Redemption For A Monster (Marauder fanfic) Book Three

34- Christmas As A Family

Despite Sirius' attempt to make Harry feel better, Sara could tell that Harry was worried about Voldemort, for the rest of the day.
He kept isolating himself from his friends, and Sirius seemed too happy at having people around for Christmas, to notice how Harry was feeling.
It wasn't until Hermione arrived the following day, that Harry finally stopped worrying about what had happened between him and Voldemort's snake. And once Sara saw Harry smiling properly, she started to relax.
Everyone at Grimmauld Place chipped in, to help with the decorating, in the run up to Christmas, and Sara couldn't remember the last time she had felt so happy. She had spent the last two Christmases in terrible living conditions, alone with Sirius, so having so many people around her, really lifted her spirits.

The once cold and dusty Grimmauld Place, had been turned into a bright and festive home for a large number of people.
Sirius' dark family tree had been obscured by a large Christmas tree, and even the beheaded house-elves had been decorated with Santa Claus hats, and matching beards.
Sara awoke on Christmas morning, to a heap of presents at the end of her bed, which made her feel giddy with excitement, like she had felt on her 1st year at Hogwarts, when she had revieved proper gifts for the first time in her life.
This year she had recieved a beautiful warm cloak from Harry, a pretty ruby necklace from Sirius, and a dragon broach from Ron. Remus had also given her a silver bracelet, Hermione had kindly brought her an exquisite new quill, and Molly had gifted her with her own purple, hand-knitted Weasley jumper.
Sara nearly cried when she opened Molly's present, because she loved it so much, and she put in on straight away, over her pajamas.

With her Weasley jumper on, Sara made her way downstairs, where Sirius and Molly were already cooking breakfast.
"Do you like the jumper?" Molly asked, when Sara entered the kitchen.
"Yes, thank you Molly. I've never been given anything like this before" admitted Sara.
"Was my gift not special as well?" Questioned Sirius, pretending to look hurt.
Sara rolled her eyes, and lifted up the necklace, from under her jumper, showing Sirius that she was wearing his present as well.
"All my gifts were special" smiled Sara, looking down at the bracelet on her wrist, from Remus.
"It looks good on you".
Sara spun around and saw that Remus had just entered the room.
"It looks expensive Moony. I hope you didn't spend too much money on it" admitted Sara.
"It's a family heirloom. It belonged to my grandmother" revealed Remus.
"Oh Remus, I can't accept-"
"Don't worry about it. I don't plan on having children of my own, or getting married, so I won't have anyone to pass my family things on to. And I can't exactly where a bracelet, can I?".

"So where's my bracelet then?" Teased Sirius.
Remus chuckled, and Sara grinned, as they took their seats at the table.
They were not alone for long though, as Fred and George ran into the kitchen, sniffing dramatically.
"Something smells good" commented Fred.
"Well you can sit down and wait for your siblings, because I'm not serving you until everyone is up" instructed Molly.
"Oh mum-" started George, who was interupted by the sudden arrival of an owl.
"Is that Hermes?" Questioned Fred.
The owl dropped the package it was carrying, onto the table, before flying back out the room, towards the nearest window.
Molly approached tha package, which looked like it had been wrapped in a hurry, by someone who didn't care about wrapping paper. She removed the paper carefully, finding a fluffy jumper underneath.

"No. He wouldn't..." faltered George.
Molly brought the jumper to her chest, before she broke down in tears.
"What is it?" Asked Sara, as she jumped out of her chair, and moved towards Molly, who had sunk down into the nearest chair, in tears.
"That owl, Hermes, belongs to Percy. And by the looks of things, that is his Christmas jumper, that mum made for him. He's sent it back" revealed Fred, through gritted teeth.
"He wouldn't" gasped Sirius.
"Oh Percy... Percy" sobbed Molly.
"There's no note or anything. He hasn't even bothered to ask how his own father is" snarled Sara as she inspected the wrapping paper, which made Molly wail loudly.
"Oh mum. Forget about Percy" begged George.
"Yeah, he's nothing more than a humungous pile of rat droppings" added Fred.