DIX HUIT

lily and james just need to kiss already!

LILY WOKE UP to the sound of hushed arguing. Her breath caught as she stayed deathly still and pretended that she was asleep.

"You're going to wake her up, you twats," James muttered bitterly. 

"It's not my fault," a small voice said, probably Lily Luna's.

"You were the one who was making the racket," another voice piped up, presumably Rose's. 

"Girls! Get downstairs and let them rest!" a woman harshly whispered.

"Thank you, Aunt Angelina, the only sane person," James grumbled.

She heard the shuffling of feet, the door close and James let out a breath. 

"They're gone," he mumbled and she could feel the smile in his voice. 

She turned over slowly to see James sitting up, with the duvet covering the bottom half of his body, shirtless. She tried to cover the blush that had painted her cheeks. 

"Thank you," she whispered. 

He chuckled slightly and turned to her. He squinted a little bit — almost as if in judgement as he looked at her. He then shook his head and turned back, facing the wall.

Lily panicked a little on the inside at the action. It was a small part of her that asked the fated question: did he not like her anymore? 

"You know I had the weirdest dream," James said as he laughed a little, fell back onto the bed and out his hand over his face.

Lily cautiously propped herself up on her elbow.

"About?" she asked.

"You said you were in love with me," James said. Lily's heart started to race, thinking he'd heard her and Albus's conversation. "I guess that's why they're called dreams, right?" 

He then flashed her the million dollar smile and got up.

"I probably have to go help mum with something. Thanks for letting me sleep here," he said with a small smile as he left the door and closed the door. 

Lily smiled and nodded. So he hadn't heard her last night. A part of her groaned, it would've been a lot easier if he had, but another part let out a sigh of relief because he seemed to be less and less interested in her ( as in, he hadn't asked her out since Halloween, but even then, that was after a long while of him not asking her out ). She honestly didn't know what to think as her anxiety flooded her brain, making her thoughts go fuzzy.

She got up and dressed in a midi skirt and her new Weasley sweater. She skipped downstairs as she attempted to tie her hair into a ponytail. As she did, she felt some goo hit the top of her head and start to slide down. 

She touched it and looked at it to discover that it was, in fact, egg yolk. She looked up to see a red in the face and laughing Teddy Lupin with James Sirius Potter standing next to him. 

"I- What- I'm very confused," Lily stuttered as she looked around desperately. 

It was then that she noticed that none of the adults were downstairs. What the fuck was happening? 

Behind the two boys, stood all of the kids in the family. Rose and Victoire were pinching the bridge of the noses while Lily Luna and Fred were struggling to keep it together. 

So many people were there and yet no one was answering her. Luckily for them, she was a Ravenclaw and could figure it out, but luckily for her, she was almost sorted into Slytherin and the boys wouldn't know what hit them.

She muttered a spell and the egg disappeared from her hair and she continued to tie it up. She smiled innocently as she continued to step down the stairs.

"I see your grandmother isn't down yet, would anyone like some breakfast?" Lily asked.

"You're right, this is stupid," Albus said as he crossed over to help her in the kitchen. 

Right as he was about to approach, however, two cream pies flew into Lily's hands and she promptly shoved them into Teddy and James's faces. Then, two eggs flew into her hands and she cracked them over their heads. 

She walked past them, as innocent as could be, grabbed Albus's hand and headed to the kitchen, not however, before stopping by James and swiping some of the cream from his nose and licked it off her finger.

"Hm, chocolate," she said as she smiled and then turned to lead Albus into the kitchen. 

"Holy Merlin," she heard Lily Luna say behind her.

"She got you two good," Dominique called out to the boys.

Lily made her way into the kitchen and started mixing crepe batter. She was about halfway through when she realized she needed some milk and it was handed to her. She turned to see Molly Weasley smiling kindly.

"I haven't had crepes since Fleur made them a couple years ago," she said as she started to crack eggs into a pan, making fried eggs. 

"Oh, my papa loves to make them. He taught me when I was barely old enough to walk," Lily said with a nostalgic smile as she continued to whisk the mixture. 

"My mother taught me how to cook. There were so many family recipes that I could barely remember all of them until I started cooking for my own family," Molly said as she looked up to see her great family gathering, slowly, downstairs. 

They were all laughing and talking with each other. They all loved each other. 

Lily smiled to herself as she continued to prep the crepes, that is until she felt arms wrap around her waist. 

She turned to see Albus's head propped up onto her shoulder. She kissed the side of his head and continued to whisk ( though she didn't need to, she just knew that if she moved, so would Al ).

"I told him I loved him," Albus revealed after a while.

Lily smiled cautiously. 

"And?" Lily asked.

"I think I scared him," Al replied.

"Well, everyone says it at different times. I know my papa said it way before my dad did," Lily said as she turned to face him. 

She then put down the whisk, turned around and enveloped him in a big hug. When they pulled away, she looked at him thoughtfully. 

"How about you talk to James about it?" Lily asked as she cocked her head.

"What?" Albus asked as his face turned confused.

"I've found he's superb at advice and he is your brother," she said as she leaned against the counter. "But, I'm always here if you need me."

He nodded and headed out of the kitchen and over to James who was laughing with Louis and Fred. She watched as Albus whispered something to him and they both looked at her. It was a weird sight as they looked very similar — they both took heavily after their father. 

Her cheeks heated up under their gaze and she dropped her head, allowing her hair to cover her face. Only when she heard them both head upstairs did she look back up to meet the eyes of Harry Potter. She smiled timidly and he nodded with a smile. 

She continued to make the crepes ( with the help of Fleur, who took half the mixture and spread them in another pan to speed up the process ). And when she'd finished cooking them and filling them with lemon and sugar or ham and cheese or strawberries and Nutella, she brought them out. 

Right as she was about to pass them around the table, a hand stopped her.

"Did you make these?" Harry Potter asked her.

"Yes, sir," she said with a smile. 

He nodded and smiled. 

"You know, I haven't seen my boys talk privately together for years," he said with a knowing smile, but had to excuse himself when Ron called out to him. 

By then, Albus and James were back downstairs and were sitting next to each other at the table. Lily passed the crepes around while Molly dished out eggs and sausage. Everyone sat down and tucked in while a low hum rose over the table. 

When she'd finished, Lily found a seat next to James and gave him a Nutella and strawberry crepe, she knew he'd like it. He accepted it with a big grin. 

"C'est magnifique!" Fleur said as she cut her ham and cheese crepe. 

"Merci beaucoup, Madame!" Lily replied with a smile. 

The rest of the vacation was pretty much like this: it was homey and comfortable. 

Lily, of course, missed her parents greatly and often exchanged letters via the muggle post with them. Apparently, the meeting with her uncle was going well, but they still weren't entirely sure. 

But, the Weasleys and Potters took up a lot of time. She often found herself in the kitchen with Molly, Harry and Fleur or talking with Albus or ( trying ) to curl Dominique's hair ( a mission that she had embarked on during the holiday, in vain ). 

She had extremely interesting conversation with Bill and ( tried ) to beat Ron at exploding snap. She built snowmen with Roxanne and Lily Luna and had midnight hot cocoa and conversation with James. But, she jammed out to Taylor Swift with every member of the family.

Lily had stayed right through the end of break and before they all knew it, it was time to go. Hogwarts awaited. 

Lily had helped Lily Luna pack her trunk before packing her own. She was about to lug them all down, when a knock on the door stopped her.

"Come in!" she called. 

James and Teddy were standing in the doorway.

"Trunk carrying service!" Teddy called with a big grin. 

He reached forward and heaved up Lily Luna's case ( which she was happy to part with as she wasn't strong enough to lift it herself ). And James tried to reach forward for Lily's. 

"It's alright," Lily said as she moved towards it.

"It's a flight of stairs, Lil. Plus my mum asked me to," James said as he looked at her smiling eyes. 

"Well, I suppose if Ginny ordered it, then you have to take it," she said with a small laugh.

She grabbed a small bag that held her uniform, a book and chapstick and followed James down the stairs. 

The entire family was crowded in the hallway. The past students wishing luck and asking after teachers to the current students. 

"I remember my last spring at Hogwarts," Bill said with a dreamy look. "Cherish it."

"Promise," Lily said with a kind smile. 

She then turned to the entire family.

"Thank you all so much for welcoming me in. You are all so wonderful and unique and I really hope I can get to know you all better," Lily said as she looked at each family member. 

Ginny dove in to give the girl a hug. 

"Our home is your home, dear," Ginny said as she pushed some of the hair out of Lily's face. 

"Thank you," Lily breathed out. 

Then everyone piled into two cars driven by Louis and Dominique ( yet another Potter tradition where the most recent graduates drive the kids to the station, which originated when Harry didn't have time to drive Teddy to the station and that was the only argument he could use with Ginny ). 

In Dominique's car ( which housed Lily in the front seat and Lily Luna, Rose and Hugo in the back ), ABBA was sung at full volume the entire way. 

They were about halfway through Take a Chance on Me when Louis challenged his older sister to a race ( and a very big mistake on his part ). Because Dom had a wild streak and everyone knew it. The poor boy never stood a chance, despite James's fervent cheering. 

They reached the station and everyone helped each other get onto the train safely and into their separate compartments. Right as Lily was about to enter her's, she realized something very grave.

She'd forgotten to tell her friends that she'd stayed at the Potter's for practically the entire break. She took a deep breath and entered, only to be greeted with a hug attack from Henry and Estelle. 

"I missed you all so badly," Lily exclaimed as she sat down. 

"Where's Baby L?" Ruby asked. 

"She's with her other friends I think," Lily said with a slight giggle. 

"Betrayal," Charlie grumbled. 

"Of the highest degree!" Ruby added enthusiastically.

"How were all of your holidays?" Lily asked. 

"My mum got me the cutest pair of limited edition converse for Christmas. Apparently she had to order them from America," Nyah exclaimed as she finished tying her hair into a thick, high ponytail.

"Are those...?" Lily asked.

Nyah nodded enthusiastically and showed off her new shoes. 

"Well, my brother got me a couple of muggle books and I can't wait to start them. I got super into true crime over the break and they're all murder mysteries," Ruby said with an odd amount of joy in her eyes. 

"Oh," Estelle said with a mock concerned face. "Anything you should tell us?"

The compartment burst out laughing at the notion that Ruby MacMillan would murder anyone. The same girl who stops everything to help a caterpillar onto a leaf. 

"It's always the ones you never expect," Ruby said with a wicked glint in her eyes. 

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled. 

"What about you Charlie?" Lily asked.

"Oh, well my grandparents came over from Japan and it was fun. My grandmother makes the best udon soup," Charlie replied.

"Lucky! My family hasn't visited for a while," Estelle exclaimed. "But my parents got me another dog for Christmas and I went on a Christmas date with Josie." 

Nyah and Lily squealed as Estelle whipped out pictures of the very small and extremely cute puppy and pictures that her and Josie had taken. 

"His name is Freddie Mercury," Estelle said joyously. 

"Great name," Nyah said with a wicked smile. 

Nyah Thomas was a notorious Queen fan and had nearly fainted when she found out about the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody. 

"What about you Ben?" Estelle asked. 

"Oh Ben had a pretty great Christmas, didn't you?" Nyah teased as she sat back down next to him and nudged him in the side. 

Ben struggled to hold back his grin.

"I got my piece published in the Daily Prophet about wand woods and Ollivander liked it and sent me a note!" Ben announced. 

The compartment erupted in congratulations, all attacking him with hugs and high fives. 

"So is hiring you after school?" Estelle asked with bright eyes.

"He didn't say anything about it, but he said I had a bright future!" Ben said with a wide smile.  

"Then couldn't you write for the Prophet? You could have a whole section about wands! I know my mum would love to read it!" Charlie asked.

"Dunno — I'll probably leave the article writing to Stell, but perhaps if he liked it that much then he will hire me or at least recommend me to another maker," Ben said as he sat back in the seat. 

"That sounds amazing, Ben," Lily said with a kind smile.

"Thanks Lils," he said. 

"Didn't you have a potioneer apprenticeship that you applied for, Henry?" Ben asked, turning the attention to the Stints boy. 

Henry looked caught off guard as he had been staring out the window in thought.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Haven't heard back," he said with a quick smile. 

"H, what's wrong?" Estelle asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

He turned to meet the concerned faces of his friends. He smiled a very small smile at the reminder of how deeply his friends cared for him. 

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong," he said as he stretched and shifted with ( an obviously fake ) smile. 

"That's bullshit," Nyah said as she crossed her arms over her chest. 

"You remember the flavor of the summer?" he asked.

"Yeah," Estelle said cautiously. 

"Well he was there and he proposed to my mum over the break," Henry said with a rueful face. "And she accepted."

"Well surely that's good? We liked him," Lily said with confused eyes. 

"Yeah, but my mum hasn't been married since my dad and even though she's ... you know ... it's always been us and her side distraction. And he's nice and all, but yeah," Henry admitted as he looked down. "Everything'll just be different, that's all."

Estelle enveloped him in a hug for the group of friends. They knew that when he was vulnerable, he didn't like to be overwhelmed with everyone. 

"But enough about my life, how was your holiday, Lily?" Henry asked weakly.

"Well I — " Lily started to explain when the compartment door slammed open. 

James was standing there with a Ravenclaw tie clutched in his hand.

"I think this is yours," James said with a small smile.

"Piss off, Potter," Nyah said threateningly. 

"It's fine, Ny," Lily said as she shot the girl a reassuring smile. "Thank you, James." 

"I know it's your favorite tie. It has that embroidered gold star on the bottom. You always wear it at the beginning of term," James rambled as Lily ran her hands over it. 

"Thank you," she breathed out. 

He nodded dutifully and walked back to his friends. 

"Why did he have your tie?" Nyah asked with narrowed eyes.

"Did you call him James?" Estelle asked. 

"I'll explain, I swear," Lily said with a nervous chuckle. "So I may or may not have spent the holidays with the Potters."

"You what?" Nyah roared.

"And you didn't tell us?" Ruby exclaimed.

"I meant to, I promise, but I never found the time!" Lily defended as she tried to reason with them.

"So you stayed with James Sirius Potter the entire holiday?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Lily said as she turned to him.

"And you now call him James?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Lily replied.

"And he had your lucky tie?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Lily replied nervously, not seeing where he was taking this.

Then Nyah gasped.

"Merlin, did you shag James Sirius Potter over holiday? Lily Jane Edwards!" Nyah exclaimed.

"What? No! I did not shag James over holiday," Lily exclaimed as she scrambled over to put her hand over Nyah's mouth. "And quiet down! You know how rumors spread around this school!" 

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time that the Head Boy and Head Girl, you know," Estelle said with a dimpled grin. 

"James Sirius Potter and I did not have sex, nothing close to it!" Lily exclaimed, standing up with determination. 

"Yikes, sorry Lil," Ben said as Charlie awkwardly whistled. 

"Besides, I don't think he likes me like that anymore," Lily mumbled as she sank back down into her seat. 

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked gently. 

"Well he hasn't asked me out since Halloween," Lily reasoned. 

"Well, then let's celebrate," Nyah exclaimed, looking at Lily carefully. 

The group exchanged knowing looks. Lily had finally reasoned.

"Yeah," Lily said with a forced smile. 

"Ok, you might be worse at lying than me," Henry said with a chuckle. 

"What- fine," Lily grumbled. "Yes, I finally realized that I like James."

The entire group looked at her expectantly. 

"What? I just said it!" Lily exclaimed, then she sighed. "That I'm head over heels for James Sirius bloody Potter."

"Fucking finally," Ben breathed out. 

"It was about damn time!" Charlie exclaimed. 

Everyone looked at him weirdly. 

"He was the first person I told about the wedding," Lily admitted.

"My boyfriend was the first person to know? Are you serious?" Ruby asked incredulously. 

"No, that's James's middle name," Lily mumbled absentmindedly. She then caught herself and looked up with wide eyes. 

"Bloody hell," Nyah whispered as she struggled to contain her laughter. 

The group of friends were looking back at her with knowing smiles. She couldn't help but bashfully smile herself. 

"Oh god," Lily groaned. "How long?"

"Too long," Estelle with a giggle. 

"Well, I've finally admitted it, haven't I?" Lily said with an apologetic smile.

"Only after a painful term of watching you fall madly in love with James Sirius bloody Potter. Do you realize how cliché that is?" Nyah exclaimed. 

"Fuuuuck don't remind me," Lily groaned. "I already question what makes me like him, don't make me question it further."

"Well, I think he's good for you," Henry piped up.

Everyone in the compartment turned to look at him with confused faces. 

"Am I the only one that's noticed?" Henry asked with furrowed eyebrows. 

"Henry- I- what?" Estelle spluttered.

"You've come out of your shell with him and you're hanging out with people that aren't us with him. Fuck me, but I'm going to get sentimental. You're growing up and you're taking the good and the bad. Do you remember how sad you were last year and how you forced yourself to be happy?" Henry ranted.

Lily just nodded in response.

"Do you notice a difference now? I mean, we've tried our best, but sometimes it just takes meeting one person and making that connection to gain perspective," Henry explained. 

Everyone went quiet, thinking about what he had just said. He was right, Lily was not in a good place last year, but tried and tried to force herself to be happy or at least seem happy. But she had been genuinely happy that year, probably not in a small amount due to the entrance of the real James Sirius Potter into her life. 

"I- I guess you're right," Lily muttered quietly. 

"I know," Henry replied with a lopsided smile, "and last year, I wouldn't have said that either. I think we all know that, but Will changed something for me and I think James changed something for you. Just like Josie changed something for Estelle and well we all know about Rubes and Charlie."

Henry then briefly looked over at the twins.

"But, it doesn't have to be romantic. Someone can just enter in, whether it be platonically. And Ben, don't think we haven't seen you hanging around Lysander Scamander more and Nyah, you and Isabel have been shredding it on the pitch together," Henry added. 

"That was- that was really thoughtful Henry," Ruby said as she stared at him.

"Well, I have been known to have eyes, so thank you Rubes," Henry quipped with a grin as he sat back on the bench. 

Lily then looked out the windows and noticed that they were getting close to the castle. 

"Shit!" Lily exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"I forgot to assign someone to go around and remind everyone to change into their robes," she said in a panic as she stood up and grabbed her bag that held them. She flew out the compartment door, but then quickly backtracked.

"Get our robes on, we got it," Ben said with a friendly smile as he started to click open his trunk.

Lily nodded quickly and dashed off to where she knew James and his friends would be. When she reached the compartment, she knocked rapidly on the door. Lorcan, with a confused face, opened the door.

"Hiya Lily, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I need James," she said quickly. 

"Merlin, you weren't lying," Lysander exclaimed from inside the compartment. 

Lorcan and James exchanged places. James approached her with a very worried face.

"What's wrong? How can I help?" he asked as he assessed her figure to determine if she was physically ok. 

"I forgot to assign someone to go around and remind everyone to change, so we have to do it," Lily said quickly. 

James then burst out laughing, causing Lily to become even more panicked.

"I already assigned them," he said as he held up his own robes, indicating that he too was going to change. "Rosie and Al are doing. I think Scorpius even tagged along with them. I swear, they're becoming more and more like my dad and Uncle Ron and Aunt Mione everyday." 

"You — you already assigned it? Like took care of it?" Lily asked incredulously as she just looked at him and blinked.

"Well yeah. You practically sprinted to your friends and what's family for if you can't use them to do your bidding?" James joked. 

"You're brilliant, you know that?" Lily said as a grin creeped up on her face.

"Edwards, would you like to join us?" Lysander asked innocently as he leaned against the other side of the doorframe. 

She just looked between the two boys.

"She's gonna say no, mate," James said as he glared daggers at Lysander. 

"No, no, it's fine," Lily replied with a small smile. "We just have to get our robes on first."

Lily then held up her bag holding her uniform. 

"Salazar, it's a deal!" Lysander cheered as he went to grab his robes. 

Fred was the first one out and he slung an arm over Lily's shoulders as they walked to the bathrooms aboard to change. 

Lorcan, Lysander and James followed after ( with Lysander thoroughly making fun of James ). The boys waited for Lily to finish changing ( because skirts and tights are substantially harder to put on than trousers ) before heading back to their compartment. 

When they entered, Lily noticed the candy wrappers that were scattered on the seats and she turned and laughed through her smile as she faced James. 

She didn't really know how to act as she didn't know what to act like when you discover you're in love with a guy that you thought you'd hated for practically all of eternity. Let alone how to act around his best friends in the entire world. 

So, she decided to let loose. Worse comes to worse, they don't like who she truly is and so James decides that his feelings didn't mean anything and he breaks her heart right as he had entered it. And she's known heartbreak, she can deal with a crush breaking her heart. But something in the back of her head was telling her that this was something much different than a little crush or even being in love with a significant other. 

"Hey, you alright?" James asked as he nudged her side slightly. 

Her head snapped up and a smile found itself on her face, "yeah."

"You sure? Because you don't have to stay if-" James protested.

"James, it's fine. I like your friends," she replied as she placed her hand over his. She briefly looked down at it and back up. 

She then turned to Lorcan, who was telling a wild story about something that had happened with his family over break ( which Lily was finding out was not so much wild, but normal, but what else could you expect from Luna Lovegood and a Scamander? ).

She laughed along with the boys and added in small remarks here and there. All together, the boys and her got along like bread and butter ( the fact that not just James, but also Fred had gotten to know her well over the holidays certainly helped with that ). 

"So, you promise you won't tell Minnie about the bubbles?" Lysander asked one more time. They needed to share prank ideas and they weren't about to tell James's precious Lily to leave, not when she was turning out to be actually cool.

"I swear," she said innocently. "Besides, I may be joining you soon."

"I completely forgot!" Fred exclaimed.

"I cannot believe you, bearnaise!" Lily exclaimed. 

"Bearnaise?" Lorcan asked as he looked between the two.

"Do you want to explain or should I?" Lily asked as she looked carefully at Lorcan. 

"I think it's best left unexplained," Fred said with a contented smile. 

"Really?" Lorcan asked with a slight bitterness in his tone. 

Lily and James looked at each other. She briefly held up her finger, closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath. Suddenly, mistletoe popped up in between Lorcan and Fred. 

They looked at each other with red faces as Lily high fived both James and Lysander and sat back with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You know the rules," she said with a glint in her eyes. 

"You're the worst," Fred deadpanned.

"Don't get saucy with me, bearnaise," she said smugly. 

Fred looked offended ( and he probably was ), but the rules of mistletoe are the rules of mistletoe. Lorcan then quickly grabbed Fred's face and moulded their lips together passionately. Fred sighed into the kiss and smiled. He placed his hands on either side of Lorcan's face and pulled him closer. 

Fred started to lower himself down on top of Lorcan ( and things were getting a bit spicier ) when Lysander cleared his throat.

"We're still right here," he stated. 

Both of them pulled away with pink tinged cheeks. 

"Save it for the dorms you wankers," James joked. 

Lily looked out the window again and noticed that they were about to approach the castle. She cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the boys. 

"Well it's been great spending time with all of you, truly, but I better head back. All of my luggage is back there," she said as she moved to get up.

She hesitated and kissed James on the cheek. She lingered a bit, but then quickly pulled away and stood up. 

"I'll see you all later?" she asked with a big smile and red cheeks. 

Lysander could not wipe the grin off his face.

"You bet we will!" he replied as he returned her wave as she exited and headed back to her friend's compartment.