TOY SOLDIERS

CHAPTER SEVEN-THE CHRISTMAS DANCE

Sirius angrily threw it out the opened window. I slumped against Lily. Lily put her arms around me.

"Is everything okay?" Professor Xander asked concerned.

"No. I think she needs to go to the nurse," Sirius said.

"Go ahead," Professor Xander said. "You four can go with her."

James, Remus, Lily and Peter all helped me out of the room. We heard confused and concerned chatter among the students as we left the room.

"That was just sick," Remus said with rage.

A strong wave of nausea rolled over me and I pulled away from Lily and ended up vomiting on the side of the corridor.

I dropped to my knees and when I was done, I wiped my mouth with the corner of the sleeve of my robe.

Lily and Sirius crouched down on either side of me and put an arm around each shoulder. They helped me to my feet and down the rest of the corridor. Peter followed closely behind.

REMUS.

Now I was pissed.

"I'm going to find whoever is doing this and kill them," I growled.

James looked at me startled.

"Remus…" he began but I cut him off.

"No. I'm tired of someone playing with Hillary. This has gone far enough," I snarled.

"Remus slow down," James said softly as we began walking after Sirius, Peter, Lily and Hillary. "First, we don't even know whose doing this and why. Well, I think the 'why' is answered because the person is a nutball, but still…obviously this person is very dangerous. He killed an innocent owl and girl in violent ways. We don't know what he's capable of."

"He doesn't know what I capable of doing when I'm a wolf," I retorted.

"Remus, I don't think getting yourself killed will stop anything," James said.

"Why wouldn't it?"

James studied me closely. "Because think of Hillary…I doubt very much she'd like it if you were killed trying to help her. She would feel responsible and she wouldn't want to lose her best friend,"

He was right.

"I know how much you love her," James added with a whisper. "I'm not blind…but let's not go do anything heroic until we know the facts."

He put a hand on my shoulder and then continued down the corridor.

I stopped walking for a minute and thought about what he said. He knew my feelings. I knew he wouldn't say anything to anyone without me knowing and I was grateful for that. I continued to walk down the corridor.

HILLARY.

Madam Elkin gave me a Granvol Potion to settle my stomach. I was just lying on my back on the couch in the common room staring up at the ceiling. I had clasped my hands behind my head.

Lily and Sirius were on the floor playing a game of Wizards Chess. Peter was reading a book on the chair opposite the couch. James was watching Lily and Sirius play. Remus entered shortly and I moved my legs so he could sit. I placed my feet across his thighs.

"Do you mind?" I asked gesturing to my feet.

I didn't want to put them there if he didn't like people's feet on his lap.

Remus shook his head.

"This was the worst," James said. "Each 'gift' is getting more violent."

"And disgusting," Lily said shivering.

"I want to know whose doing this," I said staring up at the high ceiling. "And why. I've never done anything to anybody."

"I don't think the person is a wizard," Remus said quietly. "No witch or wizard could do that to someone."

"You're right," Sirius said looking up from the game. "But what could?"

We were all silent then.

The fire was crackling softly and giving off a warm, orange glow over everyone.

The fire was right by my head and I was getting warm.

I took my feet off of Remus' lap and turned around.

"Mind if I rest my head on your thigh? The fireplace is starting to cook my brain. We all know how dangerous that is," I grinned.

Remus once again shook his head.

"Yeah," Sirius cracked. "She'll just as bananas as she is now!"

So I lay down on my back on the couch again, this time putting my head on Remus' right thigh with my feet over the arm of the couch. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at Sirius. It hit him right in the back of the head and bounced off.

I felt safe with all of them there. I stared up at the ceiling again.

"I hope nothing happens at the dance," I said quietly. "That would be horrible."

"I know, but we're not letting you out of our sight and we're keeping a close eye out for anything weird," Remus said peering down at me.

I smiled up at him. My heart fluttering slightly.

"Do you think we should go to Headmaster Dumbledore?" Lily asked looking up from her game. Sirius took that advantage and cheated.

"I think we should," James said. "This last gift was a doosy."

"Suppose we do? And this 'person' finds out? He could do more harm to Hillary," Remus said looking at James.

"That's true," Peter said.

"I agree," Sirius said.

"I don't know what we should do anymore," I added. "Maybe I should just give myself to this nut."

"Absolutely not," Remus said firmly. "We're not losing one of our best friends."

He put his hand on my arm.

"No way," Sirius said.

"We'll fight for you no matter what," James said.

"Absolutely!" Peter piped up.

I felt so happy and content now.

After the break, we all headed to our next classes.

The Christmas Dance arrived quickly.

Lily was dressed in a light purple dress robe. The guys also wore their dress robe. Lily's red hair was slightly curled. I was wearing a light blue dress robe. My hair hung around my shoulders in gentle curls. Lily applied light blue eye shadow to my eye lids, peach blush to my cheeks and a light pink lip gloss to my lips.

"You look absolutely gorgeous," Lily beamed.

"So do you," I grinned back.

"Let's go make the guys drool," Lily said winking.

We left the girls' dorm and headed to the common room.

James was wearing a dark green dress robe. Remus was wearing a navy dress robe. Sirius was wearing a deep maroon dress robe.

"Whoa!" James cried as he saw us enter. "I think we have the hottest dates yet!"

Sirius' eyes widened when he saw me and I saw Remus' eyes widened also.

Lily went over to James and I went over to Sirius.

"Ready?" he asked offering his arm.

"Ready," I grinned.

I gave Remus a grin as we all headed down to the Great Hall. Remus followed behind us.

The Great Hall was transformed into a real holiday scene. Snow fell from the ceiling sticking to everyone's hair and shoulders but it was a warm snow. Outside the real snow was falling. The windows had frost on them. There were tables set up each holding about eight couples and there were about 70 tables set up total. Mistletoe, garland, and streamers in red and green hung all around. Fake snowflakes were scattered around the floor.

"This is so beautiful," Lily gushed as we found a table and sat down.

Lily and James sat down next to each other. Then it was Sirius and I and finally Remus. There was one seat next to him that was empty. He crossed his arms on the table and rested his chin on top of them.

I felt bad for him. When I raised my eyes to the ceiling, I realized there was mistletoe hanging over James and Lily, Sirius and I and Remus.

Lily followed my gaze.

She grinned and winked before turning to James and kissing him.

Sirius turned to me.

"If you don't want to…"

I smiled. "It's okay. Besides, it is sort of a tradition,"

Sirius shrugged and then leaned close to me. He kissed me gently and softly, but it felt like I was kissing my brother and a dog combined.

I pulled back and tried not to burst into laughter.

"Hillary? Can I talk to you for a moment?" Lily asked with a grin.

"Sure," I said and got up.

She and I walked outside in the ice cold weather. The snow fell and stuck to my hair and eyelashes. I also felt some sticking to my cheeks.

"You had to see Remus' face when Sirius kissed you," Lily gushed. "It was blank."

"Really?" I asked tilting my head.

Lily nodded.

REMUS.

That had to be the hardest thing for me to watch. Sirius kissing Hillary.

It was now or never to congratulate him.

"Hey Sirius, congrats man," I said.

Sirius looked confused.

"Congrats? For what? Farting the most times?"

I smiled. "No. You've got a great girl,"

I saw realization forming on James' face clearer.

"What girl? Hillary?" Sirius asked genuinely confused

I nodded. "Yeah,"

Sirius looked at James. James just grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"Remus, have you been sniffing wolfsbane?" Sirius asked turning back to me.

"Huh?" I asked as it was now my turn to be startled and confused. "You like Hillary no? You're boyfriend and girlfriend now aren't you? The kiss just sealed it."

Sirius' expression changed as realization formed on his face as well.

"No, Remus. We're here as friends. That's all," Sirius said.

Now I was really confused.

"The kiss was nothing…it meant nothing. Sure I love Hillary, but like a sister. That was really weird kissing her. It felt like I was kissing my sister," Sirius grinned.

I was stunned. I had been completely wrong.

"Besides, I sensed that you love her," Sirius continued. "I'm not blind man."

"Go get her!" James cried as he leaned over and pushed me out of the chair.

I headed out of the Great Hall.

HILLARY.

I saw Remus coming toward us.

Lily grinned and winked at me before heading back into the castle. Lily gave Remus' arm a squeeze as he passed her before she continued to head to the castle.

The snow falling all around was beautiful. It was sticking in my hair more and sticking to the shoulders of my dress robe as well as my cheeks and eye lashes. I hugged myself.

"Hey," I said brightly as Remus stood in front of me.

"Hey," he said.

He seems nervous for some reason, I thought.

"You okay?" I asked. "You seem nervous."

"I, um, have something to tell you," Remus stammered clearing his throat.

The snow as sticking to his hair and shoulders as well.

"I don't know how exactly to tell you," Remus continued. "But…"

He hesitated.

Whatever this is must be really hard for him to get out.

"Go ahead," I said encouragingly. "Take your time."

"Well, I…um, love you," Remus finally said.

I froze.

Did he just say that he loved me?

"Me? So I was the girl you were having mixed emotions about?"

Remus nodded blushing furiously. "I told you I liked Jessica and Lily because I was terrified to tell you the truth. Then, when Sirius asked you to the dance and when he kissed you…"

I held up my hand signaling him to be quiet.

"Whoa. First of all, that kiss was nothing," I said. "It felt like I was kissing my brother and a dog."

Remus grinned.

I grinned back. "Secondly, I wasn't sure if Sirius liked me like that. He told me that he couldn't stand seeing one of his best friends go to the dance alone. That's why he asked me. So right then and there I figured that we were just going as friends,"

"Yeah," Remus said. "He told me that just before that you were like a sister to him."

"Nice. Why didn't he just tell me in the first place? I wouldn't have kissed him!"

Remus chuckled.

"And third," I said stepping a bit closer to him. "I have something to tell you."

We stared into each others eyes.

"I love you too," I said softly.

Remus was shocked.

"Really? So that's why you acted the way you did,"

I nodded.

"KISS HER!" a voice yelled from the doorway into the castle.

Remus and I turned and looked.

James, Sirius and Lily were all standing there grinning.

"JUST DO IT MAN!" Sirius yelled.

Lily scolded them.

Remus and I chuckled before we looked at each other again.

With the snow falling all around us it was actually really romantic.

Remus stepped closer to me. My heart pounded. He gently tilted my chin up and took my face in his hands. His thumbs in front of my ears and his palms cupping my jaw.

He moved his face closer. I closed my eyes.

His lips met mine. He kissed me so gently and softly. It was loving and yet so gentle.

I kissed him back the same way.

The kiss lasted for a few minutes.

My whole body felt like it was a live wire. Remus slowly pulled back. I opened my eyes. Remus had his forehead pressed against mine. Our breath sawed in and out and it rose out in steam in front of us.

We heard loud cheering coming from the doorway.

We laughed and began heading back to the castle. Remus had his arm around me.

"You finally did it man!" Sirius cried giving Remus a quick hug.

Lily squealed and gave me a hug too.

"Let's go inside," I said. "I'm cold!"

We went back inside the castle and took our seats again. This time, I sat beside Remus. Sirius was grinning. Peter had decided not to come to the dance. He was staying in the common room.

"How does it feel to get your feeling out in the open?" James asked grinning.

"Much better," Remus sighed but he was grinning too.

"I could see it in the both of you," Sirius said. "I could tell but I didn't want to say anything right away."

"I just have one question," I said. I could still taste Remus' lips on mine. "Why didn't you want me to hug you before?"

"Oh," Remus said looking embarrassed. "I was scared and I wanted to distant myself because I was afraid of losing you."

"That's not going to happen," I said reassuringly.

I put a hand on his. His fingers interlocked mine.

Headmaster Dumbledore arose from his seat at the head table.

"Happy Christmas everyone!"

"Happy Christmas!" everyone chorused back.

"Well, it's time for food and then dancing!" Professor Dumbledore said. "Tuck in!"

Food appeared on our plates. We all began happily eating and talking.

I was so happy…happy then I've been in a long time.

After the food disappeared, the dancing began. Remus and I slow danced. His left hand clasped my right and his right hand rested on my hip. I draped my left arm over his shoulder as we rotated on the spot. Suddenly, Remus froze.

"What's wrong?" I asked alarmed.

"I smell smoke,"