For Sash ~ sashblob07
And for my friend ~ Crimson_Blade1905

【In which mistletoe and a piano changed the world for Lily and James...】

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Christmas parties were always a drag to him. Everyone there seemed to be a phoney version of a character in The Great Gatsby and he really couldn't be doing with the socialising. What he really needed: was a drink.

He hadn't met his piano player before he reached the event but he expected she would be similar to the last girl: a sleazy dolled up blonde barbie version of a woman, the type that made one ponder if there was much point in having a face if they weren't going to keep the one they were born with.

He arrived at the event, early as planned and began to set up his things while guests began to pour into the ballroom.

If James had learnt anything from the year he had spent as a wedding and function singer it was that Christmas was a bitch. Here he was, on Christmas Eve, here to watch a bunch of company bootlickers chat, and booze, up a storm while he sat, docile, and sang to the piano of a woman he was yet to meet.

"The piano player is just arriving now. Feel free to set up."

James frowned at a very pompous looking plump man (most likely the gentleman whose boots the bootlickers would be licking tonight) as if he had a learning difficulty.
"I already have, thank you," James smiled (politely), reminding himself this man is paying my wages, it was a mantra.

This man is paying my wages.

This man is paying my wages.

This man is paying my—

"Lily?!"

The red headed woman met his eye and gasped, "James?"

He gawped at her for a moment, she hadn't changed at all since he last saw her a year ago. Her cheeks were still pinched and freckled, her eyes were still a dazzling emerald green and her hair still blazed in candlelight.
They stared at each other, open mouthed, for longer than would be considered dignified until the man paying his wages came booming back.
"I don't mean to be rude but nearly all the guests have arrived already." He said in a tone that James would describe as definitely meaning to be rude.

Lily came to first, jumping out her trance and shaking her head violently, as if it might push whatever she had been thinking out her brain.
"Of course sir, my apologies."

"Not at all." He left to drown himself in adoring company ass-kissers (James hadn't quite fully decided on a collective title yet).

He watched as Lily sat nervously by the piano and shuffled around for a moment, getting used to the feel of the velvet stool. James noticed she had a sparkling silver dress on that made her look like a living angel. 
She played like one too (much better than the sordid puppet he had accompanied at the last function he had attended). Her fingers ran across the keys much more expertly than he had ever been able to master.

James hopped on top of the piano and watched her for a moment.
"You play well."

Lily looked up at him with the same 'don't flatter me,' look she used to give him while they were at school, working on Head's duties together or something like that.

"I'm serious; better than I've heard in a while."

"I dread to hear what you've heard in a while then."

James chucked, leaning down to talk to her better, "you don't want to know."
She looked up at him and laughed, a melodic laugh that he remembered so well. He'd coaxed it out of her many a time before.

"Got over here and sing, with me will you?"

He rolled his eyes but slipped off the piano nonetheless and joined her on the stool, "budge."
She shifted and allowed him to share the seat with him so her bare shoulder was brushing against his shirt clad one, making feel a little jittery.

Lily took the lead and began to play the melody to one of James' all time favourite Christmas duets: Baby Its Cold Outside.

"You remembered?" He murmured in her ear. She nodded but said nothing, instead she began to sing in that celestial voice James had been deprived of hearing for a whole year.

"I really can't stay."

James smirked, his left hand playing the keys she couldn't reach like they did back when they were at school, "baby it's cold outside."

She turned to look at him and rolled her eyes at his knee-jerking expression.
"I gotta go away."

"Baby it's cold outside."

She shook her head fondly, "this evening had been..."

"Been hoping that you'd drop in."

She leaned over him to push a key he'd missed, "so very nice,"

"I'll hold your hands they're cold as ice."

He took her spare hand and kissed it with a smirk, making her blush and look down at the keys, avoiding his seductive eyes.

"My mother will start to worry,"

"Beautiful, what's your hurry?" The puppy-dog look he was giving her made it feel like the song they were singing was somehow reality.

"My father will be pacing the floor."

James shook his head, as if he really was trying to convince Lily to stay with him, perhaps– in his own way– he was.
"Listen to that fireplace roar."

"So really I'd better scurry,"

"Beautiful, please don't hurry," he shook his head at her as he sung, she rolled her eyes and looked away, blushing furiously at the tone in his voice.

"Well maybe just a half a drink more?"

"I'll put some records on while I pour." He ran his spare hand along her arm in a running motion to the music, she laughed more wonderfully that he had ever heard anyone laugh before.

"The neighbours might think,"

"Baby it's bad out there," his eyes filled with melodramatic worry as he serenaded her.

"Say what's in this drink?" She shrugged at him, finally playing up to the queues he had been laying down and joining him in the wild game of singing around each other, playing their part.

"No cabs to be had out there." In all fairness that was probably true; a blizzard had been raging for the past few hours which gave the duet even more frightening relevance.

"I wish I knew how,"

"Your eyes are like starlight now,"

"To break this spell,"

He looked into her eyes with his signature seductive gaze that captured her immediately like a fly trap, making it almost impossible for her to look away.
"I'll take your hat, your hair like is swell."

"I ought to say no, no, no sir," Lily sang ever so slightly nearer to him with each syllable, finally getting enticed in the duet.

"Mind if I move in closer?" (He did just that).

"At least I'm gonna say that I tried," she shrugged and watched him from underneath her dark eyelashes, coated thinly with mascara.

"What's the point in hurting' my pride?" He sounded almost genuine when he sang, as if it might just be a conversation he was having with her rather than a perfectly timed duet.

"I really can't stay."

"Baby, don't hold out."

When they sang together it was like nothing James had ever experienced before, it was magical.

"Baby it's cold outside."

Snow was still piling up well after midnight when Lily and James were dismissed from their shift with cash in hand and a polite round of applause from the members of the party left that hadn't already fled in a black cab that London were so very famous for.

Lily and James left the function together, wearing an extra layer or two to beat the cold.
"It's a beautiful night isn't it?" She sighed as they stood in the doorway of the foyer, taking in the view of London lit up with Christmas spirit.

"It is. Bloody snow's going to be a nightmare on the roads tomorrow if it doesn't stop soon."

Lily glanced up at him and smiled, "got somewhere to be then?"

"Not at all. It was a passing comment."

She hummed, resting her head on his shoulder (she was able to do this with the heeled boots she wore on her feet).
"You alright?" James asked her, a little taken aback by the boldness of her action.

"Fine. Drunk on Christmas."

He hummed, making no move to leave, quite content just to stand in the ballroom foyer and watch the snow build up.
"Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable when we were at school... it wasn't fair of me to chase you like that those first five years. I'm sorry I didn't stop sooner." He spoke softly, the ambiance shifted as she moved to look at him, her chin on his shoulder.

"No, it's okay. I didn't mind as much as I pretended I did." Her eyes sparkled scintillatingly under twinkling lights suspended above their heads, "if I'm completely candid –I probably shouldn't have had that extra glass of wine–" she paused to sigh, he could smell the wine on her breath on his neck. "If I'm completely candid, James, I missed it. I missed you this past year. I missed your flirting, and your jokes, and your pranks and— you have a lovely face, you know?"

James laughed, feeling the alcohol he had go to his head and make him feel wonderfully airy. Neither were drunk but both seemed to glow.
"So I've been told."

"You do. Anyway," her chin was still on his shoulder and she was dizzyingly close to him, "do you remember that time in sixth year when you used to pretend to try and get me under mistletoe?"

James chuckled, recalling all the times he had told her that (and all the times she had hit him across the head).
"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"We'll there's mistletoe above us right now, and since I've never kissed you before I'd quite like to correct the issue."

James heart was hammering out his chest, his head was spinning, everything was spinning; everything but her, that is.

She stood taller and he bent down ever so slightly to press his lips to hers. He felt as though he was a snowflake, falling from the sky in twists and turns with the wind. Her kiss was the only warm thing for miles and so he leant into it, never wanting to forget this moment.

It took her a while to pull away properly, she must have pecked his lips three of four times before finally standing back down again, still clinging on to his arm with her chin on his shoulder.

"You know, Evans, there was never actually mistletoe above us all those times. I made it up."

She smirked, "I know. There's none here either."

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