On Christmas day, Lily woke up feeling less excited than she had ever been. She just couldn't get into the spirit of Christmas when her parents weren't able to enjoy it. She could rememebr large family christmases, way back to when she was five. She looked at her bed, not expecting many presents, and was surprized to see at least 6 laying there. She reached for the first one, and looked at the tag
'To Lils, Merry Christmas! Don't you go getting into trouble while I am not there! Luv, Angelica'
Lily unwrapped the package carefully, and a large sheep stuffy fell out. Lily collected sheep stuffies, she had at least 10 of them. This one was a black sheep, and a tag around it's neck read
' Black Sheep aren't always bad, Lily. Remember that. They stand out, even if they don't want to'
Lily frowned at the tag, but kissed the sheep happily, and moved onto the next present. This one said
' Lily! We're having fun in Hawaii! We hope your having fun too! Merry Christmas- Chelsea and Ruby' She smiled at the lucky cousins, whose mothers had decided to take the families on vacation for Christmas.
Inside this package, there was a necklace made of coral, and a blank sketch pad. Lily loved to draw, and her friends knew it. She frowned at the other 4 lying on her bed. She crawled over, and picked the biggest up. It had no tag, and it felt rather light. She opened it, and a feather fell out. Lily frowned, and gingerly picked up the quill. It felt as if she held nothing. She got out a piece of parchment, and tried to write, but nothing happened. I wonder what this is Lily though. To her amazement, the quill wrote it down for her. Lily gaped in amazement, and picked up the quill for closer study. Then she remembered the other gifts. 3 of them. She picked up another, this one from Professor McGonagall. She didn't think this very odd. She liked Professor McGonagall, and had tea with her sometimes, after lessons. Inside were chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, which were Lily's favorite, even if sometimes she was nastily surprised. The next one was from…her parents. Lily felt her eyes well up, and a deep sob escaped her throat. The tears swiftly followed, and she sat, wailing like a baby in her room, a deep sadness clutching and ripping at her chest. Foot steps on the stairs told her that someone had heard her, and sure enough, James Potter and Sirius black raced through the door, wearing strange hats and looking worried.
"Lily! What is the matter?!" Sirius demanded, walking over to the bed to sit down beside her. James knelt on the floor, and looked up at Lily. She shoved the package across her lap, and James read it.
"They must have sent it before hand." James said, patting Lily on the leg.
"Maybe you should open it." Sirius suggested, handing her the present. Lily sniffled, and nodded. She oh-so-carefully tore open the paper, and removed what was inside. It was a shawl, white and filmy, almost like gossamar, and it produced more sobs from Lily. It had been her mothers, and Lily had forgotten the promise "You can have it when your fifteen, Lily"
"Guys, can you just go, please." Lily said, motioning to the door. James looked at Sirius. "Alright," he said hesitantly "but we're coming to get you for the feast in half an hour, Lily. Theres no excuse to be moping on Christmas day." James said, and they left. Lily held the shall close to her. The pain was unexplainable, it was uncontrollable.
Lily was woken up by a soft tapping on her door. She opened it, and Sirius stood there.
"I've come to escort you to the feast" he said, trying to look, well, serious. Lily looked around him.
"Where's James?"
"He left early, said he had to do something." Sirius said. Lily nodded, and walked ahead of Sirius, down the stairs, and to the dining hall. There they sat a one large table, with the teachers and the remaining students; 2 Hufflepuff 3rd years, 3 Slytherin 6th years, and 1 Ravenclaw 5th year. Professor Dumbledore smiled at the assembled group.
"Merry Christmas!" he exclaimed, smiling at them, as food appeared on the table. Lily started eating, and wondered where James was. When he didn't show up, her and Sirius loaded up on Christmas crackers, and trooped up to the common room. They put down the crackers, and began to look around. There was no one inside except…..
Sitting in the middle of the common room, looking angry, was a donkey.(if it is possible for donkeys to look angry) Lily looked quisically at Sirius. He picked up a card lying on the floor, and read it.
"IT's James." He said, obviously contaning his laughter.
Lily took a couple of steps closer, and looked at the donkey. "Oh yeah, I see now. It has his hair." The donkey attempted to bite her, and Lily leapt back.
"How did this happen?" she asked. Sirius handed her the card, which read "For James, even though your an ass. Merry Christmas, from Muriel" Lily read "Who's Muriel?"
Sirius smirked. "His old girlfriend who he dumped for a girl who wasn't really interested in him after all."
Lily couldn't keep a hold of her laughter, and it escaped her lips in a great bubbling chuckle. The donkey made a grunting noise, causing Sirius to start laughing as well.
"We" snort "Should probably t-t-try to" more laughter "Help him!" Sirius said, taking out his wand.
"I dunno, I kinda like him like this. Just think Sirius, we could give him to Hagrid to look after, and charge the first years a sickle each to ride on him!" Lily said, considering the option.
The donkey ran at her, and Lily screamed, jumping behind the couch.
"Better turn Jamsie back, Lily." Sirius said.
Lily nodded as she emerged from behind the couch, and took out her wand.
"Reverso!" she exclaimed. Nothing happened. Lily frowned, and tried another charm
"Amica Reverso!" she said. Still nothing. Lily looked at Sirius.
"Your better at transfigurations, you try." Sirius shrugged, and stepped forward. He tried several spells, but to no avail. Just as they were about to consider going to Dumbledore, who should walk in but Professor McGonagall. She looked from Lily and Sirius to the donkey.
"Why is there a donkey in the common room?" she demanded icily.
"It's James, Professor" Sirius said
"Why is James a donkey?" she asked
"Because he's an ass" Lily said, and then realized what she had just told the Professor.
"PARDON me, Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall looked appalled to hear her favorite student utter such a thing, and briefly wondered if Sirius Black and James Potter were a bad influence on Lily.
"I meant, Professor, I didn't mean that. I meant, James got a card from his old girlfriend, and it turned him into a donkey!" Lily hurried to explain.
"Ah, I see." The Professor waved her wand, said a few words, and James appeared on the floor, on all fours. Sirius offered a hand to help James up, but he brushed it off, and stood up by himself, trying to regain his dignity.
"Thank you Professor." He said, and turned to Lily
"Your very ungrateful" he informed her
"You looked so funny!" Lily exclaimed
"After all the trouble I went to to buy you a Christmas present!" he exclaimed. Lily was shocked into silence.
"Friends always give friends Christmas presnets, Miss Evans." He said, and walked over to a table where something wrapped in a large box was sitting.
"It's from me and Sirius." He said, handing it to her. Lily noticed air holes. She frowned, set the box down on the floor, sat down, and began to take off the paper. Inside, looking rather angry, was an orange kitten. A rather huge orange kitten. Lily squealed, and picked it up.
"This is so nice! And I have nothing for you!" she was near tears, and stood up, nearly squashing the kitten as she gave them both a hug.
"We thought you were a little too lonely." James said, smiling at his friend, who now had tears rolling down her face.
Lily nodded, enraptured with the kitten.
"What are you going to call him?" James asked her
"Crookshanks" Lily said decidedly.
A/N I seem to have a thing for cats. Yess I do. Oh well. And if your wondering about the cat…..my theory is that Hermione was compelled to call her cat Crookshanks because it was the same cat. Cats DO live that long, ya know, specially if they're magical. Yeah, I know, it's a big stretch. So sue me. (Don't really please)