Jily | I Can't Love Him

Deck the Halls

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Lily asked her last remaining friend. Everyone else had already gotten off.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine," Marlene reassured her. "Before I forget, what have you got in that trunk of yours? 'Cause it was blooming heavy."

"You said it didn't hurt!"

Marlene laughed outright. Lily pushed her exasperatedly towards the back of the bus.

"I'll write to you," Marlene called up at her friend once she had hopped down onto the sidewalk.

Lily waved through an open window, then slumped back in her seat as a bare-branched tree slotted back into place in front of Marlene's home and the Knight Bus raced down the street with an ear-bursting bang.

After stopping in a quiet seaside village and beside the Leaky Cauldron the driver of the Knight Bus slammed his foot on the break, leaving large skid marks all down Lily's street. Trunk and owl cage in hand she fled the death contraption as quickly as possible, only stopping for an awkward conversation with the conductor who was trying to decide whether he had seen her before. They had met when she and Mary caught the bus over the summer but Lily failed to remind him of that.

"Lily!" Mr Evans was standing at the front of their house, beaming. He surged forwards, down the steps and through the garden to the front gate. "Good to see you, Lils." He took hold of her trunk.

"Good to see you too, Dad." Lily smiled, wrapping an arm around his torso as she stepped through the gate.

"Your mother is in a right state. She's been in a whirlwind cleaning the house before Grandma Iris arrives."

Lily frowned. "When is she getting here?"

Her father's face paled slightly as he glanced at his watch, "In two and a half hours."

The wreath-strung door swung open. Mrs Evans stood in the doorway, face flushed, hair wild, eyes frantic.

"Come on then!" She hurried the duo inside, her voice a noticeably higher pitch than normal.

They bustled through the doorway, wiping the snow off their shoes and shaking off their coats on the way in.

"Alright, take your things upstairs, darling." Mrs Evans wagged a finger at the staircase after hugging her daughter briefly.

Lily tucked Monet's cage under her arm, and began half-carrying, half-dragging her trunk up to her room. She didn't get far before her mother's face appeared at the foot of the stairs, voice bouncing up the carpet to the second floor.

"Don't bother unpacking. Lots to do—Henry, help me shift this couch!"

Mr Evans' eye roll was palpable as he sighed, "Coming, dear."

The next two hours were spent chaotically cleaning the house from top to bottom. With a few minutes to two, Mrs Evans decided the house was perfect, leaving just enough time for everyone to change into clean clothes.

Lily walked down the stairs for what felt like the thousandth time since getting home and had her first proper look around. She knew from her mother's letters that she, Petunia and Mr Evans had spent the past week putting up decorations. It seemed such an effort compared to how the teachers magically decorated Hogwarts.