The Christmas After

"Minerva? Minerva, Where are you?" Remus Lupin called, entering he and his fiancée's joint quarters at Hogwarts.

The normally neat room, however, was covered top to bottom in Christmas decorations of every kind, and piles of boxes were crammed into every free corner. In the midst of all the mess, he found his wife-to-be, rather flustered and disheveled, with tinsel in her hair, and various pieces of holiday wrapping paper and tape were clinging to her in a very humorous way.

"What on Earth happened in here, Minerva? It's like Father Christmas' workshop gone wizard," he laughed, dropping his bags and rushing forward, carefully pulling a bit of silver tinsel from her ebony hair. Her reply was muffled, as she spoke around the package of ever-changing ribbon in her mouth.

"Mm decorating frr Crsmus...will oo help me?" Once he had deciphered what she had said, he pulled the pack from her mouth and kissed her firmly on the lips.

"Of course I will," he said, picking up a roll of magically animated green and red wrapping paper and examining it.

"Where'd you get all of this, anyway?" he asked, looking at Minerva, who was busy zapping bundles of vibrantly colored holly with her wand.

"I went to Hogsmeade this afternoon and picked it up. I also picked up some Christmas presents," she added tauntingly, turning to face her fiancé and smiling secretively.

"Oh...can I shake it? Please? Please?" He looked at her eagerly, reminding her of an over enthusiastic five year old.

"Absolutely not, Mr. Lupin! You'll have to wait until Christmas, like everyone else," Minerva said sternly, putting her hands on her hips and giving him a mock-glare over her rectangular spectacles.

Remus laughed and hugged her tightly.

"Always following the rules, aren't you, Min?" Minerva shook her head.

"Not always. You said you'd help me, didn't you? Well ...you can...um...here! Hang these ornaments on the tree, for me." Remus looked to where she was pointing, and noticed a tall, full, blue spruce, giving off the faint smell of a forest.

"I," she said, grabbing a thick stack of cards and envelopes from a box and striding to the desk, "am going to write out the Christmas cards."

Remus nodded and walked over to the tree, inhaling its piney scent for a moment; it brought back so many fond memories of his childhood holidays. He sighed and dug out the fragile, colorful glass ornaments that Minerva hung every year. It was comforting to do something so cheerfully lighthearted, in the midst of so many things that were not. He could hear the furious scratching of Minerva's quill, and he imagined the perfect, neat flow of her handwriting and the fluid movement of her hand over the paper. It was one of those odd, perfectly ordinary things that he found simply fascinating about her. Like when she blinked her long, dark eyelashes fluttered that certain way, or the way her soft, full lips moved when she spoke. She seemed to look more tired lately, but always so cheerful. She always had smile or a kiss for him, no matter how worn she looked. He shook his head, and began to pull the ornaments out of the box, and hang them on the tree carefully.

Minerva looked up from the Christmas card that she was grudgingly addressing to Sibyll Trelawney, and smiled at the look of concentration on her lover's face. He was always so gentle, so careful. His calm, sweet attitude balancing out her fiery temper. His soft brown hair, flecked endearingly with gray flopped into his warm, brown eyes. She looked back down at her card, but had a momentary lapse of thought. Her mind was too full of thoughts of Remus to think about anything else. She put her pen on the paper and began to write again. Suddenly, there was a smash and the tinkle of breaking glass from where Remus was standing.

"Oops..."

"Remus!" she cried exasperatedly. "You made me blot! Now I'll have to rewrite it," she sighed, crumpling up the envelope and tossing into the roaring fire.

Remus walked over and gave her his very best puppy dog eyes.

"I'm sorry, will you forgive little old me?" Minerva laughed and swatted him on the arm.

"You know what that does to me, Remus!"

"I know," he grinned. "That's why I'm doing it." He reached over and grabbed her by the hand, pulling her up off her chair and into his arms.

"I'm so glad we're getting married," he murmured into her ear, his warm breath sending a shiver up her spine.

"I am too," she whispered back. "That was a very creative way of proposing...that's why I'm marrying you, you know," she teased. "Because you're so creative." Remus pretended to look upset.

"You mean you don't love me?" Minerva melted at his expression, as fake as it was.

"You know I love you," she said, kissing him on the nose.

"But you know, I could still use some help," she added, stepping away and bending over, beginning to rummage through a box.

"Ah ha! I've found it." Minerva emerged looking messy but proud, as she held up another small box. "You can help me by wrapping this present..." She held up the box. It was plain white, and perfectly ordinary. Remus took it and frowned in confusion. The tag hanging off of it said: 'To my beloved Remus, all my love, Minerva.'

Slowly, Remus grinned and shook his head. His fiancée was looking at him, and for the first time since he'd known her, here eyes sparkled with a sort of playful mischief.

"I thought you wanted to wait until Christmas, you always follow the rules," he said stepping over a large pile of miscellaneous Christmas wrapping and giving her an affectionate peck on the cheek.

"I said not always," she replied, running her finger along his jaw line, suitably making him shiver.

"Well, are you going to open it?" she asked expectantly.

"Of course, m'dear," he said taking the lid off the box and looking inside.

It was an elaborately designed gold picture frame. It glinted in the dim light and he looked up at her, smiling.

"It's beautiful," he said, hugging her tightly.

"Yes, well I thought you might want this to go with it..." Minerva pulled a moving photo out of a Christmas card on the desk. It was a picture of herself, but her hair was down and her spectacles off, and she was laughing; she seemed to glow with some sort of bubbling happiness that neither the students nor the staff of Hogwarts had ever witnessed around their stern, strict Transfiguration professor.

Remus laughed and took the picture, smiling fondly down at it. He tilted his head up again and ran his hand along her smooth cheek, savoring its softness.

"I thought you might want it later on, because you're not allowed to see the bride before the wedding," she said, smiling.

"It's beautiful," he whispered. "And I've got something for you, too."

Minerva looked on curiously as he pulled a thick, flat, square shaped gift from underneath a box, where he had been hiding it since he'd arrived home.

"Here, open it," he said, handing her the box. Carefully, Minerva peeled off the paper neatly and folded it, placing it on the floor gently. Remus shifted to one foot impatiently. Inside, was a thick book. Not just any book. It had a smooth, mahogany colored leather cover, and emblazoned on the cover, in wide gold lettering, were the words: 'Sorcery with a Spoon, a Cookbook for the Average Witch.'

Minerva took the book and ran her hand along the cover, smiling and wiping away her tears.

"A cookbook, you remembered!"

"Of course I did," he said, taking her in his arms once again, and ignoring the masses of various Christmas nick-nacks piled around them. "I will always remember that night, and anything you say from then on. It's like music, to me."

"You're so sweet! But you said it would be our wedding present," she said her deep green eyes meeting his gentle brown. The snow was falling heavily outside, and the Hogwarts grounds out the window looked like something from a Christmas card.

"Our wedding... I didn't think I'd hear that ever from you. I was so surprised when you said yes, but so, so happy. You've made me a very happy man, Minerva."

Minerva looked thoughtful for a moment and bit her lip hesitantly.

"Well, get ready for another surprise, Remus. I'm pregnant."

Remus hesitated. A jumble of emotions passed over his face at one time. Confused, then shocked, then nervous, and finally, ecstatic.

"Minerva!" He whooped, picking her up and swinging her around the room, laughing happily. "I love you! I'm...I'm so happy! I don't believe it! A baby! Me, a father!" he laughed, clearing a space on the couch and carrying Minerva to it, setting her down and sitting next to her. Minerva smiled, and there were tears in her eyes.

"You'll make a fabulous father," she said, leaning forward and giving him a quick peck on the nose.

"I hope so." He placed a hand on her flat belly, and staring at her with a dazed but happy expression.

"When?" he asked dazedly.

"I believe it was the night after the Thanksgiving feast, my dear. If I remember correctly,"

"No, no," Remus said, waving his hand. "I mean, when did you find out?"

"Oh, um, about a week ago. I'm about three weeks along," Minerva said, blushing.

"I don't believe it...a baby. How..." he said, looking confusedly down at her belly again, and staring with loving awe at what was soon to be his child. His child. He could hardly believe it! Minerva laughed happily.

"Well you see, my dear, when a man and a woman love each other very much, they..." Remus laughed too, and kissed her on the forehead.

"That's not what I mean, and you know it," he said, smiling.

"I'm so relived. I was hoping that you'd be happy. If you weren't..." Minerva trailed off looking despondent. Remus put and hand under her chin and raised her face to meet his.

"If I weren't, then I wouldn't be me, and you," he said giving her a short kiss on the lips, "would not be you." He conjured a blanket and covered Minerva and himself with it. Together, amidst piles of Christmas decorations and preparations of every kind, in front of a warm, roaring fire while the snow fell softly outside, Remus and Minerva fell asleep, both dreaming about their wonderful life ahead, and all the good things that were to come.