Christmas. There were two things James hated about Christmas. The first was being away from Lily Evans, the girl he had hopelessly chased for nearly six years, and the other was his parents' stupid annual costume party, and this year, it was going to be even worse. Normally Sirius would have been there to ease James' suffering, he lived with them after all, but this year he had decided to retreat to a skiing resort with his current girlfriend, leaving James all alone. Naturally James would have asked Remus to join him but his 'furry little problem' often got in the way of things and the costume party had been no exception. And so, James miserably grabbed his trunk from the baggage carriage after saying goodbye to the others and dragged it over to his parents with Sirius following close behind.

"Good term boys?" his father asked but James just mumbled something incoherent.

"Good..." his father replied absentmindedly, heaving James' trunk into a ministry car, "I'll drive you to Samantha's house tomorrow Sirius."

"Thanks Mr Potter," Sirius said angelically and James grinned, wondering what his father would really think of Sirius if he discovered what he was really like. Suddenly James was scooped into a rib-crushing hug by his mother and he desperately tried to fight her off but to no avail.

"I've missed you sooooo much Jamesy..." She sighed as she began to rock him side to side. Mortified, James summoned up all of his strength and heaved his mother off of him, hoping that he had been quick enough to avoid being seen.

"It's only been a term mum!" He blushed, wanting desperately to elbow a giggling Sirius hard in the ribs. Sirius soon got his comeuppance however, when she scooped him into the same, vice-like squeeze, making him feel extremely awkward.

"Well boys I think we better go..." James' father said whilst his wife let go of a now red-faced Sirius, "We still have to organize the bartending staff for next week."

"Excellent," James muttered sarcastically as both he and Sirius clambered into the back of the ministry car.

"Oi Prongs," Sirius muttered and James turned to face him, "Better get your last dosage of Evans while you can..." Sirius grinned and pointed through James' window and, with a somewhat heavy heart James sighed hopelessly, turning to gaze at the stubborn redhead through the glass. Of all days, today had been the day that she had decided to thread red ribbon into her plaited hair. He couldn't blame her for doing it of course; it was rather near the festive season, although he couldn't help but hope that she had done it purposely, knowing how fond he was of it. James sighed with his forehead pressed against the glass wishing that just for a second she'd look at him without scowling. He'd do anything to knot his fingers in to her beautiful thick red locks, to press his lips against hers, even to hold her just for a moment...

"James, are you listening?" James' mother asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"What?" James said, snapping out of his thoughts, slightly reluctant to take his eyes off of Lily.

"I said are you sure that you have everything?"

"Yeah...yeah; I checked twice..." James dismissed and turned his gaze back to Lily who at this moment in time had been reunited with her parents. James watched with an absentminded smile on his face as she embraced both of her parents and his brow furrowed when her sister remained frigid at Lily's attempt to hug her. Lily never really mentioned her sister, but then again it was highly unlikely she would talk to him about her anyway...even if he would have listened to her with genuine interest; he'd do anything to show her that he wasn't that cocky brat he used to be.

"Prongs mate I think you might actually be starting to drool..." Sirius teased.

"I am not!" James protested quietly so as his parents couldn't hear, "I just want to get my three weeks in while I can; I think I might go crazy if I don't..."

"You really are screwed aren't you?" Sirius said sympathetically.

"Well it's alright for you!" James protested, "You always get the girl you want and you're even spending Christmas with her!"
"That's because I don't tend to go for girls who hate me," Sirius said bluntly, "Honestly mate, have you never fancied anyone else?"

"No, and I don't want to," James shrugged, turning to watch Lily step into her own car, "She's perfect." Sirius rolled his eyes and stared out of his own window because, let's face it, there was no changing his mind after six years.

***

James dragged his trunk up the stairs and let it drop heavily at the bottom of his bed before throwing himself onto the mattress.

"I can't believe you're making me live through this alone..." James groaned as Sirius entered the room shortly after him, dragging his own trunk, "I'm going to be stuck in a house full of old people dressed in tight, highly unattractive Victorian outfits drowning themselves in fire whisky..."

"Oh I dunno..." Sirius grinned, "Drunken OAP's in corsets sounds like a spectacular night!" James frowned and threw a pillow at his friend who caught it easily, much to his annoyance.

"Git," James muttered before collapsing onto the mattress again.

"Speaking of gits, you looked like a right twonk in the car earlier," Sirius said quietly although James could hear the smile in his voice, "I think your parents have sussed out that you have the hots for Evans."

"Was it really that obvious?" James sighed.

"Painfully," Sirius grinned and it annoyed James that he was finding this fun.

"Well have fun prancing around in the snow with your future parent in laws wont you?" James jabbed and Sirius swallowed as he unpacked his trunk.

"It's not that serious between me and Sam..." he said quietly, although he sounded anxious none the less.

"Well you keep telling yourself that mate if it makes you feel better," James smirked now that he was the one having fun teasing, "One minute you're flirting, then you're snogging and the next thing you know, you're spending Christmas with the family having the 'if you dare hurt my daughter' talk with her father over Christmas dinner." Sirius froze and ceased unpacking before he turned to look at James with wide eyes.

"Do you think I should think of an excuse not to go?" He asked, deadly serious and James tried to stare back as seriously as he could but he couldn't help it and burst out laughing.

"I knew it!" He said through the laughter, "You're worried about going aren't you?"

"No!"
"Liar!" James grinned, "You're worried that this could actually be your first serious relationship!"
"Am not!" Sirius argued but he looked flushed, "It's not serious at all! It's just a bit of fun..."
"So... spending Christmas with her family is just for a laugh is it?"

"I...yes! I mean...I don't want it to be serious..." Sirius said quietly and James felt all the light-heartedness of the situation disparate. There was an awkward pause as Sirius resumed unpacking at a rather flustered pace and James scrutinized his friend.

"You really like her don't you?" James concluded, "You like her but you don't want to because you're scared; it's just not what Sirius Black does..." Sirius' pace slowed dramatically and James took that as a confirmation. James sighed; of all the people he could have had this sort of pep talk with he never thought he'd be giving it to Sirius 'the lady killer'.

"Padfoot mate, don't w-"
"James!"
Oh perfect timing mum...

"Yeah?" James called, beginning to lose patience with his mother's impeccable skill to pick the worst possible moments to interrupt.

"Can you and Sirius start making a list of the guests who've confirmed that their coming next week?"

"But we...yeah..." James sighed, realising that there was no point in arguing and when he looked at his friend once more, Sirius had stopped unpacking altogether, leaning against his bed, facing James.

"We'd better go help," Sirius said before James had a chance to continue the conversation and the two headed downstairs and into the kitchen where piles of envelopes awaited them. James picked up the nearest envelope and read the front, instantly recognising his father's delicate handwriting in gold ink.

Rose Marshall

James groaned internally; Rose Marshall had always had a bit of a thing for him and, in the politest way of putting it, she was bloody annoying. For the past few years James had been lucky enough to miss her due to the fact that she had spent Christmas with her friends, apparently she had made sure that she could make it this year.

"Sirius the situation just got ten times worse..." James groaned showing Sirius the envelope and an impish grin spread across Sirius' face.

"Oh I do wish I wasn't missing this party," Sirius sighed and James picked up another envelope at random.

Let's see who else I'm going to have to endure this year...

James picked another envelope from the pile, sending a dozen cascading all over the floor. Rolling his eyes, James dropped to his knees and began to pick them up again only to freeze as soon as he lifted a handful from beneath him. He slammed the others down by his side and slowly reached out to grab the envelope in front of him, scrutinizing every swirl and curve of his father's handwriting. He read it over and over again just to be sure that the name scrolled across the envelope wasn't an illusion, a misprint, something he had read incorrectly, anything but reality. It just wasn't logical, it couldn't be...

Lily Evans

Author's note: ok so this is a new story idea that popped into my head one night when I was watching a period drama and just thought, wouldn't it be great if Lily and James' story was told in those times Like Mr Darcy and Eliza Bennet? And so I thought I's take it from a different angle and have James' parents throw an annual costume party XD PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think so far :P