One-Prongs Open Sleigh
Summary: James and Sirius are determined to give Harry a Christmas that he'll never forget. Even if he is only five months. Even if it might be illegal...
Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me but to J.K. Rowling. Of course, you already knew that.
Author's Note: This is in response to the Moonthly Challenge over at Lazy MWPP Writers yahoogroup. They had a list of requirements, I had to use four. The ones I used are Sirius dressing up as Santa, Santa hat, James being a reindeer (which should be obvious from the title) and Some interaction between James-as-stag and Lily.
Well, it looks like everyone has Author Alerts again. Even if it's not true, I have Support Services, so if you want to know when I have a new story or chapter out, add me to your list.
Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2003
James peaked out the living room window. Snow had started to fall. It was only a smattering of flurries, but it certainly set the mood. James hadn't had snow at Christmas since his last year at Hogwarts. Although it wasn't staying on the ground now, hopefully as the night progressed, it would get cold enough to accumulate.
He glanced at the clock again, which told him it was time to go. As quickly and quietly as he could, he grabbed his cloak and boots.
"Lily, I'm heading out. I'll be back soon."
Lily didn't respond, but that was probably because she was upstairs, changing Harry, and James had made sure to keep his voice only slightly above a whisper.
As soon as he was clear of the wards, he Apparated to the meeting place. Sirius was already there waiting for him.
"You're late," he accused before James even had a chance to blink.
"I couldn't get away from Lily earlier," James said.
"That woman has you tied to the strings of her apron. Be a man, Prongs! Next time, just say 'Lily? I'm going to go meet Padfoot now. And there's nothing you can do to stop me.'"
James sighed. "How do I explain this? Well, if it were anyone but you, Padfoot, I'd start by saying how this is supposed to be a surprise. How you were the one who was so adamant that Lily not know and reminded me a dozen times – today alone – to sneak out and not to give her even an idea that something was up. But that would require logic, and this is you that we're talking about, so never mind."
"Sorry, I lost you around 'logic'. What's this 'logic' thing?"
"Again, never mind." Then, because changing the subject was normally the best way to get Sirius to stop being so annoying, James said, "Did you remember everything?"
"Of course." As was to be expected, Sirius sounded highly affronted that James even considered asking that question. Sirius began to pull out the supplies and added, "I still think it would work better if we flew."
"Of course it would be better if we could fly," James agreed. "But we don't know how. I'm not even sure Lily could pull off a charm that complicated. And we obviously couldn't ask her. Besides, it's illegal. Do you know how much trouble we'd be in with the Ministry?"
Sirius placed a small item that he'd pulled from his sack onto the ground. He and James both stepped back as Sirius took out his wand and enlarged it back to its original size.
It was a sleigh, bright red and lined with tiny silver bells. There was only enough room to fit one person, but neither seemed perturbed by that. Neither were they worried that it was on runners, which normally wouldn't work in the current snow-less state.
It was Father Christmas' sleigh.
"Since when do we care about how much trouble we get into?" Sirius asked, referring to James' previous comment.
"Since we left Hogwarts and have to deal with the Ministry instead of just Dumbledore," James retorted.
"We'll still be performing magic in front of the Muggles," Sirius said. "So really, it doesn't matter either way."
"Except it's easier to explain if we're on the ground than if we're in the air. But it's a moot point because we didn't figure out how to get the sleigh to fly."
Meanwhile, Sirius had been changing into long, bright red robes trimmed with white fur, complete with a matching hat. Then, for a finishing touch, he used his wand to grow a long, white beard.
"There," he said when the beard stopped growing. "How's that?"
"You look just like Father Christmas," James assured him.
"Good," Sirius said, satisfied. "Now it's your turn."
James transformed into a deer and Sirius reached into his pocket, pulling out a red ball to put on Prongs' nose. The deer quickly transformed back into James, who pulled off the bright red nose angrily. "What's this?" he demanded, waving the red thing in Sirius' face.
"It's your nose."
"I'm not wearing a stupid red thing on my nose," James told him.
"You have to. Rudolph has a red nose. You can't go without it." Sirius took the red nose from James and put it back on.
"I'm not Rudolph," James said, tearing it off again.
"Not without your red nose you aren't, no," Sirius agreed.
"I'm not wearing that, Padfoot."
"It's Father Christmas," Sirius corrected him primly.
"It's a bloody annoying git, that's what it is," James corrected him back.
"You shouldn't insult St. Nick," Sirius chided. "Or else you'll get a lump of coal in your stocking."
"One, you're not really St. Nick. Two, whose idea was it to make you a saint of all things?" James asked.
"Reindeer can't talk."
Sirius clearly had had enough of the abuse and was ready to get moving. James stuck his tongue out, but transformed nevertheless – after first stuffing the red abomination into his robes so Sirius couldn't put it back on his nose.
Naturally, Sirius waited until after he had hooked Prongs up to the sleigh – which had a Feather-Weight Charm on it so he wasn't put under any real strain trying to pull it – before pulling a second nose out of his robes. He stuck in on the stag.
Prongs really ought to have known. There was no way for him to change back now that he was harnessed to the sleigh, not without getting caught up and delaying them indefinitely. It was already starting to get dark and if they waited too much longer, it would be pitch black. Prongs would have groaned, had deer been able to do so, but settled instead for glaring at Sirius.
Sirius, of course, ignored him. Instead he grabbed his bag of goodies and leapt into the sleigh. Taking the reigns into his hand, he shouted, "Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen! Dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
Prongs snorted. It was one action to show exasperation that both the deer and the human side of him shared. He also refused to move, except to try to rub his nose off. It was harder than it sounded, but at last he succeeded and the red thing fell to the ground.
Sending Prongs a reproachful look, both because Prongs wouldn't move and because he took off the nose, Sirius cleared his throat and tried again. "Come on Rudolph. Harry and Lily are waiting. You don't want to disappoint them."
Prongs snorted again, but this time in agreement. They started, pulling the sleigh out of the wooded area only a few blocks away from the Potter's cottage. Sirius took out his wand and charmed Prongs' nose red once again, but this time the stag didn't notice.
The air was brisk and even if the snow wasn't staying on the ground, it did stay on Father Christmas' robes. The lampposts lit up as they turned onto Wychwood Avenue where Lily and James lived.
By now they were starting to gather a crowd. At first it had been a group of carollers who decided to forego their normal route and follow Father Christmas instead. A few school children, home for Christmas holidays, saw them and hurried into their winter things so they could join them. Their parents and siblings were forced to come along.
Alternating between jollily chuckling, "Ho ho ho" and waving benevolently at the on looking crowd, Father Christmas was having the time of his life. Even his Rudolph looked like he was having fun, the red nose aside.
When at last they arrived in front of the Potter's cottage, which took longer than they had expected since both felt the need to show off for the growing crowd, the sleigh stopped and the carollers took that as a cue to start singing. They burst into a round of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" causing Prongs to realize just what had happened.
He craned his head to glare at Father Christmas. For a deer, Prongs was really quite expressive. Right then he was saying, "When I'm human again, Father Christmas, I'm going to kill you. You won't be able to run. You won't be able to hide. I won't rest until I get my revenge."
The children, who knew the words better, joined in as Father Christmas vaulted out of the sleigh. "Ho ho ho," he said in his jolliest act, going over to his faithful reindeer and patting him on his head condescendingly. It was hard to whether the grin that threatened to split his face in two was because he'd got one up on his best friend or if he was just really into the Christmas spirit.
Lily Potter was used to chaos. Normally it just meant that her husband's friends were over and ruining the house again. This time, however, the commotion was happening outside. She peaked out the front window and froze when she saw what was causing the disturbance.
Father Christmas, who looked suspiciously like Sirius with white hair, was beckoning to Lily. Rudolph winked at her.
Then, so fast that it seemed like magic, Lily was outside with her five-month old son and a big bundle of blankets in her arms.
"Hullo, Father Christmas," she said, keeping in the spirit of things.
"Hullo Lily," Father Christmas greeted. "Harry."
Harry stared up at the scary man in red and clung to his mother.
"Say hullo, Harry," his mother said.
Harry clutched tighter.
Lily turned to the reindeer. "And who might this be?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips. She reached out to pet him and James nuzzled her hand.
"That would be my favourite deer in all the North Pole," Father Christmas told her. "Rudolph."
"I'm rather partial to him myself," Lily confided.
So, apparently, was Harry who felt safe enough to let go of his mother's coat now that they had moved far enough away from the scary man in red. He grab hold of "Rudolph's" antler. Lucikly, it was much less painful or damaging than his other favourite things to grab: Daddy's hair and Daddy's glasses.
"What are you doing here, Father Christmas?" Lily asked.
"Why, I've come to visit young Harry here on his first Christmas, of course!" Father Christmas explained.
"Would you like to hold him?"
Sirius' very recognizable grin broke through his Father Christmas face. "Yes, of course." As if there were ever any doubt.
Lily tried to hand Harry over. The baby, however, took one look at the scary man in red and immediately burst into tears.
It was also Sirius, not Father Christmas, who looked down at his crying godson, bewildered. Harry had never been frightened of him before. "Harry! Harry, it's all right. It's me. It's Padfoot. Don't cry."
"Oh dear." Harry might not have been able to talk yet, but Lily was not taking any chances. For once she actually remembered to cut the swear words out of her vocabulary. "Maybe you'd better give Harry back to me. We'll have to try again next year."
Meanwhile the crowd was starting to get restless. Watching some strangers interact with a man dressed as Father Christmas wasn't what they were expecting. One daring four-year old slipped out of her father's arms and ran up to them. "Are you really Father Christmas?" she asked, bright-eyed and breathless in anticipation.
Sirius crouched down so that he was face to face to the girl. "Of course I am," he said as gravely as Dumbledore when making a speech at the Opening Feast. "I'm just on a break and decided to drop in to visit my mates. Soon I have to go back to delivering all my presents."
Even more impressed, the girl turned to Lily. "You're friends with Father Christmas?"
"Sometimes. When he's not redefining what one has to do to make it onto his naughty list." The latter went over the girl's head, but Sirius grinned unabashedly. "But he really does need to get back to work. What would happen to all those poor girls and boys if they woke up tomorrow morning and Father Christmas hadn't visited?"
"Lily's right," Father Christmas said. "But first, I have a little something for you. Not your present, but it should tide you over until morning." He reached into the bag and pulled out a chocolate coin for her.
As soon as the other kids saw he was giving out candy, they tried to mob him. Some of the adults joined in. Father Christmas threw liberal handfuls of chocolate into the crowd before hopping back into the sleigh and exclaiming, "I must be off! Happy Christmas and to all a good night! Mush, Rudolph!" He reached into his sack once more and threw something onto the ground.
The area was covered in smoke that left everyone coughing, including Lily and Harry. Lily, however, looked on the bright side – at least there wasn't any smell.
As the smoke began to clear, and people began to wonder what had happened to Father Christmas and his sleigh, Lily stopped thinking positively and started to curse her husband and his friend. In the confusion, she slipped back into her house, hoping to avoid awkward questions from the Muggles.
They were waiting inside for her. "I don't know whether to curse you for that stunt you pulled, or forgive you in the spirit of Christmas."
"You can't curse Father Christmas," Sirius protested. He risked going over to Lily and taking Harry from her. Now that he was dressed as himself, Harry was no longer scared of him.
"You're not Father Christmas anymore," Lily said. "You've changed from the costume."
"I think you should forgive us because we were only doing it for Harry. We couldn't deny our son a proper Christmas, now, could we?" James asked.
"You could have found another way, any other way, to leave. You Disapparated in front of a street full of Muggles!" Lily cried.
"Give us some credit, Lil," James said. "We threw down some smoke bombs first. They didn't see us leave."
"You still disappeared! I don't know what I'm going to say to them."
"Don't say anything," Sirius suggested helpfully.
"I have to say something. They're bound to ask. But what? How on earth can Father Christmas, a sleigh and a reindeer disappear in a few seconds?" She began to pace. "In the Muggle world, I mean. So don't even think about giving me a smart answer, Sirius Black. They don't seem to be knocking now, and tomorrow should be safe, too, so at least I have time to think of an excuse. Of course, if the two of you bothered to pay attention to the law, I would be in this mess in the first place. There are reasons the Ministry puts restrictions on using magic around Muggles, you know. Good reasons."
"Lily?" James said. She continued pacing and muttering. "Lily!" he said again, a little louder. She looked at him. "Happy Christmas."
That stopped her. She was being silly. They would think of something; they always did. James and Sirius had spent seven years thinking of plausible and implausible excuses at Hogwarts – they had grown quite good at it. Laughing gently, Lily answered, "Happy Christmas, James."
"If anyone asks, just tell them it's a secret. We wouldn't want to ruin the magic, would we? So don't worry." He took her into his arms and they kissed.
The moment was quickly ruined by Sirius, who wrinkled his nose. "I think someone needs his nappy changed," he sing-songed, thrusting the baby back into his parents' arms.
"Gee, thanks, Padfoot," James said sarcastically, taking Harry. "It's just what I always wanted. What a great Christmas present!"
The End
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Enjoyed it? (If you didn't, I'm a bit surprised you reached the end.) Like Christmas stories? Try Christmas Tidings (Pre-OotP: It's Christmas Eve in their seventh year, and while James, Remus and Peter are off finishing their shopping, Sirius and Lily have to find ways to keep themselves amused. Meanwhile, Lily tries to discover what James has gotten her for Christmas) also by me. The link's under my author profile. Or else the upcoming Mistletoe (It would be sweet, fluffy and overwhelmingly mushy to say that mistletoe is what finally caused Lily and James to get together. It also wouldn't be true. Well, not entirely) also by me. Or at least it will be when I finish it. Expect it within the week.