A/N: Here is chapter nine! Thank you to last chapter's reviewers: Lenners and belly84. Lenners: Thank you so, so much for all your grammar help! I'm really awful at the subject. I tried to make sure only one person spoke per paragraph this chapter. I also get the comment about F.A.N.B.O.Y.S, although I can't promise it didn't accidentally slip itself in.
Disclaimer: The only thing that belongs to me is Rinky the house elf.
"Well, Evans, we're horribly bored, you see," Sirius told me. "And we came to invite you over to the Potter's house. We've already invited Alice, Frank, Mary, Remus, Peter, and Marlene."
"But Marlene is grounded," Potter said. As if I didn't already know. "Frank is sick, and Alice won't go without him. Remus, Peter, and Mary are all in though. Well, Mary is if you are."
I thought for a moment. Mary obviously wanted to go, and I couldn't begrudge her the chance to spend time with Remus, whom she had been writing me about. "When?" I questioned.
"Thursday," Sirius answered. Well, I didn't have anything else to do.
"Okay, I guess. What time?"
"Hmm, one? Yes, one is fine," Ja—Potter (Hah! Caught myself. I was still annoyed at him) said.
"Oh, alright then. Write down your address, so I know where to apparate."
"Actually, Mary's coming to pick you up. It's all arranged," Sirius informed me. "Well, see you then."
I nodded as they prepared to apparate back to-presumably- James's house. "Oh, and Lily?" James said.
"Wear a bathing suit, we have a pool." He turned on the spot, and with a crack, they were gone.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Thursday morning, at about eleven, Mary barged into my room and shook my shoulder. "Lily? Lily, get up!"
I grumbled and rolled over in my bed. "Go away. It's too early."
"It's eleven o'clock!" she exasperated, "Get. Up. Now." She tugged me out of my bed and I fell on the floor.
Whimpering and rubbing my elbow, I stood. "You are bloody annoying."
"I know, and that's why you love me!" she sing-songed as she went through my closet. "Now, go shower! We're going to James's house in two hours."
Grumbling once more, I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and stepped inside the bathroom. Rather than taking a hot shower, which would make me sleepier, I opted for one on the colder side that woke me up.
Returning to my room, I saw that Mary had put an outfit on my bed. I looked at her. "No way am I wearing this! I'm picking my own clothes, thank you very much."
She glared at me. "No, you're wearing this. And to ensure you will, I put a Disillusionment charm on all of your other clothes."
I stuck my tongue out at her and grabbed the clothes off of the bed, going into the bathroom to put them on.
Once inside the bathroom, I shut the door and gaped at the clothes she'd given me: a yellow-orange strapless bikini top, with matching string bottoms that had little turquoise beads on the strings. The bathing suit had been a gift, which I rarely wore because I thought of it as too exposing. Of course she picked that one.
Mary had also included a thin, green cotton sundress to wear over it, with cork-wedge sandals that had silver straps. Bloody Merlin, I was going to kill her.
I changed into my torture device and entered my room. Mary wolf-whistled and smirked at me. "I knew it would look great!"
"Yeah, well, you don't have to wear it," I muttered. "Can we eat now?"
I clunked down the steps in my sandals and walked into the kitchen, intent upon making myself a ham and cheese sandwich. Before I could do so, however, Mary squealed. "We didn't do your hair or makeup!"
Oh no. She grabbed my arm and pulled me back upstairs, using her wand to dry my hair. Pulling out my own wand, I zapped the hair off of my legs. Mary brushed my hair, braided a piece on the side and clipped it back, then put the whole thing in a low ponytail.
After she placed a water-repelling spell on my hairstyle (to keep it from getting frizzy, she insisted) she attacked my face with makeup. She lined my eyes with a deep jade color that made my eyes look greener, and then finished it off with black mascara to define them. She placed a waterproofing spell on it and was finished.
"Oh, look at the time! We've got to apparate!"
But…my sandwich. Ugh. "Mum," I called down the steps, "we're leaving now!"
Before I heard a response, Mary grabbed my arm and turned on the spot. I felt the familiar tug on my navel and felt as if I were being squeezed into a tube. When we landed, I staggered a little and tried to regain my focus.
"Mare, are you sure we're at the right place?" I asked her, staring at the enormous house in front of us.
"P-positive," she stammered, mouth open and eyes wide.
We walked up the long driveway, gaping in awe. "Hey, Evans," James called out. Sirius stood next to him, hands in his pockets.
"This is your house?" I gasped.
"Uh, yeah," he said, shifting on his feet and rubbing the back of his neck. Hmm. I enjoyed watching him squirm.
"Well, let's go inside rather than stand outside in the heat, yeah?" Sirius said, filling the awkward silence and pushing open the gate. He then led us through the front door.
We were greeted by a house elf. "Please misses, Rinky can take your bags!" she said in her high-pitched voice. I shrugged and handed mine to her. Mary did the same. James and Sirius led us into a room which I assumed was the sitting room.
"Mum," he greeted a woman lounging on a chair and reading Witch Weekly, "This is Lily Evans, and Mary MacDonald." She stood up and bustled over to us. I looked at her- she obviously must have been very beautiful when she was younger, I could tell from her sparkling hazel eyes- the same as James'- and soft brown hair, streaked with gray.
"Oh, Lily, it's so nice to finally meet you! Every break, James used to come home to me and tell me about the fiery redhead whom he absolutely adored!"
"Mum!" James hissed.
She smiled at him. "James, dear, don't lie. Why don't you and Sirius go upstairs and put your swimsuits on? I'll entertain the girls while you're gone."
With a sigh, he started out of the room, Sirius following behind him. "Don't believe anything she says," James whispered as he passed me. I smirked.
As soon as he was out of the room, Mrs. Potter said, "Mary, it's very nice to meet you as well. Are you the one that the boys tease Remus about?" she asked, making Mary blush a very deep shade of red.
"Yes, well, I'm sure you are. You two seem lovely. You know, Lily, you're the first girlfriend that James has ever brought home."
She thought I was his girlfriend? Oh, Merlin. "Um, actually," I began tactfully, "I think you might be confusing me with Ashley. She's James's girlfriend. We're just…friends."
"Hmm, you wouldn't guess it from the way you two look at each other, no? Oh well, things have a way of working out," she said, patting my arm.
At that moment, the boys came thundering back down the steps. "Mum, I'm going to take them away before you can tell them more embarrassing stories. We'll be by the pool if you need us," James said.
"Sorry about her," he apologized to Mary and me.
"No, no, she is quite interesting. I'm sure Lily thought so," Mary said, giving me a knowing smile. I shot her a nasty look.
We reached the pool and I looked around. Merlin, Potter had it all: a diving board, twisty slide, even miniature Quidditch hoops complete with a soft, waterproof Quaffle.
"Mary?" I called her. "Can you put sun lotion on my back? I just know I'm going to burn in this heat…" Oh, the traumas of being a redhead.
"Sure," she said, "just let me get my face first." While I waited for her, I busily rubbed lotion on my legs, arms, and stomach, reaching up my dress to do so. I wasn't exposing my skin to the harsh rays of the sun until I absolutely needed to.
When she was finished with herself, Mary rubbed the lotion on my back. After she had finished, I kicked my uncomfortable sandals off and pulled my dress over my head.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
James's Point of View
As Padfoot and I returned from the equipment shed, carrying pool floats, Mary was rubbing suntan lotion onto Lily's back. "Kinky," Sirius muttered, chuckling.
I was about to say something in reply when Lily removed her dress. "Merlin," Sirius gasped, "Evans has got an ass! You know, Prongs, since you're off the market, d'you mind if I fill in your spot of constantly asking her out?"
I glared at him and hit him on the shoulder. "Sod off. And as soon as I see what's-her-name, I'm ending it." I muttered, almost in a trance.
And that's the moment that I realized that I would never get over Lily Evans.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Lily," Mary said warningly, "they're gawking at you. Must be in awe, I s'pose," she said with a sigh. "Yes, of course you got blessed with the brains and the beauty, while I am of average intelligence and can barely fill out a swimsuit."
I glared at her. "Shut it. I'm putting my dress back on," I said, reaching for it. She slapped my arm away. Ouch.
"No you are not! Go on, flaunt what you were blessed with!" she exclaimed. "Besides, I don't mind. Remus isn't here yet. Just don't take him too," she muttered the last sentence, but I still caught it.
"I don't have any interest in any of them!" I told her.
"Well, I can see chemistry with James that you choose to ignore. Oh, well, that's a whole other subject," she said, changing to subject. "Oh, look, here comes Remus!" she squealed as he let himself in through the back gate.
As I was glad for an excuse to not talk about James, and Mary was glad to see Remus, we bounded over to him, enveloping him in a hug. I heard someone mutter from behind me, "Lucky git."
"Hello, Remus!" Mary and I said in unison. He extracted himself from us and said a quiet, "Hey, Lily."
Remus whispered something to Mary that I didn't hear, and she giggled.
"Hey, Evans," Sirius called out. "Since you've shown us what you've been hiding under your school robes all this time, will you go out with me?"
Quite enjoying look of panic on James's face, I said slyly, "Yes, I will agree to not go out with you."
While Remus, who was as intelligent as I was, caught on right away, with Potter close behind him, Sirius had no clue.
"Are you serious?" he gasped, unaware of the joke that he had just set himself up for.
"No, I believe you are. But try to comprehend what I just said," I told him.
"Oh, right. Well, all of you, let's stop dilly dallying and get into the pool!" he said.
Remus and Mary jumped in together, and I dipped my toes in to feel it. Huh. Not too cold, not too wa- My thoughts were cut off as Sirius grabbed me from behind and threw me in. My scream caught in my throat as I hit the water.
I surfaced, pushing my hair out of my face. There were two splashes as Sirius and James jumped in. Trying not to ruin my afternoon, I decided to forgive Sirius.
Over the next few hours, we took turns on the slide, played mini-Quidditch, and overall had a good time. I looked at my watch and noticed that it was six o'clock.
"Well," I said, beginning to climb out of the pool, "Mary and I have got to get back to my house. I promised my mum that we'd be home in time for dinner."
Mary followed me out of the pool. We dried ourselves off with out wands and gratefully accepted our bags from Rinky the house elf. Just as we were preparing to apparate, James grabbed me out of nowhere, hugging me and pressing my body close to his- too close for comfort, I must say.
"See you at school, Evans."
A/N: You know the drill, pretty please with James Potter on top, review! (Unless you're Lily. Then we'll put Paul McCartney up there, hehe.)
Always,
sevendeadlyquinns
PS- I just had to throw the serious/Sirius joke in there ;)
