It was a peaceful winter day in London, though, the inhabitants of number 12 Grimmauld place bustled about, for, you see, it was Christmas eve day. Mrs. Potter, who preferred to be called Ginny, claiming that Mrs. Potter made her sound far older than she actually was, was frantically putting the finishing touches on the treacle tarts she had insisted upon bringing to her parents home later that evening, and was quite proud to say it only took her three tries to get the recipe correct. Mr. potter, who also preferred the use of his first name, was, at the moment occupied by his only daughter who was terribly torn between a green dress with white lace, a blue dress with a floral pattern, and a simple red dress that she thought had the most Christmas spirit. After a hour long fashion show Lily had narrowed her choices down to three, and asked her father to make the final decision for her, this, mister Potter was confidant, was a trap. He knew that if he chose the dress she didn't want him to she would spend the whole night with a frown on her face and dramatically sighing, Mr. potter luckily had a very close relationship with his youngest child, and knew Christmas was her favourite holiday and red was her favourite color, thankfully she was not yet old enough to care too much that it clashed so terribly with her hair. After Mr. potter had confidently given lily his choice he rushed downstairs, for, he had remembered his wife had been dead set on trying to bake, an action that usually ended in a small kitchen fire or two.

With much shock he found their kitchen completely intact, he turn another 60 degrees to find his wife desperately trying to tie his middle son's tie.

"mum you're choking me!" said Albus as his mother looped the piece of fabric around his neck for the second time,

"dad!" he exclaimed

"tell her grandmum won't care whether or not i wear a tie to dinner!" he pleaded as he wriggled out of his mothers grip

"Al, don't be silly, you ought to look presentable! honestly you wear a tie for school every day how, in Merlin's name do you not know how to tie it?" she countered exasperatedly

"Scorpius does it for me.." he told her

"Harry would you please tie your son's tie for him" Mrs. potter asked in an unamused manner

"of course dear" he then proceeded to do so as Albus grumbled about being too old for this. After he was deemed presentable Albus went back upstairs in a huff, suddenly a frightening thought occurred to Mrs. potter

"have you seen James?" she asked in concern knowing that her eldest son being so quiet could only mean one of two things, he was sleeping, or getting into trouble, and considering he had slept until noon anyway her best bet was on the latter.

James himself had had a rather eventful morning as well, he managed to sleep through his mothers shouts of frustration and his irritating siblings constant need for someones attention, and he would be seeing Freddie, Emma, Dom, Roxie, and Frank this evening and they were sure to have a good laugh, even if it was at the rest of their families expense.

After his shower James became rather bored, his father was wrapped around his sisters finger, as usual, and his mother was obsessing over Albus, again, and he began to think.

Now, when James thought bad things happened, not to himself or his friends but to others, because, you see, James was a very clever boy, and a very devious boy, who certainly lived up to his family legacy when it came to three things, his looks, which made all the girls swoon, his skills on the quidditch pitch, which rivaled that of many professional players, and his ability to get into mischief wherever he went. So, you see things went terribly wrong for others when James had time on his hands, as he sat in his bed unsure of what to do, an idea struck him... his fathers office. He had only successfully managed to get in and out of his fathers office 9 times in the past, and now with his family distracted he had found the opportune moment for another attempt.

James slowly ascended the staircase and crept through the foyer into his fathers, surprisingly unlocked, office, everything in the place screamed do not touch which only made James want to touch far more. The walls were lined with shelves full of books that aurors read and strange gadgets confiscated from dark wizards, in the center of the room stood a large mahogany desk, and inside its drawers were the true treasures. James quickly pulled out his wand and unlocked the desk drawer, he quietly began rifling through its contents. Inside he found numerous things An old pair of glasses, an old sneakscope, an old wand that had been snapped in two, James was quite disappointed by all the useless nonsense his father had seen fit to keep throughout the years, you'd think the head auror would have a plethora of unique objects. He decided to give it one last try and reached his hand very far back into the drawer, his fingers closed around a small smooth object.

He pulled it out to find it was some sort of necklace, with a small gold pendant attached to a long gold chain, it was very dusty and looked as though it hadn't seen the light of day in at least a decade. The small gold piece was about the size of a galleon and had a small hourglass placed intricately in its center.

"have you seen James?" he heard his mother say faintly from down the hall, he stuffed the necklace into his pocket and retrieved his invisibility cloak from the chair his father had placed it upon after he had confiscated it last week because James had thought it would boost everyone's holiday spirit if he added some green to his mother and sisters fiery red hair. He slipped out the office doors just before his parents rounded the corner and hastily sped up the stairs under the cloaks cover.