(Almost) Merry Christmas!
It was two days before Christmas when Astra ran into the common room.
"Cleo! Cleo! Guess what!" She said, jumping onto the couch, making Cleo practically tumble to the floor.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Cleo asked, fixing her glasses, shutting her book and looked at Astra. Astra's hair was up in a messy bun, even messier when she jumped on the couch.
"There's going to be a dance on Christmas day!"
"What? Why? There is like, no one here. Me, you, Draco, and the Marauders are the only ones in Gryffindor. It'll be a small dance.." Cleo said, slightly confused.
"Exactly! Dumbledore said it would be fun. It'll be RIGHT after dinner, so any food we eat, will be danced off!" Astra said happily. "I already told the guys, I'm going with Remus, poor James doesn't have anyone... Draco will just hang out with him. They've been hanging around together for awhile now. Are you going to go with Sirius?" She asked, sweetly.
Cleo snorted. "Why would I go with... anyone? It's going to be a SMALL dance. Besides, aren't we going to just hang out together?" Astra just shrugged.
"I was only suggesting.." The girl shrugged, smiling at her with innocence. Something was going on, and whatever it was, Cleo was suspicious.
"Right... so where is Sirius.. and the others?" Cleo asked her, putting the book in her bag, and cupped her hands in her lap.
"Remus and James are at the lake, and Sirius is in the library studying." Astra said, and Cleo chuckled.
"No really, where's Sirius?"
"At the library." "He is NOT!"
"Why isn't he?" Astra smirked, and cocked an eyebrow, tilting her head ever so slightly. Cleo blinked for a second.
"Well he's Sirius. Mr. Cool. Mr. Popular. What's he doing in the library, STUDYING?" She asked, not wanting to be rude.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" Astra said, halo and all.
"I.. I think I will." Cleo said, eyeing the halo before she was off down to the library. Astra snickered as the girl left, and Remus and James came out, carrying boxes of Christmas decorations and stuff.
"Sirius? What are you doing.. studying?" Cleo asked, sitting down next to him, and looked over his shoulder. It was a Potions book. "Potions?! Why.. Potions?"
"Why not Potions?" He asked, looking up at her. "Why are you so surprised?"
"Well.. I.. Not to be rude.. It's just that- you're not exactly..." Cleo muttered. "The studying type is all.."
"So you think Mr. Cool never needs to study?" He asked, grinning at her. "Some of us, unlike you, need to STUDY, to get good grades in Potions. I, unlike you, don't try and seduce the teacher-" Slap.
"I DO NOT SEDUCE HIM, SIRIUS ORION BLACK!!!" Cleo shouted. Ouch. Full name. Cleo glared at him, he just smiled sweetly.
He recoiled and said quickly, "Don't hit me!"
Cleo sighed, glaring at him, having the urge to kick him in the shin, but didn't. Cleo looked over his shoulder at what he was reading. It was for the homework. Cleo was slightly shocked, since the homework wasn't due till two weeks. This was much unlike Sirius, to be studying, AND doing homework early.
"Are you feeling all right?" Was all she asked, putting a hand to his forehead, looking him dead in the eye.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled, and gently lowered her hand. "Are you?"
"Never better." Cleo nodded, rather vaguely and looked back at his book. "Are you doing the essay?"
"Yeah, I'm almost finished with it. I only have two more inches, then I'll be done." Sirius said happily, and began writing for a minute. Cleo watched him.
He seemed to concentrate hard, his eyes were narrowed slightly, he had his quill gripped firmly in his right hand. Some of Sirius' hair fell lightly on his shoulders, bangs hung so she couldn't see his eyes, but knew they were reading as he wrote.
"Done." He said, shutting his book and putting down his quill. As he packed his stuff away, he asked, "Want to go back to the common room?"
"Sure. Astra was telling me about the dance. I'm sure it will be rather fun, won't it?" She asked, as he got up, and she followed suit.
"Yeah, she told me all about it. Dumbledore is known to come up with random things like this." Sirius said, as they began to walk out of the library, Madam Pompfrey was dusting in the Restricted Section, giving them odd looks.
"Wow... this is.. beautiful.." Cleo gasped slightly as she walked into the common room, admiring James, Remus, Astra, and Draco's work.
The entrance had golden and red tinsel and garland all around it, also covering the mantel piece, along with lights which seemed to float by themselves. Crystal colored like lights dangled alone from the ceiling, and colors were all around them. There was some holly and mistletoe scattered about also, and fake snow dotted the tops of things.
"It's beautiful! I can't believe it!" Cleo said, as Sirius turned around from looking at the book shelf, which small, transparent, fake snow faeries floated about.
James, Remus, Astra, and Draco grinned at them, standing a few feet away, shoulder to shoulder. James grinned with a glint in his eye and told them, "Step forward."
So they did so. Now there were right next to each other, Sirius' arm brushed slightly against hers as they looked in confusion at the four.
"Look down." James said, still smiling. So they did. The other three were grinning ear to ear now. "Look up." Damn it. They were under the mistletoe.
Cleo took in a sharp gasp, as if being punched in the stomach, or that's how it felt. She felt her face warm up, a lot. Sirius' was slowly draining of color, each of them stared at each other. "No. That's not- not fair! You tricked us!" Cleo said.
"Either way, your under it. And you have to do.."
".. What you have to do." Draco grinned, finishing off for James.
The two sighed and took a breath, looking at each other. Cleo was thinking of ways to slowly kill her friends, one by one. Something painful would be lovely.. And Sirius was thinking the same thing. The two leaned in, Cleo felt like she was being held down by sand bags. Before it happened, Cleo flicked her eyes up to meet his, who looked nervous.. and hopeful? His lips touched hers.
So soft and light, gentle and warm. She felt in a bliss, praying her knees didn't give way and send her tumbling to the floor. It was over too soon. Sirius pulled back and she did, though slightly slower than he. She sighed and then got over it quickly, and mouthed to Astra 'Sleep with your eyes open.' and then looked around.
"Loved the decorations.." Sirius said, looking at the ceiling, though it might have been an excuse to be wary of anymore mistletoe. Cleo nodded in agreement, though vaguely, still glaring at Astra, mentally harming her.
"I'll be in the dorm, working on some writing. Astra! Why don't you come." She said, dragging her friend upstairs and slammed the door, wheeling around.
"What the hell did you do that for? This is NOT funny. How could you?" Cleo whispered, glaring at the girl.
"You can't say you didn't like it." Astra said, smiled in a knowing way, a mischievous glint in her eye.
"I- I- DON'T TRY AND CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" Cleo hissed at her. "That was a sick, sick joke!"
"It wasn't sick. It was funny. We planned it as a prank." Astra grinned.
"Would you like it if it was YOU and Remus?" Cleo glared at her.
"Yeah!" Astra said happily. "Were um.. going.. out." She said, looking at her feet, ashamed for not telling her friend.
"You, WHAT? Why didn't you tell me?" Cleo asked, slightly hurt, sitting on the bed.
"Well.. we just.. happened. I'm sorry. It was last week.. I'm sorry." She said, sitting down on her own bed. "But. To change the subject, I think Sirius liked the kiss as much as you."
The next day, Cleo came down to breakfast last, walking over to her friends. The conversation at Hogs head, and the kiss yesterday had been long forgotten, they acted like nothing ever happened. She sat down, and greeted them, they said hi back, and she began to eat a piece of bacon, and glanced over at the headmaster, who sat at the Teacher's table, in the center, in his chair, fingering his beard, and gazing around the room.
Cleo always admired Dumbledore, even if he was a bit wacky. Wacky or not, he was fun, yet old, and wise. You would never really picture him to be funny, or witty, if you looked at him. He looked old serious, and quite smart. Dumbledore must have felt the presence of eyes watching him, since he looked over at Cleo's table, and smiled at her. She smiled back and went back to her breakfast, taking a sip of lemonade.
"So, now that Cleo is back to earth, what should we do today?" James asked, the group snorted as Cleo scowled.
"Har. Har. Har." Cleo said dryly, rolling her eyes. "Why don't we all go back to sleep?" She asked, putting her head on the table.
"Why not the library?" Remus asked. Everyone groaned a no.
"How about the lake then?" Sirius asked. Cleo shook her head.
"Too cold." "Well then.. why don't we just explore?" Draco suggested. "Walk around the halls or something. Just waste the time."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Cleo said, grinning happily, and got up, dragging the others along with her.
They had explored a lot, till lunch, then after, till dinner. They were finally worn out and went back to the common room rather lately, and went to their dorms, Cleo and Astra giggled excitedly about the day coming up. Cleo undressed into a pair of short, black shorts and a white T-shirt, and crawled into bed, setting her glasses on the bed stand. Almost as soon as she hit the pillow, she was fast asleep, into a weird dream.
***
Cleo and the others ran down a hall, with their wand out, and the hall kept stretching longer and longer. Suddenly a door flew open, and they ran into it, then another door. They stopped, and slowly opened, the door creaked ever so slightly. They crept in, concealed under the invisibility cloak. Around them, was a huge, gigantic room, filled with death eaters, who surrounded a platform with a large chair, its back turned to them. They took a step, and the cloak accidentally slipped off. "OH NO!"
***
Cleo sat up, her forehead dripped slightly of sweat. She swung her feet off the bed, and put them on the floor, then lifted them slightly from the shock of the coldness. She grabbed her glasses and put them on, and opened the dormitory's door. Cleo saw Sirius sitting on the couch, watching the fire, which gave off the only light. Smirking, the girl crept down the stairs, holding her breath, not making a noise, and snuck up behind him.
"Boo!" She said loudly, grabbing onto his shoulders, he jumped up and yelled in fright, only giving her the satisfaction of scaring him, she leaned on the side of the couch laughing. "Haha, you should have seen it!"
Cleo walked around the couch, and with no warning, Sirius grabbed her arm, and pulled her onto his lap, and began tickling her. She laughed hard, grabbing his hands, telling him to stop, but he was stronger. "Say Sirius is the best." He said, tickling her, she whispered it. "I can't hear you."
"Sirius is- is the- b-best." She cackled, as his fingers traveled down her sides. He smirked and whispered to her in his best seductive tone.
"I know where you get tickled the most." Sirius said, his fingers traveling down her legs to her feet, slowly.
"Oh no..." Cleo gasped, "No. No. NOT THE FEET." She roared with laughter when he hit the target, and she tried to kick but he held her knees down. "Stop it! Stop it!" Cleo shouted, grabbing his hand and biting down hard on it.
"OW!" He said, pulling his hand back. "Gee, you have pointy teeth." He said, she gave him a toothy grin.
"That's what you get when I tell you to stop and you don't." Cleo said.
"Yeah, yeah. What are you doing down here anyway?" Sirius asked, pulling her off his lap and right next to him.
"I can't sleep the night before Christmas." She said, yawning and leaned against him. This was true, she never could sleep the night before Christmas. The dream was probably just a nightmare, Cleo figured.. or hoped. "What about you?"
"The same. Christmases are always fun, especially the presents." He said, grinning at her. "I always spend Christmas here."
"Yeah, me too. It's so pretty then, and I love it when almost no one is there. I wonder why Dumbledore wants a dance..." Cleo said cheerfully, having no problem with him being next to her. Even with his body warmth, she was still cold, and shivered slightly, goose bumps crept up her arms, and she put her head on his shoulder, and felt his cool arm press against her cheek. She sighed, wanting warmth, wanting to go back to her nice, comfy, warm, fluffy bed. Though, Cleo also wanted to stay here, alone, with Sirius.
Sirius must have figured she was cold, since her magicked a large quilt and put it over the both of them, it helped a bit. Cleo closed her eyes and drifted to sleep before she could say good night, and Sirius did soon after.
It was two days before Christmas when Astra ran into the common room.
"Cleo! Cleo! Guess what!" She said, jumping onto the couch, making Cleo practically tumble to the floor.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" Cleo asked, fixing her glasses, shutting her book and looked at Astra. Astra's hair was up in a messy bun, even messier when she jumped on the couch.
"There's going to be a dance on Christmas day!"
"What? Why? There is like, no one here. Me, you, Draco, and the Marauders are the only ones in Gryffindor. It'll be a small dance.." Cleo said, slightly confused.
"Exactly! Dumbledore said it would be fun. It'll be RIGHT after dinner, so any food we eat, will be danced off!" Astra said happily. "I already told the guys, I'm going with Remus, poor James doesn't have anyone... Draco will just hang out with him. They've been hanging around together for awhile now. Are you going to go with Sirius?" She asked, sweetly.
Cleo snorted. "Why would I go with... anyone? It's going to be a SMALL dance. Besides, aren't we going to just hang out together?" Astra just shrugged.
"I was only suggesting.." The girl shrugged, smiling at her with innocence. Something was going on, and whatever it was, Cleo was suspicious.
"Right... so where is Sirius.. and the others?" Cleo asked her, putting the book in her bag, and cupped her hands in her lap.
"Remus and James are at the lake, and Sirius is in the library studying." Astra said, and Cleo chuckled.
"No really, where's Sirius?"
"At the library." "He is NOT!"
"Why isn't he?" Astra smirked, and cocked an eyebrow, tilting her head ever so slightly. Cleo blinked for a second.
"Well he's Sirius. Mr. Cool. Mr. Popular. What's he doing in the library, STUDYING?" She asked, not wanting to be rude.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" Astra said, halo and all.
"I.. I think I will." Cleo said, eyeing the halo before she was off down to the library. Astra snickered as the girl left, and Remus and James came out, carrying boxes of Christmas decorations and stuff.
"Sirius? What are you doing.. studying?" Cleo asked, sitting down next to him, and looked over his shoulder. It was a Potions book. "Potions?! Why.. Potions?"
"Why not Potions?" He asked, looking up at her. "Why are you so surprised?"
"Well.. I.. Not to be rude.. It's just that- you're not exactly..." Cleo muttered. "The studying type is all.."
"So you think Mr. Cool never needs to study?" He asked, grinning at her. "Some of us, unlike you, need to STUDY, to get good grades in Potions. I, unlike you, don't try and seduce the teacher-" Slap.
"I DO NOT SEDUCE HIM, SIRIUS ORION BLACK!!!" Cleo shouted. Ouch. Full name. Cleo glared at him, he just smiled sweetly.
He recoiled and said quickly, "Don't hit me!"
Cleo sighed, glaring at him, having the urge to kick him in the shin, but didn't. Cleo looked over his shoulder at what he was reading. It was for the homework. Cleo was slightly shocked, since the homework wasn't due till two weeks. This was much unlike Sirius, to be studying, AND doing homework early.
"Are you feeling all right?" Was all she asked, putting a hand to his forehead, looking him dead in the eye.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled, and gently lowered her hand. "Are you?"
"Never better." Cleo nodded, rather vaguely and looked back at his book. "Are you doing the essay?"
"Yeah, I'm almost finished with it. I only have two more inches, then I'll be done." Sirius said happily, and began writing for a minute. Cleo watched him.
He seemed to concentrate hard, his eyes were narrowed slightly, he had his quill gripped firmly in his right hand. Some of Sirius' hair fell lightly on his shoulders, bangs hung so she couldn't see his eyes, but knew they were reading as he wrote.
"Done." He said, shutting his book and putting down his quill. As he packed his stuff away, he asked, "Want to go back to the common room?"
"Sure. Astra was telling me about the dance. I'm sure it will be rather fun, won't it?" She asked, as he got up, and she followed suit.
"Yeah, she told me all about it. Dumbledore is known to come up with random things like this." Sirius said, as they began to walk out of the library, Madam Pompfrey was dusting in the Restricted Section, giving them odd looks.
"Wow... this is.. beautiful.." Cleo gasped slightly as she walked into the common room, admiring James, Remus, Astra, and Draco's work.
The entrance had golden and red tinsel and garland all around it, also covering the mantel piece, along with lights which seemed to float by themselves. Crystal colored like lights dangled alone from the ceiling, and colors were all around them. There was some holly and mistletoe scattered about also, and fake snow dotted the tops of things.
"It's beautiful! I can't believe it!" Cleo said, as Sirius turned around from looking at the book shelf, which small, transparent, fake snow faeries floated about.
James, Remus, Astra, and Draco grinned at them, standing a few feet away, shoulder to shoulder. James grinned with a glint in his eye and told them, "Step forward."
So they did so. Now there were right next to each other, Sirius' arm brushed slightly against hers as they looked in confusion at the four.
"Look down." James said, still smiling. So they did. The other three were grinning ear to ear now. "Look up." Damn it. They were under the mistletoe.
Cleo took in a sharp gasp, as if being punched in the stomach, or that's how it felt. She felt her face warm up, a lot. Sirius' was slowly draining of color, each of them stared at each other. "No. That's not- not fair! You tricked us!" Cleo said.
"Either way, your under it. And you have to do.."
".. What you have to do." Draco grinned, finishing off for James.
The two sighed and took a breath, looking at each other. Cleo was thinking of ways to slowly kill her friends, one by one. Something painful would be lovely.. And Sirius was thinking the same thing. The two leaned in, Cleo felt like she was being held down by sand bags. Before it happened, Cleo flicked her eyes up to meet his, who looked nervous.. and hopeful? His lips touched hers.
So soft and light, gentle and warm. She felt in a bliss, praying her knees didn't give way and send her tumbling to the floor. It was over too soon. Sirius pulled back and she did, though slightly slower than he. She sighed and then got over it quickly, and mouthed to Astra 'Sleep with your eyes open.' and then looked around.
"Loved the decorations.." Sirius said, looking at the ceiling, though it might have been an excuse to be wary of anymore mistletoe. Cleo nodded in agreement, though vaguely, still glaring at Astra, mentally harming her.
"I'll be in the dorm, working on some writing. Astra! Why don't you come." She said, dragging her friend upstairs and slammed the door, wheeling around.
"What the hell did you do that for? This is NOT funny. How could you?" Cleo whispered, glaring at the girl.
"You can't say you didn't like it." Astra said, smiled in a knowing way, a mischievous glint in her eye.
"I- I- DON'T TRY AND CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" Cleo hissed at her. "That was a sick, sick joke!"
"It wasn't sick. It was funny. We planned it as a prank." Astra grinned.
"Would you like it if it was YOU and Remus?" Cleo glared at her.
"Yeah!" Astra said happily. "Were um.. going.. out." She said, looking at her feet, ashamed for not telling her friend.
"You, WHAT? Why didn't you tell me?" Cleo asked, slightly hurt, sitting on the bed.
"Well.. we just.. happened. I'm sorry. It was last week.. I'm sorry." She said, sitting down on her own bed. "But. To change the subject, I think Sirius liked the kiss as much as you."
The next day, Cleo came down to breakfast last, walking over to her friends. The conversation at Hogs head, and the kiss yesterday had been long forgotten, they acted like nothing ever happened. She sat down, and greeted them, they said hi back, and she began to eat a piece of bacon, and glanced over at the headmaster, who sat at the Teacher's table, in the center, in his chair, fingering his beard, and gazing around the room.
Cleo always admired Dumbledore, even if he was a bit wacky. Wacky or not, he was fun, yet old, and wise. You would never really picture him to be funny, or witty, if you looked at him. He looked old serious, and quite smart. Dumbledore must have felt the presence of eyes watching him, since he looked over at Cleo's table, and smiled at her. She smiled back and went back to her breakfast, taking a sip of lemonade.
"So, now that Cleo is back to earth, what should we do today?" James asked, the group snorted as Cleo scowled.
"Har. Har. Har." Cleo said dryly, rolling her eyes. "Why don't we all go back to sleep?" She asked, putting her head on the table.
"Why not the library?" Remus asked. Everyone groaned a no.
"How about the lake then?" Sirius asked. Cleo shook her head.
"Too cold." "Well then.. why don't we just explore?" Draco suggested. "Walk around the halls or something. Just waste the time."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Cleo said, grinning happily, and got up, dragging the others along with her.
They had explored a lot, till lunch, then after, till dinner. They were finally worn out and went back to the common room rather lately, and went to their dorms, Cleo and Astra giggled excitedly about the day coming up. Cleo undressed into a pair of short, black shorts and a white T-shirt, and crawled into bed, setting her glasses on the bed stand. Almost as soon as she hit the pillow, she was fast asleep, into a weird dream.
***
Cleo and the others ran down a hall, with their wand out, and the hall kept stretching longer and longer. Suddenly a door flew open, and they ran into it, then another door. They stopped, and slowly opened, the door creaked ever so slightly. They crept in, concealed under the invisibility cloak. Around them, was a huge, gigantic room, filled with death eaters, who surrounded a platform with a large chair, its back turned to them. They took a step, and the cloak accidentally slipped off. "OH NO!"
***
Cleo sat up, her forehead dripped slightly of sweat. She swung her feet off the bed, and put them on the floor, then lifted them slightly from the shock of the coldness. She grabbed her glasses and put them on, and opened the dormitory's door. Cleo saw Sirius sitting on the couch, watching the fire, which gave off the only light. Smirking, the girl crept down the stairs, holding her breath, not making a noise, and snuck up behind him.
"Boo!" She said loudly, grabbing onto his shoulders, he jumped up and yelled in fright, only giving her the satisfaction of scaring him, she leaned on the side of the couch laughing. "Haha, you should have seen it!"
Cleo walked around the couch, and with no warning, Sirius grabbed her arm, and pulled her onto his lap, and began tickling her. She laughed hard, grabbing his hands, telling him to stop, but he was stronger. "Say Sirius is the best." He said, tickling her, she whispered it. "I can't hear you."
"Sirius is- is the- b-best." She cackled, as his fingers traveled down her sides. He smirked and whispered to her in his best seductive tone.
"I know where you get tickled the most." Sirius said, his fingers traveling down her legs to her feet, slowly.
"Oh no..." Cleo gasped, "No. No. NOT THE FEET." She roared with laughter when he hit the target, and she tried to kick but he held her knees down. "Stop it! Stop it!" Cleo shouted, grabbing his hand and biting down hard on it.
"OW!" He said, pulling his hand back. "Gee, you have pointy teeth." He said, she gave him a toothy grin.
"That's what you get when I tell you to stop and you don't." Cleo said.
"Yeah, yeah. What are you doing down here anyway?" Sirius asked, pulling her off his lap and right next to him.
"I can't sleep the night before Christmas." She said, yawning and leaned against him. This was true, she never could sleep the night before Christmas. The dream was probably just a nightmare, Cleo figured.. or hoped. "What about you?"
"The same. Christmases are always fun, especially the presents." He said, grinning at her. "I always spend Christmas here."
"Yeah, me too. It's so pretty then, and I love it when almost no one is there. I wonder why Dumbledore wants a dance..." Cleo said cheerfully, having no problem with him being next to her. Even with his body warmth, she was still cold, and shivered slightly, goose bumps crept up her arms, and she put her head on his shoulder, and felt his cool arm press against her cheek. She sighed, wanting warmth, wanting to go back to her nice, comfy, warm, fluffy bed. Though, Cleo also wanted to stay here, alone, with Sirius.
Sirius must have figured she was cold, since her magicked a large quilt and put it over the both of them, it helped a bit. Cleo closed her eyes and drifted to sleep before she could say good night, and Sirius did soon after.
