A/N: As an aftermth of the early Christmas spirit which came to me some time in October (it always does), I've written a L/J Christmas story in three parts. The three parts will be posted through December (the first one now), and will each be named after a Christmas song which I like and matches the chapter a bit. I suggest you to hear the music while reading to get the right spirit up in you. And of course I don't own anything. Also, I've written another one. I'll post the first chapter of that one tomorrow just so you know.
And a big thanks to Nadia, who have betaed this whole story. And now you can start reading.

1 – It's gonna be a cold, cold Christmas.

He looked up in the sky as a single snowflake landed on his nose. The just minutes before blue sky was slowly turning white and more snowflakes started to fall. He removed his gaze from the sky and he focused on the stream of hats in front of him, every one different from the one beside it. They were all hurrying past the shops or into them with enormous speed. A black pair of hats was almost running and pushing their way past him and the hats in front of him, and a little group of red and green hats were singing some muggle Christmas song. He sighed deeply and let his hand run through his black messy hair while his, normally warm, but at this point bored hazel eyes looked away from the crowd again.

"Mom, why did you and dad have to drag me along?"

Elda Potter looked up at her 17 year old son with her clear blue eyes. She pushed her thick black hair out of her face and smiled at him. "Because," she said, "we see so little of you in the every day when you're at school."

"…Oh, what fun it is to ride, in a one horse open sleigh, jingle bells, jingle bells…" the hats song.

"But why here?" James sighed. "In the other end of England and a muggle street? It makes no sense."

"When we come home, you'll be glad to have seen something new," said Mario Potter, who had just joined his wife and only son.

"Yeah. Right," James said sulking and picked up a coffee cup from a large box and studied it. "I could easily find something else to spend my 23rd of December doing but muggle shopping."

"James, stop!" his mother said sweetly but stern. "You're ruining the Christmas spirit!"

"My Christmas sprit was ruined the second I was told to spend Christmas at home," he mumbled under his breath as he let go of the cup and let his gaze wander out over the crowd of hats again.

A white hat with red reindeers walked side by side with a blue and yellow striped hat into a baby clothes shop while a red hat stopped to pick up a bag it had lost. James' gaze stopped suddenly at a small green hat with a thick string hanging down in each side. Some long red locks stuck out from the edge of the hat and the person walked considerable slower than the rest of the crowd and was time after time succeed by other hats.

"It can't be…" he mumbled with his eyes fixed on the back of the girl.

"What?" his father asked absent-minded, looking at coffee pots.

"Um, I'll be right back," James said and hurried away.

It was no problem to catch up with the girl as he was almost pushed forward by the crowd.

He stopped right behind the girl, making sure it was the person he thought it was. He nodded to himself, yes, that hair and high was not to be mistaken. He could recognise the hat too. He walked up to her left side and looked down at her.

"Hello Evans!" he said and smiled.

The girl stopped abrupt at the sound of his voice and several hats bumped into her before they started to go the other way around her. He stopped too and looked right back into the eyes of Lily Evans, the girl of his dreams. Her green shining eyes slowly grew vide of shock and her perfect formed lips slowly opened into a big hole of disbelief. Her cheeks were a bit red from the cold and her nose had a few freckles. He noticed her red fringe stuck out from the green hat too and he remembered how much he loved it.

Then he remembered that Lily did still hate him; after sax and a half year at the same school and he had still not gotten her convinced to go out with him. He didn't understand her; any girl actually wanted him, but she didn't, and funny enough she was the only girl he really wanted. He hated the fact that they were in their last year at Hogwarts, and Lily did still hate him. Why, he didn't understand, but he did understand one thing: if he wanted to show Lily what a person he was, he only had half a year left.

Right now, he just enjoyed her eyes staring back at him with disbelief.

"What – are you – doing here?" she asked stunned after almost ten second of silence.

"Shopping," he said shortly, then added with a charming smile. "What about you?"

"But you don't live here!" she said, ignoring his question and smile.

"No, I guess you do?"

Lily nodded. "Now please move. I haven't time to you." She started to walk and James followed her by her side.

"Where're you going?" he asked, still in a cheering voice.

"Nowhere where you need to come," she said shortly and turned a corner into a little street away from the crowded street and kept walking.

"Ah, don't be so mean," James grinned. "You're ruining Christmas spirit!" He reminded himself a lot about his mom in that second, but ignored it.

"Just go away," Lily said irritably.

James didn't go, but instead he looked down at the bags in Lily's hands and wandered if she had just made the last Christmas shopping like his parents. They turned another corner.

"What's in the bags?" he asked.

"Nothing."

They walked some minutes in silence as they turned a couple of corners and it became less and less crowded.

"So how has your holiday been until now?" he asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Fine," Lily answered without looking at him.

"So, what have you of planes later tonight?"

"Nothing that includes you. Can you please turn around and go away now?"

Lily stopped and so did James. She didn't look at him. He looked around and realised he had no idea where he was.

"I…I don't know the way back..."

Lily looked up at him with raised eyebrows. "I'm not following you back!"

James shrugged. "Then I have to follow you."

"Can't you just apparat home?" she asked, clearly irritated.

"I haven't my wand with me…"

Lily let out a growl of frustration and started to walk. James knew he had been permitted to go and followed her.

"Want me to carry them for you?" he asked after a couple of seconds.

Lily stopped and looked up at him with raised eyebrows. He stopped too and nodded down at the bags.

"Sure," she said.

James put his own bags into his left hand grabbed Lily's bags and they started to walk again. The bags were filled, but didn't weigh much. It began to snow even more as they turned something that seemed like the hundredth corner.

"So," James said, "where are we going?"

"You'll see," Lily said. "It'll only take an hour or so. Then I can follow you back."

"Okay…" James said and smiled.

He was going to spend an hour with Lily Evans, and she couldn't really do anything about it. They turned another corner and walked into a street which seamed very poor and ramshackle. James studied it all; it was nothing like what he had ever seen before. But of course, he lived in a big mansion with an even bigger garden out in the country in the southern England, not far from London.

"Evans, where are we?" he asked stunned.

"What?" Lily asked. "Not used to see poverty like this?"

James shook his head slowly and frowned. "No…"

"Oh…" Lily said a bit taken back, but soon found her usual self. "You're just a little spoilt boy then."

"I wouldn't say spoilt… My father's just…"

Lily cut him of by placing her hand at his chest and pushing him softly into the wall of a brown house. She looked up at him with her green eyes turned into something that looked a lot like concern.

"James, please; this is not the place to show of with all the money you have. These people we're going in to have less than nothing, and they mean everything to me. Okay?" Lily said and looked almost beseeching at him.

James wasn't sure if it was Lily's use of his first name, or the way she looked when she said it all that made him nod and agree, but he did and knew it was the only right thing to do

"Thanks," Lily said. "It means a lot to me."

James shrugged. "It's nothing."

Lily removed her hand and then did something she had ever done when she was near James; she sent him a gaze which was not full of hate and disgust, but thankfulness.

"Thanks anyways," she said.

James gave her a slight smile. They started to walk in silence and soon stopped by a house which looked only a little less ramshackle than the rest of them. Lily knocked at the door and in the same second a powerful breeze almost knocked them over and more snow fell from the sky. A few excited children's voices were heard and someone walked to the door.

"Who's there?" a woman's voice called.

"It's Lily!"

The door swung open and revealed a large woman with brown hair tied up in a high ponytail. She had a boy in around four years in her arms, but she smiled at the sight of Lily. She quickly put the boy down and gave Lily a hug.

"I was just wondering when to see you!" she said smiling and looked at James. "And you've brought someone!"

They broke away and they both looked at him.

"Theresa, this is James," Lily said.

"Hi!" said the woman and shook James' hand. "I'm Theresa, head of the orphanage."

James just smiled and nodded. He looked past the woman and saw around fifteen children who all sat at a long kitchen table with coloured papers and scissors all over it. In the same second most of the children got up from the table and ran over to Lily, all fighting to get to her.

"LILY!" they all called and some swung their arms around Lily who had gone down into squat.

"Hey everyone!" she grinned and tried to hug them all.

"Who's that?" a little girl with blonde hair asked and pointed at James.

"It's just a friend of-"

"Is he your boyfriend?" another girl asked.

"No he's-"

"For how long have you been together?"

It seamed like they didn't even listen to what Lily was saying.

"We're not-"

"Tell us Lily!"

"But he's not-"

"When are you getting married?"

"Please!" Lily grinned and made them all stop talking. "Relax. It's James, and he's not my boyfriend."

"Oh," said a black haired girl and looked up at James. "Can I have him then?"

James grinned and looked at the girl. "I'm so sorry, but my heart already belongs to someone," he said and gave Lily quick glance.

She bit her lower lip and looked at the girl, obviously not knowing what to say. Then suddenly she began to smile at the children. "You're making Christmas decorations?" she asked and looked towards the table.

"Yeah!" said a little boy and held up a red heart. "I've made this one!"

"Oh, it's beautiful, Tommy!" Lily said and looked at the heart. "Care if I join you?"

"No, come on Lily!" said the children and all grabbed her by the hands and dragged her over to the table.

They all helped her off with her coat, hat, mittens and scarf and gave her a scissor.

"Are you coming too?"

James looked down and saw a very small shy-looking girl look up at him with big brown eyes. She had brown curled hair and a sweet smile.

"Of course," he said and dropped all his and Lily's bags at the floor and after that his coat, scarf and mittens. "Where can I sit?"

"Here!" called a blonde girl and James walked over and sat down beside her.

A boy pushed a cup of warm chocolate over to him and another boy gave him a scissor. James looked up and saw Lily already cutting in some green paper and talking to Theresa and two small girls at the same time. James just smiled and shook his heard, while looking down at the paper he began to cut in.

"Oh, this is so hard!" the brown-eyed shy girl said in a giving up way.

James looked up from his paper and saw that she was making a snowman in paper, and all of her fingers had glue all over and she couldn't glue the eyes on the snowman.

"I'll help you!" James said. "Where does this need to be placed?"

The girl pointed at the snowman's face and James grinned and glued the eyes on. Then he got up and walked over to the sink where he found a napkin. He put on some water and walked back to her.

"Come here with your hands," he said and she stretched them out towards him. He grabbed her hands and helped her cleaning them.

"Thanks," she said when he was finished.

"You're welcome," James said and looked up from her.

Lily was looking and he quickly caught her eye, but she looked away the second he saw she was looking. He smiled faintly to himself.

After half an hour of cutting and gluing Lily got up and looked at James.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

James slowly got up. "Yeah…"

They walked over to the sink to wash their hands and looked out of the window and saw snow whirling around outside. Theresa came over and stood beside Lily.

"I think it's unwisely to go out in that weather," she said.

Lily looked out a few more seconds. "Yeah, but I have to get home…"

James cleared his throat and looked at Lily. "Not to say anything, but I'd be sad to go out in that weather."

Lily looked at him. "Okay, Potter, I'm going now. Decide if you want to go home or not."

"Okay, okay!" James said and began to put on his clothes.

Lily followed him and got dressed too.

"Theresa, everything's in the bags," Lily said and nodded at her shopping bags with her hand on the doorknob.

Theresa nodded. "Okay. Happy Christmas!"

"You too!" Lily said and turned to walk out of the door. "And please say hello to him, he should know I've been here."

"Yeah, I promise."

Lily looked like she had just changed her mind, and didn't want to go, but she slowly started to open the door.

"Umm, I really don't think it's very wisely to go out in that weather," James said as snow and wind almost knocked them over.

Lily looked at him. "Do you want to come home or not?" she asked.

"I want to come home-"

"Then get a move on!"

"... but I don't want to die trying," he added in a mumble as they walked out; apparently Lily didn't hear.

They walked though the snowstorm with hands over their heads to cover up.

"Who should she say hello to?" James asked curiously over the wind and snow.

"Just one who were asleep when we were there," Lily said and looked very sad.

James decided to let it go, it didn't seam like a subject Lily liked to discuss.

They walked a few minutes, but didn't get very far. The snow and wind made it very hard to even take one step. As a particular hard breeze hit them Lily was suddenly gone. It took a few seconds and steps for James to notice, but when he did he was shocked. Where could Lily have gone? Then he looked down and saw she had fallen over and lay now still on the edge of the sidewalk with closed eyes.

"Oh, no…" he mumbled and bent down to look at her. "Evans? Lily?"

Lily didn't response so he lifted her head a bit and felt something warm against his fingers. He turned Lily's head a bit and saw she had a long gaze on the left side of her head and it was bleeding.

"Lily!" he called, but she didn't show any signs of hearing him.

He looked around, searching for someone to help him, but there were no one near him. He looked her pockets through, trying to find her wand, but apparently she hadn't brought it that day.

Then he took a decision, knowing it was one of the only things he could do. He lifted up Lily and started to fight his way back to the orphanage with her in his arms, not knowing that the decision would forever change his life.