(Unexpected) Summer gathering at Lily's

[Lily Evans]

<sup>Lily Evans sat in her garden, she was at this precise moment trying to plant some new flowers. They weren't her favourite being just 'wildflower (selection 2)' but they would suffice. Besides, she wasn't there during the year to water them so they couldn't be exotic plants, but flowers that would grow easily by themselves and not require a lot of maintenance. She was kneeling in the dirt, a pair of green shorts, which had several rips in and lots of grass stains covered her legs as she basked in the warm sun. Her top was covered by a plain white top with her hair tucked up in a bun, however most of the mass of red hair was coiling down her neck and shoulders.

It was the summer after her third year at Hogwarts, and what a year it had been. It didn't seem like she would be going into her fourth year of wizarding, it was almost unreal. She missed her friends, she wasn't really able to have friends from school round because of her sister, Petunia. No she wasn't a lunatic, shew asn't a drunkard or anything, she was your typical older sister. Jealous, grudge-holding and spiteful. There was no way in hell that any of Lily's friends would've survived with Petunia throwing insults at Lily every five minutes. Lily sighed, lifting her emerald eyes from the patch of soil that she had been busy filling with tiny seeds and gently covering them back up. She squinted in the light and thought of all her friends. Third year at Hogwarts had not been an easy one, that much was certain. Sadie had experienced lots of problems from both Black boys, apparently, and Anya had also had boy troubles with Remus and Kai. Not to mention Lily's encounter with boys in the past year. Tobias, Regulus, James and Remus. That was one person she definately missed, Remus and her had become a lot closer over the past year, and they hadn't come close easily, there had been an overwhelming cost, Remus' mother, Lily's heart and James' stupidity. No third year had not been great, but it had made a lot of frienships stronger.

Lily smiled, now was her chance to relax before she went back to the castle. She missed Hogwarts, even though it meant, work, stress and Potter. Potter...she scowled even thinking about him. She had almost given him a chance and then he had blown it by going out with someone else and then torturing Snape and other Slytherins, after that Lily vowed that she would never, NEVER, fall for his bag of tricks again. Resuming her position under the hot sun, Lily began digging the trowel further into the soil whilst humming a muggle song she had heard on the radio that morning.</sup>

[Remus J. Lupin]

<sup>A lad was walking down the street, whistling softly, a smile upon his pale face and amber eyes reflecting the bright light of the sun. He’d heard that it was Lily’s birthday today, and had made a special stop to go and buy her something. Now he was stood at the bottom of Lily’s front garden, not whistling anymore, merely watching the girl with her gardening. In his right hand, he held a stick-like brown package, and on his other shoulder a small bag was slung.

“Hello Lily!” Remus called, still smiling brightly. His auburn hair was longer now, and rather… Lovely looking. He looked more mature and older now, and that soft, caring smile never seemed to leave his face.
“Happy Birthday.” He added.</sup>

[Sirone Solis]

Sirone walked up to Lily's house and stopped when she saw Remus and Lily. Sirone smirked "hello you two" she said. She hadn't really went out of her way to visit Lily on her birthday. She was a muggleborn also so she knew her way around England pretty well. "I uh got you a present" she said holding up a small package. It was just a gold necklace saying lily not much but she felt like she had to get her something.

She smiled "I hope I'm not disturbing anything" she added quickly. The main reason she was here was tha her parents were fighting again and she hated it. Any excuse to get away her Gran used to say.

[Lily Evans]

^{Lily stopped her gardening as she turned to look at the visitor in mild surprise, her emerald eyes widening as she realised who it was. "Remus? Remus!" She cried as a smile lit up her face. Throwing the trowel back down in the dirt, she literally flew to where he stood and launched into a hug. She laughed at her own boldness before she pulled back and smiled, "I've missed you so much! What are you doing here, anyway? How did you know it was my birthday, how've you been, who are you staying with? Do you want to come in?" Lily asked in a flurry of questions, she was almost like a hyper puppy. Her large emerald eyes were now looking at him curiously, trying to pin point exactly what was...different about him. Good different, but still different before her face fell and she looked at her hands and the state of her clothes. "Oh Remus, I'm so sorry, I've made your clothes all dirty now, I'm so stupid. Sorry." She said as she looked critically at his slightly muddy clothes. She smiled once more as she waited for a repsonse to her multitide of questions.}

[Remus J. Lupin]

^{“That’s quite all right, Lily,” Remus laughed. “I was on my way to James’ house, and I thought I might pop in. And, as to how I know it’s your birthday, I just do.” He then offered her the stick-like bundle, still smiling broadly, not caring in the least that his clothes were now dirty. They could be easily washed, so he didn’t care.
{The present is a glass lily flower. ^^}}

[quackquackcow]

"I'm so upset! A party and /I/ wasn't invited.." a pouting Sadie joked as she watched the three.

"Hello you guys, I just moved in with my dad a couple of streets away. And well. A little birdy told me it was your Birthday Lily.." she grinned as she walked over to them.
Oh, how she was glad it was the summer holidays. NOt that she didn't like Hogwarts.. She loved it, but she also loved being able to wear her own clothes.

She was at that moment wearing the pale blue dress her dad had bought her for her birthday, strange really as she never really liked wearing dresses.
A package was under her arm, a present for Lily of course.
Her gift was slightly strange, a silk Japanese Kimono with a Lily motif. Oh well.
She had asked her dad to get her something special for Lily when he went on his buisness trip and he came back with a Kimono.

[Sirone Solis]

"Oh course you weren't invited" she said smiling. "Your no where near important enough" she added.

Oh course she didn't think that Sadie wasn't important enough. That would be a stupid pompous thing to think. "I'm joking" she said quickly not knowing if they had all grasped that concept. She was not one of thoose people who were very good with sarcasim.

[Lily Evans]

<sup>Lily blushed slightly before grinning, "Oh you guys are so nice to me!" She said as she pulled Sadie and Sirone into a one-armed hug. "You really didn't have to get me anything. It's so nice that you all popped by! You can meet my ... parents." She said her smile faltering slightly. No, Petunia would NOT ruin this moment, if she did Lily would have to hex her later. "It's so great to see you all, how are you, what have you been up to?" She asked as she gazed expectantly at all of them, as if they'd have some amazing adventure story to tell her, she assumed that most people in the wizarding world had exciting holidays, even though hers were strictly 'non-magical' and the most exciting thing she'd done was plant some roses last sumemr, which had died.

She smiled at them again, she felt so priveleged that they were there, this was a real birthday present, not like the bouncy ball Petunia had given her. Shaking her head free of these thoughts, she was filled with thoughts of Anya coming to visit, maybe. If she did then it would be perfect, all of her close friends there for her birthday. She was elated right now, so happy she couldn't help but grin. All the stress of school was behind and the peace of the summer had fallen upon them, meaning this was just another meeting between friends. Not discussing anything of importance, not trying to figure out feelings, just friends meeting for a laugh. Bliss!</sup>

[quackquackcow]

"It's alright, honestly.. Did you really think I wasn't going to come visit you after moving 'round the corner?"
She laughed before untangling herself from Lily to pull Remus into a hug.
"You alright mate? You know that offer of a spare bedroom is still there, right?"

[Remus J. Lupin]

^{Remus returned the embrace to both girls, still smiling broadly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. And the spare bedroom- depends what your parents'll say. But hey- put that aside for now." Remus then motioned to the flowers Lily had been planting.
"I never knew you had green fingers, Lils." He chuckled, placing his hands in his (rather shabby) trouser pockets.}

[Lily Evans]

^{Lily shrugged and grinned, "Yeah, well I suppose if I do fail my OWLs then I can become an assisstant gamekeeper, right?" She said as she gazed fondly around the front lawn. "That's the one bad thing about Hogwarts, when I went there, I had to leave all my flowers behind to die." She feigned a sigh and brought her hand to her forehead before laughing. "Anyways, why don't you guys come in and then you can meet the parents, and I'll open these lovely presents." The red head said with a small grin as she began to walk up the garden path towards her house.}

[Remus J. Lupin]

^{Remus followed instantly, taking bounding leaps to catch up with Lily as she was already have way up the path.
"Wait up already!" He laughed, slowing down as he walked in /exact/ time with her. Same foot forwards and stuff.
"Come on you lot." Remus called over his shoulder at the others. "Quickly- or you'll get locked out." He added, chuckling yet again.}

[Lily Evans]

<sup>Lily smiled as Remus caught up with her, "So, what've you been up to so far, anything interesting?" She asked before beckoning the two girls to follow them to the house. It wasn't overly large, but it had a lovely front garden, and a gravel path leading to the detached house. It was a two story building, with five windows gleaming in the front and a large, blue door nestled in the middle of the ground floor. Lily sighed, she'd always loved her house, especially the back garden which had a large water feature running through the back. A willow tree stood proudly over the water, and Lily had attached a rope swing one summer which dangled from the base of her tree ouse, which her dad had made for her.

She smiled as she continued to crunch up the stony path to reach the azure door, with Remus, Sadie and Sirone in tow. Today was going to be a good birthday.</sup>

[quackquackcow]

"Coming," she laughed dashing up the gravel path, making loud crunching noises as she did so.

"So, got any birthday cake?" she asked with a cheeky smile as she caught up with Lily and Remus.

OoC: || Lame post >.<

[Lily Evans]

^{Lily raised her eyebrow at Sadie, "Maybe," She said slyly, "Depends on whether you deserve cake or not." She said, appearing to mull it over in her head before grinning. "We have two, but I wouldn't recommend the errr...bananerry/strawberry ....thing on the kitchen counter. My cousin made it and, she's not the best cook in the world." Lily said with a small smile before she opened the door to her house and kicked off her shoes into the open cupboard to her left. "Come in, everyone." She said with a smile. "So, who does want cake?"}