"I need your help with something."

Lily looks up from the book she was reading, setting it down next to her on the couch and glancing towards where James Potter stands by the entrance to the empty common room. It's late - nearly 1am - and Lily is only still up because she was, well, waiting for him. They had some Head stuff to go over, and it probably could've waited until morning, but Lily liked the common room at night. The crackling fire, the moonlight gliding through the windows that seemed to make James' eyes even brighter, it made her feel calm.

"What is it, James?" Lily straightens up as she sees him, his eyes wide and his teeth worrying at his lower lip. This doesn't seem like his typical late night prank suggestions or ideas for crazy prefect events. "What's going on?"

"I may or may not have told my parents we're dating."

"What?!"

He comes over to her, plopping in the chair across from her and running his hand through his hair. "It was an accident I promise."

"How did you accidentally tell your parents we were in a relationship?" Lily exclaims leaning towards him.

"Well, two weeks ago, after we won that match against Slytherin, we had that huge party, right? I don't know if you remember since you-"

"I remember the party, James. Just because you can't handle your alcohol doesn't mean the rest of us forget everything after one shot of firewhiskey as well."

"I think it was more that one shot," James says teasingly. Lily just glares at him. "Anyways, after that party, at around three in the morning, when it's safe to say I was just a little bit pissed, I decided that it would be the perfect time to write back to my parents. In their last letter they had asked about you, because they know we're Heads and all, and I guess, somehow, my intoxicated self wrote that we were dating."

Lily just looked at him. She really had no idea what to say. Then she remembers what he originally said. She's almost afraid to ask.

"So what do you need my help with?"

He looks down at his hands, wringing them together. He sighs before blurting out, "Well they've just sent another letter and they have invited to stay with us over the Christmas break, and I sort of mentioned that you were staying at Hogwarts so you don't have an excuse not to come and I can't tell them that we're not dating because that would be incredibly embarrassing and-"

"James."

"Yes?"

"I'll do it."

"But Lily! I really-" he pauses, staring wide-eyed at her for a second. "Wait, you'll do it?"

"Yes," She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "I mean, it would've been nicer if you'd given me some heads up, Christmas break does start tomorrow-"

"If I had remembered that I'd wrote it-"

"But, I'll do it. No one else is staying here for the holidays and I figure I need to see the Potter estate at least once in my life."

His mouth splits into a smile. His eyes light up brighter than the stars outside the window. Her stomach does a flip.

"You are bloody fantastic, Lily Evans," he gets up and hugs her tightly. "The absolute best."

"I know, I know," she replies, blushing slightly. "But I'll be expecting compensation in the form of many, many gifts."

"Oh definitely," James walks towards the stairway, all smiles. "You won't even be able to see because of the sheer amount of gifts that will surround you on Christmas morning," he turn around, looking at her. Her stomach flips. "You better get some sleep. The train leaves at seven tomorrow morning."

"Are you kidding me? Do you know how many presents you owe me now? At least 300."

"Yeah yeah, I know," He pauses. "Thank you. Really."

And just like that he's gone. Out of the room and up the stairs. Lily shakes her head. She's not really sure why she agreed to this. She tells herself that it's because she doesn't want to be alone on Christmas, doesn't want to face the empty corridors. But she can't help think about the way his eyes lit up when she said she would do it, about how his smile makes her heart beat faster. She sighs, standing up. She didn't even ask him about the prefect schedule. It just slipped her mind.

Lily is sure she's dreaming. The room in front of her is large and bright, and an enormous Christmas tree stands in the centre of it. And yet it is somehow welcoming, with little knick-knacks and photos on every surface. And this was only the first room she'd seen in James' monstrosity of a house.

"Was it hard for you when you first came to Hogwarts and had to downsize so much?"

"Ha-ha. It's not that impressive, Evans. Plus, it feels a lot smaller now that Sirius lives here, he takes up an incredible amount of space."

"I heard that!" Sirius shouts from wherever he wondered off to a few minutes ago. Clearly he's not too far, and Lily can now hear him padding down the hallway towards them.

"James Potter you know very well that you are the one that takes up all of the space in this house, leaving your-" Lily turns towards the voice that is coming from the stairs, to see who she can only assume is James' mum standing halfway down them. "Oh! You must be Lily!" She comes down the stairs faster now, her grey hair tied up in a bun. "I've heard so much about you."

She pulls Lily into a hug, her eyes bright and excited. She hugs James next, whispering something in his ear. James smiles as she pulls away.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Potter."

"Please, call me Euphemia. I'm not old enough to be 'Mrs. Potter' yet."

Lily laughs. She can already tell she's going to like her.

"Now, I'm going to go get us some tea, and then you can tell me all about yourself, Lily." She walks out of the room, and Lily has a sudden realization. She turns to James, a slight panic filling her chest.

"What's our story?" She asks. "How we got together, how long we've been together?"

But before he can answer Sirius enters the room.

"How are the lovebirds?" He is finding this whole thing rather amusing, which Lily usually would agree with, but at this particular moment she is not finding his remarks all too funny. "Tell me, are your heartbeats in sync?"

James rolls his eyes and begins to answer Lily, when Euphemia walks back into the room carrying a tray with cups of tea.

"Okay Lily," she says, setting the tray down on the coffee table and sitting down on the couch. James grabs her hand and leads her over as well. He doesn't drop it when they sit down. "Tell me, how did you get together with James?"

Lily looks at James for a split second, unsure why her heart was beating so fast.

"Prefects," she says, at the same time that James says, "Quidditch."

Euphemia tilts her head, and Sirius is trying to restrain his laughter. So far, they're not off to the best start.

"Well, we're both head prefects this year, and so we became better friends, so I started going to more of his Quidditch games-" Lily starts.

"And then after we beat Slytherin back in October, Lily ran onto the field, overcome with love-"

"I was not overcome with love-"

"-And we've been together since." He smiles at her, softly, and squeezes her hand. She smiles back, squeezes his hand back.

"Well I am not surprised that it was you who made the first move, Lily," Euphemia says, grinning. "James has been in love with you for so long-"

"Mum."

"-and he's never acted on it before, he's always been too shy. But I must say that I am happy that you were not as clueless as he was." She pauses, sipping her tea, before moving on. "Now, how is school going? Sirius, what's the detention count so far?"

"Only 15."

"Well I'm impressed. That's even more than last year. Tell me, were they good pranks?"

"Oh yes, they were fantastic." Sirius says. Lily laughs.

"Well then, the detentions were definitely worth it."

Lily spends the rest of the night laughing and chatting with James' mum and dad, James' arm thrown casually over her shoulder. It all feels really comfortable.

Over the next few days, Lily spends a lot of time with Euphemia, just talking and listening to her tell stories. It makes her forget about the war and the threat and the reason she didn't go home this year. If only for a couple days. Lily really does like James' parents, they're kind, and funny and it is clear where James inherited his cheekiness from.

They have a few more slip-ups, namely when Lily was telling Euphemia about this awful date she'd had with Danny Russell. She accidentally mentioned how Danny told her that she was 'the shittiest Head-Girl ever' after she refused to kiss him, which did not go along with their new timeline which placed this date in Sixth Year. She quickly corrected herself, changing the phrase from Head-Girl to Prefect. Euphemia only laughed, and Lily sighed in relief. But all in all, Lily and James are good at faking being together. They're in sync.

Really, the only thing she is having trouble with is James himself. The way her heart thumps when he kisses her cheek and it feels like there are flowers sprouting in her stomach when he smiles.

She knew she liked him, of course she knew, but she hadn't known just how much. She thought it was the kind of thing that would go away after a while, a fleeting crush. But being here, she's realizing just how easy pretending to be in love with him is. Almost as if she's not pretending at all.

The thought terrifies her, mostly because she's pretty sure he doesn't feel the same. Not anymore. And so she tries to quell the shivers in her veins when he touches her arm, tries to even out the words that get tangled on her tongue when he grins at her. Tries to remind herself that none of this is real.

And then he knocks on her door. It is Christmas Eve, or maybe it is Christmas by this point, and Lily is lying in bed, trying not to think about home. About her parents who she didn't want to put in danger, about Petunia who told her not to bother coming home at all.

She sits up when he knocks and tells him to come in. She knows it is James. Who else would it be?

"Hey," he says, coming in and sitting on the edge of her bed. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas," she replies, smiling in spite of herself.

"I have something for you," he hands her a gift-wrapped box from behind his back. It is wrapped, albeit badly, in bright red paper with a golden bow on top. Gryffindor colours. Of course. "The other 299 are coming, I promise. But I wanted to give this one to you now."

"Thank you," she says. "But I feel awful, I don't have anything for you. This was all very spur of the moment, and I didn't have the chance to get to a store."

"Don't worry about it. I don't need anything. Just open it," he says, nodding to the box.

She pulls off the paper to reveal a jewellery box inside, which she opens slowly to see a silver necklace with a small pendent in the shape of a lion roaring.

"Oh James, its beautiful."

"To remind you of how brave you are."

And then she kisses him. She forgets about her caution and fear and all she knows is that she loves this beautiful boy sitting in front of her. It is the only fact that matters.

The kiss is soft and sweet and makes Lily's stomach feels like it has wings and she knows with all her heart that this moment, this, is real.

James pulls away slightly, twisting a strand of her hair around his finger.

"Evans?" he asks, "Be my girlfriend?"

"Are there really 299 more gifts?"

"Possibly."

"Well then I'm in."

"Good to know my personality means so much to you."

She only laughs, and kisses him again.

James doesn't let go of Lily's hand all through the next morning. They unwrap gift together, James laughing and Lily smiling so much her cheeks hurt. It feels like the beginning of something, like the first few cords of a song. It fills her chest with excitement and promise. A promise of something to come. And she knows that whatever is ahead of them will not be easy, that tragedy will strike. But right now all she can feel is the pressure of his hand in hers. All she knows is the joy of new love, and for now, that is more than enough.