Chapter 10: Prongs and Presents

Dear Diary,

Happy Christmas holiday! Gryffindor Tower is nearly empty; most of the kids have gone home because of the whole You-Know-Who deal. Those of us (at least the people I know) who are still here are here either because their parents are out on an Auror mission (Me, James, Siri, Frank, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett), on vacation (Lily and Remus) or just because all their friends are staying (Peter, Amber and Alice). It should be pretty fun…especially when Siri sees what James and I got him together.

Love,
Adriyana

Dear Diary,

We played Truth or Dare again today. Potter dared Agie to wear antlers on her head until Christmas Day. I don't know how he knew the spell for that one, but it looks pretty hilarious. She tried to ram him when she realized she even had to sleep with them on. Happy days!

Sincerely,
Lily

Lily put down her diary, and looked up. Adriyana's antlers were caught on one of her bedposts and she was wriggling around madly and trying to break free. Lily would have helped her, but she was too busy rolling on the floor laughing. Amber was laughing too, but Alice had run out of the room.

"Where's…she…going?" Adriyana said, jerking her head in between each word in her desperate attempt for freedom.

"She's…go-going…to…to–" Amber said, struggling to talk and laugh at the same time. At that moment, Alice ran back into the room.

She was holding Frank's camera, and she quickly snapped a picture of Adriyana struggling. Once the picture was taken, Lily and Amber regained their composure and began helping Adriyana get unstuck. She kept moving when they got closer and almost poked their eyes out. Lily had the strange feeling this wasn't entirely an accident.

When they had finally freed Adriyana, the four of them sat down on the carpet.

"What else is there to do, guys? We've already played Truth or Dare, painted our nails, braided each other's hair, and talked about our feelings…and it's only noon," Lily said.

"Well, we could play Quidditch…" Adriyana suggested. "I mean, I know it's December and freezing, but we're here, and we have basically the whole Quidditch pitch to ourselves."

Amber, Adriyana, and Alice all stared at Lily. "What?" she said.

"Well," Alice said, "this is about the time when you object and say something like, 'Not a chance. Playing Quidditch means inviting Potter to play Quidditch, and there's no way I'm spending my holiday flying around a frozen pitch with him!'…or something like that."

"Well, I will be freezing my arse off and be spending all day with Ja–Potter…but what the hell, I'm in if you guys are in," Lily said. They stared at her for a full five minutes before Adriyana and Amber ran off to get the boys.

In total, there were eleven of them in Gryffindor Tower that were willing to play Quidditch in January (Including Gideon Prewett, Frank's best mate, and his younger brother, Fabian. Gideon was in his seventh year with Frank and Fabian was in his fifth). James, of course, was leading the whole event; he was abnormally peppy ever since he had found out Lily wanted to play, even after she knew he was playing.

"Okay, we need one more player, and we'll play with only two Chasers," James informed them all as they stood in the common room.

"Well, nobody else in here wants to play, so let's walk there, and if we don't find anyone along the way, then one team will rotate players or something," Remus reasoned. "Or I can sit out. I can't play this game very well."

"Remy, I'm sure you're not as bad as you say," Amber said.

"Well, do you know that hole in the equipment shed?" Peter asked her.

"Yeah, why?"

"In our third year, Moony decided to help Padfoot with 'Beater practice,' and that's what ended up happening."

"We weren't practicing anywhere near there, either," Sirius added.

"Okay…" Adriyana said, as they approached the Great Hall. "Let's see…Oh! Zach White is in here! He's on the Ravenclaw team, right?"

"Yeah, but then I call being on Alice's team!" Lily said.

"Why?" Frank asked.

"He'll be too busy staring at her to play. Did you see him at the dance?" Lily asked smiling.

"Did you see him at the dance?" Adriyana said, pointing at Frank. "He was looking at someone besides White."

Frank became very interested in his shoes all of a sudden, and Alice smiled at him and took his hand. Amber went up to Zach and started talking to him; eventually he nodded and followed all of them out to the Quidditch pitch.

They split up into teams, one team consisting of Adriyana, Sirius, Gideon, Frank, Alice, and Remus, and the other James, Lily, Zach, Fabian, Amber, and Peter.

It was freezing outside, but they still played for hours. James and Lily were their team's Chasers, and he was excited to say they made an amazing team. She was actually quite good at the game.

"I think my nose is frozen!" Adriyana called as the eleven of them headed back up to the common room, Zach having left them to go back to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Consider yourself lucky…I won't even tell you what I need to thaw out," Fabian said, running a hand through his red hair.

"Fabian, that better not mean what I think it means!" Adriyana exclaimed. Fabian just raised his eyebrows.

"Mistletoe." Adriyana said the new password as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. She swung open and they all went inside, and saw that the house elves had put out eleven mugs of hot chocolate, a gigantic bowl of marshmallows, and some other snacks in front of the roaring fire.

"I guess there's nothing to do now that almost all of the school is gone," Lily said.

"I love this place," Gideon sighed.

Sirius was having the best Christmas holiday of his life. Of course, there wasn't much competition…his past fifteen Christmases were spent at Grimmauld Place (his parents forced him home), which wasn't very festive, to say the least. Now, sitting in front of the fire in Gryffindor Tower on Christmas Eve with Adriyana resting her head on his shoulder (well, kind of…her head was oddly positioned because of the antlers), he was finally having a Merry Christmas.

Adriyana wrapped her arms tighter around him and sighed. It looked like she was thinking the same thing.

Fabian, Peter, and Frank were having a contest to see who could fit the most marshmallows in his mouth. Sirius and Adriyana were watching the competition with mild interest when Gideon and James came and sat down next to them, tired of cheering on the three boys.

"You know, Gid, you and Fabian look nothing alike," Adriyana said as Fabian shoved eight marshmallows in his mouth. It was true. Fabian had longer, light red hair and dark blue eyes, and Gideon had short and spiky dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes.

"Yeah, I guess," said Gideon.

"Hey, where's Moony? I haven't seen him in a while…" Sirius mused.

"Amber's gone, too…" Lily said, walking up to them. "They both left together a while ago."

"Oh, Merlin…" Adriyana said. "Thanks ever so much for that image, Lils."

"Anytime," Lily said with a grin.

"Mgggph!" Frank called, pointing to his throat to signify that he was choking. Alice panicked and forgot that there was a simple spell to clear Frank's throat pipe. She wrapped her hands behind him and began performing the Heimlich maneuver on him. After a second, about fifty marshmallows shot out of Frank's mouth, showering all of them.

"Oh my God! Frankie, are you all right?" Alice said.

"Yeah…I'm good," Frank said. Then he started laughing. Everyone in the common room got showered with marshmallows. Adriyana had several stuck to her antlers.

"I HATE THESE THINGS!" Adriyana yelled as Lily and Alice laughed. "I keep getting caught on stuff, I can't hug Siri, and I look like a blooming coat rack!"

"Hey!" James said, offended.

"Sorry, James," Adriyana said, sounding confused; she didn't know why he was so mad. "Oh, Merlin, it's nearly midnight…we should go sleep soon, guys."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "I can barely walk after playing Quidditch for so long," Alice added. "Let me hold your antlers for support as we go up the stairs, Agie."

"I hope you're kidding," Adriyana mumbled, before the three of them trudged up the stairs.

The boys (minus Remus) headed for the stairs to the boys' dormitories, and Sirius suddenly realized how much his muscles ached. He flopped onto his bed, falling asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

"OI! PADFOOT WAKE UP! IT'S CHRISTMAS!" James yelled, and Sirius opened his eyes, the bright dormitory coming into focus.

"Morning, Prongs…Happy Christmas," Sirius mumbled, then he noticed that Remus was back and awake. "Happy Christmas, Moony…Wormtail."

"Happy Christmas, Padfoot. C'mon, let's open these presents!" Peter said, motioning towards the foot of Sirius' bed, where a pile of presents was sitting.

Sirius jumped off his bed and landed in front of the pile of presents, picking up a big, flat present that said, "To Padfoot, From Moony," on it, and tearing the paper off.

James said what Sirius was thinking, apparently having opened the same present as him. "Wow, Moony, thanks!"

Remus had given Sirius a sign that said, "Beware Of Dog," which Sirius promptly took and used a Sticking Charm to put over his bed. Sirius noticed James doing the same thing, except his sign said, "Deer Crossing," instead. Peter's sign said, "Speed Limit 45," for lack of a better rat-themed sign, and Peter liked it very much.

Sirius opened all of his presents (which took a short time, because all of the others had more presents than him) and all that was left in his pile now was a thin envelope.

'Hmm, that's odd, I didn't get anything from Prongs or Agie… I wonder if they got lost?' Sirius thought, scratching his head. He opened the envelope, which he now noticed had his name on it in purple ink.

A piece of paper fell out of the envelope. There was nothing written on it. This struck Sirius as very strange.

"Padfoot, what'd you get from Agie?" Remus asked. James looked up at him.

"…just a blank bit of parchment," Sirius said.

"Me, too…I mean, from Star," Remus said.

"Look, guys, my mum gave me enough fudge to share! We can–"

"OW! HOT!" Remus screamed, interrupting Peter's rant. He threw his piece of paper in the air. Sirius immediately picked up his own paper, which he had discarded, and saw that it was no longer blank.

Ha! Gotcha Siri!

We got Remy, too.

"Ha! Moony? Do you know what this is?"

"Lethal paper of doom?"

"No! It's that paper the girls use to talk to each other with! And they gave us one!"

You guys burned Moony with this thing. He called it the 'Paper of Doom'…you're murderers!…hand murderers.

Remy, are you alright?

"Padfoot, this is great…how do I work it?"

"Just tap the paper with your wand," Sirius said.

Siri, your wand is resting on the paper…and you can write on it, manually too. This way's just easier.

Agie? This is a fantastic present.

This? This isn't your present. You'll get it later.

What? You mean there's more?

From James and me. Am's got something for you too, Remus. Now I've gotta go, I haven't opened my presents yet. Bye!

Sirius could only stare at the paper, confused.

Adriyana (now antler-free) tucked her own piece of parchment back into her front pocket and looked at the pile of presents that sat in front of her. She had opened nearly all of them, and they were all wonderful, but there was still one left to open. Her present from Sirius. She had saved the small silver box for last and could barely stand it in its current unwrapped state anymore.

Ash the phoenix landed on Adriyana's shoulder as she watched Lily unwrap the present that she had given her.

Lily opened the box and pulled out from inside a chunky looking silver charm bracelet. The charms on it were actually moving, each one a memory of some of Lily's favorite moments with her friends. Adriyana's personal favorite charm was the "pillow fight" one, which had a picture of Adriyana and Lily beating Alice senseless with their pillows, feathers flying everywhere.

"Agie, it's so lovely!" Lily said, rushing over to hug her, sending Ash flying away.

Adriyana glanced down at the silver box again. For an inanimate object, it was extremely good at taunting her.

"Agie, just open it, already," Amber said, looking up from the Romeo and Juliet book Remus had given her. He had written little love notes on many of the pages--not that Amber let anyone read them, but it was just about the sweetest thing any of them had ever heard. Remus couldn't afford much, but the smile on Amber's face made it look like he had given her the world.

"I swear that box is laughing at me, Am," Adriyana said, giving the box a death glare. She didn't want to open Sirius' present until everyone had finished opening theirs, because she knew when she opened it, she'd go running to Sirius to thank him, and wouldn't see her friends for a good hour or so, because then she and James will give him his present and the three of them would probably use it for a while.

"Agie, last one…Oh, it's from Jam–Potter," Lily said, reading the card and laughing lightly.

"What?"

"Oh, just this card," Lily said. then she opened the package.

"Um…what is it, Lils?" Alice and Amber asked. Adriyana had taken to glaring at the box again.

"Look, guys…this is actually pretty cool," Lily said, almost disbelievingly. She picked up out of the package a sparkly flower.

"It's a lily…made out of sugar?" Amber asked.

"Yeah, I can really eat it," Lily said with a smile.

"What does the card say?" Adriyana asked. Lily handed it to her.

Lily,

This flower is very sweet. Just like you (except when you're threatening me). My mum showed me the spell for this when I was younger. Enjoy, it's as beautiful as you. Plus…it's a lily.

From,
James

"Awwthatsniceareyoudoneyet?" Adriyana shouted. That package was so going to get it for being such a tease.

"Knock yourself out, Agie," Lily said, and Adriyana grabbed Sirius' present and ripped off the card.

Agie,

It took me forever to find the perfect gift, but I think I got it. It reminds me of your eyes. I really hope you like it.

Merry Christmas,
Sirius

Adriyana read the note aloud to everyone.

"Cute," Lily said. They all watched Adriyana rip away the silver paper. A long, thin black box fell out.

Adriyana opened the box and looked inside. Her eyes grew even wider, and before any of them could see what was inside, she ran out the door, box in hand.

"Can I have it now?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"No!"

"Hey, what about–"

"PADFOOT! SHUT UP!" James yelled, causing Peter to scream and throw his chunk of fudge in the air in alarm. It landed on Gideon's head because he happened to be sitting next to them in the common room.

"At least give me a hint…is it bigger than a breadbox?" Sirius said, as the other three boys groaned. Ever since Sirius had found out he was getting a secret joint present from James and Adriyana, he had been trying to guess what it was.

"I won't say anything until Agie comes down," James said, and Sirius' train of thought shifted.

"I hope she likes what I got her," Sirius said. "It took me a REALLY long time to find it."

"I love it, Siri," said a female voice behind them, and he turned around so that he was now nose to nose with Adriyana.

She moved forward, closing the small amount of space between their lips.

"Really?" Sirius asked her as he pulled out of the kiss.

"Sirius…this is so thoughtful and nice…how could I not love it?" she said, holding up the open box. Inside lay the sparkly amethyst necklace that Sirius had spent nearly an hour looking for. It was a simple silver chain with a single, glittering purple gemstone set into it.

"He really got that for you?" Remus asked, staring at the necklace.

Adriyana nodded eagerly and handed Sirius the necklace. "Put it on me?" she asked. James watched sadly as his best friend fastened the necklace. It reminded him of when he had given Lily back her locket. If only Lily would look at him the way Adriyana was looking at Sirius now.

Sirius watched Adriyana as she showed her friends the necklace. He had wanted to find something perfect for her, while still not spending much money–he wasn't exactly rolling in it ever since he had run away from home. But when he looked at Adriyana's eyes, which were already sparkling in happiness, and the way they looked with that necklace…well, he had done a damn good job.

Adriyana laughed at something Lily told her, then walked back over to where Sirius was sitting next to James.

"Ready yet?" she asked James.

"Yeah," James said, as Sirius jumped up off the couch. They were talking about his present…right?

"It's out on the grounds, come on, Siri!" Adriyana said and the three of them ran for the door.

James and Adriyana refused to answer any of Sirius' questions as they headed out to the grounds.

"Where is it?" Sirius asked. The two of them said nothing, just kept walking over to behind Hagrid's hut.

Both of them suddenly stopped short and stepped aside. In front of them was what could only be Sirius' present.

Sirius stared at it for a full five minutes before he could speak.

"Oh…my…God…"