Chapter 49
Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. Abby and Katie are mine but no one cares about them. Oh and Star Wars Episode IV doesn't belong to me either.
A/N: Getting this post up just in time for Lily's birthday. She would have been 56. So Star Wars a New Hope was released in the U.K. on December 27, 1977, I checked. Now I know that today movies aren't in the theaters for more than a month or so but back in the seventies and eighties it wasn't unusual for a movie to be in the theaters for months. E.T. was in theaters for a year and it came out in '82 so I feel it is plausible they could have gone to see it.
Lily and James apparated from Platform 9 ¾ to Lily's bedroom in Cokesworth.
"Lily, James, you're here," they both jumped at the sound of Mrs. Evan's voice.
"Mum," Lily said.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," her mother said smiling.
"It's alright, Mrs. Evans," James said. "It's nice to see you again. How are you?" James said flashing Mrs. Evans his most charming smile.
He held out his hand to shake hers. Despite how well his last visit had gone James was still a bit nervous. It was one thing to spend a few short hours with Lily's family, a few days was something else entirely. He was determined to make just as good an impression, if not better, over the next few days.
"I'm well, thank you. How was the train ride?"
"It was fine," Lily smiled.
"How did you get your trunks here?" Mrs. Evans asked pointing at their trunks that were sitting near Lily's bedroom door.
"Magic," James replied with a grin.
Lily and Mrs. Evans laughed.
"Come on, James, I'll show you were you'll be staying," Mrs. Evans said.
James picked up his trunk and followed Mrs. Evans to the spare room. The room, James noted, was next to what had to be Lily's parents room and at the opposite end of the hallway from Lily's.
"These towels are for you," Lily's mother said pointing to a set of blue towels laying on the small dresser in the corner of the room. "The quilt on the bed is warm but if you need another blanket there are some in the bottom drawer of the dresser."
"Thank you, Mrs. Evans," James said flashing her a smile.
"You're welcome," she replied smiling. "Lily, I have to go finish dinner. Why don't you help James get settled."
"Alright, Mum," Lily replied.
"And, Lily," Mrs. Evans paused in the doorway and gave her daughter a pointed look, "Doors stay open."
Lily felt her cheeks flush slightly, "Mum!" she said glaring.
In response her mother simply raised an eyebrow and continued to give her daughter a pointed look.
"Yes, mother," Lily sighed rolling her eyes.
As soon as Mrs. Evans was out of earshot James chuckled.
"Hush, you," Lily said wrapping her arms around James's neck.
"I'm pretty sure this is why your mother wants you to leave the door open," James smirked.
Lily laughed, "You are such a prat, Potter."
"But I'm your prat," James grinned.
"I love you," Lily said standing on her tip toes.
"I love you, too," James replied closing the remaining few inches between them and capturing her lips in a soft kiss.
After a few moments James pulled away. As much as he enjoyed kissing Lily he didn't fancy being caught snogging by her mother fifteen minutes after they had arrived. He walked over and opened up his trunk.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked annoyed by his sudden absences but also curious as to what he was up to.
James pulled a book out of his trunk. "Getting this," he replied much more casually than he was feeling.
"A book?" Lily asked. "And what are you going to do with it?"
"I borrowed it from the Library," James replied.
"You took a Library book with you?" Lily asked incredulously. "You removed it from the school? You do realize if Pince finds out that she will kill you."
"Only if she finds out," James replied cheekily. "Are you going to tell her?"
"No," Lily said laughing. "But why did you bring it?"
"Because I wasn't completely sure which spells we would need," James said. "And I didn't have time to memorize or copy the entire thing."
"James, what are you on about?" Lily asked. "What kind of book is this?"
"It's a book about defensive wards," James said.
"Defensive wards?" Lily replied.
"Yeah," James said running his hand through his hair. "For your house."
He had come up with the idea right after the attacks on Muggles in The Daily Prophet. His father had mentioned a while back that some witches and wizards were putting wards up on their Muggle neighbors houses without their knowledge. At first James had been surprised but after he thought about it, it made sense. If the Death Eaters tried to attack witches and wizards living in a Muggle neighbor the Muggles were defenseless.
"Oh," Lily replied.
"Well, I just thought. With everything going on," James mumbled.
"You're probably right," Lily sighed. "I, thank you."
As much as Lily hated to admit it warding her house was probably a good idea. The Death Eaters were targeting Muggle-borns and their supporters and enjoyed attacking Muggles just for fun. Putting wards on her house would help protect her parents when she wasn't there. And she supposed they would help protect her when she was there too.
"I'm thinking an anti-apparition ward to start," James said. "There's a way to set it so you can still apparate directly in and out of your house but others can't."
James sat down on the bed and flipped to the table of contents. Lily sat down next to him placing her arm around him and resting her chin on his shoulder.
"What about Shield Charms?" Lily asked. "I know there are some that can protect a house?"
"Yeah, we have some on our house," James said flipping to the section on Shield Charms.
"James," Lily said quietly.
"Yes, Love?"
"Please don't mention any of this in front of my parents," Lily said quietly.
"Why not?" James asked shifting to look at her.
"Because, they have absolutely no idea what's going on," Lily whispered glancing at the door.
"What do you mean?" James asked confused.
Lily pulled her wand out of her pocket and cast a quick Muffliato at the hallway. It wouldn't do to have her parents find out now.
"I mean, about Voldemort, the war, the attacks," Lily replied worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "They've no idea about any of it."
James's forehead scrunched up in confusion. "You've never told them?"
"No, when things first started to get bad I was afraid they'd pull me out of Hogwarts if I told them what was going on," Lily said. "And now, I don't want to scare them."
Lily sighed. She hated keeping things from her parents, especially something as big as the current state of war the Wizarding world was in, but she couldn't tell them now. She'd waited too long, and to be honest, she knew the whole thing would terrify them. She couldn't bear to see the look of fear in their eyes.
James looked at Lily. Her eyes seemed overly bright and she was still worrying her lower lip with her teeth. James wrapped an arm around Lily and placed a gentle kiss to her temple.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
"S'not your fault," Lily said, her voice shaking slightly. "You've nothing to be sorry for."
"I know but," James sighed. "I just wish…" he trailed off.
He couldn't stand that this was even necessary. How could you hate someone just because of who their parents were? It wasn't right.
Lily kissed his cheek. "I love you too, James."
James placed his hand on Lily's back and started to trace patterns with his fingertips.
Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady her nerves enjoying the comforting feeling of James's fingers.
"So what about Protego Horribilis?" Lily asked pointing at a spell at the bottom of the page James had turned to.
"A powerful shield charm designed to protect a large area, such as a dwelling, from highly dark magic," James read. "I think if we combine it with Protego Totalum and Protego Maxima it should protect against most major jinxes and hexes too."
"We should include Salvio hexia, too," Lily said. "We were talking about it the other day in Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"How about Fianto Durio?" James said pointing. "Oh, never mind, it causes people to disintegrate if they cross the barrier. Your parents' neighbors may not appreciate that," James grinned.
Lily laughed, "Neither would the postman or the milkman."
"Let's see, what else," James said flipping through the book. "I'm thinking Muggle-repelling charms would be the opposite of helpful."
"Unless we want my parents to avoid their own house," Lily said with a chuckle.
James smirked, "Well, maybe for a little while."
Lily smacked James affectionately in the chest as she laughed.
"You are such a prat, Potter. Now where do we have to be when we cast these?" Lily asked.
"I'm not sure," James said. "I think outside for the protective charms. I'm pretty sure we have to cast them over the house. But I have to check about the anti-apparition wards."
"We'll have to do them late at night then so the neighbors don't see," Lily said.
"Won't the lights wake them up?" James asked. "Maybe right before sunrise."
"That means we have to get up before sunrise," Lily pointed out.
"We can go back to bed when we're done," James pointed out.
"And if my parents catch us?" Lily asked.
"We'll tell them we wanted to watch the sunrise together," James said with a grin.
"You are ridiculous," Lily said with a laugh and kissed his cheek.
"Lily!"
James and Lily both jumped.
"Mum, you really have to stop doing that," Lily said putting her hand over her heart. "You scared me half to death."
"I'm sorry but I called you at least three times and you didn't answer," her mother said.
"Sorry, Mum, we didn't hear you," Lily said.
"I was wondering what was taking you so long," her mother said.
"We were doing revision," James said holding up his book. Though Lily noticed that he showed her the back and covered the title on the spine with his hand. "We have our N.E.W.T.s coming up soon."
"N.E.W.T.'s? I know you've told me what that stands for, Lily but I've forgotten," Mrs. Evans said.
"Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Lily said.
"Are they really that bad?" her mother asked curiously.
"Well, O.W.L.s weren't too bad," James said. "But certain jobs require minimum N.E.W.T. scores in certain subjects so they're dead important."
"Especially if you want to work for the Ministry," Lily said.
"Well, I'm sure you'll do well, Lily. You've always gotten excellent marks," Mrs. Evans said. "But your father should be home any minute and dinner is almost ready."
"Alright," Lily said. "I should probably change out of my robes before we eat."
She hopped off the bed and headed to the door.
"I should probably change, too," James said.
After Lily and her mother left the room James closed the door so he could change out of his school robes into his Muggle clothes. His mother had sent him some pants and shirts to wear, for which he was grateful. The only Muggle clothing he had brought with him to school was what he had worn to King's Cross on the first day.
When James walked into the hallway he heard an odd buzzing sound. He stopped to see if he could find the source of the noise. He stood in place and turned his head but he couldn't seem to locate the source of the buzzing. When Lily opened the door to her bedroom he jumped.
"A little jumpy there, Potter?" Lily asked smirking.
"There's this strange buzzing noise," James said still looking around trying to find the source.
"Oh!" Lily said. "Sorry I forgot."
Lily pulled out her wand, which she'd stuck in her back pocket, "Finite Incantatem."
The buzzing stopped.
"Was that a spell?" James asked confused. "And how do I not know it?"
"I'll tell you, if you promise not to be a prat," Lily said with a sigh.
"I solemnly swear," James said with a smile.
"I'm serious, James," Lily said a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Okay," James said more seriously.
"Severus," Lily said feeling it was better to just get it over with, rather like ripping off a band-aid.
"Snape?" James asked incredulously.
"Yes, Severus. He invented it. It causes a buzzing in the ears of anyone in the vicinity and allowing private conversations to take place without eavesdropping," Lily explained. "I cast one on the hallway earlier."
"He invented it?" James said skeptically.
"Yes," Lily said folding her arms and glaring at James. "He did it, you know, before," Lily waved her hand vaguely.
"Yeah," James said quietly not meeting Lily's eye.
While he hated Snape and was glad that Lily had finally seen the light when it came to Snape's true colors he also felt guilty about the way it had come about.
"Levi corpus was a creation of his too, ironically," Lily said.
"I'm sorry," James said quietly, still looking at the floor. "About, you know."
Lily sighed. While James had been a complete prat when he had attacked Snape after their Defense O.W.L. it was not his fault what Snape had said. James was responsible for his own actions, not Snape's.
Lily took James's hands in hers', "You've already apologized for that on several occasions."
"I know," James said meeting Lily's eyes. "But I'm still sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt."
"James, we've been through this. I've accepted your apology. And what he said is not your fault. What he said is his own fault," Lily said, "Now come on. My mum is going to be wondering what's taking us so long."
She stood up on her tip toes and gave him a quick kiss before dropping one of his hands and pulling him along with the other.
"Hey, Mum," Lily said as she and James entered the kitchen.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" James asked.
"You could set the table," Mrs. Evans said with a smile.
"Sure," James said. "Where're the dishes, Love?" James asked looking at Lily.
"Come on I'll show you," Lily said glancing at her mother at James's use of his favorite pet name for her. But if her mother thought anything of it she gave no indication.
Lily retrieved the necessary cutlery from the drawer and handed it to James. She grabbed the plates and lead the way to the dining room.
Lily watched James as he followed behind her setting the silverware next to the plates. She couldn't help but smile. Although James knew where each of the pieces of silverware went it was clear that he was not used to setting a table, and certainly not doing it the Muggle way.
"What are you smiling at?" James asked.
"You," Lily laughed lightly.
James quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Have you ever set a table, let alone by hand," Lily asked the humor evident in her voice.
"I know where everything goes," James said.
"Yes, I can see that," Lily said grinning. "But have you ever actually done it?"
"Well, no," James said sheepishly looking down at his feet.
"Sorry," Lily said trying to suppress her laughter, "I'm not trying to take the mickey."
James couldn't help but smile. He loved her laugh. It lit up her whole face, making her green eyes sparkle.
Lily heard the sounds of a door opening and closing in the front of the house.
"Sounds like my dad's home," Lily said. "And we need to get glasses," she added.
Lily went back to the kitchen to grab the glasses.
"Hi, dad," Lily said as she entered the kitchen.
"Lily, you're here," her dad said wrapping her up in a hug. "Is James here, too?" he asked looking over her shoulder.
"Hi, Mr. Evans," James said entering the kitchen.
"James, how are you?" Mr. Evans asked.
"I'm well, sir, and you?" James asked politely.
"Good, good. Glad to be done with work for the day," he said. "What's for dinner Rose?"
"Spaghetti Bolognese. And since we have a guest I made some Treacle Tart for dessert," Mrs. Evans replied.
"Treacle Tart?" Lily asked grinning. She loved Treacle Tart.
"Yes, dear," Mrs. Evans replied.
"Do we have clotted cream?" Lily asked.
"Of course, dear," Mrs. Evans said with a laugh. "I wouldn't dream of serving you Treacle Tart without clotted cream."
"So," Mr. Evans said once they had all sat down for dinner, "What do you two plan on doing while you're home?"
"Well, I've promised James that I will take him to see a movie. He's never seen one before," Lily said. "Mum, said the sequel to Escape to Witch Mountain just came out, I thought we'd go see that."
"What about Star Wars," Mr. Evans suggested. "I know we saw it over Christmas but James might like it. It's still playing at the cinema in town."
"Oh, I never even thought of that!" Lily exclaimed. "That's a good idea. I'd love to see it again."
"Star Wars?" James asked curious. "Why are the stars having a war?"
Lily laughed almost choking on her pasta.
"It's not about stars, it's about, well its complicated," Lily said. "It takes place in a far off galaxy. There's this guy, named Luke, and he finds these robots and they lead him to this guy who used to be a, what are they called again dad?"
"A Jedi," Mr. Evans supplied.
"Right, and they have to rescue a princess named Leia from Darth Vader, who is also a Jedi, but he's turned evil. They can use something they call the Force. It's a bit like magic, but it's not magic. I don't really know how to explain it. We'll have to go see it. I think you'll really like it," Lily finished grinning.
James just nodded. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. The Force? But he was excited about finally being able to see a movie and figuring out exactly what one was. The more time he spent with Lily the more he realized how difficult it must be for Muggle-borns or those with one Muggle and one Wizarding parent, straddling two worlds that were so different all the time.
"I was thinking we'd go tomorrow night," Lily said. "Would we be able to borrow the car?"
"I suppose," Mr. Evans said. "But can't you just, what is it called again when you disappear and reappear?"
"Apparate," Lily said. "And yes, but the cinema is in a highly crowded place and there's a good chance of us being seen. Plus, if we saw anyone I know they might ask how we got there."
"Do Wizards have cars?" Mr. Evans asked curiously. "If you can just apparate places?"
"Um, some do," James said. "The Ministry has some from what I understand. But my family doesn't have one."
"Have you ever been in a car?" Lily asked curiously looking over at James.
It had never even occurred to her that he might not have ridden in one before. Cars were such a normal part of her life but she knew that most wizards didn't own them. James hadn't even been at her house six hours and Lily had the feeling she was only just scratching the surface of how different their lives really were.
"No, like I said my parents don't have one and they don't really know anyone who does either. We've always flooed everywhere or apparated."
"Well, then you should definitely take the car," Mr. Evans said chuckling.
"Speaking of your parents," Mrs. Evans began, "What do they do for work?" she asked.
"Well, they're retired now," James said. "My mum used to be a Healer at St. Mungo's."
"The Wizarding equivalent of a doctor," Lily put in.
"And what about your father?" asked Mr. Evans.
James smirked. "Well, he used to own his own company. He invented Sleekeaszy's Hair Potion."
"'Two drops tame even the most bothersome bonnet," Lily said grinning.
Her parents both stared at her.
"It's the tag line for it," Lily explained. "My roommates swear by it."
"But you said he's retired now?" Mr. Evans asked turning to James.
"Yeah, a few years before I was born he sold off the company," James said. "He and my mum didn't think they would ever have any children and both my parents are only children so there was no one to pass the company on to, so he sold it," James said with a shrug.
"Shame he didn't wait a little longer," Mr. Evans said.
"It's alright," James said with a shrug. "I get decent marks in potions but haircare isn't really my thing," he grinned.
"So what do you want to do?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"Didn't you say something about the Ministry when you were here last time?" Mr. Evans said.
"Yeah," James said. "I'm thinking about trying to get a job in the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
"What does the Department of Magical Games and Sports do?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"Well, the biggest responsibility is the regulation of Quidditch," James said. "But the department also overseas other wizarding sports and activities as well. They even have an office for Gobstones, though I'm not really sure what they do."
"And you want to work with Quidditch, yes?" Mr. Evans asked.
"Yes," James said. "Though what specifically I would do I'm not sure. There are a lot of different things from helping to ensure that matches don't violate the International Statute of Secrecy to inspection and approval of new brooms that companies want to release."
"It sounds very exciting," Mr. Evans said with a smile. "So besides taking James to a movie what else do you two have planned while he's is visiting?"
"Well, on Friday we're going to meet Petunia and Vernon in London for dinner," Lily said.
"In London?" Mr. Evans asked.
"Yes, I figured it would be easier for James and I to go to them than for them to come to us," Lily said with a shrug. "If they came here they'd end up having to spend the night. Petunia would probably insist on getting a hotel instead of staying here. It just seems to make the most sense."
"So you'll apparate?" Mr. Evans asked.
James suddenly understood what Lily had meant when she had said that the idea of her apparating freaked her parents out. The look on Mr. Evans face clearly expressed that he couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea.
Lily's alarm went off very early the next morning. She quickly tapped her alarm with her wand silencing it. She didn't want to wake her parents. They would want to know what she and James were doing and more importantly, why, and Lily did not want to open that can of worms.
Part of her felt guilty placing spells on her parents' home without telling them. She hated lying to them. She always had to be careful what she told them, lest she let something slip. It was easy when she was at school and their only communication was through letters. But when she was home there was always the risk that she might accidently let something slip.
Lily pulled on some clothes and slipped quietly into the hallway. She had just made it to the stairs when the door to the guest bedroom opened. She smiled as she caught sight of James. His hair was an absolute mess and Lily had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter.
As soon as they were outside Lily couldn't hold it in anymore and she burst out laughing clutching her sides.
"What?" James asked look at her like she had lost her mind.
"Your hair looks so ridiculous," Lily managed to get out. It was a good thing that her parents' room was on the front side of the house and not the back.
Once Lily had calmed down they cast the protective charms they had researched. When they were finished, despite the early hour, Lily felt herself wide awake. She flopped down on one of the chairs in the garden and looked up at the brightening sky. James sat down next to her and yawned.
"Well, I think we avoided breaking the International Statute of Secrecy," James said taking her hand.
"Yeah," Lily said squeezing his hand.
James looked around at Lily's back yard.
"I don't think I ever realized how different your life is," James said quietly.
Lily turned to look at him with a confused and slightly nervous expression and asked, "What?"
"I just mean," James said realizing that hadn't come out the way he meant it to. He wasn't sure how to put his feelings into words. "It's not a bad thing. I just never realized how different your life out of school is. I mean, I knew it's different, but I didn't really understand what that meant," he attempted to explain. "For example, last night when we were talking about taking the car to the cinema. I've never ridden in a car; the idea is completely foreign to me. But you, you know how to drive one."
"Well, I've never used the Floo Network," Lily said with a shrug.
"It's just never really occurred to me before now how hard it must be to come to Hogwarts from a Muggle family. You belong to both worlds but they are so different in so many ways and you have to straddle between them. You make it look so easy, it never occurred to me that it might not be," James said bringing Lily's hand to him and kissing it gently.
Lily smiled. It never ceased to amaze her how sweet and thoughtful James actually was.
"It's not always easy but it's worth it," Lily said.
