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Year Three, Christmas
At the moment, Lily was placed in front of the Christmas tree in her pajamas, waiting for the rest of her family to make their way downstairs to open gifts. She had a mug of hot tea warming up her hands, and she was staring at the glittering lights of the Christmas tree. It was six-thirty, and she was hungry, but a rule of Christmas set down by her father was that breakfast was not to be consumed until all of the family was present. Christmas was all about the family, and not much could be done alone at Christmastime.
Birthdays and Christmas were extravagant events in the Potter household. Lily's favorite holiday was Christmas, it always had been. The reason was not the presents she received, though those were definitely a plus. The reason was because she got to spend the entire day with her family in red and green.
Her parents took off work for Christmas, no matter what. Despite her father's erratic work schedule as an Auror, he always found a way to come home for December 24th and 25th and spend time with his family. For all of Lily's thirteen years on Earth, the element of life most emphasized by her father was the importance of family. He had never known his own family, save an aunt, uncle, and cousin. He occasionally wrote to said aunt, but other than his mother's family, Lily's father had no one else to speak of from his past. He considered Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, and their family to be his own family. His parents and godfather had been killed by the evil Lord Voldemort, who her father, in turn destroyed. Because of this, Christmas was a very large event in the Potter household.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Lily's mother spent every spare moment covering the house with decorations: garlands encircling the doorways, lights adorning the banisters, tinsel hanging from the chandeliers, mistletoe swinging from the ceiling. In the ballroom, a ten-foot tree was erected and festooned with candles, fairy lights, and icicles. On December 22nd, the baking began. Lily and her mother concocted coconut cakes, peach pies, mince pies, chocolate cakes iced with pink roses, apple dumplings, various pastries, Christmas pudding, treacle tarts, cookies galore, and rice pudding. Delicious smells filled the spacious house for days, and Lily spent those days either covered in flour and sugar, her hair in a ponytail, or in her bedroom wrapping gifts in bright wrapping and silky ribbon.
While all the family spent time together, they also were bathed in secrets. A rule of Christmas was that all gifts were surprises. Therefore, every present was treated with secrecy, and each was hidden until wrapping time.
On Christmas Eve, it was customary for the Potters to have a dinner with only the immediate family, finishing it off with the Christmas pudding. After dessert, the family migrated into the ballroom and, with mugs of hot chocolate and a glowing tree; they would each open one gift. Another rule of Christmas was that this gift could not be a large one; usually it was a box from Grandma Weasley containing a sweater or a scarf. Bedtime usually came soon after that, though it took Lily a long time to sleep out of excitement. Even though she was now thirteen, the excitement of Christmas still had not worn off. The last thought Lily always had before she drifted off to dreamland was that Christmas evening would bring the rest of the family, as well as friends, for a large dinner party that she could not wait for.
Lily was surprised that Albus was not present in the ballroom yet. He was usually the first person downstairs waiting for the present unwrapping. Both of her brothers were later than they usually were, and Lily was growing impatient.
This was a special Christmas to Lily's family, because this was the last Christmas they would all spend together before James moved out. Lily didn't like to think about the end of the year, when James would be graduating and leaving her with Albus, all alone in the house. James had been there for her for the past thirteen years, and the house wouldn't be the same without him. Even though he was nearly eighteen-years-old, he still found time to hang out with his little sister. He was never embarrassed of her, and she was grateful for that.
Albus entered the ballroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He was wearing only pajama pants, and he shuffled across the cold marble floor towards her, his dark hair flopping into his eyes. He had taken to not wearing a shirt around the house lately, to show off the muscles he had been developing as a part of his new Quidditch training program.
"Aren't you cold?" Lily chided. She didn't really approve of his new fashion trend. She preferred to see her brothers fully clothed, thank you.
Albus pretended not to hear her question; he merely scuffled over to the sofa that sat in front of the Christmas tree and sat down next to his sister. "James is on his way down," he mumbled. "Did you make me some tea?"
"The kettle's on the stove," she told him.
Grumbling, he got up and made his way to the kitchen, leaving Lily alone once again. She hoped that the rest of her family came downstairs soon. Her tea was nearly gone; she should have asked Albus to fill her cup, not that he would have. He had become progressively nastier to her over the years. Lily blamed it on Slytherin house. Of course, he always pulled his tricks on her when their parents weren't looking, so they never caught him in the act. The only person that chastised him was James. Lily didn't know what she was going to do once James moved out. Perhaps she would have to move into his new flat with him. He had already decided that he wanted to live in the States and work for the cause of international magical cooperation. Lily hoped that he would as near to her as possible, so he could visit often, but she knew that he had big dreams to fulfill. She just had to make the most of the time she had left with him.
James entered the ballroom from the foyer just as Albus reentered from the kitchen. "Hey Lil," James greeted sleepily, ruffling her hair as he took a seat next to her.
"That's my seat," Albus grunted, standing over James with his cup of tea.
Lily wondered how it was possible that Albus could irritate her so early in the morning. There was an easy chair on either side of the sofa, but he had to be obnoxious, even on Christmas Day.
"Where're Mum and Dad?" Lily asked James, ignoring Albus as he had ignored her earlier.
"Mum was in the loo, and she said Dad's on his way down," James replied. 'They'd better hurry, I'm hungry."
Albus was sorting the gifts into piles for each person. Their parents never purchased more than two gifts for each child: they didn't believe in spoiling children too much. Once, years ago, James complained about not getting enough presents, and their father launched on a lengthy rant about his cousin and how he always got too many presents for his own good and how it made him a spoiled and fat child. None of the Potter children ever complained about the number of presents they received ever again.
Their mother and father entered the room as Albus was shaking presents up next to his ear. They were both in bathrobes, and looked more awake than they probably felt. "Is anyone ready for presents?" their dad asked heartily.
Breakfast would just have to wait. Mr. Potter was always prepared for present opening as soon as he woke up. Lily's parents joined her and James on the couch, and Albus passed them each a gift. Lily tore off the wrapping paper on the oblong package and removed the box lid. A new set of Quidditch robes with gold lining stared up at her.
The family went through their packages in this way for the next half hour, exclamations of joy expelling from each one of them. Lily watched with pride as her father unwrapped the silk tie printed with dragons, and as her mother opened the new stiletto heels she had been eying for months. Lily had been saving up her pocket money for these gifts all year. She knew that, now that she was thirteen, she could not longer get away with handmade gifts for her parents. For her thirteenth birthday they had increased her pocket money allowance, and therefore expected her to treat her money in a more adult fashion. She had purchased these gifts for her parents, as well as a new shirt for Albus (as a little hint), a nice watch for James to help him when he went off on all of his worldly business, and small things for Garret and Lucile. She had also embroidered pillows and handkerchiefs for her grandparents and other relatives because her pocket money had run out after she had purchased presents for her immediate family and friends. Since she could only do embroidery for the rest of her family, she had also improved her calligraphy skills and constructed fancy cards for each member of the family.
When Lily reached the end of her small pile of gifts, she realized that she had not received a gift from her favorite brother James. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion and she searched under the piles of discarded, wrinkled, wrapping paper for a box. It was James who normally gave her the largest gift.
"Who's up for a spot of breakfast?" her mother asked when she realized that everyone was finished opening their new things. Albus was now wearing the shirt Lily gave him, as well as a new hat; James had on his new watch and was fooling around with his new model of a Quidditch pitch, equipped with two flying teams.
"I'm starving," Albus exclaimed, springing up from his place on the floor and following his mother out of the ballroom and into the kitchen.
The three left in the ballroom were silent for a while, James and Mr. Potter admiring their new toys, and Lily still searching for a box from James. "Um, James?" Lily said eventually, clearing her throat.
Both her brother and her father looked over at her.
"I don't think I got a present from you," Lily continued shyly.
James looked as confused as she felt. "I bought you one. See if it's still under the tree."
Lily left her place on the couch and, on her hands and knees, searched under the large tree. The bottom branches were dropping, obscuring her vision.
Her mother loved Christmas trees. She liked to keep theirs erected in the ballroom for as long as possible, even if that meant getting in a tiff with her husband over it. Lily's father didn't like the Christmas tree to still be standing in the ballroom when he entertained guests. Still, Mrs. Potter always applied charms to the falling needles and added potions to the water in order to make the tree last well after Christmas. Sometimes, she was even able to make it look healthy until February. After a certain point, however, not even the charms and potions could keep the tree fresh, and it eventually had to be set out by the street kerb to be taken away.
Lily spotted a rather small box half-covered by the tree skirt. She retrieved it, and promptly began to remove the wrapping paper. James watched as she lifted the box lid and gasped at what lay inside. On black velvet padding sat a silver, heart-shaped locket, inscribed with the letter L. Mouth agape, Lily removed the locket delicately from its bed and opened it.
The two pictures inside were of herself and James. "It's so you won't forget me once I've gone," James said, half-jokingly.
Tears sprung to Lily's eyes against her will.
"Ah, but wait, there's more," James added, sliding off of the couch and sitting next to his younger sister. Lily tried to blink the tears from her eyes and James carefully flipped over the picture of himself to reveal two more pictures: one of their mother and one of their father. "And again," he said, and flipped over the picture of Mr. Potter to reveal yet two more picture compartments. Only one of these was filled. It contained a photograph of the face of Albus; the heart-shaped space opposite him was blank. "That one's for that special boy that must pass my rigorous tests before he takes your heart," James said, pointing at the blank spot.
The tears that Lily had been fighting back spilled out of her eyes, and she threw her arms around her big brother, the locket clasped tightly in her hand. This was the best gift she'd ever received in her life, and she would cherish it forever. "Thank you so much, James! I love it!" she cried into his shoulder.
James returned her embrace, chuckling, his deep voice resonating throughout Lily's body. "I knew you would."
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