On Christmas morning, Lily awoke at 6 A.M. Lily's parents had told her that she had until 8 A.M. to open her presents in her room. At 8 A.M. they wanted her outside in the backyard for their family Christmas activities.

A large pile of presents had appeared in front of Lily's bed.

The first present she opened was from someone she would not have expected to send her a gift and that was Rachel Robins. It was wrapped in Gryffindor wrapping paper and was small and soft. Tearing off the wrapping paper, Lily found a soft paperback book with a picture of a golden snitch on the cover. The book was titled Special Seekers and subtitled A Quidditch Lovers Guide to the Greatest Seekers in History. As a huge Quidditch fan and a great Seeker herself, this was a book Lily knew she would enjoy. It would make good bedtime reading. It was confusing to Lily that someone who she didn't have much a relationship with who wasn't family either would send her something, but she appreciated it all the same.

After opening Rachel's gift, Lily picked up a small envelope that was marked with a simple to and from tag. The from turned out to be from Pamela. Pamela had sent Lily a ten galleon gift card to Quality Quidditch Supplies. Quality Quidditch Supplies was Lily's favorite shop in Diagon Alley so this a gift card she was very happy with.

Lily followed opening the gift card by picking up three white envelopes that all had her name written on them in jet black ink. She was sure these would be Christmas cards. Deciding to open all three at once, Lily found a Christmas card that showed Santa on the front, one that showed stringed lights on the front, and one that showed snowflakes on the front. The insides of these cards had nothing written on them from the manufacturers. But in large font with block lettering alternating red and green letters, Merry Christmas Lily was written in each of them. The bottoms of these cards had been signed. The Santa card was from Miles, the stringed lights card was from Gary, and the snowflakes card was from Todd. Lily was gratified that Miles, Gary, and Todd had thought of her at Christmas and seeing their signed names made her look even more forward to seeing them again on New Year's Eve.

Lily knew what her next two presents would contain. They were in small unwrapped hot pink bags. These were from Rose and Roxanne and as Lily had expected they each contained a Lindt's chocolate Santa. Rose and Roxanne always gave family members that they were not close to chocolate Santas for Christmas. This would make for a tasty treat later. Lily had always said that Lindt's made the best chocolate and that it was far superior to the overrated Hershey's.

Next in line came Fred's gift. Fred had wrapped his gift in scarlet wrapping paper that featured the Hogwarts crest. This package was somewhat long, and Lily opened it to find a brown cardboard box. Lily opened this box to find a hot pink sports bottle complete with a hot pink lid and hot pink straw. There was also a note which read: Lily, I know you get thirsty easily, especially when busy, so I thought you could use a sports bottle to carry water in while at Hogwarts -Love from Fred. Lily smiled. She had always had a bit of a thirst issue, but it had gotten worse at Hogwarts. This was both a thoughtful and useful gift.

Lily next turned her attention to a red envelope that was simply addressed to Lily. The envelope had a return address from Arizona and the label indicated Samantha Saver was the sender. Her first inclination was that it would be a Christmas card and it did feel like there was a card in it. But it also felt like there were a couple of solid objects in it as well. Lily carefully opened the envelope and saw that the card had a picture of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on the front. She opened the card and a hot pink comb, hot pink toothbrush, and a letter fell out. The message inside the store-bought card read: May this Christmas go down in history for you. Merry Christmas Buddy! Lily noticed that the comb and toothbrush were small. The letter read: Hi Lily! I hope my first Christmas present to you is a successful one. My thinking was that since you are a midget that the smaller toothbrush might fit into your hands and mouth better. Ditto for the comb. Merry Christmas Lily -Samantha. Holding the toothbrush and comb (one at a time), it was obvious that Samantha had been right, the smaller comb and toothbrush did indeed fit more comfortably in her small hands. And after giving it one test run in her mouth, Lily realized the smaller toothbrush was much more comfortable in her small mouth. Yes, Samantha's gifts were a success.

Now it was time to open Stephanie's gift. Stephanie's gift was wrapped in Gryffindor wrapping paper. It was also quite heavy. When Lily had removed the wrapping paper, she saw a sleek black leather case, with silver words stamped across it, reading Broomstick Servicing Kit. There was a large jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass to clip on your broom for long journeys, and a Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare. As Lily and Stephanie shared a passion for Quidditch Lily loved that this particular gift was from Stephanie.

Lily now went for Ainsley's gift. Ainsley's gift came in a small square package wrapped in bright yellow wrapping paper. This wrapping paper was loosely attached so it come off as soon Lily picked the package up. A small glass box was revealed. It had a seam halfway down to be opened at but all that seemed to appear to be in it was the same bright yellow color the wrapping paper had been. When Lily opened this box, the yellow proved to be a liquid and it had a strong smell of lemon. This lemon liquid flowed straight into Lily's face and splashed her with a kind of lemon paste. She got some in her mouth too, so she was glad it was lemon and not some disgusting flavor. But a small amount of this paste dissipated before it reached her face and when this happened something felt out. This something was a small hot pink wristwatch with black digital numbers on its display. The watch was the perfect size for Lily. There was no note with this gift, but Lily suspected that Ainsley had had the same idea as Samantha about smaller being better for her. Lily appreciated that her friends had seen that getting some smaller items would be better for her and taken to getting them for her.

It was now time to open Albus's gift. Albus's gift had come in just a large plain white unwrapped bag. In this bag were two new pairs of hot pink flip flops and two new pairs of hot pink slippers. This was good as Lily's current pairs of flip flops and slippers were pretty worn down. This was a timely and useful gift for Lily.

Lily now saw that she had three gifts left and that all three of them had been wrapped in hot pink wrapping paper. There was an envelope sitting on top of one of them. Opening this letter Lily read: Dear Lily: Lily, the three of us, that is to say, James Potter, Devon Dursley, and Hugo Weasley, have all collaborated on our Christmas presents to you. We had an idea while sitting together during one of your Quidditch practices that we would love to give you Christmas presents that you would find especially meaningful. We worked together as a team of 3 to put these gifts together for you. We have sent them to you in three separate packages, but we have not attached names to any of them. Please consider all three of them to be from all three of us. It shouldn't matter which order you open them in. They are all related and we hope you find them to be a very meaningful gift from us. With lots of love- James, Devon, and Hugo.

Lily felt a prickling in her spine at this. James, Devon, and Hugo had worked together to attempt to get her meaningful gifts. Lily felt her heart leap with anticipation.

Lily opened the first of these three gifts to discover a case filled with vials. These vials all had labels on them and there was another note with them.

This note said: Dear Lily: These vials contain memories of our more notable/memorable days at Hogwarts this past semester. This gift will allow you to revisit several of the most significant days of your first semester at Hogwarts whenever you want. Dedicated by James, Devon, and Hugo.

Lily looked at the labels on the vials and saw the labels included "Halloween 10-31-2019, Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch 11-9-2019, Thanksgiving 11-28-2019, and Hogwarts Christmas Party amongst others. The vials were organized in chronological order. This was a truly special gift. Whenever she was in the mood Lily could revisit some of her most enjoyable and her most meaningful days at Hogwarts. Lily marveled at the effort James, Devon, and Hugo had put not only into to gathering all of these memories into vials but also into organizing them.

Lily decided she wanted to relive a part of the Christmas party, a part in which James had actually joined the first year Gryffindor classes for the day so that he could experience Hogwarts Christmas party with his group of friends, an idea McGonagall had come up with.

Lily took out the vial labeled Hogwarts Christmas Party and put into her pensive.

She soon found the scene she was looking for. It went something like this.

When James, Devon, Hugo, Ainsley, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily entered the Charms classroom, they found sheets of cookie dough and containers of five different colors of frosting sitting on every desk. Each container of frosting had a white label on the container with the flavor of the frosting marked with black pen: Red was cherry, green was mint, brown was cinnamon, black was chocolate, and white was vanilla.

"Good morning," said Flitwick the nanosecond James, Devon, Hugo, Ainsley, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily were seated, "Today you guys are going to be making Christmas cookies using magic."

"That sounds fun!" said Samantha eagerly.

"Making cookies by magic is a simple process," explained Flitwick, " All you have to do is hover your wand over your cookie dough and "draw" the shape you want your cookies to take. You then hold your wand over the drawn shapes and say the incantation "Cookiefy!" The dough within the shapes will then harden into cookies. You can finish your cookies by adding frosting(s) and/or rainbow sprinkles by hand if you so choose. As Christmas offers a wide variety of possibilities, I'd like each of you to choose a different shape for your cookies."

"Will these cookies be ours to take home after we make them?" asked Devon.

"Absolutely!" Squealed Flitwick.

"Then why can't we each use multiple shapes?" inquired Devon, "I'd much rather have a variety of cookies to take home as opposed to just taking home a bunch of one type of cookies."

"Our time today is limited and using multiple shapes with one sheet of cookie dough is a much slower process than sticking to one shape. It's no harder but it's much slower and you'll find out why in a later year when you do use multiple shapes. For today, because our time today is limited, I need each of you to choose just one shape."

"I understand," said Devon with obvious disappointment in his voice and on his face.

"We can always trade cookies with each other after we make them," suggested Samantha.

"Exactly, Miss Saver, " beamed Flitwick, "Now, everyone chooses a shape."

"I'm using the present shape!" declared Devon instantly, "Presents have always been my favorite part of Christmas."

"The candy cane shape is MINE!" claimed James, "You all know how much of a candy lover I am."

"I'm doing the stocking shape," decided Hugo a nanosecond later, "The best Christmas tale ever written is Twas the Night Before Christmas. I love the line "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care."

Samantha, Stephanie, Ainsley, and Lily all now looked at each other uncomfortably. It seemed as though none of them wanted to be the one to choose the shape one of the others wanted.

"I'll choose last," volunteered Lily predictably.

"I'll let Ainsley and Samantha go ahead of me since they're both much bigger Christmas fans than I am," offered Stephanie.

Ainsley and Samantha looked at each other even more uncomfortably.

This went on for a minute and a nanosecond before Lily spoke up, "I suspect that Ainsley and Samantha both want the reindeer shape. Samantha is a huge fan of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Ainsley loves animals."

Both Ainsley and Samantha nodded.

A few nanoseconds later, Samantha broke the ice and said, "Ainsley, you can have the reindeer. I'll take the snowman shape. I'm a huge Frosty the Snowman fan so I'll be almost as happy using the snowman shape as I would have been using the reindeer shape. There probably isn't another shape that comes close to the reindeer shape for you."

"Thanks, Samantha," said Ainsley gratefully and the atmosphere in the room became much more comfortable after that.

"In that case, I'll make tree shaped cookies," chose Stephanie, "Can't have a collection of Christmas cookies that doesn't include tree shapes."

"I'll finish us off by choosing the Santa shape," said Lily happily, "That'll give us a real good set of Christmas cookies."

"As you've all chosen a shape, let me see you make cookies," ordered Flitwick.

James, Devon, Hugo, Ainsley, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all hovered their wands over their cookie dough and drew their chosen shapes. Next nanosecond James, Devon, Hugo, Ainsley, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all held their wands above their cookie dough and cried "Cookiefy!" and the dough in the shapes hardened into cookies.

James finished off his candy cane cookies with alternating red and white frosting. Devon completed his present cookies with mostly white frosting while adding one horizontal and one vertical line of red. Hugo made his stockings mostly white while giving them red tops. Ainsley topped off her reindeer with almost all brown but did give them red noses, much to Samantha's delight. Samantha, meanwhile, went for mostly white snowmen but with brown eyes, black noses, and red mouths. Stephanie did all green trees and Lily finished her Santas with mostly red frosting but white beards.

"Your cookies all came out great!" beamed Flitwick, "I'll leave you guys to it then."

Everyone agreed that all the cookies came out fantastic and, on this day, they were inclined to enjoy and appreciate each other's work as opposed to compare and competing.

James, Devon, Hugo, Ainsley, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily then spent the rest of the period trading cookies so each of them had a complete set.

"Wow!" said Lily to herself, "Being able to relive these memories at any time of my own choosing is going to be wonderful.

After taking in the beauty of the gifts of these memories, Lily went for Devon's, James's and Hugo's second gift.

The second of these packages was very heavy. Lily removed the wrapping paper and discovered painted portraits. These portraits were individually painted pictures of Lily herself, Hugo, Devon, James, Fred, Roxanne, Albus, Rose, Harry, Ginny, Pamela, Gary, Todd, Miles, Ainsley, Stephanie, and Samantha. These paintings were extremely detailed, and each was a perfect portrait of sixth of Lily's family members and/or friends. James, Devon, and Hugo had also included a note with these portraits. This note read: Dear Lily: We know that family and friends are what is most important to you and we thought you would like to be able to place these on the wall in your room at Hogwarts. With all our hearts, James, Devon, and Hugo, Lily stood frozen for a nanosecond. And then she lost it. She collapsed onto her bed and starting sobbing. She had never received such a meaningful gift in her life, and she was completely overcome with emotion. In this moment she fully understood everything Devon had told her on Thanksgiving about how touched he had been by her thoughtfulness and how he couldn't express to her how much what she had done for him meant to him. This was exactly how Lily felt about receiving these portraits from James, Devon, and Hugo. When she had composed herself, Lily finally opened the third package.

The third of these packages contained a photo album and inside there were pictures. There were pictures of Lily by herself, of Lily with Hugo, of Lily with Devon, of Lily with James, of Lily with Hugo and Devon, and Lily with Hugo, Devon and James. There were also pictures showing Lily riding a broom, of Lily eating with friends in the Great Hall, of Lily making her Jack O Lantern, of her putting frosting on her Christmas cookies, of her being hugged by Todd, Gary, and Miles on Thanksgiving, of her sitting by the Black Lake, etc. There was a note accompanying the photo album as well. It read: Dear Lily: We thought a photo album filled with pictures from your life at Hogwarts would be an excellent way for you to experience quicker memories of those days and moments at times when you'd like to relive them but don't want to take the time to watch the full memories from the vials. Sincerely, your loyal and loving baby brother, your second cousin and BFF, and your closest cousin and other BFF.

For a long time, Lily just sat on her bed taking in the meaningfulness of the last three gifts she had opened. She barely realized how much time had passed when she looked over at the clock by her bedside table and saw that it was 7:57 A.M.

Seeing that it was about time to meet her parents and brothers for their family Christmas activities, Lily left her room and went out back to find her parents and brothers waiting for her.

Now it was time for Christmas activities with family.

"Merry Christmas, Lily, " chorused James, Albus, Harry, and Ginny.

Harry, Ginny, James, and Albus had formed a circle in the lawn. James and Albus squeezed apart to make room for Lily. Harry, Ginny, James, Lily, and Albus now reformed a circle. Harry was between Ginny and Albus, Ginny was between Harry and James, James was between Ginny and Lily, Lily was between James and Albus, and Albus was between Lily and Harry. They now all took each other's hands.

In the middle of the circle there was a large chocolate cake. Merry Christmas Potters was written in icing on the top of the cake with Merry in red, Christmas in green, and Potters in white. This cake also had an amazing one hundred and sixteen candles on it. These candles represented the total age of the Potter family. Harry was thirty-nine, Ginny was thirty eight, James was fifteen, Albus was thirteen, and Lily was eleven. It was a Potter Christmas tradition to have a cake on Christmas that featured the exact number of candles as the combined age of the family. These candles were all lit.

"James, Albus, Lily, Ginny," called Harry clearly, "As is our family Christmas tradition, I want all five of us to spend the ten minutes silently thinking about the importance of family and what family means to each of us. We are not to share these thoughts out loud. This is to be a private reflection for each of us."

Each of the Potters had their own thoughts on family.

Harry reflected on how he had grown up without his parents and how painful their absence had been. But he also silently thanked his mother for sacrificing herself for him. Harry thought about how Lily's sacrifice had not only allowed him to live but how it had allowed the Potter line to endure. It was because of Lily that James, Albus, and Lily were standing here with Harry today. Harry felt a strong combination of sadness at how he had never spoken to his parents and how they would never know their grandchildren and an inexpressible sense of appreciation for what his mother had done for him and for the Potter line by giving herself up.

Ginny thought about how her family had rarely been together for Christmas when she was at Hogwarts and how glad she was that Hogwarts now closed for Christmas break. Always having the family together was now a major priority for Ginny on Christmas.

James thought about how, though one of the weirdest sorting quirks in Hogwarts history, he was the only the Gryffindor in his year but how Hugo and Lily went out of their way to include him with their group of friends at Hogwarts whenever possible.

Albus's mind turned to his parents. Being very conscious of the fact that his dad had grown up without parents and how hurt his dad had been by that. Albus considered himself blessed to have grown up with both his parents alive and he considered every day he had with them a blessing.

Lily used these ten minutes to reflect on how those people who she was closest to were all family in some way or another and what a lucky girl she was to have that be the case. As an atheist, Lily never used words such as "blessed" or "blessing". But the words that did pop up in her head during this reflection were words such as "fortunate", "lucky" and "special". She thought about how much it had meant to her when, after having cultivated a best friend's relationship with Devon over their first few weeks at Hogwarts, she had discovered that she and Devon were related as second cousins. She reflected on how she had been BFFs with her own cousin Hugo all their lives since they were toddlers and how special that relationship was. And her mind also to drawn to her relationship with her brothers, especially James, and how wonderful it was to have brothers who were friendly and loving as opposed to rivalry minded. Lily felt her heart fill with emotion and meaning as she thought about the last gifts that she had opened that morning.

Harry and Lily were both moved to tears during their reflections.

After the ten minute reflection period had ended, Harry instructed the family to break hands but keep in circle formation. Harry dug his right hand into his right pocket and pulled out an MP3 player.

"I'm going to play a couple of Christmas songs," explained Harry, "The first is a more quiet and emotional song, the second is more cheerful and is intended to transition us from the emotional and reflective stage to the more cheerful and festive stage, and the third is one we can all sing along with."

James, Albus, Lily and Ginny all nodded in understanding.

The first song Harry played was Have Yourself a Merry Christmas. The playing of this beautiful song ended the more emotional stage of the day.

Harry next played the much more upbeat Oh There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays and by the time this song had finished James, Albus, Lily, and Ginny were all showing some bounce in their step and Harry himself felt his energy picking up.

The final song Harry played was Holly Jolly Christmas. As Harry had intended, it wasn't just sixth voice singing this song but six voices.

These six cheerful voices all chorused:

Have a holly, jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year
I don't know if there'll be snow
But have a cup of cheer
Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say hello to friends you know
And everyone you meet
Oh, ho the mistletoe
Hung where you can see
Somebody waits for you
Kiss her once for me
Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't hear
Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas
This year

(Have a holly, jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year)

Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And when you walk down the street
Say hello to friends you know
And everyone you meet
Oh, ho the mistletoe
Hung where you can see
Somebody waits for you
Kiss her once for me
Have a holly, jolly Christmas
And in case you didn't hear
Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas
This year

"That was awesome!" said Lily approvingly after the song was over, "It's amazing what happens when you combine a great song with multiple people in sync singing it together."

"My personal favorite Christmas song," said James brightly, "It's a great song to set a festive mood with."

"Now," said Harry clearly, "It is time to blow out the candles and eat our Christmas cake.

James blew first and fifteen candles went out. Then Albus blew and thirteen candles went out. Next Harry blew and an amazing thirty nine candles blew out. Ginny took her turn and extinguished thirty eight candles. This left eleven candles for Lily to blow out as she finished off the job.

Ginny, who was a master of Food Charms, placed a Cutting Charm on the cake that caused it to divide into 5 equal pieces while Harry used his Summoning Charms to gather plates and forks.

"Dig in!" said Harry with a smile when the cake was cut and the plates and forks present.

James, being the most eager and the greatest chocolate lover of the five, took the first piece and started eating the cake.

Then, at almost the same time, Albus and Harry took the second and third pieces, followed soon after by Ginny taking the fourth piece.

Once she saw that her brothers and parents had theirs, Lily took her piece.

The cake was very tasty with the cherry, mint, and vanilla icing mixing well with the chocolate. There was no talking while the cake was being consumed as it's yumminess had taken them in.

When the cake was gone, Harry then turned to the snow accumulated on the ground.

"James, Albus, Lily, "called Harry, "You three are to have a snowball fight with me as the judge. Whoever wins gets to pick where we go for Christmas lunch."

James, Albus, and Lily all eagerly started to make snowballs. Lily was a terrible shot with snowballs, and she couldn't hit James or Albus even once. However, despite Lily's speed and agility, James and Albus, who were both very good shots with snowballs, got her in the face multiple times, enjoying a good laugh at her expensive each time. Lily didn't mind though. She was still having fun even if her shots sucked and she was bearing the brunt of the hits. At first James and Albus were both able to hit each other. As the snowball fight went along James started doing a better of ducking Albus's snowballs while James was still hitting Albus consistently.

After ten minutes Harry declared that the winner of the snowball fight had been James. Harry handed James a slip of paper and told him he had five minutes to make his decision. Harry instructed him to write his final choice on the slip of paper.

"James," explained Harry, "You can either make this decision by yourself or you can talk it over with Albus and Lily if you prefer but the final choice is yours."

"Well, nothing could be better that the awesome ham we had for our Hogwarts Christmas feast on the final day of term, but I'll think of something that can come close. I plan to make the choice myself, but I'll verify with Albus and Lily that it's somewhere we can all be happy with before finalizing my decision."

"Sounds reasonable," said Harry.

Harry spent these five minutes chatting with Ginny and didn't hear what James was saying about the choice to Albus and Lily.

"One of my favorite foods that I don't have an opportunity to eat as much as some of my other favorite foods is spaghetti," said James happily, "I know that Sally Anne Perks opened a restaurant about a block from our house that specializes in spaghetti. The name of the restaurant is Sally's Special Spaghetti."

"That sounds good," said Lily cheerfully, "I like spaghetti a lot too so I'm quite pleased by your choice, baby bro."

"Glad you're happy with it, big sis," said James with a smile.

"And," said Albus brightly, "It also means having our Christmas dinner at a restaurant that we will be patronizing for the first time. That should be enjoyable."

"That's also something I took into account when making the choice," added James.

James wrote the name Sally's Special Spaghetti on the slip of paper and handed it to Harry.

Harry was delighted when he saw Sally's Special Spaghetti written on the slip of paper. It was the newest restaurant in the area, and he had never been.

Sally's Special Spaghetti had a picture of a huge plate of spaghetti on the glass door along with the hours: Open 7 days a week 365-366 days a year from 11 A.M. until 9 P.M. The windows were plain glass with no advertising or posters of pictures. Sally's Special Spaghetti was written in stick out block neon red cursive letters above the restaurant.

Sally's Special Spaghetti was a sit-down restaurant and they had to wait for a waiter to seat them. There were some chairs for patrons to sit down on while awaiting tables and James, Albus, Harry, and Ginny all took seats but as there had been only four open chairs and five of them, Lily had to stand while they were waiting for a table and by the time a waiter came their way Lily's legs were extremely tired.

After the waiter had gotten them seated at a table near the front of the restaurant at a table for five, they saw five menus on top of the table and glanced through them. Ultimately all five Potters ordered the same thing: Sally's Super-Sized Spaghetti Plate which contained a complete plate full of spaghetti topped with tomato sauce and meatballs and served with a side of three breadsticks each. They each ordered a large Coca Cola Classic to drink.

The food was exceptional. The spaghetti was white hot, the tomato sauce and meatballs were clearly made from the highest quality tomatoes and meat, and the breadsticks were as soft and hot as anyone would want. Their Coca Cola Classics were snow cold but without being diluted.

"Lily?" said Harry clearly while they were eating, "There are some things I would like to talk with you about."

"Such as?" asked Lily.

First, I have a very serious concern about your friend Devon, and I think you may be the only one who can help him."

"What is your concern?" asked Lily. Lily got a sudden sinking feeling that Harry knew something she didn't and that it definitely was not good.

"When I was picking you up at King's Cross, I couldn't help but notice how overweight that boy is." said Harry matter of factly.

"He was noticeably overweight when I met him on September 1st, but he is much more overweight now," explained Lily.

"What can you tell me about Devon's eating habits?" Harry asked Lily.

Lily explained to Harry in detail the mammoth portions that Devon had eaten at 95% of the meals that term and provided Harry with specific examples of Devon's giant appetite.

"There's something else as well," offered James, "Devon has been a heavy beer drinker since arriving at Hogwarts. Alcohol is terrible for a person's weight."

"Lily," said Harry clearly, "People who are overweight, especially those who are significantly overweight, are at much greater risk for numerous health problems, including heart disease and heart attack. Now, it is much easier for witches and wizards to lose weight than it is for muggles. The good news is that "dieting" is not needed for witches and wizards to lose weight as they can easily lose weight though a specialized exercise program. But Devon needs to alter his eating habits. He doesn't need to go on a diet, and he can eat the foods he wants but he needs to start eating "normal" portions like you do."

"Where do I come in? asked Lily nervously, "I have privately had the same concern, but I don't see how I can do anything about it."

"What you need to do," Harry instructed Lily, "Is to talk to Devon and make him understand how unhealthy it is for him to be overweight and convince him to change his lifestyle, specifically, his eating habits."

"Harry," said Lily uncomfortably, "I promised Devon very early on that I would always be a non-interfering friend. And I certainly don't need one of my BFFs angry with me."

"You must be tactful with your approach," said Harry clearly, "Go slowly. Make it clear before you introduce the specific topic that you are concerned about Devon and that you have something you wish to discuss with him out of concern for him. And if you can think of any way of motivating Devon to lose weight, put it in too."

There was a minute of silence.

"OHH!" said Lily in a voice that oozed optimism, "I know exactly how I can get through to Devon and what I can do to motivate him. I know he trusts me more than anyone he has ever known so that should help too."

"That is the very reason I think you may be the only one who can help him," Harry told Lily, "He might think another person was trying to force certain morals on him or that that person was just being nosy and/or interfering. If he hears from you, I think he will realize you are intervening and coming to him because you care about him. You can choose the time and setting you feel most appropriate."

"Okay, "promised Lily, "I will talk to Devon on New Year's Eve night and see if I can convince him to change his eating habits as a New Year's Resolution."

"That's perfect, Lily," agreed Harry, "I will also give you a sheet listing exercises to help witches and wizards lose weight to give to Devon, "finished Harry.

"Harry, I'm really glad you brought this issue to my attention and I think Devon will be pleasantly surprised by how much his life improves and in how many ways after he loses weight."

"Speaking of which, there is a slight change in plans. You and James will be sent to Devon's house on December 30th rather than December 31st, as will Hugo. Hugo will arrive a little later than you two. Dudley has agreed to let Devon, Gary, Todd, and Miles have their day to themselves on December 29th. I have some important stuff to do at work on December 30th, and so does Hermione. Ginny is going to Romania for a few days to visit Charlie. Albus, Hermione and I have arranged with Parvati that you and Rose will spend December 30th through January 1st at Pamela's house. James and Lily, it is still the plan for Samantha, Ainsley, and Stephanie to arrive at Devon's on New Year's Eve. "

"What about my owl, though?" asked Albus, "Parvati doesn't allow animals in her house."

"Neither do Dudley and Debra," James reminded Harry, "At least not according to Devon and he would know."

"They can be left at home. They don't need constant supervision," supplied Harry,

"Any other topics?" asked Lily.

"One more," said Harry, "James, Albus, Lily, I'd like to give you three some advice on the Hogwarts Writing Competition."

"What is it?" asked James eagerly, "I want to win that Old Faithful bar so badly. Ever since having that Old Faithful bar on Halloween I've yearned for another taste of Old Faithful ever since."

"James, you were supposed to give your Halloween candy to Lily after that bet you lost with her on the Quidditch European Championship." said Harry clearly.

"I canceled that bet because it ultimately would have been a huge bummer for me to have been in the Great Hall or Gryffindor Tower with no Halloween candy while everyone else had a full bag full," said James without a tent of guilt, "I'll admit that I did Lily a disservice by not informing her of my decision to cancel that bet beforehand. I had known since at least the teens of October that I had chosen to cancel that bet and I have should have told her then instead of her finding out on Halloween morning. I did apologize to Lily for not informing her of my decision in a timelier manner. But, I, I couldn't be the only 1 without candy on Halloween."

"James," said Harry sharply, "You can't just "cancel" a bet because you don't like the outcome. When you make a bet, you agree to abide by the terms of the bet. You agreed to take a risk to get a reward. You have to accept the risk when making a bet. That's what a bet is. You can't just "cancel" a bet after the fact."

"Lily and I never did anything to make that bet legal or binding and there are plenty of ways to do so," James defended himself in a fierce voice.

"I'm honestly glad that James chose to cancel that bet," admitted Lily, "I really wouldn't have wanted James to miss out on any aspect of Hogwarts Halloween."

"Dad, James," said Albus firmly, "Neither of you is going to change the others mind on this topic so you might as well drop it."

Lily realized that Albus was right and took it upon herself to revert the conversation to the topic at hand.

"Your advice for the Hogwarts Writing Competition is?" Lily asked Harry.

"Write from your heart," said Harry decisively, "And don't attempt to try to write a paper based on what you think the judges might like. Don't turn in a contrived paper. Be sincere, be genuine, write what you want to write, and give it your best shot. Be true to yourself. Give it your best shot. Do your best and let the placement fall where it may. If you do your best, you'll have a lot to be proud of."

"Sound advice, dad," said Lily approvingly, "That's exactly how I had planned to approach the competition."

Harry smiled at Lily.

After they were done eating, Harry paid the bill for their food and they headed home.

Later that night, Lily asked James to come to her room.

"James," said Lily emotionally, "I just wanted to say that I am truly gratified by what you, Devon, and Hugo did for me this Christmas."

Lily pointed at the memory vials, photo album, and portraits that had been James's, Devon's and Hugo's gifts.

"They were the best gifts I got this year and easily the most meaningful gifts I have ever received, especially the portraits. I am going to hang them up in my room at Hogwarts when we get back," said Lily genuinely.

"Devon, Hugo, and I had some discussions amongst ourselves about what we wanted to get you for Christmas. All three of us agreed that we really wanted to do something special for you. In the early stages we discussed buying you some really nice upscale gifts. Ultimately, Hugo, Devon, and I concluded as a team that you would appreciate meaningful gifts more than extravagant or expensive gifts."

"Hugo, Devon, and you were 100% right about that," said Lily sincerely, "What you, Devon, and Hugo did for me in making those gifts has nine hundred octillion to the nine hundred octillionth power times more meaning than ANY straight-out store-bought gift would have had. It was really special to me that those closest to me understood that family, friends, people, and experiences are the things that really matter to me and gave me gifts that will help me retain and cherish those meanings."

"That was EXACTLY what Devon, Hugo, and I intended when we put those gifts together for you," said James in a heartfelt voice., "I'm really glad we could give you such meaningful gifts. And to be clear about one thing, all three of us really did work on all three gifts so each of the three gifts was a joint effort by Hugo, Devon, and myself. It's gratifying to know how much our gifts meant to you."

"Thanks again, James," said Lily with a smile, "I'll have to tell Hugo and Devon how much these gifts meant to me next time I see them."

"So, did you enjoy the day today? "James asked Lily

"Very much so," said Lily sincerely, "Christmas is about family and I'm delighted we could all be together today."

"Agreed," said James warmly, "I'm in league with people like Ainsley and mom in terms of agreeing with Hogwarts now being closed for Christmas."

"So I am," said Lily happily, "And I look forward to the mission dad gave me at dinner today. I have a wonderful opportunity to help a friend turn his life around."

"You will get through to Devon, I know you will," said James confidently.

"Thank you for the support, James," said Lily gratefully.

"I love you, big sis," said James, giving Lily a hug.

"I love you too baby bro," replied Lily, returning the hug.

James left for bed and Lily called it a day herself.

On Monday, December 30th at, 8:30 A.M. after breakfast, Harry handed Albus some floo powder and Albus stepped into the fireplace calling "Patil Pavilion," and vanished.

Harry next gave Lily the sheet of weight loss exercises to give to Devon.

Then, he gave James and Lily sponge portkeys that would take them to Devon's house at 8:35 A.M.

"James! Lily,!" James and Lily heard four voices call out...