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Mr. Grinch
James Vs. Christmas. Will James Potter Finally Get In the Christmas Spirit?
By
Sierra Sitruc
Here We Come A-WassailingHere we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
a happy New Year
And God send you a happy New Year.
We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbors' children,
Whom you have seen before.
Good master and mistress,
As you sit by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who wander in the mire.
Chapter 6
7 Days Until Christmas
Lily felt terrible, she was cold, she was tired, had a splitting headache, was still very irritated with James and--what was that noise?! It was just too early for things like this.
Was that...Quacking? She wondered, If it is, I'm going to--oh no.
It wasn't quacking, but honking she heard. SIX GEESE A LAYING!? Is this going a little bit too far?! She thought to herself, jumping out of bed, and yanking the blankets off that had been entangled with her feet.
She rounded up the geese, clucking at them and whatnot; trying to get them to cooperate. Then of course, they turned on her. (A/N This happened to me in real life once...*shivers* camp memories...)
Soon, SHE was the one being rounded up. Six against one wasn't exactly fair--but hey she was a witch! She grabbed her wand off her night stand and shot food pellets at them, and ran out the door, slamming it behind her. Unaware that she looked pretty ridiculous standing in her pajamas, her hair mused, and holding her wand as if she were in a duel to the death.
She let out a slow breath, feeling calmer now that the evil geese were on one side--and she the other.
Lily knew that she'd have to think of a plan--for one, she was going to have to lock her dorm at night--because, no matter how flattered she was that someone was giving her presents--this was a bit much--and birds weren't exactly romantic. Then of course, it was creepy that someone could sneak into her room...
Then, she needed a plan on getting those geese out of her dorm before they ruined everything in sight, She really didn't like the idea of goose poop all over the floor. And imagine--someone out there must think this was--romantic, she thought in disgust.
She felt self-conscious in her red and green reindeer pajamas...She was the only girl who'd stayed behind in Gryffindor at all this year--and she didn't know the older or younger boys who had stayed...So this left her with the Marauders.
Lily, decided not to take this option, as she didn't feel like being made fun of this early in the morning. (It was 5:30) Lily griped about for a bit, thinking of what to do.
She heard something on the other side of her door that sounded like glass breaking. She groaned, and dropped to the floor, leaning against her door.
"Evans?" James Potter asked, entering the quiet hall way from his dorm across from hers.. (A/N I am a supporter, who believes that the girls & boys share ONE stair case, and the girls are on one side and the boys on the other.)
Lily tried to glare at him--since he looked adorably cute, his hair was sticking up in every direction, and his flannel pajamas made him look child like, it was difficult to be mad at something so sweet looking.
"Yes--Potter?" Lily replied, keeping on her snappy attitude from the night before.
James scratched his head. "What are you doing awake?"
"There are...six geese in my dorm." Lily answered almost inaudibly.
"Really?" Lily could feel his grin of delight.
"Yes, and they chased me out of the room." James burst out cackling. "They were vicious!" Lily defended her behavior. "Now, since you're here, you can help me out--and clear them out."
"Who says I have to do that?" James asked, walking over to her. Lily then quite abruptly, leapt up, opened the door and shoved James in her dorm so fast he didn't get much choice in the matter as to what to do at all.
"Me!" Lily shrieked, and shut the door. James pulled it back, and soon they were in a door war.
"Lily! These geese are frightening! Let me out!" James groused, but Lily could tell he was more amused then angry.
"No, I think not!" Lily said, trying to keep her balance--James was a lot stronger then her and she was leaning back to keep him from opening the door completely.
James finally gave one huge tug and pulled the door completely open, bringing Lily with it.
She toppled into him, losing her balance finally, and falling on her bottom. Just to be mischievous she tugged James down too.
"You know Lily, that wasn't very nice." James said, chuckling to himself anyway.
"I know, but it was fun." There was no need to say it, but a truce had been made between the two. Lily was always a forgiving person, no matter how hard she didn't want to forgive someone.
"Fun, yes, safe no." James said, pointing to the geese that were eyeing the two fifth years.
"Eep!" Lily squeaked.
"Kvitt geese!" James cried holding out his wand, and the geese turned into--large piles of feathers.
"Wow, James what's that spell?" Lily asked, awed.
"Oh, that? It's a 'rid of the bugs' spell, and I just changed it to apply to geese." James shrugged.
"Why'd you have your wand with you?" Lily asked, curious.
"Um, just to be...Safe?" James said weakly, and Lily rolled her eyes.
"Come on Potter, get out of my dorm--I need my beauty sleep." Lily said, kicking him out of her dorm (literally)
"Hey!" James griped, rubbing his shins as she shut the door on him. She didn't hear him mutter. "Beauty sleep? Lily? She doesn't need it..."
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"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh--hey! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way! Hmm...What are the rest of the words to that song?" Lily wondered, as she went up the stairs from dinner that night, she had her arm knitted through Sirius and Remus', and James seemed really put out that she hadn't wanted to link arms with him.
"James, don't be such a Dementor!" Sirius said good naturedly, "Just because Lily's not holding your hand, ("I'm not holding anybody's hand!" Came Lily's protest.) doesn't mean you can pout."
"What?" James asked distractedly.
Lily laughed, noticing he hadn't paid attention at all to what she or the others had been talking about. Lily was definitely starting to see the good points of Sirius and Remus. They were quite funny, and witty when they wanted to be, but also a pain in the arse for the rest of the time.
They continued to talk, and about half way up to Gryffindor Tower, they ran into a group of ghosts, including three of the house ghosts (the Bloody Baron was mysteriously, absent as usual).
Then, to their surprise, the ghosts burst into song. "Dashing through the snow, In a one-horse open sleigh, Through the fields we go, Laughing all the way, Bells on bob-tail ring, Making spirits bright, What fun it is to ride and sing, A sleighing song tonight!"
"Ah! So that's the words!" Lily exclaimed in the middle of the ghosts' song. Apparently, the ghosts were caroling that night. The ghosts finished their song, and Lily immediately asked, "Can we four join you?"
The ghosts looked at each other, and Remus, Sirius and James looked frightened. "Lily--we are NOT going caroling." James all but yelped.
"Yes you are." Lily said with a nod, "Come on, the ghosts won't mind."
"Do come along! It'll be so much fun!" The Ravenclaw ghost jittered.
"Oh no...Another one of Lily's 'get me in the spirit' ideas." James muttered to Sirius and Remus, who didn't seem too enthused about the idea either.
"So, where do we go? When we're caroling, I mean." Lily asked the ghosts.
"Well, mostly we just walk around singing--everywhere." Nearly Headless Nick told them.
"That'll be fine then! Just fine!" Lily giggled, very excited. She grabbed James' hand and they followed the ghosts. Remus and Sirius laughed at James who was turning a bright shade of red, and Lily didn't seem to notice at all.
James and the other Marauders refused to sing--until Lily cast a handy charm that MADE them sing...It turns out, James had a very nice baritone voice. Sirius though...Was another matter altogether.
He croaked like a frog, and Lily had to bite her tongue a few times just so she wouldn't laugh at him. Her not laughing, didn't stop the friendly ghosts from laughing, however. Sirius, luckily, didn't seem embarrassed at all--just a bit uncomfortable.
Near the corridors by the Slytherin common room--Sirius seemed to get even louder. Of course, it could be because they were singing, "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" and wanted to make sure the Slytherins heard such a muggle song.
"...coming home from our house Christmas Eve...!" Sirius shouted at the top of his lungs--the charm was gone now, and Sirius wasn't singing--but just yelling the lyrics out loudly.
James and Remus continued to sing in their quiet voices, too afraid of the consequences, though they were both trying to clobber Sirius to make him shut up at the same time.
"Having fun Potter?" Came the sneer of Severus Snape.
Lily, knowing it was for James' dignity, removed the charms.
James, finding he could speak immediately spat out to Snape. "Yes actually. Christmas is so much more fun when you have friends around."
"Yeah, it is isn't? Where are your friends at? All I see are a bunch of lunatics, ghosts, and a mudblood." Snape growled.
The Marauders, Lily and the ghosts all took offense immediately. "That's no way to show Slytherin behavior." Nick said.
"No, not at all." The Far Friar agreed. "Where's the bloody baron when you need him?"
Snape smirked, eyeing James' livid face. "You know Potter, if you keep that face on long enough, it'll stay that way." James turned even redder.
"James." Lily whispered touching his arm. "Stay calm." She soothed, she'd noticed his fists clenching, and could sense another fight. "You don't need another black eye."
"He called you a mudblood Lily." James gritted out.
"I know, but it doesn't bother me--."
"It should." James said fiercely, finally looking at her. His eyes were full of anger and Lily was glad it wasn't directed at her. She'd never seen him look so furious. His brown eyes seemed to hold a fire within them.
"James, I think we should go." Lily said, looking at Remus and Sirius--who also looked ready for a brawl.
"You don't want to do anything about it? Nothing?" James whispered harshly to her. Lily glanced at Snape who seemed to be just waiting for them to do something to him.
"Yes, nothing. It's Christmas--just leave him alone. He wants to provoke you, he wants to get you into trouble." Lily said wisely.
"You really want to just leave?" James asked finally, his eyes softening.
"Yeah, please--let's just go back to the tower."
"Okay then..." James said with a sigh. "Come on Sirius, Remus." James called. "Let's not risk the chance of killing Snape, because I'd hate to have to make his mother bury him at Christmas time."
Snape blinked, surprised almost that they weren't going to fight. The ghosts smiled proudly at James, for not leaping at the chance to beat up Snape, like he normally would. The Ravenclaw ghost smiled warmly at Lily.
"Good job." She whispered as the four Gryffindors walked past. Lily just grinned softly back, and then glanced at Snape and flinched at the look of hatred he sent her way.
She'd never quite understood why Snape hated her so much. Yes, she was a muggle-born and pretended not to care, but it didn't stop her from feeling upset over it. None of the Slytherins liked her because of something she couldn't help.
She was used to everyone generally liking her. Then she came to Hogwarts and made more "enemies" then ever before. Maybe that was why she was so much nicer to the Slytherins than everyone else--she was still trying to get them to like her, even if it was useless.
Maybe it was the same reason as to why she was nice to the Marauders, even though they'd shown before how much they didn't like her. The pranks, the teasing...She just ignored it, and reached out for friendship, showing them how kind she could be.
It had to be why she was trying to make James like Christmas. She wanted him to think Christmas wasn't bad, so he would like her--or at least respect her. Lily knew it was probably too much to ask, but there wasn't anything she could do.
"Lily?" James asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Hmm?" Lily looked up at him.
"Why--why do you put up with that? How do you put up with it?" James asked her, walking beside her now, staring intently--maybe trying to see the secrets she wasn't telling him or read her thoughts.
"With what?" Lily asked, knowing very well what he wanted to know.
"You know...People--people calling you that." James said, looking awkward and uncomfortable. "I know it's a bit of a personal question...but I just want to know. If I had been you, I'd have--I dunno, cursed him or something."
Lily laughed nervously. "Oh James, don't be silly. It's not that hard. Whatever Snape or the other Slytherins--or anyone for that matter, thinks about me doesn't bother me. They don't know me, and it's not going to make them like me by screaming and throwing curses at them." Lily said, trying to get the subject of conversation off her and end the conversation quickly, she didn't like where it was going...and there was something about James that made her blab all her secrets--so the conversation, would mostly end with her embarrassing herself or saying something silly.
"Doesn't bother you at all?" James asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Okay...Maybe a little. I don't like the fact that someone doesn't like me because of something I was born as. It's racist--. I just blow it off, and try to force myself to make it not matter. But it will always matter. I'm going to have to put up with this for the rest of my life; you can't fight off everyone who insults you, can you? About half of the Wizarding World believes I'm scum, and I don't plan on brainwashing them to like me. I've learned to deal with it--and so can you." Lily said knowledgably. She wasn't sure if she'd been exactly truthful with him there, but it was good enough.
"So, you just deal with it?" James questioned.
"Yeah...Sometimes it's not easy. Like...Every once and a while I want to punch Snape in the nose when he calls me that, and sometimes I want to curse Narcissa Malfoy-to-be, but I can't. It'll only hurt me more just by fighting back." Lily said with a shrug. There was silence for a few moments.
"What would you have done back there--if I had punched Snape?" James asked out of the blue.
"I would have deducted points from both your houses and screamed a lot about how immature you were." Lily said, smiling up at him.
"Well, I'm glad I missed that." James muttered. Lily hit him playfully.
"I'm not that bad! You always make me out to be this big ugly monster!" Lily said accusingly, but still in a friendly teasing way.
"Well--just a Christmas Monster, but still--a monster." James said, and Lily giggled.
"You are SUCH a dork." Lily said through her giggles.
"And you giggle too much." James said, and it only made her giggle more.
"I'm s-sorry, but--there's s-something about you that m-makes m-me laugh easily." Lily said, trying to catch her breath. When she'd managed she asked him, "It doesn't bother you, does it?"
"No, actually, it's--a good feeling watching you laugh." James said, his cheeks turning a slight red color and Lily felt horrified to notice she too was blushing.
"Oh--well then." She said awkwardly.
"Ah." He said, "Remus? How's that--Erm--thing going?"
"What thing?"
"That thing..." James said cocking his head to the side.
"I can't remember. What thing?" Remus asked again.
"You know, that thing you told me about earlier today?" James hinted once more, and by then Sirius and Lily were having trouble not laughing; it was obvious Remus was just doing this to annoy James.
"Oh--the one thing?" Remus said, pretending to be catching on.
"Yeah, that one." James said with a sigh. "So how's the thing going?" James said, a hint of good humor coming back to his eye.
"Well, I think Christmas is giving the thing a headache but otherwise--I think your fine." Remus said grinning.
"Oh Remus, you stupid git!" James growled shaking his head as Remus laughed and Lily and Sirius joined in.
"Stupid I may be, but at least I don't make a fool of myself like you do. That takes a greater amount of stupidity my friend."
James tried to be mad, but he found it more funny then anything. "Stupidity my friend," James said mocking Remus, "Is only measured by the stupidity of those around you." The four continued their friendly banter for the rest of the walk up to the Gryffindor Common Room.
The halls decorated for Christmas, gave off an air of cheer with the promise of good things to come. Good things indeed.
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A/N That's that! I didn't really like my ending, and it seemed to be getting....Hmm....Pointless, well the ending was really pointless, but there's more of a point later! :-) Don't get pricked!
Anyway, Merry Christmas again! Only...15 days until Christmas! 15 days until I turn 15...Ooh, that's cool!
Thank you all reviewers, I've had a lot of people say it 'gets them in the Christmas spirit' or cheers them up or something. I *love* those reviews!! They make me feel all--warm and giggly inside! *grins* I'm actually enjoying typing my author note!! Well...I always do, but normally, it's just crap...
Chapter 7:
Seven Swans a swimming brings something interesting about--maybe a hint as to who the gift giver is? They all go on a sleigh ride, and...Um...There's some hinting at L/J and...Lily and James try and prevent the gift giver from getting into her dorm...Will they succeed? I guess you'll have to wait for chapter 8!
20 reviews is all I ask for each chapter! So that means...About 175, please? PLEASE?? *puppy face* how can you resist?
*~Sierra~*