"you have me. until the very last star in the galaxy dies, you have me."
With a war on the rise, 8 friends must try to understand their importance in a world that is slowly crumbling around them. Darkness appears out of every place in their lives...
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"you are enough. a thousand times enough."
"What do you mean, you can't go home for Christmas?" Indiana exclaimed at dinner that night. Both she and Luna decided to join the rest of them at the Gryffindor table for their last dinner together until after Christmas break. Everyone watched Cleo carefully with concern.
"Dumbledore thinks it would be too dangerous, considering my sister's new friends and all," Cleo mumbled, shoving a fry into her mouth.
"Then what are you going to do?" Ambrosia asked her. "I mean, I would offer you come to my house, but all of my distant relatives from Spain are coming and," she trailed off, grimacing at the idea of her obnoxious family.
"It's okay, really," she put her hand up, shaking her head. "Really, I'll be fine," she looked at all of them with a smile. "I'm okay."
"But you'll be here all by yourself," Lily said, sitting down at the table near her, apparently hearing her conversation. "On Christmas," she added.
"This isn't the first time I've spent Christmas on my own, remember first year?" she said, thinking back to the year her parents had to go visit her grandmother in Dublin. They asked that Cleo and Ren stay at Hogwarts, where they assured her she would have a much happier Christmas, but it was the loneliest she had ever been. Ren had went to a friend's for Christmas, leaving her little sister behind.
"But you were miserable," Luna added sadly. Cleo laughed lightly.
"And I was eleven years old," she said, "I'm almost sixteen now, I'll be okay."
"We could all stay here with you," Remus said.
"Yeah, I don't wanna see my family anyway," Ambrosia's face lit up.
"Absolutely not," Cleo shook her head, dismissing that idea quickly. "None of the owls would get to your family in time, and I am not going to be the reason for you not seeing your family on Christmas." Besides, Cleo was hoping that if she stayed, she could start her lessons with Dumbledore sooner.
"But you are our family, Cleopatra," Sirius said with a smile. She smiled back, feeling her cheeks redden at the idea of all of her friends loving her so much as to cancel their Christmases with their family just to be with her.
"Then it's settled," Indiana clapped her hands together, "we all write to our families tonight, and we spend the best freaking Christmas here, all together," she grinned, and the rest of the group nodded along.
"My sister's bringing her boyfriend over anyway, I didn't really want to meet him," Lily said quietly, squeezing Cleo's hand gently with a smile.
"Does that mean we get to spend a Christmas together, Evans?" James said, smirking.
"I'm staying for Cleo, not you, Potter," Lily said, shaking her head with a small smile.
Cleo looked at each and every person sitting around her, the people she loved the most who would cancel their plans with their families just to make sure she didn't spend her Christmas alone. Cleo knew she didn't deserve any of them, and she would make sure they all knew how infinitely grateful she was for each and every one of them.
They all had done exactly what they planned to do, right after dinner. Luna had actually written her letter to her family at dinner since she always had extra parchment on her and she ran off early to send her owl to her family after reaching over the table to kiss Cleo's head quickly.
The Gryffindors sat in the common room at a table as they all wrote their letters near the fire. James and Lily were quietly bickering at the table. Once or twice, Cleo would overhear Lily saying something like "James, stop writing 'I love James' on my parchment".
Sirius didn't feel like writing to his family, and claimed he would tell Regulus that he wasn't coming home, but he most likely wouldn't even do that. Not that any of the Black family cared, anyway.
The two sat on the red couch in front of the fire. Sirius laid across it, putting his head in Cleo's lap, making her breathing hitch slightly before she controlled her heart rate again. Then she started running her hands through his long dark hair as she watched the flames of the fire dance and flicker. For a moment, she actually felt loved by him, almost as though they were already together. She had begun to notice this year that he was far more "touchy" than before, what with the cuddling at the quidditch game and now this. It made Cleo's heart race even faster.
"I meant it, you know," he looked up at her after a few moments. "That you're family. To all of us, but especially to me. You've always been there for me, far more than my actual family ever has. I don't know what I would do without you, and James and Remus, and even Peter sometimes," he chuckled, causing Cleo to smile. She looked down at him, noticing the sincerity in his eyes. She had to look away quickly, for fear of doing something she would regret. "James and Remus, they're like brothers, and you're like a sister to me. Thank you."
At that, Cleo's hand briefly paused from running through his hair. Never mind, she thought bitterly, a wave of sadness rushing over her at his words. You're like a sister to me.
She stared at the fire for a moment before putting on a smile."That's what I'm here for," she said quietly, finding it hard to mask the pain in her voice. She looked back up to the fire, unaware that a stray tear dropped down her cheek quickly.
"Hey, are you alright? I wasn't trying to make you cry," he chuckled, his eyes shining with concern. She sniffled and Sirius reached up to wipe the tear away quickly.
"I'm..." she hesitated, "I'm just worried about my mum and dad, that's all."
"They're going to be okay," he said quietly. "They're the strongest muggles I've ever met. If anyone can hold off your sister, it's them." All she could do was nod her head.
"Potter, write that one more time on my parchment, and I swear to Merlin I'll-"
"You'll what, Evans?"
"I'll hex you! Don't think I won't do it!" she threatened.
"Why won't you go out with me, Lily? C'mon, just once," he begged.
"Because you're rude, arrogant, and a bully, that's why."
"I have many attributable qualities too," he grumbled.
"Well I can't think of any, but once I do, I'll let you know," Lily stood, collected her parchment, and moved to the other side of the common room to finish her letter.
"I love Lily," Cleo started, "but we're going to be putting up with that for all of Christmas," she whispered, dread laced in her voice. Sirius laughed loudly, making Cleo crack a grin as well. Maybe this Christmas would turn out to be the best one yet, she thought.
and SO IT BEGINS
k this is a sirius black book and the fact that on chapter 16 am i putting a sirius black gif for the first time makes me sad i'm sorry i deprived you all of such beauty and grace and slight irritation because idk about you guys but ben barnes makes me want to smash my head against a wall i hate how pretty he is
vote and comment! I don't have much else to say on this one lol.
