Chapter 3 – Merry Christmas

Before she realised it, Lily was 10 years old, and it was a beautiful winter morning. The air was crisp and sharp, so when she inhaled some of the smells of early morning Lily tasted the nearly frozen Dew in the air and felt it cut into the back of her delicate throat. Clouds were forming in the sky already, and as Lily watched the road below her she felt a snow flake fall onto her nose and melt against her warm face. Giggling she shut her window with a snap and began getting dressed. She could hear the radio playing in the bathroom – her dad must also be up. She sang along to the Bob Dylan song playing as she picked a top to wear.

The smell of Bacon was making its way upstairs and her sister could now be heard banging on the bathroom door telling hr dad to hurry up, she had to do her makeup now. Lily hoped she would not be like this when she was 15, it seemed rather annoying. And then her next door neighbour's barked, and it was apparent that the postman would arrive any second.

She skipped down stairs and flicked though the letters, but it was all Christmas cards. She didn't understand them, they were a waste of trees in her opinion. She chucked them on the table and went into the kitchen where had mum had placed bacon rolls on a large round plate for everyone on the breakfast bar. Lily and her mum were shortly joined by her dad and older sister and the began eating breakfast, discussing their plans or the day and what was happening in the evening, for it was Christmas eve.

It was decided that everyone (Petunia) should be home no later than 6 to have tea and finish wrapping their presents while watching Christmas movies. Lily liked this idea, because the snow showed no signs of stopping which gave her the perfect opportunity to curl up in her bedroom with a book and read for a few hours. While she did this her mother cooked and cleaned the house and her father went down to the office the finish a few bits and bobs before the holiday. Petunia was at her friends house again, although Lily didn't believe this, and was convinced she was on a date with Vernon, an ugly boy who was about as fat he was tall, and rich enough to pay for all Petunia's requests. He went to some weird Boarding school and from what she saw, Lily didn't think he was very nice at all

It was still only 5 o'clock when she finished her book, but when she looked out of the window, it was apparent that the it had recently stopped snowing. The ground was covered with a sheet of white velvet, the trees coated in cotton wool and the houses clothed in fluffy fair foam. The snow had settled. Lily raced to her wardrobe and put on her warmest clothes, ready to go outside. She made fresh footprints in the snow as she skipped along the pavement to the park. When she reached it, first thing that she noticed was that somebody was already there.

"Eerrrr Hello" Lily didn't recognise this boy at all, and she wasn't aware of any kids her age living close by. She had never seen anyone in this park before, she had for a long time been the only one who had ever visited it, as no kids her age lived close by.

The boy looked up at her. He had jet-black hair, and black eyes to match, but instead of looking frightening, the eyes neatly contrasted his soft features. His cheeks were rosy from the cold, and a few freckles remained behind from after the summer. His pale face didn't have a single spot or blemish, and his slightly chapped lips were ruby red. He flicked his hair out of his eyes with his right hand and smiled at the girl.

"Hello there."

They both looked at each other for a moment and then both spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm out"

"What? In this weather?"

They looked at each other again and then burst out laughing.

"Snap!" said Lily with a giggle.

"What?" replied the boy looking at her quizzingly.

"You know, like the game snap we said all that at the same time!" she giggled again.

"Right" the boy looked like he had no idea what snap was, but Lily decided he was just weird or maybe a foreigner.

Considering him for another second, Lily spoke again before he could turn away from her. She brushed her hand against his coat as she moved to brush her hair from her face, and noted it was the softest material she had ever felt. It was like the softest of Arabian silks, yet thick and tough like the hardest of substances, and most definitely looked like leather.

"So, what's your name then? And how come I haven't seen you here before?"

"My name's Sirius and you haven't seen me here before because I haven't been here before." He said in a singsong voice.

"No need to be so rude!" lily was positively offended, Maybe it was because she didn't talk with many people at school but no one had ever been so rude to her before so she was somewhat shocked. And she was sure she recognised the boy's voice.

"Sorry babe" he winked at her and threw a snowball in her face. Screaming Lily chased after him. He was pretty face but it was hard to run in the deep snow. Lily grabbed at the snow, spraying it in the boy's direction, and running on.

Half an hour later, they were lying on their backs side by side in the snow, covered head to toe in snow. Had someone driven their car along Grimmauld place at this point they would not have noticed the two children in the snow but rather thought it was just two stout snowmen that Lily had built in her boredom.

Everyone knew that Lily never really had any friends. She never brought Girls round for Tea like Petunia did at her age. She never spent her lunchtimes flicking though the colourful magazines that other girls looked at, or painting her toenails in bright colours, or making her hair look like it had been sprayed with fairy dust, by covering herself with glitter. She never went to school dances, or brownies like other girls. And everyone noticed that Lily would far rather spend her time reading a big book intended for Secondary School pupils than be painting and mucking about.

So when she finally got home (at five past six) her parents were shocked to see she had a huge grin on her face and that she was covered in snow. Her clothes were hung by the fire to dry, and lily got changed into nice clothes for Christmas Eve dinner. She eagerly told her parents about her new friend. He was visiting the Figg's as they were his distant relations and he saw the swing so he decided the sit there as their house reeked of cabbages (Lily agreed) and Lily had found him there.

Lily believed his story. She had no idea, that Sirius actually lived in number 12 Grimmauld place or that the reason he was in the park was that his parents were being especially Muggleist that night which he couldn't put up with anymore. His house elf had accidentally left a load of rubbish in Sirius' room, and the room smelled very badly, so he had nowhere to hide. He had many a time seeked refuge at the Figg's but today he knew that it would be impossible. Mrs Figg, was quite an old witch and she had suffered a lot in the last few days after a fight with some dark wizard. Sirius had read about this in the Daily prophet and decided to stay away from their house for a while, thus ending up in the small part near their house. He had been swinging on the magical swing that MR Figg had put there many years ago when he heard someone coming. Instantly he stopped. It was the Evans girl from down the road. He enjoyed tormenting her sister whenever she walked past his house tartly on her way to that Vernon's house, and he hoped that Lily would be different from her older sister. He had of course been right, and as he made his way back to Number 12 Grimmauld place, he couldn't help but smile. He just had to send James an owl.