A/N: Another chapter! yay. Anyhoo, thanks to all the reviews I got. I have a sort of poll question that will go with this chapter...What's Your Favorite Ice-Cream Flavor?...alright...personally, mine is strawberry or vanilla. but I also love chocolate chip cookie dough. Please read and review! Thanks!

Chapter Three: Mysteries in the Garage and Wedding Plans

"How was your stay at the Potters?" Patrick Evans asked his daughter the following Sunday evening after James had dropped Lily off.

Lily smiled as she searched for a mug in the kitchen for her tea.

"It was great, James had a nice birthday and he liked the watch I got him." Lily replied.

"That's excellent." Patrick conversed as sat at the kitchen table with his mug of tea. Beverly was in the living room ironing.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter invited all of us to come up for a few days." Lily said casually as she took a sip, watching her father's expression at the idea.

He nodded. "Things getting serious between you and James, then?"

Lily almost blushed. Her father, in all his years, never seemed like the kind of man to talk about his daughters' relationships. She almost wished Petunia spoke to her so that she could ask her if he ever asked questions about Vernon.

"Well, we have been dating for over six months, so I'd say so." Lily answered as best she could.

"Then I suppose I could take a few days off work. When was the invitation?" he asked.

Lily shrugged. "Anytime. I could write James..."

"Well you do that, and your mother and I can go at anytime." Patrick Evans replied kindly.

Lily nodded with a smile. "Alright then…I'll right him now…Dad?"

Her father looked up from his tea. "Yes, dear?"

"You like James and his family, right? Mum does too, doesn't she?"

Patrick sat back in his chair and studied his daughter. "Well of course, honey. James is a respectable young man, and your mother is quite fond of him. Why do you ask?"

"Just making sure." Lily replied with a grin. "I better go write James and then I'll go to bed. Good-night, Dad."

Patrick Evans smiled. "Good-night, Lily."

The Evans' found themselves packed into their Volkswagen beetle the following Saturday at six in the morning. Patrick Evans had a road map out and was studying it carefully before they set off. With one final look, he handed it to his wife, told her to keep it out and they were off.

The conversation on the way to the Potters seemed to have only one topic. Lily and James's relationship. Lily was slowly dreading even mentioning the invitation to visit the Potters.

"And you've been dating for how long again?" Beverly asked five and a half hours later for the third time.

Lily sighed and folded her arms. "Just over six months, Mum. Unless we've gone forward months in time, it hasn't changed in the last seven minutes."

"So you weren't dating when you went to his house the first time? Over Christmas?" she asked.

"No! We started dating the night we came back to Hogwarts. We were off the train and in the common room and we were just talking and he asked me if I wanted to go out with him, and I said yes!" Lily snapped at her mother in a quick rant.

Patrick Evans whistled to himself and pretended that the two in the car didn't exist.

"Oh, alright then." Beverly replied, satisfied for the moment and completely unaware of her daughter's frustration.

"Is that all?" Lily asked tiredly, although she regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth.

Beverly seemed ready for the opportunity to take the questioning further. "Well what do you do for dates at Hogwarts?"

Lily sighed. "We go to Hogsmeade, the magical village you signed a permission form for before I started third year. You could go to Quidditch matches, but James is usually playing, and you could go for walks around the lake, or whatever." she stated in an even tone.

"That sounds nice." Beverly replied, still keen on ignoring Lily's annoyance. "Your father and I used to go out on dates all the time…"

Lily groaned and slid back into her seat as her mother droned on about the lives Beverly and Patrick used to lead, before Petunia and Lily were born and before Patrick had his practice full time.

Lily peered out the window and saw the familiar hill rising with the road.

"This is it!" Lily practically yelled, stopping her mother's one-sided conversation short, and making her father slam on brakes.

Patrick turned in casually and drove like he hadn't just come to a screeching halt, and they pulled into the Potters' drive at their expected time.

To Lily's surprise, it was Margaret Potter that greeted them at the door, Lily had have expected James to come rushing out towards her and pull her into his arms like in a scene from an over-dramatic Muggle movie.

Margaret smiled at Lily and told her James was out back by the garage with Sirius. She then graciously welcomed Beverly and Patrick into the home and told a house elf to go and retrieve their luggage.

The last thing Lily heard Mrs. Potter say as she searched her way through the vast house to the back was that she was going to show the Evans' where they were staying.

Lily reached the backyard and looked out to the garage, where Sirius and James were allegedly working.

As she approached the garage she heard Sirius and James muttering about.

"Padfoot, I think I heard Lily pull up, I have to go see her." she heard James's voice and smiled.

"Just hold this for a minute, Prongs!" she heard Sirius reply.

She then heard James let out a sigh of impatience.

"Hello, boys!" she called out before reaching the garage.

"Prongs, Lily's here!" Sirius exclaimed.

As she approached she heard more cluttering and then James appeared, wearing a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt that was covered in grease. He smiled at her.

"Hello!" He greeted holding his hands back. "I'd hug you but I'm filthy and I don't want to get you greasy."

"Well thanks for the consideration." Lily replied with a smile as she walked into the garage, which was surprising filled with tools, old car parts, and a motorcycle.

"What have you two been up two?" she asked in a curious but pleasant tone as she looked from James to Sirius, who looked far filthier than James did.

"I'm helping Sirius with his motorcycle he bought from an old Muggle. We're putting a flying device on it." James explained.

Lily nodded. "Is that all?" she continued with a curious voice as she peered around the place some more. James stepped in front of her and nodded.

"Yes, that's all. Let's go inside, shall we? Our parents are probably waiting for us…with lunch, and Padfoot and I better get cleaned up. We'll meet you inside in a few minutes." James said, smiling at her.

Lily backed away, grinning.

"You're hiding something from me, James Potter, I know it!" she exclaimed wildly before heading back to the house.

James chuckled and turned to Sirius.

"Well, let's change it back and put it in storage." he said simply.

Sirius nodded and flicked his wand, causing the toy car on the floor to turn into a real-life size Ford Thunderbird convertible that was missing several parts and a paint-job.

James proceeded to cover the car up and move it into a closed area in the back before he left for the house with Sirius following behind him.

They entered the dining room after cleaning themselves up to see Mr. and Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Potter, and Lily all sitting at the table.

James and Sirius smiled at the group and Sirius felt obligated to introduce himself.

"I'm Sirius Black." he stated before taking a seat.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans seemed at odds of how to respond to this kind of introduction, they were used to simply shaking hands and exchanging names.

Mr. Evans smiled at him after a moment. "I'm Patrick Evans, Lily's father."

"Nice to meet you." Sirius said as he poured himself a glass of milk.

"And I'm Beverly, Lily's mother." Beverly Evans said after a moment.

"Well I thought so, you look stunningly alike. Except for the obvious hair color and eyes." Sirius replied, charmingly.

Mrs. Evans smiled and looked at Lily. "We hear that quite often, don't we, Lily?"

Lily smiled and nodded at her mother, and James could tell she was trying her best to remain polite and even tempered with her mother.

"Yes, we do."

James grinned as he sat down beside her and he felt Lily's hand rest on his knee. He looked at her and she just smiled innocently before putting her fork through a piece of melon.

Margaret then engaged Beverly in a conversation about Muggle gardening, and Sirius started talking to Patrick about motorcycles, leaving James and Lily to their own conversation.

"Guess what we're going to do tomorrow." James whispered to her.

Lily grinned and thought. "Hm, I don't know, play Quidditch?"

James's eyes lit up as if the idea had never crossed his mind. "No, but if you want to…"

"I was joking." Lily quickly replied. "But we could play later if you like."

James smiled. "I plan to take you up on that. No, I was thinking we could maybe go out to lunch…and talk about the thing."

His eyes then traveled to the necklace she was wearing and she smiled.

"Alright, but what will Sirius do? I'm worried he'll take my father to buy a motorcycle or something."

The two looked over at Sirius and Patrick, who were indeed talking animatedly about new motorcycles.

James turned back to her. "Charlotte should be back tomorrow, she was visiting her dad for the week. He'll be distracted. And he has his own motorcycle to work on…maybe you're dad could help him."

Lily laughed. "My dad work with engines and stuff like that? Hah! Give him a heart, though, and he'll work with that."

James grinned. "Well, my Dad will be around, they're usually guaranteed Sunday off."

"As long as he's entertained." Lily smiled. "I can't wait."

"Feel like ice cream?" James asked as they walked the streets of Diagon Alley. "I haven't been to Florean's place in a while."

Lily grinned. "Yes! I love ice cream."

James laughed as they approached the shop and took some seats outside while Florean came to their table.

"I'll have three scoops of chocolate in a bowl with chocolate syrup." James ordered.

"And I'll have two scoops of strawberry in a bowl with sprinkles." Lily added.

Florean smiled at the two and disappeared to get the ice cream.

"You sure love chocolate, don't you?" Lily asked.

James grinned. "Yes I do, it keeps me healthy."

Lily looked like she seriously doubted this but smiled anyways. "So what would you like to talk about?"

James pulled his chair in closer and smiled at her. "I was wondering when you would like to have the wedding, actually."

Lily looked ecstatic and James could tell she had already planned it out in her mind.

"I was thinking a winter wedding. December or January." she said, her eyes lit with excitement.

James nodded. "That sounds brilliant, how about January? A nice start to the New Year, and all. That way we can have our one-year anniversary too. "

"That sounds like a great idea! So we'll set it for January. The first Saturday of the month?" she asked before she dove into her purse and pulled out a planner.

"That sounds perfect." James said, smiling as their ice cream appeared before them.

Lily grinned. "And I was thinking a medium sized wedding. Not too many people. Just friends and family."

James nodded as he pulled the spoon out of his mouth. "Yeah, mid-size or smaller is probably the best thing, we don't want to draw too much attention, seeing as things seem to only be getting worse lately." James's voice still possessed the happy, excited quality as minutes before, but something different…a grave undertone seemed to appear.

Lily bobbed her head in understanding. "Yes, we'll just invite the closest friends and family, and we can worry about dresses and tuxes and such when we tell our parents." Lily's eyes then lit up. "Do witches have wedding robes or wedding dresses? Because when I was little and I thought about my wedding I always had this mental picture of why my dress would look like."

James grinned. He knew from Charlotte that most young girls daydream about their wedding and their Prince Charming.

"Wedding robes, I think, but if you want a Muggle dress, I'll insist on it, and it will be okay."

Lily grinned, her almond-shaped green eyes twinkling and leaned over the table to kiss James, who, as it was an awkward movement, spilled his chocolate ice cream all over his lap when he tried to meet her half way.

Lily broke away laughing as James stood up from the cold shock to his lap, chocolate stain all down his pants.

"Oh dear, nothing gets chocolate out." Lily said between giggles and gathering napkins to hand to James, after a second, Lily seemed to remember she was a witch. "Wait!" she pulled out her wand and pointed it at James's pants.

"I do hope you know what you're doing." James teased, but nevertheless looked worried. "This is a very sensitive area."

Lily let down her wand and let out a giggle before pulling her wand back up. "Scourgify!"

The chocolate mess vanished immediately from James's pants and Lily moved her wand to the table where she preceded to clean up. James took his seat and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, still smiling at the situation." The chocolate came off your pants."

"I know, but my ice cream is all gone." he pouted.

Lily giggled and scooped half of what she had left into James's bowl.

"There." she insisted.

James smiled delightfully. "I love you. I'll let you decide on lunch."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "This isn't lunch?"

James shook his head. "We can't have dessert for lunch! Dessert first…but as lunch? Never!"

Lily giggled. "I'm glad your mother knew how to feed you."

"Me too." James replied, smiling all the same.

Much thanks to the wonderful, fantastic, and amazing reviewers...u-know-love-me, X.Little.Black.Cat.X., dreamergirl86, Ilirium, Zippy-Wings, PhoenixNS, SoSirius'sgurl3245, chikichiki, scooter5710, KTSweep08, and Kaean.

sappy1990: They will tell Lily's parents on Lily's birthday, when she will be legal in the Muggle world. Thanks for the review and keep reading!

myzteek: I've personally always thought of Vernon being a little older than Petunia. He was focused on career, success, and money in his young adult life, but now that he's closer to 30 than 20, he's looking for a wife just as unpleasant as he is. And Petunia is just perfect for him. Thanks for reviewing!