With You In Winter

With You In Winter

Yule was approaching, and Lily Evans was buzzing with excitement. The large pine tree was set up in the Great Hall, ornaments twinkling joyfully. Wreaths, holly and mistletoe were placed spontaneously throughout the castle. The mistletoe changed locations sporadically; however, making it quite difficult to stay out of it's way, even for an astute observer like Lily Evans.

Everyone who planned on going home for the holidays had gone, and a mere handful of students stayed behind. This would be the seventh year in a row that Lily had decided to stay at Hogwarts over the winter holiday. It was an easy decision when the thought of having to spend two weeks with Petunia and her tubby boyfriend, Vernon, came to mind. All of the dirty looks they cast Lily's way were enough to make her hand itch to grab her wand and send a few well chosen hexes their way. Her parents would beg her to come home, but she disappointed them every year and broke her own heart in the process. Hogwarts was her home away from home, and she was the only girl in her year from Gryffindor to stay over the break, but not the only house member...unfortunately. Staying with her were the four pranksters who called themselves the Marauders.

Sitting a few feet away from her, at the Gryffindor table, were the very same four boys hunched over and talking animatedly together. The boy closest to her was Remus Lupin, the sweetest boy she had ever met. It struck a chord in Lily's heart to see how weak and sick he always was. Throughout their seven years of study at Hogwarts, she had many heart to hearts with Remus, but the cause of his illness was never a topic. It did not keep her from guessing. The boy to Remus' right was Peter Pettigrew, a small and extremely shy boy. In Lily's eyes, Peter was the outcast who never minded being teased and tormented because it was the only attention he ever got. She was sure it would be poor Pettigrew's downfall.

Lily was startled for a moment by Sirius Black's sudden bark of laughter, which he followed with a smack to Remus' shoulder from across the table and a low, "I bet you would, Moony." Sirius spent the majority of his time at Hogwarts permanently glued to his friends and causing as much trouble for Lily as possible. Remus had told her once that his family had disowned him when he had decided not to follow in his parents' footsteps of appreciating of the dark arts. She had always thought Sirius brave for not wanting to be a follower of the Dark Lord like his brother and so never gave him too much shit. Sirius had a true heart of gold, even if his playful torturing of fellow students shrouded it. Last and definitely least, was Sirius' best friend, James Potter, the bane of Lily's existence. James was smiling and talking in a hushed voice to his companions. His only purpose in life was showing off and making fun of others. It made her ill to think about it. The way he hexed anyone in his path and picked on Severus caused her to tremble in disgust.

Turning away from the band of miscreants, Lily slowly picked at the eggs on her plate and chose to think of more important things. 'Since I'm the only girl in my dorm room, I'll be able to get an early start on N.E.W.T.s this year. I can go over conjuring this morning for Transfiguration, in the afternoon I can start memorizing the instructions for sleep draughts and tonight I can review my History of Magic notes. Then tomorrow-'

"I'm telling you, Moony, that the door is opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy," whispered James, loud enough for Lily to overhear. She put her fork down and picked up the Daily Prophet so that it wouldn't be obvious she was eavesdropping.

"I've never seen a door there, " Remus whispered in response, "and I'm constantly passing that corridor from the common room to the Hospital Wing."

"Neither have I, Prongs. I think you might have been hit with a bludger one too many times...or maybe your delirium is from Lily constantly trying to knock some sense into you. Someone should tell her that she is hurting more than helping."

This comment from Sirius caused Lily to lower the Prophet a few centimeters, allowing her to look in their direction and reveal the slight blush that had crept into her cheeks.

'They're plotting another prank on some poor first year again. Why can't they give it a rest? It's almost Christmas for God's sake. Last time I tried to stop them Sirius attempted to wipe his victim's mind. I can't let them get away with anything like that again or Professor Dumbledore will have my badge.' Attempting to be as subtle as possible, she slid a short distance down the bench to hear better.

"James, I still don't understand why you need us for this. Can't you deal with it yourself?" whined Peter, rubbing his eyes sleepily and pushing his breakfast around, trying to make different shapes.

"Good Lord, Wormtail, I ask you for one little favor... You owe me and you know it. Don't you remember the Astronomy Tower incident? If it wasn't for me you'd still be serving detention with Professor Slughorn."

"I hate it when you hold things over my head," Peter huffed and crossed his arms in a defiantly.

By now Lily had practically abandoned her paper and was watching them with skyrocketing curiosity. They had to be planning something big if they had to have Peter involved. It was common knowledge that Peter was the clumsiest boy in the school. Usually when James and Sirius were planning something that would result in many detentions if caught, Peter was the look out or not a part at all. Lily could only imagine the terrible things they were plotting. 'Maybe I should be stopping this before it even gets started. Of course, James deserves the punishment he'll get and it will be a much stronger reprimand if he actually gets caught in the act.'

"This is never going to work. She'll kill you. You know how angry she gets when she catches you at this kind of stuff. Those lips are the scariest thing when she's giving out detention," said Sirius with an arm flung over James' shoulder.

"That's why I need all of you! This could very well be my last shot."

"If you ask my opinion-"

"He didn't, Moony," Sirius interrupted with a pointed look. "He asked for your help, but continue because we all know that you'll have at least one or two good points."

Remus answered him with a glare and then cleared his throat. "Prongs, you are Head Boy this year. Unless you want to be shamed from being the only person to have their title taken away, and you and I both know that Lily Evans can and will have Dumbledore do that very thing, you should abandon this mission." James opened his mouth to retort, but Remus beat him to it. "Of course I'm not really going to dissuade you from continuing with this plan because when Lily kills you, and she probably will, I'll be appointed Head Boy."

"Well, I'm glad to know that you're always looking out for my best interest," James mocked.

"Of course, which reminds me..." Remus turned to read his watched and sighed to himself quietly. "It's about time for me to begin stage one of this evil little plot." Remus pushed his plate towards the center of the table, where it disappeared down to the kitchens, and left the Great Hall.

Thinking quickly, Lily folded up her paper, pushed her plate to the center and followed Remus out the large doors, pretending she had no interest in where he was going. She followed him all the way up to the Owlry and watched him send off one of the school owls with a note in its beak before confronting him.

"Remus," she whispered.

Remus looked over at her standing to the side of the open archway and walked over to her with a pleasant smile on his face. "Hello, Lily. How are you?"

"Not well."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Anything I can do?"

"Actually, yes there is. You can tell me exactly what it is that James and the rest of you are planning."

Remus simply cocked his head to the side and seemed confused. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I wasn't aware James was planning anything," he added with a thoughtful look.

'He's good,' Lily allowed herself to think. 'But not good enough.' "Come now, Remus. I overheard the majority of your conversation, and I will not allow that lout to pull one over on me again. He is Head Boy and should not be getting me into trouble with Dumbledore as often as he does. Which is why I also want to know what was in that letter you just sent because I'm sure it has something to do with this caper."

As Lily was finishing her little speech, Remus seemed to be going over the conversation in his head to see if she caught anything that she shouldn't have when he smiled, realizing that she had no real evidence or clue about anything except that whatever was going to happen would happen across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. "I was sending a letter to my mother, enquiring on my father's recent illness."

Pretending to play along with him, she replied, "Oh, Remus. I'm sorry. I hope he's feeling better."

"As do I." He paused for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I should be studying. N.E.W.T.s are coming up soon, you know."

"Yeah...I think I'll head back to my room and study as well. Sorry again," she said and then turned in the direction of the staircase that would take her to the seventh floor corridor. Since, Remus had been no help to her at all, she was just going to have to stop James and Sirius before they caused any real damage. 'I can't believe he wouldn't tell me what they were up to. He's a prefect. He should know the responsibilities we have to keep pranks like this from happening, not helping to plan them.'

Before Lily knew it, she was standing to the right of the tapestry. 'No wonder they called him Barnabas the Barmy. You'd have to be nutters to think trolls would be able to dance ballet.' To her right was Sirius Black, leaning against a solid oak door, flicking his wand between his fingers in a very nonchalant way. She walked up to him, hands on her hips and smiled a knowing smile.

"I've caught you this time, Sirius. What's behind that door?"

"I thought you said that you caught me."

Lily simply rolled her eyes at him. "Step aside, please."

After appearing to think about it for a moment, Sirius shook his head. "Sorry, Evans, I can't do that."

"Don't make me hex you."

"Whoa!" breathed Sirius and raised his hands in surrender. "You don't have to be so hostile. Step right through." He stepped aside and smiled his most innocent looking smile. As Lily reached for the handle, he quickly grabbed her wrist. "I warn you, you'll either find the worst or the best thing in your life on the other side," he said, releasing her wrist and waving his hand in an entering gesture. "If you dare."

Utterly flabbergasted by his comment, Lily shook her head in confusion and opened the door. Before she could even register what was waiting for her inside the room, she felt two hands shove her through the doorway, causing Lily and her books to fall to the floor. She picked herself up as fast as she could and turned to give Sirius a piece of her mind, but there was no door. "What..."

"It won't appear again for another 25 hours."

Lily whipped around and reached for her wand, but her back pocket was empty. It was then that she realized she was facing a very calm looking James Potter. "Where is my wand and what do you mean 'it won't appear again for 25 hours?'"

"Sirius managed to snatch your wand before the door sealed itself. Don't worry because I don't have mine either. I gave it to Remus for safekeeping. The room is enchanted so that the occupants won't be able to leave for 25 hours. Consider it a play on those year and a day marriages except it will be a day and an hour...revelation."

"Revelation! Revelation of what, James?"

"The revelation of our possible future as companions," he said, quoting the last word with his fingers.

Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. He just told her that he set up a trap to lock her into a room with him for 25 hours. If she didn't know any better she might have thought he was some psycho rapist. "Alright. I'm willing to try to understand why you did this, but you better have a really good reason."

James sighed aloud and turned down his eyes. "This is my last chance, Lily. If after 25 hours, a mini arranged pagan marriage if you will, you still hate me then I will leave you alone forever."

"Forever?" 'The rest of my life without James Potter for the price of 25 hours of my spare time?' Lily was actually considering this; however, it was quite pigheaded and prat-like of him to just assume that she would go along with his silly scheme, as if he knew her. 'Fine,' she thought. 'I'll play along, but I won't be cooperative.' She took a glance around the room, hoping to make him sweat while waiting for her answer. To the left of her was a redwood bookshelf that almost touched the ceiling and next to that was a small Christmas tree decorated with red and gold ornaments. Against the far wall were two twin-sized beds, spread a respectable distance apart; in the middle of the room, placed right next to James, we're two recliners and a coffee table. Lily brows knitted in confusion at the wall to her right. It appeared to be a large door but had no handle, only a knocker. 'I'll have to remember to ask about that later.'

Lily looked back to James and saw that he had begun fidgeting uncontrollably. Unfortunately the sight seemed to give her no pleasure so she sighed and said, "I guess I can make it through 25 hours without killing you."

James smiled a ridiculously wide smile and looked around. "Well," he breathed. "What would you like to do first?"