Kintsugi

“Who was that?” Remus asked as Sirius climbed into bed.

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?”

A haste nod from Remus prompted him to continue.

“Draco.”

“Draco?! Why was Draco here?” Remus cocked his head, confused by Sirius’ secretive behaviour.

“He isn’t allowed to come home for Christmas. Or ever.”

“WHAT?!” A stern look from Sirius prompted Remus to quiet down into a whisper scream, “What?! Why? How? Is he okay?”

“His dad sent him a letter asking him to not come home. Because he’s queer.” Sirius said, looking down.

“Oh,” Remus’ voice was caught in his throat. “That poor boy. Oh I hope he’s okay. What did you tell him?”

“I told him that we would have a conversation tomorrow about what to do moving forward and I told him that he could sleep in the guest room. I was thinking he could come with us for Christmas.” Sirius looked up to face his husband, tears in his eyes.

“You handled that well Sirius. You did so well.” Remus affirmed, running his hand up and down Sirius’ back. “Is there anyone we can call for him? Does he have any family that aren’t homophobic arses?”

“Way to put it eloquently, Moons.” Sirius chuckled, rolling his eyes.

“What! You know what I mean!”

Yeah, I know.” Sirius shifted to lie on his back and stare at the ceiling. “Well I think it’s safe to say no one on Lucius' side. As for Cissa… He could go with- nope never mind he’s dead. Uh, maybe his- uh-”

“What about his aunt?” Remus asked, hoping that Sirius would reach the same conclusion as him.

“She’s like batshit crazy Remus! What are you thinking!”

“No, not her. The other one.” Remus smiled and rolled his eyes.

“Who's the other- ohh. Merlin! I forgot about Andy! I’m going to send her a letter and maybe we can meet up before we go to Grimmauld place.” Sirius smiled, happy to have found a solution for the boy he saw so much of himself in. “Thank you Moony.”

“He's going to be alright, Pads.” Remus replied, knowing what Sirius was thinking on the inside.

“I know,” Sirius yawned. Remus smiled and turned to wrap his arms around Sirius,

“I think it’s time for bed now. We have lots to do.”

“Yeah- Yeah we do,” Sirius nodded his head, struggling to keep himself, “I love you Moony.”

“I love you too Padfoot.”

Draco was up first that day. After a few hours of laying in his bed staring at the ceiling he decided that it was appropriate to go outside and to pretend he had “woken up”. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do from then on but he couldn’t stand sitting in his room. He had grabbed a book from his trunk that he had accioed (i guess thats a verb now) and went to sit in the living room. He was only there for an hour or two when Alex had come into the room, a mug of hot chocolate in hand.

“Morning Draco.” He smiled before realising that Draco was there, “Wait? Draco? How- why- huh- Why are you here? Don’t take it the wrong way I love having you around but-”

“It’s complicated.” Draco looked up from his book, slightly amused at his friend's confusion.

Alex shut up after that and nodded, “Okay. You want some tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?”

“Could I have some tea?” Draco asked.

“Sure. Wanna come with so I can show you where everything is?” Alex stood up and waited for Draco. As Alex was talking about where to find cups and how to turn on the stove Draco couldn’t help but let his mind wander. He was nervous for what was to come. Deep down Draco knew that Sirius and Remus would keep him safe but he couldn’t help but feel like that his dad could hurt him at any moment, or worse, hurt his friends and Harry. Draco hadn’t realised how long he had been zoned out but it was long enough for a cup of tea to be made. Draco snapped himself out of his thoughts, “Thanks Alex.”

“No problem,” Alex went to grab his cup of hot chocolate before sitting down on one of the barstools, “Are you gonna stay here for Christmas this year?”

“Yeah,” Draco looked down at his feet, “I'll be here this year.”

“Oh thats great!” Alex smiled and clapped his hands, “Are you going to come with me and Harry to drop everyone off?”

“Yeah sure I’ll come.” Draco nodded.

“Great!” Alex put his cup in the sink, “ I’m going to go take a shower then I’m going to head to Gryffindor tower if you want to come with me.”

“Sounds fun” Draco faked as big of a smile as he could.

“Alright! See ya later!”

“Later!”

Draco sat in the kitchen for a while drinking his tea and thinking when Remus came into the room and started making a cup of tea. “Morning Draco.”

“Good morning Professor.” Draco looked up from his tea and smiled at Remus.

“You aren’t in school at the moment. So for the rest of the break I’m Remus, not your professor.” Remus said, taking a seat beside Draco.

“Okay,” Draco nodded, “I’ll try to remember that.”

“So what are your plans for today,” Remus asked, taking a long sip of his tea.

“I’m going to Gryffindor tower with Alex in a bit and then we’re going to drop everyone off at the station.” Draco replied.

“That sounds like a lovely day.” Remus commented, “Once you drop your friends off do you mind meeting me in my office? You aren’t in trouble. I just wanted to chat before we can officially start relaxing.”

“Okay sounds good.” Draco finally finished his tea got up to put his cup away and began to head to his room.
…

After Sirius woke up he pretty much ran to his brother's place so that he could start planning Christmas. Christmas proved to be a great distraction from everything that had been happening. One brisk walk later, Sirius, Regulus and James were knee deep in holiday planning.

“Okay, so who is gonna be in the rooms on the top floor Reggie?” Sirius asked, looking over the list of names.

“Peter, Marlene, Dorcas and Molly and Arthur.” Regulus replied.

“Pete’s coming?” James asked, confused.

“Yeah! Do you not remember, I told you about it last week. He was able to get out of work and come down here for Christmas.” Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah!” James said. Then he picked up a letter and scanned it over, “By the way, you know that Poppy and Minne won’t be staying the night Christmas Eve but all the Grangers will be staying with us not just Hermione, right?”

“Nope.” Sirius looked over the floor plan he had drawn up of grimmauld place. “But thats okay, I’ll just get rid of them and replace them with the Grangers.”

“You do know that Charlie will come down with Peter?” Regulus confirmed. “And Bill is coming with his girlfriend.”

“What?! Why did no one tell me that?!” Sirius exclaimed, pulling at his hair. James noticed and quickly untangled his hair from his fingers, “It’s okay Pads. We’ll figure it out.” James grabbed the floor plan and started moving names around. “We can move her to this room, and they can swap rooms and look, they fit. No biggie.”

“Yes biggie.” Sirius waved his wand and conjured more names that they hadn’t created the other day, “The guest list has expanded.”

Regulus thumbed through the new name tags, “Draco? Andy? I love them but why are they coming?”

Sirius sighed and held his hands in his head, “It’s a long story. But now what are we going to do? Because we physically can not fit more than three or four people in a room and-”

“Is that Sirius incoherently rambling?” a voice came from the door.

“Mum?!” Sirius exclaimed and went to wrap Effie in a hug, “How are you? How come I didn’t know you were coming! Oh, I missed you so much!”

“Hi darling. I missed you too Sirius.” Effie smiled, returning the hug. After they broke apart James and Regulus were sitting there rolling their eyes.

“You have two other sons right here.” James exclaimed, mock offended, “I see how it is Mum, I see how it is.”

“Oh dear, you know I could never forget about you two.” Effie laughed, kissing the two boys on the cheek. “Now, what on earth are you boys doing?”

“Well, we are trying to plan for Christmas but-” Regulus started but was interrupted by Sirius.

“But we added more to the guest list and now we can’t fit everybody in the house so now we are overflowing!”

“It’s alright Sirius. We will figure it out together. Mum’s here now.” Effied soothingly rubbed Sirius arm before walking to the kitchen. “But first chai. Chai fixes everything.”

“Mum! Mum! Sit down, please. I can do this, you just sit.” James ran to Effie and tried to get her to sit down, but she swatted him away, pulling out a pot. “I can do it dear, I’m not old yet! And besides, mum chai makes everything better.”

“Alright Mum.” James smiled, giving in, “I’ll grab cups.”

A couple of minutes later there were 5 cups of chai on the table as James, Sirius, Regulus and Lily tried to figure out how they could fit everyone in grimmauld place as Effie watched.

“Sirius, are you sure we can’t just add another bed into this room,” Lily groaned.

“No!” Sirius took his head out of his hands, “Because then there won’t be enough room to walk around or put suitcases and it will be too many people!”

“Why don’t we move to potter manor?” Effie asked, after thinking for a while. “I had the basement redone a while ago, I have more than enough space.”

“Are you sure Mum?” James asked, “ It’s going to be a lot of work.”

“Of course mera beta (My boy), I wouldn’t offer it if I couldn’t do it.” Effie smiled, “And it will be fun. I haven’t had Christmas in my house since the 70s.”

“I think it will be great.” Regulus agreed, “What do you say, Sirius?”

“Well, the rooms would fit more people, and we have that extra space in the basement.” Sirius said, mainly talking to himself, “Mum how many-”

“Three. I have three bedrooms down there that could easily fit four people each, more possibly if everyone was on twin mattresses.” Effie supplied, knowing what her son was asking before he asked it.

“Wait! Then that works perfectly!” Sirius exclaimed after doing some silent counting, “Oh Mum! I love you!” Sirius shot up from his spot at the table and wrapped Effie in a big hug.

“I would do anything for you.” Effie pressed a loving kiss to Sirius’ head. “I would do anything for all of you. Anything for my babies.”

“I love you Mum.” Sirius smiled, before catching a glimpse of his watch, “HOLY SHIT I'M LATE! FUCK!” Sirius started to put his shoes on before realising that he should explain. “Sorry, Remus asked me to meet a student with him after the trains left. I’ll see you lot later, yeah?”

“Yup, bye Pads!” Lily called as Sirius swiftly ran out the door.

5 minutes later Remus was standing outside Remus’ office panting. He took a minute to compose himself before knocking on the door and coming in. “Hi, sorry. I was caught up with something.”

“It’s not a problem dear, take a breath.” Remus smiled gently at his husband, “Draco and I were just discussing how sending everyone off went.”

“Ah okay.” Sirius nodded as he took a seat in the arm chair. “So, we have a lot to discuss, don't we?”

“Yes, yes we do.” Remus agreed.

“So Draco, I was able to get in touch with your mothers sister-” Sirius began before being cut off by a nervous Draco who was exploding at the seams.

“AUNT BELLA?! Sirius, Remus, trust me I really appreciate all that you guys are doing for me. But I can not live with Aunt Bella. She- I- It wouldn’t be safe and besides how did you even get in touch with her? Isn’t she in Azkaban?”

“Draco, take a breath, you’re okay. We aren’t going to send you to live with Bellatrix. I wouldn’t even send my worst enemy to live with her.” Remus reassured him.

“Draco, do you know your mothers maiden name?” Sirius asked.

“Wha- huh- What does that have anything to do with this? No I- I don’t.” Draco replied, bewildered, still confused with what Sirius meant by his mothers sister.

“She is from the Black family. And we are cousins.” Sirius began to explain.

“Wait so then that makes us cousins! What?! That’s so crazy.” Draco exclaimed, still absolutely gobsmacked.

“It is, isn’t it. Anyways. Your mother actually had two sisters, Bellatrix and Andromeda.” Sirius said, “So I reached out to her and she would be delighted to meet you if you would like to.”

“I- woah. What’s she like?” Draco asked, wanting more information.

“Andy is the most lovely and caring human you will ever meet. She is the absolute sweetest and will adore you Draco. I already know it.” Sirius smiled, reassuring Draco.

“Then why doesn’t Mother ever talk about her?” Draco wondered aloud.

“Andy, much like myself, was disowned for not being an inbred killing machine who wanted to marry her cousin. She also married a muggle born so there's also that.” Sirius chuckled.

“Woah, this is- woah.” Drac stammered, at a loss for words.

“Yeah, I know. It must be a lot. Do you have any questions?” Remus asked, smiling at the young boy.

“When will I meet her?” Draco asked, curious about her newfound Aunt.

“I was thinking this Christmas, if you are interested?” Sirius explained, “Andy and I always remained on good terms so we meet up when we can”

“Wait? So you can just invite people to the castle?! How does that work?” Draco asked, the questions tumbling out of him as he was confused about his professor's traditions.

“We all leave for Christmas Draco.” Remus laughed at Dracos confusion, “And if you would like to, we would like you to join us.”

“I would love to join you!” Draco beamed at the opportunity of a proper Christmas, “Are we going to be going to a Black property?”

“No, we are going to be at my mum’s house.” Sirius explained, but clearly not enough because Draco’s mouth hung open in confusion and absolute bewilderment. Sirius laughed but continued to explain, “My adoptive mother Draco, James’ mum.”

“Oh, that would make so much more sense.” Draco agreed, nodding his head.

“Well, thats all we wanted from you Draco. You’re free to go unless you have any question. If you give me a moment I can find out where Harry and Alex are.” Remus said, reaching for the map. After a moment he located the two and sent Draco on his way, “They are in the Potters quarters. And if you want me too Draco I can let you know who all will be there. Feel free to ask us anything.”

“Okay! Thank you Remus! Thank you Sirius! I’ll be on my way now!” Draco waved as he left the office, bidding his goodbye to Remus and Sirius. Once he had left Sirius rubbed at his temples and sighed, “Do you think he’s alright Moony?”

“Well, I don’t think he’s okay.” Remus started. He then moved from the chair behind his desk to the sofa and beckoned Sirius over to sit with him. Sirius rested his head against Remus’ shoulder and Remus played with his husband's hair before continuing, “But I think he knows he has a support system right here with us. I hope he knows he is safe here.”

After Draco knocked on the door he was let in by Regulus who promptly sat back down on the table. There was a game that Draco didn’t recognize on the table and everyone was staring pretty seriously at it. He took the empty seat beside Harry. “Hey,”

“Hi, how was your meeting?” Harry asked, slipping his hand into Draco’s.

“It was good,” Draco deflected, not feeling in the mood to talk about it, “What are you playing?”

“We’re playing monopoly.” Lily answered from across the table, she was sorting colourful little pieces of paper. “Would you like to join us?”

“Sure?” Draco answered, shrugging his shoulders, “I don’t know how to play though.” It seemed that that was the wrong thing to say though because after Draco said that the room went dead silent before all five of their heads (six because Draco swore that Cynthia started staring at him too) stared in his direction.

“You- have- you haven’t- what?” mumbled Alex.

James, who was sitting across from the table, shook his head as he sighed, “And I thought you had good taste Harry.”

Regulus let out an exasperated chuckle and ran his fingers through his hair, “Darling you do know that I had never even heard the word monopoly when you and Lily met me, yes?”

“It’s going to be alright everybody.” Lily looked up and continued to hand out the colourful pieces of paper, “We can teach him.”

Everyone agreed to that solution so they began to explain all of the rules to Draco. After about 45 minutes they were finally ready to play before a dog patronus padded its way into the room. The dog stopped at the head of the table and a voice boomed out.

“Hear ye hear ye. If you are receiving this message then your presence is required in the Black-Lupin headquarters. Christmas is slowly creeping upon us and we must be prepared. Please proceed to the address previously stated immediately. Yours truly, Sirius Black-Lupin.”

Just as everyone thought that the message was over it continued.

“Pads that was so stupid.”

“But I love it.”

“Sure you do my love.”

“Oh shit I forgot to stop this.”

“Lord, please help me.”

Then finally the dog fizzled away. Everyone collectively groaned and chuckled.

“But we were just going to start!” Aex groaned, still getting out of his seat.

“Well, what can I tell you, Christmas awaits us.” James shrugged and picked Cynthia up from her play pen. “Can someone go grab Mum?”

“DADI’S HERE?!” Alex and Harry exclaimed in unison.

“Yes, she’s in your room taking a nap.” James smiled fondly at his kid’s enthusiasm, “Now go, before Padfoot murders us all.”

Ten minutes later it was as if the whole of Hogwarts staff and their mothers were stuffed into Sirius and Remus’ quarters. They all stood crowded around the kitchen island where Sirius was standing (Much to Remus’ dismay), with a stand holding poster paper.

“Alright. Thank you everybody for coming to this meeting.” Sirius began, sounding authoritative, as if he was sending these people to war, “I have ambitious plans for you all. I won’t lie to you, they are crazy, insane, insurmountable, huge, some may even say reckless,” This is when Sirius began to pace back and forth along the island, “But I believe in you. I plan to make the Marauders Christmas spectacular of 1994 the best one yet.”

“Is your dad planning Christmas or planning war?” Draco asked, stifling a laugh.

Alex rolled his eyes and chuckled, “I wish I knew Draco, I wish I knew.” The two boys went back to listening to Sirius speech but it had only taken a second before Alex was hit in the face with water, “DAD! Who gave Pop a water gun?!”

“Darling I’m sorry I don’t know-” Remus began only to be cut off by Sirius and his water gun, “There will be no talking during this meeting! This is nothing to joke about y’all, this is Christmas!”
…
After what felt like forever the meeting was adjourned and pizza was being heated up as the people of the Potter/Black-Lupin family were enjoying their first day on break. Harry and Alex were sitting on either side of Effie who was absolutely loving being with her kids and grandkids.

“Dadi, tell us about our dads 4th year.” Harry asked. Effie, who was so happy to be with her family again, smiled as she went into such detail about the summer before their 4th year which then became their Hogwarts Graduation which then became when they had gotten married which then became every topic about her babies. Effie loved her kids more than anything in the world and the way her eyes shone with pride whenever they were brought up or even simply around her. But soon as all good things, their little pre-christmas celebration came to an end as the Potter's filed out of the apartment leaving an exhausted Sirius, Remus, Alex and Draco still sitting on the couch.

“That was fun.” Sirius sighed, resting his head on Remus’ shoulder.

“Yeah,” Remus smiled, “It was. Well, me and Padfoot are going to bed. You two are welcome to stay up if you’d like.”

“Alright, night!” Alex called over his shoulder, “I’m gonna go change. Meet in my room?”

Draco nodded before walking in the other direction to his room. After a couple of minutes the two of them were sitting on Alex’s bed chatting. They were mostly just talking about Christmas until Draco brought up something seemingly random, “Hey Alex, this is really random but can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered, sounding concerned, “Go for it.”

“doyoufeellikeHarrypurposlydoesn’teat?” Draco said, the words tumbling out of him faster than he could comprehend.

Alex sighed, his shoulders sagging, he had hoped that he was the only who felt that way and that he was reading way too much into the situation. “Yeah I feel like that. I thought I was the only one.” Alex paused to think back for a moment, “Are- are you worried about him?”

“Yeah,” Draco nodded, looking down, “I am. Is that bad?”

Alex pulled his knees up to his chest, “I dunno. But he’ll be fine right?”

“He’ll be fine.” Draco said though neither of the boys believed it. A silence enveloped the room, one that was scared, worried but still, excited.

“Are you excited for Christmas?” Draco asked, deciding to change the topic.

“Oh absolutely!” Alex beamed and pulled his legs away from him, “Marauders Christmases are the best Christmases ever. You’ll have so much fun!”

“Really! Do you guys get to do like normal Christmas things?” Draco asked.

“What do you mean by normal Christmas things?” Alex raised his eyebrow quizzically.

“Y’know, like a tree and stuff. The stuff you read about in books.” Draco admitted sheepishly.

“Draco,” Alex eyed his friend, yet again very concerned about his upbringing, “Have you never had a Christmas tree?”

“No?” Draco was now confused, “Are Christmas trees normal?”

“YES!” Alex exclaimed, “Yes they are normal?! What?!”

“My parents just held big fancy dinners, no cool looking decor or anything.” Draco explained.

“You, me, Harry. Decorating the Christmas tree. Tomorrow. K?” Alex commanded.

Draco mock saluted his, “Yes sir!”

And in that moment Draco felt that for even just a moment, everything would work itself out and he would be okay.