Yuletide

23rd of December 1973, Afternoon, Gryffindor Common Room

A soft down of snow covered the castle grounds, as if they had been dusted liberally with icing sugar, and the usually 'Black' lake was now a gleaming mass of solid white ice. Inside the House Elves had outdone themselves. Millions of holly garlands decorated the banisters of the castle's moving staircases. Luminous baubles floated in the corridors, occasionally shouting 'Merry Christmas!' in a squeaky voice at passers nearby. And then there was the Great Hall; lit spectacularly with hundreds of real fairies as snow drifted lazily from the enchanted ceiling. Lily loved the castle during the holidays, especially Gryffindor tower.

Most people had already gone home, to spend precious time with their families, leaving the common room practically deserted. It too was injected with some festive cheer; a shock of red and gold tinsel, fresh mistletoe hung from the ceiling and a crackling fire that filled the room with the smell of chestnuts. She missed her family dearly, but she and Petunia had had a spectacular falling out over the summer, so she decided to spend her first Christmas alone at Hogwarts. Not that she didn't love them with all her heart, but she had to admit that it was nice not to feel like an outsider over the holidays (and not to hear 'freak' muttered at her ten times a day).

Lily sat at the large window sill overlooking the grounds, writing a letter to Marlene who was already enjoying her break at home. She sucked the end of her quill as she thought of what to say, having splashed out on her first trip to Honeydukes and bought a large sugar quill. Marlene had invited Lily to Christmas at the McKinnon's, concerned that she would be lonely if she stayed at the castle, but Lily didn't want to intrude and was in fact quite looking forward to spending her holiday at Hogwarts.

…Hope your having a lovely Christmas! Don't worry about me here—the decorations are even better than last years, and I hear the Christmas feast is going to be incredible! Enjoy your presents, and I'll see you soon.

Lots of love,

Lily

Lily signed and sealed her card to Marlene, featuring on its front a sleigh being pulled by Hippogriffs dressed (begrudgingly) as reindeer. She sighed loudly, bundling up her things to head to the owlery alone.

23rd of December 1973, The Owlery

It was always drafty in the high tower the school Owlery occupied but in the winter it was especially cold. Lily covered her face with a thick, woolen scarf in her house colours, her eyes still watering from the bitter cold. She held Marlene's letter in a gloved hand whilst being careful not to slip on the ice covering the topmost stairs. She was just summoning a Barn Owl when she noticed she wasn't alone.

There stood James Potter stroking a magnificent eagle owl, talking to it in a soft, affectionate voice. Lily was bemused at the scene and couldn't help but smile as she cleared her throat noisily. Startled, James spun to face her and coughed himself before asking her seriously,

"Evans, what're you doing here?"

In reply Lily held up her letter, moving to attach it to the nearby owl hooting merrily at being chosen for the task.

Pulling down her protective scarf Lily ventured a question,"What are you doing here anyways Potter, sending out exploding gift cards to the Slytherins?"

James grinned, "Nah, did that last year…blew right up in Lestrange's face! He was covered in glitter for weeks, and his eyebrows have never really been the same".

As her owl flew out of the tower on its long journey to Marlene McKinnon, Lily glared at James.

"Well if you're not causing mayhem, what are you doing?"

The owl James had been coddling flew back to rest on its perch and he picked up the lovingly paper wrapped parcel it had obviously delivered.

"Picking up Remus' mail from his parents, he's uh…in the hospital wing". Remus' transformation had been earlier in the month, on the 10th, but it had been particularly violent and had left him recovering in the hospital wing for almost two weeks now.

Lily's brow furrowed with genuine concern, "I didn't know he was even still here! I thought he'd gone home…"

Looking at his shoes and playing absent-mindedly with the parcel's ribbon, James stumbled through a reply, "Oh, yeah…he, uh came down with something…really sudden you know…but, uh, don't worry Pomfrey's gonna let him out for the Christmas feast"

Lily smiled brightly and nodded before she remembered who she was talking to and reverted to her usual expression of stern suspicion. James, pleased at the wide smile he had ever so briefly received, gave her a cheeky grin.

"Well see you 'round Evans" said James as he walked awkwardly past Lily, fluffing his already windswept hair as he glanced back at her.

She was left standing there in the windy tower, unsure of how she felt about the first conversation with James Potter in which neither had stormed off or resorted to name-calling. Perhaps the Yuletide spirit had gotten to both of them.

24th of December 1973, Late, Third-Year Girl's Dormitory, Gryffindor Tower

Though it was late now and the stars twinkled overhead, Lily sat wide-awake on her four-poster bed. The room was glowing with candlelight and warmed by a central fire. She, like many others, had always found it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve. Usually she was awake with excitement for the day ahead, but tonight she sat alone—wondering what all the people she loved would be doing tomorrow.

She had already wrapped her present to Severus, a fantastically illustrated book of ingredients in potion making. She had charmed the ice blue and white wrapping paper to appear as if snowflakes were really falling and finished it with a great silver ribbon. It was a shame he wasn't here because he usually stayed at school over the holidays, just as Lily usually visited her family in Cokeworth. But Severus had been forced to go home himself this year, to visit his ailing father though whom he despised would probably not live to see another Christmas. When he had found out Lily was staying at the castle he was desperate to stay but his mother had sent an angry howler ordering him to return home, and she was not a woman to easily defy.

She thought about her family, gathered around their small wooden table in the kitchen—celebrating with the luxury of turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce and pathetic cracker jokes. Her dad would still be laughing as he carved a pile of meat high onto the good plates, her mum would be wearing a paper cracker hat jauntily while sipping her drink. Even Petunia would be happy, the attention of their parents kept entirely on her for the day, probably wearing Lily's favourite reindeer jumper because she wasn't there to argue with.

Finally, as she slipped into sleep, Lily felt a great pang of longing and dreamt of her happy family until morning came.

25th of December 1973, Morning, Gryffindor Common Room

She woke early enough to see the sky brighten and the sun stream through her bedroom window. Descending into the common room she found half a dozen fellow Gryffindors ripping through brightly coloured wrapping paper and digging into their presents. On the far side were James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew—laughing joyfully and throwing slap dash wrapped parcels to each other. In the centre of the room was an enormous tree; dressed with ropes of shiny tinsel and topped with a great roaring lion wearing a Santa hat. Underneath this was a modest pile of presents addressed to Lily. A small thin package caught her eye and she crouched down to collect it, tentatively opening it. Seconds later she was lost in a cloud of golden glitter and laughter floated across the room from the corner. The tag on the gift had read 'To Evans, Love your favourite Marauders'.

The other students could only watch as she stormed up to the boys, her wand raised threateningly.

25th of December 1973, Noon, The Great Hall

Everyone sat along one large table today instead of the four separate house tables that usually ran the length of the hall. Lily across from Rosalind, a friendly fifth year Ravenclaw Prefect who gave her the sparkling purple witches hat from their cracker pull (even though Lily hadn't won). Beside her was a peaky looking Remus, newly out of the Hospital Wing, who was thoroughly enjoying the company and the excellent food. The table was lined with a parade of exquisite dishes; succulent turkey with accompanying stuffing, hams the size of suitcases, fruit puddings oozing sauce or sprinkled with sugar, piles and piles of sweets and mince pies, cakes and tarts and pitchers of pumpkin juice, peppermint chocolate, butterbeer and eggnog. Unfortunately on the other side of Remus were the rest of the Marauders, rejoicing at the lack of Slytherins by heartily tucking into every dish they could get there hands on (but perhaps they would have done this anyway). The only reason Lily had allowed them to sit within a mile radius was that their hair had been turned candy cane red and white, green, and gold by her this morning. To their credit they had taken it all in good fun, except for the minor objection from Sirius who had whined that green was not his colour. But cheered up when Lily promptly changed his hair to a shining gold and congratulated her with false pride over her first Christmas prank.

25th of December 1973, Late, Gryffindor Common Room

She felt as stuffed as armchair on which she sat. Present related carnage littered the floor but Lily was too tired and too comfortable to get up—so she used Wingardium Leviosa to float the abandoned wrapping into the fire where it crinkled and burnt to a crisp. She had been sitting, reading one of her gifts ('Charming Charms: a lexicon of useful and dazzling spells') when an owl flew in through the open window, depositing a pile of letters onto her lap. She fed the owl a small treat from the bowl beside her and got an affection nip in return, before she enthusiastically ripped into her mail. Cards from everyone she loved; Her parents (who had good-heartedly also signed Petunia's name), Marlene, Alice, Mary and Severus. Each wished her a Happy Christmas, and in that moment she felt particularly loved.

Well, until the Marauders burst through the portrait hole with mischievous grins on their face and whispers on their lips. As they crossed towards the stairs to the boy's dormitory she noticed three of them still sported their festive hair colours. Sirius Black with his gold hair honored her with a passing "Alright, Evans" and accompanying wink.

Peter, with hair of Christmas wreath green, gave her only a timid wave as he followed Sirius up the stairs, hissing "Wait up".

Mousy brown haired Remus Lupin stopped at Lily's chair. He was carrying an armful of his possessions and had evidently been released from the Hospital Wing. From the lot he handed Lily an envelope.

"Merry Christmas Lily" he said.

"Thanks Remus" she replied, struggling out of her heavenly comfortable chair to hug him, whispering "I'll give you yours tomorrow".

He left with a smile and headed up to his own bed for the first time in weeks.

That left only James Potter, his tousled hair striped like a candy cane. He had lingered a few moments after his friends, looking nervously at Lily as his jaw twitched with the anticipation of speech. But he only cleared his throat, looked down and began to ascend the tower stairs.

Lily sighed and gathered her things to make her own way to bed when she heard light footsteps descending from the boy's stairs. James walked over to her hesitantly and withdrew an envelope from his pocket, handing it to the stunned redheaded girl.

"Uh, Happy Christmas Evans…" he said lowly, and with a sharp nod he rushed back up the stairs to his friends.

She hesitated a moment longer before she turned away to climb the tower to her own bed, with the barely audible whisper of, "Happy Christmas James" lingering in the air.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Merry Christmas 2014 and Happy Holidays to everyone! Please review, annual updates :-)