Authors Note: Okay, so this chapter was really fun to write. This book is going to be ridiculously longer than the last, although prolly less chapters. Funny, isn't it? Anyway it already is longer than the last and we're not even halfway through the year! So, you're about to read my brilliant chapter...haha it was really fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Chapter 18
Kings Cross
Lily walked through the barrier and into Kings Cross. She saw her mother and Petunia waiting for her, looking around and scanning the crowd.
"Hi mum, hi Petunia." Lily said cautiously, stepping up to greet them.
"Hello Lily, did you have a good time at school this term?" Mrs. Evans asked, smiling and embracing her daughter.
"Yes, thank you." Lily said, puzzled. Perhaps they had obliterated too much of her mother's memory. "And you Petunia?" Lily asked.
"It was very nice, thank you." Petunia replied curtly.
"How is Vernon?" Lily asked.
"Vernon is very well thank you." Petunia replied. Just then James came walking up.
"Lily, I just wanted to tell you to have a happy holiday as well. You didn't let me answer before you left." James told her.
"Oh, sorry." Lily told him. "Thanks."
"Lily, are you going to introduce us to your friend?" Mrs. Evans asked pointedly. James looked puzzled. Lily was relieved that she now knew that her mother at least knew nothing.
"Yes Lily, your manners are disgraceful, introduce us to the fellow." Petunia said, her nose in the air. So Petunia knew nothing either. Well, at least now she knew what not to talk about.
"Oh, excuse me, Petunia this is James, James, this is Petunia. Mum, James, James, mum." Lily said, gesturing to her mom and Petunia.
"Nice to meet you." James said, extending his hand. Petunia did not touch it, instead she ignored him with distain. Lily was relieved that he was not going to comment on their lack of memory. How good of him to remember that their memories had been charmed.
"Are you a friend of Lily's from school?" Mrs. Evans asked pleasantly.
"Yes, I'm a good friend of hers." James told her.
"A boyfriend?" Mrs. Evans asked bluntly.
"Yes." James told her. Lily looked at him, shocked. Why would he say that. To her horror he put his arm around her shoulders.
"Oh, well how nice to meet you. Lily didn't mention a boyfriend before." Mrs. Evans said, looking reproachfully at her daughter.
"Mrs. Evans, I was wondering if you might let Lily come to a Christmas party this vacation." James asked. Lily was turning red and wished that she had never given him the invisibility cloak. If she had it right now she would be able to disappear. She wanted to sink through the floor. What was he doing?
"Why of course. When is it?" Mrs. Evans asked. "It's four days after Christmas, but it goes really late, and most people show up in the afternoon. So I could pick her up on the 28 and bring her back on the 30." James suggested.
"An overnight with boys?" Mrs. Evans asked doubtfully.
"Yes Mrs. Evans, but Lily would have separate accommodations, of course. We would not be sharing a bedroom or anything of the sort." James told her.
"Will there be chaperones?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"Yes, my parents will be there as well as the parents of all of the other kids at the party. There will be more adults than kids, actually." James told her confidently. Lily was very conscious of his arm around her shoulders. She tried to move away without making it obvious to her mother what she was doing, but James was not moving his arm.
"Well then I don't see why not. You can come over any time you like." Mrs. Evans told him. Lily thought that this would be the end of it. James had won. There was nothing she could do. She would be going to the party with him after all. But no, he could not just leave it at that.
"Actually Mrs. Evans, I was just thinking, it's almost a full days ride from my house to your house, so why doesn't Lily just come to my house on the 28th and we can go back to school together on the 1st?" James suggested. "That way she won't have to be traveling for two days straight right before starting classes again." Lily looked up at him incredulously. What did he think he was doing? What was she getting herself into?
"That's actually a very good idea, James. It will save me a trip to London as well." Mrs. Evans agreed. Lily was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. She could not believe the nerve of him!
"Thank you so much for understanding, Mrs. Evans." James told her, smiling his easy, confident smile.
"I'll see you on the 28, Lily darling. I'll be counting the minutes." He told her. Mrs. Evans, to Lily's complete embarrassment, led Petunia away to 'give them some privacy to say their goodbyes.'
"James Potter, I cannot believe you." Lily stuttered. She could barely speak for rage.
"What did I do?" James asked.
"What did you do? Let me think. Lied to my mom, forced me into spending Christmas break with you when you know that I don't want to, pretended to be my boyfriend" Lily fumed. She was about to continue when James cut her off.
"Wait just a second, if I recall you are the one who lied about me being your boyfriend to begin with, and I didn't make a big deal out of it. And I saved you from a boring break. Now just think of all the fun you'll be having." James said encouragingly.
"First of all, when I lied about it it was to get myself out of a different relationship, not to manipulate you. Second of all my break was not going to be boring. Thirdly, you never asked me. Fourthly, I do not consider hanging out with you for a week to be fun." Lily told him, her face turning red. The full effect of her tirade was somewhat diminished by the fact that she was whispering in order to avoid being stared at by the other people inside Kings Cross.
"You forgot Sirius. You'll be hanging out with me and Sirius. And just think how pleased my mum will be to hear that we're together, and that you're coming over!" James told coaxed.
"We are not together and you will tell your mum no such thing! It's bad enough you lying to my mum." Lily told him, gasping with horror. She could not believe him.
"Your mom's waiting for you, Lily. Shall we give her a show? Seal the deal? Convince her for sure?" James asked, not listening to what she was saying. "Oh, and I think I see my mom over there too." James said. "We can introduce them." Lily was about to turn when he grabbed her. His meaning in 'seal the deal' became clear when he kissed her firmly on the mouth. She inhaled sharply, a motion which only caused James to kiss her more thoroughly.
"James, stop it, people are watching!" Lily said sharply, pulling away as fast as she could.
"Does that mean that I can kiss you when people aren't watching?" James asked, winking at her. Before she had the opportunity to splutter a reply he began to lead her away again. "Come on, darling, let's go introduce our mums. Oh look, mine's blushing. I think she saw that kiss. Woops, my mistake." James told her, smiling cheekily.
"James Potter, I'm warning you-" Lily started.
"Hi mom!" James called out, waving to her and grabbing Lily's hand, pulling her over to where his mother was standing. Lily struggled to remove her hand from James's, but to no avail.
"Hello darling. Hello Lily dear. How are you?" She asked, looking at their flushed faces. Lily's was more flushed with anger than anything else, but if she had in fact seen the kiss then Lily knew exactly what she would be thinking.
"Guess what mom? Lily's coming to our house for the Rupert's party and then staying the week after. Her mom said it was okay, is it?" James pleaded.
"I don't see why not. We love to have Lily. Won't this be fun." She said.
"Come on mom, you can meet Mrs. Evans." James said, leading the way to where Mrs. Evans and Petunia were standing. Lily was dragged along behind him, her hand still in his. He was practically bouncing like an energetic two year old right before Christmas, all of which he was except for the two year old part. "Mrs. Evans, I'd like you to meet my mom." James said, presenting his mother. "Mom, this is Mrs. Evans and Petunia, Lily's sister."
"How nice to meet you." Anne said, extending her hand. Petunia could not ignore her hand, so she took it for less than a second before dropping it like a hot coal. "You may call me Anne." She said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Anne. I understand that Lily will be staying with you over the break?" Mrs. Evans said.
"Yes." Anne replied, smiling at Lily. "And you have a separate bedroom for her, I assume?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"Of course. She stayed with us this summer, and had her own room then. She can have the same room this time." Anne said.
"She stayed with you this summer? No she didn't." Mrs. Evans told her, looking surprised.
"Yes she did. She came home with James, don't you remember?" Anne asked. Lily did not like where this was going, but could see no way of stopping it.
"Oh, mom, you remember don't you? I went and stayed there for a few days at the end of the summer..." Lily said, trying to save the situation. Anne looked at her, puzzled.
"It was for a few weeks Lily, not a few days. Don't you remember, Mrs. Evans?" Anne asked.
"I'm afraid that you must be mistaken, Lily was with us all summer last year." Mrs. Evans told her.
"Mom, maybe you got confused. Maybe it wasn't last summer..." James said, regretting his decision to bring his mom over to meet Mrs. Evans.
"James! I am not confused! Lily was with us for more than half the summer last year! Tell her Lily." Anne said, turning to Lily.
"Lily, tell this woman that you were at home for the entire summer last year." Mrs. Evans said, also turning to her daughter.
"Well, mom, the thing is." Lily started.
"How could you have forgotten, Mrs. Evans? It was right after your tragic loss. I wouldn't have thought that you would forget such a thing." Anne said.
"Our tragic loss?" Mrs. Evans repeated.
"Yes. Right after your husband was abducted. I'm sorry James, I know you asked me not to talk about it, but this is ridiculous" Anne said, looking at Mrs. Evans almost angrily, as if she suspected her of having fabricated a huge lie about having forgotten her husband.
"James, you told! You said you wouldn't!" Lily said, looking at James angrily.
"My husband?" Mrs. Evans repeated. "My god. My husband!" She cried out, falling to the ground and breaking into sobs. "I forgot about the death of my own husband."
"Daddy!" Petunia wailed, falling down beside her mother, apparently having remembered at the same time.
"Stand back, stand back, nothing to see here!" Cried out men dressed in black robes arriving from thin air and forming a circle around Mrs. Evans and Petunia.
"Mom!" Lily cried out, attempting to break into the circle.
"Stand back miss, these women have to be taken in for treatment." Said a man holding a wand and trying to keep the crowd back.
"But that's my mother!" Lily cried out.
"I'm very sorry, but she's in no condition to be spoken to right now. We have to take her away." Replied the man.
"What am I supposed to do?" Lily called out, but the men had disappeared, and her mother and Petunia with them. The other occupants of Kings Cross, to her surprise, were continuing with their tasks without so much as glancing at the spot where ten men had appeared seconds before. No one seemed to care, or perhaps they just didn't remember. "What do I do now?" Lily asked, turning to James and his mother.
"You can come home with us." James suggested.
"Yes, I feel rather responsible for that. You'll have to explain that to me later, Lily dear. But it would only be appropriate for you to come back with us." Anne said. Lily, seeing no other option, followed them reluctantly to the Potter's car. "Now, if I can remember how to turn this thing on." Muttered Anne as she poked the ignition with the key. "Here we are." Lily felt rather nervous with Anne at the wheel. James and Lily sat together in the back seat, and she did not even mind that they were touching. 'On the bright side, if we crash he'll be able to grab me before I fly through the windshield' Lily thought morbidly. "So, Lily dear, what was all that back there?" Anne asked, driving in a rather out of control fashion that reminded Lily all too much of the Night Bus journey.
"My mother and sister had their memories modified after my dad turned up dead on my doorstep. I guess they erased last summer as well, but when you reminded them it all came back. Must have been a pretty lousy spell to crack that easily." Lily said with a sigh.
"Not necessarily. It was probably quite difficult to know how much to remove and what to replace it with. It's a very difficult job. It looks like we'll get to spend some quality time with our favorite young lady this Christmas break. I'm very sorry for messing up the memory charm though, Lily, I didn't know about it." Anne told her.
"It's not your fault. I don't blame you at all." Lily assured her. The emphasis that she put on you caused James to look a littler nervous.
"And, er, who exactly do you blame, Lily?" James asked. Lily made that clear without words. She turned away from him, refusing to look in his direction at all, much less speak to him. Anne laughed.
"Oh, a lovers quarrel." She said with a sigh and a giggle. Lily did not even try to correct her. What good would it do? She had seen them kissing.
"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked suddenly, remembering that he should have been there.
"Oh my god. We've forgotten him!" Anne screamed, slamming hard on the breaks and spinning in the middle of the road. Fortunately they were only about ten minutes away from Kings Cross when they noticed his absence. "Sirius!" Screamed Anne, racing to the station, leaving James and Lily to follow in her wake.
"Anne!" Sirius called out, smiling and holding out his arms. "You remembered me!" He was standing outside the train station, holding his bag that he had packed for the break and laughing heartily. "You should see your face." He commented, hugging her.
"I'm so sorry Sirius. Things were so crazy, we'll explain in the car." Anne said, leading the way to the vehicle where Lily and James were standing, waiting for their return. They had obviously just finished a heated discussion as both were red in the face and facing opposite directions.
"Lily?" Sirius asked questioningly.
"I'll explain everything." Anne told him, glancing nervously at the two. James got in the car, followed by a reluctant and very angry Lily. Sirius got in last, squeezing in barely and slamming the door shut.
"So, who remembered me?" Sirius asked, looking around.
"Lily." Anne told him. Lily and James were not speaking, and Lily, since she would not look in James's direction, was looking at Sirius.
"Thanks Lily, I owe you one. Who knows how long I would have been standing there if it weren't for you." Sirius said smiling. She smiled back, but the smile quickly vanished from her face. "So, what's going on?" Asked Sirius confused. Anne spilled out the entire story- or what she knew of is. Sirius laughed very inappropriately.
"It's not funny!" Lily admonished.
"I'm sorry, you're right. I'm very sorry about your mother, Lily." Sirius told her. "And your sister." Sirius added. But, knowing what he knew about James and Lily, he did find it rather amusing. Sirius looked at James for further explanation, but James just stared out the window. The rest of the ride went by in silence, the tension between James and Lily destroying the entire atmosphere.
"So, James, you going to tell me what really happened?" Sirius demanded as they walked up the stairs. Lily had already raced ahead of them so the she would not have to be in the same place as James for another moment.
"It was pure brilliance, mate. You would have been proud." James said, smiling delightedly at the memory of his own genius.
"Somehow I doubt it. Well, why don't you tell me." Sirius said with a sigh, throwing his bag onto his bed and sitting down. They had decided that it would be better to go to Sirius's room, which was farther away from Lily.
"Okay, so I go up to her, and she's talking to her mother, right?" James asked.
"Okay." Sirius said hesitantly.
"And I hadn't planned out what I was going to say or anything, this was all off the top of my head, bear that in mind." James added.
"Bearing. Continue." Sirius prodded.
"Okay, so Lily introduces me to her mom and sister-" James started.
"I thought you met them last summer?" Sirius interrupted.
"Well, yes, but they had their memories obliviated because they saw death eaters and the dark mark and everything." James told him.
"Right, sorry, go on." Sirius encouraged.
"Okay, so I'm introduced and then Mrs. Evans asks if I'm Lily's boyfriend, and so I say yes, okay? I'm not really planning on what to do, you know, but I put my arm around Lily and then it hits me. It's the most brilliant plan in the world. I'll be able to prove to her that I'm not a cocky jerk or anything. It's perfect. So I ask her mom if she can come and stay the week after Christmas because there's this party, the Rupert's party. And she asks all the usual questions and everything about chaperones of course, but she agrees. And at this point Lily's ready to die. And then her mother is all 'let's give them some privacy' so then, right in the middle of Kings Cross, I kissed Lily. Right in front of everyone. My mom was looking. So now I've gotten to kiss Lily and convinced my mom that we're dating. So it's basically perfect. But then I messed up, although I'm not going to lie, the results are quite pleasing, I asked my mom to come over and meet Mrs. Evans. Big mistake. My mom starts talking about 'last summer' and the rest is what you heard in the car." James told Sirius, a big smile on his face.
"And...you're pleased with the results?" Sirius asked, a little surprised.
"Of course I am. Lily's here, isn't she?" James asked.
"Well yes, but she hates you even more now." Sirius told him.
"Yeah, but now I have a whole two weeks to prove to her that she's wrong." James told him.
"Maybe, but you just successfully proved to her that you think you can have whatever you want, that you don't care about her feelings, and that you're a liar and manipulative. You have more to disprove now than when you started out." Sirius told him.
"I suppose so." James admitted, floating down from cloud nine.
"But she's here. And we'll be at the party together. And it was bloody brilliant, wasn't it?" James asked.
"Yes, bloody brilliant." Sirius agreed, and both boys shared a laugh. "I still say apologize though." He added after a good hardy chuckle. James nodded sagely. He was probably right after all.
Authors Note: Okay, sorry that wasn't too long or anything. The next chapter is going to be about Hazel's Christmas...anyway, I needed it to give a better look at her character. And also, was this chapter way too random and not at all realistic? Well once again it's obviously not exactly realistic…but u know what i mean. In all honestly I just didn't want to deal with writing about Petunia/Mrs. Evans/Vernon AGAIN…So read and review and I'll post soon!