Chapter 14

"Hurry up! You're gonna miss the train!" Liz called as she leaned out the door of the Hogwarts Express.
"We're coming!" Carmen cried as she and Lily dragged their luggage behind them; neither girl was too familiar with the concept of packing light and all of their stuff was slowing them way down. The train leaked steam into the air and the pistons hissed loudly.
"How much stuff are you guys bringing with you? Here, give me that," Liz said as the two girls reached her compartment. Carmen handed Liz her duffel and began to heave her suitcase onto the train. Lily was about to lift up her bag when James came up behind her.
"Here, I got it," he said, lifting it easily out of her hands and handing it up to Carmen, who had climbed into the compartment. Lily jumped slightly.
"James! You know I hate it when you sneak up behind me like that!" Lily said.

"I know," he replied, giving her a quick peck on the lips as a very nice "I'm sorry."
"After you," James said, holding out his hand for Lily to steady herself with as she stepped off of the platform and onto the train, which was just beginning to move.
James handed the last few pieces of luggage to Sirius who had gotten onto the train ahead of them and then hoisted himself up into the compartment.

Lily concentrated hard as she carefully placed her card on top of the house that had been building. She let go and jerked her hand away quickly as the card burst into flames with a loud snap! and a cloud of smoke filled the room.
"Noo!" Lily let out a frustrated scream. "Why does it always happen to me!"
"Because you suck at this game," Carmen joked. "Don't worry, we still love you," she added as she began cleaning up the remaining cards off of the floor.
Lily crossed her arms firmly across her chest and pouted. James sat down next to her.
"Don't pout. It's a game of luck, you'll get it next time," he said. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Lily stuck her tongue out at him and uncrossed her arms.

"Trolley's here!" Sirius announced gleefully, jumping up from his seat in the compartment and sliding the door open. The rest of the group joined him except for Peter who had been sitting in a corner, reading a large green book for the whole ride.
A few minutes later, the group returned to the compartment, their arms filled with candy and sweets and laughing loudly as the train carried them further and further south, back to the train station.
Liz, Carmen and the other girls were all going to be spending the break at Carmen's house in London, Remus had managed to get Peter to agree to stay with him for the break and Sirius, Lily and James would be staying at James' house in Devon.
"Who wants a chocolate frog!" Remus asked, dumping his pile onto one of the seats.
"Me!" Lily called as she caught the shiny little package Remus threw to her.

Several hours later the train finally began to slow down as it reached the station, and there was a loud bustle as all the kids began to pull their bags and suitcases off the overhead racks. James handed the girls their things and waited for the train to stop before pushing open the door to the compartment.
Everyone waited next to the train to say good-bye to Remus and Peter before they left down the platform to find Remus' parents. Then the rest of the group turned and got on line to go through the wall into King's Cross. A few minutes later James, Lily, Carmen and Sirius walked through together.
Once on the other side, they began to say their good-byes. Liz began to tear up as she hugged Lily.
"I'll miss you Lils," she managed, wiping her eyes.
"I'll miss you, too, Liz. We'll call you soon and then we can all get together while James' parents are of town," Lily replied, smiling at Liz. "I promise," she added, rubbing her shoulder.
"Ok, we'll see you then!" Sirius called as the two smaller groups split up and headed out of different exits. James and Lily held hands as they left through the glass doors. Lily looked back as the doors shut behind her and waved to her friends before they turned and began to look for a free cab outside of the station.

James and Lily held hands during the cab ride to James' house. Knowing the ride would be long, Sirius tried to rant on about the same topics ("isn't it so great that we're out for three weeks!" "I'm gonna sleep till noon tomorrow!") until he realized that not only were his friends bored, but so was he. At this point he pulled out his cassette player (1)and leaned against the window, eyes closed.

"Thank-you," James said again to the cab driver as he leaned back in through the window and handed him a few folded bills. The driver nodded and then pulled away from the curb. Lily lifted her bag and looked up the house in front of her.
"Very nice, boyfriend," she smiled approvingly. The house was quite large, and she figured there would definitely be enough room for everyone here. Lily followed the boys as they made their way through the front gate and down the gravel path to the front door.
James pulled out his wand and tapped the doorknob. He had once mentioned that he lived in an all-wizard community so he had no need to hide anything. Being so free in "the real world" was foreign to Lily, but she definitely liked it. James took her case from her and held the door open as she walked through.
"Well, this is it," James said as he carried their luggage to the stairs. He sighed, "home sweet home."
"Sweet is right, my man," Sirius said as he walked to the stairs in front of the other two. He appeared to have regained his energy as soon as the cab had pulled into the neighborhood. He clapped James on the shoulder and then said something about "going to my room...leave you two lovebirds alone."
James smirked and turned to Lily. "My room's at the end of the hallway, and you'll be sleeping in one of the guest bedrooms, uhh, this one," he ducked his head into the room next to his and then opened the door all the way. "Just checking the bed was made." He hauled Lily's bags in and left them next to the King-sized bed before turning back to her.
"This place is no nice, James. I never would have imagined you," she paused. "I mean, I didn't, you know.."
"I know," James replied as he walked back out to the hall after her. "It's fine. The Ministry pays my folks pretty well but they're away a lot so they like to make sure I'm taken care of here, especially when I'm home by myself on breaks, or with Sirius."
He shut the door and turned the knob to his. "So, you wanna see my room?"
"Do I," Lily joked, following him through the door, which he closed behind her.

James' room looked pretty much as Lily had imagined it, only bigger. He had Quidditch posters taped to the walls, most of which had players zooming in and out of the picture on brooms.
His bedspread was simple: Light blue sheets with a darker blue comforter to match. The bed was made and by the look of the room, it appeared that the Potters had a maid of some sort.
"So, are you parents due home anytime soon?" Lily asked, a little suggestively, plopping down on the end of the bed.
James walked over and stood in front of her. "No. Why, what did you have in mind?"
To answer his question, Lily reached up and grabbed him by the tie (they were still in school dress, minus the robes) and pulled him to her for kiss.
When they broke apart James smiled. "No, my parents won't be home for quite a while." Lily grinned and kissed him again, running her hands through his hair while his rested on her hips. Lily almost fell into a stupor as she felt his lips against hers, his tongue massaging hers gently, his fingers pinching her skin playfully. Lily moved her hands to his back and urged him down towards the bed. She broke the kiss briefly as she scooted back on the bed and he jumped onto it next to her. He put his hand on the side of her face and kissed her, his other hand reaching up her shirt.
Soon Lily was flat on her back on the bed, James on top of her and giggling as he kissed her navel. Lily loved the weight of him on top of her; she could feel his stomach contracting and then expanding into hers as he caught his breath, he heat of his body against hers. She held her hands up over her head and he grinned as he pulled her shirt off and kissed the freckles on her skin. Neither of them heard Sirius' door close as Lily pulled off James' belt and dropped it on the floor or his footsteps coming down the hall as she also removed his shirt.
Just before Sirius reached the door, James broke away from Lily.
"What?" she asked, her eyes searching his for the problem.
"Nothing," he breathed heavily. He smiled as he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Lily," he said, "I think I love you."

"Hey, you guys wanna order out for some grub? I was thinking- woah there!" Sirius, whipped around back towards the door as both Lily and James, still half-naked, turned and looked at him, shocked expressions coating their features.
"I-I'll just come..back," Sirius walked jerkily back through the door. Lily could see his face had flushed considerably as he pulled the door shut behind him.
She turned back to look at James. After a second, he burst out laughing.
"I should have known to lock the door," he grinned but stopped as he noticed that Lily wasn't reciprocating his feelings. "What?"
"Maybe we should just get dressed and go downstairs," she said, pushing James off of her and standing up quickly.
"Lils?" James sat up on the edge of bed. Lily picked up her shirt and hurried to the door. "Lily! Come on!"
But it was no use; Lily was already at the door and yanking it open. James sighed heavily as Lily left the room and he resigned to falling back onto the bed as he turned and watched the door, which Lily had left partly open in her escape. He heard her door open and shut and closed his eyes.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," he sighed. Then he pulled himself off the bed and put his belt and shirt back on before heading down the stairs to the kitchen.

(1)were these around then? I know they def. did not have CD's but they prolly had cassette players by then..right?

Hey,

So I've only been to King's Cross once and it was a while ago so I sorta made up the doors and such because I can't remember. Anyway, I'll put up a new chapter asap but I have work and stuff so maybe a few days.

Thanks for reading!

Jes xo