Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from the huge world of Harry Potter is, unfortunately, not mine.

I know it's been ages since I updated this fanfic, but I just got a bit of a block...I have ideas at the moment- I just posted a Sirius one-shot and I'm going to write the next chapter of James' Duel ASAP. I am getting back into writing.
I am sorry it took so long - college and work don't leave me that much spare time, but I've totally neglected this. I promise to update sooner next time. Honestly.

A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, even when it had been ages since an update and it seemed doubtful that there would be one.

So, this goes out to anyone who's ever reviewed this fanfic, or favourited it, or author alerted it.

The Easter Holidays – Part 1 (Chapter 14)

A few days after James' skinny dipping and Sirius' Giant Squid incident, the Easter holidays began. Having stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, James and Lily decided to go home for Easter – James' parents and his older brothers wanted to meet Lily and Lily's parents wanted to get to know James better. They were also talking about plans for Petunia's wedding.

In the end, Lily and James decided to go to Lily's house first for a few days and then go to James' house. After that they'd still have about a week left to go away together; they wanted some privacy and they wanted to travel. A week didn't really give them that much time to explore the world, but they decided on a few places that they both wanted to visit and also booked two muggle flights to Berlin becauseJames was curious about the muggle way of flying.

James and Lily left Hogwarts, complete with a stack of Easter homework each, and apparated to Lily's house with their trunks. James was sleeping on the sofa – Lily had offered to give up her room for him, but he had flatly refused.

Lily's house was a regular three bedroom terraced house, so it was a little cramped having James there as well and tensions were high – Petunia took every opportunity to make a snide remark about James or just about the wizarding world in general, and she frequently invited Vernon to the house to join in. James and Lily both tried their best to ignore the pathetic digs at them and James often just laughed and agreed with Petunia, which only infuriated her even more. The remarks got worse and worse, with Petunia getting more and more annoyed at the non-existent or positive responses that she received each time.

The wedding plans were a load of crap. Petunia was going to look awful in her puffy dress, which was very unflattering of her thin figure and the church was going to be flooded with flowers. There wasn't even the question of Lily being a bridesmaid as Petunia had flatly refused when her parents mentioned it. Petunia was annoyed at Lily and James being there, stealing some of the attention away from her and Vernon. This was her big moment and Lily and James were just a couple of freaks – what was so great about them?

Thank god they were only spending a few days at Lily's house. James got on well with Lily's parents and, apart from Petunia everything was fine. That was another thing that annoyed the hell out of Petunia; her parents seemed to get on better with James than they did with Vernon. Even though Mr and Mrs Evans loved both of their daughters equally, Petunia was jealous of the attention that Lily got.

Eventually, after a particularly vicious round of spiteful remarks, Petunia's temper erupted. She lost her sister in one sentence.

"It's your fault Jack's dead - if you weren't a witch he'd still be alive."

Lily had just regarded Petunia coldly before turning to go upstairs and pack her stuff. She loved her parents, but she couldn't live with Petunia anymore. James gave her strength and helped her to ignore Petunia, but this was just too much.

"Bullshit." Lily turned to see James standing next to her. He seemed calm, but Lily sensed the strong anger underneath. He was going to give Petunia a piece of his mind.

"What?" Petunia spat.

"You heard. Jack was murdered by terrorists – nothing to do with Lily. Terrorists – just the same as terrorists who don't know a thing about magic."

"How come they picked on Jack then?"

"They didn't. Terrorists don't pick on individuals; they just kill as many as they can."

"Well, I'm sure-"

"No. You're not sure. How could you possibly be sure? Don't you dare blame Lily. There's no rational logic behind it and Jack wasn't targeted. They attacked in the middle of a densely populated city and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lily is a better person than you'll ever be."

Disgusted with Petunia, James walked away and Lily followed, leaving a shocked Petunia standing in the middle of the living room unable to speak.

Having hastily packed up their belongings and said goodbye to Lily's parents, James and Lily arrived at James' house an hour or so after the argument with Petunia. They had been planning on going to James' house that day anyway – it was just a bit earlier in the day than they had anticipated.

The only wizarding world house that Lily had ever been to before was Ari's and James' seemed so different, even from the outside. It seemed to have some muggle elements about it – there was a drive way on which a lovingly polished vintage car sat. There was a swimming pool outside, but it was more technologically advanced than any muggle swimming pool Lily had ever seen. The house looked old and was huge, yet it still seemed to be full up with James' family.

Lily had never been so nervous. James had two older brothers – Jeremy and Edward ('call me Ed!') and an older sister, Lani. Lani worked at the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, Jeremy was a professional Quidditch player and Ed was training to become a translator. Jeremy and Lani (and her husband, Lucas) had come to stay with their parents especially to meet Lily, as James had spent a lot of time talking about her (after Sirius 'accidentally' told everyone about her) and that made Lily feel even more nervous. What if she didn't live up to their expectations?

James grinned at her and lightly kissed the tip of her nose.

"They're not that bad, you know. They'll probably absolutely love you and ask why you're going out with someone like me."

Lily laughed. "I ask myself the same thing sometimes." Looking at James' bewildered face, Lily laughed even harder and felt herself relax a bit.

"Haha. Very funny. You should fit right in – they're all mean to me!"

"Drama queen." Lily replied, poking her tongue out.

"And if not," James smiled, "you've got me."

Lily and James walked up to the front door, hand in hand.

A few hours later, Lily's nerves had vanished altogether. Sure enough, Jeremy and Ed had teased her about finally going out with James, but Lily had given as good as she got. They even asked her how much James had paid her to go out with him – Lily just laughed and turned to James and they proceeded to engage in some tonsil tennis ('I guess he must be paying her a lot').

James' parents were groovy – his dad had the same mischievous glint in his eyes that James often had and discussed pranks with James at length. His mum was short compared to the rest of the family and had James' hazel eyes. She was caring, but cunning – she seemed to know everything, especially how to win any argument with her husband or her children.

The last member of the family was a large ginger cat, who resembled a small lion or tiger. Simba was a very soppy cat who loved attention and was constantly rubbing against people's legs. He also sometimes meowed until someone picked him up and gave him a hug.

Lily stayed in a spare bedroom near James'. It was easy to get lost in the house and Lily kept discovering muggle items – she found a television and decided to make James watch a film that was on that night.

Unfortunately, the film didn't really interest James and he soon flopped back on the bed that he and Lily were sitting on and sighed, staring at the ceiling. He and Lily had feasted on popcorn and cherry cola bottles, but they had all been devoured and James was thinking about whether to get some more when he felt a soft thump on his stomach.

Sitting upright, James saw that the culprit was a mischievous Lily caught red handed with a pillow.

"Right…" Grabbing one of his pillows, James turned to Lily, who scrambled as far away as she could and chucked one of her pillows at his head.

"This means war!"

James lunged at Lily, pillow in hand. Lily squealed, ducking the blow and hitting James again.

"Ha!" Lily poked her tongue out, then screamed as James took advantage and hit her.

Chaos ensued as the war continued. The pillows burst, sending feathers everywhere, which Simba curiously inspected and then tried to eat.

"Okay, okay." Lily uttered though her laughter. "I give up."

James was lying on top of her. "So, I've officially won?" He asked.

"No."

James tickled Lily's sides and she couldn't help giggling.

"You sure?"

"No." Lily reaffirmed and pushed him off of her to reverse their position.

"Now who's won?" She asked and began to tickle James, who desperately tried to keep the smile off his face.

"You have, my love." He said.

"Softy." Lily replied, rolling off of him.

They lay still for a while, catching their breath and losing it again when they caught sight of Simba, who had bits of the white feathers stuck to his long fur.

"Next week is going to be brilliant." James stated.

"Indeed, it is." Lily replied and shifted towards James to give him a hug.

Please review - I'm not sure about this chapter and I'd like to know what people think! Also, information on Berlin would probably be helpful. :0)

Tanya