A Sappy Newlywed Christmas
It was a snowy Christmas Eve when James and Sirius came into the small cottage in Godric’s Hallow, laughing, their cheeks tinged pink with cold, and dumped a load of snow-covered holly and pine branches in the hall.
“Finally! Who knew tree branches could be that heavy? Even with the wood right by the house, it was still a big hassle! And the cold! It must be -10 degrees outside. Why did we even bother to haul them anyway?” Sirius asked, trying to catch his breath, and stamping the snow off his boots.
James shrugged, “Lily said she loved the smell of fresh pine and holly branches, so I thought I’d get her some from the forest.” He was taking his heavy jacket off, paying no attention to the snow falling on the floor
“Ahh, well that explains why you went,” Sirius replied, as he shook the snow off of his own jacket. “Newlywed, so grateful Lily actually said yes to you that you’d do anything she asked… but what explains my lapse of judgment?” he continued, glaring at his best friend, although his twinkling grey eyes ruined the effect. “Why would I traipse out in the cold and wet? I certainly don’t love dear Lily that much.”
“You decided, Padfoot, out of the sheer and pure goodness of your heart, to help me make Lily’s first Christmas as my wife the best she’ll ever have-“
“ ‘Sheer and pure goodness of my heart,’ James?”asked Sirius incredulously and barely containing the laughter that threatened to burst out at any minute. His grin, however, couldn’t be held back. “You have me confused with Remus. Either that, or you’re channeling one of my fan girls back at Hogwarts.”
James, on the other hand, had no luck in concealing his mirth and he was doubled over laughing. “Well, there’s that, and also because you know if you didn’t, I would ban you from the house on Christmas, and you wouldn’t have anywhere to go,” he answered, grinning good-naturedly as he teased his friend. “Now, quit standing there and help me haul this into the living room. And then get out!”
“What, I can’t stay and help you decorate?” Sirius pouted, but took his armful of greenery and moved to follow his friend.
“No, Lily and I want this to be special,” said James, grabbing his part of the holly and pine branches. “It’s our first Christmas together, and we want to spend some quality time, just the two of us.”
They neared the door to the living room, the strains of a Muggle Christmas carol floating out and catching their attention.
“Lily, darling, can you open the door for us?” James called, his face lighting up at the thought of the look on her face as she saw the surprise they had gotten her.
The door opened, and Lily immediately began to ask, “Where have you bee…Oh, James, you remembered!”
She ran to thank him with a kiss; her face lighting up at the sight of the branches. James smiled, deepening the kiss, very glad that he had remembered her love for fresh wreaths during the holiday season.
“Hey, what about me?” Sirius sulked. “Where’s my thank you? I helped out of the ‘sheer and pure goodness of my heart’”” James snorted, but Sirius steadfastly ignored him. “”to try to make this the best Christmas you sappy newlyweds ever had, and I don’t even get a simple thank you? It’s not like I ask for much, you know, but a little appreciation for all of my troubles would be nice for once.” His ranting was quickly cut off by the female member of their party.
“Thank you, Sirius,” Lily said, detaching herself from James as Sirius responded with a simple “You’re welcome,”.
“Go away, Sirius,” James grumbled, looking disgruntled at being disturbed from kissing Lily, “We’ll see you tomorrow for the Christmas dinner.”
“Fine, fine…I can tell when I’m not wanted,” Sirius said jokingly. He dumped his armful of branches on the living room table and walked toward the front door, cheerfully whistling, “God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs” as he left.
“Finally, he’s gone. Let’s go start on the decorating!” Lily said enthusiastically, yanking James’ arm out of his socket as she pulled him toward the living room. He smiled at her eagerness to begin decorating, remembering fondly her excitement for the Christmas season. At Hogwarts, she had decorated the common room in early December, enlisting first years to help her. The common room always looked amazing, thanks to her decorating. She also used to wake her roommates up at four in the morning to open presents, and their last year, he and the other Marauders had been included in that too, causing Sirius to dump a bucket of ice water on her. Sirius was not a morning person, and anyone who disturbed his “beauty rest” was severely punished.
They went into the small living room, where Lily had put the boxes of decorations. The small Muggle radio on the bookshelf was softly playing one of Lily’s favorite carols, ‘Christmas Canon’, and the fire crackled merrily in the brick fireplace. Numerous boxes-all filled to the brim with colorful decorations in various states of well used and brand-new-were scattered on the floor, and a beautiful, evergreen tree was standing in the corner, specially charmed to stay fresh and sweet-smelling.
“Let’s start with the wreaths, shall we?” James suggested, pulling out his wand.
“James, you can’t use your wand!” exclaimed Lily, glaring at him and hitting his shoulder. “You promised that we would do this the Muggle way. No wands, no magic. Put it away!” she said, looking indignant at the thought of a broken promise.
She then proceeded to sit on the couch, and started to weave the holly and pine branches together. James sat down next to her, wisely refraining from attempting a wreath of his own. Lily had just finished weaving the wreath and was picking out a ribbon for the bow when the entire thing fell apart. Her face fell, and James tried to stifle his laughter. Undeterred, Lily tried to weave it together again, but no sooner had she put the last branch in place did it spring apart again. This time James couldn’t contain his amusement, and he laughed so hard he fell on the floor.
Lily glared at him, then, realizing the humor of the situation, couldn’t contain her mirth and started laughing as well, “All right,” she said. “I give up. I’m going to have to resort to magic.”
She waved her wand, muttering under her breath, and the branches formed into three perfect wreaths, each with red holly berries and pinecones intermixed with the branches, and jaunty red bows on the top.
“Much better,” James said, admiring Lily’s charm work. “I’ll hang this on the front door, shall I?” He took it outside and positioned it on the center of the oaken door.
Lily put some cinnamon candles in between the branches, before carefully placing one of the wreaths in the center of the dining room table. She decided to hang the final wreath above the fireplace.
Turning back to the table, Lily noticed that there were three branches left over, just enough to make a tiny wreathlet. Waving her wand, the branches formed into a tiny, perfect wreath, with three small berries in the front. She placed her final cinnamon candle into the wreath and lit it. The effect was absolutely perfect, and she left it to rest on the table.
She then turned her attention to the stockings. She and James each had one, handmade for them by Lily’s best friend, Emma Wilson. There was only one problem. Where should she hang them?
James came in, shaking the snow off of his head and shoulders, and saw her holding up a stocking, and scrutinizing it carefully. Laughing silently, he walked up to his wife and took both stockings from her before heading to the fireplace and holding them up.
“Perfect! What would I do without you, James?” she said, giving him a kiss.
“Spend an eternity pondering over the location of the stockings, that’s what!” he declared, kissing her back.
Neither of them noticed that when James started to kiss her, he lowered the stockings into the fire. Suddenly, James yelped. The stockings were on fire, and so were his pants!
“Stop, drop and roll, James! I’ll go get some water out of the kitchen,” Lily said, panicking at the sight of fire.
“Lily, you’re a witch. Use magic!” James yelled, trying to smother the fire. Lily grabbed her wand off of the table and yelled, “Aguamenti!”
The fire went out, and Lily looked at James sheepishly. “Sorry, dear. Forgot about using magic.”
“Well, this will be a story to tell our grandchildren! I can picture it now, I’m telling them about the great idea I had about where to put the stockings, and you telling them that after I had that great idea, I burnt said stockings! I’ll add in that you forgot that you were a witch, and tried to throw water on me,” James joked, as Lily healed his small burn.
Lily laughed, fighting down her disappointment about the evening not being perfect, and they nailed the stockings above the fireplace before taking a break for dinner; was some of Lily’s famous open-faced sandwiches, made with ham and Swiss cheese.
The tree decorating was next, and here was where they focused most of their efforts. As both of their parents had died recently, they had inherited most of the ornaments that had filled their childhood. Lily had some beautiful hand-blown glass balls and some delicate angels and icicles, as well as some that she had made as a child. James had glass balls with images of his family, him as a child, the Marauders, various Quidditch teams, and even a few of him and Lily that had been taken during their 7th Year. They had also gone to a special shop in London, which sold beautiful ornaments, many of which Lily and James planned to use to fill up their tree. Colorful strings of lights wrapped around the tree, and each ornament had a special place, as well as special memories that went along with them. Each ornament had a tale attached to them, some funny, some sad, and some horrifically boring.
As James finally placed the last ornament on a branch near the base of the tree, he spotted a small, brightly wrapped package under the tree, complete with a card attached, already tucked underneath the tree.
“Hmm…wonder who this is from?” James said, looking at the package curiously as he brought it over to where Lily was sitting.
Lily took it from him and opened up the card. “It’s from Sirius,” she said, handing the card to James.
Dear Sappy Newlyweds (a.k.a. Lily and Prongs),
I hope you guys take time away from your decorating (or whatever it is you are doing) to properly appreciate your present. May you have a Happy Christmas and have many more after this.
Happy Christmas, Prongs and Mrs. Prongs,
Padfoot
“Let’s open it now! It seems like he wanted us to open it tonight, so now’s a perfect time!” James said, practically bouncing with excitement at the thought.
“Down, boy, help me put these boxes away first. I want to be able to relax before I open it,” said Lily, her eyes sparkling with amusement. And as James continued his bouncing before starting to clean up, Lily wondered if her husband had reverted to a five year old.
James was a whirlwind of movement as he quickly repacked the boxes. He was so excited that he didn’t even think to use magic. Lily just stood there, laughing at his eagerness to open a present, even if it was just from Sirius. Within ten minutes, everything was back in the attic, and James and Lily were back on the couch, a mug of hot cocoa in each of their hands. James also had Sirius’s gift in his hands and he immediately started to tear into it. When he finally opened it (Sirius had triple taped it), he opened the box to find a delicate, crystal snowflake ornament. Engraved in the center of the ornament were the words:
Lily and James Potter
First Christmas of Many
December 1979
“Oh, this is beautiful!” Lily gasped softly as she saw the fragile, detailed ornament. “Who knew Sirius had it in him?” Lily gasped softly as she saw the ornate, delicate ornament. It was exactly what she would have picked herself, and inscribed even better than she could have done.
“Would you like to put it on the tree, Lily? I think it’s exactly what we need to make this Christmas tree absolutely perfect,” James suggested, awed by the thoughtfulness of his friend’s gift. He was expecting something more frivolous, for Sirius wasn’t known for his thoughtfulness in gift giving.
Lily stood on tiptoe to put it in the center of the tree, and then she dimmed the lights before returning to her spot on the couch beside James. He hugged her, and they sat in comfortable silence for a while before Lily remembered the announcement she had to make that had been stewing for days. She had been waiting for the right moment to tell the man next to her, and she felt that the moment was now.
“James…”she said, gathering her courage. What if he didn’t want this, or he wasn’t excited?
“Mmm? What’s on your mind, love?” James asked in a sleepy voice. He had almost dozed off.
“I have something to tell you…I just found out…we’re pregnant!” she held her breath, waiting for his reaction.
“That’s nice, dear…WAIT, WHAT? We’re PREGNANT? WHAT…WHEN…HOW?” James was now fully awake and grinning; he was going to be a father! Wow! He jumped off the couch and started waltzing across the living room with Lily. This was the best Christmas present ever!
“Do you have any ideas for names?” he asked, and immediately started to babble. “I like the name Naomi for a girl, dunno why though, but maybe Jared for a boy…”
Lily laughed, knowing that she had been silly for worrying. How could she have thought that he would be unhappy? His enthusiasm was contagious.
“Calm down, James, we still have eight months before the baby comes,” interrupting her husband as he wondered over names and other details. “We can decide on a name later, although we will certainly not be naming her or him Naomi.” She glared at James before grasping his arm and leading him back to the couch. “Let’s just relax and enjoy tonight, our first Christmas together.”
They sat back down on the couch, and James hugged Lily once again, leaving his arm draped across her shoulders as they leaned back. The couple sat like that for a while, just listening to the Christmas music that drifted out of the radio, and admiring the decorations they had put so much effort into. In the background, they could hear as one carol ended and a different one-an old English carol- began and floated out of the radio.
The Holly and the Ivy
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O, the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing in the choir.
A Sappy Newlyweds' Christmas by LilyGinnyWrites92
Chapter Notes: Please read and review! Also, thank you to my wonderful betas, CakeorDeath, megan_lupin and irrevocablyblair. I love you guys!