A/N: Many of you have been asking where we are in terms of time in the summer. James' birthday was on 7/19 and wish #2 takes place later that same week so we're still on that middle-ish/third week of July with the Evans/Dursley wedding fast approaching. ((remember, the wedding is set for the first week of August.J ))
Chapter 9: Allegedly, Wish Number 2:
Just as James had requested in his first wish, Lily planned an outing for the two of them in London for later that same week.
On Thursday, Lily once again showed up bright and early- seven in the morning to be exact- on the Potter's doorstep only this time, James was ready to go. They jumped on the first running trolley, James still bleary eyed from having been woken up so early. Somewhere along the way, James must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was being shaken gently awake by Lily.
"James," Lily said, gently shaking him awake.
"Huh?" James yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before opening them to look at her.
"Um, we've got to transfer now." Lily said, standing up and motioning toward the exit.
James stood up, stretched and followed her out into a rather large terminal.
"Are we here already? How long was I asleep for?"
"About fifteen minutes-- not long, but no, we're not. The trolley doesn't go all the way into London- just to the underground station."
"So, we've got to take another trolley?" James asked, making sure to keep up with Lily as the underground station was rather busy.
"No, we've got to get on to the tube-- well, underground train would be the correct term, I guess-- it's a bit different than the trolley, though." Lily said, walking over to a nearby till where she purchased tickets for the both of them.
"Here." she said, handing James his ticket. "You'll need that to get in, but don't lose it-- that's our ticket to get around the city and to get back home. Now, just follow my lead and try not to look to awestruck by the Muggle world." Lily said.
James nodded and followed Lily down an escalator and into the actual underground, which, was surprisingly a great deal warmer than where they had purchased their tickets due to a warm breeze that was floating through the tunnel.
They didn't have to wait long before a rumbling sound could be heard coming from a tunnel to their left. A white underground train emerged and stopped abruptly in front of them. There was a blue strip running along the top with the words 'Piccadilly Line' in bold white letters.
"This is us." Lily said, motioning for James to move closer to one of the compartment doors. A slew of morning commuters filed out of the compartments, briefcases and travel coffee mugs in hand and Lily and James waited for the last one to scurry out before boarding one of the compartments.
"Mind the gap, please!" said a cool disembodied female voice over the intercom.
The train started up with a lurch and before James knew it, they were zipping through the tunnels of the London underground.
"So, how long do we ride this for?" James asked as the train approached Earl's Court Station.
"Five stops-- well, four, counting this one." Lily said, speaking over the same female voice over the intercom.
"Mind the gap, please!"
"Does it always do that? Announce what station the train's stopping at and tell people to mind the gap?'" James asked.
"Yeah. 'Mind the gap' is quite the catch phrase amongst tourists, you know." Lily said, thinking of the many shirts and mugs which bore these words in various souveniere shops around the city.
When the train started moving for the third time, Lily turned toward James again.
"Alright, next stop is ours, James so be ready to get off quickly-- this is a busy station." Lily said.
"Um, okay." James said, not paying much attention to Lily's advice.
"Piccadilly Station. Change here for the Jubilee Line."
"Alright, let's go!" Lily said, hipping off the now crowded train quickly.
James suddenly realized exactly why Lily had advised him to exit the train quickly.
After pushing himself through the crowd to the sliding doors, James found himself swimming against the tide as a slew of other passengers began boarding, making it impossible for James to get off.
Lily turned to ask James if there was a specific place he wanted to visit first and realized for the first time that James was not behind her but still in the train compartment.
"James! What do you think you're doing? Get out here!" Lily called, walking briskly back to the train.
James heard Lily's voice and suddenly saw the red mass that was Lily's hair waiting for him on the platform.
"Lily, I'm coming! I just have to-- there!" James said, rather triumphantly, having finally reached the sliding doors.
James was about to join Lily on the platform when suddenly, the doors shut tightly.
"Oh, bugger." James said. "Lily! Lily! How do I open this thing?!" James called tapping on the glass windows.
"Holy mother of--" Lily exclaimed. "What an idiot.-- James, James, listen to me! Push the red button-- the RED BUTTON!" Lily called, trying to get James to push the emergency button which would open the compartment doors.
"What are you talking about? There's no button, Lily I don't see it!" James said, just as the train started to slowly move.
And then, it was Lily's turn to say 'Oh bugger.' as the train started to depart from Piccadilly Station.
"James, just listen to me, okay?" Lily said, jogging along with the train next to James. "Don't panic! Just get off at the next stop! The next stop, James!"
But whether or not James had heard what Lily had been trying to tell him, she did not know, for the train had suddenly picked up speed and in the blink of an eye, it was completely out of sight, traveling through the underground tunnels once more.
James could see Lily's mouth moving but could barely make out what she was trying to say over the rumbling of the train as she ran along side it. James lost sight of Lily as the train entered another dark tunnel. 'This' thought James 'is probably why mum and dad never go into muggle- London.'
"Bugger! Bugger! Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!" Lily muttered, pacing back and forth at the edge of the platform. "his mum's going to kill me-- my mum's going to kill me! Leave him alone for five minutes and what does he do? Gets himself locked in a tube compartment-- Like taking care of a two year old!" Just then, the next train arrived at the platform and Lily was the first to get on immediately after the doors opened. "Bugger, James." Lily muttered, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the doors to close and the train to start moving. "If you weren't smart enough to get off at the next stop…"
The ride between Piccadilly Station and Trafalgar Square was not five minutes long, but to James, it felt like an eternity. When the doors to the compartment finally opened, James all but ran off the train; he didn't know where he was, but James figured getting off here was better than riding around infinitely on the underground. It wasn't until after he watched the underground train depart that James realized he didn't have the slightest inkling as to where he should be going. Resisting the urge to sit on the floor and cry while he waited for someone to come find him like he had that one time he had gotten lost as a five year old boy in Diagon Alley, James opted to sit on a nearby bench. As he sat and waited, he pondered his options. 'The Blacks like in London.' James thought-- he had been to pick up Sirius loads of times over the years. But the Blacks wouldn't help him-- especially since him and his parents had been the ones to take Sirius in earlier this summer when he had run away from home. Next, James thought of going to Diagon Alley. 'Of course, why didn't I think of this before! Tom'll give me some floo powder so I can get home, then I can owl Lily and tell her I'm home safe-- it's perfect!' There was only one problem with this plan, James realized. He neither knew how to get to Diagon Alley from here, nor did he know how far away it was. James sighed, running a hand through his hair and making it stick up, if possible, more than was normal, a single thought running thorugh his mind:
'Come on, Lily. Where are you?'
"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay." Lily chanted softly as the train approached Trafalgar Square station. The compartment doors slid open and Lily leaped off immediately scanning the slew of people for some sight of James Potter. She stood on her tip-toes to get a better view over the tops of people's heads, fearing for the first time that maybe James hadn't gotten off here but was still riding the underground. Lily suddenly got a feeling similar to the sensation one gets when they swallow an ice cube whole and it settled in the pit of her stomach-- she was worried, but then, she saw it, the sight she had been looking for. There, by an overly enlarged map of the underground, she spotted a tuft of hopelessly disheveled black hair that could only belong to one person. The sight made her heart flutter-- with relief and in a completely plutonic way, of course.-- and Lily immediately began pushing her way toward James' direction, a rather large grin beginning to spread across her lips.
Taking a look at the Underground map seemed like a logical idea a the time, but now, James wished he had never thought of it for looking at the map, had confused him even more. Lines going this way and that; blue ones, yellow ones, brown ones, thin black ones and dotted ones-- it was making him dizzy. How in the world did Muggles make heads or tails of it? James thought to himself as he leaned in to examine the map more closely. He was deep in concentration when suddenly, the sound of his own name being called caused is head to jerk automatically up, and the next thing he knew, James' sight was blinded momentarily by a bunch of fiery red hair as Lily flung herself on him in a crushing hug.
"James!" Lily cried, hugging him tightly. "God, you have no idea…I thought I'd lost you." "It's alright, Lily-- I'm fine, honest." James said, returning her hug, feeling giddy at the thought that Lily cared enough to have been worried about him.
"You are?" Lily asked, pulling away. James nodded, smiling. "Good, well, in that case." Lily slapped his arm hard. "Ouch!" James yelped. "Don't you EVER do anything like that again! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you if you hadn't gotten off here? Next time LISTEN to me when I TELL you to do something, you prat!" Lily exclaimed hitting him ever so often to emphasize her point. "Ouch! Ooof! Okay, okay, calm down Lily, I'm sorry, really." James said, trying to dodge her hands.
"Good, you should be." Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest.
James frowned, looking much like a small child would right after being punished. Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand in hers.
"Come on," she said, pulling him toward an adjacent platform.
"Wha-- where are we going?" James asked, looking down at the had that was currently clasped in Lily's.
"We're going back to Piccadilly Station, but if you think for one second I'm going to let you wander off again, you've got another thing coming." Lily said, dragging James into the recently arrived underground train and seating him in the chair nearest the sliding doors.
"you," James said suddenly, "Are going to make one good mother in the future."
"Okay, where did that come from and what makes you think that?" Lily asked.
"Well, you've got a natural maternal instinct, plus, you've got the 'I'm very disappointed in you, young man' look pretty much set."
"This is a strange conversation."
"Why?"
"Come on, James, we're talking about my future kids and my mothering skills; that alone is strange in itself." Lily said.
"I don't think it is." he replied, seriously.
"No, I should have guessed you wouldn't." Lily said, laughing lightly.
"Do you think I'd make a good father someday?" James asked.
"And the conversation keeps getting stranger." Lily said, looking out at the passing tunnel walls.
"You didn't answer my question-- I was being serious." James said.
Lily looked at him and breathed deeply. "I don't know, James."
"Yes you do-- come on, Lily, I'm genuinely curious. Do you think I'd make a good dad?" James pressed.
"Sure." Lily said finally. "I bet you'll have kids who look just like you-- Sirius will be godfather, presumably-- and the both of you will teach them how to cause mayhem and mischief wherever they go and when they get to Hogwarts, Filch'll probably die of a heart attack and spend another seven years chasing a new generation of marauders." Lily joked. "you'll be one of those fun-type dads."
"Is that a bad thing?" James asked.
"Not if you know where do draw the line. Either that, or hope that your future wife, whoever she is will be responsible enough to discipline your kids for the both of you." Lily replied absentmindedly as the train halted to a stop.
"Okay, you first." Lily said, making sure that this time when they got off at Piccadilly Station, James was walking in front of her.
James had never realized how many things there were to do and see in Muggle- London. Lily had shown him everything from Harrods Department Store to the River Thames, all the while, acting the part of a tour guide, pointing things out and explaining the history behind certain things when necessary.
"Wow, is there anything we haven't seen in London today?" James asked, as he and Lily walked out of the British Museum, just having seen the Rosetta Stone. The sun was beginning to set, but there was still a good hour and a half of daylight left to enjoy.
"Nope, I think I've actually shown you everything worth seeing." Lily paused for a moment, in thought. "Actually…" she trailed off.
"There's more?" James asked, amazed.
"Just one more place." Lily said. "My favorite place in all of London, in fact."
"Is it close by?" James asked.
"Kind of-- London's not that big when you think about it-- we can take the bus there, come on!"
They caught the number ten bus across town and got off at the stop nearest the Kensington Gardens.
"So where is this place you're taking me?" James asked, following Lily toward the park.
"You'll see. It's just a ways in through the Kensington Gardens." Lily said, leading the way.
They walked in silence, James following Lily through the vast park, wondering if she really knew where she was going. They walked along side a river, which Lily informed him was called 'The Serpentine' where a handful of children where feeding ducks and swans, the light from the setting sun catching on the still water. James thought the river was what Lily had wanted to show him, but instead, she walked past it. He watched Lily smile as they reached a clearing up ahead where a bronze statue stood. As they walked toward it James recognized the statue of the boy who refused to grow up, immediately, for it was one of those rare stories that was the same in the muggle world as it was in the magical one.
"Peter Pan." James said, lightly, walking over to examine the statue more closely.
Lily nodded. "When I was younger and my mum would bring us here to play, I'd spend hours playing at the foot of this statue. I thought maybe if I stood in the spot where Peter first touched down into London, he'd come and take me away to Neverland like he did with Wendy. Then I grew up and I stopped believing in magic and fairy tales-- until I got my Hogwarts letter, of course-- but even then, I guess I always felt that even though I was growing up, when I'd come back here, just for a moment, I'd stop growing. That just for a moment, I could be a kid again."
"You know, the story of Peter Pan is the same here as it is in the magical world." James commented.
"Really?" Lily asked, looking at him.
"Yeah." James said. "The first time Sirius really tried running away-- we must have been about seven or so-- I asked him where he was going and he said he was going to live in Neverland with Peter and the Lost Boys."
"Why'd he chose that?" Lily asked. "I mean, why not Hogwarts or to your house, or, I dunno, someplace different?"
"Because he said that if he ran away to Neverland, he'd never have to listen to his mum or dad again-- because in Neverland, there aren't any parents. In Neverland, there aren't any grown-ups." James explained.
"Well, except of course for Captain Hook." Lily said, smiling and lightening up the otherwise serious conversation.
"Right, how could we forget Captain Hook." James laughed. "But don't you remember? Peter always stopped him in the end."
"Yeah, that's right-- even when he kidnapped Wendy and Tiger Lily." Lily said, smiling.
"Thanks for bringing me here-- this is awesome." James said.
"You're welcome," Lily said, "But I think it's time we started heading back-- I expect it'll be dark by the time we get home."
James nodded, and together they walked away from the Peter Pan statue and in the direction of the nearest underground station.
"I'm afraid we're going to catch the rush especially since we're taking a rather popular line." Lily said, as they entered the very busy station.
They stood on the crowded platform and when the train finally arrived, Lily made sure they were close to the front of the line to get on.
"Alright, you first." Lily said to James, not wanting any sort of repeat from this morning.
"Wha- oh, come on, Lily! It's not going to happen again! I've learned my lesson about getting on and off the tube!" James whined.
"Oh, just get in!" Lily said, pushing him, rather unsuccessfully through the sliding doors.
James gave up arguing and allowed Lily to lead him onto the train.
When they got on, there was only one seat left and many were already standing, hanging onto poles and overhead rails.
"You take it." Lily said, motioning to the vacant seat.
"Now, what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't offer the only seat to a lady?" James asked. "Not a very good one-- you take it."
"James, this has nothing to do with being chivalrous-- I'm telling you for your own good. Standing up on the underground train can be very tricky, you know, especially if you've never done it before."
"Really, Lily, how hard could it be? Besides, I'm not sitting unless you do."
"Fine then," Lily rolled her eyes. "Then I guess we're both standing."
James could have sworn he heard Lily mutter something along the lines of 'stubborn mule' as she took hold of a nearby pole and couldn't help but smile at how easily irritated, one, Lily Evans could be. The sliding doors closed and the now familiar woman's voice said 'mind the gap' over the intercom.
"Hold on tight, then." Lily said, smiling.
The train started abruptly, immediately speeding through the underground tunnel ahead.
"Bloody hell!" James cursed, losing his balance and accidentally bumping into a tough looking bloke who
looked like he would not be at all out of place riding around with the Hell's Angels motorbike group.
"Sorry! Lost my footing." James muttered apologetically at the man behind him who grunted in
acknowledgement.
Lily suppressed a fit of giggles. "You don't understand how hard I'm trying not to say 'I told you so' buuut… I told you so!"
Lily let go of the pole to clutch her abdomen as she continued laughing quietly, all the while keeping perfect balance while James clutched onto the pole for dear life.
"Show off." James muttered.
The underground train made an abrupt stop at the next station and then, it was Lily's turn to lose her balance, only instead of flailing backward, she toppled forward, right into James as the sliding doors opened and a horde of new passengers squeezed in, pushing Lily, who was already quite close to James, completely up against him.
It was at this moment that James would have said something like 'That's what you get for showing off-- it's a little thing I like to call karma.' except at the moment, he was distracted by the fact that Lily Evans was currently pressed up against him and oh man, did it feel amazing.
'Well, this is awkward.' Lily thought to herself, trying to maneuver her body so she wasn't close to James, but it was no use, there were too many people in the compartment to move at all. Lily kept herself occupied looking at the other passengers and out the compartment windows-- The latter not doing much to keep her occupied since all she could really see out of them was the reflection of the passengers inside the train-- anything to keep her from looking at James.
Finally, after what seemed like the longest underground ride of her life, the compartment door opened and a good portion of people exited.
Lily stepped away from James, muttering a quiet 'sorry' as the train departed once more. A short silence fell between the two, but soon, the awkward moment passed and they were back to chatting in a friendly manner.
"Wow," James said, stepping off the trolley and looking around the town in which he now lived. "I never realized how much darker this place is in comparison to the city."
"I guess I never really noticed much." Lily said shrugging. "I've lived here my whole life so I really don't know anything different."
They reached Lily's front porch and James opened his mouth, presumably to say goodnight, but before he could, Lily spoke instead.
"Do you want to sit outside for a while? Maybe have some iced tea or something?"
"Sure." James said, immediately.
"Great! I'll be right back, then." Lily said, going inside to fetch the refreshments.
James ran a hand through his hair and noticed, for the first time that the Evans had a suspended swing on their porch; he sat on it, swinging back and forth gently.
Lily joined him on the swing not five minutes later, handing him a glass of iced tea.
"So where did you live before you moved here?" Lily asked.
"In Godric's Hollow-- it's one of the older wizarding villages." James replied.
"Was it nice there?"
James nodded. "It's got that quaint old village feeling to it. Not quite as charming as it is here, but still nice. It's really one of those places where everyone knows everyone's business since everyone there comes from wizarding families."
They talked a bit more about Godric's Hollow, James, describing the type of people who lived there in more detail and what his old house had looked like. Somewhere down the line, the conversation switched and Lily and James found themselves pointing out the constellations in the sky, which were exceptionally bright tonight.
"It's the third star from the left, I'm positive." James said matter-of-factly. For some reason, they had begun disputing the position of the star, Alcor, in the big dipper constellation.
"No, James, you're mixing it up. The third one from the left is Alioth. Alcor is the second from the left."
"Are you sure though?"
"I'm positive!"
"Really? Because I could have sworn it was the third from the left."
"James, give it up, it's the second from the left unless your suggesting that somehow Alcor and Alioth managed to switch places overnight."
"Alright, fine, you win. Second from the left, then."
"It has nothing to do with winning-- I'm just stating a fact."
"Okay, you were right, then."
"Thank you." Lily smiled, pleased with herself. "I love being right."
"You're always right." James said, rolling his eyes good naturedly.
"But that doesn't mean I still can't enjoy the feeling." Lily pointed out. "And I resent that-- I'm not always right."
"True. Very true, but you're right about 99% of the time" James answered.
His eyes settled on hers and they locked. Lily smiled at him, a simple act that James blames for driving him to do what he did next. Suddenly, James found himself trailing a finger down the side of Lily's face. He traced from the tip of her eyebrow and down her cheek, over it's smooth, curvy contour and down across her chin, all the while never breaking her gaze.
A tingling path was left across her skin, trailing behind his tracing fingertip. Lily wasn't sure what he was doing-- wasn't sure what she should be doing. All she knew was that at the moment, she was completely mesmerized by James' actions.
"You've still got one wish left." Lily said, voicing the first thing that came to her mind. The sound of her own voice surprised her, coming out softer than she was expecting, like a cross between talking normally and a whisper.
"I know," James said just as softly, his fingertip still making its way across the skin of her face, ever so often, brushing near her hairline.
"Do, you, um," James was distracting her, making it hard for her to think of which words to string together in her head to form a sentence, but that didn't necessarily mean Lily wished he'd stop what he was doing, quite the contrary, actually. At this moment, Lily realized she didn't care and the last thing she wanted James to do was to stop.
"Do I what?" James asked, moving to play with a loose, misplaced curl of her hair near the curve of her neck.
"have any idea what you'd like your last wish to be?" Lily finally got out.
James was silent for a moment as he thought, though he never stopped playing with the strand of hair in his hand.
"Yes." he said, finally.
"What is it then?" Lily asked as she watched him play with the piece of her hair. "What's the last thing you want for your birthday, James?"
"I'm," James paused as if trying to figure out exactly how to put in words what he was thinking. "I'm not sure I want to tell you."
"Why not?" Lily asked. "Why can't you tell me what you want?"
"Because what I want I'd like to be voluntarily-- not invoked by a silly wish. I'd rather have it be real." James said.
There was a gap of silence as Lily let James' words sink in. his eyes, if at all possible, seemed to have gotten darker because they were the richest shade of hazel Lily had ever seen them.
"I'm not sure if I know what you want," Lily said finally. She paused before continuing with the thought that had been running through her mind "But don't think realism would be a problem."
"But how do you know," James asked, moving closer. "if you don't know what it is, Lily?" her name fell from his lips gracefully, almost like a low undertone, as James finally dropped the curl he had been playing with.
She licked her lips, drawing attention to her mouth and James' eyes dropped to her rosy lips; never had he felt the need to be closer to her more than he did at this moment. And tossing all rational thought, all the mixed feelings of possible rejection and the possibility of losing the friendship he had built with her over the short weeks he'd lived next door, James leaned in closer, unable to fight the almost magnetic pull that was drawing him toward her.
If Lily had been thinking at all rationally, she would have put a stop to this before it had even started but she wasn't thinking rationally, and the funny thing was, she realized that she really didn't care. Between thinking rationally and finding out what would happen if James kept moving closer, rationality, she thought, could go jump off the astronomy tower at Hogwarts, for all she cared.
James was physically closer than he had ever been to Lily and he was completely entranced by the scent of her. By her breath, which he could feel on his face, and by the body heat she was radiating. He was close, maybe two inches away, and even so, James had never wanted anything more than to close the gap between them…
CRACK! a heavy weight between both of them on the porch swing and the sudden noise, startled both Lily and James into pulling apart. Lily yelped and the next thing she knew, the Porch swing had broken off it's hinges, sending them falling to the floor, a heavy weight settling in the pit of her stomach. It took Lily a moment to realize that the heavy weight in the pit of her stomach was not mentally induced, but there because something, or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that someone had landed on top of her.
James groaned loudly.
"Hiya, Prongs!" came a cheery and all too familiar voice to Lily's right.
"Sirius Black," Liliy said, wheezing slightly. "If you don't get off my stomach right now, I'll surely die from suffocation-- you're not exactly a feather, you know."
"Do mine ears deceive me, or are those the dulcet tones of the lovely Lily Evans that I'm hearing?" Sirius said, getting up and offering a hand to Lily who was still sprawled on the deck.
Lily took it gratefully, standing and dusting herself off with the palms of her hands.
"What are you doing here, Black?" Lily asked.
"I could ask you the same question." Sirius replied.
"I live here." Lily said, stretching gingerly to make sure she didn't have any broken bones.
"No bloody way! You live here?!" Sirius said, a slightly mad grin plastered on his face and pointing to the spot where he was standing.
"Well, no, I don't exactly live on this porch," Lily said, sardonically "But yes, this is my house."
"Prongs, buddy, why didn't you tell me we moved in next door to Lily?" Sirius asked, for the first time, turning to look at his best friend.
"Heh, must have slipped my mind." James laughed nervously. "It's great to see you, Padfoot, but when'd you get your apparating license?"
"Two weeks ago-- Andromeda took me-- but this is the first time I've ever really apparated a long distance." Sirius beamed.
"Looks like you're still a bit rusty." Lily scoffed in a muttered tone.
"Oh right, Andromeda! What happened there, mate? I thought you were staying with her and Ted for the rest of the summer." James said, ignoring Lily's remark.
"Change of plans." Sirius shrugged. "I love Andy, you know I do, but there's not much to do over there. I got bored so I decided to come back and hang out with you for the remainder."
"Soooo, what were you doing before I graced you with my presence?" Sirius asked.
"Nothing." Lily and James said, a little too quickly in perfect unison.
Sirius looked back and forth from Lily to James, another smile spreading across his lips.
"Riiiight."
Lily fought a blush that was itching to spread across her cheeks.
"Yes, well, it's getting late and I don't want to wake up my parents." Lily shifted uncomfortably. "That is of course, if they already weren't awoken by your aparating onto and breaking my porch swing."
"Oh yeah, sorry about that!" Sirius said, pulling out his wand. "Reparo! There, that's better."
A flash of light shot out of Sirius' wand and the bench immediately repaired itself.
"Right, well, I'm off to bed," Lily said. "Nice to see you, Sirius. Bye James."
"Hey." James called out to Lily before she disappeared into her house. "Will we see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, swing by the house if you want-- we're doing some more wedding planning stuff but I'm sure I can find some way to keep you clowns entertained." Lily smiled.
"Sounds good." James replied, grinning.
"Alright, see you tomorrow, then." Lily said, walking into her house and closing the door behind her.
Sirius paused, waiting to make sure Lily not in hearing distance before facing his best friend.
"What was that all about?" Sirius asked, mischievously.
"What do you mean?" James looked at his friend questioningly as they began to walk home.
"Well, you two were looking pretty friendly just then."
"Yeah, that's because we're kind of friends now, Sirius."
"Not just then," Sirius said, "You were looking pretty cozy before I apparated between you, too!"
"You were spying on us?" James burst out.
"From your kitchen window," Sirius pointed to the new Potter house just next door. "how else would I have had such good aim?"
"Oh my bloody-- Padfoot, I can't believe you, I was this close!" James said, holding up his thumb and pointer finger so they were but millimeters apart from each other.
"This close to wha-- oh." Sirius ended lamely, finally realizing why James was so ruffled. "Man, really? Wow, I'm sorry, mate."
"It's okay, you didn't know." James said, hollowly.
"Maybe it just wasn't meant to be yet, you know?" Sirius added, trying to make things better.
"Yeah, I guess, but Padfoot?"
"Yeah, Prongs?"
"Honestly, you've got some of the worst timing in the world." James said, grinning.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter, knowing everything was alright between them as they entered the Potter house and turned in for the night.
Sirius wondering what adventures in this new town awaited him and James, wondering what would have happened if Sirius had decided to apparate between them just a few moments later.
A/N: Well, there you have it, chapter 9 and how many of you are excited that I decided to include Sirius in the story after all? I know a few of you will be quite happy about this.
Anyway, sorry it took a little longer than was expected to get this up-- I tried writing it earlier, really I did, it's just that the college workload is getting to me some.
So, thank you's….you should all thank the MuggleCasters, or rather Ben Schoen, for mentioning the Christmas ornament package I sent to the PO Box on episode 62, which put me in the most annoyingly good mood early Monday morning when I heard it. J
So, hopefully I'll see you all soon with another installment of 'That Summer.' But in the mean time, don't forget to REVIEW. ((As always))
And speaking of reviews, I try my best to respond to each and every one of them so if you have a question about something, don't hesitate to ask. And if you're leaving anonymous reviews, remember to leave your email so I can reply back to you ((that is, of course if you want me to respond!))
Thanks to all of you for all the support you've given me so far with this story!
~Pamela