Chapter 4: Jimmy's First Christmas

Sirius sat quietly where he had surrendered to American authorities in the temporary detention area of MICE's Eagle Pass office in Texas. It was a major crossing point from Mexico into the US for wizard and No-Maj alike, and it was here that Sirius was hoping to gain sanctuary from those in Britain who wanted him dead by requesting political asylum. He also hoped, though he couldn't guarantee it, of course, to be with Harry and his new family for Christmas.

"Mr. Black?"

Sirius looked up to see a tiny woman with dark brown hair confined in a business-like bun at the back of her head. "Yes, that's me."

"I am Holly Barnes, your attorney in this matter. If I am to help you, I will need to know the particulars of your case. You understand that we are very concerned given the nature of the warrants coming out of the UK."

"I understand. I'm prepared to prove my statements to the United States, an opportunity I was not granted in Britain."

"Good. The government requires three proofs from you before it will even consider not extraditing you back to the British Ministry; a magical oath, questioning under Veritaserum, and a witness who can verify your statements."

"I can provide those, although the witness will need collecting. His name is Harry James Potter-Evans, and he's been adopted by a couple here in the States. He's living in San Antonio."

Ms. Barnes raised an eyebrow at that. "You're aware that Britain is looking for him."

Sirius shrugged. "He's not a wizard any more, and that means the Ministry has no authority over him. He's obeyed all of the laws of the United States and the MACUSA in the preparation for his adoption. And the only people he's told about magic are his new parents, because they needed to know his entire story."

"Good. Well, I'll need his contact information. Is he able to accept owl post?"

"Yes. In fact his own owl probably just reached him with my message that I was headed his way."

"Very well." She made a note on her clip board, then said, "For now, Mr. Black, why don't you tell me your story?"

~o~ ~O~ ~o~

Jimmy sat in the tidy government office with Mike on one side of him and Carlene on the other. They had received a subpoena for Jimmy to testify on Sirius's behalf. It was three days until Christmas.

The man at the desk in front of them was Hon. John Marsh III, the judge who would decide Sirius's fate. He was a dour-looking man, partially bald, with salt-and-pepper hair that had once been a dark brown. He said to Jimmy, "Thank you for coming, Mr. Evans. Mr. Black has called you as a witness to his defense, so we will be recording your statement and sending it to the court in Eagle Pass." He opened a box on his desk and removed a small orb that looked like hand-blown glass filled with swirling white smoke. Then he pulled out his wand and hovered over the orb. "Are you ready?"

Jimmy nodded. "I am."

Judge Marsh tapped the orb three times, and the smoke began to glow, swirling faster than before. Then he said, "This is the deposition of H. James Evans, also known as Jimmy, also known as Harry Potter, on the matter of the application for asylum of Sirius Orion Black. It is 3:49 PM on December 22, 1994. Jimmy, please recite for us the events as you saw them of June 6, 1993."

Jimmy took a deep breath and began. He told them everything, even the things that might get him in trouble, needing to be as clear as possible so that people would understand Sirius's innocence of the crimes he was charged with. He started with the apparent execution of Buckbeak so that the rest of the day would make sense, and ending with him and Hermione getting back to the infirmary. He told them about seeing Peter Petigrew, about how he had hidden for twelve years as a rat, becoming a pet of the Weasley family, how Peter had escaped when Remus had begun to change, and the nature of the circular paradox that had led to him saving himself and Sirius from the Dementors, and saving both Sirius and Buckbeak from the executioner by helping them to escape together. Judge Marsh asked several questions for clarification, mostly regarding different terms for things between American and British English.

After his deposition was complete, the judge tapped the orb with his wand once more, then returned it to the box he'd taken it out of. Then he said, "Again, I want to thank you for coming in today. I'll make sure this gets to the court as quickly as possible. I know that Mr. Black is hoping to join you on Christmas, and there is no reason to delay. A grave injustice was done this man by the British Ministry, for we have found no record of a trial. If this man is truly innocent of the crimes he was accused of, then he will most likely be granted asylum."

Jimmy grinned.

It was now Christmas Day, and Mike explained that, much like at Hogwarts, Christmas was not seen in their house as a religious holiday, but as a time of joy, thanksgiving and family. Jimmy woke early, excited by his first Christmas with his new family, but still feeling worried as to Sirius's disposition with the MACUSA and the MACTX, the national and Texas state governments for wizards. He didn't think they'd extradite him back to Britain, but he couldn't help but worry about it.

Just the thought of allowing people to know where Sirius was had honestly bothered Jimmy to begin with. He'd worried that they'd just instantly shoot him or something. But, as was typical, Sirius had told him not to worry, and gone ahead and done it anyway. Thankfully, it seemed as if the Americans were much more interested in justice than their counterparts, and that Sirius had actually been taken, well, seriously.

Jimmy put his glasses on and put on his slippers, then slipped on a dressing gown over his pajamas. Mike and Carlene had decorated the house and were expecting all kinds of company, not only their own children and grand children, but brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, as well.

He came down the stairs and smiled at the Christmas tree. Mike had cut the tree just last week, and they'd all had fun decorating it and putting up garlands and ribbons. Blue and silver glass baubles shone from the evergreen boughs, mixed with personalized ornaments. Gwen's children had each made an ornament for the tree, which had become a tradition for the family, so Jimmy had added his own. It was a copy of the only still photo he had of himself, Ron and Hermione, taken at his request by Colin Creevy with a tourist camera he'd bought. Seamus, off camera, had cracked a joke about flying without a broom and all three of them had cracked up, so it was a good picture, and he'd made a simple frame for it with toothpicks, glue, and red and gold glitter, with a square of clear plastic from a packaging shell for the glass. Like all the other baubles, it was attached to the tree with a string. The top of the tree had a gigantic bow of blue and silver ribbon.

Darryl, Dennis and Katie were already seated at the breakfast table, shoving food down their throats as fast as they could so they could go sit in front of the tree and open their presents. Gwen was also seated, much more sedately eating and drinking her coffee. She scolded them to slow down. "Choking yourself won't let you open your presents any faster. We're all waiting for Dad to come back with the Granger side of the family since they just flew in."

Jimmy's face lit up at that pronouncement as he sat down to his own breakfast. Carlene handed him a cup of coffee, and he said, "Thank you. Hermione's here?"

"Robert and Jane, her parents, called us two nights ago, said Hermione was really wanting to come and see you, so they took the red-eye last night and got in this morning." Carlene grinned at him. "Excited?"

"I'll just be so happy to see her. I miss them, her and Ron both."

Jimmy had sent presents through the post to the address given him by Professor McGonagall so that the Weasley family would get his gifts, but he'd kept Hermione's back once he heard she was coming here to visit. He could give her her gift directly that way.

Darryl suddenly said, "Hey, quit it!" Jimmy looked up and saw a bit of cereal hanging off of his nose, and grinned.

"Dennis," Gwen said warningly.

"I didn't do it! It was Katie!"

"I didn't mean to," Katie protested at being outed.

"Then apologize."

"Sorry, Darryl."

"All right, you three, go and get cleaned up. Company should be here any minute. Jimmy, as soon as you're done there, you do the same. Did you have any special dishes you wanted to make for a Christmas treat?" In the Evans family, people didn't just bring presents. They also brought food. It was one of the most unusual things he'd ever heard of, having people bring food to a party you were hosting, but he soon realized that it was an excuse to show off one's prowess in the kitchen, as well as any new recipes you'd had success with, as well as mitigating the costs of having a huge celebratory feast. They did Thanksgiving, the American harvest festival, the same way. It was called a "pot luck" dinner. Thinking about it, Jimmy knew how to make a treacle tart, so he nodded. "Any special ingredients you might need?"

"I think we have everything here. I'll get started on it after breakfast dishes."

"All right. There are several things that have to make use of the oven, so we'll need to plan accordingly."

Jimmy had just put the tart into the oven, writing the time down on the sheet Carlene was keeping to make sure nothing burned, when the dogs started barking, indicating that someone was coming up the drive. He ran to the front door and saw Mike's pickup pulling into its customary spot. There in the back passenger seat was a bushy head of brown hair that he'd been waiting to see for over a month.

Divesting himself of the apron he'd been protecting his clothes with, Jimmy darted out the front door. Hermione saw him, and even from inside the cab he could see her face light up. She got her door open and ran to him, shouting, "Harry!" and hugging him for all he was worth, almost knocking him to the ground in the process. "It's so good to see you! I couldn't believe it when my parents said we could come!"

"I'm glad you're here, 'Mione. But it's Jimmy, now, Jimmy Evans."

"All right. I'll try to remember." She was still grinning at him. "Everyone sent their Christmas presents with me when I told them I was visiting you. Everyone made sure not to send anything too magical, but I'd be wary of Fred and George's gifts, anyway."

He grinned. "Believe me, you don't have to tell me that. Let's help get all the luggage inside." She nodded and together they began lifting bags and packages out of the back of the cab.

It turned out that the Granger side of the family hadn't been to America to visit ever since Hermione first got her Hogwarts letter, which meant that all of Gwen's children were much bigger than the last time she'd seen them. Hermione's father, Manny, whose mother was sister to Mike's father, had wanted to keep them fairly close to home because they couldn't do extended trips like he would have wanted them to if they were coming to America, so they'd stuck to holidays in Europe. But now that Hermione's best friend was now a part of that family, she would be pushing to visit more often.

By the time they'd gotten Hermione and her parents settled in one of the guest rooms, Adam and Tess had arrived. Bradford was off for the next three days, so he was here as well. And then a cab dropped off their last guest, one Sirius Black. Hermione was surprised, but happy to see him, and Jimmy was ecstatic. Sirius, who hadn't ever been in a Muggle house, had all kinds of questions, but had the sense not to ask them in front of Jimmy's new family due to not all of them being in on the Secret.

Christmas in the Evans house was a family affair. Several other family groups popped in during the day, but didn't stay as they had other gatherings to get to. Everyone knew Carlene would be cooking all day long, for all three meals, so they knew they could just pop in and visit without being a burden that she wasn't prepared for. Several left presents behind, and all were interested in meeting the new "baby" of the family, but since they didn't stay, the atmosphere didn't get too crowded. That said, there was plenty to do for all the kids that passed through that day, including playing with the kittens that the barn cat had just had, playing with the dogs, and ooing and awing over Hedwig, who drunk in the attention like the princess she was.

Sirius and Hermione came out with Jimmy at a time when the only kids around were Gwen's and they were all in the toy room looking at one of the new games that had been bought for them for Christmas. They got caught up with him on the magical side, Sirius verifying that he'd been granted asylum by MACUSA and resident alien status with a brand new green card, and Hermione letting them know how the Tournament was going. She also warned that there was a tabloid reporter for the Daily Prophet who was trying to find Harry Potter, and had been ever since he'd left Britain. "She's the worst sort of reporter, Jimmy, but I don't think she'll think to look here."

Sirius agreed. "Yeah, and America's a pretty big place." He shook his head. "No, I wouldn't worry about her. We might need to worry about others, though."

Jimmy said, "Like who?"

"Well, if I understand correctly, Tom Riddle's shade is still bumping around somewhere. I mean, it's not your job to stop him. But if he figures out where you are, if he ever finds a way to come back, you won't have any defense against him any more."

"You're not wrong," Hermione said, thinking out loud. "His plan this time was to use your blood somehow to come back, but I don't trust that there isn't another way he can do it. And Wormtail's apparently taking care of him for now."

"And there are plenty of others out there, Death Eaters that are hiding in polite society, and ones that are imprisoned in Azkaban. I know, for instance, my dear cousin Belatrix LeStrange, is there."

Jimmy nodded, stroking Hedwig's feathers thoughtfully. "Sounds like I need to learn how to defend myself in the Muggle way."

"You think that'll do any good against a wizard?" Sirius sounded skeptical.

"I don't know. But I won't just sit by and let them kill me, either." Neither magical could argue with that.

That night, after dinner, the family gathered around the tree and opened presents. All of the ones that had come from the Wizarding world Jimmy had put up in his bedroom, where he would open them later so that no one who wasn't magical themselves could see. But there were plenty of gifts that were not magical, though some had been made by magical means, and everyone had fun opening them. Hermione had gotten a new photo album for Harry that would still any photos that were magical so he could put pictures of his birth parents next to pictures of his adopted family. Ron had, of course, sent a selection of candies, but he'd been careful which kinds he sent, mostly Honeyduke's chocolate. Mike had given him a new journal, and Carlene had bought him a caligraphy set to go with it.

Then, after all the presents had been opened, Carlene, Gwen, Tess and Hermione's mother, Helen, all helped to serve coffee and pie from the kitchen. Mike got out his guitar, and Brad set up his electric drum set, both put on low volume since they were indoors. Gwen pulled out a wooden pipe, and Carlene wheeled an old upright piano into the room. They all played and sang Christmas carols and jammed out for the rest of the night, until the younger children started to fall asleep.

When the youngest ones had been put to bed, the adults stayed up talking for a bit longer, getting to know Sirius. They put his lack of knowledge about some things down to his unjust imprisonment, and he was able to fake it through the conversations. Jimmy learned a lot about his godfather that night.

He went to bed himself at about midnight, but took the time before actually going to sleep to put his pictures of his parents into the new album. He put the pictures of Ron and Hermione in there, as well, and his newest one, with his new family, in last.

The next morning, Jimmy got up when he felt like it, which was about nine in the morning, and ate a breakfast of eggs and sausage, followed by a slice of left-over pumpkin pie and a cup of coffee. Then he went outside to visit Hedwig. She had stayed outside last night to avoid the noise of the house, but he knew she'd come inside this morning to sleep. He grinned as she nibbled at his fingers. "Hello, old friend. Catch anything interesting last night?" She warbled at him in response.

"She's gorgeous, Jimmy." He turned his head to see Mike. "How long have you had her?"

"Since my eleventh birthday. My very first friend, Hagrid, gave her to me while he took me around Diagon Alley to do my school shopping. I didn't know anything about magic before that day, didn't know anything about my parents, or anything, really." And now he'd lost access to that world, all but a few small pieces of it.

Mike watched him stroking Hedwig's soft feathers. "You miss it. Of course you do. Nothing wrong with that."

But Jimmy shrugged. "I do. I miss the magic. I miss many of the people. But I don't miss the way people used to treat me. I was either a devil or a savior, with no middle ground. They wouldn't let me be just Harry. So, now I'll be just Jimmy." He looked Mike in the eye. "And you know what? I'm all right with that."

Mike grinned. "I'm glad." Then he straightened up. "Help me bring in the eggs?"

"Yeah."

Note: So, Jimmy's settling in, getting used to this new way of life. The next chapter will be back to school for everyone.