Carefully swishing his wand upwards James chopped the last of the firewood. His fingers were frozen stiff, making precise wand movements difficult, and James swore he couldn't feel his toes anymore. He was beginning to regret deciding to chop all the firewood they would need for the rest of the night at once, but he had been adamant to only go out for firewood once. Lily had simply laughed at his laziness and left to put Harry into his crib for a nap.
Now, half an hour later, James was finally done and stooped down to gather the results of his work up in his arms. Manoeuvring the back door open with his foot, he was engulfed by sudden warmth. The sounds of music and faint singing drifted through the small cottage, accompanied by the unmistakeable scent of freshly baked cookies. A wide smile formed on James's lips as he entered the living room and stacked the firewood neatly next to the fireplace.
Lily appeared in the doorway leading to the kitchen, carrying a tray, "James, you're scattering snow all over the place! I cleaned the floors just an hour ago and now you go and get them dirty again." Although she was irritated the bite that had accompanied all her words to him only a few years before was missing.
James looked up at her sheepishly, unconsciously ruffling his already wind-swept hair. As much as she wanted to be annoyed, Lily couldn't stay mad at him. At times James Potter was nothing more than a little boy lost in an adult's body, she thought, a most adorable little boy at that.
Sighing dramatically, she put the tray down on the low coffee table, poured tea into two cups and reached for her wand. A small flick of her wrist later and the half-melted snow and dirt were gone without a trace.
"Oh, tea! You read my mind, my fingers are nearly falling off from the cold," James exclaimed. Quickly getting rid of his cloak and scarf he plopped down on the sofa and wrapped his long fingers around a steaming cup. Lily giggled at the look of joy that crossed his face as he took a sip of the hot liquid and closed his eyes in bliss. Yes, he was definitely a little boy!
"Here, try one of these," she suggested, pushing the cookie jar towards him after stealing a cookie for herself.
"They're scrumptious," James mumbled, mouth full of cookies.
"Mum used to bake cookies with Petunia and I the day before Christmas every year. That and decorating the Christmas tree were my favourite parts of the whole Christmas season," Lily explained wistfully.
"Not the presents?" The incredulous look in James's eyes sent Lily into another fit of giggles, abruptly halting her descent into gloomy thoughts about her sister and their lack of communication.
"No, not the presents. Christmas was never about the presents for my parents. Just being together as a family and spending time with each other was more important," Lily said.
Disbelief was still written in every line of James's face, but he shrugged, letting the matter drop in favour of eating another cookie.
They continued to drink their tea in silence, enjoying each other's company. James munched on one cookie after the other happily, but not even the cookies managed to hold his attention and reign in his overflowing energy for long.
As soon as his fingers and toes weren't frozen icicles anymore he was back on his feet, opening boxes full of candles, little ornaments, lots of silver and gold tinsel and various other Christmas decorations.
"James, put the candles up first," Lily instructed. She took a final sip of her tea and joined James, who already had his wand in hand, ready to decorate their tree.
Seeing his wife's small frown, he asked playfully, "What's wrong? Don't you trust me to put them up right?"
"No, it's just … doesn't using magic kind of defeat the purpose of decorating the tree? We'd be done in less than five minutes, where's the fun in that?" She pouted
James laughed. "If you insist, we can decorate it by hand," he sighed dramatically, "but at least allow me to charm the candles not to burn down and make the tree fire-resistant."
A brilliant smile lit Lily's features and smoothed her frown. "You're the best!" she exclaimed, kissing him squarely on the lips.
With another bark of laughter, James waved his wand over candles and tree. "All done!" he announced a minute later.
Lily reached for the first candle and carefully fixed it in their tree. Not one to be outdone by his wife, James took another candle and mimicked what he had seen her do to keep it in place.
"Ouch," he cried, "the tree's all prickly!"
Lily dissolved into peals of laughter at his surprised look. He turned to glare at her, but she only laughed harder.
Still glaring darkly, he put up the next candle, being extra careful not to prick his fingers. He worked in absolute silence until Lily finally calmed down and her laughter subsided into silent giggles.
"It wasn't that funny, you know," he grumbled.
"It was and you know it," Lily giggled.
James tried to keep a severe look on his face, but the corners of his mouth had other ideas and soon turned upwards in a smile.
They continued to work in companionable silence; the only sounds the Christmas songs playing on the radio, the crackling of the fire and Lily's occasional directions.
Lily had just started unpacking the last box, containing a crib, when Harry started crying upstairs in his bedroom.
"And the little monster awakes."
"James! That's your son you're talking about," Lily admonished.
James smiled unrepentantly. "And he can be a right monster when he wants to be."
"I wonder where he got it from." Giving him a pointed look, Lily left the room to fetch Harry, who had apparently decided that there were more important things than napping.
Chuckling to himself James sat down on the floor to unpack the box Lily had left behind. The roughly hewn stable with its small, delicate figurines had been a Christmas present from Remus the year before. Out of all the Christmas decorations they had put up in the house, James treasured it the most.
Instead of the usual people and animals from the Christmas story, Remus had carved figurines of a redheaded woman, a small baby in a crypt, a stag, a big dog, a wolf and a rat. Harry's extended family watching over him, as he had explained.
The thought behind the gift brought tears to James's eyes. They really were one large family, but soon that would change. It hadn't been an easy decision to make and they had thought about it a long time, but with the renewed effort Voldemort put into hunting them, it was too dangerous not to go into hiding.
They had elected this night, Christmas Eve, to tell their friends. It was the first time in weeks that all of them would be together again and it had seemed like a good time to reveal their plans. James wasn't sure if it was the right decision anymore. Thinking back on everything he had shared with Sirius, Remus and Peter, he felt as if he was betraying them by not continuing to fight.
How often had he told Remus not to stop fighting his lycanthropy, to lean on his friends for support, that with them by his side everything would work out? And now he was the one who didn't trust his friends enough to lean on them, who would rather go into hiding than put his family's life in their hands. He felt absolutely wretched.
"Are you sure we are doing the right thing?" James asked, when Lily stepped back into the living room with Harry in her arms.
She didn't need to ask what he was talking about, the sight of Remus's crib made the same doubts that troubled him flare up in her heart. "Yes," she answered after a moment, " we have to think about Harry now, James."
"I don't like it," he said, " I feel like I'm abandoning them. I've never thought I'd be the first one to stop fighting and hide like a coward!"
"It's not cowardice," she contradicted, "it's just too dangerous. What if something happened to us? I don't want Harry to grow up without his parents! No matter how much Sirius, Remus and Peter love him, it wouldn't be the same."
James watched Harry gaze at the colourful splendour of the huge Christmas tree. His small face was alight with happiness as he reached for the little ornaments hanging down in front of him until Lily scooped him up again and put him out of reach of the decorations.
"I know all these reasons, Lily, but they don't make me feel better about letting Sirius, Remus and Peter fight that madman without me," James sighed.
Lily wound her arms around his waist from behind and leaned her head against his back, silently telling him that she understood. "Do you want to wait until the New Year to tell them?"
"No, let's stick to our plan and do it tonight. The last few weeks have been hectic and we don't know when we will be together like this again," James decided, "Let's just wait until after Christmas dinner, I don't want to ruin the whole night for them."
"Ok," Lily whispered her agreement. She raised herself onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek softly. "They'll understand that we have to do this, James, don't worry."