~*~*Chapter 13: Christmas and Snow*~*~ (A/N: Nothing important happens in this chapter, this is just a sweet part.)

The sounds of cheers and whoops were what awoke Lily. She woke with a start, jumping slightly and waking James up also.

"Yeah, and you teased me about sleeping with Sirius!" Ali called to her friend.

"You did 'what' with him??" a few of Sierra's 5th year friends that were listening called.

"I meant sleeping on. . .I mean by Sirius!" Ali recovered quickly. "By him!"

"Yeah, sure, ya did Als," James said, smiling sleepily.

"And once again, Mr. and Mrs. Potter have won for cutest couple in the common room. . .besides the other two contestants," Sierra quipped.

"You two made up, have you?" Sirius said gleefully.

"I hope so," James said.

"Good," Remus said. "Let's go to breakfast then."

*%&^*

After breakfast, the boys left to go to Divination, Ali and Lily went to Transfiguration, and Sierra went to Advanced DADA.

. . . During Divination. . .

"Ugh, this lot's as boring as hell," Sirius commented, yawning.

"Uh. . .I think hell's more thrilling," James said sleepily.

"What a way to start the morning, huh?" Remus agreed. "Falling right asleep again."

"Gaze into the tea cups dears. . . and describe the depictions of what you discover. . ." Professor Trewlawney said mistily. (A/N: I'm assuming she was alive in these times, too, all right?)

James yawned. "Why are we repeating this if we've done it in 3rd year?"

"'Tis a review, dear."

"Right," James said in a defeated sort of way. He squinted his eyes and tried to see what the mushed up tea leaves read. "Er. . .is that a dog? Looks more like a. . .like a. . .a circle. . .with eyes, a tail and a snout. . .a pig?"

"The pig is a sure sign of difficulty in a relationship. . .Surely you are noticing the troubles Lily Evans is having with you?" Trewlawney said lightly. The class giggled and sniggered, but James didn't seem to find it that funny.

"Alas, are you aware that a sword is revolving in your cup?" the professor noted to Sirius. "The sword. . .a sure sign of an argument with a close friend. . .perhaps more than just a close friend." Sirius frowned.

"And, dear," she pointed out to Remus, "your tea leaves indicate that a goat is onto of a patch of flowers, do you not see? This clearly means that misfortune will occur in your daily love, honor and esteem values. My, you three better look out for yourselves. . .your love lives don't stand a chance when the moon and Venus are moving so quickly together," she said sniffily. Just then the bell rang and James, Sirius and Remus left, less than amused.

(A/N: WAIT! One quick note-I'm kinda into this whole divination thing, so I have a book that tells me what stuff means.so yeah, I wasn't making that up, just for you to know.it's factual divination!)

"That old bat," Sirius grumbled after leaving for their next class. "What does she know about our love lives?"

"She's a Seer, remember?" James muttered back. "And she's jinxing Lily and me. How rude."

"You guys didn't actually believe that stuff, did'ja?" Remus said confidentially.

"'Course not. She just didn't have to say it in front of everyone."

"Yeah. . .guess so. . ." ^$^$^$

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and pretty soon, December was taking over and chilliness came over the castle. Snow started sprinkling the ground gently, as the high winds brushed plants and dirt around.

The teenagers were inside, working on some homework. Lily sighed and lay her quill down. "Done! Thank god. . .last homework essay before Christmas break!"

"Wait! I've still got a few inches of writing left," moaned Sierra, over the top of her Transfiguration essay.

"At least you're doing Transfiguration. . .we're stuck with a History of Magic thing.two rolls of parchment, plus a bibliography!" Ali said in disgust.

Sierra wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. . .And Binns strikes again."

"So," Lily said, clapping her hands together "Where're the guys?"

"Uh . ..I think Sirius said something about a chess tournament . . .but I could be wrong!" Ali called, since Lily was already leaving through the portrait hole.

*$*$*

"Hey," Lily greeted James cheerily, standing behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek.

"Hey yourself," James said, flashing her a sparkling smile.

"Soooo, what'cha doin'?" she said playfully, messing up James's hair, watching Sirius and Remus battling at chess.

"I'm waiting for these guys to finish a game, so I can play," James answered patiently.

Lily pouted. "It's snowing. Come outside with me. Pweaseeee???"

James glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled. "Fine, let me just get a coat or something, though."

&^&^&

"WHEEE!!!" Lily screamed, jumping into a huge pile of snow. White fluff covered her eyelashes and nose, her cheeks rose colored with the cold. Her dark cherry hair was hidden beneath a blanket of winter powder.

"James! C'mon!" Lily called as she dove into another pile of snow. James stood with an uncertain smile on his face. He said doubtfully, "Uh, that's ok, Lils." He looked around. "Lils?" He called into the emptiness. Lily was no where to be see. "Lil? Lily. . .where'd you go. . .?"

Suddenly, he was knocked down, face first into the snow by someone jumping onto his back.

"WHEEE!!!" she yelped, riding on her boyfriend as he cascaded to the ground.

"Lily!" he yelled, trying to be angry. But he couldn't help it, he just had to crack a smile.

"See, I told you you'd have fun."

"You did?"

"Well. . .I thought it."

James forced a laugh. "Uh. . .Lily? Can you get off, please?" he asked, still under the redhead.

"Oh, yeah," Lily said, rolling off him and into the snow next to him. She stood up to face him.

"Catch me if you can, James!" she cried, running as fast as she could away from him. James rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Yeah, I remember this game," he said, chasing her.

They had played this multiple times before, before they were together, when they were younger and just playfully flirting.

James caught up behind her and tackled her to the ground. She landed face first and then she rolled over, laughing and gasping for breath under James, who was propped up on one arm over her. Slowly her laughs subsided and she leaned in towards James. James pulled her face close to his, kissing her lightly. She kissed back more with more intensity, and so on. They finally broke apart and stared each other down. They laughed. "Remember that?" Lily asked softly.

"What? The kissing or the game?"

"The game, you prat," Lily said, slapping his arm jokingly.

"Yup. . .good times, huh?"

Lily looked away from him, even if he was still hovering over her. "Very good times," she agreed. She was speaking in a soft meaningful voice, like she was saying exactly what she was thinking.

"Sometimes I wish we could still have the old days. When we were only friends and we could tell each other anything. we'd sit around all day and talk forever -about how Hogwarts would be, writing songs, doing anything really - and we were best friends. We saw each other everyday. . .played tag and Quidditch games. Nothing could ever come between us." She paused here and looked longingly out to the horizon, as if remembering her childhood clearly. She smiled slightly.

"But then I wonder. . . . What would it be like? If you hadn't lied about us" James looked guiltily at her "and Sirius hadn't found out, we wouldn't be together this very day. We wouldn't have. . .love." Lily glanced at James, who was listening carefully. The sun was dying away, melting the sky into dozens of splashes of light. The air was picking up gently. Wind brushed peacefully across Lily's face, bringing a few strands of hair across her lips and cheeks. She drew in a shuddering breath.

"It's like the wind . . . .I can't see it.but I can feel it," Lily said, still speaking in a soft wistful sort of way. James finally spoke.

"What d'you feel?" he asked lightly.

Lily thought for a few seconds, closing her eyes and feeling the wind. "I feel wonder.love.beauty.joy. Strength.courage.and passion . . .. I mean, it's the center of everything."

James was transfixed by her words. "I love you," he said after a while.

Lily closed her eyes. "I love you too.you know that, right?"

"Yeah.yeah, I do."

"And now our love'll be carried into the air to someone far away." Lily said, giggling slightly.

"No wonder you rock at writing songs!"

Lily grinned shyly. "Thanks."

"It's getting cold, Lily.let's go in?"

"Yeah, ok."

(A/N: YES! OK OK, I stole that whole thing from A Walk To Rememeber! So sue me! ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!! You know what? I think I'm going to go upstairs to watch it.)