Chapter 8
The beginning months of school passed before Lily knew it. October turned to November, and November turned swiftly into December. Snow fell to the ground on the last day the students had to pack if they weren't staying at Hogwarts during the Christmas break. Lily wasn't one of them, for a change.
She and Hestia bad both decided to stay, while Sirius and James went back to James's house for the winter holidays. The quartet sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, sulking about. Sirius didn't want to go back, but he wanted to stay with James because his parents were nice. Hestia didn't want to stay, but she was forced to because of her mother being at St. Mungo's.
Lily and James were almost the same. Lily didn't want to go back to her house. Petunia would just nag her to death. James didn't want to go home because he wanted to stay with Lily during Christmastime. Obviously, his parents wished him back to their house, so there was no helping that fact.
"Oye, I don' wanna leave the castle. Too beautiful at this time," Sirius motioned to the windows, clouded with piles of snow. A thump sounded and he saw a snowball collide with the glass.
"You're right," James muttered, sulking in his armchair.
"Well, I, for one, don't want to stay in a castle when it's freezing in every single corridor!" Lily shivered, even as she sat on the rug nearest to the fire. Indeed, it was cold, even with the fire going as high as it would in this weather.
"You're lucky you both have a home to go to right now," Hestia mumbled, leaning against a wall near the window that Sirius had gazed out of a while ago. She was wrapped up in a fuzzy maroon sweater that made her seem as if she was the only one in the Common Room fit for the weather inside and outside of the castle.
Sirius glanced at her and shook his head with a sigh. "Hey, you have family that thinks you're a wonder, though. Mine has decided to blow my name of the tapestry that hangs in my house." Sirius rarely talked about his family, as they were Purebloods on their Pureblooded Mania craze. Anyone who associated with Muggles or Muggle-born witches or wizards was considered a traitor, naming Sirius one for many occasions.
"Oh well. Let's not talk about how stupid our families are," Lily muttered through chattering teeth. Grumbling about something, she pulled her heavy cloak over her shoulders. "Why don't we all go bundle up and go outside? Have a little snow war?"
"I call Sirius's side!" Hestia jumped out of her phase immediately and clung onto Sirius's left arm. He just grinned at her and shook his head.
"Well, I guess that leaves you and me, Potter," Lily snorted, pulling herself up from the rug. James rolled his eyes, something Lily would've done if she were in his position. Lately, they'd been getting along quite well. No yelling at the other for mysteriously dumping water on a certain greasy-headed slime ball, no nothing.
"Aye. Well, let's all go get on some warm clothes and meet each other out on the grounds in five minutes. What say you, Evans?" James tilted his head slightly, raising one eyebrow both questionably and mischievously.
"What say me? Lily says, 'Let's do it.'" The redheaded girl nodded. With that, the two girls took off up the Girls' Dormitory staircase to get dressed in something that would keep them from freezing off their fingers. The boys did the same, only they went to the Boys' Dormitory, of course.
Around five minutes later, Lily and Hestia were bundled up tightly, scarves wrapped around their necks. They didn't look as puffed-up as some of the younger kids did, with their twelve or more pairs of clothing on. It wasn't that cold, after all, only cold enough to drop quite a few inches of snow.
"Where are they?" Hestia blinked, scanning the area with her dark eyes. Lily shrugged, and then was answered when a snowball collided with the side of her face. With a gasp, she wiped the snow off of her now freezing face and turned swiftly to see where it came from.
A few yards behind Lily, Sirius stood, laughing his head off. James was pointing to him with the most innocent look he could probably muster at the time, a smirk plastered on his face and everything. Hestia snorted.
"Potter! You're supposed to be on my side!" Lily shook her fist, bent down, and scooped up a handful of snow, and chucked it at James. Hard. James fell back into the snow, nearly creating a crater as the ball of frost hit its target: squarely in the middle of his forehead.
"Boy, Evans! You'd make a great Chaser!" Sirius laughed, pulling James to his feet. Lily shook her head as Hestia and her made their way over to the boys.
"I don't want to be Chaser," She said, eyeing James. He was covered in snow from the force of her toss. She really had no clue she could throw that hard. Shrugging it off, she stretched. "So, when are we going to start this little 'Snow War' we're having?"
"Well," Sirius explained, pulling Hestia over to his side and shoving James towards Lily, "First, we've got to build ourselves a little fort. Y'know, to hide behind an' all. So let's do that."
Nodding, Lily and James went some distance away, as did Sirius and Hestia. Looking over her shoulder, though, Lily saw they were already making a bit of progress on their 'fort.' Stopping, she bent down to the ground, as did James. "Let's get to work," she mumbled, and they started.
After a few minutes of packing and patting snow into place, Lily and James had a reasonably sized wall between them and the other couple. Peering over the top, though, Lily gaped and tugged on James's arm. "What?" He turned towards her. Her finger was pointing at something . . .
Sirius and Hestia had gone to work. What their little 'fort' now resembled was a castle with snow-brick walls. Both had their little sections. And they had even taken time to pack little mounds of snowballs on each side! What Lily wanted to know what who the heck taught them to do that.
"Ready!" A voice called, and Lily knew it was Hestia. Sucking in air, she called over the top, "Ready, too!" "All right then," Sirius's voice was muffled, but heard. "Let the snow fly at will!"
In the first few minutes of the war, Lily and James got pummeled with snowballs. The walls of their fort had chunks of broken snowballs hanging off the ends. While Sirius and Hestia were wasting their snowballs, though, Lily and James had made four piles of their own.
"Y'know, Evans, I think you could throw hard enough to break down one of their walls," James grinned, patting a snowball into her hand. Raising and eyebrow, Lily gave him a grin that would make the Marauder's proud. Leaning over the wall just slightly, she let the snowball fly.
"DAMN IT!" A voice on the other side yelled. Lily ducked back down, and then peered around the corner. What she saw made her crack up in fits of giggles.
An entire wall of Sirius and Hestia's fort had collapsed from the impact of her blow. Now it looked like a catapult had blown the castle down. With a grin, James chucked a few icy spheres at them. By the time all four stacks were gone, the opposing castle was turned to rubble.
"We should call you Lily 'Catapult' Evans, Evans!" James snorted, whooping as they saw Sirius tie a little white piece of cloth to the end of a stick and wave it in surrender. Lily just giggled like a mad woman. Both teams stood.
"Dang, Lily, where'd you learn to throw like that? I wanna know!" Hestia gaped at her friend, patting her on the back and staring at her in awe. Lily just couldn't stop giggling.
"Calm down, Evans," James snorted, patting Lily on the back as Hestia had done. After that, the girl seemed to calm down a bit.
"That was fun. Maybe we could do it again sometime if there still is some snow after Christmastime, although I doubt it," Lily nodded, her cheeks red from the frosty weather. James snorted. Sirius nodded, as did Hestia.
"Well, we best get going in," James signaled to Sirius to follow them into the castle. It was so much warmer inside, even if it was only a few degrees above what it was outside. It was nice to be somewhere warm after being nearly frozen to death.
"We'll be going to the Common Room real quick. Hestia says she forgot something," Sirius nodded to the two and headed off up several flights of staircases to the tower that belonged to Gryffindor house, Hestia tailing along after him.
"You should really hang out with us some time," James spoke to Lily, shoving his hands in his robe pockets. Lily shrugged, pulling off her gloves, rubbing her numb fingers. "I guess I should. You don't seem half as bad when you're not being rude to people," Lily nodded, putting the gloves in her pockets.
"Yeah, well, when Snivellus isn't around I can be pretty nice," James sighed, sounding a bit putout as Lily spoke about him as if he were a jerk. He probably was. He wasn't paying much attention to where they were headed.
"Hey, James, look up," Lily said, staring at the archway they were passing under. James looked skyward.
There, above their heads, hung little red berries surrounded with green leaves. It was a poisonous plant, harmful to humans if they ate it. But at Christmastime, it was a good sign. It was Mistletoe.
"Y'know, there are supposed to be Gnarls or something in that," James said thoughtfully. Lily rolled her eyes. "Didn't know you read." Then, standing on the tips of her toes, Lily placed her lips to his cheek, giving his a soft kiss. With a smile, she pulled back and headed up a nearby staircase, leaving James there, stunned and wondering.
"Happy Christmas, James."
The beginning months of school passed before Lily knew it. October turned to November, and November turned swiftly into December. Snow fell to the ground on the last day the students had to pack if they weren't staying at Hogwarts during the Christmas break. Lily wasn't one of them, for a change.
She and Hestia bad both decided to stay, while Sirius and James went back to James's house for the winter holidays. The quartet sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, sulking about. Sirius didn't want to go back, but he wanted to stay with James because his parents were nice. Hestia didn't want to stay, but she was forced to because of her mother being at St. Mungo's.
Lily and James were almost the same. Lily didn't want to go back to her house. Petunia would just nag her to death. James didn't want to go home because he wanted to stay with Lily during Christmastime. Obviously, his parents wished him back to their house, so there was no helping that fact.
"Oye, I don' wanna leave the castle. Too beautiful at this time," Sirius motioned to the windows, clouded with piles of snow. A thump sounded and he saw a snowball collide with the glass.
"You're right," James muttered, sulking in his armchair.
"Well, I, for one, don't want to stay in a castle when it's freezing in every single corridor!" Lily shivered, even as she sat on the rug nearest to the fire. Indeed, it was cold, even with the fire going as high as it would in this weather.
"You're lucky you both have a home to go to right now," Hestia mumbled, leaning against a wall near the window that Sirius had gazed out of a while ago. She was wrapped up in a fuzzy maroon sweater that made her seem as if she was the only one in the Common Room fit for the weather inside and outside of the castle.
Sirius glanced at her and shook his head with a sigh. "Hey, you have family that thinks you're a wonder, though. Mine has decided to blow my name of the tapestry that hangs in my house." Sirius rarely talked about his family, as they were Purebloods on their Pureblooded Mania craze. Anyone who associated with Muggles or Muggle-born witches or wizards was considered a traitor, naming Sirius one for many occasions.
"Oh well. Let's not talk about how stupid our families are," Lily muttered through chattering teeth. Grumbling about something, she pulled her heavy cloak over her shoulders. "Why don't we all go bundle up and go outside? Have a little snow war?"
"I call Sirius's side!" Hestia jumped out of her phase immediately and clung onto Sirius's left arm. He just grinned at her and shook his head.
"Well, I guess that leaves you and me, Potter," Lily snorted, pulling herself up from the rug. James rolled his eyes, something Lily would've done if she were in his position. Lately, they'd been getting along quite well. No yelling at the other for mysteriously dumping water on a certain greasy-headed slime ball, no nothing.
"Aye. Well, let's all go get on some warm clothes and meet each other out on the grounds in five minutes. What say you, Evans?" James tilted his head slightly, raising one eyebrow both questionably and mischievously.
"What say me? Lily says, 'Let's do it.'" The redheaded girl nodded. With that, the two girls took off up the Girls' Dormitory staircase to get dressed in something that would keep them from freezing off their fingers. The boys did the same, only they went to the Boys' Dormitory, of course.
Around five minutes later, Lily and Hestia were bundled up tightly, scarves wrapped around their necks. They didn't look as puffed-up as some of the younger kids did, with their twelve or more pairs of clothing on. It wasn't that cold, after all, only cold enough to drop quite a few inches of snow.
"Where are they?" Hestia blinked, scanning the area with her dark eyes. Lily shrugged, and then was answered when a snowball collided with the side of her face. With a gasp, she wiped the snow off of her now freezing face and turned swiftly to see where it came from.
A few yards behind Lily, Sirius stood, laughing his head off. James was pointing to him with the most innocent look he could probably muster at the time, a smirk plastered on his face and everything. Hestia snorted.
"Potter! You're supposed to be on my side!" Lily shook her fist, bent down, and scooped up a handful of snow, and chucked it at James. Hard. James fell back into the snow, nearly creating a crater as the ball of frost hit its target: squarely in the middle of his forehead.
"Boy, Evans! You'd make a great Chaser!" Sirius laughed, pulling James to his feet. Lily shook her head as Hestia and her made their way over to the boys.
"I don't want to be Chaser," She said, eyeing James. He was covered in snow from the force of her toss. She really had no clue she could throw that hard. Shrugging it off, she stretched. "So, when are we going to start this little 'Snow War' we're having?"
"Well," Sirius explained, pulling Hestia over to his side and shoving James towards Lily, "First, we've got to build ourselves a little fort. Y'know, to hide behind an' all. So let's do that."
Nodding, Lily and James went some distance away, as did Sirius and Hestia. Looking over her shoulder, though, Lily saw they were already making a bit of progress on their 'fort.' Stopping, she bent down to the ground, as did James. "Let's get to work," she mumbled, and they started.
After a few minutes of packing and patting snow into place, Lily and James had a reasonably sized wall between them and the other couple. Peering over the top, though, Lily gaped and tugged on James's arm. "What?" He turned towards her. Her finger was pointing at something . . .
Sirius and Hestia had gone to work. What their little 'fort' now resembled was a castle with snow-brick walls. Both had their little sections. And they had even taken time to pack little mounds of snowballs on each side! What Lily wanted to know what who the heck taught them to do that.
"Ready!" A voice called, and Lily knew it was Hestia. Sucking in air, she called over the top, "Ready, too!" "All right then," Sirius's voice was muffled, but heard. "Let the snow fly at will!"
In the first few minutes of the war, Lily and James got pummeled with snowballs. The walls of their fort had chunks of broken snowballs hanging off the ends. While Sirius and Hestia were wasting their snowballs, though, Lily and James had made four piles of their own.
"Y'know, Evans, I think you could throw hard enough to break down one of their walls," James grinned, patting a snowball into her hand. Raising and eyebrow, Lily gave him a grin that would make the Marauder's proud. Leaning over the wall just slightly, she let the snowball fly.
"DAMN IT!" A voice on the other side yelled. Lily ducked back down, and then peered around the corner. What she saw made her crack up in fits of giggles.
An entire wall of Sirius and Hestia's fort had collapsed from the impact of her blow. Now it looked like a catapult had blown the castle down. With a grin, James chucked a few icy spheres at them. By the time all four stacks were gone, the opposing castle was turned to rubble.
"We should call you Lily 'Catapult' Evans, Evans!" James snorted, whooping as they saw Sirius tie a little white piece of cloth to the end of a stick and wave it in surrender. Lily just giggled like a mad woman. Both teams stood.
"Dang, Lily, where'd you learn to throw like that? I wanna know!" Hestia gaped at her friend, patting her on the back and staring at her in awe. Lily just couldn't stop giggling.
"Calm down, Evans," James snorted, patting Lily on the back as Hestia had done. After that, the girl seemed to calm down a bit.
"That was fun. Maybe we could do it again sometime if there still is some snow after Christmastime, although I doubt it," Lily nodded, her cheeks red from the frosty weather. James snorted. Sirius nodded, as did Hestia.
"Well, we best get going in," James signaled to Sirius to follow them into the castle. It was so much warmer inside, even if it was only a few degrees above what it was outside. It was nice to be somewhere warm after being nearly frozen to death.
"We'll be going to the Common Room real quick. Hestia says she forgot something," Sirius nodded to the two and headed off up several flights of staircases to the tower that belonged to Gryffindor house, Hestia tailing along after him.
"You should really hang out with us some time," James spoke to Lily, shoving his hands in his robe pockets. Lily shrugged, pulling off her gloves, rubbing her numb fingers. "I guess I should. You don't seem half as bad when you're not being rude to people," Lily nodded, putting the gloves in her pockets.
"Yeah, well, when Snivellus isn't around I can be pretty nice," James sighed, sounding a bit putout as Lily spoke about him as if he were a jerk. He probably was. He wasn't paying much attention to where they were headed.
"Hey, James, look up," Lily said, staring at the archway they were passing under. James looked skyward.
There, above their heads, hung little red berries surrounded with green leaves. It was a poisonous plant, harmful to humans if they ate it. But at Christmastime, it was a good sign. It was Mistletoe.
"Y'know, there are supposed to be Gnarls or something in that," James said thoughtfully. Lily rolled her eyes. "Didn't know you read." Then, standing on the tips of her toes, Lily placed her lips to his cheek, giving his a soft kiss. With a smile, she pulled back and headed up a nearby staircase, leaving James there, stunned and wondering.
"Happy Christmas, James."