𝕐 𝔼 𝕃 𝕃 𝕆 𝕎 | 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

11. C h r i s t m a s

After a very eventful and long train journey back to muggle civilisation, they arrived home, excited to see family and take a well deserved break. They all sat together in the family room after dinner, Nora curled her knees up to her chest and leaned against her mum's side. She had missed her parents that term so Nora was glad to be home for Christmas.

"Nora, baby - you okay? You look very pale? " Glynis, her short sweet mother, asked. Nora sighed and gave a placid shrug.

On the train ride home, Nora finally got the answers she had been searching for. She went to find her brother so she could talk to him about Lily when she stumbled upon a fist fight in the corridor of the train. Heads were sticking out of compartments, screams and yelling echoed loudly and hovering over one of his friends, was Ben. His nose was bleeding and his eyes menacing. He stopped punching and looked up to see Nora watching him with fear and confusion. Arms reached from every angle, pulling the boys apart and defusing the situation. The Marauders continued to defuse the crowds as Ben took Nora into his compartment and hugged her close to him, comforting and explaining.

Admitting a dark and long secret; Ben had an addiction to relaxer potions. His roommate Jason first introduced him to them during his O.W.L's in 5th year and would brew them whenever his stresses piled up. As the years went on, Ben would use them on a daily occurrence and felt like a zombie most of the time. Being the highest out of them, Jason saw that Nora and Ben had a small argument during the Halloween party which he could see was getting Ben overworked. Taking matters in his own hands, he took a relaxer that Ben had tucked into his costume, mixed it with something stronger and slipped it into Nora's drink. "He just admitted it to me. He's high as a kite and it's all my fault... I'm going to fix this, I promise." Tears fell as Ben swayed them, comforting her tears as well as his own. He was embarrassed and disappointed in himself knowing that his own problems finally caught up to him and caused pain to someone else.

Doing all he could as the big brother, Ben took his parents into the other room and explained everything that happened at school. The girls sat together , listening to the angry uproar and held Nora tight. There was a lot of tears, a lot of yelling and a lot of silence too. It was a Christmas break that the Lysander's were never going to forget. As the night came and everyone finally went to bed, Nora crept down stairs to find her brother sat in front of the fireplace, wrapped up in blankets and shaking. She went over and crouched in front of him, seeing an almost lifeless look in his eyes.

"How did I get to this.... I'm supposed to be taking care of you girls, not getting you in trouble." His voice was hoarse and dry, no doubt dehydrated from all the crying and grovelling he did that night. Nora wrapped more blankets around him and held his hand, a shiver running through him "And you're not supposed to be nice to me Nora..." He cried again, dropping his head onto her shoulder.

"I know what you did was hard and I know it's even harder for you now. But just because I suffered by myself, doesn't mean I'm going to let you do it alone. Your pride and reputation is going to be bruised a while but you did the right thing Ben." She sniffed, wiping her own tears away for a moment before lifting his head.

They comforted each other as the night grew, talking it out and making peace. Although Ben was the brave one, he was proud of how much his sister had grown. Ben tried to enjoy the remainder of the Christmas holidays, struggling more so due to the fact that he was no longer on relaxers and detoxing his body. Nora owled Lily, telling her every detail of what happen since the train ride home. Having learnt of Ben's secret, Lily called off the date with him and focused on taking care of Nora instead.

Christmas Day came and it was the first day were Ben started to feel a little normal. Although he was still in a lot of trouble, he had a wonderful day and embraced every moment with his sisters, parents and other close relatives.

- - - - - - -

They were a month back into the new year and back in school for the second term. Word spread like wild fire about the train incident, rumours stretched to many lengths. As Nora predicted, her brothers reputation was tarnished, he received a disciplinary and his roommate Jason was expelled for his dangerous actions. Nora's friends were also gobsmacked and confused as to why she had forgiven her brother so soon but she couldn't live with the uncomfortable grieving from him hovering in her subconscious. As always, she couldn't help but care for everyone.

Now back into the swing of classes, Sirius and Nora worked stronger and closer as partners; Nora helped Sirius actually focus on his studies whilst Sirius helped Nora meet more new people and involve herself in more social events.

Lily and Nora were sat around in the Room of Requirement on the last night of the week, having a girly night and talking about everything since the first month back.

"I bloody knew it! I knew Remus was a werewolf! The sneaky gits! What happened when you told them?" Lily scooped up a handful of popcorn and grinned at her best friend.

"Sirius almost choked on air, covered my mouth and the four of them practically dragged me to the nearest empty classroom and went mental. It was the funniest thing ever! Peter looked like he shit himself, Potter was nodding impressed that I figured it out, Remus naturally looked white as a sheet and Sirius, the dumb prat, started to lecture me about my safety! Merlins saggy balls! Who would have thought that making friends with him would mean he would try to verbally wrap me in bubblewrap." Nora was howling, the two of them practically in tears as they rolled around on the couch, laughing harder every time they tried to catch their breath.

The door unlocked and the very subject, as well as the other girls, came in to join.

"What's all the commotion?" Poppy smirked, sitting down next to her fellow Hufflepuff and pulled each other in for a hug. The boys sat next to Lily on the opposite couch and around on the floor with Alice and Marlene.

"Long story! Another time." Lily shook her head, her eyes catching James. He grinned at her, his heart beating at seeing her so happy. He was so happy that she had called the date off with Ben yet at the same time, he was very disappointed that someone he once looked up to was involved with such a taboo subject. Lily caught James' lustful gaze, the two of them smiling. Although the group found the two of them the subject of entertainment, along side of Sirius and Nora, it was sweet to see them getting a long and slowly seeing something else developing.

Nora smiled to herself, reflecting on how grateful she was and proud of herself for trying. She trusted Lily and she had taught herself to trust others. As a result, here she was surrounded by people she saw and loved daily and she never wanted that to end. Poppy and her rocked together slightly as they talked, Nora blissfully unaware that Sirius was watching her with the same content look.

He too looked around at what he had in front of him; his 3 best friends, a group of fun girls he loved to hang around with... and then there was Nora. He couldn't pin point what she was to him; his partner? his best girl friend? ... his future?