The Best Christmas Present

Lily stared at the potion on the counter, not sure how she was supposed to feel. There were a medley of feelings whirling around in her head, but the most dominant emotion was joy. The second most feeling was terror. She was almost twenty, but it seemed so young. She didn't know if she was ready for this kind of responsibility, but none of those thoughts could put a damper on this. Nothing could convince her that this was a bad thing. True, maybe this was bad timing, but there was nothing to do now but move forward.

How would she tell James?

This was the part Lily was really worried about. They had talked about it before, of course, and she knew that he wanted this as much as she did, but they had always ended the conversation by deciding to wait. She sighed. She would have to tell him now, because he could always tell when she was keeping a secret. She had never been able to hide anything from him.

Lily stood up and grabbed the vial of blue potion. She dumped it into the sink and rinsed away the remnants before tossing the plastic vial into the trash. She paused in front of the bathroom door, her hand hovering over the handle. It was Christmas Eve, and James' reaction was everything. How he felt about this would make or break their holiday.

With a slightly shaky hand and a quick breath, Lily pulled the bathroom door open and went downstairs to the kitchen. James was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a tree-shaped cookie and reading the Daily Prophet. As it always did, Lily's heart skipped a beat when she saw her husband. Sometimes it was hard to believe that he truly belonged to her, that he had chosen her out of anyone else. Frankly, it was a little hard to believe that anyone had chosen her out of everyone else. Lily had dated one other boy, for barely a month, during her time at Hogwarts. Otherwise, it was just James.

James glanced up as she came in, smiling crookedly at her. His glasses were sliding off his nose, and despite the stress in his hazel eyes, they were also full of love for her. Lily smiled back even though she was afraid of what would come next. He went back to reading the paper, and Lily silently thanked her lucky stars that he hadn't picked up on her mood yet. She sat down across from him and reached over to take the cookie from him. She took a bite, and then set it down on the plate.

She twisted her hands, waiting, not sure how to bring it up. After a few minutes, James folded up the Prophet and let out a long sigh.

"Anything good in there?" Lily asked, trying to keep her tone light.

"Not much," James answered. "A wedding announcement, and a story about the Ministry Christmas party."

"And the rest?"

"More horror stories. Deaths, disappearances, you name it."

Lily bit her lip. At first she had thought the timing was bad simply because of their age, but now she realized the timing was even worse because of what was going on in the world. How could they possibly do something like this when it was so dangerous for witches and wizards at the moment? Lily blinked a few times, trying to contain the tears that were suddenly threatening to spill over.

James noticed. Occasionally she wished he weren't so perceptive, but he was. Only this time, he was wrong about her tears. He placed his hand over hers. "It's alright, love. It was no one we know. Our families are still safe."

Lily shook her head. "For how long?" she asked, though this hadn't been what she was thinking about at all.

"We'll get through this," James said confidently. He stood abruptly, a smile on his face. "Come on, I know what will make you feel better. I've got a surprise for you."

He headed for the living room, and Lily got up to follow, muttering, "Funny, because I've got one for you too."

James didn't hear her.

In the living room, James directed her to sit on the couch and close her eyes. Feeling confused, Lily did as he said. She settled back on the couch and squeezed her eyes tight. "No peeking!" James insisted, sounding like an excited child.

"I won't," Lily promised.

About a minute later, James placed a box in her lap. "Happy Christmas!"

Lily blinked her eyes open and stared down at the box. "Why did I have to close my eyes for this? It's wrapped."

James shrugged. "It seemed more exciting for you to close your eyes."

Lily laughed.

"Go on, open it!" James said eagerly, a huge smile on his face. "I hope you like it."

Influenced by James' excitement, Lily pulled the ribbon off and tossed it away, and pulled the lid off the box happily. Whatever she might have been expecting, it wasn't this. At the bottom of the box, curled up in the corner, was a scrap of grey and white fur.

"You got me a kitten?" Lily asked, stunned. She had always liked cats, and had taken her cat, Eloise, to Hogwarts with her. Unfortunately, Eloise had been getting old and passed away in Lily's fifth year. She hadn't a pet since, though she often missed having one.

"You keep saying you want to get another cat," James reminded her, smiling softly. "I thought now would be the perfect time."

"It's precious," Lily cooed, reaching into the box. She scooped up the sleeping kitten to get a better look at it. The kitten blinked its eyes open, startled, and began to mewl in protest. Lily pulled the knitted blanket off the back of their couch, folded it up, and set it down beside her. Then she put the kitten on top of it, giving it a quick stroke. "There," she said. "Go back to sleep."

"It's a boy," James informed her. "Do you know what you want to name him?"

Lily had a few ideas, but she wasn't sure yet. "I'll name him soon," she said. "Once I get to know him a little more."

James smiled more widely now. "I'm glad you like him."

"How could I not, when he's from you?"

James looked pleased, and then glanced down at his watch. He cleared his throat. "Well, it's getting to be about time for bed. Do you want to go to sleep now?"

Lily knew exactly what he meant by "go to sleep". Then she remembered what she was supposed to be telling him, what she had briefly forgotten over the excitement of the kitten. Her happiness trickled away, and she turned away from her husband to look at her new kitten instead. The little one had already fallen asleep again, his back rising and falling as he breathed.

"Lily?" James asked, sitting down beside her. He seemed confused, and concerned. "Lilypad, is something wrong?"

Lily was on the verge of tears again. "I wouldn't say it's wrong, exactly," she replied thickly. A few tears escaped, and she shifted her body so that she was facing James again. "I have a surprise for you, too." Then she laughed, a little hysterically.

"What is it?" James asked warily. His wife had never quite acted like this before, and he had no idea what to expect.

"The thing is… I mean, I don't really know how to tell you this. It was a shock to me, really. I'm not sure how you're going to feel about this, and actually I'm a little afraid to tell you-"

"Just spit it out already," James said impatiently, grabbing her hand. "Whatever it is, I can handle it."

Lily gave him a watery smile, and a few more tears trailed down her cheeks. "James, I'm pregnant."

For a second, James' face was blank. He seemed to be processing what she had just said. Then, his eyes widened, and his gaze darted down to her stomach. It was impossible to tell that she was pregnant, but he still stared at her as if he was searching for proof. "Are you serious?" he said, in barely a whisper.

"I'm one-hundred percent serious," Lily answered.

"That's… Lily, that's amazing," James croaked. "I can't… We're… This…"

"We're having a baby," Lily said, laughing and crying at once.

James grabbed her suddenly and kissed her, loving and ecstatic. "I can't believe this. I'm going to be a dad?"

"Of course you are, dummy," Lily said, wiping her cheeks and rolling her eyes. "Who else would he belong to?"

"It's a boy?" James asked, leaning back and looking awed.

Lily nodded. "The potion was blue."

A huge grin spread slowly across James' face. "We're having a boy. This is amazing. This is wonderful. This is absolutely perfect, Lils." He sat up again, and took Lily's hands. "You're going to be the best mum in the world."

"I wish I could say the same for you," Lily teased. Then she added, "We're lucky we have magic. If we were just muggles, we wouldn't know the gender of our baby for months yet."

James frowned. "How do they stand it?"

Lily shrugged. "They don't have any other choice."

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything. James broke the silence, asking, "Why were you afraid to tell me?"

"I didn't know what you would think. We're only nineteen, James. We're a little young to be parents, don't you think?"

"No," James scoffed. "We'll make great parents."

Lily shook her head, amused. "I'm glad you're so happy about this."

"It's the best Christmas present you could have ever given me," James assured her. "We'll be naming him James Junior, of course."

"Absolutely not," Lily said. "He needs a name of his own."

James thought about this for a moment. "Sirius Junior?"

"What did I just say?"

"I've got it! We'll name him Edwin."

"That's a horrid name," Lily protested.

"I like it."

"Well I have to like it too. He'll have a name we both like."

James made a face. "We'll never agree on a name."

"I'm sure we'll find something. We do have eight months to decide."

James blinked. "Eight months? I thought this whole pregnancy thing lasted nine months?"

"It does," Lily said. "But I'm already a month along."

"Wait, how long have you known about this?" James demanded.

"Half an hour, maybe?"

"How could you have been pregnant for a month and not have known?"

"Things were pretty hectic last month, in case you don't remember." November had been full of horrible events, resulting in James at the Ministry, as a new auror, late every night, and Lily spending a very busy few weeks at the Prophet, where she was usually a part-time editor. They'd had very little time to see one another, and had been exhausted for days. "I didn't even realize I'd skipped my period until I noticed that I skipped this month too."

"Oh."

Lily leaned against James then, and he put his arm around her. "I'm glad that you're glad we're having a baby," she murmured.

"How could I not be? This baby is going to bring us closer than ever," James answered, kissing the top of her head. "We'll always be connected, through him. Nothing can ever separate us now."

"Nothing could ever separate us before," Lily reminded him.

"True." He yawned. "Come on, let's get some sleep now. It's Christmas tomorrow."

"Presents," Lily said, though she didn't feel as excited as she normally did on Christmas. No present could top the fact that they were having a baby.

James stood up, and offered Lily his hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. James turned the downstairs lights off with a flick of his wand, and they climbed the stairs together, hand in hand.

"What if we called him Linus?"

"No."

"Dalton?"

"James."

"Paris!"

"Stop it."

"Ralph."

"Go to sleep, James."

"Carl?"

"If you don't stop talking in the next five seconds, you will be sleeping on the couch."

"Farley."

Lily groaned, and pressed her pillow against her face. She hoped desperately that this wouldn't go on for another eight months. She closed her eyes, and tried to block out James' stream of name ideas. If she was lucky, she would fall asleep before midnight.

A/N: And that is how Lily and James ended up with the cat that was in their house the night they died.
Thoughts? Leave me a review! I'd absolutely love to know what you thought.
I hope I calculated right. November to July is nine months, right? Very late November to Christmas is about a month, and then Christmas to July 31st is about eight months.