December Prompt #13: Evergreen
The moment James opened the door, Sirius bounded into the house with the biggest grin on his face. "Hey, Prongs, I bought you a housewarming-slash-advance-Christmas present," he said excitedly. He bounced over to James's side and gave him a hug before shoving a badly wrapped, tree-shaped present into James's arms.
"Thank you, Pads! I wonder what this is," James said, placing the present on the table near the door. "Can I open it now, or should I wait for Christmas?"
Sirius stared at him pointedly, and James snickered before he said, "Who am I kidding? I can't wait till Christmas! That's too far away. I'll open it now!"
With that, James ripped open the wrapping paper and tossed it over his shoulder at Sirius to play with. Not so surprisingly, he found a young evergreen tree inside; its branches were a bit twisted and crooked, but its leaves were perfectly green and spiky. Despite its imperfections, James loved it.
He beamed and clutched the tree to his chest in a fierce hug. "I'll love this forever and ever, Pads! Thank you!"
Sirius leaned over James's shoulder and said solemnly, "You should totally name it. A tree like this deserves a good name, don't you think?"
"I'm thinking… Lennox?" James suggested, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Oooh, how about Arlo?"
"Please never, ever name a child by yourself. Ask for advice. Your child will hate you for naming them Brogan or Chester."
"Oh, come on! I'm not that bad at naming things. They are classic names. What about Arvin the Quaffle?" James demanded.
"People hate it when you name normal things, James."
"Well, I like naming things. How about I name my tree… Tom?"
"Boring," Sirius said in a sing-song voice. "You might as well just name it Lester or Randall or something equally ridiculous and stuck-up."
"Lester, huh? Yeah, I'll name him Lester," James declared proudly. "He's going to be my baby, and I'll cherish him forever. Ooh, he needs water, doesn't he? I'll go water him right now."
Sirius smirked but didn't say anything. James really should have suspected something, but he was so happy with his new tree that he didn't even notice.
Later that night, James was lying in bed with Lily, snuggling against her and smiling goofily at how warm she was while Lily was running her fingers through his messy hair. After a few moments of lazy cuddling, Lily said, "Um, James…?"
"Yeah, love?"
"Is—Did you—Why is the door opening?"
James's head snapped up from her chest and his eyes widened when he realised she wasn't pulling his leg: the door really was opening on its own—
Wait, no…
There was something twisting the knob—
Was that—
"What the fuck is that?" Lily cried out with disbelief, scrambling for her wand. "James! Is that—"
"That's Lester," James said, squinting at the thin bough wrapped around the knob. As the door swung open, the tree's pot bumped against the doorway before clattering to the floor, rolling into the room.
James leapt out of bed and hurried over to help it up. "Hey, buddy, what are you doing?"
"Why are you talking to it? What's wrong with you?" Lily demanded, pointing her wand at the tree. "Why is there a freaking tree in the room? And why can it move?"
"This is Lester," James introduced, patting the treetop and grinning as the leaves hummed in appreciation. "He's my son."
Lily pinched the bridge of her nose. "James, you know I love you—"
"I love you too."
"—but I can't take you seriously when you say things like that. What do you even mean he's your son?"
"Well, obviously, I didn't give birth to him, but I did adopt him," James explained patiently, still patting Lester's head. "Sirius gave him to me as a housewarming-slash-Christmas present, but he failed to mention Lester can move."
"He obviously wanted to scare you—didn't you see that coming? It's Sirius," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. She cautiously placed her wand back under her pillow and said, "Can you please put your tree away? Trees that can move by themselves terrify me. I dropped Herbology because of that—and I'd like to go back to bed."
James nodded and tried to pick Lester's pot, but to his surprise, Lester hopped towards the bed, the pot clattering loudly every step of the way. James called out, "Hey, hey, what are you doing? Lester, no…"
"Please tell me he doesn't want to—" Lily groaned when Lester stretched his boughs up towards the bedpost and dragged himself halfway up the bed.
James snickered and said, "I think our baby wants to sleep with us tonight. Don't you, Lesty-Westy? You wanna sleep with your daddy?"
"I refuse to be a part of this… this thing," Lily announced. She picked up her pillow and made her way towards the door. "I'll sleep on the sofa tonight."
James was about to tell her to stay there with them, but Lester was already up on the bed, lying on Lily's side, his leaves and branches spread out all around him, the dirt in his pot spilling out just a bit on the blue bedspread.
"He even sleeps like you," Lily said with amusement, shaking her head. "Should I be worried?"
"Lily!" James whined, but Lily only stepped closer to him and gave him a sweet kiss before walking out the door.
"I'm not sharing a bed with your 'son'," she called out over her shoulder. "It's either him or me, and apparently, he wants it to be him."
"Why can't we share?" James pouted, hurrying after her. He didn't want to sleep in a bed without his beloved Lily by his side; it just wasn't done. "The bed's big enough for the tree of us—get it? Tree of us?"
Lily gave him an annoyed look and shook her head. "I'm a moron for not getting that."
James's lower lip jutted out in an exaggerated pout. "Come on, don't be like that. You know you love my puns!"
"No, I love you—not your ridiculous puns. You're looking for Sirius there," Lily stated, fluffing up the pillow and setting it on the couch. "Now, go back to your precious Lester and let me sleep in peace."
"Are you certain you're not mad at me?"
"Yes, I'm not mad at you. I just don't want to sleep with the tree." Lily climbed onto the sofa and Accioed her blanket before curling up underneath, sighing contentedly. "At least I won't wake up to your knee in my ribs."
"It was one time! I wake up to your long hair in my mouth every single morning, but have you ever heard me complaining? No!"
"You're complaining now. Go away, James," Lily said with a soft laugh. "Good night."
"Good night, love." James bent down and kissed her forehead. "I'll give Lester a kiss from you, too."
"Yeah, whatever. As long as he doesn't try on my clothes, I'm fine with him sleeping with you."
James returned to the bedroom and found Lester curled up under the thick comforter he and Lily had been sharing earlier. He sighed and climbed in beside Lester, petting his leaves and kissing the top boughs. "Good night, Lester."
The leaves hummed under his touch before reaching out and caressing his wrist. James's eyes widened for a moment before he smiled and patted the tree again. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
He woke up to find Lester's leaves wrapped loosely around his neck and the bedspread completely soiled with dirt. James croaked out, "Uh, Lester? Please don't strangle me, but… can I get up now?"
The leaves reluctantly retreated and James breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, son."
He slid out of bed and stretched his arms, groaning as his bones shifted and his neck made a satisfying creaking sound. To his amusement, Lester pushed himself up to a seated position and stretched his own branches, curling and uncurling his leaves.
"You're good," James said, nodding with a grin on his face. "I'll just go wash up and then I'll water you. Ooh, we could start decorating you for Christmas today! It will be so fun!"
He strolled away to the bathroom, whistling under his breath as he thought of spending the day with his beloved Lily and his son, Lester.
Life was good!