I Need Her

Chapter 17

1976

6th Year

//Christmas Trees and Mistletoe//

"Merry Christmas baby." said a figure with dark hair and Evangeline giggled as the figure began moving his hands down to her waist, she opened her eyes and saw Sirius crawling on top of her and tickled her.

"Wake up beautiful." he whispered to her,

"I'm up, I'm up." she laughed and Sirius lifted Evangelines head and pulled her into a kiss, she smiled as he pulled away a pressed a kiss to his cheek. She placed her hand on his chest which was blocked by cloth almost as soft as his hair.

"Wakey wakey Evie."

"No." Evangeline whined

"Evie wake up....WAKE UP!" Evangeline's eyes slowly opened to see a blurry Lily Evans leaning over her with a grin on her face,

"I've been trying to wake you up for the past ten minuets, and it nearly ten." Evangeline sat up and rubbed her eyes now seeing a more clear angry Lily,

"I'm sorry Lily, something was keeping me asleep."

"Bad dream?" Evangeline wasn't ready to tell Lily about her consistent dreams about Sirius Black, no matter how much she wanted to express herself, she couldn't,

"Yeah... Bad dream."

"Well, let's not spoil this Christmas Eve morning with a bunch of sad talk, lets go set up the Gryffindor Christmas Tree!" Lily said excitingly, Evangeline jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and brushed her hair. She changed into a calf length blue skirt and white shirt [X] before she pulling her hair up into a high pony tail. With a smile she walked out the bathroom and found Lily adjusting the staRps on her outfit [X]. Once the girls were ready they ran out of the door when Evangeline stopped by Lily at the top of the steps that looked downw at the Gryffindor living space to see James, Sirius, and Remus untangling garland by the bare pine tree,

"No, what are they doing here?" Evangeline whined,

"James asked if there was anything he could do to make it up to me for spying on us, the least he could do is help set up the Christmas Tree." Evangeline looked back down and found herself watching Sirius untangle himself in the garland, she let out a smile and looked back at Lily,

"Fine." The two girls walked down the cold steps that was touching their bare feet,

"Thanks for finally joining us ladies." said James, "And legs, Evans." Lily rolled her eyes by Evangeline could see a light blush on her cheeks. Evangeline looked over at Sirius, he was smirking at Evangeline and his eyes glinting,

"So Potter, what has happened so far?" Lily questioned as she sat on the sofa,

"Just unboxed a few decorations, now what's to do is decorate." The five reached into the boxes and began to decorate the tree with smiles on their faces,

"Dashing through the snow..." James started with a wide grin on his face as he hung up bells. Evangeline giggled as Sirius put tinsel around his neck and joined in with his best friend,

"In a one horse open sleigh..." Evangeline laughed as Sirius put a bunch of mistletoe behind Remus's ear then pulled her wand out and pointed it upward and swished it lightly and snow began to fall from the ceiling.

"Over the fields we go..."Remus continued looking Evangeline with a smile whilst Lily squealed at the snow then pulled out her wand and pointed it to a bow and made it fly over to James and plant itself on his hair. James grinned and fluttered his eyes,

"Laughing all the way..." Evangeline and Lily joined in gleefully,

"Bells on bob tails ring,

Making spirits bright,

What fun it is to laugh and sing,

A sleighing song all night!" they were all singing now. Evangeline felt something hanging above her head and looked up to see a golden ring like a halo hovering above her head. She turned her eyes and saw Sirius smirking with his wand pointed above her head, she blushed deeply before looking away to the tree.

"Oh jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way..."

***

After a few hours of a bossy Lily and Evangeline, they had finally finished decorating the Gryffindor common room. James high fived Sirius and Remus and Evangeline and Lily hugged each other tightly,

"See that only took five hours," Lily yipped,

"Only five." Sirius groaned as he dropped onto the sofa,

"Can we get some food now, Evans?" James moaned looking at her with a pouted lip ad Lily sighed and checked her wrist watch "Fine, fine, but after we have to gift wrap." Lily yipped again. They all put on their slippers and wandered off to the Great Hall which was almost empty except for a few Ravenclaw boys and girls,

"Look Moony, they have chocolate." snickered James and Sirius. Evangeline and Lily took a seat at the Gryffindor table and James, Sirius, and Remus look a seat across from them. Evangeline pulled out a small piece of parchment and a quill with a small pinch of ink on it, and she began writing something on it,

Dear Sebastian and father,

I hope you both have a Happy Christmas. I am having a great time at Hogwarts and hope to see you both soon,

Love Evangeline

"What's that Evie?" Remus questioned as he ladled his plate with food,

"It's nothing."

"No, we'd love to hear." James said, his mouthful of a sandwich and Lily smacked James's shoulder from across the table with a hiss about manners,

"Its just a letter to my family."

"About your new boyfriend?" James smirked,

"James, that enough." Lily snapped,

"Boyfriend?" Sirius questioned as he put his pumpkin juice down,

"Yeah. Moony."

"Shut up, idiot." Lily glared at James. Evangeline stood up and looked at Lily, "I'm going to the give this to Earl. I'll be back soon." Lily nodded. She made her way to the dorm and threw on her winter coat, boots, and hat before she left for the owl post. It was snowing mad when Evangeline left for the owlery, the snow was deep and cold.

By the time she made it to the tower, was shivering and walking very carefully - due and almost slipped twice walking up the stairs.

She reached the top of the owl post and found Earl. She tied it to his leg and stroked his feathers and gave him a bit of chicken after telling him to give it to her brother. Earl hooted and nipped at her fingers affectionately before flying out the window. Evangeline looked out at a white blurry Hogwarts and saw gleaming yellow lights. The sun had finally set and Evangeline began to turn around when she heard footsteps come up the cobblestone stairs, the lantern's flame grew brighter and brighter and finally someone appeared,

"Sirius?"

"Hello."

"W-what are you doing here?" she questioned, wrapping her arms around herself,

"It's late and Lily sent for you."

"And you volunteered?" Sirius's cheeks became even more rosy from the cold, and he began to walk over to her,

"I got you something."

"What?" Sirius reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small box with red ribbon rapped around it,

"Oh Sirius, I, didn't get you anything." Evangeline began to panic and stutter her words,

"Shh, just open it." Sirius said handing her the small box and Evangeline untied the beautiful lace ribbon and opened up the box, inside was a black gem with a thin gold chain. The gem shimmered in the light reflecting from the lantern Sirius was holding up so she could see what was inside,

"Do you like it?" Sirius asked her,

"Its beautiful Sirius, you really shouldn't have." she told him as she gaze at the gem,

"I wanted too." Sirius looked into Evangelines eyes, "Here, let me put it on you." Evangeline gave Sirius the necklace and turned around, she brushed her hair with flakes of snow melting on it and clipped it together,

"Sirius I - " but she looked up and saw vines of mistletoe grow closer above of Evangeline and Sirius and they looked at each other,

"Mistletoe." breathed Sirius and their eyes found each others and Sirius bit his lip and looked down at her nervously,

"I suppose...its tradition..." Evangeline whispered and Sirius nodded slightly then lowered his head so their lips were but a hairs breath apart. Evangeline stared up at him and lifted her head up slightly so their lips connected. Both stood frozen for a moment and slowly moved their lips against one another in little movement. After a few seconds, they pulled away and looked at each other,

"Merry Christmas Evie."

"Merry Christmas Sirius"

***

The following morning, Evangeline woke up to a loud shrill shriek from Lily. Blinking her hazel eyes open and saw Lily hugged the CD that Evangeline had given her close to her chest. Evangeline sat up before climbing out from under her covers and saw that her stocking was bulging with presents. Evangeline picked it up and reached inside and pulled out the first thing that her fingers were clasped around. It was a box of mince pies from Ms. Evans. Evangeline’s mouth waters as she looked at the food, Lily’s mother always made the best mince pies. The next present was from Lily and it was a bag of from muggle chocolate and Twistry Toms Twisters also, from Lily in her stocking was, a journal. Then, from Marlene and Alice, Evangeline had received a pen that shouted at you if your writing became messy along. Unsurprisingly, Sebastian hadn’t sent her anything – but was she expecting that he would?

Evangeline and Lily made their way down the steps to the Common Room, once they’d put on suitable clothing. Sirius, Remus and James were already there in their night clothes, but it seemed that wearing a shirt wasn't a necessary requirement for Sirius as he stood only dressed in trousers. Lily dropped into the stuffy arm chair whilst Evangeline sat on the floor with her back against Lily’s chair. James handed out presents to everyone and they tore into them. Evangeline had opened a present Lily who had given her the complete works of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyal. They all opened their presents under the Christmas tree.

Evangeline had given Lily a set of Transfiguration books and a quill that changes color every few minutes, a Gryffindor shirt with a lion that roared for Remus along with a large slab of chocolate, a box of chocolate that shouted insults at anyone else who tried to eat them for James and a chocolate frogs for Sirius. She hadn't bought anything proper for Sirius and had to get something quick after getting a present from him in the owelry. After she'd gotten the necklace from Sirius she ordered something from the paper and it still hadnt arrive. It was her choice to keep it a secret from Lily and the others. Evangeline ended up with the complete collection of Sherlock Homes (from Lily), a new pair of shoes (From Marlene), a cute coat (Alice), a book titled Magical Creatures and Their Futures (Remus), a box of chocolate frogs (Sirius), a pen (James), a quill with endless ink (Frank) and small fluffy toy from Lily. Finally there was only one present left and Evangeline crawled forward and picked it up and frowned when she read it,

“Who’s it for?” James asked, now perched on Lily’s chair with his arm over her shoulder.

“Me.” Evangeline muttered then looked at Lily “From Sebastian.” Lily stood from her chair and knelt beside her,

“Sebastian?” repeated Sirius from where he lay horizontally on the couch with his arm behind his head “As in the Ravenclaw Quidditch player?” Remus nodded so Evangeline didn’t have to answer,

“Yeah. He’s her brother.” Remus told him and Sirius narrowed his eyes at the blond,

“I knew that.” Sirius snapped then looked at Evangeline “What is it?” Evangeline bit her lip and looked down at the present in her hands.

“Don’t open it, Evie.” Lily said looking at her friend “You promised that you would forget him.”

“Why wont you open it?” James shrugged “Its only your brother.”

“Shut it, Potter.” Lily snapped then looked at Evangeline again. Evangeline bit her lip then shook her head,

“No.” she finally said “I don’t want to open it.” She placed it back under the tree carefully as it would explode if she moved it too quickly. Evangeline stared at it for a moment before blinking just as Sirius said,

“We should get down to the great hall.” With a nod, all them headed back to their rooms get dressed.

The Christmas feast was always Evangeline’s favourite part of Christmas day. As usual, there was next to no one except a handful of each house meaning that, instead of the four houses tables and the teachers table, there is one single table in the hall that is laden with turkey’s, vegetables, meats, pumpkin juice, water, cherry (for the teachers only), and crackers. Evangeline sat beside Lily with Remus on her other side, Sirius beside James who was on Lily’s other side. Dumbledore chuckled as he spoke to Professor McGonagall a few people down the table from the students in Gryffindor House.

Evangeline held her cracker and held it out to Lily then held the end of one cracker with Remus. On the count of three, everyone pulled and squealed as explosions of confetti came from the crackers. Evangeline laughed when she saw a few strands of paper in Remus’s hair, he blushed and quickly pulled them out his hair. She pulled out her paper hat from her cracker and put it on her head then helped Lily put it on her head. Jokes were read from the crackers, people either laughing at the joke or laughing because of the stupidity of it.

Sirius tucked into the feast with greed, shoving turkey down his throat and drowning himself in pumpkin juice – and the flask of fire-whisky he had in his pocket. He glanced at James and nodded then they looked at Dumbledore just as his chair exploded in a puff of pink and, once the smoke had disappeared, left the chair a bright pink colour and Dumbledore’s beard was a matching colour. All was silent before Dumbledore peered at his beard then looked at Sirius and James over his half-moon speticals then back at his beard,

“I think it looks rather fetching.” He commented then turned to Professor McGonagall “Don’t you think Minerva?” Laughter echoed around the room at the blush on the Deputy Headmistress’s expression. Sirius and James high fived under the table at the prank, though it wasn’t their best it was still funny. Sirius glanced over James and Lily to Evangeline and saw her laughing quietly as she spoke to Remus, her brown locks had been pulled back into a pony hair that hung over her shoulder. She looked very pretty. Why was talking to Remus anyway? What if he was asking her out? James did say….never mind. Remus doesn’t have the guts to ask her out anyway…not that it mattered to Sirius if he did…

A few hours later and the buzz of Christmas had quietened and Evangeline sat curled into the stuffy arm chair with the first book of Sherlock Homes, A Study in Scarlet, open in her lap. She wore her Christmas jumper and thick fluffy socks, even though she was right beside the fire. Behind her, James and Sirius were playing exploding snap and Lily was watching with a bored expression. As Evangeline turned a page a cough caused her to look up and see Remus standing above her with a nervous expression,

“Evie, can I ask you something?” she closed her book, after bookmarking her page, and sat up,

“Yeah, of course.” She told him

“Privately.” Remus added, after a quick glance around the room. Evangeline got to feet and Remus lead her out the common room, she glanced at Lily a final time who grinned widely with her thumbs up. Evangeline followed her friend into the corridor then down the steps and rounding a corner, where Remus turned to her and she could see that his palms were sweaty and he had an almost fearful expression on his face,

“Remus, is everything okay?” Evangeline asked him, concerned “Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?”

“No, no, I’m okay.” He assured her before taking a shaky breath “I’m just nervous.”

“Nervous? About what - ?” he took her hands and before Evangeline could finish Remus asked,

“Will you be my girlfriend?”