And so Christmas came and went, like it did every year. But this year,
Harry had gained memories of his parents, possibly the best present anyone
could ever give him. The weather just continued to get colder. Anyone who
washed their hair was quick to dry it, otherwise icicles would form, and
they proved very hard to style. A few adventurous boys had even borrowed
the quick-dry spell from their girlfriends. They walked around pointing
their wands at their hair (the spell caused the wand to act like a
hairdryer). It all looked very odd, but the boys deemed it better than
having to comb icicles out of their hair every night. Ron, of course, was
never too fussed about his hair, and just towel-dried it to the best of his
ability every night. He and Harry sat in front of the fire, playing chess
or gobstones till their hair was dry.
Layers and layers of clothing were being added as well. Along with the standard uniform and robes, students were adding scarves, mittens, earmuffs, and some girls even wore brightly coloured tights over their stockings. If students were game enough to venture into the snow, they always always always wore several pairs of long pants and tops. It would just be plain stupid not to. On weekends, Dumbledore permitted the wearing of pyjamas to the breakfast table. People took advantage of this leniency, and wore all sorts of weird and wonderful PJ's to the table. It even started to evolve into a kind of weird, unofficial contest as to who had the prettiest, funniest or most outrageous pyjama's. Ron was coaxed by Hermione, Ginny and Harry into wearing his bright orange and black Chudley Cannon night apparel into the Hall one frosty Sunday. Combined with his flaming red hair, Ron almost looked like he was on fire. Luckily, this paid off for him, when he received a standing ovation. He got a few strange looks, but he figured it was worth it in the end.
The girl's prettiest nightie contest grew in numbers by the day. Even Hermione swanned down in her long, blue satin chine-style nightdress one morning. Her arrival was punctuated with wolf-whistles and catcalls by many of the males in the hall. Hermione blushed, but didn't cover herself up, though Ron was pushing a dressing robe rather instantly toward her. She sat down, and poured herself a glass of juice, while Ron stared incredulously. When she finally noticed his face, Hermione seemed utterly bewildered.
"What?" she asked, smoothing down her hair, a characteristic common in one who is being interrogated.
"You....don't...boys....calling....nightdress," Ron stuttered. Ginny shot him the evil eye however, and he shut up, although Hermione still looked a little confused. Harry knew Ron was getting a little jealous again of the attention Hermione had received. But when Alanna Morgen walked into the Hall in her skimpy white flowing chemise, Ron's jaw dropped, along with several other boys' in the room. Her black hair flowed behind her as she gracefully swept across the room to the Ravenclaw table. Again the Hall erupted in whistles and yells, the noise reached almost a deafening pitch. Alanna looked embarrassed, as her friends gathered around her in giggles, but she didn't cover herself. Hermione looked ready to kill her beloved Ron. "Ron!" Hermione said accusingly. He appeared to ignore her, and continued to stare at Alanna.
"Ron!" Hermione let her voice grow a little shriller and louder. He snapped to attention.
"Ah, so you've allowed your eye-balls to wander from Alanna, your new lust object?" Hermione savagely stabbed at a piece of French toast while Ron floundered under the spotlight.
"No, it's not like that," Ron was almost pitiful in his response, but he was still tempted to look back toward the lovely Alanna. Hermione's eyes shot daggers, she proceeded to ignore any pleadings from Ron for the rest of the day. In their last class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Anya noticed this resentment, and asked Hermione to stay after class.
"Hermione what's wrong?" Anya asked gently, sitting down beside the angry student.
"It's Ron, I don't think he loves me anymore!" Hermione burst out. She had obviously been keeping her emotions bottled up and needed a release.
"The way he was staring at Alanna just adds icing to the cake. Ever since Christmas he's seemed distracted and not interested in anything to do with me, and I've caught him looking at other girls!" Hermione accused Ron, her emotions swinging between crying and yelling.
"He doesn't love me anymore," now Hermione was back to being woeful and crying. Anya reached out to rub her back.
"Of course he does," she soothed. Hermione blew her nose loudly, and did not look convinced.
"Boys just, well they're boys! I know that's no excuse for his behaviour, but it means it's nothing personal against you!" Anya explained.
"Seeing Harry and Ginny's relationship blossom has just reminded you of what yours was like in the beginning and you miss that. You and Ron have settled into a restful, comfortable state. And there is nothing wrong with that," Anya comforted. "Did you and Sirius ever have a restful state?" Hermione questioned. Anya was a bit shocked at the question, but was prepared to answer it none the less.
"Well, you have to understand. First off, we're talking about Sirius Black here. That man has never voluntarily remained in a restful and peaceful state for more than 2 minutes!" this caused Hermione to smile a bit, so Anya continued.
"When we were about 19, yes, we reached a semi-peaceful state. But before then, it was a bit more up and down!" Anya reminisced.
"How did you keep it from becoming boring?" Hermione blew her nose again, listening intently.
"Well...Lily and I were almost partners in crime with things relating to our relationships. Nothing really major usually, but sometimes we'd give the boys a shake-up so they would appreciate what they had."
"What did you do?" Hermione sounded amazed. Anya hesitated, but finally caved in.
"There was this one time, when we caught them talking to Rosmerta Harris........."
Sirius and James were both in 7th year and using it to their advantage. Although they were both truly committed to their girlfriends, they, being boys, were partial to the occasional harmless flirt with other girls. One day, James was in a particularly playful mood with Rosmerta Harris. He was jokingly punching her arm, but when she mocked crying and being hurt, he pretended to kiss it better. Sirius offered his kissing services as well, and the three of them all had a big laugh about it.
Lily and Anya happened upon this situation, and weren't impressed. When James saw the 2 girls bearing down on them, he quickly bade goodbye to Rosmerta, and pushed her on her way down the hall. She looked puzzled, but when she passed the girls, and saw the tight expressions, she understood. Waving goodbye, Rosmerta quickly turned and sped off. Lily and Anya approached the boys with matching tight smiles.
"Hello boys. Just having another little friendly chat?" Anya said sweetly. The boys blushed.
"You know Anya dear, I don't think those boys realise what they have in us! They obviously want more than what we can offer, maybe we're not good enough for them," Lily suddenly said. Anya tilted her head.
"I think you may be right Lily," she said thoughtfully.
"I don't think they could survive a month without us! Even though I'm sure Sirius and James could find a few girls glad to hang around them," Lily said, as though she wasn't even in the same proximity as James and Sirius. "Ha! We may love you, but we can fend for ourselves," Sirius said foolishly.
"Oh, think you can live without us do you?" Lily questioned sweetly. James and Sirius nodded smug smiles.
"I think you ladies may be the ones who can't live without us!" Sirius retorted with a smirk that would make an angry female irate. Lily looked ready to throttle him, but a gleam passed through her eyes. This little light was recognised by all.
"What evil plot are you concocting in that pretty little head Lily Evans?" James asked warily. Lily smiled.
"Evil plan? What evil plan?" she asked wide-eyed and innocent. Sirius narrowed his eyes.
"What are you two girls playing at?" he asked suspiciously.
"I think these boys need to be taught a lesson!" Lily said devilishly. Anya smirked, imitating Sirius.
"I absolutely agree with you Lily. What do you have in mind?"
"Well...seeing as they can so obviously look after themselves, and they have no faith in our ability to live without them, I think a bet may be in order! No kissing, cuddling, help with homework. No nothing until 30 days is up! First to cave in, loses," Lily smiled, but even Anya was a bit shocked at this. She was about to object, when she started thinking over this little plan in her mind. Smiling, she agreed with Lily.
The boys, who had previously looked ready to object knew they were stuck. They couldn't back away from the bet, but they weren't sure if they were ready to commit. "What do we get when we win?" he asked cockily. Lily raised her eyebrows.
"If (and I highly doubt this) you win, Anya and me are your personal slaves for a month. When we win, you and Sirius are ours!" Lily tapped her fingers together slowly, appearing to be thinking very hard. James and Sirius looked at each other and scoffed.
"You underestimate our abilities, my dear ladies. Jamsie and myself are perfectly capable of being without female companionship. You are not as tempting as you may think!" Sirius retorted. If there was any doubt in Lily or Anya's mind, it was resolved the moment Sirius made his last comment.
"Suck my rubber boots Black, because for the next 30 days, you're by yourselves!" Lily said, sounding irate.
"But Lils, how bout one last little kiss?" James protested.
"No buts! I'll give you your kiss in a month. Till then, try your pillow!" Lily spun on her heel. James and Sirius looked astounded, and turned to Anya for support.
"Sorry boys, you're on your own for this one. Literally!" she laughed, and walked off down the hall, following Lily's earlier path. She started signing
"And you don't know what you've got till it's gone!" she sung sweetly to the boys. They started, dumbfounded at the events that had just taken place.
"Oh my god, who won the bet?" Hermione was astounded at the story. Anya smiled cheekily.
"Ask Sirius. I'm sure he'll tell you what happened!" she laughed. Hermione smiled, but still looked a little downcast.
"I don't know if I could do that to Ron," she said miserably. Anya's face immediately fell into a look of concern.
"Oh, I didn't mean for you to take that approach! I was just trying to make you feel better hon," Anya explained gently. She conjured up a box of tissues for the upset Hermione, who immediately took one to dab at her eyes.
"Then what do I do?" Hermione half-wailed into the tissue.
"Tell him you love him," was the simple advice.
"How is that going to help?"
"It's a good starting block for any conversation, it helps reduce tempers, and it is very reassuring to here. Take it from I love you," Anya patted Hermione on the back again, helping her to her feet.
"Thankyou so much Anya, for everything," Hermione smiled gratefully again before pulling open the door and leaving.
Layers and layers of clothing were being added as well. Along with the standard uniform and robes, students were adding scarves, mittens, earmuffs, and some girls even wore brightly coloured tights over their stockings. If students were game enough to venture into the snow, they always always always wore several pairs of long pants and tops. It would just be plain stupid not to. On weekends, Dumbledore permitted the wearing of pyjamas to the breakfast table. People took advantage of this leniency, and wore all sorts of weird and wonderful PJ's to the table. It even started to evolve into a kind of weird, unofficial contest as to who had the prettiest, funniest or most outrageous pyjama's. Ron was coaxed by Hermione, Ginny and Harry into wearing his bright orange and black Chudley Cannon night apparel into the Hall one frosty Sunday. Combined with his flaming red hair, Ron almost looked like he was on fire. Luckily, this paid off for him, when he received a standing ovation. He got a few strange looks, but he figured it was worth it in the end.
The girl's prettiest nightie contest grew in numbers by the day. Even Hermione swanned down in her long, blue satin chine-style nightdress one morning. Her arrival was punctuated with wolf-whistles and catcalls by many of the males in the hall. Hermione blushed, but didn't cover herself up, though Ron was pushing a dressing robe rather instantly toward her. She sat down, and poured herself a glass of juice, while Ron stared incredulously. When she finally noticed his face, Hermione seemed utterly bewildered.
"What?" she asked, smoothing down her hair, a characteristic common in one who is being interrogated.
"You....don't...boys....calling....nightdress," Ron stuttered. Ginny shot him the evil eye however, and he shut up, although Hermione still looked a little confused. Harry knew Ron was getting a little jealous again of the attention Hermione had received. But when Alanna Morgen walked into the Hall in her skimpy white flowing chemise, Ron's jaw dropped, along with several other boys' in the room. Her black hair flowed behind her as she gracefully swept across the room to the Ravenclaw table. Again the Hall erupted in whistles and yells, the noise reached almost a deafening pitch. Alanna looked embarrassed, as her friends gathered around her in giggles, but she didn't cover herself. Hermione looked ready to kill her beloved Ron. "Ron!" Hermione said accusingly. He appeared to ignore her, and continued to stare at Alanna.
"Ron!" Hermione let her voice grow a little shriller and louder. He snapped to attention.
"Ah, so you've allowed your eye-balls to wander from Alanna, your new lust object?" Hermione savagely stabbed at a piece of French toast while Ron floundered under the spotlight.
"No, it's not like that," Ron was almost pitiful in his response, but he was still tempted to look back toward the lovely Alanna. Hermione's eyes shot daggers, she proceeded to ignore any pleadings from Ron for the rest of the day. In their last class, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Anya noticed this resentment, and asked Hermione to stay after class.
"Hermione what's wrong?" Anya asked gently, sitting down beside the angry student.
"It's Ron, I don't think he loves me anymore!" Hermione burst out. She had obviously been keeping her emotions bottled up and needed a release.
"The way he was staring at Alanna just adds icing to the cake. Ever since Christmas he's seemed distracted and not interested in anything to do with me, and I've caught him looking at other girls!" Hermione accused Ron, her emotions swinging between crying and yelling.
"He doesn't love me anymore," now Hermione was back to being woeful and crying. Anya reached out to rub her back.
"Of course he does," she soothed. Hermione blew her nose loudly, and did not look convinced.
"Boys just, well they're boys! I know that's no excuse for his behaviour, but it means it's nothing personal against you!" Anya explained.
"Seeing Harry and Ginny's relationship blossom has just reminded you of what yours was like in the beginning and you miss that. You and Ron have settled into a restful, comfortable state. And there is nothing wrong with that," Anya comforted. "Did you and Sirius ever have a restful state?" Hermione questioned. Anya was a bit shocked at the question, but was prepared to answer it none the less.
"Well, you have to understand. First off, we're talking about Sirius Black here. That man has never voluntarily remained in a restful and peaceful state for more than 2 minutes!" this caused Hermione to smile a bit, so Anya continued.
"When we were about 19, yes, we reached a semi-peaceful state. But before then, it was a bit more up and down!" Anya reminisced.
"How did you keep it from becoming boring?" Hermione blew her nose again, listening intently.
"Well...Lily and I were almost partners in crime with things relating to our relationships. Nothing really major usually, but sometimes we'd give the boys a shake-up so they would appreciate what they had."
"What did you do?" Hermione sounded amazed. Anya hesitated, but finally caved in.
"There was this one time, when we caught them talking to Rosmerta Harris........."
Sirius and James were both in 7th year and using it to their advantage. Although they were both truly committed to their girlfriends, they, being boys, were partial to the occasional harmless flirt with other girls. One day, James was in a particularly playful mood with Rosmerta Harris. He was jokingly punching her arm, but when she mocked crying and being hurt, he pretended to kiss it better. Sirius offered his kissing services as well, and the three of them all had a big laugh about it.
Lily and Anya happened upon this situation, and weren't impressed. When James saw the 2 girls bearing down on them, he quickly bade goodbye to Rosmerta, and pushed her on her way down the hall. She looked puzzled, but when she passed the girls, and saw the tight expressions, she understood. Waving goodbye, Rosmerta quickly turned and sped off. Lily and Anya approached the boys with matching tight smiles.
"Hello boys. Just having another little friendly chat?" Anya said sweetly. The boys blushed.
"You know Anya dear, I don't think those boys realise what they have in us! They obviously want more than what we can offer, maybe we're not good enough for them," Lily suddenly said. Anya tilted her head.
"I think you may be right Lily," she said thoughtfully.
"I don't think they could survive a month without us! Even though I'm sure Sirius and James could find a few girls glad to hang around them," Lily said, as though she wasn't even in the same proximity as James and Sirius. "Ha! We may love you, but we can fend for ourselves," Sirius said foolishly.
"Oh, think you can live without us do you?" Lily questioned sweetly. James and Sirius nodded smug smiles.
"I think you ladies may be the ones who can't live without us!" Sirius retorted with a smirk that would make an angry female irate. Lily looked ready to throttle him, but a gleam passed through her eyes. This little light was recognised by all.
"What evil plot are you concocting in that pretty little head Lily Evans?" James asked warily. Lily smiled.
"Evil plan? What evil plan?" she asked wide-eyed and innocent. Sirius narrowed his eyes.
"What are you two girls playing at?" he asked suspiciously.
"I think these boys need to be taught a lesson!" Lily said devilishly. Anya smirked, imitating Sirius.
"I absolutely agree with you Lily. What do you have in mind?"
"Well...seeing as they can so obviously look after themselves, and they have no faith in our ability to live without them, I think a bet may be in order! No kissing, cuddling, help with homework. No nothing until 30 days is up! First to cave in, loses," Lily smiled, but even Anya was a bit shocked at this. She was about to object, when she started thinking over this little plan in her mind. Smiling, she agreed with Lily.
The boys, who had previously looked ready to object knew they were stuck. They couldn't back away from the bet, but they weren't sure if they were ready to commit. "What do we get when we win?" he asked cockily. Lily raised her eyebrows.
"If (and I highly doubt this) you win, Anya and me are your personal slaves for a month. When we win, you and Sirius are ours!" Lily tapped her fingers together slowly, appearing to be thinking very hard. James and Sirius looked at each other and scoffed.
"You underestimate our abilities, my dear ladies. Jamsie and myself are perfectly capable of being without female companionship. You are not as tempting as you may think!" Sirius retorted. If there was any doubt in Lily or Anya's mind, it was resolved the moment Sirius made his last comment.
"Suck my rubber boots Black, because for the next 30 days, you're by yourselves!" Lily said, sounding irate.
"But Lils, how bout one last little kiss?" James protested.
"No buts! I'll give you your kiss in a month. Till then, try your pillow!" Lily spun on her heel. James and Sirius looked astounded, and turned to Anya for support.
"Sorry boys, you're on your own for this one. Literally!" she laughed, and walked off down the hall, following Lily's earlier path. She started signing
"And you don't know what you've got till it's gone!" she sung sweetly to the boys. They started, dumbfounded at the events that had just taken place.
"Oh my god, who won the bet?" Hermione was astounded at the story. Anya smiled cheekily.
"Ask Sirius. I'm sure he'll tell you what happened!" she laughed. Hermione smiled, but still looked a little downcast.
"I don't know if I could do that to Ron," she said miserably. Anya's face immediately fell into a look of concern.
"Oh, I didn't mean for you to take that approach! I was just trying to make you feel better hon," Anya explained gently. She conjured up a box of tissues for the upset Hermione, who immediately took one to dab at her eyes.
"Then what do I do?" Hermione half-wailed into the tissue.
"Tell him you love him," was the simple advice.
"How is that going to help?"
"It's a good starting block for any conversation, it helps reduce tempers, and it is very reassuring to here. Take it from I love you," Anya patted Hermione on the back again, helping her to her feet.
"Thankyou so much Anya, for everything," Hermione smiled gratefully again before pulling open the door and leaving.