Disclaimer: Unless there's a massive secret the world is not telling me, I am not the creator of Harry Potter and his world.
Thank you very much for all the reviews you gave me – it's lovely to know that my efforts have not gone unappreciated, but Lexi – you're not off the hook! I expect a very long review from you in apology for missing so much! Hehehe (aren't I nice) . . . Anyway . . .
Tears of Sadness, Tears of Joy
Chapter 8 – Summer, Part I – Lily
Previously:
Remus put a hand on top of hers to stop her fidgeting and forced her to look at him, his kind, intelligent eyes sensing the direction she was heading in. Lily was a very accomplished Potions maker. "And, um, well, I wanted to learn how to make the Wolfsbane Potion." She gushed out all at once as if saying it quickly would reduce the impact of what she had just said.
Without words, Remus instantly crushed her to him with all the strength he had recovered from the past few days. He had to lean over slightly to do this and his face buried in the hair draped across her shoulders, his face turned down into her body.
"Fucking hell, Moony." A pair of watching hazel eyes disappeared from view.
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"Of course I'm sure I'm sure! This is James Potter, after all!" Lily cried, waving her free hand in the air frustratedly, throwing herself down onto her bed, holding the other hand to her ear. Even down the phone, she could almost see Holly rolling her eyes. Being a muggle-born just like herself, this presented the convenient opportunity for muggle communication.
"Right, that's it young lady," came the demanding reply, "get your derrière round here right this minute! I don't care what Petty is doing with the Pig tonight – actually I don't want to know that- ew, ew, ew, mental images! Mental-images-mental-images-mental-images!" There was a beep and Lily knew that Holly had hung up. She was now presented with the dilemma of how to wriggle out of the evening activities. On the one hand, she knew that her mother was an unlikely option for letting her skip away from a weekend with Petunia-and-Vernon Scott free, but just leaving a note would seem a cowardly option. An evil gleam that the Marauders would have been proud of sparkled in her eyes as a light bulb lit up in her mind. She knew exactly what to do.
Grabbing everything she might need and couldn't borrow off Holly for a few days in a large but closely unsuspicious hand bag, Lily lightly stepped down the stairs and silently crept before the man hiding behind a newspaper in his living room. "Daaddyyy," she began in a wheedling tone, "please may you let your fabulous daughter who loves you very much and thinks that you're the best dad in the world," here she took a big breath in which her father peered over his newspaper at her, folding it in half to see what she was up to and cut in with a smile,
"I'm your only dad in the world, but thank you - carry on, what do you want?" He now had one eyebrow raised as he looked at her quizzically.
"Let me possibly spill my troubled teenage heart out to my best friend instead of being forced to reign in my salty tears at the dinner table whilst obediently without a question or huffiness enjoy my dearest sister's boyfriend's charming table manners?" Lily threw him the most appealing look she could and coupled it together with standing straight, not slouched as he liked her to and holding her hands behind her back like his little girl she once was. She conveniently forgot to mention her planned duration of her absence.
As if the weight of the world was pushing down on his shoulders, he sighed heavily and responded, "Okay then, Petal off you go, then." She beamed at him and gave him a huge hug and a kiss. He added as an afterthought, "Will your sister mind?" Lily was already out the living room door when she shouted back,
"No!" she had a hard time trying not to laugh.
"Have you asked her?" Her father enquired doubtfully. He was answered by the slam of the front door closing. As if knowing that he had possibly done a very bad that that he would most likely be in trouble for when his wife and daughter returned from their shopping expedition, he sighed again, then reopened his newspaper and continued to read.
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Now cloistered comfortably in Holly's spacious room on her princess-like bed, the girls carried on with their conversation,
"So, how do you know he saw you two? Just because James didn't say goodbye to you when you got off the platform, doesn't mean he saw you. He probably didn't see you – don't forget there are other redheads in the school apart from you and it was pretty crowded. Plus I told Mr Ego not to grill the bookworm when he got back and if you're just friends as you say you are then he wouldn't have been feeling guilty so therefore would not have felt compelled to admit anything because there was nothing to admit!" Holly finished proudly, pleased with the goldfish effect her little speech had on Lily.
"Well, he's made a special point of seeking me out to say goodbye at the end of the year," Lily moaned, "and he didn't this year. And I'm sure I felt someone watching us." She slapped at Holly's hands that were making "scary" "wooo" actions to accompany the noises.
"Meh, you're just paranoid because you've realised that you like him and you regret all the time you've spent deliberately going out of your way to throw mean comments at him or inconvenience him. You also thought that perhaps when he kissed your hand goodbye this time you would smile at him and when he asked you out you had your answer already formed on your lips to say, "maybe next year" or something to that effect." The goldfish had suddenly grown and was asking for more food, "Don't look at me like that, Lils, I know it's true – I know you well."
Lily physically lifted the lower part of her jaw back to its normal position and glowered at Holly, grumbling, "Too well. Anyway, what am I going to doooo?" She launched at her, tackling the blonde's elegant poise and landing them both on the floor with a large thump.
Picking herself up into a sitting position leaning against the step to her bed, Holly reasoned, "With a wail like that you could win a moaning competition with Myrtle even if I tied a gag over your mouth." At this, Lily looked shocked for the Nth time today before they collapsed into fits of laughter. The unhappy mood vanished and they sat there laughing about worst case scenarios that could possibly befall Lily and her quest for redemption. It was clear that she would have to make herself apologise to him if she ever wanted a chance with him. For the next hour she and Holly talked about guess who – James Potter. That is Lily talked and Holly listened making "oohs" and "aahs" in all the right places like a best friend should.
"He's such a jerk sometimes, like right when you don't need him to be, actually he's a jerk most of the time, but then when I get upset there's this little flicker across his face. I don't it's supposed to mean – it's like he's angry that I'm upset or with what made me upset. Oh my gosh, I will never complain about him being late because of quidditch again!" Lily declared.
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Holly warned, but the redhead brushed it aside, ignoring her and continuing.
"You would seriously not believe it – he must have worked really hard on that pitch – his body, Hols!" And that was where the blonde switched off. This was totally a new Lily to the one she recalled so vehemently spitting out insults about James Potter. He had clearly addled her brain; whether it was for good or for worse, she couldn't tell. Lily-in-love was going to take a bit of getting used to.
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"Shall I serve you, Vernon?" Petunia simpered as she dished out generous helpings onto his plate. The large young man sat back and allowed her to serve him while muttering his thanks and "Not to skimp on the meat" in a low voice with a self satisfied smirk on his face.
"So where has Lily gone?" Mrs Evans asked her husband again, as he had evaded the question very well for about ten minutes now. This was an extraordinarily first-class performance for him, as when it came to his wife, usually the poor man was helpless.
"She erm, said something about going to Holly's." He mumbled, not looking directly at her knowing that he was going to be paying for his actions later.
"And did she say anything else?" When he shook his head, she continued, "Oh, that girl! I'm awfully sorry, you two." She spared a brief glance to Petunia and Vernon playing happy families before turning back to glare at the head of the household, "I've told her time and time again-" Mr Evans thought it best to cut off her tirade before she really got worked up the only way he could think of,
"I heard her mentioning James Potter in a glowing light when she was on the phone." His wife stopped mid-word and she stared at him intently as if to check to see if he was lying.
"James Potter?" He nodded, his food halfway to his mouth, "The same James Potter that she's been ranting about since first year?" Petunia looked pointedly away and continued to simper to Vernon while her father nodded again, managing to get his fork into his mouth so he would not be required to give an expressive answer. "Oh." It appeared his wife could not think of a flowing conclusion either.
Abruptly changing the subject while his wife thought over the information he had just presented her with, he turned to his guest, "So, Vernon, how's the boxing going?"
And so the evening went on. Lily was wise enough not to return home for a fair few days and Holly's mother was thankful for the company of another girl in her house full of boys while Mr and Mrs Evans speculated on what brought about such a dramatic progression of events.
Now all you need to do is press that tiny periwinkle button and type some words in the box – easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Love,
x Imperial Princess x