Lily sat on her bed frozen in shock. James had just done the impossible and scaled the girl's staircase!
That wasn't what had her left speechless though, after all she'd now resigned herself to the fact that James could do anything he set his mind to.
No, the reason she was now mute was because he had just accomplished that feat, and broken about ten school rules, not so he could snog on some girl's bed or steal underwear or pull a prank (as she was sure any normal boy would have). No, James Potter had just done what had previously been thought impossible so he could… pack her suitcase.
And he'd done it all without the slightest flicker of acknowledgement that it was out of the ordinary.
Originally, she'd been totally shocked when he'd burst in to her room unannounced, and expecting a massive outburst or some really important news she'd walked quickly over to him grasping his forearm tightly. She'd been surprised though, when instead of telling her what the problem was he'd merely closed the door and stood staring at her packed bag like the thing was a complicated potion recipe.
Instead of talking to her, he'd brushed past her like he had been in her room a million times before and flung open her wardrobe. When he started rifling through her stuff Lily had forgotten to be worried and become outraged, but after a few ineffectual attempts to get him to stop and talk to her, she'd finally sat on her bed in stupefied awe and watched intrigued as he'd grouped her clothes into piles.
At one point he'd even opened her underwear draw.
Anger had flared once again, but just as she taken a deep breath ready to tackle him away from her most personal garments, he'd raised one intrigued eyebrow before respectfully closing the draw and moving on.
Lily had deflated like a balloon and moved back in to feeling awe.
After a few minutes, it seemed that the piles were finally arranged to his satisfaction, and he strode over to the bag she'd already packed, and to what she'd previously thought were completely acceptable clothes, and proceeded to chuck stuff out and replace each removed item with a neatly folded substitute.
"That's no good—"
"You won't be needing that."
And still, all she could do was watch in wonder.
Eventually though, her surprise had subsided enough that she'd started processing some information outside of his unusual behaviour again, and she realised that he was talking to her as he worked. Unfortunately, he'd actually been listing all the things he thought she needed to know before their visit to his house. She'd only been listening to the one-sided conversation for a few minutes and she was grateful she had not heard all of it because the suggestions she did manage to catch were not filling her with confidence; in fact, the thought of meeting his parents was starting to make her feel a little sick.
She finally broke her silence and scoffed, despite her apprehension, when his suggestions started to get really ridiculous. "Should I bring my school transcripts too?" she laughed uncomfortably rolling her eyes. "An Auror check?"
But when he looked thoughtful instead of chagrined Lily's face paled, "Merlin, James, I was joking! What kind of visit is this?!"
"Visit my arse. Interrogation is more like it!" she heard him mumble to himself as he flung a perfectly good t-shirt over his shoulder sending it sailing into a lamp and replaced it with the beautiful silk shirt her mother had bought her for a family friend's wedding.
As her eyes followed the descent of her favourite t-shirt she remained silent, staring at the item like it was a lifeline, perhaps it knew the secret to making her feel better – James certainly didn't. In fact, she'd been perfectly fine till he'd shown up.
When she didn't reply James's eyes absently flicked away from his task to look at her, when he saw how ashen she'd become he froze mid fold "Oh.... damn!" he cursed "Lily, I'm sorry" he said releasing a big breath before shaking his head ruefully "I'm really not helping, am I?
"Aurors? Transcripts?" she repeated through numb lips her wide eyes swinging over to meet his. "You're not serious are you?"
He winced. "Well not about the security check, they've probably done that already. And I doubt you'll need the actual documentation regarding your school work."
Lily took a deep breath, and told herself that it wasn't too unreasonable. That it was perfectly normal for his parents to want her to be a competent, law abiding person with a bright future ahead. Any self-respecting parent would be interested. Perhaps they wouldn't go to quite the same lengths to find out about her but she could understand the logic…. sort of.
He approached her cautiously and crouched down in front of where she sat on her bed. He looked up at her worriedly because she still hadn't replied, and it was the first time Lily had gotten close enough to him since his grand entrance to really be able to see his face and, suddenly, she realised that he didn't look any better than she felt. She was surprised it had taken her this long to notice – normally she could read him perfectly. Seeing his expression it suddenly became clear that, right now, he was preparing her so that he could take his mind off the visit.
Problem, though, was that he was terrifying her in the process.
So she forced herself to smile despite her unease. "Come here," she said, holding out her hand for him, wanting to make both of them feel a little more relaxed.
Without hesitation, he placed his hand in hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles as he stood up. "Sorry," he sighed before she had a chance to speak, "I'm freaking us both out, aren't I?"
She used her grip to pull him down next to her on the bed. "Maybe a little," she grinned at him, "you really need to relax!" she finished tugging on his hand so they both lay back together.
After a few moments of silence he stretched out his arm and, as if the move had been done a thousand times, Lily lifted her head so she could rest on his shoulder. Once they'd settled comfortably together, she said, "Why does it matter so much anyway?" She rested her hand on his chest and turned her face up to his so she could watch him. "Even if they don't like me I can hold it together. You'll be there to support me and I can handle a little hostility, I'm muggleborn after all."
She felt him press a light kiss into her hair before he replied "Yeah, I know, but I don't want it to be like that," he said using his free hand to push his glasses up on top of his head and rub his eyes wearily.
"Why's it so important?" Lily shrugged although she was secretly hoping they liked her, too. "As long as they believe you and I are a couple then the rest is irrelevant."
James shocked her when he used his hand to force her to turn all the way into him and look him in the eye, with her half sprawled over his chest he met her gaze heatedly and it had extra impact without his glasses because he had such beautiful eyes—so clear, colourful and fierce. He looked at her, his stare never wavering and said, simply, "I like you and I want them to like you, too."
"James," she sighed, half-worried that she wouldn't be able to make him proud and half a puddle of girly mush because his rough, sincere words struck right at a part of her, one that she hadn't felt before, one that made her knees feel weak and her heartbeat speed up.
"I'm mean it, you're important to me and I want you to be important to them, too."
Lily took a moment to let those words to sink in and she tried not to think about why they seemed to affect her so much.
"They will, I will." she firmly promised. "I promise that I will do everything I can to make sure everything goes smoothly."
"Those sound like fighting words," he grinned as he brushed a stray strand of hair off her cheek. "My little warrior."
"Too right," she nodded, took a deep breath and prepared herself to keep her promise. "Now carry on with your list, I want to know as much as possible."
She tried to sit up, but James reached out with his free hand and pulled her into a brief but tight hug. He released her with a tired sigh before forcing himself up off the bed and stepping back toward her bag. He grabbed the T-shirt he'd so recently discarded folded it neatly, purposefully placing it back in her bag. "Just be yourself," he said quietly as he ran a palm almost tenderly over another T-shirt with a muggle band name. "I'm sure they'll love you."
When she scoffed he added, softly and sincerely, "How could anyone not?"
---
"Holy Mother of Merlin," Lily whispered under her breath, the strong, cold wind whipping her hair about and carrying her exclamation away on the current.
They were still a good distance away from the house because the wards only let them get so close before they had to walk - but even from this distance the house looked massive.
"Huge, isn't it?" Sirius grinned from beside her. "Wait till you get inside!"
Lily eyed Sirius wonderingly, he'd been acting like a hyperactive child all morning and she figured if anyone could be that excited about Christmas at this house then there was no way James's parents could be all that bad. As she watched Sirius chuckle she felt James reach for her hand, and she grasped it firmly. She had a fleeting thought that she should have been surprised at how easy it was and how much comfort she took from the contact especially considering how awkward it had been in the beginning. But instead of feeling uncomfortable, now she was grateful for the reassurance his hand provided.
They'd come so far, in only a matter of months. She would be lying if she said she wasn't a little scared at how quickly and easily they had fallen into their roles. The thought of what it would be like after their performance was over though, when they ended the charade. That didn't scare her… it terrified her. She wasn't sure she would know what to do without the annoying git.
"Ready?" he asked quietly breaking into her train of thought.
"No…" she said and Sirius laughed gleefully again.
But when it seemed like both boys, even Sirius, were taking her seriously and seemed willing to stand in the awful weather for as long as she wanted, she felt a sudden courageous warmth radiate from her chest. She couldn't resist squeezing James's hand and nudging Sirius with her shoulder. "Come on, let's get in, I'm freezing and waiting around here is not going to make it easier."
"'Atta girl!" Sirius said smiling beatifically before rubbing his hands together and striding off at a fast pace.
Lily and James followed a little more leisurely, but the closer they got the tenser James became.
"James," she smiled, trying to get him to loosen up, "they're your parents, I'm sure they're wonderful."
"Yeah, they are, especially to me and Sirius." He looked at her and sincerely said, "I just don't want this to be horrible for you. I mean you're here…. at my house. Lily Evans is at my house… I can't believe you're actually here!"
She grinned, "I didn't know it was such a momentous occasion."
"Lily, don't act like you are unaware of how I… used to feel about you. I know we were only 12, but I was not exactly quiet about my feelings… I know how aggravating I was."
Lily smiled, remembering. "You were a royal pain," when James grimaced Lily continued "But in hindsight, knowing you like I do now? I actually think it was kind of sweet." James looked at her incredulously and she couldn't help but laugh at the expression "Just please don't regress on me, it's cute if a boy is 12 not 18."
"Ohhhh," he groaned like a four year old, "and I was so looking forward to turning your hair green again." He finished tugging on a lock of her hair until she leant over and he could press a kiss onto forehead.
"Try it chuckles, I know a few spells of my own now," she smiled saucily knocking her hip in to his.
"Don't I know it!" he said pinching her on the side in retaliation making her giggle as he hit a ticklish spot.
The banter seemed to have eased both their nerves, taking both their minds off the meeting about to happen even as they got progressively closer to the house.
"I'm worried you're just going to up and walk away," he suddenly said, ruining the moment of peace.
"Don't be silly James. I'm not going to storm off like a petulant child – worst comes to worse we'll make sure we're out of the house all day."
He nodded and seemed slightly relieved by what she'd said. Lily rolled her eyes, she was almost certain, that James had worked the whole situation up into epic proportions when really most of his worries were in his head. In fact it had actually started to amuse her that he was more worried than she was.
That was until the house really came into view.
There were security camera's everywhere and she could hear dogs barking somewhere in the distance. She even thought she saw someone watching them approach through the window. Then, suddenly, she could also feel the buzz of magic tingling on her skin, the energy seeming to come from the house its self
"You'll get used to it," James said as she frowned, wrapping an arm around her just as they reached the front door. He pulled her in tight to his body. "Deep breath," he grinned boyishly, seeming suddenly and inexplicably excited considering his attitude only moments before.
Lily decided to take the suggestion though and just as she exhaled the door swung open.
---
AN
Well there you go! I think that sets up the suspense quite nicely, don't you?
I hope you enjoyed! So, so, so sorry about the wait! A few of you even took the time to prompt me... I hope you can forgive me.
Please review