The snow was falling heavy from the grey morning sky; James Potter was making his way through the Christmas crowd, both of his hands loaded with bags filled with presents, a large turkey, various ingredients for Christmas pudding and wrapping paper. He opened the garden gate and followed the cleared path to a small house. He fumbled with the brass knob which was slippery from the cold weather and with much trouble he got inside and walked towards the kitchen.
“James is that you?”
“Yes,” he answered as he placed the bags on the counter; they fell over and the contents started to roll out of the bags but stopped at the edge of the table as if magic was preventing it from falling off.
“Did you kick off the snow before you came in?”
“Yes,” he said as he removed the trail of snow he had left behind him with a flick of his wand.
“Remember to check the hallway next time you try to weasel your way out of it,” Lily said with a grin as she appeared in the doorway. She looked at the mess on the counter and sighed, “I don’t know why we always leave the shopping until the last minute.” She took out her wand and started to put the groceries in their correct place.
“The entire town seemed to have waited as well,” James said while he helped her. “If only you would let me use magic to transport it, it wouldn’t be so hard on my back.”
“You know perfectly well why you can’t use magic. This is a Muggle town and I don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to us,” she said harshly but smiled anyway.
“I suppose you’re right,” he sighed but after seeing the look on her face he continued, “Okay, you ARE right.” He walked over to her and placed his hands around her waist. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes I am thank you. I was just a bit nauseous; nothing to worry about.” She smiled as she said the latter but James didn’t notice it. “We better get started on the cooking then.” Lily put on an apron and took bowls, pots and pans out of the cupboards.
“Why can’t we just do it tomorrow like any other normal wizarding family?” James asked. “Before the guests arrive?”
“Because my mother always made the pudding and the stuffing on Christmas Eve,” she replied solemnly, “And it gets a richer taste that way.”
“But why do you always do it the Muggle way? Why not use magic?”
“Because the secret ingredient in all good cooking is love and you can’t add that with a wand,” she proclaimed as she started measuring the flour. “Besides I’m proud of my Muggle heritage and that’s just the way I was brought up.”
“You’re right. You’re always right.” James kissed her and put a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“That’s the one thing I’m never in doubt of,” she said and returned the kiss, “And I love you.” James smiled and ran a hand through his jet-black hair. Lily spluttered as she tried to hold back a laugh. James looked at her questionably. “You’re doing it again,” she told him.
“What? Doing what?”
“Messing up your hair. You always do that when you feel a tad pompous.”
He shot his arm down along side his body and said, “Force of habit I guess.” He smirked, “But it worked didn’t it? You fell for it.”
Lily grabbed her hips and sent him a dirty look, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I fell for; your large ego and your ruffled hair.”
“And don’t forget my rugged good looks and eminent Quidditch skills.” He ducked as Lily playfully threw a towel after him. “Why don’t I just go in to the living room and get started on the decorations and leave you with your cooking.”
“Yes please; and I’ll come in and redo it later when you think you’re finished,” she said to tease him and, with a slight movement with her wand, stopped the towel that was now flying through the air towards her.
Because of the time of year, it was already dark outside by 5 o’clock. James and Lily where both done with the cooking and the decorations and were enjoying a cup of tea in a large sofa in the sitting room. James had done a magnificent job with the decorations; the tree, which was almost scraping the ceiling, was decorated mainly in red and gold. James had insisted on those colours because of the symmetry it added; he was surprisingly strict when it came to decorations. The tree should either be in blue and silver or red and gold, this year it was the latter. Lily had insisted that they didn’t put too many decorations on it because she liked the fact that you could still see the natural colours of the tree. Hanging from the ceiling along the walls was a beautiful fir chain decorated with little gilded drums and paper cornets filled with sweets from Honeyduke’s. The only light in the sitting room was coming from the candlesticks that were sitting in all the windows. Lily and James got them last year from some of Lily’s Muggle family who lived in Sweden; they called them Advent candlesticks.
James had hung up two stockings with their names on, on both sides of the mantle piece. On top of it they had placed pictures of friends and family. Many of them had gotten in to the Christmas spirit. In one of the pictures a young Sirius Black was wearing a top hat with a wreath of holly around it; he had his arm around an equally young Remus Lupin who was sporting a pair of antlers. Coming forwards from behind them was the small Peter Pettigrew, his eyes were glistening and he was smiling as he waved and pointed at the bulb he had instead of his nose and they were all laughing when it started to blink bright red. Another picture showed Lily’s parents pulling a cracker while a 10-year old Petunia and little sister Lily were clapping and laughing. At the end of the mantle piece stood the largest picture. Inside a beautiful ornamented frame was the Order of the Phoenix; an organisation Lily and James had formed with their most trusted friends and colleagues a year or so ago to protect the wizarding world from Lord Voldemort’s reign. Everybody were talking amongst each other and drinking punch. Hagrid’s huge form was slumped up against the frame and next to him stood the two tall figures of Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore. They were both wearing pink bonnets and singing an unknown Christmas carol. Everyone seemed to have forgotten their worries and was just having fun.
“Settle down you guys. We all need to be here.” James smiled as he said it and returned to his conversation with Lily. “When are the guests coming tomorrow?”
“Sirius, Remus and Peter will be here at eight to open the gifts and the rest will be here around midday.”
“Do you want to exchange gifts now or do you want to wait till tomorrow?” James asked.
“Let’s do it now,” Lily said as she placed her mug on the table and sat up straight in the sofa. James pointed his wand at the bulging stockings and the gifts came flying towards them. He caught them and handed one of them to Lily. “Open yours first,” she said with a glint in her eyes.
James’ eyes sparkled like a little boy’s as he tore off the paper. He examined the dark blue velvet box that was underneath it. “What is it?”
“Open it and find out,” she said with a tiny smirk.
“But how?” he said in an almost high pitched voice.
She took his hands. “Do you see all those little perforations in the middle? You have to let the box know that it’s the rightful owner who’s trying to open it.” She grabbed his thumb and placed it on the little holes. James felt something pricking the skin but he forgot about as soon as the box slowly opened. It was “ a pair of glasses.
“Specs?”
“Not just any pair of specs,” Lily proclaimed. “I developed these with the help of Moody.”
“Mad-Eye helped you make these. What can they do?”
“They’re really smart. They turn into shades when you don’t want people to recognize you or if the sun is bothering you; and if you touch the frame you can see what’s going on behind you. And they have night vision as well.”
“I love them, they’re perfect.” James kissed his wife. “Open yours.”
Lily gently removed the paper from her gift. She looked at the black parcel she was now holding in her hand and ran her fingers over the smooth exterior. It was made of skin from some sort of animal. James cleared his throat and said, “I know you think this sort of gift is corny but this is something special.”
Lily opened the parcel and inside it was covered in the same skin, only this was a deep shade of purple. A beautiful gold necklace caught her eye. It appeared to be a delicate chain but James assured her that nothing could break it. The pendant was a little plump heart with an amethyst stone in the right curve. “James; it’s gorgeous.” She threw herself at him and started to kiss him. “And it’s not corny at all.”
“It was my mother’s. It’s called Auxilium Pectus.”
Lily looked flabbergast. “The Helping Heart. Those are really rare. I didn’t know your mother had one.”
“She didn’t wear it that often,” James explained.
“How does it work?” Lily asked.
“You hold it in your hands like this.” James took her hands and cupped them around the tiny heart. “And then you just think about the things that are bothering you and it’ll make your worries go away.”
Lily squeezed the heart and suddenly a soothing tune was coming from it. She felt her heart lifting and as the tune faded away she felt utterly relaxed. “I love it. Thank you.” She kissed him tenderly on his cheek.
“And it’ll probably come in handy with Voldemort and his damned Death Eaters lurking at every corner,” James said darkly.
They both sat quietly for several minutes when Lily finally broke the silence. “Since I feel a lot more relieved now I think I’m ready to give you one more gift.” She placed herself in the sofa so that she was facing him and took his hands. “You know how I’ve been feeling a bit sick these last few days.” James nodded in agreement. Lily smiled and said, “I’m pregnant.”
James merely looked at her like he hadn’t understood what she said and then he jumped up lifted Lily and started to swing her around. He stopped suddenly and sat her down on the floor. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…you should rest…how are you feeling, do you need anything? How far along are you?” He spoke in one breath while he looked like he was dancing on the spot.
“I’m fine and I don’t need anything.” She sat down and motioned him to sit down next to her. “I’m eight weeks pregnant so it’s still fairly new.”
James placed his hands on her belly. “Can you feel anything?” he asked.
“Not yet. It’s still too early,” Lily answered.
The next two hours James and Lily Potter forgot everything about the outside world. They were both drunk on excitement and happiness and spoke of nothing but their future together with their unborn child.
“Do you think we’ll have a beautiful baby girl?” James asked.
“No. It’s a boy and his name is Harry,” Lily proclaimed.
“You think so?”
“I know so. I can just feel it.” She rubbed her belly.
“Let’s hope he takes after his mother,” James said as he stroked her hair. “And he gets your beautiful green eyes.”
“And my hair as well,” Lily said playfully. “I can’t wait to tell the others tomorrow. They’ll be so happy; especially Dumbledore.”
“But he’ll be concerned as well. It’s going to be tough to raise a child in the kind of world we live in these days. Voldemort is getting more powerful by the minute.”
“Let’s not worry about that or else I’ll make you squeeze my heart.”
James laughed when Lily said this.
They talked about Harry attending Hogwarts and if he would be sorted into Gryffindor like his parents. They planned that he at least should have two little brothers and sisters and that they all would be raised in Godric’s Hollow in a world where Voldemort didn’t exist anymore. After a while Lily fell asleep. James didn’t want to wake her and just watched her, thinking about how much he loved his wife and his unborn son. He took a blanket and covered Lily with it. He removed a strand of hair from her forehead and kissed it.
“Merry Christmas, Love.”
Merry Christmas, Love by Foxy Wolf
Chapter Notes: I wrote this story as part of the Secret Santa Story Exchange we did in the Hufflepuff Common Room. This is the story I wrote for Sydney McLeod.As always I would like to give a big shout out ;-) to my lovely beta, Potterphile12, who has absolutely proven herself as the best beta in the whole wide world. Thanks A.