Christmas Eve at Godric's Hollow

Faerie lights flickered playfully in the window of the Potter house in Godric's Hollow, and passers-by paused to notice the sight as James Potter fought a losing battle with the Christmas tree that his wife, Lily, had insisted they put up without magic.

'Are you quite sure I couldn't just pop it into place?' James asked for the fourth time. 'I mean, really, you can still put the decorations on the Muggle way--'

'No,' Lily said as sternly as she could while nursing baby Harry. 'James, I had to suffer through nine months carrying around your firstborn son, and all I ask is that you do Christmas the Muggle way.'

James groaned inwardly knowing that there was no fighting the card she had just played. Carefully, he tilted the tree forward and moved it to the point at which his wife had prescribed in front of the large window facing the busy street.

'Stop!' Lily cried abruptly, and James jumped back away from the tree, staring at his wife, who was positively glowing.

She paced forward, baby still in arms, and kissed James on the cheek. 'It's perfect,' she whispered gratefully.

James grinned proudly and glanced at the clock on the mantle--half past ten. The Marauders (James's best friends from school) would be arriving at any moment.

Lily finished burping the baby in her arms and placed Harry in his bassinet, which had temporarily been moved downstairs for the evening's festivities.

Right on time, the fireplace roared to life in green flames. Sirius, tall and handsome, was the first to emerge, a large sack tossed over his shoulder like Saint Nick and a smaller shopping bag in the other.

'Wipe your shoes, now!' Lily chirped, eyeing her clean wooden floors.

Sirius did as he was told and moved out of the way just as Remus, looking frail but happy nonetheless, appeared, likewise carrying a bag of Christmas presents. Remus took off his shoes before stepping onto the floor, and was met by Lily with a hug.

James took Sirius's hand and clapped a hand on his best mate's shoulder. 'Been alright, Pads?'

'Alright,' Sirius said with a nod. 'Now, where's my godson? I've got something extra special for him.'

'Now, now, Sirius, it's only Christmas Eve,' Lily reasoned. 'Whatever you've got for him will have to wait till morning.'

'Lily!' Sirius exclaimed as though he had just spotted her. He took her hand and spun her in a circle before kissing her hand. 'As lovely as ever.'

Smiling, Lily said, 'Always the charmer, aren't we, Sirius?' She patted his cheek and walked over to the bassinet.

Lily gingerly pulled Harry from the bassinet and handed him over to his godfather. Sirius stared down at the baby in his arms as if it was the most beautiful being on Earth.

Remus leaned over Sirius's shoulder and remarked, 'Is that James's brown hair I see?'

'Gonna go through hell with that,' Sirius said with a grin.

'Language, Sirius,' Lily said incredulously.

'What?' Sirius said innocently. 'All I said was--'

'I'm well aware of what you said, Sirius,' Lily said, glaring dangerously at him over her shoulder. 'But, if you don't mind, I'd prefer that my son not be spouting profanities before he's even a year old.'

Sirius was smart not to argue with Lily and continued pointing out the splendours of his godson. 'Look at those eyes!' he proclaimed, determined to climb back into Lily's good graces.

'Where's Peter?' James asked, just now noticing that one of his best mates was missing.

'He said he wasn't coming,' Remus said, tearing his eyes away from Harry. 'Spending Christmas with his parents this year.'

'But we've spent every Christmas Eve together since fourth year!' James whined childlike.

'Give it a rest, James,' Lily said. 'I think it's fine that that Peter wants to spend time with his parents. In fact, I was going to suggest that we do the same, but given recent events...'

The room fell silent at the mention of the death of James's parents; Sirius and James bowed their heads.

Remus conjured up glasses of mead that appeared in their hands and raised his own to the ceiling. 'To William and Helen.'

Sirius and Lily murmured together, but James remained silent for a moment before whispering, 'Mum and Dad.'

He sunk into the nearest armchair, set his glass goblet on the table next to him and covered his face with his hands. Lily was at her husband's side within seconds, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. James uncovered his face for a moment to remove his glasses, and Sirius and Remus busied themselves with placing Harry back in his bassinet to avoid seeing their best mate's tears.

When James had himself fully composed once more he pulled himself out of the armchair and placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. 'Let's get this tree decorated!' he said cheerfully, successfully keeping the sorrow out of his voice.

Remus and Sirius pulled their wands from their jacket pockets, but Lily protested, 'No, no, no. We're doing Christmas the Muggle way this year.'

The pair exchanged looks of confusion and replaced their wands inside their jackets.

'Alright,' Lily said, kneeling down in front of a box of decorations. 'Let's see here... We have the tree ornaments in this box. James and Sirius, you two can do this, I hope. We don't need to use them all, but I would like the Baby's First Christmas ornaments to be put on there.

'Remus, you and I will hang the mistletoe and garland and stockings.'

Within moments everyone was hard at work, hanging decorations and laughing as they shared stories and reminisced on times past. Sirius and James remained in the sitting room, obeying Lily's wishes and adding ornaments to the tree without using any magic; meanwhile, Lily and Remus headed into the foyer, where they began thumb-tacking garland around the front doorway.

'Since when--I mean,' Remus started awkwardly. 'Has James ever done that before? The breakdown, I mean.'

Lily shrugged as she pulled the garland tight across the top of the doorframe. 'He's had a rough time after his parents passed. We usually just choose not to talk about it. What with You-Know-Who growing stronger and all that going around as well... We just try to go about life as normal as possible.'

Remus nodded to himself. 'You remind me of them--you and James,' he noted. 'You're really good for each other. I always felt that with the Potters. William would keep his cool even with James and Sirius going at their pranks, and he'd make sure Helen didn't lose her head.'

Lily reached up toward the ceiling, standing on tiptoes, holding the mistletoe in an attempt to hang it in the foyer. Remus, several centimetres taller than Lily, stepped forward, took the mistletoe from her hand and hung it on a small hook from the ceiling.

'Thanks,' Lily said as they both stared up at it.

They seemed to realize at the same moment where they stood, and Remus blushed crimson, looking at the worn toes of his dress shoes.

'Merry Christmas, Remus,' Lily said, her smile warm and welcoming as she kissed him lightly on the lips.

The pair resumed their decorating as James and Sirius continued on the Christmas tree.

'She's not quite as big of a prude as I thought she'd be, you know that?' Sirius said casually.

'What?' James stammered.

'Lily. I always thought she was so wrong for you, mate,' Sirius admitted plainly. 'I mean, you're a Marauder; she was a bookworm. I never thought it'd work.'

'She's my wife,' James said.

'I'm aware of that,' Sirius said coolly. 'But that doesn't change what I thought about her while we were in school.'

'Yeah, well, you're also the one who thought Remus wasn't Marauder material,' James noted.

Sirius shrugged as he hung a gingerbread man on the tree. 'I was young and stupid; so were you. We made a lot of mistakes.'

'But not with Snivellus,' James added.

'No, never with Snivellus,' Sirius agreed. 'Wonder what ever happened to him.'

'Joined You-Know-Who's ranks, I heard,' James said smartly.

'Not surprising,' Sirius said with a roll of the eyes. 'Always hanging about with Avery. Didn't he go over to You-Know-Who as well?'

'Yeah,' James said, hanging a small silver harp near the bottom of the tree. 'Rough times, we've grown up in, huh, mate?'

'Yeah,' Sirius said grimly. He lit up suddenly. 'But at least we've got each other, eh?'

'Ta,' James said with a smack on his friend's back.

The fireplace roared to life once more, and out stepped Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts and close family-friend of James and Lily. He came festively dressed in scarlet robes. His long hair and beard made him comparable to Saint Nicholas.

'Albus!' James said welcomingly. 'What brings you hear?'

'Oh, just stopped by to spread some Christmas cheer,' Albus said warmly, though there was something in his voice that told James he had more on his mind than Christmas cheer.

'Albus!' Lily said as she entered the room. She greeted the older man with an embrace.

'Ah, my dear Lily, how are you?' Albus said as she pulled away.

'Wonderful, and yourself?'

'Splendid,' he said with a smile. 'I didn't expect you to have company, otherwise I would have called upon you before interrupting.'

'No, no, don't worry about that, Albus,' Lily assured him. 'Remus and Sirius don't mind, do you?'

The pair shook their heads and shook Albus's hand. They were all well acquainted with the headmaster, having spent many hours in his office after carrying out childish pranks. Yet there was still something in Albus's voice that said he wished to have spoken with Lily and James in private.

'Can I get you something to drink, Albus?' Lily asked. 'A cup of tea? A glass of wine?'

'Wine would be divine,' Albus said with a chuckle at his rhyme. 'Shall I help you in the kitchen?'

Lily stole a glance at her husband, nodded, and the three of them made their way into the kitchen while Remus and Sirius remained in the sitting room with baby Harry.

'What's this all about, Albus?' Lily asked as she pulled the best wine from the rack. 'Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?'

'Minerva can surely handle the remaining students over the holidays,' Albus said, offhand. 'It is vital that I talk to you tonight. I hoped, however, that we could have been alone.'

James glanced over his shoulder and pointed his wand at the hallway. 'Muffliato,' he murmured, and buzzing began, blocking sound out to listening ears.

'Let's sit, shall we?' Albus advised.

The three took seats around the table in the kitchen and Albus began, 'I'm sure you both are aware of the recent rising of Lord Voldemort?'

James and Lily looked warily at each other but nodded.

'I'm afraid that it is my unfortunate duty to inform you,' Albus announced, 'that your family is in grave danger.'

Lily and James stared at the old man in disbelief, as though he must be joking. It was not as though their family was of any interesting background. James was pureblood through and through, but his family was known for nothing except being kind, openhearted people. Lily, on the other hand, was of Muggle decent, and while Lord Voldemort's main goal was to rid the world of non-magic blood, she had never had the misfortune of crossing his path.

'Albus,' James said, lowering his voice and leaning across the table toward the old man, 'how is that possible? We've done absolutely nothing--'

'Yes,' Albus said, sounding ever cheerful. 'But, you see, bad things oftentimes happen to good people, James--as you frequently took it upon yourself to remind your old adversary, Severus Snape.'

'Now, Albus, let us not get caught up in the past,' James said, eager to avoid his faults. 'Tell us, what could... You-Know-Who... possibly want with us?'

Albus leaned back in his chair quite comfortably and spoke. 'As you may or may not know, before the start of this school year, I met with Sybil Trelawney, who requested opening a course of Divination at Hogwarts. And, as you can imagine, I was rather suspicious of her qualifications.

'I was just about to leave when she quite proved that she was more than qualified. She made a prophecy of a child born at the end of July this year. In this prophecy, she claimed that this child would have the power that Lord Voldemort does not.

'Now, before I get ahead of myself, you must know that there is only a fifty percent chance that Harry actually is the child in question. Another child was born at the end of July, who fits this description,' he said, looking back and forth between the couple. 'However, the prophecy says that this child would have the power to vanquish Lord Voldemort for good,' Albus explained, running his hand over his long white beard. 'This being the case, one--either Voldemort or the child--must kill the other.'

With those words spoken, Lily burst into tears. Covering her face with her hands, she didn't attempt to hide her sobs. James, still speechless, placed a comforting hand on his wife's back, never taking his eyes off Albus, looking for some hint of banter. When none came, he spoke at last, 'Albus, this can't be possible. Our son, our only son...not even a year old... Albus...'

'I'm very sorry, James, but I'm afraid it's true,' the man admitted, eyes filled with concern. 'For now, as Voldemort has yet to come out into the open and kill freely, I believe your family is safe, but you can rest assured that I will be popping in throughout the year to ensure your safety--that is, if you trust me.'

'Of course, Albus,' James said, chancing a glance at his sobbing wife. 'We both do. Thank you.'

Albus nodded and rose from his seat. 'Finite Incantatem,' he said with a wave of his wand at the doorway. The buzzing immediately ceased. 'I'm sorry to have burdened your happy evening.'

'Not at all,' James said, rising from his seat to walk Albus to the fireplace.

'Yes,' Lily said, her tears now coming to an end. 'It was wonderful to see you again, Albus.' She got to her feet and hugged him. 'Thank you for telling us.'

Albus nodded, and they all headed into the sitting room, where Sirius and Remus had baby Harry and the Potters' cat, Tibbles, on the couch.

'Sirius, Remus,' Albus said, nodding to the pair.

'Albus,' they said simultaneously in return.

'I would love to stay longer,' Albus explained to Lily and James, 'but, you see, I must now visit the Longbottoms and put quite a damper on their Christmas Eve as well.'

'Longbottoms?' Lily repeated just before Albus stepped into the now green flames. 'Frank and Alice? But why would you need to see them?'

Albus sighed gravely. 'Because, as I stated, there is another boy who could quite possibly be marked for death.'

Before anyone could get another word in edgewise, Albus had passed through the flames; and Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and baby Harry were left to their bleak Christmas at Godric's Hollow.