A/N: Hi again guys! I can't tell you how exciting it was to open my email and find all these fanfic alerts from people who have favourite my story! I'm also extremely grateful to my first reviewer, Megaaan D! Well..technically you're my 5th reviewer, counting the other four who reviewed the first upload of my story...but still! THANK YOU! =D
There isn't a lot of Lily/James in this chapter, but I promise there will be in the next one. As always, if you have any suggestions, let me know!
Also, I realise that I forgot to put a disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter 1 so here is my disclaimer for the whole story:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, buildings or organisations created by J.K. Rowling (who is absolutely fantastic, by the way) and do not take credit for how amazing the world of Harry Potter is.
Previously: '... As they walked away Lily called, "Bye Jamie!" in a sing-song voice. James simply poked his tongue out at her receding form, rather childishly. Watching James' reaction to Lily and thinking back to the conversation he had been in with the girls just before, Remus chuckled, "Oh boy..."
"What?" James said. Remus just shook his head, still smirking, "nothing mate, let's get to the others."'
Just Think About It
"Finally!" Mikaela moaned. Lily laughed and hugged her, "Sorry guys! I really didn't think it would take so long...well, who really expected Mrs. P to give us such 'FABULOUS NEWS'" she said sarcastically. They all laughed as they remembered how excited Mrs. Potter looked even though the rest of them had looked far from happy at the news she had shared.
"Oh well, at least we can be sure that there won't ever be a boring moment this summer!" Kirra-lee said as the laughter died down. Mikaela snorted, "you can say that for sure." Suddenly Alice jumped on Mikaela yelling "SURPRISE TACKLE HUG!" The laughter started up again as Mikaela gasped in shock and tried to balance as Alice held on tight. "What on earth Alice?" "Oh come on Miki-ki-ki! We're about to start the BEST SUMMER EVER, we won't let those boys get in the way of our fun will we?" said Alice. "You know she's right" Lily said, ever the reasonable one. Mikaela smiled, "Yeah, I know", adjusting Alice's position on her back she said, "We have the whole summer ahead of us. Now, LET'S GO SHOPPING!" "ONWARD!" Alice yelled, pointing ahead of them as if Mikaela were her noble steed. As they rushed ahead Lily shook her head and looked at Kirra, "They're so crazy." "You have to admit that it makes things exciting. Even if I'm not as crazy as they are, they make me feel like I'm a spontaneous person. It's fun!" Kirra-lee replied. Just then, they heard Mikaela say, "...Ali? Did you seriously call me Miki-ki-ki?" Lily and Kirra-lee chuckled before following them.
Mikaela's parents had allowed them to make a trip to Diagon Alley before they returned to the summer house, a sort of 'celebratory shopping trip'. Lily wasn't quite sure how going shopping really celebrated their completion of Sixth Year. When Lily had voiced this thought to Mikaela, Mikaela had chuckled and said, "It's like celebrating that summer is here, as well as our finishing our second last year of schooling! We'll get swimsuits and whatnot..." Lily had looked at her sceptically, eyebrow raised, until Mikaela finally relented. "Yes, it's also just an excuse to go shopping." Lily smiled at the memory, looking up as her friends stopped at the large black door which would lead them to The Leaky Cauldron.
Once they had entered the small pub, Mikaela turned to them and said "Do you guys want to stop and get some butterbeer and some food maybe?" The others agreed and they went and sat down. This may have seemed spontaneous but, unbeknownst to Lily, Mikaela had an ulterior motive for stopping. Exactly as Mikaela had anticipated, Lily had offered to take everyone's orders. Once Lily was at the counter, out of earshot, Mikaela leaned forward and spoke quickly and quietly to the others. "Okay, I do want to eat, but this is also part of that plan I was talking about. We need to, as subtly as possible, get Lils to tell us what she thinks about James. What she likes or doesn't like, what makes her annoyed with him, all that jazz. Got it?" Alice and Kirra-lee nodded. "Alright team here she comes, remember, subtlety is required. If she catches wind of what we're doing the plan will ruined."
They quickly straightened up and Mikaela casually let out a surprisingly natural peal of laughter. Alice and Kirra-lee quickly caught on and grinned, also laughing. "What's so funny everyone?" Lily asked. "We were just remembering how funny it was to watch you and James earlier today," Mikaela lied smoothly. The other two looked at her, impressed. Not only had she provided a cover story, she had segued into the topic of Lily and James without arousing Lily's suspicions.
Lily shook her head, "that boy annoys the living daylights out of me sometimes, honestly". Just as she said this, the waiter arrived with their food and butterbeer, effectively distracting Lily as Alice and Kirra-lee made bowing gestures towards Mikaela and Mikaela smiled smugly, exaggeratedly smoothing her hair in an "I'm-just-that-good" manner. As Lily turned back around they all pretended to be mighty interested in their food. After a few minutes of silent eating, Mikaela decided it was time to broach the subject again and lightly kicked Alice's foot, gesturing towards Lily with her eyes. Alice subtly nodded and cleared her throat, "So Lils, do you think you'll find it annoying to have James and the boys around for the whole summer?"
"Hmm.. I'm not sure really. I mean I tend to find him annoying in general so I don't think it will be particularly worse over the summer. I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Lily replied.
"You still find him annoying? You've known him since First Year! You know that's just what he's like" Kirra-lee said.
Lily sighed, "I know, yet somehow he still manages to find new ways to annoy me." "You mean like that time he made a huge spectacle out of that Seventh Year who asked you out on Valentine's Day last year?" Mikaela said. "Haha, yeah, when he used a spell to hang banners shaped like lovehearts everywhere with the guy's face on it with 'I love Lily Evans' underneath..." Kirra-lee sniggered before coughing as Lily looked at her, unimpressed. "Yes, Kirra. Exactly like that."
"So it annoys you when he pulls stunts like that?" Alice asked. "Of course it does Ali! Wouldn't you be annoyed too? He scared the poor guy off. He's constantly interfering in my life even though he has no right too. I can date whoever I want and I think I'm well and truly capable of making my own decisions" Lily exclaimed.
"Have you ever considered why James does things like that though?" Mikaela asked. "Of course, he thinks he knows better than I do what boys think. He wants to protect me, blahblahblah. He's told me all this before."
"Hmm. Maybe that's true, but maybe that's also a cover story" Alice said. Lily stared at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Really Lils? You can't think of any other reason a boy would want to stop another boy from dating a girl?" Kirra-lee asked. The three girls stared at Lily meaningfully and with that, they continued eating in silence, leaving Lily to ponder their words.
Meanwhile, at the boy's end, the boys had made it back to Mrs. Potter and they were now on their way home after having stopped at Florean Fortescue's for sundaes. Once they had all landed on the grass of the Potter's front lawn, Mrs. Potter put away the pocket watch she had used as a portkey and opened the front door for them. As they entered the foyer, they were greeted with a boisterous "HELLO BOYS!" James and Sirius rushed over to the man, crashing into him with their enthusiastic bear hug and exclaiming "DAD!" Remus and Peter simply watched from afar as the three wrestled on the ground, "I will never understand that" Peter said. Sirius had taken to calling Mr. Potter 'dad' after the Potter's had taken him. Following Sirius' renouncement of the Black family's allegiance to the Dark Lord Voldemort, Sirius' parents had disowned him, leaving him homeless and knutless without access to the Black family fortune. The Potter's very much considered Sirius a second son, in fact, they treated all of James' friends like family.
Mr. Potter stood up and hugged Remus, shaking Peter's hand, "How have you been Remus? Peter? It's good to see you both." "Hello sir, it's great to see you too. I hope you and Mrs. Potter have been well," Remus replied. "Now, now Remus, I've told you time and again, there's no need for formalities! You can call me James senior. You can even call me uncle! Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?" Mr. Potter grinned. Remus smiled back, "It sure does...sir". Mr. Potter laughed, "let's go ask mum for some supper then!"
As they walked through the foyer to the dining room, which was attached to the kitchen, they discovered Mrs. Potter just finishing off a Floo call.
"...Oh Marie, I so look forward to seeing you and Dorian again! Yes, we'll be there at 6 tonight. Bye now!"
Just as she ended the call, Mr. Potter caught her about the waist and swung her around, holding her tightly. Mrs. Potter squealed as she came face to face with her husband. "Busy making plans, as usual my sweet?" he asked. Mrs. Potter giggled and pecked him on the cheek, "you know me too well darling." She turned to the boys and said "We're having dinner with the Slaters boys, 6PM sharp! Run along and get ready dearests."
As Mr. and Mrs. Potter walked away, still flirting like teenagers, James pretended to gag but Sirius only smiled. It was one of the rare moments where the two weren't in sync with their emotions and reactions. While James had experienced this display of emotion his whole life, and had grown up without much thought for it; Sirius had grown up in a home where his parents never showed their affection publicly, not even to their children. So much so that Sirius had a hard time believing his parents felt true love for each other given that theirs had been an arranged marriage to maintain purity ad wealth in the bloodlines.
"One day lads, I want to be like that with a bird," Sirius remarked. James and Peter stared at him aghast, "you want to be like them one day?" James asked carefully. Remus patted Sirius on the back, looked at James seriously and said, "Well, don't you?"
Remus' words rang in James' ears as walked upstairs to his room to get dressed for dinner. Did he want that with someone one day?
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the girls had finally arrived at the Slater's summer house exhausted and all carrying at least two bags from their shopping spree. Lily, while not having completely forgotten the conversation she'd had with the girls earlier, had put the issue to the back of her mind for the moment. The shopping trip had been exactly what she needed, and it was more fun than she had expected. The girls had tried things on, just for fun, laughed a lot and talked about their plans for the summer. It had filled her with excitement and she was definitely looking forward to many more days like this with her girls throughout the break.
They had taken the Floo Network to get from Diagon Alley. As they each stepped through the fireplace, Mikaela yelled out "We're home!"
Mrs. Slater came bustling into the living room, immediately hugging and kissing Mikaela, before doing the same with Lily, Alice and Kirra-lee. Once they had all exchanged greetings, Mrs. Slater clapped her hands together and said, "You've perfect timing girls! It is four now and we'll be having dinner at six thirty. Now, we have guests tonight; Isabella, you know, James' mother, called earlier and I've invited them to eat with us. They'll be here at six. "
The girl's glanced at each other meaningfully – things were going exactly as they had expected once Mrs. Potter had broken the news.
"I'm ecstatic to see you all again girls, especially you darling," she hugged Mikaela again, "but you'll understand if I rush off to finish helping the house elves prepare for dinner won't you? It's busy, busy, busy around our household, as always," Mrs. Slater laughed thrillingly. "You girls had better go upstairs so you can unpack and get yourselves ready. Mikaela, it's on the third floor. See you in a few hours!" She waved goodbye and bustled off as quickly as she had come in.
"Well... that was... brief" Mikaela said, with a short burst of laughter. She looked at her friends, "she never stops, I swear. Anyway, I think you'll like what mum and dad have set up for us. I personally think it's the coolest thing ever but, you know, that's just me." They all laughed, "if you think it's cool, we'll probably think it's fabulous," Kirra-lee said.
Mikaela snapped her fingers and a house elf in a cute, white summer dress that had been shrunk to fit her tiny frame appeared. When she saw the girls, her eyes widened, her large ears perked up and her small mouth split into a smile, "Misses! The misses are home! What can Squeaky do for misses?"
The girls smiled affectionately at the elf. They had known Squeaky since Third Year, having met the Christmas break after the Slater's had saved Squeaky from a man the Ministry of Magic (where Mikaela's father worked) had apprehended in Nocturne Alley. The Ministry had found the man guilty of illegally freeing house elves from various households and then selling them off to other families for a profit. Worse than this, the man had mistreated the elves. Mr. Slater had come across Squeaky bruised, bloodied and with several broken bones and had taken pity on her. The Ministry had allowed him to take her home and she was now a much loved elf who came with the Slater's wherever they went.
"Hello Squeaky," they chorused. "Could you move our luggage to the common room on the Third Floor for us Squeaky? That would be fantastic," Mikaela said. "Of course Miss. Mika, Squeaky will do so right away!" and with a puff of smoke the little house elf disappeared with their bags.
"I still find it cute that she calls you Mika," Alice said. Mikaela rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, "this way all!"
The four girls trooped up two flights of stairs, laughing and chatting the whole way. As they reached the top floor Mikaela squealed with glee and ran forward, jumping on a bean bag and clutching onto a pillow, grinning at them. Bringing up the rear, Lily craned her head trying to see what was going on as Alice, who had been behind Mikaela, had stopped abruptly.
"Woah guys, what's going on?" Lily asked, only to receive silence. "Alice, moveee." Still nothing. "Kirra, can you tell Alice to move please," Lily tried once more, pushing Kirra-lee on the back slightly. Neither of them budged. Lily rolled her eyes, "oh for goodness' sake-" she pushed the two of them aside and made her way to the top of the stairs. Turning around without bothering to look at the room she glowered at her two friends, "Seriously guys, you had to stop right there? Just stop when you're on the floor..." She suddenly noticed that both of them were standing there, mouths agape, looking absolutely gobsmacked. She turned around and her jaw dropped.
As it turns out, the Third Floor was completely made for them. The top of the staircase lead to an open, rounded room. The floor was covered in a soft, cream carpet and was artfully decorated with bean bags and pillows which were situated in front of a large high-definition plasma television which was built into the wall. This wall also served as a bookcase, with a multitude of books surrounding the TV.
Walking forward slowly, Lily let her eyes wander further over the room. She hadn't noticed before, but at the back of the room there were four doors spaced equally apart in the curved wall. Each door was made of polished wood, painted white with gold linings and doorknobs. As she stood in front of the first door, the gold brass plate in the middle of the door shimmered and Alice's name appeared on it in cursive writing. Shocked at what this implied, Lily quickly walked to each of the doors and stood in front of them, confirming her suspicions.
She turned to Mikaela, who was currently grinning like the cat who'd got the canary. "Your parents..."
"Built you all your own rooms? And this floor for us to stay in whenever we want? Yes, that's exactly right." Mikaela finished for her.
By now, Kirra-lee and Alice had woken from their stupor and had been exploring the other side of the room.
"Lils, you'd love this book collection," Alice said.
"COOL! THERE'S A KITCHEN!" Kirra-lee exclaimed. She walked out eating a Chocolate Frog.
Suddenly they all heard a 'click-WHOOSH' and a whirring noise. They all turned to Alice who had taken down a book from the shelf. "My bad..." she said. Their gazes shifted to the bookshelf. The bookshelf had moved inwards and was now proceeding to swivel slowly. Once it had made a complete 180 degree turn it moved back into position. Now, what once had been a bookshelf was an entertainment centre, filled with DVD's and several gaming consoles. There were drawers full of gaming accessories.
"Mum and dad said if there's anything in particular we want we should ask the house elves." Mikaela noted.
"I can't believe your parents did all this for us Miki," Lily said, in awe of the room.
Mikaela shrugged, "You guys are family. It's only right that you have a place in our home. Even if this home is only temporary, haha."
Kirra-lee sniffed and said, "Way to make me all teary..."
"Come here you big dope" Mikaela said, gathering Kirra-lee in a hug. Alice and Lily joined in, "this is definitely the best summer ever" Alice said.
After a few moments, they broke away from their group hug. "So, what now?" Alice asked.
Lily checked her watch, "well, it's quarter to five now. That leaves us just over an hour to be ready for when the boys get here."
Mikaela nodded, "Right, then I say that we get settled in then get showered and dressed and meet up here, in the common room at about ten to." The girls agreed and went their separate ways.
Lily walked into her room, once again marvelling at how her name appeared on the door. Pulling on the handle, she entered the room and let her eyes take stock. It was decided. She was never going home again.
The room was exactly to her taste. She had a four poster bed, at the foot of which was a chest which she could keep her belongings. The wall on the opposite side of the room was made entirely of glass, allowing her to see the beautiful view of the beach not far from the house. The entire room was decorated in cream, white satin and gold trimmings giving off a nice summery vibe. On the side of the room facing the bed, to the left of the door, there was a cupboard with a full length mirror attached. When she opened it she found that all of her dresses had already been hung, her bags and shoes arranged neatly. There was an in-built set of drawers within the cupboard which contained her make-up, toiletries and some of her clothes.
Lily calmly shut the cupboard and turned around. Suddenly, her previously solemn face broke into a grin, walked to her bed and fell on it, sprawling herself on the cool satin sheets, "I love magic."
While Lily was enjoying her new room the rest of the girls were about to make contact with Remus about the plan. Once Mikaela was sure that Lily had gone into her room she had quietly retrieved Alice and Kirra-lee from their own rooms. They were currently writing a letter outlining the details of when they would meet the boys about what they liked to call Operation 'Make a Move, Lovebirds!" (or MAML, pronounced 'mammal', in code).
The girls had decided that their first group meeting should be held tonight, once dinner was over and the parents left the kids to their own devices. They would suggest a bonfire night out on the beach to celebrate their first night of freedom, and at some point they would leave Lily and James time to themselves either make them go for a walk or purposely leave them alone somewhere. The hope was that the ambient mood and their time alone would encourage them to talk and maybe begin to see each other in a new light. This way, Operation MAML wouldn't have to be too complicated. Furthermore, leaving the two alone would give both parties time to talk about their mission.
Once the letter was finished, Mikaela tied it to the leg of her tawny owl, Ezra, and sent it off to Remus. She turned to look at Alice and Kirra-lee, "And now we wait."