December

By May Waters

-oOo-

December 1

"Deck the hall with boughs of Holly, tra la la la la la la la la." Sirius yelled at the top of his lungs. James hung his head in shame, every year on December first Sirius would belt out the lyrics to every Christmas song he knew, which was three total.

"You really like Christmas?" Lily asked coming up behind the four.

"Have to spread the Christmas joy somehow!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly turning around so he was walking backwards.

James' shoulders had straightened and his posture was a little better, but he had yet to look behind them. Remus kept glancing over his shoulder every so often to make sure she was still there, and Peter dropped back to walk next to her.

"Oh great Christmas Merlin went dancing round the witches trial," Sirius continued to belt out lyrics to an old wizarding favorite in Christmas music.

"What on earth is that song even about?" Lily asked bumping Peter's shoulder lightly with hers.

"I don't even completely understand it, I never learned it until he started singing it around the dorm in first year."

"All I can gather is it's about Merlin and how he tried to save people from burning at the stake in the king's kingdom by dancing around proclaiming madness." Remus tried to interpret.

"What?" Lily giggled, a wide grin spreading across her face.

"So Merlin made the yule tree spin with sparkling boughs till it was a chandelier!" Sirius finished up. James pushed him over so it would take him a while before he could burst into one of his few Christmas songs again.

"Merlin and the Chandelier is about how he decorated the castle for Christmas, he impressed the king with his own magic so he could gain favor in the courts, and protected a few generations of witches and wizards from the witch hunts. Merlin is a hero to pureblood lines everywhere, sometimes they did catch members of wizarding community and manage to kill them. This at least protected the community for a while and who wouldn't want a chandelier made out of a Christmas tree?" James explained. Lily blinked, Remus covered his smile with his hand, and Peter's jaw dropped open.

"Now there's no mystery behind it Prongs," Sirius complained.

"I want to know more about this story though," Lily hopped forward staring up at James with wide eyes, her hands clasped safely behind her back.

"I'm probably not the best to learn the story from." His hand shot up to mess up his hair automatically.

"I think you'll tell it just fine." She reassured him. It was then Sirius chose to break out into the third Christmas carol and they were forced to duck into a hidden passageway before Sirius noticed they were gone. However, Sirius' shouts of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" seemed to be wherever they went.