The Rise And Fall Of The Stag And The Doe

On Top Of The World

"Christmas time is here!" Dorcas sang in a low off-key voice, her grin contagious as she threw red and green beads over Lily's neck. "Let us all cheer!"

"Dora," Lily giggled, "We have a week until Christmas break. We have end of term finals…"

"You can't bring down my Christmas cheer Lil." Dorcas declared firmly, placing a Santa hat on her head. "You know it's my favorite holiday and no one, not even you can take that from me."

Lily raised her hands. "I wouldn't even bother trying."

"Come on Lil!" Dorcas hugged her shoulders ecstatically. "You know you can't wait for santa to eat all the cookies and drop off presents."

"Dorcas," Lily sighed, feigning a grimace, "You know Santa isn't real right?"

"Well they said that about magic and they sure as shit were wrong about that weren't they?" She declared as she took one of the candy cane delights off the desert tray.

Lily chuckled and eyed Dorcas's excitement unable to stop smiling herself. She was excited for Christmas; now that Dorcas was going to spend the majority of the holiday with her she was really excited. She always happy to spend time with her father, every year they would put lights on the house, decorate the Christmas tree and make ginger bread houses, or as her sister used to say, 'houses for Lily.' The memory made her happy for a blinding split second, before she remembered how things had changed. Now Petunia would be out of the house as much as possible and when she was there she would spend the whole time muttering insults about Lily under her breath.

Over the years she had grown a thicker skin through enduring her sister's cruelty, but her seventeenth birthday was a little more than month away and this was the last Christmas she'd have with Petunia. Sure her father liked to think Petunia would come back after she finished high school, but Lily knew better. Pentunia would be graduating in a few months and turning nineteen a few weeks after that. There was no way Petunia would come back for the holidays at least if she did she wouldn't be alone. After high school she would marry that oaf of a boyfriend and become a …housewife and in Lily's opinion that was much worse than not coming back at all.

It wasn't that Lily across the board hated housewives, when her mother was alive she had been one like her mother before her. Lily just wanted more out of life than cleaning up after her husband and children. She wanted to do something exciting an adventurous with her life like all the character's she read about in her books. She wanted to explore new worlds like Lucy did in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. She wanted to break out of her comfort zone like Bilbo Baggins did in The Hobbit. She wanted to love someone like Buttercup and Westley did in The Princess Bride. And maybe she wouldn't get any of that. Maybe she would be stuck in a desk job and never marry at all. The only way she'd be okay with that would be if she did something with the years before that so she could look back and think that she truly lived her life. Some housewives maybe still did that for all she knew, but Lily knew Petunia wouldn't. Petunia would settle had a boring, dull life, and that was one thing Lily just couldn't settle for.

But Lily made herself focus on the good things. Dorcas and her could play in the snow, have fun and forget all about Petunia and her unpleasantness. This would be a good Christmas, she was sure of it.

Down the table a bit James was reading the Daily prophet with a worried look etched on his face. He knew the war was coming, but it was much different having a vague idea of something and seeing the evidence. Naturally he was concerned for himself and his friends, but he was also worried about his parents. They weren't as young as they used to be and yet they still head onto their high-ranking jobs. In their letters, they said everything was fine that they were just stressed from the workload, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. James wondered sometimes if that was a line they just fed him or if it was also something they forced themselves to believe.