Winter Wonderland

Summary: Lily Evans was looking forward to a nice long Christmas break. A trip to a ski lodge with her family was her perfect chance to relax and get away from the chaos at Hogwarts, but what exactly happens when the chaos, James Potter, follows her there. They get snowed in a cabin is what happens!

Chapter Three: We All Fall Down!

James led the way down a normal walkway right through the middle of the ski lodge's ground. Lily scowled from behind him. This was an awfully strange place to explore. There were people rushing everywhere. A little ways down the path there was a little girl screaming for her mother's attention which was being occupied by a younger man. The high pitch scream made Lily's head pound as they passed by them. Lily couldn't help but sneer at the lady. Couldn't she take care of her own child?

"Watch out, Evans. Keep sneering that way and your face will freeze like a Slytherin."

Her face instantly softened. "Just exactly how is this exploring?"

James turned down a path that led to the ice skating rink. "You'll see."

Lily gasped when she was the beautiful frozen lake. Part of her couldn't help but wish that this had all been a set up; James's inconspicuous way of asking her to go ice skating with him. When they reached the rink, James turned and walked behind some bushes. Curiosity over ruled Lily's disappointment, and she followed.

"What are you –"

She stopped short when she saw James pull his wand half way out of his jacket. She gasped pushing his hand back in so the wand was covered. She quickly examined the area to make sure no one had seen them. Everyone appeared to be watching a young couple skate beautifully a crossed the lake. On a normal time, Lily would have envied them, but currently she was preoccupied.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?!" Lily demanded still holding James's hand inside his jacket.

"Changing the ice skates into regular skates! It'll be a hoot the way the show offs will slide and fall every where."

"No! It will not!" Lily whispered harshly not wanting to risk any of the people around them hearing, "Some one may get hurt. Beside you know as well as I do magic is not allowed outside Hogwarts."

James raised an eyebrow, "No one's going to know if you don't tell on me."

Lily clenched her jaw. How dare James put her in the ridiculous situation. He knew better than this. "Pull that wand out again, and I'll be the first to tell on you."

James actually looked shocked, "You're no fun, Evans." He stormed off like a child leaving Lily behind. She let a sigh slip from her lips as she stared after him. Part of her couldn't help but feel she gave up some real bonding time with James. She wanted to hang out with him and be his friend, but she didn't want to get into trouble.

Some times you had to be mean to get through to him. Or at least, that was what she was telling herself. He wouldn't be mad too long...She hoped.

---

Lily didn't see James the rest of that day. In fact she laid in the room she shared with her sister doing her homework. Luckily for her Petunia had seen a 'hot bloke' teaching snowboarding and insisted on taking lessons as long as she could. In fact she spent the next morning fixing herself up in the bathroom; which was why Lily was currently eating breakfast with her parents.

Normally she'd be thrilled to finally be alone with them, but they didn't seem to have anything to say to each other. So they ate their food in silence. Lily finished the last bite of her toast and grew bored watching her parents eat. She began to scan the small dining room until something moving towards their table caught her full attention. It was James Potter.

She stiffened as he grew closer unable to take her eyes off of him. He was dressed in complete winter wear and looked ready for a long day in the snow. He was hear to take her skiing, but that wasn't what was bothering Lily. She knew an introduction to her parents was going to be necessary. In fact, it would be impossible to get out of it and not get scowled later.

She quickly glanced at her father who was stuffing eggs into his mouth. She looked over to her mother her was buttering her English muffin. Oh Merlin, please don't let them embarrass her. James reached their table coughing slightly causing her parent to look up.

"Hello Ev-Lily."

Lily forced a polite smile, "Hello James."

Mr. and Mrs. Evans were staring at Lily intensely waiting what came next. Lily cleared her throat, "Um...Mother...Father...this is James Potter. My classmate from school."

Mr. Evans cleared his throat, "How do you do?"

James nodded politely in return but didn't have a chance to answer before Mrs. Evans cut him off.

"James Potter! It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Lily has told us so much about you." She turned and winked at her daughter. Lily was blushing intensely and was positive James could see it. Lily had never even mentioned James's name to her parents. Oh Merlin, was her mother trying to set her up?

"Nice to finally meet you too." Lily stared shocked as James smiled politely at her parents as if Lily hadn't just been labeled his stalker. "Actually I was hoping to borrow Lily. We have a skiing date."

Lily wished he wouldn't use the word 'date' so loosely. She thought her Mom was going to shout with glee. "Oh, how sweet! Isn't that just sweet, Robert?"

Mr. Evans glanced up from his eggs, "Sweet." He mutter before he was back eating again.

Lily jumped up from her chair. The sooner they got away, the better. She couldn't trust her parents, or even James, not to say anything embarrassing for her. She quickly latched on to James's sleeve and tugged him towards the door.

"We'd love to stay and chat, but," Lily shouted from practically a crossed the room, "We have to start skiing before the big storm!"

Just when they reached the door and Lily thought she was in the clear she heard her Mother's voice. "Oh look, Robert! They're holding hands"

"GAH!" Lily screamed in frustration throwing James's arm down.

---

"You have to move your left leg then your right! One and then the other. How complicated is that?!" Lily Evans glared evilly at the young bloke that was trying to teach her to ski.

"Keep yelling at me like that, Potter, and I'm out of here. I'm already freezing my arse off!" She was currently bundled in her largest sweater, her biggest winter coat, and her Gryffindor scarf was nearly choking her to death. They had only been out here an hour and already she couldn't feel her toes or nose. In fact she bet it dropped twenty degrees since there arrival. That winter storm was on the way in a hurry.

"No, Evans! Left than right!" They were currently standing on top of a huge hill off by itself. At first Lily questioned its seclusion, but James assured her it was safe.

"Stop yelling at me!" Lily stabbed the ski pole into the snow scarcely missing James's foot.

"Watch it." He muttered earning an even harder glared from Lily.

James sighed grabbing Lily's gloved hand and placing it back on the pole. "Sorry." He mumbled.

Lily held her breath as he kept his hand on hers and walked behind her. He placed both feet on the back of each ski. The front of his body was pressed into the back of her and she instantly felt the heat. She had a sudden urge to take her scarf off.

"Left leg...Push off." He whispered right above her ear causing a delay in her reaction. She blushed knowing he had to see the effect he was having on her, but he continued.

"Right leg. Push off." She was proud of herself for having a normal reaction this time. It took extra strength to move both of them but with James's help she did it.

"Now big push off." He whispered leaning closer causing his lips to brush her ear. The reaction in Lily was far from normal. She pushed off as hard and as quick as she could causing them to go farther than James expected. They began flying down the hill at a super fast pace. Lily screamed trying to cover her eyes but James held on tightly to her hands and the poles.

"Steer, Lily!" James screamed.

"You didn't teach me that!" Lily let out another scream as she realized they were heading straight for a large group of trees. At the last possible second James turned right scarcely missing the trees. Instead they headed down a steep cliff. The back of the skis lifted up causing the front to nose dive. Lily felt her left ski break in the snow as she and James tumbled farther and farther down the cliff. Fortunately, or unfortunately, a large bush stopped them at the end of the cliff.

Lily groaned and rolled over onto some more bushes scratching her arms up even more. She unhooked the skis from her feet.

James jumped to his feet immediately, "Woo! That was a bloody long fall!" Lily glared at him. He didn't have a scratch on him. How was that possible? He held his hand out and helped Lily to her feet.

"Well, I didn't like it. I'm going back to the ski lodge." She started back up the steep cliff.

"Lily! Wait!" James grabbed her left hand trying to stop her, "I know a short cut."

"Of course you do." Lily mumbled starting back up the cliff. James pulled her hand causing her to slip in the snow and into his arms.

"Trust me...I know a short cut. I went flying here. Besides, you don't really want to practically rock climb back up the steep cliff, do you?" He was right. She didn't, and at this point her heart was aware he was standing with his arm around her waist. It had began beating insanely. She would do anything to make it stop before he realized it.

"Lead the way." Luckily he did just that along with dropping his arm from her waist. It wasn't that Lily didn't enjoy the way James made her heart race. She just knew that was a dangerous game to play.

She wasn't about to be his 'winter break girl'. Then have them hating each other at Hogwarts. She heard about James using girls left and right; how he had a new girl in the astronomy tower every week. Half the female population at Hogwarts either hated James for breaking up with her or worshipped the ground he walked on. It was rather sickening. Lily made her mind up a long time ago that she wasn't going to be one of those girls, and for now she was sticking to her plan.

---

"It's cold out here!" Lily mumbled as James led her deeper and deeper into the woods. Lily couldn't understand how walking away from the cabin was going to lead them to a short cut, but for some odd reason she couldn't stop following James. Besides, at this point she'd probably get extremely lost on her own.

They had been walking for what seemed like 4 hours, and if it got much colder she was positive her nose would freeze off. Lily bent over and stuck her hand into the ice cold snow. She grabbed a handful and began rolling it into a ball. James was well ahead of her by time she stood back up. She ran to catch up to him, but decide to stay a few steps behind.

"Oh, James..." She called to him tauntingly. As soon as he turned around Lily launched the snowball at his face. She giggled as it stuck for a second before sliding down. He wiped the rest off.

"Oh, Merlin, are you going to pay for that!"

Lily squealed as James began to chase her. They dodged through the trees, Lily running as fast as she could while James hurled snow at her. Surprisingly he only hit her a few times.

"Oh come on!" Lily teased, "You'd think a quidditch player could throw better than that!"

"Quidditch isn't like baseball, you know?" James stopped allowing Lily to do the same. She was panting like crazy, and James found it oddly attractive.

"Maybe I should just tickle you instead." Lily's eyes widened. If it there was one thing she absolutely hated it was being tickled. It drove her insane!

"No." She said firmly as James advanced towards her.

They took off running again. This time James was only half a step behind her. Just when he was about to catch her, she slammed on her breaks causing James to crash into her back.

"Oof"

"Shhh," Lily whispered.

When James looked to see what she was staring at, he saw a beautiful stag standing a few feet away from them where the trees cleared slightly.

"Amazing." Lily mumbled not looking away.

"You like stags?" James beamed.

Lily nodded, "I've never been this close to one."

James grinned taking a step closer to Lily, but he accidentally stepped on a branch and broke it. As if a gun shot had been fired the young deer sprinted deep into the woods.

"You scared it away!" Lily complained.

"Sorry" James muttered.

For the first time in a while Lily looked around at their location. Every direction looked the same. Trees and snow covered everything.

"James," Lily whispered slowly, "Where...are we?"

James spun around looking at every direction. "Uh...we came from that way!" He pointed confidently towards the north. Lily had no choice but to believe him, but she couldn't help but think they had came from the other direction.

---

"James, I'm really getting cold." Lily frowned noticing how he paused and looked around. It felt like the temperature dropped even more. Lily shivered pulling her coat tighter around her chest. James stopped again causing Lily to bump into him. Lily watched him look up confused then to the left then to the right. Realization hit her hard.

"We're lost!" James flinched confirming her statement. "I've seen that look on your face before, Potter! It's the same look you have when you can't figure out a charm that normally comes so easy to you!"

Despite Lily's yelling James gave a small smile at the fact she knew his facial expressions. "This is not funny. We're going to freeze to death!" She glared at James accusingly, "This is entirely your fault!"

"My fault?" Anger built up in James, "You're the one who through the snowball at me! This...is your fault."

Lily's glare hardened, "You're a horrible liar, James Potter. You've been lost this entire time. I bet you couldn't even find that stupid short cut!" When James didn't say anything to Lily's statement she screamed, "Potter!!!"

"Evans!" James mocked.

"Don't you even say my name! This is your fault. You take the blame for your own mistakes."

James growled, "Fine! I screwed up, but that doesn't change the fact we're stuck in the woods!"

Lily sighed. He was right. Lily looked up to the sky. The sun was nearly gone. "We only have fifteen minutes left of good sunlight left."

James raised an eyebrow, "You can look at the sun and tell what time it will be setting? You're a dork."

Lily blushed, "Any idiot can do it."

"So you're calling yourself an idiot?"

"Shut up, Potter! We have to figure out what we're going to do."

James smirked at her, "How exactly do you feel about spending the night in the woods?"

A/n: Finally! I've been waiting all day to post this. I typed it all up at 2 this afternoon then had to go to work before I got the chance to proof read or post it, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I hope you enjoy it. It's rather longer than my normal chapter. I'm happy about that! Please Review!!!!!