I've never felt so utterly helpless. Lily is lying on her bed with the
curtains closed, just sobbing. I don't really know what to do. I'm never
seen her like this. I remember Potter saying that he'd never betray a
friend, but what he's done to Lily is nothing short of just that.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" I ask.
"I want to be left alone."
Quietly, I go out onto the landing. Now what? I'm halfway to the library before I remember that Madam Pince hates me. I don't spend more than a moment in the owlry before the smell becomes too much, and when I reach near where the Hufflepuff Common Room might be, I realize my brother went home for Christmas.
"Oy! Perry!" shouts a booming voice that seems to echo down the corridor. "We need to talk. Where's Lily?"
I turn to look at Black down the hallway and say, "She's miserable no thanks to your best friend!" then turn on my heel.
"Perry, wait!" I run all the way up several flights of stairs before I reach the statue of Boris the Bewildered and a long hall of doors. Black's going to catch up with me.
"Rub-a-dub-dub!" I pant. I enter the prefects' bathroom. He won't be able to find me here. Unless of course Potter gave him the password. I cross my fingers and lean against the door. Footsteps. And a curse from Black. Phew. I don't even want to look in the face of someone who's mates with the boy who made Lily so miserable. My glance falls upon a mermaid in a painting on the wall. Why does she have to be so happy?
Since I'm here, I decide to take a bath. I let the tub fill with green bubbly water. I feel better, but only slightly so because sometimes I get the feeling that this bathroom is haunted.
What can I do to make Lily feel better? Maybe a cheering charm. I'm horrible at those. The last time I performed that charm was on Lily for my third year Charms exam. It ended up making her so grumpy, I haven't tried it since. I sink into the water and think for a bit.
All of a sudden the door the bathroom opens, and in walks Black. I swim to the side of the pool so I can get out of tub to tell him off, but realize I'd better stay in the water.
"GET OUT OF HERE!"
"Perry, we need to talk."
"You're not a prefect and I'm naked- SO GET OUT!"
"It's important."
"OUT!"
Black stalks outside and slams the door.
I hope he didn't see anything. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish by that. No dignity at all. Does he think that walking in on someone when she is naked is a good way to have a serious conversation?
* * *
I manage to avoid Black for the next several days, not to mention Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Ignoring Peter was pretty easy, since I pretend not to notice him all the time. It's been and awkward five days, but I've brought Lily food, though I'm not entirely sure whether or not she's eaten any. I am sure that there are five pictures of James Potter hanging in our dormitory. All have broken glasses, black eyes and ripped robes.
Winnie comes into the dormitory quietly and sits down next to me. "How long has she been doing this?" she whispers.
"Five days." I say back. A big sob comes from behind Lily's curtains.
Winnie pulls out a muggle deck of cards and deals for poker. "It's Christmas Eve. She can't stay like this forever."
"I've tried everything, nothing works. Three please," I say as I return some cards. "I feel weird about going to the dance tomorrow."
"I didn't even think about that," Winnie says. "I wonder if Sirius knew all along. If he did, I won't go. Hey, I've got a full house, that beats two pair."
"Next game I flush you away, Frank," I say. That does not turn out to be true at all. Winnie gets three flushes, one of them a royal flush, and I don't get a single pair. At least we're not betting on the poker, which we wouldn't do, of course. "I'm going for a walk."
When I reach the Common Room, I bump into Andrew Weasley.
"Erm-Perry, how's Lily?" He says, not quite looking at me.
"In case you haven't noticed, she's been a little upset lately. Potter asks her to dance, then goes home for the holidays. It would sure upset me."
"Maybe it wasn't his fault. Maybe-"
"They don't force people on the Hogwarts Express by wandpoint you know." I turn around to return to the dormitory.
All of a sudden, Black comes out of nowhere and grabs me by the shoulders.
"Do you have the courtesy to give anyone the time of day at all?" He barks. He lets go of me and runs up the steps to the girls' dormitories.
"Hey!" I shout. "You can't go up there!" I run up after them.
"Where's Evans?" Black growls as I reach the landing. "I want to talk to her."
"Does Lily want to talk to you?" I demand back. This creep is best friends with the boy that has made Lily cry for five days on end. I can barely stand to look at him in the face.
"Lily hasn't left the dormitory for the past five days. Do you know what 'enabling' means?"
"Well you can thank your best friend, Black," I snap. Black pushes past me and to my utter shock, rips open the hangings on Lily's bed. Lily is lying there face down still in her clothes from five days ago. "Maybe in my book things are done differently, but I've always thought it rather rude to ask someone to dance then not go at all! Then you just come waltzing in here like there's no problem at all."
"I wouldn't judge anything prematurely if I were you, Perry. Maybe there's something you would never even care enough to know about," Black snarls with bared teeth.
"Like what, Black?" I retort.
"James' mother is going to die. This is their last Christmas together," he says uncharacteristically seriously. Lily sits up very suddenly.
"But-but she looked fine when I saw her in November," Lily says, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. Her face is quite red and she looks thin in an unhealthy way.
Black bites his lip, "Mrs. P.'s been ill for quite a while. She did seem better than she's been in years, I'd thought she might have recovered myself. About ten days ago, after James had put his name down to stay, she began to relapse. With the bad weather, word didn't come until the morning the train was to leave. Part of him wanted to stay, the other needed to go. He was going to stay, but Dumbledore insisted. Put him on the train himself with a minute to spare. He barely had time to tell me to tell you. He didn't even pack his things."
"I feel so terrible," Lily says.
Black sits down next to Lily. "You didn't know. I don't blame you for being upset." I give Black a nasty look, but he doesn't respond.
I crack my knuckles and say, "So now what will Lily-"
All of a sudden, the door to the dormitory bursts open.
"Remus?" Black says. "What is it?"
Lupin looks incredulously at Lily and Black sitting on the bed, over to me standing beside them, then Winnie on the floor. "I was looking for you and found it odd that you were in the girls' dormitory ... with Lily on a . oh never mind."
Black bursts out into one of him famous laughs. "I was just telling Lily about James, that's all, Remus."
"Lupin, how did you know Black was in the dormitory?" I ask.
"I told him. We should get going," Black says quickly. "I have some business to attend to."
"Does it involve dungbombs?" I demand. "The smell is finally gone and if you think-"
"It's not that, Perry. Look, if you three need anything, just tell me, alright?" With that, Black disappears down the staircase with Lupin at his heels.
Lily lets out a large breath. "I feel like a complete fool. James's mum has been dying and all I can think of is how he's done for her hurts me.
"But Lily, "I say firmly, "you had no way of knowing Potter's mum was ill. She seemed perfectly normal when we saw her. You shouldn't be mad at yourself for not knowing something you couldn't know."
"But I should have know!" Lily exclaims. "for the past month of so, since James asked to me the dance, I thought we were really close, talking about important things. Yet in all that, he never once mentioned that his other was about to die! That's important. We just talked about rubbish."
"I would hardly call-" I stop. I am about to say that talking about You- Know-Who isn't rubbish, but then Lily would know I had been spying on her and Potter.
"Maybe.maybe he didn't want to talk about it," Winnie puts in softly from behind us. I'd forgotten that she was there. "My dad says that when his grandmother died, his father didn't talk about her illness because he was thinking about her all the time."
"I still feel horrible," Lily says. "For the last five days, I've done absolutely nothing but cry. Even if you think it's all right, I don't. All this time, you've done little for yourselves, It's Christmas Ever, go do something fun."
"Not without you Lily."
* * *
When I come to the next morning, I realize that Black and Potter did not really shave my head as I had so believed while I dreamt only moments before, and more importantly that it's Christmas morning.
I make a sudden move to pull back the hangings so I can rouse my brother, but as my hand pulls back the corner of my canopy, candlelight spills in and I see the hangings are read, not blue like the ones at home. I'm still at Hogwarts.
I realize, with a small sadness, that I wouldn't be opening presents with my family. No wonder Lily was so upset before. She is staying away from her family for naught. I should be extra nice to her today.
"Is anyone awake?" a voice whispers from behing the curtains. It's Winnie.
"Yes," Lily says before I can say anything, "but I think Rosa-"
"I'm up," I say quickly. "No thanks to you."
"Great, shall we open presents?" Winnie asks. "I've been up since three thirty."
"What time do you have now? I grumble, suddenly not ready to leave the warmth of my own bed."
"Erm- six forty-five," Winnie says. Lily groans. "No wait, the hour hand hasn't passed the six, so it's only quarter to."
"So it's FIVE forty-five then. I'm going back to sleep," I mumble.
"No you can't, it's Christmas," says Winnie. "Besides, I think this big parcel is from Sirius, and I can't stand it any longer." Figures.
"Can you wait until a reasonable hour, like when the sun is up?"
"No I can't," wails Winnie.
"Well you're just." I want to say that she'll just have to wait, when I realize that being nice to Lily means not stressing her by being frank with Winnie. "You're just lucky it's Christmas, Winnie."
I shake away my no-sleep headache and fumble back my hangings. No wonder Winnie was so keen to open presents. The are huge piles sitting at the feet of each of our respective beds, screaming to be opened.
"Thanks Ros," Lily says to me quietly.
I snatch up the nearest parcel and being to open it carefully as not to tear the paper.
"Hey look at this!" Winnie says. She holds up a brand new beater's club. She had broken hers in the match against Ravenclaw last November. "Sirius go it from me!"
"That's very thoughtful of him," I say with as little sarcasm as possible while I finish taking the paper off Donald Finch's gift, a box of Chocolate Frogs. The thing I hate most about opening presents is actually seeing what's inside. The most fun is taking off the paper, not the gift itself. Especially as I'm lactose intolerant and Chocolate Frogs have milk in them.
The rest of my parcels are more satisfactory. My father bought me a package of Dragon liver. There's also a book from Lily called "Tabitha Briggs and the Impossible Task," which I have wanted to read for quite some tine, a jumper from my mum, and gobstones from my brother.
"James sent me something," Lily says softly. Winnie and I watch as she slowly takes off the paper and pulls out a gold necklace with what has to be an emerald, and a letter that spans a yard of parchment. Lily lays the necklace on her bed and sits to read the letter. Winnie, who happens to be one of those people who needs to touch everyone else's things, goes quietly over to Lily's bed and picks up the necklace, stares at it for about thirty seconds, then replaces it. If I were Lily, I'd have chopped off Winnie's hand. After another minute, Lily put aside the letter and looks out the window at the darkened grounds.
"Does James mention his mum?" Winnie asks.
"No, it's was written before he left."
***
Despite the fact that my family is at home in Birmingham, and I;m not, I'd be lying if I said I had a horrid Christmas. Dinner was wonderful, and I can't imagine how I'll be able to keep anything down tonight as I'm absolutely stuffed.
Lily and I have spent most of the day enjoying our presents. I finished "Tabitha Briggs and the Impossible Task." Tabitha is something called the Hogwarts Champion, and she participates in an even called the Triwizard Tournament. Supposedly, the tournament actually took place decades ago, but was cancelled because of fatalities. I think it was really cancelled because people used to cheat, except for Tabitha, who manages to win without losing her integrity.
The portrait hole opens, and in walks a group of boys fresh from a snowball fight. I'm not the jumping in cold snow sort, so I didn't go. I grab Donald's box of chocolate frogs and offer them to the shivering masses. I've been trying to unload them since I can't eat any myself. Those who had not been as foolish as I at dinner accept them readily. Half the box is gone already.
"Chocolate frog?" I say to the next person in the throng.
"Trying to kill me, Perry?" Black says, face read from the cold.
"Kill you? I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know," I retort. "I'm being nice, doing people favors. You should try it some time."
"I'll have you know I'm allergic to chocolate," Black growls.
"Since when?" I ask. A few years back, Potter, Black and company had decide to barricade themselves in their dormitory by putting stacks of Honeydukes chocolate in the staircase two days before exams. No one could go in or out. It took the threat of expulsion from Filch, who had to clean the melting mess, poor soul, to get them to leave their rooms. Unfortunately, they had to lick their way out. Sirius Allergic-to- chocolate Black had been covered from head to foot in it. I'm sure more than a little went in his month as he was bouncing around the Common Room with a sugar high.
"I-er," Black says, searching for an answer. I get the sense he knows something he can't say. "I just found out in my fifth year. I get really sick now, Just get those frogs away from me before I decide to become suicidal."
* * *
"Ros, wake up, it's nearly five o'clock," Lily pulls me out of the armchair I had fallen asleep in. "Are you going tonight or not?"
I groan. I don't really want to go anywhere. The fire is so warm. I tell Lily this. "You have a date with Donald, Rosalind and you won't be breaking it," she says firmly. I mumble as I close My eyes again and I begin to finish my nap.
Well some lick I have. A mere ten seconds later I am awaked by Winnie who requires no nap, even I she wakes up hours before to early in the morning.
"What do you mean you aren't going?" she demands.
"I believe I said I'd only go if Lily does."
"Oh Rosalind, what will Donald say?" Winnie wails. "What will everyone think? You won't be able to wear your dress robes."
"That's nice," I grumble. Winnie pouts behind the chair.
"I thought you prided yourself on your word!" Winnie hisses suddenly. "What kind of person are you?"
"I-I." I don't know what to say,'
"I'll go," says a voice from the corner of the room. "Now get up Ros."
* * *
A veritable army awaits us as we enter our dormitory. Fortunately for Lily and me, said army really awaits just Winnie, prize date of Mr. Allegedly- Allergic-to-Chocolate. Betty and company are all gathered around her. Despite the claustrophobic feeling of it all, having fifteen girls in a five-girl dormitory does have its advantages. On one bed alone, there are collectively more lipsticks, eye shadows, rouge, powders and colored pencil things than most drug stores carry. Since the spotlight is mercifully on Winnie, Lily and I have a free run of the makeup. A plus for the mere fact that neither Lily nor I have any of our own.
Lily grabs a green pencil and mirror and begins to line that part of the lower eyelid that I'd always thought needed magic to color.
"Where did you learn to do that?" I ask incredulously.
"Petunia," Lily says. "She's been obsessed with this rubbish for ages. Somehow that always seems to involve me."
I sigh and Summon a lipstick. How hard can this be? Maybe a little harder than I thought. After two tries I get the lipstick right. No wonder stupid girls wear makeup all the time. It's actually rather easy to put on.
Finally, The entourage surrounding Winnie dissipates. Now sooner is the crowd thankfully gone does Winnie send Lily to fetch something.
"You've got some nerve, Rosalind Perry!" she hisses the moment Lily reaches the spiral staircase.
"I believe I am keeping my word to Donald, am I not?"
"I'm talking about Lily! I can't believe you're making her do this! What sort of friend do you think you are? Lily's only doing this for you. You can see it in her eyes. She doesn't want to go tonight. What are you trying to accomplish by sending her to the dance? Tell me, Rosalind."
I say nothing. I should back down, but I can't. It would mean admitting I was wrong and Winnie was right, and I can't do that. Not for someone who wakes people up at quarter of six in the morning to open a present from an obnoxious boyfriend, and acts like an annoying little shadow.
"The thing is, Winnie, it's just that Lily needs to eat supper too, if she wants to have strength to study for her N.E.W.T.s, and the best brain food is at the dance."
"I don't believe that for a minute. The N.E.W.T.s aren't for another six months. Even you aren't that bad," says Winnie. Why can't Winnie be dim? "When Lily returns, you are going to inform her that it is unnecessary for her to attend tonight's dance."
I say nothing.
"Here are the owl treats you wanted," says Lily, looking rather odd holding the treat out to Winnie in formal robes. Winnie takes the treat, chucks it under her bed, then wipes her hands on her school clothes.
"Rosalind has something she wants to tell you, Lily."
"I'm through with my makeup," Lily looks at me and bites her lip. "I'm ready to meet Donald in the Entrance Hall. We probably should be on our way." I shoot Winnie the nasty grin that I only use on very special occasions. "Did you see Sirius in the Common Room when you went down there, Lily? He's supposed to meet Winnie by the portrait hole."
Winnie brushes past Lily and I and then stalks down the spiral staircase.
"Shall we go?"
* * * Winnie is greeted by Sirius with all due pomp and circumstance in the Common Room. Everyone watches as they smile and exit, arm in arm, posing for photo after photo taken by the first year who fancied herself Potter's date. The younger students seem to be torn between awe at how grown-up everyone seems and jealousy at not being able to partake in the festivities. Through all her ecstatic smiling, Winnie still manages to flash me hew own version of the nasty look.
"Let head down to the Entrance Hall now." I don't have anything to say as we walk down the halls in silence. I just look at the holly that lines the normally dreary hallways.
When we reach the Entrance Hall it's very crowded. The doors to the Great Hall haven't been opened so people are just milling about.
"It's odd not to see everyone in black," Lily remarks.
"I'm beginning to think I should have had Donald meet me by the statue of Gregory the Smarmy," I say as I look down the marble staircase at the hoards of people. Black and Winnie are chatting with a pack of admirers.
"Why, so you can sneak out of the castle to play in the snow?" Lily says with a small chuckle as we walk out into the crowd.
"Sneak out of the school?"
"There's a passage out of the building near there. James showed it to me." Lily looks down at her boots. Maybe I shouldn't have made her come after all. I shiver as I feel a huge draft from the opening of the oaken outside doors. "Can't they keep that closed? It's freezing out. Some people just have no-" I break off.
"No what, Rosalind?"
I can't get the words out, so I just point.
"It's James!"
a/n Sincerest apologies for not publishing during the school year. The next chapter should be up before book five comes out. How's that for a deadline?
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" I ask.
"I want to be left alone."
Quietly, I go out onto the landing. Now what? I'm halfway to the library before I remember that Madam Pince hates me. I don't spend more than a moment in the owlry before the smell becomes too much, and when I reach near where the Hufflepuff Common Room might be, I realize my brother went home for Christmas.
"Oy! Perry!" shouts a booming voice that seems to echo down the corridor. "We need to talk. Where's Lily?"
I turn to look at Black down the hallway and say, "She's miserable no thanks to your best friend!" then turn on my heel.
"Perry, wait!" I run all the way up several flights of stairs before I reach the statue of Boris the Bewildered and a long hall of doors. Black's going to catch up with me.
"Rub-a-dub-dub!" I pant. I enter the prefects' bathroom. He won't be able to find me here. Unless of course Potter gave him the password. I cross my fingers and lean against the door. Footsteps. And a curse from Black. Phew. I don't even want to look in the face of someone who's mates with the boy who made Lily so miserable. My glance falls upon a mermaid in a painting on the wall. Why does she have to be so happy?
Since I'm here, I decide to take a bath. I let the tub fill with green bubbly water. I feel better, but only slightly so because sometimes I get the feeling that this bathroom is haunted.
What can I do to make Lily feel better? Maybe a cheering charm. I'm horrible at those. The last time I performed that charm was on Lily for my third year Charms exam. It ended up making her so grumpy, I haven't tried it since. I sink into the water and think for a bit.
All of a sudden the door the bathroom opens, and in walks Black. I swim to the side of the pool so I can get out of tub to tell him off, but realize I'd better stay in the water.
"GET OUT OF HERE!"
"Perry, we need to talk."
"You're not a prefect and I'm naked- SO GET OUT!"
"It's important."
"OUT!"
Black stalks outside and slams the door.
I hope he didn't see anything. I don't know what he was trying to accomplish by that. No dignity at all. Does he think that walking in on someone when she is naked is a good way to have a serious conversation?
* * *
I manage to avoid Black for the next several days, not to mention Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Ignoring Peter was pretty easy, since I pretend not to notice him all the time. It's been and awkward five days, but I've brought Lily food, though I'm not entirely sure whether or not she's eaten any. I am sure that there are five pictures of James Potter hanging in our dormitory. All have broken glasses, black eyes and ripped robes.
Winnie comes into the dormitory quietly and sits down next to me. "How long has she been doing this?" she whispers.
"Five days." I say back. A big sob comes from behind Lily's curtains.
Winnie pulls out a muggle deck of cards and deals for poker. "It's Christmas Eve. She can't stay like this forever."
"I've tried everything, nothing works. Three please," I say as I return some cards. "I feel weird about going to the dance tomorrow."
"I didn't even think about that," Winnie says. "I wonder if Sirius knew all along. If he did, I won't go. Hey, I've got a full house, that beats two pair."
"Next game I flush you away, Frank," I say. That does not turn out to be true at all. Winnie gets three flushes, one of them a royal flush, and I don't get a single pair. At least we're not betting on the poker, which we wouldn't do, of course. "I'm going for a walk."
When I reach the Common Room, I bump into Andrew Weasley.
"Erm-Perry, how's Lily?" He says, not quite looking at me.
"In case you haven't noticed, she's been a little upset lately. Potter asks her to dance, then goes home for the holidays. It would sure upset me."
"Maybe it wasn't his fault. Maybe-"
"They don't force people on the Hogwarts Express by wandpoint you know." I turn around to return to the dormitory.
All of a sudden, Black comes out of nowhere and grabs me by the shoulders.
"Do you have the courtesy to give anyone the time of day at all?" He barks. He lets go of me and runs up the steps to the girls' dormitories.
"Hey!" I shout. "You can't go up there!" I run up after them.
"Where's Evans?" Black growls as I reach the landing. "I want to talk to her."
"Does Lily want to talk to you?" I demand back. This creep is best friends with the boy that has made Lily cry for five days on end. I can barely stand to look at him in the face.
"Lily hasn't left the dormitory for the past five days. Do you know what 'enabling' means?"
"Well you can thank your best friend, Black," I snap. Black pushes past me and to my utter shock, rips open the hangings on Lily's bed. Lily is lying there face down still in her clothes from five days ago. "Maybe in my book things are done differently, but I've always thought it rather rude to ask someone to dance then not go at all! Then you just come waltzing in here like there's no problem at all."
"I wouldn't judge anything prematurely if I were you, Perry. Maybe there's something you would never even care enough to know about," Black snarls with bared teeth.
"Like what, Black?" I retort.
"James' mother is going to die. This is their last Christmas together," he says uncharacteristically seriously. Lily sits up very suddenly.
"But-but she looked fine when I saw her in November," Lily says, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. Her face is quite red and she looks thin in an unhealthy way.
Black bites his lip, "Mrs. P.'s been ill for quite a while. She did seem better than she's been in years, I'd thought she might have recovered myself. About ten days ago, after James had put his name down to stay, she began to relapse. With the bad weather, word didn't come until the morning the train was to leave. Part of him wanted to stay, the other needed to go. He was going to stay, but Dumbledore insisted. Put him on the train himself with a minute to spare. He barely had time to tell me to tell you. He didn't even pack his things."
"I feel so terrible," Lily says.
Black sits down next to Lily. "You didn't know. I don't blame you for being upset." I give Black a nasty look, but he doesn't respond.
I crack my knuckles and say, "So now what will Lily-"
All of a sudden, the door to the dormitory bursts open.
"Remus?" Black says. "What is it?"
Lupin looks incredulously at Lily and Black sitting on the bed, over to me standing beside them, then Winnie on the floor. "I was looking for you and found it odd that you were in the girls' dormitory ... with Lily on a . oh never mind."
Black bursts out into one of him famous laughs. "I was just telling Lily about James, that's all, Remus."
"Lupin, how did you know Black was in the dormitory?" I ask.
"I told him. We should get going," Black says quickly. "I have some business to attend to."
"Does it involve dungbombs?" I demand. "The smell is finally gone and if you think-"
"It's not that, Perry. Look, if you three need anything, just tell me, alright?" With that, Black disappears down the staircase with Lupin at his heels.
Lily lets out a large breath. "I feel like a complete fool. James's mum has been dying and all I can think of is how he's done for her hurts me.
"But Lily, "I say firmly, "you had no way of knowing Potter's mum was ill. She seemed perfectly normal when we saw her. You shouldn't be mad at yourself for not knowing something you couldn't know."
"But I should have know!" Lily exclaims. "for the past month of so, since James asked to me the dance, I thought we were really close, talking about important things. Yet in all that, he never once mentioned that his other was about to die! That's important. We just talked about rubbish."
"I would hardly call-" I stop. I am about to say that talking about You- Know-Who isn't rubbish, but then Lily would know I had been spying on her and Potter.
"Maybe.maybe he didn't want to talk about it," Winnie puts in softly from behind us. I'd forgotten that she was there. "My dad says that when his grandmother died, his father didn't talk about her illness because he was thinking about her all the time."
"I still feel horrible," Lily says. "For the last five days, I've done absolutely nothing but cry. Even if you think it's all right, I don't. All this time, you've done little for yourselves, It's Christmas Ever, go do something fun."
"Not without you Lily."
* * *
When I come to the next morning, I realize that Black and Potter did not really shave my head as I had so believed while I dreamt only moments before, and more importantly that it's Christmas morning.
I make a sudden move to pull back the hangings so I can rouse my brother, but as my hand pulls back the corner of my canopy, candlelight spills in and I see the hangings are read, not blue like the ones at home. I'm still at Hogwarts.
I realize, with a small sadness, that I wouldn't be opening presents with my family. No wonder Lily was so upset before. She is staying away from her family for naught. I should be extra nice to her today.
"Is anyone awake?" a voice whispers from behing the curtains. It's Winnie.
"Yes," Lily says before I can say anything, "but I think Rosa-"
"I'm up," I say quickly. "No thanks to you."
"Great, shall we open presents?" Winnie asks. "I've been up since three thirty."
"What time do you have now? I grumble, suddenly not ready to leave the warmth of my own bed."
"Erm- six forty-five," Winnie says. Lily groans. "No wait, the hour hand hasn't passed the six, so it's only quarter to."
"So it's FIVE forty-five then. I'm going back to sleep," I mumble.
"No you can't, it's Christmas," says Winnie. "Besides, I think this big parcel is from Sirius, and I can't stand it any longer." Figures.
"Can you wait until a reasonable hour, like when the sun is up?"
"No I can't," wails Winnie.
"Well you're just." I want to say that she'll just have to wait, when I realize that being nice to Lily means not stressing her by being frank with Winnie. "You're just lucky it's Christmas, Winnie."
I shake away my no-sleep headache and fumble back my hangings. No wonder Winnie was so keen to open presents. The are huge piles sitting at the feet of each of our respective beds, screaming to be opened.
"Thanks Ros," Lily says to me quietly.
I snatch up the nearest parcel and being to open it carefully as not to tear the paper.
"Hey look at this!" Winnie says. She holds up a brand new beater's club. She had broken hers in the match against Ravenclaw last November. "Sirius go it from me!"
"That's very thoughtful of him," I say with as little sarcasm as possible while I finish taking the paper off Donald Finch's gift, a box of Chocolate Frogs. The thing I hate most about opening presents is actually seeing what's inside. The most fun is taking off the paper, not the gift itself. Especially as I'm lactose intolerant and Chocolate Frogs have milk in them.
The rest of my parcels are more satisfactory. My father bought me a package of Dragon liver. There's also a book from Lily called "Tabitha Briggs and the Impossible Task," which I have wanted to read for quite some tine, a jumper from my mum, and gobstones from my brother.
"James sent me something," Lily says softly. Winnie and I watch as she slowly takes off the paper and pulls out a gold necklace with what has to be an emerald, and a letter that spans a yard of parchment. Lily lays the necklace on her bed and sits to read the letter. Winnie, who happens to be one of those people who needs to touch everyone else's things, goes quietly over to Lily's bed and picks up the necklace, stares at it for about thirty seconds, then replaces it. If I were Lily, I'd have chopped off Winnie's hand. After another minute, Lily put aside the letter and looks out the window at the darkened grounds.
"Does James mention his mum?" Winnie asks.
"No, it's was written before he left."
***
Despite the fact that my family is at home in Birmingham, and I;m not, I'd be lying if I said I had a horrid Christmas. Dinner was wonderful, and I can't imagine how I'll be able to keep anything down tonight as I'm absolutely stuffed.
Lily and I have spent most of the day enjoying our presents. I finished "Tabitha Briggs and the Impossible Task." Tabitha is something called the Hogwarts Champion, and she participates in an even called the Triwizard Tournament. Supposedly, the tournament actually took place decades ago, but was cancelled because of fatalities. I think it was really cancelled because people used to cheat, except for Tabitha, who manages to win without losing her integrity.
The portrait hole opens, and in walks a group of boys fresh from a snowball fight. I'm not the jumping in cold snow sort, so I didn't go. I grab Donald's box of chocolate frogs and offer them to the shivering masses. I've been trying to unload them since I can't eat any myself. Those who had not been as foolish as I at dinner accept them readily. Half the box is gone already.
"Chocolate frog?" I say to the next person in the throng.
"Trying to kill me, Perry?" Black says, face read from the cold.
"Kill you? I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know," I retort. "I'm being nice, doing people favors. You should try it some time."
"I'll have you know I'm allergic to chocolate," Black growls.
"Since when?" I ask. A few years back, Potter, Black and company had decide to barricade themselves in their dormitory by putting stacks of Honeydukes chocolate in the staircase two days before exams. No one could go in or out. It took the threat of expulsion from Filch, who had to clean the melting mess, poor soul, to get them to leave their rooms. Unfortunately, they had to lick their way out. Sirius Allergic-to- chocolate Black had been covered from head to foot in it. I'm sure more than a little went in his month as he was bouncing around the Common Room with a sugar high.
"I-er," Black says, searching for an answer. I get the sense he knows something he can't say. "I just found out in my fifth year. I get really sick now, Just get those frogs away from me before I decide to become suicidal."
* * *
"Ros, wake up, it's nearly five o'clock," Lily pulls me out of the armchair I had fallen asleep in. "Are you going tonight or not?"
I groan. I don't really want to go anywhere. The fire is so warm. I tell Lily this. "You have a date with Donald, Rosalind and you won't be breaking it," she says firmly. I mumble as I close My eyes again and I begin to finish my nap.
Well some lick I have. A mere ten seconds later I am awaked by Winnie who requires no nap, even I she wakes up hours before to early in the morning.
"What do you mean you aren't going?" she demands.
"I believe I said I'd only go if Lily does."
"Oh Rosalind, what will Donald say?" Winnie wails. "What will everyone think? You won't be able to wear your dress robes."
"That's nice," I grumble. Winnie pouts behind the chair.
"I thought you prided yourself on your word!" Winnie hisses suddenly. "What kind of person are you?"
"I-I." I don't know what to say,'
"I'll go," says a voice from the corner of the room. "Now get up Ros."
* * *
A veritable army awaits us as we enter our dormitory. Fortunately for Lily and me, said army really awaits just Winnie, prize date of Mr. Allegedly- Allergic-to-Chocolate. Betty and company are all gathered around her. Despite the claustrophobic feeling of it all, having fifteen girls in a five-girl dormitory does have its advantages. On one bed alone, there are collectively more lipsticks, eye shadows, rouge, powders and colored pencil things than most drug stores carry. Since the spotlight is mercifully on Winnie, Lily and I have a free run of the makeup. A plus for the mere fact that neither Lily nor I have any of our own.
Lily grabs a green pencil and mirror and begins to line that part of the lower eyelid that I'd always thought needed magic to color.
"Where did you learn to do that?" I ask incredulously.
"Petunia," Lily says. "She's been obsessed with this rubbish for ages. Somehow that always seems to involve me."
I sigh and Summon a lipstick. How hard can this be? Maybe a little harder than I thought. After two tries I get the lipstick right. No wonder stupid girls wear makeup all the time. It's actually rather easy to put on.
Finally, The entourage surrounding Winnie dissipates. Now sooner is the crowd thankfully gone does Winnie send Lily to fetch something.
"You've got some nerve, Rosalind Perry!" she hisses the moment Lily reaches the spiral staircase.
"I believe I am keeping my word to Donald, am I not?"
"I'm talking about Lily! I can't believe you're making her do this! What sort of friend do you think you are? Lily's only doing this for you. You can see it in her eyes. She doesn't want to go tonight. What are you trying to accomplish by sending her to the dance? Tell me, Rosalind."
I say nothing. I should back down, but I can't. It would mean admitting I was wrong and Winnie was right, and I can't do that. Not for someone who wakes people up at quarter of six in the morning to open a present from an obnoxious boyfriend, and acts like an annoying little shadow.
"The thing is, Winnie, it's just that Lily needs to eat supper too, if she wants to have strength to study for her N.E.W.T.s, and the best brain food is at the dance."
"I don't believe that for a minute. The N.E.W.T.s aren't for another six months. Even you aren't that bad," says Winnie. Why can't Winnie be dim? "When Lily returns, you are going to inform her that it is unnecessary for her to attend tonight's dance."
I say nothing.
"Here are the owl treats you wanted," says Lily, looking rather odd holding the treat out to Winnie in formal robes. Winnie takes the treat, chucks it under her bed, then wipes her hands on her school clothes.
"Rosalind has something she wants to tell you, Lily."
"I'm through with my makeup," Lily looks at me and bites her lip. "I'm ready to meet Donald in the Entrance Hall. We probably should be on our way." I shoot Winnie the nasty grin that I only use on very special occasions. "Did you see Sirius in the Common Room when you went down there, Lily? He's supposed to meet Winnie by the portrait hole."
Winnie brushes past Lily and I and then stalks down the spiral staircase.
"Shall we go?"
* * * Winnie is greeted by Sirius with all due pomp and circumstance in the Common Room. Everyone watches as they smile and exit, arm in arm, posing for photo after photo taken by the first year who fancied herself Potter's date. The younger students seem to be torn between awe at how grown-up everyone seems and jealousy at not being able to partake in the festivities. Through all her ecstatic smiling, Winnie still manages to flash me hew own version of the nasty look.
"Let head down to the Entrance Hall now." I don't have anything to say as we walk down the halls in silence. I just look at the holly that lines the normally dreary hallways.
When we reach the Entrance Hall it's very crowded. The doors to the Great Hall haven't been opened so people are just milling about.
"It's odd not to see everyone in black," Lily remarks.
"I'm beginning to think I should have had Donald meet me by the statue of Gregory the Smarmy," I say as I look down the marble staircase at the hoards of people. Black and Winnie are chatting with a pack of admirers.
"Why, so you can sneak out of the castle to play in the snow?" Lily says with a small chuckle as we walk out into the crowd.
"Sneak out of the school?"
"There's a passage out of the building near there. James showed it to me." Lily looks down at her boots. Maybe I shouldn't have made her come after all. I shiver as I feel a huge draft from the opening of the oaken outside doors. "Can't they keep that closed? It's freezing out. Some people just have no-" I break off.
"No what, Rosalind?"
I can't get the words out, so I just point.
"It's James!"
a/n Sincerest apologies for not publishing during the school year. The next chapter should be up before book five comes out. How's that for a deadline?
