Chapter 6- The start to a great Christmas
It was the beginning of December and Lily and James being head boy and girl had to help with putting up the Christmas decorations. James was getting slightly frustrated as Peeves kept making snowballs out of the enchanted snow, which he had just charmed. It ended with a fully-fledged snow ball fight between Himself and the poltergeist only ending when Professor Mcgonnagal passed, receiving a snow ball on the back of the head- completely knocking the hat off her head. They got a severe telling off, but no punishment was given. Lily was putting up Christmas tree decorations with professor Flitwick, as she was excellent with charms.
Between this, classes, homework, prefects meetings and for James Quidditch practice, both Lily and James were glad to be on their way home on the train for Christmas. James had arranged to take Lily and her parents out for a meal on Christmas eve. He needed to ask Lily's parents something and also he wanted to give Lily her Christmas present at midnight, personally. On the train Lily, James and Sirius hung out. They started with a game of exploding snap. But once they were board with that, Lily decided to take a nap and James and Sirius went on a prank dash as they called it. They visited each occupied compartment, starting with the easier pranks, such as making people sound as if they had made a rude noise then went for the harder ones- seeing who could put the most signs on peoples backs with out them knowing. Whilst Lily was sleeping, James charmed her robes to say "James' beautiful girl" he also put a charm on it which would make it irremovable for about 2 months. James and Sirius also decided to play a game of hide and seek in and out of the trains compartments. Sirius didn't realise until after an hour of looking, that James was using his invisibility clock. And James found Sirius hiding in the baggage compartment at one point. This managed to amuse them (Like a pair of 5 year olds) for the majority of the train journey home. James woke Lily up sweetly, by kissing her when the train finally arrived at platform 9 and ¾'s. He led her out and got her luggage. (Sirius complained that he needed help too) And he took Lily out where her parents were waiting for her.
"Lily darling." Mrs Evans ran over and hugged her daughter. Whilst Mr Evans went over to James and shook his and. "James dear, it was awfully kind of you to help Lily." She turned to look at her daughter. "Lily hunny, what is that on your robes?" She asked. James immediately blushed, he forgot that her parents would see them. "Uh sorry I'm afraid that was my doing." He confessed. "Just a little joke, sorry, it should come off soon.ish" Lily looked at the back of her robes, then to James' worried looking face. He wanted to make a good impression on her parents.
Mrs Evans grinned. "As long as it comes off dear. It is rather amusing. Lily, are you not supposed to be wearing non wizard clothes?"
"Ow I fell asleep and wasn't woken up till it was too late." She looked at James pointedly, who rose his hands in defence.
"Hey at least I woke you up!" He grinned.
"Any way we shall see you on Christmas eve." Mrs Evans abruptly changed the subject.
"Bye Mr and Mrs Evans." James said sheepishly.
"Oh do call us, Caroline and Martin." Mrs Evans replied.
"Ok, Good bye Lily. I will owl you." He kissed her politely on the cheek and went back to greet his sister. Claire was waiting for him on the platform.
"Hey you. How's it going?" She asked hugging him.
"Just great." He replied. They had been owling each other all term, checking up on each other. After all, they were all they had. "Claire there's something I have to tell you." He grinned and whispered into her ear. She looked at him surprised, Screamed and hugged him again!
"Oh my mother of Merlin. James that is wonderful!" she screeched. "Lets apparate to Godric's hollow and you can explain!" She shrunk his trunk, grabbed his hand and they apperated.
As the week leading to Christmas passed Lily joined her parents in all the festivities of putting up the Christmas tree, a task they saved especially untill Lily arrived home because they knew she loved that job. She helped with the cooking and all the house hold chores. She went with her mother to deliver the Christmas cards to her relitives and other aquaintances. Most unfortunately her sister hadn't spent alot of time with her as she had recently gotten engaged to her Boyfriend Vernon Dursley. Lily was most suprissed- she didn't think her sister would be one to settle down so soon. At the present moment she was out shopping with her mother. They both wanted some new clothes for dinner the following night. Mrs Evans had settled with a lovely long Black dress, with a simple Lily on one of the sleeves. This flower simply intrigued her, which is of course why her second daughter was named after one. But Lily wasn't easily pleased she dragged her mother from shop to shop to shop trying to find the perfact dress. She picked up two dresses of the same design. One was white and the other was green.
"Which one?" She turned to her mother, who shrugged. "The green one." Lily looked at the dresses again. "Just pick the one you think!" Her mother said impatiently, she knew whichever colour she chose her daughter would only pick the opposite. Lily ran off to the changing room with the white dress. It was a long white dress which flared out at the bottom. It had a simple bodice which was held up by two thin staps, but on Lily it looked stunning. It really brought out her natraul feature which never failed to make her stand out from the crowd. "What do you think?" She asked her mother. "It's... well it is gorgeous my dear." She looked her daughter up and down. "Yes we'll have to buy that for you. My it looked nothing on the hanger but now looking at it on you it seems to have been made for you." "Do you think James will like it?" Lily asked hopefully. Ahh what love does to you. "He will think you look ravishing my dear. But then it seems to me that you have him under your charm, he would think you look wonderful in an old sack." Lily blushed. Her mother insisted on buying the dress and a matching bag and shoes. They were all set for the following evening. Lily just knew something would change forever. But what- she didn't know. The next evening Lily rushed about getting ready to go out, she wanted to look her best for James. She wanted to show her parents what a lovely man she had found. Of course she wanted the night to go smoothly. Especially since her sister had recently gotten engaged to the notorious Vernon Dursley. In her parents eyes he was perfect. It was always "Well Vernon is opening his own company." or "Vernon came top in his class at university.", "Vernon this.", "Vernon that.". James had alot to live up to, but Lily knew he could do it.
She hardly ever wore make up. Only when Claire had needed a ginea pig in the holidays. But tonight she was making an acception. She took all the make up her friends had given her a couple of Christmases ago from her dresser, and she applied a little. She had watched Claire and learnt from her. Lily put her dress on and her mother had insisted on doing her hair. She had put in medium sized rollers, which set her usually straight hair into lovely dark red sasague curls. She then clipped the top half into a pony tail at the back, leaving the bottom half and two curls at the front loose. Lily looked at herself in the mirror. She looked alot older like this. Her mother seemed pleased with the end product also, as she burst into tears saying something like; "My youngest baby all grown up."
Her mother was wearing her black gown which suited her perfectly. It was long and plain, letting her natural features stand out. Her deep brown eyes and blonde hair. Her father was in a black suit white shirt and balck tie. They were all dressed formally as James was taking them to a very posh and very expensive muggle restaurant. He was arriving at 7.30. And at 7.30 on the dot the door bell rang. Her mother answered it. "Lillian dear, James is here." Lily came running down the stairs and just before she reached the landing, she slowed down and walked out gracefully to greet him. James was wearing a black suit also, a black shirt and a white tie. When he saw Lily, her mother noted how his eyes softened and his grin grew wider.
"You look amazing my dear." he said. "This is for you." he handed Lily a rose, which she placed in her hair. "I have one for you also Mers Evans." He handed another rose to her.
"Why thankyou James, Now what did I tell you about calling me mrs Evans."
"Sorry, Caroline." James blushed.
Well he deffinately gets 10 out of 10 for charm she thought. Mr Evans drove them to the Hilton, as James couldn't drive and the Evans' couldn't apperate. When they arrived James led them in.
"A table booked for Potter please." He said to the waiter.
"Right this way sir." The waiter led them to a single table for four which had been set on the balcony, overlooking the gardens. The gardens were beautiful. A pond and fountain in the middle surrounded by every flower imaginable. It was a stunning veiw. "On the balcony just as you asked sir." The waiter said as he placed their menus on the table.
"Thankyou." James replied, handing the waiter some muggle money for a tip. Who the left. James pulled Lily's chair out for her to sit in, then took the seat next to her. Mr Evans doing the same for his wife. "Order anything you please, it's on me." James stated. He was deffinately scoring high points so far. Once everybody had ordered and they had finished all the polite conversation, it was time for the interrogation to begin.
"So James," msr Evans begun. "What is your ambition for after you finish your schooling?" She asked.
"Well, I am going to study my hardest for my newts this year, as i wish to persue a career as an aurour."
"An aurour? What does that entail then?"
"Well it would be working for the ministry of magic, fighting crime, working on missions. Kind of like a non magical polease man."
"Police man." Lily corrected, taking James' hand to calm him. He was getting nervous.
"I would imagine that is a rather dangerous job. What do you think of all the risks it would involve?" Mr Evans asked.
"I want to help out in the community. And the ministry is screaming out for aurours. But of course you need all the top qualifications for the position. so..."
"I told you James was head boy, didn't I?" Lily asked.
"Why just a few times dear." Her father replied with a grin. Lily blushed and James smiled at her. At this point their appitisers came. After they had all finished their main courses,Lily got up and went to the toilet. James took this oppotunity as a chance to talk to Lily's parents privately.
"Mr and Mrs Evans, whilst Lily is gone I would briefly like to ask you something." James started.
"Go on dear." Mrs Evans prompted.
"Well, I've been going out with your daughter for almost 2 years now, we've bee through quite a bit together and I couldn't imagine ever living my life with out her. That is why, I would like to ask her to marry me. I'm not planning on doing so until graduation night. But I would like to ask your permission first." The Evans both looked shocked.
"And what would you do if we said it would be against our wish for you to ask her?" Mr Evans asked. James looked severely disappointed.
"Well I would be quite upset that I have not made a good impression on you and that you clearly could not see how much I care for your daughter. But truthfully I would have to ask her anyway. I could not go on with out knowing her answer." The Evans once again looked, at each other. This time beaming.
"Well James it seems you have passed the test. Of course you have our permission. If it is true love you are right in going against our wishes. But it seems you won't have to because you have our permission." James smiled a relieved smile.
"Really? Ow this is great!" He couldn't wait for graduation. He was going to plan this to be perfect!
"You will be our second son in law. I'm sure Lily will say yes. You do know Petunia Lily's sister is also engaged. Her wedding is planned for later on this year. You are more than welcome to come. Lily of course is a bridesmaid."
They continued the conversation of weddings until Lily got back to the table. She seemed oblivious to the fact that they stopped talking the second she arrived. And that was how their dinner continued. James was secretly floating inside though. He was one step closer to having the girl he loved. All throughout the rest of dinner, Lily was a little wary. Her mother and father seemed to have taken to James quite easily; they had stopped their interrogation and were constantly beaming at James and her. They hadn't even taken to Vernon this easily. It seemed James had the charm, which they were looking for. But that still didn't explain the reason her mother kept getting all teary eyed when she looked at Lily, it wouldn't have been something either of the males would have noticed. But this was something along the lines of women hood and mother daughter relationships that Lily was good at. And she could tell that her mother was quite often holding back her tears, but was smiling all the while. After their dinner, Mr and Mrs Evans thanked James for such a lovely evening and told him they were glad that their daughter had met such a magnificent man. Mr Evans drove them back to the Evans' house and went inside. Lily and James decided to take a walk to the local park, which was a 10-minute walk away from her house. They walked there instead of apperating, just talking about little things. When they reached the park they sat on a set of swings just talking. "You know, I was surprised at how fast my parents decided to accept you James. You must be a real charmer." Lily told him, and he just replied with a cheeky grin. "You look beautiful Lil's." James changed the subject. He was still floating on cloud nine, he was soooo glad Lily's parents gave him permission. He was going to spend from now up until graduation perfecting every possible arrangement for graduation. Lily blushed. "It's one minute till midnight." She told him. They sat looking at their watches, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" James looked at his watch again, it read- "Kiss her moron." So he obeyed. He kissed Lily sweetly on the lips. "Merry Christmas Lily." He whispered. "Merry Christmas!" She grinned back. "I have your present." She said. He stood suddenly to attention. "Present!" Lily giggled. "Yes, here." She passed him a large present, which he unwrapped by shredding the wrapping paper into smithereens. Ignoring the desire to ask how she had managed to keep such a large present hidden, on her person the whole night, James was impressed. "Wow!" He exclaimed. It looked really interesting. The only problem was, "Uh what is it?" he asked. "It's a micro-wave?" She answered confused. "Have you never seen one before?" "A what? Where'd you get it from?" "Hogsmeade, I gathered it was a magical one as it was down there. It's for your new house, when you need to cook." "Cook? Ow Claire does that!" Lily grinned at him amusedly. "Well you had better get her to show you how to use this thing then if I'm ever going to live with you, I'm not having to wait on you hand and foot." The microwave was a magical one, it had been charmed to work, and unlike the magical version did not need electricity. It had many different settings on it saying things like "Pumpkin Juice." "Roast chicken with all the trimmings "and "Bread and butter pudding." It seemed that you pressed the button of what you wished to cook, put the ingredients in and voila it makes it for you. It seemed to be the equivalent of a house elf cooking for you. But was still very expensive. Lily had been saving her pocket money for it. "I'll keep that in mind, sweat pea." James said. "Now do you want your present?" Lily nodded eagerly. James grinned and pointed to his lips implying he wanted a kiss first. Lily rolled her eyes but obliged anyhow. He smiled and held out a small box from his pocket. Lily took it and unwrapped it carefully, trying not to tear the paper. James just wanted to grab it and rip the paper off, but thankfully he restrained himself. "Ow James it's gorgeous." She held up a beautiful hair clip decorated with emeralds. It was in the shape of a rose. It went beautifully with the colour of Lily's hair. She kissed James who stood back. "That's not all." He said softly. "Lily I trust you with all my heart, so I have to be completely honest with you. When Remus told you that he was a werewolf, we didn't tell you the whole story as we were supposed to as you had already digested quite a lot of information." "You're, not a werewolf?" "No I already told you I wasn't. But I am however, able to turn into an animal. Lily I'm an Anigmagus." James examined Lily's reaction closely. Instead of being scared this time she seemed to be concentrating hard. "No. No you can't be I looked up all the people who were Anigmagus for homework. The last person to become Anigmagus, was Professor Mcgonnagal. No one else has for about 50 years." "That's because I did it illegally, Sirius and Peter did too." "But why?" "Well we wanted to help Remus during his transformations, and animals.." "Can't be harmed by a werewolf's bite. But still, James, it's very dangerous, have you thought it through properly? And if the ministry found out? Oh my you would be in so much trouble." She looked truly worried. "Don't worry, we've thought it through and it helps Remus so much, we can't stop now. You don't mind do you?" James pleaded. Lily smiled. "No James, I don't mind, I mean I'd rather you didn't illegally turn into and animal and run around with a werewolf once a month, but if it means your helping Remus then I suppose I can't mind. I just wish you'd told me sooner." "Sorry." James replied, bowing his head. "S'ok puddin'." Lily replied patting his head. They walked back to Lily's house, She was laughing at James struggle to carry his present. Finally she pulled out her wand and shrunk it for him. "Lily your not allowed to do magic outside school." "Says the illegal animal transformer. If you don't remember but I am above the age of underage magic restrictions now dear." "Ow yea." They both paused outside Lily's house. Floating above it was a Black skull with a snake protruding from it's mouth. The same symbol which had been emitted from Robert Potter's wand in court. Neither knew what it meant, but both knew it meant no good.
It was the beginning of December and Lily and James being head boy and girl had to help with putting up the Christmas decorations. James was getting slightly frustrated as Peeves kept making snowballs out of the enchanted snow, which he had just charmed. It ended with a fully-fledged snow ball fight between Himself and the poltergeist only ending when Professor Mcgonnagal passed, receiving a snow ball on the back of the head- completely knocking the hat off her head. They got a severe telling off, but no punishment was given. Lily was putting up Christmas tree decorations with professor Flitwick, as she was excellent with charms.
Between this, classes, homework, prefects meetings and for James Quidditch practice, both Lily and James were glad to be on their way home on the train for Christmas. James had arranged to take Lily and her parents out for a meal on Christmas eve. He needed to ask Lily's parents something and also he wanted to give Lily her Christmas present at midnight, personally. On the train Lily, James and Sirius hung out. They started with a game of exploding snap. But once they were board with that, Lily decided to take a nap and James and Sirius went on a prank dash as they called it. They visited each occupied compartment, starting with the easier pranks, such as making people sound as if they had made a rude noise then went for the harder ones- seeing who could put the most signs on peoples backs with out them knowing. Whilst Lily was sleeping, James charmed her robes to say "James' beautiful girl" he also put a charm on it which would make it irremovable for about 2 months. James and Sirius also decided to play a game of hide and seek in and out of the trains compartments. Sirius didn't realise until after an hour of looking, that James was using his invisibility clock. And James found Sirius hiding in the baggage compartment at one point. This managed to amuse them (Like a pair of 5 year olds) for the majority of the train journey home. James woke Lily up sweetly, by kissing her when the train finally arrived at platform 9 and ¾'s. He led her out and got her luggage. (Sirius complained that he needed help too) And he took Lily out where her parents were waiting for her.
"Lily darling." Mrs Evans ran over and hugged her daughter. Whilst Mr Evans went over to James and shook his and. "James dear, it was awfully kind of you to help Lily." She turned to look at her daughter. "Lily hunny, what is that on your robes?" She asked. James immediately blushed, he forgot that her parents would see them. "Uh sorry I'm afraid that was my doing." He confessed. "Just a little joke, sorry, it should come off soon.ish" Lily looked at the back of her robes, then to James' worried looking face. He wanted to make a good impression on her parents.
Mrs Evans grinned. "As long as it comes off dear. It is rather amusing. Lily, are you not supposed to be wearing non wizard clothes?"
"Ow I fell asleep and wasn't woken up till it was too late." She looked at James pointedly, who rose his hands in defence.
"Hey at least I woke you up!" He grinned.
"Any way we shall see you on Christmas eve." Mrs Evans abruptly changed the subject.
"Bye Mr and Mrs Evans." James said sheepishly.
"Oh do call us, Caroline and Martin." Mrs Evans replied.
"Ok, Good bye Lily. I will owl you." He kissed her politely on the cheek and went back to greet his sister. Claire was waiting for him on the platform.
"Hey you. How's it going?" She asked hugging him.
"Just great." He replied. They had been owling each other all term, checking up on each other. After all, they were all they had. "Claire there's something I have to tell you." He grinned and whispered into her ear. She looked at him surprised, Screamed and hugged him again!
"Oh my mother of Merlin. James that is wonderful!" she screeched. "Lets apparate to Godric's hollow and you can explain!" She shrunk his trunk, grabbed his hand and they apperated.
As the week leading to Christmas passed Lily joined her parents in all the festivities of putting up the Christmas tree, a task they saved especially untill Lily arrived home because they knew she loved that job. She helped with the cooking and all the house hold chores. She went with her mother to deliver the Christmas cards to her relitives and other aquaintances. Most unfortunately her sister hadn't spent alot of time with her as she had recently gotten engaged to her Boyfriend Vernon Dursley. Lily was most suprissed- she didn't think her sister would be one to settle down so soon. At the present moment she was out shopping with her mother. They both wanted some new clothes for dinner the following night. Mrs Evans had settled with a lovely long Black dress, with a simple Lily on one of the sleeves. This flower simply intrigued her, which is of course why her second daughter was named after one. But Lily wasn't easily pleased she dragged her mother from shop to shop to shop trying to find the perfact dress. She picked up two dresses of the same design. One was white and the other was green.
"Which one?" She turned to her mother, who shrugged. "The green one." Lily looked at the dresses again. "Just pick the one you think!" Her mother said impatiently, she knew whichever colour she chose her daughter would only pick the opposite. Lily ran off to the changing room with the white dress. It was a long white dress which flared out at the bottom. It had a simple bodice which was held up by two thin staps, but on Lily it looked stunning. It really brought out her natraul feature which never failed to make her stand out from the crowd. "What do you think?" She asked her mother. "It's... well it is gorgeous my dear." She looked her daughter up and down. "Yes we'll have to buy that for you. My it looked nothing on the hanger but now looking at it on you it seems to have been made for you." "Do you think James will like it?" Lily asked hopefully. Ahh what love does to you. "He will think you look ravishing my dear. But then it seems to me that you have him under your charm, he would think you look wonderful in an old sack." Lily blushed. Her mother insisted on buying the dress and a matching bag and shoes. They were all set for the following evening. Lily just knew something would change forever. But what- she didn't know. The next evening Lily rushed about getting ready to go out, she wanted to look her best for James. She wanted to show her parents what a lovely man she had found. Of course she wanted the night to go smoothly. Especially since her sister had recently gotten engaged to the notorious Vernon Dursley. In her parents eyes he was perfect. It was always "Well Vernon is opening his own company." or "Vernon came top in his class at university.", "Vernon this.", "Vernon that.". James had alot to live up to, but Lily knew he could do it.
She hardly ever wore make up. Only when Claire had needed a ginea pig in the holidays. But tonight she was making an acception. She took all the make up her friends had given her a couple of Christmases ago from her dresser, and she applied a little. She had watched Claire and learnt from her. Lily put her dress on and her mother had insisted on doing her hair. She had put in medium sized rollers, which set her usually straight hair into lovely dark red sasague curls. She then clipped the top half into a pony tail at the back, leaving the bottom half and two curls at the front loose. Lily looked at herself in the mirror. She looked alot older like this. Her mother seemed pleased with the end product also, as she burst into tears saying something like; "My youngest baby all grown up."
Her mother was wearing her black gown which suited her perfectly. It was long and plain, letting her natural features stand out. Her deep brown eyes and blonde hair. Her father was in a black suit white shirt and balck tie. They were all dressed formally as James was taking them to a very posh and very expensive muggle restaurant. He was arriving at 7.30. And at 7.30 on the dot the door bell rang. Her mother answered it. "Lillian dear, James is here." Lily came running down the stairs and just before she reached the landing, she slowed down and walked out gracefully to greet him. James was wearing a black suit also, a black shirt and a white tie. When he saw Lily, her mother noted how his eyes softened and his grin grew wider.
"You look amazing my dear." he said. "This is for you." he handed Lily a rose, which she placed in her hair. "I have one for you also Mers Evans." He handed another rose to her.
"Why thankyou James, Now what did I tell you about calling me mrs Evans."
"Sorry, Caroline." James blushed.
Well he deffinately gets 10 out of 10 for charm she thought. Mr Evans drove them to the Hilton, as James couldn't drive and the Evans' couldn't apperate. When they arrived James led them in.
"A table booked for Potter please." He said to the waiter.
"Right this way sir." The waiter led them to a single table for four which had been set on the balcony, overlooking the gardens. The gardens were beautiful. A pond and fountain in the middle surrounded by every flower imaginable. It was a stunning veiw. "On the balcony just as you asked sir." The waiter said as he placed their menus on the table.
"Thankyou." James replied, handing the waiter some muggle money for a tip. Who the left. James pulled Lily's chair out for her to sit in, then took the seat next to her. Mr Evans doing the same for his wife. "Order anything you please, it's on me." James stated. He was deffinately scoring high points so far. Once everybody had ordered and they had finished all the polite conversation, it was time for the interrogation to begin.
"So James," msr Evans begun. "What is your ambition for after you finish your schooling?" She asked.
"Well, I am going to study my hardest for my newts this year, as i wish to persue a career as an aurour."
"An aurour? What does that entail then?"
"Well it would be working for the ministry of magic, fighting crime, working on missions. Kind of like a non magical polease man."
"Police man." Lily corrected, taking James' hand to calm him. He was getting nervous.
"I would imagine that is a rather dangerous job. What do you think of all the risks it would involve?" Mr Evans asked.
"I want to help out in the community. And the ministry is screaming out for aurours. But of course you need all the top qualifications for the position. so..."
"I told you James was head boy, didn't I?" Lily asked.
"Why just a few times dear." Her father replied with a grin. Lily blushed and James smiled at her. At this point their appitisers came. After they had all finished their main courses,Lily got up and went to the toilet. James took this oppotunity as a chance to talk to Lily's parents privately.
"Mr and Mrs Evans, whilst Lily is gone I would briefly like to ask you something." James started.
"Go on dear." Mrs Evans prompted.
"Well, I've been going out with your daughter for almost 2 years now, we've bee through quite a bit together and I couldn't imagine ever living my life with out her. That is why, I would like to ask her to marry me. I'm not planning on doing so until graduation night. But I would like to ask your permission first." The Evans both looked shocked.
"And what would you do if we said it would be against our wish for you to ask her?" Mr Evans asked. James looked severely disappointed.
"Well I would be quite upset that I have not made a good impression on you and that you clearly could not see how much I care for your daughter. But truthfully I would have to ask her anyway. I could not go on with out knowing her answer." The Evans once again looked, at each other. This time beaming.
"Well James it seems you have passed the test. Of course you have our permission. If it is true love you are right in going against our wishes. But it seems you won't have to because you have our permission." James smiled a relieved smile.
"Really? Ow this is great!" He couldn't wait for graduation. He was going to plan this to be perfect!
"You will be our second son in law. I'm sure Lily will say yes. You do know Petunia Lily's sister is also engaged. Her wedding is planned for later on this year. You are more than welcome to come. Lily of course is a bridesmaid."
They continued the conversation of weddings until Lily got back to the table. She seemed oblivious to the fact that they stopped talking the second she arrived. And that was how their dinner continued. James was secretly floating inside though. He was one step closer to having the girl he loved. All throughout the rest of dinner, Lily was a little wary. Her mother and father seemed to have taken to James quite easily; they had stopped their interrogation and were constantly beaming at James and her. They hadn't even taken to Vernon this easily. It seemed James had the charm, which they were looking for. But that still didn't explain the reason her mother kept getting all teary eyed when she looked at Lily, it wouldn't have been something either of the males would have noticed. But this was something along the lines of women hood and mother daughter relationships that Lily was good at. And she could tell that her mother was quite often holding back her tears, but was smiling all the while. After their dinner, Mr and Mrs Evans thanked James for such a lovely evening and told him they were glad that their daughter had met such a magnificent man. Mr Evans drove them back to the Evans' house and went inside. Lily and James decided to take a walk to the local park, which was a 10-minute walk away from her house. They walked there instead of apperating, just talking about little things. When they reached the park they sat on a set of swings just talking. "You know, I was surprised at how fast my parents decided to accept you James. You must be a real charmer." Lily told him, and he just replied with a cheeky grin. "You look beautiful Lil's." James changed the subject. He was still floating on cloud nine, he was soooo glad Lily's parents gave him permission. He was going to spend from now up until graduation perfecting every possible arrangement for graduation. Lily blushed. "It's one minute till midnight." She told him. They sat looking at their watches, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" James looked at his watch again, it read- "Kiss her moron." So he obeyed. He kissed Lily sweetly on the lips. "Merry Christmas Lily." He whispered. "Merry Christmas!" She grinned back. "I have your present." She said. He stood suddenly to attention. "Present!" Lily giggled. "Yes, here." She passed him a large present, which he unwrapped by shredding the wrapping paper into smithereens. Ignoring the desire to ask how she had managed to keep such a large present hidden, on her person the whole night, James was impressed. "Wow!" He exclaimed. It looked really interesting. The only problem was, "Uh what is it?" he asked. "It's a micro-wave?" She answered confused. "Have you never seen one before?" "A what? Where'd you get it from?" "Hogsmeade, I gathered it was a magical one as it was down there. It's for your new house, when you need to cook." "Cook? Ow Claire does that!" Lily grinned at him amusedly. "Well you had better get her to show you how to use this thing then if I'm ever going to live with you, I'm not having to wait on you hand and foot." The microwave was a magical one, it had been charmed to work, and unlike the magical version did not need electricity. It had many different settings on it saying things like "Pumpkin Juice." "Roast chicken with all the trimmings "and "Bread and butter pudding." It seemed that you pressed the button of what you wished to cook, put the ingredients in and voila it makes it for you. It seemed to be the equivalent of a house elf cooking for you. But was still very expensive. Lily had been saving her pocket money for it. "I'll keep that in mind, sweat pea." James said. "Now do you want your present?" Lily nodded eagerly. James grinned and pointed to his lips implying he wanted a kiss first. Lily rolled her eyes but obliged anyhow. He smiled and held out a small box from his pocket. Lily took it and unwrapped it carefully, trying not to tear the paper. James just wanted to grab it and rip the paper off, but thankfully he restrained himself. "Ow James it's gorgeous." She held up a beautiful hair clip decorated with emeralds. It was in the shape of a rose. It went beautifully with the colour of Lily's hair. She kissed James who stood back. "That's not all." He said softly. "Lily I trust you with all my heart, so I have to be completely honest with you. When Remus told you that he was a werewolf, we didn't tell you the whole story as we were supposed to as you had already digested quite a lot of information." "You're, not a werewolf?" "No I already told you I wasn't. But I am however, able to turn into an animal. Lily I'm an Anigmagus." James examined Lily's reaction closely. Instead of being scared this time she seemed to be concentrating hard. "No. No you can't be I looked up all the people who were Anigmagus for homework. The last person to become Anigmagus, was Professor Mcgonnagal. No one else has for about 50 years." "That's because I did it illegally, Sirius and Peter did too." "But why?" "Well we wanted to help Remus during his transformations, and animals.." "Can't be harmed by a werewolf's bite. But still, James, it's very dangerous, have you thought it through properly? And if the ministry found out? Oh my you would be in so much trouble." She looked truly worried. "Don't worry, we've thought it through and it helps Remus so much, we can't stop now. You don't mind do you?" James pleaded. Lily smiled. "No James, I don't mind, I mean I'd rather you didn't illegally turn into and animal and run around with a werewolf once a month, but if it means your helping Remus then I suppose I can't mind. I just wish you'd told me sooner." "Sorry." James replied, bowing his head. "S'ok puddin'." Lily replied patting his head. They walked back to Lily's house, She was laughing at James struggle to carry his present. Finally she pulled out her wand and shrunk it for him. "Lily your not allowed to do magic outside school." "Says the illegal animal transformer. If you don't remember but I am above the age of underage magic restrictions now dear." "Ow yea." They both paused outside Lily's house. Floating above it was a Black skull with a snake protruding from it's mouth. The same symbol which had been emitted from Robert Potter's wand in court. Neither knew what it meant, but both knew it meant no good.