Chapter 2: Christmas Vacation

When December came that year it was a very happy time for Harry. He could finally go home for Christmas, because as much as he loved Hogwarts it was as bit lonely having nowhere to go.

Lily and James were slowing re-claiming their lives and coming back to life. Hardly anyone knew that they were alive, other then the Hogwarts students and staff who were sworn to keep the secret at least until the end of the Christmas break. Not even Sirius and Remus knew yet, but that was about to change.

Harry had written them a letter saying that he would be at a friend's house for the break and that the people he was staying with knew all about Sirius and his innocence; they invited both of them to come stay with them for Christmas. The two accepted the invite.

Harry was very excited as he stepped off the Hogwarts express onto Platform 9 ¾. He was finally going to have a Christmas with his family! So no one would see them, Lily and James had told Harry to go to a purple PT Cruiser and put his trunk in the back and climb into the car. As Harry got in the car Lily smiled at him.

"Are you excited about your new home?" she asked him.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course I am! Anything is better then the Dursley's!"

Harry was shocked when they pulled up to a mansion. His house was huge!

"When are Sirius and Remus arriving James?" Lily asked her husband. James' face cracked into an evil grin.

"In about 2 hours. Lily knew that look on his face.

"James, what are you going to do to them?"

"Oh nothing! What are you thinking? I would never do anything to my two best friends." He said innocently. Lily sighed; there was nothing she could do about it.

When Harry was shown to his room by a house-elf he was amazed! It was a very big room decked in Gryffindor colors. He had a big four-poster bed and he even had his own bathroom that looked like the prefects bathroom!

"Do you like your room Harry?" Lily asked him.

"Like it, I love it! This has to be the coolest room ever!" Lily smiled she loved seeing her son and never got enough of him.

"You should go downstairs and greet Sirius and Remus. If you can, try to warn them your father has something up his sleeve and it could get nasty."

Harry ran downstairs just in time. The doorbell rang. Harry flung the door open and there was Sirius and Remus.

"This is some friend you got Harry, the last time I was in a house this big, well it was your father's house" Sirius said somewhat sadly.

Harry heard a whisper in his ear. "Bring them into the kitchen."

"Leave your bags here a house-elf will take them to your rooms. I have a surprise for you in the kitchen." Harry told the two. As they walked into the kitchen their hair changed bright pink and they were wearing orange dresses with red flowers on them. Sirius' eyes got wide.

"Remus there is only one person who knows how to make this happen to us."

They both said it at the same time. "James!"

"The one and only" James said as he stepped up from behind fridge.

"B-b-but you died" Sirius stuttered

"Yeah, the last time I checked you were as dead as a doornail." Remus added.

Then Lily came into the kitchen. She pursed her lips "I should have known that was the trick you were going to pull. The last time you did that all three of you had detention for a month. Although those Slytherins did look funny especially Snape..."

"Lily, you're here too?" Remus was amazed.

"Maybe we should have you sit down; it is a long story to tell." James told his friends.

~*0o0o0o0o0o0*~

"...And here we are today, as alive as you can get after being dead for 14 years." James said as he finished the story. All Remus and Sirius could do was goggle at their friends that they hadn't seen in such a long time. Harry had listened to the entire story again and spoke suddenly.

"So you three died Snape's hair pink and made him wear a dress?"

Everybody in the room burst out laughing.

"Remus had been in the library writing an essay when he came across a certain enchantment on how to change peoples appearances as they walked through a door or entry way." Sirius began to explain. "I decided what properties to give the spell and tried to perform it but couldn't. James was the only one in our group that could. So at night we all snuck to where the Slytherin common room was and placed the charm in the entrance.

"The next morning all the Slytherins had neon pink hair and dresses on. Unfortunately for us the new caretaker Mr. Flitch had caught us the night before. It took them a week to get the dye out of their hair!" Everybody started laughing again. Harry was having a great time with his parents, Sirius, and Remus.

When Christmas morning came Harry was awaken by cold water being dumped on him.

"Wazzamatter?" he asked sleepily.

"Really now, it is Christmas! You should be the one waking us up at five in the morning! Oh well, get up, presents." Sirius was very excited about this Christmas. He was about to wake up James and Remus the same way he woke Harry when James jumped out from behind the next corner and started spraying Sirius with silly string.

"Didn't think I would forget, did you? The last Christmas you woke me up I swore I would get my revenge." James laughed. He had used magical silly string and it blended into Sirius' clothes and hair and skin so that it would last for the next two weeks.

"Fine, fine you got me, lets go wake up Remus" Sirius said as he grinned evilly. About five minutes later a shout rang out through the house and Remus could be seen soaking wet, running after James and Sirius. By the time everything had calmed down, Lily had woken up.

"Seeing as we are all awake thanks to Sirius and James, lets open presents!" When Harry saw the stack of presents for him he was amazed! He had never had so many presents in his entire life! The men (acting like boys though) started ripping open their packages.

Harry had gotten his usual present from Ron: chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's every Flavored Beans. From Hermione he got a mini Quidditch field with tiny players on it that he could move around. Between his parents, Sirius, and Remus it looked as though he had gotten all of Quality Quiddich Supplies. He got his sweater from Mrs. Weasley and his last present was the one he was least expecting, a house-elf, named Penny! Harry was very surprised.

"Penny can do whatever you want her to for you and your friends at school." James told him. "I had one myself; poor thing Sirius harassed him by always demanding more and more food!"

"I did not!" Came the reply. "He was very happy to bring me food; if it had been up to you, you would have not let him do anything!" Sirius exclaimed.

This was the best Christmas Harry had ever had.

Later on, they had an excellent dinner prepared for them by the house-elves. Harry went to bed extremely happy.

But things would not stay that way.

That night there could be seen a small gray rat out side of the Potter's home.

This rat did not know that Lily and James were alive, but he knew that Harry Potter was in the house. He transformed into a man named Peter Pettigrew and snuck up silently to the door. If you listened closely, you would have heard him mutter "Alohomora".

As quietly as he could, Peter snuck into the house; he didn't even close the door. He went upstairs and found Harry's room. He gagged and tied Harry up without him even waking. He carried Harry out of his room and left a note on the bed and disapparated.

~*0o0o0o0o0o0*~

Lily got up early. She loved to go into her son's room and see him sleeping; he always looked so peaceful.

When she came into the room, she noticed that his curtains were closed. How odd… she thought. He never slept with his curtains closed.

She walked up silently to the bed and peered behind the coverings. She gasped and started screaming at the top of her lungs.

James rushed into the room, soon followed by Sirius and Remus. James turned white as he saw what was on the bed.

The Dark Mark.

AN- Even though this story is finished, I still really like review! (Also, this is very obviously taking place BEFORE the 5th book...because that's when I wrote it!)