Chapter 1
Incantatum
By Laura/Teria (elineryn@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: It should be obvious -- I don't own any of this. It's purely for entertainment.
Author's notes can be found at http://pages.sbcglobal.net/elineryn/fanfiction/.
Archiving is allowed, with permission (I'll give it, I just want to know where it's going).
Also, the story will be filed at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marauders-era-fanworks/.
With thanks to Ala, my beta.
----------------------------------
The vast ceiling of the Great Hall, bewitched to reflect the outside sky, revealed an azure expanse spotted here and there with thin, cottony clouds. Lily Evans, a pretty, studious Gryffindor fourth-year, sat more or less alone in the Hall; but for a few scattered clumps of students at their respective house tables and a handful of teachers at theirs, the Hall was empty. It appeared that most of the students were outside, enjoying the weather during the morning break.
And, Lily was just fine on her own, thank you kindly.
Actually, she rather liked the quiet, as she normally had to deal with the endless chatter of her fellow female Gryffindors...
Not that she minded them, of course -- she was pretty laid back, after all, and though she was softspoken, enjoyed occaisional conversation -- but she didn't realize how much she relished the silence until she actually had it...
And this was the perfect opportunity to open her just-delivered mail in peace.
Hmm...one letter and a smallish package from her mother. She opened the letter first, carefully slipping her finger under the seal of the envelope. Father and Petunia were doing fine, her mother wrote, and she promised to send a bit of spending money with the next letter for the next excursion to Hogsmeade.
Lily loved her parents very much. They had warmed remarkably well to the idea of Lily's attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her marks had always been excellent, but after she first received her letter of acceptance, they became even more enthusiastic about her schooling; it was a passion she shared with them.
Her sister Petunia, though, had never been fond of school at all, preferring instead to spend her time chatting on the telephone with her few friends or sleeping. In fact, Petunia had spent most of her summer break doing just that. Lily had spent hers reviewing her summer homework and skimming over her newly acquired textbooks; she'd been looking forward to the beginning of the first term of her as a chance to finally begin preparing seriously for her O.W.L.s.
Lily pushed a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear and carefully loosened the string binding the paper of the accompanying package, revealing a tiny metal tin stacked neatly to the brim with sugar cookies. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that her Muggle parents weren't like some of the more eccentric parents from wizarding families.
Just the day before, one boy had received by owl post a package that had burst into song when the unfortunate young wizard had lifted the lid. Lily hadn't been able to catch all of the words of the song due to the dense laughter of the other students, but the box appeared to be extolling, in a rich baritone tenor, the virtues of a healthy lifestyle through diet and moderate exercise.
The box had been stuffed with magically shrunken heads of lettuce, which began to expand as soon as the song had finished. One of the boy's house members had knocked the box over while slapping his hand on the table energetically, causing the bloated heads to roll all over the floor. The teachers, trying to bring some order to the student body, helped to gather the still-growing vegetables together, and the boy, red-faced, had tried to cram them back in, but the box burst into song again (this time, warning about the dangers of not taking your vitamins). The boy, mortified, had gathered the veggies in his robes and, leaving the box behind, dashed out of the Hall.
Someone's pet rabbit, Lily was sure, was feeling very satiated right now.
Her mother's letter also contained a photograph (no movement, of course), of the family in front of the newly blooming rosebush in the garden. Her parents grinned happily, and Petunia looked sour, stuffed into tight pants and a shirt that didn't suit her.
But then again, Lily mused, when did Petunia not look sour?
She smiled and tucked the photograph into her notebook. The Hogwart's owl had also delivered a copy of the Daily Prophet, which she now unrolled.
ENCHANTED SPIDER MONKEY ESCAPES FROM MUGGLE ZOO; FOUND LEVITATING, PLAYING WITH CHILDREN IN NEARBY VILLAGE, one headline announced. The rest of the articles weren't much better; at least the advertisements were always good for a chuckle, but even they could wait for later. Lily started to roll the Prophet into a tube, but just then, a tiny square of parchment fluttered out of the pages and landed on the floor just to her right. She leaned down and grasped it in her fingers, flipping it over.
Look up! it read.
Lily, still bent over, raised her head -- and was smacked precisely in the middle of the forehead by an airborne cream-filled pastry puff.
----------------------------------
TBC.
Incantatum
By Laura/Teria (elineryn@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: It should be obvious -- I don't own any of this. It's purely for entertainment.
Author's notes can be found at http://pages.sbcglobal.net/elineryn/fanfiction/.
Archiving is allowed, with permission (I'll give it, I just want to know where it's going).
Also, the story will be filed at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marauders-era-fanworks/.
With thanks to Ala, my beta.
----------------------------------
The vast ceiling of the Great Hall, bewitched to reflect the outside sky, revealed an azure expanse spotted here and there with thin, cottony clouds. Lily Evans, a pretty, studious Gryffindor fourth-year, sat more or less alone in the Hall; but for a few scattered clumps of students at their respective house tables and a handful of teachers at theirs, the Hall was empty. It appeared that most of the students were outside, enjoying the weather during the morning break.
And, Lily was just fine on her own, thank you kindly.
Actually, she rather liked the quiet, as she normally had to deal with the endless chatter of her fellow female Gryffindors...
Not that she minded them, of course -- she was pretty laid back, after all, and though she was softspoken, enjoyed occaisional conversation -- but she didn't realize how much she relished the silence until she actually had it...
And this was the perfect opportunity to open her just-delivered mail in peace.
Hmm...one letter and a smallish package from her mother. She opened the letter first, carefully slipping her finger under the seal of the envelope. Father and Petunia were doing fine, her mother wrote, and she promised to send a bit of spending money with the next letter for the next excursion to Hogsmeade.
Lily loved her parents very much. They had warmed remarkably well to the idea of Lily's attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her marks had always been excellent, but after she first received her letter of acceptance, they became even more enthusiastic about her schooling; it was a passion she shared with them.
Her sister Petunia, though, had never been fond of school at all, preferring instead to spend her time chatting on the telephone with her few friends or sleeping. In fact, Petunia had spent most of her summer break doing just that. Lily had spent hers reviewing her summer homework and skimming over her newly acquired textbooks; she'd been looking forward to the beginning of the first term of her as a chance to finally begin preparing seriously for her O.W.L.s.
Lily pushed a loose strand of auburn hair behind her ear and carefully loosened the string binding the paper of the accompanying package, revealing a tiny metal tin stacked neatly to the brim with sugar cookies. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks that her Muggle parents weren't like some of the more eccentric parents from wizarding families.
Just the day before, one boy had received by owl post a package that had burst into song when the unfortunate young wizard had lifted the lid. Lily hadn't been able to catch all of the words of the song due to the dense laughter of the other students, but the box appeared to be extolling, in a rich baritone tenor, the virtues of a healthy lifestyle through diet and moderate exercise.
The box had been stuffed with magically shrunken heads of lettuce, which began to expand as soon as the song had finished. One of the boy's house members had knocked the box over while slapping his hand on the table energetically, causing the bloated heads to roll all over the floor. The teachers, trying to bring some order to the student body, helped to gather the still-growing vegetables together, and the boy, red-faced, had tried to cram them back in, but the box burst into song again (this time, warning about the dangers of not taking your vitamins). The boy, mortified, had gathered the veggies in his robes and, leaving the box behind, dashed out of the Hall.
Someone's pet rabbit, Lily was sure, was feeling very satiated right now.
Her mother's letter also contained a photograph (no movement, of course), of the family in front of the newly blooming rosebush in the garden. Her parents grinned happily, and Petunia looked sour, stuffed into tight pants and a shirt that didn't suit her.
But then again, Lily mused, when did Petunia not look sour?
She smiled and tucked the photograph into her notebook. The Hogwart's owl had also delivered a copy of the Daily Prophet, which she now unrolled.
ENCHANTED SPIDER MONKEY ESCAPES FROM MUGGLE ZOO; FOUND LEVITATING, PLAYING WITH CHILDREN IN NEARBY VILLAGE, one headline announced. The rest of the articles weren't much better; at least the advertisements were always good for a chuckle, but even they could wait for later. Lily started to roll the Prophet into a tube, but just then, a tiny square of parchment fluttered out of the pages and landed on the floor just to her right. She leaned down and grasped it in her fingers, flipping it over.
Look up! it read.
Lily, still bent over, raised her head -- and was smacked precisely in the middle of the forehead by an airborne cream-filled pastry puff.
----------------------------------
TBC.
