Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

December, 1988

Over the next few months since Harry's birthday things were still a little tense between Lily and Sirius. The kids didn't notice a difference in the relationship between their godfather and mum. Remus of course had his first book published in October with his publisher wanting another book from him about a werewolf who fights evil. Everyone was proud of his accomplishment, even Severus. Sirius and Remus still lived together, since neither of them wanted to live alone and they were used to living together all of these years. Mrs. Weasley sent over Harry and Jamie's holiday wish lists that they made during class. Predictably both Harry and Jamie wanted James to get better so that he could live with them and Jamie decided to ask for a baby brother or sister again, she decided to show the list to Sirius and Remus to see what they thought of this. Lily was also getting the house ready for when James was going to come and spend Christmas week with them and trying to find someone who would be willing to stay with him while she worked, since Remus would have his hands full with the children. While she was at St. Mungo's she put an advertisement up on the board looking for someone looking to make extra money by staying with James for a week she also put an ad in the Daily Prophet. She was surprised by the lack of response that she received; she thought that it was due to the fact that they would need to work so close to Christmas. One day when she was going over to the Burrow to pick up her kids, she was surprised when Molly expressed interest in the position.

"You do realize that this would be while the older kids are home from vacation and don't you want to spend time with them, since they spend most of their time at school anyway. Besides the position is only for a week while James is here," Lily told her friend, wondering why she would be interested in the position.

"I know, but when I'm not working I'll be able to spend some time with them. Besides when I'm here it would give me a chance to get away from the kids for a while, plus the money would be helpful in helping to pay for school costs next year. I know that if Arthur was like James then I would love for him to be able to spend Christmas with us."

"I'll go ahead and hire you since you already do such a great job with the kids and this wouldn't be much different than watching them. You'll have to change his nappie, feed him and maybe even put him in his wheelchair in the morning. The position doesn't pay much though and this would help me out a lot."

"I don't care, and besides with seven kids I've changed many nappies before," Molly gently reminded Lily.

"I know but who would be watching the younger kids over the holidays while you're here?" Lily asked her sounding interested.

"Bill and Charlie will be home from Hogwarts and they can watch the kids. It would be good practice for them when they have their own families someday," Molly reassured her that she would be able to be there for the week that James would be there.

"I will need you to come over before he does get here to show you the layout of the house and then when James arrives I will need to let you know about what medication he's taking, plus how to administer them to him. These are muggle medicines, so they're different than potions," Lily instructed her.

"I've lived with Arthur and his fascination with muggle things, so I think that I can pick this up quickly. Besides Arthur would be jealous of me getting to work with muggle things instead of just tinkering around with them," Molly admitted to Lily.

"That's great and it would really help me and Remus out a lot, since he's already got his hands full with the kids and his book series."

"I'm glad to be able to help out."

A few minutes later she left with both Jamie and Harry relieved that she would be able to bring James home for a week, since she was worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her promise because she couldn't find anyone to stay with him. When she returned home that evening she immediately got dinner started while Harry and Jamie got started on their homework. After the kids went off to bed, she went over their Christmas wish lists making a note of which items were doable and which ones weren't possible, like daddy getting fixed and a new baby brother or sister. She wondered if Severus was going to be able to come by the house anytime during the week that James was going to be here, since she wanted him to come over for Christmas dinner since he has no one else to spend the holidays with. She remembered Sirius's reaction when she told him that she had invited Severus to Christmas Dinner one evening when she was picking up the kids from their time with their Uncle Sirius. She smiled when she remembered that Sirius still thought that Severus was her boyfriend.

"Why did you invite him for, since James is going to be here too? Is this to remind him that you're still married?" "No, he doesn't have any family to go to for Christmas right now and it would be nice to invite him over since he's my friend like you and Remus are," Lily answered him.

"Yes but you aren't in love with him like you are with Severus. Do you think that James would like having your boyfriend come and visit you while he's here?" "I don't think that he would even notice him and for the hundredth time he's not my boyfriend, since I'm still technically married I can't act on my feelings for him anyway. Remus is happy for us, why can't you be happy for us right now," Lily answered him trying to convince Sirius that they weren't a couple.

"It just isn't right for you to have guy friends that are in love with you and are just waiting for James to die."

"For your information Severus isn't waiting for James to die, but sometimes I wished that the Death Eaters had killed him instead of incapaciting him. Didn't you sometimes wish the same thing?" Lily admitted to Sirius.

"No, because he's still my friend and he's alive, while he's alive there's always the hope that he would get better."

"Well, he's been seen by muggle doctors other than wizarding Healers and they told me that he would never get better. Even with him getting muggle therapies now, he would never be able to live with us full time without round the clock nursing. Even for him to stay with us for a week, I need to hire someone who would be able to stay with him while I'm not here and Remus would have his hands full with the kids anyway," Lily reminded Sirius that it would be highly unlikely that James would be able to live on his own again. Sirius couldn't believe that Lily would give up on James like that, especially with the improvement that he was making.

On the other hand Lily couldn't believe that Sirius was still in denial about James's condition, even after all of this time. At least Remus was being realistic about the situation, even though he didn't fully agree with her relationship with Severus but he did understand it. Remus knew that if James couldn't be with Lily then he would want her to be with someone who would make her happy. He did see that Snape did make Lily happy when he was with her, even if he still didn't trust Remus because of his condition. Remus did give Snape credit though for being a good friend to Lily and for being nice to the kids, even being willing to help Lily with them as well. He wished that Sirius would understand that Lily is lonely and Snape helps her to get over her loneliness, he only wished that he would find someone that he could be with for the rest of his life other than Sirius. He was ashamed to admit that sometimes he even felt that James would be better off dead then living life like he was. He knew that Sirius still held out hope that James would get better some day. Remus was proud of Lily though in the way that she looked for the best options for James, even if the rest of the wizarding world didn't agree with her. He did know that Sirius did like the fact that James could come home for Christmas and his birthday, even if it took a little bit of preparation in order to prepare for his visits. He only hoped that Sirius can behave himself when Snape comes over for Christmas dinner. Lily hoped the same thing when she got home, since it would be embarrassing if Sirius did cause a scene, since she did invite him because he didn't have any family left and it would be lonely for him to have Christmas dinner at the school.