AN: Wow! I can't believe the positive response that I got from people! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Also—please let me know if you have any ideas for the plot. As I said, I wasn't planning on continuing this thing.... So, here is chapter two! Enjoy.
James and Lily entered Lily's bedroom to pack everything up. Lily had battled with James for a while, telling him that she'd manage just fine packing by herself, but James-ever-the-gentleman-Potter insisted on helping. James pulled out a suitcase from the closet as Lily started taking clothes out of her dresser.
They moved on to packing the personal items. They came across a family picture that looked as if it had been taken when Lily was about twelve. Lily and Petunia, both in braces, stood in front of a lovely woman with blonde hair, and a smiling man with hair the color of Lily's. Lily started tearing up again.
'Oh no,' thought James sadly, rushing over to give her a hug. She pushed him away, rubbing her eyes.
"I'm fine," she said quickly, turning her head away as she quickly shoved the picture in the suitcase. They kept packing in silence.
James tried to convince Lily to tell her sister where she was going, but to no avail, so he hastily jotted down a quick note for Petunia while Lily wasn't looking, explaining her sister's whereabouts.
Lily's house wasn't hooked up to the Floo network, so the two of them walked back. James marveled at the fact that an hour ago, he had only been set on taking a quick jog around the neighbourhood.
They walked in silence for most of the way, but when James's house was in plain view, Lily suddenly voiced a question.
"What will your parents say about me living with you?" James hadn't thought about that. Whoops. He knew, though, that his parents wouldn't mind. Sirius had just moved out. The house had actually been feeling quite empty. He told Lily this.
"But Sirius is your best mate. I'm a girl, and one your parents don't know, at that," Lily contradicted.
"Don't worry about it," James said as they reached the front door of his spectacular house. He knocked loudly on the door three times. A house elf cracked open the door, peering out carefully before swinging the door wide open.
"Master James! You is back! Flora was starting to worry about you! And you brought a lady friend! Who is this?" James smiled and looked from Flora back to Lily.
"This is Lily, Flora. Lily, this is our house elf Flora."
Lily smiled at Flora.
"Nice to meet you, Flora."
"Nice to meet you, too, miss. I is sorry that I did not open the door at first. Flora can never be too careful anymore. Not with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named reigning terror all over, Master James." Lily and James exchanged glances at Flora's words.
Flora ushered the two of them inside, and said, "Mr. And Mrs. Potter will be with you in a moment. I'll take these suitcases up to the extra room." Flora got a watery look in her eyes. "Master James is growing up," she whimpered, as she started lugging the suitcases up the stairs. That moment, two adults talking quietly walked past the room Lily and James were standing in.
"Mum! Dad! There's someone I want you to—"
"We'll talk to you later, son. Dumbledore's just called. A kid from Hogwarts has just been orphaned, and we offered to take her in," Mr. Potter said, opening the door to go outside.
"But Dad! She's right here!" James said quickly. Mr. Potter looked confused.
"What?" He looked around, bewildered, for a moment, and then his eyes focused on Lily. "Oh.... Are you...?"
"Lily Evans, sir."
"Oh. Do you want to live here?" James closed his eyes and sighed. His father had always been quite blunt.
"Well, yes, sir. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, that is...."
"No, no. No trouble at all," the soft voice of Mrs. Potter cut in. "We have plenty of room for another person in this house. It will be nice for James to have some company again." Lily thought that Mrs. Potter sounded nice. She was reminded slightly of her own mother—sweet and polite.
James, obviously eager to get away from his parents, muttered a quick "thanks, Mum", and then turned to Lily. "Want me to show you your room?" he asked, running a hand through his adorable black hair. Wait. Adorable? Since when was his hair adorable? What was wrong with her?
"Yes, please," she said briskly, following him up the stairs. They entered a magnificent room colored bright yellow. It had beautiful furniture, but it wasn't overdone. Lily thought that it was simply gorgeous, but the day she would let Potter know that would be the day Snape actually washed his hair.
"Here we are," James announced.
"Good show of stating the obvious," Lily countered. James ignored this comment.
"Right. So my room is the next door over. I'll leave you to unpack and get settled in. You know where to find me if you need anything. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Er...Potter?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"No problem." And with that, he left the room. Things were improving, he thought optimistically. She actually thanked him for something! That was more than he could have said a few weeks ago. James smiled wickedly as he entered his room. Wait till Sirius found out that he was hosting a lady in Sirius's old room.
The next day, Lily was feeling a bit better. Of course, she was still traumatized over her father's death, but being around someone made her feel better, even if it was Potter, who she hated. But, did she really hate him? He had been so nice to her. He hadn't made a pass at her all day. Of course, it wasn't even noon yet, and she hadn't even spoken to Potter yet, so it wasn't too great of an accomplishment, but it was an improvement. She had woken up late, and had just finished breakfast.
Suddenly, the front door opened, and in walked James and Sirius. They both looked extremely sweaty and were covered in mud. They basically had the words "I JUST PLAYED QUIDDITCH" written on their foreheads. Lily gave an exasperated sigh. When James caught sight of Lily, he grinned.
"Hey, Lils!"
"Please don't call me that, Potter."
"And why not?"
"Because that's what my dad called me," Lily said quickly, trying to look as if it was unimportant. James's cocky expression became one of guilt and sadness.
"Oh, Lily, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to-"
"You didn't know. It's no problem. No biggie." You could tell it was.
Sirius was hanging in the background awkwardly. He said quickly to James, "I got to go, Prongs. I'll see you later. Bye, Lily."
"Oh-uh...okay. Bye Padfoot," James said. "See you." Sirius closed the door behind him as he left the house. James turned to Lily.
"So," James said, clapping his hands together, "what's up for today?"
"I don't know. What do you usually do on Saturday?"
"Play Quidditch," James said.
"You just got done playing Quidditch," Lily pointed out.
"You can never get tired of Quidditch."
"It's going to be a long summer, huh?" Lily asked with a grim smile.
"Only if you make it one."
A.N.: This seemed like an okay place to stop. This was a pretty bad chapter, huh? Not much going on.... Please, please, please give me some plot ideas. Where do you think the story should go? After all, I'm writing this for you guys. Let me know how to make this pathetic story better. I'm sorry if I take a while to update. Things are crazy here. Our play's opening night is in exactly a week. Our director is really freaking out and practices are getting longer.... Might I also mention that I absolutely HATE my costume? Oh well. Please read and review—you know the drill.
