Lisa: Sorry I'm late but there was a death and all last week has been... ugh...

Heather: Much sadness to be had by all.

Lisa: Yeah, took me a bit to get back in a writing mood, but now I'm back and writing some new chapters. I wanted a Halloween one to get with the season but I failed to think of what season it was about ten chapters ago so now we're doing x-mas, but don't worry I love All Hollow's Eve, I'll have a chapter on it sooner or later.

Heather: Don't forget to review.

Lisa: Cuz that earns you all a cookie.

Christmas

Mrs. Potter hummed Deck the Halls as she danced around the Christmas tree placing new ornaments all over it. She was expecting company tonight; Andy's family was coming as well as Remus's mother and sister. Heather's were offered but they decided to spend Christmas day together and alone, Heather didn't want any more information then that.

But that would make fifteen people and maybe more, Lily's family might come by. Her parents and her sister Petunia which would make eighteen. Right now that was where Lily was, at her parent's house telling them that she wanted to spend the holidays with James and James wanted to stay with his parents who would invite everyone over.

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"Hi mum!" Lily said cheerfully as she walked into her kitchen to see her mother cooking dinner. It was odd, seeing it all done the Muggle way again.

"Oh!" Mrs. Evans turned around whipping her hands on the dish towel and ran over to her daughter. "Oh Lily dear! You're home! I thought I'd never see you again," she smiled as she pulled away. "Let me look at you... you've grown."

"Mum! It's only been a few months." Lily said. "Besides you should know I would be back on Christmas Eve."

Mrs. Evans nodded her head. "I know you would, so how long are you staying?"

"Well..." Lily played with one of her red curls for a moment. "See mum, it's like this. I want to spend the holidays with James, and he wants to stay with his parents. So I was wondering if you would object to going over there and spending the night with them and everything."

"But dear! I always cook Christmas dinner for you, your father and sister! Who by the way insists on spending it with her boyfriend and his family? I honestly don't know what Petunia sees in him but it's her life." Her mother rambled on.

"Don't worry about the cooking," Lily said. "You'll be able to cook; you'll just have to help this year with Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Volk. They're coming too. It'll be a full house this Christmas. Eighteen of us if you all come, well seventeen now that Petunia doesn't want to spend the holidays with us. I swear ever since I've been allowed to use magic outside school she's treated me different."

"Oh dear, that's not true. She loves you; she's just been busy what with her schooling and Vernon... Wait... magic. We'll be the only... what is it? Muggles there? Is that the right term?"

"Yes, mum," Lily smiled. "You and dad will be the only Muggles. But don't worry, Mrs. Volk's father was a Muggle I believe so she knows all about it and Mrs. Potter often doesn't use magic in her cooking of the actual meal. She says it ruins the personal touch."

"Well I suppose it wouldn't be all that bad, I could finally get to know them better, as long as you've been friends with these girls and boys I never met their families. What about the Fortresn's? Oh that's right you said they were going away..." She sighed and thought for a moment. "Oh Sirius's family, are they coming? I would love to meet them."

Lily bit her lip; she had never exactly told her parents that Sirius's parents disowned him. "Well, you see mum, his parents aren't like him."

"What do you mean, dear?"

"Well, mum, okay, to be blunt. They think I'm dirty Muggle trash, they think you're dirty Muggle trash and everyone who doesn't have a pure wizard blood line is trash. They hate us because we're not wizards; they hate Sirius because he ended up in Gryffindor and betrayed his families name by befriending non pure bloods." Lily explained very quickly and not taking a breath. "To put it short; They disowned him."

Mrs. Evans put her hand to her mouth and gasped. "Oh my goodness that's awful. How could they do that to their own son?"

"They're evil Slytherins." Lily said.

"So none of you are pure bloods in your group...?" She asked trying to understand.

"No, James is one, Laura is and Peter is and obviously Sirius. But since they don't follow the traditional pure blood ways people like that Black family hate them."

She nodded and pretended she understood perfectly. "So, its Christmas eve morning, and you've just now decided to tell me that we're spending the holiday over the Potter's? When I've already begun to cook the dinner?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed. "I told Mrs. Potter we would be there around one o'clock."

"You told her a time? How did you know I would say yes?"

Lily laughed and smiled. "Because I know you, mum." She said and walked out of her room to go and tell her father.

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It was getting later in the day, around four o'clock and all three mothers were having a ball in the kitchen cooking the biggest Christmas meal of the century. The teenagers were all sitting in the living room staring at the mass amount of gifts around the tree, well except for Heather; she said that she would meet them later. She had to take care of something.

Andy was holding a particularly large gift with her name on it in front of her face staring at it in hopes of gaining x-ray vision and seeing through the wrappings. Remus was behind her with his arm around her shoulders and playing with her hair, he seemed amused by her actions.

James was setting up a record on the record player while Lily hummed Christmas songs in place of the music that would soon fill the room. Sirius was next to them looking with distaste at the collection of records.

"You have no Led Zeppelin." He stated as he looked thought the albums.

"Who cares about Zeppelin." Andy said setting the gift down and picking up another one before giving it a shake. "Metallica's the way to go."

"Thought you listened to that American crap." Sirius said giving her a sideways glance.

"Charlie Daniels, Willie Nelson and David Allen Coe are not crap." Andy stated. "I can stand heavy metal just not that shit you listen to, can't even understand him."

"It's not shit; it is the almighty the amazing Ozzy Osborn!" Sirius said and held up the rock sign.

"And now it's the almighty and the amazing Heather finally comes to say hello." Laura said getting up from poking some presents as she noticed Heather standing in the doorway.

Heather walked in the room, but behind her there was someone following in her shadow.

"Oi!" James cried the second he recognized the figure. "It's Chris!"

"Called your mum James, asked her if I could bring a guest and the answer was yes." She said taking a seat on the couch.

"And pray tell who is this strange man your brinin' home to dinner?" Andy asked, despite the fact it wasn't her house nor was it dinner time.

"This is Chris; he's in Auror training with James and Sirius. You've met him before." Heather responded with a roll of her eyes.

"We have?" She asked raising an eyebrow and looking him up and down.

"At the bar? Remember that night...?" Heather said trailing off; she didn't want to bring up certain topics.

"Oh yeah!" Andy showed no signs that the night she was kidnapped with Sirius bothered her anymore. "Wow, you were cuter at the bar... when you have about two pints of whiskey in you... The things alcohol can do."

"Andy!" Remus scolded. "Be nice."

"I am, I didn't shoot him in the face."

"Which is much appreciated, getting shot in the face isn't my idea of a picnic." Chris stated.

Sirius smirked. "Ignore Andy, she's unpleasant."

Andy stuck her tongue out at the pure blood and made a face.

"Let's not be crude, it's Christmas Eve!" Lily said with a smile. "Welcome Chris, I am Lily, you know James and Sirius. Over there is Peter, this is Laura, and that's Remus and Andy... she'll stop bugging you eventually."

Andy scoffed. "Don't count on it, he looks like fun."

"Does this mean you'll ease up on me?" Sirius asked.

"No."

"Howdy guys." Came the familiar accented voice of Ares Volk. Andy's older brother and sister had just walked in the room. His dark hair was no longer in its traditional pony tail, but it was still wild and shoulder length. But now he had a goatee where his once clean shaven face was.

"Hey, 'Res! Hey Cass!" Andy said getting up to hug her siblings. "Chris, this is Ares and Cassiopeia, my brother and sister. And dorks, this is Chris."

"Nice to meet you both." Chris said respectfully.

"The God of War is no dork." Ares said as he went over to shake Chris's hand.

"Neither is the Queen of the Phoenician kingdom Ethiopia." Cass argued.

Andy snorted. "Yeah, she is."

"Look whose talkin', you got chained to a rock and left for dead." Cass said.

Ares stepped between them before they could argue any further. "Let's just say ya both suck and that I rule everythin'."

Both sisters hit their brother on the arm... hard.

"Why couldn't mom have named me Artemis?" Andy moaned.

Andy sat down heavily with her brother and sister before Peter spoke. "I'm hungry." He stated boldly playing with some tinsel on the tree.

"Me too." James decided. "Think we can sneak some food before dinner?"

Sirius laughed. "James, you know we can I'll be right back." He got up and ran upstairs. He let everyone baffled and waiting his return. He came back quickly enough though. In his hand he held a silvery cloth. "Invisibility cloak anyone?" He asked.

"Your bloody brilliant, Sirius." James said draping it over himself.

"To some, maybe." Heather said next to a confused Chris, so she explained. "They're both dirty troublemakers, failed to mention that in Auror training huh?"

"No, never." He said. "But where did you lot get an invisibility cloak, rare aren't they?"

"Very rare, dad gave it to me." An invisible James said. "It's snack time."

A few seconds after they knew James had made it into the kitchen they heard the voice of his mother ring out in the house. "Mr. James Harry Potter! Get out of here, dinner will be served in an hour! Can't you wait that long!?"

James came running out of the kitchen the invisibility cloak only over him half way. "Since when could she tell when I was in the room?"

"Maybe when you started wearing that cheap, overpowering man musk." Heather said.

James glared.

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The night came and went all of the friends and their parents went up to their bedrooms to sleep. Some had to bunk with other people seeing as they had more people then usual in the house. However none of the couples were, the boys went with the boys and the girls went with the girls.

The sun wasn't even up yet when the house came to life once more. Sirius and Remus were the first to wake up, they were sharing a room and Chris was bunking with James and Peter since he had the bunk bed in the corner.

But Remus wasn't up yet, only Sirius. The over grown child bounded over to the window and cupped his hands to try and see outside. He succeeded and was pleasantly surprised to see a blanket of white snow covering the ground. "Remus!" he yelled and jumped up and down on the bed a few feet away they set up the night before. "Remus, Remus, Remus, Remus, Remus!" He sang.

"Siri..." Remus slurred as he lifted his head a few inches off the pillow which was a chore. "Uh... Wha' 'ime 's i'?"

"Who cares it's Christmas!" He cried and shook the shoulders of the werewolf. "C'mon! We're the first ones up we have to wake up everyone else!"

"To early..." Remus moaned and his head fell back down on the pillow.

Sirius moaned and ripped the covers off his friend. "Moony! Where's your Holiday spirit!?"

"Sleeping." He responded.

"Urgh!" Sirius grunted and grabbed the legs of his friend and drug him off the bed making a loud thump on the floor. "Get up!"

"Noooooo..." Remus moaned and crawled back onto his bed and covered his head with his pillow.

"Usually I'm the one no one can get up." Sirius commented and sat down on the edge of Remus's bed.

Remus lifted his head and squinted at him before he rubbed his eyes. "Sirius... Pads... Mr. Padfoot, please, it is five thirty in the morning, I went to bed at two... I am in no mood to be up and around."

"Well if you could stop snogging Andy for a few hours then maybe you wouldn't be so tired."

"There was mistletoe." Remus argued.

"I know what can get you up." Sirius said and jumped off the bed and ran over to his closet. A few seconds later he pulled something out, it was a small box wrapped in red and green paper. "Here is a stocking stuffer I was going to give you later but I think you need it now."

Remus groggily sat up on his elbows and took the gift he murmured thanks and unwrapped it to expose a large chocolate bar. He smiled and raised an eyebrow. "You know me too well."

"I know." Sirius said.

Fifteen minutes later the Potter's household was becoming an insane asylum. Sirius ran though the halls of the Potter house in a craze. Many would believe that the young Mr. Lupin would be stopping him at one point, but alas no. Remus was running right behind him, just as crazy. Giving Remus chocolate as breakfast was never a smart thing. They learned that their first year at Hogwarts.

"Wake up!" Sirius yelled bounding into James's room first to attack him, Chris and Peter. "It's Christmas! Wake up!"

"Padfoot…?" James moaned as he sat up. "Christmas? … It's Christmas?! It's Christmas! Hey guys c'mon it's Christmas!"

Chris propped himself up and looked around. "What James? What's huh…?"

"Christmas, Chris! Christmas!" James yelled.

Soon all five boys were awake and running down the hall to the girl's rooms. Sirius opened the door and was met with Andy holding a wand to him.

"Sirius, if you walk in this room I swear I will kill you." She said.

"C'mon, love." Remus said stepping forward. "It's Christmas morning."

"I realize that fact." She began.

"But if you step foot into this room we'll kill you." Heather finished for her, now with her own wand out. Lily and Laura were behind her giggling, all still in their pj's as Lily was straightening Laura's hair for her.

The door was shut on their faces and they shrugged their shoulders and continued on their way. They were about to run over to their parents rooms to wake them up but half way there they were met by Ares jumping in front of him. His dark hair running free around his shoulders.

"Ares!" Sirius cried. "You're up!"

"Hell yeah I'm up!" Yelled the adult. "It's Christmas ain't it?" he was the only one permitted to sleep with a girl in the room, that girl on the other hand was his twin sister though…

"Is Cass up?" James asked and he shook his head.

"Hell, I tried." He said in his Texas drawl. "She ain't gonna get up unless she has no other choice."

"Well then," Sirius began. "Let's get to it. James take care of your parents, 'Res take care of your mum, Remus take your mum on."

"What about the Evans's?" Chris asked.

"You're right, Lily would never wake them up like that… okay how about this, and they'll wake up from the racket we're going to make out in the hall." Sirius laughed as he waved his wand a pan along with a wooden spoon appeared.

"You're brilliant." Peter said and acquired two pans from the kitchen.

The rest of the boys used their wands and conjured pots, pans and spoons. "If anyone asks, I tried to stop you." 'Res said, being the 'responsible' adult it was his duty to prevent things like this... bit Ares was not one to be responsible.

"I can't promise I'll defend you." Sirius said.

"Fair enough." He said and walked over to his mother's room along with everyone else who prepared to wake their parents or bang on the pots and pans. It was going to be a long morning.

Lisa: Woot! That's over guys, sorry I was gonna show Christmas morning but I just couldn't get it right.

Heather: Hi.

Lisa: ... Hi... anyway... I was gonna say somethin' else but I don't remember. I think it had somethin' to do with Ares and Cassiopeia...

Heather: That's okay.

Lisa: I really can't remember.

Heather: It'll come.

Lisa: No... It won't... oh well, maybe next time. See you guys later.