Epilogue: Christmas the Way it Should Be…
By Jill Weber
All recognizable characters copyrighted J.K. Rowling and used without permission or intent to make a profit. The familiar dialog is quoted from J. K. Rowling. Other familiar dialog quoted from J. R. R.Tolkien.

Author's Note: Hey, Chary, here it is! Where's the next chapter of "Beloved on this Earth?"

***

The dog snuffled and twitched in his sleep, and dreamed of Christmas the way it should be…

Slowly he moved, inch by inch. This delivery was going to take all the skills he'd acquired in planting dungbombs in the Slytherin Common Room. Sirius Black took a deep breath, Lily Evans Potter was a hundred times more dangerous than any Slytherin.

Instead of pounding on the backdoor or howling under the bedroom window, as was his wont, Sirius gently placed his wand on the handle of the backdoor and whispered: "Pedo Mellon a Minno."

Lily had charmed the door so that a mere 'Alohamora' would set off a dozen different hexes. She'd said that this phrase was a classic, although she never said where it was from and Sirius had never puzzled out it's meaning.

Sirius said it, nonetheless, The consequences for not saying it were too severe. He winced in remembrance of how long it had taken to rebone his legs, thanks to her industrial strength jelly legs curse. His hearing had come back before he'd been able to walk again.

James, of course, had only laughed at Sirius' complaints. "It's not like you haven't pulled nasty pranks, Sirius," he said. "In fact, you probably have a patent or two on some."

The door opened, and Sirius slithered in, grinning like a marauder. He was going to get back at both of them, today. The long package in his hand rustled slightly as he shifted his grip.

"Who's there? Sirius?" James asked in a low voice from the other room.

"Happy, Christmas, you stupid git," Sirius said in equally low tones. He nosed his way into the living room and grinned when he saw the tousled haired James holding his equally tousled hair son.

"And Happy Christmas to you, Harry," he said, messing up the boy's hair even more. He held up the long, slim package and waved it under James' nose.

Harry made a grab for the moving target, making both men chuckle. "Hey, he's already got Quidditch reflexes," James boasted in a low voice. "He'll be the greatest Seeker ever!"

Sirius laughed aloud.

James shushed him frantically, but it was too late.

"James? Is that Sirius I hear?" Lily asked sleepily from upstairs.

"No, it's your imagination, go back to sleep," Sirius said in a decent imitation of James' voice.

Lily snorted. "Sirius, if you're going to imitate James, you have to use the proper phrasing," she scolded. She came downstairs yawning and tying her dressing gown.

"If I said, 'It's your imagination, Lily-my-Sweet,' James would hex me," Sirius said in wounded tones.

Harry let out a wail.

"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to upset the tyke," Sirius said.

"You didn't. Here's your son, Lily-my-Sweet," James said, hastily stuffing Harry into Lily's arms.

"Translation, he's wet," Lily said dryly to Sirius. She cuddled Harry for a few minutes and he settled down. His diaper was still dry, which confused Lily. Why had James been so insistent on giving him to her? Unless… James was trying to distract her. That's when her eyes fell on the package in Sirius' hands.

Eyes flashing emerald fire, she whirled on her husband. "James Tiberius Potter! How dare you! How dare you buy my baby a Quidditch broom before he's old enough to walk! I won't have it!"

"Now, Lily," James said soothingly.

"Don't 'Now, Lily,' ME!" snarled Lily.

Sirius made the mistake of laughing just then.

Lily's glare transferred to him and he made an unsuccessful attempt to turn the laugh into a cough.

"I can give you something for that 'cough', Sirius…" Lily trailed off as she tried to remember what Sirius' middle name was.

Sirius laughed harder. "Sorry, Lily Elizabeth Evans Potter, but I have no middle name," chortled Sirius.

"MISTER Black," Lily said ominously. "If you think you're going to get this child on a broom before he's five years old… that's five YEARS, not five MONTHS… you are sadly mistaken. And if you don't behave yourself, then I'll be the one to MAKE you sad!"

Her glare slid back to her husband. "I have three words for you, MISTER Potter…" She counted them off on her left hand while she cradled Harry with the right. 'Sleeping.On.Couch.'"

"You wouldn't do that to me, would you, Lily-my-Sweet?" James asked, turning the charm on high. He moved closer to his wife. "It's been an awfully cold winter, so far. I wouldn't want you to get… chilled." He licked his lips and moved even closer. He pulled his wand from the pocket of his dressing gown. A flick of his wrist and a cobweb clinging to the ceiling became mistletoe.

Lily giggled and handed Harry to Sirius. "Be a good little godfather and see if Harry needs changing," she ordered, not taking her eyes off of James.

Sirius cuddled his godson and turned away to give his best friends a little privacy…

***

Harry wasn't in his arms.

Frantically, Sirius turned around and saw he wasn't in the Potter's home anymore, he was in Gryffindor Tower. He could tell by the four-poster beds hung with deep red curtains. Judging by the clutter, it was one of the boys' dormitories. That meant… ah… there he was. Thirteen year old Harry was unwrapping presents.

Curiously, Sirius moved closer to get a better look at his godson's presents. He didn't walk over, he floated over. He didn't question this at all, one seldom questions the rhyme and reason… or lack of… in a dream.

"A jumper?" Sirius muttered. "Well, yes, useful, I suppose, and nice enough with the Gryffindor lion on the front, but really not at all thrilling. How much trouble can you cause with a jumper?" He licked his lips over the meat pies and Christmas cake. He couldn't remember his last decent meal.

Then IT rolled out from under the wrapping paper and food was forgotten. Sirius grinned in anticipation.

"What's that?" a boy with flaming red, almost orange, hair asked. Really, who'd ever send the poor boy maroon socks?

"Dunno," Harry replied as he ripped the wrapping paper off.

Harry's reaction was everything a doting godparent could ask for. He gasped and his eyes went as wide as the base of the astronomy tower.

The redhead scrambled to get a better look, too. "I don't believe it," he said hoarsely.

Harry picked the Firebolt up, awe written into every line of his face. It was an expression that Sirius had been waiting to produce since Lily brought a boy into the world.

"Who sent it to you?" the redhead asked in appropriately reverent tones.

"Look and see if there's a card," Harry replied.

Sirius laughed to himself as the boys tore the wrapping paper apart, searching for a card which did not exist.

"Nothing! Blimey, who'd spend that much on you?"

Sirius frowned. Petunia's family would spend that much, wouldn't they… oh, wait, they were Muggles. They wouldn't find it easy to buy a Quidditch broom. He supposed that's why Harry discounted them right away.

"I bet it was Dumbledore," said the redhead as he studied the broom. "He sent you the Invisibility Cloak anonymously."

Ah-HA! That's what happened to James' cloak!

"It was my Dad's though," Harry pointed out. "Dumbledore was just passing it on to me. He wouldn't spend hundreds of galleons on me."

'Want to bet?' Sirius asked.

Harry, obviously, couldn't hear him. "He can't go giving students stuff like this --"

"That's why he couldn't say it was from him!" The redhead chortled. "In case some git like Malfoy said it was favouritism."

So, Lucius Malfoy managed to reproduce. What a pity. Should have slipped him some acastrati potion when he'd had the chance. The world did not need more Malfoys.

"Hey, Harry, Malfoy! Wait 'til he sees you on this! He'll be as sick as a pig! This is an international standard broom, this is!" the redhead fell on his bed, laughing like a hyena.

'Damn straight,' Sirius thought. 'Nothing but the best for my godson!' He was grinning from ear to ear. It felt good. It had been a long time since anything felt this good.

"I can't believe this," Harry's voice was full of wonder. "Who?"

"I know!" the redhead calmed down enough to speak. "I know who it could've been… Lupin!"

Lupin? Remus Lupin? Remus Lupin was at Hogwarts??

Now Harry started laughing. "What? Lupin? Listen, if he had this much gold, he'd be able to buy himself some new robes."

Definitely Remus Lupin. Wow! Moony got himself a job at Hogwarts! Looking after James and Lily's boy, no doubt! This was getting better all the time. Sirius glided over to the portrait hole intending to try to find his old friend.

***

The front door swung open and Sirius blinked. A door, not the backside of the Fat Lady's portrait. Obviously, he was no longer in Gryffindor Tower. Why, this looked like James' and Lily's old home… not at Godric's Hollow, the one they had died in. The one they'd lived in back when they were an ordinary family, before they'd been forced into hiding. The home Harry should have been brought up in.

"Well, don't just stand there, Padfoot, go in!" Remus demanded, pushing him from behind.

Sirius whirled around to face three grinning men. One he did not know, although his thinning, fiery hair made Sirius suspect that he was the father of the boy in Harry's dorm. Albus Dumbledore he knew well. A stab of grief shot through him when he thought of what the wiser man must think of him… but Dumbledore was smiling at him, blue eyes full of light and completely devoid of any reproach or suspicion.

Remus Lupin was looking haggard, the full moon was less than a week in the past, Sirius somehow knew. However, to the fugitive asleep behind the bookcases in Hogwarts' library, the werewolf had never looked so good.

"Remus!" Sirius shouted, throwing his arms around his friend in a big bear hug.

"Sirius! Those are my ribs you're cracking!"

"I'll buy you a new set," Sirius promised unrepentantly.

"You stupid git," Remus laughed, somewhat breathlessly. He shoved his way free of Sirius' embrace. "You act as if you hadn't seen us in years, instead of spending a week in court with us."

"Not to mention a rather too interesting ride on the Knight Bus to get here," the red-haired man said mildly.

"Sometimes good news takes a while to sink in," Dumbledore said happily. "Go on, Sirius, somebody's been waiting a long time for this." He waved one hand at the door.

Sirius turned and changed and bounded through the entry into a crowded sitting room.

The bulk of the crowd consisted of two people. Hagrid, he knew. Hagrid's lady friend (Hagrid's got a girlfriend! Hagrid's got a girlfriend!) was unfamiliar to the sleeping Sirius, but the dream Sirius insisted they were comrades in arms.

The majority of people in the crowd were redheads, obviously a family. The boy from the dormitory , older and taller now, was leaning against the mantle and directing a floating chunk of mistletoe to stalk a bushy haired young woman who was standing next to a wing chair

Another young woman, this one with the ubiquitous fiery red hair, waved at him. "It's about time, you got here, Sirius!" she laughed. "We thought we'd have to put a full body-binding on this git to keep him from walking on that leg!" She patted the git in question on the shoulder.

Padfoot surged forward. He knocked over a pair of crutches in his haste to reach his godson's side.

"Whoa!" Harry cried as Padfoot leaped on him, licking his face and wagging his tail furiously.

"Sirius! You'll hurt his leg again!" the bushy haired woman scolded. She stalked forward, oblivious to the mistletoe hanging over her head.

Sirius transformed. "Sorry, Harry," he said, grinning like a madman.

"No, you're not," Harry snorted, shoving Sirius off his lap. He shifted his bandaged left leg. "Have a seat, that should spare me any more public displays of affection." He tried to sound stern, but was grinning too broadly himself to pull it off. "Besides, I have a present for you."

"Only one?" Sirius laughed. He looked into the next room. At first glance, the Christmas tree looked tall enough to brush the high vaulted ceiling of the dining room. A second look, however, showed that it was a normal sized tree that was floating above a minor mountain of wrapped packages.

"Those are for tomorrow!" Harry was having a hard time scolding with that grin plastered across his face. "This is for your first official day of freedom." He twisted in his chair, saw that the bushy haired woman was occupied in kissing the redhead, then turned to the red-haired girl.

She was a step ahead of him. She held out a long, slender package wrapped in brightly colored paper.

Sirius grinned. "You can't be serious," he said.

"No, you are," Harry dragged that old joke out with as much pride as if he'd just come up with it. "It's actually two presents in one," he added, pushing his unruly hair out of his eyes.

Sirius raised an eyebrow and studied the wrapped broom for a few minutes.

"Look at the name tag," advised the bushy haired woman, once she'd broken free of her lover.

"It's the long-needed middle name, so you can be scolded properly," Remus added from behind him.

Sirius read the tag aloud. "To: Sirius 'Freeman' Black…" His eyes went wide and he…

***

Woke up. He was back in the hidden room behind the library bookcase. The fugitive sighed. "If only it was true," he murmured.

"What makes you so certain that it is not?" a gentle voice asked.

Sirius leaped to his feet and whirled to face the speaker. "Headmaster…" he trailed off uncertainly. The man facing him did have white hair and a white beard, but neatly trimmed. Not at all like the Headmaster's extravagant locks. He held a staff in one hand, and a basket of something that smelled of turkey and trimmings and treacle tart.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled. "I have many names," he said. "As many names as Nations who recognize me."

Sirius frowned. "You said that dream was…" he hesitated, then rephrased his question. "The dream could be true?" he asked.

"You know the truth of the Dream of Christmas Past as well as I," the man said. "And I assure you that the Dream of Christmas Present is happening as we speak."

"Then, the Dream of Christmas Yet-To-Be… could happen?" Sirius asked.

"Could become true. Your actions will determine what your future will be, my Padfoot," the man said.

"How? What must I do?"

"I cannot tell you that," the man replied. "Your heart is a more certain guide in these uncertain times. My only advice to you is to listen to advice when it comes from the heart of one who loves you."

"Wait…"

***

Sirius woke up, alone in the room behind the library bookshelves. He sighed. "Wistful dream or a true vision?" he wondered. Did monsters like himself get treated to true visions on Christmas Eve? Was there really… food?

He looked around. There was a basket sitting within arms' reach. A basket that smelled of turkey and trimmings and treacle tart. For the first time in twelve years, Sirius Black felt hope. "Happy Christmas," he murmured.

###

Author's Notes:
Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to one and all! I had intended to post this on Christmas Eve, only FanFiction decided to cut off all ties to AOL. They're still having problems with AOL, off and on. I'll try to post this during an 'on' period.

Yes, you clever people, the password in the first segment is from Lord of the Rings. (Imagine Lily's surprise when she found out how historically accurate Tolkien was.)

coolchick207: I love riddles, too. The riddling scene in the Hobbit has always been one of my favorites. I like any kind of contest that takes brains to win and Riddles have a long tradition behind them.

Mariner: Thanks! I'm glad you find my story charming! I had fun with the Bookwyrm's reaction to Sirius. I figured that anybody who read as much as the Bookwyrm did would have been given the impression that Sirius Black is a very powerful and ruthless dark wizard.

Chary: WoW! I'm one of your favorite authors? Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Glad you liked the riddles! The father and son riddle is one of my favorites. I stump a lot of people with that one! I'm glad the interaction between the children feels right to you. ** I think you would find a lot of people are waiting anxiously to see the end of your story (self included).

Karin: How's the translating going? I think I answered this in an e-mail, but plain text would be a good format. Hope you like the epilogue, too!

Kaydee: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Oh, the Bookwyrm can eat lots of things as long as they aren't intelligent -- ham, beef, veal, venison, pork, politicians -- well, maybe not politicians, they'd give him a tummy ache. I hope you like my other stories. I try to be as clever as Rowling.

Ozma: Thanks! I'm glad you liked the ending. Did it occur to you that Filch had come prepared to fight? ** Yeah, a choice between food and books would be tough. Fortunately, the Bookwyrm only had to choose between not eating his favorite foods as opposed to not eating at all. And, yes, I wrote the "But that trick never works!" in June Foray's voice!

zoomphy: Thanks! I tried to keep it close to canon. Glad you liked the riddles, too!

Kattis: Sorry, this story is written to fit canon, so Harry has to stay with the Dursleys. My next story, A Harry Situation, is AU, though.

Spark-Chick: Thanks! Have you read my collaboration, Squib Summer, with Ozma?

KK: *Blushes* Thanks!

auroraziazan: You're welcome! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Sky Chief: Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad you liked the story. Hope you like my other ones!

Pseudonym Sylphmuse: Thanks for the review and thanks for adding me to your favorites! Can't wait to see what the Twins favorite fruits are. Or do they both like the same one? (I'm expecting one to like bananas, just for the fun he can have with the peels.)

Andrea13: Thanks for coming by! Glad you liked the story, too. I hope Sirius gets a happy ending from J.K. If not, then I'll write him one.

Alla: Yes, poor Harry is just too darn edible looking for his own good. ** Thank you for the compliment on my one liners! I work hard on those. ** Yes, the Bookwyrm isn't the total monster like the Grey Stalker. I may have to do another story with him. ** Yes, I imagine that one reason that Sirius is good at riddles is that he had to play mind games to keep his sanity. He also tried hard to remember anything that wouldn't evoke a happy memory that would attract the Dementors, and riddles are mostly neutral. ** Thanks for the compliments on my characterization. That's something else I work hard at. ** I hope Sirius gets to spend Christmas with Harry in Book Five. That would be so cool! Thanks for the reviews!