A/N: Voila! C'est chapitre prochaine! Since it's Thanksgiving Day, we are going to post up this chapter so that there is something for you guys to be thankful for! Now, to respond to the reviews:
siriuszsecretlover-Yep, Sirius will never get rejected because of his hotness, and Peter will always get rejected (okay, maybe not always) because of his mega dorkiness.
Jays- Yay! We're someone's favorite author (or one of them)! marks a tally on our chart Okay, we don't have a tally chart, but thank you for the review!
brenngt14- Don't worry, the chapters will get longer as the Marauders get older. Unfortunately, this one is pretty short, but chapter eight is pretty long.
Dyana- Aww, thanks!
Alteng- Yes, the Blacks are very aristocratic, pompous, arrogant,haughty, the list goes on (wow, there are a lot of words to describe them). You will get to meet them in the first chapter of Year Three (oh, the suspense).
caitiedeezer- No, Lauren will not be an important character to this story. She is just the first in the line of many random girlfriends he will have, and he doesn't stick with them vary long. He won't have a real relationship until he matures.We have someone special for Sirius later, and you won't see it coming. Go Silver Hawks! Woohoo!
Saeble- It's alright, I love responding to reviews!
Kamden- Sirius will be staying with James and his family over the summer, but that will be in chapters eleven and twelve.
Silverfox9- Hi Silverfox9! waves We're really glad that you liked it so far.
Red English Rose- Yes we both made it to the club! Woohoo!
Marauder4eva-Heck, I would think that it is sweet as long as it was Sirius giving it to me! He's so sexy! As for a prank idea, how about making a teacher or a student lie uncontrollably (preferably Professor Naylor, gosh he's dreadful).
Chapter Seven: The One With the Igloo
"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! It's Christmas! It's Christmas! It's Christmas! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up, Remus, get up!"
"What time is it, Peter?" said Remus while rubbing his eyes.
"It's 5:52!"
"Why are you waking us up this early?" asked James.
"Because it's Christmas!" Peter reasoned. "Sirius, get up!"
"I am up."
"You're still lying down."
"Can we all just go back to sleep?" James whined. Peter shook his head.
"Nah, we have presents. C'mon! I wanna know what you guys think of my presents to you!"
"Peter got us presents?" Sirius whispered to the other two.
"I feel really guilty now. We didn't get him anything." Remus said. Sirius shrugged it off as if it was nothing. Peter led them into the common room. The floor was cluttered with torn wrapping paper and presents tossed aside. Peter had obviously gotten a go at the presents, and a few girls were up early opening their gifts as well. Sirius flashed a flirty smile at the girls. They blushed and giggled furiously.
"Sirius, what are you doing?" Remus whispered fiercely.
"What? Am I doing something wrong?" replied Sirius coolly.
"Yeah! Aren't you dating Jenn?" said James.
"So? It's not as if I was kissing those girls. I just smiled at them."
"You were still flirting with those girls with that smile of yours." Remus reasoned. Sirius shook his head.
"No, I was just smiling. That's what friendly, pleasant people do, as you should be aware." Sirius retorted and then smiled at his companion. Remus sighed and looked down at the sloppily wrapped present that was thrown into his lap. James and Sirius received the same gift.
"Open them!" Peter requested excitedly. Remus, James, and Sirius did as they were told. The more they uncovered of their gifts, the more they wished they could cover them back up. Sirius held his gift in his hand, and the others followed the same suit. The gifts flopped over limply in their hands. As they looked at it, they wondered what it exactly was.
"They're coasters, for your cups! I made them myself!"
"Wow, coasters." Sirius said sarcastically. He whispered to James "so that's what they are. These 'coasters' are so lumpy that cups probably wouldn't stay on them."
"So, Remus, still feel guilty?" asked James.
"No, not really, but what are we going to give Peter?"
"Do we have give Peter something?" James inquired.
"Yes!" Remus demanded.
"Alright, what do we give him?" James retaliated. He smugly folded his arms. Sirius pointed to himself as if he had a plan. He cleared his throat.
"Um, Peter, about your gifts. We didn't wrap them. We got caught up in our homework, so we never got the time to do it. We can go do it now if you like."
"Okay! Hurry! I can't wait!" Peter clapped his hands with excitement. James and Remus followed Sirius into their dormitory, the coasters in their hands.
"Sirius, what is this plan of yours?" questioned Remus.
"Okay, listen to the whole plan before you judge. That goes especially for you." Sirius pointedly glanced at Remus. "We give Peter our new coaster and tell him that we bought them from a store. It solves two problems: he gets presents, and we don't have to keep his." Sirius explained as he rummaged around inside his trunk. Remus's jaw dropped as he stared incredulously at Sirius.
"How are we going to pull that off?"
"It can't be that hard."
"Can't you come up with anything better?"
"I'd like to see you try."
"He made those coasters, didn't you hear him?"
"No."
"But still, wouldn't he be able to realize that his 'gifts' were the ones he-"
"It's Peter!"
"He could still tell!"
"He can't tell the difference between a novel and real life!"
"QUIET!" James shouted over the feud. "Your row is bloody stupid and utterly ridiculous. Now, let's sort this issue out. Sorry Remus, but I agree with Sirius. Peter is very dim, and he will never know. Besides, it's the best that we can do now. Do you reckon we could wrap them in parchment?" James and Sirius quickly wrapped their coasters and they passed some parchment on to Remus, who reluctantly took it and wrapped his too.
"Okay Peter, here you go." James said as the three of them passed their presents to him. Peter attacked the wrapping parchment with such a ravenous manner that made the trio jump back in alarm.
"Oh wow! Coasters! They look just like the ones I made too!" Peter stated eagerly as he gazed at his 'new' coasters. Sirius nodded to Remus, clearly pleased with his 'noble' work.
"See? I told you it would work." he whispered in Remus's ear.
"We should use our new coasters! Where are yours?" Peter inquired, looking around the room like a panorama.
"Uh, well, um…" James inarticulately mumbled.
"Go get them now!" Peter said excitedly. Remus leaned over to Sirius.
"See? I told you it wouldn't work."
"Sirius," James whispered, "you got us into this mess. You fix it."
"Hey! You back me up, and why should I-"
"Aren't you guys gonna get your coaster?" Peter interrupted. There was a short silence as Peter waited for a response. Remus decided that the truth was the only option.
"We can't, Peter, because we-"
"We love those coasters so much that we have put them in a special place in our trunks." Sirius recovered quickly.
"We don't want to lose them." James added. Peter nodded understandingly.
"Oh, okay. I'll just use the ones you guys gave me." Peter hopped over to the water pitcher.
Once the three of them had finished opening their Christmas gifts, they ventured out to the Hogwarts grounds. Snow was piled up three feet high, and Remus, Sirius, and James were among the few outside.
"Hey! Do you know what those um, uh, small Muggle house things are called?"
"They're still called houses, James." Remus pointed out. James shook his head, making his already untidy hair even messier.
"No, they're also made out of snow, and they are round, and-"
"Oh, igloos!"
"Igloos?" Sirius snorted, "That's a strange name."
"Why don't we make one? It could be a good hideaway from Peter." James suggested. The latter agreed and the trio started piling up the snow. Actually, James and Sirius piled up snow. Remus made something out of it. They spent twenty minutes painstakingly building an igloo in the frigid snow. Once their igloo was complete, they stood back to admire their work.
"It's lopsided." Sirius confessed. The other two nodded in silent agreement. Remus scanned the vast grounds, and a thought popped into his head.
"James, I just thought of something. How is our igloo going to keep Peter from bothering us when it sticks out like a sore thumb?" Remus mentioned.
"Well, we can make more." advised Sirius.
"You mean, I'll make more." Remus corrected.
"Exactly."
"Do you think we made enough igloos?" asked James. Sirius counted the slightly deformed igloos.
"We only have twelve. Maybe three more…"
"No. My hands are practically frozen anyway. I think this is good." Remus assured them. They crawled into the igloo farthest from the castle. It was just barely large enough for all three to sit down in it. Sirius looked around with a pleased expression on his face.
"You know," Sirius stated, "this would be a great place for Jenn and me to hang out."
"You mean, a great place to snog?" laughed James.
"No, we do more than just that."
"Like what?" Remus retorted.
"Well, we talk." Remus and James chortled.
"Sure, Sirius." James said. Remus pulled out his book and began to read. James rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Remus, put that away." ordered James.
"I'm doing my homework."
"We don't have homework."
"Yeah, we do. We have to study."
"You don't need to study. The material is so easy." James droned.
"But-"
"I'll take that," Sirius wrenched the book out of Remus's grasp, "you shouldn't be studying on Christmas. You shouldn't be studying on the holidays in the first place." Remus sighed impatiently.
"Alright." After a few minutes, Remus heard a grunt from outside their igloo. He poked his head out and saw Peter on his hands and knees, trying to get in their igloo.
"Hey Remus! Nice house thing, but why did you make so many? It doesn't matter, I know exactly which one you were in!"
"How?!" Remus asked as Peter let himself in the igloo. Sirius and James groaned and they scooted over to give Peter room. "How?" Remus repeated
"I smelled you guys out. In fact, I have an excellent sense of smell. My nose has saved my life several times. I'll tell you the history of my nose…"
"Let's sneak out." suggested James.
"How are we going to do that without Peter noticing?" Remus whispered.
"…when I was five, I didn't know what time it was one day…"
"I got an idea." Sirius said, "Hey Peter! You see that area of snow over there? If you stare at it long and hard, you will see something different."
"Okay, but can I keep telling you about my nose?"
"That would be great!" enthused Remus. As Peter rambled on, the trio crawled out. James grabbed mounds of snow and began placing it in front of the igloo's entrance.
"What are you doing James?" Remus asked James.
"I'm blocking this entrance off. Don't worry," he added once he saw Remus's concerned expression, "he could easily break away the snow. I just want to see how long it takes for him to figure that out."
"…and she said 'Yes dear, we are having dinner!' If I never found out, I might've starved! And when I was six…"
"Faster!" commanded James.
"We are!" Sirius and Remus shouted in unison.
"…and that's how I found my friend in the woods. Guys, I still don't see the thing in the snow."
"Keep looking!" Sirius bellowed.
"Okay. Anyway, when I was eight, I got lost in Diagon Alley. There were so many people, and I couldn't see my mum. I knew she was going to the bookstore, but I didn't know where that was either. So, I smelled my way to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Once I got there, I asked for directions. They pointed me straight to the bookshop that my mum was shopping in! Oh! I see it! You know, the thing in the snow."
"What was in the snow?" Remus questioned. Sirius shrugged; he apparently didn't know either.
"This is so cool!" Peter continued, "It's a dragon eating a doughnut. Or maybe it's a bagel. What do you think it is?" Peter turned to face Sirius, but he wasn't there. No one else was there. "Guys? Where are you? Why is there snow blocking my way out? Oh no! I'm trapped! I'm going to freeze to death! I can already not feel my toes! I'm gonna starve too! Maybe I can eat the snow." He scooped a handful of snow and nibbled on it. "It tastes like water."
"Yeah, Peter," Remus called out, "it's just water." There was a pause.
"Oh, not anymore."
A/N: We are thankful for Jesus, our family, reviews, friends, reviewers, making it to the volleyball team, fanfiction, and people who read our story and respond to it. For fun, tell all what you are thankful for in your review.
Preview of Chapter Eight
"And please put Mr. Lupin down, Mr. Downey."