Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. Shocking, right?

A/N- This is my very first fanfiction ever! And I will of course ask you to click that review button down at the bottom...but also remember it's my very first fanfiction and to go easy on me please!

It was Christmas time at #12 Grimmauld Place, and very unusually, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix seemed like a pleasant place to be staying. The fact that there were many visitors over the holiday definitely made a notable change in the attitude of the number one resident, raven-haired animagus Sirius Black. His godson, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, the Weasleys, Nymphadora Tonks, and his old friend Remus Lupin were all staying in the large drafty house with him. The various members of the order noticed this change: instead of the usual scowl on his once handsome features, Sirius now greeted them with a wide grin.

Sirius's attitude had a big part in making the headquarters feel more pleasant, but the cheery decorations certainly didn't hurt. The glittering garlands, jolly Santas, and colorful tinsel everywhere helped to mask the dark, dreary walls and suspicious dark objects. The decapitated house elf heads hanging in the halls were sporting Santa hats and beards. The portrait of Mrs. Black was covered with a large banner that featured a cheery snowman emblazoned on the front, provided by Mundungus Fletcher (which Mrs. Weasley suspected was stolen).

The drawing room had the most improvement by far. Fake snow was piled around the walls, and Remus had bewitched candles to float in midair, similar to in the Great Hall. The large Black Family Tree tapestry was mostly hidden behind a large, ornately decorated Christmas tree. It had the normal baubles and garlands, but also had special decorations of Ginny's own design. She had managed to borrow a camera from one of her friends, and had placed a picture of every resident of Grimmauld Place on the many boughs.

Everyone had gathered in the drawing room after their delicious dinner (save for Mrs. Weasley, who was cleaning up the dinner mess in the kitchen).Ginny was curled up in an armchair watching her pictures, and she watched as Harry and Ron talked about Quidditch, Hermione and Remus talked about a book, Sirius and the twins roared with laughter, her parents sat cozily together, and her own picture self laughed with Tonks.

Meanwhile, the real versions of the inhabitants of Grimmauld Place were up to their own activities. Fred and George were talking together and pouring over a few pieces of parchment, while being closely watched by Mr. Weasley, who was in conversation with Tonks. Hermione was curled up in a squashy armchair near the fireplace, reading yet another incredibly thick book, with Crookshanks happily purring on her lap. Harry was attempting to win a game of chess against Remus, while Sirius and Ron watched him struggle against the trap that Remus had put him in.

"He's got you stuck, Prongslet!" Sirius laughed.

"Does not!" Harry cried. "I can find a way out!". They watched as Harry stared intensely at the board, his eyes focusing on each piece. He would occasionally glance up at Remus, who was smirking at him from across the board. Harry absentmindedly rolled up his sleeves, and reached out above one of his pieces. He started pointing at the various pieces and spaces in desperation, while muttering to himself. Sirius and Ron both laughed at his despondency.

Sirius quickly glanced up at Remus, expecting to watch the satisfied smirk on his face grow into a satisfied grin, but instead watched his features slide into a look of combined horror and anger. "Remus! What is it?" Sirius asked sharply, causing everyone in the room to snap their heads around and look at the werewolf. There were a few brief moments of silence as everyone stared in concern at Remus's scarred face.

"Harry," he whispered in a strained voice, staring intensely at the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry started; he hadn't expected this to be about him.

"What?" he asked cautiously, arm still hovering over the chessboard.

"What is wrong with your hand?" Remus growled at the nervous 15 year old. At his question, there was a flurry of activity around the room. Mr. Weasley, Tonks, the Twins, and Ginny all stood and rushed over to the chess game. Ron and Hermione both relaxed and rolled their eyes slightly, Hermione closing her book and shifting Crookshanks into her arms as she also made her way over to the game, albeit slower than the others. They already had this conversation with Harry. Sirius leaned in to peer at the hand of his godson, but at the moment he did, Harry yanked his arm back. He quickly rolled his sleeves back down and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"It's nothing, Remus!" he said quickly, trying to avoid the conversation that would inevitably be taking place.

"Harry! What I just saw isn't 'nothing'!" the ex-teacher said darkly. "Now let me see your hand."

"No, Remus, it's alright, really. It's fine. I'm fine!" Harry replied quickly.

"Oh Harry, really!" Hermione said impatiently from behind Ron. "We've been telling you all along that it's not fine at all and you should really have told somebody about it!"

"About what?" Sirius asked quickly. "What's wrong with your hand?"

Harry looked at the expressions on the faces of the people around him. Mr. Weasley and Tonks, curious and nervous: Ginny, frightened. Fred and George however, looked suspicious. Well, Harry thought, Umbridge has probably put them in detention too. They would know all about my hand.

He looked at Sirius, whose face held concern, to Remus, who still looked angry. Hermione's expression clearly said 'You should have told somebody in the beginning, now you had best tell the truth and show them'. Ron's said 'Just get it over with, mate'.

Harry looked back at Remus, who said "Let me see your hand," again, this time in a much calmer, more comforting yet firm voice. He sighed and looked around at everyone again, then slowly withdrew his hand from his pocket and placed in on the table next to the chessboard. He quickly averted his gaze to the fantastic Christmas tree, like Ginny, watching the portraits of himself and his friends interact.

He heard Sirius lean forward even more, and felt Lupin's rough hand take his own and gingerly move back the sleeve of his blue jumper. The reactions were worse than he had expected. He heard Ginny and Tonks gasp loudly, and Mr. Weasley exclaimed "Harry!". The Twin's jaws both dropped at the severity of the injury. They had been in detention with Umbridge before, as Harry had suspected, but the words on the backs of their hands had always faded away.

Harry saw Remus' face whiten, and an expression of fury form once he saw exactly what was on the back of his hand. But Sirius' reaction was by far the worst. He stood so quickly that his chair went flying, and his face too held the expression of rage. He was holding his mouth in such a way that it looked like a dog baring it's teeth, and he even thought he heard a growl emanating from his godfather. Harry could see now more than ever the canine part of him.

"It's really not that bad guys, it doesn't hurt much anymore. It's no big deal," Harry stated quickly, trying to calm them all down. Especially Sirius, who looked like he was ready to storm out of Grimmauld Place and attack somebody.

"Harry, there are words carved into your skin! It's a very big deal! You need to explain how this happened right now," Remus said in a deadly tone. Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione , who nodded at him.

"Fine. It's...it's my detentions with Umbridge. She made me do lines, but now with a normal quill. She gave me a big black quill that wrote...that wrote in my own blood. In the beginning, with every line I wrote, the words would cut into my hand and then it would heal over again. But after a while it just stopped healing at all," he confessed.

"After a while...Harry, this cut is extremely deep! How often does she put you in detention?" Remus demanded.

"Well, it depends on how angry she gets at me," Harry said. "It's at least one night a week, but sometimes as many as four or five."

"How long does she keep you?" Sirius asked. Harry could tell that he was trying to keep his voice calm, but was failing.

"Well, detention starts promptly at five o'clock, and I usually don't get back to the common room until about midnight."

"She's keeping you for six or seven hours straight? Harry, why do you keep getting these detentions?" Sirius questioned anxiously.

"Because she keeps telling lies about how Cedric died!" Harry burst out. "She says that his death was a 'tragic accident' and that I'm a filthy liar for saying that Voldemort is back! I can't not speak up! And every time I do she puts me into detention for spreading 'nasty attention seeking rumors' and makes me carve 'I must not tell lies' into my hand."

"Why do you keep standing up to her like that if you know she's just going to torture you like this?" Remus asked.

"Because I'm the only one who can stand up to her! I'm the only one who watched Cedric die! I'm the only one who watched Voldemort get his body back! I'm the only one who can tell the truth!" Harry ranted.

"I understand why you feel the need to speak up Harry, but why not tell someone about what she's doing?" his godfather asked in concern. "Why not go to Dumbledore?"

"Dumbledore has enough on his mind right now. I'm not going to bother him with this." Harry said. "It's not that important, I can take a little pain."

"A little pain?" Remus nearly yelled, "Not that important! Harry! It's very important! She's making you slice your hand open, making you carve words into your skin!"

"He's got enough to be worried about! He doesn't seem to be concerned about me at all anyway," Harry said quickly.

"What do you mean by that?" Mr. Weasley spoke up. "Of course he's worried about you, after what happened in last year we all are!"

"Well he couldn't show it less!" Harry said angrily. "He hasn't said a word to me since June, not even at my trial! He swept in, defended me, and as soon as it was over he swept back out. Not a word to me the entire time, not even a glance in my direction. And whenever I try to catch up with him at Hogwarts he always seems to disappear. So it doesn't seem like he's that concerned really."

Sirius could tell that Harry had tried to keep his voice unemotional and uncaring, but he heard a small tinge of hurt in it. He glanced over at Remus, who wore a similar expression to the one he was sure was marking his own features. They had no idea that Dumbledore was basically ignoring Harry, and the fact that Harry was getting upset by it also angered Sirius. He made a quick mental note to confront Dumbledore about it the next time he stopped by headquarters.

"Why not go to someone else then?" Remus asked wisely, skipping over Harry's issue with Dumbledore for the moment. "Why not go to McGonagall? Or why not even tell Sirius or I?"

"I don't need to bother McGonagall with this either!" Harry exclaimed. "Plus Umbridge is intercepting owls left and right, and she's watching the fireplaces, so contacting you was kind of out of the question. And you both look like you're about to run out of here and attack Umbridge anyway, which would be extremely stupid. Especially for you Sirius."

At Harry's last words an uneasy silence fell over the ten people gathered around the long forgotten chess game. Harry again stared determinedly at the Christmas tree, albeit rather uncomfortably as he could feel nine pairs of eyes watching him. The silence seemed to stretch on and on to Harry, who grew increasingly more uncomfortable as the seconds ticked by. The silence was finally broken by Sirius, who told Harry to come with him and steered him out of the room.

He numbly followed Sirius up the stairs, thinking of the conversations happening in the drawing room at that moment. How Ron and Hermione could be being accused of knowing all along and not telling anyone, or possibly Fred and George confessing to having gotten into detentions with Umbridge themselves. Harry almost laughed aloud at the the thought of what the Twins may have been forced to write. 'I must not misbehave?' 'I must not cause disruptions?' Fred and George are human disruptions Harry thought to himself.

Harry was so deep in thought that didn't realize Sirius had stopped walking and almost ran into him. He had a brief second to see where Sirius had led him – they were in the room where Buckbeak was residing – before he was enveloped in a near Hagrid-sized hug.

"S-Sirius," he choked out, hardly able to breathe from the strength of the arms around him. As his godfather released him he looked up into his face and took a deep breath. He noticed a strange expression there, one that he hadn't seen his godfather wear before.

"Harry," he said quietly, "Why didn't you tell me? You could have sent another coded sort of message like you did before." Harry suddenly realized what the expression on Sirius' face was. "Don't you trust me? You can tell me anything." It was hurt. Sirius was hurt that Harry hadn't confided in him.

"Because Sirius, I had visions of you getting so angry that you rushed out of here to do something about it and got caught and thrown back in Azkaban. You're the only real family I've got Sirius! I've got the Dursleys, but in my mind they aren't my family, no family acts the way they do. And if you get sent back to Azkaban I'll have no one. I know you're getting restless cooped up here, and that could cause a person to make a reckless decision. If I had sent you an owl telling you about this when there was nobody else here to stop you can you honestly tell me you wouldn't have acted on it?" Harry ranted. "I don't want you see you hurt or shut back up, Sirius."

He watched as Sirius' expression change while he talked, and Harry hoped he saw a glimmer of understanding in his eyes. He waited patiently for his godfather to speak, deciding it best to let him chime in.

"Harry...I'm touched that you care about me like that, but...you're being tortured. You need to stop getting these detentions. I know you need to tell people the truth, just don't do it in front of Umbridge. Harry...you're nearly as good as my own son, I care about you way too much to see this happening," Sirius told him. "Please, just try to stop mouthing off to Umbridge, Harry. For me."

Harry looked at his godfather and saw that he was begging him. "Alright Sirius. I'll try." Harry was immediately caught up in another Hagrid-sized hug. As he was released he smiled up at the former Marauder, then went to go greet Buckbeak.

Sirius watched the teen pat the Hippogriff for a moment, amazed at how fast he had had to grow up. "Harry?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Exactly how much did that hurt?" he questioned.

"Oh, a fair bit," came the reply. "But compared to some of the other stuff I've been through..."

"Like what?" the older man asked nervously, afraid to find out exactly how much pain was in his godson's past.

"Well, I've had some pretty bad injuries in the past, but the worst pain was when Voldemort tortured me in the graveyard," Harry admitted quietly. He looked up at Sirius once more, and noticed the look of renewed anger. "But that's all in the past," Harry added quickly. "I'm okay right now, and I promise not to mouth off to Umbridge any more." Harry gave his godfather a reassuring look and said "Now come on. I want to go finish that chess game."

"Prongslet, how many times must I tell you that Moony's got you stuck?"

"I will find a way out!" Harry proclaimed again. They bickered as they made their way back to the drawing room, Sirius silently vowing to protect his godson in the future, by any means necessary.

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