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 3--Welcome to Greece Party!
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, do you think I'd be writing this? (Didn't think so). I only own Athena Asimokopoulos, her grandparents, Eileen, Stella and other characters you may not recognize.
No flaming please! I really do think that flaming just makes the author of the story feel miserable and that they stink at writing—so no flaming please!
P.S. This story is dedicated to The Big Dance—for being my 1st and most awesum reviewer! Thanxs SO much TBD!
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Kalamata was one word.
Amazing.
Lily pressed herself against the window and looked at awe at the white buildings, which contrasted against the very blue sky. Lily felt as if she was looking at one of the paintings she always saw at Athena's house. (A/N: If you've seen Sisterhood, think of when you saw all those houses that were white by the sea.)
"All the houses are white," Lily said, more to herself than a question, but Athena answered it.
"All the houses are white because it's always so hot here and white repels the sun making the houses cooler. Think about it, you don't wear black on a hot summer day right? You'd boil. Same thing in Greece."
Mrs. Asimokopoulos said something in Greek to Athena and she translated, "She says that all the houses are so white because they were white washed." Athena explained.
Lily still stared at awe at the beautiful buildings. "I'm coming here for my honeymoon," she declared.
"With who?" Athena asked with a sly smile. "James Potter?"
Lily turned around and made a face. "I'd kill myself if I ever married him. I hate him."
"You just keep telling yourself that." Athena rolled her eyes.
Soon, Mr. Asimokopoulos pulled into a white house.
"Ekso." Mr. Asimokopoulos said, motioning for them to get out of the car.
"He said out." Athena translated.
"I noticed as he was brandishing." Lily said.
Mrs. Asimokopoulos went to the trunk, opened it and took out the many suitcases.
She handed the smallest one to Lily, who tried to say 'thank you' but remembered that Athena's grandmother didn't speak Greek.
"Uh—efcharisto." Lily said awkwardly.
Mrs. Asimokopoulos smiled and said, "Parakalo." (A/N: Your welcome.)
"Not bad." Athena said admiringly as they heaved their suitcases up the steps. "A little rusty—but you're getting there."
"Thanks." Lily said gratefully as the reached the end of the steps and tried to open the door. "It's locked."
"Seegnomi," Mr. Asimokopoulos said, as he made his way through the two girls and unlocked the door. "Ehla mehsa."
(A/N: Seegnomi—Excuse me, Ehla mehsa—come in.)
Lily stepped inside the house and she felt as if she had stepped right back into England on a cool fall day.
"It's nice and cool in here." She said to Athena.
"I told you that people in Greece need to have their houses painted white."
Mrs. Asimokopoulos motioned for the two girls to follow her, as she took them down a hallway. "Athena," she said, pointing to the bedroom on the left hand side.
"This is my room." Athena grinned.
"Lily," Athena's grandmother pointed to the room across the hall from Athena's.
"Oh, thank you."
Mrs. Asimokopoulos smiled and left leaving Lily to look at her room.
It was pristine white with peach colored sheets and a comforter.
Lily dropped her suitcase and noticed a window with dark shutters over them.
"Thena?" Lily called. "What's this?"
Athena, coming into Lily's room, groaned and said, "Lucky! Grandma gave you the caldera room!"
"The whatty?"
"A caldera," Athena said again, but more impatiently. "You know—a caldera."
All Athena got was a blank stare.
"What idiots," she muttered. "Fine—um, in English you would call it a cauldron."
"A cauldron?" Lily asked in amusement. "Isn't that something we use for Slughorn's class?"
"No!" Athena cried in exasperation. "God—and I thought you were supposed to be smart! Here—lemme show you."
Throwing open the shutters, she showed Lily the view.
"Oh!" Lily cried in amazement. "How beautiful!"
The Caldera was beautiful—the water just was turquoise blue and sparkled when the water hit it. There was also a little island right in the middle.
"Now you see?" Athena rolled her eyes. "You don't know how lucky you are to have the Caldera. I love this room and I never got to have it! It always went to Alexandra—because she was the oldest."
Athena had three sisters—Alexandra, Christina and Chyrsoula (Pronunciation: Hree-sou-la).
"It looks like it just came out of a beautiful oil painting." Lily gazed at the Caldera again.
Athena sighed loudly, but was pleased that Lily liked the most beautiful view in all of Kalamata.
"Well, I'm gonna unpack and go into the kitchen. Figuring my grandmother, she invited all of our family that still lives in Greece and their closest friends for a celebration of our arrival."
Athena shut the window and turned to leave, but just as she reached the door, she turned around and said, "They'll love your read hair, Lils. That'll be the conversation of the night."
--
"Lily!" Shouted Athena. "Hurry up! The guests will be arriving soon!"
"Okay, fine!" Lily shouted back as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Straight blood red hair that tumbled to the middle of her back, pale white skin and almond shaped emerald green eyes.
"I look like crap." Lily muttered, as she opened her cosmetics case and applied light mascara and eyeliner to her eyes and some shiny lip gloss across her already pink lips.
Looking at her outfit—a blue jeans that frayed slightly at the edges (A/N: the kind you get when your pants drag against the ground for too long) and a tank top green shirt that brought out her eyes even more.
Wearing her flip-flops, she walked out of the bathroom and down the hall to where Athena was.
"About time," Athena grumbled playfully. "I was thinking that you wouldn't ever get down primping."
"I don't primp." Lily declared.
Athena laughed. "Sure, Lils. Than how come you take so long to get out of the bathroom at school?"
Lily said nothing.
"I thought so," Athena smirked and than ruffled her curly dark brown hair. "Ugh—I hate these curls!"
Lily silently rolled her eyes at Athena. Her best friend had beautiful long dark brown hair that had natural loose curls everywhere. Athena hated her hair.
"Stop being so vain," Lily punched Athena lightly in the shoulder.
"Hey!"
"Pehdia," Mrs. Asimokopoulos said. (Children.) "Ehla ehdo!" (Come here!)
Obeying instantly, the two girls walked over to her and she gave them two plates of odd-looking food.
"What are these?" Lily asked, pointing to food that looked similar to meatballs but smaller and they weren't in pasta.
"Keftedes." Athena said, carrying a platter that had spinach in it.
"What?" Lily asked.
"Meatballs."
"Oh—what are you carrying?"
"Spanakopita." Athena explained, putting down the platter on the table. "They're like a kind of pie with spinach and feta cheese in it." (A/N: They're really good too!)
Lily made a face. "Blech."
Athena rolled her eyes. "English—they'll never learn."
For the next five minutes, Lily was seeing new food that she had never seen before! They all gave out sweet and tasty smells—except for the horta. ( A/N:Horta is spinach but VERY different. Nasty stuff) It looked and tasted nasty.
"I see you tried the horta," Athena cracked up at Lily's reaction. "Ha ha! I don't like it—but it's a favorite at my grandparent's home."
"As long as I don't have to eat it." Lily coughed.
"You won't."
About ten minutes later, the guests started arriving.
Lily looked at the clock and saw that it was three ten. Weren't the guests supposed to come at three o'clock?
"Thena? Why are the guests late?"
"Greeks always come late," Athena said, brushing it off as it were nothing. (A/N: Very true too!)
As the guests started coming in, Athena was pointing out the people to Lily, "That's my third cousin and her family—the Bourkoulas', the Javarinis', the Gargas', er, those are people that my grandparents know."
"Athena!" Shouted someone and Athena and Lily turned to see a girl with short black hair and dark brown eyes come running to her.
"Maria! Ehla ehdo, moree!" Athena exclaimed, hugging the girl. (Athena said, 'Maria! Come here, you idiot!)
Maria let go of Athena, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkled with happiness.
"Lily, this is one of my cousins—who I haven't seen since I was ten—Maria Haralambis."
"Hi," Lily said, shaking Maria's hand.
"Maria, this is Lily—ena filehada mou." (One of my friends)
Maria's eyes went wide as she stared at Lily. Maria pointed to Lily's hair and eyes.
Athena laughed. "Maria is surprised to see someone with a colorful physical appearance."
Lily laughed. "So I can see—I get it a lot."
"Yeah, first time I met you." Athena muttered.
Maria paid no attention to Athena as she started talking very fast in Greek.
"Um—sorry—don't understand you!" Lily said awkwardly.
Maria had no idea what Lily was saying.
"Maria!" Athena snapped. "Endakshi!" (Enough!)
Maria stopped talking instantly and turned to Athena who said something to her. Maria looked embarrassed and said in halting English. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
Maria smiled once more at Lily, before leaving.
Athena watched Maria leave and said, "Maria talks too much—and too fast. I had to shut her up somehow."
"She seemed very fond of my hair."
"Everybody will be—watch."
Athena snatched Lily's arm and dragged her to meet everybody. Every person that Lily met—was amazed at her hair.
"I told you." Athena said, after sneaking away from Athena's second cousins.
"I need to dye my hair." Lily muttered. "That way—I won't stand out."
Athena laughed and collapsed on the sofa behind her. "I'm gonna sit for a while."
"Yeah, me too." Lily mimicked Athena and collapsed on the sofa—her eyes scanning the party.
Then, she noticed someone.
"Hello," she said softly. "Who's that?"
"Who?" Athena asked, looking around to see who Lily was talking about.
"Him." Lily pointed to a tall guy with dark brown hair and matching eyes.
"Him?" Athena asked in amazement.
"Yeah," Lily's eyes glazed over. "He's cute."
"Cute?" Athena exclaimed.
Lily turned to Athena, annoyed. "Hey! I called him first! You can't have him."
"I don't want him," Athena chuckled.
"Good." Lily was satisfied. Now, she could introduce herself to that hot guy without any interruptions.
"I wouldn't want to anyway—I know him."
"Really? How?" Lily looked at Athena hopefully. "Introduce me to him!"
"Easy there," Athena laughed.
"How do you know him? What's his name? How old is he? Is he available?" Lily pressed.
"One question at a time, Lils!"
Lily stared at Athena hopefully.
"Oh fine. His name is Niko Asimokopoulos—he's my cousin. He's seventeen and yes, he's available."
Lily's jaw dropped. "He's your cousin?"
Athena nodded. "First."
Lily stood up, patted her hair and smoothed her shirt. "Well, let's go see Mr. Asimolopoulos, shall we?"
"Okay." Athena jumped up, and the two best friends walked over to Niko.
"Hi, Niko!" Athena said.
"Athena!" He cried, hugging her. Lily noticed that he had to be a foot taller than her—Lily was only five four.
"And who's this?" He asked in perfect English, surprising Lily.
Athena grinned. "Her name is Lily Evans—she's my best friend."
Niko looked at Lily and gave her a beautiful smile. "Pleased to meet you Lily."
Lily then noticed how fun this party was.
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Oooh—Lily has a crush! Ha ha.
This time—I used a LOT of Greek words—and I tried really hard to put them into English—so please don't get confused how to pronounce them! Just read the words inside the parentheses. It'll be a lot easier.
Next chapter—we got James and Sirius again! I won't keep jumping back and forth between the 2 characters—it'll just be this way for another 1 or 2 chapters. Promise.
See ya around (I'll try and get another chapter in by tonight or tomorrow)
Greekchic