A/N: Hey guys! Here's another drabble. This one takes place sometime in third year, on a Hogsmeade weekend.

This one is in Lily's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I wouldn't have killed off James, one of my top fictional crushes.

It was honestly a beautiful day. It was a Saturday and not just any Saturday. It was a Hogsmeade day. It had snowed yesterday, so our path was surrounded by fresh snow. The walk to Hogsmeade was exhilarating. Yes, it was cold, but Alice and I were both bundled up, so we stayed warm. Well, the heating charms I had placed on us didn't hurt either.

We arrived at Hogsmeade and walked around, the streets full of Hogwarts students.

"Where do you want to go first, Lily?" Alice asked me.

That wasn't too difficult a decision, as we had plenty of time to go everywhere. "Let's go to Scrivenshaft's first, I want a new quill and I heard they got some new ones in. Then we can go get some candy." Alice smiled at me and we started walking towards Scrivenshaft's. Everything was peaceful and great.

Then we ran into the self-labeled Marauders. Of course. The four of them were running around in front of the post office for no apparent reason. They were running into other people trying to peacefully walk by, causing, well, a human traffic jam, and overall just causing chaos. Alice and I shared a look of contempt and attempted to make our way through the chaos so that we could get to Scrivenshaft's. We were almost out of the chaos when something came flying and ran into me. I took the hit hard, flying backwards and hitting the ground hard. A second later, someone landed on top of me.

My head was throbbing from hitting the ground. The person laying on top of me wasn't moving. Despite my better judgment, I opened my eyes.

James Potter's face was inches from mine.

"What are you doing?" My voice came out in a deadly whisper.

Potter shifted a bit, moving a little away from me, as if he sensed danger. "Well, you see, Remus taught us about this muggle game called tag and we were playing it and Sirius was it and I was trying to get away from him. Well, I was trying to hide and there's this great barrel over there and I, well, I ran into you?" He said it like a question, almost as if he were trying to make sure his story sounded legitimate.

"Get off of me, Potter."

"I don't know, Evans, I kind of like the view from down here."

"GET OFF OF ME!" Potter was quick to comply. He scrambled up, moving away from me. I slowly sat up, looking at all the people that had gathered around us. My head was throbbing. Hopefully I hadn't gotten a concussion. I tried to stand up, but couldn't. Alice hurried over to me and helped me stand up.

"Are you ok, Lily? Do you want to go back to Hogwarts? I can get someone to help us. We can take you to Madam Pomfrey."

I shook my head slowly, not wanting to make my head feel worse. "No, I'll be fine. Let's just keep walking."

Several people in the crowd raised up concerns, saying I shouldn't over-exert myself after that fall. I shook their concerns away.

"Thank you for your concerns, but I think I'll be fine. I promise if I feel bad that I'll head back immediately." It looked like people weren't too sure, but no one said anything. The crowd started to disperse.

And then, naturally, Potter had to speak up again. He stepped up to Alice and I and said, "Lily, I think you should head back. Just in case you're hurt. That was a really bad fall you took."

I glared at him and he took a step back. "I wouldn't have fallen if it wasn't for you, Potter, so if I were you, I would stay out of it." He nodded meekly. I turned to Alice. "Come on, Alice, let's go." We turned and kept walking, Alice holding on to my arm to make sure I didn't fall, as she was still worried. My head was still throbbing a little, but it was easily ignored. The rest of our trip to Scrivenshaft's was relatively pleasant. We spent a lot of time there, looking at all the different quills and parchments. I bought a new eagle quill.

When we were finally done at Scrivenshaft's, we headed to Honeydukes. We arrived safely at Honeydukes and spent the next 45 minutes obsessing over different types of candy. I bought a pack of sugar quills (ok, I really like quills, get over it) and Alice bought a pack of fizzing whizbees. Once we'd made our purchases, we shrunk our packages, put them in our pockets, and headed out again. However, this time, something seemed different. We walked around Hogsmeade, not having decided where to go next and we kept seeing people walking around looking scared, as if something was going to jump out at them. The Marauders were nowhere to be seen.

I decided to find out what was going on.

Thankfully, I didn't have to look too long to find out. Alice and I had walked to a clump of trees, where we found Remus hidden in the shadow. He was playing with the snow, something I would not have expected scholarly Remus to do. As soon as he saw our shadows, he jumped and grabbed a handful of snow. Then he realized who it was.

"Oh. Lily. Alice. Hello." He put the snow down and looked up at us.

"What are you doing, Remus?" I asked.

"Well, Sirius and James organized a snowball fight. The four of us and some of the fourth and fifth years versus everyone else. It starts in half an hour. We're all setting up our battle stations right now."

That made sense. That's why everyone was so jumpy. They all thought they were going to start getting pelted by snowballs.

Alice and I shared a look and then Alice turned back to Remus. "So, basically, we have half an hour before you start pelting us with snowballs?"

Remus looked sheepish.

"Well… Yeah, basically. I would stay inside for a while if I was you, since I doubt you guys want to get involved in that. I can't guarantee that the pathway back to Hogwarts will be safe. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that Sirius was in charge of the path back, so…"

"Yeah, I don't think we'll take our chances then. Thank you for the warning, Remus." I replied and smiled warmly at him. "Come on, Alice, we better figure out where we're going then." Alice and I said our goodbyes to Remus and wandered off again.

After twenty minutes of walking around, watching everyone look scared, and finding the "battle stations" that Peter and some of the fourth and fifth years had made, we finally decided to go to the Three Broomsticks. That meant we had to walk about halfway across town. We knew we were cutting it a bit close, but we ran and made it about five minutes before the snowball fight was set to begin.

We got some butterbeer, found a booth, and settled down. It was nice and warm in the Three Broomsticks, so we took off our coats and undid the heating charms. We started talking about school, life, basically everything. Eventually, the topic of Severus came up, as it had a tendency to.

"Lily, I worry about you. I don't think that he's a good person."

"Alice, thank you for your concern, but I have known Sev for years and he's always been a good person."

Alice chewed on her lip apprehensively. "But, Lily, didn't you hear about what happened last week? I thought Mary told you."

I looked at Alice warily. "No, I didn't hear about anything. What happened?"

Alice looked as if she was trying to decide if I should know. "Well, if Mary didn't tell you, I'm not sure if I should be the one telling you…" I guess the look on my face was urgent enough, because she continued. "Ok, fine. Well, a bunch of Slytherins cornered Mary and that Ravenclaw girl in our year Abigail. They didn't really do anything, but they called them a lot of really mean names. Mary said that Snape was there too."

"Was he calling her names too?"

"Well, no, which I guess is why she didn't tell you, but I still don't think you should hang around him. He's part of a bad crowd."

I thought about what she was telling me, not wanting to believe it. "I'll think about it, ok, Alice?"

Alice didn't look satisfied, but left it at that. We changed the topic. Our conversation carried on for a while, changing topics a few more times. We had been in the Three Broomsticks for almost an hour when Sev walked in and walked up to us. Alice and I looked up at his arrival.

"Hello, Lily." Sev only nodded to Alice, "Can I join you?"

I glanced at Alice, who was frowning, but nodded. I moved over to give him room to sit. The three of us sat there awkwardly for a moment in silence. Finally, Alice, trying to break the awkwardness, said,

"I wonder if the Marauders are still out there having a snowball fight."

"Oh yes, they most certainly are. I was only recently hit by five snowballs on my way here. Those imbeciles, specifically that Potter, kept throwing them at me."

"Oh, are they all in the same area now?" I asked.

Sev nodded. "Those morons are just trying to cause trouble. Marauders, indeed. Where did that stupid name come from anyway?" he asked.

"I asked Remus that a few days ago." Alice said, "He told me that a few months into first year, McGonagall called them that when she caught them sneaking to the kitchens."

Sev shook his head in disgust. "I bet they didn't even get in trouble. Something's wrong with them, that Lupin especially."

"Sev, you know how I feel about you talking about them. I may not like them, but going that far is too much. Now is not the time to discuss your theories, especially with so many people around."

Sev looked a bit alarmed. I guess my tone had been a bit harsh. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that, Lily, but you know that they're always getting in trouble and they're so arrogant and…" I cut him off.

"I'd rather not talk about them. Especially not Potter, the most arrogant of them all. Ok, Sev?"

The conversation carried on awkwardly for a while more, with Alice eternally having to change the topic. After about seven minutes of this, a group of Slytherins came over to our table.

"Hey, Snape, we were looking for you."

"Oh. Hello. Yeah, I was just talking to them. Lily, these are some of my friends."

Most of the Slytherins looked at me with contempt. One of the ones in the back said,

"Why would you need to talk to them?"

Sev gave the one who spoke a look that I couldn't quite understand. I could, however, understand Alice's quite clearly. She was telling me 'I told you so' quite clearly through her expression.

I decided that it was time for Alice and I to leave.

"Well, Sev, Alice and I really have to go." I tried to think of an excuse, one that would get us away from these mean-looking Slytherins, "I still have to go to Scrivenshaft's to buy some new supplies." The three of us stood up, Sev moving out of the booth to let me out as well as moving some of his friends out of my way. I waved goodbye to Sev and headed towards the door with Alice. Right as we were about to leave, though, Alice stopped me.

"Wait, Lily. Do you really think it's safe out there if the Marauders are still having a snowball fight?"

Right. The snowball fight. I'd completely forgotten.

"Well, I don't think Sev's friends want me around, so I think it would be best to take a chance. Besides, Sev said that the fight was mostly in one area now, so we might be able to get around it."

I could tell that Alice wanted to comment on Sev's friends, but she knew better than to bring it up right now. We walked out.

After a brief discussion in the (snowball free) area by the Three Broomsticks, we decided on our course of action. We then went on to follow it, keeping an eye out for the Marauders. After visiting Zonko's (which surprised some people there who thought I hated jokes, when, in reality, I just hate mean jokes), Dervish and Banges, and the post office (I sent a letter home), we decided it was probably time to head back to Hogwarts.

As we were walking towards the pathway back, we noticed a lot of activity around the area where the road to Hogwarts really starts. Alice and I tried to figure it out, with no luck. However, as we got closer, we realized what was going on. The Marauders hadn't ended their snowball fight yet and they'd moved it to the very spot we had to cross to head back to Hogwarts. While I will admit that they looked like they were having a lot of fun, Alice and I really wanted to get back, especially since we had a girl's night planned.

After some discussion, Alice and I decided we would try to just sneak by the sides. Hopefully, they'd be distracted enough to not notice us and let us on our way.

We were almost past them when something hit me.

The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the hospital wing. I regained consciousness slowly, first realizing that I was lying down and that I was warm. I tried to remember how I'd gotten there, with no luck. The last thing I could remember was heading back to Hogwarts with Alice. Little by little, I opened my eyes to see Alice sitting next to me. I was in the hospital wing.

"What's going on?" I asked softly.

Alice jumped. "Oh, Lily, you're awake. Thank Merlin. I thought you were dead."

Madam Pomfrey, the new, young nurse, came over. "I told you, dear, she wasn't dead. Just unconscious. Now, how are you feeling, dear?" Madam Pomfrey spent a few minutes fussing over me. Finally, she said,

"You're going to have to stay here for a while, dear. I'm afraid you have a pretty bad concussion, both from your fall and from the hit. I want you to rest. I'm going to be in the other room. Just call me if you need anything." With that, she walked away, leaving me very confused.

So, I turned to Alice for answers.

"What happened? How did I end up in the hospital wing?"

"How much do you remember?" Alice asked me.

I thought about it, sitting up slowly. "The last thing I remember is you and I walking back to Hogwarts. We were trying to get past the snowball fi…" I trailed off, the pieces clicking together. "THOSE STUPID MARAUDERS. WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME?"

"Calm down, Lily. Remember, you have a concussion."

"What. Did. They. Do. To. Me?" I asked forcefully.

"Well, Potter threw a snowball at you and it knocked you out. Madam Pomfrey said that, combined with the fall you took earlier yesterday, was a bad combination."

"YESTERDAY? I'VE BEEN OUT FOR A WHOLE DAY? I SWEAR, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON JAMES BLOODY POTTER, HE'LL KNOW WELL ENOUGH NOT TO THROW A BLOODY SNOWBALL AT ME WHEN I'M NOT EVEN PART OF THE SNOWBALL FIGHT." I went on like this for another few minutes. Eventually I managed to calm down enough to think about it sensibly.

"A snowball. Merlin, that stupid snowball. Wait. Alice, how on earth did a bloody snowball knock me out? I can't see the Marauders putting ice in their snowballs, not if they're throwing them at each other. Merlin, is it that easy to knock me out?"

"Your head was already a little sensitive from the fall, according to Madam Pomfrey, and, while there wasn't any ice in the snowball, there was something else."

I put my face in my hands. "Oh, Merlin, what did that idiot throw at me?"

Alice held her hand out. "This." I peeked out from between my fingers. On her hand was a small box, one that just covered her hand. It was beautiful. I reached over and picked it up carefully. It was a small wooden box, intricately carved with lilies. While that is more than a little cliché, the box was beautiful. I slowly opened it. Music started playing, songs I'd never heard before, purely instrumental. I would say they reminded me of Mozart. The music was coming from the box, but there was nothing to wind up or anything. It took me a moment to remember that not all music boxes had to be muggle music boxes and that it was more than likely magical.

"Wow." I said in a hushed voice. "It's beautiful." Alice nodded. As I continued examining it, I realized that there was a note in the box. I pulled out the note, set the box down on my lap (opened, so it was still playing music), and read the note. I immediately groaned.

"What does it say? I didn't want to read it." said Alice.

"Dearest Lily," I read, "I'm really sorry for making you fall earlier. I hope you're ok. Sincerely, James. P.S. Will you go out with me?" I groaned again, looking at Alice.

"You must admit, that wasn't too bad of a note until he decided to ask you out."

I looked down at the box. The beautiful box. I closed the lid, stopping the music, looking at the lilies. "What should I do, Alice? This box is beautiful and amazing, but if I keep it, Potter might think I'll go out with him."

"Why don't you just go out with him once?"

"Because he's an arrogant toe rag who thinks hurting others is fun and has a total disregard for the rules and is always in trouble. I don't need to inflate his ego anymore by going out with him just to keep this box."

"Why don't you just keep it, then, and not go out with him?"

"I don't want Potter to think he has a chance by keeping it. Especially not after everything he did to me that made me end up here."

"Hey, I did apologize for making you fall. In fact, I believe I even apologized twice." Alice and I turned towards Potter, who was standing about ten feet away from my bed.

"Potter. What are you doing here?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"Easy, Evans." he said, coming closer and sitting in the chair next to my bed, "I just came to make sure you were ok."

"How long have you been standing there?" I demanded.

Potter smirked. "Long enough to know that you love the music box."

"Ok, I believe that's my cue to leave. Have fun with Lily yelling at you. Make sure she doesn't get too overexcited, since she does have a bad concussion. Bye! I'll come back later, Lily, with some homework. Be nice!" Alice walked away. I waved feebly. Once Alice was gone, I crossed my arms, turning my full attention to glaring at Potter.

"So are you ok?" Potter asked softly.

"I have a concussion and am being kept in the hospital wing for a while. How do you think I am?" I snapped back.

"I am sorry about the snowball thing. I didn't think it would knock you out."

"You threw a bloody music box at me and you didn't think it would knock me out? How idiotic are you, Potter?"

Potter looked sheepish. "Well, it was a magic music box. I thought it wouldn't hurt…"

"HOW ON EARTH WOULD IT BEING MAGIC WOULD STOP IT FROM HAVING MASS AND HURTING?"

"I guess I wasn't thinking. I was just thinking about getting it to you, I guess."

"IT WAS IDIOTIC, POTTER. I COULD HAVE DIED." Ok, so I might be exaggerating a little, but waking up in the hospital wing isn't the best thing to get me in a good mood. I softened a little at his expression, one that almost reminded me of a puppy dog. I sighed in exasperation and turned away from him, instead looking at the cards next to my bed.

"I really am sorry, Lily." His voice was so quiet, I could barely hear him. "I was so worried once you fell down. I carried you all the way back here. I was so scared that I'd hurt you." I glanced at Potter over my shoulder. He really did seem worried. "I just want to make sure you're ok, Lily."

While still looking at the cards, I replied, "I just have a concussion. I should be fine soon. Healers can fix almost anything."

"I'm glad you're ok." We sat there in silence for a bit, the music box weighing more on my mind than my lap.

"Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you forgive me? For the fall? For the snowball? For everything?"

I sighed slightly. "Yeah. I forgive you, Potter." There was a pause. "I'm still not going to go out with you."

Potter laughed. "I was just about to ask."

"Only in your dreams, Potter."

"Well, I'll see you tonight then, Evans." I didn't have to look at him to see that he was smirking. He got up and started walking away.

"Hey, James." He turned, looking surprised. I held out the music box. "Here."

James looked at it for a moment and then looked at me. "Keep it." he said.

"But…"

"I know that you said no, Lily. But I want you to keep it."

"Are you sure? I mean…"

"It's yours, Lily. Enjoy."

And, with that, he walked off, leaving me holding the music box, watching as he left the room.

A/N: What did you think? Do you like it? I hope you like it. If you have any prompts you want me to follow/an idea for how James would ask Lily out, leave them in a review! It would help me post faster. Reviews in general help me post faster, actually... :D