I just want to thank everyone who has commented on this story so far. I apologize for my chapters begin short, however I just like them that way. They might get longer coming up when they go to the beach house.

Right so a couple things i want to say. First off, i apprecaite all those who comment/have commented on this story. I appreciate the reviews immensely. Also, i am so glad that you guys like this story enough to add it to your favorites or alert lists. However i please ask that if you do, LEAVE A COMMENT!!! it annoys me to no end that you favorite my story but don't tell me why you like it. PLEASE REVIEW!! I greatly appreciate it. And who knows, it might make me update faster... :D

Disclaimer: the characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling. always have, always will... for those of you who might have noticed that my other chapters don't have disclaimers, i assume you know that these characters were orignially created and belong to the wonderful Jo. so please, don't sue me... i have no money... anyway... enjoy the chapter...

Chapter 7

It was 7:00 A.M. the morning of the full moon, and Lily Evans was sleeping soundly. She had stayed up quite late the previous night and had been happily looking forward to sleeping in until noon. Unfortunately for her, James had different thoughts on the matter.

So at 7:00 that morning, Lily awoke to the sound of a mad tapping at her window.

Deciding it best to ignore it, she just grunted and pulled the covers up farther over her head.

The tapping persisted for a good 10 minutes more before suddenly, after a particular loud rap on the window, it stopped.

Thank Merlin. Lily thought. Now I can go back to sleep.

But after a few moments she realized there was no way she was going to fall asleep again. She decided to go and see if the mysterious tapper left any clue to their identity.

She pushed off the covers and groggily made her way to the window. She expected to see a note, or a flower, or anything that might explain why some prat was knocking on her window at 7:00 A.M.

Instead she was very surprised to see James' barn owl, Zonko, passed out on the window sill. Apparently after 20 minutes of straight tapping, it got dizzy and fainted.

Lily quickly opened the window and scooped up the owl. After untying the letter from his leg, she placed him in her own owl cage, where her snowy owl Scout, was asleep with her head under her wing.

She made sure the owls had water and put some treats in the cage, then hurriedly walked back to where she had put the letter.

She felt the familiar swoop in her stomach as she opened it, and it only increased as she read James's untidy scrawl.

Lily Dearest,

It has been a marauder tradition for the past four years to spend a weekend at my vacation home at the beach. And, unfortunately enough for us, the past four years have included adult accompaniment. However, seeing as we will soon be 6th years, my parents decided we were mature enough (ha ha yeah right…) to go on our own. Therefore, considering the fact you are now an official marauder, you are hereby cordially invited to join in the marauder-fest this summer. It will take place next weekend and we will be flooing in from my house. We would be leaving this weekend, however, dear Remus has fallen ill and cannot make the trip. So we shall be waiting a week and hopefully by next weekend, Moony will be feeling much better.

Also, my parents have gone shopping today in the city and said that I can invite some friends over for a "little get-together" to be precise. However, they request the house be in one piece upon their return. So I was wondering, if perhaps you would enjoy spending the day with me (Padfoot and Wormtail decided to keep Moony company for a while). If you do decide to join me, you can take the knight bus here for as little as 2 sickles. Please send Zonko back with your reply.

Love and Kisses,

James

Lily giggled.

So formal. If only he was like that in person! She thought.

She quickly pulled out a quill and scribbled out a reply on the back of the letter.

When she was finished, she folded up the letter and half ran, half tripped over to her owl cage.

Zonko was still passed out on the bottom.

Lily chuckled.

Poor owl. She thought to herself. It didn't want to get up at 7:00 A.M. either!

She poked him a bit and tried to wake him up, but he was out cold.

By now Scout had woken up and was looking curiously at the new addition to her home. She hooted softly and nipped Lily's finger affectionately.

"Scout!" she yelped, a little surprised. "Good your awake! I need you to take this letter to James and come right back ok?"

Scout hooted in reply and stuck out her leg for Lily to tie the letter on. Then she flew down from her perch to land on Lily's arm and let her carry her to the window. She took off flying East into the rising sun.

After watching her owl disappear into the distance, she shut the window and went to look in the mirror.

Her crimson hair was a mess, sticking up at all odd angles.

"Oh I look lovely don't I?" she asked to the room.

"Not particularly deary." Her reflection responded in an amused tone.

She glared at the mirror before gathering some clothes and heading off to the shower.

James stood in his room pacing.

He had sent Zonko to Lily's house over an hour ago and still no reply. Had his owl gotten hurt? Was Lily ok? Did something happen?

He glanced out the window again. He could just hear Sirius's voice in his head.

Yes I'm sure that Lily has been captured by a pack of rabid squirrels and is being held hostage in a tree in her backyard. Sirius's voice said. You should go rescue her! Show those squirrels that you never mess with James Potter's girl!

The voice was teasing, but it sounded pretty convincing to James. He was just about to go and call the knight bus when he heard a tapping at his window. He whipped around to see Lily's snowy owl Scout standing on the sill, a letter tied to her leg.

He wrenched open the window and, much to the dismay of Scout, seized the letter which was still attached to her leg., thus turning the owl upside-down and causing her to flap madly about.

James immediately released her, realizing what he had done, but not before he had detached the letter.

Scout commenced to peck angrily at him for a few moments before landing on the windowsill again looking extremely ruffled.

James, who was now rubbing his sore head, sat down at his desk to read the letter.

He smiled at the sight of Lily's neat loopy letters.

Dear James,

I would love to spend the day with you! I can probably be over there in an hour or so.

And I would gladly join in the "marauder-fest" as you put, I just have to check with my mum. I'll let you know what she says when I see you.

Much Love.

Lily

He just sat there grinning madly for a moment, before noticing Scout, who was pecking at the window, obviously trying to get out.

James walked over and unlatched the window. He watched the owl fly into the distance before he realized that Lily would be here in less than an hour.

He dashed over to the mirror and looked at himself.

His hair was even more ruffled than usual and he was still in his pajamas.

"Bloody hell I look like crap…" he said.

"You got that right!" his reflection shouted at him. "Now comb that hair!"

"Will you shut up about my hair you ruddy reflection! You know it never stays down!" He glared at the mirror for a minute before grabbing some clean clothes from the wardrobe.

He only had about a half an hour until Lily arrived and he still needed to take a shower and clean his room.

Well., he thought, looking around his room, which was strewn with clothes, candy wrappers, and random bits of parchment. We better get started then.

right okay i know what some of you are thinking... becuase i've had some questions about it before... doesn't Lily realize the Remus is sick on the full moon? mmkay.. i assume that Lily has not memorized the moon schedule and has therefore not realized the conncection... however in upcoming chapters she will start to grow supsicious and begin questioning the poor marauders... also... i'm going to skip over Lily and James's day at home, just becasue i'm not very good at writing romantic scenes. However if you guys really want to read it, i will write it as an outtake later on when i have time. Let me know if you want it. But after this, it will skip to when they leave for the beach. Also, after the summer is over, this fic will end. But i plan on making a continuation of their time back at school. Updates may become far and fewer between though, because school starts in about a week and im gonna get loads of work to do. i should have the next chapters up fairly quickly as i hope to get them written within the week. Please don't badger me about updates though, i'm doing the best I can. so now that you've read my extremely long author's note (and i apologize) REVIEW OR DIE!!!