Chapter Twenty-Four
Little Lions
Hit me with your best shot
Why don't you hit me
With your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire Away
(Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar)February 28th, 1972It was as if Charlus Potter had convinced his wife that children causing mischief
was a rite of passage. James, Mia, and Sirius returned to Hogwarts after the Christmas
holidays, new gifts in hand that had been delicately wrapped and given to them Christmas
morning. Each with a very careful warning in Charlus's firm script:
Don't. Get. Caught.
In the two months since they had been back in school, James and Sirius had not
been caught out of bed after hours once. That was due, in large part, to the fact that James
now possessed the most fantastically charmed Invisibility Cloak.
When her brother had opened his gift Christmas morning, Mia simply stared at it.
That very cloak was the cause of a lot of trouble with her, Harry, and Ron. Though, more
times than she could count, it had gotten them out of trouble as well.
James had been floored by the present and used it nearly every night since returning
to Hogwarts.
Dorea, likely saddened by the thought that Sirius might not have presents come
Christmas morning, dug through her old Black family heirlooms—ones that had, in all
probability, been looked over properly by a Curse-Breaker. When morning arrived and no
gifts had appeared overnight for Sirius, Dorea handed her small gift to him with a bright
smile.
He had looked shocked, clearly not expecting anything, let alone something that
had belonged to his family. The small penknife fit perfectly in his hand, and he grinned