Ahhh! An update! Don't have a heart attack! Erm...yeah. Sorry this took so long. Due to the review by someone a LONG time ago that posted a link to a role playing site, I've become rather obsessed with Harry Potter role playing. But you'll have to thank luckystars_13 for sending an email to get me off my roleplaying ass and back to my fanfiction one. Thank you's at the end!
Chapter Seventeen
A Hellish Holiday?
"Hey, James." Lily said quietly, casually strolling into the hospital wing the next morning. "How are you feeling?"
James blinked around in bewilderment. He must have forgotten he was still dreaming. Why else would Lily be in the hospital wing visiting him? 'Oh yeah...' James realized. 'She's the person that got you thrown in here in the first place.'
"Oh, I'm fine. It's just Madam Pomfrey seems to think there's still something wrong with me." He grinned. Lily giggled in response, and a few wisps of her hair fell into her face. James smiled at the sight of how beautiful she was. She tucked the stray strands behind her ears, and turned her vibrant green eyes to the window.
James looked as well to see small snowflakes drifting passed the window. Christmas was almost coming. 'It would be nice to actually do something for Christmas.' James thought. 'Instead of just staying around the school- I know it's my last year here, last Christmas, but I would like to do something special for once.'
"So, do you feel donkeyish anymore?" Lily grinned guiltily. Not only did she feel bad about turning James into an ass, she was nervous to ask him the fatal question of inviting him home with her.
"Nah. Just a little bit of hee-haw every now and then." He grinned. It was wonderful for her to finally be talking to him again.
"Don't let it take you over. You're enough of an ass anyways." Lily laughed jokingly. So many thoughts were haunting her head at the moment...
'Take him home with you...' Sirius was saying repeatedly.
'I...I love you.' Was swimming somewhere through her mind, and finally,
'You've grown fond of him. I know it.' Alice was saying. It was enough to stir anyone's mind. Especially Lily's which had already been picked apart by all her homework.
James laughed in response. Great sense of humor... Though she looked rather disgruntled, a bit jarred. "Are you OK? You look flustered." James said.
"I...I'm fine." Lily responded. "Just all the classes all at once...everything like that. And NEWTS are coming up, and I don't feel like I'm ready." She sighed.
"Don't sweat it." James responded. "You've got the whole break to go through before you even have to think about all that stuff." He grinned. "What are you doing for the break?" James asked, trying to make a bit of small talk to cheer her up. "Going home? Staying around here?"
"I'm going home." Lily responded. How convenient for him to bring it up. Lily paused, then finally mustered up the courage to finish. "And Professor Pall has a request that you come with me." Lily said quietly, taking the forms out of her robes.
"What?" James asked, caught rather off guard. His teacher wanted him to go home with Lily? Since when? What? What did he do to deserve such a privilege?
"Your Muggle Studies teacher told me you're doing bad again. So he wants you to come home with me for the holidays, spend two weeks living like a muggle, then come back and pass the class with flying colors." Lily responded. She couldn't believe she was actually asking him to come home with her. She must have gone insane. 'New top of the to-do list. File for insanity' She thought.
"So wait, I'm supposed to go home with you over the break?" James asked. Oh Lord how God had just granted his prayer...
"Yes..." Lily responded, getting slightly annoyed. "I fill out these forms, and you fill out the rest." Lily said, handing him three fourths of the forms. Luckily, for her sake, he had to do more work then she had to do.
James thought a moment. Had she filed for insanity? She hated him! Then again, how could he complain? "You're sure you want to let me come with you?" He asked unsurely.
"Yes, I'm sure." Lily answered, injecting all the confidence she possibly could into her voice.
"Wow..." James stuttered. "Thanks, Lily. Seriously, this means a lot that you're going to let me..." He mumbled.
"Think nothing of it." Lily responded quickly. She refrained from adding 'Please!' at the end, as it would sound rather rude. "Just get those forms filled out as soon as possible."
"You're actually taking James home over the break?" Candace burst when Lily told her.
"Thanks to Sirius. I swear if I ever get the chance to kill him, I still won't have my revenge." Lily muttered darkly. True, she had been slightly over dramatizing it, but it was a big thing! She was going to have to spend two weeks alone with James! Her family was going to think she was dating him, and she would never hear the end of it from Petunia! Not that she cared what Petunia thought...
"Oh come on, Lily. It's not going to be that bad." Candace reassured her.
"You're right. It's not going to be that bad. It's going to be horrible!" Lily responded, falling back onto her bed.
"Little Miss Lily Evans. The drama queen." Candace laughed.
"Oh be quiet." Lily replied. "I'm not going to be able to relax for one minute over the break! I'll have to be teaching him things, keeping him entertained. It's going to be the worst Christmas ever!" Lily sighed.
"Just relax, Lily. He's easily entertained. It can't be that hard. Besides, you know he'll be happy just plainly being in your presence." Candace teased. Lily grabbed her pillow and tossed it at Candace as hard as she could, still laying on her back. It soared over Candace's head and narrowly missed the fireplace. "Smooth." Candace giggled, getting to her feet. She picked the pillow up and tossed it lightly back onto Lily's bed.
"I don't know. I mean, I had a little talk with Alice a couple days ago about James saying, you know, those three words?" Lily commented, not wanting to repeat the words I Love You. "And she said she knows I've grown fond of him. It kind of scares me. I mean, what if she's right?" Lily asked.
"I know she's right." Candace responded, sitting back down on the floor where she was making origami birds.
"No you don't, Candace. Only I know the answer to it."
"Then what is the answer?" Candace asked, as she folded a fresh piece of paper after adding another complete bird to her pile. She had made about five already.
"I'm not really sure..." Lily responded truthfully.
"Well, let's think of it this way." Candace said, pausing a moment as she made a complex fold, biting her lip in concentration. "Last year, you would yell at James, insult him, tell him you hated him and more whenever you saw him. But you guys have fun together now." Candace finished.
"I'm not quite sure I would call it fun." Lily stated.
"I would." Candace replied simply. "Come on, let's get out of here. Don't you want to get a good look at all the decorations before you leave tomorrow?" Candace asked, placing all her origami birds in her bag.
"Oh, all right." Lily responded, heaving herself off the bed. She and Candace made their way out of Lily's bedroom and down toward the Great Hall.
Like every year, it looked nothing short of splendid. The usual twelve trees were placed around the room each with a different theme of decorations. One was decorated with gold tinsel and luminous gold bulbs, and another with real icicles dangling off the edge of each branch and silver tinsel wrapped around it, and the rest were still in the process of being put together.
"This looks awesome!" Lily smiled in awe, the look of frustration and fluster entirely disappearing from her face and was replaced with a smile.
"Hey, look who's here." Remus whispered from the corner where he, James, Sirius and Peter were helping decorate. Sirius, James and Peter all looked toward the front of the Great Hall.
"Ah, Evans and Daily." Sirius grinned. "Hey Moony, does this mean you're over her?"
"Guess so." Remus shrugged. "It's not like we're ever going to get back together anyways." He turned back to the tree he was decorating and added another color changing candle to the boughs.
James grinned as Lily looked around in awe. "How did you ever get her to like you in the first place?" He asked Remus curiously.
"I dunno. It just happened, I guess," Remus answered.
"Tell me, Moony. Who have you got eyes for now?" Sirius grinned. "Because I know you've been staring at a certain young Gryffindor a lot recently."
"Who is it?" Peter squeaked in excitement, nearly toppling off the ladder he stood on.
"Well, Padfoot seems to know." Remus grinned.
"Come on, Moony. Who is it?" James laughed.
"Bianca Trevors." Remus responded, lighting the candles on the tree with his wand.
"Ah, sandy haired purple eyed beauty." Sirius grinned. "How about you, Wormtail. What rat have you been looking at recently?" He laughed.
"Sod off, Padfoot." Peter responded.
"Come on, Wormtail. You've gotta like someone." James grinned.
"Nah, not right now." Peter responded, turning back to the tree and adding some more tinsel.
"Hey, Lily. Look." Candace said, pointing to the corner where the four Marauders stood decorating the tree.
"Imagine that." Lily smiled. Lily had never heard of any students ever helping the teachers decorate the Great Hall. Yet there they were, plain as day making a large Christmas tree look spectacular.
"Shall we go over and talk to them?" Candace grinned.
"No, let's just watch for a little bit." Lily smiled, watching as James placed a large star that flashed gold and red at the top of the tree, then stepped carefully down the ladder. Peter climbed to the top of the ladder, a box of red tinsel balanced on one hand. Though being clumsy as he was, the box flipped off his hand and the tinsel fell right onto James' head.
Lily half expected an outburst from James for Peter 'ruining his masculinity' by dropping tinsel on his head. But James just laughed and clapped Peter on the back, passing the tinsel back up to him.
Lily and Candace giggled slightly, getting amusement plainly from watching them. "Oh my god, what am I doing?" Lily asked herself incredulously.
"You're watching three handsome guys and a rat decorate a tree." Candace responded, grinning. "Come on, let's go talk to them." Candace smiled, nodding her head in their direction.
"OK, fine." Lily finally agreed. She and Candace proceeded to the back corner of the Great Hall where the Marauders were making their masterpiece.
"How's it going, guys?" Candace asked, looking up at the four guys on two ladders.
"Great!" Sirius responded.
"This looks awesome." Lily commented, admiring their craftsmanship.
"Thank you, milady." Sirius grinned. "So Candace, you hanging out here for the holidays?" He questioned.
"Yeah. It's better then going home." Candace responded, smiling fondly at Sirius.
"Well said." Sirius grinned.
"What are you two up to?" Remus asked, lighting another candle with his wand.
"Just checking out the decorations before I leave tomorrow." Lily responded quietly. It was rather awkward for her. All at once was her ex boyfriend, a boy everyone expected her to end up with, a rat, and a friend. Amazingly Lily and Sirius had indeed grown as friends throughout the year.
"Good choice. It would be a shame to miss them." Remus answered.
"Yes it would." Lily stated, looking around the Great Hall once again in awe.
"What're the rest of you doing for the holidays, other then Sirius, James and Lily," Candace grinned, though Lily could tell she was attempting to suppress a laugh as well.
"I'm going home." Peter responded, carefully aiming his wand at one of the candles. He whispered the incantation, and amazingly the candle light, glowing splendidly amongst the ones Remus had been lighting.
"Staying here." Remus responded grinning at the evident joy spread across Peter's face.
Sirius waved his wand once across the tree causing the colors to shine brighter, and the flames to burn larger. "This will be a holiday to remember." He grinned joyfully.
OK- I don't have enough time to write out thank yous at the moment, so I'll just list names, everyone love and cherish them. Lol.
Luckystars_13
Gryffindor620
Kakshis whats-is...oh whatever. Youkai
MPPSexxySiriusRemusJames
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oosha66
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MilesFromNormal
phsdrummer07
Optical Illusions
courtney
firehottie
prongsiegirl
J.E.A.R.K.Potter
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vamperfly
WhiteLiliesWithAScar
Sakura
Rockergirl
The Sweet New Zealander
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emzi
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starlet13 x like 16! Sorry I haven't had the chance to thank you yet, you reviewed after I updated last time!
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Goddess of Gorgeousness