DIX SEPT

christmas at the potters!

CHRISTMAS EVE AT the Potters was chaotic, to say the least. Even with all of the preparation the days and weeks beforehand ( months on Molly's part ), it was still a scramble to Christmas morning. 

Around the house, various activities were taking place: Hermione and George meticulously wrapped various gifts with the help of Victoire, Teddy, Scorpius and Louis on the enormous dining room table. Fleur and Harry were helping Molly in the kitchen to make and prep a Christmas feast.

Angelina and Ron made sure that Lily Luna, Roxanne and Hugo were not getting in the way by playing board games with them. Ginny, Bill, James and Albus were out doing last minute gift shopping. Dom and Rose were making a wreath for the front door and Fred and Lily were cleaning up after everyone. 

"I can't believe we got stuck on cleaning duty," Fred grumbled as he lugged a trash bag into the bin at the front of the house.

"Well you did wake up last," Lily said with a smile.

He shot her an evil eye and she smiled innocently.

"I can't believe you actually like cleaning," he said.

She just shrugged.

"So," she started as they made their way upstairs to do the laundry. 

"So," he repeated back.

"What's going on with you and Lorcan?" she asked.

"Skipping the small talk, are we?" Fred joked.

"Seems like it," Lily replied as she hoisted Albus's laundry bin onto her hip. 

"Nothing, nothing is going on between me and Lorcan," Fred said as he heaved the laundry down the stairs.

"I'm calling bullshit," Lily sang as she followed him. 

"Oh what? Like there's nothing going on between you and James?" Fred retorted.

"Why is everyone saying that?" Lily huffed as they finally reached the muggle washer.

"Because- how do you use this thing?" Fred asked as he inspected the device.

Lily laughed lightly, "I'll work it, you hand me all of the dark clothing."

Fred nodded dutifully as he started tossing ( more like chucking ) the darker clothing at Lily. 

"Sorry, you were saying?" Lily asked as they settled into a rhythm.

"You and James are in love with each other and you can't prove me wrong — " Fred said.

"I actually think I can because I'm not in love with James Sirius Potter," Lily said pointedly. 

"Famous last words," Fred muttered. 

"I beg your fucking pardon?" Lily screeched.

"You sound like my grandmother," Fred said.

"I highly doubt that Molly Weasley would say 'fuck'," Lily shot back.

"Fair enough," Fred breathed out.

"Light clothes, please," Lily instructed.

Fred started to hand the lighter clothing to her as she tossed it into the other machine. She was thankful that the Potters had two washing machines ( probably because of all the people in the house, but nevertheless ) as it made her job loads easier. 

Once they had finished loading the laundry, they headed back up the stairs and collected the trash and recycling that had accumulated since they last did a sweep. 

"How do they make this much of a mess?" Fred breathed out as he took in the heaps of cut paper on the floor.

Lily laughed and looked over at him.

"Better get started then," she said through her laughter. 

They both used their wands to magically clean up the floors and even though they used magic, they still had to find somewhere to put it. 

"We could always transfigure it?" Lily suggested.

"I feel like we wouldn't have to buy food anymore because if we transfigured rocks into, let's say, bangers and mash, then would it still be edible? Or would you just be biting into rock?" Fred wondered.

"I actually have no clue," Lily said with a laugh. "Only one way to find out."

Fred and Lily shared a mischievous look. 

"Lily and I are going outside if you need us," Fred yelled into the house.

A chorus of "ok"'s and "have fun"'s were heard. They both piled on scarves and coats and shoved boots onto their feet as quickly as they could. They had the merriment of small children with a new toy. 

They bounded out, recycling following them. They made sure to stay in the snow-blanketed back garden as to not shock the muggle neighbors.

"So, what should we make first?" Fred asked.

"Fish and chips?" Lily suggested.

Fred nodded and pointed his wand as some of the paper shreds, concentrating, but nothing happened.

"Fred, what's going on?" Lily asked.

"Nothing, it's not working," Fred said, bewildered.

"Are you sure you're doing it correctly?" Lily asked.

"You try it," Fred said.  

Lily positioned herself and and tried, but like with Fred, nothing happened. She pouted and tried again.

"See?" Fred said.

"So, we can't conjure fish and chips," Lily sighed.

"No," Fred said in defeat. 

Then his eyes lit up. He pointed his wand at the paper and suddenly, a pot of sauce appeared in their place. 

"I — what?" Lily asked. "You can't make fish and chips, but you can make sauce?" 

"But it's not just any sauce, it's bearnaise sauce," Fred remarked.

"Don't get saucy with me, bearnaise," Lily muttered under her breath.

Fred started shaking with laughter next to her, obviously having heard her comment. Lily started laughing too. What a sight — Fred and Lily chuckling to themselves standing in front of a pile of paper and a singular pot of sauce. 

And what a sight it was for James Sirius Potter, who had just arrived home. 

"What's going on out there?" James asked Albus, who was taking off his boots. 

Albus looked out and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I have absolutely no idea," he said.

James and Albus walked together to the door that led to the back, they opened it and immediately shivered as they were no longer wearing their winter coats. James curled his toes and Albus sucked in his lips. 

"What's so funny?" James asked.

"It's a pot of sauce," Lily said through her laughter, wiping away tears. 

"I have the best idea for another prank, James," Fred said through his own laughter, he then proceeded to double over and steadied himself by propping his hands on his thighs. 

"Can I help?" Lily asked as she looked over at Fred with bright eyes.

"I mean we wouldn't be here without you," Fred reasoned. 

Lily beamed and clapped her hands a little. 

"I'm so excited!" she exclaimed. 

"Wait, you prank people?" James asked, very very confused.

Lily looked over at him with a 'duh' expression.

"Of course I do," Lily said. "I'm just not dumb enough to get caught." 

"You? You, Lily Jane Edwards, prank people?" Albus asked.

A wide grin was forming itself on James's face.

She nodded enthusiastically, "just small things, nothing like what you guys do."

The boys looked at her expectantly.

"Well, my favorite one was actually inspired by a favorite telly show of mine from America. You know how Professor Clearwater has her coffee all the time in class?" Lily asked.

The boys nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, this one time when I was going over an essay with her, she instead drank from my cup of hot cocoa that I had with me," Lily said, a devilish grin growing on her face. "So I thought, if she didn't notice that, I wonder what she'd drink."

"No," James breathed out.

"It went so far that she actually drank muggle soy sauce that I nicked from the kitchen," Lily said, starting to laugh again as she remembered.

"And she didn't notice?" James asked, face-palming.

Lily teared up as she shook her head and burst out laughing.

"Merlin, Lily Edwards, that's genius!" Fred said with a grin. 

All four of them were doubled over in laughter at the thought of one of their strictest teachers drinking soy sauce and whatever else Lily placed in front of her. 

"Did you know that Uncle Percy dated her at Hogwarts?" Fred asked.

"What?" James practically yelled.

"Yup, my dad told me," Fred said, struggling to contain his laughter.

"No way," Lily whispered.

"That makes so much sense," Albus roared. 

"What's so funny?" Molly Weasley asked as she came up behind the boys.

"Um — " Albus stuttered, struggling to come up with an answer. 

All four of them couldn't explain to her. She wouldn't understand.

"Get back to work, all of you! Except you, Lily dear, you can do whatever you'd like, but my grandchildren are not off the hook! Christmas is tomorrow!" Molly huffed. 

"Yes, nan," Albus, James and Fred said in unison. 

All four of them then filed inside, but not before disposing of the paper and sauce. 

"I should probably go check on Scorp. He's leaving after Christmas dinner," Albus said with a quick smile.

"Yes, Al, go check on Scorpius," James teased with a small smile.

Albus shot James a nasty look and a middle finger before jauntily walking over to Scorpius, who upon hearing someone approach looked up and smiled and blushed when he realized who it was. 

Louis looked up and grinned at the pair of them. He then looked at James and Fred and they all exchanged looks as well as some unspoken agreement. Lily was quite confused and felt very left out. 

"What're you talking about?" Lily whispered harshly to Fred.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Fred said as he tried to suppress a grin. 

"Oh please, I'm not five, you're doing the thing where everyone talks with their eyes," Lily huffed.

"I guess you'd have to be a Weasley or a Potter to understand," Fred with a fake apologetic face. 

Lily shot him a pointed look and Fred smirked in response. 

"I bet if you asked, James would make you a Potter," Fred whispered to her. "Then you'd understand what we're talking about."

"Fuck you," Lily grumbled.

Fred smiled hard and shared a look with Louis, who looked briefly at Lily then James and back at Fred, who was nodding. They both smirked. Lily understood this one. She rolled her eyes.  

"Children," Lily muttered as she moved away, back to the laundry so she could turn it over. 

The rest of the day went pretty much the same: everyone teasing each other ( as families do ) and rushing about to get set up for the next day.

After dinner, everyone was exhausted and when both Lily's collapsed into bed, they immediately fell asleep. 

The next morning, Lily Edwards had quite a rude awakening. A hyperactive Lily Luna Potter was shaking her awake at 7 in the morning ( aka not an acceptable time to be woken up at while on holiday ) screaming that it was Christmas. 

After groaning, trying to fall back asleep, but failing as there were more shouts from down the hall, Lily finally got up. She yawned as she slipped on fuzzy socks. She was glad that she had put on a long sleeve pajama set as the house was freezing when she stepped out of the room. 

She padded downstairs to find Scorpius, Albus, Fred and Louis already downstairs. 

"Good morning everyone," Lily said with a yawn.

"Happy Christmas!" Louis exclaimed as he handed her a cup of strong tea.

"Thank you," she muttered as she sat down on the floor next to Albus and started to sip it. 

Soon enough, all of the adults were piled onto the couches and various chairs while the kids sat at their feet with their backs in between their legs. 

Molly Weasley stood up and handed out the presents, calling out each person's name. She stumbled upon a group of presents that had different wrapping than the rest.

"Scorpius? Did you get us presents?" Molly asked with a kind smile on her face.

"Of course, Mrs. Weasley, you've invited us into your family," Scorpius said with a smile.

"Thank you very much, dear," Molly said as she smiled kindly at the boy. 

He blushed at the attention and nodded his head as Albus put a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

Lily's eyes widened.

"Merlin, I forgot! My presents for all of you are upstairs!" Lily exclaimed. "I'll be right back!"

"Accio Lily's presents," James said beside her.

She squatted, halfway up to run upstairs and then she sat back down. Her face went beet red.

"I forgot about magic," she admitted sheepishly as she started to laugh nervously. 

"You seem to have a habit of doing that," Teddy said with a grin.

Lily pouted at him, but not wanting to make herself seem like a child, decided against throwing a pillow at him ( though he very much deserved it ). 

"Thank you, James," she said as she turned to the boy and the presents that were floating down the stairs. She muttered a quick spell and the presents found the right owners. 

Each member of the family voraciously ripped open the wrapping ( must be hereditary ) to reveal their presents.

"Schubert's music! I couldn't find this sonata anywhere!" Albus exclaimed as he grinned at the sheet music.

"There's this shop near where my dad works, so I popped in whenever I could!" Lily said with a small smile. 

Then Lily Luna screamed. 

"I don't believe it!" she said as she started giggling. Out of her small wrapped box, she pulled a signed Taylor Swift poster. "You did not!"

"Oh but I so did!" Lily said with a grin.

"Thank you very much for our presents Lily," Harry said with a warm smile as he looked at the girl. 

Lily beamed and looked up as a present was being handed towards her by Molly.

"From me and Arthur, dear," she said kindly.

"Mrs. Weasley, you really didn't have to," Lily said as she took the present. 

"You're one of us now dear! Go on!" Molly said as Lily carefully unwrapped the present.

She stared at it for quite some time. Inside the wrapping, still neatly folded, was an oatmeal knitted sweater with a dark blue "L" knitted into the center. She couldn't think of anything to say.

James, on the other hand, was freaking the fuck out. As much as he was in love with this girl, if she didn't accept that gift with a smile on her face, it was over. He'd seen girls that Louis and Fred had taken home and how the Weasley sweater had not been well received ( because it was quite 'homemade' if you catch his drift, but nevertheless was made by his grandmother ). 

Lily gasped a little bit and mumbled something.

"What was that, dear?" Molly asked.

Lily looked up to find the entire family looking at her intently. In the back of her head she knew this was a test, but she didn't care.

"I absolutely love it," she said quietly.

"Oh, dear," Molly said with a warm smile.

"If I'm being honest, it's the only thing I've wanted for Christmas for quite a while. I've seen all members of your family wearing the famous Weasley sweaters around and I think I've actually stolen James's a couple of times. Thank you so much, truly," Lily said with an earnest smile.

"I'm happy that you like it, dear," Molly said as Lily slipped on the sweater and snuggled into it. 

It took every single fiber in James Sirius Potter's body to not kiss Lily right then and there. 

"Scorpius, dear, there's one for you too," Molly said as she handed him a present. 

He tore open the wrapping to reveal a navy blue sweater with an oatmeal "S". 

"That looks just like my first one, except the "H" was in yellow," Harry said with a grin. 

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Weasley," Scorpius said as he pulled his sweater on. It fit him perfectly and he took in the scent of the house that came with it. He giggled a little as he pulled at the ends of the sleeves that just covered his hands. 

Albus, on the other hand, looked like he was constipated, but then in one sudden movement, he brought Scorpius's face to his and kissed him quickly. 

Lily gasped and grabbed onto James, who was equally as shocked and if he wasn't as happy as he was then, he would've been beet red. 

"Merlin, finally," Rose groaned as she continued to open gifts. 

Albus and Scorpius were both blushing like mad as the adults were staring at them. 

"So, should we be expecting you next Christmas, Scorpius?" Ginny asked.

"I think so, mum," Albus said shyly.

"Good," she said with a kind smile. 

"I would be chuffed if I could come again. I unfortunately have to leave tonight as my parents are coming home from their trip early," Scorpius admitted.

"Bloody hell, Malfoy just has to ruin everything. First our entire time at Hogwarts and now he's taking away our nephew's boyfriend," Ron said.

"Oh hush, Ron. It was lovely to have you here, Scorpius," Hermione said as she swatted at Ron and then turned to give the boy a kind smile. 

"Thank you, Ms. Granger," he said.

"Hermione," she corrected.

"My dad will never believe that I'm allowed to call you Hermione," Scorpius joked.

Hermione looked confused.

"Do you all not know?" Scorpius asked as everyone shook their heads. "My dad had a crush on Hermione at Hogwarts." 

"He what?" Ron bellowed.

"Sure had a great way of showing it," Harry muttered bitterly.

George just started laughing. 

"He was just a major arsehole and a blood Nazi, so he ... you know," Scorpius said. "Not that those things excuse his actions." 

"I- thank you for telling me, Scorpius," Hermione said.

"I'm never going to let him live that down," Ginny said through laughter. "Your dad? Draco my father will hear about this Malfoy had a crush on Hermione?" 

Ginny started to cry through her laughter. Scorpius just nodded and started to laugh a bit himself.

"He was a total prick from what I've heard," he said. 

"He was more than a prick, mate," George said. 

"Well, thank you for telling us that, Scorpius," Harry said as Ginny, Ron, Angelina and George died of laughter around him, even Fleur chuckled a little. 

The kids, on the other hand, were slightly confused. They had heard stories about Draco Malfoy, but hadn't fallen victim to his childish behavior like the adults had.  

After the rest of the gifts had been opened and multiple cups of coffee, tea and hot chocolate had been passed around, everyone dispersed. 

Lily got dressed, keeping the Weasley sweater on as she truly did love it and helped to clean up after presents. 

The day was worth all of the preparation the day before and Lily finally understood why the Potter kids loved going home for Christmas. 

After a truly sublime dinner and not so sublime clean up, Lily found herself outside with Rose, looking up at the night sky. 

"My mum's much better at this than I am," Rose admitted as she failed to point out the constellations. 

"Well, she's had more practice. I'm sure, if you wished, you could be just as good, if not better," Lily said kindly. 

They head the door to the house open. Rose looked up to see who it was and got up.

"I'll uh- I'll leave you guys to talk," she said quickly.

Lily was about to question it, but then saw James lie down next to her.

"Is this ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," she said with a small smile. 

They lay in silence next to each other, looking up at the celestial expanse above them. It was truly remarkable. 

Lily kept looking over at James and quickly found herself staring at him. The way his lips parted as he watched the stars. The way the stars reflected off of his eyes, making it seem like the whole universe was swirling around in them. The way he had a tiny smile on his face. 

"I wish they taught us more about vikings," James said randomly.

Lily burst out laughing ( or rather cackling ) and turned away. 

"What?" she asked.

"I mean they were awesome!" James exclaimed.

"No, they weren't. They took land from people and killed even more," Lily explained through her laughter. 

"True, but they had a lot of things in red, which is the best color, by the way," James said.

"What?" Lily asked as she started to laugh harder. "I highly doubt every single one of them had red as their clan color." 

"You're right, only the cool ones did," he replied as he tried to suppress his own laughter, in vain. 

"And no, red is not the best color, pink is," Lily retorted.

"Pink is a shade of red," James said as he chuckled a little bit.

"Pink is a shade of red," Lily mocked. "That's not the point." 

"Then what is?" James asked.

"I — " Lily said, trying to come up with an answer, but then burst out laughing again.

"That's exactly what I thought," James said through his own laughter. 

Lily eventually calmed down and sighed.

"Red did used to be my favorite color though," she said with a faint smile.

"Oh? What happened?" James asked.

"It was my ex's favorite color," Lily eventually admitted. "And that did not end well."

"Justine Abrams, right?" James asked.

"Yeah, she's-" Lily said.

"In Gryffindor, makes sense that she likes red," James interrupted. 

"Yeah," Lily hummed.

"Well, to be fair, my second favorite color was yellow until Millie Williams broke my heart, she was in the year above and in Slytherin," James said as he turned to smile at Lily.

"Thanks for making me feel better," she said sarcastically as she chuckled a little bit.

"Well, I do try, Lily-flower," James hummed. 

"Ok- um- what is your favorite sweet from Honeydukes?" Lily asked as she looked back over at him.

"I'd have to say ... I don't know, chocolate frogs are a classic, but I'd have to say my favorite is stringmints, what about you?" James replied.

"I'm a sucker for sugar quills," Lily admitted with a smile.

"They are good. I once fooled Professor Clearwater with one," James said with a wicked smile. 

Lily started to knock her feet together out of nerves. 

"What is ... your favorite ... hm ... your favorite ... part of the castle?" James asked.

 Lily thought for a moment. 

"Probably the library or perhaps that big tree- not the whomping willow, but the other one, by the black lake," Lily said. "I'm assuming yours is the quidditch pitch."

James nodded with a bright smile, "I want to be a professional quidditch player like my mum."

"That's brilliant. I guess I want to be a healer like my dad, in a way," Lily said with a small chuckle as she faced him. 

James smiled and they looked at each other for a little bit longer than 'just friends' do. 

"We should-" James said.

"Yeah, we should probably-" Lily said as she started to get up.

"Head inside. People will be wondering where we are!" James said. 

He got up faster than Lily did and he extended a hand that she gratefully took.

Inside, Ron was collecting cash with a pleased smile on his face. Everyone thought that this would be the night. Harry was the most disappointed of all of them. 

The faint voice of Judy Garland filled the house as the two entered once more to face Ron with a hand full of cash and very disappointed looking adults.

"I'm not even going to ask," James grumbled as he took Lily's hand and led her upstairs. 

Lily entered the room to find Lily Luna bundling up clothes in her hand.

"It's a tradition, I always spend the night after Christmas with Roxy. I'll see you tomorrow, though!" Lily Luna exclaimed as she rushed to get to the attic before her mom would tell her to go to bed. Lily looked at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight.

"Oh- alright," Lily said with a smile. "Have fun!" 

Suddenly, Lily Luna's room was very quiet and Lily let out a deep breath and got ready for bed. When the lights were out and she was cozy, she'd finally admit it to herself in the quiet space. 

Despite the fact that James Sirius Potter was arrogant and rude and tried way too hard and could never take a hint and didn't have any sense of personal space and was all around an absolute twat, what everyone was saying was right.

Lily Edwards had a big, fat crush on James Sirius Potter and it annoyed her to bits. 

Because it was excruciating how he actually thought about things and stood up for his brother and helped her friends and talked about his parents like the way he did and how he was extremely loyal to his friends and how he always helped a first year, even if it meant he was late to class and how he was just so goddamn cute. 

Why did his stupid, perfect hair have to be so adorably curly? And why did his eyes have to light up whenever she came into the room, making her legs feel like jelly? And why did his smile — that goddamn smile — have to make her heart skip a beat? 

She groaned and tried to go to sleep, but her brain didn't get the memo and kept thinking. 

And the way he scrunched his nose a little when he was concentrating. And the way he smelled like vanilla and cashmere all the time and it smelled amazing. And the way he actually dressed not like he just rolled out of bed. And the way he gave the best hugs on the planet. 

She groaned and looked at the clock: 2:53 am. She sat up straighter and rubbed her eyes. There was no way. she then heard a knock on her door. 

"Yeah?" she mumbled.

It opened.

"It's me," the person whispered. She immediately recognized that voice as James. Speak of the devil and he shall come. 

"Mmm what's wrong?" Lily asked as she fell back onto her bed.

"Couldn't sleep," he admitted. "Fred's snoring."

Lily chuckled a little.

"Do you mind if I go to Lunes's bed?" James asked.

"No," Lily mumbled as she turned over. 

He shuffled into Lily Luna's bed and Lily started to fall asleep when she heard a grunt.

"There's something sticky in here," James grumbled.

Lily face planted into her pillow to stop how loud her laughter was. She also held up her duvet so James could climb in. 

He did. Once she stopped laughing, she turned to face him. The bed, she realized, was considerably smaller than she had originally thought. Their noses were quite close to each other. 

"I'm going to sleep," she said as she turned over. James threw an arm around her waist and hesitantly pulled her closer. When Lily snuggled in, he smiled and pulled her, so her back was against his chest. 

He softly kissed her hair and slowly drifted off into sleep. She did as well and was asleep for quite some time until another knock was heard. She groaned a little and sat up carefully as she noticed James had not noticed. 

"Yeah?" she asked softly. 

In walked Albus. The moon had shifted so it poured in the room with the door, shedding light on her face and someone's sleeping body. 

"Is that-?" Albus asked, a small smile growing on his face.

"He couldn't sleep. Something about Fred and then Lily Luna's bed was sticky or something," Lily mumbled with a shrug. "Did Scorp leave?"

Albus nodded sadly and leaned against the doorframe.

"Even though I'm not, you know, a member of your family or anything," Lily said with a slight chuckle. "I'm still really proud of you. It took guts to do what you did." 

"It does matter," Albus said. "And well, we all saw it worked out."

Lily beamed, "it did."

They stayed in a comfortable silence until James shifted a little bit and Lily turned to make sure he was comfortable. She smiled and stroked his hair slightly. 

"So you're in love with him?" Albus asked.

"We're so young — " Lily protested.

"That does not take away our ability to love as adults do. We may not have as much experience, but we have the exact same capacity to fall in love," Albus said. 

Lily sighed.

"I don't know. I just- I have girlfriends and boyfriends before and it's weird because with him, it just feels different. Maybe it's because we're friends — " Lily said as she sighed.

"I know what just friends is and that's definitely not what you two are," Albus scoffed. 

"It's just you know after the big Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match?" Lily asked.

Albus nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"I expected him to be partying and what not, like he does after every match, especially that one. And I was walking back to our dorm and I found him there, helping one of the third year Slytherins to the hospital wing because she got trampled after the game and hurt her leg. He should've been partying with Fred and Lorcan and Lysander," Lily said, becoming slightly exasperated.

Albus just stared at her with a small smirk and a quirked an eyebrow as he leaned against the doorway.

"And then- you should've seen it- Lily Luna got good marks on a potion that she'd been nervous about making and he hugged her and spun her around. He was so proud of her- and not in the condescending way where older siblings can be like I'm proud of you, but I already did that- like he was actually super proud of her," Lily gushed. "And then he said this comment to one of my friends, Ruby, and it didn't even offend her that much, she was just frustrated with him and he went and sincerely apologized and then he followed up and started a letter petition to the big teams to implement equal pay. And then he set up my friend Estelle with this girl she'd liked for a while — "

"Lils, slow down. When he — when he does these things, how does it make you feel?" Albus asked carefully. 

"I don't know, a little nauseous and a little light headed- oh my god," Lily gasped.

Albus looked at her expectantly.

"Fuck. I'm in love with James aren't I?" Lily groaned.

Albus just smiled. 

Hello!

We did it. We did it Joe. We got Lily to admit her feelings.