If You Give a Boy a Lily
Chapter Two: The Summer Holidays: Part One
"Hello. My name is Lily. What can I get for you?" I said, trying to be cheerful. Today was exceptionally dismal. It was cloudy and it seemed as though it would rain any minute. My only consolation, or so it felt, was that I was not at home being bothered by my older sister, Petunia. It was now the middle of the summer holidays and it helped me to think that it could only get better from here. Only a month more until I go back to Hogwarts, my second home.
"Um, yes. I'll take a Witch's Espresso to go, please. Do you think you could add a touch of butterbeer in there as well?" the witch in front of me asked.
"Of course. That will be two Sickles and three Knuts. Your coffee should be ready in a few minutes," I replied. I relayed her order to Lucas Bonfrey, my co-worker of about nineteen who made the coffee. My boss, Mr. Nigel Thorsby, has this thing about authenticity. He has a policy that all coffee made in his shop must be made the Muggle way because anyone can just say an incantation and have coffee pour out of their wand. He loves Muggles and everything to do with them.
It's not that working at the coffeehouse isn't fun; it's just that Mr. Thorsby is also something of a pervert. He likes to make comments about what he's done with his latest girlfriend over the weekend and mentions it over and over and over again until the next weekend comes and he can talk about their latest sexual adventure. It's absolutely disgusting. I have a feeling that Johnny would have a good laugh out of it, though.
Just as Mr. Thorsby came through the door that leads to the back room where he sits and smokes his cigarettes, drinks his butterbeer, and tinkers with his rubber ducks and flashlights, rain began to pour from the sky as if right on cue.
"Miss Evans!" he boomed. "How's business going?"
"It's fine, Mr. Thorsby."
"Have I told you about my weekend yet, Miss Evans?"
"Yes, Mr. Thorsby."
"No? Well, then I must! My girlfriend, Patty, and I… Oh, you remember Patty, don't you?"
"Yes, Mr. Thorsby."
"Yes, well we went to a club this weekend. It was a Muggle club. I've never been to a Muggle club before. It was amazing…really intriguing. They had disco lights set up everywhere and all of the people were scantily clad…it was just so…sexy. Patty started dancing with another man and afterwards she told me all about it and--"
"That's nice Mr. Thorsby. We have some customers, so perhaps I can finish listening to you a bit later."
"Oh, good show, Evans. Right-o. I'll just be in the back for a bit."
The woman for whom Lucas was making coffee looked positively horrified at Mr. Thorsby's monologue. He really doesn't seem to know when the right time for conversations like that are, which I would think is never. Lucas, who was chuckling, handed the poor woman her coffee and she ducked out into the rain, conjuring an umbrella in order to exit the shop as quickly as possible.
The shop was nearly empty after that, so Lucas and I burst out into peals of laughter. We hushed up quickly so Mr. Thorsby wouldn't hear and come out to see what we were laughing at and then begin telling his disastrous story all over again.
"Oh, thank God it's Friday," I said to Lucas.
"I agree. I don't think I can take much more of the disco dancing story. So… Lily…do you have any plans for this weekend?" he asked.
"Yeah, my friends Johnny and Maddie are supposed to come over and spend the weekend. Hopefully Petunia will spontaneously combust so we won't have to deal with her."
I had been working with Lucas for quite some time now, so we were quickly becoming friends and he knew all about Petunia, my parents, and my friends. Lucas has just graduated Hogwarts the past year, but I had never known he was there. He used to be in Hufflepuff, but he was unlike most of the Hufflepuffs I had ever known. Though I don't know many personally, I have had exposure to them, courtesy of Sirius Black. He's dated his fair share of Hufflepuffs, supposedly because they were so easy, and every single one of them had been blonde, leggy, and highly disappointed when he dumped them for someone else.
Though Lucas is blonde, he is not unintelligent like the girls that Sirius had dated. He seemed to be very smart and talented. He has smoky blue eyes and a light sprinkling of freckles across his face. He's a bit on the short side, which is not exactly the best for me since I clock in at five feet seven inches. I would say that Lucas is on the cuter side of normal, but not extremely good-looking. All in all, he just isn't my type and I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now. That's what made it easier for me to turn him down the first time he asked me out. That had been about two weeks into the summer, but now he was just getting more and more persistent with his requests, not unlike how James Potter was a year ago.
I began to see the signs of when Lucas was going to ask me out. He'd get slightly shyer and ask me what I was doing some day or other. I figured out that a simple "No, I'm just not interested" wasn't going to work with him. I saw that I had to lie.
Of course Johnny and Madison aren't really coming over this weekend. Johnny is in Aruba with his family and Maddie is grounded for sneaking out to a Wizarding club with Lenny.
I'm going to have to spend my entire weekend alone with Petunia. Perfect.
"I'm going to take my break. Think you can handle the rush without me?" I asked Lucas.
He looked around the nearly empty shop and said, "Yeah, I think I'll be able to manage." Lucas offered to conjure me an umbrella, but I enjoy the rain, so I refused.
I took my apron off and put it on the coat rack then headed out the door for Flourish and Blott's. I knew Remus would be on duty since it wasn't yet lunchtime and he didn't usually take his breaks until after he ate.
As I entered the shop, hair dripping, the sound of silence filled my ears. It was a marvelous transformation from what I had been through all morning. I looked toward the counter and spotted Remus reading a book entitled, When Good Wizards Go Bad. "Interesting read?" I asked.
"Oh yes. I'm on the part about Grindelwald and Dumbledore right now, actually. Lily, you're soaked."
"Yeah, I know. It's no big deal. I remember learning about that in History of Magic. Has anything new come in since yesterday?" I asked him.
"Not unless you count trashy romance novels by Lucinda Warhol," he replied.
To be perfectly honest, I love Lucinda Warhol. The only people who know I read her books are Johnny and Maddie, though. Madison never lets it rest and constantly makes fun of me, but Johnny reads them along with me. He's right there with me when I get to a particularly juicy part and when we're done reading it, he sits there and moans with me about how there aren't any wonderfully heroic men like that in the real world.
"Well, if that's all then I suppose I'll just have to come back tomorrow. What time is it?" I asked Remus.
"Eleven forty-three. Are you sure you're not cold, because I can get you a towel or something." Remus, like me, was still sixteen and wouldn't be turning seventeen until the next month, only days before me.
"Trust me, I'm fine. Want me to wait here for you so we can go eat lunch together?"
"Um, actually, I think I may be eating lunch with"
Just then, Sirius, James, and Peter came through the door and disturbed the wonderful silence. All three of them were dry, most likely because Sirius probably put a water-repelling spell on them. They sauntered up to the counter where Remus and I were talking and Sirius threw his arms around me and shouted, "Lilykins! Oh, God. You're dripping."
"Sirius, there are people in here trying to read. Keep it down!" Remus hissed.
"Oh. Sorry," he said. "Lilykins!" he whisper-shouted. And then he proceeded to take out his wand and dry me.
"Thanks and hello to you too, Sirius," I said. "Hi James, Peter."
"Hey, Lily," James said. It's not the first time he's called me by my first name, but it was the first time I didn't reprimand him for doing so. I figured it was a nice day and that yelling at him for calling me Lily, which was in a fact a perfectly fine thing for him to do, would be mean and imply that I hated him and I simply did not want to have the "why do you hate me" conversation over again. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm buying an octopus," I said, keeping a perfectly straight face. Sirius cracked up. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm talking to Remus."
"We're going for lunch with him," Peter said.
"Yeah, I was just telling her that," Remus clarified. He then looked at me. "Do you think you want to come? We'll probably go to Fortescue's afterward."
I didn't want to be mean and there was always the possibility that if I didn't accept I'd have to eat with Lucas, which at that point seemed worse than eating with James. "Sure. Why not?"
James looked what I can only describe as euphoric. The five of us stayed there talking about nothing for fifteen minutes and then Remus took his lunch break and we all left the shop.
We stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for some fish and chips and then made our way to Florean's for ice cream. We sat in a booth and I was squished between Sirius and Peter whilst facing James and Remus. The waitress came and took our orders. I ordered butter cream, James ordered butter pecan, Sirius ordered orange sherbet, Remus ordered mint chocolate chip, and Peter ordered strawberry shortcake and chunky monkey. I really don't understand how he can eat so much. He had a gigantic lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and now two bowls of ice cream? How does he do it?
"Pete is like a human garbage disposal," Sirius said, as if he was reading my mind.
Peter is the shortest of the Marauders. He isn't exactly bad looking, but he isn't all that attractive either. He has sandy blonde hair and is only three inches taller than me, so he doesn't exactly fill my height requirement. His skin is kind of pasty and he has a bit of fat on him that was semi-well distributed because of his height. If he were any shorter, I would think that Peter would be a bit chunky. Peter doesn't play sports. He doesn't do anything, really. He's quite good at Divination and Herbology, but isn't that great at any of the other subjects. I always see his friends helping him with his homework in the common room at Hogwarts. His eyes are what I can only describe as watery gray that varies to muddy brown. He looks like he might be the type that could spontaneously start crying.
"So how are your summers going?" I asked the three boys that I hadn't seen every day so far that summer.
I got mutters of "fine" and "okay" when Sirius jumped in and just began talking. "Oh! Mine is great. Ditching my family to live with the Potters is the best decision I ever made!"
"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that at the beginning of last year," I said.
"His parents love me."
"Yeah, I think they love you a little more than they love me, mate. It's kind of sad," James said while Peter just sat there nodding and stuffing strawberry shortcake ice cream into his mouth.
I looked at James. "Care to explain?"
"My mum makes him pancakes every freaking morning. She stopped making me pancakes years ago. And she won't even let the house elves do it. SHE has to do it. Sparky just gives me a plate of toast and a jar or jam and scrambles off. So I'm sitting there putting jam on my toast while Padfoot is pouring marmalade all over his gigantic stack of pancakes." He turned to Sirius. "She really is in love with you, mate. She calls you her 'second son' and everything. It's crazy."
"Kat always has had something of a soft spot for me, yeah?" Sirius mused. "I'm surprised she hasn't forgotten all about you by now."
"Yeah…" James said as he slid down in his seat.
Peter then progressed to tell us about how he was being made to take piano lessons ten hours a week. "That must be hell," I said.
"Oh, trust me. It is."
Not soon after, we left and all departed ways. I headed back to the coffee shop, Remus went back to Flourish and Blott's, and I'm assuming that James, Sirius, and Peter went back home because I didn't see them for the rest of the day.
When I got back, Lucas and Mr. Thorsby were still out to lunch. I love sitting in the coffee shop by myself. It has a wonderfully cozy atmosphere. There are armchairs all over the place and charming lamps and trinkets. It's just like a Muggle one where all of the people who like to write poetry would go. I decided to sit in one of the chairs and read a book I had nabbed from a bookstore by my house in Surrey. It was a trashy romance novel called Love and War. A brunette woman was standing on a boat in the middle of a wave-ravished ocean in the arms of a beautiful man. I looked at the clock and saw that there was still about twenty minutes until the shop would open up again, so I began reading.
"Lorna!" Sebastian called, his tawny locks swaying in the wind. "Come back! You could die in the harsh streets of England!"
"Never!" Lorna called. She whipped her head to look at Sebastian one last time before she took off running down the dock. The only thought in her head was that she had to get away from the awful sailors. "Even if that means leaving my beloved Sebastian," she said aloud.
Lorna ran until she was out of breath in a back alley. She caught her breath and went inside a pub where she ordered mint tea. Just as she began to take her first sip, a highly attractive man of about twenty-two came up and sat behind her. "Is this seat taken, miss?"
"It is now."
"Oh, what a clever one you are," the man mused. "My name is Xavier."
"Charmed. I'm Lorna."
"Well, Miss Lorna, would you mind accompanying me to the shop across the street?" Lorna had her doubts about the man, but he was roguishly handsome and charming, so she agreed to go with him.
As soon as they left the shop, however, Xavier grabbed Lorna around the waist and dragged her into the same alleyway she'd be in before. He proceeded to rip her clothes from her body and was working on her bodice when someone came up behind him and punched him in the face, putting him in a daze.
The two men began a tussle that lasted for several minutes until Xavier was knocked out. The man then came towards Lorna. "Lorna! I'm so glad I found you in time!" he said.
"Sebastian?"
"Yes, it's me. When you left I was about to follow you when one of my shipmates told me there was a plan for you to be kidnapped. I then raced through the streets to find you as quick as I could."
"You did?"
"Yes, Lorna. I love you so much, I would die if anything happened to you."
"Really? Sebastian!" Lorna cried, kissing him all over. The two soon engaged in a passionate embrace.
"Lily, are you really reading this rubbish?" a voice over my shoulder said. I immediately jumped from the shock. I turned around.
"Lucas, how long have you been reading over my shoulder?"
"Long enough to know that it's utter trash."
"It is not! Romance novels are perfectly respectable. If you read them, you would know."
"I'm sure. Come on, we need to get back to work and open the shop for the rush."
Lucas and I unlocked the front door and set up everything that was needed for that afternoon. The day went by quickly from there, Lucas teasing me occasionally about my choice of literature and Mr. Thorsby coming out to recap his weekend and tell us his plans for the weekend coming up.
Finally it was six o' clock and time for me to head home. I headed over to Flourish and Blott's so that Remus and I could walk to the Leaky Cauldron together. I had to go through The Leaky Cauldron and take a cab back home whereas he could just floo.
"Hey Remus. Did much happen after lunch?" I asked.
"Nothing interesting, if that's what you mean. Speaking of interesting, how's your weekend looking?"
"Dismal. Maddie and Johnny are still unavailable so I'm going to be spending a whole lot of time with Petunia and her new idiot boyfriend Vernon."
"That's unfortunate. You can always come to my house if things get too bad, Lils."
"Thanks, Remus. I just might take you up on that offer."
By then, we had reached the Leaky Cauldron and Remus and I parted ways once more. The bartender, Tom, helped me hail down a cab and I made my way home.
As soon as I got there my mother came up and hugged me. "Mum, you're squishing my lungs," I said, using as much breath as I could muster.
"I know," she said as she squeezed me tighter. She finally let go after about five minutes. "Petunia should be home soon."
I went upstairs to and change from my work clothes and found an owl waiting for me on my desk. The owl was brown with gold flecks in her wings. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of hazel. "How long have you been here, little buddy? Let me get you something to drink." The owl hooted as if that were a good idea so I went to the bathroom and filled a paper cup with water.
When I brought it back, the owl chortled with pleasure and began to drink heartily from the cup. When she was done, I asked, "Do you have something for me?"
She hooted again and stuck out her leg. I gingerly untied the package from it and found it to be a letter from Hogwarts along with another letter from Maddie.
I opened Maddie's first.
Lily,
Well, here I am, stuck inside my house being bored out of my mind while you're probably having fun at your coffee shop job. This is just not fair at all. And I miss you, Johnny, and Lenny. I have a feeling that Lenny may dump me soon, and that just makes me even more depressed. I used to get owls from him daily, but now I only get them twice a week and they're becoming more and more vague. I think he's disappointed that I'm grounded and I can't hang out (or more like MAKE OUT) with him.
This is just great. You get to go gallivanting off with Remus Lupin while my only company is my cat, Theodora, who hates me.
I can't even go outside and ride my broom. What kind of crap is this?
I got my Hogwarts letter today. Nothing special. I've been made a Prefect, though, so that means that someone from our house was either made un-Prefect or a head. Wonder who that could be?
Note that sarcasm, Lils. I'm sure you made Head Girl. You're smarter than anyone!
I'll be un-grounded in a week and a half. Expect daily letters to stave off my boredom.
Madison
The second letter was a bit heavier that normal, but I disregarded that and just opened it.
Miss Evans,
As you know, Hogwarts will be starting on September First. Your school supplies list is enclosed.
I have a very important piece of information for you, and this comes with great responsibility. You have been chosen by Professor Dumbledore, myself, and the other members on the teaching staff to be Head Girl.
Your marks are outstanding and you were clearly the best choice for the job. Congratulations and good luck.
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
As soon as I finished reading the letter, I freaked out. I reached inside the envelope for more, and my hand met with a hard, shiny, silver badge that clearly read Head Girl on it in gold letters.
I immediately ran downstairs to tell my parents.
"Oh, Lily! We're so happy for you!" my father cried.
"Yes, dear! This is just splendid. I think this calls for a special occasion. Let's go out for dinner!" my mother said.
"Yes, this calls for a reward. You have worked so hard, honey."
Just then, Petunia burst in through the front door. "Sorry I'm late!" she called out. "I was out with Vern" She cut off as soon as she saw me. "What's going on here? Why aren't you at that filthy little job of yours?"
"I work at a coffee shop, Petunia, and it's no different from that horrible department store that you work at."
"It's completely different. FREAKS don't shop at my department store." I had taken verbal abuse from Petunia many times before and I hardly ever let it faze me anymore.
"Now Petunia, honey! That's not nice. Apologize to your little sister," my father said.
"Fine. Sorry." Then, under her breath so that no one but me could hear, "Freak."
"You're just jealous that I got Head Girl," I told her. Her face went from an expression of annoyance to one of utter shock.
"YOU made Head Girl?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
"Girls, that's enough," Mum said. "Let's get ready to go out."
Petunia and I went upstairs to change into some nice clothes for dinner. When we came back down, Mum and Dad had already started the car and so we went outside.
When we go to the restaurant, the hostess seated us.
We got our food and began dinner with civilized conversation. Mum and Dad asked me how my work was going. They also congratulated me many times for my achievement of becoming the new Head Girl.
"Petunia, don't you think it's wonderful? You haven't said anything to congratulate Lily all night. I'm sure she wants to hear it," my mother said.
"I don't get what's so special about it. Who'd want to be Head Girl at a school for freaks anyway?"
That one was the one that got me. I felt my eyes tearing up and excused myself from the table. I ran outside and locked myself in the car and started crying and making excuses for Petunia's behavior.
"Oh, who am I kidding? She's a sour bitch and she'll be like that for the rest of her life. There's no use making excuses anymore," I said aloud. I began to suck it up, but then I heard a soft banging noise on the window. I looked up and Petunia was there, an evil sneer on her face.
"Let me in!" she said. I unlocked the back door of the car and she climbed in the back seat. "Mum's making me apologize, so here it is. I'm sorry that you're a freak and that you go to a school for freaks and that now you're pretty much the Head Freak."
"Petunia just shut your face. I don't need this right now. Let's just pretend we've made up and go back inside and eat like normal, non-feuding sisters, okay?"
"If we must."
So Petunia and I made to get out of the car and go back into the restaurant. We all finished our meals with no more verbal fights, and then we went outside and piled into the car.
We were halfway home, non-pleasantly talking about Petunia's new boyfriend, when I felt compelled to make a remark to get back at Petunia for her antics from earlier that night.
"Well, Pet, truthfully, I'm happy for you. I mean, you may never get another boyfriend again, so it's great that this Vernon character is so 'wonderful,' or whatever. Though I don't exactly know hoe wonderful he could be since he's obviously really thick for wanting to take you out."
"Lily! I can't believe you just said that. Be nicer to your sister!" Mum said.
"Shut up, you little freak! I could so get a boyfriend if I wanted to. I just happened to pick Vernon. Besides, it's not as though you have anyone to speak for you," Petunia countered.
"Like you would even know, Petunia. You know nothing about me or the boys I have or anything!" I said, which is not entirely untrue. I haven't had any boys as of late, but James Potter WAS slightly obsessed with me, and that has to count for something.
"At least Vernon is normal. I wouldn't want some freak boy after me anyway!"
My father turned around behind the wheel. "Girls, your mother told you to stop arguing. Now I suggest you listen to--"
His words were suddenly cut off by the sound of broken glass, crunching metal, and screams from my mother and Petunia.
My head hit against my father's headrest as I was flung forward. I must have blacked out because I woke up a few minutes later by Petunia, who was shaking me.
"Lily! Wake up NOW!" she screamed. I opened my eyes and could see tears running down her face.
"What? What happened?" I cried.
"Mum and Daddy are--" her words were cut off by loud, racking sobs. She pointed towards the front of the car and I looked, my head suddenly flooded by memories from just moments before.
I looked towards the front of the car and I saw my parents bodies, mangled beyond belief. My father's airbag had blown up and his arm was pinned to his side by the metal of his door. Shards of glass were jutting from his arms and skull. He was bleeding profusely.
My mother, on the other hand, was slumped forward. There was a giant crack in the windshield from where she had made impact. Her whole head was covered in blood and both of her legs were obviously broken.
"Are they…?" I asked Petunia.
"I think so. I shook Daddy, and he felt really heavy. Look at all of the blood, Lily! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?" she cried. "It's all your fault! You just had to argue and make him turn around to scold us! None of this would have happened if it weren't for you!"
I felt the impact of Petunia's words and put my face in my hands, only to come up with them covered in blood from my scalp. "Oh, my God."
Petunia climbed from the car and joined the ever-growing crowd around our car and the car that had hit us. Or maybe it was the car that we had hit. I couldn't be sure. As
I climbed out of the mangled car I heard sirens coming towards us.
As soon as I hit the pavement, I broke down. My eyes flooded with tears and my knees gave beneath me. I fell to the ground in a heap of sorrow.