Chapter 5: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
Disclaimer: HP and all associated characters belong to JK Rowling, WB etc. All characters recognisable from my stories belong to me, as do Roche, LJ Potter, J Weasley and others.
Chaos reigned in the first year girl's dormitory on the last day of the winter term, as two of them were leaving later that morning to spend Christmas with their families and had of course failed to pack the night before despite suggestions that it would be a good idea.
How much longer are going you going to be Lils? James asked her telepathically.
Only a few more minutes, James. Lily assured him, snapping the last of her bag's buckles in place. "Are you nearly done Sparky? James getting impatient."
"How…?" Lena started to ask, but then answered her own question. "Of course, your mind-link." She hoisted her own bag onto her shoulder and grinned. "I'm good."
"Then let's go." said Lily leading the way out to the dormitory, "Bye Shiva, Penny." she called back over her shoulder to her other two roommates, opening the door as she did so.
The other two girls replied just as the door closed behind Lena.
----
Ten minutes later the two girls were down at the Entrance Hall with the rest of the students who were returning home for Christmas. Hermione, Ron, Sirius and Remus were there too, as they would be accompanying the Weasleys, Lily and Lena to the Sanctuary.
"What took you so long?" Robin asked in a whisper.
"We didn't finish packing last night, so we had to do it this morning." answered Lily, "Besides, what's the problem? You haven't started going down to the carriages yet."
"The teachers were wondering where you'd got to." replied James stiffly.
Further conversation was prevented by Howlett opening the doors from the outside, "The carriages are ready Professor." he told Sirius, "If you all want to file out and down the steps." He eyed the students as they streamed past, checking for any that hadn't sign on to leave. The Weasley's, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Lena and Robin hung back until the last of the other students had gone. "That's everyone then?" Howlett asked Remus, who had been checking off the students as they left.
"Just our party to go." he confirmed.
Howlett nodded and shouldered a small pack that had been tucked just inside the door. "Let's go then."
The eight students and three teachers, plus Ron and Howlett walked down the stone steps and got into the last three horse-less carriages. "Let's go!" shouted Howlett before hopping into the final carriage with the professors and Ron. The carriages moved off and a few minutes later, they arrived at Hogsmeade Station. The Hogwarts Express was already waiting for them. The twins, James, Lily, Lena, and Robin all piled into one compartment, with Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Remus and Howlett taking another. Anne went off to sit with a couple of the Quidditch team near the middle of the train, and Barty joined the other prefects in the front carriage.
The journey to London was long, but uneventful and Lily was glad to the lights of the city as they pulled into Platform 9¾. The first years went through as a group, followed by Hermione, Anne, Barty and the twins, the others emerged a minute or two later. Anne and Barty immediately broke off to go with Worthington, Molly and Penelope who were waiting to take them to Chancery House.
As soon as she cleared the barrier, Lily spotted the three people she was looking for: a tall, muscular man with dark, untidy hair, a wiry, red-haired woman about a head taller with long, red hair and a nine-year old boy with the same unruly mop as his father.
Lily took off at a run, pushing the trolley in front of her, Lena started to follow but James stopped her. "Give her a minute, okay?" Lena nodded, understanding.
When she reached them, Lily was just able to stop her headlong dash before her mother enveloped her in her arms. It was only after Harry tapped Ginny on her shoulder and mimed chocking that Ginny released her. "I've missed you so much Lily."
"I missed you too Mum," confessed Lily, after giving her mum a quick hug of her own she went over to her father, ruffling Virgil's hair as she passed. Virgil's impassive mask slipped into a scowl for second, though it would be anyone's guess why, his hair hadn't changed. "Happy Christmas Dad." she said, opening her arms for another hug.
"Happy Christmas Lily." said Harry, hugging her close for a moment.
By the time they separated, the others had joined them. Hermione, as she often did after not seeing Harry for a while, vigorously embraced him, Harry returned the hug, faking a shocked expression over her shoulder. Sirius and Remus both grinned. "I've missed you Harry." she told him, her voice muffled as it was burying in his thick Muggle overcoat.
"I missed you too sis." said Harry, giving her a brotherly kiss on the cheek as they separated. "Shall we make a move? Philippe's here with the van, he can take the others when they come through the barrier."
Sirius nodded and the group followed Harry out to the car park. The Potters, Sirius and Remus piled into Harry's sports car, and the Weasleys, Lena and Howlett got into a maroon Rolls parked behind it at his urging. They discovered why as soon as they got in, a short, lean, longhaired German, Karl Wander, nicknamed 'The Elf' by colleagues at the Order, sat in the driving seat.
"Y' know were yer going Elf?" asked Howlett.
"Yah, mein freund." confirmed Wander, "The Sanctuary."
"Then get goin' already."
"Ve are gone."
----
An hour later, the two cars drew up outside the huge gleaming gold gates of the Sanctuary. Harry hoped out and unlocked the wards, then reinstated them as soon as both cars were through. They drove up the sweeping driveway and rolled to a stop outside the huge twenty-foot high oak doors. "What's the password?" asked Ron, realising that Philippe had probably changed it since the last time they were there.
"Ingredi Amicii," replied Harry, promptly. And sure enough the great doors opened of their own accord to allow the group to enter.
"We certainly will Harry." Hermione told him and led the way inside.
"We certainly will what?" Ron asked her, curiously.
Hermione rolled her eyes, earning a snigger from the twins, "'Ingredi', Ron. It's Latin for 'enter'. Honestly!"
"Oh, right." said Ron, "How was I to know that? I don't speak Latin."
James noticed Howlett sneaking off down the back corridor to the caretaker's quarters and glanced back at his cousin and their best friend. "Shall we slip past them and go upstairs?" he asked in a whisper, "I'd like to get unpacked before the rest of the kids get back."
Both girls nodded and followed him as he slipped past the crowd of grown-ups and the twins – who were gleefully watching their mother and father, scenting the beginning of another of the famous 'Ron-Hermione Big Fights', which their opinion, were very amusing to watch – and headed up the wide main stair. They paused for a moment when they met Dobby, who was now Chief House-Elf at the Sanctuary. "Dobby, could you round up a couple of house-elves and get the luggage from the cars?" asked James, "You know where everything goes."
"Right away James Wheezey sir." confirmed Dobby, "Dobby will do this right way sir. Goodbye!" Then he disappeared with a pop.
"I like Dobby." confessed Lena, "He has a much better sense of self-respect than most house-elves and I like that. Even with the House-Elf Liberation Act of 1999, far too many still act like they're slaves to their masters."
James nodded, "Did my mum ever tell you about S.P.E.W.?"
"Spew?" Lena shook her head, "What's that?" she asked, pausing again as they reached the fourth floor. Lily opened the spelled door and the three of them walked into the staff bedrooms corridor.
They walked down it for a short distance until they reached the fourth door from the end, Lily whispered the unlocking spell, and opened the door, then the three of them filed into Lily's bedroom, which she shared with Lena during the other girl's frequent visits. The two girls dropped down onto their beds and James took one of the desk chairs. "It's not, spew, it's S, P, E, W, — an acronym Sparky."
"What's an acronym?"
"It's a series of letters that stand for something else, usually a long set of words."
"Oh, I get it. So what does s, p, e, w, stand for?"
"The Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare." Lily told her, "It was a pet project of Aunt Hermione's during her fourth year at Hogwarts. The idea was to persuade people that house-elves should be treated fairly by wizards."
James nodded, "Dumbledore implemented some of her proposals in H.E.L.A. 1999. But some of them, representation on the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Beasts and exemption from clause 3 of the Code of Wand Use…" he shrugged, "Even Mum admits they are not going to happen, the centaurs and Merpeople don't have anyone in the Department, well there are a few part-mermen around, and they both choose Beast status. As for clause 3…"
"Which one's that?"
"No non-human creature is permitted a wand." James told her, "Well, exceptions have been made in the past for wizard part-humans, usually part-goblins or part-mermen, but they needed a wand to do most magic. House-elves don't, so there isn't much point really."
Lena nodded and they lapsed into a companionable silence that lasted until Haney, one of the house-elves arrived with Lena and Lily's luggage. "Lobby has taken your things to your room sir." she told James, and bowed before Disapparating with a pop.
James got up with a groan and crossed to the door, "I had better go and unpack, I'll see you at dinner." The girls nodded and he left, closing the door behind him.
"I guess we should unpack too." suggested Lily and went over to her bag. Lena nodded, and so the next hour was spent unpacking their clothes, putting some in a pile in their bathroom for laundering and others in the wardrobe and two matching oak chests. Then they changed out of their sweaty clothes and dressed in clean clothes; a bottle-green t-shirt and black jeans for Lily and a canary-yellow top and red shorts for Lena, they headed downstairs to dinner.
----
The next three days passed in a blur. Neville, Megan and Howlett escorted Lily, Virgil, Lena, the three youngest Weasleys and the younger Sanctuary kids (with the exception of Rose, who declined) on a shopping trip to Diagon Alley on Christmas Eve. When then returned to the Sanctuary several hours later, laden down with presents, the whole house was ablaze with festive glory. A huge, twenty-foot tall Christmas tree stood in the Entrance Hall under the banner and garlands of tinsel, holly and fir branches decorated the walls. When they walked through into the largest sitting room, they were greeted with an even more awesome sight – A massive Christmas tree, over thirty feet high, it's pointed crown just brushing the ceiling stood in the middle of one wall between the two marble fireplaces. Three house-elves were scurrying around the room, putting up tinsel and other Christmas decorations, under Sirius' watchful eye. Harry and Ginny were clustered around the tree itself, putting on the last minute touches: gold and silver balls, tinsel, and as they watched Ginny opened a small cage and out flew several dozen fairies, glowing brightly in the dim light, which he quickly got to attach themselves to the tree.
Harry stepped back to admire their handiwork, "Pretty good if I do say so myself." He declared, "But something's missing…"
Lily smiled, Harry played this game every year. "I know what's missing Daddy!" she told him.
"Lily!" he exclaimed, turning around. "You're back!"
"Yes I am Daddy." she told him, dropping her parcels and running over to him for a hug.
"What's missing then, petal?" Harry asked her, looking down at her with a smile.
"The star Daddy. It's not a proper Christmas tree without the star." Lily told him with a smile.
Harry nodded, "You're quite right. And as you were the one who told me. Would you like to do the honours?" The question was traditional, as was the answer. "Certainly Daddy," said Lily. Pulling her wand out of one of the inside pockets of her robes, she pointed it at the very top of the tree. "Splendidus Astrus!" A stream of light burst from her wand and hit the top of the tree. A ball of light formed there which gradually dimmed to a shining gold star. "Nicely done petal." Harry told her, "It's even better than Marie's two years ago."
The silver-haired elfin Ravenclaw, who had noticed them coming in and had followed them through to the sitting room, nodded her agreement, "I agree 'arry. Lily, you 'ave done a beautiful job, eet ees magnifique."
"Really?" Lily asked the older girl. Marie nodded. "Really."
They stood admiring the finished decorations for almost an hour, then Vichy came in to announce that dinner was ready. Ginny came over to Harry's side and the three of them led the way out of the sitting room, with Lena, Virgil, Howlett and Sirius right behind them, followed by Neville, Megan and their nine-year old son Fred, with the rest of the kids behind them.
In the dining room, the seating is arranged as three long tables, one along each of the other three walls. The Potters, the Longbottoms, Sirius, Howlett and Lena sat down at the shortest of the three tables, the one which faced the door and had chairs along only one side, where Remus and Philippe were already seated. The other children found spaces at the other two tables, which had room for them all in the chairs on either side of the long board.
With a wave of Harry's hand, food and drink materialised magically on the three tables, in much the same way as it did in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. "Everyone tuck in!" he told them, and sat back down in his high-backed throne-like chair. After devoting his attention to his meal for a few minutes, he paused and turned to look at Neville, who was three chairs away to his right. "What was Diagon Alley like today?"
Neville swallowed a mouthful of potato and pie before answering. "Packed of course. It always is Christmas Eve. But I think the kids got all the shopping done that they needed."
Lily nodded a confirmation, as did several of the other kids.
The talk at the staff table continued for over an hour, as Harry and the others continued to catch up with the news and gossip from Hogwarts and shared their own tales with Sirius, Remus and the children, most of the others had left and only a couple of the greedier orphans were still there. Then a loud siren interrupted them. "That ees the Floo Alert!" declared Philippe, reaching into his robes for the Monitor Globe, he hurriedly pressed several lighted buttons, "Confirmed. We have incoming, twenty seconds to arrival."
"Departure point?" queried Harry, rising to his feet.
Philippe sighed. "We are safe. Departure point ees the Granger Residence, and I am detecting all five talismans."
"Good." Harry let out the breath he had been holding. "Cancel the alert and drop the scrambler wards."
"Wards disengaged." Philippe told him. "Seven seconds."
"Neville, Megan. Why don't you take Fred and make sure none of the kids were panicked by the alarm?" Neville nodded and rose from the table, Megan and Fred followed him. "Ginny, Virgil, girls, shall we go and meet Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron and the boys?" The four Potters and Lena rose as one and headed towards the door, Sirius, Remus and Philippe following behind. "You coming Howlett?" asked Remus, noticing that his friend was still sitting at the table, nursing a large mug of beer.
"Nah, tell them I hope they had a good time at Hermione's parents and I'll talk t' them later."
Remus nodded and continued back out of the dining room.
----
The next morning, Lily woke up much earlier than she would normally, and as such it took her a while to get the room into focus around her. When she noticed it was barely past dawn, she glanced over at the clock on her beside her bed. The single clock hand pointed to 'It's Christmas sleepyhead!'. Lily grunted, "I knew there was some reason why I woke up this early."
She slipped on a terry-cloth dressing gown over her nightdress and padded over to the other four-poster bed on the other side of her room. She reached over and shook her friend's shoulder gently, "Wake up Sparky. Let's go down and get our presents."
Lena turned over, mumbling quietly to herself, for a moment before sitting up and peered through narrowed eyes at her friend, "What time is it?"
Lily considered this for a moment, then padded back over to her bed and picked up her watch from her beside table. "Six-thirty." she confessed.
"Good enough." said Lena, sliding out from under her covers and grabbing her own dressing gown. "I wonder who else is downstairs."
"Probably Paul and Marie, they don't sleep much." decided Lily, after a thought, "'Gill, Fred, Edward, Sarah… maybe the twins… Sirius, Remus and Dad, maybe Mum… possibly Aunt Hermione, but not Uncle Ron."
"Yeah. Orion and Philippe probably spent all night trying to beat each other at drinking games. We might see them by about ten."
"Only if Sirius knocks up one of his Sobriety Solutions." Lily pointed out. James, 'Gill… are you up?
Yes sis, we're up. confirmed Virgil, We're sitting downstairs, torturing ourselves looking at the Christmas presents. Most of the usual suspects are here too.
We'll be down in five. she assured her brother, slipping her feet into her slippers.
Lena was already over at the door and opened it at Lily's nod. The two girls moved quietly down the corridor, then down the great stairs to the ground floor and into the sitting room where the others were waiting.
At Ginny's insistence, they waited as usual for all the kids to arrive before opening the presents, though neither Philippe nor Orion had put in an appearance by that point. Lily pointed out that it didn't really matter because neither man was big on giving or receiving presents.
Her presents turned out to be quite satisfactory: Her parents had bought her a new travelling basket for Donatello, her part-Kneazle cat; Sirius and Remus bought her a broomstick serving kit; her god-parents a book called Medicinal Plants of the Pacific Rim; Ron and Hermione bought her book of common charms and counter-curses; and then there was the traditional sweater and mince pies from her grandmother, magic tricks from the elder Weasley twins and their girlfriends and sweets from James, Lena, Virgil and Robin.
----
That evening at six-thirty, the Potters and Weasleys, with Remus, Sirius, Lena and Howlett accompanying them wearing their best robes, dress robes or suit as was their fancy, drove over to Chancery House, where they enjoyed a fantastic five-course feast with entertainment provided by Fred and George Weasley, who several years before had started a very successful line of indoor stunt fireworks as a rival to Filibuster's. In the end it was nearly midnight by the time they finished so Molly insisted that they stay the night at the Sanctuary and return home the next morning.
Four days later, Lily and others returned to Hogwarts with Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Remus and Howlett, and lessons re-started the next day.
A/N: The chapter title is from the Christmas song sung by, among others, Bing Crosby.