"You haven't given me an answer yet," James said two hours later. Me and Mrs Evans had recovered well from the initial shock. They were further mollified when told that told that a spell had been cast on the house so that no Muggles could see what had transpired. They even laughed over it with Sirius and Peter and gamely tried on the Invisibility Cloaks.
"A little unpredictable, isn't he, love?" Mrs Evans whispered to her daughter as Mr Evans showed the three Marauders to their rooms. Petunia's door remained shut despite the commotion.
"That's one of the things I love," Lily smiled back although she was painfully aware her mother looked unconvinced.
"Lily?" James interrupted her train of thoughts.
"I love you, James," Lily said, still inclined to giggle over the unorthodox proposal.
"Is that a yes?" James persisted.
Lily stopped smiling. "Does it help if I tell you that there's no one else I would rather marry?"
"No," James replied stubbornly. "Not if that means you still don't want to marry me."
"Its just not the right time. We don't have proper jobs, we barely know each other's families…I have always pictured this taking place three or four years from now," Lily explained rather ruefully. Being pragmatic can be painful.
"There's never going to be right time. Nothing's ever going to be neatly in place," James argued.
"That's true," she conceded sadly. "Its never going to be very easy for us."
James moved a step nearer, bending his head so close that their breaths mingled. "If I can just know that you would marry me, one day?"
There was only one answer she could give to that. "Of course."
"I love you, Lily," he said, uncommonly serious as he slipped a ring on her finger.
A knock on the front door startled them into jumping apart.
Lily bounced up and opened it. A huge heart shaped balloon screamed 'Congratulations' right into her face. Remus, Alice and Revera grinned.
"Good heavens," she said weakly. " I didn't of yourself, weren't you?" she said over her shoulder to James.
"No, that was my idea," Remus' eyes lit up merrily. The resemblance to his sister at that moment was remarkably clear. "I reckoned James always got his way into the end."
He sure did. How did I become officially engaged? Lily stared, somewhat dazed, at the ring winking up at her.
Petunia stuck her head cautiously out of her bedroom door. The staircase landing was empty. From the noise, it seemed that everyone was in the garden. The smell of a barbeque wafted up. Her stomach growled even more as she tiptoed down to the kitchen
"Would you like these chairs over there, Mrs Evans?" the clear voice of that awful boy Lily was dating carried into the kitchen. She peeked through the blinds. It looked as if the four young men were floating chairs in mid-air.
"Freaks," she thought disdainfully. She reached for the refrigerator door- and froze when an unfamiliar voice said, "I'll get the glasses for you, Mrs Evans. The left cabinet, did you say?"
She could see a shadow advancing closer to the open kitchen door. Panicking, she darted into the broom cupboard and shut herself in.
Remus walked into the Muggle kitchen, feeling somewhat disoriented. He had never seen so many gadgets and cupboards. Wizards just needed a few pots and pans, a stove, a drawer for crockery and a pantry with a strong anti-Decomposition spell.
"What can this contraption be?" he wondered, lifting up a toaster. It rattled as he shook it. Muggle Studies didn't include kitchen appliances. Pity, he thought.
A muffled yelp came from a large cupboard near him.
Hesitating, he grasped the knob and wrenched the door open.
A tall, waif-thin blonde girl looked down her dusty nose at him. Then she sneezed.
"Hello," he said rather stupidly. Perhaps it was a little known Muggle custom to hide in cupboards periodically. "Excuse me if I ah…interrupted. My name is Remus Lupin."
In response, the girl strode out of the cupboard and opened the cabinet opposite. "my mother said the left-hand cabinet, not the broom cupboard.," she snapped.
Lily's sister, Remus deduced belatedly. James had given all of them fair warning. "You must be Petunia Evans. A pleasure to meet you."
Petunia scowled half-heartedly at him. This grave-eyed boy seemed pleasant enough unlike Lily's lunatic boyfriend. She could almost forget that he had the power to change her into a toad. Almost, but not quite. She sneezed again, from the dust in the cupboard.
"Here," Remus reached into the pockets of his jeans awkwardly. He still wasn't accustomed to Muggle clothing. Petunia eyed the handkerchief he held out suspiciously. "Its quite clean, you know," he said, misinterpreting her expression.
The thoughtful gesture merely caused Petunia to burst into tears.
"I say," Remus jumped, alarmed.
She had spend a whole day without food, trying to avoid her sister's weirdo friends and when she did bump into one, he was so nice. It was almost enough to make her fell that she had been ridiculous.
Remus was half-inclined to pat her on the back but decided not to risk it. James, he thought,really could have prepared him better.
"Thanks you," Petunia said, blowing her nose. "I feel much better now."
"I am glad to hear it," he said, for the lack of anything better to say. "Err…I don't suppose…you would like to join us?"
"I might as well," Petunia said, sniffling.
p.s Many thanks to all reviewers! its so nice to get them :-)