Here is chapter 7.

Chapter 7: Christmas is coming.

October came, we celebrated Hallowen and then October went. November came and we saw the Gryffindor team lose to the Ravenclaw team by 200 points. It was nearing the end of November, the days were getting colder, snow was starting to fall and the students were making plans for the Christmas holidays. During the morning post a red envelope attached to a black owl landed in front of Sirius and burst into an angry voice.

"NO YOU CAN'T GO TO THE POTTERS FOR CHRISTMAS, YOU WILL BE COMING HOME TO BLACK ESTATE AND YOU WILL COME BACK REALISING WHAT A DISGRACE YOU HAVE BECOME TO THE FAMILY. ASSOCIATING WITH MUDBLOODS AND THE HEAD AURORS SON, HOW DARE YOU. YOU WILL COME HOME ON THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS AND WILL COME BACK TO BLACK ESTATE WHERE YOU WILL BE RETAUGHT ABOUT THE WIZARDING WORLD."

The letter burst into tiny little pieces on Sirius' half full plate. A few of the Slytherins were laughing and the two girls that were with Snape that day looked smug and proud to rat out Sirius. Sirius got over his shock and piled food onto his plate as if nothing had happened. James and Remus were looking at him offering him support but Sirius acted like nothing had happened and carried on like things were before he got the letter.

"What was that?" I asked Kerry since she was born into the wizard world and knew stuff that Lily and I didn't.

"That was a howler," she whispered back. "You never want to get one, or if you do you want to open it and hope it's quick otherwise it can be really horrible. Worse than what Sirius got."

It was a few days after the Quiditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw so the Gryffindor's were still upset and glum about the match. Apparently the good players were the oldest ones and left two years ago leaving the team with a hopeless 7th year captain and people that weren't very good flyers trying out. James said that he was going to try out next year and hopefully make the team so he can improve it. Gryffindor hadn't won the cup for a while but that hadn't been last or lost badly for a hundred years and last year the broke the record by coming fourth in the Quiditch tournament.

"Come on lets get to class don't want to be late for Professor Flitwick." Lily said looking at her watch. "We have five minutes to get to the 5th floor." She added as we left our plates, grabbed our bags and headed towards the classroom.

The bell went just as we got in the doorway. "Ahh the last students are here right on time," Professor Flitwick squeaked.

No one was sitting down but standing up at the back of the classroom against the wall.

"Now I have decided that some of you talk to much and work to less so I have a solution to the problem, a seating plan." He said cheerfully but the rest of the class groaned. Charms was my worst subject and I needed Lily to help me a bit. I mean I passed and everything but out of all my classes I got high marks but in charms I found it harder to get the spell right.

"Mr Black will be sitting here next to Mr Abbot, Miss Evans will be sitting here next to Miss Bones." Flitwick rambled on assigning people to their seats, Dylan and Remus were lucky enough to be sitting next to each other. "Mr Martinez will be next to Mr Potter and Mr Pettigrew will be here next to Miss Ride." Flitwick announced.

I groaned inwardly. Peter was the person I lest like out of the boys and was the one who had the most trouble in class. Luckily we were both on a table with Kerry and Alice since our table was the only table of four.

"Now today's lesson is a cheering charm, you will be practising with your partner and the incarnation is Finteious Chily, off you go." Flitwick said and Peter pointed his wand on me.

"Peter can I go first please?" I asked hoping that if anything happened it could happen to Peter not me.

Peter nodded and I pointed my wand at him, I was about to say the spell when Flitwick announced that Lily had down it and Amelia Bones was standing there cheerfully humming to herself.

"Finteious Chily," I said waving my wand at Peter.

Peter started jumping and bouncing around the room and I smacked my forehead, why did I end up with Peter.

"Mr Pettigrew you do not act this way when you are cheerful stop jumping this instant."

Peter stopped jumping and shamefully walked back to where we were practising. I apparently did the spell right but Peter was concentrating on performing the spell that he got two hits one from me and one from himself. I have no idea how that happened because you're not supposed to perform the spell on yourself but somehow Peter did.

When Peter came back to himself he said, "now it's my turn."

I tried not to groan and tried to prepare for the worst.

"Finteiolus Chily!" Peter shouted and the whole room turned around and stayed silent as I watched the spell hit me. I instantly froze and couldn't move.

"Dear or Dear Mr Pettigrew you performed the freezing charm, you're not suppose to learn that until later on. Now let's defrost Miss Ride." Professor Flitwick squeaked as he moved next to me and performed a long spell.

Five minutes before the bell went I was melted enough to move to my next class with the others and I could hear some of the Hufflepuff boys laugh as I walked stiffly out of the classroom.

"I'm going to murder Pettigrew," I muttered as I stiffly walked out with Kerry and Lily.

We had one more week of school until Christmas Holidays. Peter and Remus were staying at Hogwarts over the holidays since Peter couldn't go home because his parents were travelling and Remus was asked to stay by his parents but he wouldn't tell us why. Certain teachers like Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn were getting into the Christmas spirit and started decorating their classrooms and lessened our homework load while teachers like Professor McGonagall and the ghost Professor Binns who didn't realise that Christmas was here paid no attention to the snow falling and Christmas coming by piling us up with even more work than usual.

"I swear their trying to bore us to death," Sirius complained one night when we were sitting by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. All of us had finished our homework except for Sirius because he was spying on one of the blonde Ravenclaw's trying to win her heart or get her to like him.

"If you had done your homework with the rest of us you could be done and ready for the holidays," Lily huffed getting annoyed at his constant whining.

"She's right Sirius you could have done it with me and Sirius but you had to find that girl." James added proving Lily's point.

"OMG you just agreed with Lily!" Alice almost shouted.

"I did, well don't get used to it," James said while Lily smirked.

"It's because he likes your red hair," Sirius said quickly before enduring a death stare from James.

"Well just so he knows I don't like his messy brown hair," Lily said turning back into herself.

"Come on guys it's almost holidays can we not fight." Kerry said standing up in-between James and Lily.

"Sorry Kerry," Lily mumbled.

"Yeah sorry," James said not sounding sorry at all.

"I think they will like each other one day." Alice leaned over and whispered to me.

I had to burst out laughing and everyone looked at me, Sirius thought I was laughing at him, packed up his books and left for the library.

"If you're not going to shut up I'll come back to haunt you." Sirius said moodily and left.

I quickly stifled the last giggles and ran after Sirius. It was good that I had more speed than most humans because I caught up to him before he got to the staircase going down.

"Look Ride, I'm not in the mood." He said grumpily.

"Hey I wasn't laughing at you or trying to make you angry It was just something that Alice said was really funny." Ireasured him but he didn't find it reassuring.

"Oh yeah so will I'm trying to work you just have to laugh at me because I'm not as smart as the rest of you and just because your all going to have a good holiday you want to start it now, well good for you." He said and stormed off; I knew that there was no point going after him he was angry at more than just me laughing at him.

I went back to the common room and slumped onto the couch. "well he's upset about the holidays, not just me laughing."

"Of course it wasn't just about you laughing," James said, "but at least we know why he's upset.

"Why were you laughing?" Peter asked me.

"Just something that Alice said." I replied.

Everyone looked at Alice then me waiting for someone to say something. Alice kicked my leg and stared at me angrily.

"Just about how funny it would be if Snape was frozen by that spell in a pink frilly tutu." Alice said covering up what she said before and I tried to start laughing again to show that's what she really said.

"Well I'm going to bed." Lily yawned and went up the stairs followed by Kerry and Alice who said their goodnights to everyone.

I knew that they weren't sleeping but they were going to talk and wait for me, which is what they always do when I stay behind.

"Hey Max do you want to go out again before bed?" Dylan asked me.

"Sure I guess I could use a quick flight." I stood up and followed Dylan and Nick out the common room bumping into Sirius who was coming in since the librarian would have kicked him out.

"I'm sorry I got angry at you Max but I'm just annoyed," Sirius apologised.

"That's okay, I'm fine with it as long as you're the normal Sirius who doesn't do his homework at all." I joked.

'Dear Max I can't wait to see you tomorrow and can't wait to hear about your school term. Ella, Monique, Hamish and Amelia are missing you three and will be waiting with me at the train station on the platform tomorrow when you get back. Hope you made good friends and are ready for Christmas.
Love Mum."

I showed the letter to Nick and Dylan who read it and passed it back to me. Magnum had delievered the letter and was waiting for me to give it something to eat while everyone else was eating breakfast. Sirius got another letter from his parents and this time it wasn't a howler which was lucky for him.

The last day was a drag since no one was paying attention in classes the teachers gave up and let us do whatever we wanted. Professor McGonagall even dismissed us early which surprised us all since she never let anyone out early and smiled at Sirius and James as they walked out of the classroom which was also a surprise since she rarely smiled and never smiled at the boys since they were always up to mischief.

"Max I think this is yours," Alice said holding up my black robe. We were all in the dorm packing for the holidays.

I was leaving some things like the black pointed hat, school books and one set of school uniform as school but I was taking the rest home with me.

"Hey Lily did you see my purple jumper?" Kerry asked franticly as she searched under the bed.

Lily pulled something purple out of her trunk, "sorry looks just like mine."

"I'm all done." I said slamming my trunk shut. I had put my wand in my robe pocket and had left out a pair of casual clothes on the bed for tomorrow when we leave. After a few minutes Alice finished packing followed by Lily then Kerry who couldn't find her blue jeans.

We all went down to the common room and found that no one was there so we went down to the Great Hall. The weird thing was that barely anyone was down there and we had most of the Gryffindor table to ourselves except for a couple of older students at either end. The Slytherin table was bare and a few students were at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table.

"Well we might as well eat," I said digging into the meat in front of my plate. Once we were full the rest of the students started piling in and sat down.

"Why don't we go down to the kitchens for desert since it will be a while for the others to finish." Kerry suggested, we all nodded and followed her to the kitchens.

The house elves were happy to give us desert as per usual and sent us back to our dorm with plenty of food that could last a week.

"Why don't we have a party in the dorm, just us girls," I suggested since we had plenty of food.

"Yeah."

"That would be awesome an end of term party."

"I don't know I mean we have to leave early and..."

"Oh come on Lily lets have a party." Kerry, Alice and I said together

Lily agreed by the time we got up to our room and she saved us when one of the Gryffindor prefects stopped us and questioned us about all the food.

When it started to get late we were told to be quiet by some third and second year girls who were apparently trying to sleep so we reluctantly got into bed carefully moving around the piles of food spilt on the carpet.

"Max wake up, wake up. I never thought that you were one to sleep in." Someone said shaking me awake.

"Wha, what time is it?" I asked.

"Just before 8," Alice replied walking out of the bathroom tying her hair up in a red ribbon.

I slumped back into bed then sat back up straight away. "We're going home today." I sang half excited to see the rest of my family and half sad to say goodbye to my newest friends while we go home for a few weeks.

It didn't take me long to get dressed and ready for breakfast. It was annoying how we had to be in our school robes for the morning before we got on to the train since we weren't having any classes even if it was a Thursday. It was the normal school rush though except instead of everyone hurrying off to classes it was everyone lugging their trunks and rushing towards the horseless carriages taking us to Hogesmade station. Lily, Kerry, Alice and I were joined in a carriage by Nick and Dylan who were kicked out of the carriage with the other boys because there wasn't much room and Peter was scared off us girls.

We split up into two compartments once we got onto the train the boys in one and us girls in the other. I wanted to spend some time with Nick and Dylan on the way home instead of being in a compartment with just the girls and being with James and Sirius would be entertaining but gossiping with the others also passed the time. I could help feel like while we were at Hogwarts Nick and Dylan had started hanging out with me less and less and spending all their time with the boys.

"Max, Max, Max," a small voice shouted as I hoped off the train and into the crowd of Hogwarts kids and parents. I looked down and saw little Amelia running towards me and speaking better than when we escaped from the School. When we left the school 6 months ago Amelia was unable to talk clearly and could only say a few words that she had heard us say but now she was speaking well and improved quickly.

"Mum," I said running towards her dropping my trunk. "Hi Monique, Ella and Hamish I said messing up his hair.

Nick and Dylan soon found us and were embraced by hugs. When we were all let free I saw Sirius standing with his parents not showing any emotion, James being pulled into a tight hug by his mum, Kerry also pulled into a hug by her parents, Alice was only standing with her dad and Lily was telling her parents all about her term. I collected my things, double checking I had everything before we went through the barrier into the Muggle world.

"So you three have to tell me all about Hogwarts and what happened and what it was like. Did you make any new friends? Did you get into any trouble? Did you like your classes?" Mum asked once we were strapped in her new car. She was asking questions one after the other not letting us get a word in and repeating her questions. We still hadn't told her anything by the time we got home and Nick, Dylan and I looked at each other, raising our eyebrows.

Lily wasn't having the same problem, she was having a similar yet different problem were she wouldn't stop going on about Hogwarts and the classes. The Evans had gotten home after we had and was walking through the door listening to Lily talking non-stop.

After a week at home Christmas arrived and all of us were excited for our presents. For the flock and me it was our very first Christmas and for Ella and Mum it was their first Christmas with more people since Ella's dad died.

Ella was running up to Mum's room to wake her up and came back dragging her into the living room in front of the tall Christmas trees and piles of presents. Out of my presents I got a big box of assorted sweets from the flock and Ella and tickets to a two Quiditch game during the summer holidays with Nick and Dylan from Mum. Amelia and Hamish got some gummy sweets and soft toys from mum while Ella and Monique got sweets and similar clothes. Two days after New Year's Day we were back on the Hogwarts express waving goodbye to our family and friends. The Evans had a wild party for New Years Eve and we were all up late parting and staying up for the countdown before we went to bed.

"So how ways your Christmas," Kerry asked when we were sitting in the carriage. Lily had disappeared and we were in a carriage with the guys. Sirius had a gloomy holiday and his two Slytherin cousins came over with the rest of his family for Christmas and New Years. James had an exciting holiday and also had wild party for New Years Eve. Kerry and Alice had a nice but peacefully family and Alice seemed upset and sad when we asked her.

That is the end of chapter 7 sorry if it is a bit two long but I had to include the Christmas holidays and I'm sorry that I didn't mention much about their Christmas but I didn't know what to give them for presents and I keep forgetting that they are only 11 because Max, Nick and Dylan are 14 in the books. Hope you still like it. R&R,

SpringBabe