“The train won't be stopping again until tonight, so you need to wait until then for me to come and get you.” Amelia said to Harry as he finished getting dressed.

“I'll be ready at six o'clock.” Harry said and closed his trunk.

“Don't have too much fun without us.” Susan said and took him into a hug.

“I'll only be gone for eight hours.” Harry said and hugged her back.

“That's forever!” Susan said with a laugh and let him go. “I'll see you tonight.”

Harry nodded and Amelia took his hand as he picked up is trunk.

“Have you got your godfather's present?” Amelia asked as they left the compartment.

“Yeah. I just hope he likes it.” Harry said, a little worried.

“What about the wine for Healer Ela?” Amelia said and led him off the train and over to a secluded corner and out of sight.

“I have the box set on the top shelf of my trunk.” Harry said. “Thanks for the idea.”

Amelia smiled and took him into a hug. “Sometimes women are hard to buy for.” She said and wasn't surprised when Harry shared his magic with her. She had become accustomed to how strong he was and embraced him tightly and accepted his magic's help.

They popped from there to the alley next to Healer Ela's house, then walked around to the front. As soon as they stepped onto the small porch, a little bell rang. A couple of seconds later, the front door of the house opened and Sirius jumped out.

“HARRY!” Sirius yelled and took the boy into a bone crushing hug. “Welcome, welcome!” He said and let him go. “You look well.” He looked at Amelia. “Thank you for doing this.”

Amelia held a hand out to shake Sirius' hand. “I had to bring him, since I sincerely doubted that I could keep him away from you for the whole two week vacation.”

Sirius barked a laugh and let her hand go. “That's my boy!” He said and pat Harry's shoulder. “You're only eleven and you already have a handsome woman in the palm of your hand!”

“Sirius! Show some decorum, please.” Ela Peakes said and moved him aside. “Hi, Amelia.”

“Ela. You have a very nice house.” Amelia said.

“It's been in my family for generations.” Ela said and looked at Harry. “You don't mind a hug, do you?”

“No.” Harry said with a bit of a smile and she gave him a brief hug.

“Welcome to my home.” Ela said and looked at Amelia. “I suppose you can't stay.”

Amelia shook her head. “The train's leaving soon and it won't stop again until this evening.”

“Then we will see you again at six.” Ela said with a smile. “Thank you for dropping Harry off so promptly.”

“It was my pleasure.” Amelia said and it was her turn to hug Harry. “Behave yourself and I'll see you tonight.”

Harry nodded and turned his head to rest it on her chest. He hugged her a bit tighter than he normally did. His cheek sunk deeper into her combat armor and he let out a barely audible sigh.

Amelia felt the difference and one of her hands reached up and pet his hair. “You're a good boy, Harry.” She whispered and held him for several moments, then let him go. She nodded to Sirius and Ela and left the porch to walk back to the alley. She felt the immediate loss of having Harry nearby and schooled her face to hide it, then decided not to. She looked at the porch and let the three people there see her sadness, then she disapparated.

“She really didn't want to let you go.” Sirius said, his voice happy. “I was kind of joking about having her in your palm before.” He put a hand on Harry's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “I'm glad that she actually does care about you.”

Harry smiled and nodded, because he was glad about that, too.

“Let's go inside.” Ela said and Harry picked up his trunk by the handle and the three of them went into the large house.

Harry gasped when literally everything was covered in Christmas decorations.

“Please excuse your godfather's eccentricities.” Ela laughed. “What was it you said, Sirius? You needed to make up for ten years of missed holidays?”

Sirius barked another laugh and took her into a hug. “You agreed, my dear.” He said and slowly kissed her.

Ela held in her moan, because she didn't want him to know how much she liked that he would kiss her like that, even with someone else there. She gasped into his mouth at that realization, which made Sirius break the kiss and laugh.

“Sirius, Harry's right there.” Ela whispered.

“I can't very well hide it from him, since you're too irresistible to not kiss when I feel like it.” Sirius said to make her blush, then he winked at Harry, who closed his mouth to stop his laugh.

“L-let's go into the living room to sit down.” Ela said.

“Anything you want, dear.” Sirius said and the three of them went into the living room.

Harry's mouth dropped open in surprise when he saw a twenty foot tall tree with what looked like an actual glowing star on the top. There were so many decorations and garlands on it that you could barely see the tree under them.

“I decorated most of it myself.” Sirius said proudly and sat down, dragged Ela onto his lap, and she didn't object in the least.

“Only because I didn't want to ruin your garishly outrageous decorating practices.” Ela joked and the two of them laughed.

“It's brilliant!” Harry said and looked up at the ceiling. “How did you get it in here?”

“Temporary extension charm on the room.” Sirius said with a smirk. “If we don't have the thing out by January first, we'll have the top half of the tree on the second floor.”

“Ohhh, I know that look!” Ela said and poked his chest. “You are not leaving it, just to see if it will blast through the ceiling!”

“But, dear...” Sirius said dejectedly, and Harry had to laugh at the sad state he projected, considering he looked blissfully happy only a second before.

“Sad puppy dog eyes can only get you so much.” Ela said sternly, then her face softened and she gave him a quick kiss. “So much.”

Sirius dropped the sad act and gave her another kiss, then he waved at the couch beside them. “You can sit, Harry. You can also stash your trunk anywhere you can find a space.”

Harry nodded and put his trunk down, opened it, and took out the large wine box set. “Happy Christmas, Ela.” He said and handed it to her. It had the fancy wine bottle opener, a set of expensive glasses, and a hundred year old wine inside.

“Oh, Harry!” Ela exclaimed. “Sirius, let me up.”

Sirius let her go and she stood up, handed him the box, then she took Harry into a warm embrace.

“Thank you very much, Harry.” Ela said and he was a little surprised that her hug was quite a bit different than Amelia's. He wasn't sure why, until he looked up at her face. He didn't see the same expression on her face as he did on Amelia's. He knew then that the hug didn't mean as much to Ela as it did to Amelia.

“Well, if we're starting off with presents instead of visiting first...” Sirius stood up and waved at the tree. “Go ahead, Harry. Start opening.”

“Wh-what?” Harry asked as Ela let him go.

“Ela and I exchanged gifts last night.” Sirius said. “Everything under the tree is yours.”

Harry's eyes went to the piles of wrapped gifts under the tree. “But... but...”

“Before you freak out about it, a few of them are from other people.” Ela said. “Your friends at school, Neville's parents and grandmother, and a few others.”

“R-really?” Harry asked, his voice full of doubt.

“Harry, you've made an impact on a lot of people.” Sirius said. “It's not until times like this that you start to see how much.”

Harry wasn't sure what to say.

“It's all right.” Sirius said and took him into a manly embrace. “Sometimes it's all right for a man to cry... if it's for the right reasons.”

Harry was suddenly overcome with emotions and tears came to his eyes. He wasn't sure why though.

“Happy Christmas, Harry.” Sirius whispered and hugged him tighter, then Harry started crying. “That's it. Let it out.” He said and rubbed Harry's back. “Let it all out, my boy.”

Harry did. Years of remembered pain from near starvation, verbal abuse by his aunt and uncle, endless beatings from his cousin and the other bullies from the neighbourhood, and doing chores that a child should never have to do. It all came out in Harry's cries, sobs, and tears. He had people that cared about him now. Friends and family both.

It took him a while to calm down and Sirius held him the entire time. When Harry was done, he felt like an enormous weight had been lifted from him. He couldn't explain it, and wouldn't be able to until he was much older and looked back at this moment... this first Christmas that was a real Christmas... was when things actually changed for him.

Harry wiped the tears away from his face and he knew that he was wiping away much more than that. “I have a gift for you, Sirius.” He said and reached into his trunk and pulled out a large wrapped package. “I hope you like it.”

Sirius opened it and pulled out a black motorcycle jacket. It was covered in zippers and metal studs, had double lapels that could fold up and zipper closed, and tassels tied to the zippers to make them all easier to open and close. It even had a belt around the bottom of it to help hold it closed.

“Harry... this... what in the world gave you the idea...”

“This.” Harry said and took out a set of motorcycle keys. “Hagrid said he'll drop it off after the holidays.”

“Harry.” Sirius said as tears came to his own eyes and he hugged Harry again. It took him several minutes to recover from the emotions and he let Harry go. “It's a wonderful gift. Thank you.”

Harry smiled at his godfather and then it was his turn to open presents. There were ten years worth of gifts from Sirius, which made Harry chuckle as he opened them all.

“Just wait until your birthday.” Sirius joked and made both Ela and Harry laugh.

There were gifts from all of his friends as well, just as Ela said. Neville, Ron, and Hermione had sent him little gifts. He was only slightly surprised to see one from Lavender and Pavarti as well, then he was really surprised to get one from Daphne. He knew he would have to come up with something special for her, considering how much of a risk she was taking by giving a Griffindor a present at Christmas.

Harry opened an ornately decorated box that was a present from Nicolas Flamel. He laughed when he looked inside and saw that there were six shrunken solid gold cauldrons with cauldron cakes in them. There was also a note that said they were for 'future friends' and Harry promised himself that he would write a long thank you letter of appreciation.

There was one more gift and there wasn't anything written on the tag, except for his name. When Harry picked it up, Ela spoke.

“We had it checked. There's no malicious spells, curses, or traps.” Ela said. “Sirius knows some people.”

Sirius nodded. “Ol' Mad Eye checked it all over for me. If that old suspicious geezer couldn't find anything wrong with it, then there's nothing wrong with it.”

Harry felt a warm feeling in his heart at the concern and the trouble they went through to make sure he was safe. “Thanks.” He said to them, then he opened the gift. There was a card on top and he read it. “This was left in my possession by your father. Try to use it a bit more responsibly than he did.”

“No!” Sirius exclaimed and stepped forward. “That rotten old bastard!”

“What is it?” Harry asked as Sirius lifted out what looked like a very expensive cloak.

“It's something James would have never left out of his sight, if he had the choice.” Sirius said and flipped it over his shoulders. When he pulled the hood up, he completely disappeared.

“AHH!” Ela yelped and reached out for her lover. Her hand touched his shoulder and she relaxed. “Oh, thank Merlin. I thought it was a portkey or something.” She said and relaxed.

“No, it's an invisibility cloak.” Sirius said. “James always carried it. Always.”

“What happened?” Harry asked.

Sirius flipped the cloak off and folded it up and put it back into the box. “There is only one way that Dumbledore would have that cloak.” His voice in a somber tone. “He had to get it the night your parents died.”

“He was there?” Harry asked, surprised. “I thought Hagrid...”

“It was quite the deception, wasn't it? Having Hagrid deliver you to Privet Drive, even though he could have easily done it himself.” Sirius said and sat down on the floor next to Harry. “Which means he was busy with other things, wasn't he?”

Ela knelt behind him and put her arms around him. “Don't stress yourself out, Sirius.”

“It's all right, dear.” Sirius said and lifted her hand to kiss it. “I won't let the melancholy overwhelm me anymore, not with you and Harry around to keep me from doing horrible things to the old coot.”

Ela chuckled and kissed his cheek. “We both know you're not that stupid.” She said and hugged him tightly.

“Do you, now?” Sirius joked and she laughed.

“You're a good man, Sirius.” Ela said and eased her hold on him. “You know better than to run off and try to take on the evils of the world all on your own now.”

Sirius took in a deep breath and let it out. “Yes, I learned my lesson.” He said and reached out to put an arm over Harry's shoulder. “Take my advice, Harry. Don't use the cloak. There's no reason for you to be sneaking around the castle and looking for trouble, is there?”

“Being invisible would be nice sometimes.” Harry said. “I don't want trouble, though. I get enough of that without the cloak.”

Sirius chuckled and hugged him. “Right you are, my boy. Come on. Ela's made the best Christmas goose that anyone's ever tasted.”

Harry smiled and nodded, then the three of them stood up and went into the dining room to eat.