Eleanor Potter ~ My Brother's Best Friend

Christmas 1971

Before they knew it the first years were only a week away from Christmas, and it was the evening before they would all go home to their families. Most of them were quite looking forward to seeing their parents again, others not so much. James didn't really want to go home for Christmas, he wanted to stay at Hogwarts but there was no chance that his mother would ever let him miss Christmas. And if he was being honest he was looking forward to seeing his parents, he'd never admit it but he missed them sometimes, when he was alone, at night, with his thoughts. James often dreamt about being back home with his parents, only then would he realise just how much he missed them. Ellie on the other hand couldn't wait to go home, she missed her parents more than she realised she would. Ellie also couldn't wait to have a two week break from pretending to be someone she isn't. Not that she was lying to anyone but spending every day acting like someone who is confident and knows everything when I reality she was constantly scared of everything and everyone around her and had absolutely zero self-confidence in reality. So to Ellie two weeks completely left alone by everyone at Hogwarts sounded like a nice little holiday. The rest were also looking forward to having a small break from schoolwork and seeing their parents again, other than Sirius.

Sirius was dreading going home, more than anyone else. Since his birthday the only other letter he had received from his parents was that he was expected home at Christmas and that was all that was said. So naturally Sirius was terrified to see his parents again. He knew they were angry at him being sorted into Gryffindor, he just didn't know how angry. His parents had different levels of anger and the severity of punishment depended on the level of anger. Sirius just hoped that in the spirit of Christmas, they'd let him off easy. His plan was also to stay as close as he possibly could to his brother Regulus at all times, his parents were less likely to punish him so harshly with his brother close by.

That evening they were all sat in the common room together exchanging the gifts they had all got from each other as they knew they wouldn't have time in the morning before they left and there was no chance they would find a carriage on the train to fit the ten of them. After the exchanging of gifts and the sharing of different sweets and chocolates they had all gotten each other the group all decided to head of to bed slightly early to make sure everyone had packed everything ready to leave in the morning.

The girls went up to their dorms and checked they were all packed, it was the intention to then go straight to sleep to make sure they all got up in the morning but this didn't happen. It must have been around 2 in the morning by the time the girls all finally decided to get some sleep after they'd been up for hours. During the hours they were awake they discussed many different topics.

"So which one do you think is gonna be the hottest then?" Marlene asked as she turned to Ellie unwrapping a chocolate frog.

"What do you mean exactly Marls?" Ellie questioned in response.

"You know when we're like 16 and we're all proper fit, out of the boys who do you think is going to be the hottest?"

"First of all, James is my twin brother so it's of the three. Second of all, definitely Sirius." Ellie was very quick to answer.

"Really?" Mary asked with a sense of curiosity, "I'd have said Remus you know."

"Remus!" Alice said in a response full of laughter, "surely not!"

"I don't know, I think it's the scars. They kind of make him, attractive, I guess." Mary replied shrugging her shoulders.

"Hmm, I'd probably say James," Lily chirped in, "Sorry Ellie. I mean I would never and I mean EVER think of him as more than your brother I mean no offence but I find his ego slightly insufferable, I mean he's 11 you'd think his head could shrink a bit. But in terms of looks and purely looks, I think James may just turn out the hottest."