It Started With A Baby by Angel 737 Rating: PG13 Genres: Romance, Humor Relationships: Lily & James Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 6 Published: 06/06/2007 Last Updated: 18/12/2007 Status: Completed When James' parents dont trust him with his baby cousin they send him an animated one. There is only one person able to help him and that one person is...Lily!! 1. It's A Boy ------------- “Turn that bloody thing off!” Remus exclaimed. “I’m trying it’s not working,” James cried. He was trying to get an animated baby to sleep, but it wasn’t working at all. “Get it out of here,” Sirius yawned, “I’m trying to get my beauty sleep.” James found it a little amusing that even though Sirius was slightly unconscious he could still act like a prat. He grumbled something that resembled “Fine” and went down to the Gryffindor Common Room. *** Lily Evans is a respectable 17 year old girl. She was in her 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not to mention that she was Head Girl. It was the second week of the new school year and she couldn’t sleep. She kept hearing a strange noise that sounded like a baby. *“That’s impossible,” she thought, “There can’t be babies at Hogwarts.”* She heard the same wailing sound again and decided to go find out what it was. *** “What’s going on?” said a feminine voice coming from the girls staircase. Even though the only light was coming from the fireplace, James knew exactly who she was by her voice. He memorized that voice. He dreamed about that voice. He loved that voice. As she got closer he could see that she didn’t bother to put a robe on. She was wearing a tank top and short pajama shorts. They showed off her curves and thighs perfectly. He was so entranced by what she was wearing that he didn’t notice that she was in front of him or that she repeated her question. “Potter, what’s going on?” “N-nothing,” he stuttered. “Don’t lie to me!” she exclaimed, “and what is that noise?” “Oh…. Umm it’s just something my mum sent me,” James said shyly. “It sounds like a baby.” “It is.” “WHAT!?” “It’s animated not the real thing,” he cried. “My baby cousin is coming for Christmas and I have to watch him. Mum doesn’t think that I will be able to take care of him so she sent me this. I don’t think it’s going to work considering as I can’t get it to stop crying,” he knew he was rambling so he stopped there. Lily then grabbed the baby out of his hands. “Did you try to feed it?” “Yes.” “Burp it?” “Yes.” “Change it?” “Yes- wait you have to do that?” he looked like a shocked little kid. “Merlin, Potter, it’s a baby!” “But it’s fake!” “It is still a baby,” she yelled while rolling her eyes. She then transfigured a blanket into a diaper and in minutes the baby was sleeping. “What did you… how did you…?” James stuttered. She smiled, his stomach did a flip-flop. “I have a younger brother. Had some practice I guess.” She sat down next to James and he turned to her and asked, “Why did you help me?” “Honestly?” she asked. He nodded. “You looked absolutely miserable and that can’t happen unless I make you look that way,” she teased. “Plus, I could just see Sirius tearing you to shreds if you went back up there with this thing.” James eyes lit up and he grinned, “Oh.” Lily couldn’t stop herself, he just looked so adorable that she smiled back. She suddenly had a strange sensation it her stomach that made her want to kiss him. She had no idea where that feeling came from. James had been such an arrogant toerag for the past couple of years. And he didn’t stop asking her out till this year. *“But he isn’t so bad this year,”* she thought, *“he’s not picking on Snape, and he’s not doing too many pranks. He is also tutoring 1st years, and he is starting to look damn sexy”* *“Whoa, did I just call James Potter sexy?”* *“Damn sexy to be exact,” said another voice in her head.* *“Where the hell did you come from?”* *“I was always here and maybe your finally realizing your feelings for him because your staring at his bare chest.”* Lily blushed at what she was looking at and looked into his hazel eyes. Hoping that he didn’t know what she was staring at. The smile on his face lit up his eyes and could only mean one thing… he knew. Before she could say or do anything stupid she quickly said, “ Well, James, I’m going to go back to bed.” She ran up the stairs blushing like a complete idiot. James had a grin plastered to his face and was slowly making his way up to his dorm. All he could think about was how Lily Evans had just called him by his first name. *** At breakfast the next morning Lily kept zoning back to the night before. She couldn’t believe that she wanted to kiss him and was about to. Thankfully her senses came back to her and she ran like the scared little girl she was. She was brought out her memory by laughter coming from down the table. When she looked she saw the marauders minus 1. Sirius and Remus were laughing at Peter. He somehow got a diaper charmed onto his head. Had to be James’s doing not doubt. Speaking of the marauder, the Great Hall suddenly got quiet. Lily’s best friend Alyssa nudged her in the ribs and pointed to the Entrance. Standing there was James Potter with a whimpering baby in his arms. His eyes met Lily’s and he started walking towards her ignoring the chuckles and snickers coming from other students. Soon he was sitting next to her and shoving the baby bundle into her arms. She reluctantly took it from him and conjured the diaper from Peter’s head and went to work. *** Alyssa Michaels had dark blonde hair and bright almost clear blue eyes, completely different from Lily’s piercing green eyes and flaming red hair. Alyssa was a pureblood while Lily was a muggle-born. They formed a bond no matter how different they were. They met on the Hogwarts Express in their first year, along with Sophie and Autumn. Alyssa wasn’t one to be patient so on their way to the Charms classroom she began to question Lily. “What was that about?” “What was what about?” Lily asked innocently. “Don’t play dumb with me Evans!” “Ooh, so I guess we are now using surnames, right Michaels?” Lily teased Alyssa grinned, “Come on Lil, please tell me what that was about.” “Ok, ok,” she said and told her friend everything except her new found feeling, if that’s what you could call it. Not far behind them Sirius was going crazy. He could not for the life of him figure out why Evans didn’t tell James off for sitting next to her. “Padfoot, I already told you. She helped me last night and I just figured that she would help me again.” “But she didn’t yell Prongs, maybe the Potter Charm is finally working!” *** Later that night Lily was sitting in the Common Room on her favorite chair. She was reading one of her favorite mystery books, “And Then There Were None” when James came storming into the room and plopped down on the couch. Lily reluctantly got up and walked towards him. “What’s wrong?” she asked. He was about to tell her to leave him alone when he saw the sincere look in her eyes. “It’s this- this thing. It won’t shut the hell up!” he screamed. “Professor Werner deducted 50 house points because of its crying.” “James it is not that hard. I’ll teach you.” “Really?” She nodded, “Really, first take off the diaper.” “Like this?” James asked. She nodded again. “Hey!” James exclaimed, “it’s a boy!” Lily giggled, “I never new you were so observant James.” **Ok, chapter one is finished! I hope you liked it! Please read and leave lots of reviews! I love reviews!! If you don’t review I don’t know if I’ll be able to continue with the story!** 2. Harry -------- **This is not my favorite chapter actually I don’t like it that well. If you don’t like the chapter please leave reviews or suggestions and I will fit them into the next couple of chapters.** **I really appreciate the reviews. Leave lots more!!** In Potions a couple of days later, Sirius Black was talking to Alyssa , his partner in the class. “You know,” he started, “James and Lily have been spending a lot of time together. He barely has anytime to help us pull pranks with all his head duties and then that baby and now he’s hanging out with Lily instead of us!” “I know, yesterday Lily had me finish her Transfiguration homework cause she was going to go meet James and she didn’t have the time to finish it.” “Evans didn’t finish an assignment? That’s incredible!” They were silent for a couple minutes after that but Alyssa had to get it off her chest and find out the truth. She put down the knife she was using to cut the garlic heads and asked, “Does Potter really like Lily?” “Of course he does… why?” “Well, I don’t know. It’s just that Lily is my best friend and I can’t stand to see her hurt, not after what happened last year.” “What happened?” Sirius asked barely above a whisper. “I-I shouldn’t tell you.” “Please,” Sirius pleaded. He had on his trademark puppy dog eyes. “Fine, but you can’t tell anyone.” he nodded. “Last June Lily’s parents were at a party and she was at her boyfriend Jesse’s house. The taxi driver that was taking her parents home was drunk, he crashed into another car. Jesse wouldn’t let her leave to go to the hospital. He said that they would be fine and that he wanted to have a nice evening with her by himself. Her dad died and her mum was in a coma for a couple of weeks. She lost it, she flipped out on Jesse saying it was his fault that she didn’t get to see her dad for one last time. Which it was but he said he was sorry and she forgave him. She wasn’t herself after though, she was so quiet all the time and I think Jesse got sick of it because she didn’t let him have any ‘fun time’ so he broke up with her.” “That bastard,” Sirius grumbled, “Was she close to her dad?” “Yeah, they were inseparable, he did everything for her. And her mum did everything for Petunia. Oliver kind of got left out, by his parents anyway. Lily takes him everywhere and does almost anything with him. You should have seen him when he found out that he might be a wizard. He was so excited he mad his dad make him a play wand so he could practice and be as good as Lily. Wow, I never would have thought that I would be rambling on about my best friend family.” “Yeah, but Prongs will be glad to here all of this.” “Wait, you can’t tell him! You promised.” “I didn’t promise anything. But since you have a smoking body and I like you I won’t tell,” he said with a wolfish grin. “Gee, thanks,” Alyssa replied sarcastically. *** Lily was sitting with her three friends and the four marauders in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room. She was bored out of her mind and sandwiched between Sirius and James. Alyssa was on the other side of Sirius and Sophie was sitting on the floor gazing into the fire completely oblivious to Peter staring at her from his chair. Autumn and Remus were playing a game of Wizard Chess which Autumn was winning. “How much longer do you have to have that thing?” Autumn asked James. “Umm… not real sure till Christmas I think,” he replied. “Two and a half bloody months left!” Sophie cried. “Well if Lily keeps helping me you won’t hear it cry that often.” “So I’m supposed to ruin my perfect days just to stop a fake baby from crying?” Lily question. “Well of course, we aren’t going to let you take the easy way out,” Sirius stated, “now hand me that thing.” James handed the baby over to Sirius very carefully. He was starting to get attached and overprotective to it. *‘It’s the only reason that Lily actually talks to me,’ he thought.* “Shit!” Sirius mumbled. He was throwing the baby up in the air and catching it. This time it went a little farther back and when he tried to grab it the chair tipped backwards and a passing 5th year snickered but was soon silenced be Sirius’s glare. “Now look what you did,” Peter whined. The baby had started crying again. “Come on Peter, it is not that bad . All you have to do is rock it and it goes back to sleep,” Lily said while rocking the baby like she said. After a few minutes of silence Remus had to say something and he didn’t care how stupid it sounded. “It needs a name.” “What?” seven people said in unison. “The baby, he needs a name. All we call him is ‘it’ or ‘thing’.” “Harry,” Lily stated. “Harry? How in the world do you get Harry?” Sirius cried, “I was thinking more like Sirius Jr.” “You have got to be kidding, Sirius Jr.?” Autumn cried. “Yeah, can’t you see the resemblance?” Sirius asked as he snatch the baby from Lily and held it next to his face. Six people burst out laughing but Peter just looked confused . “I don’t get it. It doesn’t look anything like you .” Peter said while stating the obvious. “Wormtail, you stupid git, it was a joke,” Sirius exclaimed rolling his eyes. “Ooh… well I should probably mail this letter so I’ll see you guys later.” “Bye Peter,” they chorused. “Ok now seriously Lily how did you come up with Harry?” Sirius asked, “It’s not like the kid has any hair!.” “My dad’s name was Harold and well… I don’t know Harry was my mums nickname for him.” “Oh say no more, his name is… HARRY!!” James yelled as everyone cheered. “Thanks,” Lily said bashfully. “No problem,” James cried, “now who’s up for a game of Truth or Dare?” “Sounds like fun,” Sirius cried, “Sophie, truth or dare?” “Dare.” “Go upstairs and find Charles Daniels and snog him for 10 minutes.” “Wait, isn’t he the guy with only one eyebrow?” “Yeah,” Remus chuckled. “Come on, he’s disgusting, please not 10 how about 1?” “7.” “3?” “5, final offer.” “Fine,” Sophie cried as she trudged up the stairs to the boys dorm. “Ok Remus, truth or dare?” James questioned. “Dare.” “I was hoping you would say truth, but take one of these 3 lovely ladies and find an empty broom closet.” Remus blushed, “Well, if I pick Lily I would probably be dead by morning, and Alyssa I’m sorry but your not really my type. So Autumn lets go!” Lily and Alyssa giggled, they were the only ones that truly knew how much Autumn liked Remus. “I pick Lily!” Alyssa exclaimed, “Truth or dare?” “You weren’t supposed to pick me stupid. We were supposed to gang up on them.” Lily pointed a finger at Black and Potter. Sirius and James shared a look and then both got very evil looks on their faces and turned to look back at Lily. “Truth,” she sighed. “Umm…ok, why do you hate James?” Alyssa finally came up with something that might make Sirius go a little easier on her. She knew he was up to something by the way that he kept giving her the ‘eye’ all night. Lily looked shocked, “ I never said that I hated James.” “But you yelled at him all of last year.” “That’s because he kept asking me out, but I never hated him.” “So if he acts the way he has been acting this year you would go out with him?” “That’s not my question so I’m not going to answer,” Lily yelled and folded her arms to look serious. “James it is your turn truth or dare?” Lily asked. James smirked, “Truth.” “What did Remus mean when he said that he would probably be dead by morning?” Sirius laughed, “Isn’t it obvious Lilykins? James still likes you!” At this both James and Lily blushed a deep scarlet color. “Alyssa, truth or dare?” “I’m going to have to say… dare.” Sirius snickered, “I now you have sisters in Slytherin and if you can find a way to exclude them go ahead, but I dare you to prank all the Slytherins.” “Oh, and it has to be a prank up to our standards,” James added. “That’s not fair you know how much I hate pranks!” “You could always chicken out,” Sirius said with hope filled eyes. “And what would I have to do if I chicken out?” “Kiss me.” Alyssa started laughing hysterically, “I think I’ll do the prank.” “Ouch! That hurt,” Sirius said while putting on a mock hurt expression. “So Sirius truth or dare?” Lily asked Sirius pondered the question a little bit. He knew that Lily could give out pretty nasty dares. “Truth.” “Wow, never thought I’d see the day that Sirius Black didn’t choose dare!” James exclaimed. Sirius scoffed, “Get on with it already.” “Who was the first girl that you umm… well you know.” If it was possible Sirius blushed. “Umm…well you see I don’t really remember that night real good.” “Of course you do it had to be the best night of your pathetic little life!” Alyssa chirped in. “Well?” Lily said narrowing her eyes. Sirius mumbled something under his breath. “What was that I didn’t hear,” Lily yelled. “Carly Linton,” Sirius grumbled. “Beaver?” Lily laughed. Alyssa was already close to crying from laughing so hard. “She is not a beaver!” Sirius yelled. “Come on have you seen her teeth? They are just like a beavers unless you want her to be a bucktoothed bunny rabbit!” Alyssa cried. “You wouldn’t know a beaver if it bit you in the ass,” Sirius said hotly. “Lily would!” Alyssa screamed. “Explain,” James commanded with raised eyebrows. “The summer that my dad died my mom let me go to my cousins house in the States. She lives by a river and she took me fishing in the middle of the night. We found a beaver den and the beavers were swimming by the shore. I don’t think they liked us very much because they started coming after us. We ran.” “But you didn’t get bit in the ass,” Sirius stated. “No but I definitely know what a beaver looks like and Carly is a BEAVER!!” Sirius was fuming, “ Lily you are so lucky that James is here otherwise…,” he drifted off. “Otherwise?” Lily asked. Sirius smirked, “Truth or dare, Lily?” “Truth,” she said while looking slightly nervous. His smirk grew wider, “Who took the Ice Queen’s virginity?” Lily blushed as red as her hair. Alyssa started laughing like a hyena while James ears perked up. “Well… umm no one yet,” she stuttered. “You are a really bad liar,” Sirius exclaimed, “tell the truth now.” Her voice was so low you could barely hear but then it got louder as she went on with her story. “When I was in the states with my cousin we went to the bar and I was still kind of upset about my dad so I… well I got drunk. So my cousin Ella asked her boyfriends brother Triston to take me home before I caused a scene. Well Triston carried me upstairs to my room and I realize how strong, cute, and…” Lily blushed again, “sexy he looked. Then I blacked out.” “Maybe you just fell asleep,” James suggested. “I wish, he was still in my bed in the morning and we were both umm… naked.” Sirius burst out laughing, “N-never in a million did I picture Lily Evans getting drunk and then doing it with a complete stranger!” Lily sent him a death glare, “He wasn’t a complete stranger.” Alyssa smirked, “What did he look like Lily?” Lily blushed then sent another death glare, “You already know,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Yeah, but they don’t,” she said while pointing at the two guys. “Yeah, and we want to know,” Sirius cried. “Please,” James begged. Lily looked at him and said, “N-n-no,” and ran up the stairs like a complete idiot for the second time. 3. A Bet In The Making ---------------------- “So Sophie, why didn’t you come back to the room last night?” Lily asked at breakfast the next morning. “I-I umm…,” Sophie started “Sophie, did you?” Alyssa asked with bulging eyes. “No, no, I just lost track of time. You would never guess how much we have in common, he’s so funny but yet he’s shy. That’s why he doesn’t talk that much!” Sophie exclaimed. “So what did I miss last night?” she asked. “Oh, nothing really I just got dared to prank the Slytherins this morning. Which is completely unfair,” she said louder than needed just to get the Marauders attention. “Did you think of a prank yet?” Sirius asked only a couple people down. “Yeah, it should begin in about… Five, Four, Three, Two, One…” On the other side of the Great Hall the Slytherins were looking at there goblets strangely for they had started to bubble. Once all of the Slytherins were hovering over there drinks they exploded like fireworks, sending juice and milk everywhere! Then the bacon started to fly around like bats, pecking at the students head, hands, and clothes! The eggs started hopping around like frogs, landing on some of the student’s heads! There were screams and laughter echoing throughout the Great Hall. That was until Professor Werner performed the counter curse and marched over to the Gryffindor boys. “Why in the world did you guys do that? Detention, the four of you!” “But Professor they didn’t do it, I did,” Alyssa claimed. “Well then, since I don’t believe you, the six of you will have detention! Miss Goldbloom not included.” Alyssa giggled “That went well, I don’t see why Sophie didn’t get detention but whatever. Anyway it probably wasn’t up to your standards but I think that it worked pretty good. Did you see there faces?” Alyssa laughed. “You did good, but how did you come up with it?” James questioned. “Well, Lily thought of the juice exploding. But I thought of the bacon bats, and the hippity hoppity eggs!” Lily sent Alyssa a questioning look and kicked her under the table. “Ouch! Okay, Fine! Lily thought of everything, but I liked the ideas, couldn’t you just picture eggs sticking to Snape’s greasy hair!” she declared. “Wow, I never thought that Lily would do something like that,” Peter grumbled. “Yeah Lily, what possessed you to do that?” Remus asked. Lily blushed not knowing how to explain herself but she decided on the truth. “Well… when you guys would prank me I would be so furious that I would sit on my bed and make up pranks for you. Lets just say that I have over one hundred carefully plotted and brilliant pranks ready for you guys!” “Oh, do you here that James? We best watch our backs or we might get attacked by flying bacon!” Sirius laughed. “I bet you wouldn’t be laughing if you were a Slytherin,” Alyssa spoke. “Nope, I bet that he’d be crying like a little baby by now!” Sophie agreed. “For one, I do not cry like a little baby, I may whimper occasionally but I do not cry! And another, there is no way that Lily would do magic outside of class! Its against the rules.” Sirius exclaimed. “Do you want to prove that Sirius?” Lily asked, “because I’m more that willing to make you cry and breaking the rules is kind of fun!” “Oh really, you want to break the rules just to get back at us?” “Nope, just to get back at you.” “So do we have a bet in the making?” “It seems that way, doesn’t it?” “What are the rules for this said bet?” “You can’t get help from anyone. You can’t do anything to make them sick or injuries that last longer that a week.” “Deal!” Remus yelled, “the rest of us will come up with more rules and fill you in. It starts after Christmas break!” “Wait! What! I didn’t agree yet! I want to now how I win!” “Mmhhh, I guess we could do whoever cries first but no using crying spells.” James stated. “No onions either!” yelled Lily. “Speaking of crying, where’s Harry?” Alyssa asked. “Autumn took him from me, said she needed some bonding time with Lily’s kid.” “*My* kid?” “Of course, it had to come from somewhere and I don’t think a stork dropped it off on James’s bed. And since James only has eyes for you it’s obvious who the mother is. I just cant believe you kept it a secret for that long!” Sophie said with a huge grin plastered on her face. “Sophie, I swear you come from a different planet. Only you would come up with something like that for a fake baby!” “Yes! I came from the planet of the Highly Intelligent!” “Planet Crazy,” Sirius said/coughed. “Oh, we will just see how-” Sophie started before she was rudely interrupted. “Alyssa is that your owl?” James asked. Alyssa smiled, “Yup, ello Sugar Cube, how are you?” “What does it say? What does it say?” Lily screamed, practically jumping up and down in her seat. “Mum said you can come for Christmas, even though it is such short notice,” Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Three weeks is not short notice. She understands why you don’t want to go to the wedding and that she never liked her sister so she knows how you feel.” “You don’t want to go to your own sisters wedding?” Peter said completely shocked for he was an only child. “It’s not that I don’t want to go, I just wasn’t invited,” Lily said sourly. “Plus his family doesn’t like me that well so it’s for the best. Anyway, I should go send a letter to my mum. See you guys later!” *** “I’m going to miss you guys so much!” Autumn cried at the Platform 9 ¾. “Jesse isn’t coming home for Christmas so it’s going to be so boring.” “Floo over, we can have a girls night!” Alyssa squealed. “Maybe it can be the night of the… cough cough…” Alyssa said while nodding her head furiously at Lily. Lily raised both of her eyebrows questionably and opened her mouth to say something but was whirled around to face Sirius Black. “Hi darlin, James wants to see you. He’s by his parents,” he said while pointing to a family by the barrier. As Lily started walking towards them she felt nervous. *‘Who knows what James has told them about me. He probably said the I’m a stuck-up know it all snob. Or maybe even a mudblood. No James isn’t like that and I doubt that is parent are either. Well, here goes nothing.’* “Hi, Sirius said you wanted to talk to me.” “Yeah, my parent want to know if I took care of Har- the baby. Sirius told them that I made you do all the work.” Lily laughed, “It started out that way, but after he knew how to do it he didn’t need that much help anymore. Even though he said he did.” “So you think he will be able to care of a real baby now?” asked a tall brown haired lady that had the same eyes as James. *‘Well duh, it’s probably his mum.’* “Because we don’t want Daniel to turn out like Sirius do we? That boy was dropped on his head too many times.” said a fairly handsome older man with a smile on his face. The same smile that James had on right now. His father. So that’s where he got that hair from. “Oh yes, we definitely don’t need another Sirius, one is plenty! And yes James should be able to handle an alive baby. Just make sure he doesn’t give it sugar.” “Wonderful,” the couple chorused. “I’m going to walk her back to her friends, be back in a minute.” James stated. “So Lily, are you doing anything interesting on your vacation?” “Well, as you already know I’m going to Alyssa’s, otherwise no nothing special. Why?” “My family has a ball every Christmas and I was wondering if you would like to go with. Alyssa and Autumn come every year and Sophie could come to if she would like. And you would get to see Daniel, the little devils the reason I needed that dumb doll.” James said slightly embarrassed. “If Alyssa comes every year, wont I have to come too?” James grinned, “Well yes, I guess. But I wanted to give you an official invitation.” Lily giggled, “Thanks, I guess I will come.” “As my date?” James murmured. Lily stopped walking, turned towards James and bit her lip. James could tell she was deep in thought. “I mean, we could go as friends or you could just come by yourself. I was just hoping tha-” “James.” “Mhh.” “I’ll come as your date.” “REALLY?“ James screamed. Lily giggled, “Really.” “Wow! I can’t believe it! I’ll pick you up at… no just come with Alyssa and we’ll meet at the party. Sound good?” “Sounds great. I’ll see you then, bye.” “Bye,” James whispered. When Lily reached her friends she turned around just in time to see James get tackled by Sirius. She could hear distant ‘you did it mate’ or ’she said yes!’ and her personal favorite, ‘she finally fell for the Potter charm!’ She was brought back to the present with three squeals and one giant huge. “I knew you would say yes! Now as soon as we get to my house we are going shopping! We’re going to find you the most fabulous dress and James wont be able to keep his eyes or hands off of you!” Alyssa squealed again while she did a little dance. **I wrote this chapter in two days! But I wanted to get it out as a treat for you guys before you got a bigger treat with the new book! Does that even make sense?? I understand if you don’t think that its good and leave reviews if you don’t like it so I know what I’m doing wrong. And I’m sorry that I haven’t updated in awhile, but its summer, my chance to have fun! No school! Anyways, I have been working on both of my stories and reading the ones that I like that have been updated, but that’s not really a excuse. Sorry!** **And for the prank war between Lily and Sirius I need ideas there is no way that I can come up with a lot of pranks. So if you have any ideas please leave a review and I will try and use your idea in my story! Don’t worry I will give whoever helps credit.** **OMG! The final book…. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows… comes out in 1 day 6 hours 29 minutes and 9 seconds!!! I am sooooo excited but yet I’m nervous I don’t want Harry or Hermione to die that would be horrible. I don’t like Ron that much so I really don’t care about him. LOL joking, if anyone should die it should be Voldemort!** **Review please!** 4. Potter Ball- Part One ------------------------ **I feel like a complete idiot! I should have told you this last chapter but I just reread the story and remembered it! In the second chapter Lily ex-boyfriends name is Jesse (Jessie). And in the third chapter I have Autumn’s brothers name as Jesse (Jess, that‘s how my neighbor spells it!). Sorry about the mix up. Did any of you notice it??** **I finished Deathly Hallows two days after it came out! It so didn’t turn out like I expected, especially with the people that died. Never in a million year would I have thought that they would have died. I wont say any names because of the people that haven’t read it yet, but I will say this *poor Teddy*!** **Anyway here is the next chapter! I hope you like it and I can’t wait to read the reviews!** “Muuum! Amanda used my hairspray, and we need it for tonight!” Alyssa screamed from upstairs while she was running after her sister. “No I didn’t,” Amanda yelled back as she ran down the stairs with her sister right behind her. Amanda’s hair was sticking straight up; it took all of Lily’s willpower not to laugh. “Then what happened?” was her sister’s reply. “I saw a monster.” Lily snorted, “Alyssa, I brought some we’re fine. Lets go get ready.” After going upstairs Alyssa was acting like a crazy woman. “Get your dress on. Should I put your make-up on first or do your hair? Maybe I should do your hair so it’s out of the way when I do your make-up. What do you think?” “I think you are going insane! It is just a dance.” “It’s not just a dance! How can you say that? This is the POTTER BALL! The most important ball of the year! And your date is their son!! You have to look great, beautiful, and fabulous! Now close your eyes so I can do your make-up.” “Okay, lets just get this over with,” Lily said as she closed her eyes. *** “Peter, you have to be on your best behavior, no pranks because our Jamesie-Poo has got a DATE!” Sirius exclaimed while he bounced on James’ bed. Peter was sitting on the floor and Remus was in a chair reading one of his books. James was running around his room throwing everything out of his drawers and closet. “Where is it?” he muttered. “Where’s what?” Sirius screamed. “MY TIE! THE THING THAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND FOR THE PAST TEN MINUTES!” “Someone’s nervous! Someone’s nervous! Someone’s ner-” Sirius yelled. “James, you are a wizard that is seventeen. You can do magic to find stuff. Why aren’t you using it now?” “Oh, I forgot,” he said sheepishly. “*Accio tie.*” It flew out from under his bed and into his awaiting hand. He sat down on his bed and was staring at himself in the mirror attached to his wall. “I can’t do this, we’re friends now. What if I say something wrong? Or if I step on her toes while we dance? Or- I can’t do this! I’m going to cancel it, give me a piece of parchment and an owl. NOW!” “James, stop! She agreed to go with you as your date not as a friend! She likes you! You wont do anything stupid because you worked too hard to get this date.” Remus ranted. “And if we have to tie you to the bed just to keep you away from a bloody owl, we will!” Sirius added. *** “This is his house!? It’s huge!” Lily exclaimed as they were walking up the Potter’s front steps. “What till you see the ballroom, it is absolutely gorgeous!” Said Mrs. Michaels. “Let’s go!” Alyssa squealed as she pulled Lily behind her. They went through the open doors, the kitchen, what looked like a living room, and Alyssa stopped right outside of two massive doors. She turned around, fixed Lily’s hair, murmured, “Perfect,” and pulled Lily through the doors. As Alyssa and Lily were walking down the stairs to the ballroom, Lily was starting to have doubts. ‘*What if he tries to pull something? What if he acts like a jerk? What if he has Sirius charm a mistletoe above our heads while we dance? What if he’s a complete gentlemen and then I will want to snog him sensele-’* “Hey Lily? Earth to Lily?” Alyssa whispered while waving her hand in front of her friends face. “I can’t do this, I have to go.” Lily squeaked but as she turned around to run back up the stairs, someone grabbed her arm and whirled her around while he put his other arm around her waist. “Your not going anywhere,” Sirius growled, “you agreed to come here and James has been going crazy. He doesn’t want to ruin your newfound friendship. So I suggest that you move your pretty little bum over to James and his parents and have a bloody fantastic time. Or when we get back to school your life will be a living hell.” Lily’s eyes were wide in shock. Sirius popped out of nowhere; did he know that she would try to run out? If so then he wasn’t the dumb arse as she had originally thought of him to be. Sirius was fuming, ‘*How dare she try and run out like that one James! He has done nothing wrong all year, and now she was about to break his heart again!’* There was only one way to make Sirius this angry and the reason was that he didn’t like to see his friends hurt and if anyone did he would be the one to have his revenge. “Look who I found,” Sirius said while he pushed Lily next to James. James’ smile grew so big that it was nearly ear to ear. He gently put her hand in his and his smile grew even wider when she didn’t try to pull away. “Mum, Dad, I’d like you to meet Lily Evans. Lily these are my parents.” “It is so good to finally meet you! James has told us so much about you. You were the main topic of his letters starting in third year,” said Mrs. Potter. “Whatever he told you it is so not true!” Lily declared. “I highly doubt that, James never said one bad thing about you. We were beginning to think that either you were perfect or just made up!” laughed Mr. Potter. Lily blushed and turned to James to find out that he was already a deep crimson color. She giggled, “ Thank you, Mrs. and Mr. Potter, I don’t think that I ever saw James blush this much before. It is remarkable and extremely funny.” James turned to her and stuck out his tongue in a very unattractive way. The Potters laughed, “If you can make James stick out his tongue like that then it makes embarrassing him well worth it. But please call us Joan and Joseph, Mr. and Mrs. Potter make us sound so old!” exclaimed Joan. “Certainly, but please excuse me, I need a drink!” “Whatever you do, don’t drink the orange punch, Sirius spiked it!” yelled Joseph as Lily walked away. She turned around and made a thumbs up sign and headed straight for the orange punch. James tilted his head, smirked, and ran after her. “You do realize that you made me act like a complete fool in front of my parents. They will use it as blackmail! And I think that you should make it up to me!” She smiled, “And how do you propose I do that?” “Dance with me.” She laughed and handed her drink to Alyssa who just walked up and said, “ I thought that you would never ask!” *We go out to a party somewhere and the moment we walk in the door, people stop and everybody stares. She don’t know what there staring for.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *Never comes to mind.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *No she’s not that kind.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *Though time and time I’ve told her so.* “It’s muggle music. You listen to muggle music?” “Occasionally,” he answered mesmerized. He finally took in her appearance; her long curly red hair was up in an elegant twist so that only one long curl was hanging by her right eye. She was wearing periwinkle blue dress robes that showed some of her cleavage but left plenty for the imagination. When he twirled her around he saw that the back of the dress was cut so low that it was laying just above her gorgeous bum. She had on periwinkle earrings and a necklace. Her make-up was perfect, not too much or too little. He could also tell that Alyssa used a sparkle charm because there were sparkles on every bit of her skin that he could see. James pulled her close and she sighed as she just moved to the music while looking at the other couples dancing. *There she goes just walking down the street and someone lets a whistle out. A girl like her, she just can’t see what the fuss is all about.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *Never comes to mind.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *No she’s not that kind.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *Though time and time I’ve told her so.* “Why is everybody staring?” “Cause your beautiful,” he sighed as he gently put the one lone piece of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her cheek. All the while he never broke eye contact. She blushed and looked away, “No I’m not.” “Lily, you have no clue how beautiful you really are. That’s why I don’t understand girls, they always say that they are ugly when they’re bloody gorgeous!” Lily giggled, “But all guys are handsome, right?” “Exactly! Well except for Sirius.” *Morning comes and her hairs all a mess. That’s when she thinks she looks the worse. It’s times like this that she don’t know why I can’t take my eyes off her.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *Never comes to mind.* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *No she’s not that kind’* *She don’t know she’s beautiful.* *Though time and time I tell her so.* “Woot Woo!” Sirius whistled then yelled, “way to go Prongs!” “Ignore him, he just wants to make me embarrassed. You should have heard all of the things him and Peter were thinking about us doing tonight. They all involved us in a coat closet!” Lily blushed again, “I’m surprised that you didn’t have one of your friends charm a mistletoe above us.” “Well,” he grinned mischievously, “Peter did suggest it but Sirius clamed it for him and Alyssa.” Lily laughed, “You know she’s going to hate him for that!” “Probably,” he said while laughing too. “Lets go for a walk by the garden and then I’ll show you Daniel.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her through a small glass door that led outside to a winter wonderland. **Okay, there it is! What do you guys think? This chapter might seem a little corny but I don’t care, I actually kind of like it. Especially the song, it’s my absolute favorite song! It is called ‘She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful’ by Sammy Kershaw.** **I have been brainstorming! :P I came up with a couple of stories that I can do when this one is finished and my other one is almost done. I have the titles and descriptions below. Just keep in mind that I have never written any Harry/Hermione fics so these would be my first ones. What I would like you guys to do is please put them in the order you would like to read them. If none of them catch your interest please tell me! Anyway here we go!** **Officially unengaged--- Lily is in for a BIG surprise when she get home for summer before sixth year. They used to be best friends, but that was before he called her a Mudblood. Now he’s her Fiancé! Lily turns to the only people she know that can help her… the Marauders! Can you guess who her Fiancé is?? :D** **Love--- Expert of chapter to come… “It’s called love Harry! Dumbledore loved you. No don’t look at me like that! He loved you Harry and so do I.”… My take on the seventh book some lines may be from the DH.** **Wonderiffic--- Sirius learns a new word… Wonderiffic… “ Just you wait and see, I will get the Wonderiffic Lily and the Wonderiffic James together and it will be a Wonderiffic day!”** **Good Morning Beautiful--- It’s Hermione’s birthday! Harry takes her out to celebrate. It turns horribly wrong when Harry tries to take Hermione home but they are both really drunk!** **Please review and tell me what story I should start on first! Thanks!** 5. Potter Ball- Part Two ------------------------ **I could not think of anything to put in this chapter! So if it seems really bad, I’m sorry! Every time that I would sit down and try to type up a new chapter different ideas for different stories kept popping up! I now have like three more stories that I could do. Which reminds me I would still like some more reviews about the order you want the other stories in. If you don’t have time that’s fine but I only have 3 reviews to go off of. Well, I hope that you enjoy!!** The garden was beautiful. There were roses, tulips, irises, and her favorite flower, tiger lilies. Lily could tell that someone had cast a charm on the flowers. There was no way that they could look that gorgeous in the winter! “I love the snow!” James exclaimed. “I know,” Lily said. James looked at her questioningly. “I mean, you guys always had snowball fights at Hogwarts. It was really amusing to watch.” “It would have been even more amusing if you participated.” “Sure, I’ve always wanted to get chased by a maniac snowman!” James smiled, “I’ll protect you, Frosty cant hit you with ice balls when I’m around. After all I am the one that created him.” “Frosty?” Lily giggled. “Don’t laugh, it’s my favorite Christmas movie.” “Christmas is my favorite holiday. I used to have a movie night with my dad every year. It was always the day after Christmas, don’t ask me why it was after, it was just tradition.” “Well since there are a couple of days left till the day after Christmas, maybe all of us could get together and have a movie night. Frosty is the only Christmas movie I’ve ever seen.” “That’s it just one?! Then you definitely need to see more! I’ll talk to Alyssa then I’ll owl you tomorrow.” “Sounds perfect,” James said grinning. Lily smiled softly, put her hand into his, and started walking on the trail around the garden. Right now Lily was having a great time, she loved the view of the flowers with snow all around them. She also loved how the snow would crunch under their footsteps. It also helped that she was really enjoying her company. James broke the peaceful silence when he noticed that she was shivering. “Here, take my jacket.” “No, you will freeze!” “Then we’ll share.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. She shivered again, this time not from the cold. He notice and pulled her even closer. “James, I’m fine,” she whispered. He raised one of his eyebrows looked down at her and said, “Even if you are fine, which I don’t believe, I’m quiet comfortable with you by my side.” She blushed, sat down on a bench and when James sat beside her she laid her head on his shoulder. “This is beautiful, the view is wonderful, and your house is amazing.” “My house is huge and it is not a lot of fun when you’re an only child. Sirius has been staying with us for about a year. So that makes it a little better.” “I wish I was an only child,” Lily mumbled. “My sister hates me. She says I’m a freak, in a way she’s right.” “What?” James cupped her face to make her look at him. “You are not a freak Lily. You are the most amazing girl that I have ever met. Your have the highest marks at school, you could outdo anyone with magic, and you befriend everyone including Snape, and merlin Lily, your damn beautiful. There is nothing freaky about you!” Lily had tears in her eyes, “Do you really mean what you just said?” “Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?” “Tonight was the first night that you ever gave me a complement,” she mumbled sheepishly. “Oh. Then let me give you another one. I love your eyes, I got lost in them so many times.” She giggled, “I guess I should give you one too. I love your hair. Every time that I would yell at you for raking your hand threw it was only because I wanted to do that myself.” She looked down at the snow in embarrassment. James smiled, a true smile, cupped her face in his hands again and their eyes locked. James looked at Lily’s lips asking the silent question. Her tongue darted out to moisten them, her eyes slowly drifting down to his own lips. He began to lean toward her, their face mere inches apart. His hand came up to her cheek, gently caressing it. Lily closed her eyes and leaned into his palm, James closed his and leaned closer to her. Just as James was about to kiss her a huge laugh erupted from a nearby bush. Both Lily and James withdrew their wands. “*Stupefy.*” James cried. Something fell in the bushes, half in half out. Their lying on his back was Sirius Black. “What the hell are you doing? Trying to scare us to death? Huh? Answer me! Sirius I said answer me!” James screamed.” Lily was giggling, “ James, he’s stunned. He can’t do anything.” “Oh.” He cast the counter curse and started glaring at Sirius again. “Umm, if it help any I’m sorry I interrupted,” Sirius said with his smirk still in place. James’ eyes narrowed even more, “What the hell do you want?” Lily’s eyes were wide, “Did you follow us the entire time?” “No!” Sirius yelled, “James mum sent me out here, she said that Daniel wanted to see you. I saw the…” He laughed and tried to hide it with a cough. “Compromising situation, so I hid in the bushes. Then I started thinking about the way you were freaking out this afternoon. It brought back memories, very funny memories. But seriously, I didn’t mean to intrude.” “Were is Daniel?” Lily asked. “In the nursery. Want to go?” “Absolutely.” *** “Ames!!” screamed the little 8 month old. He was wiggling and jiggling, trying to get out of his bouncer seat. **(You know those things that you can put in the doorway and the babies sit in them and bounce. Well that is what it is I just can’t remember what they are called.)** “Hey Danny!” James cooed as he picked him up. “This is Lily.” “Hello Dan.” “Hi.” Daniel stuck his chubby little fingers into his mouth. “He’s adorable,” Lily stated. “Just like me right?” James grinned. Lily rolled her eyes, “ Of course James, just like you.” James’ grin turned into a smirk, “Nah, I’m not adorable I’m HOT!” Lily laughed, “I wouldn’t push it James. And I believe that he needs a diaper change.” “Yeah, I guess your right,” he said as he laid his cousin down onto the changing tables. After the diaper was off he looked up to see that Lily was turning red from keeping her laughter inside. “What is so funny?” “Your face!” she gasped. “Your nose is scrunched up, your brow is furrowed, and your jaw is clenched. It’s the same exact look you have when you do your homework.” “Well, I have to think about what I’m going to do. That stupid doll never pooped!” She giggled again, James glared at her. “Fine, I wont help you then.” “No, Lily please I need your help! Please, I’ll do anything.” Lily looked down at Daniel lying on the table and started laughing again. “Ok, first of all, you need a new shirt!” James looked down at his shirt only to see that it was getting sprayed with a certain yellow substance that smelled horribly. “Yuck! Gross! Eww! Daniel that’s disgusting!” Lily came up beside him, took his hand and squeezed it. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Go change, I can finish this.” “Lily, you are the best!” James called over his shoulder as he ran out of the room. *** James was walking back towards the nursery. He couldn’t believe that his favorite cousin just peed on him. If that was Daniels way of showing love he would hate to be his parents. When he reached the doorway he was in total shock and awe. Lily was sitting on the ground, building up little towers for Danny to knock down. Every time that they would fall Danny-boy would giggle so hard that he would fall over. It was a sight. Lily was so good with kids. She knew how to make them laugh, get them to sleep, and be perfect little angels. She would make one man really happy, that thought made him instantly jealous. “You just going to stand there and stare?” her sweet voice said, interrupting his thoughts. “Seems to me that you have everything under control.” “That’s true, but I would really like to go dance again.” James grinned, “Then lets put him to sleep.” James picked Danny up off the floor and was rewarded with a scream and a hand that was wet with saliva on his face. “So this is how you act when there is a pretty girl in the room huh? Well guess what? I’m not leaving you alone with her again. Plus she’s mine.” James whispered the last sentence so softly that Lily didn’t hear it. “Now, lets go get our jam on!” James cried as he and Lily walked into the hall. An hour later Lily was sitting at a table drinking pumpkin juice. She had to be the designated Apparater tonight since Alyssa got drunk off the orange punch Lily handed her. Alyssa never could handle her liquor. One glass of Firewhiskey and she would be flat on her bum. But Alyssa being drunk did have its perks. Right now Alyssa was dancing with an equally drunk Remus. “Did ya kno tha the room is spinnin?” “Yup.” “Did ya kno tha ya ave 6 eyes?” “I don’t, you do! The lights are hurtin my head!” Remus screamed. “Then I’ll dance wif SIRIUS!” “You rang, my dear,” Sirius said as he bowed beside her. “Yes. Tis time we dance.” “Finally, I was getting the impression that you hate me.” Alyssa sobered up, a little, “I don’t hate you, you’re just annoyin. Ya look really cute tonight though.” A couple of people away from them James and Lily were laughing. Sirius was blushing and shuffling his feet like an embarrassed 4 year old. “You know, he really does like Alyssa.” “And Alyssa really does like him.” “Oh, so she is acting just like you.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Nothing.” Lily pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. It was amazing what a simple look could do. “It’s just that you know that I liked you since the end of third year, yet you never would go out with me. But it was easy to see that you liked me, well at least you did last year. You were doing the same thing to me that Alyssa is doing to Sirius.” “Oh.” “You’re not denying that you liked me last year?” “You said that you knew I did.” “It was a guess!” James cried, and threw his arms up in the air. “I knew it! You could never resist me!” “You tricked me! That is so mean.” “Not as mean as turning down the guy you like who just happens to like you too. And he did for 2 years. Why did you turn me down?” “I- I was ashamed,” she stuttered. “Of what?” Of what happened last summer.” “What happened last summer?” Lily gave him a pointed look. “Oh. Triston happened last summer. Wait, what has that got to do with you turning me down?” Lily cringed, “Can we save this for a different night? Please.” “Why?” James whined. “Because you’ll make a big deal out of it and I don’t want to deal with it tonight. Please, James.” “Fine, but the day that we get back at Hogwarts you are going to tell me, Got it?” Lily winced, “Got it.” “Good, now lets dance the night away.” A few minutes later Sirius came up behind James and tapped him on the shoulder. “Would you mind switching partner for a little bit?” “Only if she doesn’t barf on me.” “Ok, move your arse.” Sirius yelled as he pushed James away and took Lily in his arms. “ I just wanted to apologize.” “Sirius Black, apologizing! I would never thought I would live to see the day.” “Shut up, or I wont.” “Sorry.” “As I was saying before, I want to apologize. I treated you badly when you first got here. I was mad because you were just going to walk out on my best friend. He doesn’t deserve that. He really likes you Lily, I don’t know why you can’t see it.” “I can--” “No, let me finish, ask questions when I’m done. You hurt him in fifth year. You hurt him bad. He took the cloak and the map, and ran to a secret hideout that he found in the castle. He would go there every night Lily. He wouldn’t come back till like 3 in the morning. He is so lucky that O.W.L.S. were over otherwise he would have fell asleep during them.” “One night he snuck out and went to Hogsmeade. He got so drunk that he past out on the stairs and hit his head. He was bleeding Lily and he wouldn’t wake up. I was so scared, I was afraid that I lost the closest thing I have to a family… a brother. Lily, I can’t stand to see him hurt, and that’s all you used to do to him. So forgive me if it takes me a little while to completely trust you.” He finally looked up into her emerald eyes only to see that they had filled with tears. “Oh, Lily, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m sorry. You cant ask as many questions as you want now. Oh, merlin, I’m sorry!” Lily giggled, “Cloak and map?” “His invisibility cloak and the Marauders map.” Her eyes were huge, “Invisibility cloak, so that’s how you guys get around. What does this map do?” “I can’t tell you that. Sorry.” “It’s okay. Oh God, I have to get Alyssa home, that is her fifth glass of punch! What did you put in there?” Sirius smirked, “Just a little bit of everything. It’s really good you should try some.” Lily shook her head, “No thanks, can you tell James I’ll owl him tomorrow?” “Tell him yourself,” said a person directly behind her. When she whirled around she came face to face with James. “Hi.” “Hey. I will escort you to you totally pissed friend.” Lily looped her arm through his and they walked over to Alyssa in silence. “Do you still want to do the movie night?” “Yes.” “Okay, I’ll owl you tomorrow sometime. Well I’ll see you later. Bye.” James grabbed her arm pulled her close to him and without another thought brought his lips to hers. He was surprised when Lily kissed him back. So surprised that he pulled back and looked at her. She had on a dazed expression, much like his own. There was a huge smile on her face and her eyes were alight with happiness. He leaned in to kiss her again and when there lips met, her arms wrapped around his neck, his around her waist. They finally broke apart when Alyssa squealed. She came up and hugged James, grabbed Lily’s wrist, and dragged her out of the house. **Okay that was officially the longest chapter that I have written so far? Did you guys like it. I couldn’t think of any way to end the ball. I hope that this was good enough.** **I’m not sure when I will update again. School starts in exactly a week. I’m so nervous!** **You guys are pretty close to finding out what Triston looked like, but I’m pretty sure most of you already know. I wish I could have made Daniel’s part a little better but I couldn’t think of anything else to put in it. And drunk people, oh god am I bad at writing drunk people! Sorry!** **Please review!** 6. Triston ---------- **Sorry, it has been awhile since I last updated, but I have been really busy. I went to see my uncle last weekend, he has cancer and he is not doing so well. Most of my free time is with him, so I don’t really have the time to type.** **That is not the only reason that I haven’t been able to type. My life has been a roller coaster! I swear everything that could possible happen this week has happened. On Tuesday I found out that my mom has an ulcer. Then on Wednesday, we had a car accident, and it got totaled. What is really bad is that was supposed to be MY car next summer!** **My brother is starting to read Harry Potter! I am so excited! My parent used to think that I was weird because I would read them, they didn’t understand what they were about. Now that my brother is reading them they are starting to understand!** **I am on chapter four in Officially Unengaged! I write it on my way to my uncle’s house. The chapters are somewhat long and I happen to think that they are really good. I can’t wait to post them! The reason that I have been writing that story instead of this one is because it is in a notebook. This story is the only one that I don’t have a notebook for. I started it on the computer and I really don’t want to copy it all down again. So I guess you guys have to wait till I get in contact with a computer!** **Well, anyway enough with my rambling and on with the story!** “Lily, come on, hurry up, we are going to be late. He won’t hate you! He could never hate you! For merlins sake Lily, he has been pining after you for four years!” Alyssa was screaming as Lily was packing her trunk slowly. “I’ll have to tell him everything and he will hate me, you know it! I saw your reaction when I told you what happened! His will be worse!” Lily have half whined have whimpered. “Then don’t tell him!” “I have too! He wont let it die! He will do anything just so he knows what went on that summer. I promised him that I would tell him today. I know that he is going to hold me to it, you didn’t see the determination in his eyes!” Alyssa was going crazy, they had to be at Kings Cross station in 15 minutes and Lily was only half ways packed. She started running around the room, throwing everything that didn’t look like hers in Lily’s trunk. When Alyssa picked up something wrapped in a purple sock Lily screamed. “Be careful with that! It’s the last present that my mother and father gave me together!” She carefully took the sock and pulled a snow globe out of it. Inside was a family running around in a patches of flowers, mostly lilies. There were five people in the snow globe. A father, a mother, a little boy, and two teenage girls. Alyssa could tell that it represented the Evans family. “Oh, I’m sorry Lils. I wont touch it again, I promise.” Lily smiled wryly, tears forming in her emerald green eyes. “It’s okay. I-I… I just miss him so much.” “Oh, Hun, of course you miss him. The pain is always going to be there, nothing can take that away. But nothing can ever take away the memories either.” Lily gave a watery smile then glanced at her watch. “Oh no, we are going to be late! Lets go!” She said as she charmed the rest of her stuff into her trunk. And for those few spare moments all thoughts of James were forgotten. *** James Potter was staring out the compartment window, watching the trees fly by. But really he was in an entirely different place. He was absorbed in a memory that had taken place 3 days after the ball. Lily’s traditional Christmas movie party. *James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter had all apparated to Alyssa’s house. Lily and Sophie were out renting the movies. Since they were both muggle born, they new all the great movies.* *Alyssa was running around the house like a crazed lunatic. She would grab a pillow and set it on the couch, run to the middle of the room and look at it, then run and put it on the chair. She ran back and forth about 5 times before she finally set it down in front of the chair.* *“Why is the pillow on the floor?” Peter asked.* *“That’s Lily’s pillow. She has it every time we watch a movie. She hold on to it. It’s kind of weird, reminds me of a baby holding on to its mum or stuffed animal.”* *“Maybe it is a part of her tradition.” James said.* *“Could be, who knows? Anyway, the pop is down there,” she said while pointing at a door to the right of the kitchen. “ I’ll make popcorn while you guys get the drinks.”* *The front door banged open just as the four boys came up the stairs. Snow blew in, flying all around the room. Lily and Sophie had trouble closing the door with the ferocious wind but finally it shut. Lily skipped into the kitchen and jumped up onto the table. “We got Autumn’s favorite movie, ‘Nightmare before Christmas,’ is she here yet?”* *“No, but she said she would be here soon. What other movies did you get?”* *“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Nutcracker, Miracle on 34th Street, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and of course Frosty the Snowman!”* *“Frosty!” James screamed as he came up behind Lily. Lily whirled around smiling, and wrapped him in a hug. James looked shocked; Lily had never hugged him before. Sirius and Remus sniggered but were soon silenced by the glares of Alyssa and Sophie.* *“As soon as Autumn gets here we can start, we will watch Miracle on 34th Street first because my brother hates it.”* *“What does your brother have to do with it?” Sirius questioned.* *“He’s upstairs, Oliver loves watching Christmas movies. I couldn’t leave him with my mum and sister. They were planning on going shopping tonight. Honestly, who goes shopping the day after Christmas? I hope that you guys don’t mind that he is here.”* *“Of course we don’t, and plus there is a pretty good possibility that he could be a wizard. We could pass our Maraudering on down to him.” Sirius said smirking.* *“Don’t you dare go near my brother!” Lily warned playfully, with a smile upon her face. Just as she finished saying that a boy with red hair just walked through the door. He looked exactly like Lily except for his eyes; they were a bright clear blue color.* *“Who don’t you want near me? Are you afraid that I’ll tell mum what you do with your boyfriend? If you aren’t scared you should be, cuz I am a very convincing liar.” Oliver said with an evil grin.* *Lily laughed while Sirius went up and clapped Oliver on the back, “Son, how would you like to be a Marauder?”* *Autumn had came about ten minutes later and they started watching the movies. Peter was at awe; he loved how muggles could make such good entertainment. Sirius and Alyssa were sitting on the loveseat, while Sophie, Remus and Autumn sat on the couch. Peter was sitting on one of the two chairs. Lily was sitting on the floor right in front of the other chair. Alyssa was right, Lily loved that pillow, she held it like a person hugged a loved one. Oliver was lying on the floor besides Lily with his head on her lap. James was sitting in the chair that Lily was leaning against. He was playing with her soft red hair.* *They were watching the last movie and Lily and James were the last ones awake. Slowly James eased himself out of the chair so that he was lying beside Lily. She turned and buried her head in his chest. It took him a few minutes to realize that she was shaking and that his T-shirt was getting wet. Lily was crying.* *Carefully he pulled her face away from his chest and looked her in the eye. “Lily, what’s wrong?”* *Her eyes filled with a new batch of tears, “Th-this w-was his favorite m-movie,” she stammered. James looked up to see the ending of The Nutcracker.* *“Oh Lils, I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do. To somehow make the pain go away. Lil please don’t cry.”* *She smiled at him and with one final sob she kissed his cheek, laid her head on his chest, and fell asleep.* *~* *The next morning when he woke up he found himself alone on the floor, no Lily, no Oliver. Quietly James walked to the kitchen door and listened carefully. ‘Autumn, you know how he is going to act when I tell him everything. I cant, it will ruin everything!”* *“I’m sorry babe, but you promised him that you would tell him when we got back. There is nothing you can do about it now.”* *“I know, but I like the way thing are now. He is so nice; you should have seen him last night. He held my while I cried, no one has ever done that except for my dad. I just wish I didn’t have to tell him.”* *“I’m sure he’ll understand, he is not the kind to hold a grudge.”* *“Your right, but how am I going to tell him? The only reason I got with Triston is because he-”* *Someone slapped him upside the head, “What in the hell do you think that you are doing?” Alyssa hissed quietly.* *“N-nothing,” he stuttered.* *Alyssa rolled her eyes, “Then go be a good little boy and wake up your friends.” She pushed him back into the lounge and walked back into the kitchen.* *~* *The rest of the day Lily stayed as far away from James as possible. Whenever he would enter a room she would leave it. James was getting frustrated. Lily was avoiding him and he didn’t like it. But every time that he would try to talk to her she made up some excuse and would run away. It almost seemed like she was afraid. Afraid of what? He had no idea.* James was brought out of his revere by his compartment door opening. Remus stared at him for a few moments the said, “Why don’t you just go talk to her?” “I cant, what if she is mad? I don’t want to make it worse.” “Merlin James, you can be so thick. Whatever she promised to tell you must be pretty important, otherwise she wouldn’t be trying to avoid you. Bases off of what you told me, she thinks that it is going to ruin your friendship, and it also involves this Triston guy that she had a one-night stand with. If I were you I would go find her and tell her that she needs to tell you what is going on. Just make sure you tell her that whatever it is it will now ruin your relationship.” James looked at him with a you-are-not-my-mother-look. “James don’t make me physically push you to her. Because believe me I will. Now go!” *** James found Lily sitting in the heads compartment reading a book. He knocked softly on the door and walked in. She looked up from her book and her eyes got wide in terror. “James,” she breathed softly. “Lily.” She just stared at him, hoping that he wasn’t there for that one horrible reason. Of course her hopes were crushed. “I believe you owe me an explanation.” Lily closed her eyes and sighed, “Yes, I suppose I do.” After a few minutes James grew impatient, “Well?” “Sorry, not sure were to start.” “The beginning would be nice.” “Right. Umm… you already know that I was in the states, you also know that I slept with Triston, so there is really nothing else to tell.” “What did Triston look like?” Lily closed her eyes again and whispered, “Like you.” “Like me?” “Yes, almost exactly like you! His hair was black and messy but a little tamer; his eyes were the same color maybe a little darker. He had glasses only his were square. He was skinnier than you, but otherwise it was as if he was your twin. Then merlin what I did that was horrible!” “What did you do?” he said barely above a whisper. “I said your name.” “My name? How is that horrible?” Lily gave him a pointed look and realization dawned on him. “Oh. Wait, I thought you said that you blacked out?” Lily gulped, “I did, after he hit me.” “WHAT!” “James, please don’t scream, a mere tap would have made me unconscious.” “But he didn’t tap you he HIT you! How could you be with someone like that?” “That just it James! It was a one night thing, I was drunk, and he looked like you.” “I would never hit you!” “I know that!” “Then why aren’t you with me?” “I-I don’t know. I guess I was ashamed. I just realized my feelings for you that summer, and I thought that I wasn’t supposed to feel that way because you were a pompous arse. Triston was so nice; he didn’t hurt me till that night. Then when we came back, whenever I saw you I would see Triston and I got scared.” “I would never hurt you Lily,” he said with hurt in his voice. “Merlin James, I know that now. This year opened my eyes. I found out that not only are you handsome, sweet, and funny but I also found out how caring, loving, and lovable you can be.” James looked at her quizzically, wondering what her last statement meant. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m falling for you, James Potter. Falling for you hard.” **Is that a cliffhanger? I have never written a cliffhanger before.** **I know I probably over did Lily’s part about how she was going to tell James and how he would hate her and all that stuff, but I really had no idea what to put in there.** **Oh, and The Nightmare before Christmas. I have never seen it before. Is it any good? I was just trying to think of movies that had Christmas in their names and that one popped into my head.** **If I had to guess I would say maybe three, four, or five more chapter left in this story! None of them are typed yet but they are in my head! In my other story maybe three and then it will be half ways finished. I am so excited for Officially Unengaged that I might just be updating faster if I have the chance!** **Well I hope that you guys liked it but I have got to go… I have church in the morning.** **Please leave your thoughts or comments in a review!** 7. The Letters -------------- **So many pretty colors, only one I can choose! In case you don’t read my other story, I found out that you could make colors stay in an update!** **A couple of people said that they cant see Triston hitting Lily but I couldn’t think of any other way to have her black out. Honestly the only other way that I could think of would be for Lily to say, “I love you, James.” and the she would fall asleep. Not really all that exciting. I hope that you guys liked it even though it was horrible! ;P Also I would like to thank Allie P. Keaton for giving me another idea for this chapter! She knows what it was so I wont say it and ruin the surprise!** **I’m so excited about Officially Unengaged! I wanted to type this chapter for so long I just haven’t had the time! Hopefully it was worth the wait! Enjoy!** *“I’m falling for you, James Potter, falling for you hard.”* Oh, those nine words were driving James crazy. The girl of his dreams finally admitted that she had feelings for him. He would have never know this if it wasn’t for that stupid jerk Triston. How could a person go around and hit a girl just because they say a name that isn’t yours while you are in a… compromising situation. Sure, if it was James he would have been angry but he would never hit a girl. Seriously, it is your own fault for getting intimate with a girl that you barely even know. Oh, how James wanted to slaughter Triston. Suddenly James heard a sniffle and looked up from the floor to see Lily with her eyes filling up with tears. *“Falling for you hard.”* “Okay, James I get it, you don’t like me like that anymore. I was a fool for thinking that. Sorry for doing this to you. I-I’m just going to go.” She turned around as if to go but James instantly grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. “You honestly think that I don’t like you? Lils, I’ve liked you for years, you think that I was just going to stop because you like me back? That is incredibly ridiculous! I still don’t understand why you thought that I would be mad at you.” “I thought that that would have been easy to understand. I started to get a crush on you in the middle of 5th year. As much as I would yell at you it was just a front. I didn’t want you to know that I actually liked you. I would have never heard the end of it! Then when I met Triston and he looked exactly like you, I figured that I would just let myself go that summer and have fun. I never expected that he would get so angry and it was an accident it just slipped out.” “That is nothing to be ashamed of.” “Merlin, James, I haven’t finished my story yet. It was a month and a half later and I was so scared! I was late. It was my first time, I barely knew the guy, and I was late. I was going insane; I didn’t know what to do. I knew that my mother would have flipped out and probably murdered me, so I went to Alyssa. You should have seen her when I told her. Her eyes got huge and her mouth dropped open, if it wasn’t such a serious matter I would have laughed. She bought me a test and it was negative, I got so excited. It turned out that it was just stress that made it come later. Anyway, the reason I was so ashamed was because I actually thought that I was pregnant!” “I er I overheard you talking to Autumn at Alyssa’s, you said that you thought that I would hold a grudge, why would I?” “Oh, I don’t know, I guess I was just drawing things way out of proportion! So you really don’t hate me?” “Of course not, in fact I think I’m falling for you, Lily Evans, falling more than I ever thought possible.” He said with a dopey grin plastered to his face. *** All the while that Lily and James were in the compartment, their friends were in a separate one. Alyssa was going sick with worry, she knew that Lily was just overreacting but what if James really did get furious with Triston and just take his anger out on Lily. She didn’t want Lily to get hurt but James needed to know the truth about that summer. So naturally this was the only way to do it. She had been pacing the compartment since they had left Lily. Of course Lily had thrown a huge tantrum but she eventually let it go and sat down to read her book. On their way to a separate room they ran into the three leftover Marauders. Everyone had sat down except Alyssa and by now she was wearing a hole in the floor. Sirius grabbed her arm and pulled her into his lap. “Babe, they will be fine. I’m sure the thing Lily is hiding wont be anything bad.” Alyssa rolled her eyes. ‘*He has no clue to what he was talking about’* she thought. *‘Yeah, but he is trying to make you happy? Has anyone other that your friends ever tried to do that before?’* said another voice in her head. *‘…No…’* *‘Exactly that is why he is perfect just admit it! You like him, so tell him!’* *‘I’m scared.’* *‘About what.’* *‘I don’t want to be another girl that he can brag about, I want to know if he really cares about me.’* *‘If you look at his eyes closely, you will see the thing that you desire most.’* *‘And what’s that?’* *‘Look and you will see.’* Alyssa whipped her head around and looked up into a smirking boy’s face. Her eyes made their way past his lips and cheekbones and pointy nose, all the way up to his beautiful grayish blue eyes. She gasped, there were so many different emotions in his eyes but the on that stood out to her was the one that she really wanted to find, Love. *** Lily and James made their way back to the compartment that James left his friends in. As they opened the door they were greeted by a sight that made them laugh. Autumn and Remus were sleeping side by side with their heads lying on top of each other. Sophie and Peter were playing Exploding Snap. Alyssa and Sirius, however, were completely oblivious to the other 4 people in the room for they were locked in a major embrace. Lily’s laughter brought Alyssa back to reality and she buried her head in Sirius’ shoulder. “Oh, Merlin, you weren’t suppose to see that,” she murmured. “Well, I was hoping I would never have to see that but I’m glad that you guys are finally together!” Lily squealed. Sirius looked up a deep chuckle left his throat, “Babe, guess what? We aren’t the only ones who hooked up.” Alyssa sighed, “Yes, I know Remus and Autumn are together now, too” “No, I mean them.” He said as he pointed to Lily and James standing in the doorway. Alyssa instantly brought her eyes to them. First she noticed that they were holding hands, and then as her eyes moved up she noticed that their clothes and hair were slightly ruffled, and their lips were pink and puffy. “LILY!” Lily giggled and turned towards James and shoved her head into his chest, her muffled response was, “Yes?” “Did you… Why… Now… I mean… Lily, one day… Are you sure… Lily it was too soon!” Alyssa stammered. James head whipped up, “Hey now, we didn’t do anything other than the innocent stuff that you two were doing.” Alyssa’s face was turning red, “Oh.” Sirius was smirking, “But I’m sure if Lily wanted to do naughty things James would be more than willing to oblige.” With that said James started to blush and turned to leave when Lily giggled. “You think that is funny, do you? Well let me show you something funny.” James said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He launched himself at her and she tumbled backwards onto the seat. He was sitting on top of her and tickling her till tears were streaming down her face from laughing so hard. After things finally quieted down Sirius and James started talking. “You know, Peter and Sophie need to get together then we could have a real good time.” Sirius stated. “Fat chance that that will happen! I mean seriously have you seen the way that they act together?” “But Peter likes her.” “And she likes Charles.” “Poor Pete.” *** It had been four months since that train ride back to Hogwarts. Lily and James were still together and they did just about everything together. Sirius and Alyssa were happy, they got in a couple of fights but it was nothing that they couldn’t resolve. Autumn and Remus were the most serious couple of the group. Remus finally got up the courage to tell her what his furry little problem was. To his surprise she actually came rushing to him and started sobbing into his shoulder saying that he was wonderful no matter what he is. Peter and Sophie still weren’t together. They got along okay as long as Peter didn’t try to hit on her. Oh, and when he did nobody wanted to be around them. Things went flying; it was very obvious to see that she didn’t like Pete that much. As they were sitting at the Gryffindor table, the owl post came. James got the daily prophet. Alyssa got a package that contained her new shoes. Sirius got a Howler from his mother saying that his brother has seen him hanging around with a mudblood and that he will pay for it. Lily got two letters, one was from the Ministry and the other was written in Petunia’s awful penmanship. She decided that Petunia’s could wait and opened the seal on the Ministry envelope. She read the letter twice before she murmured it out loud simply because she didn’t think that it was true. *Dear Miss Lillian Evans* *We are very sorry to inform you that your house has been attacked. At first we all thought that it was just a muggle robbery gone wrong, that was until we went inside your bedroom. Miss Evans, your room was a complete mess. I believe that they just wanted to scare you and I guessing it might work considering how it scared me! There was blood smeared on the wall, it made a message that said: **Mudbloods do not belong in our world!*** *We had the blood analyzed. Lillian, I am so sorry to say that it was young Mr. Evans’. I am so sorry for the gruesomeness of this letter. I would so much rather say this in person than in a heartless letter.* *Anyway, the reason for this letter to inform you that your mother and brother are deceased. I wish that there was some way that I could take away the pain but there is no such luck. Please Lillian try not to be alone; you need to be comforted in a time like this. Keep your friends close!* *So sorry for your loss.* *The Minster of Magic,* *Felicia Banderbone* Alyssa sobbed, Autumn gasped, Sophie squeaked, and Peter, Remus, and Sirius just stared with their mouths wide open. Lily had tears running freely down her face as she finally took in what the letter meant. James wrapped her in his arms and murmured soft nothings in her ears until she finally quieted down. He helped her walk back to the Common Room. She stumbled through the portrait hole so James picked her up and carried her to his dorm. He sat her upon his bed and laid beside her. He held her close while her sobs came again at full force. **Wow, I got halfway through this chapter when writers block hit me! I knew what I wanted to put in this chapter I just didn’t know how to write it. I’m sorry for the long delay! I had two day off of school this week so I took the time to type!** **If any of you read my other story then you would know that just about the same thing happened in the other story! The only difference was that it was Lily’s father and he died of cancer! Just so you know I did not have this planned it was a complete accident that both of my updates had some type of death in them.** **I had the weirdest dream a couple of weeks ago! Then I had it again the other night! It is like it’s trying to tell me to have a fic about it! It could possibly work for it was a Harry Potter dream. Here is a little summary of it…** **Harry went back in time, he is able to make himself change disguises or become invisible just by thinking about it. Anyway, Riddle somehow knew that Harry was there and had his snake (Nagini, is that how you spell it?) kill Harry. Then it goes back into the future and all of the magical people live in this huge house. It is ruled by Riddle. All of the house elves are dead so he uses muggleborns as slaves (including Hermione.) The blood traitors, like the Weasley’s, are locked in the dungeon and are used for Riddle to take his anger out on! Then it turns out that Harry isn’t really dead just disguised as an old lady! He can’t remember anything from his old life except that he had to defeat Riddle so he is set out to do that now. He confronts Riddle and turns into all sorts of people that Riddle has killed then turns back into regular Harry and says… Remember me?** **Okay so maybe that was a little bit longer that a summary but I had to give you some details. I have no clue if you understood it at all but it was a really good dream and I was thinking of doing a fic about it after I finish the other ones that I promised. Do you guys think that it will be a good one?** **I have no clue when I will update again but I will tell you this, next chapter I will include an expert out of Officially Unengaged!** **Happy Halloween!** **Please Review!** 8. Funerals ----------- **Oh, gosh, I feel so stupid! I completely forgot about the bet that Sirius and Lily made. My original idea was for Sirius to pull a prank on Lily right before she read the letter. But it slipped my mind when I started writing it! I am so sorry! I will find a way to fit it into the next chapter or two! I have no clue how to word this chapter! I just hope that it doesn’t disappoint you guys!** **Enjoy!** “I can’t do this James. I can’t go by myself. Why did Petunia say that? She has to know that I need someone there with me! Damn it James, why did this have to happen?” Lily screamed. The day after James carried her to his room she remembered that she forgot to read Petunia’s letter. What was in that letter was no surprise to Lily but a huge problem for James. Petunia had forbidden for Lily to bring any one of her friends to the funeral. Her reason was because they were freaks like her. James was furious; he didn’t want to leave Lily alone, especially when she needed him. Petunia’s letter also included the date and the time of the funerals. Monday the 7th of May. Today. “Lils, please calm down. You will get through this. You know how much I want to be there with you. I would go just to be with you but I don’t want your sister to kick you out. Lily please don’t cry.” James said as he went up behind her and wrapped her in a hug. “Oh, James, I’m so scared. I don’t think that I can do this. Petunia said that our whole neighborhood might be coming. I can’t face them. Not knowing that this was all my fault!” “Lily, you stop right there! This was nobody’s fault other than that bastard! Don’t you go around and blame yourself!” “But it is my fault! They want me to suffer! They want me to die of pain! They are trying to take every thing that I love away from me!” Fear dawned in her eyes and she jumped out of James’ hug. Confusion was evident on James face as he took a step closer to her and she stepped away. “Lils, what’s wrong?” “You can’t come near me anymore. You’ll get hurt. I wont see you get hurt.” “Babe, I’m not going to get hurt.” “Yes, you will! I love you and they will try to take you away from me!” She cried hysterically as tears rolled down her face. James stood frozen in his place; not even breathing because he couldn’t believe that what Lily said was true. Oh, how many day he had wanted to hear her say those words. Not in that particular sentence, but wow, she loved him! The only thing that got him out of his revere was Lily swaying back and forth as if she was about to collapse. He rushed to her side and gathered her in his arms. He walked to the chair and set her in his lap. “Lily, listen to me. No one is going to hurt you or me ever again. I wont let them, because I love you too.” Lily slumped against him and wrapped him in the tightest hug he had ever received. “Don’t leave. Don’t ever leave me James,” she whispered. *** *‘Were the hell is she? The funerals ended 3 hours ago. If that lump of shit that was related to Lily did anything to her, there would be hell to pay. Lots and lots of it.’* James was thinking as he was pacing the common room. He couldn’t get his mind off of Lily, his beautiful Lily. She looked so sad as she came down the stair that morning after he left to let her get dressed. She looked beautiful as always, but there was something missing in her eyes. The thing that made them twinkle. The joy, the happiness had dissolved away. James made a vow when he saw those emerald orbs. He vowed that he would be the one to get the twinkle of light back into them. “Were is she?” Alyssa asked the question that had been on everyone’s mind. “You don’t think that anything bad happened do you?” Remus asked uncertain. “No, if something horrible happened, Dumbledore would have told us.” James countered without thinking. “It’s late guys, maybe she decided to spend the night there? Makes sense, you know.” Peter said as he yawned. “If you are so tired Pete, get off your fat arse and go to bed. Nobody is forcing you to stay down here. We are down here because we are waiting for a friend that probably just had the worst day of her life. There is no way that she would stay with her sister! Have you not been paying attention to any thing that was said in the last couple of days?” James snarled. “You know what? I’m sorry okay! It is not my fault that her family has been targeted! In fact it is probably Sirius’! Do you guys not remember the Howler that he got the same day that Lily got her letter?” Peter screamed at the top of his voice. He was turning red with rage and didn’t even wait for a reply for his question before continuing. “Of course you would never blame Sirius! Sirius never does anything wrong, he is a perfect angel. Or maybe it was Remus. They want him to join the dark side because of his condition! Maybe he made a deal with them, giving the whereabouts of a mudbloods family. Or perhaps it was James. Trying to save his own arse and giving away his girlfriends happiness just so his family could live. Or was it me? Poor, innocent, quiet, and shy Peter Pettigrew! Turned on his best friend because he was jealous of his happiness! We will never know whose fault it is; for all we know Lily could have been a target from birth. Just leave me the hell out of whatever you guys plan to do to the Slytherins. I lost my desire for revenge.” After having his little fit Peter ran out of the portrait hole just as a redhead came tumbling in. The seven friends all glance at one another before rushing to Lily and holding her tight. “Let me go,” she mumbled as she stumbled again. “Lily, sweetie, what happened?” Alyssa asked. “Let me go.” “Lil, we were worried. The least you could do is tell us if it was peaceful.” Sirius stated but it only got him an elbow in the gut and a glare from James. “Let me GO!” All of the people surrounding her immediately backed up and after just standing there for a few minutes James finally broke the silence. “Babe, please tell us how it went.” James pleaded. It was as though James’ voice broke a trance she looked up and started to walk toward the girl staircase. Not even looking back to see the surprised faces of so many of her friends. “Lily,” James whined in a way that sounded so much like Oliver. Lily stopped abruptly and slowly turned around as if looking for someone, hope filled in her eyes. But it soon disintegrated, for the one person she was looking for was nowhere to be found. She backed herself up against a wall and let the tears fall down freely. Her shoulders started to shake, her shirt getting rained on by teardrops, and the sobs started to get louder. James rushed to her side and tried to hold her but she just pushed him off. “Lily, oh merlin, Lily please let me in. I want to help you. Please.” he begged. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes and then closed them. Her voice was soft and cracked a few times but it was loud enough to hear. “Horrible. It was horrible. Petunia didn’t expect me to come without one of you guys. So she didn’t save me a seat. I had to sit with Uncle Tom *Pervy*! She made me be the last one to see them. Merlin, I think I might have shed a river full of tears just waiting in line. Mom was so beautiful, even when she looks wax-like. Her blonde hair was perfect, not one strand out of place. But O-Oli-Oliver, she made him look ridiculous. He had on the most hideous clothes that I have seen. I couldn’t stand it.” “Lily, as much as I really wanted to know what they were wearing, I would like to know why you are late!” Alyssa almost screamed. “Tunia asked me to come back to the house. I thought that she was being nice and wanted to put our past behind. But when we got back to the house my stuff was in the hallway, packed in boxes. She said that as soon as I read the will she wanted me to leave and never contact her again. Vernon doesn’t want to be around a murderer, she said. Mom left her everything! Everything! She gave me enough to by a flat, but that is it!” “Sweetie, you know that Petunia is a bitch, and her husband it just the same. And you are not a murderer.” “They killed Oliver because of me! They wanted to kill me but my brother was an easier target! It was just a bonus that he was a mudblood too!” Lily screamed. “He was a wizard?” Sirius whispered. Lily slid down the wall and collapsed on the floor. Sobs overtook her body as she shook on the floor. She kept saying that it was her fault and that they killed him. She said so many times that James started to get tears in his own eyes. Lily’s little brother was murdered because of his bloodlines. Hell, Oliver was like his little brother. Lily never knew how many letters they had shared. “James, take her up to your room. The guys will stay with us, just please, please help her.” Sophie said quietly. James walked over to Lily and picked her up like he did so many times before and took her to his room again. As they lay on the bed, Lily rolled over and dug her head firmly into his chest and held on with so much force he thought his ribs might break. Then slowly she released her hold and looked up into his eyes. “James, you are all I have left in this world. I love you so much James, more that you could ever imagine. And you know what I just realized? I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” James smiled and kissed her hair, “Me too Lily, me too.” **Yeah this is a pretty short chapter but I just didn’t know what to put into it. I’m not that good with sad scenes. Most times when I think about death I think about the people who were close to me but have died. That just makes it all the more harder to write it. I hope that this chapter was somewhat decent.** **Like I promised last chapter, here is an expert out of Officially Unengaged! *“… Of course there is! You wrote a letter to my boyfriend saying that we had to break up because I am going to get engaged!” Lily shouted outraged. “You had no right to do that! You had no right to get me an arranged marriage! Whoever this bloke is, he better be pretty damn hot!”*** **“Language dear. Petunia thought that he was cute, so you should find him irresistible. Now come inside, I want to see your reaction.”** **When Lily first entered the room, her eyes were automatically drawn to her sister. Petunia was laughing her butt off; she had tears streaming down her egg shaped face. Lily felt sick, whatever made her sister act that way had to be horrible.** **Her eyes flew to her mother, who was making her way to the swivel chair. “Pumpkin, this is your fiancé.”** **Rose Evans spun the chair around. Lily let her eyes travel from his shoes up. She took in the scuffed shoes, his worn and baggy pants, the long, torn, dirty, black cloak, the long black hair, and the cold black eyes.** **“NO!” she screamed….** **Dun dun dun! Lol I have always wanted to say that! Does that seem like a good story? That part is in the middle of the first chapter! I hope that you guys will like this story and it will be out soon! I think maybe two more chapters in this story and I believe that I am halfway done with my other one! I can’t wait to start!** **Ha this chapter was out fast, wasn’t it! Lol! Now I can say Happy Halloween again!** **Please be kind and review for I will give you treats!** 9. Filch -------- **Don’t shoot! I’m sorry it has been just about a month but wow, time flies so fast! Christmas it going to be here in one month! Can you believe it! Snow! I get to play in the snow! Yes, I am a kid at heart!** **Enjoy!** The next morning Lily woke up to an empty bed. She called for James thinking that maybe he was in the bathroom. When there was no answer she slowly slipped out of the bed. She stepped on something soft; looking down she saw that it was a petal from her favorite flower. To her surprise there was a whole petal path leading to the bathroom. When she opened the door, the smell of vanilla hit her instantly. Walking into the bathroom she saw that the petals separated into two paths, one leading to the sink the other to the tub. She decided to go to the sink first. On the counter was a piece of parchment that had her name written on it. When she opened it her heart swelled and her eyes filled with tears, for it was the sweetest thing that she had ever read. *My flower,* *I have gone to fetch you breakfast. But before I left I decided to start a bubble bath for you. It is vanilla scented, your favorite. Please, my darling, take your time. Relax and when you are done come out, for your breakfast should be ready.* *I have the most perfect day planned for you. You will love it just as much as I love you!* *Relax, my sweetheart, for we have a long day ahead of us.* “I have the most sweetest guy as a boyfriend,” Lily murmured as she walked to the tub. She took off her clothes, and as soon as she stepped into the hot water, her favorite song began to play from out of nowhere. “Wow, James really is perfect.” *** “Remus!” James yelled as he was running down the corridor. Remus turned around and started laughing when he saw his best friend running like a maniac while carrying a tray full of food. “Did Sirius miss breakfast again this morning?” he asked. “No, this is for Lily. Remus I have to ask you something.” “Hmm.” “Well, I hate asking this but could I possibly get out of it tonight? I have this whole thing planed for Lily. She is going to love it. I’m going to take her to Hogsmeade, but if you need me I will-” “James, don’t worry. I will be fine. Sirius and Peter have my back. You make your girl have the time of her life. I want Lily to be herself again.” “Merlin, Remus, you have to be the best mate ever!” Remus laughed, “All of my hard work has finally paid off! I am now better than Sirius!” James laughed too, “Thanks so much, Remus, but I got to go!” “Have fun lover boy!” he hollered after him. *** When Lily opened the door, she saw James sitting on his bed with a tray of food beside him. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be asleep. Lily walked to him and gently traced her fingers along his face, outlining his eyes, nose, and mouth. When she went to pull her hand away, someone grabbed it. She squeaked and jumped. James laughed and pulled her onto his lap. “Your so cute when you are surprised.” “I though you were asleep. You could have given me a heart attack!” she said as she swatted at his arm. “Sorry, babe, it won’t happen again.” James said smirking. Lily smiled a slow smile, “I love you.” “I love you too. Now eat up. We got a lot to do today.” “What exactly are we doing?” she asked as she bit into a banana nut muffin. “Shopping.” Lily choked on her pumpkin juice. “You are taking me shopping?” “Yes.” “For what?” “Anything. Today is your day, Lily. We are doing whatever you want, except I added a few things.” “Well, what are we waiting for, lets go!” she said as she raced out of the room. *** Down in the Common Room, all of their other friends where sitting around a table. They heard a door slam and two different laughs. Down the stairs one person came running while the other yelled for them to get back here. They saw Lily jump off the last three steps and run toward the exit. Halfway there, she turned around only to see that James was gaining on her. She squeaked, laughed, and started to run again. After they were both out in the corridor the six friends burst out laughing. “Merlin, she is in a good mood,” Sophie said. “I bet it is all James doing,” Sirius added. “He makes her so happy. Nobody would guess that she went to her mother’s and brother’s funeral yesterday.” Alyssa stated. “They understand each other more than any other couple that I know. I’m so happy she found him!” Autumn said happily. “They found each other six years ago but they didn’t know it. He is taking her to Hogsmeade today.” Remus exclaimed. “What if he doesn’t make it tonight?” Peter asked. “He’s not. We already talked about it.” “Sure you let him miss for a girl but you won’t let me!?!” “Sirius, this is important. Plus, Lily needs him.” “Alyssa needs me!” “Next time, mate.” “Fine.” Everyone started laughing again, though the girls had no clue as to what they were talking about. *** James finally caught up with Lily a couple of floor down. He grabbed her arm and spinned her so that he had her pinned against the wall. He looked down into her eyes, he saw that there was laughter but the twinkle was still gone. Lily smirked and tried to push James away. He threw his head back and laughed, because he barely moved. He then dipped his head and met his lips with hers. They stayed like that for a good couple of minutes before Lily started to giggle against his lips. “Why are you laughing?” he questioned. “We have an audience.” James whipped around and saw that Mrs. Norris and her master where standing at the end of the hall watching them with lots of interest. James’ face filled with disgust at being watched kissing his girlfriend by the sickest caretaker of all time. The caretaker was slowly making his way toward them with a weird look in his eyes. James looked horrified. “Lily, I think we need to go now!” he whispered urgently. Lily giggled, grabbed his hand and ran. *** They were sitting in a carriage on their way down to Hogsmeade and James was still raving. “I mean seriously, why would Dumbledore hire a sick perverted guy like that? He was watching us snog! Is that not disgusting?” “Maybe we should snog in the Great Hall. Then we would find out who all the perverted people are and then we will know who to stay away from.” “That is an excellent idea.” “I hope you know that you won’t be able to talk to Sirius again though.” “Why?” “Because he is one of those people.” “Ha ha. Sirius isn’t as sick as Filch.” “No, but he will be soon.” “True.” Lily laughed. “Where are we going to first?” “The Three Broomsticks. We need some butterbeer!” *** They had gone into all of the store in the tiny little town. James had bought everything that Lily looked at. It was getting slightly dark so right now they were seated under a huge tree beside the Shrieking Shack. James had though that this place would be their first date spot, but to his enjoyment it turned out to be their 67th. The bartender from the Hogs Head brought out a picnic basket as soon as they sat down. Inside was the most wonderful meal that Lily had ever had. James had fed her grapes as if she was an Egyptian Queen. She loved the way he made her feel, even if she shouldn’t be feeling that way right now. “Lily, are you afraid of flying?” James asked her. “A little, why?” “Because we are going flying.” “Now?” “Yes,” he said as he went to the nearest bush and pulled out his broom. “Come on, let’s go.” “James…” “Lily, trust me, please.” “Don’t let me fall.” “I won’t. I promise.” Lily smiled at him and got on behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist as tight as she could. “Lils, I need air!” he joked. “Keep talking smart arse and you will riding by yourself.” “Okay, I’m shutting up now.” Lily smirked; he always seemed to listen to her, no matter if it was something stupid that they were talking about. “Are you ready.” “No.” “Lily…” “No.” “I am going to kick off now.” “No.” With a swift kick they rose in the air. Lily scream rang in the air as she shut her eyes as tight as possible. As her scream’s echo started to fade a howl was heard in the distant. Lily’s eyes slowly opened and she whispered, “Poor Remus.” “You know about Remus?” “I have known since fifth year, I just never said anything.” “Your opinion hasn’t changed, has it?” “No, Remus is like a brother to me. I don’t care what happened to him as long as he is Remus.” “Merlin, I knew you were an angel.” Lily laughed again and viewed the ground at her new height. “It’s beautiful up here.” “Yeah, that is why I love to fly. It gives me time to think about the little things and it also relieves me from the stress of life.” “Where are we going?” “Into the forest.” “Remus?” “They don’t take him this far into the forest.” “Isn’t it scary and dark in there?” “Yes. Is Lily Evan scared of the dark?” Lily’s eyes filled up with laughter, “Yes, you might need to hold my hand.” “That I can do.” They landed on green grass that had flowers growing all around it. There was a small stream running right beside the trees and flat land of grass. James took her hand and led her up a nearby hill. On the top of the hill was a blanket. James sat down and pulled Lily along with him. “Have you ever stargazed, Lily?” “No, have you?” “This is my first time.” “So that is what we are doing!” “Yeah, is that okay with you?” “It’s perfect.” They laid there for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts before Lily finally murmured, “Second star to the right and straight on till morning.” “What?” “Peter Pan. Have you never heard of him?” “No, who is he?” “Well, it is a muggle fairytale. It was my favorite when I was younger. My father would tell me it every night.” “Do you remember it?” “Of course.” “Could you tell it to me?” “I’d love to. The Darling family lived on a quiet street in London. There were three children in the family, Wendy, John, and little Michael.” Lily continued on with the story and James was listening intensively through the whole thing. When she finished, they got back on the broom and rode around for a while before he stopped in front of the school. They made their way up the stairs and into James’ room. Lily went into the bathroom to change into her pajamas. When she came out James was already in his bed looking at one of his magazines. He looked up at her as she entered and smiled. She smiled back somewhat shyly. She sat beside him and just looked at him. She continued to look at him for many minutes; she didn’t stop until he finally said something. “You are staring at me.” She blushed, “Sorry, just thinking.” “About what?” “Us.” That seemed to get his attention for his head whipped to the side and he looked at her, trying to read her expression. Not seeing what he was looking for he decided to ask. “What about us?” She was silent for a moment as if thinking if she should really say anything. Then with a gulp she opened her mouth to start speaking, “Do you want me, James?” He opened his mouth like a fish out of water. He began to have an internal conflict. *‘Does she mean like… like that?? Say something! What if I say the wrong thing? Say the right thing. What is the right thing??’* “Yes.” Her eyes snapped up to his, “Really?” “Yes.” “Prove it,” she said smiling evilly. He smirked rather mischievously, “Gladly.” He rolled over so that he was on top of her and kissed her with more passion than he had ever before. She kissed him back with just as much passion if not more. They only broke apart when the need for air became a necessity. James looked down at Lily to see that her eyes were closed and that she was breathing heavily. He chuckled and moved to kiss her neck. This elated a gasp of surprise from Lily as her eyes flew open and her hands came up to tangle in James’ hair. He kissed her at every part of skin that was revealed. He wanted to kiss so many other places but wasn’t sure how far Lily would let him go. With a growl Lily pulled his face away from her neck so that she could kiss his. She began to run her arms up and down his bare chest, for he was only in his pajama pants. His muscles tightened at her every touch. Lily was driving him wild, he put his hands firmly on her waist and slowly raised her shirt so he could kiss her smooth and creamy stomach. With a moan Lily cried, “Touch me, James. Please, make me yours.” With a quick kiss to her mouth and a murmured ‘I love you’ he began to kiss her and slide off her top. *** The next morning everyone was in the Great Hall except Lily, James and Peter. “What do you think happened yesterday? We didn’t see Lily at all last night,” Alyssa exclaimed. “Maybe she stayed with James,” Sophie suggested. “Was she in your guys room?” Autumn asked. “Don’t know, we were in the Hospital Wing.” Sirius answered. “You don’t think… no James wouldn’t be that lucky.” Remus cried. “You never know, Lily can be a little vixen at times,” Alyssa said with a smirk. “Yeah right, the day that James and Lily do it is the day that Peter tells our secrets to Voldemort!” Sirius bellowed. Everyone at the table laughed, not realizing that it was actually true. **Wow a lot happened in this chapter! I just hope that you all understood it! I am not really all that happy with the James and Lily ending. It was my first time writing some thing like that and I think that it is horrible. Anyway, I have one more chapter to do and I am pretty sure that it will just be an epilogue. But the epilogue has been in my mind so much lately that it better be pretty good. I was also thinking of having the bet in the last chapter. As of right now that is where it will be, if it doesn’t work then I am sorry.** **At the end of the next chapter I will have Thank yous to all of the wonderful people that reviewed faithfully throughout my whole story!** **Just to keep you updated my uncle is still here but just barely. The doctors didn’t think that he would make till Thanksgiving.** **Well, I should see you all soon!** **Just to let you know this is the longest chapter!!** 10. Baby/Epilogue ----------------- **Hi…** **A lot has happened in the last month. My uncle passed away about a week ago. Two of my other uncles and grandpa are going in to surgery this week. Some doctor said that my grandma has a couple of days to live. So yeah, my life has been horrible since the last update!** **I don’t want to burden you with my life but I just wanted to let you know why I didn’t update sooner. This is officially the last chapter/epilogue. I hope that you guys like it!** Six people were in a waiting room. Three of them were pacing, one was chewing off her nails, and two of them were stuffing their faces with sandwiches. A scream suddenly echoed from the next room. They all looked up worriedly. “Do you think that maybe we should check on her?” Peter asked. “Are you crazy? I don’t want to see that!” Sirius cried. All of the others grinned; Sirius always said the stupidest things at the right moment. “But, seriously, do think that she is going to be okay?” Another scream pierced the air, “I am going to kill you James Potter!” “Let me rephrase that, do you think James is going to be okay?” “Honestly guys, you act as if she is dying. She’s in labor.” Autumn stated. “And it obviously hurts like hell.” Scream after scream came out of the room. Remus was turning pale, Sophie was swaying slightly, and Sirius was running around the waiting room at St. Mungos. The screams finally stopped and whoop of joy came to their ears. Fifteen minutes later, James came skipping out of the room, grinning like mad. “Friends, please follow me to meet my baby boy.” A high-pitched squeal escaped Sirius’ throat, which made everybody turn to him. He blushed and mumbled, “The marauders live on!” *** In the white hospital room, Lily was sitting holding a bundle wrapped in a blue blanket. The bundle contained a boy with raven black hair and emerald colored eyes. The baby had his small chubby fingers wrapped tightly around his mother fingers. There were squeals and squeaks heard from the doorway that made Lily finally look up. She smiled a tired smile and handed the baby to her husband. He looked straight into her eyes as he said; “I would like you to me my son, Harry James Potter.” Hugs and kisses were exchanged amongst the group, but the friends knew that the couple wanted time alone. With a last farewell, they left to go back to Alyssa’s house. *** As soon as they were left alone James swooped down and planted a kiss on his wife’s lips. “I love you so much,” he whispered. “I love you too.” Their eyes locked once more and James fell into a trance. It was almost two year ago when that twinkle came back into her eyes. It had never left since. He made sure of that. His wife was everything to him; his son would now be too. He couldn’t even imagine life without them. “We are going to have a wonderful family, babe.” “I know, sweetie, I know.” *** “You see Harry, your parents didn’t love each other at first, but they did love each other when it counted most.” “I miss them, Remus. I know I only knew them for a little while, but I loved them and I wish that I could have them back.” Harry said sadly as he looked into his cold coffee cup. “I have wished the same thing many times. But I finally moved on, I got over the fact that they will never come back. Sure, it never took away the pain, but they needed to go. It was a good thing that they went together.” “Remus, what happened to Sophie, Alyssa, and Autumn?” Remus slowly closed his eyes. His voice barely above a whisper, “Almost two months after you were born we went to Peter’s house. It was a small get together of sorts. Everyone was there except your mother, your father, and you. I don’t remember it perfectly; it all seems like a fuzzy blurb. Somehow Death Eaters snuck in. The girls were in the kitchen and we were in the lounge. We didn’t make it in time; there was no way for us to save them. My Autumn was gone forever; the love of my life, the beat of my heart was gone. We all broke down crying when it was over, except for Peter. At the time we thought that it was just a façade, we all knew that he liked Sophie. We thought that he was trying to be strong in front of us. Boy were we wrong.” “I’m sorry Remus, I really am. I had know idea.” “It is in the past. Is there anything else you would like to know?” Harry grinned, “What happened with the bet between my mother and Sirius?” “Sirius won.” “How?” “Long story short, your mother turned Sirius into a girl on the last day of school. She was laughing so hard that she began to get tears in her eyes. Before they began to fall, Sirius made her hair disappear. When your mother found out what had happened, she was furious. Not one living creature can be as ugly as she was at that moment.” “Mom was pretty special, wasn’t she?” “She was amazing.” A slow smile began to form on Harry’s face, “You know what? This all started with a baby.” **I know, short ending but I just haven’t been in the mood to write. I know that I said that I would start Officially Unengaged but I need a break. Maybe a two or three or month break. Sorry.** **I would like to put a thank you out to all of these wonderful people:** **God Bless- - sorry your name is anonymous. You are the most… bestest reviewer ever!!** **Marrymaria - your reviews are always so nice to read!** **Tooaddicted2TV** **MandaEvelyn** **Allie P. Keaton** **Konflickted** **Cedriclover22** **And all of the other anonymous reviewers!!** **I love you all!**