Chapter 3: Stunning Appearances

It was ten o'clock on a Saturday night. James Potter was playing wizard's chess with his best friend Sirius Black. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were both reading different sections of the Evening Prophet.

Just as Sirius' rook was decapitating James' king, there was a knock on the door. All four people looked up a little startled. No one ever visited this late at night.

"James, dear" Mrs. Potter said "would you get that please?"

"Sure, Mum."

He walked through the kitchen wondering who it could be. He opened the door and saw the back of someone. It was dark out so he couldn't see who it was. The person turned slowly and he still couldn't tell who it was. He waited as they slowly lifted their face. Then he realized who it was.

James Potter was standing face to face with none other than Lily Evans.

She gave him a sheepish grin as he stared at her stunned. Her red hair framed her face perfectly and her emerald eyes shone ever so slightly in the faint moonlight. She was beautiful to him. She always had been.

"Hello, James" she said softly.

He didn't answer, he couldn't. But he wondered why she was here. Just as he was about to ask her, his mother called to him.

"James, who is at the door?"

He stepped back to let her pass and as she did he noticed that there was a bag in her hand. Once she was in, he closed the door and motioned for her to follow him farther into his house. They didn't speak to each other as she followed him but let the awkward silence linger on.

As they entered into the room that the others were in, all three people looked up curiously. Then their expressions turned to shock. No one spoke for a minute until Sirius broke the silence in a way only he could do.

"Evans! What are you doing here?" he laughed.

Mr. Potter slapped him upside the head. "Sirius that is no way to speak to a visitor!" he reprimanded Sirius.

"Well James, please would you care to introduce us to your friend?" Mrs. Potter asked with a smile.

"Oh right, sorry. Mum, Dad this is Lily Evans. Lily this is my Mum and Dad, Jillian and Richard Potter."

Mrs. Potter was about as tall as Lily. Her hair was completely gray but she left it loose where it just brushed her shoulders. In her prime, she must have been a stunning because even with her age she was still quite beautiful. Lily could tell James hadn't inherited much from his mother except maybe some personality traits. She seemed to be a woman who wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. It was easy to tell who James looked like, he was the spitting image of his father except his father had tamed his unruly black hair. He was tall and it looked as though he had been muscular in his younger days. The same hazel eyes that James has, slender nose, and handsome.

"Well welcome to our home Lily" Mrs. Potter said and hugged her.

"Nice to meet you dear" and Mr. Potter shook her hand.

"Thank you. Nice to meet you too." Lily replied shyly.

"So, Evans what brings you here?" Sirius asked again.

"Oh, well, um…" Lily didn't really know what to say.

Then at the same time, it seemed, everyone else noticed the bag Lily had set down.

"Oh, Lily dear, please tell us why you are here." Mrs. Potter said kindly leading Lily to the couch and sitting down next to her.

"Well, I kind of…left home for a little bit" Lily told them not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Please, tell us what happened. Maybe we can help" Mrs. Potter said.

"Okay, well, my sister had her boyfriend over for dinner tonight. I have never liked him because, well, he's awful. Dinner went pretty smoothly but I knew it was too good to last." she rushed through her explanation and took a steadying breath because she could tell her voice was shaking.

Mrs. Potter gave her an encouraging squeeze and she went on.

"I don't know if you know this but I'm muggle-born. I'm a witch but my sister isn't. And her boyfriend doesn't know this. So she told him that I was 'special' and had to be sent away to boarding school to learn something or other."

She looked up to see that they all had a bit of anger in their eyes because no magical person likes to be called 'special' like that.

"Well, I fought with my sister and made sure she wouldn't tell him but then she went and asked if he could stay for a week. At that I decided I had had enough and ran to my room. Then I decided to leave. After remembering that all my friends were on vacation I came here."

Lily finished lamely and looked up into the worried eyes of Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

"Lily, did you at least let your parents know you were leaving?" Mrs. Potter asked concerned.

"Yes, I left them a note but at the time I wasn't sure where I was going. But I promised them I would be back when he was gone."

"Good but that was still irresponsible. Your parents will be worried sick but I understand how obnoxious people can be." she looked directly at Sirius who looked away and fake whistled. "So I guess we should figure out what to do with you." Mrs. Potter laughed.

Lily relaxed knowing that she was in good hands. But couldn't help from wondering what James thought of her being here.

"Jillian, we have plenty of extra rooms. Why doesn't she just stay here?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Well of course she will stay here. I wouldn't have it any other way" she said giving Lily a wide smile.

"Oh, thank you so much. I will be out of here by next Sunday."

"Oh now, don't be silly. You can stay for however long you like" Mrs. Potter said as she hugged Lily.

"Well, James, why don't you show Miss Lily here up to the room next to Sirius? I'm sure she had quite an exhausting day."

James nodded, grabbed Lily's bag and beckoned her to follow. They went up the stairs and he led her to one of the guest rooms. He opened the door for her and followed her in. He set her bag on the bed and turned to leave, but after a few steps Lily spoke.

"James, wait…" and when he didn't stop she added "please?"

He could hear the sadness in her voice so he stopped but didn't turn to look at her. He waited for her to speak again but she didn't, so he broke the silence.

"Lily, why did you come here?"

"Er…I just told you, downstairs" Lily was slightly confused.

James sighed, "I know what you said but why did you come here? You said you never wanted me to speak to you again. And then you show up here, I can't ignore you completely, my parents would know something was up."

She sighed before she spoke "James, I really am sorry that I said that to you. I regretted it the moment I turned my back but I was so angry that I couldn't turn around and talk to you. I never meant to say that. I guess I just got caught up in the moment and released my anger on you. I realized later that my anger was probably a combination of that moment and all those other times that you bugged the hell out of me."

When Lily stopped, James thought she would go on but when she didn't he turned to look at her. But he didn't expect to see that Lily had tears in her eyes and that some had fallen down her cheeks. He wasn't quite sure what to do but then she spoke.

"When you asked to be friends last year, I was skeptical at first but you really seemed to have changed so I said yes. I was really glad that I did. It was refreshing not to be pestered for a date. After a while, I felt like you and I were becoming really great friends. I considered you one of my best mates."

"We really got to know each other and I felt like I had misjudged you. You weren't that arrogant toerag anymore. I realized that you were actually really brilliant and didn't take school lightly, that you cared how you did and I liked that you cared. Then we had that stupid fight and I felt like a part of myself had been torn away from me. Like I had lost one of my best friends. And I knew it was all my fault. I hated myself for it but I didn't think there was anything I could do to make it right."

"Then I came here tonight and saw you and I felt like part of that piece that disappeared came back. It must sound crazy and I realize that it has only been about a week but then I thought about all the other times I was horrible to you and I felt even worse. I knew that there would be a possibility that you wouldn't forgive me and I have accepted that but I really hope you will eventually forgive me even if it takes years. I don't care I just miss you as my friend and I hope you don't hate me."

James was shocked that Lily thought he would hate her. He was far from hating her. It took him a couple of minutes to think of something to say. Lily took this as something else so she spoke again.

"Please, James just s-" James interrupted her.

"Lily, stop. I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I understand that you got caught up in the moment and took your anger out on me. I know that I can push people too far and you are no exception, as you know." He chuckled a little but continued.

"This past year has been great. I was so happy that you agreed to be friends. But I also understand that in the years past I bugged the hell out of you and that some of the anger you had was from those years too."

"I forgive you Lily but really I should be one that you are forgiving. I was the one who pushed you too far and I was the one who made you angry. I'm sorry Lily, I really am."

Neither of them spoke for what seemed like hours but it was only a couple of minutes. Lily had stopped crying and looked like she was thinking of something to say. They hadn't moved since Lily started speaking and now just looked at each other.

"James, I think I figured out what you're basically saying." Lily laughed a little after she said it.

"Really? Because I really don't know what I'm saying" he laughed.

"I think you're saying that we should forget about that fight like it never happened. And that we should pick up where we left off and I agree."

"Well, good. Because that's what I want to do as well."

They both laughed and just looked at each other for awhile.

"So…what should we do now?"

"I guess we should shake hands or something."

Lily stuck out her hand and James took it but then pulled Lily into a hug. They had hugged before but those hugs had been hugs that friends give each other. This one was different. And both of them knew it was different. It also lasted longer than normal hugs. After a few moments they pulled apart.

"I'm just curious, but if I hadn't forgiven you, would you have left?" James asked.

Lily thought for a second. "Most likely, yes."

James laughed and Lily just stared at him like he was crazy. When James noticed he quickly told her why he laughed.

"Well, if you would have left, my Mum would have skinned me alive for letting you leave."

Lily laughed, "Why?"

"She has been the only girl in this house for so long and then Sirius showed up last summer. Now don't get me wrong she didn't mind it but let me tell you Sirius and I together is no picnic."

Lily shook her head in laughter and smiled.

"Well, g'night James."

"G'night Lily" and with that James left.

James hadn't fallen asleep yet. He was still thinking of Lily and what she said. He felt like there was a double meaning to some of her words but he couldn't quite figure out what they meant. Now James knew he wasn't stupid but when it came to matters of the heart, Remus was the expert in that area.

He thought about how the appearance of Lily stunned him and of everything else that happened afterward. He thought that his Mum was really going to like Lily and if he let her go she would be furious with him. He laughed at that but knew it would be true.

After awhile, James had closed his eyes hoping that sleep would take him but he had this feeling that someone was standing over him.

"Bloody hell Padfoot!" James shouted as he opened his eyes.

"Shhh! You'll wake up everyone" he whispered, clapping a hand over James' mouth.

"Mmmm mmm mmm mmmmm mmmm. Mm mmmmm mm mmmm mmm."

"What?" Sirius laughed while removing his hand.

"I said what are you doing here? And I'm going to kill you. You scared the bloody hell out of me."

"Oh, sorry, well, earlier I noticed that you and Evans had been gone for a long time. Then neither of you came back down so I was curious to see what happened between you two."

"So you come into my room at" he glanced at his watch "one in the morning to ask me this?"

"Yeah, and?"

"So…this couldn't have waited until the morning?"

"No, Prongs it couldn't have."

James thought for a minute and decided that the only way to get rid of Sirius was to tell him what he wanted to know.

"Okay, what do you want to know?"

Sirius was pretty much jumping out of his skin. He loved when he got his way.

"What did you two talk about?"

James sighed and repeated the conversation to him. He felt a little guilty that he was telling Sirius this but Lily never said not to tell anyone. While he spoke, Sirius looked thoughtful and nodded at the right times. When he finished, a huge smile crept onto his face.

"Prongs, mate, I have a bloody brilliant idea."

"What?"

"Well, I sense a double meaning in some of those words that Lily spoke."

"Yeah, and?"

"And… you fancy her and I suspect she fancies you, why else would she come here? So, anyway, you should do something about it."

"Really? What should I do? She's only here for a week and I don't know when I will see her after that."

"Well, that's why you have got to act fast. Make her realize that she really does fancy you because I suspect that her feelings are hidden. Then once you do, you will have to see what happens. I can only help you get so far, mate. The rest is all you."

"Okay, so what should I do first?"

For the next hour, James and Sirius talked of possible things to do and which would be the best thing to do first. They agreed not to try too much this week so she wouldn't get suspicious. Lily was a smart girl but sometimes she could be really daft.

They agreed to try the first thing tomorrow to see how she reacts. If it goes the way they planned, then they would continue with their plans.

Well, after all they are Marauders, they can't not do something while Lily is here.