Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs not to me. :)

She Will Be Loved

Chapter Nine ll The Good Times: Fun All Around

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When Lily woke up the next morning, she found herself curled up like a kitten on the sofa. Sitting on the floor below her was James; his head resting back onto the sofa. He had his arms and legs crossed.

Smiling to herself, she slowly straightened up and yawned. Her outburst the night before made her feel better. A lot better.

She tried to remember what she and James had done afterwards. Well... he kind of gave her an awkward hug as she finished her last tears. Then they sat on the sofa and talked about things as they played Exploding Snap.

It had been a nice conversation, then they must've fallen asleep.

Too bad all boys weren't like him.

That is so not what I would've thought a month ago, she thought bemusedly as she slipped upstairs to the bathroom.

James was still asleep when Lily came back down. He was now lying on the rug.

Lily smiled, as she thought he looked quite adorable. Then she walked into the kitchen and started making morning noises.

"I wish for toast, butter and bacon," Lily said loudly, "And a cup of tea with sugar and a bit of milk." The food appeared as she said them and she arranged them on the table to her accordance.

"James? Wake up!" Lily called as she buttered her toast, "We seriously need to head back to camp, so then we can kill Sirius. And all those other evil people."

There was a groan from the living room and a few shuffling noises. Then James ambled in, his hair all over the place. He yawned widely.

"Make me breakfast," he requested sleepily as he slumped into a chair.

"Dude, all you have to do is wish for it," Lily said, trying not to laugh.

"Please?" James asked, pouting.

"All right, all right," Lily sighed, "Make me waste my breath, why don't you. What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

Lily really hated answers like that.

"I wish for sushi and miso soup," she said slyly.

"Aww, you seedy little girl," James said, looking disgusted as he surveyed the food.

"Hey, you said you wanted a surprise."

"A pleasant surprise, perhaps?" James suggested.

"Are you insulting the Japanese?" Lily asked, pretending to be shocked.

James yielded on that question, "No, I'm just saying their food sucks."

"...Meaning you're insulting them."

"No, I like them and all, but the food needs a lot of working on."

"What's wrong with sushi and miso soup? It's delicious," Lily said defensively.

"Different people, different opinions."

"I'll say. Well, tuck in anyhow," Lily said cheerfully as she bit into her toast.

Glaring at her, James reluctantly swallowed a whole sushi.

---

"Two Galleons they've both got at least one injury due to the other," Chelsea said that morning at breakfast. Most students were sleeping in their oatmeal, but our favourite bunch were amusing themselves with the possibilities of what James and Lily might be up to.

"No way, two Galleons they're snogging like bunnies and whispering, 'I love you sooo much' every now and then," Sirius said, spooning some oatmeal into his mouth.

"You reckon they've entered couple stage?" squealed Steph.

"Of course. They hated each other, sure, but the chemistry's always been there," Sirius shrugged, "You can tell they're destined to marry and have three kids with me as their godfather--dang, that sounds good."

Chelsea, Leonie and Remus snorted.

"So when are we planning to get them back?" Leonie asked, pushing away her bowl.

"Um... never?" Sirius tried.

"Never?" gasped Chelsea and Steph.

"Yeah, they can be like junglemen," Sirius pondered on that thought, "Man, that would be so cool."

"We are so definitely telling McGonagall in two days time, okay?" Chelsea interpreted to the others.

"Definitely," all but Sirius chimed.

"Spoilsports," he muttered.

---

After their delicious breakfast of toast, sushi and miso soup, they were quite appalled when it started raining as soon as they talked about heading outside.

"It's like we're not supposed to leave," Lily said, frowning as she looked outside.

"Well, if it still rains tomorrow morning, we'll go anyway," James said carelessly, looking at the cabinet in the living room, "I mean, it can't hurt. I didn't even get numeany, or whatever you said it was."

"Pneumonia," Lily corrected with a brief sigh, "And the thought of having to walk through a thunderstorm is just scary."

"It's just a bit of rain--" BAM! "--or not."

"This is freaky," Lily whispered, looking at the ceiling, "What if the lights go out or something?"

James looked confused, "Why would the lights go out?"

"Because it's thundering."

"...So?"

That was when she remembered wizards didn't know what electricity was. And since this hut seemed magically-run (how else did all those things appear when you wished for them?) that meant the lights wouldn't go out.

"Well anyway, what can we do?" Lily asked, sinking onto the floor.

James had his head in the cabinet, "Whoa! They've got Wizendra Land in here! That game's like ancient! My parents were still kids when this was still popular."

He pulled out the dusty box.

"How do you play?" Lily wanted to know.

"You can't be serious," James said, fixing his eyes on her intently, "This game is so old."

"I don't care, how do you play?" the redhead repeated.

HALF AN HOUR LATER.

"I have four Quissit cards," grinned Lily, "And you only have one!"

"Yeah, but I have like five Wintent cards, which is only one below a Quissit!"

"Hmm, that might help, if it weren't for the fact that I have ten Wintents."

"What? Ten? Holy crap, I'm gonna have to start playing properly to beat you."

The two yammered and laughed the morning away as they played a fifty-year old board game. Lily ended up winning, despite James' knowledge of the game. They played until they grew hungry.

"Lunch," James announced, stretching.

"Yeah," Lily agreed, suddenly staring at James. Why did he have to be so... handsome?

As he walked into the kitchen, Lily caught herself checking him out. She groaned aloud when she realised what was wrong with her.

I like James Potter.

---

During lunch (lasagne and steak and salad), James excused himself to the bathroom while Lily moaned and groaned (in her head, otherwise James would think she was sick) at how stupid she was for falling for HIM.

HIM.

The boy she had learned to hate over the years.

...It really made no sense, and she felt so frustrated.

Meanwhile, James had filled up a plastic bucket of water. He was carefully placing it on top of the bathroom door. Smiling mischievously, he hopped down from the bathtub which he was standing on, and went back down to his delicious lunch.

Lily was swirling her salad around her plate, deep in thought. James waved his hand in front of her face.

"Yo, earth to Lily!"

She blinked, "What? Huh?" she looked around, alarmed, "I'm awake, what's going on?"

"You're spacing out," James said as he sat down, "Not cool."

"Why isn't it cool?" Lily asked, pushing away her plate as she didn't feel hungry.

"Because then it's so boring around here. No one to talk to," James shrugged as he took a bite of his steak, "That's not cool for me."

Lily just smiled and shook her head. On the inside, she felt sick. How in the world had she grown to like this guy?

Why does she have to be everything I've always dreamed about in a girl? James wondered with a sigh.

---

It was still raining after lunch, which really annoyed Lily to no end. James could've cared less as he searched through the living room cabinet some more. To Lily's surprise, they found Candyland in there. She taught James how to play, and they had a good time going through the infant board game.

After three games, with Lily winning all of them, they played some spelling games. Then they started working on the Spring dance again, where James decided that he didn't agree to the Springyness of it after all.

"Winter, it has to be Winter."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-uh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yuh-uh."

This continued for several minutes, with Lily a bit sidetracked as she worked on which music they should play.

"Look, you're doing way too much," James suddenly said, snatching the pencil and parchment away from her, "Let me do some, and you can lie in the middle of the room and... tan yourself."

Lily shot him a look, "James, give it back."

"No, Lily-bug," he said calmly, "Go. Tan. Now."

Lily wasn't used to people not obeying her, especially boys.

"James," she said dangerously.

"Lily," he responded just as dangerously.

Lily looked at him long and hard. Finally, she gave up.

"Fine, but you better get some of it done, and I am not going to tan myself... how am I supposed to tan myself indoors, anyway..." Lily trailed off as she went upstairs to the bathroom.

"Ah, and now we wait," James whispered, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

He waited for a few seconds.

There was a shriek upstairs, which was followed by a splash.

"JAMES!"

James just continued smiling and pretended not to hear her. He doodled a picture of a Quaffle and felt very contented with life.

A dripping Lily Evans appeared at the living room entrance. She stood there meaningfully and just Looked at him.

"You're supposed to remove your clothes before you take a shower, Lily-bug," James said innocently.

"A bucket of water, James," Lily spat, biting back her smile, "On top of the bathroom door."

"I wonder who could've put it there," James said, feigning shock.

"Mmm, me too," Lily said sarcastically. She walked over to him and shoved the bucket into his lap, "Happy birthday, Potter." She grinned sweetly before walking off.

---

DINNER/DESSERT.

SPLAT.

James blinked several times as the remains of the coffee cake slowly slid down his nose.

"Yummy?" Lily asked innocently, licking her spoon, "Revenge is sweet, Potter. Especially if you've just had an entire bucket of water tipped on you."

"Oh, you are so going down!" James said, grinning. He picked up his spoon and scooped a huge blob of ice-cream from his dessert bowl, "Prepare to die, Evans!" He flung it at her.

Lily shrieked and ducked, but to no avail. She grabbed at her slice of cake and hurled it at him, giggling.

Of course, that started a... dessert fight.

"I wish for a sponge cake!" Lily shrieked as she dodged James' accurate ice-cream blobs. The cake appeared and she threw it at him, plate and all.

"Grrr," James said animalistically, "I wish for a blueberry pie!" She screamed and giggled as she ducked under the table, and he began pegging bits of the pie at her, thinking how cute she was acting at the moment.

Damn that girl, he thought as a smile played across his lips.

The dessert fight finished ten minutes later. The two collapsed onto the creamified floor, both breathless.

They didn't say anything for a few seconds as they caught their breath.

"I call the bathroom," Lily suddenly said. With a grin she jumped up and tried to run out of the kitchen, but James grabbed at her shirt.

"No way, me first!" he said, also grinning. He leapt up by way of holding onto Lily's shirt, and the two yelled and laughed as they both tried to get up the stairs at the same time.

James reached the bathroom door first, and he grabbed onto the knob. Lily glared at him, poked him hard in the ribs and stomped on his foot. James yelped and sprang back, but didn't let go of the knob. Lily then proceeded to tickle him. Hard.

"Okay, okay, okay!" he gasped through his laughter, "You win!"

"Thought so," Lily said smugly. She pulled open the bathroom door, ran in and slammed it shut. James heard her lock it.

Grinning in spite of himself, James slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

Damn that girl, he thought yet again.

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A/N: Haha, I poked my friend in the ribs and jumped on his foot when he had both my arms wrapped tightly around his waist so he could drag me to my other friend, who then proceeded to spot me with blue paint! Argh! But it works. :) Then I ran to the bathroom where I washed the icky paint off. --MSQ.