Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this little drabble. J.K. Rowling owns everything, damn her.

Note: I apologize in advance for any trauma caused by the extremely cheesy and cliché ending.

What do You Want for Christmas?
Checkerboxed

As the winter holidays rolled around, students found that everything in the castle built up. Homework. Snow. Pressure to study for OWLs or NEWTs. Most buckled under the pressure, leaving homework and frolicking, instead, outside in the snow. Several hardcore revelers landed themselves in detention. Others, namely Lily Evans and James Potter, found themselves working harder than ever.

Although not necessarily on the same thing.

Lily, being a studious kind of person, refused to leave the Common Room of Gryffindor tower until she had completed that night's homework and some of the next. Her friends soon realized that their cajoleries, pleads, and sometimes, threats, held no sway, so they usually left her alone after 9:30ish. She found she rather liked the silence, and ended up working harder than ever.

James, being a non-studious kind of person, knew that his friends thought that he had gone slightly crackers, when they discovered that he had been sneaking off every night to the Room of Requirement to work. On what, they still hadn't been able to find out. He really couldn't tell them. But he found that he rather liked working on things, and resolved to work more often.

On this particular Saturday evening, Lily Evans and James Potter were both hard at work- Lily in the common room, and James in the room of requirement. Lily was working on an essay for Professor Slughorn, the Potions Master. Every now and then, she paused to look up the definition for various exotic materials, such as "Essence of Yellow Drinklesnag" or "Exploding Carrots". James was working on the final touches to the spell that he had been inventing since the beginning of November. A spell he would need to have finished before the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year, which was two days before Christmas.

At exactly the same time, both students looked at the clock and sighed. It was 10:25. James felt that it was not too late to sneak down to the kitchens for a cup of hot chocolate, which was really what one needed after finding out that two flicks and a jab of the wand were not the right formula of wand movement at all. Really, he'd have to work on that. Lily, on the other hand, realized that she didn't have the right book to finish her essay. Glancing at the clock again, she contemplated sneaking down to the library and looking it up.

Deciding she would, Lily stood up from the comfortable armchair she had been sitting in and worked the cricks out of her neck. James stood up as well from the comfortable bean bag he had been lounging in and shook out his wand hand. Then he pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head and left the room.

The halls of Hogwarts were a cold place to be after dark. Lily shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms to warm herself up, and quickened her pace. The faster she got to the library and found the book, the faster she could get back to the chair by the fire. James shivered and wrapped the cloak tighter around himself.

Turning the same corner, both Lily and James ran smack-dab into something very solid. James, recovering quickly, looked up to see the very pretty red head glancing wildly around. Lily didn't have that much luck. Taking a quick step back, she did a double take when she saw the hall in front of her completely empty. Wondering if she had gone completely crazy, she took another step forward-

-And fell over.

Jumping up quickly and whipping out her wand, she pointed it in the general direction of whatever it was. In a shaky voice, she whispered, "Who's there?"

Silence. She stood frozen for a moment, staring. Then she began to notice something that, while it was a very interesting place, you generally don't see in the halls of Hogwarts. It was interesting that the air in front of her was shimmering slightly- odd in of itself, but it also seemed to be in the shape of a human.

Unsure of herself, she stepped toward the shimmer and whipped her hand out. Feeling silky material under her slim fingers, she grabbed and pulled swiftly backward, raising her wand higher and preparing to shout a hex if needed. Instead, she found herself face to face with a very familiar black haired boy.

"Potter?" she hissed, disbelieving. Glancing between him and the cloak several times, she gaped at him. "What- what in Merlin's name are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

He grinned, reaching up to run his hands through his already unruly black hair, but thinking better of it when he saw the glare on her face. "I could ask the same of you," he said pointedly.

At least she had the grace to blush. "I was studying, Potter, if you must know, and I was going down to the library to look something up. I wasn't doing anything wrong. I doubt I could say the same of you."

The dim light from the window illuminated both of their features in a very endearing way. Lily did her best to ignore the fact that James's face was even more handsome in this light, and the fact that her heart was doing what seemed like very strange jumping jacks, and glared at him. James grinned internally at the way the light softened her eyes and threw her face in contrast. On the outside, he did his best to keep a straight face.

"Why must you always think the worst of me, Evans?" he asked sulkily, willing his heart to stop beating so hard. "I was just coming back from a little studying myself."

She snorted disbelievingly. "Gryffindor Tower's that way," she said, pointing farther down the hall. "Now if you'll let me by..." She moved to step around him, but he put out an arm to stop her.

"You've got my cloak," he whispered, in a voice that Lily had never heard from him before but made her shiver. She turned to him, a thought springing into her mind.

"I think I'll keep it in punishment for sneaking out after hours. And I really don't believe that story about studying. More likely you were having a passionate snog with that girl from Hufflepuff that was flirting with you in Herbology yesterday." She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"When I'm head over heels for you?" He asked, in the same tone he had used before. She shivered again, but recovered. "Keep saying that, Potter, and you won't ever see the cloak again."

He lunged for it suddenly, grasping hold and pulling it out of her arms. She gasped in surprise, and turned again to grab for it. Instead, she found herself pulled inward against his chest and felt the slight whisper of the cloak being wrapped around herself.

"Potter, what are you doing?" she demanded, pushing away from him. He merely grinned and pulled her to himself again, whispering into her ear. "I'll make you a bargain," he said, his tone implying that she had no room for argument."I'll take you down to the library, where you can make use of my wonderful sneaking skills to find and confiscate the book you need, and, in return, you come down to the kitchen with me for a cup of tea and a conversation."

Thinking it over, Lily realized that it was a good idea. She really hadn't thought it through how she was going to get the book with out alerting Madam Pince, whose room was right next to the library. And she really could use a nice cup of tea.

She had to make one last attempt to save her dignity, though. "But the kitchens are off limits to students," she protested halfheartedly.

James laughed and grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

As they crept down the hall, Lily found herself wondering what she had done to get herself in this kind of situation. Pressed against James Potter, under an Invisibility Cloak, on their way towards their second of two against-the-rules break-ins, and enjoying it. Christmas was indeed a time of wonder.

James, on the other hand, found himself not wondering at all. In fact, he found it difficult to form any coherent thoughts at all, other than "Lilylilylilylilylilylilylilylilylilylilylily..." He could feel her side pressed against him, and his arm around her shoulders. It was a wonderful new experience for him, and he found that this was how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

He stopped short in front of a painting of a large bowl of fruit. Lily, not paying attention to anything more than the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, kept walking. It took her brain a moment to realize what the sudden absence of heat from her left side was from. She turned around in a circle, disoriented. Obviously, she couldn't see James because he was under the cloak, and she had just walked out of it.

He pulled the cloak off and his wand out at exactly the same time. Clearing his throat, he stepped toward the painting (and, subsequently, Lily) and tickled the gigantic pear with it. It giggled and the painting swung forward. Lily, surprised, stepped back and bumped into James, who took advantage of the situation by wrapping his wand arm around her and lifting her into the portrait hole.

Lily gazed around her in wonder. Everywhere she looked, house elves of all shapes, sizes, and, occasionally, color, bustled over stoves or grills or all manner of other kitchen type appliances. Every single elf stopped what he or she was doing as James hopped gracefully in and closed the portrait behind him.

James waved cheerfully at them. "Hello, hello, keep working; we just stopped by for some tea..." Almost immediately, a little, excited looking elf stepped forward with a list of different types of tea. Lily had never seen such a long list in her life.

James, having been here several times before, steered her towards one of the big fires that blazed nearby. Sitting on the hearthstone, he pulled her down beside him, unsure whether the warmth that spread through him at the sight of Lily's wonder was from the fire or Lily.

He told the elf what he wanted (Green Tea) as Lily pondered over the list. Eventually, she selected Oolong Tea, and watched as the little elf scurried off.

James leaned back, relaxed and happy. Firelight played across his features, and Lily had to tear her eyes away from the sight of the light outlining his face. "Uh," she began, unsure of what to say. Normally, she wouldn't even be in this kind of position. Normally, she would have shot a glare at him accompanied with a "bugger off, potter," or a hex- whichever she chose. Normally...

Normally she wouldn't be so nervous being so close to him.

If he noticed her distress, he said nothing. Instead, he glanced around happily, as if proud of the kitchen. "Isn't it wonderful in here?" he asked her chattily. She looked startled. "Uh, yeah," she said, glancing around again. It really was nice, she thought, shocked a little at herself.

The little elf scurried up again, two steaming mugs of tea on a platter. They both took theirs, sipping slowly, as it was very hot. Lily sighed. It tasted perfect.

They turned towards each other. Neither felt the need to say anything for a moment, content with simply sipping their tea and basking in the warmth from the fire and/or each other. Lily found that she did not mind spending time with James Potter, who, on normal days, would irritate her so much she felt she could scream.

Tonight, though, he had shown her a side of him that was kind. Warm. Un-egotistical or prat-ish.

She found she rather liked this side of him.

Something nagged in the back of her mind, trying to remind her of something. Suddenly, she remembered what he had said about studying.

"Potter," she began, her tone light, "What were you doing tonight?"

He looked up from his tea. "I told you, studying." When she still looked disbelieving, he went on, "Well, actually, I was working. On a spell."

She snorted, barely avoiding spilling her tea. "You were working on a spell? As in... trying one out, twisting it, making it... what?"

"I was making one," He replied innocently.

Lily leaned forward interestedly. "Really. What kind of spell?" She couldn't help being this interested in all things educational, it was who she was. She knew she was a nerdy swot. Too bad.

James grinned again, happy that she could show so much interest in something that he was doing, for a change. Normally, she waved off his boasts of his prowess on the Quidditch field, his intelligence, good looks...

All of which were true, he added smugly to himself. Pushing himself off of the hand he was leaning on, he crossed his legs, Indian style, and placed his teacup on the hearthstone in front of him. "Well," he began, hoping to drag this out- build up the anticipation. "I, er, was interested in learning a certain type of... information, and I... couldn't find a spell for learning said information..."

He trailed off, smiling smugly at the look of impatience that crossed Lily's face. "Yes, Potter... go on." He could tell she was trying really hard not to whip out her wand and hex him. His heart raced. Stop it, he told himself. She's just listening to you... for the first time in your little pathetic life, and... She looks interested... and beautiful, and... You want to...

He coughed. "Uh, right. Well, I looked in all of the spell books I could find... well, all the spell books in the dorm room, collectively..."

"All grand total of three, I suspect?"

"Well, Remus had a lot, but Sirius and I had both lost ours, and Peter was off doing who knows what in the broom closet down the hall from the statue of Margery the Morose..."

"He was attempting to turn his nose back to its normal color." Lily said, not noticing the look of curiousness that crossed James's face. "Go on."

"Well, I couldn't find the spell, so when Professor McGonagall mentioned creating your own spells in class a few weeks ago, I thought I'd have a go."

"You were paying attention in class?"

"Only because Sirius and Peter weren't paying attention to me, and I was bored. I didn't have any more room on my paper to doodle Lily Potter and little hearts..."

She blushed heavily, swatting his arm with a hand. "Get over yourself, Potter."

James raised a hand in self defense. "Hey! I didn't!" Seeing the look that showed she was intensely uncomfortable with this subject, he went on, "So... I've been working on it ever since."

"Yeah, but that didn't answer my question. I wanted to know what it does." Lily fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

James hesitated, but said it anyway. "I wanted to know what you wanted for Christmas."

She looked up at him, very serious. "You could have asked me," she said quietly. He grinned unhappily, knowing that if he had asked her, he would have been given his answer through a large and painful curse.

Lily grimaced, realizing her mistake. "Oh. Right. But, well, you can now. I don't think I hate you all that much anymore."

She trailed off, not looking at him.

The silence was broken by an elf respectfully tapping James's shoe. "Master Potter, we are closing up. You should go back to your dormitories."

Lily stood up, brushing herself off. "Yeah. We should probably head back. It's late." She moved toward the portrait hole, depositing her teacup near a sink. James followed her.

As they walked down the hall back to the Gryffindor Tower, James suddenly stopped. Lily, curious, turned around to face him. "What's the matter?" She asked.

An odd look crossed his face. Reaching forward, he rested his palm against the side of her face, pleased at the look in her eyes- confusion, but reluctance to leave. He took this as a sign and moved closer to her. "Lily," he whispered. She shivered under his touch.

"Lily... what do you want for Christmas?" The heat in his voice made her look up- the desire in his eyes seemed to make it almost worth staying up so late. "Lily- I know I tell you this a lot- well, almost every day, but... I love you. I want you to be my girlfriend. Please, Lily." He was pleading now, and he knew that he'd never be able to rescue his dignity now.

Afterwards, she didn't know what made her do it, but she only knew that she had. Stepping up on the tips of her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her hands in his hair, and kissed him full on the lips.

James nearly fell over back from the heat of the kiss. Recovering quickly, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back, sure that this was possibly the best moment of his life.

After what seemed like eternities later, she pulled back, slightly breathless.

James shook his head. "No."

She pushed him farther back, hurt. "No?"

He shook his head again, grinning, distracted a little about how her mouth looked. "No, don't pull away," he whispered hoarsely. He swept her up into another kiss, possibly even better than their wonderful first.

When they pulled away, he stayed close. "So, Water-Lily... what do you want for Christmas?"

She didn't have to think this time.

She smiled.

"You, James."

fin.

Author's Note:

Aren't you glad I warned you? I really couldn't help all the fluff- all my other stories lack it a little. So, there you have it.
Did you like it?
Please review. It may make me update again. Quickly.
Luff,
Rhia the Embarrassed-At-Her-Own-Fluff Author.