Christmas was getting closer and it was almost time to leave Hogwarts to return home. Christmas wasn't until Monday, so that meant that the train was leaving the Friday before. And classes were going on up and until that Thursday. "I don't feel like it will be Christmas soon." Peter sighed while they were doing homework in the common room Thursday night. "It is literally in a few days and we are still at school." Remus nodded. "I know the feeling. I forget it all the time and every time I walk into the Great Hall I am reminded again. I see the Christmas trees and think: Oh yeah… the holiday is soon." Sirius rolled up his parchment. "Well, I for starters already feel the Christmas spirit. I am literally counting down the days and tomorrow it finally hits zero!" James already gave up about twenty minutes ago with doing homework. He was tired and was just snoozing in his chair. He listened to his friends talking about Christmas and was imagining how Christmas this year would be.
When James was younger Christmas was usually one big festivity. There were always a lot of presents. New clothes, new games, every few years a new broom etc. James still remembered Christmas when he was just ten years old. His father said he could have a sip from his Butterbeer. After this sip James started coughing a lot, but remembered that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. His father had winked at him and told him that it would be their secret. His mother would have killed his father if she found out. James smiled thinking back about this memory. He was excited to see his parents again, but he noticed that nobody shared these feelings in their year anymore. Or they did, but it wasn't cool anymore to show that you were excited to see your parents again. So James decided he would act like it didn't bother him either. But he was lowkey happy to see them again.
"Guys, I am heading to bed." James stood up. "I am exhausted." Everybody wished him a good night. James walked up the stairs and headed to their dormitories. He walked straight to the bathroom and took a shower. This would probably wake him up somehow, but tomorrow morning it would be too much of an hassle. Remus, Peter and Sirius, all three of them, had to shower in the morning. So it was always a fight who was in their first. James had seen Sirius do some impressive magic to make sure he was the first one in. Even Peter hexed Sirius at one point that he was stuck to his bed. James was washing his hair and enjoying the warmth on his body. After a few minutes he stepped out of the shower and walked with just a towel around his hips back to his bed. He slipped in some clean underwear and his pajama's. He switched off the lights. His dorm was now pitch black. "Lumos." He whispered. His wand lit up in his hand and he guided himself towards his bed. "Nox." His wand went out. James closed his eyes, while enjoying the softness of his mattress. After a few minutes he drifted into a dreamless sleep, but he was rudely awakened in the morning by the sounds of his friends.
"Remus, listen to me. I am getting into the shower right now." It was Sirius his voice who said this. James groaned. Why couldn't they just shut up already. He regretted it that he didn't shut the curtains around his bed last night. At least it would block out most of the light. "Sirius. I told everyone last night that I would need to use the shower the moment I woke up in the morning. Why didn't you just wake up earlier?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Because I can decide whenever I wake up, right? Just like you do." Remus threw his hands up in the air out of frustration. "I wake up, every single morning, weekday or weekends, at the exact same time. You know what time I will be in the shower." Sirius said replied, but James couldn't quite understand what. Remus grabbed his towel and walked to the bathroom door. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't. "What the …" Remus said. Trying the doorknob again. Sirius now stood behind him. "Are you turning the knob the right way?" Remus turned around his heels. "Are you seriously asking me this right now? Of course I know how to open a door." Sirius cursed. But then they heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door. "It is Peter!" Sirius said in astonishment. "When did he get in?" Peter answered. James, who was now out of bed and getting dressed, had no idea what his answer was. "What do you mean you sneaked behind us when we were arguing?" Remus said. "You little rat!" Sirius said. He started pounding on the door. "Come on, get out of there." "No!" Peter said sternly. "I will come out whenever I am ready. And don't try to Alomahora this lock, there is no use." There were a few seconds of silence and again a curse from Sirius. James guessed that they indeed tried to open the door with magic but without success.
Remus and Sirius walked back into the room. James looked at them. "Well, maybe if at least one of you three would maybe also take a shower in the evening. It would make things a bit easier and less chaotic in the morning." Sirius groaned. "Not this again! We already told you James. We hate showers in the evening. My whole pillow will be wet if I go to sleep after it." Remus nodded. "And I need the feeling of being clean in the morning. I cannot go to sleep and lay still for 8 hours and not shower after that." James shrugged. It was officially the Christmas holiday and he didn't feel like arguing with his friend. Especially when they had to spend the following week together. "Merlin's beard. This will take forever with him." Sirius started pacing around. "I think I have an idea." He grabbed his stuff and walked out of the door. James and Remus were looking at each other. "Do you have any idea?" Remus asked. James nodded. "Maybe he will use the one for the prefects?" Remus shrugged. "Maybe. He better not be caught then."
After almost ten minutes Peter finally came out of the shower. "Finally. Thanks for hurrying." Remus said sarcastically while passing him. James laughed. "Did you just shower longer, just to annoy them?" Peter nodded while smiling. I literally was done in like five minutes. I just sat down on the floor and waited. Did it piss them off?" James laughed. "Amazing. Yeah kind of. But Sirius had another idea or something. No idea where he went." But right at that moment Sirius returned. "I used the prefect's one." He had a victorious look in his eyes. "Guessed that! But maybe we should tell Remus something different?" Sirius eyes started to glimmer and his smile turned sly. "What did you had in mind, mate?" James shared his idea with Sirius and Peter. Both of them were nodding along with the plan. "Perfect! I will go into detail and try to make him as uncomfortable as possible." James high fived him. "Please do! But we do need to hurry up for breakfast though." Sirius started pounding on the bathroom door. "We will leave with a few minutes for breakfast, whether you are there or not, Remus!"
Remus took his time, so the three of them already descended towards the Great Hall. They sat down at the Gryffindor table. James started loading up two plates. "Mate, are you hungry or what?" Sirius asked while looking at him. "No, the other one is for Remus. I don't know if he will be here on time before the food disappears." James took some toast, sausages and scrambled eggs. He filled two cups with pumpkin juice and started eating his own breakfast. And indeed, the food disappeared from the table. The plates were still there. Usually they weren't summoned by the house-elves until 30 minutes after they took the food away. Remus arrived a few minutes later in a hurry. "Damn it! I missed the food." He sat down and looked disappointed. "Thank you very much guys. Because of you I cannot have breakfast." Sirius was about to argue with him when James held up his hands. "Just shut up! Both of you! I am sick of hearing you argue about a stupid shower. Remus, I grabbed you some breakfast. Here you go!" He moved the plate in front of Remus. "You did?" His eyes lit up. "Thank you!" James smiled. "No problem. So everybody, stop arguing. Figure something out for this shower situation. You are now punishing each other by taking more time in the bathroom than needed. It has even gotten so far that Sirius seriously showered at the girls this morning."
Remus choked on his sausage. "Excuse me?" He said while coughing. Sirius grinned at his friend. "Yes mate! While Peter was hogging the bathroom and I knew you would hex me if I tried to be the next one, I just took matters into my own hand. So I went to the girl dormitories and showered there." Remus was now taking a big sip of his pumpkin juice. "Bullshit. You cannot take the stairs. They turn into a slide if a boys tries to get up there." Sirius seemed a bit taken back and James was surprised. He had no idea. "Well, I found the spell that reversed that." Remus squinted his eyes. "I still don't believe you. What is the spell to turn stairs into a slide?" Remus smirked at him. Sirius was thinking fast. "That has nothing to do with it. I just know the reverse-spell. That is enough. Why would I ever use a spell that turns stairs into a slide?" Remus rolled his eyes. "Because you will find the reverse spell underneath it. Congratulations Sirius, you almost had me. You sure wished you could shower there." Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, thank you very much. You almost make me throw up my breakfast." Remus shoved Sirius. "No need to be this nasty, mate. There are some fine ladies in Gryffindor." James couldn't help to think of Lily now. There sure was something about her. But seeing her shower? He shivered a bit with that idea. She wasn't ugly at all! But somehow that felt like invading her privacy. James was sure she wouldn't like that! Somehow it hit him that he would be away from school two weeks now. That he wouldn't see a lot of people for that amount of time. And he didn't say goodbye to anyone at all. Not even Lily. He felt a sting in his stomach thinking about it. He had no idea where it came from, but he knew he had to see her before he left.
"Earth to James. You still there mate?" James nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Was just thinking about that I still need to pack one thing into my trunk before we head to the train. I will be right back." He didn't hear the protests that his friends were saying. He knew that the trunks were probably already on their way to the train, but this was just an excuse for something else. He walked quickly up towards the Gryffindor tower, hoping he would find what he was looking for. Or more like, who he was looking for. He arrived at the portrait. He gave the password and the Fat Lady swung open. He climbed into the common room and looked around. He heart jumped up a bit when he saw a red-haired girl talking to another girl near the fire place.
He walked over to her. "Hi Lily, hi Alice. How are you two doing?" The two girls looked up at him. "We are fine, thank you. How about you, James?" Alice answered. He was about to answer when Lily interrupted him. "We were kind of in a conversation here, James." James felt a bit uncomfortable right now. "Oh yeah, I see. Well, I am sorry. I just wanted to speak to you, Lily." There was frown between her eyebrows when he said that. "Speak to me?" James was now shifting on his feet. "Yeah, like.. maybe private?" Alice was looking back and forth between James and Lily. She looked like she was trying to figure out what was going on. Lily looked so surprised and confused that she was kind of lost for words. "Yeah, sure. I will walk with you." But Alice stood up. "No, it's fine. I need to find Frank anyway. I'll go. Enjoy your holiday James." James wished Alice the same and sat down on the chair that she just left unoccupied. "Okay, spill your beans." James looked into her emerald green eyes. He tried to swallow, but somehow his mouth was really dry all of the sudden.
"Well, I was just thinking about that I will head home for the holidays and won't be at Hogwarts for the upcoming two weeks. So I won't see you or something." Her eyes widened when he said this. "But not just you!" James added quickly. He was now fumbling on the sleeve of his robes. "Just like, a lot of people you know. Also eh, my eh, my teammates." Lily frowned, but smiled. "Okay, yeah that is true. But even if you stayed you still would not see me. I am also returning home for Christmas." James nodded. "Ah yeah, I see. Well that is nice. To be with your family I mean." But at the moment he said family he saw that her eyes flickered a bit and she stared at the floor. "Is it not nice to be with your family?" He asked. Lily looked up, looking kind of sad. "It is really nice, but it is complicated. Maybe a story for later!" James was thinking of ways to cheer her up. "Well, you can always come to my house if you want to. Remus, Sirius and Peter will also be there." As soon as he said it he could hit himself. Why would she ever want to do that? She barely talked to Peter or Sirius. This was just stupid. But Lily smiled. "Thank you, James. That is kind. But I will survive at home." James laughed nervously. "I sure hope you do. It be a waste if you didn't." Lily chuckled. "I guess! So is this what you wanted to say to me in private? You wanted to invite me over?" James couldn't help but to smile when he thought about having Lily over for Christmas. But somehow it felt weird. They barely spend any time alone at Hogwarts. So what must the be thinking right now? James Potter inviting Lily Evans over for Christmas, all by herself? "Well, that would also go for your friends of course." Lily smile faded a bit. "Oh I see, yeah. Yeah sure. Of course. Well, maybe you could invite them yourself if you really want them there. I already said my goodbyes to Marlene and Mary. They were picked up last night by their parents. Something about a holiday. So big chance they wouldn't be able to attend your Christmas party." Again James got the feeling he made a mistake by saying all of this stuff to Lily. She seemed a bit taken a back, maybe even offended. But by what? He was going over this conversation in his head. Yeah sure, this wasn't his best or smoothest conversation. But he was nice, he tried to cheer her up… so why was it that she gave him this feeling?
"Probably not, yeah. But okay, I just wanted to let you know. Well, Lily." James stood up. He didn't want to go, but he had no idea what to talk about furthermore without sounding stupid or forced. He looked again straight into her green eyes. He had never seen this shade of green before. "I hope you have a very good Christmas and a happy new year. See you in the new year!" Lily wished him the same with a white smile. "Thank you James. I wish you the same. Goodbye!" He waved and left. He returned back the corridors and just slumped down the first corner he saw. He groaned into his hands. "What was that? Why did I just do that? She must think you are a moron now! Stupid, stupid, stupid. Be cool from now on. What girl would want to hang with someone who is this nervous?" He heard some footsteps. "James, are you talking to yourself right now and what, in Merlin's beard, are you doing on the floor?" James looked up and in front of him were Sirius, Remus and Peter. "Yeah nothing. Just sat down for a moment. The trunks were already gone and the common room was to crowded for me." "Well, I still need to get my coat. So just stay here while I get it." Remus said and he walked to the Fat Lady. He disappeared into the hole. A few minutes later he returned back with his coat and a grin. He looked a bit suspiciously at James. "Okay, that was it. Ready guys?" Everybody nodded. The four of them walked down and made their way to the train. It was ready to head to the Potter Mansion for Christmas.
Authors note: I promised another chapter before the holidays and I delivered! Hopefully you guys like it! It isn't about Christmas yet, but that is in the next one. I was crazy busy the last week and will be with family and parties the upcoming days. So I had to find time in between stuff to write.
This one is another one from James POV. I adjusted my chapters a bit. This one wasn't planned. So maybe you guys need to wait a bit longer for Lily's POV. But now that I wrote her into this story it could be easier to write about her from this point on. It leaves me with a bit more inspiration. If anyone has any questions or requests, please let me know. Also any feedback is welcome! Fav and/or follow to get a notification about any new chapters!
To all my readers, I wish you very happy and blessed holidays! May it be filled with a lot of health, luck, patience, food, friendship, family, love and fun! Thank you for reading my story and making me happy!