A Warm Day In Winter

By Molly The Monster

Setting: December 1977

Christmas. Christmastime was always a wonderful time. It was certainly much more special than any other time of the year. During the month of December it's always wonderful to look out your foggy bedroom window and see a fresh blanket of snow coating the ground. There's something that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside when you walk gingerly through the snow, trying not to let the snow get in your boots and get your socks wet. No one wanted to walk around with soggy boots all day.

There was no snow on the ground and there was only a slight chill in the air. The lake wasn't iced over like it usually was. The water rippled occasionally when a one straggling leaf finally fell of a tree. It was the middle of December and Christmas was slowly approaching. But it didn't feel like Christmas. At least, not to one Miss Lily Evans. As she sat under a large birch tree near the lake, she was actually starting to sweat underneath her thick Gryffindor scarf. What kind of world was it coming to when a girl was outside and she was sweating in the middle of December?

Lily reached for the scarf and loosened the knot around her neck to let the scarf fall loosely on her shoulders. She shifted her position and adjusted her parchment so she could continue to write at the bottom of the parchment. She was currently writing an essay for Professor Slughorn's class. She was almost done with it and as soon as she was, she planned to go up to the common room or perhaps her dormitory and take a nice, long nap. She deserved it, after all.

Then she remembered.

She promised the one and only James Potter that she would help him study for their upcoming Potions exam. Damn him and her inability to say no.

"Hey, Evans?"James asked, breaking the silence that had been held since they began their patrol. The two had been patrolling the hallways; one of the wonderful duties of being a Head Girl. It was one of the things Lily came to both hate and enjoy. When James was being his annoying self, Lily wanted to rip her hair out. But sometimes he wasn't. Lily didn't know what changed about him, but sometimes he wasn't so annoying. Sometimes he made her laugh and he was quite fun to be around. Lily almost shivered whenever she thought about the fact that she might not hate James Potter anymore. Not only did she not hate him, but she might have even began to like him a little bit.

Dear Merlin, what was wrong with her?

"Yes, Potter?" she asked distractedly, not looking over at him. Instead she kept her eyes on the various portraits of famous witches or wizards on the walls. All of their eyes were following her and James as they walked down the empty corridors.

James didn't respond right away. For whatever reason, he seemed to be apprehensive about his question. Lily was about to tell him to spit it out when he continued. "We have a Potions exam in a few days." That was all he said.

Lily turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, we do," she said, wondering where he was going with it. He wasn't looking at her, but he was looking forward. If Lily didn't know any better, she would have guessed that he was nervous. But James Potter was the most confident boy in the world. She couldn't imagine that he'd have anything to be nervous about.

There was silence again, then James spoke. "I was wondering..." he trailed off. Lily wasn't quite sure what he was wondering. If he was going to ask her out like he did almost every weekend since she was fifteen, he would have just been out with it. Asking her out never made him nervous before. "Would you, er, help me," he said, then he added quickly. "Study, I mean."

Lily was quite surprised with what he asked. Not what he asked her, but how he asked her. Something about seeing James Potter insecure almost made Lily feel sorry for him. He was like a little lost puppy dog. There really was nothing in the world like seeing the most arrogant boy you knew look so nervous. It could do things to you. Make you feel guilty for being the reason he was this way even if it was in no way at all your fault. It could make you do things you would never normally do.

"Sure," said Lily quickly.

Wait, what did she just say? Did she just say yes? Did she really just agree to spend more time than absolutely necessary with the likes of James Potter? What was this world coming too?

"Okay," James said awkwardly, probably unable to believe what just happened, though Lily thought she saw a little smile on his face.

The rest of the night was filled with awkwardness. Lily had no idea what had come over her. What in the world made her say yes? Every time he said something she almost told him to forget about her helping him, but for some reason she just couldn't.

He had to have hexed her or something. There was no other explanation.

Gathering up her things and shoving them into her bag, Lily stood up and brushed the grass and dirt off of her robes. That was the only thing she didn't like about sitting outside. She always managed to get herself filthy. It was one of her many talents.

She headed back to the castle, cursing herself for ever having agreed to this. No doubt he would do nothing but try to put moves on her the entire time. And Lily swore that if he even tried put his hands anywhere that they did not belong, James Potter would not be alive to see tomorrow.

The entire trip back to the Gryffindor girl's dormitory, Lily Evans was thinking of all the ways she could get out of doing this. Perhaps she'd end up in the hospital wing with a horrible case of spattergroit that would mysteriously be better tomorrow. Or she could just avoid him until tomorrow and tell him that she was sleeping in her dormitory the entire time. Or she could say she was attacked by the giant squid in the lake. That was always a good one.

When she reached the Gryffindor Common Room, neither James nor any of his companions were in sight. That was always good. She didn't want any witnesses. She made her way through the Common Room waving hello to the occasional student she knew. She climbed up the staircase and when she arrived in the girl's dormitory, it was empty except for one Melanie Willingham laying on her bed, reading a book that Lily couldn't quite identify.

As soon as Melanie spotted Lily, she lowered the book and let the book rest open on her stomach so she wouldn't lose her page. There was a slight smile on Melanie's face and Lily could tell she was having a very hard time not grinning from ear to ear.

Lily decided to play along. "What is it Melanie? Jesse Bryant finally ask you out?" asked Lily, also smiling at Melanie. She walked over to her trunk and placed her books and quills on top of it. Lily didn't honestly expect Jesse Bryant to ask Melanie out. Melanie had had a crush on him since she laid eyes on him first year, and if he had noticed her, Melanie would have hunted down Lily to tell her.

Melanie rolled her eyes at Lily as Lily sat down on her bed, directly opposite from Melanie. Melanie sat up, marked the page in her book and placed it on the bed next to her. She crossed her legs, looked at Lily and said, "No, I'm smiling because of your big date with James tonight, silly."

Oh Melanie. She was so foolish. Lily rolled her eyes and got up from her bed. "Melanie, we've been over this," she said, turning away from Melanie and looking out the window. "James and I are going to study and that is all," Lily reminded her, once again turning back around. She looked at Melanie who was watching Lily intently with a smirk on her face. "He hasn't been that annoying and I felt kind of bad." She was speaking the truth. Lily walked back over to where Melanie was sitting, sat down next to her and then laid on her back.

Melanie did the same as Lily so the girls were laying next to each other. "Firstly," Melanie said and Lily knew that she was about to give her a speech. "When has James Potter ever expressed any desire to study?"

Well, the girl did have a point. James Potter never expressed an interest in studying or even doing well for that matter. But then again, Lily knew she didn't know James Potter all that well, so who knew what he did behind closed doors? Quite frankly, Lily wasn't sure if she wanted to know what James Potter did behind closed doors. Lily almost shuddered at the thought of it. Okay, Lily, just forget about it.

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno," she said rather quietly, thinking about Melanie had said. Maybe she was right. Maybe this was James just tricking Lily into going on a date with him. Oh James Potter. You are so devious.

When Lily heard Melanie sigh, she prepared herself for the worst. "Why don't you just tell him you're busy? I can tell him you already had plans with me," Melanie suggested. It wasn't what Lily was expecting to hear from Melanie.

Lily thought about it for a moment. "No, he'd know I was lying. And, you know, he'd be, you know, upset. Or whatever."

"So?" Melanie said incredulously. She turned on her side, propping herself up on her elbow. She rested her chin in her hand and looked down at Lily. "Since when do you care about James Potter's feelings?" Melanie asked.

Lily coughed. "I don't," she said immediately, getting very defensive. She looked away from Melanie and out the window that was on the other side of the room. "I just figured that I told James I would, so I should."

Very quickly, Melanie practically shot up from her laying position so that she was sitting up on the bed. Lily turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Merlin, Lily. You don't...want to study with him. Do you?" Melanie's eyes were wide as coins and Lily thought she could see a slight smile on her face. It was almost as if she wanted Lily to want to study with James. But she couldn't possibly.

Then Lily finally realized what Melanie had said. "What?" she asked, also sitting up and eventually standing up. "I mean, no," she said, sitting back down on the bed next to Melanie. "No, absolutely not. I just have a guilty conscience, that's all. You should know that about me by now, Melanie."

"Oh, you've never had a guilty conscience when it came to James Potter," Melanie pointed out.

Lily rubbed her arms. "Look Melanie, you shouldn't read into this so much. During our patrols at night, James has been a lot better lately. He hasn't been annoying or anything," Lily told her, finally getting up off the bed for good. She opened up her trunk and looked for her potions book. "In fact, sometimes I even have fun during those patrols." Lily grabbed her book, a few quills and a roll of parchment.

"Oh no! You love him!" Melanie shouted, jumping off the bed, with an odd look on her face. Lily couldn't tell if Melanie was serious or not.

"I'm leaving now," Lily told Melanie, as she was unable to deal with Melanie's crazy accusations. Lily, was in no way, shape or form in love with anyone, least of all James Potter. Melanie was just absolutely out of her mind.

But apparently, Melanie wasn't done. "Oh, it'll be just lovely," Melanie said, a huge smile on her face. Melanie started spinning around in circles. It was almost as if she were actually dancing. "You'll have a huge wedding in the countryside. And a great honeymoon. And you'll move into a great big house in Godric's Hollow and have twelve kids named Billy and Harry and Susie and Jenny and–"

"Melanie!" Lily snapped now that all of her things were gathered up and she was ready to go. "James and I are not going to get married and we certainly are not having any children named Harry or whatever else you said. Now, I am leaving. Goodbye," Lily said, and she made a move for the door.

"You called him James again," Melanie said flatly. There was nothing accusatory in her voice. It was just an observation.

Lily stopped. Her back was toward Melanie, but she figured she would indulge Melanie. "What are you talking about?" she asked, before she turned around. Lily considered just forgetting about it leaving, but for some reason, she just decided to stay.

Bad idea, Lily. Bad, bad idea.

A small smile was on Melanie's face. "For all the years that we have known him, you have never, ever called him anything but 'Potter.' And you just called him 'James,'" Melanie told her, crossing her arms over her chest and looking very smug with herself.

"I did?" Lily asked, thinking about it. She certainly didn't think she had called him James. She had never called him James before in her life. At least not that she could remember.

Merlin, what in the world was happening to her? First she was actually having fun with James Potter. Then she was agreeing to study with James Potter. And now, apparently, she wasn't calling James Potter 'Potter' anymore, but she was calling James Potter 'James.' It was like there was an alteration in the space time continuum or something. Or perhaps James Potter had managed to slip something into her drink at dinner one night. He did seem slightly more interested in Potions than he usually did. Oh great. James Potter is poisoning me into thinking that I actually like him.

"Yes, you did," Melanie said, nodding her head. "Four times as a matter of fact."

"Four times, huh?"

"Yep."

"So what?"

"So...I think you love him?" Melanie said, her attitude completely changing. She had a big smile on her face, yet again.

Lily narrowed her eyes and scowled. "I'm leaving now."

She turned around and opened the door. She walked out, closing the door behind her. As she did so, she heard Melanie scream behind her, "Try not to have too much fun, dear! If you know what I mean!"

"Wormwood is one of the prime ingredients in what potion?" Lily asked, reading from her potions book.

"Uh..." James began, "Draught of Peace?" he guessed.

"Close," Lily said, nodding her head. "Draught of Living Death."

"How is that close? One puts you into such a deep sleep that you appear dead and the other relaxes you."

"You got the draught part right."

It had been almost two hours of studying. Surprisingly, James seemed one hundred percent devoted to the Potions. He had not made one comment regarding anything other than Potions. Except when he thanked her for helping him. There were no attempts to ask her out, there were no stupid jokes, and there wasn't even a 'You look nice today, Lily.' Quite frankly, it was actually sort of freaking Lily out. It was like there was yet another warp in the space time continuum. What the heck was going on?

James groaned and let his head fall on the table. "I'm such a failure," he whined, speaking into the roll of parchment that his face was now laying on.

Lily couldn't help but smile slightly. "James, stop it. You're not a failure," Lily told him, dropping her quill on top of her book. She reached over the table and pushed his shoulder. "Come on, you'll be fine."

"We've been at this for two hours and I think I know less than I did before we started," he said, and Lily was just barely able to make out the words he was saying.

"That is highly unlikely," Lily assured him, crossing her arms and leaning on the table with her elbows. "Now please sit up and concentrate," Lily told him, flipping through the pages of her Potions book to keep herself occupied.

James lifted his head off the table and leaned on it with one elbow. He didn't say anything; he just looked at Lily. Lily didn't say anything either, she just watched him watch her. For some reason, Lily couldn't look away. Not only couldn't she look away, but she didn't want to look away. James was the first to break eye contact. He sat up straighter and looked down at his book.

He cleared his throat. "So we've been at this for a while," he pointed out.

"Yes, I know," Lily said a little apprehensively. There was never any telling what James Potter was going to do. Lily felt the need to have her guard up at all times.

"And you haven't even yelled at me once," James pointed out.

Lily was getting nervous. "Well, when you're actually acting like a mature adult, you're not that bad to be around," Lily told him. She wasn't sure what possessed her to say it. It was true, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to be saying something like that to James Potter. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea or anything.

James chuckled. "Lily Evans just said I'm not that bad to be around," he said, looking like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Neither did I," Lily agreed, also laughing a little bit. Not only was she laughing, she was laughing with James Potter. She wasn't even annoyed that they weren't talking about Potions anymore. They had been studying very well for the past few hours. He definitely deserved a break and she definitely wanted one.

"I'm trying, you know," he said, a bit more seriously, looking at her very intently.

Lily felt like she could barely breathe. He was just staring at her. "Trying what?" she asked, a little bit confused.

"To not be the immature idiot you used to think I was," he said, still sounding very serious. It was very odd for Lily to hear James Potter talking this way. He must have been trying though, because he truly wasn't acting like the immature idiot that he used to be. He was getting into less and less trouble. He was obviously paying more attention to his studies: he did, after all, ask Lily for help on their Potions test. And he was actually trying to study when they were supposed to be. Lily didn't seem to notice the change until she thought about it. But she certainly welcomed it.

She wasn't quite positive what possessed her, but she reached across the table and grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I know you are," she said, not looking away from his gaze.

Before she realized what was happening, James Potter was leaning closer to her. She wasn't angry, annoyed, or irritated like she would have thought she would be. She didn't push him away. She let him lean in, and she even leaned in a little herself, until eventually he had pressed his mouth to hers.

The kiss only lasted seconds. The moment she realized what was happening, she jerked away. Had she really just snogged James Potter? "I have to go," she said immediately, sweeping up all her things in her arms and jumping out of her chair.

"Lily–I'm sorry. I didn't–" Lily heard James behind her, but she wasn't listening. She was rushing out of the library.

What in the world was going on with her?

She spend the next few days doing two things: avoiding James Potter at all costs and when she wasn't avoiding him, she was thinking about him. Her whole life was suddenly consumed by James Potter. It was almost as if she could think of nothing else. She snogged James Potter. She. Snogged. James. Potter. How could she have let that happen? She was going crazy. Clearly. A sane Lily Evans never would have agreed to be alone with James Potter if she didn't have to be.

Lily had chosen to tell Melanie that absolutely nothing had happened during their little study session. Lily was ninety eight and a half percent sure that Melanie didn't believe her, but Lily had to stick with her story. Nothing happened. Maybe if she told herself that enough times, she would actually forget what happened.

She was starting to get tired of avoiding James at all costs. They were on holiday, finally. So Lily was able to avoid him more easily because she didn't have to see him in classes. Because they were on holiday and there were much less students around, the prefects got to patrol the corners as an almost training session in case any of them were to be promoted to Head Boy or Girl, so she didn't have to see James then. Now she simply had to check around every corner before she turned. She knew it was ridiculous, but she didn't care. Plus, James and the idiots he called friends were always extremely loud in the hallway or the common room. They were rather hard to miss. Plus, Sirius usually had a group of girls following him around, making him even easier to spot. So although Lily was paranoid, she didn't have much to worry about.

Only, she had a lot to worry about. All she could think of was James and that kiss. That kiss and James. Sometimes, she even caught herself smiling as she thought about it. She would then proceed to slap herself on the forehead to stop herself.

Had she enjoyed it? No, that was not possible. She hated James Potter. Hated him. Hated him. Hated him. She hated him, she hated being around him, she hating studying with him, she hated snogging him. Now if only she could get herself to actually believe that.

It was Christmas Eve. Instead of going home for Christmas, Lily had to stay at school. Her parents decided that they were going to go on holiday for their twentieth Christmas together. Lily was outraged that they went without her. Not only because she would have loved to go on holiday, but because now she was stuck spending Christmas Eve trying to avoid a certain messy haired boy.

Life was so cruel sometimes.

Lily quickly scarfed down her food. Melanie was staring at her like she had two heads. This was the fastest Lily had ever eaten in her entire life. But as soon as she saw James all by himself, she knew she had to get out of their quickly.

"Slow down, dear," Melanie said, taking on a very motherly tone. "You're going to choke," she said, sounding very concerned. But Lily ignored her.

The Great Hall was rather empty. Most students went home for Christmas and Lily cursed her parents in her head for not taking her away from this place. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw James a little way down the table watching her. It was rather embarrassing. She was, after all, shoving food down her throat as if it was her last meal ever. But Lily had to get out of there, and she had to get out of there fast.

It was still hot, like it had been all week. Well not exactly hot but much warmer than it should have been in the middle of December. She was almost sweating under her robes. Something was seriously wrong with the weather.

"I'll see you later Melanie," she said quickly, getting up from her seat and walking out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible.

She began up the marble staircase when she heard someone behind her. "Hey!" the voice said.

James Potter. Of course.

Lily turned around slowly. He was standing at the bottom of the staircase, looking up at her. He looked a little sad, but Lily chose to ignore it. Her face was suddenly hot. And it wasn't just because is was so bloody warm outside during winter. She never felt this way around him before. But nothing made sense any more. She had, after all, not only snogged James Potter, but thought of literally nothing but him every moment after it.

"You've been avoiding me," he said flatly. He didn't sound accusatory. It sounded more like an observation.

Lily swallowed hard. "No, I haven't," she said quietly. This seemed like a very private conversation. And although the Entrance Hall was completely empty save for the two of them, she felt like this was being broadcasted in front of the entire school. Perhaps it was all the portraits on the walls staring at her.

"It's because of what happened in the library, isn't it?" he asked, but he sounded like he already knew the answer.

Her mouth felt very dry. "Let's talk about this later," she said quickly, turning around and going up the stairs. She simply couldn't deal with this.

"Let's talk about it now," he said softly.

Lily turned back around. He had climbed a few steps, so she was only a few steps above him. He looked so perfectly innocent beneath her. His eyes were hopeful. He looked like a little boy and Lily couldn't help but give in.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said quietly, like she didn't want the people around to hear. However, there were no other people around. Still, Lily felt like this was somehow being displayed for all to see. It was an eerie feeling. One she couldn't shake.

James stared at her intensely. "Why not?" he asked, this time he even sounded like he was a little bit annoyed. "Is it because you don't want to admit that maybe you actually liked it?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Lily responded immediately. She was used to these kind of remarks from James Potter, but this time she found it particularly annoying. She thought for a moment that maybe she was annoyed because he was right, but then she immediately shook her head and took a step back so she was at the top of the landing.

James responded by taking another step up. It looked like he was trying to fight back a smile. The corners of his mouth were curled up. "Maybe it's because you're starting to realize that all of those intense feelings you have for me aren't hate, but something else?" he said slowly, moving closer to her.

Lily swallowed the lump in her throat. "No, definitely not," she said immediately. Lily was starting to feel herself sweat and she wasn't sure if it was because she was hot or because she was nervous.

"Are you trying to convince you or me?" he asked, taking a step so that he was on the landing with her.

"You..." Lily said quietly, once again, not sure who she was trying to convince.

James took a step closer so that they were merely a few inches apart. "Are you sure?" he asked, the small smile on his face turning into a smug grin. He reached up and brushed a stray of red hair out of her face.

Lily's lip quivered. She was getting even hotter and she could barely speak. "Stop that," she said quietly, not able to tear her eyes away from James.

"Stop what?" he asked quietly, reaching his other hand up so that he was cradling her head in his large hands.

"That..." she answered. She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She was afraid that if she looked down it would actually be beating out of her chest. She had never had this kind of reaction before. She'd dated boys before, plenty of boys. She'd snogged boys, gotten close to them. But never had she felt anything even remotely close to something like this.

James brushed another strand of hair out of her face before slowly leaning in closer to her until he gently pressed his mouth to hers.

Lily wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted. It felt like forever, but perhaps it was only a minute. All she knew was that she was standing in the Entrance Hall, voluntarily snogging James Potter in front of anyone who wanted to see. Not that anyone was watching; the Entrance Hall was surprisingly empty. Lily felt like she was in the middle of some kind of dream. Probably James Potter's dream.

When they finally broke apart, he kept his arms behind her on the small of her back, and she kept her arms around his neck. So she just snogged James Potter. Again. And surprisingly, she wanted to do it again.

Lily couldn't fight the smile spreading across her face. She couldn't exactly explain why everything that had happened on that warm day in winter, happened, but all she knew was that she was glad that it did. "Merry Christmas," she said, not even bothering to try to hide the ridiculous grin on her face.

"You know," James replied thoughtfully, "I think that's the best present I've ever gotten."

And there it is! I hope you guys liked it and I hope you'll let me know what you think! I began writing this AGES ago and only just got back to it recently. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I hope you like it too!