Chapter Seven: Christmas Morning and The Announcement

(A/N-It's back to Lily's POV, 'kay?)

My eyes shot open. It was one of those dreams, again. Those horrifying dreams that just happened to haunt you for a long time.

~Maybe I should put a Memory Charm on myself so I'll forget it...~

"Obliviate!" I whispered, pointing my wand at myself. I instantly forgot my dream.

~What am I doing awake at four-thirty in the morning? I'd better go back to sleep.~

But I couldn't. Try as I might, I wasn't able to fall asleep again. So, I decided that I might as well try to get some homework done. I went to my trunk that said 'Lily R. Evans'.

~Oops! I forgot that I finished my homework last night...~

Then I decided to finish reading 'Hogwarts: A History'. I only had seven- hundred and thirty-two pages left... Tip-toeing down to the common-room, I sat down in front of the fire and started to read, when I heard voices outside the portrait-hole.

~Of course! It's the full moon...the boys had been out with Remus, and now they're coming back ...~

They fell through the portrait-hole and into the common-room.

"Ouch! That's my neck, Padfoot!" was James' voice from the left.

"Oh, sorry, Prongs! I'll move over here..." came Sirius' voice from the middle.

"Not over here! That's my arm, you imbecile!" Remus whispered angrily, also from the middle.

"Sorry! I'll move over *here* then!" Sirius apologized.

"Please not over here! You're crushing my foot, Sirius!" Peter's whiny voice came from the right.

"Fine, then! I'll just go over to the fire..." Sirius' dark shape formed after coming out under the Cloak.

"Padfoot! What do you think you're doing, sitting on *me*?" I asked, pushing him off.

"Lily? What are you doing here?" Sirius said, obviously confused.

"I couldn't sleep, so I tried to finish 'Hogwarts: A History' down here..." I replied.

"Well, at least it's you, not Annabella or Arabella..." Sirius grinned happily. Then, he looked around and said, "Siriana's sleeping, right? 'Cause she's obviously not here."

"Nope, sorry Pad! Your girlfriend isn't here!" I answered. Sirius flushed. He wasn't used to Siriana being his girlfriend yet. He also wasn't used to dating a girl for more than two weeks.

"Why are you being so noisy, guys? Some people are trying to sleep." Siriana had come down in her pyjamas, yawning.

" 'Ana!" Sirius grabbed Siriana and hugged her.

"Umm...Sirius? What are you doing?" she asked.

"Well, aren't you glad I didn't take any serious damage from tonight?" Sirius replied, grinning, as he put her on the couch.

"Yes, but maybe I can get some sleep? You know, like *sleep*?" Siriana put her arm under her head and closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, and maybe I can get some reading done? You know, like *reading*?" I picked up my book and ran my eyes down the page, pretending to read.

"Ha ha. Yeah, you two girls can do *whatever* you want. But *I'm* going to...umm...what was I going to do?" Sirius was confused again, or so it seemed.

" *You* were going to read, too, Sirius." James told him. "And *I* was going to read, also, as well as Remus and Peter."

Siriana opened her eyes and sighed.

"Fine, fine. I guess I'll read, too! Just let me get my book, 'Light and Darkness'." she ran up to the girls dorm and cam back a minute later with a huge, navy-blue book. "Only one thousand and eighty-four pages to read, then I have to read the 'Darkness' part, which is three thousand pages long..." Siriana smiled as she opened the book and started to read. "I'm hoping to become an Auror someday, and I need to know all this stuff about 'Light' and 'Darkness' if I want to become a *good* one."

Sirius stared at her in shock.

"If I knew she was this much of a bookworm..." Sirius trailed off.

"Then you never would've gone out with her?" I asked. Sirius stared at *me* in shock, this time.

"What, are you mad? Hell no! I would have loved her even if she was an ugly old bat!" Sirius said reasonably.

"I am aware that you are talking about me, Lily Evans and Sirius Black." said Siriana without taking her eyes off the book. I grinned at Sirius. His mouth was hanging open.

"Okay..." Sirius closed his eyes and a moment later, a large book came down from the boys' dorm. No one seemed to have noticed that Sirius used his telekentic powers to do that.

"Okay, did everyone just forget about me and my injured arm?" said Remus, plainly annoyed.

"And what about me and my foot?" asked Peter squeakily.

"Oops, sorry for our ignorance, Moony, Wormtail." I said, turning to look at them.

"That's okay." They said in unison.

"Actually, I'm pretty tired. I am the you-know-what after all." Remus whispered very quietly so we could barely even hear it. So, he went up the boys' dorm.

"James?" asked Peter tentively.

"Yeah, Pete?" James answered.

"Can I use your Invisibility Cloak for a moment? I...umm...forgot something on the grounds..." Peter said nervously.

"Sure...just make sure you don't lose it." Peter left. "I feel pretty tired, too. What time is it?"

"It is..." I looked at the clock. "currently 7:45 AM on Saturday, December the 25th." I said, answering James' question.

"It's Christmas, already?" asked Siriana, finally taking her eyes off the book.

"Yep! And speaking of Christmas," Sirius walked over to Siriana and pointed to the ceiling. "There's a Christmas Mistletoe!" Siriana giggled and kissed him.

"Hi, James, Sirius, Lily, Siriana." said Annabella who was finally awake. She tossed her honey-blonde hair and batted her aqua-blue eyes as she looked at James. She was the 'Leader' of the 'James Potter Flirt-Club'.

~God, I hate her. She's just *so* annoying! Or maybe it's jealousy?~

"Umm...I'm going down to breakfast, now. It *is* Christmas, maybe Dumbledore has something special planned?" I said, banishing my book back up to the girls' dorm. Siriana did the same.

"I'll come with you, Flare. I've already read about eighty-four pages! Now I only have one thousand to go!" Siriana stepped out into the Gryffindor corridor outside the common-room. I shrugged with one last look at James and followed her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I have an announcement to make." said Dumbledore as we finished eating.

"See? Told you he'd have something planned." I told the Marauders and Siriana.

"Tonight, starting at 9:00 PM, we will have an annual Christmas Masquerade for fourth-years and over. It is, as you may have guessed, formal, and the band will be the 'Weird Sisters'. Your masks will be in your trunks. That is all. I hope you will enjoy this Christmas Day." Dumbledore announced.

~A masquerade? I don't know about this...~



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Author's Note: Yeah, a masquerade. I know that a lot of writers had made a masquerade, but I just felt like they should have one in my fic. Aren't they cool? Well, bye for now! And don't forget to...

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