Soon November was gone, and December had arrived. With the snow, came the Christmas spirit as decorations were being put up in the castle.

The last weekend before the end of term was a Hogsmeade weekend. The twins didn't go this time, no matter how much I pestered them. Instead I asked Hermione, who was more than happy to let me join them.

We were headed to the Three Broomsticks, with Harry under his invisibility cloak. Turns out, Fred and George had passed the Marauder's Map to Harry. I reassured Harry that I wouldn't report him to a teacher for sneaking out into Hogsmeade, given the fact I caused mischief half the time. Hermione wasn't happy, considering the whole Sirius Black situation and that he was after Harry, which shocked me.

The Three Broomsticks was extremely crowded, noisy but warm.

"That's Madam Rosmerta." I whispered to Harry, gesturing to a woman serving at the bar. 

Ron turned slightly red as he insisted on grabbing the drinks. Meanwhile, the three of us found a small, vacant table, near the back of the room, where the Christmas tree was. Ron returned five minutes later, with four foaming tankards of hot Butterbeer.

"Happy Christmas!" he said happily, raising his tankard.

"Ooh, Butterbeer! Try it Harry, you'll love it!" I said a little too excitedly.

The door to the Three Broomsticks opened once again, allowing a cool breeze to enter. Harry nearly choked seeing Professors McGonagall, Flitwick enter, along with Hagrid, and the Minister for Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge.

Harry was shoved under the table by his two best friends, as he wasn't supposed to be in Hogsmeade in the first place.

"Mobiliarbus!" Hermione whispered, carefully moving the Christmas tree, which had risen in the air a few inches, to block us from view. After the newly arrived group had ordered, Madam Rosmerta went back to them with their orders.

"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?" Madam Rosmerta asked. Fudge glanced around to make sure no eavesdropper was present, before he spoke in a low voice,

"What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Hallowe'en?"

"I did hear a rumour," admitted Madam Rosmerta.

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.

"Do you think Black's still in the area, Minister?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"I'm sure of it." said Fudge shortly.

"You know that the Dementors have searched my pub twice?" said Madam Rosmerta, a slight edge to her voice. "Scared all my customers away... it's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta m'dear, I don't like them any more than you do. Necessary precaution... Unfortunate, but there you are." Fudge said.

"I still have trouble believing it." said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought... I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead." Madam Rosmerta said.

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known."

"The worst?" said Madam Rosmerta with curiosity. "Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?"

"I certainly do." said Fudge.

"I can't believe that. What could possibly be worse?"

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta?" murmured Professor McGonagall. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Naturally." Madam Rosmerta replied with a laugh. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here - ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!" Harry dropped his tankard loudly with shock, earning a kick from Ron.

"Precisely." said Professor McGonagall. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course - in fact - I don't think we've ever had such a pair of trouble-makers-"

"I dunno," chuckled Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley, could give em a run for their money." I smirked.

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" chimed in Professor Flitwick.

"Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was the best man when James married Lily. Then they named him Godfather to Harry. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him."

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"Worse even than that, m'dear..." Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of a low rumble. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from, so Dumbledore suggested the Fidelius Charm."

"What's that?" asked Madam Rosmerta.

"An immensely complex spell, involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find - unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting-room window!" Professor Flitwick explained.

"So Black was the Potters' Secret Keeper?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"Naturally." said Professor McGongall. "James told Dumbledore that Black would die but rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself... and yet, Dumbledore remained worried; he'd even offered to be the Secret Keeper. "

"He suspected Black?" gasped Madam Rosmerta.

"He was sure someone close to the Potters was passing information to You-Know-Who." McGonagall said.

"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"

"He did," said Fudge heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed-"

"Black betrayed them?" breathed Madam Rosmerta.

"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His Master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colours as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it-"

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet.

"Shh!" said Professor McGonagall.

"I met him!" growled Hagrid. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead ... an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily and James's Secret Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid roared.

"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall. "Keep your voice down!"

"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' he says "Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him-" Ha! But I'd had me orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go to his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. "I won' need it any more," he says. "I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he given' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it any more? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' Secret Keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him. But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh? I bet he'd've pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His best friend's son!"

"If he wasn't loyal towards his own family, then what difference does it make if it's his best friend's son?" McGonagall spat.

"What do you mean by his own family?" asked Madam Rosmerta.

"He tried to kill his own wife and child on You-Know-Who's orders." McGonagall said. I gasped.

"He was married?" asked Madam Rosmerta with surprise.

"Yes, he'd married Fiona." McGonagall replied. The breath hitched in my chest. "Fiona had insisted on marrying in secret, given the circumstances. Only family and a few close people were present at their wedding." She said. "You-Know-Who was after their family as well, but only Dumbledore and a few of his trusted people knew."

"I didn't know myself until quite recently." Fudge said.

"Precisely. While You-Know-Who went after the Potters, Sirius Black went to kill Fiona and her child. Luckily, Fiona is a very intelligent witch, she managed to escape Black." McGonagall told her.

"Meanwhile, little Peter Pettigrew, another friend of the Potters', went after Sirius Black. He died a hero's death. He cornered Black and they say he was sobbing. "Lily and James, Sirius! How could you!" Black killed him, blasted him to smithereens, along with twelve muggles. It was chaos. There was a crater so big that it cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there, laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him... a heap of bloodstained robes and a few - a few fragments-" Fudge's voice abruptly stopped. There was the sound of five noses being blown. "Well, there you have it, Rosmerta. Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Black's been in Azkaban ever since." Fudge added.

A brief silence followed, before it was broken,

"You know she looks just like him, Black's daughter." McGonagall said. My eyes widened, as my heart picked up speed. I felt Hermione and Ron both quickly glance at me, while I tried to keep my face as straight as possible, despite my panicky state.

Could we be related after all?

I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation, as my head was buzzing with too many thoughts rushing around at once. I wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

I have to ask Mum. She has to tell me the truth. Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding? Yeah, maybe it's a misunderstanding. I tried to reassure myself.

Hey!

I hope this chapter was good. I ended up spending a lot of time today adding in parts of the conversation I had originally cut out, because I thought it made it really long. I just couldn't hold myself back, so I ended up doing all the editing on the chapter today because I really wanted to post this one! I hope it wasn't boring seeing most of it consisted from the original book. 

Also, I got my graphic cover today! This beautiful cover is made by @daughter_of_aslan_ Please do go check out her graphic shop called Slytherin! Her covers are amazing!!

Here's a question:

What holiday would you like to celebrate at Hogwarts?

I think for me it has to be Christmas and Halloween that I would love to spend at Hogwarts.

Have a good day! :)

Mini-Padfoot