Day 11 of 12 Days of Jily Christmas in July - Muggle Uni AU
Sirius and James invite Lily to their New Year’s Eve party. Lily doesn’t realise she’s supposed to find someone to kiss at midnight, or that everyone else already assumes that person will be James.
~3800
AO3
Lily didn’t bother looking up from her essay when a boy moved in close to her, hands splayed out on either side of her paper as he leaned over the front of her desk. She knew from the cologne exactly who it was and, though he was occasionally annoying, his presence was nothing to be alarmed about.
“James is hosting a party on New Year’s Eve. Be there. Or else.”
She rolled her eyes and nudged one of his hands away when it came too close to her paper for comfort. “Hello to you as well, Sirius.”
“Yeah, right. Hi, Evans,” Sirius said, sounding bored with propriety, as was his usual state. “So? New Year’s Eve? James’s party? You’ll come, right?”
“Why do you keep telling people it’s my party?” James groused as he took his seat at the desk behind Lily.
“It’s at your house,” Sirius said.
James sighed as if they’d had this argument a hundred times already. “You live there, too, you idiot. Therefore, it’s also your house, your party, and your responsibility.”
“Nah, it’s your parents’ house more than anything,” Sirius deflected. “Back to your responsibility.”
“They’re your parents just as much as they’re mine!” James argued. “Maybe not biologically, or legally, or for nearly as long. But they’re yours.”
“Whatever, you sap. You’re the responsible one. Therefore it’s yours,” Sirius said. “Anyway, Evans. New Year’s Eve. Nine o’clock sharp. See you there.”
He tapped the desk and stood up straight. Lily only looked up from her essay once his footsteps indicated he’d left the room.
“So, you’re hosting a New Year’s Eve party, I hear,” Lily said, glancing over her shoulder at James, who was glaring after Sirius.
“It looks that way.” He sighed, and his expression softened immensely as he turned his gaze to her. “You really should come. If you don’t already have plans.”
“I don’t,” she said. “I mean, I kind of do, but I’ve been desperately hoping for better plans than accompanying my parents to Vernon’s Grunnings party again.”
“Ah, Vernon,” James said, nodding his understanding. She had complained often about her dull, humourless brother-in-law. “So, that sounds like you’ll come?”
He looked… hopeful, she decided.
She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll come.”
“Great!” He grinned at her. “You can bring Mary, of course.”
“She’s going on vacation with her family,” Lily told him. “They’re leaving on Boxing Day and they won’t be back until the third.”
“Ah, well then.” He shrugged, still smiling at her. “You can always just hang out with me.”
It wasn’t like she didn’t know anyone who would be there. She would know Sirius, obviously, and there was no way Remus or Peter wouldn’t be there. She was sure there would be other girls she knew, like Marlene, Emmeline, and Dorcas. But the idea of hanging out with James was a pleasant one.
“Sure,” she agreed easily.
“Brilliant,” he said cheerfully as Professor McGonagall swept into the room and set a large armload of books on her desk.
Lily turned to face the front, trading her English essay for her maths notebook and mulling over why the thought of James being happy to spend time with her made her feel so warm inside.
-
“I can’t believe I’m going to miss it,” Mary complained as she sprawled across Lily’s childhood bed. She had come with Lily to her parents’ Christmas Eve dinner, mostly to act as a buffer between Lily and Petunia and Vernon. It was also their last chance to see one another before Mary would be gone for over a week.
“It’s just a party,” Lily said as she touched up her mascara.
“It’s a New Year’s Eve party,” Mary countered.
Lily smiled and glanced at Mary’s reflection behind her. “I fail to see how that makes any difference.”
Mary leaned up onto her elbows and arched her brows at Lily in the mirror. “New Year’s Eve? Famous for the midnight snog? Hello!”
“Oh.” Lily hadn’t considered that. “Is that a real thing that people do? Like, is it a big deal?”
“I mean, I snogged Brandon last year on New Year’s Eve,” Mary said.
“I thought his name was Bradley,” Lily said. She had missed that particular party since her grandmother had been in hospital, but Mary had told her all about it.
Mary frowned. “Was it?”
Lily rolled her eyes. Clearly he hadn’t left an impression.
“Whatever. Anyway, this is your first New Year’s Eve party,” Mary said.
“That’s not true!”
“Family events don’t count,” Mary said in a tone that left no room for argument. “There’s no snogging at family events. At least, there shouldn’t be.”
There definitely hadn’t been. Unless you counted her parents kissing. Which Lily didn’t.
“This is a uni party,” Mary continued. “People will be dressed all sexy, they’ll be drinking. Of course there’s going to be snogging.”
Suddenly, Lily felt something like dread settle in her stomach. “Mary, what if no one wants to kiss me?”
Mary looked at her like she was impossibly slow. “Lily, it’s James Potter’s party. Someone there is going to want to kiss you.”
Lily didn’t quite understand what she meant by that, but before she could ask, Petunia opened the door. She stood there for a moment, looking around in distaste.
“Mum said it’s time for dinner,” Petunia said with an air of having been put-out by having been assigned this task.
“Okay, we’re coming,” Lily said.
As she and Mary followed Petunia to the dining room, Lily found herself wondering if James was planning to snog anyone at the party. The thought stuck with her all throughout dinner, making it difficult for her to enjoy her roast chicken, a usual favourite of hers.
-
Lily had been to James and Sirius’s house several times. They hosted movie nights with a group of friends every week, as well as the occasional game night. Lily had never seen it so crowded, though.
She made her way inside and stepped into the living area, looking for a familiar face. She found Peter first. He was standing near a group of people playing what looked like chess. Only, they weren’t fully clothed. She wasn’t sure how one could turn chess into a stripping game, but she figured drunk uni students would find a way.
“Hi, Peter,” she said, approaching him.
He looked away from his intrigued observation and smiled at her distractedly. “Oh, hi, Lily.”
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Peter opened his mouth, then paused. He shrugged. “I have no idea. I just walked into this.”
“Well, looks interesting, I guess,” she said.
“Certainly,” he agreed.
She stood with him, watching for a few moments before her attention began to drift and she looked around. “Do you know where James is?”
Still watching the match, he shook his head. “Last I saw, he was arguing with Sirius in the garden. But that was a while ago.”
“Ah,” she said. That sounded like James and Sirius, alright. “I’m going to go find them.”
He didn’t bother looking up as he waved her off. “See you later.”
She turned around and nearly ran straight into Marlene.
“Lily!” Marlene beamed at her.
“Hey, Marlene! Wow, you look great!” It was true. Marlene was a blonde bombshell in a tight red dress.
“Thanks! So do you!” Marlene said.
Lily was wearing the strappy silver, very short dress Mary had bullied her into agreeing to wear over FaceTime earlier. She’d been self-conscious about it as she’d squeezed into it, but looking at all of the skin all of the other girls here were showing? She was glad she’d agreed to it. Even if it was freezing out. The house was warm enough with bodies packed in tight.
“Have you been here long?” Lily asked. “I just got here. I’m looking for James and Sirius.”
Marlene shook her head, raising her voice over the music that someone had just turned up. “Just walked in, actually. Let me know if you do find them, though. I’ve got big, gargantuan plans for Sirius tonight.”
Lily grinned. “I’ll send him your way if I find him.”
“Thanks!” Marlene said, and disappeared into the living room.
Sirius and Marlene were basically dating, only neither of them would admit it. They had been hooking up “casually” for over a year, but neither of them would date anyone else. Remus had told her once in passing, long ago, that Sirius and Marlene both rejected the concept of relationship labels.
That didn’t seem to apply to James where Sirius was concerned, however. Lily had heard him on many occasions declare James his best friend, his brother, his other half.
Turning, Lily was relieved to see Remus walking towards the kitchen hoisting a heavy-looking keg. She pushed through a crowd of people to his side.
He noticed her the second she reached him and smiled warmly. “Hi, Lily.”
“Hey, Remus! Er—do you need help with that?”
Remus looked very amused by her offer and shook his head. “I’ve got it. Thanks.”
“Well, if you’re sure…” she trailed off, still walking with him into the kitchen. She was disappointed to find that James was not there.
“He’s in the garage,” Remus said as he set the keg down.
Lily blinked. “Who?”
He smirked at her. “James. Aren’t you looking for him?”
“I…” She hesitated, embarrassed. She was looking for James. But why would Remus just assume that before she’d even asked? “Well, he’s the host, right? I wanted to say hello.”
“Yes, because people often greet the host at a party like this,” Remus said teasingly. Lily felt her face flush. Remus smiled. “Don’t worry. He’s been looking for you, too.”
“Is he?” Her voice sounded high-pitched to her own ears. She cleared her throat as Remus, smirking still, turned his attention to opening the keg. “I better go find him, then.”
“Yes, you’d better,” Remus said without looking at her. He sounded suspiciously amused. Lily frowned at his back for a moment before she headed for the door.
She nearly walked right into Sirius when she stepped outside. He was standing there smoking a cigarette, looking moderately annoyed. Lily remembered Peter had said he and James were arguing earlier.
He studied her over the orange tip of his cigarette. “You look well fit tonight, Evans.”
“Thanks?” she said. “Speaking of fit, Marlene’s here.”
He grunted, trying for disinterested. Lily saw right through him.
“She said she’s got big plans for you,” she continued. The slightest bit of interest sparked in his grey eyes. “You’d best find her soon before she sets her sights on someone else.”
Something dangerous flashed in his eyes as he tossed the cigarette on the concrete and ground the glowing end beneath his boot. “You are a mean-spirited woman.”
She laughed. “Hey, I’m just letting you know.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m just letting you know that James is hiding out there afraid you’ve stood him up.” He pointed his chin at the dimly-lit garage as he headed inside. “Do with that what you will.”
She frowned after him for a moment, puzzling over his meaning. Stood him up? It wasn’t a date. Sirius had invited her to a party and James had offered to keep her company. That was it, wasn’t it?
Movement in the garage caught her attention. She saw James shifting things around. She drifted towards him curiously, a bit cautious, a bit worried to disturb him.
He was muttering to himself, hands on his hips as he took stock of the mess in the garage. There were many more kegs, along with bottles and bottles of alcohol. Moreover, there were stacks and piles of boxes of fireworks.
“Doing alright?”
He jumped and whirled around to face her. He smiled when he realised it was her. Was it just because of Sirius’s parting words that she thought he looked relieved to see her?
“Lily! You’re here,” he said.
And, yes, he was definitely relieved. Relieved and delighted she had come. The confirmation gave her pause, just enough to come to the conclusion that she was glad to find him happy to see her.
“I said I would come,” she reminded him as she stepped into the garage beside him. Granted, Sirius had told her to come for nine. Mary had warned her not to show up a minute before ten. She’d compromised and arrived at nine-thirty.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “You did. You look—” his gaze roamed her body. It felt warm even as she stood there shivering in the cold “very lovely.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“Very lovely and very freezing,” he amended as a violent shiver shook her. Without hesitation, he took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, leaving him in just a light jumper.
Her face warmed.
“Thank you,” she said again.
His smile was soft and pleased. “You’re welcome.”
“So, what are we up to?” she asked, looking around.
A scowl crept onto his face as he was reminded of his predicament. “Trying to make sense of all this shit.”
She nodded. “Sirius?”
“Sirius,” he confirmed on a long, drawn-out sigh.
“Peter said you two were arguing earlier,” she prompted. “Does it have anything to do with all this?”
“It has to do with the fact that he’s an inconsiderate ass,” James said sharply. “He decides people are going to come over tonight. Fine. He decides I’m in charge. Fine. He’s not wrong; I am the more responsible one. He decides everyone is going to get smashing drunk. Okay whatever. I can handle that. But this?”
He made a grand, sweeping gesture that couldn’t have been about the alcohol he’d apparently agreed to.
“The fireworks?” she guessed.
“The fireworks!” he exclaimed. “Put me in charge of a bunch of drunk idiots, I’ll handle it. But I draw the line at managing a bunch of drunk idiots setting off explosives! He bought all these without telling me, so now the entire thing is his responsibility. I’m out!”
She took a moment to answer because, well, he clearly needed a pause to calm down. When she saw that he had, a bit, she smiled gently. “Do you really intend to leave Sirius in charge of a bunch of drunk people with fireworks?”
He looked at her and groaned miserably. “No, obviously not. I’m absolutely full of shit.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said. When he sighed, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
Something shifted in his eyes as he stared at her. “You will?”
She became aware of the casual way in which she had touched him and dropped her hand from his shoulder like it burned. She turned away from him as if to study the assortment of fireworks, but really she was hiding her embarrassment. “Well, I was under the impression we were hanging out tonight. By extension, that also puts me in a position of responsibility, does it not?”
His smile was audible when he spoke. “Of course it does.”
-
Crack.
Boom.
Bang.
Lily stood with James on the edge of the driveway, each of them holding a cup of beer from the latest keg Sirius had tasked Remus with opening. They were supervising Sirius’s supervision of the impromptu fireworks display in the street. James may have accepted that he was still the responsible party here, but he hadn’t let Sirius in on that.
“He’s so stressed,” Remus said, startling Lily as he materialised behind her.
James smirked, watching as Sirius paced between the driveway and the bloke setting up the next firecracker in the middle of the street. “Good.”
“I don’t think he’s had a drink all night,” Peter chimed in. He was sprawled on the lawn with something harder than beer in his cup—Lily hadn’t asked him what it was, but she knew from the smell that it had a lot of rum in it.
Lily watched as Marlene, in her killer outfit, marched up to Sirius and handed him a cup. She said something stern to him, and rolled her eyes at whatever his response was and turned away. Marlene caught Lily’s eye and made her way over.
“He’s an idiot. Remind me why I sleep with him,” she complained as she stopped in front of Lily, who shrugged.
“Best guess? He’s fit.”
Marlene sighed and looked back at Sirius. “Oh yeah.”
“You think Sirius is fit, then?” James asked conversationally, but the way he studied her over his cup as he took a sip of beer clued her in that it was not a casual question. Her answer mattered to him.
“Well, objectively.” She shrugged. “But he’s not the kind of bloke who makes me feel anything about it.”
James nodded. He took a long time to respond. She could hear the others talking behind her, but she could only focus on what he had to say as she faced him.
“What kind of guy might do that?”
She frowned. “Someone kind… friendly… smart. Who makes people feel welcome and cared for. Someone safe. Responsible. Trustworthy and passionate.”
“Are we writing a character portrait of James?” Marlene asked.
Lily jumped. “What?”
“What? Why do you look like that?” Marlene looked confused. Lily felt hot. “What were you talking about? It sounded like you were listing James’s best qualities.”
“Only left out tall and fit,” Peter added. He was definitely drunk if he was openly calling James fit.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at James. When she finally did, he was trying to hide his smile in his cup. The fact that he looked so pleased—not uncomfortable, but relieved—made her feel less awkward about it all.
He noticed her looking at him and he held her gaze for a moment before Marlene drew their attention again.
“I’m going to have a time pulling him away from all that to get my midnight snog,” she said miserably, gesturing at Sirius, who was still pacing down by the street. She frowned and shrugged. “I guess a midnight-thirty snog is acceptable. Unless one of you wants to step in.”
She looked between Remus and Peter, who both shook their heads.
“I’m not stepping on Sirius’s toes,” Peter said. “Besides, I think one of the girls playing strip chess asked me to kiss her. Penny? Something like that.”
“Also not stepping on Sirius’s toes here,” Remus told her. “But I happen to actually know who I’m kissing. Dora had a late shift, but she should be here any minute.”
“People actually do that?” Lily asked. “I mean, they just walk up to a random person and say ‘kiss you at midnight’ and go their separate ways for a few hours?”
Peter shrugged. “Guess we’ll see in…” he checked his phone, “twenty-three minutes.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Remus said. “Dora’s my girlfriend. There wasn’t really a conversation about it beyond figuring out what time she’d be able to get here.”
“Sirius has been my New Year’s kiss for three years now,” Marlene said. “It’s locked in at this point.”
“Three years?” Lily frowned. She thought they had only been whatever they were to each other for a year.
Marlene only nodded. “I know it doesn’t make sense to anyone but us. We’re not together, and we were even less together back in secondary, but we weren’t nothing.”
Lily was pretty sure even without the beer that explanation would not have made sense to her. She looked at James, who shrugged and shook his head.
“Anyway,” Marlene sighed. “Would it be totally pathetic if I were to go down and hover around him for the next twenty minutes? Just in case?”
“A little, but you should do it anyway,” James said. “He deserves the stress relief.”
“Oh, he’s going to get some stress relief tonight,” Marlene promised. “The midnight kiss is just a preview.”
Lily laughed and James smirked.
Remus’s phone chimed. “Dora’s here. Down the street. There are too many people. She can’t get through in her car, so I’m going to walk down and meet her. See you in a bit.”
He left to a chorus of see you laters. Then, with an annoyed huff that she had to work for it, Marlene left them to stand behind Sirius. Peter, seeming to realise he was running out of time to see if this mystery girl still wanted to kiss him, left to try to find her.
And then it was just Lily and James again.
“So…” Lily started awkwardly. “Do you have it all sorted, then?”
“Do I… have what sorted?” James asked carefully.
She shrugged. From the way he was looking at her she had a feeling that this was another of those important moments where the answer mattered more than the question. Only, she was the one asking.
“Your midnight kiss,” she said quietly. “Do you have it planned?”
He took a gulp of his beer, then he lowered his cup. It seemed to Lily like an excuse to come up with a good answer.
“My only plan for tonight was to spend it with you,” he told her. “There’s no other girl.”
“There are dozens of girls here, actually,” Lily said, wishing wildly she could shut up. She didn’t want him to kiss one of the other girls here. She was only just starting to realise she wanted him to kiss her. Why was she reminding him that he was a top eligible bachelor here who could have his pick of midnight kisses?
“Lily, you were my plan,” he said, then backtracked a bit. “Well, not my plan. Not in a weird way. More… I hoped you might… not want to spend any part of it with anyone else.”
“You’re saying you want to kiss me?” she asked. He stared at her, and she felt foolish again. “I mean, at midnight, of course. For the tradition of it all.”
“Yes,” he said.
“Okay,” she told him. “That works out as I would like to kiss you at midnight.”
“Yeah?” he asked, looking hopeful and also like it mattered that she actually wanted him to kiss her.
She nodded. “You know. It’s a tradition. I’ve never actually… had a New Year's kiss.”
“Well, I would be honoured to be your first,” he said.
“Okay,” she said again.
“For the record,” James said quietly. “I would also like to kiss you outside of the tradition.”
She smiled, and tucked her hair behind her ear a bit self-consciously. “Would you, now?”
He nodded, and lifted his hand to push the hair back from the other side of her face. “Now more than ever, which I previously didn’t think possible.”
“Well, then,” she said, tipping her face up to his. “By all means, do.”
Eagerly, he did. He stepped closer, so that their toes were touching, and slid his hands around her waist beneath the jacket he’d put on her. She tipped her head up as he lowered his, and their mouths met.
They were still kissing when the countdown started, and hardly noticed when the fireworks went mad around them.
this trend of shitting on peer-reviewed academic studies in favor of tweeting “we already knew this was happening” is so soul-crushing. not to be an elitist cunt, but we have got to open the schools again. people genuinely seem to have forgotten that their personal lived experience isn’t indicative of the larger population, AND IF IT IS…… then you need researchers to support these assertions from a relevant data pool instead of a blog post from 2013 💀
chat reminder to just write whatever the fuck you want. write that overused trope. write that obscure shit that no one will have heard of. just. do it. your writing is yours stop depriving it of that.
Something nobody prepares you for is that the better you get at writing the harder it becomes. beginners write freely because they don't know enough to know what's wrong. then you learn. and suddenly you can see every single flaw in real time as you're making it and you have to write anyway while your own brain is in the corner going "that's a weak verb. that transition is lazy. you've used that word three times." getting good at this is mostly just getting better at ignoring yourself.
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