Chapter 1 - The Party

A/N: This story is dedicated to the memory of Cam DeVore, a lover of travel and fun. Sequel to Right Place, Wrong Time.

"Mary, this isn't funny!" Lily Evans whined. "Can you take the blindfold off now, please?"

"For the last time, no!" Mary MacDonald said with a laugh. "We're almost there!"

"This is bollocks," Lily grumbled, before gasping at the feel of wet grass between her toes.

Mary undid the blindfold and a banner proclaiming "CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATE!" stampeded into view. Her entire extended family (save her sister, Petunia, who was on her honeymoon) was sitting on a table laid with food in the middle of her streamer-covered backyard. "Congratulations!" everyone shouted, echoing the banner's sentiments. Lily found herself being steered to a place in between her mother and her good friend, James Potter, and a plate of cake was set in front of her.

Her father clanked his fork against a glass and everyone fell silent. "To my darling daughter," he started, and Lily and Mary nudged each other under the table. Mark Evans was known for his famously corny speeches. "When the letter first arrived for you, I thought that someone was playing a joke on you. But lo and behold, you were even more special than we could ever know. And since you left for Hogwarts, you have grown and blossomed from my darling little Lilypetal to the beautiful, intelligent, wonderful woman that you are today." James nudged Lily's foot with his under the table, and she nudged back, waiting for the speech to end. "On the eve of your graduation, your mother and I just want to say that we are so proud of you, and that we love you very, very much. To Lily!"

"Lily!" everyone echoed, smiling, and Lily sighed with relief, taking a bite of the most delicious cake she had ever eaten. Holy Merlin, she thought, as the flavors exploded on her tongue.

"Presents!" Mary yelled, interrupting Lily's moment with her cake. "Open mine first!" Lily opened it to find a gigantic box of Chocolate Frogs and a book titled You Made it Out of Hogwarts Alive…Now What? Even as she laughed at the title, Lily could feel her throat close up. Hogwarts was her home, and had been for seven years. She couldn't imagine a life without it.

James, noticing her distress, pushed a box over to her. "Here, open mine," he urged. Lily opened the small box and found a delicate silver charm bracelet resting on a bed of cotton. On it were three charms: a book, a tiny lily blossom, and a miniscule hourglass. Lily giggled, recognizing the Timeturner.

"It's not a real Timeturner, is it?" she asked nervously, and James shook his head, laughing. Lily still hadn't forgotten the time that she and James had accidentally time-traveled into the future and met their future son. "Thank you!" she squealed as she leaned across the table to hug him. Had she had more than a split second after pulling away and having an envelope stuffed into her hands, she would've noticed the pink flush creeping up his face, but she was too distracted by the check she had taken from the envelope. "1,000 pounds?" she shrieked, and her parents nodded, smiling. "Oh, my God! Thank you!" she shrieked again, throwing her arms around them.

"What's a pound?" James whispered to Mary.

"Muggle money, I think," she whispered back, but the end of her statement was drowned out by an even louder shriek.

"Two open-ended plane tickets?" Lily had opened the last envelope, this one from her grandparents.

"One for you, and one for Mary," her grandmother said with a smile. "Your grandfather and I believe that young people should see the world before they settle down." Lily smiled in spite of herself. Despite her grandmother's up-to-date views about young people, she still wasn't comfortable enough to tell Lily she could take James along. Her smile broadened when James held up an identical envelope and winked.

"My grandparents got them for me too," he said. "Apparently back in their day, wizards would travel around the world and see other cultures before 'settling down', as your grandmother puts it."

"How did your grandparents know about planes?" Lily asked incredulously. "Aren't you pureblood?"

"Search me," James agreed, shrugging. "But we're going around the world! I was going to invite you, but you got tickets." His face lit up. "Hey! Now I can invite-"

"Please, please don't say Sirius," Lily moaned. As if on cue, the dark-haired boy appeared behind her with a loud crack!

"Lilyflower!" he bellowed, grabbing her by the waist. Lily screamed and James roared with laughter, but was silenced quickly by a glare. Lily was waylaid by a great-aunt, leaving James and Sirius to do that manly bump-hug thing and for James to invite Sirius on the trip, which was accepted with a mighty shout of "Hell yes!" James grinned, but he was watching Lily talk to her great-aunt. After their sojourn into the future, they were no longer mortal enemies and had even gone on a couple of dates, but Lily had never shown any further interest. James knew that they would end up married, but how were they supposed to get married if Lily didn't act like she wanted to? James constantly tried to remind himself that he should be happy with their friendship, but then he would always be distracted by a thought where her hand had brushed against his, or the way she brushed her hair back from her face when she studied, or the smile she had just given him when she'd opened his present, and he would feel his heart drop into his stomach.

"Prongs," Sirius said, interrupting James' internal monologue. "You're making that face again." James did look slightly glazed, a face that Sirius had taken to calling the "Lilyface", because it meant he was thinking about either Lily or something that had to do with Lily.

"Yeah, sure, I'll talk to your mum about that," James said absently, spotting her standing on the darkening lawn with a drink in her hand.

Lily heard James crunching through the grass before she saw him next to her. "Hey," she said with a smile. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Not as much as you, apparently," James quipped. "Is that alcohol I see in your hand?"

Lily burst into laughter. "James, this is an orange soda." When James still looked blank, she gave him a sip.

"Holy Merlin – fizzy!" James exclaimed, which just made Lily laugh harder.

"I love my bracelet," she said when her laughter had died down. "Thank you."

"It was nothing," James replied. "I'm glad you like it."

"I'm so excited for this trip," she gushed. "It'll be nice to travel the normal way, you know?"

"Yeah," James said. "Think we can make it without running into Sirius' time-traveling daughter or something?"

"I hope so," Lily said with a laugh. "The four of us should meet tomorrow to decide where we want to go. Not here, though. Petunia gets back and I want to be as far from her as possible."

"We can go to my house," James offered. "I live in Godric's Hollow." He scribbled the address on a spare bit of parchment and handed it to her.

He started to say something else, but was cut off by a loud "Oi! Prongs! Let's go, already!"

"Such a nice boy," Lily muttered. "Here's to avoiding insanity." She drained her glass. "C'mon, I'll walk you to the door."