Mistletoe in times of war
"Is Remus back yet?" Sirius asked, sat in front of a giant pile of star tree toppers with Marlene.
James shook his head, "I saw him heading out to work this morning, he said he might be getting back a little late."
Sirius stood up abruptly, "I'm going on a walk."
Dorcas came out of their bedroom, "what about Mary? What time did she say she was coming?"
Lily and James glanced at each other, before Lily decided to walk over to tell the news.
"She hasn't actually replied to our owl invite. I don't think she's going to show up."
Marlene turned around, "what?!"
James passed them all a mug of hot chocolate, knocking on Pete's door as he passed.
"Maybe she'll come next year", James smiled.
No one believed him but they didn't mention her for the rest of the day.
Peter came out of his room, the smell of bleach wafting into the rest of the house and his roots of brown had been dyed away.
"Where's Sirius?"
"Having a strop", Marlene said, tilting her head to the front door.
Pete nodded, and sat down with the others.
Sirius returned a few hours later, cold and covered in mud.
Lily started laughing, "did you seriously go to the park?"
Sirius grinned and was about to make the joke, when the door opened again and Remus came back.
James ran over to hug him while Sirius quickly disappeared to the bathroom.
"Hey Prongs", Remus smiled, as he walked further into the house and greeted the others.
"Sorry I'm a bit late, I had to work a couple more hours after leaving early last full."
He looked around the room, "Where's Sirius?"
Dorcas pointed to the bathroom, "probably having a shower', they smiled as Marlene laughed and gave them a highfive.
James pulled him into the kitchen, "Listen. Sirius is a little disheartened, you know, they're a little down-"
"They're having a temper tantrum", Marlene interrupted, walking in to grab a bottle of wine.
"Yes, thank you Marls."
She saluted and walked back to the living room, dropping into Dorcas' lap.
"Ok, why are they sad?" Remus asked.
"They're not sad… persay, just a little-"
Remus interrupted, "I get it, just tell me why"
"Because you weren't here yesterday, or most of today."
"I need to work! How the fuck am I meant to make money?"
James put their hand on Remus' arm, "look, I've said it before and if you just let me help you a little bit-"
Remus rolled his eyes, "I don't need your money, James."
"I've got more than enough", he said before noticing the look on Remus' face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to sound rude-"
"It's fine. You're fine", Remus said, walking out the kitchen; "Sirius is the idiot."
As the evening went on, James started hanging mistletoe everywhere. Everyone was kissing each other, friendly and romantically. They all knew why James was overloading the place with mistletoe, to get them to make up.But Remus and Sirius were still ignoring each other.
So Lily cornered Sirius.
She dragged xem by their arm over to her and James' bedroom.
"Lils, what are you doing?"
She sighed, and sat on the bed, patting the spot next to them. Sirius came over and sat down.
"Look. It's Queermas, you're in love with this holiday. And Remus is part of this family, you're always talking about how we all need to be together and celebrate our chosen family, right? So talk to Remus, make up with him, snog or whatever."
"Exactly! We're all meant to be together today and Remus just left for half of it", they said, crossing xyr arms.
"Then you should take advantage of the other half of the day where he is here."
Sirius leaned against the wall, "I hate you so much."
Lily grinned back, "I know", and lightly pushed them out the room.
So Sirius made their way over to Remus, pulled him under some hanging mistletoe and kissed him to the whoops of the others.
Remus smiled and they sat down by the record player. They talked about music, dumb things James had done or said that day, and making jokes and flirting.
But the issues went unspoken and ignored.