Enjoying the View

"Oy! Lily! Time to get up!" called Ms. Christie as she knocked loudly on the redhead's door. Lily heard her move on to Erica's door and wake her up too. Groaning about the early hour, (it was 6:00) Lily got out of bed and padded out to the bathroom to have a shower.

Thirty minutes later she was showered, dressed, and ready to go. She was the only person who was however, so she sat down on the couch and started playing a game of solitaire with the pack of muggle cards she had brought with her. Soon the other girls drifted into the living room. Lyndsay discovered some tea bags in the little kitchen and made them all a cup. They all sat around the low table in the living area, drinking their tea and playing cards. Eventually it came time to go down and get the boys so that they could all go over together to get some breakfast.

Connor let the girls into the boy's pod, and they sat down in the living room to wait. Lily had to use the washroom and since she didn't feel like walking all the way upstairs she went into the boy's washroom. Luckily they had a separate toilette area, so she was ensured some privacy. She could hear a shower running in the background but she payed no attention to it. She was just washing her hands in the sink when the shower shut off and out stepped none other than James Potter, clad only in a towel. Lily's eyes grew huge as they took in his finely muscled torso. She blushed when she looked into his face and saw that he was grinning.

"Enjoying the view?" he drawled, raising one eyebrow and smirking at her.

Lily flushed even further. "No . . . Yes . . . No . . . I mean . . ."

"Someone's a bit embarrassed," James laughed, not unkindly. "Is it weird that it's not me that's feeling awkward?"

"Er . . . a bit yeah," she said.

"You know you like it," he teased, stepping closer to it. Lily backed up and found that she had nowhere to go.

"I-I have to go now," she said, and before he could stop her she had ducked out from between him and the wall. She practically ran out of the bathroom. She could hear James laughing behind her. She had just closed the bathroom door behind her when she walked straight into someone.

"Woah, Lils! I know how much you want me, but you really don't have to attack me on my way to use the loo," said a mercifully clothed Sirius. "All you have to do is ask."

Lily laughed and playfully slapped him on the arm.

"You have wounded me deeply," he said dramatically, before he stalked off to the bathroom.

"Why, Jamesie-poo! It appears that Miss Evans has just run from the sight of your near-naked body! Poor you. She'll never sleep with you now!" said Sirius loudly as he entered the washroom. Lily chuckled quietly to herself before going back to the other girls in the living room.

xoxox

After a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs the Hogwarts delegation trooped over to the Recreation Centre where the projects were going to be set up. The upper floor of the building was entirely dedicated to the Magic Fair and Lily could see long rows of tables set up for the displays to be set up on. There was a witch handing out maps of the room, and all one had to do was speak their name and the map would show them how to get to their project. Lily thought it was a rather clever piece of charm work.

The Senior section was on the far side of the hall, and Lily's project was to be set up right beside James's. Apparently Transfiguration was right beside Charms, and the organizers wanted to keep school groups together as much as possible. Go figure. At least she would have someone to talk to if she got bored.

It only took Lily ten minutes to get her board up and situated the way that she wanted it, because she had practised setting it up and taking it down back at school. Not feeling inclined to help James, she went off to see where everyone else was.

Lily found Sirius in the Defence against the Dark Arts section of the room with his board already set up. He had done his project on werewolves and different factors that affect their transformations. She had to admit that it was a pretty amazing project. Predictably, Sirius was surrounded by several giggling girls, each vying for his direct attention. He caught Lily's eye and beckoned her over, but she shook her head. She had no desire to be one of his groupies.

Erica and Lyndsay were just finishing with setting up their project when Lily found them. She stayed and chatted with them for a while before heading back to her own project. James was still there when she got back and they sat and talked for a little while about the projects around them, the morning's incident apparently forgotten.

xoxox

After lunch the Seniors, that is to say Lily James and Sirius, were supposed to go to a lecture on mentors, while everyone else went on tours of the various labs and programs and the university. True to form, Sirius pretended to be feeling slightly ill, and was convincing enough that the delegates allowed him to stay behind in the residence. Lily and James were on their own for the lecture.

Lily pushed all images on James's naked chest to the back of her mind as she walked into a huge lecture theatre with him. They found seats near the top and sat down to await the presentation. In the meantime, they tried to figure out what school everyone was from. It was rather difficult and by the time the lecture had begun they had only identified five different schools. Even that was only because of school names stitched across the back of jackets or sweaters.

The lecture turned out to be even more boring that Lily had anticipated. Some old woman droned on and on about utterly insignificant things. Instead on paying attention, Lily and James talked about what they wanted to do with their lives. Lily told him all about her plans to become an auror because she wanted to prove to herself and to Voldemort that she was as good as any pureblood. James agreed with her and said that he too wanted to be an auror, though he had been approached by a few professional Quidditch teams. He wasn't sure what he really wanted to do.

Once that lecture was over the delegates didn't show up to collect them, so James and Lily took their time walking back to the residence, enjoying the warm spring air that tousled their hair. Vancouver was so beautiful, all green and fresh. Lily started skipping through one of the gardens, and James ran after her laughing. It was good to be alive.

xoxox

The opening address was given by Steven McFadden, the dean of UMBC. He was actually quite funny, and he had the entire hall laughing a few times. After that, everyone set off to the Museum of Wizardology where the banquet would be held.

The Museum was quite interesting, and there were lots of exhibits to look at. Lily got a picture of Sirius and James dressed up like Quidditch players from the seventeenth century, and one of Erica trying on a witch's hat from 1025. Too soon it was time to head out to some magically heated tents on the lawn, where they were served a dinner of traditional West Coast Salmon. And then, Lily discovered the Swedes.

She was walking back from the desert table when she almost walked into the best looking guy ever. Lily apologized and he smiled at her with a toothy grin that made her insides melt. She hurried back to her seat, quickly glancing over her shoulder at the guy who was still looking at her. Once she was sitting, she turned to Erica who was beside her.

"Did you see that guy?" Lily half-whispered to her new friend. Erica looked around to see who Lily was talking about and then let out a low whistle before poking Lyndsay.

"Oooh! He's a Swede. You should see his friends, though. They're almost as yummy as him!" said Lyndsay.

Krysten looked round and rolled her eyes. "Calm down Lynds. They're only boys."

"Only boys!" cried Sirius indignantly. "A boy in never only a boy. Boys are amazing creatures that are blessed by my presence in their ranks." Erica giggled and was rewarded with a smile from Sirius.

"Is he not gorgeous though?" persisted Lily. "Look at his hair!" Out of the corner of her eye she saw James ruffle his hair a bit. "I wonder what his name is?" added Lily absently.

"His name's Joss, and his two friends are Sven and Bjorn." said Sirius. The girls looked at him blankly. "What!" he asked, squirming a bit under their stares.

"How do you know?" asked Krysten. "Were you going to introduce us at any point in the near future?"

Sirius nodded. "I was going to do so today. Joss has his project near mine. I was going to introduce you when you walked by today Lils, but you left before I could." James shot a glare at Sirius.

"Oh . . . I thought you wanted me to mingle with your fan club." Sirius snorted and shook his head.

"Sorry to break up the chit-chat but we've got to leave now," said Mr. Barry. The group of nine left the tent and made their way back to the residence, taking pictures of UMBC's scenic campus. Erica managed to span a picture of the Swedes before they disappeared. Lily thought that James looked rather put out on the walk back to the residence, but she couldn't imagine why.

The boys came up to the girl's pod to go over the procedures for judging the next day. Mr. Barry asked them all what they were going to say to the judges and offered them suggestions on how to make their speech better. Lily had to admit that James' project on how the wishbone in birds made them easier to transfigure than animals without a wishbone sounded rather polished.

Around ten o'clock the boys went downstairs and Ms. Christie advised everyone to go to sleep. Lily read for a little while before turning pout her light. She dreamt of James and showers.


AN- Yeah, it's short. Deal with it. There's only so much I can cram into one day without saying "oh, they walked three steps forwards and turned to their right, and then smiled at the tree..." You get the picture.

Anyways, hope you like it, and as always, please review.

Oh, and if it strikes your fancy, check out my other stories. I think they're quite okay.

Tidal Waves