A/N: Alright guys I'm starting to get a little discouraged here. Lol. I got two reviews on chapter nine, and all of the action started there! Ahh, I'm mad at myself. Well, thanks to the two reviewers, much appreciated! Let's hope we get a couple more on this one:D

Disclaimer: Just a reminder since ten chapters are up I thought I would go ahead and make it fresh in everyone's mind that, I do not own anything in the HP series, unless it is noticeable that I have created it. Everything else belongs to my forever loved idol, J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 10

The Arrival

A loud crack sounded through the quiet stillness of the trees about them. Lily opened her bright emerald eyes and was mesmerized by the view about the new couple.

There in front of her was the largest most beautiful mansion she had ever set eyes on. It was four and a half stories of dark gray stone with hundreds of turrets and windows.

Lily and James were standing on a dull red brick path, lighted by charmed candles that floated above them. Lining the path were many birch trees, spaced out evenly. Out side of these trees was a dark and mysterious forest that seemed to never end.

" So, what do you think? Are you going to say anything?" James asked breaking her out of the trance.

She smirked, " How 'bout, I hate you."

He smiled, " Now, both of us know that's a lie."

Lily tiptoed up to his level and pecked him on the cheek, " I know, now come on let's go. This forest is making me nervous."

Lily snatched his hand and began to drag him along with her up the long endless path. James had the trunk floating in front of them as they walked together. He let go of her soft ivory hand and put his arm around her shoulders as the neared the porch.

" Thanks for deciding to come with me."

Lily shrugged, " Just think of it as a date... a very, very, long date,"

When they came up to the large towering oak door he opened it, picking up the trunk and grinning at her, " That sounds good to me,"

She rolled her eyes at his corny-ness, but laughed all the same, " Thanks,"

" No problem,"

The outside of the mansion was absolutely nothing compared to the elegance of the inside. Everything seemed to be either marble or gold, all of it relating to Gryffindor.

A long aisle of black and gold speckled marble extended out in front of them and then split in two and forked off to the opposite sides of the room, the path eventually connected to two magnificent staircases that led to the second floor. On the second floor was a balcony that had large flowing red draperies with shimmering gold tassels hanging off of the edges of them.

Dangling in the middle of the room was an astonishing chandelier that took up much of the ceiling, Lily couldn't help but wonder how it got up there.

On each side of the aisle way were two lounging areas and in the middle of the staircases, directly under the center of the banister above was an archway that led into another room.

The lounging areas were furnished with rich dark brown sofas and wooden tables on either side of them. On the walls above them were many pictures of all different sorts : pictures of James, his family, his ancestors, different headmasters, famous witches and wizards, some even just extravagant paintings of castles, mystical creatures, and different parts of the world.

Everything about this, entry room seemed to enchant Lily and make her want to stay here forever.

" This is fantastic," she said and an awed voice. " Its just unbelievable."

He chuckled and looked down at her, " This is only one of the fifty rooms in this house,"

Her jaw dropped, but she closed it quickly, " Oh, I would hardly call this a house."

James began to reply but he was ever so rudely interrupted by the sound of his four friends.

" Jamsie boy you've finally arrived, we've been waiting for you!" Sirius squealed as he ran over to James and jumped on him, giving him a hug.

" Gerrof! Ug, you git how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Sirius gave him the puppy face, " Aww, poor Jamsie Wamsie doesn't like it? Well, I bet if his Lillikins called him that he would"

James' eyes flashed at him, " I'm warning you," He growled, " One more time Sirius, and I swear I will hex you into obliviation."

Sirius chuckled loudly, " Calm down mate, I was only fooling with you,"

" You are insufferable."

Mallory walked up and slipped her arm around Sirius' waist, " But we all love him now, don't we?"

Remus laughed, " Of course we do,"

" Who couldn't, I mean look at him," Amanda added, motioning towards Sirius.

James just rolled his eyes, in annoyance; but Lily could've sworn she saw him grin, " Whatever. Lily, Amanda, Mallory come with me, I'll show you to your rooms."

The girls detached themselves from their boyfriends and followed James up the left staircase. Lily looked at the pictures as they passed them, not paying the slightest bit of attention as to where they were going. She watched James and his family dance and laugh and play together in the pictures, smiling at every photo.

"... and here is your bedroom Lily," the sound of his voice interrupted her thoughts.

She turned to him and shook her head, " Uh, sorry, what was that?"

James pointed to a door a, " Here is your room, Mine is across the hall, Mallory's is to the right of it, Amanda's is to the left, and Sirius and Remus are in the next hall to the left."

She nodded, " Thanks, I think I'll get some rest then. Goodnight Mal, Mandy.."

The girls hugged her briefly, said goodnight to one another, and walked into their rooms leaving James and Lily alone in the hall.

He smiled waved his wand and her trunk appeared in front of her, " There you are, I'll be just across the hall if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

" Okay thanks, James," Lily smiled and walked up to him, " Goodnight," she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then stepped into her room.

Just as she was closing the door behind her she heard him reply, " Sleep well,"

Her new room for the remainder of the summer was one that she could definitely get used to. It was a pale blue room with a creamy carpet that your feet sunk into with each step.

In the middle of the left side of the room was a four poster bed with bed hangings that matched the color of the carpet, right now they were tied back showing the soft blue quilt that covered it. Next to her bed was another door leading into a full sized bathroom. She also had her own desk, a walk in closet, a full sized mirror and a window seat that over looked the back yard.

Lily was going to unpack her clothes but then realized that she couldn't use magic, so deciding she would do it the next morning she slipped into her night clothes and climbed under the covers.

XxxxX

Lily was in the middle of a very interesting dream when suddenly her bed seemed to jump... or something seemed to jump on it. Her eyes snapped open and she jerked badly, there smiling two inches from her face, was the scariest thing she had ever seen, Sirius.

" What the bloody are you trying to do! Kill me!" she shouted at him.

He didn't even flinch he just grinned wider. " James told me to come get you up, he's almost finished with breakfast."

" Did you have to fucking jump on me!" Lily fumed again.

Sirius grinned and nodded quickly, he then squealed like a little girl and jumped onto the floor next to her bed, dodging a pillow that she had thrown at him.

" Geez, don't have to get violent there,"

She scowled at him, trying to hold back a grin, " Get out," she said looking away from him for the fear of beginning to laugh.

" Aw, Lilikins is kicking me out? You can get dressed in front of me you know," he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

She flung the covers off of her and chased him out of her room, " SIRIUS! You pervert! Get out!"

He covered his head with his hands and flew down the hall, " I'm out, I'm out! Merlin!"

Lily smiled to herself as she stepped back into her room. She opened her trunk and searched through it for a pair of jeans and a top. Finally she found a orange 'V' top with dark blue jeans. She took a five minute shower, got dressed and walked out of her room. But to her misfortune she had no idea which way to go, last night she hadn't been paying attention so she didn't have a clue where in the world she was.

She groaned and slapped her forehead.

Nice job there genius, what are you going to do now?

Shut the hell up, you always seem to be there at the wrong times, just go away.

Okay, lesson one, your conscious never leaves you! Sorry dearest. Oh and why don't you just follow the pictures.

What the bloody are you talking about, what do you mean 'follow the pictures'?

Just try to remember which ones you looked at last night and follow them down the hall, they haven't moved so it should guide you to the stairs.

Okay, for once you are actually helpful, nice idea.

Yup.

Lily smiled to herself and began walking down the halls, studying the pictures. After fifteen minutes of wrong turns and back tracks she finally found the staircase.

"YES!" she screamed, running down the stairs, " finally."

She walked through the archway she had seen the night before and stepped into the kitchen. She looked around and noticed that no one was anywhere to be seen.

'Great,' she thought, as she stomped her foot.

She walked up to the bar and sat down on a stool, resting her head in her hands.

Lily jumped at the sound of footsteps, spinning around and nearly falling off her stool she saw James standing behind her.

He sighed and looked relieved, " What took you so long? I've been all over the second and third floors looking for you."

She blushed and studied her nails, " Er- sorry about the - er ... wait, I kinda got lost."

James shrugged, " It's easy to do, this place is a maze. Do you want something to eat,"

She nodded, " Yeah, but I can make it myself. You don't need to make two breakfasts."

" Oh, no I made breakfast for everyone else but I didn't eat, I've been waiting for you to come down." He said as he walked around the bar. He waved his wand and all of the necessary equipment for bacon and pancakes appeared.

Lily's insides flip flopped when he said that, no one ever waited for her. That was so sweet of him. Not even her parents waited for her, she always had to watch out for herself, and knowing that she finally had picked the right guy made her feel great inside.

" Thanks, but really, let me help." she hopped off of the stool and walked over to the counter, " I can make the pancakes, you can take the bacon."

James flashed her his smile and nodded, " Alright since you are so persistent, I guess that would be alright."

Within ten minutes breakfast was ready, James had set the table and they were sitting down. Yet again someone walked in and interrupted; Sirius.

Lily who had had her fork half way to her mouth slammed it down and flung her arms in the air, " What is with you and interrupting things? Every time! I swear!"

Sirius backed up and raised his arms in surrender, " Hey, I was just going to grab a butterbeer, for me and Remus! Chill,"

Lily glared at him and James started laughing, Sirius was backing up to the refrigerator acting as if she would stab him any second.

As soon as he had the butterbeers he ran out of the room.

She turned around and rolled her eyes, " He is getting on my last nerve." she said, stressing the word, last.

Lily returned to eating but stopped with her mouth full and looked at James who had his arms crossed and was sitting in his chair smirking at her.

She raised her eyebrow at him, " Wha, er ooh mirking ah?"

" Nothing," he laughed and started eating again.

" No really, what was that look for?"

" I was just imagining what you did to him this morning to make him squeal like that."

She rolled her eyes again, " He squeals like that every five minutes." As if it were a cue you could hear Sirius squeal and then a loud thump followed it.

Lily tried to hold back a giggle but she couldn't help but laugh. James who was in the middle of taking a drink from his goblet, snorted as he heard it and began to choke. This only succeeded in making Lily laugh harder. Soon she was holding her sides and James was blowing his nose trying to get the food out of it.

" Well, my appetite is completely gone after seeing that stuff shoot out of your nose like that,"

She picked up her plate and walked it over to the sink.

" It's a good thing that you had finished eating then, I guess," James replied smartly.

She nodded, " Yep I guess so."

" Here quit cleaning I'll take care of it." James pulled out his wand and said a charm. Soon the entire kitchen was sparkling.

" What do you say we go find the others?" He asked, as they started out of the kitchen.

She shrugged, " Sounds good to me. Oh, and where are your parents, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting them yet."

" Oh yeah, I was meaning to tell you about it over breakfast, but we kind of got interrupted, twice..."

" What do you mean tell me about it? Is there something wrong?"

They had stopped walking now and he was looking at her very seriously.

" It's not too awfully serious, my mother and father are aurors you see. And something came up so they had to apparate to another state. They won't be back for the rest of the summer I'm afraid. My mum left me a note, I found it this morning."

Lily looked concerned, " Well, what came up?"

A look of fright and doubt flashed across his face, " Voldemort has been sighted again, or at least his work has."

Her body quivered at the sound of his name, " What do you mean, his work? What happened."

" Three muggles have been murdered that's what."

" All at once?"

He nodded and then shook his head in disappointment, " Yep, all at once. And what's sad is that there was no reason for it."

She stared off into space and shivered again, " I hate the idea of him being out there and killing others for no reason. The next thing I know it will be someone I love."

" Oh, I'm sure everything will be okay, mum and dad are on the case."

" Yeah, I heard they were two of the most well trained and powerful aurors around."

James smiled proudly, " Yep, well we better go find everyone."

" Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about that," she giggled and began to walk into the next room.

There sitting on a couch chatting and laughing together were Sirius, Remus, and their girlfriends latched to their hips.

" Ah, there you two are, we were afraid you two had gotten lost together," Sirius said jokingly as he wiggled his eyebrows.

James smirked and chuckled, " Nope, too bad actually."

Lily blushed and smacked him on the arm, " James, you are just as bad a Sirius."

He shrugged, " Sorry, I can't help it."

James walked over to another couch and sat down, leaving Lily standing alone in the middle of the room. He patted the spot next to him, she walked over and sat down next to him, only to feel his arm slip around her waist and pull him closer to him.

She smiled to herself as she melted into his strong arms, loving every second of being held.

Mallory yawned and stretched, " So, what do you guys want to do? I mean we've been sitting here all morning."

Amanda nodded in agreement. " Yeah, any suggestions?"

" Well, we could go swimming. The pool's just down the hall." Remus offered.

The girls gaped at James, " You have a bloody pool in this place?" Amanda exclaimed in disbelief.

He nodded, " Yeah, this place is so big you have to put something in it to fill in the gaps!"

" So are we going or not?" asked Sirius with mock annoyance in his voice.

Mallory shrugged" Yeah, sounds good to me,"

Amanda got up, " Same here, come on Lils, Mal, let's go change."

Lily seemed hesitant but got up anyway, but as she walked away she noticed that James had her hand.

She looked at him oddly and tilted her head, " Can... I go now?"

He shook his head and pulled her back down onto his lap.

" I think I'd rather see you get ready right here," he whispered in her ear.

Lily's face matched her hair as she looked at him in shock. " James!" Even though she was outraged, .. or flattered, which ever, she laughed.

" You are worse than Sirius," she said, " But don't think I don't like it." Lily smirked and began to get up again, but he pulled her down once more.

" Oh, come on love birds, I want to go change!" Mallory stated, putting her hands on her hips.

" Alright, just give me a second." James said.

He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips, pulling away after a few seconds. He got up and let go of her hand, " I'll see you in a minute I guess."

She smiled and nodded, " Alright."

" I'll wait for you in the main room, to show you three to the pool."

" Okay, okay we get it, come on Lily, let's go!"

Lily rolled her eyes, giggled, waved to James, and without another second passing was pulled out of the room.

" Merlin, you say that we are attached to Remus and Sirius to the hip, but you two are attached by the mouth!" Mallory joked, as they ran up the stairs.

She shrugged, " Sorry,"

Amanda just laughed, " You two are so hopelessly crazy for each other that it's not even funny."

A few minutes later, after changing the three girls were standing in front of Lily's mirror checking to make sure that everything was tied tight enough and positioned correctly.

Mallory had on a very small, light blue bikini with white flowers on the top and little bows on the sides of the bottom piece.

Amanda had on a white bikini that was low cut but not nearly as skimpy as Mallory's was.

Lily was the best looking of the three though, her green bikini, matching her emerald eyes, stood out and made her look perfect. Her hair fell down to mid back in loose curls that would tempt any man to snog her in the nearest broom closet.

" Does this make me look fat?" she asked.

Mallory and Amanda gave each other annoyed looks, " Uh, yeah Lily you look like a cow."

Lily smiled, jumped and started out of the room, " Fantastic!"

They laughed and followed her out of the room, down the hall and into the main room.

Sure enough there James was in a dark blue pair of swimming trunks with his back turned, looking out the window.

Lily cleared her throat, " Okay, where's the pool, we're ready now."

James turned around smiling at them. But when his eyes met Lily, his smile dropped and his eyes widened. After a couple of seconds, she shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he was mentally undressing her.

" Uh, we're ready, can we go now?" she asked.

James shook his head and nodded, " Yeah right this way," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

Lily looked at her friends and shook her head, they giggled and followed him down the hall and into the pool room.

Sirius and Remus were already in the pool, wrestling each other. At the moment, Sirius had Remus in a head lock under the water.

The three of the girls walked over to the edge of the pool and watched the show. Each second the two boys neared closer to them, and when they were at the edge of the pool, they quit fighting, and grabbed their girlfriends' legs pulling them into the water.

Mallory and Amanda screamed and fell face first into the water. Lily was laughing so hard that she thought she was going to die, but she stopped suddenly and screamed as a large hand connected with her back, shoving her into the pool. The boys laughed, but James quit as Lily scowled at him and grabbed his ankle pulling him under.

" How do you like it?" she asked, when he came back up.

Disgusted with their boyfriends, the three girls swam over to the edge of the pool and refused to make eye contact with them.

" Aw, come on, we were only fooling around." James said, swimming over to Lily and floating in front of her.

Lily rolled her eyes and snorted, but she couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face. She splashed him and started swimming away, " Quit looking at me like that!"

She stopped and looked behind her, James was no where to be seen. Mallory was on Sirius' shoulders and Amanda was on Remus', they were playing chicken. But she couldn't seem to find James.

She heard a splash from behind her, and felt a rush of water below her. She looked down and saw James just below her feet smiling up at her like a little kid.

The entire time they were in the pool she was being chased, and finally after a half hour of it she decided she had had enough and had went back upstairs to change.

Now they were all sitting in a living room somewhere on the second floor, Sirius and Remus were playing wizards chess, with Mallory and Amanda sitting next to them, making fun of every dumb move they made. Lily and James were sitting at a bar in the corner of the room chatting.

" Lily?" James asked, as he handed her a butterbeer and seated himself next to him.

She took a sip and nodded towards him, " Yeah?"

" There's something else that I've been meaning to tell you."

Lily smiled, " You seem to be doing that a lot lately."

He shrugged, " Yeah, I suppose I have."

" So, what's it this time?"

" Well, every summer and Christmas break, my parents always throw a ball." He rolled his eyes, " I never thought much of them, they always seemed to be an annoyance to me."

She nodded, " Go on,"

" Well, our annual, ' Potter Ball' is scheduled for next Friday. Mum and Dad said they would be back by then, they made sure to tell their boss. But anyway, I have to have a date."

Lily smiled, " Yes..."

James smirked and shook his head, " You're going to make this difficult for me aren't you."

" Of course I am, I'm female aren't I!"

He set down his butterbeer and continued " Well, would you like to be my date for the Ball, Madame?"

She seemed to be thinking, she rubbed her chin and looked up at the ceiling, " Well... I don't know..."

" Oh come on Lily!" he said shoving her playfully.

She laughed and nodded, " Oh alright, yeah I'll go."

" Good, because Sirius and Remus are already taken," James motioned to the three teens fighting over a chess piece in the middle of the room.

Lily laughed and shrugged, " Oh well, I guess you'll just have to do."

He chuckled and flashed her his famous 'Potter' smile, " So, when do you want to go shopping for your dress?"

She seemed shocked, " Well, I don't know. That really didn't occur to me."

" Wow, that's surprising, usually that's the first thing that will pop into a womans' mind."

Laughing she hopped off of the stool, " Well, I guess I'm just an oddball then."

He followed her over to a couch and sat down next to her. " I guess, well, do you want to go down to Hogsmeade tomorrow and see what they have?"

Lily nodded, " Sure that sounds good to me."

XxxxX

The rest of the day seemed to drag on slowly for the three girls, they were all very excited to go shopping for their dresses, shoes.. and purses of course! That night they had a bit of trouble sleeping due to the fact that they were all worried about what color would go best with their eyes.

A/N: Gosh this chapter just seemed to drag on didn't it? I couldn't figure out where to stop writing! Well, I hope you all enjoyed it. Please give me some feed back on the chapter, oh and also tell me what type of dresses they should get. Please review! Thanks.

Lissa