fic for fugacious_love: A Christmas Snapshot (James, Lily, Harry, Sirius, Remus, PG)
Title: A Christmas Snapshot
Author: flaminia_x
Recipient: fugacious_love
Rating: PG
Character(s): James, Lily, Harry, Sirius, Remus
Warnings: None, really.
Author's Notes: Just a little portrait of Harry's first Christmas.
--
Lily mopped her brow, bouncing baby Harry on one hip as she stirred the gravy. Merlin knew why these new wards let the boys play their little games of Wizard's Chess, but I have to cook and clean the Muggle way on Christmas, she thought to herself grumpily, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Harry cooed and tried to grab it, but missed. In dismay, he began crying.
"Oh, Harry, Harry, not now, love, I have to stir this and I don't have enough hands to put you down in the other room just now. Be a good boy and hold on just two more minutes, alright, pumpkin?" Lily said to the baby in a sing-song voice, but to no avail. Harry, distraught at not being able to get his new "toy," wailed. And wailed. Lily hastily wiped her forehead on her arm again, singing every song she knew to Harry in a vain attempt to calm him.
"Hurry, gravy, hurry," she cajoled the pot on the stove. Finally, minutes later, it was done, and she had a splitting headache. "Come on, baby, let's go see what's the matter, hmm?" she said. Hastily she made for the living room and Harry's play pen. Setting him down, she did a quick nappy check - all was well on at least that front, she thought - and handed him his favorite toy, an early Christmas present from Uncle Remus. The child-sized Snitch rattle was perfect not just for Harry to hold and shake, but also for him to chew on, which is exactly what Harry began to do. Thank Merlin, Lily thought, but just at that minute, a screech went off in the kitchen. The dinner rolls!
Racing into the kitchen, she threw open the oven to find them on the verge of burning. Fortunately, all but two were salvageable, and rather mean-spiritedly she thought that was one less each for James and Sirius, who had left her here to prepare Christmas dinner for the lot of them by herself. They had best get their cold, wet arses back here before this goose finishes cooking, or I'll cook their gooses, she thought snidely to herself. She loved them both - in different ways, of course - but James wasn't even supposed to leave the house, and here it was, Christmas Day, and he was off gallivanting on a "very important mission" with Sirius, which did not bode well for her or Harry, she'd wager.
Sighing, she scraped the pan clean and threw it in the sink to soak. She began totting up her mental list of things still to do as she put the rolls - singed side down, of course - into a cheery basket to keep warm on top of the oven. Goose needs basting in ten, laundry upstairs needs to be put away - or hidden, table needs setting - check, Butterbeer in the fridge - check, Harry's toys - Harry! Lily knew Harry was of an age where he could sit unattended in his playpen for a few minutes if need be, but this constant state of hiding put her on edge, and most days she didn't dare let him out of her sight. She dropped her towel on the table and rushed into the living room, sighing in relief when she saw Harry on his back, Snitch rattle hovering just above his head while he batted at it with chubby fists.
"Oh, Harry, your mummy's just in an awful state of mind today. Here it is Christmas Day, and you'd think I should be rather charitable, but all I want is for your father to be home to help me with all of this," Lily grumbled in fond exasperation, smiling down at her son. "It's not exactly what we had in mind, spending Baby's First Christmas in hiding, but I suppose it will just have to do."
At her feet, Harry happily burbled away, attention turning from the bobbing Snitch to his very tasty toes. Lily stood looking at him for a minute in motherly adoration, barely noticing when the kitchen timer went off with a loud ring. "Come on, baby, it's time to baste that goose, and then we have a lot of work to do!" Picking Harry up and slinging him back over her hip, she made for the kitchen.
Humming quietly to herself, she basted the goose, lowering Harry down so that he could smell the nicely browning fowl. Let's see. Still need to do the laundry, and the living room could use a good once-over - her mental list was interrupted by a very loud wail from Harry. Before she could stop him, he had reached out and touched the piping hot baking dish, and a small blister was welling up on the palm of his hand.
"Oh - oh, Harry, oh my goodness, what did you do? I'm so sorry, baby, shhh, it'll be alright," Lily cried frantically, dropping the baster on the floor in her haste to soothe her son. Setting Harry down carefully on the kitchen table, she examined his red, raw hand. She grabbed her wand out of her back pocket - even though she couldn't use cooking and cleaning magic, she never went anywhere in the house without her wand.
"If your Uncle Remus can make that Snitch fly, then wards be damned," Lily muttered to herself anxiously. Pointing it at Harry's flailing hand, she whispered a healing charm and watched as Harry, surprised by the sudden cessation of pain, burbled curiously at his palm. She gave a sharp chuckle, part relief and part amusement, before taking him back into the living room, putting him in his playpen once again.
"There you go, little man," she said with hands on hips. "No more accidents, alright?" She returned to the kitchen just long enough to pop the goose back into the oven - twenty more minutes and it should be done, and where on earth is James - and then it was back to the living room, quickly whisking all of Harry's toys and James' socks, books, and other oddments into a basket to be dealt with later. Tucking it away behind the sofa, she dusted off her hands.
"Well, that's one room down. The kitchen will take care of itself once the goose is cooked, the table's set, Remus' wine is in the refrigerator with the Butterbeer, the candles don't get lit until everyone's home. Ah! Laundry!" Lily exclaimed. Picking a very confused Harry up yet again out of the playpen, the two went upstairs to hide - erm, put away - the laundry.
They were just about done when a bang and a shout from downstairs startled them. "Lils? Harry? Where are you?" James called, an underlying note of - was that fear, or concern? - in his voice.
"Upstairs, James," Lily called back, breathing a sigh of relief. "Be right down." She looked at Harry and laughed. "How nice of them to finally get home now that we're done, right, love?" Harry cooed his agreement, making his mother chuckle.
She and Harry made their way downstairs to find James, Sirius, and Remus stowing a bunch of carefully wrapped parcels under the tree. "And just where have the two of you been with my husband-who's-not-supposed-to-leave-this-house all day, hmmm?" she asked a bit sharply. She knew she could trust Sirius and Remus with their lives - did, in fact, do so every day - but still, she wished they wouldn't be quite so reckless sometimes.
"Lils, it's Harry's first Christmas - I couldn't let Sirius and Remus do everything for him by themselves. It just wouldn't be right somehow, you know?" James said, his hands held out in supplication. "Don't be angry, please?"
"It's just been a mess of a day, and it's really hard taking care of a baby and feeding six people on Christmas without magic," Lily explained with a sigh of exasperation. "And Harry burned himself -"
"Is he alright? What happened?" Sirius said in alarm. James took Harry out of Lily's arm and looked at both of his hands concernedly.
"He's fine, he touched the baking pan that the goose is in when I pulled it out to baste. I had to use a healing charm, James," Lily said, a bit defensively.
James looked up at her warily. "Lils, you know we have to be careful with magic around here, what with these new wards and all," he cautioned.
Lily exploded. "How is it that you two - and Peter, wherever he is - get to sit around playing Wizard's Chess and making Harry's toys zoom about the house, but I have to do all the hard work? He was hurt, James, and it's Christmas, and I'll be damned if I won't use one tiny healing charm to fix my little boy if I need to!" Lily was surprised to find herself close to tears. It had been a busy day, to be sure, but she hadn't realized how very on edge she had been. James being gone had been more stressful than she had known.
Remus said, "I think someone needs a clean nappy. My turn!" Taking Harry from James, he left the two of them in the living room and headed upstairs with the baby, Sirius in tow.
"Lily, I'm sorry. Of course you did the right thing. I would have done the same if it had been me," James said soothingly.
"James, don't patronize me," Lily said scathingly, feeling the hot tears well up in her eyes. If he had gotten caught, or hurt, or …
"This isn't about Harry's hand, is it?" James asked quietly. "Is it because I left, today? I swear, Lily, we were careful - we only went to Sirius' flat, really."
Some of the anger left Lily at James' words. "Sirius' flat?" she asked, a bit surprised. "I thought - I thought you all had gone shopping, I thought you went into London ..."
"No, love, no, I'd never do something as foolish as that. We set this up with Dumbledore weeks ago, putting some extra protection on Sirius' & Remus' flat so that I could go there for a little while, just to wrap up presents for Harry. And you, of course," he said. "Sirius and Remus - well, they did all the shopping, got all the supplies. I just … needed to feel like I could do something for you and Harry ..." James' voice trailed off, staring at his hands.
"James, I understand wanting to get out of this house," Lily said tearfully. "But what would you have felt if I had been the one to go off to their flat, and left you here with Harry?"
"I would have been scared to death," James admitted. "Merlin, I'm sorry, Lils."
He gathered his wife into a tight embrace, shivering a bit at the thought of some harm coming to her. "I promise, I won't leave you again. Not until this whole war is over."
Lily nodded into James' shoulder, suddenly drained.
"I know," James said, rubbing her back and then pulling away, forcing a smile on his face. "Since Sirius and Remus are busy upstairs with Harry, how about you open one tiny early Christmas present, hmm?"
"James, I thought we agreed not to do presents for each other this year," Lily protested weakly.
"Oh, come on, where's your sense of adventure?" James teased.
"Fine, fine, but I swear, if you had Sirius go out and buy me some sort of Muggle cleaning device, I know where it'll be living," Lily teased back.
"There's my girl," James said with a smile. Rushing over to the tree with schoolboy-ish glee, he picked out a thin parcel and handed it to his wife, practically dancing with excitement.
Lily looked down at it, curious. She had considered cooking dinner for the lot of them as sort of her present to everyone, given that she and James had decided only to do presents for Harry under the circumstances. But, she had to admit to herself, the thought of James getting her a gift anyway gave her butterflies in her stomach.
"Alright, now, Lily, when someone hands you a package, you're supposed to open it. Like this," James demonstrated, pulling the ribbon partially open with exaggerated care.
Laughing, she smacked him and took the package out of his hands, opening it. She gasped, tears welling in her eyes all over again. Inside the wrapping was a beautiful double picture frame. On one side was a picture of James, Harry and her, from a beautiful day out in London earlier that year, and on the other side was a recent picture of her and James, dancing in the autumn leaves.
"Remus took them, remember?" James said quietly. "He had them developed and framed for us - I just wanted you to remember better times."
"James, I don't know what to say," Lily said softly, tracing a finger over Harry's chubby face. "It's - they're perfect."
"I swear, Lily, it's going to get better again. We'll be able to do these things again," James said, a note of urgency in his voice. "I promise you, we'll be alright."
"James, I -" Lily began.
"Shh, I know. There's no way we can know for sure. But - I just have to believe things will be alright, and maybe if I make a promise to you, it'll come true, because I'd never break a promise to you," James whispered.
Lily set the pictures carefully on the end table, turned out so they faced the whole room, and gathered her husband into a fierce hug. "Then I promise you, too, James Potter. We'll be alright."
"I love you, Lils," James said, face tucked into her hair.
"I love you too, James," she replied.
Ding!
"Oh no, the goose! James, it'll be singed - come on, help me get these things on the table," Lily said frantically.
James chuckled. "Yes, dear."
And in ten minutes' time, Peter had shown up, Remus and Sirius had brought a freshly changed Harry downstairs, James and Lily had set out the food, and the six of them feasted on slightly overdone goose, lumpy gravy, and charred rolls. And they laughed, and drank, and made merry, and spoiled Harry with gifts, and laughed some more when he fell asleep in the wrapping paper. And at the end of the night, an exhausted James and Lily said their farewells to their friends, and took Harry upstairs, and the three of them fell asleep together in their bed, James and Lily curled up protectively around him. And all was well.
Author: flaminia_x
Recipient: fugacious_love
Rating: PG
Character(s): James, Lily, Harry, Sirius, Remus
Warnings: None, really.
Author's Notes: Just a little portrait of Harry's first Christmas.
--
Lily mopped her brow, bouncing baby Harry on one hip as she stirred the gravy. Merlin knew why these new wards let the boys play their little games of Wizard's Chess, but I have to cook and clean the Muggle way on Christmas, she thought to herself grumpily, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Harry cooed and tried to grab it, but missed. In dismay, he began crying.
"Oh, Harry, Harry, not now, love, I have to stir this and I don't have enough hands to put you down in the other room just now. Be a good boy and hold on just two more minutes, alright, pumpkin?" Lily said to the baby in a sing-song voice, but to no avail. Harry, distraught at not being able to get his new "toy," wailed. And wailed. Lily hastily wiped her forehead on her arm again, singing every song she knew to Harry in a vain attempt to calm him.
"Hurry, gravy, hurry," she cajoled the pot on the stove. Finally, minutes later, it was done, and she had a splitting headache. "Come on, baby, let's go see what's the matter, hmm?" she said. Hastily she made for the living room and Harry's play pen. Setting him down, she did a quick nappy check - all was well on at least that front, she thought - and handed him his favorite toy, an early Christmas present from Uncle Remus. The child-sized Snitch rattle was perfect not just for Harry to hold and shake, but also for him to chew on, which is exactly what Harry began to do. Thank Merlin, Lily thought, but just at that minute, a screech went off in the kitchen. The dinner rolls!
Racing into the kitchen, she threw open the oven to find them on the verge of burning. Fortunately, all but two were salvageable, and rather mean-spiritedly she thought that was one less each for James and Sirius, who had left her here to prepare Christmas dinner for the lot of them by herself. They had best get their cold, wet arses back here before this goose finishes cooking, or I'll cook their gooses, she thought snidely to herself. She loved them both - in different ways, of course - but James wasn't even supposed to leave the house, and here it was, Christmas Day, and he was off gallivanting on a "very important mission" with Sirius, which did not bode well for her or Harry, she'd wager.
Sighing, she scraped the pan clean and threw it in the sink to soak. She began totting up her mental list of things still to do as she put the rolls - singed side down, of course - into a cheery basket to keep warm on top of the oven. Goose needs basting in ten, laundry upstairs needs to be put away - or hidden, table needs setting - check, Butterbeer in the fridge - check, Harry's toys - Harry! Lily knew Harry was of an age where he could sit unattended in his playpen for a few minutes if need be, but this constant state of hiding put her on edge, and most days she didn't dare let him out of her sight. She dropped her towel on the table and rushed into the living room, sighing in relief when she saw Harry on his back, Snitch rattle hovering just above his head while he batted at it with chubby fists.
"Oh, Harry, your mummy's just in an awful state of mind today. Here it is Christmas Day, and you'd think I should be rather charitable, but all I want is for your father to be home to help me with all of this," Lily grumbled in fond exasperation, smiling down at her son. "It's not exactly what we had in mind, spending Baby's First Christmas in hiding, but I suppose it will just have to do."
At her feet, Harry happily burbled away, attention turning from the bobbing Snitch to his very tasty toes. Lily stood looking at him for a minute in motherly adoration, barely noticing when the kitchen timer went off with a loud ring. "Come on, baby, it's time to baste that goose, and then we have a lot of work to do!" Picking Harry up and slinging him back over her hip, she made for the kitchen.
Humming quietly to herself, she basted the goose, lowering Harry down so that he could smell the nicely browning fowl. Let's see. Still need to do the laundry, and the living room could use a good once-over - her mental list was interrupted by a very loud wail from Harry. Before she could stop him, he had reached out and touched the piping hot baking dish, and a small blister was welling up on the palm of his hand.
"Oh - oh, Harry, oh my goodness, what did you do? I'm so sorry, baby, shhh, it'll be alright," Lily cried frantically, dropping the baster on the floor in her haste to soothe her son. Setting Harry down carefully on the kitchen table, she examined his red, raw hand. She grabbed her wand out of her back pocket - even though she couldn't use cooking and cleaning magic, she never went anywhere in the house without her wand.
"If your Uncle Remus can make that Snitch fly, then wards be damned," Lily muttered to herself anxiously. Pointing it at Harry's flailing hand, she whispered a healing charm and watched as Harry, surprised by the sudden cessation of pain, burbled curiously at his palm. She gave a sharp chuckle, part relief and part amusement, before taking him back into the living room, putting him in his playpen once again.
"There you go, little man," she said with hands on hips. "No more accidents, alright?" She returned to the kitchen just long enough to pop the goose back into the oven - twenty more minutes and it should be done, and where on earth is James - and then it was back to the living room, quickly whisking all of Harry's toys and James' socks, books, and other oddments into a basket to be dealt with later. Tucking it away behind the sofa, she dusted off her hands.
"Well, that's one room down. The kitchen will take care of itself once the goose is cooked, the table's set, Remus' wine is in the refrigerator with the Butterbeer, the candles don't get lit until everyone's home. Ah! Laundry!" Lily exclaimed. Picking a very confused Harry up yet again out of the playpen, the two went upstairs to hide - erm, put away - the laundry.
They were just about done when a bang and a shout from downstairs startled them. "Lils? Harry? Where are you?" James called, an underlying note of - was that fear, or concern? - in his voice.
"Upstairs, James," Lily called back, breathing a sigh of relief. "Be right down." She looked at Harry and laughed. "How nice of them to finally get home now that we're done, right, love?" Harry cooed his agreement, making his mother chuckle.
She and Harry made their way downstairs to find James, Sirius, and Remus stowing a bunch of carefully wrapped parcels under the tree. "And just where have the two of you been with my husband-who's-not-supposed-to-leave-this-house all day, hmmm?" she asked a bit sharply. She knew she could trust Sirius and Remus with their lives - did, in fact, do so every day - but still, she wished they wouldn't be quite so reckless sometimes.
"Lils, it's Harry's first Christmas - I couldn't let Sirius and Remus do everything for him by themselves. It just wouldn't be right somehow, you know?" James said, his hands held out in supplication. "Don't be angry, please?"
"It's just been a mess of a day, and it's really hard taking care of a baby and feeding six people on Christmas without magic," Lily explained with a sigh of exasperation. "And Harry burned himself -"
"Is he alright? What happened?" Sirius said in alarm. James took Harry out of Lily's arm and looked at both of his hands concernedly.
"He's fine, he touched the baking pan that the goose is in when I pulled it out to baste. I had to use a healing charm, James," Lily said, a bit defensively.
James looked up at her warily. "Lils, you know we have to be careful with magic around here, what with these new wards and all," he cautioned.
Lily exploded. "How is it that you two - and Peter, wherever he is - get to sit around playing Wizard's Chess and making Harry's toys zoom about the house, but I have to do all the hard work? He was hurt, James, and it's Christmas, and I'll be damned if I won't use one tiny healing charm to fix my little boy if I need to!" Lily was surprised to find herself close to tears. It had been a busy day, to be sure, but she hadn't realized how very on edge she had been. James being gone had been more stressful than she had known.
Remus said, "I think someone needs a clean nappy. My turn!" Taking Harry from James, he left the two of them in the living room and headed upstairs with the baby, Sirius in tow.
"Lily, I'm sorry. Of course you did the right thing. I would have done the same if it had been me," James said soothingly.
"James, don't patronize me," Lily said scathingly, feeling the hot tears well up in her eyes. If he had gotten caught, or hurt, or …
"This isn't about Harry's hand, is it?" James asked quietly. "Is it because I left, today? I swear, Lily, we were careful - we only went to Sirius' flat, really."
Some of the anger left Lily at James' words. "Sirius' flat?" she asked, a bit surprised. "I thought - I thought you all had gone shopping, I thought you went into London ..."
"No, love, no, I'd never do something as foolish as that. We set this up with Dumbledore weeks ago, putting some extra protection on Sirius' & Remus' flat so that I could go there for a little while, just to wrap up presents for Harry. And you, of course," he said. "Sirius and Remus - well, they did all the shopping, got all the supplies. I just … needed to feel like I could do something for you and Harry ..." James' voice trailed off, staring at his hands.
"James, I understand wanting to get out of this house," Lily said tearfully. "But what would you have felt if I had been the one to go off to their flat, and left you here with Harry?"
"I would have been scared to death," James admitted. "Merlin, I'm sorry, Lils."
He gathered his wife into a tight embrace, shivering a bit at the thought of some harm coming to her. "I promise, I won't leave you again. Not until this whole war is over."
Lily nodded into James' shoulder, suddenly drained.
"I know," James said, rubbing her back and then pulling away, forcing a smile on his face. "Since Sirius and Remus are busy upstairs with Harry, how about you open one tiny early Christmas present, hmm?"
"James, I thought we agreed not to do presents for each other this year," Lily protested weakly.
"Oh, come on, where's your sense of adventure?" James teased.
"Fine, fine, but I swear, if you had Sirius go out and buy me some sort of Muggle cleaning device, I know where it'll be living," Lily teased back.
"There's my girl," James said with a smile. Rushing over to the tree with schoolboy-ish glee, he picked out a thin parcel and handed it to his wife, practically dancing with excitement.
Lily looked down at it, curious. She had considered cooking dinner for the lot of them as sort of her present to everyone, given that she and James had decided only to do presents for Harry under the circumstances. But, she had to admit to herself, the thought of James getting her a gift anyway gave her butterflies in her stomach.
"Alright, now, Lily, when someone hands you a package, you're supposed to open it. Like this," James demonstrated, pulling the ribbon partially open with exaggerated care.
Laughing, she smacked him and took the package out of his hands, opening it. She gasped, tears welling in her eyes all over again. Inside the wrapping was a beautiful double picture frame. On one side was a picture of James, Harry and her, from a beautiful day out in London earlier that year, and on the other side was a recent picture of her and James, dancing in the autumn leaves.
"Remus took them, remember?" James said quietly. "He had them developed and framed for us - I just wanted you to remember better times."
"James, I don't know what to say," Lily said softly, tracing a finger over Harry's chubby face. "It's - they're perfect."
"I swear, Lily, it's going to get better again. We'll be able to do these things again," James said, a note of urgency in his voice. "I promise you, we'll be alright."
"James, I -" Lily began.
"Shh, I know. There's no way we can know for sure. But - I just have to believe things will be alright, and maybe if I make a promise to you, it'll come true, because I'd never break a promise to you," James whispered.
Lily set the pictures carefully on the end table, turned out so they faced the whole room, and gathered her husband into a fierce hug. "Then I promise you, too, James Potter. We'll be alright."
"I love you, Lils," James said, face tucked into her hair.
"I love you too, James," she replied.
Ding!
"Oh no, the goose! James, it'll be singed - come on, help me get these things on the table," Lily said frantically.
James chuckled. "Yes, dear."
And in ten minutes' time, Peter had shown up, Remus and Sirius had brought a freshly changed Harry downstairs, James and Lily had set out the food, and the six of them feasted on slightly overdone goose, lumpy gravy, and charred rolls. And they laughed, and drank, and made merry, and spoiled Harry with gifts, and laughed some more when he fell asleep in the wrapping paper. And at the end of the night, an exhausted James and Lily said their farewells to their friends, and took Harry upstairs, and the three of them fell asleep together in their bed, James and Lily curled up protectively around him. And all was well.