Chapter 2.

Late May, 1979

Beth stood up on the plane as soon as it landed, anxiously awaiting her turn to get off. She checked for the fifth time that she had everything and mentally went over everything she had packed. What's the point of worrying, she thought. There's nothing I can do about it now.

The thrill of being back in England went straight through her as she glanced at the familiar setting of Heathrow airport through the window. It had been too long since the last time her and James had seen each other, and now she was here to spend the entire summer with him. How they were able to convince both her and his parents of the whole scenario, she still had no idea. Yet, here she was, bag in one hand and a wedding invitation in the other, ready to spend what she was sure to be the best summer of her life with one of the best people she knew.

James and her's friendship was anything but spontaneous. No, it was planned out, thoughtfully and carefully by both sets of parents, both determined to see their child befriend the other. The parents had met each other when her family had moved in next door, and the Potter's had been sure to be the first ones to introduce themselves to the new family. Happily surprised by their generous and inviting neighbors, Beth's family immediately took to the Potter's. It was only when they discovered that their children were the same age that the mandatory playdates had begun. Although initially slightly wary of each other ("What do you mean, I have to share my toys with him?"), the two soon hit it off, and thus the friendship began.

James and Beth were infatuated with each other, as most young friends are. They made sure that they did everything together, whether it meant going to the pool, playing pirates, or using sidewalk chalk. It wasn't uncommon for one to stay for dinner or for a spontaneous sleepover to occur. They even tried imitating the other's accent when at the other's house, as Beth's family was from the states and James' from England. The two were inseparable, causing both sets of parents to bask in the success at setting up their friendship.

It was after seven years of living there that Beth's family received the announcement that her dad's unit had been re-stationed in Brazil. Although Beth had known that the possibility of moving would always be upon them, the news of the notice had been heartbreaking. She and James had cried everyday until the move, devastated over the thought of leaving each other. "It's not fair," she remembered James proclaiming over and over. "Why don't you just stay here? You could come to school with me. I'm sure you'd fit in just fine." They had raced to his parents and brought up the idea to them, but their brilliant plan had backfired. The last attempt at trying to stay together was when they managed to fit James in one of her suitcases, but her parents were smarter than they had anticipated. Dejected, they had hugged each other fiercely, adamantly assuring the other that they would write.

However, while their parents had torn apart their idea of living together, they did have one surprise for them. Not anticipating the separation to be as traumatic as it turned out to be, James' family had met with Beth's and had created a system for them to visit each other as often as possible. Beth could still hear James and her's squeals of excitement when they discovered that they would be able to see each other for one week each summer, and that the families would take turns visiting each other. James would come with his parents to visit Brazil one year, and Beth and her parents would go to England the next.

Beth recalled the day when she had asked her parents why they were so insistent on continuing their friendship. "It was the first real friend you'd had," they explained as they unpacked another box, this time in Illinois. "We didn't want to discourage you from letting your friends go just because you hadn't seen them in a while." She had hugged her parents tightly afterwards, determined that she did, indeed, have the best parents ever.

The exchange of letters were as consistent as the summers they visited. Every two weeks, Beth would rip a letter from James out of her mother's hands and practically inhale every word he had written. They were lengthy, going on about the friendships he had made in school, the different teachers he had in classes, and the homework they assigned. "It's entirely unfair how much homework they expect us to be able to do," she remembered from one letter he had written. "How are we supposed to finish that and enjoy ourselves?" She, in turn, would tell him about the process of moving to yet another place, claiming that she would rather have loads of homework come from one teacher than from several others all over the world.

Each Christmas, their parents gifted their children a twenty minute long-distance phone call with the other, something they each anticipated greatly. When the days to Christmas became closer, they would hurriedly write as many letters as possible, anxiously counting down the days until they could hear each other speak once again. Each year, Beth noticed his voice becoming slightly deeper and more mature, and would continuously joke that puberty seemed to be doing him some good. Their twenty-minute conversation meant everything to them, and the tradition continued every single year with the same amount of excitement.

One day, during Beth's final year of high school, she got the letter she had been waiting for since the moment she'd heard of her. "LILY EVANS AGREED TO GO ON A DATE WITH ME," he had announced, repeating it more than necessary to ensure she believed it. "I DON'T KNOW WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED, BUT SHE SAID YES AND BETH, I CANNOT STOP SMILING. WHAT DO I DO ON A DATE WITH LILY EVANS THAT CAN TOP HOW PERFECT SHE ALREADY IS?" Beth had rejoiced with her friend from afar, writing as quickly as possible (still under the notion that the faster she wrote, the quicker it would get to him) over how much she hoped the date would go well and how excited she was for him. "Of course she agreed," she had replied. "Anyone would agree if you had spent years not letting her forget you were in love with her. I wouldn't be surprised if you simply wore her down."

The next letter had nothing but positive things to say about their date (literally, it went on for five pages and in so much detail that Beth once forgot she had not attended the date too). At the very end, after the usual questions about how she was doing ended, there was a postscript:

"Oh, and Beth," it had said. "I know that this is entirely too soon to tell, but if we get married, you are going to have to promise you'll come. We'll make a summer out of it. You can stay with us the entire time and realize how incredible she is for yourself." Beth had laughed at the premature agreement and had replied that she would "absolutely, most positively be at your wedding."

The Christmas following their graduation, Beth received a save-the-date instead of a Christmas card. She immediately called James for their twenty-minute conversation and screamed her congratulations so loudly that she was sure he could hear her all the way in England. He thanked her enthusiastically for the congratulation before saying, "Listen, if you can't make it, Lily and I completely understand. If, however, there's any chance you could, we would absolutely love to have you. Do you think it could work?"

"James," she'd said, smiling widely. "There is nothing in the world that could stop me from coming to your wedding."

James had screamed, "REALLY?" just as loudly as she had screamed her congratulations. She had heard the phone drop, followed by muffled (but very loud) cheers, and it wasn't long before a feminine voice took the phone.

"Hi! Are you Beth? James has told me so much about you!"

From the moment she heard Lily's voice, Beth knew that she would like her.

They had hurriedly made as much of a plan as they could that day. Beth would spend the next semester finding an internship she could do while abroad, giving her parents a "good" reason for traveling halfway around the world for several months at a time, and would then be able to spend the entire summer with James and Lily. She promised that she would save up as much money as necessary to fly her there and back, and that she would alert them with the details of her flight whenever the days got closer. They had all screamed one last time before hanging up, and Beth found herself unable to contain all of the excitement perpetuating around her for the next six months.

During those six months, she had saved every penny, did every odd chore, and found an internship in her global economics field for her to complete while in England. Her professors were thrilled for the opportunities she'd have to advance her career in a different country, and went out of their way to set up everything that they could. Before she knew it, everything was in place, and with one final letter detailing the facts about her flight, Beth had said goodbye to her parents and set off on her plane.

Which, she reminded herself, had only been grounded for a couple of minutes. She tried to take deep calming breaths to relax her nerves and calm her excitement to see James once again and meet Lily, but she was hardly able to contain herself. She eagerly stepped out of her seat the second the opportunity was open and nearly sprinted off the plane, desperate to see her friend. After several minutes of frantic searching, she saw some floppy hair and glasses, holding a ginormous sign with the word "BETH" etched on the front. And just like that, Beth felt as though she was truly home.

"James!" she called, waving her arms to get his attention.

As soon as he caught her eye, James gave her the big toothy grin she'd always loved and sprinted towards her, not caring who he ran into. She had just enough time to drop her bag before James leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. "You're here!" he exclaimed.

"I'm here!"

He set her down gently but refused to let go. "How was your flight?" she heard him ask.

"Entirely too long," she admitted, squeezing him back just as tightly. "I was practically shaking with excitement as soon as I sat down."

James laughed and reluctantly released her, opting to grab her bag instead. "I'd be shaking too if I knew I had a devilishly handsome guy waiting for me when I arrived."

"Yeah, too bad he's engaged," she said, elbowing him in the side. He laughed again and threw his empty arm around her shoulders, encouraging her to place her arm around his waist. "When do I get to meet her?"

"What, am I not good enough for you?" he teased.

"I hate to break it to you, but the only way we agreed to get me here for the entire summer was through your fiancée," she pointed out. "As far as I can tell, you're just an added bonus."

James rolled his eyes. "Okay," he said with mock sincerity. "Lily's waiting at my flat with Sirius. She decided she'd let us catch up before she tried to steal you away from me."

"That sounds only fair," Beth admitted. As the two turned the corner for the baggage claim, she turned to him and asked, "Hey, who did you say Lily was with?"

"Hm? Oh!" James slapped his palm to his forehead. "She's with Sirius. You remember my friends from school, right?"

"Vaguely, yes," Beth said, knowing that the only information she had was based on his letters.

"Remember the one who kind of moved in with us towards the end?"

The pieces slowly came together as Beth recalled the events. "Oh, yeah, I remember him."

"Well, he doesn't technically live with me anymore, but he spends so much time there that he might as well. He'll be around for most of the summer," he explained, stopping in front of the trolley as the baggage began to come out. "Drives Lily crazy. That's another reason she's waiting at the flat, she's making him deep clean the room he usually uses so it'll be acceptable for you."

"Aw, I get a room?" she teased.

"What did you think I was going to give you, a couch?" James shook his head and smirked. "Honestly Beth, you're my closest friend, do you really think so low of me?"

After a couple of minutes of waiting, Beth's luggage was collected and rolled back to James' car. Beth recognized it immediately from their early years, remembering the long trips to the beach for a picnic or to a theater to catch a movie. She smiled at it affectionately as James packed her suitcases into the back. "This thing still works?"

James patted the car. "Are you kidding me? Lisa's just getting broken in. Never been better."

Beth gave him an inquisitive look as she reached for the passenger door handle. "You named the car Lisa?"

James motioned to his beloved vehicle. "She doesn't look like a Lisa to you?"

"She hardly looks like a car," she replied, laughing at his hurt expression.

"Not even an hour in and already bashing on one of the loves of my life," she heard him mumble before turning on the radio.

The two talked incessantly the entire ride home. After the obligatory questions regarding the upcoming wedding and her new internship, the two began to reminisce on the few fond memories they shared ("Remember when we stood on that corner and pretended we were spies?" and "Remember when we swiped cash to order a pizza there and the owner called our parents on us?"). Occasionally, Beth would take a moment to steal a glance of the passing scenery she had grown to love so much. Though it had been two years since she last visited, everything was exactly as she remembered it. As she looked out on her beloved city, she became suddenly aware of the familiar sensation that she had on the plane, thinking once again that this was about to be the best summer of her life.

"Oh, hey," James interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to focus. "I promised Lily I would talk to you about all of my friends before you got there."

"Aw, that's sweet that she's worried about all two of them."

"Oi, watch it," he scolded. Beth only laughed in response. "I'm letting you stay at my house for free for an entire summer."

"Oh please, it was too easy," she winked at him. "What about your friends?"

"Well, as I was saying before I was rudely insulted," he began, turning into the neighborhood. "They're over quite a lot. I know I already told you about Sirius, but Remus and Peter drop by frequently as well. You probably won't meet them today, but you'll meet them soon."

"Okay," she replied. "But why did Lily need you to talk to me about them?"

James paused for a moment, as if searching for the words he could use. Beth watched him search for the right thing to say before he finally settled on, "We're very close."

Beth cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Like in a 'if the mood is right and no one's home, you might—'"

"Beth, honestly, you are here to watch me get married to Lily."

Beth threw up her hands in defense. "I was just curious, wondering if you were maybe a little…curious too."

"I mean," James cut her off before she could continue talking. "We're basically brothers. Lily took some time to find a way to fit herself into our group. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just difficult. We're very close," he repeated. "So if you don't get along with them right away, don't worry about it. Remus and Peter will always be nice to you and will try their best not to make it awkward."

"And what about Sirius?" she asked as they pulled into his driveway.

"Sirius," he said, pausing a moment to take the key out of the ignition. "Sirius might take a little while to warm up to."

A/N: I am completely blown away by the generosity of all of you! Thank you so much for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews! My goal is to always be at least four chapters ahead of what I upload, so as soon as I've finished writing and my wonderful, incredible, magnificent beta nimblescrivener (who has some fantastic stories too, check them out!) gives me the okay on chapter 7, I'll upload chapter 3.

Up next, Beth meets Lily and Sirius. How do you think it'll go?