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“Well, aren’t you going to let me in?”
Lily Potter stared blankly at the young man on her front step, who grinned back. She entertained the notion of slamming the door and pretending she’d never seen him for exactly half a second - past experiences told her it would be near impossible to get rid of him now. Besides, it was already dark out, with the icy wind looking like it didn’t plan to show them mercy anytime soon, and (despite what she might pretend) Lily actually quite liked spending time in the company of one Sirius Black.
And she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little curious about the giant pine tree he’d brought along, obscuring her view of the street.
Lily sighed and pulled open the oak door.
“Cheers, Lils, knew you wouldn’t let me down,” Sirius said between huffs as he lugged the tree inside, dripping icy water all over the worn carpet, “Hey, Prongs, get down here and help a mate out!”.
The familiar thud-thud-thud of her husband leaping down the stairs filled the old house, and Sirius unceremoniously dumped the pine tree by the living-room entryway before disappearing to go greet his best friend. The door was still flung wide open, letting bone-chillingly cold air fill the house, the mud and icy sleet had finally managed to ruin her carpet for good, and a giant silver motorbike monopolised her front porch, which she could finally see now the tree had been moved. She closed her eyes for a moment, attempted to conjure up some of the patience she’d been filled with just minutes ago, then rolled up her sleeves and pulled out her wand. With a quick swish and flick, the door banged shut, the muddy mess somewhat disappeared, and the tree was shakily levitating in front of her, dropping pine needles all over the floor. Lily smiled, proud at her success. She’d never been much of a whiz at charms, preferring the methodical art of potions and the challenging patterns of ancient runes over waving her wand and muttering an incantation.
“Ah. That probably would’ve been a better way to do it,” Sirius said sheepishly, re-entering the room with James by his side. Lily smirked as her husband took in the scene, brows furrowed almost comically. She could tell he was furiously searching through his memories of the past few days, trying to remember if the bringing of the pine tree was something they’d planned and he’d forgotten. Sirius also seemed to realise this, and caught her eye, putting a finger to his lips in an exaggerated shushing action.
“Right then, I brought the tree like I said I would. Lils, you’ve got the lights, correct?”
“They’re upstairs,” She promised, playing along. “I’ll grab them in a moment.”
“Wonderful. What about you, Prongs?”
“Er...” James was obviously flailing about for an excuse, “I definitely have… um.. I have,” He glanced at Lily pleadingly, and she had to stop herself from laughing out loud at the expression on his face.
“The star, Prongsy, the star. For the top of the Christmas tree.”
Ah, a Christmas tree. Lily had almost forgotten that The Most Magical Time of the Year was approaching, with all her work as a trainee nurse at Saint Mungo’s and the daily bouts of dark news distracting her from more mundane things, like enjoying public holidays. She felt a warm rush of gratitude towards Sirius - despite being just as busy as them, he’d managed to find the time to come over and help bring the joyful spirit back to their little cottage in Godric’s Hollow, something that had been missing for quite some time.
“You didn’t forget, did you?” Lily asked, trying to sound suspicious.
“No!” he yelped “No, I-I’ve got the star. For the Christmas tree. That I remembered. It’s er… upstairs too.”
“Oh, I’ll grab it for you while I’m up there, then,” she smiled innocently, “You two can go set the tree up.”
James began to protest, but Lily was already halfway up the staircase and Sirius had his arm tossed casually around his shoulders, steering him into the living room. She could practically hear him silently panicking as she accio-ed the fairy lights (the muggle kind, of course). A goofy smile spread across her face, and she bit back a laugh imagining her husband’s reaction when he realised that they’d played him like a piano.
She slid back down the stairs, grabbing the rest of the decorations just for good measure, and poked her head around the living room entryway. Sirius was confidently positioning the tree, talking loudly about the perfect places for decorations and colour schemes while James nodded along, eyes moving side to side anxiously. He started when he saw her.
“I couldn’t seem to find the star up there, love. Did you put it with the rest of the decorations?”
“Erm… yeah?”
“You’re sure?” asked Sirius, arching an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m sure Padfoot. I distinctly remember putting it up there. You checked the green box, right, Lils?” Lily had to hand it to him. Once he got over the original shock, her husband was a very smooth liar, something that had gotten him in and out of detention many times during their Hogwarts years.
“Doesn’t matter,” Sirius waved his hand dismissively, looking every bit like the aristocratic heir he was born to be. Lily thought it would probably be unhelpful to mention this. “We’ll find the star later. Let’s start, shall we?”
He flicked his wand at the magical wireless, which had been a wedding present from Mary, and the room was soon filled with music and laughter as they threw baubles and tinsel at each other and attempted to unravel strings of lights. James summoned mugs of hot chocolate from the kitchen each half-hour or so, Lily tossed another log on the fireplace every time it threatened to die out, and the night passed quickly and in good cheer, as such evenings tend to do.
When they’d finished with the tree, the three of them collapsed into the old armchairs around the fire and talked about everything that had happened in the last few months.
“Heard from Moony lately?” asked Sirius, seemingly out of the blue.
“Dunno, mate, aren’t you the one who shares an apartment with him?” James said, frowning slightly. As soon as he’d heard his friend was planning on renting a dingy little room in muggle London, Sirius had insisted Remus move in with him after they graduated.
Sirius’s face darkened. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Hasn’t been back in a couple of weeks, and before that he was only staying for a few days at a time. All his stuff is still there though.” He added as an afterthought.
Lily bit her lip in concern. “I think he said something about speaking to Dumbledore, you know? A few months ago…”
Sirius grunted noncommittally, and a heavy silence fell over the room. Outside, the cold winds still hadn’t relented, beating against the roof and tossing empty flower pots across the yard.
“Are we going to put that star on the tree or not, boys?” Lily said suddenly, breaking the quiet. Sirius glanced up, scowl lightening, and James’s eyes widened in panic.
“Right, almost forgot about that. Accio star!” Sirius called. A weak spark spurted out of his wand, but the air remained otherwise still. James gulped.
“That’s odd. Let me try,” Lily tried not to smile, repeating the incantation. Once again, nothing happened. She raised her wand to try again, when James gave a small sigh.
“Wait, there’s no need. I’ve got a confession to make,” he said ruefully, “I… may have forgotten we were doing this,” he gestured vaguely at the jolly scene around them, hanging his head.
No-one said anything for a long, tense moment as Lily and Sirius met eyes and tried not to laugh. After about a minute, James lifted his head, frowning indignantly.
“Oh come off it, it’s hardly a criminal offence. There’s a lot going on right now, and I- Wait, why are you laughing? Did I miss something?”
Lily couldn’t take it any longer, doubling over in a fit of giggles. Sirius joined her in a barking laugh, smirking as James looked at each of them in turn, slowly cottoning on.
“Well, we’ve got a bit of a confession to make too,” Sirius began, sniggering.
“There was no planned Christmas tree decorating, was there! You tricked me!” He cried, leaping to his feet. “How could you - wait. You tricked me . The Master of Pranks, the Lord of Laughs, the, the-”
“Sultan of Stupidity?” Sirius suggested. James threw himself at the other man, tackling him to the ground. Lily collapsed on the armchair in another fit of giggles.
“I’m never going to live this down, am I?” James groaned moments later, burying his head in his hands. Sirius, who had transformed into a large, shaggy-haired black dog during their tussle, gave a very human-like bark of laughter from his position on the rug by the fire.
“Nope.” said Lily, stroking their motley grey and brown cat, who’d wandered in to see what all the fuss was about. She leant her head against her husband's shoulder, closing her eyes and sighed happily. Not for the first time that day, she was very glad she’d decided to open the door when Sirius Black came knocking.