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 9—The Beach
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!
This story is dedicated to THE BIG DANCE, for being my first reviewer. Thanks so much TBD!
Cookies. Cookies. Cookies.
That's what Sirius Black was thinking to himself at ten o'clock in the morning before being rudely interrupted by his Servant Boy (or James).
"WAKE UP SIRIUS!" James shouted into Sirius' ear so loud that Sirius shot up like a cannon and fell onto the floor.
"OUCH!" Sirius cried, rubbing his behind. "That's NOT cool, Servant Boy!"
James grinned. "Do you have another way I can wake up?"
"Well yes." Sirius stood up and brushed his boxer shorts as he glared at James. "You could have said, 'Sirius, some hot girl is right next to me' or I would prefer you to say, 'Your Handsomeness Sirius, there is a box of cookies waiting for you right in my hands."
James groaned. "You're still not letting that go, aren't you?"
"No way! I have five weeks as your master—this will be fun."
Sirius puffed out his chest and said, "Now, I'm hungry—get me some cookies! ASAP!"
James dutifully went to get the cookies as Sirius shed his boxers, found his swim trunks and sunglasses and waited by the door for his breakfast of—cookies.
About three seconds later, Sirius got impatient and screamed, "HEY, SERVANT BOY! I WANT MY COOKIES!"
"There coming, you dolt, their coming." James called.
Two seconds later, James came with a plate full of strange looking cookies and handed them to Sirius.
"Does the big prat won't anything else? A big glass of warm milk so Sirius can go to sleep and leave James alone?" James remarked sarcastically, but Sirius was too busy inspecting the cookies to notice James' comment.
"Wait a second—THESE AREN'T THE COOKIES I WANT!"
"You ate the other ones that Mum brought along! I only found these!"
"What are these?" Sirius held a golden colored cookie that was twisted into an eight, but with more spirals. (A/N: A Greek should know what I mean! Kourelakia! Delicious)
"They're cookies Sirius."
"They're not the cookies I want!" Sirius pushed the strange cookies away. "Get me the other ones."
James scowled. He didn't become Sirius' servant boy just to get him cookies and for him to refuse them. Besides, they have to go to the beach today and meet his darling Lily!
"Sirius," James' patience was wearing thin. "Try one of the stupid cookies!"
Sirius shook his head.
"NOW!" James roared.
Sirius glared, but tried a nibble of the cookie.
"Hey!" He cried. "These are GOOD!"
James rolled his eyes, went to his trunk and pulled out his swim trunks. "I can't wait to see Lily!" He said happily, racing towards the bathroom to change.
Sirius shrugged and continued to eat the foreign cookies.
A minute later, as James left the bathroom in his swim trunks, Aimee's voice said, "And where do you think you're going, James Tristan Potter?"
James winced. He hated it when his mother said his full name.
"Um—me and Sirius are heading to the beach today." He said.
Aimee nodded. "Okay then. Stella, Eileen and I are going out shopping today. So, if you come home early and we're not their—you'll know."
James saluted and trotted happily back to the bedroom where Sirius was cramming his mouth with cookies.
James, eyeing Sirius in disgust asked, "Do you have to shove those cookies like that in your mouth? You look like a dog!"
Sirius made an obscene hand gesture as he ate another cookie.
James glanced at his watch. Ten forty five. They only have fifteen minutes until they were at the beach with Lily.
"I'm NOT wearing a bikini!" Athena shouted at Lily. "Look at me! I'm hondros!" (Fat.)
Lily sighed angrily. "Athena! You are NOT fat!" By a stroke of luck, Lily guessed what Athena had said in Greek.
Athena pinched an inch of skin on her stomach. "Tell that to this."
Lily rolled her eyes. Athena was the most body conscious girl she had even known.
"Athena," Lily said in a deadly voice. "You either put it on, or go stark naked."
Usually, Athena would have given a smart aleck remark, but she was horrified. Sirius Black was going to the beach and if he EVER saw her naked, she'd DIE. He would NEVER let her live it down!
Snatching the skimpy red bikini, Athena stalked out to the bathroom.
Snickering, Lily quickly put on her forest green bikini that complimented her eyes, found her beach bag and started stuffing necessities in it. Suntan lotion and her towels, along with her sandals.
Walking to the bureau she found her sarong and put it on then went to find her sunglasses.
As she was searching for her sunglasses, Athena slowly walked back into the room looking gorgeous in the red bikini, which complimented her dark skin.
Seeing that Lily was busy, she quickly cleared her throat.
Whirling around, Lily saw her best friend and gasped.
"Why Athena Asimokopoulos! You look darling!"
Athena blushed. "Shut up, you skinny fool."
Lily grinned. "It's the truth!"
Athena raised her fist in warning but inside she was pleased.
"Are you ready?" Lily asked her friend.
Athena noted that Lily had a beach bag and asked, "Did you bring a towel? And sun tan lotion?"
"Yup." Lily said, checking her bag.
"Then, I'm ready." Athena slipped on some running shorts and her sandals.
Hitching up the beach bag, Lily walked out of the room with Athena behind her, snatching her sunglasses and an umbrella.
When they reached the kitchen, Athena told her grandmother (in Greek) that they were heading towards the beach.
As Athena's grandmother turned around to say something to her granddaughter her mouth dropped as she saw what Athena was wearing.
She starting yelling at Athena in Greek and Athena turned very red in the face. Finally Mrs. Asimokopoulos pointed to the bedroom and Athena stalked off their, only to return a minute later, putting on a shirt.
She glared at her grandmother. "Endakshi?" (Okay)
Mrs. Asimokopoulos nodded and waved her hand towards the door, meaning they could leave.
As they left the house Lily asked, "What was that all about?"
"Oh," Athena peeled off the shirt and stuffed it in Lily's bag, "my grandmother got mad cause I wasn't appropriately dressed. AKA, she didn't want to see my chest."
"She got mad at you for that?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
"It's not appropriate for a sixteen year old girl to be wearing a bikini according to the elders in Greece." Athena explained. "I need to be covered up."
Lily laughed, glad that Mrs. Asimokopoulos didn't notice her bikini.
A few seconds later, they were on the sidewalk, on their way to the beach.
Lily was surprised how hot it was. Their wasn't any humidity in the air—it was just plain old hot.
"Athena?"
"Yeah?"
"What's the temperature?" Lily asked, fanning herself.
"I dunno—one hundred degrees or something. It's quite nice. Perfect beach weather."
Lily tilted her head upward and saw that it was the perfect day to get a suntan. The sky was a forget-me-not blue with not a cloud in sight.
As Lily and Athena turned the corner, Lily was overcome by a salty smell and heard laughter.
Athena grinned. "Here's the beach, Lils!"
Lily was puzzled. "I don't see a bea—wow!"
She could have slapped herself for being so stupid. How could she have not seen the beach? It was right in front of her!
It was a beautiful beach too. It stretched for miles down and the sand was the perfect sandy color. The water was turquoise blue and with the sun hitting the water, it sparkled.
To the left of the ocean was a humongous mountain that was as green as could be. Lily saw winding roads and trees everywhere on that mountain.
"It's beautiful!" Lily gasped.
Athena smiled. "It's a wonderful place alright. I got to show you something later too—if you like the mountains."
Lily nodded, her eyes transfixed on the beach and mountain.
Rolling her eyes, Athena tugged on Lily's arm. "C'mon. Let's see if there's any space on the beach for you and me to stretch and sleep."
Shaking out of her trance, Lily followed Athena to the crowded beach.
Stepping over sleeping people, sandcastles and ducking under umbrellas, they finally found the perfect space.
"I christen this place," Athena dropped the umbrella into the sand. "Athena and Lily's towel area."
Lily laughed and dropped her bag onto the sand to take out her towel and laid it on the sand and collapsed on it, slipping her sunglasses onto her eyes.
"Wake me up in an hour." Lily muttered.
"Lily!" Athena laughed, setting her towel down too and wriggling out of her shorts, "you need to apply suntan oil first! Do you want to look like a tomato?"
Lily stuck out her tongue. "Gee—thanks a lot."
"You're welcome!"
Snatching the suntan lotion from the bag, Lily squeezed a generous amount and applied it to herself before giving it to Athena.
Lily, lying down on the towel looked at the ocean until she fell asleep.
It felt like five minutes later a voice exclaimed, "What do you know? Looks like a Lily Flower and her good friend, Athena A.!"
Lily's eyes sprang open. She knew one person who called her Lily Flower and she seriously hoped it wasn't that person.
"Ahh! Hot—hot—hot!"
James started cracking up as Sirius hopped on the hot sand. It was his fault he forgot his sandals.
"Ahh! VERY hot sand!" Sirius cried. "My feet burn!"
"Serves you right, Padfoot! You forgot your sandals and now you're paying!"
Sirius was so busy hopping up and down he did not realize he could just take James' sandals. (A/N: Typical Sirius)
"Stop playing games Padfoot! We need to find Lily and Athena!"
"Didn't—she—say—ouch!—that—they—have—a—ouch!—Greek flag—umbrella?"
James nodded, scanning for a Greek flag umbrella. "Yes—but I sorta don't see one."
Sirius could not handle the pain anymore and ran to the ocean.
"OUT OF THE WAY!" He shouted to frightened children who wondered why a lunatic was running towards them.
Sirius ran into the water and his feet instantly became cooler.
"Ahh—that's better."
James paid no attention to his friend and continued to spy for the Greek flag umbrella.
Finally, about three minutes later, he found the umbrella, farther down the beach.
"C'mon Padfoot!" James shouted. "I found the umbrella!"
"I'm NOT coming out of this water!" Sirius bellowed. "My feet will be all hot! Besides, what happened to 'Your Handsomeness Sirius?' Huh?"
James pointedly ignored Sirius' last comment and made his way towards the two girls.
As he neared them, he noticed that both of them seemed to be asleep. He paid no attention to Athena but to Lily on a purple towel.
He smiled at Lily while she was sleeping. God, she was beautiful.
Yet, he said in a loud voice, "Well, what do you know? A Lily Flower and her good friend Athena A.!"
He saw Lily's eyes open and smiled. Score! She was awake!
Lily did NOT want to look up to see if her suspicion was right. She would be scarred for life if she looked.
Unfortunately, Athena exclaimed, "James Potter! What a surprise! What are you doing here?" Lily was so absorbed in not looking at James; she failed to notice the wink that Athena gave him.
All Lily knew was that her life was over. How in the world did James find out that she was at this beach at this hour?
Her growing suspicion of him stalking her mounted.
"Evans!" James cried, sitting down next to Lily. "How's life, Evans?"
"Better if you weren't here, Potter." Lily said through gritted teeth.
James gave a cocky grin. "Touchy Evans, touchy."
Athena cleared her throat and gave a pointed look at James (which Lily failed to notice also) and James gave a guilty smile.
"Um, so, Lily—is this your first time to Greece?"
Lily laughed. What a pathetic conversation!
"No, Potter. This is my first time here—duh."
The smile was quickly wiped off James' face, which gave Lily some satisfaction.
An awkward silence fell between the two until Lily noticed that Sirius wasn't with him.
"Where's Black?"
James chuckled. "In the water. He forgot his sandals again and his feet were burning when we came. How stupid can he get?"
"Hopefully, he'll stay there and not annoy anybody." Athena said, giving James a 'he-better-not-bug-me-or-you-know-what-will-happen' look. James flashed Athena that famous Potter smile which assured her that nothing was going to happen.
Lily clenched and unclenched her hands—Potter was ruining her vacation! And her chance to get a tan!
No, he wasn't going to wreck the best summer of Lily's life. It was inexcusable.
"Potter—" Lily started to say but James cut her off.
"James." He said.
"What?" Lily asked in confusion.
"My name is James, Lily, James."
"I know that, Potter." Lily said coldly. God, how idiotic did he think she was?
"No, I mean. My name is James. So call me that."
Lily sniffed. "And why should I?"
"Cause," James smiled. "I'm willing to start over if you are."
Lily scoffed at him. "Whatever, Potter! I'm not going to agree—fall in love with you—be your latest flavor of the week—and then dump me so you can finally say you've dated all the girls at Hogwarts!"
"Ahem." Athena cleared her throat and glared at Lily.
"Okay—dated almost all the girls at Hogwarts." Lily quickly changed what she said. Athena would never date one of the Marauders. Not even Remus Lupin.
Lily stood up, brushed the sand off her long legs and said, "I'm going into the water—and so James can leave me alone."
Lily left Athena and James as James sighed miserably.
"What did I do wrong?" He asked.
Athena gave a small smile. "Nothing."
"Then how come she's not falling at my feet—declaring her undying love to me?"
Athena groaned. "You expected Lily to fall for you after three minutes?"
"It works with the rest of the girls."
"The rest of the girls have crap for brains," Athena dismissed that. "Anyway, Lily's not like the rest of the girls. She's smart, special and can see through a person instantly."
"Why won't she just start over?" James asked. "I offered."
"Maybe its cause you've had a history together—pranking, screaming, duels, fights," Athena was ticking them off her fingers, "the list goes on."
"I've noticed—but I really want her to like me."
Athena gave a deep sigh, staring at the ocean. "You really like her, huh?"
"More than anything."
"Then you better start working, buddy boy if you want Lily to like you!"
"I'm trying!" James insisted. "I asked her to call me James, I asked to start over, and I started a conversation."
Athena laughed. "Somehow I don't think that, 'is this your first time in Greece?' a start of a conversation."
"Hey! I didn't know what to say!"
"Well, start a conversation about a type of book she likes—sport—anything." Athena said. "Ask about how she's doing—things like that."
James nodded. His confidence renewed.
"You're right, Athena A.!"
Athena laughed. "Can you pronounce my last name?"
"Uhh—no?"
"British boys." Athena muttered then said, "It's Asimokopoulos."
"Asimoko—whatever! I'm gonna start a conversation with Lils!"
"Oh and another thing! DON'T call Lily by any pet names. She'll hate you for that."
"Okay!" James said happily and trotted over to Lily.
Athena shook her head, lowered her sunglasses over her eyes and lay down on her towel.
"He's screwed."
"Hey, Lily!" James called, Athena's words still ringing in his ears.
"LILY!"
Lily, who had been lying on her back in the water, lifted her head so that her annoyed emerald green eyes bore into James' hazel eyes.
"What Potter?"
"Look, Lily," James said, getting into the water, "I'm sorry for acting like I did earlier."
Lily raised an eyebrow at James. Did James Potter actually apologize to her? That was a first!
"Apology accepted Potter." Lily said curtly.
"And can we start fresh again? You know, as friends?"
Lily paused and stared hard at James. He wondered if she was actually reading his mind, seeing if he was telling the truth.
Finally, Lily said, "Oh—fine. If you insist."
James' heart leaped and he gave a huge grin at Lily. "Really?"
"Yes, Potter." Lily smirked.
James felt like doing a victory dance around the entire city of Kalamata, screaming, 'LILY EVANS IS MY FRIEND!' However, he had to stay cool and collected.
"That's really awesome. Then, can we be on first name basis?"
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "If it will get you to leave me alone—then yes."
"Great! Well, I'll be leaving now—I'm going to find Sirius. Bye Lily."
"See ya around Po—James."
James left Lily with the biggest grin on his face. Score one for James! Woot!
Now, to find Sirius. . . .
Lily, however, couldn't believe what she had done.
"Did I actually say I would become James Potter's friend?" She gasped.
"Why, yes, you did." A handsome young man winked at Lily. "But you could forget about him and come to me instead sweet thing."
Lily glared at the man. "I didn't ask you," she snarled. "And get away from me before I make sure you can't have any children."
The man winced and swam away from Lily.
That's better. Lily thought to herself before the agony of what she just agreed to came back to haunt her.
"What did I just do?" Lily moaned. "I need to sleep. Maybe if I wake up, this will all be a bad dream."
With that in mind, she swam out of the water and to her towel, hoping to erase what had just happened three minutes ago.
James found Sirius easily; he was flirting with a girl who looked three years older than he did.
"Sirius!" James hollered. "Sirius!"
Sirius ignored James and continued to flirt with the pretty girl in the water.
James sighed and knew that Sirius was ignoring him for one reason.
"Your Handsomeness Sirius!" James yelled, cringing as he said them, "Get over here!"
A grin unfurled from Sirius' lips as he turned to James. "You called Servant Boy?"
James' cheeks burned as the girl in the water gave James a strange look and edged away from Sirius.
"Get out of the water!"
"No way! It's nice and cool in this water! My feet will burn if I leave!"
"Won't your feet prune if you stay too long in the water?" James yelled.
Sirius' eyes went wide. "You're right! I'm leaving the water!"
Charging out of the water, Sirius did a sort of hopping dance as he 'hopped' to the two girls. That's how hot the sand was.
James shook his head and followed Sirius to Athena and Lily.
To Sirius' delight, Athena was sleeping and he snatched a forgotten pail and scooped it with sand, going to throw it on Athena.
James, noticing what Sirius was doing to Athena, ran over to him and seized the pail just before he dropped it on her.
"What are you doing?" Sirius hissed. "Don't you understand that I can get my revenge here?"
"Do you Athena to blab to Lily that she's on a deal with me? Me and Lily just became friends!"
Sirius groaned. "You mean I can't annoy Athena until you win over Lily?"
"Yes!"
"I can't agree to that!" Sirius gasped, dropping the pail away from Athena. "I have to annoy her!"
"Then you can kiss your Servant Boy good-bye," James hissed.
Sirius' shoulders slumped. "Great—just great. If I annoy Athena, I lose my Servant Boy. If I don't annoy Athena, I will suffer. Wait a moment! I don't win either way!"
"Exactly," James said. "You don't win—but I do."
"How does that benefit me?" Sirius whined.
"It doesn't! Now shut up!"
And so the two boys slumped into silence.
Around two thirty the girls finally woke up with Athena complaining.
"I'm hungry!"
Lily groaned and woke up.
"What time is it," she rubbed sleep out of her eyes.
"Two thirty." James said.
"God, we slept for a while."
"Three hours," James said, and looked at Lily, trying to think of a compliment to give her. Don't make her mad!
"You look like you got a tan, Lily."
Lily smiled and looked at her skin in admiration. "Really?"
James nodded.
"Thanks James!"
Athena, who had been collecting her things, dropped them with a start and stared wide-eyed at Lily.
"Wait—did you just call him James?"
Lily nodded. "James asked to start over as friends."
Athena's jaw dropped and it stayed like that until she shook her head and muttered, "This is the sign of the apocalypse. I'm sure of it."
All of a sudden, their was a huge rumble and Lily quickly started packing her things away.
"Oh dear, theirs gonna be a thunderstorm." Lily frowned.
"No," James said, scanning the horizon. I don't see any dark clouds."
"Then what's making that loud noise?" Lily asked.
James laughed and jerked a thumb towards Sirius. "That's his stomach."
"I'm starving!" Sirius moaned, rubbing his stomach. "Is there any food around here?"
"I don't think we should take Black anywhere," Athena smirked. "He'd eat the entire place."
James, noticing Sirius about to give a comeback, cleared his throat and gave a glare at Sirius.
Sirius, knowing what that glare meant, quickly shut up, even though it was an internal struggle.
Athena laughed. She could get used to this.
"Come on, guys." Athena said, putting on her shorts and her flip-flops again. "I know a great place to eat. It's just across the street."
"Wait a second," Lily said suddenly. "They're coming?" She pointed towards James and Sirius.
Athena nodded. "Of course they are. If you, James or I get full—we can just depend on Garbage Disposal here to eat everything else." She jerked a thumb at Sirius, who glowered at her.
"What's wrong with Black?" Lily asked as Athena set off.
"What are you talking about?" Athena asked.
"I mean—he hasn't said a word to you." Lily tried to keep up with Athena's quick pace. "That's not like Sirius Black."
Athena smirked secretly. Looks like James was keeping his end of the deal.
"I don't know—maybe laryngitis."
Lily frowned and gave a sidelong glance at Sirius. "I doubt it."
"I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!" Sirius roared as Athena was out of hearing. "I can't handle not being able to say something back to her!"
"Sirius, calm down! She would only agree to this if you wouldn't bug her. I had to agree—what else could I do?"
"Say no!" Sirius snapped, glowering at Athena's retreating back. "What else?"
James sighed. "Sirius—let's just get something to eat."
In the end, Sirius forgot all about the Athena problem as he devoured all his food (and James'). They were at a Seafood restaurant near the beach and Sirius ordered some strange looking Greek food that looked a lot like squid.
James (who had ordered yehmesta) took one look at the food and lost his appetite.
Lily and Athena had split some fish and laughed at James' shocked expression as he poked at his food.
"Um, what is this stuff?" He asked.
"It's yehmesta." Athena grinned.
"In English?"
"Basically, its rice and meat cooked inside the skin of vegetables. It's quite good."
James' face went white and he pushed the plate away.
"I'm full."
Sirius, who had just finished his squid (Athena didn't bother to tell him what he had just ate), leaped at James' plate and ate it quickly.
"That's good!"
Athena smiled coldly and returned to eating her food.
Later, after everyone had eaten all they could, they paid for the bill and departed.
By that time, it was four thirty and Athena and Lily decided to head back to Athena's grandparents' house, which meant no strange boys allowed.
"Well, it was nice running into you guys." Lily said awkwardly. "See you around."
"Yeah—bye." James said, his eyes glazing over at Lily.
Sirius, rolling his eyes, slapped James and pointed to Athena who was mouthing, 'I'll owl you tonight.'
James gave thumbs up and the two boys turned to go back to the house.
"I think James has changed a lot." Athena remarked as the two walked back to the Asimokopoulos' home, dodging people.
Lily snorted. "Puh-lease. He'll never change."
"Never say never, Lils."
Well—about time I finally updated! WOOT! It's the weekend! I'm SO glad I'm back to my usual updates!
I hope this chapter didn't seem rushed (AKA, James and Lily becoming 'friends' cause I worked a while to get it this way.
Now, how did you like the beach? It was an actual place in Kalamata. So are the mountains and the seafood place. Yehmesta is actually really good too! To my Greek reviewers, I hope you like that food too!
The next chapter SHOULD be up by Monday, cause I have no school. WOOT.
Greekchic.
P.S. REVIEW.
P.P.S. Have any of you people read, 'A Walk to Remember' by Nicholas Sparks? Cause I just got done reading it and I was wondering—did Jamie die at the ending? Cause Landon says that he believes in miracles now, and I thought that meant she was alive. I'm not sure...