A/N: Hello, everyone. Um, before you can begin to read this chapter, my (rude) friend, The Heir to Lord Voldemort, would like to say a few words.

That was crude! Anyways, every single time my lovely author friend here uploads a chapter, she whines and moans for absolute EONS about how crushed she feels when she gets so many favorites/alerts/hits but gets a low amount of reviews, comparatively. I have heard that this is becoming an epidemic among FanFiction writers. THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING. So, for my sake, and hers, REVIEW. PLEASE. I AM BEGGING YOU. That is all.

P.S. And I am not Lord Voldy's heir. She simply refuses to acknowledge my superior wit and intelligence.

Thanks… wait. I DO NOT WHINE!!! Sheesh.

Anyways, I'm really sorry for not updating, but I've been incredibly uninspired and I've been having issues with this story. I even had to stop before Christmas Eve in the story because I felt it would be too long… ah well.

And Then Came the Rain

Chapter Fourteen

Christmas Begins

James

I woke up the next morning, tired, but strangely exhilarated. Why was that?

Then I turned and saw Lily's head on my shoulder, our hands intertwined, and in a glorious moment, I remembered why.

I smiled and pressed my lips to her forehead. She shifted. "'Morning, Lilykins," I whispered. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Hey, James," Lily murmured. "And just because we're a couple now doesn't mean you can call me Lilykins."

I laughed. "I think I will anyways," I said, gently disengaging myself from her and standing. Lily pouted.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "It's Sunday."

"I'm getting you breakfast," I answered, smiling at her. "And then I need to check with Padfoot about our arrangements for the next full moon… it's tomorrow, you know."

Lily sighed. "At least Remus with be okay for Christmas… hey, are you guys going home for Christmas?"

"Nope," I said, pausing at the portrait hole. "We're all staying here."

Lily's eyebrows lifted. "You are? Since when?"

I looked at her seriously. "Since I found out you were staying here. Couldn't very well leave you alone, could I?" And then, before Lily could say anything else, I climbed out of the portrait hole and hurried towards the kitchen.

When I came back upstairs a few minutes later with some toast and some tea, Lily was sitting at the table, writing something. As I bent and put the food on the table, she grinned up at me. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I answered, sitting next to her. "I didn't feel like walking to Gryffindor Tower, so I'm just going to invite the guys over here. Is that okay?"

"Sure," Lily replied. I smiled and reached into my ever-present rucksack to pull out my mirror.

"Padfoot? Moony? Are one of you there?"

Padfoot appeared. "Hey, Prongs!" He turned and called over his shoulder. "Oi, Moony, Wormtail! Prongs is in the mirror!"

Lily leaned over my arm so she was reflected in the mirror too. "Hey, Sirius," she said, waving.

"It's the lovely Lily! Good morning," Sirius grinned. Suddenly, Remus and Peter appeared on either side of Sirius.

"Hey Lily," they chorused. Then Remus turned to me. "What's up?" His voice sounded incredibly weak- I was surprised he wasn't already in hiding, waiting to go to the Shack the next night.

"I wanted to know what our arrangements are for tomorrow," I answered. "Do you guys want to come up here or should Lily and I come to you?"

"We'll come to the Head Tower," said Sirius. "More private that way… you all right with that, Moony?"

Remus nodded. "I can make it. See you soon, Prongs."

The three disappeared and I saw only my reflection, Lily's next to it, her eyes filled with pain for her werewolf friend. "Poor Remus," she whispered. I sighed and put the mirror back inside my rucksack.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Yeah. Poor Moony."

"I wonder what it's like," Lily murmured.

"It seems painful. It is painful. And I'm only watching," I said, thinking of Remus's tortured scream. Suddenly, there was a knock on the portrait hole and the sound of something panting. I blinked and went to the portrait, opening it-

"Dammit, eww Padfoot! Get the hell off me, you sick prat!" I shouted. Padfoot grinned at me, his tongue dripping on the front of my robes, his tail wagging. Quickly, he morphed into Sirius, sitting firmly on my chest.

"Hello, mate!" he grinned. I growled and suddenly arched my back, throwing Sirius off me and onto his own back. Following up, I straddled his waist, grabbed a pillow off the nearby couch, and started thwacking his head. Lily laughed softly as she took Remus's arm, the other of which Peter was already supporting, and brought him to the couch.

Finally, Sirius panted, "All right, all right, enough already!" I grinned and stood, helping him to his feet. The two of us grabbed chairs and sat next to Remus, who was smiling despite his pale face.

"Why aren't you hiding out already?" asked Lily concernedly, wiping his face with a damp towel she had just Summoned from her bathroom. Remus sighed.

"I wanted to, but Madame Pomfrey said I should be with you guys as long as possible. You know, because it's the Christmas season."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Enough chat. Let's get to it, shall we?"

))((

The morning after the full moon, Sirius and I were shivering in the cold as we morphed back into our human selves. The night had gone reasonably well; Remus had had a surprisingly easy transformation. Now, Sirius scooped him up, stripping off his own shirt to put on his friend. I added my shirt, throwing it over Remus's thin shoulders, before putting Peter in my pocket and wrapping everyone in the Cloak to sneak into Hogwarts.

Once Remus was taken care of and Lily had given him her newest potion, we split up. Lily and I sat in gloomy silence until six or so, when Lily patted my hand and moved upstairs to shower. I did the same and we met in the Common Room before sprinting to the Hospital Wing to check on Remus just like we had last month.

He was feeling as well as was to be expected and smiled tiredly at us before falling asleep. We tiptoed out of his room as he sighed and curled over onto his side.

))((

Remus was feeling better by Christmas. Christmas Eve morning, the Marauders and I gathered in my room to plan our Christmas celebration.

"Okay, tree." I looked at Remus, Sirius, and Peter.

"I'll get it," volunteered Sirius. He stretched out on my bed, rolling onto his stomach and using his wand to shoot little bubbles into Remus's hair. Remus sighed in a resigned manner from his place on the floor as I grinned and glanced at the list.

"Alcohol and Honeydukes stuff?"

"Sure," said Peter, also from the floor. "I can borrow the Cloak, right?"

"Of course, how else did you think we'd do it?" I asked. "Remus, you're-"

"In charge of decorating the Christmas tree and the Common Room." Remus batted another cloud of soap bubbles away from his eyes. "Yep."

"Excellent. So that leaves me to get everyone's gifts under the tree and get snacks from the kitchens." I sighed in relief, grateful to my friends for their help.

"Wait, what's Lily doing?" asked Sirius suddenly, getting tired of bothering Remus. He rolled on to his back to look at me upside down. The other two also looked at me in interest.

I hesitated. "Well, see, I'm surprising Lily with all this-"

"Because of her parents," interrupted Remus again. "That's nice of you."

I smiled slightly. "I try."

))((

Later that day, I sent Lily to Gryffindor Common Room to spend the day with Alice and Colleen. I had placated her with a kiss, promising her a winter wonderland when she returned.

As soon as Alice and Colleen had secured their charge (figuratively, or course… they weren't literally tying her up) in the Common Room, beginning their job of occupying Lily for the day, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank and I hurried to get our jobs done.

))((

Third Person- The Other Marauders

Peter pulled the Cloak around his shoulders, slipping out one of our hidden passages to Honeydukes. He snuck upstairs and then left the shop on the heels of a bundled up customer. A moment later, he pulled off the Cloak and stepped into the shop.

Working the store was one of the Marauders' biggest fans- Andrew Hansel, who had graduated the year before them. He grinned as Peter came to the counter.

"Hello, Pettigrew. Planning a party?"

"Maybe," grinned Peter, shaking hands with Andrew. "Not going to rat me out, right, Hansel?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed Andrew. "But you'd better hurry and get what you need- Dumbledore's had quite a sweet tooth as of late."

Peter nodded and hurried through the store, grabbing what he needed. Then, as he handed over some coins to Andrew at the till, he added an extra Galleon. Andrew rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Don't hurt yourselves with that firewhiskey," Andrew warned, handing Peter his bag. Peter nodded and smiled before leaving the store.

A moment later, he trotted back in on the heels of another customer, wrapped in the Cloak. He moved downstairs and grabbed a case of firewhiskey before going back to the castle and the Head Common Room.

))((

Meanwhile, Sirius had enlisted the aid of Frank, and the two had gone to the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest to search for the perfect Christmas tree.

Sirius sighed and glanced back at Frank. "So what is the perfect Christmas tree?" he asked, looking around despondently at the many pine trees that Professor Sprout had enchanted to grow around the boundaries of the forest as a decoration.

Frank shrugged. "I have no idea. I asked Alice, and she said that 'I would know'," he answered, sketching quotation marks in the air. Sirius groaned.

"Okay, that doesn't help me at all," he muttered, glancing around at the trees. He twirled his wand around his gloved fingers, examining each tree. Frank raised his eyebrows.

"Why don't you just pick a tree?" he asked, pointing at one. "I mean, this looks fine to me."

Sirius tugged his hat lower over his ears in embarrassment. "Well… this is for Lily and James. And it's because Lily lost her parents, you know? I mean, I couldn't give a damn about my parents, but the Evans' deaths hit Lily really hard. That's why James is doing this. He's trying to make it the best Christmas for her. So…"

Frank smiled. "So you want to try to actually find the "perfect Christmas tree"."

Sirius grinned, glad Frank understood. "Yeah."

Frank laughed. "What do you know, the infamous Sirius Black actually has a heart."

An hour later, Sirius and Frank were freezing. Their lips were blue, their hair caked with ice, and their clothes were filled with snow. Finally, Sirius swore and marched over to a tree that was of middling height and didn't have any holes in the branches. Flourishing his wand, he chopped the tree down in moments. "Levitate it," he said through chattering teeth to Frank, who did so with a hand that shook as the weather worsened.

"What a Christmas," mutter Frank. He started to walk back to the castle before realizing Sirius wasn't following him. "Sirius?"

"Give me another fifteen minutes," Sirius answered, gritting his teeth. "Then I'm going in."

Frank shrugged and continued up to the castle, suspending the tree in front of him. Sirius turned away and trudged into the forest, glancing around through the snow before halting.

There it was.

The perfect tree.

In moments, he had cut down the mid-sized tree, its branches fanning around it as delicately as a dancer's tutu, smelling vaguely of fresh pine. Running through the snow as fast as possible, he caught up with Frank, panting, "I've found it!"

Frank grinned and released the tree he had been levitating. "Come on, then, let's get back to the castle!"

))((

Remus hummed idly to himself as he moved around the Head's Common Room, making sure everything looked nice. The windows were festooned with holly, the portrait hold had a wreath on the back of it, the fireplace crackled merrily, and there was enchanted snow falling from the celing and disappearing just before it hit the floor. Sighing, Remus sat down on one of the sofas. All that was left was Sirius's tree.

Suddenly, the portrait hole burst open and a very cold looking Sirius, Frank, and a tree fell into the Common Room. Remus jumped up and helped the two to their feet before assisting them in taking off their cold, snowy outer-wear. When the two boys were settled, Remus turned his attention to the tree.

"Wow, Padfoot. It's perfect!" said Remus, standing the tree up and looking at it from all angles. "Nice choice!"

"Thanks," Sirius murmured drowsily. Remus smiled and secured the tree to the wall with a nail and some wire he had Transfigured from a firewhiskey cap and some thread. Then he careful decorated the tree with delicate glass balls, shimmering snowflakes, and strings of popcorn.

When he was finished, he sank down next to his dozing friends. Peter came in a moment later with the firewhiskey and candy in a couple of bags and spread them on one of the tables before curling up in an armchair. And they all dozed off.

))((

James

I returned from the kitchens with food in my arms to find my friends asleep in the Common Room. The room itself looked very nice- Remus had done a good job. Candy and firewhiskey were spread out on a table, while the tree, one of the nicest I'd ever seen, stood in a corner. Smiling, I put the food on another table before tiptoeing up to my room.

Inside on the floor were three of four small stacks of gifts. I carefully levitated them down the stairs and arranged them under the tree before glancing at Remus's wristwatch that hung over the edge of the sofa. Two o'clock.

Deciding they had slept enough, I shook Sirius, Remus, Frank, and Peter's respective shoulders. Blearily, they all blinked, sitting up slowly and stretching. Remus smiled tiredly at James. "Hey, Prongs. Ready to get Lily?"

"Sure, I'll grab her," I grinned. Sirius yawned and laid his head back again.

"Wake me up when she gets here," he said, and Peter agreed with a mutter, curling onto his other side. I laughed and glanced at Frank.

"Keep them awake while I'm gone, will you?" I asked before leaving the room.

I was pretty sure that all of them would be asleep by the time I got back.

))((

Lily

I vowed I was going to kill James. Christmas Eve day, and I had been locked out of my own Common Room. I wasn't even allowed in the Head Tower at all!

Alice and Colleen tried to get me interested in a game of Chess, but I ignored them in a huff. Sitting in an armchair, I folded my arms crossly until about noon, when I finally thawed as the weather grew colder outside.

Suddenly, at two fifteen, James burst into the Common Room and pulled me to my feet and into his arms. The other Gryffindors in the Common Room "awww"ed in unison as James kissed me quickly on the mouth, effectively erasing my irritation with him.

Motioning to Alice and Colleen to follow him, he took my hand and led me to the Head Tower. Pausing at the portrait hole, he made me close my eyes.

"Ready, Lily?" he asked, his hand on the small of my back to guide me into the Head Common Room. I grinned.

"Ready."

I heard the portrait hole open and he helped me over it. "Open your eyes," he whispered.

I did and gasped softly, my hand flying to my mouth as tears welled up in my eyes. The tables were covered with food, the windows and walls were decorated with festive decorations, and the most perfect Christmas tree I'd ever seen was in one of the corners of the room.

The cutest thing of all was Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Frank, all in various positions on the sofas and armchairs in the Common Room, sound asleep. Obviously, they had all worked very hard to make this for me. I turned and hugged James, pressing my face into his chest. "Do you like it?" he asked worriedly.

"I love it!" I murmured. "I love it."

A/N: Review!

P.S. One of my reviewers pointed out that (obviously- I'm so stupid sometimes) the British don't celebrate Thankgiving. Soo….

The reason Hogwarts celebrated it was because there were some American students in the student body, who were sixth years, which was why James didn't find the school celebrating Thanksgiving odd. And the reason why the Evans celebrated it was because one of Petunia's friends introduced it to them, and Mr. Evans liked the idea of eating a ton of food and then sleeping it all off the next day.

Okay.

))Riiko Shea((