Chapter 22:
A few days had passed since the students of Hogwarts returned home for the Christmas holidays. They enjoyed spending as much time with their families as possible before returning back to school. Lily spent the most time telling her mum about being Head Girl and more importantly her boyfriend, the one and only James Potter.
"You mean the same James that you used to hate since first year?" her mother asked sipping her tea with confusion written all over her face.
"Yes. I know it's unexpected but it just kind of happened. Mum he is so sweet and caring and he just gets me" Lily sighed, sounding like a loved up teenager.
"But you said-"
"I know what I said mum but that was ages ago. He's changed" Lily interrupted before floating up to her room and ignoring her older sister Petunia as she glared from the hallway. Lily sat down at her desk and wrote an short letter to James asking how his holiday has been so far, when she was going to see him and adding a few clique 'I miss you' to the end before sending.
"Is it wrong that I want to go back to school already?" she thought now lying on her bed. "I miss James. We are literally boyfriend and girlfriend for 2 minutes before having to say goodbye. I wonder what he is doing now..."
...
"Ready, set... go!" James and Sirius yelled before shovelling absurd amounts of sweets and chocolate frogs into their mouth. They were having a competition to see who could fill their mouth the most.
"I win!" Sirius barely managed to shout before choking on a flavoured bean. James gave him a few big hits on the back before Sirius coughed and jelly beans along with whole chocolate frogs shot from his mouth and onto the floor of James's bedroom.
"Gross" James said, still chewing his mouthful. His mother chose the wrong moment to walk in and find chocolate frogs jumping around her son's bedroom; some jumping under the bed and others attempting to exit the room into the hallway.
"Well I can't say I'm surprised" she said waving her wand and getting rid of the mess. "When I heard 'ready, set, go' I immediately assumed the worst" She said. She placed her hands on her hips and she shook her head at her son's.
"How many times so I have to tell you boys not to have eating competitions. It gives you indigestion, creates and big mess and gives Sirius way too much energy" she watching him jump on the bed.
"Sorry mum. But in my own defence, Sirius didn't even eat any of them. He choked and coughed them all out" James argued although realising the confession was not in fact helping his defence, he quickly silenced.
"Your father and I are going to the Ministry. We have a few errands to run so you can stay or come with us" she told. "But if you stay, I want perfect behaviour. Leave the elves alone and don't create a bigger mess for them to clean. Lumpy is still a little upset that you turned him green and asked him to pick his nose to find out what colour his snot was Sirius" she said shaking her head in his direction.
"Oh come on" Sirius said landing on the floor a few feet away from her, "You can't tell me you weren't curious to know"
She rolled her eyes and gave them both a kiss on the cheek before leaving. "Behave!" she yelled over her shoulder before apparating.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
...
Candice and Bianca were in their rooms sitting and discussing their plans for the holidays. Candice was doing most of the talking while Bianca sat examining the ends of her hair.
"Man I need a haircut" Bianca said to herself and almost fell off the bed from her cousin's reaction.
"That's it!" Candice yelled.
"What?"
"Well I was thinking about it last night, and wouldn't you like to go back to school looking totally awesome and ready for all the dates we are going to go on?" Candice started.
"Is this a trick question of something?"
"No stupid. We should do holiday makeovers." Candice exclaimed bobbing excitedly.
Bianca smiled, admittedly it did sound appealing. "It would be a good opportunity to be ourselves. A new look for a new term at school."
"Exactly. You were the one saying that you didn't feel like yourself and needed a change. This is the perfect start. This is your chance to show the school who you really are or a side of you they haven't seen yet."
"Sounds like a good idea" Bianca smiled. They both sat quietly reading muggle magazines and thinking about how they were going to reform themselves over the holidays.
"I wish I had hair like that" Bianca said holding up a picture of a model with long brown layered hair. Her hair was a few inches higher than her hips with plenty of layers to give it the flowing effect and lighter brown highlights.
"With magic anything is possible" Candice grinned.
"But my hair is not that long and I don't see it growing six or seven inches in just a few weeks" Bianca said. "What are you going to do with your hair?"
"I was thinking of going shorter" Candice replied. Her hair was just above her waist and her fringe had almost completely grown out. "I was thinking shoulder length, layered with bangs and maybe a lighter brown".
"That sounds nice"
"And I think I just found the solution to your hair problem" Candice said throwing her Charms book on the desk and pulling out her wand.
"Oh sweet Merlin, this can't be good" Bianca groaned.
...
Remus sat alone in his room reading a novel which was an early Christmas present from his grandmother. He did enjoy some quiet time without Sirius nagging him all the time however, home just seemed a little too quiet for his liking.
He loved coming home but being an only child meant it could get a bit lonely when there was no one else around. He just replied to Annie's letter which left him in a happy mood and he made his way downstairs for dinner. His mother always spent hours in the kitchen, making delicious home-cooked meals that could feed Sirius for a month, and that was saying something.
"Wow mum" he said pulling a chair. "This looks amazing"
"Good. Dig in my dear" she smiled.
"Oh I was thinking" he said as he dished up some food. "Would it be ok if I went and slept at James's house in the last few days of the holidays? You and dad don't need to worry about dropping me off at the station to return to school. I can just go with James and Sirius"
"Of course it's ok with us dear. Just make sure you ask James and his parents if it's alright. I'm sure they have their hands full as it is with Sirius" his mother replied.
"I will owl them later"
...
Annie spent most of her time with her older sisters. She usually only saw them on holidays because they were so busy working at the Ministry. Apart from sending the occasional letter to Remus, or reading Chloe's frequent letters about how her family is driving her insane one minute and being happy the next; she spent her time telling stories and listening to her sisters imitate those they work with at the Ministry.
"I can't believe you said that to him" Annie said clutching her stomach from laughing so hard.
"Yep. He went red in the face but never bothered me again" Her sister added remembering fond memories of stirring things up at the Ministry of Magic and keeping her colleagues on their toes. "Anyway, so tell me about this boyfriend of yours..."
...
James had just received two letters. One from Lily and one from Remus. He read them both before replying he had an amazing idea although he knew it might take some work.
"What's wrong Jamsie? You look constipated" Sirius said walking into the room and collapsing on the bed.
"I'm not. Just thinking/planning" James replied.
"Ooh planning what? I love planning! Is it a prank?" Sirius asked with overwhelming curiosity and excitement.
"No it's not a prank. I was thinking of having a little party, if you will. We can invite Remus, Peter, Lily, Chloe, Annie. It will be fun" James explained himself.
"Cool. So are you going to invite Candice and Bianca?" Sirius questioned.
"Yeah. Things are cooling down between us now. They don't have to come if they don't want but it can't hurt to invite them"
"So I guess your parents are the reason why you look constipated. They are never going to let you have a party"
"So let's get to work then..."
...
Sorry. I know it's a short chapter. Hope it was ok