Work Text:
December 1977
The Tuesday after Christmas, Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon sat in the Evans’ kitchen, drinking tea and chatting about their Winter hols thus far. They’d been home from Hogwarts for six days, and Lily already missed the warm energy of the castle, the freedom of using magic, and her friends. There were about six centimeters of snow on the ground, a fair bit for Cokeworth, and while she was glad to be indoors and cozy, the snow made her wistful for winter afternoons at Hogwarts and snowball fights with her fellow students.
At least one of her friends was here now, and Petunia was spending the afternoon with her boyfriend Vernon, which meant the girls could giggle and gossip free from her disdainful stares.
And giggling and gossiping they were. After all the usual catching up about first term grades, how wonderful (Marlene) or awful (Lily) it was to see their siblings, and any exciting gifts they’d received for Christmas, Marlene spiked the conversation with a shot of firewhiskey.
“So, what’d James get you for Christmas?” she asked, almost nonchalantly.
“What’d Sirius get you?” Lily shot back. She pulled a face, and Marlene laughed.
“Sirius and I are just friends,” Marlene said breezily. “We just like snogging.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Right, of course. That’s why he went berserk when Avery hit you with that vomiting curse. James and Remus had to stop him from drawing and quartering Avery with a stretching spell.”
Marlene scoffed. “As if Sirius needs a reason to hex Avery. And as if he wouldn’t have done the same for you!”
“Yes, but he also brought you soup to help settle your stomach when you got back from the hospital ward. He even offered to feed it to you! He certainly wouldn’t have done that for me.”
“He had the house elves bring me soup, and he wouldn’t have really fed it to me,” Marlene countered. “He was just being cheeky, as usual.”
“He was being cheeky, and he absolutely would’ve fed you that soup.”
“We’re not meant to be talking about me and Sirius, we’re meant to be talking about you and James!” Marlene exclaimed, her cheeks flushing red. “You two are the ones who need to get yourself sorted.”
Lily snickered at Marlene’s avoidance, but her cheeks warmed, too. “What’s there to sort out? We’re co-Heads, and we’re friends now. He’s lovely.”
“‘We’re friends . He’s lovely ,’” Marlene mimicked, fluttering her eyelashes. She set her teacup down and narrowed her eyes at her friend. “When are you two going to stop dancing around each other and just snog, already?”
“Things are different now, Marley. We really are just friends.” She wondered why the word “just” tasted so bitter. With a shrug and a forced smile, she continued, “I don’t think James even thinks about snogging me anymore, honestly. He’s moved on.”
Marlene huffed loudly. “You are daft sometimes, you know that?”
Lily opened her mouth to defend herself, but before she said a word, she heard a knock at the Evans’ front door. She closed her mouth and frowned. “I wonder who that is. We weren’t expecting visitors today.”
“Run and find out, but we’re talking about James when you get back.”
“There’s nothing more to say!” Lily called over her shoulder as she went to answer the door. Marlene’s laughter rang after her.
Lily opened the door with a guarded smile, expecting to greet the postman or a neighbor. Her pleasant “hello” turned into a gasp of delight when she took in the sight of her visitors. “Oh!”
James Potter and Sirius Black were standing on the Evans’ front porch, as if the girls had summoned them with their talk. They were dressed perfectly in Muggle clothing and looked remarkably proud of themselves.
“Alright, Evans?” asked James casually, returning Lily’s growing smile with a crooked one of his own. Sirius bowed slightly.
“Evans!” he cried with a grin. He extended both hands and grasped hers warmly. “We’ve missed you terribly.”
Lily laughed. “What? We’ve not been gone from school a week! Surely you’re not bored of each other already?”
“Me, bored of Prongs?” Sirius put a hand to his chest in mock horror. “I could never! No, it’s nothing like that. But he’s not much to look at, is he, so I thought we might improve the scenery a bit—”
“Oi!” James said, shoving Sirius. Sirius shoved him back, and the two probably would have ended up wrestling had Lily not cleared her throat loudly. At the sound, they both froze, Sirius with his arm around James’ neck and James’ finger in Sirius’ ear. They quickly righted themselves and tried to look nonchalant. “Right, then,” James said. “We’re not bored of each other, we just fancied a drop-in. I told you we’d be visiting,” he added, accusingly.
“Yes, I just—” Lily cut herself off before she admitted she hadn’t thought he meant it. “I didn’t expect you so soon, is all,” she said instead. She glanced down at herself, glad that she was wearing her most flattering green corduroys with her tan-and-cream-striped turtleneck. The boys looked so nice, James in a sherpa-lined coat over brown trousers and canvas trainers, and Sirius in wide-legged jeans and boots, topped with a grey sweater that matched his eyes and a chocolate-brown leather jacket. Lily would’ve been embarrassed to be caught in the ratty flannel pajamas she’d had on when Marlene arrived.
Just then, the girl herself walked into the foyer, brow furrowed. “Lil? Everything alright?” She stopped at the sight of the two handsome boys. “Oh!” she said. “You’re . . . here.”
Lily whirled to face her. “Were you expecting them?”
“No!” Marlene said emphatically, but she looked a bit guilty. “I’d just mentioned to Sirius that I’d be visiting you today—”
“Ohhh,” Lily teased. She pulled a face at Sirius. “Silly me, thinking the ‘change of scenery’ you were looking for included my lovely face.”
“But of course it does, Evans! As if I’d ever turn down any company as fit as the two of you. Especially when this is the alternative.” He hooked a thumb at James and winked.
James shoved Sirius’ shoulder and glared at him. “I’m fucking fit,” he muttered.
The girls burst out laughing. “Well, come inside,” Lily said, stepping back to allow James and Sirius into the house. “Marley and I were just having tea.”
“Brilliant, cheers,” said James as they followed her inside.
But as soon as the boys stepped inside, Lily felt a surge of panic. Entertaining Marlene was one thing, but hosting boys felt different. Hosting James felt different. Yes, they were friends now, but what she hadn’t said to Marlene five minutes ago was that although James might not want to snog her anymore, lately she’d begun to think she might enjoy snogging him .
Maybe Marlene sensed the shift in the atmosphere because she nudged Lily with her elbow and waggled her eyebrows. Lily glared back, certain this was, somehow, Marlene’s fault. They would have words later. “Just” friends or not, Lily was wholly unprepared to have James inside the house where she had grown up.
And just like that, an idea came to her.
“Snow forts!” she blurted.
Sirius and James froze, Sirius with one glove off and James in the act of pulling his hat off of his ever-tousled hair.
“What?” Marlene asked, her expression puzzled.
“We should build a snow fort!” Lily said loudly. Her face felt warm, and she hoped she wasn’t bright red. “Earlier, I was thinking about how much fun we have when it snows at Hogwarts, you know? And now here you are. Like Hogwarts came to me.” She beamed at them. “So, let’s build a snow fort.”
James and Sirius looked mightily confused, but after a moment, a playful smile curved James’ lips. “Yeah, alright.”
“Right-o. McKinnon and I against the two of you,” Sirius declared with a grin of his own.
“It’s not a competition!” Lily exclaimed.
“It is now,” Marlene said smugly. “And our fort will beat the pants off yours.”
The boys put their winter gear back on while Lily and Marlene donned boots and hats of their own, then the foursome trooped outside.
“Alright, let’s get to it!” Sirius said, clapping his hands. “How long shall we give it? Fifteen minutes to build the best snow fort imaginable? Then back inside for some cocoa?”
Lily frowned. “Fifteen minutes? You’d be lucky to finish a single wall in fifteen minutes!”
James laughed. “What are you on about, Evans? We used to build these all the time. A toddler could do it, as long as he got his hands on a wand.”
“Oh, of course!” Lily slapped a gloved hand to her face and laughed. “You’ve only ever built them with magic. Well, today’s your lucky day.” She grinned mischievously. “Today, you are going to build a snow fort the Muggle way.”
“Evans, it’s too bloody cold for this,” Sirius groaned. “If we do it your way, we can't even put a warming charm on our hands!"
“And how are we supposed to make a working gate without magic?” Marlene demanded.
“You’re not,” Lily said, giggling some more. “Muggle snow forts are simple, no stairs or bridges or working doors. Usually, it’s just a wall and some turrets, or maybe a little igloo you can sit inside. And,” she added, bumping Sirius with her hip, “freezing your knickers off is part of the fun.”
Her friends grumbled and sighed some more, but Lily knew they weren’t really bothered. Marlene dragged Sirius off in one direction, so James and Lily began walking the other way. Apparently, each team wanted to work in secret.
“Alright, Evans?” James asked as they walked.
“Yeah, I’m alright. How’re you?”
“I’m well, thanks.”
Lily nodded, and they lapsed into silence. She racked her brain for something else to say. Conversation between them wasn’t usually so stilted and polite, but seeing him in the Muggle world — in her parents’ front yard, no less — was throwing her off.
It didn’t help that he kept looking at her like he couldn’t believe she was there, either. He was the one who had ambushed her! He had no right to look so pleasantly surprised.
Sure enough, she glanced up at him and found his hazel eyes watching her intently. She blushed and looked away. “Here’s good.”
James jerked as if coming out of a trance. “What’s that?”
Lily gestured at a smooth patch of snow in front of them, near the hedges framing the yard. “Here’s a good spot for our fort,” she explained.
“Ah, right.” He shook his head in amusement. “I still can’t believe you’re making us build forts without magic.”
“I thought you’d like the challenge!”
His eyes met hers again, and he let out a low chuckle. “I do,” he murmured, still holding her gaze. “I always do.”
“Well, good, then.” She licked her lips then turned away again, not sure what challenge he was referring to. “So, start building.”
To her left, she saw James hold up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Oh, I’ve no idea where to begin,” he said, laughing again. “Should we make bricks? Build a mound and then start shaping it? You’re the expert here, I defer entirely to you.”
Lily smirked. “Thank you,” she said pompously. “I am the only expert here, and it is your good fort -une to have me on your team.”
James groaned and slapped his hands to his face, knocking his glasses askew. “That was awful, Evans.”
“This from the bloke who says, 'I'm not Sirius, he is,' at least once a fortnight.” She giggled and pointed at him. “Ha! Fort -night!”
“I had no idea you were so cheesy,” James said, shaking his head. One side of his mouth tilted higher than the other with his smile. “How fort -uitous that I’m here today to see the real you.”
“Let’s just hope you have the fort -itude to keep up with me.”
James’ grin widened. “Always, Evans.”
Lily laughed and stuck out her tongue. It may have been different to have James in the Muggle world, but the banter, the silliness was the same. It felt good. They kept it up as Lily showed James how to build a thick wall out of snow, not with individual bricks, but by packing the snow into firm mounds and then shaping it as you go. When they finished the front wall, it was higher than Lily’s waist, and James looked surprisingly pleased. She grinned at him and they kept going.
After about half an hour, they had three walls in sort of a horseshoe shape. They dug a small doorway in one, and James began working on a turret to give their fort an air of grandeur. “You know Sirius is going to build a moat or something,” he explained.
“You’re right,” Lily agreed. “I think I’ll build us a snow troll to guard the door.”
After building two turrets to adorn each of the front corners of their fort, James built a low snow bench so they’d have somewhere to sit while manning their fort. At about sixty centimeters tall, Lily’s snow troll was closer in size to a house elf, but she put a large stick in one of his nubby arms as a weapon and used some jagged pebbles to give him a menacing smile.
“There,” she said, as she finished. “He’s a runt of a troll, but he’ll do.”
James straightened and peered over the wall of their fort, his face lighting up when he saw her creation. “That’s brilliant, Evans!” His tone was sincere, but his eyes were dancing when he added, “No one would dare attack us now!”
Lily burst into laughter, and James joined her. She crawled through the door they’d created in the front of their fort and stood next to him. “Nice work, Potter,” she said, surveying the bench and wall decorations he’d made. “This is an outstanding snow fort.”
“Thanks, Evans.” James slung an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “I learned from a master.”
She leaned into his hug for a moment. “We work well together.”
His grip tightened around her again. “We do, don't we?” he said softly.
“Yeah.” Lily tilted her head up to look at him and found him staring down at her. He was breathing a bit heavily, his chest rising and falling against hers, the warmth of his breath fogging his glasses. She swallowed hard, and a shiver ran through her body.
Abruptly, James stepped back. “Bollocks! You were right about freezing your knickers off, weren’t you?” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, then pulled her into a quick hug before releasing her just as quickly. “We should get you inside.”
Lily’s head was spinning. He smelled like snow and wet wool and James , and she wanted to bury her nose in his neck and sniff again. It took her a second to process his words. “Oh, I’m fine!” she said, once she did. “I’m not too cold, I’ll just put a warming charm on my hands now that we aren’t building anymore.”
“No, no, I saw you shivering just now, Evans, don’t try to deny it,” James scolded. “Let’s go see what Sirius and Marlene have done, and then let’s all get indoors.”
There was no way to explain that it had been his presence, not the cold, that made her shiver, so Lily just smiled and nodded. They left their fort and walked around to the other side of the house in search of their friends. Soon an icy white mound came into view, part of it shaped and smoothed into the beginnings of a wall and another part of it still a jagged mountain of snow.
"They've barely done anything!" James exclaimed as they approached the snow pile.
“And where are they?” Lily wondered.
They looked around, but there was no sign of Sirius or Marlene anywhere. Lily frowned. “They wouldn't have gone inside without us, would they?”
James snorted. “Sirius absolutely would’ve.”
“I can’t believe they didn’t even try to finish their fort,” Lily said, walking closer to the half-built wall. She peeked over the edge of the structure before jumping back in surprise. “Oh!”
“What?” James rushed forward and looked down, then burst out laughing at what he saw.
Sirius was sitting with his back against the wall of their unfinished fort. Marlene was straddling his lap, her gloved hands pressed to his cheeks, kissing the life out of him. At the sound of James’ laughter, she jerked backward, nearly toppling off of Sirius’ lap, but he kept a firm grip on her arse and held her upright.
“Oi!” he exclaimed, twisting to look up at the intruders.
“Alright, lads?” James asked, grinning.
Sirius pressed his face into Marlene’s jacket. “We were just fine, thanks,” he muttered.
“Weren’t you the one complaining it’s too bloody cold to be out here?” Lily demanded. “Your bum must be freezing!”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Sirius murmured. He was still gripping Marlene’s bum in both hands, and her hands were resting on his shoulders.
“Well, we had to do something to keep warm, didn’t we?” she asked. “Especially after Sirius shoveled snow down my neck!” She slapped his chest playfully.
“You weren't paying any attention to me,” he whined. “You just wanted to build a better fort than Evans!”
“That’s what we were supposed to be doing!”
“But this is so much more fun, don’t you think?”
“Right, well, we're going in for some tea,” James announced loudly, letting them know they could banter all they wanted, but he wasn’t going to stand around and listen to it. Lily was grateful — even if she privately agreed that Marlene and Sirius’ activities did look like a lot of fun.
As if to prove the point, Sirius chuckled and moved his hands up, wrapping his arms tightly around Marlene’s waist. “Right behind you, mate,” he said. “I’ve just got to have a word with McKinnon first.”
“‘A word,’ I’m sure,” Lily teased. “Have as many words as you’d like. Just remember, we won the snow fort competition.”
“I dunno, Evans, from where I’m sitting, I’m pretty sure I’m the winner,” Sirius cracked. Marlene giggled and kissed him again, and once again, Lily privately thought they might have the right idea. Nonetheless, she and James walked away shaking their heads.
Once inside, they removed their boots and gloves, then the rest of their winter gear. James applied a warming charm to Lily's hands, then his own. She applied a drying charm to their socks and the hems of their trousers. They worked naturally in tandem until they were both dry and cozy.
“Whew! Much better.” Lily glanced up at him and grinned at the sight. “Wow. Your hair is lying flat for once.”
“Oh!” His hand leapt to his head, and Lily laughed. He quickly dropped his hand back to his side and offered a crooked grin. “Er, right, so I suppose I ought to leave it alone.”
She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged. “I dunno. I think…it doesn’t look quite right.”
James grinned his crooked grin. “Gee, thanks. Unless you’re saying you like the way my hair usually looks?”
“No!” she snapped, fighting a smile. “I’m saying the messy look—it just suits—you just look more like you when your hair’s a wreck, that’s all.”
“A wreck?” James pressed his hands to his chest. “You wound me, Evans.”
Lily spun away from him before her smile fully broke through. “Oh, stop whinging and come have some tea.”
James followed her into the kitchen, whistling merrily. Lily put the kettle on while James rummaged through the cupboards in search of mugs.
“Where do you keep your teacups, Evans? This kitchen is nothing like my parents’.”
The intimacy of the moment washed over Lily’s skin like a warm bath. Despite her initial worries, she was glad he had showed up here today. She enjoyed sharing this piece of her life with him. And now she found herself wanting to know what James’ parents’ kitchen looked like and what sorts of games he had played as a child.
She shook her head. She was a little more curious about him than “just a friend” ought to be, and she didn’t want to make James uncomfortable.
She returned her attention to the moment at hand, spinning around to show James which cupboard to check. “They’re right—oof!" In her haste, she collided directly with his chest.
“Whoa!” He grabbed her arms to steady her. “Alright, Evans?”
His hands felt hot through her jumper, and his eyes felt even hotter on her face. She managed a nod and a squeaky, “Yep!”
She moved to step back, but James' hands tightened around her biceps. “This was fun, you know, Evans. Building snow forts,” he said.
Lily smiled up at him. “Told you it would be.” She moved to step back from him again, but he slid his hands down her arms until he could wrap his fingers around hers. He grabbed them and squeezed hard.
For the first time all afternoon, Lily allowed herself to wonder whether his lingering looks and affectionate touching meant he wasn’t sure he wanted to be “just friends” anymore, either. Her breath caught in her chest.
“You were right,” he said softly, his gaze full of tenderness and intensity in equal parts. Lily exhaled shakily as he continued speaking. “And, look, I know snogging in the snow is ridiculous—”
“Just impractical,” she murmured without thinking. She hadn’t meant to interrupt him, but their faces were so close together, putting her gaze just level with his lips, which were starting to tilt in a grin. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes against the urge to touch his face. “I just mean, your trousers must get soaked, your bum will freeze, and how good could a kiss really be if you can hardly feel your lips?”
“Good points, all.” James nodded, and Lily felt his breath against her cheek. “But what about in a nice, warm kitchen? Would it be alright to kiss you then?"
“Oh.” Her eyes flew open, and her voice came out breathy. “Yes.”
“Brilliant,” he whispered back. His expression turned more serious, and one of his hands slid up her arm until it gently cupped her face. Then he lowered his mouth to hers.
Lily hummed softly as their lips met, and then James’ mouth was moving gently against hers, soft and warm. His tongue flicked over her bottom lip and she opened for him, but he didn’t immediately plunge his tongue into her mouth. Instead, he continued to kiss her like they had all the time in the world, soft brushes of lips like tiny sips of fine wine. Something to savor. Something you’d want to remember.
After a few moments, or minutes, or hours, he pulled back with a sigh. “Wow,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” she agreed with a husky laugh.
He laughed, too, and ran his knuckles lightly over her cheek. He looked like he was about to speak, or maybe even kiss her again, when the front door opened and Sirius’ and Marlene’s voices wafted towards them.
Immediately, James and Lily stepped apart. But he gave her fingers a little squeeze just before his hand released hers.
“Oi, is the kettle still on?” Marlene called from the foyer.
Sirius’ voice followed, louder and closer. “And do you have any biscuits? I’m peckish.”
Lily and James looked at each other and laughed. “Yes, I’ve got some ginger biscuits!” Lily called back. “And the kettle’s still heating, so you’re just in time.”
“Brilliant!” Sirius appeared in the kitchen doorway and grinned. “Thanks for having us over, Evans,” he said. “Building snow forts was an excellent idea.”
“You two barely built anything!” Lily said, rolling her eyes at him.
“Yeah.” James shook his head, then gave Lily a sly grin. “I must say, they made a very poor ef- fort indeed.”
Lily’s lips twitched, but she forced her face into a serious expression. “It’s true. Theirs wasn’t even fort -ified!” She turned to James and nodded solemnly. “We had all sorts of fort -ifications.”
“Absolutely,” James agreed. “Ours was at least forty times better than theirs.”
“Why, thank you.” Lily gave Sirius a smug smile. “Building snow forts is my forte .”
“For the love of Merlin,” Sirius groaned. “I can’t listen to any more of this. You two are made for each other, I swear. I’ll be in the living room awaiting my tea.” He turned and walked away, leaving Lily and James laughing behind him.
“You’re just jealous of our wit!” Lily called after him.
“Obviously,” James agreed. He walked past Lily to retrieve the teacups, stopping to press a kiss to her cheek as he passed. “He only wishes he could be so fort-unate as to find someone with whom he can share such an intellectual conversation.”
Lily’s cheeks reddened, warmed by his touch. “Yeah,” she murmured. Her fingers traced the spot where his lips had been, and she smiled. “I’m feeling rather fortunate today, myself.”