Christmas was a proper gift.

James woke up to something massive and incredibly furry sitting on his chest, wriggling with restless energy.

"What the hell-"

The black dog leapt over to Remus' bed, where it barked loudly and sat down, tail thumping against the mattress. Remus simply rolled over and buried his head under his pillow. The dog's long nose followed and with another resounding bark, Remus popped up, rubbing his ear.

"All right, all right, I'm up!"

The mess of fur jumped off the quilted bed onto the cold stone floor, and suddenly, Sirius was standing in front of them, grinning like mad.

"Merry Christmas, chaps!" Sirius yelled, dodging the pillow that James aimed.

James was out of bed in half a second in deer form, forgoing the stack of presents to prance around and try out his new legs. Sirius was immediately a hound again, and the pair of them danced around each other in a strange jig, taking in the differences in form.

Remus watched them for only a few moments before throwing another pillow.

"Oi, you can keep doing that, but I'm going to start opening presents."

Immediately the two bed-headed boys were in human form again, excited like five year olds.

It was, as most of them would look back upon later, the first good day in a long string of good days.

They ate like they hadn't for a week (which was nearly true) and Sirius and James went back to their normally rambunctious selves in nearly every way. Lupin had even perked up a little more than usual.

Though they all felt strangely about Peter, they never mentioned anything about it, save in their dormitory when they were alone.

Later, he wouldn't so much as give them the time of day if he ran into them, and was even prone to look at them as though they had formerly been aggressors. He would scurry off whenever he happened to get close to them.

They were surprised to find themselves missing him, Sirius especially (surprised that was).

James would miss having someone who would laugh at even his most pathetic jokes, and Remus found himself mothering everyone else quite a bit more than he previously had, almost to compensate for how much he'd had to take care of Peter.

Sirius realized that he had lost someone who he could tease without repercussions, but not before he made up for the difference by taunting Frank Longbottom and nearly getting his hair hexed off.

Rose and Ellie didn't notice so much of a difference, but couldn't walk past him without feeling an awkward twinge of pity, or perhaps regret. They couldn't help but consider the very real possibility that they were wrong, or had judged him too quickly; was Peter really that cowardly? Would he have actually reported them? Had they just been scared into making a decision that could have ruined someone's life?

The girls took full credit for what they had done, and perhaps that was why they kept such good tabs on him while he was transitioning. They were incredibly stealthy and were sure that they hid their tracks well, but they knew nearly everything that he did for quite some time.

Peter woke up late on Christmas morning and opened his presents alone in his empty dorm. He seemed quite content though, receiving gifts from many family members, along with a special package of Honeyduke's best chocolate from Magda. He went to meet her for brunch, and spent the rest of day with her while she went around the castle and grounds complaining loudly about how she'd gotten less gifts this year, thanks to her rich aunt who had been sent to St. Mungos with dragon pox. It was some time during that day that she brought up the marauders for the first time.

"Seriously. You'd think an old bat like her would know better than to get sick around the holidays," she ranted, while Peter walked next to her, nodding.

The rest of the group was participating in a snowball fight in the courtyard as they walked past. Rose and Sirius were winning, only because they had enchanted the snow to do all the work; forming perfect spheres and flying themselves across the green where Remus and James were huddling behind a wall, trying to avoid the worst of the attack.

Ellie was hiding in a doorway, and heard every word of what Magda said next.

"Are you still friends with them, Pete?"

Peter watched them for a while, with a scowl slowly growing on his face.

"I never was, actually. All I need is you. Let's go get dinner."

Ellie watched them go, holding hands, and couldn't help but to look at it as a good omen.

She grinned a bit and braced herself to get hit as she ran back into the fray.

"How the hell are we losing this badly?" James shouted, while a hail of snowballs flew over their heads.

"Rose must be using magic," Ellie replied, pulling her scarf up to keep out the chill, making her look like a bandit out of an old muggle western.

"Either that, or she's recruited a small army of gnomes to fight for her," Remus replied, narrowly dodging a particularly accurate throw.

"One way to find out," James replied. "Immobulus!"

The snowballs froze in place as they came, and the three defenders picked up ammunition (or in James' case levitated half of a snow bank) as they silently stalked across the courtyard, James nearly slipping halfway there on the icy cobblestones, making his snow pile bob precariously in midair.

Behind the wall on the far side, they found their aggressors locked in a totally different kind of battle; one which involved quite a bit more tongue. Snowballs were still forming themselves and being flung into the freezing spell.

"Fancy meeting you here," James said, while Lupin coughed, in a sorry attempt to conceal a laugh, The couple broke apart, and Rose turned a light shade of red.

Before Sirius could come up with a witty reply, James swung his wand in a massive arc, and the entire snowbank he'd been carrying dropped unceremoniously their heads.

"Merry Christmas, Padfeet. Now let's see you two try to dig your way out of this one."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Vanessa, I really don't see what all the fuss is about-"

Vanessa Riddle turned towards her chiefest of lackeys, Clarissa Barnhart, and glared at her the way one might glare at a family pet after it had stolen a favorite pair of shoes for the third time.

"Don't you, Clarissa? Of course you don't. You're used to just seeing what I tell you to see. But look at them now. What are they doing?"

The 'they' were the small group of troublemaking Gryffindors who had temporarily taken over the courtyard for a snowball fight, the typical group that Vanessa ranted about, led, as far as she was concerned, by James Potter.

"Um? Vanessa, you can see for yourself-"

"Just tell me. What do you see?"

"Well, there's James, with Remus beside him, they just dumped snow on Rose and Sirius-"

"But who else is with them, Clarissa?"

"Oh, um. Ellie. Is that why you're so upset?"

"I'm not upset, Clarissa. But he belongs with me. Not her. Me. And they're up to something. Sirius and James might stay for the holidays every year, but Ellie and Rose haven't once before."

"Isn't that normal, though? Rose is dating Sirius now, and you heard Regulus. He's hardly welcome home any more."

They stopped watching the group as they stood around the snow laughing, and began to cross the courtyard.

"That's not enough. I'm telling you, they're absolutely horrible girls. They have it in for me-"

"Vanessa, watch out-"

The snowballs formerly frozen in a spell came loose in a mad fury of icy missiles, and continued on their paths forward, hitting the two girls directly.

They screamed and dropped their bags, running for cover until the assault stopped suddenly a few moments later.

Freezing cold and sopping wet, they emerged from behind the wall to find no one else in the courtyard. Sliding across ice across to the other end, they investigated still to find no one.

"This. This is exactly what I'm talking about. I'd bet my broom that Rose let that spell loose. She still hates me for what happened with Ellie all those years ago," she sniffed disdainfully, beginning to shiver in the cold.

"What did you do to Ellie?"

"You were there, Clarissa. In the Great Gall? With Bellatrix?"

"Ohhhhh," Clary remembered. "That was really awful, actually. You and Rose were nearly expelled."

"And I for one don't intend to forgive her for that."

"How was it her fault, if you were the one-"

"Shut up Clarissa. I'm freezing. Let's go get a change of clothes. Come along. I think I have a... letter to write."

They left the courtyard very much aware that this had been the first strike in a war. One which Vanessa was determined would bring the Marauders to their knees.

XXXXXXXXXX

OKAY I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON, AND I AM SO SO SO SORRY THAT IT TOOK THIS LONG TO PUT THIS OUT BUT I GOT A JOB AND WORK AMD UGH LIFE AND JUST IM SORRY OK.

but anyway, hope you enjoy this lil chapter. I make no promises about future updates, but can promise that they are directly linked to motivation which is directly linked to feedback, especially your feedback, so thank you so far for reading and reviewing, and I hope that you can someday forgive me for my terrible updating. Thanks again, and don't let the muggles get you down!