Title: Glass Hearts

Rating: PG-13

Summary (for chapter): We begin with a few Christmas flashbacks. Then Andromeda Tonks throws a Christmas party which our Marauders and a group of other people attend and enjoy.

Sirius sneaked a cookie from the platter on the coffee table. His mother was talking with his aunt, the two of them gushing over something boring. His father was reading the paper, and none of the rest of the adults were looking. Sirius sneaked a second one, hiding the first in his robes. He walked over to Regulus, who wore a purple hat that looked ugly on him.

Sirius waved the cookie in front of his face. "Haha," he said.

Regulus frowned. "How did you get that?" he asked.

"I just took it," Sirius said.

"I want one," Regulus whined.

Sirius handed him the one out of his robes. "Here," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Their three cousins were over at their house. All three of them had come home from Hogwarts. Sirius couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts. He couldn't wait to get a wand and make friends and get Sorted. He didn't actually know what House he would be in, or which House he wanted to be in. Most of his family was in Slytherin; his cousin Andromeda had been Sorted into Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw seemed cool.

Sirius, only seven, glanced around his home. There was a gigantic Christmas tree decorated with white lights, but it was the only thing that gave off the appearance of brightness or color. The rest of his home was dark, gray, and he didn't understand why. He didn't want to be Sorted into Slytherin if it looked like his home. But anyways, at Hogwarts, him and Regulus would do all kinds of cool stuff: join the Quidditch team, explore the Forbidden Forest.

Narcissa walked over to Sirius, her hand on her hip. "Where did you get that cookie?" she asked. She was only a first year, but she thought she could boss Sirius around.

"None of your business," Sirius said shortly.

Narcissa gave him a patronizing look and walked away. Sirius sat down next to Regulus and took the hat off of his brother's head. "I don't know why Uncle Cygnus gave this to you," he said.

Andromeda and Bellatrix were fighting about something. Bellatrix was like her youngest sister; she tried to boss everyone around, especially now that she was a prefect. Andromeda was definitely Sirius's favorite cousin. Sirius glared at Bellatrix as the argument went on.

A few minutes later, there was a blast of red light. It seemed like time slowed down. Andromeda was bleeding, and Bellatrix looked shocked as she stared at her sister. Adults jumped up, yelling and pulling out their wands. Narcissa started screaming, the blood on her dress and her face and in her blonde hair. An owl flew in, dropping a letter in Bellatrix's lap. Regulus was soon crying, covering his ears. Sirius stared at the scene, horrified.

Remus sat in the Shrieking Shack, his head in his hands. What were they thinking? This wouldn't work...they were idiots, all of them. They'd been trying to accomplish the Animagus magic for almost three years, and three weeks ago, James had finally attempted to morph into his Animagus form flawlessly. They had practiced it nearly every night since then. Sirius had caught on a few days later, and Peter nearly two weeks.

It was pretty much perfect, but that did nothing for the knot in the bottom of Remus's stomach. What if he tried to hurt them? What if he bit one of them? What if they got caught? What if, what if, what if. His mind was full of what if's, he couldn't stop thinking of them.

The Hogwarts grounds were very empty for Christmas holidays. The Marauders had stayed behind to try out their first attempt at this madness - absolute madness. The three of them would pull on James's invisibility cloak and sneak down to the Whomping Willow, then into the Shrieking Shack. After that was hazy. After that was where most of Remus's worries came into the picture.

He could feel the full moon coming on - only about half an hour. His bones ached, and his muscles throbbed. The days of the winter were shorter and the nights were longer, meaning he spent more time as a wolf when the time came around.

Remus paced around the Shrieking Shack nervously. This had been a great day - Christmas Day of his fifth year was just great really. Why end it with possible murdering one of his best friends? Maybe he could run back to the castle in time to tell them he didn't want to do it. What good would that do? They would do it anyway, Remus knew it.

Sirius had gotten him a book about wizarding myths, it looked highly interesting. He had been reading it until he knew he needed to get down to the Shrieking Shack. James gave him a Sneakoscope. It hadn't done anything yet, but when students started coming back, they would see if it worked. James said they would walk around until they found Snape, but Sirius didn't feel like looking for Snivellus.

Snape had recently been more hostile towards them than usual. Remus thought it was because James's crush on Lily Evans was getting unbearable. He knew he wasn't the only one who noticed her strange friendship with Snape. James was just as hostile towards Snape. It really hadn't been pretty after he saw the two of them alone in the Quidditch stands last month.

How could he be thinking about Snape and Lily when his friends were coming in an hour, possibly to their deaths?

Remus sighed, shaking his head. He hoped this wasn't the last Christmas he spent with them.

"Oh, mum, at Hogwarts, they had twelve huge Christmas trees in the Great Hall!" Lily chatted away excitedly. "And at the closing feast before we all left, we had treacle tarts and lemon drops and this wonderful roast. I just love it there, mum, I'm so glad I'm a witch."

"I'm glad you like it so much," her mum, Rose Evans, replied.

The two of them were making apple pie for Christmas tomorrow. Lily cut the apples, sitting on a chair by the island in their kitchen. There was Christmas music playing, and the fire was crackling in the living room.

"It's good to be home, though," Lily said. "I've missed you all so much."

"But you're making lots of new friends," Rose said.

"Oh, yes," Lily said. "One of my roommates, Mary MacDonald, is so fun to hang out with. She does the craziest things - not anything against the rules, of course, but during Transfiguration about a week ago, she Transfigured James Potter's book - oh, mum, he's this boy in my year, but I don't think I like him very much. He's so full of himself. A month ago, he turned poor Candace's hair purple. She cried all night. I don't know how he learned spells like that. Maybe it's because he grew up with wizarding parents -"

Petunia walked into the kitchen, and Lily cut off abruptly. She fell silent, concentrating on her apple. Rose looked at her curiously. She glanced at Petunia, who looked around haughtily.

"Mum, I can't find the glasses for the table," Petunia said.

"They're in the second draw of the china cabinet," Rose replied.

Petunia walked back towards the dining room, where she was setting the table for Christmas dinner. Lily sighed a little bit. "What was that all about?" Rose asked.

Lily looked up at her, her cheeks pink. "What?" she asked.

"You know what I'm talking about," Rose said.

Lily shrugged. "I just don't think Petunia likes all that stuff," she said.

Rose fell silent. Her husband walked in, looking comfortable in a sweater and slacks. "It smells delicious!" he said with a warm smile on his face. "Lily, I'm so glad you're home to help your mum."

"Me, too," Rose said, stroking Lily's hair down. "You done with those apples?"

"Yes, mum," Lily said, setting the knife down.

"This apple pie is going to be marvelous," Rose said.

"Christmas at St. Mungo's," Marlene's dad said cheerily. "This isn't so bad, is it?"

Marlene and the rest of his family were gathered around his bed in St. Mungo's. He wore a stocking cap and had a glass of pumpkin juice in his hand. Marlene knew they had a tree at home and mum's wonderful roast, but dad was here, and that was what mattered. The left side of his face was bandaged up.

"No, it's great," Marlene's mum replied.

Marlene pried her eyes away from her father and looked down at her new socks, white with dragons on them. Doug and George were there, enjoying their gifts as well. Her dad had gotten them Dark Sensory objects, like he usually did. Their whole house was full of things like Sneakoscopes and Foe-Glasses.

"Happy Christmas," Doug said with a stupid grin on his face. He had been drinking firewhiskey over the past week ever since they heard about dad's attack, and today wasn't any different.

Mum shook her head. "What if Sarah saw you like this?" she asked.

"She sees me like this all the time, mum," Doug said, speaking of his fiance.

Mum met Marlene's eyes with a smile. "I wouldn't marry you," Marlene said shortly.

"Good," Doug said.

George looked as though he'd been drinking a bit, too, but he was hiding it from mum pretty well. He was only a sixth year, but Marlene knew that didn't stop him. He was one of the guys who helped James Potter and his friends sneak into Hogsmeade. James Potter and Sirius Black, one year above her, worshipped her brothers and her dad; it was quite funny watching them try to get on George's good side.

Marlene looked up at her dad again, taking his hand. "I'm glad you're all right," she said.

"Me, too, honey," dad patted her on the head.

"Is this going to happen again?" Marlene asked.

It was silent for a moment, and Marlene already knew the answer. "Well, Marly, all three of us are going to be Aurors someday," dad said. "It's a very dangerous job, especially in days like these."

Marlene let out a sigh. "I know," she said. She had heard this one before.

"Let's just enjoy Christmas," mum said brightly. She brought out a camera. "Come on, kids, gather around dad."

"Remus, just let me buy the bloody things," Sirius said.

Remus glared at him, crossing his arms. Why did he have to do this? Why not just let him wear his own dress robes?

"Thank you," Sirius took his silence as consent.

They were in Diagon Alley, and Remus made the mistake of following Sirius into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Then he made his second mistake by trying some nice dress robes on. Now miserable, he followed Sirius to the check-out desk.

"You've got to look decent for Andromeda's party," Sirius said.

"I've got dress robes of my own," Remus said.

"They're too small for you," Sirius said shortly. He had also bought Andromeda a necklace and matching earrings for Christmas. It was merely more proof that Sirius was secretly in love with Andromeda.

As Madam Malkin took Sirius's galleons, Remus looked outside the window. Diagon Alley was not as full as it usually was, especially since there had been a rumored dementor sighting about a week ago. People came, got what they needed, and left as soon as possible. But, of course, not the four of them. They lounged around at Sirius and James's wishes, visiting this store and then that store, buying this and then that.

Sirius handed the bag to Remus. "You're very welcome," he said.

"Thanks," Remus muttered.

They walked outside into the snowy alley and went searching for James and Peter. They were at Quality Quidditch Supplies, to no one's surprise, and James hid a bag behind his back when he saw Sirius.

"Ready?" Sirius asked. He looked at his watch, the one Mr. Potter had gotten him for his seventeenth birthday. He guarded that thing as if it were his own offspring. "Andromeda's party starts in an hour."

"Damn, mum wanted us home by now," James said. "Let's Floo out of here before she has all our knickers."

The four of them waited by the doors while James's mother ran around trying to find earrings. James's dad walked in with a pair of socks in his hand. "Are those mine?" James asked.

"They could be," his dad replied. "Our socks look just the same."

A carriage came by for the six of them. His mum was the last one in, but then they were off to Andromeda's. It was probably a magical carriage, because within minutes they had arrived in a completely different place. They stepped out of the carriage in front of a decorated house, music and people streaming out of it.

The snow crunched and fairies came out of the bushes as they walked towards the front door. They were announced, and a man took their coats, filling the sagging coat hanger. The house was full of people; the air alive with Christmas music and people talking. The living room had been changed into a small dance floor. There was a snack table with a large ice sculpture of a swan surrounded by candies. After making sure his parents had disappeared, James filled up four glasses of firewhiskey.

"Sirius!" a voice came right before they were about to toast.

Sirius's cousin Andromeda had arrived to greet them. Sirius's face lit up, and Remus elbowed James in the stomach. He mouthed the word 'love.' Andromeda was definitely a beautiful woman with long dark hair and bright eyes. Andromeda pulled Sirius into a hug, then politely shook the hands of his three friends.

"Thanks for inviting us," Remus said.

"Oh, of course," Andromeda said. "Sirius probably wouldn't have come without the three of you."

"Weemus!" came a squeal.

A small girl ran to Remus's legs, throwing her arms around him. "She missed you," Andromeda said with a smile. Little Nymphadora, who had gathered a variety of nicknames from the boys, had her hair bright red and she wore dark green dress robes.

A moment later, a teenage girl came through the crowd. "Nymphadora!" she said breathlessly. "Sorry, Mrs. Tonks."

"Don't worry about it," Andromeda said. "Just don't let her get to close to the snack table." She put her hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Enjoy yourself."

James slightly recognized the girl. She blushed when she noticed Sirius, busying herself with Nympho, who wouldn't detach herself from Remus. "You look familiar," Sirius said.

The girl blushed harder. "Oh, I'm just a fourth year Ravenclaw," she said.

"Right," Sirius said, nodding. "You always let me in Ravenclaw Tower."

She giggled, pulling Dot harder. "Come on, Nymphadora," she said.

James downed his firewhiskey, and the four of them managed to get Remus away from his three-year-old admirer. "Another woman in love with Remus Lupin," Sirius said.

James saw a familiar head of wavy hair. "Marlene?" he called.

A girl a few feet away from them turned around. She squeezed through a few people, smiling at them. "Hey!" she said. She looked pretty in blue dress robes. "Happy Christmas!"

"Yeah," James said. "Is your dad here?"

Marlene nodded, glanced around. "Yeah, somewhere," she said. "You'll have to catch him quick, though, he's not staying for too long."

"Sweet," James said. "Where is he?"

Marlene shrugged. She looked at the other boys. "Anyone want to dance?"

Remus's eyes widened, and Peter looked like he had never heard the word 'dance.' Sirius extended his hand. The two of them went unto the dance floor while James went searching for his idols: the McKinnon boys.

Remus and Peter found Melissa Warbeck with her mum by the back door. Melissa was nothing like her mother Celestina. Celestina was loud, flashy, and hitting on Sirius's Uncle Alphard. "Remus, right?" Alphard said.

"Yes," Remus said.

"And...Peter?" Alphard said.

Peter nodded, delighted someone remembered his name.

"Where's my nephew?" Alphard boomed. He was a loud jolly fellow, kind of like a Father Christmas figure.

"Dancing the night away," Remus said. He nodded to Melissa. "How are you?"

"Oh, good," Melissa said. "Enjoying your holidays?"

"Yeah," Remus said. Christmas Break was, as Remus had expected, everything he had wanted and more. His parents had visited them for a few days. They had had even more snowball fights, cozy nights by the fireplace, and games with the Potters. The luck seemed to always be in favor of Mr. Potter in Exploding Snap. Mrs. Potter had hundreds of Famous Wizarding Cards from Chocolate Frogs, and they spent a whole night reading all of the descriptions and quizzing each other. "You?"

"Yeah," Melissa said with a smile. "It's been great so far."

The party was an event for the adults to get drunk and forget that the war was going on, and for their children to snog one another and forget that the war was going on. It was at least an hour later when Mary MacDonald and Frank Longbottom stumbled in from outside, their faces flushed. James patted Frank on the shoulder, winking at him. Mary detached herself from her boyfriend and started dancing with Marlene. Remus stood by the snacks table with Frank, who didn't seem like one to dance.

"Where have your friends got to?" Frank asked.

"They're sucking up to the McKinnons," Remus said.

"Ah," Frank said. "I should be doing that."

"Aren't you practically a shoe-in for training?" Remus asked.

Frank shrugged. "We'll see," he said.

"Oh, right," Remus said with a roll of his eyes. "You're in, Frank. Not only are they desperate for Aurors, but you're perfect."

Frank gave him a smile. "Thanks," he said.

A girl with curly hair came to the table from the crowd, searching for air. "Hi," she said breathlessly. "It's so hot in that crowd."

"Yeah," Remus said. "Alice Hodge, right?"

Alice gave him a smile. She grabbed herself a glass of juice. "Right," she said. "We're in the same year, I think."

"Yeah," Remus said.

"Yeah, I study with Lily every now and then," Alice said. "Especially Transfiguration. I hate that class."

"It's definitely got its difficult parts," Remus replied.

Alice started drinking her juice as though she hadn't had anything to drink for ages. She paused, glancing on the other side of Remus. "Frank?" she said.

Frank looked up. He blushed a little bit when he saw that it was Alice. "Hey," he said. "Happy Holidays."

"Yeah," Alice said. They both seemed a bit awkward; Remus felt like he should leave as the two of them looked at each other with him in the middle. He turned around, refilling his glass with butterbeer. "I mean, Happy Holidays to you, too."

Frank nodded. He cleared his throat. "You, uh, enjoying the party?" he asked.

"Yeah," Alice said.

There was a moment of silence. Alice looked like she was about to say something else, but Mary stumbled over to them. She was laughing loudly, being even louder than the typical Mary. She threw her arms around Frank's neck. "Have I ever told you how handsome you are?" she asked breathlessly.

Frank gave her a tight smile, putting his hand on her back. Mary swung around to look at Remus and Alice. She gave them a stupid grin. "I'm so happy!" she exclaimed.

"You're so pissed," Frank said. "I leave you for ten minutes, and you lose it."

Mary started to crack up laughing. She leaned on Frank, who held her up with one arm. "I'll see you guys later," Alice said suddenly.

"Bye," Remus said.

"Alice..." Frank trailed off, but Alice was already gone.

Remus cleared his throat as Mary started swirling around in her spot. Frank shook his head, meeting Remus's eyes. "Girls," he said.

Sirius was sitting on the back porch with a firewhiskey and Marlene McKinnon. Marlene was drinking as well. "Aren't your parents here?" Sirius asked.

"Never stopped my brothers," Marlene said. "They know I'm not going to get pissed, though."

"That makes one of us," Sirius said. He swigged a drink from his bottle, its contents warming his throat as it went down. It was freezing outside, but the two of them had decided it was too loud inside. It had been an hour or so, and people were beginning to lose themselves. A great opportunity to forget all that was going on in their world. He had seen Uncle Alphard; he had been pissed as well. He was telling Sirius how proud he was of his nephew, how just the other day he heard that Bellatrix had become a Death Eater, and Lucius Malfoy was chasing after You-Know-Who, and Regulus had gotten into trouble with Rosier and Mulciber. Sirius took another long drink, closing his eyes.

"I like your aunt," Marlene said evenly. "She invited us last year."

"Yeah?" Sirius said. "She admires your dad."

"She should join the club," Marlene said.

"Her family hates her for associating with people like you," Sirius said. "Well, and because she married a Muggleborn."

"People like me?" Marlene repeated.

"You know what I mean," Sirius said with a wave of his hand.

Marlene paused. "People like you, too," she said.

Sirius closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "Right," he said. "I've made the switch from pureblooded arse to Muggle-loving fool."

"Well, you're still an arse," Marlene said.

Sirius smirked. He took another drink. It would take him a few more bottles to make him indifferent about Regulus's arrest.

"Remus, you seen Frank?" James asked.

"He left to take Mary home," Remus replied.

"Oh," James said. He leaned against the wall next to Remus, who was eating a Chocolate Frog. He had talked to the McKinnons for a while, danced with his tipsy mum, listened to Uncle Alphard rant on for about twenty minutes, and kissed two girls underneath the mistletoe (but he could only think of Lily Evans). "Having fun?"

"Loads," Remus said wryly.

"Have you danced?" James asked.

Remus narrowed his eyes. "No," he said.

"Come on," James said. "Dance with Marlene."

"She's drinking with Sirius," Remus replied.

James raised his eyebrows. Marlene and Sirius usually didn't get along very well. What did the holidays do to people? "That's not a good sign," he said. "What about that fourth year Ravenclaw? I think Melissa Warbeck is somewhere around here."

"I'm fine, really," Remus said. "Peter's dancing with the Ravenclaw."

"What?" James asked. He darted towards the dance floor. He didn't see Wormtail anywhere. He craned his neck around, then saw the Ravenclaw with little Dot by the window seat. He went back to the spot where he had found Remus, but he had escaped.

James rolled his eyes and went searching for some firewhiskey. He needed to get Evans off of his mind.

At midnight, the Potters finally decided it was time to leave. Andromeda, Herbert, and Martha tracked down the boys. Sirius was having drinking contests with Marlene on the back porch. Andromeda looked at the two of them. "Potters are leaving, Sirius," she said.

"I win," Marlene said.

"No, you don't," Sirius said.

"You forfeit," Marlene said.

"We'll continue this," Sirius said. He stood up. He swayed on the spot, but Andromeda steadied him. "Thank you, Meda. I love you so very much."

Marlene giggled, covering her mouth. Andromeda led Sirius inside, patting him on the back.

Remus and Peter were sitting in the back with Melissa Warbeck. The three of them were trying out different flavors of Bertie Botts Beans, and Remus had just come across a vomit-flavored one as Herbert came over.

James was harder to find, but eventually his mum found him in the study talking with Edgar Bones. She was pleased to see he hadn't been drinking, or if he had, he hadn't drank too much. Unlike her. "Time to go, James," she said with a hiccup.

"Oh," James said, looking disappointed. He and Edgar shook hands. "I'll see you around."

"Good luck," Edgar said. "Stay out of trouble at school."

"I'll try," James winked at him.

His mum tripped down the stairs, but James caught her from falling. She broke into giggles. The six of them got their coats and left the party.

Please review!

That was an exciting ending, no? What's next for our fearless Marauders? Christmas Day! Then James receives a letter and has the worst day-after-Christmas ever. Also, we see into the love life of Frank Longbottom.