A Black Christmas
Dinner was stilted and awkward, so like every other meal in the Black family. When dinner was done the children gathered in Sirius’s room and seated in Sirius's king-sized bed they immediately started integrating him.
“What is Hogwarts like?” Regulus asked eagerly.
“Extortionary, Reggie” Sirius answered dreamily.
Aurora shifted closer to Sirius "What about the subjects”.
"Well, there is history with Professor Bins which is dreadfully boring," Sirius said.
“What about French, do they teach French?” she asked.
"No, they don't" he answered.
"Hogwarts sounds amazing”. Aurora sighed.
"Shouldn’t learning French be easy for you, being from France and all?" asked Sirius.
"Oh yeah, I forgot”. She said
Sirius gave her a confused look "How do you forget that? … never mind. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone" he asked?
"I mean our cousin lives with us now, but you've already noticed that," answered Regulus while gesturing to her.
Sirius gave Regulus a look, “Yeah, I kind of figured,” he shifted his gaze to Aurora “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you go to Beaxbetons”.
She wouldn’t have because she didn’t actually come from France, but Aunt Walburga would probably kill her if she told him that, so she stayed silent.
Regulus decided to answer for her,” We saved her, Beaxbetons lets everyone in, at least Hogwarts only lets Mudbloods in, not velas or in the worst cases werewolves.”
Sirius sent him a hard look. “Don’t say that”.
“What werewolves?” Regulus asked.
Sirius sighed “You know what I mean”.
“I do not understand why you’re suddenly acting all high and mighty. I’ve always said Mudblood you’ve said it too” Regulus exclaimed.
Aurora cleared her trout “Sorry but what even is a Mudblood.”
Regulus scoffed. “You don’t what a Mudblood is,” she shook her head, “why didn’t you ask me then.”
“Because you’re always so judgemental, but that doesn’t answer my question!”
Sirius’s whole attitude suddenly turned serious pun not intended. “It means dirty blood” he explained.
Aurora huffed “Yeah I got that but who are they”.
“It’s something we call people who aren’t born from magic” Regulus explained.
That didn’t help Aurora at all, which Sirius luckily noticed.” He means wizards or witches who have muggle parents.” He explained.
Aurora paled “Oh, okay, and that’s wrong”.
“Yes, they steal our magic”. Regulus answered.
“No,” said Sirius at the same time, “there is nothing wrong with muggelborns, that is the right term to use if you’re not a prejudiced asshole.”
Regulus huffed “Can we stop talking about this we’ll never agree anyways”.
That they could agree on and as the conversation shifted to more safe topics like the Hogwarts professors and which of them Sirius had already pissed off, Aurora considered what she’d just discovered.
This world apparently hated Muggelborns. Her grandfather had told her stories about his family that hated anyone who didn’t have magic but seeing it in real life was a totally different thing.
Her sister Selena would probably be loud and proud of the fact that she was a muggelborn, but Aurora prefeed to be quieter she could probably fake being a pureblood, from what she had seen nothing really made purebloods superior despite what Regulus would have her think.
But what worried her most was one question, if the Black family hated muggelborns so much why then had they taken one into the family?
…..
In Auroras family Christmas was a cheerful event. She used to stay the whole day in her pyjamas while the adults made food and she watched Disney movies with Selena and her cousin Hellen.
Christmas in the Black family was a formal event. Walburga would start the day off with a military-like authority. Everything needed to be perfect especially because the whole family was coming this year at least the ones who were still on the family tree.
The first to arrive was Great Aunt Cassiopeia. Aurora had already met her before, but she still had a hard time dealing with the difference between this woman and her aunt Cassiopeia with the same name.
First of all, her aunt Cassy would never ever wear the black clothes or the fantastical hats that Great Aunt Cassiopeia would wear on a regular basis secondly her aunt Cassy had a youthful appearance whereas great aunt Cassiopeia looked like she had been alive for centuries.
Second, to arrive were Cygnus, Druella and their children. Cygnus immediately went to join Orion in the study whereas Druella entered the dining room with the rest of the ladies.
Her first impression of Bellatrix was screeved because of her strange resemblance to her cousin Hellen. The face with the strong nose the wild hair and the way they held themselves were identical only their eyes were different whereas Helen’s eyes were brown and full of life Bellatrix’s were grey and cold not unlike Aurora's own.
“Hello Regie” she caught the attention of her little cousin.
Regulus smiled “Hello Bella, how are you”. He asked her.
Bellatrix sent him a toothy smile.” I am well, thank you for asking, how is your brother?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself” Sirius intruded.
“Sirius how is Gryffindor”.
“It’s great Bella thanks for caring”. She didn’t and Aurora was pretty sure Sirius also understood that.
“And you must be Aurora. I did always wonder what happened to dear old Marius.”
“Yes, turns out he moved to France with some French witch”. Regulus explained.
“Oh, should we speak French with her instead,” asked Narcisa undoubtfully looking for an excuse to show off her perfect pronunciation.
“No Aunt Walburga says that we should speak English so I’m ready when I go to Hogwarts “she answered.
Narcissa smiled at her “Oh, but your English is so good”. She exclaimed.
“Of course, her English is good she’s a Black”. Bellatrix answered haughtily.
By this time most of the family had already arrived. And when the food was done, they all gathered in the dining room. She had never eaten a meal quite so fine, but even then, she found she would rather be at home eating turkey and pudding with her family even if the cuisine wasn’t as fancy.
Her Christmas gifts like the meal were fancy and probably more expensive than good is.
She got jewellery and dresses and perfume which she politely thanked her relatives for. But the gift she treasured the most was what she got from Sirius. It was a book in French with wizard stories it wasn’t perfect, but she really appreciated the fact that he at least tried to give her something she would enjoy.
When the guest had all gone home, she took him to the side.
“Thank you, Sirius.”
“Oh, yeah, you’re welcome, I know it’s not as expensive as some of your other gifts”. He chuckled.
“I mean it Sirius I really appreciate it”.
“good” he smiled.
“Sorry I didn’t give you anything, I haven’t been out much.” She told him.
He grinned at her “Yeah, it’s to be expected Mother can be kind of controlling”.
“Yeah, she sure is… something”.
They snickered and they went their separate ways.
When the holiday was over, they all said goodbye to Sirius on platform 9 and ¾.
“Promise you’ll write” she begged him.
He looked her in the eyes “I promise” he said.
He hugged them both and then bid them farewell and went off to find his friends.