The Marauders' Memories

Family Time

Chapter 6- Family Time

The gulls flew over the waves of the Cornish sea. One gull flew to some nearby houses and landed on a roof before giving a shrill cry. Inside the house Remus Lupin woke up with a start. He saw the seagull flying away, smiled and then went to bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. He felt relaxed and fresh. His last transformation was somehow less painful than usual and he had about three weeks until his next transformation, which"ll be back at Hogwarts. He could truly enjoy the holidays for once. He then went into the main room to find both his parents there, who like him, looked tired but happy. "You were rather pale yesterday. Are you alright today?" His mother asked him. He smiled and nodded, before his father said.

"We"re planning on putting up the Christmas decorations today. You fine with that?" Remus nodded again before dashing to their back garden. There a small pine tree was going in a little pot. It looked a little sad to Remus. He grabbed it and took it inside. His father had some simple decorations and they spent ten minutes putting them on the tree. They then put up the tinsel around the house. His home small, but pleasant. The Lupins then sat down at their dining table and ate breakfast while Remus told them all about his first term.

"Peter is my best friend, he tends to struggle at lessons but he is nice. Unfortunately loads of people like to jinx him. He tends to spend time in the library due to this, but I do that a lot too. The people in my dormitory are great too. Peakes and Coots are obsessed with Quidditch, and then there"s Potter and Black, the class clowns. They seen to play pranks weekly. And in terms of lessons, I"m struggling at potions, but I"m quite good at Defence against the Dark Arts. I got 137% on my last quiz, that"s the highest in class, and flying lessons are ok, I was one who didn"t get hurt at all. But Peakes, Coots, Potter, Black and Morgans from Hufflepuff are really good. Transfiguration is pretty fun, except Potter and Black are really good at it, and have somehow always nabbed the top spots. They are the only ones who are doing the advanced work." His mother and father looked at each other and smiled. Remus hardly ever talked for so long. However they were rather baffled when Remus starting talking about a prank that was played.

"Potter and Black put a colour changing charm on Avery"s owl so that it was pink with red spots. Then when the next own post came, and it landed in front of Avery, and he fell off his bench, and nearly ran out of the hall. Then he realised it was his owl, and his face was..." He laughed loudly, and didn"t finish what he was saying. His face then hardened and he said "That prank was quite harmless, the owl was fine, but they have done some more dangerous things..." He turned to face his parents. "Well, I"ve talked for ages. What have you done while I was away?"

Meanwhile, in Godric"s Hollow, a stirring Sirius opened his eyes, to see the bewitched stars on top of him. For a second he forgot where he was, but then remembered- He was at James" house. He scrambled out of bed and started to get ready, while James was still snoring in bed. He did the first think that came to mind, which was to go to the bathroom, and soak his hand towel in freezing water. He then proceeded to squeeze the towel over James" face.

"Wha...aghhh I"m drowning! Help! Pfff! Pfff! It"s so cold! Help!" James spluttered. "Helppp! Someone!" He flailed and kicked until Mr Potter came in. He looked at James before looking up at Sirius, who was blushing, yet grinning like an i***t. James" Father gave Sirius a smile before walking up to James, and saying,

"Beans." James sat up in bed so quickly Sirius thought it would break the speed of sound.

"Where? What?" He said, when he saw Sirius laughing and his father"s bemused face, and his confused face began to scowl before breaking into a huge grin. "Can"t wait to return the favour!" He near yelled. Sirius and James then raced down the stairs, but James then ran back up realising that he needed get ready. It was James got time to register what he had seen. Picking up his shirt, jeans and jumper, he realised that Sirius was still wearing wizarding robes. James would have to properly tackle Sirius" habits he got from his parents. He dashed downstairs with his hair not brushed (not that it would make a difference) and his clothes crumpled, which was quite normal for him, however today it seemed to stand out as he sat next to Sirius, who had a well maintained mop of wavy hair and pristine robes, making them look different in every way possible. Before the boys could laugh, Mrs Potter informed them that,

"In a week, we are going down to Kent for a Christmas party. I want both of you to be on your best behaviour, and wear nice clothes. After all there are going to be friends, family, boys and", she glanced at Sirius and James "girls and everything in-between. " Sirius and James" smile went from ear to ear, in a surprisingly similar way. They also jumped in their chairs perfectly synchronised as Kreacher appeared on the centre of the table, with his usual tablecloth garments and bloodshot eyes.

"Kreacher has come to deliver a letter to Master Sirius." He forced the letter into Sirius" and disappearing not a second later. Sirius didn"t know why they had been surprised, yes his mother did only send letters via the normal morning post, and the letters weren"t howlers either, but she always seemed to send them with Kreacher. Whether it was to try to show their status or humiliate Sirius, he didn"t know, but shah at he did know was the most of Hogwarts had gotten used to Kreacher"s frequent comings. He opened it, and read it out loud, knowing it was going to be ridiculous.

To Sirius,

Why didn"t you come home? You may be a disgrace amongst the Blacks, but we will still allow you here, especially since you are our eldest son, the heir to the Blacks. It"ll only disgrace us more if you never turn up. We tried to convince them that you are not a blood traitor and was simply influenced by that Potter boy, however they shall see me as a liar should you not come. You see, we invited some of your relatives around for a welcome back party. Do come. Even take the Knight Bus should you need to, (But don"t you dare mention it!) and come over, even should it be just for tomorrow- That is the date we have set the party for.

Your Mother.

P.S. If you don"t come, I"ll allow Regulus to have your room and everything in it.

Sirius swore, apologised, read it again, and swore once more. This was blackmail. His mother knew what he kept in his bedroom. His muggle books he obtained with great difficulty, his journal of spells he had learnt there, his dreams from childhood written down in a little notebook, His box full of his childhood treasures, all little things, that made him...him. Sirius swore. He could survive a little party, and it wasn"t like every Black hated him, some of his uncles were very fond of him, and cousin Andromeda was nice. He would go. In fact, he was going to thoroughly enjoy it if he could. The scraping of a chair jolted him out of his trance,

"So, now that you"ve stopped swearing, it"s best you tell us your decision" Me Potter smiled at him kindly.

"I"m going. It"ll be fine. I won"t be killed, and I likely won"t be injured so I"m sure I"ll be fine." Mr Potter nodded, and went up to the loft, followed by James" Grandfather. Mrs Potter then went into the garden. Sirius noticed James" eyes suddenly lit up, and a felling of restlessness overtook him. They could hear something rattling in a box from somewhere up the stairs, before Mr. Potter and their grandfather had come down, with big cardboard boxes full of ornaments. Looking out the window, Sirius saw Mrs Potter levitating a large green tree towards the house.

"Well boys, I thought we might decorate the tree today, seeing that Sirius is occupied tomorrow, so we can"t do it on our usual day.

"How did... Did mum just know, or do you have telepathic abilities...what?" James thought out loud.

"James Potter, you think after being married for thirty years, we won"t understand each other by just looking at each other?"

"Well my parents may be married for a thousand years, yet they won"t understand each other even if they spent ever say together." Mrs. Potter opened her mouth to reply, when Grandfather Potter shouted,

"Do you want to put the decorations now, or should we wait until next Christmas!?" And with that, they all bustled around, filling the large tree with beautiful ornaments. One was a little snowy scene with conjured fairies fluttering around inside. Another he"d a picture of Dumberdore with a label of "Father Christmas" Sirius and James sniggered as they read the little sticker. Finally James placed a twinkling star on the top, which had more silver stars floating around it. Then they all helped to put Christmas decorations around the house. Sirius found himself with James" Grandfather in the main room.

"Well, Sirius, why don"t you add the lights around our large banner there, while I do the tinsel."

"Certainly, Mr. Potter" Sirius replied politely.

"Oh, call me Henry, or Harry. I prefer If you can"t chose which, I"m Hanry. Being called "Mr. Potter" makes me feel way to old."

"Of corse, Mr. Hanry Sir." Henry laughed. You really are different to the Blacks I knew!"

"Blacks? Which Blacks do you know?" Sirius abandoned his job, turning his full attention of Henry, who smiled at him.

"My cousin, Charlus Potter married a Black, Dorea Black I believe." Sirius stared at him. He knew who Dorea was.

"She"s Grandpa"s sister!" He blurted out. "My great aunt! So, we are related?!"

"Not by blood. But, by marriage, we are distantly related." Sirius goggled at him as he goggled at Fleamont Potter in the car. The light he was pinning down, hitting him on the head. He cursed before returning to his Job. In a decisively short hour, the house was full of Christmas decorations. The Potters and Sirius sat at the table to eat a delicious lunch, in which all four of the present Potters shouted at Sirius for thinking they would make him get the knight bus when they had a perfectly good car and were free at the time. Then James dragged Sirius outside one more to help him find his Quidditch position. However, they found them in a muddle once the realised they had no beater bats or bludgers. Sirius found himself being pulled inside the cottage.

"James? What are you doing here? When you go out, you seem to never come in!"

"Bludgers and bats!" He yelled. Mr Potter nodded, and transfigured a spare broom into a bat, before summoning a rock and bewitching it to fly around. James and Sirius ran to the door to find it was pouring outside, but neither really hesitated and they jumped outside and onto their brooms. Sirius then grabbed a bat, to see whether a beater was his ideal position, He focused on the bludger flying up to him. His hands were gripping the bat firmly, as he aimed, he raised his bat and whacked the bludger as hard as possible towards the bushes towards his right. However his aim wasn"t very good in the rain, and it ended up knocking James" shoe off, even though James was to his left. James couldn"t care less, and grinned happily. Sirius" aim want the best, but he certainly could throw a powerful shot.

"No good, I"ll just hit my own team with an aim like that. Should we try keeper?" James was a little surprised. He was sure that Sirius was a beater, even if he needed to work on his aim. He was even more surprised to find he was most definitely wrong. Sirius was a keeper, he blocked several shots, and those he missed were very close. Sirius was also glad, he had found his position.

"James Potter and Sirius Black, it is nearly half past ten and Sirius has to get up early tomorrow so I suggest you got yourselves inside NOW" Mrs Potter shouted. The sky was really dark. The boys raced inside got ready and went to bed. Despite Sirius being extremely tired he couldn"t sleep. He tried to understand his mix of feelings. Anger, fear, anticipation, excitement. Finally deciding he would never understand his feelings, he thought himself into sleep.

"Peter, wake up. You"ve had a half an hour snooze." Peter"s mother rubbed his shoulder gently.

"What"s the time?" Peter asked, hardly moving.

"3pm."

"That"s too early for the holidays. Half and hour more?" He muttered. His mother sighed.

"Alright, I"ll wake you up then."

"Thank you" he said, before falling asleep again.

Just another normal day at the Pettigrew household.