Disclaimer: As much as I would love to own Harry Potter, that right belongs to JK Rowling so anything you recognize is hers…although, I wouldn't object to owning James if she'd let me ; ) ! Hey a girl can dream can't she?
Chapter 1: New Acquaintances
It was one of the hottest days of the summer to date and every single window in the Evans family's house was propped open, the sheer white curtains which adorned every window floated lazily back and forth as a result of the light draft entering the house. There was no need for lights because the sun was so vivid, the only light one needed was the sun's dulcet rays which poured through the house as easily as if it were a prism.
The warm breeze seemed to carry the familiar tastes of summer directly to your lips, fresh cut grass, wet asphalt, the cool night that would follow after the sun slipped away behind the rolling hills.
Lily Evans stood leaning on the kitchen counter eating a cherry Popsicle and flipping through one of her mum's old entertainment magazines. She wore a white tank top made out of thin material and a pair of tattered denim shorts that had been pants before she cut them, on her feet were a pair of worn out comfy white sneakers. The vintage clothes she wore, did not take away her natural beauty like it would on some but instead enhanced it.
Her usually pale skin was slightly tanner due to the hours she had spent outside and the few freckles that were scattered about her nose were all the more visible. Her longish red hair was down and combined with the light that was filtering through the many windows of the kitchen, gave off the impression that she had a halo-ish glow surrounding her head. Lily secured the cherry popsicle between her now tainted red lips and gathered her auburn hair up into a messy bun, sweeping it up from where it was beginning to stick to her neck and securing it with a white scrunchie. All the while, her bright emerald green eyes never leaving the magazine she was reading.
A child's laugh drifted through the open window and Lily looked up to see the children from across the street along with some friends running happily through the sprinklers in front of their house. She smiled at the innocence of it all wishing for a moment that she could be as carefree as they were.
Lily's thoughts were interrupted as she heard someone enter the kitchen behind her.
"Hello sweetheart."
Lily smiled as her mother walked in, giving her daughter a kiss on the top of her head before walking over to the sink and pouring herself a glass of water.
"Hi mum." Lily replied, "Where's daddy?"
"Well, Petunia is over at Vernon's house in case you're even remotely curious,"
Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes at the mention of her sister. Things had just never been the same between her and Petunia ever since she had received her Hogwarts letter six years ago. Their parents, however much they hated their two daughters not getting along, had stopped pushing the two together forcefully figuring that they would both come around in their own time.
"and your father had to run to the office unexpectedly for a couple of hours but he should be home-"
Mrs. Evans was cut off by a third voice that joined the conversation.
"Right now." Came the voice of Mr. Evans as he entered the kitchen through the side door.
"Jeff, you're home early!" Mrs. Evans replied happily.
"Hey there princess." Jeff Evans said, greeting Lily with a playful ruffle on the head before turning to his wife.
"Yeah, turns out it was only something small down at the office so it didn't take as long as we thought it was going to." Jeff Evans replied as he kissed his wife on the cheek.
"Mm…" Mrs. Evans replied as she took another sip of water.
"So, have you two seen the moving trucks next door yet?" Mr. Evans asked.
"You mean someone's finally moving in dad?" Lily asked.
She glanced out the window, straining her neck a bit until she could just make out three enormous red and white moving vans parked in front of the house next door.
"Yeah, it would appear so sweetie."
"Yeah, I saw that too this morning when I was watering the flowers." Mrs. Evans replied.
"Mrs. Blackwell, you know that nice old lady who lives two doors down? She told me that a family was moving in a few days ago and I saw the woman whose moving in this morning, she seems really nice and I'm sure her family is too."
"Well, if they have kids then they'll fit right in here, especially if they're near Tommy and Katie's age." Lily said remembering her seven year old neighbors who had been running through the sprinklers earlier.
"Well, I just baked a batch of sugar cookies this morning, we should go over with some and introduce ourselves." Mrs. Evans replied.
"That sounds like a great idea dear." Mr. Evans replied enthusiastically. "I'll leave that to you and Lily, but I've got to go get some papers organized in my office…my boss says he wants them sent out by tomorrow."
"Alright, dear." Mrs. Evans replied as Jeff exited the kitchen, going down the hall toward his office.
As soon as her husband left, Mrs. Evans pulled out a medium sized glass tray as well as the batch of cookies she had baked. After arranging them on the tray, she handed them to Lily.
"Why don't you go over there and give these to our new neighbors sweetheart. I'll be along in a bit."
"Alright mum." Lily replied, throwing the popsicle stick into the garbage can.
She made for the front door before her mum called her back.
"Oh, and Lily! Don't forget to introduce yourself! And don't forget your manners!"
Lily smiled, feeling as if she were three years old again with her mother telling her to remember her manners and such.
"I won't mum!" she called as she walked out the door and closed it behind her.
Lily walked down the porch steps and turned left, approaching the house next door.
The three large moving trucks were all open and every now and then a mover would take something out to bring inside.
Nearing the front of the house, she saw that the two car garage was open, revealing a modest compact car in a champagne color as well as a smaller sleek red sports car, both by the looks of if brand new.
"Oh great." Lily muttered as she neared their porch. "I hope they're not snobby rich people."
Lily was at the stairs now. She took a deep breath and muttered,
"Well, I guess I'm about to find out."
before walking up to the front door which was wide open.
She peered inside and noticed that the house was more or less laid out in the same way her own was.
"Hello?" Lily called, though still remaining outside not about to walk into someone else's house uninvited.
"Is anyone home?"
At her last call, a woman around her mother's age came over from what Lily guessed was the kitchen.
She was tall and slim with dark brown hair and wore a pair of old jeans and a women's plaid blue tee shirt.
The woman had a kind face and a warm smile played on her lips as she walked over to where Lily stood at the door. As she neared, Lily saw that she had very pretty hazel eyes, framed by thick eyelashes and although Lily couldn't quite put her finger on why, her eyes seemed surprisingly familiar, like she had seen them somewhere else before.
"Hello dear." The woman said stopping in front of Lily at the doorway.
"Hi, mam." Lily replied with a smile. "My name's Lily, I live next door. My mum sent me over here to introduce myself and welcome you to the neighborhood. She also sent over a batch of her sugar cookies for you and your family."
"Well," the woman replied, in her warm and genuinely happy voice. "it's nice to meet you Lily. But enough of this 'mam' nonsense! Just call me Moira and come on inside."
"Alright!" Lily replied with a smile as she handed over the cookies and followed Moira into the house and to the kitchen.
"I was just about to pour myself a glass of lemonade, would you like some Lily?" Moira asked.
"Yes, Please." Lily replied.
Moira took out two glasses and a pitcher from the refrigerator and poured a glass for Lily handing it to her.
"It really is sweet of your mother to send these cookies over, you're the first person to come and introduce themselves," Moira explained. "Everyone else has just been staring at the moving trucks!"
Lily chuckled, and decided that she liked Moira already.
"Though, I don't know how long they're gonna last in this house what with my husband and my son. They're like human trash disposals!"
Lily laughed again agreeing completely with Moira before speaking again.
"You have a son?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, he's just about-" but Moira was cut off by a soft knock at the front door.
"Is anyone there?" the voice called.
"Oh! That's my mum!" Lily explained as she put her almost empty glass of lemonade in the sink.
"We'll be right there!" Moira called as she and Lily walked over to the front door.
Mrs. Evans came into view as Lily rounded the corner with Moira.
"Hi, I'm Laurie, and I see you've already met my daughter Lily." Laurie Evans said, introducing herself.
"Yes I have, I'm Moira by the way, it's very nice to meet you Laurie"
Moira said with a smile and shaking hands with her.
"I was just going to tell Lily to thank you for the sugar cookies but now I can thank you myself!" Moira said.
"Oh, it was no trouble really, and welcome to the neighborhood."
"Thank you! Its nice to know we have such nice neighbors," Moira replied. "I'd introduce you to my husband but he's at work at the moment…quite the workaholic he is." Moira explained.
"I know what you mean, my husband's doing the same thing, they'll get along perfectly."
The two woman laughed.
"Well, my husband's not here, but my son should be around here somewhere." Moira replied
"Oh, you have a son?" Laurie Evans asked.
"Yes, actually I was just telling Lily before you came. Actually, from the looks of it, I'd say they're around the same age…here let me call him down so you can meet him, he's probably upstairs." Moira replied before going to stand by the banister of the stairs.
"Sweetie? Sweetie! Come down here, I want you to meet our new neighbors!" Moira called.
"Kay, mum, I'll be down in a sec!" came a boy's voice.
For the second time since she had met Moira, Lily felt as though there was something familiar, originally it had been Moira's eyes, but now the voice that had called down the stairs seemed familiar too…but why couldn't she put a finger on it?
Lily stared out the window, pondering just this until she heard footsteps descending the stairs rapidly.
"Oh, good here he comes." Moira replied.
Lily's head snapped back to the front of the stairs and her eyes grew to largely the size of two saucers as she took in the boy's appearance who had just come down the stairs.
His lanky frame was all to familiar to her, and she knew she could never miss that unruly mop of jet black hair anywhere. And as she took in his familiar hazel eyes, framed behind round wire rimmed glasses, she suddenly realized why Moira's eyes had looked so familiar, because they were his eyes. They were James Potter's eyes. And it was at this point that Lily's jaw dropped and both adults looked at her strangely.
"Hi, I'm Jame-" James who had been picking a piece of lit off of his tee shirt, looked up for the first time, realizing that Lily Evans was standing in front of him and his jaw dropped as well.
"You!" they both screamed in unison.
(A/N: the rest of the conversation happens in unison, just so you all know.)
"What are you doing here?!"
"Who me?!"
"Yes you!"
"I live here!"
"No you don't I do!"
"Stop copying me!"
"Wait! You two know each other?" Moira asked.
"Yes." They said together.
"Potter! I'm serious, if you don't stop it right now," Lily warned.
"Calm down, Lily dear, there's no reason to get upset." Laurie said to her daughter.
"You are so Lucky my mum's here." Lily replied in a whisper.
"Oh yeah? And if she wasn't what would you do about it Evans?" James replied, though more in a teasing manner than anything else. James liked Lily, he could never be mad at her, he just liked to see her get mad.
"James," Moira replied warningly, "the same goes for you."
The two teenagers glared at each other until Lily's mum spoke again.
"Now, can you two please explain to Moira and myself exactly how you two know each other?"
"Mrs. Evans, mum, Lily and I both go to Hogwarts." James explained.
"Oh, please dear, call me Laurie, no need to be formal." Laurie Evans said giving James a warm smile.
"Oh, ok, Laurie." He replied.
"Wait- is this the same Lily Evans that you're always talking about?" Moira asked her son.
Lily shot James a so-you-tell-your-parents-about-me look, causing his cheeks to tinge pink.
"Mum! I don't tell you guys about-"
"Oh we've heard a lot about your daughter through James Laurie, I swear that every other letter home was Lily this or Lily that." Moira said.
"And this wouldn't be the same James Potter you're always ranting about would it Lily dear?" Laurie asked her daughter.
"Mother!" Lily replied through gritted teeth, not believing that she had actually just said that as both women launched into a discussion as to what each had heard about the others child from their own.
"Well, well, the truth comes out." James replied.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Potter." Lily retorted, her arms crossed.
"So you're writing about me home are you? I guess you like me after all, Ev." James replied, ruffling his hair.
"Oh please!" Lily scoffed, "What planet are you living on? Oh! I know! It must be planet In your dreams because that's the only way what you're suggesting would ever happen you dolt!" Lily replied.
"Oh come on Evans, am I really that bad? Can't you admit that you like me even just a little?"
"Stop and think for a moment James. Do you really want me to answer that question?"
"Hmm…" James replied, his index finger on his chin as if deep in thought. "No, I've got a better one for you…How bout you go out with me?"
The two were so caught up in their arguments that they hadn't noticed that both adults had stopped their conversation to watch them.
Lily laughed before answering.
"When are you going to get it through your thick skull that there is no way that I will ever go out with you! You are an egotistical, big headed, prat who defies the laws of gravity every time you get on a broom stick and can get off the ground with that fat head of yours! I'm surprised you can even walk! Let alone get through the doors at school!"
"So, that's a no?" James asked meekly.
"No Potter," Lily replied.
James' face perked up thinking that there was still a chance.
"That's a hell no!" Lily spat. "I've had enough! I'm leaving!" Lily replied turning on her heel and stomping out the door.
"Well fine! No on asked you to stay anyway!" James yelled out after her before stomping up the stairs himself.
Laurie Evans and Moira Potter were left standing in the hall looking at each other.
"Well, that went well...I apologize on behalf of Lily for what she said to James, I'm sure she didn't mean it." Laurie replied.
Moira broke out in a grin.
"Actually, most of it was true. James can be a little arrogant but its expected-he's a teenage boy, but he's a good kid really…takes after his father." Moira replied. She paused thoughtfully before adding.
"Actually, Lily just might be what he needs to deflate his head a bit."
"You're right Moira, they may be better for each other than they think." Laurie Evans said a smile playing on her lips as well.
A/N: So what do you all think? I hope you like it, its my second Lily and James fic. If
you haven't read my first one called "Saving James" check it out. As for all you "Saving James" readers, "Saving James" is still my top priority, this idea just popped into my head and I just had to begin writing it. Anyway tell me what you all think and please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!
*HUGS*
~Luminous Star