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Sirius felt the mattress move, but he didn’t open his eyes. He knew who was trying to get on his bed. His baby brother always loved to “wake him up,” so Sirius just let him have his fun.
“Siri, wake up! Siri!” Regulus whisper-yelled, shaking Sirius with all his might, but he wasn’t going to give up the pretense, so he continued to keep his eyes closed. Regulus hissed, “Sirius!”
“Hmm, five more minutes, Mother,” Sirius slurred just to rile up his brother.
“Sirius! Wake up! It’s Christmas !” Regulus practically yelled in his ear. Sirius finally squinted one eye open to see his brother beaming down at him.
“Alright, alright, no need to yell.” Sirius pushed Regulus off him before sitting up. “Merry Christmas, Reggie.”
“Merry Christmas, Siri!” Regulus was smiling so wide that it made Sirius smile in return. It was adorable how his brother still loved Christmas even with the kind of parents they had.
Although he was only seven, Sirius knew his family wasn’t like the ones he had read about in some of Uncle Alphard’s books—the Muggle ones he had to hide before his mother discovered them.
Regulus was five, but Sirius wanted to protect his brother from the world, and if it meant being as excited for Christmas as he was, then so be it.
“Do you think Father Christmas came to our house?” Regulus asked excitedly, jumping a little on Sirius’ bed.
Sirius didn’t know how to answer that, especially since their mother seemed to despise everything related to Christmas.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to go down and see if Father Christmas has visited us.”
Maybe he should have been a little more forthcoming with Regulus, but he didn’t want his brother to lose the magic of Christmas. So, he was just going to get down with Regulus and probably just wing it from there.
They tried to walk downstairs in silence, so as not to wake their parents, and they were almost successful, until Regulus walked into the living room and started squealing in delight.
“Siri! Father Christmas came! He really came to our house!” Regulus was practically screaming in delight, and Sirius didn’t know what to say.
Under the Christmas tree—one they had to beg and plead and at one time, cry desperately for their mother to allow them to have—were a few wrapped gifts, albeit a little loopy.
“Yeah, it looked like it,” Sirius replied, trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing.
It was at that moment Kreacher appeared, and although Sirius didn’t get along with the elf most of the time (alright, all the time), one thing they have in common: they both love Regulus.
“Master Regulus likes it?” Kreacher asked, and if Sirius would bet, it was almost like Kreacher was smiling at Regulus’ joy.
“Father Christmas visited us, Kreacher! Isn’t it magical?” Regulus asked, and seeing the bright eyes of his baby brother and the smile on the house elf, Sirius almost felt like a ‘ Lumos! ’ went inside his head.
Kreacher must have heard about what Regulus expected of Christmas, and decided to male it a happy occasion for him, and although Sirius didn’t agree with the elf, he was happy that he was making sure his baby brother was having a blast and more important, he was happy.
“It looks like Father Christmas knew exactly what you wanted, huh, Reggie,” Sirius said, side-eyeing Kreacher, waiting for his reaction.
“It looks like he did!” Regulus was too busy opening the presents to see the looks exchanged between Sirius and Kreacher.
“Nice work, Kreacher,” Sirius mumbled under his breath, but loud enough for Kreacher to listen.
“Thank you, Master Sirius,” Kreacher replied in kind, and if he could, Sirius would bet his family money he would have added a snide towards him.
As it is, they just enjoyed Regulus opening his presents and having the best Christmas of his young life.