Lily Luna Potter - Back to the Past

Chapter 19

When he'd finally decided on the posters, a set of three with the star players flying around on them, I told him we were going to Scribbulus Writing Instruments, which was brand new (at least it was in my past). He complained all the way there, only dropping it when we were actually in the store and I was looking for gifts for the 5th year Gryffindor girls at Hogwarts. Besides Valerie, that is.

I found a set of stationary-type parchment for Ellie, who was very consistent with her letters home to her parents and younger brother, who would be starting at Hogwarts the next year. The "stationary" wasn't much different than regular parchment, it just had a small border around the edges of different flowers and patterns, but I knew she would appreciate it. For Marlene I got a pair of self-inking quills in red and green, since she liked to color-coordinate her notes for different classes. She would also appreciate the Christmas coloring. For Lily I found a deep purple journal with an embossed phoenix on the cover.

As soon as I had made my purchases, Sirius dragged me over to Sugarplum's Sweet Shop to get candies for both Remus and Peter. I wasn't really sure what to get for Peter, but kept reminding myself that he hadn't done anything to convince me he was with the Death Eaters or otherwise, so really ought to get him something. I ended up with a package of chocolate truffles for Remus, as I knew he was a sucker for them, and a small package of licorice wands for Peter.

We met back up with the others at Florean Fortescue's magically warmed shop for ice cream, even in the wintery weather, then headed back to the Potters' mansion.

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The next few days were filled with preparations of the house - putting up a huge Christmas tree in the Potters' sitting room and laughing at James's homemade ornaments from when he was a kid, wrapping the presents we had bought, hanging holly and garlands around the mantle and banisters, and smelling the delicious aromas of cookies and cakes Mrs. Potter was still baking for family friends as Christmas presents.

Finally it was Christmas eve and we had one last cup of hot chocolate before bed after one of the most intense snowball fights I had ever experienced (which was rather surprising considering my family history). Lily had even joined in as we battled girls against boys.

Lily'd had the idea of simply dodging their attacks until they ran out of snowballs, then running to their base and throwing everything we had at them, but, unfortunately, they'd had a bit of the same idea, and we ended up facing off in-between our two bases, resulting in snow covering us from head to toe simply from snowballs being thrown about and a lot of screams and laughing.

One by one we finished our hot drinks and then we were shuttled off to bed to sleep. In my room I stayed awake, staring at the ceiling. It almost felt like a crime to have so much fun while my family was certainly going to be worrying about my disappearance, assuming they had no idea where I was. But, at the same time, I was with family (even though some of them didn't know of my relation to them), which almost made me feel more guilty. I had spent the days leading up to Christmas drowning myself in the work of decorating the huge house and trying to push away my warring feelings but, laying in bed, with only two hours until Christmas day, my chest ached as I wished for my mother's hugs, or a simple good-night kiss that I only got to experience when home for the holidays or summer break.

A few tears fell from my slowly closing eyes, and I swore that after the holidays were over I would find a way to get back. Even if it was the last thing I did.

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It was late in the evening at Hogwarts, the sun having set very early due to the winter season. Madam Pomfrey was sitting in her office, going through some files of students who had needed a pepperup potion to combat a sudden bout of flu that had sprung up as Christmas approached, when a small orb on her desk began to pulse with a dim yellow light.