A Desperate Prophecy (When Magic Interferes)

Christmas (Different from the Past)

Getting off the train, Hadrian and Leo were given a wide berth as they arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. They found Regulus standing with the Malfoys, Arthur Weasley, Belladonna Zabini, and Annabel McKinnon. Hermione had stayed at the school to spend her first Christmas with her uncle, but they'd floo to her aunt's house on Christmas Eve and her friends would see her on Boxing Day.

Leo and Hadrian rushed to their Uncle Reg while Libra and Draco went to the Malfoys at a more sedate pace. Kane greeted his aunt with a hug as Blaise and Elena did the same to Donna, who pulled Neville into the hug when she noticed him hovering awkwardly beside them.

"Is Dad okay?" asked Leo worriedly.

"He's getting there Lee. He has daily mind healer sessions with Aunt Lucertia and he's gotten healthier this past month. It won't erase all the trauma he went through, but it's a start." Both boys nodded at his words. They bid their friends goodbye and then followed the man to the floo that transported them to Black Manor as soon as they threw the green powder in the fireplace and called out the destination – disappearing in a flurry of green.

***

"Is it weird that I'm nervous?"

"Then that means I'm weird too."

"Glad to hear we're on the same page guys."

Libra, Leo and Hadrian were whispering to each other quietly, Hadrian starting the conversation as they walked slowly towards the drawing room they knew their parents were in. Why they were nervous was beyond anyone around them, but they were.

"We should just do it. Like ripping a Band-Aid."

"A what?" The two wizard-raised eleven year olds asked a snickering Hadrian.

"Bandage." Their gaping expressions of understanding and quiet 'oh's made the boy double over in laughter.

"Hadrian stop confusing the Purebloods." Regulus said as he came behind the three.

They entered the room laughing together but stopped suddenly when they caught sight of who was in the room. Libra stared at the woman in front of her, whose eyes were glazing over from tears. Her mother looked very similar to how she looked. They both had curly hair and half of Libra's hair was the same colour. Libra had the medium skin tone of her father's, and she truly could say that now as he was right in front of her, and each one of her eyes was the colour of each of her parents'. The green from her father and grey from her mother. Her face shape was a mix of the two with high cheekbones from her mother and rounded chin from her father. Before she could vocalize anything, her father ran and pulled her into his arms, her mother joining them soon after. The two witches sobbed in each other's arms while Roduphus just whispered a quiet 'Princess...'

On the other side of the room, Sirius was staring at his son and godson. He noticed the creepy similarities between him and his son. The two had stormy grey eyes, sharp cheekbones and raven black hair. Leo, however, had his mother's face shape. Hadrian looked mostly like his father though, the same olive skin, high cheekbones and raven black hair, but the boy had emerald green eyes and some scarlet streaks in his hair.

"Leo...Hadrian..." The man whispered and the two boys ran to the man when he opened his arms. The three hugged tightly. Regulus looked at the two families reunited at last with a soft smile on his face.

***

Leo woke up in his room and found his brother sleeping beside him. Confused for a moment, he tried to remember why that was when his door crashed open and a large black dog came bounding in and jumped onto the two, licking Leo's face in affection. That was when Leo remembered; it was Christmas.