New Years Resolutions

The days passed and before anyone realized it, New Years Eve was upon them. The Christmas tree was still standing proudly, as was all the decorations.

Melissa smiled as James put a New Years crown on her head.

"First Sirius now you?" she said playfully. James laughed.

"Yeah I guess so," he said. He placed crowns on the rest of the girl's heads and put sparkled bowler hats on the boys.

"You look very handsome with your purple hat, Remus," Melissa said, giggling. Remus smiled and took it off, making sure there was no sticking spell.

"Alright good," he said, smiling.

"11:30!" James called from the kitchen.

Melissa smiled to herself. She couldn't believe she was still there…celebrating the New Years with them.

"So do you have any New Years resolutions?" Lily asked, curling up in an armchair.

"To prank Snivellus as much as we can by the end of the year!" James said, coming in the room. Lily glared at him. "Just kidding."

"To just be happy with what we have, I guess," Remus said.

"I want all of us to see each other again, even after I leave. One day we all have to be together again," Melissa said.

"I ditto that," Sirius said, smiling.

"Same here," James said. Everyone nodded their heads.

"11:45!" Julie called from the kitchen.

Everyone sat around excitedly, while they waited for the right time. Finally Julie came out of the kitchen.

"11.58!" she said. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" Melissa asked, smiling as Remus took her hand and they all ran outside.

"They do fireworks, dear!" Julie said, as they all went outside. Ray came out soon after and handed everyone coats.

Most of the block was outside, waiting for midnight.

All of a sudden people started to shout.

"Five…four…three…two…one! Happy New Year!"

Remus kissed Melissa, as everyone else kissed their respective partners. Fireworks started shooting up in the air.

Melissa pulled back and smiled at Remus.

"Happy New Year," she said. The fireworks reflected in her eyes and Remus smiled.

"Happy New Year," he said, kissing her once more. He put his arms around her and they both looked up to the sky.

All kinds of colors sprayed in different directions, illuminating the streets with vibrant color.

Melissa smiled. She felt the happiest she ever had in her entire life. Being with the people she truly loved and celebrating the New Year.

The vacation soon ended and they found themselves on the Hogwarts Express.

"I don't want to go back!" James whined, plopping down on a seat. "You have to get up early!"

They all just smiled.

Melissa sat next to Remus and leaned her head on his shoulder. The whistle blew and they felt the train move.

James and Sirius were busily playing Exploding Snaps, while Remus, Ariel, and Lily read books. Melissa was content just sitting and watching James and Sirius play.

She reached up and absentmindedly played with her necklace.

"Alright we're here," James said sadly as the train came to a stop. Everyone stood up, retrieved their suitcases and they dragged them out onto the Hogsmeade Station.

Melissa put her hat and scarf on, and pulled her suitcase down the small hallway.

When they stepped off the crowded train a chilly air, with a light snow, met them.

The Marauders and the girls all put on their hats and gloves, and they journeyed to the horseless carriages.

Later that night, once they brought their trunks to their dormitories, they were all sitting in the Great Hall for dinner.

"I want to go back to vacation," Melissa said. The last time she was at school Voldemort had tried to attack her, Lily, and James.

Remus smiled.

Everyone seemed to be in a sour mood now that the vacation was ending. After the Marauders and the girls finished dinner they all walked back up to the common room.

"I just want to go to bed and sleep late," Sirius said as they walked down the corridors.

A group of Ravenclaw girls passed and they giggled and smiled as they saw Sirius. He smiled back and winked at them and they all burst into a fit of annoying giggles.

James, Lily, Melissa, and Remus all winced, as they knew the fight that was about to come.

Sirius turned back to everyone and saw Ariel glaring at him, though there was evident hurt in her eyes.

"What?" Sirius said.

"Why do you have to do that!?" she said, stomping her foot angrily. "What am I not enough?"

"What are you…oh," Sirius said. He chuckled. "Ariel those girls mean nothing."

"Oh really?" she said, crossing her arms. "Then why can't you just ignore them like any other person would? But no, you have to go strutting about like you own the place."

"No!" Sirius said, his temper rising. "Ariel I just…"

"No Sirius! You didn't just!" she shouted. "I hate it when you do that! I always just left it! Not anymore! I know old habits die hard, but you could at least try!"

"Ariel you know I don't like any of those 'fan-girls'! Trust me if I did I could've gone out with them!"

"Then go! Go ahead!" Ariel said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "You can catch up with them!"

Sirius was about to shout, but he saw her crying. "No Ariel…please don't cry."

He walked forward and moved to brush them away, but she smacked his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" she said. She reached down and un-clasped her bracelet. "Here take it! I don't want it anymore!"

She threw it to the ground by his feet and stormed off down the corridor.

Melissa, James, Lily, and Remus stood awkwardly as Sirius stared down at the bracelet.

He bent down slowly and picked it up. He turned and saw them all standing there.

"Well…let's go back to the common room," he said, holding onto the bracelet.

"Sirius…" Melissa said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"No I'm fine," Sirius said, shrugging her hand off. "She wants it to be like that…then fine."

He started walking down the hallway. They all passed glances and then followed him.

When they walked through the portrait hole they all expected her to be up in the girl's dormitory, but to their surprise she was sitting on the couch.

She didn't look up when they entered, but merely kept her attention on the fireplace.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight guys," Sirius said, then he disappeared up the stairs.

"Er…" James said, scratching the back of his head. "I guess we'll go to bed also. Come on, Moony."

Remus kissed Melissa's cheek and then he and James went upstairs.

"Come on. I think we need some quality girl time," Melissa said, walking over to Ariel and Lily. "Let's go upstairs."

Ariel smiled slightly and she stood up.

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"I need firewhiskey," Sirius said as he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"No, Padfoot. Getting drunk isn't going to help," James said. "You know that."

"I don't care. I feel horrible." He sat up. "What did you do, Moony?"

"Besides wallowing in my sorrows? Nothing," Remus said sadly. Sirius sighed and fell back onto the bed.

"That's not the right answer, Moony," James said, frowning at Remus.

"Why did I have to acknowledge them? I mean really," Sirius said, rubbing his eyes. "Ariel's not like other girls…and…and she broke my heart when she started to cry…I never really cared about any other girl as much as I do her."

"I guess you'll have to wait," James said. "She doesn't seem exactly…er…amiable at the moment."

Sirius frowned. His mind kept flashing back and forth between her crying to throwing the bracelet on the floor. He reached his hand down and patted his pocket where the bracelet still was.

"I wonder what the girls are doing," he mused.

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The girls had all gotten into pajamas and slippers and were sitting on Ariel's bed.

"What you need to understand is men can be stupid sometimes," Melissa said, conjuring a bowl of popcorn out of thin air. "But in the end we still love them anyway."

Ariel smiled slightly. "Well, I think I need to be man-less for a while."

"I also think we underestimate the men we have," Lily said lightly. Ariel frowned while Melissa smiled.

"She needs to be cheered up, not put down. Popcorn?" Melissa said, leaning the bowl forward.

In the morning the animosity between Ariel and Sirius was still there. Though it was more one-sided, because Sirius was more than willing to sort out their differences.

Ariel walked briskly passed them as she headed to the Great Hall.

"Any luck?" James asked. Melissa and Lily shook their heads. He turned to Sirius. "Sorry, mate."

"It's okay," Sirius said, sighing. "I deserve it, right?"

"No you don't. You did nothing wrong, Sirius. She just tends to take things a little overboard," Lily said comfortingly.

"No, I think I deserve it, I hurt her feelings, and I shouldn't have done that." He shook his head. His usual vivacious gray eyes were a dull wet cement color, and his face was sullen.

Melissa frowned. Sirius and Ariel had usually gotten on so well…why would one fight ruin that?

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Melissa leaned against the cold wall of stone, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

It was free period and Melissa and Remus were standing in the hallway, as Sirius was moping around in the common room, James and Lily were somewhere together, and no one was sure where Ariel was.

Remus sighed and leaned back next to her.

"I don't believe they are fighting," Melissa said quietly, looking over at Remus. He nodded slowly.

"I know what you mean," he said. "Although…as much as I have been thinking I can't quite figure out who is right and who's wrong."

"Well in a way Sirius was wrong…he flirted with a girl right in front of Ariel. But, on the other hand, Ariel is wrong by taking it too far." She sighed. "Why can't we all just stay happy for more than a couple of days?"

Remus smiled slightly. "Well, I guess we should just live life as it comes and be happy for all the good moments we have."

Melissa laughed. "Very well said."

"Thanks," he said, chuckling. She sighed again and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Do you think we'll all be happy again? One day?" she said. Remus nodded his head.

"Yeah…I think so," he said, kissing her forehead. Melissa smiled and moved over so she was standing in front of him.

"I think we have more happy times then sad though," she said, kissing him. He smiled.

"Yeah," he said. "Come on…we should go see how Sirius is doing."

Melissa smiled. "I'm sure he's lonely."

They walked up to the common room and Sirius was indeed self-pitying himself. He sat with his elbows on his knees, with his chin in his hands, while he kicked a crumbled piece of parchment with his foot.

"Hey, Padfoot," Remus said quietly. Sirius looked up.

"Oh, hi guys," he said, smiling slightly.

"How're y0u doing?" Melissa asked, sitting next to him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'm alright," he said, still smiling faintly. "You guys can go. We have classes soon. I'll see you there."

"Okay," Melissa said, slowly getting up and leaving. Remus followed her.

"What you must understand is Sirius doesn't like being comforted," Remus said, smiling as he saw her pensive expression.

"Well why not?" she huffed. "Any person would want to be comforted."

"You didn't," Remus said, still smiling. Melissa stopped suddenly and mock glared at him.

"Oh well," she said, laughing. He laughed also, and they continued walking. "That's different. You were being a complete dunderhead."

"I was doing it out of your best interest," he said, taking her hand in his. She smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you were just doing it out of the goodness of your heart," she said sarcastically, grinning.

Remus stopped suddenly and playfully pinned her against the wall.

"Were you just making fun of me?" he asked, smirking. Melissa made an innocent face.

"Who? Me? I think you have it wrong." She smiled innocently. "I was merely commenting on a glitch you have with your methods of making people happy."

"You were making fun of me!" he said, laughing. "I think you need to be punished."

"Oh? And how are you going to do that Mr. It-Was-For-Your-Best-Interest?"

Remus didn't answer her, but moved forward and kissed her. Melissa put her arms around his neck as Remus twirled a piece of her hair idly in his fingers. He deepened the kiss momentarily before he pulled away.

She smirked. "Nice punishment. I have to give you props for that one."

"I thank you," he said before he kissed her again.

The bell rang and the hallways filled with students and Melissa and Remus broke apart.

"You'll have to punish me more often," Melissa said, smiling. Remus laughed.

"I'll try to make the arrangements," he said as they started walking to their next class.

A/N- I'm sorry for making Sirius upset, I feel bad for him, but things will turn up. They always do. Review!!!