𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍.
chapter forty-four; An Influx In Gift-Giving
" Come on, it's Christmas, don't be a douche. "

  THE TABLES HAD turned for the Potter Christmas. James today was holed up in his bedroom, blocking out the sound of chatter and laughter floating upstairs with a heavy pillow. Perhaps age was catching up with him finally, no longer craving to wake up with the sun and bounce around the home.

  That or his nerves were getting the better of him.

  "He's not up yet?" Lily asked, rounding the corner and perching on the arm of the sofa, passing a mug of tea to Peter.

  "No," Madeline responded, "He'd be down here, wouldn't he?"

  "Usually," Sirius said, his fingers continuing to absentmindedly drum on Madeline's hip, as she was mirroring Lily's position by sitting on the arm of the chair Sirius was relaxing in, "If anyone should go check it should be Lily."

  "If I get yelled at you're all going down," Lily threatened, "Sirius, give me your tea."

  "What, why?" 

  "Because you haven't touched it and if I'm waking James up I should bring him something," The redhead deadpanned, holding her hand out, "Come on, it's Christmas, don't be a douche."

  Sirius pouted as he passed the un-touched tea to Lily, leaning his head on Madeline's back as Lily trotted upstairs. Madeline just laughed and passed him her own, the boy happily sipping the perfectly brewed earl grey she'd made.

  The morning had been uneventful so far, aside from the arrival of Remus, Lily, and Peter. Euphemia and Fleamont were still fast asleep in their own room, blissfully unaware that Sirius had rushed around to wake up his younger brother and Madeline. 

  The trio had claimed the living room after grabbing tea, chattering excitedly about the holiday. Regulus had been reserved at first, but by the third time Madeline had called Sirius an idiot, he was laughing along with them.

  "We have so many presents this year," Madeline sighed in realization, looking at the miniature mounting beneath the tree.

  "There's a lot of us here," Remus laughed, "Plus we've all got a bit better with gift-giving."

  "Yeah, Sirius bought Maddie an astronomy book two years ago," Peter said smiling.

  "She reads it all the time," Sirius defended.

  "I probably wouldn't if you hadn't given it to me," Madeline said cringing, gently patting Sirius' arm as his jaw dropped, "But I do, I do read it all the time, I love it."

  "Hear that, Wormy, she loves it."

  "Sirius, you gave James a quill set in second year."

  "We aren't talking about that right now," Sirius dismissed Remus instantly.

  "He got me a tie for my eighth birthday," Regulus informed the group, making Remus double over in laughter. 

  "You said liked the tie!"

  "I was eight!"

  "Good morning," Lily announced her entrance, though everyones' eyes had fallen on a bed-headed James behind her. He had the familiar mug cupped in his hands, Chudley Canon pajama pants hanging from his frame and pooling just slightly at his feet. 

  "Happy Christmas," Peter spoke up first.

  "Happy Christmas, Wormtail," James smiled tiredly, his voice groggy as he followed Lily to the sofa. There was no hesitation as he sat beside Remus, smiling warmly as Lily sat on the ground, leaning against his legs. "Happy Christmas, Moony."

  "Oh, happy Christmas," Remus sputtered in shock, giving the controversial couple across from him a look.

  "Happy Christmas, Reg," James continued on, ruffling his hair up after balancing the mug on his lap, "Sirius, Maddie."

  "Happy Christmas," The three chorused unevenly.

  "Should we wait for your parents?" Lily asked, pulling her knees to her chest, "For presents, I mean?"

  "We can do our gifts now," James nodded, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "We'll still have gifts to and from them, so they can sleep in."

  "I'll start," Sirius said excitedly, hopping up from the chair and passing Madeline her tea back. She laughed at this, sinking into the now empty chair. "Lily Evans!"

  "Sirius Black!"

  The redhead laughed as she accepted a box from Sirius, opening it to reveal a thick book and a knitted sweater.

  "Thank you, Sirius," She said genuinely, accepting a hug from the boy.

  Sirius was a whirlwind, passing out presents like wild and grinning as he did. He'd given everyone a gift, faltered when giving Madeline a genuine gift of a David Bowie album, though this did entirely spoil her mother's present of a record player. The exchange between Sirius and James in which Sirius gifted his best mate a Chudley Cannons jersey was short and sweet, no painful awkwardness claiming the air.

  Gift giving was in full swing, Remus was next, then went Peter, followed by Lily, Regulus, and Madeline. By the time Lily had unwrapped the delicate golden charm bracelet that matched on on Madeline's wrist, Fleamont and Euphemia had joined the teens in the living room.

  Just in time for James' turn.

  He gave presents slowly but only began shifting when it neared the end of his present pile. No one expected James to give Madeline anything, and in no world would he hand a single thing to Sirius, but lo and behold, there was a box being passed to the boy.

  "I can't accept this," Sirius said instantly, not showing anyone else the contents of the small box.

  "Well considering I can't get a refund, you sort of have to," James said, leaning back into the sofa. 

  But in a matter of seconds, Sirius was hugging him tightly. Lily had yelped and scooted out of harm's way just in time, as Sirius had virtually tackled James Potter. The Potter boy, however, wasn't as shocked as the room was. His hands hung in the air for a moment, but patted Sirius' back roughly eventually.

  "Thank you."

  "Happy Christmas, mate."

  "Chudley Cannons tickets," Sirius laughed as he flashed the tickets to Madeline, who only smiled.

  "James has one more," Euphemia said with a smile, making her son shift in discomfort but pick up the thin rectangular package.

  And pass it to Madeline.

  She and James did gifts off-and-on, some years going big and others settling for homemade cards. Madeline accepted it carefully, staring at it for a moment before peeling back the wrapping paper.

  A scrapbook, handmade as shown by the crooked title of 'THE POTTER TWINS' decorating the front. Madeline opened it, the spine groaning as she did. The first photo was black and white, two babies squirming beside one another in the same crib.

  As she fingered through the pages the twins grew up, troublesome toddlers with matching grins, children proudly presenting Hogwarts letters, James smashing Madeline's face into their twelfth birthday cake, awkward preteens shoved together with Sirius in the very living room they were all sat in.

  Madeline in her quidditch uniform from three years prior, James in his from last year. 

  Each had small and simple notes, holding a date and what the memory was. Madeline was speechless as she came to the end, a hefty amount of blank pages were still left and she was sure they were meant to be filled, but a part of her wanted to leave it just as James had made it.

  "Mum helped," James said as Madeline closed the back cover over, "It wasn't just me."

  "But you had the idea," Euphemia encouraged.

  "Thank you, James," Madeline's voice was absorbed by the smell of pine and the faint crackling of a fire, but the message still got to her brother.

  "You're welcome, Mads."

  The rest of the day went by quicker than liked by anyone, Madeline had found herself in a snowball fight against all the boys on a team with only Lily. They'd collapsed inside afterwards, settling in front of the television set to watch a muggle Christmas film Lily had brought over, with the comfort of sugar cookies and hot chocolate.

  Blame it on the holiday spirit or Euphemia Potter's heavenly cooking, but Christmas day held only jolly emotion and not a single ounce of fighting.

ϟ

  "Hey."

  Regulus and Madeline looked up from their game of chess, in which Madeline was losing but just barely. Sirius was standing a strange distance away from them, fiddling with his hands as he flashed Madeline a small smile.

  "Hey," The girl smiled kindly, "Can you play for me for a minute? I should help mum get dinner ready."

  "Sure, yeah, of course," Sirius agreed quickly, his nerves calming and heart melting as Madeline pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek before passing him to the kitchen. 

  Sirius cleared his throat as he sat down, scooting the chair towards the table, "Your turn?"

  "Mhm," Regulus nodded, already back into his chess playing mindset, "I've actually got to focus now."

  "Mads is good at chess."

  "Not as good as us," Regulus mumbled, making his move and leaning back, "You alright? You seem weird."

  "I'm always weird to you," Sirius snorted.

  "That's true."

  Silence cloaked the table, the boys focused solely on the chess game in front of them.

  "You're not angry with me, right?" Sirius spoke up abruptly, "You've just. . . avoided all of us, y'know?"

  "Yeah," Regulus said, "It doesn't have anything to do with you, though."

  "Oh."

  "Sorry, that's not what I meant," He mumbled, "Just, uh, I'm not avoiding you. Well, I am, but it's not why you think. The war's bad, but it's worse in Slytherin. Couple of Death-Eaters already, seventh years, like you lot. They're proud of it, too, no sense in hiding the Dark Mark. I don't want to draw any unneeded attention."

  "There's Death-Eaters at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, his voice dropping as to avoid anyone else catching wind of it.

  Regulus nodded his filter of hiding the fear faltering, "Or ones that claim they will be. I'm fine, Sirius, no one knows I've moved out so they just think I'm one of them."

  "You aren't though, right?"

  "You think I'd join them?" 

  "Maybe," Sirius answered honestly, his brows knitted in pain at the idea, "Not because you agree with it, just getting swept up in the current, lost within the crowd. You didn't seem to be faking it when you and your gang made fun of Meadowes."

  "Sirius, they could kill me."

  Silence. It seeped into Sirius' lungs and suffocated his heart, he was just getting Regulus back, how cruel fate would be to rip him away.

  "If they know I'm not with them," Regulus continued, "Things will be different when we're all out of Hogwarts."

  "And we'll finally be brothers then?"

  "We're brothers now," Regulus said quietly, almost as if he was scared to say it, "We've always been brothers, always will be. Things change, our parents and the war can change much, but not that."

  And oh, how wonderfully bittersweet it was for Sirius, to know he'd had his brother all along.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
I'd really die for this group
of friends, huh?