(A/N: Ok, I'm starting this chapter the day after I posted chapter 13, May 31, 2006, hopefully I'll have this chapter done before I graduate in 2009. Ok, well finals are next week Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday so after that I can update all the time. Here's chapter 14. Read, review, and enjoy.)
Chapter 14
The Holidays are Here
A week had past since Lily told Amanda about Sirius and the group of 7th year Gryffindors was on the Hogwarts Express, heading towards Kings Cross. Lily, about to meet the Potters for the first time, was panicking.
"What if they don't like me?" Lily asked James. "What if they are mad because I was so mean to you for the past 6 years? What if they think I'm not good enough for you? What if-"
"Lils," James said with a laugh, "chill out. They'll love you, I promise. I've written nothing but how beautiful and smart you are for the past 7 years."
Lily blushed, James gave her compliments all the time, but she still hadn't gotten used to it. "Thanks" she said softy.
"Let's go for a walk" he suggested to her.
"Alright" she said, "to the heads compartment?" she asked him.
"Sounds wonderful" he said, opening the compartment door for her and shutting it behind him.
"Walk my ass" Sirius said, 10 galleons they went to go snog in the heads compartment."
"Bet you're right" Remus said. "What do you say Lizzy, shall we go for a walk as well?"
"Yeah, lets go" Lizzy said.
"Hold on there children" Sirius said.
"Yes, Sirius?" Remus asked innocently.
"The two of you aren't going anywhere" Amanda said, realizing what Sirius was talking about.
"Why not?" Lizzy asked.
"Well I should say that the both of you aren't going anywhere until we get some answers" Sirius said.
"How long have you been together?" Zoë asked her friend.
"3 months" Lizzy said, realizing that she couldn't hide the truth from someone who knew her so well.
"You didn't tell us because?" Sirius asked.
"Well, we were all so busy getting Lily and James together and then we just sort of forgot that you didn't know. I mean we barely even hang out anymore with our schedules so different…" Lizzy trailed off.
"Well we have some serious girl talk to get to now don't we?" Amanda said. "After Christmas we'll have a girls' night at my Aunt's."
"Alright, well if you don't mind, we're going to go." Lizzy said, dragging her and Remus outside the compartment and out of sight.
"Well that was interesting" Zoë said.
"I can't believe she hid that from us that whole time" Amanda said in disbelief.
""Me either" Zoë said, "Wonder why she hid it from us."
"I dunno, maybe she has a good reason" Amanda said
"Hopefully' Zoë said
Back in the Head's compartment, James and Lily were resting in each others arms quietly after having quite a good snog.
"Hey James?" Lily asked breaking the silence between them.
"Yeah?" James said.
"I'm scared" Lily said.
"Of what?" James asked her.
"What's going to happen to the world. The magical world and the Muggle world."
"I am too, Lily. But I made up my mind over the summer that I would do something about it when I get out of school, and that I would do something about Voldemort, that I wouldn't let him hurt anyone else, or anyone else's families the way he hurt mine."
"Do you mind if I join you on that?" Lily asked him.
"Not at all, I can tell you right now it will be dangerous, but I'll be glad to have you with me."
"I'll be glad to be there, we better get back to the compartment before Sirius comes up with dirty ideas for where we are." Lily said standing up.
"Unfortunately, he probably already has those ideas in his mind." James said, he too standing up, facing Lily and placing his arms at her waist.
"Thanks," Lily said locking eyes with him, "for everything that you've done for me."
"I'd run half way around the world and back if you wanted me too Lily" He said with sincerity. "I love you"
Lily looked into his eyes and said, I love you too, James" and kissed him.
After what seemed like hours, Lily pulled back. "We really need to get back to the compartment, James. I don't want to make it seem like we abandoned our friends." Lily said reluctantly.
James sighed. "Your right, I guess, poor Amanda and Zoë, we left them alone with Sirius."
Lily laughed, "Well we better go rescue them now shouldn't we?" Taking him by the hand and walking down the train corridor.
Still rapped up in each other, the pair stepped into the compartment.
"Well look who's finally back!" Sirius said.
"Shut up Padfoot, we weren't gone that long." James said.
"Well the trolly already passed us so you're going to have to go find your own food." Sirius said.
"I'll go get some from the Head's compartment." James said.
"Wait, if Lily and James are our best friends, why are we in this compartment if we can have the heads compartment?"
"I dunno" Lily said, "Just didn't occur to us I guess."
"Sure," Amanda said teasingly, "you just wanted a private place to go snog."
"And what if I planned it that way, just for Lily and I?"
"James!" Lily said shocked, hitting him playfully.
"Alright you love birds, we have to get changed, we're almost at Kings Cross." Sirius said and left the compartment with his muggle clothes.
A little more than fourty-five minutes later, the Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop and James and Lily were, somehow, the only two people in the compartment.
"I'll get your trunk Lily" James said to her.
"I'm not ready James, I'm really not." She said quickly, starting to fret again over meeting his parents.
"Lils," James said looking at her in the eye, "you'll be fine. My parents will love you, I love you"
Lily smiled, not being used to hearing those words come from him. "I love you too, James."
"Now lets go, it'll have to happen eventually" James said to her.
"Let's go" She said, placing her hand in his.
Five minutes later James and Lily had found the rest of the 7th year Gryffindors and left he platform.
"They're this way" James said to Lily, steering her in the direction of a middle aged couple.
"Hey mum, hey dad, this is Lily, Lily, these are my parents"
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter" Lily said.
"Please dear, call me Clare" Mrs. Potter said.
"Nice to meet you Lily, call me Ben." Mr. Potter said. "Shall we get to the car? James, help me with the trunks, will you please?"
"Sure" James said and walked with his dad to the car, leaving the rest to follow.
After everything was loaded into the car, David drove to a dark, narrow ally on one of the less busy streets of London. There he parked the car.
"What are we doing?" Lily asked.
"Dad developed a really cool charm that works like apperating" James said. "It's new and the Ministry is testing it for approval for the NCA"
"Really?" Lily said, interested. "How does it work?"
"Simple really," Ben said, "all you have to do is just tap the center of the wheel while apperating to where you want to go, but the car has to have the apperation charm on it, which is why it needs approval by the NCA"
Ben taped the wheel of the car and with a pop, everyone found themselves driving up a winding driveway which lead to a mansion of at least 5 stories.
"Welcome Lily, to Potter Manor." James said, "come on, I'll show you where your room is, Dove or one of the other House Elves will get your things"
"James this is huge!" Lily said getting out of the car and walking into the house with Amanda, Sirius, and him.
"Your room is just next to my room, our balconies are connecting." James said walking up the stairs with the group following. "Sirius has the bedroom across from mine and Amanda has the bedroom next to yours. There's a passage way between them so you can reach each other at night if you want to. My parents are on the second floor, while we're all on the fourth. Amanda's parents are on the second floor with my parents and so are most of the adults in my family. All of the younger cousins are on the 3rd floor and Ben and Timothy are going to be on either side of Sirius. Angelina and Elizabeth are coming, so don't fret Amanda, and I think they already are here now. I think, according to the letter my parents sent me at school, they are next to you Amanda and the room next to that." James said, finally stopping at a door. "Amanda, you're in here this year, is that alright with you?"
"Sure, I guess, beat having to be next door to Timothy like last year" Amanda said and went into her room.
"Sirius, I don't have to show you your room so get in it" James said."And my lovely Lily, this is your room."
"Your parents trust you to have connecting balconies with me?" Lily asked.
"Well, not exactly, you see, Dove was in charge of the room assignments because she's been here the longest and I told her I'd give her a year supply of chocolate frogs if she made it seem like Amanda was in the room your in and you were in Amanda's room." James said holding her.
"Well, I have to admit, I like this arrangement better." Lily said before kissing him.
"Do you want to see something?" James asked, I think you'll like it"
"Alright," Lily said as James dragged her down the hall, "Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise" James said laughing at her impatience.
"Here" James said, stopping in front of a door. "Close your eyes"
Lily did as she was told.
James opened the door and lead her into the room. "Open them"
"James," she said amazed. "This is amazing!"
"In here is every book ever written, from the magical world, and from the muggle world." James said. (A/N: Imagine Beauty and the Beast, the library from that)
"This library is amazing James!" Lily said as she marveled at the large circular room filled with books.
"I thought you'd like it" James said with a smile.
"I love it" Lily said going over to one of the shelves, "here, have you read this book?" showing him a copy of To Kill A Mocking Bird.
"My mum read it to me when I was little. Every night, before I went to bed I used to come in here and pick a book for her to read out of." James said, "And when she was away on a job, I had Dove read to me. This is the only manor in all of England that has house elves that know how to read."
"I wanted to ask you, who is Dove?" Lily asked.
"She's our head house elf here. She took care of me when I was a baby." James explained, "We might run in to her later."
"Alright," Lily said, "Not to be rude or anything, but can we go to my house please? I just want to say hello to my parents"
"Of course" James said, "Lets just go tell Amanda and Sirius where we're going, maybe the alone time will do them some good" he said taking her hand and walking her out of the Library and down the hall.
Minutes later, James and Lily were outside of the Evan's house ringing the doorbell.
"Hello?" A woman who looked to be approaching 50 answered the door. "Lily!" exclaimed. "Come on in, I'll go get your father" she said walking away.
"James?" Lily looked at him, "breath, you're turning blue."
"Lily, I'm scared" James admitted.
"Relax, it's only my parents" Lily said. "You're head boy, that's all they know about you, well and the fact that you're my boyfriend. I didn't tell them about the past 6 years."
"Alright" James said, and was breathing normally, but still looked pale
"Hello Lily, Princess!" A man who appeared to be around 50 said giving Lily a hug, "And just who do you have with you here?"
"James Potter, sir" James said sticking out his right hand.
"Hello James, are you Lily's boyfriend?" Mr. Evan said shaking James hand.
"Yes I am, sir" James said nervously.
"Call me Harold, James" Mr. Evans said. "This is my wife, and Lily's mother, Emily"
"Hello Mrs. Evans" James said, shaking her hand as well."
"Please, call me Emily." Mrs. Evans said. "Please, come have a seat"
The four sat down in the drawing room.
"I've heard nothing but pleasant things about you, James Potter." Harold said.
"I've only heard wonderful things about you as well, Mr. and Mrs. Evans."
"So, Lily tells me you're Head Boy" Emily said.
"Yes, I am, Lily and I both are at the top of our class and do quite a lot of work together." James said.
Half an hour later, James and Lily stood up saying they had to get back.
"Lily?" James said, "I'll give you a moment to you and your parents, I'll just wait in the foyer."
"Thanks, James" Lily said.
"A pleasure meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I hope we get the chance to speak again soon" James said.
"Pleasure meeting you as well, James" Harold and Emily said.
Ten minutes later, James and Lily were leaving the Evan's house.
"Well James, I don't know what you did to them James, but they absolutely love you" Lily said, laughing, walking down the street to the nearby alley.
"Well, I'm glad they like me, I like them too" James said.
"I don't think they even like Vernon, my sister's fiancé, as much as they like you." Lily said.
"Well, that makes me feel a lot better" James said, and for the first time since they got to the doorstep, he relaxed.
"Let's get back to your house; I'm sure you have family waiting to see you." Lily said, and apperated back to the manor.
"James!" a girl squealed and jumped into his arms.
"Hey Susan!" James said, and hugged her. Placing her down, James said, "Susan, this is Lily, Lily, this is my cousin Susan."
"Hello Lily" Susan said, are you the girl James has been talking about since forever?" Susan asked. Susan was a young girl, who appeared to be no older than 8, who had jet black hair, cut to her shoulders, and bright blue eyes.
"Yes, Susan" James said blushing, 'this is the girl I've been telling you about."
"James is right, you're very pretty" Susan said.
"Thank you" Said Lily.
"You're welcome, Lily. I'm sorry, but I have to go find my parents. They said as soon as I said hello to you to go back to them." Susan said. "I'll see you around, Lily" And Susan skipped down the stairs to her parents.
"Don't worry, I only talked about you to her and Stacy, but well yeah" James said quietly.
"Oh James, I'm so sorry" She said, giving him a hug.
"It's gotten easier" he said, "I just have to get through Christmas and I should be fine. First year's the hardest, right?"
"Yeah" She said, giving him another hug, "first year's the hardest"
"Come on, It's almost dinner."
"Shouldn't I meet the rest of your family first?" Lily asked questioningly.
"No, you'll meet them at dinner," James said, "You'll meet Angelina and Elizabeth then and the rest of the family sometime while you're here. I have a huge family, just to let you know."
"I knew that" Lily said looking uncomfortable.
"If you want to be introduced to them as Amanda's best fiend at first and then my family finds out about us in their own time, they can." James said, noticing she looked a bit uncomfortable.
"No, that's alright." Lily said, "I'll just meet everyone little by little."
"Alright" James said, "Let's head down to dinner, I'm starved." Taking Lily's hand and leading the way.
(A/N: Well that's the end of chapter 14 and I'm avoiding studying. I better get back to it. Wish me luck on finals, and please, review. I only got 2 for the last chapter. Lots of love, your author)