The Christmas holiday so far was a blast. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus were having fun. They were sleeping in, mostly due to the fact they were staying up till late. They were playing Chess, Exploding Snaps and Quidditch. James enjoyed immensely from the fact that he was spending this holiday with his friends. There were a few days left before Peter and Remus would return home and he was thinking about their Christmas dinner. Well, James didn't know if dinner was the right word. It was more like a feast. Euphemia had brought her A-game. There was a lot of food, the decoration were beautiful and there were a bunch of presents. On Christmas morning when the four boys came down for breakfast James couldn't help to grin when seeing the expression on his friends faces. There were Christmas balls were floating in the air throughout the whole room and there were stars shooting from one side to the other in the kitchen and living room. On the walls were small, decorated Christmas trees with little plastic elves floating around them. In the middle of the living room there was a big Christmas tree, filled with the most bright colored Christmas balls, streamers and lights. On top of the tree was a beautiful golden lion, licking his paws and shaking his mane. Euphemia Potter had worn a special red dress, which was looking amazing with her dark, curls. "Good morning dears. Did you sleep well?" The three boys nodded while taking all the decorations in. James shook his head jokingly while smiling. "Yes, mother. You outdid yourself did year with the decorations. Are you trying to impress our guests?" Euphemia made a clicking noise with her tongue. "James dear, don't refer to your friends as guests. They are your friends and they should feel at home here." James rolled his eyes. His mother had made it her personal missions to make sure Sirius, Remus and Peter had felt at home since they were picked up from Kings Cross. She explained that they could take whatever they desired and if they didn't feel comfortable roaming in the cabinets yet, they could always ask her or Fleamont.

There were just a few rules that everyone had to follow. Remus, Peter and Sirius agreed instantly. "Of course, Mrs. Potter. We will follow every rule." Fleamont mumbled something under his breath that this would be probably the first time ever then in their lives. Sirius shifted a bit uncomfortable in the car seat when he heard this. "I would really enjoy it if we could eat breakfast together at 9. Dinner isn't mandatory, maybe you boys would like to eat somewhere at Diagon Alley for example, but I just ask you boys that you make sure I know in time. I cook exactly for the amount of people I expect for dinner and I don't like wasting food." The four boys nodded in agreement.

"Boys, if you could take a seat at the table. Breakfast will be ready any second now. And after breakfast everyone of you can open your presents. They can be found under the tree." When her sentence was finished their plates were filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and two sausages. Their cups were filled with tea and Pumpkin Juice. Of course three twelve-year old's and one thirteen-year old loved getting presents, so they started wolfing down their breakfast. Peter was almost shoving down toast down his throat and he started to cough. "Boys. Slow down now." Fleamont said, while putting down the Daily Prophet. "Let's actually try to taste what my lovely wife has made. So chew please." Peter was now flushed and his neck got some weird, red spots in it. He avoided eye-contact with Fleamont and slowly bit in a piece of toast.

"Honey, did you know that Sleekeazy's will probably open a second store in Diagon Ally. That will be the fourth place you will be able to get our products just in Diagon Alley alone. Our store and wholesaler in Hogsmeade is doing great too." Fleamont took a sip of his pumpkin juice. Euphemia lay her hand on his. "That is great, darling. But that does sound like it saturated market maybe in Diagon Alley." Fleamont smiled and pinched her hand a little. "Yeah, we are aware of that risk. It is just that after a few surveys among our customers there is still a part of Diagon Alley that they kind of miss. We are close to Gringotts, there are two drugstore like stores that sell it but somehow on the other side of the street there is nothing. And there is a lot of shopping you can do only in that part, so somehow we feel that there is a possibility to sell more. And probably starting next summer we will also put an order form in the Daily Prophet and owl-delivery these orders." James listened to his parents talking about their business. It was officially from his father, he built it from scratch. But his mother also had quite a few shares. She didn't necessarily worked in a branch for the company but Fleamont always talked to her about their new strategies and ideas. He valued her opinion a lot and made sure that he knew what Euphemia thought about it.

James had no idea if his parents, or maybe just his father, expected him to take over the company. James didn't even knew if he wanted to. He knew that some people in Hogwarts were being prepped to take over the family company. For example Alistair, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain. He was now in his seventh year. James knew that his parents basically choose his subjects for him to make sure he followed the classes that he needed to take over their shop at Diagon Alley. They had an apothecary where you also could get your ingredients for Potions class. James guessed that he also needed to read a lot of old books, since he also follow Ancient Runes, which Alistair greatly disliked. The thought of Alistair sighing deeply with his hands in his hair doing his homework quite late in the Common Room popped into James' head. Should I talk about it with dad? James thought. Maybe he doesn't expect me to, but he sure must have thought about it. Maybe I could ask him during this holiday, before heading back to Hogwarts. Even if he didn't expect it from James, he might still appreciate it if James maybe considered it. But the question was, would James want it?

The boys were quickly done with their breakfast, excited to open their presents. They rushed to the living room. "Wow, look at that! There are so many gifts." Peter said while grabbing one that had his name on it. Fleamont and Euphemia walked into the room, smiling at the sight of four boys in ecstasy from their gifts. "Did you wish we had more children after James? That we should have kept on trying?" Fleamont asked his wife while putting his arm around her shoulders. Euphemia had to think about that question for a bit. "No, I think it had to be like this. We tried for so long but we never succeeded until that faithful day in the fall. I think if we tried after James to get more kids we wouldn't succeed either. James is a miracle and a blessing. I am just happy that he has so many close friends. It feels like I have more children thanks to the fact that I have take care for four boys now." Fleamont couldn't help to smile while looking at his boy. "You are probably right. James was a handful sometimes and we weren't the youngest anymore, so maybe another would have exhausted us even more. Now we could watch James with the two of us, making sure we were always one step ahead of him. I must say it did not surprise me that he is still getting in trouble at school. Do you remember that one day we took him to the beach?"

Euphemia laughed when she thought back about that particular day. "That poor family and their dog. I still cannot believe James buried the dog up to his head in the sand. The whole family was in shock, but the dog seemed to like it. I still can't wrap my head around the fact how James could hold the dog still, dig the hole, burry the dog and still make him happy. He did not seem bothered at all by being stuck in the sand." Euphemia looked at her husband and couldn't help to feel a lot of love for him. She gave him a kiss and they both returned their attention to the boys. Remus was now unpacking massive piles of chocolate and couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, this one is from my parents." Peter said while reading a card that came enclosed with his present. "They send a present for me!" Sirius looked at the present that Peter was now opening with a unreadable expression on his face. "Sirius, honey, I think your parents also send you something. I think it's wrapped in something dark, like black and green or something similar." Euphemia said. Sirius looked at her with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Here it is!" James said. He grabbed a big gift, with black paper and a green ribbon. Sirius looked at the card attached to the ribbon. "From Mum and Dad." Sirius read out loud. He took the ribbon off, ripped the paper and inside was money. "Oh, look at that. Well, at least they thought about me, right?" He put the money down next to him and took his next present.

After 20 minutes all the gifts were unpacked and everybody was looking at each other's presents. Remus got chocolate, books, new scarf and mittens and a new chess-set. Peter was enriched with some new clothes, school stuff like quills and a lot of candy. Sirius got money, posters from the Muggle world such as pictures from ladies in bikinis, motorbikes and magical ones from Gryffindor. The Muggle ones were a gift from James, Peter and Remus. And the magical banners, posters and pictures Gryffindor were from Euphemia and Fleamont. They also gave Remus and Peter candy. James his presents were a broom maintenance kit for his broom, new school stuff, a lot of candy and money.

The boys spend their Christmas eating, playing games and playing Quidditch. Well, it was mostly James and Sirius who played. Remus barely cared for the sport and Peter tried, but he was in no physical shape of playing for longer than 5 minutes. After playing for almost an hour James and Sirius quit. Remus was sitting on the porch, next to the firepit with a book. Peter didn't stop looking at the match between James and Sirius. Today was the last day Remus and Peter were staying at the Potter Mansion. Tomorrow they would return home, back to their families. Sirius would stay the whole holiday. Remus and Peter would be reunited with James and Peter at Kings Cross to return back to Hogwarts in the new year.

James and Sirius joined Remus and Peter on the porch. Remus put his book down. "Hey James, can I ask you something?" James nodded. "Well, your house is quite big. Indeed a mansion, if you would say so. But how come that there are no house-elves here? Usually the purebloods have them, especially in a house of this size." James couldn't help but smile at the words about the size of his house. "Well, there are bigger mansions out there than this one." Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, take a look at my house. It is still quite a big house, but no mansion, not even close. But we have a house-elf. He is totally mental though, Kreacher is his name. But just like I said, we have one and our house is smaller." James knew what they were talking about. He thought back to some conversation his parents had a couple of times in his youth.

"Euphemia, darling. Why wouldn't we take one?" Euphemia slammed down her hand. "Because I don't want to. And besides, how could we even get one? They are connected to families. Should we steal one from your aunt, Fleamont? Is hat what you want?" Fleamont shook his head. "Of course that is not what I want. You know what I mean. There are families trying to get rid of theirs or maybe we could buy one from Hogwarts. There are several ways to get one." Euphemia was now the one who shook her head. "No, I think it's horrible to have on. Just like your own little slave. What difference is it to those views that those awful people have on Muggles? They are not less than we are. We should treat them as equals and we don't do that by making them work for us, clean for us, cook for us or whatever it is that we want them to do." Fleamont threw his hands up in the air. "Honey, I am just worried for you. We have a small boy we now need to take care of. So the only reason I suggested this is because I want to make it easier for you. We don't have to look at money at all, we can spare it. So you can focus on James and the stuff you like to do. Not on cleaning the house, laundry and cooking." Fleamont thought he was being a considerate husband, thinking about the needs of his wife who was now a mother of a six-year old.

"Did it ever occur to you at all that I do not mind doing all those things? That I might love to cook? To look at a clean house knowing it was me who did it?" Euphemia hissed at her husband, clearly hurt and insulted. "I know how to take care of my boy and my house, thank you very much. I've done this for many, many years and now that I have James with me all the time doesn't change a thing. I will still do it and just as good as before." Fleamont was quiet. He was surprised. Never in a million years he had thought about this from this point of view. "But honey, I know that. And I didn't mean it like that. Of course I know you can do all of it now that you have James with you. You are the best mother and wife I know. And you will still succeed in cooking and maintaining the house." Euphemia looked at her husband. She knew he didn't meant it that way. "It's okay. Let's drop it, okay? I don't want one, we don't need one. If things will go south in the upcoming months I might reconsider."

James knew that after that conversation his father maybe brought it op once again before James asking about it just a few months before he went to Hogwarts. His mother still didn't want to hear a single word about it. So James told this story, but in a shorter version, to his friends. They al understood. "I have so much more respect for your mother than I already had." Remus said. "Mostly because of the way she looks at minorities in the wizarding world. I wonder what she would say if she knew about my, eh, my condition." He said after a pause. James thought about this. And to be honest, he had no idea how his mother would react. If she would be repulsed by it, she wouldn't show. That he knew for sure. But he didn't know if she would be repulsed by it. Somehow werewolves were a bit different than house-elves. Especially since house-elves were a lot less threatening.

"I think she would be okay with it, you know." James somehow tried to think how his mother did. "She would be shocked and maybe a bit afraid. But she met you, she knows you. So every prejudice about werewolves being mean are thrown in the wind because of you. To be honest, she adores you. Every single one of you, by the way. So I think she would be worried, but mostly about you. How you handle it and how you feel." James suddenly felt sure that this would be the way his mother would feel about Remus. "How do you know this so surely?" Remus asked, with red cheeks. "Because she would feel the same way as me about this."

Authors note: Sorry for the long wait! Writers block, they are killing me. I have so many ideas, but they are not for this year right now. In their third year they can visit Hogwarts for example. I am looking forward into writing those adventures over their. And slowly they will start the progress of becoming Animagi.

So I just have to keep writing until I reach them. Hopefully you guys like this chapter! Any suggestions what you would like to see in the second part of their second year?

If you have any feedback please tell me! Reviews are always welcome and if you want to keep updated just follow and/or fav.