Authors Note: After the party comes the after party...p.s. I am going against my better judgement posting this, but I just get so excited that I can't help it!!! Please enjoy, and please read and review!!

Chapter 30

The After Party

At the end of the meal the tables were cleared and the dancing continued long into the night,

however, there were so few teenagers that it became rather dull. Ben, Sirius, Lily, James, and

Caroline all made there way to Carolines section of the house, leaving the other three or four

children to fend for themselves. The five lounged in the playroom, or at least it had been a

playroom when Caroline had been younger, now it was more of a fun room. There were brown

leather sofas, thick carpets, a pool table, mini refridgorator, and, most importantly, big screen

television. Lily, Caroline and James channel surfed for a few hours while Ben and Sirius played

pool. Ben, who, being a Hefflepuff, had never bonded with Sirius or James, seemed to get along

quite nicely with both of them. Ben was, of course, much calmer and better behaved than either

James or Sirius, but that was part of their charm. Ben and Sirius, having finished their match,

joined the other three on the soft couches.

Ben quietly sat down next to Caroline, and Sirius lept over the couch, snagging the chair,

leaving Lily the option of joining Sirius on the chair, Caroline and Ben on the couch, or James on

the other couch. There did not seem to be much of an option, so she walked over to James and

sat down. She made sure to be on the far end of the couch from him, a very safe and

compfortable distance. Sirius had the remote somehow, and would not pick a channel. Caroline

and Ben did not mind, as they were a little preoccupied, but James and Lily managed to put

aside their differences in order to unite against Sirius. They attacked him with pillows and Lily

gained control of the remote. She threw herself onto the couch, forgetting her hatred for James.

A few minutes later she came to her senses and snapped her head up, why did he always get to

her like this? She had been sitting practically on top of him, she needed to remember how much

she loathed him.

"I'm bored." Announced Sirius as the television programs got progressively worse as the

moved into late night shows.

"Well, what would you like me to do about that?" Lily purred, looking around and noticing

that Caroline and Ben were both asleep. Her only company was Sirius, and James of course.

"Hmmm, a few things come to mind..."

"No, I refuse." She said, before he could even finish his sentence.

"Alright alright. What do you suggest?" He said, stretching and yawning.

"We could wake up Ben and Caroline and get up a nice rousing game of poker." Lily

suggested, looking for an excuse to wake Caroline up.

"Make it strip poker and you got yourself a deal." Sirius said mischievously.

"With you two? So totally not worth it. Besides, I'm not good at poker, I'd loose." Lily said

dismissively.

"Exactly." Sirius said. "Or we could make it truth or dare, to liven things up a bit."

"Deffinately truth or dare." Lily decreed, walking over to Caroline and shaking her gently.

"Wha...Where am I?" She asked, stretching.

"Rise and shine, we're going to play truth or dare." Lily said, shaking Ben too.

"Oh, what fun!" Squealed Caroline jumping onto the carpet and sitting indian style.

"What's fun?" Asked Ben groggily.

"We're going to play truth or dare Ben, come sit by me." Caroline said, patting the carpet

beside her.

"So, whose first?" Lily asked, curling up on the carpet next to Caroline.

"I vote you." James replied, sitting down next to Lily.

"Lily, truth, or dare?" James asked her, sitting down on her other side.

"Truth." Lily said firmly.

"Why do you hate me?" That had been an easy one, how had she not anticipated that?

"Because of all of the stories I've heard about you." She said vaguly.

"Which are...?" He asked, finally he was getting some answers.

"How you use and objectify women, how you are a bully, and a concieted jerk." She said,

cool and complacent.

"And you believe all of these stories? Why? I thought you knew me better than that, had

you heard these stories before we started dating?" He sounded hurt.

"Well, yeah, I had heard them, but I hadn't believed them." She said, still hinting and being

vague.

"And you do now?" He asked her, longing for the best, but sounding unhopefull and

disheartened.

"Well yeah." She said frankly.

"Why?" He asked, looking at her with his big brown eyes again, and forcing her to look

away.

"Because I saw you bullying Severus, and because you've dated 50 girls a week for the

past few weeks, and because I saw you leaving with some girl tonight as well. Because I've seen

proof of all of the stories I've heard." Lily told him and the rest of the room at large, now feeling

akward.

"But none of that is true, none of that is me. I dated those girls because that's what you told

me to do, and I bullied Severus because of what he did to you. And that girl tonight, I don't even

know who she is-" He was prevented from continuing by Lily, who cut him off mid sentence.

"And you think that justifies it? Not knowing her name only makes it worse." Lily said,

angrily.

"Let me finish. I don't know her, and I didn't do anything with her, I left. I went to the

bathroom and hid from her. How can I make you believe me?" Implored James.

"Is it in his eyes? Oh no! You'll be deceived! Is it in his sighs? Oh no! He'll make believe. If

you want to know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss, that's where it is!" Sang Caroline softly and

teasingly. James, however, seemed to think this was a great idea and bent forward, catching Lily

off guard and kissing her full on the lips. She tried to back off, but his arm was around the back

of her neck, holding her still. She gave in to temptation, kissing him back and leaning forward,

deepening the kiss. It was James, not Lily who eventually broke the kiss off.

"Do you believe me now?" He asked, hoping he had convinced her, but not sounding sure.

As answer, Lily leaned forward and kissed him again. She pulled away after a few seconds, to

the applause of the three onlookers.

"Finally. You two wouldn't believe how annoying it has been since you two broke up."

Caroline said.

"So, does this mean you two are an item again?" Asked Ben.

"Of course it does silly." Caroline said. "They were meant to be."

"No we aren't." Lily said, this remark was followed by silence, and was met by the stares of

everyone in the room.

"It doesn't?" Caroline asked. "I assumed it did, you did kiss him and everything, and you

said you belived him. James, make it official and ask her out. Is that what you mean Lily?"

"No that's not what I mean. James, only ask me out if you want to be rejected, I'm not

dating right now. I'm kind of in an akward place in several relationships right now." Lily told

everyone. "I'm not technically dating anyone, but several things have happened recently, and I

don't want to hurt anyones feelings."

"What about mine?" Asked James, intreating her with his eyes.

"Take a number." Lily told him.

"Well." Sirius cleared his throat. "Lily, it's your turn to give someone a truth or dare."

As the festivities downstairs continued, so did the games upstairs. The dares were rather

ridiculous, from doing a slutty pole dance, preformed by Caroline, to giving Ben a lap dance, this

done by Sirius, the teens had a great time. By one a clock they had all gravitated to the couches,

Ben and Caroline were asleep on the sofa, and Sirius was alseep on the chair. Lily and James

were awake, and feeling very uncompfortable.

"So." He said, shifting his weight.

"So." Lily replied, pasusing. "I'm dreadfully sorry to do this to you and all. I just, I have

some people waiting for me at Hogwarts, you know?"

"Some people? Isn't that rather unfair to everyone involved, including yourself?"

"Well see, before break Nikky kissed me, and we had a really nice time together, and I

don't want to come back and have him feel hurt and betrayed. And then yesterday, goodness,

was it really only yesterday?" She looked into his eyes, and decided against telling him about

Remus's letter. "Some things happened."

"Oh. I see. But you don't hate me?"

"We'll see. It all depends on whether or not you're a good boy from now on." Lily spread

her legs out over James and dangled them over the arm rest, leaning her head back onto a

pillow. James leaned his head back into the sofa and fell asleep, as did Lily. A few hours later

when the partying downstairs ended and the parents came upstairs in search of their children,

they found them that way.

"James, Jaa-aames," called Mrs. Potter, shaking her son gently, trying to wake him without

waking the lovely girl whose legs were spread over him. He opened his eyes and raised his

arms, stretching.

"What time is it?" He yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Shh. You'll wake the others. It's about four o'clock son." His father replied, smiling and

ruffling his sons hair. He had already woken Sirius, who was standing next to him rubbing a kink

from the back of his neck. James gently lifted Lily's legs from their position on top of him and

placed them back onto the couch, standing up himself. He was a good head taller than his father,

and a head and shoulders taller than his mother. His mother had bright blue eyes, and brown hair

that, until recently, had fallen past her shoulders. She had, on a wild spur-of-the-moment

decision, decided to chop her hair off, and now wore it at the length of her chin. James thought

his mother was beautiful no matter how she wore her hair, and told her so, but she did not like

the new look and was growing it out impatiently.

His father had black hair and brown eyes, his hair always stood up in the back, just like

James's hair did. In fact, James was the taller, more handsome, younger version of his father.

The four, Sirius, James, Mrs. Potter, and Mr. Potter, walked down the stairs to thank their host

and hostess for a lovely evening.

"So James, who was the girl?" His father said, playfully punching him in the arm. James

loved his parents, they were so much fun, and they were always supportive. When Sirius had run

away from home his parents had understood and welcomed him to their household with open

arms, without asking questions and without judging him. In Jamess mind, he had the greatest

parents in the world, they were loving, generous, kind, and his mother was a great cook. His

father smiled slyly, nudging James and almost making him fall over, his father might be short, but

he was strong.

"Yes James, who was she?" Asked his mother curiously.

"Lily." Mumbled James under his breathe, almost inaudibly.

"Who?" Asked his mother. "Come on James, don't be shy."

"Her name is Lily, Lily Evans."

"I see." Said his mother illusively.

"What does 'I see' mean?"

"What do you mean what does it mean? It doesn't mean anything, I just understand now."

"What do you understand, mother?"

"Well, you've liked her for a while haven't you?" She asked, exchanging copius glances with

Sirius.

"You told her Sirius? Some mate you are, so much for being able to trust eachother." He

said, giving Sirius an evil glare.

"It totally wasn't my fault man, she could get anything out of anyone! She dragged it out of

me, I swear. There was nothing I could do. Besides, why do you care? It's true first of all, and

besides, your mom rocks." Sirius shrugged.

"Yes, see James? I rock. I'm a cool mom." She said, giving Sirius a fond look. Sirius and his

parents really got along great, and it made James so glad that Sirius fit in so well with his parents.

His mother especially doted on him, and treated him exactly as if he were her own son, even

when it came to discpline.

"Yes, I like her, unfortunately the feelings are not mutual." He said, looking away from his

mother. "I thought she might like me, but we're just friends."

"Well, that's a step, right? I mean, not so long ago she hated your guts, when you dumped

her right? Besides, she's stupis for not liking my James, any girl would be lucky to date someone

as smart and handsome as you." She said, ruffling his hair.

"I never dumped her! Besides, how do you know about that?" Said James, giving Sirius an

evil look and attempting to flatten his hair down again.

"Sirius." She said simply. "He tells me things, you should take a leaf out of his book."

"Okay mother, you want me to tell you things? Did Sirius tell you all about his own life?

About how he's dating a girl named Holly, who is Lilys best friend, part veela, and has a

reputation for breaking hearts?" James said, sticking his tongue out at Sirius.

"No he did not, looks like we need to have another heart to heart Sirius." She said, pointing

her fingure at him and pretending to be angry. James rolled her eyes and continued marching

down the stairs ahead of them, ignoring their continued whispers behind him.

Authors Note: Hope you enjoyed! Some of y'all (just kidding I did not just say that) might be disappointed in Lily for making the decision she made, but that's only because you want her to end up with James. I had to do what I thought was right, I let the characters write what they wanted to happen, it is out of my hands at this point. Lily has taken on a personality of her own and won't let me force her to date anyone she doesn't want to date at any given point in time. And just so yoou know, and this is a threat, unless you review, I will make Lily get back with Severus...

Mah, mah, Moohoohahahaha