3 – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Christmas morning James was woken suddenly as most of the boys began to jump in his bed. James shut his eyes up at once and looked up at the boys.

"Get up!" one named Chris called.

"Now!" Harry grinned.

James slowly sat up. "Okay, okay!" he said in a hoarse voice. "I'm up now! Stop jumping."

He yawned and rubbed his face in his hands before grabbing his glasses. The boys jumped down again and let James get up so he could get dressed. Then they all pulled him downstairs where most of the girls, inclusive Lily, sat and drank hot chocolate.

"Morning!" she said with a smile, her eyes shinning.

"Morning," James yawned.

"I think," Theresa said, "that now we all are here, you can go get your socks!"

"YEAH!" most children yelled and got up.

James and Lily grinned as they all stormed into the living room and came back again seconds after with their socks in their hands. They quickly pulled up what was in it. James saw they had all received a big lollipop in different colours, some of them with stripes some of them with dots and others with faces. Then Lily got up.

"And I think it might be time for you all to have your present from me!" she said.

She found her bags from the first day and started to handle them out. The children started to unwrap Lily's presents too, and James noticed they were all hats. All different, like the lollipops. He caught Lily's eye and gave her a smile. She smiled happily back. Then she got up and helped Theresa with the breakfast. When they were finished and placed the food at the table Lily sat down next to James.

"So," she said, "what do you think of Christmas here? Not like you use to have it, I assume."

"No," James admitted blank. "It's usually just me and my parents, last year Sirius also, but now he's moved out… but we were having a magnificent breakfast made by our houseleves."

Lily looked nervous around, but no one was listening as they were all talking and having fun.

James smiled slightly and continued. "We have this 10 feet high Christmas tree which is decorated with green living and shining elves, big sparkling red hearts and golden stars. It lights whole our living room up. It's some of a sight."

"I can imagine that…"

"But to be honest…" James said and looked at Lily, "I like this just as much if not even more."

Lily smiled wide. "It really makes you rethink the value of life."

"Yeah…"

"Lily can you help me with this one?"

James looked past Lily and saw Harry stand with his hat in his hands.

"Sure," Lily said and grabbed the hat. "Like this!"

She had placed the hat at his head and tied a knot with the two strings that fell down from each side of the hat, which were green with white starts at.

"Thanks!" Harry said and smiled, and then he ran off.

James looked at Lily's smile; sure nothing was prettier in the whole world. "Where do you by the way know this place from?" he asked.

Lily looked at him. "Well, it's actually pretty simple. Theresa was on old friend of my grandmother, who often helped with the work here. She used to bring me here when I visited her when I was younger. Even when I started at Hogwarts she brought me at the summers and those Christmases I spend at home. When my grandmother died three and a half year ago, I just kept visiting. At first mostly to honour the work my grandmother did, but then I just fell in love with it all. Especially the children and the relationship they have to each other. You don't find anything like that everywhere."

James smiled. "No, but when you does, it's fantastic."

"Exactly!" Lily grinned. "Actually… I was here when Harry arrived."

James frowned slightly. "Was there anything special about it?"

Lily nodded and moved a bit closer to James so no one could hear. "Harry had never known his father and just lived with his mother. One day they were out shopping. They had bought food for dinner and were on the way home, walking over at pedestrian crossing when there were green lights. As they were in the middle, some drunk driver drove over for the red light. Harry's mother saw just in time and pushed Harry back on the sidewalk…" Lily's voice snapped.

James couldn't believe what he had just heard. "But…" he said slowly. "But what about his family? Hadn't he any family?"

Lily shook her head. "Harry's grandparents died before he even was born and none of his father's family knew he existed and his mother hadn't any siblings… he was left all alone in this world. He came here right after the 'funeral' of his mother."

"Wow…" James sighed. "I can't believe someone can have suffered that much at the age of seven only."

"It's terrible," Lily agreed.

James looked down at his hands and suddenly felt like the luckiest person on earth. Lily seemed to have red his mind because she reached for his hands and slowly took hold of them with her own.

"James…" she said in her soft voice. "Please don't think too much about it. Harry is more than fine now, and… well, it's Christmas! We should be happy!"

He looked up and met Lily's eyes. "You know what I admire about you?" he asked and Lily shook her head. "No matter how depressing things look; you always seam to find something to be happy about."

Lily smiled widely and slowly let go of his hands. "It's because it's funnier to be happy than sad."

"Yeah, that's right," James said and shrugged.

They sat for a couple of seconds and looked at the children as they ate.

"Come!" Lily said suddenly and got up. "I want to show you something."

"Umm, what?" James asked a bit unsure.

"You'll see!" Lily grinned.

She grabbed James' one hand and began to drag him upstairs. Up there she opened her one of the five doors which revealed a narrow and rickety staircase. She walked up the stairs, James right after her. He could feel how the temperature fell for every step upwards they took. At last the staircase ended and Lily led James out at something that looked like a loft with lots of chairs, tables, boxes and other of things which were very old. Lily stopped by a window and let James step up next to her.

James wasn't in doubt that they could see all over the little town through the clean snow-free air. He could see roofs and more roofs, all covered with white shining snow. Some of them were black underneath, some red and some brown. Most of them had a chimney and smoke rose from them towards the sky. Not a single person was seen outside, probably because they, just like James and Lily, were trapped from the snow.

"What do you think?" Lily asked and made James look down at her.

He smiled. "It's beautiful."

Lily nodded slightly and looked out over the roofs again. "It's things like this, that makes the everyday worth going through."

"What do you mean?"

"You know…" Lily sighed. "In times of war you have appreciate the small things in the everyday. It can be a smile or a visit from a close friend, it can be a sight like this or maybe just the fact you're not alone in the holidays. That there's always someone who cares for you."

"Woah," James said and let his hand run thought his hair. "That's some pretty deep words…"

Lily made a little laugh. "Yeah, I guess so."

"But there's nothing wrong with it," he hurried to say. "I think it sounded beautiful."

She smiled slightly to him before she looked out over the town again, obviously thinking.

"What's on your mind?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

Lily made a little shrug with her shoulders. "I don't know…" she said silently and sighed. "It's just… I had really hoped I was going to spend my Christmas at home; with my parents and sister and the rest of my family. They were all going to stay at us this Christmas."

"Hmm…" James just said thoughtful.

Suddenly he grabbed Lily's hand and began to drag her towards the stairs.

"James, what-?" she only said.

"Just come," he interrupted gently.

He almost ran down the steep staircase with Lily behind him, and then through the little corridor and down the other bigger staircase. He stopped as they were halfway down, looking at the children who were eating and having fun. He pushed Lily up in front of him.

Anna and Erica were laughing of something Chris had said. Tommy and a girl named Birgitte just stepped away from the mistletoe and then continued the way they were going before. Harry and Tim were licking at their lollipops, smiling. Other children were eating and most of them wearing the hats Lily had given them. They were all smiling and had that fantastic glow about them al small children have around Christmas.

"How can you even miss home?" James asked into Lily's ear.

Lily smiled. "Right now I don't," she said honestly.

James smiled wide as Lily looked up at him. Her eyes were shining along with her smile. She looked simply beautiful, he thought, nothing but beautiful. She looked down at the children again, but James first removed his gaze from her several seconds later, smiling slightly.

*

James were sitting with some of the children at the little Christmas tree in the living room, not really doing anything while the children were busy playing with some old toy cars. He looked out of the window, it had begun to snow again, but this time the snowflakes fell slowly from the sky and it made the Christmas seam more perfect than it already was.

He sighed and slowly got up, heading for the kitchen in the thought of helping Theresa with the dinner. Just as he made the doorway, Lily came walking from the kitchen, not seeing him. They bumped into each other.

"Oh, sorry, Lily!" he said quickly.

"No it's okay…" Lily said and gave him a quick smile.

James stepped right to let Lily pass on his left side, when two pairs of hands pushed him back so he stood in front of Lily again. He looked down and saw Harry and Erica pushing to his legs.

"What?" he asked grinning.

They both smiled mischievous and pointed upwards. James looked up.

"Oh," he just said and looked at Lily.

She looked upwards too and slowly looked up at him instead, biting her lower lip. "Mistletoe," she said weakly.

James nodded slightly. "Yeah…"

Suddenly Lily stepped a step forwards and James noticed Tommy and Anna had pushed to Lily too so they stood now very close.

"Well, we might just get it over," she said in a funny voice.

James nodded again and slowly lowered his head down to Lily's, lightly letting his lips touch hers.

No matter what he had always imagined, it was nothing like the real thing. Lily's lips were soft and warm and made his head spin around and his legs feel week.

He would have pulled away from Lily after the light touch, but as he was about to Lily opened her mouth slightly and kissed him again and a bit deeper than first. James found no other thing to do than kiss her back, enjoying the touch of her lips against his and her hand making its way up around his neck. Slowly he became aware of his own hands had slid around her waist and was now pulling her into him.

As the seconds past he remembered the children who were watching them in these very seconds. Lily seemed to have remembered the same thing, and they broke apart.

James bit his lower lips slightly as he looked down. The four children Harry, Erica, Tommy and Anna were looking at them with big eyes and smile on their faces.

"Well…" he said after several seconds of silence. "I was actually on my way… err, out in the kitchen."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, and I was about to… umm… light the fireplace?"

"Exactly!" James said and moved so Lily could pass.

She took several seconds to start to walk and James stood back in the doorway seconds after she finally had past and tried to make his feet move.

He could not believe what had just happened. He, James Potter, had just kissed Lily Evans! Yes, it had been under mistletoe, but it had been a kiss after all! And it had been lovely. He noticed Theresa was not in the kitchen and the dinner he would have helped with, was already in the oven or at the cooker. He stood several minutes, just starring out of the window, then he nodded to himself and turned to walk back to the living room.

He stopped in the doorway as Harry, Erica, Tommy and Anna stormed out of the living room and he noticed Lily was alone in there. She sat in the couch, starring into the glowing fire with an empty gaze and a frown around her eyebrows, obviously thinking. Her legs were folded up to her chest with her arms around them.

The radio played a Christmas song, '… and since we've no place to go. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!' sung a man with a deep and slow voice; James liked it.

He slowly walked over there and dumped down next to her and looked into the fire too.

"Hey…" he said after a couple of quite seconds.

"Hi…" Lily said silently so he almost couldn't hear.

"Look Lily," he said and sighed low. "You didn't have to kiss me over there."

"Yes," she said simple and stopped frowning. "I had to."

Now it was James to frown, even more than Lily did before. "What?" he asked and looked form the fire to Lily.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird," Lily said and did still stare at the fire. "Before in time I'd have given anything to not kiss you there, but as you stood there in front of me, looking down at me with that gaze you only give me… I… I wanted to."

"Err…" James just responded and stopped frowning.

Lily looked up at him. "You wanted to kiss me too, right?"

"Yeah," he said and nodded. "Of course."

She smiled slightly. "Thought so too. But the funny part of it all was that I didn't do it because of the mistletoe."

"You didn't?"

Lily shook her head. She looked up at him with her green eyes. At that moment they showed several different things. Determination with a hint of innocence and maybe a bit of nervousness and a lot of consideration. He liked her eyes that way. They looked even prettier than usual and shone in a whole other way. Maybe it was just the light from the fire place.

Suddenly he became aware of Lily was much closer than she were only seconds before. James' breath got stuck in his throat and he swallowed once. He shut his eyes in the same second as he closed the empty space between them, letting his lips connect with hers.

The kiss was even better than that under the mistletoe and made soft electricity go all the way through his body and made his pulse rise to new heights. He slowly let his hand slide up around her neck and the other around her waist. Seconds later he could feel one of Lily's hands make its way through his hair.

If someone had told him his shopping with his parents would lead to a kiss like this with Lily Evans before he had left from home, he wouldn't have believed them, but laughed at them instead. His Christmas had turned from depressing to the most fantastic in his whole life.

The End.

Leave a review! Merry Christmas!