I'm sorry that I disappeared! I finish my exams in the next month so soon I will get right on updating regularly Hope this makes you smile at least. It features loads of Lizzie's family and James' family and cute interactions with said peoples. Enjoy! Bg. 97 xx
"You're an absolute gem, you know that?"
Lizzie blushed. "I think you're exaggerating a little bit."
Ginny shook her head. "I'm not. Even with a day off this week you managed to organise all these match reports by date order as well as update the player profiles folder. You're an absolute star and you make me look lazy!"
"Well that's not true at all, but thank you, Ginny."
The older woman smiled. "Lizzie, I was going to say- it's Al's birthday tomorrow so we're just having a little get together- close family and friends round for tea. James has been making excuses not to come, and since you're his only excuse."
Lizzie blushed as Ginny continued.
"Well I thought it'd make sense if you just joined us."
"I… I couldn't possibly intrude," Lizzie blurted out.
"Nonsense! You're a dear friend to both me and Jamie, and if that doesn't warrant an invite- I don't really know what does."
It was, in Lizzie's opinion, a bit harsh to crash a stranger's birthday, but Ginny was so kind, and she wouldn't want to turn down her offer… "Well okay then. Only if you're sure."
"That's settled then. I'll send James to pick you up around 5ish tomorrow then."
Lizzie nodded, amazed at how quickly that had all happened. She shook it off and got back to work.
Knock Knock Knock.
Lizzie jumped as she heard the door, putting down her make-up as she prepared to go get it.
"I'll get it!" her mum screamed up the stairs.
Lizzie went bright red at the thought. "Please don't embarrass me Mum. He's just a friend."
Her mum muttered back some non- descript mumbling as Lizzie went on with finishing getting ready.
James smiled as an older woman opened the door with a big cheesy grin on her face.
"You must be James."
"So I've been told."
"Come on in," she said, ushering him through the door.
He stood there in Lizzie's corridor awkwardly, hands fumbling with his wand in his pocket, trying to make it seem natural. Lizzie's mum was clearly giving him the once over; evaluating his character purely from his stance, and though he'd been judged his whole life, this was probably the most nerve wracking he'd found it. For some reason, his usual charm and Gryffindor bravery seemed to falter under Mrs Hartley's gaze. Just as he thought he'd found it again, and was about to step up and say something, all of his courage was lost again when a man that he presumed to be Lizzie's dad stepped out from a room.
James swallowed quickly and offered his hand out for a handshake. "Mr Hartley. It's good to meet you sir."
Elizabeth's dad accepted the handshake, and shook his head in a firm nod. A small smile crept on to his face. "So you're the one that our daughter keeps ditching us for."
James went red but tried to keep his nerve. "She's been ditching you, sir? I'm very sorry to hear that."
The older man stood still for a moment before breaking into a soft chuckle. He had warm brown eyes that crinkled as he laughed, and though James thought that most would find him comforting, he was struggling to himself.
"I'm not sorry at all."
The response left a bewildered expression on James' face. "Really?"
Mr Hartley shrugged, his arm naturally falling to rest on his wife's shoulder. "She's 23. She needs to go out and have fun a bit more. And I think it's good for Lizzie to have a close male friend, you can scare away anyone who looks at my little girl in a non-platonic way."
James laughed awkwardly, hoping it sounded more genuine than scared. It was at this moment that Elizabeth bounded down the stairs.
"Thank fuck." Jay muttered under his breath.
"Did you say something?" Mr Hartley questioned.
"No," James answered almost too quickly.
Lizzie shared a look with her parents and James could sense that it was a threat of some sort for if they had embarrassed her.
James coughed to break the silence. "Are you ready to go?"
Lizzie's eyes shot back to him before checking through her purse. "Got my phone, wand, keys, a birthday card for Albus"-
"You didn't need to get Albie a birthday card," James snorted. "Merlin, I didn't even get him one."
Lizzie shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear, her face going slightly red. "Well I didn't want to seem rude. I mean I am crashing his birthday party."
He rolled his eyes. "It's not a party. It's just dinner and cake with the family."
"Exactly. I still don't know why I was invited." She mumbled.
At this, her mum gave her a quick flick of the ear. "Stop complaining and go enjoy yourself girl!"
Lizzie's face went red again, which James had now learnt was a very common occurrence. It was also pretty cute he thought, before mentally checking himself.
"Shall we go?" he asked.
"Yeah let's, " Lizzie replied quickly before pulling James out the front door with nothing more than a wave over her shoulder to her parents.
She sighed in relief. "So are we apparating there?"
James chuckled. "No, actually. I thought we'd catch a bus."
"A bus? From Richmond all the way to Godric's Hollow?" Lizzie's face looked confused.
James licked his lips as they settled into a smug grin. "You never travelled on the Knight Bus?"
Lizzie's face dropped. She hadn't ever travelled on the Knight Bus, but she'd read and heard enough to make her extremely hesitant to ever do so.
"Surely we can just apparate?" she pushed.
"Nope." James shook his head, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You're a 23 year old witch whose never ridden the Knight Bus. It's basically a rite of passage so we're going to do it now."
The fear widened her eyes, making James crack up laughing.
"Don't freak out. I've got you." he said, his eyes looking straight into hers and his hands coming to rest on her shoulders.
"You better," she muttered under her breath as James stuck his wand into the road as if hailing a taxi.
Within seconds, a large purple bus zoomed to stop outside her house, the whole thing shaking as it came to a halt.
She took a deep breath as James grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the bus. Lizzie was only half aware of James telling the lanky man who welcomed them that they were going to Godric's Hollow, being too amazed by the rest of her surroundings. Looking along the length of the bus, she saw seats splattered around randomly, filled by what could only be described as a vivid assortment of people. In one seat she could see an elderly witch in bright pink robes, in another a teenage couple in a position probably not so appropriate for a public place, and further along she saw a grumpy middle aged man in mismatched muggle clothes, twirling a wand around his finger lazily.
"Elizabeth?" her attention was drawn back by James' eyes resting on her.
"So, where are we sitting?"
Jay shrugged. "I thought we could go upstairs?"
She nodded, following him up the tight staircase that led up to the next floor. This floor still had a few interesting faces, but considerably less than the one they had emerged from. She and James settled into some seats. Just as they were about to leave, James leant over to whisper something in her ear.
"I'd hold on to something if I were you," and before she could question what he meant, the bus went flying and so did she, nearly falling off her chair before James grabbed her and pulled her back, a laugh bubbling from his throat. "So this is the Knight Bus."
"It definitely lives up to the stories," Lizzie let slip out.
James threw his arm around her shoulder, letting it rest there as he enjoyed the amusement of seeing Elizabeth experience something he'd known his whole life. The moment was interrupted as a woman besides them starting staring intently at James.
He coughed awkwardly, "Can I help you?"
"I'm sorry, but aren't you Harry Potter's boy?"
"That would be me." He replied with no trace of annoyance at being recognised as such.
The woman beamed massively at his reply. "Your father is a great man."
"He's pretty great yeah," Jamie smiled.
"Such a wonderful, wonderful man. I owe him my life. If it weren't for him, Umbridge would have killed me. I'm a muggleborn you see."
"I'm a muggleborn too," Lizzie interrupted.
The woman seemed startled to realise that there was someone else there, but her focus still remained on James. "Is this your girlfriend? She's very pretty."
"We're just friends," he said as his arm came back to his side and his eyes suddenly became very interested in the floor.
Luckily this was when the bus announced that they were at Diagon Alley, and the woman left them. When she did, James let out a sigh of relief.
"Do you get that a lot?"
"From time to time," he shrugged.
"That must be hard."
James shook his head. "Well it's not like they ever say anything bad. They usually just want to tell me how Dad saved their life."
Lizzie smiled, deciding to change the subject. "So who's going to be at this little gathering tonight?"
James thought for a moment before placing his hands in front of him to count out the list. "Mum, Dad, Al, Nanny and Granddad, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Rose, Scorpius, maybe Hugo and his girlfriend I don't know, Uncle Nev and Aunt Hannah, Ari and Tim, Aunt Luna, Uncle Rolf and the twins and us. I think that's everyone."
"I thought your mum said small gathering?" she asked, slightly terrified.
"Believe me- that is small for a Weasley- Potter party."
"You listed like 6 war heroes on that list; I think I'm underdressed."
He snorted, "don't be a fangirl and you'll be fine. And I think you look lovely."
Lizzie blushed again and James can't help but wonder how much more she would have blushed if he had said that he thought her legs looked great in those jeans, and that her yellow top made her hair look golden. He also wondered how far down her blush went and then he wondered if he should probably stop wondering before an awkward situation arose.
'Godric's Hollow' was announced and James felt himself let out another small sigh of relief as him and Lizzie climbed down the stairs and hopped off the bus. Lizzie looked around, and she felt as if she had been transported back in time. They were stood in a quaint village square, with a post office, an old sweet shop and a church all in sight. Her eyes drank it all in, her hand running across a stone sculpture they were stood next to. As she looked at it more closely she realised that the sculpture was of Godric Gryffindor.
"Don't muggles question this?" she asked, her hand still leaning against the cold stone.
"It's spelled so muggles see something different."
Lizzie's attention was drawn away from the monument as the church bells chimed. Noticing her attention on the church, James spoke up. "My grandparents got married in that church. They're buried in that graveyard too."
Lizzie reached over and grabbed James' hand, squeezing it gently. He squeezed back, before looking down the road to the right. "We should probably go before my mum gets pissy at us for being late."
He began to walk, his hand letting Lizzie's drop, as they walked through the small twisty roads the short distance to the Potter's cottage. As they reached the front gate, Lizzie's eyes gleamed at the house in front of her. It was a beautiful, traditional cottage, with a thatched roof and a wooden frame around the front door. The cobbled stone path that led from the gate to the door had a small patch of garden either side of it, and a colourful variety of flowers lined the path. All of it felt like something from a fairytale, and that was her sole thought as her and James strode up what was the most familiar path in the world to him. As they reached the door, James dug his hands into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small key which he turned in the door. As they stepped through the threshold, Lizzie felt the pressure of meeting so many heroes dawn on her.
The entrance hallway was quite spacious and was painted a cornflower blue. On the left of it was a small door leading into a study, and besides that on the wall was a family photo of the five of them, and from the ages that they looked, she assumed it was taken on Platform 9 ¾ on the day that Albus started at Hogwarts. Pressed against the right hand wall was a large wardrobe, much like one from a C.S Lewis book, which James had pulled out a drawer from beneath and chucked the shoes he was wearing in there. Lizzie got the impression that stepping through that door had reverted James S Potter back to the boy he was when he was living there. James ushered her along the corridor. To the right was an archway that led into what looked much like a dining room, but James instead opened a door in front of them into a cosy living room. Lizzie lingered behind him as his family greeted him. As soon as Ginny spotted her however, she knew that hiding was no longer an option.
Ginny pulled her out from behind James and into a large hug. "It's good to see you Lizzie. Now please try to not look so scared."
Lizzie laughed into Ginny's shoulder. "I'll try."
Ginny pulled away and gave Lizzie a quick wink, before turning towards the people in the room. "This is Lizzie, my wonderful junior correspondent from work."
There was a murmur of 'Hi, Lizzie's' from the room as Ginny nudged her son to introduce everyone.
"Right. Yeah, Elizabeth. So this is some of the family. On this sofa," he said pointing towards a couch pushed against the wall, "that's Aunt Hermione, Aunt Luna and Uncle Rolf, at the back of the room- well you know Professor and Madame Longbottom." Lizzie smiled in recognition. "On the other sofa is Nanny and Granddad Weasley and from that list you can gather that none of the young people are in this room." James added cheekily making his mother swat his arm.
"We're young at heart," Neville added affectionately.
James laughed, before turning to his mother. "In all seriousness though, where's everyone from our own generation?"
"They're out in the garden. So's your Dad and Uncle Ron. They're attempting to light the barbecque."
"Please don't say they're trying to do it the muggle way."
His mother glared at him in a manner that told James that of course they had to do it the muggle way.
"Oh, Merlin."
"Well I'm hoping that eventually Scorpius will see how much they're struggling and offer to help." James rolled his eyes at this and began to guide Lizzie from the room. "Where do you think you're going?" Ginny asked in what could only be described as a motherly tone."
"Outside to see my brother."
"Not before you say hi to your grandparents properly you're not."
Jamie groaned as if he were 10 years old and went over to greet the senior Weasleys. Lizzie hung by the doorframe, until a hand brushed her arm. She looked to her left to see Hermione Weasley staring fondly at her.
"It's lovely to finally meet you Lizzie. You've made Ginny's life so much easier these past months."
Lizzie smiled and gave a small shrug. "I've just done my job, nothing more."
"Well I don't think that's true for a second." Hermione started but never had the chance to finish as James had led Lizzie out the room, through the dining room, a left turn into the kitchen, and out through the back door.
James sauntered over to a barbecue where two men were standing in deep conversation. From the dark hair on the shorter one, and flaming red hair on the other, she had come to the conclusion that she was about to meet the great Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
"You still not worked out how to light that thing yet?"
The men jumped at the sound of James' voice, before turning to face him with massive smiles on their faces. Ron pulled him into a big hug which James gladly returned.
"It's really good to see you Jamie."
Ron and James entered into a conversation about Quidditch as Lizzie hung back waiting for the opportune moment to introduce herself. Harry's eyes fell on her, and noticing her awkwardness, he stepped away from Ron and his son to make the first move.
"Hello. You must be Lizzie," he said politely, those famous green eyes emitting nothing but friendliness.
"Yes that would be me," she stammered out.
Harry leant in towards her and in a whisper said, "I'm not nearly as famous as the books make me out to be, you don't need to be scared."
Lizzie broke into a chuckle which Harry returned.
"Of course, sorry. It's just crazy to think that I'd never have been able to study magic if it weren't for all that you did."
"It wasn't just me. It took a lot of people to win that war."
"I know… and so many of them are here right now. It's quite overwhelming."
Harry shrugged. "Right now, there are no war heroes here. Not even me. To you, I'm not the Boy Who Lived; I'm just Ginny's husband or Jamie's dad. Take your pick."
Harry's words calmed her, and she was grateful for them. "Thank you Mr Potter."
His hand went up to stop her. "None of that please, Harry will suffice."
"Oi Dad, you're not trying to steal my friend, are you?" James smirked as he moved towards them.
"Well if you're not going to introduce her, I thought I ought to introduce myself."
James rolled his eyes. "Home for 10 minutes and I'm already in trouble with both my parents."
"Nothing changes, hey James?" Ron called from by the barbeque. "Nice to meet you by the way, I'm Ron," he directed towards Lizzie.
"You too." She paused before speaking up again. "Do you need some help with that barbeque? I'm muggleborn so I can handle these things without magic."
Ron smiled in surprise. "Yeah, that would be really helpful actually."
Lizzie walked over, putting her bag down and rolling her sleeves up to help Ron out. James couldn't help but smile as he watched her. Harry couldn't help but smile watching James. He nudged his son gently, shaking him to attention.
"Shut up, Dad." He mumbled embarrassed.
"I didn't say anything!" Harry objected as James wandered further down the garden, leaving Elizabeth in his Uncle Ron's capable hands… Or the other way round.
The group of young people welcomed him as he approached, Albus rising to meet him in a tight hug. "Happy birthday, little bro."
"Thank you!" Al said, though his face was confused when he pulled back. "I thought Mum said you were bringing your bae?"
"She's not my bae." Al snorted. "And I did bring her- she's just helping Uncle Ron." Albus glanced over his brother's shoulder to observe the girl in question.
"Ooh she's hot."
"She's okay, I guess." James commented, but he couldn't keep the grin off his face.
"We should probably save her from Uncle Ron. Scor- switch places with James' bae so the rest of us can meet her."
Scorpius nodded dutifully, immediately going over to the barbeque. James followed him to make sure he didn't say anything stupid.
Scorpius ran a hand through his hair as he stopped in front of Lizzie. "Hi, I'm Scorpius."
She introduced herself, as she looked at the man in front of her.
"Well Lizzie, I think you should go chill. I can take over here, can't I Mr Weasley?"
"What have we said about that?"
Scorpius fumbled to correct himself. "Right, sorry Dad. Haven't got used to the sound of that yet."
Ron smiled and Lizzie could sense that he was proud of the blonde man. "Scorpius is going to be my son-in-law. Great lad he is. Nothing like his father."
Scorpius laughed, and Lizzie found herself doing the same. James butted in. "Yeah yeah, Malfoy is great- let's move on."
James dragged Lizzie back to the other end of the garden and introduced her to everyone. "Hey guys, this is my friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is everyone. And by that I mean: Rose; Albus; Ari; Lysander; Tim and Lorcan," he said as he pointed at each person in the group.
Lizzie waved at them nervously as her and James sat with them on the ground.
"Oh," she exclaimed, remembering herself as she pulled a card out of her bag. "Happy birthday, Albus."
"That's so sweet. Thanks Elizabeth," Albus replied, slightly stunned.
"No problem, honestly."
"I like your friend James. Go get her a drink."
James laughed, but got up to get Lizzie a drink regardless. When he did, a pretty redheaded girl with bright blue eyes and a friendly smile moved close to her. James had pointed her out as Rose.
"It's nice to meet you Lizzie. I'm a big fan of your stuff in the Prophet. You have this casual way of writing that really helps connect with the players."
"Thank you, that's so kind. Are you into Quidditch then?"
Rose nodded, sipping from the bottle of Potter Ale in her hand. "Used to play for the school team, but now, not so much. I mean we still try and get to as many games as possible, but I'm a Healer so the shifts are ridiculous and my fiancé Scorpius works for the Minister, so has to always be readily available to jump in."
"So that's your fiancé then? Well congratulations."
Rose thanked her, her cheeks blushing like a schoolgirl at the mention of her crush. At this point James returned, making some classic older cousin comment about how he would kill Scorpius if he even thought about hurting her. Rose rolled her eyes, but smiled fondly in a way much like her mother had earlier.
"So how did you two meet?" Rose asked.
Both of them blushed, before Albus peered into the conversation. "Wait- this isn't the Elizabeth that shot an aguamenti charm at you the first time you met, is it?"
Their blushes deepened.
"To cut a long story short, we met when I interviewed him for the paper," Lizzie quickly injected before she could get any more embarrassed. To her credit, Rose didn't push the matter further.
Lizzie fell into a somewhat comfortable pattern of small talk with James' family and gradually became less anxious as the night went on. She managed to click well with Rose, who apart from her confidence, was very similar to Lizzie herself. She also managed to engage in conversation with Professor Longbottom's daughter, whose awkwardness matched her own. James got into his own conversations, and though Lizzie thought that she'd mind that, she found that she didn't. She did catch glimpses of his conversations that peaked her interest however. For example, she was curious as to why he was comforting one of the twins, and why his sister's name kept popping into that conversation. She let it go- it wasn't any of her business after all. After the food was ready, the adults actually moved outside and she found herself able to chat to a few of them too. James' granddad was a really sweet old man, who as soon as he found out that Lizzie was a muggleborn, proceeded to ask her an onslaught of weird and wonderful questions. She smiled constantly, happy to answer every single one. She also had a chance to catch up with her old Herbology professor, who had been one of her favourite teachers at Hogwarts.
By the time people had started to leave and go their own way- Lizzie found herself at ease with one of the most famous families in the country. She had even gained an invite to Rose and Scorpius' impending nuptials. She decided to take her minute on her own, casually leaning against the wall as she watched James converse. Without her noticing, Harry came to stand beside her.
"Thank you," he said, seemingly out of the blue, making Lizzie's eyebrows furrow in confusion.
"What for?"
Harry formulated a perfect response in his head before saying it out loud. "For being a good friend. Ginny really struggled when Lily moved away, and since you started working for her- it's as if she has regained a daughter. And you've done wonders for Jamie. At the start of this year I was seeing him more on magazine covers than I was in person. He's changing. Has been since he met you."
Harry smiled, but walked off before Lizzie could even start to think of a reply. Lizzie was astounded. Ginny thought of her like a daughter? She was overwhelmed by the kindness. This family had welcomed her with open arms and shown her nothing but love and appreciation even though they barely knew her. Her mind slipped into wondering what it would be like it they actually were her family. If she married James one day, they could be. Would Harry talk about her with the same reverence which Ron spoke of Scorpius?
Catching where her thoughts were heading, she pushed herself away from the wall to find a large glass of water to clear her head. She needed to get out of this house. It was starting to mess with her head.
What a whopper. SO many words. Sorry that nothing much has actually happened in these last few chapters. I promise that the next few are way more exciting. I will get those to you asap. In the meantime- please review! Bg.97 xx