Wednesday, December 1, 1976
"Are you going into Hogsmeade on Saturday?" Mary propped herself up on one arm and looked at Sirius inquisitively.
"I dunno, probably," Sirius replied, rearranging the pillows and leaning back against them. "Why, are you hoping I'll bring you to Madam Puddifoot's?" He flashed her a wry smile. "Because if so, you're going to be sorely disappointed."
Mary rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. I just thought maybe we could meet up at the Three Broomsticks? Not just us two, obviously, but everyone."
"I don't see why not," Sirius said, shrugging. "Wait, what's the date on Saturday?"
"The fourth?" Mary said, nonplussed.
Sirius thought for a minute, frowning in concentration as he counted the days until the full moon. "Actually, I don't think I'll be going into Hogsmeade that day after all," he said finally. "There's probably an 80% chance I won't make it. And before you ask, it has nothing to do with you, it's just one of those things that I'd have to kill you if I explained."
Mary shrugged. "All right, weirdo, I suppose I won't see you in Hogsmeade." She rested her head against the pillows and sighed. "I don't think Lily will be joining me either."
Sirius draped an arm around Mary's shoulders casually and pulled her to him. "Is she giving you a hard time again?" he asked, tugging on one of her curls.
"A bit," Mary admitted, swatting his hand away. "It appears she was under the impression that she would be able to change my mind if she simply left it alone for a while then came back stronger than ever." She turned her head to face Sirius, unintentionally tossing her curls into his face. "Obviously she was quite wrong."
"Obviously," Sirius repeated, pulling a hair from his mouth. "Ugh, Macdonald, you've got your hair all in my face again."
"Sorry," she said, rolling away again. "I, er, may have shouted at her a bit."
Sirius widened his eyes, impressed. "I don't think I've ever seen you get angry, Macdonald. Properly angry, I mean."
"No, I usually can't be bothered to get properly angry," she mused. "I just don't care enough, if that makes sense." She thought for a second, twirling a curl around her finger idly. "I think the last time I got really angry and told someone off was the end of last year after Snape was horrible to Lily. I was coming back to the common room after being with Stebbins and Snape was just standing in front of the portrait hole, refusing to leave until Lily came out and talked to him. He was desperate, shouting at the Fat Lady to let him in and begging me to bring Lily out to him." She shook her head in disgust. "Pathetic, really, and so hypocritical, expecting sympathy after what he said to her in front of a bunch of people. I tried to just push past him, but he wouldn't let me, so I really had no choice but to give him a piece of my mind." She smiled nastily at the memory. "I really let him have it. I think I sort of blacked out a bit, because I can't remember exactly what I said, only that once I got going it was hard to stop, and when I was finished he was so shocked he forgot to try to follow me through the portrait hole."
Sirius looked at Mary, full of a new respect for her. "Shit, Macdonald, I wish I could've been there to see the look on his stupid, ugly face."
"Yes, it was rather satisfying," she said, standing and padding across the room to open the window and retrieve the pack of cigarettes from Sirius's jacket pocket. "I like the Christmas decorations, by the way," she added, sliding back under the covers before pulling out a cigarette and offering the pack to Sirius. "Did the house elves put all this up? They must like you better, because they never do our room."
Sirius chuckled. "No, it wasn't the house elves. James does this every year. He's mad about Christmas, the silly sod," Sirius explained, torn between affection and exasperation.
"And I take it you don't share his enthusiasm?" Mary asked, correctly reading the expression on his face.
"I fucking hate Christmas," Sirius replied, scowling.
"That's a shame," Mary said mildly. "And rather unfortunate when you have a roommate who does this." She gestured at the impressive amount of fairy lights, red and gold baubles, and holly that hung from every available surface.
Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. "You're not going to demand to know why I have such a negative view of such a well-loved holiday?" he asked, genuinely perplexed.
"No," she said, bringing her cigarette to her lips and inhaling deeply, before letting the smoke curl out of her mouth slowly. "I figured you'd explain if you wanted to, but it seemed like the sort of thing you'd rather not talk about."
Sirius smiled, taking a deep drag on his own cigarette. "You're right," he admitted. "Thanks, Macdonald." He didn't know precisely what he was thanking her for, only that he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so fully understood by anyone outside of the Marauders.
"You're welcome," she replied, laying her hand on top of his gently for a moment before pulling it away again to brush her hair out of her face. "Can we steal some chocolate from Remus if I buy him some to replace it on Saturday? I'm starving."
Saturday, December 18, 1976
"Prongs, if you carry on whistling for much longer, Padfoot may actually kill you," Remus warned, settling into his seat on the Hogwarts Express and pulling a copy of The Daily Prophet from his bag.
"I'd give it five minutes," Peter added, taking in the bad-tempered expression on Sirius's face.
"Five's a bit generous," Sirius said darkly. "I'd say three at the most."
James made no reply except to whistle "Jingle Bells" more loudly.
"I need a bloody cigarette," Sirius muttered, reaching into his jacket pocket and retrieving the pack.
"You can't smoke in here," Remus said firmly.
"Don't use your prefect voice on me, Moony," Sirius retorted. "I always light up the second you leave to do patrols anyway, but if I'm going to be forced to listen to Prongs whistling Christmas carols for the whole bloody ride, I'm going to need a cigarette immediately."
"You'd better not," Remus insisted.
Sirius did not answer. Instead, he selected a cigarette from the pack, slowly putting it to his lips and lighting it, all the while staring defiantly at Remus.
Remus glared at Sirius with his arms crossed, but before he could formulate a reply, James had plucked the newspaper from his hands and proceeded to roll it up and whack Sirius with it. "No! Bad Padfoot!"
"Fuck off," Sirius snapped, putting up his hands to shield himself from the blows. "I hate when you do this."
James ignored him, continuing to wallop Sirius with the newspaper while Remus and Peter howled with laughter."Bad dog! Bad Padfoot! Drop it! Drop the cigarette."
"Cut it out, Prongs, it's degrading," Sirius protested, trying to slap away the newspaper and dropping his cigarette in the process. "Oh, bloody hell."
"Good boy," James said, giving Sirius a pat on the head.
"Sorry, are we interrupting something?" Mary and Lily stood in the doorway of the compartment, looking perplexed as they took in the scene: Sirius about to explode with rage, Peter and Remus laughing so hard they could barely breathe, James holding a rolled up newspaper and patting Sirius on the head, and the abandoned cigarette still smoking on the ground.
"Were you smoking in here?" Lily asked, pursing her lips disapprovingly.
"No," Sirius replied, putting out the cigarette under his boot. "At least, not with any measure of success." He grabbed the newspaper from James's hand and threw it on the floor in irritation. "You're a git, you know that?"
James shrugged. "So I've been told." He looked inquisitively at Mary and Lily. "Were you looking to join us? We have plenty of room. Despite popular belief, Remus does not need an entire seat for his books and chocolate." He ran a hand through his hair and grinned at them.
"Oh, I was just going to tell Black to come and find me later if he gets bored," Mary explained. "It's just me and Lily in our compartment, so I'll have it to myself when she leaves to patrol the corridors." She shrugged indifferently. "Or don't, it doesn't matter to me. I have Witch Weekly to keep me entertained." She raised her eyebrows at Sirius, and he smirked back at her.
"Oh, come on, you may as well join us," James urged. "We can all play Exploding Snap until the prefects have to go patrol, and Evans, we'll pick out all the grass Bertie Botts for you." He patted the empty seat next to him and smiled hopefully. "Come on, it's Christmas."
Mary glanced at Lily, then settled wordlessly into the empty seat next to Peter. Lily shrugged and followed suit.
"Excellent," James said, plopping down next to Lily. "Wormtail, will you deal us all in? And Moony, don't even think about reading. It's Christmas and we're all going to socialize and be cheerful, and we're going to like it, damnit!"
Snow fell steadily outside as the train sped away from Hogwarts, but the group stayed warm and cozy inside the compartment. Peals of laughter and shouts of dismay filled the small space as the game grew more heated, and no pone could believe how quickly the time had passed when Remus checked his watch and realized he and Lily were overdue to patrol the corridors. Once they had left hastily, James and Peter cleared away the Exploding Snap cards and began a game of wizard's chess.
Sirius and Mary exchanged a meaningful look, then Sirius announced, "I'm bored."
James raised his eyebrows. "Is that what they're calling it these days?"
Sirius smiled mischievously at his friend but made no reply. Instead, he offered Mary a hand up and said, "Fancy a walk and a smoke?"
Mary allowed Sirius to hoist her to her feet. "Yeah, all right," she agreed, leading the way out of the compartment. "Don't have too much fun without us, you two," she called over her shoulder.
"I was going to say the exact same thing to you," James retorted, giving Sirius a thumbs up.
Sirius followed Mary down the corridor, humming softly to himself.
"Sirius Black, are you humming 'Jingle Bells'?" Mary asked, turning around and giving him an appraising look.
"Bloody hell, I am," Sirius said in disgust. "I'm not even drunk. What's wrong with me?"
"There's nothing wrong with you," Mary said, laughing. "You're just enjoying the Christmas spirit instead of being your usual Scrooge self."
"What the fuck is a Scrooge?" Sirius asked, completely nonplussed.
Mary shook her head and waved a hand dismissively. "Never mind," she said, sliding open the door to a compartment and stepping in. "Come in and enjoy this empty compartment with me."
"You can't distract me by seducing me,"' Sirius protested, nevertheless following her into the compartment and sliding the door shut behind him. "I still want to know what a Scrooge is."
"Black," Mary said softly, hooking a finger through his belt loop and pulling him toward her. "Why does it feel like I'm constantly telling you to shut up?"
Afterwards they lay sprawled lazily across the compartment floor, smoking and enjoying the calm, cozy feeling created by the gentle motion of the train, the snow falling heavily outside the window, and the closeness of their bodies.
"We'd better watch out, otherwise those mean prefects on patrol will come tell us off for smoking," Sirius observed, noticing the way the cigarette smoke slowly filled the compartment and gave everything a hazy quality.
"But it's too cold to open the window," Mary protested. "Although I suppose it might help if I got dressed."
"Nah, I don't think you should," Sirius said, grinning and pushing her clothes safely out of reach. "I can handle the wrath of Moony and Evans."
"Actually, I wonder if they're even patrolling anymore," Mary mused. "We've been gone for ages. Maybe we should go back."
"Fine," Sirius said, sighing and putting out his cigarette before disentangling himself from Mary and reaching for his clothes.
"It's going to be weird, not seeing you for two Wednesdays," Mary said as they strolled back down the corridor, having reluctantly dressed and left the compartment.
"It won't be the same," Sirius agreed. "What will you do to keep yourself from sinking into a depression because of how much you miss my devilish good looks and extraordinary shagging abilities?"
She laughed. "I'll probably work at the diner if they need me. People usually take time off around the holidays so they'll be short staffed, and it will be nice to make a bit of money. My mum and I do usually have a nice meal together on Christmas Day - mind you, it's about the only nice meal we have all year because neither of us can cook for shit, and then Lily's asked me to come stay at hers for New Year's. Other than that, I'll just be making sure my mum doesn't get too drunk to turn up for her shifts at work, and counting down the days until I'm back at Hogwarts." She smiled ruefully. "You'll have an all right time, though, won't you? I bet the Potters have a lovely Christmas, and that house must look gorgeous all decorated and festive."
"I suppose," Sirius assented. Then, after a moment he continued, "They're quite fond of me. James always complains that I'm the favorite. I think they're really excited to have me for Christmas." He tried to conceal the hope and pride in his voice, but his irrepressible smile gave away his true feelings. "They've had a stocking made with my name on it, as well as this absolutely ridiculous personalized ornament that has my face on a snowman's body."
Mary's eyes lit up. "That's bloody adorable," she said. "I'll need to see a picture of that at some point. Do they have matching Christmas sweaters too?"
"Probably," Sirius replied, sounding both exasperated and pleased. "They're mad about Christmas. Nutters, all of them. But they're good people, the Potters."
They had reached the original compartment, and Sirius slid open the door and started to step through, but stopped short and turned to Mary, putting a finger to his lips then mouthing, "They're all asleep."
He proceeded into the compartment more cautiously, taking care not to upset the box of Bertie Botts, the chess board, or the pile of books by Remus's feet, then settling himself into an empty seat.
"That's the cutest thing I've ever seen," Mary whispered, pointing at the sleeping forms of their four friends.
Lily lay slumped against James's shoulder, and his head rested against hers; tendrils of her dark red hair fell into his face and rose and fell slightly as he breathed. Remus had curled sideways on his seat, using his sweater as a pillow, and Peter had sprawled out the opposite way, so that his head rested a mere inch from Remus's. The soft sound of their rhythmic breathing filled the compartment, and combined with the motion of the train it began to have a soporific effect on Mary and Sirius.
"Maybe they have the right idea," Sirius muttered, slouching down in his seat and beckoning for Mary to join him. She did so, turning sideways in the seat and resting her head in his lap.
"This isn't a violation of our agreement, is it?" Mary asked, stifling a yawn. "Sleeping with your head in a bloke's lap has a very relationshippy feel to it."
"It does, doesn't it?" Sirius said, his eyes already drifting shut. "But I'm too tired to care." He rested his head against the seat, and within minutes they had both fallen asleep.