Alright, by the time you read this, I'll be on a plane, heading to my first ever vacation in Europe! So, I'll see you guys in September!

*""*

When James arrived at Lily's house, he was shocked to find that there was a thick pane of glass barring his way to the living room. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem, but when James had arrived in the fireplace, he'd lost his balance and his nose had slammed straight into the glass with a rather unsettling crack.

Diddle. At least Lily's really good at those healing spells. But, for the time being...

With a groan, James peeled himself off of the glass and conjured up a handkerchief to press to his nose and stop the bleeding. Then he stepped back and vanished the glass in the grate. It wasn't until he entered the living room, though, that he realized that he'd make a big mistake; the house was completely empty. The lights were off, the windows were closed and locked, and it was almost completely silent.

Swearing quietly, James cast a quick lumos and looked around for some clue that would tell him where his girlfriend was. Then, he heard a soft hooting coming from directly above him.

The noise was faint, but clear, and James began to creep around the surprisingly large house in search of the stairs to the upper floor. For some reason he found it necessary to be completely silent, though no one would have heard him even if he'd decided to stomp around while belting Celestina Warback. There was just something about being in the girl of his dream's empty house that made James feel almost reverent.

Lily had grown up here. Her earliest memories were probably of this spacious kitchen, of that painting of the sea on the landing, or perhaps of that cream leather sofa. The house was also crammed with books, which James found as no surprise. The entire Evans Clan was probably full of bookworms like Lily; it was a houseful of people who curled up in scattered corners and devoured books, and then spent mealtimes discussing them to each other with the same excitement that Dumbledore radiated on September first… James smiled.

It was while thinking this, that James realized something; he knew absolutely nothing about Lily's family.

Well, he knew that she lived with her parents, whom she adored, and older sister named Petunia, but that was it. In fact, he'd been dating Lily for two months, and she hadn't mentioned her sister once. How had he not noticed this before?

As James walked along the upper floor hallway, the hooting got steadily louder. Finally, he located the room from which it emitted, and gently pushed the door open.

This was Lily's room. And it somehow seemed to exude Lily's personality just as well as she did; it had pale green walls and it was a bit of a mess that was trying it's very best to appear neat and organized.

James had been about to fully explore it to learn all he could, when he remembered that he didn't exactly have all the time in the world. He was breaking and entering, and moreover, he had to find Lily and make sure that she hadn't been found by Death Eaters targeting muggleborns first… or worse.

Horrible scenarios played themselves out in James' head, and he was soon so lost in thought that he almost jumped onto Lily's bed when the owl on her nightstand let out a very loud shriek.

Turning to face it, he recognized it as Merlin, Lily's own owl. But… why was he in his cage? Peering closer, James saw that a pile of unopened envelopes was also on the nightstand. Three of them, James noticed, were addressed in his own hand and untouched. Actually it looked as if Lily hadn't bothered replying to any of her mail; her owl looked utterly miserable from the lack of exercise.

As he gazed around, James realized with a jolt that Lily's entire room looked untouched. It was as if she hadn't come here for the holidays at all…

Just then, James noticed that that day's date had something very large scrawled across it on the calendar hung above Lily's bed; "Engagement party 4:00. 77 Starfield Drive"

Thank MERLIN that Lily's so abnormally organized!

Checking his watch, James saw that it was exactly 3:55. So, if he could find this… Starfield place, he'd find Lily, and that was a very comforting thought.

Unfortunately, he had no idea where on Earth the place was.

Now what?

James sighed, and for a brief millisecond, he contemplated apparating home. Then, another, much louder, voice in his head cut in:

What d'you mean 'now what?' Pull yourself together man! You're James Potter; you can't just give up! You know where she is, now go and get her!

Swallowing, James realized that the strange voice in his head (which sounded rather like Sirius…) spoke the truth.

There was nothing for it; he would just have to put what he'd learned back in third year Muggle Studies to use. So what if he'd never actually been to the muggle world before, how hard could it be? He'd just go outside, and shout as loud as was physically possible while jumping up and down and waving his arms above his head like a maniac, to attract the attention of a taxzee. From what he remembered, taxzee's were ugly cars which took you where you wanted to go whenever you wanted to get there; how convenient was that?

He could do this. He could totally do this. No. problem.

Aw sweet diddle, I'm done for…

*""*

"So, you like Herbology, huh? That's… nice."

"Oh, don't. I know that Herbology's not the most exciting class, but I just love taking tiny seeds, little buds, and helping them grow into something beautiful. I even like muggle gardening."

"I see."

Heather sighed at her companion. They were now well into the second week of vacation, and the two of them had been spending almost every waking moment with each other; they'd become good friends. At the moment, though, their interest in each other could have been greater. That was because they were both hanging out in one of the spare greenhouses, and she was showing him her prized collection of plants and flowers. He, for his part, was lounging around on a bench, and pretending to look utterly bored.

"Alright, Sirius, you tell me what your favourite class us then."

The dark haired boy shrugged casually, "Actually, I don't really think I spend enough time in any of my classes to have a favourite."

Placing her hands on her hips, Heather turned to roll her eyes at Sirius, "I'm serious! Pick a class."

Sirius chuckled, "First off… I'm Sirius; you're Heather. Second, I think if I were totally honest, my favourite class would be… Charms."

Heathers' brown eyes widened with surprise, "Really?"

"Yup." Sirius grinned at her, "The great Sirius Black's favourite class is not the mighty DADA, but the lowly Charms. Odd isn't it?"

Heather shook her head, "No, it's not that, it's just… I could really use some help with Charms, I'm absolute rubbish at it. Could you tutor me, maybe?"

Sirius inwardly jumped for joy, "Of course I will assist you! Have you ever known a brave knight in shining armour like me to refuse assisting a damsel in distress? Especially as fetching a damsel as yourself?"

Heather smiled, but shook her head at him, "You're hilarious, Sirius." Then she went back to her potting.

I wasn't joking.

Getting up, Sirius walked towards her, "Heather?"

She turned to face him, with a tiny pot of vines still in her hand, "What?"

"You really are beautiful, you know."

Heather stiffened, "Right. Now, could you hold onto this for a moment?"

She held out the pot of tiny, writhing, pale green vines for him to hold, and Sirius reluctantly took it. As Heather turned back to get some fertilizer for the plants, Sirius idly held out his finger for the vines to wind around, puzzling over her.

She was gorgeous, but for some reason, she was convinced that she was nothing special. Even more worryingly, she looked almost frightened whenever he made any advances that were more than friendly, as if she didn't want a snog from the Sirius Black. Which was, of course, completely absurd.

All of a sudden, Sirius became aware of a sharp pain in his finger. He looked down and saw with horror that one of the vines had encircled his finger, holding it steady, and the other vines were stabbing it with surprisingly sharp tips.

"Heather… HEATHER! Your plant is killing me! Help! HELP! I'm too hot to DIEEEEEE!"

She ran over, laughing, and took the plant from him with ease. Then, to Sirius' chagrin, she merely put the pot down, and continued laughing. Heather, apparently, was the sort of person who had laughing fits. Which meant that once she started laughing hard, it took her quite a while to stop.

So, after pouting pointedly at her and getting no response, Sirius gave in and laughed with her, finding that he inexplicably loved watching her mirth. And whenever she showed any signs of stopping, he lightly tickled her neck and set her off again.

"Sirius, stop- oh! I- mean- it, I really… Sirius!"

Inevitably, she started tickling him back, and soon they were chasing each other around the greenhouse, feeling better than either of them had in months.

Finally, Sirius let Heather catch him, but then he slyly turned around and caught her around the waist. By this time, both of them were breathing heavily from all their laughter, but the mood in the greenhouse had suddenly changed. The laughter was gone, and all Heather could think about was how right it felt to be wrapped in Sirius' arms. And how wonderful it was to be pressed up against him…

Then Sirius looked deeply into her doe eyes, trying to read them and see why she hadn't pushed him away, as she usually did, yet. And in those eyes he saw her usual hesitance to his advances, but today there was no conviction there. After that he couldn't help it; he let his gaze flicker down to her strawberry lips, still panting softly.

"Heather?"

"Yeah?" she breathed softly.

"Would you mind terribly if I kissed you?"

Her eyes locked on his, "Why?"

"Because there's nothing in the in the world I'd like to do more."

Heather didn't speak, but her eyes fell to Sirius' mouth, and that was all the invitation he needed. He leaned in to close the gap between them, and was amazed at how soft and sweet her mouth was. He kissed her gently, more tenderly than he had kissed anyone in a long time, and she responded in the same way. Sirius could almost taste the affection radiating from her breath.

So, this was love…

*""*

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