21

Christmas approached rapidly, although it did little to lift James' feeling. He had been feeling put off ever since his lesson with Madam Bones—she warned him that he might feel out of sorts for a while—but he hadn't expected anything quite this extreme. He had put on a brave face for the remaining week before the holiday, but he had laid awake on most nights, staring up at the top of his four poster. He refused to go down to sit by the fire out of fear of seeing Lily. He had a hunch he would not be able to hide the truth from her, and he felt he was finally making some headway in earning her trust.

The opportunity to get out of Hogwarts and go home for the holidays came as something of a relief. Sirius, Remus and Peter's parents had all agreed to let them stay with James' family over the holiday, so that was something to lift his spirits. They waited at Hogsmeade station as the Hogwarts Express pulled in to take them back to London.

'I can't believe this year's at the halfway point,' James sighed as he turned to look at Sirius. He quickly turned away again as Sirius was locked in a passionate embrace with Marlene McKinnon. 'Subtle, mate,' James muttered under his breath to a chuckle from Remus.

'So James,' Remus said. 'Any Christmas gifts to give out before the holiday?'

'Don't know what you're talking about,' James replied.

Remus raised an eyebrow. 'Oh really?' he quipped. 'So that wasn't your father's old cloak I saw you stashing into your bag when we went to Hogsmeade last weekend?'

James laughed. 'You're entirely too observant, Moony,' he said. 'Alright—I snuck off and got a present for someone.'

'Would this someone have red hair?' Peter asked in a hushed voice.

James cuffed him in the head. 'Knock it off,' he said. 'Someone will hear.'

'Why the secrecy?' Peter queried. 'It's not exactly your style—you're usually kind of showy. It's your thing.'

'Well, maybe that—thing—doesn't impress everyone.'

Remus' other eyebrow raised. 'That's surprisingly mature of you. I think I see the fair maiden now; Peter, walk with me.'

'Oh that's alright, I think I'll—' Peter began but Remus grabbed him by the elbow and hauled him away. Lily was just walking by with Mary McDonald and Alice Dearborn. James cast a glance at Sirius and Marlene, who were still kissing enthusiastically, and stepped forward.

'Alright, Evans?' he said brightly.

Lily looked at him. 'Oh, hello,' she said.

'Catch up with us, Lily,' Alice said.

'Hi James!' Mary said nervously, but—like Peter—she found herself being grabbed by the elbow and dragged off by Alice.

'I've barely seen you recently,' Lily said with a small smile. 'I've actually been able to get a fair amount of late night reading done without your constant interruptions.'

James' mouth twitched. 'I didn't realize I was keeping you from such a wildly entertaining night life,' he said with a smirk.

Lily laughed. 'Is there something you wanted?' she asked, and James thought he detected a hint of expectation in her voice.

'Well, yeah,' he said and he reached into his bag and produced a small box. 'I just wanted to say Merry Christmas, Evans.'

Lily smiled brightly as she accepted the box. She then looked at him skeptically. 'Does it bite?'

'No,' James said.

'Scratch?'

'No.'

'Spit unspeakable slobber?'

'No,' James said, starting to laugh.

'Shout obscene things?'

James rolled his eyes. 'If you're feeling apprehensive, you could always open it right here,' he said.

Lily shrugged and opened the box. She frowned as she pulled a small, stuffed reindeer with a large red nose from it. 'How in the…' she said, looking up at James in surprise.

'I snuck out of town during our last Hogsmeade weekend,' James said meekly.

Lily flushed. 'Potter—that was insane! You know—Rochefort—why would you do that?'

'Well, like you said—Rochefort. Who knows how many Christmases I've got left?' James said with a cocky grin.

'That's not funny,' Lily said with a frown.

'Anyway,' James said. 'I know it's a bit—well—not really magical…but I thought you might appreciate it. His name is—'

'—Rudolph, I know,' Lily said looking down at the stuffed reindeer. 'We watch it every Christmas on the television. It's the only time of year that Tuney seems to actually like me,' she said in a small voice.

James raised his eyebrows. 'Well, er,' he said. 'I hope you like it.'

Lily stepped forward and embraced him. James momentarily felt off balance, and then was suddenly filled with a warm feeling that seemed to erase the last few weeks of his life. Gone was the nausea, unease and fear that had been eating at him and keeping him awake at nights. It was all replaced by Lily Evans. He leaned his chin upon her shoulder and smiled to himself dreamily.

'Thank you,' Lily whispered. 'I feel awful—I didn't get you anything.'

James summoned all his might and managed to step back from her embrace. He smiled his first genuine smile in days. 'Yeah you did, Evans,' he said happily. She went slightly pink as the whistle for the train sounded. 'You should catch up with Dearborn and McDonald, though,' he added.

'Merry Christmas, Potter,' Lily said.

'You too,' James replied. 'And Evans?'

She had been about to leave when she stopped to look at him. 'Yes?'

'Stay safe…please,' he added.

'You too,' she replied and she jogged off to catch up with her friends.

'Well played, mate!' Sirius said suddenly from behind James causing him to jump. He turned to see Sirius laughing and fought off the urge to laugh himself—Sirius' face was once again covered in lipstick. 'Come on, let's go and get a compartment.' He put an arm around Marlene, who also appeared to have lipstick somehow smothered all over her face.

'I think you need to work on your aim,' James said to general confusion from the other two as they stepped aboard the train. 'Let's hope Peter and Remus have found us a good compartment.'

'Hello, Potter,' said Dorcas brightly as they stepped into the hallway. 'Want to come sit with us?' she asked, motioning to her and Dirk Cresswell who waved in a somewhat surprisingly bashful way.

'Oh, that's alright—' James began.

'I insist,' Dorcas said.

James looked at Sirius who frowned but shrugged and they joined them in their compartment. 'Thanks,' he said in a slightly confused voice as they sat down.

'See? I told you he'd be bewildered,' Cresswell muttered.

'Shut it,' Dorcas replied politely.

'Bewildered by what?' James asked.

Cresswell smirked. 'By our sudden hospitality,' he said.

'We did wonder,' Sirius said.

Dorcas sighed. 'Well—I guess there's no harm in telling. We're your guard, Potter. And I guess by proxy, that means we're guarding Black and McKinnon here, too.'

Marlene frowned. 'Guard? From what?'

'Don't you know? Rudolph here is a marked man,' Sirius snickered.

'Who's Rudolph?' Creswell frowned.

'Back on the subject here,' James interjected. 'Who says I need guarding? From what?'

Dorcas sighed as she looked out the window. 'Don't be thick, Potter. From Rochefort of course. We're here to make sure that nothing happens to you on the train ride.'

'So Rochefort is supposed to be afraid of a couple of seventh years? No offense,' Sirius said with an ugly grimace.

'None taken,' Cresswell replied. 'There's Aurors on the train as well. We're just supposed to stick to Potter here like glue until we can trade him off.'

James shook his head. 'To who?' he asked.

'There'll be some people at Platform 9 and ¾ to collect you,' Dorcas said with a slightly embarrassed smile. 'I told them you wouldn't like this, but they were pretty persistent. They really want to keep an eye on you.'

'And who's they?' Sirius asked.

Dorcas shrugged. 'The Ministry, the teachers, the family dog…who doesn't?' she asked. 'Anyway—just an excuse to spend some time together. So, who is Rudolph?' she asked in a wildly transparent attempt to change the subject.

'Yes, James, do tell the inspiration behind your magnificently romantic gift for Lily Evans.'

Cresswell's eyebrows raised and Dorcas' face split into a grin. James sighed as she rubbed her hands together eagerly. 'What did you get her?'

'I snuck off to a little Muggle town during our last Hogsmeade weekend,' James said quickly. 'She comes from a Muggle family, so I thought it might be—I don't know, familiar to her—anyway, Rudolph is some sort of Christmas story about a flying, talking reindeer.'

'That sounds ridiculous,' Marlene said.

James shrugged. 'Is it all that different from any of our Beetle and Bard stories? I mean, Babbity Rabbity?'

'Fair enough,' Dorcas said. 'So what exactly did you get her?'

'A little stuffed reindeer,' James replied.

Cresswell frowned. 'That's it? What does it do?'

'Well…nothing,' James said.

'Nothing?' Cresswell echoed with a shake of his head. 'Those Muggles are mighty easy to please,' he added in an undertone.

'But she liked it,' Dorcas said.

'I'll say,' Sirius said with a roguish grin. 'Rudolph here got himself a nice big hug from the fiery tempered maiden, didn't he?'

James smacked Sirius as he laughed. The rest of the train ride passed uneventfully; Remus and Peter eventually caught up with them to ride things out. When they arrived at Hogsmeade, they were playfully escorted off the train by Dorcas and Cresswell. James cast his gaze about for his parents and was somewhat surprised when two Aurors—Alastor Moody and Engelland—approached.

'Alright, you lot, come with us,' Moody growled.

'Er,' Peter said nervously.

'What's going on?' James asked.

Engelland smiled. 'Relax; it's all precautionary. We're taking you to a Ministry car. We're going to the Ministry and then taking you to Godric's Hollow via the Floo Network.'

'Is this really all necessary?' James muttered.

'Quit bellyaching,' Moody growled as they all began to walk. 'Not every day that you're squarely in the sights of a mass murderer. So we're all being cautious.'

'Hold on, we're leaving Sirius,' Remus said. They all turned to see Sirius and Marlene once again locked in a passionate embrace. James rolled his eyes and caught sight of Moody and Engelland. He had to bite back laughter—Moody looked as if someone had just insulted his mother, while Engelland looked thoroughly bemused.

'This is no time for romance!' Moody shouted.

With a sound like a plunger being extracted from a toilet, Sirius and Marlene separated, bid quick goodbyes and Sirius jogged to catch up with then. He grimaced at James. 'Sorry mate.'

'Wonder why your Dad couldn't make it?' Peter asked with a nervous glance at Moody who was still eyeing Sirius with intense dislike.

'Because he would be a target for Rochefort and used as bait for Potter here, obviously,' Moody replied.

'Easy, Alastor,' Engelland said pleasantly. He turned to James with a wink. 'Your Dad put up a hell of a fight to come down and pick you up personally, but it was Minister Bagnold that ended up forcing him and your mother to stay home. Although she didn't manage that easily.'

Moody snorted. 'Your old man can be an intimidating presence when he feels like it,' he said.

'I've never noticed,' James said dryly to a chuckle from both of the men.

'It seems like an awful lot of trouble,' Peter said nervously.

Remus chuckled. 'Come on, Peter. It just means we're all the safer.'

'Yeah,' Sirius chimed in. 'And you guys realize how historic this Christmas is going to be, right? Our first holiday together—the Marauders!'

'The what now?' Moody asked skeptically.

'We're the Marauders,' Peter said timidly.

Engelland elbowed Moody to keep him moving along as he muttered something about children's clubs. Engelland grinned at the boys as they began animatedly talking about the hijinx they should get up to.

'Poor Mrs. Potter,' he said with a sigh to Moody. 'I don't think she knows what she's signed up for.'