"Oh, dear Merlin! We’re here, we’re here..." Danielle was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I totally love the holidays, don’t you? John’s picking me up because he rents that flat in London, anyway...I wonder if he’s here already."
John, the oldest of Dani’s three elder brothers, had graduated Hogwarts four years earlier and worked at an apothecary in Diagon Alley.
Danielle stood on tiptoes, trying to see over the crowd at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Lily quirked an eyebrow at Tami, who grinned. Dani’s excitement was contagious. Besides, who didn’t love the holidays?
"Calm down, Dani," Tami said soothingly. "I’m sure your brother’ll be here for you soon." The platform was packed, and very noisy with parents exclaiming over their long unseen children.
"Yeah, but what if he’s not? What if he got delayed, or something, and then I’ll have to wait here for, like, ages and get all cold and hungry and tired...and I’ll be terrified! Dani clasped her hands together and tapped one shoe nervously against the wooden platform. Then she set her chin resolutely. “Okay, Lily, Tami-he’s not here. I reckon we’ll just have to--"
"Were you looking for me, by any chance?"
Danielle whirled around to see her brother. "Oh! John! There you are! How’d you find me? It’s so crowded here!"
"Followed the sound of your voice," he said, grinning and rolling his eyes.
Lily and Tami smirked. Danielle frowned for a moment, but then she grinned widely. "I know, I know, I can’t stop talking today...but come on; I’m so excited! I mean, it’s like, finally the holidays!"
It wasn’t just around the holidays, though, that Dani was so exuberant. She was this way all year round. She always blurted out exactly what she was thinking and feeling, sometimes with embarrassing results.
Even though she was often very blunt, nobody was able to stay mad at her for too long because she never held any grudges against her friends and family. She loved everyone, unconditionally, unless they intentionally hurt her. In which case, she would never let them forget it, and would make sure everyone else knew about it, too.
She had a neighbor she hadn’t spoken to in over two years, because he always teased her and had embarrassed her purposely once at a party. As far as she was concerned, people like that didn’t exist, so she swore to ignore him forever. And she had never broken a promise. Yet.
"Okay, whatever," said John. "I know you’re excited and all, but we still have to make a stop at my flat before I take you home. Let’s go."
"Write to me...see you after the holidays!" Dani called to her friends.
"Okay, bye," said Lily, smiling.
Tami grinned. "Bye, see you."
"Bye, Lily, Tami!" Dani called. "I’ll miss you tons!"
"I bet your ears will appreciate the holiday," John said, winking at them as he put Dani’s trunk onto the trolley he was pushing.
“Hey!” Danielle punched him lightly on the arm. “Was that an insult, you big bully?” She waved to Tami and Lily and melted into the crowds with her brother, bickering lightly with him.
“Merlin, she cracks me up,” Tami said, laughing.
Lily smiled and nodded. “Yeah, she’s cute.”
Weaving their way through the crowds, they kept a lookout for their parents while watching the other students being greeted by their relatives. “Come on boy, I don’t have all day,” a voice said harshly from about ten feet away.
The girls turned to see Sirius Black standing next to a tall, dark-haired, rather handsome wizard. His appealing features were obscured, however, by the hateful look on his face.
“Is that...Sirius’ dad?”
“I hope not,” Lily answered, pursing her lips.
“Your mother was right, I should’ve let you walk home,” the tall wizard continued ruthlessly. “You ungrateful piece of dragon dung, did you have to go and get sorted into Gryffindor? Disgusting.” He spat onto the platform at Sirius’ feet.
“Eww,” Lily whispered.
Sirius kept his eyes focused on the ground, a slight scowl on his face. “I didn’t choose which house to go into, Father,” he said quietly, his teeth clenched.
“You bloody well did, boy, and you know it.” He walked off, not bothering to see if Sirius was following.
“I guess that answers my question,” Tami said to Lily in a dismayed whisper. “Oh, Merlin. Dear, sweet Merlin...that was awful.” Tami shook her head in shock and disbelief. “He has to go through that every day for the rest of the holidays?”
“My God,” Lily said. “I didn’t know he had it that bad...no wonder he’s always badmouthing his parents. It’s probably his only outlet to express his frustration and anger...” Lily bit her lip and knitted her eyebrows together. One thing she couldn’t abide was bullying. The concept of hurting someone defenseless, especially if they were younger than their oppressors, absolutely horrified her. And in this case, the person bullying Sirius was a parent...That is just so wrong, she thought. Unjustifiable.
“Hi, Dad!” Tami yelled suddenly, waving wildly at her father.
Mr. Lorens strode over to them. “Hello, Tami, Lily.” He hugged his daughter tightly and smiled at Lily. “How are you doing, flower?” he asked Lily, using one of her father’s favorite nicknames for her.
Lily grinned and rolled her eyes. That name always made her smile, and Mr. Lorens knew it. “Just fine, thanks,” she answered. “Where’s my dad?”
Mr. Lorens laughed. “He had a bit of an accident in the kitchen. He decided to try this new recipe for stuffed turkey he found somewhere, on account of your mother telling him he should help out for the holidays.” He grinned.
Lily smiled. “What? Dad decided to cook? My goodness...whatever next?” They loaded their trunks onto a trolley and headed for the entrance to the platform, pushing their way through the throngs of people crowding the small space.
“So, what happened?” Tami asked curiously, once they had left the noisy station and were seated in the Lorens’ warm, magically-reinforced car.
“Ah, he--er--put the turkey at too high a temperature, I think, and it exploded inside the oven. Sprayed stuffing all over, too.” He laughed again.
Lily and Tami laughed too. “Yup, sure sounds like Dad,” Lily said. “I don’t think he’ll ever get the hang of cooking. I mean, he’s great at gardening, carpentry...loads of stuff. Cooking’s just not his department.”
“You bet it isn’t,” Mr. Lorens replied, grinning.
“Oh, come on, Dad, you can’t cook either,” Tami interjected in defense of Lily’s father.
“Merlin knows, I can’t. Ah, well, you’re right, Lily. Not all of us were made to be chefs. Now, girls, tell me all about Hogwarts. I do miss that place.”
“Wake up, wake up; it’s Christmas!” Tami danced across Lily’s bedroom and pulled the window shade up, flooding the room with weak dawn light.
Lily pulled her horse-patterned quilt up to her chin and groaned loudly. “Ohh...my head...I’m so tired. What time is it?”
“Around six. Don’t you like to get up early? Aren’t you always boasting that you’re a ‘morning person’?”
“Yeah...but that’s only if my body wakes up on its own, fully rested. And that happens maybe twice a month,” Lily replied, yawning hugely.
“Ha. So you’re a morning person twice a month?”
“Shut up, Tami.” Lily gave her an evil look and rolled over, pulling her quilt over her head. A few quiet moments passed, Tami sitting quietly on the edge of Lily’s bed.
“Well,” she said brightly. Lily groaned again. “Now that you’re up anyway, don’t you want to open your presents?”
“Tami,” Lily said slowly, shaking her head. “Don’t you remember that my family doesn’t unwrap the presents until everybody’s up?” Sighing, she sat up in bed and drew her knees up to her chin. “Though now that I think about it, you’ve probably woken everyone up.”
Lily’s mood improved drastically as her pounding headache slowly began to disappear, and she finally began comprehending the significance of the day. It’s Christmas! she thought.
“Nah, they’re all still sleeping. Your family could sleep through an earthquake. Good thing we don’t get them around here. Now come on, could you get out of bed already?!”
Lily laughed and swung her feet out from under the covers, sinking them into the soft, lilac rug at the side of her bed. She stood and stretched slowly. “You win, Tami. I’m getting up. I’ll be over at your house in about fifteen minutes, and we can play Gobstones or something till everyone else wakes up.”
Tami grinned. “All right! You always beat me at Gobstones, though.” She laughed, a musical sound Lily loved. “Hurry up,” she called over her shoulder as she left the room, causing the tiny particles of dust, which had been gently floating downward in the light shining through the window, to swirl wildly...as if they were celebrating, too.
Tiger, curled up on a soft, leather window seat; yawned delicately, laid her head on her paws, and closed her eyes contentedly.
“Ahh.” James leaned back in his chair, replete after a huge Christmas dinner. “I can’t eat another bite...I swear, I’m more stuffed than that turkey was.”
Mr. Potter laughed and ruffled his son’s hair affectionately, causing James’ naturally untidy hair to become even messier. “I’ll take your word for it. Go on outside then, and get some exercise,” he said, winking.
“Can I go flying?” James asked excitedly. Although he hadn’t gotten the new Nimbus 1500 he had wanted for Christmas, his family owned many good-quality broomsticks and he was itching to fly again. At Hogwarts, after all, the teachers were afraid to let the first years fly without supervision, because so many students claimed to have flying skills when they actually didn’t even know which end of the broomstick was front.
And supervision meant not flying too high, or too fast, or too far...the list was endless.
“If it’s all right with your father you can, dear,” his mother said fondly. “Be back before dark, though.”
“Just let me disillusion you, James,” his father said. "That new cloak of yours won't stay on while you're flying."
He was referring to the fantastic Christmas present James had received from his elderly grandfather. Grandpa Potter's wife had died years ago, and he lived alone, barely spending any gold. On occasion, he'd indulge in ridiculously expensive gifts for his only grandson.
This time, he'd gotten James an invisibility cloak. James had already thought of a thousand different ways it would come in handy at Hogwarts. He couldn't wait to use it.
With a tap of his father’s wand, James blended into the chair he was sitting in. “Thanks, Dad!” he said, and took off at a run, heading outside to the broom shed.
“Take along a hat!” his mother shouted after him.
Flying miles above the ground, the crisp air whipping his hair back, James couldn’t imagine anything he’d rather be doing. He loved everything about flying. The speeds he could achieve...the distances he could cover...the sheer feeling of power that came only from flying high above the earth.
After a while, though, it occurred to him that he would enjoy it much more if he weren’t alone. Growing up as an only child, James had accepted the fact of having to be without people his own age most of the time, but he’d never gotten completely used to it. He loved having friends, and realized that he would enjoy flying much more if Sirius or Remus were soaring beside him.
For some unexplained reason, the image of Lily Evans popped into his head. It wouldn’t be bad to have her up here in the air, either, he thought. A different voice in his head said, Merlin, she’s a girl! What on earth do you want a girl up here for?
The arrogant voice went unanswered, however, and James flew on, a thoughtful expression on his handsome face.
“Okay, don’t move! Nobody move...” Tami reached out with two trembling fingers that held an Exploding Snap card. “This castle’s almost done...”
Leaning over her nearly completed card castle, Tami slowly began lowering the card onto the top. “Ha! See, Lily, I told you“AAHH!” She shrieked and jumped back as the castle exploded and burst into magical flames. “Jinx it. I was almost there...”
Lily laughed uproariously. “Ha! You knew that was going to happen, why’d you shriek so loudly? You just lost the bet.”
Earlier, Lily had told Tami that she could be first to read the new novel Lily had gotten for Christmas...if Tami could build a castle out of Exploding Snap cards without the castle exploding before she was done. As if that was possible.
It was the first novel she owned that was written by a witch, and she was looking forward to reading it. The witch was quite famous in the magical world, and Tami had already read several of her books and was dying to read this one, too.
“You’ll get it right after I finish it,” Lily said, grinning hugely.
Tami had gotten her an enchanted hairbrush, "For when you get up late, you warped morning-person." Lily could choose from fifteen different styles and the brush would create them for her.
As for Petunia...Lily frowned. Petunia, clearly wishing to make up for her outburst before Lily left for Hogwarts, had gotten her a very expensive...ballpoint pen. Which I’m never going to have any use for in Hogwarts, Lily thought, shaking her head.
She had, however, thanked Petunia enthusiastically and promised that she ‘couldn’t bear to use it’ and would keep it in a special place on her shelf.
Petunia had looked a bit put out by her response-after all, pens were made for writing, not being stared at-but what was Lily supposed to have done? She had gotten accustomed to writing with quills, and didn’t have any use for pens anymore.
Petunia was doing her best to be nice throughout the holidays, but every once in a while, Lily would catch Petunia scowling when she thought Lily wasn’t looking. Petunia’s attitude hurt Lily more deeply than she would ever have cared to admit. It’s not like I prevented her from being a witch, too, she thought, and sighed.
“Lily, you idiot, what are you sighing for? It’s Christmas! Let’s go to the park and kick around a football. Race you to the front door!” And she was out of the room as fast as if a Hebridean Black were chasing her.
Lily stared absently at the doorway through which Tami had just left. She knew that Tami was, if possible, missing her mother today more than usual, because of all the happy memories of past Christmases that were probably resurfacing. She understood that Tami was putting up a wildly happy front, while she was actually very upset inside, and Lily decided to get her to talk about it at the park. If she wouldn’t talk about it first, Lily knew Tami would probably end up crying all night.
“Oh, Lii-ly!” Tami’s voice floated upstairs. “Guess what? I won!”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Lily called back, sitting up on the bed and beginning to laugh. “You started first!”
“Well, come on down then, and I’ll race you to the corner! I’ll beat you again, wait and see.”
“Okay, wait,” Lily said as she headed out of the bedroom. “I’m coming.”
“You despicable boy, why haven’t you finished setting the table?” a voice shrieked. “Your grandparents will be here in exactly eight minutes!”
“Mum! I did my half. Regulus should do the other half!”
“Don’t get smart with me, boy,” Mrs. Black snarled, striking Sirius hard on the cheek. Sirius fought the urge to draw his hand up and rub at the stinging place.
“I never divided the table into halves. Regulus is obviously otherwise occupied, so set the damn table NOW!" she shrieked, and strode from the room.
Sirius glowered at Regulus, who was seated in a leather armchair near the fire, composedly finishing a chocolate frog. Regulus glanced carefully at the door through which his mother had exited and walked towards Sirius, pulling another frog out of his pocket. “Want a frog?” he asked.
“No, thanks,” Sirius muttered. “I’m okay.” Regulus shrugged in response and left, quietly closing the door behind him.
Sirius scowled. Regulus was afraid to defend him in front of their mother, and with good reason. Regulus knew that the minute he openly supported Sirius, Mum would abuse him, too. So he opted for the easy way out and kept quiet at the sidelines, sometimes even assisting with the abuse. A true Black, Regulus would rather save his own arse than do what was right.
Mum’s abuse had tripled since Sirius had been accepted into Gryffindor. This had confirmed, in her opinion, what she was always telling him-that he was worthless dragon dung and not fit to carry the name of the noble house of Black.
Sirius’ scowl became more pronounced. “All right, Mum,” he muttered. “I’ll set your damn table.” He strode over to the tall glass cabinet sitting in one corner, where many Dark artifacts and potions were kept. Unlocking it with a tap of his wand, he stared at the assortment of bottles on the third shelf, deliberating which one to choose. Ah, yes. Perfect. He reached for a clear crystal decanter filled with bright blue liquid.
His mother had poured a spoonful of that down his throat the day she bought it, "To make sure it’s authentic." And indeed it had been. Sirius’ mouth had gotten so severely burned, he hadn’t been able to speak for a week, much to his mother’s delight. It hadn’t left him with any lasting physical damage, but the hate he harbored towards his mother had, justifiably, intensified.
Now, Mum, you’ll finally get a taste of your own potion, Sirius thought vindictively. He carefully poured a capful onto his mother’s plate, where it instantly disappeared. But any food that touched it would absorb the invisible potion, and her mouth would burn like the fires of hell...
Sirius’ eyes gleamed as he replaced the bottle on its shelf. He finished setting the table quickly, then walked quietly out of the room. He closed the door gently and leaned against it, staring unseeingly up the darkened, deserted hallway. “Happy Christmas, Mum,” he whispered, smiling to himself in a satisfied way. But the smile was a bitter one, devoid of any real happiness or fulfillment.
A/N: So, did you like it? This chapter is one of my favorites...and free brownies go to everyone who reviews!