Part 3:
"That was amazing! I thought it would be a total snooze fest, but I really enjoyed myself!" Lily exclaimed to James and Sirius on their way out of the building. Lily loved talking and joking with the boys.
"Peter I thought I was going to have to murder you each time you un-clipped my hair!" She shouted as she laughed like a hyena.
"Sirius?" Lily and the Marauders turned to see a short, brunette in a cobalt dress on the arm of a handsome bloke.
"Rachel?" Sirius asked softly. His eyes diverted to the man next to Rachel. He cleared his throat, "Uh, how are you?" He asked.
"Brilliant. Great. You?" The conversation was full of tension. I looked at James and searched in his eyes for some kind of explanation to what was happening.
His hazel eyes started back into mine worriedly.
"Amazing," Sirius looked at the man and put out his hand, "My apologies for being so rude. I'm Sirius Black and these are my friends."
"Lars Pendleton, how do you know my fiancé?" He asked. Lars dark blue eyes were questioning Sirius.
"Fiancé? Seriously, Ray?" Sirius looked at Rachel with sad eyes and and a scary smile of hurt.
She bit her lip and looked at Lars. "We used to date, once upon a time."
Sirius nodded his head and looked desperately crushed. "I guess I'll be waiting for my invitation in the post. Nice meeting you, Lars," Sirius looked at Rachel with the most pained expression, "Ray." And then he turned and stalked off.
"What was that?" Lily asked as Lars and Rachel walked off.
"Rachel and Sirius dated all through Hogwarts and a little bit after. They broke it off when Rachel moved to Italy to be with her family and to work as an ambassador for the Ministry. She told him that she wasn't ready for s relationship and didn't want to try to do long distance. I guess she changed her mind. He didn't even know she was back in England."
"That's terrible. She looked so upset. She obviously wanted to be with him." The look in her eyes said it all.
"Well, she messed up. And she's with Lars now, I guess." James ruffled his hair and turned to Lily, "let's brighten the mood, shall we?"
"Why are we on Waterloo bridge?" Lily asked as the pair peered over the side staring at the Thames.
"Number 6, skinny dipping." James smirked.
"What? You're joking! People are around! The sun hasn't even fully set!" Lily screamed.
"Come on! It was on the list! We were bound to do it!"
"I can do this one alone!" She yelped. Her cheeks were cherry red and her breath was short.
"That's no fun! I promise not to look!" James crossed his fingers behind his back.
"Please Merlin do I have to do this?!" She asked staring at the sky in terror.
"Strip." James commanded as he began taking off his coat and unbuttoning his shirt." Lily stared at him with her mouth open. "Oh, dear pelase excuse me. Let me unzip your dress. How horribly rude of me." James turned her around and unzipped her dress and for good messer unclipped her bra.
"You evil little man!" Lily spit at him as she took off her expensive earrings.
"You won't be saying that in a moment," he said under his breath as he unbuckled his belt.
The people around them were giving them weird looks but not approaching them.
"I've put a disillusionment charm on the muggles. All they see are two smart naked statues."
"Bloody hell," Lily said as she shimmied off her dress and kicked off her heels. Her hands were covering her chest and she looked up at James whose hands were covering himself.
"I'll take off my knickers in the water." Lily explained as James rose an eyebrow at her black lace panties. She couldn't even believe she was doing this with him.
"Right." They both turned towards the water.
"Ready?" James asked. Lily only had a second to turn to look at him before he pushed her in the water. She grabbed his arm and he followed her down.
Splash!
Lily had screamed on the way down and she had resurfaced to see James' glasses covered in water droplets. She swam away from him slowly. "You stick over there and I'll be over here, got it?" She commanded. He nodded and she reached down to pull off her knickers and then she wadded them up in her hand.
As Lily was looking around her she felt James hand grab her panties out her hand. She looked up and he had already swam away. "I'm starting a collection!" he yelled from his place in the river.
"Fuck you!" She shouted. To kill two birds with one stone, she decided to get back at James and to cross an item off her list. While James' back was to her, she charmed his glasses to see only upside down.
"Oi! What did you do to me!" He yelled as he turned to look at Lily but only saw sky.
"Number 13: prank someone without any help!" She shouted to explain.
She was just about to take off the charm before a something grabbed her leg and pulled her under.
"Lily?" James asked as he looked around. To see clearly, he took off his glasses and everything was right-side up again. It was blurry, but better. He didn't see her anywhere and so he summoned his wand and looked under the water. He saw a green figure pulling a screaming Lily deeper and deeper.
James dove down and stunned the creature. He then grabbed Lily by her waist, realized she had gone unconscious and pulled her to shore. James procured a towel and wrapped her in it while summoning his pants. He then gave mouth to mouth and began CPR. Lily choked up some water and he eyes opened as her lungs filled with air.
"What happened?" She sputtered out, holding her towel tightly around her.
"That was a mermaid. Not the sweet kind in muggle books. The evil, I want to kill you kind," James responded. He was panting and rolled over next to her.
"You saw me naked," Lily said without emotion.
"Yep," he responded.
"Brilliant."
After the run in with the mermaid, the pair decided to head to Gringotts to get money for dinner. Swimming and almost dying in the Themes really wore the two out.
"So do you know your vault number?" James asked. It was Lily's first time to her Gringotts vault. She had just used muggle money in her past Hogwarts years and converted it, but she had bought her own vault when she turned 17, though she had never visited it.
"671, and I have my key." She replied as she ran her fingers through her hair. She was still getting used to the length. James and Lily walked up to the first open desk and Lily said, "Hello, um, I would like to make a withdrawal?"
The old, grumpy looking goblin didn't even look up at her. "Vault number?" He asked as he was still looking down and writing.
"671," she answered softly.
"Name?"
"Lily Evans. Oh and I have my key."
"Security question is, what is your favorite candy?" The goblin asked.
"Sugar quills." Lily answered confidently.
"All right. Please follow me." He hopped off his stool and led them to the carts.
"Is this what you do everytime?" Lily asked James.
"Yes. And the more money you have, the more fun the cart ride is."
"We'll get ready for a lame ride then," Lily responded with a nervous laugh. She was right, too. The cart went straight then turned left, then slowly declined and then stopped. Rather boring.
"Vault 671. Key please." Lily handed over her key. He placed it the lock and turned it, opening her small vault.
"Just a minute," Lily told James as she stepped inside the door. She returned moments later with a bag full of coins.
"Fantastic. Now dinner," James told Lily.
"Now dinner."
"I can't believe it's already 9:00," Lily said as she took a bite of her pizza. She convinced James to get a muggle meal for dinner. They were walking around London and toward an open park.
"Well, we started at around 8:30 so it truly had been a full day," James replied peeling a pepperoni off his slice and eating it.
"We got 11 things done, that's pretty good," Lily replied, "but not good enough." Lily stared at the 6 things she had left on her list. James had put plus marks on all the ones they had completed.
Lily's To Do List
1. Never been to a bar +
2. Never stolen anything
3. Never gotten into a fight +
4. Never eaten Chinese Food +
5. Never had the perfect kiss
6. Never gone skinny dipping +
7. Never done magic outside of school +
8. Never painted pottery +
9. Never been to my Gringotts Vault +
10. Never met a House Elf +
11. Never been to a concert +
12. Never cut my hair short +
13. Never done a real prank +
14. Never rebelled against my dad
15. Never met anyone who was Portuguese
16. Never known a criminal
17. Never met someone who has changed my life
"James you can cross off number 2," Lily said with a sly smile. They had sat down on a bench in the park, with only the light of the street lamp beside them.
"What did you steal? I was with you the whole time!" James exclaimed, surprised Lily had tripped him up.
"I think you would recall going to the loo with me," Lily answered as she pulled out a baby picture of James from her back pocket. He was sitting in the bathtub with a washcloth on his head and soapy bubbles floating in the air around him.
"Evans! Oh my God!" He ripped the picture from her hands as she laughed herself to tears.
James looked at his photo before looking incredulously at Lily. "Wow, I am not easily surprised and you surprised me," James hagan a slow clap, "well done."
"I just wish I got more checked off, though. The rest are just chances and not in my control." James scanned the list and smiled to himself.
"I'm about to blow your world," he said smiling widely at Lily.
"What do you mean?" She asked slightly intrigued.
"I am 1/8 Portuguese and," he leaned in to whisper, "a criminal." He jabbed her sides and made her jump.
"You are not! What have you done?" Lily asked with wide eyes.
"I'm sort of an unregistered animagous," James paused and looked up at her. Lily's shocked eyes told him to go on. "Fifth year, me and the boys decided to become animagi. We had a very good reason, but that I cannot tell you."
"What do you turn into?" Lily asked amazed.
"A stag. That's why I was so surprised you picked a deer to paint at the pottery place."
Lily nodded in understanding. "You know, I won't tell anyone," she said lightly.
"I know you won't. I wouldn't have told you if I thought you were a snitch."
"That still leaves two."
"Two? Don't you mean three?" James asked as he looked over the list again.
"No, two. You're the person who has changed my life. That sounds so corny saying it out loud, but before this morning, I was kind of a loser. I had friends and everything, but I was so careful and had to think everything through. You changed me into this kickass type of girl. I don't know how to thank you," Lily said. Feeling all sappy has added, "but you're still an ass for taking my knickers and pushing me in the Themes."
"You grabbed me and pulled me in! That's just as bad!" He replied. "And Lily, you really only have one left because I pm pretty sure this whole day we defied your dad," James explained. They were sitting on the bench, hips just barely touching and looking at one another.
"Ya, I guess I did," she replied. Realizing the last item in the list she blushed.
"One more to go, then," James said, smiling weakly at her.
"Mmhhm." Her eyes diverted to his lips then to his eyes.
James began leaning in and then he grabbed her waist and she felt a pull at her navel.
"Bugger!" Lily shouted, but she then realized they were standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower and she turned to James. He then swooped down and kissed her. She could feel her toes crinkle and fireworks go off her head like magic.
James pulled her back up and broke the kiss. "What that the perfect kiss?" He asked as he looked down at Lily's flushed face and smile.
She laughed, "It was alright, I suppose," she said before grabbing his face and kissing him again.
The pair kissed and laughed on the tower all night until morning.
"Got everything?" James asked as he helped Lily load her resized trunk onto the trolley.
Lily smirked and said, "Just about. I think you still have two pairs of my knickers."
"Right." He dug in his pocket for the panties before slyly placing them in Lily's hand.
She opens her fist and saw her two missing knickers and smiled. She balled up the black ones and put them in her pocket before reaching up and kissing James. Mid-kiss she stuck the black knickers, his preference, in his back pocket.
"These knickers are for you," she whispered in his ear and smiled.
James kissed her cheek and replied, "Must be my lucky day."
They turned to see the clock strike 10:55. They both had only 5 minutes to board their trains. Looking back at one another with sad eyes, they embraced until the clock struck 10:58.
"I'm happy I'm a clutz," Lily whispered in James ear as they hugged.
"Why?"
"Because if I hadn't ran into you I would've never realized how badass I am."
They broke apart and Lily added when she saw James questioning eyes, "Oh and I got to meet you."
James laced his fingers with hers and they kissed one last time. He kissed his way to her ear and said, "until next time," and he turned to walk away. His pace was so fast and she saw his head twitch, like he was almost going to turn around.
Lily took a breath as she watched him go to his platform and then realized the time. She had less than a minute to get on the train.
She hauled ass onto platform 9 and 3/4 and hopped onto the express. Once she found her friends she sat down to breathe.
"Lily, how was your summer?" one asked.
With a smile on her face, she looked out the window as the train pulled out of the station and replied, "Lets just say, I got a lot done."
