Call it what you want {Theodore Nott}

chapter fifty-two

If there was one thing that Amy had learnt this year, it was that she hated apparating.

She opened her eyes once she felt a solid ground beneath her feet. Whilst ignoring the slight feeling of nausea, she looked around to see the familiar sight of Grimmuald square covered in an icy sheet.

"Happy to be back?" Snape asked, clearly just trying to wind her up.

"Ecstatic." She said bluntly.

Snape ignored her as he pulled out his wand, slightly flicked it and mumbled a few words. The two houses infront of them starting moving dither apart and a new one appeared between them. Even though she had already seen it, Amy couldn't help but be impressed.

"Well try not to enjoy it too much." He said as he put his wand away, nodding his head to the building, signally her to go in.

Amy furrowed her eyebrows. "You're not coming in?" She asked as she began walking to the steps leading up to the door.

"I have some business to attend to." He replied, "and I think you're quite capable of of walking in on your own."

Amy turned round to reply with a snarky comment, but she had no one to say it to. Snape disappeared without a sound.

"Weirdo." She said as she turned back round and knocked on the door. She heard the sound echo and couldn't help but feel nervous. Before she could think about making a run for it, the door opened revealing...no one.

Well, that was until Amy looked down and saw a house elf. She remembered seeing him only a handful of times over the holidays, he would tend to avoid her and Hermione.

"Uh, hi Kreacher.." she said trying to sound as friendly as possible.

"Master is in the kitchen." He replied bluntly as he snatched her suitcase out of her hand and began walking towards the stairs.

Amy just let herself in, shutting the door behind her. The house looked exactly the same as when she left, there were no signs of festive decorations. Remembering what Kreacher said, Amy kept walking to the end of the hallway reaching the kitchen. The door was already open and there was a sound of humming. Sirius didn't even notice Amy standing in the doorway as he was busy trying to open the oven without burning himself.

Amy couldn't help but find this sight amusing. However, it was when it looked as though something was about to catch on fire, she made her presence known. "It might be easier if you... I don't know, use magic." She commented.

She must have made him jump as he dropped a tray on his hand while he said a few swear words under his breath.

He turned around whilst holding his burnt hand. "Well when you go twelve years without using it, you would think you've got the hang of doing things the muggle way." He said. "But I guess not."

"What got you in the mood for some baking?" Amy asked.

She noticed how he looked around, slightly embarrassed. "Well you know... Everyone is so tense and moping around after what happened to Arthur.." he explained. "So I thought why not try to do something...festive?"

Amy couldn't help but smile at his words. "You've never made anything before?" She asked shaking her head.

"My mother never celebrated Christmas, I didn't even know of the holiday until your mother told me." He said softly. Amy felt her stomach drop slightly at the mention of her mother. "And Merlin does she love it. Does she still go all out?" He asked.

"You could say that." Amy replied knowing full well that every Christmas Eve her parents host a ball. As great as that sounds Amy would find it very boring and would end up playing hide and seek around the house with the boys.