"Christmas! Finally!" James punched his hand in the air. He breathed out and watched as the thick air from his mouth floated through the air and disappeared.

Remus laughed. "I don't think he's ever been this excited about Christmas before!" he said, nudging Peter in the ribs.

"I know, it's a bit scary!" agreed Peter.

James saw a rather excellent pile of snow on the ground and raised his eyes suggestively at Remus. Remus started backing away. "Oh no – I refuse – last time you got a bit in my eye and…" Remus didn't get a chance to finish. From behind a big thud of snow landed into his head. "Hey!" he protested, turning round. It was Snape and Malfoy, grinning.

James and Sirius raised their eyebrows at each other then all four of them brought out from behind their backs big balls of snow. Malfoy and Snape were about to run away, when the snow hit them both in the face. Soon snow was flying everywhere. Magical snowballs!

Peter laughed and turned round. "Oh, hey Lily," he said, seeing his friend walk towards him.

"Lily?" When James was turned round, he was knocked by a snowball and staggered slightly, only to be caught by Lily herself.

"Oh, thanks," James mumbled, then seeing Lily's eyes, he gulped nervously. "Hi…" he whispered.

Lily gazed back. She didn't smile but her eyes twinkled at him merrily. "Hi," she whispered back.

After a while, James realised that lily's arms were still around him, and pulled off coughing. "Um…what are you doing here?"

Lily shrugged. "I was just walking and I saw my favourite boys playing with snow. Thought I'd wander over."

Sirius walked up to Lily and offered her a snowball. "Fancy one?" he asked cheekily.

Lily laughed. "Love to but…no!" She glanced at James. "See you."

"Yeah, see ya later Lils."

James grinned, then absent-mindedly threw a snowball in Sirius' face, almost making him blind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Tis not goodbye, tis only farewell," said James, pretending to weep as he clung onto Lindsay's arms.

"Um…there, there, James…uh…will someone get this guy off me?"

James laughed. "Merry Christmas, Lindsay."

"Merry Christmas, James." Lindsay turned to walk off to the station. She turned back. "Oh, and I apologise now for your present. See ya!" She walked off leaving James feeling confused.

He walked to the Great Hall to find the rest of the Marauders.

"All packed and ready to go?" he said finding Sirius saying his goodbyes to a few people.

"Yep." Sirius turned lugging his heavy suitcase.

"You really need to learn how to bring less, Sirius!"

"We do live here you know! These are my only belongings in the world!"

James laughed. "Yeah. Apart from your room at home with all you other stuff in it."

"Merry Christmas Prongs," said Sirius, deciding to drop the subject.

"Merry Christmas Padfoot." James patted his long-time friend on the back heartily. "Have Remus and Peter gone on?"

"Yeah, they told me to say bye to you and they'll miss you with all their heart blah blah blah."

James grinned. It was only gonna be a few weeks, but he was really gonna miss Sirius. He didn't say so though.

He waved at him as Sirius exited the Great Hall. James looked around at the few people staying. He spotted Lily and walked over calmly. He sat down opposite her. "Hello."

"Hello."

Silence. Their being together was getting harder, and James could begin to see the strain Lily was carrying.

"Freddy not joining us?"

"No, he's spending Christmas with his dying gran." Lily didn't look sympathetic. More annoyed. "What am I going to do, James?" she said in more hushed tones. "I can't dump him now that his gran's dying. And she'll be dead when he comes back probably. That's an even worse time to end it with him. And it's Christmas!" Lily rested her head in her hand and banged her elbow down on the table.

"You sure it's me you'd be happier with?" James whispered.

Lily looked at him lopsidedly. "With all my heart," she said seriously.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The week leading up to Christmas was the best week of James' life. With Lily by his side, and hardly any need for secrecy, there was nothing for him to worry about. They went for walks around the gardens, trips to Hogsmede for last minute Christmas shopping, and sometimes, they just lay around the dormitories, talking. James loved it.

"Merry Christmas, James!" Lily pulled back James' curtains, blinding him by sunlight.

James' covered his eyes. "Morning Lily…" he said yawning. "Christmas already, is it?" he grinned and pulled her in for a kiss. "Merry Christmas."

They opened their presents eagerly, sitting on James' bed. James laughed out loud when he opened Lindsay's  present. She was right to apologise for it. It was some soap. "I think I get the hint!" James laughed.

Next he opened a present labelled the Marauders. He ripped apart the wrapping paper and gazed in awe at the contents. It was an invisibility cloak! "What's that?" asked muggle-born Lily.

"It's an invisibility cloak…" James mumbled, lost for words. "I can't believe it. How on earth could they afford this?!"

Lily didn't seem very excited. "So…what, you put it on and you become invisible?"

James said nothing. Lily didn't know how rare and expensive these were. "So that explains all the other crappy presents I've been getting all these years – they must have been saving up…"

James was still speechless, so Lily poked him. "Open up my present."

"Huh? Sorry – yeah." James reluctantly placed the invisibility cloak on the bed, and tore his eyes away to look at the reindeer-wrapping paper box that Lily had handed to him. "Merry Christmas!" she said.

James ripped the wrapping paper off. "That took me ages to wrap," Lily sighed.

It was chain with a little heart on it. James opened up the heart, and inside was a picture of him and Lily. James smiled as the picture James grinned happily and kissed Lily.

"I know it's a bit girlie, but I thought you'd like it…" started Lily, thinking he was laughing at it.

"I love it!" James said, kissing his Lily.

Lily grinned happily. "Where's my present then?" she asked.

James handed it over nervously. "Now, it's not what you think," he said quickly.

Lily raised her eyebrows, then opened it. It was a small little bow and inside was a ring. It was a silver ring with a pure diamond heart on it. Lily gazed at it. "Oh, it's beautiful!" she said quietly.

James got the ring out of the box and placed it on Lily's finger. "Lily?" he asked, getting down on one knee. Lily gasped. "Will you…be my girlfriend and dump Freddie?"

Lily laughed with relief. "I thought you were going to ask me to marry you then!"

James grinned. "That was the general idea!" Then his face became serious. "Will you?"

Lily sighed. "I'll try."

"Not good enough." James got up and sat on the bed next to Lily. "This past week has been amazing – not having to sneak around all that much. I don't wanna go back to all that secrecy again as soon as Freddie gets here." James sighed. "Look, Freddie's a mate. I'm secretly snogging his girlfriend – what would he think of me if he found out?"

Lily smiled wryly. "Ok. I'll dump him. But…just give me a little bit longer – ok?"

James smiled. "That'll have to do." They kissed.

a/n: big apologies for crappy chapter. Hope you enjoyed it anyway!