𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄
chapter twenty-four; New Years Traditions
" Just, thank you for being you. "

  MADELINE WAS SITTING on the ever-fading sofa beside her brother, the New Year's program on the television set that Fleamont had bought a few years ago, and appetizers were littered on the coffee table. Euphemia and Fleamont were sharing a love-seat, the four Potters chattering and laughing loudly.

  Things had gone back to normal after Christmas. Madeline carried a ten-ton ball of guilt in the pit of her stomach until the day it was just the Potter family and Sirius. 

  It was much easier to do something Madeline knew wasn't only wrong, but plain old stupid when the knowing presence of Remus Lupin was around.

  After Fleamont cracked a terrible joke, and James was in stitches, Madeline caught sight of Sirius loitering in the kitchen doorway. She furrowed her brows, gently patting the seat beside her.

  Sirius shook his head and disappeared into the kitchen fully.

  "I'm getting another soda," Madeline announced.

  "Get me one too," James questioned hopefully, holding his cup up. Madeline rolled her eyes, but accepted his cup, "And tell Sirius to hurry up, he'll miss midnight."

  "Anything else you want, while I'm at it?"

  "Actually—"

  Madeline thumped the back of his head, walking to the kitchen and leaving her brother in a state of shock.

  Sirius was leaned up against a counter, rolling his own plastic cup in his hands. When he heard Madeline enter, he looked up and offered her a tight smile. The girl did the same, which made Sirius discard the cup on the counter.

  "What's the matter?"

  "Nothing."

  Madeline sighed, walking right up to Sirius and trapping him against the counter. His eyebrows raised at this, and the way her hands rested in the small divots at his waist.

  "Hello."

  "Why are you hiding in my kitchen?"

  "Because you guys are. . . a family," Sirius sighed, huffing out a laugh and rubbing his eyes, "I don't want to— disturb that."

  "Sirius," Madeline said softly, pulling his hands away from his eyes, "You're family now, too."

  Sirius made a face.

  "I was trying to be nice, you arse."

  The boy rolled his eyes, his lips curving into a smile as Madeline began to walk away. Sirius pulled her back easily, and before she could say anything else, Sirius' lips were on hers.

  Madeline melted quickly, bringing her hands to clutch onto the collar of his jacket and bring him impossibly closer, but even still this was different than so many times prior. Every kiss with Sirius Black gave Madeline a brand new feeling.

  His fingers weren't pressing into her porcelain skin like it was clay for him to mold, they were just visitors on the surface of her blouse. His lips weren't hungrily pressed against hers, trying to digest and memorize the feeling and taste, they were just a gentle way of saying he cared for her, too.

  It was as if suddenly Madeline was delicate. And perhaps she was, always had been, but more so resembling a bomb than fine china. One misstep and an explosion could cause irreparable damage, but Sirius knew how to be careful.

  She let go first, scooting past Sirius with a hidden smile to pour she and James sodas.

  "Mads?"

  "Hm?"

  "Thank you."

  "I haven't done anything," Madeline laughed, screwing the cap back on the two liter of Cola. She only looked at Sirius when she had both cups in her hands, furrowing her brows at his unnaturally serious expression. "What?"

  "For talking to Regulus."

 "Oh, um," Madeline cleared her throat, a part of her wanted to simply say 'you're welcome' and carry on. To pretend she'd done it for him, but if she did, how would it be any different than the year prior? "I didn't do it for you. . ."

  "I know," Sirius smiled almost sadly, "That makes it better. Just, thank you for being you."

  Sirius grabbed Madeline's head, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her hair before shoving a hand in his pocket and walking back into the living room. The girl was still confused, why speaking to someone was such a large deal, but she too found her way to the living room just in time to hear the countdown.

  "Maddie!" James shouted, "Come on."

  "No."

  "9 seconds, we can't argue!"

  "I don't want to, James," Madeline mumbled, eyes flitting to a curious Sirius.

  "Maddie—!"

  "Fine!"

  Madeline set down the sodas, jumping onto the couch beside Sirius and then directly onto James' back. Sirius watched this all with slightly parted lips, no words for how shocked he was.

  The second the countdown hit 1, James took off. Both siblings cheered as he made a lap around the staircase, once they reappeared in the living room Madeline pulled a confetti popper and let out a long whoop before sliding off her brother's back.

  "Do you two do that every year?"

  "Want a turn?"

  Sirius stared at James a moment, before hopping onto the boy. James let out a loud laugh as they fell to the carpet covering the wooden floor, Sirius too was laughing uncontrollably as James wrestled to put him in a headlock.

  "Boys," Madeline sighed to her mother, who nodded sympathetically.

ϟ

  Three very important things happened the second week that the students were back at Hogwarts. Two of which involved Remus Lupin, all of which involved Madeline Potter.

  The first happened on Tuesday afternoon, just after lunch.

  "Maddie?"

  Madeline's laughter faded out, her face falling serious as she turned from Kai (with carrots for fangs) to Remus. She briefly wondered if Remus was always nervous around her when it was just Maddie and her friends, the confidence of his brothers worn off causing the constant sleeve-tugging actions he performed. Or perhaps Remus Lupin had only two emotions, nerves and anger.

  "Hey, Rem. .  us," Madeline cringed at the instinctive nickname, correcting it last minute. 

  "I' gurna' gur'," Kai said, his carrots blocking his speech slightly, though when he stood and began walking away Madeline got the message.

  Madeline looked down, picking at her chipped nail polish.

  "I'm not mad at you, y'know?"

  "No, uh, nope don't know that."

  "Well, I'm not."

  "Right."

  "I told Sirius it was a bad idea," Remus admitted, sighing, "It's selfish, but if James finds out and they're not friends—"

  "Then you're stuck between that fight," Madeline frowned.

  "I just don't want to lose my brothers, Mads."

  "I don't want to lose my brother, either," The girl sympathized. "But I also really don't want to lose Sirius."

  Remus suddenly felt far more selfish than he already had, Madeline was stuck in the very position he didn't want to find himself in. So the boy just pulled her into a hug, one Madeline happily accepted.

  "I'm really sorry, Rem."

  "Don't be sorry," Remus let out a sad laugh, "I think it's a really bad situation you shouldn't be in, but you're my friend. And I support whatever decision you make— maybe not agree, but. . ."

  "Why is it now that no one wants to tell me what to do?" Madeline's question was slightly muffled by Remus' jacket. "My whole life, no one's had a problem telling me what I can or can't do, and now that I'd appreciate something—!"

  "Haven't you been asking for people to stop that?" Remus questioned amusedly, pulling away from the girl. "Now you're complaining."

  "That's what I do best," Madeline mustered up a smile.

  The second was made up of an exhausted Ravenclaw, a cup of coffee, and Regulus Black. 

  "Sure," Madeline tightened her lips as Regulus took a mug of coffee out of her hands, "You can have my coffee."

  "Thanks," Regulus mumbled sarcastically, sipping the beverage, "How mad do you have to be to drink black coffee?"

  Madeline scowled, pulling her coffee back. She shuffled, pulling her legs over one another. Regulus didn't seem to have a problem joining her on the cold floor of the Astronomy Tower.

  "I got grounded," Madeline informed, "For yelling at your mum."

  "She whined about that for a week," Regulus chuckled before it drifted off. 

  "You okay?"

  "Yeah," Regulus nodded, wiping his hands on his thighs.

  "It's okay if you aren't," Madeline stated quieter, "I'm mean, I'm sorry for being cliche about it, but you don't always have to be fine."

  "I'm not sure I can go home again," Regulus stated after a moment, "I mean, I'm allowed to, I just. . ."

  "Don't want to."

  "Something like that."

  "You don't have to," Madeline reminded quietly.

  "I know."

  "Okay."

  The third thing was something Madeline didn't get to understand. She was privy to the aftermath, of Sirius Black, at least.

  It was late and Madeline had met Sirius in a passage leading the Honeydukes he'd told her about the day prior. She was in high spirits, not seeing Sirius for days made her giddy to sneak around with him.

  Until of course, she saw the state of him.

  "Sirius?"

  The boy spun around violently, stumbling slightly. He grinned boyishly, resting a hand on the stone wall to steady himself. It was painfully obvious he was wasted, the way his ankles crossed with every step and how ruffled his hair was. Normally it was ruffled, yes, but in an intentional way.

  "What the hell— why are you drunk?" Madeline questioned irritably, catching Sirius' arm when he finally arrived in front of her. His hazy eyes focused on Madeline, taking a moment before smiling warmly. "Sirius!"

  "Maddie!" He cheered, the girl cupping a hand over his mouth in panic. 

  "Shut up," Madeline whispered, looking around, "What's wrong with you?"

  "I dunno," Sirius slurred his words slightly, "Can't do anything right."

  "What?"

  "I got tired of Snivellus," He stated loudly, making Madeline grumble, "Always following us around, trying to tell everyone about Remus, so I told him! And he followed us! It's his bloody fault, only reason he's not hurt is because of James—"

  Madeline tried to understand, clinging onto every one of Sirius' words, but it was hard when every one of them birthed a new question.

  "—And now it's my fault! Like Snivellius didn't follow us around before, and Remus is. . ." Sirius' face fell, "Remus hates me."

  "I'm sure that's not true."

  "It is," Sirius nodded sadly, "I'm a terrible friend, Maddie, he'll never trust me again— or look at me!"

  "Alright, just take a breath," Madeline shushed gently, pushing his messy hair away from his warm face, "You're not a terrible friend."

  "Yes, I am," He continued, only becoming more worked up.

  Madeline just continued to try and quiet him, but when the verbal thing didn't work out she just reached up and pulled his face into her shoulder. And Sirius melted, letting Madeline hold him in the dingy tunnel beneath Hogwarts because, even if just for a moment, Sirius Black truly thought he lost everything but her.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
Anyways for those who didn't 
notice I stated that this is a 
"slight AU" in the description,
and that starts kind of now??
Idk Maddie's causing things to
change and I just want to leave
all my options open!!