I Never Gave Up
Disclaimer: I own nothing except a few characters you don't recognize. The rest belongs to the great genius, J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Eleven
Christmastime
The months rolled by quite uneventfully, until it was finally December. With the coming of the month came a blanket of white snow that enveloped the entire country. The air became colder and frostier, and throughout the world, Christmas trees were suddenly put up, red and green decors were being hung, and Christmas carols began to play on the radio.
Back in the Ministry of Magic, everyone was in a buzz, trying to finish all their remaining work. It was only three days before Christmas, and their last day of work for the year, and they needed to finish everything so they could spend time with their families without any worry or hassle.
Lily was no exception. There wasn't really much to be done for her part, but she absolutely hated just sitting around with nothing to do or no one to talk to. It made her feel restless, so she spent her day fixing up her office, clearing away useless junk and re-organizing her file folder.
A knock on the door startled her and she stood up and closed her cabinet. Before she could say, "Come in," the door opened and, well, who else, but James walked in.
"Hey," Lily said, smiling. "What's up?"
"Hi, Lils," James greeted back, smiling as well. He cleared his throat and said, "Excited for Christmas?"
"Of course! It's my favorite holiday," Lily said, a slow smile spreading across her face. "I remember when I was little, we used to have snowball fights and go sledding, and then mum would make hot chocolate with marshmallows in it. And the presents were great!" she said, her smile turning reminiscent as she remembered all those times.
James laughed lightly and said, "Yeah, I know how you feel. Christmas is great. Listen," he gave her a look then continued, "I was wondering if you'd like to stay at my house for the rest of the holiday? I'm spending Christmas with my parents, and they'd love to meet you, and they said that it was fine, so how about it?"
Lily thought about it for awhile then said, "Well, I'm spending Christmas day with my parents, but I can come on the 27th, if that's alright".
James visibly brightened and said, "Yeah, sure, that'd be great! I'm looking forward to it. We can go to the Ministry New Year's Party together. Sirius and Chelsea are coming too. I invited Remus, Peter, Jeremy and Kelsey too, but Remus is going with his parents to visit some relatives, Peter can't, and Jeremy and Kelsey are spending the week at a ski lodge".
"Hmm," Lily said, smiling. "Can you believe that Sirius and Chelsea are still together? It's so strange to see Sirius Black attached to one woman for more than a year".
"I agree. Chelse is really something though; I mean, any woman who can keep Sirius Black in line is definitely different," James laughed. When he saw Lily's thoughtful expression, he added, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure that by the end of the holiday, you and Sirius will already be friends again".
"I hope so," Lily sighed, but then shook her head and looked up to give him a half-smile. "Thank you for inviting me, by the way. This Christmas is sure to be different, that's for sure".
"Yeah," James agreed. "Well, I've got to be going. I'm leaving early, you see. Merry Christmas, though". He was about to leave, when he remembered something. "Oh yeah, um, your parents' house is connected to the Floo network, right? Because if it isn't, you'll have to take the Knight Bus to get to my parents' house".
"Oh, it's connected, don't worry. I had it connected in my fifth year," Lily hurriedly explained to him as she placed another folder in her file cabinet.
"Great," James smiled up at her. "So, I guess you could come over at around 10 am? Just say, "Potter Mansion", and you'll find yourself there. See you".
"Yeah, okay," Lily said softly. He left and she sat down on her chair. She was going to spend the rest of the holiday with James and his family. Just the thought of it made her smile, and butterflies erupted in her stomach. Suddenly, her thoughts stopped in their tracks as she remembered what he had said.
"Mansion?"
..------..
December 27th, nine forty-five in the morning. James Potter was waiting expectantly by the living room fireplace, pacing the floor impatiently, and his shoes stepping across the hearth carpet. From time to time, he turned to look at the fireplace, then at the clock, wondering why on earth the minutes couldn't tick faster.
"Get a grip on yourself, James," the rational side of him told him, mentally slapping him. "She'll be here, don't worry. Besides, she said that she'd be here at ten, don't you think it's a little too early for you to be waiting?"
James sighed and decided to sit on the couch, glancing at the clack. Ten minutes more. The room was deathly quiet, and he was the only one in the entire house, since his parents had gone to the Ministry to have an audience with the Minister, and Sirius and Chelsea were due to arrive at eleven.
To occupy himself, he began looking out the window, trying to count the snowflakes that were falling. When it was ten o'clock, however, there was a strangled noise coming from the fireplace, and James jumped to attention. Within seconds, Lily Evans was on the floor, her face a bit blackened with soot, as was her bag.
James helped her up and they gave each other a grin. "Right on time, I see, Lily," he told her teasingly.
"Oh shut up," Lily grumbled, still feeling dizzy after traveling. She straightened herself up, wiped the soot from her face and said, "Thank you so much, for inviting me though. I mean, I love my parents and all, but really, it gets quite tiring to have your mum and dad ask you repeatedly if you've found some suitable bloke to marry already". They left the sitting room, and began walking.
"And have you?" James asked, despite himself.
"Maybe," Lily said mysteriously and laughed when she saw James's disbelieving and almost jealous look. She followed him as he gave her a tour of the house, and was amazed. It was huge. The rooms and the hallways were decorated with expensively simple yet elegant tastes that set off the homey feeling perfectly.
"This is your house," Lily spoke, still not believing how she could have forgotten that her laid-back, down to earth friend was actually heir to one of the biggest fortunes in wizarding Britain. "James, I knew you were well-to-do, but I never realized just how much".
James laughed at Lily's awestruck expression and said, "Hey, what can I do? I was born to it. Come on, I'll show you to your room". They climbed the stairs to the second floor, and as they did, Lily caught sight of some moving pictures hung on the wall. Once reaching the second floor, which was still richly decorated, they walked down the hall, and Lily observed the hanging pictures more.
"The entire Potter line is on these walls," James informed her, looking somewhere between pleased and embarrassed. "Grandma and Grandma hung everything here in the hallway, so everyone could see. It wasn't a matter of boasting, they just thought that the portraits could use something else to look at and someone to talk to instead of being cooped up in the drawing room". Lily merely laughed as she noticed the people in the portraits staring at them.
"James m'boy, is that your girlfriend right there?" an old, wizened man wearing blue robes asked from the portrait as they passed.
As James turned red, a woman in the portrait answered, "No, that's not his girlfriend, that's Lily Evans, the girl he's been obsessed with since his third year!" Hearing this, Lily blushed and gave him a pointed look. Yet he still said nothing.
They were almost at the end of the hallway when James stopped in front of a mahogany door. He opened it and motioned for Lily to enter with great flourish. "Your room, mademoiselle," he told her, stepping inside. Lily did the same.
"Wow," she breathed when she saw the room. It was painted in a lovely cerulean hue, with a four-poster bed and an antique armoire. It was decorated exactly as Lily preferred it, simple yet elegant.
"Do you want to rest first or something, or do you want to see the rest of the house? I want to show you the grounds," James asked her from the doorway. Lily looked up from her trunk, which she had just opened.
"Well, let me just take a quick shower and I'll join you downstairs, okay?" Lily told him. James simply nodded and he left her room.
Around fifteen minutes later, Lily went downstairs, wearing fresh clothes. "Hey, what time are Sirius and Chelsea arriving?" Lily asked him as they walked back to the living room. James checked his watch.
"Probably, about……now". And sure enough, there was a strangled noise coming from the fireplace, and seconds later, Sirius Black and Chelsea Leonards arrived, coughing slightly.
As soon as the girls saw each other, they both squealed and gave each other a big hug. "Chelse, I missed you so much!" Lily exclaimed.
"Me too!" was all she said. They quit hugging, and Lily turned to Sirius, who was standing beside James, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Hey Sirius," Lily said quietly, smiling softly as she looked up to her friend. "Merry Christmas". Suddenly, and to everyone's amazement, Sirius suddenly rushed to Lily and gave her a big hug.
"I'm so sorry Lils, I was just upset I guess," Sirius whispered to her. Lily simply smiled and said, "No problem Sirius. You were right, anyway. Besides, if it weren't for you, James and I would never have become friends. So we're cool, right?" Sirius nodded and the two smiled at each other.
They quit hugging and Lily turned to James, who had a strange expression his face. "James? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," James said, snapping out of his reveries. Lily looked outside and a slow grin suddenly came to her face.
"Hey guys," Lily suggested. "Why don't we have a snowball fight outside?"
"Oh no, no way," Sirius said, shuddering. "Don't get me wrong, we love snowball fights but we just don't love-----"
"Losing to us girls?" Chelsea finished, her blue eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Yes! I still remember distinctly that we lost 1-10 from you girls when we were at Hogwarts!" James said, mocking annoyance.
"Actually," Sirius said thoughtfully, "If my memory serves me correctly, we lost 0-10 last year".
"Hey, Padfoot, which side are you on anyway?" James asked him pointedly.
"Come on you guys, it'll be fun!" Lily said, giving the boys her best pleading look.
"OH…..fine!" James suddenly relented, unable to resist the look on Lily's face. Chelsea and Lily grinned to each other, while Sirius looked at James incredulously.
"Awesome!" Lily said happily. "Don't worry guys; we'll try to go easy on you this year….after all, the main reason why I made it so difficult of you when we were at Hogwarts was because I hated James. But now, we'll try to go easier on you. After all, I don't want to see you bawling your eyes out because you lost to us girls!"
"Just you wait, Lily," James said, his competitive nature kicking in, "We'll see who'll be bawling their eyes out later. You girls are no match for us, after all!"
The girls simply rolled their eyes at the two men as they headed out of James's house to begin their snowball fight.
..------..
"You girls are evil," Sirius remarked as they finished their tenth round. "Supremely evil, I must say".
"Why thank you," Chelsea said, curtsying as the three others laughed.
"Hey! You promised you'd give us a chance this year!" James protested, brushing off snow from his coat.
"We did give you a chance," was Lily's reply.
"Losing 0 to 10 is not considered giving us a chance, Lily!" James exclaimed. "You promised you'd go easy on us this year!"
"When we said that we'd try to go easy on you this year, you should have put more emphasis on 'try'. But really, we did go easy on you this year. I guess we're just better. Or it could be," Lily's emerald eyes sparkled as she said this, "that your just not good enough! Really, for Quidditch players, James, Sirius, you sure don't have a good aim!"
Possessed by a mischievous idea, James went backwards to their fort and slyly and secretly made a snowball. "Now good enough for you, eh? We'll see about that!" And with that, he threw the snowball at Lily! She shrieked in delight as the two started their own snowball fight, Sirius and Chelsea looking on, half in amusement, half in exasperation.
"If only they'd hurry it up and admit how they feel for each other already!" Sirius muttered to Chelsea, and she nodded in agreement
Finally, after Lily and James finished, with James still losing brilliantly to Lily, they headed back up inside.
..------..
"Mum, dad, this is Chelsea Leonards, Sirius's girlfriend. And this, is Lily Evans," James said. It was evening, and James was introducing the two girls to his parents.
Richard and Margaret Potter glanced at the two girls, and broad grins crossed their faces. "So this is the Lily Evans! I was wondering when I'd finally get to meet you!" Richard Potter said, smiling warmly at her. "And Chelsea! Any girl who can keep Sirius for more than a year is sure to be something".
Lily and Chelsea smiled in appreciation at James's father's comments. "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, why don't we check on dinner? Come on, Chelse," Sirius hurriedly said, and with a wicked grin, he grabbed Chelsea, leaving Lily and James alone with James's parents.
"It's a pleasure to meet you my dear," Mrs. Potter said warmly. "From what I've noticed, James's descriptions about you seem to do you justice".
"Oh really?" Lily turned to James and gave him a wicked grin. "And how would James describe me, Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"
"Hmm, let me see," Margaret said, oblivious to her son's steadily reddening face. "Well, he always talked about you, every summer".
"We couldn't get him to shut up, actually," Richard added.
"Yes. He always said that you were, oh what was it that he used? Oh yes, "An angel descended from the heavens". He told us that you were sweet, beautiful, smart, kind, and extremely witty," Mrs. Potter said, not seeming to mind her embarrassed son.
Richard added, "You forgot, dear. James always used to say that he 'could get lost in her eyes', and that your beauty was 'as lovely as the rising sun' too".
"Really now?" Lily said, smiling, trying to keep herself from laughing as she stared at James, who was now quite embarrassed indeed. "Odd, those were the same pick-up lines he used on me when we were at school. Very original, James, very original indeed".
James glared at her, and his parents laughed. Thankfully, James was saved from any more embarrassing situations when Chelsea called for dinner. They all walked to the lavish dining room, and sat down to a wonderful dinner.
It was finally ten in the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were already asleep, and Sirius and Chelsea were out. James knocked on Lily's door and found her sitting on the desk, writing steadily into a piece of parchment.
"Hey." James said softly. "What are you doing?" Lily looked up as she sealed the parchment, and was smiled when she saw him.
"Writing a letter to my parents. I'll mail it tomorrow. What's up?" Lily asked him, standing up and walking over to her trunk and opening it. Without waiting for an answer, she took out a nicely-wrapped box from her trunk and handed it to James. "My belated Christmas present for you, I hope you like it".
James grinned as he took the box. "Thanks Lils!" he said happily. "Oh yeah, and I have something for you too". He took his hand from behind him, and handed Lily a small, neatly wrapped box. "Merry Christmas".
Smiling excitedly, Lily took the box with an exclamation of thanks, and carefully undid the peach ribbon. She unwrapped it slowly until she extracted a small dark blue velvet-covered box. Curious, she opened the box and, seeing what was inside, gasped.
James had given her a necklace, a beautiful silver necklace. It was a simple silver chain, from which sparkled an emerald shaped like a lily, the edges encrusted with small diamonds. It was so captivating, and as Lily put it on, she smiled softly.
"James, I—thank you," Lily said. "This is, really beautiful, I love it. I was going to wear pearls to the Ministry New year's party, but now, I'll wear this one. It's perfect".
"I'm glad you liked it," James said, looking happy. "Well, you probably need your sleep. Goodnight," and with that, he left her room, closing the door gently behind him.
Lily sighed dreamily as she sat back down and fingered the necklace. Minutes later she went to bed, her dreams mainly concerning a certain messy-haired, bespectacled man.
And when she woke up the next morning, there was a huge smile on her face.
..------..
It was December 30, only a day before the Ministry New Year's party. Lily was happy; her stay at the Potter house had been wonderful, and being closer to James, seeing him in his own environment, made her smile and her heart went out to him even more, though she still staunchly denied that she was in love, or that she was feeling anything for James that was other than friendship.
It was twelve in the evening. Lily couldn't sleep; she had a lot on her mind, and she wasn't feeling exhausted at all. Feeling thirsty, she got up from bed, put on her robe, and, taking her wand with her, left her room.
She walked to the kitchen silently, hoping not to wake any portraits and using as little light as possible. Once she reached there, she turned on the lights and was surprised to see James there, drinking from a cup.
"Hey," James said, looking quite surprised. "It's late, what are you still doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep, what's your excuse?" Lily shrugged. She walked to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of water.
"Same thing," James said. "Hey, you want to talk? We could just sit by the fire until we feel tired".
"Sure," Lily shrugged again and their both stepped to the living room. James took out his wand and within seconds, there was a warm fire blazing in the fireplace. They both sat on the couch, and James put his arm around Lily, and she leaned closer.
And so they began to talk. Whatever crossed their minds came out of their mouths, but they carefully avoided talking about their relationship, whatever it was. Within minutes, Lily began to yawn. Just as she contemplated going to sleep, her eyes suddenly fluttered closed and she dozed off.
James turned to Lily to say something, and found that she was already asleep, and that she had unconsciously leaned her head on his shoulder. He observed Lily, noticing her soft breathing and how angelic and vulnerable she looked when she was asleep. He smiled softly to himself, thinking that this had been a great holiday, that being his last thought before he unexpectedly closed his eyes as sleep claimed him as well.
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I hate this chapter. I think I butchered it.
I'm sorry, my inspiration has left me for a second, so I'm hoping that you don't find this chapter too bad…..but if you want to hunt me down and chase me with a pitchfork for writing a bad chapter, it's your choice. Just let me know.
Anyway, the next chapter's going to be better. It's going to be quite dramatic, and needless to say, an unexpected way to start their new year….but until then……….