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first year,
christmas with the
blacks 
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Hogwarts was buzzing as students were excited about Christmas and seeing their families though not everyone was pleased. Sirius in particular had to mentally prepare himself for the shouting that would come the second he arrived home. They were polite in their letter, knowing the possibility of someone else reading them.

What were they going to say in person?

He could picture the disapproving scowl on his mothers face, the comments she would have made about him to his aunt and uncle. His father wouldn't have been much different, the only thing he was happy about was seeing Regulus again, he couldn't imagine how bad it had been being all alone in that place.

Aimee on the other hand, couldn't wait to be back home, however it seemed time wasn't on her side, she woke up late. She had to skip breakfast in order to get dressed and check her trunk before leaving, for the train station. She just managed to reach the train in time, panting like a dog she stopped to catch her breath.

"Hurry up there, the train will leave without yer," the gamekeeper warned her, she hurried onto the train, leaning against the window, still catching her breath. She closed her eyes leaning her head back on the window, taking deep breaths to stabilise her breathing.

"Aimee?" she gasped holding her chest

"Alice, you scared me,"

"I'm sorry, do you want to sit with us?" Alice asked smiling at her, she nodded following her to their compartment.

Aimee sat with Alice and Mary opposite Lily and Marlene, they were all excited to be going home for Christmas, except Alice, who wanted to spend Christmas with her newfound friends. She had vowed to send everyone a small present and a card. Aimee gazed out of the window as the train left the station, she hadn't realised Alice was talking to her,

"Aimee?" Alice said, tapping her shoulder

"Sorry, what did you say?" she asked

"Your hair is really long, could I braid it?" she asked, she nodded her head, turning around sitting crossed legged on the seat while Alice parted her hair to braid it. She smiled, Alice had really grown on her, she enjoyed her company, she always like to include Aimee in the Gryffindor girls stories.

"Do you like it?" she asked, showing Aimee her hair in a mirror.

"Yes, I love it," Aimee smiled brightly turning her head to look closer at the braids in her hair. "Thank you Wonderland," she said, wrapping her arms around her.

Aimee saw her mother through the window of the train as the Hogwarts Express came to a halt. Her mind was filled with fear, what would her mother say to her chosen friendships. She walked ahead of the girls hoping to get to her mother before she saw her with them. Alice waved at Aimee, though she pretended she didn't see her.

"What have you done to your hair?" Her mother asked

"Hi, mother," Aimee said "nice to see you too,"

"Take it out now," Her mother instructed, she hesitated, her mother lifted her wand and with a flick of her wand, the braids had come loose. "We must not keep your father waiting."

Her mother held their portkey out she took hold of it. The world spinning around her she landed her feet flat on the ground, she steadied herself, holding her stomach to soothe the sickly feeling lingering from the after-effects of the portkey.

The first dinner at home, made the great hall sound loud a concert, compared to the quietness of the Burke family home. Aimee looked between her mother and father, gathering the courage to speak up. She glanced down at her dinner, then up at her mother.

"Narcissa Black, said she'd help me pick a dress for the Black family ball," she spoke, her mother flicked her eyes over to her husband. "Is something wrong?"

"No sweetie, your mother and I were invited, but regretfully we had to decline," Her father explained

"Why? Does that mean I can't go?" Aimee asked

"No, you are welcome to go, but we won't be attending with you," her father told her.

"Well, why not?"

"Your father and I have some business to attend to," her mother told her, "Which reminds me we're going to be late,"

"Late for what?" Aimee asked

"Your grandmother, we shouldn't be too long,"

"You're going to leave me here?" Aimee exclaimed

"Aimee you are not a child-

"I'm eleven," she interrupted

"We promise we won't be too long," her father said, a soft smile on his face reassured her, she nodded lightly.

Aimee watched her parents leave the house, apparating to her grandmother's house. 'What was so important that they had to leave the same day I came home?' Aimee looked around her house, they hadn't changed much. She knew they wouldn't be too long if they had gone to her maternal Grandmother. Her father was never fond of his in-laws but adored his wife. Often referring to them as Crazy Carrows or Troublesome Twos. Referring to the many twins that ran in the Carrow family line.

Aimee realised that her father had left the door to his study open. Her curiosity won her over to investigate what her father may be doing. She looked at her father's papers, she saw her name which intrigued her interest. She moved closer to get a better look without moving any papers. She jumped when she heard an owl, flying through the window in the hall.

The owl dropped a letter on the floor, Aimee knelt down to pick it up, she saw the wax seal was Black, addressed to 'Miss Aimee Burke'. She broke the seal opening the letter.

A. Burke,

I have spoken with my mother she has agreed to allow you to stay with us the night before the ball, in order for me to help you get dressed and style your hair. I'll await your owl.

N. Black

As if her parents had heard her reading the last part, they returned home. She walked downstairs to them, her father smiled at her. She handed him the letter Narcissa had sent her, he read over the letter.

"Can I go?" she asked.

"Of course, it should be easier for you to get to the ball, from Cygnus' house," Her father, smiled at her, handed her the letter back, she hurried back upstairs to scribble a reply to Narcissa.

Though it dawned on her, it wouldn't only be Narcissa she would be staying with. Bellatrix could be there too, she hadn't heard one good thing about her and prayed that Andromeda's kindness would overshadow Bellatrix cruelness.

***

While Aimee prepared her bag for her stay at Narcissa's house, she laid two dresses down in her bag, being the only two she liked, she would have a backup if she didn't like any of Narcissa's dresses. Though Narcissa always seemed to manage to make her Hogwarts uniform look stylish, she should have no trouble, when it comes to picking a dress for her.

She looked through her closet, pursing her lips to decide what she should wear, choosing a white collar shirt with a green jumper over the top with a black skirt. She grabbed her bag, heading downstairs to say her goodbyes to her parents if they were even home still. She placed her bag at the fireplace. She saw a piece of paper on the mantelpiece.

I'm so sorry sweetie, your mother insisted that we leave for France immediately, I hope you have a good time at Cygnus' don't forget to have fun at Walburga's ball. She isn't as mean as she appears.

Love you, Starling.

She sighed, they couldn't even stay to make sure she arrived at Narcissa's one piece, at least she knew where they were working now, somewhere in France. As for Walburga not being as mean as she appeared, she highly doubts Walburga could be nice. Her own sons looked like they stood on eggshells around her. She picked up her bag, standing in the fireplace, she took a handful of Floo powder.

"Cygnus Black's Home," Aimee said, unsure if that would work. She threw the floo powder to the floor, she appeared in a large living room, she turned around, above the fireplace hung a large portrait of Cygnus and his wife Druella, along with their three daughters. Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa.

She placed her bag on the floor, looking around the living room, she tensed up when she heard footsteps walking towards the living room, hoping it would be Narcissa, rather than her sisters or parents. The large doors opened, Narcissa greeted her with a bright smile on her face she embraced Aimee.

"We weren't expecting you till later," Narcissa told her, leading her out of the living room "Here, this will be your room," she showed Aimee to her bedroom for the night. "It was Bellatrix's room,"

"Was? Does she not live here with you?" she asked, placing her bag, down in the bedroom

"Not since the summer, she recently got married in July, she a Lestrange now," Narcissa said bitterly.

"Will she still be coming to the ball?" she asked, following Narcissa to their sitting room.

"Of course, just Rodolphus will be coming too," Narcissa said "you'll still get to meet her," she nodded as Narcissa opened the door to their sitting room, she sat on the sofa reading a book.

Andromeda was too emersed in her book to realise that Narcissa and Aimee had entered the room, Narcissa sat on the sofa causing Andromeda to look over her book at her, she spotted Aimee standing near the table. She closed her book, settling it down on the sofa.

"I didn't think you'd be coming, while later I would have cleaned up a bit," she said kindly she offered Aimee a soft smile, extending her arms, bringing her in for a hug.

"I have so many dresses to show you," Narcissa said, she stood from the sofa, "wait here, I'll be right back," Aimee smiled at her, Andromeda sat back on the sofa, opening her book again.

"What are you reading?" she asked her, Andromeda eyed her cautiously, before closing the book and handing it to her. Aimee opened the book to the title page. 'Wuthering Heights'

"I haven't read this one yet, is it good?" she asked, Andromeda's brows raised, surprised by her comment, she expected her to not like the book, or read similar books.

"It's a tragic love story between Cathy and Heathcliff set in the-

"Here, these are all the dresses I have for you," Narcissa came back, with all her dresses levitating behind her, to showcase a fashion show for Aimee to choose. Andromeda being interrupted turned back to reading her book.

"Okay, what colour would you like?" Narcissa asked, "So we can eliminate some right now," she added, she looked at all the dress rotating around in a circle.

"I was thinking of wearing something light or pastel," Narcissa pursed her lips, flicking her wand at the dresses which pulled forward every fair coloured dress, for Aimee to get a better look at.

"Which one catches your eye," Narcissa asked, she looked through all the dresses.

"I like this one but, I'm not sure it'll look good on me," Aimee said, taking a white ball gown, with a floral peach pattern.

"Why don't you try it on?" Andromeda suggested, Narcissa nodded in agreement, she left the room to get changed into the dress, she looked at herself in the mirror, she bit her lip, unsure of how it looked on her.

"That looks gorgeous," Narcissa said, holding Aimee's hand swinging her around, watching as the dress flowed effortlessly around her.

"You really do look beautiful" Andromeda commented,

"Yes Regulus, will be happy to dance with you," Narcissa said, smirking as a sneaky thought popped into her head, "I'm sure Sirius will be very happy to dance with you too," Aimee felt her cheeks heat up, she quickly tried to think of something else to stop her from blushing.

"What will you be wearing?" she asked Narcissa and Andromeda they looked at each other, flicking their wands at two dresses packed away in boxes. They levitated out of the boxes, floating over to Narcissa and Andromeda. she was speechless, both dresses looked like they were fit for princesses. "I think Lucius will forget how to speak," she told her, she hummed. "What's wrong?"

"Truthfully, I regret asking him to be my date now?" Narcissa admitted, flicking her wand, as all the dresses left the room.

"Why I thought you liked him?" she asked

"I do but he can be so stubborn and immature, it makes me question, what I see in him,"

"I think he can be quite funny, it's nice to have someone you can laugh with and enjoy their company, he might surprise you outside of Hogwarts,"

***

Aimee had woken up for the seventh time, she struggled to sleep in a strange place, what was even more stranger was that she slept in the old bed of Bellatrix Black, or Bellatrix Lestrange as she's known as now. From what Sirius had told her and what she had heard from Lucius, Bellatrix wasn't a nice person, and the aesthetic of her room was dark and eerie. She was most anxious to meet her.

She sat up in the bed, flipping through some of Bellatrix's books, all wizarding books, which discouraged Aimee from reading them. She had no idea what the time was but knew that Narcissa would be waking up soon, she was always one of the first up in the common room at Hogwarts, maybe she was an early bird at home too.

"Miss Burke, are you awake?" Druella asked, knocking on the door lightly, she jumped out of bed to answer the door. "Narcissa is waiting for you to begin doing your make-up," Druella explained

"I'll be there in a second, thank you," Aimee said, she found Druella to be more approachable than Walburga. Though she could easily be keeping up appearances.

Aimee decided to stay in her nightgown rather than change again from her clothes to Narcissa's ball gown. She walked downstairs where she could already hear Andromeda and Narcissa arguing over the mirror as they both wanted to use it. She smiled as she walked into the sitting room where they were getting ready.

"Good morning, right let's get started on your make-up," Narcissa said, hurrying her over to a seat, in front of the mirror. Narcissa began to apply make-up to her face, Andromeda rolled her eyes at Narcissa. She had always wanted a younger sister to do make-up with, it's only natural she'd jump at the chance to do Aimee's make-up.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Andromeda asked while she applied her eyeshadow

"Yes," she lied, Andromeda smiled at her.

The three girls, did their make-up carefully not to smudge and start all over again, next was to do their hair, Narcissa had her hair pinned back, with a few strands falling loosely to frame her face. Andromeda had chosen simply just to leave her hair down and wavy, and have two small braids tied at the back of her hair. Narcissa warned Aimee to have her hair down, seeing as she nearly always had her hair up in a bun or ponytail.

"Is your hair always this curly?" Narcissa asked she nodded "It's nice, I'd love if my hair were curly like this," she smiled, down at the floor, not used to a compliment of her hair. Her mother would always call it a nuisance to tame often ending up in tangles.

"Narcissa, I'm a little nervous about going on my own," she admitted, still looking down at the floor.

"You won't be alone, Sirius probably won't dance too much, even if it is his mother's ball," Andromeda told her.

"Yes, Sirius most likely won't dance at all, you'll be fine if you don't want to dance," Narcissa said, helping to ease her worries.

"He doesn't like to dance?" she asked, Andromeda and Narcissa looked at one another.

"He does, just not around his mother," Andromeda told her,

"But I'm positive he'll be the first one up to dance with you," Narcissa told her, smiling at Andromeda.

"Girls, Girls, hurry go get dressed, we don't want to be late," Druella told them hurrying them upstairs to get changed into their ball gowns