Disclaimer... these characters belong to JKR
25th of December
James, as ever, woke up first and woke Lily up too by bouncing on the bed until the creaking springs woke her up.
"Merry Christmas Mrs Potter!" he beamed, before dropping down and kissing her exuberantly.
"-Erry Mistmas – whatimisit?"
"Five a.m.!" he announced happily, pulling her up and scooping her into his arms.
"James" she said, starting to wake up. "Put me the fuck down and go the fuck back to sleep"
"No!" he said cheerfully, freeing one of his arms to toss her dressing gown over her lap before sweeping her off to the guest room.
"I'm serious" Lily warned him. "No one wants to be woken up at five in the morning"
James opened the door with his foot.
Lily stared in some shock.
All of the others were sitting upright in bed, hair brushed and pyjamas straightened, staring at the door.
"Excellent!" Sirius said, hopping up from his bed. He hurried over to the door to pat James on the head and kiss Lily on the cheek before running downstairs.
"Merry Christmas!" Camilla shrieked, launching herself at Lily, who was set down hastily by James.
Camilla had changed her hair until it hung down to her waist in alternating dark green and red streaks in a fit of festivity. One eyebrow was also green, and the other was red.
"Merry Christmas Cami!" Lily managed to steady the two of them so Camilla didn't bowl them over.
"Presents!" Marlene shouted, flinging herself out of bed and pelting down the stairs.
By the time everyone had gotten down, Sirius had gotten all the stockings down from the tree and laid each one in front of the proper recipient. Someone had filled Lily's in the night as well.
They had all been put in charge of one stocking, so as to avoid confusion. Lily had picked out the things for Peter, and she smiled as he pulled out an enormous sack of sweets from Honeydukes.
Her own stocking contained a pocket Sneakoscope, a large turquoise Puffskein that chirruped at her, and a selection of expensive quills.
"Aww, look, a pet!" Lily held up the Puffskein and petted it with her finger.
"I thought they were smaller" Marlene frowned.
"Nah, that's the miniature ones" Remus told her. "That one's a genuine, pedigreed Puffskein"
"Thanks Remus!"
"No problem"
Lily smiled at the fuzzy creature and tucked it in her front pyjama pocket for safe keeping.
After the stockings were opened, they tackled the tree. It looked set to be a bit of a free for all, until Lily rescued the wicker basket from under the tree and presented it to James.
James looked up at her suspiciously.
"It won't bite!" Lily said impatiently.
"Hopefully" Marlene muttered, and Lily hushed her as James unlatched the top of the basket.
Artie's huge orange ears were flattened along the top of her head, and she peered round distrustfully at the crowd surrounding her.
"Aww" Camilla cooed. "She must be part Kneazle"
"How'd you know that?" Mary asked, surprised.
Camilla gestured vaguely at the cat's ears. "It's the – cone of the ear"
"Her name's Artie" Lily said softly, watching James steadily.
"She's awesome" James said, picking her out of her basket and giving her a quick hug. "She's like a small lion; I could sic her on people"
"No" Lily said immediately. "I don't want any deaths at the paws of our cat"
Artie, seemingly overcome by all the attention, leapt off James's lap and ran for the kitchen.
Lily poked her finger in her pocket to sooth her Puffskein.
"Alright, everyone can open their presents now!"
Mary raised a cheer, and they all dove in.
It was rather a long time before they surfaced again. By the time they broke for breakfast, Sirius was wearing a new leather motorcycle jacket that he refused to take off; Mary was wearing a headband bedecked with cat ears that wiggled when she moved her head, and Lily had a new, floor length scarlet silk cloak that she also refused to remove.
"I look like a super villain" she declared happily, sweeping it along the floor. James clapped dutifully, Artie perched in his lap. Remus was in a corner, pouring over the lycanthropy treatise that Lily had gotten him, Marlene was setting off some small fireworks at Peter who was exploding them with his wand, chuckling, and Camilla had received an Invisibility Cloak from James and Lily, and was sitting in a chair with only her head sticking out of the top.
"Merry Christmas Lily" James told her quietly, and she immediately dropped into his lap, shooing the cat away.
Lily leaned forward until their noses were almost touching, and then she smiled. It was a brilliant, sharp, snowy white smile, and James wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her breathless.
"Merry Christmas James" she whispered, and kissed him softly.
The End
A.N. Thanks so much for reading, and have a very Merry Christmas.