The Misadventures of Padfoot and Prongs

The boys quickly made there way out of the shop, excited at last to have accomplished the seemingly impossible: shopping for a girl. Before they went around buying sweets from Honeydukes or Fillibuster's from Zonko's, James took a trip to Dervish & Bangs to buy a special present for Lyra.

Once James emerged back onto the street, Sirius, Remus and Peter all reached for his new bag, trying to see what he had gotten her.

"Uh-uh," said James. "You'll find out soon enough, mates. Now where too-"

"That's just it, Octavian!" a female voice yelled from outside Madam Puddifoot's, successfully silencing James. The quartet turned to see their female friend, red faced and angry. "You're here swearing your love for me, yet you treat me like a fragile object and not a person, you smother me when I just want to have alone time, and worst of all you wish for me to spy on my friends! I shouldn't have to yell at you for one of those each and every minute of the day! I'm done, Octavian. We're over!"

"Darling, you're just angry, let's talk this out-" Octavian didn't get to finish before Lyra rounded him again.

"No, Octavian, I have been trying to talk it out," she said, venom dripping from her words. "And each time you just wave me off like it's not big deal. I'm not gonna try anymore. Goodbye, Octavian."

Storming off in the opposite direction, Lyra headed toward the one place no one else would be; the Shrieking Shack.

The boys all looked at each other, taken surprise by the so public break up. Then their eyes all went back to the Ravenclaw's retreating form.

"Well, that takes care of that..." said James.

"I'm gonna go see if she's okay," said Sirius, not looking at his friends as he spoke. James grabbed his arms before he could march off in the girl's direction.

"She might not want to see you right now, Sirius," said James, "I mean, clearly she's stressed out, and upset. Seeing you might just stress her further."

"Yes, but-" Sirius tried to come up with a reason. "But... I'm the one she likes."

"Exactly," said Remus, "Which is why it will stress her out. By you going, it places pressure on her to start a relationship with you. And besides, she confided in James about their relationship, so in her eyes, he would know the right things to say. Remember, you are not supposed to know anything that James told you."

Sirius opened and closed his mouth a couple times, before sighing in defeat, "Alright, Prongs. Go."

James nodded and ran off in the same direction that he last saw Lyra run toward, and found himself on the path to the Shrieking Shack. Following the footprints in the snow, it took James a few minutes before he finally caught up with her. He heard her before he saw her sitting at the base of a tree, shaking softly as she cried.

"You alright?" asked James, instantly feeling like and idiot for asking someone who was so obviously not okay at the moment if she was alright. Lyra jumped at the unexpected noise, not having heard him approach her. She hastily wiped her tears and swallowed her cries, looking up at James with bloodshot eyes.

She didn't answer him, only stared back. James whispered an apology under his breath and sat down next to her in the snow.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" asked James, a little unsure of himself.

Wiping her eyes once more, Lyra nodded, "I don't think I'll have much choice in it, seeing as how I just blew up back there."

James chuckled, "It was quite entertaining. But what I'm wondering is why you're crying. You've been planning this break up for a couple weeks now."

"It's not the break up that's making me act like this," said Lyra. "I've just.. hit a breaking point. All of this constant fighting I've been doing with Octavian has worn me out emotionally, and I just can't take it anymore. Add that onto everything with Sirius, and well.." Lyra gave a short, humorless laugh, gesturing outward with her hands.

James wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Look, don't worry about Sirius right now. He's waited this long, he can wait a little longer. Just focus on forgetting that you ever dated that git and focus on causing more mischief with us. You and Sirius can wait until you are feeling better, love."

Lyra gave a genuine smile then, her spirits lifting at the possibility of putting all this energy into having fun instead of stressing out. She was a free woman now and could do as she liked. "Thanks, James. I'll certainly be causing mischief in the near future."

James grinned, "That's what I like to hear! Now come on, let's go bother Remus. It'll make you laugh."

Giggling, Lyra got back on her feet and help James up from the ground.

The next few days passed in a blur, and before the boys knew it, they were on the Hogwarts Express riding back home for Christmas Break. Each boy was excitedly describing what exactly they believed would be happening this break, trying to decided when they can all meet up and cause mischief to the unsuspecting world.

"What about the day before Christmas?"

"I don't know about that. My mum's real particular about the holidays," said Remus.

"Well, what about the day after Christmas?" asked James.

"What's happening on the day after Christmas?" came a voice from the open compartment door. Looking toward the sliding door, they saw Lyra holding an arm-full of sweets from the trolley. Smiling at them, she slipped inside the compartment and closed the door behind her. "I got bored so I decided to see how you lot were doing. And I brought sweets." The boys pounced on the pile, not beings ones to pass up extra sugar, and thanked Lyra as they started eating.

"So, what were you planning for the day after Christmas?" Lyra asked.

"We're not sure yet, but it'll be spectacular as always," said Sirius. "Why? Are you interested?" Catching the double meaning, Lyra grinned and nodded her head.

"You know I always am," she said, and then turned to Remus. "Has Janet kept bothering you?" Remus groaned

"Oh, please don't remind me of her," said Remus. "Ever since I broke it off with her, she's been following me around, trying to get me to take her back. She's obsessive, that one. She's driving me mad."

"And not in the good way, I take it?" said Sirius, his lips turning up in a teasing smirk. He only received a glare from Remus in return. Suddenly, Sirius remembered something. "Oh, Lyra, what's your address?" Taken aback by the question, Lyra quirked an eyebrow and looked at him.

"57 Albemarle Street, in London. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you'll find out eventually."

Lyra raised her eyebrow, but said nothing further on the subject. Instead, she asked, "May I sit with you for the remainder of the trip?"

Sirius pushed Peter over to the window and patted the space next to him. Lyra smiled and complied to the grey-eyed boy's wishes.

"So, Miss Sumner, are you excited about the Holidays?" asked Remus as he crossed his legs.

Lyra's lips broke out in a big smile, "Oh yes," she said, "Holidays are always a huge ordeal with my family. I have lots of aunts, and uncles, and cousins, and we all get together on Christmas Eve for a dinner party where we exchange gifts. My cousin Elaine in particular makes things so entertaining. She's about five years older than us, and she's brilliant. You guys would like her a lot. Very mischievous. I also have this uncle who has the most ridiculous handlebar mustache, who no matter how much we tell him to shave it, he never will. He's a bit intimidating at first, but he's harmless. One of our favorite past-times is poking fun at him and a few of our other relatives. And my grandmother's cooking is to die for," her eyes lit up as she relived memories from her childhood, giddy at just the thought of seeing them all again. "What about you?"

"My mum loves Christmas!" said Remus. "Most of the time it's just my parents and me, but we're close, so it's still fun. My mom makes a huge dinner Christmas Eve, and we continue to enjoy it through Christmas. Dad and I play Wizard's Chess, and Mum and I bake cookies. On occasion my grandmother comes to visit, when she isn't gallivanting around with her friends."

Peter piped up after Remus, "My whole family gets together at Gran's house. Mostly we just sit around, eat and talked. We open gifts, and my cousin's and I play Exploding Snap. It's the best day of the year!"

"My parents are pretty old,and my grandparents are already dead so it's usually just us," said James. "My parents have a party for their friends on Christmas Eve, that I usually don't go too. And since last Christmas, Sirius has graced us with his presence, which I am thankful for. Especially during my parents annual Christmas Eve party."

Lyra turned to Sirius, "What did you do before going over to James'?"

Sirius shrugged, an air of nonchalance about him, "My parents don't really care much for me, so I was generally stuck up in my room. Except during Christmas dinner in which I am graced with the presence of not only my intermediate family, but also my distant family that seems to hate me as well."

"Oh," said Lyra, sadden by Sirius' disposition. "I'm sorry."

Sirius waved her off, "It's nothing. I did have a cousin who I got along well with, and now I have James. Being at his house, whether it be Christmas or Summer, it's worth all the crap I took before. But enough with the sob stories and let's get back to when we should meet up."

"Day after Christmas," said James, insistently.

Remus shook his head, "I say two days after. I'm going to be too full to do anything otherwise."

"Two days after would be better for me as well," said Lyra. "What are we doing again?"

"We're going to a Muggle Bowling Ally," said Sirius.

"What is a 'bowling alley'?" asked Lyra. Having been raised in an all-magical household, she was fairly ignorant to Muggle past-times.

"Well, we're going to find out after Christmas, aren't we?"

The quintet continued to talk until they arrived once again at Kings Cross. Saying their goodbyes, everyone went their separate ways, all eager to meet up again for a night of Muggle fun!

Christmas Eve seemed to come upon Sirius and James suddenly, and they scrambled to get their gifts for Lily and Lyra together, wrapped, and sent out.

"Did you remember the box of chocolates, mate?" Sirius referred to the sweets each of them picked up at Sugarplum's in Diagon Alley the day before.

"Yes," said James. "But there is still something miss- I got it!"

"What?"

"Letters! We need to write them letters!" Sirius raised an eyebrow but shrugged.

"I suppose we can," he replied. "But we can always just buy a Christmas card."

"No, no," James said shaking his head. "Love letters. We need to write them love letters."

Sirius shook his head, "Oh no, Lyra just got out of a relationship."

"Yeah, just in time!" said James. Sirius gave him another look. "Alright, alright. Don't profess your undying love, but make it a little romantic. Woo her with your words."

James passed parchment to Sirius and they both settled down somewhere in the room; Sirius took the desk, while James got comfortable on his bed with a book underneath his bit of parchment.

Almost immediately the scratching of a quill on paper could be heard from James, but unlike him, Sirius was having a bit of trouble.

For the first three minutes, Sirius just stared at the parchment with a look that seemed to say, 'How do I write you?'

Finally, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and thought of Lyra for a moment. He thought of all of the things he loved so much about her; the clear blue of her eyes, her smile and laugh that just light up the whole room, the color of her hair as the sun shone through the strands, how she loved to go along with all of the crazy schemes he came up with, even going out of her way to help. Smiling to himself, he opened his eyes and began to write.