Lily

"Trust you to hire a dodgy barman, Potter," Lily sighed as she poured another cocktail into a long twisted glass and handed it to what looked like a female troll much smaller than average size. Both she and James had been behind the bar for an hour or so and the rush of thirsty guests had caused Lily's hair to fall out of her butterfly headpiece and stick out in certain places.

"What do you mean dodgy barman?" James asked as he slid yet another glass along the counter top.

"Well I wouldn't be happy if I hired a barman who got my guests to do all the work."

"Aren't you enjoying our little quality time, Evans?" James asked as he poured a purple liquid into another glass.

"You're not forgiven if that's what you mean," Lily said stony faced as she shot fire on top of an acid green liquid under James' instructions.

"Not even after I helped you behind the bar?" James asked, making his eyes extra large.

"It's not a joking matter Potter," Lily said as she handed an elderly wizard his drink.

"What will it take then?" James asked as he edged closer, "Even Rose forgives me much easier than you do, Evans."

"Yes well that doesn't make what you did ok," Lily retorted, taking a step back.

"You know, I wouldn't have to act like an idiot anymore if you just went out with me…"
"James…"
"Can't you just give me a chance?" James asked as he stepped closer causing Lily to take another step back.

"I'm not sure you deserve one."
"I've changed, Evans, really."

"No James, you really haven't," Lily said as she took another step back and backed into the bar wall, noticing that for the first time in an hour the guests had left them completely alone in James' garden.

"I have!" James retorted, taking a step closer, leaving Lily wishing she had more space to move, "The old James wouldn't have told Rose the truth."

"Telling the truth is one thing," Lily said as she pressed against the wall; James was getting a little close for comfort, "Being a complete git before telling the truth is another."

"You're the reason I turn into a git," James said quietly, now mere inches away.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Lily asked, desperately trying not to show that James being so close was making her very uneasy.

"Do you want one?" James asked in a low voice as he gently pulled the disobedient red locks that stuck out at odd ends, making them long sausage curls as they became free of her headpiece, "I could easily give you thousands."

"Shut up, Potter," Lily scowled, "You've messed up my hair now."
"I can fix that," James smiled and he pulled the headpiece from her hair before she could stop him.

"Give it back, Potter!" Lily said angrily as she tried to grab the headpiece from him but he held it out of her reach.

"That's better," James smirked as he draped her hair over her shoulders, "You don't need to tie your hair back to make it pretty, Evans." Lily scowled and angrily tried to slap his hands away but instead James grabbed her by the wrists and pulled them away from her hair, bringing their faces alarmingly closer together as he did so. Lily tried to wriggle out of his grip feeling extremely uncomfortable, but James' hold was too firm.

"Let go, Potter," she tried but she froze as she felt his breath gently tickle her neck and she turned her head to face him, their lips centimetres apart.

"I'm not giving in if that's what you think," She whispered, but whether she was telling James or convincing herself she had no idea.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look this evening, Evans?" James whispered his eyes fixed on hers.

"Nice try, Potter," Lily tried to say spitefully but it sounded too hesitant, more like a question.

"It's true," James said in low voice, "I've wanted to tell you all night but you've been angry at me for most of it. But now we're alone, and even though you're probably still angry at me, I can tell you that you look very pretty tonight, Evans…but I much prefer your hair loose."

"Well…thank you…I suppose," Lily whispered, not quite knowing what to say. Within minutes the two had frozen, simply staring at each other and for one very strange moment Lily even thought about closing the small gap between them to avoid the awkwardness.

"Do you know what the worst part about liking you so much is, Evans?" James whispered, his eyes lowering to focus on her lips.

"What?" she asked anxiously. Any minute now James was going to kiss her and she didn't really know how she was going to respond. She could both push him away and make a hasty escape or she could just let it happen…and for some reason the latter seemed much more appealing. It was strange that a few minutes ago she had been so sure of her hatred for him and, now that it seemed very likely that he was going to kiss her, she was perhaps even excited by the idea. It was true that earlier this evening he had been sweet and comforting towards her when she had talked about her situation with Tuney, but then he had been so mean to Rose earlier…

Urgh this is so frustrating!

"The worst part is that by doing something I've really, really wanted to do for a very long time, I would make you even angrier at me. And whilst it would quite possibly make this the best day of my life, it would disgust you."

"And what is this something, exactly?" Lily asked quietly.

"I think you know," James replied in a low voice and within seconds he was closing the gap between them and Lily was holding her breath, her heart beating faster than it should have been; but just as her eyes fluttered to a close the somewhat disobedient bar tender had returned and interrupted before their mouths could meet.

"I'm back," he announced, "You got my twenty galleons kid?" Lily watched as James' eyes scrunched up tight and he bit his lip as the words escaped the barman's lips; it only took a few minutes for her to understand why James was looking so guilty.

"You paid him to abandon me behind the bar didn't you?" She asked outraged.

"Only for an hour, just so you'd stop being angry at me!"
"Oh and I'm not angry now?"
"You wouldn't have spoken to me again for the rest of the night! I wanted to have the chance to speak to you!"
"My twenty galleons?" the barman asked looking rather aggravated and Lily slipped under James' arms and out of the bar.

"Evans? Evans! Lily, wait!" James called after her, but she wouldn't answer.

"Thanks a lot mate," she heard James grumble as he handed the barman his twenty galleons and jumped over the bar. In truth Lily wasn't really all that angry at James; she was more concerned with the fact that she had almost kissed him…willingly. Making her way into the hall and as far away from James as possible, Lily spotted her mother behind the waltzing crowd of people and squeezed between them in order to reach her.

"Oh, Lily sweetheart! Are you alright now after your little incident?" her mother asked as she drew near.

"What? Oh yeah I'm fine," Lily replied as she touched the bruise underneath her eye having completely forgotten about it after what had just happened with James.

"It looks like it hurts," her mother said looking concerned, "Do you want some ice for it?"

"Its fine mum, I've had some," Lily answered, waving it away, "Are we going home soon?"
"Aren't you enjoying yourself?"

"Well yes…" Lily lied, "I'm just a little tired."
"Well the Potter's have offered us a couple of rooms' if-"
"I'd rather go home," Lily replied a little too quickly.

"Well…I'm sorry sweetheart but your father and I have already accepted," her mother replied looking guilty.

"But I thought-"
"Well we're not doing anything on Boxing day and your father's having a great time catching up with the Potters…we just thought I'd be easier than driving home in the snow."
"I could have apparated," Lily said, trying not to sound angry.

"Well yes but its not exactly the most comfortable way to travel and definitely not my favourite…"

"Right," Lily said quietly as she caught sight of her father sharing a joke with Mr Potter, "So we're staying here until tomorrow then…definitely?" Lily's mother nodded.

"What happened to your lovely butterfly thing?" she asked, suddenly realising its absence and smoothing down Lily's hair.

she'd give anything to just disappear into the floor and hide from the sheer embarrassment of almost giving in to James Potter.

"I erm…took it out when I accidentally got hit in the face," She lied, "It just felt more comfortable without it."

"Lily!"
Oh please no…

Lily turned just in time to see James squeeze through the mob of dancers and stand in from of her, holding her butterfly headpiece in both hands.
"Hi," Lily said in a somewhat flat, monotone voice.

"I erm…it's just that you forgot this," James said politely, handing her the headpiece as Lily's mother gave Lily a he-looks-like-a-nice-handsome-young-man look; clearly James understood by the look in Lily's eyes that she would rather not have him meet her mother and that it would be best to just disappear as soon as possible, "Well I better-"
"James Potter I assume?" Lily's mother asked and Lily's heart sank.

Too late…

"Yeah," James smiled sheepishly.
"Wow you look so much like your dad," she smiled, "I'm Jane Evans, Lily's mum."

"Oh, hi!" James blushed, and Lily almost laughed at how nervous he seemed to be meeting her mother, "Are you erm…enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah it's lovely," Lily's mother smiled, "My husbands enjoying himself so much catching up with your dad that we've decided to stay for the night."
"Oh really?" James replied and Lily felt the heat rise in her face at the clear excitement in his voice. Lily's mother nodded and glanced over at her daughter.

"Lily said she was feeling a bit tired. You wouldn't be able to show her somewhere she could stay would you?"
"Mum!" Lily said shocked and her mother gave her that all too knowing look.

Great now my mum's trying to set us up!

"Yeah that's fine," James said as he turned to face Lily, hiding his grin from her mother, "I can show you to your room."

"No, it's fine, really," Lily said through gritted teeth but James took her arm and led her on anyway. Lily turned and shot a glare towards her mother who winked and gave her the thumbs up thinking that she'd done them a favour by giving them a chance to be alone.

It's times like these when I wish I was adopted…

Authors note: Sorry if this seemed a bit rushed but I really wanted to get this finished before I go away for two weeks. I'll be writing whilst I'm away though so I should be able to put some new chapters up when I get back! XD As I promised this chapter was all about Lily and James and I'm sure the next one will be too after she's been forced to stay there for yet another day poor girl XD As always PLEASE REVIEW and I hope you liked it : ) xxx