I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated. I'm not going to defend my behavior (actually I am) but I have been terribly busy. Any writing time I had was devoted to my research essay for class, so this got put on the back burner. Not to mention, I have been dreadfully uninspired, and kind of depressed. Lots of family stress and school stress and friend stress and romance stress, and my life has kind of been turned upside down lately. But my essay is in and I'm on break now, so I hope to have several chapters out in the coming weeks. Thank you all for sticking with me while I get myself together, and thank you for being supportive and kind! Please review, and I thank you all again!

It seemed to James that the trip to Exeter was an odd mix of carefree moments and uncomfortable car rides. Unfortunately, it seemed James was doomed to the latter half at the moment.

He squinted to see his way through the snow-filled landscape, the snow itself still falling. His mind wandered back to Lily's kiss in front of their room. He couldn't tell if Lily remembered anything about the night before. James had once again woken with his arm around Lily's waist, and, once again, he had removed himself from the situation before she had stirred.

He didn't even know what it meant for the two of them. Was it an accidental kiss created only through her muddled mind? Or was it something from the back of her mind, acted on with the encouragement of alcohol? What if she felt the same way he did? What if-

No, James. You'll overexcite yourself, and Sirius will tease you for using your inhaler, and Lily will look over at you with that sparkle in her eye, and she'll tilt back her head to laugh, and you'll need the inhaler even more. Then Sirius will make even more fun of me, and he'll tell Remus, and Remus will tell Pete, and Pete will tell that creepy French friend of his, and I'll be shamed forever. Calm down, James, calm down…

He couldn't resist; he glanced over at Lily. He could hear the faint strains of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (which he only knew because he went to see her play in the university's orchestra when they were sophomores) coming from her headphones. She looked more relaxed than she had all of the morning, or even the day before. He smiled a bit at her choice- classical music.

He wondered why she hadn't gone into music herself. She was an incredibly gifted French horn player, he knew. He had sat in the music building for hours when he was a junior, listening to her play in the practice room while he tried to work up the courage to ask her to a dance. He had been a percussionist in grade school, and he was not awful himself. But he knew talent when he heard it, and Lily had it. So why had she gone into education?

"Hey, mate, what's that squealing noise?"

James snapped out of his reverie and tried to identify the sound Sirius claimed he had heard.

"You're losing it, mate, there's no noise-"

Then he heard it.

"No, no, no!" he moaned. "Now is not the time, Bertha!"

Lily popped one earbud out. "What's going on, James?"

She called me James…

"Prongs! Now is not the time to get sentimental!" Sirius hollered from the backseat, now having to yell over the loud squealing that seemed to be coming from under the hood.

James scowled and flushed. "Shut up, Padfoot! I'm pulling over, calm down!"

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Lily yelled.

James pulled to the side of the highway and watched the smoking engine. "Bertha has decided that right now, in the middle of the snowy English countryside, is a good time to shut down and stop working.

Lily began to swear. "Bloody hell, Potter, you said your junk heap of a car could get me back to Exeter, not strand me to a cold and miserable death in the middle of bloody nowhere!"

James swiveled to look at Lily. "Do you think I planned this? I don't want to be here anymore than you do!"

"Oh, yeah, because you didn't think this was going to happen. Tell me, how long has it been since you've kidnapped a girl for Christmastime, eh? Is this a holiday tradition? Taking girls away from their families on weeklong odysseys in the British countryside? Were you going to try to convince me to rob a bank while we're out, too?"

"Ha-bloody-ha-ha. I bet you-"

"SHUT UP!" Lily and James turned around to see a fuming Sirius Black in the back row of the van. "Arguing about what happened to the van isn't going to help anyone. Someone needs to call the company to get the engine fixed before we all freeze to death. Although, I suppose I'd rather be dead than hear you two bickering the rest of the time!"

Lily and James turned away, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry, Lily."

Lily scoffed. "What are you sorry for? I'm the one who accused you of kidnapping me.

He laughed. "Yes, I suppose you did."

Sirius cleared his throat. "Not that I'm not glad that you two are warming up the apology engines, but maybe you should call a cab, or a tow truck, Prongs."

"Yeah, yeah."

XXXXXXXX

Two hours had passed. The three young students were running out of ideas for entertainment, and night was quickly approaching. The temperature had dropped in the van so that Lily's cheeks and nose clashed violently with her red hair, and all three could see their breath in the air before them. Sirius had dropped off to sleep quickly after Lily began to blast Tchaikovsky out of her phone, complaining loudly before doing so that she had the musical preferences of a hundred-and-fifty-year-old woman ("Give me some upbeat music, Lily! Something I can dance to!" "Excuse me, 1812 Overture is very danceable!" "Sure, if you're in a ballroom and a stiff collar!")

Lily and James had moved back a row to share body warmth with Sirius, who James claimed was a human radiator. Lily rubbed her hands together in a vain attempt to warm them. "Didn't you say the truck way supposed to be here an hour ago?"

"Yeah. But it's slow driving with all the buildup."

Lily laughed drily. "So this is how I die. I always thought I would die doing something noble and valiant, like saving a priceless piece of stolen art, or protecting a kid from a crazy shooter. But nope, I am going to freeze to death in a forty-year-old van."

James took his scarf off and looped it around her neck. "I'm sorry this has turned into such a ordeal for you, Lily. When I said I meant for this to be a trip you'd never forget, I didn't actually mean to keep you from your family."

Lily laughed gaily. "It's alright, James. My father can last a few more days without me. Besides, I've rather enjoyed our… misadventures."

James tried not to think about the implications of what she said. Could she just mean the trips, or could she mean the other things? He pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the former part of her statement. "Crap, you're right! Your dad needs you at home, and soon. I'll drive really fast tomorrow, I swear, and we'll get there early, and-"

Lily laughed. "James! Calm down. I called my dad when you were out looking at the engine. My darling Petunia has deigned to come down from her high wedding horse to look after my dad for a few days."

"Petunia's your sister, right?"

"Yes, and she's caught up in a haze of bridal gowns and wedding cakes right now. She's getting married on December 30th, and she's marrying the most awful man- his name's Vernon, although my mum nicknamed him Vermin when he and Petty started to date."

"I suppose you're excited for the wedding? I know you don't get on quite so well with your sister, but his is a happy occasion for her. Right?"

"'Don't exactly get on well' is the understatement of the century, Potter. She hates that I got the scholarship to the University, and she's barely spoken to me since. Apparently I'm some sort of brainiac freak and she wants me to be normal like she is. Actually, as soon as I get home, I'm probably going to be treated to a tirade of how I have no plus one at her wedding and no boyfriend."

James edged closer to Lily. "Why don't I be your plus one?"

Lily stared at him. "What?"

"I'll be your plus one. You can bring me home and introduce me as your boyfriend, just to shut Petunia up. I'll hang around for the holidays, doing my boyfriend thing, then, after the wedding when we head back to school, you can make something up about how we broke up. But you won't have to deal with Petunia ragging on you about that, at least for now."

Lily didn't speak. "I mean, unless you don't want to-"

She cut him off. "No, that's not it at all! It's so generous of you, but I can't take you away from your family for the holidays, not when you've come so far."

James's mouth twisted into a smile. "I doubt they'll miss me."

"Of course they will, James, they love you!"

"Oh, they love me, alright, but they aren't home."

"What?"

"My dad's a journalist. He's in Italy until February covering the election riots. And my mum works for the government, she's in France doing God knows what until at least March."

"Why were you even coming home? I don't mean it rudely, but-"

"I came to get Sirius, then we'd go to my place for the holidays. But this is much better. If you'll have me."

"Of course I will. Oh, James, you are the most wonderful-" she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.

James rested his chin on top of her head, and he heard her breathing grow steady. He threaded his fingers through her hair and smiled.

I'm getting there.