Lily was feeling quite sour. 

Downstairs, Petunia was hosting Vernon Dursley for tea in the living room. She'd spent the last day and a half fussing and baking sweet cakes for the occasion, decorating a little tea tray she had purchased with her allowance. She'd gotten special tea - some sort that Vernon had mentioned specifically a couple weeks before - and she'd been having a right fit all morning over what she would wear and how clean the lace doilies were ("They're practically yellow! It's as though they've never been bleached!" she'd shrieked no less than two hours before). Mrs. Evans had gone to bed, complaining of a terrible migraine, citing Petunia's irritable attitude as the cause, and Lily had been banned from the room until Vernon Dursley had finished his tea. There had been a spat - during which Lily had threatened to magic Vernon's teacup into a mouse just as he brought it to his mouth and Petunia had accused Lily of sabotaging her future - but Vernon had finally arrived, and Lily had escaped up the stairs.

Now, she was laying in her bedroom, staring up at the ceiling, feeling quite perturbed with the world in general. It had been days since James had called and it was days still before he would be back from Costa Rica and she was feeling quite bitter that he hadn't insisted on coming back immediately. After all, he knew how uncomfortable she was feeling about the stupid box - stupid, bloody, whisper-hissing box, she hated that stupid box - and yet he was still off partying about Costa Rica with Sirius Black as though nothing were wrong in the world. Probably kissing loads of pretty Latina women and drinking loads of tequila or whatever the Wizarding World's equivalent of tequila in Central America was... Probably forgotten all about the box, all about Lily, even. She'd never hear back from him, probably. Stupid, dense git, she thought angrily.

The box hissed from the desk.

"LILY!!!!!!"

The scream came from the living room, seeming to be in response to Lily's very thoughts and she sat up the moment the shrieking cry reached her ears. 

"LILY!!!!!!" Petunia was squawking in a terrible fit and she could hear crashing and bellows of shock from Vernon Dursley and --

But it couldn't be.

She leaped up, her heart lighter than it had been in days and days, and she sprang down the stairs, taking them two or even three at a time, clutching the banister, swinging 'round to race down the hall, past the broom closet under the stairs, 'round the corner of the kitchen and into the living room...

James Potter stood in front of the hearth, his hands up, looking rather startled, his eyeglasses askew, hair unkempt and dusty with ash, his book bag slung 'round his shoulders. He was wearing that one Gryffindor jumper that she so loved, and a nice button-down shirt printed with blue plaid that made him look quite handsome (aside from his messy hair he looked quite refined actually). His wand was clutched in one hand. 

"I told you!" he was crying out, "Lily's expecting me - Lily Evans... Come now, Petunia, you know who I am. We went to the cinema once together..."

"LILY!!!!" Petunia was shrieking, and as Lily watched, she tossed a tea cup at James and he dodged it as it smashed against the fireplace brick and shattered, falling to pieces in the hearth.

"Really, that's uncalled for," James said, looking down at the broken pieces.

Vernon Dursley was perhaps the funniest of the whole scene, though, for Vernon had grabbed hold of the tea tray and was brandishing it at James as though he were a lion tamer in the circus, shooshing him back against the mantel. "Stay where you are, I'm warning you -- not a step forward!" Vernon barked. "Don't know where you came from, but I'll see to it the police take you away for breaking and entering!"

Lily ran into the midst of the scene. "Everyone relax!" she yelled, "Bloody hell, Vernon, put down the tea tray! And Tuney - you've broken mummy's teacups!"

James said, "I'll fix'em if she'll just stop throwing them!"

"YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE," Petunia shrieked, pointing at Lily.

Lily rolled her eyes, "I didn't know he was coming yet, alright?"

"How did he get in?" Vernon demanded, "Climb down the chimney, did you?" He glared at James, looking quite confused, but making amends with the idea of James's sudden appearance by floo as best as his feeble muggle mind could do.

Lily shook her head, "Come on James." She grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the scene, annoyed, "Go on with your bleedin' tea party," she snapped at Petunia.

The moment James was moved from the mantel, Vernon walked over and peeked up the chimney, as though to inspect how he'd come out the hearth.

Lily dragged James up the stairs to her bedroom - something that James barely had time to be nervous about before it had happened - and she slammed the door shut. "GODS SHE IS SO ANNOYING," Lily cried out, letting out a little hoot of frustration. She stamped her foot, staring at the door, and did a very rude gesture she had most definitely learned from the likes of Sirius Black.

James stood where she'd let him go, in the center of the room, standing out about as much as he possibly could. He looked around at the shelves and knick-knacks she had upon them, the Gryffindor banner over her bed, which was unmade, the books in stacks so numerous they couldn't be contained by shelves. A cauldron sat a top her trunk, against which leaned her broomstick, and the window was opened, the curtains fluttering slightly. And there, sticking out even more than James did, was the box on the desk.

James looked back around at Lily.

"SHE THINKS SHE'S THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD," Lily was fuming, "SPOILED LITTLE ROTTER! And that WALRUS she sees -- I don't know WHAT she sees in that man!"

James raised an eyebrow, smirking.

Lily turned about and her eyes fell on him, and it was as though she'd just spotted him for the first time. "Oh." She flushed hot pink and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry."

"No, do go on," James replied, "I'm just thinking of summoning some popcorn to go along with the entertainment."

"Oh stop."

"What? You're bloody adorable when you're mad."

Lily turned even redder. "HUSH!"

James snickered.

"Besides, you've broken the Statute of Secrecy," Lily pointed out, "You ought to be a bit more concerned."

James said, "Shall I go modify his memory, then?"

"Unless you can explain why you were climbing down the chimney."

"Tell him I'm a chimney sweep," James eyes flickered with humor.

"It isn't funny."

"It is a little funny."

"Okay a little."

James was positively grinning at her. 

"You're early," she said, because the grin was unnerving her. "You weren't supposed to be here for a couple more days. You're supposed to be in Costa Rica."

James shrugged, "Turns out I can swim faster than I thought I could."

Lily stared at him. "You didn't."

"The tides are a bit brutal - especially in the middle bits but --"

"James Potter!" Lily looked at him with disbelief, "You didn't."

"Nearly got eaten by a whale yesterday morning..."

"Shut it."

James mimed giant whale jaws with his arms, taking a great chomp of the air. "But I managed to escape."

Lily was staring at him.

James laughed, "Sirius and I flew the motorbike. I've just flooed in from Ned Veigler's."

Suddenly she launched herself forward, wrapping her arms about his torso, pegging down his arms and everything in her embrace, burying her face in his shoulder. "Gods I'm so glad you're here," she gasped, and squeezed him tight, "I didn't want to tell you to come sooner, but I was going mad and I'm so glad you came anyway." She could feel the emotion building up in her, the threat of tears in her eyes and everything.

James blinked in surprise at this. He could have told her what happened, about running away and everything, but he decided to go with her assumption instead. "Yeah. I could tell you were upset," he answered, and he struggled to bring his hands up to pet her back as best he could with his arms pinned down.

Lily breathed deep the smell of that old jumper and she closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of him in her arms for a moment before letting him go and taking a step back to look up at him. "It means everything to me that you've come."

James felt his throat tighten, and he nodded, "Yeah... yeah, any time Evans." There was a pause, then he said, "Oh. I got you these." He looked down and opened his bag, drawing out the tray of maple sweets, the stuffed deer, and the little box he'd gotten at the country store in Alabama. He held them out to her in a great cluster in his palms.

Lily flushed, "For me?"

"Yeah," James said. "Surprise." 

Lily took them and hugged the deer instantly to her chest. "I love him. He's so soft."

James was grinning even harder than before.

She turned the sweets over, "These look delicious," she said.

James nodded, then said sheepishly, "There's - er - one missing. Sirius stole it. Sorry."

Lily laughed, "I'll have a talk with him."

James watched eagerly as she opened the little box, and withdrew the necklace, the locket's purple gem catching the sunlight coming in from the window with a glimmer. He watched her face, his eyes wide with anxious excitement. "If you don't like it --" he started as she looked at it with a dropped jaw.

"No! No it's beautiful," she said hurriedly, "No, I love it!" She quickly put down the sweets and the little deer and swept her hair to one side. "Help with the clasp?" She asked. James stepped up and helped hook it so that it hung on her neck, and she reached up, touching it gently with her finger tips, and turned to face him, her eyes wide. "Thank you," she said. He nodded.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment, neither quite knowing what to say next.

Finally, James cleared his throat, and he looked about at the desk, "So... so that's it, huh?"

"Yeah," Lily led the way over and they both stood beside the desk staring down at the little green and silver box. "It was whispering and hissing just before you came. It's stopped now."

James reached out to pick up the box, holding it in his hand, feeling the weight of it. It wasn't too heavy - most of the weight of it came from the box itself, he reckoned. Whatever was inside was light. He turned it over a couple times in his palm, looking at the markings on it - though there weren't many - and the latch on the front. He looked at Lily. "Well," he said, "Let's find out what's in it, shall we?"