A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in his wonderful world! Hope you enjoy the story!
"James, James, wake up, wake up!" Lily Potter was shaking her older brother awake. "C'mon, Albus is awake already! It's nine in the morning, James!"
James Potter groaned and turned over in bed, pulling the blankets up higher. It was a Saturday in the summer, and he didn't want to go to another one of his father's work/important people parties. They were usually boring. James was now thirteen, after his second year at Hogwarts (Albus's first), and he was really bored of the whole thing about his father being famous.
"I don't wanna go," he grumbled.
"I've heard that Lila is going to be there," Lily said in a slight singsong voice. Everyone in the Potter family knew that James had a crush on Lila, a girl who was in James' year at school, even though James would never admit it.
James immediately sat up straight. "What am I waiting for? Go out so I can change!"
Lily smirked. "Excited much? Just put on jeans and a T-shirt, Mum said. We're not going till five."
While James changed, Lily skipped back downstairs into the kitchen. "I told him, Mum, can I have my sickle now?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and handed over a shiny silver sickle. Lily grinned and sat down in her chair and ate her toast, smiling the whole time. Lily loved the parties, even if they were boring. All the people there thought she was adorable.
"Mum, when's the party?" Albus said, stepping into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. "I wanted to fly to Jeremy's house."
"Five," Ginny answered.
Harry walked in. "Sorry about this, everyone. I'd rather not go…but we have to."
"It's okay, Daddy," Lily smiled. "I like the parties."
Later that day, at five o' clock, they arrived at the party. Harry was wearing dark green dress robes, Ginny was wearing a lavender dress, James was wearing navy dress robes, Albus was wearing crimson robes, and Lily was wearing a light yellow dress.
They walked in, and James, Albus, and Lily ran off to find friends or people their own age while the adults met with important witches and wizards. James spotted Lila accepting an appetizer from a waiter, and hurried off to say hello.
He ran a hand through his messy black hair and walked over to her. "Hey, Lila," he said, grinning.
"Oh! Hi James," Lila smiled. "I haven't seen you in a while. How're you?"
"Good, what about you? You look really pretty." James said.
Lila brushed aside a strand of her dark brown hair and her blue eyes shined. "Thanks, you look pretty nice yourself. Much more formal than your Quidditch robes."
James laughed.
"So, what've you been up to lately?" Lila asked.
"Nothing really, practicing Quidditch mostly," James shrugged.
"That match last year when you caught the Snitch right under Carla Corner's nose was brilliant," Lila gushed. "She was really mad afterwards. I heard her stomping around the hallways."
"Thanks…I try. So, what've you been doing?" James asked.
"Oh, nothing really," Lila said. "My parents are usually too busy to do anything with me or my sister, so they put us in a summer camp for witches and wizards. It's not much fun since I'm not very good at Quidditch…wish I was, it looks fun."
"I could give you lessons," James blurted out.
Lila laughed, her laugh a light, tinkling sound. "That would be nice. So should I drop by your house sometime then? I don't mean to sound pushy but—"
"No, it's fine," James waved aside her apology. "How about one o' clock tomorrow?"
"Sounds great," Lila smiled. "I'd better get back to my sister…she's probably looking for me…see you tomorrow, James." She walked away, her hair swishing behind her.
"Yes!" James said, punching the air, once Lila was out of sight.
Lily stood next to James suddenly. "Just talked to Lila, huh?" she said. James glared at her. "I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry, you're like Dad. He told me about the first time he asked a girl to a dance. Wangoballwime, was what he said."
James snorted. He couldn't imagine his father doing that now. It would probably be in the Prophet if he ever did anything of the sort.
"Snorting isn't very attractive, James," Lily pointed out. "You might want to keep that in mind for your date with Lila tomorrow."
"It's not a date," James said a little defiantly, "she's just coming over for some Quidditch lessons."
"So if it's not a date you won't mind if I join you then," Lily said slyly.
"NO!" James blurted out. "No, Lil. You cannot practice with us. Even when I'm with my normal friends you're not allowed to do that. C'mon, Lily…if you don't stay out of our way on your own I'll get Mum or Dad to make you…and I mean that."
"James, who are you kidding? It's a date." Lily folded her arms and smirked. "Y'know, if you just would admit that it's date, I'd help you out with girls. I know some things, y'know."
James glared at her again. "Lily, just leave me alone, okay?"
"You're going on a date, you're going on a date," she said in a singsong voice, repeating it over and over again.
"LILY SHUT UP!"
Lily frowned and stomped away huffily towards the bar. Seeing where she was heading, James followed her. Lily climbed onto one of the seats about ten yards away from where a tall, muscular wizard stood, and faced the barman, who looked, in James' opinion, like a wimp. Especially compared to the muscular guy.
"One firewhiskey, please," she stated firmly.
"Lily, you know you're not allowed—" James began.
"Oh do shut up," Lily said calmly and returned her attention to the man behind the bar. "Pay no attention to him. He's acting so childishly. Anyway, a firewhiskey, if you wouldn't mind."
"Er, sorry, miss," the bar man said, "but I'll need to see an ID first."
"I don't think you understand," Lily said slyly. "You see that big man there?" she pointed to a 6' 9" tall man with bulging muscles, "You see I know him. He's my father, actually. And if you don't give me what I want, he'll beat you up."
"One firewhiskey coming up ma'am!" he said hastily, busying himself behind the counter.
"Lily!" James said fiercely. "You can't do that," he grabbed her arm, "c'mon; we're going to Mum and Dad…"
Lily yanked her arm out of James's grip. "Let go of me!"
Her firewhiskey arrived and she took a sip. "Ahh," she said happily. "Wonderful." She drank the whole glass and ordered another.
James dashed away from Lily to find his mother and father. They have to know about this, James thought, they'll put a stop to Lily, ground her, and then she can't interfere with me and Lila tomorrow.
"Dad!" he called, seeing his father and mother talking to some people. "Dad! Mum!"
He ran towards them. "Mum."
Ginny turned around. "Enjoying the party, James? I was just hearing from Mrs. Longbottom about how someone had received an AWI. Honestly, doesn't anyone learn?" A/N: AWI=Apparating While Intoxicated.
"Mum! Come quickly…Lily's drinking firewhiskey!" James said.
Harry wheeled around. "What?"
"LILY'S DRINKING FIREWHISKEY!" James blurted out. "Come on! Hurry!"
James ran back towards Lily while Harry and Ginnyfollowed him. "I would have thought James would've been the one drinking the firewhiskey," Harry whispered to Ginny and Ginny nodded in agreement. Lily drinking firewhiskey? It didn't seem right.
"There she is!" James said, pointing in Lily's direction.
Lily was sitting at the bar, drinking a tenth glass of firewhiskey while chatting drunkenly to the bar man. Ginny was torn between furiousness and concern, as was Harry.
Ginny rushed forward first. "Lily!" she picked up Lily and held her even though Lily was ten, but she was small for her age. "Sweetie are you okay?"
"Mum?" Lily said. "I—I feel…" Lily turned her head and threw up right on the floor.
Harry turned away from Ginny, James and Lily and walked forward towards the man behind the bar. "Excuse me," he said sharply, his eyes shooting daggers at the man behind the bar.
The bar man's eyes widened as he saw that Harry Potter was talking to him. "Oh, hello Mr. Potter sir, would you care for a firewhiskey? Or a butterbeer? Or—"
"No thank you," Harry said in a steely tone, now glaring at the man facing him. "I'd like to know why you gave ten firewhiskies to my daughter, who is only ten years old." Harry was trying to stay calm, not pull out his wand and hex the man in front of him into oblivion. "Didn't you ask for an ID?"
"Yes, sir," the man said.
"Did she give you one?" Harry asked.
"Er, no sir," the man replied. "But I was threatened, sir."
"Threatened?" Harry raised his eyebrows.
"Yes sir," the man nodded. "She told me a tall, muscular man would beat me up, so I gave her the firewhiskey."
"And did you ever think she might be lying?" Harry said, not getting mad. "Did you think to ask the man before giving her the firewhiskey? If you are threatened severely you're supposed to contact the Ministry immediately, not give in to the threat. And if I hear about you giving my daughter firewhiskey ever again you will be arrested, so consider this a warning. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir," the man said, trembling slightly. "Crystal."
Harry turned away and went back towards Ginny, James, Lily and now Albus who were sitting in chairs. Lily was still throwing up. Eventually, they decided to go home.
"So, er, Mum," James said, deciding to bring around Lila coming over tomorrow. "Er, Lila from school is, um, coming over tomorrow…is that okay?"
"It's fine," Ginny said as she held Lily's long, red hair back while she threw up into the toilet. "Do you want any chocolate chip cookies for tomorrow then?"
James wrinkled his nose, even though he loved his mom's chocolate chip cookies. "Mum, I'm not seven. Nobody has their mum bake them cookies for them and their friend. I have a reputation to keep up at school, you know."
Ginny smiled at her son. Reputations…was that all kids cared about these days? Her brothers always welcomed free chocolate cookies…but then again, her brothers welcomed just about any food at any time, the pigs.
"All right, James," Ginny simply said, "you're growing up so fast. Already interested in girls."
James blushed and looked at his feet. "She's just a friend, Mum."
"Right," Ginny nodded knowingly. She turned back to Lily. "Feeling any better, Lily?"
Lily lifted her head up. "James likes Lila," she said before throwing up into the toilet again and resurfacing a moment later. "I'm okay, Mum. Just…queasy. I think I'm nearly done now."
"Well that's good news," Ginny said, "and now that we know you're okay…why did you drink the firewhiskey, Lily? And, more importantly, why did you even ask for it? You know you're not supposed to drink it…this is something I would have expected from James, not you."
"Hey!" James said indignantly. "I'm not that bad."
Ginny smiled at James. "Well, maybe not that bad."
"Well," Lily began, not standing up shakily and wiping her mouth on some toilet paper. "I was telling James that he did have a date with Lila, and he said he didn't, and I was sort of taunting him, and then he told me to leave him alone, and then I got mad and decided to have some firewhiskey since you and dad always say, 'I think I'll have a cup of tea with a dash of firewhiskey,' when you're mad about work or something."
"Yes, Lily, a dash, not ten glasses or however many you had! No matter how annoyed you were, it's against the law! You're in trouble, missy." Ginny said sternly.
"I know, Mummy," Lily nodded solemnly. "I understand that."
"Good," Ginny said. "Well, you best get to bed, Lily. I'm sure you're quite tired."
Lily nodded and Ginny led her upstairs after telling James to get Harry and Albus to say goodnight to Lily. James found Albus eating a piece of vanilla cake and his dad drinking a cup of tea while reading the Evening Prophet.
"Dad? Al? Mum says you have to go upstairs to say goodnight to Lily…she's feeling better, but she's tired." James told them.
"Thanks, James," Harry smiled. "C'mon, Al…you can come back down when we say goodnight to Lily."
Harry and Albus headed upstairs and said goodnight to Lily. When Ginny finished singing Lily's favorite bedtime song to her, she stepped out into the hallway to face Harry.
"So James is going to have Lila over tomorrow," Ginny said. "You know, the girl from school."
"Really? I thought he would've asked us if he could go to Diagon Alley for ice cream or something for his first date, not hang out at home." Harry said.
Ginny smirked at him. "He says that it's not a date, just hanging out as friends."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Typical James. So, Lily's feeling better then?"
Ginny nodded. "She just needs some rest. She'll be back to her usual self tomorrow morning. But I'm not sure James will be so pleased about that."