When they returned to the common room, they were met by four pairs of eyes belonging to Lily, Tara and Rebecca, who looked at them, questioning and concerned. The fourth was a beautiful owl's, which sat at the empty armchair James had left earlier, right next to Lily. It hooted happily when the boys climbed through the portrait-hole, and all three stopped dead, surprised.
"Athena!" James called, and the owl spread its wings. Without making a sound, it landed on his outstretched arm. He gently stoked its feathers while they made their way to the fireplace.
Rebecca half rose and looked at Sirius. "You all right?" He gave her a sad, but reassuring smile.
"I will be," he said, unknowingly choosing the same words she had used earlier. "You?"
Her smile mirrored his. "About the same. "
James was still stroking the owl. "She's my parents'," he told the others. "There was a letter, I suppose?"
Lily blushed. "Ah, yes, I have it!" she said quickly and handed him the small envelope. "The owl wouldn't stop hooting, so I took it off, but of course I haven't ..."
"Lily, relax!" He smiled at her. "I know you haven't read it, and it was good that you removed it because Athena is really persistent when it comes to fulfilling her duty – which can be a little annoying at times- ouch!" The small brown owl had pecked his finger at this. "... but it generally is a really admirable train of character for an owl!" he added quickly.
Everybody laughed, and Lily, very audibly, whispered: "Seems to be a family trademark. Persistence ..."
James sat down and laid his arm (the free one) around her shoulders. "Are you complaining or something?"
"Not at all," Lily murmured and snuggled up at him – but jerked away the very moment, because Athena had hooted loudly and obviously annoyed, and even made an attempt to peck her, if only half-hearted. The group laughed again, even Sirius and Rebecca joined in, and Lily grumbled.
"Great! Now I have a bird trying to steal my boyfriend!" she said, a comment that made her friends laugh even harder.
"You don't fear the competition, do you, Lily?" Tara asked, and James (after handing the jealous owl to Sirius) now laid both arms around the redhead.
"Have no fear," he assured her, grinning. "There's enough room in my heart for both of you … ouch!" Lily had (of course!) punched him into the stomach, but she was smiling nonetheless.
"Now listen up there, Missy," she said with mock seriousness, addressing Athena, who seemed to enjoy greatly that Sirius stroked her, "that boy's mine now, and I'm not sharing!"
There words were followed by a sudden silence, and when Lily looked at James again, laughter in her eyes, his expression was … strange, unreadable, almost shocked. "James what …"
She looked around, confused. All eyes were directed at her, the expressions equally serious.
"What? Did I say something stupid?" She looked at her boyfriend again, now concerned. "James?"
But it was Remus who answered, and he was smiling. "Sorry if we scared you, Lily. But, let me put it this way. We're not used hearing something like that from you, and it might take some time before we will be. Especially James," he added with a chuckle.
"That's right," James confirmed hoarsely. "Never thought I'd be hearing words like that from you, never hoped …" He looked away, embarrassed.
And then Lily kissed him. She didn't think about it, she just acted. It wasn't a long and passionate kiss, not the type where lips clash and tongues enwind, with drum rolls in the background, but just a simple kiss: short, sweet, gentle – and perfect.
"I'm sorry," she whispered in his ear. "Sorry about all the times I hurt you!"
For the second time on this day James Potter felt tears in his eyes – and he wasn't even sure why. There were the memories of all the pain Lily's countless rejections had caused him, all the hurt he had never allowed to surface, always hidden away inside him. There was the happiness and joy when she'd agreed to go out with him. That he was able to hold her close, to feel her, to … and there was this kiss, their first kiss. Yes, it was their first kiss, the others didn't count, for it hadn't really been Lily who'd kissed him then. But just now she'd done it out of her own free will, and that almost overwhelmed him.
"It's …" But he had no idea how to voice his turmoil of emotions, so he kissed her, too. And just a little longer.
Their friends were smiling. About time! And instead of yelling something like "Get a room!" like he'd done normally, Sirius just cleared his throat and asked, "Want me to read that letter for you, Prongs?"
Without breaking the kiss, James threw the envelope in his direction, causing Tara to giggle, because it looked quite funny. Sirius opened it, took out a piece of parchment and started reading out loud:
Dear James ,
How are things at Hogwarts? Is anyone left there besides Sirius, yourself, and Lily? I have to admit, it's a little strange not to have you boys with us at Christmas, and Kitty has asked for you, too. (She said something about not being used to have a quiet Christmas … I think she was referring to Sirius in particular …)
"Oi!" Sirius shouted, faking annoyance. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just go on reading, Padfoot," said Remus, while the others laughed. Even James and Lily were listening now; the latter had a little frown on her face.
"All right, all right!"
And she's not the only one. Mrs. Petersen has brought us loads of home-made cookies (she has tried a new recipe for something called 'gingerbread', and it's delicious!). Chris and Adam are really disappointed (you promised to give them re-match of the last year's snowball fight, remember?), and I think Lisa is really looking forward to testing her newly acquired flirting-skills on our favorite bachelor (I'm talking about Sirius, of course – you know that she won't look at you twice when he's around…)
At this, all the tree boys started to laugh, while the girls looked at them, confused. "What's so funny?" asked Lily. There was something of an edge in her voice. "As long as this… Lisa only flirts with Sirius…"
At this, James and Sirius only laughed harder, but Remus took pity in her. "Lily, Lisa lives next door and is twelve years old."
"Oh." That was all Lily said, because she felt herself blushing.
"And she really admires our dear Padfoot here," Remus continued. "It's cute."
"You're just jealous, Moony!" announced Sirius. "Just because the girls …" He flinched as if someone had hit him. For a moment, he closed his eyes and his friends saw an expression of sadness flicker over his features. Then he cleared his throat again (it sounded like a dry sob) and continued reading:
You see, everyone in Grodric's Hollow is missing you – and so do we. To make a long story short: Why don't you and Sirius come home over Christmas? I know that you want to stay be-
Suddenly, completely out of the blue, James launched himself at Sirius, obviously trying to wrestle the letter away from him. Everybody jumped in surprise – everybody but Sirius, who somehow seemed to have anticipated this. He smoothly evaded his friend's attack by slipping out his armchair just in time, and so James collided with it, toppled over, and crashed to the floor. And while Lily stared in shock at her boyfriend, who was lying in the floor, pulling a face and rubbing his left knee, while Remus just shook his head, grinning, while Tara and Rebecca stared at James as if he'd lost his mind, and Athena hooted angrily, because Sirius' sudden movement had forced her to take flight rather abruptly – while all these things happened, Sirius Black, grinning like a fool, continued reading without missing a beat.
… because Lily is staying, too, but why don't you just ask her to come, too? We'd really like to get to know her, since you haven't stopped talking about her since third year! And stop rolling your eyes, I'm sure it won't go that badly, just try!
If you want to come (with her or not), just talk to Albus. He has agreed to let you use the floo-network. We really hope you both will come!
Love, Mum and Dad
P.S.: Our best whishes for a happy Christmas (and a hug!) to Remus! Of course, he's welcome, too, if he wants to come! Lisa might even lose interest in Sirius at the prospect of her 'Remmy' telling stories about all the fantastic books he has read!