Author's note: Thanx everyone for all the reviews! It's means so much to me!

Milkywaypnay37: I'm glad you liked the last chapter even though it was kind of short. Here's the next one, I hope you like it. I know it took a while for me to update.

Galasriniel: wow, that could possibly be one of the peppiest reviews I've ever read. It was quite funny. I'm glad you liked that last chapter. I hope you like this chapter. Review, please and thank you!

Sweet Sarcasm: I love your pen name. I'm so glad you like Lily's friends. And don't' worry I am very mushy and romantic… as you can tell with the while story and everything.

Easilyamusd987: thanks for the great review! I try to keep my characters well developed and not let them die off. And thanks for understanding that I can't update all the often. And I will never abandon the story. I will keep up with it till the very end!

Destiny Amberly Weasley: You should not be thanking me. I should be thanking you. Thank you for reviewing and thank you for sticking with the story through the good and bad chapters. You have no idea how much it means to me.

Queen of Day Dreams: Hazel appreciates it very much that you are sticking up for her and everything. She said so when I told her. So I will stop yelling at her because yes I know that school is very important and even though I would love to spend 24/7 on this site I can't. But thanks for reviewing and reading.

Suzyq: I'm glad you like this story and certainly hope you keep reading it!

Ron-n-Hermy-4ever: Um, yeah you better lay off the length of my chapters because unlike you I have had some pretty long chapters. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Finally!

DOJ: Haha! Thanks for the great review. I love writing Sam. She is very romantic and I kind of express myself through her because there obviously aren't situations like Jo and Remus' in which I can act like that in real life. And I'm so glad you liked that like that Jo said. I thought it was rather clever.

Calisto: I'm so glad you're still reading. It's no problem if you don't have time to review every time. I know what that's like. And it was no problem clearing up the whole James Seeker/Chaser thing, when I first started this fic I had to answer that question a lot.

Daleia: That was a very flattering review you left me. And thank you so much. I really appreciate you putting me on your favorite lists. Please keep reading and reviewing.

HPPhoenix07: Glad you liked that chapter. Sorry the whole Jo/Remus scene wasn't long enough. I promise I will put more fluff in though. And I'm kind of tired of the whole sad tone of the fic right now so I'll probably make it happy and fluffy again, soon. Love and miss you already, Sarah

James Potter Lover 189: Soooo happy you liked the story. Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long.

Smay: I'm so glad you like this story. And I was thinking about your review the entire time while I was writing this chapter. And I think you're right, I tried not to make Petunia too mean. Tell me how you like it.

The ORIGINAL Meathead: You don't know how much I love your pen name! I love it! Anyway, I'm glad you liked the fic and the ball scene. Please keep reading and reviewing.

SiriusLives001: I hope you're ok. You mentioned being AWOL since July. Anyway, I hope all is good and please keep reading and reviewing.

Fanglessphysco: I'm so happy you like this story. And I must be doing something right if you can't wait to see what happens next!

Dracoslilgirl4ever: wow, that's quite a compliment you gave me. I try hard to improve my writing. I hope you continue to read and review.

Writergirl709: glad you like this story. Please keep reading and reviewing!

Gotta Love Friends and Christmas

The next couple days seem like nothing to Lily. She just went through the motions without paying attention to anyone or anything. She spent the majority of her days in her room, claiming she needed to do my homework. And while she did get the majority of her homework done that couple of days she spent quite a bit of time laying in bed sleeping and…morning, I guess would be the word to use in this situation.

It wasn't as if Lily spent an unhealthy amount of time up in her room. Her friends made sure that she left the room for every meal. Lily had never been so glad to have her friends as she did now. They knew exactly how to take Lily's mind off her parents and her wondering whether Petunia was ever going to owl Lily back.

"Ok, Lils I think it's time we all go do something together." Cat said the day before Christmas Eve as everyone was sitting down for lunch in the great hall.

"It is supposed to snow tonight." Sirius said with an evil glint in his eyes.

"I refuse to have a snowball fight with you and your friends, Sirius Black." Cat snapped and glared at Sirius.

"Well isn't someone a little meanie today?" Sirius smiled.

"I know fully well that it will be unfair considering you guys are much stronger and better athletes than us." Cat said.

"But there are only three of us and five of you." James pointed out feeling that a snowball fight was an excellent way to get Lily out doing something and it would be fun to see the girls all frustrated when they lost miserably.

"But you know fully well that Sam and Jo will most likely just stand on the side." Lily said looking and James, eyes twinkling.

"I resent that!" Sam said but everyone ignored her.

"That is not in our control." Sirius said innocently.

"Fine!" Anna said standing up from the table with her hand out for James to shake. "We accept your challenge. Be ready to lose, pretty boy!"

"Pretty Boy?" Sirius laughed. "I'll have to use that."

"Oh this is going to be every interesting." James smirked as he stood up and shook Anna's hand, ignoring Sirius' comment.

"Come on girls we need to go figure out our strategy." Cat said standing up from the table and walking toward the door of the great hall, all the other girls hot on her tail.

"Yes, this will definitely be a snowball fight to remember." James laughed as he sat down.

"Where exactly are we going to strategize, Cat?" Lily asked running after.

"We're going to the kitchens of course." Cat said as if they had all known this and it was a stupid question.

"Oh, of course we're going to the kitchens." Anna said. "Of all places in this castle we all knew we would be going to the kitchens." Cat glared at Anna who just rolled her eyes.

"Why are we going to the kitchens?" Lily asked.

"So you can make us your famous chocolate chip cookies while we come up with a plan to beat these guys and deflate their egos a little bit." Cat smiled evilly.

"Oh dear, I think Sirius is rubbing off on her." Jo whispered to Sam as they trailed behind.

"What did you expect would happen when they started going out?" Sam laughed.

"I knew it would come out horribly no matter what." Jo said. "Neither one of them needs to be rubbing off on the other. It's a dangerous combination."

"I heard that and I don't appreciate it." Cat said stopping in front of the painting of fruit, which indicated the entrance to the kitchens, and tickled the pair, which turned into a handle. Cat reached up and pulled on the handled and opened the painting and continued to hold the painting as all her friends filed into the kitchen before her.

As soon as everyone have made it into the kitchens it wasn't two seconds later that they we crowded by house elves asking how they would be of assistance.

"We just need a place to sit and talk." Cat said to the house elf nearest to her.

"Right over there." The elf said bowing slightly. And Cat walked around the elves toward the area of couches and chairs around a fireplace the elf indicated.

"Could we get some chocolate too?" Sam asked as she and the other girls followed after Cat. "Thank you." After one of the elves nodded that yes, they would be happy to get the girls some chocolate.

"No Lily you can't sit!" Anna said quickly as Lily tried to sit in one of the chairs.

"Thanks, I feel so very loved now." Lily said looking hurt even though she really wasn't.

"You are supposed to be making your famous chocolate chip cookies." Cat said.

"But I would also like to have some input in how we beat the guys tomorrow in the snow ball fight." Lily said.

"You are going to be ten feet away from us over there. You will be able to hear us and add to the conversation while you bake cookies." Anna said.

"What is it with you people and chocolate chip cookies?" Lily asked. "Can't I just take a break this year?"

"NO!" Sam said appalled.

"No, definitely not after how much I spent on your Christmas present." Cat said.

"Yeah and I was dragged to Hogsmead by James to get your present. The least you could do would be to make us cookies." Said Anna frowning at the memory of shopping with James and hoping no one else had to ever be put through that again. It was cruel and unusual punishment, especially since she hated shopping in the first place.

"And we love your cookies, plus this is the last year we're all at Hogwarts and the last time we'll have Christmas here." Jo said finally breaking Lily down.

"Fine you people." Lily walked off into the kitchen where she was swarmed by house elves who wanted to know if there was anything they could to help. Lily assured them that no she didn't need help and was just making chocolate chip cookies.

The next few hours consisted of bickering back and forth of the best way to beat the boys at the snowball fight. Lily had finished mixing the dough and was able to all her cookies in the oven at the same time. Sometimes you have to love magic. Especially when you can expand the oven and not have to stand around the oven for fifteen minutes to wait to take to cookies out, let them cool and then fill the cookie sheet up with more dough to put back in the oven and then repeat the cycle over again so many times it's easy to lose count. After Lily had put the cookies in the oven she sat down with her friends on the couches as they talked over different strategies to beat the guys. The first idea was to recruit more girls and attack them from all sides but that would be nearly impossible since the amount of people left at Hogwarts besides them could be counted on one hand. And no magic was allowed. It totally defeated the purpose of a snowball fight.

"We're going to get out butts kicked tomorrow." Anna said.

"The only thing I can come up with is to wish, hope, and pray that it doesn't actually snow tonight." Jo said.

"Well we do outnumber them." Sam said. "There has to be something we can do to win."

"Actually I think there might be something we might be able to do." Lily said

And so the plan when into effect, by the time all the 7th year Gryffindor girls got back to the common room it could be considered almost bed time. It was late enough that all the girls could do up stairs together and not look suspicious.

They all walked in through the portrait hole holding tin containers of chocolate chip cookies.

"Are any of those for us?" Sirius asked as he saw the girls walk into the common room carrying the cookies.

"Last time I checked, Christmas is still two days away." Lily said sticking her tongue out at the boys who were crowed around the fire on the various chairs and couches in the common room.

"Aww, come oooon Lily!" James whined from his spot on a common room chair.

"Well, maybe I could make a one little exception." Lily said as she made her way over to James and handed him the tin container she had been holding.

"That's not fair!" Sirius whined.

"Yes, it is! I have a girlfriend who loves me." James smiled and pulled Lily down into his lap as she laughed.

"James don't get too comfortable, Lily needs to come upstairs with the rest of us and get to bed." Cat said.

"Come on, Cat it's vacation!" James acted like a little kid.

"Well, since we're going to have a big day tomorrow we need to rest and get ready to whip your asses tomorrow." Anna said to James as Sam tugged Lily off James' lap and up the stairs after Cat and Jo.

"'Night!"

"Come on!" Anna whispered and she snuck down the girl's dormitory staircase a few hours later in the early morning of what was now Christmas Eve.

"Coming," Sam said.

"Shhhh!" Jo said stopping all the talking as they followed Anna down the stairs and out the portrait hole.

"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this…" Lily said as the group made their way through the castle to the front door.

"Lily it was your idea…you're not allowed to back out of it." Cat said as she pushed through the front door and stepped out into the freshly fallen snow in her boots and pajamas.

"Yeah Lily, we will kill those boys if it's the last thing we do." Anna said.

"Are you sure this doesn't count as cheating?" Jo asked.

"We aren't using magic." Sam said.

"Yeah, if we make all the snowballs now and hide them in one of the bushes we'll be able to throw them and not worry about making them and throwing them tomorrow." Anna said.

"Why are you so worried about cheating anyway?" Cat asked. "It's not an official quidditch game or anything."

"True…" Lily smiled. With that, everyone set to work rolling snowballs until their hands were numb. And then hid them in various bushed in a clearing on the far side of Hagrid's hut away from the forbidden forest, a place notoriously known for snowball fights. Always better to have a big clearing with no trees, a better chance of hitting someone.

"They will be kissing the ground we walk on tomorrow after we beat them." Cat smiled evilly after the girls finished make snowballs and went back inside to warm up and thaw out and then go to bed for the big fight the next day…or rather later that day, which ever way you choose to look at it.

"EAT THAT, PRETTY BOY!" Anna yelled after throwing a snowball into James' face.

"Hey hey," Remus said trying not to laugh at James' face as he was spitting ice out of his mouth. "Let's not aim for the face." He threw a ball at Lily, who was leaning over pretending to make a snow ball but was really grabbing one of the pre-made ones, hitting her in the back.

"Honey?" Jo said sweetly next to Remus.

"Yes?" Remus said turning to ask Jo what she needed.

"Eat this!" Jo laughed and threw a snow ball at the side of his head hitting him in the ear.

"I love you too Jo…" Remus said wiping the snow out of his ear.

"You are not allowed to use a man's weaknesses against him like that." Sirius yelled as he chucked a ball and Sam and another one at Cat.

"Yes, it's called war." Lily said chucking a ball at James. And the battle continued on like that for about an hour. Towards the end both teams were breathing hard and were completely numb from head to toe.

"We showed you!" Sam said plopping down in front of the fire on the ground taking off her wet layers of clothes. A heating can only help so much when you're wet with ice.

"Yeah yeah, but there were more of you." Sirius said yanking his scarf off as he plopped down on the couch, Cat next to him.

"Just admit it. We're better than you." Cat said.

"Never." James said helping Lily out of her wet robes.

"Please, you surrendered like babies." Anna laughed.

"Whatever…" Sirius said.

"Just admit that we are better at snowball fights than you." Jo laughed and she sat next to Remus on another couch.

"Well, wasn't someone a little more brutal today than usual?" Remus said looking at Jo.

"I was just getting into the spirit." Jo smiled shyly once more.

"Lily there's an owl at the window." Sam said.

"And?" Lily said wondering why Sam was telling her this.

"Well, since you are standing up, could you be a doll and get it?" Sam smiled sweetly at her from her spot on the ground in front of the fire.

Lily sighed and walked over to the window and leaned over to open it. And the bird gracefully perched itself on the window ledge and held its leg out to Lily so she could free him of his burden. After she did so the bird took off and Lily closed with window.

She unrolled the piece of parchment and scanned it quickly before looking up.

"It's from Petunia."

Author's note: Hey look! I've updated! No, I did not fall off the face of the planet but you know I am one of the best procrastinators alive. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I hope to update sooner next time. Sarah