Chapter 22

Secret-No-More

James took Lily by the hand and they apparated away together. When Lily opened her eyes again she screamed in surprise and grabbed James by the waist.

They were standing in front of the Eiffel Tower! Lily looked over at James and gasped. It was absolutely beautiful all lit up, behind it fell a eye-catching curtain of red and orange, the sun was just beginning to set, but why were they here? This surely wasn't James' intentional destination... was it?

" What are we doing here? We're in France! Paris, France! We're in PARIS!"

James laughed, " Yes, I believe you're correct! We are, in fact standing, right now, in front of the Eiffel Tower, which is indeed in Paris, France."

" Well, why? I mean did you apparate to the wrong place?" She looked around nervously, " Are we allowed to be this close to it without having a pass or something?"

Laughing again, he took her hand and led her closer to the tower.

" Oh... Oh, Merlin, James, no, this couldn't be... this isn't where you meant to take us ... James? James? Is this where you meant to apparate to?"

He nodded and smirked at her as they approached a guard dressed in red and black, he stepped in front of them and nodded at James as he opened the elevator door by pressing a yellow button.

Lily looked up and smiled in awe, it was huge, absolutely huge! She had always wanted to come to Paris, her family never had enough money to travel though.

Clearing his throat, James pulled her forward into the elevator which smelled strongly of roses, " Come on, don't want to be late now!"

" What, oh, alright," she said in response as she reluctantly stepped into the elevator.

" So, why are we here James?"

He smiled and pulled her close to him, " You'll see, just be patient!"

As an after thought she added, " Late for what exactly?

" Patience Lily! Geesh!"

Lily eyed him curiously but nevertheless smiled and enjoyed the free ride up. When the shiny polished doors opened, she was floored once more. She was looking at one of the most beautiful restaurants she'd ever seen, James took her by the arm and led her out of the elevator.

" Come on Lily, let's go," he urged her, but she was just so shocked, it was all so beautiful! It was as if her legs had been stuck in two large buckets of cement, she couldn't move.

The walls and ceiling were painted black, everything was perfectly clean and soft music was playing in the background. Tables were set up everywhere, all of them circular and covered in white table cloths with at least one vase full of beautiful red roses sitting in the middle. The carpet was a dark gray color mixed with spots of black.

All of the sudden, out of the blue, Sirius, Remus, Mallory and Amanda all appeared from behind a door, in front of them dressed in white aprons and chef hats. She couldn't help but snicker, they looked like morons.

Remus stepped up and bowed deeply, smiling broadly, " Welcome to Le Jules Verne, we have been expecting you."

Lily looked at him blankly and then looked up at James, " What's going on?"

James smiled, " We are here to eat dinner,"

She furrowed her brow, " But... why is ... why are all of... why are they dressed in aprons! I don't think you understood my question, What the bloody hell is going on?"

" They are our waiters and waitresses for the night, Lily!" he said laughing as if it was completely obvious.

Remus cleared his throat and bowed again, " Excuse me, but shall I seat you now?" he asked.

Lily looked at him oddly and then back at James who nodded and began to follow Remus.

" Come along now," Remus said looking back at Lily, who was lagging behind.

She snapped out of her daze and ran up with James, taking his hand.

" When did they start working here? I still don't get it." She asked in a hurry, getting aggravated.

James chuckled, " Merlin, so many questions." he said smiling.

Remus smiled, and motioned to a table for two next to a window, he pulled out her chair and waited for her to take her seat. When he did he bowed again, winked at Lily, and walked off.

James had seated himself across from her, and he was twiddling his thumbs calmly while looking out the window at the beautiful view.

All of the sudden Mallory popped up out of no where again, " Bonjour! And once again welcome to, Le Jules Verne! Here are your menus," She said as whipped two brown-ish colored booklets out and set them in front of of them, as she did this Amanda walked up with a tray, on it she was skillfully balancing two tall glasses full of water. Behind her stood Sirius, who looked somewhat put out, he walked up to them and placed an elegant red napkin on each of their laps.

Lily couldn't help but over hear him mumbling, " Why do I get to give them the napkins... no... I can't serve the food... or give the menus! I get the bloody napkins!"

" I and my two assistants," Mallory said, motioning to Amanda, who was placing the glasses in front of them, and Sirius, who was frowning angrily, " Will be serving you for tonight! Can I get you anything to drink, besides the complimentary water?"

James nodded, " Yes, how about some red wine, for both of us?" he asked looking in Lily's direction.

But she wasn't paying a bit of attention to what he was saying, she couldn't believe all of her friends were serving her. And why on Earth was the whole restaurant empty except for them? What was going on? Suddenly it all clicked.

She looked at James, mouth open and whispered, " Did you rent this whole thing out for us?"

He smiled and nodded.

" Have you all been planning this for the past three weeks?"

James nodded again, and looked at her curiously.

All of the sudden she started to cry, she got up from her seat and threw her arms around him. She had known all along that they had to have been plotting something good! ... well... maybe not all along.

James pulled away from her and kissed her lightly on the lips, " How long have you known?"

She growled, " Long enough to drive me crazy! I can't believe you guys!" She smacked him playfully on the arm and then hugged all of her friends who smiled and laughed. " Ah! I'm going to kill all of you! I thought for sure you guys were plotting something bad, and," she turned to James, " I thought you were going to break up with me!"

He threw his head back and laughed as he stood and picked her up twirling her in the air, " No, no, no, I would never do that!" he set her down and looked at her more seriously, " I love you Lily. And I have no intentions of breaking up with you." He took her right hand and twisted the promise ring on her fourth finger, " Don't you remember me telling you that already?"

She nodded and hugged him tightly, " Several times... I should never have doubted you. I'm so sorry."

He merely shrugged, and smirked, " Well, I suppose I led you on a little."

Lily frowned at him, " Um, a little?"

" Maybe a lot..." he shifted around nervously, but laughed nevertheless.

Mallory cleared her throat from behind them and sighed, " Okay, Okay, enough of this waitress crap, will you two just sit down and tell me what the hell you want to eat, I'm starting to get antsy over here!"

Lily turned around and laughed, " It's great to have you back,"

She rolled her eyes and motioned to Lily's seat, " Yeah, yeah, yeah, I missed you too... now let's cut to the chase. Just shut up, sit down, and order will you? I don't fancy standing here in a white apron and a bloody chef hat okay!"

Lily obeyed, but not before giving her a tight hug and whispering thanks in her ear.

James took charge once again and told Mallory they would have the Lobster Thermidor for their main course and a baked Alaska for desert. After everyone had left them alone, conversation started up again.

" So... what is all this for anyway? I mean there has to be a reason for you going to all this trouble, you don't just wake up and decide you're going to reserve a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower for your girlfriend every day now do you?"

" You honestly don't know why I did all of this?" he asked waving his arms in the air.

She shook her head, " Um, no. Not a clue."

James laughed and took her hand, " Happy Birthday, Lily."

Realization flooded over her face, " Oh. I guess I forgot."

He shrugged, " Not a big deal I suppose, you had a lot on your mind."

Letting go of her hand he reached into the pocket inside of his jacket and pulled out a deep blue velvet pouch, he opened it and retrieved a square box from inside of it.

" Here's part two of your present." he said smiling at her and making her feel like Jello all over again.

She looked up at him and shook her head, " Oh no, James, there's no way I'm going to accept whatever this is. This," Lily said motioning around her, " must have cost a fortune!"

" Did this make you happy?" he asked, raising a brow.

" Of course it did! Merlin, James, you took me to the Eiffel Tower for dinner! Of course it made me happy!"

James shrugged and smiled, " Then it was all worth it. Now open it!"

She grinned and rolled her eyes, " Alright, alright. I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you for all of this."

She opened the box and looked up at him teary-eyed, there sitting lightly on the silk lining of the box was a picture framed in gold and diamonds. It was a picture of her sitting on her father's lap around the age of eight. It was charmed so that she and her father would smile at each other, he would pinch her nose, and then Lily would laugh.

Swallowing back a lump in her throat and blinking back a tear she glanced up at him, " Where did you get this?" she said shakily

" Your mother gave me the picture. I got the frame in Hogsmeade late at night a few weeks ago while you were sleeping. I hope you like it." James said, reaching across the table and taking her hand in his own again.

" Believe me James, I like it. I love it... I love you. Thank you so much." she closed the box and held it close to her heart, " That picture means a lot to me. I thought I had lost it, but I suppose Mum had it all along."

James looked at her curiously, as if asking what she meant and she continued to explain.

" This picture was taken on my eighth birthday right after my father had returned from a two-month long business trip. I never let it out of my sight, it was always with me no matter where I went, but when I boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time and I checked my pocket for the picture, it was gone. Ever since then I thought I had lost it." she smiled faintly, " Thank you, James, thank you so much."

He grinned and kissed her hand, " Anything for you, Love, I'm happy that I chose the gift so well."

" Honestly, I don't think you could've picked a better gift."

" Excuse me lovers," a voice said from behind Lily, " but I just don't have any clue what to do with this left over birthday cake."

She smiled and turned to see Sirius and Remus holding up a tray which held a beautiful two layer cake iced with light pink icing, on the top of it the words, " Happy Birthday Lily!" were wrote in all capitals in white icing.

" It looks delicious!" she exclaimed excitedly.

Sirius licked his lips, " I know! I can hardly wait!"

Lily laughed and shook her head, " Only from you, Sirius, only from you..."

James waved his wand and seventeen candles dispersed themselves evenly across the cake, lighting themselves as well. The lights in the restaurant dimmed on pique and everyone started singing the traditional Happy Birthday song as Sirius and Remus maneuvered the cake so that it was directly in front of Lily.

She was beaming, this was definitely the best birthday she'd ever had, eventhough only moments ago she had been mourning over her father's tragic death. She made her wish and blew out all of the candles happily and the room burst into applause.

The six of them spent the rest of the evening together, after they'd finished eating they danced their hearts out and at 2 am they all staggered into the mansion completely exhausted and maybe just a little tipsy, but it was worth it.

A/N: So things are starting to return to normal. Lemme know what you think about this chapter. Once again, the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update! Sorry about the shortness, but I figured you all wanted to know what would happen asap.

Thanks.

Lis