Disclaimer: No JK Rowlings were harmed in the making of this one-shot.

Lily couldn't believe what she was doing. Just months ago, she would have hexed someone for even suggesting that she go to James Potter's house for any reason, let alone a Christmas Eve costume party. Now that they were Head Boy and Girl together, an awkward friendship had sprung up between the two.

Due to the added responsibility, James had developed some semblance of maturity and Lily learned to control her temper, which allowed them to be in the same room for long periods of time. In spite of herself, she'd come to realize that he actually was funny. His sense of humor had defused many a high-stress situation.

She had agreed to come because James caught her in a moment of weakness. They had been working on setting up a new prefect schedule for after the holiday when she received a letter from her folks letting her know that Petunia and her new husband were going to be at home for Christmas. This translated to spending Christmas Eve with her sister and brother-in-law not talking to her, but making loud remarks about the joys of conformity and how weirdoes (with pointed looks in Lily's direction) should be deported. James first offered to give Vernon a Technicolor mustache before inviting her to his home.

"It's mostly my parents' friends," he'd said. "Sirius and Marly will be there too."

In the end, what convinced her was receiving the perfunctory Christmas card from Petunia. It featured a kissy-face picture of her sister and Vernon, and it affected her so badly that she was the only one in DADA that didn't produce a Patronus. So she told James she'd come; Lily even allowed James to doctor up the picture so that Vernon's mustache was blue and Petunia bore a strong resemblance to a cow.

So here she was, walking up the long pathway leading to the Potter's front door. The drapes were open, showing an elaborate Christmas tree in a room filled with people. One person, it seemed, was sitting in the window, watching the lightly falling snow. But as soon as Lily noticed the person, he or she had gotten up.

Suddenly, the front door opened and someone came jogging out to meet her. James. Lily realized that she was, in fact, happy to see him, so she didn't try to stop the smile that was spreading across her face.

He stopped in front of her and said, "Merry Christmas!" She took in his attire- he was dressed like a Christmas elf. James looked confused as Lily covered her mouth to suppress giggles from escaping. He looked down at himself and shrugged. "I wear it every year."

Lily handed him a tray of Christmas cookies. "I brought these for the party," she announced. Even though it was snowing, she removed the hood to her cloak, revealing an elf hat atop her wavy locks. James looked stunned- they were wearing the same costume! "I'm an elf too. I figured that most wizards wouldn't pick a Muggle costume. I even transfigured my ears!" She pointed to what James realized was a pointy ear.

"May I?" he asked, extending his free hand towards her ear.

"Sure." James gently touched the point of her ear, leaning in as if to figure out if it were really attached.

"Very nice bit of magic," he stated admiringly, then tucked a strand of hair behind it. He then turned towards the house. "Come on in. I'll show you around. But I'm warning you now- it's a bit crowded in there."

When they got to the front door, James squared his shoulders manfully and said, "Prepare yourself. One, two, three!" On three, he swung the door open, and Lily was assaulted by a blast of sound. A cacophony of many melded conversations, weaving in and out of loud Christmas music.

James took her hand as he guided her through the crowd, ducking in and out of various groups of people. He was greeted by a few, but didn't stop to talk to any. After venturing through three rooms, Lily was astounded. Even though the house was huge, it was dwarfed by the sheer number of people. Finally, they entered the kitchen and he dropped her hand, giving it a quick squeeze before he did.

"Congratulations," he said with a pained grin. "You just survived the combat zone."

"It wasn't too bad," Lily started, lying through her teeth.

"You're just being nice!" James accused with a laugh.

"James, sweetie, are you in here?" An older woman walked in. Lily's eyes widened and she had to stifle another laugh. This woman was dressed up as Professor Dumbledore! "I just tried the punch and it was free of any unauthorized substances!"

"Mum!" James cried, glancing at Lily. She seemed to be taking in his mother's costume in stride, but was confused by her statement; James hurried into introductions. "This, er… Mum, this is Lily. Lily, my mum. Dorea Potter."

"Welcome!" Mrs. Potter shouted as she embraced Lily. "James has told us so much about you! Make yourself at home!" She then gave James a swat on the head. "I can't believe he forgot to take your cloak!" She gave Lily a knowing look. "You know how boys can be sometimes. I promise he knows better."

"Mum!" James looked mortified. Lily giggled and handed him her cloak. James tapped it with his wand and it disappeared. "It's now safely in a closet upstairs." Mrs. Potter gave him an approving smile before turning her attention back to Lily.

"How cute! You two match!" she said, voice full of mirth. This causes James to shift uncomfortably and Lily to blush to her roots. But as Mrs. Potter was heading back into the fray, she didn't notice.

"Let's get out of here before she comes back," James said with a shake of his head. His mother knew how he felt about Lily, but he'd also hoped that she wouldn't make a big deal out of her presence at the party.

"You have a lake, don't you?" Lily inquired. Being alone with James might be awkward, but it was better than having more people comment on their matching elf costumes!

"Yeah," James replied. "I'll show you." They headed out of the kitchen. Once again, the sounds of the festivities surprised Lily.

"Maybe we'll find Marlene and Sirius on the way out!" She almost had to shout so James could hear her.

"I already found them!" James yelled back, pointing into a room they were passing. Lily only had to glance in to see why her host kept walking- Sirius and Marlene were busy snogging in a corner.

"I try to avoid that room," James called out. "The ceiling is covered in mistletoe. My dad thinks it's funny, but a few years ago, I was attacked by my great-aunt Millicent! Not a pleasant experience!" He ran into someone and apologized.

They reached the end of a corridor and James opened a door. Cold air creeped into the hallway. They stepped outside; James breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind them.

"I always say that I'm going to stay up in my room for this, but somehow, it never happens," James confided in Lily as they started walking. "I got caught spiking the punch with dragon's blood when I was ten; ever since then, I've never had any fun at these large gatherings. I was told that if I goofed off anymore, I'd be spending all my Christmases in Norway without a wand."

"Well, come to New Year's with us and Petunia," Lily said with a laugh. "Nowhere near as many people. And since you're a 'freak,' she probably won't even talk to you!"

"Perfect!" James exclaimed. Then he got a serious look on his face. "Does your sister really think you're a freak?" Lily looked down. "I'm sorry- you don't have to answer that," he spurted out. "That was rude."

"No, its okay," she said softly. "I… I've gotten used to it." She paused. "She doesn't like magic. I think maybe she's jealous? Back when Severus and I were friends," here, James grimaced. "-We found a letter in her room from Professor Dumbledore. Apparently, she'd written him asking if she could go to Hogwarts too. He said she didn't have any magical ability, and I've been a 'freak' ever since."

James tentatively put a comforting hand on her shoulder. When she didn't push him off, he reached around and gave her a quick one-armed hug.

"If it makes you feel any better," he said, "you're very good at being a freak." She gave him a quizzical look, only to discover he was making a joke.

"You take that back!" Lily tried to be stern, but her gleaming eyes told James that she was up to something.

"No, ma'am," James stated resolutely. "You're a damn good freak and ought to be commended for it! Besides, what are you going to do if I don't take it back? Deduct five points from Gryffindor, Head Girl?"

"No! I'm going to do this!" Lily exclaimed. She bent over, quickly scooped up some snow, and made a ball. Then she gleefully chucked it James. "Ha! Take that, Head Boy! Right on the nose!"

James laughed menacingly as he wiped the snow off of his face. "So that's how it's going to be, is it?" He reached down to make a snowball of his own, only to get smacked on the head with another one.

"You're going to need to move faster than that, Potter!" Lily cried out, running to duck behind a tree as James threw his snowball at her.

"Missed!" she yelled, tossing another snowball in his direction. With hair flying, eyes gleaming wildly, and bursting with laughter, James thought that she never looked more lovely than she did right now. So he threw another snowball at her, hitting her right in the face.

"Bah!" she sputtered, tossing her head around. "My mouth was open!" James let out a yelp of laughter as she stepped out from behind the tree. She was making another snowball as James rushed her.

"Ahh!" she screamed with laughter as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Laughing himself, he started spinning around in circles. He tripped on a pile of snow and tipped over, falling onto his knees.

Lily ended up sliding off of his shoulder and rolling onto the ground.

"Are you alright?" James asked frantically. Lily's reply was another bout of laughter and waving her arms and legs.

James stood up, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Making a snow angel!" She held out a hand. "Help me up. I don't want to ruin it with footprints." James pulled her off the ground.

"See?" Lily pointed to her handiwork. "It looks like an angel!"

James tilted his head left, then right. With a characteristic ruffle of his hair, he stated, "Yeah, it kinda does."

Lily began to brush the snow out of her hair, while giving James an appraising look.

"What?" he asked.

"You've grown up."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's just… at one point in time, you would have said something about how it only looks like an angel because I made it." Lily's matter-of-fact tone made James attempt to put his hands in his pockets; once he realized his costume didn't have pockets, he crossed his arms.

"Well," he started slowly, staring at the snow angel with such intensity that Lily was sure it would melt. "It's taken me some time to realize that you didn't like all the stupid stuff I'd say." He paused. "That's why I've toned down the obnoxious flirting. It's not that I don't mean the things that I say- I just… need to find a better way to say them." He turned his gaze back at Lily, gauging her reaction.

Lily was looking at James like she'd never seen him before, and she liked what she saw. She was amazed- he had just transformed from a boy to a man right in front of her eyes. Lily gave him a bashful smile and reached her hand out to him. James looked unsure of himself as he held his hand out to her, but she grasped it and laced her fingers through his.

"Well, when you figure out how to say it," she said softly, "you have my permission to speak." James' eyes widened. He wasn't sure, but he thought Lily was giving him her blessing to ask her out.

He stepped closer to her, closing the distance between them. His heart seemed to rise up and get stuck in his throat. He looked down at Lily, an expectant look on her face. Light from the house reflected on the melting snowflakes in her hair, making it sparkle. He took her other hand and bent down to give her a shy but sweet kiss.

He pulled back to see her smiling up at him. "Merry Christmas, James."

He grinned back, feeling like he was on top of the world. "Merry Christmas, Lily." He took a breath, opened his mouth to say something, the closed it.

"What is it?" Lily was suddenly wondering if she did something wrong.

"…Does this mean you'd like to have dinner with me sometime?" he asked awkwardly.

Lily smiled and looked down at her feet. Pushing a bit of snow towards James, she answered with a sheepish grin, "Yeah, I guess it does." She gave a quick laugh. "Well, Potter, you finally wore me down."

James pulled her into a hug and replied, "It was bound to happen eventually." Lily snorted, and James laughed. "But you're going to have to tell Black and Lupin. They'll never believe it if I tell them!"

A/N: "Although it's been said many times, many ways- merry Christmas to you!" Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas!