/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟏.𝟞.𝟣

"it's the coldest time of winter, and I shiver when I see the falling snow" ~ Phoebe Bridgers

~december 1971~ (christmas special part 2 of 5)

LILY

When Lily woke up, the only person still in the dormitory was Mary, curled up in a little ball under a mountain of blankets and pillows. She crept out of bed to the door, staying as quiet as possible so as not to wake her friend. On her way out, she grabbed a sweatshirt from Marlene's bed and pulled it over her head, shivering slightly at the sudden warmth.

When she got down to the common room, Lily found Marlene helping a very wet looking James put up Christmas decorations as Artemis huddled under a blanket on the nearby couch, her hair sopping. Sirius was on the other side of the couch, looking boredley down at Peter, who was staring longingly at a chess board. Remus was in his usual armchair, completely dry, a blanket wrapped comfortably around his shoulders and a book open on his lap. Lily hugged her sweatshirt tighter around herself and went to join Artemis on her side of the couch, careful not to make eye contact with Sirius or James. "Why're you all wet?" she asked quietly.

"Beat Sirius and James in a snowball fight," Artemis said, looking up from her book.

"You did not!" said Sirius, scowling over at Artemis. "And you're taking up the entire couch."

"I am not!"

Remus looked up at them serenely. "Why doesn't one of you just move to a different couch?" he said reasonably. Lily nodded in agreement, but Artemis and Sirius both looked appalled.

"If one of us is going to move, it's going to be Sirius," Artemis said resolutely. "I like this couch."

"Well, I was here first," said Sirius. "So good luck getting me to move."

Artemis reached out a foot to kick Sirius in the leg, but Sirius dodged and Artemis's foot collided with the stack of homework between them, sending books flying as she yelped out in pain. Sirius gave her a haughty look and a 'serves-you-right' shrug before going back to staring at the empty spot across from Peter. Peter looked up at him hopefully. "Want to-"

"No, Peter," Sirius said crossly.

Lily frowned admonishingly at him, then turned back to Artemis. "We really should study anyways," she said, collecting the books and papers Artemis had kicked. "School doesn't just stop for the holidays."

"Yes, it literally does," James said, joining them at the grouping of chairs. "That's the point of the holidays, Lils ."

Lily ignored him. "Come on, Art. Let's just go to the library."

"No, actually, James is right," said Artemis, ignoring Lily's taken aback look. "I don't even study when school's in session. Why should I start for the holidays?"

"Here here," said Sirius, recieving a rare smile from Artemis.

Artemis closed her book and stood up, tossing her blanket over to Sirius's side of the couch. He wrinkled his nose at it, but covered his legs anyways. "I think I'm going to take a nap," she said with an unaffected shrug. "See you later."

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Artemis had already disappeared up the stairs to the girls dormitory, leaving Lily with an annoyed feeling in her chest. Lily liked Artemis most of the time, but the way she couldn't take things seriously got on her nerves sometimes. She didn't understand how someone could get such good grades, yet care so little about school. She scoffed and stood up, turning to Marlene for backup. Marlene gave her a small shrug. "She's got a point, mate." Lily felt her temper get the better of her the second the words left Marlene's mouth.