Rating:: PG-13
House:: Astronomy Tower
Characters:: James Potter Lily Evans
Genres:: Romance General
Era:: Multiple Eras
Stats:: Published: 01/27/2003

Updated: 02/01/2003

Words: 6,000

Chapters: 2

Hits: 1,655

That Summer

imaJination

Story Summary:: Lily spent the summer holidays in America and met a fantastic boy. Surprisingly, they meet up again at Hogwarts, but he’s completely different from what she remembered him. Can a romance still be salvaged?

Chapter 01

Posted:: 01/27/2003

Hits:: 1,011

That Summer

Chapter 1: Shag and Brag

It turned colder, that’s where it ends
So I told her we’d still be friends
Then we made our true love vow
Wonder what she’s doing now
Summer dreams, ripped at the seams
But oh those summer nights

“Rise and shine!” called a voice that was far too cheery for seven o’clock in the morning.

Lily Evans groaned and rolled over in her bed. As she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at her seemingly perky younger sister, Marigold, and her slightly grumpy-looking older sister, Petunia. Both girls were donning bikini tops and, presumably, bottoms under jean shorts, and they had beach towels and tote bags thrown over their shoulders. Without another word spoken from either girl, Lily knew the reason Marigold had woken her up at such an ungodly hour of the morning: they were going to make the most of their summer and spend the day at the beach.

“What the hell are you doing, Mari?” Lily demanded, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out of them. “We’re supposed to be on vacation!”

Marigold rolled her eyes, and so did Petunia. “Exactly, Lils!” she exclaimed, bending over to pull the covers away from Lily, who had a death grip on them. Lily’s knuckles were white, she was holding onto them so tightly, so with a defeated sigh Marigold relented. “We’re on vacation and it’s absolutely silly to spend all three months of it sleeping! Whoever heard of that?”

“Obviously not you,” Lily grumbled unhappily. She was perfectly content with sleeping away her summer holidays; she deserved a break, after all.

“There’s things to do, boys to flirt with,” Marigold claimed, going for the covers again. She caught her sister off-guard, and the covers were ripped from the bed and thrown to the floor. She smiled triumphantly and then walked across the room to open the shades over the window; sunlight poured in the room, instantly bathing it in a yellow warmth.

Petunia finally spoke, tucking her blonde hair behind an ear. “If you don’t get up and get ready now, we’re leaving without you,” she snapped haughtily. “I refuse to spend my day indoors, like a recluse!”

Lily couldn’t stop herself in time. The eye rolling was natural when it came to Petunia. “You two, I really just want to sleep for a few more hours...” Her voice trailed off as she crawled to the edge of the bed and pulled the covers back. “I’ll meet you at the beach later. When it’s, like, one.”

Marigold paused. “Oh, that’s crazy talk, Lily! All the cute boys will be taken by one!”

“Believe it or not, the world doesn’t revolve around how many boys you can get the attention of,” Lily said, making a face. That was one of the main differences between the two very similar sisters: Marigold was boy-crazed while Lily tended to not place them at the top of her priorities. “But seriously, if I go now I’ll most likely fall asleep in the water and drown...”

“Do us a favor,” Petunia muttered under her breath, but Lily heard her and shot her a glare.

Marigold also gave Petunia a glare, but it wasn’t as harsh as Lily’s. Then, she turned back to the red-head. “That’s perfect, Lils! Then a hot lifeguard could give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and save your life, and then you’d be forever indebted to him. It’s the perfect beginning to a perfect relationship,” she reasoned, smiling brightly while both Lily and Petunia shook their heads in disbelief. Marigold had a knack for coming up with appealing stories for nearly everything, and it never failed to amaze her two sisters.

After a long pause, Petunia spoke again. “Are you coming or not?” she demanded, her voice icy. Turning to Marigold, she continued, “The time’s ticking away, and I’m not going to drag Lily kicking and screaming down to the beach.”

As Lily shot Petunia dirty look after dirty look, Petunia returning each and every one of them, Marigold sighed. The three sisters had been extremely close in previous years, before Lily got her Hogwarts letter, but since then Petunia and Lily had developed attitudes toward one another, leaving Marigold as the mediator. She often had to choose sides when the other two got into arguments, even though she tried to stay out of her sisters’ business. She knew Petunia was jealous of Lily’s magical abilities and that was the reason for Petunia’s sudden turnabout a few years prior, but Petunia had sworn her to secrecy and she could never tell Lily. Their constant arguing got tiresome sometimes, however, and Marigold had been ultra close to telling Lily what was wrong with her older sister numerous times, but always decided against it. She didn’t want to defy Petunia’s trust, so she just kept her mouth shut.

“Lily, you might as well get ready and come with us,” Marigold reasoned. “You’re already up, after all, and do you really see yourself getting back to sleep after we leave?” There was a short pause that Marigold took for Lily being unsure. “Probably not. You’d probably end up eating a big bowl of cereal and then watching the news with our parents. What an exciting way to spend your summer!”

Hating to admit that her sister’s words were true, Lily reluctantly nodded. “Fine,” she said, defeated. “Just give me a few minutes to get ready.”

Delighted, Marigold stated, “Ten minutes. Meet us downstairs!” With that, she grabbed Petunia’s hand and the two exited Lily’s room, the door shutting loudly behind them. Lily heard their footsteps disappear.

She walked over to her chest of drawers, opening the second one from the top. She rooted through the drawer, finally withdrawing a bikini. It was a black string bikini with white strings, and one of Lily’s favorites. She had received it as a joint birthday gift from two of her very best friends from Hogwarts, and had been specially made for her in a wizarding shop. Lily pulled it on and then slipped a pair of short black jean shorts over the bottoms. On her way out the door, she grabbed her tote bag, which had been filled with the beach necessities several days prior to their flight to America, and beach towel, and put her feet into a pair of black flip-flops.

Yawning, she made her way down the stairs and into the living room. Her parents were seated on the creme-colored couch, her mother watching the early morning news while her father read the newspaper. Neither seemed to care that it was American news that really had no effect on their British selves, so Lily didn’t mention anything. Marigold and Petunia were on the floor, staring at the woman on the TV screen in a bored manner.

“I’m ready, you two,” Lily said. “Good morning Mum, Dad.”

Diane Evans looked up at Lily, smiling warmly at her. Lily couldn’t help but wonder why it seemed every female member of her family was a morning person except for her as she kissed Diane on the cheek. “I didn’t know you were up yet, baby,” Diane said, still smiling. “It’s good to see that you’re not sleeping away your summer like last year!”

Struggling to stop herself from rolling her eyes, Lily forced herself to chuckle along with her mother. Before she could say anything in reply, Marigold bounded over and exclaimed, “That’s what I told her this morning, Mum!”

Richard Evans peered at his daughters over the top of his newspaper. “Where are you girls headed to this morning?” he asked. If he was surprised that Lily was going with Marigold and Petunia, he didn’t show it in his friendly demeanor.

“We’re going down to the beach,” Marigold answered for them. “To beat the rush, you know.”

“Yes, of course. Stay out of trouble.” His last comment was directly aimed at Lily, who tended not to behave herself sometimes when her anger got the best of her. She smiled sweetly at him in response.

“Are you coming home for lunch?” Diane asked, crossing her legs and placing her hands on her knees. “If not, Richard and I thought we could head out to this quaint little diner we saw across town.”

Marigold was the first to speak once again. “Oh, don’t worry about us. We’ll occupy ourselves.” Her reply was punctuated with a grin that quickly faded as she checked the nonexistent watch on her wrist. “Oh, would you look at the time! We intended on getting down to the beach by seven-thirty, and it’s going on eight now! We should get going.” Bending down, she kissed Diane and Richard and then made her way out of the room. After quick good-byes were exchanged by Lily, Petunia, and their parents, the two girls followed Marigold out of the house.

***

Marigold sighed happily as she turned over onto her stomach to allow the sun access to her bare back. She looked over at Lily, who was sitting on her beach towel, reading a book. “This is the greatest. When we go back to England, we’re going to have the best tans of anyone there!” Marigold exclaimed.

“You’re going to have the best tan of anyone there,” Lily corrected without looking up from her book. She turned the page and licked her lips. “In case you’ve forgotten, I don’t tan. I burn, and then I peel, and then I’m deathly white again. Curse of being a redhead, I suppose.” Her voice didn’t sound disappointed, however, and she quickly turned the page to her book again.

“Actually, I did forget,” Marigold answered. “Oh well; as long as I get my tan, I’ll be happy.”

“And as long as I get to finish my book, I’ll be happy.” Lily continued reading, deciding that she would tune her sister out from that moment on.

Marigold, who had never been one for taking hints, didn’t stop chattering. “Petunia’s going to be awfully upset when we go back to England and her tan isn’t as good as mine,” she mentioned, a smile creeping up on her face. “So busy chasing the boys...”

At Marigold’s words, Lily finally looked up from her book and gazed across the moderately crowded beach in search of her sister. The blonde was almost immediately spotted by Lily’s scanning jade green eyes; she was hard to miss, as she was the only tall blonde girl surrounded by seven gorgeous American boys. Lily rolled her eyes, silently wondering what they saw in her; Petunia was, after all, rude, snotty, stuck-up, and looked like a horse--all in Lily’s humble opinion, of course.

The other girl sat up and looked toward Petunia as well. “Lucky, that girl is,” Marigold said off-handedly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up shagging one, two, or even three of them before we leave for England.”

Shocked, Lily turned her head to stare at Marigold. She always thought Marigold thought highly of Petunia; never in a million years would Lily have guessed that Marigold considered Petunia to be easy. Of course, she had reason to think that; back in England, Petunia often brought home three or four boys a week to meet the family, claiming that she was “seriously in love this time.” At Lily’s confused look, Marigold burst into laughter.

“Come on, Lily, you can’t tell me you think she’s still a virgin.”

“It’s not something I’d put much thought into,” Lily answered finally. “But now that you mention it, no, I don’t think she is. She gallivants around with her cleavage hanging out of her tops and her legs exposed so that she looks like a two-dollar hooker, so she’s bound to have had sex with at least one of her many boyfriends.”

“Exactly how I see it!” Marigold said, laughing. Suddenly, a devilish gleam formed in Marigold’s blue eyes. “Would you like to make a little bet, Lily? I hear you’re a little impoverished.”

Lily raised an eyebrow as she sat on her knees, the way she always did when someone presented an idea she found very appealing. Her book, which had been long forgotten, was discarded in the sand about ten inches away from her beach towel. “A little impoverished?” she asked, forcing a laugh. “Try broke. In fact, try bankrupt. I owe everyone you can think of money!”

“So you’d love to have a chance to win...oh, say, fifty American dollars by the end of the summer?” Marigold continued, her voice amused.

Lily nodded. “I’d jump at that chance,” she answered. “Just tell me; what exactly are we betting on?”

“Petunia.”

Laughing, Lily added, “Petunia’s sex life, you mean.”

Marigold shrugged. “Same difference,” she said indifferently. “So, are you in or not?”

“Of course!” Lily exclaimed.

“Good, very good.” Marigold clasped her hands together. “Fifty American dollars say that Petunia shags and brags about...five boys by the time we board the plane to fly to England.” She unclasped her hand and offered her right one to Lily.

Lily bit her lip, trying to weigh her sister’s morals. Finally, she said, “And I say that fifty American dollars say that Petunia shags and brags about only three.” Then, she took Marigold’s hand and pumped it up and down. Both girls grinned furiously at each other, but then Marigold spoke again.

“Why don’t we make it a little more interesting?” she asked. At Lily’s inquisitive expression, she continued. “There will still be three weeks left of summer hols when we get home; during those three weeks, the loser has to answer to the winner’s every beck and call. Whatever the winner wants the loser to do, the loser has to do it. Fair?”

Lily thought about it for a short moment, but then she nodded and shook hands with Marigold again. “Very fair. I’m sure I’ll win.”

Smiling, Marigold finished off the bet. “Winner is whoever comes closest to the number of boys Petunia shags and brags about without going over,” she said, enunciating clearly. Lily nodded, and the girls shook hands for a third time.

“Deal!” they exclaimed together, looking back at Petunia. She was in the water, kissing some boy with sandy blonde hair. Lily and Marigold burst into laughter when they looked at each other, but their laughter was interrupted by a stray volleyball, which flew over unexpectedly and came an inch or so away from hitting Lily. Furious, she hopped up and searched for the owner of the ball.

A tall boy with messy black hair came jogging over, looking apologetic. He was wearing black swimming trunks and no shirt, showing off his very toned and very muscular chest that was sweaty, only enhancing the muscles that Lily couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from. She licked her lips as he came nearer to her, finally stopped almost two feet away. A lopsided smile was on his face, and when Lily caught site of his chocolate brown eyes, she almost melted right then and there.

Lily had regained her composure almost instantly, but it was threatened once again when he spoke. His voice was deep and sounded very melodious to Lily’s ears. “I’m sorry, it seems that my ball got away from the game.” He pointed down the beach to where a volleyball net was set up. There were several boys and girls standing there, but no game was in progress, and Lily concluded that it was because she was holding their ball.

“Be more careful next time,” Lily spat angrily, throwing the ball at him. Though she had thrown it forcefully and with most of her strength, the boy caught it with ease. “Innocent bystanders don’t like to be knocked out by stray objects.” She had no idea why she was being so rude to him, because it wasn’t as though he’d thrown the ball at her on purpose.

He looked amused. “Oh, you’re a lively little spitfire, aren’t you.” It was phrased like a question, but wasn’t, Lily could tell. “Temper matches your hair.”

Lily rolled her eyes. She hated it when people, especially people she only just met, compared her easily-flared temper to her red hair. It was a pet peeve of hers. When she didn’t say anything in return, the boy continued. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“What gave it away besides my British accent?” Lily asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes again. She had grown accustomed to people speaking of her “odd accent” while in America.

He blushed. “Well, that would be it, you know,” he replied. Grinning, he extended his hand, but Lily ignored it and he withdrew it, raking it through his hair. “I’m James Potter. It’s been very nice meeting you, but my game just can’t go on without me. Bye.” With that, he sauntered away.

Lily watched him until he rejoined his friends back at the volleyball net. Letting out a growl, she sat back down next to Marigold, fuming. “The nerve of some people! Can you believe him, Mari?” When she looked at Marigold expectantly, she noticed Marigold’s face was contorted into an amused expression. “Marigold, what are you grinning at? That boy was just completely rude to me!”

Marigold laughed. “It seems that he wasn’t the only one being rude,” she commented. “You two had perfect chemistry. Maybe Petunia’s not going to be the only one to shag and brag this summer!”

Lily’s mouth dropped open. “I can’t believe you!” she cried. “That boy is an insufferable git, and the day I shag and brag about him is the day hell freezes over!” Without another word, Lily grabbed wildly for her book and sat back to read once again.

***

imaJination’s notes: There are a few things I’d like to clear up about this chapter, since it wasn’t directly mentioned in the text.

1.) In canon, it’s assumed that Lily had only one sister--Petunia. However, I decided that I would also include another sister--Marigold. To the best of my knowledge, it hasn’t been specifically mentioned that Petunia is her only sibling. I’m aware that Harry probably would have been sent to live with someone other than Petunia and Vernon if any other family members were alive, but that will be taken care of.
2.) The Evans family is on vacation in America. It’s a family tradition that they fly to America every summer to spend their holidays at the beach (may or may not be mentioned...it’s not important).
3.) Petunia is the oldest sister and is eighteen years old; Lily is the middle sister and is seventeen years old (she will be entering her seventh year at Hogwarts); and Marigold is the youngest sister at sixteen years old. Yes, that means they’re only separated at the most by three years, and yes, it does happen. I know a girl who has 8 kids in her family, and they all come right after one another in age.
4.) I chose the name Marigold because it’s a flower and wanted to continue the pattern of that. :) That’s my only reason.

I believe that may be all, but I’m not entirely sure. If you’re confused about anything, feel free to ask me about it and I will answer your questions in my author’s note at the end of the next chapter. If there’s anything you would like to see happen in my story, tell me and I’ll see if I can work it in (with credit to you, of course.) I love hearing what readers think of my stories, but I despise flames, so if you feel the need to criticize, do it constructively. Thank you! :)