A/N: I feel like you should be used to this by now, but just in case, the letters are in italics.

...

Julia had not gotten a good night's sleep since she left Hogwarts. Marlene and Mary insisted upon playing the loudest music possible until Eve had taken the stereo away from them, but she couldn't permanently shut them up, so there was no helping Julia, who had a room right next to them.

Of course, Julia had taken to writing to Annie and talking to Myles, who she discovered was her favorite McKinnon brother, about the whole thing and they both had the same response. Well, technically, Myles had been sarcastic about his answer and Annie had been serious, but she hadn't paid attention to the fine details of it all.

The first fact was that both Mary and Marlene hated waking up early, while Julia was usually the first person up, bar Eve McKinnon. The second fact was that they had kept Julia up for near a week, so she was very sleep-deprived and annoyed, to say the least. Julia concluded that she needed revenge and her revenge would take place perfectly on Christmas morning.

She woke up before the birds could chirp and the sun could rise to sneak down into the kitchen. Looking around, she found a spaghetti pot and a metal spoon.

The only downside of the prank was already taken care of as Julia asked Myles and Marcus to put up silence charms around the house. This would let her wake up only the two girls she had intended to.

Creeping back up the stairs, Julia only hesitated for a moment before opening the door open a crack that could barely let her squeeze through.

There was Marlene and Mary sound asleep in the former's bed. Julia noted to tell Mary she snored and that Marlene drools, but that was a future conversation that needed to take place. Right now, she needed to wake them up before they could sense her presence.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"What the hell was that?" Julia could hear Marlene's startled voice from her hiding place, successfully obscuring her from their view.

"I have no clue," Mary responded.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Julia started to giggle when she heard more curses and almost lost it when she heard them start to speak again.

"Dear Merlin, I know I haven't been the best child in the past, but please do not let whatever that is kill us," Marlene said with a quavering voice.

"What she said," Mary spoke in an almost whisper.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"This is the end!" Marlene's voice practically shouted.

Julia couldn't help it, she burst out laughing, which definitely broke her cover. Mary peeled the covers off of her and went to inspect who she suspected was her sister.

"Really Julia?" Mary sighed as her sister continued to laugh harder.

"Next time, let me get some sleep and this won't happen," Julia abruptly stopped laughing and walked out of their room.

"I don't know what you're expecting. She's best friends with a Potter," Marlene reminded Mary with tired eyes and a smirk.

...

Their tired eyes had accompanied the two girls throughout opening presents, eating waffles, and playing exploding snap. When the exploding snap game had ended with Marcus's hair being set on fire, Eve ushered them outside in an attempt to save the house from being burnt down.

Marcus, Myles, and Michael may be considered adults, but they would never shy away from a traditional game of McKinnon quidditch. This had been a part of their Christmas celebration since Marlene had picked up a broom and could join in, making the numbers even.

They had decided a long time ago that living with their parents would be easier since their whole family was in the Order. Eve also had the means to nurse the boys back to their full health after a particularly bad mission trip.

Mary had opted out of playing with them after hearing the horror stories and warned Julia that they played rough, but ultimately let her sister do whatever she wanted. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at her throat to magnify her voice to commentate.

"And there goes Marcus flying higher than needed to look for the snitch because he's extra."

Marcus flipped off Mary, making her chuckle as Julia flew past with the quaffle in hand.

Mary had been initially surprised that her sister was such a good flyer, but she supposed that Julia had always had more balance and control over her body than Mary had.

"Julia scores against Michael, looks like his Hogwarts glory days are over."

Michael was the second McKinnon to flip Mary off, earning another one of her chuckles.

McKinnon quidditch had a set of rules that they religiously followed. If you set one toe out of line, there would be a penalty rewarded to the opposing team.

Rule #1: There should be no more than ten people playing at a time.

One of the first times they had played, their cousins were over and chaos had erupted. Marlene accidentally hit a bystander with her beater's bat in the confusion, which was the exact moment the rule had been formed.

Rule #2: Marlene is the only beater.

McKinnon quidditch is played where the beaters are on their own team. Sirius had been over at the McKinnon household and, of course, he had played beater with Marlene. This ended in a few bloody noses. Eve actually made this rule.

Rule #3: All normal quidditch penalties apply.

No matter how barbaric the McKinnon family has sounded before this, the kids didn't want the game to only last for about five minutes because everyone got injured. They were graced with enough human decency to use the regular rules in addition to their own.

Rule #4: Use real quidditch balls, no makeshift allowed!

Although the kids were far creative enough to make makeshift balls, Michael had complained it was messing up his accuracy on the Hogwarts quidditch pitch. So, Darwin and Eve had made sure to get them a quidditch ball set for their next Christmas.

Rule #5: There is to be a commentator that has the final say on penalties.

This rule was created purely because the McKinnon siblings argued way too damn much, which caused much more conflict than they needed. Usually, Darwin was the commentator as he knew how to play fair, but whenever they had a guest, they usually filled in for their father.

"Marlene is looking badass, per usual, but I beg her not to hit my sister in the face with her beater's bat," Mary spoke with a grimace after a close call between Julia and Marlene.

Julia and Myles had formed a team together, while Marcus and Michael formed a team. They weren't sure how, but Marcus and Michael were getting crushed by the opposing team and Marlene's carefully aimed bludgers.

The longer that Mary watched her sister play, the more pride she got and the less she was reminded of how cold it was outside.

...

Christmas at Lily's house was quite a different experience. She had opened up the three gifts that Henry and her mother had graced her with. This included a new colorful eyeshadow palette, a short black dress, and a heavy fur coat. Lily deduced that she had gotten a much better hall than last year, but when she went upstairs, she found an owl she immediately recognized.

It was James's owl and it took her a second to realize that he was the only one that hadn't sent her a present yet. She opened the letter first.

Deer Lily,

I know this present is a bit late since its arriving the day of Christmas instead of beforehand, but its here and that's what counts! I had to have it ordered in a specific way and I needed to check if it was correct!

Before you tell me I shouldn't have spent much money on you, the Potter fortune seems like it is neverending (I'm not saying this because I'm arrogant, it's just true!) Plus, my mum thought it was a sentiemntal idea and almost cried when I told her what I got you. Her expectations for me are so low I swear to Merlin...

Anyway, please open your present before proceeding to the second half of my letter.

She followed his directions with her eyebrows furrowed in anticipation. A black box was what Lily found under the santa wrapping paper. It looked skeptically like a ring box, which made her heart skip a beat.

Inside was an emerald studded ring that she would later figure out was a pinkie ring.

I picked out the emeralds to match the necklace your father gave you. Since you've been wearing the rings on a chain, I thought that this would be nice and sentimental.

It would've been nice to give you in person, I admit, but I reckon it was nice to recieve a gift from your charming boyfriend on Christmas. Wasn't it? See you soon, darling.

Love,
James

...

Hope Lupin had outdone herself once again with a wonderful looking Christmas dinner. She had slaved over a turkey the entire day, along with corn, and freshly baked rolls. She had also sent Remus to the store for strawberries to complete the meal.

The conversation had been lighthearted between Hope and Remus as Lyall was too drunk to do anything but eat the food in front of him.

"What's your plan for after Hogwarts, Remus?" Hope asked with a small, understanding smile on her face.

"Nothing because he's an animal, remember?" Lyall was apparently still able to speak but only accompanied by a slur.

"Lyall! He will be able to work!" Hope spoke sounding shocked by her husband's words.

"I was planning on applying for a number of ministry jobs," Remus responded to his mother completely ignoring his father.

"You wouldn't understand those jobs because you're just a werewolf. No matter how much you want to cover it up with lies, it will always define you."

His dad would've never said that when Remus was younger. Never. Yet, Remus couldn't help but be hurt by the drunk's words as his own blood had said them.

"You're right Dad! It does define me and I'm done covering it the fuck up! I'm done! Tomorrow, if you want, just publish it all over the fucking papers!" Remus shouted, slammed his chair into the ground, and ran up the stairs to his room.

Hope Lupin might've outdone herself once again, but she let her husband verbally attack her son. No matter how much good food she produced, it would never cover up this fact and she hated herself for it.

...

Euphemia and Fleamont had danced around the kitchen accompanied by their old record player playing music, who's artists had died a long time ago. By the time the clock struck seven (at night), Euphemia was pacing the living room with an exasperated Fleamont sitting on the couch.

"Did you do something different with your hair? It looks quite lovely," Fleamont said trying to distract his wife from the company, who was sure to floo there in around two minutes.

He wasn't sure why his wife was so nervous as the McKinnon family had been friends with the Potters since before James and Marlene were around. Plus, Mia was great friends with Eve, even with the age gap.

"I used a different spell, more efficient," Mia answered as the flames sputtered and out shot the first McKinnon.

Darwin McKinnon materialized in the fireplace and after coughing, he brushed off the soot from his clothing.

"How've you all been?" He asked in his normal booming voice.

"Where are the boys and Annie?" Euphemia indicated she wanted them downstairs.

Annie had arrived at her cousin's house for the last week of break around two hours before Darwin had as she had wanted to go to the ball and see Julia.

"I'll go call them down," Fleamont said as he walked out of the room followed by Darwin.

Michael appeared next and after Euphemia probing him with questions, Myles found his way into the Potter house.

"You two have grown up into quite handsome young men," she said before Marcus was flung into the room, coughing and sputtering between breaths.

"And you never seem to have mastered the ability to floo correctly, have you?" Mia aimed at Marcus who had since picked himself off the ground.

James, Sirius, Annie, Fleamont, and Darwin entered the room, bringing with them quite a bit of noise. So much so, that Euphemia almost missed Marlene making her appearance.

"Marlene! You've brought your trunk, I hope?" Mia asked expectantly.

"Favorite," Myles whispered to Michael, who chuckled lightly in response.

It was true to say that Marlene was Mia's favorite McKinnon sibling as it had been a fact ever since Marlene was born. It could be because of Euphemia's lack of daughters (James and Sirius were more than enough), but Marlene was just a generally likable person.

"Bloody hell," a voice said from behind Euphemia as she coughed through her breaths.

"Mary! You've brought your trunk too?"

"Sure have! Thanks for letting us stay!" Mary said, feeling a bit like a freeloader.

She had been bouncing around their homes since the summer, but Lily had made sure to reassure her time and time again that it hadn't mattered. Mary would've done the same for anyone of her friends.

James stepped forward to grab the two trunks as Sirius had still been hugging the life out of Marlene, who was laughing madly.

Just this small interaction was enough to get James to think about Lily and how much he missed her. James couldn't complain of having a bad life in any aspect as he had a comfortable childhood, supportive parents, and more than enough food to feed him. She managed to take any day that he would have reported as really shitty and make it average, which was a big jump.

"Oi! Watch where you're going! You almost ran straight into that wall!" Mary practically screeched, steering him away at the last second.

"Sorry, must've dozed off for a moment," he responded, climbing the stairs two at a time.

"You were thinking about Lily."

It was times like these that James wondered how girls had so much insight yet so little at the same time. It baffled him how they could be completely right about something or they could be overthinking it to the point where they were completely off.

"How'd you know?"

"I didn't, you just told me, but I too have been worrying about her because of Henry," Mary said grabbing her trunk back from him.

"You do think she'll be alright, right?"

"I think so, but he creeps me out. Anyway, I think Julia is going to be the next quidditch hotshot!" Mary said swiftly changing the uncomfortable subject.

"Oh yeah, what makes you say that?"

...

After several rounds of seconds, Eve, Darwin, and the McKinnon boys headed home, leaving Marlene, Mary, and Julia there for the rest of break.

Julia and Annie had ran up to their shared room, which Mia had explained that they did not need to share because they had more than enough rooms, but just like James and Sirius, they could not be separated. It sounded as if they were sharing stories of their own respective pranks that they had carried out since their giggles wafted into the living room.

The four seventh-years had taken over the living room for the night as they could not decide who's room they would hang out in. It was a compromise, per se.

They had long abandoned the gobstone game in front of them, settling just for simple conversation instead. Mia had provided light snacks before she eventually went to bed, leaving them to their own devices.

"Mia said that she wanted Lily's dress and my dress to match in color and honestly I can't wait to see them," Marlene said to Sirius as James and Mary had long fallen asleep.

"She did that so James and I can match," Sirius hummed, twirling a piece of her hair around his finger.

"She's so lovely," Marlene said and Sirius agreed because the Potters had given him the home he so desperately needed since he went to Hogwarts.

...

Author's Note:

It feels odd to think about how long I've been fic writing. It really hasn't been that long, but I can't remember a time whenever I wasn't writing a fic.

That brings me to the next topic of discussion! My school has been shut down because people weren't wearing their masks and consequently got covid. ✨karma✨

This means I could a) have more writing time because the teachers don't give me as much work or b) I have less time to write because everything is online and I procrastinate. We'll just have to see how that goes...

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🌻