Lily Apparated in after spending Christmas morning with her family, and James and Sirius both tackled her on sight.

"Let her up, let her up," Mrs. Potter said as she hauled Sirius up by the back of his shirt collar. "Lily, dear, so good to see you. Happy Christmas."

Once Lily was back on her feet and Mrs. Potter was on her way to the kitchen to ask the house elves for cookies and ciders, James and Sirius pulled her into the living room. Lily's eyes were wide as she took in the house; it was a beautiful home on a good day, but with the amount of tinsel and garlands and the elaborately decorated tree, it looked more like a picture in one of her mum's magazines than a family home. James flopped into one of the plush armchairs and pulled her into his lap, kissing her on the nose gently and grinning.

"Oh Merlin," Sirius groaned. "I'll keep Mum Potter away long enough for you two to be disgusting together," he drawled, dragging his feet behind him and dragging his hands across the string of bells hanging from one of the shelves. "You've been apart three days. Ridiculous."

"Happy Christmas," James said quietly when Sirius's elaborate exit was through.

"Same to you," Lily grinned. She kissed him gently but pulled back quicker than James was ready for. His face was slack and lips slightly open when he popped his eyes open in surprise. "Do you think he's right?"

"What? Who?"

"Sirius. About us being ridiculous."

"It's Christmas and I get to spend it with you for the first time. Sirius is lucky I didn't make us matching sweaters and write a song," James said lightly. He tried to lean forward to recapture her lips but she dodged him and placed a hand on his chest. He groaned and lowered his forehead to rest against Lily's.

"Just sit for a moment," she whispered. She burrowed her face in his neck and inhaled. "I just want to enjoy you."

"You could enjoy snogging me," James grumbled but he made no attempt to change what was happening. His heart felt too full just then to really complain. After a minute he kissed her cheek and chuckled. "You've made yourself just right at home here, Lils."

"I like you. Surprised?" She muttered into his neck.

"Well, now I'm just remembering back to when I was trying to scare you into being my girlfriend." He grinned and squeezed her waist gently.

"That's not what you were doing, but continue," Lily said, leaning back to fix him with an amused half-glare.

"Well, I just realized that I've let you be entirely too comfortable in our relationship," he said. Lily had half a minute to look confused before he picked her up, walked two steps over to the couch and dumped her onto it. She looked up with a teasing look on her face and James glared at her with his hands on his hips. "Too comfortable."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Lily asked quietly.

James launched himself at her, and Lily, expecting a proper snog, was surprised to find herself being mercilessly tickled. She squealed and kicked and finally, James stopped the attack and sat up, hair even messier than it usually was and face flushed with laughter.

"Well? You caught off-guard, Evans?"

Lily pushed him slightly as she sat up as well, trying to smooth down her hair. "No, just kind of angry."

"Ah, well," James shrugged. He reached around behind her and grabbed something before sliding off of the couch and onto a knee. "Lily," he said quietly, holding out a small box.

She turned crimson, mouth falling agape and heart pounding as if she had run full bore around the entire Great Lake. "James—w-what are you—"

"Lily, I know we've only been together two months—"

"J—James—Potter—"

"But they have been the best of my life. Please accept this," he said. She opened and closed her mouth but nothing came out. James couldn't help but giggle as he opened the box to reveal a small silver stag pin.

Lily's eyes got big and then very small as they narrowed into slits. "James—POTTER!" She yelled as she punched him on the shoulder. She covered her face with her hands and groaned.

James was crying from laughter but finally controlled himself enough to pull her hands off of her face and kiss them both, one palm and then the other. "I'm sorry, Lily. I couldn't resist—"

"You could very easily have done," she said but she had already forgiven him, he knew, because she had wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, I had to know."

"Know what?"

"That I could still spook you."