At first, Lily thinks that he's dressed up as a chicken to go house hunting.
The bartender at the Leaky Cauldron has just refilled her gin glass, but Lily's too busy to notice as she drums her fingers on the well worn table, and waits impatiently for James to turn up, silently praying that they get out of here before the drip-drip of the rain on the windows become a full slosh.
The first thing she notices is the sudden quietness in the pub, because in all its years, it has seen hags and werewolves, but it has never seen this.
The second thing she notices is that James is proudly standing in front of her wearing a red jumpsuit and has a string of feathers around his hips.
It is the middle of January and her soon-to-be husband is posing in front of her in a jumpsuit, like it's a photoshoot for the front cover of Witch Weekly, and not a trip to go house hunting on the dreary streets of London.
Red + Feathers = Chicken
Why has James dressed up as a chicken?
Does he think she has a fetish for drumsticks, or something equally ridiculous?
No he doesn't, for James, in all his chickeniness, waves his arms and crows, "I'm the devil!"
Three minutes later, Lily and James are standing on the other side of the Leaky Cauldron's wall.
Namely, the side with no roof and a never ending downpour of rain.
And of course, James A.K.A "the one in the chicken/devil suit" starts the conversation as they trudge their way to the first house on their list.
"That bartender bloke was just plain unreasonable."
"Well, who's brilliant idea was it to yell, 'Make way for the devil and his wife!', while standing on a table shooting sparks from the end of his wand?"
"How should I have known that the roof would catch fire from the sparks!?"
"Wood + Sparks from idiotic idiots = Fire that gets us kicked out of a pub. Just so you know, the Leaky Cauldron has a history of never kicking people out, even with that time of the raging vampire. What possessed you to even dress up as a chicken- err, devil in the first place?"
"Oy! My awesome suit does not look like a chicken! Sirius and I just thought it'd be nice to show some Gryffindor pride and to get to know the neighbors."
At this, Lily suddenly stops and turns, before remarking in a disbelieving voice, "And you thought dressing up as the devil would help improve neighbor relationships?"
"It did that time, thought it really wasn't about neighbor relationships."
Although a cold wind is blowing, and there isn't a hint of sun, Lily's face heats up.
"I'd tell you to go to hell, but you'd probably just feel at home there."
Grinning slyly at her, James opened his mouth again, "Well, now that you say it, there was something i also rem-"
Looking very frazzled, and not just by the rain, Lily could only say, "Okay okay, but you're only allowed to wear it to once house, alright?"
"Alright, but trust me, this suit will grow on you."
"i'd like to see that."
In the end, first it was one house, then two, until they had visited all the houses on their list, without James changing out of the ridiculous suit even once.
Though Lily would never admit it, the devil suit with the skirt of feathers did grow on her.
James + Lily = Red Devil Suit
End.
Author's Note:
Written for Hogwarts School of Challenges and Assignments
Assignment 12:
Gardening: Task 10: Flowers - Write about a character with a floral name. Alt: Write about someone admiring another person's garden.
Gift Tag: For Audrey
Word Count: 609