Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Lily tugged her green knitted cap down over her ears and brushed some strands of static-cling red hair over her shoulder, glaring out into the white swirls obscuring the platform. "Bloody, bloody snow."

Hugo chuckled beside her. "Isn't it gorgeous, Lil? We're going to have a white Christmas!"

"It's gorgeous for you, because your parents trust you to apparate home without splinching yourself. It is not gorgeous for me, because my parents are driving out here, and therefore we will probably end up in a ditch on the side of the road." She scowled at Hugo. He rolled his eyes leapt from the train into a drift on the platform.

He turned in a circle, laughing as the snowflakes fell on his curly brown head. "Oh, come on Lily. Uncle Harry's a fine driver."

"But he's awful at driving in snow, and Mum is worse. Honestly." She stepped down from the platform and grimaced as her leather-booted foot disappeared in cold white fluff. "Well, are you heading out, then?"

Hugo turned and attempted to suppress a grin at Lily's expression. Her hat stopped just above her eyes, and her silver scarf almost covered her mouth entirely. Her Slytherin green gloves were barely visible, as she had stuffed her hands in the pockets of her black wool coat, and her gray skinny jeans, which had just begun to show spots of wet snow, descended into dangerously heeled black leather boots. "Do you remember, back before you became obsessed with fashion, when winter was your favorite season?"

"I am not obsessed. And I wouldn't say winter was ever my favorite season."

"Are you kidding? You used to Floo over to wake me up for the first snowfall every bloody year, until you went off to Romania and spent too much time shoveling and not enough time riding dragons, or whatever it was you thought you'd be doing."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Have you noticed that this is the first Christmas since first year that I'm not spending with Uncle Charlie? If I hate shoveling, why do I keep going back?"

"We actually have a bet going on that. Uncle George says that you're in love with one of Uncle Charlie's trainees, and Mum says that you just hate being around Al and James at Christmastime."

Lily's green eyes flashed angrily. "A bet. This family is insane." Hugo didn't respond, and she sighed. "What have you put your money on?"

"You clearly like dragons." He shrugged. "I don't think there's much more to it than that, although I am wondering why you're not going this year."

Lily swiped a few snowflakes away from her eyes and responded, "It's my last year at Hogwarts, and therefore my last winter hols. I want to spend them with the family, and since Uncle Charlie's coming home this year it's not like I'll miss seeing him."

"And this mysterious man that Uncle George claims you've got the hots for?" Hugo laughed and Lily responded with a swift punch to the gut.

"Lily Luna Potter, did I just see you hit your cousin?"

Lily whirled, a defense already on her lips, but bit it back when she found herself face to face with Teddy Lupin. His snow-spotted gray sweatshirt did nothing to obscure his wonderful broad shoulders and his hair was a distracting shade of red, decorated with gold stripes and melting snow droplets.

"Ted!" She threw her arms around his neck. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Lil." Teddy squeezed her briefly before releasing her and stepping back. "Your mum didn't want your dad driving in this snow, so she Flooed me to see if you could head home from my flat. Hey Hugo." He nodded his head at the shorter boy, who had moved forward to stand beside Lily.

"Hey Teddy," Hugo responded as she grumbled under her breath about "bloody, overprotective, non-apparating parents." "You sure you can handle her today? She's upset about something."

Teddy chuckled. "She's always upset about something. What is it this time?"

Teddy's eyes, a light hazel today, lingered over Lily's own green ones, but Hugo was the one who answered. "She says it's the snow, but I don't believe her. She was in a bad mood before we left Hogwarts, and it wasn't snowing there."

"I can answer for myself, thank you, Hugo." Lily scowled at her cousin and turned to Teddy. "It is the snow, honestly. I don't get why you're all so obsessed with psychoanalyzing me."

Hugo shook his head at Teddy, wet strands of hair obscuring his eyes. "She lies, Ted. It's up to you to save Christmas. Because Merlin knows, an unhappy Lily means an unhappy family." He winked at her and disapparated with a pop, muffled in the falling snow.

Teddy raised an eyebrow at his frowning god-sister. "Coming?"

She shook her head at the empty spot where Hugo had stood, then flicked her wand at the trunk and owl cage sitting on the platform. They levitated onto a waiting trolley, which Teddy gripped in gloved hands. Lily walked beside him, her heels clicking against the pavement beneath the snow.

"So, how has the term been?" Teddy began, keeping his eyes peeled for any old classmates collecting their own children from the train. He hated running into people who had been at school with him, particularly those who had been a few years ahead of him – they all had their lives put together, with marriages and steady jobs and children. Teddy had none of that.

"Oh, it's all about the NEWTS this year. It's so boring, Ted. I just want to be out of there already." He glanced at her, expecting to see some evidence of the lie on her face. No one ever wanted to leave Hogwarts. But her eyes were clear and her chapped lips didn't twist at all, the way they sometimes did when she lied.

"Really? But what will you do, when you're not at Hogwarts anymore?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it's got to be better than this constant revision for bloody exams. I mean, just yesterday Hagrid made me recite every single thing that crups eat. Crups, Teddy. They eat everything."

The two strode out of the platform and into the crowd of Muggles in King's Cross, and Teddy breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe. "My car's this way, Lil."

She followed him to the two-door coup, a gift from Harry for finally landing a position in werewolf research at the Ministry. Of course, that position required very little actual at-work work, and Harry's pride perhaps indicated something rather pathetic about Teddy's life. But Teddy was grateful for the car and Lily had loved it when she first saw it last year.

He tossed her the keys and she slid into the passenger side, immediately turning on the car and flicking the heat dial up all the way, her gloved fingers already pressed against the vents, as if she were trying to pull the tendrils of heat out through pure willpower. Teddy smiled at her typical antics and pushed her trunk into the car's boot, thanking Merlin that Lily had the sense to pack lightly. He lifted the empty owl cage and tossed it in the back before slamming the lid and opening the driver's side door. "Lily, where – " he cut off. Lily had both her hands pressed against the heater still, her eyes closed as the almost-hot air breathed out. "Merlin, are you really that cold?"

She jumped, pulling her hands away from the vents guiltily. "No, no! I'm fine now." But she pulled her legs up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. "What was it you were saying?"

He slowly backed out of the parking spot and onto the snow coated street. "Where's Athena?"

"Oh, she's delivering a letter." Lily glanced at him, her eyes questioning from beneath her hat. "Why? Where'd you think she was?"

"I mean, I figured she would be. But you're going home, and you just left school. So who're you sending letters to?"

Lily's smile was forced. "A friend."

"A Romanian 'friend'?"

"What is it with all of you? Are you in on the bet too?"

"Was Hugo on you about this?" Teddy laughed. "We really should start communicating better."

"Or you could just let my business alone."

"Come on, Lily, you know your family. That's not their way." They drove in silence for a few minutes, then Teddy broke in again, "So Athena's in Romania?"

"Merlin, Ted. Yes, she is."

"With a 'friend'? A guy friend?"

"Not a boyfriend, not an ex, and not a will-be or would-be." Lily scowled out into the snow. "None of those. I had a question for him, so I sent him a letter. I don't understand why you and Hugo and everyone think that I'm hiding something."

"Because for the last six years you've been gone on Christmas, now all of a sudden you're back. Your parents are worried too, Lily. I'm not going to start this off with a lie: Harry asked me to try and find out what's going on with you. I told him I would."

"So basically, this car ride is going to be one big attack on my sanity?"

"Only if you don't start talking."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You know, Ted, I used to think that at least you would always be on my side."

"I am on your side. If it's something that I don't think your parents should know, I'll keep it quiet. You used to tell me everything, Lil. When'd that change?"

She glanced at him. "I'm not twelve anymore. There are some things about my life I'm sure you wouldn't find interesting."

He gripped the steering wheel tighter. "I'm interested in everything."

"Sure," she laughed, "so, you care that my first kiss was with Lorcan Scamander, fourth year, and we were both under the influence of too much Firewhiskey? You care that I wouldn't sleep with Scorpius, and that's why he dumped me? You care that I'm seventeen and all that I want to do with my life is chase dragons, but bloody Charlie and his bloody bastard son won't let me?"

"You dated Scorpius Malfoy?" He tried to process the rest of the information she had just blurted out, but he couldn't get over the image of his Lily entangled with that bloody self-obsessed white haired git, never mind that he was Al's best friend.

"For sixth year. It was a stupid relationship – we didn't fit together well."

"And…wait. Charlie has a son?"

Lily bit her lip. "I swore to him I wouldn't tell anyone, though. Teddy, you have to keep it quiet."

"But why doesn't anyone know about him?"

"Red was born during the war; I think he's a little older than you. But his mother didn't tell Charlie about him until he was a few years old, and then she only did because she had cancer, and she didn't have anyone else to go to. I think Charlie's ashamed that he didn't look out for her better, and I think that by then he was used to being separated from the family. Red's a nice enough guy – although he can be kind of a twat sometimes. But he's a lot like Charlie, I guess. He doesn't like anything as much as he likes dragons. And he doesn't like me at all."

"Why?"

"He's worried I'll…I don't know…take over. Or maybe bring the family to Romania, and he doesn't want that. He doesn't want to be the family's scandal. He'd rather just be a secret."

"I can understand that, but he and Charlie don't want you back, just for this one last break?" Teddy flicked on his signal and pulled into the parking garage.

"They think it's time I find something 'real' to do with my life."

"So it's good enough for them, but not for you?" Although Teddy had to admit that the thought of Lily moving to Romania felt like a fist to his stomach.

"Something like that." She stepped out of the car and reached for her wand to move her trunks before remembering that they were in a Muggle apartment building. "Why don't you live in a wizard area, Ted?"

He blinked at the abrupt change of subject, but didn't try to turn it back to her problems. "You know why."

Lily shook her head. "I thought it was just while you worked at that Muggle restaurant, not for good."

Teddy smiled at the reminder of his post-Hogwarts career choice. "I didn't really want to leave. I got used to living here and I like it."

The lift stopped on the second floor, and a young man got in. His hair was ruffled in the way that Muggles found so fashionable, and his skin was almost covered in tattoos. He looked about thirty, a couple of years older than Teddy. Lily smiled at him, and he nodded. "Lupin. Lupin's girl."

"Dickenson, this is an old friend, Lily. Lil, Dickenson here lives in the flat next to mine."

"Pleasure to meet you." He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand and she grimaced, jerking her hand back and shaking her head.

Teddy chuckled. "Sorry, Dick. Lily's not one for old-fashioned charm."

Lily snorted. "Not sketchy old-fashioned charm, anyway."

"Sketchy, me?" The man gasped, pretending to take offense. "It's because of the tattoos, isn't it?"

"Nah, more the hand-kiss thing. The tattoos are hot." Lily grinned at the expression that crossed Teddy's face. "Oh, come on Ted, you've got to admit it."

"No, no, I don't. I should know better than to take you out in public." He grabbed her hand and tugged her from the lift, lugging her trunk in his other hand.

"Wait, are you moving in?" Dickinson followed them into the hallway.

"No, this is just a stopover on my way home for winter hols. I'm at boarding school." Lily laughed. "I'm much too young for you or darling Ted." And that was the real problem.

Dickinson stuck his lower lip out in a mock pout. "Well, if you ever feel like being rebellious, I live right here." He stuck his key in the lock and winked at Lily, who winked back.

But as Teddy opened his own door she called back over her shoulder. "If I'm interested in being that kind of rebellious, I'd choose Teddy."

A laugh followed her into the flat, but Teddy's face, when he flicked on the lamp, was anything but amused. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Talking to your neighbor?" She finally took off her hat, and Teddy almost relaxed at the sight of her red hair sticking up in a static-driven halo. But then he saw that she herself had a tattoo, a small but unbelievably intricate one in the soft skin behind her ear. A silver and green dragon moved slowly beneath his surprised gaze, stretching its wings and yawning. A slip of gold fire flew from its mouth and Lily flinched slightly.

She wasn't his little Lily. He had known that she wasn't twelve anymore; her appearance didn't surprise him. But that dragon brought the realization that she could make mistakes, and big ones. She could make decisions that could screw up her life, and her family's, and his.

"When did you get that tattoo?"

She reached a now-bare hand up to smooth the static out of her hair. "A while ago."

"Do your parents know?" He couldn't look away from the magical ink, his eyes mesmerized by the way it slid across her skin.

"Honestly, Ted, I'm seventeen. They don't need to know everything about me. And how is this any worse than anything else I told you today?"

"They haven't seen it?"

"I usually put on a Glamour when I'm home. I forgot today." She tugged her wand from the waistband of her jeans and muttered the incantation. The dragon disappeared, replaced by a small section of smooth, pale, Lily skin.

"But, why?" His eyes finally left that spot and he turned, needing to be away from his surprising changeling.

"Why'd I get the tattoo? I wanted to. Again, how is this any different than anything else I told you today?"

"Because." He directed his wand at the fireplace and a woosh of flame shot up in the logs. "You kissed Lorcan, whatever. You drink Firewhiskey – well, everyone does at some point or another, especially, I'd imagine, in Slytherin. You didn't sleep with Malfoy, so that just means that you're still Lily Potter, brave and not an idiot. And that stuff about Charlie and Romania? That doesn't have much to do with you, except that you like dragons, which we all knew already, and that you keep secrets." He felt her coming closer and he moved across the room, to the flat's tiny kitchen. "But this, Lily? You've done something to yourself, and you're keeping it from your parents. It's not someone else's secret, it's your own."

"You talk too much, sometimes," Lily said, and Teddy turned to see her holding her hands over the fire, her back to him. She had shed her jacket, and was wearing a red sweater with gold trim, confusing her classic Slytherin look. "All you really needed to say was that it made you realize that I've grown up."

"I knew that already, Lil." Teddy filled his tea kettle with hot water. "Do you want some hot chocolate?"

"Sure." She sat down on the floor. "What you knew, Teddy, was that in theory I had grown up. You knew that externally, sure, I'm seventeen. But you didn't know that I make my own decisions, and want different things than I wanted when I was ten." She laughed. "In case you were wondering, I no longer want to be a famous Quidditch-player-slash-Auror and I really don't want to marry Lysander Scamander. I don't regret being sorted into Slytherin."

"I never thought you did." He tore two packages of powdered hot chocolate open and emptied them into his wolf-decorated mugs, Christmas gifts from Lily years before.

"Really?" Lily turned to look at him in surprise. "But everyone else did. Mum and Dad cornered me first thing when I came home for Easter hols and told me that they loved me, no matter what. And James told me that he'd get over it, eventually, so I shouldn't waste time trying to make it up for him. Hugo begged me to ask McGonagall to place me in Ravenclaw, because clearly I wasn't happy. They all think that I'm still overdoing my House pride by wearing so much silver and green."

He grinned. "I like that you're in Slytherin, and it's clear that you belong there. Your family is just worried they'll make you think they're not proud of you, or something."

"There're other reasons to not be proud of me."

"What do you mean?" Teddy tapped his wand against the tea kettle, and it let out an immediate blast of steam.

"I mean…I'm not brilliant at Quidditch, my best classes are Potions and Care of Magical Creatures, which don't even require any magical talent, really, and I'm not all that popular at school. In fact, I think most of the students in the other Houses are scared of me."

Teddy dropped the empty kettle back on the stove and added a shot of rum to each of their mugs, then dropped down next to her. He handed her her mug and took her right hand in his. It was still ice cold.

Her eyes remained trained on the flickering fire. "Look at me, Lily." She blinked and turned her gaze to his. "You are good at your other classes, but Care of Magical Creatures and Potions are two of the more difficult classes at Hogwarts because they are not typical. They don't require much wand work, they ask for so much more than that. You need to be so intelligent to excel at either of them. To be brilliant at both – Merlin, Lil, you're among the best students in your year, and everyone knows it. And you're a passable flier, you just don't care for Quidditch. Do you remember how hard James used to work?" She nodded slowly, her hair brushing his cheek. He hadn't realized he had moved that close to her. "He tried that hard to be able to beat you. You don't try, so of course you're not as good as him or Al. But you could be, believe me. And as for being popular…the others in your House respect you. And the rest of the school is always scared of Slytherins. They don't get it."

"What don't they get?" Lily's whisper was a brush of air across his mouth.

"Slytherins aren't evil. They're just cleverer than the rest of the Houses put together. Cleverer even than Ravenclaws, because you're more emotional." He leaned closer, resting his mug on the hearth so he could cup her cheek in warm fingers. "They're scared of you because you know your faults, and you use them."

Her cool lips were suddenly on his, and he wasn't sure which one of them had actually made the first move, but it didn't matter because she was Lily, and she was, for that moment, his. His hands moved to her hair, and she wrapped hers around him, pulling him closer as their lips parted and his tongue met hers. He took in the taste of Lily, masked beneath coffee and a vague minty toothpaste, as he moaned against her and she returned the sound, the kiss.

They broke apart after what felt like much too little time, and Teddy jerked out of her grasp, standing and striding to the window. "Oh, shit."

"Ted," Lily began, although she wasn't sure what she was going to say.

"Don't." He pushed his fingers through his now-green hair, his head cradled in his hands. "Shit."

"Teddy," Lily tried again, still unsure of what she wanted to say.

"Lily." He turned to face her, and she noticed that his skin was uncharacteristically flushed. "Lil, look. I shouldn't have…" But she stood too, and her eyes dared him to finish that statement. "Okay, it wasn't just me. But you can't want this. Want me."

"But you can want me?" she asked, her voice dipping dangerously low, and he wondered, suddenly, if the other students were right to fear her.

"Lily, you're practically my little sister. And I'm old, so old. And we're just…we're not right. We can't be right."

"But that doesn't mean you don't want me."

"Of course I want you!" He turned back to the window, pressed his head against the cooling glass. "Merlin, Lily, I've wanted you since you first started wearing low-cut tops and telling your brothers to go fuck themselves. But I can't have you. I know that, and you should know that too."

But her hands were back, wrapped around his waist and spread across his hard abdomen. "You know why I didn't sleep with Scorpius?"

Teddy tensed, trying to shrug her hands off of him, but he couldn't bring up the willpower. "Why?"

"Because he wasn't you. I've been waiting for you to see me, really see me, for years."

"But…why? I'm so old." Teddy finally drudged up that self-control that he was once famous for and pulled away from her.

"You keep saying that." Lily remained by the window, her fingers playing with the hem of her sweater and her eyes darting from Teddy to the fire.

"Because it's true."

"You're eleven years older than me," Lily stated. "Yes. But that doesn't mean you're old."

"I'm far too old for you."

Lily sighed. "I used to think that, you know. But when I was in Romania the second time, Uncle Charlie introduced me to this dragon training couple – Adelina and Dorin. Dorin was eight-four, and Adelina was seventy. That's fourteen years, Ted, and I've never seen a couple more suited to each other, or one more in love. They put even my parents to shame."

"But that's…it's different. It doesn't matter, when you're that old."

"They met when Adelina was born. They've known each other their whole lives."

Teddy didn't have a response to that. He closed his eyes, leaned back against the wall, and sighed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I like you, and you like me, and because we know each other better than anyone else knows us. I'm sick of being lonely and missing you all the time, and then wishing for more whenever I'm around you. And I'm really tired of hiding things from you."

She moved then, unwilling to let this chance slip away, and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her forehead against the soft skin of his neck and breathing in that undeniable Teddy smell – like pine soap and laundry detergent and, faintly, like wet dog. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, though. It reminded her of a sudden summer shower and heavy spring rains and dancing in the yard under lightning flecked skies. She hooked her fingers in the belt loops at the back of his jeans and she whispered against his neck, "Please Teddy. Can't we just try?"

"Merlin, Lil." She tilted her face up to look at him, and found her eyes connecting with the slight, thoughtful purse of his lips. She stood on tiptoe and pushed him back against the wall, her lips hovering a breath away from his for a full minute before he closed the distance, pulling her lower lip almost harshly between his with a sigh. His teeth grazed her lip and then their mouths were full on each other's again, and Lily found herself falling further, deeper.

"Please," she whispered, a breath between kisses.

"Lily." Her lips moved to his throat, spreading soft kisses down along the slope of his neck as he spoke. "We can't – I mean, we are…but what do you want?"

She pulled away slightly. "I want you, Ted. Somehow, I just want you to be mine."

"I'm already yours." He rubbed peace-making hands over her back, gently up and down the bumps of her spine, and she shivered. "But I don't want to let Harry know, yet."

"Or anyone," Lily added. "I don't either. But that's a yes? A relationship, or something like one?"

"A relationship," Teddy stated. "Nothing else."

Lily smiled at him, a wide grin that left no questions or space for lies. "A secret, at least until I leave school."

His lips hit hers again, and they moved toward the fire, falling down beside it in a tangled mess of limbs.

They stayed there until Lily accidentally knocked over one of the mugs of hot chocolate, spreading cool liquid across the floor. Teddy reached for his wand and spelled it away, but Lily glanced at the clock. "Shit."

"What?" Teddy looked over, and saw that the sky, which had been gray with snow what felt like just minutes before, was now pitch black. "Oh, stay a little longer, Lil."

"Are you kidding?" She straightened her sweater and picked up the second mug, walking to the sink. "Dad'll be at the Floo any minute, and if he's not, then either Al or James'll be at the door, ready to tear you apart."

"They'd never even think anything like that."

"But you're keeping me away from home on one of their favorite nights of the year. They'll think something's up."

"Not this, I bet." He pressed his lips against Lily's neck, and she grinned.

"I don't want to go either, Ted, but –" The fire burst into green flames, and Lily and Teddy jumped apart as Harry's head appeared.

"Teddy! Lily!" His voice echoed through the flat, and Lily quickly smoothed down her hair and wiped her mouth before crossing into the living room and sinking down before the fire.

"Hey Dad." Lily smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. We lost track of time."

"Oh, thank Merlin. I was beginning to think something had happened. Will you come home now? Your Mum'll kill both me and Teddy if we don't get you back to her soon."

"Of course, Dad. Just let me get my stuff and I'll Floo straight through, all right?"

"Yes, yes. I'll see you in a few, then." Harry disappeared and Teddy let out a sigh.

"We are so lucky you knocked that hot chocolate over. Can you imagine, if he had Flooed while we were snogging?"

"I really don't want to imagine it, thanks." Lily gripped her trunk and tugged it over to the fire. "I'll see you on Christmas, right?"

"Yeah, I'm coming for dinner and the family palooza. Maybe we can get a few minutes…"

"And if we can't, at least I'll see you." Lily kissed him quickly, then grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the canister and stepped into the fire, shutting her eyes and calling out "Devon's End."

She whirled through the maze of fireplaces, thinking of the magic of snowstorms.

A/N: I appreciate reviews!