Chapter Thirteen: Holidays
Samantha got out of the Hospital Wing the next day, much to her delight. She was incredibly behind in her classes, and that definitely caused a lot of stress, but she’d never spent more than a few hours in the Hospital Wing before, and it was time for this trip to end. Her mum had stayed with her until the previous night, along with Mrs. Potter and Sirius, and she couldn’t help but smile at the memory; both women had been subtly teasing Sirius almost the whole time, and if Samantha’s guess was correct, he’d caught less than half of it.
She made her way carefully to the Great Hall, since she had mercifully been released before lunch instead of after, and was pleased to see Sirius look up and wave her over. He’d been in fairly serious conversation with one of the Weasley quadruplets, but he got up and left after giving Sirius a teasing smirk. She didn’t know which one he was, since they were almost impossible to tell apart; it was almost a surprise to see one without the other four.
“Want to join me for lunch?” Sirius asked, not quite meeting her eyes.
“It’s more than halfway through the lunch hour; aren’t you done already?” she asked incredulously.
“I thought you might be getting out soon, so I waited just in case,” he answered, finally looking up with a smile.
“I’d love to, then,” she said, sitting down next to him.
They both loaded plates and began eating, Sirius filling her in on all of the news and gossip that hadn’t been important enough to talk about the night before, when she’d been told all about the Quidditch attack.
“Oh, and we just found out that they aren’t canceling Quidditch after all,” Sirius finished, before taking the last bite of his sandwich.
“Really?” Samantha exclaimed, “That will make Greg happy; he’s been worried.”
“He’s not the only one,” Sirius said. “I guess there’s going to be a rematch for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but no one knows when because they want to do it without giving anyone advance warning. During the holidays they’re supposed to work out some kind of security for the rest of the year.”
“Hopefully nothing else will happen then…” Samantha said hopefully before changing the subject. “So I was on my way to the Hospital Wing to talk to you before,” she began, not sure how to go on. The Hogsmeade trip was quite a while ago; what if he doesn’t even remember? she thought suddenly.
“Yeah,” Sirius said, his face falling slightly, “and that almost got you killed. I’m really sorry… I guess being around my family is dangerous right now.” He looked so glum that Samantha wanted to laugh. He thinks I won’t want to be around him any more, she realized. He likes me!
“Actually, I don’t really care about that,” Samantha said seriously, and Sirius looked up in disbelief.
“You don’t?” he asked hopefully.
“No, actually I just wanted to talk about what happened in Hogsmeade… you know, when you sent me off with the kids, and I didn’t want to go…” she said hesitantly.
“Oh… yeah…” Sirius said with a silly grin that once again had Samantha on the verge of laughter.
“So what do you think of us?” Samantha asked finally, getting to the point.
“Us?” Sirius asked, before realization dawned on him. “Oh.”
He could tell something more was expected.
“Um, would you… I mean… will you be my…” he stammered.
“Yes?” Samantha asked, wanting him to say it.
“Girlfriend?” Sirius finished asking, looking into her eyes.
Her response was to smile and pull him in for another kiss.
***
“If it looked like Fawkes, but it wasn’t Fawkes, what does that mean?” Ginny asked, eating the late dinner Harry had made for her. It had been a late night at the school, and she had been starving when she got home.
“I don’t know,” Harry answered quietly, holding their sleeping three-year-old daughter. She’d spent the day playing at Grandma Weasley’s house, but had begged to stay up until her mother got home. She’d fallen asleep within minutes; Molly Weasley had unrivaled experience at wearing a child out in preparation for bed.
“Maybe I’m not remembering what Fawkes looked like very well and this one is different. I know I remember Fawkes’ mind, though, and this one wasn’t him,” Harry continued.
“Well, whatever it’s doing around here, I’m grateful; I think James would have been in the Hospital Wing for another week at least if it hadn’t sped up the healing process,” Ginny stated fervently.
“I won’t argue with you there,” Harry said with a wistful smile. “I wonder why I was able to connect with it like I did, though… and it was familiar, too.”
Ginny smiled as she finished her meal and took the sleeping child from her husband. “I guess you’ll have to put your keen ‘mystery-solving-hero’ abilities towards solving the whole thing.”
“First I have to solve the mystery of who is threatening the lives of our children; until I figure that out, I’m willing to let the phoenix continue saving them,” Harry answered soberly.
“You’ll figure it out,” Ginny reassured. “At least we know they’ll be safe over the holidays. Voldemort himself wouldn’t have been able to get into our house.”
***
“I am reasonably satisfied with your efforts, this time,” the voice said, and the man sagged with relief. He’d been very concerned that the lack of dead students might lead to another turn under the Cruciatus Curse.
“What should our next goal be?” the man asked cautiously.
“I want another attack on the Potter family,” the voice answered, dripping with hatred.
“Who is willing to fight Harry Potter?” the man asked incredulously before he could think better of it.
“Anyone who doesn’t want to face my wrath!” the voice shouted, causing the man to cower in fear. “Just get me the information to make it possible, or you’ll be leading the charge!”
The man stammered his assurances that his master’s will would be done, all the while thinking how difficult this task would be.
***
For Sirius, the weeks since the Quidditch match had flown by. Ravenclaw had barely managed to beat Hufflepuff in the Quidditch rematch, and only because James caught the Snitch. There hadn’t been any incidents at the rematch, or at all since, though tension was still high at the school. Sirius realized that since his dad and the Aurors had taken care of the first-years at the school entrance and apparently altered their memories, since no one else had heard anything about that, the tension was probably a lot less than it would have been otherwise. Classes had never been hard for him, and the homework was simple, though teachers were keeping a very tight reign on their classes as the holidays approached. The weather had turned cold, and the first snow had fallen, and snowball fights had become the favorite between-class activity. Mostly, Sirius spent a lot of time with Samantha, finding her company to be more pleasant than anything else. His vigilance hadn’t wavered, and he and the Weasleys still spent a lot of time discussing how to find the killer, as well as how to prank Slytherins without being caught, but he found that his temper wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been in the past. Samantha helped him keep his cool when it would have been difficult otherwise. This was definitely a good thing, since the Slytherins all still hated him and took every opportunity they could get to make his life miserable.
Now, as Sirius surveyed his room one last time to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, he was just looking forward to the holidays. He was really looking forward to seeing Samantha when his family would join hers for dinner, and he was also looking forward to the Weasley family Christmas party, which would start Christmas Eve morning and last for the next two days; no one knew how to celebrate Christmas like the Weasleys.
***
“My mum keeps talking about how much of an honor it will be to have the famous Potter family over for dinner,” Samantha said with a smile as she and Sirius played another round of Exploding Snap. “I think she’s worried.”
“You met my parents. Do you think they’re scary?” Sirius asked with a disbelieving smile.
“I don’t know…” Samantha said, blushing slightly. “Your dad’s kind of intimidating, you know, the man who killed the Darkest Wizard in history and all.”
“He’s the Knight Bus Driver! How can he be intimidating?” Sirius asked.
“That just makes him more intimidating because he’s eccentric,” Samantha explained reasonably.
“He’d like that,” Sirius laughed, “hearing himself called ‘eccentric’ would make his day, I think.”
“Well, I’ll tell my dad to call him that when you come over for dinner, then,” Samantha said with a laugh.
“You’re having the Potters over for dinner?” the very unwelcome voice of Thomas Nott asked incredulously from the doorway, the hulking forms of Crabbe and Goyle visible behind him.
“Well, I guess filthy half-bloods are most comfortable with more filthy half-bloods,” Nott continued, moving into the compartment.
“What are you doing here?” Sirius asked angrily, unwilling to listen to anyone speak to Samantha that way.
“I’m just trying to be a good citizen and warn a fellow student that associating with the Potters is a good way to end up dead,” Nott answered nonchalantly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Samantha asked angrily, rising to her feet. Sirius followed her quickly, determined to be between her and any confrontation.
“It means that one of these days, the whole Potter family will get what’s coming to them,” Nott said, his voice low and filled with contempt. “Your dad may have killed the last Dark Lord, but the next one will take care of him, and the rest of his family for good measure.”
“Is there a problem here?” a deep voice asked from the door. Frank Longbottom stood with his arms crossed next to James, who looked ready to attack Nott at any moment.
“Shove off, Longbottom; this isn’t your business…” Nott began arrogantly, but was cut off as Frank grabbed his collar and lifted him off the ground.
“I’m really tired of the threats and negative feelings you’re causing. Why don’t you be a good little boy and run along,” Frank said in a patient tone. He set Nott down, and the Slytherin seemed to weigh the odds before deciding that his cronies were outclassed.
“You’ll be sorry too, Longbottom,” he mumbled angrily before shouldering his way out.
“Thanks, Frank,” James said gratefully, “though I think we could’ve cursed him for good measure.”
“Any time,” Frank answered with a smile as he made his own way out. “The Longbottoms will always side with the Potters, as my dad keeps reminding me.”
Sirius watched the boy leave. “When did you start hanging around with pretty-boy Longbottom?” he asked his brother.
“We were in the prefect’s meeting,” James said with a grin. “You still don’t like him?”
“I don’t know if I could,” Sirius answered.
“Why not, Sirius?” Samantha asked.
“You’d never believe Sirius Potter, Quidditch Star and brilliant wizard, would be jealous of Frank Longbottom’s extreme popularity, but that’s what’s going on,” James answered with an exaggerated sigh and shake of the head.
“Shove off,” Sirius grumbled as Samantha turned back to him with a look of utter disbelief. “I just don’t like him.”
“Well, anyway, Lillian sent me to find you; we’ve got a compartment with Muriel, and she insisted there was room for the two of you as well,” James said, as he strode to the compartment door.
“Alright then,” Sirius said, and he and Samantha followed James out.
***
William Harris opened the door with a smile. “And this must be the famous Potter family I keep hearing about. Welcome to my home,” he said as he ushered the large group into the entry.
“Thank you for inviting us,” Harry said as he shook the man’s hand. “It’s all my son has been talking about for days.”
“Ah, and this must be the one Samantha keeps talking about, then,” Mr. Harris said good-naturedly, turning to James. “I really get the feeling she fancies you.”
“I hope not,” James said with a laugh, to Mr. Harris’ confusion. “Sirius wouldn’t like that at all.”
“So… you’re Sirius?” Mr. Harris asked, turning to Sirius, and noting that he was taller and more muscular than James by a fair margin. “The younger son?”
“Sirius got the size genes,” James said with a smirk. “I got the intelligence genes.”
Everyone laughed before Mr. Harris motioned them further into the house. “The rest of my family is waiting in the dining room. Why don’t we join them?”
Sirius was quick to move into the dining room, eager to see Samantha again. Everyone else followed behind, and soon they were all enjoying the wonderful meal. Besides Greg and Samantha, there were two more Harris children, both near the age of two Harry and Ginny’s younger children, and soon they were all friends.
“So what do you do, Mr. Harris?” Ginny asked Mr. Harris politely.
“William, please. I own a restaurant here in town,” he said happily, passing dishes across the table. “I’m a Muggle, of course, so I had no idea any of this magic world existed until I met Helen, and she didn’t say anything until after we were married, so that was quite a shock for me, let me tell you.”
Mr. Harris soon had the whole table laughing through his story of meeting his wife and his first experiences with magic.
Sirius was smiling at Samantha and thinking of how much fun the rest of the evening was going to be when they heard the sound of the front door being blasted off of its hinges.
“What the…?” Mr. Harris began, standing up suddenly.
Harry however, was instantly aware of what was going on.
“Get the children out!” he shouted at Ginny, before rushing towards the entry.
Ginny wasted no time in gathering together the young children and the Harris family, and was motioning for Sirius and his older siblings to join them while she readied a Portkey.
“I’m helping dad,” Sirius said stubbornly and rushed from the room. James and Lillian followed him before their mother could stop them. Ginny sighed angrily before the lot of them vanished.
Sirius was surprised to find his dad, struggling to hold his own against the milling masses of masked witches and wizards. There were at least twenty of them, and it seemed as though they had blown the front wall of the house away.
Sirius hurled himself into the fight, furious at the Death Eater’s interruption of what he had been looking forward to for so long. He heard Lillian and James shouting curses at his side and smiled grimly; no one could stand against the Potter family.
His confidence was shaken, however, when Lillian was hit by a stunning spell and fell beside him; suddenly Sirius couldn’t move about anymore, forced to defend his sister. Harry, seeing their plight, redoubled his efforts, and the stunned bodies of Death Eaters were piling up around him as he made his way towards them, though it seemed as though their numbers were growing rather than shrinking. James was struggling to keep away from the dangerous spells that were hurling all about him and wasn’t having much luck launching an offensive attack.
Harry finally made it to them and woke Lillian up with a wave of his hand.
“Start pulling back towards the kitchen,” he told them quietly, all the while continuing the five duels he was carrying on at once. Sirius helped his still-disoriented sister towards the door, keeping a powerful shield up between her and the Death Eaters, while James remained right at their dad’s side.
As they continued their retreat, the Death Eaters began Apparating away, and Sirius realized that they were no longer alone. He could hear his mum’s voice shouting curses along with his Uncle Ron and several others, and realized that the battle would soon be over. Triumphantly, he launched himself back into the fight, hoping to help drive the rest of them off. He was surprised however, when a stray Reductor Curse knocked him to the side, away from his family, and causing him to drop his wand as he hit his head on a wall. When the stars cleared, he looked up into the death’s head mask of a Death Eater, the wicked grin clearly visible behind it as the wizard raised his wand.
A/N: Okay, so I really don’t like this chapter; it seems jumpy to me, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do with it. A lot of stuff didn’t quite happen the way I wanted it to, and things I didn’t plan on ended up happening instead, though I doubt anyone would notice that issue, since none of you can read my mind… (at least you’d better not be able to.) Anyway, I hope you all like the chapter anyway; things should get better since my outline is more detailed for the next several chapters. Thanks!