The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Forty Five

Chapter Forty Five

As soon as Petunia and Vernon had left Lily buried her head in her hands and started to sniffle; she was so ashamed of herself for rising to Vernon’s bait and messing up her one chance to fix her relationship with her sister by losing her temper that she was uncaring of who saw her crying in public and was oblivious to the worried looks of the other patrons. All she was aware of was James, who had wrapped his arms around her and was whispering disconnected words of comfort into her hair. “Why did I have to let him annoy me?” she moaned. “I should have just let it slide.”

“Honestly Lil I really don’t think that you want those two in your life; it’s probably for the best,” James replied. “And it’s not like he wasn’t annoying, I mean I was very close to punching him.”

“Yeah I know,” she mumbled into her knees. “You weren’t exactly helping.”

“Oh Lily,” he sighed, “I’m sorry I just- I wasn’t thinking. He kept saying all of those horrible things about us and I couldn’t help myself.”

“I don’t think you even tried though.” Her eyes, when she looked up at him, were watery and James frowned, ducking his head slightly. “No I suppose you’re right… I didn’t try as much as I could have done. You know me though Lil, it’s so hard for me to just sit back and let people treat me - or any of my friends - that way.”

“I know, I know… I just wish that had gone a little better.” James handed her a handkerchief which he fished out of his pocket and she blew her nose pathetically then dabbed at her eyelashes, trying to remove the mascara which almost certainly had been smudged by her tears.

“I really am sorry Lil, I know I didn’t behave very well in that,” he sighed. “I promise I’ll try to make it up with them if we ever see them again.”

“Really?”

“Really,” James repeated emphatically. “If you want to be friends with your harpy of a sister and her ridiculous fiancé then I will do everything I can to make that happen.”

Lily smiled weakly at him as her lip trembled again and she murmured, “Thank you James.” He helped her up and thanked the waiter, who had come over to take the money which James had put on the table while Lily cried, before leading her outside. They clutched their coats tightly around themselves and headed back down the side street where they had come from before Disapparating and leaving the dreary city behind them.

Once the front door to Lily’s house was open and the warm light from inside spilled out onto the steps, staining the darkness a buttery gold, James pulled her in for a hug and placed a quick peck on her cheek. “I’ll send you an owl okay? It’d be nice to see you again before we go back to school… if that’s okay with you?”

“Of course it’s okay with me you idiot Potter,” she replied with a smile, resting her hands against his shoulders and examining the soft fabric of his shirt, “why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, “I just thought… maybe after this evening… I don’t know.”

“Well forget it; I don’t blame you for anything that happened, if that’s what you’re implying. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to see you again though because I don’t know what plans Mum and Dad have for Christmas and I’ll probably see Cassie, Mary and Alice at some point but hopefully I should be able to see you for a bit.”

James smiled and said, “Okay good. Well I’ll see you on the Hogwarts Express if we don’t meet up before we go back then.”

“Course you will.” She retreated inside the comfort of her house, closing the door quietly and sneaking upstairs as she tried to avoid her parents. Lily knew that they would want to ask her about what happened and why she was back so early and she really didn’t want to tell them; every single step that she took seemed to echo through the corridor and make the stairs creak and she barely breathed until she reached the safety of her room. If she could just get into bed quickly enough to let her pretend to be asleep when her parents came in then she could evade their questions.