Song: Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (Quite amusing, look up the lyrics!)
Chapter Ten
By Natali K. A.
(-Memories: Seventh Year, about a month after start of term…)
"Have you ever seen McGonagall so pissed off?" Sirius snickered. With his voice about eight octaves higher, he said, " `I never want to see you lot up above midnight, do you understand me? Potter, Black! Do you find something funny in this situation? I'd love to hear about it in detention all next week! And that's fifteen points from Gryffindor for this foolishness! A party, at three in the morning!' "
James laughed. "No joke, she's off. It was just a harmless little get together, and she went ranting at us. I'd hate to think of what she'd say if she found all the drinks we'd stashed there."
Remus shook his head. "Between you two, you must have had a million detentions by now. Maybe you'll get a plaque at graduation."
"That would make things a bit interesting," Jimmy Tang laughed, stretched languorously on the grass in front of the lake. He let out a low whistle. "Ah, here come the girls, looking all pretty in their bathing suits."
The group of ten or so guys turned to greet the female portion of the "after party". James smiled as his eyes scanned the nearly naked girls of his own year. He was about to turn to Sirius when one of the girls caught his eye.
Lily Evans.
He took a sharp breath and continued to watch the angel make her way towards them. She looked drop dead gorgeous in a white halter bikini. Licking his lips, he let his glance drop to her neck, then her chest, her middle, down her legs, then back up. He could feel his groin tightening. When had that happened?
Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by girls.
"Hey James," Angel giggled, kissing his cheek. "I love your bathing trunks. Do you like what I'm wearing?"
He must have answered, because Angel seemed satisfied. But he kept watching Lily as she sat next to Julie, who was sitting next to Remus. Julie said something, and Lily laughed. Her eyes lit up when she did, and James resolved that by the end of the night, he'd have himself some of Lily.
He then snapped out of his dream and turned to flirt with the group of girls around him.
It wasn't till later, when both happened upon each other near the opposite bank of the lake, separated from everyone else, that James remembered his lovely angel.
"Hey, Evans," he grinned. "Lovely night, isn't it?"
"A bit on the cool side," Lily replied. Since James was taller than her by at least a head, he could reach the bottom, but she couldn't. James noticed.
"If you're having trouble there, I could carry you," he offered, winking. "It would be no trouble, I assure you."
Lily laughed. "Thanks, Potter, but I have to get back. A friend of mine has a makeup class tomorrow morning, and I offered to go in early with her. I was on my way there. I'll see you later, then." With that adieu, she swam off for the other bank, leaving James disheartened. He'd been planning on doing a little more than just momentarily conversing with her tonight.
Determined to get what he wanted-who just happened to be a certain redhead-he followed her up to the common room about five minutes later.
Julie, who'd found it odd when James had bid them a good night and said he was tired, turned to Remus as he headed for the doors to the castle. "Remus, did Potter just say that he was tired?"
Just as dumbfounded, Remus nodded. "Yup."
"But… He's Potter!"
"Yup."
Julie cocked her head. "Lils and Zoë went up a while ago. Do you think that…?"
Remus shrugged. "I've never heard him talk of either of them. I've got to admit, I'd be a little surprised if he was following them. Maybe he had a rough day or something. And there's always the chance that he's meeting up some girl." He snickered, joined by Julie who laughed.
"That's probably it."
By that time, James, who knew a shortcut to the tower, had reached the common room. He entered it to find the reason for his early turn-in lounging on a couch, reading a book and dressed in a very cute pajama, though conservative for his taste.
He removed the towel from around him to show off his chest to a better advantage. Quidditch had its payoffs. "Hello again, Evans."
She jumped slightly and looked up at him. After identifying who it was, she went back to her book. "Hello, Potter. Early night for you too?"
"Yes. I… was thinking of waking up early to work on Quidditch plans," he lied. "Being captain is taxing on oneself," he said, bragging not-so-subtly.
"I'm sure," Lily said lightly. Flicking him a look, she said, "You might want to cover up before you catch cold or something."
He frowned. "Thanks for caring."
"Anytime."
Sensing that she wasn't in the mood to do anything other than read, James grudgingly went up the stairs to his room. It was cold…
After a shower and changing into boxers and a muscle shirt, James headed once more down the stairs, really determined to bed her this time.
Lily looked up as he landed on the last step and smiled. "Back so soon? Did you have a nice shower?"
"Yes, thanks," he replied, sitting down in an armchair across from her. "I wasn't in the mood to sleep, so I decided to come down. What are you reading?"
"Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen," she answered, scrunching her nose.
"Is it good?"
"That's not how I would describe it."
"Then why are you reading it?" he chuckled.
She smiled. "Because I hate starting a book and then not finishing it. It's odd, I know, but it's just one of those things, you know?"
He nodded. He did. "I'm the same way. I read this one book last year about dust balls-dust balls!-but I had to finish it. It would've plagued me for weeks if not."
"So then why did you start reading it?" she giggled. "Why ever would you start to read a book about dust balls."
He snickered. "It was called `Do You Have Balls?' It had looked good, anyway." He shrugged. Deciding to change the subject he said, "Do you have any plans for this week?"
Lily shook her head. "No."
"No dates, shopping trips, hair appointments?"
"Not one. I broke up with Javier last week. He was getting fresh," she explained.
"And no one's asked you out since?" James asked slyly. "You poor thing. I might have to myself."
"Now, Potter, I never said no one had asked me to go out," she chided. "I only said I had no plans. You mustn't feel too bad for me. I'll find a beau soon enough." With a wink, she rose, closing her book. "'Night, Potter."
"'Night, Evans," he grumbled. Once again, he hadn't gotten what he wanted.
"Hey, Potter," someone said from the top of the stairs. It was a Sixth Year friend of his. "Want some advice for Evans?"
James grinned. "Now, Thompson, what makes you think I'm after Evans?"
"Because I saw the way you were staring at her ass as she went up the stairs," Carl Thompson laughed. "So, do you want advice or not?"
James shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do. Go ahead then."
"She likes the gentlemen. Evans doesn't care too much about flash or glam. She's real nice and simple. All you need to do is say `please' and `thank you'." He laughed and turned to go. "Oh, and one more thing."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"Don't expect to shag her." With a cruel laugh, Thompson turned into his room and shut the door.
"Prat," James muttered. "And I'll bet he's right, too."
*~*
Of course, everyone knows that James got what he wanted, Lily did shag him (Harry had to get here somehow, no? But they shagged long before then), and they did get married.
It is the misconception of most that Lily and James died, that night on Halloween when Harry was year old. I can't say I really blame them, as it was most certainly mentioned quite clearly enough.
Actually, it's sufficiently safe to say that even Harry thought they were dead! I think that perhaps even Dumbledore doubted that they weren't truly dead for a while there.
Such a shame, really, because their death tore so many apart. Lynn and Sirius-oh, they got together sure enough, but it took awhile. Lynn blamed Sirius-the entire damned wizarding world blamed poor Sirius.
As I recorded their life, I found it odd that Peter Pettigrew-their true betrayer-never came up often. Apparently, after James had begun dating Lily, he'd separated from the other Marauders, though he did deign to come to their wedding.
There is so much that leaves even me confused. Such as why-why them and why not others and why dead? Why did Harry have to suffer so much, and how come Voldemort didn't die right off?
Hermione Granger looked up from her letter to Ginny, telling her about the latest from Lily and James' story, as told to her by them.
She massaged her temple, sighing. Picking up her quill, she resumed her writing.
I won't pretend to understand it all. Nay, I am unable to understand it all, so I have no choice therefore. If we were completely in the dark about the entire deal, imagine Lily and James…
I expect you to arrive here sometime next week, so we can get down the part about you and Harry. As for including Ron and my little romance, it's utterly out of the question. This story has nothing to do with us, no matter how much you insist. It barely has anything to do with you!
I'll speak to Sophia and Ryan sometime in the next month. I don't think they're terribly important to the story, but we'll see.
All my love, and say hi to Harry for me (By the way, I'm pissed off at him! He hasn't visited me in at least a month and I've a fair good idea to go on over there and give him a good slapping, thank you!)
--Hermione
*~*
A/N: I keep screwing myself over with adding all these interesting little tidbits. Oh well. My own fault, I'm sure…. *sigh*
All my love, AND REVIEW,
NKA
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