A/N: Well, I'm not sure what to say except that I've suddenly been bitten by the writing bug. I took a hiatus from this story during the summer when my husband and I were in the process of moving... But recently, I've found myself thinking a lot about this story and all that I'd wanted to accomplish with it. My goal is to do a chapter a week, posting on Fridays (with the exception of today); reviews are welcome! I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Chapter 4

Music thumped wildly; an upbeat swing sounding song had Ollie, Rowan, and Lily hurrying up the flight of stone steps which led up to the Potter Estate – a large, stone building that looked incredibly imposing to newcomers.

"This is perfect!" Ollie cried as she swung her hair over her shoulders and rolled her shoulders back to correct her posture, "Our timing could not have been better!"

"Yes, yes… Lily and I are well aware that, according to you, timing is everything. That doesn't make up for the fact that we're close to an hour late," Rowan mumbled under her breath as she stared wide-eyed at the house before her. "Whoa… I knew Potter came from money, but I had no idea…"

"Mhmm..." Lily murmured in agreement.

Ollie laughed lightly as she knocked forcefully on the ornately carved door, "Yes, it's big. Yes, they're wealthy. Who cares – this'll be great! Easily the best party of the summer."

The three girls waited (semi) patiently for someone to come to answer the door; all the while music thumped wildly from the back yard and shrieks of laughter could be heard as they bounced off the trees in the distance and reverberated back towards the house. Lily's nerves began to get the best of her and she unknowingly began tugging down her jean shorts and straightening the blouse she'd worn over her bathing suit. At Ollie's recommendation she'd gone with a royal blue two piece bathing suit, covered with a loose fitting tank top that hung off of her in a romantically, sexy way without being too "out there" (as her mum would say) and a pair of dark wash jean shorts. She'd topped her look off with some glitzy sandals that used to be Petunia's and left her hair down in its natural wavy curls.

Ollie and Rowan were dressed similarly enough; Ollie leaving quite a bit less to the imagination than Rowan and Lily. Her bathing suit was red and technically a one-piece, but included various cutouts that were undoubtedly meant to keep eyes roving over her thin, yet curvy figure. As a cover-up she'd donned a wrap-around dress that cinched at the waist and ended a few inches above her knees. Rowan, meanwhile, chose to keep as much to the imagination as she could. Lily still wasn't sure what bathing suit she'd opted for since she'd thoroughly covered herself up in a light, gauzy long sleeved shirt and shorts that were a respectable length.

Ollie leaned her head closer to the door, "I think I may hear someone coming…" she trailed off quickly moving away from the door just as it was whisked open by none other than the infamous, marauding Sirius Black – shirtless with his tanned muscles showcased and glistening with sweat.

"Ladies!" Sirius whisked his shaggy black hair back, out of his eyes with a quick run of his hand through his hair. "It's about time you all showed up; without you lot it's been a bunch of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw girls throwing themselves at me!"

Shaking her head and staring at Sirius as though she felt immensely sorry for him, Ollie began her entry into the house. "You act as if our arrival's going to change any of that."

"Well, one could always hope!"

"A gentleman would never have assumed something so improper."

"That very statement assumes that you all would be ladies."

There was silence, before Rowan chimed in, "Sirius Black… are you insinuating that I am not a lady?"

Biting back a barking laugh Sirius chuckled before throwing his arms jovially over Rowan and Lily's shoulders, "Of course not my dears – you two are lovely and would never stoop so low as to throw yourselves at someone as reprehensible as myself."

"Well, at least you've got that right," Lily sighed in agreement, adjusting her shoulder bag and slumping under the weight of Sirius' muscular arm.

"Wait," Ollie said, stopping short and causing Sirius to very nearly run into her, "what the bloody hell does that say about me?"

Removing his arms from the other girls' shoulders Sirius strutted forward guiding Olympia through the rest of the house with his hand on the small of her back. "Perhaps I could show you later this evening?"

"What a scoundrel," Rowan laughed, linking her arm through Lily's.

As the girls made their way through the house Lily couldn't help but be in awe; she'd always known that the Potter family came from money, and it always seemed obvious in the way James presented himself: with the newest, fanciest clothes, best Quidditch supplies money could buy, and most expensive quills and leather bound journals for notetaking. Walking through the estate, Lily couldn't help but be impressed. Marble floors, high ceilings, large chandeliers, antique furniture, and ancient looking suits of armor complete with medieval swords and even older looking wands lined the halls leading to the back of the house.

The house had been wildly impressive; that is, until she got to the back of the house and stood overlooking the massive lawn party that stretched before her.

"Pool to the left; food to the right; Quidditch pitch to the far back with a broom shed around the side of the house." Sirius sighed as he stood leaning against the porch railing.

"Wow…" was all Lily could breathe out. Wonder was overwhelming her senses; the rush of colors, swarms of people… It was a lot to take in for someone who wasn't used to such a party. The parties she normally attended were small, baring the occasional after-party for a particularly exciting Quidditch match.

Sirius smirked looking over at Lily. "Yea, it's very impressive, isn't it?"

"I've never seen anything like this before."

"Well, I'm sure James will want to know that you're here, so I'm off to be the bearer of good tidings." Sirius called over his shoulder as he began to head out onto the expansive lawn.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Lily called after him, "I'm sure he won't want to be bothered!"

Whether or not Sirius heard her, he gave no inclination as he started off into a slow jog towards the pitch.

"Alright ladies, I say we drop our bags by the pool, find some drinks, then hit the water. Comments or suggestions?" Ollie asked authoritatively, scanning the crowds by the pool.

"Sounds like a solid plan to me – let's go see if we can find some lounge chairs together." Rowan agreed, and with that the three girls took off across the lawn towards the gorgeous oval pool surrounded by their fellow 7th years. The pool seemed to have been designed as an oasis; luscious bushes with vibrant flowers surrounded the perimeter; once past the bushes hordes of chairs, tables, and lounge chairs had been scattered throughout the area. Candles twinkled on the tables and catering servants seamlessly made their way through the throngs of 7th year students, delivering beverages and appetizers.

As they walked the girls formed a tight line-up with Lily in the middle, flanked on either side by Rowan and Ollie.

"Now Lils, you're doing great so far," Rowan began giving Lily an appraising smile.

"Absolutely, you're here, looking fabulous, and Sirius has just run off to do exactly what we need him to do…"

"Tell James that you've arrived."

"And he's even managed to do so without being told what to do."

"Which is quite impressive," Lily interjected. "But I'm starting to feel ridiculous… How's this even going to work anyways? He hasn't been in touch all summer…"

Rowan nodded strangely, "Yea… Definitely an odd occurrence that you haven't heard from James Potter over the holidays, but not the end of the world."

Lily wasn't so sure that was true; the way she'd ended last semester with James she'd gone home thinking that he – at the very least – would've kept in touch with her. Instead, she'd had her "muggle" dates with Remus and had even met up with Sirius at various points throughout the summer with her friends. A twinge of disappointment didn't even begin to cover how Lily had felt as the days had turned to weeks with still no word from Potter.

"Just remember our plan: show off your swimsuit and enjoy yourself. Every guy loves a girl who knows how to chill out and have fun." Olympia added wisely.

"And if boys happen to come over to chat you up," Rowan began.

"Let them. A little competition never hurt anyone." Olympia finished.

A heated blush rose in Lily's cheeks; her original plan had simply been to show up and say a quick hello to James, find out what he'd been up to during the summer holidays, then have fun with her friends. However, after her chat with Olympia a few days earlier the plan had somehow escalated into a full blown "Get James to Notice Lily or Die Trying" type event. Months ago Lily would have found such a plan an abomination to women everywhere; but, she'd realized after her chat with Ollie, that the ball may be in her court considering she'd spent the past several years telling James, in no uncertain terms, that she'd never go out with him. While Lily remained unsure about the plan – flaunting herself had never been her strong point - she was comforted by the fact that even Rowan, normally so calm and reliable, had jumped at the opportunity to be a part of it.

"Right there!" Rowan yelped, taking off towards the shallow end of the pool. "Three chairs!"

Ollie all but dived onto one of the chairs before whipping her towel out of her bag and gracefully tossing it across the chair as a sort of 'claim'.

"Alright Lils, let's see what you've got hiding under that tank top," Ollie laughed as she jokingly pulled at the hem of Lily's top.

"I'm not sure about this…" Lily murmured, "This is all going to be stupid if he doesn't even care."

"He'll care." Rowan announced wisely.

"Yup, so take it off and let's get you surrounded by some boys and having a good time!" Ollie laughed.

Lily took a deep breath of air and noticed out of her peripheral vision the sight of a few 7th grade lads coming over to visit with her and her friends. Shaking her concerns out of her head, and flinging her hair over her shoulders she reached down and tugged the hem of her loose tank top up and over her head. In the moments to come she liked to imagine the world falling into slow motion, with various good looking boys falling all over themselves to get to her; Ollie would later tell her that she wasn't far off. Male heads certainly turned as her bare, toned abdomen was revealed and a few jaws fell open at the sight of her chest encased in the royal blue bikini top. The Hogwarts dress code kept her modestly dressed most of the time; this, she realized quickly, was a new sight for these boys.

Really, Lily wasn't sure she'd ever felt more exposed. She hardly ever had the opportunity to go swimming while she was at home and certainly never around such a large group of people her own age. It was one thing to go to the local swim club with your family when you were little, but this situation was quite different.

"Looking good, Evans!" called Benjy Fenwick, a 7th year Hufflepuff; Lily knew him well having served the past two years as a prefect with him. He was one of those boys who just knew how good looking he was; his golden hair was always perfectly smoothed back and he carried himself with an air of superiority. Many girls found it attractive – Lily found it somewhat pathetic.

"Doesn't she though?" Olympia called back while Lily rolled her eyes, embarrassment flushing her cheeks.

"Shh!" she whispered harshly, trying to remain confident.

"Leave the shorts on," Rowan whispered. "The outfit looks cute with the shorts and we're not swimming yet…"

Lily nodded in understanding, grateful that she wasn't entirely exposed just yet.

"Alright, here's what I'm thinking…" Olympia began as she rubbed her hands together deviously, "let's find some refreshments and lay out for a bit… Lily, no getting in the pool until Potter gets to see how gorgeous you look."

Rolling her eyes but nodding all the same, Lily and the girls set out for refreshments, hoping to be noticed but determined to seem blissfully unaware if they were.

Sirius was hustling through the grass towards the Quidditch pitch knowing damn well that his best mate was up in the air trying to – and probably succeeding in – show off his Quidditch tricks that he'd taken the time to master over the summer vacation. Rolling his eyes as he kept moving he couldn't help the spike of jealousy that rippled in his chest: Prongs had it so easy. While his own summer had been spent trying to keep out of his lunatic mother's way and avoid his good-for-nothing brother at all costs, James had been enjoying the fresh air and practicing Quidditch – on top of all that he'd even been named sodding Head Boy. Some people, he reminded himself, had all the damn luck.

"Oi!" Sirius shouted upwards; quickly realizing how futile it would be to just yell upwards in the hopes of catching his best mate, he quickly grabbed a spare broomstick – a Comet he noted in dismay – and kicked off the ground beginning his rapid ascent upwards towards his friend.

Finding James was relatively easy; as per usual he was at the center of attention being fawned over by the few girls who had decided to try a round of Quidditch, and being idolized by the lads looking to learn his new tricks before the next Quidditch season started at school.

"Oi! Mate!" Sirius called loudly as his Comet carried him forward.

James grinned back at him, waving him forward. "Here to join for a round of Quidditch, Padfoot?" He asked good naturedly, ruffling his hair and looking somewhat uncomfortable from all of the attention he was receiving.

"Not quite," Sirius laughed before leaning in, as close as his broomstick would allow, "your girl's here."

James eyebrows shot up and his head began darting around, taking in the pitch below him, looking for the gorgeous redhead.

"Not here, here, you moron." Sirius sighed.

"I'll have to catch up with you all later," James began looking around at the group surrounding him. "I have other guests I need to greet."

"Oh James," sighed Melody Whespelt, "you're such a charming host."

Sirius guffawed loudly, "Not sure what punch you've been sampling there Melody, but I'd say it's high time to lay off."

Melody, a pretty albeit vain girl from Ravenclaw, shot Sirius a dirty look – eyes narrowed with a sneer spread widely across her lips.

"What's it to you?" she quipped back, flipping her hair behind her shoulders and trying to mask her face into one of kindness.

"Bugger off," Sirius laughed as he followed James downwards to the pitch.

It wasn't long before the pair took off, towards the main house. James running his hand through his hair near-constantly and wishing that he'd been the one to have greeted the girls at the door. The very idea of seeing Lily Evans again – for the first time in a few months no less – was causing his stomach to somersault.

"How'd she seem? Who'd she show up with?" He asked quickly, nearly tripping over his own feet in his quest to get back up to the main house.

"I wouldn't worry about her mate; she seems fine." Quickly realizing the look on James' face was not one of satisfaction or placation, Sirius continued: "She came with Ollie and Rowan – just got here maybe… fifteen minutes ago?"

Nodding James kept moving, his eyes fastidiously taking in his surroundings and keeping a lookout for a long mane of red hair.

"Where'd you leave them?"

"Uh… up by the main house? But they've probably moved on from there by now."

"Where'd they go?"

Coming to an abrupt halt, Sirius reached for James' shoulder to stop him as well.

"You… my best friend… fellow Marauder… brother… You need to chill the fuck out." James' eyes widened in surprise; he was used to Sirius talking like this but it was rarely directed towards him.

"Language, Padfoot." James admonished with a laugh.

"Before you see her, you need to take a deep breathe and just calm down… If you meet her as you are now, all wound up, you're just going to make her nervous."

Sirius couldn't help but sigh; talking to James about Lily Evans was nothing new… In fact, it very nearly predated their entire friendship. James had been chasing after Evans for the past 4 years and was woefully in love with the girl since the end of second year. First year, however, had been full of nasty pranks that undoubtedly led to her hatred of James and his friends for the past several years. When Sirius had become friends with Lily it was a shock to the entire student body, as well as the staff, and most definitely James – he'd been assigned a Muggle Studies project and partnered with none other than Lily Evans, this was during fifth year, and somehow the pair had hit it off. At first he'd just been ecstatic that his partner would actually know what the bloody hell their project was about, but as the days turned into weeks he found himself deeply interested in what she was saying, and about her entire life. Whether it had been the Muggle rock music she'd played for him, or her hilarious explanation of the pitfalls and triumphs of the muggle post office system he'd never know, but the pair had managed to become friends. Their friendship had been solidified that Christmas when they'd both surprised one another with presents: he bought her an owl (mainly because he found it pathetic that she didn't already have one) whilst she'd given him his first leather jacket.

"Seriously James, breathe. Remember, you ended last year on a positive note. Just think before you speak and try your best not to muck it up." Sirius advised sagely, wracking his brain for any other last minute advice he could James before they inevitable ran upon Lily Evans and her friends.

James cast him a worried look, "You and I both know that's easier said than done."

"Don't I know it." Sirius answered simply, scanning the various small crowds gathered around the lawn, looking for a glimpse of Lily's deep red hair or Olympia's golden blonde hair.

"Found her!" James pointed across the lawn towards the pool area. Without wasting a moment James took off across the lawn at a brisk walk heading straight for Lily and her friends… And the four or five lads who seemed to be laughing and hanging off of Lily's every word.

"Bloody hell," was all Sirius could mutter as he took off after James.

Lily laughed loudly, nearly sloshing her bottle of Butterbeer out of its glass; maybe she needed to get out more but Benjy and his mates were hilarious. Benjy, Tristan, Alaric, and Michael had followed her and the girls to get some drinks and couldn't have been more attentive. The Potters had quite the party spread – everything from Gigglewater to Firewhisky; it was a perk, Lily assumed, of having an entire party's worth of people over the age of seventeen – no fear of underage drinking. The boys had been regaling Lily and her friends with tales from their summer, including a particularly interesting trip into muggle London which resulted in their subsequent arrest; they still weren't quite sure why hopping a turnstile in the Underground was a problem, but were entirely too afraid to head back there any time soon… They even spent a fair amount of time being held in a small county jail before someone from the Ministry of Magic was able to turn up and set things right.

"Bloody terrifying," claimed Benjy clutching at his heart while simultaneously shaking out his golden hair.

"You're ridiculous!" cried Ollie between sips of her Firewhiskey.

The conversation continued to flow until a shadow fell across Lily from behind her lounge chair. Glancing up to see what was blocking the sun so suddenly, she found quite a sight for sore eyes. In the past few weeks she'd seen James exactly zero times but thought of him a bit each day. Her memories of him, however, were nothing compared to the real thing. His jet black hair was shaggy and windswept, his muscles were bulging from beneath his tight Puddlemere United Quidditch jersey, and the calves poking out from beneath his shorts were toned and tanned. He looked positively perfect; girls everywhere were probably having small strokes just from quick glances of him as he strutted around his party.

"Ladies!" James greeted them, smiling broadly while running a hand through his hair. Olympia jumped up quickly from her seat and leaned forward to give James a brief hug.

"Lovely to see you, James." She said coolly, continuing to focus much of her attention on Benjy and his friends much, Lily couldn't help but notice, to the chagrin of Sirius who was eyeing Benjy like he'd very much like to shave his head.

"Thanks for having us," came Rowan's demure response as she smiled from across the circle which had gathered to hear of Benjy's heroic turnstile escapade.

And suddenly, Lily had the distinct impression that all eyes were on her… Likely because there were. Taking a deep breathe Lily smiled brightly up at James before rising from her seat and holding out a hand. James looked slightly baffled by the hand that had been thrust upon him, before laughing loudly and rolling his eyes dramatically.

"Surely, Evans, you can manage to throw a poor bloke a friendly hug?" His smile, Lily couldn't help but notice, was bright enough to light up even the far corners of the world. The boy really was gorgeous; ruggedly handsome with a boyish grin that could melt even the coldest heart.

Lily pulled her hand back in mock horror, "Are you implying that we're friends?"

A small smirk lifted the corner of James' lip, "I'd be implying a lot more than that if I weren't such a gentleman…"

"Oh James, I've quite missed you and your antics," was all Lily could get out before James leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her bare waist, pulling her forward into a surprisingly long embrace.

"And I've missed you too, Evans." Came the soft reply that sent Lily's heart fluttering.