A/N: Here's an extra-long XMAS special! Although in the real world it's not actually Christmas... I wish it was... Ah, presents... trees... the smell of sugar plums... oh what the heck am I doing...?
CHAPTER EIGHT:
Marauder Christmas
"You ain't nothin but a hound dog,
Cryin' all the time.
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog,
Cryin' all the time,"
Malia sang, bouncing around in the empty common room. Her golden hair sprung around her face, swaying and flouncing in the air. She waved her arms crazily, pretending to hold onto a microphone and was singing into it. She didn't notice that someone had entered the room and was watching her. His eyes twinkled with amusement as he watched the girl dance and jump on the couches like a possessed pixie.
"You ain't nothin' but a rabbit,
And you ain't no friend, of miiiine!"
Malia shook her head wildly as she held the last note and jumped off the couch and slid on the ground. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped when she heard clapping in the background.
"Bravo," said Remus, laughing as he clapped his hands. "Brilliant singing. I especially liked your dance moves," he grinned, holding out his hand. Malia flushed pink, but she took his hand and he firmly pulled her up. Malia ducked her head, feeling that she would utterly die from embarrassment.
"Malia?" asked Remus carefully. Malia looked up, and found that Remus' blue eyes were not twinkling from ridicule and mockery, but with warm laughter and kindness. For once, Malia decided not to take some person's light teasing to heart. She flashed him a smile.
"And what were you doing, Mr. Lupin?" she demanded jokingly. "Spying on girls, are we?"
Remus' own eyes widened with surprise, but his smile grew. "I only spy on girls who dance as graceful as mermaids on land," he replied serenely. Malia laughed as she dusted off her pants. She smiled to herself - it felt good to wear pants again, because even when she wasn't in her Hogwarts uniform, Shara required her gang of girls to dress in skirts for some odd reason.
"Anyway, you really are a good singer," said Remus honestly. "Even though your dancing does have something to be desired."
Malia laughed, her eyes sparkling. However, she suddenly became very aware of her surroundings and told Remus that she was going back up to her dorms to finish off some homework. Her heart was beating rapidly as she climbed up the stairs.
What's wrong with me? She asked herself, though, deeply nestled in her heart, she already knew.
"Happy Christmas, Mum," said Lily, smiling. Her mother laughed heartily.
"Happy Christmas to you too, dear," she said, "it was nice having you home again. It was also nice to see you again, Natalia," she turned to the girl, "and you too, James." She leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Play your cards right and we'll be seeing you more often."
"Thanks, I plan to," replied James, grinning. Charles stepped forward and gave James a firm handshake and a brief nod. It may have seemed cold, but the sentence Charles uttered gave James all the encouragement he needed.
"You play a mean chess game, boy."
"Oi!" rang in Natalia's happy voice. "Thanks for the brilliant meals, Mrs. Evans, and the entertaining war stories, Mr. Evans. And thank you, Petunia," she beamed at the sullen sister, "you have lovely reactions."
Petunia gave her the meanest look she could muster behind her mother's back.
Lily gave Petunia an unsure smile. "Well, goodbye, Petunia," she said, tilting her head slightly, "Happy Christmas."
"Thanks, I intend to," came her icy reply.
Lily shrugged it off and headed out the door, followed by James and Natalia. Mary and Charles waved them goodbye as the three of them took out the wands. In three small pops, each one disappeared out of sight.
"I still think you should have hexed her," complained Natalia noisily as they walked towards the brick wall between Platforms 9 and 10. "I mean sure, I might've gone slightly overboard with the head in the pickle jar business, but still! She's your bloody sister!"
"Ah well," said Lily. "It wasn't that overboard. At least it wasn't her own head," she added, laughing as she looked at the messy haired boy beside her. He scowled at Natalia, rubbing his head tenderly.
"Next time it'll be your head," threatened James. Natalia stuck her tongue out at him and disappeared into the brick wall before he could do anything to her.
Soon, all three had boarded the Hogwarts Express and found a compartment to sit in as the long train ride to the castle progressed.
"Pity we couldn't find any Slytherins," said Natalia wistfully. "Something to pass the time."
"Please, all the Slytherins we know have gone home," scoffed James. "Probably at Grimmauld Place - I heard Regulus bragging about it when we were on the train to King's Cross."
"Ah, yes," said Natalia. "Seven Bat Bogey Hexes and a sprinkle of Wartcap Powder. It was a good train ride," she said happily.
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Well, I am personally glad that there's no one on the train we can bother," she declared, taking out her bag, "because now we can take the time to do a bit of homework, since I had no time to do it at home." She gave them all a meaningful yet dangerous looks, and with dramatic sighs, Natalia and James reached for their parchments and quills.
"But I don't want to translate runes," pouted Natalia as she dabbed her blackbird quill into a jar of jet-black ink.
And when the lady with the trolley came bounding around, Natalia did not miss the chance to drop her quill and take over two hours selecting the perfect Pumpkin Pastry.
"Naaaaat!" shouted Lily.
"Hush, Lily, I'm trying to decide which Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean to choose," called Natalia from outside. "Does the sewer green taste like lime, or broccoli?"
"It's sewer green, for heaven's sake!"
"Nat!"
Natalia stopped walking as she heard her name being called. She turned around, and saw Sirius scampering quickly towards her. Behind him was an entire crowd of girls, varying from seventh year to third year. Some of them were even puckering their lips. Natalia was slightly muddled - she had thought most students had gone home for the holidays. Apparently not.
"Nat, help!" Now, normally Natalia would've grinned and enjoyed the show, but because she felt that Sirius would seriously maim her for it, she motioned him to the Gryffindor portrait. Besides, Sirius had yet to forgive her for that stunt she pulled down at the Great Hall yesterday. Mostly because he wasn't able to get all the cranberry smell off, and he spent the rest of that day with a slightly putrid stench to him. She turned to the Fat Lady.
"Do me a favor?" she asked the Fat Lady.
"I suppose so, I do owe you one for fending Peeves off from doodling on me." The Fat Lady sighed from the painful memory. "What do you need?"
"When that boy comes in, don't let anyone else in for twenty minutes," said Natalia. "He has girl problems," she smirked.
"Will do, my dear, here he comes now, I suppose?"
"That's him, Mistletoe Saviolum!" she chanted the password and stepped in. Seconds later Sirius followed and the portrait closed. Shrieks for Sirius could be heard from behind the portrait. Natalia was grinning madly at him as Sirius caught his breath.
"Th-thanks," he gasped, taking deep breaths.
"Can't handle the public, Black?" Natalia sniggered at him. "Have they fallen for you?"
"Dunno what the blasted thing happened, I just went into the Great Hall and they started chasing after me," muttered Sirius, shifting his eyes. He noticed Natalia's eyes flicker to something directly above him. Looking up, he saw it too. Mistletoe was softly hovering over his head.
"James," he growled, digging into his pockets to retrieve his wand. "I'll bet anything it was that little wanker."
"Third years were chasing after you!" Natalia continued to snigger. "Honestly mate, maybe you should tone down the Black charm."
"Incendio!" Sirius pointed his wand to the mistletoe. The spell backfired - instead of incinerating the holiday plant, the spell rebounded. "Oh shi-" Sirius swore as he had to jump off the couch before the spell set it off into flames. He extinguished the couch, but the mistletoe was still there. The couch, on the other hand, smelled oddly of burnt bacon.
"Get - this - bloody - thing - off!" Sirius shouted frustratingly as he hopped up and down, trying to grab the plant. But the plant bounced up in down, avoiding Sirius' reach. "Nat!"
"Don't get your knickers tied up in a knot, I'm coming," Natalia laughed as she propped up a chair where Sirius was hopping and jumping. She stepped on the chair, helping her height profusely, and reached to grab the mistletoe, but the mistletoe evaded her reach as well. Leaning on Sirius for support, she frowned as she leaned further, but still unsuccessful. "Looks like I'll have to jump to catch that little bugger," Natalia mumbled to herself as she stretched out her arms and prepared herself. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she leapt into the air.
"Merlin, Nat, what the hell are you doing?" shouted Sirius as her foot collided into his shoulder and he fell over. Natalia caught the mistletoe triumphantly, but obviously forgot to figure how she was going to get down, and fell. Luckily for her, Sirius proved to be a comfortable landing cushion.
"Whew, that was kind of fun," said Natalia cheerfully. "Let's do it again!"
"Over my dead body," came Sirius' reply. "And you better have gotten the mistletoe -"
"Right here, mate!" Nat proudly held up the small plant as she got up. "No worries." Soon, both people had gotten up and were more lighthearted about their previous encounter with the enchanted mistletoe. Just then, Sirius happened to look up, and his eyes widened slightly in apprehension.
"Er, Nat..." he said, using his finger to point up. Natalia looked up as well, and stared when she saw what Sirius was pointing at. Directly above them, was a small plant with tiny white berries, dangling from a satin red ribbon. It seemed to mock the two of them, swaying ever so slightly, the small golden bells that were attached to the plant chiming and tinkling softly. It was a rather beautifully decorated, this mistletoe, but neither Sirius nor Natalia saw its divine simplicity. They only saw the mistletoe. She waved her hands madly in the air, shaking her head furiously.
"No way, mate, no way," she said, "I am not going to kiss-"
"But it's tradition!" Sirius said, sounding mock-sad. He was enjoying the look of fear mingled with disgust on Natalia's face. "If we don't kiss, we'll break the tradition. And who knows, the mistletoe might hex us if we don't."
Natalia snorted. "Yeah right," she said, and started to walk away. She started walking funny, as though an invisible force held her back, and before long she was back where she was standing not thirty seconds ago. Sirius smirked at her.
"Told you so," he grinned. "Come on, it's not that hard." He could hear Natalia muttering under her breath, before she reached out and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"There, now I can go," she said, trying to walk away. Sirius laughed at her failed attempt. "Bloody hell! What do I have to do!" Natalia exclaimed, looking annoyed. "I swear, I'm going to murder whoever hexed this mistletoe..."
She hopped up and down, trying to get at the mistletoe, but it behaved like the one Sirius had and merely evaded her grabs. A second-year boy, who had just entered through the portrait hole (the twenty minutes was up), started laughing at them. Another boy joined him, and they were soon swallowed up in uncontrollable laughter. Natalia immediately recognized them as Simon Taylor and Jonathan Jerks.
"Can't believe - someone actually - our mistletoe!" Jonathan choked out, leaning over his friend for support. Simon nodded, his face red.
Natalia glared at them harshly, so harshly that they started to sober up.
"Alright, alright," Simon said. "Just give each other a sloppy Frenchie and the spell will go away. We've got to see this, Jonny," he smirked to his friend.
"Get this spell off," Natalia hissed. "Or else." Her look was so frightening that even Sirius stepped back from her, or as far back as he could, anyhow. With a cocky look from the two, Simon and Jonathan began taking out their wands reluctantly.
"Party-pooper," Simon muttered under his breath.
"I second that," Jonathan chimed in, grumbling as well.
"Taylor! Jerks! You slimy cockroaches!" came a screech from the girls' dorms. Mildred was glaring at the two, her hair unusually frizzy.
"Oops, forgot about that one," snickered Jonathan, nudging Simon in the elbow. Simon guffawed along, not noticing that Mildred had her wand out and was coming closer towards the two. Fortunately, Simon had tilted his head up just in time to see Mildred no less than ten feet away.
"Bloody hell! Run for your life Jonny!" They scrambled over each other as the pair dashed for the portrait hole, with Mildred hot on their heels.
"When I'm through with you Jonny..." Mildred was yelling as she ran after them.
"Oi! What about us?" Natalia called. "We're still stuck here!" But no one paid attention. Sirius was eying her amusedly.
"Now what?" Sirius asked her. "Ready for a bit of snogging then?"
Natalia smacked him hard in the head in response.
"Face it, Lynx, we're never going to get out of this if we don't kiss each other," smirked Sirius, "So we might as well get it over with."
After a few minutes of unsuccessful counterspells, Natalia finally yielded. "Fine," she muttered, "but we must never speak of this again."
"Right-o," said Sirius, personally glad that he wouldn't have to stand here any longer.
"Yeah," said Natalia heatedly. "And if you breathe a single word of this, and I find out, Merlin help you because when I'm through with you, you'll- mmrph!"
She was silenced by the impact of Sirius' lips suddenly pressing against hers. Her lips were soft, he decided, and were cool to the touch. This should be no big deal - he had kissed dozens of girls before. Even so, for some reason his mind was spinning, his stomach was in turmoil, and he could almost swear the symptoms got worse when he felt Natalia kiss him back. Even though he'd never actually witnessed any of it, Sirius reckoned that Natalia had had a lot of experience in kissing. When they finally broke apart, Natalia wasted no time in ducking out of the mistletoe and heaving a huge sigh of relief.
"Thank Merlin," she breathed, before turning back to Sirius, her eyes flashing. "And you'd better not speak a word of this to anyone, you understand?" Before Sirius could respond, Natalia whipped her head back and skimmed out of the common room. Sirius frowned slightly to himself - he was still confused at the whole business with his head and his stomach. Obviously, Natalia must have hexed him; there was no other solution. He decided to take a quick trip over to the Hospital Wing. Making sure he avoided every mistletoe along the way, Sirius could not deny that he enjoyed the kiss. But Nat's my mate, he thought, I can't. Maybe its because I must've confused Nat with Louisa, yeah, that's right! His inner voice snorted with scorn. By the time he had gotten around to the Hospital Wing, he was thoroughly irritated with himself and snapped at Madam Pomfrey when she greeted him.
"Well, it seems as though nothing is wrong," she told him curtly after a quick examination. "Other than your attitude problem, but I can't legally heal that."
"But what about my headache and stomachache?" protested Sirius.
"There is nothing wrong with you," repeated Madam Pomfrey firmly. She showed him the door. "Happy Christmas."
And he left, feeling more perplexed and confused than before. He didn't even notice James until he felt a hearty clap on the shoulder. "Hullo, Padfoot," said James, grinning ear to ear. "Seems as though you've managed to get the mistletoe off."
Sirius snapped out of his nonsensical reverie and glared at his friend. "Yeah, I have," he said. "But I have a feeling that you need a good dose of Christmas as well." James' eyes widened slightly.
"Aw, come on, mate, it was a joke!" he laughed nervously, backing away.
"Yeah, and when I get you back, I'll laugh over it for months," came the reply. He pushed his thoughts out of his mind as he decided to focus on the present situation on hand: Whether his best mate looked best dipped in plum, or figgy pudding.
"I swear, you boys are so immature!" said Lily crossly. She folded her arms, glaring at the sticky pair in front of her. The boys bowed their heads.
"Sorry, Lily," they chanted sweetly, sounding like two children who wanted to escape a scolding. Lily frowned, before grabbing a soapy cloth and scrubbing the floor with it.
"No thanks to you two," she said huffily. "Now I've got to spend the rest of the day cleaning up the mess you made from the figgy puddings."
"Don't forget the plum pudding!" said Sirius. "And Flaming Christmas pudding!"
"How could I forget?" grumped Malia, also frowning. She glanced at her slightly singed strands of golden hair. As Shara would say, Malia was in dire need of a hair stylist at this point, before somebody saw her.
"At least it was better than the time Nat dyed your hair," remarked Lily absentmindedly. She raised her eyebrow slightly when she saw Sirius stiffen, before he kneeled back down to furiously scrub the floor.
"Why?" asked Malia, "I thought she did a lovely job with my hair."
"What? Oh, yes!" said Lily, bobbing her head feverishly, realizing her slipup. "Yes, yes she did." She had forgotten that Malia was unaware of the fact that Natalia had singlehandedly caused Malia to have a short-termed baldness problem.
"Oi, are you talking about me again - whoa!" Natalia stepped into the Great Hall. She widened her eyes as she took in the Great Hall. Its usually beautiful holiday decorations were plastered in a chunky brown substance. She tasted some that hung from a large Christmas wreath. It was undeniably plum pudding, she thought, still warm. That meant...
"You had a food fight without me?" she shouted in dismay, "I am choked and offended! Lily, how could you?"
"Do you think I wanted to participate?" Lily snapped, wiping her brow with her arm. "It was all James and Sirius' doing! Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall caught them and made us all clean the mess up!"
"Actually," said Malia, her honey-brown eyes sparkling, "she only made the people who contributed to the mess to clean up. Now, I'll gladly take some of the blame," she said, laughing. "But don't forget, Lily, you were caught red-handed with a mound of pudding in your fist..."
Natalia gasped. "Lily Evans! What in the name of Merlin has gotten into you? I am appalled and shocked by your behavior."
Lily rolled her eyes but turned slightly red.
James tossed Natalia a wet cloth. "Well, are you going to help us, or not?" he complained. "My back's starting to ache."
"But I didn't do anything!" said Natalia, grinning. "Why should I stay to help? I've been all around the castle."
"Did you happen to bump into Remus?" asked Malia eagerly. "Oh, and Peter, because, er... I need help with my homework! That essay, the Charms one."
"Why don't you just ask Lily?" said James. Malia looked sheepish.
"Well, no offense to Lily... but she uses really big words and is less patient with me," she said hesitantly. Natalia laughed as she took the wet cloth. She locked eyes with Sirius for a brief moment, and for that fleeting moment Sirius thought something had passed over her eyes, but he couldn't be sure. A split second later, she was all laughs and parked on the floor.
"Move aside, Sirius, I've got to save your sorry arses," she grinned, pushing the boy to the floor. She seemed to have no recollection of what had happened earlier that morning, and if she wasn't going to bring it up, then neither was Sirius. Natalia pressed the cloth to the floor, singing in a loud voice,
"I've got a multi, multi, multi, multi, multipurpose broom! It sweeps, it cleans, it flies, it soars - from beneath rugs to sandy shores, I've got a multi, multi, multi, multi, multipurpose broom! It's brown, it's firm, and it's made of wood - from..."
"I blame you, James," muttered Lily as Natalia continued to sing noisily. Lily groaned audibly as James merely grinned and began to join Natalia in her singing parade. Lily turned around to look at Malia, and was relieved to see that the girl also looked as though her eardrums were about to pop at any moment.
"Multi, multi, multi, multi, multipurpose, multipurpose, oh I've got a multi, multi, multi, multi, multipurpose brooooom! One more time, Potter!" chanted Natalia, before immediately singing back into the chorus.
"If you must sing, why don't you sing a Christmas carol, for pity's sake!" said Sirius, grinning. Natalia stopped singing, and smiled widely. Her gray eyes sparkled.
"If you insist," she said, before bursting into full sound.
"GOD REST YE MERRY HIPPOGRIFFS..."
James and Sirius joined her.
"Thank you, Natalia," said Lily grimly. "I would have never known it was possible to butcher the song as horridly as you have."
"Why thank you, Lily," grinned Natalia. "I do try. It is my great goal to butcher every Christmas carol I know before the end of Christmas Eve."
"Well, you've got ten hours," said Malia, glancing at the large hourglass in the Great Hall.
"Oh no!" gasped Natalia, splashing her wet cloth all over the floor. "I haven't much time! OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE..."
"Oh please, God no..." Lily suddenly wished that she had not flung that fistful of pudding at James. Professor McGonagall had no idea what type of cruel punishment she had just bestowed on her.
"HOW ARE THY LEAVES SO VIOLENT!"
"It's verdant, Nat!" snapped Lily before she could stop herself.
"Oh. Oops."
"Happy Christmas!" Natalia pounced on the boys' dormitories. "Wake up you lazy bums!"
"This is the boys' dorms! What are you doing here?" Sirius muttered as he rolled over, hitting the floor as he did so. He grunted in pain as his forehead made contact with his bedside table.
"I don't know, the stairs let me," Natalia shrugged. "Get up off the floor, you great git!"
"If you read Hogwarts: A History you would have known that girls are more trustworthy that boys," Lily rolled her eyes as she walked into the room. "It's a really good read, you know." She frowned at the array of dirty clothing that hung from their four-poster beds and the socks that littered the ground. Honestly, boys couldn't even keep their room clean for five minutes, even with house elves cleaning the dorms everyday.
"Wake up!" Natalia said, nudging James. "Are you mad?" whined James, squinting his eyes. "It's got to be at least six in the morning!"
"On the contrary, it's actually five," said Lily, checking James' alarm. She yawned, using the long sleeve of her pale blue dressing gown to stifle it. However, Natalia betrayed no signs of tiredness as she hopped around the room, singing the Rumpelstiltskin chant.
"Oi, Sirius' got a huge pile of presents on his bed!" said Natalia merrily, running over to his bed, "Why don't we open a few?" She jumped on his bed, holding a rather large package with bright pink wrapping paper. Sirius did not reply, but snatched the blankets off his bed with amazing speed. Natalia slipped and fell off the opposite side of the bed, headfirst onto the floor. There was not sound for a long time. Startled, Sirius scrambled to his feet and ran over to her. Lily followed worriedly, while the rest preferred to seize this opportunity to slumber.
"Nat, are you alright?" said Sirius anxiously, all sleepiness forgotten. He shook her slightly. Slowly, Natalia opened her eyes. She blinked, looking around her. As soon as she guessed what had happened, she narrowed her eyes and scowled.
"You bloody git!" she snapped, "You're just lucky it's bloody Christmas, otherwise I'd bloody curse you into bloody oblivion!" She groaned as she rubbed the back of her head gently.
"Nat, are you alright?" asked Lily, looking at her carefully. Natalia didn't answer her, but furrowed her brow as though in deep thought. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers and bounced back on her feet.
"Presents!" she said, "Presents! Get up!" She glanced at the three sleeping masses. Grinning, she took out her wand. "Get up," she said, "before I turn you all into mutated toads with chicken feet!" She smiled in satisfaction as the boys quickly got up from their beds and ran downstairs. She used her wand to levitated each boys' presents down into the common room, just as she had done to Lily's, Malia's, and her own.
"Presents!" crowed Sirius as they gathered around the tree. "Beautiful, illustrious, presents! I got two more presents than you did, Nat!" He smirked in satisfaction at his ridiculously large pile of gifts.
"Just open the damn box, Rapunzel," she retorted. Sirius glared at her as he opened one of the packages. Everyone was silent as they crowded around to look at what he had received.
Natalia burst into fits of uncontrolled laughter, still laughing even as Sirius pushed her to one side.
"Body wash?" she sputtered, getting red in the face. "Who the hell gives you body wash?
"Well," said Malia. "The card is anonymous, and there are lipstick marks all over it... so..." She and Natalia shared amused looks.
"Fangirls!" James snickered, "Sirius' fangirls! Body wash, they probably want to help you rub it on." Everyone shared a hearty mocking laughter at Sirius' expense.
"Open the next gift, Sirius!" said Natalia mischievously, "I can't wait to see what else you've got."
"Merlin," muttered Sirius, rubbing his arm. "Now I'm scared." He eyed the glittery packages warily.
"Not to worry, Black," said Natalia decidedly. "I'll do the honors for you." And before he could react, she tossed Malia a few packages and the two of them began to tear the gift apart at rapid speeds. To everyone's eternal amusement, they uncovered heart-shaped chocolates, teddy bears that made loud smooching sounds, rather expensive looking hair products, and small rubber tube-like things in which Natalia was unfamiliar with. If at all possible, the sight of those cracked the whole group up even more and made Sirius' eyes darken with embarrassment and rage.
"What are these?" she asked, holding one up. James howled with laughter while Sirius snatched it from her and threw the entire box into the fireplace.
"Bloody psychos, they are," he muttered, watching the box burn.
"What's it for, though?" persisted Natalia, looking confused. "What are they, portable test tubes?"
"Just open your own presents, for Merlin's sake!" snapped Sirius, trying hard to ignore the sniggering in the background.
Natalia's eyes sparkled with mirth. "Alright... shall we continue our Hogwarts tradition, Lily?"
Lily laughed. "Indeed, I think we should," she smiled widely. Simultaneously, the two of them began diving into their presents. The rest of them looked slightly surprised, but they soon joined. The next hour was spent with random yelling and cries of delight or disappointment.
"A grooming brush? Very funny, Prongs."
"We must be suave even in our most shaggy moments," James grinned at Remus. Malia gasped when she found a brand new silver camera in one of her packages, complete with a beautiful navy blue picture frame. Delicate embroideries were stitched around the frame, and in between the panes of glass was a small note that read, 'Happy Christmas, Remus.'
"Oh, thank you, Remus!" she squealed, jumping up and giving Remus a tight hug. Remus seemed shocked, but not unpleasantly so as he returned the hug gently.
"You're welcome, Malia," he said, getting slightly embarrassed at the amused looks his friends were giving him. After exchanging looks, each of them got back to their gifts. Natalia was parading the Muggle book Lily had given her, loudly reading out excerpts from it.
"Oh my - James," breathed Lily as she lifted a shimmering necklace from a velvet box. "This isn't the one we saw at Harrods, is it?"
"It might have been," shrugged James, grinning.
"But James, it was four hundred pounds," Lily persisted, watching as the pendant necklace dangled and caught the light.
"Oh hush, Lily, don't make him change his mind," teased Natalia, closing her book. "That's about eighty Galleons you're holding in your hand, Lily. Don't throw it in the fire like Sirius did with his test tubes."
"Merlin, Nat, what did you get me?" groaned Remus, heaving the package, "it probably weighs as much as a troll." His eyes widened when he saw that the gift Natalia gave him was filled with all sorts of Muggle sweets.
"I managed to get you a brilliant deal, Remus!" said Natalia happily. "The man at the store said he'd give me all I wanted for two Galleons!"
"You mean pounds, don't you?" asked Malia, noticing the variant Muggle brands on the sweets, but Natalia shook her head.
"He said he'd never seen anything like it." She grinned proudly. "And he let me take all I wanted! I even got some for you, Sirius, along with that runes textbook."
"Hooray," said Sirius sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he flipped through the book. Peter looked sulky as he held up a jumper he had received from his family.
"It's a size too small for me," he said in response to the questioning looks. "And Mum writes that she won't be proud of me unless I get at least six N.E.W.T.s next year."
"Ooh, harsh, mate," commented Natalia sympathetically. "Here, have some of Sirius' candy."
"Those are my sweets, though!"
"Oh please, Sirius, who needs it more? An unappreciated son with a tight jumper, or a boy with body wash to please him? Here you go, Peter," she said cheerfully. "It's the least I can do after my present to you accidentally went up into flames."
Peter seemed reluctant to take the sweets, however. "It's - it's okay, Nat," he said. "Sirius can have them, after all, they were his in the first place." Sirius beamed as he took back his box of delectable chocolates.
Natalia shrugged. "Fine," she said, flipping a couple of pages in her book. "For as the prince did say, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair!' " She eyed Sirius' dark hair mischievously. Sirius glared at her, his hand already in his back pocket.
"Don't even think about it, Lynx," he said.
"Think about what?" she asked innocently. "I'm going down to breakfast. I want to test out this Deluxe Itching Powder James gave me," she added, grinning. "So if none of you want itchy bottoms for the rest of the day, I suggest you come down with me right now."
"You gave her what?"
"It was either that or the Colored Tongues!" protested James. "Come on, Lily, you have to say that the Itching Powder was safer."
"Leave it to a man to shop for presents," scoffed Lily, rising from the confetti of torn up wrapping paper. James winked at her.
"Aw, you like the necklace though, don't you?" he grinned, taking the jewelry from Lily's palm and coupling the clasps around her neck. "I think I deserve some credit there."
"We'll see," Lily said doubtfully. "After we get through breakfast with Nat's Itching Powder."
"Oi, where're you lot?" came a call. "Get down here - I want to put Itching Powder in Professor McGrognon's chair!" James grinned and turned to Sirius. He saw that Sirius had a small box in his hand.
"What's that?" he asked. "Another present from Robertson?"
Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but Natalia unintentionally beat him to it as she shouted from outside the portrait hole,
"Get your sorry arses over here before I put Itching Powder in your food!"
None of them wasted any time joining her. They had had that experience before, and it was not pleasant.
"I have never, in all my years at Hogwarts, seen a professor trying to scratch the roof of his mouth," remarked Remus as they walked back to the common room. "Not the most refined thing in the world."
"Or when he used his fork," nodded James soberly, "It'll be bleeding for hours."
By the time he was admitted into the common room that evening, Sirius was thoroughly exhausted and paused to catch his breath. He noticed that someone was sleeping on the couch, and to no one's surprise, it was Natalia. Pieces of parchment cluttered the table, and from the way she was positioned on the couch, it seemed as though she had unintentionally fallen asleep. Typical. Natalia always fell asleep when she was doing homework alone.
Suddenly, while watching her, an idea sparked in Sirius' mind. He turned sharply, grunting loudly when he walked into a wall. Glad that Natalia was not awake to witness that, he darted up the dorms. When he returned, he had a small navy blue box (and his cloak) in his hand. He placed the small box on the armrest beside Natalia's head and grinned to himself in satisfaction.
Actually, it was a miracle that Madam Armilla finally decided to sell it to him. He decided to use this expensive bracelet to blackmail Natalia if he should ever need her to help him with his runes homework again. Which, you know, was always.
His gaze rose, and found that mistletoe was dangling above her slumbering head.
Sirius looked thoughtful. On one hand, kissing someone underneath the mistletoe was traditional, but on the other, he wasn't entirely sure about that traditional if the person happened to be asleep. Checking for traps, he took a couple of steps in each direction. He was free to move anywhere, and nothing odd sprung onto his face, like the ones Peeves made up.
Aren't you practically with Louisa, anyway? asked a voice inside his head. Sirius shook his head furiously. True, he had occasional "Louisa lapses", but that didn't mean they were together. He was a free man, just like he always was. He was free to do anything he wanted. And with that being said, he knelt down to Natalia's level and looked at her carefully. Her breathing was steady and calm, and her eyelids remained closed and still. Driving the fact that it was traditional to kiss someone underneath the mistletoe into his head, he bent his head even lower and met Natalia's lips.
Her lips were soft, just like that time she kissed him on Christmas Eve. They were cool to the touch, just as they had been before. Sirius could have sworn he felt her lips part slightly, but he couldn't be too sure, because just at that moment, there came a voice,
"Padfoot, what are you doing?"
Malia did a brilliant job on her essay, thought Natalia to herself, The essay's almost like a poem. She never knew that Malia had such a rhythmical way with words. The sentences, though making perfect sense, sang out to her like a lullaby, and pretty soon, she had snuggled against the couch and fell asleep. Soon, dreams of tantalizing Pumpkin Pastries filled her mind.
Until one of the Pumpkin Pastries grunted. Grunted? Since when do pastries grunt? Natalia asked in her dream, and involuntarily, she woke up. Her eyes darted around the common room, frowning at the fact that there were no Pumpkin Pastries to be seen. Neither were there any people. Natalia must've accidentally woken up. She shrugged to herself and tried to return to her lovely dream. That is, until a shadow was cast upon the warm glow of the hearth. She ignored the shadow.
They're lucky it's Christmas - if it were any other day, I'd hex them for blocking out my light.
The Shadow stayed for quite a while, long enough that Natalia had gotten used to it and nearly fell back asleep. In fact, she would've succeeded had not two lips suddenly pressed against her own. She parted her mouth and progressed to grabbing her wand and hexing the daylights out of that smarmy git had she not heard one, single phrase.
"Padfoot, what are you doing?"
... Sirius? Argh! Cooties!
"What are you doing, Padfoot?" came a voice that was directly behind him. Slowly, Sirius turned around. James raised his eyebrows, as though asking, 'Did you just do what I think you just did?'
"There was mistletoe!" said Sirius, knowing he couldn't deny it, "and - and you know what mistletoes are like, nowadays, they're hexed!"
James' expression did not change. "Right, Padfoot," said James skeptically. However, he didn't say anything else. "Well, you coming?" he asked, changing the topic. Without a second to waste, Sirius nodded his head.
"Yeah," he said, "I'm coming." He was grateful James decided not to press any further. Sirius grabbed his cloak, and with a brief glance at the sleeping girl, he and James disappeared out of the common room. At least she wasn't awake, thought Sirius to himself. But he was dead wrong.
"What are you doing, Padfoot?"
Natalia immediately tried to make sure she looked asleep. She glanced around the scene through veiled eyelashes.
"There was mistletoe!" a voice she recognized as Sirius protested, and instinctively, Natalia looked up. He was right. Now, why would Natalia do such a stupid thing and fall asleep underneath mistletoe? But luckily she was - at least she knew that Sirius wouldn't do such a thing as to kiss her without reason. Natalia felt something droop in her stomach, and ignored the feeling. Soon, after a few more exchanges between Sirius and the voice of James, she heard the portrait hole swing closed.
Better stay asleep for a bit longer, she thought, feeling slightly dizzy from everything that had just happened, just in case. Her mind was buzzing with confusion. She shut her eyes tightly; It must've been my imagination. She was going absolutely loony. Natalia kept chanting this to herself until she fell asleep again.
By the time she woke up, she was firmly convinced that everything that had happened had just been a horribly bewildering dream. Again, she had that drooping feeling in her stomach. "Stop that," she scolded to herself. "It's bad enough that I didn't have dinner yet!" And as if on cue, the droopy feeling changed into a growling sound.
"I'm starving!" she said aloud, yawning and getting up from the sofa. As she was stretching, she spotted a small box lying beside where her head had lain. She picked it up, examining it curiously. She was just about to open it, except her stomach had growled again at that very second. Hunger conquered curiosity, so she slipped the box into her bag, before piling her parchment, quill, and inkbottle in along with it. Quickly returning the essays to their rightful owners, she threw her book bag onto her bed and darted downstairs, just in time for dinner. A crowd of laughing, pink-cheeked people joined her halfway through.
"Oi, where were you lot?" Natalia demanded, "What're you guilty of?"
"We," said Malia proudly, "built the finest Elvis Presley snowman anyone has ever seen." She showed Natalia a snapshot of the frozen superstar.
"Yeah, but that was before we gave him a nose job," snickered James, and then we won with our dragon." Remus chuckled at the memory, while Peter began helping himself to heavy portions of the Christmas feast.
"That was cheating!" snapped Lily. "The bet is called off!"
"Why, Lily?" said James, grinning. "Sore because you lost?"
"As if!"
"Aw, now I feel left out," complained Natalia, frowning, "What's this bet?"
"Never you mind," said Lily, laughing. "It's punishment for your troublemaking ways."
"Punishment on Christmas? That's absolutely uncalled for!" Natalia gasped, "Torture! Oi, I was eating that!" she said when she saw Sirius taking something from a plate. Sirius thrust the plate at Natalia.
"Fine," he muttered, not making eye contact. She frowned at him, before glancing at the plate.
"I was just joking, honestly," she said, giving him a strange look. "I can't eat an entire turkey." Sirius shrugged, still behaving oddly.
"Then allow me to help," said James, grinning as he grabbed a drumstick and drenched the meat in gravy. He licked his lips in anticipation and began eating with horrendous manners.
Lily made a face at James.
James caught her look and handed her the gravy, grinning innocently. His act of pure ignorance made Lily roll her eyes. She noticed a semi-translucent being floating around the Gryffindor table, looking wistfully at the food. Natalia noticed it too.
"Oi, Headless Nick!" she called, spitting out a mouthful of mashed potatoes, "Grab a seat, mate, there's plenty of food!"
The ghost seemed somewhat sulky, but he floated over. "If you don't remember," he said, sounding slightly cold, "ghosts don't eat."
"Have a drink then, won't you?" said Natalia cheerfully, unaware that she had offended the ghost, "Give in to the Christmas spirit."
"We can't drink, either," Nearly Headless Nick said.
Natalia blinked. "Then what can you do?" she asked. Lily groaned inwardly.
"Well, I suppose we can't do a whole lot of things," said the ghost icily, "If you think about it, ghosts can't drink, eat, lose weight, relieve one's self -"
"Alright, alright," interrupted Sirius. "We get the point. Merlin, no need to get into the details during dinner," he muttered, and Natalia snorted with laughter.
"Black," she grinned. "I dare you to mix cranberry sauce into eggnog and drink the entire vat."
Sirius stared at her in disbelief. Her eyes sparkled mischievously, with pure glee and keenness. Nodding, he slowly grinned back.
"You're on," he said. "Oi, Nick, toss that cranberry sauce with me, won't you?"
Still properly offended, Nearly Headless Nick merely floated away at the question. Sirius rolled his eyes and grabbed the cranberry sauce himself. The rest of the dinner was passed with increasingly disgusting dares of combining different foods.
"I dare you to drench the mashed potatoes in eggnog, then pumpkin juice, and eat them with rice pudding!"
"God, Nat, where do you come up with this stuff?"
"Imagination, my dear Lily. Imagination."
When Natalia made Sirius pour a gravy and jelly mixture on the ground and lick it up, Lily lost her appetite altogether.
"Ew, I can't believe you did that!"
"Believe it, Lynx. For your turn, you're going to eat half a pound of turkey soaked in..."
"It's too bad Christmas is over," sighed Malia as the three girls gathered around Natalia's and Lily's dorm. As everyone in the dorm except for Lily and Natalia had gone home for the holidays, privacy was a bonus.
"Not really," yawned Natalia, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "We've still got a couple more minutes until midnight."
"I can't believe you're tired already, Nat," laughed Lily. "I would've thought that you'd be bouncing on the beds, high on sugary sweets." Both she and Malia were sitting, cross-legged on the floor.
Natalia grinned and flopped backwards onto her bed. "Don't remind me," she said. "My stomach still hurts from dinner. I can't believe I let Sirius talk me into eating a hairball Filch's cat left on the ground," she muttered, shuddering.
Malia giggled. "Sirius is a bit of an idiot," she said. "I don't really see what Shara sees in him."
"Other than aristocratically handsome looks?" Lily asked, laughing. "Yes, even I have to admit that."
"Or the fact that he's clever and passes every class with flying colors," added Malia sarcastically. "Honestly, Shara ought to have better taste."
"Don't let your boyfriends hear you talking about him like that," Natalia said, yawning, "They might murder the bloke."
Lily laughed, but Malia turned pink. "I don't have a boyfriend," she protested. "What do I need to worry about?"
"Dunno," grinned Natalia, turning over slightly, "I guess you don't have anything to worry about."
"That's right," said Malia affirmatively. "I don't."
"Hey, Nat, you haven't told us what you think about Sirius!" said Lily suddenly, turning to her best friend. "What do you think about him?"
"I think he's a git," came the reply. Lily frowned at her remark.
"No, really, Nat," she persisted, "What do you think of Sirius?"
No one answered her question. Lily stood up and looked over at Natalia. She found the girl had fallen fast asleep, her breathing slow and even. Her lips were curved up in a small smile, just as it always was. Lily smiled as well.
"She fell asleep," she said to Malia. "I suppose our girl-talk proved to be too much for her."
Malia laughed, but quietly, lest she woke up Natalia. "I think we should all go to bed," she said, yawning herself, "It's been a long day."
"Happy Christmas, Malia," said Lily softly, smiling. Malia nodded.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Lily," she said, before going out of the room and returning to her own half-empty dormitory.
Chapter End Notes: Hope you all liked that little bit 'o kissin' XD I thought it'd only be fair if we let in Sirius and Nat have a bit of their own romantic fun, since all their pals are dating each other. Anyway, let me know what you think. I thrive on reviews.
Luv,
ArcanusRose