Author's Note:
Chapter 3: Quidditch, Dinner and a Dream.
Seamus chose to come home each night after that from work, mostly to be sure that Lily wasn't getting anymore abuse from her sister and in turn that Petunia was following her grounding. Petunia was most disappointed with her father staying home; as if he wasn't there she was sure she could convince Abigail to let her see Vernon.
The last weeks of the summer passed quickly. Seamus was able to acquire tickets to a quidditch game; Puddlemere United against Ireland. He asked if Petunia and Abigail wanted to attend. Petunia looked disgusted and said she'd rather stay home and Abigail decided to stay home to watch Petunia, which disappointed Petunia as she had been planning on sneaking out.
So, Lily got to see her first quidditch game. She was really excited and woke up early to get ready to go. She was also very interested in how a great lot of wizards could gather together, she'd read in A History of Magic that there had been many incidences over the ages about muggles seeing wizarding activities and having to be memory charmed. She'd read all of her books in two weeks and was rereading them over and over again, making the information stick into her brain. She wanted to make her father proud of her, proud that she was a wizard, like him, and Petunia wasn't.
Seamus found his Water Lily awake and reading her school books when he went to wake her. "So you're excited?" he asked her sitting next to her on the bed.
"Yes! I really am. I read about all the precautions that wizards have to take to keep the muggles from seeing them. It's really fascinating!" Lily said sitting up cross legged next to him.
"Now, now, you don't have to be completely focused on school work at Hogwarts, you should have fun too," Seamus said and ruffled her hair.
"I know, and I will. I also want to you be proud of me!" Lily said quietly and looked down at the wooden floors.
"I'm already proud of you Lil, and I always will be. I'm going to rely on you to watch them when you're grown and I am gone, because there is a danger coming towards us, all of us, even muggles. There is a man, a wizard, who is very bad, evil. He's trying to gain control everywhere, and things are dangerous. His name is Voldemort, don't be afraid to speak his name even if others are, it only increases the fear of him. I and others are working tirelessly against him, trying to stop him, but there is always a risk that I might not come home. So I am going to have to trust you to take care of Petunia and your mother, if something happens to me," Seamus said holding Lily close to him.
Lily knew that this conversation was serious and mentally imprinted it on her memory. "All right Dad, I'll do my best, but there's only so much I can do with Petunia," Lily smiled tightly.
"Yes I know. But she loves you, even if she doesn't show it. Family ties are all the more important these days and in those to come. C'mon, enough sad talk. We've got a quidditch game to get to," Seamus said tightened the embrace he had her in slightly and then released her from his grasp. She jumped up and grabbed a bag from the end of her bed and raced out of the room to be followed by a laughing Seamus.
They drove to where the game was to take place and parked in muggle parking arrangements. They found their way to the pitch to find thousands of people already in the stands, and more on their way. "We've got really good seats, up near the Top Box," Seamus said to Lily, picking her up in his arms and Lily had the briefest of thoughts about her father and dismissed it easily as stupidity, He's making up for not being around to stop Petunia's tortures. Seamus carried Lily up the stairs to their seats, telling her who everyone was that kept stopping them on the way up. Dozens of wizards said hello and called out to Seamus on the way up. Lily found herself memorizing them and categorizing them by who looked friendly and trustworthy, which most of them did, a couple looked annoyed but called out to her father on principal.
They sat down and waited, watching as the seats filled up and the two next to them stayed empty. The game was about to start when a voice called out to Seamus. "Seamus, seeing you more then once outside of the office, this is beginning to start a world record," said a familiar voice as both Seamus and Lily looked up to find Harold Potter standing at the end of the aisle with James.
"Harold, you knew you'd be seein' me today as I gave you those tickets when my wife and Petunia decided not to come," Seamus said standing up and giving Harold a friendly hug.
"Yes, yes, I did. I just like making jokes of you, since before that the last times I'd seen you were at your wedding and at mine; that is outside the office," Harold said sitting next to Seamus and James sat next to Lily. Seamus and Harold carried on like that until the game started.
"Nice to see you again Lily," James said facing her, pretty much ignoring his father as he talked with Seamus.
"And you James," Lily said watching him quietly as she sort of absorbed her surroundings a bit more.
"I understand this is your first quidditch game, correct?" James asked smiling as a light sort of shone from his eyes.
"Yes, my dad explained quidditch to me for the first time after a boy in Madam Malkin's asked me about my letter. He started going on about quidditch and I didn't know what it was, felt rather embarrassed," Lily said as color crept up on her cheeks.
"Really? Sirius was telling me about a girl he met in Malkin's on the same day that we were there; I don't imagine it was you were it?" James asked looking interested.
"Sirius Black?" Lily asked and at James' nod continued, "Then yes, that was me, why, what did he say?"
"Nothing really, just said you had the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen, and I must say he's got a point," James said smiling at her again, causing her to blush yet again. "You're blushing? Why? Hasn't anyone ever said that to you before?" he asked confused at her reaction.
"Actually no, quite the opposite," Lily said and smiled meekly.
"What? Who's been telling lies to you Lil?" James asked looking rather noble as if he'd be jumping up to defend her honor any minute.
"No one, just always known I'm not pretty or anything," Lily mumbled quite ready to change the subject.
James saw her apprehension and decided to change the subject back to quidditch and Lily was visibly grateful. James started spouting about the teams, how Ireland were the leading scorers in the league and how Puddlemere was going to be close to a push over, though they might get the snitch before Ireland. James explained the rules and such of quidditch again, just to make sure that Lily understood. Then the game started.
It was fast paced and exciting. Lily was having a lot of fun listening to James and watching him jump up and down. Twice Ireland's seeker was thought to have seen the snitch but was only pulling a Wronski Feint causing the Puddlemere seeker to crash into the ground. The medi-wizards had a hard time awakening him. When Puddlemere awakened the game began again with Ireland in the lead by 50 points. The Puddlemere seeker suddenly began a dive and Ireland followed him.
"He's seen the snitch!" James screamed and as it turned out the Puddlemere seeker had seen the snitch and Ireland was closing in. The Puddlemere seeker's hand was stretched out to the maximum and a man in the Top Box was giving play by play of the action. "SMYTHE'S CAPTURED THE SNITCH! PUDDLEMERE UNITED HAS WON! PUDDLEMERE 300, IRELAND 200! PUDDLEMERE HAS WON!!!" a voice called out over the stadium.
"James, James, you predicted the game you know, you said that Puddlemere might get the snitch before Ireland," Lily said loudly so James could hear over all the noise. "Lucky guess! It's all really practical if you look at the statistics," James said close to Lily's ear so that she could hear him. Lily just smiled at him, as if to say, 'Whatever you say, James, whatever you say.' James smiled and laughed and thought, Too bad the game was so short.why am I thinking that? Strange.
"Seamus, you and Lily should come over for dinner tonight!" Harold said loudly, "Besides, she and James are getting along well, and Emily has been meaning to invite you for years, but you never leave the office!" he was trying to convince Seamus who was about to say no when Harold said, "It would give Lily the chance to see a Wizard house before she goes off to school," and he said it so that Lily heard and it piqued her interest.
"Dad, please?! I really would like it! I haven't seen a real wizard family as there's been nothing magic in our house before I got my things! Please Dad?" Lily asked excitedly and she could tell he was about to cave.
"Oh, alright, might as well," Seamus sighed and caught Lily in midair as she jumped up to give him a hug. "Well, if you want to go to dinner we should go now and find a muggle phone so I can call Abby," Seamus said and put Lily down, and off they went to the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow for dinner.
They arrived in Godric's Hollow just about 5 that afternoon. It was quite a nice house, old and interesting; it looked like it had been handed down like a family heirloom. Lily fell in love with it as soon as she stepped inside. It was full of both Muggle items and of course all sorts of Wizards items as it was a wizards' house. The moment Lily walked in she was amazed. There were hard wood floors, almost perfectly maintained antiques, it was beautiful, and an adult's dream but a kid's nightmare, well depending upon the kid, but Lily thought it was a guarantee that James didn't like the house at all.
"Your house is great Mr. Potter! I love it," Lily said excitedly as she twirled about looking at the rafters.
"Lily, just call me Harold, Mr. Potter is so formal," Harold said and ruffled her hair in a fatherly fashion.
"Alright, Harold," Lily said and felt as if she wanted to laugh.
"What's so funny Lily?" James asked looking confused.
"Does your father have a purple crayon?" Lily asked and snorted into her father's stomach laughing.
Seamus understood his daughter's joke and laughed too. Harold and James stood there looking confused. "Harold and the Purple Crayon is a muggle children's book. Harold is a toddler that runs around drawing things with a purple crayon, a kind of muggle drawing tool," Seamus explained as Lily resurfaced her face just about as bright as her hair.
Harold laughed, "A toddler huh? Well, Emily'll tell you that I'm practically a toddler," he said and continued laughing. "We better go tell her there'll be two more for dinner, so she doesn't kick my arse for inviting you," he stated, calming down a bit and beckoning them to the kitchen.
Behind the stove stood a very pretty woman, short, but very pretty none the less; she had curly dark brown hair and light blue eyes framed by thick black lashes, no need for mascara here. She had a wonderful smile and for some reason, freckles, lots of them. "Harold, dear, you're home. and you've brought Seamus! Oh, this is right wonderful!" Emily exclaimed as she turned from the stove and rushed over, enveloping Seamus in a warm hug. "And your daughter! Lily right? Or is this Petunia?" Emily asked looking down at Lily.
"I'm Lily ma'am. Petunia is at home, grounded, with my mum," Lily said, feeling rather liked in this house.
"Of course, I didn't think the name Petunia fit you at all, I imagine it fits your sister rather well considering that Lily fits you extremely well. Oh and call me Emily, or mum, doesn't matter which, ma'am is so formal," Emily said crouching down and lightly pinching Lily's cheek.
"You're right about Petunia," Lily whispered to Emily, receiving a laugh from her and a stern look from Seamus. "Well it's true Dad, and you know it," Lily said, looking up at him.
James got the distinct impression that Petunia wasn't going to be a topic for very much longer so he changed it, to quidditch. "Mum, the game was amazing, shorter then I expected, but amazing. Ireland was scoring like crazy and O'Toole kept pulling Feints on Smythe and knocking him out cold, but Smythe turned around and not twenty minutes after the last time he crashed into the ground caught the snitch! Ireland scored 200, and Puddlemere got 300. It was great!" James explained quickly, everyone soon forgetting about Petunia.
"Glad you enjoyed your self James," Seamus said and ruffled his already unruly hair.
"O' course I enjoyed myself, its quidditch! I had an amazing time, thank you Mr. Evans for giving Dad the tickets!" James said, understanding the look he was receiving from both his parents.
"You're quite welcome James, I'm glad you could come and entertain my Lily while your father and I were talking," Seamus said smiling, his eyes shining down happily at the boy.
"Speaking of talking, James, why don't you show Lily around a little while your mother and I catch up on things with Seamus," Harold said sending Seamus and Emily meaningful looks.
"Okay, c'mon Lil, I'll show you my room," James said quickly and grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out of the room to the laughter of the adults. They ran up two flights of stairs and down a long hall before James threw open the door at the end that read:
James' Room
Enter at your own RISK!!
James' room was rather nicely furnished, a four poster bed in one corner, Victorian bureau and wardrobe along one wall, and moving pictures of quidditch teams on the walls. "Oh my, they move," Lily said standing just inside the door, utterly shell-shocked at this discovery.
"Of course they move! Don't muggle pictures move?" James asked confused.
"No, not at all, they're stationary. Strange," Lily said watching the pictures, not noticing the other things in James' room yet. James shook his head, Pictures that don't move? Muggles are so odd. Lily finally began to notice the other strange things in the room, like James' broomstick, a sneakoscope, and other moving pictures. "Is that a broomstick? One that flies?" Lily asked completely in awe.
"Yes, and of course you haven't flown having grown up at a muggle, do you want to try?" James asked her challengingly taking hold of the ash handle.
"It's dangerous right?" Lily asked.
"Yes, very, but if you reckon you can't do it, maybe you shouldn't," James said beginning to lean the broom back against the wall.
"I can do it if you can," Lily stated, trying to hide her fear.
"Alright, let's go then, there's a small wood behind the house where Sirius and I fly so that the muggles don't see us when he's over," James said, grabbing his broom and ushering her out of the room. They walked downstairs, past the drawing room where Seamus and Harold were talking business and out the backdoor into the field beyond. There was a small lake off to one side and the wood was on the other half a football (or quidditch) field away. They got to the wood and James demonstrated how to use the broom, for Lily's sake, then came back down and handed her the broom. "It's easy enough, you'll like it," James said to her.
Lily was apprehensive but thought, How hard can this be if James can do it? She mounted the broom and let it hover for a moment before leaning forward a bit and shooting forward, and up a little higher, weaving in and out of the trees. "This is amazing James!" Lily exclaimed as she went a little higher.
"Be careful Lily! Don't want to have to send you to hospital," James said slightly worried at Lily's tree weaving techniques. "If you're actually controlling the broom, I'd say you'd make a good chaser some day," he said as she came down in a lazy spiral.
There was a noise behind James and suddenly a great big large something jumped on him with a loud thud. James heard Lily gasp and then laughing, a very familiar laughing. "Sirius Black! What on earth are you doing here?" James asked punching him lightly on the shoulder and pushing him off him.
"I saw you walking out to the paddock with my omnioculars from last years World Cup carrying your broom, being trailed by a girl who looked remarkably like the girl I met in Madam Malkin's a few weeks ago," Sirius said standing and beating the dirt off his pants. He looked over at Lily and saw her looking appalled, laughed and said, "So it is thy fair Lily of the gorgeous green eyes," and then he bowed rather exaggeratedly and wound up doing a somersault and landing on his ass, causing them all to burst into laughter. Sirius looked up at Lily then, as she laughed and said, "She laughs! Oh she laughs! What a sweeter sound I've never heard!" He stood up and walked over to her and she stopped laughing though there was a light in her eyes, and he grasped her hand and kissed it.
Lily pulled her hand free from Sirius' grasp and was blushing, having never been treated like this before. "I say if you weren't planning to be a wizard you should be in movies, you're a great actor," Lily said smiling and looked over at James who had a strange smile upon his face that looked rather forced.
"Movies? You mean Muggle pictures? Those films that my mum goes to see and comes back in hysterics because so and so are attractive," Sirius asked scratching his head.
"Yes, well sort of. There are all kinds of different types of movies. It sounds like your mum goes to romantic ones, but there are other ones too, action, war films, comedies, horror films. They're entertainment that can be repeated over and over again without problems," Lily explained, still holding James' broomstick.
"Sounds interesting, maybe you should show us sometime?" Sirius asked sounding intrigued.
"Maybe," Lily smiled, feeling happier then she had for years. What's this? I barely know them! Maybe it's just finally good to have real friends, Lily thought and then sighed quietly.
James had been watching her face and wondered what caused her happiness to flicker and a shadow to be drawn over her face before clearing. James found himself wanting to ask her why and then shook himself. "We should probably being going back, don't want Lily's father to worry about her," James said breaking the silence before Sirius could start up another joke.
"That's probably best," Lily agreed and began to head out of the wood after James and Sirius.
"Hey James, you think I could stay over tonight?" Sirius asked as they headed up to the house.
"I don't know, I can ask," James said quietly, wondering why he was too troubled by Sirius' charming of Lily and causing her to laugh.
Sirius quietly wondered what was wrong with James having been friends with him since they were babies and never having seen James act like he was. It was strange and Sirius was going to try to cure it.
They walked up to the house and found that Seamus had been looking for Lily and couldn't find her. Emily looked like she wanted to clobber James for not telling them where they were going and for bringing out his broom without permission. They conveniently left out letting Lily fly because that would have gotten James into more trouble. Sirius was welcomed with a hug and kiss on the head followed by an invite to dinner and to stay the night. About ten minutes after they came back inside dinner was ready and the table was set and everyone sat down to eat.
It wasn't a quiet dinner like Lily was used to. It was loud, rambunctious and completely enjoyable. The food was delicious and Sirius flattered Emily rather dramatically for almost 5 minutes before James threw some potatoes at him and told him to stop being such a brown noser. Which caused Sirius to throw some potatoes back and before it could become a full scale food fight Emily pulled her wand from her pocket and said "Imobulus," while pointing it at the food and said, "James, Sirius, you'll want to be nice or I won't let Sirius stay the night," which blackmailed them into behaving for about twenty minutes so that the meal could conclude.
James asked later if Lily wanted to stay but Seamus couldn't be convinced. He said, "Tomorrow is Lily's last day to spend with her mother for 10 months, Abby would be quite disagreeable if I didn't bring Lily home tonight."
James tried one more tactic; "I'm sure mum would let you both stay then you could go early and still have the day to spend with Lily's mum!" he looked rather desperate.
"I'm sorry James, truly I am, because I know Emily wouldn't mind at all, but I can't, I have to work early and by the time you three would get to be Lily and I would have to leave again, its better that we just go now. Besides you'll see her the day after tomorrow every day for 10 months, you might get sick of her," Seamus reasoned and as James could find no holes in his reasoning, couldn't fight the decision.
Good byes were said and see you soon too. Lily and Seamus got into their car and drove back home, Lily fell asleep soon after they started home. Seamus carried her inside and tucked her into bed. "Goodnight my Water Lily, see you in the morning," Seamus said and kissed her forehead.
"G'night Dad," Lily mumbled before tumbling into a strange dream filled sleep. She dreamed a great many things that she wouldn't remember in the morning. A dance where she was in the arms of James all night. Watching from a high tower while three large animals and one tiny one roamed the edge of a forest and worrying about those animals. Finally a baby and a bright green light that woke her from her dreams as the sun hit her face in the morning. All Lily remembered when she woke was being desperately afraid and scared for the baby but nothing else and the dream soon slipped from her mind as the day started.
Chapter 3: Quidditch, Dinner and a Dream.
Seamus chose to come home each night after that from work, mostly to be sure that Lily wasn't getting anymore abuse from her sister and in turn that Petunia was following her grounding. Petunia was most disappointed with her father staying home; as if he wasn't there she was sure she could convince Abigail to let her see Vernon.
The last weeks of the summer passed quickly. Seamus was able to acquire tickets to a quidditch game; Puddlemere United against Ireland. He asked if Petunia and Abigail wanted to attend. Petunia looked disgusted and said she'd rather stay home and Abigail decided to stay home to watch Petunia, which disappointed Petunia as she had been planning on sneaking out.
So, Lily got to see her first quidditch game. She was really excited and woke up early to get ready to go. She was also very interested in how a great lot of wizards could gather together, she'd read in A History of Magic that there had been many incidences over the ages about muggles seeing wizarding activities and having to be memory charmed. She'd read all of her books in two weeks and was rereading them over and over again, making the information stick into her brain. She wanted to make her father proud of her, proud that she was a wizard, like him, and Petunia wasn't.
Seamus found his Water Lily awake and reading her school books when he went to wake her. "So you're excited?" he asked her sitting next to her on the bed.
"Yes! I really am. I read about all the precautions that wizards have to take to keep the muggles from seeing them. It's really fascinating!" Lily said sitting up cross legged next to him.
"Now, now, you don't have to be completely focused on school work at Hogwarts, you should have fun too," Seamus said and ruffled her hair.
"I know, and I will. I also want to you be proud of me!" Lily said quietly and looked down at the wooden floors.
"I'm already proud of you Lil, and I always will be. I'm going to rely on you to watch them when you're grown and I am gone, because there is a danger coming towards us, all of us, even muggles. There is a man, a wizard, who is very bad, evil. He's trying to gain control everywhere, and things are dangerous. His name is Voldemort, don't be afraid to speak his name even if others are, it only increases the fear of him. I and others are working tirelessly against him, trying to stop him, but there is always a risk that I might not come home. So I am going to have to trust you to take care of Petunia and your mother, if something happens to me," Seamus said holding Lily close to him.
Lily knew that this conversation was serious and mentally imprinted it on her memory. "All right Dad, I'll do my best, but there's only so much I can do with Petunia," Lily smiled tightly.
"Yes I know. But she loves you, even if she doesn't show it. Family ties are all the more important these days and in those to come. C'mon, enough sad talk. We've got a quidditch game to get to," Seamus said tightened the embrace he had her in slightly and then released her from his grasp. She jumped up and grabbed a bag from the end of her bed and raced out of the room to be followed by a laughing Seamus.
They drove to where the game was to take place and parked in muggle parking arrangements. They found their way to the pitch to find thousands of people already in the stands, and more on their way. "We've got really good seats, up near the Top Box," Seamus said to Lily, picking her up in his arms and Lily had the briefest of thoughts about her father and dismissed it easily as stupidity, He's making up for not being around to stop Petunia's tortures. Seamus carried Lily up the stairs to their seats, telling her who everyone was that kept stopping them on the way up. Dozens of wizards said hello and called out to Seamus on the way up. Lily found herself memorizing them and categorizing them by who looked friendly and trustworthy, which most of them did, a couple looked annoyed but called out to her father on principal.
They sat down and waited, watching as the seats filled up and the two next to them stayed empty. The game was about to start when a voice called out to Seamus. "Seamus, seeing you more then once outside of the office, this is beginning to start a world record," said a familiar voice as both Seamus and Lily looked up to find Harold Potter standing at the end of the aisle with James.
"Harold, you knew you'd be seein' me today as I gave you those tickets when my wife and Petunia decided not to come," Seamus said standing up and giving Harold a friendly hug.
"Yes, yes, I did. I just like making jokes of you, since before that the last times I'd seen you were at your wedding and at mine; that is outside the office," Harold said sitting next to Seamus and James sat next to Lily. Seamus and Harold carried on like that until the game started.
"Nice to see you again Lily," James said facing her, pretty much ignoring his father as he talked with Seamus.
"And you James," Lily said watching him quietly as she sort of absorbed her surroundings a bit more.
"I understand this is your first quidditch game, correct?" James asked smiling as a light sort of shone from his eyes.
"Yes, my dad explained quidditch to me for the first time after a boy in Madam Malkin's asked me about my letter. He started going on about quidditch and I didn't know what it was, felt rather embarrassed," Lily said as color crept up on her cheeks.
"Really? Sirius was telling me about a girl he met in Malkin's on the same day that we were there; I don't imagine it was you were it?" James asked looking interested.
"Sirius Black?" Lily asked and at James' nod continued, "Then yes, that was me, why, what did he say?"
"Nothing really, just said you had the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen, and I must say he's got a point," James said smiling at her again, causing her to blush yet again. "You're blushing? Why? Hasn't anyone ever said that to you before?" he asked confused at her reaction.
"Actually no, quite the opposite," Lily said and smiled meekly.
"What? Who's been telling lies to you Lil?" James asked looking rather noble as if he'd be jumping up to defend her honor any minute.
"No one, just always known I'm not pretty or anything," Lily mumbled quite ready to change the subject.
James saw her apprehension and decided to change the subject back to quidditch and Lily was visibly grateful. James started spouting about the teams, how Ireland were the leading scorers in the league and how Puddlemere was going to be close to a push over, though they might get the snitch before Ireland. James explained the rules and such of quidditch again, just to make sure that Lily understood. Then the game started.
It was fast paced and exciting. Lily was having a lot of fun listening to James and watching him jump up and down. Twice Ireland's seeker was thought to have seen the snitch but was only pulling a Wronski Feint causing the Puddlemere seeker to crash into the ground. The medi-wizards had a hard time awakening him. When Puddlemere awakened the game began again with Ireland in the lead by 50 points. The Puddlemere seeker suddenly began a dive and Ireland followed him.
"He's seen the snitch!" James screamed and as it turned out the Puddlemere seeker had seen the snitch and Ireland was closing in. The Puddlemere seeker's hand was stretched out to the maximum and a man in the Top Box was giving play by play of the action. "SMYTHE'S CAPTURED THE SNITCH! PUDDLEMERE UNITED HAS WON! PUDDLEMERE 300, IRELAND 200! PUDDLEMERE HAS WON!!!" a voice called out over the stadium.
"James, James, you predicted the game you know, you said that Puddlemere might get the snitch before Ireland," Lily said loudly so James could hear over all the noise. "Lucky guess! It's all really practical if you look at the statistics," James said close to Lily's ear so that she could hear him. Lily just smiled at him, as if to say, 'Whatever you say, James, whatever you say.' James smiled and laughed and thought, Too bad the game was so short.why am I thinking that? Strange.
"Seamus, you and Lily should come over for dinner tonight!" Harold said loudly, "Besides, she and James are getting along well, and Emily has been meaning to invite you for years, but you never leave the office!" he was trying to convince Seamus who was about to say no when Harold said, "It would give Lily the chance to see a Wizard house before she goes off to school," and he said it so that Lily heard and it piqued her interest.
"Dad, please?! I really would like it! I haven't seen a real wizard family as there's been nothing magic in our house before I got my things! Please Dad?" Lily asked excitedly and she could tell he was about to cave.
"Oh, alright, might as well," Seamus sighed and caught Lily in midair as she jumped up to give him a hug. "Well, if you want to go to dinner we should go now and find a muggle phone so I can call Abby," Seamus said and put Lily down, and off they went to the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow for dinner.
They arrived in Godric's Hollow just about 5 that afternoon. It was quite a nice house, old and interesting; it looked like it had been handed down like a family heirloom. Lily fell in love with it as soon as she stepped inside. It was full of both Muggle items and of course all sorts of Wizards items as it was a wizards' house. The moment Lily walked in she was amazed. There were hard wood floors, almost perfectly maintained antiques, it was beautiful, and an adult's dream but a kid's nightmare, well depending upon the kid, but Lily thought it was a guarantee that James didn't like the house at all.
"Your house is great Mr. Potter! I love it," Lily said excitedly as she twirled about looking at the rafters.
"Lily, just call me Harold, Mr. Potter is so formal," Harold said and ruffled her hair in a fatherly fashion.
"Alright, Harold," Lily said and felt as if she wanted to laugh.
"What's so funny Lily?" James asked looking confused.
"Does your father have a purple crayon?" Lily asked and snorted into her father's stomach laughing.
Seamus understood his daughter's joke and laughed too. Harold and James stood there looking confused. "Harold and the Purple Crayon is a muggle children's book. Harold is a toddler that runs around drawing things with a purple crayon, a kind of muggle drawing tool," Seamus explained as Lily resurfaced her face just about as bright as her hair.
Harold laughed, "A toddler huh? Well, Emily'll tell you that I'm practically a toddler," he said and continued laughing. "We better go tell her there'll be two more for dinner, so she doesn't kick my arse for inviting you," he stated, calming down a bit and beckoning them to the kitchen.
Behind the stove stood a very pretty woman, short, but very pretty none the less; she had curly dark brown hair and light blue eyes framed by thick black lashes, no need for mascara here. She had a wonderful smile and for some reason, freckles, lots of them. "Harold, dear, you're home. and you've brought Seamus! Oh, this is right wonderful!" Emily exclaimed as she turned from the stove and rushed over, enveloping Seamus in a warm hug. "And your daughter! Lily right? Or is this Petunia?" Emily asked looking down at Lily.
"I'm Lily ma'am. Petunia is at home, grounded, with my mum," Lily said, feeling rather liked in this house.
"Of course, I didn't think the name Petunia fit you at all, I imagine it fits your sister rather well considering that Lily fits you extremely well. Oh and call me Emily, or mum, doesn't matter which, ma'am is so formal," Emily said crouching down and lightly pinching Lily's cheek.
"You're right about Petunia," Lily whispered to Emily, receiving a laugh from her and a stern look from Seamus. "Well it's true Dad, and you know it," Lily said, looking up at him.
James got the distinct impression that Petunia wasn't going to be a topic for very much longer so he changed it, to quidditch. "Mum, the game was amazing, shorter then I expected, but amazing. Ireland was scoring like crazy and O'Toole kept pulling Feints on Smythe and knocking him out cold, but Smythe turned around and not twenty minutes after the last time he crashed into the ground caught the snitch! Ireland scored 200, and Puddlemere got 300. It was great!" James explained quickly, everyone soon forgetting about Petunia.
"Glad you enjoyed your self James," Seamus said and ruffled his already unruly hair.
"O' course I enjoyed myself, its quidditch! I had an amazing time, thank you Mr. Evans for giving Dad the tickets!" James said, understanding the look he was receiving from both his parents.
"You're quite welcome James, I'm glad you could come and entertain my Lily while your father and I were talking," Seamus said smiling, his eyes shining down happily at the boy.
"Speaking of talking, James, why don't you show Lily around a little while your mother and I catch up on things with Seamus," Harold said sending Seamus and Emily meaningful looks.
"Okay, c'mon Lil, I'll show you my room," James said quickly and grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out of the room to the laughter of the adults. They ran up two flights of stairs and down a long hall before James threw open the door at the end that read:
James' Room
Enter at your own RISK!!
James' room was rather nicely furnished, a four poster bed in one corner, Victorian bureau and wardrobe along one wall, and moving pictures of quidditch teams on the walls. "Oh my, they move," Lily said standing just inside the door, utterly shell-shocked at this discovery.
"Of course they move! Don't muggle pictures move?" James asked confused.
"No, not at all, they're stationary. Strange," Lily said watching the pictures, not noticing the other things in James' room yet. James shook his head, Pictures that don't move? Muggles are so odd. Lily finally began to notice the other strange things in the room, like James' broomstick, a sneakoscope, and other moving pictures. "Is that a broomstick? One that flies?" Lily asked completely in awe.
"Yes, and of course you haven't flown having grown up at a muggle, do you want to try?" James asked her challengingly taking hold of the ash handle.
"It's dangerous right?" Lily asked.
"Yes, very, but if you reckon you can't do it, maybe you shouldn't," James said beginning to lean the broom back against the wall.
"I can do it if you can," Lily stated, trying to hide her fear.
"Alright, let's go then, there's a small wood behind the house where Sirius and I fly so that the muggles don't see us when he's over," James said, grabbing his broom and ushering her out of the room. They walked downstairs, past the drawing room where Seamus and Harold were talking business and out the backdoor into the field beyond. There was a small lake off to one side and the wood was on the other half a football (or quidditch) field away. They got to the wood and James demonstrated how to use the broom, for Lily's sake, then came back down and handed her the broom. "It's easy enough, you'll like it," James said to her.
Lily was apprehensive but thought, How hard can this be if James can do it? She mounted the broom and let it hover for a moment before leaning forward a bit and shooting forward, and up a little higher, weaving in and out of the trees. "This is amazing James!" Lily exclaimed as she went a little higher.
"Be careful Lily! Don't want to have to send you to hospital," James said slightly worried at Lily's tree weaving techniques. "If you're actually controlling the broom, I'd say you'd make a good chaser some day," he said as she came down in a lazy spiral.
There was a noise behind James and suddenly a great big large something jumped on him with a loud thud. James heard Lily gasp and then laughing, a very familiar laughing. "Sirius Black! What on earth are you doing here?" James asked punching him lightly on the shoulder and pushing him off him.
"I saw you walking out to the paddock with my omnioculars from last years World Cup carrying your broom, being trailed by a girl who looked remarkably like the girl I met in Madam Malkin's a few weeks ago," Sirius said standing and beating the dirt off his pants. He looked over at Lily and saw her looking appalled, laughed and said, "So it is thy fair Lily of the gorgeous green eyes," and then he bowed rather exaggeratedly and wound up doing a somersault and landing on his ass, causing them all to burst into laughter. Sirius looked up at Lily then, as she laughed and said, "She laughs! Oh she laughs! What a sweeter sound I've never heard!" He stood up and walked over to her and she stopped laughing though there was a light in her eyes, and he grasped her hand and kissed it.
Lily pulled her hand free from Sirius' grasp and was blushing, having never been treated like this before. "I say if you weren't planning to be a wizard you should be in movies, you're a great actor," Lily said smiling and looked over at James who had a strange smile upon his face that looked rather forced.
"Movies? You mean Muggle pictures? Those films that my mum goes to see and comes back in hysterics because so and so are attractive," Sirius asked scratching his head.
"Yes, well sort of. There are all kinds of different types of movies. It sounds like your mum goes to romantic ones, but there are other ones too, action, war films, comedies, horror films. They're entertainment that can be repeated over and over again without problems," Lily explained, still holding James' broomstick.
"Sounds interesting, maybe you should show us sometime?" Sirius asked sounding intrigued.
"Maybe," Lily smiled, feeling happier then she had for years. What's this? I barely know them! Maybe it's just finally good to have real friends, Lily thought and then sighed quietly.
James had been watching her face and wondered what caused her happiness to flicker and a shadow to be drawn over her face before clearing. James found himself wanting to ask her why and then shook himself. "We should probably being going back, don't want Lily's father to worry about her," James said breaking the silence before Sirius could start up another joke.
"That's probably best," Lily agreed and began to head out of the wood after James and Sirius.
"Hey James, you think I could stay over tonight?" Sirius asked as they headed up to the house.
"I don't know, I can ask," James said quietly, wondering why he was too troubled by Sirius' charming of Lily and causing her to laugh.
Sirius quietly wondered what was wrong with James having been friends with him since they were babies and never having seen James act like he was. It was strange and Sirius was going to try to cure it.
They walked up to the house and found that Seamus had been looking for Lily and couldn't find her. Emily looked like she wanted to clobber James for not telling them where they were going and for bringing out his broom without permission. They conveniently left out letting Lily fly because that would have gotten James into more trouble. Sirius was welcomed with a hug and kiss on the head followed by an invite to dinner and to stay the night. About ten minutes after they came back inside dinner was ready and the table was set and everyone sat down to eat.
It wasn't a quiet dinner like Lily was used to. It was loud, rambunctious and completely enjoyable. The food was delicious and Sirius flattered Emily rather dramatically for almost 5 minutes before James threw some potatoes at him and told him to stop being such a brown noser. Which caused Sirius to throw some potatoes back and before it could become a full scale food fight Emily pulled her wand from her pocket and said "Imobulus," while pointing it at the food and said, "James, Sirius, you'll want to be nice or I won't let Sirius stay the night," which blackmailed them into behaving for about twenty minutes so that the meal could conclude.
James asked later if Lily wanted to stay but Seamus couldn't be convinced. He said, "Tomorrow is Lily's last day to spend with her mother for 10 months, Abby would be quite disagreeable if I didn't bring Lily home tonight."
James tried one more tactic; "I'm sure mum would let you both stay then you could go early and still have the day to spend with Lily's mum!" he looked rather desperate.
"I'm sorry James, truly I am, because I know Emily wouldn't mind at all, but I can't, I have to work early and by the time you three would get to be Lily and I would have to leave again, its better that we just go now. Besides you'll see her the day after tomorrow every day for 10 months, you might get sick of her," Seamus reasoned and as James could find no holes in his reasoning, couldn't fight the decision.
Good byes were said and see you soon too. Lily and Seamus got into their car and drove back home, Lily fell asleep soon after they started home. Seamus carried her inside and tucked her into bed. "Goodnight my Water Lily, see you in the morning," Seamus said and kissed her forehead.
"G'night Dad," Lily mumbled before tumbling into a strange dream filled sleep. She dreamed a great many things that she wouldn't remember in the morning. A dance where she was in the arms of James all night. Watching from a high tower while three large animals and one tiny one roamed the edge of a forest and worrying about those animals. Finally a baby and a bright green light that woke her from her dreams as the sun hit her face in the morning. All Lily remembered when she woke was being desperately afraid and scared for the baby but nothing else and the dream soon slipped from her mind as the day started.