Art of Awkwardness
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are all property of J.K. Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them.
Meeting the parents was always a crucial step in a relationship, especially when it was getting serious. Especially when the idea of marriage was not far in the future. Of course, it could be quite a stressful situation for both parties in a relationship. Parents had a way of speculating and probing every facet of a person's personality, perhaps to see if their intentions were noble, or to see if they are good enough for the other partner, or to see if they are good enough for the family. Perhaps stressful wasn't the correct word, then. Traumatic would be a better way of saying it, really. Getting to know a partner's parents was definitely that—traumatic.
It was nearing the end of the final school year for Lily and James when they decided to set aside a weekend to go meet each other's parents. Of course, both were rather worried about the visits, but while Lily assured him that his parents would adore him, James merely replied with, "My mother will think you're perfect." No mention of his father dearest was passed between the two of them, and James wanted to keep it that way.
They started with James' parents, traveling a horrendous eight hours into England (though having the other has company made the ride bearable) before they got off at the station and drove another thirty minutes to his house. His mother was there, though had a driver to bring them to his house. She apologized, and told Lily that his father couldn't be there to pick them up—work. At this, James leaned over to Lily and whispered, "It's always work." She gave him a sympathetic smile, before taking his hand in hers, squeezing it lightly.
They finally arrived, parking outside a house larger than Lily had ever seen, save for Hogwarts, but that didn't count. She immediately identified three stories, but assumed from this that there was also a basement—likely a massive one at that. She was utterly speechless, and didn't notice that the driver had opened the door for her until James cleared his throat and nudged her a bit. She apologized and quickly stepped outside, stepping onto the walkway to once again take in the house.
"C'mon, Lily," James said quietly, putting a hand on her back to gently lead her into the house.
"You live here?" Lily asked him in shock, looking over at him.
"Yes," was his simple reply, though he didn't make a move to glance at her.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were bloody rich?" she whispered to him so that his mother wouldn't hear.
"You didn't ask," he said with a shrug, finally turning his head to look at her, smiling a bit.
"Insufferable," she whispered, shaking her head a bit with a small laugh as they entered his house—no, a house was definitely not the right word. It was a manor.
"Welcome to the Potter residence," he told her as they stepped into a grand hall filled with tapestries, chandeliers, and candelabras.
"Palace," she corrected, nudging him.
At that moment, two large doors opened across the hall, and there emerged a man who bore a striking resemblance to one James Potter, though it was clear that he was many decades his senior. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw James in the middle of a short bow, and when his eyes met hers, she followed him with a curtsey.
"You must be Ms. Evans," he said simply.
"Yes. Good evening Mr. Potter."
It was at that moment when Lily knew not only why James said his mother would love her, but also that she would have to be on her best behavior that night.
James showed her up to her room only a few minutes after this meeting. He carried her luggage up for her, and ushered her into the largest bedroom she'd ever seen. She stopped dead in the doorway, her mouth wide open in shock until James laughed a bit and said, "Keep walking, Lily." She stepped aside and he set aside her luggage. They stood there in silence for several moments before Lily let out a slow sigh.
"Is your father going to hate me?" she asked finally, looking up to him.
"No, of course not. There's nothing to hate," he told her, embracing her.
"I hope so," was her only response as she rested her forehead against his.
"You'll be fine," he assured her, before he broke away from her. He took her hands in his as he looked her over. He told her to wear a nice dress, and that she had. He merely smiled, nodding a bit. "You look great, by the way," he told her, and she smiled to him.
"Thanks," she replied with a small nod.
Suddenly, a small bell rang, and he looked up for a moment. "We should get going. Dinner's ready." She nodded to him once again, hooked her arm in his, and they headed down into the dining room.
When they entered the dining room only his mother was there, standing in front of a chair on one side of a long table. James silently led Lily to a chair across from her and stood next to the one beside her. Just as she was about to reach for the chair to sit down, he grabbed her hand, shaking his head slightly, at which point his mother smiled.
They stood there in silence, which made Lily quite uncomfortable, to say the least. James and his mother, on the other hand, seemed quite used to this behavior, which Lily couldn't help but find a bit odd. After nearly two minutes of standing there in silence, the doors opened once again to show Mr. Potter once more. Immediately, he moved to the chair beside his wife in silence. After a slight nod, Lily found her chair being pulled out by a small House Elf. Looking at James out of the corner of her eye, she followed his movements and sat down as he did. It wasn't until that moment when Lily noticed the many plates, knives, forks, spoons, and cups placed before her. Never before had she seen so much china and silverware in her life! Slowly, she took her napkin and placed it on her lap as the rest of them did, hoping she remembered that lesson on manners and proper dinners she took when she was five.
They sat in silence, which she began to realize was quite common in this household. Lily merely kept her eyes trained on the top soup bowl, her hands folded in her lap. It wasn't until their bowls began to be filled with soup when one of them spoke—that is, Mr. Potter spoke.
"So…Ms. Evans," he began, taking several seconds to mull over what he was going to say. "James has told us plenty about you. I hear you are quite intelligent for your age." For a moment, she thought he was going to say, 'for a female." Thankfully, he didn't.
In response, she smiled a bit, looking back down at her bowl for a moment. As she began speaking, she looked back up, trying her best to seem confident. "I'm sure he's exaggerated just a bit," she said, hoping that being humble would pay off. It didn't.
"Now, Ms. Evans, don't be modest. It's much more becoming to be proud of one's achievements," Mr. Potter said simply, taking a sip of the wine that was poured for him.
They ate in silence for several moments, and as every moment went by, Lily felt a knot grow in her stomach as she slowly dreaded the next question that would be asked. Thankfully, it came from Mrs. Potter.
"Where's your family from?" she asked politely, smiling warmly, which Lily appreciated greatly.
"We've always lived in Stratford-upon-Avon," she said quietly.
"Ah, Shakespeare?" Mr. Potter said, raising his eyebrows to her.
"Yes, he was born there," Lily responded with a small nod.
"Have you ever visited his house, dear?" Mrs. Potter asked simply.
"Over the summer I actually work there. I help do tours for tourists," she told them, glancing at James for a moment who seemed content on staying silent.
Silence reigned through the room as his two parents stared at her for several seconds, before continuing to eat. It wasn't two minutes before Mr. Potter was questioning her once more.
"Now, I'm trying my best to remember the Evans family." At this, Lily looked up quickly, clearly confused. "I thought there was one residing up in Edinburgh, but I didn't know of any in…Stratford-upon-Avon." The questioning was still rather pleasant, but at that moment, Lily knew it would be taking a turn for the worse.
"I'm sure there are plenty of other Evans families. But I'm sure our family has only lived in Stratford-upon-Avon. My entire family," Lily told him, trying to be as polite as possible.
"Curious. I wasn't aware there was more than one Evans family," Mr. Potter said simply.
"Father?" James said finally, looking up to him as he set down his spoon.
"Yes, James?" Mr. Potter said, looking over to his son.
"Lily's not Pureblood," he said quietly, refusing to avert his gaze.
The silence that followed this was deafening—not even the House Elves moved. At this point, Lily was on the verge of tears, and she set her spoon down quickly. Clasping her hands in her lap, she tried her best to calm herself before she broke down.
"Oh," Mr. Potter said finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence with an even more uncomfortable question. "You must be a half-blood then? I'm afraid I don't keep track of those families." At this, Mrs. Potter gently touched her husband's arm, trying the best to keep him cordial.
"Father, she's a Muggleborn."
Never before in her life had Lily ever wanted to dig herself a hole, crawl into it, and simple hide forever. It was almost disgusting how awful she felt. She simply couldn't bear it any longer. "I'm very sorry. I'm not feeling very well…If you'll excuse me." With that, she stood up slowly, nodding to Mrs. Potter. "Thank you for dinner," she said quickly. She could feel Mr. Potter's eyes on her, along with James', but she refused to look at either of them before she hurried out and ran up to the stairs to where she thought her room was. Of course, it didn't take long for her to take just one wrong turn and end up completely lost, now sobbing in frustration and humiliation. What an awful night.
-
James turned his head back to stare down at his soup as the door closed behind Lily, unable to speak. "James, I'd like to talk to you in the study," his father said, standing up.
"Yes, father," James said quietly.
"Now," Mr. Potter said firmly, at which point James also stood.
"Yes, father."
They were leaving the dining room when James heard his mother say, "Pipsy, I don't think we'll be taking the rest of our courses tonight. Thank you."
The two Potters walked to the study in silence, and as they arrived, his father sat down in a rather large chair in front of the fire that was burning there. James, in turn, sat in the chair across from his father with a sigh.
"I was hoping to learn a bit more than that from her tonight," his father said simply, watching his son carefully.
"I think you made her uncomfortable, father."
They sat, once again, in silence for several moments as they mulled over the events of the night. "She's Muggleborn," his father eventually said, looking away from James over to the fire.
"Yes," James replied, keeping his eyes on his father the entire time.
"Son… She seems nice enough, and you seem to like her quite a bit," Mr. Potter said, turning back to look at James. "Don't think I have anything against Muggleborns, because I don't. She can become an Auror like you said she wants to, and she can go off and marry someone very nice and have a great life… But that nice person she marries will have to be a half-blood at the most, and you know it!"
"Father—…" James began, though stopped when his father raised up a hand to silence him.
"I won't hear anything more about this. I know what your intentions with this girl were, but I won't allow you to marry her. Have a relationship if you'd like, but we're Pureblood, James. It's something we're proud of."
He would not hear another word of it. As soon as his father finished, James stood up and marched right out of the room—likely the rudest thing he had ever done in front of his father. This would not be the end, though. If he wanted, James would marry Lily… He would.
-
After James left, he headed up to Lily's room to find her. Knocking on the door, he got no response, and when he opened it, he found no Lily inside. Letting out a sigh, he went off on a trek to find her in the house. It didn't take ten minutes for him to hear her crying which led him to her quite quickly. When he found her, she looked up for a moment to see who it was, and then looked back down, clearly embarrassed.
"James…" she said quietly, her voice muffled as she spoke into her hands.
"Lily, don't cry," he said gently. He took several steps to her, before kneeling down to comfort her with a gentle hand on her back.
"They hate me! I tried so hard to be nice and polite like they wanted, and they still hated me!"
"They didn't hate you," James said, doing her best to assure and comfort her.
"Yes they did! Did you see the way your father looked at me when you said I was Muggleborn? I've never been so ashamed of myself…"
"Why in the world would you be ashamed of yourself, Lily? If anyone should be ashamed, it's my father. Merlin, Lily, you're the best thing that's happened to me, and he's not going to bring us down now," he told her, gently lifting her head to look at him. "I've never seen Lily Evans cry in my life, and I assure you that this isn't something you need to cry over. They aren't worth it," he told her softly, smiling a bit to her.
With a sniff, she did her best to smile back, though couldn't help but avert her eyes. She knew exactly how she looked—red blotchy face, mussed up hair, bloodshot eyes. She knew that she had to be quite the sight, and wasn't exactly proud of it.
"Now, why are you all the way in the south wing?" he asked her, helping her to her feet.
"I got lost," Lily told him in embarrassment, looking down at her feet with a small laugh.
"Then I suppose I just won't leave your side; if you have me with you, I'll never let you get lost," he told her, putting an arm around her as he led her back to her room.
-
The two of them stayed at the Potter's residence for two more days, though the rest of Lily's meals were spent with James and James only. She didn't mind one bit, though, because she was perfectly fine without the tension between all of them. After these two days were up, they headed off to Stratford-upon-Avon to meet the Evans family. Despite the luxuriousness of James' home, Lily couldn't help but be relieved to be getting away from the place and going to a much warmer, welcome place. James, on the other hand, was more than a bit nervous.
It took considerably less time to get to the Evans' home, which was greatly appreciated by both parties. Their arrival was significantly less magnificent than that of the Potter's home, likely because the small cottage the Evans lived in was…Considerably smaller than the Potter's "palace," to say the least.
As the car stopped, the driver that had ferried them there opened the door to let them out. Once they stepped onto the sidewalk, Lily nudged James a bit. "Slightly less climactic, don't you think?" she joked, laughing a bit. "Now, say goodbye to your driver, because I'm afraid we have no bits of luxury in my home. No magic, either." The latter part was a bit quieter, simply because they were in a Muggle part of town.
At this last part, James stopped dead, staring at her. He had completely forgotten that being Muggle meant that their house had no magic. "Then how do you toast your bread?"
"Toaster oven. Fantastic invention, if I could say so myself."
James' jaw dropped, but before he could respond, Lily was dragging him towards the house, luggage in hand. "Now, unlike your family, you don't have to bow or anything when you see them. Just…Smile, alright? They'll like that." As she said this, Lily rang the doorbell with her free hand, and in no time at all, her mother was at the door, quickly followed by her father.
"Lily!" they exclaimed, smiling widely at the two of them as they were ushered inside.
"And you must be James," Lily's mother said jovially. As James put down his luggage, he stuck out his hand for her to shake, smiling a bit just as Lily had told him. Mrs. Evans looked down at his hand for a moment and then back to him, her grin widening. With this, she enveloped James in a large hug. "We're so excited to have you here, honey," she told him.
"Now, Lily. Show James to his room, will you? I have dinner on the stove and it will be ready in just a bit," her mother said, nodding to both of them.
Lily nodded in return, grabbing her luggage just as James did. "C'mon," she said, heading up a narrow staircase up to the second floor of the house. "I think you've seen that my house isn't quite as…. Spectacular as yours," Lily said, giving him an apologetic smile.
"You think I like living in that place? I feel like I've been pushed back into feudal England or something… And believe me when I say I've gotten lost my fair share of times in there. Believe me, a nice little place is perfect in my eyes."
Lily smiled, and leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "That means a lot to me," she told him, before looking back ahead to see that they were at the guest room. "So, you're right here and I'm across the hall, right there," she said, pointing out each room as they went. She opened up the door they were at the reveal a small bedroom. "Welcome to your chambers, m'lord," she said with a mock curtsey.
They put away their things in their respective rooms, and then headed back down to the kitchen together. "Mom, do you need any help?" Lily called out as they neared the kitchen.
"That would be wonderful, dear," she called back.
As they reached the kitchen, though, Mr. Evans came into the picture. He had been sitting at the table in the kitchen, and stood up as both of them came in. "James, do you think I could talk to you for a bit?" he asked, his tone quite friendly, smiling.
"Sure, Mr. Evans," James said, returning the smile.
Lily watched them carefully, looking a bit uneasy as they left the kitchen for the living room. "Oh Merlin…" she said under her breath, hoping that James knew what he had gotten himself into.
-
James and Mr. Evans arrived in the living room, and they both sat in their respective chairs. Once they sat down, James noticed that that friendly smile that had been on his face had disappeared… He couldn't help but feel just a bit uneasy.
"Lily's told us plenty about you," Mr. Evans said simply.
"I hope it wasn't all bad," James said jokingly, but Mr. Evans clearly didn't see the joke.
"It was all bad," he told James, frowning.
"Oh…" James said in response, looking down at his hands uncomfortably.
"She's told me about how obnoxious you are, and how you care about no one but yourself, and how you break the rules constantly and laugh at other people's expenses… That's just the beginning, Mr. Potter," he told him. James decided that it was probably best to stay quiet at this point. "My Lily's a smart girl. I trust her judgment, but I don't trust you."
"Mr. Evans, I really love Lily," James assured him, looking back up.
"And are you serious about her?"
"Yes, sir," James responded.
"She told me that she wanted to fight when she got out of Hogwarts…Become an Auror, I think it is. If that's what she wants to do, then I support her. But if she goes off and marries you or something, she won't be able to follow her dreams."
"Sir, we were going to train together… I want to be an Auror as well, and we were going to go through all the training and testing together, to make it a bit easier for both of us…" James said slowly.
"I see… Well, Mr. Potter, I just asked you in here so that I could let you know that I have a shotgun, and I'm not afraid to use it for my little girl," he said simply. "Do they have shotguns in the Wizard World, Mr. Potter?" James shook his head at this, looking a bit confused. "Well, let me tell you what it is. It's this contraption that holds a bullet, about this big," he said, holding up his fingers to show the size of a bullet, "and it propels this bullet at living things and it kills them."
James' eyes widened as he stared at Lily's father, utterly shocked.
"Don't do anything wrong, and you won't ever have to see that. If you hurt Lily, I would be afraid," he told him, before a smile broke out on his face. "We have an understanding, yes?"
James nodded quickly, refusing to say a word, too afraid that he may say the wrong thing.
"Right. Well, I think I smell dinner. Let's go eat," he decided, the jovial tone in his voice back. With that, they headed back to the kitchen, James feeling more than just a bit shaky.
-
Diner went by splendidly (Lily said it was because her sister had already been married off, and wasn't there to make a fuss), and James was thankful that there was no more talk of shotguns or any other odd contraptions that would kill him. Afterwards, he began helping Mrs. Evans do the dishes, but ended up being more trouble than he was worth, considering she was washing the Muggle way. She told him to head off to bed, and that she would be fine, and so James headed up to his room. Less than ten minutes later, he heard a knock in the door, and Lily came in.
"James?" she asked, poking her head in a bit.
He got up to see her, leading her into his room. "I hope my dad wasn't too bad…"
"He was fine," James assured her as they laid down on the ground next to each other.
"He told you about the shotgun, didn't he…" Lily said in embarrassment.
"Yeah, but I have nothing to worry about, because I would never do anything to hurt you," he told her, taking one of her hands in his.
"Merlin, our parents are crazy," Lily said jokingly.
"You can say that again…" James said slowly, and with that, they sat in silence for quite some time, merely enjoying each other's company.
"Lily?" James finally whispered.
"Mmhm?"
"Will you marry me?"
With this, Lily opened her eyes, sitting up to look at him. "What?" she asked in confusion.
"I want to marry you, Lily," he told her. "As soon as school gets out. Will you marry me?" he asked once more, sitting up with her.
Lily let out a small laugh, finally nodding enthusiastically. "Of course. Your dad won't be angry?" she asked.
"I don't care," he told her, shaking his head. "He doesn't matter. You're the only one that matters, Lily."
"I love you, James," Lily told him, smiling softly to him.
"I love you too."
---
I suppose this is how I imagined their parents, though I find that most people portray James' parents as really nice people—very accepting. I always thought that one of them had to be critical of James' choice of a girl, wanting to keep a Pureblood line. I don't think a Pureblood line could continue for so long without having people there to keep it Pure. Anyways, a bit bittersweet, or at least I think so. I hope you all liked it. Eh, and I only got one review last chapter? Disappointing, I suppose… Oh well. Until next time.
-Christine