Homecoming

Familiar hands crept around Lily's shoulders and warm breath tickled her ear, 'Alright babe?'

Lily frowned and stared from her Charms essay to the pile of books at her side.

The hands stopped massaging and James' slightly concerned voice said, 'Lils? Are you alright?'

'I'm fine; I'm trying to work.' She replied dismissively.

'Oh, right. I was just going to say sorry about yesterday, I know I wasn't around much; we were up late and I was absolutely knackered. Still am actually.'

It had been Full Moon night, the night before and James had also had homework to do after that. Not just that, but they had noticed that there were several areas of the castle that showed up on the Marauder's Map that they didn't even know existed. They had no idea how they had appeared, but there was at least one tunnel leading out of the castle that they hadn't seen before and certainly hadn't drawn themselves. They had spent much of yesterday looking for these places, although they had found they couldn't actually get into them; passwords were such bastards to guess. Research needed to be done. As a result, he hadn't really seen Lily since before the Full Moon, despite living in the same tower as her.

Lily still didn't turn round, instead she selected a book and began to leaf through the index.

'Are you angry with me?' James asked softly.

'No.'

'Come on then, Lils, look at me.' He cajoled.

'I've got to do this.'

'Alright then, but if you want to wait till later, I need to do it too, I've got to go to Quidditch practice.'

'Ok.' was Lily's monosyllabic reply.

James sighed; girls. He was still exhausted; six hours sleep after forty-three being awake wasn't doing him any favours and he really couldn't be bothered to try and sort out Lily at the moment. He picked up his broomstick, collected Sirius and slouched away towards the Portrait Hole. Hopefully a couple of hours of Quidditch practice would sort out his mind.

Lily watched him go and sighed, suddenly regretting her bad mood and dismissive display. She half wanted to go after him and apologise, but the other half of her said that she was always running after him.

She always had to go and look for him.

Thankfully Laura slid into the seat beside her and said, 'Lily, you know it's only been two weeks; it's not like you're about to marry him or anything. Calm down.'

'I am calm,' Lily snapped.

'Yup,' said Laura, examining her fingernails, 'And I'm the Giant Squid's niece. You're taking this whole thing way too seriously. It's just James Potter.'

'That's it though,' Lily groaned, 'He's always so nice and lovely and fun-'

'So what are you complaining about?'

'He's never around,' Lily said with a pout.

Laura stared at her, 'I never thought I'd hear the day you would complain that James Potter wasn't around enough.'

Lily blushed and Alice wandered over to see what was going on; a rare event that she wasn't wrapped around Frank, talking about babies names and what their perfect house would be like.

'Heya,' she said, smiling cheekily, 'What's Lily grumping about?'

'James not being around enough,' Laura answered triumphantly.

'He didn't even speak to me yesterday…' Lily said morosely.

'Well… talk to him about it; you're always talking to him.' Alice said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it probably was.

'I…'

'Where does he live by the way?' Alice suddenly shot, before Lily could reply.

'I… er… I'm not really sure actually…'

'South Downs,' Laura supplied, 'it's such an amazing house too; it's got these huge gardens and fountains and stuff. They've got animals everywhere too; it's like being at a zoo or something. They've got a Jarvey in the garden that chases the gnomes, and they must have about twenty Crups, all ones that have been abandoned; I swear Dorea collects them.'

'Dorea?' Alice and Lily asked.

'Oh, James' Mum; she's so lovely,' Laura said with a smile, 'How come you don't know any of this, Lily? You're supposed to be his girlfriend!'

'I… oh, we've never really talked about families.' Lily said, suddenly feeling foolish and knowing that it was lie; they had talked about her family, but the topic had never really got round to James'. Suddenly she felt quite selfish.

'And I totally forgot to ask you; how did he ask you out? Was it a straight: Go out with me? Or was it done on bended knee?' Laura continued, aglow with curiosity, tangling a strand of auburn hair round her fingers.

Lily felt even more foolish as she answered, 'He hasn't really asked me out yet…'

'Oh…' Laura said, looking slightly stunned, 'So it's not official then?'

'I'm not sure… I… I suppose not.'

James got back from Quidditch practice, soaking from the rain and covered in mud from where Hannah had knocked him off his broom. He had a nice bruise flowering across his shoulder, but he was too exhausted to do anything about it. He showered, changed into something more comfortable than his school robes and pulled the Marauders' Map out of Peter's trunk.

He tapped it and said, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'

The ink faded into being across the parchment and he began searching for various people; Sirius was still in the changing rooms with Tommy and George, Remus and Peter were in the library, Wilkes was still in the Hospital Wing. James grinned to himself at this revelation and pictured Wilkes hitting the floor again; it was just too satisfying to forget.

He was looking for Lily though; she wasn't in the Common Room, library, or her dorm. Then he spotted Lily in the disused teacher's office he had shown her; what was she doing there? He cleared the Map and folded it away; he thought he'd go find her and give her the news.

Lily started and looked up as someone knocked on the door; she hadn't expected anyone to come here and was now worried a teacher had found her. The Common Room had been too noisy though, and she couldn't concentrate on her work.

The door opened slowly and James poked his head round, 'There you are! I'd thought you'd done a runner or something!'

Lily smiled, forgetting she supposed to be annoyed, and said, 'How did you know I was here?'

'Process of elimination, babe,' James said with a grin, tucking something into his pocket and sliding over the back of the sofa.

He took the book out of her hands, conjured a bookmark and set it carefully on the floor, then he said with a twinkle in his eye, 'Since you missed out yesterday, I think we need some quality time.'

Later Lily lay beside him on the sofa, feeling slightly drained after their furious bout of snogging; her head rested on his un-bruised shoulder and her hand rested on his tummy, gently playing with the hem of his t-shirt.

James was desperately trying to control his groin as Lily's fingernails kept coming into contact with the sensitive skin of lower abdomen. Sometimes he hated the lack of control he had over that part of his body.

'Where do you live, James?' Lily asked softly.

'Ah, that reminds me; I was going to ask you earlier.'

'Ask me what?' Lily asked, lifting her head to look at him. Her curtain of hair drifted across James' neck.

'Well…' James said, building suspense, 'I wrote to my parents the other day, and…'

'And what?' Lily asked as he trailed off.

'I told them about you, and how wonderful you were and how lovely and beautiful and-'

Lily had to stop his mouth with a kiss, and could feel him grin against her lips. She broke away to let him continue, but he just kept going, 'intelligent and funny and-'

She rolled over on top of him and kissed him harder, forcing him to open his lips to hers. After what felt like several minutes she broke off again and gazed down at him, raising one eyebrow to say, 'Enough of the flattery already.'

'Alright…' James said, rolling his eyes, 'Anyway, I asked them if I could invite you over to stay for a few days at Christmas and they said yes.'

Lily didn't know what to say, all kind of thoughts rushed into her head; James liked her enough to want to take her to his house and meet his parents, what would she get him as a Christmas present? Oh God, she'd have to get something for his parents… She had no idea what they were like. What would James' house be like? Laura had barely described a motley collection of animals, not the house or his parents.

Then a crashing thought; would he expect her to have sex?

'So? What do you think?' James asked, eyes curious as to her odd silence.

'I'd love too,' Lily breathed, 'but I'll have to ask my Mum and Dad.'

Then a whole load more thoughts bombarded her; what would her Mum and Dad say? She hadn't even told them that she had a boyfriend; if he was a boyfriend… she needed to sort that out. Surely they'd want to meet him first, and probably his parents. Of course her parents would want to meet his; they found anyone magical fascinating.

But James was kissing her again, leaning up on his elbows and she slid back from sitting on his tummy to sitting on his lap and suddenly she felt something pressed against her thigh.

James broke off and looked down, for the first time ever Lily saw a hint of a blush appear on his cheeks. She completely forgot about the rigid lump against her leg; he looked so adorable, like a little boy with his hair all ruffled and a pink, embarrassed tinge across his face.

'Oh Merlin, I'm sorry, Lily,' he muttered, 'I swear that thing has a mind of its own.'

Lily felt so sorry for him as he tried to excuse himself that she found herself not caring and leant forward to kiss him again.

The holidays seemed to rush up like a rampaging Hippogriff and before Lily knew it she was packing her trunk to take home. December had arrived in a flight of wind and the onset of heavy snow.

The last Hogsmeade weekend of term had been beautiful; with just a light layer of snow dusting the town to make it beautiful, but still bearable. She had spent the morning with Laura and Dorcas before meeting up with James; he had been wonderful and they had ended up going back to the castle early to snuggle up on the sofa in front of the fire in the relatively empty Common Room.

Lily was no longer worrying about James breaking off dramatically with her and had settled into a routine of work and relaxation as the holidays arrived. She had given up on Mary currently; she was still not talking to Lily since she had started hanging out with James.

Lily frowned as she folded jeans into her trunk; now that she thought about it, James had still not really asked her out. She had sent her parents a letter saying she had a boyfriend, and that she had been asked to stay at his house for a few days over the holidays. Her Dad had written back, obviously intrigued by this new occurrence and had said that she ought to bring him over for tea or something, so her parents could meet him first.

Knowing her Dad, he would probably want to question him; find out who he was, what he was like and what background he came from. James would most likely get the full nine yards.

The plan was to go straight back to the Evans' house from Kings Cross Station, and James would spend the afternoon with them before heading home. Then on Boxing Day, James would pick up Lily and she would stay until the New Year.

She was still worried about meeting his parents, though he didn't seem the least nervous about meeting hers. He had warned her that his Dad could be a bit of a 'nightmare', and she wasn't sure what he meant by that. He had flat out refused to tell her about his parents; saying, "You'll see when you meet them."

Lily had noticed that about him; he could talk about almost anything, but never, ever touched upon any subject that involved himself. When she tiptoed near the subject of the Marauders, Sirius, what he wanted to do after school, or even what his favourite colour was, he would veer off wildly with some startling story or tell her a joke. She didn't understand it.

There were also times when he would disappear for hours, or once for an evening, and refused to explain, brushing it off as "just doing stuff". Lily mostly ignored the odd accidents that happened to Slytherins like Mulciber and Avery; besides she couldn't prove he had done anything, but, nevertheless, she tried not to worry when he would disappear for hours on end. She didn't say anything about it, but it left a niggling doubt at the back of her mind that there was still some part of James that hadn't grown up; most likely that part that refused to talk about himself.

It was as though he had drawn up some huge blank canvas and cast a shadow of himself upon it; Lily could see the edges of the shadow, but didn't know what was making it.

Remus looked out over the hills as icy wind battered the window of the train; it was just him, Sirius and Peter in the compartment. James was off somewhere with Lily; they seemed to have been wrapped around each other constantly since the Marauders' Map had been finished.

It was like they were slowly losing him and Sirius had complained about it; "We losing you to the dark side, Prongs…"

James had just laughed it off though, apparently not noticing the slight edge of tension in Sirius' voice and the hurt look in Peter's eyes. He's listened later to Sirius scoffing at Peter's attempts at humour, but with James curled up elsewhere with Lily, he felt lethargic and couldn't be bothered to defend Peter from Sirius' sarcasm. It seemed that without James, they lost all their energy and descended into petty squabbling.

He'd listened to Sirius though, as he spoke of his idea that the Slytherins were starting some kind of House war with Gryffindor, but so far they had only tried anything against the Marauders or the Quidditch team and that had failed miserably. Sirius suggested they might attack lower years next, but Remus waved him off, 'Avery's not going to go after First Years; he might be a bastard but he does know where to draw the line.'

'I'm not so sure,' Sirius muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

'Mhmm, I wouldn't put it past him,' Peter mumbled through a mouthful of pumpkin pasty.

Just then James appeared, sliding open the door and collapsing into a seat, his hair even more ruffled than usual; most likely a by-product of Lily's attentions.

'You'll want to sort that out if you're going to meet the parents,' Remus pointed out.

'Yeah, I don't think sex hair will go down well with her Father,' Peter grinned as he swallowed a particularly large mouthful.

'Sex hair?' James asked, raising an eyebrow

'Actually, while we're on the subject,' Sirius interrupted.

'Of sex hair?' Peter asked, looking completely perplexed.

'Sex, you fool,' Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes, 'Remus said I could stay at his when Lilykins comes over; I don't want to get between you and a securely locked bedroom door. Nor do I want to witness anything untoward; you might soil my innocent mind.'

'I ain't got nuffink you aven't seen already, darlin'.' James said in a cockney accent, coupled with a lascivious wink.

'Nah, seriously Prongs. I'm going over to Remus' for a few days; I won't spoil your fun.'

James looked slightly worried, 'You don't have too, Padfoot. I don-'

'I know I don't have too,' Sirius said, 'but she's meeting your parents, not your best mates. Besides, I'm sure your headboard banging against the wall will just give me a headache.'

Peter and Remus snorted; last summer when they had been staying in Cornwall they had heard James and his summer girlfriend when they had been on the beach. She had been staying in a caravan and the walls weren't particularly soundproof.

Needless to say, that evening when they went to the pub they had been incredibly embarrassed to find the others were cracking jokes about groaning bed springs, James' stamina and Abigael's rather high pitched noises.

'Merlin, Padfoot; I didn't need to hear about that again. Anyway, I'm not taking her home just to ravish the poor girl.'

'Nae sex?' Sirius asked, wide-eyed and feigning astonishment.

Remus lifted his hand and felt James' forehead, 'Are you alright, Prongs?' he asked concernedly.

'There you go Wormy; James is becoming a martyr, we'll make you a saint yet.'

The outskirts of London appeared in the windows; snow had become rain and the wind had died to chilly gusts. They manoeuvred their trunks out into the corridor and James made to set off to find Lily again.

Sirius grabbed him and held him back though, 'Mate, seriously; sort your hair out. Her parents will think you've been shagging her all the way home.'

James grinned and checked his reflection in the corridor window, smoothing his hair down and checking his shirt was tucked in. He decided on a jeans, a shirt and a jacket; smart but not too formal. Sirius would take his trunk home; James' parents were at some early Ministry Christmas event, as James' Father still got regular invites.

James shook Remus and Peter's hands, drawing them into manly hugs and saying, 'Have a good Christmas; I'll see you at New Year, right?'

'Sure, have a good 'un.' Remus replied, with a grin.

'Good luck!' Peter said.

'Remember to wear a condom!' Sirius shouted down the corridor after him as the train pulled into the station.

'I'm only going for sodding tea! I don't need a bloody condom anyway!' James shouted back, causing several younger years to alternately blush or wonder why others were blushing.

'The rest of the train probably doesn't care about your sex life!' came Remus' parting shot as James disappeared along the crowded corridor.

'Of course they do! I'm…' floated back, but the rest was lost.

'What's a condom?' Peter asked suddenly.

Sirius barked with laughter and Remus grinned, 'It's a Muggle thing…' he snorted, 'they put a rubber…err… sheath thing over…. You know, when they're having sex; stops girls getting pregnant.'

Peter looked horrified, 'That's just sounds… weird!'

'Yeah, I don't like them at all,' Sirius said as the train ground to a halt at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, 'I hate the smell of burning rubber.'

James found Lily and kissed her chastely on the cheek; they had just pulled into Kings Cross and he wasn't sure if her parents might already have spotted them from the Platform. She hugged her friends, said her goodbyes and James gave them a wave as he hefted Lily's trunk in his arms to carry it out onto the Platform.

He found a trolley and put Lily's trunk down, rubbing the marks on his arms where it had dug into his skin, then he wheeled it round to find Lily receiving hugs and kisses from a man and a woman who could only be her parents. He wheeled the trolley over.

The woman looked up at him standing awkwardly by and it was a moment before she guessed who he was, recognition dawned just as Lily broke away from her Father, saying, 'Mum, Dad; this is James Potter. James, this is my Mum and Dad.'

Mrs Evans, thin, auburn and smiling swept forward and hugged him, slightly to James surprise, 'It's lovely to meet you, dear, and we've heard so much about you.'

'Oh, no.' James said, with mock terror and was rewarded with a slight chuckle.

'Hello, son.' Mr Evans said, stepping forward, hand held out. James took it firmly and Lily's Father gave it a sharp downward tug, as though he was testing a knot.

'Pleased to meet you, Sir.' James said, looking him in the eye.

'Well, shall we head off then?'

The car was small and blue and stuffy, and to be perfectly honest, James hated it. It was far too confined. He folded into the back seat with an ingratiating smile though and just managed to jam his knees behind the seat in front; suddenly being six foot one wasn't the best thing in the world.

Lily gave him an apologetic grin and mouthed, 'Sorry!' to him, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

Thankfully it wasn't too far. Lily lived on the outskirts of London and as they pulled into a little row of houses and lawns, James could see the chimney stack of an old factory or mill through the drizzle. Lily's Father took her trunk inside and her Mum put the kettle on as James slipped off his shoes by the front door; he was glad he'd done his background reading on Muggle living, or would have been more than slightly perplexed by several things as he walked into the kitchen.

'Have a seat, dear, you must be tired after your journey,' Lily's Mother said.

James sat; having spent several hours sitting on a train it was just about the last thing he wanted to do, but courtesy demanded it.

'Lily's told us a little bit about you, James, but what do your parents do?' Mr Evans was gruffly spoken, probably about an inch taller than James and far broader across the shoulders. He was Lily's Father, and yes, James did feel slightly intimidated by him.

He relaxed his body, making sure he still sitting almost bolt upright, smiled and said, 'Well, they're both retired now, but my Father worked at the Ministry.'

'Like the Government.' Lily said quickly.

'Yes, I remember, darling.' The cropped, red-headed man's had swung briefly to his daughter and back again.

'He was Head of the Department of Magical Sports and Games before he retired, I'm afraid he and Mother are at a Ministry Christmas event today, otherwise they would have loved to have met you. Mother worked at St Mungo's; the Hospital. But they're both fairly old now,' he glanced at Lily, knowing she probably knew about as much his parents as her parents did. She was following his every word too.

Lily sank back in her chair, suppressing a sigh; James was getting the full twenty questions from her Dad. She was listening though; James was being forced to tell them a lot of things she didn't know, simply out of politeness. He had told them about his parents, his hobbies; "Quidditch mostly", and plenty of anecdotes and news from the Wizarding World.

Lily watched him as he talked; he didn't just tell them things, he asked them if they had heard about the Wizengamot's new reform laws. It was as though he invited them to take part in the conversation, and his world. Lily was beginning to realise how he managed to slip away from her questions so easily; he didn't just talk, he explained, asked for opinions and completely turned the tables on people.

'Well, I'd to look at playing Quidditch professionally after school, but there are hundreds of things that interest me otherwise. I think Dragon Keeping would be quite good fun.'

Lily snorted at the joke, her Mum laughed slightly nervously and her Dad realised it was a joke far too late.

'Didn't you say you had a sister, Lily?' James asked, covering his confusion at the lack of reaction with a question.

'Petunia's on holiday with Vernon and his parents; they've gone to Majorca.' Lily's Mother supplied.

'In December?' Lily asked.

'Ah, someone else who sees the ridiculousness of it!' Mr Evans grinned, 'It's good to have you home again, Lily.'

'And Vernon's the fiancée?' James asked.

'Yes… he's lovely really.' Mrs Evans said kindly, sipping her tea.

'Come on, Cynthia; he's as pompous as his parents.' Mr Evans said to James' surprise.

'Henry! You shouldn't say things like that!' Mrs Evans scolded as Lily giggled, 'Oh, good Lord, is that the time already? We've kept you far too long already! How are you getting home?' she suddenly exclaimed.

'Oh, our house-elf will come and get me. I'm afraid there might be a bit of a bang when she arrives, so don't worry.'

Lily was astonished, 'You have a house-elf?'

James looked slightly embarrassed, 'Um, yeah. Anyway, I'll say goodbye then.' He said, getting to his feet.

He kissed Lily's Mum on the cheek, shook her Dad's hand again, and then Lily drew him into the hall.

He smiled worriedly down at her and whispered tensely, 'How did I do?'

'Great,' Lily breathed, reaching up to kiss him. Suddenly she didn't want him to leave; she wanted him to stay pressed against the flowery wallpaper forever with her. She breathed in the smell of him; that warm aroma that made her feel so comfortable and relaxed. There were footsteps and she only just brushed his lips before she pulled away. Her Dad appeared in the doorway, as though to check they weren't doing just what they had been about to do.

'Right, I'll be off then,' James said, giving her a quick squeeze, 'Cheery?' he said suddenly.

There was a loud Crack and small creature appeared at James' side. Mr Evans stared at the tiny elf, wrapped in a sort of toga emblazoned with a crest and an ornate broach pin holding it all in place.

'Well, thank you for having me, it was wonderful to meet you and I hope I'll see you again soon. Have an amazing Christmas!' he turned blazing eyes on Lily and whispered, 'I'll miss you.'

Then, without even a last hug, he was gone.