Authors note: This chapter is just basically James and Lily fluff – but I l fluff so it's staying in :D plus it passes the day! Hehee and it enjoyed writing it! xxx
Chapter 25: Christmas tree
"Sorry kids." Edward said apologetically.
"We've been called out to a raid in the next county, we have to go. See you soon." Sarah added, her voice slightly strained, the stress of the job and all the attacks, showing in her voice. Pulling her husband towards the door, she let go of his hand ran down to gate to apparate the auror headquarters at the ministry of magic.
"Be safe!" Edward called out as he too ran out the door after his wife. This seemingly innocent warning to the boys made them blush profusely. Lily and Hestia looked at each other completely confused.
"What?" Hestia asked, trying to wrangle an answer out of either boy, fixing them with an intent glare, staring into their face one at a time.
"Nothing!" James squeaked, his voice an octave higher than usual.
"When's Remus getting here?" Hestia asked a moment later when she realised the boys were not going to answer her.
"Tomorrow morning, he had to see his parents before he could come here." Sirius answered his face still slightly red. Hestia nodded; she opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a loud crack. Turning to face the noise, Lily was greeted with the sight of the house elf Max.
"Dinner will now be served Master Potter." And with a low bow, he apparated out.
"Grubs up!" Sirius said gleefully, rubbing his hands together. Sirius made for the door, but Hestia put a firm hand on his shoulder to stop him dead in his tracks.
"Shouldn't we wait for Edward and Sarah?" she questioned.
"It's alright, they could be gone until tomorrow, we should eat now." James replied with a smile, although it didn't reach his eyes. The group all looked expectantly at Hestia.
"Go on!" she laughed as James and Sirius raced out the room and down the hall towards the dining room. Linking her arm through her best friend's, Hestia grinned.
"May I escort you to dinner m'lady?"
"I would be honoured!" Lily giggled as they followed the boys down towards the dining room.
After a large course of rich lasagne and chips with garlic bread, the group were filled to bursting. Hestia had loosened his belt buckle to allow for more food, James was groaning and rubbing his stomach, Lily was wondering if she'd ever be able to walk again or if she'd have to roll and Sirius… well he was still shovelling another slice of garlic bread into his mouth without a second thought.
"This dinner is amazing." Hestia gushed. "I wish I could eat more!" she moaned.
"Max is a great cook." James mused. With the mention of his name, Max appeared beside Lily's chair, causing her to jump out of her seat, she hadn't expected the house elf to appear so close! James giggled and Hestia covered her mouth with her hand to cover a smirk, Lily gave them death glares – that was not funny.
"I'm sorry for scaring you Miss Lily." Max apologised, his eyes scanning the table at the empty plates. "Are you all finished?" he asked. The group all nodded and Sirius looked thoroughly offended.
"NOOOOO!" Sirius yelled protectively, cradling his arms around his plate. Max looked confused; his eyes crossed a little as if in deep thought.
"Yes Max, we are all finished." Hestia said firmly. Sirius leant back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest, sulking. With a click of Max's spindly fingers the plates were gone, much to Sirius' disappointment.
"Would you like dessert?" the house elf asked.
"I'm too full Max." Hestia groaned, clutching her stomach.
"Me too max, don't think I could eat another thing." Lily concluded.
"Sirius will have some though." James grinned.
"You know me so well prongs!" Sirius replied with a beam. Max smiled and disappeared.
Once Sirius had finished his generous portion of apple crumble with custard – which looked amazing, and everyone else had drooled just looking at it, everyone was finished and waddled through to the living room where they all collapsed onto sofa's, full to burst.
"You know what we should do now?" Sirius asked, after a few minutes.
"What?" Hestia and Lily asked in unison. The boys smiled at their togetherness, the girls didn't seem to have noticed, they'd been friends for so long that saying things at the same time or finishing each other's sentences was a normal occurrence.
"We should decorate the Christmas tree!" he replied proudly.
"That is actually quite a good idea Padfoot." James mused, and a minute later the room was swamped with glittering baubles and strips of tinsel shimmering in the light. A large tree stood in the corner of the room, it was almost as large as the ones Hagrid got for the Great hall at Hogwarts, Lily had no idea where James could have got it from!
"Me first!" Hestia giggled, picking up a string of fairy lights and twirling through the branches of the tree. Lily noted how none of the needles of the tree came loose when Hestia positioned the lights throughout the tree, Lily wondered why; on her tree at home, you couldn't even brush past it without spraying pine needles all over the room and by New Year the tree had dropped so many of its needles that it looked naked.
"Why don't the needles fall off James?" Lily asked, still trying to work it out.
"Lily, I'm a wizard. Does that answer your question?" James smirked. Lily blushed slightly, of course it was magic! How could she not know that? Luckily for her Sirius hadn't heard her, he was too busy arguing with Hestia where the silver tinsel should go, at the bottom or top. James scooched up on the sofa and put his arm around Lily, pulling her closer to him. Gently pressing a kiss onto her temple, Lily smiled.
"My little muggle." He whispered into her ear as his kissed down her jawline and the top of her neck causing her whole body to erupt with goose bumps.
"I resent that." Lily whispered back, laughing lightly.
"What muggle or kisses?" James whispered, his voice tickling her ear and causing her to squirm into James' lap, who wrapped his arms round her tightly.
"Both." she said defiantly, trying to wriggle out of James' grip.
"Not so fast Lily-kins, you have to stay here with me forever!" James grinned, tickling her across her stomach, causing her to scream out.
"James!" Lily screamed, hitting his hands to stop him tickling her. Sirius and Hestia turned round and smirked.
"Remember James, be safe." Sirius laughed. James eyes widened and he loosened his grip around Lily's waist as his face flushed scarlet. Sighing a sigh of relief, Lily leant back against James' body, thankful the tickling was over, so much so that she didn't see James' face blush, Hestia's confusion or Sirius' smirk.
"Come on." Lily said a minute later, pulling James up from the sofa! "Let's decorate the tree!" the tinsel and lights were done and were sparkling away, but the baubles were still sat in the box, glittering as she approached. Lifting up a silver bauble with blue detail, she placed it on one of the middle branches.
20 minutes later the whole tree was covered in a blanket of baubles, in fact the actual tree was barely visible underneath all the baubles which dangled from every branch and glinted in the dim light as the sun set.
"I want to put the star on top!" Hestia squealed, grabbing the six pointed star from the bottom of the box of Christmas decorations, a few lone baubles rolled around the bottom, not having the space on the tree they'd have to stay there until next year.
"Alright, come here." Sirius said, lifting Hestia up around her waist. Squealing, she leant up to the top of the tree and delicately placed the star on the top most branches, swiping baubles away with her hand so she could actually put it on. The four of them stood back and admired their masterpiece, it glittered and sparkled like it was made of crystal, Hestia let out a sigh as she revelled at how beautiful it looked.
"Looks good." Sirius concluded.
"Indeed!" Lily replied with a grin.
"Now I want a tour of the house! Lead the way Sirius, we'll see you later guys!" Hestia waved as she whisked Sirius out of the room and to the floor above by the sound of their feet pounding on the stairs.
"I don't even want to know what they're doing!" Lily sighed. James managed a chuckle, but it seemed forced. Slumping down into the sofa, he ran his hand through his hair and let out a long deep breath. Lily flopped down next to him and laid her head on his chest, snuggling in close to him. After a while of just sitting there in silence enjoying each other's company, James was still on edge. Edward and Sarah had only been gone an hour and a half and yet James was already jittery. He insisted he was fine, but he couldn't sit still, fidgeting in his seat was something James did when he was nervous, and right now he was virtually jumping up and down.
"They'll be fine James." Lily soothed, sitting up and stroking a stray piece of James' hair which stuck out.
"But will they? How do you know?" James snapped. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. He'd shouted at Lily and the hurt in her eyes made him feel sick with guilt. "I'm sorry Lily." He apologised, pulling her in close. She nuzzled her head into the crevice between his neck and shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent. Stroking her hair as it fell over her shoulders, he lightly kissed her cheek. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have snapped."
Pulling away, she smiled and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"It's okay, I understand James. You're worried, I get that."
"You're perfect, you know that?" James smiled. Pulling her face close to his with a hand on the back of her neck, he kissed her deeply. Their bodies were only an inch apart and Lily pushed herself closer to James, closing the gap. Running her hand through his hair, she leant back, pulling him down on top of her. Laughing slightly, his mouth still against hers. Slowly he moved his lips away from hers and kissed along her jawline, she let out a small moan of pleasure, James grinned. Continuing the line of her jaw, he kissed down her neck planting feather light kisses as he went. Shivering with pleasure, Lily knew they had to stop.
"James…" she whispered, a tingle of excitement spreading through her body like a tidal wave.
"Hmmm?" he replied, returning to her jawline and moving towards her mouth, his hand running up the side of her leg and torso, feeling every curve of her body underneath his light touch.
"We have to stop." She managed, pushing him off her slightly. Sitting up, he kept an arm round her waist so she remained close to him.
"Why ever is that Lily Evans?" James grinned, planting a kiss on her nose. She frowned at the use of her full name but carried on nevertheless.
"Well if your parents were to walk in now, what they think?" James grimaced at the thought, he was pretty open with his parents, but that was going a bit too far.
"Plus if we go any further, we wouldn't be able to stop ourselves…" Lily added, blushing slightly. James smirked.
"And would that be such a bad thing?" he whispered into her ear.
"James!" Lily shrieked, both of them giggling.
"I know, I get it." He smiled, stroking her hair, he still looked uneasy.
"Are you worried about your parents?" Lily asked softly.
"They go on missions like this all the time, and they're bloody good aurors." James concluded, almost bitterly. His hazel eyes filled with sadness. The fairy lights on the tree were reflected in James' glass, making his eyes dance. The fire crackled away, filling the room with orange light and casting strange shaped shadows around the room as the furniture blocked its reach.
"That's not what I asked." Lily teased.
"Fine, I'm worried, I feel sick just thinking about it."
And with that silence fell, Lily didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell him everything would be okay, because it might not be, his parents had a dangerous job, a very dangerous job; they put their lives on the line every day to save the rest of the wizarding world. And in that moment Lily understood how important a job being an auror was. She wondered what it would be like if she was in James' position and her parents were going out to fight dark forces who wanted them dead – she choked back a sob; she didn't think she'd be able to cope with worry. Her parents were a florist and a gardener – much safer professions.
They just sat there entwined with each other for Merlin knows how long. When Lily's eyes lazily drifted over to the clock, she was surprised to see it was nearly midnight.
"Come on James – we should go to bed." She suggested, poking James in the ribs with her elbow, he was snoring lightly, his eyes closed.
"What? Hmmm?" he asked groggily.
"Bed." Lily instructed.
"Are my parents' home yet?" James asked, still keeping a tight hold of Lily.
"No." Lily replied, not daring to look at James' face for fear of seeing the disappointment and worry evident in those big hazel spheres.
"I'm worried…" he replied.
"I know darling, I know…" Lily trailed off, gently stroking James' cheek with her thumb.
"Can I stay with you tonight?" James asked. Lily was inclined to say no, but seeing the pain in James' eyes, she couldn't decline.
"Of course." She said, kissing his cheek.
Pushing open the door to hers and Hestia's room, Lily was not surprised to find Hestia's bed empty, she'd probably still be with Sirius, Lily mused. The fire was still burning brightly, its flames dancing round the hearth. Lily took out her wand and tapped her clothing and it changed into a pair of loose fitting black shorts and a white vest top, she didn't fancy getting dressed in front of James; who pulled off his shirt and Lily felt her eyes scan over his rippling muscles as he took off his shirt, of course she'd seen James' muscles before, but she still wouldn't turn down another look. James however was unaware of Lily's wandering eyes as he pulled off her quilt and settled inside, still wearing his grey trackies that he'd been wearing all day, his shirt absently abandoned on the floor. Lily slipped in beside him as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I love you Lily."
"I love you James." But Lily doubted he heard her, he was already snoring lightly, his breath tickling her face. Smiling to herself, she settled down to sleep.
Author's note: Lots of James/Lily fluff! Hope you liked it though… Remember to review if you liked it! I've already written the next chapter and probably some more by the time I upload this so hopefully my updates will be quicker from now on! *crosses fingers* TTFN!
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