Disclaimer: Sigh, do I have to keep doing these?

Holy Stalagmites! I got two reviews! So, as promised, here is the next chapter. Also I am revoking the update limit rule and will now simply update on Sundays, rain or shine. Thanks for making my day. ; ) I knew there were reviewers out there somewhere...

Chapter Nine: Christmas at Godric's

Sirius skipped merrily through the snow, causing Remus to laugh. "Stop skipping Padfoot. People are staring."

Sirius ignored Remus and flounced around, dropping to the ground. He started to energetically make a snow angel and Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius pulled his scarf away from his face and stuck his tongue out. Remus wasn't sure if it was directed at him or with the purpose of catching the snowflake that had landed on the tip of his tongue. Sirius spoke after closing his mouth to swallow the snowflake. "To hell with people Moony. I know I'm the greatest and that's all there is to it." Remus wasn't sure if it was directed at him or with the purpose of catching the snowflake that had landed on the tip of his tongue.

Remus shrugged and dug his hand deeper into his pockets. "Pad, remember that little talk we had about humility?"

Sirius sat up. "Yeah, was that one about me humiliating you in a snowwitch building contest?"

Before Remus could protest Sirius had dove into a massive pile of snow and started clumping it into a ball. No wanting to be undone, Remus quickly began to construct his own mound of snow.

When they were done, Remus had built a snowwitch that looked something like Lily and Sirius had made one that looked suspiciously like Molly Weasley. Remus looked around to make sure Molly wasn't going to pop up around a corner and beat the living daylights out of them both. Remus breathed out, they were safe.

The two had decided to stop in a muggle park for a while before they headed over to James Lily's for Christmas dinner.

"I do believe that I am the winner." Sirius declared.

"What? My witch is clearly better." Remus would not give up without a fight.

"Oh yeah, then where's her nose?"

Oh

Remus inspected his witch and found that she indeed had no nose. Sirius smiled triumphantly at him. "I win." The animagus said easily and plopped back down onto the ground.

Remus frowned but scooped up a mittenful of snow and tossed it into the air high above Sirius' head. Sirius transformed into a dog and leapt up to catch the snow in his mouth.

Laughing, Remus reached for another handful.

After several snowballs Remus' arm had begun to ache, but Sirius was not ready to stop yet. Remus bent over for more snow. "This is the last one Padfoot." Remus warned, packing the snowball down. Sirius nodded eagerly, his tongue lolling out of his mouth in a grin.

Remus tossed the snowball underhanded high into the sky. Sirius ran around another underneath the snowball but overestimated it and the snowball landed with a plop on Sirius' nose.

Sirius yelped and ran in frantic circles, swiping his nose with a paw.

Remus watched the sight with amusement and laughed. "C'mon Padfoot, we have to get going. Don't want to be late for dinner now do we?" Sirius came bounding over and knocked Remus over, excitedly licking his face.

"Arrgh, you mutt. Geroff!" Remus struggled to lift the dog up but Sirius stubbornly stood his ground.

"Well well, isn't this cute." Remus started and Sirius leapt off him, his tail in the air and he showed his teeth, growling loudly.

Remus stood up to face Lucius Malfoy with a little boy in his arms.

"Malfoy." Remus said slowly. It was out of place to see a Malfoy in a muggle area. Let alone with his son. 'The dirty muggle ways might rub off on his impressionable mind or some other rubbish.' Remus thought.

"Lupin. What a…charming dog." His son buried his face in his father's cloak. 'Sirius is scaring him.' Remus realized, noticing the boy's wide eyes didn't leave Sirius.

Remus grabbed Sirius by the scruff of his neck and yanked him backwards gently. "No Padfoot. Be a good dog." Remus said, shooting Sirius a glance that told him to play along at the same time.

Sirius grinned in the way only a dog could and let his tongue loll out of his mouth in a happy pant.

Lucius set his son down on the ground and looked warily at Remus. "What are you doing in a muggle park on Christmas Lupin? Surely you have some sort of acquaintance you haven't scared off yet to spend today with?"

Remus folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow at Malfoy. "Yes actually I do. I'm going there now. Might I inquire as to what you are doing here?"

Lucius Malfoy smirked. "Draco and myself were merely out on a stroll."

Remus felt Sirius move from where he had been leaning against his leg but ignored it.

While Malfoy and Remus had their little battle of wits, something Sirius had never been to good at, trading insults was a waste of time to him, Sirius preferred to just the hex the whoever was bothering him. So while one of best friends battled with one of his worst enemies Sirius took the moment to examine his youngest cousin, who was playing with a small mound of snow the same way Sirius had not too long ago.

Sirius trotted over to Draco and plopped down in front of the little boy. Draco looked up for a moment and smiled. Sirius let his tongue hang out again. 'Cute kid, not as cute as Harry though. I don't think any baby could beat Harry.'

Draco pushed some snow over to Sirius and resumed constructing a…well…whatever it was he doing with the snow. Sirius almost laughed. A Malfoy, sharing. That was unexpected. Sirius placed a paw on the snow mound and created a paw print.

Draco's eyes wandered over to the paw print and he pressed his own small hand into the snow next to Sirius'. 'Aww, now that is cute.'

The little boy pushed himself up very slowly, abandoning his snow construction, and clung onto Sirius' fur. Not quite ready to walk without falling over, he just stood there looking with a serene expression.

Sirius knew that look well. Harry would get the same look on his face when James would show him a snitch or when James looked at Lily. It was a look of fascination.

Lucius seemed to notice his son for the first time in minutes and he gave a cry of rage.

Lucius swiftly kicked Sirius in the stomach, who lurched away with a howl of pain. Draco fell over into the snow without Sirius' support and started to cry.

Remus pulled his wand out of his pocket and knelt beside Sirius.

"Keep your filthy mutt away from my son." Malfoy hissed out in barely suppressed rage. Swooping Draco up, Malfoy turned on his heel and strode away.

Sirius transformed back as soon as the two had gotten out of sight. Remus helped him up. "Sorry mate, I didn't think he would kick you." Sirius shook his head to get the snow out of his hair and smiled.

"S'allright Moony. I'm fine. Just surprised me is all." Remus looked at him skeptically and Sirius laughed, swinging an arm around Remus' shoulders. "Don't worry about it Moony. C'mon we're going to be late." The two left the park; the incident with the Malfoy's already forgotten.

James strung up the last row of popcorn on the enormous tree. Carefully, he stepped down off the ladder and smiled happily at his handiwork. James swiveled to face Harry, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor behind him chewing on a stuffed dragon.

"What do you think sport? Is your old man good, or is he good?" Harry laughed and threw the dragon down, holding his arms up to be lifted. James obliged and stooped down, scooping up Harry at the same.

"Ooof Harry. When'd you get so big?" James tickled Harry gently, making the little boy laugh.

A pair of hands wrapped themselves around James' neck and he turned around into his wife's hug. "They should be getting here soon." Lily murmured into her husband's chest. James nodded and took his glasses off with his spare hand and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah. I can't wait to see them. I haven't seen Peter in ages and the last time I saw Remus or Sirius was last week or so and we were busy defending Gringotts from blood-sucking evil Death Eaters from hell."

Lily slapped him on the arm "Stop that, no swearing in front of Harry. You'll scare him!"

James looked down at the little boy in his arms and found his bright green eyes staring back at him with no sign of fear at all. "Lils, I think he'll be just fine."

The doorbell rang and was followed in quick succession by the loud barking of a dog and then laughter. James rolled his eyes and handed Harry to Lily. "They're here." He muttered before walking over to the door. "Why did we agree to this again?"

James opened the door and was tackled by the great big dog that he knew to be his best friend.

Sirius turned around and grabbed a hold of Remus' belt with his teeth and yanked him forward, causing Remus to topple over on top of James. Sirius leapt to the very top of the pile and started howling loudly, clearly proud of himself.

James turned his head to look at Remus whose face was near his shoulder. Both of them had very disgruntled looks on their faces. "Hi Moony." James said, his voice muffled by Sirius' howls and Harry's delighted laughter.

"Hi." Remus grunted. "What'd you think, should we neuter the git?" James nodded with a grin.

Both men launched themselves up at the same time. Sirius toppled off the pile, transforming back into a human when he hit the floor. Remus and James laughed as Lily went to shut the door rolling her eyes.

Peter arrived shortly afterwards, laden down with brightly wrapped gifts that Sirius was eager to help bring in, all the while looking for one with his name on it.

The marauders sat in the den for a while chatting and catching up with each other. Lily brought in eggnog and milk for Harry. They talked about what had happened recently and many laughs were shared.

James was surprised to find out that Sirius had pranked Moody. The scarred Head Auror had marched around the department for almost a week vowing to find whoever had planted Hair Dying Potion into his hip flask. So far, he had been unable to change his hair back from its lime green look and was on the warpath.

Remus was equally as shocked. "You're the reason Mad-Eye came into my office and did a full body and desk inspection. He thought I had planted evidence on myself." Remus exclaimed.

This just caused Sirius and James to laugh louder. "It's not funny! He looked everywhere. And then he walked away to do Johnson!" Remus was red in the face by now and decided not to take the matter any farther.

James wiped a tear away from his eye. "I still just want to know how you got into his flask. He always keeps it with him."

Sirius looked away and folded his arms. "A good prankster never tells his secrets."

James kicked him and looked at Remus. "So why did you show up with Sirius in dog form?"

Remus frowned and picked up Harry off the floor. He had been hitting Remus' knee with a picture book for the last five minutes. He obviously wanted it read to him. "We had a little run-in with Lucius Malfoy."

Both James and Lily straightened up in their seats. "Not around here was he?" Lily asked.

Remus shook his head and passed Harry to Sirius, who took the book as well. "In a muggle park miles away away. He had his kid with him too but I just wanted to be careful. He saw me and Sirius goofing around and Sirius was in dog form so I decided to keep him like that."

"He kicked me." Sirius muttered without looking up from the picture book.

"I'm sorry, what?" Lily asked. "Lucius Malfoy kicked you?"

Remus waved his hand to dismiss it. "He kicked him because he was near Draco. What were you doing anyway Padfoot?"

Sirius looked up. "Nothing, Me and Draco were playing in the snow when Malfoy cut in. Rather unnecessarily violently I might add."

James raised his eyebrow. "You were playing in the snow with a six-month old?"

Sirius shrugged. "A dog can do whatever he wants." No one had a comeback for that, it was true.

The five sat there enjoying idle chatter while Sirius read quietly to Harry.

"Maybe we should open presents now?" Peter suggested, looking at the mounds of gifts.

Sirius sprang up. "Yes! Presents! Me first!"

Lily grabbed him by the back of his shirt. "No Sirius. Youngest first, that would be Harry."

Sirius pouted and sat back down. "Fine I won't go first, but I will go third." James laughed and scooted down onto the floor and grabbed the nearest gift. It was wrapped in shiny red paper with a white bow and a singing Santa tag that kept belting out, "To Harry! Ho Ho Ho!"

James rolled his eyes at Remus. "Cheesy much?" Remus shrugged and smiled. "I thought Harry would like it." James handed Harry the present, who clapped in delight.

Remus shot James and 'I told you so' look.

Harry stared at the present, unsure what to do.

Lily reached around Harry and undid the bow. "C'mon Harry, pull at the wrapper like tha… good. Oh. What did Uncle Remus get you?" Lily held up a stuffed animal in the shape of a brownish gray wolf.

Peter's, Sirius', and James' jaws all dropped. "No way Moony!" Sirius cried making a grab for the toy.

James turned to Remus. "It looks just like you!" Remus flushed slightly but was smiling.

Peter looked down at the floor. "Well, that kind of ruins my gift."

James raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah Wormy? What'd you get him?" Peter pointed to a yellow gift that had snitches flying all over it. James grabbed it and hauled it up to Lily.

With his mother's help Harry unwrapped Peter's gift and Lily held up a stuffed animal in the shape of a mouse. It had a red bow tie done around its neck and a brooch that had a picture of Harry on it. Obviously Peter had put a lot of thought into it. Lily smiled and hugged Peter, who blushed furiously. "Thanks Peter. That's really thoughtful."

Peter shrank into his chair but the shy smile never left his face ad it took several minutes before the blush left his cheeks.

"Your turn Padfoot!" James announced and dove for a blue gift with a red lion roaring loudly on it. Sirius got there first.

He yanked the gift from James and held it behind his back. "Umm… no… actually. I think I'll just get him something different. You know so…hey!"

Remus had accioed the gift from behind Sirius and handed it over to Lily. Sirius made to lunge for it again but James sat on his chest, effectively pinning him to the floor. Lily undid the tape holding the wrapping together and she gasped aloud at what was in the box.

"Sirius." Her tone was that of strained control.

"What did you do Padfoot?" James asked, still sitting atop the gift-giver.

Lily answered for Sirius by holding up a very small baby-sized leather jacket. All four marauders started laughing uncontrollably.

"I thought it would be cute." Sirius insisted.

Lily looked so disapproving that Sirius hastily added onto his explanation. "Wait Lils! It's a two-part gift. You missed the other present."

Lily reached back down into the box and retrieved a black dog-stuffed animal. The marauders all sat staring dumbly at each other.

"We didn't plan this did we?" Remus asked uncertainly.

"It is a little creepy." Peter added.

James shook his head. "Wait'll you see my gift."

James stood up, finally letting Sirius up off the floor. He returned with a present wrapped in silver paper and a green and red bow.

James knelt in front Harry and held out the gift. "Happy first Christmas Harry." With a wave of his wand the lid flew off and baby Harry was faced with a slivery cloak that shimmered when he reached out to touch it and a stag stuffed animal.

Remus went second and from the Potter's he received several new robes and a book on werewolf transformations. From Peter he got a new wand holster that had intricately carved designs of a wolf and several runes on it. Sirius got him a new quill and ink set including several inkbottles of invisible ink and inks in red and gold.

Sirius, as promised, went third and from Remus he got several books on Quidditch and a quaffle, having lost his many months ago. Peter got him fingerless motorcycle gloves and a leather jacket of his own. Lily, James, and Harry got him a pocket watch form the same makers as the Weasley's grandfather clock. The watch had five hands on it, one for Remus, Peter, Lily, James, and Harry.

Then it was Lily's turn and she got several new robes and books, which she accepted with delight.

Then Peter's turn and he got a lifetime's supply of joke supplies from Sirius and James and a new broomstick and ball set from Remus and Lily who had gone in together on the gift.

James received books on baby care from his wife, the latest book on Transfiguration from Remus, it had been James' favorite class in school, personalized Quidditch robes from Peter, and lastly a miniature model of Sirius' bike from.

It was agreed to be a great Christmas.

Several glasses of eggnog and one fabulous Christmas dinner later, Peter decided to leave. "I have to get home and see Mum. I forgot to drop off her gift today so I better do that." Everyone said their goodbyes and Peter left.

An hour after that Remus too, left. He left in his wake an empty plate that had once contained about a dozen cookies and had also belonged to Sirius. Obviously Sirius hadn't known about this latest treachery by Remus, who had just this morning, eaten his last Chocolate Frog and was inconsolable when he found the empty plate hidden under the couch.

When Harry fell asleep curled on the floor surrounded by his new stuffed animals, Lily called it a night and carried Harry upstairs. Even in his sleep he refused to surrender his new toys.

Sirius and James sat on the floor with their backs against the sofa. Each had a butterbeer in their hand and content smiles on their faces.

"Another Christmas well done Prongs." Sirius clinked his mug against James'.

James nodded. "Yeah, it was nice to see you guys again." The bespectacled man was watching the miniature motorcycle do spins and pop-wheelies on his open palm.

Sirius let his head back against the cushions and sighed deeply.

James raised an eyebrow and put the bike down, which then sped into a corner. "Something you want to talk about Padfoot?" He asked with the faintest of smiles.

Sirius grinned. "I thought that would get your attention. Okay, me and Peter were talking and he actually made a lot of sense."

"That's a first, what about?"

"That it's fairly obvious I'm your Secret Keeper. Anyone could tell. That's why I thought it would be brilliant if Peter were to replace me. No one would ever suspect Peter in a million years." Sirius tilted his head back and drained his mug.

James furrowed his brow and stared at the floor in deep concentration. "That does make some sense. I'll talk it over with Lily tomorrow. Why don't you tell Dumbldore and…"

"No!"

James looked quizzically at Sirius who continued along his lines of reasoning. "It's better if no one knows about the switch. Then there's no chance of it getting out. What do you say Prongs?"

"I say…all right. Be back here next week and we'll perform the Fedelis charm then."

Sirius grinned. "Excellent."

Author's Note:

Uh oh. Dun dun duuuun! Wasn't Draco cute? In case you can't tell, I'm also a Draco fan.

Next Chapter: The switch!

PLEASE REVIEW IT MAKES ME FEEL WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE