1 Chapter 3: Tickling the Lemon
All morning, students were buzzing with the news of the recent attacks. The teachers refused to discuss it, so the rumors were spreading like wild-fire. As James went to meet Lily for lunch, a group of third years were walking in front of him, and he couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"Mum sent me an owl to tell me that dad's all right. He's an Auror, you know." The girl that spoke seemed to be so immensely relieved that she could barely talk at a normal rate. James felt terrible for her. He had very strong feelings about witches and wizards with families becoming Aurors. The chance of leaving the children parentless was far too high.
"I heard that 50 Muggles were k-k-killed. I bet I could have stopped the attacks in a second. In fact, I bet I could defeat H-H-He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named if they'd only l-l-let students go after him," said an abnormally small blond boy. James had seen him before. With his big ears and almost cartoonish buck-teeth, he was probably the oddest-looking of the third years
"Is it possible that you could exaggerate more, Gilderoy?" another girl teased. "You start shaking like a leaf whenever Snape mention so much as a pixie!"
"I wish you would all just f-f-forget about that! It only happened a few times!!" As the boy said this, he reached under his robes. He then muttered something under his breath, but James seemed to be the only one who noticed.
"What were we talking about?" said the first girl who had spoken. She didn't seem as upset anymore.
"Tranfiguration homework," the boy named Gilderoy responded.
"Oh, yes!! I've got two scrolls completed…" and they continued down another hallway.
James laughed to himself. It was nice to see some of the younger, less adept students trying out spells, even if spells weren't technically allowed between classes. Gilderoy's simple Memory Charm was fairly harmless, and if it kept him from getting teased, than James wasn't going to stop him.
Besides, James thought, who was he to be lecturing other wizards about the morality of magic? Hadn't he broken one of the biggest wizarding laws and become and an unregistered Animagus. If anybody other than his friends knew about it, he'd be thrown in Azkaban quicker than he could say "Alohomora." He didn't even feel he could tell Lily, as wonderful as she was. She was rather found of rules, and it would be a burden for her if she had to lie for him.
He rounded a corner and came to a large painting of fruit. He reached out and tickled the lemon, and the portrait swung open.
"Mr. Potter, sir!! S'good to see you!" said a male house-elf with a mop in his hand. "What can we doez for you, sir?"
The house elves were already crowding around him, offering him plates of food. James liked house-elves. They were very nice, friendly creatures, and it just seemed to be in their nature to want to serve wizards. They also liked James. He cleaned up his own messes and never tormented them. In fact he came to visit them at least once a week, so they were only too happy to prepare a picnic basket for him.
"You are taking out your pretty girlfriend?" asked one particularly well-spoken female.
"Yes, I'm trying to make up a fight that we had," James said. As always the house-elves were understand.
"She likes you. You don't have to worry. She's just playing hard-to- get," smiled the female.
James laughed at the idea of Lily playing hard-to-get. That was one of the things he loved about her; she didn't play games.
James stopped on his way out the portrait hole. One of the things he LOVED about her?? Well, that certainly wasn't something he wanted to think about too heavily at 16. It was just an expression, anyway. He wasn't ready to be in love.
But just seeing her out on the front lawns of the school made his heart leap. She truly was beautiful in a very down-to-earth way. She never used magic or make-up to enhance her appearance because she didn't need to. Especially with those eyes. Magical green eyes that sparkled and danced and made James want to kiss her. So he did.
When they parted, Lily smiled up at him, and he could tell she had forgiven him. They sat spread a blanket on the grass and James began to unload the food from the basket.
As he poured Lily a glass of pumpkin juice, he asked, "How is your family?"
"Oh, they're well. Mum and Dad send their love to you. Petunia, of course, sends nothing but spiteful glances," Lily replied.
"She really hates me, doesn't she?"
"She hates everything to do with magic. You know that. But she's also jealous. Her boyfriend Vernon is not nearly as handsome as you! He's trying to grow a mustache, but it looks more like a catepiller crawled over his lip and died!" Lily started laughing, and James did too. Lily's sister was a few years older, not nearly as good-looking, and very jealous of everything about her sister.
"That reminds me," Lily said pulling an Atlas out of her bag, "I wanted to show you the interesting trick I've learned. You know that spell Snape taught us this morning?"
"Uh-huh," James mumbled around a bite of sandwich.
"Well, I've found something really neat to do with it. I was looking up the spell in our book, since Professor Snape mentioned there are other ways to do the spell, and you know he's going to expect us to know them! Well, look at this." She opened up the atlas to a map of England, pointed her wand and said, "Revelium Cachus Petunia Evans." A very small dot appeared on the page, a little west of London, that was labeled in very fine letters "Petunia Evans."
"That is pretty great. I bet that comes in handy for a lot of mothers. Wait!" James started laughing uncontrollably, "I just got it! Lily and Petunia!!"
Lily was staring at him like he grown a second head, which he had done in Potions in his second year. It had taken him nearly a month to get convince the second head to take the antidote. Actually, he wasn't quite sure he had given the right head the antidote, since each was equally convinced that *he* was the real James Potter.
James and Lily had a nice lunch, enjoying the last of the fall sunshine before it started to get really cold. As they were enjoying a pudding that the house-elves had prepared, James thought back to his earlier disturbing train of thought. Was he in love with Lily? He admired her greatly, thought she was pretty, and she was a fantastic kisser, but did that mean he loved her? He'd never though much about love in general. His parents weren't a great example, since they had only married each other because that's what the children of rich families do; they married other children of rich families.
Lily grew suddenly sober and asked him, quite out of the blue, "Are you in love with me?"
"Are you a mind reader?" he asked trying to avoid her question.
She smiled slightly and said, "You know I couldn't stand to take Divination. Crystal balls drive me batty!! Listen, forget I said anything. I shouldn't have done that."
"No, Lily, it's your right to ask. To tell the truth, I've started wondering that myself lately. I know I love being with you, and I adore you. But I don't know if I'm ready to be in love. It's too serious, you know. Because once I'm in love with you, there's a whole heap of scary things that go along with something that wonderful."
Lily let out a breath that she seemed to have been holding the whole time he was talking. "You don't know how relieved I am!! I'm not ready either. I just like being your girlfriend. And we're young! We have our whole lives ahead of us, so we don't need to start thinking about anything serious right now."
James smiled and they began to pack their lunch away. They walked through the hallways of the school in silence. Before James turned off to return the basket to the house-elves, Lily stopped him and gave him a very gentle, very sweet kiss.
"By the way, I think we should name our first son Stephen."
"I've always been partial to the name Harry, myself," James said as Lily walked away. He had a smile plastered on his face as he tickled the lemon.
All morning, students were buzzing with the news of the recent attacks. The teachers refused to discuss it, so the rumors were spreading like wild-fire. As James went to meet Lily for lunch, a group of third years were walking in front of him, and he couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"Mum sent me an owl to tell me that dad's all right. He's an Auror, you know." The girl that spoke seemed to be so immensely relieved that she could barely talk at a normal rate. James felt terrible for her. He had very strong feelings about witches and wizards with families becoming Aurors. The chance of leaving the children parentless was far too high.
"I heard that 50 Muggles were k-k-killed. I bet I could have stopped the attacks in a second. In fact, I bet I could defeat H-H-He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named if they'd only l-l-let students go after him," said an abnormally small blond boy. James had seen him before. With his big ears and almost cartoonish buck-teeth, he was probably the oddest-looking of the third years
"Is it possible that you could exaggerate more, Gilderoy?" another girl teased. "You start shaking like a leaf whenever Snape mention so much as a pixie!"
"I wish you would all just f-f-forget about that! It only happened a few times!!" As the boy said this, he reached under his robes. He then muttered something under his breath, but James seemed to be the only one who noticed.
"What were we talking about?" said the first girl who had spoken. She didn't seem as upset anymore.
"Tranfiguration homework," the boy named Gilderoy responded.
"Oh, yes!! I've got two scrolls completed…" and they continued down another hallway.
James laughed to himself. It was nice to see some of the younger, less adept students trying out spells, even if spells weren't technically allowed between classes. Gilderoy's simple Memory Charm was fairly harmless, and if it kept him from getting teased, than James wasn't going to stop him.
Besides, James thought, who was he to be lecturing other wizards about the morality of magic? Hadn't he broken one of the biggest wizarding laws and become and an unregistered Animagus. If anybody other than his friends knew about it, he'd be thrown in Azkaban quicker than he could say "Alohomora." He didn't even feel he could tell Lily, as wonderful as she was. She was rather found of rules, and it would be a burden for her if she had to lie for him.
He rounded a corner and came to a large painting of fruit. He reached out and tickled the lemon, and the portrait swung open.
"Mr. Potter, sir!! S'good to see you!" said a male house-elf with a mop in his hand. "What can we doez for you, sir?"
The house elves were already crowding around him, offering him plates of food. James liked house-elves. They were very nice, friendly creatures, and it just seemed to be in their nature to want to serve wizards. They also liked James. He cleaned up his own messes and never tormented them. In fact he came to visit them at least once a week, so they were only too happy to prepare a picnic basket for him.
"You are taking out your pretty girlfriend?" asked one particularly well-spoken female.
"Yes, I'm trying to make up a fight that we had," James said. As always the house-elves were understand.
"She likes you. You don't have to worry. She's just playing hard-to- get," smiled the female.
James laughed at the idea of Lily playing hard-to-get. That was one of the things he loved about her; she didn't play games.
James stopped on his way out the portrait hole. One of the things he LOVED about her?? Well, that certainly wasn't something he wanted to think about too heavily at 16. It was just an expression, anyway. He wasn't ready to be in love.
But just seeing her out on the front lawns of the school made his heart leap. She truly was beautiful in a very down-to-earth way. She never used magic or make-up to enhance her appearance because she didn't need to. Especially with those eyes. Magical green eyes that sparkled and danced and made James want to kiss her. So he did.
When they parted, Lily smiled up at him, and he could tell she had forgiven him. They sat spread a blanket on the grass and James began to unload the food from the basket.
As he poured Lily a glass of pumpkin juice, he asked, "How is your family?"
"Oh, they're well. Mum and Dad send their love to you. Petunia, of course, sends nothing but spiteful glances," Lily replied.
"She really hates me, doesn't she?"
"She hates everything to do with magic. You know that. But she's also jealous. Her boyfriend Vernon is not nearly as handsome as you! He's trying to grow a mustache, but it looks more like a catepiller crawled over his lip and died!" Lily started laughing, and James did too. Lily's sister was a few years older, not nearly as good-looking, and very jealous of everything about her sister.
"That reminds me," Lily said pulling an Atlas out of her bag, "I wanted to show you the interesting trick I've learned. You know that spell Snape taught us this morning?"
"Uh-huh," James mumbled around a bite of sandwich.
"Well, I've found something really neat to do with it. I was looking up the spell in our book, since Professor Snape mentioned there are other ways to do the spell, and you know he's going to expect us to know them! Well, look at this." She opened up the atlas to a map of England, pointed her wand and said, "Revelium Cachus Petunia Evans." A very small dot appeared on the page, a little west of London, that was labeled in very fine letters "Petunia Evans."
"That is pretty great. I bet that comes in handy for a lot of mothers. Wait!" James started laughing uncontrollably, "I just got it! Lily and Petunia!!"
Lily was staring at him like he grown a second head, which he had done in Potions in his second year. It had taken him nearly a month to get convince the second head to take the antidote. Actually, he wasn't quite sure he had given the right head the antidote, since each was equally convinced that *he* was the real James Potter.
James and Lily had a nice lunch, enjoying the last of the fall sunshine before it started to get really cold. As they were enjoying a pudding that the house-elves had prepared, James thought back to his earlier disturbing train of thought. Was he in love with Lily? He admired her greatly, thought she was pretty, and she was a fantastic kisser, but did that mean he loved her? He'd never though much about love in general. His parents weren't a great example, since they had only married each other because that's what the children of rich families do; they married other children of rich families.
Lily grew suddenly sober and asked him, quite out of the blue, "Are you in love with me?"
"Are you a mind reader?" he asked trying to avoid her question.
She smiled slightly and said, "You know I couldn't stand to take Divination. Crystal balls drive me batty!! Listen, forget I said anything. I shouldn't have done that."
"No, Lily, it's your right to ask. To tell the truth, I've started wondering that myself lately. I know I love being with you, and I adore you. But I don't know if I'm ready to be in love. It's too serious, you know. Because once I'm in love with you, there's a whole heap of scary things that go along with something that wonderful."
Lily let out a breath that she seemed to have been holding the whole time he was talking. "You don't know how relieved I am!! I'm not ready either. I just like being your girlfriend. And we're young! We have our whole lives ahead of us, so we don't need to start thinking about anything serious right now."
James smiled and they began to pack their lunch away. They walked through the hallways of the school in silence. Before James turned off to return the basket to the house-elves, Lily stopped him and gave him a very gentle, very sweet kiss.
"By the way, I think we should name our first son Stephen."
"I've always been partial to the name Harry, myself," James said as Lily walked away. He had a smile plastered on his face as he tickled the lemon.
