Hey there, I'm C.R. Richardson, your author for this fic.
This is the second part to the students holidays! You get to see some of Lilys life and also some of Sams!
We have reached the middle of this fic. I have planned to do 22 chapters and this here is the middle, if my maths is correct. Which I'm pretty sure it is, that wasn't very difficult maths.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, story alerted and favourited this fic that means a lot to me! And even if you're just reading this thank you so much!
There are two songs in this chapter: Hey Jude and Blackbird by the Beatles (try to remember that this is supposed to be 1977 which is why they are using LP's and casette players. And also why they are seeing Star Wars IV the first Star Wars to come out). At the end of this chapter someone (I don't want to give away too much) is playing the piano, I was listening to River Flows In You by Yiruma. But bear in mind the person playing this would be playing a VERY basic version of this.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.
The next one hasn't been written and so won't be up as fast as this one was, though one (me) can always hope.
Please, please, please review! It really does help and make me feel good :D
Thank you!
C.R. Richardson xx
(Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own Harry Potter.)
Lilys face lit up as she opened the door. She stared in awe at her boyfriend; James was wearing jeans and a fitted t-shirt but still managed to look dashing. She grinned at him as he ruffled his hair, nervous by her scrutiny. Before even getting a greeting in, she glomped him. Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and squeezing. It had only been a week, but not seeing him everyday made it seem like so much longer.
He laughed at her eagerness. "Hey!" He whispered roughly into her ear, enveloping her too; bending down to wrap his strong arms around her waist.
"Hi!" She breathed, stepping away from him. "Come in."
Lily moved to the side and let James into the house. This was the first time he had been into her house and only the second into a muggles house. He had been to Remus' but only a couple of times, his friend didn't really like having people over for some reason. But Lily's house was a lot different. Where Remus' was mis-matched, Lily's was neat. Ornaments were placed specifically on shelves not cluttered, a prominent colour theme ran throughout the living room and hall that James could see.
"This is it!" She said motioning to her living room. "This is where I live." She watched James carefully as he looked around, wondering how different it was from his own.
Glancing more carefully at some of the objects he recognised some as magical ones, figuring they were ones Lily had brought home. But none of them were spectacularly odd as other muggles would have begun to question them.
"I'll give you a grand tour!" She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the living room which was situated at the front of the house. The big bay window over looked the front lawn and the street from where James had just come. Continuing down the hallway she pulled him into the room at the back. "This is the kitchen and dining room." Coming out of that room she pointed at a closed door "Through that door is my parents bedroom. And up the stairs is another bathroom, Petunias room and my room." She finished at the foot of the stairs.
"Don't you want me to see your room?" He smirked.
She rolled her eyes. "You can see it if you want... but be warned, I haven't cleaned it in awhile so... it could be a little messy."
"I have to share a dorm with Sirius. I think I'm used to messy." He joked, but Lily knew he was probably being serious.
She took him up the stairs and opened a plain white door. She stepped aside and let James enter first. Her room was pretty small and didn't have much furniture in it other than the basics. Her walls were painted white, and her chest of drawers was a soft light wood. Her bed spread was a light green colour which seemed to pop up in other objects around her room.
"Nice, I like it." He said. "It's very... you." He smiled at her, before turning around and jumping on the bed.
"Hey! I just made that!" She scolded him while laughing which ruined the intended affect.
He grinned mischeviously. "Sorry!" He said, getting back up and wandering over to her desk. Bits of parchment lay scattered over it. He noticed that most of them were letters written by himself.
"Want to see a movie?" Lily asked him before he could go through everything in her room.
"A what?" He put the letter back on the desk and turned around.
He's such a wizard. She thought, snickering at him. "A movie. It's like a moving picture, but it tells a story..." She tried her best to explain but only received a blank stare. "Don't worry, just trust me."
"Ok." He shrugged his shoulders and followed her out of her room and down the stairs.
Lily grabbed a jacket off the coat hook that hung next to her door, before leading James outside. She locked the door behind them. He took the coat out of her hands and held it open behind her, helping her into it.
She smiled at him before grabing his hand and starting to walk down the street. "I think we should see Star Wars."
"What's a 'star wars'?" He asked.
"I don't really know myself but it's supposed to be really good. The special effects are supposed to be amazing!" Her green eyes shined as she got excited about the movie. James still had no idea what she was talking about but smiled and nodded, pretending he knew.
Lily talked as they walked down street after street, she seemed to know where she was going so James let her lead the way. Growing up with magical parents he had never experienced muggle life, so even just walking down the street seemed odd. Although there had been times when he and Sirius went shopping amongst the muggles, James figured this was because Sirius enjoyed making his parents angry.
She snuggled up next to him when she had run out of things to say. It didn't matter that the conversation had come to an end, the silence between them was comfortable. James lifted the hand that Lily was holding onto and swung it around so he was resting his arm on her shoulder, and he pulled her in tighter.
Lily smiled up at him. "I'm glad you came over today." She said quietly.
"Me too." He whispered before kissing the top of her head gently.
"You can stay for dinner if you want?" Lily said once they had gotten home from the movies. "I mean my parents aren't here, so I'll have to cook. It won't be good, I can promise you that. But if you want to..." She let her question trail off.
"I'd love to stay." He had been around at Lilys for the better part of that day.
They were sitting on the couch together. Lily was snuggled into his chest while he had his arms wrapped around her. "Ok." She smiled, and then wriggled out from under his arms rather unwillingly.
"Where are you going?" He pouted.
"I'm putting the fire on, it's getting cold." She picked up a couple of pieces of wood and hauled them into the fire place. Placing small bits of paper around the wood she struck a match and lit certain points of the paper. She sat on the ground and watched while the wood errupted into orange flames. Lily could already feel the heat emitting and she raised her hands to it.
"Where are your parents?" James asked, snapping her out of her reverie.
"Oh them and Petunia are out at a play or a ballet or a musical or some such." She said shrugging. "Come on, lets go make dinner." She suggested, standing up and walking through to the kitchen with James followed closely behind.
Lily started pulling out ingredients from cupboards while James stood behind her and watched. "You have to help." She insisted.
"Are you kidding? I can't cook!"
"Yes you can! It's easy! I'll show you what to do! Catch!" She yelled, throwing an onion at him. His impressive Quidditch skills meant that he caught the onion before it dropped to the floor. "That's an onion." She said sarcastically. "Here's a chopping board and knife. Cut it into little chunks, like so." She started it off for him.
James took the knife off her and continued going. At home his Mum did all the cooking and she would always use magic, he just ate and appreciated it. His eyes started to sting after a couple of seconds, raising his hand he rubbed his eye, the pain only increased.
Lily, who had turned her back for a minute, realised what had happened and quickly reached for his hand and forced it away from his face. "Stop!" She said. "You're only going to make it worse."
His eyes were now streaming relentlessly. "My eye hurts." He stated.
"Yeah I bet it does. You just rubbed onion juice all over it!" She grabbed a table cloth and ran it under the cool tap. After squeezing the excess water out, she dabbed gently on his eye. He sighed when the coolness touched his iritated eye. "Feeling better?" She asked.
"Loads." He grinned sheepishly.
Bringing the cloth down she looked up into his red eyes and rubbed away the water from the bottom of them. "How about I finish the onions. Here," She handed him a bottle of oil, "put two tablespoons into the pan on the stove."
"What are we making?"
"Fried rice." Lily said. "'Cause it's easy." She had finished cutting up the onions with only a few tears spilled. She could see that James' eyes were still red and raw so she handed him the teatowel. "Why don't you sit down. I've got this."
He gratefully accepted. She knew she shouldn't have made him cook if he wasn't used to it. But you have to learn somehow. She thought.
The pan sizzeled as she put the rice in. Stirring the egg, onion and rice together she made sure everything was warm. Before serving it on the two plates she had gotten out earlier. Picking up some cutlery and the plates Lily walked into the dining room, placing everything on the table. James seemed to have desserted the cool cloth and was inspecting her Dad's record collection.
When he noticed Lily had come up behind him, he pointed and asked, "what are they?"
"Records." She answered. "They play music." She grabbed her favourite one and pulled it out of its case.
"The Beatles?" James asked.
"You've really never heard of them?" Lily asked incrediously.
James just shook his head. Lily walked over to the player they had set up next to it. She raised the arm and placed the LP record into the slot before replacing it. The record crackled for a few moments at the beginning and then the opening bars to a song started to play.
"It's one of my favourite songs." She said, then led James over to their cooling food and took a seat next to him.
Hey Jude,
Don't make it bad,
Take a sad song,
And make it better,
Remember, to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.
Lily started swaying in her chair while she was eating. She closed her eyes and let the lyrics reach out to her. James had never heard music like this; his parents didn't listen to music so neither did he. He vaguely remembered Sirius talking about the Beatles though. Sirius would do anything that would annoy his parents and James figured listening to muggle music was probably going to work.
James listened to Lily singing in between mouthfulls. Her voice was of a higher register to theirs and so she harmonised with them on some notes. James liked the sound, this was the first time he had heard Lily sing, and didn't want her to end.
The song reached it's peak and the background music grew loud.
Na, na, na, na na na,
na na na,
Hey Jude.
James was still mesmerised by Lily's singing. Their food and been eaten and forgotten about as the song took them both to different places. She opened her eyes. "It gets a bit repetitive." She said, sheepishly grinning.
"I like it." James said still gazing at her.
"Same." She blushed before standing up quickly. "There's this other one by them which is amazing. These are all like ten years old, but I think they're classics. So does my Dad he can't stop listening to them." She babbled on. "Ah here!" She pulled out another record and replaced the one they were currently listening to.
"This is, without a doubt, my most absolute favourite song." She said turning back to James.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly,
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
James stood up and put his arms around Lily's waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes to reach. They swayed in small circles gazing into each others eyes, both of them finding meaning in the lyrics.
The song had a sad beat, but James felt happy when he danced with Lily. To him the lyrics were talking about freedom and strength which he felt he had with Lily. Sometimes he felt pressured by his parents to get good grades and with-hold the Potter name. Although they never said that in such words, he felt like that's what they wanted. When he was with Lily though he felt like he could just be himself around her. That she never expected him to change for her, that she accepted him.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see,
All your life,
you were only waiting for this moment to be free.
Lily felt safe when she was in James' strong arms. Having to deal with the constant fear of Deatheaters and You-Know-Who growing stronger, made her tired. But here, in this moment, she felt like nothing could touch her, like nothing could go wrong. She knew that having to deal with magic wasn't always easy for her parents and she was very appreciative that they still cared for her, she knew some who were less fortunate. But she felt like she had to make up for this by doing well and school and the pressure of gaining high levels was straining her.
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
The song drifted to an end. James and Lily moved slowed down, and smiled at each other. "I have to get home." James whispered before sighing.
"I'll walk you out." Lily said, but neither of them moved.
James leaned down slowly, pressing his lips onto Lily's. She deepened the kiss, feeling the warmth of him on her made her smile. When they broke apart, James kissed her gently on the nose before he stepped back.
"I really have to go..." He said reluctantly.
Lily walked him to the door. When she opened it for him, she shivered. The day had turned to night, and with that the sun had gone down, leaving the earth cold. He leaned down for one last sweet kiss, as he pulled away he groaned.
"What?" Lily smiled at him.
"You're irresistable, and I have to wait to see you again till we're back at school."
"That's only a week away!"
"A week's too long." He moaned.
"I'll miss you." Lily said quietly, resting her head on the door frame.
"Miss you too." He whispered and then turned away into the night. Lily watched as he walked down her path to the gate. She watched until he disappeared into the darkness, until she could no longer see him anymore. Then she closed the door and returned to the kitchen so she could clean up the mess they had made.
"Samuel!" Torvald Ludstrum, Sam's Dad, called from behind him.
Sam had been sitting on the window ledge reading a book in the manors vast library. He had been distracted by the gently swaying trees outside, consumed in his own thoughts.
Trovald wasn't Sam's biological Father, which is the reason why they had different last names. Voldemort had found Sam in an orphanage when he was a little kid. Sam was born to two muggle parents who had never believed in magic. When he was four years old he started to do unexplainable things like making inanimate objects move. This scared his non-believing parents; they thought they had raised a demon baby. Late one night they wrapped Sam in warm blankets and placed him in the car seat they had bought for him and left him in front of an old orphanage.
That orphanage is were Sam spent the next two years of his life, waiting for a family to choose to take him home with them. His wish was granted when a young 20-something man had shown up. He had dark hair and a strange aura. He held himself with such confidence that Sam automatically admired him. The man introduced himself to one of the caregivers as Tom, but made Sam refer to him as Sir.
Tom explained to Sam about magic and assured him that his friend, Torvald, would adopt him. A few days later the man, Torvald, did come and visit Sam and then set about completing the paperwork that would legally make Sam his.
One month later Sam went home with Torvald were he spent the next ten years of his life. He was taught by Tom, who forced Sam to call him My Lord, and Torvald. They taught Sam spells and charms well beyond his years, that he completed easily. Once he had mastered those skills and Tom trusted him as much as he could trust another, they sent Sam to Hogwarts armed with a fake last name, knowledge and the ability to blend in.
"The Dark Lord is here. Come." Trovald ordered Sam to follow after him, snapping him out of his reverie. Sam was led downstairs to the dining area where the man he had met all those years ago was sat at the head of the table.
"My Lord." Sam greated him, bowing his head out of respect.
Tom hadn't changed much, although his face had aged, probably with the stress of the uprising he was leading. Sam was merely a tool but he knew it. "How's school Samuel?" He drawled.
"Very well, My Lord." He answered, taking a seat. "I have found a number of possible future Death Eaters, that may be wiling to join your forces."
Tom let out a low chuckle, he liked how Sam knew him well and knew that all he really wanted to hear was how his 'mission' was going. "Good. Very good. You have proven useful to me, Samuel, well done. Who are these potential Death Eaters?"
"Severus Snape, Mulciber and Averys' sons, the Prisa twins." Sam rattled off some names of students he had befriended. It didn't bother him in the slightest that he was carving the path that their lives will now follow.
Tom nodded slowly as he thought over the names given to him. "Excellent." The word hissed out of his mouth. "I have work to attend to." He said before abrubtly standing up and leaving the manor without so much as a goodbye.
Trovald walked up behind Sam and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Good job, Samuel, he seemed pleased."
"Thank you, Father. But I fear there will be hard work ahead of me. Those boys are just that, boys. They aren't ready to become Death Eaters."
"You have two years to turn them into Death Eaters. You will do me proud, I'm sure of it." Trovald tightened his grip on Sam's shoulder. "And you will do the Dark Lord proud too. That is why I agreed to have you."
Trovald had openly admitted to Sam on countless occasions that he was only here because of Voldemort. That, had the Dark Lord not forced him to take Sam in, then he would not have done so.
"Yes, Father."
"Time for training." Trovald gripped Sam's arm tightly and pulled into another room of the house.
The room was a big square with absolutely nothing in it, this was where Sam would practise dueling. Trovald entered the room first and pulled out his long black wand. With a swift flick, he fired a spell at Sam without muttering a word. He had been prepared and used a simple protection spell.
This lasted for awhile the two of them sending spell after spell towards the other. None did any serious harm, either because of the nature of the spell or because they were too quick at defensive spells. Trovald was too quick for Sam on one occasion, and a small cut appeared on his check. Drops of blood raced down his flushed check.
He raised a hand to it, and when he pulled it away he noticed the blood. It wasn't the first time that his Father had drawn blood, but he still fought back with a new found anger. His jaw was taunt as he ignored the mild stinging coming from the cut.
"Mum, we're off to Tami's now." Lily stood in the hallway of her house with a small bag packed till it was over flowing. She was to be staying over there for the next two nights along with Elle. But because Dave refused to acknowledge Elle was a witch she had come to Lily's to go over.
Tami's Dad had been over earlier that week and given Lily a portkey disguised as a hairbrush, which was due to be leaving any minute now.
"Oh Sweetheart, I'm going to miss you!" Her Mum came running in from the kitchen, and planted a big kiss on her forhead.
"We're only going for two nights!" She tried to reassure her.
"But you're going back to Hogwarts in..." She calculated the days. "Two days."
It was a Friday and on the Sunday all of the students would be boarding the Hogwarts Express for school to begin on the Monday. Lily couldn't believe that two weeks had nearly been and gone already, not much longer until she had to return back to Hogwarts.
"I'll be back on the Sunday morning to see you and finish packing my trunk!" Lily said.
Her Mum gave both her and Elle a quick hug before they grasped the hairbrush and felt the dizzying sensation of the portkeys magic. They landed roughly on Tami's lawn, falling over on impact. They gazed up at her huge mansion; there was a reason most of their slumber parties were held at Tami's.
Tami rushed out of the house as fast as her heels would allow. Pausing at the top of the steps she waited for her friends to reach her. When they did they were pulled into a giant bear hug together. All of them teetered sideways, loosing their balance, but they laughed gleefully anyway. Tami ushered the two of them inside where they were led to her bedroom.
They quickly set up blankets and mattresses for them to sleep on that night before collapsing on them to gossip.
"I still feel bad about lying to my parents." Lily sighed.
Tami rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow night you're going to forget all about them." Her eyes glistened with excitement.
Tomorrow night James was throwing a party at his place. Most of Gryffindor sixth year had been invited along with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw but no Slytherin students would be coming. Of course a lot had declined but also a lot had accepted, on the acceptance list was Lily, Elle and Tami. Elle had her hesitations at first, as she knew Remus would be there, but when they made up she had agreed to go eagerly. Lily also had hesitations, she was lying to her parents. She told them that she was staying at Tami's for two nights, when in fact she was staying at James' for the second. Elle and Tami would be staying with her but that wouldn't have made her parents agree to staying at her boyfriends house and so she had to lie.
The girls had a lot to catch up on; Tami still hadn't heard from Riker, James and Lily had their muggle date, Remus and Elle were back together and Tami's brother was engaged to a muggle. They lounged on their make shift beds and ate all kinds of junk food they could get their hands on, while they discussed such matters.
"Have you heard from Mark yet?" Lily asked.
"He sent us a message that basically said he loved Katie and was going to be with her no matter what. He said that if we couldn't accept her then he didn't want us as his family."
Lilys mouth opened wide. "He can't do that! You did nothing wrong!"
"I know but my Mum did. She pretty much insulted Katie to her face."
Elle and Lily soothed their friend. "Mark will come back. Your Mum will apologise, don't worry."
"Anyway, what are we going to wear tomorrow?" Tami changed the subject, bringing up what she thought was a big problem.
Lily walked over to her bag and pulled out some jeans and a cute t-shirt. "I was just going to wear this..." She trailed off when she saw Tami shaking her head.
"Well that won't do. It's ok, I have something that will be perfect." She walked over to her massive closet and picked out a beige dress. Holding it up, Lily could see how short the dress was. She thrust it into Lily's hand and pushed her friend towards the ensuite bathroom.
"That looked really pretty!" Elle piped up as Lily got changed. "I think it will suit her."
Lily hesitantly peeked her head around the side of the door.
"Come out!" Her friends urged.
Taking a deep breath she walked out of the bathroom, tugging at the bottom of the dress. It was beige and had long sleeves but was very short. It looked like a long jumper with an oversized collar. Tami stood up and began styling her dress, she shifted the collar to the side so it fell off her right shoulder. The sleeves hung loose around her wrists and there was a bold plaited knitted pattern down the middle.
"There." Tami said, backing away to admire her work. "Now you look fantastic!"
"You look so pretty!" Elle gushed.
Tami dug through the bottom of her closet and pulled out a pair of nude heels. Lily held them up, staring with wide eyes. "These are like five inches, Tami! I can't walk in these!"
"Try them on! They'll make your legs look great!"
Lily sat on the bed to put them on, standing up she was unstable on her feet, but had to agree with Tami. Her legs looked so much longer, like they could continue forever.
"James won't be able to keep his eyes off of you." Elle assured her, and Tami nodded in agreement.
"Now for what you're going to wear." Tami rounded on Elle. The rest of the evening was filled with laughter and gossip. When their outfits were finally planned they could rest peacefully, but they didn't fall asleep till the early hours of the morning.
"Just put it on, Elle!" Tami urged her. They had three hours until they were going to James' for the party. Tami and Lily were already dressed but Elle was yet to be convinced that the dress she was meant to wear was perfect.
She had been locked in the bathroom for ten minutes. She finally opened the door slowly, revealing her dress to her friends. Elle had on a short peach colour dress, the bottom of it frilled into ruffles, with only one strap holding it up. She wore black heels on her feet, that complimented her black hair.
"Remus is going to love you!" Tami said, rushing to give her friend a hug. They all helped do each others hair and make up until they were looking gorgeous.
James had the flu network set up at his house and so guests had been arriving for awhile now. He sent out the invitations via owl and told people to start arriving from eight onwards. It was nine and Lily hadn't showed up yet, she was who he had been most anxious to see. There were already a large number of guests dancing and drinking in his living room spreading down to the kitchen. Even though it wasn't a particularly warm night, he had the french doors open that led to his back porch. He mingled with guests, but made sure he always stayed close to the fire place, keeping one eye on it incase she were to show up.
"James! We need more drinks!" Sirius interrupted him. James sighed and made his way through to the kitchen. He didn't know why Sirius couldn't do it himself, he had been living there since the start of the year.
Three girls stepped out of the fire place one by one, first Tami, then Elle and lastly Lily. Everybody near enough couldn't help but stare at the girls who were obviously dressed to impress. They quickly dusted off any soot that may have clung to their dresses before making a beeline towards the kitchen for drinks.
Lily automatically noticed James standing with his back to her. She walked up behind him and covered his eyes. "Guess who?" She whispered in his ear.
He grinned and turned around, tugging away her hands so he could pull her into a tight hug and give her a kiss. "Why hello there, I was beginning to think you were never going to show up." He said when they broke apart.
"Fashionably late, Sweetie." Tami had been standing close enough to hear as she got herself a drink.
"Late's for sure." He muttered quietly to himself.
Lily heard him but chose to ignore his comment and smiled. She had her arms around his waist and she tightened her grip, it hadn't been very long but the heels were hurting her feet already.
Sirius came bounding into the room with a huge grin on his face. "Lils!" He yelled, pulliing Lily into a huge hug, tugging her away from James. He was drunk on the excitement of the party... and probably a little on the punch which Lily suspected was spiked.
"Hey Sirius!" She laughed when he finally let go of her.
"Remus is outside, if you wanted to know." He nodded towards the french doors talking to Elle.
"Thank you." She said, picking up her drink and making her way outside.
James led Lily away from the kitchen taking her on a tour of his house. He showed her around all of the rooms downstairs before taking her upstairs. "Through there is the guest room, which is now Sirius' room." He gestured to a closed door. "Probably don't want to go in there, the mess might scare you." He joked. "This is my room." He said stopping at a closed door, ruffling his hair.
Lily went in first, closely followed by James. She was surprised at how neat his room actually was, especially compared to his appearance. He spent so long making sure his hair looked messy enough when in fact he was generally quite a neat person. The only part of the room that seemed unkept was the desk which held pieces of parchment on it. When she walked over to investigate she noticed it was very similar to hers; holding letters from herself that had been exchanged with James.
"They're all from you." He said quietly pointing at the parchment.
"I noticed." She said with a smile.
"Well that's my house." He spoke loudly compared to the silence they had just been in. "Want to head back down to the party?"
The dim lighting cast silouhettes of the guests on the wall. Tami was left wandering through the house on her own. Both her friends had gone off with their boyfriends leaving her by herself. She stopped ocassionally and talked to friends of hers before moving down to find someone else. She was surrounded by people yet she still felt alone.
She made her way back to the kitchen were the music was quieter. Most of the dancing was taking place in the living room. "Tami!" A slurred voice spoke from behind her.
Turning around she saw Riker standing with a drink in his hand and a goofy look on his face. Looking at him made her angry and upset. On the one hand she wanted to cry because he hadn't made up his mind, and on the other she wanted to punch him for making her wait so long.
"I'm sorry that I'm such a dick." He had trouble getting the words out. "You and Kelly are both so amazing and funny and hot and I really really like you both."
Tami raised her eyebrows, he definitely wasn't gaining points with her at the moment. "You're drunk, Riker. Go home." She turned her back on him. Trying to be anywhere he wasn't.
"No! Please!" He yelled and stumbled forward. "Listen to me!"
Tami could feel the people turning to look at the commotion. Sighing she grabbed Rikers hand and led him outside. The brisk evening wind nipped at her bare arms. She hoped that the cold breeze would help clear Rikers brain. Tami unwillingly shivered, tucking her arms together.
"Here," Riker said taking his jumper off. "Take this."
"Thanks." She muttered, pulling it gently over her head, careful not to mess up her make up. "What do you want, Riker?" She asked dejectedly.
"I choose you, Baby." He said stumbling over to Tami. He raised his hand and gently carressed her check.
She shoved it down looking disgusted. "You choose me, after weeks of you ignoring me. You finally choose me? Well maybe I don't choose you."
"Tami!" He whined. "Don't be like that!"
"If you want to be with me then you'll talk to me when you sober up." Tami said before stalking off back into the house. Leaving Riker standing by himself, trying to think over everything he said to make Tami annoyed.
The melodic piano whispered into her dreams. Lily was lying on a bed with Tami and Elle, they were all wearing their dresses from last night. She had woken to the soft sound of a piano. The beautiful tune had echoed in her dream and awoken her. She woke up disorrientated; rubbing her head she remembered how much she had had to drink last night.
Careful not to move the others Lily rolled off of the bed and crept down the stairs. She searched for the person who was playing the piano. Following the ever increasing volume of the song being played. She walked into the living room and found the person playing the piano.
Even though he had his back turned towards the door, Lily could tell who it was. He had long black hair that looked well cared for. He had gotten changed out of the clothes he was wearing last night though. She stood at the doorway and listened for a little longer.
"I didn't know you could play the piano?" Lily spoke over the piano even though she hadn't wanted to interrupt the sound.
Immediately Sirius stopped playing and turned around. "Oh, I didn't realise anybody else was awake. Sorry."
"No! Don't stop playing, you're really good." Lily was still in her dress from last night but that was all. At some point she had kicked her shoes off and didn't know where they were. She shivered against the cool morning air before grabbing a throw off of the couch next to her and wrapping it around her shoulders. Then she walked over and took a seat on the stool next to Sirius. When he didn't say anything Lily continued. "Where did you learn to play?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "We have a piano at home, but no one ever uses it. Playing it seemed to annoy my family so I taught myself." He placed his long fingers gently on the keys and slowly began playing the same tune as earlier.
Lily listened for a few more minutes before curiosity got the better of her. "Do you mind if I ask a question?"
"Go ahead." He nodded but continued playing.
"Why do you do things your family don't approve of?" She asked cautiously, watching his face.
He stopped playing and looked down at the keys with a sad smile on his face. "I'm something that my family don't approve of." He sighed and looked up at Lily. "I don't want them to approve of me if that means that I have to be in Slytherin. I don't want them to approve of me if that means that I can't be friends with James and Remus and Peter. I don't want them to approve of me if that means I can't be me."
Lily's eyes glistened with tears as she listened to him. She leaned over to the side and gave him a hug, resting her head on his shoulder. She knew that he didn't need the hug as much as she did. Sirius had come to terms with his family situation a long time ago, Lily was only just learning about it. But Sirius wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned his cheek on the top of her head. They sat like that for a long time, staring at the piano that was in front of them.
"Not interrupting, am I?" James said clearing his throat from behind them.
They both turned around, jumping apart quickly. "Not at all, Prongs." Sirius said smiling, he ducked into the kitchen, leaving his friends alone.
Lily stood up and went to hug her boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around her. "Mornin'." He said sleepily, resting his chin on the top of her head, emphasising the height difference between the two of them. "How'd you sleep?" He asked when they pulled apart.
"Good." She said grasping his hand. "You?"
"Same. Want some breakfast?" He asked pulling her away. They went into the kitchen were Sirius had disappeared to moments earlier. "Cereal?" He asked pulling out a box of Coco Pops.
Lily smiled when she saw it. "Yum!" Sirius was already sitting at the breakfast counter with a bowl of Coco Pops in front of him.
She took a seat next to Sirius and pulled her knotted hair back from her face, into a scruffy bun, leaving a few strands to frame her face. Lily spooned Coco Pops into her mouth when James had finished getting them ready.
Elle and Tami staggered around the corners looking a little worse for wear. "Good morning!" Lily said a little louder than needed. They both cringed away from her chiperness.
"What's for breakfast?" Tami demanded.
"Coco Pops." She said, holding her bowl in the air and receiving blank looks from the pure blood witch. "It's chocolatey!" Lily reassured her.
"Well in that case, give me some!" Everyone laughed at Tami's eagerness. Moments later Remus and Peter also turned up in the kitchen. The six of them had stayed at James' last night after the party, sleeping on any surface that was comfortable enough. They ate their breakfast, chatting amicably between all of them.
"It's 11 already. My Parents are going to be wondering where I am!" Lily said as she worriedly started cleaning away her breakfast.
"Leave it." James said taking her empty bowl from her hands. "I've got it."
"Thanks." She reached up on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips.
"Ugh, get a room!" Tami yelled at her two friends.
James' smile made Lily apprehensive. "Good point. Let's go upstairs." He said winking at Lily. Everyone laughed at the look of complete shock on her face.
"Not wanting to rush anyone but Lily's right. I have to get home too." Elle spoke up.
James took Lily by the hand, leading her and the others towards the fireplace. They turned to each other and said their goodbyes, as did everyone else. They would see each other later that day on the train back to Hogwarts but for James that felt like forever.