Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.
James Potter is a Dead Man by Wittyheroine
Chapter Eight
Pemberley
Summer passed by in a blur for Lily Evans. Though her mother pestered her about what had happened with Severus, she did not press Lily to try to make up with him or something of that sort for which she was grateful. James wrote on occasion, and she replied, though he was busy with royal affairs and didn't have much time for it. Around mid July however, Lily did receive a telephone call from him.
She had just been coming in after having spent a few hours riding around on her bike when her mother came out on the porch and said, "Lily dear, you've got someone on the phone. I believe it's the prince."
Lily blinked at her. "Mom, have you been drinking in the afternoon? Prince Andrew is about as likely to call this house as-"
Her mother laughed. "Oh don't be silly dear. I'm not talking about that prince of course. I'm talking about your prince. What's his name? James?"
"Oh!" said Lily, finally understanding it. "Oh, of course, well that's what happens in the summer, it makes me go loopy and forget things. James is on the phone, you're sure?"
"Yes I'm sure. He's the only one I could think of who would call and shout. He about blew my ear drums off when he said hello."
"It's probably the first time he's ever used one. Wizards don't have telephones you know, since technology doesn't work around magic."
"Right well come on inside and talk to him then. Hopefully he hasn't hung up or something because I haven't got his number," said Marie, who headed back inside. Lily walked up the steps and followed.
"Which phone is it?" she asked as she closed the door behind her.
"Kitchen," her mother replied.
"Thank you." She then went to the kitchen and picked up the phone which was resting on the counter. "Hello?"
"LILY?" James shouted and she had to pull the phone away from her ear.
"James, not so loud," she said, "I can hear you perfectly fine."
"ARE YOU SURE?" James asked.
"Positive," she said.
"Oh alright then," said James at a regular volume. "I'm sorry. I've never used one of these things before."
"How'd you get one anyway?"
"My uncle has one. It's his private line for when he needs to discuss things with the muggle prime minister or the muggle Queen or something. You know for emergencies that affect us both like war or something."
"Oh," said Lily, "you could have sent me an owl you know. I'd hate for something to happen and for your uncle not to be able to know right away."
"It's perfectly alright. Uncle Harold insisted that it was safer this way. He doesn't want anyone finding out about us until everything's good and official. Otherwise it might put your family in unnecessary harm."
"Alright then, if you're sure. What's this about James?"
"We'd like for you to come and stay with us for the rest of the summer."
"Yes, I already know."
"No I mean…we'd like to pick you up tomorrow and come have you stay."
"Tomorrow?" Lily said, surprised. "Why tomorrow?"
"Well Uncle Harold's birthday is in three days and we'd like for you to come to it. Besides if we gather you without giving notice, it's less likely someone will find out about it."
"Hang on just a minute, I'll have to talk to my mother. I'll be right back."
"You promise? This wouldn't be your way of trying to get rid of me would it, dear Lilykins?"
Lily rolled her eyes, which she realized was rather silly because he couldn't see her. "Oh honestly James, don't be ridiculous. If I wanted to get rid of you I'd simply hang up."
James chuckled. "I suppose that's true. Well, I'll be here waiting, counting the minutes and seconds until I hear your voice again dearest."
"Oh really, don't go getting all mushy on me now or else I actually will hang up."
"Fine, fine, I'll be on my best behavior. I promise. Now go talk to your mother."
She sighed and then put the phone on the counter before she went into the living room where her mother was dusting the coffee table. "Well?" said her mother expectantly. "What does Charming want?"
Lily groaned. "Oh mum, please don't call him that. He's already got a big enough ego as it is."
Marie smiled. "If you insist darling, though I don't see how it matters since he isn't here."
"He's James Potter. He could hear if they were talking about him all the way in Timbuktu. Now, I've got to ask you something."
"Alright, ask away."
"James wants me to come and visit his family, since the Kings birthday is in a few days and they want me there for it. Though they want to pick me up tomorrow, so as to avoid anyone finding out about it who shouldn't find out about it since it will be all very last minute. Then I'll stay with him and his family for the rest of the summer. Is that alright?"
"I suppose it will have to be. We already did promise Lady Cordelia that you could stay and it would look rude to go back on it. Your father agreed to it earlier too so I suppose that all that's left is for you to tell them yes and pack."
"Thanks Mum," said Lily "oh and could you do me a favor?"
"What'd that be?"
"Could you please keep Petunia out for the day?"
"Why?"
"I haven't…I haven't told her yet."
"What do you mean you haven't told her? Lily, you've been home a month. This is a big part of your life that you're going to be taking and your sister is going to find out eventually."
"I just haven't figured out how to yet. Pet and I already don't get along and if I tell her that I'm marrying a Prince she'll think that I'm doing this to make her jealous. I'll tell her but I want to do it when it will be less of a mess and preferably without James there. It wouldn't do if the wizard's heir apparent to the throne got killed by my own sister."
Marie didn't appear to be pleased with her daughter's decision but she didn't argue either. "Very well, I'll give Pet some money so she can go out shopping with that gaggle of girls she always has around her. She's been begging me to for months. Apparently there's some Dorothea Banks Petunia wants to impress or some such nonsense."
"Barons daughter?" Lily asked.
"Heiress," replied Marie, "her family's in drilling and that's Vernon's line of work. She's hoping to get Vernon a job at the company the Banks family owns or perhaps invest in Vernon's own if the girl likes her enough."
"And she thinks I'm the weird one in the family. Honestly, I'll never understand how she can be so-"
"Lily," her mother said warningly, "don't talk about your sister like that especially when you've got a prince waiting for you on the phone. Now go and tell James that you're allowed to visit. You've kept him waiting long enough."
"Oh! I'd nearly forgotten," she said, and then walked back to the kitchen to pick up the phone. "James?"
"….two hundred bottles of Fire Whiskey on the wall, two hundred bottles of Fire Whiskey on the wall, you take one down, pass it around-"
"James," she said, trying to get his attention again.
"Oh Lily dearest! Is that you? I've forgotten what your voice sounds like because you were gone so long."
She sighed. "You can be so melodramatic."
"It's one of my specialties. Now, do you have an answer for me or not because my mother has already asked me what you've said five times and she's driving me batty."
"Yes," said Lily, "it's perfectly fine. Just come around mid-morning some time." And hopefully Petunia will be out of the house by then, she thought to herself.
"Right then, I'm looking forward to seeing you, until tomorrow."
"Yes, until tomorrow," said Lily, and then they both hung up.
Lily spent the rest of the afternoon packing something that ended up going well into the late evening. When she finally did get to bed she was exhausted however at the same time she was so nervous that she never did actually close her eyes. Instead she stayed awake and stared at the ceiling.
By eleven o' clock the next morning, Mr. Evans had already been at work long ago and Petunia had practically been forced out of the house by her mother. Together Lily and Marie sat in the living room on opposite ends with Lily on the loveseat and her mother on the couch. Both of them had their hands folded and were waiting anxiously for the Potters to arrive.
"What time did they say they'd be getting here?" Marie asked.
"I told them to come around mid-morning. I suppose I could have been more specific."
"Yes, that would have been nice."
Just then there was the sound of a rather obnoxious horn from outside which instead of just a usual horn noise emitted music. Both Lily and Marie jumped in their seats then looked at each other in alarm. "What in heaven's name was that?" Marie asked.
"I don't know," said Lily.
The two of them got up and looked out the window only to see a purple, old fashioned looking car parked out in the front of the house. It had two flags that if one looked at a distance appeared British only the design was wrong. Out of the car stepped a man dressed in a suit with a strangely large hat on his forehead. Lady Cordelia followed and looked smashing in a short light blue dress. James came next looking sharply dressed in men's dress pants, jacket, and a white shirt. His messy hair went into his face and there was something about it that actually looked elegant on him.
Lily and her mother quickly went away from the window so that they wouldn't be seen peering out. Then the doorbell rang. "Hello? Anybody home?" Lady Cordelia asked.
Marie opened the door for them and smiled brightly. "Cordelia!" she said. "You look wonderful. How are you? Come on in."
"Oh lovely, thanks," said Lady Cordelia who walked on inside. "Your home is so quaint! I love your garden. Did you do it yourself?"
"Uh, yes," said Marie, "I've got quite the green thumb. It's why I've named my daughters after flowers you see."
Lady Cordelia smiled. "I love it. James where are you? Why haven't you said hello for Lily? Oh, don't forget to give her a kiss too."
James sighed. "Mother."
"Don't you Mother me. I am the parent here. Without me and your father, you wouldn't exist. I reserve the right to order you to kiss your fiancé."
He sighed again and then he walked over to Lily. "Hullo," he said with the faintest of smiles, "I'm supposed to kiss you now. I think that if I don't I'll be sent to bed without super or grounded or beaten or something."
"James!" his mother screeched.
He just gave her a grin and then looked back at Lily. "Might I kiss you now?"
Lily shrugged. "I suppose so."
He kissed her. It was feather light and maybe it was something about the fact that Lady Cordelia was watching as was her mother but whatever it was she felt something. It was a slight stirring inside as if a breeze had went through her body and made herself move like she was a leaf. When they parted, James was looking at her with something like curiosity like a scientist examines a particularly new and interesting discovery.
Lady Cordelia clapped enthusiastically then. "Oh well done! I just love a good show," she said, "Lily dear have you got your bags?"
"Yes, they're by the door. I'll grab them."
"Oh don't be silly! We'll let Gerald do it. That's what he's there for after all," said Lady Cordelia, "and you don't mind do you Gerald?"
Gerald looked at Lady Cordelia blankly before he went to grab Lily's luggage and put it in the car. Lady Cordelia chuckled then. "Oh don't mind him. He's a man of few words you know."
"Er…right," said Lily. "Are we going then?"
"Oh yes, of course. Say goodbye to your mother dear and then we'll be on our way."
Marie and Lily turned to each other then. Her mother wrapped her arms around her, squeezing her incredibly tight. "You be on your best behavior Lily Evans. I mean it. You represent this family and our world so that you can make a difference. I love you."
"I love you too Mum," she said, "I'll see you at Christmas alright? Tell Pet and Dad I love them too alright?"
"I will."
They pulled away and Lily waved goodbye before she and the Potters left. They got into the strange purple car which Lily guessed must have had an enlargement charm on it or something because there was no way the car could have been as big as it was.
"Well, where exactly is it that we're going?" Lily asked.
"The Lake District," said James, "our summer home is there. Sirius will be there too and so will Peter if his mother can actually spare him. Crotchety old crone."
"James!" said Lady Cordelia. "You mustn't call Lady Pettigrew crotchety."
"Except that's what she is," said James.
"Remus won't be coming?" asked Lily, not wanting the two of them to argue.
"What? Oh, no. His mother's ill again so he won't be able to make it," James said.
"Poor boy, it seems like his mothers always ill," said Lady Cordelia, "you know James you could always invite both him and his parents. I'm certain that fresh country air is just what she needs. It could do her wonders."
"The Lupin's are very proud Mum and they won't take the invite. Besides the doctors ordered her to stay in bed and travel would only make it worse."
Lady Cordelia bit her lip. "Oh well. Perhaps she'll be well enough next summer and be able to visit."
"Yeah, perhaps," said James although he didn't sound very believable.
The rest of the ride to the lake district was very quiet with James lost in a very broody sort of mood and Lady Cordelia also brooding. Lily didn't speak because she had no idea what to say to either of them.
She felt a squeeze of her hand and looked over to see James smiling at her. "Are you alright? You look pale."
"Oh I'm fine," Lily said.
"Evans," said James, "you don't have to lie to me you know."
Lily was saved then as the car had just pulled up to a gate which magically opened by itself. "Oh," she said, "we're here."
"Yes," said James, "we are."
"I think I'm going to throw up."
"Really Lily dearest, you have nothing to worry about. Our family isn't that scary. Well, most of them," said Lady Cordelia, "and if you're going to throw up I just ask that you do so out the window. James, be a dear and roll it down for her will you?"
James couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think she was being serious Mum." Then he looked at Lily. "You weren't being serious, were you? Because you know I can-"
"I'm not really sure. All I know is that I can't feel my stomach anymore."
"Well, as long as you don't stop breathing or anything I'm fine with that," said James, and he gave her a squeeze of his hand. Lily smiled as best she could although it came out somewhat pained.
She wanted nothing more than to demand that the car turnaround right then and there. Only of course they had come too far for that and there was no backing out now. She was about to enter the world of royals and worse, the world of magical royals. Besides, she wasn't one to go back on her word and she had promised that she would see the whole thing through with James at least until her seventh year. Lily was going to do what Professor Dumbledore and the King had asked her and she was going to do it well.
At least she thought she was until the car pulled up to the driveway and she saw the house. "Oh Merlin!" she exclaimed.
"What is it?" asked both James and Lady Cordelia at the same time.
"You didn't tell me you lived at Pemberly!" Lily said, causing James to blink and Lady Cordelia to chuckle.
"Pemberly?" said James. "I don't understand. What's Pemberly?"
Lady Cordelia just smiled. "Nothing for you to worry about dear," she said, "it's a woman thing."
James huffed irritably. "You two sharing inside jokes…I don't think that's a good idea."
"If it were anything bad, then you'd have something to worry about. As it is in female terms, I do believe that Miss Evans just paid you the highest compliment a young girl can give to a young man."
James looked at Lily and waggled his eyebrows in a mischievous sort of way while Lily flushed considerably. That was what she got for opening her big mouth. She was going to have to be more careful about what she said around Lady Cordelia, because she had a feeling James would find out about it five minutes later.
When the car pulled to a stop in front of the house Lily found that she was frozen to the seat. For the house truly was Pemberly. It was grand, old, and done in the Tudor style. As she stared at it she couldn't help but think that the paintings would probably talk about how she wasn't good enough. Then she realized that she was being ridiculous and worrying about the opinions of the paintings.
It was the opinions of the people that she supposed that she should be really worried about. If people started to believe in her and James, a war could be stopped. If the people didn't believe in her and James then….
She shuddered to think at what would happen if they failed.
"Lily," said James, "time to get out. Our driver can only hold the door for so long."
"Oh…right," said Lily, only noticing just then that the driver was holding the door for them. Lily got out and so did James and Lady Cordelia. James to her surprise grabbed hold of her hand and led her inside to the house.
The house was as fine as the outside and all Lily had seen of it was the main entrance. The grand staircase and the entryway was done in marble. Already she had spotted two famous paintings, both magical and none. Then of course there was Sirius. She blinked.
"Sirius?" she said, unable to hide the surprise in her voice.
"Took you long enough," said Sirius, "how was your ride?"
"Long," said James, "I thought Evans here was going to pass out the whole time because I don't think she breathed once."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I did too breath just you know, not regularly," said Lily, "I'm still confused. What's Sirius doing here?"
"Wow. You really were nervous during that road trip," said James, "I told you Sirius would be here."
"I just assumed he'd be coming later."
"Afraid not, Evans," said Sirius, "you're stuck with me all summer I'm afraid. My dearest mother and I had quite the disagreement and the Potters have taken me in, bless their souls, especially Lady Potter who is the loveliest woman on earth."
"Oy Padfoot! That's my mother you're flirting with," said James, sounding disgusted.
Lady Cordelia laughed. "Oh Sirius Black, you're going to be the death of me. If you keep on talking like that you'll have the servants and the Daily Prophet convinced that we're havin an affair."
He winked at her. "Well, we'd make a rather ravishing couple I daresay. Besides if I don't work my charm on someone this summer it might rust. Or I'll end up stealing your future daughter-in-law away from you."
"Don't you dare Sirius Black, I've already picked out the china patterns," said Lady Cordelia, causing Lily to laugh. "Now if you excuse me, I'll leave you children to yourselves. I'm rather tired from that trip and I am going to go take a nap. Don't get into trouble." With that, the blond haired woman went up the stairs leaving the three teenagers by themselves.
Lily looked at James then. "She was joking about the china patterns wasn't she?"
"I wish I could tell you that she had been but knowing my mother, I'm afraid she wasn't," said James.
Lily frowned. "Well then, I suppose you'll just have to do your best to convince me that your worth all this mess so that I don't leave you for a charming bloke who does something simple like work at a coffee shop."
"Is that a challenge, Evans?" said James.
"I believe it is, Potter," she said.
"Well then be prepared to be wooed off your feet," said James, "I believe we'll start that wooing with a tour of what you call Pemberley for whatever reason."
"Pemberley?" said Sirius.
"Muggle thing," said Lily, "although apparently since Lady Cordelia knows it Pemberley is more of a woman thing."
"Right," said Sirius, getting it about as much as James had which hadn't been at all.
"Never mind," said Lily, "shouldn't I bring my trunk in?"
"Don't worry, my guess is that it's already in your room," said James, "though I suppose you should have a tour of the place so that you don't get lost. Are you up for one?"
"Are you kidding? Of course I am. This place is huge."
"Why don't we show her that one room where the walls change color?" Sirius suggested. "Or perhaps the one that's filled with nothing but old witch and wizards hats for some strange reason?"
"There's a room just for hats?" said Lily.
"Well you are in the home of wizard royalty Lily. Of course we have to have a room for our hats," said James, "actually it's just what happens when your family is magical and has too much money. Your home tends to have too many rooms filled with things that make absolutely no sense whatsoever."
"Don't forget about the room filled with pet frogs," Sirius reminded him.
"Ah yes how can I forget? Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle Ignotus's frog collection which we can't seem to get rid of," said James, "yes Lily, be prepared to see the wackiness that results from being rich and eccentric."
"Should I be frightened?" Lily joked.
"Depends on the rooms," said Sirius, grinning at her. "I really can't wait until we show her the room with all the leather-"
"Er, I think we'll skip that one," said James.
"Leather what?" Lily asked.
"Oh. Right, hadn't thought about that. It might upset her delicate female sensibilities," said Sirius.
"I am not a delicate female. What were you saying about a room with leather something?"
"Nothing," said James and Sirius together.
"You two are impossible."
"So we've been told many times," said James, "come on Evans. Lots of important art for you to look at and names of my dead relatives for you to learn, after all, you are going to be family soon. We might as well get a head start on making you one of us."
"Unless you'd rather back out now and become a Black darling," said Sirius, "I'm just as loaded as he is."
James snorted. "Are not, you've been disinherited."
"Well, I've still got my uncle you know. C'mon Evans, what do you say? We'd look awfully pretty together. I'll take you to Paris and you can ride on the back of my motorcycle that I'm planning on getting," said Sirius.
"First of all Sirius, you can't get a motorcycle because you'll die," said Lily, "secondly, I'm promised to James you twat. It's to help bring the magical community together which is a lot more important than who looks prettier standing next to each other."
"I'm hurt Lilykins," said Sirius, "have you no affection for me at all? What about all those days spent by the lake?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "If I were to have any affection for you which I don't yet because I haven't made up my mind if I like you or not, it would only be the way a sister feels for a brother."
James looked pleased at that while Sirius looked more than a little hurt. "You've just been told Padfoot. Now Lily my dearest, would you like for me to show you the castle?" He offered her his arm as he said it.
She looped her arm through his. "Yes your highness, I'd love it."
"I'll have none of that nonsense now. It's James or Potter, but nothing else."
"Don't forget Prongs or Elvendork," said Sirius.
"Prongs or Elvendork?" Lily asked, looking between the two with amusement and waiting for an explanation.
"Padfoot," said James warningly.
"I have always wondered about those nicknames of yours," said Lily, "You didn't always call yourself them. It was just this year sort of out of the blue and then it sort of caught on."
"For a girl that claims not to have spent much attention to us, you certainly do know a lot," said James.
"Not really, I'm just observant."
"Come along Evans, we've got more interesting things to show you like the sword that belonged to King Arthur," said James in an attempt to distract her.
"The what?"
"Excalibur," James said, "the one and only. Come on if we wait any longer it will get rusted." James pulled her up the staircase which wasn't hard to do as Lily was still a bit dazed at the fact that his family owned the supposedly mythological sword of the supposedly mythological king.
The rest of the afternoon was spent going through the whole of the palace. James knew every inch of it like the back of his hand having spent every summer there since he was a very small boy. He also knew the entire history of the place and surprised Lily frequently by pointing out where some dead ancestor of his had had some great discovery or where someone had died or had sneezed or something. He could go on and on about the paintings and the architecture and she couldn't help but watch him, completely fascinated as he took such a delight in telling her everything. It was obvious that James truly cared about the place.
Sirius in turn would fill her in on what he knew which happened to be a lot although she supposed that wasn't too strange considering that he had probably spent more time there than in his own home. Of course the thing with Sirius was that along with facts he would also tell stories about him and James as children so Lily ended up hearing things like "and there's the chandelier that we got stuck on when we were twelve and practicing levitation on ourselves" or "and there's the place where we locked James's cousin in and then forgot about him".
It was all thoroughly entertaining.
"And I've saved the best room for last," said James as they neared a door at the end of the hallway although Lily had long ago forgotten which floor they were on because they seemed so endless.
"I don't know. I think it will be pretty hard to top the library," said Lily.
James chuckled then. "I suppose that's right. I'm not going to be able to drag you out of there this summer am I?"
"I'm afraid not. Just send food every now and then and I'll be fine," Lily said.
"Well, I'm certain this room will top the library at least just a little," said James.
"I forget. Is this the room with your Great, Great, Great Aunt Helga's spoon collection?" Sirius asked.
"No," said James, "this is the room with the thingies."
"Thingies?" said Sirius, and then it seemed to dawn on him what exactly James was talking about. "Oh, right…er Lilykins, it was a pleasure to spend the day with you but I'm afraid that I must be off. Important royal duties to attend to and all that, and I'll see you two love birds later." He ran off then leaving Lily to stare after him.
"What was that about?" Lily asked.
James shrugged. "I don't know. You heard him. He's got important royal duties to attend."
"Liar."
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Now are you going to come in or what?"
She stared at him suspiciously. "I'm not going to get hit with green slime or something am I?"
"Oh, ye of little faith Miss Evans," said James, "have I not proven to you that I can be a gentleman when I want to be?"
"I suppose," she said, although she was still apprehensive about the whole thing. He smiled at her then and he went to open the door. Quickly, he pulled her inside and she was surprised to find herself in an empty room. She looked around and waited for something to happen. "I don't get it. Where are we?"
"Shhh," said James, "they don't like noise."
"Who doesn't-"James covered her mouth with his hand then and Lily was forced to be quiet. She glared at him as she waited for whatever was supposed to be happening to start happening although she was resisting the urge to bite James's hand so he would remove it. That was when she heard it.
It was a very, very slight humming that was almost too low to detect. Then James took his hand off of her mouth and James gestured to the floor. Lily looked down and for the first time realized that the floor was made of glass. Underneath the glass, Lily could see what appeared to be mermaids swimming. Then the humming got louder and it was then that she realized that it wasn't humming at all, but singing.
"James," Lily whispered, but he put his hand up to signal for her to be quiet.
"…there once was a young man who went off to sea, he loved a lass that was called Lily, she asked him not to leave but he said he loved her as much as he loved the sea…"
The two of them stayed there and listened to the whole song which was a beautiful but mournful sailor's tune. When the song was finished, James and Lily quietly excited the room and closed the door behind them.
"Well?" asked James. "What did you think?"
"They were…well, they looked terrifying, but their song was beautiful," said Lily, "how did they know my name?"
James grinned. "I might have asked them to sing that song the other day when I knew you would be coming," he said.
Lily laughed. "Ah, and here I was thinking it was some sort of mermaid magic. Tell me, why exactly does your family have a room with a floor that lets you see into the mermaid's world?"
"Well, we have to do business with them on occasion in regards to political affairs," said James, "so we had that room built. They can actually get to it from any land source. Don't ask me how, the magic's much too complicated but I expect it's like a water version of the floo network."
"That's amazing," said Lily, "can we go back in there again sometime? Their singing was beautiful."
"I suppose we could," said James, "but I wouldn't go in there by yourself if I were you. Mermaids can be tricky creatures and they'll try to lure you into the water."
"Well, I won't go by myself then. Thank you for showing that to me."
"You're welcome. I figured you should. After all, our engagement will mean a lot to the magical creatures too. It isn't just muggleborns that Voldemort is targeting with this war. He'll be targeting anything he doesn't deem fit to be part of the magical world and I expect that will include things like mermaids, goblins, and others as well."
Lily shuddered at the thought. "That's awful. I truly hope that it doesn't come to that."
"If we stick together, it won't," said James, smiling.
"How can you be so sure they'll even like me? I am a muggleborn after all James, and I'm not even part of this world."
"Trust me, everyone loves a good fairytale. They'll like you because I like you. Now come on. I've shown you every room but yours, and I expect that you'll want to go there so you can wash up a bit before we have dinner with my uncle."
"We're having dinner with the King?"
"Yes, of course. His birthday is coming up after all. This whole week will be dedicated to festivities that involve him."
"I think I'm going to throw up."
"Oh relax, you'll do fine Evans. Now c'mon, let's take you to your room. If you actually are going to throw up then you can do so in your bathroom there." He grabbed her by the hand then and led her to her room, chatting politely the whole way about other things and doing her best to ease her nerves which, although it was nice, it certainly didn't help in the slightest.
"Just breathe," James whispered in her ear when they finally did reach her room. She smiled slightly and then he left her alone so that she could go get dressed and ready.
A/N: Well, I haven't forgotten about it. I was editing another story of mine that isn't which distracted me from this. Anyway, there's chapter eight and I'll get around to chapter nine once I actually have an idea for it.
Thank you kindly for the reviews:
LillyOfTheField
Is your heart in the game
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