Days in Avalon

Chapter Thirteen: The Way You Make Me Feel

By midterms, thing were back to normal as to be expected. The day after exams students packed up their things and headed down to catch the Hogwarts Express home for the Christmas holiday. Lily, Andy, and Kelly decided to spend their holiday at school, since none of them had really ever stayed to experience Christmas at Hogwarts. Unfortunately for them, three boys decided to stay also.

That night in the common room, Lily and Kelly sat by the fireplace each enjoying a book, while Remus wrote a letter to his parents. Meanwhile, James and Sirius were seated in a corner playing a game of wizard's chess. Things were quite for a while, until the sound of the portrait swinging open caused everyone to stop momentarily. Andy climbed through the porthole after just coming back from sneaking off to Hogsmeade to pick up a few last minute presents.

"Hey gals. What's up?" said Andy as she took a seat near the fire. Lily noticed that her cheeks were slightly red from the cold night wind.

"Nothing really. Where have you been?" said Lily, as she put down her book for a moment.

"Out and about. Needed to pick up a few last minute things," said Andy with a smirk.

"Are things always this quite," said Kelly out of nowhere.

"You'd think I'd know?" said Andy sarcastically.

"You know what I mean. Things are so…boring! I mean I always thought Hogwarts Christmases were full of excitement and events. Not just…well this!" said Kelly as she waved her arms around presenting the common room.

"Well it's not Christmas yet," said Lily. "There still is time. I personally rather enjoy this down time, if you know what I mean." she added as she motioned toward where the Marauders were sitting.

"Oh who cares about them!" said Kelly.

"Well what is it that you want?" said Andy.

"I don't know. How about some gossip. You know stuff we use to joke around about," said Kelly, feeling like she was about ready to explode.

"Kel, what has gotten in to you? Do you miss Wood that much?" said Andy.

"I don't know. I guess so," said Kelly as she began to calm down. "He said that he had some sort of a surprise for me. But I don't know what!"

"Maybe it's an engagement ring?" said Lily jokingly.

"Ring! Y-you don't think that it's…" said Kelly shocked at the statement.

"Ha ha…that was a good one Lily," giggled Andy.

"Kelly it was a joke. No, I don't think that. Besides you two have been going out for only a couple of months now right?" said Lily.

"Yeah, I guess your right. Gods what was I thinking?" chuckled Kelly.

"You weren't," said Lily jokingly, as she got up from her seat.

"Where are you off to?" said Andy.

"Upstairs. I got to go check on something. I'll be back," said Lily as she left the common room.

"What do you think she's up too?" whispered Kelly as she leaned closer to where Andy was sitting.

"Don't really know. Probably seeing if she put a book away or something," replied Andy. She glanced over at the guys sitting over in the corner. Remus, looking a little bit better than last week, was finishing off his letter, while James and Sirius were concentrating on their game at hand. Well at least one of them was. For some reason James kept glancing over Sirius's shoulder toward the direction of the girl's dorms.

Ever since that day she overheard Lily and James talking outside of the hospital wing, Andy has been wondering if what she saw was just her imagination or was James really interested in her best mate. As she was contemplating this, she could hear Lily coming back from their room. All of a sudden, an idea popped in her head. 'Let's see what you think about this Jay?'

"Hey Kel, you want a little excitement?" whispered Andy quickly. Kelly eagerly nodded to her in response. "Watch this." At that point Lily had just reached the common room and was coming back to where Kelly and Andy sat.

"So Lily, what have you been up too?" asked Andy sweetly and a little on the loud side.

"Nothing really," said Lily genuinely.

"No new projects. No new attractions?" said Andy. She kept an eye on the raven-haired boy to see if he was listening in at all. He wasn't.

"Um…no," said Lily wondering what her best friend was getting at.

'This is getting me nowhere. Okay drastic measures,' thought Andy.

"Ah, come on Lil. You know you can tell us," said Andy with a smirk.

"Tell you what?" said Lily completely lost.

"Lily Evans I can't believe you!" shouted Andy as she jumped up dramatically. "After everything we've been through, you can't even admit it!"

"Admit what?" said Kelly a little confused.

"Felicia told me everything before she left for holiday," said Andy a little cocky.

"Told you what, exactly," said Lily with a raised eyebrow.

"She told me about your secret crush," sang Andy, as she noticed James trying to find it rather difficult to concentrate at the task at hand.

"Hey Prongs, you gonna move or not? You know I'm not getting any younger here," said Sirius jokingly. He knew about James's little crush on Lily even though he didn't admit it yet that he liked the girl. After seeing the way he checked her out after their little conversation in front of the hospital wing a couple of weeks back, there was no doubt in his mind now of his best friend's feelings.

"Huh? Oh, uh sorry Padfoot," mumbled James as he moved a pong.

"What secret crush?" said Kelly a little excitedly.

"She told me about how she walked in on Lily here taking a nap, and how she was moaning and calling out his name," said Andy as she pretended to swoon. "And she also mentioned how Lily drew these little hearts with their initials entwined together all over the inside of her notebook."

"And just who pray tell is this person that I call out to while I'm sleeping?" said Lily highly annoyed at this joke. By this time, James was practically sitting on the edge of his seat, wanting to know who this guy was.

"James Potter," said Andy simply with a grin. At that point, Kelly gave out sound that was a half laugh and a half moan of disappointment. James on the other hand, literally fell out of his seat knocking over a few chess pieces in the process.

"Prongs man, are you sure you're all right there?" said Sirius trying to contain a laugh while Remus silently laughed at what happened.

"I'm fine," growled James as he got up and back into his seat. "Must've dozed off or something."

"Yeah right," chuckled Sirius.

"Oh yes, I can't get my mind off him," said Lily sarcastically as she rolled her eyes at the thought. "Now if you are done with these stupid made up stories, I'm going to the library. See you lot later."

"Not up to your usual standards there, Andy," said Kelly as Lily left.

"Eh, guess I'm loosing my touch," said Andy as she shrugged her shoulders and took a seat on the couch.

'Gotcha Jay,' thought Andy as she looked over at the boys.

As Christmas morning arrived, Hogwarts sat peacefully basking in the Christmas air, while everyone in the castles continued to sleep on. Lily was curled up in her bed with the covers drawn close to her and having a wonderful rest. That was until someone began shouting her name.

"Lily! Lily wake up!" shouted Kelly.

"Hmmm…five more minutes mum. Just five more minutes," mumbled Lily sleepily as she drift back into a deep sleep. Even though her eyes were shut tightly, she could still sense that someone had drawn her bed hangings and let in the morning light.

"Oh, but Lily dear," whispered Andy sweetly as she got close to Lily's ear pretending to be her mum. "If you don't wake up, you won't be able to see James being kicked out by McGonagall."

"Yeah, and Sirius too," chimed Kelly.

"Now I know you lot are lying," said Lily as she sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"Why's that?" asked Kelly who was standing at the foot of the bed in her pajamas.

"Because Andy here, isn't dancing around and throwing a parade to commemorate the event," yawned Lily.

"Told you that was going to far," said Andy in a matter of fact tone to Kelly. "Come on sleepy head. It's Christmas!"

As Lily became more awake, she noticed the large pile of presents at the foot of her bed. In a matter of seconds, Lily was tearing away at all the different colors of Christmas paper to get to her gifts. All three girls received a variety of new clothes, sweets, and various items.

Lily had received a couple of new books on various subjects, a couple of new sweaters, and a new astronomy map from her parents. She also got a sneakoscope from Felicia, a new journal and charm book from Karen, a cute little trinket box from Kelly, and a picture frame from Andy with a picture of the two of them taken during their summer trip to India with their families.

Kelly got some new outfits from her relatives and a new charm bracelet from her parents. From Lily she got a new artist kit full of different colored chalks, oil paints, and markers. Felicia had given her a little charm that read 'best buds' on it, along with a couple boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Andy had gotten her a book on how to draw practically everything in the world, along with a new set of paintbrushes and some chocolate frogs. Karen had gotten her a drawing tablet that would never run out of paper along with a cute blue beret that some artists wear. She also got a gold necklace with little gold snowflakes on the chain along with a pair of gold snowflake earrings from Braden.

Andy also got a few new items of clothes that her mother made as test products for her new collection, while her father gave her a new jewelry box that had an antique pen in it. From her friends she received a new broom service kit from Kelly, a new joke book from Felicia, a new astronomy book and mystic book from Karen, and a photo album from Lily that had a variety of pictures of the five of them taken throughout the years. She also received a magic mirror from her grandmother that had been in her family for generations. This magic mirror not only gave advice to the owner, but allowed Andy to be able to spy on others, so long as there was another mirror nearby, and showed past events that had occurred in her family's history.

"Wow! I can't believe your gran gave this to you," said Kelly in astonishment. "It's kinda like out of Snow White or something."

"Oh so now I'm a wicked queen?" said Andy jokingly.

"Well we always said that you were a wicked witch," said Lily. Andy quickly picked up her pillow and threw it at Lily hitting her square in the face.

"I still don't get why she sent me this. I mean it's a great gift, but if there is one thing that she prizes above anything else she owns, it's this," said Andy.

"Well why don't you contemplate the mystery after breakfast," said Kelly as she put on a robe.

"Breakfast? Hey what time is it?" said Andy turning away from the mirror.

"Uh…three minutes to eight," said Lily. "Why?"

"Crap!" said Andy quickly as she rushed out of the room while throwing on her bathrobe.

"Andy, wait up! What's going on?" said Lily as her and Kelly darted off after her. They followed her down the stairs to the common room and up the stairs to the boys dormitory until they came to a door marked 'Fifth Years'.

"Remember…last year…when Jay and Blackie…played the trick on us…right before we went home on holiday?" said Andy as she tried to catch her breath.

"Yeah, they charmed a group of wooden toy soldiers to march around our room, while music from the 'Nutcracker' played, for the entire day," said Lily.

"Urgh, I hated those little buggers. I must have stepped on at least ten of them," winced Kelly. She subconsciously rubbed the bottom of her foot remembering the pain.

'Yeah, well now it's time for a little pay back," said Andy as she opened the door a crack to reveal the three boys sleeping in there beds completely normal. She then closed the door again and waited for the clock to chime the new hour. After a few moments, the three girls heard the clock in the common room chime eight in the morning.

"Showtime," said Andy once the chiming had stopped.

As she opened the door again, Lily and Kelly saw that the room had now been transformed into a winter wonderland with mounds of fresh covered snow covering the entire room, including the boys themselves. In the corner of the room, Lily noticed a massive snowman, which was holding a broom and had a corncob pipe in his mouth. After a few moments of admiration, a soft melody began to play for a bit until another tune began to play very very very loudly…

"FROSTY THE SNOWMAN…WAS A HAPPY JOLLY SOUL…WITH A CORN COB PIPE…AND A BUTTON NOSE…AND TWO EYES MADE OUT OF COAL!"

The moment the famous holiday song began to play, all three boys jumped up and practically fell out of bed faced down covered in snow. Andy then quickly closed the door and all three girls scurried down the steps to the common room where they all busted out into a fit of giggles.

"That was a good one!" giggled Lily.

"Okay I got to know. How'd you do it?" laughed Kelly.

"Felicia and I came up with the idea a couple of weeks ago. We got the charms together before she left, and I had put it in a gift box that was charmed to unleash the blizzard that the stoke of eight, or when either one of the three opened it," said Andy with a smirk.

"I got to hand it to you, Andy. You sure did put a lot of work into that plan. Now if only you could apply that to your transfiguration homework," said Lily in a smart-alecky tone.

"Well not everyone can be perfect like you, Lily," said Andy in the same sort of tone.

The rest of the day went fairly well. The three girls had avoided the Marauders for the better portion of the day until it was time for dinner. But instead of the normal name-calling and insults, the guys simply congratulated them on a good prank and enjoyed the rest of the day.

Once everyone had returned to the common room, Kelly laid on the rug with her new artist kit and pad drawing a real life portrait of a castle in the mountains during wintertime. At the same time Andy sat curled up in a chair reading her new mystic book, while Lily relaxed on the couch with one of the new books her parents had gotten her.

As James sat in a corner of the common room, pretending to look through a copy of the new issue of Which Broomstick, he couldn't help but gaze at the auburn hair girl sitting on the couch. For some reason, he found himself mesmerized by way her bright green eyes ran across each line, and they way her facial expressions changed from troubled to shock to gleeful. He could see a small smile creep across her lips as she became more indulged in her book. When he saw this, he could feel his heart flutter a bit and wondered how he never really noticed her smile before.

"You know if you keep staring at her for too long, she might start on fire," said a voice next to James.

"Huh?" muttered James as he came out of his daydream. He looked to his right and found Sirius sitting next to him with a smirk on his face.

"Evans mate. If you keep staring at her like that for too long she might start on fire, or she may hex you. Although it may not be such a bad idea in your case," said Sirius slyly as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"What are you getting on, Padfoot?" asked James. He could slowly feel the heat rise up into his cheeks while he ran his hand through his hair making it even untidier than usual.

"Nothing Prongs. I'm just stating a mere fact that you have a certain…likeness for the resident good girl," replied Sirius.

"Yeah right, that's a good one there, Sir. Me? Like her? " said James nervously.

"Well that would explain why you checked her out a couple of weeks ago outside the hospital wing," said Sirius simply as he picked up James's forgotten magazine.

"I…I did no such thing," said James a little too quickly.

"Right, and your so called blond haired friend doesn't love to torment me," stated Sirius.

After seeing that it was no use to hide his feelings any longer, James sighed and hung his head in defeat.

"Is it that obvious?" said James quietly.

"Nah. I mean there were a couple of times here and there, but the big winner was a couple of weeks ago like I said," said Sirius.

"Do you think anyone else knows?" asked James meekly.

"Don't really know. Probably not. But this is so comical," chuckled Sirius.

"How's it funny again?" said James not really seeing the point.

"Well it's kinda ironic that the one girl you've got the hots, for is also the same girl you've hated for nearly four and half years now. Plus the fact that she can't stand the slight of you half the time and the other half she practically ignores you," chuckled Sirius.

"It is kinda funny. And watch the next funny thing to happen is you falling for Andy," chuckled James.

The smile that was on Sirius's face quickly changed to a very dark frown. "That's not funny."

"Oh come on mate. I was only kidding," laughed James.

"Yeah well you keep can keep on dreaming. The day that I have feelings for that…girl will be the same day my mother actually pays me a compliment," said Sirius, with a look of the utmost repulsion on his face.

"So when you making your move on the little red head," he added, eager to redirect the topic of discussion.

"Who said I was?" said James.

"Well I just kinda assumed that you would attempt to," said Sirius a little surprised at his friends answer.

"Nah. This whole thing is just a stupid little crush. Probably cause by hanging out with Andy to much like you said," said James as he looked over at where Lily was sitting.

"Yeah, but you are not even going to try to even ask her out?" said Sirius. James shook his head in response.

"What's the point in it? I mean it's not like this thing will last long," said James simply.

"Yeah but you could at least a couple of moves," said Sirius.

"Sorry Padfoot, but I'm not like you. I just don't go over to girls and make some crude comment to them," said James with a smirk.

"You can a least make some fun of it. You could live a little. Come on Prongs, go on and make a grab for the snitch. You know our popularity may go up a little more if you nabbed the ole stick in the mud Evans," said Sirius thoughtfully.

"I'll think about it," said James as he ripped the magazine out of Sirius's hands and started to look through it again. Ever now and then he would risk a glance at Lily and wonder what it would be like to go out with someone like her.

A few days after Christmas, Lily found herself in the common room alone one night. The day after Christmas, Andy and her brother and sister were called away because their grandmother had fallen ill. Apparently her health had been failing her for quite some time, but she had hidden it from the family up until now.

Kelly had caught a slight cold, so she deicide to retire up to her room early to get some rest. This then left Lily to concentrate on a private project that she was attempting to accomplish. That is until a certain raven-haired boy interrupted her.

Lily sat in the corner of the common room, going over a couple of notes she had written for herself, as well as three very large books she had checked out of the library. James had returned from a nightly stroll to the kitchen when he found Lily sitting all by herself. Trying not too much to get her attention, he took a seat on the couch and began to read through a book that one of the other students had forgotten. Every now and then he would glance over Lily as she wrote vigorously on her roll of parchment, and rechecking what she had copied down from the book. He couldn't help but smile and think how cute she looked when she was deep in thought.

"What do you want, Potter?" spat Lily as she noticed James looking at her. This quickly brought him out of his daydream and left him at a loss for words.

"Uhmmm…nothing," replied James quickly.

"Then why do you keep looking at me like that?" asked Lily with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

'Think fast James,' he thought. "Nothing. Nothing, it's just…" said James as he trailed off trying to come up with an excuse.

"What?" said Lily not really wanting to deal with him.

"I mean, do you always have your nose in a book?" said James as the idea hit him.

"I don't always have my nose in a book!" said Lily a little miffed. "I mean…why am I talking to you anyway," she added as she went back to her reading.

"Don't know. Why are you?" said James with a devilish smirk.

"Why do you always have to a complete toerag?" moaned Lily, knowing where this conversation was leading.

"I don't see myself like that. I'd say that I'm more witty, intelligent, and devilishly charming," replied James as he got up from the couch, and took a seat across from where Lily sat.

"You forgot self-centered, stuck up, and a cad," said Lily not looking up from her book.

"Wow, never been called a cad before," stated James taking it as a compliment.

"Well I guess I'm just lucky to be the first to call you that," replied Lily with enough sarcasm to fill up the entire room. As she went back to reading her book, hoping that this conversation was over, she noticed a flaw in her project.

"Ah, shoot," said Lily aloud, taking James off guard.

"What's the matter?" said a very concerned James.

"Oh, I was going to work on my potions project, but I don't have one of the ingredients," said Lily offhandedly.

"Which one?" asked a highly curious James.

"It doesn't matter. The potion is too dangerous anyway," said Lily a little disappointed. Upon hearing the word 'danger', James's curiosity skyrocketed to a level that was deemed Marauder worthy.

"Let me see that," said James, as he quickly pulled the book Lily was looking at closer to him. "Pollyjuice potion eh? Evans…I didn't know you had it in you," said James amusingly.

"Relax Potter, it's not what you think. I was only going to see if I could create it. I'm not actually going to take it," said Lily. She could see the mischievous look in his hazel eyes that for some reason she found a little interesting.

"Then how do you know if it'll work, if you don't try it?"

"I'll know by the color. See it show it right here," said Lily as she reached over and pointed to a line in the book. James's heart began to race a bit upon being in such close proximity to Lily.

"Yeah…but that doesn't really mean anything," stuttered James trying to get over his reaction. "You could have the right color, but it cold wind up killing a person."

"Do you really think that I would mess up a potion that badly," said Lily slightly insulted.

"Now who's being self-centered?" said James jokingly.

"Look," said Lily as she rolled her eyes, "it doesn't matter anyway. I don't have the ingredients."

"Which ones don't you have?" asked James. Lily then pointed to the last five ingredients on the list.

"I know where you could get them," beamed James.

"Oh really, where? Because I highly doubt you have these things," said Lily thinking he was pulling her leg.

"Well your right about that. But I do know someone who does carry such things."

"Who?" said Lily taking the bait.

"Professor Portview. He's got a lot of that stuff in his personal cabinet," said James as he lend back into his chair. He was secretly hoping that Lily would be willing to live dangerously for a bit, but he wasn't getting his hopes up to high.

"Potter, if you think that you're going to steal something from a professor, you have another thing coming," stated Lily with authority.

"Who said anything about it just being me? We will go and steal your precious ingredients," said James slyly.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, NO! No way, am I breaking school rules for your enjoyment! I mean I'm a prefect for Merlin's sakes," said a flabbergasted Lily.

"So the more better cover if you are stopped by a teacher. No one will expect you to do such a thing," said James quietly.

Lily gave him a skeptical look, but knew that he did have a point. No one would really expect a school prefect to break into a teacher's personal things and steal some ingredients to make an illegal potion. James could see that he was wearing her down.

"Come on Evans. It won't be that bad. Besides it's that holiday. No one to really worry about."

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but…all right," sighed Lily in defeat.

"You will?" said a surprised James. "GREAT! Hang on a sec." He then quickly left the common room and up to the dormitory. A few moments later, Lily heard him return and noticed that he was carrying something in his hand.

"What's that?" said Lily a little afraid and curious at the same time.

"My invisibility cloak. See," said James as he held it up and showed it to her.

"So that's how you're able to get away with such stuff," said Lily fully understanding how he was able to pull off a number of pranks.

"Yup. You can't get caught if they can't see you," chimed James as he threw the cloak over both of them.

The two of them quietly left the common room and made there way down to the dungeons with out running into any teachers, or ghosts. The snuck into the potion master's office to find it empty. Lily then muttered a charm to unlock Portview's cabinet and the two of them began to search for the desired items. After about ten minutes of searching, they found all the items and made there way back to Gryffindor tower.

When the two of them were halfway back, they heard a loud thud followed by an odd noise. Lily stopped dead in her tracks as a wave of fear ran down her spine.

"James, what was that?" whispered Lily breathlessly.

"Don't know. Wait…" he said, feeling that something was closing in on them. He looked down the hall and could make out a large shadow figure of a cat on the wall.

"It's that blasted cat again," whispered James.

He quickly pulled Lily near a suit of armor while they were still under the invisibility cloak. James knew from experience that the caretaker was nearby, which could spell a lot of trouble for the two of them. He knew that Flitch had a sort of personal vendetta against him and his friends, and he didn't really want to give him any more ammunition along with getting Lily in trouble. Sure enough, James could see the shadowy figure of Mr. Flitch walking down the other hallway, closing in on them.

"Who there?" growled the caretaker.

Lily gasped in fright upon hearing his voice. She completely forgot that she was under the invisibility cloak and had visions of being caught and kicked out of Hogwarts forever. She decided to make a run for it, but instead wound up running smack dab into the suit of armor knocking it completely over. Not wanting to find out how close Flitch was now, Lily made a mad dash run back to the common room. She prayed that she wouldn't get caught as she turned the corner and began to run down the next corridor.

Suddenly out of know where, she felt someone grab her from behind, and cover her mouth as they pulled her back against the wall.

"Shhhh…keep quite," whispered James into her ear. They could now hear the caretaker's footsteps hurrying down the hallway. In a matter of moments, they both saw the caretaker holding up his lantern and searching the hallway for them.

"Where are you? SHOW YOURSELVES! There's no use in hiding," said Filtch as he combed the walls with his light. Lily was sure Flitch would be able to see them, until she realized that she was back under the cloak. She could now see caretaker right in front of her, and had the feeling that this was the end, and that she was going to get caught. Not wanting to see her fate, Lily closed her eyes tightly and unconsciously leaded farther into James's embrace, waiting for dreaded moment to happen.

But the moment never came. Instead, a miracle happened. Peeves the Poltergeist suddenly came hurling down the hallway laughing mercifully.

"Peeves! I should have known," growled Flitch as he started off after the Poltergeist. After a few moments of making sure Flitch was out of earshot, Lily and James let out a sigh of relief and quickly made their way back to the common room.

"Talk about a close call," said James trying to catch his breath once they were back in the common room.

"Yeah no kidding," said a winded Lily. After a couple of moments of trying to catch her breath, Lily looked up into James's eyes.

"Uh, thanks for…" said Lily awkwardly as she motioned toward the portrait.

"Not a problem," said James simply.

Lily gave him a small smile and bid good night to him as she made her way up to her room. Seeing her smile like that to him, made James's heart literally jump up into his throat and slowly melt away.

'Why does she make me feel this way?' asked James to himself as he made his way up to his room.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story and the character's I made up. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.