Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: So here's a small present because I'm a procrastinator. This is a '79 Christmas Eve jily fic and the end kind of gives you a hint of what's to come in my main fic Definitely Not Perfect so if you want to know a spoiler go ahead and read to the end. Merry Christmas and for the non-celebrators have fun driving on clear roads and not dealing with the majority of the public.
Well, what could James say? Lily had one too many drinks on Christmas Eve at the local pub and she just couldn't resist a good karaoke.
Over the already loud enough murmur of voices crowded around the bar, Lily's off-pitch singing was bellowing above the rest. Swaying so violently in her stool, Lily slipped off from where she was singing and twirled in a circle to save herself from falling.
The local radio had been playing cheesy Christmas songs all night, which was obviously fine with Lily as she was singing along to all of them, but once the bartender realized Lily was fully committed to her performance, he switched off the radio and played a personal selection of records.
Over the past few months, the bartender had come to know the strange red and black haired couple who had showed up in town with no reason to back them other than "We heard the weather is wonderful this time of year." James did have to admit that the move was sudden and impulsive, but they didn't have much of a choice. It seemed that all Lily and James had been doing in the past year was moving from town to town.
A high-pitched squeal coming from the very familiar voice of Lily brought James out of a fog and into a sharp focus. "Piano Man" by Billy Joel had started to play, and being one of Lily's favorite songs she just had to sing every lyric with a burning intensity.
Shaking her hips to the beginning piano rift, Lily was throwing her entire body into the song so passionately that she must've thought she would become the song if she tried hard enough. James loved watching Lily this enthusiastic about music; Lily being enthusiastic about anything was one of the reasons James loved her so much. Any topic that she became interested in the slightest way was like watching twigs explode into giant flames, a spark that would never be put out.
Music was one of those fires for Lily. She had told him dozens of stories of when she was younger and how her father would take her and her sister to the town park where small concerts would take place. The mere way that Lily described it to James was like being there himself; she could tell those stories as if you had dreamt it yourself and she was just reciting it for you. It was absolutely amazing.
So Lily was singing and dancing to Billy Joel and it was Christmas Eve and for the billionth time that day, James was reminding himself how lucky he was to live life with someone so wonderful as Lily.
By the time they left the pub that night, it was well past midnight and Lily was walking in what looked like a two-year old driving a car; it was a hilarious sight to see.
As Lily was stumbling through the light dusting of snow that had been falling for the past few minutes, she jumped into the air trying to catch snowflakes. On the landing of one jump, she slipped on the snow and fell to the ground. Lily being as graceful as she was decided that she would much rather make snow-angels than finish her walk home.
Dealing with a drunk Lily was like dealing with a toddler with too much sugar in their system and although it could be annoying some times, it was a blessing in disguise. Instead of becoming upset with Lily, James joined her on the ground and started making his own angel. It was a strange sight to see, two nineteen-year olds lying in the middle of the snow-covered street not having a worry in the world.
And so, James and Lily made their snow-angels in the street, which ended with an all too easily won snowball fight (Lily obviously coming out of the battle the victor) and the couple slowly but surely made their way home before morning.
James was so relieved that the day had gone over smoothly. Only two years before had one of the most tragic occurrences happened to Lily and she had just barely survived that. The remembering and reliving of the day was what James hadn't prepared himself for. Last year being the one year anniversary since the… accident, Lily had shut everything out, it was like a light switch had been shut off. The day before everything was the same as normal, not a sign of what was to come was evident in Lily's behavior, but the next morning something was so obviously different about Lily, her entire being was somehow changed. James had known what day it was and what that entailed, but Lily had recovered since then, she had been so happy.
But it wasn't Lily's fault that she had disappeared so suddenly on Christmas Eve, it wasn't her fault that her parents had been murdered in front of her eyes and she could do nothing to stop it.
Since the previous year, Lily hadn't shown much sadness. The occasional joke or a dress in a store window would reminder her of what had happened, but she had moved past it. The last thing that James wanted for Lily was have to relive the same horrors ever Christmas Eve which is why he had so persistently been dragging Lily all across town that day, not letting her think about it for a second and then bringing her to the pub where he knew she would let loose a little. Anything but putting herself in the dark hole she had once been consumed by.