Disclaimer: I don't own HP. We all know what belongs to JK in this story; I claim everything else. :)

I dedicate this chapter to: SiriusPotterFan1

-Chapter Eleven-

James woke the next morning to the sounds of Lily getting ready. He loved the fact that he never had to worry about setting an alarm for himself, because Lily made enough noise to wake up the entire castle when she got ready; which had surprised him greatly the first morning of their Headship.

He rolled over and checked the clock. 7:15; she was right on time. He began to get up when a thought struck him. Yesterday was the last day of Term, which meant that today was Saturday. He stopped. What in the name of Merlin was Lily doing up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday?

Not being able to resist, James got up to find out what she was doing. He pushed cautiously through the door, into the bathroom; it was empty. He sighed and walked over to the door that led to the Head Girl's quarters. The door was ajar; he pushed it open slowly and called out, 'Lils?'

He heard something fall to the floor, followed closely by a small gasp. James pushed the door open completely to the sight of Lily picking something up, hastily.

'Oh,' she said, walking over to him. 'James, you scared me.'

Once she had reached him, she wrapped her slender arms around his neck, and standing on her tip toes she kissed him lightly.

'Good morning,' she said into his shoulder, as she hugged him.

'Morning,' he replied, kissing the top of her fiery red head. 'What are you doing up so early?' he asked, stifling a yawn.

'Oh, you know,' she said, 'just getting ready.'

'Err… for what?' he asked, plainly confused.

'Hogsmeade, silly.' Comprehension dawned on him.

'Oh, I forgot about that,' he mumbled, feeling, for some reason, slightly embarrassed. 'Erm... Wait, did--? '

'No, I'm going with the girls. I need to pick up some things before the dance. I need to pick up my dress,' she said, as if reading his mind.

'Oh, ok,' he said, kissing her once more. 'I should go talk to the guys, see what we're going to do.'

James then left to get his things together for a quick shower. By the time he was ready, it was quarter to 8, so he decided to go and get something to eat.

When he arrived in the Great Hall, he saw two things that surprised him greatly. First was the fact that Sirius was already there; James knew better than anyone that Sirius never got up this early on the weekend. Unless of course they had a prank planned, which they did not. The second, and more shocking of the two, was that Sirius was sitting, and seemingly conversing civilly, with Audrey. James walked over and sat next to Sirius.

'Top 'O the mornin' to ya, Prongs!' Sirius said, cheerfully.

'Morning,' James replied, and across from him, Audrey nodded. 'Why are you up so early, Mate?'

'The real question is, why, Mate, are you up so late?' Sirius replied dramatically. James just stared and shook his head.

'OI!' Sirius yelled, 'Look, its Merlin!'

James looked up instantly to see the familiar white feathers of his snowy white owl. Merlin landed on James' plate, which he had been about to load with food, and stuck out his leg. As James relieved the owl of its burden, it nibbled affectionately on his fingers then proceeded to fly off to the owlery. James looked down at the familiar looping writing.

'It's from Mum,' he said, opening it.

James,

I was wondering what you want to do for Christmas break. You mentioned that you have to stay for the ball, but I thought maybe you'd want to come home after it, and be here for Christmas and the New Year. You're welcome to bring Lily; I'd love to meet her. Tell Sirius he's welcome to bring someone, if he'd like. I daresay Remus will be going home to visit with his mother, but if not, make sure he knows he welcome, Dear. Hope to hear from you soon!

All of my love,

Mum.

James knew she just didn't want to be alone. But that was alright, because James didn't want her to be alone, especially not for the holidays. Since his dad had been killed, she had been living alone in their great big house; her only company being their house elf, Dot.

Sirius took the letter and read it through himself. When he finished, he set it down and sighed. James knew he was thinking the same as him. James' parents had taken Sirius in when he'd run away from his own home. He'd become something of a second son to them, and a much desired brother to James. Sirius had honestly been more upset about Mr. Potter's death then his own father's.

'So are we gonna go?' Sirius asked.

'Of course we are!' he said incredulously. 'We'll just have to see if there's a train out to London that day…'

'That'd take too long, we'd miss Christmas morning!' It was his turn to sound incredulous. 'What if we Floo there? We could ask Dumbly-dore! How could he possibly deny us, his favourite students?'

The previously silent Audrey snorted. Sirius turned to look at her.

'What?'

'Oh, nothing.'

'Are you going to ask the Flower?' he plowed on, as though not interrupted. 'WAIT! Did she pass her apparation test? We could APPARATE there!'

James looked at the excitement that flooded Sirius' face. He remembered the previous summer with a chuckle. Upon passing his apparation test, Sirius had proceeded to apparate every few feet. He hardly walked at all that summer. James grinned.

'Why yes, Padfoot, she did,' he said.

'Yeah, I figured she had,' Sirius said. 'She is Lily, after all.'

'I should go find her, so I can write back,' he said, getting up from the table.

James wondered where she might be. He didn't think she'd be in Hogsmeade yet, she hadn't had breakfast. At the thought of breakfast, his stomach rumbled, he hadn't eaten anything in his frenzy to answer his mum. Then, he suddenly remembered Lily had said that she was going with her friends into Hogsmeade, so he started to make his way up to Gryffindor Tower. He didn't get very far though, when he heard his name.

'James!'

He turned quickly to see a flushed Lily come sauntering up to him, panting ever so slightly.

'You have hearing problems,' she informed him, with a huff. 'I've been after you since you left the Great Hall. Sirius said you were looking for me.'

'Yeah, I was. My mum wrote to me, asking for me to come home for Christmas-'

'But the ball!' she interrupted.

'I know, we wouldn't leave until after the ball-'

'We?' she asked, cutting in again.

'Me and Sirius. He has to be there for Christmas morning, or else he'd probably die of a heart attack, Christmas is his all-time favourite holiday, you see. Oh and, well, she also asked if you wanted to come, too,' he said, quickly, looking up at her.

'Oh,' she said, clearly taken by surprise. 'Well, I don't want to intrude. You know…'

'Don't be silly. Do you need to write your parents or…?' he trailed off at the look on her face, and then remembered what she had told him about her family.

'No. They don't need to know. It's not like they'll notice anyways. They've got Petunia to worry about,' she spat resentfully. 'I'm sure that whale of a boyfriend she's got will be there, so there's really no need.'

The thought that Lily was miserable when she went home angered and saddened him. The thought that her sister and her boyfriend were rude to her made him want to set them right. James swore that should he ever meet them, he would set them right. He hugged her protectively.

'Well… are you doing anything right now?'

'No, why?'

'I reckon we should ask Dumbledore if we can leave. Who knows if we'd even be allowed out then?'

Lily smirked at that. 'Like that's ever stopped you before,' she said, lightening the mood considerably.

'Come on, let's go get some breakfast, I'm starving.' And with that, they walked off towards the Great Hall, hand in hand.

AN: AGH, I know. It is... Short. I AM SO SORRY. But this is the only way I could end it without starting something else. I PROMISE that the next chapter will be the dance, finally, and some other things. They may be going to Potter Mansion next chapter, too, but I'm not completely sure, so please, don't hold me to it.

Let it be known, I have the climax chapter already done; I'm just waiting for the opportune moment to throw it in there. Ok, you know the drill, the phrase is 'Read and Review' for a reason. And, as my newly founded 'thing', first reviewer gets the next chapter dedicated to them. You lucky dog. :)

-Lady Carmilla