Salt Lick
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all the characters except Maria and my plot.
Christmas had fallen upon Hogwarts castle...
It was softly snowing outside, the ghosts were singing carols through the halls, and garlands of holly were everywhere. In fact, the only thing that could dampen Lily's spirits was...mistletoe. This was no ordinary mistletoe however. Once caught inside of it with the opposite sex, an invisible barrier of five square feet would spring up, and would only disappear once you had kissed smack on the lips. You couldn't memorize where they were either. They moved around the castle at will, so avoiding them was near impossible. Unless that is, you walked around all day looking at the ceiling, which many people tended to do. Strangely enough, the next morning after you had been caught in some mistletoe, a picture of the kiss would mysteriously appear on the Entrance Hall bulletin.
Lily walked down the hall, glancing up now and then, headed for the Gyriffindor common room, which was on the other side of the castle. It was a Friday, and classes were over. Christmas break had begun.
Holly, Christina, and Mary from Ravenclaw ran up to her. They gave her a flyer. "Hey Elle Belle! We're having a party in Ravenclaw common room tomorrow, can you come?"
"Sure, what time?"
"Starts after dinner. Hey, see if the Marauders can come. You can bring Maria and Bella as well."
"Okay, I'll tell them."
Lily giggled at the picture on the flyer, of a very fat Santa trying to free himself from a chimney which he had attempted to shimy down head first.
"Okay ladies." Bella slammed her orange juice glass down on the table after draining it. "Have you ever gotten the guilty feeling: Hey! I really don't know my friends at all!"
Lily grinned. Bella had an idea for a fun thing to do, she knew it. Bella was always coming up with things to keep them laughing.
"Well," said Bella after a long silence. "I did.... So I made this!" She pulled out three boxes from under her robes with flourish."
Maria raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"
"They're boxes full of little slips of paper. On the paper are truths and dares."
Maria glared angrily at her friend. "You promised you'd never give me dares again, Arabella Figg! I hate serving detention!"
"These are tame dares. Most of them are truths. We could do it in Hogmeade today. We'll be there all day shopping for Christmas presents."
Lily grinned. "Sounds fun. C'mon Maria! Don't be such a stick in the mud!"
Maria gave in reluctantly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The girls walked down the road cheerfully. So far, Lily had to eat caviar ice cream, Bella had to buy a hideous old fashioned vinyl hat and wear it, and Maria was wearing a bright purple shirt bearing the words: I Like Your Boyfriend." Several girls had given her mean looks.
Maria pulled a slip of paper from her box. "Lily:" she read.... "Walk up behind the first Hogwarts guy you see with his back towards you, and blow a big raspberry on the side of his neck."
Lily started to laugh. "Where did you get these?"
Maria grinned. "Witch Weekly."
Lily looked around until she saw a person with his back turned. He was talking in a group of friends, walking down the road.
"Now or never." said Maria as she shoved Lily after him.
Lily ran up to the boy and put her hands on his shoulders and blew a big wet raspberry on his neck. The boy yelled and jumped in the air. His friends started laughing.
"Ooo.... Sorry, Amos," said Lily apologetically. "It was a dare."
Amos clutched his chest wheezing. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Nice shirt...." said a boy, eyeing Maria.
"Okay my turn." Lily said pulling out her box as the boys looked on in interest.
She pulled out a paper. "Bella: Truth. If you were stuck on a deserted island and could choose to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?"
Bella bit her lip. "Hmmmmm.... Toughie. Definitely not caviar ice cream, not potatoes..... I'd have to say steamed broccoli."
The boys, Lily, and Maria looked at Bella strangely.
"See what I mean on not knowing each other well enough?"
"I guess. Mine would have been limes." said Maria.
"Garlic." said Lily. "Nobody would be around to be offended."
Bella was looking into the distance at something. She grinned wickedly. "Elle.... I have the perfect dare...."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I can't believe your making me do this!" Elle said behind the curtain.
"C'mon out! Let's see you."
Lily slid out from behind the curtain and winced as Maria cracked up. Bella, in stitches all well, leaned on Maria for support. Lily was dressed in a knee-length Mrs. Clause dress, with a Santa hat perched rakishly on a white curly wig. Lily growled at her two friends, who were beginning to calm down.
"Oh it's not that bad!" said Bella cheerfully. "You get paid. That "Mrs. Clause Wanted" sign on Honeyduke's window was just too tempting."
"I wonder who Mr. Clause will be?" Maria said keenly.
"Well, I'm about to find out." Lily gritted her teeth and stalked out into the shop. Maria and Bella followed her. Mr. Duke, the shop's owner was an elderly, round, bald, cheerful man. His grin stretched further across his face as he saw Lily emerge for the bathroom.
"Miss Lohre! Excellent! So kind of you to take the job. The orphanage will coming shortly with about fifty children! If you will be so kind as to join Mr. St. Nick in the corner."
Lily looked across the shop at the Santa who was being given instructions by an employee. He was well padded in the red suit, but his face was young under the massive beard, and Lily noted his glasses, which looked oddly familiar....
"James!" shouted Lily as she walked over. "What are you doing here?"
"Getting paid for a good deed. I lost a bet, and all of the dough was spent on Christmas presents.... So here I am. You?"
"Dare. At least I'm getting paid." They were interrupted as what seemed like hundreds of eager-eyed children flocked into the shop with their parents.
The process was easy enough. James sat in a big chair, and Lily would lift the kids onto his lap. He would listen to their lists of what they wanted for Christmas, then Lily would give them some Honeydukes chocolate before they left, their eyes large and bright. Not before long, Lily had started to enjoy herself, and gave Bella and Maria permission to go on without her, because the job would last until late. The orphanage arrived a half and hour later, with around fifty children as promised. They had just finished with them as more children came into the shop. Lily had just lifted a little girl off of James lap, when a six year old boy climbed up onto James. He looked at James and Lily for a moment, a pensive look on his face. Then he tugged on James's beard (which was luckily attached by magic) and looked up with his big brown eyes.
"Do you love Mrs. Santa?"
James looked a bit taken aback. "W-why yes, young master, I do."
"How much?"
"Er- um... very much indeed."
"Does Mrs. Santa ever sit on your lap like my Mum does with my Dad sometimes?"
James's eyes began to dance. "But of course!" He shifted the boy onto one knee and patted the other. "C'mere Mrs. Santa!"
Lily's mouth dropped open in horror. 'No!' she mouthed to him.
'Yes!' he mouthed back. Lily stiffly sat on the edge of his knee and was fairly buckled over as James swung his arms around her and the boy.
"So what would you like for Christmas!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mr. Duke had paid them both handsomely, given them each a slab of chocolate, and had let them keep the suits. It was dark out when Lily and James headed back towards Hogwarts. Lily let her hat swing from her arm, her wig stuffed inside of it, James's beard stuffed into it as well.
"Well that was fun." said James brightly.
"I cannot believe you made me sit on your lap!" said Lily indignantly.
James chuckled. "Didn't you see how happy it made him? His Mum must have apologized fifty times!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up Christmas morning with a heap of presents piled at her feet. She sat up and yawned.
"SUPRISE!!!"
Lily screamed and jumped in the air. Maria, Bella, the Marauders, and a couple of Ravenclaw girls sprang up from under her bed.
"Happy Christmas, Elle Belle!" said Sirius leaping on the bed. He throwed a present at her. "Here's mine."
An hour later all of the presents were unwrapped and all of them were lounging on the bed talking. Lily had received a gift certificate to a popular shop in Hogsmeade from the boys, Holly and Mary had given her a handmirror that gave honest opinion, Christina gave her magical eyelash extenders, which would bat madly randomly at males, and Maria and Bella had pooled their money for a beautiful diary as Lily had finished hers. It was filled with color and spaces for doodles as well as extra magical notes sheets. Both have one sheet in class and writes notes on them, to find each others messages magically appear on the other sheet, rather like the muggle version of instant messaging on the Internet.
Lily was heading back to her room later that day before the feast after just having a snowball fight with Maria and Bella. The two girls had gone to get food from the kitchens, and Lily, who had been gained up on after successfully pelting Maria and Bella with snow, had gone up to her room to change her wet clothes. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she ran into someone. She didn't bother to look who it had been, but just murmured an apology before walking on. Two steps later however she ran into something hard that rather seemed like an invisible barrier. With dread she looked up to see the cursed mistletoe twinkling evilly above her. She heard a cough behind her and dreadingly turned around.
A/N: HAHAHA! Cliffhanger! Or sort of. It's definately in the cliffhanger speices. But anyway, I'm sorry for the wait! I had a bomb of homework and on top of that a pretty severe case of writers cramp! See the button that says "Go" down there? Press it and review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all the characters except Maria and my plot.
Christmas had fallen upon Hogwarts castle...
It was softly snowing outside, the ghosts were singing carols through the halls, and garlands of holly were everywhere. In fact, the only thing that could dampen Lily's spirits was...mistletoe. This was no ordinary mistletoe however. Once caught inside of it with the opposite sex, an invisible barrier of five square feet would spring up, and would only disappear once you had kissed smack on the lips. You couldn't memorize where they were either. They moved around the castle at will, so avoiding them was near impossible. Unless that is, you walked around all day looking at the ceiling, which many people tended to do. Strangely enough, the next morning after you had been caught in some mistletoe, a picture of the kiss would mysteriously appear on the Entrance Hall bulletin.
Lily walked down the hall, glancing up now and then, headed for the Gyriffindor common room, which was on the other side of the castle. It was a Friday, and classes were over. Christmas break had begun.
Holly, Christina, and Mary from Ravenclaw ran up to her. They gave her a flyer. "Hey Elle Belle! We're having a party in Ravenclaw common room tomorrow, can you come?"
"Sure, what time?"
"Starts after dinner. Hey, see if the Marauders can come. You can bring Maria and Bella as well."
"Okay, I'll tell them."
Lily giggled at the picture on the flyer, of a very fat Santa trying to free himself from a chimney which he had attempted to shimy down head first.
"Okay ladies." Bella slammed her orange juice glass down on the table after draining it. "Have you ever gotten the guilty feeling: Hey! I really don't know my friends at all!"
Lily grinned. Bella had an idea for a fun thing to do, she knew it. Bella was always coming up with things to keep them laughing.
"Well," said Bella after a long silence. "I did.... So I made this!" She pulled out three boxes from under her robes with flourish."
Maria raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"
"They're boxes full of little slips of paper. On the paper are truths and dares."
Maria glared angrily at her friend. "You promised you'd never give me dares again, Arabella Figg! I hate serving detention!"
"These are tame dares. Most of them are truths. We could do it in Hogmeade today. We'll be there all day shopping for Christmas presents."
Lily grinned. "Sounds fun. C'mon Maria! Don't be such a stick in the mud!"
Maria gave in reluctantly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The girls walked down the road cheerfully. So far, Lily had to eat caviar ice cream, Bella had to buy a hideous old fashioned vinyl hat and wear it, and Maria was wearing a bright purple shirt bearing the words: I Like Your Boyfriend." Several girls had given her mean looks.
Maria pulled a slip of paper from her box. "Lily:" she read.... "Walk up behind the first Hogwarts guy you see with his back towards you, and blow a big raspberry on the side of his neck."
Lily started to laugh. "Where did you get these?"
Maria grinned. "Witch Weekly."
Lily looked around until she saw a person with his back turned. He was talking in a group of friends, walking down the road.
"Now or never." said Maria as she shoved Lily after him.
Lily ran up to the boy and put her hands on his shoulders and blew a big wet raspberry on his neck. The boy yelled and jumped in the air. His friends started laughing.
"Ooo.... Sorry, Amos," said Lily apologetically. "It was a dare."
Amos clutched his chest wheezing. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Nice shirt...." said a boy, eyeing Maria.
"Okay my turn." Lily said pulling out her box as the boys looked on in interest.
She pulled out a paper. "Bella: Truth. If you were stuck on a deserted island and could choose to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?"
Bella bit her lip. "Hmmmmm.... Toughie. Definitely not caviar ice cream, not potatoes..... I'd have to say steamed broccoli."
The boys, Lily, and Maria looked at Bella strangely.
"See what I mean on not knowing each other well enough?"
"I guess. Mine would have been limes." said Maria.
"Garlic." said Lily. "Nobody would be around to be offended."
Bella was looking into the distance at something. She grinned wickedly. "Elle.... I have the perfect dare...."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I can't believe your making me do this!" Elle said behind the curtain.
"C'mon out! Let's see you."
Lily slid out from behind the curtain and winced as Maria cracked up. Bella, in stitches all well, leaned on Maria for support. Lily was dressed in a knee-length Mrs. Clause dress, with a Santa hat perched rakishly on a white curly wig. Lily growled at her two friends, who were beginning to calm down.
"Oh it's not that bad!" said Bella cheerfully. "You get paid. That "Mrs. Clause Wanted" sign on Honeyduke's window was just too tempting."
"I wonder who Mr. Clause will be?" Maria said keenly.
"Well, I'm about to find out." Lily gritted her teeth and stalked out into the shop. Maria and Bella followed her. Mr. Duke, the shop's owner was an elderly, round, bald, cheerful man. His grin stretched further across his face as he saw Lily emerge for the bathroom.
"Miss Lohre! Excellent! So kind of you to take the job. The orphanage will coming shortly with about fifty children! If you will be so kind as to join Mr. St. Nick in the corner."
Lily looked across the shop at the Santa who was being given instructions by an employee. He was well padded in the red suit, but his face was young under the massive beard, and Lily noted his glasses, which looked oddly familiar....
"James!" shouted Lily as she walked over. "What are you doing here?"
"Getting paid for a good deed. I lost a bet, and all of the dough was spent on Christmas presents.... So here I am. You?"
"Dare. At least I'm getting paid." They were interrupted as what seemed like hundreds of eager-eyed children flocked into the shop with their parents.
The process was easy enough. James sat in a big chair, and Lily would lift the kids onto his lap. He would listen to their lists of what they wanted for Christmas, then Lily would give them some Honeydukes chocolate before they left, their eyes large and bright. Not before long, Lily had started to enjoy herself, and gave Bella and Maria permission to go on without her, because the job would last until late. The orphanage arrived a half and hour later, with around fifty children as promised. They had just finished with them as more children came into the shop. Lily had just lifted a little girl off of James lap, when a six year old boy climbed up onto James. He looked at James and Lily for a moment, a pensive look on his face. Then he tugged on James's beard (which was luckily attached by magic) and looked up with his big brown eyes.
"Do you love Mrs. Santa?"
James looked a bit taken aback. "W-why yes, young master, I do."
"How much?"
"Er- um... very much indeed."
"Does Mrs. Santa ever sit on your lap like my Mum does with my Dad sometimes?"
James's eyes began to dance. "But of course!" He shifted the boy onto one knee and patted the other. "C'mere Mrs. Santa!"
Lily's mouth dropped open in horror. 'No!' she mouthed to him.
'Yes!' he mouthed back. Lily stiffly sat on the edge of his knee and was fairly buckled over as James swung his arms around her and the boy.
"So what would you like for Christmas!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mr. Duke had paid them both handsomely, given them each a slab of chocolate, and had let them keep the suits. It was dark out when Lily and James headed back towards Hogwarts. Lily let her hat swing from her arm, her wig stuffed inside of it, James's beard stuffed into it as well.
"Well that was fun." said James brightly.
"I cannot believe you made me sit on your lap!" said Lily indignantly.
James chuckled. "Didn't you see how happy it made him? His Mum must have apologized fifty times!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up Christmas morning with a heap of presents piled at her feet. She sat up and yawned.
"SUPRISE!!!"
Lily screamed and jumped in the air. Maria, Bella, the Marauders, and a couple of Ravenclaw girls sprang up from under her bed.
"Happy Christmas, Elle Belle!" said Sirius leaping on the bed. He throwed a present at her. "Here's mine."
An hour later all of the presents were unwrapped and all of them were lounging on the bed talking. Lily had received a gift certificate to a popular shop in Hogsmeade from the boys, Holly and Mary had given her a handmirror that gave honest opinion, Christina gave her magical eyelash extenders, which would bat madly randomly at males, and Maria and Bella had pooled their money for a beautiful diary as Lily had finished hers. It was filled with color and spaces for doodles as well as extra magical notes sheets. Both have one sheet in class and writes notes on them, to find each others messages magically appear on the other sheet, rather like the muggle version of instant messaging on the Internet.
Lily was heading back to her room later that day before the feast after just having a snowball fight with Maria and Bella. The two girls had gone to get food from the kitchens, and Lily, who had been gained up on after successfully pelting Maria and Bella with snow, had gone up to her room to change her wet clothes. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she ran into someone. She didn't bother to look who it had been, but just murmured an apology before walking on. Two steps later however she ran into something hard that rather seemed like an invisible barrier. With dread she looked up to see the cursed mistletoe twinkling evilly above her. She heard a cough behind her and dreadingly turned around.
A/N: HAHAHA! Cliffhanger! Or sort of. It's definately in the cliffhanger speices. But anyway, I'm sorry for the wait! I had a bomb of homework and on top of that a pretty severe case of writers cramp! See the button that says "Go" down there? Press it and review!