OK, this insanely long break in my posting has to stop. I know its been a long, long time, and I'm SO sorry. I know some people have been pestering me, and thank you to whoever comes back to see this!
As for this chapter, I hope you like it, considering I had a really hard time with it. Ask my new beta. And as for the name change, I just realized like a week after that Mary's name is Macdonald, so in this one its changed, and in the other one its Dashet or something. Sorry, one day I'll go and fix it.
Disclaimer: In my long, long absence, I am still not JK Rowling.
CHAPTER ONE
The sun was pouring through the cracked window, but couldn't penetrate the heavy red and gold bed curtains. The five girls accommodating the Gryffindor dorm slept peacefully, blissfully unaware that the minutes ticking by were leaving fewer left to them for departure.
Finally a tiny knock brought the smallest, red-haired one from slumber. Looking like a right mess, Lily Evans tumbled from bed and padded over to the door in rumpled pyjamas and wild hair, sleep-blurred and yawning.
The tiny first-year looked at her timidly, though she was only a few inches shorter. "Lily Evans?"
"Yes..." Lily contained a yawn. "What is it?"
"There's a boy downstairs saying you're supposed to be awake and gorgeous by now..."
Lily stared at her for a moment, the sleep-clogged wheels of her mind not quite turning yet. Then she gasped. "Oh my God!" she shrieked, bolting back into the room. "Jenna, Alicia, get up! Joanne, Mary, come on!"
The four other girls shot up in their beds, wide-eyed or yawning. Jenna McIsaac was the first to take in the situation and leap from bed, gathering clothes together. Then Alicia Klein and Joanne Wakeside tumbled out, grabbing brushes and clean clothes. Mary Macdonald was the last to fall from bed, the slowest and least eager to be gone.
The first-year stood at the door, a little taken aback and frightened by the flurry of activities in the dorm. Lily looked at her as she yanked a brush through her hair, wincing. "Go back down and tell him we'll be there in a few minutes," she gasped, using two hands now on the accessory. The girl nodded and disappeared back down the stairs.
Lily finally gave up on her hair and tied it back into a horsetail, frantically locating the clothes she had chosen to wear. He had said that his parents could be picky, but she didn't know exactly how. He'd never told her what to wear the first day...
Jenna was in the shower now, the water creating rolling steam near the ceiling. Alicia was in front of the small mirror on her night table, applying the little makeup she ever wore. Joanne, the sport-player, was throwing any and all clean clothes into a black bag, not bothering with folding. Mary was pulling on clothes as if in a fantasy, not really grasping how little time they had.
The girl appeared again, a small smile on her face. "He says it's already past time to be gone and if you want to impress his parents then you had better be extra beautiful to make up for it."
Lily paused in the motion of buttoning a green blouse. He had not just said that. He had not just asked a first-year to say that.
She sighed and resumed her shirt. "Tell him we'll be a few minutes," she repeated. "And if he doesn't like it he can forget the whole deal."
The girl nodded and skipped back downstairs.
By the time Lily was fully dressed in her blouse, black jeans, and trainers Joanne was packed and ready, as was Alicia. Mary was also dressed, and absently pulling a brush through her hair. Jenna was out of the shower, but she was complaining that she couldn't find her wand to finish the look off.
Lily almost growled when the girl appeared a third time in the door way. "He says that he knows you won't call it off but that you had still better be dazzling if you want a compliment when you get down."
That was the last straw. Lily threw her pair of heels into her trunk and stomped down the stairs to the common room, which was fairly empty because of the holiday. The only people inside were four teenage boys and a teenage girl.
"James Potter, you arrogant, impatient–"
The boy she'd been yelling at turned around, a wide grin on his face. The smile faltered a second as he took in her dressed-up, angry state. Then he stood and walked to her, smiling down at her infuriated face. "I suppose you'll pass," he teased.
She could feel her cheeks burning in fury. "Can you please wait just a minute?!" she nearly shrieked. "Honestly, can you be any pushier?"
"You have obviously not seen him at dinner at home," said his best friend, Sirius Black, from the sofa, who was examining his nails. "Then he's a right scene."
"Black," she said sweetly, looking around James. "I'd appreciate your silence."
The others snickered.
"Alright, Lily, a few more minutes, but then we have to meet McGonagall in her office to Floo to my house," James said with an air of importance. "Or else she'll have my head."
She turned around haughtily and trudged back upstairs, where Jenna had dried her hair magically and was applying makeup to her eyes. Alicia and Joanne were helping Mary throw clothes together. "Is he in a state?" Alicia asked sympathetically.
"He's acting like he is, but I think Remus understands how late we are more than James does," Lily sighed, pulling down a dress bag from her closet. She placed it in her trunk, along with her cosmetics and hair applications. Lily really hated spending so much time on her hair, but if she wanted to pull this off she needed to look her best. Which required makeup and time in front of a mirror.
Alicia, Joanne, and Mary all took their bags or trunks downstairs, to make the room less crowded. Jenna had miraculously packed the night before, and only needed to throw in her own cosmetics before being ready. Lily tucked her wand into her pocket and took hold of her trunk, hauling it down the stairs and into the common room behind Jenna.
"Finally," Sirius said dramatically. "We've been waiting forever!"
"This is actually a new record," Jenna told him. "Seventeen minutes to get four girls dressed, packed, and presentable while the fifth had to shower too? You should be impressed."
Peter Pettigrew, the smallest and least prominent of the group, snickered at Sirius behind his back while Remus Lupin raised his eyebrows. The last girl, Grace Mitchell, started out of the common room, looking irritated.
"What has her all friendly?" Lily asked James quietly as he fell in beside her.
"Sirius was being rather himself this morning, as was Grace, and perhaps the morning is not the best time for them to mingle."
Lily suppressed a giggle as they reached the floor and started to McGonagall's office on the first floor. Lily set down her trunk and pulled out her wand, murmuring "Locomotor trunk" under her breath and levitating the heavy luggage instead of carrying it. It felt wonderful to be able to use magic outside of school days, now that she was seventeen and legally an adult in the wizarding world.
Professor Minerva McGonagall was a strict, praise-pressed woman in her thirties or forties, Lily couldn't tell. She was the one who had convinced the minister of the Floo Network to open a door in her fireplace for today at ten o'clock, for the ten of them to get to James' house for his birthday party. She also hated people being late.
"Hurry along, hurry along," she said briskly when they entered her office. "We're a little pressed for time here."
"Thanks again Professor," James thanked her, grinning his infamous grin. "This is so much easier than flying or organizing the train or–"
"Yes, Potter, I understand that," she said wryly. "Now, hurry along, you go first so that they all know where you're going."
"Sure." James stepped forward, taking a pinch of green powder offered by the professor. He then walked over to the fireplace and stepped inside, yelled "Potter Mansion, Godric's Hollow" and threw down the powder, disappearing into green fire and vanishing.
Lily had read about Floo travel, but had never seen it actually performed. She gasped, and then noticed she was the only one a little shocked, if affected at all. She was reminded yet again that she was not all-knowing as she seemed.
The luggage went next, followed by Grace, Peter, Mary, Remus, and Alicia. All who remained now were Lily, Jenna, and Sirius, as well as Professor McGonagall.
"You had better all go at once," she said worriedly, looking at her watch. "The door's almost closed."
"Will we all fit?" Lily asked anxiously. She didn't want to miss the opening they'd struggled to get, but was hesitant to squeeze into the fireplace with two other people.
"Yes, you'll all fit, yes." Professor McGonagall threw some Floo Powder into the fire and emerald flames appeared. "All of you, at once, go!"
"Come on girls!" Sirius said, grasping both their hands. But before either of them could tear their hands away or yell at him he dragged them into the fire and yelled "Potter Mansion, Godric's Hollow" and then they were spinning, and all Lily could see was green and the colours of their clothes...
With a heavy thump Lily landed on a pile of logs, lodged between Sirius and Jenna in a position she would have laughed at had she not been in it herself. She could hear yelps and laughter, but was struggling for breath so hard that she didn't think about that.
Sirius was untangled from her, and finally she and Jenna could stand in a very large fireplace inside a very large and fancy hall. Lily stepped out, brushing ash off of her clothes and looking around.
The hall was huge, the roof bewitched like the one at Hogwarts in the Great Hall. Outside it was grey-skied and almost sunless, despite the coming spring. A large staircase led up to a second floor, the floors a dark, polished wood. Their audience, not including James and the others, consisted of a small house elf, a handsome young man and pretty woman, as well as a girl their own age.
"You OK?" James asked her, grinning. "Sirius fell on you pretty hard..."
"I'll survive," she managed, feeling a bruise coming on her backside. Jenna stepped out, also scraping ash from her shirt and jeans. The others looked much more presentable and much less ruffled.
The man cleared his throat pointedly, making James turn around. "Oh, yes, of course. Lily, Jenna, Sirius, this is my uncle Brian and my aunt Tracy Potter. Uncle, Aunt, this is Lily Evans, Jenna McIsaac, and Sirius Black, some more of my friends."
"And then some, I hear," Brian said with a knowing grin, looking at Lily. "Welcome, all of you."
"This is Lauren Bailey," Tracy added, placing her hands on the shoulders of the teenager. "She's the daughter of a friend of ours, and she had to come with us from Canada."
Lauren smiled widely. "Hey." Her accent was noticeable, if slight.
"Why are you here, if you don't mind?" James asked his aunt and uncle. "Where're Mum and Dad?"
"Funny story, actually," Brian said airily. "They got an urgent call from Slovakia last night, the wee hours maybe, and asked me to come here and receive you and all your guests in case they don't get back in time. Which they haven't, and won't."
"Mum and Dad are gone?!" James exclaimed, looking surprised. "But they're the ones who set this all up!"
"Yeah, and Phillip feels really bad about abandoning it, but from Slovakia they have to go to Chile and then to Cuba, so they aren't going to make this party at all. You're stuck with us!" Brian sounded delighted. "We're more fun," he told the others, who looked uneasy.
It was Lauren who came to the rescue, of all people. "Come on girls, we'll go to our wing before we get tied up in too much of anything," she said, levitating a trunk. She turned on her heel and started up the grand staircase, followed hastily by the other six girls. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter stayed a moment longer as James talked with his relatives. Then they also trekked up the staircase to settle in their wing.
Lily collapsed on the bed she'd claimed in the room for four. She, Jenna, Alicia, and Lauren Bailey were sleeping in here, with Grace, Mary, Joanne, and Alice White, a Hufflepuff who had arrived before them in the room down the hall. The rest of the girls would also be in rooms for four, down most of the south wing. The boys had the north wing of the huge manor, with the main floor boasting its large kitchen, dining hall, lounges, library, and dancing halls. Outside was a sprawling lawn, with only a few hills and no fences. It was beautiful and much too grand for Lily's taste.
Lauren was sitting on her bed, asking a few questions as Alicia and Jenna unpacked. She was not what Lily would have expected from a North American; she had the white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, as well as the body and fashions, but she didn't have the personality Lily would have expected. She was funny, and polite, and Lily guessed outgoing.
"So, Lily," Lauren said now. Lily propped herself on her elbows so she could look at the person she was talking to. "How do you know the family?"
"I know James," Lily replied, a bit puzzled. Hadn't she figured that one out?
"Oh–I thought you might know his parents, seeing as Brian and Tracy were talking about how disappointed they were about you."
Lily could feel a blush creeping into her cheeks. She wasn't used to attention, besides the kind she got when yelling at James for something.
"No, Lily's dating James," Jenna said bluntly, laying a dress out on her bed.
"Jenna!" Alicia and Lily exclaimed at once. "That was uncalled for," Alicia added.
"What? It's true."
Lauren looked a bit surprised. Her mouth had formed a small "o" and her blue eyes had widened slightly. "You're dating?"
"Sort of," Lily allowed, feeling uncomfortable. "He's been asking me for ages and I agreed to this party, but not to his girlfriend."
"Oh! That makes more sense, I guess," Lauren said happily. "He didn't introduce you as his girlfriend."
"Is that necessary?" Alicia asked curiously. "I didn't think a boy needed to add the title."
"I guess it's a bit different here," Lauren sighed. "In Canada as soon as you date you're a couple. It's like saying you aren't even dating."
Lily was a bit shocked that this stranger could be so blunt with them. Was she used to meeting new people on such short notice?
Lauren stood up. "Well, come on then. Let's go and find the boys, and Frank and Alice and–"
"Frank Longbottom?" Jenna repeated. "He's here?"
"Yeah, and a couple other people. I can't remember all their names now, but one is Jason or something, and another is Sarah, and one is an Asian girl I can't name for the life of me."
"That's Sarah Laurence and Neela Ballin," Lily filled in, heart speeding up as she got off the bed. Was this Jason person actually him?
"Yeah!" Lauren led them out of the room and down to the kitchen, where James and Sirius were sitting with Frank, Alice, Neela, Sarah, and–
"Jacob!" Lily hurried over to the Jacob Carson, who had stood and was waiting. She hugged him hard, but briefly, remembering she was supposed to be James' date. She caught the pain in his dark blue eyes as she released him and sat with her friends, across the table from him.
The house elf from before and two others were setting out a simple breakfast of buns, eggs, and fruit, bustling about as Grace, Mary, and Joanne arrived too, along with a few Ravenclaws Lily recognized from Arithmancy. They made for quiet a big crowd, so James moved all of them into the dining hall, which sported two long tables similar to those of Hogwarts. Lily found herself seated in between him and Remus, nowhere near Jacob or Lauren.
Lily ate little, despite skipping her actual breakfast. She wasn't so sure about this anymore. When she'd agreed to go to this party she had only been thinking that she owed him her life, and this was a small step in repayment. She hadn't been thinking that she had just kissed Jacob a few minutes before, or that she was starting to gain feelings for them, in different ways. It was making her head hurt.
"You OK?" James asked softly. It hurt her so much when he sounded so concerned and she was crushing on a Slytherin.
"Yeah. I'm just suffering from sleep deprivation." He chuckled and kissed her cheek, making her blush.
By the time they'd all eaten something Brian and Tracy reappeared, along with a box that resembled a Quidditch case and an armload of brooms. "Match outside in ten!" Brian announced, walking through the hall to the large glass doors leading into the green yard. Tracy followed, grinning.
Lily looked at James in astonishment. "Are your parents this spur-of-the-moment?" she asked worriedly.
"No way–Mum would probably fret if she couldn't plan everything in her life. Which is why she frets over me." He stood, encouraging other boys to rise too. "I'm going to get my broom and cloak: see you in ten." He left the hall, as did Sirius, Joanne, and several others. Those that remained were not done eating or were more interested in watching than playing.
Lily also started back to the room to get her cloak, alone. Jenna and Alicia had been smarter than her and already brought theirs, while Lauren was already there. Lily had walked two feet down her corridor when she knew he was there.
Turning around, she came face to face with Jacob abruptly, making her gasp. "Don't do that!" she hissed, heart hammering. "You could give me a heart attack!"
He smiled. "Better than a stroke," he said indifferently, taking her hand and leaning in closer. "They're more dangerous."
"Really?" Lily asked breathlessly, aware of the distance between them–or lack of. He chuckled and kissed her gently, lips barely moving. She didn't move, shocked he had the nerve to snog her in sight of the corridor and anyone who cared to pass by.
"Yep." He stepped back. "How are you?"
"I think I'm having a stroke," she said wryly, a little shaky. "Are you playing or watching?"
"I'll watch. I always liked the ground better than the air, if I could help it."
"Alright then. I have to get my cloak, but then–"
"Lily! And Jacob?" Lauren appeared around the corner, broom and flying cloak in hand. "I forget your last name."
"Carson," Jacob told her politely, his smile in place. "I'll meet you down there, Lily."
"OK." Lily watched as the pair started down the hallway. That had seemed too good of timing to be real.
Ok, there it is! I hope you liked it, I crammed a lot into one chapter. Next up is the game and a little Canadian games...could it be hockey or something less athletic? LOL if you didn't know I'm Canadian!
Oh, and to all Americans who might be reading, if I offended you with anything I said in this chapter I am very sorry. I don't think there's anything racist in it (such a dumb word to use) but I am only human. Thanks!
Heiress