Disclaimer: If I owned any of this, I would be very, very rich.
A/N: I had all these crazy little people running around in my head one night, and this is what happened when I put my pen to the paper. It's a little misconstrued for lack of brain power late at night, so forgive some of the mistakes. Now, enjoy! Don't forget to R&R!
Chapter 1:
"We Need To Talk"
Lily Evans flicked her eyes from the large, leather-bound book to the long scroll of parchment that was laid out before her on the polished wooden table in the chattery Gryffindor Common Room. A hint of a smile played on her lips as she added her final period to the concluding paragraph of her Potions essay. She dropped her quill down with slight satisfaction as she admired the two meters of parchment. Four days before the winter hols, and she'd finished her Potions essay. Score!
Not only was Lily extremely pleased with herself for this achievement, but she was also, for the first time since she'd started at Hogwarts, staying away from her family for Christmas. No annoying Petunia, no mother nagging at her to "smooth the wrinkles from her skirt." It would be just her, all alone and peaceful, without anyone to disturb her.
In fact, Lily wasn't one bit upset that Petunia hadn't invited her on the vacation she was taking the rest of the family on. It was to be some trip to the tropics, courtesy of Petunia's new boyfriend, Vernon. Lily had never met the man, but she assumed he was just as obnoxious and ugly as the past blokes Petunia had brought home. What was Christmas without snow, anyway?
Lily looked back down at her parchment and smiled again before cleaning the tip of her quill and rolling her finished parchment neatly up into a scroll. She was almost too immersed in her ecstasy about the winter holidays that she barely noticed the chair across from her sliding backwards and someone sitting down.
"We need to talk."
Lily, surprised at the sudden voice, looked up quickly, a smile still resting on her lips. Before her stat the one and only James Potter. His hair was as black and haphazardly set as always, and his bespectacled hazel eyes stared at her seriously. James Potter, serious? Lily almost frowned. Almost. She was far too happy to let him ruin everything for her.
"Tell me Potter, why would we need to talk? We've never had a reason before so I don't see why we should start now," Lily quipped light-heartedly, gathering her books and spare parchment happily.
"Very funny, Evans. I'm serious. Its about this." James lifted a bit of folded parchment and dangled it before her face. Lily raised a judgmental eyebrow and looked from the paper to James's serious face. Was this supposed to be some sort of trick?
"I'm not falling for it this time, James. Now I suggest you take that smirk elsewhere because I would like to get a bit of rest," Lily said, frowning. She gathered her books into her arms and straightened, ready to climb the stairs to her dormitory, where her nice, cozy bed was waiting. Lily looked up to see the parchment was dangling before her. "Do you mind?" She asked, stepping sideways. He moved in front of her.
"This is no joke, Evans," James said, frowning. "Read it."
"No!" Lily attempted to duck past him, but he was far too quick and agile for a girl weighed down by several books. She took deep, cleansing breaths. She would not let James Potter ruin her vacation. Oh, no…
"Read it!"
"FINE!" Lily slammed her books down on the table and snatched the parchment quickly from his fingertips, her anger getting the best of her. She skimmed the page quickly, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Please tell me why I care if your Mum won first place in the Christmas Pie Contest?" Lily asked sarcastically, shoving the page back at James, who turned slightly pink. He pushed it back into her hands. She was ready to scream at the stupid, son-of-a-
"Not that! Closer to the bottom of the page!"
Lily sighed heavily and reluctantly skimmed the last paragraph of the neat cursive on the page:
"We are also delighted to inform you that we will have a special guest staying with us over winter break. I assume you are familiar with Lily Evans? We've
graciously accepted her to stay with us after a very polite request from her
parents…"
Lily didn't even finish. She took the paper and ripped it into pieces, her face burning. What kind of sick joke was he pulling this time? Her parents had never even heard of James Potter, let alone request that she spend her hols with him! There was no way this could be true! Lily narrowed her eyes dangerously at James, who, naturally, returned the gesture.
"I swear! The things you and your blasted marauders come up with -!" Lily exclaimed, jabbing him hard in the chest. "Are you personally trying to ruin my holiday, Potter? Cause if you are, you'll find that you'll be quite sorry -"
"Honestly, you think I'd make this up? What would be my motive, Evans? And they made you Head Girl!" James spat at her quickly. But Lily didn't care how truthful he sounded, she still wouldn't fall victim to another of James Potter's cruel pranks!
"I don't know how your strange mind works! You could have some sick idea of getting me in your bed like every other girl you've fancied -"
"You think I'd waste my time fancying you, Evans?" James growled, an angry smirk on his face.
"You didn't seem to have a problem with it in fifth year -"
"Newsflash, I could care less about you, as that pathetic part of my life has passed. Now, would you kindly explain how your parents got in touch with mine?"
"How would I know?" Lily exclaimed, again picking up her books and shoving past him in the direction of the staircase to the Girls' Dormitories. "Now, would you please let me go to sleep? Maybe when I wake up tomorrow, this will have all been a dream."
"I doubt it," she heard James mutter sarcastically. Lily frowned and chose to ignore this, then climbed the staircase grudgingly, whispering under her breath about how annoying James Potter was.
Look how beautiful it is outside! Lily thought depressingly, as she stopped in the middle of the staircase to gaze out of the window. The ground was covered in a blanket of white, and from the sky fell luscious, glittering crystals. Lily frowned yet again. It was far too beautiful for James to be bringing such terrible news upon her.
Taking a deep breath, she silently resolved the issue. James was lying. There was nothing more to it. Lily pushed the thick door open to her dormitory and stepped quietly inside, hearing the door click softly behind her. The room was almost silent, as a few girls were asleep already. A single candle flickered on the bedside table of her good friend, Autumn, whom Lily could see was still awake reading.
Lily set her books down on top of her trunk and padded over to Autumn's bed. Autumn was bent over yet another thick book, her loose chestnut curls tumbling over her shoulders to her mid-back. Her gray eyes moved back and forth across the page hungrily as she reached to flip another page. Her lips were a thin, pale pink color, and light freckles dotted her cheek bones.
"Good book?" Lily whispered with a smile, climbing on to the bed with her friend. Autumn looked up at her and smiled.
"Quite good. And how is my Lily?" Autumn asked, placing a reassuring arm around Lily's shoulders and squeezing them gently. Lily smiled.
"James is trying to tell me I have to go to his house for the winter hols," Lily replied with a small laugh.
"I thought he'd given up on that ages ago," Autumn said, sliding a ribbon down the page to mark her spot and clamping the book shut, looking thoughtful.
"Me too," Lily said with a reminiscent smile of how silly James had been a few years ago. Silly, yet still annoying and incredibly cocky.
Autumn laughed and asked in a fake love-sick male's voice, "Lily flower, will you go out with me?"
"I'd rather go on a date with the Giant Squid!" Lily and Autumn said together, then burst into a fit of giggles.
"Hush you two," came a groggy, annoyed voice from the next bed over. They laughed again, quietly this time, an Lily climbed off the bed to her trunk.
"I should go to sleep," Lily said with a yawn.
"That reminds me, you've got a letter, I put it on your nightstand," Autumn said, before pulling her red velvet curtains closed around her.
Lily furrowed her eyebrows as her gaze fell upon the letter laying next to her bed, lighted by the moonlight streaming through the window. She tip-toed over and picked it up gingerly. From the neat print on the front of the envelope, Lily could already tell it was from her mother. A guilty pit of butterflies bubbled up in her stomach uncomfortably.
She slid a shaky finger across the top of the envelope and pulled out the neat letter. Lily skimmed across it quickly, only really taking in the last few sentences, her heart beating like a thousand elephants in her chest.
"We didn't want you alone at Hogwarts, so we took the courtesy to ask the
Potter's to take you in. You should really thank Petunia for it, though! She
was so sweet as to remember your good friend James; she says you talk about
him all the time! She just wanted to make sure you weren't lonely on
Christmas, wasn't that nice of her? Well have a Happy Christmas, my
flower.
"Love, Mum and Dad"
Lily resisted the urge to ball up her paper and throw it at the mirror with all her might. Petunia? Sweet? She was a fecking hypocrite! Lily had never bought the excuse about there not being enough room at the hotel (and it didn't bother her, either); but now Petunia had gone and done this! How did she know about James, anyway?
Lily's diary! Lily cracked her knuckles angrily. She'd never written a good word about James in there; that bitch! Lily grumbled to herself as she slipped her shirt over her head. She was not going to James's this Christmas. She would not, and no would could make her!
Don't forget to review!