“What do you mean you’re not going?” Jordan was staring at Eddy across the Gryffindor table, as if he just told him that he was leaving school without his NEWTs.
“I mean exactly that, I’m not going with you. I’m staying behind with Millie,” Eddy repeated calmly, leaning back a bit looking up at the sunny ceiling. It was going to be a beautiful day today. Jordan, however, did not seem calm at all; in fact James and Lily thought he looked rather upset.
“So what am I going to do? Go to Hogsmeade alone? I can’t believe you would just blow me off like that!” he said annoyed.
“Oh come on! It’s not like it is the first time you’ll go to Hogsmeade without me. And I hardly think it’s so horrible to want to spend the day with my girlfriend!” Eddy was looking at him with determination, his jaw set in a firm line. He was clearly not backing down from his decision.
“That wasn’t what I meant. But you could have given me some warning. Telling me on the morning we’re supposed to go can hardly be called fair,” Jordan insisted, and James had to admit that he agreed with him, even if he thought it was very nice of Eddy to stay behind with Millie.
“It’s not like I planned it, I only decided to last night,” he said with a smile that made James wonder what exactly had brought on the decision. Glaring angrily at him Jordan got up from the table.
“Fine! I guess I’ll go alone then!” he said abruptly, before turning and walking out of the Hall, taking the stairs two steps at the time as he headed up to Gryffindor tower.
Jordan still seemed annoyed and irritable when he an hour later came out from the dorm, ready to leave. Ignoring Eddy and Millie he who were sitting cuddled up next to each other on the hearthrug, he walked over to the portrait and stepped outside. James and Lily would probably have left him to it, if they hadn’t heard her whisper before the portrait swung shut. Curious, they followed him out only to see their granddaughter pull Jordan behind a statue.
“Going alone today?” she asked with a mischievous smile playing in the corners of her mouth.
“How did you know?” Jordan asked mildly surprised.
“Millie told me this morning,” she said with a shrug. “So would you want some company?” she then asked making Jordan stare at her.
“Sure, but you can’t. I mean you’re not allowed, how would you get passed Filch?”
“My Uncles can be very informative and according to my parents very irresponsible,” Lily answered with a grin. “Last I saw them they told me that there is still one passageway out of Hogwarts that no one but dad knows about, and the way dad has been working lately I doubt he’ll have time to keep a close watch on it.” Jordan looked at her and for a while he looked as if he couldn’t decide what to do.
“But is it safe? I mean with Draco out of jail…I wouldn’t want you to take any risks, and sneaking out to Hogsmeade isn’t exactly like sneaking down to the kitchens.”
“Well excuse me for thinking you might want company when being ditched,” Lily snapped. “I can manage fine on my own if that is the case. This is the last Hogsmeade visit of the school year, with or without your company, I’m going today!” Looking anything but friendly, Lily pushed her way past Jordan and started heading of in the direction of the library.
“Potter, wait!” Jordan said quickly, still looking a bit hesitant, "But where do I meet you?” he asked chewing on his lower lip.
“Honeyduke’s, just wait for me there,” Lily answered, a smile spreading across her face. “And Jordan,” she said just as he was turning to leave. "If you try to take me to Madame Puddifoot’s or something equally stupid, I’ll hex you so hard you’ll have to spend the rest of the term in the hospital wing. Is that clear?” she asked. Grinning, Jordan nodded before he turned and walked away.
It was with some apprehension that James and Lily followed their granddaughter as she snuck out. Even James seemed to realize that this was a bit more serious than her usual rule breaking. Not that he never snuck out himself when he was in school. After all he hadn’t been able to do a map of every in and out of Hogwarts for nothing. But he never had a murderer after him when he did so, and he had sense enough to realize that what Lily was doing right now had the possibility of becoming very dangerous.
Lily however did not seem to consider the consequences of her actions at all. Looking around her she made sure no one was in the hallway when she incanted several spells James and Lily had hardly heard before. Lily managed to get around spells of protection and locks that James knew hadn’t been there when he was young. When she was done, she tapped the statue of the old witch and muttered the words to make it move and open the path out. Smiling she looked at the passageway.
“Dad, you’re so predictable sometimes,” she whispered with a grin, before quickly making her way inside.
By the time she reached Honeyduke’s Lily was in a very good mood. Sneaking up in the store’s basement, she then she made her way up to the store itself and over to Jordan who was standing in a corner of the store. Away from all the others looking like he was closely examining the sweets on the shelf before him. Smiling Lily made her way over to him, careful not to look up at the other students. When she was right behind him she tapped him on the shoulder.
He startled when he turned around.
“Blimey, Potter! What have you done to your hair?” he hissed.
“Changed the colour,” she said simply, as if that wasn’t rather evident. “Hair colour changing sweets,” she then added holding out her hand showing him what looked like three chocolate pralines. “The wrapper tells you what colour your hair is going to be once you’ve eaten it and the silver one turns it back to what it was before,” she explained. “They don’t even sell them yet, but Uncle Fred gave me a few to try out,” she grinned.
“Well they definitely work,” Jordan said still a bit stunned.
“Yup,” Lily said with a smile. “Unfortunately they don’t do anything about the curls, but I guess I will have to live with them. So do I look OK as a brunette?” she then asked. “I still have blond and black to choose from if, but I thought this would attract the least attention.”
“It’s fine,” Jordan said, regaining a bit more composure. “Although, I prefer you in your usual colour.”
“Yes, well I think my red curls are a bit too easy to spot, and since that isn’t something we want to happen… Well you get the picture.” Shrugging her shoulders she smiled. “So let’s starts shopping, shall we?” she then asked, and for the next half hour Lily stayed in the background, face hid by the mass of her hair or the hood she was wearing, making sure that Jordan went up and bought everything she wanted to have, so that she could be seen as little as possible.
With bags filled with sweets, the two of them made it out onto the streets of Hogsmeade, making sure to cover as many stores as possible while avoiding the teachers on duty and the Potter residence at all times. In every store they had the same procedure. Lily picked out what she wanted, gave Jordan the money, and waited for him to buy it. And when her hood fell off her in a moment of excitement Jordan lifted it back up again. For some reason Lily would let him, even if she did tense a bit every time his fingers got tangled in her curls.
By the time they came out from a long session at Zonko’s both James and Lily worried about their granddaughter’s safety a lot less. Maybe it was a bit foolish to think that Draco Malfoy would be standing behind a corner in Hogsmeade waiting for the odd chance that either his or Harry’s daughter would sneak out from Hogwarts. Besides, the change in hair colour and the hood worked surprisingly well, no one seemed to pay to much attention to the brown haired girl spending her day with Jordan. The only attention they got were two Hufflepuffs whispering about Jordan’s ability to score dates, and always being seen with a new girl on his arm. James found this comment highly unfair, even if his granddaughter often accused him of the same thing. Still it was reassuring. Draco Malfoy had as far as they knew not seen Lily since she was five years old, it would be hard for him to recognise her without her characteristically red curls.
And they were being careful about not being caught. So far neither of them had dared to suggest venturing over to the Three Broomsticks, for example. The place was, after all, bound to be filled with students and teachers, and it would be pushing things a bit far to think that just a change of hair colour would make Lily completely unrecognisable. James and Lily decided, this seclusion from other students must make it a lot harder for someone like Draco to realize that the brown haired girl was really Lily Potter.
Pausing outside Zonko’s, Jordan and Lily suddenly seemed a bit unsure of what to do. They’d been in all the stores they wanted to, and the Three Broomsticks was out of the question. And after Lily’s words back at Hogwarts, so was Madame Puddifoot’s.
“There is always the Hogs head,” Jordan suggested tentatively. “I mean, there aren’t going to be any students and I could go in and make sure there aren’t any teachers.” Lily looked at him in surprise, then she nodded.
“Sounds like a good idea. I am rather thirsty,” she said with a faint smile, waiting for Jordan to lead the way.
For a while, they didn’t seem to really know what to talk about. Instead they walked quietly next to each other watching their feet and the birds flying over head. Lily moving her hand quickly out of the way as Jordan’s brushed against it.
Suddenly Lily stopped, her face lifted to the sky.
“What’s wrong?” Jordan asked turning around to watch her.
“Nothing, it’s just, I’ve seen that bird before,” she said pointing. Looking in the direction she pointed Jordan shrugged his shoulders.
“So? And how do you know? I mean it’s just another raven,” he said.
“Jordan, I wouldn’t say I’ve seen it before if I wasn’t sure it was the same bird! And I didn’t mean in general, I mean today. That’s the third time I’ve seen that raven today,” Lily said with emphasis before they started walking again. “And I know it’s nothing special with seeing the same bird a few times, but I just thought it was funny. It’s unusual for ravens to be so close to humans. Not unheard of, but unusual. They tend to fly high above the forests and let us mere humans mind our own business.” She grew quiet looking at him. “I’m boring you,” she then said, turning her attention back to the road.
“No not at all,” Jordan said quickly. A bit too quickly, and in a pitch just a few notes too high. Lily laughed. “OK, so I’m not that interested in birds,” Jordan admitted looking a bit guilty. “Sorry,” he added.
“For what?” Lily grinned. “For not being interested or for lying?”
“How about both?” Jordan answered leaving her alone outside the pub as he went in to check for teachers. Laughing Lily leaned back on the wall and looked up again.
“You’re still here?” she asked the raven now sitting on a windowsill a bit closer than before. With a croak the raven lifted from its position and flew down on the ground only a few feet from her.
“You’re a curious one, aren’t you?” Lily asked crouching on the ground looking at the bird. The bird tilted its head and croaked in response and James couldn’t help but to think that it almost looked as if the bird was studying her.
“No teachers as far as I can tell. I think the coast is clear,” Jordan said coming out of the pub with a grin on his face. Lily turned her head to look at him and smiled.
“Let’s go get some butterbeer then,” she said getting up and heading inside as Jordan held the door open for her.
“Geez, Potter, you really do have an act for animals, don’t you?” Jordan said laughing when he saw the bird so close to them. “Weren’t you the one to say that ravens don’t like people?” he added following her inside the pub letting the door close behind them.
“I also said this was an unusual one,” Lily said with a smile. “Turns out I was right.” Jordan rolled his eyes and went up to the bar and bought them each a butterbeer that he then took to a table in a corner of the pub where Lily had taken a seat.
“Here you go,” he said handing her the dusty bottle of butterbeer as he sat down. “Doesn’t look like butterbeer is something that get drunk a lot in here, does it?” he added blowing of a bit of dust from his bottle.
“I would guess that the usual clientele in here would prefer stronger things than this,” Lily said looking around at the various shady characters in the room, most of them in far better disguises than Lily’s. Taking a quick glance at the glass that had been given her with the butterbeer she decided to drink directly from the bottle, taking Jordan’s lead and blowing off the dust first.
She groaned when she took a sip. “Seriously, I like butterbeer either hot or cold “ not somewhere in between!” Raising her wand and she gave the drink a cool spell. Jordan who hadn’t tasted the liquid yet, took her word for it and did the same to his.
Much to James’s and Lily’s delight and to their own apparent surprise, Jordan and Lily seemed to have a lot to talk about. At least they did once they’ve been sitting quietly for a while, Jordan staring at the bottle of butterbeer when he wasn’t sneaking looks at Lily from the corner of his eyes and Lily fiddling with the label on the bottle while shooting glances at Jordan when she thought he wasn’t looking. It wasn’t until Jordan decided to start making up weird stories about the people in the bar that the tension lifted. Soon they where both coming up with all sorts of creative reasons for them to be wearing the different form of disguises they were, and both James and Lily were having a great time listening to them.
One costumer, a skinny looking man, hiding his face behind a dark cloak that must have been charmed to let him look through it, they decided hid his face because it was too scarred from having a violent kitten named Snuggles. Another costumer, a plump short man with a huge belly, they decided hid his face because he was really Santa Claus, running away from his wife to be with his true love the Easter Bunny. By the time they’d gone through all the people in the room, their butterbeers where long gone and it was more than time for them to head back. Especially for Lily since she wasn’t supposed to be out at all.
Not that that seemed to bother her. She was still laughing when they left the pub, and she laughed harder still when they nearly bumped into a couple who looked anything but pleased to be bumped into.
“Well I guess we don’t have to make up reasons for them to be hiding here,” Jordan said with a grin when the couple disappeared into the pub clinging to one another, casually throwing his arm around Lily as he spoke.
“Just don’t go getting ideas like that in your head, Jordan,” Lily answered quickly, throwing his arm off and moving away. Sighing, Jordan watched her back as she started to walk towards the main street. Then with a few quick steps he was by her side again, smiling as usual, pretending that it never happened.
They had almost reached Honeyduke’s when they saw Snape coming down the street right in front of them. Thinking fast, Jordan grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her into a narrow alley just next to the store hiding them both from view. Unfortunately, Snape didn’t just pass them, but stopped mid-track when some students apparently did something in the store they weren’t allowed to. They could all hear Snape call out names and take off points as he headed into the store.
Trapped inside the alley, Jordan and Lily stayed put. Not so much else to do really with Snape blocking Lily’s only way back to Hogwarts. They didn’t say much, and James guessed that was because of fear of Snape hearing them “ he was after all only in the store next to them and there were no telling as to when he was coming outside again. Standing closer together than was really necessary Jordan looked down at Lily, her eyes turned to the street. When she noticed she blushed, then she moved away, trying to look casual as she leaned against the wall on the other side of the alley, as far away from Jordan as she could come. Turning his gaze down to his shoes, Jordan did nothing. And so they continued to wait.
A croak gave them a start, and as they turned around they saw the same raven that had been outside the Hog’s Head earlier. At least it looked like the same raven. But then they couldn’t really be sure. Lily, however, seemed sure. Smiling she looked at the bird as it descended closer to the ground. It stopped only a few feet away, and in spite of the risk Lily couldn’t help but to crouch, reach out her hand and call on it softly, trying to attract it. To her delight the bird didn’t seem to mind the slightest and moved steadily closer.
“Potter, this is hardly the right place, Snape is right around the corner, you need to be quiet!” Jordan whispered, pulling her to her feet and away from the raven, placing himself in between the bird and her. Once again, they stood a bit too close for it to seem completely casual.
“Oh come on Jordan it’s too cute not to call on. I bet I could get it to eat from my hand if I want to,” Lily whispered back.
“I don’t doubt that, but-” Lily made a surprised sound when Jordan suddenly pulled her further into the alley and up against the wall, making the raven start and jump back as Jordan nearly stepped on the poor bird.
“Merlin, that was your mum and brother!” he whispered, and for a moment James would have sworn his granddaughter looked disappointed.
Then she smiled. Not just her normal smile but huge grin spread on her face and before Jordan could even ask why, she had taken him by the hand and was running out into the crowded street, heading in the same direction as all the other students “ back towards Hogwarts.
“Potter, what are we doing?” he asked, his breath shallow and quick from their high pace.
“If mum and Christopher are out, that means the house is empty and we have a way back to Hogwarts,” Lily said with a smile, a bit breathlessly as they turned and headed towards her home.
They reached it a few minutes later and Lily was still smiling when she unlocked all the magical locks on the door, said the password for it to open and pulled Jordan inside.
“Wow, you have a whole lot of locks on that door!” Jordan said staring at it as Lily spent the next two minutes to lock it.
“Well dad gets bit paranoid at times,” Lily laughed. “I guess he has his reasons, but trust me, those locks are not the only thing protecting this house from unwanted visitors,” she added as she led him into the living room and walked over to the bookcase and opened it up.
“There is a passageway here?” Jordan asked, surprised.
“Of course there is,” Lily laughed. “Didn’t you know that already?” she asked with a laugh holding the bookcase up for him to enter. “Lumos!” she then said holding out her wand to let it light their way through the tunnel.
It took a while for them to get back, but at least it was faster than waiting outside a store with the risk of getting caught by Snape. Not to mention a lot safer. Just as they were about to get out, Jordan stopped her.
“Your hair!” he said. It took a few moments for Lily to realize what he meant, but when she did she took up the sweets and picked one with silver wrapping. It took only a few moments after she ate it for her hair to turn back to its normal colour.
“Better?” she asked. Jordan nodded.
Jordan’s surprises were not over. His reaction to finding himself standing beneath the Whomping Willow was simply hilarious, in James’s opinion, especially when he first realized it and jumped three feet in the air. Laughing Lily rolled her eyes at him and pulled him away from the tree.
“We’d better get back to the common room, although I think it’s a good idea for us to go separately,” Lily said when she finished laughing, starting to head back. She didn’t see Jordan chew on his lower lip, or the look of determination that came over his face when he reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaving and turning her around to face him. Before she could ask, or protest, he swooped down and kissed her.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Lily asked angrily when he let her go. Still, in spite of her words, James had noted that she hadn’t exactly pushed Jordan away when he was kissing her.
“I’m sorry Potter, but I’ve wanted to do that the whole day. No actually I take that back. I’ve wanted to do that since this summer. I’ve needed to do it since the Yule Ball,” he said, speaking a bit too fast.
“Needed to kiss me? Are you going insane?” Lily asked him, yet her face didn’t look quite as angry as James and Lily had seen it before, and she was closer to screaming than the low rumble that she used when she was really angry. Jordan seemed to have noticed the same things because while still nervous, he did seem a bit less afraid. At least she wasn’t hexing him yet.
“Maybe I am!” he answered. “Maybe it is crazy to get so hung up on someone that you can’t think of anything else, but I am, and I needed to kiss you and I’m sorry if you didn’t like it,” he said defensively.
“Jeff Jordan, the only reason you’re hung up on me is because I’m saying no!” Lily snapped. “You didn’t need to kiss me, that’s rubbish! You wanted to kiss me because I’m the only girl that ever said no! That’s probably also the only reason why you find me the least bit interesting!”
“How can you say that?” Jordan asked, agitated.
“How can I not? You use girls Jordan. You date them and discard them and the only reason you still is interested in me is because I still say no!” Jordan stared at her for a moment, unable to retort. Lily, probably taking his silence for her being right, turned around and started walking back to the castle. For a short while, James thought that would be it; Jordan would let her walk away and she would make sure not to be alone with him again. He was happy to see that Jordan did not let her get away that easy.
“I don’t use girls!” he said simply, his voice calm and collected, but also clearly hurt. Lily looked surprised when she turned around. “How many girls have I dated this year, Potter?” he asked looking at her.
“None, but that hardly makes up for the fact that you dated every good looking girl in school the years before,” Lily answered, still standing her ground. “You go after girls, convince them to go out with you, and once you win them over they stop being interesting. I am not going to be one of your discards, Jordan!” she said firmly.
“Is that what you think? That I wouldn’t be interested in you if you agreed to go out with me?” Jordan said sounding as if he just understood something very important. “Potter, I wouldn’t treat you that way. I don’t, in spite of what you think, treat other girls that way. And I don’t know how you could think that anyone would ever find you uninteresting,” he said, softly.
“You do treat girls like that! How many dates did you have with Daphne? Or with Marilyn? Or with Dana, Nike, Cora…with any other girl in the school?” Lily said annoyed, ignoring the comments Jordan made about her.
“I don’t use girls! So I dated a lot. What is wrong with trying to find someone to care about? And haven’t you ever been on a date and known from the start that it wouldn’t work out? And what makes you so convinced that I dumped them? Did it ever occur to you that some of them might have dumped me?” Jordan retorted.
“Heartbreaker Jordan having his heart broken?” Lily said in a mocking tone of voice. “No that did not occur to me, nor will it. And say what you want I will not let you break my heart!”
“I wouldn’t, you know,” Jordan said quietly. “There’s a bigger chance of you breaking mine. And I have been dumped. Plenty of times. But you’re right. I never cared enough to have my heart broken. And maybe I have dated too many girls, and maybe I did go after the wrong kind of girls, but at least now I know what not to go after anymore. I had a lot of horrible dates. And a lot of rather good ones. I only had two great ones, but then those weren’t really dates were they, Lil?” he said.
Maybe it was because he used the nickname that only her friends used for her, Lily could certainly understand the effects that might have on a girl. That was how James managed to persuade her to go on a date with him, after all. But then maybe it was what he was saying. Or that he was so obviously telling the truth. But what ever the reason was, Lily didn’t answer back. She didn’t try to argue or fight or walk away. But then she didn’t speak either. She just left the silence settle between them as she stood watching his feet rather than him, fidgeting with her hands.
“Look, you’re different than they are. They were just girls, you’re more than that. I still say that I never used a girl, I always wanted to feel something, I just never did. But then I never told a girl I felt something I didn’t feel either. And you can ask any of the girls I’ve been on dates with about that,” Jordan said after a while. “Lil, I’ve never felt like this about a girl,” he added sounding nervous, closing his eyes as he spoke just a tad too fast.
“I don’t want to be just another one of the girls you dated and broke up with,” Lily said quietly, still not looking up from his feet.
“Do you really think you could be one of anything? You’re not like anyone else. And you’re most certainly nothing like the girls I’ve dated,” Jordan said looking at her, taking a deep breath as he took a step closer to her. “Couldn’t you at least give me a chance to prove you wrong? Please Lil, just one chance,” he said taking her hands, stopping her from fidgeting with them and making her look up at him.
“I don’t know, Jordan,” she said hesitantly. “I don’t know.”
Smiling her grandmother grabbed a hold of James and pulled him away, back towards the castle.
“What are you doing, Evans?” he asked, annoyed. “Don’t you want to know if Jordan actually gets his chance?” Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.
“He’ll get his chance!” she said, smiling. “In case you didn’t notice she didn’t exactly pull away from him. Besides, we invaded enough of their privacy. They deserve to be alone to sort this out,” she said, smiling. Still a bit curious, but accepting Lily’s reasons, James didn’t argue any more. Leaving the teenagers behind they made their way up to Gryffindor tower, where Millie and Eddy were still too wrapped up in each other to notice the world around them. Which might have been why neither seemed to notice the smile on Lily’s face when she returned to the common room, or even asked where she’d been all day. On the contrary, they hardly seemed to notice that she walked in and when she greeted them they only looked up from their conversation long enough to say ‘hi’. James and Lily didn’t think their granddaughter seemed to mind though. She continued to smile as she opened the door to the stairs and headed up to her dorm, and she still smiled when she came down a bit later, ready to go to dinner.