"Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional
"It's so pretty," Lily said as she and James walked hand-in-hand down the sidewalk.
The leaves were gold and red and yellow, all aflame in the setting sun. James looked up at the trees then back to Lily. "It is."
A little wind blew, twirling the leaves around on the ground. Lily's dress pressed against the back of her legs, pushing her forward. She shivered and James let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her bare shoulders. "Do you want my coat?" James offered.
"No, I'm good," Lily refused with a smile.
"You should've worn a coat, it's almost winter."
"It's just the beginning of autumn. And it seemed so nice out when we left," Lily said. "We're almost there anyways." They walked a few more blocks until they reached the driveway that led to Eva's parent's house. "I'm so excited," Lily smiled. They walked up the driveway and stood on the porch. Before they could knock on the door, it was opened by a small smiling boy who was missing a front tooth. James and Lily stepped inside.
"Invitation?" a young girl asked them from their right. She was only a year or two older than the boy but they both had the same brown eyes. She held a clipboard in her hand and looked up at them expectantly.
"Uh…" Lily faltered. "I didn't bring it, did you?"
James shook his head, "I didn't bring it either."
"You can't come in without an invitation. It's invitation only," the girl informed them with an air of authority, she was obviously enjoying her post.
"Lily! James!" Eva exclaimed as she ran down the staircase to the front door. "Come in," Eva said warmly.
"No!" the girl cried in panic, "They don't have an invitation."
"Honey, that's what the list is for. Ask them for their names," Eva directed her.
"What's your name?" the girl asked James who was standing the closest to her.
"James Potter," he replied. The girl scanned the list in her hands. There was a flash of a smile that was quickly replaced by a look of puzzlement. She looked up at her aunt and tugged on her dress.
Eva bent down while the girl whispered in her ear,
"Are they married? It only says James Potter." Eva smiled at her,
"They're not married," she half-whispered back.
"Really?" she asked in wonder. She looked back at James and Lily then to Eva she said, "They look like they are."
Lily blushed and Eva chuckled, "Just ask her for her name."
"What's your name?" the girl asked Lily.
"Lily Evans," Lily told her.
The girl scanned the list again. "Ok, you can go in," she said happily.
"Thank you," James said as they were granted access to the party.
"I'm so glad that you two came," Eva said happily.
"Of course, we wouldn't miss it," Lily told her.
"Good," Eva smiled as she led them down the hallways to the party. "I'm sorry about Dacia. She watched a movie and wanted to be the bouncer for my party."
"It's alright, she was cute," Lily assured her.
Eva grinned in thanks and opened two French doors to reveal a large, elegant ballroom. "There's the quartet," Eva motioned to the left wall where a platform was set up with a string quartet occupying it, "the food and drinks," she motioned to the right wall, "and the doors on the opposite side of the room lead outside to the gardens."
"It's beautiful," Lily admired the room and all the elegant looking people inside.
"Eva!" an older man called out as he motioned for her to come to him.
"I'm wanted, sorry guys. I think Sirius, Remus, and Peter are over by the food," she told them as she left them to greet the man that had called her name.
James and Lily made their way over to the right of the ballroom and found their three friends. Greetings were exchanged as was custom at such events.
"I didn't think you two were going to show," Sirius joked.
"And miss the chance to crash another party?" James scoffed. "Never."
Lily laughed, "We got stopped by the bouncer."
"She wasn't going to let us in either, since we didn't have the invitation. Thankfully Eva showed up," James added.
"The infamous James Potter, getting stopped by a little girl?" Sirius laughed. "I would've loved to see that."
"It was quite a sight," Lily smiled. "I need a drink, I'm so thirsty," she said as she left their group to search for something to satisfy her thirst.
"Who was she?" James asked them.
"It was Eva's niece," Remus answered him.
James looked at him, "How do you know?"
"Because she introduced us to them," Remus told James.
"She didn't introduce us, what a hostess," James said.
"You should've seen Dacia and Attis when they saw Sirius," Peter started.
"No," Sirius said quickly, "James doesn't want to hear that."
"I'm sure he does," Remus chimed in with a smirk.
"I'm sure I do," James agreed, intrigued by what could possibly make Sirius embarrassed.
"Eva was introducing Remus and I to Dacia and Attis. Sirius was walking towards us and when the two kids saw him they started yelling 'Uncle Sirius!' and ran towards him. He picked them both up and swung them around. They were laughing and giggling so hard," Peter retold the events.
"Never knew you were so good with kids," James chuckled.
"Yeah…just another one of my talents," Sirius tried to downplay his obvious uneasiness.
"That's so cute," Lily said as she rejoined the group with a glass of clear liquor in her hand. "Uncle Sirius."
Peter looked at the watch on his wrist. "Ah, it's time for me to go," he announced. "I'll wish you all a goodnight."
"Leaving so soon?" Remus asked.
"It's too early to say goodnight," Lily protested.
"I know, but I promised I would be there…" Peter trailed off.
"Well if you have to go," James reluctantly said. "Good-bye."
"'Bye," Peter said.
"Good-bye" they called out as he left the group.
"Let's go dance," Lily said suddenly as she took James' hand.
"What?" James asked in surprise.
"Let's dance," she repeated.
"Uh…ok?" James conceded.
Lily grinned. "Hold this?" she said as she gave her glass to Remus and led James out onto the floor where other couples were dancing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his went around her waist. They danced together to the music. He would whisper little comments about the guests around them. This made Lily blush, then look to see who might have heard him, but in the process she would see who he was talking about and start giggling as she found he was right.
James loved making her laugh. The way she tilted her head back and her eyes sparkled, that's all that mattered at the moment. He quickly tried to memorize the way she looked, knowing that he would dream of her laughter, insuring a good night. After a few songs the band took a break and James led Lily back off the dance floor to see that Eva had also joined their group.
"So what's with the big party?" Sirius prompted Eva.
"My parents think they're going to die any day now and are afraid that they're not going to have another chance to celebrate my birthday and so they went all out for this one," Eva told him.
"And you agreed to all this?" Lily asked her, knowing Eva to like a small group of people rather than a ballroom full of them.
Eva shrugged, "They're my parents. It was this or feel guilty because I didn't let them have their fun by throwing me a party." She lowered her voice, "It's just some of these people I don't really know and they keep telling me about how adorable I was when I was younger. Sometimes it's sort of weird."
They all laughed at Eva's uneasiness with strangers.
"I guess we don't have to worry about you walking off with a stranger then," Remus joked.
"Oh Merlin no," Eva said with mock horror, causing them to laugh again.
"I love the quartet, they're amazing," Lily complimented.
"Thanks," Eva replied. "They are pretty good. Speaking of, they're coming back on." Everyone turned towards the little platform and saw that the quartet was indeed returning and taking their positions with their instruments.
"Eva!" a chunky woman in a black dress called out from behind her, opening her arms wide.
Eva rolled her eyes, and the boys and Lily couldn't help but repress a smirk as Eva smiled brightly and turned around to greet the woman. "Hello Mrs. Adams!" Eva replied with forced enthusiasm. The woman, however, missed this and enveloped her in a tight hug and dragged her off to show to another Mr. & Mrs. Something-Or-Other.
Lily clapped her hands together, "Oh! I love this song!"
Sirius turned to her and half-bowed, "May I have this dance?"
Lily giggled and gave him her hand, "Of course."
Sirius led her to the dance floor, leaving James and Remus alone together.
"Sirius stealing your girl?" Remus chuckled.
"He can have her for awhile, I get her for the rest of the night," James replied with a grin.
"So things for you two have been good?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, really good." He watched as Sirius spun her around in her ridiculously high heels. She had stumbled in them walking to the party, and James had chided her but she ignored him and hadn't stumbled since. He watched the other couples dancing, scrutinizing the girls, but none of them even came close to Lily in his eyes.
"James, you do realize that you're grinning like a fool watching her."
James turned to look at him with a smile and said, "I don't care. That girl has stolen my heart."
A/N: I hope your summer is going as well as mine is. I might be posting another story soon, and another chapter of TMT even sooner!