Chapter Eighteen

DC: I don't own Harry Potter

"Christmas is tomorrow!"

"I didn't give Santa my list!"

Poor Lily didn't know what do to. Sirius didn't mean to say what he said. They were getting out of their costumes. Remus was cleaning off Lily's face, as James took off his long fingernails. While Remus was cleaning her face free of the makeup, she started to cry.

"I forgot…all about my list…" Lily cried. "All I really wanted was a bear…"

"Don't worry Lily." Remus said.

"Yeah…" Sirius added.

"We'll send it to Santa, and he should get it tonight." James lied.

Lily smiled. "Thank you Daddy! Thank you Uncle Remie!" She paused and gave Remus a hug, then James. "And Uncle Siri!"

She gave Sirius a hug, and climbed into bed. "If I fall asleep faster, Christmas will come faster!"

They watched as she closed her little hangings. Soon after they could hear her soft little snoring. James cleaned off his face. "If all she wanted was a bear, I'm sure we could get one…"

"You know what?" Remus asked. "I'm out of money."

"Yeah…same here." Sirius added.

"That's not good…so am I…" James said.

"So…" Remus said.

"Let's see if Lily has any money!" Sirius suggested, eyeing the trunk in front of little Lily's bed.

"No! That's stealing!" James yelled. He quickly, after the yelling, covered his mouth, and glanced over to Lily's bed. She was still sleeping.

They thought for a moment. "What about…making her one?" James suggested at last.

"That's good!" Remus said. "But…"

"Where will we get anything?" Sirius asked. "We would need scissors, and that fluffy inside stuff...I don't know how to sew..."

"The Room of Requirements!" James answered.

And so, after making sure Lily wasn't going to wake up and wander, the three of them headed up to the third floor tapestry. James walked back and forth, in front of the tapestry, and thought hard on what he wanted.

He pulled the tapestry back, and luckily there was the door. He opened it, and they stepped inside. Inside was a little table with a basket on top of it. In the basket were things like scissors, stuffing, needles and threads, and other things like that. There was also wrapping paper and a box. That was exactly what they needed.

"The old fashion way!" Sirius said, holding the scissors up.

"I don't know why…but I don't trust you all to much with scissors, Padfoot. Please put them down, and back away." Remus teased.

"Haha, very funny." Sirius said.

They got started. Remus knew how to sew, somewhat, so he put together the bear and sewed it together. But even know he knew how to sew, he still wasn't very good at it.

James stuffed the head and body. The belly had five stitches coming up to its neck, because of the so called wonderful sew person, Remus. The body didn't look too good, and the head wasn't coming good at all.

Sirius couldn't find any eyes. Meaning there was going to be stitches for the eyes too. So far the stuffing was okay, no eyes, or mouth, the nose was crooked, stitches coming up its belly, and the ears were just a little off. All in all, it was a brown bear. That was basically the best thing about it...it being brown.

"Well…it's beautiful…in a weird way…" Sirius said taking a weird look at it.

"I'm sure Lily will like it…" James said.

"After pushing back it's scariness." Remus said. The three of them eyed the bear for a moment.

But then sighed, and picked up the wrapping paper. Remus carefully placed the bear in the box, and James wrapped it up. Sirius did the taping and wrote 'from Santa Claus' on it.

The processes took a total of an hour and a half. It was nearing eleven o'clock when they were finally going back to the room to get some sleep. James hid the little present under his bed. Hopefully Lily wouldn't go snooping for it in the morning, or 'accidentally' find it.

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It was James, like always, who was woken up first by Lily. She had started jumping on his bed saying, "Wake up it's starting to snow! Oh, and it's Christmas!"

Of course it was the middle of July, there couldn't be any snow. But sure enough when James finally got his legs over the bed, he felt snow on the ground. He quickly grabbed his glasses, and looked around.

The floor was covered inwhite,very white,snow, and their hangings had turned a very light blue color. The snow didn't feel cold, nor did it melt at the touch of a heated body part. James took a deep breath. The air was chilly, yet it didn't feel cold at all. He was in only shorts, because nights did get hot, and was surprised at everything.

"Why…?" James asked.

Lily sat at the edge of the bed with him. "Can I have my present? You did tell Santa right?"

James smiled down at her, and gave her a wink. Lily giggled, and jumped off his bed. Her feet made crunchy noises in the snow, and left foot prints. She went to Remus's next and woke him up.

Remus had the same kind of reaction. The amazed kind of silence. He stared at the room, at the snow, at the hangings, and wondered why. Who had done this?

"Isn't it cool?" Lily asked.

Lily was very happy to have snow inside Hogwarts. She looked outside next, and noticed that it was still sunny. "And it only snowed inside! That's so special!"

James got up, and dug into his trunk. He found his winter clothes and robes, and boots. If it was going to be snowy inside, he mind as well dress for winter. Lily, of course, didn't have winter clothes, but she did have shoes. So they would dress her in her shorts, shirt, and shoes.

Remus did the same. It was kind of like the winter spirit in them. Sirius woke up, soon after, but didn't have the same reaction. He jumped into the snow, which seemed like it wasn't going to ever reach the real floor, and rolled around in it.

"Isn't Christmas so fun?" Sirius asked, to no one in particular.

Lily jumped in next to him, and giggled. The snow was very soft, and so warm. She knew it wasn't real, as did the Marauders, but it was just so cool to pretend. She made a snow angel, and threw snowballs at Sirius.

Sirius threw snowballs back, and soon there was an all out war. Remus rolled his eyes, but was too hit by a snowball. He rolled one up, and threw it at Sirius. Lily giggled, because she was the one who threw it at him in the first place.

James came out of the bathroom a few minutes later and saw the three snowballers (If only that was a word) laying in the snow laughing.

"Are you guys hungry?" James asked. His own stomach was growling. Remus sat up with a smug smile on his face.

"I'm surprised, Prongs. You ate like a pig last night."He said.

That earned him a snowball to the face. James cleaned the snow off his hands, and then kicked snow into Sirius's face. "Get up! Your not even dressed!"

Lily laughed, and Sirius got dressed in his boots and clothes. While Lily wasn't looking, asRemus and James got her present out, and hid it under James's Invisibility cloak. Soon the four of them were heading down to the Great Hall.

The halls, too, were covered in snow. The flames in the darker corridors were blue, which added to the spirit of the Holidays. Lily ooh'd and awed at the pretty sight ahead of them. The snow crunched under their feet, but didn't melt, as they came nearer to the big doors of the Great Hall.

Just like they expected, the Great Halls were covered in snow. It wasn't all over though. The table was free from it, and around the chairs. There was a little Christmas tree on top of the table, which was slightly bigger so everything could fit.

"Hello everyone!" Dumbledore said, as he usually got there before everyone else. "And Happy Christmas!"

"Happy Christmas!" The four of them chimed. Sirius helped Lily into a chair, as James unwrapped the invisibility cloak, and slid the present under. He took a seat quickly after that. He didn't want to get caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do, according to Lily.

"Well…How about everyone opens their presents before we go on?" Dumbledore said.

"What about McGonagall, and Hagrid?" Sirius asked.

"Hagrid is out doing something. He sent his apologies. And Minerva is currently feeling a little sick." Dumbledore said. "I think it was from whatever she ate last night."

"So… It's just the five of us?" James asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Just the five of us."

Well, with that said, and before breakfast came popping up, Remus grabbed Lily's present, and handed it to her. She smiled, and opened the wrapping paper, carefully.

The Marauder's felt anxious. They didn't know what Lily's reaction would be when she saw the bear. Lily, though, finally got the wrapping paper off, and took the box top off.

She let out a squeal. First reaction, for the Marauder's, was that she was going to cry. But it was total opposite from that. She pulled out the…bear, if you would call it that, and hugged it. "I love it!" She cried.

"Really?" Sirius asked.

Lily nodded. The Marauder's looked relieved.

Dumbledore smiled, and handed the three Marauders little boxes.

"But…" James said.

"We didn't get anything for you!" Remus added.

"Christmas is about giving, not getting." Dumbledore said. He then added with a warm smile. "And I've heard you haven't the money to do anything!" He then looked down at the hideous little bear Lily loved so much. He smiled at that two. It was just so thoughtful of the three of them.

The Marauders opened it to find… money! Just what they needed to get things on track again. There was twenty gallons for each of them.

"You gave them moneys?" Lily said. "Are you sure you didn't give them too much? I don't think they need it."

"Oh, we need it more then you think, Lily." James said, pocketing his share of the money. "Thank you Dumbledore."

"It was nothing." Dumbledore said.

"Ooh! I'm going shopping!" Sirius said.

"Don't you think you should save?" Remus asked.

"No." Sirius said.

"Spend it if you will, Mr. Black." Dumbledore said. "But may I suggest that it go toward you finding a job when this whole…ordeal is over?"

Sirius felt a little guilty. "Yeah…I guess I should…"

"Ooh! Food!" Lily exclaimed.

Sure enough the food had arrived, and they could hear Lily's stomach grumble. They helped her first, then started to eat their Christmas filled breakfast.

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THE END!

Haha just kidding! Whee! Lala Rue here!

Yeah well...Good luck to all and all a good Halloween...Man isn't it weird? I'm writing Christmas, but it's Halloween? Or Souls Day, or Hallows Eve. Whatever you'd like to call it.

Whoever asked the question about Peter. Well...I don't like Peter all too much so he isn't in this story. (Nor do I really want him in the sequel, if I have one)

Hope everyone had a..ahh...scary...nice day!

Happy Halloween!

Love, Lala Rue!