Thanks to everyone who'd I've talked to, and expecially, again, Garyf who took his time to put up with (just one this time) editing routin although this is not the original story he's helping me with.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these Characters. They belong to JK Rowlings, and I am just borrowing them for the sake of this story. Sally DeFord is the writer of When Mary Sang Her Lullaby, that is not mine either. I have no idea who wrote Silent Night, but it definately wasn't me and I believe it is public domain.
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Darkness fell o'er Bethlehem at last
And hastened weary travellers to their rest.

"Hope you have a good Christmas, Moony. Remember, come by tomorrow after you’ve visited your mum. You know Lily, she cooks for hundreds, and you certainly don’t expect me to eat it all, do you?" James smiled.

"I’ve been trying to keep my figure in check, and it’s especially hard around Christmas."

Moony, or rather, Remus Lupin returned his friends beaming smile with his own small, tired one, as he hurriedly threw a rather threadbare cloak around his slim shoulders.

"Prongs, my good fellow, between your wife and my mother, I swear I’ll never starve. She’s already got me to come for Christmas dinner though. I can guarantee I won’t be around for dinner anytime soon if she has her way. You’ll have Sirius and Peter over anyways, though. Padfoot practically lives here anyways."

"Actually, I’m not sure they will either. Pete’s got dinner with his sister, remember? And I guess you missed Sirius’ exit. Went home swearing he’d never touch firewhiskey again," James sighed. "But he may stop by really quick tomorrow, he’ll have to return the lampshade he was wearing as a hat."

The old friends both shared a laugh, while Remus still hurried to prepare himself for the outside, throwing a short scarf deftly around his neck and turning his collar up over that.
"Ah well Prongs, just be careful how Lily bastes the turkey then, you can probably sucker him into something. I’ll see you in two days I guess then, as usual?"

At this, James’ smile dimmed greatly, turning the smile into a cautious bite of his lip. "Well Moony. I was thinking. You know Lily left the party a little early, I don’t think she’s feeling to well. She’s started having little spells all over the place. I actually sent her to the doctor today with Alice. She hasn’t gotten around to telling me what’s wrong. I was planning...to sit this full moon out. Just until she’s better. Honestly I’d be there but, if it’s serious..."

Remus paled slightly, but flashed him another exhausted smile. "It’s okay James, honestly. I’m sure we’ll be fine one night. My mum’s gotten me trying this new potion, anyways. I don’t know how she’s paid for it. But it’s pretty new, and it’s supposed to keep me somewhat sane. Who knows...I may not even need any of you guys...let you have a Christmas break for once."

James sized up Remus for a moment, still not satisfied. He didn’t like the idea of Remus taking any potion either. This one, something called the Wolfbane potion, he thought had just come out as experimental treatment. Nobody knew if it’d actually work. "Are you sure, because if Lily-"

"Stop it!" insisted Remus, pulling on the last of his outdoor wear. "I can handle it. I am a grown man, which is a fact I commonly seem to be giving out to both my friends and my parents lately. I’m sure it’s okay James. Stay with Lily, I’ll check in with both of you by New Year at the latest. Now you get your ass upstairs and stay with your bloody wife." He said quietly, but with enough edge behind it that James didn’t wish to argue.

After a quick embrace between the barefoot James and Remus in his several layers of clothing, the latter turned and walked into the snowy lawns of the Potter’s Godric’s Hollow home. James stayed at his spot in the door, watching as his childhood friend slowly walked out to the street, stopped, then disapparated.

The empty streets all silent
All silent was the night
All silent 'neath the star of stars,
aglow with heaven's light.

James stood with the door open for a few moments, small windblown flurries of snow swirling across the doorstep while he held it ajar. The street before him was quite picturesque: all lit up in a mixture of Muggle green, red and white Christmas lights and wizard-made decorations like soft twinkling arrays of small fairies and other odd and some downright absurd arrangements. Shutting the door only when the chill began to get to him. It was nights like these, with the reaches of the war which the wizarding world was fighting, the night bordering on something special throughout the world, was one of the things James felt thankful for. Looking out on the silent, untroubled streets right there, he knew that this had to be paradise. He never felt more invincible.

"James?" The quiet female voice whispered from behind him, soft and somewhat sleepy. "Everybody’s gone already?"

He whipped around, standing at the top of the steps behind him was Lily. Her red hair was tossled from being pressed against a pillow for a while, sticking up in an odd fashion as if trying to mimic his own hedgehog-head of hair. Her face was ghostly white, making a startling contrast with her bright hair.

She swayed slightly gripping the banister as if she were still half asleep. She’d been like that at the beginning of James’ Christmas Eve Party, and had been upstairs after that either in a light sleep or being sick in the bathroom.

James started up the stairs, taking them nearly two at a time, worried that she seemed so zoned out that she’d collapse.

She smiled. "I’m alright, honestly." She said, taking her hand off the banister for a moment and pitching forwards slightly, catching him hard on the shoulder.

"Lily!" He said sternly, grabbing hold of her waist and helping her straight again. "You go back and lay down, no walking around. It’s one o’clock in the bloody morning. You should be asleep."

"You’re not," she added pointedly, though she relaxed into his grasp, going semi-limp.

"True," he said. "But then I’ve always been the rule breaker, haven’t I? I believe it was you in sixth year who insisted I was the not the most ‘innocent person’ you knew."

"I believe the exact words were ‘incompetent fool’, hun," she said slyly.

"Same difference. Our personal favourite as a whole was ‘bigheaded git’ though, wasn’t it?"

She smiled. An argument about exactly what they had both called each other for the first five or six years they had met could both go on forever and actually get a little obscene, so she’d learn quickly to cut it off.

"I heard what you said to Remus. You’re not staying home, James?"

"Wh-What?" He said, somewhat taken aback. "Of course I am. You’re sick. I’m not leaving while you’re..." He let off though, as Lily, quite firmly and quickly though she looked quite weakened by exhaustion, placed a hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"You haven’t even let me speak," she said, removing her hand. "I wanted to wait until everyone was gone. You know I went with Alice Longbottom today. Turns out I’m not sick."
"What the bloody hell do you mean you’re not sick!?" James interjected. "You’ve locked yourself in the bathroom nearly every morning for the past week!"

Lily’s eyes met his, as she left out a tiny laugh." There’s something more to it, James. It’s more like a present. An extra one from me, you’ll have to wait a bit though."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Wordlessly, Lily placed one arm around his neck, taking her other hand and grasping his. She placed his and her own free hand palm down on her stomach.

"Merry Christmas James, I’m pregnant."

~*~

Then Mary sang her lullaby of love
And cradled in her arms the Holy Child
In that poor and lowly place
Hallowed by his grace,
'Twas a lullaby to comfort all the world

~*~

Darkness fell o'er shepherds in the fields
'Til heaven's joyful tidings were revealed

"Sirius, SIRIUS! For Merlin’s sake what do you think your doing with my son!" Lily’s bellow carried across the snowy front lawn, as the livid redhead stormed across the lawn, kicking up the almost pristine snowfield.

The Sirius in question, at that moment, was a rather obvious black dog, roughly the size of a small horse. Its large shaggy body was currently standing over a small infant, layed in its bassinet and wrapped many times over in a number of blankets and baby clothes. The dog was busy snuffling all over the baby’s face, who was making faint cooing sounds of delight. At the angry voice, the large dog looked up, and slapped his tail on the ground rapidly, playfully.

"Sirius! You don’t leave Harry on the ground like that! He’s a baby! He’ll freeze! And you’re going to frighten him to death doing that!"
The dog gave a disappointed whimper. Soon though, in its place was a rather handsome young man with roguish features, crouching before his godchild.

"Oh, loosen up Lily, I was being careful. And look, he liked Padfoot." He scooped up the baby in his arms, to show his mother. Indeed, the little round face showed no signs of fear, but looked confused and slightly let down, bright eyes trying to see past his head coverings and the cradled arms to find his doggy that had so suddenly disappeared.

"Lily took the baby gently from Black’s arms, pulling her baby boy into her own embrace. The infant Harry however, wasn’t up to being held by his mom, instead lifting tiny, near useless hands covered in fuzzy baby-mitts to the sky, whimpering and muttering baby-nonsense, bottom lip beginning to quiver ominously.

"See, see that. He LIKES Padfoot!" Sirius crowed triumphantly, giving a teasing look over at Lily.

"Pa! Pa! Harry cooed in resplendence. And before Lily could stop him, Sirius was the large black dog again, and bounding around her feet kicking up showers of snow into the air. It didn’t help either that Harry was giggling insanely, waving his feet and hands around in the air, egging him on.

Luckily, the mostly unlikely person came to Lily’s rescue. Peter Pettigrew, the last of James’ friends had shuffled out onto the back porch, and had the best timing ever to tell them that Remus, Alice, and James had finished up with the cooking.

Sirius eagerly bounded towards the door, leaving Lily alone again, considerably wetter and colder than she had been when she’d left the house in the first place to check on her son and his godfather. Though she couldn’t help but hide a smile, as she looked down into the matching eyes of her own son.

"Lily! Dinner will be on the table in a few minutes!" Peter repeated again, apparently he was eager to get to the dinner table himself.

"Just a minute," she replied, as she went to collect Harry’s bassinet from where Sirius had set him down. She straightened quickly, however, as the sound of what was unmistakably a few of her dishes, her husband’s and houseguests’ voices raised, and the unmistakable bark of Padfoot, that made her turn quickly, balancing the infant in one arm and the bassinet in the other, back towards her home.

"SIRIUS!"

The angels' song of glory
reechoed o'er the plains
While in a stable,
soft and low,
A sweeter song remained

The Christmas meal was polished off quickly, with few mishaps except for the loss of several of the Potter’s cutlery and china wedding presents as Sirius had careened into the cabinet.

The Potter’s and their guests, Remus, Sirius, and Peter along with Alice and Frank Longbottom, who’d brought over their own infant son, Neville, born quite close to Harry’s own birthday a few hours after, were settled down in their sitting room. Frank, Sirius, and James had begun quite a few rounds of "Oh Holy Night" (with Sirius substituting some of his own, bawdier lyrics much to the dislike of Lily and Alice.) Remus was looking quite drowsy, staring into the fireplace with lidded eyes and a calm expression. Peter was sitting cross legged on the carpet, attempting to entertain both Harry and Neville by drawing glitter designs in the air with his wand, and Lily and Alice were both going from watching their boys and glaring at Sirius with slight disgust.

As the minutes past, and eventually two of the three carollers died off on their own, the third (Sirius) being shut up in the middle of his rendition of Twelve days of Christmas by a quick and angry silencing spell cast by Alice, who’d completely lost it on the sixth, the small festive group had completely lost track of time since they’d joined each other’s company, but seeing that Harry and Neville had quickly finished with Pete’s light show, and were nodding off on the hearth rug, that it may have been later than they’d expected.

"We’ve got to get going. We’re taking Neville to visit his gran tomorrow morning. Mum hasn’t been able to see him great deal, just getting over a nasty bit of sickness, she is," Frank said urgently, heading into the hall to pick up his and Alice’s cloaks and their son’s bundle of clothing. Though he was the first one to voice this, Peter and Remus quickly followed after them, Peter with supposed truckloads of ministry work and Remus probably just wishing to head home for some actual shuteye.

Sirius was the last to leave though, and not before promising, or, in Lily’s point of view, threatening to come back tomorrow to visit his godson and James again. As if that day with Sirius wasn’t enough, or the day before that, or that day before that. Lily liked the man, she was even beginning to be as comfortable around him as she was with the other Marauders, it was just that the man was so infuriating, it was like she had two young children to look after instead of one.

While James was out, joining his friend while he went to get that motorbike of his. Lily picked up the sleepy Harry from the rug, setting him down in her lap. She could still hardly believe it, although she’d been a mother to this child, this perfectly happy, seemingly flawless child that sat before her, his little cherubic face staring back at her, reflecting her gaze with his own. She couldn’t wait to embrace her future with him, couldn’t wait to share another Christmas with him, have his first birthday, his second, eighteenth. She could wait to seem him go off for Hogwarts for the first time. Maybe he and Neville would grow up and become best friends, maybe he’d find someone like Sirius to hang around with, which she didn’t think she could stomach. She’d put up with it though, because he’d be her son’s friend, and she was sure her son would never do anything wrong. She was ready to live the rest of her life with her son. She had no idea that at that moment, this would both be their first and their last Christmas together.

Her voice lifted into a quiet song as she gently bounced the drooping Harry on her knee. It had to have been one of her favourites, Christmas and otherwise.

"S-i-lent night.
H-o-ly night
a-ll is ca-lm
a-ll is bri-te."

She hadn’t heard the door reopen, nor hear his footsteps, but she left a hand being place on her shoulder, and soon James’ strong tenor voice joined with hers, and she was almost certain he was thinking the same thing’s she was.

"Round yon’ vir-r-gin
mo-ther and child
ho-ly in-fant so
ten-der and mild
sleep in hev-en-ly
pe-eace
sle-ep in hea-ven-ly
peace."

Nearly ten months later, Lily and James were dead.
~*~

For Mary sang her lullaby of love
And cradled in her arms the Holy child
In that poor and lowly place
Hallowed by his grace,
'Twas a lullaby to comfort all the world

~*~

When darkness falls and night besets my soul,
Her gentle song still sings of brighter hope

Harry woke up suddenly, totally forgetting his glasses had still been perched on his face, too tired to have taken them off when he’d fallen asleep. In fact, he wasn’t sure exactly when he had finally nodded off. His mind for the past month had been clouded with harsh memories and worries, ones that he were absolutely certain no other fifteen year old boy, even if that boy happened to be a wizard had ever had to deal with.

Nobody had seen innocents die.

Nobody had one of the biggest dark forces in the world wanting them dead.

Nobody was like him.

[b][i]Above the voice of sorrow
Beyond all bitter tears

He almost felt like crying, right there and then. It wasn’t like he couldn’t. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. It was just that, if he cried now, even when Dean, Neville, Ron, and Seamus were still sound asleep in their four-posters, when they couldn’t see him, that he’d be giving in. Giving into despair and sorrow. He couldn’t afford that now. There was an entire race depending on him, not just his friends, he had something bigger he needed to worry about.

But could I do it? The little thought echoed through his head, entirely with out his permission or warning. What if it’s not me in the prophecy, what if it is Neville? What if it’s not me?

He got up, flinging the duvet off his body and stepping onto the cold flagstone floor. Getting over the shock of the cold, he stood, and began to pace. He wasn’t going to be able to handle it. He had the strange feeling he was going to end up dead, and everything was going to be lost.

Echoes of that lullaby
linger through the years

Harry froze mid-pace, standing erect as if he felt something suddenly run along his spin. He had, something rang out in his mind, banishing the thoughts in his head for the moment.
He knew it was them. His mum and dad. Lily and James. At least it was their voices. Every time, before when he’d heard them, it’d been those last, horrible moments. His parents fighting for him, dying for him. But this time, no, this time it seemed different. It was something he remembered, but it felt older, faded, as if he could barely hold on to it. He wondered later if her were merley dreaming it all. But it still rang out true, and brought him to his senses somewhat.

"S-i-lent night.
H-o-ly night
a-ll is ca-lm
a-ll is bri-te"

It must have come from a happier time, one that he could barely register, and it still had the tendency to fade in and fade out in his mind. But he knew who was singing, and it gave him something he would need later on. In one way it gave him a cause. He was going to defeat Voldemort. He’d taken his parents’ life, it was only fair to honour their memory by taking his. It also gave him freedom, knowing that he could sometimes remember happier times when he was with them, the time that felt so short, and a time that he was robbed of.

But most of all, it gave him hope.

"Round yon’ vir-r-gin
mo-ther and child
ho-ly in-fant so
ten-der and mild
sleep in hev-en-ly
pe-eace
sle-ep in hea-ven-ly
peace."

Harry silently slipped back into his bed, looking over to his fellow dorm mates for a moment, before his head started do dip down towards the pillow. The lullaby began to play itself again, almost growing stronger as he grew more tired, and he could almost feel his mum and his dad standing over him, watching him. He knew they weren’t standing by, but they were sure looking down on him. Wherever they were, he was sure of it. And they were still watching out for him.

This thought alone caused Harry to fall asleep with what had to be the first real smile he’d had in what seemed like forever.
~*~

When Mary sang her lullaby of love
And cradled in her arms the Holy Child
In that poor and lowly place
Hallowed by his grace
'Twas a lullaby to comfort all the world

'Twas a lullaby to comfort

all

the

world.

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Final note from the author

I have but one thing to say, so here it goes. To all my readers:

Merry Christmas.