Author's Note:

Next chapter, as promised. Late for the holidays, but at least it's finally completed. (:

Protective!James, silliness galore, J/L fluff, and a little A/V fluff too. Yay! Enjoy!

Loligo7687

Chapter 10 – Christmas/Yule Ball

Well, what else can I say about Christmas? Gifts, trees, ribbon, mistletoe, bells, and ham? Yeah, the good old holidays! That means I have time away from classes, detention, and McGonagall. It's the best present ever!

Albus, Lily, and I were required to come home for holiday every year. Save for this year, because the Triwizard Tournament was being held at Hogwarts for the first time in nearly twenty seven years. I think McGonagall just wanted to spite me for the seven years of grief I've given her. I'm convinced.

Anyway, that meant that the highly popular Yule Ball was scheduled for the night before Christmas, and therefore we were all staying to attend it. Then again, it meant that I had more time to spend with Lauren. Now that's a better present, I'd say. Screw the other one.

Lauren and I were obviously attending together. That was given. Albus and Vega were going together, as well as Rose and Scorpius. Lily and Hugo were too young (fourth years and over, unless accompanied by an older student), so I didn't have to worry about them. My overprotective personality was kicking in, and it was going to be a detriment to my fun. However, I was going to try to be the relaxed older sibling/cousin. Yeah, right.

Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were allowed to attend, since they were part of the tournament. Much to my disappointment, they hardly interacted with us Hogwarts kids. Something about the last tournament didn't go over so well… I don't know really… that's one of the stories I'm not allowed to hear until I graduate. And it's too much effort to find out on my own…

The tournament was not only a way to win fame and fortune, but an opportunity to unite under one cause. Though we were three different schools, and had three different champions, it was supposed to tie us together to realize that we were not so dissimilar. But for another chapter, alas!

Now, the Yule Ball was being held in the Great Hall. After dinner, the professors went to work to spruce the place up and make it Christmas themed. A large tree was decorated in the Hall, there was mistletoe, and frilly decorations scattered about the room. The band was toward the back, while a cleared out space left room for people to dance. It was quite lovely.

A general tip to keep in mind is that you should never tell a girl to hurry up. Putting time and effort into their appearance is very important to them, and ultimately might get you attacked with various spells. Yeah, don't do that.

Moral of the story: Don't do the aforementioned thing, really. You'll regret it. Lauren, Rose, Vega, and Lily are all the same. Crazy. Hm, I think we've already gone over how insane girls are. It's a repeating pattern I'd say.

Derek and I were ready in a matter of minutes. All we needed to do really was put on our dress robes and brush our hair to make it look nicer than normal. That took all of what… ten minutes? Maybe? And that was an hour before the Yule Ball even started. Albus even beat the girls. Derek and I were meandering around the Entrance Hall while we waited, and then decided to pick on Albus to entertain ourselves until the girls arrived. It was quite amusing.

Oh, honestly, it wasn't that mean. We just teased him about Vega.

Derek's date arrived first. She was from Beauxbatons, and strangely nice. I'd always to try to talk to a group of giggling girls from there, but they'd just continue laughing and roll their eyes. To say the least Derek was one lucky guy. Eh, I tried not to look at her low-cut dress. Was that even allowed? Anyway, he gave me a smirk and entered the Great Hall, leaving Albus and I alone.

"Who's that bird?" Albus asked, shrugging.

"Some Beauxbatons girl, I dunno," I replied. "He loves speaking French, so I'm sure he's in the high heavens now."

We leaned against one of the walls, endlessly waiting for our dates to come. Ten minutes went by, then fifteen, and I was growing a little impatient. What was taking so long?

The next person we recognized was Scorpius Malfoy. I finally had to admit the fact that Rose had obvious feelings for him, and they were returned. I also had to admit that Albus and Scorpius were friends, being in the same House and year. Refraining from smirking at him, he greeted us cordially and stood next to Albus.

"Did you see Rose yet?" he asked, and we shook our heads.

"Lauren and Vega haven't come yet either," Albus said, shrugging. "They're just taking their time, I just know it."

I tapped my foot impatiently. "I didn't dance with McGonagall for nothing," I said, sulking.

We had dance lessons, since the type of dancing nowadays would sure cause McGonagall to faint. She insisted on teaching the proper way of dancing, and therefore needed a partner. She called me out, naturally, and it was the most awkward and weird thing I have ever done. I don't think I slept for days, and Lauren couldn't keep a straight face for the next week.

Moral of the story: Don't ever dance with McGonagall. It's unnecessary and awkward. And your girlfriend will laugh at you for an entire week.

"It's seven fifty one!" I complained, looking at my watch. "It's starts in nine minutes!"

Albus gave me a stern look. "Look, James, you don't need to be there right at eight. You have four hours to dance. No big deal if you miss a half hour or less."

Easy for him to say. I looked toward the stairs again, and there, the girls from Ravenclaw appeared. Rose and Vega were all prettied up and smiling. Scorpius and Albus immediately took the cue to meet them, and each raised their arm to allow the girls to loop their arm around theirs. Lauren was going to be the death of me, I swear. She was probably doing this on purpose.

Rose wore a pink dress that touched the floor, and her hair was all pinned up. Vega, on the other hand, wore a purple dress with a shawl. Her hair was down, but the longer pieces of hair were pinned to the side. Their dresses reminded me of Lauren – what in the bloody hell was she wearing again? Did she mention it to me before?

Vega gave me a little wave before they entered, and I sighed rather dramatically. Now I looked like an antisocial prat without a date. Great, just fantastic. Thanks Lauren.

Seven fifty nine. Could she cut it any closer? I closed my eyes momentarily, and when I opened them again, Lauren was standing right in front of me. I had to check to see if she was real or not.

I kissed her on the mouth. "You're real!" I exclaimed.

She smirked. "Of course I am, you git," Lauren replied, pulling me by the wrist.

Lauren chose to wear a green dress. How original. It touched the floor, but the heels she was wearing almost made her taller than me. I didn't really mind that, just the fact that I'd have to avoid stepping on her dress when we danced.

"You know, Rose and Vega beat you here," I commented casually. "That's remarkable."

"I was trying to impress you, James," she pouted, pushing the curls out of her face. I couldn't tell whether she was being sincere or not.

"Well, you didn't need to go and put that extra gunk on your face for me. You're already very beautiful without it on."

Lauren genuinely smiled. We both looked up simultaneously to see mistletoe dangling curiously without a ceiling. She kissed me underneath, until I heard a loud noise that sounded like someone clearing their throat, but it was a tactic to draw attention to that person. I turned, and my eyes widened.

"Run, it's McGonagall!" I said, fearing for my life. We avoided her successfully… for now.

Mixed among the crowd of dancing students, I naturally started searching for Derek and his date. We needed to clear up the bet that Lauren did come, so I could collect my winnings. However, I saw a more disturbing sight… I saw my sister.

"Leave her alone," Lauren warned me, but it was too late for that. She reluctantly followed me to the spot where Lily and her date were dancing. Game on.

"Lily!" I exclaimed, and she turned around. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Don't swear at me," she snapped, continuing to dance in place. "I came with Cass. He's a Slytherin."

Lily wanted to push my buttons too. "What did I tell you, woman?"

"Lauren's a Slytherin."

"She's right, James."

"Don't side with her, Lauren. She's mischievous. How'd you get in?"

"Cassiopeia has connections."

"At thirteen?"

"Yeah, so?"

I bit my knuckle. "I'm proud of you, Lily. I mean it."

She rolled her eyes, but she patted my shoulder. "Thanks James. Besides, Hugo is here too."

Lily continued before I could speak. "Cassiopeia helped them in too. Just enjoy your night, dear brother," she said, turning away.

"I don't think your brother likes me," Cassiopeia said, but I heard it too.

"That's right!" I announced, and Lily turned on me and pushed.

"Go away!" she yelled, and Lauren had to drag me away.

"Can you believe the audacity?" I said, shrugging. Lily took after me, alright. Gryffindor, Quidditch player, mischief maker! We had a lot in common.

"You know what, James?" Lauren said, beginning to dance. "Shut up."

I did. It was in my best interest to. We danced for a lengthy amount time, and we both agreed to go find Derek and/or Albus and Vega. It was going to be interesting to say the least.

Parting the crowd, we pushed through until we came across the French girl and Derek. He twirled her around before saying something French to Lauren and I.

"I don't know what the hell that means Derek, but we just wanted to say hi," I said, slightly irritated. He just laughed.

Lauren narrowed her eyes. "I don't like you, Derek."

Derek stopped laughing. "I don't like you either, Lauren."

"Well, aren't you two the best friends forever!" I joked, earning two glares for that comment. "What?"

"Let's go find Albus and Vega," Lauren said, dragging me in the opposite direction now.

"Bye, Derek. Remember, you owe me from our bet!" I reminded him, but he was already absorbed in his date. Wow.

"What bet?" Lauren inquired.

"Er, nothing," I said quickly. "Is that Albus and Vega over there?"

I didn't know why she was so into finding Albus and Vega, besides the fact that Albus was in her House and she and Vega didn't really get along too well. Eventually they might, but Lauren was too brazen and mean. Vega was completely the opposite.

Once we found the couple, I wanted to stab my eyes out. They were kissing! My retinas were burning! Lauren told me to grow up, so I had to.

"Hey there," Lauren greeted, breaking my brother and friend apart.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you two just kissed, okay?" I added in, and Vega was instantly attacking me for my statement.

"Like you and Lauren don't kiss all the time," she retorted.

"Well, that's different."

"How so?"

I paused. "We're seventeen, you're fourteen."

"That's a well-thought out argument."

"I know."

Vega rolled her eyes. A slow song interrupted our quarrel, so I decided to take the opportunity to get close to Lauren. I put my hands around her waist (Harry's advice, I assure you, as I eye roll), and pulled her toward me. She put her arms around my neck as we swayed gracefully to the rhythm.

"Well, this is nice."

"Mhm."

Lauren suddenly giggled. "McGonagall really taught you how to dance."

I grimaced. "Yeah, yeah sure. I was born with these moves, you know."

"Aren't you the—"

"There are young ears here!"

"Well, they should be more worried about their eyes."

We kissed. It was splendid. By that time, however, it was nearing midnight. Couples were beginning to file out, and Lauren and I decided that we'd antagonize people we knew to further show how much we deserved to be Head Boy and Girl.

Rose and Scorpius kissed briefly, causing me to squirm. "Get back to Ravenclaw Tower, missy!" I exclaimed, and Rose gave me a look that could kill.

All in all, it was a good night. I think, anyway.

When I awoke the next morning, I saw Derek trying to sneak into bed. This was going to be good, I just knew it.

"So, ah, Derek… where have you been?" I asked.

He blushed very visibly. "Er, nowhere. I just checked to see if they had early breakfast."

I gave him a look. "The truth?"

"Another day," he said, throwing the covers on himself.

Moral of the story: This might require a list format…

--DON'T DANCE WITH MCGONAGALL. Heed the capitals.

--Being a protective older sibling can really annoy the younger siblings.

--You can get into the Yule Ball with connections.

--Girls take forever to get ready.

--Kissing is awesome.

--Learn French (the language, of course, kiddos).

Well, a short helpful hint for Christmas. Buy everyone close a present. If you don't, then, people start to hate you. So I bought Lauren, Derek, the siblings, and cousins something each. Hogsmeade is a life-saver. Literally.

Lily hated me for an entire month until I gave her my old broomstick. Just an example.

Happy Holidays!