Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

The world seemed at peace that night, as it rarely did in those days. The sky above was an endless black, and the ground below was a blanket of white that seemed blue in the pale glow of the moon. The forest seemed to slumber as, in the distance, the castle resonated the soft murmur of life from those who had not departed for the holidays.

Hand-in-hand, James and Lily made a path through the grounds, their footsteps imprinting a path that wound along between sleeping Forbidden Forest and the frozen Black Lake; the snow fell softly from the open sky, almost as if the tiny stars were tumbling from the heavens, one by one, kissing their eyelids and lips, decorating their cloaks and scarves.

Lily's sigh expressed itself in a mist of breath as she rested her head on James' shoulder; her heart fluttered as he brought his arm around her and squeezed her gently to him. Being in love was still new, and so the emotion was still tangible, still dizzying. But Lily had never been in love before, for all she knew, it would always be this way. She stole a glance up at James and drew in an unsteady breath at the sensation within her. She closed her eyes, trusting the guidance of James, and listened to the winter night that surrounded them.

"Alright, Lily?" James murmured close to her ear.

"Mmm," she replied quietly. "Just listening to the snow fall."

She opened her eyes and looked at James, finding a bemused smile upon his face. "Whatever are you looking at me like that for?"

"Looking at you like what?" James asked innocently.

"Like I'm crazy, but in a way that you adore."

"I do adore it."

"But I'm not crazy."

"Snow doesn't make a sound when it falls, Lily."

"Just because you don't know how to listen properly doesn't mean there's nothing to hear," she teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Describe it to me then. The sound of the falling snow."

"It's quiet – "

"I'll bet."

"See what I meant about not listening properly?"

"Sorry."

"It's quiet, and soft. The sound of not one, but hundreds, filling the air as they float down. It's almost more like a sensation than a sound, but it's there."

James was silent for a moment, and then he turned to her and held her close. "Maybe that's what it is then. A sensation. And you feel it, here…" He pressed his hand to her chest, and her heart beat quickly beneath it.

She lifted her face to his and their lips brushed. "Maybe…" she whispered. "Or maybe you just have bad hearing."

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'Maybe you should just throw me down in the snow and make wild love to me.'?"

Lily rolled her eyes and giggled. "No, that is most definitely not what I said, James Potter."

"Well, that's a relief. Far too cold for that sort of thing. What could you be thinking, Lily Evans?"

"I'm sure anything that I'm thinking is far beyond your mental abilities of comprehension."

"Well, then." He kissed her cheek and carried on walking. James looked to the stars and Lily gazed ahead of them at the dense trees of the woods. The relapsed into silence, peaceful and pensive. It was so comfortable, so intimate, so complete, the moment and the connection between them. It felt magnified somehow, on that evening, at the edge of the woods. As though it was about more than happiness, more than completing one another, as if they were part of something bigger.

"James?"

"Yes?"

"Do you believe that it's possible to – I don't know – sense destiny?"

"Ever since the day you told me you love me, I've believed anything's possible."

"I'm being serious, here."

"So am I."

They took a few more quiet steps.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just get a feeling. Here. With you. As if we're at the heart of something powerful. Death and life, and change."

"That's some heart, you've got, Lily. It not only hears falling snow, but senses the future and most impressively, manages to love an idiot such as myself."

"Stop making fun of me, I'm having a moment here."

"I'm not making fun," James said. "I believe you."

Lily gave him an appraising look. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes. I know you, Lily. You seem to have such a sense of the world, it amazes me. And I believe you not just because you're you and I love you, but because – I don't know, sometimes I think I feel it, too. Sometimes I think I've always felt it, with you."

He ran his free hand – the one not holding Lily's – through his black hair. Lily remembered how she used to hate that, and thought about how she didn't anymore. And she believed him, too.

"We should get back," James said with a sigh. Lily murmured in agreement. The wind and snow had picked up, and they'd wandered a long way from the castle.

So they turned and made their way back to the castle, which seemed to shine with warmth and welcoming and security. Lily looked at her James and smiled, glad to be with him.

"Whatever our destiny is, I'm glad to be travelling with you," she whispered.

He smiled, and she could see in his face how much emotion her words stirred in him.

"And I'm glad that we've a long way to go, yet," he replied, and kissed her on the forehead.

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.