Do You Believe In Santa?
By: Kitty Luver
Disclaimer: I only own the beautiful poem!!! The rest is J. K. Rowling's!!!
A/N: This is just a quick fic I started after my math exam and finished at home!!! There, amazingly, is NO mistletoe, and I took out the religious parts so that I wouldn't offend anyone!!! Anyways, read, enjoy, review, and have happy holidays!!!
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"Deck the halls with boughs of holly! Fa la la la laaaa la la la la!" an eleven-year-old Lily sang loudly as she pranced down the stairs, "'Tis the season to be jolly! Fa la la la laaaa la la la la!"
Four boys appeared behind her, obviously having been rudely awakened from their peaceful slumber. "Lily," Sirius yawned, "you do realize that its vacation, and therefore some of us want to, oh I don't know, SLEEP IN!" The others nodded silently, poking themselves to try and remain awake.
"Nonsense sillies!" Lily laughed, "Today is Christmas Eve, and we have to get ready for Santa!"
All four boys looked uneasily at one another. "Erm, Lily?" James asked tentatively, "Do you honestly believe in Santa?"
"Of course," Lily giggled, "I get gifts from him every year after all! Now, we're going to have lots to do to prepare for him! We'll need to . . . "
As Lily talked on and on about what needed to be done, the four Marauders looked nervously at each other. "Remus!" Sirius hissed, "You tell her!"
"No!" Remus moaned.
"Yes!" the others whispered.
"Why me!" Remus demanded.
"Because you can break it to her nicely without hurting her feelings," Peter squeaked.
"Peter's right Remus!" James smirked.
"Yepper-dee-doodles!" Sirius added.
"Gee, aren't you all such great friends," Remus muttered sarcastically.
Before the others could reply Lily cut in by asking, "Did you listen at all! Ah! Just come on! There's so much to do!"
"Like what?" Sirius asked, and all the boys cowered slightly at the murderous look Lily gave them.
"I JUST SPENT TEN PRECIOUS MINUTES TELLING YOU WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO!" she screamed.
"Er, sorry," James said quietly.
Lily sighed, "Oh all right! But listen from now on! Anyways, we have to start to bake the cookies! Where're the kitchens?"
Sirius put on an innocent face that only served to make him look guilty, "What makes you think we know where the kitchens are?"
"Oh come on," Lily said with a smile, "It's pretty much common knowledge that you four know where the kitchens are! I mean, you're always coming into the common room with treats and such that we didn't even have a choice of eating that day!"
"Dang it! We have to practice stealth!" Remus muttered darkly.
"And, judging by the looks on your faces Sirius Orion Black, James Harold Potter, Remus John Lupin, and Peter Petunia Pettigrew," Lily continued, "you know where it is! So tell me!"
"PETUNIA!" Remus, James, and Sirius burst out. All three fell on the floor laughing, and even Lily had to laugh. Peter just blushed deeply, mumbling something about his mom wanting a girl and flowers. The four others just laughed harder.
"I'm s-sorry P-Peter!" Lily got out between laughs, "I just got c-carried away!"
"And once w-we s-stop laughing," Remus added, "W-We p-promise to n-never s-speak of it again!"
"Really," Peter asked eagerly.
"Really," Remus said, he and Lily regaining control of themselves finally. James and Sirius just nodded, afraid of what would happen if they tried to speak.
"Anyways," Lily said, "I demand that you four lead me to the kitchens so that I can make cookies for Santa! After all, you do want to be nice to him as a thank you for the gifts, right?"
"Er, right," the boys said, exchanging more nervous looks before leading her to the kitchens. They all silently and solemnly swore to themselves that they would never let anyone find out about this because not only would poor Lily be teased to no end, but they would be thought of as sissies!
***
The five spent their whole day doing things such as baking cookies ("Remind me to never let you four help make cookies again! I'm all covered in egg and flour!"), wrapping presents ("Peter! He'll never be able to open that present you idiot!"), and writing last minute letters to Santa ("Why us?" "Shut up Sirius and deal with it!" "No gifts for you Jamsie! You're so bad!"). They didn't realize, however, that an evil conspiracy was being–well–conspired!
Far off in the Slytherin dungeon, a conversation was taking place between Snape and Malfoy . . .
"Are you sure that she still does Severus?"
"Yep! I heard Potter, Black, and Pettigrew trying to get Lupin to tell her in the hallway! She was carrying some cookies for Santa Claus in her hand!" Snape sniggered.
"This is excellent! So, you understand the plan?"
"Perfectly! This will be the perfect payback! We'll see how noble St. Potter reacts when his lovely mudblood girlfriend is humiliated!" and here both laughed evilly.
***
The boys were exhausted. They had just had to decorate the entire common room and a twelve-foot tree! Did Lily Evans know the meaning of the word tired? Apparently not because she was still smiling and even now trying to get them to go caroling!
"I am absolutely bloody NOT!" Sirius shouted.
Remus tried to be a tad nicer, "Look, Lily, I'm sorry, but we're really tired, and, anyway . . . "
"IT'S SUPPER!" Peter shouted. Everyone stared at him and his ears turned a slight shade of red, "Um, well, it is!"
"Oh, well, see Lily, we better eat! And so should you! So, come on!" James said quickly, yanking Lily toward the Great Hall. The dinner was magnificent that night. They all sat at one table since only Snape, Malfoy, the teachers, a handful of students, and they were there. The feast consisted of turkey and ham, potatoes and corn, and all kinds of good desserts. Malfoy and Snape asked to be excused early, and with evil grins, they set off to put their plan into action.
Meanwhile, the Marauders and Lily were pulling wizard crackers and sharing jokes and stories as they feasted upon their scrumptious food. Suddenly, Lily looked up to see a flash of red and white that she knew could only belong to . . .
"SANTA CLAUS!" she shouted, and ran over to him.
The Marauders stared with their mouths open at the figure that Lily was running to hug. As she was telling him about how wonderful he was, James noticed the first suspicious thing. "Hey," he said, "Isn't that a tie in the back of the beard?"
Sirius frowned, "Yeah, and he's not very fat!"
Remus hit his forehead, "MALFOY AND SNAPE!"
James caught on first and stood up furiously, "MALFOY AND SNAPE! HOW DARE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS! LILY GET AWAY FROM THEM!"
Lily frowned at him, "James, what are you talking about? I'm so sorry Santa! James just must be–" but she gasped as James ran up and yanked her away as Sirius pulled off the mask.
Snape grinned evilly, "Surprise mudblood! You are such an idiot! I can't believe that you stillbelieve in that dork! Hah!" he started laughing. Lily buried her face in her hands as she heard other students laughing and ran out of the hall crying.
"That is enough!" Professor Dumbledore said in a final tone. The whole room went silent. "Misters Snape and Malfoy please come with me to discuss your punishment." He turned to the Marauders, "Would you four kindly go and comfort Miss Evans?"
All four nodded and James spoke up, "Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes Mr. Potter."
"I'd just like to Snape and Malfoy that, well, after today, I believe."
"You believe what Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"I believe in Santa. I believe that he exists, and that he may not be a person, but that he is the Spirit of Christmas, and that no one should ever try to take that away from someone else."
"That was very wise Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, "Now if you will please attend to Miss Evans, I believe she is in her dorm. Thank you."
"Oh Jamsie that was so sweet!" Sirius said wiping a fake tear from his eye, but then he changed from joking to serious, "I do understand what you mean though and agree! Those gits just don't believe because they don't have the Spirit of Christmas in them! I say we torture them for the rest of their lives!"
"Ah!" Remus said with a smile, "The real Sirius emerges! I was wondering where he had gone!"
"And what happened to the Spirit of Christmas and giving second chances?" Peter added.
"Oh shut up!" Sirius pouted as they reached the portrait of the fat lady.
"Candy Cane!" James panted before he ran into the common room and all the way up to the first years' girls dorm with the other three boys right behind him.
"Lily!" James called knocking on the door. No one answered, but he could hear muffled sobs, "Lily! We know you're in there! Come out! We've got lots to tell you! Snape and Malfoy are in big trouble, and we swear that we'll curse anyone who teases you!"
The sobs just continued, but they heard her calling out faintly, "How can I ever go back to classes? I was such a dolt, so naive to believe in Santa Claus! I'm just an idiot! A complete idiot! And, I was so sure that he was real! If he isn't real, then what is Christmas? What?"
The boys heard her place a silencing charm over the room, and they themselves fell silent although not because of the spell. They sat thinking about how they could tell her, how they could comfort her when James thought of the perfect idea. He rushed to his dorm, grabbed parchment and quill, and wrote something as fast as he could. The other three, curious as to what he was writing, tried to see, but he hid it from them. As soon as he finished, he spoke, "Why don't you three go and put all of the presents under the tree?"
"But–" Sirius started, but Remus and Peter had already started dragging him and telling him to shut up.
James waited until he heard them start to descend the stairs before he ran over quickly to Lily's dorm and slid the note under quietly. He silently prayed that this would work.
***
'What have I done? Everyone will tease me! And Christmas will never be the same! I mean, without Santa and all he does, what is Christmas?' (A/N: For those of you naughty people's who didn't read my A/N up top, I took out religious parts so that I wouldn't offend anyone.) She started to cry again softly, 'Oh what am I going to do! I can't face them!' she thought sadly. Suddenly, she looked toward the door and saw a note being shoved through. Hesitantly, she opened it and read it silently. As she read it, more tears spilled out, but they were different from her first tears, for in those tears, the sadness was erased and a look of thankfulness took its place. She smiled softly at the end, ran to open the door, and gave James a gigantic hug when she saw him. "Thanks," she said softly.
"Your welcome," James said as he led her down to the Christmas tree. For some reason, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were not in sight. The two eleven-year-olds looked up at the bright star of hope on top of the tree that shone down brightly. James tightened his grip on Lily. "Merry Christmas Lily!" he said softly.
"Merry Christmas," she replied softly, smiling.
The three other Marauders suddenly burst out from behind couches and chairs yelling,"AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
And the room was filled with laughter.
***James's Note***
Any child can tell you of jolly St. Nick
That he's as real as can be, not just some trick.
With all their heart they believe, and all their might
That he flies with gifts for all who are good in the night.
He's jolly and merry, fat with white beard long
A stomach of jelly and a laugh that's a song.
Then the time draws near sadly as they grow
And so-called knowledge upon them others bestow.
Wise old Santa becomes a myth, a folly
After all who could ever be so jolly?
But that's a lie, a deceit, a tall tale
An awful, fake story out there for sale.
For Santa is true, as real as you and me
Even if he doesn't deliver presents via chimney.
He's the body of Christmas, the symbol of good
He's the Spirit of Christmas, the belief that you could.
The belief that you could forgive and forget
The belief in spreading love and giving more than you get.
So next time someone asks, "Do you believe?"
Answer a confident, "Yes," ere you leave.
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! I think that maybe some people might not like that Lily believes in Santa, but it's my fic, so please don't flame about that or anything else! If you have CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, as in constructive, as in building up not tearing down, feel free to tell me! Thanks for reading, and please review!
~(_)Kitty Luver(_)~