As the hands on James's watch pass twelve, Lily thinks that this is not how she envisioned spending her first Christmas out of Hogwarts.
They sit in the darkness, outside, cloaked by as many spells as they could manage. She is grateful for the strength of her own warming charm, but still a sort of ice seems to penetrate her nonetheless, the kind that fills you when you are forced to be away from your home on a day which should be exempt from the war, the cold, the looming danger that has become their lives. Lily leans her head on James's shoulder. "Happy Christmas," she sighs, her breath coming out in a fog.
"You ought to sleep," James replies, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "We have to be alert in the morning, if those bastards ever show their faces." He spares a glance at the nondescript building which Moody is convinced to be a hideout for Death Eaters, and which they have been staking out for at least four hours.
"Can't sleep while you're on watch, Potter." She buries her head in her boyfriend's neck. "Not quite what we'd imagined for our first Christmas sharing a flat, yeah?"
James shrugs. "S'not so bad," he says thoughtfully, his lips twitching upwards. "Look around. These are most of the people we would have invited to a Christmas party anyway."
"Git."
He laughs, nudging Lily's foot with his. "That's not very much in the Christmas spirit, Evans."
She tries to conceal her smile, but knows James can feel it. "And staking out a Death Eater hideout is?" asks Lily, pulling away to look at him. "Sending out red stunners and trying to avoid the green beams. Oh yes, I can see the festive side."
"I s'pose you're not in the mood for a present then, eh?" He withdraws his hand from Lily and fingers something in his pocket. With his hair plastered to his head from the dampness of the snow and the boyish grin creeping up on his face, he looks younger than someone fighting a war has a right to be.
Lily's curiosity ignited, she tries to peer at what he is hiding, but he twists too quickly so that one hand is hidden behind his back. "How could you have brought anything with you? We went straight from headquarters to here."
James runs his free hand through his hair, attempting to shake some of the water out of it. "I may have been carrying it around a bit," he admits with an uncharacteristic bashfulness. But it is soon covered by a mischievous look. "Though you couldn't possibly want it. Christmas can't be had outside a Death Eater hideout, after all." he adds seriously, shoving the object back in his pocket.
Lily tackles him, pushing his back into the snow. James simply laughs and rolls over so he is above her. He grabs a mound of snow and holds it near her face threateningly. "Do it and you'll be receiving a stocking full of doxy dung, Potter." Lily warns, narrowing her eyes.
"I'm relatively certain Christmas stockings aren't meant to be used that way."
"I reckon there's a my-boyfriend's-a-wanker exception to that rule," Lily counters. The reply she receives is James's hand pushing the ball of frozen slush into her face, followed shortly by his lips pressing against hers.
She allows herself to kiss him back briefly before pulling away with an indignant glare. "You look like Father Christmas," he tells her. James wipes the snow off of her chin, sniggering.
Lily laughs, pushing James off of her and laying her head on his chest. "Romantic, that. Just what every witch wants to hear."
"What I lack in body mass, I make up for in boyish charm," he says, tugging her closer to his side. "Do you want your present now, Evans?"
She nods and he pulls the object out of his pocket once more, obscuring it in both hands. "This isn't really the proper gift," he explains, his cheeks flushing. "I mean, I guess this is a bit more important, but I would have given it to you anyway, and you might not even want it and I still have something sitting under the tree for you-"
"James." Lily places a hand on his heart, hoping to calm him down, and feels it thumping through his jumper. "Breathe,"
He takes in a slow breath. "Maybe you should stand. Or sit up, or whatever it is that people do,"
Lily sits up, tucking her legs up against her chest. She thinks her heart might be racing just as much as his. James pulls himself up to sit across from her, legs folded and the gift still in his hands, clutched tightly on his lap. "This is going to be rubbish," he tells her. "This isn't really how I'd planned on doing it, but it's Christmas, and if this does turn out to be a hideout and the morning is shot to hell, it'd be brilliant if at least one part of our first proper Christmas goes alright."
James opens his hands and allows her to see a small wooden box in his palm. He does not open it, but she already knows what's inside. "We're eighteen," he begins quietly, hoarsely. His glasses are covered with snowflakes, and he tries to rub them away before continuing. "We're eighteen and we're in the middle of a war, but that's not… that's not what this is about. I would've done it anyway. I love you. Christ, Evans, I really do. And if you want to wait until our lives are less dangerous, we will. If you want to at all, that is-"
"Yes," she interrupts, cradling his face in her hands. "Yes, I want to, and yes, we're eighteen and in the middle of a war, but yes, I will."
James laughs, flipping the box open to reveal the ring. "Oi, quit usurping my proposal. Let me at least ask before you start planning the elopement." He plucks the ring out of the box, holding it out. "Marry me, Evans?"
Lily kisses him enthusiastically, knocking him backwards once more. "You're shit at proposing you know," she murmurs between kisses. "Couldn't have chosen a less romantic location,"
He wraps his arms around her, returning her kisses with equal fervor. The charms they have placed to keep their heat no longer seem necessary, because everything is so warm. "But you'll marry me anyway, yeah?"
"S'pose I have to," teases Lily, as he fumbles the ring onto her finger. "You did ask on Christmas, after all."
A Jily Secret Santa present for Bee/bcdaily. Hope she enjoys it.