I'm back! Sorry that I'm so behind schedule, but it's just a bit hard to balance this between work and my lack of sleep. But I finally finished this chapter after about four edits! **A small clap on the shoulder for myself** And I've decided to start this chapter from James's viewpoint - which isn't something that I'm used to - so please bear with me as I will try my best to make it acceptable. ;)

P.S: A very big Thank You to those who have reviewed and favorited/followed this story! They always draw a stupid smile on my face and encourage me to get through my tiring day.

DISCLAIMER: Still not mine…

Hypothermia

The snow is dancing in the air, not having a care in the world as it flurries left and right, piling on the floor one speck on top of another and dotting the bare trees on the edge of the Forbidden Forest like soft generous sprinkles of sugar on a cookie, as if taking mercy on the cold and lonely beings of nature and decorating them for the attraction of a few layers of warmth and for the reminder that Winter is passing by and Spring is just around the corner, waiting, patiently waiting, for the perfect moment to caress her gentle and lively fingers through the blank gray sky to awaken all the green leaves sleeping in peace and boot out all the coldness in the world.

James watched as Lily ducked behind one of those trees as Sirius shot a snowball in her direction. Watched as it burst open in a fwunk, sending white puffs flying in every which direction. Watched as she poked half her head around the trunk and wriggled her eyebrows over her shoulder to tease his mate about his miss. Watched as she twirled in a circle to dodge another hastily aimed snowball and hurl a sudden counterattack back. Watched as she laughed at the curse Sirius muttered when it struck him on the nose.

Damn it. This isn't fair.

She's so goddamn pretty. Gorgeous, really. Stunning. Aesthetic. Cute. Adorable. Radiant.

And that's just the looks. On the inside...well, on the inside, there's just another goddamn list to top off but for which he doesn't have the proper state of mind right this moment to begin with.

He has always been aware of her breathtaking loveliness, obviously, but it has sometimes been overshadowed recently with...other feelings...now that they have started to learn the language of intimacy between them. But now - now that they were more than a maximum of a feet apart and his sensibilities aren't dampened by her very addicting kisses and...other things that are better not brought up, lest he loses himself - her drop-dead perfection is repeatedly beating him upside the head and Merlin, how can he refrain from snogging her when she's right there, standing oh-so-innocently bloody there, making his heart do things he is all-too-familiar with but oh-so-very unhealthy for his poor body and not even trying?

Her breath comes out in steamy puffs to color the air around her and he knows, damn it, knows what it tastes like, knows what it feels like on his skin, and he can't help but gulp when she bites those very sweet and magical lips in concentration to dodge yet another ball of white thrown at her.

"Hey, Potter, stop looking like some stupid shiny statue like the ones in some random corridor that are always begging for a kick and take this!"

"Holy-" James just managed to bring his arms up when they were suddenly blasted with snow. "What the hell, McKinnon?!"

"What do you mean, 'what the hell'?" - Another snowball, this time against his chest - "We're out here to mark our last winter hols together, not watching you gawk at Lily some more!"

James lowered his arms to properly glare at Marlene, only to be struck in the face by Alice. He spat snow from his mouth, only they have already melted into water so now he looks like he's sputtering after a dip in the lake.

Wiping a hand across the lower half of his face, he rounded blindly towards the direction of laughter, given that his glasses is covered by a spectacular sheet of white. "Hey, don't you guys have some sympathy for poor old me after being dolorously restricted from loving my gorgeous girlfriend?", he joked in a tone that he hoped was at least remotely pitiful.

"Sympathy? Ha! I presently do not have that word in my line of vocabulary, Potter!" Marlene's entertained voice was accompanied by another splash of cold in his face.

"You totally deserve this, after grossing us all out with your continuous touching." James doesn't have time to decipher which of Lily's friends had spoken before a multitude of snowballs cannoned into him. He flailed about, trying to ward some off because who wants to be head-to-toe soaked in this icy weather when - as was prone to happen to people who are blindly shaking his limbs around while standing in a mountain of snow -he lost his balance and landed rather painfully backwards on his arse.

"What...is...wrong with...all...of you -" James manages to stammer out through his chattering teeth. He sneezed, burrowing his nose into his still damp shirt. His voice is muffled as he continues, "You all...have...no heart."

Lily giggled, running her hands through his untamable hair, slowly and repeatedly, from the short tufts at the back of his neck where she knows his senses are unusually piqued upwards into the raven black soft area that always stand on end- the area where she can't help but instinctively tug sometimes - and through the strands leading towards the front that his hands always seem to be in, again and again, almost as if she thinks running her fingers through it enough times will pluck away every last drop of cold melted snow in it.

"Are you seri - don't even Sirius - are you being earnest right now, James?" Marlene tore off a piece of toast and flung it at him. "Have you looked in the mirror lately?" Without waiting for an answer, she looked dramatically around. "Someone please hand me a semi-reflective surface." After thanking Remus when he handed her his prefect badge, she shoved the shiny backside of it under James's nose. "Here, now you can see who really has no heart."

James sneezed again, pleased when Marlene immediately withdrew her hand with a noise of disgust. But his satisfaction was short lived when two more sneezes racked his body, followed by a cough. He groaned pathetically and leaned back against Lily's legs. His hands wrapped around his mug of hot chocolate, eager for even the slightest bit of warmth. "I hope all of you - except for my sweet Lils -" he looked up and returned her adoring smile - "choke on your celebratory drink and die a most horrible death."

Sirius barked out a laugh and - just to annoy James - threw back his head and took an exaggerated gulp from his mug. "Don't be such a pessimist, Prongs."

"Yeah, it was just a little bit of snow", Dorcas said as she nibbles idly on her bread.

"Just a little bit?" James asks incredulously while sipping at the dark liquid in his hands. "More like a whole bloody -" But his words were cut off by another sneezing fit, one immediately leading on to another. One arm flew up to cover his face again while the other hastily set his drink down and moved away from the table laden with toast and mugs in fear of knocking anything over. Once he finally recovered, he laid his head on one of Lily's knee and poked at her socked feet. "Evans, please tell your mates that their horrendous sense of humour is currently causing me to die of hypothermia", he pleads, drawing out the "A" in her name in the way he knows she secretly likes.

Lily presses a smile into the raven black soft area in her boyfriend's hair. "I reckon they have a pretty good reason to bombard you with snow in the way they did. What did you do, hm?" She blinked at her mates through her eyelashes and winks at Marlene, kissing his head and taking in its fresh, wet dewey smell mixed in with its usual clean one of pine trees and lemons. Her nerves practically sang when a sudden wave of giddy comfort washes through her.

James can't help an idiotic grin at the feel of her mouth, even as he looked up to meet her twinkling emerald eyes. He could look into them forever, he thought, picking out the light and dark greens and the slightest hint of gold at the edge of a dot of black. "Why do you think that I initiated it? Do I look like the type of person who wants to die of hypothermia?"

"Oh, I dunno, love. For all the less-than-sensible things you have done for the past six years, I really can't say anything about your state of mind, can I?", Lily teases, her hair falling over one shoulder into his face as she tilts her head.

"You can't, Lils, 'cause he was practically begging for a mound of snow to knock some sense into him back there." Marlene jabs a thumb towards a window facing the snow outside and mirrored Alice's frantic nod.

"Oi! I was not!", James protested, refusing to move his head from its position in Lily's lap. He was rather enjoying the way her fingers are tracing circles over that spot on the back of his neck. A very stimulating tingle shot up his spine as she did it again in that achingly gentle way of hers and...fuck. He bit back a moan.

"You literally wanted us to be sorry for you for - and I quote, Lily - for 'being dolorously restricted from loving my gorgeous girlfriend'!", Marlene defended herself, quoting her hands in the air and mimicking James's voice - only she altered it just slightly, just enough to make him sound even more pathetic than he already was at the time.

"God", Lily chokes out through her laughter, "What the hell, James."

"Yeah. Exactly my reaction, Lils. What the hell."

Lily buries her amusement in James's neck while he frowns at Marlene's obvious pleasure at having Lily's side. He scowled some more as even Remus shook his head at him in exasperation. What do they know? "Evans, are you really laughing at my compliment at how beautiful you are?", he questions, even though he knows otherwise.

"What? Of course not. That, love, is whole-heartedly appreciated", Lily said in an overly serious tone, her voice shaky. She bit his ear and whispered breathlessly, "Thanks." She's kissing his neck now, grinning to herself when she feels him jerk against her. "What I find funny, however, is your boyish ideas of romance."

"How are they boyish?" James wanted to know, because he has to say something to make her quit doing that; he really does not want to cave in with that bet going on. But then Lily suddenly swirls her tongue on that spot again and he swears he is seeing stars.

"Mmm, just that I, for one, can think of multiple ways I can love you without snogging or shagging, that's all." She continues to kiss his neck, biting and licking here and there. "And I, for one, think you terribly deserved that mini avalanche of snow."

"Go on, tell him." Dorcas reaches for another piece of toast.

"Ok; maybe I did kinda deserved it," James finally admits, struggling to keep his voice steady but it's so hard - what with Lily's tongue doing delicious things to his skin and one of her legs moving to wrap loosely around his chest - "But you have to say though, Evans, snogging and shagging is the best way."

Lily pulled her mouth away from its happy way to his jaw to laugh some more. "Sure, whatever you say to make yourself feel better, Potter."

James is torn from relief and disappointment at the absence of her mouth on him. He spun around to look at her. "I don't say things to make me - make me -" At Lily's raised eyebrows, he stopped. Changed the subject. "Whatever; the important thing is, I'm still soaked so if you'll excuse me…" He pushes himself off the common room floor, and ignored Sirius and Remus's sniggers, "I'm going to take a hot shower and change."

Lily smirked at his sudden change of tone and sudden fancy of a shower. With a quick glance down, she confirmed her suspicions. "Go on then, I'm not going to stop you from cleaning yourself."

Marlene chokes on her hot chocolate.

"No, but…" James offers a hand to Lily while the other ruffles through the front of his hair. "Care to join?"

Lily blushes, instantly regretting her cheek. Her heart skittered around in her chest and she actually considers saying yes.

But then her eyes caught Sirius's challenging and almost victorious ones.

Maybe if there wasn't a stupid bet or they were alone…

"No, Potter", Lily casually rejected him, eyes unwavering from Sirius's. She leaned back into her chair and ignored her betraying face and heart and more-likely-than-not dilated pupils. "You can shower perfectly fine by yourself."

So…? What do you think of their excessive flirting? Should I continue? Who should cave? Tell me what you think! ;)