~*~Chapter 2~*~

"Good morning! We have arrived!" Sirius congratulated themselves upon entering Lily's house.

"About time too! Don't dawdle! Throw your suitcases in the car! At this rate, we're going to be late." Mr. Evans ordered. "Erm, where are your suitcases?..."

"Oh, they're right here. Mum shrunk them for us." James pulled a miniscule trunk out of his pocket.

"How convenient. Lily? Why didn't you think of that!?" Her mother asked.

"Mum, I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school, remember?"

"Ah, yes."

"Could we PLEASE stop discussing magical conveniences and get in the car? We'll end up missing our flight." Frank said aggrivatedly.

"Yes dear. Come children."

The four of them identically rolled their eyes and walked out to the Evans Van, which was a large van; gray, black, and maroon on the outside and a maroon interior. Not the most becoming vehicle on the market, but it fit large crowds.

"Who's THAT?" Remus nodded towards the two people already seated in the van, Petunia and her friend.

"Oh, that's Lizzy Burnow, Petunia's best friend."

"Petunia has friends!?" James whispered in disbelief.

"As far as I know, she only has this one, and you can see why...they both look like horses."

"And her nose is a ski jump the size of Birmingham!"

"Yes, quite the disfigured stallion, wouldn't you say?"

They entered the van laughing as Petunia and Lizzy stared at them.

"What's so funny?" Petunia said snottily. "You had better not make fun of Lizzy. She's my guest."

"Oops! Too late!" James smiled sweetly.

"And these are my best friends and guests, so do them a favor and buzz off."

"THESE are your best friends?" Lizzy gushed, looking them up and down.

"Yes Liz, this is James, Remus, and Sirius."

"My name's Lizzy, not Liz!" She snapped.

"Lizzy huh? Yep, it's more childish...fits your personality all right."

Petunia scowled at the discourtesy shown towards her friend, but Lizzy didn't seem to have noticed. Instead, she had inched her way over to Remus and was examining him intently.

"Ooh, scruffy long sandy brown hair...very cute." She ran her fingers through his hair, then down his nose and onto his lips. "Dark eyes, full lips..."

"Uh...guys? A little help here?" Remus squeaked, but they were all laughing too hard to hear.

"How old are you? You can't be Lily's age, you're too good looking for that..." she was all over him now.

He pushed her off roughly. "I'm 12, and I dont know you at all, but truthfully, I'd rather not be presented with that opportunity, so shove off!"

"Aww...Remmie...you don't really mean that!"

Remus just about gagged, but refrained himself from telling her so and just got into the back seat of the van, followed by Sirius, James, and Lily.

"Petunia, keep your sick friend under control or you'll be in big trouble!" Lily hissed as she passed by, catching a glance at Lizzy who was fluttering her eyelashes at Remus.

"Uh...dad? There's not enough seats for us all." She noticed, seeing that she only had a fingers length of room to sit.

"Yeah, I figured, but the airport is not far, so someone will have to sit on one of the boy's laps."

"Ok, I'm assuming I'm the lap sitter, so which of you want the honors?"

Lizzy shrieked. "I'll sit on Remmie's lap so you can have a chair!"

"NO!" Remus shouted loudly.

Lily laughed. "I'll just lay on all of your laps." She picked up a pillow for her head and stretched her legs along the width of the car, so she was laying across the boys. "Ahh...comfy! Thanks guys!"

"No problem!" They replied, thankful it was her and not Petunia's psycho friend.

~~~~~~
When on the main road, Mr. Evans started complaining. "Chloe, can't you go any faster?"

"I'm going to speed limit dear."

"Well..do a little bit over the speed limit. The police don't care!"

"I'm a rule follower, not a rule breaker, Frank."

"Argh!" He threw his hands up in defeat. "I knew I should have driven myself!"

Everyone heard this and chuckled.

~~~~~~
"Finally! We're here! Everybody out! We've got 20 minutes."

The whole crew evacuated, got their trunks, and ran into the building.

"Ok guys, listen...all you have to do is take off you watch and walk between these two bars." Lily instructed later at the security gate.

"Does it hurt?" Sirius asked.

The security guard threw him a strange glance.

"No, of course it doesn't. Trust me, I've done this before."

"Ok, if you say so..." He walked through and nothing happened. "Whoo, that was easy!"

"That's nice. Remus, do the same thing." She pulled him through. "Good, now James..."

BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! The alarm went off on James.

"AHH! What's happening?!" He freaked out as Lily scowled.

"Of all the times for the alarm to go off. Mom, Dad, you all just go on ahead of us. Now James, did you take your watch off?"

"Yeah, but I have another one in my pocket for backup."

"Oh dear lord, give it to me! Now walk through again!"

BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!

"Must be my trunk keys..." He blushed, handed them to Lily, and stepped through again.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!

"AHH! JAMES!"

"Excuse me sir, but we'll have to search you," the security guard said, putting the metal scanner up to his chest.

"AHH! Don't touch me with that thing!"

"Sir," he explained, annoyed. "It's not going to hurt you, my gosh!"

"Lily?" James pleaded.

"It's alright James. It's safe."

"Thank you ma'am," said the guard, exhasperated. "You sure don't get out much, do you?"

"Ummm, nope."

By the time he was completely alarm-free, they had removed metal wire from his shoes, spare keys for his trunk, a metal keyring, paperclips, a third watch he didn't know he had, 5 metal marbles, a quill with a metal tip, and oddly enough, a rubber chicken which didn't set the alarm off, but the guard found it quite unusual.

"James, tell me why in the world you insist on making a fool of yourself anywhere you go."

"Making a fool of myself? No Lily. I thought it was merely humerous. Did you not think so?"

"Don't even think about trying to use your so-called 'Potter Charm' at a time like this!"

"Time like what?"

"We're about to miss the plane doofus!" She jumped onto the escalator. "Everyone else has already boarded."

"Uhh...Lily? What is this thing!?" He sounded petrified.

She giggled. "It's called an escalator. You just step onto this thing right here and it takes you up."

His eyes got wide. "WOW!" While riding the escalator, James was in more awe than he ever was while in Zonkos. "There's one that goes down too!? Can we do it Lily? Can we PLEASE do down?" He gave her his sweet puppy eyes.

"For the love of Merlin! No James! We have a flight to catch!"

"Aww..." He followed her, but not before glancing once more at the escalator.

~~~~~~
"...We made it..." Lily panted upon entering the plane.

"About time! We thought we'd have to stall take off!"

"Ha ha. Very funny dad."

He shrugged good-naturedly. "I thought it was."

Their plane wasn't just an ordinary plane...it was a huge commercial jet liner, so it took Lily and James a long time to find their seats.

"Row M, O, P, Ahh! Row Q! Seats 1 and 2. Here we are James!"

"I get window seat! But why do we have to be WAY back here? I was to be near the plock pit."

It's a co ck pit! Not a plock pit. And plus, the farther back you are, the sooner you get your food."

"WE GET FOOD!?" He said gleefully.

"Yes James, we get food..." She replied dryly.

"You know, I could really get used to this whole flying thing."

"No, for some reason, I really don't think you could."

"Oooh! We're taking off!" His eyes were glued to the window as the plane's engine started and moved down the take off lane. Lily couldn't get his attention until 15 minutes later. He was zoned out to the world. "This is so cool! The things muggles come up with...a flying bird!...Oh look! I can already see Ireland!..."

"James? Hello? Potter!"

"Lily look! There's my Great Aunt Bonnie's house!"

"JAMES!" She pulled his head around so he was facing her. "Listen, you can't act like such an idiot and you most certainly can NOT mention the words muggle, Hogwarts, wizard, wand, magic, Zonkos, dungbombs, or anything of that sort. This is strictly a non-magic environment, got it?"

"YES DRILL SERGEANT!" He saluted.

Lily just prayed that he wouldn't mess up and say 'bomb'. He'd get arrested, and then they'd really be in a screw-up.

"Sir? Excuse me sir?" The flight attendant was trying to get the attention of James who was saluting to Lily.

"James!" She hissed, nudging him in the side. "Answer her!"

"Oh, sorry ma'am."

"That's perfectly all right. Now, here's your snack mix and peanuts."

"OOH! Snack mix! Can I have two of them please?" He begged.

"Of course, young man." She chuckled. "Now, what would you like to drink?"

"I'll have a black russian!" He beamed, then whispered to Lily, "That's what my dad always gets. He says it's a man's drink."

"I highly doubt you're of ago, so how about a non-alcoholic drink?"

"Ok, in that case, I'll have an orange soda."

"Ugh..." Lily answered. "You would get the most disgusting thing they have...orange soda...blah. I'll take an orange juice."

The lady gave them their drinks and moved on to the next people, but not before promising sandwitches in a few hours.

After a while, the plane entered a huge cloud, and it got really dark so Lily turned on her light above her.

"Woah! How'd you do that!?" James gazed. "Where'd the light come from?"

"It's called a lightbulb. See this?...it's called a button."

"A button? Wow! My dad's told me all about these thingy-ma-jiggers."

"Just push it, and trust me, you'll be amazed." said Lily, completely entertained by James' ignorance of the muggle world.

He squealed like a child when he pushed the button. For the next couple of minutes, all he did was push the button: on and off, on and off, on and off...Lily was getting quite irritated, but he was having fun, so she didn't say anything.

Unfortunately, others found it unbearably annoying. "Hey! You! I think we've realized that it goes off and on by now!"

"Yeah! Cut it out!" Someone else agreed.

"But it's so cool!" James yelled back to them.

Lily covered his mouth before he could say anything else embarrassing. "James! Shut up!" She was laughing hysterically. "Try to act normal!"

"I am acting normal! They're the ones who are weirdos!"

"But to them, you seem like a psychopath, so just...read or something! Here, I brought my copy of 'Quidditch Through the Ages' for you."

"I've got my own. Sirius, Remus, and I don't go anywhere without it."

"That's nice. Now be quiet so I can finish reading myself." She really didn't have to say this because when she looked over at him, he was already absorbed in his book.

~~~~~~
The rest of the long flight went by in much the same fashion. James discovered the buttons for the air conditioning and went beyond awe when Lily showed him how to use the radio and earphones. He found it absolutely thrilling.

"I'm going to be a muggle-thingy maker when I grow up, Lily." He beamed with pride.

She snorted quietly. "Yeah, you do that James."

~~~~~~
"Jeez, it's bloody hot here!" Sirius exclaimed when they got out of the plane a few hours later.

Mr. Evans inhaled strongly. "Ahh...smell that air! We're going to spend today swimming at the hotel and downtown, shopping or doing whatever. There's a lot of cool stuff to see in Orlando. Any objections?"

"When do we go to the parks?"

"Starting tomorrow. There's 3 parks that we're going to and we have a day for each: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Sea World."

"Sounds good!" Everyone agreed.

James looked ahead and his eyes lit up. "Yes! An Eckylator!"

"A what!?" asked Lily.

"An eckylator! I was hoping I'd get to ride one again!"

Mr. and Mrs. Evans laughed at his misunderstanding of the word 'escalator'.

"Yeah, I know! Aren't the cool?" Remus said.

"Lily," Petunia grabbed her collar to get her to listen and whispered, looking at the boys having fun riding up and down like idiots. "Tell them to stop acting so abnormal...if they can help it."

"Whatever, they're just having a good time. Quit trying to spoil it."

After five trips up and down the 'eckylator', they went through customs which was just as mach an adventure. They boys had two bags each: one suitcase with their clothes which was shrunk, so they didn't put it through custom, and another large carry-on, completely filled with candy and Zonko's products.

"I know this is a personal question, but did you not bring any clothes to wear?" The customs man asked, perplexed at all the strange items.

"We uh...are buying all our clothes here so that we have lots of souvenirs to take back home."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh...ok. You Europeans have some strange candy too, huh?" He said, examining a carton of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. "What flavours are these?"

"Ummm...uh...normal flavors." Remus stuttered, throwing a nervous glance at his friends.

"Ok. Well, it seems you all are good to go! Have fun in Florida and don't forget to lather up on the sunblock!"

Mr. Evans had arranged for them to stay in a very nice hotel, and had reserved a grand suite for the lot of them.

After checking in, unpacking, and swimming in the outdoor pool with waterslide, they all pocketed some cash and headed downtown to begin their vacation by doing what Lily lived for: shopping.