I live again! Sorry…exams are in full flow now. But my last one is next week, so after that it should hopefully be back to normal.
The people who's reviews have cheered me through math's and biology were Isis the Sphinx, ballerinadoll9, Mei1105, Phantom of a Rose, flower123, Abbey Eileen, SweetSummerx3 (Length I'm not sure – heading in the way of fifty chapters. There's no Horcrux stuff, but the prophecy comes into play after Christmas. As for sequels…I have ideas, but no time. I wanted to include more Remus/Tonks in this, but ran out of space, so maybe…No. No. I have a Doctor Who fic to complete first. Then…well…we'll have to see.), NamelessHeretic, Nessa19, moony391, Mistress-Genari, dweem-angel, Kylara Kitsune, seikinoko, Lady Potter of Tortall, Serious Fan, Aealket, tickledorange, Screams of a Shadow, Ethereal Flame, Persephone of Peridot, Gryphie and -xAndromedaBlackx-.
This chapter was planned as being two separate ones, but somehow I just couldn't write about Christmas in May, so it got condensed into one. Hope you enjoy!
And the winner of this weeks HTCHB contest is… Gryphie with Hairy Tigers Call Harry "Bean"
I like it in particular due to the fact that there's a boy in my sixth form whom we affectingly know as "Bean". And tomorrow, we're failing chemistry together. So there we go.
He kissed her for the first time later on that night, or what was actually very early the next morning. They'd wandered back up to the Common Room when the party ended at midnight, and as people slowly drifted off to bed they suddenly found themselves the only ones left down there. She'd somehow ended up leaning against him on the same sofa they had only days previously laughed at their best friends on, his arm comfortably round her shoulder as they talked about anything that came into their heads.
Eventually, however, the growing droopiness of their eyes could be no longer ignored. They reluctantly clambered to their feet, each feeling suddenly strangely embarrassed.
"Well, night." said Ginny, with a small wave.
Harry nodded. "Yeah. Sleep well."
She smiled up at him, and Harry realised for the first time just how close she actually was. This was a different kind of close to earlier, when they had been dancing. Then they had been in a room full of people, full of the noise and bustle of a hundred other lives. Here it was just him and her in a world on their own. So he did what seemed most sensible at the time; bent his head and kissed her.
Hairy Tigers Call Harry "Bean"Harry woke to the ruckus of his dormitory at about 9am on Christmas morning. Seamus and Dean were already tearing their way through their piles of presents, pausing only to compare various objects as they emerged from the paper. Neville appeared to have only opened one – what look suspiciously like a plant, which Harry instantly decided to discover the name of and research any defence properties it may hold. Ron appeared to have only recently awoken – he still bore the slightly pained look of one who was not entirely sure why they had been roused after so little sleep.
He caught Harrys eye, and grinned.
"Presents?" he asked, with a jerk of the head.
Nodding his agreement, the two joined the fray.
Hairy Tigers Call Harry "Bean"
Like any true Christmas at Hogwarts, it had snowed overnight. Harry wasn't entirely sure how so much had fallen in such a short amount of time – after all, there had been none at the end of the party – but there it was. Breakfast was long, people filtering down slowly in small groups and making their lazy way through the cereal and toast. The post bought hundreds of brightly coloured envelopes as families sent Christmas love to the children away from home. Harry and Jane both got their own, two folded pieces of card that appeared to have been made by Gemma and Jack, given the erratic felt pen lines that were possibly meant to resemble Christmas trees and presents.
It was not long, of course, before what seemed like the entire school had taken to the grounds, impromptu snowball fights starting up all over the place, snowmen popping out of the ground as the morning went on.
"We never get snow like this at home!" Jane said enthusiastically, grabbing a handful and aiming at Izzy. "We get like three inches for a day once a year if we're lucky."
"No snow's like Hogwarts snow." agreed Ginny, who had already reduced her brother to a whimpering mess on the floor by spelling several snowballs to follow him around and hit him on the back of the neck.
"It's probably spelled." Harry decided, kicking at a nearby pile with child-like enthusiasm.
"If any of you had read Hogwarts; A History then you would know that right from it's founding, Hogwarts has always received heavy snowfall around Christmas." Sniffed Hermione. "In the past it has got so cold that the entire school had to close, for fear of students becoming ill. And one year the lake froze so solid that the teachers had to use heat spells to rescue the squid."
"Fascinating." said Ron with a roll of the eyes, still keeping a nervous distance from his sister.
The group were walking through the grounds, having already exhausted the snowball fights and snowmen building that many others were still involved in. Ron and Hermione's hands were firmly entwined, as they had been since Hermione had rescued her boyfriend from Ginny's rogue snowballs. Harry had grabbed Ginny's wrist several minutes previous to stop her slipping, and was yet to relinquish his grip. Throw in Izzy, Charlie and Jane rushing around them, still tossing the snow about, and it was like the scene from a Christmas card; snow covered landscape, with the fairytale castle in the background, and laughing youngsters trekking through.
Hairy Tigers Call Harry "Bean"
Much later that night, the same group of friends sat around the Common Room fire. Wrapping paper was scattered about the room, the presents they had concealed long since put to use in whatever way the new owner thought acceptable. Small groups of friends and family sat together, and there was an air of calm and peace after what had been a very active day. Someone had a wizard radio tuned in, and Christmas carols were crooning around the sleep room.
Harry looked around him. Ginny was curled up next to him, her head on his shoulder. Ron and Hermione were in their usual chair, as squashed as always, and the three first years were lying on the floor, lazily playing cards, with Jane and Izzys cats curled up next to their respective owners.
So he hadn't got to spend Christmas with his family. So he'd missed the chance to see Jack and Gemma dive under the tree first thing, as Jane had assured him they would have done. He'd missed his dad cursing the turkey and his mum wrestling with the Christmas tree. He'd missed the whole chance of having a family Christmas, a concept he had yet to experience in his life. But had he really missed out that much?
Jane glanced up at him, her attention for a moment focused entirely on him. She cocked her head on one side, a curious look on her face and a smile tugging at her mouth. Harry smiled back, and settled down more comfortably against Ginny.
In the end, he had everything right there.
Hairy Tigers Call Harry "Bean"
Boxing day, once upon a time, had been a ceremonious occasion for the Marauders and their extended party. They would gather, first at various parents houses, later in homes of their own, and relax after the harrowing experiences of a Day with the Family.
Lily would bring left over turkey, since her mother was always convinced her family ate far more than they did. Remus would bring pudding – not Christmas pudding, but the king of all cakes, one of many baked by his mother on Christmas Eve. Peter bought the bread, Jane bought salad, James bought every sandwich sauce known to man and wizard, Liz bought drinks, and Sirius just came, originally empty handed, and later weighed down with mayonnaise from James's mother.
The sandwiches had been an art form in themselves. Sirius would construct great tower blocks, using several slices of bread and half the turkey. Liz's were intricate, the bread exactly the right thickness, the toppings in delicate patterns. Jane's were wild, turkey flopping out wither side and mayonnaise dripping all over the place. Peter and Remus would work in tandem, each doing one slice of bread and then mashing them together. James was surprisingly neat and methodical, Lily the exact opposite.
Then there would be a few moments quiet contemplation, each observing and admiring the others handiwork. And then madness took over as they all dived in, helping themselves to each others creations in a mad boat of eating that would tide them over until New Years.
It was an event that had not taken place for many, many years. Remus had never felt it right to share this tradition - indeed, up until recently, he had had none to share it with – and when Jane had cut herself of from her past, she had done so with a ruthless swipe, leaving such small things as Christmas rituals in her past.
But this year…this year it was going to be different.
Remus stayed with the Potters for Christmas – Lily, horrified by the idea of him spending the day alone, had insisted that he come for at least a week, which had swiftly turned into ten days, and then a fortnight. Jane decided to stay in Hogwarts, at least for Christmas Day itself – there was the party to chaperone, and besides, if the children weren't allowed home, it seemed unfair that the teachers were.
And on Boxing Day, Christmas came once more to the Marauders.
Hairy Tigers Call Harry "Bean"
"I," James proclaimed, settling back into his chair, "am stuffed."
"Well if you will try and eat an entire half turkey by yourself, I'm not surprised." Said Remus dryly.
"It wasn't an entire half!"
Lily and Jane both turned to him, eyebrows raised in disbelief.
"James, I made most of those sandwiches. There was half a turkey in them." Jane pointed out.
Cam was smiling, if slightly bemusedly, while Mark had raised both eyebrows in amusement. They were sitting on the sofa in the Potters living room, watching one of the oddest occurrences they had ever seen.
Four adults and two children were sitting on the floor, gathered around several large plates. Paddy, whose interest in the turkey had caused cries of disgust from Gemma, had been banished to the kitchen, leaving the humans to some form of peace. The low coffee table was covered in plates, empty now, but which had been laden with slices of bread, the remnants of a turkey, and all the other necessities for a good turkey sandwich. Gemma and Jack had both produced rather dubious creations, with Gemma hunting out the jam in favour of anything else, while the four adults had quickly settled back into their old ways.
"Mu-um…" whined Jack, pouting, "Gemma's nicked my sandwich."
Lily rolled her eyes, and began the game of peacekeeper.
"You know," mused Jane aloud, "I never thought I'd see the day when we all got so…domesticated."
Lily glanced up, eyes laughing underneath the lock of hair that had swung forward over her face.
"What do you mean?"
"Well. I've got a job. James is being responsible. You're mothering small children."
"So? They're my small children." protested Lily, whose dislike of anything under the age of ten had been the subject of ridicule many a time during her youth.
"Even so. Twenty years ago, who'd have placed bets on this?"
"I think go back one year, and I still wouldn't have placed bets on seeing this again." Pointed out Remus with a dry smile. "Six months, even."
"What did you do last Christmas Remus?" asked Lily curiously.
"Visited Arthur Weasley in St Mungos, and stayed at Grimmauld Place for a while. Sirius was very down, with Harry and the others going back to Hogwarts again."
While Sirius's name was no longer the conversation-ender it had been, it still caused a few moments of quiet thought.
"D'you remember that year when James and Sirius decided to enchant all the mistletoe?" asked Jane after a moment.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course. I got cornered by a suit of armour that was determined to have its wicked way with me."
"Well how were we to know the spell would affect inanimate objects too?!" protested James. "It was meant to make the people more amorous, not the statues."
"Dad?" Jack, with the ears and curiosity of a child, turned to his father in confusion. "What's a wicked way?"
Jane and Remus laughed at the look on James's face. His eyes bulged slightly, and several non-committal noises left his mouth.
"That's something your dad will explain when you're older sweetie." interjected Lily quickly.
James slumped slightly, looking none too pleased at the prospect, which caused Remus to chuckle further.
"He's your child, James, through and through."
"Well, that's comforting." muttered Lily, hugging her son.
"If I remember rightly, you gave as good as you got." pointed out Remus. "Was it not you, Jane, who concocted idea of a singing cuddly toy to follow James and Sirius around for the entire week after New Years?"
Jane attempted, and failed, to look innocent.
"It wasn't just me." she protested weakly. "We borrowed the toy of a first year, and it was Liz and Lily who found the spell and the songs."
"D'you know what I think?" said Lily suddenly.
The others turned to her, eyebrows raised.
"Highly unlikely." muttered James, earning himself a glare from his wife.
"I think we're spending far to much time saying 'do you remember' and 'remember when…'. S'about time we started collecting new memories instead of remembering the old ones. I don 't mean we shouldn't remember Liz and Sirius and everything, I just mean we shouldn't do nothing but remember them, and…"
She trailed off at the sound of laughter.
"Sorry." apologised Jane. "You were rambling, love. Breathing is a good thing, you know."
Lily blushed slightly.
"I mean it, though." she continued. "I know we've got loads to catch up on, but we can't keep on doing this! We need to- "
"We get it, Lily." interjected Remus, taking pity on the woman. "We get it."
Somehow, his voice told her he got more than her words.
Up on the sofa, Cam and Mark, who had been following the entire exchange, glanced at each other. She smiled at him, and he squeezed her hand affectionately. For now, things were good.
Annnnd…we're done. A bit of light hearted fluff, overall. But things will liven up a bit now Christmas is over, I promise.
Probably no update next week, but you never know! But, as I said earlier, exams are nearly over, so I'll be back to writing again well and proper.
Review!