They apparated back to Hogsmeade but stopped off for a butterbeer.
“Bet you didn’t expect Christmas to be like this, eh?” Sirius asked the group.
“The feast! We could make it if we ran, we have 30 minutes to get there,” Harry said, looking at his watch. The time was 4.30 and the feast would start at 5.00
They quickly finished their drinks and walked out into the streets of hogsmeade where it had started raining.

“Perfect!” Sirius said as his long hair was sticking to his face.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were having a race to get to the castle gates but were surprised when a large black dog ran past them. It got in front of them and then stopped, making them move to the side. Just as they were reaching the castle gates a ribbon of fire blew in front of the group from one of the dragons. Sirius transformed back into his human self and tried protecting Harry from the flame. The dragon moved back when Lupin arrived and bowed down. Its wings touched the ground and it placed its head in front of Harry.
“What’s it doing?” Harry asked looking at the head on the floor.
“It’s giving you a lift, go on,” Remus said walking onto the dragon with Sirius.” “But you need to keep a tight hold or you might fall into the lake,” Sirius said, laughing.

Once they were all on, the dragon rose into the air, and moved quickly over the grounds into the entrance gates. It lowered its head and let the others off and they went into the hall, prepared for a feast.

They walked back into the hall and saw the few people who had stayed over Christmas. Many parents felt that Hogwarts wasn't safe enough for their children stay over Christmas.
The house tables had disappeared and everyone was using a large table. A few Durmstrang students had also stayed at Hogwarts and were sleeping in a classroom made for them.

Most of the Hogwarts staff was eating when Lupin, Sirius and the kids entered. The all stopped and looked at them whilst Professor Orios hurried over to them.
"So, what happened?" He asked curiously.
"We dealt with it," Sirius said noticing a few students were trying to eavesdrop. He glared at them and they turned back to eating their dinner.
"The locket?" Orios said.
"No, we couldn’t find the locket, but we did find a horcrux. The gravestone of Tom Riddle Senior was destroyed accidentally by the death eaters. Now we only need to find two more." Lupin said.
"Two? The locket, what else?" Sirius said,
"A cup belonging to Helga Hufflepuff. When Riddle worked at Borgin and Burke's he laid his eyes on the goblet. The owner died at the hands of her house elf at the cup was nowhere to be found." Lupin told Sirius.
"What makes you think that Riddle had anything to do with it?" Sirius said.
"He regularly visited the owner and was the last to see her."
"Sounds like the dark lord did it. How about continuing this talk later, I'm starving." Sirius said going towards the table.