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December 26, 1978
7:49 p.m.
“Padfoot! Moony! I thought you two would never show up.” James greeted them at the door. “Muggle suits again, Pads?”
“Well, I was aiming for a muggle Christmas this year, I can’t stop just for a wizard Christmas party, now can I?”
“And you brought along your sexy penguin, eh?”
“Did I hear someone mention a sexy penguin?” Lily joined James in the foyer. She looked absolutely magnificent in her emerald green dress.
“Right here,” Remus fixed the buttons on his—James’s—sleeve. “You look spectacular, Lily.”
“Ta, Remus.” Lily gave each of them a kiss on the cheek. “I am so nervous.”
“Yeah, she nearly took my head off several times today.” James wisely took a few steps away from his fiancée.
“It’s bad enough that I made your parents change the date of their party!”
“Yeah, isn’t this usually on Christmas Day?” Remus asked, walking with everyone through the hall to the main room.
“Lily mentioned that Christmas Day was kinda huge for her house, so I wanted to join it, and Mum and Dad were more than happy to change the date of their party to accommodate us.”
“How’d mingling with the muggles go?”
“Don’t ask, Padfoot, don’t ask.”
8:00 p.m.
“Thank you all for joining us again this year,” Fleamont Potter said. “Enjoy the food, the drinks, and the company.”
“And I do apologize in advance,” Euphemia said with a sly smirk that was identical to James’s. “Some of the mistletoe are rather aggressive this year. Should you get stuck with one, please know that you must get rid of all the berries by midnight, or you’ll be cursed with bad luck for the year.”
“How do you get rid of the berries?” Peter looked horrified.
“By kissing people, of course.” Euphemia may or may not have winked at James. There was definitely a conspiracy of sorts going on.
And so the mingling commenced, and not five minutes later, the mistletoe slowly descended from the ceiling.
One sprig drifted over the Potters, who shared a cute, loving peck. The sprig then floated over to James and Lily, who shared a much longer kiss.
“Hey Padfoot!” the group turned to Peter, who was pointing to the space above Sirius. “You got yourself some mistletoe.”
“So I do!” He moved from his position of leaning up against the wall. “Apologies, mate.”
“Wait, what?” Remus got his question answered by an over the top, yet sweet, kiss on the lips from one Sirius Black.
A single white berry fell to the floor. The mistletoe stayed stubbornly where it was.
“Hmm, curious.” Sirius looked up at the mistletoe.
“Maybe it wants you to kiss a girl.” Peter suggested.
“Wait, what?” Lily didn’t stand a chance. Luckily, her kiss was more chaste than Remus’s. “Sirius Black!”
Another berry fell to the floor.
“Bugger.”
“Looks like you got yourself an aggressive one.” James grinned wickedly. Remus was willing to bet his hard earned money on his hand in this.
“Well, I’ve got some work to do then, don’t I?”
Sirius kissed James before he had a chance to react, then whirled around to Peter, who squeaked and disappeared into the crowd.
“Oi! Wormtail, you’re not getting away that easily.”
8:31 p.m.
“First licking, now kissing?” Sirius leaned up against the wall next to Remus, who stealthily put his glass up to his lips. “If this holiday gets any more R rated, I am not going to believe you about any muggle traditions ever again.”
“Don’t worry, Pads, this is as bad as it gets. Although usually, the mistletoe stays in one place, and the muggles go to it.”
“I’m putting that in the suggestion box for next year.”
Sirius kissed Remus again, who had put his glass too far away from his lips to ward him off.
Remus blushed.
9:02 p.m.
Peter wiped his mouth off again.
“Well at least no one is safe,” he said dryly. “I saw him kiss the Minister of Magic a few minutes ago.”
Remus and James raised their eyebrows.
“You know; it’s a good thing Snape isn’t here. Or maybe it’s a bad thing. Now that would have been worth watching.”
While everyone was distracted by laughter, Sirius kissed Remus again.
“Bloody hell! What are you, some sort of ninja?”
9:29 p.m.
“Bloody hell, why are there so many sodding berries on this bloody mistletoe! My lips are starting to get tired.”
“You could just live with the bad luck.”
“Good suggestion, Wormtail.” Sirius kissed him for his idea.
“Bugger.”
10:14 p.m.
“Is anyone else suddenly reminded of when Lily lost her tempter in potions in fourth year and fed us all a love potion? No one? Come on mates, it happened. Admit it.”
Lily chuckled darkly under her breath.
“Now that was an interesting year.”
“Bugger, really Wormtail? I just finished supressing that, and you have to open that shite up all over again. Worst two days of my life.” James rubbed his temples.
Lily laughed harder, only to be interrupted by Sirius’s lips again.
“BLACK!”
10:49 p.m.
“What if I just eat it, think that would solve the bad luck issue?”
Remus leapt in.
“No! It’s not edible! NO! Get it out of your mouth!!”
Remus was rewarded for his heroic deed by yet another kiss. You’d think he’d stop blushing by now, but he turned just as red every time.
11:00 p.m.
“Last one, I swear, Moony.”
“Fine.”
He ignored the tightening of in his chest at the thought.
11:13 p.m.
“If you kiss me one more time, I will call your mother, and I will tell her that you almost gave Kreacher a coat five years ago.”
Sirius pondered this threat. James had his arms out in a sort of protective manner.
Sirius seemed to take the threat seriously, and started to walk past him.
James let his guard down too soon.
Sirius swooped in for the kiss.
“BLOODY HELL!”
11:45 p.m.
Remus stood, cornered against a wall in the hallway. He was on his way to the toilet. Where he may or may not have been planning to stay until midnight.
“Sirius. You promised.”
“Look! This is the last one, then I’m free, and there are no more berries, no more mistletoe, and no bad luck for a year.”
“I’m not sure if it works quite like that.” Remus rolled his eyes.
“Please?”
‘Damn him and his puppy dog eyes.’
“Fine, but be quick about it.” Remus stood stiffly in the hallway. The noise of the party behind closed doors seemed father away somehow.
Sirius went up on his tiptoes again. The stupid little voice in the back of his mind reminded him how cute the gesture was.
The kiss was a little different from the last set of onslaughts. It wasn’t quite as chaste, or over the top like the first one had been. It was really, almost unbearably sweet.
Remus didn’t want it to end.
It would seem like Sirius didn’t really either. He lingered a lot longer than necessary.
They separated when the mistletoe fell to the ground with a thump.
The sound was a lot more deafening than it should have been.
Remus cleared his throat, as Sirius seemed to be having trouble with his voice. Or motor skills. He didn’t move from his position. He was too close, but with Remus backed into the wall, there really wasn’t anywhere for him to go.
“So—er—congratulations on saving yourself from a year of bad luck.” Remus tried to smile, but found that Sirius’s close proximity made it difficult to do so. “Sorry you had to—uh—use me for the last berry. I’m sure Lily would have made an exception if you’d asked her nicely, she’s probably a far superior kisser than I am—”
“Remus.”
“Yes, Sirius?”
“Shut up.” And Sirius kissed him again, softly, unsurely, shyly, quite unlike his obnoxious, compulsive self. It was a little too brief for Remus’s liking.
“Wait, but, you got rid of your mistletoe, I—”
“Remus.”
“Hmm?” that came out a lot higher pitched than he would have liked.
“I thought I told you to shut up.”
“Okay.”