Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
At work the week before Christmas Frank Longbottom looked at the duty sheet, to see if either he or his wife would have to work on Christmas. He hoped that they didn't since they wanted to spend Christmas together with the only interruption being from his mother who would otherwise spend Christmas alone especially since his father died earlier that year. He saw that he had to work late Christmas Eve, but he had Christmas Day off which was probably in consideration that this would be the first Christmas that his mum would spend alone. When he came to Alice's name on the list he saw that she was working during the day on Christmas Eve and that she had Christmas Day off too. The next thing on the list shocked him the most; he saw that Alice was scheduled for desk duty for the entire week. He knew that the only reasons that Aurors had desk duty scheduled for an entire week, they were either battling an injury that kept them from the field or they were on punishment for some infraction. This was shocking since his wife seemed to be healthy to him and he couldn't think of why she would be on punishment for. The next thought that popped into his head worried him; he wondered if Alice's work for the Order of the Phoenix was discovered and that she was being punished for it and he worried that he might be next. They could even lose their jobs if their involvement was even discovered. Frank decided that he would get to the bottom for Alice being on desk duty this week; he went into Alastor Moody's office to find out if he knew about this. When he entered there Alastor knew what he was going to ask, since Alice had confided her secret to him and he was going to keep it that way until she broke the news to him.
"Alastor, do you know why Alice is on desk duty this entire week? Do they think that they know about her extra activities do you?" Frank asked him looking concerned that they could all lose their jobs over this and even get thrown into Azkaban.
"I saw that too, but I think that you need to ask Alice about this. By the way you don't need to worry, I don't think that they would just fire the Sweetheart Aurors, not since you defeated Lord Voldemort three times and it was reported every one of those times. Besides, if they even suspected anything they would just let her go without her being on desk duty," Alastor reassured him.
"I know, but I can't help but to worry about what would happen if anyone ever found out," Frank answered him sounding concerned.
"I do too, but our experience helps out in that club. You do need to talk to Alice to find out about this," Alastor reminded him trying to hide a smile from him while looking at some papers on his desk.
"I will and I'll let you know if her secret has been known," Frank informed Alastor.
"I'm sure that you will," Alastor told him as Frank was leaving his office.
Alastor waited a few minutes before checking to see if the coast was clear and then went to spy on Frank and Alice, since he wanted to see Frank's reaction to Alice's news. Frank went up to the desk where Alice was working and asked her, "Why are you on desk duty this week, you seem to be healthy to me and I hope that it's not because of some infraction that you committed since we need all of the Aurors that we can get out on the field."
"Frank lets go somewhere more private to talk about this," Alice told him pulling Frank into an empty conference room.
"Tell me did they find out about your extracurricular activities?" Frank asked her sounding concerned.
"No, but the reason has to do with one of our extracurricular activities though not the one that you're thinking about," Alice reassured him.
"Well if its not that one, then which one is it and why would that cause you to be on desk duty?" Frank asked not understanding what his wife was trying to tell him.
"Well, generally Aurors who have my condition are usually put on desk duty for a period for seven to nine months," Alice answered him.
"What kind of condition would cause you to be on desk duty that long?" Frank asked not completely comprehending what he was saying.
"Frank, it wouldn't be practical for a pregnant woman to be out in the field, since both me and the baby could get hurt or killed," Alice informed her dumbfounded husband. Frank looked confused for a minute and then he suddenly realized that he was going to be a father.
"When will our baby come?" Frank asked her.
"The Healer told me that we should have an addition to our family in either late July or early August," Alice told her husband her looked at her in shock.
After a few minutes the shock of the news wore off and gave his wife a big kiss. "We need to tell my mum, or do you think that we need to wait until Christmas to tell her? With our news, she may not feel as lonely as she's been since dad died," Frank asked his wife. "I think that we could wait until Christmas to tell her since its next week anyway and she'll be thrilled to have a grandchild to spoil and pamper and we could tell my parents too the joyful news," Alice told him looking concerned.
"Hopefully we can keep the papers from finding out before they do," Frank told his wife looking concerned.
When they two of them came out of the conference room, they saw all of the Aurors who weren't on assignment standing there and Frank announced that they were going to have a baby but to let them know that it was a secret until Christmas, until their parents can be told about the new addition. The happy couple was congratulated on the news before everyone went back to work. Two of them stayed behind, the Prewitt twins Frank was thinking that they were probably going to give him some pointers on dealing with a pregnant woman since their sister and husband are currently expecting their sixth child. "Of course if you want this to stay out of the papers, everyone here respects your privacy but you never can tell if," Gideon started.
"They will find out before you're ready to announce the news. If we even suspect that they'll even come close to guessing the news, I could always propose to my girlfriend Julia, since I plan on proposing to her on Christmas anyway. Trust me she wouldn't mind if she got her Christmas present a few days early and the press would love that half of the Prewitt duo is going off the market for good," Fabian reassured the couple since they got almost as much press whenever they caught Death Eaters as the Longbottoms. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm sure that the press wouldn't catch wind of it so we wouldn't need you to propose marriage just to keep our news from being published for a while," Frank told them sounding gracious at Fabian's offer.
"Of course I'm sure that Molly would be able to show the two of you how to care for a child, we can even borrow a couple of hers for you to watch for her," Gideon told the two of them figuring out that he could get free babysitting for his sister.
"Thanks, I'm sure that Frank's mum can show us how to care for a baby, but I'll like to get to know other families with young children and our baby can play with her children," Alice answered them sounding hopeful that her baby would be friends with Molly's brood whom the Prewitts had pictures of at their desks.
On Christmas Eve Lily Potter was finishing up wrapping presents for her husband and their friends when she handled the last gift to her husband with care. She had decided that she would share her news with him first thing in the morning and their friends later on when they came over for Christmas. Of course Remus already knew her secret, since he found out with his heightened sense of smell, thankfully James, Sirius and Peter didn't think something was up with the gentle way that Remus has treated her these past few weeks. Of course she made Remus promise not to tell the others, that she would tell them in her own time and to treat her like he normally did. She just finished wrapping up her special gift for her husband when he came home from a mission for the Order.
"Hi, have you finished all of your preparations for tomorrow. You know that the guys are coming over tomorrow, though Peter will be coming later after spending some of the day with his mom. It's great what we're doing though, at least Remus and Sirius won't have to spend Christmas alone," James reminded his wife of the guests that were coming over tomorrow.
"James there's one present that I want you to open tonight before your friends come over," Lily told her husband while handing him the gift that she had just wrapped.
James then tore into the wrapping paper eager to see what his wife had gotten him that she didn't want their friends to see him open up. After he saw the baby booties he had a puzzled look on his face.
"Why did you get me these for? They're way too small for me," James asked his wife. "Well they're for our new baby that's due to arrive in either late July or early August," Lily informed her husband who then had a look of excitement in his face.
"We're going to be parents?" James asked sound excited and shocked at the news at the same time.
"Yes, though it may be hard on the Order since we've been losing people a lot in this war and losing both me and Alice no matter how temporary would be a blow to them. Its not like we planned to get pregnant right away but it just happened," Lily answered her husband hoping that he wouldn't try to contact his friends this late at night.
"I've got to tell the group that we're going to have an addition in our family," James told her while heading off to the fireplace to make some floo calls.
Lily saw what he was going to do and immediately had him come back next to her. "Honey we'll see them later since Sirius and Remus are having Christmas dinner with us and we can tell them then," Lily tried to talk some sense into her husband.
"But Lils, I'm just so excited that I can't wait to tell them our news," James tried to plea with his wife. "How would you feel about getting waked up at 2AM by one of your best friends, unless they're dying?" Lily pleaded with him.
"I wouldn't like it that much, but I want to tell them. Do any of them know about this?" James asked.
"Well, Remus does, but that's only due to his heightened sense of smell that he gets around the full moon because of his problem," Lily told him while James looked disappointed that one of his best mates found out before him.
"I guess that I can't be too mad at Remus for knowing, since it isn't his fault anyway. Don't worry about a thing tomorrow I'll do everything for you since you need to take care of the baby now," James answered her while Lily looked annoyed at the last part that he said.
"Honey, the Healer told me that I would be okay to do light household chores and putting the food on the table. If you want to help then you and your friends can help wash dishes," Lily told him sounding annoyed at the implication that being pregnant meant that she was helpless.
"I know, but I don't want anything to happen to the baby," James told her.
"I know but doing a little bit of work around here shouldn't be too bad for the baby," Lily informed him.
Of course late the next morning, Lily got up to start fixing Christmas Dinner for them and their friends. James in the meanwhile was working on finishing up the cleaning before their guests arrived. The next day as soon as Sirius, Remus and Peter were gathered in the same room James and Lily made their announcement.
"I've just got the best Christmas present ever, we're going to have a baby," they told their friends.
"Man that means that you won't be able to go out for a night on the town with us," Sirius teased James goodheartedly.
"Padfoot you know that Lily has let me spend time with you guys after we were married. She'll let me spend time with you after the baby's born too plus we've got a little one to show how to prank," James reassured Sirius.
"Well, there are some things that I can show him that Lily won't let you teach him," Sirius replied sounded cheered up at the new addition in their family.
"Of course by next Christmas he'll be at the hair pulling stage, so maybe you can turn into a dog and he can pull out all of your fur," Lily answered him teasing him about his animagius form.
"I forgot and I can turn into a stag for him and I can give him rides," James answered her. "I know but remember what you promised me about getting registered," Lily reminded him.
"I know you don't want me to transform that much until I do get registered, but it would be to our advantage to wait until the war is over don't you think," James informed his wife.
"You know what for next Christmas I can get him a toy broomstick and teach him how to fly," James told the group looking excited.
Lily frowned at those words, "Sweetie he'll be too little then to learn how to fly, he would be able to walk yet. I'm sure that you don't want to kill him," Lily informed him. "No, but I guess that we'll have to wait for that but we can get other cool things for the baby," James told her.
"I'm sure that both of your parents would be proud of you if they knew about this," Remus told the two of them.
"I'm sure that they're looking down from heaven and are proud of us," Lily reassured the group.
"Well, when do we open our presents?" Peter asked with no one noticing that he looked a little upset thinking that he was going to lose one of his friends.
"We can open them right now," James told them getting the first present out from under the tree.
In two wizarding households that day, two different sets of families were celebrating the best Christmas present that they ever received.