NB: Sorry for the long delay in updates, I've been travelling & really busy for the last few months.

New chapters will now be posted every Tuesday!

Christmas holiday was usually Lily's favourite time at Hogwarts. But after lunch on Saturday morning, she said goodbye to Seph and Madeline who stood bundled up in front her, and she just could not stop fidgeting.

"Are we keeping you from something, Lil?" Seph asked, punching her lightly in the arm.

Lily tried not to blush, and looked away from the clock in their dorm room.

"No! I'm just…you know, checking how much time we have left together," she said, trying to sound as sweet as possible.

"Awh, Lily!" Maddy said, while Seph pretended to vomit.

"I still don't understand why you're staying," Seph said. "Are you fighting with Puke-tunia again?"

Lily grimaced. "No, and I'm gonna spend Christmas eve and day with them, but Petunia did book a holiday for the family…and only got three tickets."

"What a roach," Seph said, shaking her head. "Do you want me to go hex her?"

"You know, I never know when you're being serious," Lily said.

"I'm always serious."

Madeline nudged Seph in the ribs.

"We're really gonna miss you, anyway. See you next year?" Madeline offered.

"You better write to me, both of you," Lily said. She hugged them both tightly, ignoring Seph trying to squirm out of her grasp. "Love you both."

"Love you too," Madeline said, grabbing her trunk from her bed. "Merry Christmas!"

"Yeah, same," Seph managed, following Madeline out.

Then Lily was alone, and she sighed, looking around the room. It was a bombsight, thanks to Seph's interesting packing "technique", which involved throwing everything out of her wardrobe and onto the floor before deciding what to put in her trunk.

She looked at the clock again. 2.45. She would be meeting Lucius very soon.

She had been having second thoughts since lunch. Watching him across the Great Hall, with his Slytherin buddies who would call Lily "mudblood" as soon as look at her… Could he really be that different from them? Sure he was always nice to her, but…

But he was more than nice to her. That's pretty much what was scaring her. Even at Slug Club, where she got to see a different side to him, she still couldn't line up the Lucius she knew and the Lucius the rumours talked about.

She left her dorm room, trying to stamp her doubts down, and made her way towards the library.

"Wait up, Professor Evans," someone called from behind her.

She turned around, planting a hand on her hip. No more time for doubts.

"Oh, knock it off," she said, rolling her eyes.

He was dressed so much more casual than usual. The robe was still ostentatious and read money, but underneath, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as she spotted his jeans.

He caught up to her, his signature smirk plastered on his face.

"Shall we head straight down to the Potions room?" he asked. He sounded innocent, but she wasn't sure his intentions were.

"I have no idea about Seventh Year Potions," she said, and began walking up to the library door. "So we'll do some book learning first."

He stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Yeuch, books."

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much you'll like it," she said, pushing the door open. She could only see the librarian; apparently nobody else was eager to spend their first day of the Christmas holiday in the stacks.

"We'll see about that."

It quickly became clear that Lucius most certainly did not enjoy book learning. She watched him fidget as she read up on what they'd be doing, and finally she couldn't take his finger thrumming on the table any longer.

"Fine, let's go," she said with a sigh.

He practically jumped out of his seat.

"To the Potions Room!" he said, with much more gusto than necessary.

He led the way out of the library, and held the door open for her.

"You were the one who said you'd have to get used to this room, remember?" she said. "Eventually we will have to study."

He shrugged. "I was trying to seem compliant yesterday. Now I'm sure you're tutoring me, I can unleash my true feelings."

"Oh, the horror," she said. They reached the end of the corridor. "If I'd have known that—"

"Um, Lily?"

As they rounded the corner, they found themselves only a few feet away from one Severus Snape. Lily grimaced, and she flicked a glance at Lucius, whose usual gallant smile was fading.

"Sev," she said. She forced a smile. Severus' expression was stony, and he regarded the two of them with the suspicion that Lily usually only saw on Jenkins, the caretaker. "We were just coming from the library."

His gaze fixed on her, sparing only a moment to look down at the book she had cradled in her arms.

"With Malfoy?" Severus said. His shoulders were practically up to his ears, that was never a good sign. "What were you doing there?"

"Having a threesome with the librarian," Lucius offered, and Lily had never wanted to punch him in the arm as much as she did right then. "We were obviously studying, you dolt."

Severus' eyes darkened, and Lily gave a laugh that she knew was utterly unconvincing. But she had to try and diffuse the tension somehow.

"I'm tutoring him, Sev," she said gently. "In Potions."

"Well, if it's about Potions, maybe I can come along and help" Severus said, puffing his chest out. He had yet to successfully wipe the look off disgust off his face. "After all, I am the best in our year."

Lily watched Lucius' eyes flash with something she didn't recognise.

"Three's a crowd, Sev, you never heard that?" he said, with an easy smile. "Besides, Lily's more than capable, I'm sure."

Severus narrowed his eyes, and Lily thought for a hopeless second that he might try to hex Lucius, especially when she saw his fingers flex. But luckily, he didn't. Instead, he huffed and began to walk off.

"Sev," Lily called. "Sev!"

She caught up to him after only a few paces, and grabbed his sleeve to stop him.

"What's wrong, Sev?" she said, as if she didn't know the answer. "It's only a bit of tutoring, it's not a big deal."

"Oh really?" he said. "You should have seen the looks on your faces when you saw me. Like you'd been caught doing something."

Lily sighed. "I was surprised, is all. Besides, neither one of us want people to think we're friends. Lucius just needed some help."

Severus seemed to consider this for a moment, but then the sneer was back. Merlin, was she tired of that sneer these days.

"How do you even know each other? I didn't think you'd be cosying up to the likes of him."

Lily hazarded a glance back, but Lucius was still standing where she'd left him, though he had an eyebrow cocked towards them.

"No one is cosying up, for Merlin's sake," she said. "We're in Slug Club together, you know that. And Slughorn is a big fan of us helping each other out, that's all."

Severus wasn't quick enough to wipe the jealously off his face, before Lily could see it. She knew his feelings on not being invited to the Slug Club, though she had tried to calm him down about the whole matter.

"Look, we need to get down to the Potions room, but you and I will catch up later, okay?"

Severus shrugged and looked defeated. "Fine."

She gave him a quick pat on the shoulder as he stalked off towards the library. Though she couldn't see his face, she did see Lucius' unimpressed glare as they passed each other.

"I'm sorry," Lucius said. Lily was almost surprised before he followed it with: "I didn't realise I had to get a permission slip from Severus before I could talk to you."

She rolled her eyes.

"It's not like that," she said, falling into step with him as they went down the stairs. "He's just, you know, a bit sensitive about stuff."

"I think you mean, 'in love with you,'" Lucius said, and flashed her a grin.

She punched him in the arm for real this time, and he gave an exaggerated wince.

"Will you knock it off? We're just friends," she said.

Something in her face must have told him she was serious (or maybe it was the punch, she couldn't be sure) because he said, "Sorry, I won't bring it up."

Lily didn't say anything until they reached the second staircase, leading them to the ground floor.

"So, why haven't you gone home for Christmas?" she said, quickening her steps down the staircase. The sooner they were out of the main entrance, the less chance of anyone seeing them together. Sev was enough suspicion for one day.

"Oh," Lucius said. He cleared his throat, and she noticed his shoulders lift a few inches. He seemed — well, positively awkward. "Just a disagreement."

"Is that all I'm getting out of you?" she said, elbowing him lightly.

"Sorry," he said, and gave her a meagre little shrug. His face was drawn, and he was looking straight ahead rather than at her. Lily sucked in a breath that she didn't release until he finally spoke again: "What about you? What's keeping you from the Evans family Christmas?"

"Oh, that's a long story," she said. "Well, not so much long as not very exciting. I'll be spending Christmas Day with them, though. So that'll be something."

"What are Muggle Christmases like?" he said, leading her down the hallway towards the Potions rooms.

She frowned. "Well, they're the same, really. Well. Actually, I've never been to a non-Muggle Christmas to compare, but I gather they are about the same. Here we are, then."

They had finally made it to an empty Potions classroom. She grabbed her wand, and muttered the incantation to light the candles. Lucius shut the door behind them, and for the first time, she really felt the weight of her terrible decision making skills. There they were, alone in an empty classroom that no other student was likely to come into. The room seemed much too dark, the candles giving an almost romantic air to the whole affair. Her shoulders tensed, and she clenched her hands as she heard his footsteps behind her, scared he might scoop her up for another kiss.

But thankfully, he walked past her towards the cauldron at the top of the room.

"Right, where are we starting?" he said brightly.

Lily let out a shaky breath. She was being silly. This was just about studying, and he'd already apologised for kissing her. She would just have to relax.

"Let me grab the ingredients and let's see your moves," she said.

He was so much looser by the cauldron than he had been up in the library. He made her laugh as he tried to do fancy swishes of the bottle, though less so when he accidentally splashed a little bat essence at her.

She sat on the table and watched him work, occasionally giving him pointers on how better to apply the ingredients. Mostly, they were tips she herself had picked up from Severus.

When it was done, she came to take a sniff, leaning over the cauldron. She startled slightly when he felt her move behind her, his abdomen pressed against her back.

"Is it any good, Professor Evans?" he said into her ear.

A shiver went through her. She cleared her throat.

"Seems good. Smells right, looks right," she nodded, trying to swallow her jangling nerves. She hadn't been this close to a boy since she'd broken up with Ernie Sampson last year. Well, not this close while she was sober, anyway.

"You know, I've been wondering something," she said, turning around. Thankfully, Lucius took a step back then.

"And what would that be?"

"Why you would ask me, of all people, to help you?" she said slowly.

He shrugged, and fiddled with some vials on the desk next to them.

"You have a definite talent for Potions," he said, clearly trying to sound casual despite his fidgeting. "And you're here over Christmas."

"But Sev was right earlier, you could have asked him. He's much better than me."

"You've got me there, Evans," he said, flicking his eyes towards her. "But I'd much rather look at you than Sev's mug, any day."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's the reason? You just wanted a pretty face?"

"No," he said. He stepped back in close, and her breath caught in her throat.

She put a hand flat against his chest and immediately regretted it. His heat trickled into her fingers, and she could feel his heartbeat, slightly fast. As if in response, she felt her own thudding, trying to break out of her chest to meet his. She wanted to move her hand, to feel the full width of his chest, and her hand shook in effort as she tried to stop herself from doing just that.

"Lucius, this is a terrifically bad idea," she said. Even she could hear how reedy her voice had become, how little weight was behind her words. She stared up into those stormy eyes, and she knew she wanted to kiss him again.

"All the best ones are," he purred.

He didn't move, but he didn't need to. She could feel her insides reacting, that tickling, distracting feeling in her groin, that flushing of her face.

"Lucius—"

He interrupted her with another kiss. This one had more passion behind it than the first, and now she was stone cold sober, she knew she had no excuses for not pulling away. But she didn't want to, couldn't bring herself to if she tried. His mouth was sweet, it tasted like strawberries. Her hand reached up to brush through his hair of its own accord. She pressed her whole self against his chest, strong and warm. His hand snaked around her waist, pulling her even closer until there was not a Veela's hair width between them.

When he pulled back, Lily was out of breath and she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. It made her insides dance to hear his pants, too.

"Does that answer your question?" he said.

"Definitely the pretty face, then," she said. She gave him a small smile, trying to diffuse the tension, but his mouth pulled downwards on one side.

"No, that's not — that's not what I meant," he said, brows knitted together. He actually looked a little self-conscious; he wasn't making eye contact for once — instead he looked past the top of her head, to the back of the room — and he was biting his lip. "I hope you know, it's not just that."

She nodded. She wanted so much for him to say more, to say — what? That he liked her, perhaps. But she also didn't want them to stray into that kind of territory. A kiss could just be a kiss.

Her hand was still tangled in his locks and he clutched her still, one hand on the small of her back. He leaned in again, and she rose on her tiptoes to meet him.

She pulled away properly this time, as his hot tongue streaked into her mouth. She took a step back until her butt hit the cauldron behind her.

"This is a really bad," she said, her face flushing.

"So you said." He stayed planting where he was. Which was good. She was pretty sure she wouldn't say no if he made another move.

"I think, uh, I think we should probably adjourn. We can do more work tomorrow. Potions only, though, none of…this."

Lucius looked disappointed for a second, but then his smile was back, the shutters down on those needful eyes so she couldn't read them.

"Alright, that sounds good. Shall we meet down here?"

Lily knew that they should probably meet in the library, where the librarian would at least reduce the opportunities for any more fraternisation.

Instead though, she found herself agreeing.

Then she gathered up her bag and exited. She expected him to grab her on her way out, but he didn't. Good, she tried to tell herself, ignoring the pang in her stomach that so desperately wanted to return to that warm embrace. Good.