A Very Merry Christmas

Disclaimer:  the characters in this story do not belong to me, they belong o J.K. Rowling, and I don't want to make any money off of this, nor do I plan to. Therefore, please, don't sue a poor little girl at Christmas!

Authors Note: just to say a very merry Christmas to you all, and a very happy Eid to those of you who celebrate that as well, cos I know many of my friends do. Happy Holidays!

                "What shall I ask first, Sev?" Remus mused aloud.

"Anything, I don't care," Snape answered with false nonchalance.

"Ok, then, of all the people in the world, who do you hate the most?"

"You know who – wait, wait, that's not right, I cant decide between the three of them," Snape stuttered, obviously disconcerted by this discovery.

"Who?" Remus asked, more insistently.

"James, Sirius and Lily, of course. Sirius, 'cos he's my cousin, and I'll never be able to escape him, he's my opposite, and everyone prefers him to me," Remus made no move to deny this, "James 'cos he a big-headed prat, and Lily because – well, I'd rather not say." Remus was a little surprised at Snape's eloquence; he didn't usually talk this much.

"My turn, then," Snape said. "Who do you  hate the most?"

Remus was glad he had said 'who' and not 'what', for he could feel even the tiny bit of truth potion that he had swallowed working inside him, and it would have forced him to say 'the moon'. But Snape had said 'who' so Remus was able to answer, with perfect honesty, "Headley."

"Really? Why?" Snape looked confused.

"She only takes points of me and-" he broke off, having stopped himself just in time from saying 'my friends', "and for no apparent reason," he finished lamely. "Isn't that enough for you?"

"No, it's just… I thought you would have said Sirius, or even James."

"Oh, right. Well, my turn," Remus laughed, and began asking questions in such quick succession that Snape couldn't form any of his own.  He even asked Sirius' underwear question. It turned out that Snape wore green and silver Slytherin underwear; that he did not like cats, but longed for a hamster; that he was scared of Lucius Malfoy; that he had been a fat baby and that his mother, who had wanted a daughter, had dressed him in girls clothes until the age of five. He also still had his doll, Ella, in his trunk in his room, and he slept with her when he had nightmares.

                Remus had saved the two most important questions until last, and now the hour the potion would work for was almost up. Snape wouldn't get a chance to ask any questions at all. Remus leaned back in his chair, looking suddenly serious.

"Sev, whose idea was that attack on Sirius last year?"  Remus could afford to be blunt now; it didn't matter if Snape realised something was up. He estimated that he had about five minutes of supposed friendship with Snape left.

"Me, of course," Snape said casually, "who else?" There was a sharp intake of breath from one of the suits of armour; the one James was hidden in.  Luckily Snape thought it was just a breeze.

"And Sevvy, who do you fancy?" Remus asked, a smile playing around his mouth.

"Do I have to," Snape moaned.

"Yes."

"Well, promise you wont tell anyone?" When Remus nodded, he continued, "It's – it's – Lily Evans," he finished. Remus clapped his hands over his mouth so Snape wouldn't see him laughing and then belatedly remembered that his friends were in the room too. 

"EW!" shrieked Lily's voice. "Why him!"

"You pervert!" James was yelling, trying to disentangle himself from the suit of armour. Peter stared in shock as Sirius raced towards Snape. "You dirty little – Slytherin!" Sirius shouted, unable to think of a worse name to call Snape. He reached Snape and grabbed him by the throat, shaking him hard.

"Sirius, stop it," Remus frowned, looking ay Snape. "You can't fight someone who won't fight back." By now, James and Lily had freed themselves, and they stood on either side of Remus.

                Snape was staring at Remus, his heart in his eyes. "You betrayed me, Remus?" he asked quietly. "You were friends with them all along?"

"Yes, but I didn't betray you!" Remus exclaimed angrily. "This was revenge for last year, for what you did to Sirius."

"Oh really?" Snape's voice was deathly quiet now. "Really? Well, you'll pay, Lupin. All of you will. Slytherins don't forget easily, you know." With that, he spun around and stalked from the room, not looking back, leaving the Gryffindors to celebrate their victory.

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                Snape didn't talk to, acknowledge, or otherwise may any communication with Remus in their Potions class the next day. He had, of curse, thought abut sabotaging the potion, but he knew that would cost him his own grade as well as Remus' and that knowledge made him even more sour about the whole incident.

                It was a quiet day; the only eventful happening being when the simmering enmity between Sirius and Evan Rosier finally boiled over and Sirius punched him. This would have made Headley's entire Christmas, if Rosier had not punched Sirius back, forcing her to give them both detentions.

                The first week of the Christmas holiday passed uneventfully as well. They had all decided to stay at school, not wanting to go home and have to play happy families, and they therefore awaited Christmas morning with even more excitement than usual. Christmas Eve saw them restless and over hyped, and by eight o'clock they had decided that they had to do something. Nothing so tame as a midnight broom ride would satisfy them this year; and it was unfortunate that Remus chose this time remember the never-used passages to Hogsmeade they had found the previous year.

"Hogsmeade? That's the best idea ever, Remus!" Sirius enthused. Remus looked worried for just a moment, and then decided that he wanted too much to have some fun to worry right now. "Isn't it just?" he agreed, grinning.

"You bet!" Lily and James said simultaneously, overriding Peter's token protests. As if anything Peter said could affect their decision.

                They slipped out of the common room and down to the passage behind the statue of the old hag. It's hump opened easily, and they slid down, discarding their Hogwarts robes and putting on Muggle sweaters, then began the long trek to the other end of the tunnel.

                Honeydukes was dark and shuttered when they arrived, but they managed to get to the front door without knocking anything over. The locked door opened easily from the inside, and once out, they locked it magically, deciding they could use the other tunnel to get back to school, even if it was longer.

                Hogsmeade had closed early due to the date, and the only place open was the Three Broomsticks, so they headed there, never even thinking of what reason they would give if asked why they out of school at this hour. James pushed the heavy door of the bar open and they stepped inside, holding their breath.

                Nobody but the barmaid even looked up. Heartened by this, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Peter went to sit at a table in the corner, while James took the money he had collected earlier and went to buy the drinks. "Five Butterbeers, please," he asked, his manner betraying not a hint of nervousness because he simply didn't feel any. There were no age restrictions on drinking in the magical world; in fact, there were few age restrictions on anything because of the Ministry's guilt over prohibiting underage magic during the holidays. So James felt he had every right to be there; the only rules they were breaking were school ones, and they were no business of anyone here.

                The barmaid smiled at him. "Coming right up," she said. She was very pretty, and young, too; only about seventeen. She was just about to get the butterbeers when an older woman came up behind her; obviously the girls' mother, and very obviously the landlady.       

"Rosmerta," the lady said, "who is this?"

"I don't know, mother. Why?" Rosmerta replied.

"Because he is obviously a Hogwarts student, and shouldn't be here."

Uh-oh, thought James. Where was Sirius the charmer when you needed him? "I'm James," he said aloud, "nice to meet you…?"

"Madam Jade," the woman replied, giving James a searching look. James might not realise it, but he could be just as charming as Sirius when he tried. "So you are from Hogwarts. Give me one reason why I shouldn't report you to Professor Dumbledore?"

James smiled his best, most innocent smile. "Because even if we do get caught, which we won't, you can't get in any trouble. It's not illegal to serve us, and how were you to know we were from Hogwarts?  In the meantime, you get more custom." He waited for her response, butterflies fluttering in his stomach, even though he knew his argument was sound.

"You're very clever, I'll give you that," Madam Jade grinned. "Just don't you all flaunt the fact that you're here, ok? Go sit down, and Rosmerta will bring your drinks over."

James breathed again. "Thanks," he grinned.

                 He went over to the corner table his friends were sitting at. "Rosmerta's bringing the drinks over, ok?"  he said. The others ignored him and continued their conversation.

"So Vicky fancies Remus, Sirius likes Lydia and Snape, disgustingly, likes me. Who does Jamie fancy, I wonder?" Lily asked.

"I reckon Jamie fancies Andrea." Remus offered.

"And I reckon Jamie fancies Lily," Sirius grinned evilly.

"No!" both parties protested.

"Yuck!" James continued.

"You'll give me nightmares, Siri. Snape and James!"

"Are you saying I'm as bad as Snape, Lily?"

"Yes," Lily replied frankly.

                The mounting tension was broken by the appearance of Rosmerta with their drinks. "Here y'are," she smiled.  "James, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" 

"Sure," James replied, still flustered from arguing with Lily.  "Er, this is Peter,"

"Hi."

"This is Remus."

"Nice to meet you."

"This is Sirius."

"Charmed."

"And Lily."

"Ignore James, he's an idiot. I'm very pleased to meet you."

                All four liked Rosmerta on sight, which was unusual considering their reactions to most of the girls they knew. They boys liked her for, well…obvious reasons, and Lily liked her for reasons she couldn't quite put her finger on yet. Most girls, now and in the future, would, upon meeting Sirius, James and Remus, completely ignore Lily. Lily didn't like this, not out of protectiveness for the boys, but simply because she disliked being pushed to the background.

                Time passed quickly with easy chatter, even after Rosmerta joined them at their table. Lily joined with the boys in trying to impress her with tales of their exploits at the castle, and Rosmerta laughed so much when Lily turned Sirius into a duck and James retaliated by turning Lily into a hamster that she gave them a free drink.  James picked up the Lily hamster and dangled it before his face.

"Now we can give you to Snape and he'll have two of his dreams come true: a pet hamster and a pet Lily!" Remus and Peter roared with laughter, while the hamster thrashed furiously and finally bit James hand. James dropped her, and Remus took the opportunity to turn both the duck and the hamster back to their original forms.

"Now you've all had your revenge," he said calmingly to his three glaring friends. "Calm down." They did, but still shot dirty looks at Peter and Rosmerta, who were laughing hysterically, and at Remus, whose mouth was quirking at the sides. Finally, they joined in the laughter themselves.

                It was about midnight when they decided it would be best to leave. They stood up, feeling slightly light-headed and disorientated from too much butterbeer and more than a little bit of mead, and walked to the tunnel on the hill.

                Arriving back in the Gryffindor Common Room, footsore and weary, they were so tired that they flopped down in the comfy, warm armchairs. "Didn't we do this last Christmas?" James asked sleepily.

"We do this a lot," Lily answered.

They were answered only by Peter's snores.

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                On Christmas morning Sirius was awakened by the most delicious smell he could ever imagine. His dreams were suddenly filled with all sorts of food, but his stomach giving a particularly loud growl woke him up.  Frank stood in front of him, wafting a still warm and steaming piece of chocolate cake in front of his nose. Sirius made a successful grab for it and wolfed it down in one go. "Yummy," he said happily.

"I thought that would work," Frank grinned. "Now get the other up; there's a rather interesting looking parcel on the dorm floor and I want to know what it is."

Sirius obligingly turned to find his friends. Cake in the morning made him happy. He saw Remus asleep in the chair opposite him, his head resting on James' shoulder. "Oh Re-mus!" he cooed loudly.

"Piss of, Siri," Remus mumbled in return.

"Presents," Sirius reminded him.

"Oooh!" Remus sat up quickly. "Where?"

"Wake Lily up first."

Remus darted over to the chair next to Sirius' and shook Lily roughly. Lily cried out and threw out her fist, catching Remus hard around the face. "Ow!" Remus complained, as Sirius laughed. Lily was not a morning person.

                Eventually, however, she sat up. "What's wrong with your face, Re?" she asked sincerely. Remus humphed and stalked upstairs. "Presents, Lil, when you've woken Jamie," Sirius said, following Remus.

                Hmmm, Lily mused, how does one wake a Jamie who doesn't want to be woken? You could kiss him, suggested a little voice in her head, immediately identifiable as a naughty little Sirius. I think not…

                Having come up with her idea, Lily walked over to James, and knelt so that their faces were level. She leant forwards, opened her mouth and…

"J AMES! Wake up!"

This time it was James' fist that flew out, but Lily was ready for it. She grabbed his hand and pulled him off the chair. He landed on his head and this was enough to wake even James.

"Lily, what are you doing?" he moaned, rubbing his head.

"Presents, Jamie, presents," Lily tutted. "Remember? Christmas?"

"Cool," James replied. He scrambled up and they ran together towards the boy's dormitory. Their arrival was the signal for Sirius, Remus and Peter to start unwrapping presents and the room was soon filled with exclamations of  "Cool!" "Oh my God!" and "Wow! The Martin Miggs Annual!" No one even thought to question why Lily's presents were in a pile on the floor, instead of on her own bed in her own room.

                The very last present in Lily's pile was long and thin. The note on top said, 'Love Mum and Dad,' and underneath that, 'be VERY careful with this.'

"What's this?" she wondered aloud. Her friends took one look at it and knew immediately, but seeing that Lily really had no idea, they didn't say. (Even if that did mean that James had to put his hand over Sirius' mouth to stop him blurting it out.) They watched as Lily rapidly unwrapped it; as a shiny handle was revealed; then long, thin twigs.

"Shit!" Lily said, sounding quite stunned, "it's a broom!"

"A Nimbus 1000," Remus added.

"Just like Jamie's," Sirius finished with a wicked grin on his face.

"I'm going to fly it later," Lily said firmly.

"Well of course," they answered, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Is that it, then?" Sirius asked brightly. "Can we get breakfast now?"

"No, I've got one more present," James said. "Hey, listen to this: 'James, open this in private only. If you loose, get confiscated or otherwise harm this, I will personally kill you. Dad.' Friendly, isn't it?" The others nodded. "Wait, there's more. 'I'm giving this to you because all your life, and even more this past year, you have proven you take after me more than your brothers. Keep up the Mischief Making, I hope this will help.'" James looked confused.

"Well, open it then," Sirius persisted. James ripped the paper open and picked up what was inside. He held up a long, shining cloak, several times too big even for an adult, and not very warm looking.

"What the hell is this?" he asked. The baffled faces of Lily, Sirius and Remus looked back at him.

"Its – its – its and Invisibility Cloak."  Peter stuttered, obviously in shock that he knew something his friends didn't.

"What?" James asked sharply.

"Try it and see," Peter said, more confidently.

Feeling slightly silly, James wound the overlarge cloak around him. He could tell from the startled gasps of his friends that Peter had been right. He took the cloak off and looked at it in awe.

"Wow!"