"Why don't you four grab a seat instead of blocking Mrs. Hafillelied?"
"Who?" asked Remus.
"The old witch with the candy trolley dears. That's who. I supposed it's
the usual for you four?"
"Yes ma'am." They chimed in together and took seats around the compartment.
James sat on the floor by Lily's feet as the trolley witch handed them each
bags filled with candy and several pitchers of pumpkin juice.
"Mrs. Hafillelied, I didn't know you had juice on the trolley."
"I carry especially for those four. After the first year with them on the
train bugging me up in the front of the train for drinks, I started
stocking it just for them. I have a little extra if you'd like Lily dear."
"Thank you Mrs. Hafillelied. Can I get a few pumpkin pasties and cauldron
cakes as well?"
"No candy dear?"
"Not this year. I'd like to keep as much room for the feast as possible."
"I can understand that one dear. Now for you Lily its 4 sickles and 2
knuts, and as for you boys, its 1 galleon, 3 sickles and 6 knuts." They all
paid the trolley lady the money, and she moved on to the next compartment.
"So what did the you all do over the summer holiday?" Peter asked. Peter
had gone away with his parents to Hawaii in the U.S. for the summer, and
missed out on a lot.
"Well Pete, Sirius and I stayed at James' for half the summer as usual.
Then for a week or two my mum took to see my dad in Greece. Then I came
back with a week or two to spare." Remus said with a small smile.
"As for me, I was very happy having Lily in my bed. What hot nights those
were." Sirius started laughing, then caught the looks he was getting from
both James and Lily, and stopped. "Okay, I'm sorry. Well as Remus said we
spent half the summer at James'. For about a week I went to see my parents
in Germany. They're there on business. Then I came back, Lily needed a
place to stay for two nights and 3 days, so I let her, she stayed for those
days, then went home, and I spent the rest of the summer going back and
forth from home to the Leaky Cauldron."
"What about you James?" Lily asked softly, looking down at him after taking
a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Well after dealing with dumb and dumber for half the summer, my dad took
me to the Quidditch World Cup games, as always. I met both teams, and the
referee, and the winning team allowed me to keep the snitch. Then we took a
cruise around the Mediterranean. On our way home we stopped in Italy, saw
Rome, stopped in Greece, saw Athens, then stopped other places on our way
back. And lastly but not the least, I met up with these three numbskulls in
Diagon Alley two days ago."
"Wow." Lily went quiet. She never really realized just how rich James was.
He definitely had more wealth then Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who seemed
pretty wealthy themselves. Lily also started to notice that with a very
faint tan, it brought out James' eyes. She had always liked James, and each
and every year since first year, she noticed the gradual changes in his
appearance that made him more appealing. But she did her damnedest to hide
it from him, playing it off that she like Sirius and Remus, but both Sirius
and Remus knew her true feeling were for James, and have always been for
James.
"So what about you Lily?" Remus asked, breaking her train of thought and
the silence that had settled in on them.
"Well the second I got home my sister Petunia was complaining about having
to spend the entire summer with a freak, and having to see freaky things
settle onto the house again. So my parents sent her to France for most of
the summer, until she kept sending letters, complaining that the freak got
all of the attention from our parents. So my parents made arrangements for
me to stay with my grandfather, and my aunt. They day that my parents left,
my aunt called me and asked me if I could find a place to stay for just a
few nights, as there was an emergency that had to be taken care of. I owled
James' house first, but one of his house elves wrote back that he wasn't
home, I knew Peter was away, along with my other friends, so I tried Remus
but then remembered that he wrote to me to tell me he was going to Greece,
so then I tried Sirius. I didn't think I was going to get a hold of him, so
I wrote letters to other friends who I'm not that close to, and as I was
about to send the letters, I got Sirius' reply. Stayed with him for 2
nights and 3 days, then went to my aunt's and stayed there for the rest of
the summer, until 2 days ago, when I spent it with my parents. I had
already gotten my school supplies as my aunt was more then willing to take
me to Diagon Alley while I was staying with her."
"Sheesh Lily, we didn't ask for your entire life story." Remus said with a
smile, and James kicked him.
"Its too bad you hadn't owled me a week or two earlier Lily. My dad would
have been more then happy to have you come with us, and he would have been
able to get another ticket to the world cup. My dad likes to meet all of my
friends, and frankly he's tired of seeing Remus, Sirius, and Peter all the
time." James grinned and looked up at her.
