A/N Thankyou to all reviewers! Yay, people like it – Demeter, I'm interested to know what it was about my Sirius that you liked, or paused at, so I can keep on doing it. :o) Okay, look out for the L/J moments and I'll just say one thing. Remus rules. :o) You'll see why later.
Lazy Days
"This is ridiculous."
Lily refused to let herself be distracted. She was revising for her last O.W.L, the all important Charms practical, and wasn't going to rise to the bait. Undaunted, Arabella slammed her book on to the library table with enough force to make Madam Pince hiss like seven bubbling cauldrons.
"Arabella Figg, if I have to tell you one more time, you'll be out of here and in detention before you can say –"
"Ever so sorry, Madam Pince. I promise you that I'll -" Arabella's completely convincing delivery was always amusing to watch, but Lily forced herself to concentrate on the page in front of her. Fixing Charms, used to make other charms last for weeks on end were difficult to master, and she needed to remember the wand movements. Up, down, swish, tap. Then for all charms that lasted –
"This is ridiculous," Arabella repeated, this time in an exaggeratedly low voice. Lily sighed, and looked over the top of the book.
"What's ridiculous is trying to revise with you around," she said crossly. Her friend ignored her and continued talking.
"This is ridiculous."
"Alright, alright." Lily shut the book completely and put it to one side. "What's ridiculous?"
"That we're sitting in here revising when it's the sunniest day on record for twelve years and Dumbledore's organised a special picnic with entertainment to celebrate the end of exams!"
"But Arabella, exams haven't ended," Lily explained patiently. Much as she loved Arabella, the other witch tended to be rather dippy, albeit a lot of fun. Arabella would never let something so trifling as a Charms exam get in the way of what she really wanted to do, and sometimes Lily felt like strangling her for being so illogical. This was one of those times. "We've got the Charms Practical on Monday! It's Saturday."
If this statement had any impact, Arabella didn't show it. She merely stared at Lily, obviously waiting for something.
Finally Lily couldn't stand it any longer. "What?" she snapped, earning a stern look from Madam Pince.
"Are. We. Ever. Going. To. Stop. Revising?" said Arabella, very slowly, as though talking to somebody either very deaf or very stupid. Lily, who was neither, sighed heavily, and turned to look out of the window. The high-set windows in the library showed a tantalising square of deep blue sky, and in the distance Lily could see people zooming past on their brooms. Charlotte, her other best friend, was probably among them – she'd tried out for the Quidditch team on a dare last month and had somehow become a surprisingly good Keeper.
She turned back to Arabella, about to give her consent, only to find that Arabella had already stuffed her books into a bag and had started shoving Lily's belongings in there as well.
"Here you are, let's hurry, we don't want to miss too much," she said, beaming from ear to ear as she practically threw the bag at Lily on her way out of the library.
Lily had to admit, marking her place in the Charms book before joining Arabella in the corridor, it was a lovely day. That morning she'd woken especially early, everyone had, it was far too hot and sticky to sleep. Even Cooling Charms hadn't done much good – Sirius Black had, as a last resort, tried to use the Cooling Charm on himself. It hadn't been one of his more successful ideas, and his jaw-length black hair had been frozen upright for the best part of the morning. If that hadn't made the fifth-year Gryffindors' spirits high enough, despite the looming Charms exam, James had somehow managed to put a Cooling Charm on Sirius' broom. When Sirius had tried to prove to a sceptical Lily that he could do a perfect take-off from standing in the boy's dormitory he promptly slid off the broom backwards, shot though the open door, fell down the stairs and ended crumpled in a heap at the feet of Olivia Hempley, the prettiest girl in the school.
Needless to say, they'd all been very amused.
"Come on, Lily. It's gorgeous outside, and I think I heard Remus say something about Dumbledore hiring the Travelling Troupe – this could be my chance, they might really like me, I could be a proper actress –"
Nodding and offering her opinion in all the right places, Lily was content to let her friend babble on as they made their way outdoors. This had been a strange year for Lily in lots of ways. For a start, it had been her first year at Hogwarts without Matthew Figg. Matthew was Arabella's older brother, and Lily vividly remembered her entirely stupid three year long crush on him. For the longest time she'd convinced herself that she was in love with him, that he really wasn't all that bad – and then she'd finally seen the truth.
That she, Lily Evans, was shallow.
It was an awful thing to have to admit, but she really had been shallow. Lily knew, had always known, that Matthew wasn't very nice. His own sister said he was mean and ruthless – she'd chosen to ignore his personality, and had been bowled over by his looks. The incident that had brought about this change of feeling was cemented in her mind as a rather painful and humiliating experience.
It had been her fourth-year, and finally, finally Matthew had noticed her as something more than Arabella's friend.
"Hey, Lily," he'd said casually, running to catch up with her in the corridor. She'd been making her way to Arithmancy, and Charlotte had promised to meet her there.
"Hi," she managed to say in what she'd hoped was a devil-may-care, I'm-one-exciting-lady way while also implying that she was intelligent and studious.
"Here, let me take those for you," said Matthew, grabbing her books and gripping them loosely under his arm. That charming smile she'd seen directed so many times at the prettier Slytherins was now fully hers. Lily thought she might faint.
"Th-thanks," she said, stuttering like Timothy Quirrel. "Er..."
"I'm bothering you," he said, immediately apologetic. "I'm so sorry, I'll leave you alone..."
"No!" she almost shouted, and Matthew raised his eyebrows. "I mean...er...no, of course you aren't bothering me...it isn't every day someone carries my books for me, that's all..." she trailed off. An ugly look flashed across Matthew's eyes, though she had been certain at the time she'd imagined it.
"I can't imagine Potter or Black carrying books for anyone," he'd murmured, before turning on that famous smile once more. "Actually, I wanted to ask you a favour. Arabella's always saying how clever you are, and how she thinks it'll be criminal if you aren't Head Girl one day, or Minister of Magic..."
Lily giggled, somewhat nervously. Where was he going with this?
"...I, alas, am not so blessed. I've been a little stuck with my Potions project, and I heard that you excelled at Potions..."
Lily felt very flattered. She, a lowly fourth-year, being asked to help a seventh-year Prefect on his Potions project? It was unheard of, and a little voice in the back of her mind started whispering that maybe he just wanted some time alone with her...Lily suddenly realised that she was staring at Matthew in a very glazed and stupid looking manner. Shaking herself slightly, she beamed up at him.
"Yes, I'd love to. When d'you want to meet?"
"Would the library, after dinner this evening, be alright?" She nodded in affirmation, and Matthew winked at her. "Thanks again, Lily. You're a star."
With that, he left her by the door to the Arithmancy room.
Her head full of misty love songs, Lily barely touched her food at dinner, and then told the others that she was going to the library. Somehow she didn't think Arabella (or for that matter, any of the boys) would wholly approve of her helping Matthew. Unfortunately, Remus wanted to study with her.
"Sorry Remus, but I...er...I work best alone."
She wanted to give him a hug, he looked so hurt.
In the library it was heaven. So Lily ended up doing most of the actual work, so what? Matthew Figg was sitting next to her, Matthew Figg was making her laugh, Matthew Figg was complimenting her on everything from her hand-writing to her eyes. All good things must, however, come to an end and he stretched, arching his back like a large cat.
"Time for bed, I think."
"I might stay down here a little longer, if you don't mind – I think I could get it all finished."
"Lily, really –" he put his hand over hers. "There's no need. You've done so much already."
"It's no problem," she squeaked. "I'll bring it to you tomorrow."
"Thanks so much. 'Night."
Early the next morning Lily had spent special time preparing her hair and putting on a little make-up, before she made her way excitedly to the dungeon, where the seventh-years were meeting to hand in their projects. On the way down one of the corridors she'd heard him, heard his voice, and stopped to listen to him speak. She knew that she shouldn't, but she was still hoping, hope, hope, hoping that he'd say something about her.
He did.
"How on earth did you get yours finished, Matt? You were weeks behind..."
"I got my own personal little boffin working on it, didn't I?"
"Who?"
"That Lily Evans. You know, Bella's friend. Wouldn't say boo to a ghost, knew that she fancied me and so I got her wrapped round my little finger. Should've heard her last night, should've seen her gazing up at me – didn't take much to get her to do it all for me. Silly little bint. Just as stupid as that idiot Potter..."
And that was it.
Lily felt something inside her snap. Her first reaction was to cry, but she shouted it down. No, she burst out from the adjoining corridor and threw the project at his feet.
"I won't rip this up, because I don't want you to fail. But hear this, you slimy piece of Slytherin filth – don't ever,
ever insult my friends. James Potter is three times the man you'll ever be."She walked, half-ran away, knowing that angry tears were streaming down her cheeks and that they were all laughing at her.
She was crying because she'd been so shallow, and had been so blind, and because a tiny part of her heart was a little bit broken, after all.
That was the day Lily Evans forgot about Matthew Figg.
At least it had only been a schoolgirl crush. Within the space of a day Lily felt quite normal again, and had admitted the entire (decidedly un-sordid) affair to Charlotte and Arabella. They'd comforted her, Arabella had cursed a pair of Matthew's socks in vengeance, and it had all been over and done with. Lily herself had known, deep down, that it was only a crush. Not the real thing.
Which brought her nicely to the next strange happening.
James.
"So, you tried to revise with Arabella. No wonder you were only gone for an hour," said James, laughing, running his fingers through his damp hair. He'd landed roughly on the ground near Lily and Arabella. Now she could make out Charlotte, Sirius and the other Gryffindor players putting on an acrobatics display for those lounging on the ground. Peter seemed to be hanging on to the back of Charlotte's broom, for reasons she couldn't be bothered to fathom.
Arabella had disappeared for another one of her 'little chats' with Remus. The two had been having many of these 'little chats' lately, and, in the words of Sirius, the situation was completely abnormal. Over the top Arabella and logical, gentle Remus? Still, a close friendship, or at the very least a highly secretive friendship seemed to have evolved, and that had, indirectly, led Lily to James.
It had started one winter's evening. Arabella had been acting very strangely, finally excusing herself from dinner to go and visit Remus in the hospital wing. For some reason Sirius and Peter had hot-tailed it after her - Charlotte had been doing a detention with Professor Havers, and so Lily and James were left alone to eat.
In all her time at Hogwarts, Lily had never had James all to herself for any long period of time. He was so popular, always surrounded by other people, and in all these years they'd never sat down together, just the two of them. They'd had no reason to – although all the Gryffindors got on well, in the evenings they tended to separate into two groups.
Anyway, they'd started to talk, and they'd talked. And talked. And carried on talking all the way into the common all through the evening, and only stopped when Charlotte had pointed out the time and sloped off to bed, nearly falling asleep on the way. Lily, on the other hand, had been floating on air.
She'd never have thought, not in a million years that she'd like him so much. Everything he said was funny, or thought-provoking, or just plain nice – and then she'd started to notice other things about him, too.
The way his hair flopped over his eyes on one side, and how he was continually brushing it aside. The way his entire face came alive when he laughed, and his laugh – his laugh made her smile. The warmth she felt in her cheeks when he teased her, whereas before she'd never been bothered. Something her friends had noticed was the way Lily kept dropping his name into their conversations, and she made a mental note to stop doing that.
With a start, she realised she had a dreamy smile on her face and James was still waiting for some sort of response.
"An hour? It felt so much longer – she kept stopping me every five minutes to point out how blue the sky was, how warm the sun was, how we were missing out on the chance of a life-time – her words, not mine," Lily said as James laughed and the pair made their way over to where the others had sat down.
Despite her protests, Lily really had been looking forward to seeing the Travelling Troupe. They were a famous wizarding theatre company who only recruited the best actors and went on a world tour every summer. Sometimes they put on comedies, sometimes tragedies, sometimes even Muggle plays. Her parents had wondered at the fact that wizards didn't have televisions, but Lily assure them that the special effects one Sirius Black could produce were better than those in Muggle films – never mind a group of fully trained, experienced wizards.
She knew Charlotte would have got them a good spot – Arabella may have been desperate to audition for the Troupe but Charlotte was desperate to see her idol, Beau Regarder. Beau's smirking face adorned the girls' dormitory walls – Lily didn't like him very much, she thought he was a little too perfect to be very attractive. As she'd been told by Charlotte several million times, Beau had actually attended both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, transferring in his sixth year. He'd been in Slytherin – a fact Charlotte often chose to overlook – and that morning she'd filled the bathroom with water, in an uncharacteristic preening session.
"Sirius wants you," Lily said, noticing the dark haired boy waving wildly at James and then pointing at something.
"Yeah, he wants a good slapping," said James ruefully, pulling a face. "Look, I wanted to have a word with you, but it'll have to wait. We'll talk later, alright?"
Lily felt her heart beat faster – only because she was curious, certainly not because James Potter had his hand on her arm and was looking directly into her eyes.
"Alright," she breathed, watching him take off into the bright, sunny sky.
"Good spot, isn't it?" said Remus, sitting down next to her.
"Oh, yes, it's perfect," said Lily, coming back to earth with a bang. She dropped the book bag in a pile with everyone else's stuff and stretched out on the warm grass. "I could lie here all day...if I could forget about that Charms practical."
Remus grinned, and lay down, chewing a piece of grass. "Arabella said you were worried. Why, I have no idea – you're even better than Sirius, and that's saying something. He always learns lots of extra ones to help with his pranks..."
"His pranks!" Lily exclaimed, in mock-outrage. "You four are as thick as thieves, and you know it. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if most of the plans were tweaked to perfection by you, Mr Lupin."
"You wouldn't be far wrong there."
They lay on the grass in companionable silence for awhile, and Lily's thoughts turned once again to Boys. Boys with a capital letter, as in boyfriends. Just lately – just this year, in fact, everyone seemed more hormonally charged. So far in their little group only Sirius had actually 'stepped out' with anyone (Nicole Simms, blonde hair, very pretty, Hufflepuff – dumped within two weeks because 'it was getting too serious'), but love, and dating and kissing were all anyone ever seemed to talk or think about nowadays.
She knew that Arabella liked Jaspar Jordan, a Ravenclaw sixth-year, and could see her talking to him now. Wondering whether Remus had- er- feelings for Arabella, she called his attention to it.
"Look, Arabella's cornered Jaspar."
Remus craned his neck to get a better look, and snorted good-naturedly. "More like he's cornered her. Nah, Jaspar's alright. He helped James out with that new Quidditch move he's trying to perfect, let him play on the pitch even though Ravenclaw had booked it."
So, no apparent jealousy. Good. Good, because Lily had been keeping one little nugget of information to herself. Charlotte liked Remus. She wasn't sure how much, but she was certain that it was quite enough to rock the friendship boat if Arabella and Remus had been an official item.
It was also, in a way, bad, because now Lily had absolutely no idea as to why Remus and Arabella should be such good friends.
"Lily, what're you doing out here?" said Sirius, landing with a bounce, followed in quick succession by James, Charlotte and Peter. "I thought you vampires didn't like the sun," he teased, pulling one of her braids as he threw the broomstick to one side.
"Speaking of vampires," said Peter, raising his eyebrows. Severus Snape swept past the friends, sneering.
"If you need a draught of refreshing cold air, call Severus Snape. Available for birthdays and weddings, nasty demeanour included," said Sirius in a stupid voice, plonking himself down on the other side of Lily. James hit him with his broomstick.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Just because," said James.
As the boys started chatting about Quidditch, Charlotte dragged Lily to one side. "So?" she hissed excitedly.
"What?" said Lily, a little irritated. She'd been waiting for James to drag her off so he could tell her whatever it was that he needed to tell her. Maybe, just maybe, he'd want to visit Hogsmeade with her, just the two of them. They could go to the Three Broomsticks -
"Does he like her? Remus, I mean, does he like Arabella? Did he say anything about me? Do I look alright? Can you believe Beau Regarder is coming here?"
"Yes, but only as a friend, no, yes and I'm not sure that I want to believe it," said Lily truthfully. Charlotte looked a lot happier with the knowledge that she wasn't competing with her best friend for Remus' affections, and –
"Hello, pals and palettes. What a be-yoo-tiful day it is," said Arabella, twirling in between the boys, neatly side-stepping Sirius' attempt to trip her and sitting down gracefully by Charlotte.
"What's got into you?" asked Charlotte, exchanging a glance with Lily.
"Nothing. This just so happens to be the very best day of my very short life –"
"Why's that then?" interrupted Sirius, suddenly staring extremely hard at a small spider crawling over his hand.
"I wasn't talking to you, fluffball. I was talking to Charles and Lily, it's for their ears only," she reprimanded him good-naturedly, leaning over and covering his ears with her hands. The others laughed, and Sirius smiled, setting the spider down carefully some distance away.
"Jaspar told me that I looked lovely today, and then..." she giggled, and Sirius looked alarmed as his head was pushed rather violently forward when Arabella leaned in conspiratorially. "And then he asked me if I wanted to do some Charms revision he'd be happy to help me!"
She leapt up, and grabbed her books. Lily pulled a face.
"Where are you going now?" she yelled. Arabella was already a fair distance away.
"To go and revise with Jaspar, silly! We've got a Charms practical on Monday, Lily, it's dreadfully important!" came the reply.
Lily's jaw dropped, and the others burst out in fits of laughter. In all the confusion, Lily barely noticed James getting to his feet, taking her by the hand and walking her some distance away. Smooth was the only word for it, and she was most impressed. Seemed that Sirius wasn't the only one who knew how to handle the ladies – Lily suppressed a giggle at the rather unwelcome image of James with a gold tooth, surrounded by a bevy of beauties and then realised that they were standing next to the lake.
It was a very pretty scene; some second-years had put on bathing costumes and braved the shallows; a couple of Hufflepuffs she knew (including Nicole) were sun-bathing; the impromptu football game (some Muggle-borns had seized the opportunity to show their wizard friends what football was really like) finished the idyllic summer setting off.
"You're miles away," said James softly.
Lily looked up at the sound of his voice (and she had to look up, he'd grown tall in the last year – why hadn't she noticed that?) and felt a heat rise, not in her cheeks but in her stomach. It may have sounded odd, but it was certainly true – that special warmth she only ever felt around James.
"Actually, I'm right in front of you," she responded, bright as the sun. He gave her a strange sort of smile, almost as though he were sizing her up.
"Yes. Yes, you are –" The tone of his voice switched into bouncy, normal James. "And I really need a favour."
All thoughts of dinner for two in Hogsmeade sank right to the bottom of the lake.
"It's Remus, actually. You see – well, you did see, you were there – you know when Sirius, Peter and I all started speaking backwards, and couldn't stop, and consequently got detention from Havers?"
Lily nodded. She could see where this was going.
"Remus did it."
"Ah, so there's in-fighting going on now?" she said wisely. James nodded.
"We have to get him back. Our entire reputation's at stake here – we fail to make a hit, it's gone forever."
"Have you been taking acting lessons from Arabella? Because that was a little dramatic, I feel."
"No, I'm deadly serious. Anyway, here's where you come in – when the Travelling Troupe ask the audience something, near the start of the show, I want you to stand up and say in a clear, loud voice 'Remus! Remus'll do it! Got that?"
"Yes..."said Lily, a little confused. "But I don't see how –"
"Trust me. You do trust me?" he said, and there was something so little-boy-lost about his eyes, his voice, his entire expression that Lily had to smile.
"Of course."
"Great. Come on, let's go and torment Peter – he can't stand the thought of the picnic being delayed any longer."
She was fairly certain it had been an appreciative, sizing-up smile she'd seen someone else use only seconds ago.
*****
The picnic was over, and now they were all huddled together in small groups, picking from the leftovers and basking in the dying warmth of that fiery sun. Very poetic, Lily thought to herself, pushing a wilted and lonely ham sandwich around on her plate. Arabella (who'd rejoined the group for the picnic itself) wrinkled her nose.
"I don't know how you can eat meat," she said.
"Like this!" James retorted, grabbing the sandwich and putting it whole into his mouth. Lily rolled her eyes, and wanted to bury her head underneath the blanket they were sitting on. She hated it when Arabella started going on about the virtues of vegetarianism, she absolutely hated it.
"I mean, doesn't it make you sick to think of all those veins and vessels, cooked, with blood still inside them, skinned and sliced and ground into those evil little slices. And the white, slippery fat just underneath the skin, solidifying into greasy globules..." her friend was saying, eliciting groans from Peter and Charlotte. Sirius and James actually looked slightly in awe.
Sirius leaned over and slung his arm around Arabella. "Bella, I don't suppose you'd go and do your little vegetarian spiel at the Slytherin table during breakfast tomorrow morning? I'd like to see how green we can make Snape and Malfoy without the use of magic."
"What have they ever done to you? And if you call me Bella again I'll put a Rotting Charm on any meat products you touch for a week."
"Alright, alright, calm down. Bella."
Lily grinned, and let the conversation flow around her. She may hate the impassioned speeches on why no-one should eat meat, but she loved this. Hot summer evenings with her friends, talking about anything and everything, eating good food, with great entertainment...speaking of entertainment, Dumbledore was standing, his bright pink Bermuda shorts flashing with the words 'World's Best Dresser'.
"If I could have the pleasure of your undiluted attention, I'd like very much to introduce the world famous Travelling Troupe!" Dumbledore said, his eyes sparkling.
A hush fell over everybody, and all eyes turned to the space the teachers had cleared at the front. Lily felt Charlotte's fingers digging into her arm, and the boys stopped muttering to each other.
There was an extremely dramatic drum roll, and a fanfare of trumpets that almost deafened Lily. Sirius pretended to be blown over, and both Arabella and James slapped him on the arm.
The music suddenly stopped, and the students all squinted as coloured smoke began to twist and solidify in the air. Lily and everyone else laughed out loud. The smoke had formed a single word.
'Applause.'
Followed swiftly by, 'I said applause, not laugh!', which only caused more hilarity. Finally, 'I'm giving you one last chance. Applause!'
This time everyone clapped. Lily was very impressed. She could see why her friend wanted to be a part of this so much, it all seemed very exciting.
Suddenly (everything that happened with the Troupe was sudden) the smoke cleared and revealed an oddly dressed, extremely ugly and wizened old wizard. He was bent almost in two, and hobbled painfully towards them all, across the grass.
He jumped, as though surprised to see so many people, and then cleared his throat.
"Welcome, one and all, to the multi-coloured, multi-flavoured, multi-multi show we'll be putting on tonight. After much deliberation, the Troupe have decided to perform 'All About Merlin' – or as the muggles call it, 'The Sword in the Stone'.
Everyone cheered – it was a popular story – and the old man held up a hand for silence. "There is, however, one condition. I have to ask the audience something –"
Lily remembered James' request, and felt very nervous. Still, she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. She supposed she should wait to hear the question – Lily was also acutely aware of the fact that James was pointing his wand at her and muttering something. She tried to ignore him.
"Will anybody out there give an old man a kiss?"
There was a stunned silence. His repulsive little face screwed up, and he leered at Arabella. "That's right, love. A kiss for me, and then we'll do the play."
She couldn't believe what she was about to do. Lily stood up slowly, and gulped. The old man's face lit up – he obviously thought that she was about to offer. Shaking with silent laughter, she said in a loud voice, "Remus! Remus'll do it!"
And James must've put some sort of Compelling Charm on her, or something, because suddenly everyone, even people who didn't know Remus, got to their feet and started shouting exactly the same thing.
"Remus!"
"Yeah, Remus'll do it!"
"REE-MU-US!"
Poor Remus looked by turn puzzled, then shocked, then mortified, then angry (he had to have guessed it was the other three) and then a strange smile settled on his face.
"Alrighty then," he said, getting to his feet. "The show must go on."
Everyone stopped chanting. Even the lecherous old man was speechless. Sirius sprung to his feet and grabbed Remus by the arm.
"Moony, Moony, Moony. Well done, you've given us all a shock – now sit down."
"No, Sirius," said his friend, very calmly. "You wanted me to do it. I'll do it."
Sirius still hung on, reminding Lily of a dog fighting its owner for a favourite chew toy. "Remus," he said in a dangerous voice. "I'm trying to rescue you here. You don't have to do this, you don't have to prov-"
Remus shook Sirius off (he must be strong, Lily realised, Sirius was lean but muscular, very muscular) and continued to amble towards the old man. Sirius sat down, amazed, and she chanced a glance at Dumbledore. While the other teachers all seemed mildly shocked, Dumbledore was eating an ice-cream and humming, as though this were all part of the entertainment. Which, in a way, she supposed it was.
Remus was standing next to the old man, and shrugged. "How d'you want to do this?"
The old man sighed. "Fine."
And they kissed.
The majority of the crowd screamed with horror (the old man was so horrible) and laughter and admiration for Remus' pure nerve. Sirius and James bounced to their feet and gave a standing ovation – they looked for all the world like proud parents. Sirius wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Our little boy – so grown up!" he said in a choked voice.
"Look!" Charlotte yelled, jumping to her feet and pointing. "Look!"
Lily and Arabella stopped rolling around on the floor and stared.
Remus had only pecked the old man on the lips, and was wiping his hand with the back of his sleeve, grinning. He waved at the girls, but they all pointed frantically at something behind him. Lily watched him turn around and she swore that he jumped into the air.
For behind him, the old man had started to change form, clothes melting, skin melting and reforming into...into...
"Beau Regarder!" someone screamed.
Beau bowed, smiling, and shook Remus' hand. He then waved his wand in the air and a red curtain dropped from an over-hanging tree branch.
"Thankyou for your...er...warm welcome," he said, smirking. "In the words of this esteemed, and very brave – are you a Gryffindor?" Remus nodded dumbly, and Beau grinned again. "Thought so. Anyway, in his words...the show must go on!"
Everyone cheered, Remus received a good number of back slaps and promises of free drinks (even from a few Slytherins ) and the rest of the evening proved to be very enjoyable.
****
The play was long over, and Dumbledore had announced that for all who were hungry he'd lay on a supper in the Great Hall. Sirius, Peter and Remus were AWOL – she didn't know what had happened to them – Charlotte was queuing to meet Beau Regarder, and had been for the past hour, and Arabella was chatting to a few of the Travellers, getting career advice, she supposed.
That left her and James. How very nice...and how very convenient. Lily wondered if she dared to ask him, and decided to be reckless. They were sitting on the Gryffindor table, wolfing down thick cheese sandwiches. Lily swallowed, and poked James on the shoulder.
"Where did the other three have to go so urgently?"
James shrugged, but she could see him smiling.
"You don't fool me, James Potter. Peter, miss out on a meal? I don't think so," she said teasingly, hoping she didn't sound nervous. She felt nervous. She felt very nervous, and very...very hopeful.
"What," he said, between gulps of pumpkin juice, "are you implying, Lily Evans?"
Oh, she couldn't say. She couldn't say in a million years what she wanted for him to be impl-
"Do you want to go into Hogsmeade next weekend, with me?"
She couldn't speak, and felt very stupid. James broke her gaze, looked down at his plate for a moment then looked back. "Er...I suddenly feel very stupid."
"Yes!" she blurted out, wanting to hug him and blush and run away and talk all night all at once.
He looked confused. "Yes, I'm stupid, or yes, you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"
Lily recovered enough to be exasperated. "Both, you fool."
"Ah. Good. Great. Great!" he repeated. Lily took a deep breath, then stood up. James stood quickly and pulled her chair back. "After you, milady."
She groaned. "Is it too late to say no?"
"Far, far too late," said James seriously, and Lily caught her own reflection in those big brown eyes. He was right. It was far, far too late. In those lazy days of summer, Lily knew. She knew she'd fallen for James Potter.
