AN: For Aerie. Merry Christmas! I'm so sorry that it's late, I feel awful.
Thanks to Amy for betaing :3
Christmas at the Potters
"Please tell me you're joking!" Lily groaned. She was trying to get the turkey to fit in the oven, having insisted she could cook Christmas dinner the Muggle way (despite the fact that it was her first Christmas since leaving Hogwarts and moving to Godric's Hollow so she didn't actually know how to cook Christmas dinner), and did not need anything else to stress her out.
To his credit, James did look guilty as he shook his head and set the bag of unwrapped presents on the kitchen table. Lily sighed, waved her wand at the turkey to make it shrink just enough to fit in the oven (nobody needed to know she'd used magic), and slammed the oven door shut.
"Why didn't you do this last night like I told you to?" Lily asked, sitting down at the table and casting a non-verbal Accio to bring the wrapping paper, sellotape, and scissors to them.
James scratched the back of his head, looking more and more sheepish the longer Lily looked at him. "I may or may not have fallen asleep," he said with a small laugh.
"James!" Lily yelled, throwing an oven glove at him. "They're going to be here any minute and you haven't wrapped any presents?"
"No, I haven't wrapped any of their presents. I've had yours wrapped for days."
The matching oven glove soon found its way to the side of James' head, muffling James' hearing as Lily said, "You're an idiot."
The wrapping was done surprisingly quickly, although Lily knew that was only because she was helping—if James had been left on his own it would have taken him hours–and it wasn't long before the presents were being placed under their (magically enhanced) Christmas tree. It was as the last present was deposited under their tree that there was a knock on the door.
"Oh Merlin, they're here!" Lily said, instantly starting to panic. "I haven't even rearranged the living room so there are enough seats for everyone."
"Lily, calm down," James said, wrapping his fiancée in his arms. "It's just Sirius, Remus, and Marlene. They've been here before. You don't need to worry."
"But there aren't enough seats! Marlene will have to sit on Sirius' lap."
James laughed. "Not a chance. He'd end up having to sit on hers." He let Lily go and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Everything will be fine, darling."
"We should have done Christmas at your parents'. I was a fool to turn them down."
"No, we really shouldn't. It's going to be nice spending the entire day with friends." James sighed. "It is a shame Peter, Frank, and Alice couldn't make it as well."
"Presents!" Sirius shouted as soon as the fire was lit and everyone had a drink in their hand.
"Can't we eat first?" Marlene asked. "I'm starving."
Lily glanced at her watch and shook her head. "Sorry, Marl. I'm cooking it the Muggle way so we still have about an hour and a half before it's ready."
Marlene let out a dramatic sigh before sinking back into the armchair that James had transfigured from a piece of wood (Lily tended to forget about using magic to help her when she was stressed).
Remus chose that moment to retrieve a present he'd brought for Sirius from under the tree and hand it to him. "Here," he said, "This might keep you entertained for a while."
Sirius greedily tore into the wrapping paper. "What is it?" he asked. He was holding up a plastic toy in the shape of a Muggle weapon.
"It's a rubber band gun," Remus told him. "I saw one of the boys at the local school playing with one a few days ago. You put a rubber band around the main part of it, and press that little button to fire it."
Sirius' eyes lit up as he grabbed one of the rubber bands that had come with the toy and set it up as Remus explained.
"Take that, you foul beast!" Sirius yelled as he launched the rubber band across the room and hit Remus in the chest.
Remus rolled his eyes at Lily and Marlene before facing his best friend. "How dare you! I bought you that gift out of love, and now, you use it against me?"
"I do indeed," Sirius said as he sent another band in Remus' direction. "And who will have you now?"
"I will!"
Marlene had jumped up from her seat and dived in front of Remus just as Sirius sent a third rubber band his way.
"Marly!" Sirius groaned. "You're my girlfriend, doesn't that mean you should be on my side?"
"And let you taunt poor Remus like that?" she asked in mock horror.
"I'll let you have a go with the gun," he offered with a wink.
Marlene looked back over her shoulder at Remus. "Sorry mate," she said. "You're on your own."
Before the war could get too heated (before James could join in), Lily plucked the gun out of Marlene's hands and hid it under the sofa cushion.
"Later," she said, giving them all a pointed look. "If we get caught up on every present like this we won't finish opening them all until New Year's Day!"
The rest of the present exchange went rather smoothly, the only exception being when James opened a slingshot from Remus and spent ten minutes firing anything he could find at Sirius as payback for not giving him a go with the rubber band gun.
"Are we out of presents already?" James asked just over an hour later with a small pout on his face.
"Not quite," Sirius told him. "I've got one last present for Marly."
Sirius pulled a small, neatly wrapped box from his pocket and crossed the room to give it to Marlene, staying crouched in front of her chair as he watched her open it.
"Sirius!" she said with a gasp. "Is this...? Are you...?"
"Marlene, you stole my heart, so I think it's only fitting I steal your last name."
Marlene laughed. "You're doing it wrong," she told him. "Where are all the cheesy confessions of love?" There was a small pause before she added, "And that's not happening. I hate my surname; I'd much rather be stuck with yours."
"Not a chance," Sirius laughed. "You think I want my name to remind me of the family that kicked me out for the rest of my life? I'd have changed it to Potter by now if James had let me. Anyway, I claimed your last name first!"
"So… is that a yes?" Lily asked, unable to hold her silence.
A smile spread across Marlene's face. "Of course it's a yes! Have you seen how pretty this ring is?"
As congratulations flew around the room and the story of Lily and James' engagement three months ago was retold, it was only Remus who remembered about the turkey in the oven.
"Lily," he called, pulling her attention away from Marlene's ring. "Is the house supposed to smell like something's burning?"
Word Count: 1,178.
This is for:
Hogwarts Secret Santa – FreshBreathofAir;
James/Lily, Sirius/Marlene, (task) wrapping Christmas presents, (dialogue) "And who will save you now?" / "I will", (dialogue) "You stole my heart so I'm stealing your last name." (I altered the dialogue slightly, I hope that's okay)
Hogwarts December Event – The Yule Ball;
Buying Your Dress Robes – Write about a stressful situation.
Hogwarts Writing Club – Count Your Buttons;
(dialogue) "You're doing it wrong.", (character) Marlene McKinnon, (word) pretty.
Hogwarts Writing Club – Restriction of the Month;
No characters older than 20 years old, (word) smile.
Hogwarts 2018 Event – Fanfiction Resolutions;
Write a fic set in Marauder era.
Hogwarts 2018 Event – 365 Prompts;
(restriction) Characters from only one era.
Hogwarts January Event – Stickers;
Ice Mice – Write a fic set in winter.