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 12—the Return of Niko
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!
"I'm THIS close, Padfoot." James said, showing Sirius, "This close."
"For what?" Sirius snapped. He was in a bad mood because Athena attacked him and gave him a black eye.
"Lily liking me, you prat!"
Sirius glared at James. "Not now, Servant Boy. Can't you see I have a black eye? It hurts."
"No, your pride hurts," James smirked. "You hate it when a girl beats you up."
"Correction," Sirius said, "A girl has never beaten me up before."
James gestured to Sirius' black eye. "And I'm guessing a black eye doesn't count."
Sirius nodded vigorously. "You got that right, Servant Boy!"
James groaned. "Would you stop calling me that?"
Sirius grinned, his black eye problem melted away. "Nope."
James scowled and took the plate of food that was in front of him.
The two boys were eating at a restaurant, after saying good-bye to Lily and Athena half an hour ago.
"Remember that deal we made?" Sirius asked. "When you promised to be my slave if I kept my mouth shut around Athena?"
James pretended not to hear Sirius as he ate the odd food that was in front of him (stuffed grape leaves. Blech).
"Anyway," James said, wiping his hands on his shorts (A/N: Bad table manners), "I'm inviting Lily to dinner tonight."
Sirius burst out laughing.
James looked confused. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because," Sirius laughed, "Lily will think it's a date, that's what. Besides, how are you going to converse with the waiters? You don't speak Greek."
"Which is why I asked Athena to come along." James said.
"You did WHAT?"
"Oh come on, Padfoot. She's not that bad."
Sirius pointed to his black eye. "Tell that to this."
"My mum can fix it up easily—now do you want the rest of this crap that I'm eating?"
---
"What do you think you're doing?" Lily asked Athena a couple hours later.
"What do ya think?" Athena asked, putting on some blush. "We're going out tonight."
"Where?"
Athena secretly smirked. "You'll see—just put this on."
She threw a red shirt and black pants at Lily.
Lily looked at the outfit. "Um, this?"
Athena turned around and laughed. "Whoops! Wrong one—that's mine. No, it's this one—"
She threw Lily a white tea length wool dress.
"Wool?" Lily asked. "Won't I sweat?"
Athena shook her head. "No, wool surprisingly lets air flow through. You'll be fine. Now, GO!"
"What time are we leaving?"
"Two hours—now GO."
"Yes your Majesty." Lily laughed, exiting the room.
----
By the time Athena and Lily stopped primping and finally got a move on, it was seven o'five.
Athena motioned for Lily to take off her shoes and to tiptoe across the kitchen to leave the house.
Once they did, Lily gave a questioning look to Athena who said, "If my grandmother saw what we were wearing—she'd die and make us change."
Lily looked down at the green scoop neck shirt and black pants that she was wearing and then looked at Athena's outfit.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Too flimsy." Athena said, and then looked at Lily's outfit. "Where's the white dress I wanted you to wear?"
"Athena, I think you get confused sometimes. White looks better on you—not me. I look like a pale ghost with white you look fabulous."
Athena grinned. "I know I look fabulous, why do you think I'm so gorgeous?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're more like Sirius Black than I thought."
To Lily's surprise, Athena turned red (or was it the blush?) and didn't say a word.
Lily raised a questioning eyebrow and said, "Athena? Did you hear what I said?"
"No." Athena lied. She had heard perfectly, but she didn't want to admit it.
Lily shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, where's the restaurant?"
"Oh, follow me. It's not very far." Athena was relieved that Lily got off the topic of Sirius Black. (A/N: Hmm, what's going on in Athena's mind?)
Athena was right. The restaurant wasn't very far, but looked quite fancy. Lily was glad she didn't wear that white dress.
Athena beckoned Lily inside and went up to one of the dark skinned waiters.
She gave a small chat with him and the waiter nodded.
"C'mon," Athena muttered to Lily, who followed her best friend.
As they passed people, Lily saw how fabulously wealthy they looked. Half of them watched Lily as she passed.
My red hair, she thought. I stick out like a sore thumb.
The waiter motioned them to a table where James and Sirius were sitting at.
"What are those two doing there?" Lily asked a faint flush coming on at the sight of James Potter.
Athena knew she couldn't lie this time. "I invited them."
Yes! That little voice inside Lily's mind screamed but what came out of Lily's mouth was different.
"You did? Why?"
Athena shrugged. "It would look quite—er—weird if two girls came in and dined by themselves—if you catch my drift."
Lily's eyes were as big as saucers. "I'm so glad they're here!"
Athena winked at James. "I'm sure."
The two sat down—Lily sat down across from James while Athena sat across from Sirius.
She looks so beautiful. James thought.
He looks handsome. Lily thought before her mind screamed, what is wrong with you, Lily Evans? You cannot think Potter is handsome! You hate him.
Lily ignored that inner voice, gave a bright smile, and said, "So, how are you?"
James' heart skipped a beat when Lily addressed that comment to him. She was actually speaking to him!
James willed himself not to say anything stupid as he said, "Good."
Lily nodded, before becoming silent again.
-----
Athena and Sirius were in complete stony silence.
Aimee Potter had magically cleaned Sirius' black eye but his pride was still hurting.
Athena rolled her eyes and opened her purse to pull out a pen and paper.
On it, she scribbled:
Do you see the way L and J are staring at each other?
She pushed it to Sirius who looked down at it and gave a grin. Motioning for the pen, he wrote:
Looks like their getting a bit lovey-dovey.
Don't ever say that again, Black.
Right
Hehe, you are going to lose the bet, Black.
Are you kidding? Look at them! They look as if they're going to snog their brains out. By the way, you know you want to snog me.
He was teasing but was shocked when Athena blushed bright red and hesitated before answering:
Of course not. No more writing. I want to watch the action between L/J.
That ended the note passing, leaving a confused Sirius and a very red Athena.
-----
Lily and James were having many failed attempts at conversation.
Lily was trying to persuade herself that she did not like James, but only in a 'friendly way' while James was racking his brain to think of something to say.
"Um Lily?" James asked nervously.
"Hmm?"
"Do you—I mean—do you want to take a stroll on the beach?"
Lily cocked her head so he could see her face better. "The beach is kind of far from here."
James gave a nervous chuckle. "Actually, it's right behind us."
He motioned for Lily to turn around and she saw the beach behind her.
"That's pretty." Lily said.
No, you are. James thought, but didn't say that.
Instead, he said, "Um, do you want to take a stroll?"
Lily didn't need any thinking for this.
"Sure."
As Lily stood up, James turned to Sirius and said, "Me and Lily are going to take a walk on the beach. If the waiter comes can you tell him I'd like water?"
Sirius gave a sly grin and said, "Sure Prongs. Don't have too much fun though."
James grinned and departed, following Lily.
Sirius turned to Athena with a smirk. "You better get your money out—by the end of this night—they'll be a couple."
Damn. Athena thought. He's right.
Behind Sirius and Athena, a strange figure stood up from his seat, glaring daggers at James. Tucking in his seat, he followed James and Lily.
----
It was a beautiful night out.
It was dark—but not to dark. The full moon illuminated the dark water while the waves crashed quietly on the shore.
There were wooden poles with fire on the tip, near the edge of the restaurant giving it a romantic sort of view.
Lily and James were busy walking, not saying a word to each other.
Finally, James broke the silence by saying, "You know what's funny?"
"What?" Lily asked.
"How every time we end up alone, we get so nervous we never say a word. And you know how I hate silence."
Lily gave a slight laugh. "I've never noticed that."
James' hazel eyes went wide. "You never did? Merlin, I have."
"Name a few times." Lily asked.
"There's the hike up Mount Olympus, the Parthenon and now."
Lily grinned. "You're right!"
James put on a mock-horrified face. "The great Lily Evans admits I'm right?"
Lily shoved James. "Shut up, James! So what? There's a first time for everything."
"You're right." James said. "This is a first."
He took Lily's hand and held it.
Lily turned red but to James' delight, didn't let go.
They walked hand in hand down the beach, talking about nothing when a deep male voice said, "Release Lily's hand! NOW!"
James, expecting it to be Sirius teasing him, turned around (still holding Lily's hand, mind you) to tell Sirius to go back to the table but he got the shock of his life.
It wasn't Sirius.
Lily's eyes went wide. "Niko!" She gasped. "W-what are you doing here?"
---
Yikes! Things don't end perfectly, do they? Niko's back!
Well, sorry if this chapter didn't have the 'action' the next one will—it's called Niko vs. James. (Obviously, what do you think it'll be about?)
Looks like Athena is having 'second thoughts' about hating Sirius. What will happen?
Also, the restaurant that the four are in IS A REAL PLACE. I went there in Greece, it IS fancy, and there IS a beach behind the restaurant. Very nice too.
Good news! My report didn't come in yet! YAY!
The bad news is—it'll probably come tomorrow—YIKES.
Well, got to go, me and my best friend Alaina are going to the movies to see 'Last Holiday.'
Ciao!
Greekchic.