Happy Christmas everyone! Or, well, Christmas eve depending on when you're reading this. Written for Becca over there on tumblr at theycallmebecca for this year's Jily Secret Santa. Happy Christmas, love! :)
Warnings: Fair bit of language in this one
1.
Christmas at Hogwarts, Lily would deduce, was definitely the most amazing thing she had ever encountered in all of her eleven years. Suits of armour came alive, singing Wizarding Christmas carols and garlands were draped across every corridor, glittering and smelling faintly of peppermint. But her favourite part was, without a doubt the Great Hall. Several giant Christmas trees were placed around the room, each decorated with glittering baubles and almost seemed to glow. Snow fell from the enchanted ceiling and there was even a wreath on the doors.
The only part she didn't like was the plant with spindly green braches and wrapped in red ribbon that hung above the door.
Mistletoe.
Of course she knew the significance behind it; she had seen her parents kiss under it numerous times and heard Tuney's wistful dreams of that happening to her one day. She supposed that it was sort of romantic in a sense, but she would also be adamant to admit that she would not want to be caught under it, thank you very much. There was no one in this school who she wanted to kiss. But that was only a small part of the decorations. She could handle that. Everything else was just so pretty and she often found herself caught up in it and staring.
Right now however, the red head stomped determinedly to the Great Hall, completely bypassing the singing armour and the glittering decorations. No, right now she was infuriated. Potter and Black, the two most vilest, annoying and childish persons she had ever had the misfortune to meet, had put poor Sev in the hospital wing after slipping him something that caused him to throw up every half hour. Ugh, how she despised them. They were always picking on him and thought that they were the most brilliant beings ever.
They made her sick.
Which is why now, she was on a mission to find them and give them a solid piece of her mind. And now, in all her eleven year old fury, she pushed through the crowds, trying to get into the Great Hall where Potter and Black were surely hiding.
Unfortunately, Lily had not taken into consideration that she was only just a first year and a small one at that when she stomped away in her fit of pique, which now led to her having a hard time fighting against the throngs of people exiting the Great Hall.
It happened before she realised; one moment she was walking- well, pushing would be more accurate- through the crowd and then the next she was falling backwards and hit her bum on the stone floor. Combined with her previous anger, Lily looked up angrily to give her assailant a good talking to, to only find a boy with messy hair and far too big specs that were slipping down his nose looking down at her.
Potter.
Her anger skyrocketed and she jumped to her feet.
"You!" she yelled angrily.
The boy regarded her confusedly. "Er- me."
"Don't play stupid," she hissed. "You just threw me down!"
James gaped at her. "You walked into me, Evans. I should be angry at you."
Lily coloured slightly, seeing some of the truth in his words, but pressed on nonetheless. "Yeah, well, you caused me to fall down, so there," she said triumphantly, crossing her arms across her chest.
James rolled his eyes. He was never overly fond of Lily Evans. She was know it all stuck up cow who was friends with a Slytherin and taller than him. James could never be friends with a girl who was taller than him. It just wouldn't work. "You wouldn't have fell down if you weren't pushing," he countered.
She tried glaring at him, but it felt as though all she was doing was screwing up her face and pouting. But she tried nonetheless. "I was pushing because I was trying to get to you and Black before you left the hall, okay."
"Why would you be looking for Sirius and me?" asked James, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Because you put Sev in the hospital wing!" she exploded.
"We were just having some fun Evans, that's all," explained James.
"By pranking Sev," she said flatly. "Makes total sense, that does. Oh you're bored? Go and hex Sev. What did Sev ever do to you, Pot-"
Her rant was cut off by the entrance of Sirius Black whose eyes widened comically as he shouted, "You're under the mistletoe with Evans!"
Both James and Lily looked up at once. Sure enough, she could make out the green spindly branches that oh so innocently hung above them. Lily turned almost as red as her hair and James seemed to be frozen to the spot.
"Looks like you've got to kiss her, mate!" Sirius yelled, thoroughly enjoying their immense displeasure.
James' snapped back to life. "You tricked me!" he accused her.
"What?" Lily sputtered. "How did I trick you?"
"You came here yelling at me about Snape but you were really trying to get me to stay under the mistletoe with you!" James yelled.
"No I wasn't!"
"Yes you were! You like me! You have a crush on me!"
Lily looked horrified- and a little disgusted- at the thought. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire life. I do not like you!"
"Why else would you try to get me under the mistletoe with you?"
"I was yelling at you, you insufferable twat! Not trying to kiss you!"
Meanwhile Sirius was thoroughly enjoying himself, laughing in the corner. "Looks like you have a little admirer!"
"I don't like him!"
"You do!" wheezed Sirius through his laughter. "You want to kiss him and get married to him and have little Potter babies!"
At this point Lily was positively green. "Ew! That is the most disgusting thing that someone's ever told me! I don't even like Potter! He's rude and bullies Sev!"
"But you want to kiss him," he taunted. Apparently that was the last straw for Lily as she pushed away a traumatized and dumbstruck James, causing him to stumble against the doorframe before sending a Bat- Bogey curse towards Sirius and running upstairs.
And that was the day that that stupid, supposedly 'festive' plant became an enemy of Lily's.
2.
Hogsmeade looked like something out of a Christmas card in the winter, what with the entire village coated in snow. Lily was in complete awe over it on her first time to Hogsmeade during winter.
She was bundled up from head to toe, wearing boots, jeans and a heavy coat over her pretty jumper while her Gryffindor scarf was wrapped around her neck and her hands were stuffed into gloves. She walked down Main Street hand in hand with Thomas Bund, a Ravenclaw a year older than her who had stumbled through a proposal for a date that day a few days ago in the library. Lily had agreed, finding his nervous demeanour quite adorable then.
He was nice enough, chatting about his family and asking her about how it was like to grow up as a muggle. His questions were a far cry from being rude as Lily could tell that he was genuinely interested in her. Before she left this morning to go on the date, her mates had cornered her in the dormitory and ordered her to tell them everything that happened on her date, in explicit detail, when she returned to the castle.
He took her past the Three Broomsticks, the pub which she had gone to lunch with her mates all those times before, leading her to a little tea shop tucked away in the corner known as Madam Puddifoot's. Thomas held open the door for her and Lily walked in.
The first that hit her was the overwhelming fragrance of roses. She had to stifle several sneezes. The next thing that she noticed was that everything- everything- was in some shade of pink or the other and possessed frills, lace or a combination of both. All in all, the place made Lily feel claustrophobic and she was exceedingly glad that Thomas managed to get them a seat by a window.
He ordered for her, something Lily would usually protest to, but the heady scent of roses was clouding her thought process and all she could do is sit and nod happily.
So far, her impression of Madam Puddifoot's tea shop was not a good one, what with the suffocating smell, the pink, the frills, watery tea, and atrocious coffee and terribly hard biscuits. Lily would swear up and down that those things almost broke her teeth. For some odd reason though, Thomas looked to be having a good time, still talking happily and completely enthralled by her every time she opened her mouth to speak. Lily was just happy that she managed to stomach the tea and biscuits and did not pass out from the scent of roses.
"You have a sister?" he asked, obviously surprised.
Lily nodded. "She's two years older than me."
"And she's not magic?" he asked. Again, at her nod he breathed, "Fascinating. What's her name?"
"Petunia."
A short laugh escaped his lips. "Does your family have a thing with flowers?"
"Oh yes," Lily said wryly. "Almost every female on my mum's side has a flower name. Most have repeated but thankfully we don't have any Hyacinths or Lilacs as yet."
"And how many Lilies are there?" he asked slyly, grinning at her.
Lily felt herself smiling back despite the budding headache, itchy nose and churning stomach. "Not that many actually. The only one besides me right now is my great aunt."
"They're rare then," he summed up, his hand creeping towards her still gloved one.
She laughed nervously. "Er, yeah; I guess you could say that."
"What say you and I get out of here?" he asked cocking his head to the side. Lily shrugged and before she even realised, he had thrown some galleons on the table and gotten up. She followed suit and was leaning against the door frame, waiting for Thomas to return with their coats. He helped her with hers. Lily was anxious to push open the door, for her nose and lungs to celebrate because huzzah, at last some fresh air.
What she didn't expect was for Thomas to pull her back in and loop an arm around her waist.
"Um- what?" she started to ask.
"Mistletoe," he said. Lily's eyes flickered up and saw that there was indeed a sprig of mistletoe above them.
"Oh, that's nice- oomph!" she began, only to be interrupted by him smothering her mouth with his.
Lily was stunned. She didn't even bother to close her eyes. Her first kiss with someone who she just met. She could imagine what her sister would be saying if she knew. She just stood there awkwardly, arms hanging at her sides as the boy continued to kiss her sloppily. It was only after he tried to shove his tongue in her mouth did she tear away from him.
She wiped her mouth on the back of a gloved hand. Thomas grinned sappily at her.
"I had fun today," he said as he led them outside. She tugged the scarf tighter around her neck.
"Yeah, fun," she echoed before pulling him to a stop. "It was fun, really, but I have to go now. I promised my mates that I'd meet them later and, well, it's later."
He frowned. "Oh. Well maybe we could do this again."
"I'll get back to you on that one." With one last smile, Lily dashed off to the Three Broomsticks where her mates mentioned they would be. She hoped that they would still be in there.
Luck was on her side today it seemed as she quickly spotted them laughing together at a table. Easily weaving through the crowd, she pulled up a chair, surprising them.
"Lily?" Mary asked. "Didn't you have a date?"
She shrugged. "It, um, finished," she replied lamely.
Marlene grinned at her. "Well, what are you doing sitting there? Tell us everything that happened!"
"Give me a Butterbeer and I'll tell you everything you want to know." They did and soon enough she was recounting every detail that happened on the date.
"He kissed you?" one of the girls squealed. "How was it?"
Lily thought for a moment. "Wet," she finally decided on, causing them all to break out in laughter.
3.
She swore to Merlin that if those bleeding little first years won't shut up about the singing dwarfs that had infiltrated the Great Hall during dinner, she was going to hex them, since they completely ignored her the first few times she told them to settle down. She was a prefect, dammit, weren't they supposed to listen to her? Silly little buggers.
Another shriek of laughter came from the corner.
Lily gritted her teeth. She really was going to hex them.
Oh hell, now she was sounding like Potter. She blamed the impending O.W.L.s for her momentary lapse in sanity.
Then again, if it wasn't for Potter she wouldn't have to fret about wanting to hex noisy first years. The sodding blighter had decided that it would be 'fun' to let in a dozen crazed dwarves dressed red and white fur coats while holding giant candy canes into the Great Hall during dinner. It was complete chaos as they danced across the tables, singing Christmas carols while they sent food flying everywhere. Lily got a face full of peas because of that.
And the worst part was that the wanker and his friends didn't even get in trouble besides McGonagall deducting a few points. Dumbledore had simply laughed at the entire ordeal, saying that it brought them even further in to the spirit of Christmas. Lily completely admired the man, but this was one of the times that she would admit that maybe he was going a bit loony in old age. After all, he wasn't the one who got peas down his shirt.
The first years were yelling now.
Lily's hand rested on the handle of her wand while she silently counted to ten. You will not hex the first years, she chanted silently, you'll go up to the dorm where it's quieter.
Hmm. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.
However, as she stood up and crossed the threshold of the common room, she garnered a few strange looks. Frowning, Lily looked down at her shirt to see if perhaps there was a massive stain on it. This brief moment of inattention led to her stumbling into someone at the foot of the girls' staircase.
"Oh sorry," she said automatically before looking up. Her previous frown deepened as she scowled at the boy in front of her.
"Potter," she said curtly as she tried to sidestep him.
James grinned down at her. "'Lo, Evans." He tipped an imaginary hat at her. "You seem to be in the festive mood."
Lily frowned, confused. "What are you talking about?"
He ignored her and continued speaking. "Even more than that, actually. You seem to be basking in the nostalgia. It's adorable even."
"Potter, I swear to god if you don't tell me what the hell you're talking about, I'll hex you into next week," Lily threatened.
His eyes widened comically behind his specs. "You mean you don't know?"
"Of course I don't know, you wanker!"
"Why, Evans," he said as his hand came to cup underneath her chin. Lily resisted the urge to snap at it. "It seems as though you have a bit of an admirer." He tilted her head upwards and Lily saw a small sprig of mistletoe happily bundled in red ribbon; much like that she faced in first year.
"Oh bloody hell," she groaned, closing her eyes hoping that when she reopened them the damned plant would disappear.
Somewhere nearby she heard James' deep chuckle. She opened her eyes to find him standing half a foot closer to her than he was before. Unlike first year where she was taller than him, now they were almost at equal heights, with James being only two inches taller. He was still grinning down at her and she was made aware that his hand was still under her chin.
Lily's eyes widened and she took a step back, snapping at him, "Stop it."
"Stop what?" he asked innocently as his eyes glittered mischievously.
She quickly put the pieces together and got more incensed than before. "You charmed the mistletoe to hang above my head and follow me around!"
James held out his hands towards her. "Clever Evans, but I don't have a wand out, do I?"
Damn. She thought she had him there. James Potter was smart, Lily would admit that, but even he wasn't accomplished enough to do wandless magic. She raised her hands above her head, trying to bat that dratted thing away, but that method only sufficed in an increase in her irritation when she realized that the tips of her fingers barely brushed it. Meanwhile James was having a right time looking at her trying to get away from the mistletoe.
Lily stomped her foot. "Get it down, dammit," she demanded, glaring at him.
"In case you've forgotten, I'm not doing-"
"Well then tell Sirius or Peter or whoever to get it down!" she exploded. "Get it off and get away. I am not kissing you.
James smile faltered a bit. "Calm down Evans," he muttered. "No need to get your knickers in a bunch."
Lil snarled at him as she tried using her own magic to the twig down but it wouldn't budge. "I'm sick of your stupid little pranks!"
"Liven up a bit, Evans," James snapped. "We were just having some fun." Nonetheless he fished around his pocket for his wand to undo the spell.
"Hurry up," she ordered him, glaring at him all the while. "God, you're such a prick."
At this point James had found his wand and flicked it, muttering the counter curse. The sprig of mistletoe was no longer suspended in the air and it fell, Lily catching it before it could hit the ground. "Are you happy n- oomph!" The rest of James' sentence was cut off due to the fact that Lily had thrown the stupid branch straight at his face before stomping up the stairs.
Disgruntled, he leant down to pick up the branch, only to throw at Sirius, who was sniggering behind a nearby couch as he had been doing during most of the ordeal.
4.
Nothing could top Christmas at home. Sure, Hogwarts' Christmas was pretty spectacular, but Lily would always love the muggle traditions. Trimming the tree, carolling, baking and of course, wrapping the presents. Sure, if she were at Hogwarts she could simply charm the gifts to wrap themselves, but it couldn't hold a candle to wrapping them the muggle way. She may be utter shit at doing it, but it was fun nonetheless.
As of that moment, Lily was tucked away in her room while her mother scurried around the kitchen. She had banished her a few hours ago as Lily proved less of help and more of a nuisance since she kept on eating (or as she would call it, 'taste testing,') everything. It was Christmas Eve in the Evans' household and in as little as an hour, Vernon and Petunia would be arriving for dinner. Her sister had elected to spend most of her time at Dursleys' since Lily had arrived at home for the holidays. It stung a bit, but she had long given up on trying to resolve things between them.
Lily signed her name at the bottom of the sheet of parchment she was writing on. It was merely a letter to Remus, thanking him for the present he had sent her. She liked to do her Christmas shopping early so that she could give all of her school friends their gifts before everyone left for the Christmas holiday but she knew that Remus was one of those who always waited at the last moment.
She tied the letter to Remus' little owl and sent him out the window, watching as he flew until he was nothing more than an indistinguishable speck against the night sky. Unable to find anything else to do, Lily resigned herself to the living room where she sprawled off and turned on the telly to some show or the other.
It wasn't long before she heard her mum call her from the kitchen to help set the table and not a moment after they placed the last fork down, did the door open to admit Petunia and Vernon, just as the clock struck six.
Lily had only met Vernon Dursley once before and she would be lying if she said that she liked the man. The bloke was about as exciting as doorknob and seemed a bit too pompous for Lily's taste as he always went about talking in a supercilious manner. Not to mention, due to the fact that Petunia told him that Lily went to a boarding school for special children, that he kept on making not so subtle jibes about her intelligence. Combined with the fact that he had almost no neck and looked a bit like a baby beluga who was trying to grow a moustache, he either succeeded in making her very annoyed or trying her best not to laugh.
"Petunia! Vernon!" her mum sang happily as she saw them in the hall while Lily simply muttered her hello. "Just on time. Sit, we're about to eat dinner. Lily, dear," she turned to the youngest of the Evans'. "Would you go and fetch your father for me? He's looked away in that stuffy old study of his."
She nodded before pushing out of the kitchen and taking her time with the stairs as she was in no hurry to rejoin Vernon and Petunia in the kitchen. There was no doubt that she was going to have to spend her evening listening to Vernon drone on and on about his listless job while Petunia ruffled her feathers and beamed proudly. It was times like these that she wished she brought someone home with her, if only so she wouldn't try to kill herself in the midst of dinner with her fork. She should have conned Remus into coming with her. Or maybe Sirius; he would surely piss off Petunia.
Knocking sharply on the door of her dad's study, she called softly, "Dad? Vernon and Petunia are here. Mum wants you downstairs for dinner now." There was some shuffling around before he finally opened the door, smiling at her.
"Already?" he cringed, causing Lily to giggle. Her dad also thought that Vernon was a tad bit too boring, but he would play up his displeasure for her sake. "Well come on, love; we don't want to keep you mum waiting, yeah?"
With a shake of the head, the two of them clambered down the steps, pausing slightly when the crossed into the threshold of the kitchen so that Mr. Evans could give her a kiss on the cheek since they had passed under the customary mistletoe. Though Lily still did not like the stupid plant, her aversion dropped slightly when she was at home purely because, well, she was home. She needn't watch out for silly boys trying to lure her under it.
Dinner was just as she predicted it to be: Vernon talking nonstop about some vapid topic or the other, Petunia looking like the cat that caught the canary, Mrs. Evans smiling and trying to pay attention after the first ten minutes, Mr. Evans giving up after the first five and Lily desperately willing this conversation to end as she came up with twenty ways to strangle herself with her necklace.
Like she said, predictable.
Once dinner was finished, everyone made their way to the living room while Mrs. Evans cleaned up. Petunia pulled Vernon under the mistletoe and kissed him, causing a wave of disgust to roll over Lily as she looked away.
"Actually, I wanted to do something else," Vernon said, causing Lily's neck to snap back to them. She watched, her mouth hanging open in horror, as her patted around his pockets until he found a small black velvet box and knelt on the ground.
"Petunia Evans," he started and Lily didn't stick around to hear the rest. She quickly vaulted outside onto the veranda where she tried to gather her thoughts.
She didn't know what was happening in there.
How could- she didn't- Petunia wasn't
The door opened and Lily turned to find a livid Petunia glaring at her.
"What," she spat, "Was that?"
In that one moment, all of Lily's other feelings- the hurt, betrayal- evaporated, only to leave burning anger in its place.
"I don't know, Tuney, why don't you tell me."
"You almost ruined my engagement!" Petunia cried shrilly.
She exploded. "Is that what it was then? Vernon proposing to you even though you've only been dating him since May?"
"He loves me!"
"You're going to get married to someone who you've only been dating for seven months!"
"And during those seven months he came to know me better than you ever will!"
Lily recoiled, almost as if Petunia had slapped her. It took her a few moments to regain herself and when she spoke, it was quiet and stiff. "Why didn't you tell me that the two of you were so serious?"
"Because you wouldn't have cared," she replied stiffly.
"Of course I would have cared! I'm your sister!" Lily protested.
"But you wouldn't! You don't care about anything that's not from your world of magic tricks! Why would you care; you don't even like him!" Petunia yelled before turned on her heel and stomping back inside the house, leaving Lily taken aback outside.
Above her head, the light bulb flickered before shattering into a thousand sharp shards which fell to ground, somehow falling around her and not on her.
Lily stormed back into the house and, ignoring the looks from her parents- and ignoring Vernon and Petunia on the whole-, headed straight to her room, slamming the door shut. The lid of her trunk flew open before she could even touch it and she dropped to her knees, riffling through it for a moment before pulling out a bottle of spiked Butterbeer that Marlene stole during the last Hogsmeade trip. She cracked open the top and downed half the bottle in one go.
"Happy fucking Christmas to me," she rasped before taking another swig.
5.
If she squinted hard enough, she would be able to see the snow falling heavily through the grimy windows from where she sat in the dilapidated pub that had a more disreputable character then the Hog's Head and whose only show of Christmas spirit was a scraggly piece of mistletoe taped to the door frame while the bar tender glared at her from behind the counter.
But she wasn't going to pay attention to the snow that was falling heavily outside of the grimy window of the disreputable pub whose only show of Christmas spirit was a scraggly piece of mistletoe taped to the door frame while the bar tender glared at her- goddammit, they were in Scotland for Christ's sake; what more should she expect- not really, not when she had this morning's Daily Prophet in front her and was glaring at it with such an intensity that it was a wonder the paper didn't burst into flames.
6 More Found Dead: Are Muggleborns Really To Blame?
Six more bodies were discovered within the last twenty four hours, each with the Dark Mark flickering above them. The sad extent of this story is that this has now become old news for the Wizarding World. Every day, more and more bodies are being found, witches and wizards are being kidnapped and tortured for information. Families live in fear that they are next to suffer from the reign of terror which He- Who- Shall- Not- Be- Named has brought upon the country...
The story goes more in depth to talk about the events which had happened in the last few months before finally coming to the conclusion that if it weren't for the muggleborns, the Wizarding World would be in a state of peace, existing as normal with no one afraid to leave their houses in fear of being kidnapped, tortured and killed because then Voldemort would have just been a normal person like everyone else if it weren't for those dratted muggleborns.
Fucking muggleborns and them fucking everything up.
Really, according to this author's illuminating piece, Voldemort was merely another misunderstood soul who was trying to get some sort of closure in his misunderstood life. It was really the muggleborns at fault here; how dare they exist. He was the real victim here. Tragic.
A bottle of Butterbeer slid across the wooden surface of her small table, jolting her out of reverie. Lily looked up, blinking, only to find James Potter pulling up the chair across from her as he set a platter of chips on the table.
"All right, Evans?" he asked as he took a sip of his Butterbeer.
"Er yeah," she replied. Pointing at the bottle of Butterbeer, she asked, "What-"
"Bar tender was glaring at you; figured it was because you came into his pub and sat down without ordering something." He threw her one of those boyishly charming grins of his that made her stomach do funny things. "Lily Evans, did your mother never teach you how to behave at a pub?"
She couldn't help the small grin that sprung to her lips. "I don't think my mother ever thought that a young woman like myself would be going into pubs in the first place," she confessed as she opened her Butterbeer and took a dainty sip.
His grin widened. "Well then allow me to impart some of my knowledge onto you. First rule of pub and bar outings is that you should always buy something or else the owner is going to get really testy," he said sagely before popping a chip in his mouth. "It's something everyone ought to know; blokes and birds alike."
"I don't think I'll be venturing into too many pubs and bars in my life, but thank you anyways, Potter. Who knows? One day it might come in handy if I ever decide that pubs are thing." Lily leant across the table, to snag one of his chips. She made a face once she ate it though, causing James to laugh.
"What'd you do? Douse them with an entire bottle of vinegar or something?" she asked, trying to rid her mouth of the bitter taste by drinking some Butterbeer. "That's disgusting."
"I'll have you know that I happen to like it," said James indignantly as he ate another chip. His eyes glowed behind his specs.
Lily scrunched up her nose. "You're weird."
His rich, deep laugh echoed throughout the almost empty tavern. "Tell me something I don't know, Evans." Lily made another face at him and, despite all her complains, stole another chip, causing James to roll his eyes. Lily would have never imagined that she would be sharing chips and laughing with James Potter in a dingy old pub even when, mere moments before, she had been fuming. But that's the thing, wasn't it? James Potter was the sort of bloke who could make her feel better with just one stupid comment. And frankly, Lily didn't want to get into the specifics of how that made her feel.
"What're you doing here?" she asked after some time. "Shouldn't you be up to some sort of mischief with your mates?"
"If they were in Hogsmeade, then yeah," he deadpanned. "But they aren't; Sirius and Peter got caught trying to break into Filch's office last night so they're in detention and, well, you know about Remus..."
She nodded. She did know about Remus' condition. Last night was the full moon so the poor sod would have to spend today recovering. She made a mental note to send him some chocolate later on. But that still didn't answer her question. "All right, so your mates are out of commission; why'd you come looking for me?"
James scoffed. "I didn't come looking for you... I sort of stumbled across you. I was all up for living it up on my own and then you popped in and crashed my one man plan."
"Uh huh. I'm sure. This place is pretty... er, unknown to a lot of people," she said delicately.
He snorted. "I think you mean dodgy."
He did have a point there, but Lily was not one to concede easily, especially not to James Potter. "Well, I'm here with dodgy company, aren't I?" She flicked a piece of her napkin at him.
"Funny, Evans." Most of the chips were finished at this point and from his back pocket James procured a pack of cigarettes. He slipped out a fag and lit it up using his wand, inhaling deeply. "I still stand to the fact that I simply wandered across you. This is the place where lonely people come. I was alone so I came here and found you, also alone and glowering at the paper."
Lily hummed noncommittally before reaching over and taking the cig from him, rolling it over a few times between her pale, bony fingers that were decorated with red lacquered tips before slipping it into her mouth. James did nothing but raise an eyebrow at her actions. "If I were none the wiser I would have thought that you came here to take a smoke without being caught. You know," she smirked pointedly. "Being Head Boy and all. You have to set a good example for the firsties."
"I guess now isn't the time to tell you how many times I've been caught before."
She laughed; it was slightly lower and much more sultry than she was accustomed to, before blowing out a puff of smoke. "I've never been caught," she said proudly, green eyes glinting.
"Bugger for you," he murmured as he reached across and snatched his cigarette back, ignoring her pout as he slipped it back into his mouth. "Tell me Evans, what did the paper do that had your knickers in a bunch when I walked in?"
Lily's previous ire returned full force as she glared down at the Prophet which had gotten creased and crumpled in all her perusing. "This bloody article," she all but growled. Looking up at him, she was surprised to see his face full of concern and interest. She quickly looked away and tried not to dwell on what that meant. Stupid goddamn feelings.
"Have you read this morning's Prophet?" she asked him, though she already knew the answer even before he shook his head. If he had read it, he would have understood her anger from the start. Hell, he may have even empathised with her anger. Wordlessly, she pushed the source of her irritation towards him and studied his face carefully as he read through the article. James went from shock to indignation and then finally to downright anger. When he finished, he looked back up at her, his mouth curling into a wry smile.
"This bloke's a fucking piece of work," he said at last.
Lily snapped. "He is, isn't he? I don't think I've ever read anything that made me so angry in my entire life! It's just- ugh! I never imagined that people outside the Death Eaters and Voldemort were capable of thinking that way but this man- whoever he is- proved me wrong. And this article just made me fucking sick, because you know what? He's right; I am the cause of this damned war; me and all the other mudbloods out there-"
James leant across the table, grabbing her by the shoulders and snarled, "Don't you ever call yourself that ever again." During the midst of her tirade Lily had looked away from James but when he took hold of her, she was surprised to see him looking so angry at the use of the word.
"Listen to me, Lily Evans, and listen good," he began. "You are not the cause of this war. Muggleborns have nothing to do with it. The cause of this war is because a bigoted moron thinks that he is better than certain types of people and has a league of fanatical followers behind him backing him up. Do you really think that everyone thinks like this arse? Do you think the aurors and everyone else who speaks out against him think that the muggleborns are to blame? No, they don't. Just the fanatical purebloods and even then it's just a minority of them as it is. Trust me," he snorted. "I of all people would know.
"And," he continued, grabbing her hand. "I don't ever want to hear you calling yourself something like that ever again. You're worth more than that, Lily. You should never reduce your value to- that," he said as he couldn't even bring himself to say the word. He picked up his wand and set the paper on fire- something she should have done ages ago. "You shouldn't take on what other people think of you. Only listen to the people you care about."
Lily had no idea what to say to that. She stared at James- James with his stupid hair and stupid smile and stupid everything- whose eyes were blazing and his cheeks slightly tinted red from his speech minutes ago. James, who wouldn't rest until she finally saw the truth in his words. James, who Lily never wanted to kiss as much as she did at that moment.
Finally, Lily said the first thing that popped into her head which was: "Want to go back up to the castle?"
James shrugged and got to his feet. He tried to remove his hand from hers, but Lily held on tightly, though she didn't say a word. Neither did he. They walked to the exit of the pub where Lily pulled him to a stop.
"Look at that, Potter," she said.
"What?"
"Mistletoe."
And without allowing him to say another word, Lily leant up on her tip toes and covered his mouth with hers.
It caught him by surprise, but it took James all of two minutes to react, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling Lily flush against him as he assaulted her mouth with his. Kissing James Potter in real life was nothing like she imagined it would be. There were no intense fireworks behind the back of eyelids, he didn't push her up against the doorframe as his tongue plundered and there certainly wasn't any wandering from any passing appendages. Instead, he kissed her slowly and carefully as though he was asking for her permission before he did anything at all. One hand cupped her jaw, tipping it up to allow both parties some more comfort while the other stayed in a perfectly respectable position at her waist, never moving any higher or lower.
And even though it wasn't equipped with any sorts of grand gestures Lily had come to associate with James Potter, she would swear that she was able to feel the kiss down to the tips of her toes and through her soul. But she would never tell him that of course. His head was big enough as is, not to mention that that line was just too damn cheesy to say out loud.
Eventually they broke apart, but only after a disgruntled bar tender cleared his throat from behind them. Lily removed her hands from where she had wrapped them around his neck and searched for his hand, clutching it tightly.
"Hey, Potter," said Lily coyly as they walked down the street towards the castle hand in hand. "I think I might have to start listening to you now. In fact, I think I should have a long while ago."
James grinned and she felt the familiar swop in her stomach. "I've been listening to you for years Evans."
And since Lily had no idea how to respond to that, she pulled him down by the collar of his shirt in another kiss. She had a feeling that they might be listening to each other for a while to come.
You know what work just as well as Christmas presents? Reviews.
Happy Christmas once more!