Lily's Hogwarts Experience
Year One: The Mystery
(A/N- THIS STORY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OTHER THREE I WROTE. THE CHARACTERS DO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS)
My life changed that one-day when the owl flew through my window. I was sitting in the kitchen eating lunch, waiting for my mom to take me to London to get clothes for school, when I heard a tap at the window. It was an owl. I opened the screen, and let it in. It had a note tied around its leg. I took the note of its leg carefully (afraid that it would attack), read it and screamed for my mom. My mom ran in
"Lilly," she said, "what's wrong?"
"Look at this. It says I'm a witch, and that I can go to a school called Hogwarts to learn magic! I'm to leave on September 1st. "
At this moment my sister Petunia ran into the kitchen.
"Oh my god" she started "I heard you scream, are you ok" this was typical of her, because if something had happened then that would have meant she would have had something to talk about in school the next day (she was the biggest gossip around).
"Petunia, I have the best news. I'm a witch!"
She gave me a wide-eyed look.
"No your not. She isn't right, right mother?"
She looked at my mother expectantly
"Well she does have the letter. It tells us to go to a place called Diagon Ally, through the Leaky Cauldron Pub"
"You're going to believe that crap?"
"It's not crap!" I cried indignantly "And I want to go, that should count for something"
"Well we were going to go shopping anyway. We can try, but I'm not sure I believe it myself."
I couldn't believe it! This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. While we got ready to go I was practically bouncing off the walls.
When we finally got to London we started looking for the pub. I saw it and tried to point it out to my mom and my sister. They just couldn't see it. I didn't know if since they couldn't see if they could go in it or not, and I didn't feel like waiting any longer to find out. I told my mom to just give me some money. She was leery about doing that, but I convinced her to in the end. She gave 100 pounds and told me to be careful and all of that mom stuff, and left with a scowling Petunia. I walked towards the pub nervously (it was the first time I was entering the wizarding world after all) and went in. It was tiny and grubby looking, but it made me feel like I belonged. The man behind the counter spoke to me,
"Going to Hogwarts?"
"Yes sir"
"Do you know where Diagon Ally is?"
"No" I admitted
"Oh, so it's your first time in the wizarding world is it. Well here." He said as he handed me a long thin stick, which I assumed was a wand.
"Go out side and tap the brick 3rd up from the garbage can, and the door to Diagon Ally will open leave the wand on the trash can and when you want to come back just come back to wall and say open"
I thanked him and went out back and preformed the spell.
Diagon Ally was amazing! There were shops of all sorts like Rhoda's Robes, Sam's Special Interest Pets, or Olivanders wands. I must have been standing there an awfully long time, because behind me a boy said
"Are you lost?"
I jumped and turned around. There was a tall boy with long black hair, pale skin, and a grin.
"Oh, no…well kind of." I stammered, "Where can I find a bank or some where to exchange money. At least I think I have to exchange money. I'm not sure. I have English Pounds"
"Well you'll want to go to Gringots bank to exchange that for our money." he said "by the was I'm Sirius. Sirius Black, and if I help you, you have to help me. See, I'm looking for my friend James. He has messed up black hair and wears glasses. Just keep a look out for him. We were supposed to meet here today. By the way, who are you? I like to know whom I'm helping. I guess your muggle-born right?"
"I'm Lilly Thomas, and if muggle is the word for non-magical people yes my parent and my sister are muggles. It's my first year at Hogwarts"
"Mine too." Said Sirius
Sirius took me across the road to a tall, white, marble building.
"Welcome to Gringots. The bank for all wizards." Said Sirius, sweeping into a deep bow.
I laughed as he led me up the marble steps. When we got inside Sirius took me to a counter were there were two weird looking creatures standing.
"Goblins. They run the bank." Said Sirius in a whisper. Sirius told the goblins behind the counter what I needed, and then went to find a goblin to take him to his underground vault.
I exchanged my money for some weird looking coins called Knutts, Sickles, and Galleons. Then he took me to the shops that I needed to go to and a one extra. The extra was an owl shop and I got a beautiful brown owl. I was looking around casually when I thought I saw his friend. I tugged on his shoulder, (he was much taller than me) and told him. I was right and was introduced to James Potter.
"So you have a girl friend already Sirius. My, my, you do work fast," said James.
I blushed, and Sirius scowled.
"she was lost. I was just helping her."
"Yeah Sirius, of course you were"
I guessed that this would be the perfect time to leave.
"Thanks so much Sirius, you really helped. Bye, James"
I walked back to the wall said 'open' and walked into the Leaky Cauldron. I thanked the man behind the counter for helping, and went outside to look for my mom and sister. Everything so different now that I had seen the wizarding world. This world just seemed so simple. I found my mom and my sister in Macys buying clothes.
"Well how was it?" asked mom "Was it real?"
"It was great! I made a friend, and bought loads of cool stuff. I'll show you when we get home!"
I smiled at my mom and Petunia. Petunia held her head high and pretended to not know me.
"Where's my change?" My mom said.
"Here" I handed her the money. She looked at it confused, and said I could have it.
Petunia then noticed the owl.
"What is that?" she said
"Her name is…" I realized I didn't have one for her. I thought quickly "Leah. Her name's Leah."
"Stupid wizard freak" said Petunia.
I was hurt. But I ignored it, and walked to the car.
The weeks until September 1st passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was time. The day before I had gotten another owl from Hogwarts with a train ticket. I was to go to Kings Cross station and go to platform 9 ¾ at 11:00.
The next morning my mom hurried Petunia and me into the car (incase you wondering my dad was dead, that's why my mom was doing everything. Although my mom said of a heart attack I never really believed her because I did some research of my dads family history and his family had had no heart problems in the past). Petunia and I sat in silence while my mom tried to make small talk. We weren't very receptive to the idea. I was mad at Petunia for making the last few weeks a living hell for me, and Petunia was mad at me for being what I was: a witch.
When we got to the station I looked for Platform 9 ¾ of course I couldn't find it.
"Boo!"
I turned quickly looking around and saw James Potter standing behind me
"Sirius was right!" he said, "You do like to stare."
"I wasn't staring this time. I was looking for the platform, you know 9 ¾."
"Come with me I'll show you"
He took my hand, and ran with me toward the solid wall between platforms 9 and 10! My mom who was standing behind us looked like she was going to faint.
"Oh my god, he must be mental" I thought I mean he was running with me toward a solid wall. The people standing around us looked as if they had the same opinion as I did. I heard my sister say
"Look they're going through the wall."
I closed my eyes, and prayed my injuries wouldn't be too serious. Then I realized that we had stopped running. I opened my eyes and saw a scarlet steam engine puffing scarlet smoke into the blue sky. I also noticed that James hadn't been to slow to leave me. I stared. Then I noticed James, Sirius, and someone else snickering. I stopped staring and focused on getting on the train. My luggage was extremely heavy, and I couldn't lift it (it had been on a trolley). The boys saw me struggling and came over to help.
"Are you like under some sort of orders saying that you have to help me, or something?" I asked
"Well if you don't want us to," said the boy I didn't know
"Of course I do. It's just James, and Sirius have been very helpful, and I really don't know you" I pointed to him
"I'm Remus" he said "Remus Lupin"
"I'm Lilly Thomas. Do you have an interest in wolves by any chance?"
"I, um, no, no definitely not."
"Oh I just asked because part of your name means wolf in Latin you know. Lupus…"
"Yeah, I know." he stopped the conversation very quickly. "I'll go find us a compartment" Remus left looking very uncomfortable.
"Us?" I said, "How do you know I'll sit with you?"
"Oh, you will," said Sirius "you will"
The boys helped me put my luggage on the train, and then left to find their own compartment. I walked up and down the train looking for a compartment that was empty. Since I was one of the first ones on I thought that there should be one. There wasn't! They were all filled! I continued walk up and down the train opening and closing compartments, until I opened the one with James, Sirius, and Remus sitting in it.
"Well hello" said Sirius. They were all grinning like crazy. Like they had done something.
"Hi" I said, "listen I know I said that I wasn't going to sit with you, but all the other compartments are full" the train lurched.
"No they weren't," said Remus "we made you see that they were filled." The train lurched starting to move "And now that the train's moving doesn't it just make sense to sit with us?" this was James.
I gave in and sat down. As soon as I had done this, the compartment door opened, and a girl came in. she had dark black hair. She was about as tall as Sirius. And when Sirius looked u at her he groaned.
"Go away" he said.
"Mom said that I'm supposed to look after you since you're in your 1st year, and unfortunately I have to sit with you," said the girl. I guessed she was his sister. She looked just like him. The same hair and skin. She turned to me.
"Who are you?" she asked
"I'm Lilly Thomas"
"I'm Sirius's sister (unfortunately). My name's Callisto Black. Our parents named all my brothers and sisters after stars, and constellations."
She went on a while about her siblings, and then she seemed to remember that I was there
"Have they been bothering you?"
"Well…" I looked at the boys, who were shaking their heads no, and smiling their angelic little smiles. Well it was only an innocent trick
"No they haven't," I said.
Callisto was really nice. This was her 3rd year at Hogwarts. She told me all about Hogwarts, and everything about the wizarding world that I didn't know. Like the schoolhouses.
From what I could tell Gryffindor was by far the best house. Although I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Slytherin sounded awful. According to Callisto they had turned out the most wizards that had gone over to the dark side.
She also told me a few things about the three boys.
They had known each other for just about all their lives. James and Sirius were little pranksters, and when they could they would drag Remus along with them.
James and Sirius were purebloods. But Remus wasn't. Remus had two muggle parents, who died in a plane accident. Before they died James's mom was always telling Remus's parents that he was showing signs of magic but they never listened. Then when they died there was no will, so Remus was tested for magic. It turned out he was a wizard, so he was put in a wizarding orphanage. Something happened to him there, and they threw him out.
He was living on the streets for a month like a muggle (by this time he was 8). James, and Sirius hadn't heard from him in a long time. Then one-day James's mother was going to the market when she found him in an ally-way! She took him home and nursed him back to health, and he's been at James's house ever since. But Callisto also said that she thought there was something weird about him, and she knew that James's mother knew about it. But she didn't even tell James or Sirius what it was. She told me this part in a whisper so Remus wouldn't hear. She also said that there was a girl that lived near by that also had a weird brother. The girl was suposedly starting at Hogwarts this year.
Before I knew it the train had stopped.
"We're here!" shouted James.
"Time to start making trouble!" Said Sirius.
"Oh, Gosh!" groaned Remus. He sounded really exasperated.
When we got off the train there was a giant man (he had to be at least 11ft!) standing to the side of the door yelling,
"Firs' years over 'ere, firs' years over 'ere"
James, Sirius, Remus, all the other first years and I walked over.
The man loaded us on to boats, and yelled with a steady tone,
"Row, row, row."
The boats started rowing themselves down the river when suddenly over a hill we could see a giant stone castle! We all gasped.
"Is that… is that Hogwarts?" I asked James
"Yup!" he said
"Wow, it's huge!" exclaimed Remus
"Yeah I know," said Sirius "just think of all the pranks we'll be able to pull!"
Something told me that these three would be spending just about every other night in detention. Callisto had told me about the detentions they had at Hogwarts. They sounded a lot more interesting than the ones at my muggle school.
When the boats stopped in front of the castle the giant let us off, and took us to the front door where he knocked three times.
A lady opened the door. She had a stern looking face, wore glasses and had her hair in a tight bun.
" 'Ere are the firs' years Professor."
"Thank you Hagrid."
'So that's his name' I thought to myself as the professor walked us down the entranceway of the school. She spoke as she walked,
"My name is Professor McGonagle. I will take to a room off of the great hall. You are to wait there until I come for you. When I come for you, I will take you into the great hall where you will be sorted into your school-houses."
When she was finished talking we were in the room. She left out a door on the right, which I assumed went to the great hall. I looked at James, Sirius, and Remus. They were huddled in a corner again, and they had the same look on their faces that they had when they played that joke on me. They were looking at a small boy who looked awfully scared, and James was holding his wand. All of the sudden the boy's hair flashed blue, then red, green, yellow over and over again.
Slowly people started noticing, and laughing at the boy who was of course oblivious to what was happening and thought that they were all laughing at some thing else? This made everyone laugh harder. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the three boys.
"What did you do that for?" I asked them
"Well we needed to have a colorful start," said Remus
"You know Remus" I started "someone told me that you wouldn't do half the things you do if you weren't around these two"
"Yeah, I know, but this is so much more fun!" he smiled as he said this.
But it wasn't a normal smile. It was a smile as if he wasn't telling us something. Then I remembered what Callisto had said
'There's something weird about him. James's mother knows, but the rest of us don't.'
Then I came back to reality, and realized the boys hair was still flashing in different colors
"Come on, undo it. For me, please." I smiled
"Fine, but it won't always be this easy," said James as he undid the charm.
At this time the professor came back with a stool and a hat. She signaled for us to follow her. We did and we were led into the Great Hall. I looked around to take in everything I saw. The first thing that I really noticed was the ceiling. Actually I didn't know if it was the ceiling or not, because it looked just like the sky outside.
"It is a ceiling, if that's what you were wondering." James whispered
I smiled at James as thanks and he smiled back.
"When I call your name come up to the stool and put the hat on your head" said Professor McGonagle.
She took out a scroll and started reading off names.
'Ake, Lee' became the first new Ravenclaw. Then came 'Anderson, Sarah' who became a Slytherin. It went this way all through the A's. Sirius was the first B. he walked up looking quite smug sat on the stool, and jammed the hat on his head. It took about 5 seconds for the hat shout 'Gryffindor'. I applauded along with the rest of the school. The only people not applauding were the Slytherin. I noticed Callisto smiling broadly at Sirius from the Gryffindor table. I guess that Sirius was expected to be in this house. I waited patiently, after all my last name was Thomas. Before long it was Remus's turn. He was on stool for a very long time. But the hat finally put him in Gryffindor. The rest of the sorting was going by very slowly for me.
"Pettigrew, Peter" the Professor was going on.
I looked up when I heard an
"Ow!"
It had come from the boy the James and his friends had cursed. He was walking up to be sorted, tripped over his robes, and fell on his face. When he had gotten up and walked to the stool he jammed the hat over his head. The hat stayed there for 5 whole minutes!
"Sly…Slyth…" the hat tried to stutter "Slyther… Gryffindor" it finally made its choice and Peter stumbled over to the Gryffindor table.
"Potter, James" called the Professor.
Now I paid attention.
James walked with the same smugness that Sirius. I guessed that he knew what house he was going to be in.
The second he put the hat on his he it yelled,
"Gryffindor"
He walked over to Sirius and Remus.
I waited and waited for my turn. It took forever.
"Snape, Severus" became a Slytherin.
Finally I heard professor McGonagle call
"Thomas, Lily"
I walked up to the stool, sat, and put the hat on my head. I just expected it to be silent, but it talked!
"Well let's see, lets see" it said, "Ah, you are very smart I see. Ravenclaw might be the house for you. But I do see you want to be with your friends in Gryffindor. And you are quite brave. Well yes, better be…" it paused "Gryffindor"
I sighed with relief. At least there'd be four people I knew. As I walked over toward the Gryffindor I saw Callisto waving for me to sit next to her. I smiled, and walked over to her.
"Good job!" she said
"Thanks."
As I said that and old man at the head table stood up.
"That's Professor Dumbledore. He's the new headmaster this year." Whispered Callisto
"Before we begin our feast, there are a few notices to announce." Said Dumbledore
"One, there is a newest addition to the Hogwarts grounds. It is the whomping willow. This tree has a tendency to lash out at whom ever goes near it. Two, the forbidden forest at the edge of the grounds is of limits to everyone, except the teachers and the grounds-keeper."
I saw Callisto shoot a look a Sirius.
"That is all. Enjoy your food."
At that instant food appeared on all the plates, and every one started eating.
When the feast was over the prefects led us through the doors of the great hall up to the Gryffindor tower. I noticed the boy whose hair had been flashing colors was now tagging along behind James, Sirius, and Remus. He looked like he was trying to join they're conversation, but they weren't exactly including him.
We kept walking up and up twisting staircases, and through passageways. When we finally stopped in front of a portrait of a large woman, I was looking forward to go to bed. The prefects told us that to get into the Gryffindor common room you had to say the password 'Nekoosa'.
As soon as one of the prefects said this the portrait of the lady swung up reveling a hole that led into the Gryffindor common room. It had a roaring fire; five arm chairs, and lots of tables and regular chairs. When we were all in the two girl prefects led us up a twisting staircase into the girl's dormitories.
"Find the dormitory with your trunks in them. That's where you will be sleeping," said one of the prefects.
I went to find my trunk. I found it in one of the rooms with only 3 beds. I flopped my self down on a bed. Almost as soon as I had done so, two other girls came in.
"Oh, hello" I said "is that your luggage"
"Yup" said one girl "who are you?"
"I'm Lily Thomas"
"Oh, I'm Leslie Dursley. Call me Less"
"And I'm Saraan Vercillo"
Less had brownish black hair cut short to her shoulders. She was tall, thin, and looked incredably frierndly. She looked like someone I'd seen before. Saraan and dark brown skin with long brown hair and brown eyes. She was about my hight. She also had a very serious look to her.
"I guess we're roommates" I said.
We all smiled at each other. I knew that I was going to like these girls.
"So, do you have any siblings?" Leslie asked me
"Well, I have a sister that hates me…" I ended up poring out the whole story about how Petunia thought that all wizards were freaks, even me, her own sister.
"You too?" said Leslie. "My brother Vernon just hates me. Ever since I go my letter from Hogwarts he's been paying me to stay in my room when he has friends over, and stuff like that."
Vernon. Where did I know that name from?
"I feel sorry for you guys!" said Saraan "My family's all magical. I don't think I've ever even seen a muggle, much less one who hates me!"
"You're lucky. It would've been cool to grow up in an all magic environment." I said
"Yeah" said Leslie.
"I'm tired" I yawned, "I hitting the sack."
"Good idea"
"I agree. We start classes tomorrow."
With that we all put on nightshirts and went to bed.
The next morning I awoke with a start. I needed to verify where I was. I looked around. I saw the two other beds still filled with they're sleeping figures. I yawned and got up to get dressed. When I came back Saraan and Less were just getting up.
"Come on you sleepy heads. Get up." I yelled, "You don't want to miss breakfast do you?"
"I wouldn't mind it," murmured Less "I'm so tired. You could've warned us that you were an early bird"
"I'm not I'm just excited"
"O.k., o.k, we're getting up."
Slowly they arose from they're beds.
"I'll meet you in the common room" I said
I walked down to the common room and saw James and Sirius sitting on a couch.
"Hey guys." I said. "Where's Remus?"
"Oh he's sleeping. He went off with Dumbledore last night to talk, and didn't get back 'till late"
"Hmm…" I thought, what's with him. I sat down with James and Sirius, when Less and Saraan came down the stairs. Less looked at Sirius, and her jaw dropped. She had that 'I have a total crush on him' look in her eyes.
"Going to introduce me to your friend?" asked Less as she continued looked at Sirius.
"Less, Saraan meet James and Sirius. James and Sirius meet Less and Saraan."
"Hi, nice to meet you" Said Saraan
"Yeah, what she said," said Less as she continued to look at Sirius
"You can close your mouth now.," said Saraan as she pushed Less's jaw back into place.
"Come on lets go eat," I said
"We'll wait for Remus. I want to ask him a few things," said Sirius.
"Don't be to hard on him, please." I begged "He's really nice, for all you know he had a family emergency."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Be nice! Or I'll tell Callisto."
"No, no, anything but that" said Sirius sarcasticly falling to the floor
"Yeah, come on. Lets go."
Less, and I walked out leaving Sirius on the ground. Saraan stayed behind saying she forgot a book
Breakfast was really good, and during it we got our mail and our course schedules.
Leah flew in among the other owls and settled down next to me. She dropped a letter on my plate.
Dear Lilly,
Your owl flew back to me late September 1st for some reason, so I've decided to tell you this. Since my 17th birthday was a few weeks ago as you know mother decided to let me start dating. I am dating a man named Vernon Dursley. He says that his sister also received one of those infernal letters from that school of yours. Her name is Leslie Dursley. If you know her write back. If you don't then don't write. Vernon's sister refuses to answer his letters, so that's why I'm asking you. I'm also asking because we are thinking of getting married in a few years. You are to let Leslie read this letter if you know her.
- Petunia Thomas
I gasped. That's where I knew that name from! the possibility that Less and I might be cousins. Wow! I decided that I'd save the letter for later. Then I took the other slip of paper that had been dropped off.
8:00-9:00 Breakfast
9:00-10:00 Transfiguration
10:00-11:00 Potions (with Slytherins)
11:00-12:00 Lunch
12:00-1:00 Defense Against Dark Arts (with Ravenclaws)
1:00-2:00 History of magic
2:00-3:30 Charms (with Ravenclaws, double until 3:30)
3:30-4:30 Herbiology (with hufflepuffs)
4:30-5:30 study (common room or library)
5:30-6:30 Free
6:30-7:30 Dinner
7:30-9:30 Free or Study
All students must be in their dorms by 9:30
All Gryffindors have astronomy on Thursdays at 1:00AM
As I looked over my schedule I was amazed. I didn't know that there was this what to magic. And, what was D.A.D.A? Oh well, I'd find out soon enough I guessed. I started eating. When Less came and sat next to me I quickly hid the letter from her, unfortunately she saw me doing it.
"What's that?" she asked
"Well, it's a surprise. I have a feeling you'll like it though. I'll show it to you tonight."
"Ok."
Saraan came and sat on my other side
"Where were you?" I asked her
"Oh, well I waited around with Sirius, and James to see what they were going to do with Remus."
"Well what did they do?"
"Well they were um… nice. If you could call it that. They weren't mean or anything. But they…" she paused and looked around
"Well Sirius does have quite a temper if you get him mad. I tried to defend Remus, but he told me to stop. He said he'd wanted to talk to me later. I guessed I deserved it. It wasn't really my business, you know. Anyway talk to the boys, here they come now"
Sure enough Sirius, Remus, and James came through the doors. Sirius looked quite angry, James looked like he was thinking hard, and Remus looked like he wanted to tell some one something.
When they came in Remus came and sat down next to Saraan. They started talking very softly. Saraan looked quite surprised. James and Sirius sat down together, and started talking. They both looked like they were thinking extremely hard. Then that little Peter popped up behind them, trying to force himself into there conversation. I laughed to my self. Sooner or later they're going to have to befriend him.
About 20 minutes before breakfast was over Saraan, Less, and I took our maps, and focused trying to find our way to Transfiguration. The problem was the map didn't mention all the trick staircases, or the weird doors. It took us 5 minutes just to get one door open! We finally arrived at Transfiguration just on time. The boys arrived a couple of minutes late.
The class was very interesting. The Professor told us all about the subject, and what exactly to do. Then she gave us each a match to turn into a pin. This was an incredibly hard task. I tried and tried, but all it did was turn a sort of tinted silver. James, and Sirius however, both got it after their fifth tries. The only thing Remus's did was grow into a point. Then I noticed that the boy Peter wasn't there.
"Isn't Peter supposed to be here?" I whispered to Sirius, whom I was sitting next to.
"Yeah, he is. But, I don't mind it much that he's not here. He's been really annoying. He can't mind his own business"
I smiled slightly. I suppose I wouldn't like someone like Peter all over me either.
Well, Peter got there just as the lesson was ending. He got a very stern talking to from Professor McGonagle about how the castle wasn't that confusing, and if he needed help he could have asked a teacher or a ghost. It was quite funny (Less couldn't stop laughing), but you had to fell sorry for him.
"Come on Peter." Sighed James "We'll take you to your next class."
Peter left trailing behind them.
"Well we'd better get going," said Saraan
"Yeah, we have to find our way there," said Less
"wait!" I said "I've got an idea, when the boys said that they would take Peter to the next class they sounded pretty sure of them selves right? So if we follow them we'll get to class, hopefully"
"Well… ok they can't get to lost could they?" Said Saraan
With that we ran to catch up with the boys.
My hunch was right! It worked we got to class with time to spare. Of course this class wasn't to die for. It took place in one of the dungeons that was very cold, and very damp.
"Wonder what the teachers like." I heard Remus whisper.
"Probably just like the classroom." answered James dryly.
Boy were they ever wrong! The teacher was a lady with a cheery attitude, and bright robes. Her name was Professor Katt. The Slytherins just seemed to hate her at first sight. The Potions lesson was wonderful, we started the year by making a simple potion that would revive dying plants. The professor seemed to take a liking to a boy names Severus Snape. I do admit he was very good at potions. That is until his cauldron some-how… blew up.
"Oh, Snape" she said eyeing him disapprovingly
"I suppose you put to much shaved shrivle-figg. You'll have to stay after to clean this up"
I had a suspicion that the cause wasn't shrivle-figg. I looked over my cauldron to the 3 cauldrons across from me (the cauldrons were set up in a circle, so the professor could stand in the middle) sure enough James, Sirius, and Remus were looking quite disappointed. I caught Sirius's eye, and raised my eyebrows at him. He started shaking with silent laughter. Boys! I nudged Less, and then pointed at Sirius.
"Look" I mouthed.
She did, and then basically didn't look at anything else the whole lesson. What she saw in him I didn't see; he was attractive, kind of, but not what Less saw in him. Ok, so that wasn't the brightest move of the year. Then I nudged Saraan. I told her to look, but she took a look at Sirius and then started laughing herself. Then I did too. The Professor gave us a look, which obviously meant 'hush'. I looked at Saraan and smiled.
Before I knew it potions was over.
As we walked out I heard the trio.
"Did you see his face when it exploded?" said James as he laughed
"Yeah. A pity he didn't get into more trouble though, making us late for Transfiguration and all" said Remus
"That's why I always say that you should carry around a pack of fire works, just in-case." Said Sirius
We ran to catch up with them.
"Oh hello" said james as if nothing had just happened.
"What'd you do?" I asked, half laughing, "I want it all."
"How do we know that you won't run and tell my sister?" asked Sirius.
"Tell me what?" Callisto had come down the corridor, and had a very stern look on he face.
"Well, what were you going to tell me Sirius? You're not eating until you tell me." The look on her face made me think that she was serious.
"You see… it's all very simple." Started Sirius
"Shove it Sirius." I said to him. Then I turned back to Callisto.
"I was asking about the early birthday present that Sirius was going to buy you"
I felt horrible lying to her. She was really nice to me after all. But Sirius was too, and I had a feeling that if I told her the truth my life with Sirius would not be pleasant.
"Sirius?" she looked at him like he was mentally ill
"Ok, um, one you haven't bought me a birthday present in years. You always claim that you forgot. And, two my birthday's in July."
"And that's why it's early!" I finished
Callisto looked at us once more, and then walked away muttering something about how we were up to something.
Sirius turned to me
"She's gonna expect a birthday present from me this year, and its gonna have to be good!"
"Sirius!" sighed Saraan.
"What's worse? Having to get your very nice sister a birthday present, or having her tell your mother, and you getting a howler" Asked James.
Sirius shuddered at the part about the howler.
"What's a howler?" Less asked. I was wondering the same thing.
"Just hope you never get one, it's really embarrassing" said James
"You probably won't since your muggle-born. It's a letter where whoever sent it to you has their voice magnified to several times louder than it should be yelling at you."
"Cool!" said less
Sirius and James gave her a weird look.
"Let's just go. We don't want to be caught by Filch," said Remus.
We walked off down the hall. During lunch less asked me for the letter again. I couldn't resist, so I gave it to her. Her eyes went wide.
"Oh my God" she screamed.
Practically the whole table was looking at her.
"We're gonna be cousins!"
"Well we don't know that yet."
"We're gonna be cousins!"
"Whose gonna be cousins?" James had walked next to us.
"Lilly and I. Her sister and my brother are getting married"
"We don't know that yet. They said maybe. They're only 17. It would be a few years." I said
"Who said maybe?" asked Sirius.
He, Remus, and Saraan came and sat next to us.
"My sister might be marrying her brother."
Then I turned back to Less
"And listen Less, it wouldn't be that great. Remember, they both hate magic with a passion! Think how much your brother would hate me and my sister would hate you. I mean just think."
"Well, you might be right, but still we'd have to see each other a lot." she said.
I grinned.
"Now, what should I write back? Should I tell Petunia I know you, or should I lie?"
"Don't tell her" said Sirius.
I had a feeling that to him this was like a big prank.
"Sirius this is serious"
"Lilly" said Remus "I don't even think he knows what that means."
"Well I think that we should write back." said less "and send her a curse to go with it!" She finished.
"Whoa, hold it. She's my sister. Now while I don't get along with her now I don't think I want to curse her. And besides, it's only our first day we don't know enough magic to curse someone. I'm sure we can think of something else. Because, I do admit she has a lot of nerve asking me for something after the way she treated me those last few weeks of summer"
"Wait!" said less.
Food sprayed out of her mouth. Sirius delicitly flicked it off of his face.
"James what was that letter you were talking about?"
"A howler" he said.
"Do you think you can get one?"
"I like the way this girl thinks." said Sirius.
"I think I could enchant one. Sirius and I sent one to Callisto once when we were younger. But it wasn't very loud. of course this is your family business"
"James, shut up!" said Sirius "if you don't help I will."
"I'll do it" said James "Lily and Less, you guys write the letter give it to me and Sirius and we'll enchant it, I guess."
"Thanks" I said "this is gonna be great. She hates magic so much, and she's going to get a magically enhanced letter in the mail. She's going to kill me."
"That's what I'd be afraid of if I were you" whispered James.
"Oh, come on. Callisto didn't kill us." said Sirius "and besides I've never known you to be so afraid of making trouble. You're beginning to sound like Remus!"
"I said I'll do it Sirius." yelled James.
"Ok, ok, pipe down. Listen Lily just write the letter and then give it to us. Ok?"
"Ok." I said.
"Oh gosh, we're going to be late for D.A.D.A." said Remus.
"Um… guys." Said Saraan "can you take us. We followed you to potions. And I just figured maybe we should ask you to take us this time"
They all burst out laughing.
"It's not funny! It's just the stair cases and the doors, and the fact that we aren't that great at reading maps." said Less
"Come on. We'll take you." said James between laughs.
"Hey wait for me." squeaked someone. Peter had just come out of the shadows. "You said you'd take me to my classes"
"Yeah come on." growled Sirius
"Thanks." he said.
So we all walked together to D.A.D.A.
D.A.D.A wasn't that interesting. All we did during class was take notes and answer questions. Of course this just prepared me for the next lesson the History of Magic.
History of magic was taught by a ghost, by the name of Professor Binns. In this class we didn't even get to answer questions. As soon as we were all in our seats the professor started.
"I'm Professor Bins and I will be your History of magic teacher." He started in a monotonous voice "Please take out some parchment and a quill, and be ready to take notes.
In 1482 three goblins decided that they wanted more out of life…" I won't bore you with the details. But he went on and on like that for the whole lesson. When the lesson was almost over, almost every one was asleep, or was going to be in seconds.
Sirius was snoring, James had drool dribbling down his chin, Remus was struggling to keep his eyes open, and Less and Saraan looked like they'd never wake up again. My-self, I wasn't asleep but I wasn't completely awake either. Of course I was also the only one of us who took notes also.
"Please!" Less and Saraan were once again begging to see my History notes. It was late at night after our lessons and dinner were over.
"You should have stayed awake." I said knowing good and well that it was almost impossible to do that during Professors Binns' classes
"Please!"
"You don't see James and Sirius doing this do you?"
"Well duh! They're smart!" said Saraan
I sighed
"Don't be so negative." I said "here take them. You have 1hr."
"Thank you" they both said at once
With them gone I was quite bored, so I wandered down to the common room to find something to do. The three boys were in the common room talking to Peter.
"Peter you've got to defend your self." said James
"Yeah we won't always be around." joked Remus
"Snape's our age Peter, you should be able to stand up to him" said Sirius
I walked in.
"Am I interrupting something?" I asked
"No, we were just telling Peter that we can't defend him all the time" said Sirius his voice getting louder with every word "he's got to learn to defend himself, and not be such a wimp, so we don't get beat-up our selves!"
"Ok, I get the point!" I said
"Lily," said Remus "where's Saraan?"
"Oh, she and Less took my history notes, and I guess went to the library."
"Well when she comes back, could you give her this?" he handed me a note from his pocket "please don't read it. I'm incredibly serious about that. It's between Saraan and me."
"Sure. I'll go give it to her now."
I put the note in my pocket and started off to the library. Then I realized I didn't know where the library was, so I went back and asked the boys. They told me and I left again.
As I walked I wondered, what exactly was the big secret. Why couldn't I see it? What could Remus tell Saraan that he couldn't tell James, Sirius, or I? It was only the first day; he couldn't know her that well, could he? I considered just taking a tiny peek. I took it out of my pocket. NO! I said to myself. I thought of that morning when I told Sirius to leave Remus alone. If I looked I'd be a hypocrite. I continued my walk to the library.
When I got there I found Less and Saraan in a corner by them selves copying my notes.
"Hi, guys" I said
"Oh, is our hour up all ready. Just 15 more minutes." Less whined
"No, it's not that" I said, "You still have 45 minutes. I have something from Remus for Saraan"
Saraan looked slightly startled for a few seconds. Then she looked like she realized something
"Um…um, I need that letter right now"
"Well here" I said slightly miffed "I wasn't stopping you. It's just how do you know Remus so well that he's sending letters to, and walking in at breakfast and just going to sit with you?"
"I-it's nothing." she said as she opened the letter.
"2 days" we heard her mumble, "God, he's stupid. He know this isn't safe"
"What isn't safe?" asked Less.
"that's for me to know, and you to find out maybe never. It's his choice. I need to go. Lily thanks for your notes."
she left.
"What was that all about?" Said Less.
"I don't know. But we're gonna find out!"
I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the library.
"here's the plan, we're going to figure this out. I'm worried about her. tomorrow you're going to get all the information out of Sirius that you can. I'll work on James.
"ok, um aren't we rushing into this a little too quickly. For all we know theres a reasonable explanation for this"
"that's what I thought too. But all the secrcy. According to Callisto James and Sirius don't even know. and those three tighter that tight. You know that."
"you could be right, I guess"
"I know I am. Come on lets go get some sleep"
And with that we walked back to the Gryffindor tower with a mystery in our hands the very first day of school.
The next morning I woke up and thought. 'O.k' I said, giving my self a morning prep talk.
'You have things to do today, and your number one priority is to find why two of your friends are acting weird. Your second priority is to get a letter written to your sister. Got it? Good. Go.'
With that I got out of bed and got dressed. I took a look at my watch and saw that it was still very early. I looked over at my sleeping room-mates. Maybe they were right, I was a morning person. There was nothing to do for a while so I took a book, and headed for the common room. I was just about down the steps when I heard voices. One of them was Saraan's! I was confused. She was upstairs…. Oh never mind I said to my self. I just have to listen.
"Remus" it was Saraan "my idea was a lot safer than yours"
"well you were the one who said you'd come in the first place. Trust me. this will be a lot better."
"but it's a closed space. Where will I go if someone comes to check, or if something goes w-wrong."
I inched closer, so that I could see them sitting
"It'll be ok. You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"I do, I do"
"you know, you're the first person I've been able to trust other than James's parents. James's mom said one day I'd find the right person to…" his voice trailed off.
"It's ok" She said. Then they hugged
I took a breath, and sauntered down the stairs like I'd heard nothing. Saraan and Remus smiled at me, and I smiled back.
"listen, lily. I'm sorry about last night. I was really distracted. I had a lot on my mind" said Saraan
"it's ok" I said "I'm like that too, a lot."
"friends?"
"Friends!"
We hugged.
"Uhg" that was Remus
"Shut up" said Saraan.
The look in her eye told me that she really didn't mean it. (I personally didn't think that he should be talking considering that the one he'd just participated in had lasted a lot longer than ours had.)
Classes that day were basically the same as the first (well Snape's cauldron didn't blow up) except today we had homework. About 2 tons of it. I made a point to sit with James during the first study time that day.
"Hey James." I said
"hi Lily, what's up?"
Uh, oh that dreaded question. I decided to cut to the chase.
"Well I was wondering um… now don't take this personally I know he's your friend and every thing, but have you ever, have you ever noticed any thing weird about Remus?"
Surprisingly he didn't look in the least bit mad or anything.
"Yeah." He said slowly "that's the reason that he was thrown out of the orphanage. I know my mom and dad know and I think Sirius's parents know to, but I don't. He went to the hospital every month. I thought maybe he was just really sick a lot, but I don't now, and I want to know what he told your friend that he couldn't tell us. He just met her yesterday. I've known him forever, but when we asked him he started stuttering and left"
"That's the same thing Saraan did when we asked her. Except she got into a little of a snit. When I gave her the note she muttered something about two days, and how Remus was really stupid, because something wasn't safe."
"Hmm"
"James this morning I heard Remus talking to Saraan. They said something about a closed space being more dangerous, and that your mom said something about he'd be able to do something one day. But he didn't say what. Saraan was worried that something would go wrong with whatever they were doing."
"I don't know what's happening Lily, but I guess we need to know. This just makes me so… so mad."
"And that's exactly why I'm not talking to Sirius and Less is. I didn't want to deal with the temper that Saraan said he had. You seem the like the level headed one of the group, so don't do something stupid."
"Well, if it's two days it's going to happen tomorrow. Right."
"Yeah"
"So we'll watch them tomorrow. Right."
"No!"
James looked surprised
"Listen, they obviously want this kept secret. I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't bothering Saraan. Following them isn't an option I like, and I'm not going to do it. There have to be other clues."
"Fine"
BOOM!
A huge noise erupted through the common room. Everyone looked up.
"James!" I said "that came from the girls dorms, where Less and Sirius were"
"Why was Sirius in a girls… oh never mind. Lets go" he looked at the other people in the commom room "um… icendio" he shouted waving his wand. every one froze in place.
We ran up the long staircase into my room. A thick cloud of smoke smothered it.
"Less, Sirius" I called
"We're here in the back." I heard from Sirius
James and I ran back.
"Are you ok?" asked James
"Yeah," Said Less "Sirius was just showing me some of those fireworks he used yesterday in potions."
Sirius smiled.
"You were supposed to be talking about Remus, Less!" I said
"Well, we did at first but then we started talking about other things." She said.
"Ok, but right now it doesn't matter anyway. You have to get this cleaned up. James and Sirius you better get up and get out. Unfreeze those poor people. Wait James, here." I gave him my letter to Petunia. "We can talk later."
"Yeah, bye." They both left.
"Make this smoke go away." I said franticly
"How?"
"The muggle way! Blow and wave things."
So we did. It took about 20 minutes, but it worked. After this we got into bed because we were exhausted. I would have stayed up to talk to Saraan. But waving smoke makes people tired. I fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning incredibly late. Saraan and Less were already gone. Oh no! I thought. I'm going to be late. I rushed up, got dressed, and grabbed my stuff. Then I went down stairs. There were all my friends (including Peter) sitting around talking like they didn't have a care in the world.
"What's going on?" I asked
"it's called a Saturday. Quite a new invention, gives kids time off from school." Said Sirius grinning.
"Oh. Well then, I'll be right back."
I ran back up stairs and put my stuff away. Then I ran back down stairs.
"So what are we going to do today?" asked James
"We could do something to Snape." suggested Sirius
"Something calm!" said Remus
"Why can't we just act like good, normal children?" asked Saraan
"Because we're not good, and since we have Sirius with us we certainly aren't normal." I said
"Oh, ha, ha, and ha again" he said
"Well what are we going to do?" asked Less
"Well you and James are coming with me." I said
I looked at Less she looked back. Making eye contact we could talk with out moving our mouths (kind of).
'We have to look for clues' I told her
'Ok' she said back
I went back to real life.
"What just went on there?" said Sirius
"Women's intuition. Come on James." I said.
I grabbed James by the arm and pulled him out of the room.
"Where are we going?" he said
"To the library" said Less
"Why"
"To see if we can figure anything out."
"Well I have a new clue. Remus asked me for my invisibility cloak for tonight."
"Oh yeah," said Less "Sirius told me about those yesterday while we were in the dorm!"
"Did you even talk about Remus for more than 5 minutes yesterday! What do you see in Sirius, he's not that cute!" I yelled
"Lily, clam down. We're there." said James. Sure enough we were going into the library.
"Shouldn't Sirius be here?" asked James
"No!" I said as I shot a look at Less
"What?"
"You know what" I told her.
"Lets just go. I want to be out of here as soon as possible. Sirius had and idea. And Lilly you want your letter sent off by this afternoon right?"
"Ok let's go. We can sit in the back"
We walked to the back, and sat down.
"Well, here's what we know. It's happening tonight, it's not safe, and Remus and Saraan are like best friends," said James
"This isn't time for jealousy," I said
"I'm not jealous"
"Yeah what ever, but any way what could they be doing? And will it happen again?" said Less
"Well it could be a joke, and in that case I would probably never happen again" James said
"Yeah, but Callisto said that you guys lead him into most of the stuff he does. I think I agree with her. And Saraan doesn't like the type to play jokes. And I don't think they'd be crying and hugging over a joke, and that's what they were doing when I found them that morning." I said
"Yeah your probably right" said James
"You said that every month he went to the hospital, right?"
"Yeah"
"Well was it a magical hospital or a muggle hospital"
"A magical hospital. We went to muggle hospitals for minor things, so the neighbors wouldn't be suspicious. But if something really serious happened we went to the magical hospital"
"So now we know that it's serious"
"Yeah, but we don't know that it's that remember?" said Less
"Oh, your right!" I said
"We're going in circles." said James "It's hopeless!"
I sighed
"Let's go back." I said
"Ok" said Less
We got up, and went back to the common room. When we got there James went up to his dorm to find Sirius and Less went to find Saraan to make sure she hadn't gone off and done something stupid. I sat down on the couch to think. Then I heard a voice.
"Are you ok?"
I turned to look. It was Remus
"Oh, hi"
"Well are you?"
"No I'm not. I'm worried about you, and I'm worried about Saraan. There's something the matter. I know it!"
"Don't worry. There's nothing wrong! We're both ok. It's just she had a very weird idea. Just don't worry." He smiled and got up. He was lying, I just new it.
"Lily" I turned and saw Sirius
"What?"
"Here, it's your letter. You can send it now. In fact you'd better send it now 'cause if you don't it might blow up."
"Um… Sirius why's it red. I wrote it on a piece of parchment. Parchment is yellow."
"It turns red during the spell"
"Oh, well ok. Where's the owlery?"
"Out the portrait hole take a left, up the stairs to the south tower"
"Thanks"
I ran out of the tower and down the corridor to the left. I wasn't thinking when I was running and ran into someone. It was Snape.
"Ouch!" he said
"I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking"
"That was obvious," he said
"Listen I need to go" I was getting annoyed.
"Good bye" he said " watch where you're going. You might bump into the wrong person."
"Yeah, right. Bye"
I walked off. Geesh! What's his deal? I thought as I walked up the twisting staircase to the owlery. I walked through the door and saw quite a sight. Owls everywhere sitting on perches sleeping. It was very nice. As I walked in I was careful where I stepped because there was poop all over the floor. I looked around trying to find Leah. At last I found her on a perch in the corner asleep.
"Wake up, come Leah it's me Lily" I said as I shook her slightly.
"Hoo" she woke up with a start, and nipped my finger.
"What was that for?"
I tied the letter to her leg. I could tell she didn't want it (I didn't blame her because I had begun smoking at the corners) she was quite scared. When I had tied it on I carried her to the window and threw her out. I sighed. One thing done I still had to figure out why my friend was acting so weird. And went back to the common room.
"Sirius"
I had just gotten back to the common room, and I wanted to ask him whether or not that letter was supposed to smoke.
He came down the stairs.
"Not now Lilly. We're looking for Remus and Saraan. We can't find them any where!"
I gasped.
"What do you mean you can't find them!"?
"I mean James and I were looking for Remus because we needed his help with something, and we couldn't find him any where. Then Less went looking for Saraan to play chess, and she couldn't find her. We think they left together."
"Ya' think" I said sarcastically "oh well they'll be back, remember. Talk to them tomorrow"
"Why aren't you worried?" said Sirius
"They'll come back, trust me."
"Fine, what ever"
"Besides, what would you do? If you can't find them you can't do anything."
"That is true, I guess"
"I know."
And it was true. Later that night Saraan came back. She looked as though she'd been crying. I ran down to the common room to find James and Sirius
"She's back," I yelled to them "she's back!"
"Bring her here" said James
"Let her sleep. You have tomorrow."
James gave me a look that plainly said you're being really difficult. But I didn't care I was going to let Saraan sleep that night.
"Let's change the subject" I said "did Remus come back with her?"
"How would I know?" said James "I didn't even see or hear Saraan come in, much less Remus"
"Go see if he's in your room"
"Ok" Sirius ran up stairs.
"He's not there, and James your invisibility cloak is gone." we heard him yell
"Oh. Then he's probably still gone. The invisibility cloak is o.k. I said he could use it."
"Well," I said, "I'm tired, so I'm going to bed."
"Good night." They said
Boys can be so stubborn sometimes I thought, as I drifted of to sleep.
"Where were you last night?" asked Less very calmly.
It was the morning, and Less, Saraan, and I had beaten the boys in waking up. So we were down in the common room interrogating Saraan.
"Listen" I said, " it's not that we're nosy, but we're your friends. You seem so distraught over this whole thing"
"I told you, I'm fine. I also told you that I wasn't telling you anything about what happened last night." she said
"Fine, be that way. But James and Sirius were worried about Remus. They know you were with him! They won't be so easy to shake off." Less told her.
"I can take care of my-self!" she yelled "I'm not a baby!" she stalked off.
Well this wasn't going well. I had only been here for 4 days and I'd already lost a friend. I turned too less
"She's right she's not a baby, she's 11 just like us. Let's stay out of it until we know exactly what's wrong."
"Fine."
I left to go think. That was the last time I thought about it for a few weeks. Every thing was running smoothly (we were talking to Saraan again) until one day in early October. Saraan looked at a calendar one morning, and started cursing.
"Um…" I said, "Is there a problem with the calendar?"
"Yes! There's a blue moon this month."
"Do you have, like a personal thing with the moon, or do you just not like the word blue. You do know that a blue moon is two full moons in 1 month."
"Yes I do. I gotta go."
With that she left. Weird! I got ready to go to class. Classes that day were just about the same as usual, but Saraan and Remus were extremely distracted. Remus who was usually the best in D.A.D.A didn't have his homework and anything the professor called on him he gave a vague look like he was just coming back to reality. Saraan, who had earned a reputation in herbology for being all knowing about plants, was very disgruntled during the lesson. Like she just had too much on her mind. They were both very grumpy during the whole day. Remus got into a fight with James and Sirius over it. That was something I thought I'd never see! Finally the evening came and they were both gone again!
"Where'd they go off to this time?" asked Sirius "they're only 11. They shouldn't be doing anything like that." He smiled
"Shut up Sirius. This is Remus and Saraan we're talking about, remember. They're a lot more responsible than you are, so I wouldn't be talking." I said. "They came back last time, and obviously they're not going to tell us anything. So maybe we should just give up and stay out of they're business!"
"Lilly" said James "this is Sirius you're talking to. He's not going to give up; you've known him long enough now to know that!"
"Lily" said Sirius "pass me that calendar."
I picked the calendar up of the mantel place.
"Here. Don't start cursing at it please. Saraan did that this morning. I thought there was something really wrong. Turns out she was just mad because there were two full moons this month. There's one tonight actually." I looked out the window " it's quite pretty isn't it?"
"Yeah." Said James "Remus always hated it for some reason. When I was younger I was fascinated with the craters on the moon. I loved full moons because you could see the craters the best. Remus liked new moons. He said with out the moon you could see the stars better." James sighed, "I wish I knew where he was!"
"We all do silly!" Said Less speaking for the first time. "That's why we're all sitting here…"
She stopped.
"Did you hear that? I heard a door. I swear," she said
"I feel something," said Sirius "O.K. someone's behind me. Listen," he yelled "I 'm turning around whoever's behind me better have a good explanation on why they're sneaking up on me."
He turned.
"Saraan!"
"Sirius!"
"How'd you know I was there?" she asked
"I have a sixth sense about that sort of thing." He smiled
"I'm going up to bed." She said as she tried to sneak away.
"You were out this long." said James. " you can stay up a bit longer."
She came and sat down.
"Where's Remus?" I asked, "We were worried about him, and you"
"Remus is fine, and so am I as you can see. Why don't you just stop? I'm not telling you anything other than that."
"Yes you are" said Sirius "you're not moving until you do. We aren't either"
"Well then I guess you'll be here a while won't you, because I've told you all I can. It's not something you have a right to know. You two boys think just because you've known him for almost all your lives that you just have to know every thing about him. Well did you ever consider that he has secrets too? And Lily, you and Less have only known us for about a month, and already you have to dig deep into our private lives. I don't think so. I mean, you make the boys cases sound almost sensible?" she struggled her way out of Sirius's grip "I'm going to bed." She stalked off.
"She does have a point. And I've been thinking this too. It has nothing to do with us. We should just stay out of it for a while. When they want to tell us, they'll tell us. One reason I say this is, because I have a suspicion, and I don't want it to get out of hand. And I certainly don't want to those two to find out with the mood they're in." I said
"Well, what is it?" asked Less eagerly
"I'm not telling. The time isn't right. Nothing serious has happened."
"What you're going to wait until one of them is dead to tell us?" asked Sirius.
"I didn't say that! I have more sense than that!"
"You implied it," he said.
"Lets just wait. Pretend you don't notice these disappearances any more. But do notice. Look for clues. I'll tell you when the time is right."
"Hmm…" said Sirius. He picked up the calendar I had given him. " Wait, was this the calendar she was looking at this morning?"
"Yeah" I said
"It has the phases of the moon on it."
"Well duh!" Less said, "If she knew by looking at the calendar that there was a blue moon of course it did."
"Be quiet. I'm thinking."
"About what?" said James
"Shhh!"
He got up and started pacing the room, but soon his pacing took him up the stairs into his dorm room, and we didn't see him for the rest of the evening.
"I bet you he's fallen asleep," said Less "that would be just the kind of thing he'd do."
"Speaking of sleep" said James "It's past midnight! We'd best get to bed"
"Oh you're right," I said
"Good night." We chorused.
We went to bed.
Saraan seemed in a better mood the next morning, but she still had a worried look in her eye. I thought maybe she was worried about Remus who still wasn't back. I wanted to ask her about it, but I didn't feel like getting yelled at. Yelled at. I looked over my shoulder and saw James and Sirius yelling at someone in front of the doors to the great hall. Oh, I hoped it wasn't Remus. It wasn't!
"I can't believe you!" yelled James "we were having a private discussion, and you were spying on us!"
"I just over heard. I'm sorry" it was Peter Pettigrew
I ran over. This kid was gonna need some help. Like I said before Sirius has a huge temper, and I could see it building.
"You little git!" Sirius yelled, "That was our business. If we had wanted to know we would have told you!"
I had to break this up.
"Whoa," I said as I ran in between the triangle. "Hey, what's going on?"
"This little git decided that he had the right to spy on us last night while we were talking." Said Sirius glaring at Peter. I saw a fist forming. "He says that it was an accident. He was in the stairwell and over heard us"
"Well" I said, "that may very well be"
"What!" said James
"Let me finish. He might have been in the stairwell and over heard us, but he should have left as soon as he heard us talking. Shouldn't you have Peter?
"I-I-I couldn't."
"Why" asked Sirius
"B-because, I don't know." he whimpered
"So you admit to spying on us," said Sirius
"Yes, I guess."
"Peter that was private business" I said, "It's not even our private business!"
"She has you there." said James.
"I'm sorry"
"Yeah, whatever." Said Sirius "what we need to know is how much did you find out?"
"I heard that Saraan and Remus are missing, and that Lily has a suspicion but won't tell until the time is right. I also heard when Sirius came up the stairs. He tripped on me.
"I thought that was a stair!"
"What about your 'sixth sense?'" teased James
"Shut up"
"Will you please tell me what's happening?" asked Peter "I like Remus and Saraan, they always help me with my homework and that stuff. I don't want them hurt."
"Tell him." I said. "It can't hurt us."
"She's right." Said James.
We told him every thing. I knew it. They would befriend him at one time or another. I leaned against a door listening to what James and Sirius were saying, when suddenly I felt something in my hand.
"Ow!" I cried. I felt tears forming in my eyes.
"Lily are you ok?"
I looked at my hand. It was a bloody and mangled mess! Someone had come out of the door I was leaning on and smashed my fingers with it. I looked to see who had come out. It was Snape. The boy I had bumped into.
"Look what you did!" I said
"Seems to me that you just shouldn't lean on doors," he said
I knew he was right, but I wasn't telling him that.
"You could have said excuse me." said James leaping in.
"Oh, now I have the power to see through doors!" he said
"Lily" said Sirius "you'd better get up to Madam Pomfrey before that gets any worse. We'll take care of this freak."
Looking at my hand I ran up to the hospital wing. Damn it! I thought as I walked into the hospital wing. I hope she can fix this.
"Dear! What happened?" she said
"Someone accidentally slammed my fingers in a door."
"Oh, sit down, sit down."
She waved her wand around and said some spells. Slowly the pain was going away. My hand was still mangled though. I looked around at the other beds to see if there were any other patients. There was one. And I recognized him. It was Remus. He was sleeping.
"Is he ok?" I asked Madam Pomfrey.
"Oh yes he's fine. Just tired. Are you a friend of his?"
"Yes"
My hand was slowly becoming recognizable again.
"Here dear, go wash your hand with this and your hand will be back to normal." She handed me a packet of powder.
"Thank you." I said.
I washed my hand and the swelling went down. While I dried my hands I watched Remus. His sleeping body worried me. Was there something really wrong? As if he heard my question his eyelids fluttered. Madam Pomfrey saw and walked over with a plate of food. He awoke. Madam Pomfrey said something and he nodded. Then he started eating. He obviously was incredibly hungry, because he didn't stop to chew or anything; he just shoved food down his mouth like there was no tomorrow. He did pause for a second when he saw me.
"Lily what are you doing here? Did James and Sirius send you?"
"No, no don't worry. Snape slammed my hand in a door" I held up my hand so he could see some of the cuts that were still left.
"Ouch!" he said
"Yeah it hurt a lot." I said, "Well, are you O.K.?"
"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. I got sick last night."
"Oh. Well I hope you feel better. I've gotta go. Do you want me to tell James or Sirius anything?"
"Yeah. Tell them I'm fine, and Lily" he paused. "Could you tell Saraan I'm sorry"
"Sure, of course"
"Thanks. I'll be down in about a half an hour."
"Bye."
I left trying to think what Saraan and Remus could have done that landed Remus in the Hospital wing and caused Saraan to need an apology. I decided not to worry about it, and to concentrate on getting back to the Gryffindor tower. Up the hallway I spotted Snape. I had a few things to say to him. I walked up. I saw his eye wasn't opening all the way, and that his jaw was tinted blue. I didn't have the heart to do anything else to him. I sighed and walked away. That was a problem I had. I could never do anything to any one if they already looked worse off. I wanted to slap him I just couldn't. I assumed that the eye and the jaw had come from James and Sirius. (I couldn't imagine Peter doing anything like that.) I continued walking to the Gryffindor tower. When I got into the common room I saw James and Sirius sitting and playing chess. They looked up when they saw me, and grinned.
"Did you see what we did to Snape?" asked Sirius excitedly.
"And we put a curse on his robes. They should be unraveling at this very moment." Said James.
His robes? I hadn't noticed that.
"Yeah. I saw him." I said, "You shouldn't have done that. I wanted to slap him, and I just couldn't after I saw his face."
"Next time we won't" promised James
"Next time? I've just had 5 fingers broken and your talking about doing it again!"
"You know what we meant"
I decided to change the subject
"Guess who I saw in the hospital wing."
"Who" they both said
"Remus!"
"Really?" asked James.
"Yeah. He said he was sick and not to worry."
"I wonder when he'll figure out saying don't worry isn't going to work." Said Sirius.
"If you'll excuse me I have to find Saraan. Remus wanted me to tell her something."
"What?" asked Sirius?
"Nothing" I said and left.
I found Saraan in the dorm room.
"Hey." I said
"What?" obviously she still wasn't happy with me.
"I saw Remus in the hospital wing and…" she didn't let me finish
"What, were you spy on him now. Prying into his life some more?"
"No!" I said, "Why does every one think that. That boy Severus Snape slammed my fingers in a door. See?" I held up my hand.
"Sorry."
"It's o.k. The reason I wanted to find you was that Remus had a message for you." She perked up "he said that he was sorry for what happened and that he'd be out of the hospital in about a half an hour"
"Damn it! I told him it was ok. He's just going to make me all emotional." She started to cry.
"Saraan. It's ok. He said he's sorry. I'm sure what ever happened will pass."
"You don't understand, and unless you know you never will."
"You know, you're right." I said "I won't understand unless you tell me, so just tell me already!"
"You know I won't tell you. It's up to Remus."
Now I was mad. My friend was sitting here crying over something that was obviously really hurting her, and she wouldn't say a word. Maybe it was time to speak with Remus. No! He wasn't talking either. What's going on here?
I needed to think, and this time I wasn't going to stop after this had all blown over. And think is what I did. I thought through October, November, December, January, February, March, April, and into May; and I still didn't know what was happening. I still had my original suspicion, but from what we had learned in D.A.D.A it was very, very, very, very unlikely. Saraan and Remus were still disappearing once a month. We had stopped jumping on their cases but I knew that Less, James, Sirius, and even Peter were still thinking hard. I felt like there was a clue that I was missing right under my nose. It was just right there and I couldn't see it. Then one day I did see it when I thought it was to late.
The day started out like any other day. We woke up, ate breakfast, and went to class that kind of thing. Then that night Remus and Saraan were missing again. James, Sirius, Peter, Less and I were waiting up for Saraan that night. Sirius was looking out the window at the constellations, and stars pointing out his sibling's namesakes when he saw a shadow moving by the whomping willow.
"Look" he pointed "someone's out by the whomping willow!"
Less walked over
"It's Saraan! She's limping on her right leg, and it doesn't look like she can go much further."
"Lets go. She's gonna need help" said James "we can go under my invisibility cloak."
"James they're 5 of us." I said
"She's right." Said Peter "you can leave me behind. That's 4."
"Well James you have to go, it's your cloak."
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious Lily" said Sirius.
" I'll stay," said Less
"You sure."
"Yeah, go get Saraan that's the most important thing." She shooed us out.
"I have to get the cloak Less." said James.
He ran up the stairs, and quickly came down with the cloak.
"We'll have to be careful. Three's a squeeze."
"We just have to hurry. Look she's stopped" Said Sirius as he looked out the window.
"Let's go."
We flung the cloak over our heads and went out the portrait hole. We walked down the empty corridors looking for Filch or his cat Mrs. Norris. We finally reached the front doors, and went out onto the grounds.
"Did anyone know that it was going to be this cold tonight?" asked Sirius
"Shhh!" we said
As we neared the whomping willow I saw the figure lying on the ground that was Saraan.
"There she is." I whispered
"How will we get her inside?" said Sirius
"I can magic a stretcher and a splint for her leg." Volunteered James.
"Good. Do it. Sirius was right. It is cold." I said.
I shivered and looked around. When I looked up I saw the light coming from Gryffindor tower and two dots looking out. I waved, and saw a tiny movement in the window for a response.
"There." Said James "got it"
Saraan was floating on a Stretcher in midair and had a splint around her leg.
"Let's get out of here." Said James
"Amen." Said Sirius. And we made our way back to the castle.
"What are we going to tell Madam Pomfrey Sirius?" asked James
"why've you asking me?"
"Because you can lie like anything."
"Well in that case ok, but this going to have to be one heck of a lie. How about she fell down the stairs of the girls tower, knocked herself out, and did what this is to her leg in the process. Lily was going down the stairs to the common room because she couldn't sleep, and found her."
"Ok." Said James
"Wait." I said. "Then where do you two come in?"
"We were in the common room."
"Then why didn't you hear her fall?" I questioned.
"Lily, you know that Madam Pomfrey doesn't ask many questions. As long as we have a basis we're o.k." said James.
"Fine lets go. It's creepy out here. I swear I just heard a werewolf howl," I said
"Probably the forbidden forest." Said Sirius
"Guys" I said, "I want to go inside. Now!"
"One second. My cloak." Said James as he put the cloak over us
We walked to the castle and went in. I looked back at Saraan. She looked dead.
"Sirius." I said, "Check her pulse. She looks dead."
He pushed his fingers to her neck.
"It's faint, but it there." He paused "Lily remember when you said you had a suspicion, and you weren't going to tell until something happened and you thought the time was right?"
"Yes."
"Well, Saraan has just fainted with a broken leg and a very faint pulse. Don't you think that this is the right time?"
"It is. It probably is. Let me talk to Saraan first and then if she still won't talk I'll tell you."
"Fine"
"There it is." Said James pointing to the Hospital wing.
Luckily lights were still on and we could see Madam Pomfrey bustling along taking care of patients. We walked in. Madam Pomfrey's eyes went wide.
"What happened!"?
"She fell down the stairs and knocked her self out. She also did something to her leg." I said
"Bring her here. James pointed his wand to the hospital bed that she was pointing at. Madam Pomfrey set about taking off the makeshift splint, and trying to revive her.
"Will she be ok?" I asked
"Oh, yes, yes just needs rest and a few spells."
"Can I stay?"
"Dear it's 12:00."
"I know. I just want to stay with her."
"Well, dear it's your choice."
"Us too." It was James "we'll stay"
I smiled, waved my wand and said 'accio chairs'. 3 chairs came up to Saraan's bed and we sat in silence. We sat in silence until 6:00 when she woke up.
"Lily?"
"James, Sirius. She's awake!" I whispered.
"Lily?"
"It's me. It's all right."
"Are you ok?" asked James
"I feel really tired and my leg's numb."
"That's because you broke it. Madam Pomfrey put a numbing spell on it to help the pain. She un-broke it but she said it would still hurt." Said Sirius.
"Saraan. Do you remember anything about last night?" asked James
"Yeah. I know why I broke it, and I remember I fainted right out on the Hogwarts grounds."
"Right." I said "but why did you break it?"
"I can't say."
"Saraan, you almost died, and you can't tell us why" I said.
"That's right."
"Oh, my god! Your insane!" I said
"Fine, fine, be that way, but what if what hurt you could hurt other students."
"It won't trust me."
"Hey look," said Sirius "look who Madam Pomfrey has, Remus!"
I looked over. Madam Pomfrey was holding Remus who was quite scratched up.
" Remus!" yelled Saraan
"Saraan!" he said in surprise, and ran over to her "what are you doing here?"
So he doesn't know I thought.
"I broke my leg," she said
"How?"
"She'll tell you later" Madam Pomfrey intervened. "Bed rest Remus, and you three; why didn't you tell me she was awake. She needs food, and I need to tend to her leg. Wait out side the curtain." She pulled a curtain around Saraan's bed, so we couldn't see her.
"Now will you tell us what you think?" asked James.
"I will, but first let's go back to the common room. I need to check something."
We ran back to the Gryffindor tower, and I told the boys to wait in the common room. I ran to the girl's dorms and into mine. I checked the time. 7:00. I looked at Less's bed. She was there asleep. I shook her awake.
"Come on get up, now!"
"Alright, alright"
"Get dressed hurry."
She hopped out of bed and got dressed.
"What happened last night?" she asked
"I'll tell you while we go down stairs."
"Well then lets go" she went to the staircase.
"Wait. I need to get something." I grabbed my diary off of my nightstand.
"Lets go."
As we walked down I filled Less in on everything that had happened.
"She's ok then?"
"Yeah Madam Pomfrey took care of her."
When we got to the common room the boys rushed. They had gone up to get Peter.
"What's going on?" he said
"Listen and I'll tell you." I said, "in my diary I've got the phases of the moon, and every time Remus and Saraan disappear I mark it." I showed them "notice a pattern?"
"I see it!" said James "every full moon they're gone!"
"Right." I said, "I've been thinking that, that maybe they're," I paused "I think Remus and Saraan are werewolves."
"But Dumbledore wouldn't let werewolves in the school, would he" asked Peter nervously.
"He might." Said Sirius "if there were some sort of safety precautions."
"But," I said "I don't think it's true because in D.A.D.A. the professor said that werewolves were mean, untruthful beasts, and that definitely doesn't describe Remus or Saraan."
"You believe that crap Lily!" said Sirius "that's just prejudice. Everyone thinks that. My dad knows a werewolf. He's like the nicest person around. He's never bitten anyone in his life."
I couldn't think of anything to say to this.
"Well then. Should we tell them what we know?" asked Less
"I think we should." Said James.
"Me too." Said Sirius.
"I do." Said Less
"Lily, Peter?" asked James
"I don't know, about this, but what the heck." I said.
"What if they are werewolves?" peter quivered
"It wouldn't matter." I said, "They'd still be the same old Saraan and Remus. So what if they change shape once a month."
"Right on Lily." Yelled Less
We looked at her strangely.
"Did I say that out loud?"
I rolled my eyes
"Lets go." I said "we have 20 minutes until breakfast."
We all made our way back to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey wasn't very happy to see us, but she let us in anyway.
"Hi Remus." Said Less
"Oh, hi listen I'm really tired. Could you come back later?"
"No. We need to talk to you and Saraan now."
"Who wants to talk to me?" Saraan had over heard
"Can you come over here."? I asked her
"Yeah, I think I can walk." She got up and started limping. Less went to help her. James pulled the curtains around us. When she came over we started.
"Listen, don't be mad, but we think we know what's happening here. We think we know what you two are." Said James
Remus's face went white. Saraan looked like she was going to laugh.
"Remus, Saraan." I started "are, are you…"
"What she's trying to say," said Sirius "is, we know that you two are werewolves."
Saraan started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" James asked
"James Potter, Sirius Black. I thought you two were smart. Don't you think that if I was a werewolf I would have transformed last night when you brought me in?"
"Hey she's right. Lily!"
"Ok, I was wrong, but what about you Remus?"
Remus didn't want to answer this question obviously. I guess he realized he'd have to, so he did.
"I-I-I am ok. You found out, are you happy now. I know you won't want to be friends with me any more, so you can leave now."
"What!" I said, "Why shouldn't we be your friends."
"Because I'm werewolf, a disgrace of society, and abomination, untruthful. That's why."
"But you're none of those." Said Sirius
"Yeah, well that's what every one thinks." He said near tears.
"Not us." Said James
"But there's one thing I still don't get." I said "Saraan if your not a werewolf why did you always go out on full moons?"
"Remember on the first day of school when James and Sirius were questioning Remus, and I stayed with him, and then we sat together in the great hall talking."
"Yes."
"Well you see… my brother is a werewolf," the girl with the weird brother! I thought that was who Callisto told me about "and Remus new because he live s quite near us and he saw my brother once when he transformed. When we were in the great hall talking he told me he knew, and then he told me about himself. My brother and I are like best friends, and I started to think of Remus like my brother. I wanted to be with Remus when he transformed to ease the pain, so I devised a plan. I'd go to where ever he was 15 minutes after he went. I told him my plan, and he said flat out no. I kept pestering him though and he finally gave in. he told me about the passage under the whomping willow, and about the shack he was in. I wanted to let him into the forbidden forest so we could go there, but he said that he knew the werewolf better than I did, and said we were staying in the shack. So every full moon I've been visiting him for a few hours until he couldn't control the werewolf any more. I broke my leg because I over stayed my visit that night, and the werewolf tried to attack. I ran out of the passage and the werewolf ran after me. I played dead and that did work, but the werewolf stepped on my leg many times breaking it. I managed to limp out of the passage way, and then I fainted."
"Hmm…" said James "we could improve on that idea."
I ignored him and said, "So that's what you've been doing all year?" "You could have told us, we wouldn't have cared! Remus you're our friend. So you change form once a month, twice in a blue moon, it doesn't matter. Your still Remus, and that's all that matters" said Less
"Thanks." He said.
"What's going on in here?" Madam Pomfrey pulled open the curtain. I guess we were making a lot of noise. I hope she hadn't heard Saraan's story.
"Listen, these two need rest. Out, out. Breakfast started 15 minutes ago." she shoved us to the door.
"Man." I said, "I'm glad that's over."
"Yeah, I can't believe he didn't tell us. We're like his best friends." Said Sirius.
"Well, he has a point most people are very prejudice against werewolves." Said James
"Like Peter." I said quietly.
"I'm not." He squeaked, "I was just afraid. My parents told me that werewolves are evil."
There was a pause.
"I agree with Lily." Said Less breaking the silence. "I'm glad this is over. I mean, Lily and I have a wedding to plan."
"They're 17!"
"We can urge it along a bit."
I sighed.
"In fact," she went on "you can come stay with me or I can come with you, or both."
"What about us?" Joked James.
"James, Sirius, I hate to tell you but my parents probably wouldn't like the idea of three boys staying over."
"Who, us." Said Sirius with mock astonishment
"She has a point." I said "Sirius the last time you came in our dorm you set off fireworks. Remember?"
"Oh, yeah."
"But, I can probably work on my mom. She's pretty flexible. And I know she'll let Less come and stay considering that she might be family one day."
"Awesome." Said James. "What about Saraan and Remus?" I noticed he didn't mention Peter who had sort of dropped out of the conversation.
"Sure they can come, I just don't think you can all come at the same time."
We laughed.
The rest of the school year went normally (well as normal as possible with the friends I have). Before we knew it we were going back to Hogsmead station to board the Hogwarts express. I was looking forward to going home. I missed my mom, and even my sister. My mom had been angry when I chose to stay with the boys over Christmas, but she'd be over that by now. Petunia would probably be steamed over that howler, and just as nasty as usual.
On the train ride home I sat with my friends, and Callisto. We talked about the year watering down some parts so Sirius wouldn't get in trouble with Callisto.
When we got to Kings Cross station and got off the train there was an old witch separating us into groups of threes so we could go through the barrier without attracting attention. I grabbed Less and Saraan's hands so we could go through together. The witch let us through back into the muggle world.
"Less, wait." I said "I want to introduce you to my sister and my Mother."
I looked around until I saw them chatting with someone.
"There they are." I said
"They're with my mom, dad, and brother."
"Is this a private meeting?" Saraan said from behind us.
"No, of course not. Come on silly." I said.
We walked over.
"Less!" cried her mom and dad
"Lily!" cried my mom
"Mom." I called.
We both ran over, while Saraan followed slowly behind (her leg was still on the mend).
"I missed you so much" my mom said
"Sorry I didn't come home for Christmas."
"It's ok."
"Mom." I said, "This is Leslie Dursley."
"Oh, hello dear. I've heard so much about you from your mom and dad."
"Hello Miss. Thomas." She said "and Lily this is my mom and dad. Mom and dad this is Lily Thomas."
"Hello." I said
"And this is Saraan Vercillo." She added.
Saraan smiled.
"I was hoping to introduce you to the boys but they…"
"No, there they are" said Saraan
Less ran and pulled them over.
"This is Sirius, This is James, and this is Remus. I don't know where Peter went."
They exchanged hello's politely with each of the parents, then said they had to go.
"We'll send owl's." they yelled
"Us too." I yelled
Then I realized something was missing. Yes that was it. Petunia.
"Mom where's Petunia?"
"Oh she's over there with Vernon. She a bit sore with you though. That letter was a tad excessive. The neighbors were wondering about it for days."
"I'm sorry mom. I was really angry with her."
"It's ok dear."
"Will she be getting married though?"
"She says yes, but I told her to wait at least until she's 19."
"And can some of my friends come stay over the summer."
"Yes of course." She said "But Lily dear we must be going we're riding home with the Dursley's."
"Ok." i said "Hey, Less." I called.
And we walked out of the station together.
(A/N- well the first part is done. Hope you liked it the next part is about the summer. Disclaimer any thing you see in the Harry potter books is j.k. Rowlling's. Saraan and Leslie are not mine. They are my two best friends, and Callisto is sort of the way I am. Very bossy! She'll be back!)
