Title: Glass Hearts

Rating: PG-13

Summary (for chapter): December, a kiss that goes down in infamy, and the Slug Club Christmas Party.

December passed for the students at Hogwarts, and Peter couldn't wait for Christmas Break. The four of them were going to James's house for break, but the days seemed to go by so slowly when the end of term was so near. They had lots of homework before the end of the term and a few exams. It snowed nearly every day, the castle grounds were covered in a blanket of snow for the bulk of the month.

Snowball fights were therefore essential. Every time they were off for class, they were outside, playing in the snow, ignoring homework, making students angry.

"What is snow for except to attack people with?" James asked after a group of fourth year girls had angrily attacked him and buried him under snow.

Peter then threw a snowball at the back of his head and James chased him around while Peter yelled, "What is snow for except to attack people with?"

Other Gryffindors often joined in on these snowball fights, and sometimes other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Peter ran around with pink cheeks and gloved hands, hiding behind James and Sirius so he wouldn't be pummeled by Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Mary MacDonald had a killer arm, as all of them had had found out rather unpleasantly when Sirius threw a snowball at her while she walked with her boyfriend Frank Longbottom. Marlene was also very vicious, and Peter figured that was why James had chosen her for Chaser this year and why he hid behind Peter when she answered James's challenge. Sirius had enchanted snowballs to follow Snape around whenever he came outside and was unfortunate enough to be seen. Snape once responded to waving his wand and sending Sirius through the snow face first. Aubrey was furious when the two of them started dueling.

"Evans, come on, you know you want to throw one right at my face!" James called after Lily one afternoon when she refused to join in.

"No, thank you, Potter!" Lily called back to them.

"Please?" James yelled. "Please, just throw one at me! I'll only throw one back at you, I swear!"

Lily ignored him as she continued to talk to Melissa Warbeck.

James grumbled and continued to pelt snowballs at Remus and Sirius, who were on the other side of the lake. Peter saw Lily bend down and make a snowball, but decided not to say anything to James. The look on his face when a snowball hit the back of his neck and the ice started running down his shirt was priceless. He turned, brushing off the snow with his glove, and looked at Lily. She had already turned and was walking again, but she looked back and grinned at James.

James turned to look at Peter, who was laughing. "You saw her do that, didn't you?" James asked. He proceeded to put snow down Peter's pants.

Their monthly adventures in the Forbidden Forest were fun, as usual. The one thing just as good as spending so much time in the snow was spending so much time in the snow in their animal forms. Sirius and James were talking of hexing Aubrey, especially since he was getting worse after catching people around mistletoe. He tried to have it banned, but no one would have it, not even the professors.

"It's the season of love," Sirius said. "Why must Aubrey try to ruin everything?" He and Jewel were spending more time together than usual, usually under mistletoe. He had kissed a few other girls, none too hesitantly, and to get back at him, Jewel had kissed a few other boys.

Peter had unluckily encountered a seventh year Slytherin girl underneath the mistletoe, and James, Remus and Sirius had roared with laughter when she kissed him on the forehead, then pushed him down. Clusters of girls waited at every bunch of mistletoe possible, making detours to class absolutely necessary and many people late.

James, Peter, Remus and Sirius stumbled into Transfiguration, panting from their run. "Why are you four late?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.

"It's the girls!" James said wildly. "They're everywhere!"

"Excuse me?" McGonagall asked.

"What he means," Remus started to explain, "is that if you take any of the usual paths to class, you run into all of the girls waiting for boys under the mistletoe, and then we would have been even more late, because those girls are desperate."

McGonagall only raised her eyebrows. "It's true," Mary said, nodding. "I'm glad I'm a girl, walking through the corridors is dangerous around this time."

"I would have thought you'd've enjoyed it," McGonagall said to the four boys. "Please, take a seat, you are no longer in danger."

Sirius looked cautiously at the ceiling as he sat down. "No where's safe," he said, shaking his head.

Slughorn's usual Christmas party was approaching, and James was moping around because he hadn't been invited. "You're just mad that you won't be able to ask Evans," Sirius said.

"Don't worry, I wasn't invited, either," Peter said.

"Me, neither," Remus said, turning the page in his book.

James looked longingly over at Lily, who was laughing with Paul Brendell. He suddenly sat up. "What's she doing with Paul?" he asked.

Peter glanced at Remus and Sirius, then pretended to be very busy with his shoes. He would just leave this one up to the professionals. "I dunno," Sirius said casually.

"Why are they alone?" James asked. He looked at his friends with a hard look on his face. Remus did not look up from his book. He looked at Peter and his eyebrows twitched. "What's going on? What are you . . . ?"

James looked back at Lily and Paul. Paul stood up and held his hand out for Lily. Lily, smiling, took his hand and they walked out of the common room, holding hands and bumping shoulders. James stared at the portrait hole in horror for long moments after it had closed.

"Rumor has it they bumped into each other underneath the mistletoe," Remus said cautiously, "and that they are together now."

James stared a moment longer, then looked at Sirius. "Was he invited to Slughorn's party?" he asked.

"Not by Slughorn, per se," Sirius said calmly.

James flopped down unto the couch, looking miserable. "He's off the Quidditch team," he said. "He's a horrible Beater, I don't know what I was thinking – did you see that horrible shot last game, when he . . . "

Remus, Sirius and Peter glanced at each other as James continued to talk to himself.

"What has he got that I haven't?" James asked, his hands over his face. "I have better hair, a nicer body – maybe it's the glasses." He sat up, looking at his friends. "Should I get one of those vision-correcting spells?"

"No," Remus said, alarmed. "No, you'd look awful."

James took off his glasses and threw them to the ground. He then stepped on them. Remus winced at the sound of breaking glass. Sirius raised his eyebrows. Peter had feared this reaction. James began to stomp on the glasses, crushing them with the bottom of his trainer. "This isn't fair," he wailed as he plopped down on the couch.

"Reparo," Remus said mildly, pointing his wand at the glasses.

James let out a moan and then went silent so that he sounded like he had just died.

Lily was rushing to get to her last class of the term. She was running late because she had been talking with Paul. She walked quickly down the corridors, trying to keep her book bag on her shoulder. Her last class of the term and she was going to be late. She turned the corner and ran directly into somebody, full on.

She dropped her book bag and all of its contents went sprawling. She let out a swear word, crouching down to pick up all of her things.

"Blimey, I'm sorry," James Potter was saying, helping her pick up her books. He looked up at her and his eyes widened and he looked as though he were going to die for a moment. Lily stuffed her things into her book bag, her face growing red.

"Sorry," Lily said, taking her last books from Potter's hands. She stood up, avoiding his eyes. She heard an eruption of giggles. She looked, and saw a group of fourth year girls pointing above their heads. She looked up and to her horror, saw an innocent-looking bustle of mistletoe above her.

James was staring at Lily unabashedly, his cheeks pink. She was going to be late, this was going to spread over the school like wildfire, she had just started going out with Paul – her last class of the term. She grabbed James by the sides of the face and kissed him on the mouth.

James immediately kissed her back, putting his hands on the sides of her torso. He leaned into the kiss, slipping his tongue into her mouth. Lily closed her eyes, turning her head a bit. He wasn't too bad of a kisser; he kissed her gently, but Lily could feel the building passion he was holding back. He was never going to get over this. She pulled away from him. "Sorry," she repeated. He only looked at her in shock. She pushed past him to make it to Arithmancy only five minutes late.

James stood in shock under the mistletoe. He had just kissed Lily Evans – no, Lily Evans had just kissed him. He blinked a few times as though a blinding light had just been shown to him. He touched his damp lips, dazed. Had that really just happened? His better judgment was telling him it had only been a few moments, but it had felt like hours, like days, like an eternity.

He took no notice to the girls giggling next to him, to how his feet felt when he dragged them down the corridor, to the looks people and portraits shot him. He had no idea where he was going, and he felt like he had just smoked a load of gillyweed with Sirius. Wasn't she with Paul now? How on earth was he going to manage anything over his break, when he had just experienced Lily Evans – her warm tongue against his, her hands on the side of her face, the feel of his body against hers, her breath on his mouth as she had pulled away . . .

In the common room, Marlene was playing Exploding Snap with Sirius. Remus and Peter were playing chess. James sat down next to them. Sirius looked at him. "You all right, James?" he asked.

"I . . . " James trailed off. He saw Paul walking down the steps and watched him leave the common room.

"Yoo-hoo," Sirius said, nudging James's knee. "Are you alive?"

"I . . . " James trailed off again. "Yeah . . . yeah, I think so." In fact, he didn't know if he had ever felt more alive than when he was kissing her.

It was everywhere. Everyone knew. Lily could feel their eyes following her as she walked down the corridors. She hated Hogwarts and she hated its damn rumor mill and she hated mistletoe.

Suddenly, she was attacked and pulled into a broom closet. Lily gasped as she was shoved up against the wall and thought for a moment that perhaps Potter thought he was going to get a bit more, but then someone lit up the tip of her wand and she found herself facing Mary and Marlene.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked hotly. "You're crazy!"

"We're crazy?" Mary repeated. She looked at Marlene, her eyes wider than Lily had ever seen him. "You did kiss James Potter, didn't you?"

Lily shrugged, her face heating up. "Yeah? So?" she said.

Marlene threw her hands up. "Mary, we have to find out what's happened to Lily!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, come on," Lily said. "It was just a kiss!"

Mary grabbed Marlene's arm. "It's more serious than we thought," she said. "When was the last time you 'just' kissed someone?"

"Are you trying to imply that I don't kiss boys often?" Lily asked.

"Unless you've been hiding something, yes," Mary said.

Lily glared at her. She had heard that Mary was going out with Frank from Violet Moss, of all people. Mary was usually the one hiding things from Lily - or just not caring enough to tell her, even though they were supposedly such good friends. She wanted to get out of this closet, but her two friends were blocking her. She considered trying to push through them, but Mary was stronger than her and Marlene was taller. She huffed, crossing her arms.

Marlene looked more understanding. "Lily, I just want to remind you that two weeks ago you threatened to hex James's ears off after he tried to Summon your robes off," she said. "You do remember that, don't you?"

"And you remember how just a few days ago he was cheating off of Sirius's exam?" Mary said quickly.

"Is this the Bash-Potter closet?" Lily asked.

"The roles have reversed," Mary said. "Instead of bashing Potter, you're sticking up for him!"

"I never stuck up for him," Lily said. "This is ridiculous - everyone's kissing everyone. It's just that time of the year! Marlene kissed Jonathon Smith. You kissed Liam Gertram -"

"You're not going to tell Frank about that, are you?" Mary asked, narrowing her eyes.

Lily shot her a glare. "Of course not," she said.

Mary put her hands up innocently. "It was just a question," she said.

Marlene seemed to notice the tension. "Lily, it's just that it's going to make him even worse -" she began.

Lily took a deep breath and pushed through the two girls. She stumbled out of the closet, breathing freely. She felt much less cornered now, and began walking towards Gryffindor Tower. "You think I haven't thought about that?" she asked. "You think I didn't just fail my Arithmancy exam thinking about it?"

"Just -" Mary began.

"Look, maybe we should just drop it," Marlene suggested.

"Maybe you never should have brought it up," Lily said. She was having a hard enough time accepting that she had kissed James Potter and slightly enjoyed it without her friends demanding answers to completely irrational behavior.

After Sirius and Jewel had showed up at Slughorn's party, Sirius found out, rather abruptly, why James had been such an idiot in the common room. All of the students were talking about the infamous kiss under the mistletoe – Lily Evans kissing James Potter. He was going to kill her.

"Sirius, where are we going?" Jewel asked as Sirius pulled her through the crowded room.

Sirius didn't answer her. He found Lily and Paul, talking closely up against the wall. "Oh, no," Jewel groaned. Sirius let go of her hand and tapped Paul on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, I need a word with your girlfriend," Sirius said.

Lily looked at Sirius and Jewel, then raised her eyebrows. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Listen, that was completely uncalled for," Sirius said. "It's bad enough that you talk to him, that you throw snowballs at him, that you heal his nose. It's bad enough that you're all he talks about, all he thinks about and that he's been moping around like his entire family has just died for the last day and then you go and snog him – it's just, I can't let you do that!"

Lily looked at Sirius. "What?" she asked. "We didn't snog, and Paul is perfectly fine with it."

"I don't give a bloody hell about Paul," Sirius said. "I don't care if there was mistletoe, I don't care if you thought it was nothing, but you can't do that to James. Do you know how unbearable he'll be now? And you don't even like him!"

"It was just a kiss," Lily said. "Maybe five seconds long!"

"That is sex to James, especially since it was from you," Sirius said. "If you ever kiss him again, I'll – I don't know, but I'll do something."

"You can't just boss me around," Lily said hotly.

"Au contraire," Sirius said, waving his hand. "You can't just lead him on, Evans. You don't understand how much he really likes you. You think it's just an obsessive crush. Don't mess with him, Evans, he's my best friend. I'll have Jewel beat you up."

"There's no need for threatening around here," Paul said, stepping forward.

"Shut up," Sirius snapped. He looked at Lily. "What were you thinking? You hate his guts, and now he's all out of it – I'm supposed to spend Christmas with him, and if you ruin it, she will beat you up."

"Stop threatening her," Paul said firmly.

"Jewel, you will, won't you?" Sirius asked Jewel.

Jewel had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot to the music. She looked at Sirius, blinking. "I will what?" she asked.

"You'll beat her up, won't you?" Sirius asked.

Jewel looked at Lily, who did not look amused. "Why would I beat her up?" she asked.

"If she leads James on again, if she ever kisses him or touches him again and then just walks away, you'll beat her up, won't you?" Sirius said, annoyed. His own girlfriend couldn't back him up because she didn't listen to him.

"Oh, yeah," Jewel said, nodding. She looked at Lily. "It's so cruel, honestly. And he's already all over you. You've only made it worse."

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Lily exclaimed.

"You just weren't thinking," Jewel said. "I know. Just be careful, or he'll Imperio me to make me beat you up." She took Sirius's hand. "Come on, Sirius, she'll leave James alone."

"I'm serious," Sirius told Lily. "You're just going to go back to hating him and insulting him – and that argument that you've never given him any hint that you like him isn't going to work anymore, you know." He was going to continue, but Jewel pulled him into the crowd. "I had more to say to her."

"She got the point," Jewel said, patting his hand. "James will be fine, he's a big boy. But that was sweet, really."

"Oh, don't call me sweet," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Come on. Let's go see if Slughorn has any mead."

Please review! I love getting feedback :-)

What do you get when you put a Christmas party, a drinking contest and a few Christmas flashbacks together? The next chapter!