Chapter 48
"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!" Sirius's voice rang out throughout the house.
"Falalalalalalalala," sang James.
"'Tis the season to be jolly!"
"Falalalalalalalala."
Ana came down the stairs, watching her parents as if they'd gone crazy. "Falalalala," she murmured, walking around with a blanket in her arms. James laughed at her and walked up the stairs to find a box of Christmas decorations.
"Don't forget to check on Matt while you're up there," called Sirius from where he was decorating the tree. It turned out that the Potter family had millions of Christmas decorations. They had been kind enough to give them about seven boxes filled with several different types of decorations.
"Alright," he called back and made a right into their bedroom. Sirius chuckled slightly at that and continued his decorating. He picked up one ornament that was a ball with a moving picture on it. It was one of James, his parents, and Sirius, all huddled up and smiling.
He smiled at it. He remembered that one. It was when they were in their fourth year, and Sirius had actually been given permission to visit the Potters that break. It was possibly one of his best Christmas's. As such, he hung it up near the front so that he could see it. Ana walked over and bent down to pick up an ornament. She sat down her blanket and picked up an ornament with a penguin on it. Carefully, she placed it on the tree and then clapped her hands together happily.
"Yeah, that was an excellent place to put that, sweetie," Sirius said, bending down to kiss her on the forehead. That made her giggle and she picked up another. Grinning, Sirius took his daughter's example and started hanging up more ornaments.
"Alright, I think we have enough ornaments now," muttered James as he came back down the stairs.
"You think?" asked Sirius as he gestured around to the several boxes surrounding him and Ana. James shrugged and walked back up the stairs after setting down the boxes in his arms. Moments later he reappeared with Matt in his arms. He appeared to still be sleeping. Sirius smiled and cleared a path from the bottom of the stairs to the downstairs baby crib. James set the baby boy in his crib and then began helping with the decorations.
"We should teach Ana Christmas carols," suggested James as he reached up to put a round red ball with sparklies towards the top of the way too tall tree.
"Which one?" asked Sirius, looking for an interesting ornament.
James thought for a moment as he rummaged for anything that wasn't red. "Um, how about…Joy to the World."
Immediately Sirius began to sing, "Joy to the world the Lord has come." James smiled and joined in. "Let Earth receive her king! Let every heart prepare him room…"
falalalalalalalala
"Merry Christmas," greeted James, shaking Sirius awake. Sirius opened his eyes and blinked blearily.
"Merry...oh, Christmas," he responded, yawning. He smiled and slowly sat up in bed. "What time is it?"
James glanced at his watch. "It's seven o'clock."
"WHAT?" exclaimed Sirius, sitting up quickly. "What were you thinking? Getting me up so early? Why?"
"I was thinking that your daughter will be up at any moment, excited and disappointed if you aren't up and ready."
Sure enough, moments later, a head of curly black hair poked into the room. "Daddy, can we open the presents?"
James laughed. "We'll be down in a minute. Don't you want breakfast first though?"
The little girl shook her head and left without anther word. "Kids these days," muttered Sirius. Then his eyes widened in disbelief. "Did I just say what I think I just said?"
James laughed and kissed Sirius's forehead. "We're getting old, aren't we?"
Sirius nodded numbly and pulled himself out of bed. "I don't like that. Soon we'll be all old and wrinkly with nothing left but a few measly grandchildren."
Raising his eyebrows, James shook his head slightly as he got shirts out of their drawer and threw one at Sirius, who caught it. "Aren't you kinda skipping a few years…like, oh I don't know, twenty?"
Sirius laughed. "Yes, but…hey, the future is what we have to look forward to. No one ever prospered by living in the past."
"No one ever prospered by living twenty years ahead of their time, either," responded James, pulling on his shirt.
"Bill Gates did," Sirius muttered. James laughed and walked over to him.
Wrapping his husband in a tight embrace, he whispered in his ear, "Whatever happens will happen. I have a feeling that our lives are only going to get better. However, no matter what happens, we'll always be together, facing it together."
Sirius looked into James's face. "Promise?"
James laughed slightly. "I promise. Now come on, we've got an eager three year old downstairs who probably won't wait much longer."
Sirius chuckled at that and walked down to meet their overactive daughter. She was dancing around the tree singing songs tunelessly. "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh hey!"
Sirius grimaced at the wrong, bad notes but didn't say anything. Instead, he walked back up the stairs to go find Matt. He entered the room, that they had decided to put him in. They figured that there was nothing wrong with him having his own room, so they moved him out so they could have more privacy.
"Come on, buddy," Sirius said, lifting the child out of his bed. He opened his eyes, looking rather disgruntled, but didn't make a noise except for a small whimper. Sirius smiled. "Come on, be happy. It's your first Christmas. Surely that must be exciting."
Once again no response came from the child other than a look that could have passed for a glare. Sirius laughed and carried him back downstairs. James was arguing with Ana about why they couldn't open the presents until everyone was present.
"Look, there he is now. Now we can open the presents," James said, gesturing towards Sirius as he settled himself down with Matt in his lap. "Here, this one is for you," he said, handing a wrapped gift to Ana. "This one's for my beloved husband. This one is for…Ana. This one, for me. Wow, someone actually cares enough about me to get me something? Ah, I'm touched. Anyways, one for Matt. Lucky ducky. Um…another one for my lover. Another one for Ana. And then another one for Ana. Dang it, I think we got too much for Ana. Oh, here's one for me and there's one for me and then there's one for Sirius. Oooh, and one for Matt! And then another one for Matt! I love Christmas."
Sirius laughed. He set Matt in a baby seat and opened the baby's gifts first. He unwrapped a toy truck, a stuffed penguin, and a toy broomstick. When Sirius saw the last gift, he glanced over at James, who was determinedly avoiding his gaze. "A toy broomstick? Did you read the age limit on the package?"
James glanced up and shook his head once. "No, it didn't really occur to me to actually read the age limit."
Sirius shook his head and handed Matt the two toys that he could actually use at his age. Then he turned his attention to his own gifts. He opened the first one and found a new cd. It was 12 stones. "Awesome," muttered Sirius as he turned it over to read the songs. James watched him with a smile on his face. The next gift contained an empty book with a dog on the cover. Sirius raised his eyebrows when he saw that.
"It's for your poems," explained James as he leaned over to assist Ana with one of her gifts. "I figured you'd like to have something nice to write them in."
Sirius smiled and answered, "Yes, I would. Thank you so much James."
"Ah, you have one more to open," urged James, his patience being tested with the gift he was trying to unwrap for Ana. "Who wrapped this?"
Sirius looked up and laughed. "You did." He then returned his attention to his last gift. Opening it, he gasped in pure delight. It was a pair of earrings, only one was a dog and the other was a stag. As he gazed at the earrings, he dimly recalled the time when he had decided to get one of his ears peirced. James had been teasing him about being afraid of needles. The next day, Sirius and Jameshad gone outtoget both of his ears pierced. Once there, Sirius had chickened out though and had only gotten one ear pierced in order to maintainsome of his dignity.
James looked at him and grinned. "I know you only have one pierced ear, but I thought that you could alternate between wearing a dog and a stag." He shrugged. "I liked them."
Sirius smiled and leaned forward to kiss James on the forehead. "Thank you so much. I love them. And I love you."
James laughed. "I noticed I was an afterthought." Sirius laughed and stood up as he heard a knock on the door.
He opened it and was greeted by Remus and Lily, with their arms filled with more gifts. "Come in! Merry Christmas!"
"Thank you," Lily said stepping in, giving Sirius a quick kiss on the cheek. James came over to help them with the gifts.
"Hey, Moony," Sirius said, giving him a brotherly hug. "What's up?"
"Same as usual, except the wife's getting a lot more hormonal."
Sirius laughed. "Hey, watch it. If you want to complain about that, I suggest you go to James. You two relate better with that." Indeed, Lily had gotten a lot bigger around the middle.
The all settled back down and began talking about whatever popped into mind. Around the room was a peaceful atmosphere. There was laughter, cheerful chatter, and utter relaxing among the group. Teasing took place and compliments were frequent. It was amazing how content they were. It was amazing how easily things could fall apart. It was amazing how easily lives could be torn apart like a mere piece of parchment.
A.N. ooh a foreshadowing. Dun dun dun. Lol. Anyways, please review and thank you for reading this. I feel so thankful that you all take time to read this.