Camping
Lily is coerced into going on a weekend camping trip with the boys after graduation. Naturally, chaos ensues.
Chapter One: Camping?
Lily looked absolutely gob smacked when she heard the word that came out of James Potter's mouth. She shook her head, convinced she had heard him incorrectly and kindly asked that he repeat himself for the sake of her sanity.
He obliged, grinning. "Camping."
Much to her horror, the word had remained very much the same as the first time that she heard it. Unsure of how she was supposed to respond to his giddy behavior and spouting off of the word "camping," Lily bit her lip in confusion.
"Oh, don't look at me that way, Love. It'll be fun. Just the five of us. You can bring along a mate, if you'd like."
Just the five of us? Bring along a mate? Camping?
Over his shoulder, Lily could see the three other boys shifting nervously from foot to foot, obviously waiting for her approval.
She looked from the nervous boys in the background to James' brilliant smile. She groaned inwardly. How on Earth was she supposed to say no now?
Sighing and shrugging her shoulders, Lily uttered a quick, "I guess so."
Before giving her a huge hug, James turned towards his mates, much like a five year old, and gave them thumbs up. The boys began high-fiving each other, congratulating themselves on their win.
They were going camping. Just the five of them. Of course, Lily could bring along a mate, if she liked.
Thankfully, Lily had little time to think much about the camping trip that was to take place only a week after graduation. She was too preoccupied with her sister's wedding plans, her NEWTs, and, among other things, the fact that in a few short weeks she would be out of school and unemployed.
"That's why you need to come, Lily," Sirius had urged her, "to get your mind off everything! It'll be a great way to start off the rest of our lives!"
Lily had rolled her eyes, but accepted it as a feasible distraction.
The final weeks of school had passed, and Lily soon found herself sitting for hours in her old bedroom thinking of the school, and the people, she had left behind. Sirius was right. She did need a distraction, and when James Potter showed up at her house in the early hours of the morning to cart her off to the middle of no where, she couldn't have been more pleased with her decision.
Waving goodbye to her reluctant parents ("You're the only girl?" "Well, I can invite a mate, if I want to,"), and her apathetic sister ("I hope you get eaten by a bear."), Lily quickly followed James into the green flames in her parents' fireplace, shouting out her destination.
Landing with a flump on a carpet baring an intricate design, Lily began to dust herself, and her belongings, off. She looked around at the excited faces staring at her.
"Alright, there, Lily?" Peter asked, his grin widening even more, if it was possible. She nodded her head and smiled back.
"I see you've got a sleeping bag, then. I was going to offer to let you share with me," Sirius teased with a wink, ignoring the daggers James glared in his direction.
"No, no. I'm perfectly alright. And besides, if I wanted to share, I'd have invited a mate." Sirius about died at the mental image of Lily and one of her friends sharing a sleeping bag, but was kept from saying anything as Remus had spoken up.
"Good to see you. Summer treating you well?"
Lily shrugged, eyeing the large pile of stuff in the corning of the room. "Are we taking all of that?" She asked skeptically.
James nodded. "We secured the equipment from my mum and dad, Pete's parents sent us some food, and of course, we have some alcohol ("Hey! It's a necessity!") from Sirius,"
Lily's eyes laughed as she rolled them in Sirius' direction. "Of course it is, Black."
"You lot ready to get going?" Remus asked. "I'm about starved and I figure we better get camp set up before we go out and catch some fish."
"You? You are going to catch fish?" Lily asked incredulously.
"Yes, Evans. I am. And then we're going to eat them!"
Lily laughed. "Oh, Remus. I can just imagine you in those ridiculous hip-waders my dad wears."
James replied, "Well, you won't have to imagine it soon. Let's get going!"
It took them each several trips apparating to their camping spot and back to the Potter house to finally have all of their belongings at the camp site.
After a few pained minutes of watching James and Sirius struggle with the tent, Lily finally brought herself to ask the question that was burning on the tip of her tongue, "Have either of you actually used this thing before?"
James cursed under his breath and Sirius just smiled at her, no doubt trying to charm her out of her discomfort with the situation.
"'Course, Love" James said. "We just. Well, we weren't quite in the proper state of mind when we took it down last. We can't find all of the pieces."
"Ah…" Lily decided it was in her best interest to leave the two alone with the tent and wondered over to where Remus and Peter were huddled around a tackle box, each holding a fishing pole.
"Watch it, Moony. I like having two eyes, thanks," Lily heard Peter snap as she approached them.
"Well, if you'd hold still then I won't have gotten the hook so close to your eye,"
"Hello, boys," Lily said, stepping in before the argument came to blows.
They both grunted by way of hello before Remus handed her a fishing pole. "We need your dainty hands."
Lily stared at him, her eyebrows raised. "And why would that be?" she asked, looking at the pole. He handed her a hook.
"Peter won't hold still and I can't get the damn hook tied into my line."
"Hence your dainty fingers," Peter added helpfully.
After several very frustrating tries, Lily had successfully tied hooks onto all five of the fishing poles.
"You really saved us there, Lily," Peter said, gesturing to the poles. "I mean, that's really the only reason we brought you along."
"That, and so that you could do all of the woman's work."
Lily laughed. "It's camping. I didn't think there was any woman's work in camping?"
Remus shrugged. "Don't worry, we'll find you something to do." He winked playfully at her. "How're those buffoons doing with the tent?"
Lily snorted. "They lost pieces, last I heard."
Peter and Remus looked at each other before they burst into laughter. "Last time we used this thing, we were fifteen and Mr. and Mrs. Potter had to leave in the middle of the night and forgot to take the fire whiskey with them."
"Yeah, that sounds about like something that would happen to you blokes," Lily said, nodded her head. "Reckon we should go try to help them?"
She gazed over in the direction that her boyfriend and his idiotic best friend were currently fighting with the vast canvas tent, which was acting as a giant green sail in the wind, pulling away from them and ripping the small stakes they had set into the ground just moments before back out.
It was all rather humorous, until, of course, she had to actually help them.
"I need a stick."
"Are we talking a twig or a tree branch, James? I need a little something more than 'stick,'" Lily said, exasperated. It was at least the tenth vague command he'd made during the entire tent ordeal.
"A big one," he said, "Taller than Sirius." As an after thought he called after her retreating back, "And make sure it's relatively straight. It's got to hold up the roof!"
Lily stood with her hands on her hips, staring at the three sticks, all relatively straight and, she was almost positive, taller than Sirius. They were pretty similar, being sticks, and all, but which one was the right one? She wasn't really looking forward to lugging, or even levitating, three sticks back out to the clearing where James was setting up the tent.
Closing her eyes, Lily spun in a circle twice and then pointed at random, hoping that she was pointing at one of the sticks. She cracked open one of her eye lids, and was instantly pleased with herself. She had picked the middle stick, which she was almost positive was the best of the three, anyway.
Just was she was about to retrieve the chosen stick from the line of three, she heard laughter behind her. Turning, she saw all four boys staring at her with bemused looks on their faces. James, however, found it utterly hilarious, and couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping his lips.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing, Love?"
"I'm picking a stick!" Lily said, haughtily. "What do you think I'm doing?"
"I don't know. Some kind of weird little jig? What was with the spinning?" Sirius asked, his grin growing as the blush spread up her neck and finally, onto her cheeks.
"Oh hush, you lot. I couldn't decide which stick to take." she glared at him.
"And, what did you decide?" Peter asked, still clearly amused with the situation.
"The middle one."
"What's that, Love, we couldn't hear you," James said, snickering with his friends.
"Oh, you lot think you're bloody hilarious! Just remember, I'm out here doing my stupid little jig to find a stick because you were too drunk to remember all the pieces to your tent!"
This sent the boys over the edge, and Lily couldn't help but smile as they looked at each other and accepted their defeat before laughing.
"And, because you're so rude, one of you gets to carry my stick back to camp."
After some more bickering from Sirius and James, and a few off color comments ("Is that a stick, or are you happy to see me, Prongs?"), the tent was set up.
It was a little bit lopsided, mostly due to the stick substituting for the actual rod that belonged with the tent, but it was standing and fully secured to the ground, which was all Lily really could have hoped for, all things considered.
Gingerly, Lily unzipped the door to the tent and folded it back. She knew that she shouldn't have been surprised with what she saw inside. She should have learned her lesson years ago that in the magical world, things were rarely what they seemed to be.
The first room in the tent was a sort of common room area. Lily saw her big stick propping up the ceiling in an area over by an old, ratty sofa. Not only was there a sitting area, but also a small kitchenette, and Lily remembered seeing a chimney coming out of the room when she first approached the lopsided tent. There was a small, round kitchen table set off one side of the door, and a large, old fashion wood burning stove ("For heat, and cooking," James informed her).
Not entirely surprised, Lily found another room attached to the main living area. This room had no furniture in it, save for a cot that Remus had brought along with him ("I may be a werewolf, but I have standards."). Instead, there were four sleeping bags littered haphazardly on the floor of the tent, which, Lily noted as she walked into the room, had some kind of cushioning charm.
"Nice work, boys," She said, still slightly awestruck by the whole tent. "I can't believe it's so bloody huge," she added.
James slung his arm around her shoulders. "What, did you think we were going to go out into the woods with nothing? What do muggles do when they go camping?"
Lily stared at him for a moment before answering. "I'll tell you one thing, they don't take living room sets and kitchenettes with them."
After a quick lunch consisting of turkey sandwiches and potato chips, the five packed up their fishing gear, and of course a case of butterbeer to go fishing in the nearby lake.
The path leading from the clearing, where the tent was set up, to the lake was only wide enough for them to walk single file, and Sirius could barely fit through some of the more narrow spots lugging the thing of butterbeer.
Lily, with a beach towel hung over one shoulder, and a fishing pole leaning on the other, hummed to herself as they walked for about five minutes in relative silence before she could finally see the lake stretching out before them.
"That's beautiful," She observed.
Peter, who was walking behind her, nearly crashed into her when she stopped suddenly. Slightly agitated, he responded, "Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of water."
Lily chose to ignore him and continued walking along, watching where she placed her feet, not wanting to trip as James had when they first started following the trail.
Reaching the beach, she laid her towel out evenly on the sandy earth, kicked off her shoes and followed the others to the edge of the water, where Remus was putting fat, wiggling worms onto each of their hooks.
Lily wrinkled her nose when he did hers and muttered a gracious, "Thanks."
Soon, she was standing knee deep in the cool water, squishing the sandy bottom of the lake between her toes. She chatted quietly with James, who stood beside her, about his lousy fishing techniques, as she had already caught one and he hadn't had so much as a nibble.
"You're moving it too fast! The fish don't want to run out of breath chasing after it. And besides, they know it's not normal for a worm to move that fast."
"I don't think fish can run out of breath, Lily. And they don't know. They're fish. They're brains are the size of a pea."
Ignoring his rebuttal, Lily continued on, "And besides, I used to go fishing with my grandpa."
"Ah, that's right. He probably invented fishing, yeah?"
Lily smacked him on the arm, but laughed all the same. "Yeah, I'm sure he did."
Splash
Lily, who had been trying to make out her toes in the sandy bottom of the lake, looked up quickly, using her free hand to shield her eyes from the sun.
"Oh, shit." James said, laughing. "I think Sirius just dunked Moony."
Squinting, all Lily could see in the blinding glare off the surface of the water was Sirius treading water out ahead of her and James, large ripples heading her way, and a very wet, very irate Remus.
Peter, who took the brunt of the splash, was treading water along side Sirius. Lily couldn't hear what they were saying, but she was sure that they were trying to figure out the fastest way to escape from Remus.
"He looks pissed," Lily giggled. "I think he might kill them both."
"Nah, just Sirius. Peter was an innocent bystander, I think."
Lily nodded and watched as Sirius swam away and Remus chased after him. As soon as his feet could reach the bottom, he took off in a slow motion run, the only kind of running you can do in water.
Lily shrieked with laughter when Sirius ran past, nearly tripping and drenching both her and James, with Remus close behind. She turned, looking for Peter. When she spotted him, he was a struggling to keep the three fishing poles in his hands from tangling together with a look of utmost concentration.
"Hold this,"
Lily took the pole from him and watched as he went to save Peter from the tangled fishing line. She was soon distracted by barking, though, and turned to watch a large black dog bound into the water, splashing her once again.
Remus followed, shouting, "That's not fair! You bloody well know I can't compete with that." He shook his fist in mock anger before coming to rest beside Lily. "I hope he drowns, you know," he said nonchalantly, while he swung his arm around her shoulders.
Lily, swaying slightly under the weight and still balancing two fishing poles rolled her eyes and replied, "I doubt that."
"Yeah, you're right. But he did stuff my head under water when I wasn't paying attention. Nearly killed me, you know."
By this time, Sirius was back on shore, and back as a human, and walking back out to where Lily and Remus stood. He reached them just before Peter and James returned with the newly untangled poles.
James began doling them out. "Nice going, Padfoot," he said, handing him his pole. "You put on quite a show, swimming laps around us while we're trying to undo your damage."
Laughing, Sirius said, "You know me, mate. Anything for a laugh."
Lounging on her beach towel, Lily stretched out and felt the sun warm her. She sighed contentedly and closed her eyes against the harsh, golden light.
"I don't suppose you'd fancy a swim?"
Lily cracked open an eye. "I'm tanning, James."
"You don't tan. You'll burn and peel and then be just as pale as ever."
"Hey! I'll have more freckles. They're not pale."
"What do you say, huh? Got a swim suit on under those clothes?"
Sitting up, Lily considered for a second. "Where are the others?"
"Goofing off somewhere. "James smirked, "Why? Don't you have a swim suit on after all?"
"No!" Lily exclaimed. "I mean, yes, I do have one on. That's not why I was asking."
"Oh. Planning on snogging me senseless, then?"
Lily shrugged. "Maybe." James sat down next to her in the sand, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, and looked out at the lake.
"James?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks for making me come with you." Lily sat up and scooted closer to him. "I haven't thought about anything off limits all day."
Before leaving, James had presented Lily with a list of appropriate and inappropriate things to think about while on vacation. The first thing on the inappropriate list had been "School/Work/Lack Thereof." Lily had laughed when she saw the list, and she appreciated the efforts that he went through to make sure she'd have a good time on their trip.
"I didn't make you come," James said indignantly.
"Oh, yes you did!"
"How? What did I do to make you come?"
"You know what you did!" Lily said, laughing. "You got your friends to stand behind you all anxious and scared, and you had that stupid smile on your face. How was I supposed to say no to that?"
James shrugged his shoulders and smirked. Not even trying to deny it anymore, he said, "Yeah, we are pretty good, aren't we?"
"What was the big deal, anyway? Why was it so important for me to come?"
Lily, who heard shouting somewhere in the woods behind them, and then a dog barking, abandoned her unanswered question and asked, "What are they up to?"
"I'm not concerned. When it gets quiet, that's when we need to worry."
"Ah, I see."
"Now, let's get back to that idea about snogging me senseless. I was quite intrigued, you know."
Lily laughed and shoved him slightly, but decided to oblige him anyway. "What about it?"
"I was thinking I might like to give that a whirl."
A/N: I have been playing with this idea for a while, and I had most of this chapter written even before I started "Truth Be Told." And, I'll admit, the reason I decided to cut the last chapter of that in half is because I was a little preoccupied with fixing this up to make it worthy of public viewing. Let me know what you think!