It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 13: In Which Fluff Abounds and Runs All Over

Or

In Which James Gets Pounced

James slogged through the next day. The funeral had been depressing, but that was to be expected; the food tasted burnt, his mom had tried to gel his hair, the tag in his shirt was scratching his neck, and basically, it had been plain awful. Then he looked over at Lily, who was talking with Sirius, and felt much better. She looked refined and beautiful in the black skirt and top his Uncle Robert had transfigured to fit her. At least this day was almost over. Nearly everyone had left.

He walked over to Lily and slipped his arms around her waist, enjoying the safeness he felt with her so close to him.

"I'm glad you came," James said to Sirius.

"I'm surprised you thought I wouldn't. Your family has always been there for me; I wanted to be here for you guys."

"This isn't the funnest way to spend Christmas Eve though."

"Yeah, but I owe your family far more than a fun Christmas Eve."

James sighed, "You don't owe us anything."

Sirius shook his head, "Some debts can't be overlooked, James." Then he yawned. "Well I'm heading back to Remus' tonight. Tell your mum thanks for letting me crash here last night. It was interesting to say the least," he said, winking at Lily who groaned and leaned her head on James' shoulder. "See you guys!" Sirius said, making his way to the fireplace.

James watched until he disappeared in a gush of greenish flame.

"He's going to use last night to black mail me forever isn't he?" Lily asked.

"Probably, Lils, but I've got enough dirt on him to keep him in check for the time being," James said, kissing her cheek and pulling her more securely into his arms.

"Hey, snuggle bunnies!" His Uncle Charlie called, "It's about time for bed."

"Yes, sir," James said, "I'll get this little ragamuffin to bed," and scooped Lily up in his arms, which sent her sputtering.

"Put me down, James!"

"Nope," he told her, walking out of the room and grinning at his Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe's cat-calls.

"Put me down NOW!" She said, giving him her if-looks-could-kill-you'd-so-be-blown-to-smithereens-by-now look. He considered it, but he had to be strong.

"Nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head.

She smacked his shoulder.

"No need to get physical," he joked, walking up the stairs.

"Fine," she said, giving in and throwing her arms around his neck, "You may carry me tonight, but just tonight."

"What about tomorrow?"

"No."

"Come on, please."

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a lily on top?"

"That's so cliched."

"But it worked last time."

"That was last time."

"We can argue about it tomorrow night, then," James said, gently setting her on her feet in front of her door, "Now, is there anything you need?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Not even a kiss?" he said, disappointed.

"Well I don't need a kiss, but I'd like one."

"Really?" James said, brightening as he pulled her into his arms, "Well since you'd like one, I think I could arrange ..."

Lily cut him off, pressing her lips to his. He hadn't been expecting that and rather lost his balance, causing them to stumble to the wall. James smiled into their kiss as Lily pushed him flat to the wall and continued to kiss him. After a few minutes, they broke apart and Lily tried to smooth her mussed hair.

"I'll see you in the morning, love," James said, gently touching her cheek.

"Tomorrow is Christmas."

"That it is," James agreed, "Are you set on Christmas presents?"

Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Christmas presents!" She took off and ran into his room.

He found her searching around his closet and desperately throwing his clothes all over the floor.

"Whoa, what are you doing, Lils?"

"Your bag, where is it?"

"My bag?" James repeated, confused.

"Where is it? I need to get the box out!"

"Oh," James said, realizing she was talking about his travel bag, "It's under my bed."
Lily leapt up and hurried over to his bed, getting down on her hands and knees, pulling things out from under his bed. First was his old teddy bear (he'd been wondering where that was), then a folder of old finger paintings from when he was 4; next a small wooden chest, holy shit, that was where he kept all of the hair ties he'd stolen from Lily over the years.

Oh Gods, please don't let her open it! He thought. Luckily, she kept right on plowing, pulling out his first year transfiguration notebook and finally his travel bag, which she practically ripped open and turned upside down, spilling out socks, boxers, and her box.

"Thank Merlin!" She said, picking it up and cradling it to her body.

"What's in there?" James asked.

"Your Christmas present."

"What? I don't get the holly you risked your life to get last night?"

"I didn't risk my life; as you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

"No more climbing out windows though."

"Fine, no more."

Lily walked to his window and looked out at the darkened landscape. The nearly full moon lit the snow making it shine like starlight. James went and stood behind her, looking out over her shoulder.

"I was talking to Sirius today."

"What'd he say?" James mummered into her shoulder.

"Oh, he went on and on about Ally. I think he's really in love with her," Lily let out a beautiful laugh, "I never thought I'd see the day Sirius gave up having a different girl every week," she said, turning in his arms, "I never thought I'd see you give that up either."

"I was such an idiot back in fifth year, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, but I still liked you. It annoyed me to no end that I liked one of Hogwarts' bad boys."

"I wasn't that bad, surely," James said, giving her his carefully refined Marauders' innocent face.

"Oh, you were awful, completely hideous ... and utterly gorgeous."

James laughed, "You contradict yourself, fair lady."

"Well aren't fair ladies permitted to contradict themselves?"

"Generally no, but for you, I'm willing to make an exception."

"How kind of you."

"I know. So, did Sirius say anything else?"

"Not really," Lily gave him an impish smile, "For some reason he was reluctant to go into detail about how he convinced Ally to tell him how to remove the pink hair dye."

"I can't imagine why," James said, smirking, "It's a real pity, though; I thought he looked brilliant with pink hair."

"Oh, he also told me about a little prank he and Remus wanted to play when they get back to Hogwarts."

"I haven't heard anything about a prank," James said, confused. Normally the Marauders planned all of their pranks together.

"Well, it sounded like it involved the Slytherins and a good deal of red and gold hair dye."

James looked out the window; he couldn't believe they'd plan a prank without even consulting him about it.

Lily laughed, "Poor James, I'm just pulling your leg. Although, I'm sure if you guys did decide to plan it, it would be a brilliant prank."

"Oh," James said, his face heating. Lily could tell him anything and he'd probably believe her.

"Did you know," Lily said in a tone that indicated she was telling him something extremely important, "That gullible is written on the ceiling?"

James looked up; he didn't see anything. "No, it's not."

Lily leaned against the wall, nearly sobbing with laughter. She sank to the floor still laughing. James slapped his head. He was right; he'd believe absolutely anything she said.

"That was not nice," he told her, kneeling beside her and tickling her sides.

"Ahh, stop, James, stop!" She was laughing so hard she could hardly get the words out.

"Only if you apologize."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

James stopped tickling her and sat back on his heels.

When she finally stopped laughing, she looked at him and said, "That wasn't very nice."

"I could say the same to you."

"You shouldn't have fallen for it," she said, grinning.

"And you should know I'm hopeless when it comes to you."

"I know," she said, smirking. He stood up and offered her his hand, helping her to her feet. Once standing, she reached down and retrieved her small wooden box.

He reached for it as well, but she grabbed it and then danced out of his grasp.

"Bad James," she said, shaking her finger at him.

"Come on, tell me what you got me?"

"Oh no, mister, you'll find out tomorrow."

James pouted, Lily glared. James tried puppy dog eyes, and Lily put her hands on her hips.

"Alright, I'll wait till tomorrow.

She grinned at him, "How about a consolation gift?"

"What kind of consolation gift?"

"Well, it would be a surprise."

"Hmm ... I think a consolation gift sounds nice," James said, pulling her to his side, hoping the gift would be a kiss.

"Ok, go lie down on your bed and close your eyes." James raised his eyebrow suggestively at her.

"Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, James. Although, not too out," she said with a wink.

He smiled and lay down on his bed, closing his eyes, "Alright, now what do I do?"
"Just keep your eyes closed," Lily said. James could hear the affectionate smile in her voice.

Then she was on top of him. His eyes flicked wide open to see a very content Lily crouched over him like a tiger.

"Practicing your pounce?" James asked, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. His senses were overwhelmed by Lily's closeness.

"Well, you said you wanted me to, didn't you?"

"I did," James said, his hand lovingly tracing her face.

"So how is this for a consolation gift?"

"It's brilliant."

Then she kissed him and he felt like he was drowning in her. He pulled her closer to him, unable to get enough of her sweetness.

Someone loudly slammed his door and they sprang apart, Lily rolling off of him to lay by his side.

James looked guiltily at his dad who was talking to the wall.
"Well, gee ... must have gone temporarily blind there ... oh well ... Ms. Evans!" He exclaimed like he was seeing her for the first time, "I don't think you're in the right bed."

"Probably not, sir," Lily mumbled.

James stood up and helped Lily off his bed. They both shuffled past his dad to Lily's door.

"Do you have your box?" He asked quietly.

She nodded.

"Alright, goodnight," he whispered, kissing her cheek. He stood there and let her hand slip from his own as she disappeared into her room.

Sighing, James headed back to his own room to face the music.

His dad was sitting at his desk when he walked in. James went and sat on his bed.

"Going to explain?"

James let out a low sigh, "It wasn't what it looked like."

"Really?"

"We were just kissing. I ... we wouldn't do anything like that."

"She's very pretty. I had hoped that you saw more in her than that ..."

"Dad, are you listening to me? We were just kissing. I'm not going to disrespect her like that, she's far too special. We aren't going to throw away our first time together for a ... a roll in the hay on Christmas Eve." James congratulated himself; he'd actually managed to explain the whole thing without using the word sex. He completely rocked!

His dad was doing the penetrating glare thing that made you feel like you were standing there naked.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," his dad said, standing up, "You don't need to worry about what I think James, I just wanted to make sure you know what you think. After all, women like that ..." he shook his head, "Your mother was just like Lily and she had me spinning in circles before we finally married," he laughed, "Just between you and me, you were born a little less than 9 months after our wedding," his father had opened the door and was about to leave, "And you were born a little late," then he shut the door behind him.

James just sat there open mouthed. Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

He felt like running around and squealing like a girl. No one should have to listen to their dad tell them that their parents had pre-marital sex because James had been pretty darn happy living in blissful ignorance of that fact. Yuck. Maybe he could get his Uncle Charlie to do a memory charm on him. Whoa, hold on, rewind, did his dad pretty much tell him that having sex with Lily was ok by him? No, he didn't ... did he? James figured he'd go with no, but maybe a different perspective would help him make sense of all of this.

He got up and walked down the hall to his Uncle Andrew and Aunt Reese's room. If anyone could figure this out for him it was Andrew.

He knocked and hear his Aunt Reese call, "Come in."

He walked in, "James, dear ... are you alright?"

"Probably not. Is Andrew here?" He asked."

"Yes, he's taking a shower," she looked at his face, "I'll go get him."

A minute later, Andrew walked out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist, "James?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Sure, kiddo; let me get some clothes on."

They walked around in silence before settling in the library.

"So, what's on your mind?" Andrew prompted.

"I ... well ... ok ... I want to tell you what happened."

"Ok."

James took a deep breath, "Alright, I guess this all starts after I took Lily up upstairs."

"Yes, we all saw that," Andrew said with a grin.

"I kissed her goodnight, but she'd forgotten a box in my travel bag. So we went and got it and she told me my Christmas present was in the box. Of course, I wanted to know what it was."

"Of course."

"And she said no, but I could have a consolation gift. So she well ... she rather pounced on me. Since ... well it's kind of a long story that involves her mistaking Sirius for me and pouncing on him instead, but anyway ... she was just so pretty, I had to kiss her and then Dad walked in."

"Ouch," Andrew said, wincing.

"Yeah, and he saw me pretty much pinned to my bed by Lily, kissing her like there was no tomorrow."

Andrew shook his head, obviously trying not to laugh, "Double ouch."

"Agreed," James said with a sigh, "Then after Lily got back to her room, Dad pretty much implied that I was only interested in Lily for sex because she was pretty."

"He did what!?!" Andrew exclaimed, his face turning serious, "James, that doesn't sound like him; maybe you misinterpreted what he was saying."

"I think he might have been doing his little 'devil's advocate' thing, because he said some confusing thing about how he wanted to make sure that I knew what I thought, or something like that."

"Oh, I get it. I think he wanted to make sure you knew that you weren't with Lily for looks or sex or something like that."

"Yeah, I guess, but that's not what's really bothering me; it's what he said after that. I mean, he pretty much told me that he and mom slept together before they were married."

"He did?"

"He said I was born a little less than 9 months after they were married."

"Everyone knows that you were born early, kiddo."

"I know, I've known that my whole life. But right as Dad was walking out the door he looked back and said, 'You were born late.'"

"You're kidding me!"
"No, I'm dead serious and I'm completely freaked out right now."

"There's no need to freak, James; I mean it's pretty normal these days not to wait until you're married."

"Gods, don't tell me you didn't wait either," James groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Hey, I'm not saying it's a bad idea to wait; in fact, it's a great idea if that's what you want to do, but it's not like you'll be struck with a lightning bolt if you don't," Andrew paused, "As long as you use protection, of course, because there aren't any guarantees on the lighting thing then."

"Well, I'm waiting."

"So you and your gorgeous girlfriend making out on your bed was ..."

"Just that, me and my gorgeous, amazing, wonderful girlfriend kissing on my bed and nothing else," James shook his head in amazement, "I have to tell you Andrew, I never really thought about it before, about what I wanted to do about sleeping with Lily, but I think that I really do want to wait until we're married. It would just be so much more ... special, I guess, if we waited."

"You realize," Andrew said, grinning, "That your father was probably trying to manipulate you into that decision all along."

"That does sound like something Dad would do."

"Well," Andrew said, slapping James' shoulder, "Let's get to bed, it's Christmas Eve and I know for a fact no one would bat an eye if you went in to wake up your girlfriend at some insane hour, like three in the morning, and conveniently forgot to wake her up and curled up with her instead."

James laughed and they headed back toward their rooms. While he changed into his pjs James wondered if he'd ever be able to look at anyone in his family again without his mind replaying, "It's pretty normal not to wait until you're married." And what about his mom, how could he ever look her in the eyes without hearing his dad saying, "You were born late."

His family was officially nuts and they seemed intent on dragging him down with them.

Ah ... what the hell.

--------

Hey! Thanks for all of the reviews. I'm glad fluff is ok with you guys.

The next chapter is going to be a while in coming. I have exams next week and am completely swamped, so I have no idea when I'll be able to post again.

Daystar - You are seriously the world's best beta! I have no clue what I'd do without you.