Foxy

Holiday Excitement

Iris shook her head, "I told you, I don't want to deal with Petunia right now, which means I don't want to go home."

"But what about mum and dad?"

She shrugged her shoulders as she stood up from the ground and cracked her stiff back, "I'll send 'em a letter." Yes, Iris would miss seeing her parents for the holidays, however, it wasn't like she hadn't spent Christmas away from home.

Last year and the year before, Iris and her friends, Matilda and Ada, had stayed at Beauxbatons over the break for those two years. The reason being that Ada couldn't go to her home at the time. So being good friends, Iris and Matilda had stayed with her in the school so that she hadn't felt so lonely. Those weeks may have been the most fun that Iris had during those years! What harm would missing another Christmas with her family do...?

"Iris," Lily said firmly as she shot her a hard look. Irritation swirled in her gut at the carefree look on her sister's face. "Just come with me, please."

It was never normal to see Lily beg for anything! Iris' eyes widened at the pleading tone that dripped from her pale lips. Of course, there were times that she had seen Lily beg her to act nice or for her to do something, but Iris could see that Lily was beyond begging. It was obvious that Lily didn't want to spend another Christmas without her and she could see that through the way that her eyes were lit with desperation. Oh, how Iris hated seeing her sister acting so desperate! It definitely didn't look good on Lily who was always feisty and strong. And how could Iris say no to Lily's doe eyes?

"Alright, alright!" Iris started softly, "I'll go home with you," Lily cheered loudly and pulled Iris into a hug. Iris thought that Lily had broken her ribs with how tight Lily had latched onto her. Through the tight hug, Iris was able to wheeze out a warning, "just don't blame me if I end up hexing Petunia!"

Lily laughed, "don't worry. We can both stop each other from hexing her." Iris laughed, though it was labored as she was trying to catch her breath, and she wiggled out of her sister's hold. "Now come on, we've got Transfigurations!" Lily's spirit had been lifted now that she was able to convince Iris to go home for the break. It would be wonderful to finally enjoy a Christmas with her entire family! The both of them laughed as Lily pulled her sister away and towards their next lesson.

Midnight graced the near silent castle and smothered it in darkness. As ghosts floated down corridors, teachers and prefects patrolled the castle and the trees in the forbidden forest swayed in the wind, Iris and Sirius were enjoying each others company in the Gryffindor common room. Iris was bundled up in an old jumper and long pants as she sat on the floor as close as she could to the fire. It was snowing heavily outside and the castle had become an ice box!

Sirius sat next to her on the floor. He had taken the liberty of latching himself onto Iris, like he has done many times in the past, and had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. As time had gone on, both of them had become far more comfortable with each other. It didn't appear that they had only known each other a few months but instead years. They just had a spark between them which bubbled some sort of chemistry. Merlin, did that cause some problems for them.

Their friends constantly reminded them of how close they appeared to be. Not only was it their closest friends but also most of the Hogwarts student body saw it. Many of the boys who had been pinning over Iris had stopped after they saw how enrapture the two were (that and the obvious silent threats that Sirius was throwing their way if they even looked in her direction.). The girls who usually hung off of Sirius' arms had a hard time finding him as he spent most of his time with Iris. Even if they were able to corner him, he didn't give them the light of day. This caused most of the students to leave the two alone as they could see the obvious attraction between them.