Christmas Continues

"I think the tree's done, don't you Sirius?" James announced in a loud voice with a sly smile for his mother and father. Lily understood that this was some sort of family tradition and found herself smiling in anticipation, just like James' friends.

"Yeah, I think it's completely decorated," Sirius drawled with a smirk. Hermione jumped up immediately.

"No, it isn't!" She said with a look of surprise. "Look there, and there. You left huge holes Jamie!"

"Oh, well, yeah, I suppose," James teased her and the marauders filled in the holes with ornaments. "Now, though. Now it's done, right?"

"But, but," Hermione took a quick tour of the tree, looking at it from every angle. She pointed to the top of the tree. "The star isn't on. It's not done until the star is on."

"I think we should let one of our guests put the star on, don't you, Hermione?" James teased her shamelessly. Hermione's eyes had widened in surprise, and her mouth formed a round "o".

"Oh," she whispered softly staring up at the tree. She looked at her father, but didn't see that he was trying desperately not to laugh at her. "That would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it? You're right, of course, Jamie."

"Princess," Charlus Potter said contritely, never able to do anything that would make his only daughter sad even for a moment. "Your brother is teasing you. Surely, you realize that."

"Teasing?" Hermione echoed, looking up at her father. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"Who else would put the star on the top of the tree, My Own?" James asked her softly, slipping an arm around her waist and kissing her brow.

Lily smiled widely. Her family had a similar tradition, but she and Petunia took turns, alternating years. Here, because the Potters had only one daughter, Hermione had traditionally held the honor since she was tiny and Charlus had had to hold her up in his arms to place the star on the tree. Dorea Potter smiled fondly at her husband and her two children and held out a beautifully carved wooden box to Hermione. She carefully set down the box, and reverently lifted the lid. Nestled in tissue paper was the most beautiful star Lily had ever seen in her life. It looked as though it were made of silver and crystal. Hermione cupped it carefully in her hands, her face soft. Her father carefully lifted her and she placed the star on the top of the tree.

"There," Dorea said with a warm smile for her full parlor of family and friends. She flicked her wand and a thousand tiny lights began to twinkle around the tree. "Now it's done."

The Christmas holiday with the Potters was wonderful, and Lily felt welcomed as though she belonged. However, it was hard to be in the same house as James Potter when he was behaving like a normal, decent human being. It was much, much easier to be around him when he was an arrogant git. Then she could yell at him and hex him. When he was behaving like a decent sort of person everything became very murky. She began to wonder what his lips would feel like pressed against hers. She flushed as she hurried down the stairs to meet Hermione in the library when she hit a solid wall.

"Oof!" All the air left her lungs at once.

Lily looked at the wall, which was wearing clothing…how odd. She looked up and saw the cocky grin of James Potter. He caught her gaze and pointed up at a sprig of mistletoe. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she blushed. His eyes blazed at her, and that cocky grin vanished. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Lily had never been so grateful for mistletoe in her life. His lips, moving against hers, were silky soft, but she could feel electricity crackling between them. His hands came up to touch her shoulders and he nibbled on her lower lip. Lily opened her mouth beneath his, and his tongue teased hers until she was breathless.

"Lily?" Hermione's voice seemed so far away, but Lily sprang back from James and looked around her guiltily. She stared up into James' hazel eyes, blazing into hers, and felt her heart start to pound in her chest.

"I…I have to go," she whispered and she hurried down the steps toward the library. She could feel James staring after her, and her cheeks burned.

The rest of the Christmas holiday passed in strange whirl. Lily enjoyed herself, and she had never felt happier or more relaxed because she was able to spend so much time in close contact with her bonded siblings. However, she started to avoid James even more than normal, and she was always careful to never, ever be found under mistletoe. It wasn't that she hadn't liked his kiss—it was that she had liked it, perhaps a bit too much. She thought about it at random times, and Hermione had caught her more than once staring off into space her fingertips touching her lips. The knowing look in her sister's eyes had been disconcerting. Going back to Hogwarts was almost a relief because she knew James would go back to being his usual arrogant prat self, and that was far safer for her.

Toward the end of the holiday, the boys disappeared for great swathes of time, and Lily wondered if James was just as affected as she was. Hermione had looked pensive during this time, and Severus had made a specific effort to cheer her up. The day before they went back the boys seemed disgustingly jovial, slapping each other on the back constantly, and kept calling each other the most ridiculous nicknames. Hermione's lips had thinned and she had a certain look in her eye. Lily knew that Hermione understood the weird, cryptic things that the boys were talking about, but it didn't make her happy. She looked almost sad.

HP/HG/HP

(Hermione's POV)

It was good to be back at Hogwarts, but she could not help the twinge of sadness that seemed to hang on her. To know that her twin and his friends were now officially the marauders complete with animagus forms, and that she was completely excluded from it all, hurt more than she wanted to admit. The only thing that helped her when she was this upset was running through the woods in her animagus form. It was a new moon, so she figured that that would be safe enough. She knew that the marauders only ran under full moons. She slipped out of her bed in the girl's dorm and snuck out of the castle using Old Hermione's knowledge of the castle. She cast a disillusion spell on herself nonverbally, and ran soundlessly on bare feet through the castle. Her senses were becoming more alert, more aware because of her alter-ego. She needed almost no light, and her feet made no noise. Running through the woods on a regular basis made her very muscular and fit. She made it out of the castle and hurried to the woods. As soon as she reached the safety of the trees, she removed her concealment spells and transformed. She roared all her anger and rage and hurt to the woods. She heard a bark in the distance and slunk deeper into the woods.

Are you kidding me?

The dark of the moon, this was her time in the woods, damn it. The stupid boys with their stupid no girls rules got to play at the full moon. She was snarling under her breath as she raced faster and faster. She heard a distant bark again, and she changed her direction slightly. Old Hermione came in quite handy here, because she knew quite a bit about the Forbidden Forest. She knew how to avoid Centaur herds, aracumantula land, and other various pit falls. Really, once you knew how to avoid those sorts of things the Forbidden Forest was quite lovely. She was thinking of building a summer home here someday. Hermione zig-zagged through the woods in a pattern meant to throw off her scent. The bark sounded slightly closer. Stupid boys. Well, one thing they weren't counting on was Hermione being smarter than the average animagus. She picked the likeliest tree and raced up it quickly. She sat in the branches and waited.

Majestically beautiful, the stag entered her line of sight. Hermione was so proud of her brother, her heart swelled in her chest. A huge dog was racing around him in crazy circles. Was it just the two of them? No…Remus had come with them, and he was carrying Peter the rat. Well that was idiotic to say the least. He was too vulnerable in these woods as a human. She sat in her tree and watched them. The giant dog whined at Remus who nodded.

"I can smell her, too. She's got to be around here somewhere." He said clearly, not trying to whisper even. In her tree, Hermione-Lioness wished that lions could roll their eyes. Could they be any less stealthy?

Picking his way carefully, the stag, well…Prongs then, walked around the clearing looking all around. The dog, oh fine, Padfoot, sniffed all around the clearing carefully, trying to trace her scent. Hermione stretched out on her branch and relaxed her muscles. She was going to be here for a while. Her tail twitched restlessly. Suddenly, her keen hearing picked up a noise.

Are you kidding me?

Hermione sighed heavily and leaped down from her branch.

"Hey! There she is!" Remus said brightly.

The lioness advanced on him deliberately. She looked right at him, head butted him and tossed her head toward Hogwarts. Remus stared at her. She carefully took his robes in her teeth and tugged.

"You want me to leave? But…but we came to see you," Remus said uncertainly. The lioness looked over her shoulder towards the woods and snarled softly. Then she grabbed his robes and tugged again, more urgently. "There's something in the woods?"

At this point, Hermione wanted to shift and start yelling, but she wasn't quite ready to reveal herself yet. She head-butted the stupid boy again, more frantically.

"Okay. I believe you," Remus murmured. She licked his hand. He turned and ran back towards Hogwarts. She shadowed them carefully, making sure they left safely. They stood watching her pace back and forth, her attention on the forest.

"Hey!" Remus called. She turned her head to him and cocked it slightly to a 'listening' pose. "Will you come back on the full moon? Please?"

She snorted at him and did the feline equivalent of a shrug. Then she moved deeper into the woods, snarling at something. There was some sort of a crash and then she roared in rage and there was a scuffling sound. She emerged a half-hour later, looking incredibly smug with herself, and stopped in surprise when she realized that they had waited. Remus would swear later that the lioness sighed at them. She shook her head, anyway, and then bounded off. They tried to follow her, but they weren't able to keep up with her. Yet.