CHRISTMAS WITH THE POTTERS

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, James would be alive. Everything, everything belongs to JKR. Well, not everything, but you know what I mean.

AN: Hi everyone! This is my first multi-chaptered fic which tells the story of how James and Lily got together. It will alternate between James' and Lily's povs and starts in sixth year. Please review because I need all the feedback you can give! I probably won't be able to reply to all reviews; but any questions will definitely be answered. Thanks for reading,

Llj.


Chapter 1: I find out how I'm going to die.

A cold, blustery wind made its way over a blue lake by a forest, casting gentle ripples in the reflection of a magnificent castle. The castle however, was seemingly empty. The wind scattered a few dry leaves down a path which led to a huge pitch, where all the castle's inhabitants seemed to be congregated. Said inhabitants ignored the biting wind which was snatching at scarves and posters, too busy cheering or booing as a scarlet and gold blur shot a red ball past a blue clad figure into a huge hoop.

I smiled, shaking my head as the stands around me erupted. Whatever James Potter might be otherwise, even I couldn't deny that he was a simply magnificent Quidditch player, a fact that did nothing but boost his already over-inflated ego. As the Gryffindor chasers hi-fived each other, I turned my ear to the commentary being provided by my fellow sixth year Hufflepuff, Anne Abbot.

"And after that fantastic goal by Gryffindor captain James Potter, the score is 70-30 to Gryffindor! Ravenclaw better get their game up if they have any hope of winning this match! Macmillan in possession of the Quaffle, he passes to Fletcher and, ouch, a well placed Bludger by McKinnon makes him drop the Quaffle right into Clearwater's hands! She passes to Potter, speeding back up the pitch, he evades Macmillan, passes to Longbottom, Knight hot on his heels, it looks like Longbottom is going to pass back to Potter but, no! Longbottom scores! 80-30 to Gryffindor!"

Beside me, Alice cheered while madly waving her Gryffindor flag about. She had been dating Frank (one of my closest friends, who had the fantastically unfortunate surname Longbottom) ever since January. Marlene McKinnon, my best friend, was always telling anyone who would listen that Frank and Alice were going to end up married Aurors with little blonde, accident-prone babies, and live with Frank's mother.

While I contemplated this, then match went on, and half an hour later, our Seeker- a fourth year girl called Meadowes- had caught the Snitch and won the match.

Instead of trying to locate Marlene in all the hullaballoo, Alice and I made our way up to Gryffindor tower, me pulling Alice up when she tripped. This did not concern me; Alice was a total klutz who could trip her way across a flat surface. However, Alice was deadly when angry, anyone who tried to cross her usually got a trip to the hospital wing, free of charge.

The Gryffindor Common Room was crowded; apparently Potter and his gang had once again managed to sneak in food and drinks for a definite rule-breaking party. I didn't bother to even try and reprimand them, they'd just ignore me. Stupid Prefect Remus, I thought, giving him my deluxe you-are-so-dead glare, but he just shot me a guilty grin from where he was handing out pumpkin pasties with lit candles on them.

"Why the candles?" I asked, confused.

Alice raised an eyebrow at me. "Surely you haven't forgotten, Lil? It's James' birthday today, the 10th of December!"

"Yes Lily, how could you possibly forget? James has been going on about how he had a match on his birthday for what, only a month?!" a mock-reproachful voice said from behind us. I sniffed. "I don't make it a priority to remember the birthdays of arrogant pricks, do I?" I said, turning round to address the familiar voice of Marlene McKinnon.

Neither Alice nor Marlene replied to that. They were far too used to my grumblings about Potter to bother. Instead, Alice said, "Nice Beating today, Marl."

"Thanks," Marlene replied, grinning. She was a tall, wiry girl with pretty, angular features and short, spiky black hair with a red streak in it. Ever since I had told Marlene about muggle hair dye back in third year, she dyed that one streak of hair a different colour when and as she pleased. Today it was red for the match, like it usually was on Quidditch days.

"We can't take all the credit though," she continued. "It's James' strategies that really do the job, especially like that last match against Slytherin. He's a really good captain and it's thanks to him that we won the Cup last year at all!"

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Let's all bow down to Potter the Great."

Alice snorted. "Don't let him hear you say that, Lily, or you'll never hear the end of it!"

I groaned. "I know… anyway, I'm going to the dorm to complete my essay for Potions, or it's going to haunt my dreams. Have fun, you two!"

"Lily," Marl groaned, "Don't be a spoilsport! There's only a day left before the Christmas holidays. Live a little! The essay isn't even due until after we come back! Back me up, Alice!"

"Ohh, no. No, no, no. We are not having this argument again. I'm going to talk to Frank." Alice walked away, nearly knocking down a first ear in the process. I snorted, and escaped to the dorm before Marlene could start arguing with me again.

It wasn't as though I didn't like to have fun, I thought, as I pulled out my quill and some parchment. I was just dedicated to my studies, a Prefect who took her responsibilities seriously, (unlike some people) and I knew working hard now would help me be successful. I wasn't a Pureblood like Frank and Marlene, or even Potter. I had to rely completely on my skills, especially at a time like this, when prejudice was running rampant in the wizarding world, thanks to You-Know-Who. Don't think about that now, Lily, I told myself sternly. With a sigh, I dipped my quill into the inkpot and began my essay.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Two hours later, I was writing the finishing para when Marl burst into the dorm, a crumpled parchment in one hand and a half eaten custard cream in the other.

"Lily! I have bad news! Bad, bad news!"

"What is it? Did someone-" I asked, alarmed, thinking of Death Eaters and You-Know-Who.

"No, not-! I meant bad as in annoyingly bad, not tragically bad,"

"You absolute moron, Marlene." I rolled my eyes. "Stop giving me near heart attacks!" Marlene just smirked. "But then I wouldn't be your friend, would I, Lil? What I came to tell you was that my parents had to take an emergency business trip to France, and won't be back till the third of Jan."

My face fell. "I guess that means we'll be spending Christmas at Hogwarts, then?" my Mum and sister were on holiday in Majorca with Petunia's boyfriend's, no fiancé's, family. As I had no wish to join them- the Dursleys were more than I could take, both figuratively and literally- I was going to spend Christmas with Marlene. But now it looked like we'd be stuck here in Hogwarts. A pity. It would have been nice to get out…. Marlene's parents were important officials in the Department of International Magical Co-operation and often travelled to the Ministries in other countries. Kind of like wizarding ambassadors, really.

"Yes, but…." Marlene hesitated. "Mum made arrangements with her friend with whom I sometimes stay with when Gran's occupied. She said her friend's more than happy to have us both…."

"Then what's the catch?" I asked, frowning when I noticed that Marlene was looking at me warily.

Marl sighed. "It's just that-well, myMum'sfriendisMrsPotter-James'mum." She said in a rush.

My eyes widened. "No! Potter?! Absolutely no!"

"C'mon Lils!" Marl started pleading. "You knew James and I stayed in the same village. And he's not so bad to live with, also…"

"Marlene, no!" I cried. "I am not staying in Potter's house for any length of time! We can stay right here!"

"But Lileeeee," Marlene whined, "It's going to be so boring stuck here with a couple of firsties! All our friends are leaving. Even Alice is going home with Frank to visit his family! Look, I promise you, the Potter house is so big you probably won't have to see James except for meals. And Mrs Potter is really nice!"

Inspite of everything, I could feel my resolve waning. Noticing this, Marl widened her blue eyes innocently. "And have I mentioned, they have a really big, well-stocked library?"

I groaned. "Fine, fine. We can stay with them. And if Potter tries even one pick up line on me-"

"I get it! Now let's go tell James!" Marlene cut me off and started dragging me down the stairs before I could so much as say 'Dumbledore'.

Potter didn't seem to be in the common room, despite the party technically being in his honour. "Oi, Black!" Marlene shouted out to Potter's best mate, someone whom I privately thought had too much pretty and too little common sense going for him. Sirius Black grinned his dashingly handsome smile at us and yelled back, "Yes, ladies? Fancy a Butterbeer?" And he held one up.

I rolled my eyes.

"No thanks, Black. I need to know where James is!" Marl yelled. Black pointed towards the boy's dorms and Marl began to drag me through a group of second year girls, keeping a vice-like grip on my arm all the while. As we climbed the stairs, I pondered the fact that although Marlene and Black were actually pretty good friends and had played Beater together on the house team ever since fourth year, they never called each other by anything except their surnames. A strange pair, those two were.

But by then, we had reached the sixth year dorms and I had a horrible revelation. "Oh Merlin, this is how I'm going to die, isn't it? Death by close contact to James Potter over Christmas. How pathetic….. "

Marl sighed. "Don't be overdramatic, Lily." And she pushed the door open without knocking.


AN: That's it then. The first chapter! This was more of an introductory kind of chapter, to set everything up. And I know James' birthday isn't really on the 10th of December, but I needed to change it for the plot, so please bear with me! Now review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome. The next chapter should be up within two weeks, where we get an insight into James' mind…..