"Wake up, Lily!" came a voice from next to her.

A few minutes passed and she did not stir.

"Okay it didn't work," Mel sighed, "time for Plan B."

"You have a plan b?" Sirius' voice came from down in the common room, "Whatever, just get her up and down here so we can open presents! It's Christmas Day for Merlin's sake!"

Mel giggled and yelled back down, "Alright everyone! Here's the new plan…"

Lily slept on throughout Mel's instructions, much to the others' disappointment.

She sat bolt upright, awake with a start when she heard, "One, two, three… Wake up Lily!"

"Merlin," she moaned, massaging her head tiredly.

"Hey Lily!" Mel said brightly, not caring that Lily's hair was completely messed up and her eyes had sleep in them, "time for presents!"

Five minutes later James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, Mel, Kendra and Chloe were all sitting in a circle in the common room around the Christmas tree, ready to receive their presents for this year. Sirius looked especially anxious.

"Hurry up, guys!" he said impatiently, his eyes eagerly taking in the massive pile of wrapped up presents under the tree.

"The presents aren't going to go anywhere," Remus observed amusedly, chuckling at his friend's antics.

"They might…" Sirius said suspiciously, scrutinizing the pile of presents even closer now. "So who's first? I suggest we do it in alphabetical order by our last names."

James glared at his friend, "You're only suggesting that because you'd be first!"

Sirius nodded smugly, "That I would."

After opening all his presents but one, Sirius was already extremely satisfied. He had gotten a two-way set of mirrors from James that they could use to contact each other with, a Honeydukes deluxe box of chocolates from Remus because they were both absolutely addicted to chocolate. He had laughed when he had received that one. Peter had given him a 50 galleon voucher to Gladrags Wizardwear, the Hogsmeade clothes shop that catered for wizards and witches every clothing need. Lily had given him a trophy with 'Sexy beast' engraved on it, and he had barked with laugher on opening it. On a more serious note she had given him a photo frame with a photo already in it. The photo was of their group all smiling happily together.

"Oh wow thanks Lily!" he had said on receiving it.

She had blushed and said that it was, "no problem, Sirius."

Kendra had given him a pranking book he had never seen before, and when pressed she had said it was from Italy, as her wizarding father had been to Italy recently. Chloe had given him a doll of himself that said phrases like "Siriously" and "I am a Marauder."

All that was left to open was Mel's present, which he had been anticipating like no other. She smiled as he reached for it and opened it.

"Oh Mel," he said happily, looking at the gleaming gold watch he had just unwrapped, "but this must have cost a fortune!"

She shook her head, smiling, "Don't ask me how much I paid for it, 'cause I'm not going to tell you. The man I bought it from said that it's no ordinary watch. It has special hands on it that say stuff about where the people on the hands of your watch are. Right now there are two hands on there - you and me." Sirius had looked at the watch and, yes she was right. Instead of numbers, the watch had phrases written on like, "Hogwarts" and "Mortal peril."

He kissed her his 'thank you' before settling back and motioning for Lily to begin opening her presents.

Sirius had gotten her a photo album with lots of photos of her with Mel, her with Kendra and Chloe, her with him, her with Remus, her with Peter and her with James. There were even a couple of their whole group. She had beamed at him happily upon receiving it. Remus had gotten her a thick book called, 'Redheads; How to Control Your Temper' which she laughed at and Peter had given her some nice green earrings that sparkled. Mel's present was lovely - a silver heart shaped locket with a picture of the two of them together. Kendra gave her a makeup box with some eye shadow and mascara already in it.

"'Cause you have such a large collection," Kendra said in explanation when Lily opened it. Lily promptly gave her a hug.

Chloe had gotten Lily a doll of herself, like she had given Sirius, except hers said things like "Ohmygod! There's a test and I haven't studied!" and (yelling) "I don't have a temper! I never yell!" which Lily had gone red at.

"Aw, look at her," Sirius had teased, "she's gone as red as her hair!"

She had glared at him stonily, "Just because I have red hair…" she whined.

She only had one more present to unwrap - James'. She didn't know quite why she had left his until last, but she had.

"Oh wow!" she said, looking at James with new respect, "James, honestly! You didn't have to!"

He had given her a gorgeous necklace with a pendant in the shape of a lily hanging off it. There were emeralds studded all around the edge of the lily and it had obviously cost a bomb.

James smirked, "But I wanted to," he said simply, shrugging off her thanks.

"I'm never going to take it off!" she vowed suddenly, awestruck by the miracle that was James Potter.

"You might want to take it off in the shower, Flower," James replied smartly, giving her his trademark grin.

"Ha!" Sirius exclaimed, "That rhymed!"

They both gave him a weird look.

"Well it did! Shower, Flower!"

James rolled his eyes exasperatedly, "What are we gong to do with you, Padfoot?"

Kendra by this time had unwrapped all her presents except Remus' which she had been saving for last. James had gotten her a pretty blue bracelet and Sirius had gotten her a matching necklace which they had obviously worked together on buying. Peter had bought her a book on becoming an animagus, which she had apparently "asked for."

Remus started. She didn't want to become an animagus for the same reasons that the other three Marauders had did she? And did he want her to? On one hand, hell yeah, transformations would be even more fun with her there with him. But on the other, did he want her to see him in his wolf form? And was it safe to tell her about the others? He trusted her, so he was sure that they would too.

Lily had bought Kendra a miniature living fox, which was apparently her favourite animal. It was an actual fox, but in miniature form so it moved about. Mel and Chloe had pooled in their money and bought her a miniature forest for the fox to live in. There were little things for the fox to eat and every detail that they could think of was there.

"Wow guys!" she said happily, completely amazed with their present.

She had just opened Remus' present - a date for two to a nice restaurant in Diagon Alley, "For a weekend" he said, smiling.

She smiled back at him and kissed him appreciatively. He smelled Christmassy, like pine trees and Christmas mince pies. Merlin, she loved his scent.

Remus was next. He unwrapped all his presents with care, saving the wrappings for later.

Sirius moaned. "Why does he bother?"

James had gotten him an expensive bottle of cologne, "for dates" and Sirius had gotten him tickets to his favourite band's concert, The Rockin' Trolls. Peter had bought him a Gryffindor scarf, as his last one had worn out and had holes in it. Lily had gotten him a bottle of something labelled 'Tantalizer' which she quietly explained to him was actually a potion designed to make his transformations easier. It was called Wolfsbane potion and was apparently very effective. Melissa had bought him some chocolates that turned your hair different colours when eaten for the Marauder's pranks. Chloe had gotten him a CD of the sort of bands she knew he liked to listen to, including The Rockin' Trolls.

Kendra had gotten him the same watch that Melissa had gotten Sirius, but in silver.

"It doesn't mean that I love you any less though," she explained, "I just didn't want to get you the same one."

Peter began opening his presents. From James and Sirius he got a book called 'How to Get Girls' and from Remus he got a diary that had study notes in it that Peter had missed or not understood throughout the year. From Lily he got some sweets and from Melissa and Kendra he got a voucher for a wizarding CD shop in Diagon Alley.

From Chloe he got the same watch as the other two in a bronze colour.

James began to open his presents. From Sirius he received the latest broom - a Quicksilver.

"Padfoot! Wow!"

From Remus he got a drinking flask. As Remus put it, "I am never going to be able to stop your drinking so I may as well embrace it."

From Peter he got a new razor which he was glad of, because his old one was a bit outdated. Melissa, Kendra and Chloe worked together and bought him a huge book of all the practical jokes ever played.

And from Lily… she had gotten him the watch that the other three had given their boyfriends, except in black. Did this mean she liked him as more than a friend? Or was he just reading this friendly signal wrong?

Melissa was next, and so she began to open her presents. From James she received a bouquet of flowers that never dried out, which she absolutely loved. Remus gave her a voucher for Gladrags Wizardingwear and Peter gave her a crystal that she could hang in her room. Lily got her a gorgeous dress for Gladrags for "special occasions' that she could take back if it was the wrong size and Kendra and Chloe pooled their money together and bought her a manicure set with added nailpolish.

"I don't know what to say!" she said happily, looking over her presents in amazement.

"Wait 'till you see mine," Sirius said smugly, winking at her. Oh God... what am I going to do with that boy?

She unwrapped a very skimpy piece of lingerie. "Sirius Black!" she said furiously, blushing with embarrassment.

He laughed, not at all ashamed, "Your real present's here, sweetie."

She glared at him before laughing, "Good one," she choked out between laughs.

She opened his present, gasping. "But Sirius these are so expensive!"

"You're worth it," he said simply, happy that she liked his present.

He had given her a pensieve. It was a creamy white colour and already had a few memories swirling around in it. "Sirius what are those memories?" she asked apprehensively, worrying about the kind of things he would have put in there.

"Just some memories of you that our group has of you," he said slyly, "try some later! I especially loved the one of you confessing your love of me to the girls."

"Sirius Black!" she yelled for the second time that morning, "tell me you didn't watch that one!"

He smirked in reply. "It was very sweet."

"Oh you're so funny," she replied sarcastically, blushing a light shade of pink.

Sirius beamed, "Thanks hun."

She narrowed her eyes at him, before shrugging, "I give up, Sirius Black!"

"Give up what?" he asked innocently, looking at her with his famous puppy dog eyes.

"Aw!" she said, "The puppy dog eyes."

"Oy we should have a snowball fight!" Sirius yelled triumphantly, looking out the window at the lightly falling snow.

James grinned, "Wicked."

Hey guys!!! Next chapter the snowball fight!!! Yippee!!! I love writing about snowball fights + they always have one in Hogwarts stories arounnd Christamstime! Yay!

Just a quick question - do any of you want me to kill off one of the girls (ie Mel, Kendra or Chloe) cuz they're probably gonna have to die anyway? If so, which one? Cuz I'd only probably kill off one while they're still at school.

Thanks,

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