Christmas Time Again
It was early morning and the castle that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was quiet. The few occupants that were left in the castle were sound asleep as the first golden rays of day snuck into their rooms. One pale string of light found its path crossed over a sleeping boy with dark black hair and handsome looks. He flipped over, as if trying to block out the sun and what it meant, before blinking his eyes open a few times. There on his nightstand sat a candy cane with a ribbon and note attached: Merry Christmas from Headmaster Dumbledore and the other Hogwarts Professors.
The young man, Sirius Black, jumped up excitedly. Today was Christmas! He couldn't sleep late, now could he? He crept out of bed and looked around to see his other three roommates also still sound asleep. Well, now, that wouldn't do. He tiptoed silently over the bed next to him and looked at the mound of blankets with messy black hair sticking all over the place. Sirius had a devilish grin on as he realized how he could wake up the mound.
"Hey, James, Lily's in here and she's wearing the sexiest little number and asking for YOU."
Sirius smiled as the mound of blankets shot up to reveal his best friend, James Potter. Who was looking quite excited over the prospect of his girlfriend in lingerie. "Just kidding, mate, but I had to get you up. It's CHRISTMAS!"
James' face fell and he groaned. "That was not funny, Padfoot, getting my hopes up like that," he said, reaching for his glasses. After putting them and stretching, James hopped out of bed. "Happy Christmas, Padfoot."
Sirius smiled back. "Happy Christmas, Prongs. Shall we wake up Messiers Moony and Wormtail?"
"Yes, I believe we shall." The two crept across the room to tackle the shortest and easiest to awaken Marauder. James lifted up the mattress slightly while Sirius grabbed the blankets. On the count of three, Sirius tore off the covers while James tipped over the mattress. The result was that Peter Pettigrew ended up rather unceremoniously on the floor next to his bed, James and Sirius smiling at him.
Peter rubbed his sore bottom as he stood up. "What was that for?" he asked.
"Happy Christmas, Wormtail!" the other two chanted. James placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Sorry to be rough. But hey, want to help us wake up Remus?" Peter nodded and the three approached the last occupied bed.
Remus Lupin was unaware of the looks being given to him as he was still in his own dream world. A small smile graced his face as he rolled over, moaning something. "Did he just moan Harmony's name?" Sirius asked James and Peter. The little one shrugged while James had a lopsided grin. At the same time, he and Sirius mouthed, "Blackmail."
The three sat there, pondering about how to wake up their friend. Sirius didn't like to use the same tactic twice, no matter how funny it would be to watch Remus' face turn red at the mention of Harmony's name. Plus, Remus was too gentlemanly to appear ecstatic over a girl—no matter how much Sirius, James and Peter knew he liked her—coming to seduce him.
Suddenly James had an idea and he leaned over to whisper it in Sirius' ear. The other boy nodded and made his voice sound all panicky. "Oh my Merlin! Remus! Come quick! We were just informed that two Slytherins are trying to kidnap Harmony!"
Remus sat up, breathing quickly and focused in on Sirius. Within a few minutes, he fell back down on his pillow, groaning. "I can't believe I just fell for that!" he said, putting a pillow over his face.
"Come on, Moony, it is Christmas. Get out of bed and downstairs so we can open up PRESENTS!" Moony glared at Sirius before getting up and putting on his bathrobe. With a smile, Sirius led his three friends down to their common rooms.
Kristin Wright woke up around the same time as Sirius. She stretched, put on her bathrobe and took in her room. The fourth member of her dorm cluster was home for the holidays, leaving her with her two best friends. Without a single thought, she cannon balled on to the bed next to her. The occupant of said bed shot up about three feet in the air before landing as a pile of blonde hair, red pajamas and gold sheets.
"Kiki, what the bloody hell was that for?" the girl yelled at her friend.
"It's Christmas, Harmony," Kiki said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Happy Christmas. Now, let's go wake up Miss Lily Evans over there."
Harmony, now fully awake, glanced over at the other occupied bed. "You can go wake her up. I'm not that suicidal," Harmony said. "I have no reason to die yet."
"Of course not. You and Remus haven't even kissed yet, for Merlin's sake." Kiki dodged the pillow hurled at her. "Fine! I'll leave you to have romantic thoughts about Remus while I go risk my life waking Lil up."
"Hey, don't try to guilt me. It was your idea. And need I mention that you're most likely to have some romantic thoughts about a certain slimy Slytherin?"
Kiki looked over her friend and then stormed to the other side of the room, muttering about something under her breath. She reached over to Lily's bed, where all that could be seen of the girl was her mass of red hair on the pillow. The idea of how to wake up her friend came from seeing the state of her friend's hair. "Hey, Lily, FRIZ ALERT!"
Lily Evans jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom with her wand, ready to cast all the needed charms to get her hair to flatten out. "Great, now she's going to be in there all morning," Harmony said, sitting Indian-style on her bed. "And then Sirius will call up from the Common room about how we are keeping the boys and I don't feel like dealing with that."
"Of course," Kiki replied, plopping down on her bed to wait for her other friend. "You need to conserve your energy for avoiding the mistletoe whenever you're with Remus so he doesn't realize that you have a crush on him."
Harmony was now glaring daggers at his friend. "It's Christmas. Can we put everything aside? Just for today at least? Or else your crush on a certain Marauder may accidentally slip out at some point today. Most likely under relocated mistletoe," she said.
Kiki held her hands up to surrender as Lily came out of the bathroom. She threw open the curtains of the room and stared outside. "Snow. You are my worst enemy!" she yelled, shaking a fist. In a resigned sigh, Lily grabbed a nearby ponytail holder and threw her messy hair up into a messier bun. "Alright. Let's not keep the boys waiting," she told her friends. Kiki and Harmony shrugged before leaping off their beds to follow the redhead.
Sirius was pacing circles around the giant Christmas tree McGonagall had the house elves set up in the common room. "Where could they be? Normally Kiki and I have the uncanny ability to wake up at the same time on Christmas and get everyone up," he ranted.
James snorted. "By means of annoying us until we wake up to clobber you." At a look from his friend, James sighed. "Look," he said, "I'm sure that they will be down shortly. Maybe they decided to sleep in a little longer."
"Or lock Kiki in a closet so she didn't wake them up," Remus joked. "Maybe we should try doing that with Sirius."
"Ooo. If we, can I help? Sirius is the second person on my list of what I want to lock in a closet!" Kiki said, vaulting over the couch and landing in between Sirius and Peter.
Sirius stared at her. "I'm the second? Who's first?"
"Mrs. Norris," Kiki stated, mocking hurt that it wasn't obvious. "Who else?" Lily giggled as she plopped herself down on James' lap and Harmony curled up on the chair Remus was leaning against. Kiki turned and faced the entire group. "I think it's that time…" she said.
"PRESENTS!"
"Kiki, Sirius, say it louder. I don't think they heard you in AUSTRALIA!" Harmony replied, rolling her eyes. But nonetheless, she leaned over and picked up two presents. "If it will get you two to SHUT UP, you can start opening mine to you two."
Harmony tossed the two boxes so Kiki and Sirius could rip into them. Pulling out Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, they smiled and started eating them right away. Their blonde friend merely shook her head and then handed out the rest of her presents to her friends.
It was a tradition that stretched back to their first year of Hogwarts. The seven had stood around the Christmas tree and debated how to best open the presents. Sirius and James had wanted to dive head first into the presents are start opening everyone with their names on them. Lily, the voice of reason, had decided that each friend would hand out their presents to the others to open.
Harmony had mostly gotten her friends either Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans or new quills. Except Remus, who she gave him a new sweater to wear after transformations, since his werewolf form always ended up ripping his clothes. "It's wolf-proof," she said.
Remus decided to go next, tossing the smallest of his gifts to his fellow Marauders. The three tore them open and smiled upon seeing Chocolate Frogs. He had given Lily that book she had been eyeing for some time, a scarf for Kiki (since it was kinda his fault that she no longer had one) and a notebook and pen for Harmony to write down all her story ideas.
Peter decided to pass his around. He had gotten everyone personalized ink bottles. Sirius and James got a laugh when Peter's ears turned red when everyone fawned over his gifts. Of course, the taunting only lead to his ears turning so red, one could've sworn they were purple. So, to save him from further embarrassment, Lily untangled herself from her boyfriend's arms and went to distribute her gifts. She gave Kiki and Harmony two best friend pendants. For Sirius, she got him a new leash—to connect to the collar she and the girls had gotten him last year. Remus and Peter received two new quills while she gave James a picture of them dancing around the Hogwarts' courtyard.
James kissed Lily, pressing his gift into her hand before going to get his other friends'. Lily opened the small box to find a beautiful locket inside. "Oh, James," she cooed, as her boyfriend had a sheepish smile on his face. He tossed Sirius his gift, which was more candy for the boy to get sugar high off of.
"Oh great, James, what are you thinking? He'll be bouncing off the walls all night!" Remus groaned. "Now I'll never get to sleep!" Sirius tossed a pillow at Remus, knocking the boy to the ground. "Low blow, Padfoot, low blow," they heard the brown haired boy moan. Sirius merely smiled as he distributed his presents.
James ripped open his gift excitedly to find a broom warmer. "Sweet!" he exclaimed, high fiving Sirius. "This will be perfect for those winter matches!"
"I know," Sirius nodded. "That's why I got myself one as well. I hate a cold broom."
The others shrugged and opened their presents. Obviously, the personalized gifts stopped only at James since they seemed to get the same things. "Honeydukes' candies," Kiki said. "I feel so loved right now. Anyway, my turn. Am I the last one?" Everyone nodded as Kiki distributed her gifts.
Lily received a book containing new spells to help control her morning frizz. Harmony and Remus received the latest books in defense against the dark arts while Peter received a book about the history of animagi. "There's an interesting chapter about famous rat animagi you might like," Kiki said, since Peter was always self-conscious of his animagi form. James and Sirius then both received self-help books: "How I Finally Let Go of my Intense Quidditch Obsession." The others dissolved into giggles at the indignant looks on the two friends' faces.
That night was the second part of the Marauder and HM annual Christmas tradition: the party that lasts into the early hours in the morning (or whenever McGonagall came in to kick them to their rooms for sleep). After dinner in the Great Hall with everyone who had remained at Hogwarts for the holidays (including Severus Snape, much to the disgust of the Marauders), the Gryffindors marched back to their house to change for the festivities that night.
Sirius paced in the bathroom, ignoring the shouts of irritation coming from his friends on the other side. This was their last Christmas party in Hogwarts and they needed to go out with a bang! Unfortunately, Filch had found their secret stash of fireworks and had properly disposed of them. They had to be extra careful because the groundskeeper still had yet to pin the illegal explosives on the Marauders.
Sirius ran a hand through his neck length hair and tied it back into a ponytail, mentally going over the checklist. Butterbeer—check. He and James had asked the house elves to store it for them and to only let one of the Marauders or HMs into the store. The bottle of firewhisky—check, safely hidden under a loose board under his bed. He and James had had Kiki charm their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher while the two boys snuck in the alcohol from Hogsmeade. Loads of candy? Check! Honeydukes loved the annual Christmas party just because of how much sugar the seven Gryffindors could consume in one night. Mistletoe? Check! Charmed to make sure that James got plenty of snogging time with Lily and that Remus might finally kiss Harmony.
But they still needed something…something unforgettable! Something that they would be talking about for years. Something that their children will want to duplicate or at least attempt to live up to when they attend Hogwarts. He suddenly came up with an idea and, smiling, he finally opened the bathroom door. "About time," Remus grumbled. "What took you so long? Did you fall in?" Sirius merely shrugged as he sat down on his bed. Remus shook his head and made a mad dash to the bathroom but Peter had transformed into a rat, de-transformed and already locked the door. "Damn it!"
"What could possibly be taking them so long?" Lily asked, smoothing out the (nonexistent) wrinkles in her knee length green velvet dress. She had finally gotten control over her frizz thanks to some of the charms in the book Kiki had given her and now her red hair cascaded in perfect ringlets from a ponytail holder.
Kiki was slumped on the couch, her black hair and blue highlights spread all over. "Lily, stop that!" she scolded. "And come on, Sirius takes twice as long as the three of us combined to get ready. They're probably trying to pull him out of the bathroom."
Harmony snorted from her place by the fire. She, Lily and Kiki were all wearing the same style of dress, just in different colors. Hers was red while Kiki's was blue. The sleeves were lace, decorated with little flowers and they had square necklines, decorated with little rhinestones. Her blonde hair was done into a beautiful French braid and tied off with a red ribbon tied into a big bow. She tapped the two-inch heel of one her black shoes against the floor as they continued to wait.
After an eternity, the four boys came tumbling down the stairs and landed in a pile of red and black at the bottom of the stairs, Sirius on top smiling like a mad man. "Whoops. Looks like I accidentally missed the first step," he said, shrugging as he stood up.
"Accidentally my foot," James muttered after Remus and Peter got off of him. He brushed himself off and turned to face his girlfriend. And his jaw dropped open. "Lily," he said, when he recovered his voice, "you look absolutely stunning!" Lily smiled and kissed James passionately.
Kiki and Sirius looked on in disgust while the other three diverted their attentions to other things. After a few minutes, Kiki had had enough. "Are you two going to inspect each other's tonsils all night or are we going to celebrate our last Christmas in Hogwarts?" she asked, arms crossed and tapping her foot hurriedly.
James broke away and looked smugly at Kiki. "For your information, it would impossible for Lily and me to inspect the other's tonsils. I had mine removed a year before I came to Hogwarts." With that, he stuck out his tongue at her, which only served to rile her up more. Giving a feral roar, Kiki lunged for the wizard and the two began a chase around the Common room, out through the portrait and down the hallway.
Those still inside merely shrugged and started the party. Earlier, Lily had sent the request down to the kitchen for the house elves to bring up their stores of butterbeer and the five eagerly dived into the delicious drink. Next, they started onto the candy as Kiki and James returned, frowning. At Lily's inquisitive look, Kiki merely shrugged and said, "Finch. Didn't like the noise we were making near her Muggle Studies classroom. Honestly, doesn't she go home for Christmas?"
After that, the party preceded normally. The candy was devoured within two hours and the butterbeer was close to being carefully rationed by Remus after three and half. Near eleven-thirty, James and Harmony broke through the charms placed on electronics and were able to get many "poppy" Christmas songs playing and everyone started dancing. No one noticed Sirius slip out about a quarter to midnight…
When it reached midnight, James climbed upstairs to retrieve the bottle of firewhiskey hidden under Sirius' bed. He walked back down and tried to find Sirius. It was their own personal tradition—they would open the bottle together and take the first sips. But his best friend was no where to be found. He tapped Kiki on the shoulder as she levitated a piece of mistletoe over Remus and Harmony. "Hey," he said. "Have you seen Sirius?"
"Come to think of it, no. I haven't seen him for a while," Kiki replied, never breaking her concentration. "Sorry." James shrugged and watched as the charmed mistletoe wouldn't let the embarrassed teens go until they kissed. However, the charm wasn't as good as anyone (outside of Remus and Harmony) would've liked and it only took friendly pecks on the cheek to be released.
James found Lily and Peter roasting marshmallows over Gryffindor's fire. "Have either of you seen Sirius?"
"I thought it was unusually quiet," Lily said, standing up. "Don't worry, James, I'm sure he'll pop up soon." She leaned in and gave him a kiss. Pulling back, she noticed what he was holding. "James Potter, is that firewhiskey?"
"Aww, Lil, its tradition. And besides, we're adults in the wizarding world now," James whined.
"It's still not allowed in any Hogwarts dorm!" But James could see that Lily had already given up and he kissed her on the cheek.
Suddenly, there came the sound of sleigh bells. The portrait swung open and in walked…Santa Claus? He was dressed in a red suit, with that belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly, a white beard, black boats and matching red hat. "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" he said.
"Actually, Santa, it's the day after Christmas," Kiki replied.
"Then Happy Boxing Day!" Santa said, sitting down on one of the big red chairs. "Now who wants to sit on Santa's lap?"
James, Kiki, Remus, Lily and Harmony all looked at each other. They had already processed who "Santa" was and they were surprised he could pull it off. Only Peter was confused and Kiki bent down to whisper, "It's Sirius, Wormtail." Peter nodded.
Meanwhile "Santa" was starting to get a bit restless. "Come on, someone's got to sit on my lap," he said, in a bit of a whine.
Kiki plopped herself down on his lap and threw her arms around his neck. "Now Santa," she said, in a sultry tone, "you don't need to whine."
"Santa" seemed a little taken back by the tone the witch was using, but he recovered quickly. "No, I don't. So, what would you like for boxing day?"
"Hmm…what do I want? Well, would you prefer the full version or the PG version?"
"Never mind, I doubt I want to hear either versions," replied "Santa." Kiki gave "Santa" a peck on the cheek and hopped off the lap. "Um, who is next? Lily, wanna have a go?"
"Uh, okay," Lily said, cautiously sitting down on "Santa's" lap. "Let me see, what do I want for Boxing Day? Well, I want my boyfriend—that was my BUM!" Lily leapt up, holding her rear where "Santa" had pinched it. James put his arms around his girlfriend and glared at the now laughing "Santa." He walked away, muttering something about sweet revenge.
At that moment, the portrait swung open and a very unhappy Head of House walked in. She stopped in front of the group. "I should've known it would be you seven," she said, arms crossed. "Do you have any idea what time it is? It's almost one o'clock. Now, I know there are no classes tomorrow, but you should be asleep! Or not making enough noise to wake the—Mr. Black, what the devil are you doing?"
"Santa" pulled Professor McGonagall onto his lap. "So, Professor, what would you like for Boxing Day?" he asked, sweetly. McGonagall could only sputter while the other Gryffindors could only laugh.
Someone else walked in to the Common room. "Minerva? Are you in hear?" they heard the Headmaster ask. The others stopped their laughing and looked at Albus Dumbledore. He only chuckled at the scene before him. He walked over and helped his Deputy off "Santa's" lap.
"Thank you, Albus," McGonagall said, smoothing out her bathrobe. But then her jaw dropped—as did seven other jaws—when Albus sat down on "Santa's" lap. "Albus, what are you doing?
"Having some Holiday fun, my dear," Albus replied. He turned to "Santa" who had finally closed his mouth. "Now, for Boxing Day, I would like a nice new pair of socks."
"Albus, you received about twenty already today, er, yesterday," McGonagall said, fighting a smile that threatened to grace her face.
Albus smiled at her. "Ah, but you can never have too many socks," he said, standing up. "Happy Christmas, you all. Keep it down, please?" With that, the two professors swept out of the room.
"Imagine that," James said, a little shocked. "Santa" let down his shields and looked like regular Sirius.
"I know," Kiki said. "Who would've thought that both McGonagall and Dumbledore would've sat on Sirius' lap?" She jerked her thumb at Sirius.
Sirius pretended to be huffy. "Of course! I'm their favorite pupil!"
"Right." Remus rolled his eyes.
"I am."
Now Harmony and Lily got in on the act. "Sure you are," they said together. Sirius merely crossed his arms.
James shook his head. "I meant that we forgot to hide the firewhiskey and they didn't seem to notice it," he said, holding up the bottle. The other seven looked at each other and shook. "Anyway," James continued, "Sirius, shall we?" Sirius nodded and soon everyone was drinking some of the whiskey—even Miss Head Girl, Lily Evans.
Downstairs, Minerva checked on her two sleeping children. "Minerva, Eden and Riley are teenagers, I don't think you have to check on them," Albus called from their bedroom. Minerva smiled and closed Riley's door so she could join her husband.
"They're still my babies, Albus," she whispered, climbing back into bed. "I can't believe that Sirius dressed up as Santa. And he had the audacity to pull me onto his lap. Or that you would sit on his lap too!" She turned to Albus. "And socks? Aberforth has his goats; you have your socks."
Albus giggled and extinguished the candles with a wave of his hands. The two snuggled deeper under the covers and Albus whispered, "I only said socks because I couldn't say what I really wanted for Boxing Day."
"ALBUS!"
A/N: Merry Christmas to all my readers! And to the ones who usually read "Elaborate Lives" just in case I don't get a chance to update that before Christmas…but I figure I should…somehow…anyway, thanks especially to yeah whatever and FireDevaKitsuneKarma…