Hello, everybody :D This is Puddlemere United's last round of this season of QLFC, sadly, but it ends with an amazing prompt! As captain, I had to write about a first of my OTP, which is JAMES AND LILY POTTER AKA JILY! Meeting the in-laws is considered a first, a frightening one at that.

For everyone of you who isn't the judge: I will continue writing this one-shot and include the dinner and what happens after the dinner. I am already working on that, so if you want to find out what will happen, wait for the second chapter :D

Enjoy :D


Meeting the In-Laws

"Will you stop fiddling with your shirt, James? You look lovely!"

"You have to say that! You're my mother!" James tucked at the bottom of his dark blue, fancy shirt. He wasn't sure whether it was too fancy or not fancy enough. What if they thought he didn't take them seriously? What if they thought he wanted to mock them by being impolite and not respect them for being Muggles?

He closed the top button of his shirt, frowned in the full length mirror he had been looking at for the last thirty minutes, and popped it open again.

Euphemia Potter rolled her eyes and gently swatted her son's hand away. "Leave it!"

"Muuuum!" he moaned and let his head fall back in an exaggerated manner. "I want to look presentable and I can't have you interfere with my look!"

"Oh, shut up, you!" Euphemia said as she patted down any wrinkles her overly nervous son had created on his shirt. "You look lovely. They won't think any different than I do."

"I don't want to look lovely, Mum!" James waved his arms around widely, barely missing his mother's head. "I want to look handsome and manly and grown-up, not lovely!"

"Stop whining now and watch out where you're throwing your limbs, honey."

The black-haired wizard scowled at his mirror image. He didn't like it. He didn't like how he looked, he didn't like how nervous he was and he didn't like that that good-for-nothing mutt Sirius just wandered through the hallway and caught a glimpse of him in his current stressful situation.

"Bloody hell, Prongs, you're not ready yet? You've been in this room for the last hour at the very least!" Sirius smirked, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Well, obviously I'm not ready yet, you idiot."

"Well, obviously you should be because Lily will be here in about ten minutes."

James froze and gaped at his laughing friend before freaking out. Forgotten was the top button of his shirt, forgotten was his hair that was sticking out even more than usual, forgotten were his shoes, as he jumped over his discarded clothes that were covering the floor around the mirror and dashed to the door.

"James, your shoes!" His mother yelled after him and he skittered to a halt in the slippery hallway, nearly slipped and fell onto his bum, and hurried back into his bedroom. A stray arm hit Sirius square in the chest as he pushed his way past him, grabbed his shoes that his mum was thankfully offering him and ran back into the hallway, just as a house-elf popped into existence right next to him.

James yelped, slipped and landed on his bum.

"Tilly is sorry, Master James, sir. Tilly didn't want to make Master James trip and fall, sir."

Ignoring Sirius' barking laughter, James picked himself up off the floor and tried to straighten his clothes as much as possible.

"It's quite alright, Tilly. You didn't mean to, after all." He threw a dark glare towards his friend, who had doubled over with laughter.

His mother came bustling out of his room, took in the sight in front of her and shook her head. "Really, boys, you two need to calm down. And look at you!" She hurried towards her son and began patting dust off of his bum.

"Stop it, woman!" James cried out and tried to hide his bottom from his overwhelming mum.

All the while, Sirius had started to cry, his face beet red, gasping for air and the poor house-elf stood in front of them all, not daring to interrupt the display of familial affection.

Euphemia ignored the antics of her son, grabbed him by his elbow rather forcefully and swatted away at his trousers. "I won't have you meet Mr. and Mrs. Evans with your butt covered in dust, James. Tilly," she said as her son successfully managed to flee into a nearby bedroom, "what was it that you wanted?"

The elf blinked. His eyes widened as he remembered the reason that had caused all this chaos. "Tilly is so sorry, Mistress Potter, Ma'am! Tilly has come to tell Mistress and Masters that Lily Evans is waiting in the reception area. She is wanting to talk to Master James, Ma'am."

"Well, will you look at that," James' mum grinned excitedly and ran both hands over the front of her robes. "James!"

The messy haired and slightly pale wizard poked his head out of the spare bedroom. His eyes widened almost dramatically as he watched his mother point towards the staircase and move towards it. "I will greet your girlfriend now. You should be doing that, but I don't know if you... There we go."

She smirked mischievously at the shoes still lying on the floor as her son raced past her and down the staircase.

*~*Jily*~*

James skittered to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, just barely grabbing onto the banister to keep himself from toppling over.

His breath got caught in his throat as he saw her. She was as beautiful as she had been that very first day he had laid eyes on her on the Hogwarts Express nearly seven years ago. If anything, she got more beautiful with every day. Her bright red hair was braided at the back of her head and was resting over her left shoulder, showing off her long and slender neck perfectly. Her pale skin was glowing in the setting sun, her green eyes travelled over everything she could see, just like the first time she had been here. A silent look of awe passed her stunning face, as she watched the portraits of his ancestors that were hanging in the hall smile, wink and wave at her.

"Hi, flower," he said and strolled down the last couple of steps. He tried to look as cool and chilled as he could, wanting to impress her even now. Sirius kept laughing at him for acting that way and not even Remus' comment that he managed to get her to go out with him kept him from trying to woo her further.

"Hey," she smiled widely and encircled her arms gently around his neck as he bent down and hugged her tightly. "I missed you," she whispered into his ear.

James allowed himself to feel the butterflies do somersaults in his stomach as a grin as wide as hers spread over his face. "I missed you too," he said, turned his head slightly and lightly pressed his lips onto hers.

The kiss was soft, her lips moving gently against his; nothing passionate or wild, but slow and loving. It was a kiss that kept his breath away and left him aching for more.

"Are you ready to go?" Leaning back slightly, she looked up at him. Her cheeks were of a soft pink colour, making her eyes shine even more.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he said and took a deep breath to calm his sudden nerves. He could do this! If Mr. and Mrs. Evans could produce someone as loving and gentle as Lily, they had to be amazing people, and, to be frank, deep down he couldn't wait to meet them. "Let's go."

Checking whether he had his wand in his back pocket, he took Lily's hand and started towards the front doors, just as his girlfriend started giggling.

"What?" His confused hazel eyes met her amused green ones.

"I didn't know you wanted to go without shoes," she commented as if it was a totally logical thing to be doing.

James blinked and looked at his feet. Shite.

Laughter from one storey above told him his so-called family had known all along...

*~*Jily*~*

The sun was setting at the end of the street as they popped into existence. The neighbourhood was quiet. A few lone strollers could be seen in the distance, a few people sat on their porches, enjoying a glass of wine.

James looked around. The houses looked relatively similar and were of a comfortable size; obviously not as big as the Manor was, but not too small either. At first, he had been worried that he might be too tall for Lily's home, but he soon realized that that fear was completely ridiculous.

Lily took his hand and gently pulled him towards a soft cream coloured house. Its front garden had a ton of colourful flower blooming, the grass at either side of the flower beds swaying softly in the warm evening breeze. Lily pushed open the gate and led him over a cobbled path towards the front door. There was a white rocking chair sitting next to a huge flower pot. He liked this house already.

"You ready?" She asked in a low voice and let go of his hand to search for something that was hiding inside her small bag he had not noticed until now.

James gulped and nodded hesitantly. He didn't trust his voice to not squeak if he tried to answer her properly, so he merely smiled at her and hoped it looked reassuring.

Lily squeezed his hand tightly for a second and turned the keys inside the lock. The door swung open.

"Mum? Dad?" she yelled as they stepped over the threshold. "We're home."

Bustling could be heard from what James reckoned was the kitchen, pots being shifted around, plates being clanked together. Soon after, a woman wearing a bright yellow apron came rushing into the small hallway. Her brown hair was pulled back at the back of her head; her ponytail swishing from side to side as she came towards them. Her cheeks were flushed and an expectant smile was lighting up her pretty face. Her eyes had the same breath-taking colour as Lily's.

"You must be James," she said, hurried over to them and immediately drew the taken-aback wizard into a warm hug. Lily stifled a giggle as her boyfriend awkwardly wrapped his arms around her overwhelming mother. "I've heard so much about you!"

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Evans," he said and gave her his most charming smile. He knew it had done its job as Mrs. Evans turned around and beamed at her daughter.

"Oh, none of that, my dear. Please call me Grace. Richard? Come and greet our guest!"

A man with short, ginger hair came into the hallway. His hands were buried inside the pockets of his jeans, his brows were furrowed over his eyes. James swallowed and quickly glanced over to Lily, who merely rolled her eyes at her father.

"So, you're James then?"

James smiled nervously. He didn't like how this started. He hadn't even had the chance to talk to Lily's dad and already he despised him. Feeling insecure all of a sudden, he wipes his slightly trembling hands on his trousers. They've gone kind of sweaty.

Watching Lily and Mrs. Eva-, Grace's, annoyed and exasperated faces, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Remus' echoed in his mind.

"It is a tradition to make the daughter's boyfriend feel like shit, so prepare yourself."

"Yeah, mate," Sirius had yelled and ruffled his hair as he had gaped at Remus' innocent face. "Muggles might not curse you, but they are certainly creative enough to come up with something equally frightening!"

Getting a hold of his Gryffindor courage, he took a step forward and offered his hand to the upset-looking father. "Nice to meet you, sir. I'm James Potter, Lily's boyfriend."

Grace and Lily exchanged a look which he couldn't interpret, as Lily's father had just started to move. James forced himself not to flinch as he watched the man's hand twitch and quickly grasp his own, squeezing it tightly. A big smile spread over his face as he shook James' hand.

"Nice to meet you, son. I see you have courage. I like that."

James felt himself exhale sharply, causing everybody to start laughing.

"That was mean, Richard," Grace shook her head and slapped her husband against his shoulder.

He chuckled. "I just couldn't help myself. You're much more fun than that Vernon person we had to meet a few months ago. That's Lily's sister Petunia's boyfriend, mind you. That big oaf began sputtering about how amazing he is and about how he was about to get promoted from selling drills to talking about drills." Richard threw his head back and laughed full-heartedly.

James grinned along, having no idea what Mr. Evans had just said.

"Come on, then," Grace clapped her hands together. "Let's start dinner, shall we?"

As she and her husband made their way through the small hallway into what James thought had to be the kitchen, the bespectacled wizard turned around and hissed, "What are drills?"

Lily laughed aloud, shook her head and followed her parents into the kitchen.


I hope you liked it!

As always, please leave a comment. I love reading and answering them.

Word count: 2134

Until next time - see ya!