.⊹⁀➷ CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO!
↳ ❛merry christmas❜

WHEN ANNABETH AWOKE the next morning, she was met with a stack of Christmas presents at the foot of her bed.

To her surprise, Ginny was already half way through opening her own when Annabeth slowly crawled to the end of her bed.

Sirius and Remus had gifted her a excellent set of books entitled Practical Defensive Magic and it's use against the dark arts. Hagrid had gifted her something furry that she couldn't quiet figure out. To her surprise there was also a little black box with a green bow around it and a tag that said 'from D.M.'

The brunette felt how her heart started beating faster and she gluped before she slowly pulled the green bow open.

Opening the black box, she revealed a golden ring with a rubin in it's middle.

The brunette gasped quietly while she eyed the ring closely. On the back of the tag was something written.

Annabeth turned the tag and read slowly, 'Annabeth— I hope that you have Merry Christmas. Lucky for you, break is almost over— so you don't have to miss me too much. See you soon, Draco.'

Annabeth scoffed loudly while she rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile to herself while she pulled the ring into her finger.

The brunette eyes it for a moment and then turned to her presents once more, but before she could open anything else, the doors to her room burst open and revealed Ron and Harry, who stumbled inside.

"Good haul this year—", Ron smiled at them while the boys sat down on their bed.

With a loud crack Fred and George suddenly materialized at the foot of Annabeth's bed.

George beamed at them, "Merry Christmas!" His smile then disappeared, "Don't go downstairs for a bit."

"Why not?", Ron frowned at them.

"Mum's crying again— Percy sent back his Christmas jumper." Fred answered them heavily. "Without a note. Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything." George continued.
"We tried to comfort her— told her Percy's nothing more than a humungous pile of rat droppings."

"Didn't work", George informed them while he sighed heavily. "So Lupin took over. Best let him cheer her up before we go down for breakfast."

"Harry, what's that supposed to be?", Fred questioned him while he looked at something in Harry's hand.

It was a painting, but Annabeth couldn't really fathom what it was supposed to portrait.

"It's Harry!", George suddenly exclaimed while he chuckled. "Good likeness!", Fred stated grinning before Harry threw his wallet at him.

The group of teenagers chuckled before they split up and got dressed to go downstairs.

After they had eaten their breakfast everyone was getting ready to visit Arthur in St. Mungo's. The journey there was quiet quick, to theire surprise, there was very little traffic on the road.

The reception area was looking rather festiv in red and golden colours and when they entered Arthur's room, Annabeth saw that he had gotten many presents himself, that were all stacked up besides his bed.

Mr. Weasley seemed to be fine but when he and Mrs. Weasley got into a discussion about stitching his wound like the muggles were doing it, the teenagers left the room and got themselves something to drink.

Annabeth was sipping on her hot chocolate when they rode the elevator back upstairs to the fourth floor.

When the group stepped out of the elevator and into the hallway, there was a big sign saying, Spell damage.

When Annabeth let her gaze wander around she spotted a man, who was peering out at them all with his nose pressed against the glass. He had wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes and a broad vacant smile that revealed his white teeth.

"Blimey!"

"Professor Lockhart!?"

Their ex-defense against the dark arts professor was opened the door and moved towards them. "Well, hello there! I expect you'd like my autograph, would you?"

"Hasn't changed much, has he?", Harry muttered under his breath which made the other's grinn in amusement.

"Er— how are you, Professor?", Ron sounded slightly guilty when he spoke to the man. That was probably because it has been his damaged wand that was responsible for Professor Lockhart's memory loss.

Lockhart gazed very intense at Harry, "Have we met before?"

"Er— yeah. We have." Harry answered him honestly. "You used to teach us at Hogwarts, remember?"

"Teach? — Me? Did I", the man seemed to be confused.

"Oh Gilderoy!—", one of the Healers suddenly exclaimed while she koined them. "You've got visitors! How lovely, and on Christmas Day, too! Do you know, he never gets visitors, poor lamb, and I can't think why, he's such a sweetie, aren't you?"

"We're doing autographs! They want loads of autographs!", the man said in excitement.

The healer still looked at them, before she softly grabbed Lockhart by his arm and guided him back towards the glass door, "He was rather well known a few years ago, we very much hope that this liking for giving autographs is a sign that his memory might be starting to come back. Will you step this way? He's in a closed ward, you know m, he must have slipped out while I was bringing in the Christmas presents, the doors usually kept locked— not that he's dangerous! But— he's a bit of a danger to himself, bless him— doesn't know who he is, you see, wanders off and can't remember how to get back—"

She opened the door for them and they stepped inside the closed ward, while the healer still spoke with them, "It's nice of you to visit him."

"These are our long term resident's ward — for permanent spell damage, you know, of course with intensive remedial potions and charms and a bit of luck, we can produce some improvement. Well— I guess I leave you all to chat."

With that the Healer disappeared and the group was left with Lockhart.

Only now Annabeth could take in the ward, there were several beds, occupied by the most bizarre looking or behaving people.

Annabeth's gaze then fell onto the beds that were at the end of the ward, were the Healer waa talking to an older woman. "Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?"

Annabeth's mouth dropped open when she heard that familiar name and her eyes opened wider when she spotted no other than Neville trailing behind the woman.

"Neville?" Her words had left her mouth before she could realize it.

Neville immediately jumped at the use of his name. "Its us, Neville!", Ron immediately greeted the brunette boy, who seemed like he wanted the ground to swallow him.

"Friends of you, Neville, dear?", the older woman questioned him curiously. Neville seemed like he was rather uncomfortable with this situation, but he still nodded his head, "Ah, yes."

"Yes, yes— I know who you are. Neville speaks most highly of you", the woman stated while she looked at the group of teenagers.

"Erm— thanks."

"And you two are clearly Weasleys'", the woman then continued while sheooed at Ron and Ginny. "Yes, I know your parents. Not well— of course— but fine people, fine people— and you must be Hermione Granger."

Hermione took a little bit taken back by the fact that the woman knew her name, but still shook her hand.

"Neville told me all about you. Helped him out of a few sticky spots, haven't you? He's a good boy", the woman stated while she glanced at Neville.

"But he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say", the woman then stated, which made Annabeth frown at her. How could she say that right infront of her grandson.

"What?", Ron seemed confused before he met Neville's eyes. "Is that your dad  down the end, Neville?"

"What's this?", Neville's grandmother immediately questioned while her gaze snapped towards the brunette boy besides her. "Haven't you told your friends about your parents, Neville?"

Neville took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling before he slowly shook his head.

The voice of Neville's grandmother was sharp while she glared at him, "Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of ! You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and their sanity so their only son would be ashamed of them, you know!"

"I'm not ashamed!", Neville quietly told her, still avoiding eye contact.

"Well, you've got a funny way of showing it!", his grandmother stated before she looked at the teenagers infront of her. "My son and his wife were tortured into insanity by You-know-who's followers."

Ginny and Hermione had shocked expression on their faces while Ron tried to catch a glimpse at them.

Harry and Annabeth exchanged a quiet look, they already knew about Neville's parents because of Moody's photograph of the original Order.

"They were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the wizarding community— highly gifted, the pair of them. I— yes, Alice, dear, what is it?", the older woman truned towards the woman, who was now coming towards them.

The woman didn't look like the woman on Moody's photograph at all. She no longer had that happy-looking face. Her face was now thin and worn out, her eyes seemed overlarge and her hair was now white.

Neville's mother stretched out her hand and Neville mirrored her actions, letting her drop some kind of paper into his hand.

Neville's voice was only above a whisper, "Thanks, mum." 

His grandmother nodded at the woman infront of her, "Very nice dear."

His mother then turned around and walked away while she was quietly humming to herself.

Annabeth felt her heart break for the boy, who was now starting down at the paper in his palm before he met their eyes, seeming like he was expecting them to laugh or to pity him.

"Well, we'd better get back", Mrs. Longbottom suddenly sighed while she drew her green gloves on. "Very nice to have met you all. Neville, put that wrapper in the bin, she must have given you enough of them to paper your bedroom by now."

Neville didn't look at anyone before he followed after his grandmother while he let the paper slip into his pocket.

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Hermione immediately spoke, "I never knew." Ron shook his head, "Nor me."

They then all looked over to Harry and Annabeth. "Well, we did." Annabeth fiddled with her hands, "Dumbeldor told us but we promised we wouldn't tell anyone— that's what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's parents until they lost their minds."

Hermione's voice was only above a whisper and she seemed horrified , "Bellatrix Lestrange did that?"

Ron's eyebrows were raised, "That woman Kreecher got a photo of in his den?"

Annabeth noddd in silence and that silence continued until they had joined the Weasley family once more.

THE HOLIDAYS WERE over and Annabeth was just carrying her trunk downstairs into the hallway, when she saw Kreacher walking out of a room she had never noticed before.

The house elf was as always muttering insults to himself while he passed the brunette girl.

Annabeth could hear Harry coming downstairs after her while she slowly wandered into the dark green room.

The tapestry looked immensely old, it was faded but nevertheless the golden thread with which it was embroidered still glinted brightly enough to show them a sprawling family tree dating back to the middle ages. Large words at the very top of the tapestry read : The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black 'Toujours pur'.

"Sirius is not on there", Harry stated while his eyes scanned over the wall.

"I used to be there—", Sirius suddenly told them from behind, making them jump in surprise before he approached the wall and touched a small spot that looked like it was burned. "My sweet mother blasted me off after I ran away from home— Kreacher's quiet find of muttering the story under his breath."

Annabeth frowned again him, because this was new information to her. "You ran away from home?"

Sirius nodded in confirmation, "When I was about sixteen. I had enough."

"Where did you go?", asked Harry while he stared at him.

"Your dad's place— Your grandparents were really good about it, they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out your dad's in the school holidays, and when I was seventeen I got a place of my own. My Uncle Aphard had left me a decent bit of gold— he's been wiped off here, too, that's probably why— anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr. And Mrs. Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."

"I see your father so much in you two— you are very much alike', Sirius told them, which made Annabeth smile slightly.

Harry on the other hand has a worried look on his face, "I'm not so sure." There was a moment of silence before Annabeth gave him a curious look, "Is this still because of the snake?"

"And also the moment in Dumbeldor's office after, there was a moment where I wanted to— to—", Harry couldn't bring himself to say it. "This connection between me and Voldemort. What if the reason for it is that I'm becoming more like him? I just feel so angry all the time and what if, after everything that we've been through somethings gone wrong inside me? What if I'm becoming bad?"

Sirius grabbed Harry softly by his shoulder's, looking into his eyes, feeling like James was starting back at him. "I want you to listen to me very carefully, Harry— you're not a bad person. You're a very good person who bad things have happened to. You understand?"

Harry nodded besides him before Sirius continued, "Besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on— that's who we really are."

There was a long silence between them and Sirius wrapped an arm around Harry.

Annabeth continued starring at the wall infront of them, "But— why did you leave?"

Sirius had a bitter smile on his lips. "Because I hated the whole lot of them. My parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal— my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them— that's him."

Sirius let go of Harry and pointed at the very bottom of the family tree, at a name 'Regulus Black'. A date of death followed a date of birth.

"He was younger then me and a much better son, as I was constantly reminded." Sirius gaze remained on his brother's name.

Harry gave him a questioning look, "But he died." Sirius slowly nodded without making eye contact, "Yeah— stupid idiot, he joined the Death Eaters."

"You're kidding."

"Come on, Harry! Haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards my family were?", Sirius questioned him with raised eyebrows.

"Were— were you're parents Death Eaters as well?", Annabeth questioned her godfather slowly.

"No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quiet a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things— they got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I beg my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining you at first."

"Was he killed by an Auror?"

"Oh, no— no he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely, I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."

"I haven't looked at this for years. There's Phineas Nigellus, my great-great-grandfather. See?
— least popular Headmaster Hogwarts ever had— and Arminta Meliflua— cousin of my mother's — tried to force through a Ministry Bill to make muggle-hunting legal and dead Auth Elladora — she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays— of course any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned. I see Tonks isn't on here— maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her — he's supposed to go whatever anyone in the family asks him,—"

"You and Tonks are related?", Annabeth questioned in surprise.

"Oh, yeah, her mother Andromeda was my favourite cousin", Sirius stated simply while he eyed the wall. Suddenly he pointed at another burn mark between the names Bellatrix and Narcissa. "No, Andromeda's not on here either, look— her sisters are still hete because they made lovely, respectable pure-bloods marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so—"

Annabeth felt a weird feeling in her stomach when she thought about the fact that her godfather was relates to Draco Malfoy.

"You're related to the Malfoys", Harry exclaimed while he stared at his godfather in disbelief.

Sirius nodded shortly, "The pure-blood families are all interrelated— if you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited. There are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here— if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasleys'."

Annabeth looked back at the map before her eyes fell on the name Bellatrix Black, which was connected through a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.

"Lestrange—", Annabeth whispered to herself while she eyed the writing.

"They're in Azkaban", Sirius told them. "Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch junior— Rodolphus's brother Rabastan was with them, too."

"You never said that she was your—",

"Does it matter if she's my cousin? As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having a relative like her?"

"Sorry—", Harry mumbled while he gave Sirius an apologetic look. "I didn't mean— I was just surprised, that's all."

"It doesn't matter, don't apologize—", their godfather mumbled while he turned away from them. "I don't like being back here— I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."

Annabeth could relate to what Sirius was going through, she couldn't imagine ever being stuck at Private drive again.

"It's ideal headquarters, of course— My father put every security measure known to wizardkind on it when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggles gould never come and call— as if they'd ever have wanted to— and now Dumbeldore's added his protection, you'd be hard put to find a safer house anywhere. Dumbeldor is Secret keeper of the Order, you know— nobody can find Headquarters unless he tells them personally where it is— that note Moody showed you last night, that was from Dumbeldor— if my parents could see the use their hiuse was being put to now— well my mother's portrait shoild give yiu some idea—" Sirius smirked a little to himself.

His smirk then turned into a scowle, "I wouldn't mind if I could just get out occasionally and do something useful."

Annabeth gave Sirius a sympathetic look, but there was also a little bit of worry in her eyes. She worried that Sirius would do something stupid and expose himself to the ministry while doing so.

"Don't worry— I won't do anything stupid", Sirius assured her, he has watched her face expression change into worry.

"Guys— we have to go now", Hermione suddenly stuck her head inside the room.

"When all this is over, well be a proper family. You'll see", Sirius smiled at them and Annabeth immediately hugged her godfather closely. "I'd love that."

She felt how the man patted her back and hugged her back, sighting deeply. After that he also gave Harry a hug and before Annabeth knew it she was sitting in the car that would bring them to the train station.