Lily spent the next week in her bed, not crying, she had no more tears left, but just thinking about her life.
A month ago everything was normal, but now nothing made sense. She was only eighteen, yes she was now legally an adult, but she still felt like a child. She had no home, the only things she now owned were in her school trunk. Soon she would finish school and she would be homeless, Emma's mum had said that she was to stay with her for as long as she wanted, and Lily was grateful for this.
She got out of her bed, it was 1pm, she had been in bed all day. She looked in the mirror, she looked a state. Her hair was greasy and she looked like a drunkard.
Right, it's time I sorted myself out, she thought to herself. It was time she stopped moping around and got on with her life. If she stayed like this then she would fail her NEWT's.
She shuddered at the thought of this, she went off to the bathroom and had a long bath.
After a long time of preening her self Lily emerged from her dormitory feeling refreshed.
She had curled her hair so it bounced as she walked, and she felt like a new person with a thirst for life.
She entered the common room, lessons hadn't finished yet and there was only one other person in there.
"Hello James." Lily said sitting next to him at his table where he was working.
"Lily." He said surprised, "what are you doing here?"
"This is my common room too."
"I know, but I mean what are you doing out of bed?"
"I've had enough of that room, I'm getting sick of it." Lily said.
James smiled at her.
"I like your hair." He said playfully, pulling one of the curls down and watching it bounce back up again.
They both laughed at this.
"Thanks." Lily said smiling.
"I haven't seen you smile in ages." James said.
"We I haven't really been in the smiling mood lately, but I'm finished grieving and I need to get on and enjoy my last year here." Lily said looking fondly around the common room.
"That's the spirit." James said, he looked at Lily it was good to have her back, and even better now that she wasn't repulsed by him. He had said that he wanted to be friends, but he still wanted more and Lily knew that.
Soon everything was back to normal, and before anyone knew it, it was Christmas.
"Come on Lily, we are going to miss the train." Emma whined as Lily lugged her trunk down from the dormitory. She was staying with Emma over Christmas.
"Lily?" Sirius asked as he watched her struggle with her trunk. "You do know you're a witch, don't you?"
"I am aware of that fact, yes." Lily said testily.
"Then why don't you do this?" He asked and he levitated her trunk.
Lily just shrugged and let him take it out to the carriages.
The eight of them shared a compartment together on the train. Last year Lily would never have gotten into a carriage on the train with the marauders of her own free will.
Lily arrived at Emma's house, it was in a secluded area so they weren't interrupted by muggles much.
Lily liked this house, but she would have preferred to spend Christmas in her own house, with her own parents.
"Lily are you OK?" Emma asked.
"I'm fine, it's just my first Christmas with out my mum and dad." Lily said, Emma frowned.
"Well lets put our pyjamas on, get some popcorn and watch a film." Emma said, and she ran up the stairs.
"Wait." Lily said running after her. "But you don't have a T.V, or a Video player."
"We do now," Emma said opening her trunk which her dad had brought up. "Mum went and got one when you said you were coming. She thought it might make you feel more at home."
"Thanks." Lily said, she really liked Emma's mum. She treated her like Lily was her own daughter when ever she was here. In fact they were like Lily's second parents.
"Come on get your PJ's on." Emma said. "Your room is next door."
"I have my own room?" Lily asked
"Yeah, well your going to be staying here after we leave Hogwarts, so you have to have your own room," Emma said.
Lily had arranged to stay here until she found her own place to live after school was over.
"Right." Lily said, and she went next door.
Emma and Lily spent the next couple of hours pigging out on popcorn and Ice cream.
"So are we going to the Potter Christmas Ball?" Emma asked.
James had invited her Lily, Laura and Jess to his house for a Christmas Ball his parents were having on Christmas Eve.
"Why are you asking me, he did invite both of us, and Laura and Jess." Lily said with a hand on her stomach, she had eaten way too much.
"I know that, but the only person he really wants to go is you, he had to invite the rest of us so it didn't look like he was asking you out on a date." Emma said.
Lily thought about this for a second, then said. "No we are just friends now." But she actually thought there was some kind of truth in what Emma was saying.
"Come of it Lily, we both know he still loves you ……..and you like him." Emma said.
"First of all he doesn't love me, and I don't like him." Lily paused and blushed. "……… That much."
Every since they had become friends, and Lily had gotten to know James she actually quite liked him.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Will you just hurry up and get together…………… put him out of his misery."
Lily just smiled.
"So are we going?" Emma asked like Lily was her mum.
"Sure, I never say no to a party." Lily said mischievously.
"Great." Emma squealed. "Now tomorrow we have to go to Diagon Alley and get some new dress robes."
"Sounds good." Lily said.
Christmas Eve was soon upon them and Lily and Emma had arranged to meet Laura and Jess at the Ball.
Lily was nervous, hopefully tonight she would be able to spend time alone with James, something she hadn't had very much of, and before they became friends something she didn't want.
"How do I look?" Emma asked coming into Lily's room and twirling.
"Sirius won't be able to resist." Lily said and Emma grinned.
Emma was wearing light blue robes lined with silver, she really did look stunning.
"How do I look." Lily asked and she did a twirl in her emerald green and gold robes. She had loosely curled her hair and taken a bit up at the back.
"James won't be able to resist." Emma said, and they laughed. "What time are we meeting Laura and Jess?"
"7pm." Lily replied making sure her hair was secure. "We had better be going." She said.
"Right," Emma said and they walked down stairs to say goodbye the her parents before apparating away to the Potter Manor.
They arrived outside the gates to James' house.
"Wow, James must be loaded." Emma said looking up at the house.
It was more of a castle then a house, it even had two towers on either side of the building.
"Come lets get inside, it's freezing." Lily said shivering.
They walked with linked arms up to the house and knocked on the door.
James opened it, "Hello ladies, come in." He said.
"Merry Christmas James." Lily said.
"Yeah Happy Christmas." Emma said.
"Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you too, both of you." He said. "Please come through to the Ball room."
"You have your own Ballroom?" Emma asked.
"Where else would we hold a ball?" He asked.
Emma shrugged. "Is Sirius here?" She asked.
"Did I hear my name?" Sirius said coming out of the Ball room.
"We'll leave you two alone." James said.
Lily and James walked into the Ballroom and sat at a vacant table.
The ball room was decorated in gold, with a band on a round plinth circled by the dance floor. The rest of the room was filled with tables and a bar.
"How come you never said you lived in a mansion?" Lily asked as she watched people dance and tapped her feet to the music.
"Because I don't like to brag." He said.
Lily snorted. "You don't like to brag….. And I suppose Filch is going to be the next Minister for Magic?"
"Well he would be good at disciplining." James said and they both laughed.
"Are Laura and Jess here?" Lily asked.
"Yep, Laura is dancing with Remus and Jess is hiding from Peter." James said, and they laughed.
"So do you hold this ball every year?" Lily asked.
"Yep, my parents invite all their friends from work and I invite the rest of the marauders and we pull pranks on all the people from the Ministry we don't like." James said.
"How come we were never invited before?" She asked.
"Well I would have invited you, but there was no point as you hated my guts." James said.
Lily started feeling guilty, they sat in an uncomfortable silence and the band struck up another song.
"Do you fancy dancing?" He asked.
"Sure, why not." Lily said, James smiled at her. It was the smile that made every girl at Hogwarts go weak at the knees, it had never work on her until now. It was probably because James looked particularly handsome tonight.
They stepped onto the dance floor, James wrapped an arm around Lily's waist and held her right hand, while she put her left hand on his shoulder, and they danced.
"Did I tell you, and please don't slap me when I say this but, you look amazing tonight." He closed his eyes waiting for a hand to whack his around the face.
When that hand didn't come he opened his eyes and smiled.
"Thank you." Lily said, "and you don't look too bad your self."
"You didn't slap me!" James said surprised.
"I know I didn't, but I can if you want." Lily said.
"Noooo." James said and he drew his head away from Lily.
"Don't worry I won't slap you." She said laughing slightly, she felt nervous. Always before when she was around James she knew what to say, normally it was insults or something like that, but now she was scared she would say something stupid.
"So why are there no pranks this year, you said that is what you do every year?" Lily asked.
"Well I know you don't like them, and I knew that you were coming so……" His sentence trailed off.
Lily looked into James' eyes, she saw a longing, probably a longing for her. She had the urge to kiss him, but she hated to be the one to instigate a kiss on someone she wasn't going out with even if they did like her, she decided to settle for a hug.
She let go of James' hand and wrapped her arms around his neck.
James was stunned when she did this but he held her close anyway savouring the feel of having her near.
They heard collective "Isn't that sweet," from the couples dancing around them and they broke apart.
"I'm going to get some fresh air." Lily said and she hurried off to the garden.
James stood watched her leave.
"What are you waiting for?" An old woman asked him who had been watching them, "go after her, it's obvious she likes you."
"What? Lily doesn't like me, she hates me." James said to the old woman.
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure." The woman said and she continued dancing with her husband.
James stood there for a few seconds thinking before going after Lily.
He ran out into his garden, it had been decorated with magical snow that sparkled. It never snowed where he lived so they always used fake snow.
He scanned the garden, it was massive probably a few acres, and he finally found a young woman sitting on a bench swing over by a small fountain.
James walked over and sat down next to Lily.
She looked at him smiled at him but didn't say anything, then she turned back to watching the water flow out of the fountain.
James started swinging on the bench, he made it go faster and faster before Lily couldn't help but smile.
"Stop." She said playfully.
James stopped. "So….." James said, he didn't know what to say.
"So……" Lily say she was as equally as clueless as to what to say.
James decided to examine the bench for something to do, he looked up and saw something hanging above them.
"Look." He said pointing up to a sprig of mistletoe above them.
"Mistletoe." Lily said.
"Do you know what's tradition to do under mistletoe?" James asked mischievously. "But I won't because I know how you feel and…….."
Lily put a hand over his mouth, even though she hated being the one to start a kiss she knew the time was right.
"You know what they say, you should never break with tradition." She said and she leaned in and kissed James softly on the lips, before pulling away from him.
"You know in my family it's tradition to kiss twice under the mistletoe….." James said and he pulled Lily into another more urgent kiss.
They kissed for a few minuets, Lily liked the feel of James's soft lips and his strong arms around her, James just loved Lily in general.
They broke apart again.
"So, I'd never thought I'd do that." Lily said, smiling. "But I'm glad I did.
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this moment?" James asked.
Lily shook her head.
"Nearly four years." James said, and he leaned in again for another kiss.
Lily so wanted to kiss him again but she didn't want to seem "easy". She turned her head away from James.
"I'm going to find Emma." She said smiling cheekily and she left James sitting in the garden.
A/N: Lily and James together now, thats all good!
Hope you are liking, this is the same story that is on Please tell me where to improve so I can make this story better!
A month ago everything was normal, but now nothing made sense. She was only eighteen, yes she was now legally an adult, but she still felt like a child. She had no home, the only things she now owned were in her school trunk. Soon she would finish school and she would be homeless, Emma's mum had said that she was to stay with her for as long as she wanted, and Lily was grateful for this.
She got out of her bed, it was 1pm, she had been in bed all day. She looked in the mirror, she looked a state. Her hair was greasy and she looked like a drunkard.
Right, it's time I sorted myself out, she thought to herself. It was time she stopped moping around and got on with her life. If she stayed like this then she would fail her NEWT's.
She shuddered at the thought of this, she went off to the bathroom and had a long bath.
After a long time of preening her self Lily emerged from her dormitory feeling refreshed.
She had curled her hair so it bounced as she walked, and she felt like a new person with a thirst for life.
She entered the common room, lessons hadn't finished yet and there was only one other person in there.
"Hello James." Lily said sitting next to him at his table where he was working.
"Lily." He said surprised, "what are you doing here?"
"This is my common room too."
"I know, but I mean what are you doing out of bed?"
"I've had enough of that room, I'm getting sick of it." Lily said.
James smiled at her.
"I like your hair." He said playfully, pulling one of the curls down and watching it bounce back up again.
They both laughed at this.
"Thanks." Lily said smiling.
"I haven't seen you smile in ages." James said.
"We I haven't really been in the smiling mood lately, but I'm finished grieving and I need to get on and enjoy my last year here." Lily said looking fondly around the common room.
"That's the spirit." James said, he looked at Lily it was good to have her back, and even better now that she wasn't repulsed by him. He had said that he wanted to be friends, but he still wanted more and Lily knew that.
Soon everything was back to normal, and before anyone knew it, it was Christmas.
"Come on Lily, we are going to miss the train." Emma whined as Lily lugged her trunk down from the dormitory. She was staying with Emma over Christmas.
"Lily?" Sirius asked as he watched her struggle with her trunk. "You do know you're a witch, don't you?"
"I am aware of that fact, yes." Lily said testily.
"Then why don't you do this?" He asked and he levitated her trunk.
Lily just shrugged and let him take it out to the carriages.
The eight of them shared a compartment together on the train. Last year Lily would never have gotten into a carriage on the train with the marauders of her own free will.
Lily arrived at Emma's house, it was in a secluded area so they weren't interrupted by muggles much.
Lily liked this house, but she would have preferred to spend Christmas in her own house, with her own parents.
"Lily are you OK?" Emma asked.
"I'm fine, it's just my first Christmas with out my mum and dad." Lily said, Emma frowned.
"Well lets put our pyjamas on, get some popcorn and watch a film." Emma said, and she ran up the stairs.
"Wait." Lily said running after her. "But you don't have a T.V, or a Video player."
"We do now," Emma said opening her trunk which her dad had brought up. "Mum went and got one when you said you were coming. She thought it might make you feel more at home."
"Thanks." Lily said, she really liked Emma's mum. She treated her like Lily was her own daughter when ever she was here. In fact they were like Lily's second parents.
"Come on get your PJ's on." Emma said. "Your room is next door."
"I have my own room?" Lily asked
"Yeah, well your going to be staying here after we leave Hogwarts, so you have to have your own room," Emma said.
Lily had arranged to stay here until she found her own place to live after school was over.
"Right." Lily said, and she went next door.
Emma and Lily spent the next couple of hours pigging out on popcorn and Ice cream.
"So are we going to the Potter Christmas Ball?" Emma asked.
James had invited her Lily, Laura and Jess to his house for a Christmas Ball his parents were having on Christmas Eve.
"Why are you asking me, he did invite both of us, and Laura and Jess." Lily said with a hand on her stomach, she had eaten way too much.
"I know that, but the only person he really wants to go is you, he had to invite the rest of us so it didn't look like he was asking you out on a date." Emma said.
Lily thought about this for a second, then said. "No we are just friends now." But she actually thought there was some kind of truth in what Emma was saying.
"Come of it Lily, we both know he still loves you ……..and you like him." Emma said.
"First of all he doesn't love me, and I don't like him." Lily paused and blushed. "……… That much."
Every since they had become friends, and Lily had gotten to know James she actually quite liked him.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Will you just hurry up and get together…………… put him out of his misery."
Lily just smiled.
"So are we going?" Emma asked like Lily was her mum.
"Sure, I never say no to a party." Lily said mischievously.
"Great." Emma squealed. "Now tomorrow we have to go to Diagon Alley and get some new dress robes."
"Sounds good." Lily said.
Christmas Eve was soon upon them and Lily and Emma had arranged to meet Laura and Jess at the Ball.
Lily was nervous, hopefully tonight she would be able to spend time alone with James, something she hadn't had very much of, and before they became friends something she didn't want.
"How do I look?" Emma asked coming into Lily's room and twirling.
"Sirius won't be able to resist." Lily said and Emma grinned.
Emma was wearing light blue robes lined with silver, she really did look stunning.
"How do I look." Lily asked and she did a twirl in her emerald green and gold robes. She had loosely curled her hair and taken a bit up at the back.
"James won't be able to resist." Emma said, and they laughed. "What time are we meeting Laura and Jess?"
"7pm." Lily replied making sure her hair was secure. "We had better be going." She said.
"Right," Emma said and they walked down stairs to say goodbye the her parents before apparating away to the Potter Manor.
They arrived outside the gates to James' house.
"Wow, James must be loaded." Emma said looking up at the house.
It was more of a castle then a house, it even had two towers on either side of the building.
"Come lets get inside, it's freezing." Lily said shivering.
They walked with linked arms up to the house and knocked on the door.
James opened it, "Hello ladies, come in." He said.
"Merry Christmas James." Lily said.
"Yeah Happy Christmas." Emma said.
"Thank you, and Merry Christmas to you too, both of you." He said. "Please come through to the Ball room."
"You have your own Ballroom?" Emma asked.
"Where else would we hold a ball?" He asked.
Emma shrugged. "Is Sirius here?" She asked.
"Did I hear my name?" Sirius said coming out of the Ball room.
"We'll leave you two alone." James said.
Lily and James walked into the Ballroom and sat at a vacant table.
The ball room was decorated in gold, with a band on a round plinth circled by the dance floor. The rest of the room was filled with tables and a bar.
"How come you never said you lived in a mansion?" Lily asked as she watched people dance and tapped her feet to the music.
"Because I don't like to brag." He said.
Lily snorted. "You don't like to brag….. And I suppose Filch is going to be the next Minister for Magic?"
"Well he would be good at disciplining." James said and they both laughed.
"Are Laura and Jess here?" Lily asked.
"Yep, Laura is dancing with Remus and Jess is hiding from Peter." James said, and they laughed.
"So do you hold this ball every year?" Lily asked.
"Yep, my parents invite all their friends from work and I invite the rest of the marauders and we pull pranks on all the people from the Ministry we don't like." James said.
"How come we were never invited before?" She asked.
"Well I would have invited you, but there was no point as you hated my guts." James said.
Lily started feeling guilty, they sat in an uncomfortable silence and the band struck up another song.
"Do you fancy dancing?" He asked.
"Sure, why not." Lily said, James smiled at her. It was the smile that made every girl at Hogwarts go weak at the knees, it had never work on her until now. It was probably because James looked particularly handsome tonight.
They stepped onto the dance floor, James wrapped an arm around Lily's waist and held her right hand, while she put her left hand on his shoulder, and they danced.
"Did I tell you, and please don't slap me when I say this but, you look amazing tonight." He closed his eyes waiting for a hand to whack his around the face.
When that hand didn't come he opened his eyes and smiled.
"Thank you." Lily said, "and you don't look too bad your self."
"You didn't slap me!" James said surprised.
"I know I didn't, but I can if you want." Lily said.
"Noooo." James said and he drew his head away from Lily.
"Don't worry I won't slap you." She said laughing slightly, she felt nervous. Always before when she was around James she knew what to say, normally it was insults or something like that, but now she was scared she would say something stupid.
"So why are there no pranks this year, you said that is what you do every year?" Lily asked.
"Well I know you don't like them, and I knew that you were coming so……" His sentence trailed off.
Lily looked into James' eyes, she saw a longing, probably a longing for her. She had the urge to kiss him, but she hated to be the one to instigate a kiss on someone she wasn't going out with even if they did like her, she decided to settle for a hug.
She let go of James' hand and wrapped her arms around his neck.
James was stunned when she did this but he held her close anyway savouring the feel of having her near.
They heard collective "Isn't that sweet," from the couples dancing around them and they broke apart.
"I'm going to get some fresh air." Lily said and she hurried off to the garden.
James stood watched her leave.
"What are you waiting for?" An old woman asked him who had been watching them, "go after her, it's obvious she likes you."
"What? Lily doesn't like me, she hates me." James said to the old woman.
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure." The woman said and she continued dancing with her husband.
James stood there for a few seconds thinking before going after Lily.
He ran out into his garden, it had been decorated with magical snow that sparkled. It never snowed where he lived so they always used fake snow.
He scanned the garden, it was massive probably a few acres, and he finally found a young woman sitting on a bench swing over by a small fountain.
James walked over and sat down next to Lily.
She looked at him smiled at him but didn't say anything, then she turned back to watching the water flow out of the fountain.
James started swinging on the bench, he made it go faster and faster before Lily couldn't help but smile.
"Stop." She said playfully.
James stopped. "So….." James said, he didn't know what to say.
"So……" Lily say she was as equally as clueless as to what to say.
James decided to examine the bench for something to do, he looked up and saw something hanging above them.
"Look." He said pointing up to a sprig of mistletoe above them.
"Mistletoe." Lily said.
"Do you know what's tradition to do under mistletoe?" James asked mischievously. "But I won't because I know how you feel and…….."
Lily put a hand over his mouth, even though she hated being the one to start a kiss she knew the time was right.
"You know what they say, you should never break with tradition." She said and she leaned in and kissed James softly on the lips, before pulling away from him.
"You know in my family it's tradition to kiss twice under the mistletoe….." James said and he pulled Lily into another more urgent kiss.
They kissed for a few minuets, Lily liked the feel of James's soft lips and his strong arms around her, James just loved Lily in general.
They broke apart again.
"So, I'd never thought I'd do that." Lily said, smiling. "But I'm glad I did.
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this moment?" James asked.
Lily shook her head.
"Nearly four years." James said, and he leaned in again for another kiss.
Lily so wanted to kiss him again but she didn't want to seem "easy". She turned her head away from James.
"I'm going to find Emma." She said smiling cheekily and she left James sitting in the garden.
A/N: Lily and James together now, thats all good!
Hope you are liking, this is the same story that is on Please tell me where to improve so I can make this story better!