It was Christmas and Lily was cooking dinner in the kitchen when James came home to their little cottage in Godric's Hallow; it had already been over a year since they got married in James's parent's backyard. Their home was decorated festively for the holidays.
"Padfoot's here!" James chimed out as he walked through the door followed closely by Sirius, each of their arms laden with grocery bags.
"Lily!" James exclaimed, his voice full of concern as he dropped the bags onto the counter. "You know you shouldn't be doing anything stressful!"
Lily jumped in shock at the suddenness of James's voice, and then rolled her eyes. "Honestly James, I'm three months pregnant, not dying. I can, at the very least, cook."
"All the same," he smiled pulling her away from the fire, and taking the spoon from her.
"What are we cooking anyway?" Sirius stuck his nose over the pot and took a whiff. "Smells delicious."
Lily took the spoon back from James and replied, "Thank you Padfoot." She continued to add in more ingredients. "When's Remus getting here?"
"Who knows?" Sirius shrugged. "It's been hard keeping track of him lately."
"Padfoot," James muttered a warning for Sirius to be mindful of his thoughts.
"What?" Sirius became offended. "I'm only saying that no one knows where he goes to anymore."
"Where is hesupposed to go? It's not like people are willing to be his neighbors," James defended loyally.
"All the same, you know what I think about him," he stubbornly answered.
"Really, I don't understand why you don't trust him Padfoot, he's always trusted us." James opened a cabinet and put away some of the groceries.
"But is trust enough anymore? You know what Voldemort's offering werewolves these days," Sirius pensively proclaimed.
"Sirius!" Lily gapped from the stove. "You're supposed to be his friend!"
"I am! But someone's obviously spying against the Order!"
Lily spoke before James could, "I don't believe it's Moony. It would never be him. He doesn't even like being a werewolf."
"He might like it better with Voldemort ruling," he prompted.
"No," James had heard enough. "It's not Moony. He wouldn't betray anyone of us."
"So you think it's Peter then?" Sirius sarcastically asked.
"No. It's not any of us, Sirius," James frowned.
"Incidentally Sirius, it sounds like you're more than willing to find out about this spy," Lily accused.
"So what? I want to stop Voldemort, not help him!"
"Well you have a pretty shady background too, don't you?" she threw at him.
"I haven't even talked to my family in five years!" he shouted in outrage.
"And Remus, as far as we're aware of, has never talked to another werewolf," she reasoned. Sirius gapped at her. "Just give it a rest Sirius. It will take nothing less than stone solid facts to make us believe that Remus is a spy for Voldemort."
Sirius made to retaliate, but the doorbell rung. Lily ran to get it. Standing on her front porch was Remus, looking incredibly tired and careworn.
"Remus!" Lily exclaimed giving him a hug. "It's been too long!" He patted her gently on the back.
"How's the Potter Junior?" Remus asked, glancing at her stomach.
Lily gave a chuckle as they stepped into the kitchen with James and Sirius whose conversation came to an immediate halt upon their entrance.
"Fine, fine. Potter Junior is doing just wonderful," Lily smiled.
"Messer Moony," James bowed.
"Messer Prongs, Messer Padfoot," he bowed back to each of them. His two friends raced over to welcome him.
"How have you been?" James took in his friend's appearance.
"Oh…" he faltered, "You know…." He didn't meet their gaze.
"Here Moony," Lily laid out a bowl of hot soup for him to eat.
"Thank you," he sighed, "but I couldn't."
"Nonsense!" Lily cried, "look at you! You're nothing but skin and bones."
"That's Lily's mom instincts kicking in," James murmured to him. "You better do as she says, or she'll put you in time out."
"Can she do that?" Remus laughed.
"She did it to me last night," James smiled. "From the way it sounded, you'd think jumping on the bed was a bad thing, or something."
The three boys chuckled as they took their seats at the table.
Remus spooned some soup into his mouth, took a swallow, and then asked, "Peter's coming later then?"
"Actually," James sighed. "He never even responded. I have no idea what's up with him."
"Frank and Alice are coming!" Lily smiled. "And Rini said she's coming too!"
"Yes! A full house!" Sirius exclaimed like the party boy he truly was deep down inside.
Christmas was a very cheerful event. Lily was so surprised to find out that Alice was also three months pregnant with her and Frank's first child. Lily had to admit that she was very surprised with how mature Sirius and Catherine had acted towards each other the whole night; neither had spoken since their mutually agreed upon breakup right before she had left for the states; that is until now.
Around nine o'clock, Peter finally showed up, brushing off the snow from his hair and shoulders as he stepped across the crowded threshold muttering a soft, "Sorry I'm late," though no one seemed to care. James, Sirius, and Remus were all too drunk to even recognize Peter at first. They all thought he was Santa Clause who had come to bring them their presents and so they scavenged through his robes looking for their gifts.
... a nice little reunion. they were all in need of one lol ...