Be Here Now

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to the wonderful Joanne Rowling.

A/N: Hey everyone! See, I went past twenty chapters and it's still the Christmas holidays. Lol! Here you go!

thepottersheir: Thank you so much! And if you have any questions at all, just PM me or ask me in the form of a review.

OliWest: Thank you! If it was heartbreaking, then I did my job. ;)

Eclare LJ and Percabeeth: I am a Ravenclaw on Pottermore. Yeah, I was expecting one of those two (Ravenclaw or Gryffindor). And how about I post a blank chapter? ;) Just kidding! Thanks!

Neogirl31: Thanks… and yes it is time. :D

Laveycee: Petunia has a lot of built-up hate and jealousy. :/ Yes, it was, wasn't it? I did notice I haven't been mentioning Peter a lot…

x.o.x.o.x.

Lily, Hilary, and Alice Apparate directly into the foyer of Potter Manor after their second shopping excursion. They each are holding a small bag.

"I wonder where they are," Hilary muses, taking off her scarf and hat. "Mitzi?"

Crack. "Yes, Mistress Hilary? What can Mitzi do for Mistress?" a female house-elf squeaks.

Hilary, like James had, stoops to her level. "Where are my parents and the boys, please?"

"Mitzi believes that Master and Mistress are out for dinner, Mistress. Mitzi believes that Master and his friends are in Master's room, Mistress," Mitzi replies with her usual squeak.

Hilary smiles, standing. "Thank you, Mitzi."

"Mitzi is pleased to be at service, Mistress. You has dinner now, Mistress?"

Hilary shakes her head. "No thank you, Mitzi."

Mitzi nods and curtsies deeply. "Mitzi is leaving now, Mistress."

x.o.x.o.x.

Knock, knock.

"Come in!" James yells. "Is that you, Lily-flower? Have you come around finally?"

Lily enters the room after Hilary and before Alice. "In your dreams, Potter."

James pouts. "But Lily-flower…" he whines.

"What do you want me to do, James?" Lily sighs, withdrawing her wand.

James flinches back. "Don't curse me!" he warns.

Lily rolls her eyes and shuts the door with her wand. "I wasn't going to curse you, James, but thanks for the idea."

"OI! Quit the flirting," Sirius says.

"For your information, Sirius Black, I was not flirting with this toerag here. He was flirting with me," Lily says angrily, turning on Sirius.

Sirius simply smiles and bounces on his toes. "Did any of you get letters from family for Christmas?"

Alice nods. "Mum and Dad wrote, but that's it."

"Nope, our families are right here," Hilary says, referring to herself and James.

"Same as Alice. Mum and Dad just wanted to know if I've been alright," Remus replies.

"Well, my sister wrote," Lily says. "Why do you ask?"

Sirius shrugs. "Good topic of conversation."

"Wait- your sister, Petunia, wrote?" Hilary shouts, angry.

"She kicked you out and then writes?" Alice explodes.

Lily rolls her eyes. "Here." She tosses the letter to them.

Their eyes scan the paper.

"She called you a freak?" Sirius yells.

"She only wrote you because it was required by law?" James shouts.

"She won't be inviting you to her wedding?" Remus gasps.

"Hilary, yes, my sister Petunia wrote. Alice, yes, she had the nerve to. Sirius, yes, she did, as she has since I got my Hogwarts letter. James, yes, of course, otherwise I would have had a Petunia-free Christmas as I was wishing for. And Remus, yes, but perhaps we could crash it?" Lily's eyes twinkle.

"Really?" Hilary asks, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Lily-petal, we've corrupted you!" Sirius declares jubilantly.

Lily sighs at Sirius. "Sirius, you haven't corrupted me at all. Remember that professor-hair-color-change prank someone pulled?"

Sirius' eyes widen as Remus butts in, "That was you?"

"Not just me, Remmy. Hilary, Alice, and I planned that and pulled it off," Lily says, smirking proudly.

"But we got detention!" James squeaks, indignant.

Alice smirks along with Lily. "Not our fault we fly under the radar."

"Yeah, you guys got owned," Hilary laughs.

"But back onto the topic of crashing Petunia's wedding, we can't. Hogwarts is in session, I'm assuming," Lily says before the Marauders can explode with rage.

Sirius pouts. "Too bad." He brightens. "Hey, since you girls are pranksters too, why don't we combine in a mass group of pranksters to get Maya? For what she did, I mean."

Lily sits up straight, eyes gleaming. She had not mentioned a word about loving James since she started going out with Nicholas, but deep down, she knew she could never stop loving James, even if she denied it again and again. "That's fantastic! Wow, Sirius, never knew you had a brain," she jokes.

Sirius gasps, mock-horrified. "Lily-petal! That hurt!"

Hilary laughs. "Deal with it, Black," she says, but using his surname in a friendly manner. She stands. "C'mon, girls, we need to plan our schedules for Christmas Day tomorrow."

x.o.x.o.x.

"Done," sighs Alice as she leans back on the pillows of the girls' sofa in the shared sitting room.

Hilary sighs as well, leaning back.

Lily sets down the quill. "Wake up at 7:30. Get dressed in prior planned outfit. Go downstairs for breakfast. Gather around tree and open presents. Spend time in the snow with the Marauders after asking Charles and Natalia to put snow. Eat lunch with hot chocolate. Plan prank with Marauders. Go back upstairs into Hilary's room to get ready for the ball. Enjoy the ball."

Hilary nods approvingly. "A perfect Christmas Day."

Alice agrees. "I'm glad we could spend it together."

Lily grins. "A far cry from sitting alone in my alley or staying at Hogwarts alone."

Athena glides into the room then, settling on Lily's shoulder. Lily strokes the bird lovingly.

"Whoa, where did you get her?" Alice gasps.

Hilary just looks at the bird in wonder.

Lily laughs. "Early Christmas present from Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs."

Hilary eyes the bird in envy. "So we all got an early present?"

Alice nods. "If you did as well, Hils."

Lily lowers her hand. "What did you two get?"

"I got a bracelet-necklace-earring set. It's brilliant but nowhere near as wonderful as that owl!" Hilary responds, flashing her wrist and lifting her hair to reveal matching ruby jewelries.

"I got a darling cat that I named Merry," Alice says, disappearing into her room. She returns with a gray cat with white stripes.

"This is Athena, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom," Lily announces.

x.o.x.o.x.

The next morning at exactly seven-thirty, Lily jerks awake. She grins. It is Christmas Day, and she isn't spending it at Hogwarts or in her alley. She jumps out of bed and strides over to her closet. The girls had planned an outfit that was the exact same except in color. Lily wore a dark purple one-shoulder top with a black belt looped under her chest and a black flower on the shoulder. In her ears she placed gold dangling earrings and around her left wrist she put four gold bangles. She wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a pair of deep purple peep toe pumps. Selecting a pair of big white sunglasses, she puts them on top of her head, nestling in her red curls. Then she walks to Hilary's room.

Hilary steps out of her room wearing the same outfit as Lily (down to the last piece of jewelry) except with sky blue top and sky blue heels.

Lily grins. "Looking good, Hils."

Hilary laughs. "Same to you, Lils."

Together they wait outside Alice's room until she exits, wearing the identical outfit with a red top and red heels.

"Let's go eat breakfast," Lily declares, linking arms with both her best friends. She feels a pang, wishing Marlene was here, but then that picture of Marlene and Nicholas flashes in her mind, and the pang leaves as quickly as it had come.

x.o.x.o.x.

James and Sirius wolf-whistle as the girls enter the dining room. Alice blushes, Hilary rolls her eyes, and Lily twirls her wand threateningly.

"You three look nice," compliments Remus, after shooting his fellow Marauders a disapproving glance.

Lily smiles at him while taking her seat. "Thank you, Remus. Sometimes I really wonder why you keep company like them."

"Oh, come off it, Lily-flower, you know you love me," James says cheekily.

"Do you feel cold, Potter?" Lily asks sweetly, after thanking the house-elf that served her breakfast.

Isabel grins and leans forward. Like her older sister and her sister's best friend, they could tell this was going to be good.

James has the decency to look baffled. "No. Potter Manor is temperature controlled."

Seeing Lily's satisfied smirk, Natalia leans forward as well.

"Then apparently hell hasn't frozen over," Lily says triumphantly.

James falters for a moment. Then he bursts out laughing with the others. "Lily-flower!" he cries, pretending to be hurt.

"I just bruised James Potter's ego!" Lily announces.

"The Nobel Peace Prize goes to Lily Evans!" jokes Charles.

Everyone stops laughing and turns to Charles blankly. Lily and Remus, however, look at him in amazement.

"How did you know what the Nobel Peace Prize is?" Remus asks curiously.

"Yeah," Charles says slowly.

Lily bursts out laughing again. "At least one Potter isn't completely ignorant to the Muggle world," she says, looking pointedly at James who holds up his hands with a smile.

Those two will get married someday, Natalia thinks. She can tell.

x.o.x.o.x.

"PRESENTS!" Sirius yells joyously as they make their way into the living room to see presents piled under the tree. Isabel, giggling at his childish antics, runs ahead.

They sit in a semicircle around the tree while the two adult Potters stand next to the tree, tossing presents to their recipients. James got mostly Quidditch stuff, Sirius the same, Remus got mostly books and chocolate, Hilary got mostly cosmetics, Alice got mostly candy, and Lily got a lot of jewelry.

x.o.x.o.x.

Everyone bundles into warm clothing and then burst into the snow. The Potters had made it snow perfectly. Laughing, Lily throws her hands out and twirls, tilting her head up to catch the still falling flakes.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Hilary yells. "GIRLS AGAINST BOYS!"

Lily stops twirling and adds, "No wands!"

The purebloods pout.

"NO exceptions," Lily says sternly. "It's more fun the Muggle way, anyway!"

And the fight begins.

x.o.x.o.x.

James and Lily hide behind a tree, watching Hilary pelt Sirius with snowballs until they both fall. And with hesitation, they kiss.

Lily turns to James, face shining. "Yes!" she whispers.

James smiles back at her. "Yes," he agrees.

Lily smiles mischievously. "Now I have to hit you." She pulls her hand from behind her back that is clutching a hard snowball and she chucks it at James, and then races away.

"Watch your back, Evans," James warns, but he is laughing.

x.o.x.o.x.

A/N: Next chapter: planning the prank (which I won't put ANY details because I want it to be a surprise) and the ball part 1. The second ball already! Ha-ha! Again, three reviews! This should be drill! I really hope you enjoyed that chapter. Until chapter twenty-two…

~TrueLoveIs4ever