a.n. I have been reading some Marauders headcanons and I want to make a FanFiction in the spirit of Christmas before the winter holidays are over. I don't want this to be incredibly long but just something to keep me occupied over the next week or so. I still have Hope Never Vanishes on my other account to do this but I want something Christmasy, you know? I hope people like this and it is just Marauders and no OC characters. Regulus may come into it as well.
I'm thinking a chapter a year? That sounds like a lot but then I can focus on my other things at the same time. Also, if I do one chapter a year, then if people read this, they can actually follow the Marauders through their Christmases? Let me know how often you think I should do this. If you don't, then I will just do one a year.
Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the books and films of Harry Potter are JK Rowling's.
First Year
It was Christmas day. The boys in Gryffindor were excited as it was their first Christmas at Hogwarts. James woke up first and was so happy that it was Christmas that he woke everybody up with his squeals of joy. They groaned as they felt the morning rays fall on their faces when James pulled them open and reluctantly got out of their beds.
James made them come downstairs with him and they eventually followed, weighed down by wanted sleep.
When they entered the common room their eyes became easier to see out of. There was a roaring fire as usual but it was giving off a very Christmassy vibe. Their view was covered in red, green and golden colours. As their Gryffindor colours were already gold and red, there hadn't been need of much decorating around the room.
There was a tall Christmas tree in the corner of the room which was decorated top to bottom in baubles of almost every colour. There were colourful lights of every colour in the rainbow wrapped around it along with red and gold tinsel. It seemed that somebody had been in a funny mood as there was no angel or star on top of the Christmas tree but a picture of Sirius' face.
This was evidently something Sirius found very amusing as he let out a roar of laughter.
"Because I'm a star!" He said in between his laughs.
James looked around and saw his pile of presents. He had lots from his parents, cousins, aunts, uncles and other relatives or friends. They were wrapped in colours of gold and red to symbolise James being a Gryffindor. James grinned and looked around festive the common room. Other students in other years had opened their presents as they must have awoken earlier than the four first year friends.
James looked around curiously to see what the others had and saw Remus sitting on an old and rather dusty red chair by the blazing, orange and yellow, Christmas fire with a single package wrapped in brown paper and white string. It was small enough to fit in both of his hands but not large enough to be anything like what James usually got. He unfolded the paper to show a single hand-knitted wooly hat which he put on right away. Remus sighed and looked enviously at James' pile of presents which were wobbling dangerously, threatening to fall.
Peter had a few packets of melted chocolate frogs and sticky Bertie Bott's every flavoured beans. The frogs couldn't jump as they were just a sticky and oozing substance and had melted onto the cards so it was unclear who was on them. Peter tried to scrape the chocolate off one of his cards but it stuck like toffee so he gave up and thrust them onto a nearby coffee table and crossed his arms in an annoyed fashion. He then picked up his packet of Bertie Bott's every flavoured beans and picked up two that had merged together when they melted and popped it into his mouth. He soon after found himself spitting it out and running around looking for water.
Sirius looked at the single letter from home and carefully took it out of the thick envelope. He read through it quickly to get the main idea of what they were saying rather than having to read it all and felt his lip trembling by the end of it and his eyes prickling with angry water. He hurriedly wiped at them before his friends noticed and put on a brave face as though he was unfazed by his mother's harsh words.
James frowned and opened his presents one by one and tried to hide the joy in his face afterwards. He felt awkward opening them as he knew that the others would be jealous. He had many new and wonderful things that he had wanted for ages and the other three boys gazed at them with wide eyes and wonder painted on every surface of their faces. James excused himself from the common room as he ran upstairs and got three neatly wrapped boxes from under his bed and eagerly ran back down the winding spiral staircase with them.
He gave them out to his three best friends and threw them a happy grin as they looked at them with happiness washed across their cheeks like a tidal wave of Christmas cheer.
Remus opened his neatly and found a huge stash of chocolate as James had noted how much he seemed to love it. It was a special Honeydukes brand which he had seem Remus eating on several occasions and knew was his favorite. He had also given Remus a copy of some slightly more advanced Defence spells because he knew that Defence Against The Dark Arts was his favorite subject and he was easily the top of the class and needed more challenging spells to practice. Remus smiled at James and thanked him over and over again but James kept insisting it was no problem.
"Really, Remus. It's a present. It's yours! Go have fun and eat your choc and stuff or whatever you want to do. It was really no big deal." This was one of the many things James had to reply with whenever Remus thanked him.
Peter had a new wand off James because he had recently snapped his while trying to send a cushion flying across the room but instead sending Snape flying into their desk. The desk had crushed Peter underneath it and his wand hadn't worked properly since. James had taken measurements of Peter's clothes and had written down his looks and hobbies until he had enough to find the exact right one. He had even taken a blood sample and a few of his hairs when he'd had a bleeding thumb and had been asleep. It was Yew wood, 12 inches exactly, dragon heartstring, unbending flexibility. Luckily, the wand worked perfectly for Peter and James had to try and survive a bone crushing hug for it.
Sirius just stared at his present in awe. Not daring to open it as he had never had a Christmas present before in his life. When he was younger, his mother had tried to get him to have the same beliefs as her (prejudice against Muggleborns and such) but he had refused as he felt that it was wrong to think such things so never got a Christmas present. He had bought himself things and things for his brother and cousins but had always lacked receiving them. He had also been locked away in his room during the Christmas parties his family would have and he would be brought a pitiful meal while being forced to listen to cheers of joy and Christmas music downstairs. So when James just gave him a present and included him in his Christmas traditions, Sirius felt like he was flying without a broomstick and never wanted to come down. That is, until the others made him open the box.
"Come on, Sirius. You're looking at that box like you've never had a Christmas celebration in your life!" James said, laughing. He stopped when he saw Sirius' face. "You have had a Christmas celebration before, right Sirius?"
Sirius didn't reply but only looked at the floor to the right of where his friends' feet were. They exchanged a grave glance so James took charge.
"Remus, get my invisibility cloak and go down to the kitchens. It's behind a portrait of some fruit and you need to tickle the pear to get in. It's by the Hufflepuff common room I think. You know how to get there, right? Ask the House-Elves to make the best Christmas pudding they have ever made in their little house-elfie lives and tell them it is urgent that they do it quickly and perfect. They'll do anything to help people." James instructed. Remus saluted him and ran up the staircase to get James' Invisibility Cloak.
"Peter, take the secret tunnel in the boys dormitories by the bathroom, behind the painting of Godric Gryffindor and take it. If you keep at it but take the fifth tunnel on the left and up the steps, it should take you to the seventh floor. When you get there, pace back and forth in front of a tapestry and think about a room full of things Sirius would like. Think these words, "I need to go to a place full of things Sirius would like". Think about it carefully, this is an emergency. If you see Remus while your up there, tell him to go with you and I want you to set up for a feast. We're not going to breakfast today." Peter also saluted as Remus had done when he had received James' instructions and ran up to their dormitory to take the passage.
"Really, you don't have to do all of this." Sirius muttered. He had memories of all of the past Christmases he had had in his life and he was excited for this one but didn't want his friends doing too much just for him.
"Oh, but we do, my friend!" James insisted with his signature grin and a hand through his messy trademark hair. "Now open up your gift quickly so that we don't miss too much of your Christmas party"
a.n. I hope people like this. If people want I could do what happens in Sirius' Christmas party? I like it short like this but I do realise that it is rather a little too short. I didn't want there to be awfully long Chapters in this anyway as it is only supposed to give a rough idea of what happens in the Marauders Christmas.
This is also going to be up on my other account SlytherdorGirl4life because I need something for Christmas on there too. I would like it if you could maybe check out my other story on this account, "How The Montimais Met"? It is a story about OC characters in the Marauders era and it is very fun to write. I would like to know whether people like reading it as well so that maybe I could edit a few things in it.
-Fangs Montimais 101.
