Chapter 8: Christmas Day

Author: Laurahonest

Post Date: 3/7/07

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter franchise. J.K. Rowling is just nice enough to let others play with her genius.

Author's Notes: As usual thank Bluejello for editing this, without her you would have to put up with my terrible grammar. Sorry that this took so long. I have a 4 month-old son and he occupies most of my time. I am going to finish this story, it just might take a while.

Life fell back into a normal routine after the attack on the Potter's and their guests. Christmas Eve was almost over and everyone was on their way to bed. James was caught off guard when Charles stopped him from leaving the room with his friends. He did as he was asked and stayed behind to talk to the older man.

"James," Charles started, "Rose and I have talked quite a bit since we got here. We have reached a decision regarding your letter. We like you, you're a nice guy. We are giving you permission to pursue a relationship with our daughter."

James just stared with his mouth hanging open.

"If you can make her fall in love with you," Charles continued, "This means truly in love, with no potions or spells involved." James started to object but Charles held up his hand and James fell silent. "Then maybe one day you'll even be my son-in-law. I know how enamored you are, but give her some time just to be your girlfriend before you ask her to be more. She likes to take things one step at a time."

James found his tongue, "Even after Voldemort? Even though my family is a major target of his?"

"Yes," affirmed Charles, "even and especially considering all of that. Voldemort is after Lily too, simply because her mother and I are not magical. It really isn't that different than it would be without you involved. Besides, you two work well together during attacks and we think you will make her happy."

"Thank you, sir," James said sincerely.

James started out of the room but Charles voice made him stop. "A word of advice James."

James turned around, "Please, sir, any advice would be appreciated," he said, with a look of hope on his face.

"Her name may be Lily, but they are not her favorite flowers."

"Ok," James registered what he had been told, "No lilies for Lily. What is her favorite flower, sir?"

"Pink carnations," Charles said. "Pink, not red."

With that James ran off to his room, calling a thank you over his shoulder. Charles just smiled and hoped that Lily would see the love in James eyes and respond to it.

James paced his room half the night trying to think of the best way to approach Lily. He thought of one, then tossed it aside. He needed something spectacular because nothing average was good enough for Lily. Finally, inspiration struck and James spent the next hour setting it up. He fell into bed at about three in the morning, and into an exhausted sleep.

Lily woke up early the next morning. She got up, stretched, and started to get dressed. When she was ready for the day she walked over to the window and opened the curtains before walking back to the bed and sitting down to watch the sun rise. A little while before the sun came up fully she heard someone tapping on the door. Lily softly called out, "Come in," and continued watching the sun rise before her. James came in and sat beside her on the bed to watch the rest of the sunrise in silence. When the sun was up completely and the colors had faded Lily turned to James and smiled. "Good morning," she said as she stretched.

"Good morning, Lily. Merry Christmas!" James said as he handed her a bouquet of pink carnations.

"Merry Christmas, James," Lily replied as she took the flowers. "Oh, they are lovely."

"I'm sorry, Lily. I sometimes come in here to watch the sun rise when I'm on break. I heard you moving around and I knew you were up. I hope you don't mind," James rambled.

"Shh," Lily said, "It's all right. I don't mind. I enjoy having someone watch the sun rise with me. It was gorgeous this morning." Lily moved over to the dresser and conjured a vase full of water for her carnations.

"They always are on Christmas," James said, "but today was especially pretty. The light made your eyes shine." With that James blushed. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like my compliments but you looked so pretty that it just slipped out."

"Don't worry," soothed Lily, "I can tell when you are being sincere. Let's go see who else is up." Lily pulled James up off of the bed. They walked out of the room hand-in-hand and down to the dining room. When they got there James dropped her hand to open the door for her. The only people inside were the adults. They were the first of the teens to make it downstairs. James pulled out a chair for Lily and they sat down to have coffee and pastries with the parents while they waited for everyone else to make their way down.

Gradually the others trickled in. Marlene came first, followed by Frank and Alice. Remus came next, very hungry. Finally, Broderick and Peter came in and left only Sirius still in bed. Gerald stood up and motioned for James to do the same. James obliged and Gerald conjured two big buckets of water. They each took one off the table and walked out of the room. They came back about ten minutes later with Sirius in tow. All three of them were soaking wet and dripping. "What happened to you?" asked Selene.

"Well, sneaky little git that he is, Sirius was awake when we came in and waiting for us with his own bucket of water," James explained

"They looked like they needed showers," Sirius said sweetly. He settled in at the table and started to eat. Lily flicked her wand and all three of them were instantly dry.

When Sirius was finally done eating, they all moved into the family room to open gifts. Everyone settled in and got comfortable as Wheezy the house elf started passing out the gifts. When all of the gifts were at the appropriate person's feet Wheezy left the room. Gerald grinned and said, "Dig in kids," and the wrapping paper started to fly. From all over the room came little squeals of excitement. The phrases 'thank you' and 'I love it' were heard often and from every corner.

James almost jumped through the roof when he opened the present that Lily had given him. "Lily!" he yelled as he jumped up and ran through the room. "I love it. How did you know I was looking for one of these?"

"Good guess," she said with a smile. "This one is extra special though."

"Did you get the Deluxe Edition Broom Safe-keeping Carry Bag?" Sirius asked as he ran over to them.

"Did you, Lily?" asked James.

"Nope," she laughed, "the Deluxe Edition only has two more charms than the regular. This one has ten extra charms. Things like an anti-prank charm, a theft resist charm and a hover charm so it can't be thrown down chance the broom breaking."

"Lily, did you charm it yourself?" James asked quietly.

"Yes," replied Lily.

James crushed her in a hug. "Lily, you are amazing, you know that?"

"No, you'll have to tell me again," she said with a wink.

"Here, open mine," he urged as he picked up the smallest box from the pile at her feet. Lily took the package and slowly started to open it.

"Lily, just rip it. The paper isn't worth saving," Sirius said impatiently.

"Shh! Don't rush me, Sirius," Lily said, as she started to unwrap the box more slowly. James, still sitting beside her, started to get antsy and sighed loudly. Lily just laughed and unwrapped it even slower. When she finally got all of the paper off she had a small wooden jewelry box sitting in her hand. She pulled the lid off and found her gift. Lily gasped and reached to pull it out of the box. It was a small pendant on a white gold chain. The pendant was an emerald, a ruby, and a sapphire set around an opal in white gold. It sparkled and flashed every time she moved it.

"It is charmed to sparkle when you move," James volunteered softly.

"It's gorgeous," she breathed, "James, it's so pretty, where did you find it?"

"There's a jewelry shop in London that carries charmed jewelry," was all she could get him to say.

Lily smiled as he helped her put it on. "Thank you, James," she said with a smile.

After all of the presents were unwrapped, the elves picked up the paper. Everyone took their presents to their rooms and met back in the dining room for lunch.

His side hurt, his breathing was heavy. He snuck a look around a tree and something soft and wet hit him in the face. He heard the laughter that made his heart melt. He bent over and grabbed a handful of snow. Without even thinking about it he stood up and threw it at the girl whose laugh made him so happy. It hit her in the knee. She laughed again.

Lily stood up and brushed the snow off her knee and shook her finger at her attacker. James grinned at her sheepishly and shrugged. While she had him distracted Marlene hit him in the back of the head with another snowball. Now it was her turn to shrug as she bent over for more ammunition. Lily ducked back into her hiding place as James threw more snowballs her way. Lily tried to keep James occupied so that Marlene could sneak up behind Sirius without him being warned. Lily barely had to try. James was so enthralled by her that it was quite easy to keep his attention on her.

Marlene stealthily moved through the trees, circling behind Sirius. When she got close, she grabbed a double handful of snow and jumped at him. His attention was on Alice and Frank. He didn't notice the girl behind him until he felt snow being shoved down the back of his collar. Sirius jumped up and down and danced around in a circle, trying to get it out. Alice had her camera out in a flash and the whole thing was recorded. The girls weren't quite sure what it would be used for yet. They were fairly certain that it would involve the Great Hall in some way.

Marlene didn't quite duck in time as Broderick and Peter came to help Sirius. She got two snowballs right in the stomach as she tried to run. Alice put the camera away and started pelting them with more snowballs. Lily and James ran to join the fray. In all of the confusion no one noticed that Remus wasn't throwing snowballs. The snowballs were flying fast and furious when Remus rejoined the fight. At first no one noticed that more snowballs were flying than before. Soon everyone was ducking for cover and looking to see who was throwing all of the snowballs.

All around Remus was a circle of little snowmen. Half of the snowmen were throwing snowballs and half were preparing more ammunition. They had really good aim. Everyone was getting hit, the Marauders were their targets just as often as the others.

"Traitor!" yelled Sirius, "Moony, you old dog you! Why is your army throwing at us?"

"They are throwing at you to try to plug your loud mouth, Padfoot," came Remus' laughing reply.

James tried to get a snowball through to hit Remus, but one of the snowmen jumped up and took the missile for its maker. Sirius and Peter hit the same snowman and he fell apart. Remus gulped as he saw his soldier go down. All of the others cheered and started throwing snowballs at the little white men. They were elusive and hard to hit. After about a half hour of this only one more had been defeated.

James realized their mistake. "Aim for Remus!" he yelled. Everybody changed tactics and aimed for Remus. The little men jumped to protect him and they finally started to fall. When the last one was down, Remus knew he was in trouble. He tried to duck most of the snow, but when eight people are pelting you with snowballs they are going to hit you a lot. Remus finally surrendered. Each person threw one last snowball at him. They all suddenly realized that it was very cold and they wanted hot cocoa.

Everyone trooped inside to warm up. They were met at the door by Selene. She made them take off their wet snow things in the entrance way. When no one was dripping anymore, she let them go to the kitchen for cocoa and gingerbread cookies. Once they were warmed up, they moved to the living room. The adults decided to go take a nap. Sirius suggested chess. They played a marathon: boys versus girls. It ended in a draw when the adults came back down. Sirius' stomach let out a loud growl right before Wheezy came in to announce dinner.

They all sat down to eat. While they were eating they discussed the day. Remus' enchanted snowmen came up. Gerald was thrilled that Remus had managed to keep the others at bay for so long before they had figured out how to defeat his spell.

When Sirius and James were finally full everyone went back to the living room. They started to sing Christmas carols, muggle and wizard alike. None of the wizards had heard "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer." It was fun trying to teach them the new song. The clock started to chime midnight before anyone realized how late it was. They decided to call it a night and everyone went off to bed.

Author's Note: I am sure that you will love the next chapter. Be sure to review. It might inspire me to write more during my son's naps.