A/N: Hey everyone! Didn't get to update until I finished OotP!That book was so good. Except the sad part which I will not elaborate on just in case people haven't read it yet. And well, if you haven't read it, HOP TO IT!!!
A big thanks to GoddessMoonLady, Musicgrl, Hayley, Polkat, Kat, and Alya1989262!
Small favor to ask: people who had previously read my old chapter three, could you please look at the changed ending. A lot of people said that the old one went too quickly and I made a few corrections. I would like to know if people see an improvement there. (And I was so good about using the word "sweets" instead of "candy" in the first chapter, but then I forgot. Thanks Polkat!)
Disclaimer: All people and places you recognize belong to JK Rowling. As much as I wish, they will never belong to me. Christmas carols belong to whoever wrote them so long ago...And WARNING, there is a reason that I will never be a songwriter...
It took quite a long time, but eventually Remus was willing to talk about his lycanthropy. He had returned from the hospital wings only two days later looking much better. Finally telling the boys and Lily took quite a load off his chest.But there seemed to be a load that could not be taken off of Lily. She couldn't help thinking about the words repeated in her head. Why did that hat put her in Gryffindor anyway?
November passed all too quickly, and before anyone knew it, they were in mid December, preparing for exams. All those nights pranking were finally catching up. Now four Gryffindor boys sat around a mahogany table in the common room, scrolls of parchment, books and papers littered the table.
"Argh! What happened to all of my Potions notes?" Peter yelled frantically.
"Did you accept a certain pot of ink from a certain Severus Snape last week?"
"Yeah, because I couldn't find mine to take notes. Here it is!" He placed an ordinary feather quill and the pot of ink on the table in front of them. Remus picked it up, and wrote with it. He then picked up the piece of paper and examined it.
"It's disappearing ink Peter. We'll have to think of something to get out dear Sevie back won't we?" Remus said, a malicious smile on his lips.
"Aperecium." Sirius exclaimed. The words did not reappear on the page. "No Remus, I think he just somehow erased the words."
"Remus, do you have any notes on the Goblin Revolution?" James asked quickly. "Wipe that look off your face, you are beginning to scare me."
"I might." He continued with the same terrible grin.
"Can I use them?"
"Now that is a completely different question James. You should make yourself clearer." His face had gone back to the normal calm, Remus-like expression everyone was used to.
"A simple yes or no would have worked." James muttered, scribbling little pictures around the outside of his parchment.
"And a little bit of note taking may have worked as well." Remus replied. "What would you do if it weren't for me?"
"Learn to play the banjo and beg on the streets for knuts." James replied coolly, running a hand through his unruly mop of black hair.
"Then by all means take the notes!" Remus shouted. He slid the papers across the table quickly.
History of magic had proven to be a horridly uneventful and pointless class. Professor Binns droning was equivalent to the most powerful sleeping draught ever available to wizard kind. A few had even been sent to Madam Pomphrey for revival. Sadly enough, Binns was so boring that no one seemed to notice that frigid day late December when he had fallen asleep in front of the classroom fire. He left his body behind and came back to continue groggily teaching the class, still just as boring and just as apt to stay that way. Dumbledore never would have to appoint a new teacher again.
The class had proven useful for catching up on extra sleep and for planning more strange and unusual pranks. It was the last day of classes before the Christmas holidays. Sirius pulled a fresh sheet of parchment out of his bag and muttered an incantation Remus had shown him. Then he carefully levitated the quills on his three friends' desks to get their attention. James was rudely awakened from his daydream by a quill being shoved up his nose. Across his rather blank notes was the scrawly handwriting of Sirius.
S – Hey you guys I came up with the most perfect plan!
R - Take cover! James grinned seeing that Remus knew his friend all too well.
P - If this is a prank having to do a certain suit of armor falling and hitting Snape-
S – Darn. That was a little predictable wasn't it?
L – You are wasting perfectly good parchment on this stupid note.
J – Someone save us from the environment police. Go away Evans, this is a guys only kind of note.
L – I won't even ask what you are talking about. You dolts sent it to the wrong paper. Maybe I will go take notes for a change. We have exams coming up in a few weeks Potter may I remind you!
R – That banjo is calling you James…
J – So Siri, did you interrupt me from my enjoyable daydream for something useful?
S – Actually I did in fact! Remus, you know how you said that your mind isn't quite human when you're a werewolf?
R – yes, it's like an animal. Please tell me this has a point.
S – Well I was thinking - YOU CAN BITE ALL OF US AND THEN WE WILL ALL HAVE LESS THAN HUMAN MINDS EVERY FULL MOON!
…
J – Um Sirius, you already have a less than human mind.
R – so you both may want to start practicing your scales -
P – And Lily so graciously offered that hat for money collecting.
J – Yes we should thank her for that.
S – Back to the drawing board! James, you can go back to daydreaming. Remus can go back to note-taking. And Peter, you can go back to whatever you were doing.
Thankfully, the class had ended at that point. Lily flourished her perfect notes in the air as they walked out of the classroom and toward the corridor. Their last class of the day was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. McGonagall herself was nowhere to be seen. But instructions were clearly written on the board. The students were attempting to turn a porcupine into a pincushion. Lily watched enviously as the porcupine on James' desk slowly changed into a fluffy pink ball with little pins sticking out in the place of the quills.
"McGonagall isn't even here to see this." James said unenthusiastically. Sirius' poor porcupine ran off the desk as its quills were turned into little needles sticking into the poor creature. Remus quickly stunned the little porcupine and returned it to Sirius's desk.
"Too bad, we really need the points too." Holly sighed holding up her pincushion. After much effort, Lily turned her porcupine into a pincushion as well and began to rearrange the pins into a happy face.
"Where is McGonagall anyways? It seems so unlike her to just leave a class here." Lily wondered.
"Maybe she decided to take Christmas break a little early." Nichole thought. "This is impossible! James is there some kind of trick to this?"
"Concentrating, not getting irritated at your feath- I mean porcupine – need I continue?"
"Wow I remember giving that advice at a certain Charms class back in September.
"Maybe it's a good thing she isn't here." Peter said quietly. He had succeeded in making the porcupine very pink. A grey tabby cat jumped onto Sirius' desk and stared blankly at him.
"Stop looking at me you weird cat. Yeah, I'm glad she isn't here! What if she never came back again?"
"Well Mr. Black, you wouldn't get any better at classes if I never came back." They all watched as the cat quickly morphed back into their beloved Transfiguration teacher, a scowl on her face. "We'll give fourty points to Gryffindor for Miss Evans, Miss Delacroix, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin's work. But I won't subtract any from you Mr. Black because I am in such a jolly holiday mood." She said dryly.
"Well I must say the whole transforming into a cat thing was wicked." Sirius replied pleasantly. "When do we learn to do that?"
"You are not going to learn that in this school. I'm a registered animagus. It is a very difficult process." The halls filled with the voices of students. "Class is dismissed. Have a Happy Christmas."
They burst out of the halls screaming and cheering. This would be only the beginning of the utter chaos and confusion they had planned. James busily ran down the corridor reading off a spell he had written down. He ran into the other three boys and they split up the remaining halls. The girls stared with puzzlement. Remus was collided into Lily sending her papers flying.
"So sorry Lily, let me help. Girls, take these and split up." He quickly handed out slips of paper to Holly, Nichole, and Lily and continued to run down the hallway. On the paper was a very long spell. They reluctantly joined in the madness.
One by one, the suits of armor on the wall came to life and started marching drunkenly down the hallway. Sirius was seen teaching a song to a group of suits in the corner. Lily was truly worried for his sanity. After a few minutes, she could hear the spell growing louder and louder as every suit of armor joined in.
Deck the Halls with old salami
Fa la la la la, la la la la la
We all really want our mommy
Fa la la la la, la la la la la
Teach us how to clean our cobwebs
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
That have formed within our small heads
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Deck the Halls with bits of fluff
Fa la la la la, la la la la la
Turn Snape into a large cream puff
Fa la la la la, la la la la la
Fill the sinks with jumping toads
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Make the Slytherins explode
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Deck the Halls with a wet noodle
Fa la la la la, la la la la la
We'll use it to whip dear Dougal
Fa la la la la, la la la la la
The kitchens have such wonderous food
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
This sad song we shall conclude
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Their voices echoed louder and louder in the corridors. Dumbledore had come down from his office to see what all of the commotion was about. His twinkling eyes were shinning behind his half-moon spectacles. Bursts of laughter came from the students, with the exception of those from the Slytherin house of course. Snape's face turned an exquisite shade of purple as Potter ran yelling down the hall. His turned on his heel and stormed out of the hallway, robes billowing out behind him, all the while muttering to himself.
"Will get them…pitchforks are good...jellylegs jinx…hurling hex…pitchforks..."
Peeves joined in on the fun, throwing ink pellets at the students. Kelly Fawcett was hit in the forehead, and she began to chase after Peeves, schoolbooks in hand. Professor Flitwick chased after Kelly in an effort to calm her down. Lily laughed until her sides hurt. Dougal was desperately trying to stop the suits of armor with little success. They changed directions and charged straight towards him. Peeves joined in on the song, changing words as it so pleased him and egging on the suits after Dougal. Peeves also noticed a certain Gryffindor boy scowling at his classmates with disgust. He decided to peg Will Hazlet with an ink pellet and ran for it.
Holly stopped in her tracks and enchanted a magical snow to fall from the ceiling. Then of course, there was a school-wide snowball fight. Teachers offered to award house points to the teams who won. After several hours, the commotion died down, and groups of wet, but happy students went off to their common rooms to change. Lily brushed the snowflakes out of her long red hair, smiling and laughing contagiously. Nichole and Holly started singing at the top of their lungs. The boys toasted a round of butterbeers to themselves. Several older Gryffindors raided the kitchens for a party. The laughing and singing continued until late that night when they finally retreated back to their dormitories.
People will still buzzing and chatting at breakfast the next morning. Occasionally, someone would walk by and clap the first year Gryffindors on the shoulder. At breakfast, Lily received a message from Hagrid, asking her to bring the boys with her to his hut. She finished quickly and dragged them out into the snow to Hagrids hut near the edge of the forest. James knocked quickly and he was soon toppled over by Fang, who had jumped on him and was licking his face.
"Yeh had better be comin' in." Hagrid said cheerfully. They walked into the cozy little hut and took a seat on the old worn sofa. "'Spect yeh have an idea what yer doin' here?"
The five of them just shook their heads.
"S'pose yeh remember the Whompin Willow that yeh saw me plantin' in September. I need ter tank to yeh about it. I believe tha' yeh found out why it's there on Halloween."
"To keep Remus in?" Lily guessed.
"Righ' Lily, an' to keep yeh away when he is transformin'." Remus turned a deep crimson and stared at the floor. "Remus, I know what it is like to be half of something that no one wants to be around. I'm a half-giant!"
"I know Hagrid. But you can at least stay sane most of the time. I go crazy every full moon and start growing hair and fangs and claws."
"It's hard Remus. But yer friends are here to suppor' yeh. Lily came ter talk to me a bit after Halloween." Remus looked up at her. "Yeh friends want ter help yeh any way they can."
Hagrid got up and poured them some warm tea to warm them up from the cold weather. "I jus' need yeh to stay away from tha' tree. I wan' yeh to be safe. Understand?"
They all nodded in unison. After about an hour, they waved goodbye and headed back to the castle. Most of the students were carrying their trunks out to the carriages on their way home for the holiday. Remus quickly grabbed his belongings from the common room and headed back outside with Holly. They waved to their departing friends and headed back upstairs to enjoy the break.
In the Great Hall, teachers and students were levitating ornaments onto a gigantic Christmas tree in the center of the room. Flitwick carefully guided the large gold star to the very top of the towering tree. McGonagall seemed to be in a much better mood since yesterday in Transfiguration class. Sirius remembered that he was supposed to tell the others something but couldn't remember what that something was.
"Now Sirius, you could remember all of the words to that ridiculous song you made the armor sing, but you can't remember something important from Transfiguration?" Peter exclaimed.
"That Peter, would be known as selective memory." James explained.
He didn't remember that night, or for several days after that. Christmas morning came and Lily was awoken to another pillow being thrown in her face.
"I'm getting up Petunia! Calm down." Lily rolled over in bed and fell soundlessly back to sleep. Nichole whacked her again with the pillow. "Don't have a cow!"
"Wake up Lily!" Nichole screamed. Lily jumped several feet into the air. Seeing Nichole, she picked up her own pillow, and hurled it at her. "Presents!" Nichole yelled between smacks of the pillow. "We – have – presents – to – open."
Lily stopped in her tracks and ran to the stack of presents at the foot of her bed. James, Sirius, and Peter barged into the room. "Morning ladi-ARGH!!!!" Sirius yelled. Chiara and Gwen screamed together and Lily and Nichole ran out just in time to see the boys slip down what was now a huge slide. Lily and Nichole dragged their stack of presents down to the common room.
"How come girls can come into our dorms but guys can't go into girls dorms?" James questioned
"Tradition. Girls are supposed to be more trustworthy." Lily explained matter-of-factly.
Paper flew and thank- yous were exchanged. Lily had received Bertie Botts beans from James (an exceptional number of flavors such as liver, mud, earwax, mushroom, tripe…), a singing book from Sirius, a paint set from Nichole, sugarquills from Peter, a diary from Holly, and a book of jinxes and hexes from Remus.
Sirius was in the middle of thanking James when he suddenly remembered. "Guys, I know what I meant to tell you!" He smiled, very pleased with himself.
"What are you talking about?" Lily questioned.
"Top secret business."
"Fine then." Lily glared. "Nichole and I will just talk about top secret stuff somewhere else!" They skipped back up to the dormitory, leaving James, Sirius, and Peter alone in the common room.
"So what did you need to tell us Sirius?" James questioned.
"I know how we can help Remus!" He shouted.
"Shhh- keep it down." Peter yelled, placing a hand over Sirius' mouth.
"Sirius, if this is anything like your last idea -" James started.
"Or if it involves anyone getting bitten by something-" Peter continued.
"No no no! I was thinking about what McGonagall said."
"That without her, you would be failing?"
"No Animagi! We could become Animagi to help Remus. We'll go out with him on the full moon and he won't be able to hurt us!"
"That has got to be the most brilliant idea I have ever heard! That brings your 'brilliant idea' number to a total of - two!" James shouted. "Isn't it difficult to become one though?"
"We're all smart, we could find books on it and work out how to do it." Peter suggested. "We could get the girls to help us too."
"Actually Peter," Sirius interrupted, "Maybe this is something we should keep to ourselves. Come one guys, we had better go before they get suspicious. Happy Christmas Remus!" Sirius shouted as they all ran down to breakfast.
A/N: Okay, that chapter got just a little silly. Coming up next, more of Lily and Petunia, and into their second year. Please tell me what you think and follow the arrow.
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