Summer of Love

Lily Evans and her best friend Athena Asimokopoulos head for a vacation in Athena's homeland—Greece. Lily expects a great summer, filled with lazy days on the beach, checking out hot Greek men and eating bizarre Greek food. However, the best part of the entire trip would be NO JAMES POTTER!

James Potter, however, is stunned when he is told he has to go to Greece for his cousins' engagement party. He doesn't want to go at all, but with some persuasion from his mother and Sirius Black, they're off.

Lily is outraged when she sees her worst enemy, James Potter in Greece! She thought she could get rid of him! James, meanwhile, is thanking himself repeatedly for deciding to come to Greece after all.

James is desperate to make Lily fall in love with him before the summer is over, but the question is—can he?

Chapter One—Glorious Greece!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, do you think I'd be writing this? (Didn't think so). I only own Athena Asimokopoulos and other characters you may not recognize.

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"I can't believe it!" Lily said excitedly to her best friend Athena Asimokopoulos, "We're finally going to the city of love!"

Athena grinned and waggled a finger in Lily's direction. "No, Lily—Rome is the city of love—Greece happens to have hot men."

Lily punched her fist in the air. "Yes! Maybe now I can find a boyfriend!"

"I have few cousins. . ." Athena started to say but Lily cut her off. "No way, Athena! I don't feel like being hooked up with one of your cousins!"

Athena shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Lily and Athena were heading to the greatest vacation spot in the world—Greece! (A/N: My opinion. I love Greece)

Athena had invited Lily to come stay the entire summer with her in Kalamata, Greece and Lily happily agreed. She had nothing to do over the summer anyway—her sister Petunia had just been engaged and she really did not feel like listening to Petunia bragging about 'darling, irresistible Vernon.'

Another reason why she left was so JAMES POTTER (yes, he deserved capital letters) couldn't bother her. Every summer since Lily was fourteen he had sent her owls with notes every week.

But this summer, her sixteenth summer, everything was going to be different.

Because this time, Potter couldn't badger her.

They had reached Gate A60 where they would be taken to Athens Greece. Then, a relative of Athena would take the girls over to Athena's grandparents' home.

"Ahhh—relaxation," Athena sighed, as she sat in the hard black seat. "That's what I'm looking for in Kalamata—relaxation and a tan."

Lily snorted. "Thena, you don't need a tan—you're just trying to get me mad because I'm always pale."

Athena winked. "That's the key."

To tell the truth, Lily had always envied Athena's bronze skin—it looked like she had a tan all year round, while Lily was as pale as snow.

As Lily sat down in her seat next to Athena, she withdrew a book that said, 'Learning Greek is Easy!'

Opening it, she buried her nose in the book and started studying the minor words she needed to know.

"Okay, okay, okay," Lily read the entry one last time before turning towards Athena. "Yes is neh and no is ohhee. Right?"

"Right." Athena said with closed eyes.

Lily was satisfied. "Well, those are all the words I need to know," she snapped the book shut.

"Why?" Athena asked.

"Because," Lily smirked. "I'll have you."

"Flight A60 to Athens Greece is now boarding." Came the voice over the intercom.

Lily jumped up. "That's us!" She said happily. "C'mon, Athena! Let's go!"

"Okay—fine," Athena grumbled good-naturedly as she hoisted her backpack over her shoulder.

Lily was so excited she started skipping—something she hadn't done since she was a little girl.

"Greece—here we come!" Lily cried, getting stares from people who thought she was crazy.

As soon as they got their tickets checked, they were allowed to board a plane.

"Look for seats C23 and 24, Thena!" Lily called, holding her large bag like purse to her chest so she wouldn't hit someone with it.

"C21, C22, here we are! C23 and 24!" Athena cried plopping down in the three seat row. "I get window seat!"
Lily made a face. "I hate you."

Athena grinned. "Everybody does."

The plane took off fifteen minutes later and the four hour trip to Greece was smooth sailing.

Near the end of the flight, as Lily was dozing off, she was woken up by Athena.

"What?" she said sleepily.

Athena jerked a thumb towards the window. "You always wanted to see Greece from an aerial view right? Well, here it is—look down at my beloved Ellava(Greece)."

Lily leaned over Athena and looked out the window.

"Wow!" She gapsed.

Even though they were flying, Lily still thought Greece was beautiful. The islands were spread everywhere and they were green, while the waters were a dark blue.

"It's beautiful!" Lily said in awe.

"I know," Athena said, pleased that Lily was so happy, "and I was born and raised here too—so you don't know how happy I am to be here again too."

Lily peeled herself away from the window and leaned back in her seat as the captain came on and announced that they would be landing in five minutes."

"Get ready to see Greece soon, Lils." Athena said brightly. "We're here!"

Five minutes later, the plane landed at the Athens Airport and the two girls waited until it was their turn to get off the plane.

As soon as it was their turn to leave the airplane, Athena searched around the busy airport for her relatives.

"They should be here somewhere." Athena said to Lily, as she scanned the airport.

"Is that them?" Lily asked, pointing to an older couple with a sign that said, 'ATHENA and LILY.

Athena looked until she saw who Lily was pointing to and her face broke out into a huge smile.

"PAPOU! YAYA!" Athena shouted and made her way over to the elderly couple.

As Lily followed Athena, she reasoned that 'Papou' and 'Yaya' had to be greek for grandpa and grandma.

The elderly couple's faces had brightened when they saw Athena and when Lily reached the trio, they were babbling in greek.

When Athena saw Lily, she said slowly, "This—Lily."

Mr. and Mrs. Asimokopoulos smiled at Lily warmly and Mrs. Asimokopoulos started talking in Greek to Lily.

"She's saying," Athena translated, "that she's happy that you arrived in Greece—and wondered where you got that remarkable hair from."

Lily grinned. Her blood red hair and emerald eyes had always stopped people and people always asked where she got it.

Mr. Asimokopoulos talked to Athena one last time and she said, "My grandfather wants us to go get our luggage," Athena translated. "We have half an hour's drive, and theirs a feast being made for us back at their place."

Lily smiled. "I always wanted to try some authentic Greek food—and now I get too."

"You'll be getting a lot of it, Lils. A lot of it."

After picking up their baggage, Lily, Athena and the grandparents left the airport and when they stepped outside, a gust of hot hair greeted Lily.

"Wow! It's hot out here!" Lily gasped, pulling down her sunglasses and taking a hair tie from her wrist and putting her hair into a sloppy ponytail.

"It'll take some getting used too," Athena replied. "It's not so bad either—it's only ninety two degrees."

"Only?" Lily gasped. "In England it never gets this hot—or sunny!"

"Now you know where I get my gorgeous skin color from now, don't you?" Athena teased.

Lily ignored her but only looked about at the beautiful area of Greece.

She knew that this summer was going to be a summer she wouldn't ever forget.

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It's me, Greekchic and I hope you really enjoyed this first chapter!

I'll be italising words that are Greek and familiar to ME, because I am Greek. So if you see italicized words that don't look familiar to you, it's gonna be Greek, and don't worry, I'll give you the translation.

Next chapter we meet James! Woot!

Until next time!

P.S. HAPPY NEW YEARS!