A Thin Line

A Christmas Visit to Hogsmeade

A/N:

Viria13 from DeviantART owns the artwork above, not me, and by the way guys, happy belated Christmas :D I didn't want to keep this part waiting for next year's Christmas so I'm just doing it now.

As November continued, the full moon passed and they were in the last week before December began. A Hogsmeade visit was set for Friday.

"Come on, Evans," James smirked.

"If you begged, you'd be further away than ever," Lily sighed. "Have a good time at Hogsmeade tomorrow."

The Marauders hurried downstairs to the Great Hall, followed by Jared and the other Gryffindor boys, and then the girls. As per usual, countless girls sighed as Sirius passed, and a few eyeballed James as well.

Jared, Remus, Lily, Fifi and Felicity (the two Hufflepuff girls had caught up with them) struck up a conversation. Fifi was carrying a brush to straighten her dark hair, framed by strands of dyed rainbow hair.

"But how did you get that hair?!" Jared, as always, was both fascinated and confused. "Did Dumbledore really let you in with that?"

"I don't think he minds students who dye their hair, Jared," Fifi retorted. "You should dye yours purple."

"No thanks," Jared shuddered at the thought. Remus, Lily and Felicity laughed.

"A visit to Hogsmeade's scheduled," Felicity grinned. "I'm going to Honeydukes fast as I can, avoid the queues."

"Good luck with that," Lily said.

"Yeah, you know its popularity," Remus nodded. "Everybody else'll have the same idea."

"We'll still have fun, though," Felicity said.

"No doubt about that, though," Lily beamed. "Sev and I can go with you guys, right?"

"Oh, I'm going with James, Sirius and Peter," Remus ran his hand along one of his scars. "Sorry, Lily."

"Nah, that's fine, I expected your reply to be that," Lily shrugged.

"Wait, you want that Snape boy to come too?" Fifi asked carefully. "You know he helped Mulciber and Rosier hex a group of first years yesterday?"

"He did what?!" Lily yelled. "Oh, I'm having a long chat with him ... just wait here ..."

"I didn't mind Severus," Jared shrugged as they continued walking without Lily, who had ran off. "Sad that he hexes people nowadays. I hope he gets better."

"Hm," Felicity nodded.

***

The village of Hogsmeade was carpeted with snow; the roofs, the ground, the trees. Christmas decorations hung above the streets, connected by wire from building to building. Christmas lights hung from the gutters of some buildings and a few people had bewitched icicles to change colour, between red, green, gold and silver.

The air was fresh and light, and a new energy had found itself in every person who entered Hogsmeade. The place glowed with the warmth of the light, and it was a near-impossible task, to try and feel upset in such a setting.

Little homeless dogs ran around from one end of the street to another and Sirius used up as much of his (but mostly his friends') money as he would dare in order to feed them: "They're my kin, don't you see that, Moony?" He retorted when Remus questioned it.

Magic incantations and spells flew around as people tried to impress friends, lighting uo the place even more. Everything was jolly in Hogsmeade Village.

"This is great!" James laughed as he threw a snowball at Sirius. Another one came straight back at him.

As time went on, the queues at Honeydukes slowly diminished, and the Marauders took their chance. They loaded up, having enough candy to last till February (it would have been till next November if it hadn't been for Sirius and wasting money on food for the dogs).

On the way through the streets of Hogsmeade to get to Hogswarts, the sky darkened as night approached. Lily, Jazmin with Luke, Darcy with Harry, Fifi, the Grey sisters, Alice, Marlene, Mary and five of the Gryffindor boys' gang walked across the street in front of them, talking and laughing.

"Hey, Evans!" James waved frantically.

Lily looked up, then rolled her eyes.

Once the group had passed to the other side of the street, a boy with greasy black hair in a hoodie two sizes too big for him ran after them. James caught him by the collar.

"Whatcha up to, Snivellus?" James sneered.

"None of your business," he retaliated.

"Going after Evans?" James suggested. "Because you seem to have forgotten that's my job, not yours."

"You seem to have forgotten that I'm her actual friend!" Severus snapped.

"Then how come you aren't with the rest of her group?" Sirius asked. "Left behind with your Death Eaters? I heard you hexed some first graders."

"Ha, aren't you one to talk!" Severus laughed coldly. "How often do you four hex people? Well?"

James held him by the collar. "You watch it, Snivellus."

"I'm so scared," Severus burned with sarcasm. James let go of him, and Severus walked away slowly, hands in pockets.