"All together for the last verse!"
And the entire hall began to sing:
"On the twelfth day of Christmas, I got confiscated from me:
Twelve Cheatfast quills,
Eleven juggling rats,
Ten exploding ink bottles,
Nine shaving hats,
Eight loaded dice,
Seven Wet-start Fireworks,
Six fanged frisbees . . ."
By this time Lily's mouth was half hanging open, half curled into a smile. She laughed outright as every student in the Hall took a united deep breath and belted out the next line for all it was worth.
"Five . . . live . . . gnomes!
Four sugar quills,
Three dungbombs,
Two purple toads,"
James, who had been bellowing and nodding his head for the duration of the song, now jumped up on the bench and proceeded to conduct the last line with great sweeps of his arms for every grand, finalistic syllable.
"And a si-i-ix pack of Ogden's Whi-i-i-iske-e-ey"
There was tumultuous applause as he sat down in his seat right next to Lily, who offered him her hand to him under the table. He leaned over to give her what Lily thought would be a quick kiss, but James had other things in mind. He put his free hand gently on the back of her head to pull her closer, and she eagerly obliged. Sirius wolf whisteled and Marlene made a snide comment; but they were too preoccupied to really take much notice.
They reluctantly pulled apart when everyone rose soon after to make their way to bed, but kept their hands locked and stole glances as they pretended to listen to the conversation that was being carried on around them.
"I can't wait to give you your present later" Lily whispered in his ear, her breath tickling his neck. She winked at him before turning back to Marlene.
Yes, James thought. This has to be the best christmas ever.