The next morning was an important—and successful—Quidditch match of Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Final score tallied two hundred-and-twenty to fifty. Dorcas said the best part of the game was watching Emmeline and Caradoc trying to play Keeper without looking down the field at each other. Lily said the best part of the game was watching James score three consecutive goals and Caradoc just throwing up his hands and laughing. James said the best part came after the match, when Lily ran down the field and tackled him. Lily blushed and disagreed.

It had actually been a close match before Otto Bagman had nabbed the Snitch. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were basically the best teams this year; and it was with Caradoc Dearborn, Benjy Fenwick, and Mafalda Hopkirk that Lily and her Gryffindor friends walked back to the castle. Both teams had strong Beaters and relentless Chasers, and damn good captains. Lily sheltered under one of James' arms while he discussed strategy with Caradoc, who was holding a shivering but triumphant Emmeline.

"I didn't do badly, did I Caradoc?"

"No, you didn't, you were bloody brilliant. Now sack it and don't keep reminding me."

Pinch.

"Ouch."

The afternoon was gray and so colorless that the clouds were no different than the blank shade of the cold sky. Everyone's noses were red and everyone's cheeks were berry-bright. Hogwarts was in good cheer that weekend because snow was expected, and because that night (amid much toasting and congratulating and pontificating) Professor McGonagall came round the Gryffindor Tower with the lists for winter break. With holidays straight ahead, it was to be to worried or anxious about spellwork.

Letters from Mr. and Mrs. Evans convinced Lily to spend her final school Christmas at Hogwarts, something she had never done before. Petunia was apparently on the warpath with matrimonial preparations, and had begun some new argument for a great teal wedding cake and a choir of live doves. James was particularly interested in the homemade gingerbread biscuits Mrs. Evans had sent in a wrapped package, and he studied Mr. Evans' scrawled plea for frequent distractions (in the form of letters). Lily laughed, and said that her father was not so scary after all, now was he? James looked uneasy and a little green. Sirius had laughed. James had hexed him. It was a fun evening.

Both James and Sirius were staying at Hogwarts for Christmas; James' parents were taking a holiday to Wales and Sirius proclaimed that he had no other family to bother with. No one else in their group of Gryffindors was living at the castle, and Sirius would carry on long and loud speeches about inaugurating Lily as a surrogate Marauder and booting out Remus, who would only chuckle and go back to whatever he was doing with Marlene.

Remus and Marlene were together a lot, and it set Lily's mind at ease. Next Saturday, exactly one week from that day, was Hogsmeade, and the very day after the students were departing for home on break. Lily had so far only foreseen one slight kink in their relationship: the white face of Travers, stony and impassive while it clove through the crowded corridors. Yet he and the other Slytherins had barely been a blip on Lily's radar since she was so preoccupied with James and other things, so much that she also anticipated a nice Christmas as well.

A small question tickled the back of Lily's mind, and it was not until Thursday that she got to ask it. Lily was lounging comfortably on a sofa in the common room, lazily reading over her Potions homework, when Marlene kissed Remus softly in his armchair and turned to go up to the dormitories. Lily watched Remus watch Marlene: he was smiling faintly and his brown eyes followed her retreating form all the way up the steps. He looks so peaceful, though Lily. And happy. Remus must have felt the force of her eyes upon him and turned to face her, still smiling.

"What?"

"You two are just so heart-warming."

"Thanks, I think," replied Remus, his wistful smile turning more into a grin. Lily bit her lip.

"But I was wondering something…" She took a deep breath and hoped Remus would understand. "Why did it take you so long to ask her to step out? I mean, was there something other than…well, er…"

His grin flickered but didn't fade, and very fortunately he wasn't offended.

"It's not that hard to ask out a girl, Lily." She blushed bright red and played with the tassels of a red throw blanket. Lily found she was doing a lot of blushing these days.

"What I mean is, er, I—"

"It wasn't Marlene," he answered gently. "I just had to sort some things out for myself. You understand." It wasn't a question. Lily nodded and risked looking up again. Remus wasn't angry. She was relieved.

"Thanks. I'm glad. You're not mad, are you?"

"No. But in the future, Lily, I don't think there are many blokes that would answer a question like that."

"Mmm. But you're one of them. Now could you hand me my bag? I think I could use a sherbet lemon."

…

Snow came, in great drifts and gusts during the next morning, and the seventh-year Gryffindors trouped out (with the rest of the school) into the meter-deep whiteness after their noon classes. Emmeline was not there, and neither was Peter, but Lily didn't quite know why and didn't bother to ask because there were all the makings of a capital snow fight, and classes were over, and the holiday was begun.

The lines were drawn and teams were set, and it was to be girls against boys. No magic, and after the trenches were dug and the embankments raised it was an all-out war zone. Just before dinner, when everyone was soaked through and panting (and in Lily's case, spitting snow out of her mouth), they decided to call it quits. James had just raised his arm in truce when something changed in his face, and he lips pursed into a tight line. Lily had been laughing and gasping for breath a moment before, now she stopped, and knew that whatever was happening it was behind her, where James was looking murderously. She turned around.

Silhouetted against the yellow light of the castle windows was Peter, apparently creeping along the stony walls, and behind him in the doors of the main entrance were four figures in green scarves. The entire crowd of them could hardly have been more than five yards away at this point, and James shouted first.

"Oi! What d'you think you're doing?"

Peter froze dead and looked as white as the snow underfoot, casting a scared look at the Slytherins behind him. Lily's heart went out to him and she heaved herself out of the pile of snow. Sirius and Remus were shaking themselves off to follow James, who was approaching the Slytherin boys. They had the unmistakable look of people who had just been bullying someone else and were pleased by their handiwork. James stopped right behind Peter and cast them a frosty stare.

"It seemed a bit to me like you were following our friend around."

"Friend?" asked Snape delicately, with all the grace of a cat. Remus gritted his teeth.

"Not like you would know one it if bit you on your fat nose, Snivellus," drawled Sirius. "But yeah, a friend. Maybe you've had one…? No. I see." Snape was easily bated and glared maliciously, fingering his wand. Rosier's lips peeled into a sneer as he overlooked the group of snowy Gryffindors before him. Lily's gloved hand clenched into a fist around the hard ball of packed snow in her hand.

"How quaint. Building snowmen? No no, they must have been making snow angels. Yes, that's it. A Mudblood, two traitors, a half blood—"

"Close your face!" snapped Lily, feeling hot anger rise in her face. He shouldn't always be allowed to say things like that. Rosier's eyes narrowed and Wilkes, the scrawny boy with dull blond hair and a light raspy voice spoke up.

"Shut up, Mudblood."

"You shut up, you odious prig!" Lily was so angry that she actually took a step towards them. Rosier recoiled but didn't take any steps back. Lily felt a warm presence at her back, and it felt like James. Rosier said softly,

"What will you do about it, Evans?" But Lily was no longer paying attention to him; she was looking over his shoulder at the final boy, the one with pale eyes like lamps guiding the dead. Travers was tense, as tense as she had ever seen him, and he was not looking at her or at James, but somewhere to the side where Lily suspected Remus and Marlene might be standing. Rosier's eyes slid to the side and then back to Travers. The tall boy was no longer so blustering, he was perhaps even uneasy as well as he could try to hide it.

"Nevermind. Let's go, Travers."

"No."

"I said let's go, and we're going." Rosier turned on heel and roughly pushed Travers with his shoulder, leading him back to the hall. Snape gave a hated glare at them all before slowly trailing after the others.

Just before the great door closed behind them, three white projectiles appeared from behind Lily and hit Snape square on the back of the head. He turned around in fury as there came a dry chuckle that Lily identified as belonging to Sirius.

"Search and destroy."

First of all I am really, really sorry about the update time. I've come down with a cold and a bad case of homework, not to mention writer's block (you could probably tell, I don't like this chapter so much).

James' "thoughts" are useful for getting some masculine insight here…don't want to make it just a girl story. Marlene's friends are a crafty bunch (best witches of the age, eh) and I don't begrudge them being protective ;) Neither Emmeline nor Dorcas will go out with Sirius or Peter, ever.

(Mirax Myra Terrik)

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS AND REVIEWED