Shakespeare ❆ Sirius Black [1]

Chapter Thirty One

On the morning of Christmas Day, Nadia moved through the halls of her home, woken by the delicious smells coming from the kitchen and spreading throughout all of the rooms. She knew what the smell meant and got out of bed as soon as she got a whiff of it. She didn't bother with the idea of changing out of her pyjamas and instead just bolted for the origin of the scent overpowering her every thought.

She passed through the living room, not even sparing a glance at her father who was putting the last of the presents under the beautifully decorated tree. He looked after her with a shake of his head and an amused smile on his face. She was probably the only child in all of England that first headed towards the kitchen instead of the tree on Christmas morning. In that moment Nadia didn't care for the presents and instead rushed through the door of the kitchen with a large smile as she spotted the elderly woman putting cookies that were straight out of the oven into a bowl.

"Gran!" Nadia called out excitedly, her voice managing to warn the grey haired woman of the oncoming attack and give her a chance to catch her granddaughter in her arms instead of allowing herself to be toppled over.

"There's my favourite granddaughter!" Abagail Cromwell exclaimed in glee as she hugged Nadia tightly, happy to see her after such a long time has passed.

"She's your only granddaughter Abby, despite me constantly wishing for more." A voice came from behind Nadia making her turn towards the dining table to see her grandfather sitting in one of the chairs and looking at her with a big smile on his face. She soon let go of her grandmother and rushed to him just as he stood up to greet her.

"Merry Christmas, Pumpkin." Gregory Cromwell said as he embraced the young girl that seemed to grow more and more every time they saw her. She was already looking like a beautiful young woman and he wished time could just stop and she would stay a little girl forever.

"Gregory, there's still time for your wishes to come true, I think I would benefit from a second child too considering the one I have has not even greeted her own father yet." Konstantin said as he too entered the kitchen once his job of arranging the presents under the tree had been finished.

"I saw you before I went to bed last night. I haven't seen Gran and Gramps since the summer." Nadia retorted with a smile of amusement on her face but despite her words moved over to hug her father and wish him a merry Christmas as well.

"That does not mean I should get any less love." Konstantin replied dramatically making everyone in the room laugh. However, that laughter was soon interrupted by another voice entering the kitchen.

"I didn't know the Christmas gathering was in the kitchen." Catherine commented jokingly as she stood at the door looking at her family members with a smile.

Things between Nadia and her mother had been tense for the two days that she had been home from school. They tried talking about other topics, however, as her mother tried to ask her about other things such as classes and her time at Hogwarts, and Nadia tried to avoid the topic of Sirius it proved to be hard. Mostly she focused on speaking about her time with the girls instead of the Marauders, but as the two groups had started spending more and more time together because of Nadia, it was hard to do so. Her mother tried to move around the subject too, but it proved futile as she asked her own questions.