Written for the International Wizarding School Championship.

Written for our Year One, xoxoVanillaOrchidxoxo who says she likes Jily and romance, so... here it goes :)

THANKS to Ninja, Esme and AK for Beta-reading!

Story Title: Visiting Hogsmeade

School: Beauxbatons

Prompts: Main: [Dialogue] "If I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I would be holding a galaxy."
[Action] star gazing

Year: 7

Wordcount: 2163

It was a sunny day, and James couldn't help but think that it was getting even sunnier as he spotted Lily Evans outside. She was sitting in the courtyard, scribbling into a little notebook. James hesitated for a second, then he turned to Sirius, Remus, and Peter and said, "You go to the Great Hall without me; I'll catch up with you in a second."

Sirius frowned when he heard that and gave his friend a bewildered look. Remus, however, had just glanced out of the window, and a big smile appeared on his face. "Ah, Lily Evans hasn't proceeded to the Great Hall yet, either!"

Sirius smirked at once, and James rolled his eyes.

"Well," said Sirius, "you obviously have other things on your mind than eating right now, James. Just go and give Evans a big kiss from me!" He jumped towards the window to catch a glance of Lily.

"Oh, just shut up," James mumbled. He felt himself blushing as he thought of Lily and hoped his friends didn't notice. Judging by their expression though, they did.

"Well," Remus said, dragging Sirius away from the window. "We'll leave you alone then, mate."

Peter gave him a smile as they passed him, but James barely noticed. He stroked his hair back and took a deep breath. Then he looked back into the window, trying to see his own reflection. Ever since he had started dating Lily Evans, he had dropped the habit of tousling his hair, because he knew she had told him she liked him just the way he was, but that didn't mean he had stopped caring about his appearance.

Nervously, he walked down the courtyard. He still got anxious whenever he saw her, even though they'd known each other for so long now.

Lily was still sitting at the exact same spot as she had a few minutes ago. James paused for a second to just look at her. It was getting dark now, but her hair still seemed to shine. Once again, James thought that she had to be the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He approached her carefully from behind. She didn't seem to notice him; only when he put his hand on her shoulder did she flinch away and turn around. When she saw him, she smiled.

"James! I didn't hear you coming at all!"

She put her quill into the book and closed it. Then she got up, looking at him. James felt himself getting lost in her eyes, that were shining brightly and he needed a moment to remember why he'd come here in the first place.

"It's a nice day," he said wildly.

Lily looked around. "Oh, yeah," she said. "Yeah, very nice." She looked around and up at the castle and gave a nervous chuckle. "It's later than I thought it was," she said. "Did they already ring the bell for dinner?"

"Yes," James replied.

"Oh," Lily said. "Are you hungry?"

James shrugged. "Yeah, a bit. Do you want to go inside and eat something? And afterwards, maybe we could, uh, I dunno, walk around a little bit..." He knew the suggestion was lame and he immediately hated himself for saying it out loud.

But Lily seemed pleased. "I've got an even better idea," she said, "why don't we get inside, get us some food, come back here, and eat it outside? Under the stars? It looks like it is going to be a nice and clear night."

James looked up at the sky also. She was right; the moon was slowly starting to show itself, and the stars were coming out.

"And I have an even better idea than that," he declared thoughtfully. "How about going down to Hogsmeade? There are some very nice places, and we could get a butterbeer and whatever you want... Somewhere away from Hogwarts, that would be nice, wouldn't it?"

Lily looked at him hesitantly. "I don't know," she said slowly, "I mean, it sounds appealing, but James, we're not allowed to go to Hogsmeade unless it's a Hogsmeade weekend."

He made a mischievous face. "Well, we don't need to tell anyone what we're doing," he said, "and we don't have to take the official way down to the village, either. There are several ways leading to Hogsmeade, and it isn't specified anywhere in the Hogwarts' rule book that you can't walk through the castle's secret passageways and see where they lead." He grinned. "It's not my fault if one of the paths goes directly to the village. So, what do you say?"

Lily gave a laugh. "So it's true, you and your friends do know some of the secret passageways around the school?"

James pretended to look offended, and said, "Please, Lily, stick to the facts. We know all the secret passageways around the school."

"James Potter, always humble," Lily mumbled, then looked at him again. "But I like your idea; a lot actually. We just need to make sure we're not caught."

"That can be easily arranged," James said, with a smile.

A couple of minutes later, Lily and James were walking down the passage. James carried the Invisibility Cloak under his arm.

"You know, I always thought you might have a cloak like that," Lily said, looking at it. "I never would have figured it to be this good, though. It truly hides the owner, doesn't it?"

"Of course," James said proudly. "Here, do you want to try it?" He pretended to throw the cloak on Lily. She laughed.

"Thanks, I'm good with being visible for the moment," she said. After a pause she added, "You know, it's nicer than I'd thought it would be, walking here all alone. We should make a little side trip to the Shrieking Shack, what do you say?"

"Sounds good to me," James said. "How about taking a walk in the forest?"

Lily beamed. "Sounds great."

She looked around. "I feel like we've been in this passageway forever," she said, "shouldn't we arrive sometime soon?"

"Sure," James said. "It's not far from here. We just need to go around this corner, you see – and here we are."

They were indeed. The end of the passageway had led them a bit farther away from the shops. There were some trees, and far in the distance you could spot the Shrieking Shack. James was very proud to have found this way down to the village, and it was the only one Sirius, Remus and Peter didn't know about. He had thought about including it in the Marauder's Map when he had discovered the path a couple of days ago, but he had thought it might be good to keep it secret if he ever needed to be alone... with a special girl.

Lily looked around, beaming. It had been a while since the last Hogsmeade weekend. Even though it had gotten dark by now, the stars and the lights of the little houses and buildings made Lily forget that it was actually night time and that she actually wasn't allowed to be here. The sun had already faded from the sky and the village seemed to be in eternal winter. Snowflakes had been falling from the stars and covered the earth.

James put his cloak in his bag, figuring he wouldn't be needing it anyway, now that they had gotten here. He got a little anxious at the thought of spending the night here with Lily, all alone. Although this had been exactly what he had longed for, for a while, he couldn't help but feel nervous. But as he looked at her, realized she was probably feeling the same right now. A little shyly, she turned to him. "Well," she said, "where should we go? The Shrieking Shack?"

James nodded. "Sure, sounds good."

She looked around. "I'm not sure about the way," she admitted in a low voice, "I've never been here, I'm used to taking the official way." She smirked a little bit as she spoke.

If James was completely honest, he didn't know the way, either, but he figured he'd probably remember it when they went along. He turned to the right, into a small forest and said: "This way. Through the woods, I remember discovering this path in my fourth year."

And before he could help himself, he reached for Lily's hand. She looked at him in surprise at first, but then she smiled, and they walked down the path together.

Lily and James had been walking for a while now. Neither of them had a watch, but it must have been over an hour since they had entered the village and, still, there was no sign of the shack. James was starting to feel hungry and a little stupid as well. Lily had trusted him to know the way, and now they were walking through the cold and had no idea when they would reach their destination.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, feeling stupid and embarrassed, "I thought this was the right way, I swear."

Lily turned to him and to his relief she didn't look mad at all. "It's okay, everyone can make a mistake," she said gently.

James sighed and looked around. "To be honest, I don't even know if we are walking in the right direction at all." They had gotten deeper into the forest and away from the village. The only sound that was audible was the crunching of their shoes in the snow.

Lily turned around a few times as well. "So how about simply turning around and going the same way back? It has gotten late," she said.

James nodded. "So much for having a picnic at the Shrieking Shack," he said, a bit disappointed. "I'm sorry, Lily."

"That's all right," she said. "We can still eat our food on the way back, and we've still had a nice trip, haven't we? We can visit the Shrieking Shack some other time." She laughed. "Maybe when it's bright, and we can actually see where we're going."

James smiled, glad that she didn't seem to think this had been a dull way of spending the evening. She took his hand, and James smiled happily. They turned around, following their footsteps which were clearly visible in the snow.

For a while, they walked in silence, listening to the snow, but then Lily started to speak. "Look at the stars," she said in a small voice, barely more than a whisper. "They are so bright, but you don't notice until it's dark. That's odd, they cannot brighten the day, only the night."

"Too bad they couldn't light the way for us," said James, grinning, before he looked up. They really looked bright in the dark, black sky. "Look, the two bright ones up there," he said, "that's us. You're the brighter one, on the left, and I'm the one right next to you."

Lily looked at him and smiled. "I'm the brighter one," she repeated, "I like that."

James smiled and took her hand again. She pressed her fingers firmly around his.

"As for the brightening-the-day-thing," James said, now whispering too, "If I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I would be holding a galaxy."

Lily seemed surprised for a moment, then she laughed, "Yeah, and you copied that from a book, didn't you?"

James blushed. "No, I did not." But she continued to grin at him, and he said, "Okay, I did. It was a book I read last summer." Sirius had given it to him. 107 way to flatter a girl. It had been meant as a joke because Lily had always rejected his efforts to make a pass at her, but James had found it very interesting. He had never told Sirius how useful he'd found his present, for he knew his friend would probably make fun of him.

Lily didn't seem at all taken aback by the fact that he hadn't made the phrase up himself; instead, she said, "Well, at least you're reading, James Potter. That's a start."

"Are you suggesting that I haven't always been intellectual?" he asked, pretending to be hurt. She laughed.

"Oh, of course," she said in mock remembrance, "you have always enjoyed reading the instructions on how to jinx your friends and classmates, haven't you?"

"That was the past," James said with a smirk, "I am a whole different person now."

Lily laughed. "Yeah, right."

While they walked through the forest and got closer to the castle and James' secret passageway, James thought that, in this very moment, his life couldn't be better. This was what he had hoped for when he had gotten to know Lily: Walking through the snow, surrounded by trees and stars, just the two of them. He didn't need a Shrieking Shack or a picnic to enjoy his time with Lily, and the thought that she might think the same made his heart jump.

This moment could have lasted forever.