She's running as fast as she can, but the huge amount of snow that covers the ground is making it difficult, her legs are already starting to hurt from the effort but even then the smile hasn't left her face. She hears his laugh from behind her, it's closer, he's getting closer. She laughs too, because they're behaving like the first years that now stare amusedly at them and they're seventeen and they're the Head Girl and Head Boy and they shouldn't be acting like kids but they don't care.
He finally catches up to her, his arms wrap around her waist from behind and they fall to the ground, still laughing even as the snow soaks their robes. She barely hears the cheering and clapping from their friends as the two of them roll in the snow, each trying to get more snow on the other one. She finally manages to hit a handful of snow on his face and she giggles at the offended sound he makes. Until he hits her face with even more snow and she can feel it going down her neck and penetrating her robes.
At that, they both stop the fighting as she gapes at him. The coldness is starting to take over her whole body and their little dispute doesn't feel as fun as it was before. He's staring at her now, as both of them sit up, hazel eyes expressing guilt and worry as they look into her emerald ones.
"You bastard!" She slaps him on the arm and he flinches, but she knows it's not from pain, it's from the fact that she's mad at him. Except she's not really, and she's given away by the twitch on the corner of her mouth.
"Oh, come on, Evans, you're not even mad at me!" He rolls his eyes at her and crosses his arms, pouting, and it only makes her want to laugh harder. But she keeps a straight face as he keeps complaining. "You love to make me feel guilty, don't you? Always pretending that you're mad at me. And before you ask, your little smile gave you away."
"You're an idiot, James." She nudges him and he chuckles.
"I know. And you love it." He kisses her cheek and stands up, also helping her up, and she hopes that if he sees the blush that's taking over her cheeks after his actions, he blames it on the cold.
But there's not much time for her mind to delegate on what her blushing meant, because as soon as they arrive where their friends are, the laughing starts and Sirius is messing up her hair in that way that she really doesn't like even if it is covered in snow.
She knows something weird is going on the moment she walks in the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius and Remus are sitting in their usual place by the fireplace, but James is not with them. In his place, is Marlene, and that alone already gives her enough suspicions. The three of them are huddled up and whispering to each other and spring apart the moment Remus raises his head and sees her staring at them.
"EVANS! What's up?" Sirius greets her, sitting back on his armchair, folding his arms behind his head and smiling a little too brightly for her taste.
"Hey, guys. So, what are you three doing together in this snowy day?" Sirius's smile falters for a second before he straightens up, Marlene widens her eyes and Remus rolls his.
"We're just talking, Lils. Remembering the old days, like the old friends we are." She doesn't believe it for a second, but decides to let it go because she knows they would never tell her what they're up to, so she accepts the answer and continues her path to her dorm.
When she's at the door to her room, she hears Remus laughing. "You guys are so not subtle."
As the days go by and Christmas approaches, she doesn't stop to think about what the "incident" with the two Marauders and Marlene meant, but she finds them talking more times, and James constantly complains to her about how his friends are abandoning him and vanishing together. Once, he suggests to her that Sirius and Remus have finally admitted their feelings for each other and are having an affair. She laughs. She still doesn't know if Sirius likes Marlene or Remus, but she prefers to not intrude on their business.
She's walking around the grounds with Marley for whatever reason her friend found to do it. With the freezing temperature and the enormous amount of snow, what could she possibly want to do outside?
"Appreciate the view of the Hogwarts' winter, Lils. It's the last time we'll see it for a long time."
She knew Marlene was right, the view was beautiful and they were leaving the school in about six months. They all knew how much they would miss it. But still, it was hard to remember all that when she was stuffed of clothes and still freezing to death. Lily had never been a fan of cold, when they were kids, her sister would say that it was because of her red hair, because they were fit for flames and hot. She used to like that definition, but today she didn't think it was because of that anymore. She hated cold and snow because it felt like she would turn into a popsicle from being outside in just one second even if she had so many coats on that she looked like a teddy bear. And also, after a while, the whole all white thing irritated her a little.
"I know that, Marls, but you also know that I hate winter. So. Freaking. Much."
"Right. I know that. You hate winter and snow and cold and white and everything except for Christmas."
"Exactly."
"Except for when you're with James, right?" With that Lily stopped walking. She could feel the heat taking over her cheeks, even if she was freezing. She hates winter. She really, really hates winter.
"What? What are you talking about, Marlene?"
"Oh, come on, Lilyflower! Just the other day you were running and rolling around the snow with him and laughing the entire time. You normally can't even stand a little snowball fight." Marley doesn't stop walking like she does, instead she turns around and walks backwards. Lily can't help but hope that her friend falls on her butt from that.
"Okay, that's not—" She doesn't finish what she has to say, because she's hit on the back of the head by something cold and hard that's definitely a snowball. She whips around to find the Marauders staring at her wide eyed. "WHO WAS THE BASTARD?"
Sirius and Remus both point at James. She narrows her eyes at him. "Lily, I'm so sorry, I swear I wasn't aiming for you!" He starts walking towards her, gloved hands covering his mouth and eyes widened. A lame attempt to look worried or maybe guilty, even though she knows he's not. If he was really feeling like that, his hands would have been all over his hair or nervously pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Oh, don't worry, James, I know that happens sometimes…" She smiles at him and turns back around. She knows that Marley is looking at her as if she knows more than Lily's letting show. As she hears the relieved sigh that James lets out, she grabs some snow from the ground to make a snowball. She turns to James once again and throws it at him, hitting the boy on the chest. Damn her bad aim. "Or not. Don't try to fool me, Potter, you're one of the greatest Chasers that Hogwarts has seen in a while, you've got perfect aim." This time, his hands do go through his hair, as he smirks at her and she smiles back. They both start readying new snowballs.
Next to her, Marlene sighs dreamily. "You guys make such a cute couple!"
She freezes. "You think so, Marls? Well…" Lily says as she turns to her friend. She was going to kill McKinnon. She can feel the redness taking over her cheeks again. But then again, she was Lily Evans, and she couldn't just let it go like that, so she throws the snowball in her hand at Marley. This time her aim is perfect and it hits her square in the face. She smiles sweetly at the other girl, who stares murderously at her. "Why don't you keep your opinions to yourself?"
That starts a snowball fight between the five of them that lasts an entire day. Afterwards, when all that Lily wants is to take a hot, scolding bath and throw herself on her bed and just sleep, Marley bugs her again and again about James.
"You were so happy having a snowball fight with Jamesie, weren't you, Lily? And to think that last year you almost killed Alice and I when we threw a snowball at you."
She only turns away from Marlene and closes her eyes.
Christmas is near. That's all she needs to think about.
She's walking back to the Common Room with James after their last round. It's Christmas Eve and they're not on their best mood for having to walk around the deserted school going after students that are probably not there on that specific night. But even then, the boy keeps telling her lame jokes hoping to make her laugh, and she eventually does.
"Well, finally a smile from the ice queen! I was almost giving up here, Evans. You don't make things easy for me, you know?" He gives her a lazy smile as his hand goes through his hair, messing it up in that way of his that she used to think was irritating, but now found weirdly endearing.
"I'm not an ice queen, Potter. Quite the opposite, actually, I hate ice. And snow. And cold. And winter."
He turns to her as she says it, hazel eyes incredulous as he stares at her. "What? You're not going to tell me that you hate Christmas too, right?"
"No, of course not. Christmas is actually the only part of this time of the year that I do like. And yet, here we are, patrolling the hallways on Christmas Eve. Just how I wanted to spend this night."
"Well, you offend me talking that way, Evans. Are you saying you don't like spending time with me?"
"That's not what I'm saying, James."
"Good. Because I like spending time with you." He winks at her and she smiles lightly. They arrive at the Fat Lady's portrait. "Veritaserum."
They enter the Common Room and it's only occupied by Sirius, Remus and Marlene, who are sitting by the fireplace once again and turned in their direction, staring directly at the Portrait's hole.
"Hey, guys! How—What the hell?" Suddenly, neither Lily nor James can move forward. They're stuck side by side, basically only one step inside the Common Room. Sirius and Marlene look almost exhilarated, and Remus, bless him, at least looks sheepish.
"Oh, but look at that, Evans! It would seem like you're standing right below a mistletoe with my dear friend Prongsie." They both look up, and what Sirius says is true. There's a mistletoe hanging above their heads. She curses. Damn those two marauders and her so called best friend.
"Oh, but how unlikely! It seems that that mistletoe is enchanted so that the two people standing under it will have to kiss so as to be able to get out from under it!" Marlene smiles in a way that Lily used to think only Sirius was able to.
"Oh, but what exactly will you have to do to be able to go to your dorms and enjoy this Christmas Eve?" Sirius says, smirking mischievously once again as Marlene giggles. Remus just looks sympathetic. Lily swears that she would kill them if she could just get out from under that damn mistletoe.
"I'm going to kill you, Padfoot." James grumbles from beside her. He hasn't moved one bit ever since they got stuck there. His whole body is tense.
"Nah, you won't. You'll thank me someday. Or in about five minutes." Sirius winks at them and she can only roll her eyes at that idiot.
"I can't believe you're in this too, Remus." She looks at the other boy, who just shrugs. Great help.
"I'm sorry, Lily, but I didn't have much choice. When I saw, I was already in it."
"Like usual." James grumbles again, and she almost lets out a little laugh. Until she remembers the situation she's in.
"Every time. We'll give you guys some privacy." Remus stands up and so does Marlene, but Sirius stays on his armchair. He looks disappointed between his two allies.
"Will we?"
"We will. Get up, Black." Marlene grabs the boy's arm, and he gets up begrudgingly.
"You guys are no fun."
"Shut up, Sirius."
The three of them go up to their dorms and leave Lily and James alone in the Common Room. Side by side, a mistletoe hanging over their heads. Stuck with only one way out. To kiss.
"So…" James stutters as he turns to her. Her hands are sweating and there are butterflies in her stomach as she turns to him as well. The boy towers over her (she's not short, he's just abnormally tall), his glasses are slightly crooked and sliding off his nose and she has to control herself not to fix them. "We should probably try to find a way to reverse the spell and…"
"Right, of course." That's definitely not disappointment she's feeling from the fact that he doesn't want to kiss her. Definitely not. "Or maybe we should just take the easy way out."
He freezes again in front of her. Hazel eyes on emerald ones. "What?"
"I mean, unless you don't want to! It's just that we don't even know what spell they used, let alone how to reverse it and—"
He interrupts her before she can finish her ridiculous babbling. James presses his lips to her and she's shocked at first, frozen in spot. But as soon as she feels one of his arms wrap around her waist, she wraps her arms around his neck and melts into the kiss. And she finally understands all those girls that she had seen daydreaming about James Potter and James Potter's lips. His kiss is perfection and he holds her as if she's a precious thing. But suddenly, after what felt like five seconds but could've been five minutes, they break apart to catch their breaths.
She can already feel herself blushing as she sees him backing away two steps. His hands are already in his hair. "I'm sorry, Lils, I just…"
"It's fine, James. We're free now. That's what matters, right?" He only nods and she stupidly nods back. What should she say in a moment like this? She can barely think, still struck by the kiss.
"We should… We should probably head up to our dorms, right?" She nods again at his words, and they both head in opposite directions to their dorm room's stairs.
She stops walking as they're both on the foot of the stairs and turns to him. "James. Merry Christmas."
He smiles at her then. That stupid smile that gave her butterflies in the stomach, even if she didn't admit it. "Merry Christmas, Lily."
She goes up the stairs and so does he. There's a smile at her lips that's definitely not from their kiss. She enters the dorm and Marlene is sitting on her bed.
"Oh, you're out! Guess that means that…"
"Shut up, McKinnon. Get out of my bed."
"Come on, Lily! Tell me how it was."
"I just want to sleep right now, okay? Good night."
"Fine. But don't think that you won't have to tell me everything in the morning, because you will."
She doesn't answer her, only lays down on her bed as Marley lays down on hers. She closes her eyes and tries her best to stop thinking about James's kiss.
"But think on the upside, Lils, now you have someone to warm you on the cold winter you hate so much."
She throws her pillow at Marlene's face and is very satisfied by the 'oof' her friend lets out.