Editing. Oh, and if you're wondering why I feel the need to write this at the beginning of each edited chapter, it's so I can placemark where I left off. Yeah. Ok, read!

Disclaimer: Owning Harry Potter and co. belongs on that list of the things I will never achieve (among becoming a famous singer...not that I want to do this, be president, etc…). Nothing belongs to me… Enough said!

Love is a Funny Thing, Chapter 9

The night before Christmas, Michelle mused as she stared at the glowing fire embers, should be a night when everybody slept. It was a night where everybody of the faith should be eagerly awaiting morning—Christmas day.

Only Michelle was not asleep. She was sitting on a deserted couch in the partially lit common room. The flames flickered and danced and burned lower in the fireplace, casting ghostly shadows across the half-lit room.

She leaned her head slightly forward so it rested on her palm, a curtain of silky black hair escaping from behind her ears.

She tucked it back where it belonged and sat straight up. She thought she heard the quietest creak of a stair, but dismissed it as her paranoid mind overworking. As it did sometimes.

And she knew what she had to do when her mind overworked.

She gathered her sleek black hair into a tight bun with a hair elastic on her wrist. She kicked off her slippers, sending them flying somewhere in the common room. She stretched her body and tensed. She wasn't in proper uniform—she wore a tank top and cloud-printed pajama shorts—but it didn't matter.

Michelle's favorite pastime had always been gymnastics, as a younger child anyway. There wasn't a gymnastics team at Hogwarts—quidditch was the main and only sport, so she'd stopped intensively practicing once she'd began attending the wizarding school.

But sometimes when she just couldn't control herself, her body reverted to her old skills. Like sometimes when she was particularly happy, she just had to let off her feelings in a round off. She'd once gotten a detention from Filch for performing a series of energetic cartwheels in the halls. This had been after she'd gotten full marks on a Transfiguration exam.

As she kicked her legs carefully into a handstand and walked on her hands, she felt comforted. She forgot that she was in the common room at the dead of night on Christmas eve. She forgot that nobody, probably, but herself, was awake. She forgot that desolate and empty, half-illuminated couches and a few small tables surrounded her.

It felt like she was back on her old gymnastics team, in fact. Like she had just finished her floor routine and the crowd had started cheering—just for her—

Perhaps all this forgetting wasn't for the best, because in the middle of a back handspring she felt her legs connect with something—ow. Something hard and sharp-cut on the edge. She gingerly let herself down and inspected the cut on her calf. A large gash interrupted her calf, and was spewing blood. She felt a warm trickle of blood leak its way down her leg. And she heard a noise, somebody running down the stairs—

"Michelle, are you okay?"

It was Sirius. Michelle noted with interest that all he wore were a pair of pajama pants. She tried not to stare. His stomach was rather well defined. He did play quidditch, after all. She tried not to stare, though this proved difficult.

She became particularly aware now that she was not particularly appropriately clothed either. She wore a thin-strapped tank top and hadn't even bothered wearing a bra. Her pajama shorts were shorter than she'd liked. She hugged her knees to her chest, trying to hide herself a little more.

"Oh... hey,Sirius. What are you doing up this late?" Michelle asked, flustered. Her olive cheeks turned a light pink color, a rare occurrence.

"I could ask you the same question." He grinned, sending her heart flip-flopping inside her chest. "Doing gymnastics, nonetheless…you're really good."

"Thanks…I'm kind of out of practice, though." She said modestly, cupping her cut with her hands.

"And—oh!" He noticed her cut, which was looking quite ghastly and serious at the moment. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked concernedly, his grey eyes narrowing in concern.

"Yeah, I'll be fine…eventually." She gave him a half-smile. She probably would have smiled a bit more at him, had she not been in this much pain.

"What am I saying! Of course you're not okay—you have a bloody gash on your leg! Let's go, on the couch with you!" He said this last line with a grin on his face.

And without so much as a warning, he scooped her up—one leg under the crook of her knees, the other behind her back—and began twirling her around, managing to tickle her mercilessly in the process.

"Ack! Sirius!" she exclaimed, shrieking in half-delight, quarter-pain, and quarter-fright. Her body felt like pleasant shocks were emitting all over it where he was tickling and holding her. All the common room became a whirl of colors spinning around her. She wrapped her arms around Sirius's chest, afraid of being dropped. Even though she knew he'd never drop her. She shivered pleasantly as he continued to mock-tickle her. It would be nice to stay there forever, she mused.

Sirius couldn't help but notice how light and perfectly formed she was, and how well she fit into his arms. He continued to twirl her around in staggered circles, enjoying her beautiful laugh—the reaction to his tickles. A curtain of her hair espcaped from its bun and softly landed on his shoulder, sending him goosebumps on his bare arms.

Realizing, rather sadly, that if he kept spinning her around, he would probably cause more damage to poor Michelle than there originally was, he plopped themselves down onto a couch directly in front of the fire.

He didn't move his arms from where it was holding her body. She didn't move her arms, which were laced around his neck, either. Michelle liked how she fit nicely into his lap.

They sat like that for a while, just enjoying each other's prescence and not wanting to do anything to alter the perfect moment. Sirius felt her breathing gently, lightly, rising up and down, up and down, in his arms. She felt small and perfect in his arms, and he could feel her warmth comfortably resting on him.

She was prettier than any of the girls he'd gone out with, he realized then. She was wearing pajamas, had her hair in a messy bun, and a fresh face free of make up. She was more gorgeous than any of the fancy dress-clad, impeccable haired, perfectly made up girls.

It was a moment before they even remembered the reason for them sitting like that—Michelle's cut. Sirius awkwardly tore a piece off from the bottoms of his pajamapants, and gingerly tied it around her cut. His hand lingered there a moment more than necessary. His rough hand felt like sandpaper brushing Michelle's smooth calf, and it felt just perfect to her. If there hadn't been enough butterflies in her stomach before, it now felt like a whole new lot were being released to fly around in there.

"Better?" Sirius murmured almost inaudibly, brushing a finger tenderly across her face, tracing her chin. He tucked the escaped lock of hair behind her ear. He noticed how her almond eyes looked even prettier catching the fire's light. Her lips looked rather enticing, too.

Michelle just nodded, looking at his grey eyes, noticing the smallgold flecks in them for the first time. She felt like words weren't needed and it would spoil the perfect moment.

And they both knew this as she sat in his arms and, smiling slightly, closed the distance between their lips, kissing him softly but surely on his lips.

And neither of them were too upset that it didn't stop for a long while.
"Wakey wakey! Come on girlies, it's Christmas morning!" Amanda shouted from her position on her bed. with a stack of gifts poised beside her.

Lily cracked open a bleary eye, making an attempt (in vain) to prop herself up on her pillows. It had to be around five in the morning, she mused, but it was Christmas after all.

When all four of them were fully awake and standing, they eagerly (as they did every year, without fail) carried their respective stacks of presents to the middle of the room, and opened them together. Lily did feel rather excited—Christmas often made her feel like a little kid again.

The girls started eagerly tearing open wrapping paper to see what present awaited them inside. Lily received some blackberry chocolate (her favorite) from Michelle, and joyfully took a large bite, warmth spreading through her body. From Amanda there was a long, beautiful silk ribbon that didn't seem to be any particular color. It tied your hair up itself, and was charmed to match any outfit that you wore perfectly. (It had magically tied Lily's messy locks into a ponytail, and was a plaid sort of color—matching her pajamas.) Hazel had given her an eagle feathered quill, only the feathers were dyed varying shades of pink and purple.

Lily was, sadly, nearing the end of her teetering and towering pile, and wrapping paper was strewn carelessly all over the dormitory floor as the girls continued opening things.

Finally, only one small, carefully wrapped gift was left. She really couldn't image who it could be from, as everyone she'd expected gifts from she'd already opened. Wondering who it could possibly be from, she ripped open the wrapping paper.

It was a snow globe, she realized, shaking it slightly so that the snowflakes (really exquisitely crafted, miniature ones—not just little flakes, like in Muggle ones) twirled around. There were a few buildings crafted beautifully--shops and pubs and places lining the street with miniature softly glowing lights strung on the shops' fronts. It had glowing yellow light shining from the windows and—oh! It was a very miniature replica of Hogsmeade on a winter day, she realized as she carefully inspected the snow globe. She noted that on a small pub's door there was written, so tiny it was difficult to see--The Three Broomsticks. It was almost the exact replica of the real thing.

And what was that? She seemed to have missed the most important thing of the whole snow globe. It was two moving figures, not bigger than her pinky finger, walking about in the small street. A boy and a girl—their feautures were amazingly lifelike for something so small. The boy was fairly tall for his size with deep brown hair and the girl had flaming red hair and a petite frame. They seemed to be talking and laughing, walking down the street together. It was like a miniature winter wonderland. Lily couldn't imagine a more beautiful gift, she thought idly, staring at the two figures that were now playfully hitting each other.

Wait! Lily thought bemusedly, as she watched the girl open her tiny mouth in laughter at something the boy had said. The girl—looks like—me, sort of…and—oh goodness! The boy is like James…but no. Why would Potter send me a gift as beautiful as this? It must be somebody else. That's it. She checked the wrapping paper for a note or a card of some sort, but there was none.

"Hey, Lily! Who's that from?" Michelle called out across the room, where she was currently boinging about on a mini, collapsible trampoline she'd received from her parents. It probably wasn't a good idea to give Michelle that, seeing as she'd probably be on it day and night.

"No idea…it doesn't have a note." Lily said to Michelle, still staring in wonder at the snow globe. She felt it was kind of a secret to herself, not so much something she wanted to share or show off to her friends.

"Oooh!" Hazel exclaimed, looking at the globe. "It's beautiful…and look, it's Hogsmeade!"

The girls spent a few more moments looking for a card or a note of some form that belonged to Lily's mysterious gift, but found none. They eventually went back to the solitary pursuits of playing with their assorted gifts, as breakfast was about an hour away (Amanda had woken them up at FIVE, Lily thought regretfully.)

It was only when she was placing the snow globe carefully on her bed did she notice what was written, in sparkling gold ink on the bottom of it. It was messily scrawled, revealing that it was probably some boy's writing.

Lily,

Merry Christmas.

James

Not exactly poetry, Lily thought as she broke into a wide grin that stretched itself over her features, but I'll take it.

"Lily! Do NOT dare touch that hair that I have worked a million hours on!" Amanda shrieked in warning as Lily toyed with a lock of her newly wavy hair.

"Sorry, Manda!" Lily apologized to Amanda's bed curtain. Amanda had shut herself in there with Michelle to do Michelle's makeup and hair. Michelle had kicked and screamed and resisted this, but all in all she couldn't escape from the clutches of her three, evil, makeup obsessed friends.

She heard a shout from the curtains. "Aack! No! Don't bring those weird –TONGS—towards my eyes—AHHHH, NOOOOO—"

Yes, Lily mused, Michelle seemed to be encountering her first experience with an eyelash curler. And it seemed not to be going so well.

The Ball was in fifteen minutes. Lily sat on her bed, already being dressed and having her hair and makeup perfectly done by the resident beautyexpert, Amanda.

She had a date. A quite good date, she mused. Dave Wellings was quite a catch—one of those tall handsome blokes that she had to lean on her tip-toes to even seehis face. He was on the Gryffindor quidditch team with Michelle—which was what probably gave him such a nice body, she mused, grinning a little to herself. His hair was dark brown and had kindly twinkling deep blue eyes.

He'd better appreciate my appearance, Lily thought to herself. Amanda had spent the better part of an hour painstakingly curling her bright hair to soft waves and tying it half-up with Amanda's present—the hair tie. It had transformed itself into a beautiful silk green color, to match her dress.

Her dress was absolutely gorgeous, she knew. It was green silk and had a halter tie—a thick green silk material that formed a bow on her pale back. It continued to her ankles, slightly flaring out into full skirts. The whole number made her look rather like and old muggle glamour film star. In addition, Amanda had curled Lily's eyelashes and layered black mascara on them—making her bejeweled eyes stand out more than ever. The green open-toed shoes with the four-inch heels were awfully hard to walk in, though, she mused.

Hazel appeared a moment later, dolled up in a pink gown that went all the way to her slim ankles. She looked even more gorgeous than normal, which was saying something. She had been persuaded to have her hair done half-up and straightened, and it was laced with small pink flowers.

"Haze! You look gorgeous!" Lily exclaimed as Hazel reappeared, sporting her new hairdo.

"And don't you DARE touch it, Hazel Belinda Halloway! D'you know how long it took to put those little roses in and dye them to match your dress!" Amanda barked commandingly, still shut out with Michelle in the curtained world of makeup.

"You too, Lils! Aaah! You and Dave Wellings…do you think he'll bring you white roses? Awww, you guys are too cute!" Hazel gushed, her pretty face sparkling excitedly.

"I never had a boy bring me flowers…but Haze, you and PHILLIP! I mean, THE Phillip Rennalds! You guys are going to be adorable. And at least you don't have to stand on your toes to see his face or anything."

"Yeah." Hazel admitted, allowing herself a tiny grin. "Ummm… do you know who Remusis going with? She questioned in what she was trying to make seem an offhanded, casual manner.

"Why?" Lily questioned. Remembered their conversation in the Whomping Willow, though, she understood. "I don't know. We'll see, though, yeah?"

"Yeah. I suppose we will."

Amanda and Michelle appeared a few minutes later. Amanda looked amazing, with her corn-silk blond hair in pretty ringlets. She donned a midnight blue dress that matched her eyes almost exactly. The dress ended a little below her knees, and it had layers of fabric and spaghetti straps holding it up. They were used to Amanda's ability for beauty and looks, though. She could look good almost effortlessly. What they were not prepared for was…

Michelle. Amanda's hours spent carefully perfecting Michelle's makeup and hair had apparently not been for nothing. Her straight black hair was normally in a careless ponytail or messy bun, but now it was sleekly down and straight, with a small purple rose behind her right ear.

Her dress was a spaghetti-strap purple silk one that looked wonderful on slim Michelle. It showed off her nicely toned tan arms and legs, from all that gymnastics training. Her ears held purple-jeweled and silver chandelier earrings.

Amanda had also, evidently, attacked Michelle with the mascara and the eyelash curlers, so her almond eyes stood out more than normal. She had some kind of lip gloss on, and a silver shadow softly swept across her lids.

Yes, the boys were certainly going to be knocked out, Lily thought a little evilly. If only Michelle had told them who she was going with…

A/N: I'm sorry that chapter had no plot. I just wanted to give the ball full description and I knew the chapter would get kind of long if I bothered. Don't worry—next chapter will include the ball and hopefully it will be out as soon as possible.

Oh, so if you have any comments, questions (why do I feel like I'm reading this off a cereal box or something?), criticisms, suggestions, whatnot…REVIEW! Or, if you have nothing to say, REVIEW ANYWAYS because I'll give you all cupcakes with SPRINKLES!

(Tempts lovely prospective reviewers with imaginary cupcakes)

Ok, on to review responses! You guys rock!

Marianne: Yup, I'm trying to update as quick as possible.

Charged Battery Bunny: lol, I'm glad you like it so far.

SweetSouthernGal: Thanks for the comments. I really try to limit the mistakes—I read it over usually twice or three times, but they're kind of unavoidable, you know? I'll try really hard not to have any mistakes, though. I'm glad you like my writing, too!

Brilliant-author16—Thanks, I will!

Synthetic—I'm happy that you like it!

Laylana-Fairyweather—Yes, I'm still doing the kissing booths…just so much has been going on in the story that it's been pushed off to the side. Don't worry, they'll come!

Samira—Haha! Up

JadeGreen14—I know, it's hilarious trying on hideous dresses just for the fun of it.

Veiled dreamer: Thank you.

Evenstar of the undyinglands: Oh my gosh, sorry! Thanks for spotting the mistake, I tend to do things like that. I'm happy you liked the story though!

Singing: Hahaha… I'm happy you enjoyed the kissing booth idea!

Sirius'girl4eva99: I'm trying to update as fast as I can…and more LJ to come!

Maia: I'm honored you like the story so far.

DobbyGrl: Yup, I'm trying to update quickly…I hope you liked this chapter as well.

StephMarie: I guess I made Lily act a little different around James because, well, he DID save her life and everything. She felt kind of bad for all the mean things she's said to him and then he went and tried to save her life. So, yeah. But I do understand where you're coming from! They won't become in love over night.