a/n: *huddles in a corner* My computer is asking very strangely…and scaring me.  I hope that you can read this…it might be covered in blackness… *shounds insane*  Or maybe its all jumbled up, like it is right now so I can;'t see what I;'m typoing at all…and you know I usually haver perfect (nearly) grammar…  I also just realized that I had spe hyphenated "thank you" .  I have a VERY long rant (even for me) about it…even longer (if you will believe) that nthe one about people who don't even know ehat a hyphen is.  Please, PLEASE excuse the horrible typo-ness.  Thank you and enjoy.  I REALLYT h hiope that next time  I will be able to see what I am writing.  *slowly goes insane from the insane computer*  

A F T E R   N E W   Y E A R S

T

hree days after New Years, Siandra sat in her bedroom.  She was writing a letter.  This one, hopefully, was going to be her last thank-you.  It was to Remus.  She had decided to send thank-you letters separately to all the boys who pitched in on the lunar clock. She had gotten so far as to say:

Dear Remus,

     Thank you so much for pitching in on the lunar clock you got me. It's really

Here she stopped.  What was there to say about a lunar clock? She liked it a lot, because it was very pretty, and…it was useful for astronomy!  She continued:

pretty and I'll use it a lot for astronomy.  It's really cool how it shows you exactly how the moon looks that night.  Now I won't have to do the 'home moon gazing' astronomy homework, thanks!

     Is your mother better?  Send her my good get-well wishes.

Thanks again,

Siandra

Satisfied, Siandra took it out of the magical typewriter and gave it to her father's owl.  It flew off out the window.

            "Siandra!  Time to go!"

            Siandra checked her watch.  It was nine o'clock.  Time to go.  She wondered why her parents hadn't warned her sooner.  It seemed that she was always late. 

            Her bags were already loaded.  The trip there was mostly uneventful.  A few muggles looked at her in her school robes a little oddly, but the only thing worth mentioning was that she was finally on time and got her choice compartment, with Molly.  This time they got their own compartment.  Molly already had her knitting out.  She appeared to be knitting a Dutch Blue scarf with yellow pentagons on it. 

            "Oh, hello, Siandra!  Did you get my knitting?"

            "Yes, thanks! I'll get it out," she searched her bag and drew out her knitting.  She had barely started, but her casting on looked pretty good for a beginner, "Did you get my dream pillow?"

            "Yes! 'S neat."

            Siandra started settling in.  She used the pillow provided by the train and put it between her shoulders and the base of her neck.  Ah…comfort. Then she remembered that she still had one more thank you to write: to X.  She dug her quill, some ink, and a pad of lined parchment out of her bag.  It was rather dangerous, writing on the train, but her mother had bought her a special bottle of no-spill black ink for Christmas.  She wrote the following:

Dear Stranger,

            Thank you for the present I have not

yet received.  I'm sure it will be very

nice.  Then again, not knowing whom you

are, it might very well not be.  No, I have

no classes at four.  How am I to restrain your

present on the way back?  This, of course,

is going on the assumption that it is something

very large and hairy

No, she decided, this would not do.  She decided that she would have to write the thank-you note after she received the present.  But she did have to write a note, because Hagrid and X had asked her to tell them if she was free at four on Monday and she had to respond to that.  She decided on a simple letter, then glanced over at the sleeping Molly.  She appeared to have fallen asleep during a game of solitaire with exploding snap cards.  Oops, this was not a good thing to do.  Exploding Snap cards were very different from muggle cards because at every moment there was a possibility of them exploding.  These particular cards were already smoldering.  Siandra thought that she'd better wake up Molly before they exploded or she'd get a real big shock in her sleep.

            "Molly, wake up," Siandra coaxed, while poking her, "Your Exploding Snap cards, they are smoldering!"

            "…no, no, not the tomatoes…" replied Molly sleepily.

            "Molly, your cards are going to — "

            BOOM!

            Molly jerked out of the seat.

            "Oh no!" she cried, "Which seat cushion am I supposed to use for a floatation device? Oh why didn't I ever listen?" howled Molly.

            "It's just your cards," said Siandra.

            "Oh," she replied, "I'll pack them up then, shall I?"

            Siandra decided that she'd better write the note to Hagrid and X.  She decided on just a simple note, then wrote the following and sent it off with an owl she borrowed from some second-year Hufflepuffs in the next compartment:

Dear X,

            Thanks for the Christmas note.

 Yes, I am free at four and looking forward

 to the gift.  Will I need to be armed with

anything other than my wand? Thanks,

Siandra

After that, Siandra decided that she'd better rest up for classes.  She looked at the blurry countryside speeding past and slowly, silently slipped off into slumber. 

            Woken by a very loud honking noise, Siandra jumped out and off of the train with her knitting (she decided that she would show Molly how much she enjoyed her present)  had in one hand and the train pillow in the other.  Thinking she probably shouldn't be taking the pillow with her, she flung it inside the train and stepped off.  She crammed into a horse-less carriage with Molly.  Sirius and James soon joined them. 

            " — and then they told me that you are only allowed one bag of dungbombs per child and that the ministry had an order.  The Ministry is using dungbombs?  Ah yes, what was it? Builders of a Better World.  The Ministry using dumbombs definitely qualifies as a better world — "

            Nothing new there.

            "James? Sirius?" asked Siandra, "Would you mind getting Remus down if he's in the  boy's dormitory?  There's something I have to give you all."

            "Okay, what about Peter?" asked James.

            "He didn't chip in to the lunar clock, did he?" asked Siandra.

            "No, he went to an Elves concert.  You liked it?"

            "Yes. It's very clever how it shows you exactly how the moon looks, complete with eclipses and halos!  Thank you!"

            "Yes, we have one too I thought you might like it."

            There was a lurch and the carriage stopped.  They hopped out and went through the Entrance Hall and to their dorms.

            James and Sirius dragged Remus out of the dorm (apparently he was reading some book about a subject he wouldn't reveal to her) and Siandra gave them their letters. 

            While they were opening them up, Siandra asked Remus, "How's your mother?" gently. 

            "What? Oh, yeah.  She still has…er…Pollinania Disease."

            Some sniggers from James and Sirius. 

            "Oh," continued Siandra in the same voice, "That's too bad.  Isn't it the one where they have those horrible attacks every month?  It's so nice that you go and see her.  I'm sure that it helps her through it.  But wait, weren't there two attacks last month?"

            "Ah, yes," said Remus, wiping away an imaginary tear, Siandra was too busy feeling sorry for him to notice that it wasn't real, "It's very rare for this to happen, once in a blue moon, as they say, and this happens when the disease gets more viol — "

            This was all together too much for James and Sirius.  They both burst out laughing.

            "Honestly, you two!" scolded Siandra, "Think of poor Remus!"

            But it seemed that 'Poor Remus' didn't really need thinking of because he was laughing too, only carefully covering his face up with the opened letter.

"Boys," scoffed Siandra climbing up the steps to the dormitory.  She was going to go make sure that she was free on Monday four o'clock.  She didn't want to have Hagrid and X waiting. She went and looked at her schedule.

            "I'll really have to hurry to be able to make it from Charms, it ends right at four!" she exclaimed.

            "What?" asked Lily who was finishing the Transfiguration essay that Siandra had forgotten to do.

            "Nothing!" said Siandra quickly, covering up her schedule.

            "I know something's up, otherwise you wouldn't be looking at your schedule.  You don't really need them any more." Lily replied.

            "Well…" said Siandra.  Lily was very nice and she was sure not to tell anyone or think that she wrote the letter herself, "I got this letter from someone that didn't tell me his or her name.  They said that they bought me a present and it'll be waiting on four on Monday with Hagrid.  I'll have to race from Charms to get there!"

            "Hmmm…you could ask Leftner to let you leave early…"

            "Yeah right," Leftner was the Ravenclaw head of house.

            "I'll think of something.  Anyway, we can always ask James, I'm sure he can tell us how to get to leave early."

            "But then we'd have to tell him about the note."

                "Hmmm…" Lily said, smiling thoughtfully. "We'll find a way."