I know, I know, I know! I said LAST Saturday and now it's Friday! But trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to see this last Saturday. It was horrible! But I think I've gotten it a lot better within that time. Ahem...anyways, onto the chapter. Read and Review si vous plait! (That's "please" for those who don't know. =D)
Chapter Nineteen
Muggle London
James eyes popped out of his head. Lights glittering in the windows in tiny little bulbs. They weren't flames, nor was there any logical explanation for them! They simply...lit up! He stared in stupor, walking closer to the glass to examine the small flashing bulbs when a loud CHOO CHOO! erupted somewhere close by. In the window display was a miniature railroad that moved around the track with ease, small sparks erupting when the train turned around the bends.
"But...how do they...how do they move without magic?" James asked, his jaw hanging agape.
Lily giggled. "Electricity." She simply responded. "Come on." She said, grabbing his hand to pull him away from the window. "There's much more interesting things to see here other then Christmas lights and miniature railroads." She said with a smile.
James stomach dropped. She was holding him by the hand pulling him away from the display window! He made a mental note to never wash his hand again. Though, when he thought about it, that could be just a little bit difficult. She dropped his hand, and he placed it in his pocket cooly hoping she wouldn't notice how mad about her he was.
"Hey, come in here." Lily said with a sly grin, entering a toy shop. Sure one could proclaim that a toyshop was for young children and extremely boring, but as it was close to Christmas, there were wind up, electric, talking, flying, whirring, buzzing and all sorts of toys all around the store just waiting to be bought.
James followed her into the store with a small bit of confusion. Why was she taking him into a toy store? Who cared about toys? Though when he entered the store he realized how wrong he was for not caring.
It was an extremely large shop with red velvet ribbons and tinsel strung along the walls, over a dozen decorated Christmas trees glittering in magnificence, and fake snow was falling from the ceiling down to the wooden floor. And all over the floor were toys of all sorts. Where the walls weren't decorated with ribbons and tinsel there were shelves and shelves of toys.
Wind up monkeys with symbols were scuttling across the floor banging their large golden instruments together. Model airplanes whirred through the air, baby dolls cried, toy soldiers strutted around the room on straight legs...it was a madhouse! And James couldn't help but be intrigued by each and every stupid little toy!
He bent down as a furry little puppy dog hobbled on by looking at it incredulously. "This is amazing!" He said, his eyes wide in shock. "How...whoa..." He gasped.
Lily smiled silently, looking down at James who was obviously amazed by muggle brilliance. It was a very...cute sight. 'I did not just think that James Potter is cute.' Lily growled to herself. But sadly, the fact was, she had.
"How they manage to make these things work without magic..." James gasped in awe picking the mechanical puppy off of it's feet watching it's little legs move uselessly in awe.
"Here...look." Lily said with a smile. She took the puppy out of James' hand, and turned it over and flipped the switch turning it off, then flipped the battery case open. She popped one of the four batteries out and handed it to James. "These make it move. They're called batteries. They put electricity into the batteries so certain things like flashlights, clocks, and these toys can work without needing a cord or plug in." She explained while James rolled the battery over and over in the palm of his hand.
"How do they put e-lect-ri-city in this little thing?" He asked in marvel.
"They can put it in batteries much smaller then that." Lily laughed, popping the battery back into the toy before the shopkeeper would come by to see the toy halfway dismantled.
Lily caught site of a small boy putting down the remote to a remote control car, and a thought came upon her. "Come on, come look at this." She said, grabbing his hand once again to lead him over to the remote control car. Her heart fluttered as she felt his hand in hers.
'Stop it.' She commanded herself. 'You DO NOT feel that way about Potter. It's Potter...the kid who has brought hell to you for the last six and a half years of school.' She told herself firmly. 'Ah, but not this year, now has he? He hasn't been all that bad this year. Quite the opposite...' The other voice battled in her mind. She pushed the thoughts aside, dropped James' hand and picked the remote control up.
"Here." She said, handing it to him.
James looked at the black control in his hands. "What is it?" He asked looking dumbfounded.
"Press one of the knobs." She smiled.
'God she's got a beautiful smile...' Flashed through James' mind as he pressed up on one of the little black knobs. A small thud hit his foot, and he looked down to see a red muggle car ramming into his shoe. He pressed the knob the other way, and the car zoomed backwards away from James.
"Whoa!" He laughed, fiddling with every knob on the control panel watching the little red car zoom all over the floor, knocking other toys out of its way. "That's awesome!" He laughed, as the car bumped into the wall, bounced backwards, then bumped into the wall again, over and over and over.
"It doesn't take much to impress you, does it?" Lily laughed.
"No, not really." He laughed in response finally getting the hang of which knob made the car go which way.
"Come on, James. There's more to see in Muggle London other then remote control cars." She laughed as James zoomed the little car all over the toy shop.
"Oh, all right." He grinned, putting the remote control down somewhat reluctantly. The two of them stepped out of the shop back out into the windless night, and back into the gentle snowfall. "So, where to now?" He asked grinning like an idiot.
"Well, there's a bookshop down here, and an art gallery up that way, there's the park..." She suggested. "Also there's a clothes shop and a tavern..."
"A tavern?" James asked in interest. "Like the Hog's Head?"
"Well...yes..." Lily responded, silently scolding herself for mentioning a tavern to James Potter.
"Are muggle taverns any different the wizard taverns?" He asked in curiosity.
"I suppose a little. You don't usually find anyone playing pool in wizard taverns, nor are there any televisions."
"Televisions?" James asked, his face lighting up. "Let's go there."
"OK, but we're only looking, James. Don't get any funny ideas about getting something to drink." Lily said with a smile in a rather maternal tone.
"Of course, Lily dear." He grinned. "Which way?"
"Come on." Lily sighed in exasperation. He could have chosen an art gallery, or a book shop. A book shop! And yet he decided to go where the drunkards of the town chose to congregate.
The tavern loomed into view, and next thing Lily knew, she was pushing the door open, entering after James. The bar was crowded, several people getting their night time drink, the two pool tables were occupied, and the tables for eating were three fourths full.
"What can I get you two?" A rather ugly looking woman who had only about three teeth remaining in her mouth asked Lily and James, a smile upon her face exposing the three rotting stubs of teeth that remained.
"Oh, we're just looking." Lily said quickly before James could say anything.
"Tourists, are ya?" The woman asked, her rough voice raising the hairs on the nape of Lily's neck.
"Oh, yes...just visiting London for the night." She said.
"Ah, then have one on the house." She said, grabbing two tall glasses of alcohol from the bar.
"Oh..." Lily began to say, but James cut in.
"Why, thank you ma'am. Very generous offer there." He said with a grin, taking the two glasses from her, handing one to Lily. Lily looked down at her glass in disgust, wanting to smack James for handing it to her.
"Oh, call me Roberta. And you're welcome, handsome. You'll like it so much you'll have to stay for another round. Go on! Sit down!" She said, motioning to the two open seats at the bar. Lily reluctantly took a seat next to James, who was already sipping his drink. The ugly looking woman strutted away, and disappeared behind the bar. Handsome? She had called James handsome? Lily had wanted to smack her when the words came out of her mouth. Wait...did she just get jealous because some ugly broad called James handsome? 'I need to get my head shrunk.' Lily thought desperately.
"James, I don't drink," she hissed to him angrily.
"Sure you do. You remember the third year." He grinned.
"That was Sirius's fault. He spiked my drink, remember? I haven't had anything alcoholic since then! Besides, we're not old enough!"
"Who cares?" James grinned, taking another sip. "Go on...just try it."
"No!" Lily hissed stubbornly.
"You'll like it." James insisted, laughing at her stubbornness.
Lily glared at her drink, then quickly took a small sip, swallowing hard. "That was disgusting!" She growled. "How can you drink this stuff?" Lily asked in disgust.
James was too distracted by Lily to even care about the several televisions playing around the room. Sure they were interesting when he first entered, but he felt he could look at Lily for hours and hours and never get tired of her face...and she was so adorably stubborn. And the fact that he was trying to get her to drink... Sirius would have laughed himself shitless had he been there.
Lily felt the heat creep up in her neck as she looked down at her glass again. It was disgusting...but in a way oddly satisfying.
"Candace!" Sirius called, seeing Candace's retreating figure from the Great Hall.
Candace turned, and smiled when she saw Sirius approaching her.
"Hey beautiful." He said, wrapping his arms around her. "Wanna go for a walk outside? It's snowing." He said with a grin.
"Oh, I guess so." Candace sighed. 'Why won't he ask me out? This has been going on long enough' She thought furiously.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked, leading her out, hand upon her waist.
"No, don't ask that." Candace muttered, blushing slightly. "You'll only get angry if I tell you." She said quietly.
Sirius pushed the doors open, and stepped out into the windless night where the snow was falling gently to the ground. "No, I won't be mad at you, Candace. I could never be." He said quietly in response.
Candace took a deep breath, and finally spoke. "Sirius...this has been going on long enough." She started. "I mean..."
"No...stop it." Sirius said, putting his finger to her lips.
"See, I told you that you didn't want to hear it." Candace said sadly, looking down at the pristine snow that they were ruining with tracks.
"No, it's not that," Sirius responded, a strange twinkle in his eyes. 'Here goes, Evans.' He thought before speaking again. "Candace...I know you think I don't care about you because I haven't asked you out yet...but that's definitely not the truth."
"Well, how am I supposed to..."
"Stop." Sirius said once again. "You mean everything to me, Candace. Seriously...if I didn't have you by my side this year I don't know what I would have done. You're honestly the one girl I've been crazy about for more then two weeks." He grinned.
Candace couldn't help but smile. Even if she liked hearing the words that were coming out of Sirius's mouth, it still didn't satisfy her. If he cared so much, then what was the problem in going out with her? If she couldn't get him to at least admit he might still be with her for the next week, how was she ever supposed to know what he was feeling for her?
"And all these months I've been afraid if I asked you out, you would find some other guy and just drop me like that, so I figured, why get into that if it's only going to lead to pain..."
"But obviously I wouldn't have if I still feel this way about you and I haven't gone off with some other guy even though we haven't even been going out." Candace answered, taking Sirius's hand in hers.
"I know it was stupid, Candace, but it's just what I was feeling and that's why I never asked you out. It never had anything to do with not liking you because I actually think...that I'm in love with you." Sirius finally said.
Candace's heart skipped a beat. He said he loved her?!
"And I want to be with you." He swallowed. "Forever."
Candace stopped in her tracks. Had he just said that he wanted to be with her? Was he finally asking her out? Sirius turned to face her to see why she had stopped, and instead of saying anything in response, Candace wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. Sirius broke away and smiled. "So, is that a yes that you'll be my girlfriend?" He smiled.
"What do you think?" Candace asked, kissing him once again.
Lily giggled insanely. "Did you see her face when we walked out without buying anything else?" She asked, not walking, but practically skipping. She wasn't drunk, but a bit...tipsy.
"Mad disappointment." James grinned. He couldn't believe his luck. Sure he felt like a Grade A heel for making Lily a bit...off but hadn't he done that to Candace at his surprise party too? He hadn't been the one who spiked her drink, but he hadn't exactly told her that they were spiked either. Still the way she was acting around him...he would have done anything for it.
"You know, I think she liked you, James." Lily giggled.
"Ah, you know, she and I never would have worked together." James laughed. "I think I fancy girls who actually have teeth." He finished with a grin. He couldn't ever remember smiling so much. He never smiled like he did when he was with Lily...there was just no way anyone else could make him feel the way she made him feel. And to think that she would never return his feelings...his stomach dropped in pain. He would have given anything in the world for her to care for him- for her to be his.
'You've got it bad, Potter. You really do.' He told himself.
"You wanna go down to the park?" Lily asked. "There's probably no one there anymore but it's still really pretty." Lily laughed wondering why she felt so...hyper. Sadly she couldn't exactly put her finger on why at the moment.
"Sure. Lead the way." James grinned. Five minutes later he found himself entering a rather pretty park with a fountain that had frozen over due to the weather, and several park benches that were decorated with glistening snow. Statues were placed around the park alongside a pathway which wound around the park around several trees which were bare of leaves, and a few evergreens as well. It truly was a beautiful park.
"This is a nice park." James grinned.
"Yeah, when I was little, my mum used to take me and Petunia to London to go shopping, and we would always come here to eat lunch." Lily giggled. "Back before Petunia started hating me." She commented.
"I'm sure she doesn't hate you." James responded, looking down at Lily, who was a good eight inches shorter then him.
"Oh yes she does." Lily said firmly. And no one could convince her otherwise. "She hates me because I'm a witch. Honestly that's the only reason. We used to get along perfectly until I was accepted to Hogwarts. She thinks I'm some sort of freak...that I don't belong in the family any more because I'm different. I'm hated at home because I'm a witch and I'm hated at school because I'm a muggle. It never makes any sense." Lily said, attempting to shake a bit of the snow out of her hair as she and James strolled down the snow covered pathways of the park.
"No one hates you. And if they do they're not worth your time." James responded. "It doesn't matter what kind of blood you have. You're one of the smartest girls at school and you're a muggle born. So what if Harmony is a pure blood? She's doing horribly in almost every class while you're passing with flying colors." He grinned.
"What do you expect? Harmony's manic depressive." Lily laughed in response. It wasn't a nice thing to laugh at, but she didn't really care at the moment.
"I guess that always is true." James grinned sheepishly in response.
A clock near by chimed ten thirty...they had been wandering around for a lot longer then they had thought. "You know, we should probably get back to your house." James said softly, stopping. "Your parents are probably up waiting, and we probably shouldn't keep them waiting for much longer."
"I suppose you're right." Lily sighed. "We have to get our bags though from the luggage check at the station."
"I'll meet you there." James grinned, disappearing with a pop. Lily followed suit, and she found herself in the darkness of the parking lot of King's Cross Station. She entered behind James, and proceeded to the luggage check.
"Potter, two trunks." James said, handing the man at the desk the ticket stub they had received when they dropped their things off. They had decided to just check both trunks under Potter so they wouldn't have to fill out two forms.
"Trysta!" The man called to a teenage girl with long blood red hair. "Potter...they have two trunks." The girl named Trysta looked James and Lily up and down, then disappeared into the back appearing moments later with their trunks upon a cart. James took the cart from her, and he and Lily turned to leave. Though they were able to catch the sentence muttered by Trysta to the man behind the desk.
"Ain't they a bit young to be married?" Trysta asked.
"Trysta!" The man scolded.
Lily and James burst into laughter, hurrying out of the station as fast as they could through the crowd. "Married?" Lily laughed.
"Nothing gets past her, does it?" James grinned, heaving his trunk off of the cart. Lily followed suit, then kicked the cart toward the cart drop off.
"Come here." Lily said, taking James hand so she could lead him back to her house. Even when apparating, one must know where they're going, so Lily would have to hold on to James through the whole process.
James felt the heat creep up in his neck as they disappeared with a pop, appearing moments later in front of a large white house. James looked around. They seemed to be a great deal outside of London, for there were large open fields of snow, and each house was considerably large compared to those in the city.
Lily picked her trunk up, nodded for James to follow, and started up to the house. She pushed the door open, and entered into the dark house. All was dark minus the living room where a movie was running.
Lily and James entered to see Petunia and her oaf of a boyfriend cuddling on the couch. Upon spotting Lily, Petunia jumped up and strode over to her. "Where have you been?" she asked angrily. "Mum and dad were waiting up for hours. They were under the impression you were to be home around seven! They even had dinner set up for you!" Petunia obviously wasn't very disappointed about Lily's late arrival, but she would always be willing to jump in and keep guard for her parents when it allowed her to yell at Lily.
"It isn't that late, Petunia." Lily insisted. It's only ten fifty!
"Late enough for our dear parents. It's very rude of you to just stroll in here and..." And then she caught sight of James. Oh how Lily would have laughed had she not been so shocked as Petunia's face turned bright red. "Excuse me...I must seem so rude. I'm Petunia." She said, extending her bony hand to James. "And you are?" She inquired blinking at him politely. Obviously she didn't know he was a wizard. Apparently she was under the impression that Lily picked some normal guy up somewhere. Though if Lily wasn't mistaken, Petunia was always under the impression that Lily could never in her life find someone normal.
"Er...James Potter." James said, blinking slightly in shock.
"Very pleased to meet you, James." Petunia smiled. "Guests are always welcome in this household." She said with a sappy sweet smile.
"Shut up, Petunia. You don't even live here anymore." Lily snapped acidly. "Come on, James. I'll show you your..."
"Would you like me to show you to your bedroom?" Petunia asked, cutting Lily off mid-sentence.
"Erm...I think Lily was going to..." James started awkwardly.
"Nonsense. Come along." She said, leading James up the stairs, linking elbows with him. Lily rolled her eyes and followed behind making sure Petunia wouldn't do anything funny. Lily was starting to be able to expect anything from Petunia, the deranged little girl she was.
"Here is your bedroom. I hope everything is in order for you. Can I get you anything?" Petunia asked with a rather large smile.
"I...I think I'm good, thanks." James stuttered in response, obviously completely shocked by Petunia's reaction upon meeting him.
"Petunia...you left your boyfriend on the couch downstairs. Mind you go tend to him?" Lily snapped irritably.
"Oh, yes," Petunia's smile vanished. "Of course. Well, it was very good meeting you, James, and I suppose I'll see you in the morning."
"S'pose so..." James responded, looking utterly bewildered. Petunia turned and casually strutted down the stairs.
"Be right back..." Lily muttered, following Petunia. Once she and Petunia had both reached the bottom step, Lily pulled her aside. "What's up with that?" She asked, a slight glare in her vibrantly green eyes.
"What's up with what?" Petunia asked sweetly.
"How you're treating James." Lily answered simply.
"Oh, you know I always loved to make my dear Lily miserable." Petunia grinned wickedly.
Lily snorted. "You think James and I are dating?" she laughed.
"Well, of course I do. Why else would you have brought him home?"
"Because he's failing Muggle Studies class and needed help studying. I'm his tutor. That is it. His tutor and his friend." Lily said slowly and clearly, hoping it would penetrate through Petunia's six inch thick skull.
"Well then..." Petunia responded, disappointment spreading across her face.
"Whatever. Good night." Lily called irritably, climbing back up the steps. She knocked softly on James' door, and entered upon his response.
"Your sister is...interesting." James grinned, standing up from where he was sitting on the bed.
"She is an odd one, isn't she?" Lily asked with a small smile. James simply smiled in response, looking into her emerald green eyes. She had such beautiful exotic eyes...they completed the beauty of her face. "Well, I'm going to go to bed. I'm just across the hall so you know where to find me." Lily said, turning to leave the room.
"Night." James said in response.
Two hours later, James lie awake in his guest bed at Lily's, unable to sleep. Across the hall...she was right across the hall form him. James stood quietly to his feet and tip toed across the hallway. Lily's door was open by but a crack. James pushed the door open slightly and peeked in only to see her sleeping peacefully in her bed. Oh how she looked like an angel.
A small smile upon his face, James slowly and quietly shut the door, then returned to his bed and was finally able to drift into a deep slumber.