A/n; My stupid computer deleted this chapter so I had to completely re-write it! Sorry for the delay!
New Update: My beta-reader and I have had a bit of a – falling out, due to circumstances I cannot control because she acted rather unprofessional at a party I could not attend. But we've er – patched things up and I don't like the guy she was er – dancing with *looks embarrassed* anymore. So – what was the point of this author's note? To tell you I'm sorry I'm not updating regularly – I haven't been feeling too great about this story! Give me some love and tell me it's good, it'll improve my spirits =)
Thank you!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
James cracked a window open to get some fresh air into the muggy car. Lily sat, a little more relaxed, fanning herself with her book. A loose curl fluttered almost unnoticeably against her pale cheek.
"How are you kids holding up back there?" Mr. Black asked, adjusting the switch on the air conditioning slowly seeping through the car and then seemingly back out again because it was so hot.
"Dying of heat," Arabella moaned, taking a huge swig of water from her water bottle.
"My hair!" Fiona said sadly, holding up a limp strand of droopy blonde hair.
Lily rolled her eyes and tried to sleep; maybe she could escape the heat and the people in the car for a few hours.
"Mr. Black, do you think we could stop somewhere so I can properly shampoo my hair?" Fiona whined.
Everyone glared from Fiona to James, even Mr. Black.
"James, tell your girlfriend to shut up," Lily said crossly while trying to arrange her head in a comfortable sleeping position on her arm.
"Yes, it would be quite hard and probably expensive just to get your hair shampooed," Mr. Black said - trying not to sound rude, from the look of it.
Silence passed over the car for a few more moments. Lily
could her the faint scritch-scratch of quill across paper; Sierra writing to
her parents, no doubt. Fiona was whimpering to herself and digging around in
her purse for a brush and Sirius was reading a book, surprisingly enough.
James snuck a quick glance at Lily while in between his examination of the quaintness of Wizard's Cove. She was sound asleep with her head resting on her arm as her pillow. Smiling to himself and making sure no one saw, he tucked a loose strand away from her ponytail behind her ear. Just a simple gesture, but a sweet affectionate gesture all the same.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
An hour later, around 3 o'clock, Mr. Black pulled into the driveway of the Blacks' charming mansion of a summerhouse overlooking the entire Atlantic Ocean. Children and adults of all wizarding ages played and frolicked outside in the broad daylight, viewing a sparkling ocean and a cloudless blue sky.
"All right! Ocean!" Sirius yelled happily, throwing the door open and running out of the car.
Everyone laughed: only Sirius would get excited about something like that, though everyone was thrilled about spending the summer at the beach.
James poked Lily hard in the arm. She stirred slightly, lifted her head up in confusion, and yawned hugely.
"Are we there?" she asked sleepily, getting up.
"Yeah," James said. Unable to find any other remarks, he climbed out of the car with everyone else.
"Come on Lily!" Sierra said, practically dragging Lily out of the car.
"Oh – it's so beautiful!" Lily exclaimed with glee. Everyone was running towards the beach, baggage forgotten.
"I know," Sierra said smiling. Then, after a short pause, "So is this summer the summer of romance?"
Lily shot her a dirty look. "Sierra, can you concern yourself with other matters besides my love life?"
"Who said it was about your love life? It was a nonfigurative question," Sierra said with a touch of ice in her voice.
"Well you hinted towards me since I seem to be the only one in the godforsaken car without a love interest," Lily said bitterly. Sierra smiled sadly at her as they walked down the beach where everyone else had jumped into the ocean with all their clothes on.
"Arabella doesn't have a love interest. Neither does Sabrina," Sierra pointed out.
"What do you think of Fiona?" Lily said a little uneasily, changing the subject.
Sierra rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Total airhead like, fer sure!"
"Yeah, James sure has sunk low. I mean, there are so many other girls out there who are like, twenty times smarter and prettier and better for him than her…"
Sierra smiled to herself a triumphant one but didn't say anything else. She trotted over towards Sirius, who really did have the enthusiasm of a dog. Fiona stood there looking apprehensively at James and Sirius who were busy trying to drown one another.
"I hope we meet some seriously hot beach dudes," Arabella said with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"I think Lily's already found him," Sabrina said coyly, cocking her head in the direction of James.
Lily rolled her eyes. "For the love of God I do not like Potter."
"Well I hope then, in that case, that you do find some seriously hot beach dude because you're going to need to convince yourself of a lot," Sierra said.
Lily threw up her arms in a resigned fashion. "I'm getting my stuff and leaving you all to your crazy notions."
"Bye Lily," they chorused cherubically. Lily was frozen to her spot, wondering whether or not she should leave and finally sighed and ran and jumped into the ocean.
Something brushed against her leg and she shrieked, pulling herself away from whatever it was. James popped up, gasping for air and his hair plastered to his head.
"Oh, it's just you," Lily said, pushing his head back down into the water. Seconds later, he wrapped his arms around her knees and flipped her over.
Coming up spluttering, she looked straight at his amused face. "Silly Lily," he grinned.
"Stupid Potter," Lily said wiping her hair away from her face and trying to tackle him. He quickly evaded her and she fell flat on her face in the shallow water.
"Come on Lily, is that the best you can – "
Lily, easily motivated by her short-fuse temper, lunged at him and caught him by the hem of his shirt, dragging him down and feeling the material rip. He looked down at the giant gash in his shirt and smiled devilishly at her, giving her a quick peck on the lips.
More outraged than ever and thoroughly disgusted at his nerve, she slapped him smartly across the face.
"You're too impertinent for your own good," Lily said bitingly.
James just smirked. "Better unhook your legs from my waist then, Little Miss Boisterous."
Lily turned red and did as she was told. "You can get Fiona to do all your dirty work for you."
"Please. She probably doesn't even know the meaning of 'dirty work.'"
"Oh, so you hired her for her looks?" Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"I didn't hire her, per say –"
"Please James, like you would have any other use for her other than to make yourself look good," Lily said with a roll of her eyes.
James looked slightly hurt. "Well, you've kind of ruined me for other girls."
Lily's jaw dropped in shock, wondering if she heard him right. "What did you say?"
"I said," James said with care," that you've kind of ruined me for other girls."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Lily exclaimed.
"What do you think it means?" James snapped. "It means that there's no other girl out there, whether it be at Hogwarts or anywhere else, who can live up to what you are."
"Oh, and what is that supposed to mean?" Lily asked crossly, truly annoyed that he didn't give any complimentary explanations.
He tweaked her nose playfully. "I think you know what I mean, Lily – and if you don't mind, I'd like to get out now since it's quite cold."
Lily watched him wade out, Fiona shrieking about the rip in his shirt – shrieking something about how that 'Evans girl' was trying to molest him. He just kissed her long and hard and she was quieted for the moment.
"Lily! I saw you and James out there," Sabrina said winking and nudging Lily's side once she'd gotten out of the water and wrung out her hair.
Lily shrugged nonchalantly, now wringing out water in her shirt. "I'm glad."
"Did he kiss you?" Sierra asked excitedly as Lily walked back to the car to get her things.
"Ye – s."
"OH! YES!" they all cried, high-fiving one another.
"It wasn't that great," Lily said smiling uncertainly, "he did it to piss me off."
"Doesn't matter, a kiss is a kiss!" Arabella crowed happily.
"Whatever," Lily said dragging her two duffel bags and her trunk in the pure white sand towards the illuminated house.
"Mmm… love is definitely in the air," Sierra announced, sighing contentedly.
"No, that's just the salty air. You're all delusional," Lily said, hoping nobody else could detect the insecurity in her voice.
"Oh, come now! Isn't it meant to be?" Sabrina asked all of them.
"Oh, please!" Lily said a little to loudly. "The sheer idea of it is absolutely ludicrous!
"It almost happened!" Arabella reminded the girls.
"What makes you think it can't happen again?" Sierra pressed.
Lily opened the door to the beach house, trying to ignore the voices of her friends. "I am not listening to this."
"Either you're closing your eyes to a situation you don't wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of what the heart wants enough to listen to it," Sierra shouted after Lily.
"Thank you!" Lily shouted back to her.
"Who're you talking to, Lily?" Mr. Black asked from the stove.
"Oh, sorry Mr. Black – no one," Lily said smiling apologetically.
"Everyone's in the living room, we're having homemade pizza tonight," Mr. Black said, pointing his spoon dripping with tomato sauce towards the room to her right.
"Thanks," Lily said dropping her stuff by the counter.
The Black's house was, if possible, even more luxurious and plush than James' house - and this was just their summer home. There was a small fountain at the entrance and the house itself was brightly lit, giving it a cheerful and homely appearance. James and Sirius, still in their wet clothes and James with the giant tear in his shirt, were sitting on a large fluffy couch at the far end of the room near the giant fireplace. They were setting up a wizard's chess game. Fiona was nowhere to be seen – probably showering.
"This is some place, Sirius," Lily said flopping down on a snowy white recliner.
"Thanks Lil," Sirius said, biting his tongue in concentration.
"Do you have any Exploding Snap cards?" Sierra asked, Sabrina and Arabella right behind her.
"They're in that drawer over there," Sirius said distractedly, watching as James made his first move.
"Thanks Siri," Sierra said and gave him a peck on the cheek. She took out one of the card packs and set it on the floor. All of the girls scrambled onto the floor to start the game.
"So – what're we all planning on doing tomorrow?" Arabella asked casually, stacking two cards against each other as the base.
"Nothing," Lily said nonchalantly, "except going to suntan and swim."
Sabrina raised her eyebrows suspiciously at Lily. "You're not going to go boy hunting with us?"
"No!" Lily scoffed, stacking four around the tent made by Arabella.
"That's because she's too busy looking at what she's got at close distance," Sirius said innocently, making it sound as though he was talking to himself.
Lily's jaw again dropped in shock and she looked at Sirius in awe. "I do not want to check out James!"
Sirius raised an eyebrow casually. James pretended not to hear and was plucking at his ripped shirt.
"Such a good kitten – sharp claws though," he murmured with mock dismay.
"She's got you marked James," Sirius said playing along with a roughish wink at Lily, "bet she's an absolute wildcat at bedtime."
Lily got up and nearly pummeled Sirius but Sabrina calmly held the back of her shirt while Lily vainly tried to reach him. "Chill out Lily, it's – probably a compliment, and I want to learn how to surf anyway!"
"Yes! That's the perfect way to get our minds off summer romances!" Lily said most too eagerly.
James rolled his eyes at Lily. "You know those things never work out anyway."
"They're fun to have!" Arabella countered and stuck her tongue out at James.
"Then explain why you're going out with Fiona – oh wait, I forgot! All of your relationships are like summer romances – cheesy and never last!" Lily said bitingly.
Little gasps arose from the teenagers and Arabella hooted, clapping Lily hard on the back. Lily couldn't help but flash a grin that said 'take that' at him.
"All right, fair enough… now let me have my say," James said reclining back in his chair and stretching languidly, his coolness unruffled. "I may not have the most successful relationships or whatever but at least I can get dates instead of scaring boys off like you do. But I do have to give you props, you can scare like no one's business!"
"Ooh, good one," Lily said sarcastically. "Maybe I'm not looking for a serious relationship right now – and apparently neither are you."
"You know I'm finding I can be a very good peacekeeper when I want to be and now I say time-out, Lily and James!" Sirius said holding his hands up in the 'T' position.
"You're right, Sirius. Let's let the ladies work on their Exploding Snap Game - as if they could ever beat our record - and let's busy ourselves with this chess game," James said in a very cheery voice.
A few minutes had passed and the girls were nearly at the end of their cards, their castle teetering dangerously. The room only needed a slight shake to topple it – one person was missing from the room and when that person came down the stairs, the card castle would no doubt explode.
"Just – easy does it Arabella!" Sabrina whispered with a look of agony on her face.
"Hand me those two cards, Lily," Arabella murmured screwing up her face in concentration. James and Sirius had long since abandoned their chess game with Sirius' knight yelling taunts at him to 'finish the game, you scallywag!'
Lily shakily handed Arabella the final two cards to the deck and Arabella carefully set the two as a tent on top of the rest of the cards. All of them exhaled a relieved breath, very quietly of course.
"There. It's done and it never exploded!" Arabella whispered softly, tucking her dark brown hair behind her ears.
Movement upstairs caught Lily's attention. "Oh – guys! Save the card deck!"
"Why?" Sierra asked but soon found out when Fiona's thundering footsteps echoed loudly and closely down the stairs.
Mini panic erupted when Fiona, looking fresh and perky in periwinkle blue, bounded into the room and the deck crumbled, finally exploding.
"FIONA!" They all chorused angrily with their hairs standing on end and charred at the edges (not that it made James look any different.)
"Oopsies!" Fiona guiltily giggled the way a cute five-year-old would do if she got her hand caught in the cookie jar.
Lily was livid; soot coated her face. "Potter! Your girlfriend just ruined our game!"
"I said I was sorry, Leelee!" Fiona said angrily. James went over to comfort her, but shot Lily a nasty look.
Sabrina laughed out loud. "Did you just call her Leelee?"
"That's her name isn't it?" Fiona shot nastily, her voice muffled against James' shirt.
"It's Lily, you fluffbrain," Sabrina shot back just as sharply.
"Leelee, Lily, their basically the same," James said irritated.
"Oh stop defending me James! I can handle them," Fiona said.
Suddenly it seemed a huge rift was torn between Lily and James – well, bigger than before and their friends seemed to be taking Lily's side. Fiona was ruining their whole summer and it'd only been the first day; she couldn't even get Lily's name right! And now James was defending her, even if he didn't even like her that much – maybe he liked Fiona more than they were giving him credit for. Or maybe he was just trying to peeve Lily – hopefully it was just the latter of the two. Lily didn't think she'd be able to take him liking someone like her.
"We'll see about that," Lily said, the two girls nearly nose-to-nose.
"Dinner's ready, kids!" Mr. Black called from the kitchen.
Summer, so far, was not off to the greatest start.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
(a/n; haha! Not over yet!)
The next morning, the first thing that wafted up to the girls' room was the delicious odor of warm pancakes and syrup with fresh strawberries. Lily groggily got up, having just about the best sleep she'd had since – well, before Misty's death.
"Come on guys, I want to get out and hit the beach!" Sierra said, jumping out of bed. Arabella was already dressed; she always liked to be up early on vacation time. Poor Sabrina had to be in the same room with Fiona, one room over.
"Sierra, its vacation – sleep is priority number one!" Lily said tiredly. She looked blearily at the harsh sunlight streaming through the high windows.
"No, no! It is vacation, therefore meaning you get your butt out of bed before I drag you out!" Arabella said and threw Lily's covers off.
"Agh! COLD!" Lily shouted pitifully, feeling around blindly for her covers.
"Come on Evans, we want to get down there before we have to see – Fiona and James," Sierra said ominously, knowing that would wake Lily up.
Sure enough, Lily bolted out of bed still wearing her pajamas and raced down the stairs. Sierra and Arabella looked at each other, trying to smother their laughter.
Sirius, Fiona and James were already at breakfast but Lily couldn't see Sirius over the giant stack of pancakes in front of him.
"Sirius, you really aren't going to eat all of them are you?" she asked incredulously, plunking herself down in the chair across James'.
"Morning Lily m'dear," Sirius said. "And no I'm not. I have to give some to my starving guests!"
Lily picked up a fork and a plate already sitting at the end of the table and speared two fluffy, golden pancakes to shake off on her plate.
"Two pancakes of that size? Oh my, someone's really looking for a way to gain some pounds!" Fiona said with a small giggle.
Lily forced out a ditzy laugh, cutting the first pancake rather viciously apart. "Well, I should say it's better than starving myself."
"Ladies, ladies," Mr. Black said coming over with a parenting stare of warning.
"Sorry Mr. Black," Lily said, flashing an apologetic smile at him.
"Morning all!" Sierra crowed cheerily, plopping herself next to Sirius and giving him a kiss.
"Don't you look… perky," Fiona said as though downsizing another cheerleading, cookie-baking opponent.
"The beach puts me in the mood," Sierra said breezily.
"Yeah, speaking of beach – we should get out there before everyone else does," Sirius said brightly, completely unaware of the catfight about to break loose.
"Lily, you look pissed," James said chomping away innocently on his waffles.
"How can you think of eating at a time like this James?" Lily burst out savagely.
"What?" James asked, a bit of syrup dribbling down his chin.
"Ugh! Just – never mind," Lily said angrily and got up, nearly running into Arabella.
"Ah! Good! We've eaten – are we going now?" Arabella asked brightly.
"Going where?" Sirius asked doubtfully.
"We have to pick up a few items," Sierra said brightly. She kissed Sirius briefly before getting up as well.
"Wait – where will we meet up later? How long do you think you'll be gone for?" Sirius asked.
"Oh – not before one o'clock probably," Sierra smiled. The four girls giggled before scampering out the door and left Sirius with James and Fiona, a nightmare in itself.
Once they were out the door, they all breathed in the fresh air, which always seemed to be fresher when you were on vacation.
"I'm so glad I'm out of that house!" Sierra exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, me too – Fiona is the most obnoxious little brat I've ever met!" Lily said heatedly.
"She really is – I mean where does she get off thinking she can ruin our summer vacation?" Arabella said peeved.
"She is ruining it, isn't she? I mean who wants stupid Potter's girlfriend around all summer?" Lily asked.
"Oh hey, let's go here!" Arabella said interrupting their conversation of discussing the abominable Fiona. They'd reached a street of small, beachside shops designed specifically for wizards seeking entertainment at the water's edge.
"Looks decent enough," Lily said swallowing hard, hoping she wasn't making a mistake when she looked at the shop title: 'Madame Smutte's Clothing for Extraordinarily Extroverted Women.'
They stepped into the store and their senses were immediately flooded with the strong scent of cheap perfume. Racks were stacked with low cut shirts, short-shorts, other cheap wizard stuff and the skimpiest bathing suits Lily had ever seen.
"Hey y'all, what can I help you with?" A busty blonde asked in a horribly thick American accent. She had flabby, pasty thighs oozing out of mini jean shorts and wore a low cut lavender shirt (if you could even call it a shirt, Lily thought with a note of disgust) that pushed out her ample bosom. She had about five layers of Muggle makeup caked onto her face and lurid purple lipstick on her puffy lips. Her greasy blonde hair, probably dyed, was pulled into a messy ponytail/bun. She reeked of the cheap perfume and smacked her chewing gum loudly, occasionally blowing a bubble.
All of the girls gaped in awe at her. She was like nothing they'd ever seen – it was atrocious!
"Uh…" Sierra said completely shocked.
"We – are looking for some swimsuits," Lily said slowly, not taking her eyes off the sales person.
The woman's face lit up and showed her slightly crooked teeth when she smiled. "Oh goody! Swimsuits are my specialty."
"Good Lord, are they?" Arabella said incredulously, trying not to laugh at the sales person and her comical, slutty appearance.
"Oh yeah, and we've got every kind of bathing suit imaginable!" She said even more gleefully. She took a glance at Sabrina, who was busy looking at the shorts.
"Can I help you, miss?" The salesperson asked, popping her chewing gum in Sabrina's face.
Sabrina smiled awkwardly, looking over her shoulder to where Lily, Arabella and Sierra were standing as though they were scared to move.
"I – I'm fine," Sabrina choked, trying not to inhale the perfume, "just browsing."
"Oh, that's great! By the way, you can call me Candy!" she said brightly.
"Well Candy, we're kind of in a hurry so –" Lily began, hoping to make a clean getaway.
"Oh, nonsense! You're not leaving my sight until you girls are satisfied!" Candy said in a no-nonsense voice.
"We're going to be stuck here forever," Arabella groaned miserably.
"All right, now who are you?" Candy asked pointing to Arabella with her long, hot pink nails.
"Arabella Figg," Arabella said as if she was getting a death sentence, "but I'm not the one who needs a bathing suit – Lily does!"
Lily gulped as Candy looked over her and dragged her to the swimsuit section.
"You're a very pretty girl, Lily," Candy said cheerfully, her pink fingernails clawing through racks trying to find some suits.
"Thank you," Lily said.
"Aha! Here, you're more of a – well, not a red, certainly!" Candy giggled, holding up a silver mesh bathing suit to Lily. Lily shrank against the hideousness of it.
"I'd like something a bit – classy," Lily said and it sounded to her as though she were asking for the moon in a that store.
"Classy, eh?" Candy clicked her tongue, "black had better be the choice – never goes out of style!"
Oh, perfect! Lily thought miserably as Candy rifted through a rack of teeny tiny black bikinis.
"Try this on," Candy instructed and pointed over to the changing room doors.
Lily gulped and looked at the two tiny pieces of clothing hanging on the hanger and trotted over to the dressing rooms.
All right Evans, you can do this, her brain said.
"Oh, God…" Lily said a few minutes later.
"Lily! Come out! We want to see it!" Sierra called through the door.
"No fucking way," Lily said absolutely ashamed of herself for ever putting it on.
"Lils, it cannot be that bad!" Sabrina cajoled.
"Yes it can!" Lily exclaimed.
"Just come out and then we promise if you don't like it, you can put it back," Arabella said sensibly.
Lily sighed resignedly. "All right, I'm coming out. Just don't make snide comments."
She opened the door slowly, crossing her arms firmly across her chest.
"Aw Lily! You look awesome! Wait until James sees you!" Sabrina said truly meaning it.
Lily paled considerably and looked back at herself in the
mirror. "Oh, dear Lord, James is going to see me in this!"
"Well, he will if you buy it," Sierra admitted.
"Then I'm not buying it; I don't need Potter ogling after me this summer," Lily said firmly.
"Fine Lil, but you look great," Sabrina remarked.
A look of agony crossed Lily's face. "I know! I like it too, surprisingly enough, but I cannot go out looking like this!"
"Lily, chill. No one from school is going to see us here and it's the summer! You're allowed to step out from the usual," Sierra said confidently.
Lily bit her lip, debating whether or not to purchase it.
In the end, Lily was the only one who ever bought anything from 'Madame Smutte's Clothing for Extraordinarily Extroverted Women.'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Where are they?" James asked impatiently, his arm slung carelessly across Fiona's slim waist as they sat on the beach. The ocean seemed to be calling them but James wanted to wait for the girls to get back.
"They'll be back soon, its one o'clock now," Sirius said looking wistfully out at the ocean.
"James, you and Sirius can go on in, I'll wait for the girls!" Fiona said cheerily, wearing a lavender colored bikini that did not leave much to the imagination, to put it nicely.
"Nah, that's ok –
I'm getting a rather nice tan," Sirius said happily.
"Oh, I think I see them!" Fiona said, waving over to the four girls who were in their beachwear.
"WONDERFUL! There's Fiona – wearing next to nothing," Lily said with a look of utter disgust on her face.
"Yeah, she's definitely jealous," Sabrina said loudly, winking at the girls.
"Am not!" Lily cried, agitated.
"Come on Lily, you've got to be jealous otherwise you wouldn't care this much – simple as that," Sierra said rolling her eyes.
"Where did you guys go anyway?" Sirius asked with James and Fiona coming up behind him.
"Oh – nowhere," Arabella said digging her toes into the white sand.
"Bathing suit shopping, you know – Lily needed one," Sabrina said innocently.
Lily had on a long black sarong that would match her bathing suit and had borrowed the largest t-shirt anyone had brought with them and she looked quite comical in a huge Aerosmith (Arabella's shirt; big fan of Muggle music) concert shirt. She glared warningly at Arabella, who pretended not to notice.
"You look – attractive," James said shortly.
"Jaaaaaaaaaaamesie! Lets go in the ooooooooocean!" Fiona whined, tugging on his arm.
"Yes Potter, do run along," Lily said quickly, hoping nobody would have to see her in the bathing suit.
"Come on Sirius, let's go try out these new Muggle things – those surfboards," James said, pointing to the two that they'd brought down with them. He picked one up and admired it a bit.
"Good Lord, Potter, are you actually going to do try and surf?" Lily asked, not bothering to hold in a snort of laughter.
"I figure if I can play Quidditch –"
"Then you can do anything, heard it!" Lily said putting her hands on his shoulders and whirling him around to face the ocean and march him down the beach. He dropped the surfboards near the shore and whirled around.
"Get off me!" James said gruffly, trying to kick her.
"I have to ask you one thing – don't look at me in my suit today," Lily said suddenly, with her eyes slightly downcast.
James shrugged. "Can't promise anything."
"Well see, I've got this self-conscious issue so if you would just – not make fun of me today, it'd be great," Lily said giving him a hopeful thumbs up and walking back up to where the rest of the gang was standing. Fiona ran past her to catch up with James.
"I'm going to spread out my towel and just suntan," Sabrina said primly setting out her giant fluffy purple beach towel, sat down and got out the tanning oil she brought with her.
"I'm going in the ocean!" Sierra said cheerfully, pulling off her t-shirt and revealing her sky-blue, very classy, two-piece.
"I love that two-piece, Sierra!" Arabella said, wearing a red one since red was definitely her color.
"Yeah, I bought it last year when Jaden and I went to visit our aunt in Ireland," Sierra said with a glint of sadness in her eyes at the mention of Jaden. Still no word followed him or his whereabouts.
"All right Lils, moment of truth here!" Sirius said gleefully. "Should I get the camera?"
Lily shrieked. "Great wizards, no! If anybody ever finds out I've been parading about all summer with Sirius Black and James Potter in the same house as I and wearing this skimpy piece of cloth – I'll just die of humiliation!"
"Ok…" Sirius said blinking confusedly.
Lily took a deep breath and quickly whipped off the Aerosmith shirt.
"Whoa, Lily, you look –" Sirius said with his jaw nearly grazing the sandy ground, " – just marvelous!"
"Hey!" Sierra said pouting.
Sirius grinned roguishly. "Of course, not as beautiful as my Sierra!"
"Thank you," Sierra said wrapping her arms around his neck.
"All right, you two!" Arabella said laughing.
"I'm too hot – let's just go!" Sirius said, running down to the ocean and dove right into the sparkling water.
"I'm with Sirius!" Sierra shouted, whooping with happiness and they all made their way down to the beach.
James was having the time of his life trying to figure out how to surf and turned around just to glance to see if Sirius was coming and fell off his surfboard when he saw Lily. Sirius laughed at James' antics and ran out with his surfboard to try his hand at it.
James surfaced, spluttering and coughing – salt water in his mouth. "Is that Evans?"
Sirius paddled his surfboard out to where James was treading water. "She's something isn't she?"
James smoothed his wet hair back from his face and just gaped at her. "Y – yeah."
"Yes and you're here with Little Miss Diva. Tell me James, how do you do it?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
"She's not that bad," James said defensively.
"Yeah… you keep believing that," Sirius said patting him on the shoulder.
"I will," James said stubbornly, "now let's surf!"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
After several hours and countless potentially dangerous attempts at surfing, the teenagers all sat on three logs placed in a triangle shape around a giant bonfire. It was around dusk and there was just a semi-circle of sun behind the clouds, setting a pinkish glow across the ocean. Lily was the only one who never got wet and had instead spent her time laughing at Sirius and James' antics and having her red hair annoyingly whipped into her eyes and sea foam lapping at her manicured toes.
Sierra rested her head lightly on Sirius' shoulder, same as Fiona with James. James looked most pained to have her resting her head on his shoulder.
"Did you kids have fun?" Mr. Black asked. He came down to make the fire and they were all contentedly sitting on the logs with their towels stretched out. Lily was far too sleepy and languid from the heat to be bothered by Fiona's incessant stroking of James' bicep. He looked much too contented to actually do something either.
"Yeah, it was great," Sirius said tiredly, watching Mr. Black settle down next to his son and wrap a fatherly arm around his other shoulder that wasn't occupied by his raven-haired girlfriend.
"What are our plans for tomorrow?" Arabella asked watching the flames lick the wood and burn pieces to curling ash.
"There's a Ministry luau this Friday – if you kids are all interested," Mr. Black said, though looking not like he was much looking forward to going. "And I figured I'd take you kids since a lot of the kids you go to school with are children of the people I work with."
Arabella's eyes lit up like that of a young girls' at a word like 'fairytale' or 'Prince Charming.' "You mean we get to dress up and go hang out with people from Hogwarts?"
"Duh Bella," Lily said with a smile. "Boys!"
Sirius snorted and Sierra was woken from her peaceful nap when he stood up and brushed sand off his swim trunks.
"Hey, for us single swingin' chicks this luau could be our savior," Arabella pointed out, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh no Arabella, I was just excited about the prospect about dressing up and getting to have a party on the beach," Lily said with a touch of sympathy in her voice.
James rolled his eyes. "You guys are pathetic."
"With a girlfriend like that –" Lily started.
"Enough guys!" Mr. Black said holding up his hands in protest although he couldn't suppress a small smile.
"The material's getting old Lily," Fiona said coolly and regarded Lily with eyes that said 'drop it – you missed your chance with him.'
Lily instantly felt a new surge of hatred for Fiona course through her and it wasn't because she was ruining their vacation. Was she – nah… She wasn't jealous, was she? A pang of worry sliced through her at the thought of being jealous over Fiona dating him and she not.
"You coming Lily?" Sabrina asked, reaching for her towel and indicating with her hand that the fire was dying and signaling the end to the first nearly perfect day of vacation.
"Oh – yeah," Lily said and scooted off the log to trail after Sabrina.
A thought was nagging in the back of her mind and told her something was wrong but she didn't believe it until she saw the Black Manor (as they had come to call it). The lights were all out and the windows had been smashed in the most unique way – there was not a shard left in any frame. Everyone's jaws were dropped in shock and horror; Mr. Black was already inside and yelling frantically. Sirius bolted into the house, yelling after his dad to be careful.
"Holy –" James said rushing in after Sirius.
"What happened?" Fiona asked, her eyes reflecting the first emotion Lily had ever seen her portray: fear.
Lily shook her head in disbelief; bad luck seemed to follow them even on vacations.
"I hope to God there's no one inside…" Sierra said softly, her eyes wide.
"I'm going in there," Lily said determinedly. The three girls, excluding Fiona who was standing far away with her arms wrapped securely around herself, looked resolute in helping Lily.
"Don't follow me," Lily continued, stripping off her Aerosmith shirt to make herself more nimble moving through the wrecked house. "You don't know what's in there."
"And I suppose you do?" Arabella asked sharply, "Lily, we're not –"
"Just stay there!" Lily called back to them angrily and slipped in through the back door.
She couldn't hear anything but the pulsing of the blood in her ears – it was deathly quiet in the house, sounding as though no one was there. She tried to call out to James or Sirius but no words came from her mouth; her throat too dry and tight to talk. She was shaking with paranoia and looked into the living room, where they had spent the previous evening playing Exploding Snap. The thought made her stomach churn. She looked at the beautiful furniture turned over and the coverings ripped and slashed up like it was an animal ready to be made into food. The portraits that hung over the great fireplace, also slashed and some littering on the floor, were thrown off the walls and were strewn about the floor that was also covered in broken porcelain shards from vases and other artifacts. She carefully stepped over the debris and suddenly heard a noise. It was a faint rustling noise coming from the main foyer where the main entrance was located. The door had been blown away, probably by force or – by a spell of some sort and the darkness falling filled an eerie gap where the door should've been.
"W – who's there?" Lily called out hoarsely, her voice shaking.
Nothing. She breathed out slowly, trying to calm her nerves and get to Sirius, Mr. Black and James. Without warning, a dark figure thundered down the stairs heading straight for the door – it was holding a bundle in its arms. Lily swayed on the spot, her knees weak with fear but some courage instilled in her told her to go after the dark figure. It looked at her for a brief moment and piercing, eerie violet cat-like eyes glowed in her direction as it raised its wand. She thought for a brief moment she'd seen eyes like those before and then she screamed as loud as she could when Sirius came up behind it and jumped on its back. It wailed in a screech that seemed inhuman and blasted a jet of orange light at Sirius, causing Sirius to be flung into the air and land harshly on the wooden floor a few feet behind. He grunted in pain and the creature made a mad dash - a dash with the sinuous grace of a feline - for the door and disappeared into the bleak night.
"Sirius!" Lily shouted, running over to him.
He slowly got up, leaning himself on his elbows. He wheezed and tried to catch his breath. "That – that thing – took – "
"Took what?" Lily asked desperately, helping him up.
"Follow – me…" he replied coughing.
They ran up the stairs to the Mr. Black's study and found James white-faced and shaking badly with a bad cut that went from the cheekbone of his right cheek to his jaw. Mr. Black was passed out on the floor and not looking like he was breathing.
"Wh – what happened?" Lily asked, terrified and not sure if she was to help James or Mr. Black first.
"He – it – we chased it up here and cornered it but – he took out and muttered some curse at Mr. Black and he hit the ground and wouldn't wake up. I tried to stop him from going out the window and succeeded but then he took a vase and smashed it – slashed me across the face with it," James said all in a semi-rational voice, though still sheet white.
"Is Mr. Black - is he - I mean, he isn't - he isn't…dead. Is he?" Lily asked tentatively, bending down to look at Mr. Black. He looked like James, deathly white.
"I – don't know," James said crawling with some difficulty next to Lily. She looked up at Sirius who was trying very much to keep a straight face.
"We should get him out of the house," he said logically. Lily marveled at the coolness of his stance, only slightly betrayed by his heavy swallow. "Me and James will support his weight if you can go and alert the neighbors."
Lily agreed and with fleetness, ran down the stairs and outdoors.
"What happened?" Arabella asked, coming around the house with Fiona, Sierra and Sabrina.
"Mr. Black… he – he's hurt badly, and we need help!" Lily panted but didn't wait for them as she ran down the stretching lawn towards the cheerfully lit neighbor's house.
"Lily! Wait!" the girls chorused and ran as fast as they could to catch up with her.
Sweating and about to throw up, she rang the doorbell. A familiar face poked his head out of the door: Amos Diggory. Blushing like a little schoolgirl and temporarily having a brain lapse (she still did have somewhat of a lingering crush for him), she stood there twiddling the fringe on her sarong.
"Lily?" He asked,
squinting, "Lily Evans?"
"Amos," she said breathlessly, the others catching up to her, "we have an emergency: somebody has broken into the Black's house and injured Mr. Black very badly. We need someone out here immediately!"
Amos' face changed from its pleased state to a concerned mask. He opened the door all the way and came outside. He touched Lily's arm and made her swoon on the inside. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, I'm fine – a little shaken up but please, we need help!" Lily said, surprised she wasn't melting from his hand still lingering on her shoulder.
"I'll go get my parents," he said severely and walked inside briskly.
"Oooh… the truth comes out," Arabella teased.
"Yeah, she's jealous of Fiona all right," Sierra said winking unmistakably at Lily, "yeah right."
Lily blushed even more. "Knock it off you guys, I don't like Amos. And anyway, don't you think this is really not the time?"
"You know," Sabrina continued, oblivious, "he's very attractive – I can see how you'd like him … a lot of James-like qualities."
Lily scowled. "Now that is not funny!"
Amos returned with his parents, their faces all very grave.
"Where's Mr. Black?" Mr. Diggory asked, small wrinkles forming above his eyebrows as his eyes narrowed in puzzlement.
Lily cleared her throat. "Follow me."
They followed Lily back up the roll of the hill back up to the Black's Manor and found James and Sirius sitting next to Mr. Black's limp form.
Pursing their lips, the Diggory's bent down and examined Mr. Black's condition. Mrs. Diggory whispered a spell and lifted him up on an invisible stretcher when a group of MediWizards Apparated out of thin air. They quickly bustled around Mr. Black and jostled Lily and her friends to the side and the tallest man there, a thin-haired man took off his hat and bowed at everyone.
"He'll be fine – I assure you, but we need to take him to St. Mungo's… we'll need to perform some tests and probably keep him overnight –"
His speech was interrupted by a burst of unexpected sobs from Sirius. They were quiet of course, but still unmistakable. Sierra draped her arms sympathetically around his shoulders as the MediWizards, along with Mr. Black, Disapparated from sight.
"You poor children – we'll go back to the house tomorrow and collect your things. This has been a terrible ordeal!" Mrs. Diggory said with sympathy reflecting in her eyes.
"Come along, you can spend the night at our house," Mr. Diggory said, helping the grief-stricken bunch down to the house.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Well, I'm glad your father is fine!" Sabrina said with a dull, false cheeriness the next morning. Lily woodenly walked with the rest of them back up the house which looked like it'd lost it's spirit – it sat on the majestic green lawn with anything but a welcoming air to it.
"We all are – we all suffered quite a shock last night," Amos said who has his arm around Lily's shoulders for support. She hadn't spoken nary a word since the incident. Her eyes held no glimmer and reflected jaded pools of green.
James rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked at Fiona who's eyes were open wide with suspicion and paranoia – occasionally her head would jerk back to look to see if anyone was behind them. She snuggled as close as she could to James who always felt like she was suffocating him.
"Let's just get this over with so we can get away from this house – we can always rebuild," Sirius said in a dead voice. Sierra looked at her boyfriend with pity on her face: she'd never seen him go so long without cracking a smile or a joke.
Arabella had stayed at the house; too scared to move at all. Something else had conspired last night that was to foretell of greater, and more terrible things, to come. And she felt it – they all felt it… but no one was ready to admit it.
"I'm getting my stuff and leaving as quickly as possible," Lily told Amos and he walked with her inside and left the others to their devices.
James followed her and Fiona trailed after him like a lost puppy. The house seemed brighter since it was not dark and lost the scary edge it had the previous night – but still they felt haunted and Lily's movements were quick and jerky.
She crept up to the bedroom where they had stayed and had her wand already pulled out when she dramatically kicked the door open. The curtains flapped in the breeze and the windows had been shattered, like most of the windows in the house. Miraculously, none of the girls' things had been touched, save Sierra's. She gaped in horror at the mess of Sierra's things on the floor: makeup products strewn all over, a few perfume bottles broken on the floor, robes ripped up and laid in strips on the floor as well as all of her books, Lily sadly noted, were ripped in chunks out of their bindings. Someone had been looking for something and maybe they'd found it – or maybe they hadn't.
Sirius came bolting through the door, eyes wide with panic. "Where's James?"
"Right here," James said just as breathless as Sirius was. They both had a look of the same sort of worry on their faces.
"They took it, James!" Sirius cried with a look of utter shock inscribed on his face.
"What? They took what?" Lily asked wildly.
James looked at her and Lily knew what he was about to say would endanger the
lives of all who witnessed what had conspired the previous night.
"We're no longer safe Lily – someone's got us marked."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A/N: Ooooh… even I got chills up the spine! Sorry it took so long to write! I totally apologize and I thank EVERYONE who has reviewed and kept with the story! I LOVE YOU GUYS! R/R!