Chasing Dreams (A Harry Potter Marauder fanfiction)

Presents

"But.. My Mum wrote to me! She told me she sent me a present!" "Me too!" "I can't believe it. Christmas at Hogwarts is usually so brilliant." "I bet it was Peeves." "It wouldn't surprise me." "Yeah, or Potter." "Nah, I saw him go to bed last night." "Well then who?" "No idea."
Skye smirked as she walked over to James and Sirius. For some reason, she had a great advantage when it came to things like this- no one ever suspected her. She stopped and stood over James and Sirius, who were helpless with laughter on the floor. James' glasses were fogged up and his hair was even messier than usual. Sirius was clutching his stomach and gasping for breath, laughing so much he smacked his head on the sofa, which only made him laugh more. It was well for them, they were happy, Skye thought. But everyone else in the common room was miserable. It was time for the game to end. "Alright, enough, you two. Jokes over. C'mon, let's go." She told them. James spring to his feet immediately, and Sirius clambered after him, pulling himself up on the edge of the sofa. "C'mon. Enough." She told them. "What?" James gasped dramatically. "Why?" "Because! There's a first year girl over there in tears. The jokes over." "Ah, but-" "No buts, James!" Skye cut him off before he could finish. James immediately seemed to deflate, his hand swinging limply by his side again. He had known enough girls and women- Lily, his mother, McGonagal, and now Skye- to know that he couldn't win the argument. Sirius, however, didn't give up that easily. "But Skye-" "But Sirius!" "We have to-" "You have to nothing!" "Can't we just give it-" "No we can't. If we keep it up for too long it'll ruin Christmas. For everyone. And as much as crushing everyone's dreams really tempts me, I won't. And neither will you. Now go!" She commanded, and James grabbed Sirius by the jumper, dragging him away reluctantly. Skye smiled and waved her wand- a handful of her favourite muggle Christmas flew into her hand. She turned away and fiddled with the muggle gramophone that had been set up, trying to play music. As the machine spluttered into life and the record began to spin, a loud bang sounded through the common room, making everyone jump. Skye hid her smile behind her hair and leaned over to play the music, while a loud call echoed through the gloomy atmosphere. "James!" Skye would recognise Sirius' voice absolutely anywhere. The two black haired boys came zoom into the common room on their fancy upmarket broomsticks, with James in front, as usual, and Sirius behind him. The two of them were laughing like Peeves and wearing lopsided Santa hats. They were followed by a long row of enchanted, brightly wrapped presents. James hooted and grabbed a present, throwing it at the first year girl who had been, up until very recently, crying her eyes out. The gramophone- another part of Skye's plan- burst into life and boomed out a song. "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" Laughter and cheering echoed off the walls and Peter shot a spell at the fire. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the flames caught and the fire spread warmth throughout the gloomy room. Slowly but surely, with a hint of uncertainty, the usual Christmas joy returned to the Gryffindor common room. From behind the tree, Remus waved his wand, causing the tree to light up. All missing decorations, that had been removed by Skye and Sirius earlier that night, flew back into place. James and Sirius laughed loudly with the rest of the Gryffindor's as they threw presents to people. First years climbed over sixth years, fifth years hoisted each other into their shoulders to reach for the presents that zoomed over their heads and finally landed somewhere in reach. Part of the effect- this had also been Skye's idea- was that new people would get to know each other. So many people, all Gryffindor's, who share a common room, and yet they hardly know each other. She had hoped a random person finding a random present meant that would look for its rightful owner, making it easy to strike up a conversation. The plan had worked perfectly, and made Christmas more special, because it was appreciated more than usual, once people knew what it was like without a celebration. Skye smiled hugely and ran upstairs to get her presents.

It was dark by half four when Skye finally left her friends, Lily and the girls, to go over to Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. "Guys! Guys!" Skye called walking up to them. She felt her anger flare as she saw a beautiful brown haired girl, Cassie, sitting in Sirius' lap, twirling her hair around her fingers. She was whispering in his ear and giggling, and he was smirking, glancing at her occasionally. James seemed annoyed by this- he liked being the centre of attention and was clearly talking about something important. Skye frowned, but quickly brushed it aside to smile at Cassie, despite clenching and unclenching her fists. "Hi Cassie." She greeted. "Hey, Turner." The girl answered coldly, but none of the boys seems to notice- it was a girls thing. "I was wondering if I could.. Maybe borrow the guys for a while?" "Yes." James answered, straight away, eager to be rid of Cassie, who was the focus of Sirius' attention, instead of him. "Yeah." Peter said, though he stared at Cassie with something longing in his small eyes. "Definitely." Remus answered straight away too. "Yeah, sure." Sirius said afterwards, then looked pointedly at Cassie. She clambered out of his lap, raising her brown eyes to meet Skye's. Then she kissed Sirius on the cheek, lingering for a moment and keeping her gaze on Skye. There was something pointed about what she had done, almost as if.. Skye shook her head and brushed it off. Nah. Then, with a wave of her hand, Cassie smiled one last time and walked away. "That was cheerful." Remus muttered under his breath as she left. "Indeed.." Skye agreed, glancing back after Cassie. "Anyway, presents?" James asked excitedly. It had been a Christmas tradition in their little group to hand out the presents one by one before opening them, when everyone had a small pile of their own. Peter went first, then Remus, then James, then Sirius and lastly Skye. James clutched his presents excitedly, practically frothing at the mouth to give them out. Peter pulled forward a few funnily shaped presents, wonky and sideways looking, each with a green or red bow stuck awkwardly on top, although there was one square box that was small and would probably have been easy to wrap. Remus shyly pulled from behind him a little pile of packages- all wrapped in plain brown paper, tied with string. A small square shape say on top, making the presents into a sort of pyramid. Remus' cheeks had turned slightly pinker than usual, as they always did when he gave out things like presents. James was clutching an oversized bunch of oversized presents with one small box at the bottom- the rest were huge. He had always loved giving out presents, although getting them was great, giving them was better. Considering how much money he had, James was very modest and incredibly generous with it, and was always willing to supply his friends with things they needed, and was constantly offering to buy the rounds of butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks. Sirius had his pile of presents beside him, precariously stacked but badly wrapped. Sirius Black was many things- good looking, smart, athletic, funny, friendly, cocky, talented- but good at wrapping was not one of them. Not that it mattered to his friends, because it didn't. Lastly, at the start/end of the circle, with her back to the fire, Skye sat with all of her presents, wrapped elaborately and hidden in a brown bag, ready to pull out when it was her turn. "Okay, Peter, you give out yours first." James said excitedly, bouncing back and forth on his backside. Peter smiled broadly and his eyes lit up as he handed out presents. James was first, quickly catching the bad throw and grabbing the pointy present. Sirius caught his as well, shaking it. Remus thanked Peter liked the good boy he was before staring at the present in concentration. Lastly, Peter shyly handed Skye a small square shape wrapped in blue paper. She thanked him, smiling, and the attention switched to Remus. He had his presents ready, and threw them one by one to his friends. He was answered with a chorus of "Thanks Remus" "Cheers Moony" "Thanks mate" and "Thanks mate." He nodded back, smiling at the floor, humming to the Christmas song. For a shy boy, Remus had a surprisingly nice voice, though he rarely sung out loud. James went next, practically throwing his presents at people, managing to hit Peter and Skye. Sirius and Remus were handed theirs. "Thanks James!" Skye smiled at him as she picked up the small square box, which was brightly wrapped and had an ungodly sized now on top. Sirius handed out his presents next, to Remus, then Peter, James and finally Skye. Their eyes locked as the small square present passed between their hands, but the moment was too quick, too casual. Then Skye pulled her presents from the bag, met with a chorus of stares and quiet, quick intakes of breath. "Wow, how did you.. That's amazing, Skye." Sirius told her. "How did you do that?" Peter asked her, breathless. James and Remus stared at her presents. Or more, how they were wrapped. Skye had had to do some last minute shopping, although she'd been planning the presents since October. She had no money left and refused to borrow any from someone, so Skye had waited for her first pay at her waitressing job, which had been only a few days before Christmas. However, she had forgotten wrapping paper. Instead, she had improvised, by waiting till she was completely alone to wrap the presents. Them she had clicked her fingers and caused the snowdrift- she had gotten the idea out with Sam out in the grounds a few days before. And so the presents, instead of being wrapped in paper, were completely covered from top to bottom in small ice particles, spiky and shiny, yet not melting. That was something else Skye had learnt to do in the rare times she was alone- make the ice stay and not melt. "It's amazing." Remus told her, looking at the small icicles that wrapped the presents. "Thank you." Skye smiled back, them handed them out. "Okay.. James. Here you go. Sirius, there. Peter, here.. And.. Remus. There you go." She finished, smiling. "Thanks Skye." Was her general reply. "Can we open them now?" Peter asked excitedly. "Definitely!" James said, diving for his presents. It was also tradition to open the presents in the order they were handed out in, something that had started way back in second year. Soon, the five of them sat around the fire, humming and laughing, eating Honeyduke's sweets, surrounded by books, games, toys, pranking equipment, and clothes, all fantastic presents. Only Skye's presents were left, although Skye hadn't opened any of hers yet, because she liked waiting and seeing her friends open theirs. "I feel bad taking off this wrapping. If you could call it that.. Wrapping, ice, icicles, whatever you call them. How do you, anyway? Take it off?" Remus asked her. Skye smiled and waved her hand, the ice swirled off the presents and landed in a small pile beside each person. Luckily, everyone else in the common room was too preoccupied to notice. "That's bloody brilliant." Sirius said, smirking. They all looked down at their presents in the boxes. "Look, before you open them, I want to let you know they're really small and not very good. I feel so bad but I didn't have that much money and I wanted you guys to have a nice Christmas because you-" "Skye." Sirius said, looking up. "Yeah?" She asked uncertainly. "Your rambling." He told her. "It'll be fine!" James said reassuringly. "We will love whatever you got us." Remus said, with Peter nodding enthusiastically. "Okay.." She told them, still worried. James' present was in a long, slim box, with another square one under it. "What is?.." He trailed off as he opened the box, then is eyes widened. "Oh thank Merlin! I've been wanting one of these for ages!" He said excitedly, holding up the broomstick care kit. "I know you might have one, but when your on your way to becoming an international quidditch icon, how could you go wrong?" Skye asked him as she popped a sweet I'm her mouth. James chuckled, but his grin turned to a frown as he opened the smaller package, a long black box with something silver in it. "Aw no." Remus groaned as he saw the grin on James' face. He help up the two long handled, shiny instruments- playing spoons. "I bet I'll be good at these." He said confidently. "I bet you will too James!" Peter told him, looking at the spoons. "I'll never hear the end of this." Sirius groaned as James started to tap out a rhythm with the playing spoons. Remus laughed. "We'll get no sleep now." He complained. Peter opened his boxed present- not particularly creative, but he seemed to like it, due to the fact that his eyes lit up when he saw the Honeyduke's sweets and Zonko's products he loved so much. "Thank you! Thanks Skye." He said happily. "No problem Peter. Enjoy." She told him, still eating sweets. Remus laughed softly as he opened his. "I've never read this." He said, holding up The Tales of Beedle the Bard. "Good. I'm glad. James needed a new project to master, so he got spoons to play. You needed a new book to read, so you got a new book. You and Peter are so easy to get presents for." She smiled. Sirius, however, had been a different matter. Skye had put hours of thought and effort into his. She couldn't explain why, but his one needed to be special. That was when Skye had remembered a conversation at breakfast only a few days ago- James had been complaining about Sirius, who had been up all night singing songs by a band called The Beatles. Skye knew them due to her muggle family background. So that was why she had gone into a music shop and bought every record that had been good, by the Beatles, or a band like the Beatles. "Is this.. A muggle machine?" Sirius asked, confusion in his voice. "Oh ho yeah." Skye told him, sharing a look with Remus, who knew perfectly well what it was. "What is it?" He asked, frowning. "It's bloody brilliant looking, but what does it actually do?" "Here, I'll show you." Skye said, standing up and walking toward the gramophone playing Christmas music nearby. Placing another record under the pin, Skye changed the song and walked back over, smiling. Sirius looked between the small object in his two hands and the bigger one Skye had set up. "Are these the same thing?" "Yep. I shrunk one, and the records. Now you can play music in your house. Muggle music. To annoy your parents. And it's so small, it fits in your hands. So your parents won't find it, and it's easily transportable." She smiled as she popped yet another sweet in her mouth. "Listen to muggle music? With these records? And on this tiny machine? Because you bought me a.. Gramotone and shrunk it?" "Gramophone." She corrected him. "But yeah. I did." "That's amazing! Your fantastic Skye! Thanks so much." He smiled, showing his straight white teeth, leaning over to kiss her cheek and hug her tightly. Something in Skye's stomach fluttered, but she brushed it aside, not focusing on it. "I'm glad you like it." "Are you going to open your presents from us now?" Peter asked her timidly. Skye nodded and noticed the look all the boys shared. It was quite suspicious. She opened the first box with a big bow on it- James. It was small but beautiful, a shiny silver antler charm, catching the light and shimmering. "It's beautiful." Skye breathed, looking at the charm. "It's me." James explained, stating the obvious. "Well.. More or less." He told her. She nodded, smiling, and opened the brown package tied with string- Remus. Inside was a charm almost identical to James, but this one was a whole circle of silver- a full moon. Skye smirked and looked up, her blue eyes looking into the chocolate brown eyes of Remus. "Thank you so much Remus. It's amazing." Next was Peters, the one with a bright green bow stuck on top. Inside was another silver charm, this time of a tiny rat's paw. Despite being a rat, the charm was beautiful, just like the others. "Thank you Peter, it's wonderful." She told him, then turned to the last box, which was in dark packing, from Sirius. The silver of an intricately detailed dog's whole body, tail and ears included. Somehow, it was Skye's favourite. "Sirius, it's amazing. All of you, thank you so much, I love them." She said breathlessly. One thing, however, worried her. Where would she put them? She had no bracelets with clips on them.. "Your welcome." Remus replied. "You know, it'd be nice if you had a bracelet to put them on." James said, his line rehearsed beforehand. "Yeah.. Let me think, where could we get one of those?" Sirius asked, pretending to look thoughtful. "Oh, oh, I know!" Peter said excitedly, waving his hand. "Me too." Sirius smiled just as James whistled loudly, his front fingers between his teeth. Them from over the balcony flew the biggest, most beautiful owl Skye had ever seem. It had huge, sharp claws, piercing green eyes that searched the floor, and feathers as black as the night. "Oh yeah!" Sirius said, snapping his fingers and turning around to Skye again. "He was one part of your present we forgot to mention." It was only them that Skye felt the penny drop- they had bought her an owl. A beautiful, strong, intelligent looking owl. And, clutched in it's talons, a silver bracelet for the charms they had bought her. The owl landed, it's chest out proudly, and gave her the bracelet, extending its leg. "Merry Christmas Skye."