The Christmas Ball: A Marauders Story

The Next Day

I had slept in my own dormitory last night, I had gone to bed at nine o'clock, three hours before midnight and I didn't want to have to worry about leaving the bedroom I sometimes shared with Lily, Libra, and some of the other fourth year girls. I was still in bed, it was early. My dreams had been pleasantly filled with pretty dresses and late nights only occasionally interrupted by James' angry face yelling at me for betraying his trust, or Libra's smile she had given me which told me she had known all about my plan, because, yes, I had done it on purpose. I figured that Sirius would be the only one brave enough to ask me to go (not to mention he was probably the only one who James wouldn't kill), and it turned out I had been right.

The bed was so comfortable, and I didn't want to get up yet, I knew James and Sirius would still be upset at each other, it always took them a prank on the Slytherins to get back in each other's good graces after an argument. I also knew that word would have already travelled around the whole school. Sirius Black and Honoria Potter were going to the Christmas Ball together. It sounded strange in my head, something I had wanted for so long now, no longer felt quite right. Anyway, we were just going as friends, and I would have to be able to convince the whole school of that, they would be insistent that we were going as boyfriend and girlfriend or something.

I was also not looking forward to the evil glares I would get from all the girls who had said no to other boys because they were waiting for Sirius Black to find a partner. While James might have been the most popular boy in school, Sirius was the one that all the girls followed, giggling, and whispering. We all knew that he appreciated it, all the attention. But he was also good at avoiding them, whenever he wanted to have alone time with the rest of us. He would throw his arms around me and Libra (who is, yes, his twin sister, but that didn't seem to register to them) and he would start laughing and smiling and kiss us both on the tops of our heads. This would make them so mad, that they would stalk away in the other direction, huffing and puffing because they didn't get their way. It always made me so happy when Sirius did this. I told myself it was the same reason that I liked watching James be overprotective of me, but it really wasn't.

I know I've probably said this before, but from the moment I had set eyes on Sirius Black, I had a huge crush. I know, it's embarrassing, I mean every girl in the school had a crush on Sirius, even if they didn't admit it, but he had only ever seen me as his new little sister, and I was perfectly alright with that. The only problem was that recently, I had noticed it wasn't so much of a silly little crush anymore. I found myself wanting to do the most mundane things with him and thinking, not only about his good looks (like most everyone ese who had a crush on him), but also about his personality. He was funny, adventurous, kind, and a great friend who would never give up on you. I was probably one of the only girls in school who knew how sweet Sirius could actually be. I mean the twins were practically siblings to me and James. But no... I just couldn't think about it. Sirius had only asked me because he knew how much I wanted to go, that was it. We were friends, always would be. It would never be more than that, and I had to tell myself that I didn't want it to be more than that. I didn't want it to be more than that. It wasn't working. Oh well!

I finally convinced myself to get out of bed and face the world. At least I knew I could count on Libra to probably be on my side, even if she would still make fun of me a bit. I put on my uniform and brushed my hair. I was just about to head down to breakfast when I heard a knock on my door.

"Who is it?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.

I was right, Libra came barging in, as she answered, "It's me, obviously!"

"What do you want Libra?" I asked her while smiling, I couldn't help it I realized I was so happy that I had been beaming all morning. I would have to control this before I went downstairs.

"Well, how do you feel?" Libra asked rhetorically, ignoring my question. "You got the best-looking boy in the whole school, and all the girls will be jealous."

"I'm actually kind of excited about that part," I said. "Especially Poppy's reaction."

"There's the Honoria I've been training! Laugh in the face of those who are jealous of you!"

"Yes, but no one's jealous of you, so you wouldn't know about that, would you?" I taunted.

"Hey! Don't make me regret making you more like me!" she laughed. "Just come on, you've got to go and convince the world that you are not dating my brother."

I didn't ask how she had known exactly what had been running through my head this morning, in fact, I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Right, but first I'll need your help to convince James," I reminded her.

"Oh, right James." Libra said, suddenly very solemn, before smiling and laughing at me. "Oh, you'll figure it out!"

We began to head downstairs and ran into our first obstacle, Remus Lupin.

"Oh hey, Moony!" I tried to sound very casual.

"Hey, Noria," he always succeeded in sounding nonchalant.

I dropped the act immediately, "Did they fight all night? Do I need to punch one of them? Jinx both of them? Are they completely over it?"

"They are still a little mad at each other," he interrupted. "But they never got into a huge fight, mostly just a lot of angry looks. They'll be okay after a prank on some Slytherins though."

Once again, I didn't ask how everyone seemed to know exactly what had been running through my head, I just smiled and thanked him for the inside information.

"They just went down to breakfast; I'm waiting for Peter," he explained. "You two should head down, might as well spy on them and see how many people James can hex for making fun of you."

"Good point," I said. "Thanks Moony!"

Libra and I headed down, indeed very eager to see how many people James would hex before breakfast. Apparently, they had a bigger head start then we thought, because we never ran into them and didn't even see any evidence of them until we got to the Great Hall. I immediately wanted to turn around and run back to the common room when I heard James' voice as the only one issuing from the Hall.

"YES, MY BEST FRIEND KINDLY OFFERED TO TAKE MY YOUNGER SISTER TO THE CHRISTMAS BALL! IT IS TRUE! NOW WOULD YOU ALL SHUT IT! I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO EAT MY BREAKFAST IN PEACE!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, do I really have to go in there after that?" I asked Libra. Having a brother was so embarrassing, the few people outside of the Great Hall turned to look at me while they walked in, some of them giggling or smirking at me. They were better than my friend at least, Libra was doubled over with laughter, not even bothering to try to contain herself.

"Oh be quiet you!" I, myself, was trying to contain a smile, so I couldn't be too reprimanding.

After Libra had contained herself a little better, we walked into the Great Hall. I tried not to walk fast, but it was very hard as most eyes in the hall turned in my direction when we walked in. We could see Professor McGonagall walking away from the Gryffindor table, probably just having finished scolding James. I quickly took a seat across from him and Sirius. James didn't look up, but Sirius did, he gave me that winning smile that sends most girls fainting. Then we both quickly looked away. He was enjoying this way too much. Probably all of the angry girls were just making him happier.

"How long is your detention?" I asked James.

"Just one, tomorrow, after dinner." He replied.

We sat in silence not really wanting to talk about anything, knowing it would bring us back to the main subject that no one wanted to talk about. Remus and Peter came in shortly after, and we all finished breakfast together, mostly ignoring the sideways glances that were shot at us as people walked by. If any of them dared to say anything, James and Sirius would take it in turn to threaten them with all manner of jinxes. By the end of the meal, we were all more friendly towards each other, and as we were walking out of the hall, as they prepared to go to their class, and I to mine, I whispered a little "Thank You" to James and he smiled at me and said,

"Anytime, Nori."