Saturday 13th December 1980

Marauder Flat, 07:00

"So, what exactly is your mum calling this again?" Asked Sirius as he pulled faces at Cassie to make her laugh.

"Don't do that," Marlene scolded, trying to hold onto both a happily wiggling baby and a rucksack full of stuff for said baby. "I can't hold her properly when she gets like that."

"Here, give me that," Sirius said, tugging the bag off her shoulders and then almost dropping it to the ground. "What the hell do you have in there!"

"Don't say hell around the baby!" Marlene scolded.

"Hell is definitely not the worst thing Cassie's heard from us."

"Doesn't mean that she should hear it!"

Sirius rolled his eyes but refrained from arguing further. There was no winning when Marlene got into protective mum mode. It was actually kind of scary.

"Anyway," Sirius said pointedly before they could get even more off-track than they already were. "Back to our original point."

Marlene raised an eyebrow. "We had an original point?"

"Yes! No! Well, I did anyway."

"Really?"

Sirius gave her an exasperated look. "Would you just let me speak?"

"Maybe."

He lunged for her but she darted out of the way. Not that she had to do that because he had forgotten the weight of the bag in his hands and unbalanced himself. It was all he could do to not face plant on the floor like Dora so often did.

Marlene was cackling at his antics which he did not appreciate.

"Just explain it to me," he whined. "You owe me after that stunt."

She raised an eyebrow. "I owe you?"

"Yes." He pouted, which never worked on her but that didn't mean he didn't give up trying. "You do."

And, again, it didn't work. All it got him was an eye roll.

"It's a pre-Christmas Christmas," she repeated matter-of-factly.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And that means something?"

"Yeah, of course."

She gave no further explanation than that. And she damn well knew she was being annoying from the smirk on her face.

"Would you like to tell me what it means?"

"It means that we're having Christmas before Christmas," she said airily, like he should already know that.

"Right."

That explained absolutely nothing. But apparently it explained everything. According to Marlene anyway.

"It's a bit early, don't you think?"

Ten whole days before Christmas, after all.

"That's the point. None of us are going to be there for Christmas. The two of us have a shift at work, Teagan is off to Merlin knows where for work - "

"Is it America this time?" Sirius interrupted.

It was hard to keep track of where Teagan went these days.

"I have no clue. I know Kevin is going to the O'Riley's for Christmas and Patrick and Jacqueline have no clue what they're doing. Ciaran is the only one who is definitely going to be there for Christmas."

Sirius nodded; it was probably best to just go along with it. If Mary McKinnon wanted to celebrate Christmas early then who was he to say no?

McKinnon Farm, 08:30

Despite all their faffing about, they weren't actually late to portkeying over. They'd had to organise a portkey because neither of them were confident with flooing with Cassie in their arms and Cassie and apparating just didn't mix. Trust her. Marlene did not want to turn up at her parents' home with baby sick all down her front. Actually, she'd prefer not to have it down her front at all but that wasn't going to happen. Didn't mean she couldn't avoid it when she could.

The farmhouse came swirling into view and before they even got their bearings, they heard a shout.

"Sirius!"

Marlene laughed and dodged out of the way as Sirius was engulfed by her mum.

"Glad to know you're only happy to see him, mum," she said sarcastically.

Mary rolled her eyes.

"Not just Sirius, I'm happy to see my granddaughter as well!"

And with that she swept Cassie into her arms, leaving her standing there like a fool.

"Hey!"

"I'm happy to see you, Marly," her dad said, embracing her.

"At least someone is."

They exchanged all the normal pleasantries, got told off for not visiting sooner, cooed over how big Cassie was getting. Cassie, ever her father's daughter, ate up all of that attention, giggling and blowing bubbles at everyone.

"Is everyone else already here?" Marlene asked as they finally made their way towards the house.

Before anyone could reply, Dierdre and Kathleen came running out of the house, Aoife toddling behind them. Well, that answered her question.

"Wow! You're all so big!" Sirius exclaimed, making the two older girls giggle as they dived at him.

They adored their "Uncle Sirius" despite not seeing him very often. Mainly because he spoiled them, of course.

"Eamon's down for a nap," Tierney explained as Marlene looked around for her only nephew. "Apparently he's been fighting bedtime recently."

"Fun," Marlene scrunched up her nose.

Not that she was feeling overly sympathetic toward her brother and sister-in-law. Cassie had yet to settle into sleeping for long stretches at any time during the day, never mind at night.

"Dierdre! No! You can't climb on Sirius' head like that!" Tierney suddenly exclaimed, running forward.

Marlene hung back for a minute, just happy to watch everyone around her and take everything in. Mum and Dad were right, she really didn't come home enough.

Dad was trying to prise Dierdre off Sirius' head while her mum was complete engrossed in her daughter. Sirius didn't seem to mind the attack; he was laughing at it all despite wincing at the firm hold Deirdre had on his hair.

She couldn't help but smile at the whole scene, loving how much Sirius loved her family and how willing he was to get involved with everyone. It was impressive considering how he was brought up. She knew that he originally had to make an effort to be like that for fear of coming off as standoffish but now he didn't even have to think.

Yes, this was going to be a great pre-Christmas Christmas.

Godric's Hollow, 19:00

"Peterson didn't come into work today," James said by way of greeting as he came home, hanging his Auror robes under the stairs.

Lily appeared at the top of the stairs with a grumpy looking Harry in her arms.

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"Is he okay?"

James knew that Lily had no clue who Peterson was. Yet, she was still concerned for him. Genuinely concerned, not the fake concern people used because they felt like they had to have some sort of response to news like that. He still couldn't believe just how compassionate she was sometimes.

"Don't know," James said with a shrug and then at his wife's alarmed look. "Sorry, I mean, he hasn't been captured or anything. He told Scrimgeour that he couldn't stand it anymore and he was taking himself and his family out of the spotlight."

"So, he quit?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, seems like it. And no one's heard from him. Apparently, no one's at his house, it's been stripped bare."

"Huh."

"Yeah."

They stood in silence, contemplating what had happened, until Harry interrupted them with a grizzly cry - reaching for James.

"And why is my little man so grumpy?" He cooed at Harry, taking him from her.

"Because someone refused to nap at all today," Lily said irritably. "And he's been fussy all day."

James winced. That was not a good combination.

"Is he teething?" He asked, poking at Harry's mouth only to get a wail from him.

That's what the books said caused sleep disturbances and crankiness, right?

Lily shook her head. "He's too young. He's not even five months old yet."

"He could be advanced?"

Because his Harry was the smartest boy in the world! He really was. He followed them when they came into the room, he responded to his name and could clap so, so, so well!

"I don't think so," Lily told him. "He isn't drooling more than usual or trying to gum things. I think he's just having a cranky day."

James looked down at his son sympathetically.

"We all have those days, Harry. But it's not nice to take them out on other people."

Lily giggled at that. "I'm pretty sure that's all that baby's do. Take whatever their feeling put on the people around them."

"I think I prefer that when he's all smiley."

"I don't think we get a choice in the matter."

An unhappy squawk from Harry seemed to confirm that. James rubbed his back in an effort to get him to settle. Which somewhat worked, he stopped making angry noises anyway.

"So how many does that make who have left or vanished?" Lily asked quietly, bringing the topic back to Peterson.

"Five? Maybe seven? I'm really not sure anymore."

It was sometimes hard to realise who had gone missing, who had died, who went into hiding and who just plain old quit. So much was happening and they were losing so many people. It was just hard to keep track of everything. It was depressing to try and keep track of everything. It was just best to focus on the job at hand and get that down as best you could. There was no point in focusing on things you couldn't change.

"So, it won't look too odd when you eventually 'disappear'?" She asked worriedly. "Or look like it's related to the Longbottoms' disappearance?"

"It won't and it shouldn't," he answered. "So many people are hiding away that we won't look out of the normal at all."

"Except we're completely vanishing," Lily said, looking anxious.

It wasn't a look he liked seeing on her. On anyone, really. But especially not on her.

"It will be fine," James said airily, trying to dispel his own concerns. "We've got it all planned out and Moody and Shacklebolt know enough to divert attention away from us. Sirius and Marlene too. It won't look weird at all."

Lily nodded unconvincingly. It was time for a subject change.

"How are they doing, by the way?" James asked.

"Who?"

"The Longbottoms. Have you been talking to them?"

They were so short-staffed and busy at work that he hadn't had time to think about Alice and Frank, never mind contact either of them.

"They seem to be doing okay," Lily replied. "Alice said that doing nothing is finally starting to get to her that she actually rearranged Neville's nursery herself."

"With no help from their House Elves?" James asked sceptically.

He had got used to doing things without House Elves in Godric's Hollow. It just seemed kind of pointless in such a small task and Lily said they could do all of the cleaning and cooking tasks themselves. James certainly didn't argue about the cooking - Lily's was amazing and he rather enjoyed it as well. Ever since Rosemary taught him. On that note, she had promised to teach him how to roast a chicken. He'd have to remind her.

"Apparently not. She wanted to do something, not just give orders."

James couldn't help but chuckle at that. Lily gave him an odd look.

"It's nothing to laugh at," she said reproachfully. "We don't want them to even think about coming out of hiding before it's safe!"

"I'm not laughing at that," James tried to explain.

Lily put her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly unamused at him.

"What exactly are you laughing at?"

"Just that," he began and hoped that this didn't sound too insulting. "It's amazing how much Alice has changed. When she was younger, she would have turned her nose up at even the thought of work, never mind doing it, and now she can't bear do without it? It's kind of funny."

She looked at him for a long few seconds before her lips twitched.

"It is funny," she admitted.

"See? Next think you know she'll be hauling the branches around for Yule."

"Like I did?" Lily said jokingly.

James frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You mean, you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?"

She didn't say anything, instead gesturing all around them. James followed her movements and slowly his mouth gaped open. Somehow, he hadn't seen any of this when he walked in. This being pine boughs and garlands. The boughs were in two vases on either side of the front door and there was a lovely garland wound up the bannisters - it had pine cones and berries tastefully positioned through it.

"And look," she pointed upwards.

James actually gasped at what he saw.

There were candle floating near the ceiling. Lile in the Great Hall at Hogwarts only on a much smaller scale, of course. It made the top of the hallway glow with this warm light.

"Cool!"

Lily looked extremely proud of herself. As she should. This was so much work and everything looked amazing.

"I wanted to do what I could for Yule," Lily explained with a light ush dusting her cheeks. "What I understood."

"Wow."

"These are the right decorations for it, aren't they?" She asked worriedly, suddenly doubting herself.

"They are," he quickly reassured her. "They're perfect."

They were nothing like what was done at Potter Manor but he didn't want it to be like that. He wanted it to be like Godric's Hollow and it was. It was perfect.

"Good," she said with relief. "There's even a wreath on the front door, you know."

"Huh?"

Had there really? He hadn't noticed anything.

Lily giggled and patted his chest. "My big, strong, observant Auror," she cooed teasingly.

Monday 15th December 1980

Severus' Flat, 17:30

"You know it kind of looks like this came out of nowhere, don't you?" Chryssie said as Severus poured over his notes.

His notes for a possible werewolf potion. A potion that he hadn't even thought about until a few days ago. And yes, he had mentioned the possibility to Remus but that had been nothing more than a half-formed idea that he couldn't get rid of. And then proceeded to impulsively ask his friend to be a possible test subject. For a potion that didn't even exist.

He had put a bit more thought into it now. Real thought. He kind of had a plan. The beginning of one, anyway. Which meant notes. Lots of notes. Full of half-formed ideas, endless possibilities and a high chance of explosion and or poisoning. Maybe he shouldn't even consider belladonna in this case...

"It did. Technically." Severus admitted. "I came up with the idea days before I asked him."

"It's not exactly going to give people faith in your experiment," she warned him, shaking her head.

Which he couldn't help but take offense to.

"It isn't an experiment. It's a search for a cure. Or at least an easing of an affliction," he amended.

Finding a cure was a little bit to out there, even for his hopes and dreams. Which he had actually allowed himself to do for a brief moment. Imagine him, Severus Snape being the one who comes up with a cure for Lycanthropy! Wouldn't that be amazing? Everyone would know his name. Think of how many people he could help! And then he had brought himself back down to earth with a bump. He had to be realistic about this. No false hope. Because it wouldn't be just himself, he was letting down, it would be Remus as well and Severus didn't think he'd be able to stand that.

"I don't even have a real plan for going about this," he admitted. "I just had this idea of checking out his blood and seeing how it acted."

This was not like him at all. He was normally all for meticulous planning. His Potions Master had mentioned something about what you blood was and how that could affect some of the more specialised Potions and that had got him thinking about his blood type and then the blood types of all his friends. Which then led to his thinking of Remus' blood and how different it was to all of them. Hence, this half-arsed idea was born. And it really was half-arsed. Which wasn't good.

"Maybe this is the such a good idea," he said worriedly. "I don't even have a plan. Or research. Or notes. Or anything."

"You have notes," Chryssie pointed to the pieces of parchment he had just been pouring over.

"These?" He shook them at her. "These are not notes. These are an outpouring of thoughts and contradictions. Half of it is crossed out, the remaining half either doesn't make much sense or had the possibility of poisoning someone!"

Oh! Except for that equation there. That might actually do something useful. He grabbed his quill and circled it. A quick tap of his wand ensured that it was highlighted in yellow. Hey, it was the only way he was going to see it amongst all of these scribbles.