Chapter 16- Christmas
James and Lily like normal were the first ones to wake up. Even before Harry was born, they were still early risers. They were quite opposite in school Lily loved to wake up late whereas James was always an early riser. Once they started dating though James had been able to get Lily into more of a morning person. Of course, Lily needed some extra encouragement from James to become more of a morning person. It wasn't hard for James to convince her to become a morning person. The only time before they started dating that Lily woke up early was Christmas day. So, on this morning James and Lily were up extra early. James and Lily got up and started to make breakfast for everyone since they were up extra early, they were able to make breakfast in Christmas themed shapes.
Slowly the kids started to come down the stairs for breakfast. Even though they were still teenagers it was still Christmas day so they also woke up a bit earlier than they would on a normal day. It took about four hours after James and Lily got up for breakfast to be finished until everyone was gathered around the Christmas tree ready to open presents. As a Potter household tradition presents were opened from youngest to oldest. So, Ginny being the youngest she got to go first.
Harry got his typical sweater from Mrs. Weasley. Ron had gotten Harry some sweets, Harry had gotten Ron and Ginny quidditch supplies. Since he invested in Fred and George's joke shop, they gave Harry some prototypes from the shop. From James and Lily Harry had gotten a record player from them along with some vinyl's to go along with it.
James and Lily got a pair of reindeer antlers from Harry as he thought it was a perfect present considering their Patronus'. James had gotten Lily got Lily the latest Disney movies that had come out since 1981 while Lily got James the latest model of broom that had come out.
Once all the presents that had been opened James had one more surprise for the rest of the kids. It was even a surprise for Harry because even though they had shown him all of the house they still hadn't seen the outside of the house.
"Hey guys we still have one more surprise for you." James said.
James led the way outside. They didn't need to put on coats as the backyard of their house was magically charmed to make it feel warmer than it actually was outside. That didn't mean that if they wanted snow, they could just lift the charm and if it was snowing, they would get snow. When they got outside, and the kids saw what was out there they all gasped.
"Dad we have a quidditch field in the back." Harry said in awe.
"Yes, we do." James responded. "We also have a broom shed the brooms aren't as good as your firebolt Harry, but they should be sufficient enough for a game of quidditch.
"Well, what are we doing on the ground let's play." Harry said.
"Alright, you good to play Remus?" James asked.
"I guess so." Remus responded with very little gusto.
"Sorry since Lily can't play, we need an eighth to play." James said.
"Mom plays quidditch?" Harry asked surprised.
"Yeah, not competitively but, she was a great keeper when we played 2 on 2 quidditch." James answered.
The game was set as the teams were Harry as seeker and chaser, Sirius as chaser, Fred as beater, and Ron as keeper. The other team consisted of Ginny as seeker and chaser, James as chaser, George as beater, and Remus as keeper.
The game was fast and competitive as the teams were pretty even and the score was tied 20-20 even though there were only two chasers Ron was getting great practice as keeper going against James. Remus was playing decent enough as the keeper but since Harry and Sirius weren't really chasers that helped even the field a bit. About an hour into the game the score was 100-60 for James's team as Sirius and Harry not being chasers started to show. But Harry being the seeker that he was he was able to catch the snitch and win the game for his team.
For Harry, Fred, and George it was nice to be back on the broom after getting banned by Umbridge. After everyone had cleaned up from quidditch the kids and Mrs. Weasley went to St. Mungo's to go visit Mr. Weasley. So, it was just James and Lily in the house to prepare for dinner as Sirius and Remus had other things to attend to as Remus had Order business and Sirius had things to discuss with Dumbledore. Lily had already put the turkey in the oven, so it was mostly side dishes that they needed to make.
James and Lily were busy making dinner when Harry came back through the floo.
"Hey Harry, what are you doing back so early?" Lily asked thinking that they would be a bit longer.
"While since the Weasley's are with their family I thought it might be nice if we got to spend some time together as a family this Christmas." Harry responded.
Lily almost sobbed when she heard Harry's response. Even though they had been back for almost a half year this is where it really felt like the Potter family was whole once again.
"So do you need me to do anything?" Harry asked.
"We could use your help making dinner." James answered. Harry just smiled in return and helped his parents make dinner.
Harry had a great time making dinner with his parents ever since they were back, he hadn't gotten to have a lot of alone time with them. Normally when he was with his parents there were other people around and when he did talk to them alone it was through the mirror never in person really. He learned a lot of new things about his parents in this time. He never knew how much of an intellect his father was. He knew that he was great at transfiguration, but he never knew he was good at every subject. Of course, James' grades got even better when James and Lily started dating. He also learned that Lily actually struggled a lot with transfiguration but, when James and Lily started to become friends, James helped her a lot with it. He also got to hear how they fell in love in more detail, and he felt like it was something that wasn't out of a fairy tale. He liked that because it might that love wasn't something that just happened.
James and Lily loved telling the story of how they got together they told it together so well. James would tell it in the most dramatic way possible and sometimes in some pretty unbelievable ways but, whenever it got too unrealistic Lily was there to reign him in and tell it closer to how it really happened. But now it was time for James and Lily to interrogate Harry on his love life.
"So, Harry how's school been recently?" Lily asked.
"It's going pretty good Snape has finally laid off me he's no longer cold sour, and toxic towards me he's now only cold and sour towards me." Harry answered.
"That's great that Snape is finally laying off of you." James said as he shared a knowing look with Lily that Snape had finally laid off of Harry.
"So, anything else noteworthy to tell us about?" Lily asked
Harry knew what his parents were trying to find out about. "I guess there's that girl that I talked about." Harry responded.
"Yes, and how's it going with her?" James asked.
"Well, I think that she might like me I'm going to ask her out when we get back to school." Harry responded.
"Good for you Harry." Lily said.
That answered all the questions that James and Lily set out to find out about. The rest of the time was them just talking and singing along to the songs that were being played on the radio.
It was about three hours after Harry had come back from St. Mungo's that the Weasleys had come back from the hospital Hermione was going to be coming soon they had sent Sirius and Remus to bring her to Potter Manor for dinner. When Hermione arrived at Potter Manor, she was given the tour by Harry. By the time that Harry had finished giving the tour to Hermione dinner was ready and the table was set for dinner. It was a grand Christmas feast everyone had a great time talking and eating and having a grand old time. Once dinner was finished, they moved int the TV room something that Lily had brought with her when she got married to James. This was a new tradition for Lily and James as they had just started it when they got married. They watched It's a Wonderful Life every year on Christmas Day after Christmas dinner. They both loved the movie as it brought them to tears every time, they watched it.
By the end of the movie everyone had at least tears in their eyes as the movie moved them even Ron had tears in his eyes which spoke volumes. For most of them it was the first time that they watched the movie so a lot of them were crying. Even James and Lily who had watched the movie multiple times were crying. Alas when the movie finished everyone was ready for bed and they all went to bed with good feelings that came with the end of the movie.
For Harry this was the best Christmas that he had ever had not only did he get to spend it with his two best friends, and he also discovered his new favourite movie but, most importantly he got to spend it with his parents which is something that he always wanted to happen. Not only that but he got to spend quality time with them as well. Harry fell asleep almost not believing the past six months. He wouldn't trade the past six months for anything in the entire world and he would do anything to keep it this way.
