bridges to be burned{James}

[LILY MARIE EVANS]

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It was Christmas Break and Lily was getting ready to go out. She was extremely nervous as she ran a brush through her hair. It was true that she needed this day as things in the wizarding world had been crazy and ever so. She was surprise to find out that James was the gentleman of her dreams. He had kept his word that night by the fire which seemed so long ago. She rummaged into her closet, glad for the reason to be wearing simple, yet elegant, muggle clothing. Lily could only imagine the kind of looks she would get if she walked into a muggle restaurant wearing her wizard clothes. They would think she belonged to some type of cult! The red haired girl was lucky that she had taught James the basics of muggle studies 101. She just hoped that they would be able to blend in well tonight. The seventeen year old heard Petunia’s shout and she took a deep breath, telling her that she’ll be ready in a few minutes. She was honestly surprised that Petunia had slightly agreed on the double date. This was one Lily wanted to go well. She wanted her sister to understand the dangers that were running amok. Dangers that had targeted her family for what her status was. A muggleborn. Lily was not daft. She saw the essays that were handed out to them.

Essays that explained how muggleborns were going around and stealing magic. They also explained the ‘correct ways to handle these low life scums. Oh Merlin we are heading for a downfall that’s for sure, she thought shaking her head. Lily held a worried look to her eyes as she pulled out one of her formal dresses. This will do, she thought as she started to hunt for her jewelry. The muggle restaurant required formal clothing and Lily learned how to dress formal from her mother. Generally Lily was a complete tomboy. She wanted nothing better to do than to run around with the other boys. When it was tea time she would end up going to her house whether or not she liked it. The corners of her lips twitched upwards into a small smile. Those outings seemed so long ago. She remembered the times when she would stay out til late at night. Lily sighed as she slipped in her dress. She took a brush and ran it through her hair before putting it up in a half braid. She glanced down at the necklace that her mother had given her when she turned seventeen last year. She placed it around her throat and gathered up a couple of earrings. Lily planned to confront Petunia tonight. She planned to tell her elder sister exactly what was on her mind. A small sigh escaped from her lips as she shook her head, silently praying to Merlin to give her strength. “Petunia are you ready!” She shouted as she stepped out in the hall.

~*~

Eighteen year old Petunia Dursley, Nee Evans, glanced at the mirror. Her lips were pursed together as she placed a couple of pearl earrings in her earlobes. They were her favorite. Her mother had given them to her as a wedding present. Petunia wanted everything to be nice and perfect for tonight. Her and Vernon were going to double date with Lily and one of her freakish friends. An overwhelming feeling of jealously swamped her. She held onto the dresser finding herself trembling slightly. Everything had gone wrong when Lily turned eleven. She remembered shrieking in surprise when she opened the door on her sister’s birthday. Her pale eyes had gotten huge seeing an old man with a beard and wearing robes. After learning that her sister was about to be sent off to a boarding school for witches and wizards she had raced upstairs to write a letter to the old man, who later introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore. She pleaded for him to let her in. She wanted to be still with her sister, the girl whom she loved more than anything in the world. Her heart completely broke when she saw his reply. She wouldn’t be allowed to attend, the letter had said. For the simple reason being she was a muggle, a person who held no magic.

It was at that that she had decided she would turn her back on Lily. The one person she cared for most in the world. She soon found delight in calling her and her people freaks, weirdo’s and the list goes on and on. Dear lord Petunia loathed Lily now. Those were one of the reasons why she didn’t invite her to the wedding. She feared she would end up being overshadowed by the freak of a sister. Petunia feared that, on her special day, it would become Lily’s special day. Lord she only wanted to experience what Lily was going through! Her heart, when it came to her sister, was cold as ice. It was her husband Vernon who had broken through. Vernon was everything she wanted. Completely normal. Her sister’s yelling had interrupted her thoughts and she scowled. Trust Lily to interrupt them, she thought icily as she shook her head. No more than forty five minutes later all of them were seated at the restaurant. Lily with that damn black haired boy. Her and her most wonderful husband. She picked up the menu and sniffed, not saying a word. She missed the worried look Lily exchanged with the boy and she didn’t care. “What are you going to have Vernon?”

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Tagged. Wifey. Bring James and Vernon.
Words. 933
Notes. I promised you a date thread!
Credits. The template is credit to Laura

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[JAMES IGNOTUS POTTER]

James had this sneaking suspicion that he was totally going to mess up tonight. Everything that he had heard about Petunia and Vernon from Lily was not good. He knew that she loved her sister unconditionally but that did not stop things from being weird between them and it did mean that James had to do this. He had to at least try and build some bridges between them all. It looked like he might be slowly becoming, dare he think it, a permanent fixture in Lily’s life and so he wanted his “in-laws” for want of a better phrase for them, to like him. He was nervous but he was a Potter so he wasn’t going to get worked up about it. It was just a meal out plus he had Lily by his side, more than anything he was stupidly happy. What he wasn’t so sure about was the posh muggle venue and therefore the posh muggle clothes that needed to be worn. He’d demanded Remus accompany him to the stores Lily had suggested but James didn’t think they’d done a very good job at choosing his outfit.

Muggle clothes were weird. And didn’t fit him properly. This suit felt completely out of place on him and he felt stupid. Probably looked it too. He hadn’t done a very good job with the tie; his parents had tried to help him best as possible but it still didn’t look like it was on right. Lily would sort him out he was sure. Speaking of Lily, she looked breathtaking in her dress when they met up and he struggled to take his eyes off of her for long enough as he exchanged greetings with her sister and brother in law. The atmosphere was quite tense in the restaurant but James was keen to make things work. He was a gentleman and held doors and the chair out for Lily, pouring her water and giving her a reassuring smile at her worried look. He deftly moved his hand over hers, squeezing it gently in a comforting gesture. ”It’s very nice to meet you both at last.” James tried for conversation, talking more to Petunia than Vernon because he figured the latter was even less keen on him. ”Lily’s told me so much about you both.” He ran a hand through his hair, smiling light-heartedly. He couldn’t help but think that this was going to be a long evening.

- - - - -

Vernon wasn’t entirely sure why he was doing this. He didn’t want to go out for a meal with the sister Petunia so clearly got upset about. He did not want to sit and make small talk with two other people who were pretty much strangers to him. They were new people and he did not like change. Petunia knew that so he was slightly mad at her for signing him up for this little outing. Plus he had heard only bad things about them. Strange, unnatural things that quite honestly creeped him out. A lot. Messing with the occult, that’s what he called it. And if there’s one thing his old dad had taught him before he went senile, it was to not mess with the occult. No, Vernon really was not pleased about tonight. If he was in his grave, he’d be turning in it. But still, he found himself doing up the buttons on his shirt, pulling on his dinner jacket and straightening his bow tie. Checking not once, but twice in the mirror for shaving cuts, that his dark hair was neatly parted and his moustache (a recent acquisition and one he felt very much that he could get used to) looked perfect. And then he was off out the door and soon enough sitting down in the restaurant of his choice (because he was not eating anywhere he did not feel comfortable that was for sure).

Oh God Petunia’s sisters date looked a state. His tie was loose, his trousers looked too big and his shirt very badly tucked in. Not to mention his hair was a complete and utter mess. Vernon frowned appraisingly at the younger male but Jack, no wait, what did Petunia say his name was again? He thought long and hard for a while until James found its way back into his head. James didn’t seem too fussed. He just stood lazily with a cocky smirk on his face. Vernon did not like it. He shook the other male’s hand none the less, trying hard to crush his bones as he did so. Finally they sat down and Vernon didn’t try and hide that he moved his chair closer to Petunia. He browsed the menu, glancing up only to look at his wife thinking that perhaps if he resolutely ignored the other two that they might disappear. ”Hmmm, the steak looks quite nice. I fancy that.” The Potter boy spoke but Vernon did nothing more than look sharply at him because the pleasure was certainly not mutual. If he was going to have to converse with them tonight then he was going to pick holes in their relationship. ”How did you two meet then? At that.... school of yours?” He had to stop himself from saying anything more insulting.

tagged Lily/Petunia - James/Vernon
words 881
notes This could be interesting!

[LILY MARIE EVANS]

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Lily was quiet for several minutes as she gazed down at the menu. Her mind was blank for conversations when, in reality, the red haired girl was terrified. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she kept on gazing at her sister every few minutes. She knew she wanted to somehow convinced Petunia that the wizarding world was in complete chaos and they could be attacked at any minute. The mere thought of that made the Gryffindor girl twitched a bit. Her paranoia was seeping through. And in the muggle world it was not good. She had to keep an air and make sure to use the three C’s. She wanted to make sure that she was cool, calm, and collected. Her eyes kept on darting around the room. For some reason or another all the hairs on the back of her neck was standing on its end. It was a good thing that she had brought her wand, which was hidden in the small pocket purse she decided to take with her. Nowadays Lily made it a personal habit to carry her wand with her wherever she went. Even in the muggle world because one would never know when Death Eaters would be lurking, disguised as muggles. She silently prayed to Merlin to help her throughout the dinner. She wanted Petunia to see that her, their, family was in danger.

She let out a relieved sigh as James spoke. It eased her tensions just a bit. Lily knew that she could trust him with almost anything. The keyword was almost because she had been keeping a few things from him. And she hated that. The corners of her lips twitched upwards into a small smile at Vernon’s question. She gave James an amused look before turning to him. “Actually we take a train to the school.” She eyed her sister, wondering exactly how much Petunia had told him about the wizarding world. Well her information was slightly outdated by a year or so. “At first he was nothing but an arrogant bully. Ruffling up his hair like he just came back from Quidditch practice. He could not help but to take the chance to show off. I didn’t want anything to do with him at first. It took me until last year to finally decide that….he might be the one.” Her expression softened a bit more as she gazed at him. There was nothing but truth in her speech. The first few years at Hogwarts she wanted nothing to do with James. It didn’t help that he started asking her out. From once a month to sometimes every other day. It was highly annoying when he would do it when she least expected it. One would learn that James Potter was filled with nothing but surprises and tricks. Underneath that, however, there was a man that she was slowly starting to learn how to love.

~*~

As James was speaking to her Petunia could only hope that this evening would go by faster. Perhaps they should have picked a place where there was a bar. Samantha Evans had completely lost her mind when she had voiced this thought. “Pleasure to meet you. I think.” By the end of the sentence she looked like she swallowed a lemon. If it wasn’t for good table manners, and in a public place, she might have ignored him. Not like this freak was going to be a member of the family anyways. She shot her sister a look. “All good things I hope.” Really, Petunia didn’t even want to go on this date. In the back of her mind the eldest Evans sister knew that something had been going on. Lily had been acting kind of…well, not herself when she had gotten off the train for the holidays. Somewhere, in the deepest part of her heart, she still cared for her. She had to keep her act together tonight. She slowly glanced down at the menu. “Chicken with potatoes looks good.” Petunia twitched a bit as Vernon asked how they met. She shot him a very angry look. She busied herself with the menu as Lily was telling them the story. Lord knows she told their parents a lot of times. She didn’t need to hear this again.

Her sister was finishing up and Petunia couldn’t help herself but to comment with a sneer, “And they lived happily ever after. The end.” Petunia was quite insistent on making Lily’s life a misery. To think that their relationship was ruined when she read Dumbledore’s reply. She thought idly for a couple of minutes. “So tell me how is that…headmaster of freaks at the school? Is it still the same one when you started Lily?” She knew that headmasters usually didn’t stay at a boarding school for more than a few years. Petunia only figured that would be the same way at Hogwarts. She idly glanced down at the menu for several minutes before putting it down, finally deciding on what she wanted. A waitress walked over which she counted on as a blessing. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. “You don’t happen to have a television?” She inquired of the girl who looked at her as if she had gone completely nuts. This was a classic restaurant. The only thing that was playing was the classical music in the background. As she took everyone’s orders and left Petunia glanced up at James, commenting snidely, “I’m not sure if you know what a ‘television’ was.” The music changed and she listened for several minutes before commenting on it at the same time as Lily, “I know this.” There was a moment’s pause as they glanced at each other. For a minute it looked like old times. For a minute Petunia almost forgotten that her sister was a part of a world in which she wouldn’t get to see. The look changed to a complete scowl.

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Tagged. The two other halves. James and Vernon.
Words.995
Notes. I...might have went a bit overboard!
Credits. The template is credit to Laura

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