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James stared in astonishment as Evans walked in. Her head was down and James could see her blushing furiously. Remus and Sirius both looked surprised when they saw her.
"Lily?" Remus asked, containing his shock. The girl looked up and made eye contact with Moony.
"Hello," she said, gulping. Her face was turning redder by the second. James and Remus glanced swiftly at each other, confirming that the muggleborn bookworm was actually in James's house and he had had no clue about it.
Sirius was the only one who seemed unfazed. "Sit down, Miss Evans! Come try Mum Potter's wonderful cooking! It's as good as Hogwarts," He nodded to the seat next to him. There were only six seats at the table and Lily didn't want to sit in between Mrs. Potter and her husband. She took the seat and sat on the edge of it as though wondering whether she should run. Evans was now sitting in between Remus and Sirius. Moony and James were at the heads of the table and James's parents would sit across from Sirius and Lily. Maria had already taken her seat across from Padfoot.
"How long will you be staying with us, Lily?" asked Remus, making light conversation.
The girl blushed again. "Until school starts up again," she mumbled. James tried to hide his grin. Now he had the whole summer to be with his little flower. Prongs had also realized Lily couldn't yell at him in front of his mother, but he couldn't flirt either.
"So, Lily," James said. The redhead looked at him, shocked he had called her by her name. "I had never known you stayed with Dumbledore."
Evans looked at her plate, "Well, Pot- James. I never exactly paraded the fact," she said. Only the Marauders, who knew her very well, could hear the hint of embarrassment in her voice and her frustration at not being able to hex James into next year for prying. Sirius nudged James and they silently figured they could interrogate her once Maria and John.
As John walked in, the plates filled with salad, which was the introductory course. Lily ate her salad with bleu cheese dressing, after she had pushed the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions off to the side. James made a mental note of everything his Lily ate, so he could inform the house-elves how to prepare her food. He realized that his mother was doing the same. Remus and Mr. Potter were discussing the latest acts of the Ministry and Sirius was asking Evans tons of questions to have her answer shortly in between bites.
They finished their five course meal (salad, fruit, soup and entrée) and ended with a large platter appearing in the middle. It had deep chocolate and vanilla marbled icing and smooth chocolate cake sitting on it. "Would you like a piece of cake, Lily?" Sirius asked Evans in a smooth tone.
"Alright, but just a small," Lily was cut off, seeing the piece Sirius had just cut off. It was almost one- sixth of the cake. He dumped it onto her plate and said, "Try it!"
Sirius then got his own piece, which was considerably larger than Evans's and began wolfing it down. Milk appeared in the goblets in front of them. James watched Lily avidly as she took her first bite. A look of pure bliss came over her normally frowning face and James laughed silently. Lily swallowed and smiled, "That was wonderful!" she exclaimed to James's mum.
"I knew you'd love it," Maria said smiling almost as widely as Lily. Seeing Sirius trying to cut himself a second huge piece, James dived in. Prongs got his knife in first and smirked at his pitiful looking pal. He got a piece as big as Padfoot's first and dug in with gusto. Remus, Maria, and John all had normal sized pieces.
Sirius took the rest of the cake and put it on his licked clean plate. James glanced over and saw Lily eating each bite with a pause and delighted look. Remus was doing the same with his smaller piece. Thankfully James knew that the werewolf didn't want more than he had. He had eaten almost all of the chicken entrée.
Once dinner was finished and the adult Potters had left, the four teens sat in silence. Just when it looked as if Lily was about to stand up, Remus cut her off by saying, "I think we deserve an explanation," The other two Marauders nodded.
Lily turned slightly pale, apprehensive and embarrassed all at once and said, "I don't owe you boys anything."
Sirius raised an eyebrow and said, "You know we won't stop until we get an answer."
Lily nodded and said, "Look, my family is bad. Most of them are dead and the only available one wouldn't put up with me if you paid her. That's it. Sirius, you out of anyone should understand," Sirius nodded. It was known all around the school of how the Black family had become too evil for Sirius to deal with. He had run off to the Potters' and become their second son.
Though James sensed there was more to the story, he decided he would find out later. "Goodnight Sirius, Remus… James," she nodded to each in turn and sped to her room.
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As Lily escaped, she let out a huge sigh. That was close. Luckily, that little meeting didn't go as bad as it could have.
Lily made it to her room without getting lost once inside the Potter mansion. She was very proud of herself. This literal castle was hard to figure out. But thankfully, Mrs. Potter had marked her door. Lily walked into her room, locked the door with a mutter of "Colloportus," and flopped onto her silk bed with another sigh.
This was much better than staying with Petunia, even if it was with the Potters. She looked over at her pillow and saw her new pajamas. They were a pair of soft silk pants and a soft white tank.
She grabbed her wand and swished it at the white candles that lit her room except one. She always had to have at least a little light in her room. She used to not be frightened of the dark. However, after her father had tried to murder her in the dark, she was deathly afraid.
Her smooth sheets rustled as she snuggled deep into her bed. She tried not to remember that tomorrow was the first day of a summer full of Potter.
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When Lily awoke the next morning, she checked automatically to make sure the door was still locked. Reassured, she got up and stretched. Soft dawn sunlight was shining into her room making everything glow with the promise of a new day. Lily had never gotten up later than nine and she wasn't about to start now.
Lily decided to head down to the kitchen to ask the house-elves for a drink. She combed her long auburn hair and swept it up with a large lily shaped clip. She threw on a starry black robe and brushed her teeth with a toothbrush that had been provided by Maria Potter. She slipped on a comfortable pair of worn, but fluffy boots.
She padded silently down the marble stairs so no one would wake up. As she passed the second level she heard the distinctive sound of Sirius snoring. It was known throughout Gryffindor that Sirius Black's snores could wake the castle. The Marauders had to put a Silencing Charm over his bed, or so rumor had it.
Lily hummed tunelessly as she strode into the kitchen but stopped as she saw who was sitting at the breakfast table. Potter had long black robes and his hair was messy, as usual. He was drinking a mug of what looked like coffee, with more sugar and cream than actual drink. "Hello Evans," he said without turning.
Sensing her surprised expression James laughed, "I know everyone's footsteps but yours, so I guess I rightly assumed you were the only unidentified person in my house."
Lily rolled her eyes at his bragging and turned to the house-elf that had appeared at her elbow. "What would Miss like to drink," it squeaked enthusiastically. It had a pointy nose and a huge smile, obviously thrilled to be working.
"Just some orange juice, please," Lily said, smiling warmly at the small creature. It seemed the house-elves at Godric's Hollow were as well-treated as the hundred or so at Hogwarts. Within seconds a glass of cold orange juice was in her hand. Lily walked over and sat down across from James at the small table.
They sat in silence as they drained their drinks. Once the house-elf who had taken Lily's order had removed their cups, they sat in a more awkward silence. James ran a hand through his hair and Lily rolled her eyes. It seemed he did it out of habit, but it was so annoying.
"So… what are we going to do today?" James asked her smoothly. Lily guessed he had been running it through his head the whole time.
"We aren't doing anything. You are going to hang out with your friends, and I am going to entertain myself. Alone," Lily said, uncaring. In truth, though she didn't want to hang out with the Marauders, she did want some company.
"Do you actually want to stay in this big house all alone?" My parents will be at work until seven, then we will have dinner and go to sleep," James said persuasively. Though Lily had already known these things, hearing James Potter say them made them strike home. She would be absolutely alone all summer.
It seemed Potter had seen her indecision for he then said, "You can play Quidditch with us. We have an extra Cleansweep 3. Top of the line, those are."
Lily frowned. "I don't know how to fly or play Quidditch," she muttered. She had never had time to try, and during the first year flying lessons she had been in second-year Arithmacy. James gasped and looked stricken.
"You…no…flower…not…Quidditch?" he managed to shout out. The way he was overreacting you would think it was as bad as saying she didn't know how to breathe.
Lily bristled, "No, I do not. And I would like for you to…" She cut off when she saw an odd look on Potter's face. After a second of inspecting his wrinkled brow, she realized he was thinking. 'Miracles do happen,' she thought to herself.
"We can teach you!" James announced to the kitchen at large. The house-elves glanced over at his outburst then quickly skittered away. He was so loud it seemed he had woken the other boys as she heard footsteps approaching.
Sirius stumbled into the kitchen. "James," he moaned yawning then mumbled sarcastically, "Where's the fire?" Black's eyelids drooped and he had a quickly thrown on set of gray robes on. Lupin followed closely. He was dressed in smooth black robes and looked wide awake.
Potter grinned at his best friends. "I'm going to teach Evans how to ride a broom!" he said proudly. Remus and Black looked at each other then burst out laughing.
"Did she actually agree?" Lupin managed to gasp out.
James looked confused for a second. "I haven't asked yet," he said slowly. Then with a shrug and a smile, he looked at Lily, "Will you?" he asked.
Lily moaned and shrugged. "Fine, but only because I have nothing else to-." She was cut off by Potter's enthusiastic whoop and closed her eyes. 'What have I done?' she asked herself.
"Let's go now!" the hyper Sirius said. James and Sirius led the way while Remus followed beside Lily.
Seeing her shoulders slouch dejectedly as she followed, Remus muttered, "You might want to get it over with or you'll never hear the end of it. I mean, James still bugs me about a question I missed on a quiz in first year."
Lily smiled at the supportive teen next to her. "I suppose you're right," she said with a small sigh.
James led them out the back door and into a garden. Lily looked around in awe. This was gorgeous. There were roses of all sorts, from deep velvet red to odd looking purple and white zebra looking ones. There was a whole section for each individual flower and Lily saw with joy a part full of white, tiger and all other kinds of lilies. She could swear she even saw a golden one lurking in a corner.
Once they got out of the flower path, James and Sirius spun sideways and strode into the trees. Remus and Lily, the two unfamiliar ones, followed hurriedly. The boys in front led them to a clearing in the heart of the forest. Lily looked in awe at the homemade Quidditch Pitch in front of her. Three trees at each end had been bewitched to stay in the shapes of hoops.
Lily noticed amusedly that the poles still kept their barky texture and leafy colors. "We're here!" Sirius announced. He strode over to a small shack beside the field and unlocked the door. "Alohamora," he said. He ducked into the roughly built shed and pulled out four brooms. All were slick looking Cleansweep 3 versions. He passed them out, Lily taking hers half-heartedly. It looked really high up there.
Apart from the dark, heights were her biggest fear. She could barely step onto the ledge at the Astronomy Tower without throwing up. Remus and Sirius kicked off as soon as they received their brooms.
"Now," said Potter. "When we play, you and Remus can be Chasers. You use the Quaffle. I'll be Keeper and Seeker, while Sirius is Beater." He let loose the Bludger for Black.
"I change my mind," Lily said quickly, "I can't do this." Maybe she could get out of this yet.
Potter wagged a finger at her, "Na ah ah," he taunted. "You promised."
Lily didn't even have time to point out she did no such thing before anger gripped her. "I am not going to do this. There is no reason for me to, I'll just watch you guys."
Potter laughed. "Oh I see. Lily's scared. Hahaha. No wonder. And you always said you were better than me," he smirked. Lily knew he was just trying to get a rise out of her, but it worked.
"At least I'm not going to end my days with my head stuck to the building I just ran into," she shouted at him.
Potter narrowed his eyes, "Well I bet you can't even stay in the air for ten minutes!"
"Alright, if that's how you want to be. If I when, you can't ask me out ever again or call me one of those stupid nicknames like flower," shouted at the infuriating Marauder in front of her.
"Okay. But if I win, you have to date me this summer," Potter said. Lily nodded and shook his outstretched hand. She picked up the broom she had thrown aside in the argument and kicked off.
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James watched his flower kick off. She rose unsteadily. Once almost twenty feet up she looked down. James saw her pale drastically and saw Remus swoop down by her. "Don't look down!" Moony encouraged. James watched Lily nod and begin moving forward.
James went up in the air. As he passed the other Marauders he knew they had heard his bet to Lily by Sirius's delighted face and Remus's strictly disapproving one. Remus had on a wizard stopwatch that he had turned on when Lily had kicked off.
"Only nine more minutes!" he shouted to Lily. The Marauders watched her gain confidence until after seven minutes she was doing loop-de-loops and dives. James was furious. The one chance he had to date her and she was going to ruin it. Remus began flying around also, waiting for his timer to go off.
"Thirty more seconds! Good job, Lily!" Remus shouted, consulting the watch. Sirius looked as angry as James felt.
"No girl beats a Marauder," he said and went to ground. He picked up his Beater bat and went after the Bludger. James felt growing apprehensive. When Sirius got angry (which was often) he did drastic things. On one such occasion he had told Snivellus how to get to the werewolf form of Remus. That hadn't ended well for anyone.
Padfoot hit the ball and shouted, "Watch out Lily!" in falsely concerned tones.
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Lily was confident now. This was much more fun than she had imagined. When Sirius yelled worriedly, she swerved towards him in confusion. That was when she saw the heavy black Bludger rocketing towards her. She attempted to get out of the way but she wasn't quick enough.
WHAM!
Lily let out a gasp as it broke her broomstick in half. The magic drained out and Lily felt nothing but air beneath her. Her mind went blank and saw the ground rushing up to meet her. She closed her eyes, hoping to survive.
Suddenly, a pair of strong arms grabbed her waist and pulled her over their broom. "Are you okay Lily?" said the deep voice of James behind her. She held onto the broom so tightly her knuckles were white. She nodded to James's question.
Remus sighed from beside her. "You still had fifteen seconds left," Lily moaned and sat up straight. She did not want to touch Potter right now.
She fought to control her shaking voice, "Can you please take me to the ground? Sl-slowly,"
"Of course, flower. That was quite a fall you had there," James said in a caring voice. He took them into a shallow dive. Lily didn't even bother to correct his name for her. He did win the bet.
Potter lifted her off the now low and hovering broom then jumped down behind her. Lily's legs were unstable and she stumbled backwards. James caught her again and she got to her own feet.
"Goodbye," she said shortly and stumbled up the castle. It seemed while she was falling her bones had been replaced with jello. She heard Potter running up behind her. Lily attempted to quicken her pace, but failed.
She refused to give him the courtesy of looking at him as he fell into step beside her. "So, when are we going to set that date?" Lily could hear the triumphant smirk in his voice.
Lily was defeated. "You decide. Be sure to make it at a place no one can see us."
"Would you like a kiss to make you feel better?" he asked, failing to keep the hope from his voice.
Lily took out her wand and whirled on him. To her anger, she saw that he had taken his out as a precaution. "You must love that we can do magic this summer," she said. Lily knew that she could duel much better than him, but all of the jinxes she knew would be too advanced to him and his mother would wonder what had happened.
If she hurt him bad enough, Maria might kick her out. Unfortunately, Potter was much more experienced to prank-like curses. She stowed her wand and kept her fist clenched around it in her pocket. She began walking faster.
Potter stayed behind, "Where are you going?" Potter yelled after her.
Lily clenched her fists so hard that her long nails dug painfully in. "To my room!" she yelled back to him. She ran through the garden and rushed through the door. What was Maria going to say when she found out Lily was going on a date with her son. She moaned and leapt up the stairs two at a time to the third floor.
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