Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize

Chapter 17: New Year's Eve

I stepped out of the bathroom and flopped down on my bed, my stomach flipping with excitement for tonight. Tonight would be the New Year's Eve party James was throwing at his house. Apparently, most of Gryffindor was coming, since he put up a flyer in the common room the day before term ended. But, we figured a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were going to be there too. We were really hoping no Slytherins would decide to show up.

The last few weeks at school were uneventful, and everyone was winding down, excited for the holidays to come. Of course, many people, muggle-borns, in particular were worried about gong home, because of all the Death Eater attacks. The attacks were getting worse and worse. It would only be a matter of time before they took over the ministry. Soon, when the next batch of students graduate, basically my year, You-Know-Who will probably be even more powerful. I wasn't going to lie, the Junior Death Eaters are pretty faithful to him and they've only seen him possibly once or twice in their lives.

I stood up and knocked something over. Picking it up, I realized it was one of the many Christmas gifts I received a week ago. This one was a book called "The Three Musketeers" from Petunia. From my mom, I got a new pair of jeans-ones that I was planning on wearing tonight. From my dad, I got a book about Muggle Sciences. I got Petunia a nice dress I found over summer. It was when I usually did my shopping for her, because I was stuck in Hogwarts from September 1st to Christmas and she hated anything and everything magic-related. My parents, however, were just the opposite. They found the moving pictures, food, and the quills fascinating, so I always got them something like that.

From Remus, I got a pair of green earrings, which perfectly matched my eyes, from Sirius, I got a silver charm bracelet, and from Peter, I got green and black charms to go on the bracelet. I was starting to think they planned it out that way, and James' gift proved it. It was a necklace with a silver heart-shaped locket and green engravings on it. Inside was 'I love you, Lily' on one side and 'Forever & Always' on the other. I was in tears when I saw it, it was one of the sweetest gifts I've ever gotten. My mum thought it was the most romantic thing she'd ever seen. My dad just grunted and glared at it angrily for a long time. Of course then, an owl swooped by and dropped an envelope on the table, containing two tickets, box seats, to the next Puddlemere United game, escorted by Fabian and Gideon Prewett. It was a present from James, knowing my dad wouldn't be too excited about James' present to me. It worked, because my dad looked at me, then the envelope and said, "He's a suck-up. But he's a bloody good one."

I was most pleased by Petunia's reaction. She stared, wide-mouthed at the locket. She didn't even look at me before she ran off to her room and barely came out. I did start to feel guilty after that, because I was using James' gift to make Petunia jealous.

"Lily, how are you going to get to James' house now?" Mum yelled up the stairs.

"Remus is apparating here and taking me back!" I yelled back. She came upstairs.

"Okay, and you're staying the night there…right?" She asked hesitantly. I rolled my eyes. I knew this conversation would come some time.

"Yes I am." I told her.

"Without his parents?" She clarified.

"Yes I am." I repeated. She gave me a small smile. She was having a mental battle right now, I knew. On one hand, she trusted me and James not to do anything, but she was afraid we'd do something unintentionally that both of us would end up regretting.

"Is there going to be…drinks?" She asked.

"No, I banned it." I promised her. She sighed.

"Henry, you can stop listening in the hallway, there's not going to be any drinks!" My mother yelled in the direction of the door. I glared at her. My dad was listening the entire time!

"Now listen, Lily, if I find he did anything that you didn't want to do…and even if you did want to do it, he will be killed." My dad said fiercely. I rolled my eyes.

"We're not going to be doing anything." I assured him. "Besides, it's not going to be just us, his friends are staying over, too." I realized it was the wrong thing to say as it left my mouth.

"Friends? WHAT?" My dad asked paling.

"But they're really nice. Remus is really smart and responsible, and Sirius swore off girls, no he's not gay, and Peter only eats." I said really quickly, biting my lip. Whoops. My mom and dad both raised an eyebrow at me. My mom rolled her eyes. Well, that's where I got that from.

"Fine." My dad grunted, and left with his arms crossed over his chest.

"So what are you going to wear?" My mom asked excitedly. I turned towards my closet and found a nice black sweater that would go well with my jeans.

"This." I said, showing her. She nodded in approval.

"Well, get ready quickly, isn't Remus supposed to be here in a half an hour?" She asked. I looked at the alarm clock on my bedside table. Wow, time passes quickly.

"Yeah, yeah." I said, shooing her out the door and closing it behind her. I changed into my clothes, put on a little bit of eyeliner, combed my hair and put on the earrings, bracelet, and necklace I got, and my shoes. I looked at my wand on my desk. I put in my back pocket, better safe than sorry. I took a magic drawstring bag from my drawer and put a few of my clothes in it. It shrunk when you pulled on the strings and resized when you pulled on them again. Hagrid gave it to me last year for my birthday. I put the shrunk bag in my right pocket. I opened my door and descended the stairs to wait for Remus. My mom came in from the kitchen.

"Be careful, honey. And I don't mean about James." She told me grimly. I nodded. I knew what she was talking about. The Death Eaters. Bzzzzzzz

"That's Remus." I said, opening the door. "Hi Remus!" I said, giving him a quick hug. He smiled.

"Hi Lily." He replied. He was wearing a blue button down shirt and jeans.

"Come in." I said, opening the door a little wider. He stepped in.

"Hi Remus!" Mum exclaimed, giving him a hug, which took Remus by surprise. I sniggered. He should have expected that, my mum was like me in that sense, we're both hugging people.

"Hi, Mrs. Evans." He replied after she let go of him.

"Hello, Remus!" My father said cheerily. He liked Remus a lot, since we've been friends for a while and according to my dad, 'he hasn't pulled a move on you'.

"Hi Mr. Evans! Well, Lily and I need to get going, or James might come searching for us." Remus laughed. I nodded.

"Okay then, have fun guys!" My mom said. I waved and stepped out the door with Remus following.

"You won't like this, but we're going to go near Spinner's End to apparate to Prongs' house, there's too many muggles here." Remus said, waving his arm in the direction of the neighboring house. I nodded in agreement.

"Thanks for the earrings by the way." I told him, my hands automatically reaching up to them.

"You're welcome. The entire thing was planned by Prongs. He saw it when we visited Hogsmeade one day, and I'm sure you don't want to know how we did that." I nodded. I really didn't want to know. "He saw it and he knew it was perfect for you, so he let us use it for our gifts too." He explained. I smiled. James was really sweet and I was glad he deflated his head enough to realize that without his arrogance, he could be a good person. I touched the locket and ran my fingers over the engravings. We reached the playground I used to play at with Petunia and Snape before Hogwarts. I looked around; really hoping Snape wouldn't show up here. Of course, that idea was crushed when he walked towards us. Remus sighed loudly. "Snape, what do you want?" Remus asked irately.

"Now, is that a way to greet the one who has the happy power to get you kicked out of school by the Ministry and unable to get a job for the rest of your life?" Snape asked with a smug grin. I glared at him. "What are you two doing together…and without Potter? I don't think he'd like if his girlfriend and best mate were cheating on him" He smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"Betrayal...Sound familiar?" I sneered. His expression faltered. "Remus, we should really get going, or James might actually come looking for us." He nodded. Snape spat on the ground, turned around, and left.

"Have you ever side-along apparated before?" He asked. I shook my head. "Alright, just hold on to my arm." He instructed. I did as I was told and closed my eyes. His arm moved lightly away from mine and I felt the familiar apparition sensation. I breathed a sigh of relief when I opened my eyes. We were at the Potters' front door. Remus knocked on the door twice, then paused and knocked on it slowly four more times. "It's our secret knock." he explained. I rolled my eyes. The door opened and Sirius appeared in the doorway. Remus and I entered and Sirius closed the door behind us. I was surprised he didn't attack either of us with a hug.

"Red! Moony!" He yelled, enveloping us in him arms. I spoke too soon.

"Padfoot, leave them alone." James laughed as he and Peter came from the living room. Sirius let go of us and I sighed in relief. Those hugs were going to kill me one day. I walked over to James and hugged him tightly. I really missed him this past week. And if I thought that this time last year, I might have thrown myself off the Astronomy Tower.

"Hey." I breathed in his ear, still hugging him.

"Hi. I missed you." He murmured, his eyes closed as he rubbed circles on my back.

"Me too." I replied with a sigh. He gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"Thanks for the gift, by the way." We both said at the same time. He opened his eyes and we both laughed.

"My mum loved it, my dad hated it. Well, until you sent the Quidditch game tickets." I smiled.

"Yeah, that was Moony's idea. You know, my parents just about died laughing when they saw the Angel." He told me. I laughed. The Potters were hilarious.

"Are they having a good vacation?" I asked He nodded.

"They floo in from time to time. They say they're having a great time, letting all their stress out, but I know that's not entirely true. Once an Auror, always an Auror. You can't stop being slightly paranoid."

"Constant vigilance!" Two voices came from upstairs. I jumped a little and nearly knocked off James' glasses with my head. I looked up. Two red-head guys who looked about in their mid-twenties were coming downstairs.

"Lily, meet Fabian and Gideon Prewett." James told me. He wrapped an arm a round my waist and faced them. Sirius, James and Peter had a hint of admiration in their eyes. I looked at Remus and we rolled our eyes at them.

"Hello." I said politely.

"You're the infamous Evans?" One said.

"We could probably recite everything from your favorite food to the different color socks you have!"

"That's how much this idiot talks about you."

"So I've heard." I grinned.

"Anyway, how's Auror training?" James asked abruptly.

"Oh, it's great!"

"Moody's slightly off his rocker, though."

"Alice and Frank recently joined us, you know."

"Yeah they're great."

"Perfect."

"Extraordinary." They chorused. The way they talked was like they were playing a game of ping pong with words. It was entertaining.

"Alright. Everyone will be here in two hours-" James started.

"Wait." I interrupted. "How do we know that the guests aren't Death Eaters in disguise?" I asked.

"We thought of that already. We're going to ask them questions only Hogwarts students or Gryffindors would know." Remus explained.

"Good idea." I complimented.

"It was actually Wormtail's idea." Sirius added, patting him on the back.

"Okay, so we should get started on decorations, really." James said. "Lily and I will do the stairs, and dining room, Wormtail, Padfoot and Moony will do the family room and living room, Fabian and Gideon will figure out the food. If you two want, you can get help from some of the Hogwarts house elves." James told everyone. We all nodded and set off to work.

The first knock came at around eight. Pretty much two hours after we started decorating. By that time we were just sitting around and talking.

"I'll get it." Remus said. He walked to the door and looked through the peephole. "Wow, there's like twenty of them. Padfoot, why don't you help me question all of these guys?" He asked. Sirius got up, sighing really loudly.

"Fiiiiiinnnnnnneeeeee." He whined as he stomped towards the door. I laughed. I looked at Peter, Fabian and Gideon. They were all talking about something. It was either food or Quidditch. I turned to James.

"Do Fabian and Gideon know that you guys are Animagi?" I whispered to him. He nodded.

"They're also Honorary Marauders." He smiled. "So they know about Remus too." He added.

"Okay Prongs, these guys are real." Sirius said, jerking his thumb at the doorway.

"Great, let them in." He replied with a smile and stood up. "And you, you're not leaving my side." James said, putting a firm arm around my waist. I sighed in defeat.

"Fiiiiiinnnnnnneeeeee." I whined like Sirius just did. He smiled goofily at me.

"They're coming by the fifties. This is getting difficult!" Sirius yelped, taking another look through the peephole.

"It's okay Padfoot, once everyone finishes coming, in like ten minutes, you'll be free to party the rest of the time." Peter assured him.

"Why don't we go into the living room? Lily and I can help you set up that clock, Wormtail." James said. "He's as good as the rest of us when we tell him what spells to use. Otherwise, he has trouble thinking of them himself." We led Peter to the living room. There was a large empty space above the fire place.

"I take it that's where you want the clock?" Peter asked. James nodded. James started telling Peter what to do for the spells and occasionally asked me to make sure he had them right. By the time we were done, everyone was here and no else would be coming.

"We made sure that people could only arrive from 8 to 8:20. It makes it easier and safer. Charms put on by my parents." James explained. Sirius started the music, more from his collection, apparently. James specifically asked him not to play the song that scared pretty much everyone off the dance floor at Remus' party. Sirius smiled widely at this and agreed. But, he had his mischievous glint in his eyes and I had a feeling he was going to make it up for him some how. It was his favorite song.

For the most part of the party, James dragged me around to greet people and I had to stand there next to him, smiling and glaring at him as he pulled me to talk to every single person there. I was surprised to see Rosen there, though. James said he invited him to make up for what happened during that first patrol I had with him. We mostly jumped around, person to person, and before I knew it, it was about 11:50.

"Hi Lily!" I heard a voice say from behind me. James and I turned around. It was Marlene.

"Hi Marlene! You've been here the entire time? Why haven't I seen you?" I asked, really surprised. I usually saw anything and everything going on around me.

"Well, like you guys, I was jumping around, person to person, too." She laughed.

"Having fun?" James asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for throwing it! And I'm guessing it's because of Lily you guys don't have drinks?" Marlene said, raising an eyebrow. We nodded. "Of course. Before Lily came along, who ever heard of a Marauder party without drinks?" She smirked.

"10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" I heard Sirius yell. I checked the clock to make sure it wasn't a hoax, and it wasn't. James turned to me and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back. We kissed for at least two minutes before we heard whistling and we had to break up, red in the face.

A/N: I know this is like a day late, and I apologize for that. This week I suffered a horrible writer's block and other mom-related stress. And I will say now that I won't be able to get to update again until either Sunday or Monday...November 7th or 8th, sorry :(

And this chapter is horribly short and uneventful. And I'm sorry for that too. I've been so busy planning out the next few chapters...I can't say any more than that, just read the next few chapters ;)

Any way, Thanks for all the reviews and input!

And thanks VERY MUCH to the one who pointed out my "Feliz Navidad" mistake last chapter. I don't know how I messed that up. My spanish teacher would be VERY disappointed in me.

So, I once again say, PLEASE REVIEW!

Love,

SAM :)