Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling
The Fireplace in the empty Gryffindor Common Room crackled merrily as snow fell outside. But Lily Evans wasn't in a festive mood. For the first time since she started Hogwarts, despite the increased workload that Sixth years have to endure, despite the fact that it felt like she was studying for exams every day, she dreaded going home.
Her Sister, Petunia had gotten herself a boyfriend and she was bound to be insufferably smug at Christmas Dinner. Lily knew that she would have to endure taunts from her, claiming that no normal man would ever want to be with a freak like her. Lily hoped that she might be able to make things up with Petunia, but so far, she had ignored every letter that she had sent her.
What with her bad relationship with her Sister and the situation in the Wizarding World where a Pure-Blooded maniac calling himself Lord Voldemort was steadily gaining power, Lily thought that she was going to be in for a truly miserable Christmas.
She was still shaken by the news about a Muggle massacre about seven miles from Cokeworth. She had promptly Owled her parents to see if they were alright and got a reply to say that they were fine. She was relived but still shocked that the Death Eaters struck so close to home.
'What if they had been killed?' She thought miserably. The fighting was getting far more intense lately and she had eighteen months left at Hogwarts. She briefly considered teaching and asked Professor Slughorn if she could stay on and help him teach Potions, but he turned her down.
"Now, Lily" He had laughed, wagging a sugar coated finger. "You're still young. There are far more exciting things in life then teaching Potions in a stuffy Dungeon. Why don't you get out there and enjoy life's wonders before putting your neck on the block, so to speak. Dumbledore's not too keen on students becoming teachers right after they leave school. I've got some excellent contacts in the Potions industry. I could arrange you a meeting with them. With brains like yours, you could go far! Why you even give Severus a run for his money!"
Severus. She had not spoken to him since he called her a Mudblood by the Lake, last June. He had been drifting away from her and getting more and more involved in the Dark Arts with his Slytherin friends.
Despite him begging her for her forgiveness, she had turned him down. 'He made his choice and I made mine. If he wants to run around with his Death Eater pals, then I'm not going to stop him." She thought firmly. But her heart still ached for her first friend. Her friend that introduced her to the Wizarding World. 'Don't start feeling guilty!' She reminded herself. 'His friends are evil and he would sooner wash his hair then change his ways.'
All in all, it was a truly rotten Christmas.
Lily put down her Charms book after spending hours looking at it and not taking in the words. She shouldn't be doing any studying, anyway. Not when it was only a couple of days before the Christmas Holidays.
Lily heard the Portrait open and someone stumbling through it, muttering under their breath. She looked around to see a soaking, dripping wet James Potter on the threshold, glasses askew. He shook himself and made his way towards the fireplace.
Lily tensed. James Potter was the last person that she wanted to see tonight. Potter was the reason why she wasn't talking to Severus. If it wasn't for Potter and his idiot pals, Severus wouldn't have called her a Mudblood. 'Although I shouldn't be too hard on Potter.' She thought. 'Severus was already getting bad before Potter humiliated him at the Lake.'
Lily had refused to even look at Potter after that. She happily ignored him all year and he seemed to have taken the hint. He even stopped asking her out on dates. Although, she missed screaming at him.
Potter stopped by the fireplace and proceeded to warm himself. He didn't even notice Lily sitting there, lost in her thoughts. But Lily was soon jerked out of them as he blocked the fire, trying to dry himself. She noticed that he was wearing his Quidditch robes.
"Do you have to do that?!" She snapped.
Potter jumped, accidentally causing some ash to fall on the rug.
"I didn't see you there." He said guiltily.
"No wonder you wear glasses." She remarked waspishly.
Potter gave her a sheepish grin, far different from his usual cocky one.
"It's rather wet, that stuff," He remarked airily. "The snow."
"You don't say?" Lily spat sarcastically. Potter looked even more sheepish, to her delight. 'Serves him right for thinking he could just barge in!' She thought savagely.
Potter gave her another sheepish smile and just stood there, dripping wet and looking rather pathetic. Lily felt something in her stomach that she finally understood to be pity. She was feeling sorry for Potter. She withdrew her wand and Potter looked at it with apprehension.
"Here," She said shortly and gave it a little flick. A jet of hot air shot out of it, instantly drying Potter so that he wasn't dripping wet. Potter sighed in relief.
"Lily! You're a lifesaver!" He said weakly.
"I didn't do it for you!" She snapped defensively, dimly noting that he addressed her by her first name. "I did it because I don't want to be soaking wet, thank you very much."
"All the same, thank you!" Potter said gratefully.
Lily was taken aback. Since when did James Potter ever thank anybody?
"You're welcome?" Lily said uncertainly. Thinking Potter would change his mind and say that it was a joke.
Lily looked out of the window and watched the falling snow. Potter just stood there, looking sheepish and uncertain and so unlike his usual self. She was about to tell Potter to go away before his spoke.
"Is it alright with you if I sit down?" He asked politely. "I'm still quite cold."
"If you must." Lily said coldly.
Potter smiled at her again before sitting down on the other end of the Sofa. Lily didn't mind him being here. Truth be told, she was feeling quite lonely, lately. She didn't mind having a bit of company. Even if it was Potter.
Lily didn't have much energy to read her Charms book, so she just stared into the flickering flames. Mind spinning and dreading going home.
Potter just sat there, warming his hands and occasionally glancing her. Lily was enjoying the silence, when he spoke.
"It's beautiful, isn't it? The Snow?"
Lily nodded. She didn't feel like speaking at the moment. She had no energy for it.
"I was just going for a Broom ride. Clear my head, you know." Potter was saying.
Something finally seemed to work in Lily's brain.
"So that's why you were late." She said. "Black, Lupin and Pettigrew went up to bed an hour ago and the rest of the Quidditch team came back an hour ago, as well."
"I had a lot on my mind." Potter said seriously. Lily frowned at him.
"Who are you, and what have you done with James Potter?" She asked suspiciously.
Potter laughed and jerked his right arm as if he were going to run a hand through his hair but thought better of it.
"It's hard to believe," He said slowly. "That we're already Sixth Years. I mean we've got eighteen months before we graduate and that's it. We have to go out there and face it."
"I know." Lily admitted in a small voice. "It's quite daunting."
Lily wondered whether or not she should tell Potter about her fears. She had been bottling them up for a while now. Potter seemed to be quite serious, right now. Not his usual arrogant self.
"I asked Slughorn whether or not I could teach Potions with him after I leave Hogwarts," She confessed. Feeling relieved that she was getting it off her chest. "He told me to get out there and enjoy life."
"So he should." Potter said. "You're a brilliant Witch, Lily. But you have a lot more to offer then just teaching Potions. With brains like yours, you could go far. I think you could even invent a cure for lycanthropy. You've got the potential for it."
Lily gave him a small smile, touched by his words. This wasn't the same arrogant Potter that used to hex everybody he could. Was it possible that he had changed since she last spoke to him? At any rate, she felt that she could at least confide in him.
"I've been a bit worried lately." She told him "You know about that Death Eater attack at Ironminster? Well that's just Seven miles from where I live. My Mum likes to go the Market, there."
Potter's face whitened. "That's too close." He muttered. "Is your Mum alright?" He asked after a moments pause.
"Oh, yes. They're fine. My Mum and Dad. They thought that it was a gas explosion or something. I had written to them after I heard the news and I got a reply back, saying that they were fine."
Potter exhaled in relief. "That's good. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you or your parents."
Lily smiled at him again, astounded that he was being mature. But she stared at the fire again, feeling glum. Potter seemed to notice.
"Are you okay, Lily?" He asked softly. "You seem rather down."
Lily thought for a moment. Should she tell Potter about her private life? He had been quite mature tonight. A side of him that she hadn't seen before and a side that she quite liked. She decided that it wasn't something that she should bottle up. So she took a breath.
"Not really." She said in a flat tone. "Something's been bothering me, actually." She told him all about Petunia. How Petunia wasn't answering her letters. Petunia's loathing of Magic, Petunia's Boyfriend.
"And now she seems to be dating what looks likes this bad tempered Aberdeen Angus. I haven't' even met the man but I just know that at Christmas Dinner, she's going to rub it in!" It felt good, getting it off her chest. Talking to someone about it. Potter was a good listener.
"That's terrible." He said sympathetically.
"It's ever since I received my Hogwarts letter and she didn't." Lily burst out. "She even wrote to Professor Dumbledore, begging him to let her go. But that didn't work and she's been jealous of me ever since."
"That's no reason to call you a freak." Potter said reasonably.
"I know." Lily sighed. "I've been trying and trying to make things up with her, but she seems determined to pretend that I don't exist. I don't know why I bother, sometimes."
"Keep trying." Potter insisted. "You'll regret it if you don't. She's family, isn't she? My parents taught me that family should stick together."
"That's all very well." Lily said. "But when she claims that I'm abnormal, just because I'm a Witch… It just makes me so miserable sometimes."
"Don't give up." Potter said. "Look, I don't have a sibling. Sirius, Remus and Peter are the closest things to brothers that I'll ever have. But the point is, that if you make an effort, then somewhere down the line, Petunia would probably take notice and respond and even if she sends you a horrible present, wouldn't that be a start? "
Lily gave him another small smile.
"Yeah. Maybe." She said quietly. "Things would've been better though if it wasn't for Severus." She spat out his name as if it were poison and Potter tensed.
There was a moments awkward silence as the tension became thick. Potter seemed to be trying to speak. He seemed to finally manage it.
"L-Lily. I just want to say that I'm really sorry. You know. At that day by the Lake. He was your friend, wasn't he? Snape?"
"He was the one who told me what I was." Lily muttered, staring into the dancing flames. "Petunia never liked him."
"You were right." Potter was saying. "I was a bigheaded, conceited, bullying git."
"You've got that right!" Lily snapped, firing up. "Hexing people in the corridors, ruffling up your hair, thinking you're superior to everyone, just because you play Quidditch! It makes me sick!"
"I know." Potter said solemnly and he actually had the decency to look ashamed as well. "But I've been trying, you know. Not to be a big headed, arrogant toerag."
Lily smiled at the label he give himself, recognising that it was the one that she used to frequently give him.
"Well, you haven't asked me out at all, this year." She said slowly.
Potter muttered something about thinking she wouldn't want that.
Lily fell silent again. The need to discuss Severus was welling up inside her. Potter had been quite mature, lately. He had even apologised for his behaviour. How would he react if she brought Severus up again?
"He was getting worse." Lily said abruptly. "Severus. Before you…Before the Lake."
"He was your friend, wasn't he?" Potter asked tentatively.
Lily gave a hollow laugh. "He used to be my best friend." Lily said bitterly. "But ever since he got in with that Slytherin lot, we've been drifting apart! But I've been making excuses for him, for years!"
"He doesn't deserve you." Potter said quietly. "You are the kindest, bravest, most wonderful person that I've ever met. You touch people's lives in ways you can't imagine. Snape doesn't deserve someone like you. If he really was your friend, he wouldn't have called you….That…word."
"Mudblood." Lily said tonelessly. Potter winced.
"Yeah. That." He said darkly.
"He calls everyone of my birth, Mudblood." Lily said. "Why should I be any different? He's a bit of a hypocrite, anyway." She added with another hollow laugh.
"His Dad's a Muggle and here he is, acting all holier then thou. It doesn't matter, anyway. He made his choice and I made mine. As far as I'm concerned, I've washed my hands of him."
"They're loonies, those Blood Purists." Potter said wisely. "So what if you're Muggle born? You're just as good as anyone else. You're really good at Magic. I love watching you in Charms. You really shine you know. When you cast spells."
"Thanks." Lily smiled, touched by his words and pleased that she was able to get the large weight of anxiety off her chest. Thinking that it would be a little rude not to compliment him back, she added.
"You're very good at Transfiguration. You make it look easy."
"It is easy." Potter grinned. Not his usual cocky grin, but a genuine grin that seemed to enhance his features and make him look warmer. "I could help you sometime, if you're struggling."
Lily smiled at him before returning to look at the fire. A thought occurred to her. Something that often came to her when Potter and his friends played pranks on people. Something that was far different then anything that Severus or his Slytherin friends.
"You don't use Dark Magic, do you?" She asked Potter. Potter's face darkened as he answered.
"I hate the Dark Arts." He muttered. "Always have."
"You're not evil, tough. Like Mulciber and Avery. Some of the things you do, are actually quite funny."
"I don't see us as evil," Potter said slowly and thoughtfully. "I see us as Purveyors of Magical Mischief."
Despite herself, Lily burst out laughing at Potter's name for him and his friends. Potter watched her is awe, before joining in.
"You're laughing." Potter noted softly. A genuine smile on his face that seemed to light up his hazel eyes.
"You know, you four should open up a Joke Shop when we leave Hogwarts." She told him after she calmed down. " It could be called..um.. What are those names you call yourselves? Hang on. Oh yeah: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs: Purveyors of Magical Mischief."
"Oh Merlin!" Potter snorted before he burst out laughing as well.
"I can't imagine Sirius working in a shop. He'd be slacking off with me. Peter would probably mess everything up and poor Remus would be doing all the work. I think we should leave the Joke Shop thing to the next generation of Mischief makers."
"You'd be really good at it." Lily insisted.
"I don't think it would be the right time for it, though." Potter said seriously. "What with the war going on. Doesn't mean we're going to stop laughing for that. Life's too short. You never know, we could be dead in ten years time."
Lily shivered, feeling a great sense of forbidding at his words.
"Don't say that." She said in a small voice. Potter looked guilty and scooted closer to her.
"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "Forget the war, though. It'll soon be Christmas. Merry Christmas, Lily."
Lily smiled at him again. "Merry Christmas, James." She said. James felt far more softer then Potter. A name that she often spat out with anger and venom. James suited the person before her. The person who helped cheer her up and offer her words on comfort.
"You called me James." James smiled. Hazel eyes twinkling in the firelight.
"I've noticed you stopped calling me Evans." Lily replied.
"Cracker?" James asked suddenly.
"I think you are quite crackers." She smiled. James laughed.
"Nah. Sirius is the one who's crackers. I'm the sane one."
"You wish!" Lily snorted.
James took out is wand and conjured a Wizarding Cracker.
"Here." He said, offering her one end. She took it and together they pulled. The Cracker let out an almighty bang, before several live, white rats came scuttling out of it and went through a crack in the wall.
"That's a shame. Peter would've liked to have had one of those. He's always had a soft spot for rats." James quipped. Lily laughed again.
"Thank you." She said to him. "I was feeling utterly miserable before you came in, but you did a surprisingly great job of cheering me up. And you seem so mature as well. It's amazing."
James shrugged. "You were right." He said. "I was big headed. I want us to be friends, Lily so I changed. For you."
Lily sat there, stunned that James Potter would have done such a thing for her.
"That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me." She breathed. James looked delighted.
"I do want to be your friend. It's been really great chatting with you, tonight and I'm glad that you were here so I could get these things off my chest. I can't thank you enough."
The next thing she knew, she was hugging James and James seemed to be at a loss for words. He patted her back.
"I'd do anything you for you." He said. Lily pulled out of the hug to look at him.
"Like I said, you touch people's lives in ways that you can't imagine. I hate seeing you sad and I hate the fact that I might have been the one to have made you sad."
"Being mature really suits you." Lily told him. "I'd like to see more of that."
"I can try." James told her. "Think about what I said about your Sister, though. Keep trying. Because, I've got the feeling that one day, you're going to be very thankful that you have a Sister."
Lily shivered again, despite the fire. But she no longer dreaded Christmas day. James was right. She should keep trying. Maybe one day, she would be pleased that Petunia Evans is her Sister but at this very moment, nothing. Not even the impending Christmas Dinner would puncture her happiness of having a new friend.
Thank you for reading and Merry Christmas.
I suprised myself with how fast I had written this. I'm usually a very slow writer.