A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate it!  So, here you go, as your reward, another chapter! Woohoo! (right??)  Enjoy and review some more!!

Oh, and I know this chapter kinda jumps around a bit time wise, but just go with it, ok? Thanks!

Chapter 27: The Holiday Season

September quickly faded into October, and before Lily and James knew it, Halloween had arrived.  Harry was now three months old and had taken to grabbing any object placed near enough to his out-stretched hands.  Unfortunately he didn't seem to have any interest in the rattle (or other toys) that his parents would offer; instead he preferred to steal his father's wand, trying to put it in his mouth.

"Harry, no!" Lily said for what had to be the fifth time that day.  She very quickly took the wand from Harry's hand (and mouth) and replaced it with a pacifier.  "James, would you please try not to leave your wand lying around?  He had it in his mouth again…"

"Oh, calm down, Lil.  It's not as though he knows how to use it yet, do ya buddy?" James said, tickling Harry's tummy.  "I'll pick up a fake wand for him to play with, okay?"

Lily sighed.  "I suppose… although I really do wish he would just take his toys rather than that… next thing you know he'll go after your Winged Mercury 15."  The Winged Mercury 15 was one of James's most cherished possessions, his broomstick that was, of course, up to International Quidditch Racing Broom standards.

A smile crept across James's face.  "That would be wonderful.  I just know that he's going to be a genius on the quidditch field, I can tell already."

Lily rolled her eyes.  "James, he's three months old.  Let's not-"

"He'll play for England's national team one day," he said dreamily.  "I can see it now…" He picked Harry up and held him above his head.  He then started running around the room with the baby, making various whooshing sounds, obviously pretending that Harry was flying.  Harry seemed to be enjoying himself very much for he couldn't stop smiling and gurgling.

"James, you're going to make him sick."

"No I'm not."

"You will.  Put him down, come on.  Please?  You're making me nervous."

"Who thinks mummy should stop nagging?"  James held Harry against his chest with one arm and raised his other.  He then raised one of Harry's arms.  "Two to one.  We win," he beamed, winking at her.

"James!"

"Who thinks Harry should fly around the room and have a good time practicing his quidditch skills?"  He then did the same voting concept.  "Once again, you're outnumbered!"

Lily sighed and shook her head.  "Fine.  Do what you want.  Just don't come running to me if he spits up on you again."  Lily brushed her hands together, smiled, and went upstairs.

The smile faded from James's face as he watched her walk away.  He then looked down at Harry.  "Well, that was enough flying for today… how about we just play on the floor for a bit?"

When Lily returned downstairs, she couldn't help but smile at what she saw.  James was lying on the blanket that they left on the floor for Harry.  Harry was lying on James's chest.  They were both fast asleep, only Harry was rising and falling with James's chest as he breathed.  Lily shook her head and then bent down, carefully lifting Harry off of James and setting him in his playpen.  James, however, she left on the floor to sleep.  She did summon a blanket though and tucked it over him.  Lily then curled up on the sofa with a scrapbook she had been putting together.  It had pictures of her family in addition to those of her and her friends from Hogwarts. 

Harry slept through the night.  James, however, didn't.  He woke up and nearly had a heart attack when the clock read 3:47am.  After making sure that he hadn't crushed Harry in his sleep (as he had no recollection of him being moved), James noticed that Lily was fast asleep on the couch.  He stood up and lifted her in his arms, carrying her upstairs to bed.  When he picked her up from the couch though, the photo album slipped from her hands and hit the floor.  This caused her to wake up slightly.

"Mmm? James?" Lily mumbled.

"Go back to sleep, baby," he whispered, kissing her forehead.  He then set her down on the bed and pulled the covers up over her.  "I'll be back in a minute, just going to move Harry."

"Mmm hmm," she nodded sleepily before drifting back off.

It seemed that in every day that passed there were more and more stories in the Daily Prophet about attacks on muggles and magicals alike.  Nowhere was safe anymore, and Lily and James were growing more and more concerned for the safety of themselves and above all, Harry.  Their anniversary had come and gone, but they took no notice other than a few cards that arrived by owl post.  There had actually been an attack that very day in which nearly a dozen people were killed. 

It was now early in the afternoon one day in December.  Christmas was fast approaching, and Lily and James were looking through a catalogue trying to decide what to get Harry for his first Christmas.  They were sitting together in the big armchair in their living room, leaving Harry rolling around happily on the floor when it happened.

"Well, maybe he'd like that?" Lily offered, pointing something out in the catalogue.

"No, I think that's too girlie," James said.

"Oh, it is no such thing.  It's adorable."

"What about the baby quidditch set?"

"James, he can barely sit up by himself on level ground.  How is he going to sit on a broomstick?"

The catalogue suddenly jolted toward them.  "What the…" James trailed off.  He pulled the catalogue up, and to his surprise, Harry was sitting right below them, reaching up.  "How did you get over here?" he asked.  Harry just giggled in response.

"Did he just…? Lily asked.

"I told you our boy is a genius!" James exclaimed.  He picked the nearly 5-month-old Harry up and set him down on the other side of the room.  He then walked back to the chair.  "Come to daddy!"  Sure enough, Harry pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and, although he did seem to be stumbling over himself, he began to crawl very slowly across the floor.  "He's mobile!" James shouted with glee. 

"And nearly two months early!" Lily added, grinning from ear to ear.

Soon enough, Christmas was upon them.  Lily had made arrangements for everyone to meet at their house for Christmas dinner, everyone being Sirius, Remus and Peter, that is.  After a brief exchange of presents next to the Christmas tree and plenty of pictures of Harry in his new Christmas suit amongst his new toys, Lily busied herself in the kitchen preparing the meal while James played with Harry and his new toys.  Lily wasn't quite sure who was more excited about the baby's playthings, father or son.

At four o'clock, on the dot, the doorbell rang.  James got up to answer it, taking Harry in his arms.  As James opened the door, Harry reached up and started pulling at his glasses.  "Harry, no!  Leave daddy's glasses alone!" he said just as Sirius, whose arms were stacked with presents, Remus and Peter all shouted "Happy Christmas!"  When they saw James and Harry though, they all burst out laughing, and continued to do so as they walked into the house.

"Happy Christmas, Lily!" Remus called into the next room. 

Lily then walked out, wiping her hands off on the apron around her waist.  "Happy Christmas to you, too," she smiled.  She then kissed each one of them on the cheek. 

"I hope Harry hasn't tired of getting presents yet," Sirius said, looking at the shreds of wrapping paper around the living room and smiling.

"We should be so lucky," Lily said.  "He's figured out how to rip the paper, and ever since, he's been more fascinated by that than anything else we put in front of him."

"That's my godson!  The smart little bugger!"

"I b-b-brought a b-bottle of wine," Peter said.

"That was sweet of you!  I'll just take it and open it up, shall I?" Lily said.

"I'll do it," James said.  He then took the bottle from Peter and walked into the kitchen only to reappear with 5 glasses and a corkscrew.

"Come here, Harry," Sirius said, squatting down on the floor.  "Who's your favourite?  Who is it?"  He smiled as Harry crawled toward him.  "That's right!  It's Sirius!  And look at what I have for my favourite godson!"  He pulled the stack of gifts next to him.  "All for you!"  Harry smiled and clapped his hands together.  "Shall we open them?  Yes, I think we should.  Why don't we open this one first?"  He pulled out a rather large box and began to unwrap it. 

"Sirius, you really didn't have to…" Lily said.

"Nonsense! He is my godson, and I will spoil him as I see fit!"

Remus rolled his eyes.  "He has been talking about that all week.  You should have seen him wrapping everything.  He actually insisted on doing it himself, saying that nobody else would do it right.  Sirius.  Doing manual labo-"

"Silencio!" Sirius bellowed, pointing his wand at Remus.  Remus tried to continue talking but no sound would come out.  "That's better.  Look at that Harry!  A new teddy bear!  Just for you!  And look, he'll even hug you back…"

"That's really cute, Sirius," James said.

"I do try, you know," Sirius grinned.  He then pulled out a large package and set it in front of Harry, who was barely sitting up on his own and who had already thrown the bear aside.  "Time for the next one, it looks like!"  Together, well, more Sirius than Harry, they unwrapped the gift to reveal a large box with the label My First Magic Kit.

"Oh no!" Lily exclaimed.  She practically flew over to Sirius and Harry and snatched up the box.  "He is FAR too young for that."

Sirius smiled and shrugged.  "Well, kiddo, I tried."

Harry didn't seem to mind though.  He was playing happily with the wrapping paper and ribbons that were all over the floor.

Lily and James assisted in the opening of Harry's remaining eight presents from Sirius, and once that was done, everyone settled down to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, everyone that is except Lily.  After cleaning the mess of wrapping paper, much to Harry's dismay, Lily excused herself and went into the kitchen to finish working on her masterpiece that was Christmas dinner. 

About an hour later, everyone sat down to an enjoyable meal.  Unfortunately, though perhaps inevitably, despite the joyous occasion the topic of conversation did turn to that of Voldemort.

"I really w-wish that y-you w-w-wouldn't say the n-name of you-know-who," Peter said, shaking nervously.

"Oh, honestly Peter, come off it.  The bastard," Sirius said, and Peter flinched unnoticed, "has a name, and I'll be damned if I don't call him by it.  Voldemort," he said, looking directly at Peter, who flinched more noticeably this time.  "Voldemort," Sirius said again.  Peter was shaking his head in disbelief.  "Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort, Volde-"

"That's quite enough out of you," Lily cut in.  "These are very dark times and you are not helping matters."  She turned to Peter.  "You should know better than to pay him any mind, but even so, it's Christmas," she now turned to Remus and James, "can we please speak of something a bit lighter?"

"You're right, Lil," James said.

"Sorry," Sirius muttered.

"Thanks," said Peter.  Lily simply nodded in response.  From that point on, the friends went back to their happy-go-lucky Christmas celebration.

"James, are you sure that Harry will be alright if we leave him?" Lily asked nervously.

"For the millionth time, yes," James assured her.  "It was bound to happen sooner or later…"

"But he's just five months."  She paused thoughtfully for a moment.  "I know!  We can take him with us!"

"Lily, we will do no such thing.  Honestly woman, a baby at that party?  He will be perfectly fine with Arabella for New Year, I promise…"

"But what if-"

"Arabella Figg has been a good friend of ours for years.  She even used to baby-sit for me and Sirius when we were younger, and look how well we turned out!"  Lily gave him a skeptical look, causing James to sigh and shake his head.  "Come on, Lil… baby, we need to go out!  It's New Year!  And we haven't spent two hours away from Harry since he was born."

"So?  He needs me…"

"Lily, please.  I'm begging you.  It's my New Year's wish.  Just one night – you and me, without the baby.  Please?"

Lily opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.  Very slowly, she nodded.  James grinned from ear to ear.

After dropping Harry off with Arabella, Lily and James disapparated to the Leaky Cauldron where they were to meet Remus and Sirius before joining the muggle festivities on the streets of London.

"Well, there one is," James said, pointing across the room. "Oy! Padfoot! Where's our dear Moony?"

Sirius pointed to a cloaked figure in the shadows who coughed loudly. "He insists on wearing that getup until we're with the muggles," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Remus hit his shoulder. "He's worried someone will recognize him from that day…"

Lily nodded understandingly. "Come on, let's go," she said.

"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked as they exited the Leaky Cauldron and stepped out onto the busy streets of London.

Lily shot James an angry glance and he shook his head. "Arabella is watching him."

"How did you manage to pry Lily away from him long enough to drop him off?"

This earned Sirius a smack upside the head from Lily. "I am not that bad!"

"You can be rather overprotective," Remus said before quickly ducking behind Sirius.

"Let's just say that even after all this time, Lily can't resist the old Potter charm," James said, grinning. Lily smacked his shoulder.

"Tiger in the sack, eh, Prongs?" Sirius laughed.

Lily stared at him in disbelief. "Next subject, please…"

It was nearly dawn when James carried Lily into bed.

"Harry," Lily mumbled.

"I'm going to get him now… or at least try to… provided that Arabella is still awake," James said, even though it wasn't necessary. Lily was already passed out cold.

Lily sighed and stared out into the snowy backyard. The tree that James had planted for her was now covered in icicles that reflected tiny rainbows onto the clean white snow. Harry was playing happily with his new baby broomstick. Ever since he could sit on his own, James insisted that he have one. Hovering on the broom seemed second nature to Harry, but it still worried Lily. She always insisted that he have some sort of padding underneath him in case he should fall off, and although she was somewhat distracted today, she still managed to catch Harry sliding onto the broom in time to summon the mat to follow him around.

After finishing her morning coffee, Lily turned back to Harry and lifted him up. He cried for a minute, but stopped when she started talking. "Happy Valentine's Day, Harry." Lily forced a smile and set Harry down in his highchair. "You'll be my Valentine, right Harry?" she asked before muttering "Lord only knows when your father might grace us with his presence again," under her breath.

"Da-da-da-ma!" Harry said proudly. He held a toy wand in his little fist and began hitting it against the table.

Lily couldn't help but smile. "Want a Valentine's Day chocolate? Sweets?" she asked. Harry continued to babble and bang the wand happily, so she took that as a yes. "Here you go, baby," she said, setting a small piece in front of him.

Something outside suddenly caught Lily's eye. Leaving Harry at the table, Lily cautiously walked over to the window and peered outside. "What in the world…" It looked like a pair of yellow eyes was staring right back at her from behind the bushes. The eyes then disappeared just as abruptly as they had appeared. And then, from behind those very bushes, a dejected James walked out.

"It's nice to know that you don't want to even face me," Lily said as James walked in through the backdoor. "Checking to see if the coast is clear now before you'll even come inside? Isn't that just wonderful…"

"Lil-"

"Don't even. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to talk to you. I honestly think that if I talk to you, I will hit you, and I do not want to do that in front of Harry. So please," Lily said, "just go upstairs, take your shower, go to bed, go to your lab, I don't care. Just leave me alone."

"But-"

"Don't. I'm taking Harry to see Gran today anyhow. She wasn't expecting us, but she won't mind. It's not as though I had anything else to do today. The house is yours. Do what you want, have anyone you might want over. No need to go elsewhere." Lily was now carrying Harry and bundling him up to face the cold. "In fact, I'll even send an owl ahead to let you know when we're coming home… give you some fair warning. Have a wonderful time," she said icily. She then grabbed everything she would need for Harry and left, slamming the door behind her.

"Happy damn Valentine's Day," James muttered to himself.

"Gran, I just don't understand," Lily was saying through her tears. "He has hardly been home at all for the past 3 weeks, and then, when he does come home, it's always near dawn. I can't even tell you how many times I've caught him trying to sneak into bed without waking me. What if – what if he's seeing someone else?" Lily choked on the words as she said them.

"Darling, do you really think that he would do such a thing?" Victoria asked, sitting with her arms around Lily trying to comfort her.

"I wouldn't have, but you haven't seen him! We don't talk, and then when he comes home, I can smell some sort of perfume on him!"

"Are you sure?"

"I wish I wasn't," Lily cried.

"Ma-ma-re-da!" Harry said, crawling over to Lily and sitting at her feet expectantly. She wiped her tears and picked him up.

"And what about Harry? How can he do that to our child? After everything else…"

Victoria shook her head sadly. "I am sure that there is an explanation. There has to be. James loves you with every fiber of his being, both of you. He would not wish to jeopardize that."

Lily sighed deeply. "I wish I could believe you…"

"I will agree that things don't look good for James, but really, Lily, I can't imagine him being unfaithful to you."

"I really hope not… I mean, I know that I should trust him, and I always have… something has to be going on though! There is no other way to explain everything…"

"Why don't you go talk to him, you might be surprised."

Lily looked up at Victoria. "I'm scared of what he might say…"

"You have to try. Just remember that I will be here if you need anything," Victoria said. She then hugged Lily goodbye and kissed Harry before they disappeared by floo.

"She suspects something, and I don't know what to do. I don't want to lie," James said to someone in the fireplace and then he heard the door open. "Oh no, I've got to go, she's here," he whispered. "I'll get in touch with you again soon. I promise."

Unfortunately for James, Lily was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and heard what he had just said. She was staring at him wide-eyed with disbelief. She tried to speak, but no words would come out. After a few minutes, Harry began to cry. Lily was holding him very tightly in her arms, clenching her fists without realizing it.

"Lily, put the baby down," James said calmly, never breaking eye contact with her. It was almost as if he was talking to a snake. Still maintaining eye contact, James moved closer to her, inch by inch, not wanting to move to fast almost scared that he would frighten her away. Lily was frozen to the spot. Once he reached Lily though, he reached out and very carefully began to pry the crying Harry from her grasp. He then set Harry down on the floor, allowing him to crawl into the living room and find his toys.

"Sit down? Please?" James asked. Lily silently nodded and did as he said.

"Who is she?" Lily suddenly whispered.

James seemed taken aback by the question, but shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Who is who, baby?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she said flatly. "Who is she?"

James put his hands up to his mouth, looking almost as though he was praying. He lowered them slowly and started to say something but changed his mind. He licked his lips and rubbed his chin (which was begging to be shaved). "What do you want to know?"

"Why?" Lily whispered, silent tears beginning to fall. "Why are you doing this? Don't you love me any more? Don't you love Harry? Does our family mean nothing to you?"

"Lily! Our family means everything to me!"

"Then why are you sleeping with some cheap hussy! Who is she, James? Huh? Who?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I know there's another woman. Just fess up now, spare me the details… no, on second thought, I want to know. I want to know everything, everything that you don't want to tell me. Say it."

"Lily, I…" James took a deep breath. "I can't tell you everything."

Lily bit her lower lip and nodded thoughtfully. She then jumped up and out of her chair, causing it to fall backwards onto the floor. Before she could say anything, she walked over to James with such anger in her eyes that he didn't know what to expect. She slapped him across the face.

"Be sure to give the little bitch her half of that," Lily hissed.

James brought his right hand up to his jaw and tried to reposition it. "What the hell was that for?"

"Excuse me?"

"I don't think that I've done anything to warrant that!"

"Oh, you don't? Well then, tell me. What has the great and powerful James Potter been sneaking around doing behind his wife's back?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, I really want to know!"

"Are you sure?"

"Would you quit stalling!"

"I am not stalling!"

"James Potter, if you don't start talking within the next 30 seconds, I am going to pack up everything, take Harry and walk right out that door, not even bothering to look back twice."

"Arabella," James said simply.

"The babysitter!" Lily looked disgusted.

"Lily, it's nothing like that, I swear it. I swear it on Harry's life. It's not what you think."

"Then what? What is it James?"

"We've been working on something together… even Dumbledore is in on it. He's been supplying us with what we need." Lily looked at him skeptically. "Listen, you can ask him if you don't believe me. You know he wouldn't lie to you. I just can't go into all of it, I swore that I wouldn't. But, I will tell you this much… it's to try and help us, to fight Voldemort…"

"James, I don't know…" Lily sat down again and buried her face in her hands.

"Don't you see? I'm doing this for you! And for Harry… we've got to make sure that he's as safe as possible… Voldemort's attacks are getting closer and closer; it's only a matter of time…"

Lily looked up and nodded again, this time with great understanding. She wiped the tears from her eyes, all the while nodding. James walked over to her and knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her body. "I swear, baby, I swear. I would never do anything to hurt you. You are my life and I only want you to be safe. You believe me, don't you?" He raised her chin with his finger and smiled hopefully.

"I love you so much," she whispered.

"I love you too," James said. He then gave her a gentle kiss before hugging her to him.