A Miracle For Christmas by Hypatia
Chapter Notes: God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs is from OotP
Baby, It's Cold Outside was written by Frank Loesser in 1936.
Let The House Elves Sing was a suggestion of TheCursedQuill.
Remus was busy setting up his gramophone in the cramped living room. Having a Muggle grandfather who had earned his living as a music teacher, Remus was well acquainted with both Muggle and wizarding music and had an extensive record collection. Peter was already acquainted with a great deal of Muggle music as well, but both James and Sirius had only become familiar with it as a result of Remus’s influence. Occasionally Remus suspected this was the sum total of influence he had over Sirius; James was often the only person who could change Sirius’s mind.
Out of the corner of his eye Remus could see James putting brown and green baubles on the Christmas tree. A faint hissing could be heard from the kitchen, followed by Peter reprimanding, –No, Gustave! Ouch! Naughty goose!â€
–Gustave?†wondered Remus, looking at James in puzzlement.
–No, no, NO!†Sirius barked. –Wormtail, you numpty! I don’t want you to name it, I want you to cook it!â€
James and Remus looked at each other and sniggered.
–I was just stuffing him first,†Peter replied defensively. –Have some more bread Gustave. That’s a good goose.â€
Remus and James exchanged another glance. Apparently Sirius was roughly as knowledgeable a cook as Peter, as this argument seemed to appease him. No one bothered to point out that Gustave was supposed to be stuffed post mortem, as this would likely only make them responsible for executing, stuffing and then roasting Gustave.
Sirius had surprised everyone with the level of energy he’d thrown into his party. He had badgered Remus to give him copies to the lyrics of several popular Muggle Christmas songs as well as access to his record collection. Sirius had then spent the remainder of the school term waking most of Gryffindor Tower up by blasting Christmas music. He’d seemed especially fond of God Rest Ye Merry Hippogrifs and the Muggle song, Baby, It’s Cold Outside.
After the third morning of waking everyone up with Christmas music, the Headmaster had politely requested Sirius’s presence in his office. This wasn’t particularly unusual; each of the four Marauders had spent more than what they considered their fair share of time in the offices of Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Filch, who’s office was more or less a dungeon. Remus had no idea what transpired between Sirius and Dumbledore, but their little chat hadn’t had the effect the majority of the Hogwarts’ residents had desired; the following morning Let The House Elves Sing was also added to the mix. Remus was at a complete loss as to how this had happened as he didn’t even own a record with that particular song on it.
Once school was out, Sirius’s enthusiasm hadn’t waned. He had put together an elaborate menu, found a shapely Christmas tree, and even gone to the trouble of trying to learn about Muggle Christmas traditions. Remus would never admit it to Sirius, but thus far the Christmas party was looking like it might have been a good idea after all. Then the doorbell rang.
–Is it Evans?†James asked, looking hopeful while quickly ruffling his hair.
–I don’t know and for Merlin’s sake, stop playing with your hair! She hates it when you do that!†Remus hissed.
However, Remus’s warning turned out to be of little consequence as it wasn’t Lily at the door. Instead, it was Mary MacDonald and Caradoc Dearborn. The couple pitched in and helped James finish up with the decorations. Mary used a Colour Change Charm to turn the brown ornaments red while James had his back turned.
It wasn’t long before Sirius came in and surveyed their handiwork. –Not bad… not bad at all…â€
–I’d like to see you do better,†James huffed, while proudly surveying his handiwork. The tree was festooned with baubles and candles. He’d hung four stockings, bearing the nicknames ‘Padfoot’, ‘Moony’, ‘Wormtail’ and ‘Prongs’ by the fire. When Sirius had asked him to decorate, James hadn’t realized he was also agreeing to clean up the mess that Sirius had somehow managed to create in the week since they’d left Hogwarts. He’d prided himself on the novel idea of simply wrapping various piles of debris with brightly coloured paper and then stashing them under the tree for Sirius to unwrap at his leisure. Prongs dearly hoped Padfoot would be surprised come Christmas morning when he discovered that his laundry hadn’t been done after all. Sirius was now squinting at the angel sitting atop the tree which, unbeknownst to him, had originally been one of his dirty old socks until James had taken the trouble of Transfiguring it.
–Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, Prongs, but it is missing something,†Sirius replied looking about the room. –Weren’t you supposed to have decked the halls with holly and ivy and such?†He then raised his eyebrows suggestively before adding, –And mistletoe?â€
Before anyone had a chance to interrupt, Sirius waved his wand and greenery started appearing about the room. Remus smiled to himself; Sirius had always had a flair for Transfiguration. Nevertheless, at the first opportunity he quietly reminded Padfoot, –A few sprigs of mistletoe aren’t going to change Lily’s mind.â€
Sirius only smiled his most infuriating smile and replied, –I completely agree. A few sprigs won’t do it.â€
The doorbell then rang and Sirius hurried off to answer it, leaving Remus with a very bad feeling. Subtlety had never been Sirius’s strong suit. Neither was common sense.
This time a larger group of guests had arrived. Remus could see Alicia Fawcett, a pretty sixth year Ravenclaw whom Remus had fancied for some time, had arrived with her friends Rachel Moody and Artemis Lovegood.
Peter had just finished putting away their cloaks when Emmeline Smith and her fiancé David Vance arrived. Sirius’s little house was already beginning to feel cramped and the room was becoming a bit too warm. Remus couldn’t help but wonder how many more people Sirius had invited. He had been hoping that twenty had been an exaggeration. Then the Gryffindor Quidditch team arrived, except James of course, as he was already there.
–Sirius!†Remus hissed. –How many people did you invite?â€
–Like I said before: somewhere between twenty and thirty. Oh! And I told some of them that they could bring a friend.â€
–And where do you plan to put them all?†Remus asked in disbelief.
Sirius shrugged. –You worry too much, Moony. These things have a way of working themselves out.â€
–No, they don’t,†Remus argued, noting that fellow Gryffindors, Victoria Williams and Ellen Peasegood, had just arrived. This seemed odd to Remus as he would have expected Lily to arrive with her best friend, Victoria. He couldn’t help but wonder if this meant that all of Sirius’s scheming had been for nothing and Lily wouldn’t be coming after all.
–I meant I have every confidence that you’ll think of something,†Sirius clarified, while looking somewhere over Remus’s shoulder. –You might want to put your thinking cap on; I think the Hufflepuff prefects just arrived.â€
–You invited the Hufflepuff prefects?†Remus repeated, unable to fathom why Sirius had felt the need to invite people who typically landed them in detention.
–Christmas is a time for love and forgiveness,†Sirius replied crisply. –Besides, I figured it would be good to have them around in case their Quidditch team gets rowdy.â€
–Because you also invited the Hufflepuff Quidditch team,†Remus finished wearily.
–Well, it would be rude not to after having invited the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams, besides, I felt it would help smooth over that rather nasty incident with those mutant spiders,†Sirius explained.
–Of course,†Remus replied in an utterly defeated tone. Now he simply had to find a way to either make Sirius’s house larger or his guests smaller.
–You know, Remus, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. You really ought to lighten up,†Sirius called back over his shoulder.
Only then did it occur to Remus that it really wasn’t his responsibility to ensure that Sirius’s party went according to plan. In fact, he was tired of being the responsible Marauder.
Just then, the doorbell rang again. Sirius bounded up to the door and threw it wide open. –Evans! Glad you could make it!â€
Lily looked somewhat out of place as Sirius ushered her into his now packed home. She held up a dish and told him, –I brought some gingerbread.â€
–Excellent! Now if Wormtail completely flubs the cooking we’ll still have something to eat!â€
Lily smiled somewhat mechanically as Sirius showed her through to the living room. Remus couldn’t help but notice that Victoria Williams suddenly seemed to find Harold Greengrass to be extremely interesting when Lily entered the room. He wondered if Peter had been right about Lily feeling a bit ostracized over being Muggleborn. He, Peter, Sirius and James had all been to the Williams’ Christmas party a few days earlier and James had pointed out that Lily hadn’t been there. Lily and Victoria had been friendly for years, and Remus hated to think that Lily hadn’t been invited simply because she didn’t have wizard parents. Then again, he reminded himself, for all he knew Lily had been invited and couldn’t make it.
James, ever on the lookout for Lily Evans, began to mess up his hair. Unfortunately, the room was a good deal more crowded than the previous time he had done so and he was now standing precariously close to one of the tree’s candles. No one was prepared for the high pitched scream that erupted from James as he realized that his prized hair was smoking. Fortunately, Artemis Lovegood quickly used an Extinguishing Spell and most of his hair was saved.
Remus was watching from across the crowded room. He could have sworn he’d seen a smile momentarily twitch on Lily’s lips when James had panicked. James was blushing deeply as he hurried out of the room, not even pausing to thank the attractive brunette who’d rescued his hair. Remus couldn’t help but note that James now seemed to have a bald patch at the back of his head. This thought was interrupted by Sirius appearing at his elbow. Remus felt mildly gratified to see that Sirius wasn’t quite his usual suave and confident self. –Have you figured out what to do about this crowd yet? Nick and half the Slug Club’s just arrived.â€
Remus serenely surveyed his friend before informing him, –Well, you could make the room bigger….â€
–Brilliant Moony!†Sirius exclaimed. As far as Remus knew, Sirius had never magically enlarged a room before. The regular Remus would have pointed out that Sirius had no idea what he was doing. Festive Remus simply raised a bottle of Butterbeer and stood back to survey the damage.
Remus had to admit to himself that he was impressed. The room had trembled and shaken a good deal, most of the glass baubles James had carefully hung were now smashed to bits, but overall, the room enlargement did seem to have worked. Then James entered the room. He was now thoroughly soaked and didn’t look terribly pleased. Remus couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen James look so flustered.
–Sirius, did you just enlarge the room?†James asked quietly.
–Yes, I think it went really well for a first attempt,†Sirius replied, still happily surveying his work. He then turned to James. –What the Hell happened to you?â€
–Funny you should ask,†James replied dryly. –I was in the lav trying to see how much of my hair burnt off when suddenly there was something like an earthquake and half the pipes burst.â€
–Ah, sorry ‘bout that, mate,†Sirius replied, obviously trying to suppress a laugh. From across the room, Lily was also doing her best to stifle her giggles. –Remus how about you fix the pipes and I’ll lend James some clean clothes?â€
–Why do you think I would know the first thing about fixing them?†Remus inquired.
Sirius simply shrugged and wandered off with the sopping wet James, telling him, –Not to worry Prongs, this will give me a good way to start off Operation: Mistletoe.â€
Remus suspected he already knew what Operation: Mistletoe entailed, even though Sirius had failed to go over the finer points with him. The ceiling was practically crawling with the stuff and already a few couples were making use of it. Apparently the acrid smell of burnt hair wasn’t enough to put them off.
–I can give you a hand, if you want,†Lily offered, casually wandering over.
Remus’s eyebrows shot up. –Not that I wouldn’t mind the help, but what do you know about plumbing?â€
Lily shrugged and grinned. –At least as much as you.â€
–Well, the more the merrier,†Remus replied cheerfully. He’d always enjoyed Lily’s company and certainly didn’t want to appear to be snubbing her.
The pair made their way to the toilet and Remus cautiously opened the door before slamming it shut again. –I don’t think you should go in there, Lily.â€
–I was thinking that a Scouring Charm or two, quickly followed by a Freezing Charm might do the trick,†Lily suggested.
–Quite possibly,†Remus agreed. –However, the Hufflepuff Keeper is currently being sick in there.â€
Sirius then seemed to appear out of thin air. Remus had always wondered how Sirius had managed to acquire such a talent, not to mention the even more impressive one of being able to disappear into thin air upon sighting McGonagall or Filch. –Shame on you, Remus! Asking Lily to help clean up this mess...â€
Remus began to protest, but Sirius interrupted him. –I’ll assist you in clearing this up. Evans, would you mind giving James his glasses back? He must have lost them when the pipes burst.†Sirius explained, picking them up off the floor. Remus could have sworn they hadn’t been there before Sirius’s arrival. In fact, he was reasonably certain that James had been wearing his glasses the last time Remus had seen him.
–I don’t mind helping Remus, really,†Lily began.
Sirius, however, had already put the glasses in her hand and turned her back around. –Thanks, Evans!†he called out after her.
–So how are you planning on cleaning this up?†Moony asked, having no intention of helping Sirius further.
Sirius pointed his wand at the door. –Colloportus!†He then grinned at Remus. –Problem solved. Now let’s go watch Evans meet Prongs under the mistletoe! I already told him to wait for her underneath a bunch of it.â€
–You can’t actually believe that will work,†Remus grumbled.
–Trust me, Moony. Everything is going according to plan,†Sirius replied confidently. Remus didn’t bother to inquire where giving James a bald spot or bursting half the pipes had factored into Sirius’s grand scheme.
They arrived in the living room just in time to see Artemis Lovegood approach James, with his glasses in her hand. They were even close enough to hear him request a kiss, while pointing at the greenery over his head. Artemis acquiesced.
–Was that part of your plan?†Remus asked, wondering if James had lost his mind.
–What does that berk think he’s doing?†Sirius grumbled.
James, who was now wearing his glasses, appeared very red-faced and was heading their way. –What are you playing at Sirius?†he demanded.
–Me? You’re the one who just kissed Lovegood in front of Evans!†Sirius replied, clearly annoyed.
–I thought she was Evans!†James hissed. –You told me Evans would meet me under that bunch of mistletoe and I’m half-blind without my glasses so when a girl walked up…â€
–That’s ridiculous, Prongs,†Sirius argued. –I don’t care how fuzzy the world might have appeared, surely at some point in the past seven years you managed to notice that Evans is a ginger?â€
Remus suddenly understood and started to laugh. His two friends simply stared at him in puzzlement until he was finally able to say, –Sirius, surely even you have noticed that James can’t tell red from orange from brown?â€
Sirius’s eyes narrowed. –Tell Wormtail we’re moving on to Operation: Christmas Cookie.â€