(A/N: I don't own this world. The characters belong to J.K Rowling. The plot is mine though. The idea came from the song, Please Come Home for Christmas, released by Charles Brown in 1960, and redone by The Eagles in 1978. It would have been released the Christmas after Lily and James graduated. The Eagles' version reached #30 in the UK. I originally wrote this as a one-shot Christmas offshoot of a former fic I had been working on. Since then, I have discontinued the fic per a major overhaul and will be reposting this story with significant changes. My style of writing has changed since I originally posted this two years ago, and my idea of romance is considerably different as well. The abundance of author notes that have plagued my stories will be removed or shortened. In the end, I hope that the alterations I am making will allow me to develop my story in a way that the previous style had halted.)

I got down to the Gryffindor table early enough this morning to have some time alone to think, a pursuit often difficult to find time for in a tower crowded with students . I knew the signup sheet for staying at Hogwarts would get passed around today at breakfast, and I knew my name would be on it. It was all for the best, I hoped. After all, the letter from my dad and sister had not helped last night.

I had been sitting up in the common room working on a potions essay when Hecate, my owl, came soaring into the common room. I had been fearful when I first saw the letter, since my mum had died at the end of the summer and my dad hadn't been quite right since. I was terrified that this letter would inform me of his passing. After my mum died, his vibrant red hair had gone sandy and his eyes lost their warmth. He wasn't old, per say, but he hadn't seemed to have recovered from her death in the slightest bit. I still wished that there was something I could do for him, some potion I could make to help him out, but there was nothing. A cheering charm couldn't fight this. I worried needlessly as I slid a finger under the tack on the envelope and pulled out a sheet of paper (my parents didn't keep parchment around the house and my sister would never use it). I quickly unfolded it and read.

Dear Lily,

I'm sorry for the late notice, but we will not be having Christmas at the house this year. Petunia invited us to her home in Little Whinging for Christmas. To be honest, I really don't feel like having any sort of Christmas celebration this year. I always loved the season, but I loved it more because of how much your mother loved it. I know you share her spirit on this. I will be leaving for Petunia's after I post this. Christmas will be just a small affair this year, likely without any tree or festivities. We will be having dinner with Marge, Vernon's sister. You are more than welcome to join us, but if you would prefer stay at school for Christmas, I will understand. To be honest, there isn't much room in her house right now. I'm not trying to discourage you away, but as you and Petunia are still on bad terms, I doubt you would be happy here this year, or received well. There would be animosity coming at you not just from her, but from her husband and his sister as well. She apparently attempted to find anti-magic amulets at some new age shop, even though they likely wouldn't work. However, if you plan on being here, let me know and I'll try and find you a room somewhere and I'll try to make your stay as welcoming as possible.

Lily Flower, I do miss you, more than you can imagine. If you don't come, I'll make sure to have a day set aside for the two of us over break, and I'll be at our house for Easter as well. I hope your schooling is going well, and hope to see you soon.

All my love,

Dad

I folded up the letter and went to stuff it back into the envelope, with tears in my eyes. It wasn't fair, but life never is. I just wished that we could have one last holiday season together before I would leave school, but that wouldn't possible. My presence would ensure that the holiday would be miserable for everyone. As I put the letter back into the envelope, I noticed that I had dropped something onto the ground.

You are invited to attend the Dursleys' Christmas party

24. December

7:00 pm

Cocktail attire

Scrawled below this in Petunia's tight handwriting was a message:

Hotel accommodations are not provided. Transportation is not provided.

Well that settled that, I thought. I was angry and disappointed. Actually, I would probably be a bit closer to livid if my feelings weren't hurt. Hotel accommodations implied that she wouldn't have me staying in her house. On top of that, she was attempting to eradicate me from her house, through anti-magic amulets? Obviously, if I was coming to see her, I meant her no harm. We were sisters, for crying out loud- we had once been best friends. Hurting each other was stupid. However, I guessed Dursley had something to do with this. This wasn't the first Christmas interruption he had taken part in.

I wished I wasn't plagued with having him for a brother-in-law. He was a true git. He matched his last name well. I remember settling down for supper on Christmas Eve, placing the last dish of food on the table. My mum had just sat down, and Dad was just waiting for Petunia to step in before he carved the ham. I heard a door slam and voices in the entry. I whipped up my wand quickly. I doubted that it would be Death Eaters, but a girl a year below me had lost her parents to the monsters just before Christmas break. There was no reason to take unnecessary chances. Big mistake. For what to my wondering eyes should appear, not Death Eaters rounding the corner, but my dear elder sister with some strange man. She was glaring at me, but my wand was tucked fast away and I had eyes only for this unpleasant man. He was gruff looking, of average height, and fat. Not the type of fat that is warm and encompassing and gives off an air of comfort, but a gross, sickly fat, one that suggests a coronary bypass should take place sooner than later. I could tell my mum was surprised. For one, my mum liked Christmas Eve dinner to be a time for family. We could invite anyone we like over for dinner on Christmas day, but Christmas Eve was just ours. We kept the tree lit, cooked, ate dinner, and drove to midnight service. We'd done this every year for as long as I could remember. Petunia breaking tradition was not going to go over well. Also, the bloke wasn't even dressed properly. His pants were far too tight, revealing lines I'm sure my mother had no desire to see, and his tie wasn't even tied correctly. He was wearing some cheap, boring tie with the end barely past his midsection. I could see my dad frowning at this. He was a fairly conservative man and prided himself on knowing how to tie his tie in plenty of ways.

The bloke standing in the entryway obviously sensed our discomfort, for he stepped forward and said,

"Vernon Dursley. How do you do?"

That was it. No 'hello, sir, how are your holidays' or 'Madame, your dress looks fabulous' or any other form of pleasantries. My parents seemed flabbergasted. I wasn't surprised. Upon hearing his name, I had an idea of who he was. His father had owned a drill bit company, a company that had remained in the family since it was first created. Upon his father's death, rumor had it that Vernon had sold part of the company to a drilling company for a fair chunk of change and an executive job. I guess I had found out what my sister saw in him.

"This is my boyfriend, Father and Mother. I invited him to join us for supper tonight," Petunia said stiffly. They were both still standing in entryway so my mother stood and pulled over an extra chair, putting it in between Petunia and my dad, but across from me. I could tell by now that this was not going to be an enjoyable night. And so it wasn't (stupid self-fulfilling prophesies). I had to watch my sister simper over Dursley all night, and listen to him belch and talk mundanely about work. Any time the conversation would turn toward me, Tuney would turn the conversation back toward herself or Vernon. Still, my dad finally managed to get a word in.

"So Lilykins, how's your studying going," my dad asked, turning to look at me. I knew he was fascinated by what I was learning in school and was concerned I hadn't had enough time to finish my homework over the break, but a glance over at Petunia told me that now was not the time. A loud scraping sound startled me. I almost drew my wand again but thought better of it. I was only Vernon scooting forward at the mention of my school, a malicious grin plastered to his ugly face.

"So you go to a school for magicians eh," he barked, looking maniacal. I did not like the direction this conversation was going. Petunia never mentioned my magic to anyone, nor was she permitted to. My parents made that clear the day that Professor Dumbledore showed up on our front porch. The idea that this blundering fool knew anything was outside of my realm of comfort.

"I'm not quite sure I'm following you," I said, gritting my teeth and glaring at him. It was the same glare that stopped Potter in his tracks so many times. This Dursley guy had some nerve though. He chose to keep talking.

"Oh I think you know perfectly well what I'm talking about," he sneered. "That school you go to. The one that teaches you how to turn normal things into rats and spiders."

From the looks of it, Dursley was immoderately stupid. I looked at him and grinned, which seemed to catch him off guard.

"You do realise," I said slowly, "that if what you said were true, I could easily turn you into something too." I stopped for a moment and gave him a quick up and down, the way I'd only seen Sirius do to his brother. "Perhaps a pig," I mused. Very much to my surprise, he didn't back down.

"You're a freak," he hissed at me, eyes alight with malice. "You will always be a freak. Your sister is lucky to have escaped from this foolishness."

His words stung. For me, family had meant so much. They offered hope and support even when my world seemed like it was going to collapse inward. He made it seem like I was the only reason that Petunia fought with our parents. At this point, my dad stood up. He had seen the hurt in my eyes; he knew that deadly tone of mine. I had a temper. I didn't, wouldn't step down from something I felt strongly about. My father stood protectively, his eyes gleaming with pride of his family.

"You have insulted my family," my dad said, glaring at the boy. "I believe that it is time for you to leave." My sister stood up at this.

"Dad, why should Vernon have to leave? He only said what's true. How is it his fault that Lily is what she is?" she questioned my dad. That surprised me. I knew that she hadn't kept my secret, but this sort of betrayal I didn't imagine. My dad sighed, apparently not wanting to push this issue.

"Just go," he sighed. "We don't need this right now."

Dursley stood up, grabbed his coat, and headed for the door. I could hear him muttering on the way out something about freaks. Suddenly, I heard Dursley yelp in the hall way. I tried not to laugh. You see, in the quickest piece of magic I'd done in quite a while, not to mention wandless, I had adjusted Dursley's tie to a proper length and tightness. I guessed I wasn't something he was used to.

In the time that I had been staring at the empty door way, Petunia had stood up and was now heading out as well.

"Where are you going, young lady?" my dad asked, having sat back down at the head of the table. His eyes caught hers, and a sudden rush of emotions crossed her face, before they returned to the cold expression which had been plastered there ever since I had returned home for winter break.

"I'm going back out with Vernon. His sister invited us over for Christmas dinner."

At this notice, it wasn't my dad who reacted, but my mum.

"You will be staying right here, Petunia," she said in a tone that would not allow any arguing. "Our dinner has already been disrupted enough for one night. This is our family tradition, and you will take part in it. Please, let's just have some peace and quiet. It's Christmas," my mother pleaded, for the sake of our family, for the sake of good will and joy. My sister begrudgingly sat back down and ate dinner with our family, went to midnight service with our family, and settled into a sort of truce with me. She and I wouldn't talk, and she didn't bring over or mention that Vernon Dursley again while I was on break.

Well bah humbug. They could have their little Christmas party, as far as I was concerned. It stung that the party would be taking place on Christmas eve, since that had always been our family's time. It would most likely turn out the same way as last year, without the benefit of being in my home. My dad's letter essentially told me to stay away, and he would never do that without good reason. Feeling that any attempt of salvaging the evening was long gone, I rolled up my essay and put it away in my bag, throwing the stupid letter on top of everything before storming out of the common room. It was time for my patrol anyways. James and I were supposed to be covering the corridors tonight. I knew he was still up in the common room as I hurried down, but I needed some time to think, or maybe just sulk. There weren't many options as to what to do for Christmas now. Let's see… stay at Hogwarts, or stay at Hogwarts? Just as I had started my pondering, a dark figure stepped out in front of me. Maybe I was just a bit angry about earlier, but I had my wand out quicker than the figure could hop into the light, although he quickly did so when he saw me raise my wand.

"Geez Lily, you're going to kill me some day with that quick draw of yours," James Potter said, carefully eyeing the wand I still had out as he emerged from the shadows in front of me. I swear I'll probably never figure out how he got around quicker than even the caretaker. It was certainly something that was handy when we were patrolling. Often when there was a disturbance in the corridors, he would pull me down some path behind a picture or a banner, and we'd quickly be upon the trouble makers. However, this time it had served to test the quickness of my reflexes. I lowered my wand and tucked it away in my sleeve for safe keeping as James and I fell into step with each other. We had gotten down several corridors before he finally spoke to me.

"Lily, what's wrong? You've been stirred up since that letter in the common room, and you've hardly said a word all night." He looked at me expectantly. I hated when he focused his eyes on me like that. The hazel became sharp and focused, and I knew there would be no avoiding the question now. When he became that intent, he was persistent. I sighed.

"I got a letter from my sister," I told him, pulling out the invitation, but leaving the letter hidden. I handed it to him and watched as his eyes skimmed over it. His frown became evident.

"You could always stay home with your dad, right?" he asked, looking back up at me. I shook my head.

"My dad was invited well before now. He's staying there."

"Is it too far to get to by car?" He studied my face, and I was sure he could see through my shields. I was sure he could see the dried tears, and as he was all too familiar with it, I was sure he could see my anger, simmering beneath the surface.

"It's about a two and a half hour car trip. Too far for my dad, and he won't let me drive it since I rarely get any driving experience. He's told me plenty of times before that while I might be able to talk my way out of a ticket, I can't do much if I run into someone." At this, I turned away and James carefully pulled me into a hug, running his hand in a circle on my back. I let him hold me for a moment, smelling the spicy scent of his soap. It felt good, and it washed some of the angst away. He was one of the few people who knew that my mum had died in a car wreck this summer. He had actually been with me when I found out, and had developed a reasonably effective way of comforting me. Then again, I'm sure that's usually what happens when you have a sobbing girl in front of you.

I pulled away after a moment and gave him a small smile. As we started walking again, I realized we were at the split in our patrol ways. As always, he took the left that led toward the hospital wing, owlrey, and kitchens while I took the right toward the library, quidditch pitch, and grand hallway. When we met back up twenty minutes later, I had realized that staying at Hogwarts over Christmas break was my only option. After all, both of my roommates would be headed out of the country over break, so Hogwarts was the only place I really could stay at. Though it was warm with Christmas trees and Yule logs burning in the fires, it still wasn't the same place that I had called home. I wouldn't be decorating the tree at home like our family did every year, waiting for my dad to place the star on top of the tree, stringing garlands of evergreens over the stairs with my mum, and lighting up the whole house with strings of lights. It just wouldn't be the same. It would never be the same again.

And that's what brought me down here earlier than normal for breakfast. I was hoping to get that blasted sign-up sheet before anyone else could try and talk me out of it. But luck was not in my favor. Most of those in my year had already started filling in for breakfast before the list was handed out. I could hear Alice and Marlene talking about the trip to France that each girl was taking, Marlene as she did every year, and Alice to meet Frank Longbottom's grandmother before the wedding this summer. I was waiting for them to come down as James Potter and Sirius Black collapsed into seats next to me, James going over some notes from our NEWTs material, and Sirius unknowingly talking to himself as he planned out their next prank. It was as Alice and Marlene finally reached the table that the sign-up sheet, which had meandered around Hufflepuff and had passed quickly through Slytherin, finally reached me. When I pulled out a quill, Alice and Marlene noted my intentions.

"Oh Lily, you're staying here over Christmas break?" Alice asked in dismay.

"Yeah, I am this year," I replied nonchalantly. I noticed that Sirius was listening curiously. James still had his eyes down on his notes, reviewing carefully.

"I wish you could come and stay with one of us, but we're both going to France over the break," Marlene added. I wouldn't have ruined their vacations anyway by joining them

"I'm so sorry," Alice added. "But we'll both write."

I dipped my quill into a pot of ink and signed my name steadily on the sheet before passing it on down the table. No reason to not look confident in my decision. As I continued to eat my breakfast, I watched as James picked up the sheet, eyed my name written, and pulled out his own quill. I doubted that James had any real reason to stay up here during the break, but if that was his plan, so be it. It wasn't. He looked over at me before precisely striking through my name twice and passing on the signup sheet and getting back to studying. Needless to say, I was not happy, not one bit. He even knew why I was staying. However, when I opened my mouth to question him, he raised an eyebrow before dragging me out of the Great Hall.

"What was that about?" I asked angrily as soon as we were out of earshot. He smiled cheekily at me.

"I would have thought that was simple," James said, his smile causing his hazel eyes to twinkle behind his glasses. Blast those eyes. "You aren't staying here for Christmas."

"Yes I am," I retorted. Best comeback ever, Lily, I told myself. "I don't have anywhere else I can go." At this revelation, I turned red. I hadn't told James last night about what my dad had written.

"I know," he said, holding up the envelope I had received last night. "You dropped this last night. And it seemed to be what was making you upset, more than that bloody invitation." James was eyeing me warily, but still kept that smile plastered on his face. He was excited, so I gathered that he must have cooked up something.

"Christmas is your favorite time, Lily. You couldn't stand being up here! I mean Christmas day might be festive and all, but everything is already decorated, and knowing you, you'll convince yourself that you need to study for NEWTs every day of break and have to watch out for everyone and you'll wear yourself thin."

I knew he was right. I had already worked up a study schedule for over the break. There was no reason to be unproductive, even if I was going to be miserable.

"James," I began, but he cut me off.

"No arguing, Lily. You aren't staying here."

"Well where in Merlin's name am I supposed to stay then?" I yelled, my temper overcoming me. "If you read my letter, you know there's no way in hell I'm going to Petunia's for Christmas. So what am I supposed to do then? Go sleep in my empty house? I'd prefer Hogwarts to that."

"I know you would," he said quietly. "And that's not what I'd want you to do anyways. Actually, I was planning on you joining my family for the Christmas hols."

I sputtered. How was it that he always managed to catch me off guard?

"I wouldn't want to impose," I started, but James cut me off.

"You won't be imposing. You're invited anyways."

"But I feel bad," I told him softly. "I don't want to barge in on your family's Christmas time. I doubt your mum would like that too much, anyways."

"Lily," he said, cutting my babbling short. "You remember how I told you about my dad this summer? About how he had a heart attack?"

I nodded.

"Well she hasn't been quite the same without him around. The house is quiet without him there, and I know she's lonely. She was thrilled when we took Sirius in two summers ago, and she's been writing to me for ages, telling me how excited she was that Sirius and I were coming home for break. And when I wrote her last night, asking her if it would be alright if I asked you to join us as well, she was positively excited. She sent me a bloody howler back just so I could hear her amplified voice telling me that not only would she be pleased to have you, she'd be positively thrilled to have another girl in the house. As if she couldn't sent that in a note, though I doubt I would have had a response back within fifteen minutes if she's taken the time to actually sit down and write." James smiled warmly, thinking about his mum, and then looked straight at me again. "She hasn't managed to get all the cookies made this year, and I'm sure she'd love to have someone help her bake. Plus, we usually put up the tree right after I get home from Hogwarts, so you'll get to help with decorating it, and likely you'll get to help us go pick the tree out too. And this way, you'll be out of school, so you can go visit your dad too during the break, and we can all study for NEWTs together over the break, though we might have to strap Sirius down to a chair to get it done."

He laughed nervously, as if he suddenly thought he might be talking to fast or something.

"I mean, if you don't want to do any of those things, that's fine, we can certainly do other things, I just wanted you to be able to have a good Christmas, instead of being cooped up in the castle. But Lily, please come home for Christmas."

This time he definitely was talking too fast. But it sounded wonderful. It sounded like the Christmases that my family used to have. And I knew that a certain James Potter was standing in front of me, very nervously waiting for a response. It did help that he'd already struck out my name on the signup sheet for staying at Hogwarts. So I said the only semi-reasonable thing that came to mind after that speech.

"When do we leave?"