Don't kill me! cowers in a corner I'm sorry it took me so long. I have a semi-insane life (I'm taking some classes early so I don't have them in the way during the year). I'm really sorry. I'll try to be better. But anyway, you don't want to hear from me, you want to read the story! It's not good, but I had to update! I was feeling sick of myself.

Chapter Four: It's All Relative

The day after the refreshing "laugh incident" was not as carefree as the day previous. It was the day of Lily's father's funeral. That morning, as James was just waking up, he heard a quiet knocking at the door. He sat up groggily, running a hand through his hair. Lily was standing in the doorway, looking shy.

"Oh, hey," said James thickly. "What's up?" It was then that he remembered what day it was. His eyes were now in focus, having put on his glasses, and he could see that she had tearstains down her cheeks.

"Um…James?" Lily began tentatively.

Through all this, it was funny that the one thing James actually focused on was the fact that Lily had called him by his first name.

Swallowing a smile, he sat up a little straighter and cocked his head to the side.

"Today…is my father's funeral," Lily said.

"I know. My mum told me yesterday," James replied, wondering what this was about.

Lily drew in a deep breath and let it out heavily. "I know we have never been on the best of terms or anything, but…My sister, she'll be unbearable at the funeral, I just know it…and all of my aunts and uncles and distant relatives, none of which I know very well will all be crowding around me and—" She stopped to take a breath. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

"It's okay—" James started to say.

"—I just…I don't want to face them all alone and I was thinking that maybe if you weren't doing anything and only if you wanted to- I don't want to force you to do this out of pity or anything, that would be so embarrassing—"

"Lily!" James said. "What is it?"

"Would you like to go to the funeral with me?" she spit out.

James was slightly shocked. He was so surprised, in fact that he almost forgot to answer. "Sure," he said when he remembered. "That would be great! I mean—it wouldn't be great that we're going to a funeral- that's really sad- I just meant—"

Lily smiled and laughed softly. "Okay," she said. "That will be great."

James groaned at her teasing use of the word.

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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lily asked for the thousandth time as they stepped out of the car and walked up the driveway of her parents' old house. They had just arrived there from the actual funeral, and were heading into the house for the wake, when Lily would be forced to talk to her relatives and mingle. The funeral had been very quiet and respectful. No one had really talked much.

As soon as James pushed the front door open, though, they could hear a loud buzz of conversation. James looked at Lily. Her face was set, and she looked ready to endure the worst.

"After you," he said with a 'here we go' grin.

She made a grimace and ducked under his arm and through the door.

"Lily!" called out a loud voice. James looked up as he walked in the door to see a heavy, extravagantly dressed woman who looked about twenty years older than she probably was. She was dabbing at invisible tears with a large handkerchief.

"Oh, Lily! Isn't it terrible? I've been crying since I heard!" she 'sobbed'. James personally found this statement hard to believe, especially considering the woman was not crying now.

Lily, the ever-kind person she was, though, said, "I'm sorry you had to cry that much. It's nice that you cared about them." Lily turned to walk away when the old lady spotted James.

"Ooh, Lily, who's this?"

Lily stopped and wheeled around to face me. "Er…."

What would she say? That they were friends? Were they friends? Or just acquaintances thrown together in an odd situation? They had certainly gotten to know each other better over the summer so far. Maybe the term "friends" was relative.

"This is my…" Lily trailed off, probably asking herself the same questions.

"James," James said quickly, sticking out his hand. "It's nice to meet you. Lily has told me all about her relatives."

"Old Large Lady", as James had begun to think of her, looked flattered. "Well, aren't you just the gentleman? It's about time Lily's found herself a man. My husband passed away some years ago."

Before the woman could clamp on to James and tell him her life story, Lily suddenly saw "Uncle Smith" and pulled James further into the house.

"I'm sorry about her," Lily said. "That was my Great-Aunt Mildred. She's a little…well…you saw how she was."

"Don't worry about it," James said. He was just relieved to be away from Mildred.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur to James. He met almost every relative Lily had. Many of them would wink at James after Lily introduced him as her "friend". He decided not to mention this to Lily.

As for Petunia, Lily only went to speak to her as they were about to leave.

"Lily," acknowledged Petunia. Lily nodded in return. They started exchanging "how are you" s. They were very formal and stood about three feet away from each other. James felt uncomfortable being present for a conversation between the two, and started to back away. Almost as a reflex, Lily's hand shot out and grabbed his hand and pulled him back. His eyes widened but he obeyed her nonverbal request and stayed by her side. Petunia, after looking James up and down with mild curiosity, informed her that Lily had been given her parents' money and car, while Petunia got the house and the furniture. They were told to split up her parents' other possessions equally. They set a date to divide up their parents' personal things, and the cold conversation was over.

It was as Lily started to walk out of the house that she realized she was still holding James' hand. James, who had been acutely aware of this fact, was a little embarrassed when she dropped his hand like wildfire and blushed.

The walk to the car and the drive home was completely silent. Neither of them had a very good time, James knew. And, out of the corner of his eye, he could swear that he had seen a tear slip down her cheek.

There you go! So sorry about the wait! I'll try to be faster next time. You can start to see a pattern in their relationship—as soon as they ease up around each other, they back off and become very formal again. What a wicked cycle! Well, you know the score: READ AND REVIEW! I love reviews! They make me so happy! So please make me happy by reviewing! And I'd just like to say that I liked HBP very much! I finished it a while earlier.

Till next time,

I HATE CAPS-LOCK