A/N This is a little twelve chapter story in honor of the twelve days of Christmas. Many people think that the twelve days of Christmas are the twelve days prior to Christmas, but they actually are the twelve days after Christmas and end on January 6, also known as Epiphany Day. I will do my best to update daily, but hopefully I'll have all twelve chapters posted by the sixth.

I couldn't think of any canon parings for this one, so it's a next-gen one with an OC. Alice is Neville and Hannah's daughter, who is two years younger than James Sirius. In this story they're twenty-one and twenty-three.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or The 12 Days of Christmas song.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ten lords a-leaping . . .

Alice woke up early on Christmas morning. She was one of those people who was completely awake the moment she opened her eyes. Sometimes she wished she could sleep more, but not very often, and as today was Christmas morning, she was very thankful she hadn't slept in. Christmas only came once a year and she liked to enjoy as much of the day as she could. This day was extra special as it was the first Christmas she was spending with her husband.

She half sat up and supported herself with one elbow as she turned and looked at her husband. James was spread out all over his half of the bed like he usually was. In fact, there had been times soon after their marriage that Alice would awake to find James either nearly on top of her or on the floor. Both events had been extremely amusing as in both cases James hadn't woken up until she had said his name quite loudly.

As she was thinking about all of this, James yawned and woke up.

"Hiya, Allie," he said sitting up. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, Jamsie," Alice replied.

"Oi!" cried James.

"You call me Allie, I call you Jamsie," said Alice simply.

"Oh, all right, you win," said James in mock defeat as he climbed out of bed.

A little while later the two were downstairs sitting next to the tree.

"Ready to do presents, love?" asked James.

"You bet I am," Alice replied as her smile became even wider.

James looked around at the gifts for a few moments and eventually found what he was looking for. "Here you go," he said as he handed her a package.

Alice carefully took the box and slowly started to unwrap it. Inside was another box, and nestled inside of that box were ten figures. "Huh?" asked Alice in confusion.

"Take on out," James said, "and wind it up."

Alice did as she was asked and to her surprise the figure started to leap around. She pulled out a few more and discovered that they all could do it. "Very interesting," she said slowly as she wasn't certain what to make of the gift.

"Did you figure out the theme yet?" James asked.

"There's a theme to the gits you're giving me?" asked Alice as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," James said simply. "It's not a wind-up toys theme if you're worried about that."

Alice sighed and shook her head, but she began to open the next gift she was handed. Inside the very small box were tickets to the ballet Sleeping Beauty. "Thank you," Alice said in an awed whisper. "I've wanted to see it for a long time."

"It's coming in a few months," James said. "I hope you can wait that long."

"I can," Alice assured her husband. "I am very excited though."

Her excitement was evident because she nearly tore the wrapping off the next package instead of carefully pulling the paper off. "This feels cold," she commented as she pulled the lid off. Alice soon understood why there was a cooling charm on the box. Inside were eight different kinds of yogurt. "What is up with these gifts?" she asked in confusion. "I love them, but some seem a little strange."

"You'll understand once you figure out the theme," said James simply. "And I'll tell you later on if you need me to."

Alice looked at her husband once again with confusion, but didn't say anything. James' mind was strange at times. She made quick work on the next package because it too was very small. Once again, it was ballet tickets, but they were for Swan Lake.

"That's another ballet I've wanted to go to," Alice said excitedly. "Thank you, James, thank you."

"You're welcome," James said a bit awkwardly. He hadn't expected Alice to act quite like this over the ballet, but at least she was eager to go to them.

James handed his wife the next package before she could start running around the room out of excitement, as she had been known to do at times. Alice had calmed down slightly, so she made slightly neater work at opening the gift. It was a quilt made out of the Flying Geese pattern.

"Mum knew we didn't have a nice quilt for our bedroom yet, so she made it and told me to give it to you," James explained quickly. He didn't want Alice to think he had made it.

"It's wonderful," Alice said gently. "And we'll be nice and cozy under it."

The next package continued an ornament that was composed of five rings. "One for each year we dated before our marriage," said James. "The first three are prior to our engagement and the last two are for afterwards."

"James," Alice said very quietly. "You don't know how much this means to me. I love it." Alice immediately stood up and hung the small, yet wonderful, ornament at the very front of the tree.

She sat down near the ever-growing pile of paper and ribbon to open the next gift James had given her. "I still haven't figured out the theme," she said as she pulled off the festive paper. "Will you tell me now?"

"Mmm, no," said James in a teasing tone. "There's only four more presents, and I promise I'll tell you if you haven't figured it out by the final gift."

"Okay," said Alice. She actually didn't care that she hadn't figured out the theme, but she did want to know what it was. The next gift revealed a sweatshirt with four different types of birds on it. Alice stared at it for a few moments as she tried to figure out what the birds were. "Looks like there's a robin, a cardanil, a bluebird, and a gull."

"Yep, all correct," James answered with a grin.

Alice made quick work of the next package as well, which contained a photograph off a plate of breaded chicken. "It's in the fridge," James explained. "I know you love your chicken."

The second to last gift contained two quills made out of dove feathers. And finally, Alice opened the last gift. It was a glass pear with a bird inside. She carefully reached in, pulled out the bird, and asked, "What's a partridge doing in a pear?"

At that, James assumed his wife didn't know about the theme he had chosen, so he figured it was time to explain. "There's a Muggle song called the Twelve Days of Christmas," he explained. "Each day something new is given, along with gifts from the previous day." As Alice still looked confused, James began to sing it for her, though he was nice and only song the verse for the tenth day of Christmas.

Once he was finished singing, Alice understood. "So they all somehow fit with one of the gifts for the tenth day," she murmured. "Some of them were quite interesting to say the least, but I love them all."

"I'm glad," James said quietly as the snuggled next to each other. "We have a perfect first Christmas."

"That we do," said Alice. "You haven't gotten my gift yet, though."

"Oh, okay," said James in slight surprise.

Alice placed her hand on her stomach. "James, you're going to be a dad," she said simply.

James stared at Alice for a few seconds in disbelief and leapt up in glee. "That's the best present you ever could give anyone!" he cried. "Happy Christmas Allie and baby!"

"Happy Christmas, Jamsie."