THC, Round 8, Slytherin, Muggle Studies, Standard.
Prompt: [Prompt] The smell of peppermint; [Spell] Glacius.

Hogwarts, Hufflepuff, Assignment 12.

Potions: A Little Woosah Potion; Task #3: Write about someone preparing for an event/tradition/holiday.

Word Count: 1992

Beta(s): Ash, Dhrish, Hope

Lily Potter waved her wand elegantly to set the Christmas tree up and instantly charmed it to ensure it would not come down. This had become a habit when two-year-old Harry had gotten ahold of it four years ago and pulled it down on him. So now, Lily charmed it and then they hung the decorations on it manually— or as James called it the Muggle method.

It was a happy compromise between them. James had been used to waving his wand to lay everything out nicely for him. Whereas, Lily, obviously, had done everything by hand. She had to admit that it was much easier to get the foundations of the decorations done with magic and only do the more fun and festive things by hand.

Lily hand-wrapped the charmed ribbon around the base of the tree and breathed in that traditional scent of peppermint. It was probably her favourite smell in the world.

Her mother used to buy peppermint sticks around the Christmas holiday for her and Petunia. Lily always hung hers on the top of her bed to be able to wake up and smell it. After her mother died, Lily would buy them every year; unfortunately, that only lasted for about three years until she was unable to find any in the limited amount of time she could spend shopping. The war was raging on and she had to keep herself and her unborn baby safe.

James then charmed the piece of ribbon for her, and while it wasn't the same as buying the sticks, it made it feel more Christmassy, more normal for her. They still tried to buy sticks when they were able but it wasn't a priority nowadays.

Without only a few seconds of warning after the protection charm was lifted, Harry came tumbling into the room, his hair messy and mud on his shoes. "The tree is up!" he announced cheerfully.

Lily, who had grabbed her wand out of instinct, smiled at him. "Go get cleaned up and we can decorate it together," Lily said to her son.

With a grin and an excited nod, the six-year-old ran off, leaving muddy footprints on the carpet.

James' head popped around the corner; he didn't even think about stepping into the room. "I've put the charms back up, it seems like a clear day so far. I'm going to shower, so start decorating without me."

Lily held back a laugh as she saw a leaf in his hair and could only imagine what the two of them had been getting up to. She put her wand away with a smile. "Don't take too long; I'm not always patient."

James winked and headed off.

Within minutes, Harry was back, dressed in clean grey joggers, a white t-shirt, and white socks. He expertly dodged the mud as he came barrelling back in. "I'm ready!" he announced, taking a deep breath in. "Ah! Peppermint! It really is nearly Christmas!"

Lily laughed. She absolutely loved that Harry loved the scent as much as she did. She opened the box of decorations and looked at the white and red colours. They had tried to do a simple white theme a few years ago, but both she and James decided very quickly that they preferred a bit more colour. They didn't want too much, so they had just opted to choose red. After three-year-old Harry labelled it a 'candy-cane tree' they never looked back or changed their Christmas colours.

"Wait, what about Dad?" Harry asked, turning to face the door. "I'll go get him."

"He's—" Lily started, but he had already run off.

With a chuckle to herself, she carefully started to bring out the Potter family baubles. They were enchanted baubles and supposedly unbreakable. They had been around for all of James' life, so she believed the unbreakable claim about them. Currently, the baubles showed snow falling, which fit their theme, but James would often change the family enchantment depending on what they were doing that day. Harry loved it, and Lily still got a little jealous that she wasn't able to work them that well. It turned out that an ancient family enchantment recognised the marriage bond, but it took a while to build up the bond with the enchantment. It was a type of magic that Lily was still getting her head around.

She turned away from the baubles as she heard somebody running down the stairs and turned to see Harry bouncing in shortly after. "He's on his way," he informed her and looked over the baubles.

"Which one did you want to put on first?" Lily asked.

She watched his determined look before choosing the same one he did every year. "This is my favourite." Harry looked at the tree and held the ornament up in a few places before grinning.

Lily let him make his decision on where to place the first one as she continued to carefully take the rest of the ornaments out of the box. As she heard James' feet stepping down the stairs, she turned back to Harry to see him tiptoeing and holding the bauble up close to the centre of the tree. It was the highest he could possibly reach.

James walked in. "Great place, son. Go ahead and hang it!"

Lily grinned as he hung it up and instantly came back for another one. Soon, James was also helping Harry, and Lily was preparing the ribbon to wrap around the tree.

This was one of Lily's favourite parts about getting ready for Christmas. What else could compare to all of the family preparations? Seeing family, making food together, putting up the decorations. Simply spending time with one another in preparation for the holiday spent together.

It didn't take long before the tree was fully decorated. The three of them moved on to baking in the kitchen, where the cookies were nearly ready, when things suddenly went south.

There was a knock at the door.

They weren't expecting visitors.

"Hide," James ordered Harry, who instantly ran off with a purpose.

Lily quickly muttered a Glacius towards the cooker, Nox towards the lights, and noticed James casting Glacius into the living room - probably to put out the fire.

Lily's wand was already in her hand as she watched fearfully as her husband approached the door, his wand raised.

Everything felt colder. No longer were the two of them enjoying a family moment with their son; they were now fearing for their lives. The coldness from the freezing charm filled the air.

James glanced back at her, readying himself before asking, "Identify yourself."

"Sirius."

They weren't expecting him today. He should be on a mission. Lily created an extra protection charm towards where Harry was hiding—just in case.

"What was on my couch when I first let you into my home when we were at Hogwarts?" James questioned, his shoulders tense and his hand tight around his wand.

"Your mother."

James looked at Lily with a nod. Lily nodded in reply and released one of the protection charms to allow James to open the door.

Sirius was bleeding badly, a grimace on his lips. He grunted. "Your first date."

"Shopping for quills," James replied.

Sirius held out his wand, and James accepted it before allowing his best friend to enter. Instantly, it was as though nothing was wrong, as though James wasn't ready for a fight, ready for an attack, ready for a kill.

Lily rushed forward, helping to guide Sirius into the kitchen. "What happened?"

"We were ambushed. Someone betrayed us. We lost… we lost Alice."

Lily didn't have enough time to let his words sink in; she couldn't grieve another one of their friends right now. She had to help Sirius. St Mungo's was no more; they had received too many attacks in the past. The war was just getting worse and worse. Too many lives had been lost.

The first war against Voldemort had almost ended several times. The Horcruxes had all been destroyed but not before Voldemort had made more. Friends had died. Some were missing. Hogwarts used to be safe, but in the last few months, reports from inside the castle had said different things.

Nowhere was safe.

"You're…" Sirius started, holding back a grunt of pain while James was casting healing charms on him. "Cooker is frozen."

Lily turned suddenly at his words and frowned. She had been looking forward to them. "Well, when you turn up unannounced, we have to follow procedures. You could have sent a Patronus on your way."

"Sorry," Sirius muttered.

Lily shook her head and went into the potions cupboard, bringing out a potion. "What's the next step? Did you get the information needed?"

Sirius nodded and took the potion thankfully. "Mad-Eye got it. He told us to retreat and he'll be in contact. Dumbledore took Alice's body."

"I didn't know Dumbledore was going?" James asked, the shock evident on his face.

"We were short on numbers."

"You should've called me!" James retorted.

"Or me," Lily added. "Harry only needs one of us at a time."

Sirius shook his head. "You both will be needed for the main strike. We didn't want to compromise either of your health. I think it's going to be all in."

Lily bit her tongue to stop herself from making a comment. Both needed. That meant Harry would be left with somebody else. She wasn't so sure about that but didn't comment now. "You should shower off and change before Harry sees you."

Sirius grunted again and pushed himself up from the seat. James was instantly by his side and helped him walk. "Wait… your tree is up! I can smell peppermint."

James chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be able to smell it better when you're not covered in blood."

Lily smiled and watched the two of them retreat up the stairs. Her face dropped further as she thought about what Sirius had just said. They lost Alice. Alice Longbottom.

The tears fell down her cheeks too quick for her to be able to catch and she quickly wiped them away. She didn't have time to mourn the loss of a Order of the Pheonix member, of a fellow mother, of her friend.

She thought about Harry hiding in the false wall they had created for him to keep him safe, and couldn't comprehend telling him that Alice had died. How would Frank be able to tell Neville that he lost his mother?

Lily took a few deep breathes and cleaned up all traces of blood from the chair and floor. Wiping her eyes again and putting on the best smile she could muster, she went to get Harry out from his hiding spot.

"It's all safe," she spoke before knocking on the wall five times. "You can come out."

Harry poked his head out, the book he'd been holding abandoned instantly. He still didn't quite understand how dangerous things were but always followed their guidance on the matter. "Who was it?"

"Sirius dropped in for a visit. He's just showering now. A bit stinky."

Harry laughed as he crawled out of the gap in the wall and stood up. "Was he bleeding again?"

Lily nodded mutely, not wanting to elaborate. "Let's go into the living room and wait."

Harry hugged his mother tightly before he nodded. "Did he notice the tree was up?" he asked, taking her hand and walking to the living room with her.

"He sure did. He smelt the peppermint and instantly went and checked it out."

"Awesome!"

Lily watched the smile on his face, it was genuine. He was so innocent. Even with the war, his Godfather turning up bleeding, and clear signs that she had been crying, he always tried to stay cheerful. He was Lily's beacon of hope. She dreaded the day when she and James couldn't protect him anymore, when decorating the tree wouldn't be enough to ease his worries.