Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is so much better than Christmas. James didn't care what anybody had to say, he knew Christmas Eve was better. The anticipation was so much better. Sure on Christmas day you get to open your presents, but that takes what? an hour?, and then the rest of the day you do nothing until you get dressed and go eat and see relatives you don't really like. James didn't have any extended family anyways so he would have to get dressed and have his mom fuss over his hair and wait for all his dad's friends come over for a Christmas feast. They were gone before sunset and then there wasn't much more to do.

James felt somewhat relieved that this year he wouldn't have to do that silliness. His father was working Christmas and his mom was off in Paris for Christmas with her friends, something she had wanted to do for so long. So James decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, with Sirius of course. Sirius was upstairs asleep though and James was downstairs in the common room mourning his Christmas Eve.

The Gryffindor common room was decked out to the nines for Christmas. Wreaths of pine needles bordered every archway with poinsettia leaves riddled in them and hidden magic mistletoe that moved around the room and school to tinkle music and embarrass unsuspecting couples. James was a little disappointed that it hadn't gotten to him and Lily. Sure, she had a boyfriend now but he was irrelevant. Gold and silver tinsel wound around everything, every candle holder, table leg and portrait. The ceiling was covered in moving gold swirls that could hypnotize you if you stared at it too long. The evergreen was filled with intricately painted ornaments and instead of muggle lights there were little clear balls full of gold or red flame. The fire place roared, James kept rekindling it, and three stocking were hung for the three Gryffindors staying behind for Christmas.

It was eleven at night on Christmas Eve and James was flipping through a book trying to kill time. Sirius had refused to stay up late with him saying that he wasn't as childish as James. This was of course said after Sirius has flipped over the chess board because James was "totally cheating".

Suddenly the portrait hole swung open and there was giggling. He knew exactly who it was and why she was giggling so he sunk down into the couch so as not to be seen. It was so unnatural hearing her giggle. She wasn't a giggle girl. He could tell whenever she did it was because she thought that's what they wanted to hear. He would only ever want to hear her laugh.

"No you can't! I'll see you tomorrow. You go to bed!" she said through her giggles.

"Aww, c'mon Lily! Stay just a little longer. You won't regret it…" Stupid Ravenclaw James thought.

"Au contraire, Jeff. I know for a fact I would regret it in the morning [insert more giggles] so I'll see you tomorrow," Lily replied. There was a filled silence that James was all too familiar with and he steamed to himself. Finally the door swung shut and he heard Lily's steps click on the hardwood floor towards the dorms.

"Had a nice evening?" James couldn't stop himself from saying.

"Quite actually," Lily replied without a note of surprise. She then dropped to the head of the couch looking over at James. "Have a nice eavesdropping?"

"No actually," once again unable to stop himself. He was suddenly upset with her for rubbing her boyfriend in his face.

"Well ain't that shame," Lily snipped with a smile. She went around the couch and plopped down next to him. James took a moment to take note of her appearance. She was wearing her school skirt and a dark blue button down with sparkling buttons and her auburn hair was pulled up into a high messy bun clipped with rhinestone barrettes. She was wearing her white school socks and mary-janes. James felt severely underdressed next to her in his red and gold pajama pants and tank top. "You couldn't sleep or something, James?"

"No. I chose not to sleep of course. Now if you don't mind leaving. You're ruining my Christmas Eve." James was utterly miffed with her at the moment. His Christmas Eve had already been crap. He was all alone, no hot chocolate, not even any cookies for Santa. What the hell? And now Lily is trying to make him jealous again, which topped it all. Whether she did it consciously or not, she did it all the time. Since the beginning of the year she had been dating that stupid Ravenclaw, what's-his-face, and took every chance to rub it James' face. She hadn't done it as much with her other boyfriends but now she took every chance it seemed. Maybe because he was their Quidditch captain. But almost every day he would see her running off hand in hand with him to some dark corner and every day James wanted to tear his eyes out.

"Ooh," Lily cooed "Not very friendly today are you James?"

"Like I said, Lily, I don't want to talk to you. Just go."

"Well someone obviously needs a little Christmas cheer," Lily said with a smirk.

"Ok," James said harshly turning to her. "Obviously you are either too drunk or too stupid to realize that I don't want to talk to you right now. The best night of the year for me is being made even worse by you, of all people! So why don't you just go back to your little boyfriend and raise hell some more." James was so upset he stood up and stormed off to the boys' dorm. He stopped when he heard a dumbfounded Lily say quietly to herself,

"How is Christmas Eve the best night of the year?" That was it for James.

"Ok NO!" James yelled. "I've put up with being abandoned on Christmas, my friend ditching my traditions, having to hear you with that damn boy of yours, but you will not speak ill of Christmas Eve!"

Lily sat back with her eyes bulging. James had never spoken to her like that before. What was she supposed to say to him? She didn't know whether to yell back or apologize. Well, she never apologized to James in her life and wasn't going to start now and so…

"Who the hell do you think you are James Potter? It's Christmas Eve not actual Christmas! It's not even a damn holiday. It's the day before a holiday! What if we had an Easter's Eve? It would be just as stupid, James!" Lily yelled in James' face after she had jumped up.

"You don't get presents on Easter, stupid!"

"You don't presents on Christmas Eve, stupid!"

James fumed. Lily looked smug. "You just upset me, did you know that?" James said.

Lily smiled and said, "This is my job, what can I say?" James then smiled. They both began to laugh heartily.

"Ok, I give in. What is so great about Christmas Eve, Potter?" Lily said as she walked over to the couch. James sat down next to her.

"What's not great about Christmas Eve would be a better question," James replied.

Lily laughed. Her laughter was sunshine, James decided. Her eyes practically closed and her nose scrunched into her forehead.

"Ok, it's awesome and all. I'll concede that but Christmas itself is way better," she said.

"So I was right. You're drunk. You must be if you believe Christmas could ever be better! Santa doesn't come on Christmas, he comes on Christmas Eve. That has to account for something!"

"Yeah, so we can enjoy presents on Christmas. And sorry if I have to be the one to break it to you, Potter, but there is no such thing as Santa."

"Yeah, my parents tried to say that too, but I didn't believe them and I won't believe you, Evans!" James said relaxing back in the couch resting his arm on the back.

"Is that why you're up so late?" She began to mock. "To wait for Santa?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." James replied shamelessly. Lily burst out laughing again and James sat back and enjoyed it. Once she quieted down a bit, James continued "I've always waited up for Santa. Wait until you fall asleep, you know."

Lily chuckled and said, "Well I'd love to join you if you're not still mad at me."

James was shocked. She was probably joking. "Of course you can, but I thought you hated Christmas Eve."

Lily stood up aghast, "Ah! I never said I hated Christmas Eve, just that I prefer Christmas. I'll be right back though!" Lily ran to the girl's dorm and swung open the door.

"Oh and Lily?"

"Yes?"

"I could never be mad at you."

Lily just smiled, rolled her eyes, and continued in to her dorm. Not five minutes later it was 11:10 and she returned in a short gold nightgown and a long red bathrobe. "Am I dressed proper?" she asked.

"You look smashing as always."

Lily laughed and sat down next to him. After a minute of just sitting there she asked, "Ok so what do we do now?"

"We wait, silly."

"Ugh! This is torture!" Lily exclaimed dramatically throwing her head back.

James laughed and asked, "Well what did you think we'd be doing?"

Lily smiled lightly and said, "Oh I don't know… you were going to tell me what's so special about Christmas Eve though."

"Well not sure I can, considering this one isn't turning out the way it's supposed to."

"How is it supposed to go?" Lily asked eagerly.

James considered for a second why Lily was interested. She wanted to hang out with him on Christmas Eve instead of staying out late with her boyfriend. She was talking to him like an old friend. Something was up.

"Well," he began cautiously. "I usually stay up with Sirius but he's in a mopey mood I guess. We usually stay up playing chess or indoor Quidditch and eat Santa's cookie and hot cocoa till we pass out."

Lily laughed at this. "I can see why you prefer Christmas Eve." She hesitated for a moment and looked at James in the eyes before she continued. "My sister and I used to love Christmas Eve. We would make cookies for Santa together and watch the Christmas specials in our pjs on TV. Mum and dad would let us stay up later than usual to watch them all and then we would go up to bed. She'd sneak into my room and we would stay up looking out the window to see Santa. Finally we would fall asleep so late."

"See, all the fun of Christmas really happens on Christmas Eve," James said.

"Well, not so much anymore," Before James could reply she continued. "Why don't we make some cookies for Santa!"

"You do realize we would have to sneak out, right?"

"So what?"

James faked shock, "Miss Head Girl wants to sneak out far past curfew?"

"Oh shut up and let's go!"

James and Lily pulled their slippers on and slipped out of the common room. Each time they thought they heard somebody around the corner they would stop and snicker. Thank goodness nobody actually was there. Finally they just sprinted to the kitchens, Lily lead the way. When they got into the kitchens, a little house elf tried to give them the cookies but they insisted that they wanted to make them themselves. James and Lily unanimously decided on chocolate chip. The system turned into something like this, James would just get Lily all the ingredients and try to make the cookies himself. Lily would cringe, shove him away and fix it. He would apologize and say "Oh I know what to do now." And the cycle would continue.

Finally the cookies were in the oven and Lily and James were leaning over the counter spooning the excess dough into their mouths. "See," James began. "Christmas Eve rocks."

Lily laughed. "Cause I made it rock! This was all me. So Lily Evans rocks. Not Christmas Eve."

"Well, I can't deny that," James said. A heated silence filled the room then. "Lily…"

"… Yes?"

"Why are you hear right now? I heard you and that kid-"

"Jeff."

"Whatever, -talking so why are you staying up with me instead of your boyfriend?"

Lily looked down at her spoon of cookie dough as though she was listening to a good story it was telling and finally smiled widely and looked up into James' eyes. "I hate to break it to James, and I really do since it was so entertaining, but… Jeff and I haven't been together for a couple weeks now," Lily finished and looked back her spoon quickly and devoured the last bits on it.

"What?"

Lily chuckled and said, "We broke up a couple weeks ago, James. We're still good friends and everything and we split on amicable terms."

James was so confused. "But don't you guys still, like…"

"Sneak off into secluded corners and make out and have hot passionate sex?"

"Well… yeah basically."

Lily laughed again, "Well not the second part! But we do kiss a bit still… Mostly to annoy you if I'm going to be honest!" Lily burst out laughing harder than ever.

James stood there with his mouth open staring at Lily. So she didn't have a boyfriend anymore? And she had consciously been trying to make him jealous. He saw Lily rolling on the floor laughing. Even though it was snowing outside, on the floor of the kitchens James saw sunshine.

He sat down next to Lily on the floor and waited patiently for her to quit laughing. Finally it died down and Lily lay on her back and looked up at James smiling.

"Aww, James. How do you make me laugh so much?"

James smiled and said, "Lily, I haven't done anything tonight. You're the one who keeps bursting."

"I know, I know. There's just something about your face when I talk to you that makes me so happy I could bust!" She snickered some more.

"There's something about your laughter that makes me want to bust, Lily," James said as he laid down on side next to her. Just then they heard a small tinkling above their heads. James and Lily looked up from the ground and saw a small piece of mistletoe. Lily laughed and took James' face in her hands and brought it down to her lying completely on the ground and let their lips finally meet. James propped himself up with one hand and let his other hold Lily's waist. Their lips moved together softly and James explored her mouth tasting the sweet cookie dough. Finally Lily pulled her face away from a reluctant James and opened her eyes. James was grinning crookedly like a fool and said,

"See… isn't Christmas Eve so much better?"

Laughter poured out of Lily and she said, "Look at the clock, silly. 12:02. Merry Christmas. Told you it was better."

James just shook his head and took her lips in his again until they smelt the burning cookies for Santa and Lily insisted on getting off the floor to take them out.

A/N: I guess this will be an annual thing for me. And Review with a better title, I couldn't think of one.