In My Heart Is A Christmas Tree Farm

January 4th, approx. 8:30am,

“Have fun at work!” Sirius says, giving Remus a bag filled with sandwiches and other lunch items. 

“I’ll try,” Remus shrugs, heading out the door of their flat with a small kiss on the cheek and a wave goodbye.

Going back to work wasn’t going too well for Remus so far, to say the least.

“Remus, it’s clear you’re not right for this job,” Alice says, around noon, as they take their lunch break in that little cafe he and Sirius had first had a real conversation in. 

“I don’t exactly have any other jobs,” Remus replies. Both of what they say is true. The commute from Sirius’ flat was killing him, but he couldn’t give it up. Now that he’d had a taste of Sirius, he wasn’t going to let go. Not that easily. 

“You look like a racoon with those circles around your eyes.” 

“Always so kind, you are, you know that?” 

“See? You must be getting 4 hours of sleep a night. That attitude won’t help you get clients.” 

“The commute isn’t exactly the reason for that, but I see your point.” 

“So you’ll change it? Maybe try not being a sarcastic arse for once?” 

“My sarcastice arse helped win me a case. This is just who I am, I’m not sure what to tell you.” 

Alice sighs, chewing a bite of her salad aggressively, her jaw muscles working impressively against the small piece of lettuce. “Here’s what I’ll tell you. You should quit.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Remus waves off, but Alice continues. 

“Seriously. Don’t forget, you know Dorcas Meadowes.” 

“I mean, that might be good on a resume, but I don’t know how I’m going to find any law firms near Godric’s Hollow. That’s my main problem,” Remus laments, and Alice tilts her head curiously at him. 

“Okay then. Easy. Make a law firm near Godric’s Hollow.” 

“I don’t know the first thing about making a law firm,” Remus points out, only for Alice to roll her eyes. 

“No, but Dorcas does,” she says, like it should be obvious what she’s referencing. 

“What do I do about that?” 

“You ask her to start a law firm with you, obviously.” 

“I can’t just ask Dorcas Meadowes to form a law firm,” Remus says, but the gears are already turning in his head. 

“Why not?” 

“It’s Dorcas Meadowes.” 

“Yes, yes, I know, but she just quit, didn’t she? Not to mention, she’s super knowledgeable about all of that stuff. As a team, you two would be unstoppable.” 

Remus shrugs the idea off, and they move onto other topics, but there’s something about the idea that keeps pulling at Remus’ mind. Even during that night, doing things that would normally occupy Remus’ mind, he can’t focus on anything but the idea. 

“Remus? Are you okay?” Sirius asks, after taking off his shirt and not getting much of a reaction. 

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine, let’s do this,” Remus says, taking off his own and rushing forward, but Sirius puts out a hand to stop it before it escalates. 

“I’m not going to do this if you don’t want to do this,” Sirius says firmly, taking a step back, even though it looks a bit hard for him to say that, now that Remus is shirtless as well.

“No, I do want to do it,” Remus confirms, but Sirius doesn’t seem convinced. “I’m just distracted, is all.” 

Sirius gasps dramatically (is there a single thing he does that isn’t dramatic?). “Are you thinking of another man? With this in front of you?” He motions to himself, then poses like a statue.

Remus laughs. “No, definitely not that. It’s just work.” 

That takes the playful mood out of Sirius. “We could try to find a flat in London, if that’d make it easier,” he suggests, but it’s unthinkable. 

“I can’t do that to James. I think he’d die if you two weren’t near each other all the time. It’d be cruel, honestly.” 

“I won’t deny that, but are you sure? There aren’t many other options,” Sirius says, in agreement that at least they’d have to live together. 

“Well, Alice brought up something during lunch today, and that’s what’s been on my mind.” 

Sirius sits patiently, waiting for Remus to tell him whatever it is that’s been on his mind. 

“You know Dorcas, right? Well of course you know Dorcas, but Alice reminded me that I know Dorcas, and that she’s recently quit so she’d probably be looking for a job. Then, she suggested that Dorcas and I start our own law firm together, in Godric’s Hollow, so that I could still be close to you and you could still be close to James. Plus, Dorcas could still be close to Marlene, although Alice didn’t know about that,” Remus finishes with a large breath, glad to finally have the idea leave his head. 

“Oh,” Sirius says, and there’s a lot in that simple little word Remus doesn’t understand at first. 

“Oh? What does that mean? Do you like the idea, or no?” 

“Remus, I love the idea. I think you should go for it. Call Dorcas up right now, and let her know about it.” 

“Really? You think?” 

“I know. I mean, with your sarcasm, Dorcas’ experience and brains, and your combined legal stuff…you two would be a pretty unstoppable team.” 

“Do you truly think so?” 

“Yes, I’m all for it. Seriously. Call her.” 

So, Remus does call her. He explains his proposition with baited breath, waiting for her to decide. He can hear Marlene in the background, who seems all for it, encouraging Dorcas, but Remus knows a decision like this isn’t easy. It’s going to take more than a few words of encouragement to decide, because it’s a big decision. 

They’re going to need money to start up the firm, for one. It shouldn’t be a huge issue, considering Dorcas is super rich, but it’s a concern nonetheless. Then, there’s the issue of location. Would anyone book with them if they were in Godric’s Hollow? Would they want all of these fancy people infiltrating Godric’s Hollow? 

In the end, Dorcas agrees, as long as it’s in a nearby town instead of at the heart of Godric’s Hollow. They decide on a small building in the local Hogsmeade, a town near Hogwarts, because at least that’s slightly closer to London. 

It takes a while to get it up and going at first. Business is slow for a while, but they keep afloat, and at least they’re surviving. That’s what matters, so it’s really just an added bonus when business picks up, and they have different cases left and right. Everything finally starts working out for Remus. 

______________________________

December 25th, approx. 5:30pm, one year later

“Beautiful wedding, Lily,” James says, as the reception is just getting into full swing. It truly was a beautiful ceremony. Potterly Trees was kind enough to host it (for free), on Christmas Day no less, and it was a magical day of love, Christmas, and really everything good. 

The wedding had started around noon, but with prep going far before that. Someone had to set up the wooden benches, and string the fairy lights around the surrounding trees in the woods, and make sure the brides and officiant and everyone important was there. It turned out, there was a lot that went into wedding planning that he didn’t know about. It mattered down to the last fork what to choose, but because it was Mary and Lily, they chose easily. 

The ceremony itself was beautiful, too. The vows were some of the most heartfelt he’d ever heard, and the dresses, warm enough for England’s winters but not too furry or stifling, fit both brides beautifully as well. Everything about it, it was all just so beautiful James could cry, and he did. Multiple times. 

“Thanks,” Lily responds. At the moment, Mary is dancing with Marlene. If you could even call it dancing. Marlene has always had two left feet, and Mary, unfortunately, can't stick to a style for the life of her. One minute, she’s slow dancing, and the next she has an electric air guitar, song choice be damned. Lily just smiles at this, her eyes going a bit dreamy at the sight. “Are you going to take any inspiration, then?” 

“From the wedding? I wouldn’t want to take any of your ideas,” James responds. 

“Not about the wedding silly, but about having a wedding. Any plans for Regulus yet?” 

“Oh.” Oh. 

Sure, James has thought about it. What it’d be like to introduce Regulus to people as his husband, for Regulus to wear a ring around his ring finger, for it to be as official as possible. And the general wedding atmosphere is infectious, it really is, so the topic of marriage has been on James’ mind for the past two months of preparation. 

Lily looks over the dance floor, where, across from them, Regulus and Dorcas are watching Mary and Marlene as well. Dorcas seems in love. Regulus seems…confused by the style of dance, but accepting nonetheless. 

“I mean, of course I’ve thought about it,” James admits, although that’s a bit of an understatement. He’s thought about it a lot, and now that Lily’s planted the idea of it in his head more, it’s going to be a while before he stops thinking about it. 

“I thought about it a lot before asking her,” Lily says, still looking at Mary with that loving look in her eyes. “I had it all planned out, I’d bought the ring a week in advance, and was going to do it on our date night for our anniversary. But the night before, I started freaking out, because Mary mentioned she loved private things more. Mary was wondering what was wrong, so I just grabbed the ring out of my nightstand and proposed right then and there.” 

“I thought Mary proposed?” James questions, but he can’t be sure if he’s remembering the details correctly. 

“That’s the funny thing. Mary started laughing, which really worried me for a second there, but then went and got her own ring and got mad at me for proposing first. She was going to do it the next night too, she just wanted to throw me off by saying she didn’t want it to be public.” 

“What a Mary thing to do,” James laughs, laughing even more that they’re still telling people Mary proposed. 

“It was, and that was the best part of it. I just don’t know what took us so long,” Lily sighs dreamily. “I guess when you know, you know, you know?” 

James does know, all too well. “Trust me, I know.” 

“You know with him, then?” Lily says, and it’s no surprise to James that of course Lily would be the one to really see him. Lily always seemed to understand him, even when he couldn’t understand some parts of her, and that was what was so great about Lily. It was partly why they had started dating - they both thought that because they got along, and they didn’t hate each other, they had feelings for the other. It didn’t take very many kisses to realise that wasn’t the case at all, but it took a while after that to truly break up because they were worried about their friendship surviving. Looking back, it’s all silly to them, that fear that they wouldn’t make it. Ever since they first opened up to each other, they haven’t been able to shut each other out again. 

“I know. I just don’t know if he knows,” James says, looking at Regulus harder, trying to find something about him in the facial expressions reacting to an odd foot-stomping move from Marlene. 

“He knows,” says Lily. 

Right as she does, Regulus looks over, a shy smile lighting up his face as he catches James’ staring. 

“See? He knows. Is that why it’s taken you so long to propose?” 

“I mean that, and the fact we’ve only been dating for a year.” 

“Like time means anything,” Lily shrugs. “1 year, 10 years, what’s the difference? You’ll be married eventually, you’re already living together, Potterly Trees is at the best it’s ever been…there aren’t any drawbacks I could think of.” 

“Really? You think so?” 

“I do. I’ve thought so since the auction, to be honest. You two just seem right for each other.” 

“Thank you,” James says softly. “You and Mary do, too, though I can’t say I knew as quickly.” 

“Neither did we, honestly. But we do now, and maybe that’s why it took us so long.” 

Almost as soon as Lily finishes that thought, the song Mary and Marlene were dancing to ends, and instead, Taylor Swift’s Lover begins to play. 

“Well, Mary will kill me if we don’t dance,” Lily laughs, and quickly joins her wife. Lily would also kill James for keeping her longer, but he doesn’t mention that, and finds Regulus instead. 

“We’re dancing,” he says, taking Regulus’ hand, and dragging him onto the dance floor. 

“We are?” 

“We are,” James confirms, bringing him a bit closer, and wrapping his hands around Regulus’ waist. 

“I think I really enjoy dancing,” Regulus responds to that, chuckling slightly as he leans in. 

“That’s Taylor for you.” 

“You thinking of playing her at our wedding, then?” 

“How did you know I was thinking of that?” James panics, because he’s going to be the one to propose no matter what, and he is not going to have Regulus mess that up. 

“Relax James, I was just saying. Plus, we’re at a wedding.”

Right. That makes more sense. James makes eye-contact with Lily then, who’s clearly overheard them and is trying to contain her laugh. 

“I also overheard you and Lily talking,” Regulus admits, after a few moments. 

“Regulus!” James exclaims, shocked and a bit embarrassed, because he definitely didn’t mean for Regulus to hear that of all people. 

“Not much!” He defends. “Just snippets and all, this wedding was pretty loud and Marlene and Mary’s dancing skills were…questionable to say the least, and very distracting.” 

Mary, dancing a bit close to them, carefully reaches out her leg to aim a kick at his shin, and then continues dancing as if she never heard anything. 

James still isn’t sure what to respond to that, so he just stays a bit silent, waiting for Regulus to add more, or to see if he does. 

“I liked what I heard, if that helps,” Regulus murmurs. “It all sounded pretty right to me.” 

“You think?” 

“I know.” 

So, he really did overhear a fair bit of it, then.  

“You two better not propose at our wedding,” Lily whispers, as she and Mary pass them again. 

Regulus goes a bit red, adorably, but James just quickly reassures Lily that they won’t do anything of the sort. 

But there’s just something so appealing about the thought of proposing to Regulus, and the knowledge he’d probably say yes, James can’t get the idea out of his mind. 

It doesn’t take him long to follow through. 

____________________

December 27th, approx. 6:45am

“James, what are you doing?” Regulus asks, groggy, and still rubbing sleep out of his eyes. James is pacing at the edge of their bed, his hands behind his back, clearly deep in thought. 

“Regulus! Good, you’re awake. Did I wake you? I’m sorry if I woke you,” James says, talking faster than usual. 

It was odd at first, adjusting to living with James. They’d moved into one of the flat’s in Sirius’ building, because it was a bit weird to have James living with his parents, Regulus’ flat was too far from Potterly Trees, and James and Sirius still loved being under the same roof. Regulus wasn’t entirely used to someone else living in his home, but that was the thing about James. He’d come in and made the flat a home. Pictures of their friends and James’ family dotted the walls, cookbooks filled with Portuguese recipes from James were in a neat corner of the kitchen, and you could find traces of James and Regulus in every room. So, Regulus couldn’t exactly say he minded living with James. 

It was interesting, though, finding out so many things about him. He realised James would talk fast when he was excited about things, and that he was a hardcore cuddler (something Regulus didn’t often object to), and so many small things Regulus kept tucked away on a list of things he never wanted to forget about James. This mood that James is in currently, Regulus doesn’t have much experience with. He’s seen James excited before, and nervous, but he can normally decide between the two emotions. This morning, he seems like he’s both excited and nervous, and it doesn’t take a genius to guess why. 

“It’s okay,” Regulus says, still a bit confused, although now at least he has an idea of what’s making James excited and nervous. 

“It’s just - this is a big decision. I know I’m fine with it, But what if you’re not, and I end up ruining everything?” 

“James, just tell me. Or ask me.” 

“I’ve already ruined it. I was going to wake you up, and I’d be on one knee, ready to propose, but then I accidentally woke you up too early, and-” 

“Yes.” 

“Yes?” 

“Yes. Yes, James, I’ll marry you.” 

“You will? You’re kidding.” 

“Why on Earth would I be kidd-” 

“Right, right sorry, so you’ll marry me?” 

“Yes.” 

James seems at a loss for what to do, just smiling widely and not really responding, so Regulus takes the matter of functioning into his own hands and kisses James, their first kiss as official fiances. 

As they’re kissing, James remembers something, the little box he’s holding, and slides the ring from it onto Regulus’ ring finger. 

“Oh? This is beautiful,” Regulus says, stopping the kiss to admire it. 

“It was my grandmother’s,” James tells him. “I got it from my mum the night of Mary and Lily’s wedding.” 

“I knew that’s what you guys were talking about, I thought I was going crazy. Thank you,” Regulus says softly. “I can’t wait to marry you.” 

“I can’t wait to marry you,” James agrees, laughing as he pulls Regulus in again. 

So, they end that morning wrapped in each other’s arms, excited for a future they’re going to create. Potterly Trees is saved. James’ friends, his job, his fiance, his parents, are all saved by the magic of Christmas. In his heart, there’s a Christmas Tree Farm.