The Marauding Five Year Three

by bunny chan

it's year three at last! oh, loads of pranks [grins some are muggleabled ones ] MPPL :: rr, please?

4. Merry Christmas!

AN: Yay! It's Christmas [and it went already… The real one, I mean] at Hogwarts!! I'm gonna make the Marauders go back for Christmas fun. Besides, it's not like I'm writing only about their time at Hogwarts! I know ghosts are people with 'unfinished buisiness' or some sort that triggers their head when they die, but I want them to not know it :P no Anna here, so enjoy! And definitely no Peter Pettigrew as any Marauder!! I'd rather hang myself than let him be one!!!! Forgive my pointless babblings – hope you'll enjoy this!

WAIT!!!

I wanna say sorry cuz I can't manage to post this stupid thing, so … Sorry!!!!

bunny chan

Disclaimer: I'm bored just by talking about this subject… can I skip this part?

The Marauding Five : Year Three

Chapter 4: Merry Christmas!

The cold December greeted Hogwarts with snow, a frozen lake and dead crops in Hagrid's patch. Speaking of the lake, twelve figures were ice-skating on it. Or at least, five were. The rest kept sliding down and fall on their bums.

'Seriously, I can never learn ice-skating! Why are they even invented?' Tally grumbled, rubbing hard. 'Look! I'm wet!'

'Tal, this takes time and practising! See, Kat can do quite well!' Lily said, helping Tally stand up on the ice rink. Catherine was skating happily all over the ring.

'Figures. She can balance, I can't. And she's a Quidditch player; meaning that she's really good at balancing!' Tally complained. James did a cartwheels on ice towards them.

'Nope! Terry's the Seeker and he can't even skate! Look!' James said, pointing to Terrykinns. True enough, he was stumbling, half running, half standing and half dropping on the skates they'd transfigured.

'Heeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!!!!!!!!!!' Terrykinns screamed as he sweeped near the middle of the lake. Catherine came to his call of despair and helped him stand up.

'Seriously, can't you rollerblade?' Sirius asked.

'What's that?' Dan said, holding Remus tightly so that he wouldn't fall.

'Right. None of you were muggle-born. Sorry.'

'Apology accepted. Now help me!!!'

'Sheesh! These skates are hard!' Nina said as she and Pertsy and Sita held their hands tightly as they slowly walked on ice. 'We did it! We did it! Hurrah!!'

'No you didn't. You're walking, not skating. This is skating,' Lily said, leaving Tally with Remus as she skated gracefully to them before ending it with a small turn.

'Neat, but I can't skate,' Pertsy muttered.

'Hey, don't hold onto each other or you'll-' Lily never got to finish her sentence, for at that very moment, the three crashed onto a nearby tree. '-crash.'

'Thank you so much,' Sita said as she tried to untangle herself from the fir tree's branches.

'You guys should really be more careful,' Lily said as she went over to pull them up.

'Who invented this?' Nina muttered. Everyone else had went over to the bank.

'Maybe we should just leave this,' Thomas suggested.

'What? And what will we play?' Sirius whined.

'We'll take them to sledging!' James said happily.

'What?'

'Sledging! Slide down the snow!' Lily said eagerly.

'Don't tell me you hadn't heard of that,' Remus said.

'Okay, we hadn't heard of it, so explain.'

'No need to. Since you guys aren't up to muggle-sports, we'll just play ourselves then,' Sirius said.

James magicked a sledge and it fell heavily in front of them.

'Maybe we should just slide down?' Lily suggested.

'Whoever heard of owls pulling it?' Remus said.

'We'll just drop and it'll be fun, fun, fun!!!' Sirius said, jumping. He dragged the sledge right to a high slope. Lily, James and Remus ran after him, but Catherine, Terrykinns, Dan, Thomas, Tally, Nina, Pertsy and Sita sat to watch.

'Sheesh, they won't know what fun is,' Sirius said.

'Well, at least they know a prank,' Lily said.

'They know a trick when they see one, but they're hopeless at most sports but Quidditch,' James said.

'Ready?' Remus asked.

'Yup! Now, push!'

They pushed and jumped in straight after that. It fell down slowly first, but it picked up speed and soon, it was rushing all the way down. The Marauders gasped for breath and laughed happily as the snow flew to their faces. They slid down faster and faster.

The eight were watching the Marauders with horror written all over their faces.

'They're gonna crash!' Tally said, jumping up.

The Marauders waved at them before sloping down even lower. Finally, they were about to fly out of hand because of a sudden curve. Lily quickly pulled her wand out and muttered Wingardium Leviosa, pointing at the sledge. Everyone gasped as the Marauders floated just above the curve, laughing merrily.

'I thought you were about to die!' Tally gasped.

'With Lily? I think not!' James laughed. Lily dropped them down just before their friends, sending the powder-fine snow flying in all directions.

'Oh yeah, I forgot about Lily's Inner Eye,' Tally muttered.

'You almost made my heart stopped!' Catherine exclaimed, hugging them tightly.

'Ow! Geroff!' Sirius cried. 'You're sounding like my mum there!'

'You guys okay?' Sita asked, checking them.

'As fine as can be. Honestly, you guys shouldn't worry too much!' Remus said, rolling his eyes.

'The Hogwarts Express' gonna leave in half an hours time. We'd better get going,' Lily said, looking at her watch.

'What? I'm not finished packing yet!' James cried. Immediately, the four rushed straight back into the high castle.

'They're leaving?' Nina said in a downcast voice.

'I guess so. So no Quidditch practices, huh Terry?' Catherine said, nudging her boyfriend.

'With four of it's members gone? Definitely n-o!' Terrykinns said.

'Good cause I'm too lazy to practice on such a wonderful weather,' Catherine grinned.

'What? And lose our chances at Quidditch? I don't care; Catherine, you're practicing!'

'No fair!'

**

Remus waved back at Terrykinns, Catherine, Nina, Pertsy, Tally, Sita, Dan and Thomas as the four Marauders climbed into the Hogwarts Express. Sirius and James were both staggering under the weight of the new Prank Trunk and Lily and Remus were carrying their homework (which is two whole boxful, speacially for them).

'We'll never be able to bring these!' Lily moaned. She pulled out her wand and muttered a charm. Everything soon floated into the scarlet steam engine after the four hand-free third years.

'With Lily or James around, we don't even have to bother,' Sirius grinned to Remus.

'My transformation's tomorrow,' Remus said gloomily. 'Lucky we're going back. The woods are so much better than the Shrieking Shack.'

'Well, if we find a way, we most certainly will,' James said, patting him. Lily's head gave a click.

'I am so densed!' Lily cried, jumping up suddenly.

'What? Is Voldemort here?' Sirius said, grabbing his wand.

'No!!! I need to read through my DADA book again later!' Lily said, her face shining brightly.

'What's the idea?' Remus asked curiously.

'And the Transfiguration! How can I even forget that?' Lily said, glowing even brighter, if that is possible.

'Lily, you're glowing too bright! My eyes hurt!' James said teasingly. Immediately, Lily went dark.

'Must you really spoil it?' Lily pouted.

'Not really, Li, but what's the big idea?' James laughed.

'Are there anymore school rules to break, Remus?' Lily asked. Remus pulled out a small book before reading through them at top speed.

'Everything completed.'

'How about the law?'

'Are you mad, Lily?' James and Remus said, jumping up straightaway.

'No, I'm not mad! This is a chance to help Remus!'

'How?'

'Listen, give me a few months to make some research and I swear I'll tell you. Imagine that; first thirteen year olds to break the Ministry laws!'

'I like that idea now. Maybe it isn't all that bad,' James grinned.

'So,' Sirius said, dropping into a seat, grinning idiotically. 'What do we do?'

'You should put off that stupid grin,' Remus said.

'Petty'll be back,' Lily said gloomily. 'What a nice way to celebrate.'

'Hey, we can snowball her!' James said cheerfully.

'So much for that. Her boyfriend is coming!'

'What?' Sirius, Remus and James choked on their pumpkin pasties.

'Serious! He's coming over!'

'Who on earth will ever love Petunia Telly Evans?'

'That's a good question there. Who?'

'I bet that person'll be really stupid and goofy looking.'

'Quite true. I think he's really fat, blonde and no neck at all. Total opposite of Petty.'

'Ahaha. So much for that. Trelawney assigned us extra jobs these holidays.'

'Just because she hates us, doesn't means she must play unfair!'

'Trust her to go against us.'

'I hope they fire her. Gosh, wouldn't that be cool then?'

'Cool? I'll be higher than seventh heaven already!'

'Flying without wings!'

'Eating peas!' Everyone laughed at Sirius. Sirius absolutely hate peas and wouldn't eat it, even if you pour fifteen sacks of sugar on one pea.

James yawned. 'I'm bored.'

'Snape's on this train?'

'Yeah. Goes back every Christmas.'

'Oh, good! Let's go find him then!'

With that, they left their things everywhere, bring a couple of dungbombs, some thread and a few Filibuster's Fireworks. They hid everything into their robes pocket before walking down the train, looking for Snape.

'He'll pay, trying to poison my food,' Lily grinned evilly.

'He poisoned it?' James asked.

'Yeah. Thanks to Tally forcing half her cooking into me in tea, else, I'll be in the Infirmary still.'

'Sssh! We're here!' Sirius said.

They rounded the thread at the compartment door and tied the ends to the dungbomb and fireworks before grinning to themselves. Remus cleared his throat before announcing to the door that the tea-lady is there. Just as they had expected, the door burst open, revealing Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew and a few other Slytherins.

Meanwhile, when the Slytherins opened the door, everything was triggered. The dungbombs fell down like rain and the fireworks were lit up, bursting all over the room. The Marauders, who were hiding in a corner, safe from all harm, laughed silently to themselves as the Slytherins coughed and started yelling in amazement.

'We're being attacked!' Pettigrew cried.

'You fool! Who'd dare attack us?' Malfoy yelled.

'Lucius has a point, Peter. Who dared to? If it's any of the Slytherins…' Snape said warningly.

'Ya think it'll be that Potter gang?' Milicent Dork said.

'They never went home for Christmas,' Rettier Fletcher said, coughing.

'Shut up, you fools!' Snape yelled loudly. Immediately, they shut up. 'I'll find out who that wretch is,' Snape said again. The tone of the voice held pure venom and hatred. Quietly, the Marauders slipped back into their compartment and picked up some of their homework to do.

Snape burst into the compartment hours later.

'YOU!!' he cried in amazement.

'Hullo Snape! Tally's not here,' Lily said, pushing her glasses closer as she buried her nose into the Charms textbook.

'What are you doing here?' Snape asked.

'We're going home; or hadn't you known?' James replied, trying to make his owl purple. It simply refused to.

'So you did it! Milicent was right!'

'Did what?' Remus asked, looking and shivering at the near last page of their DADA book.

'You! Bomb my compartment!'

'Mphh? Fuomfh fuer fonfaptfen? Fearh!' Sirius said, mouth stuffed full with food.

'Translation: Me? Bomb your compartment? Nah!' James said.

'Fafths fright!!'

'Translation: That's right!!' Lily said.

'Frhy fuer fufsstect fush?'

'Translation: Why d'you suspect us?' Remus said.

'Argh!! Speak for yourself!' Snape screamed.

'Speak what?' James said.

'Say it now or I'll curse you!' Snape threatened.

'Snape, I have my wand here and if you want to try, feel free to,' Lily said warningly. Even if Snape knew much more Dark Arts than most Seventh Years, Lily's knowledge on all sorts of magic – including Dark Arts – surpasses all of them. Also, his chances with Tally might decrease, as Tally is Lily's friend. Sulkily, Snape walked out.

Lily sighed. 'The things he does for love.'

'You mean he didn't because he loved Tally?' James asked.

'Yup!'

'Gosh, he sure is sad,' Remus said.

'Yup!'

'And,' Sirius grinned, 'We have more chances in attacking him!!'

'Definite yup!!' Lily, James and Remus agreed.

**

'There they are!' Rose said. William, Edward, Rose, Orion, Melissa, Romulus and Anne turned to where Rose is pointing at. The Marauders were tugging hard at their trunks and school work from their compartment, for Lily's spell on them seemed to have wore off during their train ride.

'Why did we even bother to bring these trunks?' James muttered, pulling hard at one.

'Point one; you and I both need a place to keep our pranks. Point two; we need a supply at home. Point three; I thought you wanna get at Petunia for calling you a toad?' Lily panted as she dragged another trunk.

'Hey dad! Dad!' Sirius called out loudly.

'Help us!!' Remus sighed, waving a white flag in defeat.

'No! Don't give up, Remus! We'll win these stupid trunks and weight of homeworks!' James cried.

'Yeah! We can do it!' Lily supported.

'You guys needn't come- what? Hey no!! Come here!!' Sirius screamed. Immediately, their parents ran over to them.

'Need help?' Edward asked.

'What does it look like?' Lily panted.

'Uh, no?' William suggested.

'You're mental,' James said, dropping a trunk.

'We are?' Orion said.

'Yes, you are,' Sirius moaned, trying to put down their homework.

'Well, maybe? Or maybe not?' Romulus said.

'Just help already!!' Remus cried.

'Yeah! Help 'em!' Anne said, hitting Romulus hard.

'Yeow!'

'Help us poor kids!' Lily begged.

'Poor?' Orion said slowly, raising an eye on them.

'Kids?' Romulus said.

'You?' William added.

'Help?' Edward said.

'Get on with it!' Melissa cried.

'Yeah!' Yvonne said, hitting Edward.

'Well why don't you?' William said.

'We're girls, you're boys. You're stronger, now go help!' Rose said. The four women pushed their husbands towards the struggling Marauders.

'Why should they suddenly be the voice of reason?' Orion said grumpily.

'Beats me,' Edward said in the same tone.

'They're women?' Romulus suggested.

'You used to be the one,' William said to Romulus.

'Oh, right, we do?' Orion said.

'Can't say James, Lily, Sirius and Remus took after each of us,' Edward said proudly.

'Yeah. We all do, so will you help us now?' Lily asked. Without another word, the Marauders each handed their father their load and ran over to their mother.

'Hey mom!!' Lily cried.

'Hi! How's school?' Rose greeted.

'Why did you suddenly call us back for christmas?' Sirius asked.

'A time for family,' Melissa replied.

'Why must Petunia come along?' James asked.

'She's still Lily's sister,' Yvonne said.

'Why can't you let us at school?' Remus said.

'Let you at school? Never! We'll have to drag you back at least once!' Anna said.

'What did you have for homework? Rocks?' William asked, staggering under Lily's new trunk.

'That's not homework. Our, uh, experiment,' Lily said.

'Homework's all Trelawney's. The other teachers decided that we're saints this year, so they'll let us off,' James said proudly.

'I remember Sybil. Stupid girl. She's teaching now?' Edward grumbled.

'You won't believe her nonsense,' Remus said.

'We know. She keeps telling me that I'll die. School mate,' Romulus scowled at the memory.

'I wish she'd get fired,' Orion said.

'If I have a wish, I'll wish her away from my life,' Sirius said.

'Get on the car already!!' Anne said, pushing everyone into a car.

'Magic huh?' James said, getting in.

'How do you think his car'll fit four families?' Lily said, climbing after him.

'I'm gonna burst the Thompson's shed! We hadn't a chance in summer!' Sirius vowed.

'What? That only? We'll turn everyone back into earthworms!' Remus said.

'Enough already!' Rose cried at them.

'Why?'

'Just stop it! I'm having a headache!' Yvonne complained.

'Pomfrey has a tonic and she gave some to me…'

'Uh, it just stopped,' Yvonne said.

'Oh well, okay. I thought I'd like to see what color your face'll turn out to be.'

'Well, anything new?' Melissa asked.

'Boring stuff. You won't wanna hear anything.'

'We're trying to be saints this year.'

'Not really. We're just devils in disguise.'

'You won't believe what the teachers think!'

'They sent us to Pomfrey just for that!'

'Insane.'

'I thought they'll like us more!'

'Turned out opposite.'

'So we just went back.'

'Oh boy, imagine Minnie's face!!!'

'She looked quite relief at that.'

'Really weird.'

Their mothers just sighed. When are they ever going to grow up? Much as they enjoyed pranks, they wouldn't like it to be too excessive.

'Hey mom, don't tell me that we should grow up. Tally said a lot of that already,' Lily said.

'What?' Rose said blankly.

'Don't start talking like Tally. "Lily, when are you gonna grow up?"' Lily mimicked.

'Dan goes the same way. They should get together,' James said.

'Get together? And they can start nagging us already!' Sirius said, horrified.

'Oh yeah, here're some presents,' Remus said, handing them a blank parchment (save four doodles on a corner) each.

'What?' Yvonne said, blinking hard at her parchment.

'Huh?' Rose said.

'Do we get squirted by ink?' Anne asked, inspecting the parchment.

'Or maybe we get insulted?' Melissa said.

'What's this?' Edward said.

'Looked weird,' William said.

'A prank for us?' Romulus said cautiously.

'You aren't killing us, are you?' Orion said, inspecting the four little sketches of all four Marauders.

'It's a present, dad! You think I'll kill you yet?' Sirius said.

'Goodness knows what you four'll end up as,' Anne said.

'As the new Zonko's manager,' Remus grinned. 'Or at least, Lily'll be the manager and we'll be her assistants.'

'Why is that so?' Rose asked.

'You'll see,' James grinned.

'See? Okay, revalio!' Anne said.

Nothing happened to the parchment.

'I have a magic rubber,' William said helpfully. Rose took it and start rubbing hard at the parchment. Nothing again.

'Okay, a drop of potion,' Melissa said, pulling a bottle from her pocket and dropped a drop. Nothing.

'Show your secret!' Yvonne demanded.

Bright violet ink shimmered across her parchment, reading;

Lily Rose Evans, James Edward Potter, Sirius Orion Black and Remus Romulus Lupin

proudly presents the Thinking Paper, made especially for your daily use, office use, home use and magical people! For instructions of use, please say "Help!"

Everyone jumped in fright, and Romulus, who was driving, swerved the car sharply, causing everyone to topple over.

'Watch it, Romulus!' Anne snapped.

'Oops!'

They turned their attention back to the parchment. Rose pushed it with her wand. It gave a slight shake.

'Aah! Dark Magic!'

'Help! What's this?'

'Explain now, Lily!!'

'Aaah!'

'Eeps! It responded!'

'This thing looked like it can hear us!'

'Yeow! Stop hitting me, Edward!'

'Sorry William!'

'Romulus!!! Watch that bend!! Watch that bend!'

'Aaaaah!!! Stop screaming!'

'You're the one that's screaming!'

The Marauders watched in amusement at their parents who were arguing. Half about the bewitched parchment and the other half about Remus' father's driving. Sirius did a face, indicating that they were now mentally sick.

'We saw that Sirius!' all eight adults snapped at Sirius.

'Yow! My eardrum's at stake!'

They ignored him and went back talking – maybe it's more of disagreement – without another look at their four, eager watching children.

Lily looked outside the window.

'Think it'll be a white or green christmas?'

'I hope it's white,' James said. 'Snow's good.'

'I'd like a green christmas,' Remus said.

'I want green,' Sirius popped.

'It looks like a white one,' Lily said slowly, turning to the sky.

'Since when are you a weather forecaster?'

'Dunno. I said it looked like one.'

'Whatever. What about Trelawney's work! Stupid insect…'

'That insect needs a little help in head alright.'

'Mental. If she's an animagi, she'll be a dragonfly.'

'Let's just transfigure her into one!'

'We aren't learning human transfiguration yet.'

'Ha ha. You are speaking? Our parents have a library of their old books!'

'How can I ever forget that fact?'

'What's on your head?'

'Sirius' head's full of flobberworms!'

'I detest that!'

'You're supposed to!'

'Am I? Then I don't detest it.'

'You are getting stupider everyday, Sirius!'

'Hey!'

**

'We're home!' Lily cried into her home. 'Gram? Hellooo? Anybody home?'

'Shut it, Lily! I'm trying to read here!' Petunia snapped from the couch.

'Oh, couch potatoe, aren't you? What're you reading?' Lily asked curiously. Petunia hid it away from her view.

'None of your buisiness!'

'Gimme! Gimme!' Lily said.

'Never! Get lost, freak!'

'Okay… Accio!' Lily grinned. The paper flew from Petunia's hands to her. 'Now let's see… Dear Petunia, the queen of my heart. I've been aching for your – Petty, this is what you call read? Bleach!'

'Give it back!' Petunia made a grab for the letter.

'I call that fawning,' Sirius grinned from the doorway. 'Mom's talking with James, Remus and your mom in my house.'

'Thought we'd join you a Petty,' James said. 'I smell cookies.'

'Hey, Petty, read that aloud!' Remus said.

Petunia turned purplish red and started shooting insults to them. Lily returned them easily (she has thirteen years of practice) and soon, Lily was aiming curses, hexes and a couple of jinxes to Petunia, who tried hard to dodge them, but failed. In the end, Lily smiled smugly as she led everyone else up to her room.

'Now, how do we torture Petunia?' James asked, dropping onto Lily's bed.

'Let's see, turn her into a bird? No. Charm her green? Maybe, when her boyfriend comes. Frighten her with werewolves? Oops! Remus, I didn't mean it! Promise! We'll get a boggart for her then,' Sirius said, listing everything down.

'Hit her with snowballs,' Lily added.

'No snow yet, Li,' Remus said.

'It just did,' Lily said, pointing to the window. True enough, a few snowflakes were falling gently.

'It isn't much, but hey! We're wizards and witches!'

'Right, so you got my point?'

'Very much. We'll be over tomorrow morning, magic some snow and start a Petunia Snowball!'

'You're on!'

SLAM!

The four Marauders turned to the door, facing a very red Petunia.

'How dare you!!'

'What?' Lily asked blankly.

'You burnt it! How dare you burn it!!!'

'Burn what?' James asked quizzically.

'You stay out of this! Explain!' Petunia snapped.

'Explain what?' Lily asked, as blank as ever.

'You burnt Vernon's letter!!! Give it back to me!!!!' Petunia screamed, shaking the house.

'Ahem. Dear Petunia. I am very much filled with grief, as our sorrowful love will not meet this fateful Christmas. My parents had strictly disallow me to…' Lily said in a heartfelt tone.

'No nooo!! Don't read it outloud, idiot!! Give me that letter!' Petunia screeched. She'd rather Lily burn the letter than to read it aloud to her friends.

Lily handed her the paper. Petunia stared.

'Lily! Give it to me! This is BLANK!!!!' Petunia screamed, jumping.

'Blank? Oh, you play my game too?' Sirius asked with interest.

'What game?'

'Final Fantasy 9. There's this guy called Blank.'

'Give me back my letter, Lily!!! And what are you talking about??'

'I burnt it,' Lily said, dropping some ashes onto the floor.

'You read it!!!'

'Seriously, you forgotten that I'd a good memory?'

'Noooo!!!!!!' Petunia's wails echoed far to the mountains, shaking the whole of Loopy Village.

'Now, get out of the room,' Remus advised. Sobbing, Petunia left, slamming the door after her.

'Well, where's the real letter Li?' James asked.

Grinning, Lily produced a letter from her pocket. Sirius grabbed it, scan through half of the long letter and made a sick face before turning blue and choking. Remus took it from him, read a few lines before paling into a sick green. James, curious, snatched the letter and read it. He turned yellow and started choking with laughter.

'Disgusting, isn't it?' Lily said.

'Blearh!'

'Good. Who vote that I blackmail Petty? Or should I just burn it?'

'Blackmail!!' the boys chorused.

Hurriedly, they ran out to blackmail Lily's sister. Petunia was glad that Lily had a copy (to avoid being deaf to death) and enraged because she had turned slave to the mischievous four.

**

'Wake up!!!' Yvonne shouted loudly in James' bedroom. 'It's eight, and you don't want to miss your presents!'

James just kept on sleeping. From the back, Yvonne heard Lily's window slam open.

'Hie!! James! It's christmas! Get up!'

Yvonne smiled to herself before opening James' window and calling back to Lily.

'He's still asleep, Lily! He won't be up until noon!!'

'Still hasn't break that habit?' Remus snorted from his window.

'Can't say he has,' Yvonne called back.

'Oh, I know someone that can!' Sirius grinned from his window.

'Whom? Oh, come over for Christmas!' Yvonne invited.

Three windows slammed shut and clutters of footsteps can be heard running down the stairs at the same time. Yvonne shook her head. And turned to her still sleeping son.

'JAMES POTTER, GET UP THIS INSTANCE!' Yvonne shouted as loud as she can. But James barely even budged.

'One would've thought that you have cottons in your ear that repels all sounds,' Yvonne muttered before the door burst open and three teenagers ran in.

'Hey aunt Yvonne!' Lily greeted.

'Y'awake?' Sirius asked, prodding James hard with his wand.

'He'll be sleeping through the earthquake,' Remus explained.

'Not with someone,' Sirius said, grinning suddenly.

'I'm off for cookies!' Lily said, running off that very instance.

'What? It's cookies she's after when she knew I couldn't bake?' Yvonne asked.

'No, she just don't wanna wake James,' Remus said.

'How?'

'Kiss him awake.'

'I tried it. He seems to have put a spell on himself or something. Truly, this son of mine is one lazy boy!'

'Well…'

Sirius ran out of the room, much to Yvonne's puzzlement.

'Lemme go! Lemme go!' Lily cried, kicking and screaming as Sirius pulled her from the doorframe she had clung on to.

'No! We want to snowball Petunia even more later, right? Get him up!' Sirius said, pushing Lily to James' bed. Yvonne watched on in interest.

'I promise that I'll get you a whole jar of cookies for yourself. I just got two from an old friend,' Yvonne said. She'd do anything to get James up early for Christmas.

'Give me that camera!!' Lily said, digging straight into Remus' pocket before pulling a pocket-sized camera from it.

'Okay, done?' Remus said with a sigh.

'Not really. I want some pies; blueberry, mind. Oh, and get me a basin full of water.'

They got her the things.

'What would you want these for?' Sirius asked curiously. He understand the pies – Lily is really fond of them – but the basin of water? Why on earth would she need that?

Lily took a deep breath before pecking James quickly on his cheeks. Hurriedly, she ran to the basin of water and washed her lips hard with soap and brushed her teeth once more with her magicked toothbrush and toothpaste.

Yvonne watched in amazement as James stirred blurrily from his bed.

'Hi mom. I want some lunch please?' James said blearily, rubbing his eyes.

'Lunch? James, it's eight thirty!' Yvonne screamed.

'It is? Then I might as well go back to bed or maybe gobble some dinner first,' James yawned.

'Dinner? James, look outside!!! It's morning! The sun has risen! And go back to bed? Get up this instance!' Yvonne screamed again.

'Why's Lily hanging herself for the third time?' James asked.

'Same reason as today's date,' Sirius said.

'It's christmas eve?'

'Idiot, what went into your mind every Christmas?' Remus asked.

'Uh, flobberworms?'

'No wonder you're as woolly as them,' Yvonne muttered. 'Up, up, up!!'

'James, you awake yet?' Edward asked, turning the doorknob. 'Wow! First time in history! Get a camera!'

'Hi dad. What's in history? And why camera?' James asked. Then a snap came, just as Romulus' face peeped in.

'Hey James! Woke up in time for christmas, didn't you?' William greeted.

'Oh, so?'

'Lily, what're you doing?' Orion asked.

'I'm hanging myself. This is the THIRD time I had to do this!!' Lily wailed loudly.

'Okay, calm down, calm down,' Anne said slowly.

'What? Calm? How can I ever??'

'What happened?' Rose asked, waltzing into the room.

'Your daughter's HANGING HERSELF? Lily, get down!' Melissa demanded.

'Hey! I'd done this thrice and I think I'll succeed this time!' Lily retorted.

'Lily! Trespassta!' Gram called, instantly aiming her wand at Lily. Lily fell down with a bump.

'Yeow!! Gram!!!'

'Shut it up, Lily. Aunt Yvonne, may I please have a cake?' Petunia said.

'Uh, I baked it without magic,' Yvonne said cautiously.

'All the better,' Petunia replied, running off to get a piece.

'Think she'll live, mom?' James asked. Yvonne is now chewing her nails.

'I vote she won't and any time now, a scream will-' Lily was cut off by a piercing scream and a really loud thud. '-ensue. Too late.' All the adults went to make sure Petunia was alright.

'Um, what did she put in there?' Sirius asked.

'Mom baked some weird jelly-wig-worm in there. Remember those we caught last year? We put it in the baking powder box,' James said.

'Worst luck. I bet your mom used that box of baking powder,' Remus said.

'You got it right. She mixed two boxes in.'

'And she didn't even see them?' Lily asked in a you're-ridiculous tone.

'Bingo.'

'Hey, I have a new idea with snowballs!' Sirius said gleefully.

'Oh, what? They're snowballs, and there doesn't seem to be a way to change them, like pranks stuff,' Remus said.

'Just say it,' Lily said.

'All ears here,' James said.

Sirius cleared his throat before pulling out a scrawly diagram. It shows a white snowball. An ordinary snowball. And the picture next to it shows exactly the same snowball, no difference from the one before. Everyone looked at it. This is Sirius' discovery?

'Alright, wipe that ridiculous look outta your faces! This is my plan!!' Sirius instructed. 'Look, see this snowball? Yes? Good. And this one next to it?'

'Are we blind?' Remus asked, rolling his eyes.

'Okay, notice the difference?' Sirius asked.

'Is there even a difference?' James said, looking hard at the diagrams.

'They're both snowballs. Wait, I saw it!' Lily said happily.

'Good, so what is it?' Sirius inquired.

'One is bigger than the other. It's a little crooked, too.'

'Not that!! The second one!! It contains a stone!! A really, really hard stone!!!'

'And your point is?'

'We hide a stone in each snowball we snowballed Petunia with and she'll get cuts and bruises instead of just cold, wet snow!!! See? Isn't it brilliant?' Sirius said, marveling his own head.

'You know, if your ego gets any bigger, I think twenty Hogwarts school wouldn't even fit in,' Remus said.

'Are you my friend?' Sirius said, looking hurt at Remus' words.

'No. I'm your best friend and I can comment you however I like,' Remus replied casually.

'Oh good! Petunia's awake!' Yvonne's voice came up from below. 'I'm so sorry, dear, to not have warned you about putting-'

'It's okay, Aunt Yvonne. It's not your fault. But judging by the laughters above, I bet Lily knew and never told it to me,' Petunia's replied came.

Lily looked furious. 'What?! You stupid sister – uh, step-sister since she's adopted – how dare you accuse me? Why don't you look out for yourself? I bet those worms were sticking out of that cake!'

'You're right. They are sticking outta the cake,' James muttered.

The image of the cake with worms sticking out of them sent shivers to Sirius' spines. He shuddered a little.

'Why, Si? Worried to not be able to eat?' Remus asked teasingly.

'That's what I'm afraid of. The image of it sent shivers already. Imagine the real thing…' Sirius groaned.

'I'm going outside for snowballs,' Lily announced, running to the ladder placed on James' windowsil.

'And Petunia gave me the freaks,' James added before rushing after her.

'Go?' Sirius asked. Without a word, Remus pushed him down the ladder, sending the latter to clutter at the ladder steps before falling on the snow with a loud bump.

'Is there a need to push?' Sirius called.

'Yes. I was hoping that it'll help remove the bad image of cake with worms in your head!'

'Thanks. But your intention turned out bad. I have an even worst image now…'

To cut off the boring-est of most part, here's a short account on what happened: They did snowball Petunia with the stone-filled snowballs. The girl ended up going to the hospital due to nose-bleed, bruises and cuts all over her. The Marauders were given lectures for hurting Petunia badly and were sent back on the Hogwarts Express that very day.

'I can't believe it! We got sent back on CHRISTMAS day?' Lily asked in a disbelief voice.

'This must be a record! We were home only for a week or two and we got sent back as soon as Christmas' at our doorstep! What happened?' James groaned.

'The presents! At least we brought them with us,' Sirius said, gloomily patting a huge bundle of presents.

'We hadn't even had a bite in that huge Christmas cake! And believe me, mom got it really huge!!' Remus moaned.

The Marauders sighed in dismay, disappointment and sadness. This wasn't quite the Christmas you'd like to celebrate with.

'Today's not our day I guess. I mean, what harm can it come to by snowballing Petunia?' Sirius asked.

'We have stone in there? I must say, I conjured a diamond in mine… must've cut pretty deep,' Lily mused.

'I got two diamonds in mine. Trust me, I made it really hard and really sharp,' James said.

'I only have a pebble!' Remus complained.

The four sighed again, just as Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop outside the Hogsmeade station. They grabbed their bags, presents, owls and their homework load which are finished, thanks to Lily's help, and climbed into the horseless carriage.

'Jingle bells, this season smells,' Sirius hummed sadly to himself, looking out of the window.

'The grass is tall and leaves won't fall,' Lily sang.

'Trouble comes and we're kicked off, into a dark and smelly cove,' James sang.

'Hey, stop those ridiculous made-up lyrics! They're funny and I don't feel like laughing!' Remus said.

They burst into peals of laughter after that. They hop off the carriage and marched, nose high, into the Hogwarts castle. Who cares anyway? This is one record worth keeping! At least, to the Marauders, it is.

'You're back? What day is today?' Terrykinns asked as he and Catherine were ice-skating – rather unskillfully – in the huge pond.

'Christmas. No, you are not dreaming, Terry,' Lily assured.

'What? How d'you know what I'm thinking?'

'Aren't I smart?'

'Whatever. How do you run on this thing again?'

'Not run, skate. You skate, not run!' James said.

'Okay, okay. So how?'

'Like this,' Sirius said, giving him a push. Terrykinns skated all the way, stumbling a little in the middle, to the other side of the lake. The boy was screaming with fright and Catherine was giggling too hard to help him up. Terrykinns ended up upside down, banging hard onto a nearby fir tree trunk.

'Ciao! We go now!' Remus said. They waved and went up the castle steps with their bags.

'Goodness! Why are you here?' McGonagall said in shock. The Marauders, however, were laughing too hard to answer her. Remus got out his new camera before snapping a photo of the teacher. Anyway, how many times will you see McGonagall dressed in santa-like clothings along with a cap? Only once in a blue moon.

**

'So that's why you're here?' Tally asked Lily, who was explaining why she's here when she is supposed to be back at home with her family.

'But I never! Who ever hurts her sister? With stones – or diamonds, in James and your case?' Sita asked in surprise.

'Hey, she's not my sister! She's my step-sister. Adopted. And just like Cinderella, step-sisters are mean. They aren't gonna be nice and goody to you,' Lily said, as if the fact was known well to four year olds, which, maybe is.

'Well, my step-sister is,' Pertsy began slowly. 'She has a nasty temper though.'

'See?' Lily said triumphantly.

'We see everything. Okay, now you're here, mind helping us with Divination? I still can't get the hang of that crystal ball…' Tally said, pulling out the glass orb.

'I still say it's very stupid,' Nina sniffed. 'Still, I have to do this Arithmancy. You can't help me there, can you, Lily?'

'I don't know. Mom wants me to take that, so she taught me some before-hand. Yes, I guess I can help a little,' Lily said slowly. 'Okay, bring this to Vector – was it her name? – and I'll come along. I'll tell you the answer right away!'

'How?'

'Let's see… not telling,' Lily said, poking her tongue out mischievously. She had planned to let Nina show the arithmancy professor the work, and just like most professors, they'll think of the answer while trying to teach you. Lily planned to use that as an advantage to help Nina and to add something to her still-growing knowledge. Any new information might be useful against Voldemort, especially when you're only thirteen and helpless.

Wait. We aren't all that helpless. We have some powers, Lily said, hitting her head mentally.

'How about some chips?' Sita offered, getting up.

'Oh goody! I'd like some. The tea-lady didn't turn up in the train ride. Bet she's taking a holiday,' Lily said, absent-mindedly making a large plate of chips before the watching girls. She took one piece and bit into it as the remaining four watched on amazed.

'Oh, it's good!' Lily said cheerfully. 'Dig in!'

'Uh, it just appeared out of nowhere!' Pertsy stammered.

'It's not even the Summoning Charm I saw Elley used!' Tally stuttered.

'Oh, it's nothing. It's perfectly un-poison, so don't worry,' Lily said, turning a little red. How was she to remember that she had vowed to never let her Psychic powers to be known? Her powers as a Seer had leaked out, but she must keep her other one a perfect secret.

The girls daren't move.

'Hey, you trust me or not? Hi boys!' Lily said. The girls looked confuse at the last sentence.

Just then, the door burst open, and three figures in a familiarly cladded space clothes stood at the door, a gun in hand each. The taller one was twirling it around his fingers skillfully and the other two were shooting all over the room, sending colored smokes everywhere.

'You!!!' the four girls shouted in unison.

'Nope, it's us!' Lily said, cladding herself in the same clothings before blasting everything. With a wave of wand, Lily had everyone dressed exactly that way.

'C'mon! We'll play elsewhere! Dan and Thomas are still below. Won't come up,' James said.

The girls wouldn't budge.

'Liven up!! We have to live life to it's fullest, so enjoy!' Remus coaxed. With that, everyone rushed down, shooting almost everything.

'Cool! This is fun!' Tally said.

'Isn't it? Our sorta game when we're bored,' Sirius grinned.

'Hey guys! How about going after Mrs Norris?' Lily suggested, producing a pellet from her robes.

'Pellet green, pellet pink;

turn Mrs Norris into an awful green!'

'Sorry?' Thomas breathed.

'Here she comes!!!' Lily said, dropping the pellet on the floor. The cat, quickly spotting food on the floor, rushed up to it before eating it straight. Mrs Norris turned into a really sick yellow-green at the very moment. Tally felt like throwing up at the color, but Dan managed to hit her hard, making her swallow everything in.

'Eugh!'

'Yuck!'

'You're still having that?' Sirius asked.

'It's my invention! If I don't, who will?' Lily argued.

'It looked disgusting,' Nina said.

'Well, how about we try it on a teacher? Say, the Insect?' Lily said, grinning evilly.

'What? It worked for humans?' James asked.

'Not before. I did some changes with Gram's help.'

'What insect?' Sita, Pertsy and Nina asked. Obviously, they hadn't known much of Sybil Trelawney, how much Lily hate her and how the professor looked like an overlarge insect.

'Divination Insect,' Remus said.

'What?' the trio said again.

'Divination Idiot might help?' James said helpfully.

'What?'

'The stupid Divination professor,' Sirius said at last. 'I'll bang her today!' He shot a laser beam from his gun, burning a hole in the ceiling. Six of them gulped, but the remaining three simply waved it off as something normal.

'Well, well, I don't think this is holiday costume, is it not?' Dumbledore's voice said from behind.

'Hello Dumbledore! No, seriously, don't ask why,' Lily said.

'What's up?' James said.

'Sorry 'bout that hole,' Sirius said sheepishly.

'Hi!' Remus said shortly.

The others were tongue-tied. Here is the headmaster, one of the best wizards of the wizarding community, and they are dressing in this ridiculous clothings, armed with a laser gun?

'Ask what, Lily? And nothing's up, James. It's really boring without you mischief-makers. The hole? That'll be fixed easily by Filch, so there's no problem. Hello Remus,' Dumbledore said.

'You know what you'll ask. First, why would we wanna bang Trelawney. And then why are we here? After that, what's with this weird costumes? And lastly, what about joining the feast later,' Lily said promptly.

'We'll join the feast,' Sirius said hopefully. 'You'll let us, won't you?'

'Lily, I must say that you're improving really well in your Divination. True, I will ask these questions in about a minute or two. Very well, since you'd asked me to not to ask, I shall leave it a mystery to myself. Now, why aren't you talking?' Dumbledore said, referring to the mute third-years.

'Can you send a word to the kitchens? You can list whatever food you want for the feast,' Dumbledore said, smiling at the Marauders. This, of course, brightened Sirius' face as soon as possible. He glowed so brightly that Tally suspected that a bulb must've been placed there.

'Aye aye, captain!' James grinned, saluting to him.

'Then march!'

'One, two, one, two,' Remus grinned. The Marauders were doing a really uncoordinated march just for the fun of it.

'Properly.'

'Oh, I hate marching! Like we hadn't done enough in those sport's days,' James groaned.

'Don't ask. We're not really good atheletes,' Lily muttered.

'She can run though,' Sirius said, pointing to Lily.

'Like a wind,' Remus said, nodding his agreement.

'Well, please remember to place an order then,' Dumbledore laughed, leaving them. He started singing carols loudly without a dignity in mind.

'When food's concern, Sirius will remember,' Lily called out to him. The old wizard just chuckled and went on singing.

'Is he okay in head?' Sita asked worriedly.

'Oh, he's fine, actually,' Remus said.

'If he's fine to you, it's a definitely no to us. Your head goes anti-clockwise,' Nina said.

'Does the head ever goes clockwise? Hmm… that's a question to ponder at, Lily!' James said.

'I'll get the answer by tomorrow,' Lily promised.

'What? And miss all the fun by sitting in the library?' Thomas asked in shock.

'Nah! I can give the answer now if you want.'

'No need. We already know,' Pertsy said dryly.

'Oh, what is it?'

'You are all weird.'

AN: Is this long? I most certainly hope so. Anyway, I might be writing really slow after this L the reasons are hard. 1) I have to go for extra tuition since I'm facing major exam. I already have one and it's enough to drive me nuts. 2) I'm facing a major exam this year [2001]. I get less time, but I'll manage in weekends. 3) My dreams are turning really weird [yes, I get half my ideas from dreams], so you have to suffer more :) wait. That's not a reason!!! Never mind. 4) piano exam. Another load to my already huge one. 5) I go morning school from this year on. Not much time.

Reasons enough? So you'll all get more rest and I go school tomorrow L very sad… anyway, Happy New Year and I hope your life's better off than mine! I'll still write, so don't kill me yet!! I'm only a teenager and don't wanna die just now. However I hate my studies, I still value my life!

Oh, I was thinking, would you mind if I use the 'You Started It!' characters in my new short stories? I like them!!! Especially little Kioki!!! You won't mind, right?