Dressed in Green

Lily goes to Beauxbatons in France and the Marauders and Marlene go to Hogwarts, but during the summer before their last year they just happen to come across one another. Remus visiting his aunt on Lily’s street and Marlene’s family having a summer house close to the beach. Neither know the other is magical, and neither really daring to ask. Slight AU what with they behaving mostly like Muggles and not knowing each other. Jily. Rating G, I guess.

Skriver på engelska för jag tyckte att det blev lättast så. Tyvärr hade jag skrivit detta i ett word-dokument, och alla ord som jag skrivit i kursivt blev normala när jag kopierade in det här. Orkar faktiskt inte ändra haha. Kom gärna med kritik! Vet inte om jag ska skriva något mer eller om det räcker såhär, vad tycker du?


Dressed in a little dark green dress, Lily was a very pretty girl. Very, very pretty, some said. Some people would even go so far to say that she was gorgeous, or beautiful. Some of these people were Lily’s parents (but weren’t their opinion a bit biased?), and also a boy. A young boy, called James. He was, believe it or not, actually younger than Lily. Only by a few months though, mind you. They were born in the same year. And still, she was older. He liked older girls, he said. His friends would laugh at this, because he only liked one older girl. He liked her, Lily. Everyone knew that. Even Lily did, though she didn’t like him back, not from the beginning anyway. In the very beginning, they didn’t even know one another. That was soon to be changed.

This particular evening it all began Lily was dressed in a green dress that ended right above her knees, and she looked neither pretty or gorgeous or beautiful, James thought. She looked stunning. Her eyes were sparkling and her hair glowing and his heart was on fire.

”Stop staring, mate.” Someone put a hand on his shoulder, and James turned to face his friend.
”I’m not staring, Sirius”, he said, trying to make his voice heard over the music playing.
”Yes you are. And that’s understandable, of course. McKinnon is one feisty bird, that’s or sure”, said Sirius.
”Right. But you see, Padfoot, I wasn’t staring at McKinnon.”
”But you were staring, you just admitted it”, a grin played on his lips and he chuckled. James snorted and grinned back.
”You don’t happen to know what the name of McKinnon’s lovely friend dressed in green is? She with the red hair”, he said and nodded towards Marlene McKinnon, an old friend of theirs, who he funnily enough hadn’t even noticed as he had been looking elsewhere and the red-haired girl she was talking to, and laughing with too. She sure looked lovely.
”That would be Lily Evans, I believe”, said a third voice, speaking up from behind them.
”Is that so?”, James turned around, ”Do you know her, Remus? Care to introduce me?”
”Don’t get your hopes up; Moony doesn’t talk to girls”, Sirius ducked as Remus fist swung against him. He laughed. ”Oi, McKinnon! Over here!”
The girls stopped talking and their heads turned. How they had heard him was a mystery, what with the music blasting so loud the windows almost shattered and all the people dancing away between them, but now they were both making their way through the pairs on the dance floor over to the boys.

”Hello, Black”, McKinnon said as soon as she was within earshot. She put her long hair behind her ears and smiled. ”Potter, Lupin”, she nodded towards them, James and Remus nodding back, smiling and congratulating her on hosting such a fun party. Sirius jerked his girlfriend forward into a tight hug and whispered something in her ear that made her smack his chest. She wrenched free from his grasp and turned to her female friend. ”This is my douche bag boyfriend; Sirius”, she said and put a hand on his arm. She then pointed at James and Remus, introducing them ass well, calling them neither douche bags or her boyfriend, only saying they were her childhood friends. Which was true enough. Her friend, Lily, laughed.
”Oh, I already know Remus”, she said. At this Remus threw Sirius a smirk saying ‘I told you so’ and she turned to face James alone, ”I’m Lily Evans, nice to meet you.”
”James Potter”, he said and shook her outstretched hand, grinning, ”Likewise.”

*

What a blast. What a night. Had he ever been to such an amazing party? Nope, he definitely had not. It was probably the best night of his life so far. How great. So fun. So much fun.
”James, are you even listening to me?”
He laughed.
”Not exactly”, he said. He had his mind elsewhere. He was trying to picture her hair, her dress, and the way she swayed with the music, longing to dance, but still denied him when he asked if she wanted to. She had been nice, very much so, that’s for sure. And he had stood there, watching her, as she listened to Remus talking. She didn’t even seem to be pretending to be interested, she really was. How well mannered. He liked that. Remus liked that. And Sirius didn’t notice it at all, seeing as he was busy dancing with a certain party host. And maybe snogging her as well, James didn’t really care to watch.

*

As Lily entered her house, she was careful to close the door without making the slightest sound. She took of her shoes as quietly as possible and decided to keep her jacket on until she reached her room in case it would rustle against the other jackets as she hung it on the hook. Tiptoeing past the kitchen to her right and the living room to her left, the staircase finally came into sight and she took each step with uttermost care, desperate not to wake up her parents and, more specifically, her sister.

One step away from her bedroom door, her hand on the door handle, she pushed it open and hurried inside, closing it behind her and sank down on the floor with her back resting on it. She pulled her knees to her chest, hugged them with her arms, and exhaled deeply with exhaustion and pride at having made it to her room without having to face any uncomfortable questions. It might be summer now, she might be free from school, but that did certainly not mean she could sneak out and go to a party hosted by someone she have barely met before. Her parents would not like that. But boy, did she like it! It had been one of the best nights in her life, probably. The people had been so nice. And Remus had been there! She never could’ve imagined that. She had met him once before, in the beginning of the summer, when he had been visiting an aunt of his that had been renting a house down her street over the summer. His aunt, her mum’s best friend. At a dinner one evening they had been sat at the kid’s table together with a few younger children from the neighbourhood. They were actually seventeen, for God’s sake, but the adults didn’t want to hear any of that and left them there, in change of passing around the potatoes and ketchup. With only each other as company. Well, mature company, anyway.

He had told her about his friends. Sirius, every girl’s dream. With long, black hair and grey eyes and a loud laugh. He had a motor cycle, wore a leather jacket and was reckless and funny and an honest mate at all times. He seemed to remember something special when he said this, but didn’t elucidate, and she didn’t ask. It was probably something personal. Remus had laughed the tension away then, and launched into a story of how another one of his friends, Peter, once got a ride on Sirius’ motor cycle and bought take away at a fast food place, only to drop half of it on the way back. What a night they’d had, running around town and laughing at the track of chips that they found. She told him about her friends back in school, everything they used to do in their free time. She went to a boarding school in France, with very strict rules, she explained. She wasn’t one to always follow the rules. He had laughed at this, describing his third friend, James, and how he usually found himself in trouble, sometimes without knowing why. They went to a boarding school as well, but in Scotland, and never did what they were supposed to do. They even called themselves the Marauders, he said, and she had laughed. How ridiculous.

*

”Prongs.”
”Mhm?”
”You’re hopeless, you know that, right?”
”As long as I’m never as bad as you I guess I’m still quite alright”, James grinned and swung his arm around his Sirius’ shoulders. ”Don’t you agree, Wormtail?”
”Get a room, you two”, Peter said.

*

Two days later and James was standing outside the summer house of the McKinnon family, hands in his pockets, waiting for someone to open the door he just knocked. It was a large house, bigger than the Potter’s. Made out of white bricks with brown details around the windows. It was very impressive, he admitted, but it lacked the welcoming look of his own house. How that was possible, what with the people living there being the most pleasant family he knew, James did not know. He heard running steps from inside and smiled; that meant Marlene. Perfect.

The door opened and an explanation was ready on his lips; he was there to tell her that Sirius was sick and couldn’t come over tonight, but the words never left his mouth. Lily Evans had opened the door. The Lily Evans. From the party. The Lily Evans he could not stop thinking about. She wore green trousers and a white blouse, and her hair was in a long braid behind her neck. He had not expected that, but what a lovely surprise.
”Hullo, Evans”, he said.
”Hi, Potter. Please, come in. Marlene’s in the shower getting ready for her date. Where’s Black? I thought you were him”, she said, smiling, showing him inside to the kitchen and sitting herself on the kitchen counter as he took a chair at the table.
”Sirius is sick. That’s why I’m here, to tell McKinnon to no get ready for any date”, he smiled without humour as her smile disappeared.
”Sick? Oh dear Mer- God, she was looking forward to that date. Poor thing”, said Lily. James was too busy watching her as she talked than actually listening to what she said, so that little slip of hers didn’t get registered in his mind.
”Poor thing who?” it sounded from outside just before Marlene McKinnon appeared in the door. She wore a towel and her straight, brown her hung on either side of her face, still wet from her recent shower.
”Poor thing you. Padfoot’s got a cold, can’t come”, said James. ”He told me to give you a hug from him but seeing as you are not wearing any clothes I think he would appreciate it more if i refrained.”
”What? That bastard. I knew one ordinary date to the cinema would be too much to ask when you’re going out with Sirius Black, he’s just in on it as long as it involves snogging or food. Tell him to piss off and get well soon, he’s not getting out of this one”, Marlene turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. James grinned at her response - had he expected anything else? - and laughed as he saw the shocked look on Lily’s face.
”Yes, she is always like that”, he said as an answer to her unspoken question. ”I gotta go back to Sirius now, it was pleasant seeing you here. New friend of Marlene, yes? Alright, bye! See you soon.” He winked and she nodded, surprised at his carefree confidence, and closed the door as he walked around the corner. Too baffled by what he said to hear the familiar crack as he apparated away, she walked upstairs to meet a now dressed Marlene.

*

She wore green again. Not a dress this time, a shirt. And not as emerald in the colour, but still very dark. And she wore short shorts and running shoes and she was taking a walk. With Marlene. Both enjoying the company, both girls now being close friends, but neither of them totally honest about themselves. They had met at a party down by the beach a few weeks ago, a party for everyone happening to walk past. Mostly young adults, mind you, and mostly rather drunk young adults. They actually met when they went to grab a drink, started talking and Lily somehow ended up getting invited to a party thrown by Marlene the following week. Lily had though she had been invited to a Muggle party, and Marlene had though she invited a Muggle to her party. How ironic both of them couldn’t be any more wrong, but still had no idea about it.

”What do you think of James?” said Marlene after they had walked in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.
”James Potter?” said Lily, thinking about how it would do no good to think anything about that boy she would never meet again. ”Nothing. Why?”
”I was under the impression you liked him quiet a lot, actually”, Marlene turned so that she walked in front of Lily, backwards, still facing her. Lily blushed; that was so not true.
”I don’t even know him. Besides, it wouldn’t matter, I will probably never see him again.”
”Why?”
”Well, we go to different schools. In different countries.”
”You’ll meet me again, won’t you?” At this, Lily nodded and Marlene continued, ”I go to the same school as Potter does. I can send you a letter and then you can come visit next time my family stays here over the summer.”
”See, you actually stay here over the summer. That’s different. Where does Potter live, exactly?”
”Such an optimist, Lily. He lives in a village in the West Country, can’t remember it’s name”, said Marlene, turning back as they turned a corner, nearing the place where Remus’ aunt lived.
”And he still came to your party?” said Lily, wondering how that was possible. ”And he just turned up so say that Sirius was sick? He only stayed for a few minutes! What a waste of time. That journey would have taken forever. Couldn’t he just have called instead?”
”Called?” said Marlene, sounding confused. ”Is that what you Mu- I mean, sure. He could have called, I guess, dunno why he didn’t.”
”Didn’t have the number to your summer house, of course, McKinnon. And Sirius was being such a sad prick, not wanting to ditch you without a word, what was I supposed to do?”
They had reached the house of Remus’ aunt, and there he stood, the boy from their thoughts, in the front yard. His friends were approaching now as well, having stood a few meters away, Peter kicking a ball in front of him. Had they been kicking football? That ball was red, though, and Lily really did recognise it, but she could not remember why.
”Sad prick... I was not being a prick, and nor was I sad-”, a glare from both James and Marlene made him shut his mouth, it was probably safest to not say anything else.
”Well, you sure don’t seem sick anymore”, said Marlene, giving him a hard stare. Sirius shrugged, put a hand on the fence between them and jumped over, pulling her close.
”How lucky for you”, he said, kissing her on the cheek. ”By the way; can I get your number?”

James tried to, as discrete as possible, take the Quaffle from Peter and kick it under some bushed nearby, without Lily noticing. He succeeded, sighed with relief, and greeted Lily with his best grin.
”Hello, boys. How are you?” she said, smiling at them. She sure looked wonderful.

Sadly he got betrayed by his beloved Snitch as it fled from Sirius’ back pocket. James’ gaze met Remus’, and they both seemed to stiffen. Remus hid his wand behind his back and tried to mutter some kind of spell, but it didn’t seem to work. As the golden ball fluttered towards him, James grabbed it an shoved it deep inside his own pocket, his other hand flying up and running through his hair - both out of habit and as a way to lead away any attention from the Snitch he just caught. But his attempt was in vain; Lily had noticed something golden in the corner of her eye and saw him catch it with impressive reflexes. The words left her mouth before she could think twice about them.
”Was that a Snitch?”
This seemed to shock all of them, even herself.

grym!

Tack my love♥