Chapter 6: The Night Before Christmas
Harry was up and about for the next few days and by Friday, he was well enough to resume life without any mark left of his burn. This gave him an opening to go shopping for Christmas presents. Harry and Ginny had invited Lily and Alice over for Christmas as well and Harry hadn't shopped for anyone yet.
Harry decided to get a few special presents for his parents, Sirius, Remus and Alice, but he had no idea what would be special to his parents or Alice for that matter. He had never had the chance to actually get to know them so it was a bit difficult to find things they may enjoy. He knew for sure his father always played with a snitch and often nicked it from the school, so he decided to buy him a few Quidditch things. He popped into the store and grabbed a snitch that came in its very own birdhouse-shaped box. He decided that along with it a broom servicing kit would work nicely. He decided to give Sirius a box of Weasley Wizard Wheezes that he had rather than buy him a present. He knew Remus would like a nice book that could be used to do something useful, but what would Remus like a book on?
Harry grabbed a book called "Werewolves and seven hundred seventy seven ways of making transformations easier." He decided to grab a book on Aurors for Alice entitled "Aurors and their most acclaimed accomplishments." For Lily book hunting was fairly simple. He just dissolved over to muggle London and paid for two novels, Romeo and Juliet and another one he vaguely remembered Hermione raving about called A Tale of Two Cities. He had one last stop on his list.
Harry apparated to a muggle jewelry store owned by a squib to buy something for Ginny. He had decided to buy her a nice bracelet, but he wanted it to be special. He looked around and found a bracelet with a picture of a beautiful dragon on it. Harry picked it out and paid for it before leaving the shop. Feeling satisfied with his purchases, he decided to the three broomsticks for a firewhiskey. In mid apparition, he realized he had forgotten to buy Lion a present. He changed route in mid apparation and set course for Simon's Snake Sanctuary.
When he arrived, he realized two things; one, he was in Knockturn alley and two, he had splinched himself. He looked down to find a small chunk of his right thigh was missing and blood was seeping out of the wound. He would have to show that to the matron later. He walked into the shop and decided to buy a small jungle gym for Lion. "He could use the bloody exercise anyway." He muttered after he paid for the gift.
He dissolved back to the hospital wing and alerted the matron to his injury. After being scolded, Harry was healed and he left the wing happy. After storing his packages down in his room, he went down to help decorate the great hall. Professors and students were creating ornaments, hanging up mistletoe and making the mood merrier together. Even Snape wasn't there to sulk around.
The Christmas Eve feast was delicious and Harry had managed to convince the thirty students there to sit on one table together, even the lone Slytherin had agreed. After the feast, the two professors and the five students made their way up to the professors' quarters to sleep. All of them planned to sleep in the common room so as to wake up to celebrate Christmas.
The two professors were asleep instantly and James and Sirius busied themselves with putting silencing charms around the two so the kids could stay awake and not wake them.
"Hey Prongs, wanna head down for some food?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah let's go Paddy; it'll do us some good. I bet the two ladies are hungry anyway." He agreed. "Come on moony let's go."
"Guys are you sure you want to go, after all there are still rules." Remus said, and the other two just nodded. "There, my duty is done; I told you the stakes and reprimanded you as I should have. My duty as a prefect done and as a Marauder, I think I'll come with you." He said smiling.
"So that's where you get food for our parties from." Alice said in comprehension. "We always wondered where all that food came from."
"Why are you three so intent on breaking the rules? I mean at least Remus tried to stop you, but you two insist on it." Lily said exasperated, and then added with more curiosity, "you know where the kitchens are?"
"Of course Evans, we know everything. In fact, I could show you the entire castle in all its glory if you go on a date with me." James said smugly.
"How loud are the silencing charms?" She asked Sirius.
"Dead strong, so strong that they could block out a banshee."
"Thank you. JAMES POTTER, IF YOU EVER ASK ME THAT QUESTION AGAIN I WILL HEX YOU SIX WAYS TO NEW YEARS AND BACK! IN FACT IF YOU EVER ASK ME AGAIN I'LL THROW YOU AND YOUR BIG HEAD INTO THE LAKE AND LET THE GIANT SQUID HAVE ITS WAY WITH YOU!" She screamed.
James put a finger on his chin and screwed his face up in concentration. "So is that a yes?"
Lily turned beet red and it seemed she would have steam pouring out of her ears soon. "POTTER I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" She yelled and began to chase after him with a wand. She fired hex after hex at him and he just dodged each one. A few he blocked, once he realized he actually had his wand on him. This was getting out of hand. She was starting to use hexes Potter had taught them in class, the dangerous ones.
"Sorry Lily, I really am, please stop!" He begged, and she did.
'Potter never begged before' she thought. It was enough a surprise for her to lose all trails of thought. But this new persona was gone faster than it came and he was back to his usual smug self in no time. Just then, they both turned as the portrait door opened and Remus and Sirius came out with plates decked with food.
"Merry Christmas kiddies, now eat up!" Sirius said seeming a bit delirious.
"Sirius and I talked about muggle parties and how helium is used in balloons. I showed him what Helium does when you inhale it and he asked if he could see. I conjured up a balloon and did it and Sirius wanted to try. He did it about thirty times." He explained.
While Lily howled with laughter at this, James and Alice looked perplexed (both being pureblood). After lily finished laughing, she explained. "Helium makes your voice really high and people take it for laughs, but if you take in too much, you feel lightheaded and you really lose your ability to think straight. It wouldn't be this bad on a normal person, but Sirius can barely think straight and he took thirty hits! We should watch what happens; I wanna see Black make a fool of himself." She said and the four sane one's howled with laughter.
Sirius had, while the others talked decided to try to do a headstand. "Look at me!!!! I'm holding the whole world in my hands! I've flipped it upside down!" He said and giggled causing him to fall. James gave Remus a smirk and they both nodded. James pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey and Remus conjured a huge glass. It dawned on Lily and James what they were planning to do.
"You're going to get your best friend drunk? Isn't that a bit mean?" Alice asked.
"No way, we owe him for Halloween anyway." The two chorused together. And watched as Sirius downed the glass. Now he was high on Helium and drunk on FW; this was going to be interesting.
"Hey, who's spinning the room? Stop it, that's not nice! And why is the moon flashing on and off? Stop it you stupid orb or I'll prank ya!" He yelled at a camera Remus was holding. Suddenly he walked over to a chair and tried to sit down only to sit down in thin air. "Hey why'd you move you damn chair? Damn, now there are two of you and you're both spinning! Why great god of spinning thing did you do this to me? Is this revenge because of that spinning hex I placed on mother last summer? Please stop it damn you, I'll do anything!"
James snickered at this while Remus shushed him and slowly handed him the camera. Remus pointed his wand at his throat and whispered "Echous" and his voice became a loud echo. "Sirius black, to see that you are telling the truth pledge your undying love for Severus Snape!" He roared, trying to keep from laughing.
"I Sirius Black declare my undying love for Snivellus Snape." The others roared with laughter, even Lily who used to be good friends with Snape. Suddenly Sirius walked over to James. "Hey Prongs, look it's Snivellus over there!" He said pointing to a lamp. "I'm going to hex him into oblivion!" He said and stomped of to duel with the lamp.
"Stupefy!" The lamp crashed to the ground. "Impedimenta!" he cried flinging the hex in a random direction. The curse hit a loveseat, causing it to fall over. "Diffindo!" He cried and hit a coffee table, slicing its legs off. He flicked his wand and Alice was suddenly hanging by her ankle, shrieking.
"GET ME DOWN FROM HERE YOU STUPID OAF!" She screeched.
"No can do Snivellus! I have you now and I'm never letting you go!" He said and advanced towards Alice. He cast a badly placed blasting hex, which missed Alice by a mile and instead hit a window. Glass poured everywhere. "Oh crap, James, I'll save you; Flagrate!" He screamed and the curtains caught on fire.
"OH SHIT! POTTER LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE NOW WITH YOUR BLOODY PRANK ADDICTION!" Lily screamed.
"OH COME ON EVANS, LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME YOU DIDN'T ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTED."
"SHUT UP POTTER, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT I ENJOYED! THIS IS YOUR MESS AND YOU BETTER DO SOMETHING BEFORE WE GET DETENTION! I WILL NOT HAVE MY PERFECT RECORD RUINED BY YOUR BLOODY INSANE PARNKS!
"YOU KNOW, THERE ARE SOME THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GRADES AND RECORD Y'KNOW? BESIDES, YOU KNOW THAT I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE AVOIDING THE TOPIC!"
"WHETHER OR NOT I ENJOYED THIS INSANE METHOD OF ENTERTAINMENT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU WERE THE ONE'S WHO GOT HIM DRUNK AND MADE HIM BLAST A PROFESSORS' ROOM CLEAN OUT AND YOU SHOULD TAKE THE BLAME. FIX THIS BLOODY MESS POTTER BEFORE I BREAK YOUR FACE!" Lily growled. Remus found this a good time to intervene.
"Umm… James, lily do you mind helping a bit with the cleaning? We have only about an hour before Potter and Weasley wake up and we need to clean this entire room out." Remus reasoned and they both turned around huffing angrily. Remus sighed, the night before Christmas and they had already begun to quarrel. This was going to be a very interesting Christmas indeed.