Disclaimer: It all belongs to JKR

Authors Note: I know this chapter isn't full of romance or action but I promise that is coming up in the next few chapters. This one is sort of important for setting up what is coming later on and for giving you a sense of where Lily's mindset might be in regard to learning just how influential and rich the Potter's really are. I sort of went with the whole Potter=Lots of wealth idea and later on I'll fill in the gaps as to how Lily and James ended up in Godric's Hollow without either of their parents. As I said I know this chapter is more of a filler but I pinky promise that you are going to get more romance than you probably want pretty soon.

But until then I hope you enjoy this chapter and that, as always, you let me know if you have any questions, commments or concerns in regard to this story.

Thankyou so much to everyone who took the time to review! It really means a lot and I truly love hearing what you all think :) so Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou! And keep it up!

Chapter 14

Summertime and Sickness

My Lily,

What is this now? The 20th letter I've written you this summer? More that that even…Geez time flies huh? How did the dinner with Petunia's boyfriend go? Hopefully you didn't feel too awkward during it.

Since you asked I guess I have to tell you my parents are doing fine. They are being as ridiculously mushy and over the top all over each other as ever so I'm assuming they are just wonderful. I swear if I find them in the hall closet one more time though I'm going to die of mortification. Sirius thinks it's funny and he even tries to embarrass them by bringing it up but it never works. My mum just blushes and my dad finds some excuse to whisk her away somewhere and…well let's just say I'm amazed I don't have a younger sibling with all the "alone" time they spend together.

They ask about you a lot. They want to know how you are doing and if your summer is going well. I tell them you are doing great and that you are having fun spending time with your family. I hate that they ask about you though. It just makes me think about you more and I have a hard enough time getting you out of my head to begin with.

I know you probably hate it when I do this but sometimes I just can't help myself…I miss you. Like you would not believe. I thought summers were hard before when I was just pitifully pining for you all the time but now that we are friends it is even worse. I think of things to tell you and I have to wait until I'm writing you to do it. Or I want to show you something and I can't. Mostly I just want to see you though. I miss hanging out with you. Reading by the lake. Fridays in the library. I'm ashamed to admit I miss being at school because it means I'm in close proximity to you.

Pathetic right?

Anyway today I spent the day with Sirius and Remus in the local wizarding village. It was a lot of fun. We ran into a few friends of ours from school and Sirius invited them to his birthday bash this weekend. That was when I realized it is only a matter of days before I get to see you. I can't wait. It will be great to finally have you over. And for the whole weekend too. When we told my dad who all was coming he said he might have to hide out in his office once Marlene gets here. Sirius told him he thought that was a pretty good idea. Me and my mum just laughed.

I was also just curious as to how you are getting here. My dad and I can come get you if you need us to. Truly. It is absolutely no trouble at all and I don't mind and I'm not busy and my dad isn't either and whatever other excuses you think of can just be checked off the list too. I just know from Alice that your house isn't connected to the floo network and our house has anti-apparation wards and I don't want you apparating onto the end of the street and having to walk here. So seriously if you need us to get you just say the word.

I'm rambling again I know. It's hard not to when I don't get to see you on a regular basis.

I guess I'll see you in a few days!

I miss you and I hope you are still having a good summer.

Love,

James

Lily smiled when she finished reading his letter. So far James' letters had been just what she needed that summer. They were a window into his life and Lily loved that he never left anything out and told her whatever came to his mind as he wrote. She had caught herself more than once looking out her window for his owl in anticipation for the next one.

She sighed as she went up the stairs to write him back. She only wished she had the same ability to just tell him what she was thinking without feeling so self-conscious. So far she'd only been able to tell him about what she had been up to and to ask him questions about his summer. She couldn't bring herself to write about any of the things that were bothering her. Or about how she was now almost ridiculously certain that she had fallen for him.

Chastising herself for her timidity she put the quill to the parchment and was about to write her normal beginning but something stopped her. Acting on impulse she wrote things out a little differently than was usual. She was surprised at herself when she was finished. It had felt better than she would have thought to put a little more of herself in without worry as to what he would think or how he would react.

Before she could second guess the action she rushed down the stairs and sent it off with James' owl. Her heart hammered in worry over how he would take it all.

James sat at the dinner table laughing as his father told a story about how one of his fellow aurors managed to find himself in the middle of a squabble between two elderly witches and had to charm his way out of it.

"I swear I thought old Mrs. Brown was going to kiss him before he was done." Jason chortled.

"Well at least he managed to settle it without the two old crones hexing each other into oblivion." Charlottle added smiling over the incident.

Just then the family owl appeared and hooted happily for them to retrieve their mail. James reached forward but Sirius beat him to it grabbing the letters and rifling through them.

"Hmmm let's see. We have two for your dad. One for both your parents. I've got one from Moony and well, well, well it seems Prongs got one from a certain redhead we all know and love." Sirius chortled holding the letter out of reach as James lunged across the table for it.

"Not so fast Prongs. Let's see what she has to say." Sirius said ripping open the letter and smoothing it out.

James sighed in irritation trying to reach for it again.

Sirius just laughed and danced out of his chair and out of reach. As he tried to begin reading the letter James chased after him. As they passed by Jason, Sirius realized that the letter he'd been holding only a moment before was now in the hands of James' dad.

Sirius sighed and sat down mumbling about 'fun-suckers' as Jason handed the letter over to James, who looked it over eagerly.

My James,

I don't know how you always manage to tell me so much about what you are thinking and feeling, when I can't seem to get anything across the way I want to. I've been meaning to tell you a lot of things for a while now and I just haven't been able to put quill to parchment and get it out. But I'm going to make an attempt to be better, hopefully.

I've been dreaming terrible things lately. Things I don't really even understand. Things about Death Eaters and Voldemort. I don't know what it all means but it terrifies me none the less. After waking my mum up a few times with my screaming I learned to put a silencing charm up before I go to bed. It's ridiculous that I'm letting it get to me the way I am but I now dread going to sleep most nights.

I feel silly being afraid of my nightmares but I can't help but wonder why I'm having them at all. Maybe I'm more frightened than I thought about what could happen to me or to my family once I leave the safety of Hogwarts next year.

I think my fears also have a lot to do with the idea of all of us going our separate ways in life. I find myself hating the idea of seventh year and graduation (things I've looked forward to for a long while now) because of the changes that they are going to bring with them.

Since you asked I suppose I have to tell you that the dinner with my sister's boyfriend went horribly. You see Petunia apparently caught some sort of flu or something and right in the middle of dinner she had to dash off to the loo. She's been getting sick constantly for two days now and of course she thinks I have something to do with it. She believes I must have done something to make her ill in order to embarrass her in front of Vernon. Ridiculous right?

To his credit Vernon merely excused himself from what had been an extraordinarily tense dinner and left once Petunia was out of sight. I really think my dad still wants to shoot him despite Petunia's growing affection for him. I'll admit I also really wanted to hex him a couple of times while we were eating.

I really can't believe we've been out of school for nearly a month already. Time really flies sometimes and I don't know if I like it just passing me by without notice.

I've been thinking of you a lot too. It's good to know you've been doing the same. I've missed you terribly these past few weeks and I'm beginning to find myself looking out the window hoping that your owl will suddenly appear. I know it sounds silly but I'm starting to feel like I've known the real you for quite a long time now and not just one simple year. You've sort of wiggled your way under my skin and into my life and….I'm glad.

I can't believe it will only be a few days before the party. And don't worry about coming to get me, I'm flooing over to your place with Alice from her house, we'll be there around eleven or so. It will be really great to see you.

Just know that until then I'm thinking of you.

Love,

Your Lily

James grinned as he finished her letter. Just a few more days.

"Merlin James would you stop pacing? It's driving me insane!" Sirius snapped.

James didn't hear him, he was too focused on the fireplace. Pretty soon Lily would be stepping out of the flames and he didn't know how anything was going to go after that.

Suddenly the flames turned green and he straightened in anticipation.

He tried not to look too disappointed when Marlene and Dorcas appeared instead of Lily. He greeted them happily and was glad when they all wanted to wait for everybody else to arrive before they went out to the pool.

A half hour later James was beyond nervous. Remus had come. Frank and Gideon had shown up along with the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team. So had Celeste Johnson and Rhona Marks, two Ravenclaw friends of theirs. Peter had arrived, followed by more friends from other houses and from Gryffindor. Then came Fabian Prewitt, Gideon's brother.

By the time they were all gathered about James felt like he was going to shred something. He rubbed his face in agitation as the flames turned green once again and….

Lily wobbled out.

"Oh thank Merlin." He heard Dorcas call out. "I thought he was going to hex something."

The redhead dusted herself off and looked about at everyone with a small smile on her face.

James sat stunned. He'd forgotten just what looking at her did to his insides. His stomach was in knots and he felt like his chest was burning and clawing at him. He knew his palms were probably already sweating like crazy.

She looked beautiful. She was wearing a cream colored dress with little blue flowers all over it and her hair was down and curled. She looked a little pale to him but he knew she hadn't been sleeping well. She truly was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. If he died right then he'd have died happy.

She caught sight of him and grinned happily then suddenly her smile faded. James walked toward her unaware of her sudden change in disposition.

"I'm so glad you're here." He said sincerely reaching for her to pull her into a hug.

"James I…" She began shakily putting her hand up to stop him from grabbing her.

"Lily? What's wrong?" He said standing in front of her and noticing for the first time the light sheen of sweat that covered her brow.

"I…" She attempted swallowing thickly.

James waited worriedly for her to speak but instead of words coming out of Lily's mouth a moment later she threw up all over his shoes.

"Oh sweet Merlin, that's disgusting!" Sirius yelped hopping a couch and moving as far away from the pair of them as he could.

James reacted as quickly as possible by grabbing up Lily's hair and holding it in his left hand to keep it away from her face. With his other hand he did his best to help keep her upright.

"Aw Lils…" He said compassionately.

She made a rough coughing noise and was able to choke out a broken, "I'm s…orry James."

"Don't be. You can't help getting sick." He consoled as she continued to vomit all over his feet.

He noticed absently that half the party attendants had left the room already and that more were making their way toward the door to escape Lily's being ill.

He looked over and found Dorcas bravely standing by with Remus.

"Is there anything I can get for her James?" Dorcas questioned looking at Lily sympathetically.

"Ya if you wouldn't mind going and getting my mum…." He trailed off as Lily made a strangled sound of protest. "Don't be silly Lily she isn't going to care that your sick. Though this is her favorite rug." James teased.

Lily groaned and James chuckled, reaching down to sweep up a tendril of her hair that had come loose.

As Dorcas left the room to fetch his mother the fireplace lit up and Alice stepped out. She ran to Frank, greeting him warmly before turning to James.

"Sorry about her. I tried to tell her to just stay home but she wouldn't hear of it. She looked green from the moment I saw her this morning but she kept insisting she was fine. I knew travelling by floo would send her over the edge." Alice provided.

Lily made a sputtering sound and Alice huffed.

"Oh please Lily you know it was foolish to come here. Just admit that I was right and that you should have just sent James an owl and told him how you were feeling," Alice chastised.

A small moaning noise was Lily's only reply. Alice rolled her eyes and dragged Frank from the room.

"Oh dear…"

James turned his head at the sound of his mother's voice in the doorway.

"Her sister's been sick with the flue lately. I think maybe Lily picked up whatever she had." He explained.

Charlotte nodded and left to fetch a potion to settle Lily's stomach while James continued to let Lily use him for support.

They were still in that position, Lily's head against James' thighs, her hands gripping his hamstrings while James held her hair and rubbed her back, when his mother and father reappeared.

"When she feels alright to stand up we'll see if she can manage to swallow some of this," His mum held up the small vial of liquid, "it should settle her stomach right away but it will make her rather tired I'm afraid."

Jason moved to sit down on the nearest sofa and chuckled, "Look Char. It's all over your favorite rug."

Lily groaned again, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and managed to use James to shakily hoist herself into a standing position.

"Mrs. Potter I'm so sorry." She managed weakly. "I should have listened to Alice and stayed home."

James uncaring of the sick that still covered his feet picked Lily up before she could protest as his mother reassured her that she didn't blame Lily in the slightest.

"I've always hated that old rug anyway." She supplied, which made James and Jason chuckle lightly.

James' parents followed along as he carted Lily to a nearby guest bedroom and laid her down on the bed. After letting his mother give her a dose of a tart tasting potion she turned to James and apologized again.

"I'm so sorry." She said softly. "I'm so embarrassed. I…"

He shook his head at her and moved to stand next to her.

"I'm glad you're here okay?" He said firmly grabbing her hand. "I'm sorry that you're sick and I hope that you feel better soon but I'm not sorry that you came."

She smiled softly and allowed herself to let the potion pull her into sleep.

Lily woke to the sound of a door opening and closing. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and tried to focus on the figure moving toward her bed.

James was carrying a large tray filled to the brim with what looked like a wide variety of breakfast foods.

"Good morning sunshine." He called out grinning. "My mum sent this up to you. She said she was sure you'd be starving by now as you've slept nearly a whole twenty-four hours."

Lily groaned and sat up to lean back against the headboard.

"My parents are probably going to kill me." She muttered.

"That's all been taken care of. My dad made a trip over there to let them know what happened and he assured them it would be no trouble at all for you to just spend the night here. Marlene and Dorcas did as well. I'm sure Alice would have also but I think she was wanting to get as much time in with Frank as possible." James explained placing the tray on the bedside table.

He stood awkwardly by her bed for a moment before asking, "So how are you feeling today?"

"Better." She replied honestly. "Still a little queasy and groggy but mostly back to normal."

There was a moment of intense silence in which James found himself the sudden object of Lily's scrutiny. He shuffled his feet a bit and ran a hand through his already messy hair, feeling awkward.

"What is it?" He asked shyly.

She smiled. "I just wouldn't have thought you'd look so dashing in your pajamas is all."

To Lily's surprise James blushed furiously red just as the door swung open again. Sirius, Charlotte and Jason entered with Marlene and Dorcas poking their heads in from the doorway.

"Good morning Lily-flower. How is my future-wife feeling this morning?" Sirius called out bounding over to the bed and landing on it with such force that it sent Lily a few inches into the air.

"Padfoot!" James scolded. "Don't bounce her around."

"Why not? Will she throw up on me? She seems better toda…why are you all red? Merlin, are you blushing?" Sirius said wide-eyed.

"No." James said turning away from him.

"You are!" Sirius cackled. "What happened? Did you say something stupid? Did you fall over and make an ass of yourself trying to bring her breakfast in?"

Sirius continued to pester James until Lily broke in. "Stop it Sirius it was my fault alright."

He turned to her with interest then. "And what may I ask did you do to make my handsome friend match your hair?"

Lily grinned and said, "I complimented him."

"That would do it." Sirius chuckled and then laughed harder as Lily's stomach growled ridiculously loudly.

"I knew you would be hungry." Mrs. Potter said unceremoniously shoving Sirius out of the way to sit next to Lily on her bed. "We just wanted to let you know that you are welcome to stay until you are feeling one hundred percent better. In fact we insist you stay here until you've fully recuperated".

"Thankyou, I really appreciate you being so nice and your potion is working wonders I'm sure I'll feel better in no time." Lily responded honestly.

"That reminds me." Charlotte said turning to Jason and taking a small potion vial that he handed her. "This is a milder form of the potion you took yesterday. It won't make you tired but it would be best if we kept it all in your system until your back to normal. I would take it after you share breakfast with this lot."

As James parents made to leave Lily's friends began to pile onto her bed to share her breakfast with her.

"I'm really sorry about your rug Mrs. Potter." She called out before James' mum could disappear.

Charlotte turned and smiled. "It's no problem at all dear. Scourigify works wonders."

After breakfast Marlene convinced Lily that she needed to take the grand tour of James' house as she had only seen the living room, a bedroom and a hallway. After donning clothes borrowed from Dorcas, Lily followed the rest of the group out of her room.

Ten minutes later Lily was frowning.

"You didn't tell me you lived in a mansion." She said huffily.

"It's not really a mansion." James protested.
"It is compared to where I live."

"I like your house."

Lily made a choking noise of disbelief and turned to look at the huge staircase that took up more space that her living room at home again.

"This is a bloody mansion James Potter." She growled and then covered her face with her hands. "I can't believe I let you see my house when you live here."

"Don't be melodramatic Lily. It's not like you live in squalor or something." Marlene said chidingly.

Lily sighed. "Close enough compared to this."

"Stop. It's not like we bought it or anything. It's been in my family for a really long time. Since like my triple or quadruple times great grandfather or something." James provided trying to be helpful.

She sucked in her breath and turned to look at him.

"In muggle culture I think you would probably be considered royalty or something." She said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Lily stop. It's not like it's that much bigger than my house." Marlene added.

"It is too. Your house is huge and this house could eat it three times and still want a snack." Lily retorted.

She looked at the huge staircase again and groaned. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Not for real right?" Sirius questioned worriedly as he tried to hide behind Dorcas.

James sighed and grabbed her wrist to tug her toward the kitchen.

"I'm sorry if you don't like the house." He supplied as their friends chatted around them.

Lily stopped and looked up at him in shock.

"What are you on about? I love it."

James looked at her in like she'd sprouted antlers. "You just spent five minutes groaning about how I live in a bloody mansion."

"So? That doesn't mean I don't like it. I feel rather like Elizabeth Bennet actually." Lily admitted blushing and rushing on ahead of him.

Marlene looked at a grinning James in bewilderment before running after Lily to tell her she'd gone the wrong way.

Lily was reeling. She had known James' family were prominent purebloods and that they had a lot of money but she'd never imagined anything close to what she was exoeriencing now. The whole idea of it left her feeling rather self-concsious and worried. She hadn't truly realized that there was such a huge disparity between them, that in a sense he really was way out of her league.

She looked around her and sighed. Their kitchen was monstrous. There was no other word for it. There were cupboards upon cupboards and an island that was nearly the size of her double bed. James directed her to sit in one of the bar stools and she complied.

"So what do you want to drink? Water, Orange juice, tea, pumpkin juice, we might have some muggle drinks in here I told Tolly to get some…a ha!" He appeared triumphant as he produced a coke from the cupboards he was rummaging in and Lily grinned at his excitement.

"Coke is fine." She replied, taking it from him after he placed a cooling spell on it.

James leaned against the counter as she opened it and waited until she took a drink to say, "So how have you been? I mean since before you got here."

She shrugged. "Alright. I'm still not sleeping well but I've been better these last two days. Honestly I've been trying to do what you said and just stay positive and it's been helping."

"That's good. I'm sorry if I wasn't as much help as you thought I'd be I…"

"No." Lily interrupted. "You were great. Thanks I…"

She trailed off and looked out the big kitchen windows to where her friends had all gone outside to lounge by the pool.

"It was just a little overwhelming for awhile is all. I mean I've never been prone to nightmares before."

James nodded in understanding and Lily turned her attention to her Coke.

Looking at James was more than a little overwhelming for her. If possible he'd gotten even more handsome than the last time she saw him. He was even more tan than usual and his hair was as sexily messy as ever. And he looked as if he'd gotten taller and as if he'd put on more muscle in just the weeks since she'd last seen him, but his eyes were as golden brown and intense as she remembered.

She knew they were on her as she looked back out the window again.

"Can I ask you something?" She quipped, still not looking at him.

"Go ahead."

"Do you mind if we don't swim today? I mean I know that's what everyone else is going to do and probably what you want to do and I'm fine if you do swim I just….really want to take a nap." She admitted smiling shyly.

James grinned and made his way over to her.

"I'll make you a deal." He said putting his hand out. "You let me try some of that," he pointed to her can of Coke, "and we'll go out to the hammock and you can take a nap while I watch the goings on at the pool. Is it a deal?"

Lily reached out and took his hand and shook it.

"You've got yourself a deal James Potter." She said impishly handing him the can of Coke and adding. "Be careful you might not like it."

James quirked an eyebrow at her and lifted the can to his lips. Lily watched as he took a huge gulp and ended up sputtering and coughing.

She whacked him on the back a few times as he choked.

"Are you okay?" She breathed worriedly. "Did it go down the wrong pipe or something?"

James shook his head and stood up as straight as he could to take a deep breath. His eyes were wide with shock and he sounded hoarse as he replied.

"It was like…fizzy or something."

Lily began to laugh. Softly at first and then more forcefully. Soon she was sitting on the tile and leaning back against his cupboards as she convulsed in mirth, with James looking on in puzzlement.

"Hey kiddo, what's with your girlfriend?" Jason Potter appeared suddenly his wife at his side.

"She's not my girlfriend." James stated plainly. "And I have no idea. All I did was try her drink and ended up coughing from it because it's all weird and fizzy and…"

His eyes shot to Lily as she began another round of laughter at his words. She fell over until she was lying on the tile and cackling like mad.

"That's it Evans. You're gonna get it." He said moving toward her in a mock menacing way.

Lily sat up and held her hand out. "No. Wait. I'm sorry. I…." She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "I didn't mean to laugh…" She paused took a few deep breaths and bit her lip for a second. "I didn't mean to laugh at you so much. It's just that's how it's supposed to be."
She stood up and grabbed the Coke off the counter and handed it to him.

James looked at her in disbelief.

"So it's supposed to be that fizzy?"

Lily nodded, "This stuff is carbonated. The fizzyness is just a part of it. Try it again and take a smaller drink this time. It's actually good I promise."

Still looking wary James lifted the drink to his lips and took a much smaller swallow. Lily watched as he processed the whole experience and tried not to laugh again.

"See it's not so bad. You just have to get used to the whole fizzy thing."

James nodded. "I don't know if I really like it, but I could probably get used to it."

"Is that the stuff you asked Tolly to get?" His dad questioned moving to look for it.

"Yea I figured we'd try it. Especially since Lily was gonna be here." He replied fighting and failing to hide his blush.

Lily bit her lip to hide her smile but she failed as well.

"Come on Potter. Bring that Coke. A deal's a deal."

James grinned and followed her willingly toward the door.

He paused as he heard another can being popped open and he waited. Five seconds later his dad was coughing like mad and his mom was laughing hysterically.

It was good to know he wasn't the only one who made an idiot of himself sometimes.

Hope you liked it! Review Please!