A loud thump awakes a very tired marauder. Sirius Black had previously been fast asleep. He always was a deep sleeper. Very hard to wake. Remus Lupin, in the bed next to his friend, had never managed to wake him up. That was James' job in case Sirius swung. James wasn't afraid of getting Sirius angry. He could take him. But his time it was going to be James that needed wakened and Sirius was just the man to do it.First he had to be sure the noise was enough to risk a bruise for. Sirius flew to the window and looked up. There to his wondering eyes did appear the shapes of eight reindeer and the sled they were attatched to. Man... did he ever need to wake James up. He would love to see this. So Sirius crept back to James' bed and shook his best friend.
"Prongs... Wake up. You need to see this." James actually rolled somewhat over and said, "Padfoot... I don't need to see anything else tonight. I have seen your face and that scared me enough. Go back to bed." Since when does Sirius take orders from James? Or anyone for that matter. Sirius tried again to pursuade his friend to get up, but it was hopeless. Until, Padfoot knew what to say.
"Hey, Prongs. Remember those stories we heard when we were kids about some guy named Clause? Santa Clause?" He said deviantly.
Prongs miraclesly rolled over to face Sirius.
"Yes mate I remember. Why?"
"No reason... I just saw him outside, thats all."
"You did not just see Santa outside. Santa doesn't exist remember? We learned that already. You aren't fooling me. Now, go back to bed!" James rolled back over into sleeping position and Sirius tried one last time.
"Prongs? Why don't you trust me? I'm telling the truth. If I'm not you can... you can..." Sirius gulped at the terrible thought that went through his mind. At least James would know he was telling the truth... But was it worth the risk?
"Well...? Spit it out mate. What can I do if you are wrong?"
"You can..." Sirius said hesitantly. "You can... inhales deeply ...cut my hair. Wow... I can't believe I said that..."
"You aren't joking mate are you? Santa really is out there. Wow..." At the shake of Sirius head, James crawled out of bed and grabbed his pants and shirt.
"Would you at last put some cloths on Padfoot?" Sirius had only boxers and a t-shirt on at the time and gladly obliged. He was cold.
Santa's sled was still outside when the boys climbed out the window. It was on the tower roof directly to the right and it was a long jump...
"I'll be right back." Sirius whispered to James. He was back within minutes with James' broom.
"We both can't go at the same time Padfoot... We're too heavy." James complained.
"We are wizards, if you hadn't noticed. You fly across and I will Accio it back. Easy enough." That is exactly what they did and for once, one of Sirius's plans worked. They both reached the other roof quietly and without notice by the deer. That is until Vixen noticed someone standing beside the sleigh. It just happened that Santa had just finished dropping off the gifts on this side of Hogwarts. He was walking back over the roofs and over the air when nessisary with the help of a fairy dust. Vixen made a noise alerting the other reindeer and they all made a startling noise together. Apparently, Santa wasn't expectling this and went tumbling down the wall. Sirius and James were horrified. James got the broom from Sirius and rushed down to catch Santa but he was too heavy. All James did was slow the fall and Santa only broke his leg. When James was on the ground, Sirius Accioed the broom and came flying down. Sirius tried to say something to Santa but was cut off by Santa trying to speak.
"You... have... to...to..." he started.
"Have to what?" Sirius asked impatiently.
"Have to... deliver... bag..."
"Why would we deliver a bag?" asked James.
"Not bag... toys...in... bag." And Santa handed Sirius a large red velvet bag. It wasn't heavy but it was packed full. "The cloths..." Santa said, a bit weakly now.
"We have to wear the cloths! No way. I would look horrible in that!" We know it could only have been Sirius who said this.
"Fine Padfoot. I'll wear the suit." James said, a bit unhappy at having to be the mature one for once. But this was Santa (and presents) we were talking about! And just like that Santa disappeared. The suit was left in the snow for James to put on. Sirius grabbed the bag of toys and flew back up to the sleigh. James came next wearing the ridiculusly large red suit.
"Time to start loving cookies and milk Padfoot." James said looking into the back seat of the sleigh. But Sirius was already asleep. "Oh great." James thought. "Now he decides to sleep. If he had just gone to bed and not woken me up... We wouldn't even be here."
All of the reindeer agreed to pull the sled except one.
"Oh come on, Dasher. You have to help. Do you want the kids to be upset with no toys?" James asked the stubborn reindeer. But Dasher only tossed his head and pulled off his harness. Once his harness was off, he flew off North. There was no obvious solution to being one reindeer short a team. "Padfoot has to be woken up," thought James. So, he woke Sirius up. It wasn't easy but it got done... eventually. It took 10 minute to wake Sirius up from his slumber.
"Prongs, you git. Leave me alone." Sirius said sleepily.
"You have to get up. We have to find someway to get the toys passed out with only seven reindeer. Lets wake up Moony."
"Why do we only have seven reindeer? Prongs did you face off with the flying deer? Naughty Prongs." Sirius was enjoying himself now...
"No I did not you moron."
"Wait... That's it..." Sirius said looking thoughtful.
"What's it? Are you going nuts mate?" James was confuesed. Sirius was not the one to think of ideas unless it was embaressing to someone. Pranks included. This will not end well.
"You could pull the sleigh. With the other seven deers' help of course. Well... What are you waiting for? Lets go. We need an eighth deer and what a coincidence... I look in front of me and see Deer Boy. Change already. Stop staring." Sirius said irritably. James had been right... It was embarassing to him.
"Here is a problem with that theory... I can't fly without my broom."
"Yet again, the surprising news that WE ARE WIZARDS! Use your wand... or I'll use mine." An evil sort of grin broke over the marauder's face. This would not be a good idea to let Sirius "help" James fly.
"Alright... I'll use mine. I don't trust you, mate. Nothing personal, I just don't trust you." Apparently Sirius took this to heart because he used his dreaded puppy face. The eyes, pout, and all. It was irristible.
"Aaawwwww. Fine Padfoot. I trust you. You can do the spell after I'm harnessed."
"OK!" Sirius was just satisfied his mate said he trusted him. The debate was settled and James tossed off the suit, transformed, and walked over to the harness to strap himself in. Once he was strapped in, Sirius picked up the wand and James flinched. He had had to many expirences in which Sirius had a wand and bad things were happining. Pranks I mean. Sirius was a tad cruel with his pranks, especailly ones toward Slytherins. He had been the target of some of these spells occationally. It was not pleasant. As I said, Sirius pointed the wand and mumbled some words. A spell was sent out but never entered James' body. The harness was stopping it.
"Prongs... The spell won't affect you in there. Get out." Sirius was very demanding and James very obedient. To Sirius at least. James tried and tried to get out but the harness was preventing him. It held him tight and would not let him go.
"I wonder..." Sirius said, thoughtful for the second time tonight. Man... what got into him. Sirius hopped into the sleigh and yelled,
"On Prongs and Dancer, On Prancer and Vixen, On Comet and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen." All the reindeer flew up and started pawing the air. Even Prongs flew up into the sky. Sirius thought, "Apparently, when an animal gets into the harness, it can atomatically fly. I wonder how Dasher got out but Prongs couldn't. It must just be a reindeer thing."
The reindeer and Prongs took the sleigh a few towers ahead and landed. It was still at Hogwarts but it was the other side.
"Guess that means I have to put on the icky suit. I really won't look good in this. I'm not fat enough and I don't have white hair or a beard. Maybe I can pull the sled instead... Na..." The "icky" suit was put on and Sirius found the red bag. He noticed their were no chimneys. There were fireplaces but they were wizards. What good was a chimney to a wizard! Dancer shook his head and pawed the roof. He pointed his snout to the window.
"Or..." Sirius said, a bit mischieviously. "I could use my wand to make a hole in the roof to go through." it actually worked too. A hole was created in the roof and Sirius climbed down the hole. He made it to the tree in the Hufflepuff common room and reached for the bag. It was squirming. Sirius tipped the bag and a brown fluffy kitty came out.
"Eeeeewwwwww! Cat! Get it away! Cat bad! Get. It. Away!" Luckily everyone was deeply asleep and did not hear Sirius' call to get the cat away. He managed to calm down and put the kitty under the tree and unload all the other things. Maybe he could sneek one look in the girls dorm... A snort and roof pawing made him stop and go back up his hole. Dasher was waiting out on the roof beside the sleigh. He had a note attatched to him.
"Dear New Santa, Sorry about him. He loves the Boss and doesn't like it when someone knocks him off roofs. He should stay with you all night. If he doesn't he won't get his treat. If he won't help anytime, tell him that and he will work the hardest. Signed, The Elves" Sirius read. "Guess that means you don't have to pull anymore Prongs. Dasher, how are you going to get into the harness?" Dasher trotted over to his spot and nudged the harness piece on Prongs' shoulder. The harness fell and Prongs stepped out and changed back to James and Dasher stepped in and the harness came up around him.
"I don't like pulling a sleigh. It is hard. Lets fix that hole before we leave." The hole was fixed and the sled flew over to the next tower. The Slytherin common room tree wasn't pretty. It had snakes all over it. James and Sirius were unloading gifts and looking at them to see anything they could use to their advantage.
"Severus Snape" Sirius said.
"What about him, mate? He get a gift? Who would want to give that arse a gift?"
"Yeah. Here is his gift. And here are his other six gifts. Wonder what they are..."
"He got seven gifts! Lets open them. We can always put the paper back on it."
"Yeah... Why not." The boys opened Severus' gifts. Sirius opened three and James opened four. Sirius opened up two potions ingredients and a cloak. James opened two more potions ingredients and a book and soap.
"You know... He really won't ever use that soap. Smell it. I don't smell anything."
"Prongs... That isn't soap. That's a potion. It's veritaserum. The truth potion. Someone other than Santa must have sent it to him. It was already under the tree."
"This can't be good, mate." James said uneasily.
It was decided that no one had to know about the veritaserum unless it caused problems. Knowing the marauders and Snivellus, it would cause problems soon. The boys placed the rest of the presents around the tree and rewrapped Snivellus' presents. The reindeer were waiting on the roof when Sirius and James climbed in. James shook the reins and the deer flew off to another roof. This roof had a chimney. The teachers lounge. This ought to be good...
Sirius climbed down the chimney and James followed with the bag of toys. There was a lanturn burning in the corner beside a chair facing the opposite direction.
"Something isn't right mate." Sirius whispered to his companian. But James had already known that and had started unloading the toys so they could get out of there. They took out presents for McGonagall, Slughorn, Sinistra, Dumbledore, Filtwick, Sprout, and Hepper. There weren't very many packages larger that an owl. They were all fairly small.
"Hey, Padfoot... Let's see what McGonagall got..." James said with an evil grin.
"That's Professor McGonagall, Mr. Potter." A figure in the hidden chair rose and came forward. The boys were caught.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Sirius asked sheepishly.
"That is my name, Mr. Black. I trust I am correctly using yours."
"Yes, sir." Wow... Lets all take a minute to enjoy the moment. Sirius Black saying sir. Wow...
"How are you boys doing at Santa's job? Enjoying sneaking peeks at others' gifts are we?"
"Sorry sir. We were just going." James had finally recovered from his shock.
"Were you then?" Professor Dumbledore said with a grin. "I don't want you leaving Hogwarts grounds boys. Is that understood?"
"But sir. How can we take gifts to everyone else without leaving the grounds?" James asked surprised that it was Dumbledore restricting them.
"You won't. Nick here will finish the night out." Dumbledore waved his hand over to the chair next to the one he had rose from. Nick, or Santa as we know him, stood up from the chair and hobled over to the staring boys.
"Santa, sir?" Sirius asked. "What's wrong with your leg?"
"Well... I can't be perfectly fine after falling off a 14 story tower now can I? I'm just glad it was just my leg." Santa replied with a small smile.
"You boys delivered the rest of the presents to Hogwarts while I helped Nick. All that's left to do is completly heal it. Mr. Potter, i believe you know the correct healing spell."
"Yes sir." James mumbled the spell and pointed his wand at Santa's injured leg and the bandage on it unwrapped and folded itself neatly on the floor beside James.
"Does that mean I don't have to wear this suit anymore! Whoopie!" Sirius yelled excitedly.
"Do the deer need anything Nick?" Dumbledore asked his magical friend.
"They should be fine. Some children leave carrots or water or other treats for them. They like it." Santa said calmly.
"Alright then. I must let you finish your night out. Enjoy the night and have a nice year, Nick. Make sure you visit me next year." Dumbledore told Santa.
"Good bye Santa. Nothing personal, but I hope I never see you again. I don't want to take the chance of knocking you off the roof again. Next year I'll make sure Padfoot stays asleep." James was still a tad mad at his best mate for causing all this.
"Yeah. Same here, Santa. Nice job but you can keep it." Sirius aimed a nasty face at James when he realized James had insulted him. So, Santa left to his reindeer and the three in the teachers lounge could hear the familiar call of:
"On Dasher and Dancer, On Prancer and Vixen, On Comet and Cupid, and Donner and Blitzen. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"
A/N-- My friend Moony (purrfection67) had the idea for story but since she doesn't like to write storys with Sirius as the main character (thats my department) she let me write it. I traded her story ideas. She doesn't know if she will use the idea but if you want to read an angry letter written by Remus Lupin (garunteed to be funny) then bug her to write it. She'll crack eventually. Trust me...