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Chapter Four

Lily found herself staring at her ceiling once again. It was Christmas Day, her family had left early in the morning and were staying at the Dursley's for the next five days. Lily was to stay with Marlene for almost two bloody weeks at the Potter's and now her heavy trunk sat at the foot of her bed.

Yesterday after her three friends had left, Lily's dad had a talk with her.

"Will you be safe? Will you be able to contact us if anything happens? Are you going to be fine without us for Christmas and the New Year? There's nothing going on between you and one of those boys, right? There will be no funny business, correct?"

Lily had sighed deeply and answered accordingly, "Yes, extremely safe. You'll have my owl so you can reach me and Marlene has her owl in case I need anything. I'll be okay only if you promise to have a great time with the Dursleys. No, dad, nothing going on, we're all friends. No 'funny business', not in anyone's dreams!"

Petunia, who came home a few hours later, wanted to laugh happily when Lily asked her if she could go to her friend's house instead of Vernon's family's house. She had smiled brightly at the prospect of spending time with her boyfriend's family without her freak sister. Rose Evans came home at night, she had teared up because her sweet daughter was going to be absent during the festivities. Lily had assured her that it was all good and she was going to have fun but Rose Evans had been very sad as she wasn't going to be with her complete family.

"Oh dear, if you wish, I won't go to the Dursley's. I'll stay here with you and it'll be just as delightful!" Rose had said.

One look at Petunia's face and Lily had quickly denied her mother's proposal, "Mother, don't be silly! I reckon Petunia has a wonderful week planned for all of you."

Rose had begrudgingly accepted the fact that her daughter would be at her friend's house and went off to bed. Her father patted her on the shoulder and went after Rose, Petunia had smiled at her and went upstairs to her room. Lily had sent an owl to Marlene and she soon got a letter back that said:

We'll be there at ten, be ready! We'll Floo in again, so don't attack us again, you'll make Sirius cry again. I used 'again' so many times in that sentence, oh and I used it again! Get it? No? Okay, I'll stop wasting parchment.
Anyway, love always,
Marlene
P.S. Sirius wants me to tell you that he didn't cry, but we all know he did.

She closed her eyes for a second. She felt rather dizzy and she thought that maybe if she closed her eyes for a second... just a second...

"Lilyyy."

"Lily, Lily!"

"Wake-y, wake-y!"

Make it stop! Lily thought as horrible screeching flooded her ears.

She rolled onto her side and was met with something hard and warm. She breathed in the scent of something delicious. Wood, pine, leather, cologne and so many delicious things that made Lily think of one thing. Of one person.

"James..." She mumbled in her sleep.

She rolled over to her other side and was met with another wave of smells. Outside, rain, wet dog, and an even stronger cologne. It was a smell she knew but it wasn't as good as the first one. She smiled and when she felt her bed start moving she stiffened.

"Ow, stop." She heard a remarkably manly familiar voice say after a loud slapping noise.

"You stop, you arse!" A different deep voice said and a thump quickly followed.

Lily suddenly jolted awake, her eyes flying open. It took her eyes a second to adjust to the light and then she saw Sirius smiling at her, lying next to her.

"Wha-?" Lily started as she jumped to her feet on top of the bed. She saw James Potter and Sirius Black looking up at her, lying on her bed. "Wha- what are yOU DOING?!" She had started in a low voice but once she finished she was yelling.

"Come on love, come back to bed." Sirius laughed as he opened his arms out, knocking James's glasses off in the motion.

"Oi!" James said as he rolled off of the bed and blindly looked for his glasses on the floor.

"It's just you and me now, Lilyflower." He grinned.

"Ugh! Shove it, Sirius!" She said stepping on his leg. "Now... What. Are. You. Doing. Here."

Before Lily could have a chance to react Sirius grabbed her leg and pulled her down, her back hitting his chest painfully.

"Hurry, Prongs! I've got her!" Sirius laughed loudly into her ear.

"If I could just find my bloody glasses!"

"Sirius! Let. Go." Lily said struggling.

"AHA!" James yelled as he put his glasses back on and jumped on the bed. "I'm sorry Evans, but this is your punishment for not being ready."

He started tickling Lily and, as she was possibly the most ticklish person on the planet, she burst out laughing. She tried to squirm in Sirius's iron grip with no avail, the sound of her laughter filled the quiet house and soon was joined by two deep laughs from the boys.

"If- if you... don't stop!" Lily said in between laughs, "Potter! B- Black! Stop!"

Tears were starting to roll down her face from her closed eyes and her laughter only got louder as James continued. Lily managed to kick Sirius on the crotch with her heel and his grip loosened but James kept tickling.

"What 'e bloody 'ell is goin' on 'ere?" Marlene's muffled voice came from the doorway, she held a large marmalade sandwich between her teeth.

"Mar- Marlene!" Lily yelled between fits of laughter. "Make. Them. Stop!"

"Boys, what part of wait until she wakes up didn't you understand?" Marlene grumbled, she held the sandwich between her hands and inched to closer to her mouth.

"We did wait!" James said as he rolled off of Lily and Sirius.

"We actually fell asleep with her!" Sirius said in a strained voice. "Lily dear, I can't... breathe... Do you mind?"

Lily quickly rolled off of Sirius and ran over to where Marlene was now sitting on her desk.

"Merlin, my bal-" Sirius started as he cupped his manly attributes but was silenced by a pillow being thrown at him by James.

"If this is what I have to look forward to, I am not going," Lily crossed her arms. Her beautiful pale skin now had a rosy tint to it, her fierce red hair resembled a bird's nest.

"You should have been ready," Marlene shrugged as she licked her fingers.

"Should have been, Evans." James said matter-of-factly whilst nodding.

Lily found a book on her desk and threw it at James. He looked up just in time to get hit right in the middle of the forehead.

"Remarkable aim, Lilyflower, remarkable!" Sirius laughed.

"Stop calling me that!" Lily snapped. "Are we leaving?"

"I reckon you said you didn't want to go," James smirked, rubbing his forehead.

"Don't test me, Potter," Lily glared at him for a second, then turned on her heel and excited the room.

"You bloody idiots..." Marlene sighed.

"What?" The two boys asked raising their eyebrows in unison. If it weren't for the obvious aspects of their appearance, you'd think they were actually siblings because of their personalities.

"It's enough that Lily has to deal with you at school, now I made her deal with you during the holidays. Be on your best behaviour, understand?"

"What are you talking about?" Sirius laughed. "We're brilliant!"

"We're perfect." James agreed.

"We're beautiful."

"We're ravishing"

"We're delici-"

"Stop!" Marlene held up her hands. "Bloody hell, would you listen to yourselves! All I'm saying is that you should be on your best behaviour."

She stood up and turned on her heel to walk out of the room, and she made her way downstairs.

"What's a Marauder's best behaviour?" James asked innocently and then they both started laughing.

Once they had reached the first floor landing they made their way towards the drawing room, where they would be leaving via Floo Network.

"Took you long enough," Lily stood up and crossed her arms.

"Aw, flower, don't be mad. We were merely doing what we do best!" Sirius said.

"And what would that be?" Lily raised her eyebrow.

"Make the world a better place and fill it with laughter, of course!" James said dreamily.

Lily snorted, "More like bring misery upon the world and wreak havoc."

The two boys gasped and clutched their hearts.

"Words hurt, pretty Lily," Sirius sniffed.

"I'm now a broken man, Evans," James fell on the rug and Sirius fell on top of him.

Marlene laughed at the display and Lily tried to hold in her laughter as best as she could, not wanting to give them the pleasure of making her laugh. James opened an eye and smiled when he saw the two ladies smiling.

"Merlin, Padfoot! You need to lay off the pie, mate," James tried to shove Sirius's unmoving body away from him, but Sirius was making himself be dead weight. So James hit him.

"Blimey, Prongs, no need to hit me!" Sirius frowned as he rubbed his arm.

"Shall we go?" Marlene offered Lily an arm and they gladly twined their arms together. Sirius enlarged the fireplace, enough to fit two people and lit it up. Marlene threw some Floo powder into it making the flames turn into a mesmerising emerald green.

Lily and Marlene stepped into the fireplace and Marlene said clearly, "Potter Manor."

There was a strong tug, expanding Lily's body uncomfortably. She spun so quickly, flashing images of different fireplaces in houses all over the magical world rushed before her eyes and then suddenly she was thrust forward. Her arm was ripped apart from Marlene's and she rolled on the floor.

There was a flash of green and the boys had appeared laughing behind Marlene, they suddenly stopped as they saw Lily sprawled on the floor looking at them upside down.

"Enjoying the floor there, Evans?" James asked trying to hide his smile.

"Leave her alone, James. It's totally justifiable! Remember the first time you traveled through the Floo Network?" Marlene started laughing. " Aunt Dorea couldn't find you for hours, she th-"

"Stop, it's not funny," James frowned. "It is probably one of the worst memories of my childhood."

"But what about that time with Moony, when we went-"

"Padfoot, don't talk about that," James's eyes were wide.

Marlene rolled her eyes and turned to Lily, "Well? Aren't you going to get up?"

Lily rolled onto her stomach and smiled, "Yes... er, I was just dizzy."

"Get up now, we need to get ready!" Marlene clapped and then extended a hand to help Lily up.

"Right... I just need to ge-" Lily stopped looked around the boys' feet and sighed. "My trunk. It's back home."

"Stop looking at us like that! You didn't tell us to bring it, now did you?" Sirius raised his hands in surrender as Lily looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Well, it was implied!" Lily stomped her foot childishly.

"We'll go get it later, Evans, but we should go eat first," James started walking out of the room, Sirius followed.

"I am certainly famished!" Marlene said as she motioned Lily to follow.

Only then did Lily notice the room. It had a high golden plaster ceiling with intricate designs and a sparkling diamond chandelier hanging from the centre of the room. The furniture seemed to belong to the previous century but it still seemed new. The beige cushions of the sofas were bordered by dark, rich wood, they were fashionably set around the fireplace they just emerged out of. There were a couple of elegant wooden tables, one was pushed against the wall and it held crystal bottles with alcohol inside. Some tables had moving pictures, some had rare looking artifacts with foreign scripture on them.

Lily gasped as she walked through one of the polished wooden double doors. There was a beautiful arched hallway, she looked to her left where the hallway continued, only ending in a turn leading elsewhere, there were more polished wooden double doors leading to extravagant rooms like the one she had just excited. The wooden floor had a crimson and gold rug along the seemingly endless length of the hallway. The walls were decorated with still and moving paintings of what could only be members the Potter family, considering how much they resembled each other.

"Lily?" Marlene called from her right where the hallway ended and there was a big open space. "You're killing me! The elves have a wonderful Christmas lunch prepared and you're taking your time! Don't be so evil!"

Lily released a shaky laugh, "Coming! If I don't get lost that is."

Marlene laughed, "Ah yes, the Potter Manor. It's outrageously big if you ask me but it's been in their family for Merlin knows how long."

Lily walked into the entrance hall where she was met with another grand part of the house. There was the entrance door and about ten well-made steps directly in front of it was the grand staircase that disappeared behind a wall as it turned. The ceiling was probably the house's full height and a massive chandelier hung from it.

"It's something alright," Lily said as she caught up to Marlene and started walking towards a short hallway past the stairs and door.

"Dorea and Charlus always says this house is too big for them alone so they're having balls and parties all the time. There's usually a great Christmas ball but due to the circumstances..." Marlene trailed off. "We hope they'll make it back by New Years, it somehow always beats the Midsummer ball and let me tell you. The Midsummer ball is remarkable."

They reached the hallway that only held two white doors, a small one that led to a bathroom and a larger one on the opposite wall that led to the kitchen. The bright sunlight flooded through the large window at the end of the hall. Lily could see a great patch of snow covered grass and beyond that a forest.

Marlene pushed the larger door open to reveal a kitchen, they walked through it and passed through another swinging door at the other end of the lovely, normal-looking kitchen.

"Midsummer ball?" Lily wondered.

"Another crazy excuse for Mum to throw one of her ridiculous parties," James answered with a massive turkey leg in his mouth.

They entered a room with a long table in it, there were possibly ten chairs on each side and a chair at each end at the heads of the table.

Who would invite twenty two people to dine at once? Lily wondered.

It almost resembled the great hall except with only one long table filled with food. On one side there was a wall completely made of glass, with large heavy open drapes; to the other there was row after row of expensive plates and cutlery in fancy vitrines.

The four of them only occupied one end of the table, Lily and Marlene sitting next to each other and opposite them James and Sirius. They were pleasantly chatting about nonsense and their plates were full and their hearts were content. Even if Lily wasn't with her family, even if James' parents were out in the battlefield with Marlene's, even if Sirius's whole family was on the Dark Side, their four hearts were content.

"I'm sorry about this. I wanted to eat in the normal sized table in the kitchen but Mum left specific orders to serve all Christmas meals in this stupid dining room," James grumbled to the three of them.

"Dorea will be Dorea," Marlene sighed.

"It's okay Prongs, I can't get to sit on the head of the table if we're in that circle table in there." Sirius grinned.

"You're not even..." James stopped as Sirius grabbed his own plate and sat at the head of the table.

"Now I am," he laughed loudly. "Hear, hear, my guests!" he stood up and raised his chalice high. "Thank you for coming, I would like to wish you a very happy and safe Christmas and a very enjoyable Christmas party with no authorities and loads of booze!"

They all cheered and downed the contents of their chalices, of course they were served pumpkin juice. The stronger stuff would be for later.

...

One hour later, Lily found herself with James in the room where she had first arrived to his house. He held what seemed to be a magical instrument that resembled a muggle lighter. He clicked it and suddenly the fire was ablaze in the fireplace.

"Shall we go then?" James asked Lily as he swatted his pants' knees, getting the dust off.

"You don't have to come," Lily pursed her lips. "I'll be fine on my own."

"Oh I know you'll be fine," James smirked. "It never hurt to be there just in case though."

"Just in case of what?" Lily didn't want to get mad at him. He was being a James Potter she had never once seen, or she had made herself not see. He was just too... too perfect and Lily felt unease when it came to him. If the person that is standing before her really was James Potter, then it was obvious that she would do something as remarkably stupid as actually fall for him. And that terrified her.

He walked over to her, grabbed her elbow tightly and pressed his body against hers, "I'm going, whether you like it or not."

Lily's breath hitched at their proximity. What was it with him? Why did he care so much? She wondered what it was that made James feel the need to protect her.

Just the same thing that drives you to protect everyone you care for, your family, your friends, him.

Lily had always disagreed with James Potter and his ways. She had always gotten into loud arguments with him when he stepped out of line, which was very often through the years. But recently, excluding the common room incident a few days ago, he had really changed. He had been more quiet, he had been more concentrated on his studies. She often caught him staring out the window for hours sometimes. Lily knew it had to do with all the changes in the world, his parents and himself being in constant peril.

Scratch that, not himself, he's too selfless to care about himself. He's concerned about his parents and his friends, Lily thought as she sighed.

She looked him dead in the eye, trying to find some sort of glint of humour or something that would mean that he wasn't serious about protecting her. She couldn't find anything but resolve and courage and every trait that made him a Gryffindor.

"Fine," she looked away and pulled her arm away from his grasp. "Let's go then."

Once the flames turned green, they stepped in together, James offered her his arm and she stared at it with her eyebrow raised.

She sighed and wrapped her arm around his tightly, scared that she would topple over as she did the first time with Marlene. It was just a precautionary measure, she didn't like it or anything.

"Want to do the honour?" James asked holding up a small pouch halfway filled with Floo powder.

"I don't know how to!" Lily's eyes widened.

"Just visualise it and say it loud and clear," James smirked.

Sighing, Lily grabbed enough powder for the both of them, she inhaled deeply and swallowed a lot of ash and finally said, "E- Evans H- House."

They felt the uncomfortable tug as if they were being sucked down a huge pipe while being stretched at the same time. The sound was deafening and Lily struggled to keep a hold of James. All too soon, it all stopped and they flew out of the fireplace into a house Lily didn't recognise. James gripped Lily tightly as she tripped I've her own feet and kept her upright.

"Was this how your house looked like? I could have sworn..." James stopped as he looked at Lily.

Panic in her eyes she looked back at James, "This isn't my house! Quick let's get out before someone sees us."

She started walking back towards the fireplace.

"I only have enough Floo powder for one more trip. We won't be able to get back if we use it now," James sighed.

"What?" Lily spun so fast on her heel she almost fell. "You're joking!"

"Don't look at me like that!" he raised his hands in surrender. "You messed up."

"I- I messed up?" Lily's nose was starting to flare. "It was your brilliant idea to let me try!"

"We're not going to resolve anything if we keep at this, let's leave before anyone sees us and we'll see where exactly we are," he said as he turned to look for the door.

Lily didn't move, she opened her mouth and then closed it again. This is what she had noticed that James Potter did now. He'd come up with way to fix things, instead of argue about them. Normally they'd both want to prove they're right but today he wanted to fix her mistake.

"Wait up," she mumbled as she dragged her feet after James.

It turned out that Lily had Floo-ed them a couple of streets from her house. They pulled their coats tighter as the cold air hit them, the snow from the last snowfall covered everything like a soft white blanket. They walked through the busy sidewalk, where people were singing and skipping as they went. They smiled at Lily and James as they walked by.

"How could we possibly have ended up in that house?" Lily said as she shivered.

James unwrapped his scarf and put it on her, "Muggle houses aren't connected to the Floo network."

"But-"

"There are some exceptions. For example, your house. Marlene said she made some arrangements to add your house to the Network when she visited you last summer."

"So they're probably related to some wizard, the people from the house we ended up in," Lily wrapped the scarf around her neck. She was glad it was cold because James wouldn't notice her blush on her already pink cheeks.

As they got closer to her house there were fewer and fewer people, when finally it was ominously quiet. Lily walked to the side of the house, through walls of leafless bushes covered in snow and headed to the backdoor that lead to the kitchen. She sighed when it wasn't open and started looking for the key on top of the door frame on her tiptoes.

Finding it she inserted it into the keyhole and walked in, James following behind her.

"Ja-" She suddenly stopped when she heard a creaking sound upstairs.

They both pulled out their wands. Not knowing what else to do, they waited.

"Did you hear that?"

Their hearts stopped and adrenaline started pumping through their veins. Someone was in the house, they were talking and by the sound of it it there was more than one. It sounded like a young man, around his twenties.

James pulled Lily behind him quietly, their wands pointed at the swinging door that would soon reveal the intruder.

"Zaff! Where do you think you're going?" a deeper, raspier voice scolded. "I already checked in there, twice."

"But-"

"Don't doubt me child!" a loud slap followed. "Let's go. There's no one to kill here," there was a horrible laugh. " The Dark Lord's informer must have been wrong, there's no mudbloods here, we need to move on to the next location."

"Yessir."

And with that there were two loud pops and they were gone.

Lily stood frozen behind James, who was just as still, neither of them lowering their shaking wands. They didn't know how much time passed, a minute, an hour? When Lily finally unfroze she took a few steps back, her back hit the wall and she slid down.

James turned around and kneeled beside her, "We-" he gulped. "We need to get out of here before they decide to come back and check again."

"What if m- my parents had been here," her wide green eyes looked into his hazel ones. "What if I had actually been here?"

James shook his head, "But you weren't. Let's go get your things and leave. Quickly."

He held out a hand, she nodded grabbed it and pulled herself up.

"I need to stay," Lily's faint voice said as she stopped moving. "What if they come back when my parents are here? They need someone to protect them."

James grabbed her hand again and pulled her forward against her will up the stairs. She suddenly jerked her hand free and stopped.

"James!" she yelled. "I can't go!"

He turned around and put his big, trembling palms on either side of her face, "Lily listen." He whispered urgently, "There were two Death Eaters in the house, Merlin only knows if they'll come back. Maybe three or four of them next time. We need to leave. Your parents aren't here, they're safe and as long as we stay here we're not."

"I can't just leave! My parents will be back, they won't stay at the Dursley's forever!" Lily argued, the fear creeping through her body leaving goosebumps in its path.

"My parents should be back by then, they'll figure it out. Somehow, someway they'll make it okay. Now please Lily, lets get your things and get the hell out of here!" He was still whispering and the fact that he was made Lily even more nervous.

"Okay, okay."

He let go of her and she ran to her room, wand still in her had. She walked through the open door and found her trunk. James's strong arms met the trunk before hers did and carried it downstairs, Lily followed quickly behind him.

They entered the drawing room, James sat the trunk beside the fireplace and pulled out the thing that resembled a lighter. His trembling hands fumbled with it until finally on the third try he manage to make a blazing fire. Lily threw some powder into it and it became emerald green.

Taking no time Lily stepped into the fireplace, James grabbed her hand and with his free hand he held the trunk.

"Don't screw up this time." James released a shaky laugh.

She grabbed the powder, imagined James's house and yelled, "Potter Manor!"

They felt the tugging and finally their feet met the cold stone of a fireplace.

"Bloody hell!" Lily yelled as she almost started crying in frustration.

"What?" James asked, setting the trunk beside a cushioned chair.

Lily looked around, there were tall walls clad in bookshelves filled with books, a table in the middle with chairs, and sofas around the fireplace.

"I messed up again," she whispered.

"What?" James started but then realization dawned on him. "No, no you didn't. This is just the library. There's more than one fireplace in this house, you know."

Lily was about to reply when the wooden doors burst open.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Marlene yelled, Sirius trailing behind her with a worried expression.

Lily moved towards her and slammed into Marlene in a fierce embrace and let her pride fail her once again. Tears started rolling down her eyes and silent sobs filled the now silent room.

Knowing Lily wasn't ready to talk, Marlene just cooed, "Shh... It's okay love, it's okay. You're alright, everything's okay.

...

There was a knock on the door and Lily turned around.

"Yes?" she called from in front of the mirror where she was looking at her flowing champagne dress. It was sparkly around the strapless chest area and it flowed loosely to the ground below her chest in the same colour without the sparkles.

"May I?" she heard James' deep voice inquire from behind the door.

"Yes," she whispered.

He opened the door, wearing black pants and a white button down shirt. He stood there for a second before walking over to her bed and sitting down on the edge. His eyes never leaving her beautiful, delicate frame.

"How are you doing?" he asked making eye contact through the mirror.

Lily turned around and met his real eyes, walking slowly towards him. He swallowed wondering if it was an angel that stood before him and stiffened once Lily wrapped her arms around him.

"Lily?" he wondered what this was about. He could smell her beautifully curled hair, like coconut and vanilla.

"Thank you," she whispered as she felt him wrap his strong arms around her and for some reason she finally felt safe, in his arms. "I was so stupid before, thanks for coming with me. I don't know what I would have done without you-"

"Don't mention it," he said simply hugging her tighter.

He felt her nod in the crook of his neck and felt silent tears wet the collar of his shirt.

"Hey..." he said as he pulled away. "I bet Marlene worked hard on that makeup, she'll go bonkers if she sees you've messed it up."

Lily gave a watery laugh and wiped the tears away, "We should go, they're waiting for the man of the hour."

"I don't know, beside you I doubt anyone will be paying any attention to me," he smiled.

Lily pushed at his shoulder playfully, "Oh, stop."

James caught her hand in his and stood up, "Let's go."

"Let's," she agreed.

They walked down arm in arm, James enjoyed the close proximity they had developed over the last few days. He didn't know what changed maybe it was him, or maybe it was her. He finally decided that everything had changed and inevitably they had changed too.

They walked down the stairs and then they made their way down the long hall towards the ballroom. Sirius, Marlene, and him had invited just a couple of people to spend the evening with. Remus, Alice, Frank, the Prewett twins, Edgar Bones, Emmeline Vance, and a few other school mates Lily didn't know the names of.

"Where's Peter?" Lily wondered as they walked in arm in arm towards the crowd of teenagers.

"His mum takes him to France for the holidays," James shrugged and walked over to Sirius, who wore black pants and a midnight blue shirt.

They greeted everyone as they made their way to Sirius and Marlene at the back of the ballroom. They got weird looks once the people laid eyes on their joined arms, that only gave James a reason to hold on tighter.

"Glad you two could make it," Sirius clapped a hand on James's shoulder. "We've only been waiting for the guest of honour for an hour now."

"I'm not the guest of honour," James shook his head laughing.

"You're not," Sirius turned to Lily. "But our little flower is."

"You look beautiful, Lily!" Marlene gushed. "You are very welcome!"

Lily looked at Marlene wearing a wine coloured, long dress, very fitted on her curves making her look great. Her blonde hair was up, with silver pins holding her it in place.

"I don't know what you are talking about, you look much better than I could possible look."

Sirius raised his wand and pointed it at the instruments at the stage at the other end of the grand ballroom, which had a couple of tables with chairs, a dance floor and a long table full of drinks.

The instruments started to play on their own accord and Sirius offered his hand to Lily, "Shall we?"

She smiled, "Only because it's Christmas, Black."

She looked at James and smiled, she let go of him and took Sirius' hand.

They walked off to the centre of the dance floor, soon joined by a few more dancing couples.

"What's the deal with you two?" Marlene asked James as they looked at Lily laugh when Sirius twirled her.

James smiled, "Who's deal?"

"Lily and yours, don't be daft!" Marlene sighed.

"There isn't anything going on," his smile saddened.

"Don't give me that rubbish!" Marlene exclaimed.

"What do you want me to tell you? That I've fancied her for so long and she's finally returning something? That I don't want to make too much of that something because I know I'll be disappointed? That I'm here, pretending that I'm not going mad because I want to know what it is that's going on between us? If there is anything going on at all."

Marlene smiled and patted his shoulder, "I know Lily, she's like my sister. She is my sister and I know there's something going on. I haven't talked to her about it, but honestly, I think you might have a chance."

James's eyes brightened, "You do?"

Marlene nodded, "But it's completely up to you not to mess it up."

"Of course, of course," he nodded seriously.

A few drinks later, rather a lot of drinks later, the group of about twenty people were dancing crazily to the upbeat music Sirius had magicked the instruments to play, a witch and a wizard Lily had never seen were singing on the stage.

"This is-" Fabian Prewett started.

"Ridiculously amazing!" Gideon Prewett finished as the both laughed.

"One of your best parties I might add, Pads," Remus tried to say seriously but started laughing uncontrollably.

"All my parties are the best, specially when I take on the responsibility of doing everything," Sirius laughed. "Of course, our lovely Marlene here did help a lot." He added when Marlene glared at him.

"More like all of it!" she yelled over the music.

"Merlin! Will you two just go and snog already?" Lily laughed as she said that to Alice and Frank. Both of whom had been doing things unconsciously. Like Alice always looking at Frank's lips when he talked or Frank following her around everywhere. They were always touching, either when they were sitting and their legs touched, or when they stood and their arms touched.

"Lily!" Marlene gasped. "We all know they should snog after all these years of awkward sexual tension between them but you shouldn't put them on the spot like that."

Lily laughed harder, "You did such a great job at not putting them on the spot!"

"Stop it you two!" Alice looked mortified, her cheeks ablaze. "Stop laughing. It's. Not. Funny." She punched them each on their bare shoulders.

Frank wanted to smile at Alice's beautiful blush that matched with her light pink dress but he felt just as mortified, "It's okay, let's just go get some air."

Alice willingly followed, exciting the ballroom.

"Some air!" Sirius laughed.

"What a lame excuse!" Marlene joined.

"They should have just said-" Gideon started.

"They were going to go snog and just get it over with!" Fabian finished for him, their boisterous laugh drowning the music.

Lily stopped laughing and looked around, a pair of bespectacled hazel eyes were missing from the group and Lily worried. How long had it been since she had seen James? They'd danced a few times a few hours ago, he'd brought her drinks after that.

Somewhere in her hazy thoughts she remembered him saying he had to go change his shirt, something about Sirius spilling his drink all over it. She looked around once again and bit her lip, she thought it was a good idea to go and find him. Just to check if he was all right. That's what a good friend would do.

"Mar, I'll be right back," she said in Marlene's ear.

"Sure, love!" Marlene yelled back. When she was far enough she whispered in Sirius's ear, "Figure she finally found out James wasn't here?"

"If her 'subtle' looks around didn't tell you anything, her leaving must have surely meant she finally did," Sirius grabbed her waist. "Dance with me!"

Lily made her way to the doors and pushed them open, revealing the hall. She closed the large door behind her and wondered where he might be. Lily walked to the end of the hallway only to find Alice and Frank snogging irreverently against the front door. She quickly ran to the stairs hopping they didn't see her and ran up the stairs, trying to make no sound.

She reached the second floor landing and looked around. Her room was the second door to the right, Marlene's room was the third room to the right. She had seen Sirius come out of the first room to the left and the first door to the right was a bathroom.

"This house is too big," Lily muttered as she looked at the doors that she had no idea where they lead. There was one at the end of the long hall that could only be James's parent's room. Then there were three more doors after Sirius's and one more after Marlene.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," she started, laughing by herself. "Catch a Potter by his toe, if he hollers let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe."

She stopped at the last on one the right, she walked over to it and opened it quietly. It creaked as she opened it and it revealed a dark room with a spiral staircase that led up.

Well this is obviously not his room, Lily sighed and closed it again.

She opened the door to its left and found a cozy living room with a few sofas and an unlit fireplace. She sighed deeply and tried one more time with the door beside Sirius's.

She opened the door slightly and stopped, listening.

"Yes?" she cursed her heart when it jumped a little when she heard his voice.

"Yes, er..." Lily didn't know what to say. She hasn't planned much further after finding his room.

"Lily? Come in," she heard him say and she opened the door fully and quickly stepped in.

A shirtless James Potter sat on his windowsill holding a letter in his hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Lily said blushing even more as she saw his state of undress.

"No it's okay. I'm sorry, come in," he said standing up and rummaging through his dresser.

Lily walked in to his room, it was just as enormous as hers, his large four poster bed had crimson sheets, vaguely resembling the ones at the Gryffindor dorms. He had a desk with scattered pieces of parchment, quills, and some books sprawled on top of it and his dirty button down slung over the chair. His messy, overflowing bedside table had a snitch on top of some parchment that lay on the table, beside it there was a moving picture of him, Sirius, Remus, and Peter laughing as something exploded in the background.

He sat back down on the windowsill looking at Lily intently as she surveyed his room as she leaned against the door. Never in a million years would he have dreamed of having Lily in his room. He would have organised it a bit if he had known she would pop by.

"Is everything alright?" she asked him.

"Er... I suppose, why?" he wondered as she met his stare.

"You were there and the next thing I know we're all laughing and you are nowhere to be found," she smiled kindly.

"I thought I mentioned having to change," he pointed his thumb to the chair.

"I reckon changing doesn't take half an hour," Lily laughed.

He smiled sadly, "It does when you receive a letter from your parents."

She suddenly stopped laughing and stumbled over to his four poster bed and leaned against it, "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry, I can leave if... if you want."

"No!" James cleared his throat. " I mean, no. You're not prying, not at all. And I wouldn't mind if you stayed, for a bit."

She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Everything's alright?"

James nodded, "As alright as it can be when you're out there risking your life."

The effects of the alcohol she had ingested were slowly fading. She sat beside him and held his hand, not entirely in control of her actions. James was always there for her when she needed someone and she knew he was always there for everyone else.

Maybe, she thought, maybe I can be here for him. Maybe I can be the one making him feel better.

He looked at her and she looked back at him, she wondered if he had been crying. In the faint candlelight she saw his red rimmed, puffy eyes.

"Marlene once told me your parents are the bravest people she's ever met," she started. "I always heard you talk about them to your friends and I pretended not to be interested. I was though, very much so. Marlene would tell me these stories about how they fought whole armies of dark creatures, just the two of them, and they'd be victorious. Or how your mum and her's would go on adventures as children and your mum would always be the brave one. Or the time when your parents fought a dragon and the only injury your Dad ended up with was a missing toe because he accidentally dropped a sword on his foot!

"I've always been intrigued by them, I've always admired them and I've never met them or even seen them!" she felt her cheeks burning as she spilled the truth but kept going once she saw he was genuinely smiling. "So when I see you worrying about them I want to tell you to stop being ridiculous. They're Charlus and Dorea Potter and you should know better than anyone else that they will be alright."

James looked at her wondering how long it could have been since Lily had felt this way! He would have jumped on the opportunity to present them to her.

Without any words he wrapped his arms around her. She was right, he didn't have to worry. They were his parents, he knew they were the strongest wizard and witch he had ever known. They were doing good by the looks of the letter, he had to have faith that they'd make it out okay.

"You're right I need to stop worrying so much," he whispered in her ear.

She snaked her arms around him and felt safe in his arms once again. She honestly liked being the one giving comfort instead of the one receiving it. It would be better if she didn't have to give comfort at all, but with the dark days surrounding them you were bound to receive or give comfort to those you care about.

"Do you want to go back?" he whispered.

"No," she sighed. "But we have to."

James pulled away and pouted, "Let's go then."

He stood up and headed towards the door.

"Potter, wait!" She stood up with him. "You can't go like that!"

She motioned towards his old, raggy t-shirt, it didn't go well with his dress pants and fancy shoes.

"Evans, I can wear what I want," he smirked. "Its my house after all."

"But it's Christmas and if I have to wear this hideous dress then you have to dress up too," Lily countered.

"Actually, Christmas ended at least two hours ago," he said as he made his way towards his wardrobe. He picked out a grey button down and showed it to Lily, "Do you agree?"

She pursed her lips.

You'd look better naked, she thought.

"I suppose," she turned around and he started to lift his t-shirt up, she caught a glimpse of his toned abdomen. Why was she thinking about that? Why in Merlin's name would she think that?

It's true though, her eyes widened. Stop thinking like that! You two just started to get along, it's morally incorrect to think like that, Lily!

"Lily, are you listening?" James asked.

She turned around, her cheeks burning, "Y- Yes?"

He finished buttoning his shirt and smiled, her heart tugging slightly, "So you do want to eat slugs?"

Lily bit her lip, she'd been caught not listening, "Er... what was the question again?"

James laughed, "I asked if you were ready."

"Oh! Yes, are you?"

He nodded and they walked out of the room. When they reached the top of the stairs James stopped. He turned to face her and he put his hand on her cheek, inching closer.

"Ja- James?" she stuttered.

"That dress is not hideous," he said, his lips were so close to hers and she was tempted to close the distance.

"I-"

"Did I mention how beautiful you look?" he got even closer.

She didn't know what to do, she knew what he was going to do but she wasn't sure if it was right. She certainly wanted to, there was no doubt about that, but with everything going on. His parents, the Death Eaters at her house today, everyone being in constant peril all the time. She wondered if it was okay to have a moment of happiness.

He leaned in and his soft lips kissed her cheek, testing his limit. He kissed her jawline, one more kiss and he'd be kissing the girl he had always dreamed of kissing. He didn't want to do it because she was beautiful, even if she was, or because he'd fancied her for so long, even if he did, but because she had showed him a part of her he'd never known. Because she showed him what it was like to be strong, what it was like to be selfless and caring, because she cared about her friends and because she'd made him laugh and see the light even when he was about to break.

"Lily..." He breathed.

"James..." She replied and closed her eyes.

He took that as acceptance enough and he closed the distance between their lips. Her feather soft lips danced with his. Her hands twined themselves in his hair and his hands moved to rest on her waist, his thumbs soothing her skin over her dress. Their wild heartbeats caught up to each other and beat frantically together. She inched closer to him holding him tight and his hands moved to her back, running up and down affectionately.

She pressed her lips to his one more time before pulling away. Still holding each other they looked into their bright shining eyes, not saying a word. She moved her arms down and wrapped them against his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. They stayed in each others arms, not saying anything and just letting their heartbeats return to normal, if that was even possible.

I just kissed James Potter.

I just kissed Lily Evans.

She looked at him again but before she could open her mouth something sparkling caught her eye and she looked up.

Mistletoe.