Could it be love?
Chapter One
The beginning
"What the --!" I stared in horror at my best friend's mother.
"I said that James Potter is going to be staying the summer with you" Magnolia looked surprised. It was rare for her daughter's best-friend Lily Evans to be anything but polite.
"What do you mean with us!"
"What I mean is that James Potter, is going to be staying in the same house, eating the same food, and hanging out with you, for the rest of the summer." Magnolia stated this slowly as if I were five.
Let me explain. My friend Ellie's parents were -besides being filthy rich- going away to Italy, and Ellie had invited me to spend the summer with her at their summer house...correction; summer Mansion. I was looking forward to enjoying a fun summer catching some waves/rays (there's a lake right by the house), hanging out with my friends, and just generally having a great time! It certainly beat going with my parents, to visit our relatives. All of which delighted in torturing me with the same questions they had asked last year: "Is there a special boy?" accompanied by a wink and a knowing look, "Have you lost weight?" along with a full-body inspection, "Are you eating enough?" accompanied by another full-body inspection, etc, etc. I was glad to have escaped all that. At least until I heard the news that James Potter was going to be spending the summer in the same house as me. I now wasn't so sure about how great this summer was going to be.
Just then my friend Ellie walked in. Taking one look at my face she exclaimed "Oh no. You've told her haven't you."
"Told her what?" Magnolia asked.
"Told her that Potter is going to be spending the summer with us. I warned you not to tell her until we were there. Now she'll never go!"
"Really.. I think you're over reacting. James is a perfectly nice, young, gentleman! Plus, he's bringing a couple of his own friends, so it's not like you're going to have to entertain him!" Magnolia sounded as if we're being un-reasonable. Believe me, we weren't!
"Potter is bringing friends! Potter is bringing friends? I'm not going to survive this! At the end of the summer, all that'll be left of me is a lock of hair!" I collapsed on the sofa with a groan.
See, Potter and his friends are the biggest prats ever. They call themselves the "Marauders" (I mean really, have you heard of a stupider name?), and delight in making my life miserable. The Marauders are famous for their jokes and pranks, almost all of which have been targeted at me. Ever since in Third Year I turned down Potter when he asked me out, they've made it their life's mission to prank me. And still Potter has the nerve to keep asking me out! Unfortunately the rest of the world is not under the impression the Marauders are prats, bullies, and show-offs. In fact, Potter and his best friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew are the most popular boys in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They constantly have a group of giggling girls following them wherever they go. I'll admit that Potter, Black, and Lupin are rather good-looking –Pettigrew's only popular because the rest of the Marauders are popular-, but why doesn't anyone else but me see through them!
After much reassuring from Ellie, that Potter was in no way going to ruin -or enter- our summer, her mother and father summoned us for the Rules-of-the-House.
"Rule # 1 Don't maim, ruin, or graffiti the house. We don't mind minor changes, but no tearing down the house." Ellie's father gave us a mock-stern look. "Rule # 2 If you have a party, there better be no empty beer bottles when we come back. Everything has to be cleaned up. Rule # 3 Apply sunscreen when you leave the house! It's very easy to get skin-cancer!"
Ellie and I rolled our eyes at each other.
"Rule # 4 You have to have at least two meals, outings, or an hour in the company of James." I groaned.
"I'm serious, you have to check in with James. He's a good boy. Just try doing something with him. Plus I need you to look out for each other. Rule # 5 Be responsible. And Rule #6 Have fun!" Ellie and I cheered.
"Oh yes; Do not think we've forgotten the no-boyfriend rule! We've already talked to James, and he has promised us, that he will make sure that nothing inappropriate goes on between you and any boys that you invite to sleep over!"
Ellie and I exchanged a look of exasperated disbelief. I knew we were thinking the same outraged thoughts: Potter was going to be monitoring us? Now way was that going to happen.
An hour later Ellie and I were on our own. We ate a quick lunch, double-checked to make sure we didn't forget anything, and took a port-key (I told you Ellie's parents were rich) to Ellie's summerhouse. My first reaction was amazement. The house is HUGE! It's painted white, with a wrap-around porch, four stories, and ivy growing up its walls. In back is the swimming pool and hot tub inserted into the deck (the hot-tub not the swimming pool, I mean). Next to the house is a lake with a little beach area and dock. There are woods a couple yards from the swimming pool, and Ellie told me that there are some great hiking trails there. The rest of the house is surrounded by short, manicured looking, green grass.
"Come on! What are you waiting for!" Ellie yelled and started running up the front steps. I raced to catch up with her.
The inside is nicely, but simply done, with bright yellows, lime-greens, and purples. It's quite a shock actually.
"You and I can share a room, or we can have separate rooms. I thought you'd prefer sharing so I put another bed in my room."
"Sounds great!"
Ellie's room is also HUGE! It's three times the size of my -quite large- living room at home. It's done in a grape-fruit/coral color, has a huge bathroom, closet and a few posters covered the walls. Ellie loves posters and pins them at her regular home, at her dorm-room in Hogwarts, anywhere else she can get away with it. This room had a couple posters of U2 (Ellie and my favorite band), Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman and various other stars and bands. She also had a picture of her dog, which was staying with a friend for the summer.
"Like it?"
"Love it!"
We went down to the kitchen and I immediately spotted Potter sitting at the table. He was busy stuffing his face with a sandwich twice the size of his head, so he only waved a few fingers at us, before going back to eating his sandwich. I gave him a glare that he didn't see. Ellie gave me a nudge.
"Like something to drink?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, whadya have?" I walked to the refrigerator and opened the door. While Ellie's family is a pureblooded wizarding family, they're very open minded about muggles and often use muggle artifacts such as refrigerators, TV, etc.
"Lily, while you're at it, would you mind getting me some lemonade? I'm parched." Potter asked.
"Yes I would mind! Get your own lemonade!" I snapped.
"Whooaa! No need to get angry! All I asked was if you could pour me some lemonade. Is that a crime, Lily?"
"Yes it is! And since when do you call me "Lily"? I was under the--"
"Hey calm down, both of you!" Ellie cut in. "We've just gotten here and already you two are fighting! Can we please try and get along this summer?"
Yeah right... Get along with James Potter? Impossible.