AN: Hiya! Had a fine Christmas? Well, the fifth Marauder isn't exactly a 'he' but I'm having another person in mind besides Peter Pettigrew [if you're thinking him…]. I want it to be someone else cause I'm planning to change the whole storyline [hah! Now you can't flame me for anything I'd done wrong! Complains? Fire them off!]. Well, not all though ^^ the Slytherins got out [they got their detention there!], I eventually made a deal with my modem [dumb, don't ask], and I still detest writing on hand, so it'll still be written on the comp! Okay, another one more year for the Marauders ^_^ this time, they go thirteen, isn't it just delightful? Okay, maybe not… hope you like this!!!! R/r!
bunny chan
Disclaimer: what belongs to me is mine. What does not is not.
The Marauding Five : Year Three
Chapter 1: The Warning
James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin sat straight up in bed at about five in the morning in Sirius' house, Sugar Home. If anyone normal saw them awake, they'd probably comment on how good they were to wake up early on the first day of holidays and to start their day off with a morning jog. However, these four had another in mind. Nothing to do with morning jogs, exercise, nothing. They were having Petunia Party.
Lily pulled out a box of chalks from her bag, James sorted out parchments with little doodles at the corner, Sirius started boiling potions and Remus was busy changing papers into something. Sirius carefully tipped a drop of dew from a nearby tree as Lily ran out of the room with the chalks. James was busy charming the parchments white and Remus grinned as he added a spell onto the piece of paper.
After all four had done everything, they ran out to a nearby coffee-shop and ordered a drink each.
'Hiyaz! We're back again!' Sirius greeted the shop-keeper, Jonathon.
'We'd like four cups of hot chocolate!' James said cheerfully to him. He nodded and started making the four cups.
'Sooo how about transfiguring each of Petunia's things into white mice?' Lily asked as they sit at a table.
'Nah! Change her shower water into mud!' James grinned.
'We could turned her into a fatter girl,' Remus said thoughtfully.
'Nope! We'll do all those and we'll poison Petty's food!' Sirius said evilly, a gleam clearly twinkling in his eyes.
'Awesome! But how?' Remus asked.
'We'll add ketchup into her toast, pour soy sauce into her coffee and turn everything else into salt!'
'Okay! I love that!' James said.
'Okay, toast to the Marauders!' Lily grinned, holding up her cup.
'Toast to the Marauders and may we last forever!' Remus added.
'No!! May all our pranks succeed!' James said.
'And may we kill Trelawney in the coming term!' Sirius grinned. Lily agreed immediately at this.
After that, they went for a short walk around Loopy Village.
'I wonder how's Tally now,' Lily said as they crossed by a burnt french cottage. It used to be Tally Chapman's home, but Voldemort had came the year before and killed her parents. Tally now live with her cousin, Elley Rittardo. The Rittardos are a strict wizarding family, and when Tally offered to invite Lily over, she refused as soon as possible.
'Hie!!!! Lily!!! Here!!!' two shrill voice called from behind the Marauders.
'Okay, turn or not turn?' Sirius asked.
'To turn, or not to turn?' James asked again.
'What do you think?' Lily asked, rolling her eyes at them.
'Turn. More polite,' Remus said automatically. They whirled behind to see a thirteen year old blonde and a nineteen year old brunette running towards them.
'Help! We're under arrest!!!!' Sirius cried as they gang laugh before running after him.
'James! Sirius! Remus!!!'
'Why are we under arrest?' Remus asked.
'You forgot already? We charmed those flowers grey-blue yesterday!' James reminded him.
'We did?' Remus asked again, feeling stupid.
'We did,' Lily said firmly. Huffs and pants were heard behind them.
'You guys run fast,' Tally commented, breathing heavily.
'We always had to run from teachers, so practice makes perfect,' Sirius shrugged.
'Why are you here anyway?' Lily asked curiously.
'Lily Evans, we lived here!' Elley said, rolling her eyes as she pointed to a house from where they come from.
'Oh, you lived there?' James asked, jotting down the address.
'Where else do I live?'
'Don't know. Elsewhere I think. Hadn't seen you around anyway,' Remus shrug.
'Can I come over? I mean, we're pretty bored and Elley's parents are out,' Tally said.
Lily turned to her watch, as did James, Sirius and Remus. Their faces split into identical, evil, mischievous grins. They grabbed the two girls and started running all the way to Sugar Home.
'Why?' Elley managed to choke out.
'Aw, just follow!' Sirius said, pushing the door open. 'Mom?'
'Yeah? Breakfast's served!' Melissa called.
'We have guests!' James said in a sing-song voice. 'No, it's not us. Our friends.'
'WHAT? You have freaks over?' Petunia's high screech screeched.
'That's Petty. Come on, we're just in time!' Lily grinned. She led the two to the table and sat them down. Melissa served them omelets along with glasses of orange juice. Petunia glared daggers at them angrily, but said nothing.
'Aunt Melissa, can I please have some toast?' Petunia asked politely, smirking a glance at Lily. Lily smiled sweetly in response as the Marauders all looked on eagerly.
'What's the just-in-time part about?' Tally whispered to Lily as she looked at Petunia eagerly.
'Watch Petunia!'
Tally and Elley looked closely at Petunia Evans. Suddenly, she scream loudly and everyone covered their ears.
'So that's the person that screamed last year on this very day!' Elley mused.
'Bingo! And at the very same time, too,' Lily said, happily biting into her omelet. 'Eat up!'
'LILY!!!! WHY ON EARTH DID YOU PUT CHILI AND PEPPERS INTO MY TOAST!???' Petunia demanded, red in face.
'Oh, I didn't do it. Besides, I wasn't the one to toast it.'
Sirius grinned evilly, hiding his wand in his pocket.
'You'll pay for this!'
'How?'
'With your life! I want your blood!'
'She sounds so much like Snape and a dracula. Very interesting, isn't it?' James said to their guests.
'Very, I must say. I can never think of this!' Elley said in whisper.
Petunia grabbed her cup of coffee (she prefered them to orange) and started gulping everything down. But no sooner had she done that when she started running to the water jug for a glass of water. The glass of water turned into several glasses until she finished the whole jug of it.
'What did you do now?' Tally whispered to Lily, who hid her wand from sight.
'Let's just say that I made her coffee extra sweet.' Tally saw James waving a small circle with his wand and Petunia pulled a face.
'Now?'
'James made it salty. Saltier than sea water. How much did you put in, Jam?'
'Uh, I think I made it saltier than the Dead Sea.'
Tally stared at them in disbelief and turned her attention back to Petunia. The blonde, fourteen year old is now trying to wash her mouth with tap water. Tally and Elley looked at each other and turned to Remus. Sure enough, the boy was waving his wand and muttering something. Petunia suddenly spitted out everything that went in. It wasn't any water, but slugs. Slugs poured out of Petunia's mouth non-stop and she was staring at it with horror.
'LILY ROSE EVANS!!!!!!!!!! I DEMAND YOU TO PUT ME RIGHT BACK!' Petunia boomed as she tried to stop the slugs from pouring. Elley was laughing too hard to help her and Tally was rolling on the floor already. The Marauders grinned before waving at her.
'Very lovely, Petty.'
'Maybe you should do everything again?'
'It'll give us more entertainment!'
'Do!!!'
'PUT ME BACK!!!!!!!'
They all stuck their tongue out at her before pushing Elley and Tally up to their rooms. They closed the door tightly as Elley inspected the tricks in a nearby trunk, duplicated for their holiday supplies of pranks. She pulled out a couple of empty parchments, save the doodles in a corner.
'What's this?' Elley asked.
'That? It's Lily's invention. She has a doodle of herself, James, Sirius and Remus down here. Try writing in it, El!' Tally grinned. Elley pulled a quill from her pockets before scribbling her name on it. Just as the words sank into the paper, four sentences bloomed in the same ink.
'Cool! How did this do?' Elley asked. The paper bloomed.
'Sirius here. Lily did it, don't ask me! I'm innocent!!!' Elley snorted. From her last year's experience, it doesn't look like Sirius has ever been innocent.
'Remus writing. Lily invented this. Isn't it neat?'
'James. I'm one of the first to know, so hehe, one of the first to learn it too!'
'Lily here!!!!! I made it!! Hurrah! Good, isn't it? You can keep this parchment and chat with us whenever you want!'
'Okay, how exactly do you do this, Lily? Seems complicated,' Elley asked Lily.
'Well, it isn't. It's really easy to do and I shan't teach you,' Lily laughed, dropping on her bed.
'Okaay…'
'You can keep it to study if you want.'
'Thanks!' Elley happily pocketed the parchment.
'What are you doing now?' Remus asked, nibbling on a cookie.
'Researching.'
'Researching what?' Sirius prompted.
'Reaserching pranks. Try find their origins and such.'
'Is there even such job?' James asked.
'No. I'm the first along with Billy.'
'What are you guys working at now?' Lily asked as she tied her hair up.
'Nothing. We just finished Biting Pillows, but now we'll work on yours,' Elley grinned, holding up the parchment.
'In your dreams, El. I tried numerous of times,' Tally muttered, grabbing the cookie jar from Remus.
'Ah! But I'm a professional!'
'Yeah right. I'll bet you can't find out how they did it!' Tally challenged.
'Okay, how about 25 galleons?'
'You're on, cousin! I'll give you one month from now!'
'Fine with me. I can finish this mere second-year-creation thing in only one week!'
'I'll throw in my bet with Tally,' Sirius grinned.
'Same here!' Remus said.
'Ditto,' James replied.
'My creation. Can I place a bet on it too?' Lily asked.
'Sure. Go ahead, honey.'
'Very well. I'll place 50 galleons that you can never ever find out how the parchment works!' Lily said, grinning deviously. Everyone turned to stare at her.
'You're betting that much?' James asked in disbelief.
'I trust what I'd made and I trust it a lot. Hey, how about I throw in another prank along?' Lily asked. Elley nodded mutely as Lily handed her a few pellets.
'What are those?' Tally asked.
'These are what made Mrs Norris growing a pair of antlers last year,' Sirius giggled.
'You're the one who made her grew it!' Elley and Tally said in unison. The Marauders nodded.
'Remember Minnie? In that horrid make up?' Remus asked, triggering their memories once again.
'Yeah!!! She looked like a clown from the circus!' James laughed. Their guests looekd puzzled at this.
'What's a circus?' Elley asked.
'What's a clown?' Tally asked.
'Muggle stuff. Hadn't you even heard of circus before?' Lily asked them in amazement. Shakes.
'Okay, we'll go to one someday,' Remus said.
'Hey, we'd better run off now. I want to find this out and get 125 galleons from all of you,' Elley grinned. Together, both she and Tally exited Sugar Home and head back to their house. Lily, James, Sirius and Remus grinned evilly.
'Now, back to our plan with Petty,' Sirius started, rubbing his hands in glee. They all produced their wands and ran to the bathroom. Sure enough, Petunia's horrid voice can be heard humming a tuneless tune. The four winced as they stuffed their ears with cotton before Lily muttered a spell. As soon as she'd done that, a loud scream was heard.
'AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!'
'Not real, Petty, not real,' Sirius whispered deviously before waving his wand and muttering a spell.
'LILY, IF THIS IS A FAKE- AHHHH!!!!!!!!! IT MOVED!!!'
'Not only that, Petty,' James grinned and waved his wand.
'AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! IT BIT ME!!!!!!'
'Well, not only that!' Remus grinned.
'OH MY!!!!!!!! IT'S A DRACULA SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!! AUNT MELISSA!!!!!!! LILY!!!!!! JAMES!!!! SIRIUS!!!!!! REMUS!!!!! ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
'Wow, how desperate she is to even call us for help?' Lily mused. Melissa's footsteps were soon heard running up the stairs and the four mounted on their brooms and flew out of the window, just as Melissa burst open.
'Petunia! What happened?' Melissa asked. The blonde had now emerged from her bath and spiders were crawling all over her towel. Some were biting her hard and some were sucking blood from her.
'Aunt Melissa! These dracula-spiders! They fell from the ceilings!' Petunia managed to said from her hysterics. The four giggled silently from outside the window.
'But Petunia, there aren't any dracula-spiders! Not even in the wizarding world!' Melissa replied, confused.
'There are!!!! I said there are!!!!! Look, their sucking my blood here!!!!' Petunia cried, pointing at a nearby spider on her neck.
'Petunia, there is absolutely nothing!'
'But-' Petunia turned to look at the place where the spider had just been. It was only a big, red spot.
'Petunia, I think you have measles!'
'But-'
'I'll take you to the doctor right away! I'm sure you don't want me to heal you with spells! I'm hopeless at healing!' Without another words, Melissa led Petunia out to get dressed and took her straight to a clinic.
Outside, the Marauders laughed helplessly, clunging hard on their broom.
'Dracula-spiders! Dracula-spiders!' Sirius mimicked, doing a short act on Petunia writhing with pain. They laughed even harder. Lily laughed so hard that she fell off her broom.
'LILY!!' James, Sirius and Remus cried at the same time. Fortunately, she managed to hold onto her broom's stick just in time. The boys heaved a sigh of relief.
'Hey, how about we go to the forest?' Lily suggested.
'You sure you're alright?' Remus asked, proceeding to feel her pulse.
'Yes, I'm very fine. Breathing well, heart beating normal.'
'Are you okay?' James asked.
'She's right. Breathing well, pulse normal. We'll go to the forest then,' Remus said. Together, they flew towards the forest behind their house.
'Momma, look! Flying broomsticks!' a young five-year-old girl said, pulling her mother's sleeve.
'Alicia, for the fifteenth time, there are no such thing as witches or wizards! Why did I even buy you that book?' her mother replied, looking around for some herbs.
'But momma, four kids are on them! They're flying! On broomsticks!' Alicia cried, forcing her mother to look up.
'Alicia! Enough of this nonsense! We'll get going already,' Alicia's mother said as she pulled her daughter from the forest.
'Well, so much for muggle-sightings,' Lily breathed from behind a nearby tree.
'Come to think of it, what will happen if Mrs Grew saw us?' James asked.
'Expel or suspension,' Remus answered, brushing himself.
'Should we put a memory charm on dear Alicia Grew?' Sirius asked wickedly, holding his wand up. But before anyone could stop him, the boy had already flew to where Alicia Grew sat in her garden in a nearby house and shot a Memory Charm at the girl.
'Sirius, why did you?' Lily asked in disbelief.
'If any muggle even see any broomsticks, we'll be doomed! We have to!' Sirius retorted.
'But she's just five! She can't remember much!' James said.
'For all you know, she might remember it forever,' Sirius replied.
'Okaay,' Remus said slowly.
'And we'll be on the Daily Prophet! I can see the headlines: Muggle-Sightings by Alicia Grew from Loopy Village!' Sirius said.
'And it'll be all the fun! See what we'd missed?' James said sourly.
Sirius thought for a while. 'Yeah! Hey, is there a way to cure that stuff?'
'I'll do some research. We might need it later on anyway,' Lily sighed.
'How about we play Quidditch?' Remus suggested.
'Sure! Find some stones!' James said. Everyone searched for some stones before handing them to James.
'I don't mean this much! And Lily, why are you carrying that big boulder for? AAH! Don't put it on me!!!' James cried as he ran away. Lily threw the boulder, carried by magic, on the spot where James was standing.
'Are you trying to kill me?' James asked angrily.
'I thought that a small snitch mightn't be a good idea in this woods, so a big boulder'll do to find it easily!' Lily said eagerly.
'Wonderful theory. Grow up!' Sirius said, rolling his eyes at her.
'Since when did you start saying that?' Lily pouted.
'We'd all grown at least a year! It's time you do!' Remus pointed out. True enough, the other three had all had their birthdays already and are now thirteen.
'I shan't care!' Lily said smartly.
'Well, since we did, so do you!' James said.
'Nooooo!!!! What happened to the Marauders?' Lily wailed.
'Still here, still the same,' Sirius grinned.
'Never changed,' Remus continued.
'Never will,' James finished.
'Ha ha ha. So what are we gonna do this holidays? I mean, Petty's leaving pretty soon.'
'First, poison everyone here with the same method we used this morning,' Sirius started. Remus immediately got a notebook to start writing in it.
'Next, we'll use this Biting Pillows in everyone's bed but ours,' James continued.
'Use Droning Tea in everyone's tea but ours,' Lily went on.
'And exchange each soup for Frog Spawn Soup,' Remus muttered to himself, scribbling everything at top speed.
'And oooh! Those Invisible Paint! We have extras, don't we?'
'Throw in the Grubby Macaronis to turn everyone into earthworms!'
'Earthworms?'
'Yep! Imagine getting a chicken over to this village on that day!'
'Everyone eaten up!'
'That's right! Back to the subject.'
'Paint everyone's houses with sugar!'
'Turn all their flowerbeds sick!'
'Best of all, blow up the Rittardos' shed!'
'WHAT? Lily, are you out of your mind?'
'The Rittardos will kill us!'
'Not unless they don't know we did it. Write it, Re!'
'And make everyone hallunicate!'
'Plant Dungbombs instead of corns and cabbages!'
'STOP! Don't you think we have enough for a while?' Remus said.
'Yeah. Now we'll go to Snape's,' Sirius said.
'Talk about that git in the hols? You're mad!' Lily said.
'Not mad, mentally abused, aren't you?' James said.
'Forget it! We'll list what to research on! We have new subjects this coming term.'
'What is there to research on? One is Divination, Lily's best but her most hated and the other is Muggle Studies.'
'What are we supposed to do on Muggle Studies?'
'Study muggles?'
'That's what it meant, yes I know that. But what? Learn maths? English? Science? To think I can get away from them already…'
'From what Gram told me, she says all we need to do is learn how to use muggle devices.'
'Okay, we needn't bother then.'
'So, what are today's events?'
'Go shopping in Diagon Alley?'
'In your dreams.'
'No, I'm not in my dreams, thanks, though I wish I am.'
'Whatever. Any of you wanna see my Playstation? I'm playing Final Fantasy IX!'
'And really absorbed in it. I bet someone cursed it…'
'I heard that, James!'
'You were supposed to. I didn't say it outloud for nothing!'
'Really? Okay, I didn't hear it.'
'Stupid.'
'I heard it now, Lily!'
'You were supposed to! I shouted it at you!'
'Fine, what was it you said?'
'I said you are stupid!'
'Enough already! Let's just see this game of yours.'
'See, even Remus had a sense of game!'
'What was that supposed to mean, we're stupid at games?'
'Exactly!'
'We detest that!'
'Who cares? Come on, let's just go and lemme finish my game already!'
Together, they flew back to Sirius' house to watch Sirius play his Playstation. Remus learned what's a moogle (a pig-like animal that calls "Kupo!"). Lily, James and Remus watched as Sirius controlled the main character towards a cliff end.
'He's gonna fall,' Remus pointed out.
'Hello! This is an RPG game! Remus, they aren't gonna let you kill the character!' Sirius said, rolling his eyes at him.
'Is that so? No wonder,' Remus said, grabbing the controller and proceed to try and control the main character, Zidane Tribal, to jump off the cliff.
'Forget this. We can't just sit here all day!' James complained. He punched the reset button and the screen turned black.
'Hey!! I hadn't saved it yet!' Sirius cried, wailing tears.
'Just use magic!' Lily suggested.
'If this ever responds to magic, don't you think I'll be finishing the game already?'
'Uh, good point. Anyway, let's just go outside and see how Elley is doing with my project.'
'Speaking of it, why did you bet fifty galleons? That's a lot!' Sirius nearly screamed.
'Who cares? I know she wouldn't even manage to find out how I did it. I placed a very hard-to-break spell on it,' Lily grinned.
'When?' James inquired, looking at the CD.
'Just now. When Elley took it. I wouldn't want my money going down the drain. Besides, I hadn't fifty galleons. My parents do, though.'
'Whatever.'
'Suggestion box open to all,' Lily said tiredly.
'Planning revenge on Snape!'
'Planning? Kill him!!'
'Kill him? Torture him!!!'
'Must we talk about him?' Lily asked. She hated the idea of talking about Snape in the warm, summer holidays. 'I vote we go see how Elley is doing!'
'Vote taken,' James said, grabbing his broom before whoosing out of the sliding door.
'Wait for me!' Lily cried, mounting her broom before shooting off.
'I'm not gonna stay here!' Remus called as he, too, flew after them.
'HEY!!!!!' Sirius screamed before flying after them.
**
The holidays passed fine for the Marauders as they did their daily chores. Wake up, cast a spell on Petunia, go to Elley and Tally's, play in the forest, devise a plan for Snape, Filch and Mrs Norris, pull a prank on the villagers and drive Melissa mad. Just a month before September the first, the four received an owl.
'Ow! Stupid owl!' Lily muttered as it pecked her awake. She turned. 'You again! Why did they keep sending you?'
The owl hooted in reply.
'It says, "I'm your owl for this job so you'll stick with me",' James yawned.
Lily glare at it. 'Wonderful. Here's a a present again.' With that, Lily turned the tawny owl into rainbow shades. Suddenly, a large hawk swept into the room and landed before Lily. It gave a sort of cackle before flying off, dropping a letter on Lily, James, Sirius and Remus' bed. Groggily, Remus picked it up.
'What's this?'
'Smart question. If it's Hogwarts' owl, it'll stay here,' Sirius replied, yawning loudly as he turned to a brown owl waiting patiently beside his bed.
'Another fact. Is it even an owl? It looked more like an eagle,' James said, opening his Hogwarts letter.
'Whatever. The letter is sent and I shan't care,' Lily said, toppling the contents of the Hogwarts envelope on her bed. 'What's this? A form for Hogsmeade?'
'We'd gone to Hogsmeade even before this!' James laughed, reading his booklist. 'New subjects? Oh yeah, Divination and Muggle Studies.'
'Whatever,' Remus shoved everything aside before going back to sleep.
'I totally agree with you,' Sirius mumbled, climbing back into his covers.
Lily fingered the envelope the hawk brought. She knocked on it lightly, feeling solid wood. She tore open the contents, wondering who on earth could have sent her a letter in solid wood. She pulled out a wood and suddenly, the room turned dark. Sirius and Remus sat up for the weather suddenly turned cold and Lily and James stared hard at it.
'Hello, dears! I come to bring you a message,' a voice from the wood said. The four listened intently. 'I don't like attacking people behind their backs, thus, had decided to inform you. I shall come after you during any time. Be ready for me,' the voice cackled evilly before fading off. A skull hovered in the middle of the room and they see a serpent in it, hissing. Everything else faded off and the sunlight swam back into the room. The Marauders shivered.
'What was that?' Lily asked, shuddering as she collected all four letters the hawk brought before setting them on the ground. She pointed her wand at it and it burst into flames.
'A warning,' James said suddenly.
'From whom?' Sirius asked.
'Voldemort. He wants to kill us!' Remus prompted. The four shivered.
'If Voldemort goes after thirteen year olds, isn't he dropping to a low level?' Lily asked.
'Maybe he is. Why would he wanna kill us anyway,' Sirius asked, changing.
'Usually he kills people for the fun of it or maybe strong wizards. Those who wouldn't join him will be killed by the Avada Kedavra, the killing curse,' Remus replied, looking at the burning pile on the floor.
'Well, he'd given us a warning. I think it's best we heed up to it and keep on guard. No going to places alone, okay?' James said in a louder tone.
'I don't want to after listening to that,' Lily shivered.
'Tell mom?' Sirius suggested.
'You're kidding! They'll stop us from attending school if it means missing a whole year's study!' Lily retorted.
'And no Hogsmeade visits!' James added.
'And no pranks allowed!' Remus said, voicing the worst in Sirius' opinion.
'AND you'll get starved,' the three added mischievously. Well, maybe this is the worst.
'NOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Okay, firstly, Remus?' Sirius said, serious all of a sudden.
'Yeah?'
'Research on dark arts! Anything! Lily? James?'
'What?'
'Find the best spells you know! Anything to fight Voldemort!'
'Sirius?'
'Yeah?'
'What about you?'
'You're ordering.'
'I?'
'Yep!'
'I'll eat the food!'
Lily, James and Remus started hitting Sirius mercilessly.
'Ow! I'm just kidding! I'll do the research with Remus!!! Ow!'
Satisfied, the three left him. Sirius got up and brushed himself off the dust. 'Seriously, this room needs some cleaning.'
'Your room, you clean,' Lily said from the bathroom, applying toothpaste on her toothbrush.
'What about this Hogsmeade form?'
'That? Toss them to your mum. She's also our guardian, so no hurt,' Remus said dismissively.
'Let's just get these books and we'll ace again,' James said hopefully, booklist in hands.
'Okay.'
The four trampled down the stairs and ate their breakfast hurriedly before running to the Rittardos'. The Rittardos and Tally were ready to leave by car when the Marauders ran there.
'Hie!! Tally! Wanna come with us?' Lily shouted. Mr and Mrs Rittardo didn't looked pleased with her behaviour, but Elley and Tally grinned at them.
'Hey, you going to Diagon? We can hitch you a ride,' Elley offered, handing twenty-five galleons to them.
'Okay, sure! What are these for?' Lily asked curiously, pointing at the twenty-five lumps of gold in a sack.
'Oh, I lost. Billy and I kept trying and trying, but no luck. So as I'd promised, the twenty-five galleon's yours.'
'Simply wonderful!' James said, hopping into the car. Everyone followed soon after. Lily was just thankful that they needn't use Floo Powder or the Knight Bus. She'd grown to hate the two ways of transport in the wizarding world.
The Rittardos dropped the Marauders and Tally in front of Diagon Alley before leaving off.
'How are we going to get back?' Sirius asked.
'Floo Powder. They're going for holiday,' Tally replied.
'No wonder Elley looked miserable,' Remus said.
'She's sad because they're leaving for a month and Billy has gone to Romania to visit his aunt.'
'Lovebirds,' James laughed.
'Speak so yourself!' Tally said.
'What?'
'You and Lily.'
'TALLY!'
'Okay, I'm sorry!!! Truly, Lily!! I'm sorry!!' But Lily had already placed a Jelly-legs curse on Tally. She now wobble around as the other wizards and witches watched them in amusement. After Tally's legs went back to normal, they resumed shopping.
'So what subject did you choose?' Tally asked when they entered Flourish and Blotts.
'Muggle Studies and Divination. We point the wand blindly on that parchment,' Lily muttered grumpily.
'Cool! Now maybe you can help me with Divination!'
'Not. Mom sent me a Howler when she knows. Course, didn't mind that much. Her idea for a prank.'
'Oh.'
AN: Okay, finished at last!!! I'm not planning to skip any year, so you'd to bear with it, okay? And I can't write much as I've a Major exam next year and blame visitors to pop in to stay just when my cousins left… Also, I'm planning to make this year quite long but chapters really short. That way, you wouldn't have to strain your eyes much longer and relieve your brain from absorbing all my pointless talk in my fics! Review, please?