It was Christmas morning.
James woke early, an excited feeling churning in his stomach. Eagerly getting out of bed he called out, "Kreacher!"
The house elf immediately appeared and bowed deeply.
"What can Kreacher do for the young master on this fine Christmas morning?"
"Kreacher," James grinned, "wake the house."
Kreacher bowed even lower, the tip of his nose resting on the ground, then, letting out an unearthly screech, left the room and began wandering the halls, still making an awful noise. It wasn't long before James heard his name being angrily called.
The adults very grouchily climbed out of bed, while the cousins much more enthusiastically rushed downstairs where the tree was surrounded by a pile of presents.
First they all had to empty out their stockings, which were filled to the brim with French candy, courtesy of Fleur and Bill. Dominique, the twins, James, Lily, and Rose all started in immediately, while the rest of the children elected to save it until later.
Next, were the famous Weasley sweaters. There was a slight mix-up where Louis' and Lily's sweaters were confused, but it all got sorted fairly quickly. Grandma Weasley looked on in delight as the entire family quickly pulled on their sweaters. Where she got the time to knit so many, James didn't know.
Then came the regular presents. There were broomsticks, Quidditch kits, books, jumpers, chess sets, and plenty more. James' favorite present happened to be a promise from his father that he would be getting a new broom at the beginning of the next school year for Quidditch tryouts.
Besides that, his parents had gotten him and his siblings tickets to a professional Quidditch match. Box seats, of course. A special perk since his mother was a league player for the Holyhead Harpies.
By the time all the presents had been opened, James was completely exhausted and sunk backwards onto the sofa, sucking on a peppermint stick. He felt very warm and happy in his Weasley sweater, and agreed when Hugo pronounced this the best Christmas ever. Although Hugo said that every year.
An unexpected present came later in the day when not one but two owls landed with letters for James. The first being from Jerry, and the second from Alice. James opened Jerry's first.
James,
Happy Christmas! I'm writing this before Christmas, so I don't know what I've got yet, but if it's anything good I'll bring it back to Hogwarts with me so we can use it there.
The muggle world is so boring. I can't wait to get back to school. Not to study. Just to hang around. And to see you, of course. Please write back. The kids here are so boring. Most of them go to the local school and are learning things like math. Yuck.
Anyways, how's your break going? What'd you get for Christmas? And have you heard from Alice? She hasn't written me yet, but she said she would, so I bet I'll hear from her soon.
See you back at Hogwarts!
-Jerry
It took James quite a while to read Jerry's letter. His handwriting really was awful. Thankfully, Alice's was much nicer, and her letter was a welcome relief from the strain James' eyes had been under.
Dear James,
Hogwarts is weird without you all here. I'm used to it being empty, but I guess it just feels different now that I'm a student here.
How's your holiday been? I haven't heard from you or Jerry yet so I'm assuming you've both been quite busy. But please do write back. I'm starting to get bored helping my dad in the greenhouses. Don't tell him I said that.
Next year, one of us will have to visit the other. Our dads are friends, aren't they? I'm sure we could arrange it. Maybe Jerry could even come. We'll figure it out.
Write back soon!
-Alice
James spent the better part of an hour writing his friends back, making sure to mention that he had indeed had a good Christmas. He was extra careful to include that he'd be getting a new broom for tryouts next year. They'd be excited about that.
The rest of the day was spent in Potter/Weasley fashion: Playing Quidditch and eating food. It was all anyone ever did around James' house. Except for a few people who were content to sit and read, a hobby James had never understood.
By the time he was sent up to bed, James was so sleepy he could barely walk in a straight line. He didn't even protest when his mother came up to tuck him in, a habit he'd been trying to get her to break.
"Did you have a nice Christmas?" she asked, perched on the edge of his bed.
James merely nodded, unable to talk as he was in the middle of letting out a massive yawn.
"Oh, good," Ginny began absent-mindedly stroking James' hair. "You know, we've been so worried about you lately. It's been good to have you back for a bit."
"Why're you worried?" James asked, genuinely confused.
"Just all this trouble you're getting in at school," Ginny said. "You managed to make Professor Slughorn angry at you, which I wasn't actually aware you were capable of doing."
"That was nothing," James shrugged. "I just lost my temper."
"That famous temper of yours," Ginny sighed. "We have a very emotional family, don't we?"
"I guess," James had never really thought about it.
Ginny twisted so that she was fully facing James, "I know you're tired, so I'll be quick, but I do need to talk to you."
"Sure, mum."
"James, please try to stay out of trouble as much as possible when you go back to school. I know you won't follow all the rules, and I'm sure you wouldn't have much fun if you did, but we do get worried about you when we get owls from Slughorn about you continually fighting with other students."
James suddenly felt very alert, "It's not my fault, mum! It's-."
"James," Ginny interrupted. "Will you promise to try to be good?"
Sinking back onto his pillow, James let out a long sigh, "I promise."
Ginny kissed her son lightly on the forehead, "Thank you. Night, James. I love you."
"Love you too."
Leaving her son's room, Ginny lightly shut the door behind her, engulfing James in complete darkness. He lay there for a while thinking over what she had said.
James wanted to be good. It was just that other people made it so hard. But he didn't want to worry his parents, and so he resolved to increase his effort by at least half. Rolling over and finally succumbing to sleep, he felt quite satisfied he'd arrived at a reasonable solution.
The Potter household was quiet. In the morning, it would be a different story. There would be a flurry of activity as aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents alike all prepared to go back to their respective homes for the new year.
Dirty dishes would be left in the sink, trash and debris in small piles, and Kreacher, much to his delight, would be working like a dog. The daily routine would be interrupted, with everyday activities thrown to the wayside. In fact, none of the adults even went to work.
Perhaps it was because they didn't go to work, or maybe because The Daily Prophet got tossed aside in all the commotion, but the entire household spent the day in ignorance of the rapidly developing situation which was quickly overtaking the wizarding world.
Prince Legal had been burglarized.
