Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Twenty Five ll Christmas Angel
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Knocking very mildly, Lily stifled a yawn. She wondered if her parents could even hear her very faint knock. It was still very early, and surely no one could be bothered to wake up at an hour like this.
Contrasted to Lily's mild knocking, James was banging on his front door and yelling.
"MUM! DAD!" he hollered, dropping his bag and using both fists to attack his innocent front door.
"Please, keep it down," Lily said with a small sigh.
James turned to face the redhead a few yards away from him, and looked surprised, as if he had just spotted her there.
"But how else am I supposed to get their atten--" he was cut off when the door suddenly opened and he almost fell forward.
"James!" Cheryl Potter shrieked; she looked tired and had a dressing gown wrapped around her body, "Oh, we've missed you so much--" she kissed him several times on the face, "Oh, this is wonderful! Daddy will be so happy! Oh!" She kissed him on the forehead again.
"Mu--um!" the struggling boy said irritably, trying to fight his mother off. He looked happy, though. Lily was staring at them and smiling, making him turn red.
Cheryl turned to see what her son was looking at and beamed at Lily. She hurried down the driveway, across the pavement and up the quaint pathway to the Evanses' front porch.
"Lily!" she exclaiming, pulling the small redhead into a hug, "It's lovely to see you, my dear."
Lily smiled up at the lady, "It's great to see you too, Mrs. Potter."
James rolled his eyes.
"Your mum can't hear you?" Cheryl asked kindly, "Not a problem! I'll be right back, dear."
She went back into her own house, telling James to put his suitcase and luggage into the house.
However, he ignored his mother and went over to Lily.
"Muggles are queer," James informed her, with a slight nod towards the doorbell, "I mean, what is that?"
Lily couldn't help smiling, "Surely you should know what that is by now! It's a doorbell. You push it and it makes a noise indoors so that the people in the house is alerted of your presence."
"Then why don't you push it?" James wanted to know.
"Because it's broken," Lily responded.
"Oh."
What a fine way to burst the imaginary bubble.
Cheryl appeared out of her house again, wand in hand. She strode over to Lily, scolding James about ignoring his responsibilities and that he better go in the house soon or else he'd catch a chill.
James rolled his eyes again.
Cheryl pointed her wand at the doorknob and said, "Alohomora!"
There was a clicking noise and the door opened slightly. Beaming, Cheryl put her wand away.
"There you go, Lily, I expect we'll see you very soon," she told Lily.
Lily smiled, "Mum'll definitely invite you to Christmas lunch or dinner. Or maybe both."
Cheryl laughed, "Not if I sent out my invitations first! Take care -- goodbye!"
The redhead waved to Cheryl, then to James. She proceeded to drag her suitcase and overnight bag into the foyer of her house, and snapped the front door shut behind her.
Lily smiled at the familiar surroundings. It was good to be back.
She had only taken a step when her mother appeared at the top of the staircase, a bat raised up and a look of fear on her face.
"Mum?" Lily questioned, her eyes widening in shock.
"Lily!" Rose exclaimed, dropping the bat and tearing down the stairs. She grabbed Lily tightly, hugged her and yelled similiar things Cheryl had yelled to James.
"Oh Lily, it's wonderful to see you again! We've missed you so much! Oh, we weren't expecting you until next week, but the earlier the better!"
"Hi, mum," Lily managed to get out.
"We thought you were a burglar," Rose beamed, releasing Lily, "Oh yes, that's reminds me. Will! It's all right. It's just Lily!"
Lily's father appeared at the top of the staircase. He grinned at his daughter.
"Well, hey there," he greeted.
"Daddy!" Lily exclaimed softly, flying up the stairs and hugging her father.
"Lily!" Will imitated her with a chuckle. He groaned as he lifted her up and swung her around in circles, "You've grown!"
Lily giggled as Will put her back down, and together they started down the stairs into the kitchen, where Rose had gone into.
"Where's Pet?" Lily wanted to know, sitting at the kitchen counter. Rose was taking out a saucepan, though Lily had no idea why.
"Quivering under her blanket," Rose said with a small chuckle, "Oh -- that reminds me. Will, can you please go and tell her it's only Lily?"
"It's only me?" Lily repeated as Will left the kitchen, "Only?!"
Rose laughed again, "We thought you were a burglar. First the knocking, then we heard muffled voices -- then I heard the front door open and shut. It was creepy, in all aspects."
Lily paused and tried to imagine the situation from her family's point of view.
"I suppose you're right."
Rose was making hot chocolate, and a few seconds later, Will and Petunia appeared at the kitchen entrance.
"Lily!"
"Pet!"
It was right out of a movie.
The two sisters hugged each other. Petunia, of course, began to chatter away excitedly on all the hot gossip Lily (who didn't understand half of it) had missed out during her absence.
"Now, now, Petunia," Rose said, bringing four steaming mugs of hot chocolate to the counter, "Don't talk Lily to death. Drink your hot chocolates, then it's off to bed!"
"Again?" Petunia scoffed.
"Of course," Will said, smiling, "Never knew you had it in you to wake up early, Pet."
"Da--ad," Petunia whined, nudging her father.
Rose smiled, "We should all have a bit more sleep. Especially you, Lily. You look tired."
Lily nodded slowly as she sipped her hot chocolate.
"You can sort out your clothes later this morning," Rose explained absently, also sipping her hot chocolate, "No need to be up this early -- it's so cold."
"Hey, I think I saw a snowflake!" Petunia cried gleefully, racing up to the window.
Of course, her younger sister was hot on her heels.
---
At ten to nine, Lily woke up to a frosty morning with a bit of sunshine. She got dressed and brushed her hair before heading down to the kitchen.
"Morning!" Petunia greeted her. She was shoveling down her pancakes at a rapid pace.
"Morning, where's the fire?" Lily asked her, sitting down at the table.
Petunia glanced up guiltily, "I'm going to Rinatta's house today. If I had known you were coming back, then I would've..."
Lily waved it off, "Nah, it's fine."
"Are you sure?" it wasn't Petunia asking, but Rose. She set down a plate of pancakes in front of Lily, "Your father and I are going to a Church meeting, and children aren't exactly permitted to come."
"Oh," Lily pondered on that for a little while, "I suppose I'll be home alone, then."
"You can invite one of your friends over," Rose suggested, "I don't like to think of you spending time by yourself during your holidays. Or, you could go to Rinatta's with Pet."
"Oh, Merlin no," Lily said at once, dully pouring maple syrup over her pancakes, "No offence, but I don't like Rinatta that much."
Petunia laughed and Rose smiled briefly.
"Alright then, dear, whatever you want. Daddy's gone out for a quick walk to post a letter, by the way."
"Okay."
About two hours later, Lily was by herself. Her parents and sister had left.
Lily didn't really mind staying home alone. She liked her privacy. She planned to curl up in front of the TV and watch one of her favourite movies. Oh, with a batch of hot, fresh cookies, too, of course!
So she set to work. She spent about an hour in the kitchen making her special Christmas cookies with chocolate chips in them. When they were ready and the bowls, whisk and wooden spoon were washed, Lily tipped the cookies into a glass bowl and walked into her house's cozy and warm living room. She was walking past the fireplacea when the flames suddenly glowed emerald and a dark figure came tumbling out.
Screaming, Lily was knocked off her feet but managed to catch the bowl of cookies with her fingertips. The person who had came flying out of the fireplace uncurled themself off the floor and straightened up.
It was James.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing here, Potter?" Lily demanded of him, agitated. She set the cookies carefully on an end table and glared at him. Why did he always end up knocking her over?
"Well... I decided to drop in," James answered stubbornly, shaking his hair free of ashes.
"From the chimney?" Lily demanded incredulously, "What are you now, Father Christmas?"
James rolled his eyes, "I came here by Floo Powder... You do know what that is, don't you?"
"Of course I do. And of course, it probably would've taken you thirty more seconds to walk out of your house and appear on my front porch," Lily responded somewhat sarcastically as she settled herself into a sofa, "Now, what are you doing here? Where are your parents?"
"They're out, so I'm home alone--" at this, James paused and pretended to sob, " And I was bored, so I decided to come over. Is that alright, your highness?"
Ignoring his stupid remark, Lily asked, "Why would your parents be out when you especially came back from boarding school for Christmas?"
James sighed. Lily was acting like a lawyer and it made him feel annoyed and exasperated. After all, they weren't in a courtroom and there was no case at hand!
"They weren't expecting me home this early. And anyway, they had been planning this picnic for weeks, and were really looking forward to it. Mind you, they did want to cancel it so they could spend time with me, but I didn't want them to."
Awww, how sweet, Lily thought sarcastically.
"So, why didn't you just go with them?" she asked him accusingly.
THIS IS NOT A COURTROOM! James thought exasperatedly.
"Picnic in the snow? No thanks. And anyway, I see you're by yourself at home. Now, where are your parents?" James demanded with a slight smirk. Aha, it's payback time!
"They went to a Church meeting. I would've gone if they had a teenage session, but it's only for adults," Lily said defiantly.
Defeated, James immediately switched to a different subject. He spotted the bowl of cookies that he had smelt ever since he had gotten into Lily's house. The whole place smelt of cookie dough.
"Hey, what are those?" he asked her, gesturing to the bowl of Christmas cookies.
"My special Christmas cookies," Lily said happily, her mood changing at once, "Especially made by me. Want to try one? Free of charge!"
"No thanks, I don't want to get poisoned or anything..." James responded slyly, knowing this would tick her off.
"That was harsh," Lily said, rolling her eyes. She reached over for a cookie and bit into it, "Mmmm!" she said extra loudly for James to hear.
James just looked at her. Then he took a bite of the air -- yes, the air.
"Mmmm!" he said loudly.
Lily just looked at him. Then she took another bite of her cookies.
"Mmmm!"
He took a bite of the air.
"Mmmm!"
CRUNCH of the cookie.
"Mmmm!"
SWISH of the air.
"Mmmm!"
CRUNCH. "Mmmm!"
SWISH. "Mmmm!"
CRUNCH. "MMM--!"
The front door opened and Petunia walked into the living room, shrugging off her denim overcoat and taking off her pink beanie.
Then she turned around and stopped short, staring at James and Lily who were standing up and "MMMM"ing each other.
The two stared back at her.
"Hi?" Petunia said, looking confused.
Lily swallowed her mouthful of cookie.
"Hi!" James said cheerily, waving, "We were just debating on what tastes better. Air versus cookies."
"Yeah, speaking of which, where are they?" Petunia said, sniffing the air.
Lily picked up the bowl, "Here we are! Why are you back so soon?"
"Oooh!" Petunia squealed and bounded towards her, "Rinatta just wanted to show me something and I told her I had better things to do." She took a cookie from the bowl.
CRUNCH.
"Mmmm..." she said slowly, enjoying the taste.
Lily glanced at James and the two cracked up.
Petunia glanced at the two laughing. Really, they pretend to hate each other -- but it was plain obvious that wasn't quite the picture.
---
The snow was still falling on outside. Lily's parents had came back from their meeting and James had gone back home. Will, Lily and Petunia were putting up the Christmas tree, while Rose prepared lunch in the kitchen.
Will did most of the putting-together-the-plastic-tree. His daughters did all the fun stuff -- like decorating the tree.
The two girls giggled and sang Christmas carols as they put on colourful baubles, tinsel, Christmas lights, plastic candy canes, bells, little elves and other bits and pieces.
When it was finished, Will picked up Lily and Petunia stood on a chair so they could put the Christmas Angel on top of the tree together.
"It's finished!" Lily shrieked in delight. She linked arms with Petunia and the two danced around the room, Father Christmas hats upon their heads and tinsel wrapped around their necks.
After the Christmas Tree was finished, they decorated the house; winding tinsel around the staircase railing, hanging it high up in the hallway, hanging Christmas stockings on the mantelpiece, taping cardboard Christmas pictures on walls, stringing candy canes from the lights, and hanging holly almost everywhere. They plopped Father Christmas on stuffed animals and even put one on their mantelpiece clock.
It was perfect.
---
The first week was full of fun for Lily; she baked more Christmas cookies, had lots of fun with her family, played in the snow and spent a limited amount of time with James, as they raced each other through the snow and built snowmen, all under the significant eye of Petunia, of course.
Lily finally found time to sit down in front of the fire, and to send her Christmas gifts. She had a stack of cards and a pile of presents. She took out a pen and wrote the first Christmas card to Paige.
Dear Paige,
Hi! I'm having loads of fun here at home! It's really brilliant to be back. I hope you're enjoying the snow as well! Hope Santa Claus comes to visit, too. He'll be sure to leave a stack of Christmas presents! Hehe.
Happy Christmas, and never forget who you are!
Love, Lily.
xoxo
Lily, contented with it, slipped the card into a pink envelope and stuck a few crazy stickers on the back. Then she wrote "PAIGE" in elaborate writing, and wrapped up the gift she had gotten the brunette. It was a set of Muggle textas, crayons and pencils.
Paige was fascinated with them.
Along with that was a bright pink notepad with lots of cute drawings stencilled on the sides.
When Lily finished Paige's Christmas Treat, she continued writing cards and wrapping up the other presents. Finally, she was finished. There was another pile, but they were of sealed envelopes and wrapped up gifts.
Feeling very pleased with life, she sent the first two gifts (Anna and Paige's) with Helen, her owl. The others would have to wait, as she didnt want to overwork her owl.
So she put the other gifts away, had a late night chat with Petunia, then went into her own bedroom and fell asleep.
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----> A/N: Christmas is a pretty time. =] --MSQ.