Chapter 26
Christmas and Forgiveness
It was not for a few more hours that Lily made her way back to her room. She dressed slowly and lay in bed, wide-awake.
Why did we fight? Why did we fight? I thought we were unbreakable, invincible. Why did we fight?
The thought swam in her head as she stared up at the darkness around her. She pulled out her wand from under her pillow and lit a few nearby candles. She made her way to the cupboard and found a journal hidden under a pile of clothes. She sat on her bed and flipped through the pages. She stopped at the last entry.
My life is beginning to look perfect. I can't believe how amazing my future looks. I may be one of the lucky ones.
This was the night before she had received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. She had never written in it since then.
She now got out her quill and a pot of ink and started writing. She wrote every word of her fight with James on the beach. She detailed everything about the night, the stars and the ocean. She wrote her thoughts about how stupid it all seemed. She didn't stop writing until a tap on the window disturbed her. She let a large black owl into her room and began to read the letter attached to it.
Lily,
I really am an idiot. I know everything is bad for you right now, but I don't know what to say. Sometimes it seems easier for me to ignore things than to face them. I'm sorry I tried to take the easy way out; you're worth more than that. I don't understand how you feel its true. What you said was true. I do have a perfect life. I wouldn't want it to be any other way. I do seem to be one of the lucky ones- you know what I mean?
I may have a perfect life, but you're perfect. More perfect than I could ever be.
I hope you can forgive me for being such a prat. Maybe we can talk sometime soon and you can tell me everything. I don't promise I'll know what to say, but I wont be so stupid about it.
By the way, the owl is yours. Happy Christmas.
Lily, there's something that I've realised that everyone else already knows. It's something obvious that I never seemed to be able to get my head around.
I'm not invincible. No one is. I could fall of my broom tomorrow and die, I could get hit by a memory charm and never remember you or Sirius or anything. I could lose you. I don't want to lose you. I want to hold you in my arms and never let go. I want to be honest with you and still be able to lie to you.
Please forgive me; I could never live without you.
You're sorry boyfriend,
James
Lily folded the letter and placed it in her journal. It seemed she was not the only one having trouble sleeping. She stroked the owl gently and then went out to the balcony. James's room was last door to the left. Lily made her way towards it, careful not to make any noise. She slipped into James's room and saw his goofy grinning face.
"Hey, beautiful." He sighed.
Lily didn't say anything. She just lay next to James and they finally fell asleep in each other's arms.
"Wake up!" Sirius yelled, throwing various objects at Lily and James. "It's Christmas and we have to wait for you fuckers. I want presents."
The two woke up, yawning and stretching, and made their way to a room they hadn't been in before.
"The Christmas room." Ebony announced as they entered. "The only room that will only let you in one day a year."
The room was certainly very Christmassy. The red and green walls were covered in gold tinsel and there must have been four elaborately ornamented trees. The house elves had wrapped all the presents and arranged them into piles.
They all ripped open their presents like they were little kids. It became clear why Sirius had not spent a lot of time shopping. He had stolen the door from Professor Hoozengraft's office as a present to James who had dropped Muggle Studies because he had hated the professor so much. Somehow he had managed to steal the timer that calculated the Slytherin's house points as a present for Remus. He had also stolen various other Hogwarts possessions for his friends. The only present he had actually bought was a black kitten for Kim. It was a little disgruntled at being wrapped in a box, but immediately produced a liking to Kim and as he ate her vegemite on toast.
"Oh, he likes vegemite! He's truly my pet. I'm calling him Ris-Ris!" She petted Ris-Ris fondly as she opened her other presents. Which included presents from her family and…
"Lucius Malfoy?" Remus exclaimed as he read the card.
"Yeah, we were kind of friends. He's one of the older Slytherin's I talked about." Kim said, grabbing the card off Remus.
"Narcissa thinks he fancies you." Sirius said rolling his eyes. "She's a snob and a half."
"I know you hung out with him sometimes, but he doesn't seem the type to send… Is that a Lunascope?" Lily's eyes popped with amazement. "You'll ace Astronomy with that. I didn't think you could even buy them yet."
"You can if you know where to shop." Ebony said. "Haven't you opened your present from me, Lil?"
When Lily did, she found a Lunascope twice the size of Kim's gleaming up at her. It seemed Ebony had not spared any money when it came to buying presents for her friends. She gave Terran a piano ("To go with my Drum Kit, Cello and flute!"), for Kim a never-ending jar of vegemite ("Ris-Ris will love it too!"), a flying motorbike for Sirius ("This is better than the toilet that I stole for you."), James got ownership of the Woollongong Warriors ("I got a Quidditch Team for Christmas? Wicked!") And Remus was given a small island in the South Pacific.
"Great idea, I know." Ebony grinned. "My parents got me one a couple of years ago. Ebon, it's beautiful there."
James was even more excited when he opened his present from Lily.
"A Silver Arrow 68! Wow, Lily! This is better than my Swift Stick. I've heard stories. The acceleration on this thing is meant to be phenomenal and it even has a cushioning charm already. This was Witch Broomstick's fastest broom winner last year!" He examined the broom from all angles. "I'll be good enough to join the Woollongong Warriors with this broom."
"Blimey, this is swish, James." Sirius called as he swung his engraved beater bat around his head.
"Yeah, I actually have some hidden intentions with that, mate. I'll talk to you about it later." James tried to say with his mouth full of Every Flavour Beans that Peter had sent him.
Soon they were in the Kitchen giving the maids and house elves their present.
"You all have the day off." Mr Wiccapot exclaimed. "Young Miss Grima has kindly offered to cook for us today."
Kim smiled at the Wiccapot's and got to work cooking lunch.
After they had eaten their lasagne and fettuccine, and after they had spent the night on the beach singing songs from Remus's new Beatle's Record, and after Christmas had turned into Boxing Day, and after their New Year's celebrations the New Year had begun, which also meant the new term.
The trip on the Hogwarts Express was not as fun as it usually was. Christmas at the Wiccapot Mansion had been the best Christmas for most of them and going back to school was not something to look forward to. The only bright spot on the horizon was the party. They had spent all their spare time organising it and now it was close.
The week crawled by like an old, tired snail. The seconds seemed like minutes and the minutes seemed like hours, but finally Friday came. Merlin's Day. The day of the best party Hogwarts would ever remember.
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