The morning after decorating the tree Harry woke late. Blinking at the bright sun coming in through the window he scrubbed a hand down his face, a bit surprised that Mrs. Weasley hadn't woken him up.

Curious he trudged down the stairs finding Tonks and Moody waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"Wotcher sleepyhead," Tonks grinned brightly at him. "Nice outfit."

Harry shrugged glancing down at the overly large sweats and stained tee he had slept in. "What's going on?"

Mrs. Weasley bustled in at that moment. "There you are Harry dear. I'm glad you're up. I would have woken you earlier but Ron mentioned how you've been having nightmares."

"Oh yeah," Harry answered hiding his astonishment that his friend had covered for him. "Thanks for letting me sleep Mrs. Weasley."

"Of course dear but it means you'll have to have breakfast on the go. Hurry now and get changed. We'll be leaving soon," she told him before hurrying off.

Harry's mind raced for a moment before he followed after her. "Mrs. Weasley do you think I could stay here? I could really do with some more rest,' he reminded her looking pitiful.

She hesitated. "It would certainly be safer for you to stay rather than traipsing all over London but I would hate to leave you alone."

"I won't be alone," he protested. "Sirius is here and he mentioned Remus will probably be back this morning," Harry made up knowing she wasn't in favor of leaving him with his godfather.

"Well if you're sure?" She smiled when he nodded eagerly. "Make sure you get something to eat," she instructed leaving to round up her children.

Harry held his breath until all five Weasleys and Hermione had made it out the door. Thankfully Mrs. Weasley had overruled the attempts of Ron and Ginny to stay back with him.

Grinning he went in search of his godfather, finding him in the kitchen staring intently at a piece of parchment.

"Hey," Sirius said looking at him in surprise. "How did you get out of going?"

Harry grinned at him. "I played on her sympathies and well," he looked a bit sheepish. "I kind of lied to her."

"Harry," Sirius admonished. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave the teen a stern look. "You know I don't approve of that."

"I know," Harry said complacently. "And I wouldn't do it to you. But it's ridiculous that she drags me to St. Mungo's just because she doesn't trust you."

Sirius relaxed conceding the point. "What did you tell her anyway?" He asked turning to pull more stuff out of the pantry.

"That Remus would be returning shortly," the teen replied coming forward to peer at the parchment. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Making Christmas biscuits," he answered. "I'm hoping Moony does show up today. He's been gone too long."

"You're making biscuits?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Don't knock it," Sirius said looking embarrassed. "It was one of your mum's traditions from her own childhood and she was excited to continue it with you. I thought I'd honor her by continuing only I'd make them and give them to you tonight since I didn't think you'd be here."

"Mum liked to cook?" Harry asked with interest.

"Well no," Sirius admitted with a laugh. "She was an okay cook but her baking was on par with Hagrid's."

The teen chuckled. "Did she know? Or did you and dad force yourselves to eat them and tell her how good they were?"

Sirius leaned on the counter, a soft smile on his face as he remembered. "The first year she made them on her own, after your grandmother's death, she ended up throwing them all away. Remus was the one that found her crying in the kitchen. He convinced her that it wasn't about the taste but the tradition and the memories they made. So from then on she made the biscuits and they sat on the table as decoration."

Harry was listening eagerly, always excited to hear about his parents. "And now you're carrying on the tradition. That's nice."

"We're carrying on," his godfather corrected with a grin. "Just because you got out of Mungo's doesn't mean you get to laze around."

"That's okay. I'm a better cook than you anyway," Harry teased. He almost fell over laughing when Sirius put on one of Mrs. Weasley's aprons. The man retaliated by handing him one that was even frillier.

"So," Sirius said once they had settled down and were measuring out ingredients. "I take it your aunt didn't continue this tradition in her own house?"

The teen snorted. "And mess up her clean kitchen? She always got store bought ones that she could display and impress her friends."

"Her loss," Sirius pointed out. "She missed out on all this fun."

Harry chuckled as he concentrated on softening the butter. "Somehow I can't see Aunt Petunia having fun." Hearing a strange noise he looked up, his jaw dropping in shock at the sight before him. Somehow Sirius had managed to coat himself in flower, and from the surprised look on his face, it was unintentional. He burst out laughing.

Sirius advanced on his godson, his flour coated hands outstretched threateningly. "I'll show you to laugh at me," he playfully growled grabbing the teen in a bear hug and shaking his head so that flour now covered both of them.

"Urgh Sirius, no fair," Harry complained taking his glasses off and wiping them on his shirt. "Back to work with you."

"You were a year old," the man started reminiscing as he went back to measuring. "Lily was cooking dinner and James and I were in the living room. All of the sudden she yells for us, using our full names too. We rush in and the first thing we see is you, sitting on the floor of the pantry covered in flour and grinning like you had just discovered one of life's mysteries. James, foolish man that he was, acted like you had just pulled your first prank."

"Bet mum wasn't happy about that," Harry pointed out grinning. He grabbed Sirius's bowl and began shifting the white product into his own mixture.

"Hardly," Sirius chuckled. "She was still yelling at him when we got done with bath time." He looked down at the finished product. "Who gets the first taste?"

"You do," Harry told him, dipping a spoon into the mixture and handing it to his godfather. "You said you didn't want me risking my life anymore," he pointed out cheekily.

"Brat," Sirius pretended to grumble as he took a tentative bite. "Not bad," he grinned as he stuck the rest of the dough in his mouth.

Harry grinned digging into the dough with his own spoon. Sirius stopped him before he could take a second bite. "Anymore and you'll make yourself sick, especially with no food in your stomach. You'd better make us some lunch or Molly will have both of our hides when she gets back."

Harry pouted but he did as he was told. The two were able to enjoy their sandwiches while the biscuits baked and to Harry's delight Sirius continued with his storytelling.

"Lily didn't go home for Christmas her seventh year. She felt like she had to stay because she was head girl plus I pretty sure she really wanted to stay with James. So her mum sent her this large tin of biscuit dough thinking she would have someplace to bake it and have a little part of the tradition." He began laughing. "The thing about your mama is that she had almost as big a sweet tooth as Remus. That tin never had a chance to make it to the kitchens. Sensible man that I am I stopped after just a couple bites and even James stopped soon after."

Harry was laughing so hard juice dribbled out of his mouth. "How much did mum end up eating?" He asked wiping his face and smearing the flour that still coated it.

Sirius snorted. "She and Remus ended up eating the entire thing. Had to go to the hospital wing later that night." He smiled as he launched into another tale.

Remus came in as they were decorating the finished biscuits. "What in the world…" he trailed off taking in the state of the kitchen.

"Moony," Sirius called happily. "Come have a biscuit and tell us what you think."

"I think the two of you are going to be in major trouble if you don't get this cleaned up before Molly gets back," He warned but he moved forward to accept the lavishly decorated biscuit. "They're actually quite good," he admitted grinning when the two cheered. "Now about this kitchen…."