Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me, well... perhaps the twins...

Chapter five: pictures and bets

Lily stood on the diving board and looked down at the pool below her. She stepped a few steps backwards, took a deep breath, ran across the board and jumped, doing a somersault in the air and falling to the water head-first.

She felt the cold water embrace her body while she dived, swimming against the bottom to the other end of the pool.

"Nice jump"

Lily smiled and swam towards the wall. "Thank you." she said, putting her head on her arms. "What are you doing here?"

Derek shrugged and sat down.

"Missed our talks. Since I arrived, I wasn't able to catch you alone."

Lily smiled at him. "You've been busy."

"You too."

"You know I've got to work."

"Don't see the reason for it. After all, my family has enough money to take care of you."

Lily's look turned to a serous one. "Charity" she said only.

"No." he said, touching her cheek gently with his fingers. "Love and care."

Lily smiled slightly, knowing that he's right. She can't be ungrateful to the family that raised her.

"I still prefer to work for my living, makes me feel more independed."

"Right," he laughed. "And at how many jobs are you working this time?"

"Five, not including the two during my next year in Hogwarts."

"That's all?" Derek asked sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "What can I do? I have my yoga lessons, my work in Madam Malkin's shop, the Leaky Cauldron, Flourish and Blotts book shop and I'm painting the ice-cream shop, I've got a busy summer."

He laughed again. "Really?"

"Yes. And I'm working in Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks during my Hogsmeade weekends."

"How on earth are you going to have time for your friends?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She shrugged in response. "I'll have time, don't worry. And speaking of friends," she gave him a stern look. "What is that that I'm hearing, that you blackmail Jess to work as a servant for your cat?"

Derek gave her an innocent look, which didn't influence her at all.

"But angel voice-"

"Shh!" she said hastily looking in each side "I told you never to call me that around here!"

"Still afraid, that they'll find out that you're singing?"

"Yes," she said in a whisper. "You know bloody well that I don't want them to find out. Not yet anyway."

Derek looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know I don't see any reason that is stopping me from telling them…."

"Oh really?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. "I'm sure that Erica and Richard would be thrilled to hear that you took an underage girl into a pub where they sell alcoholic drinks under full awareness that that's illegal."

Derek moved his finger disapprovingly. "You see? If Jess knew at least half of the stuff that you know about me, none of this would have happened!"

Lily rolled her eyes but laughed nonetheless.

"I can't exactly use it," she said in a softer tone. "After all, I was the one who asked you to take me to a place where I could sing."

Derek shrugged in a careless way. "Don't mention it. I would break the law anytime for you, if I'll be able to hear you sing again."

Lily looked away to hide her blush.

Derek, sensing her discomfort, felt that's its better to change the subject. "I see you're using the contacts I gave you." Titling her chin upwards and staring at her brown eyes.

Lily smiled at him, relieved that he changed the subject. "Yes, they're great. I can use them regularly in Hogwarts if someone will caught me without my glasses, not to mention that they're water proof, which is the best." she said cheerfulyuntil she realized that her chin was still held by Derek.

"Derek?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think?" he smiled and leaned closer.

Lily tried to hide her smile, even though her eyes flashed with deviousness. "You do realize, that your girlfriend is standing behind you, don't you?"

Derek let go of her chin immediately and jumped quickly on his feet, ready to give an excuse, just to find out that nobody was standing behind him.

He looked back to the pool, and saw Lily swimming away, laughing.

"Not funny, flower!"

Lily just pulled her tongue at him in response

.

"Hey prongs wait up!" called a tall boy with long black hair and icy blue eyes, jogging after his friend.

"Come on Padfoot! I need to check if it's her!"

"How do you know it's the same one?"

"You heard what my mother said. She had red hair and green eyes. Exactly like the girl who had the nerve to pull me into the lake." answered James angrily.

Sirius smiled despite himself. Like James, he remembered what happened at the last night in school, when James stormed into the dorm and slammed the door loudly, waking the rest of the Marauders up.

It took them awhile to understand fully what have happened, while James was pacing on the floor fuming.

"This is suppose to be it." James mumbled and rang the bell impatiently. After a few seconds, the door opened by a little girl with dark hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, it's you." she said, leaning on the wall. "What do you want?"

"Can I enter?" asked James frowning. This girl seemed familiar for some reason.

"No," she answered shortly. "What do you want?"

"Hey Julie! What-" a young boy got nearer towards the door but froze when he saw who was standing outside.

"Oh, it's you," he said crossing his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Let me handle it." muttered Sirius stepping in front of James, and flashing the twins his most charming smile.

"Listen, we're looking for a girl with red hair and green eyes."

The kids stared at him with shock. "What's her name?" asked Jamie while shooting his twin a nervous look.

"We're not sure." answered Sirius truthfully.

"So what makes you think that she lives here?" asked Julie while mouthing back to her brother 'send to Lily'. Jamie nodded once to show that he understood.

"Look," interrupted James. "This girl came to my house to deliver an invitation from this house so logically she suppose to be here-"

"Ask Lily." interrupted Jamie.

"What?" asked James confusedly.

"Go. Ask. Lily." said Julie emphasizing each word slowly.

"Where?" asked Sirius.

"Backyard." the twins said together, before slamming the door in their face.

"Bloody kids," mumbled James. "How are we suppose to get there?"

"Can't you Apparate?"

James looked at Sirius confusedly. "Did you say something?"

"Up here." said an amused voice

They looked up to see a fifteen year old boy, sitting on a broomstick with one bare foot on the stick while the other hanging in the air loosely. One of his arms was around his knee and the second laying on the handle of the broom.

James was quite impressed even though he didn't show it. He knew that for such a position you must need a great balance.

"How can you sit like that?" asked Sirius, looking as impressed as James was. Charley looked uncomfortable by the question.

"Years of yoga and ballet classes." he mumbled.

"What?"

"Never mind," answered Charley hurriedly. "You better Apparate to the backyard, because the twins won't let you in."

"Why?"

"They don't like you."

"They don't even know us."

"We know about you enough," for a second Charley's eyes flashed with anger but then he smiled again. "She's in the pool."

James nodded and Disaparated. Sirius looked up before doing the same. "Hey kid! Want to join us to a game of quidditch tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Charley's face glowed with pleasure.

"Yes!" he punched the air with his fist after Sirius Disaparated. He suddenly yelped when he felt himself slipping from the broomstick and only hanging by his knee.

"Smile!" a cheerful voice called, and Charley was blinded by a flesh of light.

Jamie took the photo out and waved it in the air, while Charley tried to climb back up to his broom.

"My big brother," said Julie proudly, looking at the picture. "The flying baboon."

The twins squealed in fright when Charley landed on his feet in front of them, holding his broom in a position that didn't leave any doubt about what he was going to do with it.

James looked around the large yard when Sirius apparated next to him.

"There's the pool, she suppose to be there." pointed James. Sirius nodded in agreement and they approached the 10 meters length pool.

"Stupefy!" they both fell with their face forward without able to move a muscle.

"Derek, what's going on?" they heard a female voice and soft footsteps that approached their direction.

"Just found here those uninvited guests." answered Derek, touching one of the bodies in front of him with his foot.

Lily looked down at the two bodies with a frown. "Let's turn them around."

When they did it, she groaned and put her head in her hands "This has got to be the worst day ever." she mumbled to herself and then looked up at Derek.

"It's alright you can release them, they're not Death Eaters. It's only Black and Potter, the morons that moved to the neighborhood."

Derek looked with interest at James. "Potter? The Potter?" his attention focused on James' face. "His head doesn't seem so big."

Lily smirked at his words. "Wait until you get to know him."

Derek smiled slyly at her. "Are you sure you want me to release them?"

Lily looked back to the two boys, getting a huge temptation to leave them in this state, but reason beat temptation faster. "Just do it" she sighed.

James and Sirius blinked, suddenly able to move. In a split seconds James was on his feet with his wand outstretched. "How dare you-"

Derek raised his eyebrows at him. "Well, what did you expect? What would you do, if a complete stranger would Apparate from no where into your house?"

James calmed immediately by this, and lowered his wand quickly. "We're sorry," he said. "But there were two kids that didn't let us enter-"

"God bless those twins." whispered Lily to herself, causing Derek to look at her with amusement.

"-and there was that kid on the broomstick that said that we can Apparate in here," continued James. "I'm James."

"Derek."

They shook hands.

"And this is my friend Sirius." said James nudging Sirius at his side. Sirius wasn't even paying attention. He was starng at Lily with a look that made her very uncomfortable.

"Stop staring Black. It's very rude."

James finely, gave attention to the girl that was standing beside Derek. From first glance he didn't recognized her, but that tone of voice…

"Evans?" he asked unsurely.

Lily looked at him coldly. "Good guess, Potter."

His eyes widened with astonishment.

That wasn't the same girl that he studied with for six years, he was sure of that.

The Evans that he knew didn't have flat stomach, nor she had curved thighs and gorgeous strong legs. And she definitely didn't have those-

His eyes raised from her legs and stomach to her chest that was visible under the low v-cut of her full swimming suit. She didn't wear her glasses, and her hair wasn't in its usual high ponytail, but was fully down and reached under her shoulders, wet from the water- and so was the rest of her body…

Derek burst in laughter, watching James' expression. "You mean to tell me that you never knew?" he asked him, and then he turned to look at Lily, amused. "Don't tell me that you still wearing those ugly baggy clothes of yours in school."

"Of course I am! Why?"

Derek looked at her from head to foot and then looked at James. Lily looked at him puzzeled until her eyes grew wider with realization. She turned to James with disgusted look on her face.

"Unbelievable Potter! Only you would put your head in your trousers, instead of where it supposed to be."

"What?" he looked at her with confuse.

"Are you good at Occlumensy?"

"Why?"

"Because Derek is, so I'll suggest that you'll keep your thoughts blocked in your head."

James frowned at Derek who shrugged innocently. "What can I say? She's right."

"Why did you come here?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"We need to ask you something." Sirius spoke for the first time.

"What?"

"Do you know any red-headed girls around here?"

"No," she answered coldly. "Why?"

"James is looking for one."

"What for?" she asked suspiciously.

"None of your business Evans." spat James angrily, getting back to his usual behavior towards her. "I've got an unfinished business with a certain one."

He saw something glittering in her eyes. Amusment perhaps? The tips of her mouth twitched as if she was about to smile.

"Very well, now that you didn't found her, you can leave the same way you came here."

"Now wait just a second-" started James angrily but was interrupted by a screaming that was coming from the house. A second later three kids ran outside towards their direction.

"Lils! Derek! Help!"

"He's trying to kill us!"

The twins reached them and hid behind Lily, while Derek caught Charley before he managed to jump on the twins.

"What's going on?" asked Lily confusedly

Charley didn't respond and only tried to break free from Derek's clutch.

Lily looked down at the twins questionably.

"We just took a picture of Charley while he's on his broom." said Jamie innocently.

"Unfortunately he decided to pick exactly that moment to fall from it." continued Julie sending Charley a sweet smile, which only made him to struggle harder against Derek.

"All this mess for a picture?" asked Derek in surprise, holding Charley's arms without difficulty daspite Charley's struggle.

"Let me see it." said Lily calmly looking down at the twins.

Julie gave it to her with an innocent smile.

Lily stared at it for a moment, looking at the half surprised and half puzzled look of Charley that was hanging upside down and hanging with one knee over the broom.

The ends of her mouth twitched for a second before she looked up again

"Well," she said handing the picture to Charley. "Take it and get rid of it."

Charley snatched the picture and ripped it to pieces.

"Good, now you can go and I'll take care of the rest." she assured him and then turned to the twins. "Alright you two, hand me the copies."

"What copies?" Jamie asked in surprise

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You know what I'm talking about, come on." she stretched her hand with her palm upwards.

The twins exchanged glances and with a sigh pulled the copies of the picture and handed it to her.

"What were you planning to do with it?" asked Derek in curiosity.

"To enlarge it at the size of the entrance door and hang it in the living room." smiled Julie.

"Sounds harmless to me." said Derek looking at Lily.

"No Derek." she said with finality in her voice.

"It's not fair Lily!" whined Jamie. "It's a good picture."

"And besides, if you won't give us at least one copy, well..." Julie stopped dramatically. "Don't forget that we know pretty much everything about you." she said with a meaningful look.

Lily looked at Derek and winked at him, hiding her smile. Derek smiled at her quickly showing that he understood.

"So let me get it straight," she said coming closer to the twins and kneeling so she could be at least in the same eye level with them. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Yes, we are."

"And there is no way I'll be able to convince you correct?"

"Yes."

"Thought so." said Lily with a sigh and then nodded towards Derek.

The twins squealed when Derek and Lily grabbed them and started tickling them all over.

"Are you sure I can't convince you?" asked Lily with a smile.

"O...ok..." said Julie through giggles.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that." said Lily with a fake confused look.

"All right! All right!" Yelled Jamie and burst in laughter again.

Lily and Derek stopped tickling them, and Lily hugged Julie from behind. "I'm glad that we cleared it out." she said with a smile.

The twins rose to their feet and walked away with a disappointed expression on their face.

Lily rose to her feet and when she turned her smile vanished at once. "What are you still doing here?"

"We were just-"

"Leaving?" she suggested. "You've got nothing to look in here. There's no girl that answers your description." James looked at her through narrow eyes and said, "Fine. We'll be going then." and Dissaparated.

Sirius stared at Lily with an expression that was unreadable.

"What?" she asked.

"How come when we are doing troubles you're not acting so friendly with us?"

Despite herself, Lily smiled at him and raised her eyebrow. "You want me to tickle you too?"

"I won't object." he winked at her suggestively.

"Get out of here, Black." she sighed. The last thing she wanted that day, is to flirt with a Marauder. How disgusting!

Sirius did a mock bow and Dissaparated as well.

"Dam'n it!" Lily clapped her hand to her forehead.

"What's the matter?" asked Derek worriedly.

"I forgot to take the film from the twins' camera!"

It was near ten pm, and Jamie and Julie were sitting on the kitchen table. Julie held a small black notebook, and was writing in it in a quick pace, while Jamie was counting galleons and sickles and putting them in small begs.

"Write it down," said Jamie counting sickles on one hand. "Jess gave extra 10 sickles to her bet, and changed it to: Derek who will get rid of his pet because of Lily, in two days at the party before 11 o'clock."

"Plus ten…in the party…before 11," she looked up from her notebook. "It seems that everybody knows that he'll dump that "angel" at the party."

"It's a good opportunity," smiled Jamie. "But if Lils let us do a little pranking here and there… I'm sure that that "angel" would have left earlier."

"I doubt that," Julie frowned and then smiled evilly. "Besides, it's much more fun to see Lils handling it alone. I can see that she's getting angrier each time that Angela commenting something about us."

"Yeah I know," Jamie laughed. "The only way to provoke her, is to insult one of us in public."

"Yes, and that "thing" provoking every one of us, even mum! Did you see her face when Angela made a disgusted look at her cooking? And called that the house-elves are trying to poison her with a rotten food?"

Jamie shook his head in astonishment. "I know! I was surprised that mum didn't chop her head off because of that!"

"And dad? He was ready to explode when she said that there is probably a lack in discipline in this house, because of our behavior and Charley's lack of caution when he flies. And all this because of that stupid photo we hanged outside the entrance door!"

Julie shook her head, and started marking something in the notebook while saying angrily. "But she really passed the line this time. To say that Lils looked like a street orphan with her looks, really drove over the line in mum and dad's patients. I was surprised that Derek didn't respond to that. He is the first usually to defend her, with his job and everything."

Their conversation was interrupted when Erica and Richard, their parents, entered the kitchen.

"What is this?" asked Erica sternly, eyeing the piles of money that were spread on the table.

"Well err…" the twins looked at each other.

"You're organizing bets again, aren't you?" asked Richard with a frown.

"How many times do I have to tell you-" started Erica angrily

"-not to do it in public?" suggested Jamie with an innocent smile, while Julie covered her mouth to stifle her giggles.

"No." said Erica, slightly in irritation. She was about to continue, when her husband put his hand on her arm.

"Let me handle this," he said to her quietly. "You go and get some rest, it's been a hard day for you."

She looked at him for a second and nodded. "Very well."

She gave a last glance at the twins and exited the kitchen.

"Now you two listen to me very intentionally-" the moment he didn't heard any footsteps, he leaned closer to his kids.

"Alright," he said in a low whisper. "How much is it?"

The twins exchanged amused looks before telling the details.

"15 galleons that Derek will dump Angela for Lils, 5 on his own will."

"15! How come it's so expansive?"

"Come on dad! It's not like you're the only one who wants Angela's ass out of this house!"

"Language, Juliana," warned Richard but he looked thoughtful. "So it's 15 for Lily to make Derek leave his girlfriend?"

"His sex partner, if to be accurate." mumbled Jamie.

"Jeremy!"

Jamie raised his hands in defense. "Charley said it first!"

"Its minimum 15 dad." said Julie quickly, trying to avoid argument.

"What are the odds?"

"The party in two days, during the evening."

"Hmm," Richard scratched his chin in thought. "Alright. Here are 20 galleons; I put it on Derek dropping Angela the next morning of the party because of Lily."

Julie raised her eyebrows "Are you sure dad? There are very low chances that it will happen only after the party."

"I'm sure. Here's the money." He put the money on the encounter, where Jamie already started to count fast to see that the whole sum was there.

"You remember what I always say to you, don't you?"

"Never tell mum." the twins answered in unison.

"Good." he said in satisfaction and left. Less than ten seconds, Erica's head popped inside.

"Is he gone?" she asked in a low voice.

"Yes mum." answered Jamie, trying hard not to laugh.

"Wonderful. So how much is it?"

The twins explained again, and Erica paid for her bet.

"What do I always tell you?" asked Erica before leaving.

"Never tell dad." they answered together.

"Good kids. And I don't want to see a single sickle on this table the next morning." she ordered in the end.

The moment she left, the twins burst in laughter.

"We've got to have the weirdest parents in the world." said Jamie, while collecting the new gambling money carefully.

"And people wonder how come we came out like this." shrugged Julie with a wide smile.

"I know. I mean look at us! We've got parents who act like teenagers, a sister that is doing a marathon through guys, a brother who his only living reason is quidditch, a cousin with a split personality, we are friends with a werewolf and we're hiding here an insomanian girl from a murderous Death Eater."

Julie nodded in agreement her smile growing wider. "You've got to love our life, my dear brother"

"Without a doubt."

They both laughed and continued organizing the gambling prizes.

!A/N: hope you liked it, please REVIEW