How I Met The Marauders

Christmas

A/N. That picture shows my sister's Hogwarts letter. It was her 11th birthday, so this was my gift to her.

Soon, it was December and Christmas drew closer.

Ari had gotten closer to James, Sirius and Remus. They were her best best best friends and she loved them a lot.

Unfortunately, all of her friends were going home for Christmas. But Sirius was going to stay. He and Ari were the only Gryffindors who weren't going home.

And finally, the day came for them to leave and they left...

Ari was quite upset. She had never spent Christmas without her family. Sirius had tried to comfort her.
"Family's nothing." Was all he could say.

That's when she gave him a hard look and said, "Come on, Padfoot. Not every family is like yours. My family was different..
They're dead and everyday, it hurts. Each and every day."

He nodded, slowly. "You're right."

"I get nightmares." She said, suddenly. "Nightmares. I see my parents die. I see my sister die. I see James, Remus, Frank, Alice, Emmeline, Lily, Dorcas, Marlene, you. All dead or dying. And there's nothing I can do about it. So, I wake up and can't sleep again. Sometimes, I feel so miserable at night that I want to wake you all up and talk to you about anything."

"I'm sorry." He said. "I didn't know. So what do you do?"

"I think of the a happy moment and cast Patronuses which guard you all. One in the girl's dormitory and the other in yours."

"You know how to cast a Patronus?" He asked.

"Do you?" She asked.

He nodded and cast his Patronus. A lion. Gryffindor...

"Your turn." He said.

She frantically shook her head. "No. You can't see it."

"Why? Is it something embarrassing? Like a bunny or a duckling?" He asked.

"No. It's just..." but she didn't have a proper reason for not showing him so she performed the spell.

A large blackish silver dog emerged from her wand tip and danced around her. She smiled.

"Wow." Said Sirius. "It looks like my Animagus form. Do you call him something? I call mine Gryffindor, obviously."

She laughed. He hadn't realised that the Patronus was him. She was glad and relieved.
"I don't call him anything. It's a very very childish thing to do, Padfoot... but I'd call him Snuffles."

He laughed. "That is the childish thing, here. Snuffles!"

He smiled at her, his handsome face bright. The sight made Ari's heart flutter. She really liked him...

So, it was Christmas night when interesting things happened. The day was pretty boring. They had received presents from there friends, only.

There were few students at Hogwarts.
2 Gryffindors. Ari and Sirius.
3 Slytherins. Andromeda Black, Dolores Umbridge and Antonin Dolohov.
2 Hufflepuffs. Ted Tonks and Xenophilius Lovegood.
And only one Ravenclaw, Derek Clearwater.

Breakfast was a lame affair and lunch was even boring. Afterwards, Sirius and Ari went out to have a snowball fight.

Then, they sat down on a dry patch of snow and talked.

"The Blacks are going to kill Andromeda." Said Ari.

"Huh? Why!?"

"She's dating Ted Tonks. A Muggle-born like me. And he's a Hufflepuff." She said.

"Well, that's shit. She's going to get in trouble. I hope she'll cope."

"She probably will. She's a tough one."

And so, random conversations went on.

After dinner, Ari and Sirius opened their gifts. Ari had sent gifts to her friends.

"Here. Merry Christmas." She said, handing Sirius a packet of fake Quills. "I'm sorry, I would've bought you something better... but I don't have money. I had 30 Galleons plus dad's pension 15 Galleons. And now, I have only 50 Sickles left."

"Oh Ari! You didn't have to buy gifts." He said. "Merry Christmas." He handed her a packet of caramel filled Chocoballs.

She opened James' packet and laughed. "He's sent me a moneybag!" She exclaimed.

"Bless him." Said Sirius, grinning. "He knows what the other wants and that's what he gives."

"Except for Lily Evans... he is such a stalker, in that case... you know, he shouldn't throw the offers at her like that."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He asks her out regardless of the situation. And he does that very often."

"Do you mean" Sirius asked, slowly."That if he stops asking her, she might miss it and say 'yes'? Because she won't take it for granted anymore?"

"Exactly. I'll give him the tip when it's time."

"There will be a right time for it? You won't tell him now?"

"Yes, the time will come." Was all she said.

That night, Ari woke up because she felt like sneaking out so she did...