Chapter 7: When In Doubt, Always Read the Index Cards
"Mum! Have you seen my hair barrettes? The ones with the little pink butterflies?" Petunia screamed down the staircase.
Mrs. Evans was bustling downstairs in the kitchen trying to prepare breakfast and talk on the phone, which lately, seemed to have been ringing off the hook.
"Top drawer on your left dear!-- No, mum, not you, Petunia," Laurie repositioned the phone so it was cradled between her ear and shoulder. "Yes, yes, the wedding's set for the fifth. Uh huh, the fifth of August. Yes, I know it's soon but Petunia and-- oh bugger! Hold on mum, I've got another call,"
"Mum! The eggs! You're burning the eggs!" Petunia shrieked coming into the kitchen.
"Petunia, the eggs are fine! Just-- just get the toast, will you?"
"Honey, the phone." Jeff said, walking through the kitchen.
"Oh dear, I do believe I've just hung up on," Laurie Evans picked up the phone she had accidentally put back on the cradle.
"Hello? Yes! Hello, Barbara! You what? In the backyard? Our backyard? Well, yes, but I don't think-- eleven? Okay, we'll see you then, buh-bye!"
It was to this scene that Lily entered upon; her sister placing toast on the table while looking slightly irritated as always, her father walking in and out because he forgot something, and her mother, bustling about answering the phone which seemed as if it couldn't stop ringing , while trying to cook breakfast.
"Good morning, darling. I was just about to serve--"
RIIING! the phone rang once more.
"Oh dear, you know that phone hasn't stopped ringing all morning?" RIIING!!!
The phone sounded once more. "Argh, Lily, finish up the eggs, would you?"
Laurie answered the phone again and Lily went over to the steaming skillet her mother had left on the stove.
"Hello? Rose! Golly, I've missed you, how're the kids? Fabulous! Yes, yes she is. On the fifth, that's right. You'll be able to come down then? Marvelous! Yes, tell her we've picked out the dresses and she'll just have to go for a second fitting with Lily and Marge, Vernon's sister, when you all arrive…what's that, now? Oh, don't be daft, now, Rose! Hotel, my foot. No, you'll stay with us. Yes, she can stay in Lily's room and we'll put you in the guest room. Alright, yes, see you soon, love. Take care!"
"Breakfast!" Lily called, setting the final plates on the table as her mum hung up the phone again.
"Ugh, sorry, dear, no time-- I've got to get to work!" Jeff kissed his wife on the cheek.
"Oh, well…at least take a bit of toast with you," Laurie wrapped a few slices in a paper napkin and with that, Jeff was out the door.
Petunia shoveled down half of her plate quickly.
"Mum, I've got to go meet a couple of friends and hand out some invitations."
"Petunia, Barbara and Marge'll be here soon-- they're coming at eleven," Laurie said.
"I know, mum, but I have to give them out today-- the wedding's in a month! What do you expect me to do? Hand them out two weeks before? Then it'll look as if we're only inviting them because someone else cancelled and we need them to fill up space!"
"Alright, fine, BUT! I expect you back no later than fifteen minutes late if anything at all, alright?" Laurie kissed her oldest daughter's cheek.
"Ta-at!" Petunia sang before she too walked out the door.
"Alright, I guess it's just you and me, huh, Lily?" Mrs. Evans said, sitting at the table. "Unless you have somewhere to be, too?"
"I'm sure I can pencil you into my busy schedule this morning, mum." Lily laughed before tucking into her breakfast.
"Mum, I told James he could come along today while we did more wedding shopping, is that okay? I mean if there's no more room in the car that's fine, I mean I'm sure he wasn't that excited to go anyway." Lily said.
"It's fine, Lily." her mother smiled at her. "Actually, Barbara called and said she's arranged for the party rental companies to set everything up here since we're having the reception in the back yard."
"Here? But why would she do that?"
"Something about needing to feel how the ambiance will be…" Laurie trailed off as she sipped her tea. "so when did you get the chance to invite James along?"
"Yesterday." Lily replied, absentmindedly.
"Yesterday? I recall us getting home pretty late, yesterday. That was rather nice of you to stay up and invite him considering you-- oh, how did you put it? 'loath his entire being.'"
"Loath, is such a strong word," Lily replied, slightly blushing. "I'd say dislike to the point of almost wanting to pull my hair out."
Laurie gave her daughter a pointed look.
"Alright, alright! So maybe I don't dislike him…maybe, just maybe I like him," Lily paused. "The teensiest bit more than I used to of course."
"I didn't say anything." Laurie replied, sipping her tea.
"Right, thanks, mum." Lily said, smiling into her breakfast.
The doorbell rang and Laurie looked at her watch.
"Oh hell…oh, bloody hell! She's forty five minutes early!"
Lily watched her mother scrambling about the kitchen, trying to make it look presentable.
"What? Who?" Lily asked, standing up as well.
"Barbara and Marge-- Barbara called and said she'd be here around eleven but she's--"
BRRING!!! The doorbell rang again.
"Mum. Mum! Stop. Just go answer the door," Lily said.
"But the kitchen, it's filthy," Laurie trailed as Lily pulled out her wand.
Laurie watched her daughter awestruck. "Lily, have I ever told you how much I love
That--"
"Yes, I know mum, now go and let Mrs. Dursley in before she has a coronary attack."
Lily's mother smiled and dashed out to open the door. She listened to her mother greet the Dursley women as she waved her wand in a sweeping motion, muttering the word 'Scourgify.'
Almost instantly, the dishes cleared themselves and all the utensils that had been used to make breakfast, packed themselves away in their respective cupboards and drawers.
Lily smiled, satisfied that the two week house hold charms course she had opted to take after classes last year as an elective had finally proven useful.
Not a minute after Lily had stowed her wand away, did her mother come in, leading Mrs. Dursley and Marge toward the backyard.
"Good morning, Mrs. Dursley, Marge." Lily said.
Mrs. Dursley turned to look at Lily.
"Oh, it's you, yes. Ah, where is that beautiful soon to be daughter in law of mine?"
"Petunia's out delivering some last minute invitations, she should be back soon." Laurie replied.
"Ah yes, well, we can't keep the party planners waiting! What's say we all get started and Petunia can join us when she returns?" Mrs. Dursley said. "come along now, Laurie, Marge. I already told them to start setting up out back."
Mrs. Dursley lead the way out back and with a glance from her mother, Lily knew that even though Barbara Dursley hadn't specifically told her to come along as well, she was expected to.
Their backyard looked as if it had been transformed into a miniature outdoor market. At least three or four small tents, all of different colors were set up in a small team of men still setting up tables and other miscellaneous party suppies.
"Now, since we're having the reception out here," Mrs. Dursley gestured toward the whole of the back yard. " I figured it'd be best to let the samples come to us! After all, how are we going to know if what we pick goes with the overall décor of your house, Laurie, if we don't have a good idea of what it'll look like on the big day?"
Mrs. Dursley went on about the types of napkins you had must match the overall ambiance of the wedding. Lily quickly lost interest and trailed behind the group, pausing at a table on which about ten different styles of eating utensils were laid neatly in order. She picked up one of the forks and examined it before placing it neatly back in its place.
This, was pure and utter madness, she decided. As if anyone in their right mind would really sit down at a table and examine a fork closely enough to decide whether or not it matched with the rest of the wedding decorations.
Lily's vision suddenly went dark and she felt two hands cover her eyes.
"Guess who?" a deep voice whispered into her ear. Instantly and involuntarily, a trail of goose bumps appeared, scattered across her bare arms.
She smiled and placed her own hands over his.
"I thought the promise of having to pick out napkins and silverware would have surely scared you off, James."
Lily removed his hands from her eyes and turned to see a smiling James looking back at her.
"Well, honestly? I didn't actually think you were serious." James laughed.
"Ha! If there's one thing you'll ever learn about Mrs. Barbara Dursley, it's that she doesn't joke, period. Especially not about wedding plans that concern her 'iclke
Vernie-kins.'-- still sure you want to stay?"
"Oh, Ill find some way to bare it-- especially if it means I get to be with you." James winked.
Lily forced down a blush and James leaned over to examine the display on the table.
"It all looks the same to me, how come they can't just pick one?"
"James, James, James! Of course they're different." Lily stated matter-of-factly.
"You can't possibly tell me that this one," James pointed to a fork. "Doesn't look exactly the same as that one over there."
"Of course they're not the same. That one's the Flat wear-Chateau dinner fork and the other one over there's the Bellmore-Melinda style."
James gave her an odd look. "Do you honestly know everything?"
"Well, I could possibly know everything, including the styles and makes of dining supplies, or I could just be reading all the information off of that spiffy little index card they put under every set that just so happens to tell you what each style is called." Lily smiled.
"Oh." James replied lamely.
"So, did you get lost in the circus of tents, Lily?" Lily turned and saw her mother walking toward her.
"Um, yeah, I just got caught up in this, interesting display."
"Hello, Mrs. Evans! How are you?"
"James! So nice to see you again, dear-- Lily mentioned you might be stopping by." Laurie replied, touching James on the shoulder in a motherly fashion. "How's your mum doing?"
"Just fine, Mrs. Evans." James replied.
"Fabulous! Well, I should get back and help Barbara, but do tell your mum I say hello and tell her to swing by sometime for tea, alright?" Laurie began walking back to where Mrs. Dursley was animatedly explaining something to the wedding planner.
"You kids have fun, now!"
Was the last thing Lily heard her mum call out before she was back in the company of the Dursley women.
"So…" James shoved his hands in his pockets.
"So." Lily lead the way over to another part of her backyard that wasn't covered in tents.
"Are you expected to hang around here all day?" James asked.
"Sadly, yes." Lily smiled. "Such is the curse of being the Maid of Honor, even by protest."
"And there's no chance of planning an escape?" James replied.
"Ha ha! Definitely not."
"Even if, perhaps you were to be unsuspectingly kidnapped by, say, the boy next door?"
Lily looked up to see James, one eyebrow raised and smiling mischievously back at her.
She laughed. "As tempting as that sounds, I think I'd better play the good girl card today."
"But the bad girl card is so much more fun-- not to mention utterly sexy." James teased.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that…" Lily sat down on a comfortable patch of grass and pulled James to sit down next to her.
"Aw, you're no fun," James sat, legs crossed Indian style. "So how are you going to keep me entertained this afternoon then?"
"Well…" Lily sighed as she lay down on the grass, resting the back of her head on her arms.
An hour later, James and Lily were still on the same patch of grass, watching the clouds pass by and sporadically voicing comments aloud to one another.
"That one looks like a seal." Lily said.
"Which one?"
"That one."
"The one next to the blobby looking one?"
"Yes."
"A seal? That doesn't look like a seal-- looks more like a platypus if you ask me!"
"A platypus? Does not! It doesn't look anything like a-- wait a minute, how in the world do you know what a platypus looks like anyway?"
"I saw one once in a book at the library!"
Lily turned herself toward James, propping herself up on one elbow.
"Do I even want to know why you were looking up platypuses in the library?"
"Hey, it's not as weird as you're thinking." James stated. "Peter had to do a last minute report on Australian muggle wildlife for Muggle Studies,"
"Last minute?" Lily quirked up one eyebrow.
"Yes, last minute because he kept putting it off-- but anyway, Sirius, Remus, and I helped him out a bit so he wouldn't have to stay in the library all night."
Lily lay back down. "That was nice of you three."
"Really?"
"Really." Lily stated.
There was a comfortable pause before James spoke.
"That one looks like Hogwarts."
"Do you miss it?" Lily asked.
"Yes…you?"
"Do you, I dunno, I guess it sounds silly but, do you ever feel like Hogwarts is more your home than your home is?" Lily asked another question instead.
"All the time." James said. "It's scary to think next year will be our last."
"Definatley." Lily sighed.
Lily was about to ask another question when she heard someone calling from across the yard, their voice becoming louder.
"Lily!!! Lily! Where are you?"
Lily sat up and turned around, locating the source of the noise.
"Oh, there you are." Petunia snapped briskly. "Mum says we can't make the final decisions without your,"
Petunia caught sight of James as he sat up as well and trailed off her sentence.
Lily stood and James followed suit.
"What were you saying?" Lily asked in a voice that clearly said she really didn't give a shit either way.
"Who's this?" Petunia asked, arms crossed over her chest.
"Oh, sorry, I'm James, James Potter. We just moved in next door." James held his hand out in greeting.
"James Potter…James Potter…now why does that name sound familiar? Oh right! You're the one Lily's always obsessing over when she comes home from that place.
"Sorry," Petunia smiled forcedly as she noticed James' outstretched hand. "I make it a point not to come into physical contact with people who attend that freak school of my sister's."
James raised one eyebrow and let his had fall back to his side. Everything that Lily had said about her sister had been true. If anything, Lily had been euphemizing her sister's prejudice against the magical world.
"Alright, Petunia, that's enough." Lily snapped. "Just tell me what you were going to."
"Mum says we can't make the final decoration decisions without you so you need to come over and give your final approval." Petunia said in an annoyed tone.
"Fine." Lily said curtly. "Tell her I'll be right there."
Petunia nodded her head slightly and turned to walk back up the yard.
Lily ran her hand through her ponytail.
"I told you she was horrible. I am so sorry about that."
"It's okay, Lily, really." James said.
"No, it's really not."
James sighed. "Yeah, you're right, it's not. It's not right that you've had to put up with this since you first got accepted to Hogwarts. You have a gift Lily, and no one should ever make you feel downsized for that."
Lily smiled. "I'd better get over there before she comes back."
James nodded. "See you later I guess?"
"Count on it." Lily laughed as she walked back over to the tents.
James watched Lily walk away before showing himself out and going back home.
A/N:
Alright, I'm not going to lie, this chapter was definitely not one of my best, it was short and definitely a filler chapter but it had to be written in order to get to the next point in the story. But hey, at least I'm getting better at updating!-- only took me a month from my last chapter!
The good news is, however, that over the past few weeks, I've planned out the next three chapters so ideally, chapter 8 should be out soon.
Also, those of you who have been patiently waiting for an update owe a HUGE thanks to my new Mcfly CD, especially track 6, "Too Close For Comfort", because listening to that song over and over again really helped me churn out this chapter.
So I guess that's it. As always, don't forget to REVIEW!!!
Next chapter is James' birthday!
Love you guys!
~Pamela