Christmas passed by uneventfully, and soon the New Year was upon them. The Potters had planned for a meal with family and friends – nothing quite as big as their Christmas feast –which would include quiet conversation as they waited for the clock to strike midnight so that they could "toast" the New Year in good company.
What they hadn't counted on – but should have – was that the boys, knowing the reason the grown-ups were all staying up till midnight, would refuse to go to bed. Even the promise to wake them right before midnight, so that they could take part in the most important part of the evening, was not enough to convince them to change their mind. Finally, despite Augusta's protests, Lily reluctantly agreed to allow them to sit up with the grownups; if they fell asleep the adults would wake them at midnight, provided they bathe and change into their pyjamas first.
As expected, though they tried their hardest to keep their eyes open, Harry and Neville both drifted off to sleep long before midnight. Lily levitated them both to bed, not trusting James to manage it without waking them, though she needn't have worried. Even Sirius' drunken singing wasn't enough to wake them. She didn't trust him to wake them at 11:50 either, and instead left him to prepare the bubbly in her absence, reminding him, "Non-alcoholic for me too, dear," as she headed up the stairs. As an afterthought she added, "and for Sirius."
Soon she returned with two yawning four-year-olds in tow. And thus they toasted to the New Year – with non-alcoholic bubbly in plastic glasses for the boys – "May the year ahead be full of health and happiness for our growing circle of family and friends, and free of Dark lords." The last bit was added by Sirius, not that anyone objected.
For the most part, the year progressed as they had toasted. Aside from the occasional cold, they were all healthy, and apart from the rare tear or moment of melancholy they were all happy. The children were certainly growing, and if there were any lurking Dark lords, they didn't make themselves known.
Soon the winter's snows had melted, April's showers had fallen, and May's flowers were beginning to show themselves. And then May 12th rolled around – a double celebration. In addition to it being Lily's birthday, it was also Mother's Day that year and somehow Harry and Neville had got it into their heads that they were going to treat Lily to breakfast in bed… They neglected to tell James.
They sneaked out of bed shortly after dawn and made their way to the kitchen where signs of the Marauders' Saturday Night poker game were still evident; dirty glasses and dishes – the breakable kind which would normally be stored in charmed cupboards, away from the youngsters' prying hands – still lay about and the Silencing Charms, erected to keep from waking the boys, were still up.
Neville made his way over to the oven, dragging a chair behind him, while Harry made his way over to the fridge, also dragging a chair, which he used to reach the eggs on the top shelf. He managed to break half of them as he lost his balance getting down from the chair. While he attempted to clean up the mess with tissue (which only served to smear egg all over the floor), Neville reached the conclusion that he couldn't turn the stove on. This was due to the fact that it was charmed that way, but since they didn't know that, Harry insisted on giving it an equally unsuccessful try himself.
And so, unable to start the stove, they gave up on the idea of eggs and bacon and instead turned their attention to preparing cereal and toast. Unfortunately, the cupboards containing clean dishes were all magically sealed shut so while Neville attempted to retrieve the cereal from the cupboard above the sink – by climbing onto the counter – Harry grabbed the empty bowl of chips off the table, emptied the crumbs into the trash and brought it over to the sink to rinse. He used the same chair Neville had used to get onto the counter so as to reach the sink, but still managed to splash water all over the counter.
It was inevitable that Neville then slipped on his way down and spilled most of the cereal. What was left they poured into the bowl. Harry then returned to the fridge for some milk. This time, he made it down from the chair without spilling anything. They even managed to get most of what they poured into the bowl.
The problem came when they tried to pour the milk into a glass that Harry had rinsed from its previous night's use. The first attempt resulted in the glass tipping over and shattering onto the floor. They stayed away from the broken glass. The second attempt, with a new glass, was more successful, but still resulted in more milk on the table than in the glass.
Making the "toast" was easily the simplest part of the meal. Since the toaster wouldn't work for the same reason they couldn't get the stove to turn on they made do with simply plopping a few slices of bread on a plate that had previously contained a few cookie crumbs and smearing butter on them – they had to use their hands since the knives were locked away. They had wanted to put jam on the "toast" as well but their hands were so slippery from the butter that the jar slipped right to the floor and shattered, when they tried to remove it from the fridge.
Giving up on creating anything more complicated, they proceeded to deliver their gift. Neville held the large bowl of cereal, while Harry balanced the glass of milk and plate of toast. One piece of "toast" never made it to the stairs. Most of the milk and cereal was lost between the kitchen and the Master bedroom. Needless to say that while pleased with the gesture, Lily was not at all happy with the results. Thankfully, James had enough sense to volunteer to clean up the mess.
A.N.: There you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Please review. I'd like to thank Mistri Tonks' Admirer for his help brainstorming this chapter and for pre-betaing. Thanks, as well, to my beta, Arnel.