Disclaimer: wo~o~oo~~ow… almost a 10,000 word story, and 8 reviews. I guess I should say thanks too… Calvin Potterson, Emily, Dude Wheres My Cheese, Fruity Pie, and Knockturnalley256. …My only reviewers. Oh well, thanks you guys.

"So, you told Evans you'd come to her house for Christmas?" Sirius asked on the last day of term, for the fifth time.

"Yes, Padfoot, I told her that," James said, sighing. "She seemed to really want me to come."

"Chelsea was slightly upset about that," Remus said, not looking up from his book, Olde Spells for the Young Minde.

The three of them were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. It was virtually empty now- Peter had gone up to bed. Even though James hated to admit it, he preferred sitting in the common room with only Sirius and Remus.

"You're still seeing her?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Remus said, still not looking up. "Would you two please be quiet- I'm trying to study for my N.E.W.T.s."

"Moony, those are months away," Sirius sighed exasperatedly.

"At least I'll be prepared," Remus said. "Now, do I have to send the Silencing Spell at you, or will you please be quiet?"

Sirius laughed loudly, and Remus silenced him. "Silencio," he said, almost lazily. Sirius's mouth opened several more times, but no sound came out. He glared at Remus.

James sighed and whipped out his wand, and muttered, "Finite." Sirius's voice returned at once, and he glowered at Remus.

"I'm going to bed," he said. "Good night, Prongs, and Moony, you nasty cheating scumbag."

"Ah, go complain to the mermaids in the lake," Remus said, grinning. Sirius just glowered at him, and slammed the boy's dormitory door. James and Remus just laughed.

The next morning, James met Lily in the common room early. "Thanks again for inviting me to visit your family," James grinned.

"Oh, no problem. My mum and dad think it's amazing that there's a Wizarding world," Lily said.

"I thought you said you had a sister," James said. "What's she like? Is she as pretty as you?"

Lily snorted loudly, startling some first years. "First of all, I'm surprised you think I'm pretty. If you consider me pretty, than you'd think Petunia's ugly."

"Her name is Petunia?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "But what's she like?"

"She's younger than me," Lily said, "and she hates magic in all forms. When I got my Apparating license this summer, and I could use magic outside of school, she flinched all the time whenever I showed my mum and dad magic."

"It must be weird, living in a Muggle family…" James said. "I hear their pictures don't move at all. Is it true?"

"Yeah. When I first got to Hogwarts, I was pretty shocked when a portrait leered down at me and threatened to jinx my ears off for being in Gryffindor," Lily laughed.

"I remember that. Frank Longbottom was leading us up to the Tower, wasn't he?" James asked, as he muttered a Summoning Charm to send his trunk down to the common room. Fortunately, Sirius had just opened the door and ducked as James's trunk flew down the stairs to him. He had just come down the stairs to bid James and Lily goodbye when Chelsea Reynolds burst into the common room.

She looked enraged at James. Her wand was out, and she was constantly muttering under her breath. "Potter, look what you've done…" she muttered. "Taking my friend away from me. I'll show you!" she shouted. Her eyes had gone red with rage. She paused for a second, as if trying to think of what to curse James with, when Lily's wand was out.

"Expelliarmus!" she shouted. Chelsea's wand flew into her outstretched arm. "What are you doing, Chelsea?" she asked, furious.

"YOU DIDN'T INVITE ME TO YOUR HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS!" Chelsea shouted. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULD INVITE ME! NOT THAT STUPID JAMES POTTER!"

"Chelsea, calm down!" Lily shouted exasperatedly. "Just because I invited the guy I LIKE doesn't mean I don't like you!"

"Lily, let me handle this…" James said, drawing out his own wand. "Chelsea," he said, "I'm really, really sorry about this, but… Petrificus Totalus!" he said, and she froze together immediately. Her eyes were rolling around madly in their sockets, and she made a growl noise. James looked down at her, sympathetically. "I'm really sorry for that, Chelsea. I promise that Remus is going to unfreeze you once Lily and I are safely out of the common room. You will," he shouted up to the dormitory, "won't you, Moony?"

"Yeah," said Remus, his voice sounding as though he was reading again. "No be quiet, Prongs, I'm trying to find a good method on improving the Protean Charm."

James rolled his eyes. "You can't improve on the Protean Charm. You can only change where you put it."

Lily laughed, and rolled her trunk through the portrait hole. "Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah," James said, then waved goodbye to Sirius. "See you in the New Year, Padfoot."

Sirius waved goodbye, and started to play Exploding Snap on Chelsea's forehead.

James and Lily filed out of Hogwarts and onto Hogsmeade Station, their trunks in tow. They found a quiet compartment on the train, and began talking. They talked about a lot of things: Quidditch, school, their families, but most frequently, Voldemort.

While they were on the subject of Voldemort, James had a sensation in the pit of his stomach. Should I hold her hand? he thought over and over. Eventually, he decided to hold her hand, but, right when he leant forward to touch her hand, the train lurched, and he toppled out of his seat, finding himself in a very uncomfortable position for Lily.

He blushed immediately and withdrew his hand. "S-s-sorry, Lily," he said, his face complimenting his Gryffindor sweater very well. Lily herself had gone a shade of red to rival her hair. "It's okay," she said, and averting her eyes to the floor of the compartment.

For several long, painful minutes, they sat in silence, until the train slowly stopped. James picked up Lily's trunk from the top rack of the compartment, and got his own. They wheeled out onto Platform 9 and ¾. When the signal was all-clear to go onto the platform, James suddenly decided to grab Lily's hand, and they walked into the train station.

Lily nodded in the direction of two Muggles. One, the man, was dressed in a very ugly brown overcoat that was slightly fuzzy. He was wearing a plaid green bowler, and his hair was slowly growing gray. He had Lily's beautiful green eyes- however, James didn't find them beautiful on him. He waved in the direction of Lily and James, and then James caught a sight of Lily's mum.

She was slightly overdressed- her hair was sticky with what was obviously hair spray, and it was dyed falsely red, perhaps to compete with Lily's hair color. Her eyes were watery blue, and she had a green jacket on. She rushed over to Lily and James.

"Oh, Lily, he's gorgeous…" said Lily's Mum, shaking James's hand a little over-enthusiastically. He flashed her a grin.

"Ahem," coughed Lily's Dad.

"Oh, Morty, don't be so jealous," she said, ribbing him in the stomach a little too hard.

"Morty" groaned uncomfortably. "Rose," he said to her, politely, "I think we should get Lily and her 'friend,'" he winked at James, "back to the house. Don't you agree?"

"Morty, don't be such a killjoy," Rose snorted. "Now, Lily, tell me about your term." And with that, Mrs. Evans grabbed Lily's arm and forced her into a long conversation about Professor Binn's essay on witch burning in the 1400's. James rolled his eyes, and Mr. Evans did as well.

"Rose is so fascinated with the magical world. She never lets up about it when Lily's home," he laughed.

"Well, I think the Muggle world is a lot more interesting. I took Muggle Studies up to sixth year. I even learned how to how to use power tools!" James said, expecting Mr. Evans to be highly impressed. However, he glanced at the wand protruding from James's pants pocket (they had changed on the train) and mouthed a "wow."

"Lily was just able to do magic outside of school this summer. She really impressed us. How much magic can you do?" he asked, eyeing James. "I hope you're not better than my daughter."

"Mr. Evans, there isn't really a way to rate Wizards," James said.

A glint appeared in Mr. Evans's eyes. He looked up at James. "Can I- can I see it?"

"See what?"

"Your wand!" Mr. Evans whispered, then laughed childishly. "Lily won't let me see hers."

They had reached the Evans car, and James and Lily got into the back. James had never really seen Muggle cars. He was quite disappointed by their lack of space. Indeed- he expected to at least put a few feet between him and the Evans. However, he found his knees were uncomfortably scrunched between Mrs. Evans's seat. He was too uncomfortable to talk to Mr. or Mrs. Evans, as he was too squished to really talk. He finally was able to breathe freely once they pulled up into a moderate-sized house at number six, Jasper Court.

It was painted a shade of off white, with two floors. There was a balcony on each side of the house (James could only assume Lily and her older sister.) However, in the doorway, there was a slim, bony girl blocking the entrance.

She had a horse-like face and a pleading frown was on her thin lips. She had her mother's watery blue eyes, and strangely pale blond hair. She was wearing an ugly salmon pink sweater and blue jeans. She rushed up to her mother. "Mum, Vernie wants a lot of sugar for his tea- he absolutely refuses to take what—" The girl stopped speaking when she saw Lily and James step out of the car. "Oh," she said, as though she suddenly became uninterested in them. "It's you."

"Nice to see you too, Petunia," Lily said brightly.

"Who's he?" she gestured at James. "Someone from your freak school?"

"'Freak school?'" James said, perplexed. "But Hogwarts is perfectly normal!"

Petunia scoffed. "Normal for freaks like you!" she said, looking rather freakish herself. She laughed hysterically, until a large, doughy man without any neck came out and put his arm around her. She seemed used to it, as she didn't buckle under his weight. He had hardly any neck, and he had already grown a moustache. James guessed him to be in his early twenties.

"Who is this?" he asked in a gruff voice, gesturing towards James.

"James Potter," James said, extending his hand. "Vernie," however, didn't take it.

"Do you go to that freak school that Petunia's sister goes to?" he asked skeptically.

"You mean Hogwarts?" he asked. "Yeah, I do."

He jumped back a bit, causing the doorframe to rattle. He stared at James's hand as if it were poison. "For Merlin's sake, just shake his hand, Vernon," Lily sighed.

Reluctantly, Vernon reached forward and shook James's hand, muttering, "Vernon Dursley." He immediately withdrew his hand from James's grasp, and waddled back into the house, followed by Petunia.

"Well, come on inside, James," Lily grinned, taking James's hand, and leading him inside.

"Wait a minute!" Mr. Evans said. "Mr. Potter here said I could see his wa—"

Lily hissed a warning at her father. "Dad! Inside!" She pushed him by the back of his ugly coat and marched him into the family room. James followed inside, impressed with the way Muggles lived without magic.

"Now, James," Lily said, "perhaps we should show my parents some magic…"

Always eager to show off, James whipped out his wand. Having read about the Muggle excuse for magic ("magicians") he conjured up a top hat and a cape, with an 'Oooh!' from Mrs. Evans. "For my first trick," he grinned, "I will need a volunteer from the audience. Perhaps…Vernon Dursley!" Pointing his wand towards  where Vernon and Petunia had meandered off to, he muttered, "Accio Vernon Dursley," and a very angry Vernon came flying out of the kitchen.

"What is the bloody meaning of this?" he thundered.

"Just watch…" James hissed in his ear. "Now, for my first trick, I will change this human into an animal! Anybody have any suggestions?"

Mr. Evans jumped up, almost like an eager school girl about to answer a question. "Turn him into an owl! An owl!"

"Very well!" said James, flourishing his wand unnecessarily. "Now, volunteer, all you need to do is sit still!" Taking a more serious turn, he muttered, "Raphidious Owl!" and waved his wand, tapping Vernon with his wand.

There was a bright flash of light, and it seemed that they were watching a movie backwards. Vernon's beefy body slowly melted down into that of a bird- his clothes turned into ugly brown feathers, and a beak sprouted on his face. Soon, all of his human features were gone.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans positively shrieked with applause. However, Petunia shrieked in horror. "MY DIDDY VERNIE!" she shouted. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?"