It seemed to Lily that as soon as February finally came to a close and the snow that blanketed the grounds melted, her teachers became all the more aware that their N.E.W.T exams were rapidly approaching. As a result, the homework as well as the stress levels of the seventh years increased significantly just as they had during fifth year except on a much greater level.
This year, their exams would not only be more difficult, but would cover everything they had learned over the past seven years. Additionally, if they did not achieve adequate grades, they would not be eligible for certain careers. As Lily’s aspiration was to be an Auror, a job which required a minimum of five N.E.W.Ts, she found herself spending the majority of her time poring over her books and meticulously reviewing seven years of notes.
One evening after Lily, James, and their friends had spent the greater part of the afternoon cooped up in the common room studying, Andy laid his head down on top of his textbook and groaned.
“What would happen if I failed all of my exams? I’ve always wanted to be a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts like my brother.”
James looked up from his notes and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. “I know exactly what you mean,” he yawned. “But I’ve got it worse than you do. Both of my parents are Aurors and I’d feel terrible if I didn’t even make the grades to get into training.”
“Same here,” Meredith chimed in. “I’ve always felt pressure to do well so I can be a Healer like my mum.”
“I’m glad I don’t have the pressure to be like my parents.” Sirius yawned and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “I’m too tired to do any more. I might head up to bed.”
Meredith glared at him as he gathered his belongings. “Don’t rub it in. I’ve still got a ton of work to do.” Lily heard her add “stupid James and his practices” under her breath.
“Aw, sweetheart, I’m sorry,” Sirius teased, leaning down to kiss Meredith’s head. She swatted him away. Sirius made a show of yawning and stretching for an extended period of time and then trudged up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories.
One by one, the rest of the group also left the table and made their way up to their dormitories until Lily was left sitting at a round table with James, Meredith, and Andy. The four worked quietly until the clock over the fireplace struck three in the morning and Meredith threw her hands up in the air.
“I am never going to finish!” she exclaimed. Then she turned on James, crying “Of course, I may have been done an hour ago if we hadn’t had a four hour practice.”
“It was not four hours!” he returned in indignation.
“Oh, it certainly””
“At most, it was two””
“Stop it!” Andy cried. “Meredith, complaining is not helping anyone. And you’ve been working all day so I doubt you’re going to get much more accomplished tonight. Why don’t you just go up to bed? I know I’m too tired to do any decent work.”
With that, he gathered up his books and turned to the stairs. Meredith sighed, quietly apologized to James, and then climbed the stairs to the girls’ dormitories. When he was gone, James turned to Lily with an apologetic look.
“Sorry about that,” he said, gently. “I know you were trying to finish your homework.”
Lily looked around her to find that they were the only two left in the common room. “It’s alright. I think I’m pretty much done with everything due this week.”
James shook his head. “This week? I’ll be doing well by finishing everything due tomorrow. Forget studying extra for N.E.W.T.S.”
Due to the late hour and exhaustion from endlessly working, Lily couldn’t help but laugh. “If you want, we could probably use our patrolling duties as study sessions,” she suggested.
“No, that wouldn’t work. If it was just us, I know I wouldn’t study.” His eyes met hers and the corner of his mouth lifted into a small smile. “And besides, I hardly get to have alone time with you outside of patrolling, what with homework and Quidditch. I’m not giving that up for school work.” He made a face at the very idea.
Lily laughed again and then began putting her books into her bag.
“Wait, you’re not going to bed, are you?” James asked.
She nodded as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake,” Lily admitted.
James looked down at his textbooks spread across the table for a moment. “Yeah, I guess I’ll go to bed too. Forget McGonagall and her essay.”
Lily smiled at him and then started towards the stairs when he caught her by the elbow.
“Sweet dreams,” he whispered in her ear. “Oh, wow that sounded corny.”
“That’s alright. It’s the thought that counts,” she responded with a giggle.
She leaned in to lightly kiss him on the cheek and then turned to head upstairs.
*****
The next morning at breakfast, Lily’s snowy white owl, Snowflake, was among the sea of owls that delivered the morning post. Suddenly worried that something was wrong at home, Lily quickly untied the small envelope attached to her owl’s leg and slit it open to read.
“What’s that?” James asked, looking over her shoulder as Lily made an indignant noise.
“I can’t believe her,” she sighed, shaking her head as she threw down her mail. James was quick to pick up the letter and read its contents.
“What’s wrong, Lily?” Kelly wondered.
Lily gave Kelly a dark look. “It’s Petunia. She’s getting married to her boyfriend over spring break.”
“Oh, really?” Meredith asked, her eyes lighting up. Then her expression changed to confusion. “Why is that so bad?”
Lily propped her head on her hand. “She didn’t ask me to be in the wedding. In fact, she said that she was only inviting me because our parents are making her. Some sister.” She sighed as James wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze.
“Oh, Lily, that’s awful. I’m sorry,” Meredith said, sympathetically.
“Yeah, I’m sorry too. You could try talking to her about how you feel?” Kelly suggested.
“I’ve done that countless times.”
Kelly opened her mouth to answer reply but the bell rang and she gave Lily another apologetic look before rising to walk to class with Meredith and Andy.
Lily’s thoughts still lingered on Petunia as she folded up the letter and followed after her friends. After all these years she had tried to be nothing but nice to her older sister, no matter how irritating she could be. As payback, Petunia had treated Lily like she didn’t exist; or when she was forced to associate with Lily, she acted like she was disgusted by her. Lily could recall how she used to think of her older sister as her best friend. Unfortunately, those times seemed to mean nothing now to Petunia who saw Lily only as a freak simply because she was a witch.
When the bell rang again for their morning break, James took Lily’s hand as usual and led her to a more secluded part of the nearby courtyard. As soon as they sat down on a bench James turned to Lily.
“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” James began in a soft voice.
Lily raised her eyes from the ground and looked at James. “How did you know”?”
“Lily, give me some credit. I know you better than you think I do. It’s about your sister’s letter isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Well, we haven’t been close in years so I guess it’s not a big deal…”
“Lily,” James chastised gently. “She’s still your sister. You shouldn’t feel bad about worrying about her.” He paused and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But tell me what exactly is bothering you? You’ve been a little out of it all morning.”
“I don’t know exactly why I’m upset. I guess it’s a bunch of things, really. First, she never even told me she was engaged. I know it could have been a short engagement, but I’d still think she’d want to tell me about it. If not out of courtesy then at least to brag about getting married.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” James agreed, nodding for her to continue.
“And then, I’m not really keen on the guy she’s marrying. I met him last summer and he’s this big beefy man who thinks he’s all that.” She cleared her through and then said in a ridiculous deep voice, “My name is Vernon Dursley. I am an associate at a drill manufacturing company. Isn’t that wonderful?” To emphasize her sheer irritation she added a laugh to make Vernon appear incredibly dim-witted.
James chuckled and gave her hand a squeeze. “Is that all?”
Lily thought for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. “I guess that’s all. I’d say Petunia is a little too young to be getting married, but it’s her life. She can do what she wants.”
James frowned. “How old is she?”
“She just turned twenty back in February. Why?”
“You said you thought she was too young to get married,” James clarified.
“Twenty is too young,” Lily declared. “I’ll probably wait until I’m at least twenty-five.”
“Twenty-five?” James repeated, raising his eyebrows.
Lily scrunched her eyebrows together. “You’d want to get married sooner? I know I want to have Auror training out of the way and have a good career established before I settle down and have a family.”
James shrugged. “Well, if I’m in love, I don’t see any reason not to wait.” His eyes met hers and then he quickly looked away. “But if you really wanted to wait until after Auror training, that only takes three years so it would put us at twenty-one when we finished.”
Lily yanked her hand out of James’ grasp. “Whoa, how did our conversation about Petunia turn into talk of us getting married?”
James laughed and stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulder. “Don’t worry Lils. You’ve got all the time in the world. I won’t push anything until you’re ready….until I’m ready.” He held out his hand to her.
She hesitated, still eyeing him warily.
“Do you want me to walk you to class or not?” James said, rolling his eyes.
“Fine, but please hold off on talking about marriage. At least for a few years,” Lily conceded, slipping her hand into his.
*****
The Easter holidays were rapidly approaching and as always, she looked forward to warmer weather that usually came at this time of the year. However, this year, she knew she wouldn’t fully enjoy the break because James would be spending the break at home visiting with his family. On top of that, Meredith was going home as well and, though Kelly and Andy were staying at Hogwarts, she knew they would be too preoccupied with each other when they weren’t studying for N.E.W.T.s to spend much time with her. And, besides her sister’s wedding, Lily knew she would be spending a lot of time with her textbooks over the break.
On the last Monday before break, Lily met James for patrolling duties to find him whistling.
“Hey, Lils,” he greeted her with a wide smile.
“It’s Monday. Why are you so happy?” Lily asked, glumly.
“I know and I’m exhausted. I’ve had classes, homework, Quidditch, and patrolling but it’s the last week before break. Only four more days and then I’m home for a week,” he added smugly.
“Yeah, don’t rub it in.”
James’ smile faded and he cocked his head, looking at her curiously. “What do you mean? Aren’t you excited for break?”
Lily shrugged. “Not particularly. I’ll be stuck at Hogwarts”except for Petunia’s wedding.” She grimaced, thinking of how much fun she would have that day.
Confusion and then shock tinged with embarrassment flitted across James’ face. “Oh, Lily. Didn’t I tell you? I could have sworn I asked you…oh, no.”
“What?”
“I want you to spend the break with me. You know, to meet my parents,” he said and smiled a little sheepishly.
“You what?” Lily asked, excitement building in her. James wanted her to spend the break with him? She would get to stay in his house and see him all the time.
James’ cheeks went slightly red. “Well, only if you want to. You’re not mad that I forgot to tell you, are you? I wrote to my parents last week and they said as long as it was okay with you and your parents…”
“James, I’m not mad. And I would love to!” Lily cried, throwing her arms around him. She pulled back and looked James in the eye. “Don’t even start on your crazy marriage ideas. Just because I’m meeting your parents doesn’t mean””
“I know, Lily. I wasn’t even going to say anything about it,” he promised.
James released her from their embrace but kept one arm around her shoulders as they continued down the corridor.
“You do need to write to your parents before you come though. Make sure they know that you’ll have your own bedroom and my parents will be home most of the time.” He winked at Lily.
“Yeah, yeah. Oh! You can come with me to Petunia’s wedding! I’d love to have someone besides my parents to talk to.” The event that she had been dreading now seemed so much more appealing.
“Okay, I’ll come,” James agreed. “And you can introduce me to your family while I’m there.”
Lily smiled at the idea of introducing her family to a born and bred wizard. “If you want to, sure, I’ll introduce you. I can’t promise you that Petunia will speak to you though.”
“We’ll see about that. I can be very persuasive when I want to be,” he teased and pulled Lily closer to him as she rolled her eyes.
“Well, enough about my family. What are your parents like?” Lily asked.
She felt him shrug. “You already know the basics. They’re both Aurors. My dad looks pretty much like me””
“Surprise, surprise,” Lily interjected.
“Yeah, well he’s cool for a dad. And my mum is a great cook. Trust me, Lily. It’s as good, if not better, than what the house elves serve us here.”
“That’s good to know. What have you told them about me? Do you think they’ll like me?” she questioned eagerly.
James heard the hint of anxiety in her voice. “Oh, Lily, there’s nothing to worry about. They’re going to love you. They were thrilled to hear that I wanted to introduce them to my girlfriend.” Lily noticed how James sounded like he was smiling when he called her his “girlfriend” which brought a smile to her face.
As they continued patrolling, James told her a little more about his parents and his life outside of Hogwarts. He told her about the clearing in the woods near his house where he and Sirius liked to play Quidditch as well as the shops in the village he lived in, called Godric’s Hollow. She also managed to find out that Sirius would also be staying at James’ house but, as James promised, he wouldn’t be too much in the way.
When James finally turned the conversation around to her family, Lily ended up telling him quite a lot about her life before she got the letter that told her she was a witch. Her mother worked as a nurse and her father owned his own business and they were both friendly people who cared a great deal for her. After she was accepted into Hogwarts, they made a huge effort to try to understand Lily’s new world and she was very thankful for their support.
Lily also told James about the tree house in her backyard that her father had built for her and Petunia when they were little girls and her favorite playground at the end of her street. She left out the part about how she often met with Severus there so he could fill her in on the magical world she had just been accepted into. As James and Severus were not on the best of terms, she figured any mention of her previous best friend might bother him.
After Lily and James finished their patrolling duties, Lily was too excited to sleep. She would not have to remain cooped up at Hogwarts after all. In the seven years that she had attended the school, Lily was honestly looking forward to leaving it for a week and spending her break the way children of wizard families spent time off when away from school.
More than Meets the Eye by lilybobily7
Chapter Notes: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been away in Germany for 3 weeks. gah, and i have so many school summer assignments to do/college applications. =/
once again, credit for this world goes to jk rowling. i also thank my wonderful beta for all her help/putting up with me. i've taken so long writing this story.
hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Endnotes: opinions? i'd like to know what you think? as always, i'd love any and all comments/suggestions.
don't have too much time (the summer before senior year is not fun), but i will try to update this story asap!