Unofficial Portkey Archive

One Sweet Day

Disclaimer: Characters involved are not mine, except for a few teachers I made up, but they're pretty much unimportant, so you're welcome to take them if you like.
Summary: One Christmas morning, two students find that they're the only students left in the school for the holiday. They make the best of it, and in the end, they get more out of it than they had ever even dreamed of...
Pairings: James/Lily
Spoilers: Information was taken from all of the first four books, but you won't know what information was taken, and what was made up if you haven't read them, so feel free to read (and review!) anyway.
Rating: PG, for a little bit of kissing and because Lily and James are sixteen year olds with all those hormones.
Feedback: Please send some! I really want to hear what you think! Feel free to review by the button, or email me at zettazofia@yahoo.com. Thanks!
Author's Note: This was inspired by my urge to write a short little ficlet type thing. And of course, reading my favorite stories and feeling insanely jealous of the fantastic authors. And despite the fact that she probably doesn't want her name connected to this, I'm going to dedicate this to Lavender, fabulous authoress of the Falling Trilogy, which I highly recommend. (Please hurry with more!) This is my first fic at Portkey, so I hope y'all like it. :o)

* * *

Christmas.

Before, the word would bring a smile to his face, a happy feeling to his heart, and the urge to jump out of bed and rip open his gifts.

Not today though.

Aside from the fact that it was the one-year anniversary of the death of his parents and sister, his best friends were all at home for vacation, and James was stuck at Hogwarts, all by himself. He felt very, very lonely.

In fact, there was only one other student at Hogwarts for the holiday, a Muggle-born girl named Lily Evans. She was in the same house and year as he, and James knew her distantly. But while he was sure she was a real nice girl and everything, he was not doing handsprings over spending his holiday alone in Gryffindor tower with her.

For the hundredth time since break had started three days ago, he wished that he'd taken Sirius or Remus or Peter up on their offers and gone home with them. Anything would be better than being by himself- for the most part- on Christmas.

But he hadn't, because he'd been worried about how the Pettigrews would feel- they were very poor, and James did not feel that it would be appropriate to give them one more mouth to feed, especially when he knew that the only reason Peter was able to even attend Hogwarts was because of a scholarship and his father taking on a second job. And Remus was in the same boat, and Sirius was going to be busy with family for the rest of the break, and it just wouldn't have felt right.

James sighed and sat up in bed, staring at the small pile of gifts at the end of his bed.

It would be the first year his mum didn't send him a box of fudge, and his dad didn't send him some ridiculous Muggle device that fascinated both of them. His sister wouldn't send him a book that he would complain about, but really love, and there would be no box of handmade handkerchiefs lovingly put together by his grandmother, who had no idea that no one used handkerchiefs any more, but used tissues instead. It was sad, but he'd never really realized how much he liked rituals like that until now, when he couldn't have them.

He didn't touch the presents, not yet. He wasn't quite ready to deal with the feelings he was sure he'd feel.

He pulled a shirt on, and his robe and slippers and went downstairs. He was mildly surprised to see Lily Evans down there, staring into the fire.

He was quite dismayed to find she was crying. "Oh," he said awkwardly, stopping on the bottom step.

She looked up, and then looked away quickly. "Sorry," she said softly, reaching for the tissues on the table. "I didn't mean- well, I figured you'd still be sleeping. Sorry," she said again, wiping her eyes and looking ready to jump up and run back upstairs.

He hesitated, then continued down the stairs, going over and sitting on the end of the couch closest to her chair.

"Anything I can help with?"

"Do you work miracles?" she asked, a bit of bitterness in her voice.

James recognized her tone and looked away. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She managed to smile. "Don't be. I'm the one who's crying in the Common Room."

"Is it your parents?" he asked hesitantly.

She didn't look at him. "They passed away over the summer."

He nodded a little, looking down. "Mine... well, last Christmas."

She looked up again, surprised, and guilt crossed her face. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't realize. Is that why you're here?"

He shrugged. "My aunt and I don't really get along, so I didn't want to see her."

Lily nodded a little, understanding. "I'm supposed to be staying with my grandparents, but they don't need the stress of it. And my sister's there already."

She sounded unbelievably sad, and he looked at her with wary curiosity. "You don't get along?"

She smiled sadly. "She doesn't like magic, she thinks it's for freaks."

There was a painful note in her voice when she said the last word, and James felt bad for her. "You're Muggle-born? I didn't know that. Why doesn't she like it?"

Lily shrugged, setting her used tissues down on the table. "I don't really know. We weren't ever very close, but after I got my letter..." Lily sighed. "Petunia's never handled change very well."

"But it was you who changed, not her."

Lily met his gaze, her green eyes very sad. "She doesn't like anything to change. Especially if it doesn't fall into her range of normal." The portrait of Godric Gryffindor above the fireplace let out a loud snort in his sleep, and Lily smiled sadly at it. "And this falls far from normal."

"My sister and I never got along either," James said, staring into the flames in the fireplace. "She was older than I, and I think she was the reason my parents got married when they did. I mean, they loved each other and everything, but I don't think they'd have gotten married without her. And then they had me a few years later..."

Lily studied him curiously. "And she felt jealous, because it seemed more like..."

He smiled sadly too. "More like they wanted me. I was planned, whereas she was... well, not so planned." He shrugged. "I don't know. It could have just been the age difference. There were seven years between us."

"I'm sure she loved you though."

James nodded a little and looked away from the fire, away from Lily. "She did. It was just... I don't know," he sighed, rubbing his eyes a little. Why was he suddenly telling her this stuff, anyway? It wasn't like he knew her, or even that she cared, or had asked.

"I don't even know that about my sister," Lily said softly.

James snorted a little. "I'm sure she loves you. You don't seem like the type that many people could not love."

Lily didn't answer, and when he looked at her, he found her studying her hands with intense concentration.

He sighed. "Have you opened your gifts yet?"

Lily looked up, a little startled by the change of topic, but shook her head. "I didn't feel like it."

"Me either. Why don't we go upstairs, get dressed, and bring our things down here? We'll open the gifts then go to breakfast, and then figure something to do for the rest of the day. I don't particularly feel like thinking all that much, and I'm sure you're the same way, so we may as well distract each other. That is, if you don't mind being used a bit, and you don't mind using me."

She smiled a little, a glimmer of interest in her eyes. "That sounds good with me."

"Excellent," he said, standing. He pulled her to her feet. "Hurry up, though," he said. "I might just get too impatient and start without you." Not likely, but he knew girls took a long time to get dressed in the morning.

She smiled a little more. "I'll hurry, then," she said, and they both went up the staircases to their rooms.

James threw on a pair of slacks and a shirt, then one of his weekend robes- it was dark blue instead of black. He stuffed the Marauder's Map in his pocket (Never Leave Hogwarts Without It!) and then added his wand.

There were half a dozen gifts in neat piles at the end of his bed, but before he grabbed them, he grabbed an unopened box of holiday sweets a girl had given him, and changed the tags so that it read 'To Lily'.

He felt slightly guilty, but he would have felt worse if he hadn't had anything for her at all.

Then he loaded up with gifts and went downstairs.

It wasn't much longer before Lily joined him, carrying her small stack of gifts as well.

She took a seat on the couch next to him and, at the same moment, they handed each other identical boxes. "Happy Christmas," they both said.

They looked at each other, then at the boxes, then they grinned at each other. "Patty?" Lily wondered, and he nodded. "I'm tutoring her in charms," Lily said, taking his box as he took hers.

James shrugged and set the box on the table. "We've gone out a few times."

He got the usual gifts from Sirius, Peter, and Remus. Some candy and joke supplies. The largest package was from his aunt, and consisted of three books. He frowned as he inspected them, not recognizing the titles. "Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, and Wuthering Heights."

"Muggle Classics," Lily said at once. She took one from him and inspected it. "Wow," she said softly. "Be careful with these. They look pretty old."

"My uncle collected books," James said after she handed it back. "He was a Muggle. My aunt probably just wanted to get rid of the books."

"Well," Lily said. "If it helps, I've read two of them, and they're quite good."

He shrugged. "I'm sure I'll read them." As if confessing a big secret, he glanced around and leaned forward a little. "I actually do like reading."

She smiled, a little amused. "Prankster James Potter, a voracious reader? I'm stunned."

He grinned. "Don't let it get around."

She raised her hands, ever the innocent one. "I'd never do something like that."

"Oh, I'm sure," he said, sitting back. "What did you get?"

Her smile became somewhat unhappy. She pointed to a book on the table. "Petunia sent me that. She gave it to me last year, too."

He winced. "Oh."

She shrugged. "She tried. Really, I'm somewhat in shock that she sent anything. She hasn't spoken to me since about a week before school started. My grandparents sent me some earrings, and I got some candy and a scarf from my friends."

"Speaking of food, you wanna go to breakfast?"

Her gaze flickered to the candy on the table, then back to him. "We were speaking of food?"

He shrugged. "Well, sweets are food, sort of."

She was obviously amused, but she nodded a little. "I'm not certain I follow your logic, but I agree with your goal. Shall we?"

They stood and James led the way over to the portrait hole, then helped her out of it.

"Why, thank you, kind sir," she said, amused.

He closed the portrait hole behind them and gave her a short bow. "But of course, dear lady."

She curtsied, and they began walking down the halls.

Neither really felt like speaking, but the silence between them was not awkward. It was actually rather comfortable, James realized, a bit puzzled. He and Lily had never really talked before, and never in a non-school or Prefect capacity, so he was somewhat puzzled to find that he truly didn't mind the silence.

To be honest, he realized slowly, he'd never really even noticed her before this break.

It wasn't that she was someone who just blended in. She was actually quite pretty, with long red hair, and lovely green eyes, but...

Well, he wasn't really sure why he hadn't noticed her before.

He was frowning a little when he entered the Great Hall, but he automatically held the door for Lily.

Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Devine, and Sprout were in there already, cheerfully talking.

Professor Dumbledore was the first to notice them. "Happy Christmas," he greeted them, smiling.

"Happy Christmas," Lily said, smiling softly at the teachers.

"Happy Christmas," James echoed, also smiling.

The teachers echoed the greeting.

"Ah, our only students this fine holiday. Sit here," Dumbledore said cheerily, gesturing towards two seats to his right. "I'm quite certain that Professors Lewis and Locus won't mind."

James glanced at Lily and found her looking at him. He shrugged and led the way around the table, taking Lewis's seat.

"Professor McGonagall and I were just discussing the plans for the rest of the holiday," Dumbledore informed them, serving himself some more kippers. "It's come to our attention that you are the only students here for the holidays, so you'll likely want some sort of entertainment."

"Assuming that you will behave yourselves," McGonagall said, looking pointedly at James, who looked innocent. "You may go into Hogsmeade whenever you like- so long as you inform either myself or Professor Dumbledore before leaving, and you are back by the normal curfew."

"Really?" Lily said, smiling. "That's wonderful."

James agreed. He was always willing to go to Hogsmeade.

They filled their plates, and talked through breakfast, Dumbledore telling stories about previous Christmases, and the other teachers offering their comments and their own stories.

It wasn't nearly as bad as James had feared it would be, and he found himself smiling at the stories, and actually enjoying himself a little.

After breakfast, Lily mentioned she wanted to go by the owlrey and the library.

James, not really wanting to be on his own, decided to accompany her. It would give him the chance to send an owl to Sirius, to assure him that he was doing well. Sirius had sent him two owls that morning, and both had arrived during breakfast, and both had been nothing more than worried inquiries into how he was handling things.

They did not take long at the owlrey, though James found out that Lily was owling her best friend for the same reasons he was owling his. Then they went to the library.

The librarian was not at her desk, but the register was all set up.

Lily only needed to get a book for some of her homework, so James went with her to help her find it.

"I'm not very good at Potions," she explained as she looked through the shelves, pulling out a short stack of books. "So I need to find as much as I can for the essay."

James looked through another shelf until he found a small green book. "Sirius usually helps me out," he explained. "He's pretty good. But this book was pretty helpful." He handed it to her.

She smiled her thanks, added it to her stack, and they returned to the table she'd set her bag on.

"You want to go for a walk outside?" James suggested, drawn to the window.

Snow covered the ground outside, and the lake was iced over.

Footprints marred the landscape in a handful of places, but other than that it looked quite peaceful.

His mum had always loved snow, James remembered, suddenly saddened.

Lily joined him at the window. "It's pretty," she said. She wore a sad smile as well. "When I was younger, my parents took Petunia and I sledding all the time. We didn't get to go last Christmas. I hadn't realized... well, I didn't want to go last time. Some friends were around, and I went out with them instead."

James stared out the window. "We went caroling on Christmas night, then came back and had cookies, and cocoa. Sounds kind of silly, but..." He turned away from the window. "We did it every year, since before I can remember. My grandmother always said that they'd done it for all of her life, too. This is the first time." He fell quiet, lost in memories.

"How did they..." She didn't finish the question, and bit her lip uncomfortably, probably regretting even starting to ask.

James didn't look at her. "We always go to my grandmothers on Christmas. My aunt was coming over to our house before we went to my grandma's. She was late, and my dad was tired of waiting. Mum told me to wait for them before I went over. So I did, but I didn't want to. I never really liked her all that much, and my mum knew it. But she made me wait anyway. They were another twenty minutes, and I was mad, so I went through the Floo first, as soon as they got there."

He sighed and glanced at her. She was watching him carefully, concern in her gaze. He looked away again. "I guess they walked in at the end of a Death Eater attack. My grandfather was a big supporter of Muggles and Muggle-rights. Mum and Dad and Trish..." He shrugged. "My aunt came in behind me, and she thought it was some kind of joke. My uncle called for help. They put the Dark Mark up above the house, so there were already people on the way. We had a joint funeral a few days later."

Lily nodded a little. "Perhaps I shouldn't ask this, but why didn't you go with Sirius or any of your other friends? I wouldn't think that you'd, you know, want to be alone."

He took a seat on the edge of the library table. "Sirius wanted to. His parents would have been fine with it too. Remus too. Pete invited me to his house too. But..." he shrugged. "I just couldn't." He met her gaze. "I guess... I just wanted to have the time to myself, to think about things."

"Fair enough," she said, nodding a bit.

"What about you?" he asked after another moment. "What happened?"

She picked up her bag and he stood up. They walked out of the library. "My parents were on their way home from a party, only a week or two after I got home. It was about two, two thirty, and they had to drive by a pub. Someone hit them, and sent them over the edge of a hill. The car rolled, exploded." She started to shift her books into her other hand, but he took them from her without a word. "Thanks," she said. "Anyway, Pet and I found out about it at about five thirty in the morning, when a guy showed up at the house and told us. We had to go down to the hospital, and call my grandparents.

"My mom lingered for a few hours, until my grandparents got there. She was... she was in a lot of pain, and she wasn't fully conscious."

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at her, his gaze filled with compassion.

She looked ahead. "I was very upset for a long time." She hesitated. "I almost didn't come back to school, even."

"Not come back?" James repeated, looking at her with a frown. "Why not?"

"Pet was worse than I was," Lily answered slowly. "She was in a real bad place. She went to the funeral, but that night, she went out with a bunch of her friends, like nothing was wrong." Lily shrugged. "My grandma didn't think it would be a good idea for anything to change around her, so we started talking about me staying back. Then, one night, near the end of summer, when I was doing homework, Petunia came in."

They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Mistletoe," James said. "Happy Christmas, too."

The Fat Lady smiled. "And to you as well, my dears."

The portrait swung open and they went over to the chairs around the fire. Their Christmas gifts were still on the table. Lily picked up a carton of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and opened them.

James took a seat on the couch again, slipping his shoes off and sitting cross-legged on the couch. "So what happened then?"

Lily inspected an orange one. "She started telling me how sorry she was for being so mean to me. She started crying, and said that she missed mum and dad. Then she said she didn't want me to leave. That if I left, I'd be leaving her all alone. She said she'd been so hurt by the way I'd just accepted it, and moved away from her, as if magic meant more to me than her. She asked me to stay home, and said that if I did, she really thought we could work it out." Lily took a tentative bite out of the orange bean, then relaxed and ate the rest of it. She finished it and dug out a red one, inspecting it as she'd done the orange.

"I guess I would have believed her. But she sat down, and we kept talking, and I thought she was okay with everything. So I got out my wand, and started to do something- you know, just levitate something, or something stupid like that, just to show her that it wasn't such a horrible thing. That if she'd just consider it, she might see that it was worth it for me to keep coming here. She jumped up and started screaming. She called me names, and said that I had to stay home, or else I'd never get rid of it. That I was disgracing our parents' memories by being some kind of freak."

Lily dug out another bean, and didn't look at James. "They were thrilled about the magic thing. They wanted to know everything about it, and... Well, Petunia said that if I didn't drop magic, she'd never speak to me again." Lily shrugged. "I didn't believe her, and told her that I just couldn't drop it. But she really hasn't said anything to me since then. The fact that she sent me something for Christmas is a huge step."

But her grandparents had probably forced her to, James knew, and judging by Lily's expression, she knew it too.

"The joys of family," he said softly.

"No joke there," Lily agreed miserably.

"But why didn't you go home with any of your friends then?"

She gave him a rather twisted smile. "What friends? I mean, the girls in the dorm and I are all friends, but we're not that close. The closest friend I have at school is Sherry, but she's got four brothers and five sisters. I don't think her parents want an extra person in the house."

James winced, understanding. "Oh."

She shrugged. "It's okay. I don't think it's all that bad being here, alone. Well, you know, mostly alone. And you aren't the idiot that you occasionally act like you are."

He blinked and looked at her, noting the small grin on her face. "I do not act like an idiot," he said with mock offense. "Sirius does."

She giggled a little. "I've heard you boys talking. I'd have to say you all have some impressively stupid moments."

He was curious, and very amused. "Oh, do tell, Ms. Evans."

She sent him a patiently amused look. "Do you really think no one else knows about your little cloak?" The shocked expression on his face made her laugh, and she dug through her bag of beans again. "Honestly, Potter, we've all laughed at you so many times... 'Oy, Peter,'" she said in a gruff voice. "'Don't forget the you-know-what so we won't get caught when we're you-know-where' and all that other nonsense. And then you're always carrying it with you, but no one ever sees you wearing it. For obvious reasons, of course. That and your little map... We all know you've got one, we just don't know how you did it."

He was truly dumb-founded, and a little embarrassed too. Everyone knew about the cloak and the map? "I'm so ashamed," he said, rolling his eyes. "What else do you know about us?"

She set aside a few beans before she spoke. "Are you going to eat those?" he asked, eying them hopefully. She shook her head, and he scooped them up, cheerfully biting into a murky looking brown one. He spat it out at once, and tossed it into the fire, making a face. "Don't ask," he said when she looked curious about the flavor.

She shrugged and settled back against the pillows. "Oh, well..." She considered things. "Well, when you four all gather in the corner over there, we know you're planning something. And if you look at someone a few times, you're probably going to be pranking them."

He grinned a little. Honestly, he'd had no idea that they were this obvious about anything. He would have to speak to Sirius, and convince him that it was all his fault. He ate a yellow bean and his lips puckered a little. Lemon.

"And then," she said slowly, a small frown crossing her face as she looked through her bean bag again. "There's one other thing." She found a blue bean and pulled it out, then looked up to meet his curious gaze. "You always disappear on the night of the full moon."

He felt panic rising in him, and had to work to keep from jumping up and demanding what exactly she meant by that comment. "O-oh?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure if everyone knows that part... but I know a lot of people do."

"What else do you know?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "The normal stuff, math, English, a tiny little bit of French that I learned when I was younger-"

"No," he said, frowning. "About when we, uh, disappear."

The hesitation before she answered had him near panicking. The answer had him feeling somewhat sick, and fearful for his friend.

"Remus is always sick a few days around the full moon."

She was watching him with a small frown on her face, as if studying him would get her the answer she desired.

And, James realized, noting that hands were clenched in fists and he was scowling, she probably would.

"You're not all... you know, like that, are you?"

He blinked a little. "No, of course not." Good one, James, he thought immediately after, furious with himself. Now she knows for sure that something's up with Remus. "I mean, like what?" he asked, somewhat lamely.

She sent him an annoyed look, as if she couldn't believe he was even trying anymore.

He groaned. "Hell. Say it outright, would you?"

"Are you all werewolves?"

"No," he said immediately. "We aren't."

She relaxed a little. "Then its just Remus."

He flinched. "I-I..."

"You won't say either way," she said, accepting it. "He's your friend. I understand." She tilted her head to the side, considering something, and he stared at her, sure that she was insane. After all, what normal, sensible girl wouldn't go running? She even had confirmation now, after all. But she shocked him again by moving on. "Do you think he'd go out with Sherry?"

He studied her for a long moment, ignoring her question. "You aren't screaming."

She frowned at him. "Why would I? Remus is a sweet boy, and it's not his fault what he turns into." She shrugged. "Plus, I don't understand why everyone thinks werewolves are so awful. I mean, I can't see Remus ever dropping the good side and serving Volde-er, You-Know-Who."

He frowned at her, puzzled. "You were going to say Voldemort."

She shrugged. "It's stupid to be afraid of a name. I mean, Hitler did worse than what Voldemort's doing, and we all still say Hitler. It's just plain dumb to avoid the name."

"I agree," he said, completely puzzled by her attitude. "You're not afraid of werewolves, you're not afraid of Voldemort..."

"I'm afraid of them," Lily corrected. "When they're standing in front of me and getting ready to kill me. But it's stupid to waste your life hiding from what might happen. As to the werewolf thing, well, it would be stupid of me to run from Remus every time I see him. He's nice, I like him a lot, and it wouldn't be fair to hate him just because of fate and one night a month."

He studied her carefully, looking for any sign that she was being insincere. He found none. "You're a good person, Lily Evans," he said, smiling at her.

She blushed a little. "You don't know me well enough to say that."

He shrugged. "I'm a good judge of character." He ate another bean, this one green. "Yech. Grass." He made a face, but swallowed it. It was far from the worst tasting bean he'd ever had. "You wanna go flying?"

"Flying?"

He grinned at her. "You know, on a broom?"

She shuddered. "Heavens, no. It's so... so..."

"Fun? Exciting? Awesome?"

"Frightening. Scary. Terrifying."

"Great! Let's go." He stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. "Go get your cloak and gloves and be down here real quick."

"But-"

"Go."

Sending him a mildly annoyed look, she went upstairs.

* * *

(Divided in two parts to make it easier to read.)