Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the wonderful wizarding world and all credit must be given to Ms. JK Rowling, however, anything unrecognisable is of my own creation.
Chapter 4: The Evans Family - Part 1
I'm visiting Lily for the weekend: Dumbledore's orders, because I've been working too hard. I have just arrived outside the Evans' household in Cokeworth, and before I could even get through the garden gate, Lily rushed out the front door.
'Hermione!' I hugged Lils, abandoning my trunk.
'Hey Lil.' Lily pulled out of the hug, before grabbing my hand and dragging me into her parents' house. Mr. and Mrs. Evans are typical muggles: Mr. Evans is broad-shouldered with auburn hair and a charismatic smile, whilst Mrs. Evans is a little shorter than her husband, with blonde curls and Harry's green eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Evans smiled as their excited youngest daughter introduced me.
'Mum. Dad. This is Hermione.' Mrs. Evans hugged me, and then I shook Mr. Evans' hand.
'It's a pleasure to meet you Hermione. We've heard all about you.' I smiled.
'Thank you for inviting me to stay.' Mrs. Evans spoke.
'Nonsense, we're happy to have you. Lily talks non-stop about her friends.' I smirked, turning towards Lil.
'Does that include Potter?' I watched Lily flush red, meaning I laughed: though, as I did Mrs. Evans spoke.
'Is that the lovely young man that brought you flowers?' I was stunned as Mrs. Evans spoke. James has visited Lily this summer? He's supposed to be grounded. I was about to speak when the front door opened again. A tall thin girl entered the house; she has blonde-hair, pale eyes, and an overbite, which could've benefited from a brace. This must be Harry's Aunt Petunia. Petunia's eyes scanned the hallway, before falling on me and her sister. A sneer appeared on Petunia's lips.
'Oh fantastic, another of little Lily's friends.' Mr. Evans spoke to his eldest daughter.
'Petunia, don't be rude. This is Hermione... Hermione, this is our eldest daughter, Petunia.' I smiled politely towards Petunia.
'It's nice to meet you, Petunia.' Petunia sneered again, before heading up the stairs. I knew Petunia didn't like the magical world, so her behaviour didn't surprise me. Mrs. Evans apologised for Petunia's behaviour, and suggested that Lily and I went upstairs to Lily's bedroom.
Lily's bedroom is painted green, just like her eyes, and is littered with books. There's a double bed in the corner, a dressing table beside the window, and a wardrobe and chest-of-drawers, which are bursting at the seams with Lily's belongings. Lily's room is nice. I watched from the doorway as Lily fell backwards onto her bed, before speaking to her.
'So... James brought you flowers?' Lily responded.
'Yes... and we went to the cinema.' I smirked, as I wondered across the room to sit beside Lily: Lily raised her eyebrows. 'What's that stupid grin for?' I shrugged.
'James is supposed to be grounded. I bet his mother doesn't know he came to see you.' Lily's eyes widened.
'Really?!' I nodded: Lily continued. 'I can't believe him!' I laughed.
'I'm not surprised. I will have to remember to tell Dorea that he snuck out.' Lily collapsed backwards onto her bed with a sigh.
'What am I getting myself into?' I lay next to Lily, and we both stared at the ceiling, as I spoke.
'Don't say that, James is a great choice... even if he's a prat sometimes, at least he's hot.' Lily rolled onto her side to give me a strange look.
'Hot?' I shoved Lily away as she leaned closer to me.
'If you tell him I said that, I'll hex you stupid. Besides, James is hot, but he's no Sirius Black.' Lily made a pukey face at this, meaning I shoved her again. 'Anyway, I'm not the one who threw myself at him during the Quidditch celebrations.' I watched Lily turn red again, before she started stammering.
'I... I... I... Fine! I think James Potter is sexy! There, I admitted it. Happy now?!' I laughed.
'Well, I'm happy for you, you and James are a cute couple.' Lily smiled widely.
Mrs. Evans cooked a delicious meal for dinner, and it was nice to be in a muggle household again. I missed being around muggles. Petunia droned on about Vernon Dursley when Mr. Evans asked if she'd had a pleasant day, which of course brought up the subject of boyfriends. Mrs. Evans asked if I had a boyfriend, to which Lily replied.
'Hermione is dating Sirius Black.' I was surprised when Mrs. Evans responded with such knowledge of the magical world.
'Oh, he's famous in the magical world, isn't he?' I chuckled.
'He likes to think so... His family is one of the sacred twenty-eight, which means they're considered as still being a 'true' pureblood family. He's nothing like his family though, he's very nice.' Mrs. Evans nodded, whilst her husband continued.
'Lily's been telling us about magical politics, it sounds very monarchal.' I agreed with Mr. Evans, and as I did Petunia interrupted.
'Well... Lily doesn't have a boyfriend... and that freak from Spinner's End doesn't want to know her anymore.' I could hear from Petunia's tone that she doesn't like to be bested, and belittling Lily seems to be her favourite defense. I corrected Petunia's statement.
'... but Lily has a boyfriend. She's dating James Potter.' This earned me a kick in the shins from Lily, as Mrs. Evans spoke.
'The lovely young man with the flowers?' Lily flushed red, but nodded.
'Yes.' I knew I'd embarrassed Lily, but I made sure that Petunia understood just how popular James was at Hogwarts: and of course, Mrs. Evans wanted to know everything about the boy her youngest daughter was dating.
The next day, Lily and I found ourselves lounging in the sun, beside the river; eating ice cream that we'd purchased from an ice-cream van. We'd had a good morning browsing around the shops on Cokeworth high street, and we'd each ended up with shopping bags. There was silence between us, as we seem to have run out of things to talk about. I was about to speak when Lily broke the silence.
'Are you visiting any of the Marauders before September?' I swallowed my mouthful of ice cream.
'I saw Remus last week, we're trying a new potion to help him with his condition.' Lily was now laid across the grass, though as I mentioned potions, she sat up.
'A new potion for lycanthropy? I haven't seen anything in The Young Potioneer.' I smirked.
'You won't have, it's called the Wolfsbane Potion. It hasn't been discovered yet, but I saw it in a vision.' Lily's mouth dropped open: I chuckled. 'I brewed a batch which Remus tested, but it wasn't fully effective. The final stage in brewing this potion, requires a slow cooling process to...' Lily interrupted at this point.
'... to activate the ingredients.' I was surprised as she finished my sentence. Activating potion ingredients via a cooling process isn't a common technique used in potion brewing. I allowed Lily to continue. 'I read an article about the benefits of cooling certain potions slowly, because it seems to strengthen their effect. You can encase a cauldron in a bubblehead charm, and it insulates the cauldron, so that the contents cools slower than usual.' I became speechless: I'd been struggling to find a way that would allow the Wolfsbane Potion to cool down slower. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, because Lily does extensive reading into potions, and follows the latest developments in the field. The next second I'd hugged Lily.
'Lil, you're amazing!' Lily chuckled.
'Thanks. I try my best.'
A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter... next one coming soon. Thanks to my reviewers. Love RoxannetheLaugh x.
