Lily Potter sat back in the bathtub and closed her eyes. Five hours. Five hours and her entire family, all of her friends, and everybody she cared about would be at her house for Christmas Eve dinner. She and James had decided that Christmastime was the perfect time to share their good news; good news was so rare those days, it was appreciated in any form.

"Lily?" James called tentatively from their bedroom. "Are you OK in there?" She had been in there for almost an hour.

"Be right out," she called. 'Oh, God,' she thought. 'Here we go.'

Four hours later, she was standing in her kitchen looking around. The food was cooked. Champagne was chilling in a bucket next to the dining room table, which had been set by her best friend Alli. James was outside, trying to figure out the Christmas lights that were supposed to be up before the guests arrived. After all, Lily's muggle family was coming, and Lily wanted a bright and happy atmosphere. (Not to mention that the colored lights were still her favorite part of Christmas.)

"Lily?" It was Alli, coming in from the dining room. "The places are set, and I put shrimp out." She frowned. "Baby, what's wrong?"

The secret was eating Lily alive; it's hard enough to keep a secret from your best friend, but even harder when you're excited and want to share something.

She grinned wickedly. "Als, can you keep a secret for a few hours?" She grabbed Alli's arm and pulled her into the small powder room. Thankfully, Sirius, the only other arrived guest, was outside with James and couldn't hear Alli screaming.

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James Potter was tied up. Literally. Christmas lights had somehow wound around his legs and torso, so that when he stood up, he fell right back down.

Sirius had finally stopped laughing and was becoming a bit concerned. "I dunno, mate. Muggle Christmas lights? I thought muggles were supposed to be simple. This is like... Advanced Arithmancy."

James moaned pitifully. "Lily wanted them."

"Ah yes. Well, as Lily isn't out here, what do you say we use magic to put them up?"

"I don't want to upset her."

Sirius laughed. "You were born upsetting her."

James threw a broken light at him. "Well, I don't want her stressed out about anything. It's really important now that she stay calm."

Sirius snapped his fingers. "Well then I guess I'd better cancel those strippers."

"SIRIUS!"

"What? They're called the Candy Cane girls. You told me you wanted a festive holiday."

James glared at him.

Sirius scratched his chin. "Why, though? Why this big holiday party?"

"We wanted the family together," James said evasively.

"Why? Muggles are coming, your family's coming... Isn't this asking for trouble?"

"We're hoping everybody can get along for the night."

"Why?" Sirius knew James was hiding something.

"We have some news."

"You're moving away."

"No."

"You're ... getting a dog. Ooh, make it a female." He rubbed his hands together.

"No. Pervert."

"What is it, Prongsie old boy? You're not having a baby or anything, are you?"

Silence.

"JAMES!" Sirius jumped on him.

"Sirius, get off of me. I didn't say anything."

"Ah. But your silence says it all!"

James laughed. "Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver."

"Huh?" Sirius had a fleeting vision of a silver duck. "Duck tape?"

"I don't know. Lily's brother has a shirt with that on it."

"... right. Well." Taking out his wand, Sirius quickly put all of the Christmas lights with magic and helped James to his feet. "Let's get inside, this is going to be one interesting dinner."

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"Could you pass the potatoes please?"

"Great stuffing, Lily."

"Lily sit down."

"Is that a muggle?"

"Shh it's Lily's brother!"

"Lily, sit down."

"Can somebody please pass the peas?"

"No, you get it."

"Sirius shut up. Here you go."

"Lily, sit down."

"I want another drink."

"Champagne anyone? I'm going to make a toast."

"LILY, SIT DOWN!"

"JAMES, SHUT UP!"

James sat back and gritted his teeth. Lily's family was at one end of the table, his at the other, and their friends were in between. Nobody knew each other too well, and to top it all off, Lily would not sit down and relax.

"Ok," Alli said, sensing the tension. "Everybody grab a glass, Lily and James are about to make the Christmas toast."

Everybody lifted their Champagne and looked expectantly at Lily. James stood and put his arm around his wife.

"Well, this is nice," he said, smiling. "Family and friends, getting together to share happiness and love."

Sirius stabbed Peter in the butt with a fork. Lily gave him a death glare, and he promptly sat up straight.

"Right," James continued. "Well.. As you're the people we care about the most-"

"Lily!" Lily's brother complained. "There's something floating in my champagne!"

"Oh, let me see," she said, and started to go to him, but James caught her arm and held it firmly, giving her a meaningful look.

"What James is trying to say.." Lily started, but was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"Who is it!" James threw up his hands and downed his glass of champagne in one gulp.

"I'll get it." Remus, polite as usual, had been watching Lily and James patiently. Now he stood to answer the door. He came back a few moments later with a package. "Gift from an Aida Evans?"

"Oh, Aunt Aida," said Lily's other brother. "Goody, let's open it, she always buys great gifts."

Everyone looked eagerly at Remus, who promptly passed the gift to Sirius. The gift was passed down the table until it got to Lily's brothers, who began to tear at the paper.

"You guys?" Lily asked tiredly. James had his hands over his face. Only Alli and Sirius, who knew what was coming, were paying attention.

"Hello?" Lily tried again.

"Guys, shut up!" Alli yelled.

Sirius stood up."Yeah, Lily and James are trying to tell us that they're pregnant!"

Silence fell across the room.

"Uh, thank you, Sirius," Lily said. She put on a smile. "What Sirius is trying to say is," she took James's hand, "we're having a baby!"

...More silence.

"What?" James's mother asked, standing up.

"A.. A baby," Lily repeated, her smile fading a bit.

"I'm going to be a grandmother?"

"In a few months."

Mrs. Potter broke into a grin and practically jumped across the table. "A BABY!"

The room exploded with noise and shouts of congratulations. Everybody stood and hugged each other; James's family was hugging Lily's, who were hugging their friends.. It was like a mass of hugs. In fact, the only people not being hugged were Lily and James, who were still standing slightly apart from everyone else.

"Well," Lily said, smiling. "When you've all finished congratulating each other!"

Everybody laughed and moved to make room for Lily and James.

"And," Lily said with a grin, "this means one of you is helping me with the dishes!"

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After the dishes had been washed and almost everbbody had left, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Alli sat sprawled on two couches that were facing each other.

"I thought you two had decided to wait until after the war for children," Remus said, raising an eyebrow.

"We had." Lily answered because James's face was buried in her hair. "This was unexpected. But we're both happy. Very happy." She was grinning and had her hands on her stomach.

"Animals," Sirius said with a laugh. Remus kicked him.

"Sirius, grow up."

"Never, Moony my friend. For now I'll have somebody on my maturity level to play with and take care of!" He laughed at the horrified look on Lily's face.

"Guys," Alli said suddenly. "It's 12:30. Merry Christmas!" Everybody said Merry Christmas.

"Gifts!" Sirius said, looking under Lily and James's tree to where the five friends plus Peter had put their gifts. "Here's one for Moony, one for me, one for Alli.. Hey, Lily, do you want to give James his gift now?"

James looked up and smiled. "She already has," he said, putting his hands over hers on her stomach.

For that one night, to those five friends, the world was okay. There was no war, no evil, no problems. There was only their small family, to which another member would soon be added. There was only the love that their mentor, Albus Dumbledore, claimed was the answer to everything.

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A/N: Hey readers, happy holidays! I was going to post this around Christmas, but who has time for fanfic around Christmas? Also, a lot of people are celebrating other holidays right now. So Happy Holidays. I've had this story sketched out for probably a year now.. It was supposed to be a chapter in Fate's End. (Which, by the way, I WILL be finishing. Some day. I'm in love with one-shots at the moment, however, and might just finish the story in one-shots. So watch my stories if you're a FE reader).

Anyway, this story really makes me happy, so I hope it brings a smile to your face. Review and bring a smile to mine!

Infinite love,

Ria