A/N: I'm truly sorry because I have been off on my posting schedule, usually I try to post a new chapter every 4th day, but that just didn't happen. Hopefully you'll enjoy this (late) chapter anyway!
Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Apparently, James' idea of 'going' was to take us from shop to shop, thrusting various articles of clothing up in front of me and deciding whether or not he would like them on me. I was starving by the time we made it to the sixth place, but I was too afraid to tell him that I hadn't exactly had breakfast. He was scary determined to find the perfect outfit for me.
Finally, my stomach decided that if I didn't tell James, it would. It let out the most horrifying growl that I have ever heard, discontented with my treatment of it. And if Gran had been anywhere near, I'm sure she wouldn't hesitate on how impolite and unbecoming my behavior was. I couldn't agree with her more right now.
I quickly wrapped an arm around my stomach at its audible protests, trying to quiet it down. I tried to mentally reassure it that once James was done, I would eat something.
I managed to stay further from any other patrons after that, just in case my stomach decided not to comply with our earlier deal.
James eventually came over and handed me a single bag. Just one bag…after nearly six hours of shopping.
"Would you like to go to lunch now?"
"Yes!" I instantly regretted sounding so eager. "Sorry, it's just…I…didn't have breakfast before we left and…I would really appreciate something to eat now." I smiled, embarrassed.
"Didn't eat breakf—…Emelia! Why didn't you say anything? I'm not trying to kill you before we actually make it to my parents'."
I fiddled with the handles of the bag to avoid looking at him. "Well, you… that is to say, that I…didn't want…" I sighed, looking up at him. "You seemed very invested in what you were doing and I didn't want to spoil it."
James just looked at me incredulously before shaking his head and turning to walk off. "I'm going to teach you to be meaner," he mumbled.
A couple minutes later found the two of us sitting outside of a little place, tucked into a corner, eating across from each other.
"Alright," James started after a few bites. "I have more questions for you."
"Shouldn't it be my turn to ask questions?" I asked, smiling playfully and tilting my head to the side slightly as he always did.
He huffed before taking another bite of his food. I took it as consent for me to ask away.
"So, tell me again why you don't have a girlfriend?" I didn't even care that the question was probably extremely rude. "I mean, wouldn't your family know if you had a girlfriend? At least, a girl that you were serious about? Wait, haven't I seen you in the papers with girls?"
My hand rushed to my mouth. I was too stunned with myself to apologize.
James just looked at me, amused. "I'm just busy with quidditch and everything else, I suppose. I still see my family, but I've already planned what I'm going to say to them about not introducing you. As for the papers, no. I have managed to stay out of them for quite some time. However…if you knew about my being in the papers, how did you not know who I was?"
"I just….didn't put it together. Okay, enough about me. More about dinner. Should I be careful doing or saying anything in particular?"
James laughed and shrugged.
"What about your brother?" I asked nervously.
"Al? He won't be thrilled when I show up with you, but it won't be because of you. We are very competitive, he and I. He thought he had won this."
"Oh. Well, if he really wanted to beat you, he would do something better than getting a girl, wouldn't he? He'd marry the girl. Then he'd have you beat, surely," I mused aloud.
"I wouldn't put it past him…" James rolled his eyes. "We'd best get going. Mum'll want us there a bit early."
"You ready for this?" James turned to ask me. We were standing outside of his parents' door having apparated there just moments ago.
"Little late now, isn't it?" I half-joked, nervous.
He just smiled reassuringly at me. "It'll be okay, Emmy."
My nose scrunched at the unfamiliar name.
"I thought I should call you something other than your full name. You don't have a nick name?"
"Remy." He looked at me curiously. "My cousins…er…long story."
"Alright, well, Remy," he said taking my hand. "It will be okay. Trust me."
Just as he finished lacing his fingers through mine, the front door flew open to reveal one very excited Lily Potter.
"I told you they were here!" she exclaimed, grabbing me and pulling me in to hug me. I tensed, not expecting the warm reception, before putting one arm around her and leaning into the hug. James held on to my other hand, preventing me from fully embracing his sister.
Finally, Lily released me, only to put her hands on my shoulders and step back far enough to look me up and down.
I hoped my outfit got her approval. James had picked out a white, long-sleeve shift dress that came midway down my thighs. I paired it with my sandals and a half-up hair style. It was casual, yet put together.
"You look gorgeous, Em!" she gushed.
"Lily, you're going to scare the poor girl," Ginny lightly reprimanded her daughter as she glided into the room. "You must be the unfortunate girl who has to put up with James," she directed at me.
James protested while I just smiled. "Hello. I'm Emelia. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Potter." I extended a hand to shake.
"Oh, don't be silly, dear! Call me Ginny." She pulled me in for a hug as well.
"What were you just saying to Lily about scaring her, Gin?" Harry appeared from where his wife had just moments before. "I'm sorry about them," he approached me smiling warmly. "They can get a bit excited."
I was speechless at seeing him. What was I supposed to say to Harry Potter? The Chosen One? I snapped out of my mental conversation to shake his had. "Good evening, Mr. Potter. I'm Emelia."
"Hello, Emelia. You can call me Harry, if you like."
I nodded, smiling slightly. "Thank you for having me over. I'm glad to finally get to meet James' family. He speaks so highly of you." I hoped I was making a good impression.
"Really? Is that right? Well, we'll just have to tell some stories about him tonight, now won't we?" Harry grinned at his son. James groaned in response and tugged on my hand, bringing me closer to him.
"Come on into the dining room, we should be able to have dinner shortly."
James pulled me after him as we followed his family to the dining room. He pulled out a chair for me before pulling one out for himself and sitting down. His sister and his parents all sat down with us.
"So, Emelia, tell us a bit about yourself. How did you and James meet?" Ginny asked, green eyes lit with excitement and curiosity.
I felt James stiffen next to me. We hadn't discussed the details of our "relationship".
I grabbed his hand underneath the table and gave it a light squeeze before replying.
"Actually, I do a lot of volunteer work. It's what I do with a majority of my spare time. I particularly enjoy working with kids, so I help out at the Children's Center most weeks. That is where I ran into James." Not even a lie. I congratulated myself.
"Quite literally." James had relaxed as I started to explain and, by the end of it, was well enough to contribute to the story.
I laughed and looked over at him in what I hoped was a loving way. "Yes, literally."
He returned a grateful look, silently thanking me for doing this.
"And..?" Lily asked, exasperated at our apparently brief answer.
"And I kept noticing him at different events after that. Every time I turned around, he was there." Which was true. He went to many more charity events after our first run in. "And, finally, he just came up and said he needed to ask me a very pressing question."
"I did not say it was a pressing question!" James protested, scrunching his eyebrows at me.
"Wasn't it though?" I smiled innocently at him. I was having fun with this. He knew I meant about him asking me to lie to his family.
James caught my meaning and looked away, smiling.
"You guys are just too cute!" Lily pretended to cry. "It's just so beautiful."
James rolled his eyes at her as I laughed. I definitely liked Lily Potter. She had spirit.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish up dinner." Ginny stood from the table.
"Would you like help, Mrs. Potter?" I asked, trying to remember Gran's lessons.
"That would be lovely, dear!"
I followed her into the kitchen where she had me tossing a salad as she prepared the rest of the meal. As I was mixing, I heard the telltale pop of someone apparating into the house.
"Hello, Albus. Just get off of work?" Harry's voice carried into the kitchen.
"Hi, Dad. Yeah, had a bit of a longer day today. Sorry that I'm late."
"Al! You'll never guess who's here!" I heard a grunt from Albus as I assumed Lily ran and hugged him as she did me.
"Hey, Lils. Nice to see you too," he chuckled. "James! I haven't seen you in a while, mate. How's the team?" Albus sounded like a nice enough guy, even a bit quiet…
"We're doing great! I think we might just take the championship this year! It's good to see you, Al."
"Is it just us for dinner, then?" Albus sounded hopeful as he said this. I found myself ignoring the salad completely and instead listening to the conversation in the next room.
"If you could just bring that in here, Emelia," Ginny's voice brought me back to my task.
I hastily grabbed the bowl of salad and rushed to follow her back into the dining room. Lily, and the person I assumed to be Albus, had their backs to me as I walked in.
"Ah, here she is now," James said, holding a hand out to me. I walked over to him, still clutching the salad. I wanted something, even a bowl of lettuce, in-between me and Albus. I was afraid of his reaction.
Albus stared at me a moment and I him. He looked so much like his dad. Even the same eyes.
Finally, he moved towards me, hand extended.
"I'm sorry. I don't believe that we've met before. I'm Albus, Al for short." I released my death grip on the bowl as his greeting came out much gentler than I had expected.
"I'm—" realizing I still had the bowl in my hands, I quickly set it down to free them in order to shake Albus' hand. "Sorry. I'm Emelia. It's nice to meet you."
"Are you one of Lily's friends?"
"Oh! Sorry, I should have… No. I'm James' girlfriend," I quickly explained. Please don't be suspicious I silently begged.
Albus blinked once, his eyes widened a bit. "Oh. Well, then, it's nice to finally meet you, Emelia." He smiled kindly.
I quickly glanced at James, expecting more of a reaction from his brother. James looked back at me, equally as confused before shrugging.
Harry clapped his hands together. "Well, since we are all here, I guess we can go now?" he looked at his wife for confirmation.
"You act like you're half starved. Honestly, Harry!"
Harry grinned at his wife before kissing her cheek and striding from the room.
"Lily, would you mind grabbing the salad? I think I have the rest of this," Ginny instructed her daughter. Lily retrieved the salad from where I had previously set it and walked out after her mother and Albus.
"Where are we going?" I asked James. He pulled me after his family.
"Mum, where are we going?" he repeated my question to his mother.
Ginny looked at him strangely.
Albus looked back at us. "Oh, yeah," he said slowly. "I forgot to tell you that dinner got moved to Nan's. The whole family is there."
"Come along, we don't want to keep them waiting." Harry wrapped an arm around his wife's waist before apparating. Lily and Albus went next. James pulled me closer to him, preparing to leave as well.
Before we apparated, he looked down at me almost apologetically. I looked back at him quizzically. What did he have to be sorry for?
"You'll see," he said grimly before taking us away.
