Chapter 15

The Results

Disclaimer- Not mine.

Summer…

Sirius dragged his suitcase up three flights of stairs to his bedroom. His parents had 'forgotten' about him and left King's Cross with just his brother and cousins.

He had taken a bus from the station to his house only to find that he didn't have any money to pay the driver. Instead, he had to pay him with his life savings of chocolate frog trading cards and a box of Honeydukes Finest Fudge.

He was fuming as he entered his house. He could hear his family chattering away in the next room over, enjoying roasted hippogriff; the finest quality meat around. Sirius chose to go to his room. He was in no mood to see his family much less talk to them. He pushed open the door to his room, relieved to finally be home from his long journey. But what he saw when he opened the door, was not what he expected.

"Bloody hell…" He mumbled angrily. His room had been turned into a storage area while he was gone, housing old chairs, books, boxes and luggage.

"No bloody way…" He continued to mutter before turning on his heels back out the door. His anger took him right into the dinning room where all of his relatives were. "What did you do to my room?" He asked, his fists clenched with frustration. Everyone in the room turned to look at the angry Gryffindor.

"I'm sorry. Did you hear something?" His father asked his mother, his voice dripped with conceitedness.

"No, I'm afraid I did not." His mother replied. However, the whole family was still looking at Sirius with disgust. There were a few of his aunts, uncles, cousins and his brother at the table with his parents.

"You turned my room into a broom closet!"

"Narcissa, darling," His mother began. "Has Sirius been well behaved at school? Did he stay away from those things?"

Narcissa looked from Sirius to her aunt before saying, "No he didn't."

Sirius' father stood up from the table and walked over to his son, hovering a foot taller than him. "Is that true?"

Sirius looked up at him and said, "Of course it's true. Did you really think I would listen to your ridiculous letter? I'd rather be with that 'filthy mudblood' and the one with the 'tainted auror blood' than have to look at your sick ugly face any day of the week!" Sirius spat. Growing up, he had always feared his father. He was always bigger, stronger and smarter than Sirius. But now that Sirius was getting older, he realized that his father wasn't someone worth fearing.

His father had been the source of which Sirius inherited his short temper, so Sirius' comment about the letter had infuriated the man.

"Excuse me?" He barked, pulling out his wand.

Sirius gulped silently, debating what to say. "I said that I rather be with the people you think are scum than with you because you're nothing more than a conceited, rude, filthy, coward." He spat.

Sirius knew what was coming and wasn't surprised when he felt a curse catch him in the stomach and throw him back off his feet. He winced and sat up on his elbows looking at his father.

"Get up to your room and don't come out until I tell you to." His father said, turning back to his diner.

"Did you not hear me?" Sirius asked, standing up. "I said my room was turned into a broom closet. I'm not sleeping in there." He said.

"Well you're going to have to." His mother said. "Because we have no other room to put you in."

"Then take all of that junk out." Sirius insisted.

"I said get to your room!" His father shouted at him.

Sirius frowned and turned to head up to his bedroom, mumbling a strand of curse words as he did.

The first thing he did once he reached his bedroom was to write letters to all of his friends partially in spite of his parents but mostly because he wanted to distract himself from the brewing hatred he had for his family.

Things didn't lighten up for Sirius in the following two weeks. He still hadn't been allowed to leave him room and had only been feed five out of the fourteen days he had been in the room. But what was killing him the most, was that he still hadn't heard from his friends since the last day of school.

He was sick of the control his parents had over him so he decided to do what he did last year, leave.

Sirius opened the door a crack and peered down the hallway to see if any of his family was roaming around at this time of night. He could hear his uncles downstairs talking loudly, most likely drunk.

Sirius knew he couldn't stand this house much longer and figured James' parents wouldn't mind him staying there for a while. After all, they had never seemed to mind Sirius staying over their house before.

He made his way quickly down the hall and into an unused den. Through the darkness, he navigated his way to the tall stone fireplace. After taking out a sac from his pocket and sprinkling a handful of Floo Powder from the bag into the fireplace, he said, "Potter's House!"

A billowing green smoked surrounded Sirius, gripping him tightly as he flew from fireplace to fireplace. As soon as it had started, Sirius was swirling slowly to a stop. He emerged from another fireplace, landing roughly on a kitchen floor.

He groaned, catching himself from falling flat on his face with his hands.

"It's about time." A voice said above him. Sirius looked up to see Julia standing there. He frowned and looked around the room to make sure he was actually at the Potters.

"Er, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked, standing up.

"I was invited." Julia said. "You didn't tell him?" Julia asked James, who was sitting on a stool at the counter, helping himself to a container of vanilla ice cream.

"Yeah I told him in the letter."

"What letter?" Sirius asked curiously.

"The one that told you to come here today at five." James replied.

Sirius frowned; he had never got a letter from James. "Right, that letter." He lied. He knew the reason he didn't get the letter had to be his parents.

Remus stood up from looking through the bottom counters for something to eat, "Hey Sirius."

"Hey Mooney." Sirius said, taking a seat on a stool next to James. "Is it just us three?" Sirius asked.

James shook his head, "Nah, Peter is over there." He said nodding to Peter, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the kitchen, his hands folded on his lap.

"Wormtail." Sirius greeted with a nod.

"And Lily is…somewhere." James said and just on cue, Lily entered the kitchen. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"James, I have been looking for your bathroom for the past ten minutes and have gotten lost three times. Can you show me where it is?" She asked.

James laughed, "My house isn't that big…" He said, standing up to help her.

"Potter, this house is a mansion." Lily said. "Oh hey Sirius." She said, noticing he was standing in the room.

James grinned and continued, "You go down this hall right here and take a l-." He began but Lily cut him off.

"Nah, I don't have to go anymore." Lily said, taking the seat James had occupied before he had stood up to help Lily. "Mmm…Ice cream…" She said, helping herself to the ice cream container James had been eating out of.

"Evans, move your lard arse." James said.

Lily's mouth dropped in mid spoonful of vanilla ice cream. "A lard arse? Now you're never getting your ice cream back." She joked.

"Aw Evans." James said with a grin. "I meant, move your very nice, perfect arse."

Lily's eyes widened and her face grew pink causing James to laugh. At the time, he didn't realizing what he was implying. "Give him his ice cream back before he talks himself into any more trouble." Sirius joked.

Lily took one more spoonful of ice cream before sliding it over to him. "Thanks Potter." She said, licking the ice cream off her lips.

"Oh Sirius!" A voice called from the doorway. Sirius turned to see Mrs. Claire Potter standing in the doorway. She was an older woman in her upper fifties. Her hair was gray and she was dressed in a fuzzy pink bathroom. She promptly hugged Sirius upon seeing him.

"Hello Mrs. P." Sirius replied.

"I'm glad you made it here okay. I was worried that something might have happened." Claire's eyes wandered from Sirius over to her son. "James you really shouldn't be eaten that so late at nice."

"Yeah James…" Lily muttered with a grin.

"Er, sorry Mum." He said, closing the lid and throwing Lily a grin.

"You should be getting to bed now. I don't want any cranky teens tomorrow." She joked with a smile.

Lily nodded and stood up, obeying James's mother's wish. She stopped once she reached the doorway. "Actually I have no idea where I'm going." She said.

James grinned and walked passed her. "Alright, night Mum." James said before leading his friends upstairs.

After walking up a flight of stairs and down a spacious hallway: "And this," James said to Lily and Julia, "Is your room." He pushed open a door on his left.

"Thanks Potter." Lily said, walking into the room.

"Sheesh, this is the size of my house…" Julia said, as she surveyed the room.

Lily chuckled, "Yeah, this house is far too big."

Both of their luggage was neatly placed at the foot of the bed, "They must have house elves too…" Lily said.

Julia nodded, "Lucky. So your parents finally let you come here." She said. For the last few years James and Lily had known each other, Lily's parents would never let her go over James' house just because he was a boy.

Lily shook her head, "No. Actually, I told them I was staying with you."

"Really? I told my brother I'd be with you." Julia said, grinning.

Lily chuckled, "Great minds think a like I guess." She answered. "But I thought your parents let you come over here before so why would you have to lie to them?" Lily asked.

Julia bit her bottom lip realizing the trap she had walked herself into, "Well my brother told them about Sirius and me dating."

"So I'm guessing they don't think you should date then?" Lily said.

"Yeah." Julia said, feeling ashamed that she had lied to her best friend.

"That's why my parents don't want me here. Because of James." Lily said. "I mean, in general they don't want me around guys because they're overprotective I guess. But unfortunately they've met James."

Julia chuckled, "He visited you once over the summer right?"

Lily nodded, "Yeah, stupid me decided to invite him over." Lily said, taking some cloths out of her bag.

"Was that the time he turned your sister's hair purple?"

Lily nodded, "That was the time."

"How did he do that?" Julia asked. She had never really heard the whole story to this before.

"Well, my sister and me were arguing, as usual. And James told her to shove off and naturally my sister got angry. So she ended up calling me a freak, or something of that nature. A second later, her hair was turning purple."

Julia chuckled, "He's sweet the way he stands up for you."

Lily shrugged, "He would have done it for you too." She said.

Julia shook her head, "Nah, I don't think so."

"Yes he would." Lily repeated.

"Come on. If Snape called me a freak do you think he's turn his hair purple? No, he'd wait until Snape hexed me to do something."

Lily shook her head and Julia continued, "I mean, James is loyal but he wouldn't go through that much trouble to help anyone but you."

Lily frowned, "Well it wasn't that much trouble…" She said, not liking the thought of James willing to sacrifice for her. In fact, Lily didn't like the idea of anyone sacrificing themselves for her.

"He was almost expelled wasn't he?" Julia asked.

"Oh," Lily said, remembering the letter James received almost immediately about performing magic in front of Muggles.

"See." Julia insisted.

Lily shrugged, "I guess so…"

They continued to unpack in silence before Julia asked, "Have you gotten your results yet for the O.W.L.s?"

"No," Lily said. "They should be coming soon though."

"Yeah they said it would only take a couple of weeks."

A bolt of nervousness spread through Lily. Her O.W.L.s decided a lot about the kinds of jobs she'd be able to get in the future.

Not to mention, whether she would be going on a date with James or not.

"Don't worry about it. You probably got top scores on all of them." Julia insisted after noticing the look on Lily's face.

"I hope so."

"What about Defense? How do you think you did on that one?" Julia asked, grinning slightly.

"Good. I think I knew most of everything." She said.

Julia smile faltered, she really wanted James to win the bet because she knew if Lily went on a date with him, she'd change her mind.

"That's good." Julia replied.

Lily frowned as she climbed into bed, just thinking about the O.W.L.s made her feel sick to her stomach.


"They came!" James said as he ran into the kitchen where his friends were seated around the table, eating their lunch.

James nearly tripped over an unoccupied chair but he didn't see to notice. He tossed a stack of letters on the table before turning his attention to the letter in front of him.

"What are these?" Julia asked, taking the one addressed to her.

"The results." James replied, ripping his open.

Lily took hers from the pile, cautiously. She flipped it over and broke the seal slowly, not sure if she even wanted to see what was written inside it.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" James shouted, holding the letter up at Lily. "Oustanding in Defense Against the Dark Arts." He said, grinning.

Lily nodded, as she scanned his results. They were mostly O's with an occasional E. "So what did you get?" James asked, looking at the unopened letter in Lily's hand.

"Right," Lily said, the room had gone quiet and all eyes were on her. Lily took a deep breath before unfolding her letter.

Potions…Oustanding…Transfiguration….Outstanding….Defense Against the Dark Arts…

Lily grinned as she looked at the letter next to Defense Against the Dark Arts;An O+; a nearly unheard of grade. An O+ would mean Lily got every single question on the examine correct.

"Well…" James said, noticing her smile and fearing the worst.

Lily glanced up at him; he was looking at her with excitement and fear. He wanted to win this bet so badly. And Lily knew that.

She looked back down at her letter, now feeling guilty for doing so well. She shoved it in her pocket and turned away from James. "Well?" James asked again.

"Damnit Potter, I bloody hate you." Lily spat.

"Evans, just tell me what you got!" James whined impatiently.

Lily took her spoon and began to mix her cereal around, debating whether she was making the right decision. "A bloody E." She replied.

"YES!" James yelled, jumping up in the air as he did. A smile crossed all of their friends' faces, including Lily's. "Thank you!" He wrapped his arms around Lily and pulled her into a hug.

Lily felt her stomach crumble and her heart flip. "Get off of me." Lily said, but didn't have the heart to push him off.

James kissed her on the top of the head and let go of her. "I have to tell my parents…" He said, turning to leave the kitchen.

"Tell his parents?" Lily repeated.

Sirius laughed, "Yeah, he's probably going to tell them your wedding date." He joked.

Remus grinned and said, "You've made him one happy man."

Lily shrugged, looking at the doorway where James had disappeared. "I sure did…"

"Hey Mum, Dad guess what?" The Gryffindors heard James say in the next room over.

"What James?" His father asked.

"I just won a date with Lily Evans!" He said cheerfully.

Lily put her face in her hands as she heard him say this. "Good for you son." His mother replied, in a confused manner.

"What's that in your hand?" His father asked.

"Oh it's just my O.W.L. results." James said before emerging into the kitchen.

He sat down at the table and happily poured himself some orange juice. "It's a good day." James said, throwing a smile at Lily.

"For you." She said, looking down at her cereal.

"You'll have fun." He said confidently. "I'll make sure of that."


"I can't do this…" Lily said, looking at the door of the room Julia and herself were staying in.

"Sure you can." Julia said. "It won't be bad. It's just James remember?"

Lily shook her head, "Julia I promised myself I would never go on a date with James…" She said, now regretting her decision to go on this date.

"Suck it up, because you half to go." Sirius said, who appeared at the doorway.

Lily shook her head again, "No, no I can't."

"Lily you lost, you have to go on it." Julia said.

No, I won…Lily thought, seriously considering telling the truth. Her stomach was in a knot and she felt like she had to throw up.

"Come on Lils. James is a nice guy." Sirius insisted.

"No…no…" Lily mumbled, still shaking her head.

"Yes." Sirius said.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Julia asked her friend.

"There's a lot of worst things that could happen." Lily said.

"Like what?" Sirius asked.

"Like it's going to be completely awkward!" Lily replied.

"Is that the worse thing that could happen? It could be awkward?" Sirius insisted.

No, the worse thing that could happen is that I could actually enjoy this date.

When Lily didn't answer, Julia said, "It'll be fine. I promise."

"I'm not going…" Lily said in a final kind of tone.

"You bloody have to Evans!" Sirius said, frustrated.

James appeared in the doorway with Remus and Peter at his side, completely oblivious to the conversation his friends were having. "Ready to go Lils?" He asked.

Lily looked up at him and her mouth dropped. "You-You…" She stuttered. "You comb your hair." She said, noticing his normally messy hair now lied flat on his head.

James grinned, "And I tucked in my shirt." He said.

Lily looked him over, in a state of shock. He didn't look like James really but he looked nice and very put together.

"Hey Lily, I know it's hard for you not to goggle at James but at least breath." Sirius said.

Lily promptly turned around and punched Sirius in the shoulder, coming to her senses. "Shut up Black." She spat.

"I take her breath away." James joked in a romantic love-y way.

"Clever Potter." Lily mockingly said.

"Thanks Evans." He said, being equally sarcastic.

Lily sighed, "Well let's get this over with…"

James had decided on a simply date. Even though he was keen on impressing her, he knew she wouldn't like it if he took her someplace extravagant or expensive. So he figured a walk around Le Parc des Fleurs, a park about a block away from James' house, would be a good start.

"The Park of Flowers." Lily translated as the passed the entrance sigh of the park.

"Tu parle francais?" James asked in broken French.

"Ah, oui. J'ai etude avec mon grand-pere qui a habite a Paris." Lily replied, with a small smile.

"Er," James said, scratching the back of his head. "Yes you…learned your grandfather whom has a cat named Ria?"

Lily chuckled, "Close. I said, I studied with my grandfather who lived in Paris." She corrected.

"I got the grandfather part right." He said, grinning.

"Yes you're well on your way to becoming a fluent French speaker." She joked.

James chuckled, "I do try." He joked.

The two fell into an awkward silence as they made it passed the first park bench of many on the gravel pathway leading up to an enormous lake.

"You'll probably be mad if I ask this but do-." James began but stopped mid-sentence.

"If you what?" Lily asked.

"Never mind." James said.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Lily frowned, "James tell me."

James turned to her, smiling, "I said nevermind."

"Please."

"It was nothing." James repeated.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." Lily said as she stubbornly stopped walking.

James chuckled, "Fine but that'll only make this date longer…"

Lily sighed, "You're impossible."

James grinned, "Why do you care so much?"

Lily shrugged, "I don't know."

"Well you're not going to like it."

"So?"

"Fine." James said, walking back to where she had stopped. "I wanted to know if you ever kissed on a first date."

Lily blushed, "What?" She repeated.

"You heard." James said, grinning. "I know you did because you're blushing."

"Well, no I don't." She said, still frowning.

"Okay." James said, turning to start down the pathway.

"Okay? That's it?" Lily asked, catching up to him.

James chuckled, "What would you like me to say Evans?"

Lily shrugged, "I don't know." She said, deciding to drop it.

"James! James Potter!" A voice called from down by the dock of the lake. A boy was standing there, working at the docks. The boy rented out paddleboats to tourists and the people that lived in the town for a small fee.

James turned after hearing his name called to see an old friend. "Derek." James replied, grinning.

Lily and James walked over to the tall, blonde haired boy. "Potter, I haven't seen you in ages. How have you been?"

"Alright, did you get my letter over the school year?" James asked.

"Sure did." The boy replied. "Say are you going to introduce me?" The boy asked James.

"This is Lily Evans, Lily this is Derek." He introduced.

Lily politely extended a hand to him, "Nice to meet you." She said.

Derek nodded, "Say do you two want to take a boat out? No charge?" He asked. He was quiet fond of James, after all James had done a lot for him.

"What do you say?" James asked Lily.

"Sure." Lily said. She had never been in a boat before.

The two soon found themselves in the middle of the vast lake after getting instructions, settling in and arguing about who was doing the most paddling,

"It's amazing out here." Lily said. The sunset was melting off the sparkling lake casting beautiful colors across the reflective surface.

"I know, you are amazing." James said, with a cheeky grin.

Lily blushed and turned to him, "That's the oldest one in the book."

James chuckled, "But it works every time."

"No it doesn't." Lily said, shaking her head.

"Yes it does. You were flattered."

"Was not."

"Were too. You blushed."

Lily smiled and put a hand to her cheek, "Damn I blush a lot."

James laughed, "Yeah, you do."

"I've never seen you blush before." Lily said, taking off her sandals and dipping her feet into the water.

"That's because I don't get embarrassed." James replied.

"You must get embarrassed, everyone does."

James shrugged, "Maybe…"

"When have you been most embarrassed?" Lily asked.

James chuckled, "What's with these questions?"

Lily shrugged, smiling, "I don't know. Just answer."

"My most embarrassed moment…" He thought. He really couldn't remember doing anything that embarrassing. He had done stupid things but he never thought of them as worth worrying about. "When you told me you didn't want to date me."

Lily frowned, "Really?"

James nodded, "Really really."

Silence again.

"You know what I think?" James said.

"What?" Lily asked, leaning on his shoulder.

James smiled and said, "You wanted to come on this date with me."

"Not to be mean or anything Potter, but I really didn't. I mean, I don't mind going out with you just not going going out with you." She said.

"Huh?"

"I mean going out with you as a friend is fine but nothing more."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying!" Lily said defensively.

James frowned, "Really you're not lying?"

"Really!" Lily replied. She wasn't sure why she got so defensive when this topic came out, probably because she was afraid.

A few seconds passed before James said, "I don't believe you."

Lily sighed, "Fine don't." She said.

"Okay I won't."

Silence.

"Remember a couple weeks before school ended and the lake incident?" Lily said, breaking the silence. She was one to easily forget a conflict with a friend.

James grinned, "Yeah."

"This kind of reminds me of it. I mean, with the lake and stuff." She said.

James chuckled, "Say didn't I end up in the lake twice? And you only once?"

"Yeah."

"So I should get you back for that then?" He said, a mischievous grin crossing his face.

"No Potter! I will kill you if you do!" Lily said, leaning away from him.

James chuckled, "Nah, I won't."

"Promise?"

"…."

"James!" Lily said.

James laughed again, "Really, I was just joking. Besides, if I threw you in, I'd have no place to run to so I'd end up in the water as well."

Lily grinned, "Good point."

The two stayed out there for a solid hour, letting the slight waves rock the boat back and forth. When the sky grew dark, they paddled into shore.

"Let's get some ice cream." James said, approaching an ice cream booth.

"Ice cream sounds good." Lily followed James over to the booth.

"We'll have a one vanilla and a strawberry…" James ordered, already knowing that strawberry was Lily's favorite.

Lily pulled out some sickles after watching the man at the booth flick his wand to fill up two cones with ice cream.

"That's ten sickles." The man said.

Lily laid out money on the counter, "Let me pay." James said, reaching for money as well.

"Potter, I never let anyone pay for me. What makes you think tonight will be different?" Lily asked.

James gave the man enough for his own ice cream and turned to her. "Come on, let me pay."

"No James."

"Please."

"I said no." Lily said.

"But this is my date. I won it, I should decide what we do."

"James, for the last time, you're not paying for this." Lily said in a 'that's final' tone.

James frowned, "Fine." He said, defeated.

The two reached James' house and soon found themselves standing in front of Lily and Julia's bedroom. "Thanks Lily, I had a lot of fun."

"Me too." Lily said, wrapping her jacket closer around her, the summer night's air seemed to cool things down dramatically.

"So you'll go out with me again?" James asked hopefully.

"Not a chance." Lily replied.

"Worth a shot…"

"Well, good night." Lily said, turning to her door.

"Don't I at least get a hug?"

Lily frowned and turned back to him, "Alright but just a hug." She said, wrapping her arms around his shoulder.

James grinned and put his hands on her waist. "Night." He said.

"Goodnight." Lily replied, pulling away from him.

Lily entered the room to find Julia sitting on her bed, writing a letter to her brother. She quickly got up when she saw Lily.

"Well?" Julia asked.

"Well what?"

"Did you have fun?"

Lily shrugged, "Yeah." She said.

"So is there going to be a second date maybe?" Julia asked, biting her bottom lip.

Lily sighed, "No Julia, there won't be a second date." She said.

Lily went into the adjoined bathroom to get ready for bed. She was tired; after all it had been a long but fun night. Even though she was reluctant to admit it, she had had a lot of fun with James, like always. James had a way of making even something ordinary seem extraordinary.

Lily slid off her jacket and heard something click to the floor as she did. Lily frowned and crouched down on the floor to see what have fallen out of her jacket pocket.

She picked up five sickles off the floor and a folded up napkin. Still frowning, she unfolded the napkin.

Don't think about giving the money back.

Love,

James

James had done it. He was the first guy that had been willing to do more than what Lily asked for and Lily couldn't help but let a smile cross her face because of it.

A/N Sorry this one took so long to get out. I've been rather busy this week but school's almost out. Thank God.

Please excuse my French in the beginning. I couldn't figure out how to get those little accent things but I will and when I do, I'll edit this.

Well I hoped you enjoyed and thanks again to all that reviewed.

Please Review!

Until next time,

Kait