Disclaimer: I still own nothing except for a few invented characters.

Later that night, Lily and James sat in front of the fire.

"I want to give you one of your gifts now, for obvious reasons," James told her, standing up and going to his room for a moment. He came back with a furry little grey tabby kitten. Lily's face lit up.

"Oh Merlin James! It's so cute!" Lily said, taking the kitten from him and giving him a kiss.

"It's a boy, you can name him whatever you want," James said, "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas James, I think I'll call him Simon." Lily said. The kitchen was a little fluff ball, he was grey, white, black, and this tannish colour.

The kitten cuddled up to Lily and she sat down on the floor to play with it.

"I can't give you your present until Christmas," Lily told him, pushing a ball of yarn that she had conjured up around with Simon.

"That's all right, I had to give him to you now cause he was tearing apart my room," James replied, sitting down beside her.

"I'm actually looking forward to this Christmas," Lily sighed dreamily, leaning against him as they both watched the kitten play.

"Don't you look forward to every year?" James questioned, running a hand through Lily's hair.

"Remember I told you about Petunia?"

"Oh right, still you look forward to seeing your parents don't you?" James asked.

"Of course! It'd just be better if Petunia didn't ignore me or start fights," Lily sighed. "I think you'll like my parents."

"Probably," James nodded, "It's gonna be weird though. All those girls I dated, not once did I meet anyones parents."

"Don't stress out about it, my parent's will like you just fine. They've accepted Petunia's lovely boyfriend with open arms, although they don't really enjoy his company but he makes Petunia happy and that's a difficult task to do so they like him well enough."

"What's he like?" James asked.

"Vernon? He's a moron, I hate him. He owns some stupid drilling company or works there or whatever and he hates anything magical just like Petunia," Lily replied.

"Oh, so he's basically perfect for your sister," James said. "Will he be there?"

"Probably, he's often invited over for dinner. Oh well, this time I'll have someone to talk to at the table, as they'll surely ignore me," Lily laughed.

"I don't like morons much, I usually end up cursing them," James shrugged. "I can't get in trouble for it, as we're of age now," he added laughing slightly.

"So many times have I wanted to curse Vernon, but be on your best behavouir," Lily giggled, thinking about James turning a wand on Vernon.

"You be on your best behavouir too then," James told her, smiling. He was sure that Lily never considered the fact that she was now of age and could curse both her sister and Vernon if tempted.

"Yeah I will be." Lily said. She turned to face James. "Are you sure that your ok with this?"

"I'm positive Lily," James said.

"Well-" before Lily could finish saying whatever it was that she planned on saying, James kissed her silent.

"Spend the night with me?" he questioned. "I want to wake up in the morning with you beside me."

"I – alright," Lily said, stunned. James helped her up and then carried her off to his room. His mind wasn't full of only making love to her, he wanted to hold her and feel her next to him throughout the night.

XXXX

Lily fell asleep in James's arms, and she woke up that very way. There was no possible way of describing the amazing feeling she felt waking up to him holding her, all she knew was that she had to feel it every morning for the rest of her life.

James was thinking the same thing. He sat up, leaning on his elbow and looked at Lily. Her firey hair was spread out all over his pillow, and she wore nothing but his sheets wrapped around her.

"What's the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning, and the last thing you think about before you go to sleep at night?" James questioned, curious to see if her answer was the same as his.

"You," Lily mumbled. James grinned, it was the same. "How did it feel waking up with me here beside you?"

"Right," James replied, kissing her softly. "Lily, I love you. I've loved you since the moment I saw you, I want to wake up every morning and see your face."

"I love you too James, it took me longer to admit it because I was scared." Lily replied.

"Are you scared now?" James asked softly.

"No," Lily whispered, "You kiss away my fears. With you I have none, with you I'm not scared."

The only response James could think of was to kiss her again, so that was what he did. This was beyond what he imagined, beyond anything he had ever hoped of having. This bond that he shared with Lily was more then he could ever have hoped for.

"Were you ever scared?" Lily questioned when James ended the kiss to look at her again.

"The only thing I'm scared of is losing you, having you doesn't scare me at all," James answered truthfully.

"Now my only fear is that I'll lose you," Lily told him.

"That will never happen, I'll always be yours. Even after death I'll love you eternally," James whispered, kissing her again.

XXXX

Lily repeated the whole scene to Marlene, Ellie and Alice later that morning as they hung out in the girl's dormitory.

"Oh Merlin! That's so romantic!" Ellie sighed, thinking it would be really nice if Sirius ever said anything romantic to her.

"I feel like I'm floating on a cloud, I can't think about anything but that," Lily admitted, stroking Simon. She had brought him with her, not wanting to leave him cooped up all day in the Heads dormitory.

"So are you going to be joining him in his bed every night then?" Marlene questioned, envying the privacy that James and Lily both had.

"Well yeah but not just for that reason," Lily laughed, "He told me he wants to wake up to my face."

"Give him a picture," Alice joked, making a mental note to write to Frank. Moments like this got her sentimental and made her want to see her Frank.

"There is no need for me to ask if you know all the birth control spells, is there Lily?" Marlene questioned, raising her eyebrows.

"James and I know them all," Lily assured her. She fell back on Ellie's bed and sighed. "He's meeting my family this holiday."

"Oh, Petunia's going to love that, she loves seeing you bring home all your little freak friends," Marlene laughed, remembering the time she had visited Lily over the summer holidays with Ellie and Alice. "Now that was a warm welcome."

"Sorry about that, but if Petunia does or says anything to James she'll get to have a meeting with my fist," Lily said, smiling sweetly.

"The day that happens," Ellie snorted.

"Frank and I are getting married," Alice blurted out. Everyone turned around and looked at her.

"Offically?" Lily questioned. Alice nodded, grinning.

"We believe with Voldemort rising so quickly that its best not to waste any time at all, we want to be together," Alice told them.

"I've been trying to not think of Voldemort," Ellie shivered. "Another family was attacked, in the next town over from where I live."

"It seems were safest in the school, Voldemort fears Dumbledore," Alice said. "We're safe here."

"But what about when we go home? Isn't our home where we're supposed to feel safest, why is it that I can't leave the house when I'm at home?" Ellie questioned. "My family doesn't know how big a threat Voldemort is, they don't take any precautions at all."

"Ask yourself what kind of precautions you can take," Lily pointed out. "He's trying to convert everyone, no ones safe." She didn't like the direction this conversation had taken a turn for, but everyone had been bottling up their feelings about this huge situation and Lily knew it was time to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

"I have a feeling I'm going to die," Ellie told them, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"What makes you say that?" Alice asked, looking shocked.

"Just this gut feeling," Ellie shrugged. "I don't feel safe. The only time I feel safe, the only time I'm able to forget about everything is when I'm with Sirius. He has this way of making me forget all my fears."

"They all do, Remus too, and we know James makes Lily feel secure." Marlene added.

"You know, they all want to be Aurors," Lily said, "It's their dream."

"Mine too, as soon as I'm finished at Hogwarts I start training," Alice stated.

"Oh shit, guys this should be Alice's happy day. She's getting married. Do you know when?" Lily asked.

"Oh, in the summer sometime," Alice smiled, "I love Frank and he loves me, and we don't even want to wait until the summer but I can't get married during school."

"James said something about there's no time to wait, and to say what you need to say to people now. So, you guys are the greatest people I've ever met in my life, I love you all and we better still be friends after Hogwarts, or I'll hunt you done and give your horrible haircuts," Lily told them.

"Oh Lily, we love you too," Marlene giggled. "What would life be without each other?"

XXXX

The weeks vanished quickly for Lily, she thought that time would go by slowly, as she was really looking forward to the Yule ball. But with patrolling duties, homework, setting up for the Yule ball and all the other millions of things Lily had to do, the Yule ball was fast approaching. There was only one more day until it, and Lily in her room packing for the trip home.

"Hey Lil," James said, leaning in her doorway.

"Hi James," Lily smiled, folding a pair of jeans.

"You won't believe it but Peter and Ledaria are officially over. He's going out with Chloe now, and Ledaria couldn't be more livid," James told her, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Isn't that what you guys talked to him about in Hogsmeade? Didn't you convince him then to break up with her?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, but it took him this long to get the courage to do it." James laughed. "The important thing is we got our old Peter back, with the bonus add of one so he's not complaining about being the fifth wheel."

"Frank's coming down for the Yule ball, then coming on the train with us back to London station." Lily said, sitting on her bed. "So Alice won't feel left out. You know they're getting married."

"Yeah, I've heard that, good for them." James said sincerely, sitting down beside her. "Know what's kind of weird? I already feel married to you. It's like we're living in our own little place and everything."

Lily giggled, James was right. It was almost like they were married. She hadn't slept alone since that night James asked her to stay with him. She found his bed much more comfortable then the one in her room. "Yeah, it does seem like it doesn't it?"

"Don't worry, I plan on marrying you for real Lily," James told her cockily. Lily arched her eyebrow.

"Oh, and what if I don't want to marry you?" she joked.

"I think I'd be able to change your mind," James laughed.

"No need to change it. Are you packed?" Lily questioned, getting back up to finish packing.

"Yeah, all set and ready to go. Where do you keep that dress, I want a peek at it," James said, peering around her room.

"Ha, you won't find it. Wait until the ball."

"I would be able to find it if I really wanted to, but I don't," James told her, standing up and giving her another kiss. Simon meowed at them from Lily's bed.

"I've got to go to Quidditch practise, see you later love," James said, leaving.

Lily continued to pack, her mind racing with a zillion thoughts. She had written a letter home and sent it with James's owl, saying that she would be coming home on Christmas eve and bringing a friend. Her mother had written back, excited and wanting to know who the friend was. She knew that Lily would be bringing home a boy.

"Alright Simon, two more days until you meet the real witch," Lily sighed, referring to her sister.