AN: Thank you for the reviews, they are much appreciated!

Thankfully, not long after Lily's realisation of her possible teeny-tiny crush on James, he left.

Of course, he was leaving for less than a week to spend Christmas with his family in Chile, but Lily thought this time apart would be good for them.

She'd been thinking about the aforementioned possible crush a lot. She'd come to the conclusion that it was a new-partner crush, it had happened to her before, once upon a time with John, but she'd gotten over it. As she would with this one. Because it was a new-partner crush, it stemmed from spending too much time together with someone all at once. She told herself it was normal and it would go away in time.

She was taking this James-free week to prove to herself that this was a situational crush. She wouldn't even think about James during this week, she'd just enjoy her Christmas with her family.

The first few days were easy, Lily busied herself with absolutely everything she could to avoid thinking about the forbidden topic. She did schoolwork, she watched movies with her parents, she cooked, she cleaned, she did chores.

On Christmas Day, Lily's maternal grandmother visited so they could eat dinner together, and Lily busied herself attending to her gram all day.

Once dinner was served, Lily realised that maybe she shouldn't have insisted on helping her mother with the cooking so much, everything she'd gotten her hands on had turned out not great tasting.

"Lily, darling, your mother sent me a video of your performance at Nationals, it was simply superb, I am so proud of you, if it were up to me, I'd have given you the gold immediately," Gram said as she poked at her kidney pie.

Lily smiled. "Thank you, Gram."

Petunia scoffed. "She got the bronze, it wasn't that great."

"Petunia, don't be rude," Mrs Evans scolded.

"I'm just stating facts! Lily's hopped rockers could never win a national title."

Lily gripped her fork. Petunia did not want to get into an argument about technical abilities, there was no way she was coming out of that unscathed.

Gram scowled. "Petunia, it's not becoming to say such things about your sister. Stop it right now."

Petunia scoffed and sat back in her chair angry, but she said nothing else.

As they finally moved on to dessert, Lily's phone buzzed.

It was James.

Dammit! She'd been doing such a good job of not thinking about him today. She and James rarely texted each other outside of things about skating and schedules but Lily assumed this would be a simple Happy Christmas text.

When she opened it though, she found that James had texted her something in Spanish. Which was weird.

She quickly copied and pasted the text onto Google translate.

How pretty you are, it read. Okay, either James was drunk or Google translate was doing a bad job. Maybe the word for pretty in Spanish could also be used to wish someone happy holidays.

Just as she pondered this, another text came in, in Spanish again. The question marks at the end alarmed her, so she hit translate even faster now.

Are you Beto's girlfriend? What the fuck? Who was that? How should she respond to that?

Another text came in this time in English. I'm so sorry about that, Lily. My younger cousins took my phone.

Okay, that checked out.

It's fine, no worries. She wrote back.

Can I ask who's Beto though? And why there are rumours going around in Chile that I'm his girlfriend? She decided to add after her first text was sent.

Well, Beto is me, actually. No one here calls me James, Joaquín is my grandpa's name, so my third name it is, Beto, short for Alberto. James wrote.

Huh. Interesting.

He sent another text. My cousin saw your picture on my phone and said you looked like the princess from Brave and I guess that's why she texted you.

Well, tell her I said hi. Lily wrote.

Hold on, they're going to apologise for texting you without permission. His response was almost immediate.

A minute later, a voice message from James appeared. Lily excused herself from the table and headed over to the living room so she could hear better.

The one-minute voice message was mostly James scolding his cousins in Spanish while they giggled and replied also in Spanish. Lily caught her name a few times, then recognised James saying "sorry, Lily" and then his cousins repeating after him in chorus. It was very cute.

Lily wasn't sure if it was because of the Spanish, or the way it sounded recorded, but she'd never noticed James's voice to be so deep and, well... hot.

She shook herself. No James thoughts, that was the agreement with herself, no James thoughts.

Tell them apology very much accepted. Lily quickly texted back before shoving her phone in her pocket. Oh god.

Lily had been wrong. James's week away had not been beneficial for her possible crush, if anything it'd made everything worse. The day they went back to training, Lily had been hyperaware of every time he touched her and overthinking everything he said to her.

Lily had known a lot of skaters who'd had new-partner crushes before. It was fairly common, so she knew that these things passed, people moved on and developed healthy friendships with their partners. So, during the week and a half they had for training before the MNNT Cup, she tried her absolute best to put her feelings behind her and just focus on the skating.

She finally felt like both their programs were close to reaching their full potential and she was not risking shit by overthinking her dumb possible crush.

Lily felt like doing two competitions in a row where John was there was bad karma. But after arriving in Poland, so far, he'd ignored her and James, with only his occasional dirty looks their way.

The morning of the Short Dance, Lily felt quite confident. Their practices had gone great, they'd drawn second-to-last to skate, she had stopped blushing every time she made skin-to-skin contact with James. So, overall, things were going how she wanted.

Truthfully, Lily was quite proud of herself for her performance in the Short Dance. She'd thought her dumb crush would deter her from fully immersing herself in the dance, but in reality, she felt like it had improved her performance. She did not want to get into the logic behind that but she knew that she was extremely pleased with their score of 67.83 points, with which they led John and Tala by four and a half points.

They were so close to those championship spots, Lily could almost taste it. Just one free dance to get through and if it went as well as the Short Dance, it was in the bag.

Lily's confidence was also boosted by the presence of one Marina Zoueva, who had two teams under her tutelage competing but had taken the time to check in with Lily and James and offer advice.

Needless to say, John had not been pleased by the short dance results, as had been made obvious by his storming out of the Kiss & Cry upon seeing the gap between his and Lily and James's score.

He had been out for blood the morning of the free dance during practice. Lily knew sometimes skaters weren't fully aware of the space around them when practising and accidents happened often, she'd had some rough collisions herself, but at some point, it became obvious when a skater was deliberately not looking where they were going.

Lily thought John's intimidation tactics during practice were stupid, but she would not let his temper sour her mood or shatter her confidence. Not anymore.

James pulled Lily close to his body as John and Tala passed them by skating at full speed for what seemed like the hundredth time in an hour. If Lily hadn't gotten out of the way, Tala would've taken her down for sure.

James let out a frustrated sigh as he let go of Lily. "What the hell his wrong with them?"

"You know what's wrong with them. A four and a half point gap they can't close."

James smiled cheekily. Lily had been painfully aware of his face lately. The way his hair was pulled back from his forehead by a sweatband or the red flush on his cheeks from the cold was not helping her. But looking at him made Lily stop worrying over John.

"I wish someone would tell them that holding us back from practising for an hour is going to do absolutely nothing to make them better skaters," James said.

Lily laughed. "Should we try to run through that step sequence again?"

James looked over Lily's shoulder. "Wait." He paused for a few seconds. "They're taking a water break. Now, now, now."

Lily and James quickly launched into their steps. They almost made it through the entire thing when Lily felt something press against the back of her leg.

James had grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to him but he'd been a second too late. "Where the hell did they even come from? Are you okay?"

Lily nodded. She'd been temporarily distracted by the lurch in her stomach when James had grabbed her by the waist so tightly but now she felt the slight sting on the back of her thigh. She turned to look at the area as well as she could as James led her to the boards where Minerva was standing.

"Well, my tights are ruined, that's for sure," Lily commented as she saw the back of her tights cut clean through. The skirt of her practice dress had also been slashed.

James frowned. "Wait, did she actually slash you?"

James inspected the back of Lily's thigh while she tried not to think about how her arse was also in his direct line of sight.

"Oh, Lily, you're bleeding!" Minerva said as they reached her.

Lily craned her neck and spotted a fine line of blood peeking out of the spot her tight had been cut.

James's frown deepened. "Okay, that is too far. I'm going to give them a piece of my mind."

Lily quickly grabbed James's arm before he could skate off. "No, I don't want to start any drama."

"You're not starting anything, they're the ones who started."

Lily shook her head. "I just want to focus on our skating right now. They want to taunt us into fighting."

James took a deep breath, Lily's hand dropped from his forearm to his hand. He looked at Minerva questioningly.

Their coach had a bit of a resigned look on her face. "I'm angry too, James. But the most we can get if we say something is an insincere apology from Tala since Lily didn't get gravely hurt."

James sighed. He squeezed Lily's hand. "She should at least pay for the damage to Lily's clothes."

Lily smiled. "James, these tights cost like one pound."

"Either way, practice is over now and I doubt they'll be as bold in the warm-up with all the event officials and the judges around. So, I think Lily should survive this event without any more injuries," Minerva said.

Lily nodded and took a deep breath. Minerva was right. The competition was almost over, and once they won, Lily wouldn't have to deal with Tala and John for the rest of the season.

Just as Minerva had said, John and Tala were a lot tamer during the Free Dance warm-up. Lily didn't miss the smug look on John's face, as if he'd already won a competition he was currently losing. But it was easy for Lily just to focus on James.

Lily missed the feeling of being last to skate but was pleased with their starting number, with only Tala and John going after them.

Lily stood by the boards and clapped enthusiastically for Natalia and Maksym as they finished their program.

She fixed her hair nervously, wishing she had a mirror. She felt James's hand come up to rest on her shoulder. He smiled. "You look perfect, Lily."

She only managed a small smile in response.

"You ready?"

Lily nodded. "I'm ready if you are."

James grinned. He took her hand. "Let's go get them, kiddo."

Lily's stomach did a flip as they stepped onto the ice. She shook her arms in an attempt to get rid of the giddy feeling James had instilled in her at the boards. She took a deep breath.

James's grin was gone. His face now was all seriousness, there was a fire in his eyes. He took her hand again.

"On the ice representing Great Britain, Lily Evans and James Potter."

Lily couldn't lie to herself, that sounded really good. It made her confidence grow.

They took their starting positions. The music came on and Lily felt alive.

It was as if someone with a lot more confidence and moxie than her had taken over her body. Every movement she made had a certain kick to it.

Lily often felt that the skating gods were conspiring against her. First by making her waste so much time with a partner like Severus, then steering her in the direction of John, who was the worst person she knew. Then with James, she'd felt maybe this time the skating gods were on her side. But major mistakes in three competitions in a row. There had to be a higher power not looking after Lily.

They'd almost gotten through it. Through the entire competition. Lily had thought it was only their short dance that was cursed, she thought she'd be safe during the free dance, she trusted the free dance.

It was on their final lift. The infamous crotch lift, which had ended up in their free dance. Lily had no idea what happened until she was on the ice.

Sure, James's outside edge on this curve lift was impressively deep but Lily had never seen him fall out of it. But he did this time.

As soon as he'd felt himself going down, he'd tugged Lily uprights by the waist. She had no idea how he'd managed to do it so quickly while falling but he'd narrowly avoided her hitting the ice headfirst. She had fallen on him though. And she was pretty sure she heard his head bump against the ice surface.

"James?" She asked shakily.

She got on her knees beside him. His face was contorted in pain. "Are you okay?"

Lily was caught off guard by his asking about her well-being. "I'm – fine."

"You have to tell the judges."

Lily frowned. "What?"

"We have forty seconds from when we stop to ask for time or we'll be disqualified."

Was he seriously worrying about that right now? "But you're —"

"Lily," he said in a serious tone. "Go now."

Lily felt tears stinging at her eyes as she got up and skated over to the judging panel. She barely had to say two words before they told her they had ten minutes to restart where they left off.

She saw James starting to get up as she turned back. "Don't get up! You hit your head."

"I'm fine."

The paramedic on site had already entered the ice. She started checking for signs of a concussion.

Lily felt like she was going to pass out. That had been the scariest moment of her entire life.

James held on to her hand tightly and rubbed soothing circles across the back of it. She was shaking slightly.

The paramedic did a quick check on Lily as well before all three went over to the boards were Minerva was standing with a worried look on her face. If Lily didn't get her tears in check, her makeup would be ruined.

The paramedic told them James didn't seem to have a concussion and should be able to finish the program okay.

Minerva hugged both of them tightly. "Oh, you don't have to finish if you don't feel up to it."

James shook his head. "No, it's fine, it's just this..." He raised his foot up to rest on the boards. "I think my blades are loose. That's why I fell out of that outside edge."

Minerva's eyes widened. She seemed angry now. "Wait here, I'll go get a screwdriver."

Lily wanted to ask James how the hell had his blades loosened but they were short on time and she just needed to know one thing at the moment. "Are you sure you're okay?"

James smiled softly and nodded. He placed a hand on the side of Lily's face, his thumb glazed over her cheekbone. "I am. Seriously."

Lily raised a hand to place over James's. "Because it's okay if you're not. I won't be mad at you."

James shook his head but Minerva was back with a pocket screwdriver before he could answer. As he tightened the screws at the soles of his boots, he smiled up at Lily and Minerva and tried to lighten the mood. "Never thought I'd have my very own Tonya Harding 1994 Olympics moment."

Lily frowned for a second before she remembered. She let out a small chuckle. "At least you're not sobbing as you're doing it."

James laughed. He started on the other skate. "The way I know Sirius is going to Photoshop my face over a picture of Tonya."

Lily tried to cover her face with her hands as she grinned at that mental image. "I'd be willing to bet that meme is already on the group chat by the time the Free Dance is over."

James grinned. "You're on, Evans." He lowered his leg from the boards.

Lily watched carefully as James stroked along the ice, trying to put pressure on each blade to test them.

Finally, he stopped on the stop where their curve lift was supposed to end and motioned her over.

Lily took a deep breath and readied herself.

Thankfully, there were only two elements left after the Curve Lift, the Midline Step Sequence and the Choreographic Twizzles.

Lily tried her best to get back into the program but it wasn't the same feeling as when they'd started. She kept glancing at James worriedly and had to remind herself to control her facial expressions.

But technical-wise, they got through it fine.

Lily hugged James extra tight as they finished. "That was great."

He nodded.

The applause was also a little louder than it had been for the other teams. Lily hated pity-applause.

Minerva also hugged them extra tight as they got off the ice. And so did Marina.

Lily and James sat between Minerva and Marina in the Kiss & Cry. Marina next to Lily and Minerva next to James.

"What happened?" Marina asked as the replays played on the screen.

James sighed. "I don't know. Everything was fine during the warm-up and then halfway through the program, my blades started going a little funny. I thought it was nothing but obviously it wasn't."

The slow-mo replay of their fall played on the screen. Fuck, it looked really bad in slow motion. And James's head had definitely bounced on the ice. Lily grimaced.

Marina patted Lily's hand as the camera cut to the Kiss & Cry. "You still did very good. I'm proud of you."

Lily managed a small smile and a nod.

James took Lily's hand and intertwined their fingers as they waited for the score. Lily took a deep breath.

Their free dance score was of 94.53 points. Lily had forgotten they were getting a deduction for the fall until she saw the minus two on the screen. It could've definitely been worse. Their doing well the first three-quarters of the program had definitely paid off. They were currently second in the free dance.

But first overall. With one team to go.

After a group hug, Lily and James left the Kiss & Cry and went to sit on a bench behind the boards. Lily didn't want to watch John and Tala's free dance but she wanted to stay and see the final results.

She shifted in her seat and dropped her head down to James's lap to avoid seeing.

James placed a hand on her arm.

Under different circumstances, Lily might have wanted to talk about scores and their possibilities of still winning, but she didn't have it in her at the moment. She'd never had a fall so bad during a competition before. Which reminded her, she'd have to go get her phone soon so she could call her mum, who was probably worried sick (although Lily wasn't entirely sure her parents had figured out how to put up the livestream on the telly).

As they waited for John and Tala to finish skating, Lily found herself praying — to the skating gods, of course.

Oh, skating gods, what have I done to deserve this luck? Have I not busted my arse for years trying to please you? Are my blood, sweat and tears not enough? Skating gods, do y'all even hear me?

Lily heard the announcer say "the scores, please" and bolted upright.

"Tala Yaxley and John Buchanan of Great Britain have earned in the free dance a total of ninety-four point seventy-four points." Lily's breath caught. "Bringing their total score to one hundred and fifty-eight point zero five points. They are currently in second place."

Lily gasped. They were third in the free dance but their short dance lead had saved them, it had given them the victory.

James was up in a flash and squeezing Lily tightly to his chest. "We won! Our first gold!"

Lily smiled and nodded against his shoulder.

James pressed a kiss to the side of Lily's head and let her go.

She suddenly felt weak in the knees.