I'll be Home for Christmas

Part 2 – Girls are a pain in the arse

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Of all pains, the greatest pain is to love, but love in vain ~ a Spanish saying

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Harry and Ron still had no dates for the Yule Ball and Harry was desperately thinking about skipping the entire thing anyway. Girl were a pain in the arse, Harry decided, they traveled in packs and…they just stared at you as if you had grown a tail or something weirder, like three heads and your name changed to Fluffy!

Harry wondered if his mother had been a pain or not. Aunt Petunia had been a pain so what would make his own mother different when all girls seemed to be the same way? Even Hermione was difficult. She suddenly had time for make up and hair products when she never really expressed interest in those areas before.

Flopping over in bed, Harry lit the end of his wand and drew the curtains around his bed, it was too late to actually be up but he couldn't sleep. Worrying about girls was stupid, so why couldn't he get rid of the thoughts? So, he grabbed a writing tablet and a quill with color changing ink that Sirius had sent him. He would write a letter to Sirius and Remus and see if they had any advice. After all, he didn't grow up in this world, he just stepped into some shit and there it was.

Dad and Remus,

I can't get a date for the Yule Ball. I know this sounds stupid, but how did Dad get Mum? I mean was Mum difficult? Hermione is, always fixing her hair and other shit.

Well, that's all for now, I'll see you later.

Ta,

Harry

Job done, Harry put the letter to the side, He would send it to his parental units in the morning, when he wouldn't get into trouble traversing the castle. He really didn't want to get detention…but…maybe….it was worth a try….

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Remus whistled as he finally finished the Christmas tree. Sirius had gone outside long ago to decorate the front and back of their cottage home. Remus hated heights and so it had always fallen to Sirius or James (and on the odd occasion Peter, but the P-word was banned in the house, both of them) and it always would. It was the one thing that his friends had never teased him about either. They hadn't viewed it as weak, after all, after being bitten by a Werewolf and going through those changes every month, what was a bit of fright when it came to heights?

From the roof, Remus heard a bump and a yell as if it cam from far away. He the heard a series of knocks, bumps and thumps all accompanied by more yelling, suddenly, he saw the form of Sirius Black out side the window, thankfully unhurt as he was tangled in the lights that somehow where still anchored to the house.

Remus rushed to find their camera before going outside to help his best friend. He clicked it a couple of times. He laughed as Sirius glared at him; "What's was that for?"

"Don't you think Harry would want as many pictures as he can get?"

"Oh, sure," Sirius sighed, "Now help me get down!"

"Okay, okay, impatient much?" Remus chuckled. He waved his wand and the Christmas lights disappeared, Sirius fell the last two feet and landed in the fluff of the front yard. Now the string of lights that had been tangled about him lined the edge of the roof.

Remus looked down at the now developed pictures, tangle Sirius looked comical.

"I get to take a pic of you the next time you try and cook," Sirius muttered.

"Deal, after all, Marauder's share things equally," Remus replied. Sirius grinned.

"Do you remember your first Christmas at Hogwarts?" Sirius asked.

"Second year, Pettigrew couldn't be there, but James' parents went to the states to visit their cousins, Your family went to the Malfoy's and I didn't want to leave you two alone and so Mum gave me permission to stay," Remus grinned.

"JAMES! REMUS!" Sirius yelled. Christmas morning had dawned clear and bright. Sirius had pulled on his robe (which had been green but he had spent a lot of time to transfigure the color to red and gold). James woke groggily.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" James asked.

"It's time to get up," Remus smiled, "It's Christmas, James!"

"Yes," Sirius agreed. The other two boys scrambled out of bed and ran down the stairs to the Christmas tree, they were the only Gryffindor students and so they knew that they could be as loud as they wanted and no one could yell at them for it.

"Wait," Sirius held up a hand. Remus and James looked at him oddly but did as the were told.

"Let us pray and not forget what Christmas is really about, the Three Wizards that joined Baby Jesus in the manger bringing him gifts of a King. That's why we give presents to each other now," Sirius said. Remus and James followed Sirius' example as he bowed and clasped his hands. He gave up a small prayer and then he let them tear into presents.

James got his very own Snitch, one that he could let go and it would fly around the room till he caught it again. His mother sent him a hat and scarf set with Gryffindor colors. James Dad sent him a joke spell book. Which James was sure his mother did not know about. Remus gave him a snow globe that had a little figurine that looked like Lily Potter flying about on a small skating pond. The song "Have yourself a Merry Christmas" played when James tapped his wand to make the globe work. This of course set James off on a rant about how beautiful Lily was. Sirius gave James a t-shirt of the Wizards Three, a rock band that James loved to listen to.

Sirius got clothing from his mother, his father sent him a dark arts book; which looked innocent enough but the boys promised to take it to Professor Weller later to see if it was indeed as innocent as it looked. Regulus sent him a picture of the family, they were all gathered around the Christmas Tree and smiled at the camera, even the house elves were included. Sirius promised to put this in his photo book. Sure, he and his family had their disagreements, but Christmas was a time to forget these and give cheer and love instead. His father, Orion, sent him a broom. The Sirius Mover 500. Remus gave Sirius another book on dark arts, but this one was much more advanced than their school curriculum. It was old and looked well loved. Sirius knew that Remus and his family didn't have a lot of money, it was a nice present and would be one of those books he always took the best care of. James got him a joke kit. Dung bomb and flying fizz bee's would haunt the corridors for months later.

"Your Dad sure does have a sense of humor!" Remus laughed when he saw the name.

"But, I am a Serious Mover!" Sirius joked.

For Remus, his mother sent him her home made fudge and Christmas cookies along with books that had been written for Muggles but of which she knew her son would enjoy. He even got a new school robe. James had gotten Remus new shoes that would grow with him through his school days, that bit of magic James had done himself though it had taken a lot of practice on the Slytherin's to get it right. Sirius had gotten Remus a cloak, one that would grow warm when it was cold out and would keep him cools when it was hot out. A weather Cloak, Sirius had called it.

The rest of the day was spent going through the new books, figuring out which spells they could do and which they could not. They even made a trip to a court yard to have a snow ball fight. Remus was glad for the cloak, even when it got soaking we but he was warm and snug.

"That was an awesome Christmas," Sirius grinned.

"Yeah, but I hope this one is better," Remus replied. He pulled Sirius into the house.

"Hot chocolate and then you can go back outside and put those things up the Muggle way," Remus chuckled.

"Right, it is getting cold," Sirius grinned.

Christmas really was the best time of year.

The first Noel, the Angels did say…

Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay,

In fields where they lay, keeping their sheep,

On a cold winters night that was so deep,

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up and saw a star,

Shinning in the east beyond them far,

And to the earth it gave great light,

And so it continued, both day and night,

Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel!

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His plan had not worked and so in vein, Harry retired to the Gryffindor Common room in order to sulk. It was there that he found a group of fellow students clustering around Ron. He looked quite shaken and as he explained that he had asked Fleur to the Yule Ball, but had yelled it out in the middle of the hall, Harry caught site of two girls who just so happened to be twins.

Well, he hoped, because of the way they were batting his eyes at him, that they had not all ready been asked to the ball.

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A/N – This chapter was HELL to write! Not to mention that my Mum has taken over the House and shall now be decorating for Christmas herself. Oh the fun! If it were up to me, we'd do it two weeks before Christmas…yeah…and here I am writing a Christmas fic! I am such a critic!

The First Noel – was at first thought to be French in origin, because of the spelling. The old Anglo-Saxon spelling is Nowell. But, some think it is actually English.