Strawberry Sweets

Strawberry Sweets

bunny chan

Five-year-old Lily Evans and James Potter sat outside the Evans' garden, watching the Japanese carps in the fish pond jumping happily and freely without any care. The spring flowers were blooming everywhere and the warm, March air gives them the warm sun to warm themselves.

Lily was feeding the fishes happily in the pond when James suddenly fell into the pond with a loud splash. Lily turned to see who had pushed James in, only to come face to face with Sirius Black's mischievous grin and Remus Lupin's calm smile.

'Hi Siri, Remie!!' Lily greeted her two cousins.

'Whacha do that for?' James grumbled as he climbed out of the fish pond. The fishes were nibbling at his hair, thinking it as a sort of seaweed.

'For fun. Mom wants to drop by to say hi!' Sirius answered.

'Thanks a lot, Siri. Now's I'm all wet!' James said. As soon as the words left his lips, he was instantly dry again.

'Wow! James, how'd you do that? Teach me, teach me!!' Lily begged.

'Nope!' James said as Lily pouted before continuing to play with her Japanese carps.

'Sirius!'

'Remus!'

Two lady's voice called as Sirius and Remus went to join their mothers before waving Lily and James goodbye.

'Teach me, puh-leez!!!!' Lily begged once more.

'No! I shan't! Shan't, shan't, shan't!' James grinned.

'No fair!! I wanna learn it too!! Teach me!!!'

'Shan't!'

'Mean!'

Lily poked her tongue at James, and James did likewise back to her. Lily cupped some water into her small hands from the flowing waterfall before splashing it all over James.

'Hey!! Lily, stop it!'

'Teach me first!!'

'Shan't!'

'Then I shan't stop either!'

Lily continued splashing him with the water. On one occasion, Lily brought out her carp to bite James, but the poor fish turned milk-white, so Lily had to put it back again into the pond.

'Okay, I'll teach you!' James cried at last.

'What's it?' Lily asked, jumping excitedly. James dug into his pockets before handing Lily some sweets.

'Here.'

'What are they?'

'Sweets. Or hadn't you seen one before?'

'No, what are they?'

'Strawberry sweets. They're my favorite!'

'Really? Are they sweet?'

'Why else are they called sweets?'

Lily popped one into her mouth before sucking hard at it.

'Mmm!! It's sweet! Like sugary strawberries!'

'Isn't it? It's my favorite. Go on and have more,' James said, handing her the strawberry sweets.

'Thanks! Hey James!'

'Yes?'

'Ever thought of your future?'

'Nope. Why ask this suddenly?'

'Nothing. Just wondering. See, have any girlfriend yet?'

'Nope.'

'Mind if I be yours?'

'Nope. And who're you marrying when you grow up?'

'You!'

'You sure?'

'Yep!'

'Okay. Look, these sweets can be our witnesses,' James said, pulling out some more strawberry sweets. On it, they wrote little scribbles on the wrappers of the sweets. On one, there's "James and Lily", on another, there's "promises to marry", on the third was, "when they" and lastly, "get older".

'Whoever who eats any of these sweets breaks the promises, okay?' James said, handing Lily two as he kept the other two back into his pocket.

'Promise!'

A week after, the Potters moved away from Cherry Street.

**

Six Years Later

**

'Hi there, I'm Lily and um, muggle-born?' Lily introduced herself.

'I'm James. Sirius calls me Jamsie though, stupid clown,' James said, taking her hand.

'Do I know you?' Lily asked, racking her head for any memories.

'I don't think so. We'd never met yet. What's your last name?' James asked, plopping onto the seat next to hers.

'Evans. Lily Evans.'

'Mine's Potter.'

'I know you, don't I?' Lily asked again as she looked closely at James.

'I don't think so. You're first year right?' Lily nodded. 'Then I don't think so.'

'But I remember seeing you before. Somewhere, though, I can't remember where.'

'Well, everyone looked like they see me before.'

'I'm serious! And I think I made a promise with you before. Something, I just can't remember.'

'Whatever. How about a sweet?' James asked, offering a sweet to Lily. She accepted it graciously.

'What are they?'

'Sweets. Or hadn't you seen one before?'

'No, what are they?'

'Strawberry sweets. They're my favorite!'

'Really? They're my favorite too! You know, I once had this friend living next to me. He's really funny and sweet. He likes strawberry sweets, too!' Lily said, sucking the sweet hard.

'Then what happened?' James asked, popping one into his mouth.

'He moved away. He used to be able to do really neat things. I thought he was a wizard at first, but I thought "No! They don't exist!". That was before I knew they do exist! I miss him though. We made a promise, I can't remember what.'

'Well, why didn't you write it down?'

'We did! Only the problem is I have only a part of that promise.'

'And what is it?' James was getting interested here.

'Wait, let me find it. I took it along with me here,' Lily said as she bent over her trunk to search for something. James watched on as she pulled out numerous things from her bag before finally opening a book.

'What's in that book?' James asked curiously.

'It's not exactly a book, just my secret hideout place which I made myself. Don't tell anyone, kay? This is the only clue I have to what we'd made a promise to,' Lily said as she dropped two strawberry sweets on the chair. On them were scrawls, written "when they" and "get older".

'Why didn't you just eat it up?'

'It'll mean that we break our promise.'

'How old were you that time? The sweet looks old and it doesn't makes much sense to me.'

'I can't remember. Like I'd said, it was ages and ages ago!'

'Okay… um, what did you say your name was just now?'

'Lily Evans. No, I'm not that flower the frog sits on and sings crappy songs on it. He, my friend, used to say that all the time.'

'Oh, waitaminute! I've sweets, something like this old, but it had words on it, too. Maybe it'll make sense!' James said, pulling another two more sweets from his pockets before dropping it by the two before. Lily stared at them before squinting at the words written on it.

'Pretty weird, isn't it?' James asked as he pushed his trunk away.

'What did it say? I can't read it!' Lily said as she squinted it around.

'Something like James and whoever promises to marry. Uncompleted, I must say.'

Lily pulled James' glasses off his face.

'Hey! Give it back to me!'

'James and Lily. Promises to marry. When they. Get older,' Lily said as she returned the glasses to James, joining all the words together.

'JAMSIE!!!!!' Sirius' voice called as he barged in, Remus ran straight after.

'Siri!' Lily cried as she hugged him tight. 'I thought you went to Australia!'

'Yeah, but now I'm back. Who're you- Lily?' Sirius asked in disbelief. He returned her hug tightly.

'Sirius, for the five hundredth and fifteenth time, don't call me "Jamsie"! You guys know?' James asked.

'Yep! James, meet my girlfriend' – Lily glared at him – 'Sorry, I mean cousin, Lily. You guys knew each other anyway, so why bother?'

'You're that maniac's cousin?'

'Yeah. Siri, we do not know each other yet!'

'Hey, what's this?' Remus asked, picking up the four sweets. 'James and Lily promises to marry when they get older. Hey Sirius!!!!'

'Gimme back, Remie!!!!' Lily said as she tried to grab it back from her other cousin. Remus threw the sweets to Sirius, who read it and grinned.

'When did you make this?'

'Can't remember. I own the last two words though,' Lily said with a shrug. 'A promise my old friend made with me.'

'She isn't even my old friend! I just knew her a while ago!' James said, defending himself.

'Hello!! Must I knock some sense into your head? James, you lived beside cousin Lily's when you were five!!!' Sirius cried.

'I did?'

'He did?'

'Why is their memory worst than yours?' Remus asked, turning to Sirius.

'And you said mine is bad enough! Use your memory charm on them!' Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

'Which??'

'You're the one to ask? You read those books in the holidays!! Your brother told me!'

'Siri, do I even know him before this?' Lily asked.

'Yes! You guys were like this,' Sirius said, holding his two fingers together.

'What, boyfriend girlfriend?'

'Bingo, Lil!'

'My five-year-old memories are very blur now… Remus, mind explaining?'

'No need to. We'll just hold the wedding ceremony,' Remus said dismissively.

'There's no dating, no love and not even a proposal. How will there even be a wedding ceremony?' James said in a you-are-ridiculous tone.

'Sirius?' Remus said. Sirius opened his mouth.

'First of January, date. Second of February, love. Third of March, proposal. Now it's first of September, want the wedding to be on fourth of April? That can always be fixed.'

'And when is that on, oh wise one?'

'That was when you – we – are only five.'

'How come we can't remember a thing then?'

'No. James is the one! I remembered some blurry details!'

'Ha ha. Thanks a lot, Lily.'

'But you kept your promises,' Remus said, eyes glinting mischievously.

'How?'

'Lily once told me that before; whoever who eats the sweet breaks the "engagement". As far as we'd known, neither of you did.'

'We'll hold an unofficial wedding, is that fine?' Sirius asked sweetly.

'I'll use a spell on you, Siri!' Lily warned.

'I don't think you can!'

Lily pointed her wand aimlessly at Sirius and he suddenly vanished. A very cute puppy stood in it's place.

'Hiya Siri!! You're cute!' Lily said, cuddling him.

'Turn him back, Lily!' James laughed. Remus snorted and rolled onto the floor.

'How?'

'I don't know, just turn him back!'

'No idea how to.'

'Point your wand at it again?'

Lily did it and Sirius popped back into sight.

'Lily!!!!!!! I now pronounce you man and wife!' Sirius said angrily.

'Hahaha. Very funny.'

'You may now kiss the bride.'

'I'm so sick. Sirius, we're only eleven!'

'James proposed when you were five. You'd been engaged for six years already!'

'Really?'

'What's eleven minus five? Six. There!'

'I hate maths.'

'Oh, goody! We're here already!' Lily said, grabbing her trunk and owl as they hurried off. James ran after her.

'Oh well, they're now officially married!' Sirius grinned at his cousin.

'Well, I took a photo,' Remus said, holding his new camera up.

'Good. Develop it and we'll blackmail them!'

**

Lily and James sat by the lake, playing with the squid in the lake. Lily was trying to catch its tentacles, but kept missing her target.

'So, we knew each other since we were young huh?'

'Told you that you seem familiar!' Lily said, splashing water at James.

'Okay already! I don't wanna fall into the lake! I still think your name sounds like that flower which the frog sat on and sing the stupid crappy songs.'

'Same old James. I said already, I'm not!'

'Not what?'

'The flower which that frog sat on. Why do you have to make a joke from it?'

'Because we once saw this funny frog, sitting on a lily flower and singing crappy song.'

'So much for that…'

'Want a sweet?'

'Strawberry? Sure!'

'Here. Oh, and how about we make another promise?'

'Okay, have any sweets left?'

'Yeah, one moment.' James dug around his pockets.

On the sweets, they wrote "James and Lily", "Will remember to kill", "Sirius and Remus", "For marrying them".

'Usual rules?' Lily asked, keeping two.

'Usual rules,' James replied as he pocketed the other two.

AN: Okay… pretty simple here, but don't blame me! It's five in the morning now. I'm sure that if you managed to finish it, you passed the torture [some torture…] from my awful writing. And I did made that sorta promise when I was really young [about four I think], so don't tell me about it. Yes, I really did, but I ate the sweet away ^_^;; besides, it was just an empty promise, so no biggie! Also, since I still can't promise much l/j still at The Marauding Five, I'll just post a few of these short ones to keep you entertained…? Now, be a sweetie and review, kay?