Disclaimer: The usual--I don't own any of the characters you recognize
here, such as Lily, James, Petunia, Sirius, or Remus. However, I DO own
Sammy. Oh yeah, and I don't own those song lyrics that are below this;
those are lyrics to the song "Until the Day I Die" by Story of the Year.
Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you, for you
Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you
As years go by
I race the clock with you
But if you died right now
You know that I'd die too
I'd die too
You remind me of the times
When I knew who I was (I was)
But still the second hand will catch us
Like it always does
We'll make the same mistakes
I'll take the fall for you
I hope you need this now
Cause I know I still do
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Should I bite my tongue?
Until blood soaks my shirt
We'll never fall apart
Tell me why this hurts so much
My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
But still we'll say, "remember when"
Just like we always do
Just like we always do
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Yeah I'd spill my heart
Yeah I'd spill my heart for you
My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
We made the same mistakes
Mistakes like friends do
My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
We made the same mistakes
Made the same mistakes
Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you, for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you, for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
Until the day I die~ "Until the Day I Die" by Story of the Year
It was the day of James's party and the guests were due to start arriving soon. Earlier in the day James had gotten his acceptance letter from Hogwarts, telling him that he had magic powers and was invited to come to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. James was so excited, he could hardly wait til he could go buy his Hogwarts things in that once place his parents told him about, Diagon Alley or something like that. But he also was still dreading the party, because it meant it would be closer to the time he has to leave Lily.
The doorbell rang. James walked over to the door and opened it. Standing outside was Lily and Petunia, dressed in matching pale pink skirts and sleevless shirts. Lily was grinning at him, and she twirled around, her skirt spinning.
"Don't you LOVE my skirt, James?" she said ecstatically. "Mother got matching outfits for me and Petunia!"
James smiled. "Nice, Lily...Hey, Petunia, what's up?"
Petunia stood there holding a fancily-wrapped present, a sullen look on her face making her look like she didn't want to be there at all.
"Hi, James," she drawled, sounding bored.
James grinned at her, trying to cheer her up. "C'mon, Pety, where's your party spirit?"
"Lily dragged me here, otherwise I wouldn't have come, thank you very much!" Petunia said angrily, glaring at James.
"Awww, you mean you didn't want to see me?" James said flirtatiously. A little bit of flirting couldn't hurt to cheer Petunia up, he was sure Lily wouldn't mind--it's not like he was even the least bit interested in Pety; she greatly resembled a horse.
Petunia smiled a little; she had always had a huge crush on James, but Lily had gotten to him first years ago, which was part of the reason Petunia seemed to hate Lily so much. Petunia remembered the night Lily had come home after a day of playing with James at the beach and had told her and her parents excitedly, "James kissed me and told me he loved me!" Petunia involuntarily shuddered at the recollection of that moment. She had cried herself to sleep that night, knowing that James, her "little crush", would never be hers.
"Sure I wanted--" Petunia broke off, having been interrupted by the arrival of two more guests coming in the still open door: one of Lily & James's schoolfriends, Sammy, and Sirius Black.
Lily screamed excitedly and ran up to Sirius, giving him a huge hug. "Oh my god, it's so good to see you, Sirius!" she exclaimed.
Sirius laughed and hugged her back. "Good to see you too, Lily." He stepped away from Lily and walked over to James, with Sammy following.
"Happy birthday, mate," Sirius said, giving James a high-five.
"Yeah, happy birthday, James," Sammy added quietly. He held out a shabbily wrapped present, and James took it, looking at it warily. "Uh, here you go," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away.
James opened the present and grinned happily. "You got me that computer game I've been wanting forever! Thanks so much, Sammy!"
"Yeah, it cost a lot of money, we don't really have that much left," Sammy said, and then a wary look crossed his face. "I mean, we didn't really have enough to get you anything else besides the game."
James smiled. "I understand, Sammy."
Sammy smiled a little smile, but he still looked kind of sad, until Lily threw her arms around him and gave him an even bigger hug than the one she had given Sirius.
"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy!" she said in disbelief, shaking her head. "I thought you had deserted me AGES ago!"
Sammy laughed. Lily always managed to cheer him up somehow. He admired her hyperactive personality, the way she would go on about things even if no one was listening and how she got excited about even the littlest things, and he most of all admired her beautiful sparkling emerald eyes and her silky red hair. He knew they were only kids and therefore to young to be in a relationship and love someone, but he couldn't help feeling that he loved Lily. Only problem is, James had gotten to her first.
"Aw, c'mon, Lils, you know I just had more important things to do," Sammy teased, laughing.
Lily hit him playfully on his shoulder, grinning.
"Sammy!" she whined. "We haven't seen each other since the fourth grade, and all you can say is that you had more important things to do than see me?"
"Lily, I didn't mean that!" Sammy said worriedly.
Lily burst out laughing. "C'mon, Sammy, I was just kidding!"
Sammy smiled a little smile. "Okay, Lils."
By that time, Sirius & James had walked away from Lily and Sammy, whispering excitedly. Lily suspected they were up to something, but she had no idea what, and she didn't really care. After all, they were at a party, and they were supposed to have fun during the party, not be all suspicious of someone whispering.
"So, Lily," Sammy said, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at his feet.
Lily looked at him, her eyes wide. "Yeah?"
"Lily, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever known," Sammy whispered, his eyes sparkling.
Lily looked quizically at him. "But Sammy....I'm with James," she whispered.
Sammy shook his head. "Lily, I don't care. I've been waiting to tell you this since like....forever," he said, still whispering. He laughed nervously. "And I finally have the chance to tell you."
Sammy took a deep breath. "I love you, Li--" he started to say, but he was interrupted by a shout from Sirius, who came up behind them with James following.
"Oy! Remus!" Sirius said, jogging to the open door, for a boy of about eleven with sandy brown hair and light blue eyes had just walked through the door.
The boy smiled. "Hey, Sirius, hey James." He looked at Lily, Sammy, and Petunia. "And who're these three, James?"
James grinned. "This is one of my best mates, Sammy Martkins, and this is my beautiful 'girlfriend', Lily Evans, and this is Lily's sister, Petunia," he said, slinging an arm around Lily's waist and his other arm around Petunia's shoulder.
Petunia smiled to herself, enjoying the touch of James's arm around her shoulder.
Sammy looked apprehensively at James, wondering if he had heard what Sammy was telling Lily. Fortunately, James showed no signs of having overheard.
The sandy-haired boy smiled. "Ah, we meet at last. I've heard so much about you three--especially you, Lily." He laughed. "James goes on and on about you every time we owl--I mean, every time we talk on the...er, telephone."
Lily smiled. "It's nice to meet you....er, what's your name?"
The boy turned and glared at James. "James, you didn't even introduce me to this beautiful girl?"
"Sorry, Remus....er, Lily, this is Remus Lupin. I met him through my parents, he's one of mine and Sirius's best mates," James said.
Remus grinned, his blue eyes lighting up. "Yeah, I remember the old days when we would run around and play pranks on our parents and our neighbors," he said, smiling reminiscently. His grin quickly sobered. "But those days are gone now...it's too dangerous out there." Remus sighed. "He's after everyone, you know."
"Who's after everyone?" Lily asked, confused.
"Oh, no one, um...It's just a little game that me, Sirius, and James used to play, and we would pretend that James was an evil person who wanted to kill everyone who wasn't perfect," Remus said quickly.
Lily laughed. "I can just imagine James running around in a cape, yelling 'I'm gonna kill you'.
"Aw, c'mon, Lilykins, I'm not THAT evil," James said, grinning widely.
Sirius grinned. "Sure, Jamesie, sure," he said, clapping James on his back.
"Anyways, we should get this party started, I think everyone's here," James said. "Me, Lily, Sammy, Remus, Sirius, Petunia...." he muttered to himself. "Yeah, we're all here."
James shut the door and they all walked into James's spacious living room and sat down on the floor in front of the couch, setting the presents in the middle of the floor.
"James, open mine first!" Sirius said excitedly.
James reached for a sparkly-wrapped present and ripped off the wrapping paper. "Bloody hell, Sirius, this is brilliant!" He held up a book titled Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them. Sirius grinned.
"I knew you wanted it, so when I was in, um, Flourish & Bott's, I got it for you," Sirius said, smirking at James.
James glared at Sirius for mentioning the name of a wizarding shop in the wizarding "mall", which was known to wizards as Diagon Alley. If Sirius kept mentioning things like that, Lily and Sammy and Petunia were bound to get suspicious and then he would have to either make up some far-fetched story and lie to Lily, or tell them the truth, which he couldn't do. His parents would kill him if they found out that he had told Lily or any other Muggle that they were wizards.
Remus handed James his present, which was wrapped in wrapping paper decorated with broomsticks on it. James ripped open the present, grinning.
"Aw, Remus, you shouldn't have!" James exclaimed. He held up another book; this one was titled Quidditch Through the Ages.
Remus smiled. "I thought you wanted it," he said, shrugging. "So I saw it while I was out looking for a present for you, and bought it."
James snuck a glare at Remus and leaned over to him and whispered, "Remus, you should've known better, now Sammy and Lily and Petunia are gonna wonder what Quidditch is!"
"They're not going to even wonder what it is, they'll just assume it's some made-up fantasy world in some book or something," Remus whispered back. "I mean, look at them, they're not even paying attention to us," he said, nodding towards where Lily, Petunia, and Sammy were sitting.
"I don't care," James whispered. "My parents will kill me if they find out that Lily or Petunia or Sammy or anyone knows that my family's made up of wizards!"
Lily slowly turned to look at James. "Did you say something about wizards, James?"
James shook his head. "Yeah, but me and Remus were just talking about that game we used to play when we were kids, the one where I would be an evil person---we called it 'wizards', 'cause I was pretending to be an evil, magical wizard guy, like from one of those fantasy stories Mum and Dad used to read us," he explained quickly.
"Oh," Lily said quietly. "For a minute there I thought you might be going to--but nah...forget it," she said shaking her head.
Flashback:
It was morning, and Lily sat up in bed to sunlight streaming through her window. She looked over at her desk and saw an OWL on it! Lily rubbed her eyes, sure that she must be seeing something. She looked over at her desk again, but the owl was still there. It hooted impatiently at Lily.
Lily got up out of bed. "Oh, alright, what do you want?" The owl hooted again. Lily noticed for the first time that it was holding an envelope in its beak. She took the envelope from the owl and the owl took flight out her open window.
Lily sat back down on her bed and ripped the envelope open. She quickly scanned it, and threw it down on her bed, and ran out the door and downstairs, screaming, "Mother, MOTHER!"
For the letter had told of her acceptance to a school in England where she would be able to learn magic.
Dear Miss Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress End Flashback.
James looked quizically at Lily, but before he could say anything to her, she hurriedly handed him her present.
"Here, James, open mine," Lily said softly.
James opened the present to find the most wonderful present he could ever have--a framed picture of him and Lily when they were eight years old, standing by their 'special tree', their lips locked in a kiss.
* * * * *
It was later that day, in the evening. The sun was setting, leaving wonderous shades of pink, purple, blue, and yellow spread across the sky, and there was a light rain falling outside. Lily watched the sunset and the rain outside her living room window sadly, thinking that it would be one of the last sunsets she watched before she went off to Hogwarts and left James behind.
There was a sudden knock on the door. Lily walked over to the arched, mahogany door and opened it. Standing outside was James, his usually messy hair plastered to his head from the rain falling from the sky.
Lily stood there for a few minutes, eying her wonderful boyfriend-- and best friend--wondering how many times they would have late-night visits like this before she went off to Hogwarts, until James finally got tired of standing there.
"Er, can I come in, Lily?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lily came out of her reverie and laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry James!"
James grinned widely. "Don't be, Lilykins." He gave her a huge hug and a quick peck on the cheek. "So, what's up?"
Lily walked over to the huge white leather couch and sat down, patting the seat next to her.
"Come sit down, James," she said.
James walked over to her lazily and sat down, trying his best to mess up his wet hair. "Ah, dammit, would you look what the rain has done to my hair?"
Lily laughed. "C'mon, James, I think you look positively cute with your hair like that, all stuck to your head and everything!" She reached over to James and smoothed down his hair where he had managed to get some pieces of his hair stuck up instead of lying flat. As she started to pull her arm away from him, James grabbed her in his arms and started kissing her like there was no tomorrow.
Lily broke away, confused, raising an eyebrow at James. "You've never kissed me like that before." It wasn't really a question, it was more of a statement.
James avoided Lily's gaze and laid down on the couch so that his head was in Lily's lap and his feet were at the end of the couch. Lily looked down at him, her eyebrow still raised.
"C'mon, James, why now?"
James sighed, inwardly cringing. Now he had done it....he would have to tell Lily sooner that he had planned that he was leaving...Well, yeah, he had come over to her house to tell her, but he had planned for a night of relaxing and enjoying each other's company, and then the revelation of his leave. He didn't want to tell her now--Lily was sure to freak out and go bloody ballistic on him.
"Er..." James was at a loss for words.
"Well?" Lily prompted. "Are you going to tell me or not?" (A/N: Lily's a bit of a prude...er, no offense to you people out there....and she's kinda stubborn, so she tends to go a bit overboard whenever James tries to give her more than a friendly peck on the lips or cheek.)
"Well," James took a deep breath. "We're moving tomorrow." At Lily's shocked look, he hurried to explain--or at least, try to explain, since he couldn't tell her the truth.
"My parents just told me two days ago that we were gonna move. I didn't want to tell you at the party because I knew how upset you would be, and I didn't want everyone to fuss over you if you were upset, 'cause I know how you hate it when people do that. So...I decided to come over tonight and tell you," James explained. "And...I know it's kind of last minute, but it's not like I had that much time to tell you."
As tears started to pour silently down Lily's face, James spoke again. "I know you're upset, Lily, and believe me, I am too, I never want to leave you. I'd miss you too much. My heart aches at the thought of a life without you....but I have to, Lily," he shook his head in aggravation. "My parents are literally forcing me to...I threw a fit when they told me, and they sorta threatened me....told me that if I didn't want a life without you, then I might as well not have one without you at all--no correspondence, or anything. And of course, I don't want that, so I had to give up..." James trailed off. "I'm babbling, aren't I?"
"Just a little," Lily said quietly, sniffing. James sat up and silently watched her, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her so that she was right next to him. After a few minutes, Lily spoke again, throwing James's arm off from around her shoulder, and stood up off of the couch.
"James?" Lily said in disbelief. "You're leaving---you're leaving me?"
James looked like his heart had split in two. Tears were pouring down his face and his eyes were cold and stony, clouded with grief.
"Lily, I have to, we have to move, I don't have any choice," he said quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at the floor.
Lily crossed her arms and a single tear ran down her face. "I thought you were going to be here forever, James. I thought we were going to be 'us' forever. I thought you were going to love me forever," Lily said, her voice cracking.
"I KNOW!" James screamed. "DO YOU THINK I WANT TO MOVE?"
Lily looked hurt. She started backing away from James, a frightened look on her face.
James shook his head at himself. He hadn't meant to scream at Lily, he was just mad at his parents, at Hogwarts, at his magical powers for taking him away from the one thing he truly loved--Lily. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like without her to play with, to laugh with, to cry with, to spend his life with.
"Lilykins, I'm sorry, sweets, I'm so sorry for yelling at you," James said softly, taking a step towards Lily.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed. "I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU, OR HEAR FROM YOU, EVER AGAIN!"
"What?" James said, shocked. He hadn't thought that Lily would be this mad at him...really bloody sad, yeah, but not mad like this!
"YOU HEARD ME!" Lily yelled. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU EVER AGAIN!"
"But...Lily, we can keep in touch!" James said, astounded at Lily's behavior.
"No, James...we can't. I'm sorry, but I just don't want to speak to you again," Lily said, her voice still a little loud.
James stood there in Lily's living room, not daring to believe what he had heard. Lily--the girl of his dreams--wanted him to leave and never come back and never try to get in touch with her ever again? It was just too much to believe.
"GET OUT!" Lily shouted.
James still stood there, looking sadly at Lily. "C'mon, Lilykins, please, let's please keep in touch!" he pleaded.
Lily shook her head. "No, just...get out," she said more resignedly.
James headed for the open door. But before he walked out, he turned back and looked at Lily with his sad puppy dog face.
"Lily, I love you so much and I swear, I'll love you forever no matter what, til the day I die. I want you to remember that forever."
With that, he turned back around and walked out the door, leaving Lily to break down and cry for what seemed like an eternity.
"I'll love you forever too, James," Lily whispered to herself.
A/N: Awww....poor Lily and James...*tear* Oh well....they'll get over it....eventually, in the years to come. Things coming in the next chapter:
Hogwarts train ride (possibly, I dunno if I want to include that) Arrival at Hogwarts (definitely) Lily & James seeing each other (definitely...probably at the end of the chapter)
And I promise, there'll be more stuff in the next chapter than just their arrival at Hogwarts & Lily and James seeing each other!
Lily and James as first years probably won't be very long, maybe just a chapter or two, I can't really think of anything very interesting to write about their first year at Hogwarts. I'll probably do two chapters or so on them as first years, and then skip straight to them as fifth years, doing a short recap of their past four years at Hogwarts. Anyways, if you liked this chapter (or even if you didn't like this chapter), please review, all comments are greatly appreciated! Remember this--the more reviews I get, the faster I'll write the next chapter! Thanks!
Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you, for you
Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you
As years go by
I race the clock with you
But if you died right now
You know that I'd die too
I'd die too
You remind me of the times
When I knew who I was (I was)
But still the second hand will catch us
Like it always does
We'll make the same mistakes
I'll take the fall for you
I hope you need this now
Cause I know I still do
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Should I bite my tongue?
Until blood soaks my shirt
We'll never fall apart
Tell me why this hurts so much
My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
But still we'll say, "remember when"
Just like we always do
Just like we always do
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Yeah I'd spill my heart
Yeah I'd spill my heart for you
My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
We made the same mistakes
Mistakes like friends do
My hands are at your throat
And I think I hate you
We made the same mistakes
Made the same mistakes
Until the day I die
I'll spill my heart for you, for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you, for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
I'll spill my heart for you
Until the day I die (Until the day I die)
Until the day I die~ "Until the Day I Die" by Story of the Year
It was the day of James's party and the guests were due to start arriving soon. Earlier in the day James had gotten his acceptance letter from Hogwarts, telling him that he had magic powers and was invited to come to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. James was so excited, he could hardly wait til he could go buy his Hogwarts things in that once place his parents told him about, Diagon Alley or something like that. But he also was still dreading the party, because it meant it would be closer to the time he has to leave Lily.
The doorbell rang. James walked over to the door and opened it. Standing outside was Lily and Petunia, dressed in matching pale pink skirts and sleevless shirts. Lily was grinning at him, and she twirled around, her skirt spinning.
"Don't you LOVE my skirt, James?" she said ecstatically. "Mother got matching outfits for me and Petunia!"
James smiled. "Nice, Lily...Hey, Petunia, what's up?"
Petunia stood there holding a fancily-wrapped present, a sullen look on her face making her look like she didn't want to be there at all.
"Hi, James," she drawled, sounding bored.
James grinned at her, trying to cheer her up. "C'mon, Pety, where's your party spirit?"
"Lily dragged me here, otherwise I wouldn't have come, thank you very much!" Petunia said angrily, glaring at James.
"Awww, you mean you didn't want to see me?" James said flirtatiously. A little bit of flirting couldn't hurt to cheer Petunia up, he was sure Lily wouldn't mind--it's not like he was even the least bit interested in Pety; she greatly resembled a horse.
Petunia smiled a little; she had always had a huge crush on James, but Lily had gotten to him first years ago, which was part of the reason Petunia seemed to hate Lily so much. Petunia remembered the night Lily had come home after a day of playing with James at the beach and had told her and her parents excitedly, "James kissed me and told me he loved me!" Petunia involuntarily shuddered at the recollection of that moment. She had cried herself to sleep that night, knowing that James, her "little crush", would never be hers.
"Sure I wanted--" Petunia broke off, having been interrupted by the arrival of two more guests coming in the still open door: one of Lily & James's schoolfriends, Sammy, and Sirius Black.
Lily screamed excitedly and ran up to Sirius, giving him a huge hug. "Oh my god, it's so good to see you, Sirius!" she exclaimed.
Sirius laughed and hugged her back. "Good to see you too, Lily." He stepped away from Lily and walked over to James, with Sammy following.
"Happy birthday, mate," Sirius said, giving James a high-five.
"Yeah, happy birthday, James," Sammy added quietly. He held out a shabbily wrapped present, and James took it, looking at it warily. "Uh, here you go," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away.
James opened the present and grinned happily. "You got me that computer game I've been wanting forever! Thanks so much, Sammy!"
"Yeah, it cost a lot of money, we don't really have that much left," Sammy said, and then a wary look crossed his face. "I mean, we didn't really have enough to get you anything else besides the game."
James smiled. "I understand, Sammy."
Sammy smiled a little smile, but he still looked kind of sad, until Lily threw her arms around him and gave him an even bigger hug than the one she had given Sirius.
"Sammy, Sammy, Sammy!" she said in disbelief, shaking her head. "I thought you had deserted me AGES ago!"
Sammy laughed. Lily always managed to cheer him up somehow. He admired her hyperactive personality, the way she would go on about things even if no one was listening and how she got excited about even the littlest things, and he most of all admired her beautiful sparkling emerald eyes and her silky red hair. He knew they were only kids and therefore to young to be in a relationship and love someone, but he couldn't help feeling that he loved Lily. Only problem is, James had gotten to her first.
"Aw, c'mon, Lils, you know I just had more important things to do," Sammy teased, laughing.
Lily hit him playfully on his shoulder, grinning.
"Sammy!" she whined. "We haven't seen each other since the fourth grade, and all you can say is that you had more important things to do than see me?"
"Lily, I didn't mean that!" Sammy said worriedly.
Lily burst out laughing. "C'mon, Sammy, I was just kidding!"
Sammy smiled a little smile. "Okay, Lils."
By that time, Sirius & James had walked away from Lily and Sammy, whispering excitedly. Lily suspected they were up to something, but she had no idea what, and she didn't really care. After all, they were at a party, and they were supposed to have fun during the party, not be all suspicious of someone whispering.
"So, Lily," Sammy said, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at his feet.
Lily looked at him, her eyes wide. "Yeah?"
"Lily, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever known," Sammy whispered, his eyes sparkling.
Lily looked quizically at him. "But Sammy....I'm with James," she whispered.
Sammy shook his head. "Lily, I don't care. I've been waiting to tell you this since like....forever," he said, still whispering. He laughed nervously. "And I finally have the chance to tell you."
Sammy took a deep breath. "I love you, Li--" he started to say, but he was interrupted by a shout from Sirius, who came up behind them with James following.
"Oy! Remus!" Sirius said, jogging to the open door, for a boy of about eleven with sandy brown hair and light blue eyes had just walked through the door.
The boy smiled. "Hey, Sirius, hey James." He looked at Lily, Sammy, and Petunia. "And who're these three, James?"
James grinned. "This is one of my best mates, Sammy Martkins, and this is my beautiful 'girlfriend', Lily Evans, and this is Lily's sister, Petunia," he said, slinging an arm around Lily's waist and his other arm around Petunia's shoulder.
Petunia smiled to herself, enjoying the touch of James's arm around her shoulder.
Sammy looked apprehensively at James, wondering if he had heard what Sammy was telling Lily. Fortunately, James showed no signs of having overheard.
The sandy-haired boy smiled. "Ah, we meet at last. I've heard so much about you three--especially you, Lily." He laughed. "James goes on and on about you every time we owl--I mean, every time we talk on the...er, telephone."
Lily smiled. "It's nice to meet you....er, what's your name?"
The boy turned and glared at James. "James, you didn't even introduce me to this beautiful girl?"
"Sorry, Remus....er, Lily, this is Remus Lupin. I met him through my parents, he's one of mine and Sirius's best mates," James said.
Remus grinned, his blue eyes lighting up. "Yeah, I remember the old days when we would run around and play pranks on our parents and our neighbors," he said, smiling reminiscently. His grin quickly sobered. "But those days are gone now...it's too dangerous out there." Remus sighed. "He's after everyone, you know."
"Who's after everyone?" Lily asked, confused.
"Oh, no one, um...It's just a little game that me, Sirius, and James used to play, and we would pretend that James was an evil person who wanted to kill everyone who wasn't perfect," Remus said quickly.
Lily laughed. "I can just imagine James running around in a cape, yelling 'I'm gonna kill you'.
"Aw, c'mon, Lilykins, I'm not THAT evil," James said, grinning widely.
Sirius grinned. "Sure, Jamesie, sure," he said, clapping James on his back.
"Anyways, we should get this party started, I think everyone's here," James said. "Me, Lily, Sammy, Remus, Sirius, Petunia...." he muttered to himself. "Yeah, we're all here."
James shut the door and they all walked into James's spacious living room and sat down on the floor in front of the couch, setting the presents in the middle of the floor.
"James, open mine first!" Sirius said excitedly.
James reached for a sparkly-wrapped present and ripped off the wrapping paper. "Bloody hell, Sirius, this is brilliant!" He held up a book titled Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them. Sirius grinned.
"I knew you wanted it, so when I was in, um, Flourish & Bott's, I got it for you," Sirius said, smirking at James.
James glared at Sirius for mentioning the name of a wizarding shop in the wizarding "mall", which was known to wizards as Diagon Alley. If Sirius kept mentioning things like that, Lily and Sammy and Petunia were bound to get suspicious and then he would have to either make up some far-fetched story and lie to Lily, or tell them the truth, which he couldn't do. His parents would kill him if they found out that he had told Lily or any other Muggle that they were wizards.
Remus handed James his present, which was wrapped in wrapping paper decorated with broomsticks on it. James ripped open the present, grinning.
"Aw, Remus, you shouldn't have!" James exclaimed. He held up another book; this one was titled Quidditch Through the Ages.
Remus smiled. "I thought you wanted it," he said, shrugging. "So I saw it while I was out looking for a present for you, and bought it."
James snuck a glare at Remus and leaned over to him and whispered, "Remus, you should've known better, now Sammy and Lily and Petunia are gonna wonder what Quidditch is!"
"They're not going to even wonder what it is, they'll just assume it's some made-up fantasy world in some book or something," Remus whispered back. "I mean, look at them, they're not even paying attention to us," he said, nodding towards where Lily, Petunia, and Sammy were sitting.
"I don't care," James whispered. "My parents will kill me if they find out that Lily or Petunia or Sammy or anyone knows that my family's made up of wizards!"
Lily slowly turned to look at James. "Did you say something about wizards, James?"
James shook his head. "Yeah, but me and Remus were just talking about that game we used to play when we were kids, the one where I would be an evil person---we called it 'wizards', 'cause I was pretending to be an evil, magical wizard guy, like from one of those fantasy stories Mum and Dad used to read us," he explained quickly.
"Oh," Lily said quietly. "For a minute there I thought you might be going to--but nah...forget it," she said shaking her head.
Flashback:
It was morning, and Lily sat up in bed to sunlight streaming through her window. She looked over at her desk and saw an OWL on it! Lily rubbed her eyes, sure that she must be seeing something. She looked over at her desk again, but the owl was still there. It hooted impatiently at Lily.
Lily got up out of bed. "Oh, alright, what do you want?" The owl hooted again. Lily noticed for the first time that it was holding an envelope in its beak. She took the envelope from the owl and the owl took flight out her open window.
Lily sat back down on her bed and ripped the envelope open. She quickly scanned it, and threw it down on her bed, and ran out the door and downstairs, screaming, "Mother, MOTHER!"
For the letter had told of her acceptance to a school in England where she would be able to learn magic.
Dear Miss Evans,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find an enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress End Flashback.
James looked quizically at Lily, but before he could say anything to her, she hurriedly handed him her present.
"Here, James, open mine," Lily said softly.
James opened the present to find the most wonderful present he could ever have--a framed picture of him and Lily when they were eight years old, standing by their 'special tree', their lips locked in a kiss.
* * * * *
It was later that day, in the evening. The sun was setting, leaving wonderous shades of pink, purple, blue, and yellow spread across the sky, and there was a light rain falling outside. Lily watched the sunset and the rain outside her living room window sadly, thinking that it would be one of the last sunsets she watched before she went off to Hogwarts and left James behind.
There was a sudden knock on the door. Lily walked over to the arched, mahogany door and opened it. Standing outside was James, his usually messy hair plastered to his head from the rain falling from the sky.
Lily stood there for a few minutes, eying her wonderful boyfriend-- and best friend--wondering how many times they would have late-night visits like this before she went off to Hogwarts, until James finally got tired of standing there.
"Er, can I come in, Lily?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lily came out of her reverie and laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry James!"
James grinned widely. "Don't be, Lilykins." He gave her a huge hug and a quick peck on the cheek. "So, what's up?"
Lily walked over to the huge white leather couch and sat down, patting the seat next to her.
"Come sit down, James," she said.
James walked over to her lazily and sat down, trying his best to mess up his wet hair. "Ah, dammit, would you look what the rain has done to my hair?"
Lily laughed. "C'mon, James, I think you look positively cute with your hair like that, all stuck to your head and everything!" She reached over to James and smoothed down his hair where he had managed to get some pieces of his hair stuck up instead of lying flat. As she started to pull her arm away from him, James grabbed her in his arms and started kissing her like there was no tomorrow.
Lily broke away, confused, raising an eyebrow at James. "You've never kissed me like that before." It wasn't really a question, it was more of a statement.
James avoided Lily's gaze and laid down on the couch so that his head was in Lily's lap and his feet were at the end of the couch. Lily looked down at him, her eyebrow still raised.
"C'mon, James, why now?"
James sighed, inwardly cringing. Now he had done it....he would have to tell Lily sooner that he had planned that he was leaving...Well, yeah, he had come over to her house to tell her, but he had planned for a night of relaxing and enjoying each other's company, and then the revelation of his leave. He didn't want to tell her now--Lily was sure to freak out and go bloody ballistic on him.
"Er..." James was at a loss for words.
"Well?" Lily prompted. "Are you going to tell me or not?" (A/N: Lily's a bit of a prude...er, no offense to you people out there....and she's kinda stubborn, so she tends to go a bit overboard whenever James tries to give her more than a friendly peck on the lips or cheek.)
"Well," James took a deep breath. "We're moving tomorrow." At Lily's shocked look, he hurried to explain--or at least, try to explain, since he couldn't tell her the truth.
"My parents just told me two days ago that we were gonna move. I didn't want to tell you at the party because I knew how upset you would be, and I didn't want everyone to fuss over you if you were upset, 'cause I know how you hate it when people do that. So...I decided to come over tonight and tell you," James explained. "And...I know it's kind of last minute, but it's not like I had that much time to tell you."
As tears started to pour silently down Lily's face, James spoke again. "I know you're upset, Lily, and believe me, I am too, I never want to leave you. I'd miss you too much. My heart aches at the thought of a life without you....but I have to, Lily," he shook his head in aggravation. "My parents are literally forcing me to...I threw a fit when they told me, and they sorta threatened me....told me that if I didn't want a life without you, then I might as well not have one without you at all--no correspondence, or anything. And of course, I don't want that, so I had to give up..." James trailed off. "I'm babbling, aren't I?"
"Just a little," Lily said quietly, sniffing. James sat up and silently watched her, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her so that she was right next to him. After a few minutes, Lily spoke again, throwing James's arm off from around her shoulder, and stood up off of the couch.
"James?" Lily said in disbelief. "You're leaving---you're leaving me?"
James looked like his heart had split in two. Tears were pouring down his face and his eyes were cold and stony, clouded with grief.
"Lily, I have to, we have to move, I don't have any choice," he said quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at the floor.
Lily crossed her arms and a single tear ran down her face. "I thought you were going to be here forever, James. I thought we were going to be 'us' forever. I thought you were going to love me forever," Lily said, her voice cracking.
"I KNOW!" James screamed. "DO YOU THINK I WANT TO MOVE?"
Lily looked hurt. She started backing away from James, a frightened look on her face.
James shook his head at himself. He hadn't meant to scream at Lily, he was just mad at his parents, at Hogwarts, at his magical powers for taking him away from the one thing he truly loved--Lily. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like without her to play with, to laugh with, to cry with, to spend his life with.
"Lilykins, I'm sorry, sweets, I'm so sorry for yelling at you," James said softly, taking a step towards Lily.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed. "I DON'T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU, OR HEAR FROM YOU, EVER AGAIN!"
"What?" James said, shocked. He hadn't thought that Lily would be this mad at him...really bloody sad, yeah, but not mad like this!
"YOU HEARD ME!" Lily yelled. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU EVER AGAIN!"
"But...Lily, we can keep in touch!" James said, astounded at Lily's behavior.
"No, James...we can't. I'm sorry, but I just don't want to speak to you again," Lily said, her voice still a little loud.
James stood there in Lily's living room, not daring to believe what he had heard. Lily--the girl of his dreams--wanted him to leave and never come back and never try to get in touch with her ever again? It was just too much to believe.
"GET OUT!" Lily shouted.
James still stood there, looking sadly at Lily. "C'mon, Lilykins, please, let's please keep in touch!" he pleaded.
Lily shook her head. "No, just...get out," she said more resignedly.
James headed for the open door. But before he walked out, he turned back and looked at Lily with his sad puppy dog face.
"Lily, I love you so much and I swear, I'll love you forever no matter what, til the day I die. I want you to remember that forever."
With that, he turned back around and walked out the door, leaving Lily to break down and cry for what seemed like an eternity.
"I'll love you forever too, James," Lily whispered to herself.
A/N: Awww....poor Lily and James...*tear* Oh well....they'll get over it....eventually, in the years to come. Things coming in the next chapter:
Hogwarts train ride (possibly, I dunno if I want to include that) Arrival at Hogwarts (definitely) Lily & James seeing each other (definitely...probably at the end of the chapter)
And I promise, there'll be more stuff in the next chapter than just their arrival at Hogwarts & Lily and James seeing each other!
Lily and James as first years probably won't be very long, maybe just a chapter or two, I can't really think of anything very interesting to write about their first year at Hogwarts. I'll probably do two chapters or so on them as first years, and then skip straight to them as fifth years, doing a short recap of their past four years at Hogwarts. Anyways, if you liked this chapter (or even if you didn't like this chapter), please review, all comments are greatly appreciated! Remember this--the more reviews I get, the faster I'll write the next chapter! Thanks!