Chapter-23:
Lily P.O.V
Lily stared at the letter in her hand.
"What're you looking at?" Sirius asked, poking his head over her shoulder.
"Dumbledore is assigning some random lady as my babysitter for the vacations." Lily said, waving the letter around and whacking Sirius in the face with it. Sirius grimaced and waved his hands in front of his face dramatically. Lily continued, "As though I need a babysitter. Apparently, I got kidnapped and now I need some adult magical person to stay with me and my family to ensure that we're safe! Can you believe it?"
Lily turned around to see Sirius sneaking out of the room and she grinned. What a load of fun! As soon, as he was gone, she turned back to the letter and frowned.
Alice Fortescue would have the worst summer ever! Lily would make sure of it!
The doorbell rang loudly, much to Lily's frustration. She glared at the book in her hands and dropped it onto the side table with a thunk. Petunia, sulking on the other couch, glared at Lily as though the doorbell being loud was her fault. Knowing that Petunia wasn't going to get the door, Lily got up and walked to the door slowly.
Opening it, Lily scowled at the person on the top step.
"Hi!" The girl said, chirpy and beaming. "I'm Alice! You're Lily Evans, aren't you? I remember you from a few years ago. You weren't much shorter then, surprisingly. Do you think I could come in? It might look awfully odd for you neighbors to see a random person with a carry bag and robes standing at your door."
Lily paused for a second to take all of it in. Alice spoke a bit too much for Lily's current mood to handle. With a disgruntled look at the surrounding houses, where the neighbors were indeed peeking at Alice, Lily pulled the door open fully and moved out of the way.
"Please, make yourself at home," Lily said, plastering on a smile when all she wanted to do was roll her eyes. "I'll take your stuff up to the guest bedroom!"
If Lily was going to enjoy one thing through this vacation though, it would be the torture Petunia was going through because of the presence of a fellow magic user. Petunia could barely deal with Lily and Severus, how she would deal with another cheery person Lily wasn't sure, but it would be an entirely too entertaining event.
So, Lily skipped down the stairs to find Alice sitting on the couch and examining the room with interest and Petunia scowling from behind the magazine. The air was decidedly awkward, but Alice didn't seem to notice it.
"Where are your parents?" Alice asked, looking over as soon as Lily entered the room. "I'd love to meet them!"
Lily had no doubt that Alice was being entirely sincere.
"They're out currently. An office party that we excused ourselves from," Lily said, trying to be polite. "Would you like some tea?"
"No, thank you."
Petunia giggled from her place on the sofa. When Alice looked at Petunia curiously, she elaborated with a smug look at Lily. "I never thought I'd see the day when Lily offered drinks to a guest like a polite hostess."
Alice laughed. "My parents said the same about my cousin the other day, and my great-uncle before him. They always complained about the ice cream business being a complete waste of time as well, so we usually don't put too much stock in their words."
Petunia put down her magazine, speaking up. Lily stared at the unfolding conversation in shock and slight embarrassment at Petunia's extremely un-subtle quips.
"An ice cream business? I didn't know wizards liked ice cream!"
Alice shrugged. "Apparently, everyone loves ice cream. And wizards have the best ice cream flavors, with the magical ingredients that can change the taste of the ice cream to anything you like."
Petunia looked suspicious. "Well, Lily has never introduced me to this side of the wizarding world. Does your world have other interesting things that I have never heard of?"
"Not as much as the muggle world," Alice said, looking lost in thought. "Frank took me to this thing called an amusement park; darling that he is, he couldn't understand heads or tails of how they worked. But it was an entertaining experience nonetheless."
"Frank?" Petunia interrupted, her curiosity for gossip overcoming her dislike of magic in general.
"My boyfriend," Alice said, looking as though she was miles away. "Frank Longbottom. He's wonderful, truly."
"The auror who found the last two kidnapped children?" Lily found herself asking.
Alice nodded. "William Weasley and an unidentified boy. Although, your friend Sirius is the one who found the two children. We should be giving credit where credit is due after all."
Lily nodded, resisting the urge to add a sarcastic 'ah, yes', because Sirius blew up an entire house, which she supposed would have been fun, as long as she was present. Oh, sure, it was a bad idea to be blowing up stuff, and it was illegal. But it would've been fun to watch.
"Right."
And that was that. Petunia retreated behind her magazine, and Alice went back to looking around the house curiously. Lily ended up staring at Alice, glaring at the blonde's perfectly curled hair and her calm demeanor despite the awkward environment. This entire situation was embarrassing and highly annoying.
Lily wished she'd never tried to help the wizarding world, if this was what she got in return. She would rather burn the world down than have such an infuriating babysitter!
The morning of 31st July dawned bright and clear. Lily was awake before everyone else, for once. She was excited to see what James had planned, much to her surprise. She hadn't expected to want to meet James again, but this was the highlight of her vacations; a much better use of her time than watching Alice get along with Petunia. It wasn't her first date, of course, but it was her first date with someone as unpredictable as James.
She got ready quickly, knowing he would be turning up by 10, unless he was late. She picked out comfortable jeans which flared at ankles, most likely by Petunia's choice and picked a dark blue fitted T-shirt from the pile in her shelf. They had gone shopping the first week back from school, and for once Lily was glad about that.
Once she was done, and satisfied that she wasn't too hippy looking, she skipped down the stairs. Luckily, Petunia and Alice weren't awake yet, and not at the dining table as she sat down next to her father.
"Lily, you're awake early," Margaret said, with such a mischievous glint in her eyes that Lily knew would not end well. "I wonder why."
Lily almost scowled. "You know I'm going out with a friend today, mum. Of course I'd be ready."
"Is this friend a girl?" Margaret asked, and Lily shook her head in response.
"Of course not, mum! But I'm really not interested in any of the boys in my class!"
Maybe she was lying to her mum right now, but in the long run, this was probably the safer method for James.
"Is it the Snape boy?" Richard asked, surfacing from behind his newspaper. Lily shook her head again, chewing on her bread-jam sandwich to avoid answering questions. It was a foolproof method. "You are still friends, aren't you? He hasn't visited much these last months."
Lily wondered why her parents were so invested in her relationships with everyone she ever made friends with. Severus had been invited over almost everyday the last few vacations, so when he decided to become a recluse this vacation, Lily was perfectly fine letting him explore his own life without butting in. her parents obviously were not.
"Sev is a little busy with family matters." She told them, not knowing any more than that herself. "And before you ask, my other friends are also busy, except James."
Her parents did not look very convinced, so she continued.
"Remus isn't doing too well this week, and Peter is at some sort of summer camp. Sirius… actually, I don't know what Sirius is doing, but I doubt it is entirely legal."
That was halfway honest, and Lily had to stifle a grin at the thrill of this entire thing. Her parents didn't look as convinced as she hoped they would be, but they didn't question her anymore. Taking that as a win, Lily finished up her sandwich and water, grabbed a pair of socks and moved to the couch to put them on.
James had told her to dress muggle casual and expect a lot of walking. She wasn't sure what his estimate of a lot of walking was, but she knew that she wanted to be in halfway comfortable shoes for that. She wasn't actually sure if James knew how to dress muggle casual, because Alice certainly hadn't known.
The bell rang, startling her father into dropping his spoon. Margaret covered her mouth to hide her laughter, and Lily ignored the two and ran to get the door. Pulling it open slightly, she saw James standing and watching the neighbors houses with utter fascination.
"James, you're early." Lily said, as though she hadn't been waiting as well. "Do you want to come in?"
James turned with a beaming smile and literally skipped into the house, much to Lily's amusement. He leaned towards her and whispered into her ear, "Are you sure I have to go through the investigation waiting? Can I just stay outside instead?"
Lily raised a brow at him, with a wicked smile. "Are you sure about that James? Just think about it. Are you absolutely sure?"
James laughed, running a hand through his hair. "Let's just get it done with."
Lily gestured dramatically at the entrance to the dining room, and followed James, letting the door fall shut behind them. James was surprisingly dressed in muggle casuals; it was more hippy style than Lily would've gone for, but at least he wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.
His hair didn't seem to have changed, and he still seemed to be stuck at the same height as he was last year. But he held himself more surely that day, smiling charmingly at her parents and introducing himself. Despite them being the hosts, James seemed to have taken over the duties, making conversation and offering to get them stuff from the kitchen.
"No thank you, James." Margaret said, smiling at him amused.
She had already called James a flatterer, much to Lily's amusement. Margaret turned to Lily when James was talking to her father, and mouthed, 'this is a date, isn't it?'
Lily pretended she hadn't seen that, although the blush on her face might have spoiled her entire façade. James and her father had moved on to discussing sports, and both of them were at a loss about the other sport. Culture clashes and all.
"Richard, I think you can continue the conversation with James later. Let them go and enjoy now!" Margaret interrupted before the silence between them became too awkward.
Richard shrugged and nodded. "Be back by 7, Lils. Enjoy!"
James smiled at them, and then walked out of the room a little too fast. Lily followed him, stifling laughter. At the entrance, she waved to her parents and then left the house.
As soon as she was out of the house, she burst out laughing. James turned to her incredulously.
"You can't be laughing! Lily, that was the most embarrassing thing ever! I was so terrified that he would beat me up!" James said, waving his hands around in panic. "Not funny!"
He even stomped his foot on the path, which caused Lily to renew her laughter. James broke out in a grin as well, the entire thing being too funny for him to not see it. He had a good sense of humor after all.
They spent a while laughing, stopping and bursting out into laughter again. Finally, James dragged her out of the gate and towards the back alley.
"So, are you going to tell me where we're going?" Lily asked, stopping every few words to stifle the urge to giggle. "Or is it still a secret?"
"It's still a secret," James said, sticking his nose into the air, as though he was some sort of posh nobility. Lily nodded condescendingly at his side.
"I'm sure it is."
They were silent for all of thirty seconds, before James grinned and spoke, "Okay, I've wanted to say this for a while now, but no one would listen to me! We're going to…"
After her wonderful date with James, Lily spent most of her time spying on Alice Fortescue. It was the only entertainment she got. She missed spending time with Severus, and now, James, Remus, Peter and god-forbid Sirius.
Back to Alice, who had slowly worked her way into Petunia's friends list. As Lily walked through the house in the mornings and evenings, she saw Alice and Petunia chatting about mundane things.
Once they had been discussing fashion; Petunia subtly dissing anything wizarding made, and Alice just ignoring the negative comments. Petunia was interested in the wizarding trends, but not enough to give up on her entire stance against the magical community.
All that changed in the first week of August.
Lily woke up on August 2nd expecting nothing out of the ordinary. On that particular day, all she had wanted to do was waste her time pretending to research and make life difficult for Alice by going to the park to play with the younger children there.
She went to breakfast like normal, not wanting to alarm her father or mother, who were both going out for the day.
"Lily, there you are!" Richard Evans smiled at her, much too happily for that early in the morning. He usually wasn't that excited for anything until noon. "Sit down! Sit down!"
Lily sat, elbowing Petunia slightly. Petunia didn't react at all, which should have been her first clue that something was wrong. Alice, sitting across Lily, smiled and Lily grimaced back at her.
She picked up bacon and bread, spreading some butter on it and leaving it on her plate. She turned to her parents with questioning looks, ignoring Petunia's gaping face.
"We've got to go on a family emergency to Norway," Margaret Evans said, sounding more cheerful that Richard.
Lily was confused at that. "What kind of family emergency exactly?"
Margaret and Richard exchanged looks.
"We think one of your cousins has magic, so we're heading out to check. Although we could just as easily be mistaken. You know how unreliable Danny's stories are." Richard said.
Lily made a face. All of her cousins were uncultured swines and completely pampered, and she disliked all of them. Petunia, naturally, was best buddies with all of them.
"Which cousin are we talking about?" Petunia asked, not looking like a gaping fish anymore.
Margaret sent Petunia a dry glare. "Which of your cousins is turning 11 this year?"
"Isolde!" Petunia exclaimed, an unreadable expression spreading across her face. "Well, that's fascinating!"
Lily waited for the other shoe to drop. There was no way her parents were leaving the house just like that on a whim, to check on Isolde of all people. Especially based on Daniel's stories.
"It is, isn't it?" Margaret said, smiling brightly. "I'll finally be meeting Daniel again, after so long and the little ones won't be so little anymore!"
"What the rest of the gossip, dad?" Lily interrupted.
Richard's smile dropped and he looked vaguely uncomfortable, shifting in his seat slightly and not meeting Lily's eyes as he mumbled the words. "Alice will be your guardian for the next two weeks, and if Isolde shows signs of magic like you did, then, we'll bring her here to see if she gets a Hogwarts letter."
Lily stared, just like Petunia had been staring a while ago. Slowly, she turned to Alice, trying not to glare murderously. She knew that Alice had something to do with her parents' impulsive decision to go to Norway, especially since her mother didn't even like her brother all that much. They hadn't been close as children and hadn't gotten any closer as adults. No, something was going on and Lily was going to find out what.
This was going to be a disastrous mess.
So... I haven't posted in a month, which I'm sorry about. But life gets in the way, and I think I might have more time to write now... I'm not certain about it though. Also, I know I cut off James and Lily's date scene (which I'm a teeny bit sorry about), but I think I'll post it as a separate story because it has to be developed a bit more. Anyways, enjoy!