Authors Note: This is a new chapter at last, but I've just remembered that it really isn't very good. It was just a fill in one, like the last one :s . I've also decided that I can't thank everyone every time they review. It puts me off putting up the next chapter cause I can't be bothered to write loads. There is a small thank you message at the bottom of the chapter though, and a rather hilarious plea from me so that you review, I have no shame. I've actually finished this story now, but I want loads of reviews before I put up the chapters I've done J I know, I'm nasty

14. I thought they were rare!

            It wasn't long after Halloween before people were signing up to stay at Hogwarts. Serena glumly signed the piece of paper that was being handed round. Alone for Christmas again she thought as she sat in the common room after a long day of school and Cheerleading. She was always alone for Christmas, she didn't go back to the orphanage at Christmas because it reminded her of how families were meant to be together, and how the people at the orphanage weren't her real family.

            Serena sat peacefully, watching the fire burn, mesmerised by the deep colours. Lily and Alaine came into the common room and went to go and sit with Serena. Serena looked up in surprise, she didn't even realise they had entered the Common Room.

            "Hiya! I didn't see you were coming there," she said, "I was away with the fairies! What are we doing to night then?"

            "Ohh, I dunno, the usual. What were you thinking about?" Alaine asked.

            "Christmas, I'm going to be here alone, again. Most people love this time of year, but for me it's the worst. I dread it ever year when I have to sign my name on that stupid clipboard."

            "Well, you won't be alone this year!" Lily said, happily, "Alaine and I are staying. Mum and Dad have gone on holiday see, and Alaine's parents are going to be at work all the time so we're staying here too this year. You won't be on your own!"

            "Ohh that is so cool. We'll be able to exchange gifts at Christmas instead of posting them by owl. Is anyone else staying?" Serena asked hopefully.

            "No, he isn't," Alaine said, laughing at the same time. Serena picked up a pillow and threw it at her head. "Oww! You know I was right!" She stuck out her tongue at Serena, jumped over the couch and ran up to the girls' dormitories.

            "This Christmas is going to be so much fun," Lily said happily. Serena silently agreed.

Before the girls knew it, they were waving off Sirius, James, Peter and Remus at the Hogsmeade Station.

"Don't you dare forget to mail us our presents!" Lily shouted to the boys who were hanging out of the window talking to the girls. "If you do I'll curse you all!"

"You wouldn't do that Lils! You love us too much!" Sirius said with an innocent look that scared the girls. Sirius and innocent did not go in the same sentence. Just as the girls were laughing the train started to pull away, the girls waved emphatically to the boys until the Hogwarts Express slithered out of view. The girls then set off towards the castle with the teachers. Discussing their plans for the holidays ahead.

"Well I reckon we should start as we mean to go on. Why don't we all sleep in the Common Room tonight? We can roast marshmallows on the fire and talk about lads" Alaine said, getting straight to the point.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Serena said happily, "You can tell me how to deal with the situation I'm in, so far I haven't really been doing anything about it. I mean, I'm not really very knowledgeable when it comes to boys. You will have to help me come up with a plan. I'm getting bored of waiting."

"I thought you said you wanted him to ask you out. You know, be a lady and wait for him to make the first move," Lily said, looking at Serena mischievously.

"Well maybe you're right. Maybe I am just afraid in case he says no and tells me he doesn't like me in that way. I mean imagine if that happened! I'd never be able to look him in the eye again. I would be so ashamed...."

"Don't worry Serena, that isn't going to happen. I know he likes you, I can tell," Lily said reassuringly.

That night the girls grabbed all their covers and pillows and headed in to the Common Room. Earlier Alaine had gone into the Kitchens and asked the House Elves for some marshmallows, without realising how helpful they really wanted to be. She ended up coming back with about fifteen bags of them, and with a box of hot chocolate sachets.

The girls decided to sleep on the floor rather than the Sofas because there weren't three sofas they could sleep on which were close enough. They weren't planning on sleeping anyway, they would probably be up talking all night. Once they had gotten settled they began to roast the marshmallows joking about how they could never live their lives as muggles because they couldn't even roast marshmallows properly.

"Why don't we play a game," Lily said excitedly, "Why don't we play truth!"

"Erm...what's truth when it's at home?" Serena asked, very confused, as she had never heard of such a game.

"Well, it's a game where one person asks a question and the whole group have to answer it truthfully, including the person who asks the question," Lily said, "but they have to ask good questions, I tell you what, I'll start off. Who do you fancy? Alaine?"

"Do you promise not to laugh?" she said apprehensively.

"That depends," Serena said, "It's not Peter, is it?"

"No it's bloody well not!" Alaine laughed, "No actually, it's...it's...oh God it's Remus! There I said it, and now I feel like a fool!"

"Why?" Serena asked, "Remus is lovely, he's one of the nicest and sweetest people I know, and he's good looking. I bet he likes you as well. He's never really had a girlfriend before, he always thought he would be lying to...oops, I really shouldn't have said that. Forget I mentioned it."

"I already know what you're talking about," Lily looked at Alaine, puzzled, "I already know he's a Werewolf."

"But...how could you know?" Lily asked as if worried they had let anything slip.

"Well, it's my brother, Jack. He's a Werewolf. He got bitten when he was only six, he's ten now, but I can still remember it like it was only yesterday. We had been playing out in the garden all day and Jack and me had been building a tree house where he could sit and remember me. I was going to Hogwarts see. Anyway, we hadn't finished it by the time mum called us to go inside, have a bath and then go to bed. So Jack, being the brave little boy he thought he was, decided to go out and finish the tree house by himself. It was really late, about midnight when I woke up to hear howling. Our garden backs on to forest the forest. I got out of bed and looked outside of my window and I saw Jack being chased by the wolf. I was just about to go and get him when I saw him get bit. I'll never forget his screaming, I can still hear it in my nightmares. I looked on in horror as I saw him change, it was so awful and there was nothing I could do about it. He ran off into the forest and I had to go and tell mum and dad what I had seen. I've never seen them look so devastated as when I told them what had happened. The next morning we went out to search for him. We found him crying and moaning in agony on the outskirts of the forest. Ever since then mum and dad put him in a secure room in our garden every month.

"I knew Remus was a Werewolf ever since I met him. I could see it in his eyes. It's so obvious when you know what you are looking for. It doesn't bother me that he's a Werewolf either. Unlike most people, I know not to be prejudice, I know that being a Werewolf doesn't change who you are inside, and I know that Remus is a wonderful person inside."

"So, is your brother coming to Hogwarts this year?" asked Lily.

"No, he's going to an institute in America for young Wizards who are Werewolves. Dumbledore asked him if he wanted to come here but he declined. He said he would love to meet some people like him. People who would not be prejudiced against him. I've told him about Remus of course, he said he would like to meet him one day."

Alaine had tears in her eyes. It must have been hard for her to stand there while her brother was being bitten, knowing she could do nothing. Serena gave her a tight hug, like the one that Sirius had given her. The one that made you feel warm inside, the one that made you feel like a child. 

The girls had been getting on so well over Christmas. Lily and Serena regretted not getting to know Alaine better at an earlier stage. She was really nice, and she came out of her shell when she was with Serena and Lily. On Christmas morning Lily woke up at six o'clock, explaining to a grumpy Serena that she was too excited to wait for them to wake up, so she thought that a little 'nudge' might work on them so she didn't have to wait. The 'nudge' was a bucket of ice cold water on their faces. After Lily had performed a charm so that they weren't cold and wet anymore though, Alaine and Serena weren't angry anymore. They were too busy with the parcels on the ends of their beds. Serena had been given a Wizarding radio off Lily, a new top off Alaine, The Lord of the Rings trilogy off Remus, a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans off Peter, an Indian Dream Catcher off James and a glass ball from Sirius which, if you looked into it, showed you beautiful galaxies.

They day was just as fun as the morning as well. The girls were three of eight students who had stayed for the Christmas holidays, this didn't stop the House Elves from preparing a sumptuous meal though. The girls pulled crackers, Alaine won a talking mirror, Lily won a book about beauty charms and Serena won a beautiful portrait of a Sorceress.

All in all it was a very eventful day for the girls and they were just about to leave the great hall when an owl came through the high windows and dropped a letter and parcel on Serena's lap, she looked at it suspiciously and then opened the letter, it read-

Dear Serena

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas at Hogwarts. I would have liked to stay there with you but my parents insisted on me coming home. I have not forgotten you though. Here is your Christmas present, it goes with the necklace. I hope you like it.

With all my love and affection

Your Secret admirer

Ed

xxxx

            Lily looked excited, "Well open it then!"

            Serena pulled at the string around the package and then tore off the paper around it. Underneath the paper was a small black box. Serena opened it with caution. She gasped as she saw what was in it. A beautiful silver ring was slotted into the cushion of the box. In the centre of the ring was the very same stone that was on her necklace. Serena put the ring on her left hand middle finger and admired its simplistic beauty. She began to feel guilty though. She was wearing two items of jewellery that were both, obviously, very expensive and she didn't have a clue who had given them to her.

            "Wow! Someone must really like you, Serena!" Alaine said, her mouth wide open as she looked at the piece of jewellery, "Do you have any idea who gave it to you?"

            "I haven't got the foggiest. Who do you reckon it could be?" Serena asked them, after all, they knew just as much as she did.

            "It might be Sirius!" Lily exclaimed

            "Nah," said Serena, "It's not his style, he'd come out and say it. Sirius also dwindles all his money on dung bombs and other Zonko products. I really don't reckon it's Sirius. Wish it was though!"

            The rest of their holidays were quite uneventful. Serena was spending most of her time practising for the up and coming Quidditch match against Slytherin. She wanted the dance to be perfect so she could look Narcissa in the face and smirk at her like there was no tomorrow. The girls were glad to see the boys come back, it meant they had someone to talk about stupid things with. Girls didn't talk about stupid things like dung bombs, toilets and food when they were together. The boys always gave them the light relief of idle chit-chat.

            James was especially pleased when he came back to school, his father had given him a new racing broom for his birthday and he was sure to be the fastest player on the pitch. Even with a slow broom he could run rings around all the other players. The Gryffindors looked set to be in for a great year both with the Quidditch and Cheerleading. Everything was going to plan. That was, until Serena told the boys about her gift from the 'Secret Admirer'.

            "Do you know who it's from?" Remus asked anxiously, "have you got even the smallest of clues?"

            "No, there is nothing to link it to anyone. It's a beautiful ring though. It goes perfectly with the necklace," Serena said, instantly regretting what she had just said.

            "What necklace?" Sirius asked, with a look on his face that Serena could not sum up. It wasn't jealousy, it was strange. Sort of angry and surprised.

            "Well....he sent me a necklace as well, this was quite a while back though. Around the time we took the Emotion Potions I think," she said pensively.

            The topic of conversation changed onto something else and five minutes later nobody was thinking about Serena's strange presents. No one except Sirius that is. As soon as he could he could slip away without being noticed he went in search of..............

Thanx to- Rosezgarden, Dizzy Izzy (ur mad, just like me!), Mi, Dimantrien, Pixie90, InvisibleInk (a.k.a Lauren, Newcastle here we come!!!!!!), Fwitonda, UbsessedWitFire, Rikki (a.k.a Richard), and last but not least Rainy Sunshine. God that was so much quicker than the other way!

Review review review, cos if you don't I really will not update! Please do it, it will make me smile, and I need a smile, life is confusing at the moment. There are boys everywhere and I need help!!!!!! Your review will give me the knowledge that there is ALWAYS something constant, so go on, u no u want to ;) I think the button is down there!

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