/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟏.𝟞.𝟤

"heaven knows I've been working hard ... wanted christmas to be right for my girl ... I don't mean to hate december ... it's meant to be the happy time of year ... " ~ Phoebe Bridgers

~december 1971~ (christmas special part 3 of 5)

MARY

Mary loved Christmas. Out of any day in the year, it was by far her favorite. So when James asked her for help putting up decorations that morning, she was the first to notice that there was no Christmas tree in the Gryffindor common room. She'd slipped outside to try and find one, but quickly realized she wouldn't be able to get it all the way up to the tower without help.

"Just- a little- further-" Fabian Prewett grunted, shoving the tree with all his strength as Mary pulled it from the other side. Beside Fabian, Gideon was shoving the trunk with his shoulder, inching it further and further into the common room.

Mary did what she could to help, ignoring the questions and comments from her friends as she focused on getting the tree inside. She had trouble focusing on more than one thing at once, so the voices of James, Sirius, Artemis, and Marlene faded into the background as she tugged at the top of the tree. "Here, let me help," a voice beside her said. Mary looked up into the kind face and curly mop of hair belonging to Frank Longbottom. She shifted over and let him help her in pulling the tree further into the room.

Finally, in one great shove from both of the Prewett twins, the tree was shoved the whole way into the common room. Mary fell over from the force of the push and sprawled out on the ground. James was the first to half-jog over and reach a hand down to help her up. His eyes were twinkling and he had a barely-suppressed smile on his lips. "Mary, when I said to help me decorate- I meant to cut paper snowflakes or something."

Mary blushed slightly and brushed a few pine needles out of her hair. "I thought decorating a tree might be fun," she said with a sheepish smile.

Across the room, Frank was dusting himself off and the Prewett twins were leaning against the wall, catching their breath. By then, everybody in the common room was staring at the spectacle of the little first year girl transporting an enormous tree all the way up to the top of the castle with only the help of two third years and a second year. "That might be the biggest tree I've ever seen," Alice Fortescue murmured.

Frank looked over at her with an amused expression. "The one in the Great Hall's bigger."

"Oh- well, yes. I guess you're right," Alice said, blushing deeply.

Frank's eyes softened and his expression warmed as he took a step closer to Alice. The two had rarely ever spoken despite being in the same year. "Still, I dunno how they got it up here," he said gently. "It's definitely one of the biggest in the castle." Alice gave him an appraising look and then went back to staring at the center of the room.

For once that day, the entirety of the first year Gryffindor class was in agreeance. James and Sirius hurried to help Mary set the tree upright in the corner and Remus searched around the boxes of decorations to find a stand for it. Marlene and Artemis joined Sirius and James in checking to make sure the tree was straight and secure. Even Peter abandoned his chess board to prance excitedly around the group, looking unsuccessfully for some way to help. When the tree was finally up, they all stood back to admire their handiwork, everyone out of breath and slightly sweaty. "Well," James said at last, "who wants to help decorate it?"

Artemis and Marlene went to get as many ornaments as they could find while Mary collapsed onto the armchair Remus usually occupied, wiping her forehead with the sleeve of her robes. "Thanks guys," she said to Gideon and Fabian, who were heading to the other side of the common room to talk to Dorcas Meadowes.

"Don't mention it," said Gideon.

"Yeah, anytime, love," Fabian said, and then he and his twin walked away.

Mary stretched out sideways, resting her legs over the arm of the chair and surveying the room around her. "Peter, d'you want to play chess? You have it all set up."

Peter looked as though he might die of excitement. He jumped over to Mary, his pale blue eyes lit up. "Yes!" he said in a squeaky voice. "Could we, please?" Mary nodded and slid onto the floor across from Peter. "You make the first move," he said, his smile illuminating his entire face.

PETER

Now that Peter had a chess opponent, he was satisfied. Mary was hard to beat, too, and Peter thought she was a pretty fair competitor. Over her shoulder, he could see Marlene and Artemis laughing softly to each other as they wound string lights around the branches of the tree. "Mind if I help?" Remus asked, holding a box of ornaments in his arms and giving them a shy smile.

"The more the merrier," said Marlene, moving over to give Remus room to help them.

"Well, if that's true-" said James.

"Then we'll help too," Sirius said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"No," Artemis said defiantly, pushing Sirius away by his shoulder. "You're not going to take it seriously."

James nudged Artemis with his shoulder and laughed. "It's Christmas, Art," he said convincingly. "It's not supposed to be taken seriously."

Just then, the door to the portrait hole swung open and in climbed Lily, staring at the pine needles littering the ground in confusion and dismay. "What on earth-" Her gaze rose to the five guilty looking students decorating the stolen tree in the corner of the room and Lily's face broke into a sudden smile. "Honestly," she said, laughing and shaking her head, "I leave you lot alone for an hour and this happens." She set her bag down on the floor by Mary and Peter and then plucked an ornament from the box in Remus's hands and started looking for a good place to put it.

"Checkmate," Mary said, moving her queen into position. "Good game."

"Play again?" Peter asked hopefully, but Mary was already standing up.

"Maybe later, Pete. I wanted to see if I could figure out- well, Fabian said he has a guitar and I wanted to see if I could figure out any Christmas songs." She glanced over to the corner where Gideon and Fabian were sitting with Dorcas and Alice.

Fabian looked up at the mention of his name. "It's over in the corner," he said, pointing to a small guitar leaning against the wall in the corner of the room.

Mary gave him a shy smile and got up to retrieve the guitar, settling herself on the arm of the couch facing her friends decorating the tree, and began strumming chords. Peter stood up from the floor and sat back down next to Mary on the arm of the couch, pulling his knees to his chest. He'd never heard her sing before, but her voice was soft and clear. It was one of the prettiest sounds he'd ever heard. As she started singing bits and pieces of different Christmas carols, he let his mind wander, only catching occasional snippets of his friends' conversation, none of which made any sense-

"Move over, Marlene," he heard James say, "You're taking up the good part of the tree."

Then, a few minutes later, with no context; "-well maybe if Artemis wasn't always wearing men's XL tops-" from Sirius in a joking tone. Peter looked over to see Artemis's expression darken considerably at this.

"Lily, you look so pretty," he heard James say a few seconds later to break the tension.

"Shut up, James."

Peter smiled over to the others as Mary's voice filled his ears once again, this time singing at upbeat version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and for once he felt like he really belonged.