Fourth Date
Location: James Potter's house, Presteigne, England
Time: 11:57
It was now two days after Christmas, and Lily was feeling slightly foolish standing on James' front porch. If you could even call it that. She felt like she was underdressed, and the house looked as though she might accidentally run into the Minister of Magic, or the Queen of England. Normal people didn't live in houses like this. Not that James was normal per say…
She took a deep breath and knocked on one of the large oak doors that was almost twice as tall as her own front door, and filled with colorful glass paneling. Soon, a woman that looked to be in her late sixties or early seventies answered the door with a smile.
"Hullo, dear." She said, stepping aside to let Lily in without even asking for her name.
"I'm Lily." She said before she stepped inside. The woman quickly closed the door behind her. "Lily Evans, I go to school with-"
"With my son! Yes, of course." She reached out and pulled Lily into a hug. Son? The woman looked old enough to be James' grandmother. "James said that you might be visiting. However, Sirius laughed at him when he said that. Cricket!" She called over her shoulder. A house elf appeared almost instantly at Mrs. Potter's side.
"Yes, Mistress Grace?"
"Would you mind fetching James for me, Cricket? I believe he's in the study with his father and the minister." Lily just about choked on her tongue.
"The minister?" She squeaked, as the house elf disappeared. "Of magic?"
"Yes." Grace nodded. "Him and Charles went to Hogwarts together. Of course, this isn't exactly a social visit." She raised her eyebrows and took Lily's arm. "Let's go get some tea while we wait for James, yes?" Lily nodded dumbly and followed Grace Potter through, what appeared to be a museum. They walked quite a ways from the door before reaching the kitchen, and despite all of the other incredible things she saw during the walk, she still couldn't get over the fact that the Minister of Magic was actually in the house. Eldon Macmillan had been elected to office the previous year and his strong stance on Muggle rights and suppressing the Death Eater movement had made him seem like a good leader in Lily's eyes. At the time anyway.
"That's so bizarre." Lily muttered, a bit too loud she soon realized.
"Excuse me?" Grace turned round, looking slightly amused.
"Sorry, it's just, the Minister of Magic is currently in your house." Grace smiled at Lily and nodded. "And that's normal to you?"
"Well, when you spend as much time as I have in the political sector, I suppose politicians lose a bit of their shine."
"Oh, I know that he's not perfect by any means. The way he handled the issue with the Japanese Minister about the portkeys and floo networks last year was less than stellar. I get that you have to take a certain degree of precaution when you open your country up to thousands of others, but it was the world cup, and what he said was more than slightly offensive." Grace smiled at her again as she pulled two teacups out of the cupboard.
"I agree." She nodded. "And in most cases, the stories are spun so that it always sounds worse in print. But I was there when he said it, and they were kind to him. Don't know why. The Prophet's always circling the ship looking for bait." She put the kettle on the stove and lit the burner with magic. "Of course it probably has something to do with the fact that his niece runs the paper. Merlin, would that have helped me out when I was head of the D.M.L.E; having a blood relative at the Prophet."
Lily's head was spinning slightly. She had known that James' parents were important people in the wizarding world, but she was still blown away. Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement? The entire thing had been under Mrs. Potter's control? But she seemed so... fluttery.
"Though, we don't really have many blood relative's left. Charles has his sister Lucille and he had a brother, Richard. But he never married and doesn't have any children that we know of. He died two Christmas's ago. No love lost there. Those two never did work out how to get along. Drove their mother to drink if you ask me." She looked over at Lily. "Let's not tell Charles I said that." Lily nodded and Grace kept talking as though she had known Lily her whole life. She was like the overly friendly grandmother that Lily wished she could replace with her own grandmother and Lily still couldn't picture her working along side Aurors like Alastor Moody and Marcus McKinnon. She could picture her arguing politics either. She seemed the type to smile at whatever you had to say and then tell you a story. But maybe Lily only felt that way because that's what she had done with her.
"-and when James was two, he would strip down to his birthday suit and throw rocks at the neighbor's cat. That's why we had to move out here. I miss the old house sometimes, but my older sister always liked it more than I did. Left it to her husband's nephew in her will though. Never did understand the way she thinks. I like it here though. No neighbors for James to terrorize. Not that he walks around in the nude anymore. He stopped doing that after I had my friend Luisa over for tea and forgot to tell him. He was embarrassed to say the least."
Before she could say much more, James walked into the kitchen a bit red in the face, giving Lily the impression that he had heard the last bit of what his mother had said. "Lily!" He was enthusiastic about seeing her nonetheless.
"Hullo, James."
"Is he about done?" Grace asked, a shadow of annoyance falling over her face. "He's been here for half the day now."
"They were playing chess when I left."
"So things were friendly?"
"As friendly as they could be." He sat down next to Lily at the counter and his mum set down two cups of tea in front of them.
"Well, I'm going to make my way back there then. You two stay out of trouble." She walked out of the room.
"Your parents are friends with the Minister of Magic." Lily said, taking a sip of her tea.
"He went to school with-"
"Your dad. Your mum told me."
"My mum says a lot of things." James ran a hand through his hair and Lily laughed.
"She is rather friendly."
"Good, that means she likes you."
"Where's Sirius?"
"He always makes himself scarce whenever someone from the ministry comes over. He doesn't want his parents finding out that he's staying here. Not that anyone that my parent have over here would talk to his family." He crossed his arms and rested them on the counter. "Though technically, Elton is his Great Uncle."
Lily put her tea down and shook her head. "The wizarding world is crazy."
"Yep." James agreed. "So, what do you want to do?"
"What?"
"You came over to my house." James smirked. "What do you want to do?"
"Well, I was thinking that I could avoid my grandmother and you could do whatever you normally do."
"Exploding Snap?"
"Sounds good to me."
They moved from the kitchen to a large impressive room with high ceilings and drapes heavier than her father's Cadillac. There was a grand piano in the far corner and a fireplace surrounded by large couches. James walked across the room, Lily following behind him, taking in the extravagant statue in the corner, the Persian rugs that were bigger than her den, and all the portraits of men and woman on the walls (some had James' nose, others had his eyes.)
While she was busy having a staring contest with a particularly old looking man, James reached for one of the bookcases near the fireplace and pulled it open, revealing a secret room. Lily bit her tongue and mentally berated herself for being surprised. She tried to keep her face impassive, but she could tell by the smug look on James' face that he could tell she was impressed.
"No wonder you have a knack for finding secret passages at school." She said, walking into a much smaller, less intimidating room. It reminded Lily of the Gryffindor common room actually. She walked over to the fireplace (she looked into the fire and realized that it was the same fireplace that was in the other room, she could see the elegant couches from where she was.) James picked up a deck of cards off the mantel and sat down on the rug in front of the fireplace.
"So, anything in particular that drove you out of your house today?"
"I don't really want to talk about my family right now." Lily sighed, taking a seat across from him and pulling one of the throw blankets down from the couch.
"I was insinuating that you missed me terribly, but if you want to pretend that you're only here to avoid your family, I'll play along." Lily smiled and shook her head. She liked that he did that, switched from caring friend to playful in a matter of seconds.
"I was hoping you would."
A few hours later, Lily and James were sprawled out on the couch with a bottle of his mother's white wine and a bowl of chocolate covered pretzels.
James threw his head back and laughed, "You didn't do that."
"What was I supposed to do?" Lily laughed, "My grandmother was more drunk that Sirius was last Halloween."
"I sincerely doubt that." James said, still laughing. "Anyway, what are we doing for dinner?"
Lily grabbed another handful of pretzels and made a point of stuffing a few in her mouth without answering him.
"Yes, we could eat pretzels for dinner." James nodded. "Or…" She ate another pretzel. "Yes. Pretzels it is."
"Your mum is really nice." Lily said, taking the bottle from James and taking a drink.
"You do know that she doesn't know that we have that, right?" He nodded towards the wine.
"Yes. And that's not what I was talking about."
"Right. Then yes, she's alright."
"She's great!" Lily said, throwing a pretzel at him. "She let me into your house before I even told her who I was, which I would say was dangerous except she's a witch so it's really not. And then she just talked to me like she hadn't seen me in a while."
"She's really friendly." James shrugged. "You shouldn't take anything of what she says seriously."
"You're only saying that because you heard her tell me that you used to run around the house naked."
James jetted out his bottom jaw and shook his head. "Actually I'm not. She tells everyone that."
Lily frowned. "Then why were you all red in the face when you walked into the kitchen?"
"Because you were at my house." James shrugged. "I was nervous."
"And you're not anymore?"
"Nah, I think this date is going rather well."
"It's not a date."
"Sure it is." James smirked as Lily rolled her eyes and he took the bottle from her, putting a cork in it and setting it on the end table.
"Better or worse?" His smirk morphed into an actual smile. Lily looked confused.
"Better or worse than what?"
"Is this better or worse than the last date?" Lily leant over and shoved his shoulder, tilting the bowl of pretzels and causing a few to fall to the floor.
"Considering that the last date wasn't actually a date either-"
"Pretend that it was."
"Fine." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I got free food out of this date so… better."
"You stole my chips last time."
"Oh yeah." She shrugged. "Well this is still better." James reached over and brushed some crumbs off her shoulder.
"Good." Lily laughed.
"You know, eventually I'm not going to be able to say 'better.'"
"Nonsense. Spending more time with me only makes you like me more, which makes you enjoy spending time with me more."
"Right." Lily looked up at the grandfather clock across the room and sighed. "I didn't realize it was so late. I have to get back home, before my grandmother has another reason to shout at me." She and James stood up.
"Before you go," He put a hand on her lower back as he led her out of the secret room. "What are you doing for New Years?"
"Watching my Uncle Davie get drunk and take off my grandmother's wig again."
"Oh." James raised his brow and chuckled. "Well, if you wanted another option, my parents are having a ba- party New Year's Eve and I'd love for you to come."
"Were you going to say ball?"
"No."
"James?"
"Alright, yes. They call it a ball, it's really not though."
"Do I have to dress fancy?"
"You don't have to, but it is a formal event and everyone else will be."
"Are you going to count it as a date?"
"Of course."
"I'll come anyway."
"Brilliant."
They reached the front room just as both of James' parents and the Minister of Magic were making their way there. Lily tucked her hair behind her ears and pull the hem of her shirt down, trying to make herself look more presentable. She had thought he would have left hours ago. James grabbed hold of Lily's shoulder to stop her from walking into the foyer.
"I'm so sorry that I took up your entire day, Charles." The Minister said, shaking Mr. Potter's hand. "But you had some really interesting points and I'll be going over them with the committee first thing tomorrow morning."
"It was nice to catch up." Charles Potter said tersely, sounding very much like he meant the opposite of what he had said. "You know that you're always welcomed here."
"You're both so sweet." He kissed Grace on the cheek and Lily noticed that she looked almost upset, and even though she had only met the woman today, she knew that her being quiet was not a good sign.
"Come back again soon." Grace said, holding open the door. As soon as he was gone, James let go of her shoulder and walked out in front of her.
"He's just leaving?" He asked, sounding annoyed himself. "What else could he have wanted from you?"
"Nothing." Charles sighed. "He spent most of the afternoon trying to convince me to support that damn bill. It's going to cause all sorts of problems if it passes. Maybe the biggest problem will be the merit it's going to give to what that Voldemort character's been saying." He took off his large glasses, putting them in his front pocket and massaged his eyes. "The only reason I still talk to that man is to keep him from doing something especially harmful and then he goes and does this to me. I'm going to be calling in favors all week over this bill." Grace cleared her throat and walked up to Lily.
"We did a horrible job raising our son," She said, casting a disapproving look at James. "So I'll make the introductions. Charles, this is James' friend Lily Evans. Lily, Charles Potter."
Charles looked surprised to find her standing there, four feet from him. "I'm so sorry." He shook his head and put his glasses back on. "I guess I'm older than I thought I was. It's a pleasure to meet you dear. Will you be staying for dinner?" He held his hand out.
Lily stepped forward and shook it. "I'm afraid not. My grandmother is cooking dinner for us tonight and she's invited my aunts and uncles. I've got to be home in twenty minutes to help set the table."
"Of course, it's still the holidays." He nodded. "Well, I hope to get the chance to properly meet you soon."
"Lily will be attending our New Year's ball." James said, ignoring the smile that Lily sent him.
"Oh! Wonderful!" Grace chirped, putting an arm around Lily's shoulders. "It's going to be spectacular this year. I found a place up in Paris that sells fireworks that spell out 'Happy New Year.' I'm so excited. Will your parents come as well? They are more than welcomed to."
"I don't think so. Mum's already gone and invited the whole family over for New Year's so she's got to stay and babysit them. Make sure no one gets into too much trouble."
"They could all come!" Grace smiled hugely at her. "I would love to meet them."
"I don't think that would be a great idea, because of the statute of secrecy and all." Lily said, imagining the look on her Uncles face when he saw a tiny creature in a toga serving him a spritzer.
"You're a Muggle Born?" Charles asked.
"Yes, sir." She nodded, feeling slightly self-conscious for the first time since entering the Potter's estate.
"Wonderful!" Grace squeezed Lily's shoulder. "We should have your parents round for tea at least. The statute doesn't apply to them."
"Mum would love that." Lily said, no longer feeling uncomfortable. Of course they didn't care. If they cared, it would have rubbed off on James, and he obviously didn't care. "I take her to Diagon Alley every year to help me get my school supplies. She's completely fascinated with magic."
"And what about your dad?" Charles asked. "Have you taken him to any Quidditch matches?"
Lily hesitated slightly but then nodded. "My dad passed away last year, but I did get to take him to a few. It was easier to show him then try and explain it all."
"Oh," Grace squeezed her shoulder again. "Did he love them? I wish I could remember the first time I went to a Quidditch game."
"He did." Lily nodded. "I actually had to read a few books on Quidditch so that I could explain everything to him. He always had so many questions about how everything worked. And telling him that it was magic stopped working after I started school." James' parents laughed appreciatively and Lily couldn't remember feeling this welcomed anywhere in a long time. She looked over and saw James leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, wearing a satisfied smile. He winked at her when he noticed her looking and she got the feeling that she had at the end of their third date again, the growing feeling.
Lily left shortly afterwards, promising to bring her mother round as soon as possible.
AN: Longest chapter yet. I hope you enjoyed Grace Potter as much as I did.
Leave a review because Simon said.