A/N Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. Sometimes unfortunately real life gets in the way. I've also had an incredibly terrible case of Bronchitis. Anyway the chapter isn't too fantastic, I blame it on the medication I've been taking, since I'm sick. I'm hope y'all like it. I made it longer. I'm open to any suggestions! Please READ AND REVIEW!

Lily groaned and rolled over on her side. She slowly opened her eyes. She glanced at the nightstand where her book from last night rested with a slim bookmark in it. She smiled. She knew that someone had to have brought her back to her room. Normally she would have been embarrassed but she felt relaxed. She slowly stood and stretched. She smoothed her hair and changed her tee shirt and put on some pale lipstick before walking downstairs. She knew that James parents were aurors and she expected them to be gone already. Lily was instead, greeted by the smiling face of Clair Potter.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't think anyone would be here." Clair smiled.

"I'll be leaving in a minute. Marc already apparated to the ministry. Don't' worry, the boys aren't up yet." Lily laughed.

"They wouldn't wake up at Hogwarts but they wouldn't dare miss a meal." Clair laughed.

"Lily, if you want you should go shopping in Diagon Alley. You can get some last minute shopping done. I'm sure the boys need to get all of their shopping done. Oh I better be off." She smiled at Lily and with a pop she was gone.

Alia sat at her kitchen table with her head in her hands. She had her straightened and it seemed never ending in length. Her mother walked in and smiled.

"You're hair looks presentable long. Long hair makes a woman. " Alia looked away.

"Well, say something girl. You're meeting your prospective fiancé today. I expect that you will look presentable. Well stop staring at me. Either get ready for this evening or go to Diagon Alley to get suitable robes." Alia sighed. She stood.

"I better get going. Don't worry mother, I'll be back in plenty of time to be made presentable." Her mother nodded curtly and Alia went to the fireplace and grabbed a fistful of flew powder.

It didn't take Alia long to procure new dress robes. She hadn't really needed any but she figured that she might as well have a new set for the Potter's New Year's party. She sighed and crashed into someone. She looked up to see a familiar face.

"LILY! What are you doing here?" Lily didn't have time to answer for Alia flung her arms around her.

"Li, I love you and I'm happy to see you as well even though we just saw each other yesterday, but I can't breathe." Alia released her instantly.

"Sorry, so what are you doing here?" Lily gave a sheepish grin.

"Well I came here to go Christmas shopping. Sirius and James disappeared into some joke shop. Even though they're also supposed to be doing some shopping. We're meeting in a few hours." Alia laughed.

"Did you really expect them to do any shopping? Anyway, I'm glad to see you." Lily frowned.

"Bad holiday already." Alia bit her lip and nodded.

"My mother is arranging another marriage for me. I'm going to meet my prospective husband tonight. I'm here getting new robes for the occasion. She's just been a bit more suffocating than usual. I personally think that Cris has the best home life ever." Lily hugged her.

"Yeah, she does. Come on, I need to get something for the boys and the Potter's and I can't very well do it with them looking over my shoulder. It'll cheer you up."

"Which is code for, you have absolutely no idea what to get them." Lily laughed and nodded profusely.

"True. So where do we start?" Alia thought for a moment.

"We'll start with the boy's first. The first place to go would probably be hmmmm, aha! The quidditch store." Lily nodded.

"That's a fantastic idea. All right, let's go."

"Do you really think she'll like the gift?"

"Shut up Prongs, we've already been through this, she'll love your gift and she'll probably love you."

"Shut up Padfoot, we're just friends. We'll always be just friends."

"Whatever you say lover boy. Oh look, there's the Lily flower. She's with another girl oh Merlin, that girl is so hot. Oh no, they've got an awful lot of bags." James glanced up. Lily was walking beside and attractive woman beside her. The woman was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a dark blue sweater with her wizarding robes casually open. She had straightened dark hair with red highlights that fell to the center of her back. In James' opinion though, she couldn't even compare to Lily.

"Hey Lily, I see that you've bought all of Diagon Alley, hey Damascus." It had taken James a moment to recognize Alia. Sirius gave Alia a charming grin.

"My, you certainly clean up well. So did you get me anything?" Alia laughed.

"Of course, I got you s steamy date with Tristan." Sirius glared and stuck out his tongue. She smiled cheekily.

"Honestly Sirius, of course I got you a gift and don't you dare make a suggestive comment Lily and I shan't give you our gifts." He pouted and smiled at her. She sighed.

"All right, Lils I had better go meet the new umm, yeah." James and Sirius stared at her in surprise.

"What are you talking about Damascus?" She sighed.

"Well my mother has decided it's time to arrange another marriage for me so I am meeting my prospective husband tonight." Sirius stared at her in surprise.

"You're getting married?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"We'll see what the bloke is like. He can't be too horrible." James was the one that caught on to her slip.

"What do you mean, another marriage?" She sighed.

"Nothing, just that she's been trying to find me a husband for ages. All right, while I've got to run, but I'll definitely see you for your New Years party. Bye. She hugged Lily and James and much to his surprise kissed him on the cheek. She then turned and did the same to Sirius. Sirius stared at her as she walked away. James sighed; he recognized the look in his friend's eyes. This was going to get messy.

"Oh come on Lily, why can't you just tell what you got us." She sighed.

"For the thousandth time NO. I'm serious."

"No, I'm Sirius." Lily glared at him.

'I wouldn't' continue to use that joke if were you, mate." He shrugged his shoulders and gave a charming smile.

"It's worth it Lily flower, just to see the look on your face." She glared at him again. James smiled and she gave him a playful shove.

It was Christmas Eve at the Potter's. Lily had never had a Christmas quite like this before. It was lovely and chaotic. The mistletoe was enchanted so that you had to kiss the person or else it would follow you around the house, pelting you with berries. The tinsel would change colors and the gingerbread men would sing Christmas carols.

"I don't want to sound silly, but do you exchange presents tonight, or in the morning. Muggles normally wait for the morning." She peered at James who smiled.

"We usually don't exchange until either late at night or the morning. Don't worry, Padfoot and I can't get to the presents unnoticed. That's part of the reason that mum enchanted the gingerbread men and the angel atop the tree." Lily smiled.

"Oh that's good. Hmm, did she expect that angel would flirt with you and Sirius?" James shrugged.

"Well there isn't anything written about angles having to be celibate." She swatted him playfully.

"James, stop that. Is it time for dinner now?" James cocked his head to the side, he heard someone thundering down the stairs.

"Judging by the flight of Padfoot, I'd say yes. It's quite frightening actually. I think he knows my home better than I do." Lily laughed. She was a little nervous about spending Christmas with the Potter's. It wasn't that they terrible, in fact she found them to be quite like her parents. It was just that the truth of the matter was, they weren't her parents.

"All right, we better get there that way we actually have something to eat." James nodded in agreement. By the time they had reached the table Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were deep in conversation while Sirius squirmed in his seat, like a little boy. They laughed when James and Lily arrived.

"Heard Sirius, did you?" Inquired Mr. Potter. The pair nodded. Lily smiled at them.

"Happy Christmas Eve, I just want to thank you for having me here. I'm sorry if I'm a burden at all." All three Potter's shook their heads immediately. Mr. Potter spoke first.

"Lily, we're glad to have you. You we actually chose to have. We got stuck with Sirius here." He laughed and Sirius started to laugh.

"You know I'm grateful. They're right though. I just kinda showed up with my trunk." He shrugged and laughed. Lily smiled.

"I'm surprised you actually stopped shoveling food into your mouth." Sirius gave her a mock glare and then went back to shoveling food into his mouth. The rest of the evening passed by pleasantly with everyone talking and making jokes. After dinner they sat in the parlor of the mansion and Sirius started to dance around the tree.

"James, are you sure he didn't have anything to drink?" Mrs. Potter said. She gave Sirius a worried look. James sighed and Lily shook her head.

"He didn't drink anything with us. He's always like this." The Potter's laughed. It was now late at night. Clair and Marc Potter had headed up to bead and Sirius had gone off to owl Remus. James and Lily sat quietly in front of the fire. She stared at the tree. It was so beautiful. James smiled and watched her. The light played across her face and sent gold shimmers across her skin. She smiled at him.

"What are you staring at? Do I have smudge on my nose? Did Sirius change my hair color or something?" James laughed.

"No, you look absolutely perfect. It's midnight. Do you want to open your gifts from me?" She nodded.

"I'll go grab yours as well." He went to the tree to retrieve her gifts. He watched in surprise as she walked over to a plush chair in the corner of the room, and lifted the cushion of the chair. She held a few things in the palm of her hand and undid the shrinking charm. James stared in surprise.

"Blimey you didn't need to go through all that to hide them?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I saw you and Sirius down here, one was distracting the gingerbread men while the other was trying to probe what the gifts were. I figured I'd better hide both of yours. James started to laugh. He carried her things over and they sat side by side on the sofa she motioned to his gifts from her.

"Open mine first. I'm not sure that you'll like them…" She shifted nervously. He sighed.

"I'll like anything that you've thought to give me." He stared in surprise as he opened the few little gifts from her. The first thing he opened was a broom servicing kit and a book of elaborate quidditch plays.

"Thank you. This is incredible." He stared in awe. She blushed.

"It was nothing. Here's the last one." It was a poster. It had an open quidditch pitch and you could see figures flying around with a snitch,bludgers, and a quaffle. You could tell a certain play to it and you could see exactly how the play would work. He stared in awe.

"This is amazing. I can't believe that you go this. Thank you." He smiled at her and motioned for her to open her presents. There were two. The first was a book that had a list of jinxes and curses that could be performed for DADA and their counter curses. She beamed.

"Oh it's wonderful, I got a book like this for Tristan last year. I had always wanted to get myself book like this but I've never gotten around to it. Thank you so much!" he handed her a small box. She slowly opened it. She stared in shock. There was a slim gold chain on the chain was a golden lily. She stared at it. In the center of the lily was a small emerald.

"James, this is amazing. You didn't have to- I mean I feel bad accepting this." He shook his head.

"Happy Christmas Lily. Don't worry."

"It's beautiful. Here, help me put it on." He smiled and looped it around her neck. She stood.

"I think we should go to bed. Sirius will have us up early tomorrow." She grinned at him. They walked to the arch and flung her arms around him.

"Thank you so much, Happy Christmas." She tried to move away but found herself frozen. She looked up at him.

"Oh no, Lily, it's the mistletoe." She glanced up and saw the little plant that was above their heads. She sighed. He looked at her.

"We can't not kiss, you know how the mistletoe gets." She nodded slowly.

"Fine." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the lips. She blushed a little and darted to her room. He touched his lips where she'd kissed them. There was a tingling sensation.

Alia sat next to her father in the study. It was after she had met her prospective husband. She sighed and sat beside him. He looked at her and patted her head.

"Well if your mother has any say, this boy is the one. She will pick him." Alia sighed. She turned away from him.

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He was nice enough." Her Richard Damascus looked at his daughter.

"There are no others that you could bring to your mother?" She sighed.

"There are no others." He nodded.

"Then it's done. You will marry him." She smiled.

"I'm going to go and owl Tristan." Her father nodded slowly.

"Tell her I send my love and tell her that it's a dangerous game that one can play when they feel that they have nothing left to lose." She frowned a little at this new riddle. Her father had been sending Tristan messages like that since second year. He had met her family at the train station and decided that she needed little riddles to give her hope. The truth was Tristan delighted over them.

"I will. I'm sure she sends her love as well." He nodded, he was finished talking. She climbed up the stairs and went to her room. She smiled and when she saw James' owl.

Dear Lia,

You probably recognized this as James' owl. Well, since I was staying here he's let me borrow it. Well, I've survived Christmas. I miss you lots. Do you know that James gave me this absolutely gorgeous necklace with a golden pendant on it. It was absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, I'm just writing this because I miss you a lot. I was just wondering how the arranged meeting went. You never told me. Anyway spill and I know that I'll probably see you at New Year's here. Oh no, I hear Sirius yelling something, I've got to go. Take care.

-Lily-

Dear Lily,

Yes, that's sweet that James lent you his owl. I'm glad that you've survived Christmas. I've missed you as well. The necklace sounds lovely. You know what I want to say, but I'm not going to say it, I know that you'd rather claw my eyes out. The meeting went well. In time you won't just be going to Petunia's wedding, you'll be attending mine as well. I'll see you soon.

-Alia-

Lily sighed, she could vaguely hear noises. She was about to roll over and go to sleep when she was attacked by a flying figure of black hair. She shoved the body off of her.

"Sirius, go away. Can't breathe." She glared at him. "What time is it?" He shrugged.

"About seven. Up, presents, now!" She sighed and was yanked from her bed and dragged down the stairs. She was greeted by the sight of James sitting cross legged on the floor and Mr. And Mrs. Potter each holding cups of coffee and eyeing her through half closed eyes.

"See Sirius got you up as well," Lily commented. Mrs. Potter smiled and handed her a cup.

"Well he's been doing this for a while. We've gotten used to it by now." She smiled and accepted the hot cup gratefully. She took a sip. James patted the spot on the floor next to him. She collapsed besides him. The next half hour was filled with flying paper. James was actually more relaxed than Sirius. Lily smiled while she watched them.

The next few days after Christmas were filled with Quidditch and reading. James and Sirius had actually taught her the game and had spent five days trying to convince her to get on a broom. So far no one had one in that endeavor.

"Lily, it's a broom. You won't die. Just trust me. All right, I can see you don't trust me, but at least trust James, your fellow head boy." She turned away.

"I'll get dropped. I don't like heights and I don't like flying." She smiled trying to mitigate the harshness of her words

"Maybe someday. Not today. So James, tonight is a party?" She peered at him closely. He shrugged.

"It's just a thing for New Year's that always gets done. Lia should be there. Cris won't, she's in France and Moony won't, he's umm… He's spending time with his mother. I think Tristan might be there." She nodded.

"That sounds lovely. James, umm it's formal wizard robes, right?" He nodded.

"You can wear whatever you wore to the ball if you want. It doesn't matter. I've never really worried that much." Sirius smiled and watched the exchange. She nodded.

"I'm going to go back to the house. It's a bit… cold. I'll see you tonight." James nodded and stared at her as she left.

"Well mate, seems you're not over Miss. Evans." James glared.

"Shut up Padfoot. What about you? Did I detect you hitting on Damascus?" Sirius shrugged.

"She looked hot. What can I say? No one resists the Sirius charm anyway." James grinned evilly.

"No one except for Damascus, Evans and Hollis. I think that Holt is pretty much spoken for." Sirius laughed and shrugged.

"It's funny. I really thought that Hollis hated the dark as much as you Padfoot. I don't understand why she was with Malfoy." Sirius shrugged.

"Just proves that she's a traitor and a whore. Things that I said ages ago and no one paid me any attention." James sighed and patted him on the back.

"All right mate. Just don't kill her tonight if she's here." Sirius shrugged. He looked at James mournfully.

"Aww Prongs, it's no fun not to try and kill her. All right, I won't but if she starts something then I'm not responsible, mate." He sighed. James had a bad feeling about tonight. He didn't normally get feelings like that and he usually attributed them to girls. James and Sirius spent the rest of the afternoon playing quidditch until they finally went in to get ready.

James was sitting besides Sirius in his dress robes. Guests had already started to arrive and there was no sign of Lily yet. James had finally left the area by the staircase. He started to mingle with the arriving guests. He thought that he was a little worried, for he still hadn't seen Lily. He stopped dead. He saw a figure talking with someone.

"Hello Damascus, you look great-Lily." He stared. Lily was in conversation with Alia and she was laughing. She looked absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing the necklace that he'd given her and her hair was pulled back with her curly dark red hair cascading down her back. She had transfigured her dress robes to a dark gold.

"you look amazing. I haven't seen you all day. You look great to, Damascus." Alia laughed. She actually did look gorgeous. Her dark brown eyes were outlined in golden shadow and she was wearing cream-colored dress robes with bronze stitching. Her dark hair glossy hair was brushed out and her hair hung in waves and was spread across her shoulders.

"Oh come on, we both know that your busy gaping at Lily." She smiled cheekily. They walked off to a corner of the room. They had all started talking and Alia explained that she had a fiancé.

"You have a fiancé, that's so weird. So what's he like? Can I beat him up?" Lia started to laugh.

"No Sirius you can't. He's not too terrible. I kind of like him. It's good to see you." He nodded and she stepped forwards and hugged him. Alia watched as Lily and James went to dance with each other.

"They'll end up married someday." She observed to Sirius.

"Yeah I know. Right now, they're just 'friends'. They're both prats." Alia laughed.

"Yeah they are." He looked at her carefully.

"Are you happy that you're getting married? I mean really." She shrugged.

"There might have been a time when I would have rebelled, but now I'm just tired. Maybe I'll snap someday. I' m sorry, I don't know why I said all that. That's the type of thing I usually say to Tristan."

"It's fine. I understand. Have you spoken with Hollis recently?" He tried to keep his voice cold and disinterested.

"No. I haven't. I know that you all don't trust her now, but she's-" She stopped.

"She's what?"

"She's here." He whirled around. There she was. Her hair was straightened as usual and her bangs were a little shorter. She was wearing black silky dress robes. The tope portion of her hair was pulled back. She was in conversation with someone. He couldn't tell whom. She glanced over and saw Alia. She mumbled something to the man.

"Lia. Hello. Congratulations on the engagement." Alia smiled and hugged her. He stared at her. He knew that he promised not to start something, which he was bound to do if he said anything.

"How you been, Tristan?" She shrugged. She was wearing an actually nose ring tonight as opposed to a stud. The silver loop made her look more like a china doll. Her eyes were large and stood out in the pale oval of her face.

"Tristan you look like your losing weight." She shrugged and brushed it off.

"What are you glaring at, Black?" He was about to make a comment. She stopped dead and whirled around. Her entire body was tense.

"Shh." He drew his wand and stared at her. She drew her wand just as smoke swirled around the room and hooded figures appeared.

"Death Eaters."

A/N There's a little button in the left corner. It's what we use to REVIEW!