HI EVERYONE! Sorry it's literally been weeks since I updated.. It might even have been a month but it was because of college and finals and chemistry and life but now I'm on vacation so I'll have plenty of time to get back into the swing of things and obsessively updating this story! Good news for all of you!

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It was finally December, and the Christmas season had clearly arrived at Hogwarts as overnight the castle had become decorated in wreaths and garlands and gold and red trinkets. The huge traditional Christmas tree had been erected in its usual place in the Great Hall and everyone's spirits were high despite trying to handle their anxiety as they cram for their last exams before the holidays. That, and figuring out what to get certain redheads.

"I have no ideas." James said miserably, setting his head down on the breakfast table with a heavy thud.

"Don't be so defeatist," Sirius said, holding his tea with his little finger sticking out and taking a delicate sip before puffing out his chest in pride. Remus raised an eyebrow at him.

"You realize these are words you should already be using in regular speech, right?" James said, lifting his head slightly off the table.

"No? If a word has three or more syllables, then it's officially a big word and therefore -" Sirius raised his eyebrows for further emphasis "- it is impressive."

"Sirius, I could list a hundred words with three or more syllables that were not impressive." James said with one eyebrow raised. "Therefore only has two syllables anyway."

Sirius paused before groaning.

"Back to the drawing board," he muttered, stirring his tea. "I will crack the code… Some day…"

Remus and James rolled their eyes.

"Why are you even trying to figure this out?" Remus said.

"Why, my good friends, the ladies love a sophisticated gentleman." Sirius puffed out his chest again.

"Can we please get back to the topic of what to get - oh hey Lily!" James blurted out a little too loudly.

"Uhm, hi," Lily smiled awkwardly. "Here are the flyers for the Christmas ball, try and pass them to some of the Prefects, I already posted one in the Gryffindor common room." She handed the pieces of parchment to James before walking away towards her group of friends.

"There's going to be a Christmas ball this year?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Yeah, Lily wanted to do something special, and we thought it would be something a lot of people could enjoy." James explained. "We were thinking about having some kind of gift exchange or other Christmas elements but to be honest we haven't planned much of the details."

"Why don't you plan a surprise for Lily at the ball as her gift?" Remus suggested.

"Remus, you are a genius." James said grinning. "But, what kind of surprise?"

"I don't know," Remus said with a shrug.

"Yes you do," James said frowning. "She's always been better friends with you."

"Well, I mean, it's your gift to her, she will be much more impressed if you come up with it yourself."

James put his head back down on the table. Remus sighed.

"She likes…" Remus began, ushering for James to finish the sentence.

"Pranks?" Sirius offered, gesturing with his fork filled with egg.

"No, Sirius," Remus groaned.

"Quidditch?" Sirius tried again.

"Can you live up to your name and be serious for once. Of course she wouldn't like something Quidditch related." James said frowning.

"Well, why the hell not, it's the greatest sport to ever be created! It has everything!" Sirius dropped his fork on his plate and folded his arms. "Women. They're so difficult."

"I heard that," Lily said as she walked past, swatting him the back of the head of more flyers. Maria also took the liberty to hit him round the head with her potions book.

"Do you think Maria will go with me to the ball?" Sirius asked suddenly as he watched the two girls exit the Great Hall.

"Maybe," Remus said smirking. "If you don't offend her too many times before the end of the month."

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"Hey, Harry!" Remus called, rushing down the hallway. Harry turned slightly, and then decided to stop and wait for him.

"Hey, I've been calling after you for a while now," Remus said out of breath.

"Oh, sorry," Harry said tiredly. "I didn't hear you."

"I haven't seen you in a few days now," Remus said, walking side by side with Harry. "How have you been?"

"Alright," Harry said with a small shrug. Remus sighed.

"Harry, I don't mean to invade your privacy, I know you're probably going through things that I can't begin to understand, but…" Remus paused, glancing over at Harry worriedly. "It's the holidays. I know you don't remember your family or your other friends, but you have me, and Sirius and James and Lily. You'd have Peter too if you'd give him a chance."

Harry's eyes narrowed. That traitor.

"We all miss you Harry," Remus went on. "It's like we always have someone missing from our group; Peter was gone for a month and now you're never around…"

At that moment Harry realized that Peter, that awful, horrible excuse for a human being, was spending more time with his family than he was. It made Harry's blood boil, but just as fast as he felt the heat rush to his face, he felt it ebb away. His hatred of Peter was getting between him and his family. Despite what would happen in the future, he was not taking advantage of what was going on now. He could actually get to spend a Christmas with his family like he always wanted.

"And you know," Remus said, glancing over again at Harry to see if he was even paying attention. "James was talking earlier about how you're still invited to his house for the holidays. Sirius lives with him, you know. And I'll be coming over and I think Lily and Maria are also visiting."

Remus stopped walking and gently touched Harry's shoulder so he would also stop.

"It wouldn't be Christmas without you mate."

Harry looked down without a word.

"I mean, yeah, I'd love to visit James's house and meet his family." Harry mumbled.

"I don't think you'll get away with just visiting for one day," Remus chuckled. "James and Sirius are both pretty set on having you stay for the entire holiday."

"Alright," Harry said, unable to suppress is grin. "I'll come."

"Don't tell me, tell them," Remus said smiling. "They'll be really, really happy."

Together, they made their way to charms (a class Harry hadn't attended in almost a week and a half), a walk filled with lighthearted conversation about James's problems finding a gift for Lily and Sirius's most recent antics. Harry knew now that being with his family was far more important than not being near Peter. He would deal with him later.

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KAY here it is let me know what you think, sorry it's short but I wanted to get something up — I'm already working on the next chapter! yay!