Disclaimer: I forgot to put this at the beginning of the first chapter. :/ so here it is: I am not, never have been, and never want to be JK Rowling. (Okay, so that last part is a little bit of a lie. But who wouldn't want to be the creator of Harry Potter? That's the true question of life.)

Chapter 2: Storms and Other Things

"I'm sorry," I hiccupped. "It sounded for a minute there as if you said James Potter!" I began another round of hysterical laughing. It was just too bizarre and just my luck! My arch-nemesis spawned from such lovely people and lived in the house I was about to be forced to stay a night in! I took a deep breath and tried to squash all the laughter that was still burning inside me. But I took one look at Mrs. Potter's face and burst. It took me about five minutes to finally get a hold of myself.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to laugh," I breathed.

Mrs. Potter (I was never going to get over that) looked at me a little oddly. "Let's go clean your face up," she said, lightly pulling me by the arm out of the room. "How did you come by it anyway?" she asked politely.

"Petunia. She can be a handful sometimes. No pun intended." I sighed. Then realized she had said we were going to go clean it up. Why would we do that? "But couldn't you just…I don't know, heal it with your wand?" I questioned, confused.

"I could but we try to refrain from using magic for simple things such as this. The wound isn't going to kill you so we'll treat it the muggle way," she informed me kindly.

She seriously could NOT have created James Potter! He used magic for everything! He probably used it to brush his teeth. Actually, come to think of it, I had seen him doing that in the common room one morning…

And then it hit me. I was about to stay the night under the same roof as Potter. And it wasn't at school this time! And if I remembered correctly, Mrs. Potter had said something about a friend. Well that could only be-

"Oi! Prongs! Your lady love is walking down your hallway RIGHT NOW!"

Yup. Sirius was here all right, and torturing me already. Oh, why couldn't it have been Remus?

And then his door opened. The one I had been willing to stay shut since I found out who lived in the house. But it flung open and he stood there in the doorway, wearing nothing but a pair of drawstring pants, staring at me like I was the Fountain of Fair Fortune.

Mrs. Potter shoved me gently into the bathroom and just before the door closed she poked her head out and said, "James, sweetie. Go put a shirt on. I was hoping you could show Lily the rest of the house." She smiled and shut the door in his happy assed face.

I tried to groan internally but it must have slipped out a little because Mrs. Potter gave me a strange look. She let it go for a few minutes but she must have been tortured by not knowing because while she was presetting a cotton-ball covered in peroxide to my face, she admitted to it.

"Okay. I can't take it anymore I have got to know why you've looked like a dementor kissed you since you found out who we are."

I winced in pain as she pressed a little hard. I didn't think Petunia had scratched me that bad but I wasn't about to argue with yet another Potter.

"It's just…Pot-James and I…we don't really get along," I tried to explain, looking at her in the mirror.

"Really? James never mentioned anything about that. He normally just talks about…no. I shouldn't say," she said, turning away and letting her hair fall to conceal her face.

"I mean…I've never…I just…oh hell," I mumbled under my breath. "It's just that I don't like your son, Mrs. Potter. I don't know what he's told you but he's not the most well behaved and…I just…I'm a big stickler for the rules," I tried to explain. I mean, I didn't want her to hate me! No matter whom her son was I really liked her.

"I mean…ugh. I am not explaining this in the right way." I threw my hands over my face, hoping to hide the blush I could feel creeping up my neck, and trying to maintain any dignity I had left.

"Oh, darling, it's okay. I know James can be difficult. I've gotten a few too many letters from Professor Dumbledore to make me feel okay about sending him off again. But at the end of the day, he is my son and I love him all the same. He's exactly like his dad and I wouldn't change a thing about either of them. Well…maybe getting them to do a few chores around the house would be nice. I don't like making the house-elves do everything. They work so hard. But you can't pick your family," she said with a knowing smile and a gesture at my face.

Ha. I knew that all too well. There were times when I was super glad I had Petunia but most of the time I wish she would poof out of existence.

Mrs. Potter slapped a band-aid on my cheek and then said she would leave me to my doom. If it wasn't James Potter I was about to face, I would warn her about the doom that is Petunia. But I figured she got the better deal in the end.

I looked at myself in the mirror and cringed at my reflection. My hair was in that awkward 'I'm not dry but I'm not exactly what you'd call damp' faze. I shook it out and tried to make it fall in just the way that it didn't look awful but it wasn't happening. Instead I just stuck it up in a bun, deciding it was best since I was about to sleep anyway. I gave myself one last glance, rolled my eyes at my ridiculousness, and walked out into the hallway to 'face my doom.' But no one was out there.

I considered myself extremely lucky and walked quickly back to my room, chastising myself for checking out my reflection for James Potter! I rolled my eyes (they would probably get stuck one day and I'd forever be blind) and pushed my door open. As soon as I took a step inside I heard him behind me. Dammit.

"Nuh-uh-uh, Evans! What do you think you're doing? Oh wait. I know! You've finally gotten a glimpse of my sexy abs and now you have to go laze around to help burn them in your memory. Well turn around, baby. You can look at them all you want."

I gagged and turned around. "Actually, I was about to go write a letter to Hagrid. I think he'll find that he's missing a couple of his pigs and I'm pretty sure he wants them back," I smirked.

"Oh, Evans," he guffawed. "I think you've lost your touch of witty comebacks. You used that one last year over Christmas break when you saw me and Sirius walking around Diagon Alley." He beamed, obviously impressed that he remembered every miniscule detail about me…again. He had an annoying habit of doing that.

"For your information, Potter," I sneered, "it's Sirius and me, not me and Sirius, and I have not lost my touch! I'm just tired. It's been a long day," I huffed. " Plus, that statement is entirely too accurate. Although, I'm not sure even Hagrid wants you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight."

I tried slamming the door in his face but he stuck his hand through the doorway at the last minute. I didn't have time to react so the door hit his wrist and he yelped loudly. I was glad that I could bring him some pain in his own house. I smiled to myself and finished closing the door as he continued to moan in pain.

I flopped on the bed and sighed. It was even comfier than it looked! I yawned and situated myself for a nice nap. Well, technically a good night's sleep, but whatever. Sleep was sleep! And sleep was good. I crawled under the covers and had just shut my eyes when I felt two large plops at the end of the bed. My eyes snapped open.

In my sleep induced bliss I had blocked out the door being pushed open and James' continued cries of pain. Wow. I was getting good at it. That time it only took a couple seconds! I sat up quickly and looked at James and Sirius's faces. I glared heavily as they tried to give me pure and innocent smiles, hoping they'd get the clue. But I could tell it wasn't happening anytime soon.

"OUT!" I screeched, pointing my finger at the door.

"But, Lily darling, Mother said I had to give you a tour," James responded.

I groaned. I did not want a tour, I wanted sleep! But no amount of glaring and silent hexing was going to get me that. I sighed. "What will it take to get you to leave me alone?"

James put a finger to his chin, pretending to think really hard about it, but he didn't have a brain so that was impossible. "Let me consult with my lawyer first," he finally replied and hopped off the bed, pulling Sirius by the ear.

"Ow! Blimey, Prongs! You'd think I'd actually have done something!" Sirius whined all the way out the door which James closed with a loud thud.

I grinned, accomplished with myself for outsmarting him, and curled up under the covers. I closed my eyes and returned to my daydreams about Adam. I was still hoping this was all a nightmare. I finally reached the limbo of awake and asleep and then slowly crossed the line into completely conked out.

I should've known it was too good to last. *BOOM* Thunder pounded outside my window. I cowered under the covers. I had always hated storms, even when I was little. Something about them just set me on edge. I was okay as long as there were other people with me. But for some reason, the minute I was alone, I got scared again. My parents had finally taken me to a psychologist after a particularly bad one. I was fourteen and should have been more than capable to stay on my own during a storm but the trees were blowing outside my window and the rain and hail hitting the roof was enough to give me a heart attack. Then lightning started sending shocking waves of light across my room and it made me feel like I was in a horror movie. Storms always made me feel like something bad was going to happen.

So that night, I gathered my bed things and snuck into my parents' room to sleep on the mini couch they kept in there, but thunder boomed throughout the house and I jumped into their bed, hiding in-between them. My mum rolled over and tried to coax me back to my room but I was frozen in terror. Finally she gave up after telling me that we were going to fix this.

Now normally I would have fallen asleep right then but the thunder kept pounding and the lightning kept striking so hard that I cowered under the covers for the rest of the night and didn't get to sleep until the storm had stopped the next morning. My parents contacted a psychologist friend of theirs from school and set up an appointment with me for the next day.

All in all, he didn't help much. He passed it off as some faze that I was just taking more time than usual to grow out of. Give me a few years and I wouldn't even notice it was storming anymore. But it had been three and I still couldn't sleep. And tonight was no exception.

I bolted up in my bed and hugged my pillow tightly to my chest. I jumped every time thunder clapped and slammed my eyelids down as soon as I thought lighting was going to arc through the window. I didn't want to see the creeping shadows that haunted my dreams. I buried my head in my pillow and thought about how this night had been completely unexpected. And then I realized that James had never awoken me to negotiate. Strange. I thought he would have jumped at the chance of me giving him something if he left me alone. I guess he might have had a nice bone from his mum somewhere in his body. Oh well. Didn't matter now.

Maybe I could go crawl in bed with my parents. Anything to not be alone. I gathered what was left of my Gryffindor pride and threw it out the window. I ran for the door, blanket and pillow in tow, and bolted down the hallway. I tried to be as quiet as possible which was made easier by the carpet but my heart was beating so loudly and I was panting heavily so I was sure I would end up waking someone up. I stood outside the door to my parents' room and tried to calm my racing heart. But whenever it calmed down enough to enter the room, thunder rang in my eardrums and it would pick right back up.

After ten minutes I gave up and bolted into the room. It was very spacious and looked more like a suite than a room. But that's all I noticed as my eyes rested on the couch in the living room set up. I tiptoed over to it and laid down quietly. It was very soft and I sunk right in. I laid my cover on top and curled onto my side, facing my parents so I would know there was someone with me.

After a while, I finally calmed down enough to realize how incredibly stupid I was. I was 17 years old for crying out loud! I didn't need my parents to make me feel better during a storm. What would James and Sirius say when they found out? My eyes widened in the dark. Their whole lives seemed to be based on ruining mine. If they knew I was in here they would hold my biggest secret and could get me to do whatever they wanted. Even, Merlin forbid, going out with James! I shuddered. I wouldn't be able to live with that!

I picked up the little of my courage that was swimming on the floor and got off the couch to head back to my room. But lightning decided to shine through the curtains at that exact moment and I flung myself back down on the couch. Once the next bout of thunder and lightning ended, I slowly stood up again. I made it all the way to the door and even though I heard more thunder, I didn't run back to the couch. Instead I ran in the opposite direction and made it out into the hallway.

I stood there until another burst of storm propelled me farther in the dark. I couldn't see much, just shapes so when I finally reached a door I thought it was mine. But on closer inspection, I found I still had two doors to go. I was standing outside the bathroom. And then I remembered hearing something about tornadoes. If there was ever one close to you, you needed to hide in the bathroom or somewhere like it, because it was most likely the middle of the house and wouldn't be harmed as much. I didn't know if there would be any tornadoes but I figured this room would be a safe place to hide for a while.

I smiled and reached for the handle but it had already started turning. I pulled my hand back in surprise and watched with horrified eyes as I was almost knocked over by the envious, delirium filled, half-asleep, James.

A/N: ah. So chapter two is done and now maybe my arm will stop hurting from trying to hold the pages down so I could type them. Thanks for the reviews everyone who did review. And to those who read it, thank you also! So I guess that Wednesdays will be my official posting days. Which works out really well because during school those will be the only afternoons I have off from rehearsal! And they're early outs. *sigh* I can't wait. So, if you saw a couple 'moms' instead of 'mums' sorry for my American-ess. It's a habit. I'm just glad that I didn't say mama. Hahahahahahahaha….*falters off* yeah. I'm not funny. So I shall stop trying to be. If there's anything you found wrong, please tell me. I really don't like being wrong. It's a really bad feeling. So….yeah….I think that's it.

-Marah