A/N: Okay, so I take way too long to update chapters, but I just had to finish chapter 8 of At Last. Anyway, this skips to way after Christmas. James and Lily… well, you'll just have to read to find out. It'd be so rude of me to give it away here! Okay, I'd just like to say you all are the best! I have a lot of reviews for this story, and I really appreciate it. Here 'tis, chapter 7!

Girls
By Wolf Speaker

Chapter 7:
Summer Holidays Part 1

"Sirius!" shrieked Charlotte, laughing. It was day before the end of the term, and it was hot. Sirius, Peter, James, Remus, Lily, and Charlotte were all swimming in the lake, and Sirius started a splash war.

"You are so going to pay for that!" Charlotte said, grinning through dripping fringe. "You just wait until we do poisons in Potions!"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm good at antidotes," he smiled. "Besides, you couldn't live without me!"

"You know, I didn't want to bring it up, but…" started Charlotte, face straight. "I'm leaving you for Peter!"

Peter fell over into the water, and Sirius pulled Charlotte under water.

"You've never been much of a liar," said Sirius. Charlotte shook her wet hair out of her face, and stuck her tongue out at Sirius.

James and Lily laughed as Peter came up, sputtering.

"You guys," said Peter suddenly, looking pale. "I think we should get out…"

"Why?" said James curiously.

"Because," said Charlotte, looking in the direction Peter was staring, "I don't think the giant squid feels like company at the moment."

Suddenly, the squid splashed the surface with a huge tentacle, making a giant wave throw our friends onto the shore.

"Told you," said Peter while he was shaking out his wet hair.

"It's okay, I was getting sick of swimming anyway," said Lily. "Char, c'mere."

Lily and Charlotte walked over to where their towels were laying in the sun. As they sat down, Charlotte looked at Lily suspiciously.

"What's wrong, Lil?" she said. "You're never this quiet, and you look really upset."

"Well, I need your advice on something," said Lily, looking uncomfortable. "Let's say, hypothetically, I have this friend."

"Okay." Charlotte smiled at Lily, knowing that she hated to be "hypothetical".

"And let's say this friend is in a relationship with one of her closest friends, but he's been a real jerk to her best friend ever," continued Lily.

"Okay," said Charlotte, blushing slightly.

"How should this friend get rid of this jerk boyfriend?" blurted out Lily after a moments silence.

"Well, Lil, you should tell your friend to be truthful to her boyfriend. After all, James- I mean this jerk," said Charlotte, smiling slightly, "well, he's probably really sensitive and really cares."

"Thanks, Char," said Lily, smiling.

"Oy! Charlotte!" Sirius came over to the girls suddenly. "Come look at this!"

James, Peter, and Sirius dove behind a bush, with the girls close behind. They soon saw why the guys looked so excited.

Remus and Molly were sitting on a bench nearby, talking. Slowly, the leaned in towards each other, and kissed. James and Sirius were quiet for a moment, then burst out laughing and ran up to Remus, Peter trailing behind them. Charlotte and Lily exchanged exasperated glances, then also came out to talk to Molly.

"You guys are so immature," smiled Charlotte as she walked up behind Sirius.

"You know you love us for it," Sirius joked back.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, but smiled in spite of herself.

"Sorry about that," said Lily, coming over by Charlotte and avoiding James's gaze. "We haven't had a chance to teach them manners."

"Yeah, it looks like that money for obedience school just went down the drain," said Molly, smiling.

It was quiet for a moment while the guys tried to figure out what that meant.


"Hey!" said Sirius.

Through all of this, Remus was standing there, blushing slightly, but still grinning.

"Aw, is ickle Remus embarrassed?" joked James.

Everyone laughed and walked up to the castle, James still trying to catch Lily's eye, while she kept ignoring him.

~*~

"James? Can we talk?" said Lily later that night in the common room.

"Sure," said James, looking slightly annoyed. "I have something to talk with you about, anyway."

"Okay, do you want to explain first?" said Lily. She was truly dreading this, because she and James had been friends for a long time.

"Yeah," said James, still looking angry. "Look, I don't think you should hang out with Charlotte. She's not trustworthy."

"How dare you try and tell me who I should hang out with!" yelled Lily, her temper showing. People started to watch a famous James and Lily row.

"I just don't think you should mess with her!" yelled James, getting angrier by the minute.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE HER!" roared Lily. "YOU BARELY EVEN KNOW HER!"

Charlotte could figure they were fighting about her, and went up to her dormitory before she heard just what James thought.

"YOU WILL NEVER LAY OFF! I THOUGHT YOU'D FINALLY STARTED TO ACT HUMAN!" Lily yelled, her face coloring.

"AND YOU'RE OBLIVIOUS TO ANYTHING WRONG SHE DOES!" screamed James.

"WHAT THE HELL HAS SHE EVER DONE TO YOU?" yelled Lily. "YOU NEVER EVEN GAVE HER A CHANCE! SHE'S BEEN TRYING TO GET YOU TO LIKE HER FOREVER!"

"I DON'T NEED TO TAKE THIS!" James roared, narrowing his eyes. "WE ARE SO THROUGH!"

"I AM SO HAPPY!" screamed Lily, and she turned around and ran up to her dormitory.

~*~

"Lily, I am so sorry," said Charlotte later that night. "If it weren't for me-"

"I'd have no close friends," said Lily. "I've wanted to break up with James for a long time. You just helped me see him for what he really is."

"You guys were totally meant for each other," Charlotte said quietly. "I hate to think I'm the one that wrecked that."

"Char, I can't believe I have to tell you this again," said Lily, sitting down by her on the bed. "You are much more important to me. You're my best friend. I could never be this close to James. You're lucky you have Sirius."

"Oh my God! Sirius!" said Charlotte, suddenly standing up. "He's going to be right in the middle of this! Lily, what am I going to do?"

"Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't even think of that!" said Lily, her green eyes widening.

"Let's just go down to dinner," said Charlotte. She looked at Lily and added "I don't blame you for anything, Lil. I just hope Sirius can take the pressure from James."

~*~

At dinner that night, our friends were quiet. Remus looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't. Sirius kept looking at James like he couldn't believe it, and had his arm around Charlotte's shoulders. Charlotte wasn't eating; she was barely breathing. She was just sitting there, staring at her plate, or looking up to see James scowling at her, or Lily looking apologetically at her. Peter, as usual, looked completely confused. After about 10 minutes, he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Okay, why isn't anybody talking?" he said. He had been in the library during the fight, working on his Potions homework.

Everyone looked at James, who was glaring at Charlotte still.

"What?" he asked. "Nobody else can tell him?"

"James, you're the only one that knows why this happened," said Sirius, looking at him half-angry, half hurt.

"Fine. Lily and I broke up," James said to Peter.

"Then why does Charlotte look upset? And how come you keep glaring at her?" said Peter, obviously still confused.

There was a short pause.

"I just-" started James, but Professor Dumbledore stood up and cut him off.

"Well, students, another year has come and gone. I hope you leave here a little smarter than when you came, otherwise it's rather pointless that you be here," said Dumbledore, smiling. There were scattered cheers across the room. "Well, enough of this talk, let's eat!"

There were more cheers, and people started to eat. Peter, always hungry, forgot about Charlotte and James, and dug into his food.

~*~

The next morning, Lily and Charlotte were up early. They had to finish packing, and send an owl to Lily's mother reminding her that Lily was staying over the holidays with Charlotte (Mrs. Evans was rather forgetful) so she wouldn't come to Kings Cross.

"All ready?" asked Charlotte.

"As ready as I'll ever be," grinned Lily. "Tell me more about this brother of yours."

"Lily, you can't fancy Danny already! You haven't even seen him!" said Charlotte, smiling slightly.

"You almost sounded British right then," said Lily. "I'll fancy him if I feel like it. Besides, you showed me a picture. He's cute."

"I can't believe it," muttered Charlotte. "If you marry him, I'll kill you."

"No, you love me too much," said Lily, grinning again.

Charlotte gave a loud, fake sigh. "You do remember he has quidditch over the summer? He won't be there anyway."

"Oh, I'll charm him into coming to visit," said Lily, her eyes twinkling.

Charlotte shook her head, and walked to the dormitory door, Lily close behind her.

~*~

On the train that day, Charlotte and Lily had their own compartment. Sirius would stop by every so often, Remus close behind, but never stayed long.

"Of course he won't stay long," said Charlotte when the matter was brought up. "If he lost his friendship with James, he'd die. I'm not screwing that up for him like I did for you."

The girls were having an unusually good time. Charlotte gave a bit of a show using her telekenisis, making their stuff float, and applying Lily's makeup. It was rather disappointing when the train finally reached King's Cross Station that evening.

"Charlotte!" smiled Mrs. Went when Charlotte and Lily passed through the barrier. "Seems like you made some good friends this year," she added when Sirius came over and kissed Charlotte good-bye. He was planning on coming by later on in the summer.

"Shut up," muttered Charlotte, blushing.

"Ah, this must be Lily!" said Mrs. Went enthusiastically. "I'm so glad to have finally met you! Charlotte has told me so much about you!"

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Went," said Lily, smiling and shaking her hand.

"Oh, you can call me Linda, dear," said Mrs. We- I mean, Linda.

"Okay," said Lily, grinning.

Charlotte checked her watch.

"Mum, if we're going to catch the plane, we have to go now," she said.

"What? Did you call me 'mum'?" said Linda, mock-socked. "That's it, you're not coming back here!"

Charlotte gave another exasperated sigh, and rolled her eyes.

"Mom, you know very well if I didn't go here I'd have no friends. Be happy, or you'll have one very depressed child on your hands."

"And I really don't want that," said Linda, smiling. Lily could see where Charlotte got her sense of humor. She also noticed the mischievous gleam in Linda's eyes that she so dreaded in Charlotte. Charlotte seemed to notice also.

"What are you up to, Mom?" she said suspiciously.

"You'll see when we get home," said Linda, grinning mischievously.

"Like mother like daughter," muttered Lily. "Charlotte, you always do this to me. Now I know where you get it."

"I always do what?" said Charlotte.

"Make an outrageous surprise for us and then drop hints about it for a week beforehand," said Lily, smiling.

"Well, you won't have to wait a week, unless our flight is delayed, or we miss our plane," said Linda. She checked her watch and added, "and we will miss it if we don't leave now."

The car ride to the airport was fun. Linda and Lily took turns making fun of Charlotte, and Charlotte told her mom everything about the past year, even Potions. She didn't leave out any of Lily's mishaps. She did remember, though, to leave out Sirius' trick he played on Severus Snape earlier that year though. She didn't think her mother would like it if she were dating a boy who had attempted murder.

Once on the airplane, things were quieter. Lily fell asleep, as the ride would be a while. They would be landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (A/N: Born and raised there, thank you very much!) in a few hours, so she thought she'd take a nap. She was awakened by Charlotte, who was pointing out the window.

"I thought you'd like to see the lakefront Milwaukee is so famous for," she said, grinning.

Lily looked out the window just as they passed through a cloud. What she saw was amazing.

There were buildings everywhere and one great orange arc over a bridge (Hoan Bridge). Further away from the lakefront, it looked very industrial, but at the lakefront was beautiful. There were the Summerfest grounds, with trees scattered around, and a few ports with boats. There were Ferris wheels, roller coasters, and other rides along a pier, and people milling about.

"Wow," was all Lily could put into words. She hadn't seen anything like this in northern England (A/N: Okay, I've never been to England, but I have been to Milwaukee, so I can't really compare).

"We'll be landing in about ten minuets," said Charlotte, grinning at Lily's reaction.

Lily stared out the window for another minuet or two, until she couldn't see the shore anymore. Then she got together her things from her carry-on bag (A/N: Remember, this was pre-September 11, so it's not against the rules to bring on a bag), and got ready for landing.

~*~

Once off the plane, Charlotte took the lead. She had done this already, and she was proud of it. When she stepped out of the tunnel, though, she lost her professional air. She screamed excitedly, and ran forward. Lily emerged afterward to see Charlotte hugging a tall, good looking guy, around the age of 20. Lily grinned. So this is the famed Danny, she thought. I'm impressed.

"Oh, Danny, this is Lily," said Charlotte, after Lily cleared her throat very clearly. "Lily, this is my brother, Danny."

"Nice to meet you," said Lily in a smooth voice. She hadn't used that voice since she first met James.

"Hello Lily. It's a pleasure," said Danny, obviously impressed with what he saw. Charlotte noticed this right away.

"C'mon, Danny, we've got to get home!" she called, pulling him by the arm towards the exit.

This is promising to be a very interesting summer, thought Lily with a grin. She and Linda followed Charlotte and Danny out to the car, not aware of the troubles soon to come.

A/N: No, Voldie isn't going to be here (not in this chapter anyway). You're just going to have to read to find out…. I think I wrote this chapter in record time, and you should be very… annoyed, but I hope you're not. I had to take a break from this, because I am getting way more reviews for At Last, and they were starting to get kind of threatening, so I had to finish it. Anyway, this is going somewhere in the next chapter, and I'm very pleased with what has come out of my slaving away in front of a bright computer screen, and enduring premature arthritis, just so you people have something to read whilst surfing the net. Adios amigos, y saca buenas notas (for those of you who don't speak Spanish, that means good-bye friends, and get good grades… I have major problems)