Author's note: I was feeling particularly festive around this time of year, and so I wanted to do a christmassy fan fiction. And what better to do it about than what our favourite marauders get up to in their spare time? Hope you enjoy! This should be a four-shot (I think.) Thank you to my friend Dragoneye for co-authoring with me.

Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff, JK Rowling does, and I am in no way, shape or form JK Rowling.

Although that would be cool.

Chapter 1: Prongs

Godric's Hollow was a peaceful, picturesque village. In wintertime, rain would fall and make the neatly cobbled stone streets sparkle and shine in the morning sun. In those rare occasions when it snowed it would settle on the rooftops, and make the whole village look like a scene from a Christmas card. However, winter, and particularly the last weeks of December going into New Year, were never quiet. That was because James Potter and his mates came home for Christmas.

The small carriage trundled along the road, almost flipping at one nasty pothole, and reached groaning stop in front of the Potter Manor. James Potter stepped out first. During the start of his sixth year at Hogwarts, he'd grown tremendously, and was much taller than his best mate, Sirius, who used the moment as an advantage, and pushed James head first into the nearest snow bank. James spat out snow, and glared at Sirius, who had now doubled over with laughter. Remus Lupin was chuckling, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the two idiots he had happened to befriend, who were currently rolling around in the snow for no apparent reason.

"Boys! That's enough!" sighed Mrs Potter wearily. She was getting too old for this kind of nonsense from her son and just-as-well-as sons. As soon as she came round the corner, little Peter Pettigrew holding up her bags for her, the two boys jumped to attention.

"Good evening Mrs Potter, Sir! Ready to eat yummy food, Sir!" Sirius proclaimed as he saluted Mrs Potter, who made no move to contain a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, just get inside, you lot."

Sirius winked at her and grabbed James' and Remus' arm, pulling them towards the house whilst telling them a rather risque story involving Madam Rosmerta, a black dog and a barrel of mead. Peter staggered after them holding quite a bit of luggage.

Remus and Peter were sharing a bedroom, and they were just about to drop off to sleep, at quite a respectable time, when Sirius sneaked into the room and shut the door, finger to his lips. He had a mischievous look on his face.

"Alright boys, listen up. Remember just before we left, when James made my hair pink and your skin orange and magenta?" The other two boys winced at the painful memory and nodded. Sirius smiled evilly. "Well, I think it's time to pay him back, don't you?"

When James woke up the next morning, he had a funny feeling. Like when a spot was on his face, but he couldn't see it. Sirius had occupied the bathroom for his daily hair maintenance routine, so he knocked on the door and yelled,

"Oi, mate, anything wrong with my face?" Sirius opened the door, took a long look and said

"Nope. I can't see anything."

Unfortunately, James didn't hear him burst out laughing once the door was closed.

James still felt like there was something wrong with his head, so when he came downstairs to see Remus and Pettigrew having breakfast, he took the opportunity and asked,

"There's nothing wrong with my face, is there? I mean, I don't trust Sirius not to have drawn a moustache on me whilst I slept." Remus and Peter took a look and shrugged,

"No, can't see anything." whilst trying very hard to keep a straight face. Sirius finally came down, and started helping himself to hot chocolate. Mrs Potter heard the telltale signs and entered the kitchen.

"Sirius, you know perfectly well, you're not to have hot chocolate in the morning, unless it's your birthday, or Christmas Day…" She caught sight of her son, eating some scrambled eggs.

"James, dear, why do you have two great, dirty antlers sticking out the top of your head with 'I love Lily Evans' strung between them in fairy lights?"

James felt his head, with a panic. He shrugged, realising he must've partially transformed when he was sleeping (It had happened before) and closed his eyes to magic them away. He heard a pop and felt the top of his head. They were still there, and, if possible, bigger than they were before! He turned an accusatory glare on his friends, who just couldn't hold it in anymore. They started howling with laughter, and so did Mrs Potter, coming in to see what the ruckus was about, but James was yet to see the funny side of things.

"Sirius! Are you kidding me?" I can't have antlers!" Sirius shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm just getting you back for the pink hair, mate."

Bang, crash, and a large owl flew through the window. All four boys made a dive to get out of the way, and it was only afterwards, when the owl was preening itself on the old oak table, that they recognised it as Marlene's.

"Wonder what she wants," muttered Sirius, reaching for the crisp letter tied to the owl's foot. As he read, his mouth slowly turned into an enormous grin.

"Dear Marauders,

It has come to my attention that my parents have decided to visit the Potters, to pay their Yuletide greetings. Lily and Alice, of course, are staying at my house, so we are being dragged along as well, despite our protests. There is the right amount for a Quidditch team, hm?

Best regards,

Marlene." James hid his face in his hands as the Marauders once more burst into raucous laughs. Sirius in particular, had an evil glint in his eye.

"Sorry mate, but I'm not getting rid of those antlers, or the fairy lights, any time soon."

In the days coming up to the visit from the McKinnons, James spent an awful lot of time in his room. The rest of the Marauders could've sworn they heard explosions, cursing, a thud as if someone had a kicked a wall and more cursing. Eventually he emerged on the day of their visit, face miserable, still with the ridiculous antlers on his head. He moaned at Sirius.

"You put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the fairy lights, didn't you?" The Marauders sniggered. "I could deal with the antlers, but the lights? Really?" They all shrugged, with looks that quite clearly stated, You're getting what you deserved" . The doorbell rang and James dived under the table. "Please, Merlin, no. That can't be them." Sirius smirked.

"I think it is!" Mrs Potter bustled towards the door and opened it.

"Oh, Camilla, it's been much too long! And is this your daughter? By Merlin, Marlene, how much you've grown! Why, come in girls! I dare say the boys are in the kitchen, sneaking cookies while I'm distracted," Peter froze with his hand inside the cookie jar. "but, I don't really mind, it is a special day after all - Merlin's beard, they're probably not even dressed yet, the slobs that they often are. BOYS!" This last comment was directed towards the Marauders, who froze and looked down at their pajamas in an expression of utmost desperation before a quick-thinking Sirius summoned their clothes from their rooms. He smirked at the rest of them. So far, Sirius was the only one allowed to do magic outside of school and don't even think he'd been teasing the rest of the Marauders about it for a long, long time - ever since his birthday in fact. Sirius usually resented the fact he was the second shortest in the group. Not a minute too soon, the boys scrambled into their Muggle clothes as the girls came waltzing into the kitchen. James was still under the table.

"Oh, boys, you are dressed," Mrs Potter exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. All three Marauders were standing awkwardly in front of the table, trying to make sure James wasn't spotted. They didn't quite feel it was fair for them to subject James to the kind of cruelty the girls could whip up, especially with the fairy lights. They nodded to the girls cordially.

"Evans, Prewett, McKinnon. They inclined their heads at the sound of their names. Suddenly a plate of toast fell off the table, and Sirius heard a quiet whisper of "Oi! Padfoot!" over the sudden crash the plate made. He ducked around on the pretense of picking the plate up. James was looking at him anxiously.

"Create a distraction. The Marauders need to talk." Sirius nodded, signaled to Remus and Peter and charmed the doorbell to ring whilst simultaneously transfiguring a dish into a rat to chase the girls out of the kitchen. Chaos erupted and under the cover of the din, all four Marauders sneaked out and ran up to James' bedroom. Once they were sure they were all clear, James turned to them worriedly.

"Guys, we need to take these antlers off. What if the girls guess? All three of them are as shrewd as foxes."

Peter looked at Remus expectantly, who looked, with his eyebrows raised, at Sirius, who groaned, looking thoroughly disappointed, and cast the counter-spell. James sighed in relief, then they all trooped back downstairs. It seemed that the girls had fixed the doorknob and transfigured the rat back into a dish, and had now all fixed similar glares on the boys. Remus and Peter watched with bated breath as James busied himself making a cup of orange juice, the first thing to pass his lips this morning, and sneakily looking over his shoulder to get a glimpse of the abashed Sirius being admonished whilst very satisfactorily running his hands through his hair, a feat he had not been able to perform with antlers.

"Sirius, I know perfectly well that was you. You're the only one of you four allowed to do magic, and since you all were gone by the time I turned back around, I think you were trying to get away from spending time with us. What do you have to say for yourself?" Sirius shrugged. "Just a prank." All three girls rolled their eyes and Mrs Potter shook her head.

"Honestly, you've already pranked James, although I see he's back to normal." James choked on his orange juice. This made the girls very confused. And curious.

"Well, you can occupy the girls now. Merlin knows I could do a break. And try not to get on each other's nerves? The girls are staying for the rest of the holiday." At this James spat his mouthful of drink out and started spluttering complaints, but his mother cut him short.

"Really, James, it's not so bad. You've only got another week and a half before you go back to school. And they're here for the ball, mostly. What did you expect?" She and Mrs McKinnon departed from the room, shaking their heads in exasperation. Marlene turned to the Marauders with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

"So, what were you saying happened to James?" The Marauders looked at each other, then Sirius said "Don't ask us for secrets, and we'll tell you no lies. Come on, we'll teach you how to play Quidditch. Properly."