A/N: Hello! I'm back! Kind of. Can't say how regularly I'll be posting, but hopefully I won't go quite so long again between updates again. Thanks to those of you who haven't abandoned my story and welcome to new readers!
December 20th, 1977, Part One
"Are you sure I look all right?" asked Lily, nervously tugging at a loose strand on the hemline of her dark green, velvet dress robes.
"I think you look stunning, dear," said Dorcas, who was pinning various curls and tendrils of Lily's hair into place.
"But, do I look, like…I don't know, respectable?" asked Lily, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
"For the last time, yes!" said Marlene with an exasperated sigh. "I picked out the robes myself. Do you really think I would let you down?" She was reclined on Dorcas's bed wearing sweats and an old t-shirt, flipping through a copy of Witches of Quidditch Magazine and rubbing Misty behind the ears. She and Lily had been spending the first few days of break at Dorcas's house, which had been equal parts stressful and amusing for Dorcas and Lily watching Marlene try not to say anything too suspicious around Tony, Ms. Meadowes's Muggle boyfriend.
"It's just, no offense, but you aren't usually the first person I consult for fashion advice," said Lily, tilting her head to the side to get a better view of her blush in the vanity mirror. She was convinced she was wearing too much makeup no matter how many times Dorcas and Marlene reassured her that she was not.
"Don't move!" Dorcas scolded.
"Okay, yes, normally I have sort of a devil-may-care attitude when it comes to appearances," Marlene conceded, "but I have been dressing for events like these all my life. I think I know how to look properly aristocratic by now."
"Okay, okay, I trust you. Remind me again about the silverware," said Lily. Marlene had been cramming information about wizarding etiquette into her head all day in preparation for the upscale dinner party she would be attending that evening. As if it wasn't bad enough that she would be meeting Mr. and Mrs. Potter for the first time, she had to do it in front of a bunch of important foreign dignitaries, top tier Ministry officials, and a few celebrities to boot. It felt like she was about to undergo the most important test of her life, and she'd only been given a day to study. Well, okay, she'd known about it for a week, but it still didn't seem like enough time!
"I'm pretty sure that one's the same as it is for Muggles. Start from the outside and work your way in. But whatever you do, don't use the pudding scrump for the yibble course."
"The what?!" screeched Lily, horrified that only minutes before James was going to pick her up, Marlene would drop this new information on her.
"Relax, she's talking nonsense to get you in a tizzy," said Dorcas, glaring at Marlene, who was attempting to bury her face in her magazine to hide her laughter. "There, I think that does it," she said, pushing one last pin into place.
"Hang on," said Marlene. "Mum gave me this to lend to you." She pulled out a beautiful glittering comb in the shape of a dragonfly.
Lily stared at it with wide eyes. "Marlene, I can't wear that! It's too nice; what if I lose it?!"
"You won't lose it, silly, but even if you do, Mum has dozens. The gossip columns in the Prophet always complain when women repeat accessories at formal events, so she's constantly having to buy new ones," said Marlene with a casual shrug.
Lily had a sudden vision of herself nonchalantly tossing another spectacular piece of jewelry onto a huge, gleaming pile and saying with a sigh, "well, guess I've got my one use out of this one." Is that what life would be like as a Potter? She gulped.
"You're right, now it's done," said Dorcas, gently sliding the comb into the heap of hair she had spent nearly the last hour constructing.
"Do you think there'll be reporters there tonight?" asked Lily, heart in the pit of her stomach.
"Oh no, this is a very private little affair. It's only at the huge events that reporters come. There'll probably be a few at my family's New Year's Bash, though," said Marlene, turning the magazine sideways to get a better view of a large diagram illustrating some complicated offensive play.
"Really?" asked Dorcas, sounding as unexcited about the prospect of being spied on by journalists as Lily did.
"Yeah, but don't worry. They never pay the younger crowd much attention. Unless James and Sirius do one of their stupid pranks," said Marlene.
"Was that a knock?" yelped Lily, whipping her head around. She had been hearing imaginary knocks for the last half hour, and some real ones perpetrated by Marlene, but this time she was certain it had come from downstairs.
"Just Marlene messing with you again, I suspect," said Dorcas, leaning back in the armchair of the reading nook in the corner of her room.
"It wasn't me this time, I swear!" pouted Marlene.
They could hear a lock click and the muffled voice of Tony at the door down below.
Lily's face went green, the pallor emphasized by the color of her robes. "I think I might be sick," she whispered.
"Do I need to give you a calming tonic?" asked Dorcas, who had followed Marlene's lead and was flipping through a magazine, though she favored Witch Weekly.
"No, those make me all loopy. I'll need to deliver sparkling dinner conversation all evening," she mumbled into the hands that were now covering her face.
"You're smudging your makeup. Just imagine them all in their underpants or whatever. That's what I was told before my first Quidditch match," said Marlene.
"Did it help?" asked Lily, taking her hands away from her face.
"Not really. I was a bit in love with our captain at the time. You remember Angela Cleary? Oh, the legs on that girl! So it was more distracting than anything," said Marlene.
Dorcas and Lily giggled.
"See, you're laughing already," said Marlene encouragingly. "You'll have a great time tonight. Just follow James's lead…unless you think he's taking the piss with someone, which he tends to do from time to time."
They could hear heavy footsteps on the stairs. Lily looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights, but at least the color had returned to her face.
There was the knock on the door and Tony's voice called uncertainly, "Uh…Lily? There's…uh…some bloke here to see you. Says you've got a party or something."
Dorcas got up and opened the door. "Tony! I told you about it at breakfast this morning. Lily's going to a fancy dress party tonight."
"Oh, right, right. That explains his cape. I'd forgotten, you know, with the match on and all," said Tony.
"That's all right. Tell him she'll be down in a minute," said Dorcas, closing the door. "You ready, darling?" she asked Lily, who was digging around her purse for the umpteenth time to make sure everything she could possibly need was there.
"I suppose I have to be. You'll remember to send along my trunk in the floo tonight?" she responded. Dorcas and Lily had both added their houses to the floo network after Lily's close call at the beginning of the year.
"Soon as Tony's asleep," Dorcas nodded.
"Right, well then…" Lily got up and made her way slowly to the door as if marching to her execution. She turned around before opening it. "What have you two got planned for the rest of the evening anyway?"
"Quit stalling and go!" said Dorcas.
"That dinner will be much more interesting than what we've got going here, Luv, I can promise you that," Marlene said. "I think Dory mentioned a movie marathon?"
"Yes, they're supposed to be airing a bunch of movie musicals," said Dorcas excitedly. "I think they've got 'My Fair Lady', 'The King and I', and 'West Side Story' on tonight. There'll be more tomorrow, of course, but you've got to get back home in the morning don't you?"
"Yes, what a shame," said Marlene dryly.
"Well, at least you'll get to see all the romantic ones," said Dorcas, either missing or ignoring Marlene's unenthusiastic tone. "They're my favorites."
"Oh, how interesting," said Lily, taking a seat in the armchair. "I haven't seen 'My Fair Lady' before."
"Hang on, now you really are stalling!" accused Dorcas.
Lily got to her feet begrudgingly and allowed Dorcas to usher her out the door, wishing she was settling in for a night of sweets and telly like the other two rather than going to some sophisticated soirée for which she was positive she was ill-equipped.
The nerves were chased from her head, however, when she saw James waiting for her at the base of the stairs.
He grinned at her as she descended and bowed deeply when she reached the bottom. "My lady."
"My liege," said Lily with a deep curtsy.
"Our carriage doth await," he said, offering his arm.
She took it, giggling at the bewildered look Tony was casting them from the sofa in the other room.
James led her toward a dark alley a block or so down from Dorcas's little townhouse, presumably because it would be a discreet spot from which to disapperate.
When they turned the corner, however, Lily gasped. "You mean we really are taking a carriage?"
James winked.
A small, but elegant carriage was parked a few feet away, with no less than four thestrals at the helm.
Lily had been quite shocked in her fifth year when she found out the carriages that brought them to Hogwarts at the start of each term were not in fact horseless, as she had always assumed, but were instead pulled by the haunting and beautiful creatures before her now. Snape had explained her new ability to see them was caused by the death of her grandfather earlier that summer. It was the last time they'd shared a carriage together.
"Won't that be a bit conspicuous going down the street?" she asked.
"Don't be silly, we're not taking the street, we're taking the sky!" he said, opening the door for her.
"Oh!" said Lily, trying to be graceful as she climbed in. She had thought their spindly wings were largely ornamental, having never seen one airborn before. This speculation was quickly proven wrong, however, as moments later, they were rising up towards the stars, suburbs shrinking below them.
"What is it?" asked James, observing Lily's peculiar look.
"If only Sirius could see me now. This is straight out of Cinderella or something," she explained.
James chuckled. "It's a good thing he's not coming tonight. One look at you in that dress, and he'd be singing all night. What's that one he likes?"
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," said Lily.
"Ah, yes, that's it. Is that really how Muggles think magic sounds?" he asked incredulously.
"Generally, yes. Abracadabra, bibbidi-bobbidi, double bubble. Not sure why they think all spells use an excess of 'b's and 'd's," said Lily, realizing as she spoke how much those letters appeared.
"Well, according to An Anothology of Ancient Magical Societies, the ancient Greek wizards used the symbols for beta and delta to identify themselves to one another," said James in an uncanny impression of Remus.
Lily laughed. "Is that true?"
"No idea. Sounds like something Moony would say though, doesn't it?"
They spent the remainder of the ride doing impressions of their various classmates and guessing whom one the other was. Lily took particular pleasure in doing an over-exaggerated version of Bethany Jacobs's snobby mannerisms and James did an eerily accurate version of Rosier's arrogant drawl.
There was a light jerk as the thestrals began to simultaneously slow down and descend. Lily peered out the window to spy their destination.
They were passing over an elaborate gold and wrought iron gate, which was set in a high stone wall. From the gate, a narrow dirt drive wound through a thickly wooded area, broken up by the occasional stream. She could make out a glow of lights a little ways in the distance, but couldn't quite make out the house from which it must be emanating.
By the time the thestrals were nearly brushing the treetops, the dense, irregular forest had given way to neat little rows of regularly spaced trees.
"Apple, mostly," said James, startling Lily a little. "A few cherry and pear trees on the other end, though."
"You have an orchard?" asked Lily, equal parts impressed and amused.
"Well yes."
"And a forest?"
"It's not a full forest, just a little grove really," he said defensively.
"Oh, just a grove. And an orchard. Is that all?"
"Well, there may be a small lake…a pond more like, on the other side of the houses," he admitted.
"Houses?!"
"Yeah, you know, we passed the gatehouse back there, but nobody lives there anymore. Then there's the main house, the guesthouse, the caretaker's house…" said James, counting them off on his fingers.
"And…" Lily prompted.
"That's it!"
"And…"
"Well, there may be a little apartment in back of the greenhouse where the gardener likes to stay during the busy season. But he'll be back at his cottage down in the village this time of year."
"And I suppose the stable boy just sleeps in the hayloft?" asked Lily sarcastically as they touched down on the dirt road beside a small collection of barns and coops housing various farm animals.
"Don't be silly, we haven't had stable boys in centuries. We only have four horses nowadays, very manageable for old Billy."
"Billy?" she asked.
"The caretaker," he explained.
Even in the absence stable boys, Lily couldn't help feeling like the carriage had touched down somewhere in the Eighteenth Century. A feeling that was augmented when they turned a bend and the main house finally came into view.
Lily's jaw dropped. "You live in Pemberly!" she exclaimed.
The large estate home before her now bore a striking resemblance to her favorite literary residence. It was massively long, and judging by the windows, at least three stories tall; it's pillars and arches gave it a slightly Italian look; and it was situated at the base of a sloping valley, surrounded by the natural beauty of the wooded hills and streams around them. She felt a sense of kinship with Elizabeth Bennet in that moment, believing that what she was feeling must be nearly identical to what Elizabeth had felt observing Pemberly for the first time.
"What is Pemberly?" James asked, laughing a little at the stunned look on her face.
"Nothing. A house in one of my favorite books," she said, not lifting her eyes from the building to respond.
"Well, come on, I'm sure they're eagerly awaiting our arrival," said James, hopping out of the carriage. He circled around and opened her door for her.
In her shock at viewing the Potter estate for the first time, Lily had forgotten the monumental task before her: make a good impression on her boyfriend's parents.
She stared at the helping hand James was offering up to her.
"Come on!" he said, a little impatiently, but with a hint of amusement.
"I can't do it!" said Lily.
"Why not?"
"What if they hate me?" she asked.
"They're not going to hate you!" he assured.
"What if they do?"
"Then I'll fulfill my life's pursuit of annoying my parents as much as humanly possible," he said.
Lily smiled, but still did not accept the hand. "What if I make a fool of myself?"
"You won't do," he said.
"You don't know that! I'm a little clutzy sometimes and have a big, filthy mouth and…" she trailed off.
James had raised his eyebrows and was looking at his hand insistently.
"You're not going to let me out of this, are you?" she asked.
"Not a chance," he grinned.
"Not even if I promised to make it worth your while," she said suggestively.
His look wavered and his hand dropped slightly. Then with a slight shake, he raised it back up. "That's a low play, Miss Evans," he scolded. "Besides, who's to say we can't do both?"
Lily narrowed her eyes at him. Of course that would be his attitude. She finally took his hand, but with an exaggerated sigh to express her displeasure, and stepped down from the carriage.
There was a grizzled old doorman waiting on the front landing. He nodded when they arrived. "Master Potter," he said by way of greeting. He opened the large oak door.
"Evening, Timothy," James replied. "Have the other guests arrived yet?"
"Only a handful. Dinner's not scheduled for another hour, I believe," said Timothy.
"Very good, plenty of time to show Lily around. This is Lily Evans, by the way," James gestured to her.
"Miss Evans," said Timothy with another nod of greeting.
"Hello," she said awkwardly. Not sure how one was supposed to greet a doorman.
James placed a hand on her lower back and guided her through the front door and into an airy atrium.
"How many servants do you have?" she asked when the door had closed behind them.
"They're not servants! They're…employees," he said, feeling a little ridiculous not for the first time in his life at the obscene wealth his family had. "And it's just Billy year round. Then as I said earlier, Harry, the gardener comes in for about half the year. Timothy is Billy's brother; he just comes up for special events. Owns a little apothecary in town."
A very upright man was approaching them with clipped steps from down the corridor to the right.
"Oh yes, and Dennis; he's dad's assistant normally, but he works as a sort of butler on nights like tonight," James added.
"James, there you are!" he said hurriedly. Lily thought this was as a bit casual for a butler, but it made sense, knowing that was not his fulltime position.
"Your father's in one of his moods; says he's on to something big; doesn't want to get dressed or come down. You have to go talk to him or I'll never hear the end of it from your mother…Oh! Pardon me!" Dennis had just taken notice of Lily. He bowed, cleared his throat, and continued in newly dignified tone, "Miss Evans, I presume. Good evening, welcome to Potter Place."
"Uh…thank you," she said, once again, not sure what the proper manner of address was. Marlene had not prepped her for part-time domestic help.
"Lily, I'm really sorry, but I better go deal with this," said James apologetically. "When dad gets on a roll in his lab, it's nearly impossible to get him to leave. Spent a month locked in there one time when he was convinced he had discovered a thirteenth use for Dragon's Blood."
"Oh no! You're not going to leave me all alone!" she said. All her worst fears about the evening seemed to be coming true.
"I'll be back as quick as I can, but Dennis can show you to the sitting room in the meantime," he said over his shoulder, already ten paces down the corridor from which Dennis had come.
Lily stood there helplessly and watched him go.
"Right this way, Miss Evans," said Dennis, gesturing in the opposite direction.
"Would it be all right to ask you to call me Lily?" she asked, feeling very silly with all the formality.
He smiled warmly. "Yes of course, follow me please, Lily." He continued on in the same clipped pace, turning purposefully around this corner and that. Lily could tell he was in a rush to get back to James's father. "The other guests are socializing in the sitting room just down here," he said gesturing down a final hall.
"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to use the ladies' room first," said Lily, wanting to avoid meeting anyone important until James was back.
"Oh, yes, not a problem. In that case we'll need to go this way here," he said, pointing to a smaller offshoot on their left.
"Well, I think I can find it on my own, if you need to get back to your…situation," she said.
Dennis breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, thank you. The Ladies' is the last door on the right. Just make your way to the sitting room when you're ready."
When Lily arrived in the elegant little bathroom, she was relieved to see there was a small sofa in a little nook beside the sinks, because she didn't actually have to go; she just wanted a place to hide for a moment.
She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there, but she soon began to feel a little foolish without anything to do. She knew she should have thrown a book into her bag. She decided she better suck it up and make her entrance. But when she got back to the main corridor, she stopped briefly. She didn't know what made her do it, but she went right instead of left. Maybe she intended to go back to the atrium to wait for James, but next thing she knew, she was at a crossing, and she could not for the life of her remember from which way she had come earlier.
Every direction looked the same, so she swallowed and set off down the hall to her right, praying it would take her back to the main entrance. When she reached a dead end, she knew she had chosen incorrectly, and turned back around, deciding she better go to the sitting room after all.
Halfway down the hall, however, a door flung open and a little figure came scurrying out, a tray full of delicate little pastries balanced overhead. It happened too quickly for Lily to react, and next thing she knew, she and the figure had collided and pastries were flying everywhere.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, please, let me help!" cried Lily, dropping to her knees and frantically scooping crushed tarts back on to the tray.
"No ma'am, please," squeaked the tiny voice of the house elf, "it was Delly's fault, please stand, Delly will clean it." James had conveniently forgotten to mention house elves when listing the family help, thought Lily.
"Don't be silly, it was my fault, I don't think I'm even supposed to be here," said Lily, continuing to pick bits of food out of the carpet.
"Ma'am may go where she pleases, but she must stop cleaning. It is Delly's responsibility," said Delly in distress.
"But I only want to help," said Lily reaching for another tart. Her hand landed on something else. She drew it back quickly, recognizing it as a shoe. A very fancy, bejeweled slipper, at that.
Lily inhaled sharpely and rose to her feet with such haste that she felt a rush of dizziness.
Delly had gone similarly erect. "Mistress Potter," Delly said in an agitated whisper. "Mistress Potter, Delly apologizes. She was not looking where she was going, and she spilled the cheese tarts. But she will make more." Delly bowed her head.
"That's quite all right, Delly, I think we have more than enough hors d'oeuvres without them," said Mrs. Potter kindly. "Why don't you go help Pod with setting the table?"
"Yes, Mistress," said Delly with a deep curtsy and hurried off.
Mrs. Potter turned to Lily, who was staring at her wide-eyed. James's mother was a very lovely woman, with a kind face and emaculate posture, dressed in simple, but sophisticated cream dress robes. Her silvery, white hair was done in an elegant twist, and a beautiful holly brooch was fastened at her throat.
"And you, my dear, must be the famous Lily Evans!" said Mrs. Potter with a twinkle in her eye.
"Yes, ma'am," said Lily, not sure if she should curtsy too.
"Oh, let's not be so formal with one another. You can call me Ephie," she said, taking Lily by the arm and walking her slowly down the hall. "You seem a bit lost, darling, unless you wanted to help out in the kitchens. Are you a good cook?"
"Oh, um, no I don't think so. I just took a wrong turn coming back from the loo and sort of ended up here," said Lily, blushing deeply.
"Yes, this house is a bit of a maze. For the first few months of my marriage, I would get mixed up nearly every morning trying to find the breakfast parlor. I debated drawing a map, but I eventually figured it out."
Lily laughed, beginning to feel at ease for the first time since arriving at Potter Place.
"Now tell me," continued Ephie, "has my son truly been behaving himself this year? I'll admit I was skeptical when he got the Head Boy badge, but I have yet to receive a single letter announcing the misdeeds and debauchery that I've come to expect from him, so I dare say he may have finally turned a corner!"
"Oh, yes! He's been doing an excellent job as Head Boy. I could hardly believe it myself, but he's been so mature about the whole thing," said Lily.
"I figured that must be the case if you'd finally come around to him," said Ephie, laughing. "The minute he came home from first year ranting and raving about 'that infuriating Evans girl', I knew he was in trouble, but now, here you are after all this time. I was beginning to think he'd made you up. A girl immune to the Potter charm. Though perhaps not so immune after all."
Lily blushed again. She wondered what other things James had been saying about her to his mother all these years.
Ephie patted her arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. We all succumb in the end. I once swore to Monty back in our Hogwarts days that I would date a hippogriff before I would date him, and look at me now."
Lily let out a sudden burst of laughter and struggled to regain her composure.
"What is it?" Ephie asked, a bit taken aback.
"It's just, I once told James I'd rather date the Giant Squid than him," said Lily when she had caught her breath.
Ephie laughed then too, a trilling, merry sound. "Well, they do say history likes to repeat itself, don't they? Potter men do have quite the weakness for spirited redheads. Always have."
"You don't say," said Lily with interest. She'd always wondered what James had originally seen in her when he first started trailing after her. She never thought the answer would be so cliché. Apparently, she was just like his mother.
"And speaking of Potter men," said Ephie, recoginizing the gait of the two figures in wine colored robes who were approaching from the end of the corridor that Lily should have taken.
Lily couldn't tell from this distance which was James and which was his father, so similar were their build and strides. But as they neared, she began to distinguish them. James had maybe half an inch on his father and a bit more bulk as well, and Mr. Potter had a little more salt than pepper in his hair. But color aside, it was the same untidy mop as his son's. Their bespectacled eyes were nearly identical save for the color as well. Mr. Potter's were a deep brown, while James's a much lighter hazel, but they shared the same shape and twinkle.
"I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it, dear," said Mrs. Potter, with a slight coolness in her voice, as she pecked Mr. Potter on the cheek.
Mr. Potter gave her a distracted smile. "Miss our famous Chirstmas shindig! I wouldn't dream of it!" he said. Lily recognized that half earnest, half ironic tone all too well.
"Yes, well, thank you for fetching him, Love," said Ephie, giving James a matching peck. "Not that you needed it!" she added as Monty opened his mouth to defend himself.
"Who are you?" asked Monty, finally taking noticed of Lily. Though the blunt question may normally have been considered rude, the bewildered tone in which it was asked softened it, and Lily found it more comical than offensive.
That didn't stop Ephie from hissing, "Monty," threateningly. "This is Lily Evans. Your son's date."
"Girlfriend, actually," James corrected, wrapping his arm around Lily's waist. "Sorry about all this," he whispered in her ear.
"Yes, of course, girlfriend," smiled Ephie.
"Girlfriend!" said Monty, eyes wide in interest. "Well, isn't that something!"
Lily blushed at the evaluating look he was now giving her. She knew James must have brought plenty of girls around before, but evidentitally, this was the first time he'd identified them as 'girlfriend' rather than simply 'date'.
"Nice to meet you," said Lily, not knowing what else to say to get him to stop studying her so intently.
"Oh, don't mind him. He looks at everything like an alchemic problem that needs sorting out, people included," said Ephie.
Monty blinked at his wife expressionlessly for a moment before his face melted into a grin. "Was I doing it again, darling?"
"Yes, dear," she replied.
He turned back to Lily. "My deepest apologies," he said with a deep bow. And all of a sudden the mad professor aura that had surrounded him dissolved into that famous, or perhaps infamous, Potter charm Ephie had been speaking of. "It is truly an honor to meet you," he said, clasping her hand warmly in both of his.
"Yes, well, if you are quite finished, all the other guests have arrived. Perhaps at least one of the hosts should make an appearance?" said Ephie pointedly.
"Right you are, dearest," he nodded. "Shall we?" He offered up an arm for Lily to take. She swallowed. She'd much rather stick as closely to James as possible, but she didn't want to be rude, so she placed her hand on his forearm and allowed him to lead the way, James escourting his mother behind them.
"Once more unto the breach," Monty said under his breath as they approached the glow of lamplight and a low rumbled of voices emminating from the end of the hall.
Lily suspected he was only joking, but found the words ominous nonetheless. She tried to arrange her face in a pleasant smile and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the evening to come and praying she wouldn't embarrass herself anymore than she already had.