The Misadventures of Padfoot and Prongs

Lily Evans awoke Christmas morning when a giant black owl tapped on her window. Staggering a bit, Lily moved from her bed to her window, allowing the fowl inside, then shutting the window quickly to shield herself from the cold.

"Hey there, what've you gotten for me?" Lily cooed, petting the bird's back. The owl stood on top of a medium-sized package and hopped off as Lily picked it up and read the envelope attached: To: Lily From: James. Before she could open it, though, the bird flew back to the window and started tapping it constantly once again.

"Alright, hold on," the redhead said before letting the bird out. "Impatient. Now what would Potter send me this year?"

Lily sat on her bed and pulled off the envelope, setting it beside her before opening the package. Inside was a box full of assorted chocolates from Sugarplum's and a smaller box next to that. Lily set aside the chocolates, deciding to save them for later and reached for the smaller box.

Inside was a very beautiful golden charm bracelet. Around the entire thing were rubies that sparkled when the little bit of Christmas morning sunlight graced it, and in between towards the center, hung three magical charms.

One, probably chosen for her knack to study, was a stack of miniature books, each with a different title of one of her school books, like the book she was reading when James had kissed her in the common room: Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century. The title alone caused the young girl to blush.

Another was a lion who roared silently every now and then. It was obvious that James choose this and the color scheme for their house.

But the last one she couldn't understand why the boy would have picked out this specific charm. Usually when one receives a charm bracelet, the charms placed on it represent the wearer in some way. However, Lily could not think of what would possess James to place a stag upon the jewelry. Watching it shake its antlers, though, Lily liked it just as well and placed the enchanted bracelet upon her wrist.

Next she picked up the note, biting her lip in thought. Did she really want to open it? Was there any point in reading the words of James Potter as he talked about how much of a great contribution to the world he was? Lily sighed and opted to read it nonetheless.

To My Dearest Lily,

It's funny how I feel I need to say so much. But what can I say here that I haven't already told you?

You're absolutely stunning! Not just in outer beauty (even if you are more radiant than the Greek goddess Aphrodite), but your inner beauty shines brighter than the sun on a clear summer's day. Your intelligence is only matched with your wit and charm. But I think it's your smile that I have fallen in love with. Even if it's rarely directed at me, I still find myself staring down the dinner table to see you with your friends laughing and smiling, and my heart melts.

I know I have been less than the proper gentleman that you deserve, and I am so sorry, but I will start treating you like the lady you are.

I can only hope you give me one more chance.

Happy Christmas,
James

P.S. Remus got you the book charm. I hope you like the gift.

P.P.S. We're all going bowling two days after Christmas, and Lyra would probably be relieved to have another girl. If you wanna go, meet us at the Leaky Cauldron on December 27 at 5 P.M.

After she read the letter, Lily sighed. The gift he had gotten her seemed very thoughtful, and added with the sweet letter she felt a little guilty for not even thinking of him when she went Christmas shopping. But what would she get a boy who seemed to already have everything?

"Lily! Come help me get this house ready for Christmas dinner!" the readhead looked towards the door where her mother's voice floated up from the first floor.

"Coming Mum!" Lily placed the note on her desk, wondering for a moment if she should write back. Shaking her head, she put James out of her mind and went to help her parents and sister get everything ready for Christmas.

--

Lyra awoke to an incessant tapping noise coming from her bedroom window. Opening her eyes to the morning light, she rolled out of bed and padded over to her windowsill. She unlocked the window, swinging it forward on it's hinges to allow the owl inside. It dropped a parcel on the window seat, and flew over to an owl perch, making itself comfortable. She gave the owl some food and water before staggering down the flight of stairs, still not fully awake, and completely ignored the parcel the owl had dropped off.

When she walked into the kitchen, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet. She had blonde curls that fell to her shoulders and the beginnings of wrinkles on her face. A pair of red, square-rimmed spectacles sat on the end of her nose.

The older woman looked up at her and smiled, nodding toward the stove.

"There's hot water in the kettle, dear," said Mrs. Sumner. In her stupor, Lyra shuffled over to the kettle and poured water into a mug. She put in the tea bag and waited for it to steep.

"Happy Christmas, Mum," said Lyra as she remembered what day it was.

"Same to you, darling." When her tea was ready, she added milk and honey and stirred it with a spoon, waiting for it to cool down enough so she could drink it.

Once she had her morning caffeine, Lyra was able to function like a normal human being. She returned to her bedroom to find that the owl had gone, and yet another parcel lay next to the first. Picking up the first package that she recieved, Lyra brought it over to her bed and sat down on top of the covers. The envelope had her name written on it in cursive she instantly recognized as Sirius'. She decided to open the letter first.


Lyra,

We've been playing this game for months now. You know it, and I know it. We've been tiptoeing around how we feel about each other and I don't want to play anymore.

I want you to know how special you are. You're beautiful, brilliant, charismatic and honestly the most amazing woman I've ever had the good fortune of meeting.

I can feel something between us and I know you can too. You're the only girl I've ever met that I can actually see myself falling in love with, which is a scary thought for me. I was never one for commitment, but then I met you. You've turned my world upside down and, in this moment, all I want is to have you here, with me.

When you've gotten over what happened with Octavian, I want you to let me know. I'm sure that I could succeed where he failed.

Love,
Sirius

ps. I hope you like your present. Also, one of the charms is from Remus.

Looking down at the parchment in front of her, Lyra brought one of her hands to her mouth, completely shocked that Sirius written her something so incredibly sweet. Much to her annoyance, her eyes started to tear up a little. Snapping herself out of it, she turned her attention to the unopened parcel still lying on her bed.

Ripping the paper off of it, Lyra discovered a box of chocolates, and a smaller jewelry box.
She lifted the lid of the box and saw what lay inside. The sapphire encrusted bronze charm bracelet was one of the most beautiful things she has ever seen. There were three
enchanted charms already on the chain; a soaring eagle, a glittering tiara with the words
"Beauty Queen" etched into it, and, for some reason, a black dog who kept silently barking every half a minute.

Smiling to herself, Lyra slipped the bracelet onto her wrist and decided to thank Sirius personally when she saw him after Christmas.

Lyra reached for the next package and read the words on the slightly crinkled paper: To: Lyra, From: James. Figured you needed one, just in case.

The dark-haired girl smiled as she opened the package to see a small hand-held mirror, identical to the pair that James and Sirius carried. Lyra smiled, knowing it's power, and wrapped it up and placed it in her school trunk. She knew that the two way mirror was a sign from James that they would be enlisting her help on more and more pranks this year.

This thought caused a smile to break upon the young girl's face.

--

When the 27th of December rolled around, James and Sirius found themselves quite nervous. They had neither seen nor heard from their respective romantic attachments since the ride home of the Hogwarts Express.

"Do you think she'll show?" asked James as he tried, in vain, to flatten the patch of hair that
stuck up at the back oh his head.

"I think she will," said Sirius. "You two have been getting on lately, haven't you?" James didn't respond as they made their way into the Leaky Caldron.

Remus was already waiting at one of the tables, talking to an all too familiar dark-haired girl: Lyra.

James spoke up first, "All right, Lyra? Moony?"

Sirius kept his eyes on Lyra, paying special attention to her wrist. Worn over her long-sleeved blue shirt was the bracelet he bought her. Sirius took this as a good sign and smiled at her.

"I'm fine, thanks," said Lyra. "I was hoping I could talk to Sirius for a moment, actually."

"You can talk out here," said James, all but throwing the two of them out into the street for privacy. Sirius had been trying to prepare some sort of speech to give, but it turned out he didn't need one. As soon as they were outside, Lyra pulled him closer and kissed him.

Sirius was completely taken off guard, but his immobility soon ended when she wound her fingers through his hair. He brought one hand to her waist, pulling her body flush against his, while the other rested behind her neck.

The kiss was over much too soon for Sirius. Lyra let go of him and stepped away, his hand still on her waist.

"Thank you," said Lyra, moving the bracelet around her wrist. "What you wrote, and the charm bracelet.. It means a lot."

Before Sirius could even respond, she was walking away, saying something about not wanting to keep the boys waiting, and he was left there, with no idea of what just happened or what any of it meant.

When the pair returned, they were met with the warm smile of Lily Evans.

"Hello, Lyra, Sirius," she said as she smacked James hand off her waist. "Have a good Christmas?"

Lyra smiled and nodded, and Sirius spoke up, "Of course! Where's Peter?"

"Not coming," replied Remus. "Is everyone ready?" The four shook their heads yes.

"Lily, have you ever been bowling before?" asked James as they stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron and onto the London street.

"A couple times with my parents, my sister and her friends," the redhead replied, smiling up at James. "But I am absolutely horrible at it."

"Well, we can all be horrible together," Remus said from her other side. "I doubt that any of us will be any good."

As they walked, Sirius tried to riddle out what Lyra kissing him meant. Obviously she felt the same way, but did it mean that she was ready to begin a relationship with him, or was she really just thankful for the gift and had an interesting way of showing it.

He looked over to Lyra, about to bring it up, but he stopped himself. Lily and Lyra were talking to each other like they were great friends; something he had never seen before. Lyra was smiling, clearly pleased with something. Instead of interrupting and questioning her, Sirius decided to hold off until she approached him about it. After giving it some thought, he realized he had done all he could to show Lyra what he wanted. The proverbial ball was in her court, and he just decided to enjoy her happiness while it lasted.

It only took about ten minutes for the five of them to reach the bowling alley on foot. When they opened the doors, strange smells and music hit them. Looking around, James tried to find out where the music was coming from.

"Over there," said Lily, "It's called a speaker. Muggles use them to play music."

"Ohhh," he said, nodding his head in understanding. He looked at the brightly colored lights in red and green hung about the walls and ceiling, amazed that Muggles could pull something like that off, without the use of magic.

"We have to go get shoes and pay for the game," said Lily pointing to a counter. "Does everyone have Muggle money?" Everyone nodded and pulled the notes from their pockets.

Lily watched Lyra's and Remus' slightly confused faces, and said, "Do you all want me to go up and get everything settled?"

"I could do it, Lily," said James. "Sirius and I have handled Muggle money before. You three stay here, my treat!"

"So what your telling me, Potter, is that I went to Gringott's Bank and dealt with goblins for no reason?" Lyra asked, glaring slightly at him.

"Maybe?" he said, dragging Sirius away from the group and toward the counter. They didn't get far when Lily called back to him that they'd need everyone's shoe sizes. After getting that information, they returned to the counter. Sitting in a chair was a pimply teenage boy with blonde hair and glasses.

"Excuse me?" asked Sirius. The employee looked at them and blinked, not saying a word.

"Right, um, we're going to need a woman's size 7, woman's size 7 1/2, two men's size 12, and another men's 13."

"So there are five of you?" said the boy monotonously. Sirius and James nodded. "Right, hold on."

The teenager walked around grabbing the five pairs of shoes, five pencils, and five score sheets before returning to them. He gave James the price and items and pointed him to a lane at the far end of the alley, right in front of a concession stand. James grumbled a thanks and he and Sirius grabbed the shoes and walked back to the group.

"Alright, here you go," Sirius said as he handed Remus and Lyra their shoes.

Lyra looked at the pair with disgust, "You can't be serious!"

"Actually he-" James was cut off by Lily pushing him slightly.

"That joke is getting old, James," she said before turning to Lyra. "You'll be fine as long as you keep your socks on."

"So I can't play in my very cute and quite comfortable Mary Janes?"

"Unfortunately, no. These shoes are designed to keep the floor from getting scratched up," Lily replied. She looked around and noticed everyone had their shoes on. "What lane did he say?"

"That one, Lils," James said, pointing down to it. She nodded, grabbed the score sheets and the pencils from his hand, and began her journey to the end of the alley. When they got there, everyone immediately sat down and looked to Lily.

"Alright, the first thing you should know is what these sheets of paper are for," she said, holding them up. "These are to keep score. If you want, I can do that for you," the group nodded vigorously. "Alright, since that is settled, next everyone needs to pick out a ball. On each ball is a number, that number tells you how much it weighs; the higher the number, the heavier it is. Now I know guys like to show off and pick the heaviest one, but that is ridiculous. Pick out the most comfortable one, not too light or too heavy. If it's either one, you won't be able to knock anything down. Got it? Good, now let's go pick out our balls."

The quintet dispersed for a few minutes, found their balls, and returned. Lily, who was the first one done had brought a round of drinks to the table, and was patiently waiting for a couple of pizzas.

Looking up she began to explain again, "I bought everyone a Coke. They have free refills, so if you don't like it, or you need more, just pour it out and refill it with whatever over there," she pointed to the soda fountain. "I also got us two pizzas which should be done in ten minutes.
Now the rules: the object of this game is too knock down as many pins as you can. You get two tries in every turn, unless you knock all ten of them down.

If you do knock them all down on the first try, it's called a strike. If you knock them all down, the second time or whatever you have left from the first try, it's called a spare. If you don't knock any down, it's a gutter ball, as it would probably have gone in one of the ditches, or gutters, that is on either side. Also, there are dots where the lane begins, don't cross those, or whatever you hit doesn't count.

Now, as for your last turn, the rules change a bit. If you bowl a strike or a spare, you get an extra turn right then, but only one try. If not, then the next person plays. Everyone gets ten turns. Who wants to go first?"

"I will," said Remus.

"Oh! I wanna be next!" Lyra spoke, bouncing in her seat excited.

"Then, I guess I'll go after you," said Sirius.

James looked at Lily, "You can go before me, Lils."

"Thank you James, but I'll go last," she said with a smile. "I'm going to have to teach each one of you how to hold the ball and throw it."

Suddenly a voice called over the speakers, "Lily!"

"That would be our pizza," the girl in question said. "Mind helping me Lyra?"

"Sure!" the other spoke, jumping up from her seat. The girls made there way to the counter, chatting happily.

"You know, if you ever want some girl time, you can always come sit with me instead of those gits," said Lily as she handed the first pizza to Lyra.

Lyra laughed, "I'll take you up on that offer! But I must warn you, they may follow."

Lily giggled, "You're probably right. Say, what are your plans tomorrow?"

"Not sure," the Ravenclaw said. "You wanna meet up?"

"Well, we seem to be getting along, and I always love making a new friend."

"That's probably the cheesiest thing I think I have ever heard," Lyra said smirking, as they reached the guys. Lily blushed. "But I do too! So why not! It would be nice being around a girl who isn't always saying, 'Oh Lyra, why did you dump Octavian? He's so dreamy!'"

"Octavian Baines? Yeah, he's cute but-"

"Aw, don't tell me you like him too!" James interrupted.

"But he seems kind of... oh what's the word I'm looking for?" Lily tapped her finger on her chin in thought.

"Dim-witted, idiotic, not caring, friendship hater," Sirius murmured, but stopped when Lyra smacked him on the back of the head. "What? You're not dating him anymore!"

"It's an insult on my intelligence to say I would date someone who is like that," Lyra retorted.
Sirius groaned, "It's not like you knew when you started dating him. And you broke up with him when you found out!"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Let's not talk about it. Come on, Remus, I'll show you how to bowl."