Christmas Memories
James groaned loudly. He hated that he had been left behind for Christmas during his seventh year. He always went home during the holidays, however this year was different. His parents had decided that they wanted to take a vacation (just the two of them) for their 25th wedding anniversary. They had wanted to go somewhere warm to celebrate, and wanted to spend it together. He was happy for the two of them, really. But he hated that it meant that he had to stay at the school.
Luckily for him, Sirius Black would also be staying back at the school with him. The raven haired boy had moved in with his family about two years back, and he hadn't left since. Sirius' entire family were sympathisers of Voldemort; a person that Sirius wanted nothing to do with, so he had left them. The Potter family had welcomed him in with open arms. James had always wanted a brother, and the Marauders were the closest that he was ever going to get to it. But he loved the three other boys, and wouldn't trade them in for any other friends in the world. Unfortunately for him, both Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew had both gone home for the holidays as well.
So now, half of the group of Marauders were sitting in the Head dorm, with nothing to do on the eve of Christmas.
He supposed he could get started on the enormous pile of homework that the teachers had assigned him over the break, but he preferred not to. He'd rather leave it until the last moment, as he did with all the homework that he received over any holidays.
He watched as his fellow Head trudged into their dorm, with a huge pile of books in her tiny, quaint hands. Lily Evans was a studious girl. She studied hard to achieve the top grades, and she was friendly to everyone she met. There was not a person at the school who could say a bad thing about her; well except the Slytherins. But they hated anyone who were any less than purebloods, so who cared what they thought?
"Evans," Sirius greeted the witch cheerily. "Entertain us!" he commanded.
"Sirius," she greeted cordially as she dropped the books with a 'clunk' on a nearby table, and then turned to face the pair of them. Her hands lay on her hips and her beautiful red hair shaped her face in curls. Her green eyes pierced through him, even though they held a friendly look about them.
Until the current year, James and Lily had not gotten along. She preferred to read, and he preferred to pull pranks. She worked hard to enforce the rules, where he so easily broke them. She would help anyone who asked, but James would sooner hex someone who tried. Yes, the two of them were polar opposites, and hardly got along. It also hadn't helped that James had liked Lily from the moment he first set eyes upon her. But to his dismay, he often found that he made a fool of himself around her, causing her to hate him.
As the two of them became the Head Boy and Girl, they made more of an effort to get along with each other. It would hardly show a state of unity if the two of them were always having another one of their infamous fights. Thankfully for James, the two of them were now on a friendly basis.
"Do I look like an entertainer Sirius Black?" she asked him in a mockingly strict tone.
He raised his eyebrows, as to suggest that she indeed was an entertainer.
She smacked him lightly on the head and turned to the coatrack of their dorm. She grabbed her Gryffindor scarf, and her petite black coat.
"Where are you going, Evans?" James asked in a tone to suggest that he didn't care.
She smirked at the two of them, "I'm going skating with Marlene and Mary," she said as she placed a hat over her head. At the mention of Marlene McKinnon, Sirius' ears immediately perked. The two of them had been a couple for the last several months. It had caught everyone by surprise, for Sirius Black was not a man to have relationships. Yet here he was, involved in one.
"Ice skating you say? How about James and I join you?" he asked, in a way that wouldn't accept no for an answer. Before she could reply, he jumped off the couch and began getting ready.
She shrugged nonchalantly and James felt his heart soar as she replied, "Sure, Black, I'm sure Marlene would enjoy your company."
The next thing James knew, he was sitting on a log near the Great Lake. He watched as Lily transfigured her winter shoes into a pair of ice skates and tightened the laces. Unsure of how to proceed, he settled on mimicking her gestures.
Marlene and Sirius had already made their way onto the ice, where many other Hogwarts' students had decided to visit today. They were skating in circles around the rink, with their hands joined together, as they moved in unison.
James Potter had a confession. He had never gone ice skating in his life and he was terrified of making a fool of himself. While he rarely worked hard to master any skill (other than Quidditch of course), that didn't mean that he enjoyed not being good at things.
Lily stood up and made her way onto the ice while James sat rather contently on the log.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
He shook his head, "I think I'm rather fine here," he said, flashing her a smile.
She smiled at him, "What, do you not know how to skate?" she asked him jokingly.
He looked at her sheepishly, "I never learned as a kid. My family would always do things such as have snowball fights or build snowmen. But skating was never something that we did."
Her smile did not waver as she replied, "I'll teach you then," she said sweetly, as her eyes shone at the excitement of getting to do so. Merlin, he seriously loved this girl, and she didn't even know it. A part of him wanted to kiss her right there and then, but he didn't. He had just gotten to be her friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was mess that up.
She stepped onto the ice, and held out her hands. He took them gingerly as he placed one foot after the other onto the ice. He wobbled at first, losing his balance. She placed her hands around him tighter, to stop him from shaking.
Once she was certain that he would be able to stand still, she removed her hands from around his body (much to his dismay and intertwined her fingers with his.
"James, now move one of your feet forward while pushing against the ice," she commanded softly.
He began to move both his feet in the fashion that she had dictated, all while wobbling slowly. She skated backwards, while pulling him forward slowly.
"This is hard enough while going forwards, how can you do this backwards?" he grumbled at her.
She laughed, her voice ringing as sweet bells would. "I've been skating for years James, whereas you've only been doing this for a few moments. Besides, you'll probably be good at this soon too, like you seem to be with everything else," she said complimenting him.
He blushed slightly at her compliment, before teasing her, "So you admit that I am good at things?" he said, mocking one of her insults from a previous year.
"I've never thought that you weren't good at things; even though it annoyed me to a great extent, I've always thought you were rather clever," she said flushing slightly.
The two of them continued to skate for a couple moments, before she said something else.
"You've changed a lot this year James. I was a bit worried when I heard that you were Head Boy, but you rose graciously to the challenge. I've never regretted a single day where you were Head Boy," she said softly, as she nervously began to play with her hair, with a hand that she had removed from his.
He smiled at her, "I'm glad that I meet your standards," he said honestly. "I've tried to mature this year, so I could be the best possible Head Boy this year, for you deserve nothing less."
For a second, the two of them blocked out the rest of the students who were currently on the ice with them. They forgot about their friends, who were curiously watching the entire exchange, and the two of them only saw one thing; each other.
He moved in slightly, the two of their faces were only inches apart. She did not look nervous anymore; instead she had a look of anticipation splattered on her face. On any other circumstance, he would laugh at how much of a Gryffindor she was being, but now he only thought of one thing. He wanted to kiss Lily Evans.
Unfortunately for the two of them, James' legs chose that precise moment to give out from underneath them. He fell onto the ice, and dragged Lily down with him.
He fell so that he was on top of her, but held most of his weight up off of her body.
He waited for her to complain about the incident, but it did not come. Instead, she simply smiled at him and said with a laugh, "And you were doing so well too, James."
He pushed a strand of her ginger hair away from her face, before tucking it away behind her ears.
"I like you better this way, James. This year, you're calmer. You are nicer to all the younger students, and you help them if they need it. You don't go around hexing students for the sake of it; you only do if one of them hex you first. And even then you only bind them at the most. Then you simply remove points from their house. You've matured a lot James," she said softly.
He smiled. So she had noticed all the subtle changes that he had slowly been making. But when she went to continue, he frowned, unsure of where it was heading.
"But there's one thing I don't like," she said slowly. She paused before adding, "You don't ask me out anymore James. And I'm starting to worry that you lost your interest in me, if there was ever any to begin with," she said, sounding almost sad.
At those words, James could no longer hold himself back. He wrapped his arms around her, and places his lips on hers. He felt fireworks; it was different from all the other girls that he had kissed. This time, he felt passion beyond anything that he had ever experienced.
She did not push away as he was partially afraid that she would. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him back.
After several moments, they pulled away. As he helped her up, he took her hands in his and looked into her emerald green eyes, before asking, "Lily Evans, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked her.
He waited in anticipation as she replied to the question that he had been asking her for years. Thankfully for him, the answer was different this time, "I'd love to be your girlfriend James," she said, as she pecked him on the lips once more.
As the two of them made their way off of the ice, she transfigured their shoe back into boots. She buried her head into his chest as the two them made their way up to the castle, with James' arm slung around her shoulders. For once, James felt as if he had done something right by her standards. And that day, he wore the brightest smile anyone had ever seen on his face. For it was the day that Lily and James began to spend the rest of their lives with each other.
A/N: My first Jily oneshot! I'm sorry if this was bad, I've wanted to try this for a while and thought this season would be the perfect time to write a one shot about them.