so in love with you // sirius black

chapter 60

When everyone returned from St. Mungos all the Weasley children seemed to be in much better spirits now that they had seen their father, but Harry was quite the opposite. The minute he walked in the front door her retreated to his room. I shared a concerned look with Sirius and then turned to Molly, who told us it would be best to leave Harry alone for now.

Even with Harry's strange behavior Sirius and I couldn't help but feel happy to have more people around. The Weasleys had started some sort of wizards chess tournament, and Sirius Molly and I were having quiet conservation and watching them.

"Oi Sirius!" George exclaimed. "Come join the game, you too Maude!" 

It didn't take much for the kids to convince us to play and soon were clustered around the chessboard. I had never been good at wizards chess and Ginny knocked me out in the first game. Sirius on the other hand ended up in the final game playing against Ron. Fred and George were trying to place bets on who would win, but they both wanted to bet against Ron. In the end, Ron beat Sirius, which caused lots of disappointment from the twins. 

Harry didn't come down for dinner so I had Kreacher send up a plate for him. By 9 o'clock everyone was thoroughly tired out and headed to bed.

"Do you know what's up with Harry?" I asked Sirius as we were getting ready for bed. Harry hadn't left his room and I getting very concerned for him.

"He told me some rather disturbing things about his vision" Sirius said. "I think he must be stressed about it." Sirius went on to explain the details of Harry's dream. He had been the snake in the dream, I couldn't blame him for wanting some time alone. 

The next morning Molly made a huge batch of cookies and frosting and laid them out for everyone to decorate. With some heavy convincing from Ginny and Ron, Harry emerged from his room, but he didn't seem to be in the holiday spirit. 

After we were done with the cookies Sirius and Ginny somehow managed to find room for more Christmas decorations. Sirius was singing Christmas carols rather loudly as he wandered around the house and I could tell he was quite glad to have company for the Holidays. 

Later that day I slipped out of the house to do some last-minute Christmas shopping.

When I returned to Grimmauld Place I was surprised to find the Hermione Granger had arrived while I had been out. The kids were all upstairs and it seemed like Harry might finally be in a good mood, Molly had gone to St. Mungos to visit Arthur again.

"What's in the bag?" Sirius asked as I entered the house. 

"Christmas presents" I smiled.

Sirius raised his eyebrows as if asking what was in my bag.

"It's a surprise," I said, holding the bag behind my back.

When Molly returned everyone gathered downstairs for dinner.

•••

Everyone had long since gone to bed as I sat down on the couch next to Sirius, a heavy book in my hands.

"Look what I found" I flipped open the first page to reveal a photo of Sirius, Lily, Marlene, and I as first years, sitting near the edge of the Black Lake.

"Where was this?" Sirius asked, brushing his fingers over the photo. 

"It's the one Lily made for me, it was stuffed in some random box."

We flipped through the pages, seeing photos from all our years at Hogwarts. They were mostly Muggle photos but we came across a moving photo of James tackling Sirius. We paused on that page a little longer than some of the others, Sirius watching it closely. 

We quickly flipped past any photos of Peter, not wanting to relive those memories. 

We were nearing the back of the book when we found a photo from our sixth year. Everyone was in it so we must have asked another Gryffindor to take it. Lily, Marlene, and I were wearing long dresses, while the boys were clad in dress robes. Sirius was on the end of the photo while I was standing on the other, arm in arm with Gideon Prewett.

"I remember this night, I was mad at myself the whole time for not asking you to that stupid dance, especially after Gideon ditched you," Sirius said.

"It wasn't exactly the best night for me either" I laughed slightly, remembering the events of that night.

"I was being a complete ass the whole night" Sirius muttered, sounding rather annoyed with his younger self.

"It wasn't that bad"

"Yes, it was" He laughed.

"Okay, maybe it was," I laughed too. 

We finished flipping through the pages of the book, seeing pictures of our first apartment, James and Lily's wedding, and baby Harry.

"I miss them" I whispered, looking down at the last photo in the book. It showed all of us on Halloween, dressed as Star Wars Characters, grinning brightly at the camera. Harry was reaching up to tug on Lily's hair oblivious to the fact his photo was being taken.

"Me too," Sirius said.

"We should show this to Harry. I'm sure he'd appreciate all these photos of his parents." I shut the book and placed it on the coffee table. Leaning back against Sirius's chest, watching the fire die down, I slowly fell asleep. 

•••

Christmas morning passed in a blur of wrapping paper, cookies, and hot chocolate. Everyone was wearing the sweaters Molly had knitted for them, Sirius and I even got ones. 

After lunch, everyone but Sirius and I headed to St. Mungos to visit Arthur again, with Remus and Mad-eye escorting them. 

They returned a few hours later, seeming slightly less cheerful than before. Mrs. Weasley whipped up some dinner and we all gathered around the table. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron were whispering conspiratorially about something across the table, while Fred and George were laughing at some joke only they understood.

"Hey, Maude" Sirius leaned into me. "You think Harry and Hermione are a thing?" He whispered, gesturing over to the kids.

"Harry and Hermione?" I repeated his question.

"Yeah"

"More like Hermione and Ron" I whisper glancing over to where Ron was listening intently to whatever Hermione was saying.

"No way," Sirius said, sounding skeptical.

"Oh, one hundred percent. And even if that doesn't happen I'm sure it's Harry and Ginny."

"Harry and Ginny?"

"Yeah" 

"Well, I guess well find out eventually." He laughed. 

"I guess so" 

Our conversation was brought to a halt when Molly bustled over to take our empty plates from in front of us. 

As the night went on a couple of Order members swung by dropping off various gifts and wishing everyone Merry Christmas. When Remus and Tonks dropped by they got stuck under the mistletoe that Sirius had hung, which lead to quite the awkward interaction between the two. Though they managed to escape without a kiss. 

We all gathered in the living room, eating leftover cookies and candy. Fred and George were leading Christmas carols for a while. It was the best Christmas I had had for a while.