Everytime I try to fly, I fall without my wings
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams, I see your face
You're haunting me
I guess I need you baby
-Britney Spears, Everytime
Chapter Four: It Just Felt Right
It was 11 'o clock on the fifth night. Very soon, Lily and I would be switching back to our normal bodies. I paced back and forth through the Head's Room as Lily slept quietly in an arn chair. Right now, Sirius and Remus and Peter were off in animagus form, looking for mischief. I could barely wait to join them.
As I paced back and forth.. and back and forth.... and back and forth... and back and forth, I wondered if Lily was mad at me. She had to endure a whole lot of crap from the other girls. Well, not exactly. I had to endure and she had to endure watching me endure it. Many of the girls went up to me and told me that I should be going out with them and not Lily. Pretending to be Lily, I just shrugged them all off. I'm planning on letting her fix it in her own way when she gets back to her own body.
Knowing me, I'd end up making everyone think she's going out with Lucious Malfoy!
At quarter to twelve, I decided to wake Lily up and we could get on our way to Dumbledore's office. I poked her in the back, but she just turned her head away from me and grunted. I gave her a slight push but she just stirred slightly and went on sleeping. So, I leaned down and whispered in her ear,
"Lils, it's me, Snape!"
Her eyes fluttered open and she gave a short scream. When she discovered it was me, not Snape, she laughed.
"Is it time to go to Dumbledore?" she asked, a bit short of breath. I nodded silently and we set off to go to the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore was wide awake when we arrived, compared to Lily who looked ready to doze off at random times. He said nothing to us, just brought us over to his open window. Moonlight was pouring through and I could see the faint outline of Sirius in dog's form and I smiled inside. He put us so our sides were facing the moonlight. I looked into Lily's eyes--or actually, my eyes-- with concern. She looked mighty tired.
Dumbledore raised his long wand and pointed it our way. He began to speak in some foreign language I didn't recognize. But soon, moonlight turned pink, and then blue and then I passed out. I awoke in the corridor. It was still dark. I looked down at my watch-- my watch! not Lily's!-- and saw it was only 12:11. I looked over and saw Lily stirring. Yes, I saw Lily! Not me! We were back in our normal bodies! I stood up and so did she. Lily took one look at me and pounced. I was caught in a hug that was cutting off my circulation.
"I'm back to my old body!" she squeaked, hugging me tighter.
"Was being me that bad?" I choked. She giggled. There was a sudden burst of footsteps.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" came a sly voice. Lily and I instantly pulled apart. Hazel Parsley was there, smirking at us both. Lily turned red and squealed,
"Hazel, this is definitely NOT what it looks like!"
Hazel just continued smirking at us.
"Okay, I won't say anything." she said in a fake voice.
"What are you doing down here at such a late time anyways?" I asked.
"I'm on Prefect duties." Hazel said. "Why are you here?"
"Well, Dumbledore just switched us back!" Lily exclaimed happily. Hazel grinned.
"Well, I need to go meet Sirius, Remus, and Peter." I said in a rush. I was very eager to join my friends.
"G'night." Lily and Hazel said together. I took one last look at Lily's brilliant emerald green eyes and said good night.
As soon as the cold night air reached me, I transformed into a stag. I caught up to the large black dog, werewolf, and rat. Sirius barked at my arrival. Remus was grooming himself with his paw and Peter was squeaking like the idiot he is. We began to wrestle around, just for play, when I noticed someone by the old oak tree next to the lake. I signaled to my friends that I would be right back and galloped over to inspect.
Lily was out there. She was watching the still lake water and shivering as she watched. She looked up, startled, when I arrived but was soon looking at me with a look of love.
"Aren't you just the most beautiful stag?" she said gently, patting me on the head. She began to talk to me about random topics that were on her mind and I listened in rapt attention when she mentioned me.
"Then there is the Potter problem. I dunno, sometimes James is so polite and fun-loving and you really want to be around him. But other times, he's arrogant and loud mouthed and he ticks me off. He's by far the most difficult person I've ever met. And I think that's why I enjoy being around him so much."
she said slowly. I beamed. She didn't hate my guts!
There was a bark from far off. Sirius was calling for me to get back. I let her give me one more pat on the head and galloped off. My best friends and I trottted back to the castle, where we transformed in our usual place.
"James, mate, what took forever? What was over at the lake?" Sirius asked. I sighed.
"Only the most beautiful creature ever." I said dreamily.
"So what did Lily say?" Remus asked, knowing exactly who I was refering to. I smiled goofily.
"Well, she told me about the things that were bothering her. She told me that sometimes I'm fun loving and she wants to be around me and that other times I'm the most difficult person she has ever met." I said as we creeped up the stairs, "She also said that that is why she enjoys being around me so much."
"OoOoOoOoOoh!" Sirius, Remus, and Peter chorused in a whisper. I turned red and was relieved when we reached the Head's Room. Lily was already there, sitting on the couch, obviously thinking about something hard.
"Still up, Lils?" I asked, yawning. She turned to me and nodded. I could feel her powerful emerald eyes watching me as I travelled across the room. I blessed the darkness around me. It was just dark enough so she could not notice me turning red. I stood at the foot of my stairs and turned, noticing she had not yet moved.
"Aren't you going to bed? You looked ready to nod off right at Dumbledore's office." I said, looking straight at her. She shook her head.
"I'm wide awake now. I think I'll just head to bed in a little while." Lily said slowly.
"OK. Well, uh, g'night." I said, my stomch doing a back flip.
"Good night, James Potter." she said slowly.
I walked slowly into my Gryffindor colored room and threw myself onto my bed with a warm, fuzzy feeling surging through my entire body.
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I woke up in the Head's common room. I had fallen asleep, thinking about all that had happened the previous night. James and I had finally switched back and I had a long conversation with the most amazing stray stag. The stag seemed annoyingly familiar and I had stayed up for atleast another hour, trying to figure out who it reminded me of.
I was happy to wake up in my own body with my own hair and my own responsibilities. I was happy to finally put earings back into my ears. My friend Mounika had given them to me when I left for Hogwarts and she left for Beauxebatons. They were pink flowers, "especially for me" as she said. It came along with a matching bracelet, necklace, and ring. I hadn't worn them at all this year, but that morning I wore the entire set. I dressed my best and got out all the knots James hadn't brushed out.
I walked into the Head's Room, unbearably hungry, to see James there waiting for me. He smiled at me and I smiled back, hardly believing how much things changed this year.
"Good morning, sunshine." Sirius said to James as we sat down at the table.
"Morning everyone." James said. Hazel looked over at James and I and giggled. I turned red, but James didn't notice.
First class was potions with Professor Salandar. James and I were paired up with each other and everyone giggled. Probally because of what James said to Sara Ablad. I decided to ignore it. At least I knew the truth and so did James. Hazel probally wouldn't believe me because of last night but I didn't mind.
"Now, you sure you're looking at the right potion this time, James?" I asked. James grinned at me.
"Yes, I know what I'm doing this time." he said sincerely.
"Okay, pass me some rewolf, James." I said, glancing at the instructions. He handed me the greenish-yellowish plant and I chopped it up and added it to the boiling cauldren. It sizzled for a second.
"Next is dragon's blood." I said, looking at the page again. He handed me a small jar of a reddish-purple liquid.
"That's chimaera blood." I pointed out.
"Whoops."
It went on like this for the entire class. I would ask for an ingredient, once in a while James would give me the wrong one and have to exchange it. But I'd have to say he did pretty well. Hazel, Molly, and I were due for Divination next while the boys went to Muggle Studies. We were interperting dreams and Hazel and I paired up together as usual while Molly went with Stephanie Browning.
"So, what was your latest dream, grasshopper?" Hazel asked, sounding very much like the Divination teacher herself, Professor Armani.
"Well, there was this beautiful stag that talked to me. It was telling me to take a chance. When I went to pat it, it disappeared and I woke up." I said, recalling the dream I had just last night. Hazel flipped through the pages.
"It says here that the stag represents love. It was telling you to take a chance? So, it says here that it means you are not taking enough risks. The last part means you have to hurry, before it goes away. So put it together and you have this: You should take a risk with love before it disappears." Hazel said wisely. I raised my eyebrows. Take a risk with love before it disappears?
Hmm...
"Really, Lils? I'd say it means take a risk and go out with James before the year is over and you guys never see each other again." Hazel said flatly. I turned red. Again. Jeez, she's making me blush every ten minutes!
"We'll just see about that. What was your last dream?" I asked, trying to get off the subject.
"Well, I was eating this humongous hotdog. This hotdog had ketchup and mustard and relish and a toasted bun. I also ate these huge soccer ball sized potato chips and washed it down with some freshly sqeezed orange juice." Hazel said, her eyes going into a dream-like state. I had to stiffle laughs as I flipped throught the pages.
"So? What's it mean?" she asked impatiently.
"Indigestion." I said simply.
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James and Lily spent their free time in the library, planning the dance that they had planned to be on Valentine's Day. James would occasionally just glance up at Lily while she rambled on about decorations or music. They had a huge bash planned with The Witches Three, a new rock band and so much more. They got a well deserved break that Sunday after they switched back. It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year.
"You coming, Wormtail?" Sirius asked in the Gryffindor common room. Lily and James came to meet up with their friends so they could all leave together. Well, at least, most of them could leave together. Molly was leaving with Arthur Weasly.
"I, uh, can't. I didn't do my Transfiguration homework." Peter lied. Sirius and James nodded, but Remus wasn't yet sure.
"Why don't you do it after?" he asked suspiciously.
"I won't have much time after and as you all know, Transfiguration isn't my best subject." Peter explained.
"Oh, O.K." Remus said simply. The five of them, James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, and Hazel, walked out of the portrait hole and onto the grounds.
"Where would you guys like to go first?" James asked when they reached the village of Hogsmeade.
"3 Zondukes!"
That's what happens when put together 3 Broomsticks, Zonko's, and Honeydukes.
"Wow, that's helpful." James said lamely.
"Well, I'm going to Zonko's." Sirius said. James nodded in agreement.
"Me too." he concured.
"I'll go with them." Remus agreed.
"Well, we'll go to Honeydukes and meet at the 3 Broomsticks." Lily said.
When in Honeydukes....
"Hey, Lily, guess what? Pigs have tails! Guess what else? Horsies say moo! And you know-- ooh! Look at the purty colors, Lils! Ooh, guess what? I have a wand! I can make everything go purple! Or maybe blue!" Hazel exclaimed insanely. In the past seventeen minutes, Hazel had consumed approximately 27.9 pounds of sugar and it had all entered her bloodstream. In simpler terms, Hazel was officially high on sugar. Lily imeadiately snatched the blob of butterscotch in Hazel's hand and gave her a "no more sweets for you" look.
"Hazel, we're in public!" Lily hissed, flustered. Hazel went crossed-eyed.
"Public? What's that? Ooh, look at the pink fluff!" Hazel said excitedly.
Lily moaned. Seventeen minutes and Hazel was flowing with energy and sugar!
"C'mon, Haz, we're leaving! No, put down the candy floss! Hazel, we can visit the lolipops next time, let's GO!" Lily said, trying to ignore the odd looks she and Hazel were getting. She dragged Hazel out of the sweet store. Hazel was giggling like mad, the 27.9 pounds of sugar flooding through her like venom.
Lily dragged her over to the 3 Broomsticks and got a table for five. She tried her best to get water into Hazel's system and calm her down, but Hazel demanded something sweeter. Lily was about to scream her lungs out in frustration when three boys walked in: James, Sirius, and Remus, and she calmed down a bit. James easily spotted Lily's red-auburn hair and led his friends over to them. They sat down as Hazel started to ramble on about "Candy floss this" or "Sugar Quills that". The three boys gave Hazel a concerned look.
"Lily, what in the name of Merlin is up with her?" James asked quietly. Lily sighed.
"Sugar. 27.9 pounds of it." she said flatly. Sirius threw his head back and laughed.
"You let her eat 27.9 pounds of sugar?" he asked between laughs.
"Well, she just kind of started to rampage around the store, buying everything sweet in sight and threw it down her throat." Lily said uncertainly. James was trying his best not to laugh like Sirius and Remus was watching Hazel with interest and a smirk on his face as she rambled on about cows that say "meow" and all that jazz.
"You let her eat 27.9 pounds of sugar?" Sirius repeated in a disbelieving tone.
"Aww, shut up, Sirius." Lily said. She was very annoyed at this point and wasn't prone to showing it. Sirius gave one last chuckle, but stopped for Lily's sake. Lily poked her fork into the doughnut she ordered, but didn't eat it. She just stared at it, trying to ignore the fidgeting and grunting of Hazel next to her. James looked at Lily and down at the plate where the stabbed doughnut lay.
"It's dead, you can eat, Lil." he said, refering to the doughnut. Lily let out air through her nose and took a bite of her doughnut.
Hazel was inches away from a sugar coma as the five of them walked out of the store. Lots of students were scouting the streets. There were couples window shopping, groups of girls giggling their heads off, and groups of boys crowding around Zonko's.
"Where do you guys want to go?" Remus asked after a few moments of silence.
"Maybe we should--Lily are you okay?" James asked worriedly. His two friends turned to look at Lily; Hazel was still off in Sugar Land. Lily on the other hand, had started to cough and clutch her face. Great green blotches were forming on her face. She could barely breathe, she was coughing so much.
"What the hell--?" Sirius started dumbly. James grabbed Lily's shoulders and said in a rush,
"C'mon, we need to get her to the hospital wing.. again."
And as the five of them rushed back to Hogwarts, Hazel being dragged by Sirius and Remus and Lily still hacking her brains out, behind them in the clutter stood Severus Snape and Peter Pettigrew. Snape had his arms crossed and was smirking from ear to ear. Peter was smiling on the outside, but his stomach was in knots on the inside.
"Welcome to the group, Pettigrew." Snape said slyly.
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By the time the five of them reached Hogwarts, Lily had passed out and Hazel had stopped five times along the way to gaze at the "pretty sky thingy".
"Back again Mr. Black, Mr. Potter. My gosh! What happened to Ms. Evans?" Madame Pomfrey shrieked. Remus soon followed them in, dragging Hazel along with him.
"We don't know, she just started hacking and she has all of these green blotches all over her face and eventually she passed out." James said in a rush. He lay Lily down on a hospital bed and squeezed her hand, just as he had done before.
"There's a soft heartbeat." Madame Pomfrey said, leaning close to Lily's heart. As she bustled around, searching for a medicine, she asked,
"And what is wrong with the other one? Ms. Parsley?"
"Uhh... 27.9 pounds of sugar." Sirius explained. Madame Pomfrey sighed and told them to put Hazel down on one of the beds. She finally found what she was looking for: a pinkish-reddish liquid in a clear, small bottle.
"Give Ms. Evans a drop of this while I find something to calm Ms. Parsley." Madame Pomfrey said, handing James the small bottle. James quickly forced open Lily's mouth and screwed off the top of the bottle. He poured in a drop and held his breath, waiting for a reaction. Lily's eyelids fluttered, revealing those emeralds for eyes James had grown to love. She licked her lips and spat,
"What did I just eat?"
James lifted up the little bottle of the pinkish-reddish liquid so she could see it clearly.
"What happened? Where's Hazel?" Lily questoned rapidly.
"Well, you had this sort of coughing fit--"
"And we brought you here and Madame Pomfrey told us to give you this--"
"You also got these green bumps on your face, see?" Sirius handed her a small mirror as he said this. Lily took the mirror and gaped at the reflection. She lifted her hand to touch the bumps she saw in the mirror. Yes, they were, and Lily was not very happy about it.
"Oh my god." she said slowly. She turned to look into James's hazel (A/N I just noticed, I named one of the characters after James's eyes!) eyes. It was a look of confusion, a look of worry, and dominating over them all, a look of stress.
She sighed and fell back on her pillow, gazing up at the ceiling blankly. James looked at her with pity, Remus looked just plain confused, and Sirius was still chuckling inside, watching Hazel continue to ramble.
"Then in this script, it said 'La La La La Banana, banana.' Oooh! There was this time when I ate a christmas tree and broke out in hives..."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Madame Pomfrey had given Lily a face cream to get rid of those green blotches ("It'll clear up in five to seven days, don't worry." she had said), and had calmed Hazel down with a simple spell. Molly found this entire ordeal very amusing as Lily walked into the Great Hall, hiding her face so no one could see the green blotches as much and Hazel walked beside her looking totally wiped. James looked at Lily sympathetically as she sat down next to him and hid her head under the table. Molly was trying her best to not giggle as she glanced at Lily during her usual conversation with Arthur during dinner.
"Aren't you going to eat some dessert, Lily?" James asked exasperately.
"In order to eat, I'd have to show my head, which I don't plan on doing for five to seven days. I'll bring some food back to the Head's Room." came Lily's muffled voice from under the table. James sighed.
"How about you, Hazel? You haven't eaten any dessert yet." Sirius pointed out. Hazel put her hand over her mouth and shook her head.
"If I eat another sweet as long as I live, it will be too soon." she declared.
"That'll last a day or two." Molly joked. Hazel glared. Remus, who hadn't spoken for a while, suddenly piped up,
"Has anyone seen Peter? He's not here."
"He's not on the south side of the table." Sirius said.
"Or the north." James said.
"He's not under the table." Lily said. Hazel rolled her eyes.
"He's probally still doing his Transfiguration homework." she said, not very much believing herself. Remus just shrugged, still looking around the Great Hall for Peter.
James held the food Lily was going to eat in the Head's Room while she hid her head as they walked to the Head's Room. James gripped her arm, guiding her along the way. With her hands over her head, she could hardly see where she was going.
"Are we there yet?" Lily asked.
"Nope."
"Are we there yet?"
"Nope."
"Are we there yet?"
"Nope."
"Are we there yet?"
"Yup."
They had finally reached the Portrait of the balding butler.
"Password?" he drawled.
"Hunkydory." Lily said in a muffled voice. The portrait hole swung open and Lily was finally able to breathe properly again, as she had uncovered her face. James handed her the chicken leg, bread, and treacle tart in his hands and Lily began to eat it up. Chew, chew, chew, chew, swallow. Chew, chew, chew, chew, swallow. This went on for a while until Lily spoke.
"I resent whoever did this to my face." she said through mouthfuls of treacle tart.
"How do you know it wasn't just something you ate?" James inquired.
"This is a side effect of a jinx we learned in fifth year. Don't you remember?" Lily asked. She wouldn't stop touching the bumps on her face.
"Nope." James said simply.
"So someone did this to Lily? I bet Snivellus did it! I'll kill him!" James thought angrily.
"Well, you just have five to seven days left." James said in a fake cheerful voice.
"Whoopee." Lily said sarcasticly, rolling her eyes.
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"Ms. Evans, lift your head from under that chair!" Professor Salandar snapped. Lily bit her lip and lifted her-- how shall I describe this?-- green face from under her desk in Potions. The Slytherins laughed cruelly. The Gryffindors looked like that wanted to laugh very badly, but wouldn't embarras Lily like that. All except James.
"Now that you have joined us, Ms. Evans, you can go over with Mr. Snape and start your potion." Professor Salandar said icily. James glared at Professor Salandar. Lily squinted at the old, orangitang-ish teacher, counted to ten, and walked over to the seat next to Snivellus.
"Let's get this over with, Snape." Lily said grudgingly. She glared at him, glared at the cauldren in front of her, and glared at Professor Salandar.
"Aren't you just a little bowl of sunshine?" Snape said, giving her a look of resent. "I guess ever since Pettigrew put that little jinx on you, you've been this grouchy?"
Lily stopped reading through the instructions.
"What? Peter did this to me?" she asked, looking into Snape's cold, gray eyes.
"Who else?" he said harshly. "Of course, you don't have to believe ME, I'm sure detective Potter over there will figure it out eventually."
Lily decided not to say anything, knowing it would just lead to bigger consequences. She would wait until after class and CALMLY tell James how Snape said it MIGHT be Peter who jinxed her. She didn't want to jump to conclusions. She listed several ways to tell him as she and Snape worked silently on their potion, which turned out to be pretty good. She decided on,
"So, James. I was talking to Snape and he kind of tipped me off about who might've put the jinx on me." Lily started carefully. James looked over to her with interest.
"Well, who did he say? We don't have all day, we're due for Transfiguration in ten minutes, Lil." he said impatiently.
"Well, he said it MIGHT have been Peter, but I don't think--"
"Peter? PETER?! I'll kill him!" James spat, racing ahead of Lily to catch up with stout Peter Pettigrew, who was ahead of them both, talking to Snape.
"Wormtail, you scum! I can't believe you!" James said, coming between the two. Peter looked up at him with confused eyes.
"What?" he asked dumbly. But then, those little words he had muttered yesterday came into his mind. "Lefaerous." he had said.
"YOU did that to Lily? I knew something was going on! Impedmenta!"Jame said irately, pointing his wand at Peter. Peter was pushed back seven feet and started to sweat.
"James, let me explain!" Peter croaked. Lily had finally caught up to James, who was pointing his wand, still, at Peter.
"Now, James, don't do anything irrational." she whispered in his ear.
"Stay out of this, Lily, this is between me and Wormtail." James said coldly.
"This is between no one!" came a shrill voice. Professor McGonagal stepped into the scene. "It's time for class!"
James glared at Peter and walked into class, closely followed by Lily. They went to their normal seats, James breathing hard through his nose.
"What was that about?" Sirius hissed in class.
"Wormtail was the one who jinxed Lily." James said shortly. Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"He did?" James nodded his head feverently. Sirius let out a low whistle.
"Wonder what made him do it.." he muttered, shaking his head in disgust.
The day seemed to drag on and on. This was because it was the day before vacation started. After their Christmas vacation, their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes would start. Dumbledore couldn't find a new teacher until now. Peter didn't feel safe in the hallways, knowing that James could come up to him at any time to release all of that frustration. But he didn't. Lily and Sirius kept a firm hand on James so he wouldn't go and knock Peter silly. Lily had even stopped hiding her slowly recovering face of green bumps to restrain him.
Lily's classes after transfiguration were Divination and Ancient Runes while the boys went off to double Muggle Studies. She and Hazel paired up to read each other's future through crystal balls.
"Back again, young one?" Hazel said in her fake, Professor Armani-like voice. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Okay, down to buissness." Hazel said in her normal voice. She set her foggy crystal ball down on the desk and rested her eyes on it.
"I see... I see an outline of a person... a boy.... a boy with messy, black hair, it's James! There's James and you, and some big green thing.. and.. oh! I lost it!" Hazel said slowly. Hazel averted her eyes from the crystal ball to Lily.
"Your turn." she said, pushing the ball towards Lily. Lily looked up at Hazel and back down to the crystal ball and a faint image appeared on it.
"Hmm, hard to tell... it looks like a.. a big black dog... but not the Grim, it's licking your face... the dog is changing... it's turning into something much larger, I think a human... It's getting really foggy... I can't tell what's happening now, it's gone." Lily said carefully.
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Hazel and Peter were going home for Christmas. Lily and James were staying at Hogwarts so they could plan the dance and Sirius was staying because James was staying. Remus was staying for sentimental reasons, saying that this would be his last Christmas at Hogwarts. Christmas Eve was fairly interesting for James and Sirius. They had a snowball fight out on the grounds (Sirius won by a hair) and stuffed their faces without as much people giving them disgusted looks at dinner. Lily had spent all of Christmas Eve in the Head's Room. She was studying hard, pouring over about five books at once. James, noticing how hard she was working, decided to give her a little surprise...
Lily had fallen asleep in the Head's Common Room on Christmas Eve, sprawled over the books she had been flipping through. James woke up early on Christmas morning to complete the rest of Lily's surprise. He crept silently over to Lily and prodded her. She showed no sign of awaking. "Here we go again..." James thought to himself.
"Lils, it's me, Severus Snape!"
Lily's eyes snapped open and she looked over, shocked. James grinned at her.
"Ha ha." she said sarcasticly. She got up to stretch but was stunned by the transformation of the Head's Room.
James had decorated it overnight. Strands of white, gold, red, and green ribbon were covering the walls and gold candles were lit, hovering about seven feet off the ground. A small Christmas tree was in the corner with all of James's and Lily's gifts underneath. The room seemed to sparkle as Lily gazed around it with her emerald green eyes. She also noticed, with a smirk, that there was a piece of mistletoe hanging in the doorway.
"James, this is.. amazing." Lily said, lost for words. James smiled inside as his stomach did a backflip. James silently pointed his wand to the corner where the Christmas tree was and a Christmas carol began to play. It was Lily's favorite, Silver Bells. James held out his hand.
"May I have this dance?" he asked smoothly. Lily smiled at him and took his hand.
James was not a very good dancer. He stepped on Lily's feet, moved the wrong way, but Lily didn't mind. She was lost in a world of bliss. James would mostly follow Lily's lead, since she was definitely the more graceful dancer. The song ended after a few minutes of laughter as James stepped on Lily's feet and moved in the wrong direction. James hurried over to the Christmas tree and pulled out a small, pink box from beneath it.
"Merry Christmas, Lily." he said, holding it up. Lily turned slightly red.
"James, you didn't have to buy me something..." she muttered. But she opened the little box nonetheless.
Inside were a pair of solid gold earings. They took the shape of lilies, each with a small pink crystal heart in the center of each delicate flower.
"Especially for you." James said happily. Lily opened her mouth silently, lost for words.
"They're beautiful, James..." she murmered, soaking in the beauty of the golden earings.
"So are you." James said, gazing at Lily as if seeing her for the first time. Lily could feel herself moving closer to James and without realizing it and was pulled into a kiss like no other. She looked down at her feet when they pulled away.
"James, we said we would just be friends.." Lily muttered. James shrugged.
"It just felt right." he said slowly. Lily looked up into his hazel eyes, embracing the way his face looked.
"Yeah, it did feel right." she agreed.
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Lily and James walked into the Great Hall, holding hands, Lily wearing her new lily earings. Sirius looked up merrily at them and his eyes imeadiatly moved to their laced hands. James noticed and turned a bit red, but nothing more.
"Merry Christmas, Prongs, Lily." Sirius said cheerfully. Lily and James sat down next to each other and started to eat their breakfast. Not many students had stayed for the holidays. There was a large group of slytherins, a few prefects from the other houses and mostly older students. It felt rather lonely for Lily, but in James's and Sirius's eyes, it was just more food for them.
"If you guys eat any more, you won't be able to eat a single thing during the feast!" Lily said, giggling a bit as she watched James and Sirius eat their waffles rather messily.
"Yeah right." Sirius said between mouthfuls. Lily sighed and ate a spoonful of cornflakes. She hummed Silver Bells to herself as she waited for James and Sirius to finish devouring the food in front of them. Remus was talking to Alice Horde about their N.E.W.T.'s and Lily felt rather bored. James looked over at her nervously a couple of times before saying,
"Lily will you come outside with me for a sec?"
Lily smiled at him warmly and nodded. Remus and Sirius watched with interest as James and Lily got up from their seats, holding hands, and walked out of the castle. It was absolutely freezing outside, but neither of them cared. They sat at the edge of the frozen lake just looking around for a moment.
"Lily, I have to tell you something.." James started, thinking hard about how he would word this. "I think I'm in love."
Lily gaped at him. James turned a bit red. He hadn't expected her to react like that.
"Why did you kiss me if you're in love with someone else?" she questioned, looking away from his deep hazel eyes.
"No, I don't think you got what I meant. Lily, I'm in love with you." James said quickly. Lily turned to look at him. Her face was flushed (and still a bit green) and her hair was a bit frizzy because of the cold, but James felt she had never looked more beautiful.
"Y-you do?" she stammered. James chewed the inside of his mouth and wondered anxiously if that Lily didn't want to hear what he just said.
"Yeah, I do." he managed to say. To James's surprise Lily smiled at him.
"You know what, James Potter? I think I love you too." Lily said sweetly, leaning her head against his chest.
They spent a while out there like that, James stroking Lily's vivid red hair gently as the frost bit them, making their ears go numb. And they both silently agreed that they just experianced the most blissful day of their lives yet.
A/N Again, please review!