Omg, omg, omg omg. I am so totally squealing my head off right now! When I got home today, I found 15 messages in my inbox; all of them reviews from you guys! I am so glad that everyone likes it, and I promise that I'll continue this story until (sigh) the end. Perhaps a sequel would be a good idea? We'll see!

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JAMES

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French toast?

I stared down at the plate in front of me.

I did not eat French toast.

Especially not French toast that was soggy, with raw egg still dripping off the bread in the middle, and stone cold with a glob of melted butter on the side.

My mother... my mother made me wonderful breakfasts- chocolate-chip waffles, maple syrup pancakes and wonderful sunny-side eggs with crisp bacon.

Of course, my mother was golden. She was sweet, and beautiful, and I loved her more than anything else in the world. Except for Dad. Dad was the best, he would take me out and teach me new spells, or we would just throw a ball around. Except Dad had been promoted to a new spot in the Ministry of Magic, and he was rarely home. Mother had gone on her business trip to France, to try and promote her line of designer clothing for witches.

I stared at the French toast again, and my mother's last words to me before she got on the plane echoed in my head. "Be good, James. Be good, and pray for me."

Pray for her? We weren't a religious family... she probably just wanted a bit of help with her clothing line. Not that many people want hot-pink mini-skirted robes, if you catch my drift.

But I wanted to be good... for mother. After all, if I misbehaved, Lily's mum would be on the phone in a second, distracting mother from her hard work. Mother had always been so wonderful to me... trying to make me so happy... I knew that if she thought I was not enjoying myself, she'd hire an au pair or take me to France. And as I already mentioned- I didn't like long-distance relationships.

So I got my fork and stabbed at my French toast, taking a small bite and putting it into my mouth. Katherine looked at me and smiled hopefully.

"Mmm... good..." I said meekly, chewing slowly. It tasted like cardboard, which was unusual since it was egg and bread.

Lily, across the table from me, was chewing quickly, occasionally dipping her bread into her glass of milk next to her. That was pretty gross too, judging by the fact she now had breadcrumbs in the milk, but I guessed she needed something to distract her from the taste of uncooked egg yolk.

She was cute, eating the bread neatly and avoiding my eyes. That morning I'd woken up to find her sitting on her bed, fully washed and dressed. I knew she liked me. It was so obvious, the way she'd had a picture of me on her wall and how she'd whispered to me in the dark in her bedroom, admitting that she liked me. I guess I'd ruined it by being my usual funny self, because now she was obviously mortified and avoiding my glance at all costs.

I tried to think of a way to sneak that videotape out of her room and show it to Sirius- that would be just hilarious. Then I realised that if I made copies of it and sent it around the school, or if I magicked parts of it onto fliers, it would make her much more popular. Lily Evans had never been too popular, and she would thank me heaps for making her new friends... maybe she'd even go out with me?

I just had to get that videotape.

A loud "BANG" startled me out of my thoughts, and I dropped my French toast into the melted butter on the side of my plate, making it even soggier and more disgusting. A large man, broad shouldered slouched through the fly screen door at the end of the kitchen. Lily screamed with joy and dropped her French toast as well, flying towards the man with her arms wide open.

"DAD!" Lily shrieked, and hugged him with joy.

Katherine's eyes, however, widened with something that looked like... fear. She walked behind the kitchen counter and started chopping up a banana, like she was trying to protect herself or something. She smiled, although it looked strained to me, and said in a sort of trembly voice, "Hi Louis

The man, who I assumed was Lily's father, glanced at her quickly and his gaze then drifted to me. His eyes widened in shock as he realised a total boy stranger was sitting at his kitchen table, eating French toast off his plates.

"Katherine..." Lily's father said slowly, still looking at me.

"Oh!" Katherine wiped her hands on a dishcloth and bustled over to me. "I haven't introduced you. James, this is Lily's father, Louis. Louis, this is James Potter, Lily's friend from school. We're taking care of him for a few days."

"Friend? From school?" Louis sounded slightly hoarse, and he loosened the neck of his tie as if it were strangling him. "Taking care of him?"

"Yes," Katherine replied, sounding annoyed. "You've met his mother, Louis, you know, Bella Potter? We saw James's family at the train station, we did, and I talked to James's mother. She's a fashion designer." She was talking quickly, like she was trying to convince Louis that having me in the house was a good idea.

Louis, however, looked as grouchy as he had before, and looked at Katherine. "We need to talk."

The poor woman looked flustered, and wrung her hands together. She looked at Lily and said, "Lily darling, why don't you and James go down to the Dolphin today?"

"Okay," Lily said, and walked out of the room. I followed her.

As we were walking up the stairs, I asked her, "What's the Dolphin?"

"The local pool," Lily said quietly, still avoiding my eyes by staring at the carpet. "I hope you brought your swimmers..."

"Yes," I replied, wishing that I'd brought my red swimsuit. Apparently red makes your... er... "goods" look bigger.

"Well," Lily said quietly, "Um... we'll get our swimmers, and we'll change in the bathroom."

"Okay," I said, and grabbed my blue Speedos from my bag while Lily rummaged around in her tallboy for her swimmers. We walked to the bathroom, and Lily turned red again for some reason. What, did she think we were going to change together??

"You can go first," I said quickly.

"Alright," Lily said, and went into the bathroom. I heard the lock click as she closed the door, and I leaned against the banister of the stairs clutching my swimsuit.

Suddenly I heard shouting noises, and I leaned further down to hear what they were saying downstairs.

"Who was that, Katherine, and why is he in our house?"

"THAT was James Potter, Louis! We're taking care of him while his mother is away!"

"I don't trust no boy in our house! And with Lily... she's not protected against him, Katherine! You don't know what they could do up there, behind your back!"

"James is a perfectly respectable boy!"

"You don't know men's hormones, Katherine!"

"Stop changing the subject, anyway, Louis! Where the hell have you been?"

"Freaking hell, Katherine, I'm a full grown man. I can go anywhere I want, whenever I want, without you trailing me like a bloodhound."

"Louis, I am your wife! I have a right to know where you are!"

"You are no wife of mine." This voice was softer, and sounded... almost deadly.

"What?" Katherine's voice had softened, and I recognised the sound of heartbreak.

"You heard me, Katherine."

"I... I don't understand..."

"Katherine, do you not recognise the signs of a man's hatred? I've been dating another woman for over a year!"

There was silence, and Louis continued.

"I hate you! I've always loathed you! You forced me into marrying you, and I was never happy!"

A choked reply followed. "Louis..."

"I'm marrying my girlfriend next month, and I want a divorce!"

"Louis..."

"And you have no say against it, you bitch!"

I heard the sickening slap of skin against skin, and heard a soft noise behind me. Lily was standing behind me silently in the bathroom doorframe, the expression on her face terrified. I heard the slam of a door downstairs, and the footsteps going up the stairs.

Katherine's tear-stricken face had a bruise covering one cheek, and as she looked at us she realised that we had heard every word. Her blood-shot eyes filled with tears, and as she looked at the two of us staring at her, she said very silently:

"Lily... James... go to the pool, please."

Lily's mouth dropped open, and she pushed past her mother and ran down the stairs. I could see tears streaming down her cheeks as she dashed out the front door and onto the street.

"Shit," I said. "I'd better go after her." Running down the stairs, I looked behind me and saw Katherine's troubled face.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Evans," I yelled, as I dashed out the door after Lily.

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Thank you to all my gorgeous reviewers:

Sunni07, cilverblood, egg-n-head, vickiicky, nonierose, feltonlover101, lilchocolatechip011, lilykins, emerald eyed cutie, Hermione weasley, veggy-mite, tekvah ariel, amour-lily, monkeys rok my sox, shortnsweet9013, Hogwarts-fanatic91, maraudersmuggle10, randomfrizzhead and nino!

Keep reading and reviewing, and I'll keep updating! I can't wait to write the next chapter... I have something great in mind!