"Miserable bat," James said as he crashed onto his bed in the early hours of a Tuesday morning. The force at which he had slammed the dormitory door upon entering had woken his roommates up.

"Who, Jenkruss?" asked a blurry-eyed Remus.

"Yeah, she's only gone and given me another detention." He sighed loudly.

"Another…" Sirius muttered, still half asleep. "James, you were in detention as it was. How does someone get a detention in detention?"

Peter giggled.

"I don't know," complained James. "I was just sat there writing my lines like she told me to. The next thing I knew she'd come over and given me another detention."

Remus looked at him sceptically. "And you didn't do anything to provoke her, I suppose?"

"Of course not," he said with fake innocence. "Like I said, I was just writing -"

"What were you writing?"

"Well she told me to write 'I will be silent in lessons.' But I didn't like them so I changed them."

"To…?"

"'Professor Jenkruss should stay silent when her pupils are talking.' What?" James asked defensively at the look on his friends' faces. "I said professor."

Remus and Sirius began laughing, Peter didn't know what was so funny but not wanting to be left out joined in after a couple of minutes. They were only interrupted by Frank, their other roommate's, outburst for them to be quiet because he was trying to sleep. Or something along those lines anyway.

James wasn't the only one to get himself a detention in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Sirius managed to get himself three in Potions, two in Herbology, one in Defence against the Dark Arts and one in Transfiguration; somehow he had avoided any others. Each one was for misbehaviour or improper use of magic in some way. Peter got several in a variety of subjects, mostly for a poor display of magic, which his professors put down to laziness and unwillingness to learn. Remus had also got himself a few, though nowhere near as many as the other boys, and for completely different reasons.

At one point, just a few days before the last day of term, all the Marauders, except Remus, were called into the office of Professor Gemias.

He was an old man, and Head of Gryffindor house. He had a relaxed attitude that put his students at ease, though he managed to ensure he was always in control. Being small and overweight, only his round head showed over the top of his high table. Behind him stood a young woman who had been helping out in lessons. Her light brown hair was scooped loosely at the back of her head, and her face and eyes showed signs of humour.

"You three," Gemias said scanning a sheet of paper. "Have had more detentions in your first term than most people have in their lifetime at Hogwarts.

Sirius tried to suppress his laughter as the other two stayed quiet.

"Are you finding something funny, Mr Black?" The woman asked sternly. Something James thought to be quite hypocritical considering the look that she was finding something funny that was increasingly spreading across her face.

"No," he said, sobering up completely.

"Good," Gemias smiled. "Now, with the way you three are going you are never going to pay them off."
James' eyes narrowed, "What are you getting at?"

Gemias smiled again, "A letter has been sent to each of your parents, informing them of my decision. Each one has consented. You will be spending your Christmas here."
The boys gave a relieved smile before Gemias continued.

"In addition to serving your detentions, you will be helping the house elves to perform their duties and doing other tasks any professors feel suitable."

James and Sirius' faces dropped. "But you can't do that," they protested wildly.

Peter's look was one of confusion, "We have house elves?"

--------

The last day of term rolled around quickly and Lily and Alex where sat in the common room waiting to leave. Both were surprised to find the Marauders dressed in their pyjamas playing Exploding Snap.

"I thought you were going home for Christmas?" Alex asked, confused by their laid-back attitudes.

"Nope," James said. "We've got ourselves jobs."

"Jobs?" Lily asked dumbfounded.

"Yes, jobs."

They were stopped from asking anymore as Professor Gemias came into the room and announced it was time to leave.

"You three, you start now." Lily heard him say as she left the room.

--------

A couple of hours later Lily and Alex were sat in their compartment discussing Christmas plans.

Alex's mother had died soon after she was born, leaving her to be raised by her father. When she was 6 years old her father had remarried to a woman several years younger than himself and with little patience for children. The woman had developed a great resentment towards Alex for her close relationship with her father. As a result she welcomed any opportunity to stay out of the house; her step-mother urged these excursions. And so, Alex was able to take up the invitation to stay at Lily's house over Christmas.

"Well, mum likes to make a big fuss. She's like a big kid at Christmastime. We all get woken up before dawn to open presents, and we have this big meal at around midday." Lily explained cheerfully.

Alex laughed. "It sounds great, Jenny is nothing like that."

Before Lily could say anything else the compartment door opened and Alice and Marie, the other two Gryffindor first years, slid in.

"Where's Narcissa?" Alex asked as noticing one third of the usual group was missing.

"She, uh, met up with a second year Gryffindor guy. We haven't seen her since." Marie explained a look of relief on her face.

"Wow, she doesn't stick with one guy for too long, does she?" Lily asked amazed at the speed in which she was working her way through the boys at Hogwarts. "First Frank, then that third year, then James and now him; the poor thing."

"Oh no," Alice corrected. "She's not with him. She said as long as James wasn't around she might as well make the most of it."

Both Lily and Alex looked confused, the latter of who said, "But I thought they weren't going out."

"Oh, they're not," Marie admitted openly. "She's just got it into her head that they're having some kind of secret relationship he doesn't want anyone to know about. That's why he turned her down so publicly. Poor girl, she can't seem to realise when guys are giving her hints to get lost."

"Or people in general," Alice added quietly, making Marie giggle and the other two frown.

"But I thought you two were like, best friends with her or something?"

"You're kidding, right? We can't stand her. She's so self-centred; she never stops talking about herself. Seriously, we were grateful when she went off before."

"The only reason she's with us is because we promised Sirius, who's made some kind of deal with James that we'd be nice to her. She just took it the wrong way."

Now, Lily and Alex wore identical looks of shock at this revelation. Before they could say anything, though, the snack cart came by. By the time it had left Marie and Alice had moved on to another conversation.

"So, what are you getting for Christmas?" Alice asked as though their conversation had never happened.