You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. - Henry Drummond
Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. - Victor Borge
Chapter Four
James grinned, "So do you want to tell me where we're going, now that we're friends and all?" Lily asked.
James laughed, "You're persistent, aren't you. But we're here now."
Lily looked around, they were in the middle of a corridor, the only thing that was around was a giant painting of a bowl of fruit. "You were hungry, so you wanted to look at a huge picture of fruit?"
"Tickle the pear."
"Do what now?"
"Tickle the pear."
"Why? What's going to happen?"
"Just do it."
Lily rolled her eyes, but she lifted her arm and tickled the pear. She gasped when it giggled and turned into a door handle. "Wow."
"After you, Lily."
"Okay." Lily climbed thorough the door and looked around in amazement. "Are we in the kitchens?"
"Yeah."
"James Potter! James Potter!" Called dozens of small voices.
James grinned, "Hi, everyone, meet Lily Evans."
"Hullo Lily Evans. What can we get for yous?"
"We'll just have whatever was for lunch, we missed it." James said.
There was a mad scrambling, and a few seconds later the house elves brought tons of food over to James and Lily.
"Wow. So this is how you guys always get food." Lily said amazed.
"Yep. Do you mind if we eat this in here, Stubbins?" James asked a particularly wrinkled house elf.
"We would be honored if James Potter and his Lily Evans would eat in our kitchens." The house elf answered, snapping his fingers and conjuring a table and chairs.
James blushed, "Thanks. Er, he didn't mean anything you know."
Lily grabbed a sandwich and raised an eyebrow, "About what?"
"Oh, er, when he called you my Lily Evans." James answered looking down at his plate.
Lily laughed a little, "You're embarrassed."
"Shut up. It's just I've never, er, brought a girl here before."
It was Lily's turn to blush, "Is that some sort of line?"
"Shut up. I was being serious." James muttered. Then looking at the tomatoes he had taken off his own sandwich, he grinned and picked one up.
Lily narrowed her eyes, "Don't you dare." No sooner had the words left her mouth than a slice of tomato hit her in the face. Lily peeled it off, "Oh, this means war." She grabbed for the bowl of Jell-O that was next to her, got a handful, and threw it at James. She giggled when it hit him square in the face.
He wiped his glasses off, grinned, "I didn't know that you had it in you Lily." He picked up a squeeze bottle of ketchup aimed, and fired. Lily squealed and ran to find her own ammunition.
It wasn't long before both James and Lily were covered in food, clothes stained, their hair matted to their heads, smears of unknown substances on their faces. James had Lily cornered, his nearly empty bottle of ketchup aimed at her, "Give up yet?"
"Never." Lily replied, eyes twinkling, a bottle of chocolate sauce aimed directly at James.
James shrugged, "Well then, be prepared to face the wrath of James." He squeezed the bottle, but only air came out. "Shit."
Lily grinned, her dimples popping, squeezed her own bottle, and tried to dart around James. James made a grab for her, caught her around the waist, but unfortunately, he slipped on something slimy on the floor, and took both of them down. "Ouch." Lily giggled. "Get off me," She said pushing him lightly. "You weigh a ton."
James raised an eyebrow, "That's not nice, just for that I think I might stay just were I am." But, James got to his feet and helped Lily to hers.
"Thanks." She giggled, "You look ridiculous."
"I imagine I do, if looking at you gives any indication." Lily stuck out her tongue.
"Come on we need to get cleaned up. And Filch'll kill us if he sees us walking around like this. Do you know a shortcut to the Prefect's bathroom?" Lily asked pulling something out of her hair. "I don't even want to know what that is."
"As a matter of fact I do." James replied grabbing Lily around the waist again and tossing her over his shoulder.
"Put me down, you freak." Lily called.
"Sorry Lily, no can do, it'll be faster this way."
"How is it going to be faster if you're walking slower than normal since you're hauling me around?"
"Don't ask questions." Lily rolled her eyes.
"Just put me down, this is stupid."
"Sorry, not going to happen." James walked as fast as he could to the Prefect's bathroom, said the password and kicked the portrait open. He used his wand to turn on all the taps in the giant bath.
"There, we're here, can you put me down now? What are you doing?" Lily asked suspiciously. "You wouldn't dare."
James laughed evilly, flipped Lily so that one of his arms was under her legs and the other was behind her back. "Of course I would." With that he tossed her unceremoniously into the tub.
Lily came up sputtering and wiped the bubbles out of her eyes. "That's just not right." She said, splashing water at him. James grinned, backed up slightly, and took running leap into the tub. "You're so retarded, you know that."
"I like to think of it as special." James said splashing her.
"I bet you do." Lily responded as she splashed James back. She turned her back as they got into an all out splashing war. After about ten minutes Lily, breathless with laughter, called, "Okay, okay, I give."
James looked at her suspiciously for a moment then began to jump around, "I won! I won! I won!"
Lily shook her head, and flipped onto her back. "You know I think this bathroom is the best part about being a Prefect."
James, who had stopped his little celebration, floated next to her, "I'm going to have to agree with you. After Remus was made Prefect he came back to the dormitory to tell the rest of us all about this bathroom, we were all so jealous it was ridiculous. I think that if I hadn't been made Quidditch captain this year I was going to have to beat the password out of him."
Lily laughed, "I can't tell you how many times the girls asked me for the password last year. They've pretty much given up on it now though, they know that I'm not going to give it to them, but they still ask once in a while."
James looked at his watched and winced. "Hey, Lily, it's getting pretty late, everyone'll be back from Hogsmead soon." He said pushing himself out of the water and offering Lily a hand.
"Yeah, alright." Lily replied grabbing James' hand. "Here I'll dry us off so we don't leave a trail all the way back to the common room." No sooner had Lily dried them both off when they heard the door open. "Shit." Grabbing James' hand she tapped him on the head with her wand.
"What the hell, Lily?"
"Disillusionment Charm. Now be quiet." She said tapping her own head with the wand; she shivered as the cold sensation flowed down her body.
They watched as Snape walked into the bathroom and scowled at the mess they had made. "Probably Potter and one of his stupid ass, bimbo, fan club members. Damned Quidditch captains." He said waving his wand and drying up the water all over the place.
Lily, who had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, pulled James towards the door. Once they were out Lily took the Disillusionment Charm off of them. "So, if I'm the Potter he was talking about, does that make you one of my stupid ass, bimbo, fan club members?" James asked as they started walking towards Gryffindor Tower.
"Bite me."
"Well, if you insist."
"Pervert."
"Lily, I'm a seventeen year old guy." James said throwing an arm over her shoulder. "You can't say something like that to us; it does things to our minds."
Lily raised an eyebrow, "Really? I was under the impression that it affected a whole other part of your body."
James snickered, "Yeah, that too."
After they got back to the common room Lily turned, "James," when he turned, slightly startled, she continued, "I had a lot of fun today. A whole lot more fun than just sitting in bed or being stared at by creepy first and second years, so thanks." With that she turned back and walked up the girl's stairs.
James grinned, did a little victory dance and bounded up his own set of stairs.
"So Sirius, what made you decide to go to your cousin's after Christmas?" Emily asked.
"I haven't seen her in ages, and I want to prove to you lot that her daughter is a metamorphmagus."
They all blinked at him, "A meta what?" Dorcas asked
"A metamorphmagus." Sirius answered looking smug. "I asked McGonagall about people who could change their appearance at will."
James sighed, "Well, it's no fun now that you know what the kid is."
"HA! I knew it." Sirius shouted, then began his 'Sirius is right dance.'
The group of sixth years looked nervously around the platform when they got off the train. "Em, you're sure that your parents don't mind me coming for Christmas?" Alice asked.
"Nope, not at all." Emily replied. "Well, I guess the rest of you are meeting your parent's here?" They nodded and Emily and Alice gave them hugs, "Right then, Happy Christmas. Coming Lily?"
"Yeah I'll just be a second." She hugged all of her friends. "Be careful and Happy Christmas. Hold up a second Em, I said I'd be right there!" She called, jogging up to her friends.
Lily spotted Petunia and Vernon as soon as she crossed the barrier, but she didn't see her parents anywhere. "Oh, this can't be a good sign." She mumbled. When Emily and Alice looked at her strangely she nodded in her sister's direction, "My sister and her boyfriend, but I don't see my mum or dad."
"That's your sister." Emily said shocked, "Wow, I'm sorry. Does she always look that pissy?"
"Only when she's looking at me." Lily replied.
"And what's with the guy's mustache?" Emily asked turning her head to the side, "Does he know that he looks a bit like a walrus?"
Lily laughed, "I don't think so, but why let him know. People won't laugh at him then." She hugged both girls, "Have a good Christmas."
"You too." They called.
"Where's mum and dad?" Lily asked her sister.
"I told them that Vernon and I would come and get you."
"Lovely." Lily muttered as Petunia and Vernon started walking away.
"I've got my stuff, no worries or anything." Lily said pushing the cart with all her stuff on it.
"Like I'd touch anything of yours from that school." Petunia said looking back. She didn't say another word until they got to the car. "I've had to tell Vernon about your abnormality."
"Dandy." Then turning her eyes to Vernon, "So, what do you think Vern, pretty nifty, huh?"
"Vernon." He said shortly. "It's rubbish, going off to school to learn magic tricks. If it had been my child I wouldn't have allowed it."
"Good thing that I'm not your child then, isn't it."
"Now listen, you little freak," Petunia hissed, "mum and dad might think that you're gods gift to man, but I know better, and so does Vernon. Now, Vernon's parents and sister are going to be spending Christmas at our house, so I don't want any talk of your, thing. The less people who know, the better. I don't think I could stand it if anyone knew I was related to such a freak."
"Great, promises to be a wonderful holiday." Lily muttered darkly.
Unfortunately for Lily her holiday was turning out to be worse than she had feared. Petunia had somehow convinced their parents that she was no longer disgusted by Lily, only whispering little insults and snide comments to her when their parents weren't around. Then, every time that Lily got annoyed and shouted, she looked like the bad person. After all at least Petunia was trying.
Lily woke Christmas morning quite happy, though not because it was Christmas, but because she'd decided that she was going to go back to school early. She'd written Dorcas about how to get back to Hogsmead without the train, and was delighted to hear about the Knight Bus. And even though Dorcas had tried to convince her to stay with her family for the remainder of the holiday, Lily decided against it; she didn't want to impose. I don't know how I'm going to get through this summer; I can barely get through the week. Maybe someone'll let me spend part of the summer holiday with them.
She walked down the stairs to the living room, where the tree was set up, and just looked at it for a while. She smiled at an ornament that had a picture of her and Petunia on it from when Lily was seven. She had pigtails and her two front teeth were missing, Petunia was grinning, her arm tossed over Lily's shoulders.
"Good morning, darling, Happy Christmas."
Lily turned, saw the red haired man with a mug of coffee standing behind her, "Happy Christmas, daddy."
"So, what do you think kiddo, should we wake everyone up, and get on with the presents?" He asked rubbing his blue eyes.
Lily grinned, "Yeah." She sat in front of the tree and waited for her father to come down with her mother and sister.
"Happy Christmas, Lily." Her mother yawned. Her blonde hair was a mess around her face, much like Lily's actually, and she rubbed her green eyes. "Michael, I need more coffee if I'm going to be up this early." She said to her husband.
Lily smiled, her parents went through the same routine every Christmas, "Girls, your mum, just isn't a morning person."
Petunia rolled her eyes, "Can we get on with this. Vernon and his family are going to be here in a few hours, and they don't know about Lily and I'm sure she's going to get something magical." She spit out the last word.
Lily got the usual from her parents, clothes, books, and records mostly. She enjoyed the gifts from her friends a bit more. From Peter she got a bunch of candy including some Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans, which she was considering leaving for Petunia and Vernon. From Gideon she got a sweater that his sister had made, apparently she made them for everyone she knew, or in this case everyone her brother knew. From Emily she got a special quill for writing notes, which only let the person the note was written to read it. From Dorcas she got mood ink that changed color with the writer's mood. From Alice she got a set of biting tea cups, Lily was seriously disappointed that she wasn't able to use them this holiday. From Remus and Sirius she got a book titled, Potions for People who Love Potions, which had a number of very interesting potions she was dying to try. And from James she had gotten a silver framed picture of the two of them covered in food and smiling at one another. Every so often one of them would duck out of the picture and throw something at the other.
Lily sighed, she didn't really want to go back to Hogwarts when none of her friends were there, but she really couldn't stand being home with her sister anymore. Pulling her trunk down the stairs she met her mother and father. "Are you sure you can't stay for the rest of the holiday honey?" Her mother asked. "We hardly get to see you as it is."
"I know mum, but I've got to finish a really important project for Charms. I won't be able to get it done here. I'm sorry."
"Well, school does need to come first sweetheart." Her dad said. Lily smiled at him gratefully. "So, how does this bus thing work?"
"I just have to go stand outside with my wand out. It should stop for me and take me to the town right outside of school."
Mr. and Mrs. Evans hugged their daughter and watched as she stepped outside and walked to the curb. Both jumped when they saw a violently purple, triple decker bus stop in front of her. "I don't think I'll ever get used to the things that she can do." Mrs. Evans nodded her head in agreement as Lily climbed onto the bus.
"So, where are you going?" The middle aged driver asked.
"I'm going to…" Lily trailed off when she heard her name being called.
She turned to find James Potter and Sirius Black sitting with the people from the picture next to James' bed. "Lily, what are you doing here?" She watched as Mr. and Mrs. Potter exchanged a look.
"Oh, I, er, I'm going back to school." Lily answered.
"But, it's Boxing Day. Why aren't you home with your family?"
Lily flushed, "I was, but, er, my sister…"
James caught on, "Why don't you stay with us, mum and dad won't mind. Right mum, dad?"
"Oh, er, no." Mrs. Potter said, clearly shocked at her son's behavior.
All the color drained out of Lily's face, "Oh, er, I couldn't. I'm just going to go back to school."
Sirius laughed at Lily's reaction, he'd had a similar one when James had asked the Potters if he could stay with them. "Come on, Evans, there's no one at school. You'll have to be there by yourself."
Mr. Potter blinked, "Lily Evans?"
Lily looked over, clearly embarrassed, "Yes, sir."
"The Lily Evans?"
"Dad!" James said blushing now. Lily looked at him curiously.
"We'd love to have you dear, if you don't mind spending the rest of your holiday with us. It'd be lovely to have another female in the house, I've always been outnumbered." Mrs. Potter said.
"Oh, er, alright then."
"So, where are you going kid?" The driver called from the front.
"She's with us." Sirius called back, grinning over at Lily who sat down in a chair across from him. "Thanks for the present, Evans; I didn't know that muggle pranks could be so entertaining."
"You're welcome, I really liked that book that Remus and you got me too. Thank you for the picture James, it's really nice. So where are we going?" Lily asked as Mrs. Potter waved her wand and had Lily's trunk disappearing.
"Don't worry dear, just sending it home."
"We're headed to Sirius' cousin's house." James answered.
Lily grinned, "Still going to prove that her daughter is a metamorphmagus?"
"I've already proved it." Sirius pulled out a letter from his pocket, "I wrote Andromeda to find out about the kid."
"Are you going to be spending the rest of the holiday with her or are you going to go back to the Potter's?" Lily asked.
"I thought about staying, but as I haven't seen Andy since I was a kid, I thought it best to go back home with the Potters."
"It's only because he doesn't want to spend too many nights away from my cooking." Mrs. Potter said.
"Too right, Mrs. P." Sirius agreed, "Not even the house elves at Hogwarts can compete with your cooking."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Potter smiled, "You sure do know how to suck up, don't you boy?" Mr. Potter said.
Lily smiled at the banter between James' parents and Sirius; she hadn't realized they were so close. "Thanks for the broom servicing kit, Lily."
Lily shivered; she hadn't realized James had moved his chair so close to hers, "Oh, you're welcome. I saw it, and it reminded me of you. Though I wasn't sure if I should get it or not. I know you had said you wanted the new Nimbus broom."
"I badgered mum and dad about it for a while. But it was a no go, maybe for my birthday though." James replied.
"You're birthday isn't for another ten months."
"It's never too early to start thinking about birthday presents." James said. "You mean to tell me you've never badgered your parents for months before your birthday for something?"
Lily smiled, "Not since I was turning eight. I started asking for whatever I didn't get for Christmas the next day. I desperately wanted a Barbie Doll and Sea Monkeys."
James laughed, "Sea Monkeys?"
Lily grinned, "They seemed like so much fun. They had all these ads in newspapers and such, they looked like little monkeys with fish tails, they had a whole little society, the kings wore a little crown, had little toys and everything, and I wanted my own set."
James shook his head, "So, did you get your beloved Sea Monkeys?"
"No, even though I did pull the, 'this is my first birthday I've had since I was four, and the last I'll have until I'm twelve' card. I did get the Barbie though. So, it wasn't a complete loss."
"Jimmy, Lily, this is our stop." Mrs. Potter called.
"Jimmy?" Lily asked as she and James stood up.
James blushed, "Only my mum calls me that. Or Sirius if he's being an ass."
"That's cute. Can I call you Jimmy to?" Lily asked, then darted off the Knight Bus to walk with Sirius when James growled.
"So, Jim, that's Lily Evans." Mr. Potter whispered to James. "She's very pretty."
"Dad."
Mr. Potter laughed as his wife knocked on a door. A pretty woman with brown hair and blue eyes opened the door; she smiled when her eyes landed on Sirius. "Sirius, hi." She hugged him tightly, "It's good to see you. Come on in."
Sirius blushed, "It's good to see you to. It's been a long time."
"Yes, it has. You must be the Potters I've heard so much about in Sirius' letters." She said smiling at Mr. and Mrs. Potter.
"You can call me Grayson."
"And please, call me Isadora."
Andromeda smiled, "Okay then, Grayson, Isadora, can I..." There was a loud crash and a giggle from the other room. "Ted, Ted, are you alright?" She called, turning.
Lily, James, and Sirius looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Fine thanks, dear." A tall man with brown hair and eyes answered absentmindedly kissing his wife.
The little girl on his hip grinned, "Daddy tripped over the chair again."
Andromeda sighed, "You're such a klutz." She said patting his cheek affectionately, "Ted, Nymphadora, this is Grayson and Isadora Potter. Ted, you remember my cousin Sirius and his friends, James Potter, and" she squinted at Lily for a moment, "Lily Evans from Hogwarts." Lily blinked in surprise.
Ted smiled, looked at James and Sirius, "How could I forget the two of you? I spent half of my patrols chasing after the two of you." James and Sirius grinned; Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, though she was smiling. "Ah, now I remember you." He said looking at Lily. Lily blinked in surprise. "It's the hair." He explained, "And the dimples." He added as an afterthought. "I caught you kicking Lucius Malfoy in the shin. It was bloody brilliant."
The boys looked at Lily wide eyed, "What? He called me a mudblood, I didn't know what it meant then, it was the first time someone had said that to me, but I knew it was bad. So, I kicked him in the shin."
"Huh, Lily Evans has a violent streak. Who knew?" Sirius said.
"I could have told you that." James mumbled.
"What was that Jimmy?" Lily asked sweetly. James glared at her and Sirius laughed.
After dinner Lily was sitting on the couch in the living room with Mr. Potter, who was asking her all sorts of questions about muggles. He was absolutely baffled by them and was astonished with all of the things that they used instead of magic, Lily found it adorable. As she was trying to explain television to Mr. Potter, Nymphadora climbed onto her lap. "You're pretty."
"Thanks." Lily said amused.
"I think I'll leave the two of you alone, I'm going to go tell Izzy about this ekelricity." Mr. Potter said. "Muggles, you just never know."
Lily smiled after him, she caught James' eye and grinned. "You're very pretty too." She said turning her attention back to the little girl on her lap.
She grinned, "You're hair's pretty. I can make mine look like that too, watch."
Lily watched as the girl scrunched up her face and her hair turned red, much like Lily's own shade. "That's very cool." James said sitting next to them. Lily looked over to see James looking at her, his eyes dark, and she felt that tug in her belly again.
Then Nymphadora grinned, "I'm gonna go show mummy and daddy." She said as she hopped off Lily's lap and ran to her parents.
"I bet your kids'll look something like that." James said.
"Mmm." Lily agreed, finding she was incapable of speech for a moment. What had that look meant? She wondered. She took a deep breath, and thought of a different subject. "So, how did you get that picture? I didn't see anyone take it."
"Stubbins. He took a picture when he saw how much fun we were having; he sent it up to me with one of the house elves that clean the tower." James said picking up her hand and drawing random patterns on the back of it.
Lily smiled, "That was nice of him. I'll have to make my way down to the kitchens to thank him."
"He'll be devoted to you for the rest of your life if you thank him." When Lily looked at him questioningly he shrugged, "House elves are funny like that."
"Huh. I might need some help getting down there again, I wasn't paying attention the whole time, and someone made it so I couldn't pay attention on the way back."
"Hey, you could have paid more attention, since I was carrying you." James interrupted smiling.
"So, since I'd be lost without someone to help me, you want to show me the way?" Lily continued as if she hadn't heard him.
James mentally did a back flip, "Yeah, sure."
From across the room Mr. and Mrs. Potter watched their son. "He's in love with her, Grayson."
Mr. Potter furrowed his brows, "How do you know? I know he's quite taken with her, and I can honestly see why after talking with her, but in love?"
Mrs. Potter smiled, "Mother's intuition. I don't think he's realized it yet, but I'm sure, that's the girl for our Jimmy."
A/N: Read, review, let me know what you think :)