Begging for a Second Chance

Hello again. Ah, New England is very rainy this weekend, so I am going to update. Wee! Thanks go out to Burping Bubbles and Kates Master for their kind reviews. Have a good week!

HecateMagik

PS: I hope Kates Master doesn't throw herself off a wall or send Errol at me.

PPS. I just found out that my account didn't allow anonymous reviews. I fixed that! Oops!

PPS: Thanks to MariaCachucha for pointing out my error. I took changed James eyes to their real color… double oops

Chapter 3

All there is left.

Summer 1977: Flashback

Lily Evans sat on her bed shuffling through school work. Which parchments did she not need for her last year at Hogwarts? What should make it into her trunk for that last journey to the school?

It was only halfway through July, and the sizzling summer month had her already yearning for the future.

Her long red hair was tied into a messy knot at the top of her head. Her pale white cheeks had a smudge of dirt from the packing. She wore a plain pair of blue pants and a bright yellow tank top, both as dirty as her young face.

She picked up her worn copy of Hogwarts: a History and absently went through a few pages. Her mind didn't even examine the familiar pages, but instead it was miles away.

"James" she sighed. She hadn't seen James Potter since they stepped off the train a month and a half before. Every day was agony until she was going be in his arms again. They had been dating for just over six months, and at school she had treasured every moment of it. It wasn't just because he was one of the most popular guys in her year, or that he was ridiculously good looking with his messy ink black hair and dreamy hazel eyes. No. James Potter had the innate ability to make her laugh. He would just cock one of his eyebrows while a professor was speaking and she would burst into giggles. Her new playfulness had surprised many of her classmates. Smart, kind, and considerate were adjectives usually used to describe Lily. Deliriously happy usually never was. The same could be sad with James. Cocky, rakish, and sometime juvenile, James was never said to be selfless. But ever since he started dating Lily, he stopped being as taunting to his classmates, and he almost treated Serverus Snape like a human being. Almost.

Lily fiddled through a few more pages when she noticed a scrap of paper wedged into the spine. "What in earth" she mumbled as she pulled the scrap out. It was folded exactly in half, and a piece of red wax sealed it shut. She slid her finger under the seal and opened the letter.

Inside in his typical chicken scratch was a message from James.

"Darling Lily,

I just knew you would be unable to resist opening even the oldest one of you text books this summer, so I thought you would enjoy a message to get your button nose out of a book. You are the best thing that has happened to me, and I can't wait to see you as soon as I can. If I planned things correctly, it will be before the next term. Oh, you are coming back into the room, looking quite gorgeous I might add…

Until I can say it to you in person, I love you truly,

James"

As soon as Lily finished reading the note, it jumped out of her hand and formed a pair of human lips. It flew up to her mouth and gave her an over zealous kiss before folding itself back up. She just smiled as she lay down onto her bed. Although it was covered with papers, she just closed her eyes and drifted into a nice daydream.

Lily didn't know how long it was when her eyes opened again, but she could have sworn she heard screaming. She almost fell out of her bed as she rushed to the door. She burst into the hallway and down the short flight of stairs into her family's parlor. Her older sister, Petunia, was screaming at the top of her lungs. Lily gasped.

"James?"

Standing in the middle of her fireplace in her very Muggle home was the one, the only, James Potter. His face was covered in ashes, but it only made is white smile shine brighter. "Hello Lily"

Petunia let out another shrill as she yelled, "Lily, you know this… this…"

"Handsome wizard?" James supplied to the stuttering Petunia.

"Intruder!" Petunia's shoulders arched back on her thin frame. "What is he doing here? What if Vernon saw? How could you honestly be so selfish, Lily? Mum and Dad would disapprove if they were home instead of on holiday!" She kept on rambling.

James stepped out of the fireplace and shook some of the ash onto her mother's very clean floor. Lily would have to take of that later. But she couldn't resist grabbing his hand as soon he stepped close enough to her. She sent her sister a small grin. "I guess Vernon won't be able to spend the evening here." The thought made Lily smile bigger. She hated Vernon. "I would like you to meet my boyfriend, James Potter. James, this is my darling older sister, Petunia."

Petunia sent her a scowl. "Just wait until mother finds out! A wi.. a freak in my house! I won't be apart of this." She took her typical graceful strides and grabbed her handbag as she slammed the front door shut.

They just stood there for a second in the middle of the ash covered parlor. Almost at the same time did both of them turn to each other and grasped each other in a firm embrace.

"I missed you so much James! How are you here?"

"I convinced my dad to work out a special birthday present. Your house is linked up to the floo network for the day. I have to leave by this time tomorrow, or I will have to figure out how to use Muggle transportation."

Lily stared down at his cloaked attire and laughed. "Wouldn't that be something to see!" She reached up for his glasses and took them off. "You got them smudged again."

Before she could wiggle herself away, he held her tighter. "Well, it makes doing this so much easier." He bent down and kissed her lightly on her red lips.

"Oh," she said softly. Her grip loosened around his glasses as they clattered to the floor. She leaned in to his embrace and felt her skin just to heat up.

After a while she pulled back. He sent her a questioning look.

"I love you too." She said slowly.

His eyes lit up. "You got my note."

"Yes, silly boy. You knew I would find it."

"But I didn't know how you would respond…"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. "I love you, James. Now you are stuck with me." She kissed him, feeling for the first time all summer completely at home.

Fall 1977

Lily rolled over in her sleep curling tightly into a ball. She tugged her quilt closer to her covering her whole body. She could fight the memories as much as she wanted during the day, but at night the most precious scenes of their relationship. Her stomach felt ill. She unwillingly opened the rest of her mind to the rest of the details of that trip.

After embracing in the hallway for who knew how long, she coaxed him into the kitchen and sat him down in one of the stools as she brewed him some hot chocolate. He told her some of the goings on that were happening at home, how Sirius Black and Mrs. Potter were becoming more like mother and son as the days passed. She had no problem making sure he towed the line she had set up her son, but made him feel the love a parent for the first time.

She cried as she told him the story of her coming home for the summer. How it hurt to feel like she was slowly being pushed out her home. He put his arm around her waist as he pulled her closer. They had kissed again, and even in her dream Lily could taste the bittersweet chocolate on his lips.

Eventually they made their way up to her room and cuddled together on her bed, talking about how they wanted their lives to turn out in the future. Lily desperately wanted to do something with her charms and potion skills while James wanted to pursue his transfiguration gifts. Both wanted to live and then settle down and have a good family. Lily wanted her future children never to feel unwanted in the place they called home. She wanted them to always feel loved.

Thinking back on the conversation, it was almost foolish for two 16 years-olds to have. It was much too serious. They had only just announced their love for each other. But it felt so right that night to be in his arms.

Lily curled tighter into her ball of comfort. She couldn't do anything else but just lie in her bed and let the memories wash over her in sleep. Because that is all she had left.