After the four third years went to bed that night, Halley, Fred and George stayed up playing endless games from exploding snap to seeing who can hold a Bertie Botts bean in their mouth the longest, Fred had won most of the rounds only to find out that he'd had all the good flavours while Halley and George had been forced to suck on grass, soap, gravy and many more disgusting flavours that did not belong in a box of sweets. The clock in the common room chimed eleven and Halley wasn't even remotely tired, the thought of seeing her father any minute sent shots of adrenaline flowing through her body. Fred and George, on the other hand, were dozing off on the couch but she needed them to go to bed before she could sneak out.
"Lads... lads! I think you should go to bed." Halley said leaning over their sleepy figures with a small smile. The twins blinked sleepily and looked around in a daze then nodded and stretched like cats before getting off the sofa
"Hope you had a good birthday Hal," George mumbled and ruffled her hair before trudging you the stairs.
Fred, who looked a little more awake than his twin, lingered by the sofa. "I um, I have another present for you... I didn't know if I should give it to you as a birthday or Christmas gift but um here." He reaches under the sofa and pulled out what looked like a small hand made book.
"Fred you didn't need to do this, I love all my presents." She also understood that the Weasleys didn't have a lot of money and having a birthday and Christmas so close she wasn't expecting two lots of presents from them. Still, she took the book and flicked through it, her heart swelling at the sentiment. "Where did you get these?" It was full of pictures of them throughout the years they'd know each other. Most were taken during the summer but there was a handful that had been taken at school, on the second to last page was a picture of Professor Snape surrounded by purple powder and the man glared at everyone when it cleared.
"That Creevey kid takes pictures of everything and he got that moment so I had to add it in." Fred had a little half-smirk on his lips as he watched the picture Snape with a bright purple face glare at the whole room. Underneath the picture in small messy writing which she recognised as Fred's immediately read 'Halley the evil genius'.
"I love it, I'm so glad someone got a picture of that moment." She turned to the last page and smiled fondly. It was Lee, Halley and the twins all smiling in the Weasleys back garden after their first year. Lee was pulling some weird faces and the twins were poking and punching each other behind little Halley who was sticking her tongue out cheekily as she changed her hair colour according to the rainbow. Scribbled underneath was 'The four best friends'.
"This is a great present." Halley hugged the book to her chest then wrapped an arm around Fred's middle, tucking her head under his chin. "Thank you, Freddie."
The taller ginger smiled tiredly and hugged her back. There was that queasy feeling in his stomach again, but he'd since grown accustomed to feeling it when Halley was around. "You're welcome, Hal." He mumbled then said good night and lazily shuffled up the stairs to bed.
"Oh, shi-" The clock chimed twelve and Halley hurriedly picked up her coat, her wand and a blanket then left the warmth of the common room, hoping that her dad would wait even if she was a few minutes late. There was hardly any security around seeing as most of the students had gone home and once again Halley had made it all the way down to the lake without being seen.
As she went from a full run to a dead stop beside the tree where they'd first encountered each other, Halley bent over trying to catch her breath. "Too much running." She wheezed out and felt like she'd just coughed up a lung.
"You sound like you're dying," Sirius said poking his head around the tree trunk, looking confused at the young witch.
Halley jumped a little at the sudden appearance of her father but eventually regained her normal breathing pattern and smiled at the scruffy man. "Hi, dad." She hugged him close and sighed, it was so good to see him. Even though she knew it would have made headline news if he'd been caught, it didn't stop her from worrying about him out there on his own.
Sirius smiled and hugged her back then guided her over to the side of the tree that faced away from the castle just in case anyone looked out the windows. "Happy birthday Hal, I'm sorry I missed so many... and I suppose Merry Christmas as well." He said gruffly and slumped against the tree, pulling her down with him.
Halley smiled with tears pricking in her eyes but she didn't want to keep crying every time she saw him. "Thanks, dad, it's okay, I know it wasn't your fault. Happy Christmas." She handed him the thick blanket she'd stolen from the common room. "I'm sure you need this right now." Sirius wrapped it around himself and it lessened his shivering considerably.
"Thanks, I've been sleeping in caves trying to keep out of the cold as much as possible. Also, I appreciate the food and drink, it's kept me from eating any more rats." Halley frowned and she wished she could do more but while he was a wanted man she couldn't very well hide him in her dorm.
"Did you have a good birthday?" Sirius asked and wrapped an arm around his daughter, huddling under the blanket and sharing as much body heat as possible.
"Yeah, I got some really nice things, apparently I have a bigger sweet addiction than I thought because almost everyone bought me sweets and chocolate and I'm almost certain it won't last a month." She smiled and cuddled into him, surprised by how normal this actually felt, how familiar and safe it was.
"Your mum had a huge sweet tooth, I'd go to the cupboard and there would never be anything left for me. She even had a loose floorboard in her dorm room where she hid sweets so no one else could steal them." He laughed which turned into a cough. Halley noted that while he did look a little less like a corpse than last time, he still looked sickly and she wasn't entirely sure how long he could last on the run like this.
"I've got something for you, it's nowhere near what I owe but it's a start." The dark-haired gentleman pulled a chain from around his neck, on it hung two wedding rings. "I'd hidden some things before I was captured that I didn't want anyone else getting their hands on. This one's mine, this one was your mums." He held them out for her. Sirius' gold band was thicker and had more scratches and on the inside, it said 'I love'. Melissa's band was thinner and shinier and on the inside, it said 'you' with a tiny paw print engraved next to it.
Halley wrapped her fingers around the cold metal and clutched the small bit of history close to her chest. "I love it, thank you." Halley slipped the chain around her neck and tucked the rings into her pj's.
"I also have a present for Harry, I was there watching the match and saw what happened to his broom and I thought he could do with a new one. I'm sorry I couldn't get you something as fancy as this but..." Sirius looked away and sighed deeply, regret and pain clearly etched into his lined features. "Truth is I don't really know you, I don't know if you fly or what you do and don't like, I missed out on all of that."
Halley shook her head and held his hands, trying to warm them up more. "I get it, I don't really know you either, but it doesn't matter to me how much you spent on the present, this means more than anything you can buy in a shop. I just want my dad back, I want us to be a family. One day we will prove you're innocent and then we'll have all the time in the world to talk and learn about each other." Hal hugged him closer and didn't want to let go through fear of him vanishing again. "I just got you back, I'm not letting anyone separate us again." She mumbled and Sirius smiled through his tears and ran a hand over her hair.
"Gran told me what happened... she said you were the secret keeper for Harry's parents and about Pettigrew, but I know the details are wrong I just know it, you're not a traitor or a murderer." She said firmly and looked up at him with his own eyes.
"I wasn't the secret keeper." He said darkly and his fists clenched. "We knew everyone would suspect me because of how close James and I were so I convinced him to use Peter instead. He's the one who betrayed us, he'd been sending secrets back to his master and when I confronted him he made it seem like I was trying to attack him after giving up the Potters whereabouts and he blew up the street as a cover for him to escape." Halley didn't know what to say but it made sense and the tiny part of her that was momentarily doubtful disappeared forever. She was right, he was innocent and boy did it feel good to hear.
"So what are you doing here? Why try to get into the tower if you're not after Harry."
"Because Peter is hiding in the tower, disguised as the pet rat of Harry's friend Ron. He's an unregistered Animagus like I am, you saw my form when I was the dog, and Peter's is the rat..."
Halley groaned and hit herself in the forehead, "The map, that's where I'd seen his name before, I've seen him on the map." She mumbled and thought angrily about how many times she'd been near that rat, how easy it would have been to grab him, but Scabbers hadn't been seen in ages, not since Ron accused Crookshanks of killing him. "We need that rat, with him we can prove your innocence."
"I don't want you getting involved Hal, Pettigrew is dangerous if he thinks you're after him who knows what he might do. Please just let me handle it." Sirius begged and Halley could only nod, she'd never seen fear like that on anyone, fear of losing his daughter, his last connection to his wife.
"Alright, but I'll keep sending you food and drink when I can, and I'll just keep an eye out for the rat so at least one of us knows his movements." Halley got up and stretched her cold limbs. "I should get to bed, I don't want anyone to notice I'm gone. Thank you for the present." Sirius stood as well, holding the blanket over himself then hugged her one last time.
"Stay out of trouble." He smiled knowingly.
"No promises, I love you, dad." Halley swallowed the lump in her throat and wrapped her arms around herself, the coat her Gran had given her was really very warm.
"I love you too, kiddo." And the two parted ways again, Halley found it increasingly difficult to say goodbye after their little meetings, constantly worrying whether it would be their last, but she couldn't think like that. All of this new information gave her hope and no one was going to take that away.
****
It was Christmas morning and for once, Halley didn't need someone to wake her up. She'd hardly slept after her conversation with Sirius, her mind running wild with all sorts of visions of the future, one that they'd share.
She was the first one awake in the living room, still in her pyjamas of course, playing with the rings around her neck. Halley's first thought when she got back to the dorm was to tell Harry everything... but then she realised that she couldn't tell him without revealing Sirius' whereabouts or that she'd been speaking to him. As much as she wanted Harry to know to the truth it just wasn't the right time, she had no proof plus she'd be endangering her father if anyone else found out. No this would have to stay between the Blacks for now...
"Did you go to bed at all?" Fred asked, rubbing his eyes as he and George made their way into the common room.
Halley slipped the rings back under her top then smiled over at the twins. "I did, I guess the Christmas excitement was just too much for me to stay in bed. Merry Christmas you two." She wrapped and arms around their shoulders when they sat down either side of her and hugged her back.
"Merry Christmas, Hal." They said happily and looked over at the presents under the tree in the corner. "We should really wait for the others..." Fred said unconvincingly as he eyed the gifts.
"Yeah... but on the other hand, we could open the ones from home since we already know what they're going to be..." George reasoned and the two shared an identical grin then leapt up to grab the two presents they knew were from their family. "You've got one as well," George said tossing it over which Halley caught easily.
"Your mum really didn't need to, I already got a birthday present from them and that was more than enough." She blushed and unwrapped her very own Weasley jumper, it was a dark red with a golden H in the middle. She'd also sent some of Molly's homemade fudge which Halley couldn't get enough of.
"Apparently you need reminding of your name as much as we do," Fred said grinning as he and George held up jumpers with their initial on them, only they were holding each others garment.
"Nice try, I know which one of you is Fred and which one is George." Halley stuck her tongue out and they looked slightly disappointed that they hadn't caught her out.
"We still don't know how you do it, everyone in our family gets it wrong." George frowned and took his G jumper throwing it on over his pj's.
"Ah, but where's the fun in telling you, when I can sit here and enjoy watching you two try to figure it out." Hal laughed and nibbled on the fudge, savouring its sweet crumbliness.
Two and a bit hours later, everyone in the Gryffindor tower had woken up, made themselves comfortable in the chairs by the fire and opened their presents. Halley had bought Hermione a book on Ancient Runes which McGoncagall had bought for her when she first took the subject and had greatly helped her marks. She bought Ron a Chudley Cannons scarf and a book about the team's history which had been signed by various players past and present. For Harry, she'd got him a comb that was enchanted to tidy every the messiest of hair, (it was more of a gag gift than a serious one), a book on the most famous and infamous Quidditch moments throughout history and a picture that McGonagall had tucked away of the two of them as babies covered in what looked like yoghurt, smiling and laughing in their mess. Everyone else greatly enjoyed this present as well and spent half the morning teasing the pair. As for the remainder of her gifts, she'd bought Maisie a book called Magical Creatures: Myths and Legends, since she'd remembered the girl telling her about her fascination with the wizarding world's wildlife, and lastly she'd got Fred and George a new cauldron and potion-making kit for their um... extracurricular activities, and an assortment of Zonko's products which included a box of their new electrifying mints which gave the person an electric shock when they sucked on them, and a box of hard-boiled sweets which altered the pitch of the person's voice, which would last for as long as the sweet did.
Everyone was happy with their haul and spent the rest of the morning lazing around till it was time for the Christmas feast. The Great Hall looked like a scene from a muggle Christmas movie, Violet had shown her, the trees were beautifully decorated and the ceiling twinkled and gave off the illusion of it snowing indoors, but like her snowglobe, it didn't melt on impact or leave wet patches everywhere. Only one of the house tables had been set for the feast and around it sat Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, Hagrid and Filch, who was patting Mrs Norris as she slept on his lap. McGonagall, as Halley noticed when she sat down, was wearing the Christmas presents she'd given her, an orange sapphire necklace and a new witches hat. The teachers (excluding Snape) wished everyone a Merry Christmas, then after two nervous-looking first years and a sour-faced fifth year Slytherin joined them, Dumbledore grinned.
"Marvellous, as there are so few of us this year I decided it would be fun for us to all dine together on the one table." He sat and picked up his cracker and handed the other end to Snape who looked like he had a lump of coal shoved up his stocking but took the cracker and pulled. Everyone else followed suit, Halley, Fred and George held their arms out to form a large triangle and pulled their three crackers simultaneously causing most of the table to cheer loudly at the satisfying bangs. "Tuck in everyone." The old wizard clapped and the table filled with various dishes which made all the mouths water.
Halley and the twins were busy debating over which hats to wear from their crackers when Professor Trelawney glided into the hall, dressed in a green sequined gown for the occasion. "Sybill, we weren't expecting your arrival," Dumbledore said in a kind manner and stood.
"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster. To my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning-" It was as this point that Halley tuned out and started arguing with George over the hats again, eventually winning the plastic Viking helmet while George wore the flowery bonnet which made many people snigger.
"Do sit down Sybill, the turkey is getting cold." Halley heard her Gran say to the crazy Professor and she had to cover her laugh with a quiet cough which then made George pat her on the back, which then caused Halley to actually cough. According to Maisie, who had been paying attention, Trelawney had been fussing over where to sit, apparently, it all depended on who's auras were the least grimy at the time. Halley just knew this would annoy her Gran who had a very clear dislike towards the Divination subject. The fussy teacher sat between Snape and Flitwick and looked jolly uncomfortable which brightened everyone's mood.
"Where is dear Professor Lupin?" Trelawney asked and before anyone else could answer her Maisie piped up from her seat between Hermione and Halley.
"He's ill and decided to eat alone today." Her voice was almost defensive as if daring anyone to question why he'd eat alone on today of all days.
"But surely you already knew that, Sybill?" McGonagall said diverting the attention away from the blushing Gryffindor.
Trelawney looked a mixture of cross and sick, it certainly didn't make a pretty expression. "Of course I knew Minerva, but one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as to not make other nervous."
"That explains a great deal," Minerva said tartly and Halley once again had to cover up her laugh with a cough. Professor Trelawney looked as though she'd been sucking too hard on a sherbert lemon.
"If you must know, Minerva, I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short-" Maisie had gone a dark red and looked positively murderous at the Divination teacher. Dumbledore could sense that McGonagall was ready to come back with another quip and decided to intervene.
"Severus has made the Professor his potion, so I highly doubt he is in any immediate danger." He said cheerfully but his tone held a note of finality, bringing the two witches to a stop. "Derek won't you try some of these chipolatas, they really are quite excellent." He handed a blushing first year a tray of sausages who took it despite clearly not wanting any.
The rest of the meal went by without any interruptions or arguments, although Hermione and Halley did notice that Maisie was rather subdued and hadn't eaten nearly as much as everyone else. Ron and Harry were the first to excuse themselves and Trelawney mumbled something about not crossing their auras, in her food-laden state, which no one gave a second thought to.
Maisie was next to leave and said she was going to check on her dad, Fred and George were also planning an evening of entertainment and left after asking Halley if she was coming with. "I just need to talk to Gran, I want to ask her if she liked her presents." Apparently Hermione also wanted to speak to her as they were muttering quietly off to the side.
"I'll take care of it Miss Granger, thank you for bringing it to my attention," Minerva said then noticed her granddaughter lingering back waiting for her. "Merry Christmas my dear." She wrapped her arms around the shorter Gryffindor which was uncharacteristically affectionate but welcome none the less.
"Merry Christmas Gran, did you like your presents then? " She asked and picked up the small pendant necklace hanging around her neck.
"Just lovely, you didn't have to go through so much trouble, but I do love them, thank you." Halley smiled and let go of the necklace. "I have a present for you in my office, I know you always say to no bother since it was your birthday yesterday but getting to spoil your grandchildren is one of the reasons why you have children in the first place," Minerva said jokingly, or at least half-jokingly and lead the girl back to her office.
Sitting on her desk with the biggest, brightest orange eyes she'd ever seen, was a beautiful little owl. He was about 3/4 of the size of a fully grown owl and covered in charcoal grey and white feathers. "Oh he's beautiful, who does he belong to?" She asked obliviously as she made her way over to the desk and held out her hand slowly. The owl leant forward and inspected her hand before rubbing his head into her palm. "You're an affectionate little thing aren't you."
"He's your's," Minerva said with an affectionate smile as she watched the two interact. "You've been using my owl and the school ones for so long now, I thought it was time you had your own."
Halley's eyes lit up, resembling the owl slightly then launched herself at Minerva, hugging her tightly before going back to the owl. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" She grinned like a madwoman and held out her arm, patting the spot where she wanted the owl to sit, which he dutifully did. "You're the best, Gran. I can't wait to show everyone." Minerva just nodded and let the girl go back to her common room, but the older witch was feeling guilt growing in the pit of her stomach. She'd have to confiscate Potter's firebolt which she knew would upset the boy but would also upset Halley who had such unwavering faith in her father that McGonagall was scared of her getting hurt. This wasn't going to be easy. She thought and wrote a note to Dumbledore explaining what Miss Granger had told her before going to confiscate the present.