The Christmas Box

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

An now, on with the story.

It was 7th year. Lily and James were sitting in the Gryffindor common room on Christmas eve, their friends had mysteriously disappeared for the night so as a result, they were stuck in the common room together in an unbearable silence. Every time James would open his mouth to break the silence Lily would stare at him with her piercing green eyes and James would close his mouth, knowing what he was going to say wasn't worth the fight.

James was tired of being pushed aside by Lily; he had been chasing her since his 5th year. It hurt him to know that even though he loved her with every fiber of his being and Lily still didn't even look his way. At first, he had thought she was an insignificant prize; he had just wanted her to show his friends he could get anyone. As she continued to say no to him, his fascination with her grew, and along with fascination, grew fondness, and with fondness grew love. There was no doubt in James Potter's mind that he was in love with the beautiful woman that was sitting across from him reading a book.

Lily Evans was a girl of virtues, principals and standards and James Potter was against everything she knew. He was a worthless womanizing, heartless playboy that only went after her to say that he could get anyone. Lily knew that James was gorgeous, and he was very smart, but looks and brains can only take you so far in life. "If you don't have the personality to match your looks and intellect then you don't have anything" her competitive but wise grandmother had always said that, and Lily fully agreed with her.

"Lily-" started James but was cut off by Lily's stare. After a few minutes he tried again, and yet again he was met by her annoyed stare. After half an hour of trying to talk to her he grew frustrated and decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Lily!" he said in a deathly quiet voice, and Lily was startled by the tone of his voice. Her eyes widened when she realized that she could not get out of talking to him, so she shut her book and folded her hands in her lap, she wanted to get it over with.

"Yes James." She said calmly. After they had become Head boy and girl they had decided to call each other by their first names, well, James had decided that. Lily had not been happy about this decision but in the end reconsidered after a long girl talk session with her friends Jackie, Katie and Gina.

"Happy Christmas," said James, again in that eerily quiet voice of his, he reached behind his back and pulled out a neatly wrapped gift.

"James we said that we could exchange our head boy and girl gifts tomorrow with everyone else." Said Lily, who couldn't help but feel somewhat annoyed. She hadn't even wanted to get him a gift to start with, but James had insisted it would be good for them to have a sort of friendship and since Lily was usually the boss she had let him have his way. James smiled, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, immediately Lily felt somewhat calmer.

"I know, but I wanted to give you yours in private, and since our friends aren't anywhere to be seen, now's a perfect time as any." As he handed her the gift, their hands touched and Lily felt a spark go up her arm and she shivered. James pretended not to notice but he had felt a similar reaction.

Carefully, she unwrapped her gift, dreading opening it. James has never been the best gift-giver, one year he had sent her a bottle of perfume that smelt horrible, an other year he had sent her a box of expired chocolate, two years ago he had sent her a box of used dungbombs. Last year, however, he had gotten her a diamond bracelet, that was simple and beautiful, and she wore it every day under her clothes because she didn't want him to know that she liked it. The wrapping paper was gone, and all that was left was a plain looking box. James seemed nervous and she opened the lid. Lily looked at the inside of the box in confusion, and surprise.

The box had many things in it. One thing was bottle of perfume, but this time it was Lily's favorite sent, Lavender. Then he had gotten her a pair of small diamond earrings to match the bracelet he had gotten her last year. Lily felt for the bracelet and loosened it so that it fell to her wrist where James could see it. James' nervous smiled evaporated into a glowing grin and Lily smiled shyly at him.

Also in the box was a small mirror that allowed you to see whoever you wanted to by simply saying their full name. This mirror also allowed her to communicate with James and Sirius by saying their names. He had gotten her a teddy bear with the name Cookie on it. Lily gasped,

"How did you know about my bear?" asked Lily

"I have my ways." Replied James evasively. Lily's bear, Cookie has been destroyed when Voldemort and his death eaters had been to Lily's house and killed her parents.

Finally, the last article in the box was a photo album. Lily scanned through the pages. They were placed in chronological order from first year to 7th. The first picture was a picture of Lily when James had turned her hair blue. Another picture was when Lily slapped James so hard it left a mark. The next picture was of Lily and Jackie in their Halloween costumes. The next picture was of Remus and Katie in second year throwing food at each other during a food fight. Then there was one of Lily, Jackie, Katie, Gina, Remus, Peter, Sirius and James all lying around the lake after exams and Sirius had pushed Jackie in the water and Katie had jumped in to save her and Lily had thrown Sirius and James in but had been held my James and soon they were all in the water laughing and playing. There were pictures all up until the present and the last picture was of Lily, Her parents and her sister, all smiling happily at the camera in front of their house when Lily was in her 5th year, the day before her parents had been murdered and Petunia had blamed Lily for their death and Lily's life had fallen apart.

Lily looked at James in shock, tears running down her face. She had never seen this picture before, and didn't know how he got it. She had never talked about her parents after their deaths, and had only cried one lone tear. But after she had seen her life and her parents in the album, she couldn't keep it in anymore, she couldn't keep pretending. James gently rapped his arms around her, not caring if she would push him away. She didn't, only rapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. She cried until she could cry no more. Slowly, she began to tell James about her parents, about how they died, about how Petunia had blamed her for it, about how she blamed herself for it. All throughout it, James held her and listened to her. He told her repeatedly that it was not her fault and stayed there all throughout her ranting and rambling. After a few hours had passed, Lily looked at James in a whole new light. James smiled at her and Lily hugged him with all her might. James tensed but then relaxed and hugged her with as much force as she hugged him. James turned her so she was facing him; he bent his face so his nose was touching hers.

"I love you Lily," Said James quietly, "and don't you ever forget it!" Lily looked into his eyes and saw love; she realized that it had always been there, from all the pranks to the late night serenades, he had always loved her. Lily realized that if she never gave James a chance, she would never know what could happen with them. She had seen this side of James, and really liked this side so she decided to let go.

James saw her thinking and nervously awaited her decision, he saw her smile at him and she leant forward and kissed him. It was gentle and soft at first; James had been waiting for this moment his whole life and couldn't think straight. Lily pulled back with a smile on her face and James bent down and kissed her again, with more force and desire. Lily kissed him back with as much passion to match his own. Lily felt complete and happy and James was ecstatic. Neither of them noticed Jackie, Katie, Gina, Sirius, Remus and Peter creep quietly through the portrait and into the boys' staircase. Once they were there and had placed silencing charm they all cheered shared a bottle of firewhiskey, celebrating their friend's success.

Downstairs, Lily and James were blissfully unaware of anyone but each other, in a world totally their own.

Well that was my first story that i've uploaded in a while, I hoped you like it. If you do, REVIEW...if you don't, well you can review anyways with constructive critisism.

Chrissy