Hello lovlies! Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying. The problem with half of my documents ending up italicized has been brought to my attention. I'm not sure why, but when I use italics on a word, it seems that everything after that point in the document becomes italicized when I upload it. The only way I know to fix this is by not using italics at all, and since I rely on them some to convey emphasis, there may be some points that seem a little flat. As always, I don't own these characters. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Since they were obviously not going to be able to stay at Lily's house, James and Lily decided to apparate to James' parent's house. "They'll be happy meet you," James said, trying to make conversation. Lily had barely said anything since they left her mother's flower garden. "They've heard Sirius tease me enough to be curious about you." James was glad it was dark, so she couldn't see him blush in embarrassment. Normally, Lily would have blushed as well, thinking of how she had misjudged James, but now she was too busy thinking of her parent's funeral, and how she wasn't going to be able to be there.

"Yeah," Lily muttered, "I'll be glad to meet them too."

"Hey, Lily," James said, stopping and reaching for her hand. "You OK? Do you need to talk?"

"No, I'm fine James," said Lily, snapping back to reality. "I just, I just wish I could go, say good-bye, you know?" Her throat was growing tight, and she had to quit talking before her tears broke through again. She had cried so much lately, she just wanted to be happy again.

"To the funeral? Of course you're going." James said, his eyebrows arched in surprised.

"What do you mean? You heard Petunia, she said she'd have me thrown out, and I don't want to do something so selfish to ruin Mom and Dad's funeral."

"She can't throw you out if she can't see you," James replied simply. "And we don't have magic for nothing, now do we. You'll go to you're parent's funeral, Lily Evens, I can promise you that."

"Thank you James!" Lily cried in gratitude, and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing softly into his shoulder. "I don't care how you do it, but if you can get me there without her seeing, I'll, I'll, I don't know what I'll do. It would mean so much to me."

"Really, it's no big deal. I mean, I've had years of practice, sneaking into places. Just ask Dumbledore. Of course, he caught me sometimes, but he knows a bit more about catching people using magic, and even he only caught me SOMEtimes." James smiled, glad to be able to do something to help Lily.

"Oh, but James, it is a big deal. It is SUCH a big deal to me. I don't know what I'd do without you, I just. Thank you. Thank you for everything."

James was a bit uncomfortable with such praise, but pleased just the same. He grabbed her hand and asked, "Are you ready?" She nodded. "Let's go then." They grabbed their trunks, closed their eyes, and with a loud pop, like the crack of a whip, they were gone.

They reappeared on a gravel road, about a quarter of a mile from a large white house, which was more the size of a mansion really. Large white columns supported a terrace that shaded a large porch. Soft white curtains shielded the rooms inside from prying eyes, but warm light from within made the large house look inviting and comfortable. Two large oak trees stood in front of the house, giving a cool spot on a hot day, and probably a place for James to climb and play when he was younger. Moonlight spilled from an almost full moon onto the cobbled walk leading to the large French doors.

James looked down at Lily, who smiled faintly at him. "Ready?" He asked. Lily nodded her head, and smiled a bit more assuredly. Hands joined, they walked to the house, levitating their trunks behind them.

James raised his hand to the door handle, but before he could turn it, it flung open. "James!" exclaimed a pretty woman of about forty with long brown hair pulled into a knot at the back of her neck. Her pretty blue eyes, so like her son's, danced with wonder and excitement at seeing her son. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello Mum." James grinned. "Good to see you too." He was obviously very happy to see his mother, but couldn't resist joking a bit with her. He then remembered why he was there, and sobered slightly. Clearing his throat, he said, "Mum, this it Lily. She uh, well, we need to stay here tonight. Don't worry." He added seeing the look in his mother's eyes, "Professor Dumbledore knows we are out of school, we have permission."

Mrs. Potter relaxed a bit, and then said, "Come in then! Don't just stand out in the night air! It's starting to get cold at night, and you'll catch your death out there!" She hurried them inside as though there was a blizzard on the way, and though it was still fairly comfortable outside, they didn't argue.

"Now, James," Mrs. Potter said once she had them sipping tea next to the fireplace, "You've told me you're here with permission of Professor Dumbledore, but you haven't told me why yet." She took a sip from her own cup and waited expectantly for an explanation.

Once again, James wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, so after a moments silence, Lily said, "Mrs. Potter, he's here because of me. My parents have just p-passed away, and James came with me so I wouldn't have to be alone when I talked to my sister. She, she blames me for it." Lily swallowed the knot in her throat and looked down, staring at the intricately designed Oriental rug on the floor. She took a few breaths before continuing. "It was the Death Eaters. They killed my parents because I'm a muggle-born learning magic, so her accusations aren't completely unfounded. But James has helped me realize it's not my fault, and he's helped me so much since I found out. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me stay here until the funeral. After that I suppose I'll go back to Hogwarts until I figure out what to do next."

"Of course dear!" exclaimed the sympathetic Mrs. Potter. "You can stay as long as you like. Robert and I, that is to say James' father and I, have heard so much about you, I feel as though I know you."

James' ears burned red with embarrassment at this remark, and he suddenly began concentrating very hard on a spot on the hardwood floor where an ember fallen from the fire had left a black burn mark.

"Oh, thank you Mrs. Potter!" Lily said, her voice full of emotion. "I don't know how I'll repay you." Her cheeks had burned at Mrs. Potter's remark as well, but she concentrated instead on her gratitude to the Potters, without whom she would have been lost at this time.

"Oh, my dear, I'm just happy I can help. I only wish there was something more I could do."

"You've helped so much already through your own kindness. And through James of course, I'm sure you had a rather big part in his being such a kind person." Lily blushed even as she said this, but needed to show James her gratitude, and found it a bit easier to pay a compliment to James' mother rather than to James directly.

Mrs. Potter smiled and was truly pleased by this, as is any mother when someone compliments her child. "Well now, it's getting rather late, your father's already asleep, but we can tell him about all of this in the morning. You two had better get on to bed. James, show Lily to one of the guest rooms." James snapped out of the trance he had been in since the comment from his mother. Even what Lily had said only barely permeated. "Oh, and don't STAY in the guest room, James. I expect you to sleep in your own room tonight."

James blushed even deeper at this; his mother seemed to have some sort of power when it came to saying things that mortified him. "Goodnight, Mum," He mumbled, leading Lily up the stair.

"Goodnight Mrs. Potter." Lily said as she followed.

"Sorry about that." James said glancing over his shoulder as he walked up the stairs. "She means well."

"I know," Lily said softly. "I like her. She- she reminds me of my own mum. She's sweet, and cares about everyone; even a stranger like me."

They stopped in front of a heavy oak door. James reached for the knob and bowed as he said, "Your room, My Lady." He pulled it open to reveal a large room with a large four poster bed of cherry wood standing in the middle and two matching cherry end tables on either side. A large cherry chest of drawers stood on the wall opposite of the bed, and an Oriental rug, similar to the one downstairs, filled most of the open space of the floor. Directly across from the door, a desk sat next to a window with a quill, a bottle of ink and a few sheets of fine white paper. Oil lamps burning on the tables and desk gave the room a soft glow. Lily noticed a crystal cut vase of calla lilies on the chest of drawers, and theirs scent filled the room.

"It's beautiful," Lily said, turning to James. "Thank you, James."

"No problem." He smiled, "My room is down the hall and to the right, if you need anything."

"Alright. Goodnight James."

"Goodnight Lily." He turned to leave.

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for EVERYTHING." She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

"Your welcome for everything," he said and leaned down, kissing her softly on her forehead, then the tip of her nose, then, ever so softly and lovingly, on her lips. He rested his forehead on hers and held her in his arms as he said, "I love you Lily Evans."

"I love you too James Potter." She smiled at him. "I'm still not sure how it happened, but I do."

After a moment standing there, feeling the comfort of each other's arms, they broke apart from the embrace. After one last goodnight kiss, James walked down the hall and disappeared into his room.

"Goodnight," She called softly after him. She didn't think he'd be able to hear her, but he peeked out the door of his room and whispered back, "Goodnight," and gave her one last smile. Lily pulled the door to and crawled into the bed, pulled the soft comforter up around her chin and fell into an exhausted sleep. By the time Mrs. Potter came in ten minutes later with a nightgown for her, she was already deeply asleep.

"Goodnight, my dear." Mrs. Potter said softly as she brushed back a strand of Lily's auburn hair from her face. "Sleep well." She laid the gown at the foot of her bed and crept softly out of the room.