Chapter 5: SWWOOOSSSHHH!

"Harry, why can't you just go to sleep?" Lily asked as she looked at her drooling son. His eyes were wide awake and staring with that cute smile on his lips. "I'm not a very good story teller, Harry, and I'm starting to realize how long this tale really is. If you stay awake for the whole thing that means I have to stay awake for the whole thing." Harry giggled with his drooling mouth, causing a sort of gargling sound.

Lily couldn't help it. She couldn't say no to this kid.

"Ok, Harry. I'll keep going. Now my first couple months of first year were all about Animagus's. I lived, and breathed Animagus studies. And believe me, I didn't like it. I had gone to school to learn, not to research for a bunch of silly little boys who couldn't maintain their own curiosity…" Harry gargled out some speech that was incoherent, but Lily seemed to understand him, "I know, Harry Dear, I'm going off on a tangent. What I'm trying to say is that the day I left and went back to the boys they had a surprise waiting for me that was just what the doctor ordered."

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"Lily Evans."

"James Potter."

Sirius and James were lounging in two chairs in the library. Sirius was tilted back on the legs of his chair and James had his feet up on the table. At the sight of Lily they both threw their feet down quickly. Everyone knew that Lily Evans was very precise about everything, especially the upkeep of the Library. Tipping back on chairs was not a way to get on her good side, especially when she looked as crabby as she did just now.

"To spite my better judgment, I have come to help you sods."

James smiled out of the corner of his mouth. He knew he had won.

"Where shall we start this time?"

Sirius and James looked at each other for a long time, then back at her. She was confused and a bit scared, but she said nothing.

"We won't be starting anywhere, Evans," James replied, "today we are going to teach you something."

Lily almost laughed at the prospect. But the boys jumped up and grabbed her by the arms as they escorted her out of the library.

"Er…where are we going guys?" when they didn't answer she got slightly worried. "You know you could get in a lot of trouble for this!"

They both sat her down. "A lot of trouble for what?" James asked with amusement in his eyes.

"For…you know…dragging me off to…" she lowered her voice as their faces got closer, "to have your way with me."

"Ew," the boys said simultaneously. She looked offended. "Are you kidding?" Sirius said. "That's what you think we are doing?" James finished.

"I saw it on the news. Girls get kidnapped everyday by men so that they can have their way with them. And when they are done, do you know what they do?"

"What do they do, oh wise one?"

"They kill them," she responded very seriously.

There was a pause and then the boys busted up laughing. "You're mental," Sirius said. "We're not having our way with you, why, you are a girl, and a weird girl at that."

James looked at Sirius for a long moment and then back at Lily. She seemed unconvinced and scared, but there was nothing he could really do about it. Instead he looked at Sirius again and they nonverbally agreed to the same conclusion. So they both grabbed an arm and started dragging her again.

"Where are we going?" she asked as she was practically clinging to dear life.

"You'll see," the boys said together.

"Oh yes, I'd see alright. And I'll tell you, that while I was incredibly angry, the thing that was to come next practically cured all my ailments."

"We've gotten you a present," James said with a stern face.

"A present?" Lily questioned.

Then Sirius cleared his throat and said, "this" as he thrusted a broomstick into her hands.

"A broomstick?" Lily asked as she looked at the odd object. "Your present is making me clean? Is this some kind of wizarding joke?"

"No! Why would you think that?" James asked.

"Because you are giving me a broom."

"Lily," he said surprising her with her first name again, "do you know so little about the wizarding world?"

He gave her the broom, and then showed that he had one himself. He hoisted his leg over it like it was a horse and then looked back at her.

"Once you are ready I'll count to three." She looked dumbfounded. She supposed she should do what he was doing, so she did. When she looked over at Sirius she saw he was mounted on a broom as well. She thought about and then…

"You can't be serious."

"One, two, three," James said very quickly. By three James and Sirius were in the air, leaving Lily in a cloud of dust. James was doing crazy stunts and Sirius was rushing fast through the air as if racing himself. James tried a silly loop flip that put him closer to the ground where Lily was still standing.

"What are you doing?" he said through the flip. "What's the matter, Lils, never been on a broomstick before?"

She laughed, even though she had no idea why, and then shook her head.

"Sirius, we have a crisis," James said mellow dramatically as he landed on the ground. Sirius followed and covered his face with mock concern. "The lovely lady has never been on a broomstick before."

"A crisis indeed," Sirius said with great emphasis in his voice, as if he had been practicing it.

"Well, we will just have to teach you, won't we?" Then he exchanged a look with Sirius and grinned mischievously.

She frowned. She wasn't exactly sure what this entailed.

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"Then just like that they hoisted me onto the broom and taught me to fly. It's not an easy thing—flying. But I didn't have many problems with it. And your dad…he was amazing," Lily said as she trailed her fingers along her son's jawbone. Harry gargled something out, but Lily was already back into her story.

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Once they were in the air, James was a little more calm and refrained from doing tricks. Lily was very awkward on a broom, but she found it slightly exciting. James tried to let go of her arm, but she seemed to need more help than he would have guessed.

"Gosh, Evans, I would have thought the greatest witch of our age would be a little more nimble on a broomstick."

As she fumbled a bit she tried to talk, "being a good witch doesn't mean you can fly."

She began to gain her bearings and got a grip on the flying thing, which allowed James to let go of her.

"So how long have you known how to fly?" Lily asked trying to make conversation.

He just looked at her with a slight laugh on his face, "basically forever. So tell me, how long have you known you were a witch?"

"Basically forever," she said with a crooked grin. He couldn't help himself; he smiled as well. In order to change the subject Lily broke eye contact and started looking around outside. The greenery was gorgeous and the flowers were all in bloom. Lily felt so alive and, therefore, cheerful. "So…why are we doing this?"

"I wanted to say thanks, I guess," he replied with a weak smile. Behind him Sirius was doing sloppy loops in the air and diving toward the ground, but Lily didn't notice, nor did James.

"Thanks for what?"

"For all the work you've done. That's why I kind of got pushy when I came to see you. I really wanted you to come. I've been planning this all week. I figured you'd probably never flown and it is one of my favorite things. I just thought it would nice to share it with you."

"Thank you," she said with great emphasis. She was very pleased with him in that moment, but then he had to ruin it.

"So why do you care so much about school? I mean, you study more than anyone, it's kind of weird. You start on like that people will think you are a nerd. That's not really a good reputation to have."

She grimaced heavily. He noticed.

"Let me tell you something, Potter, about where I grew up. People didn't fly around on brooms, or swish a wand to wash the dishes." Her tone was very cruel and James could tell this wasn't going to be a good conversation. "You actually had to use your hands, your mouth, and your senses to get things done. I was born under a roof of complete nitwits who thought that the only way to be was their way. Perfect. I wasn't blessed with getting to be born into this. I acquired my talents on my own. I was born to be a witch, but you were born to be a part of this world. I have to get used to it, and until I am I'm going to work my arse off to get it. I'm a muggleborn, as you informed me the first time I met you, and because of that I have to work harder. I have to or I just won't fit in."

James looked at her with a newfound respect but, also, with fear. He realized that he wouldn't be testing her again on the subject. "Well, I was just curious," he said at a loss for words.

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"The rest of the time we were pretty quiet. But it was great fun. I loved it. Not that I would ever play Quidditch, or anything, but I don't mind hopping onto a broom every now and again." She looked down at her son and realized how much he was like his father. "Maybe someday you will be the one doing loops in the sky. I promise we will teach you as soon as we can. You'll get the benefit I never had. And hopefully you will be just like you're Papa."

Baby Harry giggled, and then rolled over as if to go to sleep. Lily gasped. She couldn't believe it, he was actually going to sleep! Then he rolled back over with a toy in his hand. It was a stuffed animal Hippogriff. It always was his favorite. He started sucking on it and then looked up at his mommy in waiting for the next bit of story.

A/N: For some reason the ruler wouldnt work today so I just did dashed lines. This chapter was very fun to write. I hope you guys like it. I wanted to give some background on Lily, and why she never did anything half way. More so, I wanted to explain why any muggleborn would be the way they are, take Hermione for example, she reads so much and works so hard to be perfect, and it isnt a no wonder. She's a muggleborn, and somewhere in her mind that has to play on repeat. She knows (or thinks) that she has to work harder to be even half way equal to the other witches and wizards.

Also, I've continued my whole "Lily-being-involved-in-every-big-piece-of-James'-life" thing. Thats why he took her to fly. Because it was a huge part of who he was, just like it was a huge part of who Harry was. Ok, I'm done. Hope you enjoy it!