Chapter 18- A Quick Invitation
Lily awoke abruptly to a light being shone in her face.
"James! What the hell?" She rounded on him, and then realized that he had nothing to do with the light. Her head swiveled in the other direction, and she blinked.
"What is this?" A female voice asked impatiently. "Are you homeless or something?"
Lily bit her lip grimly and shook her head. The flashlight slowly scanned over them, and the lady holding it noticed her attire. "No, I suppose not." she muttered, then shifted the light to James' face.
He grunted, awakened. "What's this? What's going on? Bloody hell, get that thing out of my face!"
"KEVIN! TURN ON THE LIGHTS!" the woman yelled at the top of her lungs, causing Lily and James to flinch and shift (A/N: Think Austin Powers...hehe, except there's no counting this time.). A few seconds later, the train station brightened. The two of them looked at each other and then looked at the woman. She was tall, brown hair and brown eyes. She looked to be in her thirties.
"I demand to know what's going on." she said, tapping her foot; it was so silent that you could almost hear it hitting the cement.
"I could ask the same of you." James grunted.
Lily hit his arm lightly and told the woman, "I'm sorry, but we sort of, er, missed our train, and fell asleep here." She attempted to explain, the whole time staring at her hands.
This lady was unconvinced. "Uh-huh. And that absolutely explains why you're wearing a dress, and an expensive one, at that."
"But-"
Lily, her brain snapping on, almost smiled to herself. Devious… She began to cry, waving her hands up in the air and looking as pathetic as possible. "I just- oh!" She bawled openly, putting her head in her hands. Glancing at James inconspicuously, while still crying, she noticed that he was bewildered. Idiot…doesn't he know what I'm doing? I suppose not.
It was working. "Oh dear. Don't cry. Whoever you are and whatever the story is, I'm sure we can patch it up." The woman was saying, laying a hand on Lily's shoulder.
Lily looked up, her eyes wide and
helpless. "You w-would do that?"
"Of course dear. Follow me." She gave James a pointed
look. "You can come too. You should be comforting your girlfriend."
"He/she's not my boyfriend/girlfriend!" they pointed to each other.
The brown-haired woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh no? You looked awfully cozy."
Lily looked at the ground, a blush creeping up in her cheeks. "We used to be."
The woman watched her a moment, her glance switching from Lily to James. She said nothing, and turned on her heel, retreating to the little building on the side, where a man the seventeen-year-olds hadn't noticed was standing. They stopped in front of him.
"Kevin," the woman was saying, "I'm going to need you to make some coffee. And set a few extra chairs out, inside."
"Yes, Ms. Johnstone." He nodded to her and was just about to disappear into the building when James burst out,
"Ms. Johnstone? As in the Kelly Johnstone- famous former Gryffindor seeker?"
The woman beamed. "That'd be me." Suddenly, her eyes shone with a new light- realization. "And here I was thinking you were Muggles!" she accented the last word.
Poor Kevin was looking around between them as if they were crazy. "Oh- old business, Kevin. Pay no mind. Go make that coffee, if you will." He gave them one last, strange glance, and disappeared again.
"My, my! Magical people!" Kelly Johnstone clasped her hands together excitedly.
"Er- yes." Lily gave a weak smile. It didn't appear as if her emotional breakdown would be needed anymore.
"Well- I'll be! Come in, come in!" she beckoned for them to follow her inside, as she held up a hand to her mouth and said quietly to them with a wink, "I'll send Kevin out to do something and we can have a good, nice, wizarding discussion. Been too long. My, yes, way too long."
"Mm." was all James said. Lily was silent, last to follow. She was going over in her head what she was going to explain and what she wasn't. It was too overwhelming. She sighed deeply, once again deeming herself too dramatic. Before she noticed that they had stopped, Ms. Johnstone had heard her sigh, and seemed to suddenly remember her little crying fit.
"Oh, yes dear! I almost forgot! What is it bothering you?" she didn't blame James this time; his compliment must have been taken to heart. James stiffened slightly as they took their seats around a small round table.
"Er-" Lily started. "I-"
The coffee suddenly entered with Kevin. The young, blonde-haired guy was glancing at the teenagers suspiciously. Ms. Johnstone noticed, and not wanting to let him overhear anything involving their world, she said, "You know Kevin, I should be checking over the station right now. But with the visit of there- er- old friends, I'd like to chat. Would you mind taking over, just for today?" He grunted something that sounded like a no, grabbed his coat, and disappeared into the now lit train station.
"That's better." She sipped her coffee and spluttered. "Too hot…"
"Um, Ms. Johnstone, why if you're magical, are you working here?" Lily inquired innocently, watching the woman with intent green eyes.
She seemed surprised, as if
forgetting what it was all about, and looked up at Lily quickly. Then her face
split into a warm smile. "That's a good question. But it isn't really something
I, ah, want to share just yet." There was a pause, and then she added, "Let's
hear your story." She eyes Lily's dress again.
The Head boy and girl
exchanged quick glances, and James edged her on, seeming to mouth, 'just tell
the truth, it can't hurt.'
"Okay." Lily said, sounding defeated. She began to ramble it off, clasping her hands tightly in her lap. "My parents are rich. They set me up to marry a guy before I left for Hogwarts this year. I was angry. I met James. We- er- hit it off at first. Then we broke up, got back together, broke up, got back- oh, I dunno- I'm lost." She smiled sheepishly, shifting under James' glance. "I was in the process of, um, kissing him goodbye for Christmas break yesterday, here in the station, when my mum interrupted us. They practically abducted him," she pointed at James. "I was forced into my mother's usual party. I slipped away, got him out of the closet, and we ran off, eventually ending up on that bench. We fell asleep, and you found us." She sighed and took a large breath, picking up her coffee and attempting to drown herself in it. When she set it back down, she saw the woman staring at her, her mouth slightly open. James was fiddling with his coffee mug, not really wanting to be a part of this.
"Well." Was all she said. They stared at the table for a long time, before she suddenly spoke up again. "That's not…usual, I'll say that. It almost isn't credible. But me, I'm not from a rich family. Who knows what they do. No offense." She added, glancing at Lily.
The red-head smiled politely, as best she could, still being rather tired. "None taken."
"Well, I can believe it, I suppose, since why would that be what you'd make up? So it has to be true. But, er, where are you headed?"
Lily glanced around, as if she expected her mum to be there any second. "Back to Hogwarts, I figured."
The woman stared flatly. "You do know that there isn't another train until the end of the break."
"Yes- I- had other means." Lily was now fiddling with her dress intently.
"I see." Mrs. Johnstone's lips curled into a smile. "You remind me of myself, once you take away the money.
"What?"
"Tricky one, I can tell. You surprise me."
"No- that's him." She pointed at James, who was glancing out the window.
He looked up. "Huh?"
"Nothing, dear." The woman smiled and when he looked away again, she mouthed to Lily, 'quite handsome, dear. Nice catch.'
Lily blushed slightly and said, "Yeah, I suppose. But not anymore…it can't be."
"Then why are you running away, if you honestly think that?"
She opened her mouth, and then clamped it shut. Why indeed? She shrugged. "I don't know anything anymore."
"Oh, don't worry. It's what makes life interesting." She paused. "Your life is quite interesting. It intrigues me. I live around here. I was, hmm, wondering if you'd like to stay for the break with me- you and him, of course."
Lily stared and flipped it over in
her mind. Why should it matter? She seems
nice enough…a little to eager to know my personal life, I should say, but nice…"James?"
James glanced over at her with
a look that plainly asked, 'are you finished yet?' and said, "What?" he
apparently hadn't been listening to anything.
Lily smiled with pursed lips. "You want to stay with her until it's time to go back."
He shrugged. "I don't-"
Mrs. Johnstone quickly jumped in. "I have some quidditch things that might be of interest to you."
He instantly grinned and said, "Sure."
"Well then, I would love to have you! Hopefully you don't think I'm some sort of child abductor, seeing as how I don't know you, really- it's just- I don't have much company."
Lily smiled at her. "You're very kind." The abruptness of the offer was still a little weird, but no matter. So was the rest of the situation, so what could she say?
Ms. Johnstone said, "By the way, just call me Kelly." She winked and started for the door into an adjoined room, "I'm gonna find you something else to wear, dear, you look uncomfortable."
Lily watched James for a moment, listening to the rustling from the next room. She was about to say something to him when Kelly appeared at her side and said loudly, "This'll have to do, until we go back to my house. Oh dear!" she said suddenly.
Lily raised an eyebrow in question.
"I don't even know your names!"
"Well- James Potter." She pointed at the messy black-haired boy, who was rather distracted and bored, and then said, "I'm Lily Evans."
"Hmm- to be Lily Potter?" Kelly said quietly into her ear, causing Lily to jump.
"No! Never!"
The middle-aged woman smiled, her brown eyes twinkling. "Ah- young love!"
Lily groaned, her jaw tightening. "You're like an older version of my best friend. I don't think I like it."
Kelly waved her hand in the air, pushing the idea away. "Nah. I'm my own kind of person."
"Like Mary, indeed…" A little more- what's the word- 'deary' though. Mary isn't as dramatic, either.
She swept a hand over her brown hair. "I should like to meet this Mary someday."
Lily blinked. What was this turning into- a friendship? She began to laugh at the strangeness of it all. What had she gotten herself into? Running away from home with her now ex-boyfriend, being woken up by a somewhat strange but comforting woman who just out of the blue asks them to stay with her at her house…and I accepted?
"You may want to change, Lily."
Kelly indicated the bathroom off to the right.
"Oh- yeah- thanks." She mumbled, gathering herself and the large sweatshirt and
jeans Kelly had thrown into her lap, heading towards the bathroom, a million
strange thoughts running through her head at once.
@~~~~~~~~~~~~~@
Lily was sitting on Kelly Johnstone's couch, glancing around the woman's home appreciatively. It was small and homey. Just the kind of house Lily had always wanted. James sat beside her. They hadn't said a word. Kelly had bounced out the door, having excused herself from work that day, mentioning something about needing more groceries. It was uncanny; the woman was actually pleased at having two basically unknown teenager guests for Christmas. Lily wasn't quite sure what to think of it.
She jumped abruptly, feeling James' hand on her leg. She glanced over at him. He grinned at her. She asked, "Oh, you're alive again?"
"What? It took me awhile to figure out exactly what was going on." He glanced at the door. "That lady rather scares me."
"Why? She's perfectly nice. And I thought she was a quidditch idol." She told him thoughtfully.
"Er- I dunno, she just freaks me out a little."
"Well get used to it, because we're spending awhile here. And you'd better be thankful! I wasn't looking forward to explaining the whole thing to Dumbledore anyway, about why we were back to early and- oh it wouldn't have gone well."
"Yeah." James said, gazing at her as she gazed at the painting on the wall opposite her. It was mix of dark and light colors, pretty and yet there was something behind it. She was trying to figure it out when James said,
"Lily, what are we now?"
Lily sighed. "I don't know. Lord knows if we get back together we'll just break up. And I- I don't think it was meant to be."
"Probably not." He mumbled. She nodded, and seeing this, he blurted out, "But why does that matter?"
"Is poor little James missing the cuddling?"
James looked into his lap. "No." he said pointedly.
She laughed and leaned against his shoulder, patting his knee like she had done the night before. "We could always be friends with benefits."
He perked up at this thought, looking down at her head on his arm. "Really?"
She looked up into his eyes and grinned. "Not like that, you prat. My innocence is hardly in your hands."
"Damn." He mumbled. He began to play with her hair with one of his hands. She was about to say something when she noticed him leaning in.
By default, she moved away. "James, I'm- I don't think the time is right for that and- just, I don't think- I'm sorry." She mumbled, scooting away from him.
He grunted. "Alright fine. I won't try to kiss you."
She smiled. "Good. I'll give you permission when you can." She winked.
He scowled and imitated her in a high voice, "I'll give you permission when-"
Swatting the back of his head, she cuddled into his body, causing him to cut off abruptly. "I hate this." He snapped.
"What?"
"You teasing me! Why, pray tell, can't we be together?
After all the fighting, it's inevitable that it'll happen again whether we get
back together or not! So why not enjoy the benefits while we can?"
She stifled a yawn. "You know,
I'm not really in the mood for all this…"
He scowled into her hair. "I hate you."
"I know. I hate you too." She smiled, about to fall asleep against his chest when he suddenly bellowed,
"Oh shit! My invisibility cloak was in my trunk!"
Her eyes popped open, just as the door was thrown open by a rather flustered looking Kelly Johnstone.
@~~~~~~~~~~~~~@
A/N: Lovely reviewers…I'm so glad you don't hate the story =) Was this chapter a little too, erm, farfetched? The whole story probably is, but guess what- I don't care! Well, let me know if you liked this chappie please! I'm feeling a little…strange. That's something new isn't it? (that was meant to be sarcastic, btw) Haha, I'm avoiding my homework again! Hey, the Grammy's are on tonight, aren't they? Hmm- too bad for my biology notes, it seems they won't be seeing me today. And as for my math notes- well, they don't exist!
This is way off-topic, so let's just say, I'd really really appreciate anything you'd leave me to read! And sorry if that chapter was a little strange…one, that's me, and two, I had none of it planned, it just came out as I wrote it- so oh well!
