A/N: Hellllllooooo lovies! SO, yeah. This chapter was pretty much hell to write. I think I may be starting to get writers' block… ALREADY! This is not a good situation. But, I still really have no idea where ANY of this came from. sighs I don't really like how it turned out. I think it could've been a lot better. Poo and a half. Blah. Anyways, I hope you all don't hate it too much. I feel like such a failure on this chpt. Sorry, buddies. Hopefully the next one won't stink so badly. another sigh I am going on vacation on Saturday for a week, so I'm going to be mondo busy for the rest of the week packing and what not but I will hopefully get chapter five up. It will probably be short, but oh well. What can you do? Try to enjoy and keep your torches and pitchforks at home! tehehhe
This chappie is dedicated to Coco-Pop. Who is a lot cooler than this chapter. ;)
Summary: Lily Evans and James Potter are finally going out. What will a Christmas break at the Potters' mansion do to the newly established couple, though? Can they survive everything that the holiday season throws them… which of course includes a certain Mr. Sirius Black?
Disclaimer: Um. No, Not even close.
Chapter Four: Flower Power
Lily looks at herself in the mirror of the bathroom attached to her room. Yes, there is a bathroom attached to her room. Lily has never in her entire life had the privilege of her own bathroom. At home, she always has to share with Petunia. From first to sixth year, Lily shared with her other roommates. And this year, Lily has had to share a bathroom with James in the Head Students Headquarters. Professor Dumbledore found it hilarious that it is the 'head'quarters of the 'Head' students, so he had it officially named that. Strange man, that Albus Dumbledore.
But Lily has to admit that having her own bathroom, although she has only been in possession of one for three hours, is one of the nicest things she has ever had. The ability to go in there whenever she wants and do whatever she wants in there without the nagging feeling in the back of her head that someone might need to use it in a matter of minutes was liberating for the seventeen year old girl. She felt free in a way. It was rather nice.
So Lily takes her time prepping herself for her first night at the Potter estate. After showing Lily to her room (and a quick snog), James informed Lily that they were to attend dinner at seven o'clock in the Ruby dining room. Lily had no idea where this was, seeing as James did not have the time to give her the full tour, so James agreed readily to meet her at her room at 6:55.
It is now 6:49 and Lily is adding the finishing touch to her appearance. She wants to look presentable and impress James' parents as much as she can. She has always been a firm believer that second impressions are even more important than the first. She chose her most flattering flowing skirt with a white peasant top. She put a scarf on her head to hold back her hair and let her red locks flow down her back in soft, easy curls.
"I look like a hippie," Lily thinks the moment she takes a look at herself in the full body mirror.
"But a very, very cute hippie," comes the voice of James Potter from Lily's now ajar door. She looks over and sees that he is leaning on the doorjamb with a look of admiration and amusement evident in his eyes.
Lily huffs faintly and feels a growing annoyance for her boyfriend being in her room without her consent.
"Ever heard of knocking, Potter? It's all the rage these days when doors are closed," Lily asks with sarcasm lacing every syllable.
James smiles slightly at Lily's growing anger and answers nonchalantly as he starts walking into the room, "Well, Evans, I felt, seeing as it is time to head down to dinner, that I should make sure you were alright. Especially because I did knock numerous times without an answer. Can you blame a man for being worried about his girlfriend?" James finishes with a shadow of a pout on his lips.
"A man!" Lily exclaims with a very unladylike snort, "Since when did you become a man, James. Last time I checked you were simply an immature and rather annoying boy with his head in the clouds all the time."
"Well," James starts as he moves closer to Lily and the twinkle in his eye becomes more and more clear, "if I am not a man, Miss Evans, what is your explanation for this."
And with that, James swiftly sweeps down on his otherwise distracted girlfriend, and gives her a fleeting kiss that leaves her legs feeling like pudding, her heart beating at abnormal speeds, her head light and dizzy, and her lungs unable to receive the proper amount of oxygen.
When Lily finally opens her eyes, she's met by two pools of gold and green that drown her with feeling. By the time she is finally capable of thinking and functioning properly, Lily realizes that those pools are full of mirth and mischief and that there is a deep rumble of laughter filling the room.
With this insight, Lily quickly disentangles herself from James' arms and gives him a reproving look. He simply smiles charmingly (that stupid smile) and puts his arms back around the angry girl. Lily, not wanting to give into James right away, stiffens in his hold and refuses to look at him.
"Lily, Lily, Lily," James tuts quietly in her ear, "What was that about me not being a man?"
Lily continues to refuse looking at James in the eye and she stays silent. James gives a chuckle that Lily couldn't hear, but she instead felt it throughout her body.
I am not going to let that prat of a boyfriend win this time. Lily thinks heatedly. No matter how nice his arms are or how yummy he smells or how broad his shoulders are… wow. They really are quite broad. I never really noticed how…
Lily is immediately thrown from every thought by another one of those feverish, heart-stopping kisses that Lily is almost certain James has perfected.
"Fine," Lily nods breathlessly and grudgingly, "you are most definitely a man."
"So glad you think so, Flower," James responds through semi-swollen lips. Of course, Lily just had to go and pick the boy with the most irresistible lips as a boyfriend. She was about to take advantage of those yummy lips when a yapping from the staircase enters Lily's room.
"Will you two bloody love bugs untangle your limbs and remove your lips from each other for one bloody minute and come down to bloody dinner so I can ruddy eat already?"
Both Lily and James sigh simultaneously and back away from each other. Lily turns back to her mirror to straighten out her now partially disheveled clothes and reapply her lip-gloss. James just looks on affectionately as his girlfriend attempts, and seemingly succeeds, to look perfect for his parents. It still blows him away that Lily is his to call his own.
"Lils, you look beautiful," he coaxes.
"I say I still look like a hippie," Lily sulks. "Now your parents are going to think that I smoke all the time and practice free love for everyone. What will they say?"
"Well," James starts as he practically drags the redhead from her mirror, "My mum will probably try to help you, and my dad will probably say something along the lines of 'Good on you, James!'"
The sound of "JAMES POTTER!" yelled on the upstairs corridor would be the official start of Lily's first night at James Potter's house. Ah, and what a stay it will be.
------------
"Lily, dear, that skirt looks simply adorable on you," Mrs. Potter coos for what seems like the hundredth time that night. Lily smiles politely at the older woman while every man in the room rolls their eyes. It seems that Mrs. Potter had gotten over her little tiff with the boys, and was now as gentile and sweet as she was when Lily first met her.
They were all now eating dessert in the third dining area. Yes, third. Apparently there were five different formal dining places (this did not include where the family eats when they do not have company or on special occasions) in the Potter house and this was everyone's favorite. It, according to Mrs. Potter, gives off a 'homey feel.'
Well, Lily would have to agree if 'homey' means a glass table that is long enough to be an Olympic swimming pool, gold Victorian doors, a crystal chandelier (how many chandeliers are in this place?), marble floors, and gold wicker chairs with rubies encrusted in the seats. Lily realizes that the room is named after this feature but… in the seats! What is the point of having rubies on your arse! No one is going to be able to appreciate the precious stone except for your bottom! Honestly.
After the initial shock of the room, Lily relaxed with the surprising welcoming atmosphere that she feels in this place. She deduced that it must be the people that are making her feel so at ease. They enjoyed a delicious meal consisting of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. (A/N: tehehehe) Lily found that she was able to talk to her hosts very easily and practically carelessly. It also helped that James sat next to her and constantly squeezed her hand for reassurance.
They were all now eating some mouth-watering chocolate cake with chocolate frosting by the roaring fire (oh, did I forget to mention that there was a large marble fireplace that matched the floors, also? Must've slipped my mind). Up to this point, everything had been smooth sailing for Lily. She is having a very good time and it seems that the Potters are also. But, of course, things can only stay normal and hazardless for so long when Sirius Black is in your company.
Sirius has been strangely quiet the whole meal. During dinner, he would all of a sudden look at Lily with a contemplative look on his face and then continue to eat once anyone noticed his glance. While this made Lily feel slightly uncomfortable, she shrugged it off and continued on whatever topic of discussion she was talking about.
But, now, Lily simply could no longer ignore Sirius' constant looks her way. With a final swallow of chocolate goodness, she excuses herself from the room and grabs Sirius' arm on the way out. Sirius, in his own world (somewhere that would be a nice place to vacation to, no?), does not realize that Lily is leaving and starts choking on his cake once Lily gets hold of him.
Lily ignores Sirius' coughing and spitting and continues dragging him towards the doors. She doesn't even register the odd looks the Potters have and the highly amused look her boyfriend gives her as she leaves the room. The last thing she hears is Mr. Potter's voice, "Are you sure she's stable enough to be Head Girl, James?"
------------
Lily blindly drags Sirius down the empty corridors of James' house. She has no idea where she is or where she is going. She continues to ignore all of Sirius' protests and once she is simply sick and tired of his stupid whining, throws him into the next room she sees.
It, of course, turns out to be another beautifully furnished room. But this one is different from all the others. Something that Lily is too agitated and annoyed to notice.
"Sirius, why the bloody hell were you staring at me all dinner?" Lily asks the minute she closes the door.
Sirius looks down at the floor avoiding Lily's gaze and mumbles something incoherently under his breath.
"What was that, Black?" Lily snaps at the handsome boy in front of her. "I didn't quite catch it."
"I wanted to tell you," Sirius starts quietly, "you know, that I, well, uh, what I mean to say is that I, um, well…"
"Spit it out!"
"I KNOW!" Sirius explodes. Lily looks at him incredulously raises one eyebrow. She tilts her head to the side and asks almost cautiously like she's afraid of the answer, "What exactly do you know, Sirius?"
Sirius again looks down at the ground, but after a minute of silence looks back into Lily's eyes and whispers, "I know who you are."
"And who," Lily starts, "am I, exactly."
"C'mon, Lily. I don't have to spell it out for you."
"Uh, I think you do Sirius, because I have no idea what the bloody hell you are…"
"YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE FLOWER CHILDREN!"
Lily's face becomes completely blank. She blinks once, twice. Three times and her face is still frozen in astonishment.
Once she found her voice again, she whispers dangerously, "I'm a what?"
Sirius kicks his shoe on the gorgeous floor. If Lily was in her right mind she probably would have yelled at him for smudging the floor but she is far too dumbfounded to think of the floor.
"You know, Lils," Sirius starts. "You're one of those hippie muggles. The ones that go off to stock wood and breathe in flowers all day and listen to that woman, what's her name… Joplo? No, that's not it. Joponto? No, that's not right either…"
"Joplin," Lily says disbelievingly, "Janis Joplin."
"That's it!" Sirius exclaims. But then he becomes somber again and bows his head like the way he did earlier when Mrs. Potter yelled at him. "And I also know about, you know, the, uh, well, sexual practices of you people." Seeing Lily's face become redder and redder with anger he quickly continues, "Not that it's a bad thing! I mean, if you weren't my best mate's girl, I'd probably have a go at you… Just kidding, Lils! Just kidding!" Sirius, instead of calming Lily down, only succeeds in making her angrier by the minute.
"And what," Lily begins in what she thinks is a very patient and calm voice for her situation, "brought you to this conclusion, Sirius?"
"Well, you aren't exactly hiding it, Bean," Sirius answers using his old nickname for the redhead to try and soften the blow. "I mean, look at your clothes." At this, Lily looks down at her skirt and peasant top. "And your name certainly makes sense now. I mean, I bet you chose it as a codename or something so fellow 'flower people' would know you were one of them." At this Lily's knuckles become the color of the snow that is lacking in England at the moment.
"And then all your anger problems make sense to me now," Sirius continues completely unfazed by the boiling teen girl in front of him, "I have heard that anger is a major side-effect of withdrawal from, well, you know," Sirius says almost surreptitiously. "Your," here he looks to the right and left like someone might be listening to their conversation, "drugs."
Lily takes five deep breaths and keeps telling herself over and over, He's James' best mate, he's James' best mate, he's James' bloody best mate…
Then Sirius goes in for the kill. His voice drops a few octaves and he says to Lily, still completely oblivious to the anger he was creating, "You should really tell James about your sexual background though, Lils. I'm sure he's going to want to know how many blokes you've been with. After all, you may have gotten a disease or something."
Lily looks up at Sirius for the first time since he started his rant and smiles. "Sirius," she starts in a sickeningly sweet voice. Sirius nods his head in acknowledgment. "You have until the count of five to get out of this room before I will slowly take every single limb off of your body, understood?"
Sirius, although he's not the brightest light in the bulb, doesn't waste a minute and dashes out of that room before you could say "Flower Power."
--------------
Lily eventually finds her way back to the dining room (after finding two of the other five in the process) and finds that James is the only one left in the room. He looks up as she enters and smiles charmingly at his girlfriend. He stands up and walks towards her.
"Where did everyone go?" Lily asks as James takes hold of her hands and starts playing with her fingers absentmindedly.
"Well, after you, uh, escorted Sirius from the room, my parents decided that it was time for bed and I waited here for you. Of course, while I was waiting, a good friend of mine stopped by with a crazy look of fear in his eye and said something about "looking out for crazy flower heads who are supposed to be all about peace and love." Do you know anything about that, love?"
Lily smiles up at the messy-haired boy and lolls her head slightly to the side. She smiles coquettishly and responds in an innocent voice, "I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Potter. Your friend must obviously be rather disturbed in the head."
James laughs and holds Lily closer to his body. She sighs into her boyfriend and absorbs everything about him. James places his chin on Lily's head and just holds her until Mrs. Potter comes down in her nightgown and tells the two teens to go to bed.
With a goodnight kiss, Lily heads into her room, prepares for bed, and goes to sleep dreaming of a sparkle-eyed boy and a Christmas vacation that has only started.
--------------
No, don't go!
I have to, Lily. There is no other choice.
I can't let you go. I need you with me. Don't do this!
Lily, this is the only way. There is no other option.
But I love you.
I love you, too. So much. And that is why I have to do this.
No! Don't go! James!
Lily sits up in bed breathing heavily and going over the dream that is slowly slipping from her brain like water in your hands. Lily shakes her head and convinces herself it was nothing. Just as she is about to surrender back to her dreams, a scream comes from somewhere in the house.
"David! Look out!"
A/N: Semi-cliffhanger! WOO HOO! My first one. Ain't ya'll proud. There may actually be some serious stuff in this story! Who knew? Anyways I'm looking forward to your feedback! Until then, TOODLES!
Can you guys get any better? I don't think so. Because you are all pretty much A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Man, I love you guys! Awwwww. I'm getting watery-eyed. I'm just sorry for such a sucky chapter. I really am not happy with the way this turned out. sigh oh well. At least I still have you fantabulous people to brighten my day. ;)
Coco-Pop- Drum roll, please FIRST REVIEW! Mad props, yo. Just joshing. But, seriously, you are awesome. Thank you so much and this chappie is dedicated to you!
WhiteCamellia- Wow! Thanks! I'm so happy that I had you laughing! I hope this one doesn't disappoint too much. I'm pretty iffy on it.
Chikichiki- I don't think that it is physically possible for you to give a boring review that is not funny. ;) Poop. You said poop. I've always found that word to be hilarious no matter how old I get. It always makes me giggle uncontrollably. Tehehhe
Lovelyravenclaw- Quite honestly, I didn't even try to make him dog-like. But I think that it's awesome that you think I do. It makes me smile. ;) ;)
Dixie- Double woot for longest review! Hm, let's see, not only did you review this story and say nice things, but you also read 'The Missing Piece.' You rock my socks into the washing machine. No lie.
Blvd- Hopeless romantics unite! lol we should form a super secret agent group and we could all have cool rings with hearts on them or something and… nvmd. Don't mind me! People in white jumpsuits come and put a strait jacket on Katie
Imissdumbledore- Okay, well, I FRICKIN LOVE YOU FOR REVIEWING! lol But yeah, I think I subconsciously made the Potters like the Weasleys b/c I love them so much! ;)
Genuinescence- First off, check out what I said to blvd, same goes for you. Second, PUDDING! Yum. And third, yes, when a guy kisses a girl's fingertips it is too cute for words. Awwwww.
Hpfreaklk- Another hopeless romantasizer, eh? Refer to what I said to blvd. But wait, do my eyes deceive me? Did you also review 'The Missing Piece?' Holy flip, you rock. You are now on my list of favorite people. Congrats! ;)
The Angel of Freakiness- I got this up ASAP! Geeze. Your review really got me going on the writing, so a round of applause for you! ;)
Crystal Kisses- sigh don't you just wish you could live somewhere like that? Some ppl just get all the luck (except with the whole dying at a young age thing)
RanmasAngel- McDonalds, ba da ba ba ba…
Chris-Crossed- lovey dovey. Mushy gushy. Cuddly wuddly. Lily and James have it all. sigh
Beth- bloody, bloody, bloody. Yay yay yay. England, England, England. Geeze. I love that word.
OperaGustus- tehhehe. Still giggling…
X.Little.Black.Cat.X- silly, silly friends. I know what you mean about being super busy. Summer is not supposed to be this hectic. But, it def didn't take you a long time to review so don't apologize. ;) Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm happy that they're FINALLY together? 19 chapters. Honestly. lol
Mei-fa-chan- SNOG! SNOG! SNOG!
RedPixie- Victory dances are mondo cool. I like doing a booty shake myself every now and then. Tehehhe Believe me, this will not be a Sirius/Lily. There may be something later… but I'm still toying with the idea. It's a L/J all the way, baby. Woooo hooooo!
Happykid- yes, James Potter's snogs taste like pudding. What else could they taste like… jello? Although jello is quite tasty also. It is all squishy and… IT'S ALIVE! Remember those old commercials? Hahaha those were good stuff.
Sharpsnout- that was not at all out of line. Dancing is da bomb diggity, yo. Word up. Now see, what I just said, THAT was out of line. Tehehhee
And to all you other b-e-a-utiful people: Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI, Kurai Shinigami, lobi1canobi, Amaryllic, bratski, Faye Elle, Hermione Granger63, Emily, and SodaFizZz19. You guys all rock my world! Mucho love.