TITLE: Wherever Life Leads Us
AUTHOR: Jagfan724
RATING: G
There's something kind of romantic about Christmas. Of course, when you're alone and away at school, with no friend or family nearby, it's not so romantic and fun anymore. But that's where Lily Evans found herself on the morning of December 24th. Sitting in the Gryffindor common room, all alone, wrapped in a blanket in front of the fire. It never seemed to die during the winter, just continuously burned until it got too warm to have a fire in the room.
One might ask as to the reason why she was all alone on the day before Christmas. She had no friends at Hogwarts, and even if she had, nearly everyone had gone home for the holidays. She was quiet, shy, and kept to herself a lot of the time. Some saw her as kind of stuck-up, but she was just afraid. Almost afraid of taking chances or of truly living life to its fullest.
Making friends only led to disappointment and betrayals. Experience had taught Lily this. Too many times had she been left behind, forgotten and ignored, or made fun of and betrayed by those she thought were her friends. She seemed to be an easy target for pranks and jokes and unkind comments. "Mudblood" seemed to be a favorite description for Lucius Malfoy to use, when passing her in the halls or during class.
Her parents were gone. Cancer had taken her mother just after Lily's first year at Hogwarts had ended. A car accident had taken her father just two years later. Because Petunia was of age, she had been named Lily's guardian. Of course, that would have been a great idea, if the two of them ever got along. Over the years, Lily had become an easy target for Petunia's verbal abuse, always unseen by their parents. Now she was engaged to a man named Vernon Dursley and Lily would be out on her own. Money was not a worry, at least for several years to come. Her parents' wills had seen to that. Lily planned to buy her own flat and work in Hogsmeade after her years at Hogwarts were over.
Lily snuggled up even further into her blanket, enjoying the warmth it provided. Like the years before, she would receive no Christmas presents. That was fine; she expected nothing more. It was if no one knew she even existed. That was fine, Lily hated being the center of attention, receiving anyone's attention was awkward for her. She felt like they were all just watching her, waiting for her to make a mistake just so they could laugh at her.
Not wanting to head down to breakfast just yet, because it was still so early in the morning, Lily closed her eyes with the intent of resting for just a while. Minutes later, she was fast asleep, curled up on the floor in front of the fire, her red hair sprawled out around her.
And this was where James Potter found her when he was heading down to breakfast just two hours later. Discovering a beautiful, sleeping redhead on the floor of the Gryffindor common room was the last thing James expected for Christmas. He had thought, assumed, that he was the only Gryffindor left at Hogwarts for the holidays. With the rising threat of Voldemort, more and more parents wanted their children home and with them for what time they had left. No one was sure how much time they would have left to live until Voldemort came to get them or until the war against him ended.
James paused, watching the girl sleep. She looked familiar, very familiar now that he thought about it. She was his age, in his classes. Now what was her name? Oh, yes, Lily. Lily Evans. Top of the class, well, tied with him in many of their classes was more like it. He had observed her before. She liked to stay in the background, out of the way. He didn't quite understand why someone as smart and as attractive and as sweet as her would want to try to hide from the rest of the world but she must have her reasons.
She shifted in her sleep, obviously trying to find a more comfortable position on the floor. Lily let out a soft moan, causing something deep inside James to stir.
Deciding that she might enjoy a softer, more comfortable surface upon which to sleep, he carefully picked her up, cradling her to him as one would a baby and carried her up to his dorm room. He would have gone to hers, but he had no idea which bed was hers and the stairs wouldn't have let him get very far, turning into a slide because he was male.
He placed her on his bed, rewrapped her in her blanket, and tucked her in. After a brief thought, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and whispered, "Sleep well, Lily."
When Lily awoke, she found herself in a strange bed with an unfamiliar, but comforting scent filling the air. She was wrapped in blankets, a few of them with snitches and Quidditch things on them.
A plate of food lay on a nearby desk, steaming and was still hot thanks to a warming charm that had been placed on it. Overall, it was quite comfortable. She was just beginning to move to try to untangle herself from the warm blankets when a boy entered the room.
"Hi," he greeted.
"Hello."
"Sleep well?"
She nodded. "Thank you."
"I thought you might be more comfortable up here than down on the floor. Sorry it's not your own bed, but you know I can't get into the girls dorms," he said, giving her a slight grin.
"Thank you," she repeated.
"I just came in to grab something, and then I'll be out of your way. I hope you enjoy the food." James then knelt down in front of his trunk, dug through it for a few minutes before grabbing something out, Lily couldn't see what, and leaving the room.
Lily almost smiled at the kindness of the boy. From what she had observed over the years, James Potter was a cocky, arrogant, conceited little git who couldn't get enough of the girls who just fell at his feet. He loved picking on others, especially Slytherins and even more, Snape. But now…this was a side of him she had rarely seen. He was being nice, kind, sweet, and gentle. It almost seemed like it wasn't him at all.
She unwrapped herself from the warmth of the blankets and headed towards the desk. She quickly ate what was on the plate, taking notice of the objects in the room around her. For being a boys room, it was fairly clean. Quidditch uniforms and various articles of clothing littered the floor, along with book bags and homework. James' part of the room was a little cleaner than the others, but that was probably because the rest of them had left in such a hurry to get home that they had left it a mess. A spare bit of parchment lay on the desk next to her plate. She briefly wondered what it was; she had often seen them carrying it around, worn and weathered from the constant use.
Lily finished her small meal and headed back to her dorm to work on some homework. She joined the others for dinner but spent much of the day completing her homework. When evening arrived, she decided to go for a bit of a walk around the castle. Taking care to dress warmly, she set out on her way. She wandered the halls of Hogwarts for nearly 3 hours, venturing into places she had never been before. She found quite an interesting portrait of an old knight on the 3rd floor down a small, barely used corridor. There was a small collection of trophies from years before placed in cabinets in the middle of the hallway near the Ravenclaw dormitories. All in all, it was quite an interesting yet lonely way to spend a Christmas Eve.
Near eleven o'clock, she found herself up in the Astronomy Tower. For once, there were no snogging couples present, something for which she was extremely grateful for. The last thing she wanted to discover was two people together, enjoying each other's company in a way she was sure she would never get to experience.
She watched the night sky as more and more stars appeared. Tears began to appear, rolling down her cheeks silently. She was tired, tired of being hated by her sister. Of being teased by James and the rest of the Marauders and by Snape and Malfoy. She was tired of being called a "mudblood". She was tired of having no friends to have fun with. Of having no other girls that she could just gossip with. She was tired of having to work so hard for everything. She was tired of living in a world that seemed to be so against her.
"I'm so tired of living." She fell down to her knees and began to sob. Barely seconds later, someone had wrapped their arms around her and held her to them.
Lily continued to cry as the unknown person held her and gently rubbed her back. When he spoke, his voice sent shivers down her back. "Shh, it's okay. You're not alone, I'm here. It's gonna be okay."
It was James Potter, the same boy who had tucked her into his bed just so she would be comfortable. The same boy who had brought her a plate of food because she had missed breakfast. It was the same boy who was now holding her and comforting her. He was being so kind and so sweet.
James had been returning from a quick trip to Hogsmeade to get a present for Lily when he had spotted her heading towards the Astronomy Tower. He had quickly run to drop off her present in his room and then, checking the map to make sure she was still in the tower, he had headed up after her. Hidden underneath his invisibility cloak, he had watched her as she had watched the night sky.
When the tears had began sliding down her cheeks, he had been so caught up in admiring her red hair and emerald eyes that it had taken him a minute to notice that those beautiful eyes were quietly leaking drops of pain.
When she had spoken those words, he could hardly stop himself from dropping the cloak and rushing forward to take her in his arms. She was so small, so slender, but she seemed to fit perfectly against him. After the tears had died down a bit, he had picked up his cloak and handed it to her. She was slightly confused but when he picked her up and began to carry her back to the Gryffindor tower, her worries vanished. Pausing at the portrait entrance, he gave the Fat Lady the password and then carried Lily inside, setting her down on the couch.
"Wait, please, I'll be right back," he told her softly, his hazel eyes showing nothing but gentleness and tenderness.
Lily watched as he rushed upstairs and returned barely a minute later, his arms full of blankets and pillows. James made sort of a makeshift bed with the blankets in front of the fire and he settled down in them before holding his hand out to her.
"Join me?" he invited.
Shyly, she shook her head. She had heard rumors of what James Potter had done with numerous girls and she refused to be just another notch on his bedpost.
"I just want to hold you. It's Christmas Eve and I don't want you to be alone," he explained quietly, hoping she would trust him. In truth, he was more than a little worried about her. No one should have to spend Christmas Eve alone, away from family or friends.
After a moment's hesitation, she gave him a shy smile and joined him in his cocoon of blankets and pillows. James took off his glasses and placed them on a nearby table before lying back down. After a minute of shifting and careful movements, the two of them settled down in front of the fire, snuggled together, seeking the warmth. It gave Lily a feeling she had never before known, one she found that she quite enjoyed. He had changed, James Potter had. Somewhere, when she hadn't noticed, he had changed. He had grown up and matured, making him into quite a gentleman.
They fell asleep only moments later in front of the dancing flames.
The next morning (Christmas Day)
Waking up to find yourself burrowed in a pile of blankets in from of a warm fire was quite a wonderful thing, Lily decided. What made it even more special and perfect was the fact that she was wrapped tightly in James' arms. He seemed to have quite a hold on her, keeping her close to him, and was very reluctant to release her. The only drawback was that it was Christmas morning and for James, it would likely be a wonderful day filled with gifts and presents from loving friends and family. For Lily, it would just be a lonely day full of reminders of how alone she truly was in the world. The tears started to well up again, but she kept them at bay.
Turning in James' arms, she began to look at him. To really see him. His dark, messy, uncontrollable hair. His deep hazel eyes were closed, but Lily could just imagine them open, gazing at her with that look he had. If only she knew the emotion behind that look and if only she knew it was reserved for her and her only. He had a few freckles, though not nearly as many as she did. Her gaze wandered down his face, finding about a small scar on the left side of his chin. It was probably from Quidditch, she surmised. Her gaze finally wandered back up to his eyes. She let out a small gasp, surprised to find two hazel orbs gazing back at her with amusement.
"Good morning," he said softly.
She smiled back at him shyly. "Morning."
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," she automatically said in return.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Have you always been so shy and polite?" he curiously asked.
She was distracted from her answer as he reached out to brush a lock of her hair back away from her face. There was just something about his touch.
"Hmm?"
"Uh….yes…"
"We can open presents first or we can go down and join the others for breakfast, whichever you would like," offered James.
"I don't…I mean…you can…I don't have any presents," she stuttered, suddenly ashamed.
"Yes, you do. I saw some out there with your name on the tag. Come on, let me show you." James scrambled out of the blankets and pulled Lily up and over to the tree. "See?" he pointed out excitedly.
And he was right. Lily had a small pile of presents to open. All with her name on them. "All for me?"
"All for you," he assured her. After he had placed her in his bed that morning, he had gone down to breakfast and paused by the tree. Curious, he had looked under the tree for presents for her. To his complete surprise, there were none. Eager to fix this, he had skipped breakfast and instead headed straight up to the owlery to write to Sirius, Remus, Peter, and all the girls in Lily's dorm. They had all responded to James' request immediately, sending along what had created a rather large pile of presents for the teen. James was quite pleased with his work and Lily's reaction.
"Come on, let's open them." He pulled her down beside him and eagerly began separating the presents into two piles, his and hers. She watched with mild amusement, James was so adorable when he got excited. He was really getting into the whole holiday thing. She couldn't help but laugh as he tore into one present and let out an exclamation of joy at finding a large bag of Honeyduke's chocolates.
James tore through his presents at an alarming speed, soon creating one pile of wrapping paper and ribbon as well as another pile for all his presents. The one from Sirius had been promptly tossed in the fire, the contents far too damaging for James to keep. The issues of legality alone were enough to cause questions, especially if Lily happened to see it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Lily slowly made her way through her pile of presents. He could tell that she was quite shocked, yet happy, to see who all the presents were from. It was good for her to know that people cared. They had mostly given her candy, but there was a small bag of new quills to write with and Remus had sent her what looked to be quite an interesting book about Charms. When he saw that she had finished, he told her to wait for a second so that he could go get his present to her.
"But, James," she protested. "I didn't get you anything. I had no idea…"
"I know that." He wasn't the least bit disappointed. "I just wanted to get you something, I don't need anything in return."
She opened the small package to find a small assortment of items. Another interesting book on charms(a first edition), a small bag of sugar quills, and an emerald silver necklace.
"Oh, James, it's beautiful!" gasped Lily in delight.
"Yes, you are," he softly murmured. Speaking louder, he said, "Here, let me put it on you."
He reached for the necklace and kneeling behind her he slipped it around her neck, nimbly clasping it together.
Lily let her hair fall back down and looked down at the small emerald hanging from the silver chain. "Thank you so much."
She turned around and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, James," she whispered in his ear. Before pulling completely away, she leaned back and planted a small, gentle kiss on his cheek.
Feeling his skin tingling at the touch of her lips, he raised his hand and gently fingered where her lips had been. "You're welcome."
She blushed, her face coming close to matching the color of her hair.
"Come on, let's go join the others, okay?" He rose from the floor and held a hand out to her.
"Okay," Lily said firmly. "Let's go." She stood up and took his hand, giving him a warm smile. She was ready. Ready to follow him. Ready to follow him to wherever life would take them.
Review, please. If you like these little one-shots, then I'll keep writing more. Let me know. Thank so much.