Chapter one
Summer between 6th and 7th Year
"Come on, here's your chance,
Don't let it slip right through your hands
Get ready for the ride of your lifeā¦"
"Ride of Your Life" Oliver James
Two pairs of quiet footsteps walked up the beautiful path that was lined with roses of all colors and all sizes, walking further up and constantly toward the four story mansion they were to be staying at. Reaching their destination in front of two grand double doors of a dark redwood color, the boy reached over and pressed the doorbell lightly. They waited in silence as people moved inside to open the door for them.
The girl of medium height smoothed out her denim skirt with her slender hands before pulling her blonde hair into a tighter ponytail and tugging at her shirt. The boy beside her smiled at her before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him.
"You look fine," he whispered to her, "I promise." She looked up slightly and nodded at him grateful for his comment.
She looked in his eyes, the hazy gray color of them pulling her in, she reached her arms out and wrapped them around his neck careful not to mess up his neat black hair. He leaned in and kissed her slowly not hearing the tiny click of the door being opened or seeing the other person lean against the doorframe and smirk at the kissing couple.
"Sirius! Charlie! Glad you could make it," the onlooker greeted. The couple looked peeved at being disturbed but said nothing about it. The girl hugged the guy in greeting.
"Charlie! I'm glad Sirius got you to come!"
"I would've come anyway because Sirius would've forced me to," She rolled her eyes looking to the boy over her shoulder who shrugged in response.
"James," Sirius nodded "Are the others here yet?" He asked.
"No not yet." James replied opening the door wider to let them inside the house. He closed the door behind him following them into the sitting room. "You're the first to arrive." He ran his hands through his messy jet black hair and toyed with his glasses nervously.
Charlie had taken a seat on one of the many armchairs surrounding a huge medieval stone hearth. The boys took a seat in other armchairs and sat waiting for the others that were to come soon.
They all sat in silence except to catch up on small details they had missed from each others lives over the summer holiday.
James
I talked to Sirius about the beginning of my summer and he talked about his, I'm sad to say that I didn't hear a word he had said. My eyes were glancing at the fireplace every two seconds and my mind wandered with them.
I had invited my friends Sirius and Remus to spend the last two weeks of summer vacation with me. Unfortunately Sirius' girlfriend Charlie didn't want to be alone with just guys so I told her to invite her friends too. Clara and Ashes I didn't have a problem with but Lily on the other hand, the Lily Evans was actually coming here! She disliked me...well hated me with such a passion while I, on the other hand had liked her since fourth year. I was nervous; I didn't know what I was going to do or what I was going to say or if I was going to be able to say anything at all! My mind was a mix of thoughts and I couldn't make out a single one of them, I didn't know how to think straight knowing
she was--
"What the--" Charlie had shouted and turned quickly around to look behind her chair. Her eyebrows went up in confusion. Sirius and I gave her strange looks and she just shook her head. Then I saw two small hands appear from thin air, one pulled on Charlie's hair and the other tugged on her shirt. Charlie yelped in surprise and looked behind the couch again. She muttered under her breath something about going crazy and sunk deeper in her armchair.
I laughed out loud and she glared at me, in return I rolled my eyes. "Ally, Kay give me my invisibility cloak and stop bothering Charlie," I said sternly to what looked to be just space. Ally and Kay appeared from thin air and pouted at me throwing the cloak at my feet. "Apologize now." I told them. They pouted even more and walked with their feet dragging to stand in front of Charlie. They put on their most angelic faces and mumbled "I'm sorry" at the same time. Charlie nodded at them accepting their apology but I had a feeling she would remain skeptical of them for a long time.
"The one on the left is Allison and on the right is Kayley. Their twins and my sisters, and are two!" I told Charlie.
"How do you tell them apart?" she asked looking from one to the other.
"You'll know after awhile," Sirius said "I had trouble at first..."
"They used to be easy to tell apart, Kayley used to have a scar across the right side of her jaw but my darling sisters have the gift of freehand magick and she hides it!"
"The only way I know is if you ask them for a glass of water Kayley will spill it on you but Ally will at least let you drink some of it before she pours the rest on you."
"Oh so they've taken to following you James."
"What can I say, everyone wants to be like me," I grinned in response. Ally and Kay climbed up on the only couch in the room and sprawled themselves out on it. And then we waited.
Remus
I fell out of the fireplace with a groan. I hated flooing and I was just reminded of why that was. I got up and dusted myself off then greeted the others. James, Sirius and Charlie were the only ones there along with James' younger sisters.
"Hello," I said to them taking a seat in the armchair to Charlie's right.
"Remus!" Sirius and James greeted still from their seats, but before I had time to stop her Charlie had hugged me and asked how my summer had gone. I tried my best to keep my voice as even as I could, she had touched the open cut on my back from last week's full moon. "Just great," I managed to get out with only a hint of being sarcastic.
"Having fun sitting here and waiting?" I asked after a minute of pure silence.
"Yep," James replied sarcastically running his hands through his hair and playing with his glasses once again. He was nervous. I smirked. Lily was coming soon.
"Lily should be coming soon huh?" Charlie nodded absently but the question I had directed at James.
"Shut-up," He snapped at me. Sirius and I laughed softly. Ally and Kay left to their rooms saying something about how boring we were and if that was what it was like to grow up they wanted to stay young. I just shook my head, definitely related to James alright. The fire place glowed green before Ashes stepped out coughing and sputtering, she wasn't alone there was a little girl clinging to her. A blonde haired blue eyed little girl. Ashes huffed as she shifted the girl to her other hip. The little girl I guess was too afraid to get down and wrapped her arms tighter around Ashes' neck. Ashes agitated as she was managed to smile and say hello to us.
Ashes
Eden would not let go of me so I had to hold her. It didn't help that she hated to floo and her small fingers pressed into my neck. I said hi to all of them while trying to pry Eden off of me. I managed to do so and set her down only to have her cling to my leg.
"I'm sorry James I had to bring her," I said apologetically.
"Sister doesn't like to baby-sit?" He smiled
"Midnight? She won't take care of her sister." I said bitterly
"That's okay; she can hang out with Ally and Kay."
"Who?"
"They're my younger sisters. Ally! Kay! Come down! There's someone I want you to meet!"
I heard small feet run down the stairs and stop at the foot of the grand staircase. There were two of them. Twins. Man this was going to be hard.
Eden seeing two girls her own age moved slightly away from me to them. James told me which one was which and for that moment as long as they didn't move I knew. I pushed Eden towards them. I bent down to their height.
"This is Eden," I said. The twins smiled and giggled as they each grabbed one of Eden's hands and led her from the room. I watched her until she disappeared around the corner without a glance back. She'd have fun.
"Again I'm sorry, my grandmother went on vacation and Midnight wouldn't watch her." I sat on the floor leaning against the couch.
"Glad you could make it," Charlie said to me. She then proceeded to lean down towards my ear and whispered.
"Clara is bringing Lily but Lily doesn't know she's coming here."
We both grinned mischievously and laughed maniacally ignoring the looks from the guys. We looked to the fireplace expectantly. And just like clockwork Clara flooed in.
Clara
I waved to everyone and flashed them a big smile before I stuck my head back in the fire to yell at Lily. "Lily! Hurry up and get your butt out here!"
She came out a few seconds later wiping soot from her red hair. "I don't see what's so important and why I had to come--Clara what's he doing here?" She asked sweetly...deadly sweet in fact.
"Well you see Lils it is his house you know...," I muttered, "It's not important...summer vacation at his house and all..."
"WHAT! Why didn't you tell me about this!" She yelled. I saw Charlie and Ashes laughing from the corner of my eye at my misfortune. I glared at them before replying to Lily "Ashes and Charlie told me to!"
"What!" they both yelled and I raised my head higher in their direction.
I win. As Lily began yelling at both Charlie and Ashes who yelled back I went over to James, Sirius and Remus who were arguing quietly themselves. Apparently James thought Lily knew she was coming here. How interesting.
Lily
How could they! My friends! My best friends! They deceived me! They lied to me! I could never forgive them...well at least not yet...I'd make them suffer first!
I was in the room I was shown to by James no less, fuming, I wanted to throw something or hit someone... like Clara or Charlie or even Ashes. I fell down on the floor next to the oak bed and started to bang the back of my head against the frame. How could I be so stupid! They were acting so strange too! How could I not notice? I was thinking of all the wonderful ways I could pay them back...I could jinx them into oblivion or better yet I would!
"Isn't that a little too dramatic?" someone said from the door
I looked up. It was Remus.
"Sorry, the door was open and I couldn't help but overhear. Did you know you talk out loud when you're thinking?" he asked me. He came over to where I was and sat down on the floor next to me.
"I wasn't being dramatic, it's true." I said firmly but I couldn't help but notice that I was trying to convince myself more than I was him. He just nodded as if he knew what I was thinking. He offered no words, just himself sitting there giving nothing more than the comfort of someone being there.
"I guess I should apologize," I said reluctantly
"I knew you'd see it my way." He smiled before getting up and offering me a hand.
"I don't know how you can make someone do something with out even saying a word," I shook my head.
"Sometimes you don't need to tell someone to do something you just need to be there for them and let them know you're there. That and well...it's a gift I got from my mother." He walked ahead of me and out of the door leaving to god knows where.
"Marauders," I muttered under my breath,
"you can never understand them." I went directly across the hall from my room to Clara's and knocked lightly. It's now or never.
"Come in!" I walked in cautiously and what I saw I did not expect to see at all. There were three little girls whom I didn't see when I first arrived. Two looked identical, black hair just like James'. Ashes was sitting on the bed with Charlie laughing as Sirius was chasing the third little girl, she had curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Apparently the girl had taken Sirius' wand. Remus was in the corner of the room leaning against the wall. How did he get here before me? And without me seeing him? James was there too, sitting on a chair in the room. I didn't look at him.
"Oh aren't they adorable!" Clara gushed which was weird because she's always so calm, and collected you know. She was holding one of the twins I assumed.
"I want one," she whined. I walked two more steps and sat down cross- legged on the floor. I pulled at the ends of my hair not knowing how to apologize.
"I'm sorry," I blurted out, making everyone in the room pause and look at me.
"We know, and we accept," Charlie, Clara and Ashes said at the same time.
"It's no big deal, don't worry about it Lils." Charlie told me. I sighed and pushed myself up off the floor. I walked over to the door and turned around to face everyone. I made eye contact with James for the first time since I had arrived.
"James...could I talk to you...In the hall...please?" I asked quietly
He got up and followed me down the hall a little ways.
"I guess I owe you an apology," I whispered quietly
"It's okay," he replied smiling a little
"You're house is...beautiful,"
"Thank-you,"
"James I know we've gotten into a fair few fights the last few years but maybe we could work on trying to be friends..."
He smiled and leaned down to whisper in my ear
"Yes we can work on trying to be friends but I intend to be more than your friend!"
Charlie
"Awwwww how cute!" I whispered with my ear pressed against the door.
"We told you he liked her...a lot" Sirius said quietly from his seat on the bed. Eden was sitting on his lap gazing up at him, grinning. Remus was sitting in the chair James had vacated and Ashes and Clara were standing beside me with their ears to the door as well. We heard them separate and go their separate ways, James to greet his parents who had just arrived and Lily to come back in Clara's room. The door knob turned and we all scrambled to look like we hadn't done anything. Lily walked in as Ashes was taking Eden from Sirius, Clara was sitting on the floor in front of Remus and I had jumped on the bed and was attempting to smooth out my skirt.
"Hi Lils!" I said cheerfully
"I know you were listening...," she retorted laughing quietly
"Were gonna be going now." Remus said and he and Sirius left silently.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked
"About what?" she snapped
"James, Lils." Clara said quietly
"He is so infuriating, I just...how dare he!" she fumed
"How dare he what?" I asked
"Just go and make me feel like this..."
I was about to reply but Sirius appeared at the door,
"Emily wants to meet all of you,"
"Emily?" I asked
"Mrs. Potter." he corrected.
By that time Lily had snuck past Sirius and locked herself in her room.
Lily
I couldn't take this it was just too much...had I just actually agreed to spend the remainder of my summer at my only enemy's house...and had James Potter actually just said that he wanted to be more than my friend? Ugh, life was so confusing why couldn't everyone and thing just leave me alone for five minutes...and then the whole thing with my parents...
"Lily...Lils open up ...please!" Clara called through the door
Tears were blinding me.
"No!" I sobbed solemnly
The door handle rattled and it sounded as if Sirius or Remus was pushing against it with their shoulder.
"Lily...please let us help!" Charlie called
I wiped furiously at the tears falling silently down my face, I pulled my knees up to my chest and sat rocking back and forth.
"Hey..." a voice said from the door leading to my bathroom, I looked up and James was leaning against the doorframe...smiling.
"H-Hey..."I mumbled
He walked over and sat down next to me
"Wanna talk about it?" he asked
"M...My parents are always fighting and then coming here it's just too much for me to handle..."
James smiled sadly and wiped a tear away with the pad of his thumb,
"Don't cry...please,"
I smiled.
"I'm sorry...I'm being way too--"
I was cut off by James, he pressed a finger to my lips,
"It's okay you've just had a bad day, now come downstairs...my mom wants to meet you..." He got up and offered me a hand, then walked toward the door.
"How did you get in here anyway?"
He grinned "My room's connected by the bathroom..." Great I thought.
With that he unlocked the door and all five of our friends looked up at us in awe. They all got up from their various sitting positions in the hallway and we all headed down to the first floor to meet Mr. and Mrs. Potter.
