𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜 ━━ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧
008. merry bloody christmas

          𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗠𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗬 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗟𝗨𝗫𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦. And when the two families were combined, it was bound to be extravagant. Emerald, red and gold littered the Black Manor, champagne glasses glistening over the expanse of the area. After breaking off from Hogwarts during their fifth year, Scarlet and Sirius went back home but the two rarely talked. Their once solid dynamic crippled and crashed like a boat hitting the shore on a stormy night. 

Only one infatuation to blame for that. And speak of the devil;

"Miss Bridget," Sirius approached Scarlet who wore a long-sleeved, fitting black dress that reached all the way down to her ankles. "You look exquisite." He leaned to whisper so his tone is audible over the classical music played in the background.

"Oh, you're talking to me now," She said with an attitude dripping in her tone. "I thought you had no time for 'people like me'."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Shut up, I'm trying to eavesdrop," She squinted her eyes toward her cousin Lucius who spoke flirtatiously with Narcissa—holding a champagne glass in his hand. He was babbling about how stunning her gown is.

"Is that your cousin flirting with my cousin?"

Scarlet grimaced. "You have no idea what it's like in the Slytherin common room." Sirius snickered at her words.

"Your mother knows how to throw a party," She kept her chin high, not turning her face away from his terribly close one.

"My mother knows how to do a lot of useless things," He said, unbothered. He then turned to her, the star-shaped hair clips on her hair glinting under the twinkling lights of the house. He smiled at how stunning they looked. "Will you dance with me?" The boy suddenly blurted out.

"No."

She was starting to walk away, feeling satisfied with herself with the answer she had just given out. It was rather humiliating—watching Sirius pretending to fawn over her whilst at Hogwarts, her existence seems to be an inside-joke within his little group.

The iconic walk-off didn't last though, as soon as she turned around, flicking her hair back, Sirius caught onto her wrist, making her stop. "If you don't let go in one second, you won't have hands, Black."

Sirius began to lead her to the dance floor with a large grin plastered to his face—gaining confidence with her lack of protests. "You cannot resist me like that, Blondie, I look dashing tonight."

"You bloody wish," She scoffed loudly—a gesture her family would not approve of. "You know who does look dashing in your family? Regulus, because he has class. And the pretty Cissa, maybe even Bellatrix... anyone but you."

Sirius' hand tightened around her waist, bringing her closer as the other hand intertwined with hers by the side. "You wound me," said Sirius, twirling her around, grabbing her wrist and tugging her closer, her chest colliding with his with a sharp move. "You cannot deny it, I carry all the charm of this family, especially compared to Regulus."

"Hey, Black?" Scarlet chimes in, cutting him off. "Less talking, more dancing."

"Yes, my lady." He threw her one of his infamous winks, the two of them swaying to the soft violin-music along with various other pairs on the dance floor. Sirius seemed to be rather skilled when it came to dancing, knowing the unlimited amount of parties and balls the Black family would throw every once in a while.

Scarlet hated Sirius and the obnoxious smirk he permanently carried with himself. But only a fool would deny the invisible string between the two of them—and Sirius would always be tugging on it.

      AT THE DINNER TABLE—A RATHER LARGE ONE—the Bridgets, Malfoys' and the Black family gathered at once. "So, Lucius, I hear you have been courting our darling Narcissa this year." Walburga sparked up a conversation, and Narcissa's cheeks were pale pink.

"It has been an honour, Mrs Black." Lucius shifted in his seat, intertwining his fingers with the blonde girl next to him as a show of affection. Scarlet swiftly turned to Sirius who sat beside her, knowing he would express a look of grimace—and he did.

"The honour is ours, dear," Druella Black chimes in with a smile.

Sirius was lazily slumped over his chair, slurping the awful beverage–rather loudly–her mother had prepared for the teens. All of a sudden, he started to cough, a little bit of drink spilling over his shirt.

Scarlet turned to her other side where Regulus sat. "What is wrong with him?" She whispered.

"He had a few too many drinks," He whispered back. "Like... bad drinks."

"Yeah, I know what drinks you're talking about, Reg," she shook her head in disbelief.

"Sirius, that is quite enough." Walburga sternly said, anger burning in her eyes. She glanced over the rest of the family to make sure they didn't mind.

Celeste—picking up the tension—expressed her concern. "Are you quite alright, honey?"

"Hm," Sirius hummed, sitting up straight and drowning a whole glass of water. "Fine, thank you, Mrs Bridget."

After the dinner ended, the conversations mainly consisted of confusing matters such as the Ministry and the commotion from the pureblood community downtown which the young teens practically understood nothing of.

After a few moments, the manor started to clear out.

Regulus and Scarlet were upstairs in his room whilst the girl was showing him some tricks for playing the guitar. Walburga assured Celeste she would send the young girl back home safely after the teens were done with their own conversation. Celeste thought she would rather allow Scarlet to have a little fun—not having any siblings to converse with herself.

However, a loud voice booming distracted the two. Regulus flinched and Scarlet simply furrowed her brows, turning to look at him for an explanation. Walburga's voice raised and more screaming followed. And there was no doubt the counter-snapping was Sirius.

The blonde girl stood from her seat, reaching for the door with long strides.

"Scarlet, stop—" Regulus held onto her wrist with trembling hands.

"Let go." She stared intimidatingly at where Regulus grabbed her as the boy slowly let go. She was running down the flight of stairs.

"What were you thinking!" Walburga shouted from one end of the table, "What is wrong with you?"

"Mother—it was a mistake!" Sirius yelled back from the other end, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up and hands gripping the back of the chair tightly, his knuckles almost white. "I'm so sick of this, I'm so sick of you!"

"Petrificus totalus." In an instant, Sirius' mother drew her wand, directly pointing it at his head. Sirius flinched back, bringing his arms up to shield himself.

"Protego!" Scarlet dashed through frantically, a blue aura emerging at the invisible shield, inhibiting Walburga's spell. The girl did not think twice before placing herself in front of Sirius, panting heavily as she pushed the boy behind her, a hand on his wrist.

A heavy silence stomped over them, encapsulating the dull atmosphere of the House of Black. Regulus stood by the door to the dining room, a frown plastered to his face. The only one who did not look shocked was Sirius—signalling he had grown quite used to being victim of malicious spells.

Scarlet glanced between Sirius and Walburga who watched curiously, a look in her eyes that spelt, 'You dare to stand between our family matters?'.

"It's rather late, time for you to go back home, don't you think, Scarlet?"

"Right," She whispered, eyes still widened as she turned around, a sudden pang of sympathy hitting her heart at the look of absolute devastation on his face. It was a moment of his highest vulnerability, and Scarlet guessed she was the last person he would allow to see this.

Sirius almost was prepared to assure the blonde he was alright on his own. Instead, he roughly snatched his hand away from her hold. "I can take care of myself," He uttered harshly before facing his mother. "Goodnight, mother." He said before rushing towards the main door to the manor.

"Where do you think you're going?" Walburga started to follow him to exit, "Who will take you in? You have nowhere to go!" She shouted as the door slammed in her face. She was furious to the point Scarlet swore devil horns were starting to appear on her head.

Scarlet turned around and watched a teary-eyed Regulus and instantly ran up to him, holding him in his arms. "He didn't get to open his Christmas presents."

"It's rather late—"

"That's not fair." Regulus frowned. "What is he gonna wear? And—and how can he—?"

Scarlet was surely going to regret offering whatever came to her mind. "Do you want me to—?"

"Please?" Regulus looked up to her with puppy-dog eyes, pleading.

Within an instant, Scarlet was tapping her heeled shoes against the tiled floor of the house as Regulus tried to gather everything Sirius might need until the day he goes back to Hogwarts.

"Reg, that's like his entire bedroom," She deadpanned, watching a whole pile of baggage he brought down. "Does he really need this magazine of half-naked women to survive the week?"

Regulus looked where she was pointing and his cheeks were a deeper shade of crimson at the matter. He didn't exactly mean to bring that down, it must have been slipped in between his other stuff. "Sorry."

      Scarlet—barely—managed to use the Undetectable Extension Charm to fit almost everything into the bag, excluding some clothes and a rather large coat. So, under Regulus' pleas (and her masked kindness, she would rather die than admit it), she then ended up on James Potter's doorsteps in pouring rain.

      The Potters family—as it seems—gained the approval of Celeste Bridget despite their differences. Celeste mentioned once how she had been close friends with his Euphemia and Fleamont back at Hogwarts. The conversation was only brought up when Scarlet complained about how utterly annoying James was with his pranks.

After a single knock, a sweet woman opened the door. "Mrs Potter, I'm sorry to intrude..."

"James! We have another one!" She turned to yell.

"Whatever are you on— Bridget?" James strutted down the stairs, shouting so loudly, Scarlet swore his mother's ears fell off. "What in Merlin's name are you doing here? How did you know where I live? Have you been stalking—"

"Stalking, sure, Potter, it's my favourite pass-time." She sarcastically spoke as James squinted his eyes in her direction to appear intimidating.

Mrs Potter seemed to be a little weary about having been caught in something unexpected.

"Merlin, James, how many are there?" A manly voice said, and Scarlet assumed it must be James' father based on the resemblance of their faces.

Euphemia ushered the blond inside the house, claiming it is rather cold. "Bridget, is that your first name? Are you Sirius' sister—"

"No!" She dismissed quickly, taking off her coat and hanging it behind the door. "I'm Scarlet... Scarlet Bridget."

Mrs Potter raised her brows. "From the Bridget family?" the blonde nodded to her question, "Monty! Look, this is Celeste's little girl."

Fleamont poked his head up from his newspaper. "You're kidding."

"I really should go."

"She really should go."

Scarlet and James said in unison, causing the teens to snap their heads towards each other. There was an unusual warmth in the house. Loud music in the background and loving behaviour from both of the parents. Accompanying this was an utterly sweet scent of cinnamon rolls.

"Nonsense, James," Fleamont chuckled, turning to Scarlet. "I haven't seen your mother in ages, I've to say, I was really sorry when I heard about your father—"

"—don't be," Scarlet cut him off, later realising how odd it sounded.

"The last time I saw Celeste was at..." Fleamont trailed off, looking and Mrs Potter for help.

"At our wedding," she quickly answered, pointing to one of the many, many framed pictures hanging on the wall. Scarlet quickly found her mother, after all, she always stood out. She was in an emerald, satin gown and a sparkly, pearl necklace hanging around her neck, hand-in-hand with Mrs Potter dressed in white. She looked rather... joyful. Scarlet thought she never saw that form of her mother.

Mrs Potter grabbed her wrist and sat her down. "You've to eat something, dear, I spent ages on everything."

"Mrs Potter, it's really late..."

"Call me Mia," the woman said politely as the girl sighed, feeling James take a seat beside the blonde. "James, away with you! You already had six plates of desserts."

"I'm just accompanying our guest!"

"I'm just here to give Black some of his stuff... his brother insisted." Scarlet finally spat it out, stating her aim to come to this place. "I knew I'd find him here because... well, you two are practically glued together."

"Isn't that so cute?" Mrs Potter pouted.

"Very." Scarlet sarcastically said, a small smirk lingering on her face as James shot his mother and the blonde a deadpanned look.

"Tell me dear, we got brownies, cinnamon rolls, pudding..." She trailed off. "Monty burnt the muffins, so..."

"It was an honest mistake!" Fleamont frowned, throwing his hands up in the air.

"You're good for nothing."

"You still married me, beautiful." Mr Potter winked at the woman and her cheeks turned pink within an instant, eyes widening as she glanced between the girl and her husband.

"We have a guest if you can't see!"

Scarlet found herself smiling at the joy radiating from the family, the love between all of them. No one was telling James to fix his posture and no one was yelling about something unimportant. Or politics. It felt... It felt homey.

"I rather like your gown, Bridget." James ran his eyes over Scarlet's shining, black fabric.

"You want to wear it?" She teased, red lips curling to a smirk as James crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

Mrs Potter set a piece of cinnamon roll and some choux pastry covered in caramel on a plate in front of her, despite her longing protests. "Mrs Po—Mia... this is absolutely delicious," her mother would serve raspberries with whipped cream and Scarlet would devour it as though it was the fanciest thing ever. This sent her to a whole different world.

"See," Mrs Potter pointed to the other two Potters. "Now, was that so hard? Thank you, dear, for your appreciation."

"Can I take some home?" Scarlet shamelessly questioned, almost forgetting her mother's teachings for a second; she had no idea what the woman put in these desserts.

"You don't even have to ask." She said with a smile.

"You make me ask."

"Shut up, James."

"Scarlet..." Fleamont started. "You brought over Sirius' things so late at night... you're a good friend."

"We're not friends."

"They're not friends."

Scarlet and James spoke in unison once again, catching the attention of the parents again. "That is awfully sweet of you, I'm seeing Hufflepuff behaviour."

James snorted. "Definitely not."

"Gryffindor? Is that how you two are close?" The man guessed.

"No—"

"She's in Slytherin." A new voice chimes in.

An awkward silence encapsulated them as Scarlet took the last bite of her food, finishing everything rather quickly at the familiar voice. She ignored everyone's deepened gazes, trying to push them away.

"Of course," Fleamont chuckled awkwardly. "How could I forget, you're legacy—"

"Fleamont," Mrs potter sent him a warning gaze and he instantly stopped talking.

"Thank you for a lovely time, Mia." She quickly said in a whisper.

"What is she doing here?" Sirius Black appeared by the stairway and Scarlet mentally cursed herself. "Have you followed me here?" He was wearing a set of red pyjamas, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, and his hair tied back.

"What is going—" Mrs Potter started to question, only to be cut off by James' awkward laugh.

"Mum, dad, why don't you give us a minute?"

Fleamont and Euphemia felt the light atmosphere dimming, the same way Scarlet brought darkness into every bright place she entered; the thought made her feel a little insecure about causing such intrusion. She quickly started to dig through her small, brown-leather bag.

James felt odd about allowing Scarlet in, especially after every negative feeling the two of them felt towards each other. "Padfoot, maybe—"

"Is this a silly prank?" Sirius asked rudely, stepping towards her standing figure. "A poor attempt to further earn the validation of the elitist community? Or are you trying to prove yourself to the Black family by fixing their disgraceful, rebellious son?"

Whilst he cluelessly rambled and Scarlet was starting to lose her patience—both at the Undetectable Extension Charm for being so tricky and Sirius for degrading her, James was the one to cut in.

"You might wanna shut up and hear it out, Padfoot." He said awkwardly.

Sirius scoffed. "I don't want whatever she brought, she's foolish if she thinks—uhm, are those my letters?"

Finally, Scarlet pulled the things out. "Your darling, little brother wanted you to have your stupid Christmas presents," She started off with the letter his friends had sent him—those including Peter, Remus and James'. They were followed by actual presents, the gifts wrapped in wrapping papers. She wondered why so many of the wrapping papers had pictures of dogs plastered on them.

"Merry bloody Christmas, you foul git." She wished through gritted teeth, turning over her heels and exiting the house in utter humiliation. Her chest rose and fell in anger as she stepped out, feeling the wet misery the Earth has decided to throw down on her in the form of harsh rain.

      She grunted out of frustration, for allowing herself to believe acting well results in good consequences. Because it doesn't. She was taught it a million times and yet she ignored all her mother's warnings and let that stupid organ in her chest show a tiny bit of care. And where had that gotten her? She landed in her enemy's house in the middle of the night only to be completely embarrassed by the person she tried assisting.

      Her black stilettos tapped furiously against the cobblestones, fleeing back to her house which was indeed quite far.

"Blondie!" A voice sounded and she rolled her eyes, speeding up her pace. "Wait, woah! Sorry, I almost slipped— Scarlet, wait! Can you hear me? Stop walking for Merlin's—ow!" He tripped over his own leg, stumbling forward to Scarlet as he put a hand on her shoulder to regain his balance.

A hand on her shoulder made her turn around frantically, shoving his arm away. "What is it that you want?"

Sirius had no bloody idea why he followed. A small little pit in the bottom of his stomach drove him by instinct, and now he stood in front of the blonde he resented so dearly without any words. She scoffed, starting to turn.

"Thank you," Sirius pursed his lips as she turned over her shoulder. "I know you did it for Regulus... but thank you."

She nodded with an astonished look on her stone-cold face.

"You've always been a better sibling to him, anyways." He chuckled nervously, shoving his hands in his pockets, shivering underneath the heavy rain. He caught a glimpse of her lips curling, just lightly. He smiled genuinely.

For a second, just for a second there, he caught a glimpse of how terrifyingly beautiful she was. Unique, strong features, pale skin, pin-straight blonde hair contrasting the pitch-dark clothes she chooses to wear. He felt as though he might quiver—not under the coldness hitting his skin—but at how stunning she looked the moment she let her face relax from the stone-cold mask.

"Goodnight, Black." She whispered, audible enough for him to hear over the loud noise of rain hitting the ground.

He took another step forward, watching as she struggled to keep her eyes wide open under the heavy rain. "At least— at least take my shoes," He started to take off his trainers.

"What are you doing?" She asked with a perplexed expression.

"You can't walk in those ridiculous shoes." He emphasised the degrading word.

"You wound me, Black."

"There," He used his leg to shove the white, muddy trainers towards her. She stared at him with a puzzled glance for a second, before taking off her own shoes—frustrated at how she found it hard to walk in them all of a sudden. Not that it was her fault, but she swore she got used to wearing heels. The long dress was just the cherry on top of her struggles. "Hm, they suit me more."

"Goodnight, Black." She sternly repeated, turning on her heels.

"Sweet dreams, Blondie!" He yelled excitedly, unusually feeling giddy about coming to terms with his neighbour—a friendship that was destined for catastrophe suddenly melting a little from its ice-block form. And although Scarlet would never admit it, as soon as she turned around, an unbearable, uncontrollable ear-to-ear smile formed on her face.

𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺

sirius is an idiot.

i want to remind everyone
that this book will change
the story-line from canon
a tiny bit. so sirius isn't gonna
run away from home at 15,
but later on