It was two days before winter break, and Lily was trying to enjoy her dinner, but she was too distracted by the four boys sitting a few seats down from her.

She knew that they were planning on doing something tonight. By the way they were grinning secretively at each other, she was sure of it.

It was either James or Remus's idea tonight. If it was James's, then there was a chance of idiotic danger. However, if it was Remus's, then they were probably doing something like building pillow forts – with no ounce of danger whatsoever.

"Why are you staring at James Potter?" Lily vaguely heard Alice ask.

Lily mused over this for a few seconds. "I'm trying to figure something out."

Alice stared at her. "About James?"

Shrugging, Lily responded, "Sort of. Have you heard of their whole Marauders' Days of Christmas thing?"

Alice's face lit up. "Oh, like the pillow fort thing yesterday? It's genius."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "What do you know about it? Like...what do each of them do?"

"You've never paid attention before?" Alice asked, surprised.

"I didn't want to pay attention. I decided to ignore them altogether."

Alice smiled. "Well, in that case, Sirius likes to do something with the Slytherins every year. Mostly he pulls a new prank on them. I heard it had something to do with coal this year." Lily nodded, urging Alice to continue. "Um, Remus likes to do something very Christmasy that others can also enjoy. Peter – well, he does something random every year. Like pillow forts – who thinks of that? What 17-year-old would want to make a stack of pillows into-"

"Alice..." Lily interrupted her.

Alice blushed slightly. "Sorry. Oh, and James, he loves the holidays. He tries to make something festive that isn't supposed to be. He decorated Filch's office last year."

It finally made sense to Lily – Filch running around like a crazy man (even more so) last year and Remus looking all guilty when Lily was exhausted from trying to get the other prefects to help him.

"Why do you know this?" Lily asked.

Alice shrugged slightly. "I like watching it all every year. And this is the last year."

It was their last year. They wouldn't be able to do this anymore – especially with the dark times coming. Lily let out an exasperated sigh; she hated endings.

Alice was looking at Lily with a confused expression. "Why do you want to know this?"

Before Lily could say anything, a hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to whip around.

James grinned at her reaction. "You coming?" He pointed to the archway where Remus, Sirius, and Peter were dressed in outside clothing, carrying big boxes.

Lily watched as a couple of Gryffindors noticed their conversation, listening in curiously. Alice pushed Lily lightly on the shoulder. "Oh, sure..." Placing her silverware down on her plate, she moved to grab her bookbag.

"No, I'll get it," Alice said. "You just have fun."

James chuckled at the tone of her voice and Lily frowned, but left her bookbag anyway. Now James was going to treat her differently.

Lily cautiously took a glance over at him. He grinned and joked, "Everyone's just a bit curious."

"Where are we going?" she quickly changed the subject. She didn't have the energy to deal with the whole student body trying to figure out why she was currently walked with James Potter. Even if it was something as innocent as watching their holiday festivities, it was still cause for gossip.

James handed her a jacket. "You'll need this."

Lily was about to say something when James covered her mouth again. Lily scrunched up her nose and gave him a look that portrayed every annoyed thought going through her head.

"Not here," James told her. "Nobody must know about it yet."

Lily rolled her eyes and, after James pulled his hand away, slowly put on the jacket.

They neared the group and Lily noticed how Sirius was jumping up and down. "Come on, Evans, hurry up. We need to get out there as soon as possible!" He pushed her without warning and began to lead her out of the doors.

Lily struggled to keep up with Sirius as he began trudging through the snow, out onto the grounds of Hogwarts. There was the Great Lake and the vast grounds of Hogwarts, but nothing special.

If it was Remus's day, then they were probably going to string up some lights outside for everyone to enjoy.

But, as soon as the boys stopped and placed their boxes on the ground, Lily knew it wasn't Remus's day. He would never come up with something as stupid as this.

The boxes were dumped out into the snow and the ornaments sunk slightly in the white powder. Round objects painted red and green and blue and yellow with intricate designs.

Lily bent down to retrieve one of the objects and looked up to realize that only three people stood in front of her.

"Hey, where did Peter go?" she asked, turning around to try to find the short boy.

Sirius shrugged. "He had to go get something."

Lily looked up at the willow tree in front of her. It was swaying slightly in the breeze – only because they weren't close enough yet for it to start attacking. She fingered the ornament in her hand nervously, wondering how this was going to work.

"You're all crazy," she said out loud.

Remus laughed, sifting through his box. "You said that last night." He softened at the look on her face. "But don't worry. We're not absolutely crazy."

Lily knew she should have trusted Remus. But this was crazy.

Only crazy people would try to decorate the Whomping Willow with ornaments.

James grinned and turned to Lily, that mischievous look in his eye. "You ready?"

She grimaced, but said, "If you must." When they died, she wasn't going to drag their bodies back up to the school. She was just going to leave them there -

He dropped the ornament in front of him, quickly brandishing his wand and placing a levitation charm on it before it hit the ground.

"You're going to regret this," Lily muttered before he began levitating the ornament over to the nearest branch.

Any time now...

But nothing happened. The tree just froze, allowing the ornament to hang on the branch and swing slightly.

"And you were saying?" James replied cheekily, before levitating another ornament.

Lily frowned and grabbed own her ornament in front of her. They had to be putting some charm on the ornaments or something – nothing would stop the Whomping Willow from killing them.

She hung the ornament on a lower branch, watching as the tree stood absolutely still.

James grinned at her. "Festive, huh?"

Lily just shook her head, trying to figure out why the Whomping Willow was so calm. "What did you do to the tree?"

"It's only temporary," James quickly explained, as he hung ten ornaments at the same time. "Just you wait."

Lily couldn't help but smile as the Whomping Willow was decorated with all different ornaments, including flashing lights around the base of the trunk. It wasn't even noticable as the violent tree – instead, it became a spectacle, a Christmas tree of sorts.

Something that Lily never thought would be possible.

Sirius placed the ornament on the tree and looked over at James. "Now, he's the piece de resistance..." Waving his hand, he performed a silent spell. "Fixing Charm. Now they won't fly off. Annnndddd..."

Lily took a step back as the Whomping Willow came to life, throwing its branches around violently, trying to get rid of the offending objects. But they stuck on the branches tight, barely swaying as the tree moved.

"Wow," Lily breathed, watching the display in front of her. Surely, it was a sight to be seen.

The crunching of snow behind her caused her to turn around abruptly. "Hey, what did I miss?" she saw Peter say.

"Something amazing," Lily responded with a small smile.

She could practically see James's grin without even looking.