A.N.: At long last, another. Hope you enjoy the shape of things to come ;)

Chapter Nine

„Proposals"

(Present day)

As Lily Evans was standing on the doorstep of her childhood home, bracing herself for yet another run-in with her sister Petunia, she was, as us humans mostly are, blissfully unaware of the goings-on in the world around her. And, more importantly, she was completely unaware of how absolutely different her life was soon to become.

Up in Lily's bedroom, her cat Molly rolled over in her sleep and dug her claws into Lily's Head Girl badge, tail flicking lazily against Lily's acoustic guitar. In the next room, Petunia could hardly contain her excitement after having just received a very important piece of news. A few streets away, her best friends Nora and Marlene were having a slightly worried chat about Lily, wondering if the animosity between her and James was taking a turn for the dangerous. In the basement of the Potters' house, Sirius Black was laughing in a circle of friends, betting on how many bruises James would have when he came back, all the while guarding his own secrets carefully. And several hundred miles away, a Muggle house in the town of Ashburn-on-Sea was being set on fire, trapping all of its inhabitants inside.

()

"Lily?" As soon as she had turned the key in the front door's lock and pushed open the door, she heard her mother's voice from the kitchen. It smelled like fresh cake and tea in there, making Lily's stomach growl and reminding her she hadn't had anything by way of breakfast all day.

"Hi, Mum," she replied.

"Come in, dear, we have a visitor," said Mrs. Evans. She sounded excited, as if she had a great surprise waiting for her daughter at the kitchen table.

Lily frowned, hanging the thin shawl she had borrowed from Nora on the coat hanger. Its beads caught the light and glittered as Lily strained to listen in on the conversation in the kitchen. She was trying to gauge whether it would be worth joining in and having some cake or whether she ought to make an excuse and disappear upstairs straight away.

"- really Quidditch captain, then?" Mrs. Evans was saying. "Lily never told me that! I remember you two playing on your brooms out by the woods every day and me having to collect you in the evening so you'd at least have some supper." She laughed fondly.

There was the sound of tea being poured. "Yeah, well, it's a bit different with all the practice sessions," a boy's voice replied. "Much more serious, especially with everyone depending on us for the house cup. But we still manage to have fun, especially since a friend of mine is chaser as well."

Quidditch captain. Practice sessions. Chaser. Lily felt instantly nauseous as she came to the conclusion of who must be the visitor. But what in the name of Merlin was James Potter doing in her kitchen? Having tea with her mother?

At the same time, she knew the window for disappearing had closed. Her shock had cost her the element of surprise for slipping upstairs. Any second now, her mother would call, or worse, come out and get her. Now that would be really embarrassing. And Nora would call her a coward for it later. The thought momentarily made Lily smile.

With a sigh, rolled back her shoulders and walked into the kitchen, very aware of the fact that she had been expecting to confront a very different person upon her arrival.

The scene in front of her eyes was almost cute. Mrs. Evans and James Potter were sitting in their kitchen, a Madeira cake and a steaming pot of tea between them. From the half-eaten slices of cake on both their plates, Lily gathered that James had been here for quite some time now. He looked strangely out of place in their kitchen, next to the walls papered with Lily's and Petunia's drawings.

Her own ones all showed owls and flowering trees, cats and people carrying wands with sparks flying from them. More often than not, there were two girls in the pictures: one redheaded, the other a brunette. She remembered starting to draw them just after she had received her Hogwarts letter. Petunia's drawings were much fewer in number, showing elegant, well-kept houses with neat shrubs and gleaming cars on the sidewalks. There was a certain geometry to them that Lily had never quite achieved in her drawings of a dream Hogwarts. But then again, she had been right in the end, since almost everything in the castle, from its staircases to its suit of armours, was changing constantly. At the thought of Hogwarts, Lily's mind immediately went back to the Head Girl letter lying upstairs in her bedroom.

Her mood darkened instantly as her eyes fell on the reason for a great chunk of that bad mood: James Potter, his black hair sticking up as usual, his glasses askew and wearing one of those stupid t-shirts he liked that had some kind of ironic or witty but usually just plain out of context band lyric on them. Today, it was bright crimson and read "Twist and Shout" in bold letters. As usual, he was every Hogwarts' girl's picture of handsomeness and Lily's very own picture of hell.

"James," she said with a forced smile, leaning against the doorframe and crossing her arms. "What a surprise."

Lily noted smugly that she had made her voice sound so friendly. She couldn't very well snap at him with her mother right there but she knew James knew her well enough to detect the underlying sarcasm.

"Hello Lily," he greeted her back almost casually. "You should have some cake – it's really good!"

"Oh, hush," said Mrs. Evans, actually blushing and smoothing back her hair. "I was just making some for tea when your friend came in. For Petunia, you know. She didn't sleep very well."

Good, Lily thought for a second, but then the bitter impulse vanished again and she felt ashamed. "Where is she now?" she asked, uncrossing her arms.

"Up in her room," replied Mrs. Evans. "I think I ought to go check up on her. And since you're here now, Lily bear," she added, getting to her feet, "I'll leave you two to chat. It was really nice to see you again, James. Maybe you'll be coming round more often this summer!" And with a last warm smile at him and giving her younger daughter a gentle kiss on the cheek, Mrs. Evans left the kitchen. In the hallway, they heard her call, "Petunia, dear?" and a voice answering from upstairs.

Then there was a moment's silence.

Then James pushed back his plate. "Phew. I can't eat another bite. Your mother really is the real thing – she knows how to feed up the young and hungry." He grinned. "Maybe I will come by more often."

A voice of reason told Lily that this was an attempt at friendly small talk. It was also the voice that was afraid that whatever she had said to him the night before might be even more embarrassing than she imagined. However, a much stronger voice of annoyance and anger told her that this was the person who had not only made her job as prefect a nightmare by constantly subverting her authority, but who was now also going to sabotage her time as a Head Girl. She decided if today was the day to deal with Petunia, it could be the day to deal with James Potter, too.

"So," she said, leaning against the kitchen counter opposite him. "Are you looking forward to it?"

She had caught him off guard. "Forward to what?"

"Your dazzling career as Head Boy, of course," Lily said sweetly. "All the great work you will do. The idol you will be to all the young Gryffindors who just received their Hogwarts letter. Who will walk past you and your group of cronies every single day and wonder, 'Who allowed that idiot to become Head Boy?' Or will you realise this bright future immediately and bow down to let someone take your place who actually deserves it?"

A tiny part inside her was wondering whether she was being too mean, but it had just been too much for her. Now that he was sitting here in front of her, the embarrassment of what her friends had told her was creeping through her body like hot water: James Potter had not only caught her as she drunkenly staggered off the table, no, he had actually carried her home. And the only defense she could think of for the moment, the only reaction that had ever worked when dealing with James Potter, was confrontation.

James looked uncomfortable. "Err, Evans –," he began, but Lily ploughed on: "Because I really wonder how you pulled this one, James. Who did you jinx to overlook that record of yours? 59 detentions in six school years, was it? Classy. Or was it your Dad who did it for you? So you'd have at least one actual credential when you finish at Hogwarts except 'expert in blowing up toilet seats' and 'turned caretaker's cat blue four times in a row'?"

Still in his chair, James stared at her. He was quiet for a moment, then cleared his throat. "You seem to have recovered well from last night. I hope you didn't throw up." There was no spite in his voice. He even sounded kind.

Lily narrowed her eyes. "I didn't," she said, careful.

"Still, a good thing your knight in shining armor was there for you," he said with a wink. "You definitely look a lot more purposeful now."

Of course, thought Lily. He wasn't going to let it go, he was just choosing to be sneaky about it, lulling her into a false sense of security. Well, she wasn't having any of it.

"Listen to me, you arrogant little toe-rag," she snapped. "Dumbledore may have made you Head Boy – the reasons for which escape me entirely – but that does not mean I agree with him in the slightest. And just because you used last night as your latest attempt to grope me and I was too drunk to defend myself, it doesn't make us friends. Got that?"

His expression changed instantly to annoyance. "I carried you home, Evans, while you were passed out, in case you don't remember. That's it." He took a breath. "And I didn't come here to laugh at you for it or to fight with you about being Head Boy and Girl. But if you're going to be a pain in the ass without provocation, this would never have worked anyway. So thanks for making this easy for me."

He got to his feet and grabbed his green sweater from the back of his chair.

Lily, unused to James giving up so quickly on an argument, followed him into the hallway. "What do you mean 'this would never have worked'? Were you trying to ask me out again?" She put as much sting in the words as she could, referring to a certain time in the fifth year when James had stubbornly followed Lily around, asking her out every chance he got.

"No, Evans," he said, turning around to face her again. He actually sounded tired more than annoyed. "This time, I actually wanted your help, mental as that sounds. I wanted to ask you to play guitar in our band. The other seemed to think it would be a really great idea." He rolled his eyes.

Before Lily could wrap her head around what he had just said, James had already wrenched open the door. He collided instantly with Sirius, who had his finger on the doorbell. "Padfoot!" he exclaimed.

"James, my friend," said the other boy. "We were coming to check if you were still alive or if Evans has been busy burying you in the garden for the last few hours." Remus and Peter were indeed peering over Sirius's shoulder.

"Charming," said the redhead.

"For you, always," replied Sirius with a slight bow to her. "So, are you on board?"

"No, she's not," said James shortly, grabbing Sirius's arm. "Let's go. We have flyers to make."

Lily watched them walk down the street, Remus giving her a sad little smile as they rounded the corner. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that James Potter had actually asked her to play in his band, when she heard footsteps behind her.

It was Mrs. Evans. She was pink in the face with excitement. "Lily, you will never believe what happened," she beamed. "Everything is forgiven. Petunia and Vernon are getting married! And we've decided to have the wedding in the summer, so you can be there for it. Give you girls a chance to reconnect!" She turned and looked up at the landing, where Petunia had appeared, her lips pinched. "This will be such a family event!"

Lily looked from her mother to Petunia and back again, feeling cold dread trickle into her stomach. A summer wedding. Wedding preparations. Petunia in a white dress, getting married to Vernon. She could feel her mother's excitement radiating through the hallway as she wrapped Lily in a tight embrace. And she was happy for her sister, no doubt about it. If only it wasn't for Petunia's face and the look she gave Lily when her mother's face was turned away: nothing short of murderous.

"You didn't destroy everything, then," it said. "I'll still have my dream. And after this summer, you will be out of my life."

Lily gentle disentangled herself from her mother's arms. "That's lovely," she said, more for her sake than Petunia's. "Congratulations! I'm sure it will be very exciting."

"Oh, it will!" exclaimed Mrs. Evans, now back at Petunia's side. "You will be the most beautiful bride, Petunia, dear, and the wedding will be wonderful. We could have it at Millow Fields, if you'd like, where we baptised you …"

They were moving into the kitchen, where the leftovers of James's tea were still sitting on the table. Suddenly, Lily knew exactly what she wanted to do.

"Mum," she interrupted her mother, "I forgot to tell my friends something. I'll quickly go catch them and then come right back, all right?"

"Okay, dear," said Mrs. Evans absentmindedly, her had in Petunia's hair as though she was talking about some kind of hairstyle. But Lily was out the door already anyway, breaking into a run as she hit the street. She couldn't hear the boys' voices at first but a few streets later, she had finally caught up to them.

"Wait!" she gasped, clutching a stitch at her side.

All four of them turned, surprised. "Are you all right, Lily?" asked Remus in a worried tone.

She swallowed and her eyes found James's. It was admitting defeat, she knew it, but it was the only way. "You know I can only play acoustic guitar," she said. ""Why the hell do you think I'd be able to play rock?"

He considered her for a moment, then grinned. "Well," he said. "Some say it's just about playing a bit louder."