A/N: Happy mother's day! This chapter has nothing to do with mother's day - obviously - but I hope everyone's celebrating. Anyway, I really hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 25: New Year's Eve

The doorbell on the Evans' front door rang incessantly and Mr Evans put his newspaper over his head, groaning into the picture of the Prime Minister lighting a firework. There was a brief silence and then the doorbell rang once more.

'LILY, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR AND LET MARLENE IN I'M GOING TO GO MAD!' he shouted in the direction of the open living room door leading into the hallway. His red-headed daughter moved slowly into view and he noticed, with a nasty jolt, that her eyes were slightly wide and nervous. Lily had in fact been like this since, to his memory, Boxing Day, her face looking as though she was analysing her chance of survival. Alongside her slight deer in headlights appearance, Lily had been incredibly distracted, usually needing to be addressed several times before she reacted.

Mr Evans let out a small sigh of relief as the door opened and he instantly heard Marlene comment on Lily's appearance. Mrs Evans waved at their guest before poking her head into the living room, where her husband sat, reading his newspaper.

'You could have answered the door yourself, William.' she pointed out and came into the room. She dropped a kiss on her husband's head as he grunted with an exaggerated scowl. He tilted his upwards and caught his wife's lips with his own as she looked down at him sternly. Mrs Evans swatted him on the head with a light laugh.

'Yes, but I never miss the opportunity to overhear Marlene struggle not to swear.' And both adults chuckled.

Meanwhile, Marlene was leading the way up the stairs and into Lily's bedroom complaining about Sirius, who by the sounds of it had been writing to her every day.

'And he won't fucking stop!' she concluded as Lily closed the bedroom door behind them. Lily said nothing, her face still with her slightly terrified frown. 'Are you listening?'

'Yes, you've been writing to Sirius.' she said with a nod while her brow furrowed further as though her brain had presented her with another danger she had to confront.

'No!' Marlene shook her best friend as though hoping to remove a demon. 'He's been writing to me!'

'To you?' Lily asked blankly.

'Yes, to me.' Marlene responded impatiently. Lily's facial expression did not change and her best friend suddenly regarded her worriedly. 'What's wrong?'

'I… Nothing.'

'Bullshit.' Marlene pulled out her wand and cast a charm to muffle the door so that they would have no eavesdroppers. 'Spill.'

'I… I think – I think I like James…' The two best friends sank onto Lily's bed and leaned against the wall in silence.

'We're both fucking pathetic.' Marlene said to the room at large, her eyes looking around the bedroom as though expecting Lily's poster of Elton John to contradict her. 'We're ruddy Agony Aunts for fuck's sake!'

'Sometimes I find that quite ironic.' Lily mused, a mischievous grin replacing her previous expression. 'And my getting Head girl.'

'But, Lil, we're model students.' Marlene replied sarcastically, the same grin appearing on her face. Lily let out a snort and a second later the two were howling with laughter, clutching one another for support. They were laughing so hard that Marlene fell of the bed with a loud thud and rolled around on the carpet pounding the floor with her fists. It took a while for the two best friends to calm down and when they did, they were both out of breath and gasping for air.

'We've been so good this year,' Lily said, her eyes saddening slightly. 'I still miss last year when we ran t-'

'Are you two alright in here?' Mr Evans popped his head inside the bedroom.

'Oh, we're fine.' Lily replied, smiling innocently at her father.

'Okay… It just sounded like a herd of elephants landed in here.'

'That was me.' Marlene told him, bowing. 'I fell off the bed.'

'Right.' He grinned at the pair of them. 'Try not to kill yourselves before the party.' Mr Evans closed the door behind him and they heard him head down the stairs.

'Do the Marauders know they'll be with Muggles?' Marlene asked, turning to Lily.

'Yes, I told them in the invites.' she nodded and Marlene lay back on the floor, closing her eyes.

'Just wait till Potter meets your Gran.'

The next few hours were spent arranging chairs and carrying as much alcohol and food from the garage into the kitchen as possible. Marlene and Lily impressed Mrs Evans with their mass cooking skills and she even commented that they must have had a lot of practice mass producing things by magic; she missed the mischievous glance exchanged by the two best friends and by the time she stopped admiring the three pots being magically stirred, they had returned to concentrating on bewitching ingredients to mix together.

Mr Evans and Henry, who arrived around lunch time, set up the fireworks in the garden meaning that Lily and Marlene had to cease their use of magic and arrange chairs in the living room by hand. They blew up balloons and hung up some New Year themed bunting, laughing at Henry after he screamed upon accidently stepping on one of the said balloons and causing it to burst. All in all, Marlene and Lily were in quite the laughable mood leading them to practically laugh nonstop for ten minutes when Mr Evans chased his wife with the leftover mistletoe around the living room. Henry too joined as Mr Evans trapped Mrs Evans behind the Christmas tree and the three young adults left them to it by having a snow fight outside.

At 4 pm, Henry headed home to get changed and Lily and Marlene headed upstairs to do the same. Lily opened her wardrobe and took out a pair of emerald green sequin shorts which her parents had given her for Christmas alongside its matching loose tank top and a black blazer that had once belonged to Petunia. She reached for a pair black tights and started to change into them as Marlene produced a glittering gold dress from her handbag, which Lily knew had an undetectable extension charm on it. Then, she sunk her hand back into her bag and it disappeared up to her shoulder as she searched around in it for what turned out to be an extremely high pair of black T-bar stilettoes.

'Those'll be fun to wear.' Lily said, nodding her head at the shoes.

'Well, they make my legs look fucking fantastic.' Marlene responded, wiggling her eyebrows.

'I'll make sure Sirius is sitting down for when you strut passed.'

'Cheers, Lil.' She mimed raising a glass to her best friend and then pulled off her clothes, changing into her dress. 'Look at my beautiful legs.' Marlene instructed Lily as she slipped on her high heels.

'Very beautiful.' Lily agreed, putting on her comfortable black pumps while searching for a certain black box, locating it on her desk. She shuffled over to it and took out the gold bracelet inside; putting on her wrist, she reached for her makeup bag and sat down in front of her bedroom mirror.

'Are you gunna kiss him?' Marlene asked her best friend, observing her thoughtfully. 'At midnight, I mean…'

'Who?' Lily turned to face her, utterly nonplussed.

'The old man who lives across the street.'

'Probably not.' she replied with a shrug and returned to applying her makeup.

'Why not?' Marlene sounded exasperated and appeared so also as she tugged at her hair in frustration.

'Because he's an old man.' Lily said, grinning slightly as Marlene scowled.

'Not him,' Marlene cried impatiently, 'Potter!'

'Because I don't know if he feels the same way and I've only recently realised I like him.' Lily explained with the air of someone discussing the day's weather. 'Are you going to kiss Sirius at midnight?'

'No.' Marlene responded crossly. 'Actually, scratch that, I'll be proper pissed by then so in my plastered state I probably will. Ah, well, I can just pretend I don't remember it – not like that hasn't worked before…'

'Such a skilled liar.' Lily complimented as she added small wings to her eyeliner.

'We would've been in deep shit with McGonagall last year if I wasn't.' Marlene winked at her best friend, who laughed.

'And I'm ever grateful.' Lily moved away from the mirror and Marlene took her place in front of it. She hummed to herself as she plopped down onto her bed and reached for her wand. The gold flowers Lily had conjured on Christmas Eve were now hidden in a box beneath her bed and as she thought of them, another wisp of golden light burst from the wand tip and, just as before, when the light came into contact with something, a golden flower bloomed, in this case her duvet.

6 pm rolled into view and with it came the first set of Lily's relatives ready to welcome the New Year. Uncle Matthew and Aunt Harriet arrived with a slightly grumpy Natasha Evans, followed a few minutes later by their children, Henry and Olivia, as well as Bradley, who entered the house with his hands in his pockets, eyeing everyone except Lily with nervousness. She beamed at all of them and then introduced Marlene to Bradley – Marlene had been around so often that Lily's family knew her already, having met on several occasions. The first party moved into the living room with Mr and Mrs Evans leaving the two girls to wait for the next arrivals.

'Olivia should dump that boyfriend of hers – he's got wanker written all over him.' Marlene muttered to Lily with a disgusted look in the direction of the living room.

'He seemed really nice when I spoke to him.' Lily replied, echoing Marlene's hushed volume. Her best friend snorted and Lily looked at her in surprise. 'What? He was lovely.'

'You wait and see.' Marlene said just as the doorbell trilled loudly. It was Uncle Declan, Aunt Amelia and little Juliet and Katie. Greetings were exchanged and Aunt Amelia exclaimed about how much Marlene had grown since she last saw her. Then, there were a few hugs and handshakes before they made their way into the living room also, once again leaving Lily and Marlene to man the front door. 'I guarantee he will of tried to hit on one of us by 11.'

'Maybe…' Lily sounded unwilling to insult her cousin's significant other.

'Lil, I guarantee it.' Marlene told her confidently and then grimaced as the familiar doorbell sound rang in the hallway. Lily nudged her with a small smile and then opened the door to four young male individuals. She hugged all of them in greeting once they had entered the threshold but Marlene settled for shaking hands instead, though she stiffly gave Remus a small one-armed hug, looking like she hated every second of it. Remus exchanged a grin with Lily and the two tried not to laugh as the Marauders hung up their coats.

The arrival of the Marauders was a cause of great excitement amongst Lily's relatives and they all took their turns hugging and shaking the hands of the four males. Remus and James were not new acquaintances to them, in particular Remus, and the pair of them were greeted with a little more enthusiasm than Sirius and Peter. The foursome was quickly split up as Natasha Evans beckoned both James and Sirius imperiously towards her and Henry dragged Remus over to where he'd been sitting while Peter was quickly engaged in conversation, though in relatively low voices, with Marlene about Quidditch teams.

Lily stood by her parents, who were chatting together, without paying attention to their words as she observed her fellow Wizards. Her eyes shined with amusement as she noticed James' slightly fearful expression as her grandmother spoke to him and Sirius, who also listened, looked constipated as he tried desperately not to laugh. Henry and Remus seemed to be chuckling together about something or other and when Lily caught their eye, their faces briefly showed guilt before they started chortling again. Marlene and Peter kept gesticulating passionately and it was evident their conversation had spurred on into a debate.

'Hey,' a voice said beside her and she jumped slightly. Turning to face her new company, Lily's emerald eyes took in Bradley standing beside her holding out a glass of rosé wine.

'Oh, thanks.' She smiled at him, accepting the drink and taking a small sip. 'Where's Olivia?'

'She's talking to her mum.' Bradley responded, Lily noting he sounded strangely subdued at the mention of his girlfriend.

'Have you decided on your New Year's resolutions yet?' Lily asked, attempting polite conversation.

'Kind of,' He shrugged and slid his hands into his pockets.

'That's good.' Lily agreed, smiling vaguely at him.

'Bringing life to the next level – if you know what I mean…' She did not know what he meant and simply nodded slowly as he winked at her. Lily studied him for a while and then her face filled with dawning comprehension.

'I'm sure Olivia would love that!' Lily exclaimed happily but Bradley's expression clearly indicated that her interpretation was not inline with the correct answer. There was a loud snort from behind the pair and Bradley spun around to see Marlene and Peter standing behind them. He opened his mouth to say something but then decided at the equally set expressions of the two new arrivals that he was outnumbered and therefore chose to stalk off to where Olivia now sat alone, having caused her mother to huff over to where her husband stood with Uncle Declan.

'I'll take this opportunity to say I fucking told you so.' Marlene said smugly. She was faced, however, with two confused expressions. 'I said he'd try hit on one of us by 11.'

'But he wa-'

'Yes, he was.' Peter cut across Lily, nodding firmly. 'And I'm flattered you thought he might try hit on me, although Flora won't be too happy.' All three of them laughed, though Lily was still more than a little confused.

As midnight neared, everyone donned their coats and headed outside, ready to watch the fireworks arranged in the garden by Henry and Mr Evans that afternoon. Lily stood in between Marlene and Remus, all three of them looking up at the dark night sky, waiting for the fireworks display to start. There was a brief silence and they all stood with baited breath, listening for the sound of fizzing indicating the first firework was lit. And then it came, followed quickly by a burst of light in the sky. As Lily watched the display, she felt a small tug on the bottom of her shorts and she glanced down to seem both Juliet and Katie standing there, looking scared by the sound of exploding fireworks. She smiled and knelt down, enveloping them in a warm hug so that they could hide their faces in her arms while Lily continued to watch the sky above.

After the last firework had been exploded, they all clapped and both Henry and Mr Evans bowed. Then the cold got the better of them as their watches showed 11.59 pm and everyone headed back inside and into the living room. Mrs Evans flicked on the TV just in time to see Big Ben chime in the New Year and this was then proceeded by a rendition of Auld Lang Syne on the screen.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

The Marauders and Marlene looked baffled when everyone joined hands and began singing but they began to sway alongside Lily and her relatives, although they didn't sing, not knowing the words. Once the sound of bagpipes came to an end, the kissing began and Lily kissed her family on the cheeks before doing the same with Marlene and the Marauders. James' entire face turned scarlet as Lily's lips made contact with his cheek and she smiled as she chinked her glass against his.

'That's a nice bracelet.' he said, in an attempt to distract her from the colouring in his face.

'Thanks.' she responded and smiled wider as she nursed a sip of her wine, hiccupping slightly. 'I think I should stop with the alcohol now…' Lily beamed up at James and downed the rest of her glass, putting it down on the nearby coffee table. 'I'm a little tipsy.'

'Always the perfect student, eh?' James replied, grinning down at her as she let out a slightly intoxicated giggle.

'You know, everyone always thinks Marlene and I are such good students – it's funny really.' She giggled again and James raised an amused eyebrow.

'Been putting books back in the wrong shelves in the library, have you?' he joked and she shook her head.

'No, no, no.' Lily answered, still smiling widely and she pressed a shushing finger to James' lips. 'We se- no, I can't tell you that. That would ruin everything.' She giggled loudly and skipped off over to Henry, leaving behind a baffled James Potter.

He watched her leave and raised a hand to where her lips had brushed his cheek. His insides were warm and the cogs in his brain turned as he mulled over her parting words. Then Sirius moved over to him and pressed a shot of a clear liquid he didn't know into his hand; James swallowed it and winced as the harsh alcohol filled his taste buds. But after a moment, the alcohol blurred his mind slightly and he stopped analysing his conversation with Lily.

'It's called vodka.' Sirius informed him. 'Henry gave me some.'

'I'd be careful, lads.' Mr Evans said, appearing suddenly beside them. 'I've tried your lot's firewhisky and this stuff's twice as strong.' He took the shot glass off James and exchanged it with a glass of water. 'I think this is safer.'

Please Review :)

What do you think Marlene and Lily have been up to?