The Curtain Call
Chapter Five: Somewhere
Why did I do that?
Lily pressed a hand to her forehead, wishing she could retrieve her letter from the owl. But by now, the owl was already several yards away, flying into the sun. Why didn’t I just tell Anna the truth “ James and I are friends, now. I mean “ we get along, at least. It’s not like we hate each other anymore. I think.
No, Lily reasoned with herself. All I’m doing is sparing Anna from the details. She probably wouldn’t even care whether or not James and I were getting along.
Lily nodded to herself. Really “ what’s the use in spending time, explaining this weird sort of friendship, when James and I won’t ever talk to each other again after this play?
Lily was becoming rather comfortable with the idea as she thought about it longer and longer; it seemed perfectly normal, now. When we get back to Hogwarts, I’m not going to need him to help me learn any part in a play. He’ll just ignore me when we no longer have anything in common. So why bother wasting my time explaining something that won’t have an effect on my future?
Right?
*
The following day, James arrived at Bennett Theater five minutes before they were about to start their daily practice. He shuffled painfully to the front of the auditorium and collapsed in one of the red, cushioned chairs in the first row, holding his stomach. It didn’t hurt when he was sitting, but when he moved, he hurt like hell.
It wasn’t long after James fell into one of the theater chairs that Lily peeked out from behind a red curtain and waved shyly at James. He quickly stood as Lily approached him, trying to appear as if he had only had a paper cut. James waved back with a strained smile and an inaudible groan.
“How are you doing?” Lily asked in a worried voice, jumping down from the stage.
“Oh, you know,” James shrugged, swaying back and forth in his spot. He crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to look relaxed, but instead accidentally pressed down on the bandage covering his wound and grimaced.
“Sit,” Lily instructed him. She sat in the chair beside him, concerned for his health. “Are you really doing alright? Why didn’t you stay home?”
“Are you kidding?” James raised an eyebrow as if she had said the craziest thing. He scoffed and looked away from Lily’s worried eyes, toward the stage. “And miss play practice?”
Lily slowly leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. James heard the movement in Lily’s chair and turned to look at her with suspicion. She was chewing on her bottom lip, looking as if she was trying very hard to hold something back.
“What?” James finally asked.
“You have nothing to do here!” Lily held up her hand and began to list things off in a very loud voice. “You can’t work on the set at all “ you’d only injure yourself worse than before. You can’t even yell at me for swinging the sword the wrong way, because you can’t demonstrate how to do it correctly. And you can’t teach anyone how to waltz!”
James closed his eyes and groaned, letting his head roll backwards. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily as if he had lost a great amount of sleep the night before. “Shit “ I forgot about that. Where’s your dad “ I need to talk to “ ”
“I already did,” Lily told him in a softer, much calmer voice. “I told him that you wouldn’t be able to teach the cast the final dance for at least another week.” Lily narrowed her eyes. “Possibly two weeks if you keep leaving the house!” Lily scolded him.
“I’m not going home,” James protested, ignoring Lily’s guidance. “Besides,” he said, “it’s just a small scratch “ I’ve had plenty worse. I usually bounce back from these sorts of injuries pretty quick.” He lowered his voice, just loud enough for Lily to hear, but kept his gaze straight ahead on the stage. “Just in time for Friday, too.”
Lily frowned at James who was smiling smugly. She searched her mind for an explanation. Friday? she thought. What’s happening on Friday?
Unable to come up with her own response, Lily finally turned to James. “What’s on Friday?”
“I, James Potter,” James said much more enthusiastically than his limp suggested he would have been feeling, “am taking you, Lily Evans “ ” James frowned as he searched for the right word “ “ somewhere.”
Lily laughed at his response. “Somewhere,” she repeated, arching an eyebrow. “It’s a surprise?”
“Bingo!” James grinned, shooting a finger into the air. “Just stay late on Friday “ you’ll see,” he smirked as Lily crossed her arms over her chest when James wouldn’t tell her where they were going.
“Fine,” Lily agreed. “I’ll go to “ somewhere on Friday, as long as you promise me one thing.”
“And what’s that?” James asked, watching the cast walk onto the stage and wait for Mr. Evans to start the rehearsal.
“You have to go home and get some rest.”
James took in a deep breath and scratched the back of his head. He started to wonder if Lily would still accompany him even if he chose not to hold up his end of the bargain. Just as he was about to respond, Mr. Evans walked up to the pair.
“James!” he said with a frown. “I heard about your accident “ are you feeling alright? Anything I can get for you? Lily “ what are you doing down here? I hope she didn’t bother you, James.” Mr. Evans nearly shoved Lily away from James, as if she would injure him further if she spoke to him any longer. “Get up onstage with the others, we’re about to start!”
With an innocent little shrug, James waved good-bye to Lily without leaving his chair or the play practice. Lily smiled as she walked away and childishly stuck out her tongue at James.
James did the same.
“So that’s your secret.”
James nearly jumped a foot into the air, startled by the loud voice in his ear. Landing sideways in his seat, he groaned as he felt his stomach start to throb painfully. He slowly twisted his head to the side and glared at the voice coming from the row behind him.
“Jimmy,” James growled. He tried to stand to chase the boy, but was, yet again, stopped by the blinding pain.
“What did you do at that meeting of yours last night?” Jimmy raised a very curious eyebrow, noticing the pained look on James’ face.
James glanced back at the stage where Mr. Evans had told the cast to start the play from the very beginning, asking for quiet offstage. He made a motion, holding his finger to his lips, to signal for Jimmy to keep his voice down.
“Nothing happened,” James quickly told the boy before he could make any false accusations. “I just dropped that stupid tree when I was trying to haul it onstage yesterday.”
“Oh,” Jimmy nodded. He put both of his hands on the back of the seat next to James. Jimmy jumped gracefully over the chair and landed neatly on top of the red cushion with a smile, proud of his stunt. “Lily didn’t try to help you carry it out before your meeting with her?”
“No, she did, I just - ”
James froze. He felt a smile reach his lips. He looked over at Jimmy. “How did you know I was meeting Lily?”
Jimmy grinned as James’ words confirmed his suspicions. “James,” he said in a mature attitude, “one does not need to assist with the play for long to catch small details.”
James raised an eyebrow, amused. “You were spying, weren’t you?”
“Only long enough to see who showed up, I swear!” Jimmy hastily tried to defend his actions.
James laughed at the boy’s nervous expression. For a moment, he had seen a flicker of Sirius’ mischievous look pass through Jimmy’s stormy eyes.
“Doesn’t matter,” James shrugged, patting the boy on the back. “I told Lily that I would help her with her lines, and we were supposed to run them last night.”
Jimmy nodded, staring up at the stage. Several of the actors swiftly moved around it, waving their arms in big gestures. “That was noble of you,” Jimmy said, attempting to act proper. He leaned over and said in a softer voice, “You know, to step up to the plate when she couldn’t find anyone else to help her.”
James frowned. “Actually,” he muttered, “I was the one who offered to help.”
“You offered?” Jimmy’s ears had perked up, highly interested. “Lily “ she didn’t ask for help. You offered.”
“Uh “ yeah, that’s about right,” James agreed.
“But I thought that everyone “ hated her,” Jimmy stuttered, thoroughly confused. He looked up at Lily performing her lines and then back at James’ unreadable face. “Even you!”
“I don’t know about everyone,” James sighed, “but I don’t. She’s nice when you get to know her, I guess.”
“But her dad just let her have the lead role!” Jimmy nearly shouted. “Why wouldn’t you be upset about that?”
James wasted no time cutting Jimmy off with a furious glare. He turned to face the curly-haired kid in his seat, ignoring the thudding pain pulsing throughout his entire body.
“Lily’s a good actress,” James told the boy firmly, eyes flashing. “Just because everyone refuses to see her talent because she is the director’s daughter doesn’t give them any reason to hate her.”
Jimmy leaned as far in the opposite direction of James’ piercing eyes as he could, very frightened. He had never gotten into an argument with James, nor had he ever seen James act the way that he did. “Whoa “ I’m sorry,” Jimmy whispered, sorry to have ever gotten on James’ bad side. “I didn’t realize that what I said would “ I only heard what people were - ”
“Well, don’t believe it,” James said as if in a final decision.
“Alright,” Jimmy immediately agreed, wishing he had never brought up the conversation in the first place.
The pair sat in silence through a full scene before Jimmy spoke again.
“I didn’t realize how much it upset you,” he said softly. “Honestly,” he spoke more confidently this time, “I didn’t think that you liked her.”
James leaned back in his chair and took in a deep breath. He let it slowly leave his body, unsure how to answer this question. “I didn’t “ at one point,” James informed his friend. “Lily and I “ we go to the same school.” He noticed Jimmy’s mouth open to ask a question, but James quickly cut him off, knowing where the boy’s mind was leading him. “It’s a boarding school, several miles away “ you’ve never heard of it.”
Jimmy accepted the answer without any debate.
“We started off on the wrong foot in our first year together,” James explained in a calm, much more relaxed tone, which Jimmy was grateful to hear. “But now,” he simply summed up the past week, “we’re on good terms with each other.”
“Oh.” Jimmy tried to figure out what had caused the change in their relationship, but could think of nothing. Unless…
“Oh,” Jimmy repeated himself, smirking. “I get it.”
“You get “ what?” James asked, confused. “I didn’t realize there was anything to get.”
“Fine,” Jimmy muttered. He crossed his arms and kicked one leg up onto his knee. “Keep your little secret, if it makes you feel happy.”
Any sign of amusement had disappeared entirely from James’ face. He was starting to get upset with all of the guessing games. “Secret?” he echoed, frustrated.
“You know,” Jimmy tilted his head to the side to look at James. “You,” he said, raising his eyebrows suggestively, “and Lily.” He turned back to the actors onstage, smiling smugly. “No need to say it aloud, James,” Jimmy informed him, as if assuring him everything was alright. “I know.”
James started to understand what Jimmy was finally thinking and rolled his eyes, fighting back the urge to laugh. He pulled back an arm and slugged his short friend in the shoulder, now grinning at the hilarity of the situation. “Don’t you have a set you have to be working on?” James asked him. “Considering I’m injured, you should be working twice as hard to make up for my absence.”
Jimmy stood up from the comfortable, red chair with a cool smile. “Alright, I understand,” Jimmy played around, acting as if he had been deeply hurt when James changed the subject. “You don’t want to admit your feelings in the open, yet. I completely understand. That is a big step,” Jimmy nodded solemnly. His dancing eyes quickly gave away his hidden laughter.
“Oh, shut up,” James muttered. “Just finish that bloody tree…”
Jimmy laughed and strolled away.
*
Lily picked up her green bag and rifled through the contents, double checking that she had packed away all of her belongings. Once she was satisfied that everything was in its place, Lily left the room backstage to find James with her script in her hand.
Most of the theater had cleared out. Her dad hung behind for several minutes, but Lily informed him that she would return home later.
“Ah, getting in some more hours,” Mr. Evans commented, smiling proudly at his daughter. “I’m glad you want to work harder.”
“Yep,” Lily agreed with a small smile as her father wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. With a kiss on her forehead, he departed from the theater.
“You’re staying late?”
Lily did not need to turn around to know who had just spoken to her.
“What is it, Jess?” Lily sighed. She didn’t want to argue with anyone right now. Already, she was nervous about spending time with James after the rehearsal “ she didn’t need to worry even more!
“I just overheard you telling your father that you would be working on your lines,” Jess smirked over at her friend, Rosie. “How cute,” she taunted Lily while giggling all the while. “You’re honestly trying to look good for our final performance to make people think you can actually act.”
Lily felt her face go up in flames. She could have sworn she had felt the smoke of a pepper-up potion coming out of her ears.
“I’m a good actress,” Lily tried arguing back. “You’re just jealous.”
Jess raised both of her eyebrows with an amused smile. “Jealous?” she repeated, looking as if she were forcing herself not to laugh at this horrible comeback. “Of you?” This time, Jess did not hold back her laugh. Throwing her head back, she and Rosie cackled the entire way out of the theater.
“Don’t let them get to you.”
Lily spun, frowning as James hobbled onto the stage.
“Easy for you to say,” Lily muttered, “when she’s not attacking you.” Lily scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She started to sense an old feeling of annoyance towards James beginning to bubble up inside of her, as if this situation was his fault somehow. “Jess thinks you’re a god.”
James rolled his eyes, finally reaching Lily in the middle of the stage. “She doesn’t matter,” James told her. “At least “ right now, she doesn’t.”
Lily reluctantly nodded, staring down at the script in her hand. “Yeah “ alright,” she shrugged.
Just as Lily started thumbing through the book to find a spot to start, James pulled the script from her hands and threw it offstage, allowing it to land somewhere in the darkness with a loud thud.
“What was that for?” Lily gasped. “That book you most likely just ruined has all of my stage directions!” Lily made a loud noise of irritation when James shrugged innocently, and started marching off the stage with several loud stomps.
I knew this was a bad idea, Lily scolded herself for ever thinking these rehearsals could have worked. I should never have gone along with this idea in the first place…
Before Lily even had a chance to leave the stage, James had reached out and snatched her wrist with one of his arms, holding her back.
“You don’t need the script, Lily,” James told her calmly, looking directly into her eyes. He needed to gain her trust again. “You already know it.”
“I don’t,” Lily countered stubbornly. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be helping me right now, would you?”
James ignored her negative tone; he simply moved to his character’s starting spot with a straight face. “Just start from the beginning.”
Lily sighed audibly. She stomped childishly across the stage and started to recite her lines.
“Lily “ stop.”
James had interrupted her less than a minute after she had started.
“Did I do something wrong already?” Lily complained with a hand on her waist. The more she dwelled on the thought of future rehearsals with James like this one, the more she hated the idea of them.
“Lily “ just stop!”
James was no longer in his starting spot. He was now standing directly in front of her with a look of both anger and sadness.
Lily’s hardened image faded away and James spoke up.
“I don’t know what’s really bothering you,” he said in a whisper, “but you’ve got to put it aside, Lily.” James shrugged. “Your attitude right now is what you want it to be and I can’t change what you’re feeling. There is absolutely nothing I can do for you if you’re going to act like this.”
James shook his head, disappointed. “I want to help you “ I really do,” he told her, positioning his hand over his stomach as he backed away, “but if you don’t want me to, then I don’t have to; it’s up to you.”
Lily frowned, now feeling embarrassed by her previous actions. He’s trying to help me, and I thank him by acting childish about the whole thing?
“I want you to help,” Lily mumbled, quickly avoiding James’ gaze; she looked anywhere but into his intimidating eyes. “I’m sorry “ can we start again?”
James’ expression relaxed. He smiled and nodded.
*
“I thought I told you not to work on the set this week.”
James looked up from his kneeling position on the ground and raised both eyebrows. “Lily,” he sighed exasperatedly, “I’m painting. Not picking up a bloody tree.”
Lily smiled and sat beside James on the floor covered in sawdust.
For several minutes, James did nothing but brush paint back and forth across the wooden prop. Eventually, he noticed that Lily was not helping, nor was she speaking.
He stopped his movement and slowly pulled his gaze up and was surprised to find that she had been staring intently at him the whole time. Once their eyes locked, Lily spoke in an anxious sounding voice.
“So?”
James dipped his brush into the paint can again. “So… what?”
Lily held her hands up in the air, looking as if she had made her intentions entirely clear. “Are we going or not?”
James did not answer. He tilted his head to face Lily.
“You said,” Lily protested immediately, wondering if she had made up their previous conversation, “that you were going to take me somewhere today after play practice.”
Slowly, James cleaned off his paint brush and checked his watch with a straight face. The time read three o’clock. “So it would seem,” he muttered, squinting at his watch with an intent look. “So it would seem…”
Lily finally stood. She crossed her arms and shifted all of her weight onto one leg so that her hip jutted out to the side. She didn’t look happy. “You promised we would go somewhere on Friday “ that’s today!” Lily shouted exasperated. “I didn’t make this up, did I?”
James stood beside her and quickly wiped his hands off on his pants. And with a simple shrug, James muttered, “Alright,” and smiled.
“Alright?” Lily looked confused as James started to walk away without her. She bit her lip and started to scratch her head. “Wait a minute.” She held a hand in the air to stop him. “Why the sudden change?”
“I was just checking that you actually wanted to go,” James explained as if it were completely normal. After pushing several props to the side and closing a tool box, James turned around to face Lily. “You don’t even know where we’re going,” he said with a smile growing on his lips, “but I needed to know that you want to go before we actually leave, or you won’t appreciate it.”
“Well, course I want to go “ but what does that have to do with “ ”
“All I’m saying is “ you can’t shun an idea before you get the chance to experience it.” James leaned forward, smirking. “You need to be willing to experience it on your own terms.”
Lily nodded.
“Jimmy!” James shouted toward the other end of the room. The small boy quickly put down the tools that he was working with and appeared instantly at James’ side.
“What is it?” Jimmy asked in his Irish accent. He glanced towards Lily, rapidly eyeing the silent girl, but returned immediately to James’ gaze and noticed, with a great deal of surprise, that James had packed his things away. “Are you leaving?”
“Lily and I are taking off early,” he informed the boy. And with a quick look at Lily, he remembered what he had not done. “Oh “ Lily, this is Jimmy Dunne.” As Jimmy bowed his head towards Lily in a sign of greeting, James slung an arm around the boy’s shoulder with a lazy smile. “Jim, here, is one of our new set designers this year.”
“Jimmy, not Jim,” the dark-haired boy hissed. Lily couldn’t hide her amused expression when the small, thin boy balled his hand into a fist and hit James square in the chest, but not nearly hard enough to create bruises of any sort.
“Hello, Jimmy,” Lily responded politely between soft giggles. She instantly grew fond of the boy that looked the mirror image of James himself. “Have you liked working on the set so far this summer?”
“Have I liked it?” Jimmy asked much louder than either of them had been expecting. His eyes darted back and forth between James and Lily as if this were a joke. Realizing that it wasn’t, he stammered, “I “ I love it! What’s not to like?”
Lily grinned. She looked at James’ proud face, allowing her gaze to linger just a bit longer than normal, and then returned to her conversation with Jimmy. “I take it you’re going to be the next head set designer someday?”
“Course,” Jimmy answered simply, looking as if he would accept the position the following year if Mr. Evans offered it to him.
“Wait until I leave, would you?” James thudded his friend on the back with a half smile. He then stepped away, gingerly touching Lily’s arm to point her in the direction of the doors. “Remember to lock up when you’re finished, alright, Jimmy?”
Jimmy assured James several times that he had things under control before very nearly shoving James out of the door and locking it behind them.
It wasn’t long after the pair had been kicked out of the back room until Lily eagerly returned to their previous conversation.
“Why won’t you just tell me where we’re going before we leave?”
James sighed, tempted to ask if Lily ever gave up, but already knew the answer to that question. “Two reasons,” he explained, ready with an answer. “First, you might back out if you knew where we were going.”
This reason itself made Lily doubt where it was James was planning on taking her.
They now walked through the aisles of the theater and toward the doors that led to the street. “And second,” he smiled, holding the door open for Lily, “it completely ruins the element of surprise.”
Lily rolled her eyes at James and stepped outside; they might not have been arguing any longer, but James still acted like he was in control every step of the way.
Lily stepped into the humid, summer heat, immediately blinded by the powerful rays of the sun. She held a hand over her eyes to shade herself. James followed behind her and stood on the sidewalk, basking in the sun for a moment before gesturing for Lily to follow him down the block.
“Why would I back out?” Lily asked, walking faster to catch up with James. “Are you worried that I won’t enjoy it? Or you know I won’t like it “ and you want me to go anyway!” Lily’s face gave off the impression that she had just solved the biggest problem in the world. “That’s why you’re keeping this whole thing a secret “ isn’t it?”
He only shrugged. “I guess I don’t want to take a chance with your stubborn attitude.”
Lily stopped walking, slightly offended by this comment. But when James did not stop for her, and Lily started to realize that, maybe, he had a good point, she silently continued to follow him.
The pair walked in silence for several minutes until they reached a street that was filled with people. The stores lining the street were practically built right on top of the other, standing side by side. Occasionally an alleyway would be placed between shops, but they were hard to find.
“You’re taking me to a store?” Lily asked him curiously. She frantically searched through her green bag. “James, I didn’t bring any money!”
James smiled and shook his head. “I’m not taking you to a store,” he replied. “But either way “ I’m buying.”
Lily’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t think so,” she quickly interjected, digging at the bottom of her bag. She pulled up a Sickle and two Knuts. “We’re splitting, half and half.”
James pulled out his Muggle money and energetically shook it around in front of Lily with a grin. “Unfortunately, you don’t have any money today.”
Instead of protesting like she normally would have, Lily froze when she saw James waving around the Muggle money. “We’re not going to a wizard shop?”
Again, James shook his head with a smile. As an old, beat up building on the far end of the street came into view, James revealed their destination. “We are going to one of my favorite museums, Lily.”
Lily nodded slowly as their destination was finally revealed, wondering why he would take her to a museum of all places.
“Other summers after I finished working on the set early,” James said, “I would always come to these stores to look at what they had. Obviously,” he added as a side note, “since I didn’t live in a Muggle neighborhood until I started going to Hogwarts.” At the sign of Lily’s nod, James continued with his story. “I found a museum on one of those visits, and since then, I’ve come back at least two or three times every summer.”
So he chose to learn about something without the teachers shoving it down his throat. Lily smiled in appreciation. I’m impressed.
James shot a nervous glance at Lily’s smile and his expression, previously alight with excitement, started to fade. “Go ahead, laugh it up,” he muttered in a defeated tone.
“No “ I’m not laughing,” Lily said in all seriousness. “I think it’s “ nice that you like to learn stuff on your own.” She had been seconds from saying cute. He would have never let her live that one down.
“Well, then,” he said, another smile quickly reappearing on his lips, “I hope you like the museum as much as I do…”
James stopped in a shady area beneath a tree and gestured at the building in front of them. He gave Lily a chance to take in its appearance. It certainly didn’t stand out from any of the other shops around it. And it didn’t even look inviting from a customer’s perspective.
Lily shrugged at the broken-down wreck of a building and followed James into the museum.
“Medieval history,” James beamed at Lily. His eyes glowed with excitement in the dimly lit room.
Lily frowned slightly, hiding her doubtful thoughts from James. She noticed a hallway shaped like a tunnel in the back of the room. It had two, fake torches “ clearly lit by flashlights “ at the entrance to the tunnel. Maybe if James likes it, Lily began to move towards the tunnel in the wall, I might like it, too…
“Ay!”
Lily spun when she heard a voice from behind her. A small man crawled onto a stepstool behind the counter with a frown. He held a hand to his black mustache and frowned grumpily. “You can’t just go wandering in there “ you need to pay first!”
“Oh,” Lily panicked, feeling her throat go dry. “I didn’t mean to “ I was only - ”
James hurriedly came up behind Lily, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Bernie!” he said joyfully. “How are you?”
The short man was taken aback by the response. Seconds later, however, he recognized James’ trademark smile and messy hair and beamed. “James Potter!” he laughed. He stepped down from his stool and moved hastily around the counter to give James a proper greeting, as if he were an old friend.
Lily was surprised as the man “ Bernie, she had learned “ ran up to James and hugged him, barely reaching James’ shoulders.
“What have you been up to?” Bernie asked conversationally, crossing his arms over his large stomach with a grin.
“The usual,” James said. “School “ and the play, of course.”
“I was worried for awhile when I didn’t see you earlier this summer,” Bernie said. He now moved his hands to his waist and turned to Lily with a crooked smile. “And I see you’ve brought a friend with you, eh?” he laughed in a high-pitched cackle and nudged James in the stomach.
James smiled with a shake of his head at Lily and introduced her to Bernie. “This is Lily “ she’s the lead in the play.”
Bernie stepped forward and shook her hand. The man did not stay there for long; he immediately pulled his hand away from Lily’s and turned back to James. “So, what’s the play?” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Is it worth the money?”
Lily was surprised that this man would say that in front of Lily “ an actress in the play! Of course! Lily imagined herself saying back to the short man. All of my father’s plays are worth the money!
“Every cent,” James answered back, sounding one-hundred percent true to his word. “It focuses on a princess and a thief during the middle ages,” he answered, playing on Bernie’s passion of history. “And I planned a sword fight at the end, too,” James told him excitedly.
“No kidding,” Bernie grunted with a hint of a smile. Lily could tell that this man was already persuaded into attending the play, but trying very hard not to show his enthusiasm in front of the teenagers. “Sword fight? And, I’m assuming,” he pointed at Lily, “that you’ll be playing the lovely princess?”
“Uh “ yeah, that’s me,” Lily responded with a blush.
“Then I’ll do what I can to be there,” Bernie grinned. “Just drop by with the times of the play sometime later this month, alright?”
“Will do,” James smiled. He then handed Bernie the money he had shown Lily earlier. “We’re going to walk through for a while,” James pointed to the tunnel in the wall behind Bernie.
“Ah, your money’s no good here, James, you know that.” Bernie shook his head at the cash and refused to accept it.
James shrugged as if it were Bernie’s loss. He then stepped up to the counter that Bernie was, once again, standing behind, and leaned on it. “You still close at five?”
“Same time as always,” Bernie nodded, glancing at the sign in his window. However, once Bernie’s head turned, James casually dropped his money onto the counter just beside the cash register: a spot that the money may not be seen upon first glance, but was easily found during further investigation.
“Great, thanks!” James smiled contentedly. He quickly took Lily’s hand and pulled her hurriedly through the tunnel and into a large room that broke off into a jumble of small paths, each leading to a different exhibit.
Once they were out of earshot, James gave a small sigh of relief and released Lily’s hand. With the same hand, he ran his fingers nervously through his hair.
Lily turned to James with a smile. Just to be safe, however, she whispered, “I saw that.”
James didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. He just smiled. “The museum isn’t exactly a popular place,” he shrugged. “I usually come by and try to pay him every time, but he never takes the money. So, I just leave it somewhere, making him think that he dropped it accidentally and forgot to put it away.”
Lily smiled. She had never seen this side of James, and realized that she liked it much more than the James she knew at school. “That was nice,” she simply stated.
James stumbled over his words, trying to think of the best response. But when none came, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Hey, look “ there’s the start of the tour.”
Lily smirked.
James pulled Lily into a deserted room and started to talk about every object he saw, including pictures of houses all the way to outfits of the Middle Ages. Occasionally, Lily found herself asking James questions about certain items as if he were a tour guide at the museum. And at more than one point during her visit to the museum, Lily began to wonder if she could learn more from James than she ever would from Professor Binns.
She was completely immersed in everything that James was showing her. He had asked her a few times whether she was bored and wanted to leave, but Lily always responded truthfully, telling James she wanted to see more in the building.
But nearly two hours later, Lily was, much to James’ surprise, rather disappointed because she knew they would run out of exhibits to see. He had just led her down one of the furthermost paths: the last exhibit.
Upon entering the circular room, Lily gasped without realizing it. She was standing inside a dimly lit room with nothing but spotlights on the objects covering the walls.
“This,” James started, gesturing around at his surroundings, “would be the weapons room.”
Lily stumbled blindly forward, taking in every type of sword and armor that covered the walls. She noticed small plaques beneath each item, describing their history, but Lily knew that she would get far more information from James.
James pointed to a large sword hanging on the wall, beckoning Lily to walk over and join him. “This is where I got my inspiration for the props in the play.”
Lily shook her head at the sword incredulously. “Oh my “ James, that’s the sword you built! It’s an exact replica!”
James grinned proudly and reached out to touch it. Lily quickly put a hand to his wrist to stop him, horrified. “Wait - you may have been here twenty times,” she said in an urgent whisper, “but the sign still says ‘Don’t Touch’.”
With a sigh, James turned to face Lily. His eyes glinted mischievously. “We’re magical,” he whispered. “If anything happens to the sword, we could easily repair it in a split second “ you seem to forget that detail. Besides,” he added, “I do this all of the time.”
“Excuse me,” Lily mumbled with a hint of a smile, wishing no one in the other rooms could hear them, “but I was brought up to follow the rules.”
James turned to Lily and held out his hand. He took hers and shook it like he was introducing himself for the first time. “Hello, Miss Rules, we must not have met. I’m James “ the Marauder.”
Lily rolled her eyes, almost embarrassed that she had actually forgotten “ temporarily “ that James was a Marauder; after spending the past week with a completely different James, Lily was slowly beginning to forget what the James at Hogwarts would normally act like.
And she almost wished he wouldn’t change back.
Lily looked to her left and right to make sure she saw no one before allowing James to touch the sword.
“Alright, fine,” Lily said in a hiss, “but make it quick.”
James had already reached up and pulled the sword off of the wall and held it in his hands wistfully. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” James asked her, entranced by the sword. He slowly ran a finger down the blade of the sword.
“James “ just put it back before someone walks past!”
“Not until you hold it,” James said to her, holding the hilt of the sword out towards Lily.
Lily quickly shook her head, ignoring the red curls that hit the side of her face. “It’s one thing for you to get in trouble “ I don’t want to be caught with it in my hands!”
“I’m not putting it back,” James simply replied, leaning casually against a railing, “until you hold it.”
Lily looked over her shoulder multiple times before finally saying, “Alright, hand it over.”
“Don’t drop it,” James warned her.
“I’m not going to “ ” Lily stopped what she had been saying mid-sentence as she held the sword in her hands. For a moment, she had the horrible feeling that she was actually about to drop it, but quickly caught it, impressed by its weight.
“Thirty-five pounds,” James informed her, walking to Lily’s side. “It’s a pipe back blade. Nearly five feet long.” James shook his head with a smile as if recalling past memories of the sword. “These swords could go straight through armor.”
“Wow.” Lily realized that she was no longer just holding the sword. Her mind was instantly transported back through hundreds of years. She began moving around with the sword, carefully slicing the air. Just as she started to get used to it, James smirked.
“What is it?” Lily asked with a frown, cradling the sword once again. She started to blush.
“That,” James pointed toward Lily and the sword, “is what you should think of every time you pick up your prop at Bennett Theater.”
The reason James brought her here finally dawned on her. “You just wanted me to hold this sword,” she said with a smile, “didn’t you?”
“One of the reasons,” he shrugged.
“What other reason was there?” Lily asked curiously. She reluctantly gave up the sword when James started prying it from her fingers.
“Mostly,” James answered, hanging the sword back up on the wall in the exact spot he had found it, “I thought you would enjoy coming here much more than Sirius would have,” he smirked. “I just wanted company.”
Lily felt her face heat up and immediately blamed it on the summer weather. “Well, I’m glad you brought me. I had fun.”
“Hey,” James cut in with a raised eyebrow, “who said we were done?” He tugged her deeper into the room, showing her another display. “I wanted to show you one last thing.”
He pointed to another sword. “This,” he smiled, staring at it affectionately, “is a Claymore sword.”
Lily nodded, listening to every word James had to say.
“It’s four and a half feet in length from the hilt to the point.” He pointed to the handle. “The grip is a spiral handle, made entirely of redwood.” James slowly lifted the thin sword off of the wall and held it out, flat in his hand, for Lily to see. He pointed to the bar separating the handle from the blade. “And this, right here, is solid gold.”
Lily nodded and leaned closer to the sword. She noticed many small carvings on the blade of the sword. “It’s “ beautiful,” she whispered.
“It’s my favorite thing here,” James explained with a smile. “The first time I visited, I didn’t really think the museum was all that spectacular “ until I saw this sword.” James bowed his head. “I just wish,” he continued, turning the sword in his hand as he tried to take in as many details as he could, “that I could have seen this sword in action back in its day.” He smiled. “And “ I think that’s what made me actually curious about the Middle Ages. Something about it made me just “ stop and think. And, as a kid,” he looked up at Lily, “I really just needed to slow down for a minute.” James swallowed, frowning a bit. He was having trouble finding the right words. “You know?”
Lily was in awe. She had never, in a thousand years, thought James would have a passion for anything other than Quidditch! Sure, he loved working on the set at Bennett Theater, but this was something more than that. She was finally seeing a new side to the famous James Potter, and she didn’t mind. Not one bit…
Lily was about to respond to his comment when she heard voices behind them.
“Quick “ put it back!”
James hurriedly replaced the sword in its original location, but not without accidentally knocking it into the armor beside it with a loud clang.
Both knew that the sword and the armor would not be damaged by such a small hit, but they also knew that the noise it made was loud enough for people to try and find out what had caused it.
“Come on “ out the back,” James said in a hurried whisper. He grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her further into the room until they reached a door that Lily had not seen before. A large sign above the door cheerily read, “Come Back Soon!”
“Hey “ get back here!” An employee at the museum had appeared in the room and was starting to chase them towards the exit.
Without a look back, James pushed Lily through the exit and they fell into a small alley leading to the street. Lily had already started to sprint towards the street, but stopped short at the touch of something on her wrist. She spun just in time to find James, slamming the door closed. In a matter of seconds, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, pressing her up against his chest.
Lily closed her eyes as hard as she could. For a split second, she was very confused, trying to figure out why James wouldn’t let her run away from the museum “ didn’t he know they would get in trouble if they were caught?
Before she had time to panic, however, Lily opened her eyes to find that she and James were perfectly safe in another location. Lily slowly looked around and saw that she was still surrounded by stores “ but there were no Muggles around any longer. She also noticed, rather quickly, that her hand had fallen onto James’ shoulder and her fingernails were digging into his skin.
“Uh “ Lily?” James cringed. “That’s my bad arm.”
“Oh “ right,” Lily muttered as she remembered the wound reaching from his shoulder to his waist. She immediately drew back her hand from his shoulder and moved more than a comfortable distance away, causing James’ hand around her waist to drop off.
Lily glanced around at her surroundings once more, getting a better look. “So “ why did you apparate into Diagon Alley?”
James wrung his hands together, almost like he had been caught red-handed. “I, uh “ I forgot to ask you earlier,” he stammered. Finally, James confessed. “Sirius asked me this week if I would be able to meet up with him sometime today,” James said quickly. “And I said yes.” James quickly continued before Lily could say anything. “But he’s really not that bad once you get to know him “ and he can act normal most of the time, too!”
Lily laughed.
“Really, he won’t bite “ er “ not usually, at least,” he said with a smile. “But would it be alright if we were able to just… I don’t know, sit and talk with him for awhile?” James shrugged. “I mean “ you can apparate home if you want to, I guess… but I’m sure Sirius would love the extra company.”
“I don’t mind staying,” Lily smiled, almost looking forward to their meeting. “But why are you so worried that I would say no?”
“Well,” James anxiously ran a hand through his hair, “I just assumed that you hated him as much as you hated me.”
Lily was taken aback by these words. She almost found herself cringing as he said it, because it had been true only a week ago. Unsure of how to respond, Lily finally muttered, “Don’t worry “ it’ll be fun,” in a soft voice.
“Great,” James beamed. He started walking down the road towards Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream shop.
“So,” Lily tried to ease the tension in the air that had not been there five minutes earlier, “why is this the only time you can see Sirius?”
James scratched his head and shrugged. “You know, I’m not really sure. Something about his uncle is all he told me.”
Lily nodded, accepting the answer. However, before she could continue the conversation, she spotted Sirius lounging in a chair just outside of Florean Fortescue’s, grinning at the pair.
“Hey, Prongs!” Sirius shouted, standing up. “Lily!” He ran over and threw an arm around Lily and James, embracing both of them in a great bear hug. “What have you two been up to? This play of yours is running smoothly, I assume. And did you end up going to that museum you talked about in your last letter?”
“Whoa, mate,” James laughed, “slow it down. Let’s try one question at a time, shall we?”
The group of three ordered their ice cream “ James paid for Lily’s bill despite her protests that she had enough to pay for half of her order “ and sat at the table Sirius had reserved earlier.
“So?” Sirius asked. “How was the museum?”
“Same as every other time,” James answered with a smile.
“Ah…” Sirius nodded solemnly, holding a spoon filled with ice cream to his lips as if he were deeply intrigued by James’ comment. “Boring?”
James laughed and playfully slugged his friend on the shoulder. Sirius returned the gesture and James cringed.
“Oh, please,” Sirius rolled his eyes. “I didn’t even hit you that hard.”
“No “ it’s not you,” James said. He shot a glance at Lily and then back at Sirius. “You see, the other day I ran into a, uh “ a dragon.” James shook his head as if remembering the accident. “Just barely got away, I tell you. But I got this scar right here,” James drew a line across his chest. “It’s been weeks since I’ve even been able to walk.”
Sirius stopped moving with a scoop of ice cream half way to his mouth and raised an eyebrow. Finally, he put the bite into his mouth and dropped the spoon into the empty bowl. He swallowed. “James, if you really want to try telling some sort of a heroic story, you might want to try it on your fan club rather than on your own best friend.”
Lily started to laugh at Sirius’ words. She had known all along that James’ stories about his scar would never hold up. “He slipped and fell,” Lily explained, telling Sirius what had really happened. “He dropped a large set piece. Last Monday.”
“Ah, now that story makes a lot more sense “ thank you, Lily.”
James smiled as they started to tease him about his knack for getting into accidents. It wasn’t until they started calculating how many times he had been sent to the Hospital Wing during his years at Hogwarts that James finally spoke up and changed the topic of conversation.
“Lily was wondering,” he started, “what exactly are you doing with your uncle, Sirius?”
At first, Lily started to blush, embarrassed that James had brought up her question to Sirius; what if it was a touchy subject for him? She didn’t want to get blamed for upsetting Sirius “ it wasn’t her idea to ask Sirius about his personal life!
But her thoughts calmed themselves once she noticed Sirius didn’t look in the least bit troubled by this question.
Sirius sat up in his chair with a discreet nod of his head. “Well,” he looked at Lily, “it all started back when I was a wee lad, barely a day “ ”
“Can we get the abbreviated version?” James smirked.
Sirius made a show of rolling his eyes at James. “Fine,” he grumbled. Putting on a serious face, he turned back to Lily. “Last summer I got into an argument with my family about our, uh “ our background,” Sirius muttered. He held a hand out toward Lily, waiting for her nod of understanding.
She did. Nearly everyone at school had heard about Sirius’ “background.” He was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, one of the longest living pureblood family, and a well-known dark arts family. As a child, Sirius had been rebellious and disagreed with his family’s practice of dark magic and was sorted into the Gryffindor House at Hogwarts instead of Slytherin. Instantly, his family turned on Sirius and favored their younger son, Regulus, over Sirius.
“We must’ve fought for a week straight after I returned from school.” Sirius shook his head, recalling the memory. “Finally, I just lost it and ended up running off. And, you know, I just stayed at James’ house for the summer,” Sirius continued.