Immature 3
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James glances quietly at his parents over his shoulder. They are sitting cozily in front of the fireplace while he and their house-elf are left to decorate the six-foot tall Christmas tree. He imagines himself perched on his very own broomstick, flying to the very peak of the tree and placing a glittering, golden star on it. He smiles and looks over at his parents again. His mum kisses his dad on the cheek and they both smile warmly at each other. James thinks. If he is about to marry Lily, then he might as well kiss her soon before she loses interest in him. It is what people do, he thinks. He wonders why he has never kissed Sirius, Remus, or Peter before. He thinks that maybe he should. But then he'd never really seen his father kissing any of his Ministry friends. James goes back to putting garlands on the tree and decides that he will. Kiss Lily, that is.
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The doorbell rings and James jumps up, frantically running a hand through his hair. "Mum!" he yells, running to the door. "Sirius, and Remus, and…" James sighs. "…everybody's here! We're going out to play in the snow!"
Mrs. Potter materializes in front of him, holding a ladle dripping with soup. A few drops trickle down onto her favorite carpet. James keeps this in mind for the next time he makes a mess on the carpet.
"Oh, great," James says. "You're making my favorite soup. Lily's going to love it."
"Where are your gloves? James, all you're wearing is a thick jumper. You'll be soaked. Go upstairs and get dressed for snow, not a strong gust of wind."
"Wha—mum! They're waiting for me—I—agh—fine!" James makes a face and starts up the stairs. He hears his mother yelling things at him.
"Not just your gloves! Wear another jumper, and that new jacket your father got you! Don't forget your muffler—the blue one—and your wellies! I can't believe you were planning on going out there in your trainers, James!"
"Bloody winter clothes," James murmurs as he gets dressed properly. He does this the fastest way he can and looks at the mirror. He thinks that he looks much like a sack of potatoes—all bursting and bumpy. He wonders how he's going to win a snowball fight against Sirius if he can't move. He hurries down the stairs and goes out the door, yelling "Bye, Mum!" She would have been mad if he'd just gone without saying goodbye.
"Took you long enough!" Sirius tells James loudly.
James is happy to see that they all look like sacks of potatoes. His dad once told him that mothers think alike; he was right. "Mum held me up."
"Well? Are we going then?"
James nods and they all head toward the neighborhood park. He and Lily catch each other's eyes and smile. He thinks that Lily is the perfect girl for him to marry. She is nice and lets him wipe off the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. He wonders how they are going to go about marrying each other. Would they have to make a cut in the palms of their hands and hold them together to join their blood? Sirius might have told him that, he doesn't quite remember. He doesn't particularly like that idea, though. Maybe they'll just cross their pinkies. Yeah, he thinks, that should work.
They arrive at the park and see that every piece of ground is covered entirely in thick snow. James revels in the glory of it. Snow, he thinks, is much better than sand, and infinitely better than dried leaves that have to be cleaned up.
Peter picks up a handful of snow and drops it in his mouth. His mouth bends into a blissful grin. Sirius laughs and eats a handful of snow himself. "Very nice," he says.
"I don't think you should be doing that," Lily says.
"It's not clean," Remus says.
"If you two are going to act like our parents," Sirius says snottily, "then you might as well just go home, drink coffee, and read newspapers with them."
Lily looks at James, waiting for him to do something. James is torn, but makes a quick, instinctive decision. He shrugs and follows Sirius and Peter's example. Lily rolls her eyes and reluctantly does the same. Sirius is giving some to Remus, who grudgingly takes it.
"Eating snow is a hobby Pete took up when he was three," James explains to Lily a few minutes later. They are poking around beyond the tall bushes, looking for twigs that would work well as snowman arms. "He's been doing it ever since. He got me and Sirius into it. Remus' hobby is reading, not so much eating snow."
"I like to read, too," Lily tells him.
"Erm… yeah. I… I like reading too."
James reckons that he should kiss Lily now, before she realizes that she would be better off marrying Remus. They certainly have more things in common. For instance, they both agree that caramel on popcorn is the best way to go; James thinks that it is either butter or nothing at all. Remus and Lily are too nice and polite to laugh if something embarrassing happens to somebody; James would probably laugh and point. He'd probably even tell Sirius so that they can laugh and point together.
James is determined to marry Lily, and if he has to kiss her now in order to marry her, then he would do it. "Lily," he says, "we should kiss."
Lily, who is in front of him, turns around, her eyes wide. "You mean… kiss… like… the way grown-ups do?"
James nods and points to his cheek. Right here, he thinks. Lily thinks about it for a moment, and then nods. "Well," she says, "we're going to marry each other anyway." Smiling, she walks over to him, and stands on the tip of her toes. James is a tall boy. She wipes some snow off of James cheek and kisses it. James thinks that her lips are very warm, just like his mum's when she kisses him good night. Lily giggles and rubs her own cheeks, making them even redder. James watches her and blushes. He has never kissed anyone before. He figures that if he is bad at kissing, Lily will understand—he knows that she will be a good wife, and good wives understand things like that. His mum understands when his dad comes home late from work. James takes a deep breath, leans down, and kisses Lily's right cheek. He pulls back and they look at each other.
"You are a good kisser," Lily says. James beams.
"So are you."
They grab the twigs that they had dropped. They hold hands and emerge from the bushes with wide, toothy smiles.
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James and Sirius are on James's bed. James is staring at the miniature broomsticks hanging from his ceiling, and Sirius is reading the latest copy of The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. James has already read the issue three times, and is of the opinion that Herbert Hack: Life of a Squib should be as imaginative as Martin if they want to sell any more copies. Herbert, as he, Sirius, Remus, and Peter have noticed, has gotten increasingly dull over the past four months.
However, James could not be bothered by comic books at the moment. He is trying to decide whether or not to tell Sirius about the kiss and about getting married before twelve-years-old. He tells Sirius everything, he thinks, and might as well tell him about this.
"Sirius…" James says. Sirius peers at him over the comic book but does not say anything. He is waiting for James to continue. "Me and Lily are going to marry each other."
"You are? Well, that's good. Lily would make a good…"
"Wife," James supplies.
"Yeah… wife… but don't you think that you should wait until you're twelve?" Sirius asks James seriously. This is one of the most important decisions in James's life. His best cousin, Andromeda, told him that getting married is a big leap. Sirius thinks that marrying is perfect for his friend. James, after all, has one of the highest jumps Sirius has ever seen.
"I know!" James exclaims. "That's what I thought, too, but I couldn't wait. We were sitting alone on that tree, and I just had to ask her. Anyway, she said yes, so I guess it's fine, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Sirius smiles. "Congratulations! What are you going to use to draw blood from your palms? I could nick a couple of bread knives at home, if you want."
"About that…" James says reluctantly, "I was thinking that we could just… you know… pinkie swear. I don't think Lily's going to like the idea of blood and all that. Plus, mum is going to be livid."
"I suppose," Sirius says. He accepts James's decision, but thinks that the blood thing would have been more exciting. Then again, muggles like Lily might not understand that that is how things are done in the wizarding world.
"Oh, and there's another thing that I have to tell you," James remembers. "We kissed today, down at the park."
Sirius gasps in shock. "Who kissed who? Did she kiss you, or did you kiss her?"
James frowns, wondering why Sirius is reacting this way. "Erm… both. She kissed me first, and then I kissed her. Why?"
"Merlin's beard, James! I think you've just made a very big mistake! Very big! Huge! Like a giant!"
"WHAT! Why?"
"I'm not sure yet!" Sirius shoves Martin out of the way and grabs his extra jumper and winter coat from the back of James's desk chair. He wraps his wet muffler around his neck and pushes his feet into his wellies with much struggle. "Bloody boots," he whispers to himself. He runs out of the room, down the stairs, and into the living room. He grabs some floo powder and looks up at the stairs, where James is running after him. "I'm going to be doing some research in our library. I'll stay up the whole night if I have to. I'll see you tomorrow!" He throws the powder into the fireplace and steps into the green flames. "12 Grimmauld Place, the library!"
James wheezes and stares at the empty fireplace. What is going on!
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A/N: Another day, another chapter! Whee! I'll try and update tomorrow, but I can't promise anything.
This chapter could've been better, don't you think? The next bit with Sirius would've made it better, I believe, but I decided I'd use that in the next chapter instead.
Thank
you, once again, for the excellent reviews! They make me feel special and
everything. :D Review again?
