Chapter 25;

Note: This is set Christmas Eve.

James's POV

It was Christmas Eve and not a sound could be heard in the Potter household. Not a person was awake, well, except James Potter, who was staring at his clock and willing the little, red numbers to change. It seemed as if the clock was running slower than usual, just to mess with his head. And mess with his head it was. He only wanted to make Christmas the most perfect event for Lily, as it was her first Christmas without her parents. Lately, he'd noticed the decline in her moods as the holiday grew closer. Everyone in the household had been trying their hardest to distract her. They'd taken her shopping, (James, Sirius, Rosie and Remus) which only ended up making her feel worse and had gotten Rosie and Sirius into trouble by a book shop owner. How had they managed that you might ask? Snogging behind a book seemed to not be the owner's idea of 'properly using a book'. Anna Lee had encouraged her to cook and all that ended up doing was making Lily burst into tears and run from the room, leaving a rather guilty Anna Lee to stare after her without really knowing how to act.

James had spent days trying to coax the girl into talking to him and when she had, James had become exceedingly worried, having found out that Lily didn't even want to celebrate the holiday. That was not something Lily would usually do, which made James torment himself on making the perfect plan to bring Lily into the Christmas spirit. Henceforth, he'd decided to try and do anything within his power to make it amazing for her.

The only problem seemed to be, coming up with an idea that would brighten up Lily's currently stormy mood. James hated seeing Lily in those moods and it literally hurt him to not see a brilliant smile on her face. Hopefully, the plan that had taken days for him to come up with would make his girlfriend smile that radiant smile of hers. Hopefully.

With one last look at the annoying clock, James had to stifle a happy yelp. 11:30 pm. It seemed like he'd been off in la-la land for a long period of time. Well, long enough for it to bring the time close enough for him to put his plan into action. James still had plenty of time for him to get dressed and collect his sleepy girlfriend.

Sliding out of his bed, he tried to not trod on Sirius but just realised it was a lump of pillows and blankets. That caused slight annoyance to rush through James, but he tried to desperately push it down. It wasn't really anyone's fault that his best mate was spending yet another night with the nightmare prone girl two doors down.

Getting down on his hands and knees, James began fumbling around for pants,. Finally, he located a pair buried under the side of Sirius's mattress/bed. Whatever it was called, his best mate hardly used it nowadays, opting to spend the night comforting Rosie instead. James really couldn't blame his best mate for that, as Rosie was still struggling with conquering the nightmares that had been induced by the words now engraved into her once smooth skin. It seemed as if she'd been getting better through Sirius's help, but James couldn't help but miss spending time with the bloke.

After a moment of being lost in his own thoughts, James pulled on his pants, a warm, red sweater and his Gryffindor scarf, before slipping out of his room with a rolled up blanket under his arm. As soon as he'd left his room, the cool air made him shiver slightly and also caused him to crave the comforting warmth from his bed. But he couldn't go back, not now, not when Lily's happiness was at stake. So, with a few deep breaths, he crept over to the room Lily and Remus were sharing and knocked quietly before he opened the door and snuck over to Lily's bed, giving her foot a small shake.

She woke almost instantly, and he had to cover her mouth with his hand so she didn't scream. "Lils...Lils, calm down. It's me." Lily's eyes widened and she nodded, calming down almost instantly. "James?" Her voice was slightly muffled against his hand, but he heard her anyway. Quickly, James nodded and gestured outside. "Come on Lils, I have a surprise for you." Gingerly, Lily got out of the bed, James's hand finally removed from her mouth, and pulled on the thick coat and scarf he was holding out to her. Holding up a finger to his lips, James led her downstairs and out the back door, heading straight to the little river hidden in the middle of the forest.

Ice glittered in the moonlight, having covered the small river in the middle of the forest. The forest had always reminded James of a winter wonderland during Christmas, and it had remained his favourite season since he was little. No one knew about the little hideaway James had discovered. Not of the huge pine trees and the icicles that clung to the trees branches. Not of the way the stars looked at their brightest in that particular spot.

Before they'd left the house, James had collected a thermos filled with Anna Lee's fabulous hot chocolate and with the blanket still tucked under his arm, had led a still sleepy Lily into the woods.

Once they'd reached the river, Lily had looked around in wonder, her mouth open into the shape of an 'O'. "James...this place is beautiful..." She looked at him and gave him that gorgeous smile of his, the smile that always set his heart aflutter. James took her hand in his and trailed soft kissed along her knuckles. "Glad you like it, love." She smiled even wider and let him pull her close and start to sway. "Why'd you wake me up at this time?" Lily asked curiously, a special twinkle in her eye. James chuckled and carefully tilted her chin up and brought his lips down to hers. "To give you the best Christmas Ever," He murmured against her lips before pulling her even closer.