Hello and welcome to "The Nutcracker of Hogwarts"! I am Sarah J. Potter, your author for the duration of the story, which I hope you'll stay with through the end. Before we begin, I'd like to say a few things:

1) The Harry Potter Series and all it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them for no reason other than I thought James Potter and Lily Evans would be perfect for this story.

2) This story is based upon "Nutcracker" by E.T.A. Hoffmann- it uses some of his ideas, most of his themes and a few of his characters. Once again, not being used for any reason other than I thought it would work great with James and Lily

3) I hope you enjoy this story. Happy Holidays!

It was Christmas Eve at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While most students had gone home for the holidays, there were a few that remained behind. Some were younger students, unable to go home for various reasons, but most were seventh years, wanting to spend their last Christmas at Hogwarts at Hogwarts. Lily Evans was one of these seventh years.

"Hey Evans!" Lily let out a soft groan when she heard that particular voice call her last name. She looked up from the book she was reading to see James Potter standing in the entranceway of the Great Hall with his trademark egotistical grin on his face. His hands were behind his back as he walked towards her, still grinning like an idiot.

"What do you want, Potter?" she asked when he sat down beside her, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She hadn't seen him for the most part of the day, but she knew he would catch up to her eventually… she had hoped it wouldn't be until dinner that evening, rather than half past two. "If you're going to ask me out again, the answer is still no." James, still grinning, shook his head and pulled a box out from behind his back. It was wrapped in bright scarlet paper, tied with shimmering gold ribbon and decked off with a bow of the same color. "What's this?" Lily asked.

"It's for you," James replied. "Wrapped it myself, no magic or anything." Lily looked up at him, a disbelieving look on her face.

"Oh really? Is that why I haven't seen you until now?"

"Precisely. I took a great deal of time to make it look perfect, because anything less isn't good enough for you." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Christmas isn't until tomorrow Potter," she reminded him. "Why am I getting this now?" James's grin turned into a pleasant smile, one that Lily didn't recall ever seeing before. She liked it. She liked it a lot.

"In my family," he said. "We're allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve."

"But I'm not in your family."

"Ah, but I am! And in me giving this to you, it means that you can open it now!" Lily raised an eyebrow, trying not to smile.

"How do you figure that?"

"…I just do. Go on, open it!" Lily let out a sigh and began to carefully unwrap the package, making sure not to rip the paper or ruin the bow. "What are you doing that for?" cried James. "Just open it!" Lily looked at him, a sly grin on her face.

"Well," she replied. "You worked so hard to wrap this and make it perfect that I didn't want to ruin it." James shut up when she said that and waited patiently (well, patiently for James Potter, anyway) for her to finish unwrapping the paper and opening the box it covered.

A few minutes later, Lily pulled a funny looking doll out of the box, looking at his every detail. He was a soldier, with bright blue eyes, a cherry red nose and bright rosy cheeks. His hair was snow white, as was his long beard. His uniform was hunter green with gold buttons and trim and there was a blue gem on the front of his hat. His sword was at his side and there was a lever on his back that moved his jaw up and down.

"Oh, James," Lily said, her voice full of awe. "He… he's… what is he?" James continued to smile as he reached for a walnut out of a bowl in front of he and Lily on the table.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing towards the doll. Lily nodded and handed him to James, who was surprising gentle with the doll.

He carefully set him down on the table and lifted the lever on his back. James then put the nut into the doll's open mouth, gently pressing the lever down until he and Lily heard a crack. He picked the doll up off the table and leaned him foreword, dumping a cracked nut into his hand.

"It's a Nutcracker," James said, handing the doll back to Lily. "Go on, give it a try." Lily took a nut out of the bowl and did exactly what she had seen James do. The nut cracked in the doll's mouth and she dumped it into her hand before popping the nut into her mouth. "Do you like him, Lily?"

"I love him, James," Lily replied, happily. "He's absolutely wonderful…" Not realizing what she was doing, Lily leaned over and kissed James on the cheek. "Thank you so much." James eyes widened and he felt his face get very warm.

"The… the lady I bought it from," he stammered. "She told me a story about this guy… would you like to hear it?" Lily nodded.

"Okay." James grinned, regaining his composure.

"Well, it happened a long time ago…"