Summer Surprise
The Flying Frenzy
As the clock strikes eleven, someone knocks on the door of my bedroom. Putting down Pride and Prejudice, I get up from the bed and walk over to the door before opening it and revealing James. I roll my eyes as his beaming face falls a little as he scans me up and down and notices my outfit.
Okay…so maybe I changed into my pajamas just so I could waste time and delay going flying with him. Just maybe.
"Lily!" James whines
"What?" I ask innocently.
"Why are you in your pajamas? It's almost afternoon."
"Oh you know how I love sleep. I thought that maybe if I didn't change at all, I could go back to sleep. I'm so tired…you know how I woke up early today, right?" I say, trying to make him feel guilty about wanting to take me flying.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work. "Your tricks won't work here, Lily. If you remember, I already saw you in jeans this morning. So, I know that you changed back into pajamas so you don't have to go flying." James says exasperatedly.
Shit. He's too observant for his own good. Damn James Potter and his observation skills. Okay, do not panic Lily. There is still plan B.
"James, please. Pretty please? Can I not go flying?" I ask, putting on my best puppy-dog expression and pouting a little. Ha! Who can resist that? Certainly not James…right?
I watch hopefully as James' expression falters for a moment and he seems to consider my request. But a second later, a determined look sets in his eyes and I feel my heart drop, knowing the answer even before he replies. "No. You cannot break the deal. You have to come. Now dress up fast or I'll carry you outside dressed in your pajamas itself." He threatens.
Dropping my pleading expression, I narrow my eyes at him and fix him with a glare before walking towards my cupboard and fishing out a pair of denim shorts and a tank top. As I walk past James while heading towards the bathroom, I throw a menacing look at his smirking face and say, "You, James Potter, are an evil, pig-headed, blackmailer."
I hear James chortle and say, "I know, but you still love me," as I leave the room and walk towards the bathroom with growing apprehension of the future. I hate my life! Or at least the almighty power controlling my life hates me.
"There you are!" James says, as I make my way downstairs and into the living room after ten minutes.
Seeing him with a Cleensweep and a Nimbus – don't ask me the exact model, I have no bloody idea – held under his arm and an excited expression on his face, I roll my eyes at him. Typical. It's like he's the one flying for the first time in six years.
"Yes, I'm here. Seeing that you left me no other choice," I snap at him moodily.
"Aw, c'mon, Lily, don't be a spoil-sport." James says with a smirk. Maybe I should stop mentioning the smirk, I think distractedly. It's a part of his face.
"I'm not a spoil-sport," I say indignantly
"Yeah, and I have antlers growing out of my head." James says sarcastically with a smile on his face which makes me feel like he's sharing a personal joke with himself. Odd.
"Whatever. Let's just get this over with, can we?" I ask him, holding out my hand for the broomstick.
As he places the Cleensweep in my hand, I ask him, "Where exactly are we going? We can't really start flying on broomsticks here you know. It's a muggle neighborhood; they might find it a tad bit weird."
"No! Really? I never knew that! Wow, Lils, you're so smart," James teases, rolling his eyes at me.
"I told you to not call me 'Lils' and you're not answering my question." I say pointedly
"If I remember correctly, you said only your parents and close friends call you that. So technically, now that we're friends, I think I have a right to call you that, Lils. And answering your question; I have a perfect place in mind that you'll just have to wait and see." James replies proudly
"Fine. So how are we getting to this place which I don't have any clue about and have to wait and see?" I ask him, placing one hand on my hip and pretending I didn't catch the fact that he called himself my close friend.
"To get there, you need to take my arm." James answers, holding out his arm for me.
"Take your arm? Why?" I ask, looking at him with a confused expression.
"We're doing a side-along apparition."
"Huh? Why? I can apparate, you know," I point out to him.
James sighs and shakes his head disappointedly at me before saying, "Never knew you were so slow, Evans. Isn't it obvious? You can't apparate 'cause you don't know where we're going. So you have to hold on to me so that I can apparate us there."
Oh. It is pretty obvious. Can't let him know that though.
"Jeez, I can't help it if you get all sorts of weird ideas. How on earth am I supposed to figure out how your mind works?" I say. Seeing him open his mouth to, undoubtedly, come up with a witty remark, I quickly add, "Now let's go otherwise I may change my mind."
Hearing that, James quickly shuts his mouth and offers his arm to me again. As I hold onto him lightly, James looks down at me with a raised eyebrow and says, "You've never done a side-along apparition before, have you?"
"No. I never had to. But how did you guess?" I ask curiously, noticing the flecks of green in his hazel eyes once again. Merlin, they're so entrancing…Oh, no! Not again! I need to stop having these thoughts!
"It wasn't really difficult. You see, if you had had experience with side-along apparition, you wouldn't be holding onto my arm so lightly. Instead, you would've been clutching me like this," he says before tightly wrapping his arm around me and causing me to gasp a little in surprise.
After he grabs his broomstick in his other hand, I notice the amusement in his eyes – git – before his expression screws up in concentration and I feel the familiar and uncomfortable jolt of apparition.
As we turn on the spot and apparate with the usual pop, I feel immensely grateful to James for holding me so tightly before leaving. Side-along apparition officially sucks.
Feeling my feet hit the ground, I open my eyes and find myself staring into James's – okay, I admit it – extremely handsome face. As I feel myself growing uncomfortable from the close proximity and corrupting thoughts, I promptly wriggle out from his grasp and turn to look around.
"Wow!" I whisper involuntarily, seeing my surroundings. We were standing in the middle of a huge field that was surrounded by pine trees on all sides and seemed to be clear of muggles whatsoever. Hell! It was clear of any human being apart from us.
As the cool air whips across my face, I close my eyes and inhale deeply, breathing in the fresh atmosphere. Hmm…this scent seems familiar. I'm sure I've smelt it before…but whe –
My eyes snap open as I realize exactly what or more specifically, who smells somewhat like that.
As I turn around to look at James, I find him smiling at me with a satisfied look on his face. "You like it here?" he asks, though it seems more like a statement than a question.
I nod in response and can't help as the next words tumble out of my mouth. "You come here often, right? Where is this place?"
"Um…yeah…I come here almost every day. In fact, I come here to jog in the morning. It's just a field near my house that I found when I was thirteen. How did you figure out that I come here, though? I don't remember mentioning it to you." James asks curiously.
I know because you smell like pines. Aren't I just amazing?
I mentally kick myself for my stupidity and wrack my brains with the speed of lightning, looking for an excuse that wouldn't prove just how much of an idiot I am.
"I just guessed…'cause, um…I remembered the way you said you knew the perfect place. So I figured you must know it well to be aware that muggles don't come here." I explain, inwardly patting myself on the back for my quick thinking abilities.
"Oh. I didn't know it was that obvious," James says and I nod my head sagely. "Anyway, let's get some flying done now, shall we?"
As he pulls out his broom in front of him and mounts it, I feel my heart beating rapidly in my rib cage. Merlin, I can't do this!
"C'mon, Lils. You can do this." James says, almost like he reads my thoughts. I stop myself from shuddering at the idea of something like that actually happening and instead, focus on the broom in my hand.
James smiles and his eyes sparkle with enthusiasm as I copy his actions and mount the broom too. "Great! Now all you have to do is kick-off from the ground and hover in the air for a bit. Like this." He says before gracefully taking off from the ground and stopping after reaching a few inches above my head.
Sighing heavily, I kick-off from the ground and stop myself from squealing like a bimbo as I manage to join James in mid-air. Wow…that was actually easy.
"There you go! Now, to go forward, you need to lean a bit on your broom. To turn left or right, just lean a bit in that direction while turning your broom. Savvy?" he asks me.
I nod my head and then lean forward on my broom before flying forwards. As the air whips across my face, I smile widely and revel in the feeling of freedom and carefreeness.
After two or three hours, I find myself flying around the field without any of the previous anxiousness inside me. Breathing in the scent of pines, I enjoy the feeling of calmness that has settled over me in the past hour. Turning around to look at James, I find him smiling towards me before he flies downwards.
As James swiftly lands on the ground, I try and follow his actions, managing to reach the ground safely, though admittedly, not as elegantly.
"So, are we heading home, then?" I ask
James shakes his head and replies, "Not yet, no. First, you are going to enjoy real flying. Then, we can go home."
"Huh? Real flying?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
In response, James mounts his broom again and scoots forward, leaving some space behind him. As he nods his head towards the empty room behind, smirking, my eyes widen and I realize what he is hinting at.
"Never in a thousand years, Potter. I am not sitting there!" I say determinedly.
As I mount the broom and sit behind James, I mumble 'blackmailer' through clenched teeth and he chuckles lightly. Prat!
"I'd suggest you hold on tight if you don't fancy falling off." James says, turning to look at me.
I gulp, wondering why I was feeling more nervous sitting here than I did when I was mounting the broom a few hours ago – Oh who am I kidding? I am supposed to feel more nervous. It's James Potter, for Merlin's sake!
As I awkwardly and lightly wrap my arms around his torso, James sighs before saying, "Don't say I didn't warn you before." With that, he shoots upwards with the speed of light, earning a screech of surprise from me.
"Merlin, Lils. I think you just tore an ear-drum there," I hear James shout through the loud wind. But I can't be too sure, seeing that I have my arms wrapped around him in a death grip and my face is buried in his back, eyes tightly shut.
"C'mon, Lily! As much as I love you wrapping yourself around me, you're missing out on the fun. Look around you!" James shouts again.
Even though I blush a little at his comment, I rapidly shake my head – that is still buried in his shirt, which smells amazing...okay stop! "Too fast. I won't look up."
I almost feel James roll his eyes before he slows down a little and says, "There. Happy now?" As I slowly nod my head, he pleads, "Then look up now, please." Releasing a shaky breath, I reluctantly lift my head and open my eyes to take in my surroundings.
"Merlin, it's…its beautiful!" I whisper as I watch the pine trees below fly past us and notice the sky turning a light shade of orange – how long have we been gone? A small smile spreads across my face as I feel the peace and serenity around me.
"It is." I hear James whisper back. I glance at him to find him staring at me with a small smile on his face too.
As I look into his eyes, I can't help but get the same feeling I got last night when he saved me from getting run over by that car. Noble, Loyal and Brave. Suddenly, it seems like a very stupid idea that I thought that I would be in danger with James around. Because I couldn't deny it in a million years that he would never hurt me.
After about an hour later, we apparate back home, broomsticks in hand. As James starts to make his way inside the house, I reach out and grab his arm, making him turn around to look at me.
"I enjoyed a lot today. Thanks, James." I say honestly
He shrugs and grins at me. "Anytime." I smile at him gratefully in response.
"So," James starts and I chuckle inwardly, realizing that the sincere atmosphere was getting too much for him. "Do I get to know what you have in mind for your part of the deal, now?"
I smirk and reply, "Nope. As I said, you'll have to wait and see. We'll go tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" James says, feigning shock. "I won't be able to sleep tonight from curiosity."
"Well, too bad for you." I say before laughing and walking inside the house.
After I hand the Cleensweep to James and reach my bedroom, flopping down on my stomach, I close my eyes and replay the day's events in my mind.
Sighing in contentment, I turn around and face the ceiling, coming up with a conclusion in my brain; Maybe James and I are close friends.
With that thought in my mind, I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, the tiredness from the day's excitement finally taking its toll.
To be continued…
AN – Hey Potterheads! I swear I wrote this whenever I got time and tried finishing it as soon as I could. Still, sorry for updating a bit late. So, tell me what you think about this chapter, guys! Thanks for all the reviews by the way. And I solemnly swear that I will try to update ASAP. Love you all…
Claudia