The next morning, Jenna woke up in her dorm feeling more cheerful than she had in a long time. Looking around, she saw that Lily and Alice were awake, already packed for the Christmas break. But Marlene was asleep on her bed, slightly snoring.
"Oh good, you're awake," said Lily as Jenna yawned and stretched, sitting up on her bed. "You better start packing. We're leaving in an hour."
"Ugh... It's too hard..." Jenna groaned, rubbing her eyes.
"Well, I'm not helping you pack this year!" Lily scolded, pointing a warning finger at her.
"What if I said please?" Jenna smiled up at her sleepily.
"No!" Lily said firmly. "Get up and use your wand. It's not that hard. And I'm not your house elf. You have to do your stuff yourself!"
"You sound like my mum," Jenna mumbled grumpily, getting up. "Why don't you wake Marlene up!? She hasn't packed either!"
"Because I don't expect anything more from that girl," said Lily with a knowing grin. "If Alice and I didn't help her, she would just leave without her trunk."
Grumbling to herself, Jenna made her way over her trunk, but as she looked over at Marlene, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as an idea made its way over her head.
So she quickly went toward where Marlene was sleeping and in a quick motion, Jenna pushed her off the bed.
"AARGH!" Marlene shrieked, falling to the floor as she shot awake.
Jenna laughed while Alice and Lily gasped. With her blonde hair all over the place, Marlene slowly got to her feet, glaring dangerously at Jenna and went red with rage.
"You better run, Potter," she snarled angrily, "or I'll turn you into the toad."
"Do you even know the spell for that — aargh!" Jenna squealed as Marlene sprang forward and ran after her, chasing her out of the dorm.
"Wait! You haven't packed yet!" Lily yelled after them, but they were already gone. So she sighed and turned to look at Alice. "Every year..."
Alice giggled. "It's okay. I'll help you."
"Thanks, Al." Lily smiled at her. "I don't know what I would've done without you."
***
In the train on their way back to King's Cross station, Lily joined the three girls for lunch time after she was finally done with her Head Girl duties.
"So what are your plans for this Christmas?" Alice asked.
"It would be just the four of us," said Marlene, opening up a Chocolate Frog and looking down at the card. "Ooh! I got Merlin again!"
"What about you, Lil?" Jenna questioned, turning to face her friend. "I guess it's gonna be a busy Christmas for your family, with Petunia's wedding coming up."
"Yeah," Lily muttered rather moodily. "I'm not sure if I like Vernon much, but if he makes my sister happy... then why not?"
"It's gonna be a hell of a boring night," said Marlene, taking a bite of her chocolate.
"I guess it won't be that bad." Lily shrugged, going slightly pink. "I asked James to come with me as my date."
"What!?" Jenna exclaimed before chuckling. "Ooh, that Dursley boy has it coming."
"I've already warned James about the Muggle behavior he should put on," said Lily worriedly. "It was enough when you had come over and kept tapping on our pictures to make them move."
"I love my brother, don't get me wrong," Jenna started with a grin, "but I can't wait for James to embarrass himself in front of your family. I just wish I was there to witness it."
"Look, he's really changed," Lily said defensively. "I mean, you had to see him last night. Even Slughorn was impressed at his manners when he was greeting all those Ministry officials."
"Really?" Jenna raised her brows in surprise.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Sure, he called them all foul gits the moment we left the party, but he sure knew how to act the gentleman in front of them," said Lily, chuckling.
By the time the train finally came to a stop in King's Cross station, the sky was already dark as the students were saying their goodbyes to each other.
As always, Jenna waited for Sirius and James until she finally saw them getting off the train along with Remus and Peter. One by one, they passed the barrier to meet their families on the other side.
After greeting her parents, Jenna threw her arms around Sirius, brining him into a hug.
"I'll miss you," she whispered as he held her tight to his chest.
"Well, we'll be seeing him soon," said Mrs. Potter with a smile. "He's still under our Potter-Sunday-lunch contract."
Sirius laughed lightly, pulling away from Jenna. "Are you still throwing a Christmas party this year too?" He asked them.
"No." Mr. Potter shook his head, looking slightly worn out. "There's too much going on at the moment." He then smiled when he saw their worried glances, saying, "But we'll still be expecting you to come, Sirius. You're part of our crazy little family, after all."
"Thank you," said Sirius, chuckling as his heart lifted up by those words as always. He never got tired of hearing them.
"Do you want one of us to accompany you home?" Mrs. Potter asked him.
"No, no." He shook a hand at them reassuringly. "I've got this. Thanks."
"Yeah, he's a big boy now." James smirked, clapping a hand roughly behind Sirius's back as they both laughed.
After bidding Sirius goodbye, the Potters went back to their house, the smell of Mickey's delicious dinner welcoming them home.
Jenna was grinning suspiciously the whole time they were around the dinner table, which didn't seem too reassuring to James.
"What are you up to, J.P?" he asked her quietly with narrowed eyes, while their parents were busy discussing the politics going on at the Ministry.
"Nothing." Jenna shrugged innocently, but her smirk was saying otherwise. "Oh, by the way... remember when you told Dad about me going out with Sirius before I had the chance to do it myself?"
James gulped. "Don't you dare —"
"Hey, guys!" Jenna said loudly, catching her parents' attention. "Did James tell you that he's going out with Lily?"
Mr. Potter nearly spat out his water and Mrs. Potter stared at James in disbelief, her mouth slightly hanging open.
"Delicious dinner, by the way," said Jenna with a sweet smile, standing up from behind the table. She then leaned in toward James before leaving the kitchen and whispered, "Enjoy the talk."