Stacie Redmond and the Shrieking Shack

Chapter 11 - A White Christmas

I wake up on December 25 to Lily's shriek of excitement.  I sit up slowly, groggy.  I see a mountain of wrapped boxes at the foot of my bed.

I jump out of bed and run to the window.  The ground is covered by a white blanket of snow.  I see a vague silhouette of the game keeper, Hagrid.  He is dragging a huge fir tree across the school grounds, making deep tracks from the weight.

I turn around and go back to my large pile of gifts.  Lily is halfway through hers, a layer of paper cluttering the floorboards.

I begin to open my own, and I rip open the top box, which is perched precariously atop a large red and gold parcel.  Inside, I see a warm-looking jumper made with silver and gold yarns.  I pull it out and see a large letter S in green and red stripes.

I pull it on over my pajamas and admire the way it sparkles in the morning light that finds its way through the blizzard outside.  Lily, I see, has one just like it but with an L instead.

I smile inwardly at her confused expression.  Weeks before, I sent an owl to my mum to make something for Lily as a surprise.  I knew she would love it.  I just didn't know that she would get a jumper.

I open the next gift, this time from James and Sirius.  I carefully open the box, fearful that this is another one of their pranks.  When nothing explodes, I look inside to see a completely normal box of cauldron cakes.

As I make my way through the gifts, I see one off to the side that says, "To Stacie, From Remus".  I open it, and inside is a tiny, turquoise diary.  Inside the cover is a note.

"Stacie," it reads.  "I hope that you like this diary.  I have placed charms on it so that we can send messages through it.  Just write your message and it will show up on my end."

I smile at how thoughtful he is.  I walk over to my trunk, pull out a quill and ink, and scribble a message: Thanks.

He replies almost instantaneously.  He says "You're welcome," and I shut the book. I smile to myself and slip it into my trunk.

I finish my presents and combine my wrapping pile with Lily's. It is huge. I am wearing all of my new clothes, my locket tucked safely inside of my sweater. Just now, Lily decides to push me into the pile. The paper flies everywhere, and I put it all in one pile again.

I act innocent, and when Lily's back is turned, I shove her, laughing. She drags me down with her, and we both lay on the ground giggling uncontrollably.

***

We stumble down to the common room, chests aching from our laughing fit. Remus is sitting on the couch, an eyebrow raised at us. "Uh, hi, Remus," I say, a blush slowly creeping onto my face. He seems to notice, and smiles.

I suddenly notice a small notebook just like mine on his lap. I figure that it's his end of the cleverly devised notebook communication system. A voice, however, startled me out of my reverie.

"Hey, did you hear me?" Lily.

"Uh, no?" I say.

"Do you want to eat or not?" she says slowly, enunciating each word.

"Yeah, that's a silly question," I respond.

Just now, James comes downstairs into the common room.  "What've I missed?" he asks.  Lily, Remus, and I exchange glances.  "Not much," Lily says.

"Well, we should get downstairs now," I say.  My stomach growls loudly as if on cue.  James and Remus laugh, and my face turns bright red.

***

We walk into the great hall, which is decorated quite festively even without the tree lit and the floating red and green candles, and see Sirius already sitting at the table.  We sit down next to him and pile our plates with pancakes.  Just now, I notice him glaring at a boy sitting at the Slytherin table.  He looks just like him, except the unnamed boy has neater hair, and has bluish gray eyes.

"Who's that?" I ask Sirius.  "Oh, no one," he says quickly.  I see through his lie, but I'm afraid he'll tell me off or something, so I drop the subject.

***

That evening, James pulls me aside.  "I need to tell you a secret," he says.  "Swear you won't tell anyone, especially Remus or Lily."  He thinks a moment.  "Or Sirius," he adds.

"Okay?" I say, confused.  "You see, well, you know what, just go out to the Whomping Willow on a full moon," he tells me.  "But why?" I ask, but he has already sprinted off.

***

We are eating dinner when Professor Dumbledore stands up from the staff table.  "I wish you all a very happy Christmas," he says cheerfully.  "A few words: hoblock, gobblefunk, dracomotor."  At this, the plates fill up with food.  We all eat until we are unable to fit any more.

***

In the common room, we all sit around the glowing, crackling fireplace playing wizard chess.  In one corner of the room, our fellow Gryffindors are playing Exploding Snap.  Across the room from them, a beautiful sounding witch is singing A Cauldron Full Of Hot, Strong Love.

Mistletoe hangs underneath the stairs and over the dormitory doorways.  The windows have snow piled up around the outside, frost built up over the glass so that I can't see out of them.

"Knight to E5," James says.  I snicker to myself as I take it with my queen.  He is now unable to move where I can't get him.  Sirius whispers instructions in his ear, and James moves his rook next to my king.  "Check," he says.  I move my king and it stabs his rook.  I clear the pieces off to the side of the board.

A loud explosion sounds over by the Exploding Snap game.  I turn in my seat and see Peter and Remus sporting blackened faces.  Remus waves his wand, and the both of them are as good as new.  I smile and turn back to the game.

Five moves later, I checkmate his king, much to James' surprise.  I look at my watch.  11:52.  I don't care, though; I'm not even tired.  He still goes up to the dormitories, though.

I find Lily in the middle of an Exploding Snap game with Peter, who won the game with Remus.  She accidentally knocks over a card, however, and it blows up in her face.  Peter leans back just on time, however, and only has a speck of ash on his face.  Lily waves her wand, and the ashes become cards again.

"Let's go upstairs," I say.  We trudge up the steps and fall in a heap on our beds. I had expected them to be cold, but they've got a comfortable heat to them. Pulling back the covers, I find a heated blanket. Lily finds the same thing under hers. I crawl under the covers, and the heat pulls me closer to the edge of sleep. I don't know when it happens, but I finally drift off into a restful sleep.

~~~

I know I took forever to update, but I have had writer's block.  I will try to update more often, but at least I'm on the next chapter right now.  Well, that's all I have to say...

Peace out,
Stephanie