"Say it again, just so I can convince my ears they're hearing right."

Marlene Mackinnon smiled quite evilly at Lily as they walked down Diagon Alley toward Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

Lily rolled her eyes, then, very carefully and clear on her pronounciation, she said, "I... like... James... Potter."

Marlene clapped her hands and grinned wildly. "Oh praise the gods you've finally come to terms with yourself." She patted Lily's shoulder, clapping her palm against her, "It's taken years! He must be thrilled? After all that chasing he's done?"

Lily hesitated then cleared her throat, "Well, Marlene, that's precisely the part that I need the advice from you on."

Marlene's eyebrows raised.

"How do I -- you know -- tell him?"

Marlene said, "Ask him out."

"I did that."

"And?"

"And he assumed I meant with the other Marauders," Lily answered.

Marlene said, "So tell him you meant just the two of you."

"I did that, too," Lily said.

"And?"

Lily sighed, "James Potter's brains are as thick as porridge sometimes Marlene, I swear it."

Marlene shook her head, "I'll say. So when are you going out with him?"

"I'm ... not sure," Lily answered. "He's gone for holiday in Costa Rica for the summer. With Sirius Black."

Marlene's eyebrows nearly shot off her forehead, "Bloody hell. Well assuming they make it back after whatever antics Sirius gets them into over there, where d'you reckon you'll be going with him?"

"Dunno," Lily answered, "We didn't really nail down any details. Probably the cinema. He enjoyed that when we went to see Monty Python a couple summers ago."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Ugh - Lil, that's so lame. You should do something spectacular."

"Like what?" Lily asked.

"Something great, something memorable, something magnificent. Not something everyday and boring - like Monty Python."

"Oi, we happen to both love Monty Python, so don't go knocking it." Lily paused outside of Florean Fortescue's, right at the little gate, and faced Marlene, one hand on the handle. "I just don't want a lot of pressure on it because, I mean, honestly, it's the first time and -- I don't know if it'll work out and I don't want to get his hopes up too high until I'm positive but --" she felt her insides shiver at the thought of the look in his eyes the previous times they'd come close. "But I'm pretty sure of what I want this time."

"So long as it isn't butterscotched popcorn, you'll be alright," came a voice from a couple steps away. Lily and Marlene both turned and saw Jasper Odair popping up an umbrella over one of the patio tables. He smiled, "Sold out of that particular flavor this morning."

Lily's face broke into a grin and she pushed open the gate and hurried over to him, "Jasper!" she cried and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. "It's been such a long time - how are you?"

"Alright," he replied, and he smiled, then tossed his head to get the hair off his forehead as he stepped out of the hug with Lily. "How are you? ...Hullo Mackinnon."

"Hullo Odair," Marlene said, and she leaned against the gate, an amused look on her face. "Still working the old ice cream churn, are we?"

Jasper nodded, "Ah, yeah. Well. Florean Forescue's been mighty good to me and Edgar, and we're - we're doing well." He moved to the next table and popped that umbrella as well, clearing his throat, "Couldn't ask for better." He stood awkwardly before them a moment, then he added, "It's actually a lot of fun, coming up with new flavors for the shop and everything, and Mr. Fortescue's talking about training me up in how to run it myself one day, says he plans to retire eventually and do nothing but attend quidditch matches the rest of his life." Jasper chuckled. "So eventually... maybe it'll be Jasper's Ice Cream Parlour. Or maybe I could take a cue from Sirius Black..." Jasper waved his palms at the building, as though envisioning a sign, "Odaiiiiir's the Ice Cream!"

Lily laughed so hard she snorted. "Oh bloody hell, he would, too."

"Every time he came 'round, he would," Jasper nodded.

Marlene smiled, "I reckon it would be pretty fun. Do you miss school at all?"

"Always the Ravenclaw," Jasper said, smirking at her.

Marlene shrugged.

Jasper said, "Well, I mean, I miss you lot. All my friends. I miss quidditch."

"You ought to play with the boys during the summer," Lily suggested. "Frank Longbottom and James Potter were talking about doing some pick-up games later this summer, since Frank's gone and graduated."

"Has he?" Jasper looked surprised, "Gods, time has been going by so fast... That must make you Seventh Year?"

Lily nodded.

"And -- James Potter. How is he? Last I saw of him -- well, I - I mean I don't remember it, but I read about it in the Prophet. I s'pose it wasn't even him in the end, who I saw." Jasper rubbed his head and his hair fell messily over his forehead as he did.

"Yeah..." Lily trailed off, her face twisted unhappily at the memory.

"I wish I'd realized it sooner, in time to tell you before I was confunded," Jasper said apologetically.

"I wish I'd realized it myself," Lily confessed. "I should have."

Marlene said, "A good deal of people were fooled, not just you lot. It's a long list that includes his best mates and his mum and dad, so you're in good company."

To change the subject, Jasper nodded toward the door of the shop, "You lot on your way in for a scoop? On me."

"Well, I was going to pay for it," Marlene said, smirking, "But since it's on you."

Jasper turned and pushed open the door for them to pass through. Marlene went first, followed by Lily. "So," he said as she passed him, "Are you still... seeing Potter?"

Marlene butted in before Lily could answer, "That's precisely what we've just been talking about while we were walking."

Lily flushed.

Marlene continued, "She wants to be seeing him but Potter's so thick she's gone and asked him out and he doesn't get it."

Jasper said, "Probably doesn't dare believe it more like. He was so bloody in love with you - always was... I always felt rather bad for him, the way he cared for you was so plain on his face. You're just that lovable, Lily."

Lily was even redder than her hair, if that was possible. "Oh stop," she said. 

"It's just the truth." Jasper took a pink striped apron off a hook behind a lime green counter and tucked it over his neck, grabbing a little hat and popping it onto his hair. He walked 'round the counter and got two glass dishes and started scooping up the raspberry he already knew was Lily Evans' favorite flavor. "I always had a feeling though," he said, head down in the cooler, "That it was only a matter of time until this day would come."

"Oh did you?" Lily said doubtfully.

"Yeah," Jasper said, and he surfaced from the cooler with a packed full dish of the ice cream, handing it over to Lily with a bright pink spoon stuck in. "Ever since he gave you that bracelet and you wore it all the time."

Lily looked down at her wrist at the gold bracelet that hung there. She looked up at him. "Jasper, you gave me that bracelet. For Valentine's."

Jasper shook his head, "No... no I distinctly remember being very jealous over that." He started scooping butterbeer ice cream for Marlene, "I never could afford a gift like that, as much as I would've liked to give it to you," he added, "But James Potter - he could. But it isn't about the gifts or anything like that anyway. It was the sentiment behind that bracelet and the way you wore it everyday. It was the way you looked at him and the way he could make you laugh. Always, no matter what was going on, James Potter can make you laugh. And that's good. That's inevitable."

Lily held her ice cream as Jasper spoke, staring down at the hot pink hue of it, her mind reeling.

She thought of James Potter, cross-legged on the bed, telling her about the time turner, about alternate realities, about the books on her shelf that had all been transfigured to look like her and James, and all the times she'd had funny dreams in which things went terribly different than how they were now. Dreams in which she sat in the Three Broomsticks and watched the clock tick-tick-tick for endless seconds...

She ran her fingers over the golden bracelet, and wondered...

"On behalf of British Airways, I'd like to welcome you to San Jose, Costa Rica, where the local time is eleven thirteen A.M., and the temperature is 28 degrees..." The tinny sound system on the plane echoed through the cabin and James jabbed his elbow into Sirius's side.

"Wake up, Padfoot, we've landed," he said.

Sirius groaned and pushed James off. "Bugger off."

"Seriously, mate, we have," James said, smirking because Sirius was only so sour because of how many times James had woken him up during the flight to trick him into thinking they'd arrived. "I mean it this time."

Sirius stretched and yawned, sitting up, "If you're lying, I'll make myself a venison stew." He leaned over, bending his neck to peep out the window as the plane taxied across the tarmac toward the airport. "Well, look at that!" he marveled, then, "Damn, I was hungry too."

James snickered and as the plane came to a final halt, he stood up and got their bags out of the overhead bins, tossing Sirius's to him. "Supposed to be nice outside, too," he said cheerfully.

"Of course it is, it's fucking Costa Rica," Sirius pointed out. He shouldered his bag and as the passengers shuffled past, he nodded to them in turn until Charlus and Dora came up next and let him and James out of their aisle and they disboarded the plane.

"Slept most of the flight," Charlus remarked, yawning.

"So did Sirius," James said.

"What else is there to do?" Sirius complained.

"I discovered a muggle game called crosswords puzzles," Dora said enthusiastically, "Positively brilliant, they are. You get clues and have to sort out which word goes where!"

"How were you not in Ravenclaw, mum?" James asked, rolling his eyes.

"I've asked that about a hundred thousand times," Charlus remarked.

They made their way through the airport and out into the warm, sunshiney air. It smelled of fruit, Sirius thought as they crowded about on the sidewalk before the airport, in the midst of all the bustle of people streaming out with their luggage and others walking in with theirs. Dora Potter fussed over her husband's untucked shirt while Sirius reached into his leather jacket and took out his pack of cigarettes, smacking the butt of the box against his palm and shaking one of the cigarettes out and sticking it over his ear with an air of coolness that James suspected he himself could never achieve.

"This way," Charlus said after a moment of looking about, and they dodged 'round a woman dragging a metal trolley full of what looked like bags of old socks. He led the way 'til they found a toilet labelled with a sign that read Out of Order, we apologize for the inconvenience. "Here we are," Charlus said, and he waved at the door of it.

James, Sirius, and Dora ducked inside.

Inside, Charlus turned back to be sure nobody followed after, then drew his wand from his jacket and locked the door. He turned back, "Alright. James, if you will, take my hand and we'll all apparate to the cousin's house."

James turned red - he was the only one present who couldn't apparate, he realized - and he was about to take Charlus's hand when Sirius said, "Hey, actually, I thought James and I could get there -- another way? Enjoy a bit of San Jose on our own before joining you lot? I've never been..." he looked pleadingly between Dora and Charlus.

Dora looked ready to say no, but then Charlus cut across her, "Alright." He dropped his hand from reaching for James. "Just be sure to arrive before eight o'clock tonight, alright?" he reached in his jacket pocket and withdrew a bit of parchment, holding it out to Sirius. "Here's the address. Don't lose that page."

"I won't," Sirius promised.

Moments later, the Potters had apparated away and James and Sirius snuck back out of the bathooms and ran back through the airport to the sidewalk out front. "Brilliant," James complimented Sirius, "Positively brilliant. Now the real vacation can begin."

"Precisely," Sirius grinned. 

James looked about as cars drove up and picked up vacationers and family, Spanish words flying flying from their mouths a mile a minute. "So - what now, are you going to apparate us out to the city, then?" James asked.

"Better," Sirius answered and nodded for James to follow him 'round a bend and down into a large parking lot. The sun was high in the sky as they walked down a row and finally, Sirius - quite out of ear shot of the muggles back at the arrivals gate, ducked into an empty space situated between two large vans and reached into his pocket, his eyes sparkling as he withdrew his hand a moment later.

"Engorgio," Sirius said in a most dramatic whisper. He tapped something in his palm, which grew large very quickly. He dropped it to the ground and the next moment, standing before him was his motorbike. He turned about on the sidewalk and grinned at James. "Ta-da!" 

James laughed as they climbed onto the bike, wrapping his arms over Sirius's chest as Sirius kick-started the bike's motor, "I really should've known you packed it," he shook his head as Sirius smirked and they zipped out of the parking lot.