"All right who's next?" asked Lily clapping her hands.

"Me!" said Sirius. He jumped from the couch and walked -slightly lopsided- in the middle of the circle, toward the empty scotch bottle. He spun it and returned to the armchair. It still turned. They looked at it for a moment -James said he was going to puke any minute- now until it stopped. The bottle head pointed at James, the successful seeker in whose honour this party was held.

"Great," said James slowly. Then his mood changed. "What are you gonna do to me?" He looked with wiggling eyebrows at Lily. She rolled her eyes. Remus leant over to her and they consulted the matter. The longer it took them to come up with a dare, the more concerned James grew.

"Am I going to hear it tonight?" he said in that annoyed tone. Sirius knew he used it when he was anxious. Lily and Remus whispered a few more words, then she laughed loudly and presented their idea.

"I dare you to dress up as Santa Claus and pretend the Great Hall is the North Pole. During breakfast, of course." Remus smirked at the unamused face of his friend. James went through is messy hair with one hand.

"Fine. But where do I get a costume and how am I supposed to turn the Great Hall into the north pole?"

"Not the real north pole. You know, where Santa and his elves make the presents-"

"Wait, Santa is a wizard? Does that mean he exists?" asked Sirius.

"What? Where have you got that from?" asked Lily, confused.

"You said he had house-elves and the muggles don't know about those," said Sirius.

"Not house-elves. Just any elves. It's a children's story!"

"Anyway, why is his place called the North Pole? Or is it the north pole they named after it?" said James.

"That's so cool! I never knew he actually existed!" said Sirius. He was -though drunk- aware he acted excited like a child.

"He doesn't!" said Lily. Sirius didn't believe her and James looked amazed as well. She threw up her hands in resignation.

"It's not possible," said Remus and Lily glanced at him thankfully. He explained it. "Santa would have to deliver presents to all the children around the world in one night. There's not even a vehicle fast enough for that."

"He's magic, Remus," said Sirius as though it was the most logical thing in the world.

"How would he manage to do it, after all?" said James.

"How did he get Head Boy this year?" sighed Lily. She had been awarded Head Girl alongside him, the only reason she was not willing to spend time with him. Though she often explained him hopeless, Sirius suspected they be a couple at the end of the seventh year -at the latest.

"Fine," said Sirius, "if Santa isn't real, how come we are going to find him?" He pointed at James and himself. His friend high-fived.

"By Merlin's pants, what is wrong with you guys?" said Lily. She sat opposite Sirius and he could only see her risen eyebrows, but the tone of her voice indicated great annoyance. She had spoken to Remus and expected validation of their insanity, he was sure. But Moody looked quite fond of the idea. He blushed.

"What about it, Evans?" said Sirius. "I know a guy who has got me a Portkey for wherever I want. Care to join?" The Portkey information seemed to interest her and she lowered her crossed arms. She thought.

"I'll come," she said and they cheered, "but only because I want to see your faces when you realize he doesn't exist."

"Then I'm sad to say you'll be disappointed. But anyway, could you use that nice spell you got to get us sober? I swear, if we're going to go there like this, we're going to drown or freeze or get eaten by an ice bear in the first five minutes."

Lily laughed and performed her spell. The room got clearer in front of Sirius' eyes and he realized Lily hadn't been sitting in the dark. He got up and sprinted in the dormitory. Coming back down, he saw the anticipation on his friends' faces.

"Ta-dah!" he said and showed them an old cigarette. "Oh no, wait, that's a real one." He scratched the back of his head and looked at the annoyed expressions of the others. "Just kidding, guys. You know I don't smoke," he said, winking. James rolled his eyes but looked amused.

Each put their index finger on the Portkey and waited. Sirius followed the instructions he'd got and thought very strongly of the North Pole where Santa was. Just when the familiar feeling of a pull behind the navel started, he got distracted. Lucy, another Gryffindor, entered the common room and looked at them suspiciously. Their eyes met for a split second before the Portkey transported him and his friends far, far away.

It was like diving into cold water. His skin rebelled against the cold, thousand tiny blades seemed to cut him. Sirius stood with his feet on solid ice, around him white, cold nothing. He shivered and rubbed his arms to warm up. The snow touched his bare skin. He wore not more than a t-shirt and trousers.

"Shit, Moony, have you got a spell for us?" Sirius turned to Remus, who had already pulled out his wand.

"Sure do!" He said. His lips were already blue and he shivered strongly.

"Then what are you waiting for?" snapped James. As an athlete, he was used to pressure and would never crack under it, but you were not to test his nerves. Remus rolled his eyes and performed to spell. First Lily, then Sirius, Peter, himself and, lastly, James. It was like plunging into water yet again, but this time it felt like a warm bath. Sirius' skin prickled.

"Thanks," said Sirius. "All right. I sadly think I haven't got us just where we were supposed to go. What about we walk a few miles in ... that direction." He randomly pointed somewhere.

"How are we supposed to know there's the North Pole?" said James.

"We don't," said Sirius. "But that's doesn't matter because we have got to go somewhere."

"That is true," said Lily. "But how about we try and find out the right direction? There's that neat little spell," -she pulled out her wand and performed it- "that shows you the people around you. And the only people around us are in that direction," -her wand pointed the opposite way of Sirius' arm- "which means, if Santa exists, he can only be that way."

Sirius intentionally overheard the annoyance in her voice. "That's fine with me. That way, then." He pulled his arm around and nearly hit James' head.

"Watch out!" he said, in pretended anger. He punched his friend on the shoulder.

"Hey, you don't want to get me angry, do you? There's plenty of freezing water around us that I can push you into."

They all laughed. Then they made their way toward the nearest people. And all they could see was whiteness. While walking, they all got excited because they saw something move in the distance. It looked tiny and wasn't quite as white as the surroundings; Remus guessed it was a young ice bear.

It wasn't silent around them, even though they hadn't seen any other living creatures than the ice bear. The wind was loud and the ice and snow made those familiar cracking noises beneath their feet and the water sloshed. They kept close to the ocean because Lily said it was more likely for a ship to be there and they were curious for the people at the north pole. Remus had said there were more dangerous creatures in the water, but they had agreed to just walk a few meters away from the rim.

Sirius had just thought he'd seen a shadow in the water, dark and fast, when it jumped out in the air. They saw a seal, the water splashing under it and the short fur oily and glittering. In amazement, they all hurried to the rim, watching down, hoping to see the shadow again.

"Sick!" Lily exclaimed and, for a second, they were all surprised. "What? Muggles use that every day," she said apologetically. Sirius shrugged. Before they could further care about it, Peter was pushed from behind. One minute, they had been standing together and then Peter was in the cold water.

Sirius understood that, even though it had been too fast to see, the seal must have jumped out of the little water behind them to push Peter over the rim. That meant it had purposely got them to look over the rim here. Sirius was impressed but didn't further analyze the seal's strategic.

With James and Remus, who both looked very shocked, he leant over the rim and got hold of Peter's sleeve. Unfortunately, he was floundering in fear. Sirius had no time to react, the water closed over his head and he realized his friend had pulled him in.

Luckily, the spell Remus had performed kept him warm, but he was afraid anyway. All he could see was dark blue. He managed to make out the white piece that must be the ice on which James, Remus and Lily stood. He breathed air again and pushed his wet hair out of his face. He kicked Peter hardly, but then concentrated on getting out of the water.

"Sirius, take my hand!" James lay on his belly, stretching out his hand. Lily had her knees on his back to make sure he wouldn't be pulled in, too. Sirius swam forward and was close when Peter's moving increased and he screeched loudly.

"Something's touched me, something's touched me!"

Peter hurried to Sirius and, in his panic, climbed on his shoulders the best possible. With the weight of his friend, Sirius sunk again. He took a deep breath and was yet again in the dark. He tried to get away from Peter, but his legs were tight around his neck.

Sirius was struggling; the oxygen in his lungs grew less. He pulled on his friend's legs, tried to dive out of them, but it didn't work. Then he saw the seal, not far away. He felt a stinging hurt in his chest and knew he would be conscious only for a few more seconds. With his last ounce of strength, he reared up.

Then his friends saw his body immobilize from above. James grabbed his head and his eyes got wide. He looked at Lily, and she saw the plain shock and fear in his eyes. It wasn't a rational decision, James knew that. He hadn't spent a second thinking about the positives and negatives, but he needed to help his friend.

Before Remus or Lily could do anything, James had jumped in the water, too. He didn't appear for quite a while and they were afraid. All they could see was Peter, who seemed to be pulled downward. They told him to get closer, so they could take his hand, but he wasn't listening and they were too anxious about James and Sirius.

James felt panic, more than before even, control his actions when he didn't see his friend. Even though he'd taken a deep breath, he seemed to go out of oxygen and he got hectic. He dived deeper, in the desperate search of his friend.

Finally, and it was as though the weight of the water was taken from James' shoulders, he spotted Sirius' long black hair. He was somehow connected to Peter's legs, but sinking downward anyway. James saw, when getting closer, that the seal pulled on his shirt. He tried to chase it away, but it was apparently used to more odd things than red lightning out of a wooden stick.

Lily and Remus saw the flashes of red down in the water and she grabbed his arm. "Remus, if he's shooting, they've got to be in real trouble. What do we do, what do we do?"

To Lily's great relief, Remus had an answer, as always. Just shortly after that, he was down with James and Sirius. He saw Sirius unconscious and James short on breath, fighting off the seal. His worry kind of increased and ceased at the same moment; it was relieving to know they were both alive and well (though one of them unconscious), but he also saw the despair they were in.

He tied his belt around Sirius' stomach, his hands quivering and therefore slowing the operation down. He would have cursed without the water around him. Finally, the belt was tight and he shot up the green sparks. Instantly, Sirius' body's core was pulled upwards and slowly, he made his way toward the air. Remus nudged James' arm, who was severely red in the face by now, and they both made their way up.

Lily, who'd cast a magnetic spell, already nursed Sirius when the other two boys surfaced. They took Peter between them and pushed him on the ice. They all breathed hard.

Sirius coughed and it was like waking up from a bad dream. He looked at his friends' faces, with their relieved and worried expressions, and the wet hair hanging around their faces and he realized it had been real. He got up and hugged James, Remus and Lily tight. He punched Peter this time. He was white and didn't get out a word. "At least he was afraid proportionally," thought Sirius.

Lily dried their clothes and hair with a spell. For a minute, they stood there and no one quite knew what to say.

"All right, I'm going to be honest here: I feel horrible and am not in the mood to keep walking for miles. I vote we go back," said Sirius.

"Agreed," said Remus.

"Children's stories are best left unexamined anyway. It should stay magical," said James, thinking of a reason to return to the warm fire in their common room.

"I have nothing to say against that," said Lily and Peter nodded furiously. Sirius pulled out the cigarette. He was quite thankful that moment that he had taken the two-way Portkey.

***

How do you like the insane-action-Marauder kind of story?

I hope you enjoyed it, if you did, please consider leaving a vote or comment, I would be glad.

-Cal :)