A/N: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me, neither do any of the characters or places mentioned in this fic.

Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry- Divination (Assignment 3)
Your Challenge: Write a fic where (at least) two characters hold hands at some point. Can be a couple, friends, family, whatever, but they have to be holding hands. You can't just have them hold hands for no reason, however. You have to give the hand-holding some sort of purpose, whether it be taking it literally for this class by reading someone's palms, someone trying to get the other's attention, as an affectionate gesture, or whatever else you can come up with, it just shouldn't be a throwaway line.
Prompts used: Regulus Black, "After all this time?"

(It's just under 1.5 k words)

Lily Evans marched through Hogsmeade giving orders to the messy haired boy at her side. She took her role as prefect very seriously. Unfortunately for her however, she had been abandoned by Remus Lupin, who had a nasty cold and it had been too late to find another prefect to assist her with her prefect duties. So of course James Potter had volunteered, and Lily had been unable to get out of the arrangement as McGonagall thoroughly approved of the troublemaker finally doing something responsible. Lily didn't trust him at all and now she was forced to put up with him for the whole day.

It wasn't that she hated him, he was just so infuriating! He had calmed down a bit , and had stopped asking her out twice a day, but he was still irritating and he made her feel really young and naive. Since Remus and her had become prefects they had become friends. He was the most studious of the Marauders and least annoying, and she had discovered that he had some interesting opinions. However this meant that she spent a lot more time around James as he and Sirius were almost never separated from Remus.

She took a break from telling him what to do to take a breath and brush the snow off her. Hogsmeade was beautiful in the snow and she paused to enjoy the view and watch the massive snowball fight. James took the opportunity to finally get a word in.

"You look pretty cold Lily-flower. Can I buy you a drink to warm you up?"

She was beautiful, the cold causing a light flush to cover her cheeks, her gorgeous red hair contrasting with the pure white of the snow, which was now falling heavily. And of course, she turned him down immediately.

"I told you not to call me that! And no! We do have responsibilities you know."

She walked off haughtily, the effect being ruined when she slipped on the ice and fell hard. It hurt a bit, but it was her pride that was really wounded. And of course she haf to make a fool of herself in front of James bloody Potter!

He didn't laugh at her though. He offered his hand to help her up and Lily felt that it would be childish to refuse his help. She grasped his hand and he pulled her up, helping her steady herself with the other hand. She found herself thinking it was quite nice being this close and forced herself to snap out of it before she did something embarrassing.

Meanwhile Sirius Black was watching them and he couldn't help himself. He knew that if Evans ever found out what he was about to do she would be furious but hopefully James would be grateful enough to save him from her wrath. Smirking to himself he pointed a wand at their clasped hands.

Lily pulled away first and James sighed. He would have held onto her forever, breathing in the scent of her soft hair, but she backed off.

"You can let go of my hand now Potter."

He released her. At least he tried to, but it was like his hand was stuck to hers.

"Lily I can't"

"That's not funny Potter. I haven't got time for this now."

"No seriously Lils I can't let go!"

He shook his hand, stared at it, tried to figure out what had happened. Although on second thoughts, being forced to hold hands with Lily Evans was hardly a tragedy he thought as he grinned to himself.

"What are you laughing at? Did you do this? Get rid of it James!"

"Oh so it's James now is it?" He leaned closer to her. "I didn't do anything Lilykins."

"Then how do you explain this?!"

"I assume it's a practical joke. Anyway I'm sure they'll be able to sort it out back at the castle."

"But I can't go back to Hogwarts- I have to patrol Hogsmeade and they're short of prefects already."

"Well then I guess we'll have to do it together."

"But- but- people will see us!" She was growing more and more flustered.

"Yeah I suppose they will." He wasn't bothered. "Relax Evans, you can just tell people that I cursed you or something."

She huffed irritably and set off at a brisk pace. James' longer strides easily kept up with her. She flinched and hit his arm when she felt him slip her hand into his pocket.

"What are you doing?!"

"Chill out Lily, your hand's freezing, I'm just trying to stop you from catching pneumonia or something."

She rolled her eyes but he was right, her hand was cold. "Fine."

They were walking along the main street now and attracting a lot of attention. Everyone knew of James' legendary fight for Lily's heart and people were turning to watch them and whispering behind their backs.

Regulus Black spat in their direction and called out mockingly to James. "Finally got yourself your mudblood girlfriend Potter? I guess she's not so prim and proper after all. Maybe I'll have a go at her when you're done with her!"

Lily flushed bright red and tears welled in her eyes. James swung around and drew his wand. "What did you say?"

"I said your girlfriend's a slag Potter."

Before James could curse him, a stunning spell hit Regulus from behind. The younger Black put a shield up in time to avoid the spell but Sirius advanced on him.

"Sirius? You would curse me to defend the honour of a filthy mudblood? You bring shame on our family name"

"Our family is a prejudiced screwed up mess Regulus. I have nothing to say to you, but stay the hell away from my friends!" With a nod at James, Sirius marched off, cursing himself because that was his fault, he had stuck their hands together. His stupid brother ruined everything.

Lily ran off, dragging James with her. When she was far enough away from everyone she threw herself down and broke into tears. James sat beside her awkwardly. He pulled her hesitantly into a hug and she melted into him, not caring that it was James, just needing comfort. He brushed her tears away, whispering softly to her as she sobbed. Eventually she stopped crying and they just sat there, watching the snow cover everything, turning the world completely white. Finally he stood up, pulling her up with him. He was taken completely by surprise when she stuffed a handful of snow down his neck.

Giggling at the shocked expression on James' face Lily ran, forgetting that she was still attached to James. She fell over in the snow for the second time that day and he tumbled over on top of her. She gasped for breath, still laughing hysterically, but James was already planning revenge. He picked up an armful of snow and held it above her, threatening to drop it. Her eyes went wide and she rolled over, trying to get away. He dropped his snow and pinned her to the ground.

She leant up and slowly kissed him. It was a short kiss, sweet and gentle and he blinked confusedly at her. "I thought... you didn't..."

She blushed but before she could say anything she realised that their hands were no longer joined.

"Look James! The spell is broken!"

He sat up and realised that while they had been messing around it had gotten late. "We should head back to school."

He helped her up and then set off walking. She slipped her hand into his. He looked at her surprisedly.

"You want to hold my hand? After all this time? I figured you'd want a break!"

"Nope. You can hold my hand any time James." He couldn't believe his luck. Lily liked him! She liked him! He managed to avoid doing a victory dance and controlled his feelings.

He kissed her softly on the nose and they walked slowly back to Hogwarts, hands swinging between them.