Author's Note:
I've been working on the outline for this story and I have to say I'm pretty excited for some of the plot twists and such coming up. I'll admit it can be a tiny bit predictable but I still feel like you will all be surprised by at least a few things I've come up with. I have plans for a third story after this one too. It'll be about Delia post OOTP, that's all I'm saying now but I have a really good plan for it although I think it'll only be about six chapters.
All right, now that I've given you all my plans I'll let you read the actual story. Enjoy.
Ch. 5 Snow Can Do That
Over the next two days James saw little of Lily. She was in her room constantly humming Christmas songs to herself and clearly preoccupied with something. She had steadfastly refused he come into her room to borrow a book, instead asking him exactly what he wanted, closing the door to go get it, and then opening it a crack to hand it to him. Clearly she didn't want him to see something but he had no idea what. He figured he'd just have to wait and find out.
Lily was extremely busy in preparation for Christmas. She felt that after all he had done for her and after all her mistreatment of him, he deserved something really special from her. She wrote to all their friends asking them to use flu powder to come for Christmas day at noon. All accepted except for Peter who "couldn't get away from his family".
Lily awoke on the morning of Christmas Eve to bright white light. She blinked away a few tears at the blinding light and sat up. Immediately she spotted the source.
Everything outside Lily's huge bay window was covered in a blanket of white. A few long icicles hung from the top of the window frame. Little swirls of frost on the panes of glass looked like miniscule gusts of wind trapped in a crystallized form. With a little sigh of happiness Lily open the huge window and welcomed the icy air onto her skin. Lily scraped a small handful of snow off the windowsill and tasted it.
"Perfect for snowballs," she commented to the empty expanse outside. Lily turned to glance at her clock. It read 7:14. "Even more perfect," she stated again, "No one else will be up yet."
With a shout of glee Lily leaped out of bed and ran to her door, disregarding the ice-cold floors beneath her feet. "James," she yelled from their common room. She pounded on his door. "James. James, get up already! How can you be sleeping?" Lily yelled at his door.
Suddenly the door opened and Lily almost fell into James as she had been leaning on the door. "What? Lily, what's the matter? Why, what, yelling?" James trailed off, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning.
"Nothing's the matter," Lily told him as though he was insane. "Everything's perfect, there's snow! Let's go!" she tugged on his hand and headed for the portrait hole.
Realizing where she was going James pulled back. "Uh, Lily," he said, "Don't you think we should get dressed first?"
Lily realized exactly what she was doing and blushed a glowing red right up to the roots of her hair. "Oh, um, oh dear." James was standing awkwardly in his boxers, fighting back another yawn and she was only wearing a t-shirt and some worn out pj pants. "I guess you're right," Lily forgot her embarrassment almost instantly, " But be back here in the common room in five minutes ready to go outside."
James yawned again and headed for the bathroom. "Whatever you say dear," he answered over his shoulder.
Lily instantly returned to her room to put on some warmer clothes but she had one thought repeating itself in the back of her mind, James has some seriously toned abs!
o0o
A half hour later after a quick breakfast Lily was finally outside in the snow. As soon as she stepped out of the door she shouted out loud and ran right out to grab a handful with her ungloved hand.
James watched her bright face and laughed to his self. He had known Lily loved winter and snow, but she had never willingly allowed him to be nearby when she was clearly so delighted. Last winter she had even gone inside from a similar day to avoid him (much to her displeasure). Now she was calling him to come make another snow angel next to hers and laughing when he tripped on the heavy powder clinging to his boots.
Lily flopped down in the snow and gazed at the snowman they had created. She grabbed a handful of snow and started eating. "I love snow," she stated through a mouthful of the powdery white substance. "It's so fresh and clean and pure and cold and perfect."
James chuckled quietly. Kind of like you, he though to his self though he didn't dare say it out loud. "And wintery," he added.
"And wintery," Lily agreed with a smile which quickly turned more mischievous. She stood up and walked a few paces away in a carefree nonchalant manner and scooped up some snow on the pretense of eating it. James was too lost in smiling at her to notice anything odd, that is until he was hit with a cold, dripping, icy ball of snow. With a peal of laughter Lily took off to the edge of the Forbidden Forest at a sprint to hide in the trees close to the edge of the wood. James jumped to his feet and followed, chucking a ball of snow after her but he missed. He bent to pick up more snow just as he reached the edge of the trees but when he looked up he couldn't see her anywhere. Her tracks led straight into the forest but he couldn't believe she'd have gone in there.
"Lily!" He called good-humouredly, "Come out come out where ever you are."
Silence.
"Liiiiii-llllllyyy," James called again in a singsong voice.
The wind rustled the tree branches above his head. They creaked menacingly and dropped a bit of snow down the back of his shirt.
"Lily," he called a third time, this time somewhat nervously, "Lily, where are you?"
Silence.
"LILY," he screamed into the woods. His voice echoed back to him, Lily, Lily, Lily…
WHAM! Another huge ball of snow slammed into the back of James's hair. He spun around to see Lily streaking away across the open field her laughter ringing back to him, daring him to catch her if he could.
"How'd you get behind me?" he yelled to her as he took chase, quickly closing the gap between them.
"It's amazing what you can do with magic isn't it?" Lily yelled back as she changed course for the green houses.
James laughed at his over anxious nerves. Of course, he thought, magic. He was almost caught up to her when she reached the green houses and disappeared around a corner. James stopped to catch his breath once he reached the glass wall. He poked his head around the corner. Lily's footprints appeared to have gone around the back of the second greenhouse but he wasn't fooled again. He crept back the way he had come to the front of the first greenhouse. Lily was standing at the far corner, peering around and clearly waiting for him. He grabbed a ball of snow and silently packed it together.
WHAM! Lily spun around with a shocked look on her face and James's proud smirk. She chucked her snowball right at his chest and then bolted again, this time for the castle doors, with James close in pursuit.
Their laughter seemed to bounce back off the castle walls so it sounded like dozens of them running about. James quickly caught up to Lily; she couldn't run anywhere near as fast as him. "Lily," he called quietly when he was just a few feet behind her. She looked over her shoulder surprised that he was so close behind her. This action slowed her down immensely and within the second James had crashed into her and knocked them both over.
Lily lay in the snow for a few moments, catching her breath, aware of James's warm body on top of her but not really registering his closeness as something out of the ordinary. "Oh no, Lily, are you okay?" James asked urgently, "I didn't know you'd slow down. I didn't mean to hit you. I promise."
Lily couldn't help herself; she just started giggling, which led to stifled chuckles, which led to full out laughter. James fell onto the snow next to her, laughing too. They just lay there for a full minute, laughing. James sat up and searched her eyes. "You are okay though?" he asked, suddenly serious again.
Lily stared back into his eyes for what felt like hours. They were sparkling from the exercise against his flushed face but were still genuinely worried about her. Their hazel depths reminded her of the fields behind her cottage in early autumn when the grass was dry from the hot August sun. She lightly shoved him back onto his back and stood. "Of course I am," she answered, "You're just being a worry wart. Learn to have some fun." She gave him a hand to help her up. They headed back to the castle next to each other, looking forward to a steaming mug of hot chocolate and dry clothes once they were inside.
"I never thought I'd hear Lily Evans telling me to learn how to have fun," James commented with another chuckle. "Lily Evans," he repeated in an awed voice.
Lily laughed too as the irony reached her. "Snow can do that to a person," she agreed.
A/N: I felt like this story was too intense and not enough fun so I added this chapter in to lighten it up a bit and just because it was fun to write. The next chapter will have more plot in it.