AN:
I know, I'm an awful person. I haven't updated in a whole week.
I'm afraid this is a fluffy short one.
Any opinions expressed about Feliz Navidad is entirely influenced by a running family gag - I couldn't resist putting it in, even if it may not be technically correct.
I own nothing, but I did have fun making up wizarding titles of the Christmas carols.
Please enjoy!
Unconscionably cheerful music drifted upstairs with a beat that was as catchy as it was annoying. Rose glared as she pulled her dressing gown on top of her pyjamas, stomping downstairs with ill grace and her hair probably in a rats nest. Her mother was nowhere to be seen (it was a Saturday, so she was probably out and about with her friends for breakfast), her father was eating toast behind the mornings muggle paper, and the male Marauders were betraying their very code. At least Lily had the good sense to still be asleep. "What in the name of Merlin's sainted hippogriff is going on in here?" Rose was trying very hard to be calm. Sirius was right; she hated mornings .
"It's Jose!" James cheered, loudly singing along to the monstrosity on the wireless.
"I love this guy" Sirius announced, laughing. The spring in his step matched the twinkle in his eyes. It irritated her, but Godric was it adorable.
"Apparently, he and his lisp want to wish us a Merry Christmas" Remus informed them, tone as dry as a desert. Rose shot him a glare.
"Et tu, Rem?" Remus shrugged apologetically, as if to say it wasn't his fault.
"Good morning, Rosebud" Sirius cheered, smiling brilliantly at her.
"Is it?" she retorted, raising an eyebrow.
"From where I'm standing, it is" Sirius confirmed, casually going back to singing along with James. Rose shook her head, dropping into her seat at the table with a harrumph. That man was impossible. A steaming mug of tea was placed in front of her, Remus smiling slightly.
"Thanks, Remmy."
"Don't mention it" Remus muttered, waving his hand. "I think it's snowing again."
"That'll please Petunia" Jim remarked from behind his paper. "She's leaving to spend Christmas with Vernon's family today."
"Thank Godric for that" Rose muttered wholeheartedly, Sirius accidentally inhaling some of his of tea. James pounded him harder than necessary on the back, Sirius muttering something about James not needing to be such a bloody prick. James just laughed and said Marauder.
"Tell me you've already gone to the Court's Christmas function" Rose said suddenly, to the picture of some football player on the back of her father's paper.
"It's today" Jim's voice grumbled, sounding about as enthusiastic as if someone had offered the Marauders a day of studying Divination in the library.
"Bad luck" Sirius winced supportively. "All day thing is it?"
"We leave before lunch and should get back around ten tonight" Jim replied, his tone suggesting he was being marched to his execution. Now it was James's turn to wince.
"That sounds like my parents' Christmastime celebrations" he muttered, horror twisting his face. "Thank Merlin that they're spending the festive season in France with some of Mum's cousins who teach at Beaubatons." Remus looked up in what could only be described as barely concealed glee.
"The mighty James Potter, Marauder of the Most Noble Order of the Stag, mischief maker and firmest believer in disrespecting professors (after Padfoot in that respect, of course), has teachers in his family?" James dropped his head into his hands and groaned loudly.
"I hate you all" he announced, voice muffled by his hands. "I hope you all get doxy infestations."
"Ashwinder in your pants" Sirius retorted easily, James pointedly displaying his middle finger.
"What happened to being on our best behaviour?" Peter wondered, wandering into the kitchen with his voice still muzzy from sleep.
"Astra's Dad doesn't mind" Sirius shrugged, Jim finally dropping the level of his paper to glare at Sirius. The Marauder coughed once and amended. "Jim doesn't mind. Do you, Jim?"
"Not at all" Jim assured them. "You Marauders behaving yourselves would go against the very fabric of reality."
"We can behave" James protested, manfully ignoring the disbelieving scoff from Remus. "We can. We just choose not to."
"The bigger question" Lily suddenly said from the doorway, fully dressed as if she'd been up for a while. "Is why isn't the house decorated? It's six days to Christmas!" Rose watched as her father meticulously washed out his mug and set it to dry.
"Your mother and I thought that, since Petunia is deserting us for Christmas this year, you six might like that dubious honour." Lily's eyes bugged out.
"You're going to trust the Marauders to decorate for a holiday that isn't Halloween?" James opened his mouth, but a hand on his arm and a shaken head stopped him.
"First of all, Ev- Lilykins" Sirius said smoothly, Rose hiding a smile behind her mug of tea. "We resent the implication that we are unable to decorate a house for the festive season. Second, Halloween may be a Marauder speciality - and I did see you smiling during the Rocky Horror Skeleton Show - but we are also rather brilliant at Christmas too. In fact, we like Christmas so much that we don't include much pranking in the celebration of it." Remus narrowed his eyes pointedly.
"And on whose insistence was that, Padfoot?" Sirius muttered something that could have been Moony, Jim's rich laughter filling the room. Peter pointed outside with childish excitement.
"It's snowing!"
After what had been an epic snow war, the Marauders trooped in, stomping their feet from the cold. James and Sirius shared triumphant grins, having narrowly won despite Peter also being on their team. Petunia - who had been away when the group arrived the previous day - watched the six Hogwarts students trail in with a disgusted look on her face. She picked up her bags and sniffed disdainfully . "I'm going to spend Christmas with Vernon and his family" the horse-faced woman announced crisply. "I'll be back for New Years." As soon as the door swung shut behind Petunia, Rose's mother gave a quiet sigh.
"You can decorate the house now." Lily beamed and clapped her hands, bringing back a memory of another Christmas oh so many years before. James and Sirius volunteered to fetch the decorations down from the attic while Remus went to get a start on his special cocoa with cinnamon and nutmeg. Peter fetched the wireless into the living room, and Rose and Lily went and made sure that the tree was in the right position for decorating that night. Just before they got ready to start, Violet and Jim called them out into the entranceway, both dressed in fine evening wear - even though it was only technically just before noon.
"We're just off to the party now. You don't have to have the house decorated tonight if you don't want to" Jim said, tugging at his bowtie. Sirius rolled his eyes fondly and fixed it for him on his way upstairs. Violet smiled at the sight, a mirror copy on Rose's face. She loved watching her dad and Sirius interact.
"Enjoy yourselves and be safe."
"We will, Mum" Lily promised, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "You have fun too." Sirius chose that moment to start singing 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs' while boxes overflowing with Christmas decorations floated down the stairs in front of him. Rose felt love bubbling up in her chest, but she just grinned madly at him instead. The sight of Sirius 'Padfoot' Black singing a wizarding Christmas carol in her childhood home was one she'd cherish for a while. The fact that he sounded amazing doing so naturally had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
"Dashing through the snow, in a unicorn-pulled sleigh. Through the fields we go, laughing all the way" James sang merrily, emerging behind Sirius just as the elder Evans' slipped out laughing.
"Oi!" Rose protested, mostly for the principle of the thing. Unicorns were her thing, James wasn't to make fun.
"Wrong song!" Remus yelled from the kitchen. "Padfoot was singing God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs!"
"So?" James called back, supremely unconcerned. Sirius tossed a bauble at his head and summoned it back with a casual flick of his wand.
"Rudolph the red-nosed Thestral, had a very shiny nose" Peter caroled, not to be outdone. "Even though you couldn't see him, everyone could see it glowed. And then one foggy Christmas Eve, Merlin came to say, 'Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide Santa's sleigh tonight?'"
"Enough with the cheesy carols" Lily groaned, clearly never having had the (mis)fortune of hearing four heavily eggnog intoxicated Marauders sing the wizarding classic 'Grandma Got Run Over By A Puffskein' or 'Frosty the Mugwump' or even the slightly morose-sounding 'Carol of the House Elves'.
A little over an hour later, they were all doing their own things, relatively speaking. Lily was in the dining room, working on charming a miniature version of the Nutcracker ballet for their mother, Remus had commandeered the kitchen and was baking up a storm, Peter was hanging tinsel and making garlands, James and Sirius were outside with ladders and lights (and a little bit of magic when the neighbours couldn't see what they were up to), decorating the house exterior, and Rose was getting an early start on stringing the garlands around the living room and the rest of the house. Remus cheerfully sang the lyrics to 'Oh Come All Ye House Elves', the enticing smell of gingerbread wafting from the kitchen. Rose gave up on her chosen task, knowing it would be easier to get done after the tree was up and decorated. Instead, she joined her best friend in the kitchen, getting stuck in to help with the cookies and cake. Remus grinned at her, clearly glad of the help, and the duo got through the baking far quicker than Remus would have done by himself. James and Sirius trooped in not long afterwards, covered in snow and pine needles, bickering good-naturedly with one another. They dropped into their chairs at the kitchen table, helping with decorating the cookies without being asked. Sirius leant his chair back on two legs (continuing his tradition of not sitting in chairs properly), one hand in a bowl of Smarties, the other icing little glasses onto his Gingerbread James. Rose wiped the shortbread dough off her hands, switching on the muggle radio on her way back from locating the 'Marauder' cookie cutters. Gripped by artistic inspiration, James hogged the last tray of already baked cookies, humming along to My Sweet Lord while piping out icing here, there and everywhere. Sirius pulled a face at the back of James's head, swiping the mixing bowl that had held the chocolate cake mixture. The sight of Sirius cleaning the bowl was extremely distracting, Rose valiantly keeping her eyes on the rolled out cookie dough before her. Remus bumped lightly into her shoulder, his eyes twinkling even as they rolled at the behaviour of the black haired Marauders. "This cake is too good for Moony" Sirius announced the moment the bowl was clean. A thin line of chocolate was smudged on his bottom lip, and the bastard knew it. He winked at her, smirking in that infuriatingly gorgeous way he had. Rose looked back levelly, smiling despite herself.
"How so?" she invited, leaning one hip into the counter. Sirius' smirk widened, the chair protesting as he forced it even further backwards on two legs.
"You used copious amounts of six different kinds of Honeydukes Best in that cake, our Furry Little Friend would probably see that as some kind of sacrilege." A noise Rose would ordinarily describe as a whimper escaped her best friend's lips. Rose cocked her head in an exaggeratied show of thoughtfulness.
"I don't know, Siri, I think Moony would claim the cake for his Wolf's territory."
"Yes!" Remus yelled, nodding enthusiastically. "Cake. Moony's. Grr." For a split second, James and Sirius wore identical stunned expressions - eyes comically wide, mouths slightly open - then, they exploded into laughter.
"You did not just growl at us" James managed before his head fell forward onto a full bag of icing, pale green goo shooting straight at Remus head. Rose backed up against the counter, hand pressed to her mouth, trying desperately to stifle her giggles. The 'grr' echoed on repeat in her head; poor Remus. Sirius' hand raised to point at the green smear sliding down Remus' cheek, chest heaving with desperate laughter. The mirth was frozen on his face as his chair gave up the fight with gravity, and he toppled over onto the floor. James looked from the furious but stunned werewolf to his quietly chuckling and seemingly unharmed best mate, his mortification morfing into a wide, mischievous smirk. Rose instinctively backed closer to the safety of the counter, hoping James would forget she was there.
"Now let that be a lesson to you" the stag animagus grinned, squirting scarlet icing at Sirius face. "Grr." Remus' eyes narrowed dangerously, familiar mischief dancing in his eyes. He picked up a spoonful of leftover fruitcake dough, sending it flying straight into James's face. A flash of pink and rolling lips were the only parts of James's face that Rose could actually see. "Not bad" he hummed, reaching a hand up to clean his glasses. "Unfortunately, you are going to pay for that, Moony."
"I'm quivering" Remus replied, tone drier than Professor Binns'. James just smirked and leapt for his piping bags, a war cry leaving his lips. Rose watched them warily, pulling her legs up onto the counter. Grey eyes flickered briefly to meet hers, a smirk pulling at kissable chocolate smudged lips. Nothing good (from a non-mischievous point of view) ever happened after that smirk. Rose grinned back, tossing Sirius a little bottle that conveniently happened to be beside her.
"You're so dramatic, Prongs" Sirius drawled, tossing flour at his head and using the distraction to upend the little bottle down his trousers. Quick steps had him in front of her seconds later. He kissed her lips once, transferring the taste of chocolate and Sirius. His eyes sparkled gleefully. "I love you." A stupid grin stretched her lips, the moment ruined by a purple Smartie bouncing off her nose. Sirius glared at James. "Low blow. Noncombatant." James's mouth dropped.
"It was Moony!" Rose slid off the bench, brushing a kiss against Sirius' cheek, just because. And, if an egg happened to splatter all over Remus afterwards, well it was war.
Peter came in in time to get a facefull of melted chocolate, his laughter echoing in the kitchen. He then began to pelt them all with stray raisins. "Rats!" Peter yelled, ground nutmeg in his hair. Rose reached behind her, scrabbling for another food stuff to weaponise. A shout of her name had her looking up in time to catch a can of whipped cream.
"I love you too" Rose called, aiming the contents of the cannister at the nearest target, in this case Remus.
"What's all this yelling?" Lily asked, her voice too calm to be in the kitchen. "Rosie- MERLIN'S BEARD!" James hummed a line of Here Comes The Sun, Rose looking up sheepishly from behind her cereal fortress.
"Hi Lils?" Lily's eyes narrowed, almost spitting fire - James looked oddly nostalgic (it was how Lily usually looked after he asked her out, again).
"Don't you 'hi Lils' me, Rose Marianne Evans" Lily glowered, hands on hips. Rose thought James might be drooling. For some reason, he did like making Lily angry - strange man. "Look at this mess!" She walked in, the very air holding its breath. Two eggs appeared in her hands. "That's for the 1,796 times you asked me out, Potter" Lily smiled sweetly, James looking besotted, poor man. Rose had to give him credit - he still looked besotted even with egg running down his shirt. "And this" Lily continued, raising the other egg. "Is for-"
"You" Rose grinned, the egg exploding all over her. Lily's mouth dropped open, disbelief etched into the features so identical to Rose's.
"Oh, this is war" Lily swore. A complicated little charm later, their ammunition was replenished, and they were off again, laughter, trash talk and shrieking filling the kitchen.
Flour floated in the air, giving the appearance of snow inside the kitchen. Ironically, Dean Martin's voice crooned out Let It Snow, six witches and wizards breaking out into giggles at the absurdity of it all. "Merlin's beard" Lily said again, heaving a sigh. James pushed off the table, food dye staining splotches into his skin. He hauled Remus to his feet and waved his hand in front of his face.
"Godric, it's like playing Quidditch in a blizzard" he muttered, voice unintentionally carrying.
"Yes, Prongs" Sirius agreed, grey eyes peering intently at him. "We know, because you're the bloody prick that said it would bait off. And we nearly got sodding frostbite."
"Come on" Remus sighed gustily. "Sooner we get this mess cleaned up, sooner we can have some lunch." Lily drew her wand and muttered a quick charm, Sirius copying her movements exactly, without even looking.
"What is for lunch?" Peter wondered, Rose gingerly stepping towards the door.
"Bacon and egg pie" she smiled, feeling something (chocolate fudge sauce) cracking on her face. Bloody Remus. "I call dibs on the first shower." She ran out of the room, letting her laughter carry back to her family.
"Marauder!" Lily yelled back, amusement chiming along the words. Five voices in unison chorused
"Thank you!"
Thank you for reading!
Next chapter... More Christmas fluff