Chapter 3: It's a Beautiful Sight

Dumbledore was scouring through his closet for a good outfit to wear for "Santa Claus". While he was throwing aside some fluffy sweaters, he stumbled across a potato.

Hmm… What was a potato doing in his closet?

He tossed it aside, making a note to eat it later. Potatoes were good. Healthy and tasty!

Then he found it. A large red and purple cape, and thick sparkle red pants. He had a cute green top hat to wear on top.

Ah, this gift exchange was going to be fun.

Arthur had bought a scarlet scarf for Lily for the gift exchange. Everything was set, and hopefully she wouldn't figure out it was him. He had refrained from buying anything Muggle so he wouldn't give it away.

He cleared his throat. "Er, Professor Dumbledore?"

"I go by Santadore now!" Dumbledore… Santadore exclaimed genially. "Until the day of the gift exchange, everyone will address me as Santadore!"

"Oh," muttered Arthur. "Right. Erm, can I give you my gift for my person for the gift exchange?"

"Certainly, certainly," said Santadore, rubbing his chin. "Give it to me."

"It's for Lily," Arthur confessed, handing over the neatly wrapped package. "It's a scarf."

"Ah," Santadore said, taking the package. "What color?"

"Red? Like, Gryffindor red. Hopefully she'll like it."

"Ah, I definitely would," Santadore assured him, putting the package away inside his robes. "Everyone is going to have such a swell time at the gift exchange! Would you like to cheat?"

"To… To cheat?"

"To cheat, yes," Santadore said. "Would you like to know what someone else has given someone else? I will not tell you who's getting your gift, of course. But I can tell you who someone else has."

"You… You will?"

"Yes, of course! All I need is some payment. A gift of my own. Everyone is getting gifts for each other, because they are part of the gift exchange, but alas! I haven't gotten any myself. I am tempted to cry at times, but I remember that I must be strong!"

"Er, don't cry, Professor," Arthur said, bewildered. "I can get you something. Erm, but I don't want to cheat. Molly will kill me if she finds out. Especially since I'm her husband and I'm supposed to set a good example…"

"You are too kind," Santadore said happily. "Okay, then. I will not cheat, but I will give you a gift of my own! Anyone who gives me a gift will get one back from me!"

"That's nice of you," Arthur mumbled. "Er, thanks, then."

And he walked away quickly before Dumbledore could say another word.

James had chosen.

For Tonks, he was getting a jar of marshmallows, gummy bears, and 'Dare Squares', assorted candy squares with different flavors on them. Some were dark chocolate, and others were pickled blueberries.

He took a big jar and laid out the bottom with Dare Squares, then put the gummy bears, then marshmallows on the top. He added confetti sprinkles for the heck of it.

"Heya, James," greeted a voice.

James whipped around, hiding the jar behind his back. "Lily! I didn't know you'd be here. Did you see what I was doing?"

"Nah. But I didn't know you would be here. Since when do you come to the kitchen? And the cupboard is open." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you making something? Who knew you were a cook?"

"I'm not a cook. I'm assembling something. For Secret Santa."

Lily laughed. "I know, I know. I'm just messing with you. Anyway, I'm here to…"

"Make the chocolates?"

"Yeah. And Molly decided to make this thing a potluck-"

"A potluck?"

"Yep," she repeated, smirking. "Everyone has to bring some food. Tonks took dessert. Remus took the appetizer."

"Can we buy something?"

"No, we can't. We took the main course."

"We did?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "We can make some sort of pasta."

"Oh, okay."

"I'm thinking, like, ziti. Or lasagna. Or maybe…"

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get the message. I'll leave."

Lily smirked. "You know, you could help out in the kitchen every once in a while."

"Oh yeah?"

Lily walked forward to where he was and lightly smacked him on the shoulder. "I'm always the one making. Maybe I should sign you up for a cooking contest."

"You wouldn't dare!"

Her eyes glinted. "Try me."

Emmeline knew Arthur would like Muggle stuff, so she was looking through the aisles of a Muggle store, browsing for Muggle gifts. She didn't know what was and wasn't appropriate to get… like, would some of these things called a cutting mat be nice for a gift?

"Um, excuse me?" she asked a man next to her. He had brown hair swept to the side, startling blue eyes, and a dazzling smile on his face. He was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. He looked like a model.

"Yes?" he asked, looking over at her.

"Er, I'm trying to buy a gift for one of my friends, except… er… I don't really know what he would like," Emmeline confessed. "Can you, maybe, help me?" She didn't know why she was so flustered. He was just a dude.

Jeez.

"Yeah, of course," he replied, flashing her a grin. "What kind of person is he? What kind of things does he like?"

"Well…" He liked Muggle stuff. But how was she supposed to say that? "He's really enthusiastic. Bright. Tries out new things."

"Hm… Is he into cooking?"

"Cooking?" Emmeline frowned. "Uh… not really. But he does like new appliances and everything."

"Is he married?"

"Yes."

"Ah, there we go. New appliances, has a wife. Does the wife cook a lot?"

"Oh, yeah. And she can sometimes complain about how Arthur never helps out."

He smirked. "Okay, finally. We're getting somewhere. Would he appreciate an InstaPot?"

"Um, what's that?" Emmeline wondered.

"You don't know about InstaPots! Dude, it's the coolest creation of the century!"

Emmeline nodded thoughtfully. "What does it do?"

"It's kind of like an electronic, much quicker version of a pressure cooker. It has a mix of them and slow cookers. You can do everything in an Instant Pot."

"Oh! Um, interesting. What's a… What's a pressure cooker?"

He gaped at her. "Are you a cook?"

"Nope."

"Just takeout, then? McDonalds? Subway?"

Emmeline had no clue what he was talking about, so she just nodded. "Yep. McDonalds. Nothing beats a good, healthy McDonalds."

He laughed. "You realize McDonalds is anything but healthy, right?"

She opened her mouth, then nodded, grinning. "Right. I was just messing with ya. Anyway, I don't think he'd appreciate an Instant Pot."

"Oh. Then… get him one of these!" The man held out a silver box.

"Is that a…"

"Toaster, yep. He would love it, I'm sure. He sounds just the guy. Super efficient. Does he have a toaster?"

"Nope."

"Okay. Then, he would enjoy this. It would lessen the fuss his wife makes, anyway."

Emmeline smiled at it, and then she smiled at him. "Okay. I'll buy this. Thanks."

He smiled, a little warily, as though she'd gone mental. "Yep. See you."

Tonks walked into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

To her great dismay, she was wearing a dress.

Molly had insisted on a dinner party, with the kids invited as well as the entire Order. Not so interestingly, Snape had declined, and a few others had expressed their inability to come. But everyone part of the gift exchange (except Bill, who was working late that night) was coming, as were Harry, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley children.

"Hi," said James, who had just walked in behind her. "Don't you look nice."

"Thank you," she said, grimacing. "I don't like dresses."

"You don't look all that bad in them, though," James noted. "Not as bad as you make it out to be."

"Well, wearing a dress means I need to act formally and professionally. And it's kind of hard to do that when I'm tripping over everything all the time."

"Oh, come on," James said. "You're not that bad. You only trip over things every once in a while."

"I even knocked down a shelf at the Muggle supermarket," she added, a frown glazing her features. "The old woman got mad at me."

"Don't worry about it, Tonks," James said kindly. "You're not as clumsy as you make yourself out to be. And it's just us here. We're all your friends. Well, family, too, because of Sirius. And not to mention your boyfriend, because of Remus. And, well, I don't know if Dung is your friend, but…"

"I get the point." She was smiling now.

"Good," he said approvingly. "Now, stop fretting. You do know Remus is a sucker for red dresses."

"Stop, you're making me blush," she said, but she smiled and ruffled his hair. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said, walking with her to the sitting room where many people were located.

"Where's Lily?" she asked. "I thought she was coming with you."

"No, she came early to help Molly set up all the food for the potluck. Lily signed up for the main course which meant we had to bring in so much food. It's not fair."

"But hey, at least she makes good food," Tonks responded. "Would be a real pity if she didn't."

James snorted. "That for sure. I'm going to go find her. Why don't you go find Remus? I'll see you at dinner."

"Yeah, sure," Tonks said. "See you."

James waved and ran off to the kitchen to find his wife. Tonks scanned the room for any sight of Remus, but couldn't find him. She decided to follow James to the kitchen.

Surprisingly, Remus was in the kitchen too, helping Lily set things up. Molly was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, hi Tonks," James said. "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Just thought I'd follow you. Where's Molly?"

"She had a lot of stuff to bring, so she went back to the Burrow to pick up the second batch," explained Lily. "Nice dress, by the way."

"Thanks," Tonks said, turning to Remus. "Hello."

"Hello," he said simply. "You look beautiful."

"See?" James interrupted, before Tonks could get a chance to thank him. "I told you he liked red dresses. And besides, he'll never give up a chance to compliment you."

"I know," Tonks said, blushing crimson.

"Well, did you bring dessert, Tonks?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I dropped it off earlier this morning," she answered. "I brought cannolis and macarons."

"You brought what and what?" asked Remus blankly.

"Cannolis and macarons," Tonks repeated. "You know, the desserts?"

"I know macarons, but what are cannolis?" he asked.

"You don't know, Remus?" Lily asked, surprised.

"Well, of course you'd know, you're always making desserts," Remus replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well, cannolis are these thingies with shells made of fried dough, with filling inside, and topped with all sorts of stuff," Tonks answered.

"Oh. Well, sounds good," Remus said. "Did you make or buy?"

"Buy, definitely," Tonks answered. "I can cook, but not that well."

"I'm sure you can," Remus said comfortingly, squeezing her hand. "You're so good at cooking."

"No I'm not," she muttered, blushing. "I'm only average. Like, I'm nothing compared to Molly, or Lily, or even you."

"Well, yes, Remus is surprisingly good," James offered.

"What do you mean surprisingly?" Remus asked.

"Guys," Lily chided, laughing. "Come on, help me set up here."

Lily had made a large tray of lasagna, which looked very appetizing, with rich red tomato sauce draped over the cheesy layers of pasta. She was setting it onto the counter and unwrapping it carefully. Tonks then turned to the other side of the kitchen, where Molly had dropped off the first batch of her cooking.

Put simply, Molly had made a ton of food. From sandwiches to soups to what looked like focaccia, and breads and rolls and wraps and so many things so scrumptious, Tonks felt like she was drooling.

"See something you like?" Remus asked teasingly, approaching her from behind.

"How in the name of Merlin does one person make so much food?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Remus laughed. "That's Molly Weasley power."

"Being here is making me hungry," she whispered, laughing. "So much good stuff."

"So much good stuff," Remus confirmed, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Moony, stop flirting with your girlfriend and help lay out some of these things!" James called, coming over to take two bowls of Molly's salad from the counter.

"Couldn't resist," Remus said casually. "Since when have you started being obedient, anyway?"

"Since he married me," Lily said. "Pass the sandwich plates, will you?"

Tonks handed over two large plates of sandwiches while Remus passed over the third one.

"Back to work, I guess," Tonks sighed, smiling.

"For five minutes, and then you get to eat!" Lily called.

"That's rather tempting," Remus said, his eyes twinkling. "Let's help out."

"Okay." She grabbed a bowl of soup, kissed him sloppily on the nose, and then headed over to the other side of the kitchen to lay out the bowls.

Remus was watching with a smile on his face.

Everyone was seated around the table.

George sat next to Fred on one side and Mundungus on the other.

"I got the stuff," Mundungus whispered, stirring his soup.

"Really?" Fred whispered back. "How much is it for?"

"Four Galleons."

George and Fred exchanged a look. "Mate," whispered Fred. "That's… a lot. Especially for the loot."

"If you think it's too much, then you don't get it," Mundungus said in a low voice with a shrug.

"Never mind," whispered George quickly. "We'll buy it."

"Good, good."

"Fred!" came out Molly's yell. "George! Eat!"

George rolled his eyes and took a forkful of Fettucini Alfredo Pasta. "Mm, this is good," he said. "Who's the one who brought this?"

"I got it," Sirius answered, grinning.

"You made it?!"

"Nah, I took it from some store."

"Sirius!" exclaimed Tonks, laughing. "Did you pay for it?"

"I left a couple Galleons on the table…"

The table burst into laughter (if tables can laugh, that is), except for Molly, who was scowling. "So you stole," she said, shaking her head. She'd had a not-so-soft spot for Sirius ever since, well, the whole Azkaban breakout incident. It had taken her some time to adjust to the whole he's-not-a-mass-murderer phase.

"Yeah, well… not thievery, technically…"

He exchanged a grin with Remus and James.

Molly fumed. Nonetheless, she yelled, "DIG IN!"

A/N: Review if you liked it!