Disclaimer: Story inspired, also by Dr Seuss' book 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
A/N Upon reflection on Lily it seemed to me that she was coming off a bit...Hmm...The bluntest way to put it--she appeared to be coming off a bit Mary Sue. I'm ashamed to admit that I have committed such a crime, but it seems I have...She has faults and such...But...She still seems...INHUMAN. What do you all think? I'm trying to make her human, but I don't want her acting like a total--Erm...Snot (that's a PG word there) either. So, advice is nice.
AS I SAID the next chapters are VERY controversial. I had at least THREE different reviewers tell me THREE different versions of the song 'the 12 days of Christmas', on said '10 pipers piping' the other said, '10 ladies dancing' the other said '10 lords a leaping' I just picked which ever one I liked best and went with it.
Why can't the '12 Days of Christmas' be easier to decipher.
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Mr. Grinch
James Vs. Christmas. Will James Potter Finally Get In the Christmas Spirit?
By
Sierra Sitruc
How I love that Christmas feeling
How I treasure its friendly glow
See the way a stranger greets you
Just as though you'd met him Christmases ago
Christmas helps you to remember
To do what other folks hold dear
What a blessed place the world would be
If we had that Christmas feeling all year
Chapter 9
4 Days Until Christmas
Lily felt like she was in a ballet, as nine ballet dancers spun around her dorm in time. It was a lucky thing all the other beds were gone for the holidays--or else this situation could get ugly...James and some other prefects said it was better that way--she didn't remember why. No, she scolded herself, don't think about James, because then you'll just end up forgiving him. You will forgive him THIS time, when he says he's sorry.
"Infinite Incantetum." She said, getting busy getting the dancers to disappear, when they were all gone, she set about planning what to do for James--okay, she was doing something nice for him, but in the end it would benefit her as well, so she wasn't forgiving him....Or so she thought.
Lily in complete truth, had no idea exactly how the idea had just come to her...It seemed to make sense, to some extent. She was hoping it worked...and maybe even got James into the Christmas spirit--or feel the Christmas Spirit...she wasn't sure exactly which she was aiming for anyway. You can't really 'get into' and feeling. Maybe, she wouldn't be able to do anything for James, but Lily had never been a quitter and today she would not quit--she would make James feel the Christmas Spirit--if she had to shove cheer and good will to men down his throat.
~*~
James was suspicious of Lily. All that day, she had been sneaking around with...the Slytherins. They of course, kept putting her off--screaming, yelling, arguing, and once or twice, punching. Or, Lily had been doing that. James found it all good fun, watching her beat up on a fellow fifth year of Slytherin. Tub of guts she was...And Lily took her down with one good charm! James found it all amusing...
James found Lily an annoying, pesky little person--she was like his good sided conscience--the angel, and he didn't like it on little bit. Stupid Lily and her--good--goody-ness! He couldn't even insult her well! Well...He could...He just felt terrible afterwards. Every time he was around her--she made him want to be a better person then he really was...Great Merlin! She made him want to like Christmas!
Then of course...Their arguing...He couldn't explain his temper, but he did always feel awful after yelling at Lily. She made him tell her things...That he would never tell anyone else, besides the Marauders. How she did that? He had no idea. Lily puzzled him to pieces!
It flattered him though, that she was always trying to help him. Make him like Christmas and get in the Christmas spirit, James wasn't sure exactly if he could get in the Christmas Spirit--how do you 'get in' to something that's not really tangible?
Now that Lily was acting like a Marauder--now it seemed she was taking notes on what the Slytherins were telling her...Oh, there she goes to the Ravenclaws with that little notebook. I wonder what she's scribbling down? James continued to watch Lily from his spot at dinner in the Great Hall. She hadn't said a word to him all day. What--does she think I should say I'm sorry? He wondered. James didn't ever say he was sorry, but then again--Lily hadn't asked for him to go off on her, and James had started the entire conversation of yesterday...
What is wrong with me? James griped. All this confusion is Lily's fault, I'm going to have to sort this out...I'm not sure how yet, but when I do--Lily won't know what hit her.
Having some--freakishly messed up plan in his head, James cast his eyes away from Lily, knowing that the staring would soon become blatantly obvious.
What was she up to? James wondered once more, before Lily finally came back to the Gryffindor table, tucking the notebook in her robes, away from James.
~*~
Lily smirked from her position at the Great Hall table. James has been trying to find out what she'd been up to for the past 10 minutes, and she was, not responding in the least bit. She was listening to Dumbledore give a last minute announcement, "...10 O'clock tonight."
She ate some more, and then got up from the table, and was pleased when James followed her, continuing his constant questioning.
"Lily? Come on! What have you been up to? What are you doing with that notebook? Are you dating one of those Slytherins? Or the Ravenclaws? TELL ME! Just say something...Anything!" James pleaded.
Lily pretended to not hear him.
"LILY? Are you in there? Hello?" James tried once more. Before more could be said, they'd arrived at the Fat Lady, where Lily gave the password, and they entered the common room.
Lily took a seat beside the fire, and James followed suit, watching her.
With a quick movement, Lily pulled out the notebook--James lunged for it, but Lily ducked out of his way. "James? You think your life is awful don't you?"
"Actually, yes--but what does that have--." James' question was cut short.
"Really? Do you think that...Anyone's life would be better then your own?" Lily asked again, in a superior tone, James knew he was getting trapped into something, but didn't really think to care.
"Yes! Now, will you give me the notebook?" James held out his hand, and was shocked when it was filled with the red and green notebook.
With that, Lily left him to read.
~*~
James stared at the book for a moment, before tugging it open and looking at it. It was filled with three pages of Lily's tiny scripted handwriting. He red the first small paragraph.
Horace Parkinson--
Death Eater parents, both currently in Azkaban. Is fated to become a Death Eater himself, this Christmas, instead of having a home he could go to for the holidays, he had an Uncle who apparently beats him.
Eliza Binns--
Related to Professor Binns, the most boring teacher in the world. People make fun of her daily because of it, saying things like 'Eliza is Binn's Twin' (Honestly, I don't get it). It obviously hurts her a lot, because a roommate complains about her crying herself to sleep last night. Eliza has one friend...Professor Binns.
Serene Snape--
Hated by the whole school just because her cousin is Severus Snape and to make matters worse, she lives with her uncle who abuses her and Ministry Officials are too afraid of him to do anything about it.
Lily continued to list horrible situations--some of which, James found gruesome. He'd never actually thought about what anybody else's lives were like, he was just centered on his own life. Maybe Lily was right...He was thick, and not to mention selfish.
"Mr. Prongs, your a selfish git, get used to it." James muttered to himself, the word 'selfish' tasting bitter to his tongue.
"Mr. Padfoot would like to add to that, yes you are a selfish git, Mr. Prongs, but we love you anyway." Came a teasing voice behind him, James whirled around to face two of his best friends, Sirius and Remus.
"Mr. Prongs would like to say that he didn't know anyone else was here." James said. "Mr. Padfoot, Mr. Moony--what have you been up to?"
"Mr. Moony has been in the library, studying." Sirius said, shivering.
"Yes, and Mr. Padfoot was in the kitchens--fattening himself up before Christmas got here, so the pants his aunt is going to send him, won't fit him anymore."
"Mr. Padfoot refutes, that those pants are going to be gruesomely--handmade." Remus snorted with laughter at this.
"Ahem. Let's get to Mr. Prongs' problem, shall we?" James asked grumpily.
"So, Mr. Prongs is a selfish git--what else is new? Everyone knows already, don't we, Mr. Moony?"
"Quite right, Mr. Padfoot." Remus heartily agreed. "Mr. Prongs, don't feel fretful, we all know of your bouts of stupidity, and your selfish--." Remus stumbled for the words.
"Git-ness." James grunted helpfully.
"Right. Nobody cares, they accept Mr. Prongs as he is--because Mr. Prongs has a lot of other good attributes too." Remus said, knowing exactly what had that sulk set on James.
"Yes, Mr. Padfoot would like to list that Mr. Prongs is smart, kind, had nice glasses, and his invisibility cloak is quite nice--and Mr. Padfoot is going to stop listing because he fears for his sexual preference." Sirius said just as Remus gave him a kick in the shins.
"Mr. Prongs, kindly asks for Mr. Padfoot to stop fooling around." James said gruffly.
"Honestly James," Remus said his voice firm. "Don't worry about it, your a good person--a little self-centered and selfish sometimes, but all around, your a great guy, so don't worry about it. You still have people who love you around, to accept you as you are--Gods, even LILY doesn't think your all bad and you hate Christmas!" Remus said reassuringly.
"Really?" James said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really."
"Okay, that's fine then--I'm off to talk to Miss Evans...I think I have an...apology of sorts to make." James said sheepishly.
Remus and Sirius made identical wolf whistles. "Go get your lady Prongs!" Sirius rooted, and James flushed and made a rude sign with his hand, before stomping up the stairs to the dormitories to talk to Lily.
~*~
Lily heard a knock on her dorm door and instantaneously knew who it was. "Come in James!" She called from her bed, where she had her holiday homework strewn about.
James came in through the door, looking a bit embarrassed. "Um...You feel like talking Lily?" His voice coming out a bit shaky.
"Maybe...If what you're planning to tell me, involves an apology." Lily said feinting thoughtfulness.
"It does."
"Fine, sit down then." She said, and patted the empty space of bed next to her.
"Lily... I shouldn't have yelled like I did at you yesterday." James started. "I am a thick, selfish, self-centered git--but, still it didn't give me the right to go off on you like that. You...You also made me see, with the help of that notebook, that my life isn't all that bad after all. It could be worse, like my parents could be in Azkaban, I'd rather have them dead then in there--and my Aunt could be abusive to me and--I could have no friends at all. I have some of the best friends a guy could ask for--Remus, Sirius, Peter--you." James blushed a bit at that, as did Lily.
"James...I don't know what to say." Lily whispered, shocked that he'd actually given her a decent apology, and such a sweet one at that.
"Don't say anything then." James whispered back. They stared at one another for a moment, before Lily took James' hand and pulled him out of the room. "Lily. We've got to stop this--you know, the 'grabbing my hand and running out of the room' routine." James managed to mutter, before he was tugged down the stairs at a great speed.
"I can't believe I almost forgot!" Lily grumbled to herself.
"Forgot--what?" James huffed, as Lily pulled him through the portrait hole and through the halls of Hogwarts, going higher and higher. "Are we going to...the Astronomy Tower?" James asked in an incredulous voice.
"Yep." Lily answered shortly, and was too busy to notice James' eyes going very wide behind his spectacles and the fact that his palms were rather sweaty.
"Lily." James voice came out a bit squeaky. "You have NO idea how that sounds do you? Tell me you don't!" James was a bit on the hysterical side.
"I know exactly how it sounds, and no James, there will be no snogging between us--tonight anyway." Lily said distractedly, and James started turning colors...White...Pink...Fire engine red...Green...
James was quiet until they got to the Astronomy Tower, and there Lily let go of his hand and ran to the balcony and looked over. "James do you have a watch?" She asked urgently.
"Uh--yeah, why?" He said nonchalantly as he glanced at all the people who were already there, all looking over the balcony.
"What time is it?" Lily asked.
"Thirty seconds until ten." James answered briefly.
"Perfect! I have good timing!" She announced proudly.
"For what?" James asked curiously. Then, James observed exactly what 'what' was. "Wow." James breathed.
The entire grounds of Hogwarts, had just lit up with lights. Fairies it seemed, simultaneously brightening in reds, greens, and whites. It was gorgeous. James had never seen anything quite like it before.
The fairies danced around, several making shapes of famous holiday figures. Candy canes, Christmas trees, wreaths, holly, mistletoe. It went on and on, dazzling display after dazzling display.
Lily gripped James hand once more, as they breathed in the cold air--both were shivering as neither had thought of cloaks as they'd made their escape.
It was at that moment, that James swore he felt it. As his and Lily's noses turned red, as their breath turned into small clouds and his classmates and him all stared at the beautiful Christmas sight, that he felt it. That feeling long ago lost... Lost in the same night, that his childhood purity had been stolen away.
James turned to Lily, and whispered in her ear. "I feel it Lily, I...I feel it." Lily turned around to face him, with such a smile on her face, that James was sure his heart had stopped beating.
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A/N Well, that's finished! Sorry it took so long...But *croaks* I have felt AWFUL all week. I missed four days of school! And, I'm really ticked off about it, because...Well, for one--it was fun week in most of my classes, and for another I'm going to be way behind.
So...There, you got it! James 'felt it' hee hee...that sounded so CORNY! But, I find it amusing, so...Ha ha! If you cannot tell, James likes Lily--and Lily's kind of liking him--but well...Neeh.
Chapter 10:
Err...Can't say much about it. It's HIGHLY confidential. *smirks* only about three chapters left though! And, well...Chapter 11 and 12 are going to be doozies! Then of course, a nice happy epilogue of Christmas--since this ends on Chapter 12 with Christmas Eve, Christmas *HAS* to be the epilogue...Because I say so. :-D I think you'll like Chapter 10...Sort of anyway.
THANK YOU REVIEWERS! You have NO idea how much I enjoyed reading all the reviews--all of your guys' help with the 12 days of Christmas, song, was very nice...But didn't work so well, because well--Good lord you all gave me different versions! I'm just going to pick one and go with it.
REVIEW! Because you have NO idea how much I appreciate it! How about...328? That's only 20--and I can't believe you guys gave me 58 last time...I was shocked! I can't believe you like this so much!
I'm hoping to get this next chapter out late on Saturday, so be on the look out!
*~Sierra~*