Lily Luna Potter - Back to the Past

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

     I woke abruptly to the sound of a loud shout coming from the end of my bed, bright lights on the ceiling flicking on at the same moment.

     “MERRY CHRISTMAS, LILY!” yelled four voices.

     Sitting up suddenly to their laughs, I groaned and flopped back onto my pillow. Checking the clock I moaned again and pulled my blankets over my head, holding them tightly as I felt someone tug at them. Seven in the morning was far too early to be getting up on a holiday in my book. My own family had dispensed with the tradition of opening presents at the crack of dawn a year or two after I had started Hogwarts, when we all agreed that sleeping in could really be considered another present.

     After a few more harsh tugs my comforter flew off and I sighed deeply.

     “All right, all right, I’m up!” I said, pulling myself into a sitting position.

     “Excellent!” Sirius exclaimed, dropping my blankets and high-fiving James. “Success!”

     “On to our next victim!” James shouted, also with a huge smile on his face as the two of them ran past Remus and Peter, both of whom were standing just inside the door.

     Once they were gone, no doubt running to Lily’s room down the hall, I sighed again and rubbed the sleep from my eyes before stretching and getting my bathrobe and slippers. I finished up in the bathroom just as Lily walked in, hair messy and a disgruntled look on her face.

     “You too?” I asked.

     She just huffed, and I left her alone, heading down to the living room.

     When we had all gathered around the tree, the boys (well, really just James and Sirius) looking like they were preparing to dive headfirst into the lake of rainbow wrapping paper and bows, Mr. Potter explained that everyone could start with one present at a time, resulting in a groan from the boys and a strong pair of puppy-dog eyes that it seemed Mrs. Potter had trained herself to be immune to ages ago, as she hardly batted an eyelash.

     It didn’t take long to finish opening presents, not that I was expecting it would. “Thank you”s were shouted across the room as various presents were unwrapped – James laughed in delight when he found the hat Lily and I had bought for him and immediately shoved it on his head, trying it out with delight. Sirius took one look at the color-changing socks and an almost evil grin spread across his face – I hoped he hadn’t come up with anything too bad to use them for – they were socks for goodness’ sake!

     The floor ended littered with scraps and shreds of paper and each of us had a small pile of gifts in our laps, mine comprising of sweets from most of the boys and a few small trinkets from the girls in my dormitory. Lily had, I suppose, proven herself as my relation, and had gotten me almost the exact same notebook that I had gotten her, though it was forest green instead of purple and had a mighty-looking dragon instead of a phoenix embossed on the cover.

     Only a few minutes after we’d finished our present spree and were a bit calmer, the scent of pancakes and warm syrup began to drift through the air, making my stomach growl.

     “Breakfast is ready!” came Mrs. Potter’s voice from the kitchen.

     “Food!” Sirius and James yelled almost before she had finished speaking, springing up from their piles of presents to race each other to the dining room table.

     “Did you make some with chocolate chips?” Remus called, getting up much more leisurely than the two black-haired boys.

     “Of course, Remus dear,” Mrs. Potter said, and I could hear her chuckle.