For Love
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Harry Potter.
A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks to L. E. Masquerade for reminding me that laptops haven't been invented in this point of time yet. Let's make that fiction too! I've been changing countless things, but bear with me! Thanks!
m1347: Was it? Thanks!
The Black Cat Pounce: Thank you!
QueenKittieKat: I think everyone would have cracked up. Thank you!
livestrong617: I don't think she did either, but people are saying it was Charlus. So if so many people say so, it could be! :D Thank you!
Love-Pink26: Thank you!
Dancer6HOA: Thanks!
Anonymous: Haha it's fine! I completely respect that; I was just saying. :D
L. E. Masquerade: Well, I'm sorry for making you walk across the hall. ;) Thanks for that reminder!
And here you are, chapter thirty-six, one more chapter than the prequel, and there will be more, I promise!
x.o.x.o.x.
Lily had turned back around, anticipating that James's next words would be of any importance, but at his statement, she whirled around. "What did you say?" she asked, unable to keep a slight note of hysteria out of her voice.
"Shouldn't we honor what she supported?" James repeated, gloating inwardly. It wasn't every day you could cause Lily Evans to be hysterical.
"That- that's just…" Lily turned away, but didn't walk in the opposite direction. Her voice was strained as she said, "James… you do remember that you broke up with me all those years ago, right? I had nothing to do with it."
"Yes…" James trailed off, unsure as to where Lily was taking this.
"And you fell in love," Lily said simply, referring to Camille. Seeing his face, she quickly snapped, "Don't deny it. You wouldn't have proposed to her if you didn't love her, James. I know you. You aren't hasty to make decisions." She paused. "Except for that one time, of course." An unreadable expression came upon her face.
James reached out to her, saying, "Lily… I'm sorry. I really am. Can I make it up to you?"
Lily batted his hands away, turning away again. "You hurt me, James, you hurt me very badly that day. I thought that we would be forever, that we would get married and have children." Her voice cracked. "I never stopped loving you, James. Did you ever stop loving me?"
Instead of a verbal answer, James wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, touching his lips to hers for the smallest of moments, before pulling away. Seeing the soft smile that had taken residence upon her lips, he leaned in again, and kissed her thoroughly.
Lily melted into his kiss, and felt that she had finally, after a long and tiring journey, returned home.
x.o.x.o.x.
Once the group had returned to England, Lily made good on her promise and bought Isabel her laptop. It was bulky and not too transportable, but it would have to do. Isabel was thrilled and set about working on her story at once, saying that it kept her mind off of the recent death of her sister.
As Isabel engaged in one of her writing marathons one dreary Saturday afternoon, Lily and James sat in one of the many sitting rooms in Potter Manor, Lily folded in James's arms, both looking out at the cloudy skies that promised rain. The rest, except Crystal, had gone off on errands, and in some cases, back on their honeymoons, at James's prompting. Crystal had been packing up her stuff from Hestia and her flat, readying herself to go back to her father in Italy.
"So much is changing," Lily mused, twisting in James's arms to face him instead of the picture window, tired of the depressed view.
"That's life, love," replied James quietly, running his fingers through Lily's dark red hair. "What prompted that?"
Lily smiled, pushing his chest. "I didn't know you could speak properly," she teased, but fell solemn once more. "Hilary, of course, and Crystal. Plus those weddings we've been to." She paused, keeping her tears back. "Hilary's gone forever, and even before that, she contributed great change by getting pregnant. Of course, Sirius is to blame for that change too. He was going to become a father." She smiled grimly. "Can't imagine that, to be honest. Sirius Black, a father?"
James responded seriously (no pun intended), "He would have been a brilliant dad, Lily-flower, and you know that. He'd be the envy of all the other dads. Estelle would have been spoiled to death, but of course, the rest of us would have helped quite a lot. Especially me, of course, with her being my first niece. And by the others for being the first child in our little group of friends."
His girlfriend (James was insistent on taking her on a date before the title was adopted, but Lily was steadfast) gained a wistful look on her face. "Then others would have followed quickly, especially Cassie and Kyle's little one. A boy, I think Cass told me." A tear slipped down her cheek. "Jamie, what if Cassie and Kyle, or even just one, are killed? I don't think I could bear it! If Cassie were, I'd be devastated at the loss of a friend, of course, but that would be another life that had never begun terminated! And if Kyle… well, he's been like a brother ever since I closed that case for him and won, plus, their baby needs a father."
"Don't think about that, Lils," James scolded lightly, cupping both her cheeks in his hands. "This is why we need to stop Voldemort. Even if he wasn't the one to kill or administered the murder of Hilary, she still died. I wouldn't be able to bear it if anyone else died, or was put under the Imperius, or administered the Dementor's Kiss." He stopped, and embraced Lily tightly. "We will get through this, Lily-flower. Together."
Lily nodded silently, gazing out the window once more. "James? You know your date offer? I'll take you up on that. But I'm already your girlfriend, hear me?"
"Loud and clear, ma'am, loud and clear."
Lily slapped his chest, but both were smiling, glad to get some of the heavy weight off their chests.
x.o.x.o.x.
It's a fancy restaurant, Lils, but if you don't want to go, we can just go to the Three Broomsticks or such. That was what James had told Lily after he made their dinner reservations. Lily had shaken her head and agreed to go to the fancy new bistro in Diagon Alley, not eager for James to bring them to the Three Broomsticks, at least not at the moment. Too many memories involving Hilary had been made there, and she wasn't sure she could deal with it at this point in time.
But now, Lily was regretting her decision… even if only by a little. She stood before her closet, cursing herself for not buying more fancy outfits. She wasn't aware that she would need them so soon. Sighing heavily, she dove headfirst into her closet, determined to hunt up something suitable. And anyway, she was a witch, so she could just transfigure something if need be.
In the end, that was exactly what she did. She grabbed a t-shirt, a pair of battered trainers, and some other objects, and threw them on her bed before pulling her wand out of her bun of hair, letting the hair fall over her shoulders.
Within a few minutes, she had a dazzling outfit ensemble laid out on her bed. Smiling in self-satisfaction, Lily set about dressing herself and her hair.
x.o.x.o.x.
Ding dong. Lily rushed to the door, dressed and ready, holding the bag which held her wand and only her wand. She threw it open to find James dressed in casual yet fancy dress robes. His jaw dropped slightly as he took in the sight in front of him.
The emerald green dress made Lily's eyes sparkle more so than usual. The aforementioned young woman tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, looking anxious. "Is it too much?" she asked, misinterpreting her boyfriend's look.
"Not at all, Lils," James assured her, and held out his arm. "Shall we?" Lily laughed gaily and took it, grasping it tightly.
Just before he turned on the spot, she replied, "We shall."
x.o.x.o.x.
The bistro was fancy, to Lily's surprise. Fancier than James had made it out to be. Women in classy Muggle dresses and dress robes of all kinds were mingling on the dance floor, though it was considered inappropriate for women over the age of thirty to be frivolously dancing, at least for purebloods, and to Lily, it seemed as though there were plenty of purebloods present. Men trailed after their wives like lost puppies, also dressed to the nines. Still more witches and wizards were seated in the booths, dining and joking.
That was how Lily learned to distinguish purebloods from the half-bloods and Muggle-borns. The purebloods seemed to be mingling more, or else dining stonily and in near silence, speaking only to ask for a napkin or seasoning. The half-bloods and Muggle-borns, however, though dressed similarly, seemed to give the bistro more life, joking and eating and even dancing.
"The Blacks."
Lily was surprised by James's cold tone of voice; he usually was warm and inviting to all kinds of people. But based on what his statement was, she wasn't surprised for very long. Her eyes traveled along James's gaze to land on one of the pureblood couples, seemingly dining with two younger couples and a young man. The woman seemed to have a perpetual frown, while the man seemed to think everyone was below him.
"Walburga and Orion Black," James told Lily quietly as they waited to be seated. Lily had to stifle a snort that would be considered inappropriate in such a place at the name of Sirius's mother. Who named their child Walburga? Sensing what she was thinking, James continued, "Yes, mad, the Blacks are. With the exception of Padfoot, of course. Those" – he tilted his head, and Lily got his meaning to be the younger couples – "are Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, as I'm sure you know. And then those are Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, as I'm sure you also know."
"Who's the young man?" Lily asked softly, curious. "He looks an awful lot like Sirius, but a lot more… well, serious!"
The hostess appeared, and led them to a secluded booth with a good view and within earshot of the Blacks' booth. As they sat and the hostess left with the promise of a waitress arriving soon, James answered Lily's question.
"They look alike because that's Regulus Black, Sirius's younger brother." James looked grim as he put up his menu to block the Blacks from view. They could see them, but the Blacks couldn't see James and Lily, as James intended to keep it. "Reg and Paddy used to be really close as kids, but they grew apart as Sirius became more vocal about how he opposed his parents' views. He's on the list of supposed Death Eaters, joined when he was sixteen, some sources say."
"Sources?" Lily asked skeptically. She hadn't been in the Order long enough to find out many sources, but Dumbledore seemed keen to keep it that way. She didn't blame him, but she also couldn't lie that it didn't hurt a bit.
James smiled at her apologetically, making up his mind on food. "Sorry, Lils, I can't tell you. Classified information, until ol' Dumbly decides to disclose it." He used a snotty accent, and Lily giggled quietly.
"Bellatrix seems to be a lot more… insane. I mean, she was plenty insane when we encountered her before, but she has an even more maniacal glint in her eye."
"Insane indeed," James agreed grimly. "Sirius was forced into a Black family reunion by some mad will of his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather's just last year. He said that Bella was spouting crazy notions about the Dark Lord the whole time, gushing about him and how he was so handsome and so right and amazingly brought up."
"Crazy," Lily exclaimed, though quietly – for an exclamation, that is. "Voldemort has got to be at least thirty years her senior! Shouldn't he be gushing about how she was amazingly brought up?"
James snorted, but paused to give the waitress his order. Lily gave her order as well, giving the waitress the evil eye. James was confused as to why, but dismissed it fairly quickly. He began speaking again once the waitress left, and Lily tore her evil glare away. "He'd think that anyway, since Bella's a prestigious pureblood. Sick, the lot of them. And somehow, I can't imagine the most feared Dark wizard in a century or whatever gushing."
Lily giggled. "Okay, enough about them. This date isn't about them… is it?"
"Definitely not, love," James answered firmly, smiling at her. "It's our first date in a long time." He grinned a little wider. "And I didn't need to ask three hundred and sixty-four times this time."
Lily gave him an incredulous look. "You counted?"
James looked offended. "Is that what you got from that, Lils? I would have picked out the fact that you only answered yes on my three hundred and sixty-fifth time!"
"Oh, James. Don't worry. Someone was bound to pick you up sometime," Lily teased, grinning.
Unfortunately, the waitress decided to pick this time to appear with their food, as she set it down, she smiled flirtatiously at James. "I'd pick you up anytime, Mr. Potter," she offered, winking.
James rolled his eyes, replying, "I have a girlfriend."
"Oh really?" asked the waitress, batting her eyelashes. "Who might that be?"
"Lily Evans," James replied proudly, pointing to the young woman sitting across from him.
Lily raised a challenging eyebrow at the waitress, which sent her scurrying away.
"Jealous?" James teased.
"Shut it, Potter," Lily growled, and stabbed a piece of food with her fork, sticking it into her mouth. "I didn't expect that to happen when I said that."
James chuckled, covering her left hand with his. "Don't worry, Lils. I have eyes only for you."
"Sap," Lily told him, but there was a smile on her face as she tilted it upwards, beginning to understand why Hilary supported them so much. It felt right. Silently, she thanked Hilary as she and James began to converse again as if three years, almost four, had never passed.
x.o.x.o.x.
A/N: There you go! Link to Lily's outfit on my profile!