Summary: Every summer for as long as Lily can remember, the Evans family goes to a Medieval Festival. This year, Lily invites James along. / A slice of life for James and Lily, Post-Hogwarts Graduation.
Note: This was a request fill for an anon on tumblr. The original prompt was this dialogue prompt: "may I ask you, fair lady, for a dance with me?" "Hehehe.. of course, my fair sir". The original request was also for a drabble. This very clearly got quite out of hand
Dear James,
I know we have plans to go out the weekend after next, but would you like to do something this weekend? I know school just finished, but I miss you terribly.
Now that I have you swooning and frantically rummaging through that mess you call a trunk for some parchment to reply and say that you'd love to, let me tell you some of the… particulars. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but every year in Colchester they have this big medieval festival. It's very fun, we all dress up in costumes, and there are performers and re-enactors. There's even a guy who swallows fire and breathes it back out (and I'm pretty sure he's a muggle)! And every year for as long as I can remember, Mum and Dad insist on going with the whole family, and Tuney and I usually get to bring a friend.
This is where you come in, Potter.
For the last 2 years, I've taken Marlene with me, but this year she's "busy" (snogging the pants off of your best friend, no doubt. I blame you for setting them up). And, instead of one of her dim but still mostly tolerable friends, Petunia is bringing Vernon. I CANNOT spend a whole day with the two of them. I just can't. If you want to continue to have a living girlfriend then you will come with. Pretty Please.
Love,
Lily
p.s. I have included copies of photos from the last two years so you have an idea of how to dress up for it.
Dearest Lily,
Of course I'll go with you! It sounds interesting, you didn't even need to trick me into swooning (which I did not do. Not even a little. By the way). Plus, if he's even half as bad as your stories make him out to be, I couldn't leave you alone with your sister and her awful boyfriend. Let me know when and where to meet you and I'll be there with bells on!
Love,
James
p.s. Marly is definitely "busy" with Sirius. I'm happy he's happy, but he's almost as much of a lovesick idiot as I am, which is saying something.
James,
Thank you! I'm really looking forward to seeing you all dressed up! Dad's insisting that everybody meet at the house so we can all take the train together, so be at mine by 9 on Saturday. I've included the address on a separate slip of parchment that's charmed to be read only by you before vanishing (It seems excessive, but you can't be too careful these days). Cokeworth doesn't have an official apparition point, so take the Knight Bus to town square and walk (It's only a five minute walk, don't worry). I can't wait to see you!
Love,
Lily
p.s. I was trying to humanize him a little in my stories. Petunia's fiancé (yes. FIANCÉ! I am going to be stuck with that miserable toerag forever. Tuney will probably make me wear some horribly unflattering dress in the wedding) is truly horrible. You'll see. I am sorry in advance.
When Lily opened her door at quarter to nine on Saturday morning, she burst out laughing.
She had expected James to dress up in the standard lace up pants and billowy shirt that most men at the festival seemed to prefer. Maybe even as a knight, like her dad had been in one of the photos she's sent him. But not this.
"What?" James asked, putting his hands on his hips. "You don't like it?" He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head slightly, causing a small jingling sound.
"You certainly have character," Lily managed to say between giggles.
He looked ridiculous—green lace up pants with yellow stripes up the sides, a green tunic with yellow stripes on the arms and bells at the ends of the sleeves, a star-shaped yellow collar piece with bells on each point, and a green, yellow, and black 3-pronged jester's hat with bells on the ends of each segment. She did have to admit that it was a pretty decent jester's costume at least.
"Thanks," James said with a giant grin that had Lily shaking her head.
"But what possessed you to dress up like that?" Lily asked as she stepped aside to let James in.
"It was Sirius's idea."
"Of course it was," Lily said with mock disappointment as she shut the door.
"I never said it was a bad idea," he said with a laugh.
"It certainly suits you."
"Thank you," James said with a little bow that set off another round of tinkling bells ringing, causing both of them to laugh.
"Well, everyone else is this way," she said, gesturing down the hall toward the living room.
"Is everyone already here?" he asked in a small whisper.
"Yes," she whispered back with a grimace.
"Joy," James whispered in a sour tone before they both straightened up and plastered pleasant expressions on their faces as they neared the doorway of the living room. Lily took his hand and held it tightly.
"Mum, dad, you remember James?" Lily said as they entered the room.
"Of course," Lily's mum answered brightly, moving toward them and pulling James into a loose hug.
"How have you been, son?" her dad asked when her mum had pulled away, offering his hand.
"Very well," James answered as he let go of Lily's hand to shake her father's outstretched one. "And how are you?"
"Oh, just fine," he answered with a smile.
"And this is my sister Petunia," Lily said with as much cheer as she could muster.
"Right, yes, hello," James said cheerily. Lily cast him A Look, which she hoped would convey that he was laying it on a little thick.
"Hello," Petunia said stiffly from her spot on the couch. Neither she nor Vernon had bothered to stand when they'd come into the room.
"It's nice to meet you," he continued politely, and with much less pep. "I meant to meet you at graduation, but I must have missed you." James was the picture of innocence, despite the fact that Lily had informed him repeatedly and at length that Petunia had written her saying, in no uncertain terms, that there was absolutely no way she would sully herself with the unnatural ways of Lily and her 'kind' by coming to her graduation.
"I had prior obligations," Petunia said stiffly, though she did flush and get a sour look on her face. Nothing was worse for Petunia than being caught in a social faux-pas, and Lily felt a small vicious pleasure at seeing her sister wrong-footed.
"A shame," James said, a polite mask in place, though Lily could see a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Well, it's good to meet you now."
"Yes," she said with a little nod before turning to the side to gesture at a very bored looking Vernon. "And this is Vernon Dursley. My fiancé." She shifted from stiff forced politeness to smug at the mention of her engagement.
"Pleasure to meet you. James Potter," James said, sticking his hand out for a handshake.
"Likewise," Vernon said gruffly, finally rising from the couch, though he ignored James's outstretched hand entirely. Instead, he turned to Petunia and offered her a hand as she rose from her seat on the couch.
"Right!" Lily's father said with a clap of his hands. "Shall we take a couple of photos then be on our way?"
"Paul, set up the stand so we can take a few group photos, then we'll take some of just the kids," Lily's mum directed. She then busied herself with arranging them for a photo while Lily's dad fiddled with the camera timer and the stand. Her mum pulled them back and forth, arranging them before stepping back and frowning. This happened four times before she finally decided to have herself and Paul in the center and flanked by their daughters—Lily on the left next to her dad and Petunia on the right next to their mum—with the boys beside and behind each girl. "Perfect! Now we just need Paul and we're all set."
"Coming Leah, love," her dad said as he pressed a final button and sped over. He managed to nestle himself between Lily and her mum, an arm around each of them, just as the flash went off.
"Now one more," He said, stepping back to the camera to reset the timer.
"A silly one this time," Lily's mum said as her dad stepped back in. Lily heard Petunia and Vernon grumble on the other side, but didn't have time to think about it as James bent over slightly and hooked his chin over her shoulder. He smooshed his cheek against hers, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue at the camera. Lily laughed and did the same.
Once the shutter clicked, her mum was rushing forward with her dad in tow, insisting on getting pictures of the four young adults.
"Now, now," she chastised. "Get a little closer together and smile please."
Lily plastered on her biggest smile and stepped close to her sister. James stepped close beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, and Vernon did the same on Petunia's side. At the last moment, Lily hooked her arm with her sister's, just like when they were little. To Lily's surprise, Petunia didn't fight it; she just smiled serenely at the camera. Lily's smile brightened and actually reached her eyes.
"Lovely!" Her mum said, clasping her hands together and grinning at her daughters.
"Now, one of each couple and then we'll go."
"Quick photos, love, or we'll miss our train," her dad said chidingly, though she was smiling.
"Yes, yes," her mum promised as she moved to arrange Petunia and Vernon, shooing Lily and James to the side.
"I'll be right back," Lily said to James and her dad before she rushed out of the living room and up the stairs to get her charmed polaroid camera from her room. She snagged it from the top of her dresser and hurried back downstairs. She was back in the living room just in time for her mum to usher her and James into Petunia and Vernon's spot in front of her dad's camera.
"Will you take one with mine too, dad?" she asked as she handed her charmed camera to him.
"Is this your," her dad paused, looking toward Vernon. "Special camera?" They had not informed Vernon that Lily was a witch—bound by both the statute of secrecy and by wishful thinking (at least on Lily's part) that he and Petunia wouldn't last as a couple—but, now that Petunia was set to be married to Vernon in November, they had been struggling with figuring out how to let him in on the family secret. Petunia preferred that he never find out, and therefore that no one mention the fact of Lily's magic in her presence ever again, but both Lily and her parents refused that idea, so they were at a standstill for the moment.
"Yes," Lily answered with a smile. "I'll put the photos and camera back upstairs on our way out," she promised upon seeing the worried look on Petunia's face.
"Alright, dear. But let's take your mum's photo first," her dad agreed.
Lily and James followed her mum's direction—taking one photo with James beside her with an arm wrapped around her while they both smiled and another where Lily was kissing James on the cheek—before her dad switched to Lily's camera.
"We just have time for one more, I think, so make it a good one," her dad said.
James gave her a shit-eating grin before moving to stand behind her. Right as the camera flashed, he picked her up in a bridal carry. She shrieked and clung to him—one arm around his neck and one clutching the front of his shirt—before dissolving into laughter.
"You scared me," Lily said, though it didn't come out as admonishing as she had been aiming for since she was still laughing. They both grinned at each other.
"Apologies, my lady," James said as he set her down.
"I suppose I shall forgive you," Lily said haughtily, sticking her nose in the air.
"Thank you," James said with a small bow, causing all the bells on his outfit to jingle again. This set Lily, James, and her parents into another bout of laughter.
Petunia, however, was entirely unimpressed. "We should leave if we want to make the train," she said drily, rolling her eyes.
"Yes dear," her mother said, still cheery. "Lily go put your camera away and meet us at the front door."
Lily nodded and took the camera and charmed polaroid photo from her dad. She felt James close behind her as she hurried up the stairs. When she got to her open bedroom door, James paused in the doorway while she put the camera on the dresser. She continued to hold onto the polaroid for a moment longer, watching as James hoists her up while wearing one of his biggest grins before they both break into laughter. It might be her favorite photo.
"So," James said from the doorway, drawing her attention from the photo in her hand. "This is the bedroom of one Lily Evans."
Lily rolled her eyes fondly as she put the photo on the dresser next to the camera. "You can sigh and ogle my bedroom when we get back," Lily said, crowding James in the doorway.
"Promise?" James said, looking down at her with a smile.
"Yes," Lily said, giving him a quick kiss. "Tonight you can look at my knick-knacks and analyze my record collection to your heart's content."
"Excellent," James said as he captured her hand and interlaced their fingers.
Lily just shook her head and pulled him downstairs with her.
"All set?" Her dad asked when they reached the entryway.
"All set," Lily said as she grabbed her bag from its hook by the door.
"Then we're off!" Her dad said as he opened the door with a flourish. Petunia and Vernon left first, clearly impatient, followed by her mum.
"Do you have your wand?" Lily whispered to James as they stepped outside.
"Of course," James said, pulling his left sleeve up slightly to reveal the quick release wand holster on his arm. Lily nodded in approval. "Do you have yours?"
Lily nodded and patted the deep pocket on the right side of her skirt. Her mother always made her and Petunia's skirts and dresses with pockets, despite the fact that they both carried a leather purse with a crossbody strap, and Lily had requested pockets deep enough to securely hold her wand.
"Expecting trouble?" he whispered in her ear as they walked behind the other four on their way to the train station at the town center.
"Just being cautious," Lily whispered back. The slight distance between them and the others, along with the faint jingling of James's outfit, kept their quiet conversation from being heard. Still, Lily didn't want to alarm her parents on the off-chance that they overheard.
James nodded seriously but didn't press her further, which Lily was grateful for. Her summers used to be a haven for her—an escape from the rising tension at Hogwarts and the increasingly blatant disdain for muggleborns that seemed to be growing more and more rampant—until July of two years ago, when there was an attack on a muggle town by the extremist Death Eater group. Tensions rose even higher at school and in the wizarding world, and Lily wasn't free of it even back at home with her family. It had driven her to apply for hitwitch training, which she had been accepted to with a start date in two weeks. There was pushback from some of the selection committee, but eight Os on her NEWTs and as many recommendations from her professors had been too much for them to turn her down.
Neither of them said anything else for the remainder of their walk to the station. They just held hands tightly—fingers interlaced, with James's right hand in her left so that they both had their dominant hands free—and listened to Petunia animatedly tell her parents about plans for her wedding while Vernon grunted occasionally in response to direct questions.
When they boarded their train, James looked around curiously. Their car was an open style one with groups of upholstered bench seats arranged in pairs which faced each other with a table in between. They shuffled into one of the benches toward the end of the car, Lily on the inside by the window and James by the aisle with their backs to the wall of the car. Lily's dad slid into the bench across from them while Petunia, Vernon, and her mum slid into the pair of benches across from them.
"First time on a train other than the Hogwarts Express?" Her dad asked James, who was taking in the boarding process with fascination.
"I never knew train cars could be so open like this," James said with excitement. "I wish the Express had at least a few cars like this."
"It would have been nice," Lily agreed, thinking of how much easier it would have been to catch up with all her different friends and study groups, especially with people from other houses, if they'd had open spaces instead of compartments.
"Speaking of, I heard you're heading back to Hogwarts soon," her dad said to James.
"Yes. Well, sort of at least," James said as he shifted his full attention to her dad. "I'm starting my apprenticeship with Professor McGonagall at the end of July."
"So are you looking to be a teacher as well when you finish?" Her dad asked, not so subtly inquiring about his future plans. Lily shot him a look, silently asking to keep his overprotective dad instincts on a leash.
"I would love to do transfiguration research, honestly. There are a few research positions at the ministry here, but there are some research institutions on the continent that seem promising," James said with a smile. The knowledge that he had purposefully looked into moving to the continent where they were much more accepting of Muggleborns, warmed her from the inside—a soft molten warmth that settled in her bones, even as she felt butterflies.
"Sounds promising," Her dad said with a smile. He also was aware of the different opportunities for her outside of England. And of Lily's staunch refusal to leave. Still, he seemed to approve of James's options.
"Very much so, assuming McGonagall doesn't kill me in the next year and a half," James said with a smile.
"Oh, please," Lily said, swatting him on the arm. "You're her favorite and you know it."
James shrugged, causing a small jingle. "Favorite or not, she's threatened to make me her teaching assistant in addition to apprentice if I so much as look like I'm goofing around."
"Well, lucky for you that Sirius will be in auror training instead of there helping you get into trouble," Lily said airily.
"Excuse you!" James said, affronted, as he put a hand on his chest in faux-offense. "I get up to plenty of trouble on my own, thank you very much!"
The smug look on his face lasted for all of four seconds before he saw Lily's father looking at him with the exact look of disdain that Lily used to level him with—complete with the matching wrinkled nose and everything.
"Er- That is. I mean-" James stammered as a dark red blush spread across his face and crept up his neck.
"Lily has told me all about the sort of mischief you've gotten up to," Her dad said cooly.
"Mr. Evans, sir, I swear I-" James's voice cracked. "It was all just stupid kid stuff honestly."
Lily saw the moment her dad cracked, unable to make James sweat any longer, and she started laughing. James shot her a look that was both pleading and horrified, but, before he could say anything else in his defense, Lily's dad started laughing too—big belly laughs that caused tears to well up in the corners of his eyes. This just set Lily off further, and the two of them laughed uproariously while James looked between them, horrified and confused. Their laughter had drawn the attention of several of the other passengers—including a sneer from Vernon, and an eye roll from both Petunia and their mum, though the latter's was significantly more fond—before it eased off.
"Sorry, son," Her dad said, wiping tears from his eyes. "But you made it so easy."
"So you're not mad?" James asked, sounding the most timid that Lily had ever heard him.
"Heavens no," he said with a wave of his hand.
"Oh. Good," James said faintly as he sank back against the bench and slid down a little in his seat.
"Lily has told me about the sorts of mischief you and your friends got up to in school, but I've also been subject to rants on how it's positively unfair that you ended up not being an utter toerag because no one should, and I'm using direct quotes here, 'be that pretty and a decent person.'" Lily's dad said with a laugh.
"Dad!" Lily cried, covering her flushed face with one hand while blindly reaching out and swatting at her dad with the other.
"What? I said nothing that wasn't true."
Lily just groaned in response and slumped down to rest her burning face on the table.
"Evans has a crush on me," James said in a sing-song voice.
"I'm breaking up with you," Lily said against the wood, still face down and seriously considering never getting up.
"If it helps," James started, putting his arm around her and putting his cheek on the table as well so he could look her in the eyes. "I have a crush on you too. Huge one. Embarrassingly so."
"Hmm," Lily hummed, scooting closer to him until they were pressed tightly together. "I suppose it might."
James grinned at her and leaned in, kissing her even though they were still slumped over against the table.
"Ah, to be young and in love," Her dad said teasingly, causing them to break apart.
"Dad," Lily groaned as she sat up. Even sitting upright, she leaned close to James and savored the weight of his arm around her.
"Alright, alright," He relented.
They spent the last forty-five minutes of their trip talking about her dad's job. James was fascinated by the idea of all the muggle machinery that her dad worked with at his factory job, and her dad was more than happy to explain it to him.
The announcement of their stop broke up their discussion, and they filed out of the doors along with several other people who were dressed for the festival. They met up with the rest of the family on the platform before heading out of the station and into the balmy summer sunshine. Lily watched James's face closely as his eyes adjusted to the bright light and took in the village. Nearly the entire town was transformed for the Medieval Festival—vendors and performers lined the streets, there was a jousting arena to one side, and even replica gates near the entrances to the festival.
"This is amazing," James whispered to her, squeezing her hand lightly.
Lily grinned up at him. "Magical even," She agreed.
"Is it actually?" He asked, eyes darting around, looking for well-concealed wandwork.
"Not that kind of magic," She clarified. "But when I was a kid this was the most magical place I'd ever been. When I found out that I was going to go to school in a castle to learn magic, this is what I pictured," she confided to him in a whisper as they waited in line for their tickets to enter the festival.
"Hogwarts must have been a bit of a let-down after years of this," James whispered back, eyes on some of the performers inside the gates—namely the man who looked like he was swallowing a sword.
Lily laughed, unable to imagine any part of Hogwarts as disappointing. However, "I did always want to learn that trick where they swallow fire and breathe it back out. I always expected there to be a spell for that."
James's eyes widened even further and he turned to look at her. "There might be."
"There isn't. I looked," Lily said, shaking her head with a laugh.
"Guess we'll just have to learn it the muggle way."
"We?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.
Before James could elaborate on the mischievous look on his face, they had reached the front of the line.
"Six please, sir," Her father told the attendant, who was dressed as a knight.
"Of course, my liege," the knight said with a small bow to her father, who was dressed in a white linen shirt, leather trousers, and a rich purple cloak, with a delicate silver circlet on his head, standing out brilliantly against his dark red curls in the summer sun. Her father smiled and paid the attendant while Lily's mum—who was dressed in a flowing purple linen dress with a matching circlet sitting on her head, nestled against her intricately braided brown hair—giggled as the attendant bowed to her as well when handing her a ticket.
"And one for the lovely lady," he said, handing Lily hers. "And one for her loyal fool," he finished with a wink as he gave a ticket to James. Lily did have to admit, they did match. Lily's linen dress was the same shade of green as James's outfit and her dress had small golden flowers embroidered along parts of the bodice, and her cloak was bright yellow. She assumed it was Marlene's doing, since she knew what Lily was wearing to the festival this year.
"Yes, he certainly is a fool," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him through the gate with her, following after her parents.
"Your fool," James said happily, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, yes," Lily agreed, squeezing his hand.
"Hark! What have we here?" The attendant said as Petunia and a rather bored looking Vernon approached for their tickets. "My lady, do you travel with some sort of outlander?" he asked Petunia, gesturing to Vernon.
He was dressed in a white linen shirt tucked into black slacks, complete with loafers that Lily was sure were 'quite expensive, thank you.' He looked more ready for the office than the festival, but it was the best they could convince him to dress up, not that Petunia had helped much. If anything, Petunia coming along to and dressing up for the festival in her peach colored linen dress—though she was wearing no-nonsense Mary Janes instead of her leather boots—was likely due to the fact that their mother would be completely crushed if she didn't come. Still, Lily doubted that Petunia would come next year, once she wasn't living with their parents and could find some semi-socially acceptable excuse to get out of it.
"I'm English, not a bloody foreigner," Vernon sneered, his face began to grow red at an alarming rate, and he took a menacing step in the attendant's direction. Both Lily and James tensed up and let go of each other's hands, ready to intervene.
"Of course not, darling," Petunia said placatingly as she plucked the tickets out of the attendant's hand with a thunderous expression and nasty sneer on her face, despite her sickly sweet tone of voice.
The knight said nothing as they stormed past, not even stopping when they reached the rest of the family. Instead, they continued into the festival—Petunia trailed after Vernon as he shouldered his way through the crowded street—and Lily's dad went back over to the gate attendant and talked to him quietly.
"What does she even see in him?" James whispered incredulously as he watched them disappear into the crowd.
"Merlin knows," Lily said venomously, crossing her arms and turning her back to the direction her sister had gone.
"Lily," Her mum reprimanded, though not as harshly as she normally did.
"Sorry, mum," Lily sighed and raised her hands in surrender. It made her mum happy to have Petunia happy and in love, but couldn't her sister have found someone less boarish? But fighting over it would just sour the whole day for everyone, so she relented.
Her dad returned from his conversation, and she was pleased that both he and the knight were smiling now.
"Well," Her dad said, throwing an arm around both Lily and her mother and pulling them close to his sides. "All's well that ends well. Shall we go?"
They all nodded in response, and her mum was smiling.
"Excellent. Lead on, son," He said to James.
"What? But I've never been here before. I don't know where anything is," James spluttered.
"I know," Her dad said with a nod.
"Then why me?"
"Because you don't know where anything is. If we let these two lead, we'd miss half the booths to ogle sword swallowers," He said with a laugh and affectionate squeeze around their shoulders.
James lifted a single eyebrow at her—a look that promised mischief and that he almost certainly practiced in the mirror—and then squared his shoulders and spun on his heel, making him jingle. "Right then, follow me!" He declared before marching down a street that was about as far from where Petunia and Vernon had gone as they could get.
Lily and her parents shared a grin before rushing to follow.
The street James had chosen turned out to be Merchants' Row, and James led them down it in odd intervals. He paid very little mind to many of the stalls selling cloaks and other garments, plenty used to old-fashioned clothes from growing up in the wizarding world, but he pulled Lily by the hand to every booth that had artisans making something by hand. They went from a blacksmith's booth to a jeweler to a weaver to a cobbler, and James watched in rapt fascination as they demonstrated their crafts.
"This is why I asked him to lead," Her dad said as he sidled up beside her where she was watching James talk animatedly with a woman making leather boots. "He's so fascinated by everything non-magical. It's like experiencing everything for the first time again."
"It's the longest we've ever spent in Merchants' Row," Lily said.
"Yes, your mum's having the time of her life," Her dad agreed with a smile and a nod toward her mum, who was several stalls over chatting with a man at a loom while looking at tapestries. Going to the festival was a luxury that her parents saved for every year and they never had the extra money to buy any of the goods at the booths, so they usually avoided the merchant area altogether if they could. Her mum, a seamstress herself, loved looking at all the tapestries and clothes, though she'd never complained about missing it.
"James too," Lily said, turning back toward James, who was attempting to work a thick needle through leather and the edges of a boot sole while the cobbler talked him through it. Lily's heart clenched as his tongue poked out of the left corner of his mouth as he focused.
"Maybe next year you two can go in properly matching costumes," Her dad said lightly.
"We match plenty now," Lily said with a grin. It might not have been on purpose—on her end anyway—but he really was her fool. "But I'll consider it."
Before either of them could say anything further, James made his way back over. "Lils! I made a shoe!"
"You made like three stitches," She teased as she took his hand.
"Whatever. I helped," James said, grin never fading, though he did blush a bit.
"Well, lovebirds, should we find something to eat?" Her dad asked with a teasing smile.
"Ooh, yes," she said, pulling James further down the street and towards the town square where most of the food vendors were.
"I'll fetch your mum and we'll be right behind you," Her dad promised as he slowed behind them.
"Sounds good," Lily called over her shoulder.
They followed the street until it opened up to the square, and Lily spotted Petunia in line at one of the stalls selling drinks.
"You go ahead and get all of us something to eat and I'll get the drinks," Lily suggested to James without taking her eyes off of her sister. He followed her gaze but didn't say anything about it.
"Okay," He agreed easily, kissing her cheek and walking toward a vendor selling what looked like various kinds of mince pies.
"Wait," Lily said, grabbing his hand and coming back to herself. "Let me get you some muggle money."
"Got it covered," James said with a smile. "Go talk to your sister."
Lily smiled back, relieved, and hurried over to Petunia. Her sister was about halfway in the line and Lily made her way to her with several awkward smiles and "excuse me"'s. Thankfully, she was by herself, and Lily figured Vernon was sitting somewhere making his way through a pint.
"Hey," Lily said as she tapped Petunia on the shoulder gently.
Petunia jumped a little at the touch, but she didn't glare when she saw it was Lily. "You scared me!"
"Sorry."
"Where's that boy of yours?" Petunia asked, glancing behind Lily warily.
"Getting food," She replied cheerily, ignoring Petunia's tone.
"I see," She said frostily as they shuffled forward a bit as the line moved.
"He's going to that stand that sells those mince pies you like, and I asked him to get some for all of us," Lily said, trying to lead her sister into a less hostile conversation.
"Oh, I suppose that's alright then," She conceded. "Where are mum and dad?"
"Dad's extracting mum from the tapestry booth," Lily said with a laugh.
"The one that does the hanging tapestries of woodland scenes?"
Lily nodded and she and Petunia both laughed.
"So they'll be at least another half-hour," Petunia said.
"Easily," Lily agreed. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the festival around them as they gradually moved forward in line.
When it was their turn, Petunia ordered a single pint of ale. Lily looked at her, a bit confused, but placed her own order for three glasses of mead and one pint of ale. When the bartender handed them their drinks, Petunia put her hand through the handles of both steins of ale and grabbed one on the glasses of mead with ease, leaving Lily to grab the remaining two glasses and trail through the crowd behind her sister.
"You must be a favorite waitress over at the pub," Lily said.
"The regulars like me well enough," Petunia said with a shrug and without spilling a drop of any of the drinks in her hands.
"I can see why."
Petunia gave her a small smile in return, and a blush spread across her freckled face. After a moment, her smile dimmed and she sighed. "Vernon says married women shouldn't work."
"That's ridiculous," Lily spluttered. "What does he expect you to do all day? Dither about at home and drink tea and bang on about curtain patterns and what the neighbors get up to?"
"We want to have kids," Petunia protested. "I wouldn't be some miserable busybody."
Lily just looked at her incredulously. This was the first time she'd heard that Petunia planned to quit her job. As much as she liked to complain that her sister was sour and unhappy, she did genuinely seem to enjoy her waitressing job at the pub and she seemed to be good at it.
"It's not like Vernon can't afford it," Petunia continued with a huff. "He's only been at Grunnings for two years, straight out of uni, and he's set to be promoted by the end of the year. He'll be running the place soon enough. It's not like he'll need me to work."
She said it like it was some sort of horrible thing, needing to work, as though it wasn't the kind of life they grew up with. Their mom was a seamstress at the local tailor shop and their dad worked overtime at the factory. But before Lily could think of anything to say, she saw the table Petunia was leading her to. They were too close to the edge of the square—and the table where Vernon was sitting—for Lily to get into it with her sister. The last thing she wanted was to have an argument that she was fairly certain she wouldn't win right there in front of the git.
"I got you another pint," Petunia said sweetly as she approached the table. She left the second pint and the glass of mead on one side of the table for Lily to take care of before she rounded the table and handed Vernon his drink. He said nothing, and she sat down in the wooden chair next to him.
Lily sighed as she set down the drinks in her hand, not bothering to sit down, before she turned to look for James. After a few moments of moving side to side in an attempt to look through the crowd, she spotted his green and gold hat moving toward the center of the square, trying to figure out where she'd gone.
"I'm going to go fetch James," Lily said over her shoulder, not waiting for a reply before heading back into the crowd.
"Hey there, handsome. Looking for someone?" She asked as she sidled up to him quietly, making him jump.
"Yes, I am. She's about your height, red hair, and she's an utter menace," He said with a mock-glare. "Have you seen her?"
"Hm," Lily hummed, drawing out the sound as she pretended to consider. "Doesn't ring any bells, sorry." She grabbed some of the paper-wrapped pies from James with one hand and wrapped her other arm around his waist.
James just glared at her further, scrunching up his nose as he did so, before he let out a deep sigh. "Well, I suppose you'll just have to take my mind off of her."
"I guess I will," she said with a grin as she steered him toward their table.
James shared a disgruntled look with her when they came into view of their table and discovered that it was still just Petunia and Vernon. But he managed to stifle it—better than Lily was—and he clapped Vernon on the shoulder and handed him a meat pie when they reached the table.
"Got you something to eat, mate," James said cheerily as he plopped into a seat across from him. He unwrapped his own pie, seemingly unaware of the looks he was getting. Vernon was rapidly turning red, Petunia was oscillating between glaring at James for his overfamiliarity and plying Vernon with placating gentle glances, and Lily watched the whole thing unfold with equal measures of wariness and fondness. That man knew how to push people's buttons without even trying.
"I'm not your mate," Vernon spat.
James ignored him entirely, instead turning to Lily. "I got you a spiced one. Apparently they use cloves and things in savory food, which I didn't know is a done thing. Thought you might like it," He said pleasantly.
Lily grinned, partly at James's thoughtfulness but mostly at his pettiness, and took a bite of her pie. It was delightful, and the spices she usually associated with her mum's holiday baking and sweet mulled cider were wonderful in the savory pie. "It's a bit different to what I've had before, but really good. Thank you."
James smiled at her.
"You can't just ignore me when I'm talking to you, boy," Vernon shouted, banging a fist on the table.
Lily tensed at the outburst, and she saw James square his shoulders and clench his jaw, but neither of them rose to the bait. Instead, James raised a single eyebrow and looked simultaneously bored and unimpressed—a look he's almost certainly learned from Sirius.
"Did they skip manners in that fancy school of yours? In polite society, you don't get over familiar with your betters and you certainly don't touch them," he spat as he leaned forward.
"Fascinating lesson," James drawled. "I'll be sure to put it to use if I ever meet anyone important. Any idea when the Queen might come to town?"
Vernon shot to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. Lily fingered her wand in her pocket—ready for the inevitable physical fallout—but Petunia beat her to it.
"Let's find someplace else to sit. He's not even worth the effort," Petunia spat as she tugged on Vernon's arm and matched his sneer with one of her own. She sounded like she meant it, and Lily frowned.
"Too true, pet," Vernon said, still so red in the face that he looked purple. He roughly pulled Petunia to her feet and they quickly made their way down one of the side streets away from the square and back toward the front gates.
Lily let go of her wand and slumped down in her chair. Vernon's chair was overturned on the ground, Petunia's was askew but still upright, and there was ale and mead splashed across the table from the still mostly full glasses that had sloshed when Vernon banged on the table. Everyone around them was staring—some outright and some more covertly, but she felt it regardless—and Lily flushed. She'd never liked being the center of attention.
"What a fucking troll," James said as he stood and started setting the chairs back to rights, seemingly unfazed by the looks they were getting.
"Told you he was the worst kind of toerag."
"Worse than I'd imagined somehow," James said as he plopped back down in his chair and moved it close to her. Lily gave him her best I told you so stare, and he just sighed and offered her his hand. She held it in one hand and picked up her lunch again in the other.
The stares faded as it became clear that their little scene was over, and Lily melted even more against James, who was pressed against her side as best as he could while they sat in two separate chairs. They are in relative silence, offering each other bites of their different pies but otherwise quiet. Lily did her best to relish it, refusing to let Vernon sour her morning or spoil the rest of her afternoon.
"Lils, look," James said sometime after they'd finished their lunch and were nursing the last of their mead. She followed his gaze and found some musicians setting up in the center of the square. They had period-accurate instruments and were clearing an area for people to dance.
"The dancing's going to start soon," Lily said with a fond smile. The craftsmanship was her mum's favorite part, but this was her dad's—and Lily's. Since she was old enough to walk (and maybe before), her dad would spin her around and dance with her. She and Petunia had done their fair share of dancing together too—mostly when they were small but sometimes as they got older—while their parents laughed and danced with each other.
"Oh, are there dancers? Like professional old-timey ones?" He asked, intrigued.
"Some," She answered with a shrug. "But it's mostly just anyone who wants to."
"Anyone?" He smiled at her.
"Yep."
"Well, then," James said, standing up. "May I ask for a dance, my fair lady?" He offered his hand and bowed.
A laugh bubbled out of her, and she took his hand. "Of course, my good sir," She said, letting him pull her to her feet. Before she let him lead her away, she glanced at their table. There were still wrapped pies and sticky but mostly full glasses for her parents. They hadn't met up with them yet.
"I'll get them new drinks and lunch. I'm pretty sure their original lunch was in the splash-zone anyway," he said casually. He was right, the wrappers on their food were soggy with ale.
"Alright," Lily agreed, forcing herself not to fret over it.
James pulled her toward the jaunty music that started to spill from the center of the square. He wasted no time pulling her into a jaunty dance the moment that they reached the cleared area. She followed his lead as he twirled her around, doing a good job of making it up as they went along. As the musicians changed from one song into another, some of their fellow dancers changed their moves as well.
"Looks like this one has an actual dance," James said as they circled each other—open palms touching but nothing else—in an imitation of some of the other couples.
Lily hummed in agreement. "I don't know it, though."
"Me neither," James replied, pulling her in and holding tight to her waist instead of switching partners as others around them were doing. "And I don't like to share," He whispered in her ear, pressing his cheek to hers.
Lily felt herself flush warm from her face down to her chest, and she was almost certainly a furious shade of red. When James pulled away to lift one set of their connected hands to twirl her underneath, he was grinning like the cat who'd caught the canary. Lily matched his smile with one of her own.
Lily had no idea how much time had passed when she finally caught sight of her parents. They were standing on the edge of the crowd and watching her and James dance. Her mum was snacking on something while her dad was taking photos with a camera that Lily hadn't realized that he'd brought with him. Her mum waved when she noticed that Lily had noticed them.
"Looks like dad finally managed to pull mum away from the tapestries," Lily said, gesturing toward her parents without pulling away from where she was pressed against James. The band was playing a slow tune—a ballad that Lily half-remembered—and she and James were pressed close together as they swayed along.
James turned his head to follow her direction, laying his cheek gently against the top of her head, which was resting against his shoulder. "Looks like this is our last dance then."
Lily hummed and closed her eyes, enjoying his arm around her waist, the warmth of him where they were pressed tightly together, and the bright afternoon sunshine beaming down on them. When the ballad ended and another began, she pulled away from James and led him by the hand over to her parents.
"Well, lovebirds, I think it's about time to head back. We've got a train to catch soon," Her dad said when they reached them.
Lily glanced at the clock in the square and saw that it was already three in the afternoon. She and James had been dancing long enough for the sun to start to dip toward the horizon and her feet to start to hurt.
"We, erm, might want to catch up with Vernon and Petunia first," James said as he scratched the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Already passed them on their way out," Her mum replied. "Petunia promised to meet us at the station."
"Oh, um, good," James said, letting out a breath.
"Never you mind, son," Her dad said, throwing an arm around James's shoulder and herding him away from the square.
Her mum looped her arm through Lily's and pulled her along behind the boys. They went down a different street than before, and this one had all sorts of performers. Lily was more than happy to watch James watch the different acts as she and her mum meandered behind them. When he stopped and stared slack-jawed at one of the sword swallowers, Lily found herself laughing and beginning to plan all the ways she'll have to stop him from trying to learn that on his own.
"You really love him, huh," Her mum said quietly, squeezing her arm.
Lily flushed and ducked her head to hide her grin. "I really do. It's kind of scary how much."
Her mum hummed and guided her down the street as her dad pulled James along with a laugh. "I remember feeling like that with your dad."
"Did it ever go away?" Lily asked.
"Yes and no," her mum said, smiling as she watched her husband wave at the gate attendant on their way out.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when we were first married, everything was scary—moving to a new town for your father's job, having your sister—and there were times I thought there was no way I'd get through it. I thought I was completely and utterly insane for doing everything, but then your dad would look at me—always tired but so happy—and I'd find myself thinking that I loved him an even more insane amount and that doing the hard stuff was totally worth it for the life we were making together. The feeling was overwhelming every time, but also comfortable," Her mum said.
"I think I get it," Lily said softly, sharing a smile with her mum. She could imagine her and James in a few years sharing a messy house—keeping tidy wasn't a strong trait in either of them—and laughing and arguing and being so tired that they fell asleep curled together on the sofa, no matter the fact that they were still figuring out how to be real-life adults and that there was a war on. She ached with how badly she wanted that.
Her mum gave her a knowing look and let go of her when they got to the platform. Her mum tucked herself under her dad's arm and Lily joined James where he sat on one of the benches. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
"Have fun?" she asked, wrapping her own arm around his waist.
"Yes," he said simply as he pulled his hat off and set it on her head. Lily pulled it on snugly when he rested his head on her shoulder.
"Even with the family drama?" She asked, glancing over James's head to where Vernon sat, glowering at the empty rail while Petunia sat with her back straight and head high, though Lily could see her wringing her hands slightly. They were as far away from the rest of them as they could be while remaining on the same platform.
"Even then," James said. Lily smiled and rested her head on top of his.
They sat quietly until the train came, and Lily pulled him into the quiet car once they boarded. She wanted to continue their quiet moment as long as possible. She was tired from the faire and the arguing and from spending all day just a little on guard for an attack that thankfully never came. James seemed just as content to rest, and they sat in comfortable silence the whole way home.
When they got off the train at Cokeworth, James pulled her aside with a sigh and a small frown. "Mum's expecting me back for dinner."
"Not going to make good on my promise to let you explore my bedroom?" Lily teased. James groaned.
"Raincheck?" He asked hopefully?
"I suppose I could be persuaded," Lily said with a sly smile.
James leaned in to kiss her. It started as a press of his smile on hers, but quickly deepened. She groaned and James took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth while he tangled one hand in her hair, tilting her head up slightly. Just when their kiss was beginning to border on indecent, Lily reluctantly pushed at his chest to create a little space.
James pouted slightly, then kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you next weekend."
"If you're lucky," Lily teased as she untangled herself from him.
"I'm always lucky," he said with a wink before he headed off the platform to get the Knight Bus back to Godric's Hollow.
"James has to catch his bus home," Lily said when she made it back to her parents.
"We'll just wait for Petunia to walk Vernon to his platform, then we'll head home," Her mother said. Lily just nodded.
She smiled all the way home.