Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. Lucky duck.

Every weekend was the same thing: exploring different school corridors, gathering new sweets at Honeydukes, and every once in a while visiting Brutus in his portrait. He was absolutely delighted when they told him his secret passageway led to the cellar of the Hogsmeade candy shop. Each week led to fresh surprises and adventures for the newly-dubbed "Marauders." The name, which had started out as a passing remark from Remus, had turned into an inside joke and eventually the actual, concrete name for the four boys.

Remus went to visit his family once every month; the most explanation they had been able to get from him was that his mother was sick. Even this simple admission made him turn red and dash from the room. Though it was quite obvious he was lying, they didn't push him for an answer. Whatever it was that he had to hide from them must have been pretty bad if he was pretending to have a sick mother.

Halloween brought new surprises for the Marauders. The live bats, giant jack-o-lanterns, and feast gave them something to talk about for another week (though Remus went home the day after). It also marked their first prank in the common room—a simple matter of letting loose a whole bunch of Fanged Frisbees from Zonko's. They tore the place up, but not beyond repair. McGonagall came rushing in and was able to immobilize most of them and then fix up the room with a few "Reparo"s. Though they were caught, there was nothing specifically banning Fanged Frisbees in the common room and they were only punished with points taken away. The next day, Fanged Frisbees were specifically banned from every part of the school. The Marauders were on their way to trouble making history.

More time went on, and schoolwork reached a peak in late November, only to nose dive in December when everyone began to focus on the Christmas holidays. It was only when Professor McGonagall was passing around the list of kids who were staying at Hogwarts that James remembered Sirius had been invited to his place. Sirius, who had been acting rather moody the past few weeks, immediately brightened at this news and pulled a nice prank in good holiday spirits. Unfortunately, he was caught by McGonagall, who punished him with lines, even as she chuckled quietly at the gnome stuck atop the Common Room Christmas tree.

The trip home was quick and painless, except for a minor run-in with Sirius' cousins. They insisted on stopping by to ask him where he could possibly be going, as he wasn't wanted at home. He slammed a compartment door in their face and managed to close the door on one of Narcissa's fingers, which prompted Bellatrix to break the window before she was carted away by a rather angry trolley lady. Remus repaired the glass without a problem, and Peter just cowered in the corner. He still hadn't gotten over his first meeting with Bellatrix.

James spotted his parents as soon as he got off the train. After gathering his belongings, he waved goodbye to Remus and Peter, grabbed Sirius' arm, and ran over to his parents. Even though it had only been a few months and they had written constantly, it was infinitely better to have them right there, in person. They gathered him into a hug before he even had the chance to introduce them to his best friend.

When they released him, he was blushing furiously—almost as badly as Remus when he tried to tell a lie. "Mum, Dad… This is Sirius Black," he said, waving his arm in Sirius' general direction.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Potter!" Sirius said gleefully, immediately holding out a hand for them to shake.

"And you as well," Mr. Potter said, grabbing the boy's hand. "Now, Black… you'll be…"

"Orion and Walburga's son, of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, yeah. I'm 'heir' to the house or whatever… but I'm a Gryffindor, sir! Not like them at all."

Mrs. Potter smiled a little sadly, clearly thinking about what James had written many months ago in his letter about the Blacks not wanting Sirius home for Christmas.

"Well, let's get your trunks in the car, shall we?" Mr. Potter picked up both the boy's belongings, placed them on a trolley, and pushed them through to the other side of the barrier.

The Black sisters were standing on the other side, a while away. Though they didn't make any sort of scene with all the muggles and parents standing around, Bellatrix made sure to shoot daggers at Sirius with her eyes. He just looked back at James, making forced but excited conversation.

The drive home took a little while longer than expected, but the excited chatter from the two boys in the back made it seem rather short. Sirius seemed extremely excited to be staying at the Potter's over Christmas. That is, until he actually got to the house.

When Sirius walked through the door, he looked around in awe at his surroundings and became very quiet. James couldn't understand why—the place was just like any old house. The walls painted plainly, a few pictures moving around on the walls, some furniture covering the floor. "It's so… different," Sirius breathed, pacing between the different doors.

"Different?" James laughed. "How so?"

"It's just more… bright. Brighter. And open. And the pictures—my house has portraits of all my inbred cousins covering every inch of wall space, and all these tacky family heirlooms covering every spare inch of the house. It's nothing like this. We shun visitors—well, my mum and dad do. So to just be in a house that's so… open to the world is weird." Sirius turned suddenly to look at James. "You haven't got a house elf, have you?"

"No." He was quite taken aback by the question.

Sirius threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, this is going to be the best Christmas ever!"

The boys, determined to pull an all-nighter, were strictly told off by Mrs. Potter at three in the morning when a game of exploding snap had gotten a bit too loud. James pleaded with his mother to let them stay up, but she threatened to take away all his presents if the two boys didn't get into bed and go to sleep.

"She's not usually like this," James said, a bit embarrassed by his mother's behavior. "I think she's tired… usually she wouldn't care what we do…"

"Trust me; she's better than my mum would ever be. Remind me never to invite you to my house, okay? My mum would spit on you the moment you walked through the door, and I wouldn't be surprised if she tried hexing you if we were up this late."

James couldn't find a reply to this, so he just shifted uncomfortably in bed and waited for sleep to overcome him.

After a good three hour nap, James awoke to find two piles of presents at the foot of his bed. One of them, closest to him, must have had at least twenty presents. The other, the one meant for Sirius, had only six boxes. He could see one from him, one from Remus, one from Peter, and three others he assumed were from members of Sirius's family.

James slid out of bed to get a closer look. The last three presents were indeed from Sirius's family—one from his brother, Regulus, one rather crumpled one from Andromeda, and one from "Uncle Alphie." Sirius was not yet up, so there was still some time to remedy the situation.

Trying to stay as quiet as possible, James began shifting presents from his pile into Sirius' pile, peeling off labels as he did so. He hoped that Sirius wouldn't think twice about the lack of them. He also hoped, rather guiltily, that he wasn't giving away anything too good to his best friend. He was, after all, only an eleven-year-old boy.

James stopped shifting presents when Sirius had eleven presents in his pile and James had fifteen—he thought anything more would start to look suspicious.

Sirius woke just as James had arranged the last present on top of the pile.

"Happy Christmas!" he mumbled, stretching.

"Come on, get up, get up, Sirius—presents!"

"You mean I've got some?" Sirius asked, somewhere between sarcasm and surprise. James suddenly wondered if Sirius would be angry with him if he ever found out about the presents.

"What—what do you mean? Of course you have! Here's one from Peter…" he said, throwing the box into Sirius' head.

"Ouch," he said dismissively, tearing the paper off the gift. "Fizzing Whizbees!" Sirius said, throwing the wrappings to the ground. "What do you want to bet he just took these out of the basement of Honeydukes and gift wrapped them? Ah, well. I'm sure he had good intentions."

"Sure he did," James agreed, grinning. "Come on, open some more." Sirius slid out of bed to sit next to James, and they spent the next hour or so opening their presents and trading items.

James finished off with some Peppermint Imps from Peter (he was pretty sure Sirius was right about nicking them from Honeydukes' basement), a miniature model of a Quidditch stadium from Remus (with fourteen miniscule players), assorted robes, books, and Zonko's products from various family members, and a mirror from Sirius.

"Listen, Sirius, I realize that you might feel the need to look in the mirror every few minutes, but I happen to think I look great without looking in a mirror, and I know you know that. So… what does this do besides act like a mirror?"

Sirius grinned and scampered to the other side of James' bed. He thought he heard something being pulled out from under the bed, but when he tried to look, Sirius waved him away.

"Okay, say my name," Sirius said.

"Your name?"

"Yeah—just say it, to the mirror!"

Skeptical, James did as he said. "Sirius Black!" Suddenly, his reflection had turned into Sirius, who was waving up at him. James almost dropped the mirror in surprise.

"See? It's a two-way mirror!" Sirius' voice was doubled when he said that—James could hear it both from the mirror and behind his bed. "I figured it'd be a good way to stay in touch whenever we're separated. Like if one of us is in detention, we can bring this and talk to each other and make the time go by a little faster."

"Brilliant!" James laughed. "Where'd you find it?"

"Oh, just one of those nasty heirlooms I was talking about cluttering up the Noble House of Black. This one actually seemed pretty cool, and no one was using it, so… I took it."

They spent the next few minutes talking to each other through the mirrors, even though they were only feet from each other. James found that all he had to do to turn the mirror normal again was put it down somewhere.

Sirius seemed to be delighted with his presents, and didn't even bother to ask where they had come from. He seemed especially interested in a book called Wizard Modes of Transportation and Their Muggle Counterparts from one of James' uncles. James would have found the book terribly boring, but something about it sparked Sirius' interest.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter came in at seven thirty, after hearing the ruckus the boys were making, and invited them down to breakfast. Mr. Potter shot a strange glance at the Puddlemere United hat Sirius had stuffed on his head, one of the gifts that James had moved from his pile to Sirius'. James gestured wildly behind his friend's back before his father said anything. He looked surprised at first, then a look of realization seemed to cross his face. He gave a small wink, at which James let out a heavy breath.

"Did you say something?" Sirius said, turning around.

"No, no… come on, let's go down to breakfast."