James' POV – September 1979
I stood next to Lily in the dining hall. Her grandparents had rented out a small but posh hall to have dinner in. It turned out that this was some sort of celebration because of something that they had received or something. Everyone was in smart or formal wear. The only reason that I didn't know what this thing was for was because I had my eyes on Lily. As usual she looked stunning. She was the most beautiful person there but then again I have a highly biased opinion! Today was our anniversary and earlier that day I had taken Lily around the local park and we'd had a lunch picnic there after I had brought her a large bouquet of flowers. I had been rewarded for that act of kindness. I smirked, it was possible to shed Lily's innocent persona.
Lily turned and looked at me as we went to some seats and sat down. I actually think this was actually some kind of benefit thing. Lily' parents were actually quite well off so why shouldn't her grandparents be well off. They were quite old though but were amazingly healthy.
"You look amazing." Lily said to me with a smile. I gave her a grin
"Not as good as you. I love your hair," I said putting a hand to her hair. I had noticed she'd straightened it a while ago but didn't know when to tell her. No time seemed the right time but at least it was out. Lily grinned.
"I've been waiting for you to compliment my hair." She said.
"I'm sorry." I said, "I'll compliment you more often then." Lily grinned and was about to lean in to kiss me when there was a squeal of happiness. Lily looked up and saw a girl with dark coloured hair running towards her. I looked as well. The girl had a similar face shape to Lily. Lily grinned and stood up.
"Louise!" She cried. The two girls hugged and I was left sitting behind them.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you in years." The dark haired girl asked.
"I know. I've been really good, I've finally finished school" Lily said, "I'm training to be a doctor right now."
"Really? That's really good." The dark haired girl, "You finding love? Got a boyfriend at last."
"Even better." Lily said. She turned to me and I took this as my cue to stand up. "Louise, meet James, my husband," Lily turned to me, "This is my cousin Louise, she's a few years older then me."
"Nice to meet you" I said, flashing Lily's cousin one of those smiles that made girls fall at my feet in Hogwarts. It worked in Hogwarts and it worked here. I saw Louise looking at me with a slightly dreamy look on her face.
"He is incredibly handsome." Louise said. "How long have you been married?" She had difficultly tearing her eyes off me and look at Lily again.
"It's our one year anniversary today." Lily said.
"What are you doing here then? You should be off shagging." Louise said.
"So subtle." Lily said with a smile. "I'm going to find grandma and Granddad. I'll see you in a bit." Lily said taking my hand and leading me away.
"I think she liked me." I said. Lily laughed.
"She's never had much luck with boys. She fancies almost anyone she sees." Lily said. "Maybe we should introduce her to Sirius?" I laughed
"Maybe." I said. "So are we actually going to see your grandparents?" He asked. Lily smiled.
"In time. I remember that Louise used to bug me after hanging around with her for too long" Lily said. She took my hand and sat down next to her parents.
"Having fun?" Mrs. Evans, also known as Margaret, asked us.
"Yes, it's great to see everyone again." Lily said reaching for an houre d'oeuves on the table. Margaret hit her hand and Lily looked at her slightly annoyed.
"What about you James?" Margaret asked
"It's interesting seeing lots of Evans'" I answered. "So many of you." I said looking around, pretending to be slightly traumatized. Margaret laughed and Lily gave me a slightly amused but annoyed look. Like that look she'd given me in fifth year when I threatened to pull Snape's pants off by magic.
"That's not funny." Lily said.
"Yes it is." I said leaning towards Lily's face. I gave her a quick kiss and came away looking at a smiling Lily.
"Oh please. You're in public and you two are still at it." Came the sneer like voice of Petunia- I can't remember what her new surname was but who cares. Lily looked at her sister across the table.
"Hello Petunia." Lily said, I could almost hear the strain of trying to be polite in her voice.
"Potter." Petunia simply said to Lily. "I'm surprised you two are still-"
"Petunia!" Margaret snapped. "Be civil. You can be bitchy and snipe at each other at home but not here. Understand me! Lily's already on orders" And Lily was. Margaret had run Lily through a list of things she had to do and the main two was to not tell everyone she was a witch, no matter how proud she was of Lily, and to be polite to Petunia.
"Very well mother." Petunia said like Lily wasn't there. Lily took a sharp breath and turned to me.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to more of my family." Lily said standing up.
"Who-" Petunia started to say but when she caught her mother's eyes she caught herself "are you going to introduce Potter to?" I looked at her slightly annoyed. I couldn't believe I had such an annoying prick of a girl as my sister-in-law.
"Maybe to our family?" Lily suggested. The sarcasm was so obvious in her voice.
"Lily" Margaret warned.
"Yes mum." She said sweetly. Lily could make me laugh so much sometimes. Margaret rolled her eyes and Lily pulled me off to meet more of her family.
"That's Uncle Henry and aunt Olive, they've come from France I think. Over there, that's Yas, her full name is Yasmine, she's my favourite cousin, she studies Law at Oxford." Lily said, we pretty much stayed in the same place and she just pointed them out. Yasmine was quite a pretty girl, probably about a few years older the Lily. She had light brown hair that was fairly long and wavy like Lily's hair used to be. She turned and saw us and smiled. She was incredibly pretty.
"So that's Yasmine?" I asked Lily.
"Yeah, she's really nice, I think you'll like her. She's like a milder version of April."
"Hi Lily." Yasmine said hugging Lily.
"Hi." Lily answered. Yasmine looked at me and smiled.
"James Potter I presume?" she asked. I smiled and shook her hand.
"Yes. Yasmine Evans?" She smiled.
"Sorry I couldn't come to your wedding." She said to us. "I really tried but you know what my mum is like. She doesn't really like your dad very much." She said, directing the last bit to Lily.
"I know." Lily said. I looked at Lily curiously. "Oh, they had a dispute over money. Yas's mum lost all her money in a gambling thing and tried to get Dad to give her some money."
"I'm living with my dad right now." Yasmine explained.
"Oh yeah, and her parents are divorced because Yas's mum tried to get money off my dad." Lily said.
"So almost as good as my family." I said, trying to be happy. I'd learnt to try and treat my family's death lightly. My grandparents had died years ago of natural causes, thank Merlin, and the rest of my family were scattered everywhere. Lily had met the most important people in my life at my wedding anyway.
"Oh, what happened to your family?" Yasmine asked interestedly.
"They died." I said, trying to say it lightly. I felt Lily's grip on my hand tighten slightly.
"Oh I don't really know what to say? Was it that Voldemort person?" Yasmine asked. I looked at Yasmine very surprised. I then looked at Lily who gave me a slightly sheepish look.
"Yeah, she knows about us" Lily said
"Is she supposed to?" I asked Lily. She gave me a slightly awkward smile, which I took as a no. I shook my head.
"It's not like you don't break the rules." Lily said with a frown.
"No that's Sirius." I said. I turned to Yasmine, "My friend recently bought a flying motorbike."
"Oh, that's amazing." Yasmine said, "Do you think I could see it sometime?" Lily turned to Yasmine.
"No." she said. "I'm not sure that he'll-"
"Of course you can see it. I'm sure he'll be delighted to show you." I said with a smile. Yasmine grinned.
"I'm going to have to visit you sometime. You live in Wales don't you?" She asked.
"Yes we do." Lily said. She sounded slightly annoyed. What had I done except give an indirect invitation to Yasmine to come and visit us.
"Do you mind if I come over in the Christmas holidays? I've got a lot of work to do in Oxford."
"We don't mind when you come." I said
"Our house is used as a social congregation anyway." Lily said, "It's quite annoying sometimes." Lily glanced at me and I smirked.
"Like the other night?" I asked with a grin.
"Yes, like the other night." Lily said. I think Yasmine could tell what we were talking about and she laughed lightly.
"So how's Healer training going?" Yasmine asked Lily. I zoned out slightly as Lily began talking to her cousin about her training. Yasmine seemed to know a lot about the wizarding world. I looked around and saw a few people looking at me curiously. A few of them were women, or more girls that were Lily's age. She had a lot of relatives but there were also other people here as well. I suddenly remembered that this was a charity event thing and the Evans family had some connection with it though I can't remember what it was that Lily told me about it. I really should listen more instead of staring.
"I'm going to get something to eat quickly." I said to Lily.
"Ok." She said giving me a quick kiss. I headed over to a small table with more houre d'oeuves and a few drinks when I felt a hand pull my arm and I was pulled around. Before I knew it I was standing next to Mr. Evans, or David as he liked me to call him, and a load of other men.
"This is my son-in-law." David said to the other men. "Good chap really. James these are Lily's uncles, not all of them are in our family of course, just good friends of the family." I nodded and held out my hand.
"Nice to meet you." I said. I shook hands with the four other men there and stood there with the older men. They all seemed to be about fifty or older.
"So what do you do?" One of the men asked.
"Law enforcement." I said quickly. Mr. Evans gave me a smile like I'd done the right thing.
"Really what branch?" another asked
"Er...The branch that deals with extremely dangerous criminals like serial murderers and people like that." I said.
"Ah, challenging job then" Another said. The last man that hadn't spoken looked at me curiously.
"So what makes you think you're a good enough husband for our Lily then?" He asked. I looked at him confused. He had a balding head though his hair was still a dark colour
"Because I love her?" I said. Mr. Evans put a hand on my shoulder.
"He's a great lad. Looks after her and makes sure no harm comes to her don't you?" Mr. Evans said. I nodded. "Has a good income, his line of work. He's a good lad." He repeated. I glanced at Mr. Evans strangely. His face was slightly red, like the faces of all the other men. I had a feeling they were all slightly tipsy.
"So, how did you meet Lily?" asked the balding man.
"We were head students together at our old school" I said.
"Head boy, eh?" asked another man. "Must have been a good student."
"No, well yes I was but Lily hated me." I said. They all nodded.
"Well, nice to see Lily has found someone like you, David, how's that car of yours? Mind showing it to us?" another said.
"Of course." They started talking about Mr. Evans's car and I sighed and headed towards the food where a tall...well built man was standing. He had almost no neck and a fairly stiff looking moustache. I had a feeling I'd seen him before but I couldn't quite figure out where. I went and got some food. He looked at me and muttered a hello.
"Hi." I said. He looked like he was in his mid twenties, probably older.
"Vernon Dursley" He said holding out his hand. Now that name rang a bell.
"James Potter." I said. He looked at me with wide eyes.
"Lily's husband?" I nodded. His face went slightly red but then he shook it and he returned to normal colour.
"Do I know you?" He asked.
"I'm your wife's brother-in-law." He said. I nodded
"Ah yes, I remember" I said, that jerk. I knew where I'd seen him before. He had come a few days after I had started living with Lily after school. After Petunia had explained who I was he seemed to think that he could bully me in any way possible. It didn't work though and often his attempts backfired. Ah, the skills you pick up as a marauder. Priceless.
"Well nice to see you again." I said lying through my teeth.
"Likewise." Vernon said. I turned with some food and two glasses in my hand and walked back to where Lily was talking with Yasmine.
"Drinks ladies." I said handing the glasses of drinks to Yasmine and Lily.
"Thank you." Yasmine said, taking her glass. "Such a gentleman. You're so lucky Lily." Lily smiled and let me put an arm around her.
"I know." She said. "You remember I used to complain about a boy at school who I hated so much?"
"Oh, the one who nearly killed some boy?"
"No, the one who saved some boy." I corrected.
"It doesn't matter." Lily said. "Well, this is that boy." Yasmine looked impressed
"Scrubbed up to be a good man."
"And I'm not even twenty yet, aren't you proud Lily?" I asked Lily. She laughed.
"Of course I am." She said.
"Oh, did you hear that Petunia is pregnant?" Yasmine said in an almost conspiratal voice. Lily looked at her confused.
"Yeah, I heard my dad talking to your mum about it. Apparently she's only just found out. She's like a few weeks pregnant." Yasmine said.
"Poor baby." I muttered. Lily spat her drink back into the glass as she laughed.
"Yeah. Who would want to sleep with her anyway." Lily asked.
"More like who would want to sleep with that Vernon character?" Yasmine asked. "I've met him a few times. Not really that nice. More like a big bully if you ask me."
"But perfectly normal." Lily said in a posh voice.
"Oh yes, we mustn't forget that." Yasmine said. Yasmine was great, she was a laugh. She could have fit into our group of friends quite nicely, truth be told. She had almost exactly the same sense of humour as Lily and it turned out she was really good friends with April as well. She knew about Jenny moving back to China and almost everything that had happened in Lily's life since forever!
Lily let out a sigh as we arrived back home. I was in the bedroom as she let down her hair and looked in the mirror.
"I liked Yasmine." I said randomly. "I think she'll get along well with the others."
"Yeah, she's great." Lily said. "Why do you get along so well with almost everyone in my family? It's really weird." Lily said turning to me with a bemused expression. I grinned and pulled her towards me.
"Maybe because it's because I'm brilliant?" I asked. I had my arms wrapped around her waist as she stood up. Lily smiled.
"No, I don't think it's that." She said.
"Because I'm the best?"
"No." Lily said.
"What then?" I asked her. She grinned.
"It's because you're a marauder." She said with a grin.
"And the handsomest one at that." I said for her.
"Oh definitely." She said. She bent down slightly and gave me a kiss. "I'm tired." She said.
"Here, let me undress you" I said, reaching for the buttons of her blouse. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled.
"If you must." She said.
"Oh I must." I told her, "And I have to because you're my wife and all your cousins were so jealous of you." Lily looked at me.
"They were?"
"Of course they were." I said. I was starting to sound like Lily now. "It's because you're beautiful." I said putting a kiss on Lily's abdomen, "And you're amazing." Giving her another kiss. "And you have me as your husband." Lily put a hand on my head to stop me kissing her abdomen.
"Stop it, that tickles, you haven't shaved have you?"
"Not since this morning, no." I said.
"I thought so." She said. "Well tomorrow we're off to the Caribbean!" She said happily. "You know I'll love you forever just because of it."
"I know my darling Lily flower." I said cheekily. I knew that used to tick her off in school and I hadn't used it for years. I don't know why but I had been feeling nostalgic for the old school days recently. Lily opened her mouth in mock shock.
"What did you call me you egotistic, stuck up, big headed bastard?" She asked. I laughed and she laughed as well.
"Ah, the good old insults" I said.
"I know." Lily said.
"I miss them." I said nostalgically
"I don't." Lily said as she laughed again.
"Only because you actually got offended by me" I said. Lily gave me a smile and undid my shirt buttons.
"Maybe." She said. "But if it was still as it was two years ago then we wouldn't be married, or even in love and I don't think I could live with that." Lily said. I shrugged my now unbuttoned shirt off and Lily moved away and got changed.
"Ah, can't we just-"
"Not under my parent's roof." Lily said with a smirk. I nodded, made sense. I stripped to my boxers and lay down under the duvet and waited for Lily to join me. She did eventually and I pulled her close to me and I kissed her forehead. She gently kissed my chest.
"Good night" Lily said in an exceptionally sweet voice.
"Goodnight." I said as Lily reached over and switched off the light. She soon fell asleep on my chest as I began to think of a way of getting back at Lily after yesterday. I just couldn't think of anything much that I could stop myself from doing. Everything I wanted to do I had to see through to the end. Lily shifted slightly and I pulled her closer. I could smell the coconut shampoo, she loved, in her hair. I had to admit that it used to be just another smell to me but since I started seeing Lily I had learnt to love the smell. I stared at the black ceiling.
"How can I get back at Lily?" I muttered to myself. As I thought about it more my thought processes started to divert to something Dumbledore had told us. In a year I could be a dad. At the time I had been incredibly shocked. It had been the last thing that I had thought about. Lily and I were just a married couple. It had never occurred to me that I would have to make children but after the awkward moment Lily and I had had that night I was beginning to warm to the idea. Maybe I should just Lily pregnant anyway, screw the prophecy, I wanted a son! And I could teach him quidditch and how to do marauding and everything that I liked and then Lily could teach him how to be Head boy and he'd be clever and smart. Yeah, I'll get Lily pregnant for the hell of it. It'll be fun. I don't know what Lily would say to that though. I don't particularly want to spoil that amazing body of hers, and it would mean we can't sleep with each other for about nine months. And I'd have to cope with her mood swings. Lily on PMS was bad enough, imagine a load of pregnancy hormones going through her body as well as a baby that made her throw up!
I frowned slightly and looked at Lily. She looked like an angel fast asleep. Even now I couldn't believe that she was mine. Years of chasing after her and she was my wife! It still seemed slightly surreal and absolutely amazing.
I followed Lily into the cabin we were staying in. It was a cabin for two people. I had tried to get this cabin and it was perfect. There was a small window in the wall that showed the passing ocean. Lily looked around excitedly and once I had put our bags on the bed Lily turned and put her arms around my neck and pressed a kiss against my lips, which I was more then happy to return.
"This is fantastic" She said. "I didn't think you'd get a private room." I gave her a grin.
"Anything for you my Lily Flower." Lily pressed her lips against mine.
"Don't call me that." She murmured as she kissed me again. I felt her hands in my hair and her kiss became a bit more urgent. I pulled away slightly.
"Lets go on deck." I said with a smile. Lily grinned and let me lead her up to the deck where the fresh ocean breeze swept over the deck. It was a cool breeze, which was quite nice in the hot, early September weather. We stood at the edge of the deck, Lily put an arm through one of my arms that I leant on and put her head on my shoulder.
"This is great" She said. I turned to her, her hair was being blown back from her face by the wind and she looked amazing. I felt a jerk in my stomach that only really happened when my love for Lily seemed to explode past it's maximum. I could have grown wings and fly around the world at that moment. She looked at me and gave me a smile.
"I love you." I said. Lily's emerald eyes sparkled and she leaned towards me.
"I love you to." She said. She kissed me gently on the lips. I put a hand to her cheek and touched her soft skin gently.
"EWW! Mummy they're kissing." Came the voice of a small child behind us. Lily and I broke apart to see a young boy of about five or six staring at us pointing, a woman, I'm guessing his mother, grabbed the hand that was pointing towards us.
"Oliver stop pointing, it's rude" She snapped at the boy. She turned to us, "I'm so sorry about my son. It's just that he's a bit...excitable." She said gently and apologetically.
"It's fine." Lily said with a smile. The woman looked at us with a smile.
"I hope he didn't interrupt anything." She said. Lily and I looked at each other and she laughed slightly. I smiled.
"No, nothing important." I said. "James and Lily Potter."
"Francine Wood, this is my son Oliver." The lady said. "On your honeymoon?" Lily shook her head
"Oh, no. One year anniversary." She said. The woman gave a slight smile of surprise.
"Really, you two look awfully young."
"We are. Barely twenty." I said.
"Really? You're very young." She said. We gave her a smile and the little boy, Oliver dragged her off to see the little boats that were on the side of the deck. Lily sighed and looked at me.
"We're young but in love and that's all that matters." She said as a quiet response to Mrs. Wood. I laughed and pulled Lily closer to me and pressed a kiss on her lips.
"Do you think we'll be having a child?" Lily asked.
"Yes." I said as I tried to kiss her again but she smiled and pulled away.
"What makes you so sure?" She asked, a hint of daring in her voice.
"Because I'm going to get you pregnant and you have no choice in the matter." I said matter of factly.
"Really?" Lily asked.
"Yes." I said. I looked at Lily, I could see that spark in her eyes that often meant she was planning something. She took my hands and grinned.
"Do you want to start trying now?" She asked. I grinned.
"Hell yeah!" I said. She grinned and we tried to get to our cabin as quickly as possible. On the way we met someone that had gone to Hogwarts with us and wanted to talk. That put a damper on my mood, and Lily's by the looks of it.
"So you two are married now?" The boy asked. I recognised him. He had been a beater for Ravenclaw in our year.
"Yes. Um, James and I need to g-" Lily started to say but the boy interrupted.
"You know, it's been a while since we talked, do you want to go have a drink of Butterbeer or Firewhiskey?" He asked. I looked at Lily and she looked at me slightly anxiously. Finally Lily sighed.
"Um, sure why not?" She said. I felt my mood fall. The guy grinned and I looked at Lily. 'Sorry' she mouthed.
"It's fine." I whispered as she came and hugged me. The guy grinned.
"Great. I'll pay if you want."
"Oh, it's fine." I said. "We'll pay for ourselves."
The talk we had was long, boring and downright tedious, he just wanted to know how we had been and how all the guys were. Lily had avoided telling him about Jenny and Remus and by the time we'd managed to get away from him neither one of us felt like going to the cabin any more. We just went out onto the top deck and leaned against the side of the boat, near the prow. Lily leaned over slightly and stared into the water while I just looked into the horizon.
"James look." She said pointing down. I looked down and saw a few Dolphins leaping into the air at the front of the boat. Lily laughed slightly and I grinned. I put an arm around her and pulled her closer. I didn't need to have sex with Lily to feel happy, just holding her or being with her made me happy, complete and whole. Lily put her head on my shoulder and stared into the horizon where the sun was setting.
"Thanks." Lily whispered into my ear before gently touching my skin with a kiss.
"For what?" I asked, turning to looked at her. She smiled.
"For this." She said, "I know I've said it before but I just can't get over it." I grinned and kissed her cheek.
"A perfect trip for the perfect woman." I muttered. Lily laughed.
"I'd hardly call myself perfect." Lily said.
"You're perfect to me." I said as I stood up properly and pulled Lily towards me. She put her arms around me and looked into my eyes, she wasn't that much smaller then me and I liked not having to look down too far to look into her eyes. She then raised a hand and brushed away some of the hair that fell over my glasses. I smiled ad got a smile in return.
"Lets find somewhere to sit." I said.
"No, standing is fine, I like being in your arms." Lily said, her hand came to rest on my cheek and she came closer and kissed me gently on the lips. They were just so soft and so gentle. I slowly prised her mouth open with mine and allowed my tongue to gently go into her mouth. I felt Lily's tongue against mine and my body shaking slightly. It was moments like this that I had with Lily that I wouldn't trade for the world. She made the kiss a little more urgent and I played along with it. My heartbeat started to get faster and I could feel the air around getting slightly warmer, or was that just me? I think I could guess what was going to follow a bit later, after dinner probably. Lily dropped her hand and snaked it around my neck before pulling away slightly out of breath. I was breathing as heavily as she was. She looked slightly flushed as well. She gave me a sheepish smile that reminded me vaguely of the Christmas we got together.
"I think we can make it." Lily said quietly.
"Make it through what?" I asked. I brushed a lock of red hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.
"Through life." She said, "We can do it can't we?" She looked at me with a slightly serious expression
"I wouldn't have it any other way." I said with a grin and laughing slightly. Lily laughed and pushed herself up on her toes and playfully bit my nose.
"Don't laugh at me." She said.
"Sorry, you were so cute." I said. She laughed as well and put a kiss on my lips.
"Well you weren't looking to bad yourself." She said,
"Of course I wasn't. I'm the best looking man in the world." I said cheekily.
"That you are Potter" Lily said. I pouted slightly.
"I can't call you Evans anymore." I said. Lily grinned and kissed my neck.
"Good." She murmured against my skin. I held her slightly closer and she laughed as she put kisses up and down my neck and chin. "It's so quiet out here without the others around." Lily said after a while.
"It is. It's really strange at the same time."
"Yeah, but I have you so I'm not complaining." Lily said putting her head against my chest and hugging me tightly.
"I wasn't complaining." I said.
"Never said you were." Lily said back as she lifted her head slightly. She brushed some invisible lint off my shoulder and then replaced her head. I happily pressed the side of my face against her soft red hair and looked over the darkening blue ocean. I could see some of the stars start to appear from where we had left England. It was weird, one half of the sky was an inky black or a really dark blue and another half was light blue infused with the glowing yellows and oranges from the sun. It seemed a bit surreal. Lily let out a sigh and I glanced at her.
"You ok?" I asked.
"Perfect." She said, she looked up at me and smiled. "Lets go and have dinner." She said. I smiled and kissed her gently and let go of her then took her hand. She held my hand tightly as we went inside the ship and to the buffet restaurant that was on the ship.
A/N:-Ok, after this I'm going to be doing a lot of month Jumping, as in, I'm going to skip months at a time because it begins to get a bit dull and I can't fill up another 2 years in so much detail! Next chapter will be the one everyone appears to be waiting for...yes it's Jenny's POV, it is called Christmas Reunion. Then after her will be Remus
I stood next to Lily in the dining hall. Her grandparents had rented out a small but posh hall to have dinner in. It turned out that this was some sort of celebration because of something that they had received or something. Everyone was in smart or formal wear. The only reason that I didn't know what this thing was for was because I had my eyes on Lily. As usual she looked stunning. She was the most beautiful person there but then again I have a highly biased opinion! Today was our anniversary and earlier that day I had taken Lily around the local park and we'd had a lunch picnic there after I had brought her a large bouquet of flowers. I had been rewarded for that act of kindness. I smirked, it was possible to shed Lily's innocent persona.
Lily turned and looked at me as we went to some seats and sat down. I actually think this was actually some kind of benefit thing. Lily' parents were actually quite well off so why shouldn't her grandparents be well off. They were quite old though but were amazingly healthy.
"You look amazing." Lily said to me with a smile. I gave her a grin
"Not as good as you. I love your hair," I said putting a hand to her hair. I had noticed she'd straightened it a while ago but didn't know when to tell her. No time seemed the right time but at least it was out. Lily grinned.
"I've been waiting for you to compliment my hair." She said.
"I'm sorry." I said, "I'll compliment you more often then." Lily grinned and was about to lean in to kiss me when there was a squeal of happiness. Lily looked up and saw a girl with dark coloured hair running towards her. I looked as well. The girl had a similar face shape to Lily. Lily grinned and stood up.
"Louise!" She cried. The two girls hugged and I was left sitting behind them.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you in years." The dark haired girl asked.
"I know. I've been really good, I've finally finished school" Lily said, "I'm training to be a doctor right now."
"Really? That's really good." The dark haired girl, "You finding love? Got a boyfriend at last."
"Even better." Lily said. She turned to me and I took this as my cue to stand up. "Louise, meet James, my husband," Lily turned to me, "This is my cousin Louise, she's a few years older then me."
"Nice to meet you" I said, flashing Lily's cousin one of those smiles that made girls fall at my feet in Hogwarts. It worked in Hogwarts and it worked here. I saw Louise looking at me with a slightly dreamy look on her face.
"He is incredibly handsome." Louise said. "How long have you been married?" She had difficultly tearing her eyes off me and look at Lily again.
"It's our one year anniversary today." Lily said.
"What are you doing here then? You should be off shagging." Louise said.
"So subtle." Lily said with a smile. "I'm going to find grandma and Granddad. I'll see you in a bit." Lily said taking my hand and leading me away.
"I think she liked me." I said. Lily laughed.
"She's never had much luck with boys. She fancies almost anyone she sees." Lily said. "Maybe we should introduce her to Sirius?" I laughed
"Maybe." I said. "So are we actually going to see your grandparents?" He asked. Lily smiled.
"In time. I remember that Louise used to bug me after hanging around with her for too long" Lily said. She took my hand and sat down next to her parents.
"Having fun?" Mrs. Evans, also known as Margaret, asked us.
"Yes, it's great to see everyone again." Lily said reaching for an houre d'oeuves on the table. Margaret hit her hand and Lily looked at her slightly annoyed.
"What about you James?" Margaret asked
"It's interesting seeing lots of Evans'" I answered. "So many of you." I said looking around, pretending to be slightly traumatized. Margaret laughed and Lily gave me a slightly amused but annoyed look. Like that look she'd given me in fifth year when I threatened to pull Snape's pants off by magic.
"That's not funny." Lily said.
"Yes it is." I said leaning towards Lily's face. I gave her a quick kiss and came away looking at a smiling Lily.
"Oh please. You're in public and you two are still at it." Came the sneer like voice of Petunia- I can't remember what her new surname was but who cares. Lily looked at her sister across the table.
"Hello Petunia." Lily said, I could almost hear the strain of trying to be polite in her voice.
"Potter." Petunia simply said to Lily. "I'm surprised you two are still-"
"Petunia!" Margaret snapped. "Be civil. You can be bitchy and snipe at each other at home but not here. Understand me! Lily's already on orders" And Lily was. Margaret had run Lily through a list of things she had to do and the main two was to not tell everyone she was a witch, no matter how proud she was of Lily, and to be polite to Petunia.
"Very well mother." Petunia said like Lily wasn't there. Lily took a sharp breath and turned to me.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to more of my family." Lily said standing up.
"Who-" Petunia started to say but when she caught her mother's eyes she caught herself "are you going to introduce Potter to?" I looked at her slightly annoyed. I couldn't believe I had such an annoying prick of a girl as my sister-in-law.
"Maybe to our family?" Lily suggested. The sarcasm was so obvious in her voice.
"Lily" Margaret warned.
"Yes mum." She said sweetly. Lily could make me laugh so much sometimes. Margaret rolled her eyes and Lily pulled me off to meet more of her family.
"That's Uncle Henry and aunt Olive, they've come from France I think. Over there, that's Yas, her full name is Yasmine, she's my favourite cousin, she studies Law at Oxford." Lily said, we pretty much stayed in the same place and she just pointed them out. Yasmine was quite a pretty girl, probably about a few years older the Lily. She had light brown hair that was fairly long and wavy like Lily's hair used to be. She turned and saw us and smiled. She was incredibly pretty.
"So that's Yasmine?" I asked Lily.
"Yeah, she's really nice, I think you'll like her. She's like a milder version of April."
"Hi Lily." Yasmine said hugging Lily.
"Hi." Lily answered. Yasmine looked at me and smiled.
"James Potter I presume?" she asked. I smiled and shook her hand.
"Yes. Yasmine Evans?" She smiled.
"Sorry I couldn't come to your wedding." She said to us. "I really tried but you know what my mum is like. She doesn't really like your dad very much." She said, directing the last bit to Lily.
"I know." Lily said. I looked at Lily curiously. "Oh, they had a dispute over money. Yas's mum lost all her money in a gambling thing and tried to get Dad to give her some money."
"I'm living with my dad right now." Yasmine explained.
"Oh yeah, and her parents are divorced because Yas's mum tried to get money off my dad." Lily said.
"So almost as good as my family." I said, trying to be happy. I'd learnt to try and treat my family's death lightly. My grandparents had died years ago of natural causes, thank Merlin, and the rest of my family were scattered everywhere. Lily had met the most important people in my life at my wedding anyway.
"Oh, what happened to your family?" Yasmine asked interestedly.
"They died." I said, trying to say it lightly. I felt Lily's grip on my hand tighten slightly.
"Oh I don't really know what to say? Was it that Voldemort person?" Yasmine asked. I looked at Yasmine very surprised. I then looked at Lily who gave me a slightly sheepish look.
"Yeah, she knows about us" Lily said
"Is she supposed to?" I asked Lily. She gave me a slightly awkward smile, which I took as a no. I shook my head.
"It's not like you don't break the rules." Lily said with a frown.
"No that's Sirius." I said. I turned to Yasmine, "My friend recently bought a flying motorbike."
"Oh, that's amazing." Yasmine said, "Do you think I could see it sometime?" Lily turned to Yasmine.
"No." she said. "I'm not sure that he'll-"
"Of course you can see it. I'm sure he'll be delighted to show you." I said with a smile. Yasmine grinned.
"I'm going to have to visit you sometime. You live in Wales don't you?" She asked.
"Yes we do." Lily said. She sounded slightly annoyed. What had I done except give an indirect invitation to Yasmine to come and visit us.
"Do you mind if I come over in the Christmas holidays? I've got a lot of work to do in Oxford."
"We don't mind when you come." I said
"Our house is used as a social congregation anyway." Lily said, "It's quite annoying sometimes." Lily glanced at me and I smirked.
"Like the other night?" I asked with a grin.
"Yes, like the other night." Lily said. I think Yasmine could tell what we were talking about and she laughed lightly.
"So how's Healer training going?" Yasmine asked Lily. I zoned out slightly as Lily began talking to her cousin about her training. Yasmine seemed to know a lot about the wizarding world. I looked around and saw a few people looking at me curiously. A few of them were women, or more girls that were Lily's age. She had a lot of relatives but there were also other people here as well. I suddenly remembered that this was a charity event thing and the Evans family had some connection with it though I can't remember what it was that Lily told me about it. I really should listen more instead of staring.
"I'm going to get something to eat quickly." I said to Lily.
"Ok." She said giving me a quick kiss. I headed over to a small table with more houre d'oeuves and a few drinks when I felt a hand pull my arm and I was pulled around. Before I knew it I was standing next to Mr. Evans, or David as he liked me to call him, and a load of other men.
"This is my son-in-law." David said to the other men. "Good chap really. James these are Lily's uncles, not all of them are in our family of course, just good friends of the family." I nodded and held out my hand.
"Nice to meet you." I said. I shook hands with the four other men there and stood there with the older men. They all seemed to be about fifty or older.
"So what do you do?" One of the men asked.
"Law enforcement." I said quickly. Mr. Evans gave me a smile like I'd done the right thing.
"Really what branch?" another asked
"Er...The branch that deals with extremely dangerous criminals like serial murderers and people like that." I said.
"Ah, challenging job then" Another said. The last man that hadn't spoken looked at me curiously.
"So what makes you think you're a good enough husband for our Lily then?" He asked. I looked at him confused. He had a balding head though his hair was still a dark colour
"Because I love her?" I said. Mr. Evans put a hand on my shoulder.
"He's a great lad. Looks after her and makes sure no harm comes to her don't you?" Mr. Evans said. I nodded. "Has a good income, his line of work. He's a good lad." He repeated. I glanced at Mr. Evans strangely. His face was slightly red, like the faces of all the other men. I had a feeling they were all slightly tipsy.
"So, how did you meet Lily?" asked the balding man.
"We were head students together at our old school" I said.
"Head boy, eh?" asked another man. "Must have been a good student."
"No, well yes I was but Lily hated me." I said. They all nodded.
"Well, nice to see Lily has found someone like you, David, how's that car of yours? Mind showing it to us?" another said.
"Of course." They started talking about Mr. Evans's car and I sighed and headed towards the food where a tall...well built man was standing. He had almost no neck and a fairly stiff looking moustache. I had a feeling I'd seen him before but I couldn't quite figure out where. I went and got some food. He looked at me and muttered a hello.
"Hi." I said. He looked like he was in his mid twenties, probably older.
"Vernon Dursley" He said holding out his hand. Now that name rang a bell.
"James Potter." I said. He looked at me with wide eyes.
"Lily's husband?" I nodded. His face went slightly red but then he shook it and he returned to normal colour.
"Do I know you?" He asked.
"I'm your wife's brother-in-law." He said. I nodded
"Ah yes, I remember" I said, that jerk. I knew where I'd seen him before. He had come a few days after I had started living with Lily after school. After Petunia had explained who I was he seemed to think that he could bully me in any way possible. It didn't work though and often his attempts backfired. Ah, the skills you pick up as a marauder. Priceless.
"Well nice to see you again." I said lying through my teeth.
"Likewise." Vernon said. I turned with some food and two glasses in my hand and walked back to where Lily was talking with Yasmine.
"Drinks ladies." I said handing the glasses of drinks to Yasmine and Lily.
"Thank you." Yasmine said, taking her glass. "Such a gentleman. You're so lucky Lily." Lily smiled and let me put an arm around her.
"I know." She said. "You remember I used to complain about a boy at school who I hated so much?"
"Oh, the one who nearly killed some boy?"
"No, the one who saved some boy." I corrected.
"It doesn't matter." Lily said. "Well, this is that boy." Yasmine looked impressed
"Scrubbed up to be a good man."
"And I'm not even twenty yet, aren't you proud Lily?" I asked Lily. She laughed.
"Of course I am." She said.
"Oh, did you hear that Petunia is pregnant?" Yasmine said in an almost conspiratal voice. Lily looked at her confused.
"Yeah, I heard my dad talking to your mum about it. Apparently she's only just found out. She's like a few weeks pregnant." Yasmine said.
"Poor baby." I muttered. Lily spat her drink back into the glass as she laughed.
"Yeah. Who would want to sleep with her anyway." Lily asked.
"More like who would want to sleep with that Vernon character?" Yasmine asked. "I've met him a few times. Not really that nice. More like a big bully if you ask me."
"But perfectly normal." Lily said in a posh voice.
"Oh yes, we mustn't forget that." Yasmine said. Yasmine was great, she was a laugh. She could have fit into our group of friends quite nicely, truth be told. She had almost exactly the same sense of humour as Lily and it turned out she was really good friends with April as well. She knew about Jenny moving back to China and almost everything that had happened in Lily's life since forever!
Lily let out a sigh as we arrived back home. I was in the bedroom as she let down her hair and looked in the mirror.
"I liked Yasmine." I said randomly. "I think she'll get along well with the others."
"Yeah, she's great." Lily said. "Why do you get along so well with almost everyone in my family? It's really weird." Lily said turning to me with a bemused expression. I grinned and pulled her towards me.
"Maybe because it's because I'm brilliant?" I asked. I had my arms wrapped around her waist as she stood up. Lily smiled.
"No, I don't think it's that." She said.
"Because I'm the best?"
"No." Lily said.
"What then?" I asked her. She grinned.
"It's because you're a marauder." She said with a grin.
"And the handsomest one at that." I said for her.
"Oh definitely." She said. She bent down slightly and gave me a kiss. "I'm tired." She said.
"Here, let me undress you" I said, reaching for the buttons of her blouse. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled.
"If you must." She said.
"Oh I must." I told her, "And I have to because you're my wife and all your cousins were so jealous of you." Lily looked at me.
"They were?"
"Of course they were." I said. I was starting to sound like Lily now. "It's because you're beautiful." I said putting a kiss on Lily's abdomen, "And you're amazing." Giving her another kiss. "And you have me as your husband." Lily put a hand on my head to stop me kissing her abdomen.
"Stop it, that tickles, you haven't shaved have you?"
"Not since this morning, no." I said.
"I thought so." She said. "Well tomorrow we're off to the Caribbean!" She said happily. "You know I'll love you forever just because of it."
"I know my darling Lily flower." I said cheekily. I knew that used to tick her off in school and I hadn't used it for years. I don't know why but I had been feeling nostalgic for the old school days recently. Lily opened her mouth in mock shock.
"What did you call me you egotistic, stuck up, big headed bastard?" She asked. I laughed and she laughed as well.
"Ah, the good old insults" I said.
"I know." Lily said.
"I miss them." I said nostalgically
"I don't." Lily said as she laughed again.
"Only because you actually got offended by me" I said. Lily gave me a smile and undid my shirt buttons.
"Maybe." She said. "But if it was still as it was two years ago then we wouldn't be married, or even in love and I don't think I could live with that." Lily said. I shrugged my now unbuttoned shirt off and Lily moved away and got changed.
"Ah, can't we just-"
"Not under my parent's roof." Lily said with a smirk. I nodded, made sense. I stripped to my boxers and lay down under the duvet and waited for Lily to join me. She did eventually and I pulled her close to me and I kissed her forehead. She gently kissed my chest.
"Good night" Lily said in an exceptionally sweet voice.
"Goodnight." I said as Lily reached over and switched off the light. She soon fell asleep on my chest as I began to think of a way of getting back at Lily after yesterday. I just couldn't think of anything much that I could stop myself from doing. Everything I wanted to do I had to see through to the end. Lily shifted slightly and I pulled her closer. I could smell the coconut shampoo, she loved, in her hair. I had to admit that it used to be just another smell to me but since I started seeing Lily I had learnt to love the smell. I stared at the black ceiling.
"How can I get back at Lily?" I muttered to myself. As I thought about it more my thought processes started to divert to something Dumbledore had told us. In a year I could be a dad. At the time I had been incredibly shocked. It had been the last thing that I had thought about. Lily and I were just a married couple. It had never occurred to me that I would have to make children but after the awkward moment Lily and I had had that night I was beginning to warm to the idea. Maybe I should just Lily pregnant anyway, screw the prophecy, I wanted a son! And I could teach him quidditch and how to do marauding and everything that I liked and then Lily could teach him how to be Head boy and he'd be clever and smart. Yeah, I'll get Lily pregnant for the hell of it. It'll be fun. I don't know what Lily would say to that though. I don't particularly want to spoil that amazing body of hers, and it would mean we can't sleep with each other for about nine months. And I'd have to cope with her mood swings. Lily on PMS was bad enough, imagine a load of pregnancy hormones going through her body as well as a baby that made her throw up!
I frowned slightly and looked at Lily. She looked like an angel fast asleep. Even now I couldn't believe that she was mine. Years of chasing after her and she was my wife! It still seemed slightly surreal and absolutely amazing.
I followed Lily into the cabin we were staying in. It was a cabin for two people. I had tried to get this cabin and it was perfect. There was a small window in the wall that showed the passing ocean. Lily looked around excitedly and once I had put our bags on the bed Lily turned and put her arms around my neck and pressed a kiss against my lips, which I was more then happy to return.
"This is fantastic" She said. "I didn't think you'd get a private room." I gave her a grin.
"Anything for you my Lily Flower." Lily pressed her lips against mine.
"Don't call me that." She murmured as she kissed me again. I felt her hands in my hair and her kiss became a bit more urgent. I pulled away slightly.
"Lets go on deck." I said with a smile. Lily grinned and let me lead her up to the deck where the fresh ocean breeze swept over the deck. It was a cool breeze, which was quite nice in the hot, early September weather. We stood at the edge of the deck, Lily put an arm through one of my arms that I leant on and put her head on my shoulder.
"This is great" She said. I turned to her, her hair was being blown back from her face by the wind and she looked amazing. I felt a jerk in my stomach that only really happened when my love for Lily seemed to explode past it's maximum. I could have grown wings and fly around the world at that moment. She looked at me and gave me a smile.
"I love you." I said. Lily's emerald eyes sparkled and she leaned towards me.
"I love you to." She said. She kissed me gently on the lips. I put a hand to her cheek and touched her soft skin gently.
"EWW! Mummy they're kissing." Came the voice of a small child behind us. Lily and I broke apart to see a young boy of about five or six staring at us pointing, a woman, I'm guessing his mother, grabbed the hand that was pointing towards us.
"Oliver stop pointing, it's rude" She snapped at the boy. She turned to us, "I'm so sorry about my son. It's just that he's a bit...excitable." She said gently and apologetically.
"It's fine." Lily said with a smile. The woman looked at us with a smile.
"I hope he didn't interrupt anything." She said. Lily and I looked at each other and she laughed slightly. I smiled.
"No, nothing important." I said. "James and Lily Potter."
"Francine Wood, this is my son Oliver." The lady said. "On your honeymoon?" Lily shook her head
"Oh, no. One year anniversary." She said. The woman gave a slight smile of surprise.
"Really, you two look awfully young."
"We are. Barely twenty." I said.
"Really? You're very young." She said. We gave her a smile and the little boy, Oliver dragged her off to see the little boats that were on the side of the deck. Lily sighed and looked at me.
"We're young but in love and that's all that matters." She said as a quiet response to Mrs. Wood. I laughed and pulled Lily closer to me and pressed a kiss on her lips.
"Do you think we'll be having a child?" Lily asked.
"Yes." I said as I tried to kiss her again but she smiled and pulled away.
"What makes you so sure?" She asked, a hint of daring in her voice.
"Because I'm going to get you pregnant and you have no choice in the matter." I said matter of factly.
"Really?" Lily asked.
"Yes." I said. I looked at Lily, I could see that spark in her eyes that often meant she was planning something. She took my hands and grinned.
"Do you want to start trying now?" She asked. I grinned.
"Hell yeah!" I said. She grinned and we tried to get to our cabin as quickly as possible. On the way we met someone that had gone to Hogwarts with us and wanted to talk. That put a damper on my mood, and Lily's by the looks of it.
"So you two are married now?" The boy asked. I recognised him. He had been a beater for Ravenclaw in our year.
"Yes. Um, James and I need to g-" Lily started to say but the boy interrupted.
"You know, it's been a while since we talked, do you want to go have a drink of Butterbeer or Firewhiskey?" He asked. I looked at Lily and she looked at me slightly anxiously. Finally Lily sighed.
"Um, sure why not?" She said. I felt my mood fall. The guy grinned and I looked at Lily. 'Sorry' she mouthed.
"It's fine." I whispered as she came and hugged me. The guy grinned.
"Great. I'll pay if you want."
"Oh, it's fine." I said. "We'll pay for ourselves."
The talk we had was long, boring and downright tedious, he just wanted to know how we had been and how all the guys were. Lily had avoided telling him about Jenny and Remus and by the time we'd managed to get away from him neither one of us felt like going to the cabin any more. We just went out onto the top deck and leaned against the side of the boat, near the prow. Lily leaned over slightly and stared into the water while I just looked into the horizon.
"James look." She said pointing down. I looked down and saw a few Dolphins leaping into the air at the front of the boat. Lily laughed slightly and I grinned. I put an arm around her and pulled her closer. I didn't need to have sex with Lily to feel happy, just holding her or being with her made me happy, complete and whole. Lily put her head on my shoulder and stared into the horizon where the sun was setting.
"Thanks." Lily whispered into my ear before gently touching my skin with a kiss.
"For what?" I asked, turning to looked at her. She smiled.
"For this." She said, "I know I've said it before but I just can't get over it." I grinned and kissed her cheek.
"A perfect trip for the perfect woman." I muttered. Lily laughed.
"I'd hardly call myself perfect." Lily said.
"You're perfect to me." I said as I stood up properly and pulled Lily towards me. She put her arms around me and looked into my eyes, she wasn't that much smaller then me and I liked not having to look down too far to look into her eyes. She then raised a hand and brushed away some of the hair that fell over my glasses. I smiled ad got a smile in return.
"Lets find somewhere to sit." I said.
"No, standing is fine, I like being in your arms." Lily said, her hand came to rest on my cheek and she came closer and kissed me gently on the lips. They were just so soft and so gentle. I slowly prised her mouth open with mine and allowed my tongue to gently go into her mouth. I felt Lily's tongue against mine and my body shaking slightly. It was moments like this that I had with Lily that I wouldn't trade for the world. She made the kiss a little more urgent and I played along with it. My heartbeat started to get faster and I could feel the air around getting slightly warmer, or was that just me? I think I could guess what was going to follow a bit later, after dinner probably. Lily dropped her hand and snaked it around my neck before pulling away slightly out of breath. I was breathing as heavily as she was. She looked slightly flushed as well. She gave me a sheepish smile that reminded me vaguely of the Christmas we got together.
"I think we can make it." Lily said quietly.
"Make it through what?" I asked. I brushed a lock of red hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.
"Through life." She said, "We can do it can't we?" She looked at me with a slightly serious expression
"I wouldn't have it any other way." I said with a grin and laughing slightly. Lily laughed and pushed herself up on her toes and playfully bit my nose.
"Don't laugh at me." She said.
"Sorry, you were so cute." I said. She laughed as well and put a kiss on my lips.
"Well you weren't looking to bad yourself." She said,
"Of course I wasn't. I'm the best looking man in the world." I said cheekily.
"That you are Potter" Lily said. I pouted slightly.
"I can't call you Evans anymore." I said. Lily grinned and kissed my neck.
"Good." She murmured against my skin. I held her slightly closer and she laughed as she put kisses up and down my neck and chin. "It's so quiet out here without the others around." Lily said after a while.
"It is. It's really strange at the same time."
"Yeah, but I have you so I'm not complaining." Lily said putting her head against my chest and hugging me tightly.
"I wasn't complaining." I said.
"Never said you were." Lily said back as she lifted her head slightly. She brushed some invisible lint off my shoulder and then replaced her head. I happily pressed the side of my face against her soft red hair and looked over the darkening blue ocean. I could see some of the stars start to appear from where we had left England. It was weird, one half of the sky was an inky black or a really dark blue and another half was light blue infused with the glowing yellows and oranges from the sun. It seemed a bit surreal. Lily let out a sigh and I glanced at her.
"You ok?" I asked.
"Perfect." She said, she looked up at me and smiled. "Lets go and have dinner." She said. I smiled and kissed her gently and let go of her then took her hand. She held my hand tightly as we went inside the ship and to the buffet restaurant that was on the ship.
A/N:-Ok, after this I'm going to be doing a lot of month Jumping, as in, I'm going to skip months at a time because it begins to get a bit dull and I can't fill up another 2 years in so much detail! Next chapter will be the one everyone appears to be waiting for...yes it's Jenny's POV, it is called Christmas Reunion. Then after her will be Remus