Hello, guys! This was written for the Jily Secret Santa gift exchange on tumblr, for the wonderful Aishah. Hope you enjoy!
"I reckon we should turn in," said James. "It's Christmas Eve. Everyone's either asleep or in their common rooms."
"We should still finish the patrol, James" said Lily. "We already cut one patrol short last month, and we gave last week's patrol to those Hufflepuff prefects so we could study."
"There's only thirty minutes left."
"Exactly. No sense in stopping it early."
"The only person in the corridors is Filtch, and I'd rather not look at him on holidays."
"Oh, man up and finish the patrol."
She had to admit, the idea of going back to the common room and curling up by the fire sounded ridiculously appealing. Having hardly sat down all day, due to last minute wrapping and a spontaneous snowball fight, Lily was tempted to give in. However, facing McGonagall's stern look when asked about missing patrol hours was not something she wanted to face.
"I'm beginning to think you only want me here for yourself."
"You wish."
"It's alright, Lily. I knew you would fall for my good looks and charm eventually."
"Since when have you ever had charm?"
"Are you implying I'm good looking?"
To be fair, he was rather fit. However, she was not going to let him know this.
"You're insufferable, Potter."
"Back to a last-name basis, now?"
"I went through the trouble of getting you a decent Christmas present this year and everything," she said, threateningly. "Don't make me regret it."
In response, he merely smiled, and it made her smile too. Lately, everything about James made her smile. Whether it was being paired with him in charms, watching him play Quidditch, or hearing him laugh, it made her irrationally happy. She had this constant urge to rearrange patrol times so they could spend more time together, and she kept wondering where she mattered in the world of James Potter.
She knew exactly what all this meant, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it.
After all, this was the boy who used to make her so livid her face would match her hair in color. This was the boy that bullied her ex-best-friend, just because he could. This was the boy who used to pass time by asking her out in humiliatingly public and ludicrous ways. This was the boy whom she had only recently grown to trust and befriend. Why did it have to be him?
"I would kill for a hot chocolate right now," she said, mostly to herself, as chocolate always managed to make her feel better.
"We could stop by the kitchens."
"The kitchens aren't even close to where we're supposed to be patrolling."
"Lily, I'm a Marauder. I could get you to Liverpool and back before anyone would notice."
She ought to have said no and insisted they continued on with their patrols, but damn it all, it was Christmas Eve.
"Lead the way."
"Excellent," he said, glancing around the hall. "I need some place hidden from eye, in case a teacher comes along."
"There's a broom cupboard around the corner."
He raised an eyebrow. "Now I'm really beginning to think you want me all to yourself."
"Shove off. Unlike you, I was a prefect for two years, so I unfortunately know where allthe broom cupboards are by memory."
Accepting this explanation, he paced off to the closet, Lily following shortly behind. What exactly he was planning, she didn't know, but she had to admit, seeing how the Marauders operated was a bit exciting. The four were rather brilliant.
"Good enough," said James, opening the cupboard and inspecting the interior. "Ladies first."
As she took a seat on an unopened box of All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, James illuminated the tip of his wand and removed a mirror from his robe pocket. It looked simple enough, with a thin, silver rim outlining the square frame and fingerprint smudges that would drive Filtch mad. Doubting he had pulled it out for a quick look at himself, she patiently waiting for an explanation.
"This is a two-way mirror," he said. "Sirius has the other one."
"How does it work?"
"Padfoot," he said, looking directly in the mirror.
After a few moments, Sirius appeared in the reflection, sitting in his four-poster.
"That's brilliant," said Lily, peeking around James's arm.
"Are you two in a broom closet?" asked Sirius.
"Who's in a broom closet?" asked Peter, somewhere out of the mirror frame.
"Prongs and Lily."
"What are they doing in a broom closet?" asked Remus, also out of the frame, disbelief tinted in his voice.
"We aren't snogging," said Lily, cutting their chatter short. "We're hiding."
"We're ditching patrols," said James. "You lot up for a kitchen run? Lily wants hot chocolate."
"God, yes," said Peter. "I'm starving."
"You're always starving," said Sirius.
"So are you."
"Don't bicker," said Remus. "We'll be down with the cloak and the map in a couple minutes."
With a last wave from Sirius, the mirror faded back to James's reflection. He placed it back in his robe and sat down between her a broken mop.
"Thank you," she said, sincerely.
He waved it off. "I'm the one who wanted to stop patrolling."
"It was still a nice gesture."
He smiled. Damn that smile.
"That's the secret, isn't it? Give you chocolate, and you don't hate me?"
"I don't hate you. In fact, I rather like you."
These words carried more weight than they should have. Though they'd become friends, there was never an acknowledgement of changed feelings. It was one of those things that had just happened, but no one talked about. But, here was the confession; the past was forgiven
"I rather like you, too, Lily."
There was a bit of a pause, and then James let out a sigh.
"I was jealous of Snape, you know."
"Really?" she asked, bewildered.
"He had you," said James, in an offhanded tone, but refusing to meet her eye. "I couldn't."
This made her heart flutter and ache, all at the same time.
"Snape isn't relevant anymore," she said, softly. "He chose what he wanted."
What you want is standing right in front of you, she thought. And here you are, talking about your ex-best-friend in a dusty, broom cupboard on Christmas Eve.
"It's not your fault."
"I know." The words were empty, though. "It just hurts a bit."
Another pause.
"James," she began, right as he said, "Lily I—"
The pair paused awkwardly, and Lily became aware of how close they were. She realized she'd been leaning forward subconsciously, and the thought alone made her blush.
"I fancy you," she said at last, pushing past her fear of rejection and five-years' worth of dislike.
"Thank Merlin," he said, and he kissed her.
Then, with all the unlucky timing in the world, the door opened to reveal the other three of the quartet. James and Lily jumped back from the other, causing Lily to hit her head on a potion rack.
"We're not snogging," said Sirius, in a poor imitation of her, grinning like mad. "Honestly, Lily, what else do you do in a broom closet?"
"Should we come back later?" asked Peter, glancing between the two in a state of disbelief.
"No," she said, clearing her throat awkwardly. "Let's go, shall we?"
After the dust was sufficiently brushed off their robes, the five of them squeezed under the cloak, even though it only came to mid-shin. As they walked towards the kitchens, Sirius was still grinning, and Remus and Peter were clearly expecting an explanation soon. Lily took James's hand, and we he squeezed it back, she grinned too. Perhaps she would soon stop thinking of her extensive broom cupboard knowledge as unfortunate.