Chapter 13

Lily's POV

Weeks had passed since I had agreed to be James' girlfriend. The whole dynamic of our relationship had completely changed, but in a really, really good way. We agreed to keep our relationship on the down low at least until after the holidays. Only my girls and the Marauders know, but I honestly doubt that it will not be noticed. Alice and Frank already figured it out, catching us cuddling up in front of the fireplace. After a thousand promises to explain tomorrow, they both went to bed.

It was all rather hilarious. It was particularly funny when a sweet 5th year Hufflepuff asked me out at the Gryffindor table during breakfast. I nicely denied, but James was going red, almost blowing smoke thanks to his secret boyfriend status. It was so funny that even Sirius lost it.

I had asked that my one condition was that we wait until the holidays are over so that we can enjoy Christmas without being questioned and interrogated. James' condition to my condition was that he gets to publically declare our relationship when we return in a Marauder way. I couldn't help but give him that after six years of waiting for it to happen.

Speaking of the holidays…

"James?"

"Hmm?" He mumbles sleepily against me.

"What were you planning on doing for Christmas?" I inquire.

"Oh, right. Forgot." He says, sitting up with his glasses still skew. "I was gonna ask you." He laughs, scratching the back of his head.

"Each year at Christmas my parents throw a bit of a party. I was thinking you might like to come?" He asks meekly.

"Oh, I'd love to! I love Christmas parties." I grin. "I was planning on just staying here, but I suppose that I could stay home a few days…" James smiles.

"Ooo, better idea! Okay, the boys- y'know, Sirius, Remus and Pete- all come over for the Christmas party too, so this year they're all staying over. So what if you invited Marlene and Hestia and we can all wake up on Christmas morning and open our presents together?"

I run through a timeline in my head. Holidays start on the fourteenth-

"You don't have to if you don't want to." He blurts.

I chuckle. "Merlin, Potter. Give a woman some time to think."

I straighten his glasses. "Honestly James, you have to stop being so tense around me. I actually quite like your idea, in fact, I love it. So quit thinking I'm not going to agree with anything that comes out of your mouth!"

He sighs and curls into me under the blanket.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I just… this all seems too good to be true. It feels too right, too perfect. Like any moment it's gonna fall apart because I say something stupid or I wake up from a dream." He falters.

I raise his chin so he looks at me. "Look, I get it. But this isn't a dream, and I don't see how I'm dream-worthy. So, quit acting like I can't handle a boyfriend- yes, you are my boyfriend- who has a brain or an opinion." I smile at him softly.

He holds me a little tighter, and I put my head on his shoulder. "Oh, Evans. You don't get it. You're just... everything. Even if this is a dream, I don't wanna wake up." I look back up at him, and he kisses me softly. So sweetly, yet so briefly.

"Alright Evans, what's the plan?" He asks.

Christmas had been arranged. Hest, Marls and all the Marauders- and of course, myself- will be staying at James' over Christmas. We get of school in a few days, and on the nineteenth we will meet at Diagon Alley, so we can all buy presents. Then we girls will go to Madam Malkin's after the boys have left to buy dresses for the party before going home. We meet at James' on the 23rd.

Finally, the last day of school before the holidays came. All the students and teachers gathered in the Great Hall for the celebrations. James and Hestia walked down with me, and walking through the huge doors did not disappoint me. There was a massive pine tree that Hagrid must've brought in, covered in decorations magically charmed to sparkle and move with one giant star on the top. The roof was enchanted to snow, which fell gently before disappearing somewhere above your head. It wasn't cold either, you might even say it was warm with the crackling fire to the right.

"Man, I loooooove Christmas." Hestia sighs happily.

"Me too." James and I reply, before looking at eachover and smiling. We take our places at the Gryffindor table, and the room begins to settle as Dumbledore stands.

"Good evening, professors and students. I think I speak for all when I say that the first few months at Hogwarts have been wonderful and very successful." The teachers all bob their heads, and James squeezes my hand underneath the table. I look at him with a smile and he winks. Sirius makes a gagging sound. We both kick him under the table, and he mouths 'Ow!' at us. Remus rolls his eyes at Sirius and Peter snickers.

"I believe you are all keen to dig into the marvellous dinner that has been prepared for us, so I shall keep my words brief. I wish to remind students to stay safe over the holidays, and to enjoy the Christmas festivities with fellow students, friends and family. Rest and relax, so that when you return you can produce the finest of work. Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore finishes, and everyone claps, many screaming back 'Merry Christmas' as well.

Dumbledore smiles and waves his hands, and the feast appears on the tables. It's an amazing amount of food, and it looks exquisite. Roast after roast lines the tables, along with cups for pumpkin juice and bowls for dessert.

I'm going to miss Hogwarts.

"…and then had spilt pumpkin juice all down his shirt!" Hestia splutters out, laughing hysterically.

Marlene and I just about cry with laughter after hearing about Hestia and Sirius' first date. We're on the Hogwarts Express, with the boys a few compartments away.

We all calm down and look at one another. "Man, I'm gonna miss you guys so much!" Marlene exclaims, giving us a big group hug.

"Yeah, I know. It's so weird living with people all the time and then just… not. It's only until Christmas though!" The girls smile and perk up a bit.

"Aw, no!" Hestia starts as the train begins to slow down "London already!?" I frown.

"Oh, cheer up you lot!" Marlene says.

As the train stops, we say our goodbyes and grab our bags.

"Oh, dear. I left my cloak in the compartment. Bye guys!" I wave them farewell and head back.

I grab the black fabric, before hearing the door slide open behind me.

"Oh, good. You're still here." James says, running his hand through his hair, before closing the door behind him.

"Oh, hey James." I say, turning to face him.

"Hello, Lilyflower." He says sing-songily.

"Ah, no. We will not be one of those couples. No cute nicknames, or you'll be Jamie or Jamsiepoo." He scrunches his nose in disgust and I chuckle.

"Butttt, you admit we're a couple." He says with a wink. "I call that progress."

I roll my eyes and peck him on the lips.

"I'll see you at Diagon Alley." I begin to walk to the door, but he grabs my wrist and reels me back.

"Not so fast." He smiles. "It is Christmas after all." He says before pulling me into a deep kiss.

I turn into Lily-putty, honestly. It's kind of pathetic.

He puts his hands on my waist and pulls me closer, looping his fingers into the belt loops. I grasp his neck with my hands when I realise how much I've actually missed this. I mean, sure, since I'd agreed to be his girlfriend of course we'd kissed, but mostly pecks due to lack of time or privacy. It was so nice to feel his lips on mine again, finally with no interrupt-

"James? James?" Calls a woman's voice from the hall. James freezes before jumping a foot away from me. I give him a questioning look as he straightens his glasses and attempts to fix his hair.

"You'll see."

The carriage door slides open, and a woman in her mid or early fifties steps in. Her hair has a few strands of silver in her dark hair, but the feature that interests me the most is her hazel eyes.

"Oh, honestly James! There you are. I've been looking all over for you! And your hair is-oh!" She notices me. She smiles knowingly.

"Sorry for interrupting, kids." She laughs.

James flops his head back and groans, and my face goes horribly red. She chuckles at our reactions.

"Good to see you too, mum."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, yes, hello James. It's good to see you, but I'm assuming Lily has places to be, so won't you introduce me so she can be on her way?" She says.

"Alright, alright! Mum, this is Lily. Lily this is mum."

She extends her hand to me, and I take it.

"Euphemia Potter. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Lily Evans. May I ask how you knew my name?" I ask politely as I can.

"Oh, James writes us about a redhead named Lily all the time-" She starts, but is cut off by a frantic James.

"Mum! Please! Are you trying to end this when it's just begun?!" He exclaims.

We both giggle.

"I'm certain after all these years Miss Evans knows how you feel about her. Anyway, we best be off James. Besides, you'll see Lily soon enough. I'll- er, leave you to say goodbye." As Mrs. Potter leaves the compartment, James turns to me, blushing like he's never blushed before.

"I am so sorry." He moans, hanging his head.

I roar in laughter. "…youuuuu care about me, youuuuu write about meeee-" He cuts me off with a peck on the lips.

"Oh, shut it you little minx." He replies, grinning at me, before pulling me into a tight hug.

"I'll see you on the nineteenth. I'll pick you up if you want."

"Sure." I reply. We end our embrace, and slides the door open.

"See you under the mistletoe." He jokes, before taking his leave, closing the door behind him.

I laugh, before putting my cloak in my bag and leaving myself.

"Lily!" Mum hops out of the car, hugging me tightly.

"Ooo, get in, get in! Tell me everything!" I laugh, putting my bag in the trunk before hopping in the passenger seat.

"What was that letter about a boy? Is it that, oh, what's his name…" She trails off, clicking her fingers.

"Potter?" I question.

"Potter! Yes, that's it! I thought he drove you crazy?" She laughs, pulling out from Kings Cross.

"Oh, believe me he still does. But James is… I don't know. I can't explain it."

"James is a lovely name."

"Don't tell him that, it'll inflate his ego." I reply.

I look at the woman next to me. She looks like me in many ways; red hair, but darker than mine, just beginning to grey at the roots.

"I've missed you so much mum."

"Aw, hunny. I've missed you too! Oh, I wanted to ask you- did you want to open your Christmas presents early at our house or at James'?"

"I think early. That way you guys can open my presents."

"Good idea. Want to put the radio on?" She asks. After all, it was a long drive.

"Sure." I say, switching it on. "You know, you didn't have to pick me up. I could've caught the tube…"

"With all that luggage? No, it's fine! Just more time for the two of us to catch up, eh?" She says nudging me. "Oh, by the way, Tuney is staying at Verm- I mean, Vernon's house for most of your stay. She's coming back on the eighteenth."

I frown. "If she's trying to avoid me she's coming home a day early."

"Lily, dear, she's not trying to avoid you. She's just in love. Sometimes it's easy to forget about the rest of the world."

I pause. "You were gonna call him Vermin, weren't you!" I accuse, giggling.

She laughs. "No, of course not! Why ever would I do that?" She winks.

AUTHORS NOTE: OMG THANK GOD I CAN FEEL LESS GUILTY

BUT I'M GONNA KEEP WRITING BUT THIS WAS MORE BRIDGING FOR THE NEXT TWO/THREE CHAPTERS SO IMMA RIGHT THAT KAY PEACE OUT

By the way if you were wondering what happened in the hiatus, here's all the updates I posted:

UPDATE:

Yeah. I suck even more. Sorry.

I know I promised to have the next chapter done by now, and I didn't lie exactly...

See, I wrote almost three quarters of 'Christmas at the Potters- Part 1' but then I realized there was so much that needed to happen before Christmas like:

-James asking Lily to come over

-Dumbledore's mini-speech

-Saying goodbyes

-Because Lily and James have only been together for a short amount of time, it would be weird for her to be there the whole holiday, which means she has to go home

-Christmas shopping

etc. etc.

So I hope you all forgive me if I take a while longer to finish and polish these next two chapters, but I honestly think it is the best decision for the story.

Anyway, OMG IT'S 2015! :OOOOOOOOOO

AND MERRY LATE CHRISTMAS!

Also, fun question game again- from how I talk and write where do you think I was born and where do you think I live?

Something to ponder upon until the next chapter xoxo

-Seeker

Okay people, don't give up on me! I finally have some time and motivation to get stuck in because I not only have the next chapters but also there's lots of errors throughout previous chapters I'm trying to fix.

Soon!

Okay, chapters 1-4 updated with some changed things that've been bothering me but nothing major, probably not worth re-reading. I'm going back to sleep!

Update: Right, I am horrible. Thank you Grindlebug for your enthusiasm, I owe you an explanation. As soon as I finally had some motivation, the bomb dropped; EXAMS! Oh my god, it's been hell. But it's done. I think I passed them all, but that is the main reason no progress has been made. I also had assignments and two cadet camps. Oh and one more thing:

I've fallen for someone.

Again.

The story is honestly book-worthy dramatics and I've almost had a few heart/panic attacks, but I think whatever we had died. Plus, two of my friends have crushes on me.

SO... I will try to work on them but it depends if school, cadets and boys allow it. I can't do it this weekend because of a weekend camp I have to go to (shooting for the first time, hurrah!) but I also unfortunately have an assignment coming up where I have to write a short dystopian story which will be devouring a lot of my time. But soon. I actually have been feeling so guilty because I know how it feels, but I just have so much to do. Oh, I also am learning to fly and am expected to be flying solo by September, so I have to study that too. Thank you for your message, I'll do my best.

Love y'all!

-Twipothonmax

I've fixed up chapter six (which is the longest chapter) so progress is being made! However, I probably won't be able to do much more this week.

Cheerio!

Wow ok so I think that is 100% understandable - hope everything works out with you and the guy, lord knows I'm in a heartbreaking position too. And I hope you keep close to the friends who like you - it's difficult to know people close to you like you.
Learning to fly sounds awesome, and shooting is so much fun so you should definitely just concentrate on those rather than pressuring yourself to write. Have a great few weeks, I'm glad your exams went well!

Thanks. Funnily enough, this camp I just went on weirdly helped me get over him. It was all complicated and he's not a dickhead or anything but basically after flirting for months the second I liked him, he said he just wanted to be friends.

It feels really weird to be mostly over it. Like it took a month, a month; my previous two crushes were four years. So I'm actually pretty freaking ecstatic. He's a cool and funny guy, but any guy who is going to do that to me, or play hard to get or whatever he was bloody thinking isn't really good enough for me. Plus, he doesn't seem to support LBGT rights (not sure- he's Christian but he made a joke about it which sounded kinda aggressive towards it before toning it down with 'just kidding' sorta thing) but if it's true that's minus fifty billion points right there. Ironically on the first day of camp I met this awesome guy who was indeed gay, and I couldn't get that out of my mind that he might not support it.

Sorry, ranting. Turns out I was going proper shooting at annual camp in September, but I did WTTS- sorta like an electronic lazar rifle range for testing grouping- which was fun and I was better than most off my platoon, except a few people with rank who had done it lots of times. Fire drill; not fun. Mess food good; except for when I coated my plate with 'gravy', turns out it was this disgusting sweet and sour stuff. Canoeing and sports was funny too.

Flying, yes. Promo time; flying is pretty cool. I'm more privileged than I realise to be able to do what I do, but I would recommend it. If you can't afford to learn, keep in mind there are scholarships about, and you can have single flights like scenic flights or trial introductory flights. You can even just hang out at the airfields and express your interest, someone is bound to offer you a flight in their plane at some point if you attend events (make sure you have parental permission and all that please). It is a little hard balancing studying, but it can be pretty cool. I did stalling part 2 the other day (one of the scarier ones; what to do if you start falling out the sky, basically) which was funny and a bit of an adrenaline rush. I also did some loops at the end which was fun too.

So yeah, if I have time this week I'll continue my work but unfortunately I have some homework due tomorrow and Tuesday... oh crap I just remembered I get my last exam result tomorrow! Urgh...

I got 69% on my SOSE- I studied more history stuff and lost marks all on geography- but half the year failed and I haven't found anyone with a higher score yet. I got highest in my year for English at 71%- again, half the year was below thirty and she said thirty was a good score, so I'm happy- and on science he said there was like one person on 94%, four on 84% and I was on 81%. So I passed three out of four really well, but last year I dropped a bit in math and struggled a bit in first term, and when I finally understood the basics everyone was already on the advanced. I find out my math tomorrow which I think I did okayish at, but I think she's a harsh marker and out of like 60 questions I didn't finish around seven, and a few only had the answer because it was all I had time for.

*Phew* Okay, but thanks again. I thought I would take the opportunity to tell peeps about my life.

Cheers!

-Twipothonmax

Yo.

Finally, four days until the holidays! I can almost write more people! I feel so evil, honestly, making you wait so long. However I do have life updates.

1. Flying is going well.

2. I failed my math exam on 45% but I'm still passing the year.

3. I hate boys.

4. Oh god not really help hormones.

5. Okay, well the guy from camp is still flirty and his presence still ignites me but it's containable. One of my friends who is lovely I think likes me, and I know I don't like him but I just want that closeness and I'm resisting the urges to snuggle closer when we're sitting together or holding hands or something, there's this moody deep guy (I know, I know...) who is so hot and so mysterious I can't help but be drawn, and then there's another guy who not-so-subtly asked my age before complementing me (to see if it would be weird as he is older) and honestly I'm already stressed so much from everything else that I'm going mental.

I honestly just wanted- well- a James. I am a complete hopeless romantic. I wanted to have a high-school sweetheart soulmate who is perfect for me. I knew it was unlikely, but god did I wish.

You know what they say; be careful what you wish for.

Ironically, I wish perfect guy had the camp guys flirty sassiness, the second guys care to look after me and appreciate my nerdiness, moody guys looks and the last guys actually making a damn move.

Oh, sweet Andraste. Send help.

What about you guys? How are you holding up?

Love y'all!

-Twipothonmax

Okkkkkay! All the chapters have been edited. Nothing major, just a few little hiccups, typos, that sorta thang. Now, back to work on chapter thirteen! Yayyyy!

-Twipothonmax

I am a bad human.

*sighs*

I finished most of my school work so hopefully I will have two damn seconds to write this.

Love y'all.

Okay, okay! It's holidays TODAY. I am literally writing it RIGHT NOW and will not move until I have a sizable amount of text down!

Updates on life!

Okay, I passed my pre-solo flying test, so I'm supposed to fly some circuits on my own (eek!) maybe tomorrow! *faints*

I had some tests and assignments too. I got 80% for my English speech (supposed to do it at assembly next term), 90% on my SOSE essay (most people failed I almost died when I heard), 95% on my science and 65% on my math- my worst subject currently, but I'm in the higher class and since that disappointing exam score have been knuckling down and my grades have improved a bit. Seriously though, my first assignment saved my average score for this year as it was 100% and has really raised the bar. I looked at all my scores and calculated an average of about 78%, but the exam was worth double the others (I think) which would make it about 68%. Basically I'm passing by a fair bit, but if I don't rock that second semester exam I'm in trouble :/

Okay, writing time!

See you soon!

Bye!

-Twipothonmax

P.S Please review!