Chapter 18

Aching, Lily stretched out her arms and legs. She had never had a more violent journey. Wrinkling her nose she could swear that she could smell the sea. They seemed to be in a lobby of a hotel or block of flats. In front of them a man was working behind a counter.

"Buona sera," said the man without looking up.

"Buon giorno," replied James smiling slightly.

"James?" Lily tried to ask, but the man behind the desk finally seemed to realise that they were there.

"James, è quello voi? Poco James Potter? Non li ho visti per le età, deve essere anni. Abbiamo pensato che vi foste dimenticati circa noi!" he gabbled at them. Lily could not understand a word of what he said, other than James and Potter. She was about to ask James what he said but he was already over and talking to the man.

"Come potrei fare quel Signor Martlio? Non è stato anni, Ero qui di estate, ricordisi di?" James replied just as fast.

"Sì, naturalmente. Chi è la vostra signora bella?"

"Questo è Lily, ma non parla italiano," Lily looked up at the sound of her name.

"What did you say? Who's Bella?" she asked James quietly.

"Bella isn't anyone. It means beautiful. I said that your names Lily, but you don't speak Italian,"

"WE'RE IN ITALY?" she asked amazed. James suddenly realised that he hadn't told her where they were going. He told the man something Lily still couldn't understand and picked up their bags. Still in awe, Lily followed open-mouthed up a grand sweeping staircase. Uncomfortably aware of the noise her heels were making, she tried to walk quietly but found that she couldn't keep up with James. Around them old portraits whispered and pointed at them. Some even shouted greetings to James. Finally they reached the top and James muttered a spell to open it. He held the front door open for her and looked round and sighed as though he was finally home. Lily could tell by his expression that he loved being here. He looked almost proud.

Throwing open the windows James wandered onto the balcony and called Lily out. Several floors up, it had an amazing view over the town. A sixteenth birthday present, he had been coming here every holiday for years but he was still fascinated by the view.

"Wow!" Lily breathed beside him. She looked out over the city, across markets starting to close, restaurants starting to open, people going home from work and people going out for the night. She looked up at the starry sky and down at the boats moored below.

"James, is this Venice?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. You like it?" he asked sounding nervous. She almost laughed. Here she was, with her boyfriend, in one of the most romantic cities in the world. What's not to like?

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Two hours later and still dressed up, they were sitting in a restaurant neither of them could pronounce. As James had said 'crap on sticks just doesn't fill you up the way it used to.'

He had tried to teach her words that might be useful such as yes, no, beer and ice cream.

"What did you order?" she asked. As it was neither beer nor ice cream she hadn't understood.

"It's this thing with liver,"

"Liver?" repeated Lily, looking vaguely green.

"Yeah, raw liver.....and spinach," he said, clearly enjoying the look on her face, the colour of which was now matching her eyes.

She could have hit him when the waiter brought over two plates of spaghetti.

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Seven hours after they had arrived and they were stumbling back into his apartment. It was way past midnight and they both were dizzy with tiredness. It was all they could do to collapse onto the sofa. There they stayed until James woke up quite late in the morning. Carefully untangling himself from Lily, so as not to wake her he was about to get a shower when there was a small pop in the fireplace.

"Knock, knock!" said his mum grinning. Her grin vanished as she saw Lily asleep on the sofa. "Sorry, I'll come back later," And she disappeared. Grabbing some cleaner and more comfortable clothes James headed for his shower.

Slowly Lily began to wake up. She wanted to go back to sleep so badly, she had been having such a nice dream. She was dreaming that James had saved from a boring party and taken her to Venice. They had gone to a romantic restaurant; they had eaten the restaurants supply of ice cream before getting a gondola back to his flat. Lily knew that once she woke up she would be back at his parents house, or worse........back at her house.

She also grabbed some clothes and went to find the shower. James had obviously finished just before her, there was no sign of him and the bathroom was full of steam. Running a bath, she sighed as the curls she had worked so hard to get just washed out.

James opened the window to let Sirius's owl in. He must have sent it sometime during the party for it to get there so fast. The trouble was Sirius's writing was untidy at the best of times and he had obviously written the note in a hurry. James squinted to try to read it but he needed his glasses. He fumbled in his pockets for them before realising that he must have left them in the bathroom.

"Morning," she said as James came in. When he didn't answer she tried again.

"Hello?" Waving her hand in front of his face. "James? Are you................blushing?" she asked grinning.

"I......erm..........just.........glasses," he stuttered. He hadn't even known that she was in the bathroom let alone in the bath.

"James, relax, you are allowed to see me like this," she said flicking bubbles at him.

He seemed to have recovered. He just smirked in reply.

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James had asked her whether she wanted to go back home or stay in Venice for a few days. Stupid question really.

For the morning she had dragged him around all the touristy places she wanted to see. Bored out his mind, by museums and galleries he had taken her to the places that he usually went. The whole city was preparing for the New Year and was covered in shops for masks and costumes.

"What happened to your mask?" he asked Lily as they tried some on.

"It's in my room. Couldn't leave it behind," she laughed. "What about yours?"

"Erm.....must have lost it," he said guiltily remembering how he had thrown it across the garden. Having bought two more masks they wandered through the streets before getting some dinner.

"When's you birthday?" he asked curiously.

"November 17th. You're asking a lot of questions. Why?"

"Is that when you came in pissed?"

Lily could either just admit it or pretend that she got so drunk that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"When I what?"

"Stop it!"

"Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about,"

"You're lying aren't you?!" he grinned.

"I........you..........I...." He stared at her. "Yes," she said sulkily.

"What did you get?" he asked, trying to think what he could buy her.

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They went to the same restaurant for dinner before going back to James's flat. His mind was racing. They were home earlier than they had been the night before, so there wasn't much chance of them collapsing on the sofa. Should he put her stuff in another room or expect her to stay in his?

Lily seemed to be thinking along the same lines as they said goodnight very awkwardly.

"There's a room through there," he pointed. He had tried to clean it quickly as the last person to stay there was Sirius, and unsurprisingly it was not exactly tidy.

But neither of them could sleep. James was too worried that Lily hated him, and Lily was fuming.

She had got changed and was lying in bed when thoughts and questions started to hit her. Was she that gross that he didn't want to be anywhere near her? And then she thought of Isabelle's comments at Halloween. 'He's such a gentlemen' 'Sirius wouldn't have done that.' Why was so perfect the entire time? He had carried her bags, and held open doors and slept on the sofa. No one else would do that. He had been nothing but good to her since they started going out. What was wrong with her?

Deciding to ask, him Lily burst in and raged at him.

"WHAT IS WRONG? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A PERFECT BLOODY GENTLEMAN THE WHOLE TIME?" she shouted.

"You hate me because I've been nice to you?" he asked completely bewildered.He would never understand her.

Sensing that he shouldn't apologise he did the only think he could think of. But not like he normally did. He held her tighter and kissed her harder than he ever had before. She tried to pull back but he didn't let her. Finally he let her move.

"That's more like it!" she grinned.

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