"Remus, Remus, get up, it's Christmas!" Sirius grabbed and pulled on to the soft red bed sheet that covered a large lump in the four-poster bed. The lump grumbled.

"Go away, Sirius. I'm having a lie-in-"

"Today is not a day for a lie-in, Remmy, today is a day for PRESENTS." Sirius gave the lump one last pull and it came away, revealing a tall boy crawled into a ball. Remus blinked at the sudden light and sighed as he looked toward the ecstatic mess of hair that was Sirius Black. He groaned and feebly tried to pull his warm blankets back over him to no avail.

"What time is it?" he said in a little voice into his ivory pillow, but Sirius had run away and had taken Remus' snug sheets with him. Remus rolled over and looked at his clock, which read in an emerald and flashing fashion:

06:43

Remus groaned for the second time that day rolled back into his blanket-less bed.

From the corner of his droopy eyes, he could see James emerging from the bathroom in black jeans and a slightly worn Appleby Arrows t-shirt, with a towel in his hand being ransacked over his messy black hair.

"Hey, sleepy, if I have to get up, so do you." And all of a sudden an uncomfortably damp towel was coating Remus' figure, making him shiver and slowly sit up.

"Come on, James. It's not even 7 o'clock yet." Remus rubbed his temple with closed eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about! It's a lovely day!" James flung his arms outward in a flamboyant fashion and walked over to the heavy dark scarlet curtains, which he thrust aside, revealing…

Darkness.

"SEE," Remus reached over and pulled a fleecy quilt from the armchair that stood next to his bed and snuggled into it "tell him that I've gone back to sleep and won't be waking up again for the next few hours." James laughed.

"Oh yeah, 'cause Sirius Black is going to let you sleep in on Christmas." But Remus didn't hear him; he had already dozed off and was letting out faint wheezy snores.

James sighed and walked out of the room. From the top of the tall stairs that ran down into the front hallway of their house, James could hear the clutter of pots and pans and he guessed that Peter was making breakfast, and breakfast smelt good.

"What's cooking?" he said as he stormed through the kitchen doors. Sirius was sitting at the table, rifling through a deck of brightly coloured Christmas cards whilst humming 'Frosty the Snowman' at a high and slightly off-key pitch. Peter was in the kitchen, still in his chequered pyjamas and adding more and more pancakes to the pile of them that almost tottered over.

"Morning, James," sighed Peter, his eyes drooping as he poured pancake mixture onto a sizzling pan. "I guess you were woken up by the elf too?" he said with contempt and nodded over at Sirius, who's 'frosty the snowman' had now started to sound like one monotone annoying buzzing sound.

James didn't reply, he simply grinned and took two hot pancakes from the pile, smothered them in Nutella and sat down next to Sirius.

"You're up! Finally, I-" Remus emerged into the kitchen and instantly regretted his decision of leaving his comfy bed.

"Sirius, its only 10am, I could still be asleep, actually-"

"NONSENSE. We've been waiting for you for hours, but don't worry, we saved you a pancake. Can we open the presents now?"

Sirius looked round at his tired friends with a knowing smile.

James was the only one who smiled back, "okay, Sirius, race you to the tree!" James and Sirius stood up at such a force that Remus' orange juice wobbled violently. He growled at the two boys like a bitter grandfather, although he was in fact younger than both of them.

"Shouldn't we wait for Lily?" Peter said before yawning and looking at James. Sirius and Remus looked at him too.

"Yeah, where's Lily, James? I thought you would have woken her when you got up." Sirius said to James, who bit his lip.

"I… er well, I um I- she looked so peaceful, I didn't want to… you know…" he mumbled.

Remus stared at James with an open mouth. "James, are you-" he smirked "are you afraid of Lily?"

"No! She just, you know, isn't exactly a morning person…"

Remus laughed out loud. "Come on, Prongs, let's get her up. It's Christmas! Everyone's a morning person on Christmas!" Sirius mumbled something that sounded like 'two-faced bastard' and the four of them went upstairs.

Lily was lying across her double bed, the green sheets clenched in her fist and half wrapped around her left leg. Her auburn hair was draped across her pillow and a soft snore escaped her half open mouth.

Sirius, Remus and Peter hid behind the foot of the bed and watched intently as James leaned over her. He slowly extended his finger and prodded her arm, while softly saying: "Wake up, Lils, it's Christmas…"

Lily stirred and James stood back, but there was no reason for him to be afraid. She simply sat up, rubbed her eyes and smiled round at the four boys.

"Merry Christmas." She said happily, and everyone knew it was going to be a great day.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope 2014 brings a Marauders book! Hehe

Always,

Holly x