Thanks for the reviews from Bookybookbook, marauders rox, american nymphadora and amanamanam! Also thanks to marauders rox and x. lips of an angel for making this story a favourite :-)

I'm glad some of you found the last chapter funny, I tried to make it so and I'm thrilled that I didn't fail miserably :-) So thanks a lot for all your positive feedback. Not making any promises yet but updates should be every few days or so for the next two weeks as I have holidays (yay!) and unfortunately most of my friends are going away so I will have more free time than I know what to do with and should have plenty of time to write.

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Ch 13: An Unforgettable Christmas

Christmas dawned and the morning sun shone over five sleeping figures. Lily was fast asleep, curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch closest to the fire. Also sharing the couch, Marly had her head resting on Lily's back.

Sirius was sprawled over the second couch, his feet dangling off the edge. Clearly booted off the couch where he had originally been sleeping, Remus lay uncomfortably on the floor. His head was on the floor, his back resting on the side of the couch while his feet waved up in the air. Sirius' feet were hanging a little too close to Remus' face and his foot twitched each time Remus exhaled.

On the other side of the room, James was draped over the only armchair, facing the ceiling.

A loud thump echoed through the room and three heads popped up to see the cause of the noise. James had rolled over and promptly fallen off the armchair. Cursing, he dragged himself up off the floor.

"Good one mate." Sirius said groggily as he stretched out on the couch while accidentally kicking Remus in the face.

"Ouch." Remus groaned as he shifted out of his headstand in which he had been sleeping. "I really wanted your smelly foot in my face first thing in the morning Padfoot." He said sarcastically, rubbing the side of his face where Sirius had kicked him.

The five friends had decided to spend Christmas Eve night in the Head Boy and Girl's common room. The room was quite large with a large Christmas tree perched in the corner. An array of brightly wrapped presents lay underneath waiting to be unwrapped.

"Merry Christmas!" Marly said with a yawn, sitting up on the couch. Lily was still fast asleep next to her. A small mutter of 'Merry Christmas' echoed around the room.

"Should we wake her?" James asked Marly curiously, looking at Lily. The three boys were sitting in front of the blazing fire their eyes flicking towards the presents under the Christmas tree every few seconds.

"Lily, wake up! Presents!" Lily was woken to a pillow being thrown in her face by Marly. James winced. That wasn't quite what he had meant when he had asked Marly if they should wake Lily up.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in." Lily grumbled burying her face deep in her pillow.

"Nine o'clock is a sleep in." Marly replied irritably. After the minutes passed by slowly and Lily was making no signs of getting up, Marly threw another pillow at her. "Come on Lil. It's Christmas. Get up!"

Grudgingly, Lily opened her eyes, squinting in the morning sunlight. "Merry Christmas." She said, wrapping her blanket tightly around her.

"Presents!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes as wide as saucers like a toddler looking at a lolly.

"Hold your horses Padfoot." Remus said. "What about breakfast?" Sirius loved breakfast. But not quite as much as presents.

"Later." Sirius said dismissively as he sat down next to the tree, pulling out the presents from underneath.

The unwrapping of presents took a surprisingly short time. Shreds of coloured paper littered the floor and an array of gifts were sorted into piles.

"Lily, thank you so much!" James exclaimed as he pulled the wrappings off a magnificent and expensive Broomstick Servicing Kit. Beaming, James pulled Lily into a tight hug. Laughing, Lily hugged him back, pleased at his enthusiasm over her present.

Soon only one present remained under the tree. Sirius was happily eating his way through a mound of candy and chocolate. The final, beautifully wrapped present was gently placed in Lily's lap by an awkward looking James. Smiling up at him, Lily began to carefully unwrap the present and James could feel his heart thumping with nerves.

What on earth were you thinking? James cursed himself. He knew he shouldn't have taken Marly's advice so seriously. He knew he should have just gotten her candy or chocolate or something from Zonko's like Sirius and Remus had. But truth be told, James had wanted to get her something different, something just a little bit special.

Truth be told, James had been about to buy Lily an assortment of lollies and chocolate from Honeydukes when he had panicked. What if she thought he only wanted to be friends and never fancied him? He wanted to buy her something a little more meaningful.

Dropping the sweets like a hot potato, James rushed into another shop where he nearly bought Lily something Marly would have deemed 'unsuitable.' In another frantic panic, he changed his mind again. What if Lily thought he was being romantic, freaked out and never spoke to him again?

Platonic kept whizzing through his mind so he'd grabbed something 'platonic' in a last minute rush. Thinking back on what he'd bought Lily as he watched her unwrap it carefully before him, James realised he had failed miserably in buying her a nice present. Too late now.

Lily pulled the last of the paper off to reveal…socks. And a quill. James could feel his face burning and he purposefully avoided looking at Marly.

"Merry Christmas Lily." James said awkwardly, staring at the floor trying to cover his flaming face.

"Umm thanks James." Lily said smiling kindly at him. "I love…er…socks." Picking up the warm pair of blue woollen socks, Lily put them on.

"I'll, er, go get some breakfast." James said as he hurried toward the portrait hole. With a quick "I'll help" Marly left too. Confused, Lily set about cleaning up the shreds of paper.

"Socks?" Marly asked incredulously as soon as here and James had exited the portrait hole. "And a quill? What on earth were you thinking?"

"Well, you told me to keep it platonic, nothing romantic!" James said defensively.

"Well, you got that right. Socks are about as romantic as a brick wall!" Marly said in exasperation.

She had spent much of her valuable time educating James about what to buy for Lily. And after all the wisdom she had shared with him, what had he some up with? Socks! Socks were what she bought her elderly grandfather!

"It's not like you gave me many things I could buy her!" James exclaimed irritably. "You gave me a list long enough to touch the ground from the top of the Astronomy Tower of everything I couldn't buy her but you failed to mention what I could buy her!"

"Argh! You're impossible!" Marly threw her hands up in exasperation. After a minute of silence she continued. "Well, how are you going to make it up to her?" Marly asked.

"What?" James looked surprised. God, how thick were boys? Marly thought in frustration.

"What are you going to do to make it up to her?" Marly repeated slowly as if talking to a mentally challenged troll.

James face fell and he stared at the stone floor while Marly tapped her foot impatiently. Almost instantly, James seemed to have a sudden thought.

"Can you take care of breakfast? I have to run." James yelled behind him as he sprinted away down the empty corridor. Grumbling Marly set off towards the kitchens.

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Nearly two hours later, after everyone had been enjoyed a magnificent breakfast cooked by the Hogwarts house elves, James returned.

"Where have you been?" Sirius asked accusingly as soon as James stepped through the portrait hole. Shooting him a quick glare and hissing 'nick off' James walked uncomfortably towards Lily. Sirius, Remus and Marly left the room quietly, gathering enough of a hint from James.

"Umm, Lily? Can I talk to you?" James asked her awkwardly, his hands concealing something behind his back. Lily was astounded. She had never seen James Potter as awkward as he had that day.

"I believe you already are."

"Ha, right." With the grace of a mountain troll, James pulled a bunch of beautiful pink orchids from behind his back and held them out for Lily.

"I'm sorry about before." James said earnestly, looking into her sparkling emerald eyes. And before he could stop, James launched into the story of trying to buy her a present and asking advice from Marly. Lily found the whole thing hysterical.

"So, I'm sorry Lily. About the, um, socks. I got you something else to make up for it." James handed Lily a small box tied up neatly with a pink ribbon. Opening it cautiously, Lily's eyes widened.

"Oh James, it's beautiful!" Lily exclaimed as she took out the delicate gold bracelet.

"Here." James said as he gently took the bracelet from her and fastened it on her dainty wrist. The bracelet was simple and elegant and suited Lily perfectly.

"Merry Christmas Lily." James said.

Lily smiled prettily at him and he found himself getting lost in her eyes. It was like one of those moments in books or movies. A heavy silence hung in the air and James felt a thrill run through his body. This was it. Leaning forward slowly, James moved in to kiss her. He was so close he could count the faint freckles on her nose.

Suddenly, Lily threw her arms around him in a warm embrace. James felt his heart sink. What had he been thinking? She only saw him as a friend. Hiding his embarrassment, James hugged her back. Her 'thank you' was muffled against his neck and James felt jolts of electricity run through his body.

"I don't know what to say, James." Lily said, pulling back from the hug. "The bracelet is beautiful and I love the flowers. Much more original than the typical bunch of lilies." She smiled again.

All the boys that had ever given her flowers, not that there had been many of them, had given her lilies because of her name. While lilies were beautiful flowers she didn't necessarily want them just because her name was Lily. Nobody ever bothered to find out her real favourite flower. Except James.

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A few hours later, Lily, Marly, James, Sirius and Remus were found having a furious snowball fight on the icy grounds.

James was startled out of his daydream of Lily by a large snow ball that hit him hard on the side of his head. Sirius was doubled over with laughter at the shocked expression on James' face and the triumphant look on Lily's.

"I'll get you for that!" Lily broke into a run as James chased after her. Laughing the whole way, he tackled her to the ground and tickled her mercilessly.

"James!" She gasped between giggles. "Stop!"

"That will teach you to mess with me, Lily Evans." James said laughingly while Lily giggled and wriggled beneath him.

Eventually, taking pity on her, James stopped tickling her. Lily's clothes were damp from the wet snow and her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. Slowly, James rose to his feet and held out his hand to help Lily up.

Lily watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye as he helped her up. Taking her opportunity when she could, she gathered up another big snowball and threw it at James' face. It landed with a splat against James cheek and the icy snow slipped down his face.

"Lily Evans!" Lily clutched her sides as she laughed. And the whole escapade started all over again while Remus, Marly and Sirius watched in bemusement while James chased a giggling Lily across the grounds.

The afternoon passed quickly and by the time it grew dark outside and their aim became worse, five shivering students abandoned their snowball fight and trudged back up to the warm castle. Christmas dinner was the usual magnificent feast and Lily stared in awe at the fat roast turkeys and platters that covered the tables. It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

Lily got an almighty shock when she pulled a wizard cracker with Marly. The loud blast made her jump in her chair as she was engulfed in a cloud of green smoke. Wearing the pirate hat from the cracker, Lily laughed with her friends as they headed back up to the common room, full and sleepy.

Lying in bed that night, Lily couldn't keep the grin off her face. It had been her best Christmas Day ever. Gently fiddling with the beautiful bracelet on her wrist, Lily drifted into a pleasant sleep. In the morning she wouldn't remember her dream, except that she woke with the brightest smile she could imagine.