The first two weeks of summer passed uneventfully. I had gotten permission from my mum to go to the beach with the Marauders.

Seeing as how I had never been to this beach, I was going to meet James at the Leaky Cauldron at eleven, and he would then take me there by Side-Along Apparition.

It all went fine. I got there on time and noticed James was already there. He was sitting at the bar, talking to Tom, the barman. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue swimming trunks. His hair was as unruly as ever, and there were sandals on his feet.

The moment I saw him, my stomach did a small flip. It was then, seeing him in that moment, that I realized how much I had missed him.

Wait. Missing James? Was that right? Yes, I thought. Of course that's right. We're friends, now! It is completely normal for friends to miss each other after two weeks apart. Or that's what I told myself, anyway. I tried desperately to hold myself together and not let myself think that my feelings for him were not just platonic.

Yes, that's right. I had been contemplating - or trying not to contemplate, rather - having feelings for James Potter. Two weeks without your best, most handsome friend can do that to a girl, I guess.

I walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. His face broke out in a lop-sided grin as he turned to look at me. Oh, how I had missed that grin. "Hey," he said, and he gave me a small hug. Aaaah!

"Hi," I smiled back, trying to contain my nerves.

He took in my yellow cover-up dress, flip-flops, braided red hair, and beach bag. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah!" I told him.

"Alright."

We stepped over to the designated Apparition place in the corner, and I stood awkwardly for a moment, eyeing him. Should I grab his hand? Should I take his arm? I had to come in contact with some part of him. I hadn't thought that through clearly until that very moment. James, very cool and collected as per usual, took my hand in his and began to turn.

The split-second it took for my mind to register the fact that he was touching me was enough for me to feel a shoot of something that could only be described as electricity in my hand. In fact, as my body squeezed into what seemed like a miniscule pipe, my hand in his was the only thing I could think about for a whole two seconds until I felt my feet land in soft, thick sand.

I opened my eyes and looked around. The ocean was in front of me, stretching out in a vast and beautiful unknown. The bluish-green waves were pounding against the tan sand. The sky was the prettiest of blues and there were large cumulonimbus clouds scattered here and there.

James let go of my hand - all to soon in my opinion - and began to walk down towards the ocean to our right. He gestured for me to follow, and I noticed the five people relaxing there.

I recognized Sirius, Remus, and Peter immediately and smiled as they turned to look at us. There was another man and woman with them who I didn't recognize, but before I could ask, I was being pulled into a bear hug from Sirius.

"Lily!" he shouted, a bit over-enthusiastic.

"Oomph." I stumbled back a bit before patting him awkwardly on the back and saying somewhat exasperatedly, "Hi, Sirius."

He let me go and gave me a grin. I turned to give a softer hug to Remus as Sirius walked back towards the others with James. We smiled as we broke apart. "How are you doing, Remus?"

"I'm all right," he answered with a small smile and shrug. "Full moon was two nights ago, so I'm feeling fine now."

"Good. So you'll be able to goof off today."

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess so." He looked out to the water where Sirius and Peter were already fooling around.

"Hey, Peter!" I called, waving.

"Hi, Lily!" he yelled back.

Remus gave me a parting smile then ran for the water.

I turned back to the mess of beach towels and three picnic baskets - yes, that's right. Count them. Three. I dropped my bag down to my feet and looked over at James who had removed his shirt and sandals. I tried hard not to stare at his sun-kissed skin as he began introducing me to the couple sitting on the ground.

"Lily, these are my parents," he said.

I looked down at them and put on my best smile. "Hi! It's nice to finally meet you!" I had seen James' parents on platform nine and three-quarters before but had never spoken to them.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter were a fairly old couple - in their late sixties, at least. Mr. Potter had graying hair, but it was curly and messy like his son's. He had brown eyes that were warm and inviting but at the same time a bit mischievous. He held a smile on his face as he put his hand out to greet me.

"And you, Lily. We've heard a lot about you." His eyes moved towards James, and we both blushed and averted our eyes as he said, "You didn't do her justice, son."

"Alex," Mrs. Potter admonished him quietly.

"What?" Her husband looked at her. "I can't embarrass my son in front of the girl he's fancied for three years?" He smirked. It reminded me of James' smirk.

"Wow!" James piped up. "Um, thanks, Dad. Why don't you go get in the water?"

Mr. Potter shrugged and got up, running to meet the waves.

James and Mrs. Potter sighed simultaneously after he had gone. The latter turned her kind, hazel eyes on me and said, "Hello, Lily. My name is Elaine. I'm sorry for my husband. He's a child." She smiled as she said this. In fact, she didn't stop smiling, even though it was small. It was as if her lips were naturally pulled up at the corners, as if the muscles in her face were completely relaxed. I couldn't help but smile back. This reminded me more of James than any smirk Mr. Potter made could've done.

"Yeah, just ignore him," James said with an eye roll. "Anyway, you coming, Lily?" He pointed towards the lot in the ocean with his thumb and smiled.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there in a second."

I threw off my shoes and dress and, with a quick wave to Mrs. Potter, ran to the water.

We played around for a while, splashing and dunking one another. Sirius even grabbed me by the legs at one point and lifted me off my feet. He began to let go and threw me back into the water, making me scream.

After a little over an hour, Mrs. Potter called us all in to eat lunch. She had packed many sandwiches, strawberries, bananas, chips, and crisps. There was also water and pumpkin juice.

We all ate our fair share and sat around talking about our holiday. I told James about Vernon, Petunia's fiancé, and how Petunia wouldn't shut up about him or the plans for their fast-approaching wedding. He told me about adventures with this mates and how they had gone to see a Muggle film last week.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched him tell me all about it - the way he used his hands to talk, even though he was holding a sandwich in one; the way he smiled and laughed as he related a joke; the way his eyes lit up when he mentioned something amusing. It was quite nice having an excuse for staring at him.

We stayed at the beach for another few hours until Mr. and Mrs. Potter said they had had their fill and began to walk up some stone steps towards a large manor.

"It looks like it might rain soon, kids, so don't stay out too long, alright?" Mrs. Potter called.

Once the couple had gone, I looked over at James. "Where are they going?"

"Home," he said as if it were obvious.

I looked back towards the manor, putting two and two together. "That's your home?"

"Yeah," he shrugged.

Of course, I thought. Of course he ruddy lives in a mansion.

We stayed out for another ten minutes or so before it began to rain. It was only a light drizzle at first, but by the time we had gathered all our things and run up the steps and down the path to the Potters' home, it was a downpour. Luckily, we were already wet from playing in the ocean, so this didn't upset us much.

We came to the back of the manor and went through the French doors there. We were in a large room with beige walls and wooden floors. There were two brown couches and a large leather recliner. The walls and floor were covered with artwork, sculptures, and plants.

As soon as she heard the doors open, Mrs. Potter came from the left through a white door with towels in her arms. "Here. Use these to dry off some before stepping onto the carpet."

We each took a towel and began drying ourselves off. After they finished, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, ran towards the front doors across the room only to turn left and sprint up the stairs. James followed at a steadier pace. I, however, took my time crossing the room, looking at all of the decoration and taking everything in. Mrs. Potter obviously had great taste in furniture and décor.

"You coming, Lily?" James asked, bringing me back into reality. He was already at the foot of the stairs. "Come on. I want to show you something."

I followed him up the abnormally large staircase and down a hall to the left. The floors upstairs were carpeted an off-white color. The hall was long, and we passed many rooms. I could hear the lads hanging about in a room at the other end of the hallway.

We stopped just before two large wooden doors at the very end. I looked over at James, who was watching me with a smile on his face. "Lily," he said dramatically, putting his hand on the doors and pushing them up open, "I present to you… the library."

I felt my mouth drop as I took a tentative step into the enormous room. The walls were covered with thousands of books, and there were high windows that rose a full two stories. My eyes were wide, and I could see James grinning like a loon out of the corner of my eye, watching me. I smiled and looked up at him. "It's beautiful."

I spent the next few minutes looking through the bookshelves. I hadn't gotten very far and had recognized only two of the books when James spoke up. "You probably haven't heard of many of those. I think you'll like these of here." And he pointed across the room.

I followed him over and began looking through them, only to find that I recognized almost every single one. They were Muggle books. Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, and Jane Austen. There were many more, including some poetry. I pulled out Pride & Prejudice, my favorite book, and held it gingerly. It was in pristine condition - like it had never been read before, which, come to think of it, was probably true. I knew there was no way I could ever read all the books in that library.

"You can borrow that if you like," James offered.

I smiled and shook my head, "I already own this one." I put it back and pulled out another - Emma. "But I will take this one."

We walked back down the hall where I thought we would find Sirius, Remus, and Peter, but they weren't there. James kept walking to the end of the hall and turned left up a staircase. To the third floor. His house had three floors.

At the top of the stairs was a large room. It had many couches, trunks, and little things spread all over. James and I went to sit down next to the rest of the Marauders. We sat and chat for a couple more hours before it was time for me to go home.

I thanked Mr. and Mrs. Potter profusely for allowing me to spend the day at their home and said goodbye to the boys. James walked me out to his front porch where I would be Disapparating.

"I had a fantastic time today," I told him truthfully.

"Me too," he said with a smile, running his hand through his hair. "I'm glad you had fun."

"I did. And thanks for the book. I'll return it the next time I see you." I brought this up in hopes that he would offer to do something together soon, but he didn't catch the hint.

"Yeah, okay," he said, completely oblivious. "I'll see you."

"Okay. Bye." I gave him a parting wave as I Disapparated.

A/N: Thank you to my readers and reviewers. You are lovely. This is my first fan fiction, so don't judge too harshly. I hope you liked it, and I'll try to update soon. This story won't be too long. Just a few chapters, but I have a couple of ideas so… we'll see how it turns out.

Anyway, please review if you'd like. Don't feel obligated, but I would appreciate it. J

-M