Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter. Shocking I know but J.K. Rowling refuses to sell him.

Chapter 28 Housework and Invitations

James apparated to the front gate of his house, just beyond the apparation barrier, and entered the house quietly, just in case both his parents were asleep. His father, however, was sitting in his study clearly waiting for James to come home.

"A bit late isn't it?" his father asked.

"Sorry," James apologized. "I wanted to wait for Lily's sister to leave before I apparated home and then Lily and I talked for a bit before I left and we kinda lost track of time," James explained.

"Just talked?" his father asked giving James a knowing look.

"Well…um…mostly," James answered lamely knowing it would be pointless to lie to his father.

"What about?" his father asked.

"What you and Mum did for work, Voldemort, the Ministry for Morons…" James trailed off.

"Now James, I know the Ministry doesn't always make the smartest decisions but in most things they do a perfectly acceptable job," Mr. Potter said.

"Yes, sir," James replied.

"And as for the other thing," his father continued, "do make sure you think with your brain when it comes to this girlfriend of yours."

"Yes, sir."

"Good, now then, it's late and now that you're home, I'm going to bed. Good night son."

"Night Dad. And again, I'm sorry I was so late," James said.

"Quite all right," Mr. Potter said. "Just don't be any later next time," he added.

James nodded and Mr. Potter smiled.

"You really do like this girl a lot," Mr. Potter stated.

"Yeah, I do," James replied with a grin.

Mr. Potter smiled and ruffled James's hair the way he used to when James was younger.

"Its late son, go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

With that Mr. Potter turned down the hall and headed towards his bedroom. James turned in the opposite direction and headed towards his.

He was glad to see that Sirius hadn't waited up for him, as he was rather tired and wanted nothing more than to crawl into his nice warm bed.

The next morning James woke up shortly before eight and found that he simply couldn't go back to sleep.

Resigning himself to the fact that he was not going to be sleeping in James got up and took a shower.

Half an hour later he entered the kitchen to find his mother and Sirius happily baking Christmas cookies yet again. Apparently, they hadn't gotten much done yesterday as Mrs. Potter had gone off to see Sarah.

"Good morning, James," his mother greeted.

"Morning, Mum," James replied with a yawn.

James sat at the table in the kitchen and Winnie hurriedly brought him some porridge, eggs, sausage, kippers, and tea. James couldn't help but chuckle. Winnie always gave him way too much food the first couple of days after he came back from Hogwarts, as if she didn't think the House Elves at Hogwarts fed him properly.

"Did you have a good time at Lily's house last night?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Yes, very. The Evans's are really nice and Lily's Mum is a great cook," James replied.

"Good. I thought it must have gone well as you got in so late," Mrs. Potter replied.

It never ceased to amaze James how both of his parents could chastise him without ever even changing their tones. He knew they weren't angry with him, just concerned that he was out later than he had planned without telling them. Some parents, he knew, would be very angry, but not his. Though he suspected that part of the reason they weren't overly upset was because Lily's house wasn't attached to the Floo Network, meaning he couldn't contact them to inform them that he would be late.

"So, what did you and Lily's parents talk about?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Well," James said swallowing the last of his breakfast, "they were really interested in how the lives of Wizards and the lives of Muggles differ. Mrs. Evans couldn't believe that we're almost all home schooled. Though, once I explained why, she did agree that it made sense. And Mr. Evans explained to me about the Muggle sport football, which is really popular. They only have one ball and it's played on the ground!"

Mrs. Potter laughed at this. "Well, they can't very well play in the air, dear, they don't have brooms."

"That's what Mr. Evans said too," James replied causing his mother to laugh again.

"Were the clothes I got from Mark all right?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Yeah, they were perfect," James replied grinning.

"Oh good," Mrs. Potter said. "Did you remember to ask Lily about dinner?"

"Yeah, I said I'd send her an owl with times and dates that would be good for you and she said she'd send back an owl telling us when she could come."

"Don't forget to include an address so she knows where to apparate," his mother reminded him.

"Don't worry, Mum, I won't," James said. "I'm going to go send it now, I told her I'd send it this morning. Do you need any help when I'm done?"

"Yes, if you'd like to help I'd really appreciate it," Mrs. Potter replied. "Oh, and let me make a list of times and dates for you to give Lily."

"Okay," James said.

Once Mrs. Potter had finished the list James ran off to his room to send a letter to Lily.

Dear Lily,

Here is a list of dates and times that my Mum says would be good for dinner. I hope that one of them works for you. I had a really great time last night. Tell your parents thank you again for me. I can't wait to see you.

James hesitated as he came to the end of his letter unsure of how to sign it. He didn't want to sign it Love as he wasn't sure how Lily would interpret it. He wasn't even sure what he thought about it. He knew he cared for her more than any girl he'd ever dated, but was it love…He wasn't ready to open that can of worms yet. He finally decided on…

Miss you,

James

James prodded Merlin awake and then tied the letter to his leg and sent him on his way.

He then returned to the kitchen to help his mother and Sirius with the Christmas cookies.

"But Madame, Winnie should be doing the baking, Madame. Madame, should not be a troublin' herself," Winnie insisted.

"Now, Winnie, you and your family have been serving our family for generations and you've done an excellent job. But I enjoy making Christmas cookies and even you need a break every now and then," Mrs. Potter said. "But if it will make you feel better you can help us clean up," Mrs. Potter said trying to compromise with Winnie.

"Madame and Sir, doesn't need to help Winnie clean up. Winnie can do it. She is not a lazy elf, she likes work," Winnie insisted.

"Non-sense, Winnie, we'll be the ones making the mess and we will help to clean it up," Mrs. Potter insisted.

"Winnie can do it Madame. Winnie is sorry if she hasn't been cleaning to Madame's liking, she will work harder," Winnie insisted.

"Winnie, you always do an excellent job, but this is Christmas and I refuse to make you work even harder just because we've made extra messes. If it makes you feel better why don't you use your extra time while we're in the kitchen to help Twinkle and Ralph. I know they have been working tirelessly to get the house sparkling for Christmas and I'm sure they would appreciate the extra help," Mrs. Potter suggested.

James smiled. Every Christmas his mother had had the same argument with Winnie for as long as he could remember. Once, when James had been about seven or eight he had asked why his mother didn't just let Winnie do all the cleaning since she obviously wanted to and since cleaning was boring. And besides wasn't the point of having a House Elf so that you didn't have to do the cooking and the cleaning?

That had led to the closest thing James had ever come to receiving a real scolding from his mother.

His mother had sat him down and told him that just because House Elves enjoyed work didn't mean that they should be forced to do all the work. Winnie, Twinkle, and Ralph worked hard all year long and had a very tight work schedule as it was and it wasn't fair to add even more to their already busy schedule with the added work that getting ready for Christmas entailed. Winnie, Twinkle, and Ralph would go without sleep for weeks and never admit that they needed help if the Potters let them.

'Is that fair for us to make them do that?' his mother had asked. 'Would he like to go for weeks without sleep if he were a House Elf and his Masters' were able to help him?'

James had said that if the Elves needed help they should just ask. But Mrs. Potter had said that the terms of the Magical Contract that bound the House Elves to their masters made it unthinkable for a House Elf to ask for help. It had been that way for centuries and generations of House Elves had been brought up by their parents to strictly follow the "House Elf Code" as she called it.

While they may not be able to change the House Elves insistence that they didn't need nor want help they could make their House Elves lives easier by insisting on helping out when necessary and Christmas time was one of those times when it was necessary.

She also told him that families who treated their elves like slaves should be ashamed.

'Did he know, that in some homes House Elves had to punish themselves if they made even the tiniest mistake?'

'Like no dessert for a week?' James had asked.

He had been shocked when his mother had said, 'No. They have to do things like slam their ears in the oven door or bash themselves painfully over their own heads. Or for more severe offences they may even have to iron their own hands.'

James remembered he had been shocked when his mother had told him this. He couldn't understand how anyone could treat another living creature like that. Sure House Elves weren't human but that didn't mean they deserved to be treated like they didn't have feelings.

He had asked his mother why somebody didn't do something to stop it? His mother explained that it was very difficult to prove because House Elves were not supposed to speak ill of their Masters and were supposed to keep their secrets. This meant most House Elves who were treated badly would never admit that they were mistreated. She had then asked if James understood why it was important to insist on helping Winnie, Twinkle, and Ralph around the holidays. James had told her he did and ever since then he always went out of his way to not make Winnie, Twinkle, and Ralph have to do extra work, by doing simple things to help them, like making sure to put his toys away when he was done playing with them.

"You'd think after all these years she'd have given up arguing with you," James said finally making his presence known as Winnie left the kitchen to find Twinkle and Ralph.

Mrs. Potter smiled, "House Elves are very stubborn sometimes."

"So, what do you need help with?" James asked.

"Well, I want to put up the garland in the formal living room and rearrange the furniture so that the Christmas tree will fit. Your father has arranged for it to be delivered this afternoon, so we need to make sure the space is ready," Mrs. Potter explained.

James and Sirius grinned. They both knew that Mrs. Potter was giving them the job because she knew they both enjoyed any excuse to use magic now that they were of age. She had spent most of the summer giving them odd jobs to do that required magic simply to keep them out of trouble.

"You remember how the furniture needs to be arrange to fit the tree right?" she asked.

"Yes, Mum, I remember. We've only been arrange the living room that way for the tree since before I was born," James said grinning innocently.

"Hush," Mrs. Potter said. "And get to work. The tree will be arriving around one o'clock so make sure you move the furniture first. Then the garland is already on the back porch; your father picked that up yesterday. Once you have the furniture moved and the garlands up have Winnie help you bring down the ornaments," Mrs. Potter instructed.

"Okay, Mum."

"Yes, Mrs. Potter."

Sirius and James went to the back porch first and brought in the garland. James carried the balsam roping but levitated the blue spruce because the pine needles tended to be sharp. Sirius took charge of the holly and the ivy. The boys piled the garland on the hearth, careful to keep it away from the fire, and then began the process of rearranging the furniture, which, with levitation charms, only took a few minutes.

"So, how was dinner at Lily's last night?" Sirius asked.

"It was excellent, I really like her Dad," James said.

"And how was your Lily?" Sirius asked raising a suggestive eyebrow.

"Muggle clothes are highly under rated. Much more flattering than robes," James replied.

"I've seen her in Muggle clothes. I don't see how they're any better than robes," Sirius said now turning his attention to the garland.

"They weren't like the one she wears before getting on the Hogwarts Express," James explained. "She looked absolutely stunning. Muggle clothes are even more fitted than girls' dress robes and they show off curves way better," James said grinning.

"Really?" asked Sirius raising an eyebrow.

James nodded grinning.

"Perhaps you should talk to Dumbledore about changing the school dress code," Sirius suggested.

James smacked Sirius upside the head. "You're such a prat," James said.

"That's me," Sirius replied. "But I would like to point out that you're the one who started this conversation."

"Touché," James agreed.

James and Sirius spent the rest of the morning decorating not only the living room, but also a good portion of the downstairs. They even hunted down the spell for the never melting icicles to put on the railings and banisters like at Hogwarts.

At one o'clock sharp, the doorbell rang.

"Tree's here!" James called out not sure where his mother was.

"I heard the doorbell, dear, you don't have to shout," Mrs. Potter said coming out of the kitchen.

"The tree is here," James said at a normal volume.

Mrs. Potter just rolled her eyes. Once the tree was in the right place and standing up straight James and Sirius asked if they could start decorating it.

"Not until your father comes home," Mrs. Potter said. "You know he likes to help."

"Where is Dad?" James asked.

"Out shopping. He'll be home in time for dinner. We can decorate the tree after that," Mrs. Potter said.

James and Sirius agreed and having no more decorating left to do decided to go out into the back yard to play some Quidditch or at least toss a quaffle back and forth as it was rather difficult to play Quidditch with only two people. Tomorrow when Remus and Peter came over they'd be able to play two a side Quidditch, which had become a lot more fun the summer between fourth and fifth year when they had created their own special set of rules.

James wished his friends could have come over that day but Peter had to go visit his great-aunt and the boys didn't want to get together without one of their friends. James and Sirius spent the rest of the afternoon in the Potters back yard on the makeshift Quidditch Pitch James's father had helped them build.

When Mrs. Potter finally called them in for dinner the boys' hands and faces were both bright red from the cold.

"What's for dinner? I'm starving," James said upon sitting down at the table.

"Beef stew," Mrs. Potter replied.

"Excellent!" Sirius declared.

"Definitely," James agreed.

After dinner the Potters and Sirius set about decorating the tree. Unlike the rest of the decorating, the tree was done by hand. Sirius had been quite shocked to discover this last year. Admittedly, he was also surprised that the Potters decorated the tree themselves, as it was Kreacher who decorated the tree at his house. Mr. and Mrs. Potter, however, enjoyed taking their time decorating the tree by hand. The one exception was the star and a couple of the other ornaments that were near the top, those where levitated onto the tree because it was simply easier.

Lily was sitting in her living room reading a book when she heard a tapping on the window. She looked up and saw Merlin sitting, somewhat impatiently, on the sill waiting to be let in. Lily couldn't really blame him, as it was rather cold outside.

"Who's the owl from dear?" Mrs. Evans asked as she entered the living room carrying two cups of tea.

"James," Lily replied taking one of the cups of tea her mother was carrying.

"Ah, and what does he have to say? If you don't mind my asking of course," Mrs. Evans said with a smile.

Lily put down her tea and untied the scroll from Merlin's leg.

"It's a list of nights that would be good for me to go over there for dinner," Lily replied. "He said he would send me one today."

"Ah," Mrs. Evans replied smiling.

"Can I go on Thursday?" Lily asked. "I know it's the day before Christmas Eve, but?"

"That sounds fine dear," Mrs. Evans said.

Lily smiled. "Stay here Merlin, I'll be right back," Lily told the owl who blinked at her. Lily took this to mean he understood and bound upstairs to write a reply.

Dear James,

Mum says I can come for dinner on Thursday if that's ok. I had a great time the other night. My parents both liked you a lot. I miss you too.

See you Thursday,

Lily

Lily raced back downstairs and attached her note to James to Merlin's leg and sent him on his way.

"When are we getting the Christmas tree?" Lily asked taking a sip of her tea.

"Tonight. We'll go as soon as your father gets home," her mother said.

Lily then decided that she really needed to get some of her homework done. If she finished it now she could enjoy the rest of her vacation without having to worry about it.

When Mr. Evans arrived home Lily had made a good dent in her homework. All she had left was an essay for Transfiguration and the questions Professor Sprout had set them for Herbology. Feeling quite pleased with herself Lily went to join her parents in their hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.

Two hours later the Evans's arrived at home with the perfect tree.

After dinner her father began the task of setting up the tree, making sure it was standing up straight, and putting on the lights. Lily and her mother sat on the couch watching and occasionally saying things like, "It's tilting a little to the right," or, "There's a large spot that doesn't have any lights." By the time the tree was standing straight with the lights on it was after nine and Mr. Evans, who had to work early the next morning, decided it was time for him to have a break. He sat down on the couch drinking a cup of tea and left the privilege of putting the decorations on the tree to Lily and her mother.

While they worked he supervised, gleefully saying things like, "There are too many red ornaments in that section," and, "Don't put that there, put it lower, you don't want all the ornaments in one place."

Lily smiled at her father's antics. He always enjoyed "supervising" the ornament arranging as a way to seek revenge for the girls "supervising" the setting up of the tree.