Disclaimer: I am not the richest person in the U.K., therefore, I must not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 29 Dinner at the Potters'

On Thursday evening Lily apparated to the location James had given her. She appeared just inside a large wrought iron gate set in a brick wall that disappeared into the surrounding trees. James' instructions had told her that the trees would hide the house from view and to follow the dirt road around the bend where she'd be able to see the house. 'Just ring the doorbell and someone will let you in,' his letter had said.

It was quickly getting dark so Lily moved to head down the road. She had only taken a couple of steps when several things happened at once. First the old-fashioned gas lamps lining the road sprang to life. Then, she heard a loud crack split the air behind her.

Instinctively Lily grabbed her wand and spun around to face the new arrival. With all that was currently going on in the Wizarding World there was no telling who or what it could be. As she looked at the face of the person behind her recognition flashed through her mind.

"Oh, Mr. Potter," Lily said trying to covertly put her wand back in her pocket.

"Lily, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Mr. Potter said smiling.

"Oh, um," Lily attempted to say.

She could feel her face getting warm and was suddenly very glad it wasn't lighter outside. What a great impression you're making, she thought sarcastically to herself. She didn't want Mr. Potter to think she was paranoid.

"It's quite alright," Mr. Potter said smiling warmly. "In times like these we can, unfortunately, never be too careful."

Lily nodded sheepishly.

"Well, let's go inside, shall we? It's rather chilly out here don't you think?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Yes, it is," Lily agreed relaxing slightly. Mr. Potter seemed to be rather easy going. Though so was James, most of the time, so she supposed it made sense.

"You, know I must say I'm glad my son finally stopped acting like such an idiot around you," Mr. Potter said with a grin. "Only, don't tell him I said that," he added with a wink.

"I won't," Lily said. "As long as you don't tell him that I am too."

"On my honor as a Potter," he said placing his right hand over his heart dramatically.

Lily laughed. She could see where James got his sense of humor from too.

"Now then, my son tells me that you are Muggle born," Mr. Potter stated.

"Yes," Lily said hesitantly. Did the Potters care? Would they not think she was good enough for their son?

"Well, James was explaining to me about this box thing that Muggles have, a belebison or something?"

"A television," Lily said with a grin.

"Ah, yes, that's it," Mr. Potter said. "He was trying to explain it but he's still a bit confused himself I think. He said it runs off of electricity and it's used to convey things like the news. But I really don't understand how it works," Mr. Potter explained.

Lily told him that Muggles used cameras that recorded movement and sound and then used a signal, like the Muggle version of WWN to send the pictures and sound to the TVs.

"Well, why didn't James just say that?" Mr. Potter wondered allowed.

Lily laughed. "My father was the one to explain it to him. He probably used all Muggle terms," Lily explained.

"Ah," Mr. Potter replied in understanding. "Here we are," he added.

Lily, who hadn't been paying attention to where they were going, looked up in surprise. In front of her were the steps to the biggest house she had ever seen. In fact she felt that mansion was really a better word for it than house. The mansion had been decorated beautifully for Christmas. The whole outside was covered in holy and balsam roping.

"The boys did a nice job, didn't they? Mrs. Potter had James and his friends help her decorate the outside yesterday," Mr. Potter explained.

"Oh, yes," was all Lily could think of to say. She was still in awe of the sheer size of the house.

"You can hang your cloak here," Mr. Potter said as they entered the house indicating a rack in the entranceway where three other cloaks were already hanging.

Lily hung up her cloak where Mr. Potter pointed and followed him out of the foyer.

"I'm not sure where James and Sirius are but if I had to guess I would say they are either in the living room with the Christmas tree or outside. I doubt they're in the kitchen as dinner should be in its final stages and they usually get thrown out at that point," Mr. Potter told her.

"Lily!" she heard James' voice call from behind her.

Both Lily and Mr. Potter turned around.

"I didn't hear the doorbell ring. When did you get here?" James asked.

"Your father apparated in about ten seconds after I did," Lily explained. "He let me in."

"Oh, okay," James said. "Did you have any trouble finding the house?"

"No, your instructions were excellent," Lily told him.

"Good," James said.

He smiled and took her hands in his and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. Lily smiled. He could be so sweet sometimes. Though she suspected from the glance James gave his father that his reserve had more do to Mr. Potter's presence than anything else.

"Do you know what the status of dinner is?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Winnie says dinner will be ready at seven," Sirius, who had been behind James, replied.

"Excellent. Sirius, why don't you go tell Mrs. Potter that Lily is here," Mr. Potter suggested.

Sirius nodded and headed off to the kitchen. Mr. Potter smiled at his son.

"I have to go put these away in my office," he said indicating the bags he was holding. "Why don't you give Lily a quick tour of the house and we'll meet in the tree room in twenty-minutes," Mr. Potter said.

"Okay, Dad," James said taking Lily's hand and leading her away from Mr. Potter.

"Oh, and James," Mr. Potter said sounding much more serious than he had previously.

"Yes, sir?" James said, in a voice that Lily had only ever heard him use when executing his Head Boy duties, as he turned to look at his father.

Lily was surprised by the sudden formality with which James seemed to be addressing his father. It was a stark contrast to the friendly conversation she had witnessed not seconds before.

"You are to leave the door to any room you are in open. Is that understood?" Mr. Potter asked with an expression that made Lily certain that this was not a man to make angry.

"Yes, sir," James replied just as seriously.

"Good, twenty minutes, in the Tree room."

James nodded and then turned his attention back to Lily. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes a brief tour," James smiled.

"Your father seems nice," Lily said.

James smiled. "He's great. Usually, he's pretty easy going, though he has his moments. Like a minute ago," James shook his head. "He's just doing his job though, I suppose," James said rolling his eyes. "He always says being a parent is much harder than being an inovative potioneer."

Lily laughed. "Maybe being your parent."

"Hey," James said pretending to be offended.

"I have to say though, I don't think I've ever seen you so serious when being given instruction by an authority figure," Lily commented.

"Yes, well, when he gives you that look, especially with that tone, you know he's not joking. He doesn't need to shout to let you know he means business. Come to think of it I've only ever heard him shout once. Mind you, Sirius and I had caught great-aunt Murial's Portrait on fire…" James grinned at the memory.

Lily laughed, "I see."

"So anyway I suppose I should be pointing things out on this tour," James said grinning.

"Mm, perhaps."

"Well, lets see, this is the hallway and that over there is Sirius's room. And this of course, is my room," James said opening the door.

Lily looked around, slightly surprised by how clean it was.

"You're present came yesterday," James said walking over to his desk and picking up a package wrapped in bright red and blue striped paper with a green bow.

"Well, I'm glad I brought yours with me then," Lily replied pulling James present out of her pocket and magically expanding it back to it's original size.

"Open yours first," James said.

James smiled nervously as Lily carefully unwrapped her present. She pulled the black leather book out of the paper and smiled when she read the title, Potion Tricks and Secrets by Misty Cauldwell.

"Do you like it?" James asked.

"Yeah, this is excellent. Thank you James," Lily said grinning. "Open yours."

James opened his and was very excited to find a new pair of Quidditch gloves. "Hey, I needed these!" he exclaimed as he opened them.

"I know, that's why I bought them. I noticed your other ones had a hole in them a couple of weeks ago," Lily explained.

"Well, now I feel bad, I just got you a book," James said smiling at the gloves.

"Don't. I'm going to read this book, well tomorrow, I'll probably go to bed when I get home," Lily said.

James smiled and moved closer to Lily capturing her lips in a kiss. They stayed that way for several minutes before Mr. Potter's words ran through James' head causing him to pull away.

"We should finish up our tour. We have to be in the living room in a few minutes," James said.

"Okay," Lily agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

"And this is the formal living room where we always put the Christmas tree," James said as they entered the living room.

"Ah, right on time," Mr. Potter said. James rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Well," said James, "you've already been reintroduced to my father of course and I trust you remember my mother," James said pleasantly.

"Lily, so nice to see you again. Dinner should be ready around seven. Would you like a cup of tea?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Yes, please," Lily replied.

"So, was James a good tour guide?" Mr. Potter asked.

"Yes, your house is beautiful," Lily said.

"It's been in the family a long time," Mr. Potter said with a smile. "I grew up in this house."

"So, Lily, do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"I'm not completely sure yet," Lily said. "I'm thinking about being a Healer or maybe an Auror, but I'm not sure. We have career consultations when we go back to school, though. So hopefully that will help me to make a decision."

"Those are very ambitious paths. Though James tells us that you are in the top of your class so I'm sure that either program would be lucky to have you," Mrs. Potter said with a smile.

"Far more ambitious than James here," Mr. Potter said, though he was smiling.

"Dad," James protested. "I have ambitions. I just want to have a life as well."

His father laughed. "I know son, but I'm your father. Giving you a hard time is part of my job. And you know I take my work very seriously."

Mrs. Potter looked at Lily and rolled her eyes causing Lily to chuckle.

"I feel it's only fair to warn you, dear," Mrs. Potter said addressing Lily. "They all turn out this way in the end," Mrs. Potter said, pointing towards Mr. Potter, with what Lily thought was an impressively straight face.

"Oh, well, in that case," Lily said giving James an appraising look, "I don't know."

"Hey," James said pretending to be hurt. Then he turned to his mother, "You're supposed to be on my side."

His mother smiled cheekily at him and, choosing to ignore him, turned her attention back to Lily.

"Well, let's see. We met your parents but do you have any brothers or sisters or are you an only child?" Mrs. Potter asked.

James made a slightly sour face at this but Lily replied, "I have an older sister named Petunia. She's getting married this summer."

"Oh, how wonderful," Mrs. Potter said.

"She's very excited," Lily said.

"Excellent. Now your parents, what do they do?" Mr. Potter asked.

"My father is an accountant and my mother was a nurse before my sister and I were born. But once she had Petunia she decided to stay home. But now that my sister and I are older, and hardly ever home, she does a lot of volunteer work at the library near our house and a couple of other places," Lily explained.

"I can understand that. I didn't know what to do with myself the first couple of weeks that James was at Hogwarts, it was so quiet. I finally ended up going back and volunteering at St. Mungo's in Permanent Spell Damage," Mrs. Potter replied.

Suddenly a squeaky voice interrupted their conversation. "Excuse me Madame, but dinner is ready."

Lily looked towards the voice and saw a House Elf standing in the doorway.

"Thank you Winnie, we'll be right there," Mrs. Potter replied with a smile.

Lily looked at the elf, Winnie, curiously.

"Oh, Winnie," Mrs. Potter called.

"Yes, Madame?" Winnie asked bowing again.

"I don't believe you've met our guest yet."

"No, Madame, Winnie hasn't," she replied.

"Lily, this is Winnie, our Head house elf. Winnie this is Lily. She goes to school with James and Sirius," Mrs. Potter told the elf.

The elf looked at James and smiled brightly at him. James' eyed the elf nervously. "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Lily," Winnie said bowing respectfully.

"I take it you are familiar with Miss Lily's name?" Mr. Potter asked Winnie grinning.

"No, sir," Winnie said shaking her head and causing her large ears to flap. "Winnie is not knowing anything about Miss Lily, nothing at all," Winnie replied glancing nervously at James.

Mr. Potter looked at his son, who was looking resolutely at the Christmas tree, and laughed. Lily noticed that James' neck flushed slightly during this exchange.

"It's amazing how an innocent little snack of milk and cookies with Winnie loosens one's tongue isn't it?" Sirius asked with an air of one commenting on the weather.

James shot a glare at Sirius but he just grinned cheekily back.

"Speaking from personal experience are we?" James asked.

"Come on Winnie, what has Jamesie poo told you about Miss Lily?" Sirius prodded.

"Winnie is a good elf. She is not telling Master James secrets," Winnie stated.

"Come on you four, let's go have dinner. I'm hungry, I'm sure you all are too," Mrs. Potter said steering the conversation away from the current topic.

As they left the living room Lily saw James shoot his mother a grateful look. His mother smiled back and winked.

"Dinner was wonderful," Lily told Mrs. Potter as Winnie brought in dessert.

"Well, thank you dear but its Winnie who deserves the credit. I just chose the menu, she did the hard part," Mrs. Potter said smiling at Winnie affectionately.

"Thank you Madame, Winnie tried her best," Winnie said humbly.

"Would Miss Lily like some trifle?" Winnie asked.

"Winnie, I can serve the trifle," Mrs. Potter insisted. "Go have some dinner yourself, I'm sure you're famished after all your hard work."

Winnie looked as if she wanted to protest but Mrs. Potter said, "Don't worry. If we need you we'll call. Now go have some dinner, that's an order," Mrs. Potter said kindly. Winnie bowed and hurried off to the kitchen.

Mrs. Potter smiled and waved her wand dishing out the trifle.

"Did you make the trifle Mrs. Potter?" Sirius asked sounding hopeful.

"Of course I did, dear," Mrs. Potter replied.

Sirius grinned as he dug in.

"Mum makes fabulous trifle," James explained to Lily.

Lily took a bite and had to agree, it was wonderful. "This is delicious."

"Why thank you, Lily," Mrs. Potter said.

Lily had an excellent time at the Potters' and was rather disappointed when it was finally time to leave.

"Thank you so much for having me Mr. and Mrs. Potter. I had a wonderful time," Lily said.

"It was our pleasure, dear," Mrs. Potter said smiling.

"Yes, it was wonderful to finally get a chance to get to know you a bit," Mr. Potter agreed. "I must say, I understand now why James hasn't stopped talking about you for the past what two, three years now?"

Lily saw James glare at his father and his neck turn red.

"James, why don't you walk Lily to the edge of the apparation barrier," Mrs. Potter said. "It can be rather dark at night."

"Okay," James agreed. Not that he wouldn't have done it even if his mother hadn't told him to.

James led Lily back to the foyer where her cloak was.

"I had a really great time tonight," Lily told him.

"Me too," James said taking Lily's cloak off the rack and helping her put it on.

"I can do that myself you know," Lily said.

"I know, I was being a gentleman," James explained.

Lily rolled her eyes at him and laughed lightly.

"Way to ruin the moment, Love," James said ruefully.

In response Lily stuck her tongue out at him. James, however, far from being insulted chose to lean over and give her a quick kiss causing Lily to smile, despite her best efforts at pretending to be annoyed with him.

"Come on, let's get going," she said.

"In a hurry to get away from me, are you?" James asked.

Lily chose to ignore him and continued towards the door.

They stepped out into the cold December air and Lily shivered. James reached out and wrapped his arm around her rubbing her arms to try and warm her up.

"It's freezing out here," she said.

"Maybe it will snow," James said hopefully. "Christmas is always better with snow."

"True," Lily agreed.

"Alright, I really do need to head home, it's almost eleven. My parents are going to start to worry soon," Lily said.

James nodded and they walked to the edge of the apparation barrier in silence.

"I'm going to miss you," James whispered brushing a stray bit of hair out of Lily's face letting his hand come to rest on her cheek.

"I'm going to miss you too. But it's only a week. We'll be back at Hogwarts before we know it," Lily replied.

James leaned forward and gave Lily a long gentle kiss. When he finally broke away she smiled.

"I'll see you on the train back to school, I guess," he said attempting to sound cheerful. "I'll send you an owl soon and tell you everything that's happening here."

"Only if you tell Merlin to wait until I can write a response," Lily replied.

"Deal," James agreed. "I should have gotten you an owl for Christmas."

"Owls are way too expensive. You don't need to be spending that much money on me," Lily stated.

"I'll spend as much money on you as I want," James replied.

Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Alright I really need to go. Owl me."

She stepped back and disapparated with a pop.