Lily returned to the living room and sat down on a sofa next to Remus. "Hey."
"You look thoroughly depressed." Remus observed, allowing her to put her feet in his lap as she laid down and closed her eyes.
"You have no idea. Actually, you probably have a very good idea. No, wait you don't."
"Are you as confused as I am?"
"Remus, I mean this in the best possible way, but shut up, I'm not in a talking mood." Lily frowned, casting an arm over her eyes.
"How about we talk about our plot to get rid of Potter and run away together." Lily could tell by his tone that he was smiling.
"Let's not talk about James, that'll change my mood to suicidal."
"Okay, I'll just shut up."
"She suggested that five minutes ago, Moony. Alheimer's is setting in." Sirius butted in conversationally.
"At a young age, I might add. I didn't know the senility rate accelerated for werewolves." Lily said, a shadow of a smile lurking on her lips.
Remus and Sirius, seeing their opportunity, continued with the banter, making the occupants of the room gradually focus on the three.
"I'll give you three guesses as to what they say decelerates among werewolves." Sirius laughed. "And since it's you, Lily m'dear, I'll give you five guesses, and the first four don't count."
"Are you saying it's something vulgar I wouldn't know about?"
"Serenity told me in confidence that Sirius suffers from it personally." Remus was shaking with laughter.
"Yeah, it's something I definitely don't want to know about." Lily decided.
"What a dirty mind you have, Lily. I'm talking about eyesight." Sirius was laughing so hard that he couldn't breath for hiccups.
"Would you two stop teasing me?" Lily couldn't help but laugh. "That's something that you would have done when we were fifteen."
"Naw, when I was sixteen my mind was more in the gutter." Sirius said deadpan.
"Shut up and leave me to my depressing thoughts." Lily commanded.
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Just awhile later, everybody was packed into the room with the Chrismtas tree, waiting on Lily to bring out the gingerbread house, already sipping their egg-nog(of course, Sirius finded a way to spike it), apple cider, or hot chocolate.
"Sirius, when I'm not so tired, I'm going to kill you for leaving your shoes in the middle of the kitchen for me to trip over." Lily said, walking into the room.
"Sorry 'bout that." Sirius said unapologetically, then his eyes widened in awe as he saw the gigantic gingerbread house in Lily's arms. "Man oh man! Serry, would you look at that! That's a real beaut', Lily."
"I'm so honored. You don't call anything besides your motorcycle a 'beaut'." Lily said dryly.
The adults of the room were staring at the house with awe and understanding, while the kids had pure awe on their faces.
Lily blushed at their stares. "It just sort of came together."
The gingerbread turned out to be a re-creation of Godric's Hollow.
"Okay, so I miss it, can you blame me?" She asked defensively, setting it on the table, Minky and the other House-Elves trailing behind her with forks, knives, and plates.
"No, not when you consider how much you loved that house." Serenity said.
"It was scary, Lily would have married James just so she could live there." Sirius added.
"I would not have! You make me sound like some sort of gold-digging low-life. Now will you people just eat the stinking house?"
"Calm down, we're getting there." Sirius muttered, picking up a plate and cutting a slab of the roof.
"Your mother is going to kill somebody before the night's over. And I thought mine was bad." Ron whispered to Harry, who shrugged. Everything calmed down shortly, mainly due to the fact everybody went out of their way to be polite and solicitous, choosing their words carefully, around Lily. They all assumed she was upset about James not being home, and they didn't know the half of it.
"Mum, will you tell me a story about Father Christmas?" Gabriella's daughter asked, who was only about four.
Gabriella looked around. "Does anybody remember that story Meredith used to tell? I remember she told me when I was little, but I forgot it?"
There was a concensus of shrugs and 'I don't know's.
"Sirius, didn't you spend half your life over here?"
"Not until I was eight, and by then I...didn't want to hear Father Christmas stories." he answered, changing the excuse when Serentiy jabbed him sharply with her elbow.
"Lily?"
"Don't look at me. Before we went to Hogwarts, if I was around James we were trying to do bodily harm to each other. But I do know he knows it."
"Is it an embarrassing story?" Sirius asked eagerly.
"No, Sirius, it's not. It's unfortunately very mild and dull."
"Too bad, I figured he mumbled it in his sleep."
"Nope, he can't manage coherent sentences, just a few words here and there."
"Poor guy!" Serenity laughed. "He's not here to defend himself!"
"That's a good enough excuse for me, how about you Sirius?"
"Yup."
"You two are a bad influence for the children." Chessa laughed. "Gabby, you'll have to either make up a story or use a fall-back."
"Great." Gabriella said sarcastically, drawing her daughter into her lap. "It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house..."
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"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night." Lily said softly four hours later as the clock began it twelve chimes, sitting in the window seat in her pajamas, having spent a restless, and sleepless for that matter, two hours trying to sleep, having finally given up. She was absently tracing Christmas tree patterns on the frosty glass, watching the snow fall steadily, all the while going over past Christmases in her mind, deciding that this one was the all-time worst. She had already put the presents to everybody under the tree, and occasionally other people would come in to do the same, smile and mumble a 'he'll get here' or 'don't worry'.
In the entrance hall, the door opened, and Lily would have heard the whistling of the sharp wind had she been paying attention. Heavy footfalls sounded on the wooden floors, then stopped, but still she didn't notice.
Feeling eyes on her, Lily turned and looked, to see her most desperate Christmas wish fulfilled. James was standing there in the doorway, decidedly thinner, and long jagged cut from his right eye to his mouth, and smudges of dirt and mud streaked through his hair and on his face and clothes.
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