It was 1 P.M. on the Fourth of July, 2021, and James and Lily were out in the backyard.

"So, " James told Lily, "Let's both stand at the far east side of the yard."

Lily followed James to the far east side of the yard.

"Lily, " said James simply, "I'm going to offer you a challenge. This is not a bet because I am not asking you to risk anything. But I have hidden four sticky notes in the lawn. One of them is red, one of them is white, one of them is blue, and one of them is a mixture of red, white and blue. That is the order I hid the sticky notes in from east to west. If you can find all four of them within ten minutes and return to me, I will give you a gift. "

This was a bit vague, but Lily sensed the gift she would win if she won the challenge was significant.

"Either way, I have treats for both of us in my room after the challenge is over," said James happily, "So you have something to look forward to either way. "

"How are you going to time me?" Lily asked James.

"With a stopwatch," said James simply, "When I say independence, you may begin."

James started his stopwatch while yelling, "Independence, " a minute and a nanosecond later.

Lily's eyes looked downward, squarely focused on the lawn.

Within a minute, Lily spotted the red sticky note and picked it up.

When she did, the sticky note suddenly transformed into liquid and squirted Lily square in the face so that her face was all red and wet.

James burst into a fit of giggles and yelled, "Take that sis, " in a mischievous voice.

"Oh, " realized Lily suddenly, "Part of the challenge is to avoid and ignore distractions. I need to move forward."

James smiled at this. He was truly rooting for Lily to win the challenge and was impressed on the way she was reacting to the extra obstacle that he'd thrown in the way for her.

Lily continued on and searched for a few minutes and a few nanoseconds but didn't find anything. At one point she realized that she'd went too far west as she saw the blue sticky note. Doubling back to look for white one, she felt hopeless for several minutes.

After the seven minute mark, Lily retraced herself to where she had found the red.

"I'll feel for this one with my hands, " piped up Lily.

"Yes!" thought James internally, "Lily's figuring it out."

For the next minute, Lily got down on her hands and knees and felt for the white sticky note with both hands.

Suddenly, her right felt something small and awkward

She picked it up and saw it was a white crumpled up something. This something was the white sticky note, which unfurled of its own accord ad turned into snow that fell onto Lily, making her not only wet, but cold.

"I got you good, Lils!" laughed James with a grin.

Quickly remembering where the blue sticky note was, she immediately went and retrieved it. When Lily picked the blue sticky note up, it transformed into several balloons. These balloons floated towards both of Lily's ears and made loud pops that rang in Lily's ears.

At this point, Lily had about a minute left to find and collect the red, white, and blue sticky note. Guessing instinctively that James would have hid the red, white, and blue sticky note as west as he possibly could, Lily zoomed to the far west end of the lawn with the speed of a cheetah chasing its prey.

Sure enough, there sat the red, white, and blue sticky note at the very west end of the lawn.

When picked this one up, it split it many small pieces that became red, white, and blue confetti. This confetti stuck to Lily's wet and cold spots creating a sticky sensation. Lily ran back down the lawn to east end where James was standing, and James stopped the stopwatch.

"What was my time?" Lily asked James.

James looked down at the stopwatch and felt his heart sink to his feet.

"Ten minutes, one second, and one nanosecond, " said James uncomfortably,

"You're kidding?!" said Lily sheepishly.

"I'm afraid not, " admitted James, "However, you met the challenges I inserted for you, understanding that you needed to ignore distractions, using your hands rather than your eyes to find the white sticky note, deciphering that the red, white, and blue sticky note would note would be as west as possible. As such, I will give you a second chance to win a gift from me."

"How?" asked Lily instantly.

"By answering a trivia question, " said James in a businesslike voice, "Can you name the two presidents who died on the same Fourth of July and the year in which they died?"

"John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826, " guessed Lily confidently.

"That's correct, " said James happily, "Please follow me to my room."

When James and Lily were in James's room, James opened his trunk and retrieved two red, white, and blue popsicles he'd kept cold with Chilling and Anti Melting Charms and two bottles of Budweiser. James handed one of the popsicles and one of the Budweisers to Lily while keeping each for himself.

"Enjoy!" cried James.

James and Lily both sat down on James's bed and slowly and quietly enjoyed their popsicles and their Budweisers. When these were gone, James said, "Lily, here's my gift."

James dug into his trunk, pulled out a hair dryer of Lily's favorite shade of hot pink, and handed it to her.

Lily's face lit up as she accepted the gift.

"I know, " said James matter of factly, "That you always keep your hair straight so there would be no point in getting you curling tools or anything. I did think that with your long hair and love of hot pink that a hot pink hair dryer would be a nice gift for you."

"Thank you, James, " said Lily emotionally, "How nice, that, on a holiday about red, white, and blue, I get a hot pink gift. AND I'm really looking forward to mom and dad taking us and Albus to that fireworks show later tonight."

"Me too, " grinned James.

A shout out to the following members who are currently favoring and/or following James, Lily, and Brother-Sister Fluff:

Aj7804

Amazingly Spectacular Spider Man

aosterhage0001

Coffeejunkieforlife

DavidBrookes

Horselover1140

millanjesus541

Movies'N'TVfan101

RFlam

xalenc

Thank you everyone! Much love from Arizona to all of you -Michael :)