under the mistletoe || jegulus

nine

James fixed his tie and looked in the mirror, making sure everyone looked perfect. Today was the day of Slughorn's Christmas party. His first date with Lily, basically. That was pretty much the reason he was excited. Other than dancing and wreaking havoc at the party.

"You look really fancy," Remus remarked as he fixed his own tie as Sirius ran a comb through the boy's hair, making sure to be as gentle as he possibly could.

"I think it'll impress Lily," James replied distractedly, ruffling his hair up slightly and adjusting the spectacles on his face. Remus nodded as he shoved his dressing shoes on, deciding to wait for James and Sirius. Peter decided not to go, and instead was going to go on a private date with the Hufflepuff girl he was seeing.

"Hurry up, James, your hair looks fine, your suit looks fine, your tie looks fine, your face looks gorgeous, and your glasses look fine!" Sirius exclaimed at the boy, who ignored him and continued to fix his tie.

"He's right, let's get going," Remus agreed, making James sigh and go towards his friends, who grinned. The trio left together in search for Lily, who was supposed to be meeting James at the second floor.

Once they got there, they saw Lily waiting with a nervous smile, her hair looking more touched up than usual. She looked breathtaking, and James' breath caught when he saw her. She was wearing a golden dress and Mary Jane's, which fit her outfit perfectly. Lily also got matching golden sleeves and put on some makeup, which looked stunning.

"You look like a deer in the headlights," Sirius whispered into James' ear, making him snort as Lily frowned slightly. Were they laughing at her? Remus sent her a reassuring glance and slapped Sirius' shoulder slightly.

"You look gorgeous," James quickly complimented, making her nervous smile reappear. Sirius winked at him, mouthed, "don't forget protection!", and hurried off as Remus followed him with a stern look on his face.

"Thank you. Um, shall we go, then?" Lily asked as James linked his arm through hers. He nodded and they started towards the Christmas party. Lily already knew about the mistletoe, so she would awkwardly detach their arms from each other and go in separately as James assured her it was fine, even if he was slightly disappointed.

Once they arrived, James immediately told Lily, "I'm going to go get us drinks. Does some juice sound fine, or can I go steal some Firewhisky?"

Lily shrugged with an amused glint in her eye, "Juice is fine for me. You can illegally drink Firewhisky if you'd like to, though,"

James smirked, "Right on it, Evans," and he pushed his way through the crowd, leaving Lily alone to sway to the music with a grin as her friends came to join her.

As he came back, someone in the crowd pushed into him roughly, making him spill Lily's juice all over his suit. James slowly got up from the floor and wiped furiously at his suit, making the stain more prominent.

"What the—" James cut himself off and threw the cup, which had no remaining juice in it, to the floor angrily as he looked around to see who did it, only for his eyes to land on a shocked Regulus.

"Was that drink for the mudblood?" Regulus asked, regret flashing in his eyes as James just gaped at the boy in front of him. Regulus immediately slapped a hand to his mouth as James' look slowly started turning from surprise to anger.

"Did you just call Evans a mudblood?" Regulus started to back away with his arms up in surrender, an amused and frightened look on his face as James glared at him.

"I mean, she kind of is one, wait—" and before he could fix his mistake, James threw a hard punch at him, landing right on his shoulder. He stumbled backwards and fell with a groan as passersby stopped to stare at the two, Lily hidden in the crowd.