Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me.
I know, I know, it's been forever since I updated, at least two months if not more. I'm really really sorry but I've been super busy lately. I got a summer job so I'm not sure how much I'll be writing in the summer but hopefully I'll be back to about one chapter every week or two soon. Anywho, I won't bore you with all the happenings in my life so here's the next chapter, enjoy and please review!
P.S. It's a nice long chapter to make up for my lack of update!
Chapter 25: Happy Holidays
Lily awoke bright and early the day after the talent show to finish the rest of her packing. She looked over at her three roomates who were still fast asleep under their blankets. Smiling to herself, she pulled on a pair of blue jeans, a red turtleneck and her favourite red and green Christmas sweatshirt before packing her pyjamas in the bottom of her trunk along with her slippers. She then gathered up her books and parchment from the bedside table, carefully placing them on top of her clothes. Deciding she had everything she would need, she was about to close her trunk when there was a loud bang as something hit the window. Startled, Lily dropped the lid to her trunk which made an even louder bang.
There was a shout from Megan, and she promptly tumbled out of bed onto the floor, making Lily burst out laughing.
"What's going on?" Carol asked, as she sat up rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah," Karen said as she stretched, "And who made all that noise?"
Lily's giggles subsided as Megan managed to pick herself up off the floor.
"I'd also like to know why I'm awake so bloody early on a Saturday," Megan said as she glared at Lily. Not being a morning person didn't even begin to describe Megan.
"Something hit the window," Lily explained. "It spooked me so I dropped the lid to my trunk."
As if on cue, there was another bang as something white splattered against the window. The four girls looked at each other and moved towards the window, Lily drawing her wand as she went. Sure enough, outside they could see Bellatrix and Jennifer bewitching snowballs to fly at the window. There were several more bangs as about five more snowballs hit the window.
"So what are we going to do?" Karen asked, a bit of a smile starting to form.
"This is too perfect," Lily said with a grin. "I've been wanting to test a spell out for ages."
"Shield Charm?" Megan asked with a sly grin.
"Yep," replied Lily.
"Go for it!" Megan urged.
Lily smiled and cracked the window open ever so slightly so that she could stick her wand out. "Protego!" she said as she gave her wand a little flick.
"Did it work?" Carol asked.
As if to answer Carol's questions, several more snowballs came flying towards the window, but instead of hitting it, they bounced off an invisible wall and sailed back down at the two Slytherins.
"I think so," Lily said as she watched the two girls running for cover.
"Merry Christmas!" Megan yelled out the window.
Jennifer and Bellatrix shook their fists up at the girls but their words were lost, sending the four friends into peels of laughter.
"They look so tiny from up here!" commented Carol, as they watched their two enemies disappear around the side of the castle.
"You'd think they would've been smart enough to move before the snowballs hit them though," Karen said.
"Yeah will, they may be book smart but they sure aren't smart in the practical sense," Megan said.
"That's for sure," said Lily. "Did you hear what happened when Bellatrix tried to turn her toothpick into a needle?"
"What?" the other three girls asked in unison.
"Somehow she managed to set it on fire!" Lily said with a laugh. "Can you imagine what McGonagall's face must have looked like?"
Megan scrunched up her nose, "Oh good heavens!" she said in a shrill voice that did sound surprisingly like McGonagall. "Miss Black! How on earth did you manage that?"
The four dissolved into peels of laughter once more, unaware that down by the side of the castle, the other two girls were plotting revenge.
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After breakfast had been finished, those students who were going home for the holidays brought their belongings down to the front hallway.
"Are we going home on the train?" Lily asked Megan while they waited for the horseless carriages to arrive.
"Nope," Megan said. "Your parents meet you in Hogsmeade, which is where the train dropped us off."
"I'm not sure my parents know where Hogsmeade is," Lily said, she was a bit worried now.
"If they can get to Hogwarts to see the talent show I'm sure they can manage to find Hogsmeade," Megan said with a smile. "Don't fret Lily, it's the holidays! Just think! In less then a week it'll be Christmas which means looks of cake, cookies, candy, parties and, of course, presents!"
"Oh no!" Lily exclaimed. "I still haven't gone Christmas shopping!"
"Ah, don't worry about it," Megan said. "You can shop in Hogsmeade. They have the best candy shop there. It's called Honeydukes and it has the best candy you will ever taste in your entire life! They've got sugar quills, chocolate frogs, pepper imps, ice mice, giagantic lollipops that are three feet tall, Fizzing Whizzbees, levitating sherbert balls, Jelly Slugs-"
"Talking about Honeydukes again Megan?" Zack asked with a grin, as he walked up beside the two girls.
Megan ignored him and kept going, "-All kinds of different chocolate, toffee, coconut ice, barrels of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing gum, peppermint cream toads that hop in your stomache, and even more!" she finished. "Oh hi Zack!"
Zack laughed, "You are one of a kind sis," he said.
"Mom's going to let us shop around Hogsmeade right?" Megan said.
"Yeah, I asked last night," Zack said.
"Awesome!" Megan said. "I can show you around if you stay then, sound good Lily?"
"Sounds great!" Lily said eagerly. She had a bit of a sweet tooth herself and wouldn't mind checking out Honeydukes' selection.
When they carriages arrived Lily crowded into one with Megan, Sirius and, much to her displeasure, James. They road in stoney silence as it was all to clear that Lily did not wish to speak with James at all. Megan and Sirius seemed confused but knew better then to chatter simply to fill the silence. The carriages came to a halt near the train station, and as she stepped down onto the ground Lily caught sight of her mother standing with Mrs. Johnston, who waved at her.
"Yes Lily," Mrs. Johnston said, before her daughter even opened her mouth. "You can go shopping in Hogsmeade."
"Thanks mum!" Lily said with a big grin.
"Come on! Let's go!" Megan said excitedly, and the two sped off down the street, Lily trailing a little behind Megan.
Megan stopped so suddenly Lily almost ran into her.
"This," Megan said, as she flourished her arms, "is Honeydukes!"
As the two girls entered the shop a little bell tinkled and the woman behind the counter smiled at them. Lily couldn't believe her eyes! The shelves reached from the floor all the way to the ceiling and every inch of space was covered by candy. Giant-sized red and white candy canes caught her eye and she immediately moved towards them, noticing Megan headed straight for the piles of chocolate.
Lily lost all sense of time as she browsed through the rows upon rows of candy. Finally, she made her purchases at the front counter; boxes of assorted goodies done up in bright coloured Christmas wrapping paper for her seven fellow Gryffindor girls, giant red and white candy canes for the eight Gryffindor boys (even James-afterall, it was Christmas) and a large box of Honeydukes best choloate for her parents. She knew better then to buy anything for Petunia, although Megan suggested acid pops and cockroach clusters as possible gifts that could be given under the ruse that they were fat-free candy. Lily had the feeling that the acid pops in particular did something unpleasant to whoever ate them, but she didn't want to find out by testing them herself.
She literally had to drag Megan out of Honeydukes so that they could go look around the other shops. It was like being in Diagon Alley all over again because everywhere she turned Lily saw something new and exciting.
"Have you heard?" Lily heard a woman saying as they browsed through Zonko's Joke Shop. "That shack up on the hill is haunted!"
"Nonsense!" said the man she was talking too. "Probably just some students from Hogwarts playing tricks down there."
"But I've heard the shrieks and howls," said the woman. "And it's always during the full moon."
Lily nudged Megan, who had been listening intently to the conversation.
"Is it Remus?" she asked quietly.
Megan nodded, "I think so," she said, "But watcht this!" And before Lily could stop her, Megan had walked over to the woman.
"Hi Mrs. Grimble, Mr. McCallum," Megan said.
"Hello dear," said Mrs. Grimble, "I was wondering if I'd run into you. I saw your mother earlier."
"Christmas shopping I suppose?" Mr. McCallum asked.
Megan nodded, "Of course," she said.
"Not thinking of playing pranks that could be mistaken for ghosts now are you?" Mr. McCallum asked with a smile.
Megan shook her head, "Nah, those are boring," she said. "But have you heard about the supposed Shrieking Shack?"
"As a matter of fact," Mrs. Grimble said, "We were just talking about it. I think it really is ghosts or something worse."
"And I think it's a load of rubbish," said Mr. McCallum. "Probably just some of the older students from Hogwarts."
"Well Professor Dumbledore said that we should avoid going near it," Megan said. "And I asked Nearly Headless Nick, you know, the Gryffindor ghost, about it and he said that there's some really nasty ghosts and demons in there. None of the Hogwarts ghosts will go anywhere near it-especially during the full moon, because that's when the evil spirits are the worst."
Mr. McCallum looked surprised, "Really?" he said, "I thought it was just a lot of tosh!"
"Well I for one refuse to go anywhere near it," Mrs. Grimble said. "If Nick avoids it there must really be a rough crowd in there because as I recall he doesn't scare easily."
"Well, I'd better hurry up and finish here," Megan said, "Lots to do! Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas!" returned the two adults.
Megan and Lily hurriedly paid for their items and left the shop, barely able to contain their laughter.
"Oh wow," Megan said as they walked down one of the side streets towards the little shack, "Adults are so gulliable sometimes!"
"Well look who it is," came a cold, drawling voice from behind them.
Lily and Megan turned to see Malfoy flanked by the 12 other first year Slytherins, all with wands out, although Mildred Appleman and Jasmine Hazelwood were hanging back from the rest of the group. Lucas Avery, Rodolphus Lestrange and Eugene Wilkes looked apprehensive but the others, Bellatrix, Crabbe, Simon, Goyle, Malfoy, Evan Rosier, Snape and Jennifer looked rather menacing.
"You do realize that 13 is an unlucky number, right?" Megan commented.
Malfoy smirked, "I wouldn't have thought you'd be supertitious, Johnston," he said. "You don't really seem the type."
"I have my reasons for believing in such things," Megan said simply, and Lily noticed that a she smirked slightly.
What is she doing? Lily thought, Is she actually considering challenging 13 people at once?
Lily watched as Megan's casually folded her arms across her chest. Lily knew that Megan always carried her wand in her pocket and wondered why she hadn't drawn it yet.
"Accio wand!" cried Jennifer and Megan's wand flew out of her pocket and over to Jennifer who caught it, smiling triumphantly. "Ha!" said Jennifer, "Now you have no wand so you can't stop us."
"Oh really?" Megan said with raised eyebrows, "Is that so?"
Lily noticed the Slytherins falter, as if unsure what Megan meant, but Lily knew and grinned. She'd seen the flash of colour dart between the trees as well.
Megan looked around a little bit, "They say this is one of the most haunted places in Britain now," she said calmly. "Apparently it's a rough crowd who lives up in the shack now."
"Oh please," Bellatrix said as she rolled her eyes. "That's riddiculous!" But her friends didn't look so sure.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea Bellatrix," said Jasmine, as she looked around.
"Oh don't be stupid Jasmine," said Bellatrix, "You don't really believe in that rubbish do you?"
But just then, Megan's wand flew out of Jennifer's hand and landed on the ground. Now even Bellatrix looked scared and at that precise moment, several snowballs began raining down on the Slytherins from behind.
"Let's get out of here!" screamed Jennifer and the Slytherins ran for cover, snowballs chasing after them.
Megan looked over and grinned at Lily. "see?" she said, "The boys aren't that bad."
"I guess you're right," said Lily.
James, Sirius, Remus, Aaron, Shawn and Steve had appeared from behind the trees grinning from ear to ear.
"Merry Christmas!" they chorused.
"Merry Christmas!" Megan and Lily replied.
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The next few days before Christmas passed in a blur of visits to relatives, shopping, wrapping presents, decorating and other preperations and today was no different. With only two days to go, the smell of Christmas cookies wafted upstairs to Lily's room from the kitchen where he mother was busy baking. Lily was doing her best to ignore it while she finished wrapping her presents but it was tempting to go downstairs to see if they were finished yet. Petunia could be heard in the next room moving about as she cleaned in anticiaption of her boyfriend Vernon's arrival.
Lily finished tying the bow around Karen's present and looked over at Aesop who was watching her curiously from the corner.
"Up for a trip?" she asked and he hooted in reply. Lily stood up with her packages and walked over to her owl. She pulled out a medium sized canvas bag and placed the six boxes of candy and cards that she'd gottan for the other Gryffindor girls inside, she'd be seeing Megan that afternoon and would give her her present then. She'd sent the boys presents yesterday so that Aesop wouldn't have such a heavy load to carry all at once. "Here you go," she said, as she tied the bag to Aesop's feet. "It shouldn't be too much trouble to find them all."
Aesop hooted and then hopped over to the window, which Lily opened for him. He flew outside and disappeared into the clouds as Lily closed the window behind him. She looked at her clock which read 12:38pm; Megan would be arriving shortly after one o'clock and she had assured Lily she would be bringing along her best pranking supplies. Lily had 'accidently' let it slip that Petunia's boyfriend was also coming for the afternoon.
Deciding she should go see if the cookies were done in case her mother needed a taste-tester, Lily headed downstairs.
"Let me guess," her mother said, as Lily entered the kitchen. "You're looking for the cookies?"
"Yep," Lily replied, "May I please have one?"
"They're not quite done yet," replied her mother. "When Megan gets here the two of you can share a plate though OK?"
"OK!" Lily said. She wandered into the living room and took a seat at the piano and decided to attempt to play a few Christmas carols, just to annoy Petunia. Lily had never been a very good piano player and it had been a long time since she'd had lessons. She pulled out her books, found "Jingle Bells" and began to play as loudly as possible.
"Lily!" Petunia screeched from the top of the stairs, "Stop that racket this instant!"
Lily pretended not to hear and continued playing.
"ARGH!" Petunia yelled in frustration, before going and slamming her bedroom door shut.
Lily smiled to herself and had to admit that Megan did have some rather useful ideas.
The doorbell rang shortly after 1 o'clock and Lily hurried to answer it. However, instead of finding Megan she found..........
"Hello Vernon," she said with a scowl.
"Hello, um, Lily is it?" Vernon said.
Lily glared at him, "Not to good with names are you?" she said.
Vernon stared at her, completely at a loss for words for several seconds. "You're rather rude aren't you?" he said.
"I'm the little sister," Lily said with a grin, "I'm supposed to be." She then turned and yelled at the top of her lungs, "PETUNIA! You're boyfriend's here!"
Petunia came running down the stairs at top speed, almost falling in her haste.
"Oh hi Vernon," she said in her fake, sweet voice, which always made Lily want to gag.
"Hello Petunia," Vernon said with a smile that also made Lily want to gag.
Petunia started to say something but at that precise moment a car door slammed in the driveway and Megan came running up.
"Hey everyone!" Megan said as she came bounding up the front steps and into view. "Lily!" she said, when she caught sight of her friend, "Simply marvelous to see you!"
Lily laughed at her friend, "Hey Megan!" she said.
Vernon and Petunia were both looked shocked, and in Petunia's case, horror. Lily didn't think she'd ever seen her sister look so appalled.
"You must be Petunia and Vernon," Megan said. "I'm Megan! I brought Christmas presents!" She thrust a pile of brightly wrapped Christmas presents into Vernon's arms. "You can put those under the tree," Megan said, "Come on Lily! Let's go outside and play in the snow!"
Lily hurried to put on her snow things and the two girls went running out into the front yard. They quickly made a snow fort and began plotting ways to annoy Petunia and Vernon.
"After all," Megan said, "It is expected that younger siblings be particularly annoying at oppurtune moments such as these."
"So true," Lily agreed with a smile.
They spent the rest of the afternoon running about and 'accidently' interupting Petunia and Vernon. ("Although what they do when they're by themselves is a mystery all of it's own," Lily had said to Megan. "I don't even want to know because I'd probably be scared for life.")
Megan 'accidently' spilt her hot chocolate on Vernon when she 'tripped' on the rug. Lily mistakingly added salt to Petunia and Vernon's tea instead of sugar, claiming to have grabbed the wrong shaker because the regular ones had been replacd by their holiday counterparts. They had a snowball fight when Petunia and Vernon were leaving to go for a walk and pretended to have really bad aim so that the couple were pelted by way-ward snowballs. Upon their return, they were surprised to find that part of the pathway had been turned to ice by Lily and Megan's attempts to make a slide. The two girls were sliding down the forzen snowbank on a toboggan and skidded into the pair, knocking them over. All in all, it had been a very successful afternoon and when it was time for Megan to leave, she invited Lily to come to her family's New Year's Eve Party.
"I'm inviting everyone else too," Megan said, "It should be so much fun!"
"Cool!" said Lily.
Unfortunately, once Vernon also left, Petunia rounded on her little sister and screamed for several minutes before their mother intervened.
"Now, now Petunia," Mrs. Evans said, "I'm sure all of those things were just accidents."
"Besides," Lily said, "If I really wanted to embaress you I would've used magic and told Vernon that I'm a witch."
Petunia had then stormed up to her room and slammed the door behind her for the second time that day.
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Christmas morning dawned bright and clear with lots of fresh fallen snow covering the neighbourhood. Lily bounded downstairs and was greeted by her parents (Petunia had refused to come out her room for the past few days unless absolutely necessary).
Lily unwrapped her presents discovering a large quantity of sweets, some new clothes, books, a necklace, a couple of little trinkets and various other things. Her favourite gift though was from her parents, it was a little tiny box that could change it's size so that she could fit anything she wanted into it.
"I found it in Hogsmeade," her mother explained, "I thought it would come in handy."
Thanking her parents profusely, Lily settled in amongst the brightly coloured paper and began sorting through her presents. So far, the Christmas holidays had been quite rewarding.
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So that's it for now everyone! Once again, I apologize for the very long and probably annoying wait. I'm really having trouble getting into the groove to work on this story and I'm not sure why. In the meantime, you may want to check out "Always Second Best" which is primarly about Ron and is quickly becoming my favourite story to write (next to "Harry Potter in a Crazy Little World" of course). I was offline for awhile because the original version of "Harry Potter in a Crazy Little World"-"Harry Potter in a Messed Up Little World"-was deleted by fanfiction so I've been trying to re-type all 44 chapters of that so I can repost them. Plus I get side- tracked very easily with everything else that's going on. I only work 4 days a week though so I get Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off so those are the days I tend to update now. I'll try and update soon but I'm not promising anything. I do have an outline and I know where I want this story to go, it's just a matter of finding time and being interested. As you can see, I got bored with this chapter and it got pretty lame at the end. Anywho, please review!
-Megan
I know, I know, it's been forever since I updated, at least two months if not more. I'm really really sorry but I've been super busy lately. I got a summer job so I'm not sure how much I'll be writing in the summer but hopefully I'll be back to about one chapter every week or two soon. Anywho, I won't bore you with all the happenings in my life so here's the next chapter, enjoy and please review!
P.S. It's a nice long chapter to make up for my lack of update!
Chapter 25: Happy Holidays
Lily awoke bright and early the day after the talent show to finish the rest of her packing. She looked over at her three roomates who were still fast asleep under their blankets. Smiling to herself, she pulled on a pair of blue jeans, a red turtleneck and her favourite red and green Christmas sweatshirt before packing her pyjamas in the bottom of her trunk along with her slippers. She then gathered up her books and parchment from the bedside table, carefully placing them on top of her clothes. Deciding she had everything she would need, she was about to close her trunk when there was a loud bang as something hit the window. Startled, Lily dropped the lid to her trunk which made an even louder bang.
There was a shout from Megan, and she promptly tumbled out of bed onto the floor, making Lily burst out laughing.
"What's going on?" Carol asked, as she sat up rubbing her eyes.
"Yeah," Karen said as she stretched, "And who made all that noise?"
Lily's giggles subsided as Megan managed to pick herself up off the floor.
"I'd also like to know why I'm awake so bloody early on a Saturday," Megan said as she glared at Lily. Not being a morning person didn't even begin to describe Megan.
"Something hit the window," Lily explained. "It spooked me so I dropped the lid to my trunk."
As if on cue, there was another bang as something white splattered against the window. The four girls looked at each other and moved towards the window, Lily drawing her wand as she went. Sure enough, outside they could see Bellatrix and Jennifer bewitching snowballs to fly at the window. There were several more bangs as about five more snowballs hit the window.
"So what are we going to do?" Karen asked, a bit of a smile starting to form.
"This is too perfect," Lily said with a grin. "I've been wanting to test a spell out for ages."
"Shield Charm?" Megan asked with a sly grin.
"Yep," replied Lily.
"Go for it!" Megan urged.
Lily smiled and cracked the window open ever so slightly so that she could stick her wand out. "Protego!" she said as she gave her wand a little flick.
"Did it work?" Carol asked.
As if to answer Carol's questions, several more snowballs came flying towards the window, but instead of hitting it, they bounced off an invisible wall and sailed back down at the two Slytherins.
"I think so," Lily said as she watched the two girls running for cover.
"Merry Christmas!" Megan yelled out the window.
Jennifer and Bellatrix shook their fists up at the girls but their words were lost, sending the four friends into peels of laughter.
"They look so tiny from up here!" commented Carol, as they watched their two enemies disappear around the side of the castle.
"You'd think they would've been smart enough to move before the snowballs hit them though," Karen said.
"Yeah will, they may be book smart but they sure aren't smart in the practical sense," Megan said.
"That's for sure," said Lily. "Did you hear what happened when Bellatrix tried to turn her toothpick into a needle?"
"What?" the other three girls asked in unison.
"Somehow she managed to set it on fire!" Lily said with a laugh. "Can you imagine what McGonagall's face must have looked like?"
Megan scrunched up her nose, "Oh good heavens!" she said in a shrill voice that did sound surprisingly like McGonagall. "Miss Black! How on earth did you manage that?"
The four dissolved into peels of laughter once more, unaware that down by the side of the castle, the other two girls were plotting revenge.
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After breakfast had been finished, those students who were going home for the holidays brought their belongings down to the front hallway.
"Are we going home on the train?" Lily asked Megan while they waited for the horseless carriages to arrive.
"Nope," Megan said. "Your parents meet you in Hogsmeade, which is where the train dropped us off."
"I'm not sure my parents know where Hogsmeade is," Lily said, she was a bit worried now.
"If they can get to Hogwarts to see the talent show I'm sure they can manage to find Hogsmeade," Megan said with a smile. "Don't fret Lily, it's the holidays! Just think! In less then a week it'll be Christmas which means looks of cake, cookies, candy, parties and, of course, presents!"
"Oh no!" Lily exclaimed. "I still haven't gone Christmas shopping!"
"Ah, don't worry about it," Megan said. "You can shop in Hogsmeade. They have the best candy shop there. It's called Honeydukes and it has the best candy you will ever taste in your entire life! They've got sugar quills, chocolate frogs, pepper imps, ice mice, giagantic lollipops that are three feet tall, Fizzing Whizzbees, levitating sherbert balls, Jelly Slugs-"
"Talking about Honeydukes again Megan?" Zack asked with a grin, as he walked up beside the two girls.
Megan ignored him and kept going, "-All kinds of different chocolate, toffee, coconut ice, barrels of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing gum, peppermint cream toads that hop in your stomache, and even more!" she finished. "Oh hi Zack!"
Zack laughed, "You are one of a kind sis," he said.
"Mom's going to let us shop around Hogsmeade right?" Megan said.
"Yeah, I asked last night," Zack said.
"Awesome!" Megan said. "I can show you around if you stay then, sound good Lily?"
"Sounds great!" Lily said eagerly. She had a bit of a sweet tooth herself and wouldn't mind checking out Honeydukes' selection.
When they carriages arrived Lily crowded into one with Megan, Sirius and, much to her displeasure, James. They road in stoney silence as it was all to clear that Lily did not wish to speak with James at all. Megan and Sirius seemed confused but knew better then to chatter simply to fill the silence. The carriages came to a halt near the train station, and as she stepped down onto the ground Lily caught sight of her mother standing with Mrs. Johnston, who waved at her.
"Yes Lily," Mrs. Johnston said, before her daughter even opened her mouth. "You can go shopping in Hogsmeade."
"Thanks mum!" Lily said with a big grin.
"Come on! Let's go!" Megan said excitedly, and the two sped off down the street, Lily trailing a little behind Megan.
Megan stopped so suddenly Lily almost ran into her.
"This," Megan said, as she flourished her arms, "is Honeydukes!"
As the two girls entered the shop a little bell tinkled and the woman behind the counter smiled at them. Lily couldn't believe her eyes! The shelves reached from the floor all the way to the ceiling and every inch of space was covered by candy. Giant-sized red and white candy canes caught her eye and she immediately moved towards them, noticing Megan headed straight for the piles of chocolate.
Lily lost all sense of time as she browsed through the rows upon rows of candy. Finally, she made her purchases at the front counter; boxes of assorted goodies done up in bright coloured Christmas wrapping paper for her seven fellow Gryffindor girls, giant red and white candy canes for the eight Gryffindor boys (even James-afterall, it was Christmas) and a large box of Honeydukes best choloate for her parents. She knew better then to buy anything for Petunia, although Megan suggested acid pops and cockroach clusters as possible gifts that could be given under the ruse that they were fat-free candy. Lily had the feeling that the acid pops in particular did something unpleasant to whoever ate them, but she didn't want to find out by testing them herself.
She literally had to drag Megan out of Honeydukes so that they could go look around the other shops. It was like being in Diagon Alley all over again because everywhere she turned Lily saw something new and exciting.
"Have you heard?" Lily heard a woman saying as they browsed through Zonko's Joke Shop. "That shack up on the hill is haunted!"
"Nonsense!" said the man she was talking too. "Probably just some students from Hogwarts playing tricks down there."
"But I've heard the shrieks and howls," said the woman. "And it's always during the full moon."
Lily nudged Megan, who had been listening intently to the conversation.
"Is it Remus?" she asked quietly.
Megan nodded, "I think so," she said, "But watcht this!" And before Lily could stop her, Megan had walked over to the woman.
"Hi Mrs. Grimble, Mr. McCallum," Megan said.
"Hello dear," said Mrs. Grimble, "I was wondering if I'd run into you. I saw your mother earlier."
"Christmas shopping I suppose?" Mr. McCallum asked.
Megan nodded, "Of course," she said.
"Not thinking of playing pranks that could be mistaken for ghosts now are you?" Mr. McCallum asked with a smile.
Megan shook her head, "Nah, those are boring," she said. "But have you heard about the supposed Shrieking Shack?"
"As a matter of fact," Mrs. Grimble said, "We were just talking about it. I think it really is ghosts or something worse."
"And I think it's a load of rubbish," said Mr. McCallum. "Probably just some of the older students from Hogwarts."
"Well Professor Dumbledore said that we should avoid going near it," Megan said. "And I asked Nearly Headless Nick, you know, the Gryffindor ghost, about it and he said that there's some really nasty ghosts and demons in there. None of the Hogwarts ghosts will go anywhere near it-especially during the full moon, because that's when the evil spirits are the worst."
Mr. McCallum looked surprised, "Really?" he said, "I thought it was just a lot of tosh!"
"Well I for one refuse to go anywhere near it," Mrs. Grimble said. "If Nick avoids it there must really be a rough crowd in there because as I recall he doesn't scare easily."
"Well, I'd better hurry up and finish here," Megan said, "Lots to do! Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas!" returned the two adults.
Megan and Lily hurriedly paid for their items and left the shop, barely able to contain their laughter.
"Oh wow," Megan said as they walked down one of the side streets towards the little shack, "Adults are so gulliable sometimes!"
"Well look who it is," came a cold, drawling voice from behind them.
Lily and Megan turned to see Malfoy flanked by the 12 other first year Slytherins, all with wands out, although Mildred Appleman and Jasmine Hazelwood were hanging back from the rest of the group. Lucas Avery, Rodolphus Lestrange and Eugene Wilkes looked apprehensive but the others, Bellatrix, Crabbe, Simon, Goyle, Malfoy, Evan Rosier, Snape and Jennifer looked rather menacing.
"You do realize that 13 is an unlucky number, right?" Megan commented.
Malfoy smirked, "I wouldn't have thought you'd be supertitious, Johnston," he said. "You don't really seem the type."
"I have my reasons for believing in such things," Megan said simply, and Lily noticed that a she smirked slightly.
What is she doing? Lily thought, Is she actually considering challenging 13 people at once?
Lily watched as Megan's casually folded her arms across her chest. Lily knew that Megan always carried her wand in her pocket and wondered why she hadn't drawn it yet.
"Accio wand!" cried Jennifer and Megan's wand flew out of her pocket and over to Jennifer who caught it, smiling triumphantly. "Ha!" said Jennifer, "Now you have no wand so you can't stop us."
"Oh really?" Megan said with raised eyebrows, "Is that so?"
Lily noticed the Slytherins falter, as if unsure what Megan meant, but Lily knew and grinned. She'd seen the flash of colour dart between the trees as well.
Megan looked around a little bit, "They say this is one of the most haunted places in Britain now," she said calmly. "Apparently it's a rough crowd who lives up in the shack now."
"Oh please," Bellatrix said as she rolled her eyes. "That's riddiculous!" But her friends didn't look so sure.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea Bellatrix," said Jasmine, as she looked around.
"Oh don't be stupid Jasmine," said Bellatrix, "You don't really believe in that rubbish do you?"
But just then, Megan's wand flew out of Jennifer's hand and landed on the ground. Now even Bellatrix looked scared and at that precise moment, several snowballs began raining down on the Slytherins from behind.
"Let's get out of here!" screamed Jennifer and the Slytherins ran for cover, snowballs chasing after them.
Megan looked over and grinned at Lily. "see?" she said, "The boys aren't that bad."
"I guess you're right," said Lily.
James, Sirius, Remus, Aaron, Shawn and Steve had appeared from behind the trees grinning from ear to ear.
"Merry Christmas!" they chorused.
"Merry Christmas!" Megan and Lily replied.
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The next few days before Christmas passed in a blur of visits to relatives, shopping, wrapping presents, decorating and other preperations and today was no different. With only two days to go, the smell of Christmas cookies wafted upstairs to Lily's room from the kitchen where he mother was busy baking. Lily was doing her best to ignore it while she finished wrapping her presents but it was tempting to go downstairs to see if they were finished yet. Petunia could be heard in the next room moving about as she cleaned in anticiaption of her boyfriend Vernon's arrival.
Lily finished tying the bow around Karen's present and looked over at Aesop who was watching her curiously from the corner.
"Up for a trip?" she asked and he hooted in reply. Lily stood up with her packages and walked over to her owl. She pulled out a medium sized canvas bag and placed the six boxes of candy and cards that she'd gottan for the other Gryffindor girls inside, she'd be seeing Megan that afternoon and would give her her present then. She'd sent the boys presents yesterday so that Aesop wouldn't have such a heavy load to carry all at once. "Here you go," she said, as she tied the bag to Aesop's feet. "It shouldn't be too much trouble to find them all."
Aesop hooted and then hopped over to the window, which Lily opened for him. He flew outside and disappeared into the clouds as Lily closed the window behind him. She looked at her clock which read 12:38pm; Megan would be arriving shortly after one o'clock and she had assured Lily she would be bringing along her best pranking supplies. Lily had 'accidently' let it slip that Petunia's boyfriend was also coming for the afternoon.
Deciding she should go see if the cookies were done in case her mother needed a taste-tester, Lily headed downstairs.
"Let me guess," her mother said, as Lily entered the kitchen. "You're looking for the cookies?"
"Yep," Lily replied, "May I please have one?"
"They're not quite done yet," replied her mother. "When Megan gets here the two of you can share a plate though OK?"
"OK!" Lily said. She wandered into the living room and took a seat at the piano and decided to attempt to play a few Christmas carols, just to annoy Petunia. Lily had never been a very good piano player and it had been a long time since she'd had lessons. She pulled out her books, found "Jingle Bells" and began to play as loudly as possible.
"Lily!" Petunia screeched from the top of the stairs, "Stop that racket this instant!"
Lily pretended not to hear and continued playing.
"ARGH!" Petunia yelled in frustration, before going and slamming her bedroom door shut.
Lily smiled to herself and had to admit that Megan did have some rather useful ideas.
The doorbell rang shortly after 1 o'clock and Lily hurried to answer it. However, instead of finding Megan she found..........
"Hello Vernon," she said with a scowl.
"Hello, um, Lily is it?" Vernon said.
Lily glared at him, "Not to good with names are you?" she said.
Vernon stared at her, completely at a loss for words for several seconds. "You're rather rude aren't you?" he said.
"I'm the little sister," Lily said with a grin, "I'm supposed to be." She then turned and yelled at the top of her lungs, "PETUNIA! You're boyfriend's here!"
Petunia came running down the stairs at top speed, almost falling in her haste.
"Oh hi Vernon," she said in her fake, sweet voice, which always made Lily want to gag.
"Hello Petunia," Vernon said with a smile that also made Lily want to gag.
Petunia started to say something but at that precise moment a car door slammed in the driveway and Megan came running up.
"Hey everyone!" Megan said as she came bounding up the front steps and into view. "Lily!" she said, when she caught sight of her friend, "Simply marvelous to see you!"
Lily laughed at her friend, "Hey Megan!" she said.
Vernon and Petunia were both looked shocked, and in Petunia's case, horror. Lily didn't think she'd ever seen her sister look so appalled.
"You must be Petunia and Vernon," Megan said. "I'm Megan! I brought Christmas presents!" She thrust a pile of brightly wrapped Christmas presents into Vernon's arms. "You can put those under the tree," Megan said, "Come on Lily! Let's go outside and play in the snow!"
Lily hurried to put on her snow things and the two girls went running out into the front yard. They quickly made a snow fort and began plotting ways to annoy Petunia and Vernon.
"After all," Megan said, "It is expected that younger siblings be particularly annoying at oppurtune moments such as these."
"So true," Lily agreed with a smile.
They spent the rest of the afternoon running about and 'accidently' interupting Petunia and Vernon. ("Although what they do when they're by themselves is a mystery all of it's own," Lily had said to Megan. "I don't even want to know because I'd probably be scared for life.")
Megan 'accidently' spilt her hot chocolate on Vernon when she 'tripped' on the rug. Lily mistakingly added salt to Petunia and Vernon's tea instead of sugar, claiming to have grabbed the wrong shaker because the regular ones had been replacd by their holiday counterparts. They had a snowball fight when Petunia and Vernon were leaving to go for a walk and pretended to have really bad aim so that the couple were pelted by way-ward snowballs. Upon their return, they were surprised to find that part of the pathway had been turned to ice by Lily and Megan's attempts to make a slide. The two girls were sliding down the forzen snowbank on a toboggan and skidded into the pair, knocking them over. All in all, it had been a very successful afternoon and when it was time for Megan to leave, she invited Lily to come to her family's New Year's Eve Party.
"I'm inviting everyone else too," Megan said, "It should be so much fun!"
"Cool!" said Lily.
Unfortunately, once Vernon also left, Petunia rounded on her little sister and screamed for several minutes before their mother intervened.
"Now, now Petunia," Mrs. Evans said, "I'm sure all of those things were just accidents."
"Besides," Lily said, "If I really wanted to embaress you I would've used magic and told Vernon that I'm a witch."
Petunia had then stormed up to her room and slammed the door behind her for the second time that day.
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Christmas morning dawned bright and clear with lots of fresh fallen snow covering the neighbourhood. Lily bounded downstairs and was greeted by her parents (Petunia had refused to come out her room for the past few days unless absolutely necessary).
Lily unwrapped her presents discovering a large quantity of sweets, some new clothes, books, a necklace, a couple of little trinkets and various other things. Her favourite gift though was from her parents, it was a little tiny box that could change it's size so that she could fit anything she wanted into it.
"I found it in Hogsmeade," her mother explained, "I thought it would come in handy."
Thanking her parents profusely, Lily settled in amongst the brightly coloured paper and began sorting through her presents. So far, the Christmas holidays had been quite rewarding.
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So that's it for now everyone! Once again, I apologize for the very long and probably annoying wait. I'm really having trouble getting into the groove to work on this story and I'm not sure why. In the meantime, you may want to check out "Always Second Best" which is primarly about Ron and is quickly becoming my favourite story to write (next to "Harry Potter in a Crazy Little World" of course). I was offline for awhile because the original version of "Harry Potter in a Crazy Little World"-"Harry Potter in a Messed Up Little World"-was deleted by fanfiction so I've been trying to re-type all 44 chapters of that so I can repost them. Plus I get side- tracked very easily with everything else that's going on. I only work 4 days a week though so I get Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off so those are the days I tend to update now. I'll try and update soon but I'm not promising anything. I do have an outline and I know where I want this story to go, it's just a matter of finding time and being interested. As you can see, I got bored with this chapter and it got pretty lame at the end. Anywho, please review!
-Megan