Disclaimer: Come on guys, let's all pitch in some money so I can finally buy the Harry Potter franchise from JKR and stop writing these disclaimers.
Let's cherish this rare moment of me updating fast.
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Chapter 40
Exactly four days later, Lily received Harry's letter. She had been waiting eagerly for it, checking the mailbox frequently. She could see Petunia growing suspicious at Lily's excitement over some random letters but if she was curious, she didn't let it show.
Lily ran to her room with the letter as soon as she saw the white envelope that was waiting for her. She sat down on her bed, peeling the envelope open and taking the letter out.
Dear Lizzy,
Before I start, let me tell you one thing. I'm terrible at giving advice, especially relationship advice. So you might want to think before accepting my opinion.
Now, straight to the topic, I'd say that this guy, Mr. Darcy, seems like the one you were supposed to have found. Mutual love is probably the rarest thing you can find. So now that you've found something close to it, I hope you never let go of it.
You shouldn't let your past relationship affect your future. What's done is done and over. Just because it had happened once or twice doesn't mean that it'll happen again every time. What if you had stopped trying to learn the alphabets because you messed up one? Wouldn't you regret it? Because not every person is the same. Being hurt in the past doesn't equate to being hurt in the future.
So, take a risk. Go for it. Whatever happens will be dealt with. This could be your one chance at finding what's destined for you so don't waste it. As far as I know Mr. Darcy, from what you've told me about him, he seems like a nice guy so why not take a chance?
I sound smarter than I really am. For someone who has no experience with love, I give really good advice, don't I? Maybe I should consider my career as a love consultant.
Keep me updated on what is happening with Mr. Darcy.
Love,
Harry.
PS: Mum absolutely loved your gift!
Lily was smiling by the time she finished reading the letter. Harry had this weird effect on her. No matter how messed up her life was, his letters made her smile, even if a bit. She couldn't express how thankful she was for finding that advertisement in the newspaper.
She considered everything Harry had said and realized that maybe, after all, he was right. She was just over thinking everything. Maybe for once, she should let go of her trust issues and face what's meant for her.
Falling back on her bed, Lily stared at the white ceiling, wondering what it'll be like after a few days when she finally go to James's house.
Everything felt so sudden. Just last summer, she was planning on avoiding James when she gets back to school. But contrary to all her pre-made plans, she got closer to James than she'd ever been. In the span of a year, they had gone from enemies to something close to friends.
Maybe it was all for good, she thought to herself, maybe this was how it was meant to happen.
~~~~~
The next few days passed by in a blur and on the day she was supposed to be going to the Potters', Lily opened the door and saw James standing at her doorstep.
"Hey." she said, moving the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder.
She discreetly looked him over. He was wearing dark stone washed jeans with a mint green shirt and a red bomber jacket slung over his shoulder.
She stepped forward and up close, she could see the light dusting of freckles across his cheeks, the acne scars on his jaw, the tan of his skin and his eyes that were a mix of chocolatey honey magic. Lily's heart ached at the sight of him because how could someone be flawed yet so breathtakingly perfect?
"What are you looking at?" he asked, though she was sure he knew the answer.
She laughed, gesturing him to come into the house. "What do you think I'm looking at?"
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"You seem really excited." she commented, trying to hold back the smile threatening to show on her face.
"I am." he replied, and Lily swore she could feel every species of butterflies in her stomach at how his voice dropped an octave lower.
Lily quickly said her good byes to her mum and Petunia, knowing that if she stayed any longer her mum would keep talking to James until the sun went down. Only after she reached the gate did she see the sleek black car parked outside.
"That's your car?" she asked, turning to James with a bewildered look.
"Yeah." he said as he fished out the keys from his pocket and unlocked the passenger door for her.
"You're going to drive? You can drive?" she asked, even more surprised.
"Why do you sound so surprised?" he asked, opening the door for her, "Of course I can drive. How do you think I came here?"
Lily sat down and James jogged over to the driver's side.
"It's just... You being a pureblood and all." she said as she strapped on the seat belt, "I didn't think you would know."
"I thought we'll go the muggle way today." he said as he pushed in the keys and started the engine.
"I can trust you with a broomstick, but a car..." she trailed off, unsure, "You can drive, right?"
He shrugged. "We'll see."
Lily closed her eyes. Jesus, take the wheel. Literally this time.
And in a few minutes, they were speeding down the street towards the highway.
"Okay. I might have been wrong." Lily said, when she realized that James could actually drive properly.
"Told you." he said, grinning.
She reached forward and switched on the radio. Hello, Goodbye by Beatles started playing.
"That's my favourite." she said as the same time James said, "My song!"
"It seems we have more in common than I thought." she said and he nodded in reply.
James started singing along to the song and Lily realised that his voice isn't as bad as the last time she had heard.
"I'm glad you don't sound as horrible as you did when you were drunk."
"Shush!" he said placing a finger on his lips, "It's a silent agreement that we don't talk about that night."
"Why not?" she asked. She felt her heart rate pick up. And suddenly she was panicking. Did he remember what had happened - or almost happened - that day?
"Sirius told me what happened that day."
"So you still don't remember anything?" she asked again.
He shook his head, eyes fixed on the road. Lily released a shaky breath as relief filled her.
"It was quite a show." she said, "Especially the handstand. You had an audience."
"Audience?" he asked, laughing.
"Yeah. A few third and fourth year girls. Peter even tried to sell tickets for the special show."
"Girls? Why?"
"You do realise that your shirt drops when you do a handstand, right? You were flashing your..." she gestured to his abs and saw a light pink tinge rise in his cheeks.
"Oh. That." he said, flustered, "Thank Merlin I don't remember anything. I won't be able to live with the embarrassment."
"Good thing you don't remember."
She was sure both of them had meant it in different contexts. She looked out of the window as the memories of the day started returning one by one. She spent the rest of the ride in silence, enjoying the view. The view being the one outside the car and the boy inside the car.
As James pulled into the Potters' driveway, Lily felt nervousness build inside her. She had no idea what she felt so nervous about. But when she saw him smile down at her, some of her confidence returned.
Come on, Lily. What's the big deal? You're just going to a friend's house.
Friend? Since when is he your friend?
James got out of the car and walked over to where Lily was standing. She looked up at the huge iron gate in front of her, only now realizing that James lives in a manor.
He reached forward, wrapping his fingers around the iron bar in the middle and Lily heard the lock click open. But as she made to move forward, he stopped her.
"Give me your hand." he said.
"What?" she asked but he had already taken her hand, and she found herself holding the iron bar on the gate, right above his hand. James then took out his wand and Lily watched in amazement as he drew a shimmering golden line connecting their hands.
He smiled in satisfaction, keeping the wand back in his pocket. "Now you can open the gate yourself."
"You didn't have to -" she started to say but he cut her off with a wave of his hand, leading her towards the door.
Lily's heart beat had picked up once again and the only thing that was going through her mind was Oh my God, I'm going to meet his parents.
Just as James was about to reach forward to the door, it swung open. Marlene stood in front of them, Sirius right behind her, both of them with matching grins.
"Lily flower." Sirius said, giving her a side hug. Lily chuckled as Sirius practically dragged her into the house.
"Mum!" he called out, "They're here."
Lily waited with baited breath when she saw Mrs. Potter enter the sitting room. The first thing Lily noticed was that James and his mum didn't resemble much. She was shorter than Lily, but with the same dark red hair with a few streaks of gray. The only similarity she had to James was the hazel eyes.
At least, that was what Lily thought until Mrs. Potter smiled. The same lopsided smile.
So that's where he gets that smile from.
Lily was even more surprised when she saw that the smile was directed at her. Mrs. Potter greeted her almost as if she was an old family friend, not a girl who went to school with her son, who she was meeting for the first time.
In her emerald robe, with her red hair tied up neatly in a bun and round rimmed glasses, Euphemia Potter was the definition of elegance. With graceful steps Mrs. Potter approached them. Lily wondered if she would ever look half as elegant as Mrs. Potter did.
"Mum, this is Lily." James said and even though she wasn't looking at him, she knew that he was slightly flustered.
"Marlene talks a lot about you." Mrs. Potter said and Lily smiled.
"Good things, of course." Marlene piped in.
When Lily turned to look at Mrs. Potter, she saw her looking at James, curiosity shining in her hazel eyes. James shifted from one foot to the other, looking around at everything other than his mother. And then a knowing smile spread across Mrs. Potter's face, which she was quick to hide when she saw Lily watching her.
"Marlene?" Mrs. Potter said, "Why don't you show Lily her room?"
Lily followed Marlene up the grand marble stairs. Everything about the house was extravagantly beautiful. She looked around at the photos - moving photos - on the walls of the corridor. Some of them were of James and his parents, while a few others were of Marlene and her family. And some others were of people she didn't recognize. Lily almost stopped and stared fondly at a picture of a five year old James dressed in a tux holding a doll in wedding dress.
"Where are the other two Marauders?" Lily asked Marlene.
"Remus will be coming tomorrow. Peter is in Ireland visiting his great aunt so he won't be coming." Marlene replied, Lily nodding along.
Lily's room was bigger than the one back at her home. The walls were painted a light shade of lilac and the curtains were a matching violet.
She looked out of the French door connecting the balcony to her room. It was beginning to get dark after their three hour drive all the way from Essex to Worcester. Lily sighed at how James insisted on going by car when they could have apparated in just a matter of minutes.
Just as she had settled down and was enjoying the view from the balcony, James walked in with two mugs of steaming coffee. He gave one to her and moved to stand next to her on the balcony.
Of course he knew she loves coffee.
"How is it that you know everything about me?" she asked, amused.
"It's not just you." he said, shrugging as if it was not a big deal, "I know lots of things about lots of people."
"Oh yeah?" she said, "What is my favourite colour?"
"Red." he said without even pausing to think.
"And what is Marlene's favourite colour?"
"Er..." he rubbed the back of his neck, "Blue?"
"It's purple." she said, "My point proven."
"Okay, fine. You win."
She subconsciously moved closer to him. It was uncharacteristically cold that day and he was like a walking, human sized heater.
"But you can't know everything about me."
"Are you challenging my 'Lily knowledge'?" he asked, making air quotations.
She ignored his question. "Did you know that I am nyctophiliac?"
He rubbed the back of his neck again. She realized with a smile that he looked adorable every time he did that. "I'm going to sound dumb for asking this but what's that?"
"Nyctophilia is the love of darkness or night."
"Okay." he gave in, "I didn't know that. But you really like night more than day?"
"Totally." she said, "My mum says it's weird. She says evil people like darkness and night."
He laughed softly. "So you're evil?"
"Not really." she said, "But I like it when people think I am. I love confusing people."
"I'll never understand you." he said, a small smile across his lips.
She chuckled. "So I've heard."
He turned back to the clear night sky. "Lily Evans is a mystery."
"A mystery waiting to be unraveled." she said, more to herself than to him. But she knew he heard it when those gorgeous eyes turned from the sky to her.
That's when she knew it. Magic wasn't repairing her broken quill with a wave of her wand. Magic wasn't vanishing the ink stains on her hand in mere seconds. Magic was looking into his eyes and drowning in the passion they held. Magic was feeling the warmth radiating from his body even on the unusually cold night. Magic was the light graze of his fingertips on her skin which sent sparks through her.
To Lily Evans, magic was falling for James Potter.
"Well then," he said, "Let's hope that an explorer unravels the mystery."
She turned away from him, his words causing a blush to creep up her cheeks. She sat down on one of the velvet pouffes in the balcony, her back towards the glass door that leads to the bedroom. He sat down on the other one. Both of them just sat there, letting the silence speak for them.
"What's there?" she asked after sometime, pointing at the cluster of trees just beyond the compounds of the house.
"I'll take you there someday." he said.
She nodded, leaning back towards the door, feeling sleep take over her senses, falling into dreamland that now consisted of honey eyes and soft touches that made her euphoric.
~~~~~
"Lily." James said, tapping her cheek gently.
Lily's eyes slowly fluttered open. She had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder.
"Sorry. I had to wake you up." he said apologetically, "It's way past midnight and I think I should go."
She let go of her grip on his shirt and moved away. She didn't even remember holding on to him. He stood up, taking the two empty mugs with him.
She wondered what he had been doing all the time she had slept using him as a pillow but she was still too sleepy to think of any plausible answers to that.
"Thanks for the coffee." she said, "Did you make it?"
"Yeah." he said, walking towards the door. He stopped and turned around to look at her again, "If you need anything, my room is the one right across."
Lily nodded and watched as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, Lily changed into her pajamas and crawled into the soft lavender sheets, falling asleep instantly.
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A/N : I had to do a bit of research to figure out where exactly Cokeworth is in England and I'm still not sure where it is so just assume it's in Essex.
I don't know if any of you have noticed but I changed my username, which means I'll have to change the cover of this book too. So if anyone is up for making a new cover, then dm me.
Off topic but bts just released a new album so y'all should maybe listen to it if you're interested.
Vote and comment if you liked the chapter.
Have a great day/night!
Love,