Chapter 6: Here Comes the Bride and Late Night Meetings
No A/N before the chapter this time, but please be sure to read the one at the bottom, dearies! J
Lily had never been the cause of an intervention before but she imagined that if she were ever subjected to one, it would look similarly to the scene that was before her as she entered the living room which immediately quieted when she stood, shadowing the doorway.
The group of people smiled at her though Lily could tell that the only sincere smiles in the room were from her parents who were situated on the two seat sofa. Across from them a ways, Petunia had frozen in the act of preparing and handing out tea to the four people who were smiling with a mixture of forcedness and nervousness. Her sister however, quickly gained her composure and commenced in the act of tea serving once more, the only traces on her face that even suggested she was nervous being the slight twitch on the left corner of her mouth.
Lily recognized Vernon, Petunia's lump of a boyfriend seated next to two people who Lily had never seen before but could only assume were his parents. Sandwiching Mr. and Mrs. Dursley from the other side was another rather large person. Lily remembered Petunia mentioning once during dinner that Vernon had a sister but she wasn't exactly expecting her to resemble her brother quite as much as she did-- even down to the few whiskers protruding from her almost non-existent chin.
"Good, Lily, you're home. We told your sister you'd be back soon." her father stated.
"Dear, this is Mr. and Mrs. Dursley and their daughter Marge. I believe you already know Vernon." her mother introduced.
"Oh, it's very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley." Lily replied politely as she walked over and held her outstretched hand out to Mrs. Dursley who was closest to her, inviting her to shake it.
Mrs. Dursley, still holding her tea, looked at Lily's outstretched hand snobbishly before sipping her tea in what she presumed was a delicate manner. "Charmed, I'm sure."
Lily's smile faltered slightly when she realized that Mrs. Dursley wasn't going to shake her hand thinking that it was quite rude while she wondered just what Petunia had told them about her before they had come over.
"Well, now that everyone's--" Petunia emphasized this by looking at Lily. "here, Vernon and I," she pulled Vernon to her side "would like to make an announcement…We're getting married!"
"Married? Oh, Petunia that's wonderful!" Laurie Evans hugged her oldest daughter.
"Yes, very good, son." Mr. Dursley clapped his son on the back while Mrs. Dursley wiped what Lily thought to be a crocodile tear from the corner of her eye as she chided about how her 'ickle son was all grown up and getting married.'
"Congratulations." Lily muttered forcing a slight smile.
"Well, we'll have to start planning, then." Mrs. Dursley replied as she sipped her tea once more.
"Oh yes, of course!" Laurie gushed. "Especially if we'll want to plan the wedding for next spring-- sometime in May. Yes, May would be a beautiful month for a wedding."
"May? But, Vernon's going off to university at the end of August." Petunia replied.
"Well, that's alright dear, we'll have the wedding planned by the time he gets back, besides, I'm sure Vernon doesn't want to go through the planning process-- that's more of a woman thing, right Barbara?"
"Yes, of course." Barbara Dursley replied.
"Oh, can't we get married sooner? Please?" Petunia begged.
"When did you have in mind?" Laurie asked.
"The end of July?" Petunia replied meekly.
"July?! But that's barely a bit over a month!" Laurie laughed. "Darling, there's no way you can plan a whole wedding in that amount of time, it's positively mad!"
"But mum!" Petunia whined. "If we don't get married soon, then I won't be able to go off with Vernon when he starts school and I just couldn't bear to part with him for an entire school year!"
"Go with him? Now honey, I dunno if that's such a good idea. Besides, Vernon needs to focus on his studies while he's there-- especially during the first year, don't you agree Barbara?"
Petunia's face contorted into a look of dislike at her mother's reply as she waited for Vernon's mother to answer.
Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea arrogantly once more and Lily resisted the urge to throw the tea in her face, saucer and all.
"What do you think about all this popkin?" She asked her son as she placed a hand on his rather large shoulder. Vernon fiddled with is shirt collar slightly before replying.
"Petunia and I have discussed it and we would like to be married before the end of the summer."
"Of course you do!" Barbara Dursley chuckled as she pinched her son's cheek. "Anything my little Vernie wants," Lily suppressed the urge to gag. "Don't worry darling, we'll plan the wedding for the end of July just like you want and it'll be the most extravagant wedding this town has ever seen!"
Laurie Evans sighed knowing there was no turning back now. "Well, I guess we'd better get started on setting a date and sending out those invitations if we've got a wedding to plan by the end of July."
Petunia gave a squeal of joy and hugged her mother tightly.
Lily, seizing the opportunity while the rest of the occupants in the living room were distracted, slipped quietly out of the living room and into the closest room which happened to double as her father's study and the library, making sure to shut the door behind her.
Her father's study had always been one of her favorite rooms in the house. Lily really didn't know why. The room was simple with a desk near a small window and just about every inch of wall space taken up with books that her parents had collected over the years. The only thing that made the room even the tiniest bit elegant was the small fireplace that was embedded into one of the walls-- one of two in the Evans' home-- which was at the moment crackling merrily as the bright flames lapped at the disfigured logs within-- hang on a minute. Lily turned back to the fireplace which was lit-- lit. In the middle of summer no doubt.
"That's odd." Lily spoke aloud pulling out her wand. "Now what's the incantation to put it out again?"
Lily rested the tip of her wand on her chin, looking up in thought as she spoke the words out loud.
"It's nox inflamarea." replied a voice within the room that startled Lily. "But I'd rather you didn't extinguish the fire while I'm talking to you, Lily."
Lily looked back at the fire in which now, the bobbing head of Remus Lupin sat amidst the flames looking highly amused.
"Remus!" Lily kneeled down beside the fire. "You gave me a fright, you prat!"
Remus chuckled. "Gee, it's nice to see you too Lil."
"What are you doing in there you silly boy?"
"Well, I was a bit bored and since mum and dad said I couldn't go out of the house, I figured paying you a little floo visit would be enough to entertain me."
"But this is a muggle fireplace--"
"I know, I had one of my dad's friends at the ministry connect your fireplace to the floo network, but just for today."
"How'd you know I'd even be around to catch you in the fire? I mean if someone like Petunia'd found your head in there I think she'd have had kittens."
"I've been popping in and out when I found time-- I just figured you'd be bound to come in here today if you had nothing to do seeing as how you're always talking about your dad's extensive book collection."
Lily smiled. "All that trouble just to pay me a visit? Really, Remus, I'm touched, but wouldn't it have been easier to talk to someone already connected to the floo network like Sirius or Peter? Why did you really want to talk to me?"
"Come on, Lils, you act as if we're not friends--"
Lily raised one eyebrow and looked at him. True they were friends, but going through all this trouble in linking her house with the floo network? No, Remus was a marauder after all, and though he did not go prancing around the school causing mayhem 24/7 like Sirius and James did, his mind still worked in mischievous ways occasionally.
"Well," Remus blushed slightly. "I have been meaning to say hi, Lily. But I just wanted to see if you were still alive or not."
Lily looked puzzled. "And why's that, Remus?"
"Well, I figured you'd have jumped off the nearest cliff the moment you found out James was going to be your new neighbor." Remus chuckled.
"Remus!" Lily replied slightly outraged before joining him in chuckling.
"So, did James tell all three of you?"
"Nope, just me-- he said he was scared that if he told Sirius, he'd come straight over from Andromeda's and start teasing him and Peter tells Sirius everything so," Remus trailed off. "But anyway, how's it been going with James anyway? You're not going prematurely grey or anything are you?"
"Oh, ha-bloody-ha!" Lily replied sarcastically as she stretched out on her stomach and propped her head up with one arm. "Actually, James is, well, not what I expected him to be, truthfully…he's more…"
"Interesting? Fun? Friendly? Admirable? The best friend you never had? Fancy-able?" Remus supplied.
"Interesting? Yes, friendly? Definitely but who doesn't know that about James, but as for fancy-able? No dice, I definitely don't fancy James-- I never will fancy James." Lily chuckled, saying her final point in a way that sounded as if she were convincing herself that she didn't fancy the boy next door.
Remus resisted the urge to tell her that she wasn't fooling anyone but bit his tongue and allowed her to continue.
"I guess I just didn't expect to get on so well with him. In the past two days we've hung out, it's just surprised me how well he gets me…" Lily replied. "Sometimes we'll talk and I feel as if we've been friends forever, but that's crazy right? I mean we've only just started really getting to know each other, I mean has he always been so…" Charming, would have been a good word, Lily decided, but instead she trailed her sentence off yet again, leaving Remus to fill in the blanks "I dunno, I don't think I'm making any sense."
Remus nodded. " Yeah, he has. You've just always been, forgive me for saying this but, kind of blinded by your annoyance of him. Yeah he can be an arrogant arse sometimes, and I say that with the utmost respect as one of his best friends, but if you'd have looked passed that, you two probably could have been friends long before this summer kind of threw you two together."
Lily nodded, pensively.
"Remus, I have no clue what I'm doing-- I don't even know if I know how to be James' friend." Lily moaned slightly.
"Oh come on, you? Lily Evans, not knowing how to be someone's friend? Lily, you're one of the kindest girls I've ever met, I'm sure you'll have no problem with it-- just keep doing what you're doing. It seems to be going fine from where I'm standing."
Lily looked warily at Remus' advice as though still not sure she could build a solid friendship with James Potter.
"July 19th." Remus replied.
"What?" Lily asked perplexed.
"James' birthday, it's on July 19th-- it's coming up you know, and I mean, what kind of friend would you be if you didn't know his birthday?" Remus asked.
Lily smiled slightly. "Thanks Remus, I--"
There was a sudden rattle at the door as someone tried unsuccessfully to open it that cut Lily off in mid sentence.
She looked back into the fireplace and caught Remus' surprised look at the sudden noise before his bobbing head disappeared quickly.
The door flew opened with a 'pop' and Jeff Evans walked in.
"I really do have to fix this door-- I swear the doorknob gets sticker every time!" Jeff Evans replied examining the doorknob in question.
"Dad!" Lily replied slightly shocked at his sudden appearance.
"Lily." Jeff replied an amused smile playing on his lips. "Hiding from our new in-laws are you?" he joked.
Lily smiled. "Well, you know me."
"Who were you talking to in here, I could have sworn I heard two voices when I was trying to get in--"
"Hi Mr. Evans, sorry, I just popped by to have a chat with Lily, I hope that's okay." Remus replied, his head reappearing in the fire.
Lily jumped slightly once more. "you really have to stop sneaking up on me like that-- I thought you'd left." Lily replied.
"Remus? Is that really you in there?" Jeff asked, in awe. "But, how did you get in there?"
"Dad, Remus had our house connected to the floo network. See, lots of wizards use their fireplaces to communicate with each other because it's faster and easier to have a conversation like this than to keep sending owls--" Lily explained.
"Lily, this is amazing, why didn't you tell me about this before? The amount of money we could have saved throughout the years on phone bills…" Jeff trailed off in thought.
"Oh yeah, dad, that'd be just great, I can only imagine what a state poor great aunt Mildred would be in if she saw your head in the fireplace one day." Lily replied sardonically.
"Alright Miss. Sarcasm-- forgive me for being such a-- what's that word you all use to describe us?"
"Muggle." Remus and Lily said in unison.
"Right, that. Well, I'll let you and Remus finish up your visit,"
"Actually, Mr. Evans, I have to get going-- mum wants me to go to the grocery store with her before she starts up dinner. Talk to you later, Lily?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, definitely, I'll send you an owl with the er, status of the relationship."
Remus smiled and with a faint 'pop' once again disappeared.
"So, mind if I hide out with you for a while, sport?"
"What, hiding from the in-laws already?" Lily echoed her father's previous statement.
"Mr. Dursley's digging me into an early grave with all his droning on that darn drill company of his." Lily's dad stated as he stat down in his desk chair.
"I'll bet. They're not a very conversational bunch are they?"
Lily watched her father nod in response to her question.
"Dad? Do you…Do you like that Petunia's marrying him? I mean, don't you think there might be someone better suited for her out there?" Lily asked.
"Lily, I---"
"NO! THERE IS NO WAY I AM LETTING THAT-- THAT---HER BE IN MY WEDDING!"
"Petunia Anne, there is no reason to refer to your sister like that!"
Lily followed the voices of her mother and sister down to the kitchen.
"What's going on, here?" Lily asked.
"YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Petunia rounded on her.
"Me? What'd I do this time? And please tell me that you're not going to give me another cock and bull excuse like 'It's more of the fact that you exist, really.'" Lily rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Y-you're trying to sabotage my wedding! And the only way you can think to do it is by--by weaseling your way into the second most important position in the wedding!"
"Okay, this has gone far enough." Lily replied. "What exactly are you talking about?"
"I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU, WANTING TO BE THE MAID OF HONOR! YOU-YOU-YOU ABNORMAL PERSON!!!"
Lily squinted her eyes as Petunia's shrilly voice filled the kitchen and couldn't help but smirk at Petunia's lack of a good insult to throw at her.
"Wait, what? Who said I ever wanted to be your bridesmaid?"
"Oh don't lie you pathetic cow! I know you put mum up to this but guess what? This is my wedding and I will not have you having any part in it!"
"Oh yeah? Well who said I even wanted to take part in your stupid we--"
"That is ENOUGH!" Laurie Evans exploded. "Now, I have had it with both of you! Lily, you are going to be Petunia's Maid of Honor, and Petunia, Lily is going to be your Maid of Honor because if you don't, then I'll-- I'll put your wedding off for another two years!."
Petunia looked outraged and Lily shocked.
Mrs. Evans sighed. "You two are sisters and you always got along, until-- until recently. I've always dreamed of planning out your wedding-- both of your weddings and even though the gowns or decorations varied, what always stayed the same in my dreams was that your father would walk you both down the aisle and that both of you would be each other's bridesmaids. So please, Petunia, I'm asking you as your mother to let your sister be your Maid of Honor and Lily, I'm asking you to take on that role in the wedding."
Lily sighed. "Okay, mum. I'll do it-- but only because you want me to."
Petunia's face contorted in anger. "I don't know how yet. But somehow, I know that this is all your fault." she said in a deathly whisper as she stalked out of the room.
"Well," Laurie said, clasping both hands together. "I'd better get back to Barbara-- we're calling her personal stationary consultant so we can get the invitations printed and mailed out by tomorrow. Oh and don't make any plans for tomorrow, Lily." Laurie replied as she began walking out of the kitchen. "We're going dress shopping in London!"
Lily was left alone in the kitchen. It was 6:42pm and it was official. She was now the Maid of Honor at the Evans/Dursley wedding.
**********************
James Potter woke up at 10:58am the next morning. He squinted at the luminescent green numbers on his bedside alarm clock for a few moments, trying to make out the time without his glasses. It was useless, he figured after a few moments. He was blind without them. Slipping his glasses on, James finally realized how late it was and rolled out of bed, scrounging around his room to find some clean clothes. He had told himself he'd wake up early today and go speak with Lily first thing bright and early to figure out exactly what had gone on the day before when she had so abruptly told him to go home.
Sliding down the banister, James ran a hand through his hair trying unsuccessfully to make it lie flat as he stepped out of the house and walked up to the Evans' front door. He was a foot away before he shook his head rapidly and turned around, proceeding to walk right back down Lily's front porch steps.
James walked to the middle of the street, starting to turn right and go back home before he stopped himself.
"Oh come on, Potter-- you weren't made a Gryffindor for nothing!" James spoke quietly to himself. "Stop being a pansy and just go up and knock on her door!" he walked back down the street and up to the Evans' front door, this time making it close enough to pose as if about to knock, before he sighed and turned back around, heading in the exact same direction he had come.
Meanwhile, Jeff Evans watched with amusement from where he was crouched just under one of the windows of his house, trimming his wife's begonia bushes. Jeff chuckled as James approached the front door to his house for the second time before chickening out yet again and walking away down the street.
James growled in frustration and ran a hand through his hair-- making it look even messier than usual before stalking up the Evans' front steps, standing in front of the door.
"Come on, Potter, it's just a door-- a door, and all you have to do is knock on it." James muttered to himself as he stared at it.
"So are you going to stand there all day and stare at my door, James, or are you actually going to get up the courage to actually knock?" came a voice from James' left.
"Although," Jeff Evans added teasingly. "I imagine that just standing there instead of pacing back and forth from your house to ours requires a lot less energy."
"Mr. Evans! I-I mean Jeff." James flinched as Lily's dad suddenly popped out from where he had been crouched next to a particularly large bush.
"Sorry if I startled you, I'll uh, let you get back to your pacing if you want." Jeff chuckled.
"No, you didn't-- just caught me a little off guard," James trailed off. "I'm just gonna, you know…" he gestured to the door and once again with the intention of knocking.
"She's not home you know, Lily that is." Jeff smiled, gesturing to the house.
"Oh." James replied, trying not to sound disappointed as he thought about Lily having fun with some other guy around the town. "Do you know if she'll be back early tonight?"
"Well, they went out early this morning to look at dresses so I imagine they'll be back early in the evening."
"Dresses?"
"Yeah. My oldest daughter, Petunia, well she's getting married as of yesterday, only she wants to have the wedding by the first week of August and since we're kind of pressed for time, the girls had to go get dresses picked out and fitted right away."
"Wow." James said bemused at the thought of having to plan a wedding in a little over a month. "Well, maybe I'll stop by tomorrow and see if she's free then…Bye, Jeff."
James made to walk back to his house, this time for good but Mr. Evans' voice stopped him.
"James!"
"Yeah?"
"Did you want to leave a message for Lily? I can give it to her when she gets home."
"That's alright. Um…just-- just tell Lily that I stopped bye." James smiled before he turned back around and walked back to his house.
"Oh, mum! I think this is the one-- it's absolutely perfect!" Petunia squealed from within a fitting room.
"Well, come on out sweetie so we can all have a look." Laurie called back.
Lily was seated a few feet away from her mom, Mrs. Dursley, and Marge, on a rather large, frilly stool, leafing through yet another bridal catalogue. They had been at it for hours-- wedding dress shopping that is, and Petunia still hadn't found what she was referring to as 'the perfect dress' yet.
"Oh mum, don't you just love it?" Petunia asked, emerging from the dressing room and flouncing over to the small stage platform next to the sitting area as she twirled around.
"I told you it was perfect, didn't I? Isn't just perfect?" Petunia gushed again.
Lily looked up from the magazine with a bored expression on her face, her emerald green eyes taking in the site that was her sister in one of the poofiest wedding dresses she'd ever seen.
"Yeah, if you want your head to be drowning in a dress that looks more like a cupcake made of petticoats and way too much tulle." Lily muttered sardonically.
Petunia's eyes snapped onto her sister and Lily cooly looked back at her.
"What was that you said, Lily dearest?" Petunia asked in an all too sweet voice Lily knew to be deathly.
She forced a smile. "That you're right as always, big sister-- that dress is absolutely perfect for you!" Lily replied, in a good impression of Petunia.
"Ah, my life is complete. I can now die happy knowing I have the always perfect Lily's approval on my wedding gown." Petunia replied sardonically.
"Oh, I'm sure you can." Lily muttered rolling her eyes as she went back to flipping through the bridal catalogue now on her lap. "Oh, and Lily, I've picked out the most flattering bridesmaid dresses-- there's a dressing room all set for you to try it on." Petunia said, waving her hand toward the dressing rooms.
Lily smiled forcedly as she made her way past her sister and mother, who now, was examining Petunia's dress from all angles.
"Right this way, Miss. Evans. You're in dressing room number five." A lady with blonde hair done up in a tight French-braid, wearing a tailored black woman's suite said, leading Lily over to her dressing room.
Lily walked in, begrudgingly, and slipped on the dress, not even bothering to give it a good look before putting it on.
The dress fit like a glove, which she wasn't expecting, but when Lily turned to face the small, lengthy mirror on the dressing room wall, she almost had a coronary attack. For this dress, although lovely in style wasn't the most flattering on Lily's figure but since she was naturally slim, it neither enhanced nor distorted her figure. It also happened to be made out of the most tacky, bright magenta material Lily had ever seen which, coincidentally, also happened to clash horridly with her red hair.
"No! Oh no, you have got to be kidding me-- there is no WAY I am wearing this!"
Lily's voice carried out and over to Petunia and Laurie Evans who were still on the modeling platform. Petunia smirked triumphantly, and Laurie turned toward where Lily's voice was coming from.
"Come on out honey, I want to see the dress on you."
"No way, mum, there is no way I'm coming out wearing--"
But Lily did not get the chance to finish her statement, for the same blonde woman who had shown her to her dressing room, had now pulled back the curtain which substituted for a door, of her stall and had yanked her out, beginning to pin certain places in the dress where it would need alterations.
Lily glared. "I swear on Merlin's beard, there is no way in hell I'm wearing this dress-- it makes my hair look horrible and my skin look pale."
"Come on, honey, it doesn't look that bad." her mom stated.
"Forgive me for being snippy, but are we looking at the same dress, mum?"
"Well--"
"Well take the bridesmaid dresses, please!" Petunia ordered, looking at the woman who was helping them.
"Now, hold on a minute-- lets wait and see how it looks on my Margie-- darling, are you almost done?" Barbara Dursley replied.
"Yeah, mum but the dress is a tad too small, it won't zip up all the way." Marge replied from within the fitting room.
"Oh well that's alright dear, just come on out so we can get the gist of it."
Marge walked out of the fitting room with a dress identical to the one Lily herself donned Although the dress didn't flatter either of them, and Lily felt mean for even thinking it, the dress at least looked a bit better on her since Marge was a good few sizes larger.
Marge turned in a circle so her mother could examine the dress on her. Sure enough, the zipper was about an inch short of closing completely.
Mrs. Dursley tutted. "Oh no… this just won't do at all…"
Lily perked up from where she was sitting at Mrs. Dursley's comment.
"What? The color of the dress?" she asked hopefully.
"No, no, the color's fine-- it goes absolutely amazingly with Marge's hair-- oh and it does wonders for her skin complexion-- no, no, we'll keep the color."
Lily's hopes sank again and she resumed her bored position watching Mrs. Dursley examine her daughter still.
"But the dress shape itself is all wrong…I'm assuming that you make alterations and custom made dresses here as well?" Mrs. Dursley asked the attendee who nodded energetically.
"Excellent. Now, we'll need an inch or two off the bottom of the dresses-- none of this dragging on the floor business. And we'll have to loosen all of them up around here," Mrs. Dursley pointed to a specific spot on the dress. "And tighten just a bit more here. Oh, and none of this strapless business-- it's just going to bring the pudginess out in my Marge's arms. No, no, I'd like a nice off the shoulder sleeve, I'd say about…three inches thick maybe-- well, I don't know, I'll let you play around with the thickness of sleeves….Well, shouldn't you be writing this down, young lady?" Mrs. Dursley asked the woman pointedly, who immediately fetched a pad of paper and began scribbling rapidly.
Lily slouched back down and sighed-- this was going to be a long rest of the day, but at least, she was pleased to note, that Petunia looked rather upset at the fact that Mrs. Dursley was completely re-designing the bridesmaid dresses she had picked out. If only, Lily thought to herself, she'd pick another color to go with the new design.
Eight hours, three bridal shops, and one lousy car ride later, Lily found herself back at home. If this was how it was going to be until the wedding, Lily was sure that she would not last very long before emotionally blowing up.
James had been lying on his bed staring at his ceiling, when he heard a rather loud door slam. He wondered which one of his parents had been angry enough to slam a door in the house when he realized that the sound, had in fact come from outside. He peered out his window to find that Lily was in her room pacing, rather like a trapped tiger. And then it dawned on him, it was Lily who had slammed the door so furiously.
James watched her intently, now filling the frame of his window, which he had gone to stand by to get a better look.
Lily paced her room uncontrollably, finding that she felt completely trapped by everything that was going on-- being roped into the wedding, having to behave around the Dursleys, but most of all, playing such a big role in the wedding that she now had to be more involved with planning it than she originally had anticipated.
She tossed the bags she had been holding haphazardly on the bed, not bothering to be gentle, before letting out a frustrated growl.
"Stupid Petunia! Stupid Dursleys! Stupid, damn, wedding! How the hell did I get myself into this!" Lily yelled, thankful that she had at least made sure to cast silencing charms on the surrounding walls of her bedroom, disabling her parents and Petunia, for that matter, to hear her frustrated rant.
"Rough day?" came a familiar but unexpected voice.
Lily looked around slightly startled before finally realizing that the voice had come from outside her window.
She peered out of it, noticing for the first time that James was standing in front of his window, which happened to be directly across from hers.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's rude to eavesdrop?" Lily asked, trying not to sound amused as she walked over to stand in front of her window so she was now facing James.
James chuckled lightly. "Didn't yours ever teach you that it's rude to scream so loud the neighbors will hear you?"
Lily laughed lightly. "Touché, James."
James joined her in laughing.
"Rough day?" he asked.
"I think that's understating it."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really, no."
"Oh, alright then, I guess I'll just let you go to bed-- night, Lily." James made toward his bed.
"It's a nice night, isn't it?" Lily suddenly responded, making James come back to the window.
"Yeah, but that was a slightly random comment." James chuckled.
"Yeah? Well, here's another one for you: do you wanna go somewhere?" Lily asked determinedly.
"Huh?" James replied slightly bemused.
"Do you wanna go somewhere? You know, get out of here? With me, right now? I dunno, I just…have the sudden urge to take a walk."
"Lily, It's midnight-- not that I know your parents really well, but are they really going to let you go out on a walk at midnight?"
"Who says they have to know?" Lily replied mischievously as she swung one leg over her window sill and climbed down the side of her house with ease, landing on her lawn gracefully.
"My, my, Miss. Evans. It looks as if you've had a lot of practice sneaking out your bedroom window in the middle of the night." James teased.
"Pfft. More than a little but that's not the point, now what are you waiting for? Get your arse down here, James."
"Alright, alright, keep your knickers on!" James whispered loudly as he started to climb down from the second story of his house where his bedroom was located.
"I'm not wearing any." Lily replied cheekily.
"You're not what?!" James replied before he lost his footing and fell very ungracefully, the last three feet to the ground, which, thankfully was padded by grass.
Lily held in pales of giggles which were itching to tumble out of her mouth as she helped James up.
"I can't believe you, of course I'm wearing knickers, James, you silly goose!"
James growled and mumbled something about how it could have been true and how girls should never joke about knickers.
"Aww, come on, James, I'm sorry-- but you didn't fall that far, no broken bones, right?"
"No, but I'm going to have a lovely bruise on my elbow come tomorrow morning." James replied pointing to the junction where his arm and forearm bones met.
"Aww, poor dear." Lily said, teasingly before grabbing James' arm and kissing the spot where he had pointed.
"There, all better!" Lily pronounced, letting his arm fall back to his side. "Come on, we're going this way."
James stood frozen on the spot, stunned. Lily Evans had just kissed him. Granted that it was on his arm but still-- he never thought he'd live to see the day. The spot where her lips had touched the skin on his arm tingled pleasantly and James had to force himself to follow Lily down the street as a goofy smlie accented his handsome features.
"Lily, where are we going?" James asked when he finally gained control of his brain back.
"Not far don't worry-- just around this corner actually." Lily replied as they turned said corner and found themselves in front of a children's playground.
James followed Lily to the swing set and waited for her to sit down before he began pushing her gently.
He pushed her a few more times before joining her on the swing next to hers and beginning to swing himself.
Eventually they both slowed down, the swings now swaying lightly and their feet dragging in the sand.
"When I was little," Lily started. " I used to think that if I swung high enough, eventually the motion would just propel me out and I'd be able to fly and, I dunno, get close enough to reach the stars or something-- it was silly really, but you'd think I'd have taken a little more interest in broom flying classes back in first year, wouldn't you?"
"you can't fly?" asked James.
"I can, just not very well-- never got the hang of it really." Lily mused.
"I'll teach you." James offered.
"That's a nice offer, James, but even being taught by a flyer as good as you, I don't think I'd be very good-- maybe I should just keep my feet on the ground, I'm a little more graceful that way." Lily smiled.
"Well, I'll give you a ride then, one day. Trust me, flying on a broom gives you a better sensation than just swinging…but that teaching offer? It's open ended so if you ever change your mind…" He trailed off.
"Thanks, James."
"Lily?" James asked after a rather long pause. "What's going on? I mean, why were you so upset earlier."
"My sister, the one you saw on the porch the other day? Well, she's getting married, did you know?" Lily started.
"Your dad mentioned it to me earlier when I popped by to see if you were around-- I was rather curious to see why you had told me to go home so suddenly."
"Yeah, about that. My sister's just, not what you'd call accepting of what I am, what we are, I should say. She can say some things that are just, mean. I know I can take it when she calls me a freak and what not-- that word doesn't really phase me anymore because she's overused it so much but it's one thing to call me that. It's a completely different thing for her to call someone I know-- someone she's never even met--" Lily trailed off.
"You shouldn't have to take that you know." James said as he watched Lily nod in response. "So how's the wedding planning going?"
"Terribly, it's the most boring thing I've ever had to sit through, though I'm sure it'd be more exciting if I were planning my own wedding." Lily replied.
"So what role are you playing in all of this?" James asked.
"You, my dear, happen to be looking at the Maid of Honor for the Petunia/Dursley wedding." Lily stated.
"Maid of Honor?" James asked disbelievingly. "Your sister, who seemingly hates you, chose you as her maid of honor?"
"Well that's just it, she didn't. It was more my mother really-- you know how mothers are, they have a hand full of those 'my biggest dream in life' cards that they just ding you with sometimes and me being the Maid of Honor at Petunia's wedding happens to be one of them."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad. You'll get to wear a fancy dress, won't you?" James asked, trying to be optimistic. "Girls like wearing fancy dresses, don't you?"
"Oh, well spotted, Captain Obvious." Lily teased. "Yeah, I guess wearing fancy dresses is fun, but not when you're wearing one that's made out of this."
She pulled out the sash of magenta material the woman at the store had given each of them, just in case they wanted to match accessories with the dresses and held it out for James to see.
"Well, the color's not that bad." James responded. "I'm sure you'll look gorgeous in whatever dress you have to wear."
"Are we looking at the same color? Hello?" Lily responded, pulling on her red hair for emphasis. "There are only so many colors in the world that go well with this head of hair and that bright magenta color you're holding definitely isn't one of them." Lily pointed out. "It's the curse of being born a red head-- trust me, there's no way I'll be able to pull that off." Lily pointed out before taking the sash of fabric back from James and depositing it in your pocket.
"Well, maybe you'll get lucky and they'll have to change the color of the dresses." James piped in.
"It'll take a miracle but that's a nice thought-- trust me, I know for sure that Petunia chose this color specifically because she knew for one that Mrs. Dursley would approve, and two because she knew it would clash horribly with my hair."
"Well, that's some sister you've got, and I don't mean that in a good way."
"Pfft. Don't I know it…" Lily replied. "It's getting late, we should head back, now." Lily replied standing up.
James stood up along with Lily and walked with her side by side back to their homes.
"Thanks for coming with me, James, you have no idea how much I needed to, well--" Liy trailed.
"It's okay," James replied, cutting her off. "I know. And hey, if you need someone to talk to, or to sneak out with in the middle of the night, you know where to find me."
"I'll remember that." Lily replied smiling as she slipped her arm through James' so they were linked.
"So, will I see you tomorrow?" James asked as they stood at the junction between their houses.
"It is tomorrow, James so technically you've already seen me."
"Har har. You know what I mean."
"I know. Yeah, I guess you will--" Lily started. "Oh wait! Maybe not-- I have to go pick out napkins and utensils for the wedding."
"Oh, alright then." James replied sounding a bit disappointed. "Well, maybe sometime when you're free."
"Well," Lily added quickly. "I'd hate to bore you with wedding details but you're welcome to come along, we're leaving at 10:30am-- but you know, no pressure or anything, it is, like I said rather boring."
"Okay, then." James answered.
"So, I'd better get back in." Lily gestured toward her house. "you know, before they realize I'm not in bed."
"Right. Do you need help up?"
"What? Climbing up to my room? Thanks, but no, I think I can manage, I'll just go thorough the front door." Lily replied walking up to her porch.
"The front door? You mean all this time you could have just used your door to come outside? Then what was the point of climbing out the window?" James asked.
"Well, what fun is it to use your front door when you're sneaking out in the middle of the night?" Lily asked, smiling. "Good night, James."
James watched Lily until her front door closed, noiselessly before going inside himself and finally settling down to sleep thinking that he really had a lot to learn about Lily Evans.
A/N:
Wow, so first of all I'd just like to say that I was completely awestruck at the amount of reviews I got for last chapter with chapter 5 I hit over 100 reviews-- something I never thought would happen, especially only 5 chapters into a story. Seriously, you all who read my stories never cease to amaze me with all the reviews you write and with your dedication to this story despite my lack of quick updates.
So, yeah, I made my deadline!
As some of you know, my deadline was to have this chapter finished and posted by or before my birthday which is this Wednesday, July 19th. And, just in case you all were wondering, I do have a birthday wish list-- and since I'm sure none of you can give me James Potter for my birthday, I'll settle for lots and lots of reviews! ;-)
So please, please, REVIEW my story and I'll love you forever!
Take care you all and please remember to REVIEW!
~ Pamela