Author's Note: So once again (even though it seems as if I am always doing this) I want to apologize profusely for the obscenely long wait that you have had to endure since the last time that I updated and my updating now. Life got hectic, and on top of everything else, I discovered the wonderful world for the vlogbrothers, nerdfighting, and brotherhood 2.0. So any of you out there who are looking for some really funny videos made by people who actually deserve to have people listening to them (i.e., they are actually really smart) go on youtube and check out the vlogbrothers channel. If you are anything like me…you won't regret the decision. But in light of that fact, I have to admit that I have been doing nothing but watching them every waking moment of my existence when I have not been required to do other trivial things such as homework, going to school (AP classes are going to be the death of me), eating, sleeping, practicing my piano and flute…you get the picture. And on top of everything else, I got a boyfriend….

So without further ado…Here is the chapter!

Charmed Love Chapter 29

March 26

The Potter House, probably more accurately described as a bloody Mansion

So here I sit, drinking hot chocolate and wondering how in the world I managed to get myself into this dilemma. Or more importantly, how I am going to deal with the fact that James Potter is actually really wealthy, something that he has never seen fit to tell me about until I was walking up to his house, or what I thought at the time was a museum.

He never considered telling me "Lily, my family is one of the most prestigious and wealthy wizarding families to ever exist. I have enough money that I could buy an entire country or possibly the Pope if I was ever so inclined."

Nope. Never.

And while I am perfectly aware of the fact that he would probably ever say the aforementioned statement (nor would ever consider buying the Pope considering the fact that I don't think he is Catholic) it still would have been nice to know beforehand. Because I believe that having the ability to buy the bloody Pope is certainly noteworthy and something that you would tell people about.

Although, now that I think more carefully on the subject; while never admitting to being wealthy, James never said that he was the equivalent of a pauper. He just never mentioned the whole Pope buying aspect of his financial status.

Anyways, I can tell by the way that your eyes have taken on a sort of blank, glossy look that you are wondering how exactly I came about this Epiphany. So I guess that I will just start at the very beginning, because as they say in the Sound of Music, it is a rather good place to start.

It was actually yesterday when I woke up that the whole thing began…

Okay, I know that since this is a story that I really can't take you back in time, but it would be really helpful if you, my dear journal, could pretend so that I could tell you my story about how I came to find out that James Potter is rich enough to buy the Pope.

-o.0.o-

"Lily, come on, you are going to make us late if you eat another sprig of grapes." Alice complained as she tapped her fingers on the table making sharp staccato notes ping throughout the Great Hall.

"I don't think that a bunch of grapes are called a sprig." I pointed out as I popped one into my mouth and felt the distinctive splash of juice slosh over my tongue. "I think they are just called a bunch."

"Whatever," Alice dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand as if she was shoo-ing a fly away from her face. "Possible technical grammar mistakes aside, my point is still valid. We are going to be late if you persist in stuffing your face with fruit."

"Ugh." I groaned, foreseeing the sudden end of my breakfast enjoyment. "Fine, I'll go now without finishing my fruit even though I don't want to." It really wasn't that big of a deal, but I figured that I would milk the situation for everything it is worth.

"Yes, Lily you are a paragon of virtue and a role model to everyone. Are you done with your pity party now?" Alice asked standing arms akimbo, her cloak looped through one of her arms.

"See what I go through for you." I turned looking at James who was still sitting at the table eating his eggs while talking to Remus.

"What you go through for me?" He questioned; his eyes narrowing in confusion as he tried to follow my train of thought. "What did I do now?"

"It is because of your stupid birthday that I have to go out shopping with Alice today in Hogsmeade. If your parents weren't throwing you a ball for your birthday party I wouldn't be dragged to every dress shop in order to find a suitable dress to wear. So you see, it is your fault." I accused, poking him in the shoulder for extra emphasis.

"What if I told you that I would be willing to make it worth your wild?" He replied as he stood up so that he could seem as though he was willing to share in my plight.

"That is without a doubt the most ridiculous thing that I have heard ever heard you say." I laughed, affectionately ruffling his hair. "Remind me again why, exactly, I put up with you?" I teased.

"I would have thought that that would be pretty obvious. You can't live without me; I am the fire to your soul and the light in your day." He boasted, throwing his head back. James looked like he was waiting for someone to carve a statue of him standing in exactly that manner. Men!

"Don't flatter yourself James." I respond, quickly covering up my momentary pause of terror that his comment of not being able to live without him might have sprung up from that night in the Hospital Wing. I didn't want him to know that I was that attached to him without having any confidence that he was similarly afflicted.

"Oh, so I am just flattering myself, am I?" He chuckled as he leaned in closer to gently kiss the corner of my mouth.

"Okay, maybe you aren't just flattering yourself. But you are certainly in danger from pulling your arm out of its socket from patting yourself on the back, of that I am positive." I gently pulled back a couple of inches so that I could see the mischievous twinkle that I knew would be in his eyes.

"I think the precise term you are looking for is that I shouldn't let you ever have any doubts that I'm having self-esteem issues. I would never do that to you." He added, his smile going all the way up to his eyes making him seem more handsome than he already is.

I rolled my eyes at that one. "Oh, that's very gentleman-ly of you. I shall sleep better knowing you aren't going to start eating worms."

"Why would I eat worms? I don't think that there are any spices that could make worms taste good." He said.

I had forgotten that he wouldn't have understood my worm allusion. God, sometimes is to just so bloody inconvenient to be muggle-born. "It was an allusion to a children's rhyme that goes: No one likes me. Everybody hates me. I think I'll eat worms." I sang along to the tune.

His eyebrows raised in amusement and probably a good deal of sarcasm. "And remind me again why I hang out with you." He asked softly, turning my own words on me.

"Ha-ha, very funny." I replied as I stretched up to kiss him. "You're always the comedian, James."

"Excuse me, Sorry." Alice interrupted. "Don't mean to break up your little love fest, Lily, but if we want to get into town before all of the great dresses are taken, we should probably get going."

"Okay Alice." I turned back to James. "Do you think I have any chance of getting out of this? I could fake an injury; do you think I could develop a convincing injury in the next couple of seconds?"

"Sadly, I don't think so. And besides, you know Alice. Do you really think something as trivial as a possible broken foot would stop her from taking you out dress shopping? She would have you down to Madame Pomfrey, get your foot fixed, and have you in a dressing room before you could say 'No one likes me. Everybody hates me. I think I'll eat worms.' And I know you, Lily. You wouldn't ever go through with that because you are too nice. You know how much Alice wants to go shopping, and wouldn't take that from her." James replied, looking down at me with a knowing smile on his face. God, it is just so bloody inconvenient that he knows me so well.

With a final kiss on the lips, I turned around and headed out from the castle with my arms linked with Alice. I asked her when we were going to meet up with Vanessa and Beth and she replied that we would see them at the dress shop because they decided to sleep in later this morning than us.

The trip to Hogsmeade was fairly uneventful. I listened to Alice prattle on and on about how excited she was to go shopping. She swore that she was only going to help me find the perfect dress for the evening. I rolled my eyes at that; Alice is not known for her frugality. She once bought three bags of cat food just because it was such a great deal. It was not until she came back from her trip that she remembered that she was allergic to cats. Love her to death, but sometimes she is just too much for me.

"Oh, I just love the smell of fresh clothing in the mid-morning. Well, I suppose it is a tad nicer when it is early in the morning, but somebody was taking much longer than necessary when leaving. Now I am not going to name any names, but I think you mean, right Lily?" She said coughing in all the right spots.

"Not all of us feel the compelling need to start shopping at 6:30 in the morning." I said as the shop door's bell tinkled to let us know that Vanessa and Beth had arrived.

"Hey, Lily. Hi Alice" Beth said as she walked over with her arm looped through Vanessa's.

"Did you two have a good breakfast?" Vanessa asked as she moved to stand next to me so that the four of us where in a semi-circle around the entryway to the woman's formal dresses.

"It was just spiffy." I replied as I scanned my eyes over the racks and racks of endless dresses that covered over half of the store. Ugh, this outing was not going to be over any time soon. Alice wouldn't rest until I had tried on every dress and more in the store.

Beth moved to stand on the other side of me. "You don't seem very excited about doing this. It is not going to be that bad, Lily." She leaned in and whispered into my ear.

"Hey, you aren't the one that is going to spend the next five hours dressing and undressing in a small, cramped dressing room while Alice is constantly handing you five more dresses to try on every time that you open the door."

"Now you are just exaggerating and you know it Lily." Beth reproved, putting her arm comfortingly around my shoulders.

"You didn't see the wild, excited look in her eyes when she first walked in this morning. Honestly, I silently prayed that she remembered to use the bathroom this morning in fear that she would pee her pants from excitement." I stated, turning to look at Beth with a definite sense of dread in my eyes.

"Come on Lily, let's get a move on. We're burning sunlight here." Alice said as she peeked around one of the many racks that easily contained twenty dresses on its pole. I saw that Alice was already holding a couple dresses in her hands.

"We should probably go now; we wouldn't want to hear about our sluggish attitudes for the rest of the year, and possibly our respective lives." I said, as Beth laughed at my hyperbole, that unfortunately wasn't that out of the question given Alice's past behavior. She still has a grudge against poor George Adamsfield for spilling her favorite jar of ink in first year.

"Okay, see, we're moving now, Dress-Shopping god." Beth replied as she quickly walked over to the first rack of dresses that she spotted.

"Beth, please don't say that too loud, otherwise we will never hear the end of it." Vanessa said with an oddly frightened look on her face.

"Don't worry Vanessa, it's not like she is going to be offended by us calling her that." Beth rolled her eyes as she wisely passed over a super-short orange dress that had two giant sunflowers over the bust area. I think she saw the I-will-probably-puke-if-I-ever-have-to-wear-that-in-public that flashed over my face when I saw it.

"I'm positive that she won't be offended. I am just afraid that she will make us call her that for the rest of the trip. Can you imagine?" Vanessa shuddered. I laughed, that was defiantly something that didn't take much effort to visualize.

Before I knew it, Alice had grabbed my arm, dragged me to the back of the store to where the dressing rooms are, and shoved me inside one with an armful of dresses. All the while, I might add, informing us that she did hear us talking about the Dress-Shopping god and how she was going to make us call her that for the rest of the trip.

I stripped off my jeans and royal blue sweater as soon as I was sure the door was locked. The first dress that I tried on was a simple floor-length red dress. I carefully zipped up the back and walked out of the dressing room so that I could look at myself in the three-sided mirror that was just outside.

The dress itself was very pretty, but I felt like a fire truck in it. I get enough comments about my red hair on a normal day, I didn't think that I needed to add to the effect by essentially swathing myself in the color. By the time I was finishing up looking at myself in the mirror, Beth, Vanessa, and the Dress-Shopping god were all standing behind me so that they could see each of the dresses. My eyes met theirs in the mirror and we all agreed that this dress was just not the one for me.

The next dress was your typical little black dress, something that looks good on basically everyone. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I could appreciate why everyone loves them so much. I actually felt (and it felt weird to think this) sexy. It exposed a great deal more leg than I normally am comfortable with, but it wasn't so high that I would be self-conscious that my butt was going to show from under the dress. The looks from my friends were all positive, but defiantly in agreement that this might be a little bit much if I was going to be meeting all of his family for the first time.

So, I slipped back in to the room and put on the next dress. It wasn't until I was changing that I realized how strange it was that we didn't need to speak when doing something like this. I guess it is just because we all were so close that speaking it aloud just seemed unnecessary. I don't think I say this enough, but I do have a really great group of friends. We all know and more importantly understand each other so well, that I usually just take it for granted. But I do know a whole lot of people that don't have this luxury of having such terrific friends.

The next dress was a deep blue one that ended just at my knees. It had only one shoulder and along that shoulder it had tiny rosebuds that followed down all the way down the strap and partly over the top like of the bust. As soon as I looked into the mirror, I just knew that this was the dress that I wanted to wear. It was defiantly the one that I felt the most comfortable and beautiful in. It exposed by collarbone, which I knew James would like because, quite honestly, he kisses me there a lot. And it showed off enough of my legs to still look slightly sexy but not so much as to offend any senior members at the ball.

I heard the three of them take a collective gasp when I walked out of the room. I could tell that this dress was the winner for them too. "This is the dress, guys." I simply said as I spun around so that I was facing them.

Beth and Vanessa both agreed with my saying that I looked so beautiful. When Alice didn't immediately speak up, they both turned to look at her. "I wasn't even thinking about suggesting that you try a different dress because it is obvious that you like this one so much." Alice said with a smile on her face. "Plus, I can't wait to see James's eyes fall out of his head when he looks at you."

"Yeah, what I wouldn't give to see the look on your boyfriend's face when you walk down the stairs." Vanessa agreed when I walked back out of the dressing room with my regular clothes back on.

I blushed and looked away. "Umm…James isn't my boyfriend." I replied awkwardly. I always hated it when someone brought that up, because James wasn't technically my boyfriend.

"Oh, Lily. Please tell me that you two have worked that out by now." Beth pleaded with a strained look on her face.

"Well, it's never really come up in conversation. James never mentions it, or even thinks about it most likely, and I don't really know how to broach the topic with him either." I replied as I twined my fingers together in front of me.

"Well, I'm sure that James thinks of you as his girlfriend, Lily. I mean, you have been together since Christmas. Obviously if he didn't like you or consider you his girlfriend he would have dumped you by now. I sure he just hasn't realized that you didn't just assume that as well." Vanessa added in.

"Yeah, but what if he doesn't." I replied in a weaker sounding voice than I would have liked.

Sensing that I didn't really want to talk about this anymore, Alice walked over and out her arm around me. "I'm sure that Lily doesn't want to talk about this right now, guys. But Lily, seriously, you and James really need to work this out. I mean, it was fine for the first couple of months this we-still-act-like-a-lovesick-couple-but-aren't-technically-dating thing, but you two need to decide what you are one way or another. Either you two are dating, or you aren't. And if you aren't, you need to stop this Lily because it will only hurt you later."

I nodded so that she would know that I heard her but didn't say anything else.

"Just promise me that you will think about it, okay. And that you will talk about it with James soon." Alice finished as she walked on ahead with Beth and Vanessa as we were leaving the shop.

They were right as usual. It has been bothering me for the last month, but I have been too afraid to say anything, not sure whether or not it was worth it to upset the delicate balance that James and I have been able to reach in the last couple of months.

I pondered what I would do next as I sat near the window watching the snow melt on the other side of the window pane.

Author's Note: It is up to you to decide whether or not you want to consider this as a chapter in parts with the other chapter or maybe two (I haven't decided how long I want this to span) that will all birthday related events. Whatever you decide, I really hope that you enjoyed the chapter or Part 1. I just want to apologize again for not updating for such a long period of time. I just went through one of those spells that I didn't really spend any time on fan fiction, so the bug to write a chapter for my story just wasn't there. But as you can see, I started reading again, thus I decided to finish up the chapter that I had started writing about 7 months ago…

FanFic Recommend: The Innermost Workings of her Mind by XxLadyMarauderxX. This story is intensely good and funny. I have a special fondness for this particular story because it was the one that inspired me two write this story three years ago. As is turns out, our stories are not that similar, but that doesn't change how I feel about it. I don't think it has been updated recently, but if you put it on alert, I don't think you will be disappointed when it is updated.

Love and Humbly Yours, Allison.