fatal love

chapter 130

The Christmas holidays arrived, and most of the school boarded the Hogwarts Express to go home and see their families. The four Marauders plus Evans, however, remained in the Gryffindor Common Room as everyone else cleared out.

As the last student left, a Fifth Year who had slept in and had had to race through the portrait to catch up with everyone else, an unusual quiet filled the Common Room. The Gryffindor Common Room was almost never silent, especially in the middle of the day, and it felt odd, like it was missing its usual cheer.

"Are we the only ones still here?" Pete asked after a minute.

"There are two Third Years," Lily said, "and three Second Years, but I dunno where they are."

"Not that many," Sirius mused.

"I think most parents want their kids at home at the moment," James said thoughtfully.

Sirius leant his head on Remus' shoulder, allowing himself to show some affection now that only their friends were around. "Well, we have two weeks to ourselves, all five of us," he grinned, "what's the plan?"

"To get a head start on revision," Lily said firmly, "NEWTs are only five months away."

Sirius groaned. "Nope, that's not going to work, sorry Evans. Other ideas?"

Remus tilted his head down to look at him. "You won't revise with me?"

"Don't pull that face," Sirius snorted. "You and Evans can have your swotty sessions together, but I think I'm good."

"Revision's a smart thought," James said, "but we should do some fun stuff as well. We could go into Hogsmeade once the moon is over, and we can go flying in the mornings, Pads?"

"Sounds good," Sirius sighed, stretching and getting up.

"Where are you going?" Remus asked.

"Got a bunch of jobs to do," Sirius said grimly. "I was going to get Monty to help me sort out everything Alphard left me, but now I won't see him until summer, so I just have to get on with it."

"Do you need any help?"

Sirius waved him off. He didn't want to say it, but he doubted Remus - or anyone else in the room - would know the first thing about managing estates or claiming accounts. Not that he knew much himself, but he knew the basics, at least. "It's just boring admin," he said instead, "but I have to get on with it. I'll see you lot in a bit."

He took his bag and went to the library, which for once was completely empty, apart from Madam Pince.

"Alright, Irma?" he grinned.

"Working during the holidays?" she asked, looking at him in surprise. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sirius laughed. "Just have some stuff to figure out."

She smiled at him, and he nodded at her, going to sit at a table in the back of the library. There was a lot of shit he had to get on top of. Alphard apparently had a myriad of different Gringotts accounts, seemingly for no reason at all, and Sirius spent two hours just trying to figure out how and why money was moved around.

Then there was his house in Kent, where Sirius had gone the one time he'd spoken to the man, at least which he could remember. He stared at the bit of parchment which claimed him as the owner for a second, and then decisively signed it over to Andromeda.

She could live there with Ted and Dora, Sirius thought - it had been a nice place, after all. And if she didn't want to do that, then she could sell it and make a pretty penny. He tucked the document into an envelope and resolved to send it to her later.