"Aw, Come on, Evans! You're going to miss me over break, aren't you?"
James cunningly raised his eyebrows at Lily.
"Oh, yeah, loads," Lily said sarcastically, pulling her wool scarf around her neck. "Whatever will I do with no one to bother me all day?"
Remus, Peter, Sirius, Alice and Ophelia had all gone off with their parents already from Platform 9 and 3/4. Lily was, unfortunately for her, left with James to wait for her mum and dad. She breathed a great sigh of relief as she finally spotted them. They were standing on the edge of the platform, next to the steaming Hogwarts Express that was letting off the horde of students eager for their Christmas break to begin.
"Are those your parents?" James asked her as they began walking over with big grins on their faces.
"Yes," Lily said apprehensively.
James smiled. "You know, I'd love to meet them... think I'll go introduce myself...."
"No, don't you dare James Potter," Lily warned under her breath, but it was too late.
"Mr. and Mrs. Evans, it's a pleasure to meet you," James said charmingly as Lily's parents came over to where they were standing. He shook both their hands politely.
Mrs. Evans smiled. "Who's this, Lily?"
Lily gritted her teeth. "This is... well, this is James Potter."
"Yes, Lily and I are in the same House," James elaborated charismatically. "So I thought I’d say hi and wish you a Happy Christmas! But I must be off, I've spotted my parents. Hope you all enjoy your holiday!"
"Happy Christmas," Mr. and Mrs. Evans grinned as James walked away.
"Oh, Lily, that boy is absolutely charming, is he a friend of yours?" Lily's mother asked her as she gave her a loving hug and lead her away from the platform.
"Not exactly," said Lily, blushing out of both annoyance and embarrassment.
***************
James woke up on Christmas morning feeling happy to be home, but missing his friends. He loved his parents very much, but in a way Hogwarts felt a lot more like home now. He almost half expected to see Sirius, Remus, and Peter there in his room. He leapt up excitedly and started to get dressed- he couldn't wait to see the pile of presents all wrapped in silver and gold that were waiting for him beneath the usual massive Christmas tree in the living room.
Before he opened his door, he had a sudden idea. He ran over to his desk, grabbed a quill and some parchment, and scribbled a quick note with a grin on his face. He sent it out the window with the family owl before slipping on his trousers.
Suddenly, something began to rustle from within his bottom drawer. For a moment, James wondered what it was, but then he remembered.
He ran over to his drawer, pulled it open, and picked up a small, shiny mirror. However, instead of seeing his own reflection within it, he witnessed the handsome face of Sirius Black smiling back at him.
"Happy Christmas!" said Sirius' face merrily.
"Happy Christmas," James replied with a grin. "So, you like your gift, do you?"
"It's brilliant!" Sirius replied. "This should make separate detentions a lot better, I think."
For Christmas, James had sent the family owl with a two- way mirror for Sirius, as well as a note explaining how they worked. One of them simply said the name of the other, and they could have instant communication. He wasn't sure if they were allowed at Hogwarts, but a simple thing like a rule had never stopped James Potter from having his fun.
"So, how's your holiday been so far?" James asked.
Sirius's smile faded and he groaned. "Not well. I don't know if I can take it anymore."
James frowned. "Why, what's happened?"
"Well, for one thing," Sirius began, "My entire family is completely insane. My mum went crazy last night over dinner because my cousin, Andromeda, brought her husband over and he's Muggleborn. It was like a murderer had entered the house, they were all making this big deal of it. And it's a shame, too- his name's Ted Tonks, and he's a really nice guy, plus they've got a little girl, Nymphadora. Andromeda left after ten minutes and swore she'd never go anywhere where her family wasn't welcome."
"No way," said James.
"Yup. And that isn't the half of it. I've always been close with Andromeda, she's my favorite cousin. So I got into this huge row with my dad over it. I told him that the family shouldn't care if Andromeda's husband is a muggle as long as he’s a nice guy. My dad started yelling things about ‘family honor‘, and my git of a brother sided with him! Can you believe that? Before I knew it, half the family was screaming at me... it was a total mess.”
James shook his head. “I’m sorry, mate. That sounds awful.”
Sirius sighed. “Yeah. Can’t wait to get out of here. I’ll take classes and exams over this rubbish any day.”
James suddenly heard his mother’s voice from downstairs.
“Look, I’ve got to run. Try to hang in there, I’ll see you in a week, all right?”
“See you. Cheers for the present,” Sirius replied, trying to sound happy but failing miserably at it.
As James sadly put away his mirror and leapt downstairs to his loving and smiling parents, he felt truly lucky to be a Potter.
****************
Lily rolled up her sleeves, tied an apron around her tiny waist, and began scrubbing the dishes that were left in the sink from Christmas dinner. The guests had just left, and as Mr. and Mrs. Evans tidied up the living room, it was Lily and Petunia’s job to wash the plates and silverware.
Petunia, although never exactly best friends with her younger sister, had never been as mean as she was being this particular holiday. She had barely said two words to Lily, and if she did speak, they were brief words in a cold, forced tone. Lily, the generally positive person that she was, had tried to ignore her sister's attitude and make the best of the situation. So there she was, cleaning dirty dishes and trying her best to enjoy her Christmas.
Lily began to realize how dependent she was on magic; she longed to run upstairs and grab her wand (a quick wave and the dishes would be sparkling in no time). However, due to restrictions on underage magic, she couldn’t. She missed home very much, but not the manual labor that came along with living without magic.
“You know, if I was allowed to use magic at home, we wouldn’t have to clean all night!” Lily said cheerfully to Petunia as she scoured the inside of a wine glass.
Petunia kept scrubbing and silently pursed her extremely thin lips.
Lily frowned. "Seriously, Petunia, what is the matter with you?” she asked fiercely, tired of the stupid game her sister had been playing for the entire week.
“Nothing,” Petunia replied coldly. “I just think that... well, if you can’t bother to do things like normal people... why didn’t you just stay at that school of yours?”
Lily almost dropped the plate that she was cleaning. “You know that’s not what I meant,“ she replied in shock. “Besides, what’s that supposed to mean anyway? Just because I go to Hogwarts, I’m not allowed to come home for the holidays?
“No... I would just appreciate it if you shut up about Hogwarts and all your weird friends for two seconds.”
Lily now felt like taking the plate she was holding and throwing it at her sister’s head. “That’s completely unfair!” she shouted.
Suddenly, Mr. Evans entered the kitchen, holding a large black trash bag. “Girls... what’s going on?”
Lily looked from her father to Petunia, then back again. Petunia kept washing her plates as if she had never said anything at all. Lily threw off her yellow rubber gloves, untied her apron, and ran upstairs without a second glance at either of them.
She threw herself on her bed, trying not to let the tears fall that were clouding her eyes. All her anger at her sister had been brewing since she got home, and now it was bubbling over. She loved being a witch, but why couldn’t her sister accept that? It was so hard having someone that was supposed to be so close always be so distant. Lily wanted more than anything to talk to Ophelia and Alice, her best friends that could always make her laugh and get her out of a bad mood. If she were at Hogwarts, she would simply go down to the Common room and find them there. At that moment, she hated being at home, being so disconnected from the world of magic.
Then Lily heard an unexpected tap at her window. Curiously, she went over and opened it. A beautiful, large, brown owl swooped onto her desk clutching a letter. It offered Lily its head, and she softly stroked its silky feathers. Lily gently grabbed the letter out of the owl’s beak and opened it. Inside was a simple note, written in an untidy scrawl that she knew so well-
Hey Evans- Happy Christmas.
Lily wiped a small tear from her eye as a smile spread across her face.
All Right, Evans? by anglophile
Chapter Notes: Sorry this took a while to get up, it got rejected because I accidently centered the whole chapter... whoops. Hope everyone enjoys a little taste of Christmas in June!