The Marauders Story

A Very Marauder Christmas Part 3 Chapter ~ 16

The children lined up at the front entrance of the castle. Professor McGonagall was calling the attendance. Lily made her way through the crowd towards James who was standing in the middle, breathing in the surroundings and trying not to get too enthusiastic over the thought of Lily Evans as his date.

They mounted the horse-less carriages and made their way to Hogsmeade. James sat beside Lily, while Peter, Remus and Sirius were sitting in the carriage next to theirs, snickering at the sight of Lily and James together.

"It's a very cold morning..." Lily said, shivering.

"Would you er...like my jacket?" James asked.

Lily laughed "You're not wearing a jacket Potter. You've been watching too many muggle movies."

James blushed bright pink

"Are you blushing Potter?" Lily asked giggling

James staggered "What? Me? The forever cool James Potter? Blushing? Noooo...pfft".

Lily rolled her eyes, secretly smiling.

minutes past, and the students finally reached their destination. Lily was the first to get out of her carriage. She looked around in curiosity, marveled by the magical Christmas aura Hogsmeade let on.

"I've never been to Hogsmeade before!" She said in awe "It's beautiful!"

James looked at her astonished "You've never been to Hogsmeade? Come on I'll show you around!" He shouted.

James grabbed Lily's hand, but she quickly pulled it free.

"We aren't a couple Potter, keep your hands to yourself!" She declared.

James pouted, but hesitantly nodded. Lily continued to walk around the village. Hogsmeade was decorated with giant candy canes, red and green lights, icicles were hanging from the door frames. The little children who lived in the village wore puffy coats and played in the snow. A large Christmas tree stood in the center. James followed Lily and pointed at the various stores and restaurants. He even showed her the oldest tree in the village, the one every couple etched their name on the trunk.

The two kept wandering around. Peter, Remus and Sirius followed inconspicuously, taking Polaroids of the two and showing them off to their classmates. James x Lily had become a very popular ship at Hogwarts. Many of the students called them Jily when referring to them, but Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot always called them Lames.

James and Lilly entered a cafe. They took their seats and looked at their menus. "You used to mention this drink called ButterBeer" Lily said "What is it?"

James looked up from his menu and smiled mischievously.

"I guess the only way to find out is to order"

A waitress came to their table and took their orders. They each ordered a tall glass of ButterBeer and frosted scones to go with it. As they waited for their orders they started talking about their friends, their relatives and even gossiped a bit. Lily smiled at James's jokes and James blushed whenever Lily looked at him.

"This one time, when I used to go to muggle school, we had this supply teacher"

Lily started

"What's a supply teacher?" James asked.

"It's when your original teacher is sick or away, a different teacher fills in for them."Lily said "Anyways, this guy was so...strict! If a pencil shaving was on the floor he would yell at somebody to pick it up! One of the students asked if he could read this passage for him, because it was written in cursive, and the supply would just question why he couldn't read his writing and ranted about how he doesn't type! I had to resist the urge to laugh!"