Chapter two: Summer!
"James! Hurry up! Your parents are over there with mine and they're waving like lunatics, hurry up before I die of embarrassment!" Lily said, her face starting to turn a reddish tint.
"Just a sec Lils" James said, continuing his conversation with a cute blonde fifth year, clearly not fazed by his parents embarrassing antics.
"Ugh!" Lily said with a huff. She then proceeded to take James' hand and pull him towards his parents. She continued pulling until she felt James move slightly, and then, she watched as he tripped over his trunk, and pulled her down with him.
Everyone on the platform saw their "graceful" performance, and nearly everyone was laughing. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that at that moment Sirius Black, James' best friend, decided to walk over to the graceful duo, and pour water from a bottle he was holding, on to them.
Now this act did not bode well with Lily, she and Sirius didn't get along that well under normal circumstances, but this just pushed her over the edge.
"SIRIUS BLACK YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!" Lily roared at the top of her lungs. She jumped up from her fallen state and ran after Sirius. The whole situation wouldn't have been so bad if Lily hadn't been wearing a white shirt, but she was, and it was now see through, everyone at Kings Cross Station could see her pink polka dotted bra, and this made Lily see red. She probably would have caught up with Sirius and castrated him if James hadn't grabbed her and carried her kicking and screaming over to their parents.
"Well hello there silly Lily!" Lily's dad said with a chuckle.
"James! Put me down put me down! Lily yelled, banging her fists on James' back.
"I'm working on it Lil's! If you'd just stop squirming you'd be on the ground!" James said with amusement.
"Thank you!" Lily said with a huff. "Hi mom, hey dad." She said, hugging her parents.
James hugged his parents as well, and the two families left the train station. When they were all piled into the car, Mr. Potter said with a laugh,
"Well it seems you two made quite the scene"
"It was all Lily's fault!" James said, mock accusingly.
"Well if you just came with me like I wanted you to we could've skipped the whole fiasco!" Lily retorted.
"You're just jealous that I was talking to Kim Shaws instead of you!" James shot back
"That's her name? Well her boobs are bigger than her head!" Lily said, her voice getting louder
"So? What's wrong with that?" James asked loudly
"Nothing, if you like a pea brain!" Lily retorted
"Alright, Alright! Stop it, both of you! Why don't we blame it on Sirius?" Lily's mom suggested with a chuckle.
"Yeah, alright" James and Lily said together. It was their joke to blame everything on Sirius whether or not he was at fault.
"So do you kids have a lot of homework this summer?" Mrs. Potter asked.
"Nope none at all." James said with a smirk.
"You are such a liar James! We have a transfiguration essay, two potions essays, a charms essay, a Defense against the dark arts practical, and we have to plot the summer stars for the last week of July." Lily responded enthusiastically.
"Lillleyyy!" James whined. "Why did you have to tell them about our homework? Now they'll be on our cases to do it this week!"
"Really James, do you think we would have believed that you had absolutely no homework? What do you takes us for; fools?" James' mom asked.
"Yep" James said under his breath. Lily rolled her eyes.
When they finally arrived home, they set the table and brought out food for their annual picnic. Normally Petunia would've joined them, but she'd moved out of the Evans' house and into her boyfriend Vernon Dursley's flat in London.
The week that Lily and James came home seemed to never end at least it seemed that way for James. His mother was constantly nagging him to do his homework, and it didn't help that Lily came over multiple times during the day to ask Mrs. Potter questions about different potions. Anna Potter graduated number one in her class in potions, and had been a potions researcher for different medical cures before she had James.
"James! Enough is enough! Go up to your room right now and start your essays! Lily, dear, would you go up with him and make sure he actually does it?" Anna asked Lily one rainy afternoon. James had been sitting around the kitchen, eating everything he could find, sulking because it was pouring and he couldn't play quidditch, not that he had anyone to play quidditch with; Sirius wasn't staying with them this summer because he had bought a flat of his own. James had tried to convince his parents to let him stay with Sirius, but they had flat out refused, saying that James was immature, Sirius was immature, and together they were the most idiotic, insensible duo to ever walk the planet. That was a blow to James' ego.
"Sure Anna." Lily responded. "Come on sulky, let's go write those essays." Lily took James by the hand and half dragged him up the stairs.
Surprisingly, James was very diligent and hard working once he was forced to be that way. In school most things came naturally to him and everything that didn't, he considered unimportant.
The two had been working in compatible silence for a good hour and a half before James started snickering.
"What's so funny Potter?" Lily asked, slightly annoyed that James had taken her out of her "homework zone".
"Oh nothing, just something I was thinking about." James said, starting to chuckle again.
"Well now you have to tell me!" Lily said with a hint of a whine to her voice.
"No really, it's nothing." James said, his gaze turning back towards his potions book.
"Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you are a part of one." Lily said in a sing song voice.
"Lily! It's really nothing, it was stupid okay?" James said loudly.
"James! We're best friends, just tell me already!" Lily said even louder than James did.
"Fine, I was thinking that if you were my homework, I'd be doing you!" James then burst into fits of laughter. Lily raised an eyebrow at him but then started to laugh.
"That's actually pretty funny."
"Yeah it is." James replied
"How much have you done?" Lily asked.
"I've still got the second potions essay left and the astronomy homework, but we can't do that for two weeks anyway, Thank Merlin!" James said with a laugh.
"That's not too bad. Okay, here I'll help you finish your potions essay and then maybe we can go to the brook, it's always fun in the rain." Lily said with a smile.
"Yes! Something to look forward to!" James gave a triumphant yelp.
"Slow down there cowboy, you've still got a foot long essay to write." Lily replied.
It took James 35 minutes to write his potion's essay with Lily's help, and Lily helped him a lot.
"All done!" James said proudly. Now can we go to the brook? Please?" He added as an afterthought.
"Yeah, I'm gonna run home and get my bathing suit, I'll meet you outside in five okay?"
"Yep."
Five minutes later, James and Lily met outside. It was still pouring so neither bothered to bring towels or extra clothes. James was clad only in a Hawaiian style bathing suit, and Lily was wearing a dark green bikini. The two ran towards the brook, which was located about a hundred feet from James' house. When they were little they used to play in the brook everyday, searching for fish.
"Hey James! Crayfish ahhh!" Lily said with a laugh as she splashed around in the brook.
"Remember when we used to pretend the crayfish were sharks?" James asked, laughing as he splashed Lily.
"How could I forget that?" Lily asked, still laughing.
The rain already soaked through the two, but they continued to splash each other relentlessly. They would have stayed at the brook getting soaked for hours, but there was a loud clap of thunder and a flash of lightning.
"We've got to get back to the house!" James yelled, taking Lily by the hand and pulling her towards his house.
"Man, I hate thunderstorms!" Lily said as she and James ran towards the shelter of his house.
"Yeah I figured that." James said with a smirk.
"Uh huh, oh and if this storm doesn't give out before I go to sleep, you're going to have to make room." Lily said with a laugh as they reached the Potter's door and stepped inside.
"Yeah? Well mum said that the weather is supposed to stay bad. Hey, mom! Lily's sleeping over tonight." James told his mom as the two soaking teenagers entered the kitchen.
"Oh right, there's a thunderstorm" Anna said. "Go get dry you two! I'll call the Evans and let them know Lily's staying here. Lily, you know where the towels are you can borrow some of James' clothes, dinner will be ready in 15 minutes, shoe!" Anna said to Lily and James. The two teenagers ran up the stairs and into separate bathrooms. Fifteen minutes later, Lily came downstairs wearing one of James' t-shirts and a pair of James' boxers. They were actually both old articles of clothing, ones that were considered Lily's because she used them whenever she was sleeping at the Potter's house.
"Alright, dinner." Anna called.
Lily entered the kitchen and saw James already sitting. She took a seat across from him, and a few seconds later David Potter sat at the head of the table. Anna followed moments later, sitting on the opposite side of David.
"Well, dig in!" Anna said as she spooned some mashed potatoes onto her plate.
After dinner, Lily and James played wizards chess and James won, he always won. Lily was starting to wonder why she even bothered playing the ruddy game with him if she never even had a chance at winning.
"Man it's getting late." James said glancing at his watch. The time read 11:45 PM, and when James pushed a button on the side, the watch lit up and said in a monotone, "The time is 11:45, you should be in bed".
"Well, what the watch says goes." Lily said with a shrug.
"Hmm. Come on, I'll give you a piggy back ride." James said with a smile. Lily grinned and climbed on James' back, squealing in delight. Their dads used to give them piggyback rides to bed, but they'd both stopped when Lily and James had been accepted to Hogwarts. He carried her up the stairs and dropped her unceremoniously on his bed.
"Ugh you're heavy!" James said with a laugh.
"Well you were the one who offered to give me a piggy back ride." Lily said, slightly offended.
"I was just kidding, you're light as a feather, actually lighter than a feather, if you were any lighter you'd just float off the ground and into the sky never to be seen again…" James trailed off.
Lily grinned. "First you insult me and then you tell me I'm going to drift away? Geeze this hasn't been a good night for me has it?" She finished with a chuckle.
"Nah, I guess not. I suppose it's let's abuse Lily day." James said with a smirk.
"Well next time tell me so I can stay home, kay?" Lily told James.
"Will do. Alright let's go to sleep!" James pulled back the blankets on his bed and climbed under the covers. Lily followed suit and rested her head on James' chest.
"Night Lils." James whispered and kissed her on the head.
"Night Jimbo." Lily said with a smile as her eyes fluttered closed.
----------------------------------------Two weeks later---------------------------------
"James, you do realize it's July 30th and we haven't done our star charts yet…" Lily said nervously.
"Oh crap!" James replied, bringing his hand to his forehead. The two had become absorbed in the summer fun surrounding them and had completely forgotten about their astronomy assignment. As long as they went out tonight it would be fine, they could BS the other few nights and Professor Sinistra wouldn't have a clue, it wasn't like she'd actually look at their charts anyway…
"Yeah. Well we've got to do the charts but where can we go that's up high, I mean we don't have an astronomy tower." Lily said, biting her lips as she tried to think of someplace for them to go.
"We might not have an astronomy tower, but we do have a tree house…" James face lit up and he smirked.
"Oh that's a great idea! And it'll be even nicer than the astronomy tower." Lily said gleefully, and James snickered.
"What's so funny? And please just tell me this time it's so immature when you just snicker like a little kid!" Lily complained.
"Astronomy tower! That's what's funny!" James replied, still laughing.
"Care to share why?" Lily asked, narrowing her eyes at her best friend.
"Because that's where couples go to hook up!" James responded still laughing.
"What! No they don't and even if they did it's not that funny." Lily responded, rolling her eyes at James.
"Yes they do, at least Sirius does, and it is funny, if it wasn't funny then I wouldn't be laughing." James answered.
Lily shook her head. "You know, I don't think I'll ever understand your humor Potter… oh well."
The rest of the day was spent collecting everything they'd need for their star charts. They decided they'd camp out in the tree house for the night. At eight thirty the two walked over to the tree house each carrying a sleeping bag, pillow, star chart, water, and snacks.
After they climbed to the top of the tree house, James said, "It's a lot smaller than I remember it…"
"Yeah, well that's because we're bigger now." Lily responded playfully.
"Err… Lily, I think we're going to have a problem…" James said apprehensively.
"What, is it going to rain?" Lily asked worriedly.
"No, it's just that I'm not going to fit… I'm too long!" James responded. He was right, the floor was a little less than six feet by six feet and James was exactly six foot.
"Oh," Lily said, releasing a sigh of relief, "well you can sleep on the diagonal then you'll fit." She said practically.
"But what about you?" James asked.
"I'll curl up next to you, I'm not that big, don't worry about me." Lily said with a smile.
The two set up their sleeping bags and laid on their backs staring at the stars, holding their star charts.
"Look there's Sirius!" James said with excitement.
"Where? I'm gonna kill that kid!" Lily said, sitting up abruptly.
"The star dimwit, not the person." James said, rolling his eyes as he watched Lily relax.
"Oh, well that's okay then…" she said with a grin.
The two continued filling in their star charts until they were completely finished.
"Thank goodness we're done, hopefully Professor Sinistra won't notice that we BSed most of it…" Lily said with a giggle.
"Yeah well whatever it's a stupid class anyway I mean who needs the stars right?" James said.
"Well I happen to like astronomy." Lily said defending the class.
"Yeah, well you like all your classes." James said with a smirk.
"Yeah, I do don't I?"
They continued to talk until Lily spotted a shooting star.
"Ooh! James look! It's a shooting star I've never seen one before."
"Yeah wow! You know what they say about shooting stars?"
"Nope, what do they say?" Lily asked.
"That you've got to kiss someone right after you see one so that you'll have good luck for a year."
"I could use the luck." Lily said with a grin.
"Me too." James responded.
"Well you know the only practical thing for us to do would be to kiss." Lily responded.
James' head moved closer to hers, and his hands held her face, softly, his lips connected with hers and moved softly over them, releasing her lips quickly.
He had felt an electric shock go through him, something he hadn't ever felt before, and he'd kissed quite a few girls. Lily was having similar thoughts, it hadn't been the same as any of her other kisses, and it was different than all the kisses James had ever given her, and there had been a few. When they were little, they would play "married" and Lily would put on a white sundress, and James would put on a top hat and they'd get Petunia to marry them. They'd kiss in this game, but they hadn't played that game since they were ten.
"Well I guess we'll have good luck from now on." Lily said breaking the silence, unfortunately, she couldn't draw her eyes away from James' mouth. It entranced her, and she wanted to feel his soft feathery lips on hers again, even though she knew she shouldn't feel that way about her best friend.
James cleared his throat, "Yeah, we'll have loads of luck."
Lily stared at his lips for a moment longer before deciding to do something that could either make or break her friendship with James. She kissed him. It wasn't a soft peck like he'd given her, but a passion filled kiss, and James was taken by surprise, but moments later, he joined her, his tongue stroking her lips, asking for entrance. She granted it, allowing his tongue to explore her mouth, and hers doing the same to him. James rolled them over so that he was on top of Lily, his hands on her hips, hers in his hair. When they finally broke away, they were both panting hard. Neither said anything, but they both knew that they'd talk about it in the morning. It was time to sleep.
They woke with the sun the next morning, both exhausted and uncomfortable from sleeping in a tree house. They didn't say anything to each other as they walked back to their houses, Each tried to say something a few times on the way back, but always stopped themselves.
They bid each other goodbye awkwardly and went to their separate houses. That day, they didn't have a chance to talk about what happened, if they had really tried, they probably could have made time, but both were avoiding each other. That day, James' parents decided that James could stay at Sirius' flat for the rest of the summer because Remus would be there to make sure that Sirius and James didn't do anything stupid. The next day, Lily was invited to her friend Kate's house for the remainder of the summer. Lily and James didn't see each other again until September first on the Hogwarts Express.
A/N: Well what did you think? I want to thank everyone who reviewed, and tell me if you want me to respond to your reviews, I only can if they're signed but tell me if you want me to. Someone asked about McGonagal being their teacher, well she'd be about 40 when the marauders and Lily are in school because (I read this online some where) she's 70 something, and the marauder era people are in their late thirties.
Okay please read and review! I love knowing what you think and constructive criticism is always welcome
Kristin
