The next morning Lily woke up in high spirits, after yesterday Lily felt that she should would go back to the hospital and see her mum again. James was right if she did stop going and visiting and something did happen Lily would be regretting it for the rest of her life. Since Lily had been hanging around with James a weight felt like it had been lifted from her shoulders, someone was there to make her see what she couldn't see and was there to make her laugh and good at distracting her when she needed the diversion. Lily's usual want for being alone always seemed to evaporate whenever James was around and this scared Lily a little bit, it was taking away what felt like part of her security blanket.
After getting shower and dressed Lily walked down to the kitchen to where her Nan was standing facing the window that looked out to the garden and listening to the weather report on the television. The back garden was small but had not changed throughout the whole of Lily's childhood there was the garden table and chairs on the grass near the back door, where everyone would sit and eat their dinners while laughing and chatting away. At end of the garden were a swing set, slide and an old Wendy house, which Lily's granddad had built when petunia was young for her to play in. Lily's Nan's garden was always a place of fun and laughter, but at the moment the garden could be more opposite.
"I'm just off to the hospital to go and see mum, then I'm going to go round James's so I'll be back this evening." Lily finished her sentence as she got to the front door and was closing the door behind her.
"Wait…Lily.." Pat had turned around from the window and was now rushing to the front door to try and catch Lily but by the time that Pat had got to the front door and rushed across the front garden Lily had already made it down the street.
Walking along the pavement just past the local newsagents Lily saw James come out looking a little confused but smiled as soon as he saw Lily walking along.
"Hey Lils, what you up to today?" James asked Lily as jogged up next to her.
"Oh Hi James I'm just off to the hospital to see my mum." Lily replied slowing her pace down so that she could speak to James. James smiled.
"Do you need someone to go with you?" James asked sincerely looking over at Lily.
"No I'll be ok, I'll drop in to see you afterwards though if you would like."
"Yeah sure, besides I have your clothes that you left round mine yesterday still." James stopped by the bus stop and stood there waiting with Lily for the bus to arrive.
"Oh I totally forgot about them. That doesn't mean that you can throw me in the pool again though." James laughed and rolled his eyes, as the bus pulled up.
"Well I shall see you later." Lily said this to James as she stepped on the bus and went upstairs so that she could take her favourite seat upstairs and waved at James as the bus pulled away.
The journey to the hospital this time seemed shorter then ever and before Lily realised it the bus was stopping in front of the hospital. Walking down the stairs and stepping of the bus Lily stood for a moment looking at the dominating large white building in front of her and wondering why she turned down James's offer to come with her when she had the chance, but Lily took in a deep breath and exhaled to bring back her courage before she started walking towards the entrance doors. Once Lily got into the building she felt more determined that she was going to do this by herself and walked along the corridor until she came to the room 2B. The lights were not on in the room which puzzled Lily a little bit but without looking Lily threw open the door and walked into the room, when Lily looked up at the bed and for the first time noticing that the bed was empty, when all of a sudden a nurse walked into the room behind her.
"Excuse me dear what are you doing in here?" the nurse asked gently
"Where's my mum?" Lily asked like a five year old would ask her teacher on their first day at school. At that point in time Lily felt lost.
"Come on dear follow me." The nurse took Lily to a little room, which had three green padded chairs and the walls were painted in bright Yellow, which reflected the sunlight that was streaming in through the large window. Once Lily had seated herself into one of the chairs the nurse sat opposite her and Lily knew what the nurse was going to say, but at that moment in time it seemed too surreal.
"I'm afraid Rose passed away last night. I'm so sorry." The nurse looked at Lily with sympathy in her eyes while Lily just continued to look at the yellow wall in front of her. At that moment in time a yellow wall had never look so appealing. The words that had just been said by the nurse seemed so far away and distance and when the nurse walked out of the room telling Lily that she would give her a minute by herself Lily hardly heard. But instead of staying their looking at the wall Lily got up and walked out of the room, down the corridor and out of the hospital, without really realising that she was doing it. Lily felt numb and stood there looking at the bus stop and the housing estate opposite the hospital.
When Lily started walking again instead of waiting for the bus she walked straight past it and walked along the pavement in the direction back to her Nan's. Lily knew that it was a four and a half mile walk but at that moment in time all Lily wanted to do was walk, to walk and block out all the emotions that she had bottle up inside of herself, to walk and to try and walk away some of the sorrow that she was not feeling inside. Lily didn't know if she wanted to run, scream, shout or cry there were too many emotions running through her head at that moment in time to register.
Walking along looking up at the sky Lily could see the clear blue sky starting to disappear as grey clouds started to take over the once beautifully bright blue sky. The sky in the distance beyond the grey clouds Lily could see black menacing thunderclouds were gathering. Lily knew that there was supposed to be a thunderstorm from the weather report, which was playing in the kitchen that morning, but she never believed it. When was the weather forecast ever right from the television anyway? But Lily liked the rain it helped to wash away the sorrow and the pain, which she was feeling at that moment in time. Lily was welcoming the rain that was threatening to fall any moment.
Lily was only a mile from home when the large raindrops began to come down form the sky above, and within a minute Lily was soaked through, but this didn't stop lily from her walk in fact the more wet Lily got the better she felt. Looking down from the sky which Lily had been looking up at as the rain came pouring down Lily could see James's house about 100 meters in front of herself, but before she could stop herself Lily found her finger pressing the door bell and the door being opened by James who's smile faded from his face as he stood there taking in Lily's appearance. Lily's face was pale, her clothes and hair were soaked and some strands of hair were stuck to her cheeks, but what shocked James most was how lost and lonely Lily looked at that moment in time.
"Lily come in your soaked through." James said this as he guided Lily into the ballroom and pulled her into a tight embrace. Next thing Lily knew she was crying onto James's shoulder while he made small circles on her back and was making 'shhhing' noises while Lily for the first time since she found out that her mum had died cried out all the emotions she had in her. But without warning Lily pulled out of the embrace and was looking at James with anger suddenly visible in her eyes.
"Why them. Why My Mum. Why My Dad?" With each word that Lily shouted with all her might she hit James in the chest not stopping until James grabbed hold of Lily's fist in fear that she would never stop.
"Lily…Lily look at me calm down. I know it's not fair, I know that you need and want them here, I know that it hurts, I know that there are other people in the world who deserve to die, and I know I will never be able to give you the answers to your questions but you need to calm down." James looked deep into Lily's eyes as he said this and Lily's body shook as she let out a sob and then continued to cry uncontrollably once again into James shoulder as he pulled her back into a tight embrace.
Ten minutes later and lily had stopped crying but the lost look was still in evident in her eyes.
"Come on Lils lets go get you some dry clothes on and then I'll get Winki to make us some hot chocolate your freezing cold." James was saying this as he guided Lily, just as a parent would guide a child, up the stairs and along the corridors to his room, which had fewer items on the floor then the previous day, but this was lost on Lily all she noticed was that she was standing in James's bedroom and being guided towards the bathroom.
"Your cloths have been cleaned from yesterday here you go." James handed Lily her clothes and watched as she closed the door behind her. Letting out a sigh James took off his now soaking wet t-shit and threw it on top a an already large pile of dirty washing before walking over to the wardrobe picking up a new one and putting it on and then going over to his bed and sat down waiting for Lily to come out. Which took longer then James would have expected as ten minutes later Lily emerged but was still shivering. James pick up a red fluffy blanket before he led Lily back down stairs but instead of going into the kitchen James walked down a corridor which linked onto the ballroom and opened the second door which revealed a sitting room.
Inside the sitting room there were cream soft settees and comfortable looking chairs, the colour of the carpet matched that of the settees. The walls were wall papered in a terracotta colour with an orange boarder breaking up the solid colour. There was a grand fireplace on the main wall in front of the settee that could easily seat three, on the mantle place there was a large picture of James, Mrs and Mr Potter in a silver picture frame smiling and waving over at the two of them who had just entered the room.
James led Lily over to the largest settee and motioned for to sit down while he walked back out of the sitting room and made his way into the kitchen to get the hot chocolates.
"Hey Winki can I have two hot chocolates please?" James asked the house elf that was running around the kitchen.
"Yes of course master Potter." Winki screeched producing two steaming cups of hot chocolate. When James walked back into the sitting room he found Lily just staring at the photo on top of the mantle place.
"Here you go Lils." James put the hot chocolates on the table, which had somehow moved itself from the corner of the room to in front of the settee complete with coasters.
Sitting back down again next to Lily James put his arm back around her shoulders as Lily lent in and rested her head on James's shoulder. James took his free hand and picked up the blanked from next to him and put over the both of them before wrapping his free arm around Lily as well. They both sat there in silence, not an awkward silence but a welcoming one. Lily was happy just to be sitting there in James's comforting arms. She didn't want to speak at the moment all she wanted to do was sit there and never move again.
"Lil's it's getting late I think I should walk you home." James had just looked out of the window noticing the sun was slowly setting in the distance.
"Yeah, I told my Nan I wouldn't be too late home." James slowly took his arms from around Lily and stood up holding out his hand for Lily to take, Lily placed her hand in James's and allowed him to help her up from the settee.
"Wait here I'll be one minute." James said this as he ran out the room and from what Lily could hear it sounded like he had run up the main staircase. While waiting for James to come back down the staircase Lily picked up the now empty cups and took them into the kitchen.
"Winki will take them for you miss." Came the sound of the house elf, which had just rushed over to the door as it opened.
"Thank you Winki." Lily said handing over the cups to the little house elf that shuffled over to the sink.
"Lils where you gone?" Lily heard James calling from the sitting room. Walking out of the kitchen Lily could see James's head poke out from the sitting room.
"There you are! Here put this on it will keep you warm as we walk home." James had just handed Lily a green jumper that she gladly put on over her vest top.
"Thanks shall we go then?" Lily asked as she tugged at the sleeves of the jumper.
"Sure come on." James led the way across the ballroom and out of the front door. The rain clouds had totally disappeared and were now replaced with a clear starry summers sky. The paths were still damn from the rain that afternoon as then walked along, Lily could feel her toes occasionally getting wet through her flip flops that she was wearing.
"I'm sorry James for hitting you earlier I guess I just let my anger get the better of me I'm really sorry." Lily was looking straight into James eyes.
"Lils don't worry about it, but you know you can hit pretty hard when you want to… at least I now know not to get on the wrong side of you." James laughed. Lily admired James he always seemed to be able to make the smallest thing funny.
"Where did Lils come from?" Lily asked as they reached her Nan's porch. But before James could answer the door swung open and Lily found herself engulfed in a hug from her Nan.
"Lily I was so worried I tried to tell you before you left but by the time I got to the door you were out of ear shot…oh I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have had to find out that way."
"Nan I'm fine really, I'm fine." Lily gave a small smile as Pat looked at Lily.
"And you must be The James Potter." Pat said as she looked over to James who was standing there not knowing if he should walk away or stay where he was standing.
"Yes, nice to meet you ma'am." James replied politely.
"Well come on in, come on in, I was just about to dish up some dinner would you like to stay for dinner?" Pat asked James who was looking at Lily for confirmation that it was ok to stay. So after she gave him a large smile and a nod of his head he accepted the invitation and followed Pat through the front door.
"And it's Pat none of this Ma'am rubbish." Pat told James as he followed them into the kitchen where Lily was already getting out the plates and cutlery and setting up the table for three people, while Pat was fussing around with the pots and pans.
"Take a seat." Lily told James as she put down the last fork on to the table before taking a seat next to James, looking over to him and a thankful smile. In return James grabbed Lily's hand from under the table and gave it a little squeeze, yet surprisingly when James when to take his hand back Lily held it tight. Lily didn't understand why but whenever she held James's hand of put her head on his shoulder she felt secure and the worries of the moment seemed to lessen slightly.
"Well I hope you like sausages and mash." Pat said this as she piled the plates with creamy mash potatoes and sausages. Reluctantly Lily let go of James's hand and began to pick at her own dinner in front of her.
"Come on Lily you have to eat a little bit, I bet you haven't eaten all day." Pat looked over at Lily and broke the silence, which was looming over the table.
"I'm just not that hungry." Lily mumbled but picked up a small forkful of mash potatoes and put it into her mouth, to keep her Nan happy.
After everyone had finished eating Pat took the plates and put them into the sink while Lily showed James into her Nan's front room, which was completely covered in old photo's of people in Lily's family, behind the many photos and pictures in frames pale flowery wall paper could be seen. The settees were also floral and everywhere you looked there were books and items piled up. Lily's Nan was one of those people that kept everything; nothing was too meaningless to be binned. In the pile of books next to the settee that seated three Lily could just see a picture that she drew when she was five coming out from under a book.
"How about we play a board game, rather then sitting there in front of the television." Pat asked as she walked into the room carrying with her a red coloured battered box, which looked like the old Monopoly set.
"Sure Nan, I'm up for beating you all at a little game of Monopoly." Lily poked James in the side as she said this, her sprits slightly rising as the game would give her a chance to forget about everything that was still going through her mind.
"Hey! How do you play this Mono whatsit then?" James asked Lily, who was now helping Pat set up the game.
"Monopoly! Well the aim of the game is to buy properties and then build up on them when you get the complete set. The person who is still playing at the end wins. Here's your money that you start with, what playing piece do you want to be?" Lily was sitting her self so that she was close to James.
"I'll take umm the car." James said from the pieces show before him, as Lily placed the piece on the starting square.
An hour later and the game were getting fierce, Lily had managed to collect the whole of the yellow, purple and Pink set, While James had gone for the trains, green and blue sets, Pat had managed to secure the oranges and browns, but was currently managing to land on everyone's properties to bankrupt her self excitingly, Pat was used to this though never in all her years of playing Monopoly had she came close to winning once.
"How about I go get some chocolate éclairs and some lemonade?" Pat asked as she got up from her chair and walked out into the kitchen.
"What you have got to be joking! No way do I owe you that £1400!" James had exclaimed to Lily as he landed on Mayfair, which unluckily for him had four houses on.
"Read it an weep," Lily showed James the card just to prove her point, so James reluctantly handed over his money.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Lily said this as she fanned the money she had just taken from James in front of her face smiling.
"Don't worry James you won't be the only one to loose against her, I think she has only ever lost this game once. I still remember her sulking." Pat was laughing as she walked in carrying in a tray full with chocolate éclairs, and three glasses of lemonade.
Half an hour later and James was left with £12 and two train stations left unmorgaged, but once again James landed on Mayfair and the game was now over Lily had indeed won and was now looking at James saying, "I won nah nah." Over and over again which caused James to laugh and notice for the first time the bit of chocolate the Lily had on her nose from eating one of the éclairs.
"You know you have chocolate on your nose." James asked Lily as she took his hand and wiped it off her nose.
"Thanks." Lily yawned before leaning her head on James's shoulder, and James instinctively placed his arm around her shoulder, and by the time Pat had come back into the sitting room after washing up the plates and glasses Lily was sleeping peacefully on James shoulder. James didn't want to move in case he woke her, but he knew that he had to go home.
"Do you think you will be able to carry her up to her bed for me James? She will needs all the rest she can get" Pat sighed as James had slowly laid Lily down on the couch and got up onto his feet.
"Sure which room?" James asked as he put one hand under the sleeping Lily's neck and the other under her knees and lifted her up gently from the couch and pulling her in close to his chest.
"It's the middle one." Pat told James as he started to walk up the stairs. Pushing the door open with his foot James walked into a pale purple room, which had a small white wardrobe, and desk along one wall and on the other side of the room was a bed, which had a polka dot duvet cover on it. James carefully moved back the covers so that he didn't wake Lily, before placing her on the bed and pulling the covers back up over her. Looking down at the peacefully sleeping form now tucked up in bed James smiled before leaning down and kissing Lily on the forehead.
"Night Lily." James whispered before straightening up and walking out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him and walking back down the stairs.
"Lily's all tucked up in bed, I'm going to head of home it's got pretty late." James told Pat who was now standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Why don't you come to the funeral tomorrow, I know that Lily would like you there and that way Lily will have a little more support that I'm sure she will need to get herself through it." Pat was saying this her crystal blue eyes looking at the picture of lily that was hanging on the wall behind James.
"I would love to be there for Lily. Just tell me where and when." James smiled there was nothing he would rather do then be there to support Lily through one of the hardest things she was going to go through.
"The service is at 2pm at the local church." Pat gave James a thankful smile as she opened the front door for him.
"Well good night." James said as he started to walk down the garden path and down the pavement back home.
