Disclaimer – If you think I own the wonderful world that J.K. Rowling had created then you really must be smoking some strong stuff.
Author's note – Got to love them Quakers… Anyway I got the idea for this chapter from a commercial. Lol. Oh yes and one more thing, THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO MY LOVELY REVIEWER G.C.SMORES. Hehe…devious…
Date chapter started: Monday, February 21, 2005
Date chapter ended: Sunday, April 3, 2005
Date story updated: Sunday, April 3, 2005
Teen pregnant of America, you should take this Erin.My sis
Chapter 26 – Treasure hunt
When she was finished she handed it over to Michelle and then turned to Lily, "Are you going to meet him?"
Lily paused and then opened her mouth and out came one word: yes.
Lily had asked Michelle and Becka to go hang out with Remus and Sirius because she wanted to meet this guy by herself. They decided they should let her, but if she didn't return in a couple of hours they were going to come look for her incase this guy was some psycho rapist.
Lily made her way towards the Three Broomsticks and opened the door. The boy hadn't said anything about where he was going to be, but he seemed to know her pretty well so she figured he would come to her. Because of this, Lily sat down at an empty table and waited.
Soon after, the waitress came over and set a butterbeer down and a card.
Before Lily could open her mouth to question the waitress, the waitress said, "A boy who was sitting over there just a while ago said to give the redhead who arrived here at 10:00 that card and a butterbeer. He paid for it already."
With that, the waitress left Lily to the peculiarity of the situation. Lily took a sip of the butterbeer and open the letter to reveal the same handwriting as before.
Dear Lily Evans,
If you are reading this then I know that you plan to know whom I am. If you want to find out, go to Rachel's Costumes and ask Madam Rachel for a piece of chocolate.
Your Secret Admirer
Lily left the Three Broomsticks soon after and headed to Rachel's Costumes. She immediately recognized the costume shop; it was the one James and her had gone to for the play's costumes. She smiled at the memory.
She made her way up the snowy steps and entered the store. She breathed in a large breath and walked up to the counter where a short witch was counting coins.
"Hello Madam Rachel," Lily said as she approached the counter.
"Oh, hello, miss Evans. How did the play turn out?" Rachel replied as she looked up from the coins.
"It was wonderful. I was wondering if I could have a piece of chocolate," Lily said, feeling stupid for the strange comment.
Madam Rachel let out a small laugh. "A certain young man told me you would ask me for a chocolate. Here you go," the witch replied and reached under the counter and handed Lily a small paper bad.
Lily took the bag and then left the costume shop. She sat down on a bench after brushing off most of the snow and opened the bag. There was a folded up piece of paper and five, heart-shaped chocolates. Lily lifted up the sheet of paper first and unfolded it.
Dear Lily Evans,
I see that you have made it this far. I hope you like chocolate; and don't worry, there aren't any nuts in them.
Your Secret Admirer
Lily laughed when she read the note. She remember one time, in sixth year, on valentines day when James had given her a large box of chocolates and she had eaten them, not wanting them to go to waste. She had broken out in hives and been rushed to the infirmary. It turned out she was rather allergic to nuts. She had remembered laughing at James with Michelle and Becka while she sat there recovering. He had even had the nerve to send her a pound of chocolate without nuts and a jar of peanuts as his way of apologizing.
Lily took the foil off the first chocolate, carefully; she never liked ripping the foil wrapping. She plopped the chocolate into her waiting mouth and smiled in content with the creamy taste. She wondered what would happen next since he still hadn't showed up and she had no more clues
Lily then looked down at the candy wrapper and saw a small message printed on it.
Dear Lily EvansHow is the chocolate? If you like it there is more where it came from. Just go to Carol's Dress shop and ask her for a popsicle.
Your Secret Admirer
Lily was getting kind of curious; why didn't he just come out and say whom he was. Oh well, at least she got free chocolate and a free popsicle out of it.
Lily made her way to Carol's Dress shop; it was the most popular dress shop and everyone knew where it was. Lily made her way into the dress shop. She remembered one time in fifth year when Michelle, Becka and her had come to the shop and just tried the dresses on for fun. James had been there with his seventh year girl friend at the time; she was looking for a dress for the seventh year ball. Lily had, had her hair in a ponytail and James had come over and yanked on it, making her scream with surprise because she hadn't noticed him there. Everyone in the dress shop had started laughing at her then, except Michelle and Becka and Lily had remembered bursting into tears and punching James in his face. After that, James had not left her alone.
Lily looked around at the dresses because she hadn't spotted anyone yet except two second years gaping at all the dresses. Lily wandered around the store until she finally spotted Madam Ebony, the daughter of the dress shop owner; Madam Ebony helped maintain the dress shop with her mother.
Lily walked over to Madam Ebony and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, until the young woman turned around. "Excuse me, but I was wondering where Madam Carol was," Lily told Madam Ebony.
"She is in the store room, honey. Would you like me to get her?" was the simple reply.
"That would be wonderful," Lily said and then stood there waiting while Madam Ebony went off to fetch her mother. The two women were back in only a few moments.
"Can I have a popsicle please?" Lily asked Madam Carol.
Madam Ebony gave Lily a strange look, but Madam Carol seemed to know exactly what Lily was talking about.
"Follow me miss," Madam Carol said and let Lily to the back of the store.
Lily followed silently and stopped when they reached a large desk with many drawers and a cooler underneath. Madam Carol reached into the cooler and pulled out a wrapped popsicle handing it to Lily.
"Thank you," Lily responded and then turned to leave.
"Wait, there is one more thing," Madam Carol said and headed into the storeroom. She came back out holding a box a box with a tag on it that said, "For Lily Evans."
Lily thanked Madam Carol again and left the shop. It was rather cold outside, but Lily decided to eat her popsicle anyway. She quickly downed the popsicle and looked at the stick. It had writing on it, like some of those popsicle sticks with jokes, but this one had something all together different. Lily lifted the stick up to her eyes so as to see the writing better.
Dear Lily EvansYou probably think I am rather strange for sending you a note on a popsicle stick, but you could also think I am creative. The thing in the box is a present from me that you should go to the bathroom at the Three Broomsticks and open it there.
Your Secret Admirer
Lily thought it was rather strange to open a present in the loo, but if that was what he wanted she guessed it would only be polite to, so Lily made her way to the Three Broomsticks. When Lily walked through the door, she headed straight for the bathroom and to her luck it was empty. She immediately walked it and shut the door, locking it. She sat down on the counter after making sure it was dry and then untied the black ribbon that kept the box closed.
Inside the box was a beautiful, blood red dress. Lily carefully lifted the dress out of the box and held it up to her; it was the perfect size and came to just above her ankles. In the box there was also a black pair of short high heels that looked very comfortable, compared to how tall normal high heels were. The dress and shoes looked like they must have cost whomever this guy was a fortune, especially considering the dress came from Carol's Dress shop.
Lily also noticed a small piece of paper at the bottom of the box. She neatly folded up the dress and put it back in the box, after lifted out the sheet of paper. She lightly opened the paper and read it aloud to herself.
Dear Lily Evans,
You can finally meet me if you put on this dress and shoes and go to the new restaurant next to Carol's Dress shop, the Screaming Wand. I will be waiting for you. Tell the man at the desk that you are with the Red Party.
Your Secret Admirer
Lily folded the piece of paper back together and laid it on the counter. She took a deep breath; was she finally read to meet this person? She didn't know if she was ready, but she did know that she was going to meet him anyway. Lily quickly changed into the dress and slipped on the shoes. She then put her large jacket back on again and put her other clothing and sneakers in the box.
Lily opened the door to the bathroom and left the Three Broomsticks. She made her way towards the Screaming Wand and was soon at the door, but for some reason her feet wouldn't work and walk into the building. Lily stood there and tried to mentally calm her nerves. She took deep, calming breaths and slowly stepped forward. She was soon at the door and let herself in.
The sight of the place amazed Lily. It was gorgeous; there was live classical music playing, the architecture was grand, everywhere she looked there were people laughing and enjoying themselves and some quite fit blokes for waiters who were gracefully walking in-between tables, almost like they were floated. The man at the desk cleared his throat impatiently, interrupting Lily from her thoughts.
"And what party will you be dining with this evening, Miss?" he asked her.
"The…err…umm," Lily said, trying to remember the name of the party.
"Sorry, but we don't have a party under that name," he replied.
Lily decided to ignore his rudeness and continued to hack her brain for the name. "Oh yes, the red party," Lily said, finally remembering.
The man looked impressed. "Right this way Miss," he said and led her to the table and who did she see sitting there, but Sirius Black himself.
Sirius Black? What is Sirius doing here? Lily thought she was going crazy or something so she blinked a couple of times. Just to her luck when she opened them, there was James sitting there instead. She blinked her eyes a couple more times thinking that maybe Remus would show up then instead of James and then maybe Peter after him, but just to her luck James stayed.
(A/N – sorry, I could just not resist putting that part in there because you are all probably like Sirius? What is he doing there? I just like to mess with people's minds sometimes.)
Lily sat down at the table, not realizing yet that James Potter was actually her secret admirer.
"Just what do you think you are doing here?" she snapped at him.
"Waiting for my date of course, but you seem to have arrived," he replied coolly.
Lily gasped; she had never considered that James could be the one, but here he was in front of her and now that she thought about it, he was the most likely candidate.
"Don't look so surprised. I thought you surely would have guessed correctly by now," James said and gave a little laugh at the shocked look on Lily's face.
"But why?" Lily asked, now suddenly wanting to know why he would go through the trouble to do this.
"Because Lily," James began and then paused, his cheeks becoming red.
"Well?" Lily said taking her seat across from James.
"Because I love you Lily," he finally whispered, barely audibly.
Lily couldn't help but smile; she had gotten so caught up in her life that she had completely forgotten how much she missed James. In this moment it all came floating back to her. She was glad she was sitting because otherwise her legs might have given way.
James looked nervous. "Would you like to order something?" he asked.
Lily gave him a smile and he relaxed; this was Lily after all he told himself. It wasn't like he didn't know her.
"Sure," Lily said and picked up the menu.
James picked up his menu as well, but kept sneaking glances of Lily from over the top of it, until a waiter arrived at the table.
"What can I be getting you this afternoon?" the man asked.
"I will have the flaming chicken, a side garden salad and water to drink," Lily said as she looked up from her menu.
"I will have a mince pie and water as well," James said and the waiter left with their menus.
"So Miss Lily Evans, who were you expecting?" James asked as he looks up at Lily.
"To tell you the truth I was thinking maybe a quieter person whose name I know, but have never really taken the time to know them," Lily replied after thinking the question over for a little while.
"I have more surprises for you," James added then.
"Why are you doing all this?" Lily finally asked because the question had been gnawing at the inside of her since she found out that it was James.
"Would you like the truth?" James asked, seriously.
"Yes," Lily answered.
"This is my way of saying sorry for being such an arse. I really miss you Lily. I am so sorry about what I said," James replied.
Lily let it all sink in and sat there awhile. "James, you aren't second best," she finally said, looking down at her lap.
James smiled; he really did love Lily.
"So what are we planned to do next?" Lily asked as their meals arrived.
"It's a surprise," James said as he began to eat his mince pie.
"But I want to know," Lily complained like a little kid.
"But then it wouldn't be a surprise," James teased.
"Why do people always say that?" Lily sighed.
The two continued to talk until their meal was completely finished. James paid for everything and then led Lily from restaurant.
"You have jeans right?" James asked as they walked down the steps.
"Yeah," Lily said, confused.
"Well you need to change into them," James informed her.
"Why?" Lily snooped
"Just because," James said and laughed at Lily's curiosity. "You know curiosity killed the cat."
Lily laughed, "But it also brought him back."
Lily changed again in the Three Broomsticks bathroom and neatly put her heels and dress back in the box. She met James outside when she was done.
"Now my prince, where are we off to?" Lily joked. She was so happy that things were finally ok between her and James. She felt there wasn't a care in the world that she needed to worry about because everything was so perfect.
"Just calm down my queen," James said as he stopped for a second and pulled Lily into a warm hug.
She hugged him back, savoring his warmth and the comforting smell of him.
James finally pulled back with a large grin on his face. "I really miss doing that," he said.
Lily cut him off with her lips on his. She gave a short, simple kiss yet it held so much emotion in it.
"I really miss that as well," James said as Lily pulled away this time.
Then James picked Lily up, wedding style and carried her down the road.
"Where are you taking me?" Lily giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck for support.
"Just wait and see you impatient child," James teased until finally he arrived at the end of the road where there was a man standing with a horses. It was completely black except a thin, white strip down the front of his face.
James set Lily down on the road.
"James, how did you know?" Lily asked as she gaped at the horses. Lily was completely in love with horses; she had been riding since she was seven. It was one of her secret passions that she thought only Michelle and Becka had known about. Then it hit her; Michelle and Becka had told James.
James smiled; Becka and Michelle had been right. He would have to put it on his mental list to thank them a bunch and buy them some really nice Christmas gifts.
"Shall we?" he finally asked after Lily had been standing there staring for quite awhile.
"Oh sorry," Lily said once she realized what she was doing.
James led Lily up to the two horses and took their reins from the man. He paid him a couple galleons and talked for a couple of minutes about how his father was doing. Then James mounted up on the horse and offered a hand down to Lily. Lily took his hand and was hoisted onto the horse behind him.
"Next time we can get separate horses and race," James said as he nudged the horse into a walk.
"That would be nice, but I wouldn't want to ruin your pride when I completely kick your butt," Lily said as she wrapped her arms around James' waist and rested her chin on his shoulder, looking over it at the path they had begun down.
James laughed, "Don't be so full of yourself; I can ride pretty well."
"So where are we headed?" Lily asked, after laughing at James once again.
"This is the trail I used to walk down with Sirius in fourth year. We haven't been to it since then, but the trail is beautiful," James told Lily as she made herself more comfortable and snuggled up against him.
James squeezed the horse into a trot causing Lily and him to bounce around on the saddle. Lily tightened her grip on James and couldn't help but grin; she hadn't been on a horse since last summer.
"This is so perfect, James, "Lily whispered into James' ear.
"Thanks," James said as he smiled and watched tree after tree fly by. Everything felt so perfect he could just stay there forever.
"This place is gorgeous. How come you and Sirius haven't been here since fourth year?" Lily asked as she watched the trees and flowers as well.
"Things just change, Lily. Things just change…" James said.
"Change isn't always bad," Lily said.
"I know, if it weren't for change, I wouldn't have you," James said and tilted his head a little so he could smile at Lily.
"You are such a funny person, you know that James? And I love you for it," Lily said and then randomly bit him in the neck.
"What was that for?" James laughed.
"Nothing, I just felt like biting," Lily said, grinning. The two laughed like there wasn't a care in the world.
"Hold on," James commanded after he was done laughing.
Lily held on as James squeezed the horse right from a trot to a gallop. The two were swept away in the wind as the horse took off. Lily started laughing just from the beauty on it.
"Thank you so much James," Lily said and gave James a small hug.
James just smiled. He didn't want to end up ruining this moment. After awhile James pulled the horse back to a walk and then stopped it completely when they arrived at a small brook almost hidden by some trees.
James dismounted and then was going to help Lily down, but she told him off as a joke and said that even though she was a woman she could still take care of herself.
When Lily had gotten down James tied the horse to a tree and offered Lily his hand, "Shall we walk my fair lady?"
Lily giggled and placed her hand in his, making a perfect fit, "Why of course my prince."
The two walked in silence along the brook until James stopped. "Lily I have a question."
"Yes," Lily said and at down on a rock, looking up at James.
"I would first like to apologize once again for all the pain I have caused you and then I was wondering if for the rest of the time at Hogwarts you wouldn't mind being mine and then maybe if I am really lucky even after Hogwarts," James said and continued to blab on until Lily put a finger on his lips.
"Of course, James," and with that she kissed him. The two stood there for ten minutes just content being in each other's arms. When they finally made it back to the horse they were still dazed with the aroma of love.
Author's notes – ok, I was thinking about having this be the last chapter unless you guys really want me to continue. I do have a couple more ideas I could have in the story so I will continue the story if you guys want me to.
Review thanks:
Hpjsr – I am glad you liked the chapter. Yes, I do read tarot cards, but I am not that good so I had to use a sight to help with it. I really liked making the whole tarot card thing so that was pretty spiffy.
Haters r gonna rock dis world – sorry about the website not showing up. I guess my computer is just like screwed when I typed it. Yes, Lily is quite a crackhead at times.
SirusLivesOn – ahh yes, Lily and James are quite perfect together so I hope this chapter made you happy. I am glad you liked the tarot card reading.
Greengrl – well you are probably another person happy about this chapter. I am glad that you like the story.
CattyCat – lol. Yes, cliffies are very devious. I hope I didn't bother you TOO much.
g.c. Smores – Look, this is the chappie that was written for you! I hope you liked it.
Beckus – I hope you didn't die because that would be very sad even though I don't really know you personally. I hope you liked this chappie.
Stephmurden – I am very sorry about all the mistakes in the beginning. It gets better as you go on because I keep forgetting to go back to the beginning and edit all that. In around the middle I started editing so it should be better in there. Sigh…anyway just thought I would apologize for my laziness.
Flame Of Desire – I am very glad that you love it. I hope you keep reading if I continue to keep writing.
Heh, heh me
