December 24th 1972

Seventh year

Lily woke up early one morning on the day before Christmas, hearing a few excited voices below her. She opened her eyes sleepily and adjusted herself to an upright position, stretching her arms above her head, and looking outside to see several small white snowflakes landing on her windowsill. Lily ran her fingers through her hair, and stood up groggily, pulling a turtle neck and some black slacks on, making her way to the common room to see if James, Sirius, and Remus were awake yet. As she went downstairs, she saw James sitting on a black leather chair, reading the Daily Prophet. He looked up and smiled, and stood up to meet her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Morning, love," he said cheerfully, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her forehead gently. "How was your sleep?"

Lily nuzzled her head again his chest and yawned.

"Pleasant to see you too," he said, grabbing her hand, and leading her to a couch. "Come sit down, and talk. Sirius and Remus are playing exploding snap, and they're acting like bloody idiots."

Lily smiled weakly at him, and followed him over to an empty chair. He sat down, and Lily sat on his lap, wrapping her right arm around him.

"Bloody idiot!" Remus hollered, slapping Sirius upside the head. Sirius tackled him to the ground playfully, and Remus covered his face, and kneed him in the gut. Sirius rolled over in pain, holding his stomach.

"Ow! What was that for" Sirius asked, half laughing.

"No one messes with Remus Lupin," he replied, standing up with his fists on each hip victoriously.

Sirius stood up as well, wiping his hair from his face and rubbing his eyes. He noticed Lily and grinned.

"Oh, look who's here. Remus smarten up," Sirius said staring at Lily.

Remus patted Sirius on the back, and slapped him upside the back of his head, paying his attention to Lily, as well.

She rolled her eyes and snuggled closer into James.

"You two. Stop being such bloody gits, and grow up," James said to Sirius and Remus.

"Us grow up?" Remus replied smugly. "We're not the ones who blew up the toilets in the girl's lavatory last year."

James grinned back at them.

"You two didn't mind helping out did you?" he replied.

Lily giggled and pecked James on the cheek, and Sirius cleared his throat loudly.

"Just because we assisted you in your quest of immaturity, doesn't mean that we're completely dense. Most of the ideas were from you. They were you're master plans."

James shook his head, and didn't even bother responding.

"Fine..." Sirius continued. "I hope you have a very happy-er- Christmas tomorrow you two."

Sirius chuckled, and both him and Remus left to the boy's dormitory.

"They're going to try and pull something tomorrow aren't they?" Lily asked, half-knowing what they might do.

James nodded in reply. "Let's go down to breakfast shall we?" he asked grabbing Lily's hand, standing up, to leave, leading her out of the common room. Lily followed closely behind him, and they walked down to the great hall together. Lily and James entered, walking down to the long Gryfindor table to sit beside a young girl, with her nose buried in a book of Transfiguration. The ceiling had been made to look as though there was a white blanket of snow above them, and the table was filled with several pastries, and candy canes lining the outside of the table for decoration. Lily smiled and looked at James.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she asked.

James nodded, and smiled back as both of them sat down.

"What do you think Sirius and Remus are up to right now?" asked Lily, reaching for a croissant.

"Probably planning something to get back at us for telling them to smarten up. I'd be careful about opening your presents tomorrow, even if they don't say that they're from Sirius and Remus. They'll most likely plant a prank in one of your packages."

Lily nodded her understanding, and giggled.

"Well we'll see what happens tomorrow. I might have something planned already."

James went wide-eyed.

"That would be quite unexpected wouldn't it?"

Lily nodded again.

Sirius woke up early and groggily the next morning, wiping his eyes and looking at the clock through the corner of his eye. He groaned, sitting up and swinging his legs over to the side of the bed. Remus was already up, and standing in front of him, already dressed and wide-awake. Sirius noticed him immediately, putting his hands over his eyes to block the sun from his face.

"Morning sleepyhead," he said ruffling his hair. "Come on, and get your arse out of bed. It's Christmas, and you've got lots of presents to open, and lots of people to get, and we're going to Hogsmeade. We're running low on dung bombs."

Sirius groaned again, standing up, and opening his trunk. He pulled out a pair of casual dark blue jeans, and slipped them on over his silk boxers, as well as a black dress shirt. They walked downstairs to see if James was awake. They saw him sitting on a black leather chair with a bundle of presents beside him, and a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hands. Sirius and Remus walked up behind him, and James turned around with a wide innocent grin on his face.

"Happy Christmas you two," he said as he readjusted his glasses. "I was wondering when you were coming down. I figured I'd wait to open my presents until Lily came down, but she seems to have slept in today. Sirius chuckled to himself.

"Yes, she may be a little while," Remus said quite seriously.

James rolled his eyes, and turned his head away from them. A few minutes late James heard a loud shriek coming from the girl's dormitory. James stood up quickly and eyed both Sirius and Remus.

"What did you two do?"

Remus put his arm around Sirius' shoulder.

"Now why would we do any thing?" Sirius asked innocently. "We were in our beds all evening, just talking. What could we possibly do?"

"BLACK! LUPIN!" James heard a female voice holler.

Lily came down into the common room, with a thick coat of hair covering her neck and chest. James couldn't help but laugh to himself, before turning to Sirius and Remus to accuse them. James walked up to Lily and wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her on the forehead gently.

"Come on, love. I'll help you find the counter curse before you open your presents," James said quietly to comfort Lily. Lily nodded, although James could still tell she was in a severe state of rage.