Summary: Lily hates James. James loves Lily. Lily has a secret which James has found out, and now she's afraid he'll tell. Begins with an excerpt from Order of the Phoenix, no longer in Harry's POV, but through Lily and James. Rated M for adult themes in later chapters and some language.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you may in any way recognize. All of the characters save for a few of my own imagination belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 3: He's Ridiculously Muggle
Mrs. Evans was cutting up carrots for dinner when her daughter and her husband arrived from King's Cross Station. Her husband, Daniel Evans, walked in—after leaving Lily's trunk by the stairs, she noted—and kissed her cheek affectionately. "Watch what you say to Lily, she's in a right mood today. She barely talked the whole ride home."
Mrs. Evans opened her moth to reply, but just then Lily traipsed into the kitchen. She gave a bright smile, "Lily!" Her mother pulled her into a hug. She then proceeded to hold her away from her by the shoulders, giving her a once over, "Good Lord, your hair has gotten long." She gave Lily's red hair a flick. Lily smiled weakly in return.
"Dan," Mrs. Evans turned her head to her husband who was not too discreetly devouring the carrots, "Why don't you take Lily's trunk upstairs for her." Lily's father popped one more carrot into his mouth and said, "Mmphkay."
When her father was gone, Lily's mother began to chop lettuce and cucumber. "So," her mother said conversationally, "What's the matter?"
Lily shrugged, "Nothing's wrong mum."
"Mmm hmm, is it a boy?"
Lily stared at her… how did she know about James? "Umm… why would you think that?"
"Well, that Wesley chap rang you this morning, and yesterday, and the day before that, just to be certain the he "knew what day you were coming home" from "boarding school", or to leave his aunt's number—he's staying with her over the summer you know."
"Oh, well, no, I didn't know that."
Her mother gave her a wry smile, "Well I know, because the boy has only told me seven or eight times, in seven or eight different calls."
"I guess I should ring him back then."
"Alright dear, the numbers on the table next to the telly." Lily turned away from her mother to go across the hall to the living room, when her mother called out, "He doesn't know does he?"
"Know what?" Lily asked, disconcerted.
Her mother sighed and wiped her hands on a dish towel, "That you're a witch."
Lily sighed, feeling a discussion coming on. She walked back into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. "Well, I can't exactly go around telling every person I meet you know."
"Yes, but you could tell someone you trust."
'Merlin,' Lily thought. "Mum, this isn't about trust. I trust him, I just don't think that the time is right."
"You've been dating for almost six months Lily."
"Six months isn't enough time to throw around big secrets like this!"
"But it's enough time to break curfew a few times, and when you come home to look like you've been snogging for the past hour and a half?"
Lily blushed scarlet, and looked at the linoleum floor so she wouldn't have to meet her mother's eyes. "I'm sorry, you know I'm sorry for—for--," her mother's index finger tilter her chin upwards.
"Lily, I don't care if you go around snogging a boy. You're a big girl, you're sixteen, and he's your first boyfriend; I think that you can handle yourself. My point only was, if you can trust him to do things which can have a high emotional toll, wouldn't it make sense that you could trust him with this secret?"
"I suppose… I just don't want to… to…"
"Oh, spit it out Lily," her mother smiled.
"Ruin it!" Lily blurted.
Her mother raised her eyebrows. "Ruin it? Ruin what?"
"Everything. The balance." Lily said, a little desperately, "I love being a witch mum, I really do, and I wouldn't change it for the world. But sometimes I just feel like I'm a little too surrounded by magic, and magical beings, and magical people. I lost all of my muggle friends when I went to Hogwarts. Petunia and I don't have the same relationship we used to have. I just want something that's normal—muggle. And Wesley is ridiculously muggle! What if I tell him and that's all we talk about? Or what if he freaks out over it? What if—,"
"Lily, love, please breath. It's alright, I understand what you mean. But you also need to consider the fact that you are building a lie around a part of who you really are. If you don't watch out, this may not end on good terms. Just think about what I said, there's no need to go and turn the sodding world up side down."
Lily smiled weakly, "I suppose I did overreact… just a bit."
"Just a bit," Mrs. Evans tweaked her daughter's nose, "No go call the poor boy before he has a fit. Dinner will be ready in half an hour." Lily stood up from the table, and went to the door.
"Oh, and Lily," Lily turned back towards her mother. "You know, you really shouldn't feel ashamed for kissing a boy—that in itself may be an indication of something wrong you know."
Lily nodded and left the kitchen. She found the number in neat handwriting sitting next to the television. As she dialed on the rotary phone, she felt both better and worse; fully deciding her conviction that this was one of the most confusing days she'd ever had.
---
Lily was going on a date. It was the end of June, and the days had gone by quickly. She'd spent most of her days lazily laying about the house. Some days she took a lawn chair out back behind the house, into the small courtyard between the London homes of her neighbors, and would soak up the sun adding to the freckles across her nose. Most nights, she ate dinner with her parents, or watched muggle t.v., something she had been severely deprived of at Hogwarts.
But tonight, Lily was going on a date, with Wesley, her first boyfriend who had no idea that she was a witch. And for now, that was how she was going to keep the situation.
She was this close to throwing something at the bathroom mirror in frustration on not being able to find her mascara, when she heard a knock against the doorframe. She turned around, making the curlers bunch at the top of her head bound dangerously.
"Petunia!" she cried, and she reached out to hug her sister with a smile on her face.
"Hello Lily," she replied, returning the hug. "Mum tells me you have a big date tonight?"
"If I can find my mascara." Lily gave a dark look once more around the bathroom, which had begun to look like a hurricane zone from the mess she'd created in searching for it. "I think I might have left it at school."
Petunia sighed, "Honestly Lils, you really must gain some responsibility." She dug around in her purse and produced her own black tube of mascara. "Here."
Lily sighed, "Oh, you are a life saver Pet." Petunia shrugged, and as Lily dashed the mascara over her eyes, she began to undo the curlers and run her fingers gently through her sister's red hair to create long waves. The two were complete opposites. Lily was small and petite, with a heart shaped face, and long red locks like their fathers, whereas Petunia was tall, and bony with dark hair she liked to keep pulled back out of her face. She resembled their mother, but was much more serious—she would not be gaining Mrs. Evans' laugh lines when she was older. Petunia was not gorgeous, and she had probably not turned as many heads as Lily was at 16, but she was pretty when she had a mind to be. Besides, Petunia wasn't looking for passion, or a man who wanted her for her looks. She'd always been resolute about a wish for security. Something Lily found rather boring, but would never say so to her sister for fear of offending her.
Right now, Petunia was twenty-one, and living with her fiancé Vernon Dursley. They were going to be married after a long engagement, according to Petunia. The end of "long engagement" had not yet been determined. Lily didn't see what was very appealing about Vernon, but he clearly made her sister happy, and that was good enough for her.
"You're here for dinner tonight with mum and dad?" Lily asked her sister as she applied a small amount of blush to the apples of her cheeks. Petunia usually came by for dinner with them once or twice a month. This was actually the first time Lily had seen her since she'd gotten home from Hogwarts.
"Yes. I knew I should have called, otherwise I would have come another night so that we could catch up." Petunia sighed, a small frown on her face.
"Oh, but Pet, if you hadn't of come I'd still be looking for the mascara." They both giggled. Lily thought that her sister looked a lot prettier when she laughed. Petunia needed to laugh more.
The doorbell rang, "That's him!" Lily told Petunia. Her sister smiled.
"You look gorgeous Lily; go on, we'll talk later."
Lily gave her sister another hug, and allowed herself one last glance in the mirror before walking as quickly and "lady-like" as possible down the stairs to meet Wesley.
---
Lily and Wesley were sitting in the back row of the Cinema three streets and four blocks from her house. The same Cinema that created a very dark, very private alley, in between it and the Tarot shop next door. They had already had dinner- burgers and chips, quick and something Wesley could afford.
Wesley was rather handsome. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and clean white teeth—all things, especially the last, which were very agreeable to Lily. He didn't have a leer, or warts, or a mole on his hand that he chronically picked at. He had his left hand on the arm rest, and his right was gently holding Lily's own hand. Lily could not understand what was wrong with her.
She was not watching the movie; she honestly could care less about the movie. No, she was watching Wesley, and trying to figure it out. Was it his eyebrows? No, they had a normal quirk. His ears? Did they stick out? She tilted her head. "Not more than normal ears," she thought.
So she just didn't understand it. Why was she so completely not attracted to him? She had been perfectly happy before, during spring break. She had liked it when he held her hand, it was nice. His kisses were nice too, different, somewhat appealing… in moderation.
But now, when he held her hand exactly the same as he'd always held it, she just didn't feel the same way. It was no longer nice… it was boring. And it was nothing like the jolt of electricity she'd felt when James—she meant, Potter, not James, Potter—had grabbed her hand on the train.
When the movie was over, they walked out, hand in hand, Lily still puzzling over what was wrong while Wesley talked about the movie. She wasn't even listening and just made "yes" or "no" noises.
And then Wesley was stopping her. They were next to the alley by the theater. Lily felt her stomach fall a bit. She'd been fine at dinner when he'd placed a hand on her knee, no weird nauseous feelings there. Perhaps, said a voice in her head, it's just because this was the place you got caught. She pushed the voice away. Wesley was already pulling her into the shadows with him.
And quite suddenly he was kissing her. Lily kissed back, slightly sure of herself, and still feeling slightly inexperienced. Slowly Wesley licked her lip, and delved into her mouth, his hand creeping under the edge of her shirt. Lily felt nothing but nausea.
They had gone to see a horror movie. Something lame, but still a bit scary that had had her grabbing onto Wesley's hand quite a bit during the movie. He'd held his arm around her protectively, laughing at her meekness.
When the movie was over, instead of taking her back to her front porch, he'd stopped her, in front of the alley. For the first time he kissed her in public. "Here," he'd said, looking around, and then pulling her into the dark.
He pushed her against the wall, and kissed her. Lily kissed back, feeling a little weird, a little like she was breaking some type of rule, even though she knew it wasn't a crime to kiss in public.
And then his hands were in places they'd never been before. Underneath the hemline of her shirt. He moved to kiss her neck and Lily felt a little dizzy—not in a bad way, but not in a wonderful way either. Not the way she'd thought she'd feel.
People were moving around outside the alley, there was the sound of male laughter, and that made Lily's stomach do little flip flops. Wesley's hands were moving up to massage her breasts on the outside of her bra. He moaned into her ear.
"Did ya hear that Prongs?"
"I think it came from the alley Padfoot." More laughter. Welsey's lips were wet and cold against her skin. He pushed himself against her. Lily felt something hard through his pants against her thigh and felt a blush creep up her neck when she realized what it was.
Wesley groaned once more, louder, to her mortification. She turned her head away from his kisses.
"Lumos," she heard a voice whisper. And suddenly she was face to face with James Potter. His mouth went slack as he stared at her. She felt her face go white as a sheet. She pushed Wesley hard to get him off of her.
"What?" he asked, his voice holding the smallest hint of frustration. Lily was still looking at James, and Wesley followed her gaze. "Bugger off will you?" he told James, rather annoyed.
"Oy, Prongs, what's down there? Anything good," came a crooning voice. 'Oh, Merlin,' Lily thought, 'It's Sirius.'
James stared at Lily. Lily felt like she was going to throw up. Wesley just glared. James carefully put his wand away, something Wesley had not noticed, and called back up the alley, "It's just a raccoon." He turned away from Lily, a flush on the back of his neck and left the alley.
His hands were moving up her shirt again, in the same manner as on break. His mouth was against her neck, and she still felt rather sick. As she look at the stream of light at the end of the alley, from the marquee of the Cinema, she realized that perhaps what might be wrong with Wesley, was that he really was a ridiculously muggle, and horny, teenage boy.
A/N: I'm not certain how old Petunia is, this is kind of a guess. If anyone knows how much older than Lily she is, I'd appreciate the info.
Reviewers: Thanks again for reviewing, I love getting comments, and I definitely need the tips and constructive criticism.
ReadingRobyn: I hope this chapter clarifies for chapter two. I didn't mean for what was going on between Lily and her boyfriend to seem quite so extreme.
truefairy lights: Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you like the story so far.
Zippyfox: Thanks for still reading! I hope you like this chapter as much as the last one.
Coolcrewzsz: Thanks for picking up my mistake form the last chapter, I'll try not to let it happen again. (I've fixed it on my hard drive, I just need to repost the chapter on fanfiction) I wish I had someone I could have read the story here in RL, unfortunately I don't know anyone who would be willing/and or would care to do so. I'll try harder to be a better self-editor in the future. Right now that's all I can do. Hopefully I won't have huge inconsistencies when I finish and can go back and clean up little mistakes.
