DISCLAIMER: Don't own it. Don't sue. Or take a criminal action against me. (Chapter title is from Blackadders' Christmas Carol)

Chapter 26: A Merry Messy Kweznuz

Kim, much to her own surprise, was awake first the next morning. She would have bet all the gold in her Gringotts vault on Lily or Lena waking up at some ungodly hour and squealing way too much. But the room was still silent as she sat on the soft rug, gazing at the tree.

"Morning," someone whispered.

"Morning," she replied as Remus sat beside her.

"I heard movement but knew it wasn't Lily or Lena. It was way too calm," he said. Kim smiled.

"Shall we wake them?" she asked.

"Let's leave them for a while," he said, a bit too quickly. He ran his fingers along the rug. "I should congratulate you," he went on, staring at his hand.

"Why?"

"You're the smartest person in the school," he said. "No-one's ever guessed on their own before, I've had to tell them." Kim looked up at him, smiling.

"Remus, it's ok," she said.

"Sorry, I should have told you before you guessed," he went on. "You had guessed it was me, hadn't you?" Kim nodded. "Well done. Lena knew before she read the book, and she didn't realize that I wrote it."

"It's brilliant," Kim gushed. "How long has she known?"

"A couple of weeks," he said. "I hadn't planned on telling her until I was telling all the girls, it just happened."

"It's ok," Kim said. They sat in silence for a few minutes, knowing the only remaining thing to talk about, and neither willing to bring it up. Eventually, Kim decided to get it over with before the others woke up and their moment was lost forever.

"So … before when you were trying to get me to shut up about all that mushy stuff … were you just worried about the werewolf thing?" she asked quickly.

"Yes," he answered slowly. "I didn't know how you would react, and I didn't want to get my hopes up."

"Well, I still believe everyone can have what Lena and Sirius and Lily and James have," Kim said. "No matter what you say."

"Really?" he asked, looking up for the first time.

"Yes," she said. "If you love someone, their flaws don't matter."

"A flaw?" he asked. "It's a fairly big flaw, though." Kim shook her head.

"It's no better or worse than smelly feet," she said, and he smiled. She couldn't help it; he looked so adorable … she kissed him. He got over his momentary fright and pulled her closer.

"Merry Christmas," he whispered.

"Siri, Siri, it's Christmas!" Lena squealed. Kim pulled back, grinning, but Remus took her hand.

"If they can do it in front of us …," he said.

"You just want to get your own back on Sirius and James," Kim accused.

"Well, yes, but there are other reasons …"

"Lily!" Lena called, ripping open her hangings, "Wake up!" she turned around and spotted Remus and Kim. She smiled and went to wake the others. Remus and Kim carried on until they were hit on the head with a pillow.

"C'mon, you two, we've got presents to open!" Lily said. "You'll have plenty of time for that later." And that was the extent of the discussion of Remus and Kim's new relationship. Presents were now priority number one.

"Ooh, Siri!" Lena exclaimed, holding up a silver bracelet.

"It's a charm bracelet," he explained. "With the first charm."

"Aww, a nickle Quaffle!" Lena exclaimed. "I love it!" She kissed him.

"And James got me one!" Lily added. "With a … a teeny Hofner Bass! I love you!" she exclaimed, grabbing him.

"Thanks, boys," Ally said, holding up a very warm-looking purple hat-and-scarf set. Kim unwrapped an orange set, and Lena a large potions book. Lily unwrapped a framed poster, obviously purchased in Muggle London, entitled "The Beatles through the years," with miniature versions of all their album covers.

"Thank you," she said. "It's beautiful."

Here you go," the girls said, distributing their gifts to James, Sirius and Peter. "Kim made them, but they're from all of us."

"Oh, and I've only started yours, Frank, I didn't know what colours to use," Kim said. The boys were delighted with their new hangings done in the colours of their favorite Quidditch teams.

"Ooh, Lee, this watch is cool!" Sirius exclaimed. "Wow, it's specially designed for flying!"

"Extra strong, to withstand Bludgers and stuff," Lena informed him. Sirius grinned. He had lost count of the number of watches that had been smashed during Quidditch games.

"Lily!" James exclaimed in awe, holding a pair of leather Chase gloves with 'James Potter' embossed in gold letters on the back. "Wow …"

Remus looked at his own, much smaller, pile of presents … a few mince pies from his mum, socks from his dad and Italian pranking material that was unattainable in England from his older brother. But nothing from anyone else in the room … who were all busy opening their presents from home.

"Lily, your dad got me Please Please Me!" Lena called.

"Good, you can stop using mine now," Lily joked. "Look, he got me John's new album!"

"WOW!!" James exclaimed, unwrapping the electric guitar. "I love my parents!" he looked at Lily. "Why do I think you had something to do with this?" he asked.

"I helped your mum pick it out in London," Lily admitted. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," he said, gazing dreamily at it. "Wait, did you get this while you were buying Rem—" He stopped mid-sentence.

"Bugger!" Lena exclaimed. "We forgot! Kim pulled a small square box from her trunk and handed it to Remus.

"Thanks," Remus said, trying to hide his disappointment at the size and weight of the gift. He pulled the lid off half-heartedly, and then did a double take. The space inside was far larger than the box itself, indicating some clever spell work. He glanced warily at the others. They were all staring expectantly at him.

"Go on," Sirius urged him. He reached in and pulled out a guitar.

"W-what?" he stuttered, utterly flabbergasted.

"Merry Christmas!" Lily said. "From all of us."

"Thanks," he said, shaking his head. "It's – gorgeous." His eyes fell on the silver, and he put it down quickly.

"They're not real," Kim whispered. "It's paint. Lena made sure."   He smiled, and she pulled another package out of her trunk. "Here," she said. "I made you hangings, too. Magpies. It wasn't fair, everyone else having them except you."

"I wish I'd got you something special," he said.

"You have," she said, and kissed him quickly.

"Yes, you might want to explain that now," Sirius said.

"Have you convinced her that you're not a werewolf?" Ally asked Remus.

"Well ...that's not exactly what happened," he said.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. Remus glanced around, glad that Frank was in the bathroom. "I told her that I am a werewolf," he said. Lily and Ally looked at him, trying to work out if he was serious.

"Really?" Lily asked. "This isn't some prank?"

"Unfortunately not," Remus said. "I go into hiding every full moon, not to visit my mum. She's perfectly healthy, by the way." Frank returned from the bathroom.

"Is everything ok?" he wondered.

"Oh yeah, just giving Remus and Kim the third degree," Lena said. Ally and Lily exchanged a look.

"We're really happy for you," Lily said.

"Yeah," Ally added. "And we're ok with – with everything." They hugged Remus warmly. Frank looked slightly confused.

"Girls always hug him when they find out," Sirius muttered to James. "What's with that?"

They spent the rest of the day doing what people should do on Christmas day – eating chocolate for breakfast, sitting in front of the fire and eating far too much dinner. In the afternoon, Lena unearthed her Monty Python videos; Lily grabbed two of her Beatles films, 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Help!' They headed for the Muggle Studies classroom to hijack the Muggle appliances. The first years were all invited, though the purebloods had no idea who Monty Python or The Beatles were. As they soon discovered, The Beatles' films were very similar to Python, so all in all it turned out to be a very silly Christmas.

James and Remus spent the next few days getting acquainted with their guitars. They fought over Lily's chord books and who should play what.

"I should play rhythm," James insisted. "You're way better than me."

"No!" Remus exclaimed. "You play lead."

"Oh, shut up, both of you!" Lily cut in. "If you don't stop fighting, I'll bring both guitars back to Rob." James and Remus grinned sheepishly. "And Remus, stop being modest," she went on. "You have the hands of George Harrison. Play lead. James, you have John's hands. Play rhythm. I will play bass."

"But—"

"But what, James?"

"Won't John need his hands?"

"Shut it!" Lily retorted, though she was smiling. "What will we play?"

"I don't know," James said.

"Just play something, quick," Lena called. Remus laughed.

"Something in the way she moves …," he sang.

"What about drums?" Ally asked.

"The rhythm's in the guitars," Lily said in a very good Liverpool accent. Noting the blank faces, she elaborated. "When it was just John, Paul and George, no bassist or drummer or anything, and they'd turn up for a gig and the owner would say: 'What about Drums?', they'd reply, 'The rhythm's in the guitars.'"

"Oh," Ally said.

"Sirius should play drums," Lena suggested.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"He's always tapping his feet to the songs," she said. "He's got rhythm."

"That's fine," Lily said, "but where do we get a set of drums?"

"Transfigure something," James suggested.

"That's your answer to everything, isn't it?" Lena mused. "A bit of Transfiguration."

"Are you lot going to hurry up and perform for us or what?" Kim asked.

"Ok," Sirius said. "James … it's up to you … how do you go about this drum thingy?" So James sorted the drums out, kicked the others out of the room, and they practiced. When they called the others back up, they had mastered 'Something.'

"Loved it," Kim said. "Beautiful."

"I told you you'd be a good drummer," Lena said to Sirius.

"He is," Lily agreed.

"Are you going to start calling me Ringo, then?" Sirius joked.

"Nah, you look more like Paul," Lena said.

"No way!" Lily exclaimed. "I've always thought James was a bit like Paul."

"Sure," Lena said sarcastically.

"Don't you love us the way we are?" James asked pointedly.

"Of course," the girls answered quickly, wrapping their respective men in hugs, but exchanging knowing looks behind their backs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: I know, don't attack me. I've been busy with essays and stuff and I haven't got my laptop yet so there isn't anywhere to type. I could use the computers on campus, but then I'd be keeping people with serious work and stuff from them. And I'm too nice to do that …If you're still angry, blame my new friends! (Hehe, joking. They've actually made me get this up, so thank them)

Thanks to all the reviewers who've stuck with me, and I really am sorry!