The Christmas Ball: A Marauders Story

Mission: Impossible

As I woke up the next day, I saw Libra in the bed next to mine. She had come in shortly after I had gone to bed. Apparently, the girls in her room had still been up and all they were doing was talking really fast about boys, something that Libra had not wanted to take part in. It was already nine o'clock now, but it was Christmas Break so there was no rush to get up. I was sure that the whole school would be slow to rise today, especially Sirius, he always slept in. Sirius. That was right! I had almost forgotten; I had kissed Sirius Black last night. How had it taken me so long to remember? Of course, as soon as I remembered this, I could hear Libra stirring. I tried to compose myself, this annoying smile would not leave my face. Finally, I gave up, I was always smiling anyway, wasn't I? I hopped out of bed, a little too exuberantly for how tired I should have been. Libra was still mostly asleep, her eyes were still closed, but I didn't care. If she wanted to sleep in my dormitory, she would have to reap the consequences. I jumped.

"NORI!" she yelled in exasperation.

"GOOD MORNING!" I yelled in her ear.

"Why on earth are you up this early?" she asked, rolling over.

"This early?" I laughed at her, "Do you even know what time it is?" When I got no response, I answered for her, "It's already nine o'clock!"

"Like I said," she continued, her voice muffled by the pillow that she had buried her face in. "Why are you up this early?"

"It's not early!" I told her.

"Just leave me alone, Nori!" her exasperated tone was back.

"Fine."

I got off of her and got dressed. When I was done, Libra was still in bed and her soft snoring told me that she had gone back to sleep. We had only been up until three. She shouldn't be this tired! That was six whole hours of sleep! I left the dormitory, deciding to be nice. When I got down to the common room, I saw that the number of people there was greatly diminished from its normal amount. Most everyone had stayed up well past four in the morning, so only early risers were up. None of the Marauders were down yet, and I decided it would probably be a while before they were, so I left to go down for breakfast. The Great Hall was still amazing, even though the fake snow had left the floor and the walls.

I sat down at the Gryffindor table alone. I had only been eating for about ten minutes, when Remus walked in. I waved at him and he came and sat across from me.

"Good morning, Moony!" I said. "Are the boys still asleep?"

"Yup," he replied. "Libra too?"

"Of course!" I told him.

He filled his plate with toast, eggs, and sausages, and we talked a little bit about this and a little bit about that. It wasn't until after a short pause that occurred after a conversation about Transfiguration class, that I began to be uncomfortable.

"So," he began, there was a look on his face that told me exactly what he was about to ask.

"So what?" I interrupted before he could finish.

"So, anything exciting happen for you last night?" he asked.

I switched into my best-keeper-of-secrets-mode and replied, "Only Sirius actually playing the piano, something that none of us will ever see again, no thanks to you."

"That wasn't my fault!" he defended.

"Well, I didn't say that it was," I was relieved when I realized that I might have successfully changed the subject. "I just said that you didn't help the situation."

"Alright, fine, whatever," he gave in. "But that wasn't what I was talking about and you know it."

"What do I know again?" I asked, in my most innocent voice.