Wednesday 19th December 1979

Potter Manor, 19:00

James was removed quite rudely from his thoughts by an almighty 'THUMP' on the floor beside him. It had been so loud and abrupt that he jumped and spun around only to see the grinning faces of all of his friends. His friends who all had boxes in front of him. Overflowing boxes.

"What- what's all this?" James asked, bewildered.

"Christmas decorations," Peter said.

"It says so right on the box," Severus said with an eye roll.

Marlene elbowed him. "Be nice!"

"I am being nice. It's not my fault that James is being stupid."

"Why are there boxes of Christmas decorations on the table and floor?" James asked loudly before an argument could break out.

The exchange of thumps between everyone said otherwise but at least they didn't start bickering again.

"Because you need to decorate!" Sirius told him.

"You're a bit behind," Remus added.

James just shrugged. He couldn't exactly deny it. He was usually decorating first thing in the morning on the first of December and, well, it very much wasn't the first of December. It was well past that. And there weren't any Christmas decorations. Or even any Yule ones. Well, there were some fir boughs in the main hall but that was it and that's only because the House Elves had a standing order to do that. James hadn't even realised that they'd been put up. But there was nothing else. No wreaths, no tinsel, no garlands. Nothing. Because all those required planning and neither he nor his parents had been up for much of that recently. Lily had suggested it a week or so ago, which lead to them putting up a Christmas tree in their wing of the mansion and one in the Receiving Room but both had remained undecorated as both he and Lily had got swept up with work and other responsibilities. No one had been feeling particularly festive. Not with everything going on. And decorations without that Christmas Spirit just felt wrong to James. Like he was trying to pretend to be someone he wasn't.

"Well, we're going to solve this," Sirius said, rubbing his hands together in glee.

"Without glitter," Severus added, much to James' confusion.

"Don't ask," Remus muttered. "Just be glad that Peter and Sirius didn't get their way on using the stuff."

That did sound like a very good thing. As much as James loved Christmas and hence also loved sparkly things, even he drew the line at glitter.

"Thank you," James replied fervently.

"We have every single type of Christmas decoration," Lily said happily.

"Muggle and magical," Sirius added.

"Don't forget the pine and holly boughs for Yule," Severus said, holding one of those up.

"It's a bit late for all of this, isn't it?" He asked, pulling decorations from the box nearest to him.

"Couldn't it have waited until the weekend?"

Even a weekend might not be long enough to sort all this out

There was just so much. How did they get this many decorations?

"We're in work on Saturday," Sirius reminded him. "And I'm on call Sunday."

"And the weekend would be way too late for decorating," Peter added.

"That too."

"But it's nearly the end of the day," James pointed out.

"Exactly. Nearly. Plenty of time to sort all this out."

James couldn't bring himself to disagree, not when his wife and friends were all looking at him so hopefully.

"Let's do this," he said and got loud cheering in response which made him smile.

"Bet you I can decorate a room faster than you," Sirius challenged.

A challenge that James instantly took. "Oh no, you can't."

"Oh, yes I can."

Lily giggled. "You both sound like a pantomime."

Which earned her confused looks from everyone. What in Merlin's name was a pantomime?

"None of you have gone to the pantomime?" Chryssie asked, exchanging a look of horror with Lily.

"We'll have to bring them to one." Lil said.

"Definitely. Next year though, I'm sure they're all sold out now."

"Are you going to explain what it is?" James asked in amusement.

Lily scrunched up her nose. "You really need to see one."

"Next year then?"

"Next year."

Well, at least that was one thing that was planned in advance.

"Why don't we each take a room?" James suggested, suddenly really wanting the whole Manor to be decorated at once. "See who's the fastest?"

That way it would all be done today and there would be Christmas here at home. Something he really wanted now that it was sitting right in front of him. Waiting.

"Which will be me," Sirius interjected.

"The fastest and the best at decorating," Lily added. "You don't want the decorating done poorly, do you?"

James shook his head. No. He definitely did not. He wanted to cheer up and cheer his parents up. A mess of decorations wouldn't do that.

"We'll do that then," he decided. "The fastest at decorating the best."

"I am not using any of the tinsel," Severus said quickly, giving the box of stuff a dirty look.

"Aw, come on," Chryssie said, taking a strand out and draping it around him. "You can't have Christmas without tinsel."

"You certainly can."

Decorating got postponed for a further twenty minutes as they all spent that time trying to wrap Severus in the stuff.

He was not amused.

Saturday 22nd December 1979

Potter Manor, 11:30

Sirius was standing next to James and Lily at Fleamont's and Euphemia's insistence. Even after all these years he still couldn't fully wrap his head around the fact that the Potters considered them theirs. It was just such a weird thought.

He and James and Lily were doing the greeting of their Yule guests. The Longbottoms. This was at James' insistence (there was a lot of insisting today) because he didn't want his parents to strain themselves so they were safely ensconced in the parlour while he and the more recently married Potters (yes, it was fun to call James and Lily that) were doing the welcoming. And him, apparently. Whatever. He wasn't going to think too much into it. It was Yule! Time to celebrate. Have fun. Live a little. Laugh a little.

The floo flared bright green. Yes! It was starting.

First, of course, it was Lord and Lady Longbottom. And then in was Frank and Alice. A very happy looking Alice. Frank was also beaming. Lord and Lady Longbottom also had smiles on their faces, though theirs was much more retained. Huh. Cool. Everyone was in a good mood. Perfect.

Alice made a beeline for Lily and the pair were soon hugging.

"I have some amazing news to share," he heard Alice say excitedly but he was then distracted by shaking Frank's hand warmly and getting pulled in for a brief hug.

"We have some good news," Frank corrected.

"That's what I meant."

"Of course, dear."

Everyone laughed at that and chattered about small things as James and Lily lead the way to the Parlour so they could all be together.

"Mum, Dad, everyone's here," James announced unnecessarily as they all crowded in.

"We are-" Fleamont stopped to cough violently. "We aren't exactly up to being good hosts right now, Augusta."

The Longbottom Matriarch sniffed. "And who exactly said you would be hosting anything?"

"Well, you-"

"I mean, this isn't exactly a party, is it?" Augusta talked over him, gesturing around them. "Or a ball. This is just a celebration of the holiday season with family. No hosts required."

"Still, we should-" Fleamont tried to stand up but Trevor pushed him back down before James could tell his father off.

"Don't be ridiculous, Fleamont. We may not share any recent blood but the Potters and Longbottoms are as close to family as you can get."

Sirius inexplicably felt jealous at that comment. He knew it was ridiculous; he was definitely closer to James than Frank was but that didn't stop him feeling jealous about the connection the Potters and the Longbottoms had. Of course, he knew it was down to the Alliance between the two families that had been in place for centuries now.

"Do you have anything to add to this, Trevor?" Euphemia asked wryly.

"No," he said pleasantly. "I think Augusta covered everything quite well there."

"Of course, I did. I am always fully prepared."

"Except for Charms," Euphemia said, a twinkle in her eye.

That earned her a sharp look from her friend as Frank and Janes chuckled in amusement. Sirius exchanged a confused look with Lily who shrugged. Oh, there was a story there...

"Right," Augusta said, settling down in the chair next to Euphemia's. Did you hear about the Malfoys? They're finally expecting a child."

She then proceeded to give Frank and Alice a pointed look. Sirius frowned and looked at the extremely happy looking couple.

"That was subtle, mother," Frank said sarcastically.

Subtle? What was she being subtle about? She just came out and told them the news about the Malfoys...

Euphemia gasped, causing a coughing fit.

"Really?" She asked in an excited voice.

"Go on, Frank," Augusta urged.

Alice and Frank looked at each other and then stood up.

"I'm pregnant," Alice blurted out, unable to contain herself.

There was a split second of silence before the two of them were engulfed in hugs from Lily and James.

"Oh, congratulations!" Lily all bit squealed.

Well done, buddy," James said, clapping Frank on the back.

Sirius wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do except awkwardly offer his own congratulations.

Wow. A baby.

12 Grimmauld Place, 16:00

"Master Regulus?"

Regulus nearly fell off his chair in shock at hearing his name.

"Kreacher! Don't do that!" He scolded once he realised what had happened.

Kreacher started twisting one of his ears. "I is sorry, Young Master. I wills be punishing myself later for that."

"No, don't do that," Regulus said softly, now that he had calmed down, regretting that he had snapped. "It's my fault."

"I should not bes frightening you."

"I wasn't paying attention. Don't punish yourself."

He hated Kreacher punishing himself. He also hated his parents punishing Kreacher. Not that he could stop the latter but he had some control over the former. Their other Elves, he didn't care overly much for, though he would rather not be around for any sort of "fun" to do with them.

Then he realised that Kreacher wouldn't have come into his room without a good reason.

"What did you come in for?" Regulus asked.

"Mistress be saying that is being time for the ritual," Kreacher replied, rocking slightly on his heels

Regulus glanced to his pocket watch and did a double take at the time. It was that time already? Actually, he had been unaware that it was the solstice tonight, that's how involved he had been in his research. His self-inflicted research but still. He shouldn't be forgetting days like that. No matter how much he wanted to know exactly what the Dark Lord put in that basin in that cave Kreacher had been brought to.

He didn't know why he needed to know this badly but he did. It was obviously something extremely important. Was it something that Regulus could use to get out of this whole Death Eater situation completely? He hoped so. Because if it was something like that it meant he had a better chance of staying alive. So, he hoped anyway.

He rubbed at his eyes, just now realising how strained they felt.

"Tell mother that I am coming."

Kreacher nodded obediently. "Yes, young Master. I will tells Mistress. Would you likes me to be cleaning that up for you?" He pointed at the books and goblets on the table Regulus had been working on.

"Oh, no thanks, Kreacher. I'm not done yet and I'll be coming right back to it when I finished the ritual."

He didn't want to look for all of those books again. Not that any of them had been useful so far.

Kreacher nodded, though he didn't look too happy about it, and Regulus stood up. Best to get downstairs to his parents before mother started screeching.

Sunday 23rd December 1979

Diagon Alley, 12:30

Sirius kept a careful eye on James as they wove their way across Diagon Alley. Not that James wasn't doing his job or anything like that. Actually, he was doing their patrol with the intensity of someone who was ready to go into battle at a moment's notice. Which was a bit intimidating for the general public - not that there was much "public" right now. Hadn't been for ages, even though it was so close to Christmas. Diagon Alley was basically empty. Just a few people scurrying about from shop to shop - wanting to get their shopping done as quickly as possible. No one was stopping in the middle of the street to talk. No one was pressing their noses to windows, gaping at the newest things. No. There was none of that.

It was weird. It was odd. It was kind of creepy. Sirius didn't like it. Couldn't get used to it. Didn't want to get used to it. Because it was unnatural. All the fear and uncertainty in the air. It didn't belong in Diagon Alley.

Anyway, making sure James was alright meant that he didn't have to think too much about himself. Or how he was feeling. Sirius was never too good about thinking about how he was feeling and he didn't intend to start now. No, thank you. Thinking about your feeling never did anything good. So, he squashed them down. Easy. He had lots of practice.

So much practice that he wasn't going to think about how fragile Euphemia and Fleamont Potter looked. And how they looked more fragile and delicate and pale by the day.

No. He wasn't thinking about it.

"What was that?" James asked, suddenly swirling around with his wand out.

"That was just someone running between shops," Sirius said with a sigh.

Apparently, anxiety made James a bit jittery.

"They shouldn't move so fast," James complained but resheathed his wand.

"You need to pay more attention."

"I am paying attention!"

Sirius sighed. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

Tuesday 25th December 1979

Potter Manor, 14:00

"These wizarding crackers are just fantastic," Gavin said, enthusiastically waving around the remnants of the one he had just pulled.

It had got him a satin top hat that was too small but he proudly perched on his head anyway. He looked ridiculous.

Lily just shook her head in fond exasperation.

"You aren't letting him have any unsupervised, are you, dear?" Euphemia said knowingly.

"Definitely not," Lily informed her mother-in-law and both women laughed.

There was a lot of laughter going on today, for which Lily was grateful for. Any opportunity to laugh these days was a good thing.

Especially a nice Christmas. Because it was a nice Christmas. No, scratch that, it was a good Christmas. A really good one. Euphemia and Fleamont seemed brighter and more energetic today. Hopefully that meant that they had turned a corner. That would be the best sort of Christmas gift. Her parents were here and doing well. And everyone she cared about was here; the Marauders, Marlene, Chryssie, Severus, even the Longbottoms. Well, almost everyone. Petunia wasn't here. She had been invited but had turned them down. But Lily wasn't going to think about that. There was no point.

Instead, she was going to focus on her family right here, right now.

"Pull a cracker with me, Lily," Sirius all but demanded, thrusting the end of one in her face.

Friday 28th December 1979

Department of Mysteries bathroom, 14:30

Lily frowned as she looked at the calendar. Huh. She hadn't put a mark on it like she usually did each month. She liked to track her cycles that way, a little dot in the bottom corner of each day. Her mum had advised her to do it before she got married, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she had a medical reason to or anything. But she did it because her mother had told her it was something she should keep track of, just in case. Why her mother was being all mysterious about that of all things, Lily didn't know. Either way, she hadn't done it this month. Weird.

Must have been because of work and looking after Fleamont and Euphemia (not that she would ever, ever begrudge them anything. She loved them so much) and just life in general. It must have just... fallen by the wayside.

Had she even had her period this month? She couldn't remember. A lot had been going on. Between helping James with his parents and all the research she had gone headfirst into at the Department of Ministries she hadn't even had time to do any classwork for Flitwick, which was a shame because she had supposed to be doing a few classes every Friday now but she simply hadn't been able to. She was supposed to present her research project to her mentor and other Unspeakables in the new year as evidence for her to be sworn in as a low level Unspeakable. It had been a long slog the past year, with lots of stops and starts and restarts in her research but she had finally hit a topic that was interesting and somewhat obscure. Something she hoped would impress them. Hence, the other reason why she had no time for other lesser responsibility never mind tracking things that didn't really need to be tracked.

But seriously, when had her last period been? Was there a spell to check that? Surely there had to be...