Author's Note
My most humble and grievous apologies for not thanking those of you who have contributed to my 70+ reviews thus far. Thank you for your support of my story and your praise really means the world to me. I probably wouldn't find the will to update as fast or often as I do if I didn't have such support to. I'd like to add a happy dance to this comment because Pensive has the most reviews and one of the highest ratings for a Lily/James story on Portkey which gives me a thrill.
Thanks for writing and keep it up (please?)
* * *
~ Quantity and Qualities ~
By: Oy! Angelina
* * *
1976, Nov. 12th
Dear James:
From the sounds of things it appears that you will, in fact, be spending winter holiday over at Hogwarts, but do send an Owl if I'm incorrect in this. I will not lie in saying that it wouldn't have been a pleasure to have you stay over, but you're entering the time in your life that will define what the rest of it shall amount to. Do keep me posted on any developments, for the better or the worst, James, for I am always interested. As I'm fortunately still young enough to not be shocked by the attics and angst accustom to adolescents, I'd like you to consider me as more of an older brother than a guardian to you since they tend to be the more approachable sort when one has questions about life. Trust me when I say there are few embarrassing antidotes you could share that I couldn't name a half dozen Longbottoms to be guilty of as well!
I trust you have plans for your birthday well under way, what I wouldn't give to be turning seventeen once again. If you happen upon the time, I would like very much to hear from you before the holidays since a month seems to be more than enough time for things to change in a boy's life and few could ever tell a story like a Potter.
Happy Christmas,
~ Frank Longbottom
p.s. Expect an Owl with a fresh plum cake for the holidays.
* * *
1976, Dec. 18th
Dear Frank:
Thank you for the fond birthday wishes. I did have fun! We had a modest party (catering on behalf of Honeydukes) in the Gryffindor commons. Same fun we had with the Quidditch party with only half the amount of retching, all candy induced this time as Peter and Sirius have more than learned their lessons. Lily gave me a friendly peck on the cheek and I swooned for near an hour until Sirius got it into his head that I needed a visit form "the bucket of cold-water fairy."
Sirius is expected to recover fully from the massive blunt trauma he endured shortly after and will, in no way, impair his talent for being a jackass.
While the few weeks before winter holiday always seemed to drag on for me in the past, I've found them to pass with the blink of an eye this year. Most of the students have gone home for the break in term to be with their loved ones, but many still remain so as to attend the Yule festivities or because don't really have better plans otherwise. It would have been nice to have a traditional Christmas with the Longbottom family but, as you have guessed, my plans dictate otherwise. Don't fret, I won't be alone since all those I'm close with, being Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, will be spending the holidays with me and I'm sure we'll have fun with our time together. And you're right, a month is more than enough time for things to change in a young person's life and my fortune seems to be all for the better as of late.
Lily and I are getting along smashingly, but in a "just friends" sort of way. It's not ideal, admittedly, but we both recognize that things would probably be worse before better if we pursued a closer relationship presently. We've resolved virtually all the differences keeping up apart and spent our first peaceful night together watching some storms in the Gryffindor attic only a few days before I received your Owl. Of course, there was an inquisition to be faced amongst my friends the morning after.
For some unspecified reason, Remus Lupin believes I'm a master of seduction whom is privy to many torrid affairs whenever I happen to be absent from my bed. Never minding my general awkwardness, I insisted that I was far too sleep deprived (since I hadn't slept in three days at this point) to do anything remotely like what he was suggesting with Lily. There is now a new rule amongst my circle of friends explicitly stating that they are not to insinuate anything explicit of me if I'm out all night. Meaning, 'James's isn't in bed' does not equal 'James is off shagging in someone else's bed like the randy wizard stallion he is' henceforth!
This will last all of thirty seconds, I reckon.
What took more of an effort to eventually convince my friends of the nature of my and Lily's relationship. They figured us for being coy when we announced that we were only close friends for the time being but when we did nothing to deviate from the part, they were forced to face the mediocre truth of it all. Lily and I don't do much aside from chatting and studying together, but it's more than enough for me. You know you're in good company when they can make watching the grass grow seem like bloody excellent fun. Sometimes we get off by ourselves but mostly we're in the company of our friends or some of the Gryffindor I've been tutoring. Don't assume this to be some act of altruism on my part as Lily wrangled the lot of us into it as penance for being . . .well us, but I'd be lying if I claimed to hate it. It's making us popular with Hogwarts outside of what fame we've earned through troublemaking and brashness and the professors seem to more than appreciate it.
Because of all the time we spend together and all the good she's got me doing just through knowing her, I've got half the Gryffindors (and my own friends) completely baffled on why I'm not insisting upon taking Lily Evans to the ball on Christmas. Oh, by the way, she's attending with Severus Snape, a nasty Slytherin (I know, is there any other kind?) who has all the pigmentation of a black and white photograph and will probably despise me well after I'm dead so he won't have to feel as though he wasted his youth! This is who the woman dearest to me will be attending with and I have to say that it doesn't bother me one bit!
Not because, that's actually true, mind you, I just have to say it so I don't do something both stupid and exceptionally Potter-esque in retaliation to it.
For the time being, this serves as the dark secret of the Gryffindors, since myself, my friends, and a girl (whom incidentally is my date to the ball as well) by the name of Arabella Figg are the only ones who know. Seeing it as a matter of House honor, we're keeping this on the mum and thankfully Lily and Snape seem to be of a similar disposition. Lily, because she's a proper woman who believes most of the details involving her personal life are distributed on a need-to-know basis and Snape, because one would require a Veritaserum to get anything out of that git. I should specify that NOBODY cares about Snape's personal life since we are all convinced he simply crawls out from beneath a rock to attend lessons and give me a new reason every day to break some kind of bone in his body (which I never do, mind you).
It will be less than a week before both Christmas and the ball come upon Hogwarts and I must confess I'm looking forward to it eagerly. Not so much for all that will be going on during the 25th of December but for everything that comes after. I plan on asking Lily to be my girlfriend properly, since I need to do something decent by her after my royal job of mucking it up (even for a Potter!) as if late. It's unlikely she'll reject me and I can only hope this will be the beginning of a many splendid things for the both of us.
I'll let you know how this works out for me; of course you and the rest of the Wizarding world (and possibly a Muggle or two) will be able to hear the whooping if Lily agrees.
Anyway, enjoy your holiday and I look forward to your traditional plum cake. I've sent ahead an Owl carrying a brick of Hogsmeade's famous chocolate, since I remember you saying how much you fancied them when you attended Hogwarts yourself.
Take care, my surrogate older brother,
~ James Potter
* * *
As dawn introduced Christmas morning, Gryffindor tower awoke with strings of hooting and well wishing as they opened their gifts from relations and congregated in the common room to exchange ones amongst themselves. Good on his word, Frank had sent a plumb cake to James for the holidays, which he freely passed around to his Housemates to enjoy with him as they unwrapped gifts. The presents that were distributed between friends weren't out of the ordinary (by wizarding standards) but were overall enjoyed with typically a lot of thought invested into them.
The Marauders pretty much bought out Zonko's for their gifts to one another and bought Arabella and Lily sweets from Honeydukes since they doubted they'd much enjoy things that exploded or produced offensive odors. Lily had gotten Arabella cat slippers that felt like they purred when they walked, which Arabella wore with pride and viciously pummeled any who had a disparaging comment about them (i.e. Sirius and James). Arabella gave Lily a talking hand-mirror so she could get a second opinion on her appearance in the morning since she lived alone. Lily was initially disturbed by this, but found herself more than flattered by most of the things the looking glass had to say.
When it came time for them to exchange presents, Lily handed James a deep, rectangular box outfitted in their House colors. Within as a set of Quidditch wrist guards and gloves that (as Lily explained) adjusted to the temperature around them so the wear's hands would never be cold or sweaty. They also had a few defensive charms on them. One ensured that so long as a hand remained on the handle of the broom, the grip would seize up reflexively, preventing the rider from being bucked off unintentionally. The other Charm was for if the wearer was debroomed, then the gloves were enchanted to automatically brace themselves out, hitting the ground first to help their wearer roll into a crouch without injury.
"James will be hard-pressed to bloody himself up during matches with those, Lily." Peter said approvingly. "You've just robbed the boy of his one talent in life."
"Where did you get them?" James demanded as he searched the gloves for some sort of logo or brand name. Being a Quidditch fanatic, James couldn't believe that such gloves existed without him knowing about them before now.
"Well, I got the guards themselves from the Quidditch outfitter out of Hogsmeade." Lily explained. "I've spent the past month putting the Charms on them myself." James could only stare after this.
"That must have been impossible!" Arabella exclaimed in awe of her friend.
"Oh, the Charms were simple." Lily commented. "Now testing them out, THAT was impossible. I had to jump off the bloody roof just to be sure the landing Charm was proper and casted a hurling hex on a school broom to make sure the other worked! Good thing I'm as smart as I think I am or you all would be dressing my comatose body up in tinsel so I wouldn't be left out of the holidays."
James restrained himself from proposing to her right there, but managed to get out "Oh, you're just BRILLIANT!" while he gapped at Lily.
Still reeling from his present, James handed Lily a box she was willing to bet any money on was store wrapped since it was so beautifully done. She almost felt bad removing the tissue and paper before opening the box they shrouded and extracting what she initially assumed was an extraordinarily lightweight snow globe. Upon closer inspection of the domed object, Lily realized it was a magically created model of the solar system, stars, planets, and satellites moving as one expected them to. Overwhelmed with this incredible gift and guilty she hadn't thought of something just as sentimental, Lily turned to James completely dumbstruck and grateful.
"This way you won't have to worry about rainy nights and I'll have to come up with fresh means to keep you about." James smiled shyly, happy that she seemed to really like it. Lily face nearly cracked with how widely she was grinning as she placed the miniature solar system down so she could hug James with both arms. Sirius got up from the sitting area, rolling his eyes as he went to help himself to another slice of plum cake.
"Oh, Merlin's beard! SNOG ALREADY!" Sirius bellowed. "Or do I have to bloody well jump in there, James and show you how?"
James picked up one of his brand new Filibuster Firecrackers and tossed over by Sirius, forcing him to stumble over a couch to avoid a multicolored hot-foot. The Gryffindors laughed hysterically at Sirius's brush with instant karma, except for Lily who jumped to her feet with her fists balled at either side.
"JAMES POTTER!" Lily screeched. "IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK YOU TO REMEMBER OUR 'NO EXPLOSIVES' RULE FOR THE COMMON ROOM OR DO I NEED TO STITCH IT INTO YOUR FLESH?!"
The most this accomplished was further laughing, until Lily was forced to join in as well as they headed off to breakfast. At their House table in the Great Hall, an unmarked Owl delivered an additional present to Lily, which was wrapped astoundingly for the holiday. She opened the squat, square box and found a beautiful gold and emerald tiara that would stunningly accent her dress robes at the ball that night. Lily may have questioned who had sent her the gift more (as this wouldn't be the first occasion in her time at Hogwarts to receive a gift from a secret admirer) if James hadn't so deliberately avoided looking at her or the gift at the moment. In truth, it wasn't much of a surprise to anyone, but the Gryffindors decided to treat it as the elephant at the table since that seemed to be the way James preferred it.
As she finished her breakfast while Arabella purred over the jewelry, Lily couldn't help but wonder how many anonymous gifts she had received over the years from James Potter. Before she joined her fellow Gryffindors in a fun filled Christmas day, Lily made an effort to track down Snape to present him with her present for him. It was a book titled "Obscure to Absurd: Potions for All Occasions."
"When I was in your room, I didn't remember seeing this on the shelf and it's a fairly recent release. I noticed a lot of spells we hadn't even heard of in Potions and I figured, if you don't already own it, that you'd at least maybe get a chuckle from it." Lily hoped Snape didn't take he gift as some sort of subtle indication that he needed help in Potions.
To Lily's relief/concern Snape seemed more awkward than anything by the gesture since he probably wasn't used to people putting such thought into his gifts . . .that is, assuming he ever got anything to begin with. Pulling a box out from his own robes, Snape gave Lily a peacock quill and a blank book to write in. It was a simple present that would have worked for any person, but Lily always placed higher value in the thought of the present rather than the actual gift itself. For Snape to bother in giving her anything at all showed there had been some thought on her behalf.
"I could figure out a potion for immortality with greater ease than what to purchase as a present for a woman." Snape admitted gruffly. Lily smiled as the looked over her gift.
"I think it's very thoughtful." Lily assured warmly. "I guess I'll meet you tonight then out by the courtyard."
"Very well." Snape nodded. "Until then."
And, with that, the two parted ways for the time being, examining the gifts they had received with more care and smiles.
* * *
After a quick stop in their common room to acquire warmer clothing, the six Gryffindors joined many of the other students who stayed over for the holidays at Hogwarts at the lake. Mostly frozen over by this point, the ice was magically reinforced around the banks and many of the students enjoyed ice-skating as part of their winter fun. The only condition was that they were mindful of the illuminated hovering red flags outlining the dangerous portions of the ice as the center of the lake. Even with this large section out of bounds, the skaters upon the lake still had more than enough room to move about and could even do laps about the lake if they were so inclined.
"I like ice skating!" Peter declared as he laced up his boots along with the other Gryffindors. "Its one of those simple things in life both Muggles and Wizarding folk can do that's completely on equal footing."
"What if you have enchanted skates though?" Arabella spotted a whole in Peter's argument as she loaded a fresh roll of film into her camera.
"Having a pair of bloody shoes do all the work!" Peter huffed. "Now where's the fun in that!"
"Probably about the same place as repeatedly falling on your ass, much to the delight of the on looking crowd." Remus nodded over toward James and Sirius who would just love to see one of the Marauders fall flat on their back while on the ice. Peter just shrugged as he made his way out to meet Sirius, Lily, and James who were all warming up.
"I'm sure you'll be fine once you're out there and moving, Remus." Arabella wagered, but Remus shook his head.
"I'm not the athlete either Sirius or James is. I'll be lucky if I can stay upon my feet let alone move about." Remus reported. Arabella stood up and started to make her way onto the ice, leaving her camera on the stony bench she had been seated upon.
"Come along then." Arabella beckoned for him to follow her. "Stay by me and I'll make you look good." Arabella winked as she headed towards the ice.
With a reluctant sigh, Remus followed behind the girl. Reaching the shoreline, Arabella had no sooner placed the blade of her skate upon the ice when she stumbled and landed comically on her behind. Remus smirked as he slid out gently next to her.
"You're right, Arabella, you DO make me look good on the ice." Remus joked.
"Well I'm a woman of my word, now aren't I?" Arabella gave a firm pout as she thrust her hand up for Remus to assist in pull her back on her feet, which he did.
Farther out on the ice, Sirius and Peter were talking with the Hufflepuff girls, Debra and Mandy, they had wrangled as their dates for the ball, whom were attractive and sweet for the most part but it was doubtful either boy would be pursuing anything much serious with them after the fact. Still they were being good about socializing with the other 6th Years and left James and Lily off to themselves.
They committed themselves to taking a lap around the boarder of the lake. A majority of the other Hogwarts students on the ice with them were concentrated in the area closest to the castle but James and Lily occasionally passed a few likeminded others from either direction as they skated casually in a circle. They devoted most of their attentions to one another, but would try to spot their friends from time to time.
"Looks like Arabella's subjecting Remus to the horrors of skating with her." Lily observed a quarter of the way around. "I swear she spends more time on the ice than her blades do! Remus isn't half bad though."
"Oh he's positively horrible usually but with Arabella by him, who can possibly tell?" James informed as the two shared a grin. "Your form happens to be really good, by the way."
"I did a lot of ice skating as a child. Guess it stuck with me." Lily shrugged.
"Who the hell was talking about ice skating?" James raised an eyebrow at Lily with a grin over his lips.
Lily rolled her eyes for walking into that one and batted at James in retaliation. James effortlessly avoided her attack by dodging to the side and started skating backwards just ahead of Lily so he could look at her while talking. Somehow he always managed to stay just out of her reach like this.
"See if I HAD complimented your skating, I'd feel really foolish about it now as I watch you in action." James teased. "Fortunately, you're always fetching to me so I can stand by my words."
Refusing to be further baited by James since he evidently was the attention seeking type (never mind what attention), Lily gave up her attempts to swipe at him and just resigned to skating and enjoying the winter view.
"You're quite the flirt, aren't you?" Lily demanded with a small smirk.
"Only with you." James replied. Lily rolled her eyes at this line, but James shook his head. "No seriously, I really don't come onto girls all that often. I'm pretty terrible at it usually."
"We'll you're not all that great at it now." Lily teased a bit of her own. James pretended to look offended and rejoined Lily at her side.
"That's only because we're just acting as friends." James boasted sarcastically. "If I had truly wanted you, you'd be mine by now. You're just not my type, I'm afraid."
"Oh really?" Lily smirked. "Didn't know that you could afford to be so picky."
"Well, when you're rich, the women pretty much come at you like bludgers." James couldn't keep up a straight face any longer and had to laugh. "I don't know what it is about you Lily. I guess when you start off on the entirely wrong foot with a person and if they're still willing to be around you after the fact, well it takes a lot of the pressure off trying to impress them all the time."
"So you're saying you feel like you can be yourself easier around me?" Lily concluded.
"Yeah, you're probably the only person this side of Sirius who knows me best." James nodded. "I'm not saying I'm a phony with everyone else, I just get lost in being brash and sarcastic so much that it's all people can think of me as."
"For what it's worth, I can relate." Lily smiled sympathetically. "You're probably the closest thing I've had to a genuine friend here at Hogwarts, well, and Arabella. Most of the other students act as though I'm completely unapproachable. Just because I happen to be attractive or intelligent or a Prefect, I feel like I'm at arms length with people because they think I'm impossible to relate to."
"Maybe you are." James suggested which provoked a quizzical look from Lily. "You're a special and blessed kind of person all around, Lily. How can you expect everyone to get along famously with you? The last thing you need is a bunch of 'friends' who are secretly intimidated or envious of you just because you happen to be better in certain respects."
"So I should resign myself to being alone?" Lily groaned.
"No, I'm saying keep in mind life is about quality, not quantity. I mean, what's the point of saying you have a hundred friends if there isn't a single one who's loyal to you when things are down or you can confide in when you need to most." James corrected. "Would it be so bad if your truest friends were just myself and the four other people we came out here with today? And maybe that git, Snape but I can't pretend to see the appeal in all that."
"Well, thank you for giving me a perspective I hadn't considered." Lily felt slightly brightened by all this. She leaned over and kissed James on the cheek. He smiled and briefly closed his eyes at the gesture.
"So, can close friends hold hands while ice skating?" James inquired as he held one of his own out for Lily. She accepted it with a small squeeze.
"I reckon it's alright since Remus and Arabella are doing the same . . ." Lily glanced across the way. "Oh, my mistake . . .Arabella was just taking Remus to the ice with her."
Still, Lily left her hand, amongst other things, in the possession of James.
* * *
After it was felt enough camera film and time had been spent on skating (or falling about in the cases of Arabella and Remus) the six Gryffindors returned to the castle to curl up by the common room fire and spend a leisurely afternoon together before it came time to get ready for the ball. The Marauders abandoned the girls briefly with the promises of returning with pots of tea and hot chocolate along with some pastries to snack on after a short visit with the House Elves in the school kitchen.
Waltzing triumphantly into the House common room, each with a tray of drinks or food, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter found Lily on the couch with a book in front of and a blanket over her while Arabella laid on the floor with a quill and parchment before her, scribbling something down.
"You bloody traitors!" Sirius glared. "We leave you alone for ten minutes to bring you hot chocolate and you're doing homework? What does this look like, a Ravenclaw Christmas party?"
"It's Divination." Arabella's face resembled a cat that had just smelled something unappealing. "If it barely qualifies as a subject I don't think it's all that fair to call what we're doing homework."
"What are you doing?" Peter asked as he placed his tray on a coffee table with the other boys mimicking the action.
"We're supposed to make predictions through astrology." Arabella couldn't fight back a yawn. "Our assignment over holiday is to study the sun signs of people and tell them how they are expected to relate to one another because of when they were born. Just more of Trelawney's doomsaying in my opinion. We are expected to do each sign at least once. That's what Lily and I were up to when you four came in."
As she explained, Sirius passed Arabella a mug and took a tray of cookies with him as he and Remus sat on either side of the girl near the fire. Peter took one of the chairs, overlooking the group while James brought Lily a mug. He ended up sitting with Lily leaning into him as he kept an arm around her, reading her Divination text over her shoulder.
"Why not let us help you out, a bit?" James offered with a sip of his chocolate. "At least you'd have a few more signs to throw in there."
"Didn't take you as the type to believe in Divination." Lily commented.
"Oh I don't!" James confirmed with a condescending laugh, but caught Lily's eye and cleared his throat. "But, if it will help you out, I suppose I can ignore that for now."
"I find it fascinating personally." Remus stated with a somewhat amused expression. "I've always been of the mind that celestial bodies have a way of determining our fortunes." Sirius, Peter, and James tried not to share a knowing look between them. Remus put a little bit of faith into astronomy on account of his condition as a werewolf, but past that he harbored the same skepticism of as James and Sirius on the matter of divination.
"How do you and Lily get along as far as the stars are concerned?" Peter questioned politely with interest. In truth, he had wanted to take Divination but went along with his three friends in Care for Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies since they expressed no interest outside of making fun of fortune-telling and he didn't want to feel like the odd one out anymore than he already happened to.
"Well, I'm a Capricorn and Arabella's and Aquarius." Lily began.
"So start your birthday shopping now, boys." Arabella joked.
"We're doomed to drive one another off. It basically says that I'm a domineering personality who can come off as aloof in respects to Arabella's free-spirit nature and massive attention deficit disorder." Lily said with a frown. James squeezed her closer a bit in comfort, recalling their conversation from before.
"Okay, what about the rest of us?" Sirius asked with amusement.
"Umm . . .give us a bit to figure." Arabella requested as she pulled out her own book.
"Let's see, Peter's a Libra because we had his birthday party in early October and we just did James's a couple weeks before so he's a Sagittarius." Lily rationalized.
"I'm a Cancer and Sirius is an Aries." Remus helped.
Sirius shot Remus a warped look.
"You sound like a girl I dated 4th Year, you know that?" Sirius snorted.
"Like I said, an Aries." Remus dryly referring to the overtly masculine and abrasive nature some Aries are known to possess.
Lily and Arabella chuckled, obviously getting some unspoken joke. James and Peter shrugged, while Sirius seemed to get cross by all this.
"Keep on speaking in code then, ladies." Sirius grumbled.
The girls moved their work over to the couch while the Marauders talked Quidditch until Lily and Arabella indicated they were finished. Beckoning them back, the six reclaimed the seat they initially held and listened as Lily and Arabella traded off in explaining.
"Okay, Peter and James." Arabella started off. "James likes Peter's easy-going nature while Peter's a fan of James's adventuring lifestyle, but Peter does all the compromising in the friendship. Watch yourself James, Peter can be a crafty one when it comes to attention seeking."
"Yeah, right." Peter huffed. "What chance do I ever have of blindsiding James? He knows what I'm going to do before I'm even faced with the situation!"
"Sirius and James, being best friends and all," Lily went on. "Sociable and smart, you two are almost always on the same page of things but both possess something of a quick and fiery temper. Of course any fights are always short lived and you reconcile marvelously."
"I'll wager the make up sex is amazing." Remus quipped, causing both James and Sirius to spit out their hot chocolate. After a few minutes of riotous laughter, the group settled down so they could hear some more pairings.
"Remus and his soon-to-be former friends . . ." Arabella went on. "With Sirius, he is often pray to vicious jokes which deeply wound his sensitive passive nature . . . I might have believed this until about two minutes ago. He finds Peter somewhat shallow and attracted more to image than substance while Peter regards Remus as more than moody. And with James, Remus enjoys a bond where James trades him amusement for sensitivity. It makes them happy and close but you're running on two completely different levels most of the time. Probably why James gets along best with Sirius."
The boys nodded along with the girls' fairly convincing half-truths.
"I believe Severus Snape is a Scorpio," Lily mused as she glanced at James. "A dominating and secretive personality, he's constantly clashing with James outgoing and enthusiastic lifestyle. Snape cold and precise while James is hot running and volatile. You two are literally fire and water when mixed."
"Which one of us is fire and which of us is water?" James asked since he was completely ignorant of astrology.
"You're fire." Lily clarified.
"Good, fire always wins." James nodded.
"What about when they use that thing to extinguish fires . . .what's it called . . .of yeah, WATER?" Peter joked.
"Nah, fire always wins." James decided. "Takes water down with him." Chuckles were exchanged over James's stubborn rivalry with Snape. Keeping along with the light mood, Lily grinned at Arabella.
"I took the liberty of matching up Arabella's sign with Sirius, Peter, and Remus for a lark." Lily grinned. Arabella shot her a "you bitch" sort of glare but remained silent, evidently a little curious for how this would turn out. "With Sirius, closely matching personalities that would get along brilliantly if she'd let Sirius take the lead."
Sirius threw Arabella a flirty look to, which she rolled her eyes.
"I think I fancy being the dominant one, thank you." Arabella reported. In spite of her initial protests, Arabella seemed to be having a bit of fun with these predictions as well.
"With Peter, he would always find away to work with Arabella's stubborn streak rather than against it. They have the potential to get along splendidly since they're minds work somewhat alike." Lily continued.
Peter blushed a bit as Arabella smiled.
"At least you're brighter than Sirius is for trying to rein me in." Arabella complimented Peter.
"And as for Remus, he'd throw all his efforts into making things peaceable while she'd do everything she could to loosen him up. In the end, Arabella's such a flirt she'd only wound the dear, sensitive boy." Lily finished.
"Oh you make it sound as though I'm a tramp or something!" Arabella hissed like a wet cat.
"Now, now, you're not promiscuous, Arabella." Sirius comforted. "You're just . . .free."
"You wish I was that 'free' Black." Arabella snickered as she shoved Sirius, who was propped on his arm and caused him to fall to the floor before she announced with a wicked grin. "Well, let us see what the stars have to say on Mr. and Mrs. Potter!"
Lily wasn't surprised since she figured Arabella had every intention of doing this all along. She elbowed James when she caught him grinning like an idiot.
"You're encouraging her." Lily dryly informed him.
"What made you think I wouldn't?!" James smirked.
"Or possibly the Snapes . . ." Arabella added, knocking the smile clear off James's face. Lily sank into her blanket as the other Marauders leaned closer with interest.
"For James," Arabella studied her text since, unlike Lily, she had nothing prepared before hand. "She's drawn to his optimism and charm while he's attracted by Lily's depth and temperance. They have something smoldering between them initially but once the novelty of it all wears down, James will be prone to wander off once he gets bored with Lily's prudish nature."
Arabella looked as though she paled a bit, instantly realizing that she probably shouldn't have read that aloud. Lily and James said nothing nor did they look at one another, these ominous words seemed to weigh on their minds more than they should have. The silence was awkward in the room until Remus interjected, trying to sound flippant about it.
"Why not read about her and Snape?" Secretly, he was hoping that prediction was far worse and would lift a bit of the tension.
"Okay." Arabella agreed hesitantly as she flipped through a few pages. "Umm . . .Scorpio and Capricorn . . .They work well as a team . . .Prefect thing I guess, but Lily's stubbornness clashes with his temper time to time. Snape's the possessive type, but Lily's the sort who takes this as a sign of caring. He's shrewd and she's organized and both have strong values of discipline and accomplishment. Incidentally, Snape's sign possesses a powerful sensuality that draws something wild out of Lily's."
Arabella felt every eye in the room on her as she finished the prediction. James's appeared as though he were about to vomit; Arabella couldn't see what Lily looked like as she had her head completely covered with a blanket at the moment. Remus checked the book to see if Arabella had READ IT RIGHT. Peter seemed to be wrapping his mind around the idea of Snape having any sort of sensuality let alone a POWERFUL one as Sirius fought back a laugh with all his might. After the nausea seemed to subside, James finally looked to the rest of the room.
"Okay, Divination is OFFICIALLY crap!" James declared in his most indignant tone. He turned to Lily with an accusing look she could not see because she was still hiding beneath her blanket. "You're dropping this course before you're made dumb and impressionable by all it!"
"Or Severus Snape's sex kitten . . ." Sirius said under his breath but somehow everyone managed to hear. Once again the common room burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of this notion and Lily and Arabella shut their books in unison.
"I think we're done with Divination for today." Lily decided as she curled beside James and told herself that there was nothing, whatsoever trustworthy about astrology.
It was a lazy and casual Christmas for the remainder of the afternoon, with all six Gryffindors joking, laughing, and overall enjoying one another's company until it came time to get ready for the Yule Ball.
* * *
* * *
AFTERWARDS
Yeah, I know this wasn't really here nor there in the grand scheme of chapters but I still think it served a purpose. I think sometimes the best parts of the story are the simple ones where people are just having fun and it reminds you why you like the characters so much.
Well, enjoy the little break from the usual angst of this tale because next chapter's the grand old Yule Ball and I think we're all curious to see how this will be working out.
Note: I, naturally made up all the birthdays in this so if you happen to know any of the character's real birthdays sorry to offend, it's just for lark.
* * *
Let My Love Open the Door
By Pete Townshend
* * *
When people keep repeating that you'll never fall in loveWhen everybody keeps retreating, but you can't seem to get enough Let my love open the door, let my love open the doorLet my love open the door to your heart Let my love open the door, oohLet my love open the doorLet my love open the door, oohLet my love open the door When everything feels all over, everybody seems unkindI'll give you a four-leaf clover, take all worry out of your mindLet my love open the doorLet my love open the doorLet my love open the door to your heart to your heartto your heartto your heartto your heart, ooh I got the only key to your heart I can stop you falling apart Try today, you'll find this way Come on and give me a chance to sayLet my love open the door, it's all I'm living forRelease yourself from miseryThere's only one thing going to set you freeThat's my love, that's my love Let my love open the door (to your heart)Let my love open the door (to your heart)Let my love open the door (to your heart)Let my love open the door When tragedy befalls you, don't let it drag you downLove can cure your problems, you're so lucky I'm around Let my love open the doorLet my love open the doorLet my love open the door to your heart to your heartto your heartto your heart
to your heart
Let my love open the door (to your heart)Let my love open the door (to your heart)
Let my love open the door (to your heart)
Let my love open the door (to your heart)
When people keep repeating that you'll never fall in loveWhen everybody keeps retreating, but you can't seem to get enough Let my love open the door, let my love open the door
Let my love open the door to your heart