Disclaimer: i don't own any of this expect the plot and a few characters

Christmas Day part 2

The seven of them took their seats at the Gryffindor table and started piling up their plates with food. Charlotte began to scoff down whatever she could find. Remus who was seated beside her just looked on lovingly as she ignored all attempts at communication and fed her obviously starving stomach.

On the other side of the table, Sirius and Sophie were sharing a bowl of porridge. It looked like quite a mess, though neither noticed as they were too interested in each other to care.

For the first time since discovering her feelings towards James, Lily was able to sit comfortably with him just discussing what they had planned to do in the holidays. "I should probably be studying, our N.E.W.T.S aren't that far off now," she said munching on some toast.

"Are you serious!" James exclaimed.

"What?"

"You are the most intelligent girl in the year, with the best memory, there is no need for you to study," he explained.

"As if."

"Seriously, Lily, you could do the N.E.W.T.S in your sleep and still pass."

"I doubt that, but thank you for the confidence."

"Anytime."

Sophie's brother Tom was sitting a little way further down the table alone. "Oi, pip squeak," Sophie called out, gesturing with her finger for him to approach her.

"What do you want Sophie?" he called up the table.

"I want you to do me a favour later."

"What type of favour? And I want to know what's in it for me," he asked, clearly showing his relation to Sophie through the last comment.

"Later on, in the common room, I want you to meet me where I will give you a box. In this box is the next instalment in my torture reign. It's up to you, Tom Lane, to live up to the Lane name and help me on this quest to torture as many 1st years as possible," she said seriously.

"Fine, whatever, as long as they can't pin it on me," he said sliding back down the table.

"Sophie, what are you doing?" Lily asked.

"I am just making sure the 1st years enjoy their first Christmas here."

"Ok, go ahead with it, but please don't let me see you doing it."

"Don't worry, you won't, Tom will be doing it for me," she said happily. "Ah, it's so good to have someone to do my dirty work again."

"You are seriously whacked," Charlotte said.

"And loving every moment of it!"

"Hell no, don't even think about it!" Sophie screamed.

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The six friends were in the middle of the school grounds. They had decided to take a walk after breakfast to enjoy the empty castle. Without even realising it, their feet had led them outside into the open air. There was snow falling steadily around them, building up the deep mounds that already covered the ground. Charlotte and Lily were now walking towards Sophie with large round snowballs in their hands.

"Don't, don't, don't!"

Lily and Charlotte didn't say a word, just kept edging closer to her, grinning.

"Sirius! Sirius, help me!" she screamed.

Sirius didn't move; he just stood on the spot laughing at his girlfriend. Lily and Charlotte had stopped moving. Then in unison, they pelted the snowballs and Sophie.

"Oh, you're going to regret that. IT'S WAR!" she shouted throwing a snowball of her own at Charlotte. It missed her and soared through the air towards James. It hit him hard in the chest. He looked down at his chest where the snow had made impact and then up and Sophie who was looking guilty.

"Oh shit."

"That's right," James said scoping some snow into his hand and aiming his ball at Sophie.

Soon, Remus and Sirius were part of the snowball fight too. They ran around, dodging snowballs here and there and trying to take shelter behind some of the trees on the skirts of the forest. The game took a twist when the boys decided to gang up on the girls.

"Ok, game plan," Charlotte said to Lily and Sophie who were huddled behind one of the larger trees.

"Game plan? Don't we just go out there and throw snowballs?" Lily asked.

"Are you serious? No, of course not, we have to plan this carefully."

"Plan what?"

"Our attack, jeez what kind of snowball fight education have you had?" Charlotte asked.

"Obviously not the same one you had."

"Look, when you grow up with someone like Sirius, you learn these things. So, there are two ways we can go with this. We can stay here, build up our supply of snowballs and wait for them to come. Or we can ambush them and take our chances. What do you think?"

"I say we ambush them! Come on, we can take them, I know we can!" Sophie said with enthusiasm.

"Yes, ok, we'll ambush them. I've had snowball fights with Sirius since I was like five, I know his strategy. He's going to try and build up a small supply then come and attack us here," Charlotte said.

"Yep, so what are we going to do then?" Lily asked.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do, we're going to make a couple of snowballs each, cast that spell that multiplies stuff and then we're going to go to their base. We're gonna have to go in from the sides. Then when we're there, we summon the snowballs that are being made and attack!"

"Wow, complicated!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yeah, well it's gonna have to be if we want to win!"

"God, you're so serious about this."

"Sounds like someone has too much time on their hands," Sophie said.

"No, I just want to beat Sirius. So let's DO IT!" she shouted punching the air.

"Alright, alright," Lily said turning round to make a snowball and laughing.

Once a small pile of snowballs had been created, Charlotte performed the charm and the pile multiplied. Then Charlotte led the other two out from behind the tree and pointed both Sophie and Lily in different directions. The three girls snuck up on the mound of snow the boys were hiding behind. Sophie summoned the snowballs and once they saw them heading their way…"ATTACK!"

The three girls started pelting the snowballs at the boys. Caught unawares, the three boys ducked for cover. It seemed to them that it was raining snowballs. The girls didn't ease up their attack until they heard James, Sirius and Remus calling surrender. Lily and Sophie dropped the balls that were in their hands but Charlotte kept throwing balls at Sirius.

"Charlie, Charlie," Lily called. "Charlie!"

But it seemed Charlotte was in some kind of trance. "Charlie, cease fire!"

Sophie picked up a snowball that was at her feet. She threw it gently at Charlotte were it collided with her side. She dropped the snowball in her hand and turned to Sophie. "Yeah?"

"Are you ok? You're kind of freaking us out."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just want to beat Sirius."

"You beat me, ok, lay off now," he said emerging from behind the mound completely white.

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In the Head's common room after lunch, the six friends were sitting around the fire. Remus was sitting on one of the couches next to Charlotte who had her head on his shoulder. Sophie was sitting on Sirius' lap and Lily was curled up next to James with her head on his chest.

"I know!" Charlotte said sitting up.

What? What do you know?" Sophie asked.

"I know what we can do tonight!"

"Oh, this'll be good," Sirius said.

"Let's have a party!"

"What, you wanna have a party?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, in the Shrieking Shack."

"And who are you going to invite to this party?" James inquired.

"Well, no one, just us."

"Hmm, sounds like a great party," Sophie said sarcastically giving Charlotte the thumbs up.

"Ok, so it's not really a party, but just a gathering of friends with alcohol and music."

"Sounds fun," Remus said, being a good boyfriend and backing up Charlotte.

"Yeah, it does," Sophie agreed.

"What, why the change of heart?" Sirius asked Sophie.

"You heard, there's alcohol involved," she said looking at him. "Please Sirius, let's do it."

"Fine, if Sophie's in then I'm in."

"Yay, come one Lily and James."

"Alright, but I'm not going to let you get excessively drunk, do you remember what happened last time? Lily asked.

"Yeah, ok, fine, but you're coming?" Charlotte asked excitedly.

"Yep, but only if James comes too," Lily said turning to James.

"Of course I'm coming!"

"Cool, so we just have to get some alcohol and-"

"How could you not have alcohol?" Sirius cut in.

"I do, just not enough for all of us, so we have to get that. Do we want to get food, it'll probably be right after dinner so I don't know," Charlotte mumbled.

"Hey, calm down," Sophie said.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I just want to be prepared."

"Oh my god, that is so not you, that's something I would say," said Lily.

"Yeah, well tonight is going to be special."

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In the Great Hall at dinner time, there was only one table in the centre of the room instead of the usual four. The golden plates and cutlery lined the table indicating about thirty or so guests. The Gryffindors took their seats at the table. They saw that Tom was also already seated. He looked up at Sophie and winked.

"Awesome, the plan is going ahead," Sophie said putting her thumb up.

"Oh God," Lily said shaking her head. Slowly the seats began to fill up and before they knew it Dumbledore had risen from his seat at the head of the table. All heads turned to look at the headmaster who was standing with his arms by his side smiling at the group of people who had stayed for the holidays. "Good evening, and Merry Christmas," he said jubilantly.

People muttered 'Merry Christmases' in return before he went on. "I hope that everyone has had an enjoyable Christmas Day and everyone received plenty of presents. Enjoy the rest of the holidays although I would like to remind you all that if you have homework it would be most beneficial to you to do it sometime before the start of the new term because we would hate you to get behind." At this point he looked to James and Sirius.

"Now, I would like to introduce to you the Roberts," he said making a gesture towards a small family that were sitting on Dumbledore's right. They hadn't been noticed until now. There was a man who looked to be in his late 40's early 50's. He had light brown hair and hazel eyes. There were a few wrinkles on his forehead. He was quite handsome. Next to him was what Lily presumed was his wife. She had shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes and full lips. She was quite tanned and had the odd freckle on her nose. She looked about 45.

Next to the woman sat a boy about the same age as her. He had blonde hair with a few brown flecks and blue eyes like his mother. But in every other aspect, he was just like his father. Beside him sat a tiny girl of about 7 who had long brown locks and hazel eyes. She looked exactly like her father except in a smaller female form.

"The Roberts are here from Australia. Harry will be joining us here at Hogwarts for the remainder of the year. He has been sorted into Gryffindor. I will of course be introducing him to the rest of the school when the term begins in two weeks time but he and his family have accepted my invitation to stay for the holidays so that he may become accustomed with the school. So welcome Jack, Emily, Harry and Ruby, I hope you enjoy your stay." At this there was applause from the small number of students that were at the table.

"So, without further ado, lets eat!" he said before taking his seat again. The empty dishes were now filled with the most delicious looking food they had seen in a long while. Everyone began to pile up their plates. People paired up and pulled Christmas crackers and talked easily about anything that came to mind. At the head of the table, Dumbledore was chatting to Mr and Mrs Roberts and Harry was barely talking to the little girl that was obviously his younger sister, Ruby. He wasn't talking much, just the occasional polite response to one of Dumbledore's questions.

At one point in the meal, Dumbledore beckoned James, Sirius, and Remus towards him. When they reached him, he turned to them and spoke quietly. "Harry is a 7th year and he will be staying in your dormitory," he said to Remus and Sirius. Then to James, "As Head Boy and a Gryffindor, I would like you, as well as Mr Black and Mr Lupin to help him out over the next few weeks, just until he gets settled in. Ok, I'm counting on you three so please don't let me down."

"Of course Sir," they said together.

"You may return to your seats now."

"Yes Sir."

When desert arrived at the table, a shriek came from the end of the table. A small 1st year girl got up from the table shrieking and ran from the hall. Professor McGonagall excused herself from the Roberts' who she was in mid conversation with and ran after her. The people surrounding where she had been sitting were laughing hysterically. As students and teachers up the other end of the table started looking around and asking what had happened, a large green frog hopped up the table. Dumbledore chuckled and apologised to the Roberts for the incident, explaining that it was customary for there to be some prank or another at such occasions.

"Not a problem," Jack Roberts laughed happily, finding the whole scenario hilarious.

Sophie was smirking, clearly pleased with the result of her prank. "God, anyone would think you're a Maurader the way you carry on," James said.

"Yeah, well I try my best."

When the meal had ended and everyone was stuffed, James, Sirius and Remus went over to the other side of the table where Harry was sitting. They introduced themselves and asked him if he wanted to follow them to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Yeah, ok, don't wanna put you out though," he said standing.

"No, we're heading that way," said James. They four boys met the girls just out side the doorway.

"Hi, I'm Lily," she said when he approached.

"Hey, Harry," he said shaking her hand.

"Sophie," she said holding her own hand out.

"Nice to meet you," Harry said then looked towards Charlotte.

"I'm Charlotte. So are you coming to our party?" she asked.

"What party?"

"They haven't invited you?" she asked looking to James, Sirius and Remus.

"Give us a break, we've just met him for god's sake," Sirius said. "So, do you want to come to our 'party' as Charlotte puts it?"

"Sure, when is it?" he asked as Remus led the way to the Tower.

"Tonight, very soon in fact," Sophie said. 'Which reminds me, we have to get ready."

"Get ready?" James asked.

"Duh, we have to get dressed!"

"Are you not already dressed?" he asked completely confused.

"Yes, I mean get dressed up."

"We're just going to sit in the Shrieking Shack drinking!"

"Yeah, but its fun to get dressed up for special occasions," Sophie argued.

"But it's just Chris-"

"Just quit while you're ahead James," Lily said patting his shoulder.

"Ok, fine, I don't think I'll ever understand the female mind," he said to the boys.

"Don't try to, that's the easiest way to go," said Harry as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. When the password had been accepted and they were inside the common room, Sirius took Harry on a short tour of the tower. Meanwhile, Sophie and Charlotte raced upstairs to get ready for the 'party'. Lily and James headed back to their own common room. James said he didn't really need to change so he waited in the common room for Lily.

In her bedroom, Lily scanned her wardrobe for something warm yet appropriate. She settled on a short black dress and bright purple tights. She adjusted the emerald necklace on her neck and fluffed her hair slightly. Lily picked up her black clutch, stuffed a tiny bottle of vodka inside and picked up a lip gloss. Reappearing in the common room she found James looking at the mantle piece. "Ok, let's go," she said.

They met up with the others just inside the forest. Charlotte was wearing green skinny leg jeans and a brown sweater. Her wavy hair was half up, half down with a green pin fixed on the back. Sophie's hair was pulled up in a messy bun with little wispy bits hanging freely around her face. She was wearing a black bolero over a white shirt and a black pleated mini skirt. "Oh my god, aren't you cold?" Lily asked when she saw what Sophie was wearing.

"Nup, skin coloured tights," she replied pulling them slightly to show Lily.

"Oh cool. So, are we going?"

"Yeah, right this way," James said pulling Lily along behind him as he made his way to the Whomping Willow. The others followed him, explaining to Harry where they were going.

"So, let me get this straight, we're going to a run down house in Hogsmeade through a passageway under an attacking tree?"

"Yep."

"Oh good, just checking."

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"So, Australia, right?"

Inside the Shrieking Shack, Charlotte, Sophie, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Harry were sitting in a circle on the hard wooden floor. They wanted to find out everything about Harry.

"Yeah," he said taking a swig from the bottle of rum that someone had given to him.

"Where do you live?"

"We lived on the Central Coast for a while, but we moved to Sydney when I was seven."

"Cool, did you have a pet kangaroo?" Charlotte asked.

"Don't be silly," Lily said. "No one has pet kangaroos, you idiot."

"How was I meant to know!"

"It's ok, most people ask that," he said smiling.

"So, is there are school in Sydney?" asked Sophie.

"Yeah, SCFWAWA."

"Excuse me?"

"Sydney College for Wizards and Witches Alike. It's pronounced scarf-wa-wa. It's a bit ridiculous but it's easier and quicker to say than Sydney College for Wizards and Witches Alike."

"Oohh, right. So where in Sydney is it?"

"Well, it's like Hogwarts; its actual address is unknown."

"Oh cool, so what's it like?"

"Is there a Quidditch pitch?" James and Sirius asked simultaneously.

"Of course! It's huge. From what I've seen of yours, I'd say it's slightly larger."

"Do you play?" Sirius asked.

"Do I play? Hell yeah! I'm the Dulkara Quidditch Captain and also the SCFWAWA Quidditch Captain," he said enthusiastically.

"Dulkara?"

"SCFWAWA Captain?"

"Oh, right, I didn't explain did I?"

"No."

"Ok, well Dulkara is one of the houses, like Gryffindor. But we only have the houses for sports. And our school plays in the Asia Pacific Quidditch Cup, hence being the SCFWAWA Captain."

"Right, so what position do you play?" James asked, his head reeling with the information.

"I'm a Chaser."

"So, do you use the Wollongong Shimmy?"

"Oh god, here they go," Sophie said.

"Tomorrow we should take you to check out the Quidditch pitch, you can show us what you can do!" Sirius said enthusiastically.

"Yeah sure, it's been a while though."

"What broom do you have?"

"Please, can we cut the Quidditch talk for a while!" Charlotte said impatiently. She was enjoying getting to know Harry but she couldn't stand the Quidditch talk; she wasn't drunk enough yet.

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A/N: this is an updated version of this chapter with a few things changed. i realised today that i hadn't put any disclaimers in so i thought i better, hence the one at the top of the page. i have no idea what's going on but that little page break thing wasn't working again today so you'll have to cope with the Os and sorry about last night's version, i didn't realise the asterixs couldn't be seen. i changed the name of the story, as you can see, because Where There's A Want There's A Way is gay and i named it that before i started the story and before i knew what the story would turn into.

ok, so SCFWAWA is courtesy of nic and Harry Roberts is for ivy. i changed Girralong to Dulkara because Nic wouldn't allow Harry to be in Brie's house so yeah.

enjoy and review.

anie