♥️ 𝒥𝒾𝓁𝓎 ♥️

【In which jealously clouds judgement...】

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Knock knock.

It wasn't so much that Lily didn't want James to meet her parents... it was more the fact that Lily's parents perhaps didn't want to meet James. Or perhaps it could be rephrased to say that- Lily's father wasn't at all keen on meeting the man in love with his daughter.

Mr Evans first realised there was something peculiarly different about his youngest daughter when she scrambled to keep a newly arrived owl's letter from sight one Sunday morning. She untied the letter from the poor birds foot and ran away immediately, without a word to Mr Evans or his wife. However Mr Evans did manage to read the words- Evans, Flower and Love.

The second thing he'd noticed was the way Lily seemed to grin like an idiot when she opened the letter on her way out the room. It wasn't her usual smile when she got a letter from her lovely best friend Alice, it was much more mysterious and perhaps secretive. And it was well known in the Evans household that secrets were incredibly hard to keep around Mr Evans. Especially if they were about boys.

This theory was proved correct yet again when Mr Evans saw the angelic red hair of his daughter in the local play-park on his way back from work. She was occupied with a very tall and very handsome boy that sat on the swing next to her. He wore normal clothes however it didn't take Mr Evans long to recognise him as one of Lily's kind. There was a broomstick leaning on the merry go round and a mahogany wand-stick on the ground underneath him. Mr Evans was not entirely sure what to do; that was until Lily hopped off her swing and onto the boy's, perching herself on his lap and kissing him slowly, the boy (who Mr Evans had already decided was appropriately to be named a snide git) was smirking widely as he kissed her back. It gave Mr Evans the impression that he was almost laughing at him from where he was. It made it seem that whoever the handsome boy was, he knew Mr Evans was watching from his car; distraught. But of course he wasn't. This, however, didn't stop Mr Evans from thinking it, and convincing himself it was fact.
When the boy cupped his daughters face and tilted his head to the side Mr Evans decided he couldn't stand it any longer, he was going to stop this.

In truth, Mr Evans didn't know what he was expecting. Perhaps for them to jump apart and for Lily to work in a frenzy, for whoever the snide git was to apologise profusely or at least feel a little intimidated.

However he got none of the above.

In fact, first time he called neither of them heard a thing. They just continued to kiss just as painfully slowly. So he called again; anger clear in his tone. This time Lily did hear, and she turned immediately- making the boy moan childishly (And making Mr Evans hate him impossibly more).

"Dad!" She squeaked worriedly. This made the snide git jump a little and the eyes behind his square glasses went large in perplexity for a split second before regaining his composure effortlessly. (This guy must be smooth... thought Mr Evans).

"Dad?" Lily asked again, this time a little more calmly. Mr Evans noticed he must have been staring at the snide git for too long. (He also noted that Lily had not yet made a move to get off the boy's lap,) "please dad?" Lily prodded carefully, giving Mr Evans the impression of someone about to defuse a rather nasty nuclear bomb.

"Who's this? Is he the one that's been sending you letters?" Mr Evans spat, on the verge of becoming the nuclear bomb Lily was treating him as.

"This is James, dad," Lily announced as she finally stood up from the snide git's lap and position on the swing.
Instantly the snide git (or James) stood up and held out his hand.

"I'm terribly sorry Mr Evans, I wouldn't have intended we meet like this." The boy said woefully.

As the snide git came closer, Mr Evans could see him in better detail. The first thing worth noting about the snide git was how terribly tall he was. Mr Evans was not an abnormally small man, however this boy made him feel like he was. He must have been -by Mr Evans' estimate- about 6 feet and three inches. Secondly, the snide git had incredibly messy hair, it was raven brown, almost black, and it sat at the top of his head at all possible angles; much like someone had taken a balloon and stuck it to his head like children do at birthday parties. Finally, this James character had magnificent hazel eyes, they were large behind such thick glasses and they swam with mischief and humour. His face oozed mirth and charisma and he carried the ghost of a smirk, seemingly, wherever he went.

Pretty as he was, Mr Evans was not willing to behave kindly to the snide git so decided to ignore his outstretched hand and instead took Lily's.

"Let's get you home darling, okay?" Mr Evans asked softly. Lily was startled at first but after shooting James a sympathetic look she reluctantly followed her father into his car.

Knock knock.

So it wasn't so much that Lily didn't want her family to meet James. It was more the fact she didn't want them to meet again.

But, for reasons unknown to Lily, her mother was adamant that he come for dinner. (Of course allowing adequate time for Lily's father to 'recover'. Which took about a week before he stopped stomping around the house like a bratty child.) And Lily, not wanting to hurt her mothers feelings, had accepted.
And now, she admittedly regretted that decision.

"I'm coming!" Lily called as she jogged down the stairs gracefully, while straightening her cord skirt and black jumper. "Okay." She whispered to herself. "It could be worse." And with that she opened the door.

"Hey Jamie!" Lily smiled and she jumped up to kiss his cheek warmly, taking extra time to breathe in his intoxicating scent. Which didn't have a distinguishable smell she could pinpoint; Although she could definitely detect, autumn campfires, hot chocolate, fresh air and rain.

"Hey Evans, are you sure it's safe in there?" He murmured in Lily's ear as he bent down to embrace her gently.

"I'm not sure yet." Lily admitted honestly.

"Well that really is comforting, Love. I have no way of knowing if your dad is going to kill me now?" James joked, although Lily knew there was a hint of sarcasm in his tone; which meant that a small part of him was being deadly serious. Lily knew her boyfriend too well to let him kid her. So without giving him any time to overthink, Lily grabbed James by the hand and led him inside.

It was Mrs Evans that greeted James first. She came out from the kitchen in a sort of oddly fashioned power walk while dusting off her hands on her pale yellow apron. At first glance James thought she looked far too 'normal' to be the mother to such an abnormally different child.

"Mum, this is James, my boyfriend," Lily informed her mother kindly, placing an arm round his middle and her other hand on his chest, as if she were presenting him as a gift.

"It's a pleasure, James," Mrs Evans exclaimed contently as she held out her hand.

"No, no! The pleasure is mine entirely!" James insisted as he picked up Mrs Evans' hand and kissed it briefly. A gasp escaped her mouth as she blushed slightly; clearly flustered by James' gentlemanly demeanour.

James, however, had taken this a very bad way. Instantly jumping to conclusions about what Mrs Evans' reaction could have meant. He was always told to greet a woman this way and could see no wrong in the gesture. In fact, he'd being doing it since he was ten years old.

"Don't get all hot under the caller, mum, he comes from a traditionalist family, the poor guy doesn't know any different. He's been greeting women like a member of the royal family since he was a child." Lily explained in a rather matter-of-factly tone.

Mrs Evans only nodded.
"Well it's certainly very nice to meet you. You're a lot taller than I thought you'd be, you know? I'm surprised you can manage to see our Lily!" Mrs Evans rambled frantically.
"Oh! Where are my manners? Do come in!" She beckoned them in kindly and ran back to the kitchen.

"My dad's out getting wine, he'll be back any second so prepare your Potter Charm or whatever it is you do!" Lily warned as she sat down on the two seated cream couch in the corner of the living room, patting the space next to her.

James only grinned and looked left and right dramatically as if he had lost someone in a crowd.
"Sorry, who spoke? I can't see them for their abnormally small size!"

"I hate you!"

"You love me."

Lily smiled adoringly at the boy on front of her. Taking in his head of shaggy raven hair, his piercing hazel eyes, and his wonderful sense of humour.

"Yeah, I do."

James sat down and Lily pressed her lips to his for the briefest of moments.

"I do love you." Lily consolidated with a wide smile.

"Ugh get a room! I'm telling dad!" A girl James had never seen before spat. She had blonde hair that ran down her back and her face looked pinched; her neck was abnormally long and her eyes were dusty blue.

"Why are you even here Petunia? I thought you were out with your pet whale?" Lily replied bluntly.

"Vernon is not a whale! And I thought I'd come and stay for dinner with my little sister. See her new boyfriend." Petunia taunted. She made air quotes with her fingers as she said the word 'boyfriend'.

"What was that for?" Lily asked angrily, jade eyes blazing with passion, but she needn't have worried as James was to her rescue like a hawk:
"Who else would I be but her boyfriend, ma'am? An escort?"

Lily grinned, it was times like these that she knew why she loved him so much, his staggering need to defend his own, his love and adoration for bad jokes, and his amazing quick wit.

"Well I never doubt Lily- she can do a lot of crazy things, you know? Things that'll shock you." Petunia replied with a sneer that did not show off her natural beauty.

"Really?" James quizzed, evidently bemused.

"Yeah, you'll probably want to leave her after all the things I know..." Petunia smirked evilly but James wasn't phased.

"Like the time when Lily covered herself in mud from falling before her picture day? She told me about it."

Lily stifled a giggle by covering her mouth not so very subtly with her hand.
"Or the time when she stood up on the lunch hall chairs to prove to a boy that she was taller than him?"

"Worse," Petunia assured.

James frowned.
"The time when she fought a boy because he wouldn't let her play hide and seek with him and his friends?"

Lily now laughed openly, throwing her head back and sending a wave of auburn flames in her wake.

Petunia didn't answer but simply began to stare James down.

"The point is that I know all the stories. And I'm still here ain't I? It's what you do when you love someone."

Petunia, again, failed to answer.

"Now, may we start again?" James asked as he stood up and outstretched his hand to her. "I'm James- Lily's boyfriend. And you are?"

"Petunia Evans." Lily's sister sniffed, holding her chin up in pride.
James kissed Petunia's hand delicately and nodded warmly.

Even to my sister he hasn't forgotten his manners!

Lily thought.

Not ten minutes later Lily's dad had arrived back from his trip to the shop with two bottles of wine.

He huffed in the door with one objective- if he couldn't scare the lad off he'd certainly try to be as hostile as possible. The snide git deserved it.

As soon as Mr Evans stepped into the door the snide git was upon him, he took the wine off his hands and placed it on the kitchen counter next to Mrs Evans. And as soon as he had finished doing so he came back in to greet Mr Evans.

"Hello, Sir. It's lovely to meet you properly. I really must apologise for the last time we met. You must understand that I wasn't expecting spectators! I'm James Potter." The snide git apologised as he shook Mr Evans hand firmly.

Although Mr Evans was not quite ready to accept James Potter's apology, he did appreciate the gesture. Mr Evans was a man of subtle gesture himself- being a defence lawyer for the Crown Court- subtle gesture was his job.

"You too, James Potter."
(Although always known as 'snide git' in Mr Evans mind- it was only polite to refer to him as James Potter, it would be outrageously rude to do otherwise.)

When dinner was served to the family the first minute or so was spent in silence. Mrs Evans had spent all afternoon preparing a dinner of chicken, vegetables and roast potatoes and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

"I must say, Mrs Evans, you really are a credit to yourself in respect of your cooking," James smiled- the first to break the silence.

"Well, thank you James!" Mrs Evans grinned in reply.

It all seemed to be going unrealistically well.

Mr Evans was determined to crack this James Potter. There must be something. Some gaping hole in the pretty boy, perfect story...

"So, do you do well at school?" He asked while taking a forkful of peas.

James nodded shyly.
"I'm not bad. Lily is the real brains of our year- puts all the Ravenclaws to shame, she does!"

Lily blushed but nudged him gently,
"James does very well! He's had to help me with my transfiguration homework! And he's never had any less that an Exceeds Expectations, he's always got mainly Os"

"Really?" Mrs Evans asked, clearly impressed,
"How do you manage?"

James laughed genuinely and warmly,
"Honestly, I couldn't tell you ma'am."

The whole table shared a small chuckle then. But however warm this James Potter has turned out to be didn't change the fact Mr Evans saw him snogging his daughter less than two weeks ago.

"Play any sport?" He asked inquisitively, not breaking eye contact with the snide git while he leant down to catch some mashed potato in his mouth.

"Captain of the quidditch team second year running, sir." James replied politely.

Mr Evans had heard Lily talk about quidditch before and she had once spent about half an hour endeavouring to explain the very complicated rules and yet Mr Evans was still at a loss.

"What position do you play?"

"I'm a chaser, sir- number two. I've got very good chasers."

"You any good yourself, son?"

Lily grinned and answered for him:
"He's fabulous, dad! They're saying he's the best chaser Hogwarts has ever seen! He could play professionally he's that good!"

James looked at the floor but grinned all the same, he felt Lily hand slip into his, reminding him to look up.

"Good, good."

The next silence to descend over the family was an extremely awkward one. Even worse that the first even, however it was broken, this time, by Mrs Evans, who asked James very kindly (as if setting an example to her husband):

"So do you do anything else worth noting?"

James thought for a moment before looking Lily's mother in the eye and shaking his head sheepishly.
"Not really Mrs Evans, I ain't that interesting."

"He can ballroom dance!" Lily announced with a mischievous grin.

"Lily!" Her boyfriend whined through his teeth.

Everyone turned to look at James. Their food forgotten for a fleeting moment. Petunia let out a not-so-subtle snort into her dinner plate.

"Really?!" She spluttered, looking at James with wide, mocking eyes. (This was the first time she had acknowledged James since dinner began.)

"Yes, I do." James simply stated back,
"Everyone tends to know how to in family's like mine."

"Family's like what exactly?" Mr Evans probed rather unsympathetically.

"Well..." James trailed off; seemingly choosing his words with extreme caution.
"Well... pureblooded wizard families like mine tend to have traditions, etiquettes and the like that you learn from very young. I've known to ballroom dance since I was about ten."

This seemed to confuse the Evans as they had never heard of such things happening.
"And why is that?"

"It's just their way, I guess. Always done it really. Ever since time pretty much."

"And how is it possible to achieve pureblooded status?" Asked Mrs Evans- clearly ignorant to how uncomfortable this subject was to James and many other traditionally warmer pureblood families.

"Well..." James was again choosing his words carefully, he took considerable time to locate the right ones.
"Slightly more... conservative members of families like mine think it important to keep witchcraft and wizardry in the family. Of course we don't all have that view, definitely not, but some do. And therefore only chose to have children with other pureblooded individuals."

This left Petunia quite shocked and she stopped eating to listen to James talk.

"So, what are your family saying about your relationship with Lily? I'm guessing you've told them?" Mrs Evans asked; now more intrigued than ever.

James was silent. His face displayed a deep confusion because at these times it wasn't a simply yes or no, up or down, back or white; there were far too many in-between, too many directions, too many shades of grey.

Eventually he looked up and took a small breath. Lily squeezed his hand as tight as she could.

"Some of them don't mind- most of them support it. But the thing with having such a large family is that they all got opinions, and they're all very old conservative opinions; and I'm sorry if it offends you, ma'am but some of them don't like it. Call me all sorts, say I should marry a pureblood girl like Alice Prewett or Hestia Jones."
It was clear this embarrassed James. As much as his home life was amazing, he grew up with loving partners and they accepted him and Sirius in to their welcoming family, he also -like any pureblood family- had their faults, in the forms of traditionalist family members who believed that purebloods should keep their heritage to themselves.

Mr Evans was grimacing- clearly in a state of shock. The snide git didn't seem so snide anymore.

How much had he given up to be with Lily?

What had he put up with to love her?

"So you fall out with your family? Over it?" Mrs Evans asked, wracked with a new found guilt for her daughters boyfriend.

"No, no! My parents were lovely about it, very accepting, my mother especially loved Lily. But some don't agree, I don't see them often- I put off seeing them to be frank, Mrs Evans."

She couldn't help but ask:
"You said your parents were?..."

For the first time that evening, James did not look Lily's mother in the eye when answering her question.
"Yeah. Died two months ago. Got dragon pox, they were old parents though- got a lot out of life before they went. Can't complain."

Mr Evans felt his stomach drop in fatherly sympathy for the boy that perhaps he'd been a little too quick to call a snide git. Perhaps he was just a seventeen year old man, who had lost his parents and stuck in the middle of a war he didn't ask for, fighting for his right to love.

Mr and Mrs Evans announced their condolences as Lily rubbed her boyfriend's arm soothingly.
And it was after that the mood began to lift. There was less talk about the war between pureblood and Muggleborn and more lighthearted conversation.
James even managed to explain to Lily's father how quidditch worked. (And James told the story -prompted by Lily- of the only time he had filled in as seeker in fifth year: After being hit by a bludger twenty minutes in; James only waited until he had caught the snitch to announce that he had broken his arm.)

"So, I cant believe I haven't asked how you met?" Mrs Evans smiled as she addressed her daughter and her boyfriend.

Lily smirked at James who went an incredible scarlet.
"Well... me and James were quite the rivals," Lily explained, "notorious for arguing. And at some point James had begun annoying me by asking me out everyday, he wasn't serious in the beginning- but in the end he was. And so was I." Lily looked up at James with a smile, he returned it with an opposing smirk. His face oozed easy going and calm but Lily knew that the hazel eyes she looked into radiated nerves, still.

"Well! Oh my!" Mrs Evans laughed, "isn't that lovely Petunia?"

Petunia didn't say anything, just looked up and offered a closed mouth bitter smile. James thought she rather looked like she was constantly biting a lemon and trying her very best not to let anyone become aware of the fact.

All in all the conversation was free flowing, and they talked for hours. James insisted on helping dry the dishes with Lily once all the plates were cleared.

It wasn't long after nine that James took his leave. He bid goodbye to Petunia who returned his well wishes before disappearing upstairs. He then bid farewell to Mrs Evans the same way he had greeted her- thanking her extensively for such a lovely meal. And finally he came to well-wish Mr Evans.

"Thank you for letting me stay for dinner, sir. All unfortunate elements considered."

Mr Evans smiled wryly and nodded.
"You're a good man, James Potter."

James Potter grinned and thanked Mr Evans for his hospitality before letting Lily lead him outside.

"See? Wasn't so bad, was it?" Lily smiled as she shut the front door behind her, leaving them both alone in the December chill.

"It could have been worse." He admitted.

"I'm sorry about the whole pureblood war conversation, I should have mentioned it before you arrived." Lily sighed sadly as she took both his hands and looked up into his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, love. It's not your fault. Ain't anyone's fault but the war's."

Lily nodded, "I know."

They stared into each other's eyes for a while, learning more about the other by the second, just by looking into each other's eyes.

Finally James broke the tranquility by insisting that he take his leave.

"Goodnight Lily."

"Night James."

"I love you. Sleep well."

"I love you too, Jamie."

She took a first full of his navy blue sweater to pull him down to her height, then she was able to kiss him softly on the lips.

When they pulled away James grinned.
"See you later Lily."

And with that, he took three steps back into the street; looked left; looked right and dissapperated into the night with a small crack.

After that night Mr Evans decided that perhaps he was too quick to judge James Potter, and that perhaps the snide git wasn't so snide after all.
Perhaps he really was a man deserving of his daughters love.

He knew it would happen eventually, he knew the day Lily was born that one day a man would take her heart away and run with it. For he knew that children were on a loan to parents and that one day the universe would take them back and turn them into the individuals they were raised to be; he just didn't expect it to be so soon. He didn't expect the snide git to be such a deserving form of a taxman, collecting Mr Evans' loan- taking back his daughter and giving her to the universe where she belonged.

It was that day that the snide git became James Potter, and the day that the taxman came to collect his loan.

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The first oneshot I ever wrote and will always hold a special place in my heart (: