They had been on almost friendly terms for almost a semester. James had greatly reduced how many times he asked Lily out per week, and tried to be as humble as possible around her, although he still teased her and she still acted like she hated him, even though James knew it wasn't true.
As Christmas Break approached for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Lily Evans sat on the couch in the common room in a very good mood. She was very happy because her parents had permitted her to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays to avoid her sister Petunia's engagement party. It was only too bad that none of her friends were able to stay over the holidays. Across the common room Lily picked up on a conversation between Sirius Black and James Potter
"My parents don't even want me to come home for the holidays," Sirius was saying. "Besides all I would get if I came home would be disgusted looks from all my relatives."
"Well you can't stay here alone Padfoot," James protested. "I'll stay here with you." Lily couldn't help but feel some admiration towards James for his loyalty to his friend.
"Prongs you don't have to do that," Sirius argued.
"I want to, besides who is going to protect the castle while all the students are gone" James laughed. Lily rolled her eyes. An entire two week Christmas vacation with no one but Black and Potter to keep her company? Sounded like some sort of nightmare.
The day that all the students left, Lily sat quietly in a very comfy chair by the fire in the common room reading a book. The tower was empty at 4:00 in the afternoon, which was very strange for Gryffindor tower. Suddenly, the peacefulness was interrupted by a large thud hitting the window. Lily rushed towards the window to see Black and Potter in front of the school playing in the fresh snow. James glanced up at the window as if he knew Lily was watching him. He then grabbed some snow off the ground, packed it into a snowball and threw it right at Sirius. It hit him square in the chest and Lily could hear James guffawing loudly through the window. "Evans! Come play with us!" James shouted. Lily rolled her eyes at the two Gryffindors and walked away from the window back to her comfy chair. She sat down and the silence resumed for a few moments until another *thud* was heard from the window. Lily got up again to look out the window.
"Come on Evans! Pleeeeeeease? You know you want to hang with us" James begged, a grin plastered on his face and his cheeks red from the cold. Lily knew she had no choice. The two boys wouldn't stop bothering her until she agreed. She sighed and walked out front to meet them.
James and Sirius clapped loudly and whooped when they saw Lily approaching. Hearing this, she immediately crossed her arms over her chest.
"Look who decided to come play with us instead of reading boring books!" James joked.
"I only came out because I knew you wouldn't stop bothering me until I did," Lily said indignantly.
"Right you are Lily flower," Sirius said. Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine so I'm here what are we doing?" Lily asked.
"This," James said carrying a large mound of snow. Lily barely had time to react before a large snowball hit her right in the face. She was utterly shocked as James laughed his head off at her who was covered in snow. She tried to look angry but she couldn't help it and burst out laughing as well. Lily quickly grabbed a handful of snow and packed it into a snowball.
"Oi James!" Lily called. James turned and Lily's snowball hit him in the face as well. Lily giggled as James stumbled around not being able to see because his glasses were covered in snow.
"Come here Evans!" James roared at Lily. His eyes were wide and a gleeful grin was spread wide across his face. Lily knew what he was going to do so she bolted in the opposite direction. James ran after her and caught up with her easily.
Quidditch practice has served him well, Lily thought. She suddenly felt a pair of hands around her waist and she lost her footing on the snow as James tackled her into the snow. They both went down hard and were absolutely covered in the white power, and Lily swore she had never had more fun in her life. She and James lay in the snow laughing until Sirius approached and helped James up, who then proceeded to help Lily up. The trio was extremely cold at this point so James, Sirius, and Lily headed inside to get warmed up.
"I'm in the mood for some hot butterbeer, what about you, Prongs," Sirius asked.
"Sounds like a plan," James agreed. Lily followed curiously behind James and Sirius who headed through a series of corridors until they reached a painting on the wall.
There's nothing special about this painting, Lily thought. Just a bowl of fruit...
"What's this?" Lily asked. James reached out a hand and tickled the pear. To Lily's astonishment, the pear let out a giggle and turned into a door handle. James pushed open the door
"Welcome to the kitchens," James said proudly. He held the door for Lily and she stepped inside to find house elves bustling around a room larger than the Great Hall. A house elf immediately rushed up to Lily and took her coat. Two other house elves did the same to James and Sirius. The three were then lead over to a crackling fire.
"Master James and Master Sirius, so nice to see you again," a small house elf wheezed.
"Hello Moggy," James greeted the house elf warmly. "This is Lily." He introduced the red head sitting next to him. Moggy bowed and he swore he saw Lily blush.
"Hi," she said nervously.
"What can we do for you misters and miss," the house elf asked.
"Three butterbeers please," Sirius ordered. Moggy rushed away and three more house elves approached carrying butterbeers.
"Thank you, Toppy, Shooddy, Chovey" James addressed each by name. They all bowed and rushed away.
"So this is how you do it then? Provide all the food for the Quidditch after parties, do all those pranks and somehow are always eating something?" Lily asked.
"Of course, we've known about this place since first year," James grinned.
"What other secrets about the castle do you know?" Lily asked curiously.
"Now Evans, we can't reveal all of our secrets," James said, giving Sirius a look as if they knew so much that Lily didn't. She huffed indignantly, and James gave her a mysterious smile. Lily felt butterflies in her stomach as she met his hazel eyes. Wait butterflies?
No, she thought indignantly. James Potter did not just give me butterflies. She ignored them and they went away.
The trio sat in the kitchens for awhile talking and drinking. James managed to get butterbeer froth all over his upper lip, giving him "the official butterbeer mustache" as Sirius called it. The rest of winter vacation was spent the way the first day was. James, Sirius and Lily wandered the castle. The boys showed Lily all sorts of secret passages that she had never known about before. They even snuck through a secret passage into Honeydukes and got some candy. Overall, Lily thoroughly enjoyed her winter vacation, and dare she say it, James' company as well. He had surprisingly proven to be a good friend to her.
As term resumed a few weeks later, James and Lily returned back to their normal banter, but things were different between them.
