Christmas Tidings
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, etc. Everything Harry Potter related was created by the great J.K. Rowling. I am not making any money off of this and I only do it for fun. And feedback. But not money.
Warning: This fic is plotless, unbeta'ed and has a *mild* slash warning.
My usual beta is on vacation and in interest of getting this out in time, I didn't bother to try to find a replacement. Hopefully I'll have her look at it when she gets back, but until then, beware mistakes.
The slash is nothing big. I wasn't even going to put in a warning, but then I remembered that some people can get really offended about this type of thing. There is no relationships to speak of, only a brief kiss between two boys.
This is a story in response to the 7Q Christmas challenge. It must include the following:
1. Somebody must say "Merry Christmas" in a foreign language.
2. Dobby must knit/have knitted someone socks.
3. Someone must kiss someone else for the first time under mistletoe - and we're
not talking a peck on the cheek ;-)
4. Someone must bake something.
5. Someone has to give a quill as a gift.
6. There must be a snowball fight.
7. Someone must say the line "You're looking quite nice this evening.
Either that, or someone spiked the egg nog."
To look them over, you would think that I would be NOT writing a MWPP fic for once. Well, you'd be wrong. That seems to be all I write.
Full author notes will be at the end of the final part, which should be out before Monday.
Most people had left for the holidays and the common room was empty, but Lily didn't mind. The quiet gave her a chance to catch up on some things she had been putting off for too long. Besides, there was nothing nicer, in her opinion, than to curl up by a crackling fire while a snowstorm was blowing outside.
Sitting in a comfy, oversized armchair, all her things spread around her, she signed her name with a flourish and put the card down on the table. She flexed her hands - they were cramping after all the writing she had been doing, and stretched before picking up another card and preparing to write a message.
Halfway through that card Sirius entered the common room and went to sit directly opposite from her. Lily smiled a greeting, but went immediately back to the card to complete her thought. Sirius sat waiting patiently until Lily paused and lifted the quill from the card then he grabbed the last blank card on the table.
"Happy Christmas!" he read. "Happy New Year! Joyeux Noël! Bonne Année! Feliz Navidad! Próspero Año Nuevo! Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva i s Novim Godom! … Uh, something that looks like Chinese characters. And another non-Roman set of letters which I can't make out."
Lily snatched the card out of Sirius' hands and he looked up at her in the wide-eyed innocence face he used whenever he knew someone was annoyed with him. "I'll give you a hint," she said, trying to ignore the expression. "It means 'Happy Christmas'." She signed the card.
Sirius considered that for a moment. "Nah," he said at last. "I don't think so."
"I suppose that would be too logical for you," she said. "I mean, it says 'Happy Christmas' in all of the other languages, so obviously it can't mean 'Happy Christmas' in the languages that you don't understand."
"Think about it," Sirius said. "How many people reading these actually know all six languages? What if one of these weird looking ones really says something like 'Death to all who read this!' or 'Sirius Black is the almighty leader of the universe!' Who's to say otherwise?"
"I sincerely doubt Unicef would do something like that," Lily said dryly.
"You see, that's what they want you to think. They lull you into a state of false security, then - Bam!" Balling his right hand into a fist, he punched the other one to drive the point home. "You won't know what hit you."
"Are you trying to tell me that the seemingly benign Unicef is actually a nefarious organization with what? Plans for world domination?"
Sirius nodded vigorously.
"Do you even know what Unicef is?" Lily asked.
"Not a clue," Sirius admitted, not sounding the least bit chagrined.
"I thought so."
Sirius waited patiently for a few moments - or at least waited as patiently as Sirius could, which actually involved him bouncing up and down energetically - then asked, "Well, aren't you going to tell me what Unicet is?"
"Unicef," Lily said, stressing the correct pronunciation, "is a charity that advocates children's rights across the world."
"Then why exactly are they trying for world domination?" Sirius wondered.
"I don't know," Lily said. "Maybe they aren't."
"I'm beginning to think you're right," Sirius said, grinning. Then, growing tired of the direction their conversation was going, he asked, "So what are you doing with those cards anyway?"
"They're Christmas cards. I'm sending them to my friends," Lily answered, finishing her message and signing one of them.
"I guessed as much," Sirius said. "Why are you doing that, though? You saw everyone yesterday before they left and if you really wanted to keep in touch with them, why didn't you just owl them?"
"They're for my Muggle friends," Lily explained. "I'll owl the lot of them to my parents and then they'll send them off for me by Muggle mail. Actually, I was supposed to have finished them last week, I just, er, forgot."
"Well don't worry about it. Christmas is still four days away. You'll have plenty of time to get the cards to your friends," Sirius said.
Lily smirked. "You've obviously never experienced Muggle mail. Trust me, they won't get there until well after Christmas."
Sirius stared at her, dumbfounded. "Exactly how long does the Muggle post take?"
"Certainly longer than four days, especially as Muggle postmen don't work on the holidays."
"But what if you have a really important message and you need to get hold of them that day?" Sirius wondered. "What do they do then?"
Lily smiled at him. "Just because we don't have magic doesn't mean we can't get along. That's when the telephone comes in handy."
Sirius, unlike many wizards his age, or indeed even those twice his age, was quite familiar with the workings of the non-magical world simply because he didn't like being ignorant about anything if it were at all possible, but still he shook his head at the complicatedness of the Muggle system. "I wouldn't fancy being a squib," he said.
"Sirius," Lily reminded him, "squibs still live in the magical world. They just can't use magic themselves, remember? What you mean is you wouldn't want to be a Muggle."
"Lily, one," Sirius ticked him thumb off, "my parents were both wizards. When a non-magical person is born to two wizards, he or she is called a squib. Hence, if I had no magic, I would be a squib. Two - " he ticked off index finger, "if, in some kooky, impossible scenario, I happened to be born to two non-magical parents, then I would not know about the magical world and would be accustomed to doing things the Muggle way. Three …" he hesitated. "Or am I at four?"
Greatly amused, Lily said, "No, you were right the first time. Three. Please, continue."
"Three." This time Sirius held up the middle three fingers of his right hand. "If is some extreme and very, very, very, very, very unlikely scenario, I did happen to be a squib, there would be no way I would remain in the wizarding world for people to pity me and make fun of me. I would leave it and live as a Muggle. Undoubtedly I would find a way to be successful there while in the magical world I would only be able to do menial, pity work. In those rare and doubtful circumstances, I would have to live as a Muggle."
"Well, I stand corrected then," Lily said.
"Good. Are you finished those cards yet?"
"Just about," Lily told him. "Why?"
"Because I'm supposed to be kidnapping you right now, that's why," Sirius said lazily.
Lily looked up at him in askance. "You're kidnapping me?"
"Yep."
"You're not doing a very good job at it," she commented, going back to her final Christmas card and starting to write the message.
Sirius shrugged. "That's because I haven't started yet."
"So why are you kidnapping me again?" Lily asked.
If she hadn't been concentrating more on the card and only half-listening, Lily probably would have noticed Sirius shifting uncomfortably. "No reason," he babbled. "I'm just bored and thought you could use a change of scenery. I mean, you can't be holed up in the common room all day, now, can you?"
"Mm hmm," Lily murmured, finishing the final card. Then she thought about Sirius' answered and asked, "Where's James?"
This time Lily noticed Sirius' look, which was akin to having been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Here's … not here," Sirius said evasively.
Lily fixed him with a stern gaze that she had learned from Professor McGonagall. "And just where might he be?"
"Hogsmeade?" He made it come out as a question.
"Why is he in Hogsmeade?" Lily asked.
"No reason."
"Yes, I'm sure James goes to Hogsmeade all the time without a reason."
"Actually," Sirius said thoughtfully, "he does."
"Let me rephrase that. I'm sure that James goes to Hogsmeade all the time without a reason and without you," Lily said.
"That he does not do," Sirius admitted.
"So why's he there then?"
Sirius sighed. "He's getting your Christmas present. It was supposed to be a secret. I wasn't supposed to let you find out. Do me a favour and don't tell Prongs, okay?"
"Sirius," Lily said, helplessly, "it's not a surprise that James is getting me a Christmas gift. In fact, the only surprise would be if he didn't, in which case I would probably have to kill him. The surprise is what he's getting me, and that's what you can't tell me." She tilted her head slightly. "What's also the surprise is that he waited until now. I can't believe he waited until now," she grumbled.
Sirius shrugged. "That's James for you."
Lily got an avaricious glint in her eye and, scooting over to the edge of her seat, eagerly asked, "What's he getting me?"
"You just told me I wasn't allowed to tell you."
"Please," Lily begged. She liked knowing what she was going to get, but so far this year hadn't even received a hint.
Sirius mimicked zipping his lips shut, locking them and throwing away the key. "Nuh-uh. No way. You're not getting it out of me."
"Puh-lease!" She pouted, but Sirius remained firm.
"No. And I'm kidnapping you so that you won't intercept James when he comes back and weasel your present out of him early."
"Would I do that?" Lily asked.
"You did it for your birthday," Sirius reminded her. "Now, am I going to kidnap you or what?"
"Can we swing by the Owlery? I have to send these to my parents," Lily said, trying to think of a way to either trick Sirius into giving the gift away, or allowing her to be present when James returned. Perhaps if she soothed him into thinking she was going along, she could slip away. Besides, she really did need to send the cards off.
"Of course."
"Then let's go." She stood up and gathered the Christmas cards then giggled as Sirius did his best to try to frog march her out of the common room by himself.
It didn't take long for Lily to borrow a school's owl and send the cards to her parents to mail to her friends, which was a good thing because one of the owls kept eyeing Sirius shiftily. Sirius protested that he didn't know why the owl was suspicious, but Lily wasn't quite sure that she believed him.
After running out of the Owlery, having been chased by the owl, which had apparently decided to do something more than give Sirius nasty looks and had started to dive at him, Lily turned to Sirius and asked, "What now, o my kidnapper? Where are you taking me?"
Sirius stopped and cocked his head to the side. "You know? I didn't actually think that far ahead."
Lily snorted. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. You aren't that good a kidnapper, I'm sorry to say."
"Oh well," Sirius said philosophically. "How 'bout we stop be the kitchen while I think about my next move. I'm hungry."
"Sounds good to me."
The house-elves were their normal obsessive-compulsively helpful selves - no sooner had Sirius and Lily tickled the pear in the picture and entered the room then close to half a dozen of them milled around the two visitors, trying to please them.
"Don't mind if I do," Sirius said, taking a proffered cookie from ones of the elves. "Er, Nod is it?"
The elf nodded, his huge unblinking eyes looking solemnly up at Sirius. Lily took one too and after taking a bite, her eyes lit up. Too impatient to wait until she had swallowed, she opened her mouth to speak, a couple of crumbs falling out (two house-elves, one with a broom and one with a dustpan, cleaned it up quickly and quietly). "I know what we can do!" she exclaimed. "Let's make shortbread."
The elves stopped and stared at her, scandalized "No, miss," one of them piped up when she regained her voice.
"Why not?" Lily asked, highly affronted.
"That is not right," she continued. "We is supposed to bake for you. We is not good house-elves if we does not serve you."
"But baking's fun!" Lily protested. "And I haven't done any Christmas baking in years, not since I came to Hogwarts."
The elves didn't look like they were going to budge. Many of them were shaking their heads and some of them were muttering to each other darkly.
Sirius looked around the room and thought quickly. "Actually, I'm in the mood for some sticky buns. Would you mind making some? I'll be back in a couple of hours, if you don't mind."
Considerably more cheerful, the elves got to work. Sirius grabbed Lily's wrist and started to pull her out of the kitchen.
"But - " she started to protest, trying to shake his hand off.
Sirius gave her a meaningful look. "Not now, Lily," he hissed. She allowed him to drag her out.
"But I want to make shortbread," she protested when the picture had closed behind them and the elves were out of sight.
"I know, but you were only going to distress them if you insisted on making it in there," Sirius said.
"Well how else am I going to make it?" Lily asked.
Sirius grinned. "The Muggle Studies room. We had a unit last year on cooking Muggle-style. There're ovens in there."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Lily asked, gripping Sirius' shoulder in excitement. "Let's go!"
They raced through the halls up to the Muggle Studies room, narrowly avoiding a run-in with Peeves and Filch, the former having decided to wreak havoc by melting all the ice sculptures - a feat that was supposed to be impossible - and everyone knew not to cross Filch when he was dealing with Peeves. Whispering could turn into a capital offence during those times.
Although technically off-limits to the students over the holiday break, as long as they didn't break anything or otherwise sabotage the room, no one would care. The Muggle Studies teacher was an oddity in that she actually liked Sirius. In her eyes, he could do no wrong. (Often times at staff meetings the other professors would sit and stare at her in disbelief and wonder if they could have some of the stuff she was on.)
"Okay," Lily said, her voice gaining authority. "You turn the oven on, we need it at 300°, and get the trays, bowls, measuring cups, pastry cutter, and everything else we need like that. I'll get the ingredients."
Sirius started rummaging through the cupboards while she raided the fridge, coming back less than a minute later empty-handed. "Okay, change of plans." She took out her wand and conjured up the ingredients."
"Isn't that cheating?" Sirius asked.
"No."
"If we're going to do that much by magic, why don't we just conjure up the cookies?"
Lily sighed. "Firstly, we're not just making cookies, we're making shortbread. Shortbread's better. Secondly, I only conjured up the ingredients because we couldn't get them otherwise. Thirdly, we are going to do the rest of it the Muggle way, so no more from you."
"Yes ma'am." He saluted her.
"First," she said, walking over to the sink, "wash your hands."
"Why?" Sirius grumbled.
"It's the golden rule of Muggle baking," Lily informed him, turning on the tap. "You always wash before you start."
"Never learned that in Muggle studies," Sirius said, but he washed his hands.
"Okay," Lily said, looking at the things spread out on the counter. "Do you know how to measure ingredients?"
"Yeah," Sirius said slowly, "I think so. You just pour them in until they reach the mark on the side of the glass, right?"
"Right," Lily confirmed. "You get the fl- actually, you get the icing sugar, and I'll get the flour."
"Because flour is so dangerous and everyone knows that I can't be trusted with it," Sirius said sarcastically.
Lily smirked and answered, "That's probably true, but I actually did it because the flour has to be sifted and I'm not sure that you know how to do that. Icing sugar, on the other hand, can just be poured in. You want one cup."
"Sure," Sirius said, "you have to sift it. That's why I'm not allowed to touch the flour."
Rolling her eyes, Lily said, "Just get to work, you idiot."
Surprisingly enough, Sirius was accommodating. While Lily started sifting two coups of flour into the mixing bowl, he poured a cup of icing sugar and then shook the measuring cup to level it. When he was satisfied that he had enough, he took the bag and poured the sugar into his mouth.
"That's disgusting," Lily said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye and cutting the butter in at the same time.
"No," Sirius said, swallowing. "It's good." He held the bag out to her. "Want some?"
"No thanks," Lily said.
Sirius shrugged. "Your loss." He tilted some more icing sugar into his mouth. "So, what do you want me to do?"
Lily paused. "Actually, it's more of a one-person job for now. Sorry."
"You don't have to apologize," Sirius said, sounding amused. He hopped up onto the counter and started to swing his legs. "I don't care."
"Pet did," Lily reminisced. "Whenever we used to bake with Gran, she always had to be doing the important job." She frowned slightly, and added, "I didn't exactly get to make shortbread often, but whenever we had it, it was delicious."
"You seem to remember the recipe," Sirius commented.
"It's not exactly a difficult one," Lily said, kneading the dough. "Two cups of flour, one of butter and icing sugar. Elementary potions are more difficult than this."
"Mum didn't bake," Sirius said. Lily sharply turned to look at him, quite surprised. He was staring off at the ceiling and not paying her much attention. He rarely talked about either of his parents. He never had, but since they had died, he managed to avoid bringing them up even more. "She didn't cook well, either. Neither did my father. I guess that's partially why I learned to cook, it was the only way to get decent food. My grandmother taught me. She wasn't a good baker, either. I guess it just doesn't run in my family." Then, catching himself, he looked down again, plastered a large smile on, and his tone brightened. "Know who's a good baker? Mrs. Potter. She makes apple pies to die for."
"I've had her baking before," Lily said lightly, concentrating on the dough in her hands. "I've got to get some of her recipes."
"Oh, I'm pretty sure she cheats," Sirius said cheekily. "At least partially."
"As you said, it still turns out good in the end," Lily reminded him, "and isn't that what counts?"
Sirius shovelled some more icing sugar into his mouth and Lily asked in disgust, "How can you keep eating that? Doesn't it make you sick?"
"Lil, it's sugar. Sugar is good."
"But - "
"Sugar good," Sirius repeated firmly.
Shaking her head, Lily changed the subject. "So how did you get stuck on Lily kidnapping duty, anyway? I would have thought that you would have jumped at the chance to go to Hogsmeade with the others."
"A couple reasons," Sirius said, "the first being that McGonagall caught me there last night and I've got already got detention for when the term starts up again. I didn't think it would be a good idea to risk getting caught again so soon afterwards."
"Exactly when has that ever stopped you before?" Lily asked, not maliciously, but genuinely curious, if a little amused as well.
"True, it's seldom," admitted Sirius, "but since Moony also had to finish his Christmas shopping, and Wormtail insisted on going with Prongs - not that he would be any good at Lily-kidnapping - I got the duty of keeping you from ambushing James when he returns with your present."
"So basically you drew the short straw," Lily surmised.
"I suppose you can say that, but I hardly consider this a hardship. I mean, I got sugar." He held up the near-empty bag proudly.
Lily laughed. Then she stopped and said, "Wait a minute, you said Remus hadn't finished his Christmas shopping? It's Christmas Eve. Are we thinking of the same Remus here? Because the Remus I know would never have left it off until the last minute."
Sirius looked uncomfortable. "He had planned on finishing it at the last Hogsmeade weekend, but they changed - I mean his plans - and he was sick for it."
"Oh," Lily said, also avoiding Sirius' eyes. "I forgot that." There was an uncomfortable pause. "The dough's ready," she said at last, rummaging through the drawers. "Do you know where there's a rolling pin?"
Reaching up awkwardly, Sirius opened the cupboard behind him and pulled one out.
Taking it, Lily scrunched up her face and asked, "Who keeps a rolling pin in a cupboard?"
"Muggles, I'd guess."
"No one that I know," muttered Lily. "While I'm rolling this out, you look for some cookie cutters."
"They're in the second drawer on your left," Sirius told her, not moving. "I saw them when you were looking for the rolling pin."
"Well, would you mind getting them out?" Lily asked, a little impatiently.
Sirius hopped down from the counter and went around Lily to get the cookie cutters out of the drawer. "There," he said, putting them down beside her. "Happy?"
"No."
The shocked look on his face made it clear that Sirius hadn't been expecting that answer, at least not in that tone of voice. In jest, it was to be expected, but Lily was honestly dismayed by the cookie cutters.
"Why not?" Sirius asked, confused.
"Look at them," Lily exclaimed, waving an arm at the offender pieces of metal. "They're so boring."
"How are they supposed to look then?"
"Hold this," Lily ordered, handing Sirius the rolling pin. Dusting her hands off on her robes, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand.
"More magic, Lily? I thought we were finished cheating."
"I'm not making plain old circle cookies," Lily said in disgust. Muttering a few words under her breath, she quickly transfigured the ordinary cookie cutters into half a dozen Christmas shapes.
"That's better," she said, satisfied now. Sirius handed her back the rolling pin and she put it down on the counter. "Pick a cutter and let's start," she said.
Sirius chose one that was in shape of a bell and pressed it into the centre of the dough.
"Sirius!" Lily yelped. "Haven't you ever cut cookies before?"
"Sure I have. I told you, in Muggle studies."
"Well you're doing it wrong," she said helplessly.
"Exactly how many ways can there be to cut cookies?" Sirius wondered.
"Only one right way," Lily said, matter-of-factly. "First, you put the cutter in some flour." She demonstrated using the neat sprinkling of flour beside the dough. "Then you put your cutter down near the edge so that you can get more cookies without having to re-roll the dough too many times."
"So that's why you were pouring flour out all over the counter," Sirius remarked. "I was wondering."
"Why did you think I was doing it?" Lily asked.
"I don't know," Sirius admitted. "No reason, I guess."
"Well, there is a reason," Lily told him. "It keeps the dough from sticking to the cookie cutter."
Sirius poked at the dough in the cookie cutter and ended up mangling the bell before getting it onto the tray. "Okay, so I'll do it your way."
For the next ten minutes they happily cut out the cookies until they had filled up the tray and Lily placed it in the oven. "Tempus narbit," she incanted, casting a spell that would let her know when the cookies were ready.
Lily threw the remainder of the dough that couldn't be made into cookies into the bowl and looked around the kitchen and the mess on the counter. "Do you feel any particular need to clean?" she asked Sirius.
He snorted, spilling a bit of icing sugar on his robes. "You're kidding, right?" he asked. "I didn't even help you bake. There's no way I'm helping to clean up."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Taking another look, Lily came to a decision. Rolling up her sleeves, she announced, "I'm cheating." She used her wand and magicked all of the mess away, including the nearly empty bag of icing sugar right out of Sirius' hand.
"I wasn't finished with that," Sirius said indignantly.
"So? Besides, you'll want to save room for the cookie dough."
"Cookie dough?"
"It's the best part," Lily promised. She picked up the bowl and, cradling it in her arms, hopped up onto the counter. Sirius pulled himself up beside her. "Want some?" she asked, holding out the bowl to him.
He pinched a piece off the ball and stuck it in his mouth. "Mmm," he murmured, closing his eyes.
"Better than icing sugar, isn't it?" Lily asked, putting some dough into her own mouth.
"Much," Sirius agreed, licking his lips. He reached out and grabbed more cookie dough.
The door to the classroom opened, and they both looked over, not overly concerned to be caught. As it turned out, it was James who entered.
"What are you guys doing here?" James asked.
"Making shortbread," Sirius answered. "How'd you find us?"
"Map," James answered, holding up the piece of parchment.
"Why are you back so soon?" Lily asked.
James came fully into the classroom and closed the door behind him. "Soon? I've been gone for three hours," he said, puzzled.
"Three hours?" exclaimed Lily. "But - I thought - " She looked over at Sirius, hoping he could explain.
"I didn't go searching for you immediately after the others left," he said. "Otherwise you might slip off and ambush James after all. Be proud of me; I managed to keep myself entertained for two hours all by myself."
"Very good, Padfoot. You're growing up," James said dryly. Lily and Sirius had remained on the counter, eating the dough, obviously too comfortable to move. By now, James had walked over to Lily.
"Kiss," she instructed him, leaning forward and pointing to her lips.
He obeyed, kissing her gently. "You taste good," he commented.
"It's the cookie dough." She took a bit of dough and held it out for James. He dutifully tasted it.
"Very good," he said approvingly.
"Get a room," Sirius said nonchalantly. "You couldn't wait five more
minutes to come back, could you?"
"Why?" James asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "What happens in five minutes?"
"We would have been finished the cookie dough and wouldn't have to share it with you."
"Technically we don't have to share it," Lily said, bringing the bowl closer to her. "We can eat the rest of it ourselves and ignore him."
"Too late. You've already given some to James," Sirius said.
"Just a taste," Lily protested.
"You know, I am right here," James said pointedly. "You don't have to talk about me as if I weren't in the room." He saddled up on the counter beside Lily.
Sirius snatched the bowl out of Lily's hands and put it on the other side of him, as far away from James as possible.
"Hey!" Lily whined. She reached over to try to get the bowl and ended up sprawled across Sirius.
"Honestly," James said, shaking his head. "Can't I leave you two alone for three hours?"
"You're just jealous because your woman prefers me," Sirius said in a macho voice.
"What?" James asked, finding it all very amusing.
"Excuse me?" Unlike her boyfriend, Lily's voice was bordering on shrill and her eyes were blazing.
"Hey," Sirius said defensively, "I just call them as I see them. You're the one on my lap."
In one fluid motion, Lily smacked Sirius across the cheek, grabbed the bowl, rolled off Sirius, and ran over to James.
"Oww," Sirius said, holding his face where a red mark was forming. "James, your girlfriend is violent."
"A word to the wise - next time don't call her my 'woman'. That's what'll get you slapped."
"You also lost the cookie dough," Lily said, taking great pleasure
A markedly mischievous glint appeared in Sirius' eyes and he leapt off the counter and with long strides, started for Lily. She squealed and hid behind James.
"How did I get in the middle of this?" James lamented.
Sirius rushed Lily knocking James over in the process. The cookie bowl went flying, but thankfully stayed upright. Without checking to make sure the Head Boy was okay, Sirius scrambled for the bowl, grabbing it at the same time as Lily. A brief tug-a-war ensued, but it was put to an irrupt stop when Lily's magical buzzer went off. She let go of the bowl and Sirius fell back.
"The cookies!" she said, getting up and rushing over to the oven. Conjuring up oven mitts, she pulled the trays out and placed them on the stovetop to cool off.
"Aha!" Sirius exclaimed, leaping up triumphantly. "I got the cookie dough. I am the ultimate champion of the world!"
"Don't be a prat, Sirius. You only got the cookie dough because I gave it to you," Lily said, still fussing over the cookies.
"I think not. I think you gave up just because you knew you couldn't win and didn't want to bear the disgrace of losing to yours truly."
"You're right about one thing," Lily said. "It would be a disgrace to lose to you. I mean, losing to James is perfectly acceptable. At times," she added, glaring at her boyfriend, who had by now picked himself off the ground and was dusting off his robes. "Occasionally losing to Remus or even Peter is completely understandable. Losing to you, on the other hand, would be humiliating."
"Ha ha," Sirius said dryly. "That still doesn't change the fact that you did lose."
Placing her hands on her hips, Lily said, "I did not. Tell him James."
James looked at his feuding friend and girlfriend. "If I do," he asked, "do I get a cookie?"
"Of course," Lily said brightly.
"Okay. Padfoot, Lily won, not you."
"Traitor," Sirius muttered darkly.
To be continued
Saturday, December 22, 2001
