Snow was falling lightly outside the window in the Gryffindor common room. Snuggled underneath a couple blankets in my favorite armchair by the warm fire (and still in my pyjamas, despite it being sometime after lunch), I continued to suck on my peppermint candy cane as I turned the page of my favorite book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Most of the school had left for the winter holidays yesterday. The only people in Gryffindor that were left are Sirius, Remus, James, a second year and I. Peter had to go home due to some family emergency his mother had told him about. I'm not sure who in the other houses stayed.

The boys were currently outside playing in the snow (why they would want to play in that freezing slush is beyond me). They had promised to bring food from the kitchens when they returned.

At that moment, the second year boy entered the common room and flopped onto the couch with a crumpled letter in his hand.

"Do you mind if I sit in here?" He asked, catching sight of me.

"Not at all. Want a candy cane?" I offered.

"No, thanks."

Noticing the distressed look in the boy's eyes, I marked my page and set my book aside.

"So why did you stay here instead of going home?" I asked. Subtlety was not one of my strong suits. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me," I quickly added. "I was just curious."

"No, it's fine," the boy said, waving it off. "I'm not really welcomed at home anymore. You see, I'm a muggleborn and my parents don't really approve of having a 'freak' for a son."

"That's horrible!" I gasped. "Why didn't any of your friends stay?"

"Why would they?" He asked. "They're families didn't disown them. Besides, it's nothing I'm not used to."

That's it. I decided. Since his parents won't do it, I'll take care of this kid and give him an amazing winter. Wow, who knew I had motherly instincts. That was usually James.

"What's your name?" I asked him. If I'm going to spoil this kid, I'm going to need to know more about him.

"George."

"I'm Laura."

"I know," he said through a small chuckle. "Everyone knows who you and your group of friends are."

"Well...do you like to read?"

Blushing slightly, George mumbled, "Yeah."

"What about quidditch?"

Before George could answer, James, Sirius, and Remus burst through the portrait hole, mountains of food piled and balanced precariously in their arms.

Standing up, George said, "I'll leave you to your friends."

You can stay if you want to," I told him hastily.

"No, it's okay," he said, casting a sideways glance at the other boys. "I need to finish my homework anyways."

He quickly scurried up the stairs to the second year dorms and disappeared. Sighing, I sat down on the floor and helped Remus organize all of the food. We ended up with:
2 ginger bread houses
1 pizza
58 pastries (14 cherry, 14 lemon, and 30 chocolate)
1 plate of dinner rolls
1 cheesecake
10 chocolate frogs
4 mugs of hot chocolate
1 bowl of mashed potatoes (I have an addiction to it)
2 dozen chocolate chip cookies

"This might last us until morning," I joked, leaning against the couch.

Honestly, if it wasn't for all of the stairs at Hogwarts, we would all probably be morbidly obese.

Suddenly, I remembered something. Turning to Remus, I slapped his arm repeatedly.

"That was complete bullshit!" I exclaimed.

"What was?!" He asked, utterly bewildered.

"The ending to that damn book you talked me into reading!"

Behind me, I heard Sirius and James laugh.

"Oh," Remus said, realization dawning on him. "I probably should have warned you about that."

"Laura," James teased. "We've talked about getting obsessed and upset with fictional characters."

"I'm not obsessed," I spat. "The girl in the story is just an idiot."

"How so?" Sirius asked, an amused smile dancing across his face.

"Her boyfriend cheats on her, disappears without leaving so much as a note for four years, and when he finally shows up on her doorstep with flowers she immediately takes him back!" I say in one long breath.

Breathing deeply, I grab a dinner roll and throw it at Sirius's laughing figure. Without missing a beat, he catches it and begins to eat it.

"I don't see what's so funny. The amount of stress that book caused me took a month off my life."

Still smiling, Sirius pulled me into his side and said, "Whatever you say, Princess."

"Enough flirting, lovebirds," James interrupted. "We have more important matters to attend to."

"Like what?" Remus asked through a mouthful of chocolate pastry.

"Like what you guys want for Christmas this year!" James answered like it should have been obvious. "And, Laura, don't you dare say nothing."

"But you know I don't like people wasting money on me," I whined.

"You go all out on our Christmas gifts," Remus said. "We can't let you do that and get you nothing in return."

"Fine," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Surprise me. I'll be happy with whatever you decide to get me."

"Promise?" James asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Promise."

As the boys talked about what they wanted, I tuned out and ate a piece of cheesecake. I already knew exactly what I was getting them.

"I say we go to Hogsmeade tomorrow, split up, and get our Christmas shopping done," Sirius suggested.

"That sounds lovely," I agreed.

"I've already gotten everyone's Christmas gifts," Remus interjected.

"Then you can help me with shopping," I told him.

Every year, he figures out what his Christmas gift is before Christmas so I have given up on trying to keep it a secret from him.

"Why don't we all sleep down here tonight?" I suggested. "It'll be easier to bring blankets and pillows down here than it'll be to carry all of the food upstairs."

"I call sleeping on the sofa," James said, agreeing instantly as he jumped onto the sofa.

"I call the other end of the sofa," Remus declared, jumping up and sitting next to James.

"I see how it is," Sirius huffed.

The two boys just smiled "innocently" at him.

"Fine," I said. "I like sleeping on the floor better anyways." Looking around, I noticed that, although we had plenty of blankets, we were going to need some pillows. "I'm going to get the pillows," I decided. "Don't do anything stupid without me."

"I'll come help you," Sirius said, scrambling to his feet.

Once inside the boys dorm (which is technically mine too at this point), I wheeled around and faced him.

"You know, I am more than capable of getting the pillows myself."

"Am I not allowed to have a moment alone with my girlfriend without being questioned?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Considering the fact that I just questioned you, I geuss not," I shot back.

As Sirius turned around to face his bed, I grabbed a pillow off of the floor and threw it at him. It hit him squarely in the back of the head, messing up his hair.

"Oh it is on, Potter," he snarled, picking up the pillow.

I quickly retreated, nearly toppling onto James's bed. Grabbing his pillow, I climbed up and stood on of the bed. Sirius continued to advance. Jumping up on the bed to level the playing field, he attacked.

Fighting back, we continuously attacked each other with pillows. I was winning...until I fell back onto the mattress. Dropping down on top of me (gently), Sirius placed his arms on either side of my head.

"Do you promise not to mess my hair up ever again?" He asked in a low, husky voice.

"No," I answered as he leaned down.

Staring deeply into his eyes, I felt him lean down even closer. Swooping down to kiss me, he stopped halfway and jumped off of the bed, pulling me up as well.

Grabbing the pillows, he said, "Your brother is probably going to come up here and kill us of we're not back down there soon. You know he hates it when we're 'unsupervised'."

Laughing slightly, I grabbed the other pillows and trailed after Sirius.

"What took you two so long?" Remus questioned when we came into view.

As James scanned our appearances, I did as well. Sirius's hair was messed up and poking in different directions. Mine was probably doing the same. Our clothes were extremely wrinkled and disheveled.

"Did you two-?" Instead of finishing his sentence, James motioned suggestively.

Sirius only winked.

Before James could threaten Sirius, I said, "Get your head out of the gutter, my deer brother."

Sitting down on the floor again, I rested my head against his leg and grabbed a pastry. Looking up, I saw a worried, protective look in his eyes. But the look changed back to his normal wreckless, mischievous glint as Remus changed the subject back to Christmas.