Merry Christmas!

I am a little late, but better late than never!

I hope you are all having wonderful, cosy, snowy holidays full with family and love and loaaaaads of good food and some presents under the tree!

N.B.: All characters and place belong to J.K. Rowling!

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Chapter 10: The one with Boomy-balls and furry little problems

Lily woke up before sunrise on the 30th of December. She wasn't sure what exactly had been making her shaky in the last few days. Was it being able to talk to Christopher at the party (that is if he had decided to come), or maybe spending the New Year's surrounded by wizarding families, or maybe it was that it was going to be at James Potter's house, or maybe it was just the simple excitement of being able to see her friends before expected.

As the sun begun to rise, she turned in her bed, facing now the many paintings she had done during the holidays. They all seemed alive. The fire in the fireplace she had drawn was crackling, her mother was smiling at her and blinking time to time. She still couldn't believe that James Potter had given her what she needed most during these holidays. Lily had needed an almost daily unwinding moment. But even if she hadn't needed to paint for her peace of mind, she would still probably have spent half her time doing so. Those watercolours were amazing. They didn't only give her paintings actual movement, but the colour itself seemed to adapt and fuse itself with others as if it could read her mind. It was, without a doubt the kindest, most needed and most thoughtful present someone could give her. She was surprised by how well James had read her. She really needed to thank him. For the present, for reaching the muggle way, for his advice with Petunia, for inviting her for New Years, for picking her up – The muggle way!, for inviting Christopher…She was in awe with Potter, and it made her nervous in a way she couldn't quiet put her finger on.

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"Do they really need to pick you up? Why can't you go there by yourself?" Petunia asked for the tenth time. They were all having breakfast in the kitchen and Petunia had mixed emotions about the whole ordeal. On the one hand, she got to get rid of her sister for New Years, on the other, some of those freaks were going to come to the house, to her house, to pick Lily up. She had enough with her freak sister, didn't want any of them around, much less with Vernon here.

"Oh, Tuney-wooney, don't be so gloom, I'm so excited to meet some more of your sister's friends. We don't know near enough of them! Are the parents of this young gentleman coming as well, dear? It would be wonderful to meet them!" Her mum had been fussing around all morning in excitement. It made Lily even more nervous.

"I'm not sure mum…I don't know how he is coming here" she bit her lip. She was a bit worried, at the end of the day, how much could James, a pureblood wizard, know about the muggle ways of transportation. She could not see him getting the bus or the underground.

"What you mean you are not sure? You said he would be looking – normal!" Her sister looked at her in alarm "You promised!"

"Tuney, I don't know…He did say –" she looked towards Vernon "that he would be here in an old-fashioned way"

Lily bit her lip, her imagination taking her to a thousand combinations of muggle and magical transport, from brooms on wheels to flying cars. Wasn't that a marvellous notion indeed?

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At twelve o'clock, Lily was well wrapped in her scarf and cloak and pacing nervously in the front garden. Her mum, inside the living room, kept peeking through the curtains at thirty second intervals. Petunia had sent Vernon to an errand, making sure he would not have any contact with the freaks her sister associated herself with.

At five past twelve a car zoomed in front of the house barely not knocking down the bins in front. From it, a lean figure jumped out and run towards Lily.

"Lily- Bloooossooom!" Sirius caught her in a bear hug, lifting her from the ground and spinning her wildly "Have you grown? You seem taller." He gave her one of those contagious smiles, still holding her up"

"Sirius?!" She laughed easily with him, happy to see her friend.

"Oh no!" he said putting her down and messing her hair up "You haven't. Still tiny! And I got all excited" he said with a pout.

Lily gave him an overly exaggerated brow frown which made Sirius squirm and start running in circles around her shouting "Save us from the wrath of the red-haired dwarf!"

By that time, he had completed a loop around her, Lily's parents were already out of the door pushing Petunia and looking amazed at their giggling daughter and her weird friend.

"Please forgive Sirius' behaviour" said an elderly gentleman in a smart muggle coat that Lily caught from the corner of her eye "He is adopted, you know, and already came all grown up. There was nothing to do about it but let him be." He said with an easy smile and giving Lily and Sirius a wink.

"that's very true!" Chimed Sirius nodding in agreement.

" Fleamont Potter, so very nice to meet you" Lily's parents seemed utterly baffled by the gentlemen's statement and bizarre name. Petunia snorted. Thankfully, Lily's dad seemed to recover fast enough to shake Mr. Potter's hands and introduce himself.

"And you must be the lovely Lily" said Mr. Potter finally, turning towards her with apprising eyes "I have heard a lot about you from James, it is truly a pleasure to finally meet you."

Lily took his hand and he held it between the both of his while they spoke.

"It is nice to meet you too Mr. Potter, thank you very much for going to all this trouble to pick me up, it is incredibly kind of you." she said sincerely.

"Oh, child, I wouldn't have survived the holidays otherwise, James would have tore the head off my shoulders." He said with an easy laugh clapping her hand.

She smiled unsure. Sirius was introducing himself to her parents "So good to see the creators of Lily-blossom, she is definitely my favourite flower! James wanted to meet you so much! But he had erm… an accident this morning …anyway he can't really move much at the moment."

Her parents shook his hand with insecure smiles, wondering if he was joking or not.

"Oh dear! I hope he is ok for the party?" her mum said.

"Not to worry, not to worry, nothing a couple of spoonful's of skelegrow can't fix. He just had to sleep it off while the bones regrow, can be quite unpleasant, you know?" said Mr. Potter patting Sirius on the shoulder.

Lily could see her mum's face pale up while her dad mouthed the word regrow.

"Mum, it is just a way to heal broken bones very quickly. So you don't have to spends weeks with a cast" she shot a look at Sirius and Mr. Potter, who seemed to catch to the fact that re-growing bones was not a muggle thing.

"Indeed. And please do not worry, I will make sure that your beautiful daughter is safe. There will be no reckless behaviour. I think the boys have learnt their lesson anyway." He smiled wholeheartedly.

Lily's parents seemed more unsure than ever to let their precious daughter go with Mr. Potter, so before anyone could back off, Lily hurried them along.

"Mr. Potter, should I just put my bag in the trunk?"

"Yes dear, of course. Sirius, why don't you do that? Oh, and make sure you turn the mirrors" he tossed the keys to him and proceeded to wish Happy New Years to the Evans, then let Lily say her goodbyes.

"Are you sure you are going to be ok, honey?" her dad asked.

"Of course, dad, this is normal in our world. Please, don't worry about me. Wish Happy New Year to Vernon for me, yeah?" She said hugging her dad and mum and only attempting to hug Petunia who hadn't said a word.

As Lily sat in the back seat of the Mercedes, she noticed that it wasn't Mr. Potter the one behind the wheel.

"Sirius…what are you doing?" she asked starting to be afraid for her own safety almost as much as her parents.

"Oh, Euphy, James' mum, wants me to learn to drive a car before I get a motorbike. She had a nervous fit when I told her I was thinking of buying one." He grinned at her.

"B-but then you don't know how to drive? Isn't it uhmm…unsafe?" she said, trying to keep the dread from her tone.

"Yeah, I know, but that is for muggles, you see? Their cars are not safe at all. This one has so many enchantments that it would be a miracle if Sirius actually managed to crush and hurt someone" turned and gave her a smile that reminded her a lot of James.

"Oh, I guess its ok then" Lily said, relaxing in her seat and wondering once again how the magical world was crazy and amazing and most of the time, you had a good chance of getting injured, although it wasn't nearly as disastrous as it was for muggles.

As they drove through the suburbs and into central London, Lily noticed that Mr. Potter had been right. Sirius wasn't even making an effort to steer away from other cars or people, the car seemed to switch shape, adapting to the space and avoiding hitting anyone. Magic is amazing

"So, what happened to James?" she asked.

"Oh, the boys and I were playing some boomy-ball and let's say that the boom caught James straight on the leg" Sirius chirped happily

"Boomy-ball?"

"My son and his friends, Miss Evans are very creative you see? Boomy-ball is a magical game played on brooms. A ball is enchanted so it can explode at any time after being activated. They pass it until explodes in someone's arms" explained Mr. Potter "And the balls usually make a small explosion of sparks and smoke, nothing harmful, but …we didn't have any boomy-balls left at home, and my boys, instead of popping to buy some new ones, decided to recreate the enchantment…rather more successfully than the original" he shook his head "blew away almost half of James' leg" He wrinkled his forehead and looked at Sirius "Isn't this something I should punish you for?" He asked.

Lily controlled a laughter disguising it as a cough. James' father was so…well… like his son.

"Nah, Fleamy, James already got enough punishment for all of us. That should be good." Sirius said keeping a completely straight face, then after some consideration, he added "Maybe talk it over with Euphy"

Lily listened to them talk and couldn't stop herself from smiling. It was so endearing to see Sirius talk to Mr. Potter. She knew that Sirius had run away from his horrid family. She was happy to see that he had found people who cared for him and loved him.

"You said you were playing with some friends? Do I understand that Remus and Peter are there too?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, yeah, Remus spent Christmas with us, and Peter arrived yesterday. Marlene has also been spending the holidays with, so we are full house!" Sirius replied grinning.

"If there is any house left, after you boys leave" mumbled Mr. Potter.

Lily sniggered. There was something on the back of her head that make her itch though. "Wait, you said Remus was there for Christmas?" she asked Sirius, then glancing quickly towards Mr. Potter she added in a bad attempt at subtlety "at that time of the month?"

Sirius scowled at her through the rear-view mirror, his eyes looking at her intently.

"Yes" he said simply. What the hell Evans? You know? No, you can't know.

Lily didn't insist and concentrated herself on making small talk with Mr. Potter.

Soon, the city disappeared behind them and was substituted by the motorway. The snow-covered fields were going by at an impressive speed and Lily couldn't help bracing herself when she peeked at the speedometer and saw it over the 250mph mark. At that speed she was not able to make up any signs, so by the time the car slowed, and they entered a country road in the middle of a forest, she had no idea in which part of England they were. Sirius parked the car in a small clearing, next to a path.

"We will have to do the last part on foot I'm afraid. My wife doesn't like the car near the house; apparently it disturbs the beauty of her garden" said Mr. Potter apologetically.

Lily got out of the car and followed the two men down a pretty snow-covered path that lead deeper into the forest.

Mr. Potter was making her bag float in front of them, so she imagined that they were far enough from muggle homes to be able to do magic. "Where more or less are we Mr. Potter?" she asked and then, perhaps too late realised that maybe wizards didn't like to disclose where they lived, that their homes, just like Hogwarts were hidden and unplottlable. But Mr. Potter didn't seem to mind the least bit.

"Oh, we are in Wiltshire dear, just between Godric's Hollow and Dinton" he said "Charming, little village Dinton, full of muggles though, not like Godric's Hollow , full of old magic there. Our ancestors come from the Hollow, almost a thousand years now"

"Wow, your family must be one of the oldest wizarding families there is, sir" she said a little overwhelmed.

"Oh sure, maybe. I don't really understand all this blood mania that seems to be so fashionable lately. A bunch of nonsense if you ask me." He said and somehow that made Lily feel a little better.

The trees soon started to thin out and give way to what Lily discovered to be the most beautiful and enchanting garden she had ever seen. Although it was winter, and everything was covered in snow, there were plenty of bushes with colourful foliage, and even flowers that she was sure were not meant to survive in the cold. They were not really arranged, but had an air of wilderness and freedom to them that just enhanced ones' appreciation for them. They moved along a small path that led to a beautiful Elizabethan cottage, with its white walls, exposed black beams and thatched roof. With the snow-covered roof and equally snowy gardens it looked like a postcard. Lily smiled. She had always imagined James living in a big manor or even a castle of some sort, for in all their years of bickering she had thought that she had learned one thing. James Potter was an egoistic, spoiled, self-absorbed, rich kid. She had been proven wrong in the egoistic and self-absorbed part, fair enough, and now apparently in the rich. The gardens were beautiful and so was the cottage, but it was just a pretty little cottage. How are Remus, Peter and Marlene and now me gonna fit in here? They walked in through the old wooden door and Lily froze dead in her place. Scratch that.

Lily couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had walked through the door of a small , cute cottage and now she was in spacious hallway of dark wooden floors and crisp white walls. A beautiful staircase curved around opening to the second floor. From the ceiling hung several glass bobbles with dark metal fittings. Inside them glowed the warm light of candles.

Lily managed to close her mouth and follow Mr. Potter and Sirius just before they disappeared into the next room. She followed them through a Tudor archway that lead to a cosy living room. Big bay windows framed by cute sitting nukes let all the light and beauty of the outside garden in. A big stone fireplace gave warmth to the room. In front of it, a series of plush cream sofas and snuck leather armchairs gathered around a coffee table that seemed made out of polished driftwood. Dark wooden beams marked the ceiling and walls, while more glass bobbles of different sizes hung in clusters from the ceiling. Lily was still trying to understand what she was seeing when an elderly woman with a kind smile and warm hazel eyes came to her.

"Undetectable extension charm, dear, quiet a powerful one actually" she said answering Lily's silent question. "I'm Euphemia, James' mum. It is so nice to finally meet you Lily. My son has told me a great deal about you" Mrs. Potter gave Lily a quiet unexpected hug while saying this, and it perhaps was for the better, in this way she would not be able to see the pink that had crept up Lily's cheeks. James speaks of me to his parents?

"It is lovely to meet you Mrs. Potter. And your house is beautiful. I…I am sorry for gawking. I just …it is not what I expected…there so much…light and warmth and it's so big, yet cosy. It is truly marvello-" ous. She said the end of the word in her mind, where the rest of the sentence after beautiful should have belonged. Why, why, why do I have to blabber aimlessly? Oh, Merlin!

Mrs. Potter looked at her with the warmest of smiles "Oh, you are terribly kind, child. I am sure you are eager to see all of your friends, but let Sirius show you to your room first. So you can leave your things" she patted her on the shoulder before turning and shouting "Sirius! Do you thing it is proper of you to leave your friend like this? I do hope you at least offered her a warm beverage!" she rolled her eyes and turned back to Lily, just before Sirius reappeared. "Boys! What is one to do! But alas, they are all I got!"

"Somrry Euphly! I julst needmd somthing to leat!" He had a big mince pie stuffed in his mouth and was holding several more "You mwant?" he said offering her one.

Mrs. Potter tried smacking him on the back of the head but he quickly evaded her, then gestured to Lily to follow him back from where they had come and up the stairs.

Down the corridor he opened for her the second door on the right.

Lily came into yet another bright room. A soft, furry cream carpet lay on the wooden floors. A big fourposter bed was in the middle of the room, surrounded by airy silky curtains. The pillows were so fluffy that lily had to supress the impulse on jumping in bed. In front of it, there was large slanted window, divided in many squares, some of them had coloured glass depicting different flowers. On the chest of drawers to the side there was a round fishbowl. Inside it, instead of a fish was a single water-lily. Lily bit her lip and touched it in amazement with a thin, pink finger.

"So…" Sirius was standing at the door and all the cheeriness and cheek that characterized him usually had fled away from him. "What is your problem with Moony staying over for Christmas?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I don't have a problem with Remus spending the holidays Sirius. I just thought that perhaps in his own house he would have better measures in place to keep him safe during his transformations. I am sure you noticed it was full moon this Christmas" she said calmly.

"For Merlin's sake woman! Shhh!" Sirius hurried in the room and hastily closed the door behind him. "How?...When…I didn't…I mean…" He took a deep breath in looking at her with horror. "I didn't know Remus had told you. I can't believe he told you! He didn't even tell us!" His voice changed from worried to outraged in a matter of seconds.

"Oh Sirius, calm down, he hasn't told me a thing" she said, dismissing him.

"What? But then..? Has James told you?" He sounded furious now.

"What? Potter? Why would Potter tell me? We barely did anything but hex each other until a couple of months ago! No! I figured it out back at the end of third year of course. After we studied werewolves."

"You figured it out? You figured it out." He repeated, then frowned. "Who else have you told?"

"Wh- No-one of course! Do you really think it's the sort of thing I would just go around talking about?" Now it was her turn to be outraged.

"Well, you just told me!" he accused her "So excuse me for not believing that!"

"You must be kidding!" Lily went bright red with anger "Remus is my friend! I would never, never divulge something so personal to anyone! Even he doesn't know I know! The only reason I asked you was for concern about him. Knowing full well that you knew that he is a werewolf. I would never have brought it up otherwise!"

"And how would you know that I know? Just because he is my friend? He is also your friend or so you say and he hasn't told you! What makes you-"

"Oh for Morgana's panties! Do you even hear yourself speak Sirius? You and the marauders think of yourselves way too highly. Why, for with nicknames like moony or mentions to his furry little problem surely one must be Merlin himself to be able to figure it out!" she said hotly, struggling not to raise her tone.

Sirius was getting ready for a retort when he found himself without one. So his mouth just opened and closed several times, searching for something to say. Lily used this time to take a couple of deep breaths and calm herself down. She forced herself to see things from Sirius' point of view. She took another deep breath.

" Sirius" she said softly, coming closer to him "I would never betray my friends' trust. I love Remus. He is one of the most gifted, compassionate and understanding people I have ever met. He has always been kind to me. He has always been a good friend to me. I would not betray that, for anything in the world. Please, if you do not want to believe in anything else I say, trust in this."

He looked at her. "He doesn't know you know?" he asked more calmly.

"No"

"You said you figured it out in third year. Why didn't you confront him?"

"I found out by sheer observation. If he had wanted to confide this in me, he would have. As he has not, I respect his choice and his privacy" she said simply.

Sirius sat on her bed and stayed quiet for a few minutes. A frown started to slowly appear on his forehead.

"You and him were friends in third year. You were working on that runes project all of the spring semester. Right to exams" he stated as if there was something wrong with that.

"So…?" Lily asked.

"When did you say you found out?"

"mmm, I don't remember exactly, but somewhere around Easter, I think. Why? What does it matter?"

"Well…" he said slowly looking up at her "I don't remember…any changes in your attitude towards him…and you have been friends all these years after" he said.

"I don't understand your point"

"You found out, you didn't tell him, and then continued to be his friend like nothing had ever happened?"

Lily frowned "That is not true. After I found out, and although I wouldn't say anything to Remus, I couldn't help but admire him. Admire his strength of character, his positivity and good mood, especially after the days of full moon, when I knew he must be having a very difficult time. The only thing I could do, is make sure that he knew I was there for him, even if he thinks me ignorant of his curse." She paused. Sirius was looking at her with a half smile. "I was so relieved when I heard you guys talk about his furry little problem. It was wonderful to know that he had confided in someone and that he had your support…why are you looking at me like that Black?"

"Nothing" he said raising his hands defensively and smiling. He stood up from the bed and enveloped Lily in a bear hug "You are a breath of fresh air Lily-blossom" he said "But. Know that not everyone would think of Remus' condition the way you do. The way we do. There is a lot of prejudice against werewolfs. They are considered…dangerous, even evil by some. Some would call the man and the wolf both a beast and treat them like such. So, please keep his secret." He let her go.

Lily had read about werewolf attacks in the Daily Prophet and she had sensed that…prejudice Sirius was talking about, but didn't really understand it. What fault could Remus possibly have? He hadn't asked to be bitten. A thought occurred to her.

"Sirius…do you think … I should tell Remus that I know?" She had kept quiet until now, but maybe it would do Remus good to know that, although some may have prejudices, she was not one of those people. Is that something he may worry about?

Sirius thought for a moment. "No" he said finally "he didn't tell us, he doesn't want people to know. For now at least, I think it's better if we don't mention anything to anyone" she nodded. "Anyway, come, I will take you to James, he would like to see you…oh, and mmm "he thought for a moment. He didn't want to mess with things that were none of his business, but after the talk about moony, he felt it should be okay to trust that Lily was intuitive and sensitive enough to understand… "you may wanna cut him some slack. I know it's been rough between you, but he is…how to say…he is warry to lose your ahmm…non-fighting agreement…so warry that he won't allow himself to be, well, James. And he is trying you know? Like with the water-lily"

Lily stopped. "He put that in the room?" she blushed with surprise?

Sirius raised an eyebrow "Well, you didn't think it was me, right?" He had to tread carefully, didn't want to say more than James would like…he was probably already crossing the line, but, Lily needed to know "He just wants to be your friend"

"Sirius Black! Is there a reason why there are thirty dung-bombs in my drawing room?" Mrs. Potters voice came from downstairs.

"Oh-oh" Sirius' face went livid "Anyway" he said hurrying down the stairs "cut some slack, be nice, say thank you, you know the drill, he is in the third room to the right!"

Saying that, he disappeared from sight, although Lily could hear him with his most charming voice, making excuses to Mrs. Potter. She let a laugh out. A nervous, nerve-wracking laugh. First the argument about Remus, then a plea towards Potter…what a rollercoaster! Now…she, took a deep breath before gently knocking on James' door.

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Thank you for reading .Please review!

And Happy New Year! ( it is so about time to say goodbye to 2020)

Stay safe!