Author's Note: This is my entry for the monthly one-shot competition and it is written for Shira Lansys.

The pairing used James/Lily. I picked the genres Romance/Drama and used the prompts: Lost, Listen to the Man by George Ezra, Snow, "It's never too late" and broken heart.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything :)

Lost

When Lily Evan's snowy white owl began tapping at the window to his bedroom James' first thought as happiness. He loved hearing from his girlfriend but as he gently untied the roll from the owl's leg he realised that the panicked scrawl across the envelope did not belong to his girlfriend but rather her mother. Mr and Mrs Evans adored him of course but the fact that they had sent him this owl, that they had gone to the extent of using a magical method of communication, could only mean that something had gone very wrong.

James quickly scanned the sheet of paper which had been scrunched and slightly torn in haste. From hat he could make out from the scratchy and rushed scrawl Lily and Petunia had been fighting again, in the middle of Boxing Day dinner. They had no idea here she had gone or what they should do. The couldn't really call the muggle police, in case Lily had gone somewhere they couldn't get to, and they didn't know how to get in touch with the magical police. So they had implored James to go out and help look for their daughter.

He quickly penned a reply promising to do everything he could and let them know as soon as he found her before sitting heavily on his bed. He and Lily had been dating for almost a year now and he knew exactly where it was that she would go. It had been on an illicit trip to Hogsmeade on the New Year's Eve of their final year in Hogwarts that he had finally gotten Lily to agree to go out with him.

The fact that James had gotten Lily to sneak out at all, to break such an important school rule, was such a wonderful sign that James had gotten ahead of himself. He really hadn't been planning on popping any sort of question that night, a romantic New Year's had only been step 4 on his 8 step plan to win her over but she had just looked so beautiful. There had been snowflakes in her beautiful red hair and the cold winter night had turned her nose and cheeks the most delicious shade of rosy pink but really it had been the sparkle in her eyes that had made him do it. Mid conversation, completely spontaneous, he had reached out and kissed her and to his delight she had responded.

He knew that Lily, angry as she was, would want to go somewhere that she knew no one in her family could follow. She was the only one with the magical gene after all, but she obviously hadn't expected her parents to contact him. So James got up and turned on the spot apparating to the edge of the forbidden forest that bordered the shrieking shack. It was, however, December and as he landed in the cold forest he sunk knee deep into a snow drift causing Lily to jump up wand drawn.

It was just like that wonderful night nearly a year ago. There were snowflakes caught in her hair but it was mussed and dishevelled. Her nose and cheeks were pink but that wasn't just from the cold and her beautiful green eyes held no sparkle. Instead they were rimmed red and tears streamed from the corners. She shivered violently as the cold seeped into her thin blouse and through her pretty skirt.

James instinctively lurched towards her, trying his best to reach her and comfort her but as he examined Lily he had forgotten that he was knee deep in snow and instead of charging heroically towards his tearful Lady Love he stumbled face first into the cold December snow.

James was cold and now he was wet but it was more than worth it because as he looked up he could see a small, tentative, weak smile tugging at the corner of Lily's mouth. It trembled slightly and he could see the tear pooling once again in her eyes. As her bottom lip began to wobble and she took a deep breath James called on every seeker reflex her possessed, he scrambled up quicker than he had thought possible to encase her in his arms as she began to sob once again.

James guided Lily carefully and slowly back onto the bench she had been sitting on. He cast a quick warming charm around them and began to rock her gently as she sobbed onto his shoulder. He didn't try to get her to talk about what had happened; he knew that she would open up to him when she was ready and not a moment sooner. So he held her close as her sobs turned into whimpers, as her whimpers dissolved into hiccups and as, eventually, her tears dried up altogether.

James felt Lily suck in a deep breath as she pulled away from his embrace and tugged a stray lock of unruly hair behind her ear. She looked up at him, her big green eyes at once angry and heart broken and James felt his heart break too just seeing her that upset. He wanted to make sure that she never looked like that ever again, he wanted to make the person that had caused his Lily so much pain suffer as much as she was.

"Oh James," she sighed turning away slightly and slumping forward in her seat. She began to pick at her already choppy nails, a nervous tick that James found quite endearing but it betrayed just how worried she was about the whole mess. "It was awful."

"What happened sweetheart?" he prodded, urging her on gently.

"I don't even know! We were having a perfectly lovely Boxing Day dinner and then mum broached the awful subject of magic and it just set her off. I mean you know what Petunia is like when she starts something there is absolutely no stopping it until everyone is as miserable as she is. I knew that she was always jealous of me as children but really I thought it was something that she would grow out of. I didn't ask to be different! It has just gotten worse and worse since she started dating that Walrus of a man. He doesn't even know that I have magic but he is so 'stiff upper lip' about everything that it has rubbed off on Petunia and now she constantly has a righteous stick up her arse!"

Lily's tone had been steadily rising as she continued to rant until she practically screeched the last part, scaring some birds from their perches. James couldn't help but laugh as she sat there panting in rage and half wild as if she had been dragged through a bush backwards.

She glared at him, but it was half hearted and soon the misery crept back in. "I really think this is it James, I really think that I've lost her."

"It's never too late," he soothed rubbing circles on her back, "you don't know that this is it. She is your sister and deep down she will always love you. I just know that if you really needed her she would be there for you."

Lily looked up at him and he could see that she didn't believe a word he was saying but she smiled anyway. "Thanks James, you are such a good person coming all this way just to cheer me up."

"Isn't that what I'm for?" he asked nudging her. "I am at your beck and call, night and day, no matter when where or what I will do anything and everything to make you happy. I hate that you're out here in the cold, feeling low and that you feel you can't or won't go home but I hope you know I won't force you. I will always be here for you Lily, I will always be right beside you ready to pick you up the second you fall."

For the first time since he had gotten there Lily smiled genuinely up at him and she leaned close once more. "I am a lucky girl to have such a dedicated boyfriend. Why couldn't you have been this mature since first year?"

James flashed her a roughish smile as he pulled her into his lap and she squealed in shock. "You wouldn't love me half as much without all this boyish charm," he teased leaning down to capture his lips with his own.

They kissed slowly, with just enough passion to keep it interesting but still tenderly. It took James's breath away and as they pulled away he couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly in love with her. The smile that she gifted him was so beautiful he could hardly believe that he was the cause of such joy and he as more than happy to see that the sparkle was right back where it belonged.

Please do leave a review and I didn't get the chance to have this betad because I couldn't find one who would read it. So please please let me know if I have missed any mistakes or anything. I will correct them.

Much Love, MaryandMerlin x