A/N This was made for one of two Jily Secret Santa presents, so it's already on Tumblr but Merry Christmas to Shanthi - canarylongbottom!

Staying Behind
or (as it was initially titled)
"A Notice"

Lately, it was rare for James to find himself in the Gryffindor common room. Even rarer was the chance occasion of Lily being there at the same time; with their Heads rooms neither of them often ventured into the space that had all but shaped their teen years. For him, that mostly consisted of painful reminders of countless scornful rejections, but she remembered the late night studying, and the group talks by the fire, and the many, many ridiculously excessive and undeniably ... well, fun Marauder parties.

Throughout all of which, she would occasionally glance up and could count upon his gaze being fixed on her.

Yet now, there he was, and there she was, all red hair sitting lightly across her shoulders, moving just so against her robes as she stood on tip-toes to read something pinned three quarters up on the notice board. He knew that he could easily place a hand on the small of her back to assist her just as much as he knew she'd never stand for it. He could think about it anyway.

Shaking off that particular impulse, as he had so many times since they'd started living in such close quarters, James stepped quietly beside her, ignoring the excited almost-holiday frenzy of the students behind them to read over her shoulder. It was only an added bonus that he caught a whiff of Lily's perfume, indeed the thought that he might had never even occurred to him. He could tell himself that anyway.

Quickly realising that if he didn't do anything to stop himself he might simply stand there all day,eyes closed, sniffing delightedly in an attempt to once more breathe in the slightly floral scent, he deigned to read the notice. It turned out he'd seen it already.

"SIGN BELOW IF YOU WISH TO STAY AT THE CASTLE OVER CHRISTMAS"

James' heart leapt. He would be staying behind at Christmas. It was half a Marauder debauchery fest, half Sirius' insistence over the past two years that the Potters looked after him enough over the summer and he didn't need to bother them again. James had – repeatedly – flatly denied the claims that his best mate was at all a burden, but after several terse arguments they had come to the compensation that Sirius could stay at Hogwarts, as long as the others did too.

And now, if Lily was looking at the list, where his name was scrawled near the top, perhaps she was staying too. It would be him, and her, in their quarters, by themselves, on Christmas morning, and there could, he supposed, be some mistletoe left accidentally hanging above the doorway... he cleared his throat.

Lily started at the sound and spun around, her eyes wide in surprise. She relaxed when she saw it was him, and then raised a slight eyebrow. "What are you doing here? I believe you and Sirius passed the surprise dungbomg attack stage in fourth year, and your more complex pranks have fortunately died down recently, so...?"

"I thought you usually went home for Christmas."

He was startled at how bluntly he put the question, so, it seemed, was the redhead. "I do. And I am! I have to really, Mum achieved her life's ambition and convinced Dad to catch up with the last decade and buy a colour telly, and she hasn't written to me about anything else in weeks, she's simply dying to show it off..." Seemingly realising she'd been babbling, Lily shut her mouth quickly, and James, smirking a little at the notion also, saved her the embarrassment by cocking his head to the right in confusion, and raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Telly?"

"Yes, television. You know, the little box with the moving pictures inside it?" At his obvious continued puzzlement, Lily sighed in annoyance, but the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned. "Do you even attend your Muggle Studies classes?"

"Wouldn't need to, if you'd just tutor me."

The line was old, but recently she'd been cracking smiles at it, and this was no exception. "I'm not going to waste my time just trying to get into your head what a television is."

"What's the point of knowing? 'Sfar as I can see, a ... telewhatsit is no different to an ordinary photograph, so why don't Muggles just sort out how to make one of those and be done with it?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "You don't get it, it gives you the news every day, and there's entertainment ..." When James' smirk didn't cease, she huffed. "Well if you're not going to even try to understand it, there's really no point in you doing the subject at all!"

"There would be, if you'd just tutor me."

She laughed at that, loud and clear. James' insides did a little jig at the sound, because he was hearing that light rippling more and more lately, because of things he said. Even when he was dropping every line in the book, and she rolled her eyes in her traditional way, there were no snide remarks in return, no dirty looks across classrooms, and that, that was certainly something.

While they'd sorted out their differences and maintained a slight friendship since the beginning of sixth year, James often reflected at night that over the past three months, Lily Evans had grown to like him. And if she wouldn't admit – because sometimes he thought it could be so – that it was like like yet, well maybe it could be. Soon. It had only taken six years after all; something was bound to change eventually.

Her laughter stopped quickly, and James was momentarily disappointed with that, but Lily's voice soon filled the gap of sound. "You're a bit of a hopeless case, you know."

His smirk grew to a grin, and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I know, but I like that about myself."

Lily chuckled and then spoke again, softly but firmly. "You're staying."

Hands still in his pockets, James gave a slight shrug at the statement. "Have the past two years. It's a great time for, uh, 'surprise dungbomb attacks'".

"All in the festive spirit, I suppose."

"Oh but of course. We add essence of mistletoe to really get into the season." Shit, his mind was still on the mistletoe.

Lily didn't realise.

(Or maybe she did.)

At any rate, she laughed quietly, and that was as good a reaction as any. "Don't let the Head Boy catch you, I've heard he's a real sticker for the rules."

"Good thing the Head Girl's a real pushover." The banter was old, but they never seemed to tire of it. Something clicked. "Hang on, if you're not staying, why are you looking at the notice?"

Lily paused. "You've signed it already; I could ask you the same question."

He'd asked first, but to point that out would be slightly immature. Besides, he had been making an effort to be honest recently, within reason. "I saw you reading it," he admitted. There was a little flash of something, in her eyes, but it was gone in a second as she looked at him curiously.

"What are you doing in the common room, then?"

"It's a full moon." They'd never discussed it, but she knew about Remus. And he knew that she knew. It would have been impossible to miss James' monthly absences from his head dormitory, for one, but something told him that Lily had known for a lot longer. She'd never once mentioned it, or tried to get information though, and something about that made James hold her in even higher regard.

The proof was in the pudding when Lily's eyes flashed in realisation, and then she nodded quickly. Nothing more needed to be said. Except ... "So, what are you doing here?"

Lily – James realised with a flash of triumph – couldn't avoid the question twice, and her face immediately turned pink. She glanced down, before meeting his eyes again. "I was seeing who was staying, actually."

James blinked, because that was taking Head duties a little too seriously, even for her. She had plenty of time to do that, and hang on, if it was so innocent, why was she blushing? His eyebrow raised. "And?"

Lily, though still slightly flushed, continued to look him straight in the eye. "And, if you 're staying behind, and I'm not, and I figure you'll leave all your homework til the last possible moment, I might have to come back a day early, so we can leave aside the Sunday before term for a Muggle Studies tutoring session. I think the Three Broomsticks has enough table space."

With that, she gave him a small smile, and brushed past him towards the portrait hole. James was frozen on the spot. Had she just ... yes, she had. Holy fucking yes, she had! His right hand when straight to his hair and he spun around, just in time to see a flash of red hair disappear. "Wait, Lily!" he shouted, and he didn't care how many first years he knocked aside as he sprinted through the common room to catch her.