. James had noticed me first and asked out of the blue, "Thea, answer me honestly, do you think I look better with or without glasses?"
I shrugged, not really caring as Sirius complained that he'd already given his opinion so why wasn't that good enough. I said, "I agree with Sirius, you look fine either way, but will you not be practically blind without glasses?"
James grabbed something from one of the cabinets and placed it on the worktop, "Technicalities, if it makes me look better, it may be worth it." I glared at him and then saw a hand grab his packet of bacon, and a woman said in a stern tone, "Promise me you will not allow yourself to go blind on purpose for the sake of looking cool. And what did I tell you about eating breakfast on Christmas morning? You have extra portions for lunch anyway."
Euphemia then put the bacon rashers back where they came from, and then dragged her son out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Stay," she told him. Then Sirius and I came out following her like a few ducklings, and we both sat next to James in front of the tree.
I heard a loud bang only a few minutes after, and the four of us watched in anticipation as out popped a head from the stair rail as Fleamont Potter said, "I'm okay. I just dropped the book to make our signature pudding."
Euphemia sighed and went to help her husband with something, moments later reappearing and then disappearing again into the kitchen. "Can we open our presents?" James asked loudly, obviously hoping for his mum to have heard him. There came a, "Shut it James," from in the kitchen.
Then, suddenly, there was a rebellious, "Go on son," from Fleamont. James grinned happily and grabbed his present that was nearest to him.
After we opened our own presents, some things from the others or each other, we shared our thoughts on each of them. One that stood out to me was from my parents, an emerald bracelet which, of course, I didn't actually wear. However, it looked expensive, and it was typical of my parents, trying to win back my loyalty by buying me things.
I would keep it, maybe sell it, and I would make do on my own.
I looked in the wrappings to see if it came with a note, and it did. The note read:
𝘈𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘢,
𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘐 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.
𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳,
𝘏𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴.
I read the note through multiple times, staring at my father's writing, so it was true, mother had gone mad. Not in the way one would expect, but she was aiming to turn her children into perfect replicas of Death Eater children, and hope that they would have a good influence on us. It was a shame, when I was a small child, mother was practically an angel, and when I was six, she met Walburga.
I didn't know this but, one fifteen year old and one fourteen year old was reading over my shoulder and as I noticed, I snatched the note out of their sight. "Do you mind?" I asked them, rather harshly. It was my own decision whether I wanted to tell them my father was now going against my mother.
"Are you alright Thea?" Sirius asked me. I looked at his and James' eyes, they were soft, rather like how you would speak to a distressed child, but one thing was clear, I did not want their pity, I didn't want them to feel sorry for me. It was insufferable.
"Fine," I said, not bothering to expand. I grabbed everything I had gotten and made my way to the spare room I was staying in, ignoring the two boys on my way up. After I had put everything away, I sat on my bed, staring into the outside through my window, obviously being there for a long period of time. I knew this because when I heard a noise, it was Euphemia telling me that her Christmas lunch was ready and, not wanting to be rude, I went downstairs.
Halfway through eating my first serving, the two boys were midway on their second, James caught my eye once, and the both of us looked away quickly. The atmosphere was quite frosty, which went unbeknownst to Fleamont as he was sat eating his turkey. Euphemia seemed to notice our awkward gazes and non-existent chatter however, as she asked me, "What have my boys done Athena?"
I took note of how she called Sirius one of 'her boys' and smiled slightly, telling her everything was fine. It wasn't until James said, "Thea got a note off her dad telling her that her mother is kind of crazy, and he wasn't telling her he was in contact with Thea and I accidentally read it and now she's mad at me and Sirius."
Euphemia sighed disappointedly and I shut my eyes, my head in my hands, "James how do you accidentally read something?"
Sirius said, "It's easy really, just look at something, see words and then your eyes move on their own, against your permission. It's like being hypnotised." Fleamont laughed childlike, which resulted in Mia slapping him across the head with a Christmas Cracker. Wizarding Crackers were not like Muggle ones, the Wizarding ones exploded with a bang like a canon, a real, durable hat came out of it, and their small gifts were much better, like wizarding chess figures or white mice.
After the Christmas lunch, I thanked the two adults and then excused myself from the table, making my way up to my temporary room for the two weeks. I was already missing the weekends at Hogwarts, Quidditch training, trips to Hogsmeade, the others, their food (not that the cooking here wasn't great), I even somewhat missed the lessons. The only thing I didn't miss was the level of noise the castle sometimes equipped you with.
Not seeing Rosier or Mulciber's face for two weeks was like a godsend too, especially when the latter tried to talk to me a few weeks ago in the corridors. It was almost like a nightmare when it happened, walking to Charms class with Alice and Andre, and being suddenly shouted at, "Oi Athena, it's not too late you know, to be affiliated with some Slytherins, especially the higher ones, I could even persuade Lestrange to talk to you."
I had impolitely declined.
It also irritated me how one of his close friends, had called him by his last name, it was like all Slytherins had a strictly business friendship. That was only one of the reasons I was proud to be a Gryffindor, not because we'd lost the House Cup last year (but gained the Quidditch one), not because we were all brave and brawny, it was because of our friendships and loyalty and overall positivity in our house.
I heard a knock on the door, tearing my thoughts away from me and it opened to a curly brown haired boy who had a huge grin on his face, "Want to have a snowball fight?" I stood up and looked out of the window, frowning when there was no snow noticeable, James seemed to notice this and he laughed, "Who needs real snow when my dad has his wand?"
I shrugged and followed him out, leaving all of my inner thoughts behind the door, happy to get a chance to throw something at the two boys' faces.