A/N: The title of this was taken from John Lennon's Christmas song, Happy Christmas (War Is Over). Not only did I feel it was very fitting for what I had in mind and was written around the same time period as the first wizarding war, but it's also a bit of a nod to my dad. He was a fan of John Lennon's music, so I thought I'd dedicate this to him. Christmas this year just wasn't the same without him, but I wanted to write something happy, so here it is. Enjoy!

Prompt: (word) rejoice

War Is Over

As Sirius stood by his daughter's bed, watching her sleep, he couldn't help but think how fortunate she was. Now that the war was over, she could live a normal life. She wouldn't remember the fear they had all been living with since before her birth. Voldemort and his Death Eaters would just be names on a page in her History of Magic books, people that she might write essays about. She would never lie awake at night, wondering if this was the night that they would find her and kill her. She would never dread reading the paper, hoping that none of friends were listed among the dead or missing.

Sirius felt a hand on his shoulder. "Is everything alright?" Marlene whispered. "You said you were just checking on her, but that was ten minutes ago."

He nodded and motioned her to follow him out of the room. Closing the door quietly behind them, they went into the living room, which was decorated for the Christmas season. Sirius saw that Marlene had finished wrapping the last of Charlotte's gifts while he was gone. At just over two years old, this would be the first proper Christmas for the girl. She'd been looking forward to the holiday for weeks now. She had certainly inherited her mother's Christmas spirit.

"Didn't mean to worry you," he said as he sat on the couch. "Seeing her sleeping so peacefully just made me think about how much we have to rejoice over this year and how lucky she is to be young enough to forget about the war."

Marlene sat next to him and held his hand in her own. "We really do have a lot to be thankful for, don't we?" She sighed contentedly. "What makes me the happiest is the fact that Charlotte will grow up happy and safe. She won't need to fight for her life."

"I'm thankful we all lived long enough to see the end of the war. I thought it was never going to end." He squeezed her hand. "Happy Christmas, Marlene. The war is over. That's the greatest gift any of us could have asked for this year."

Marlene nodded in agreement. "Happy Christmas, Sirius."