A/N: Wow, another chapter posted up already. I'm on a roll here! This chapter starts out on the H6's first day of 7th year. Let's see how time as past. Enjoy and review!
Chapter Seven: New Beginnings
The school year started just as any other would, would crowds of students dressed in black cloaks making their way into the school entrance. It was easy to pick out the little first years, with their yes wide open in shock and amazement. But just as easily to pick out from the crowd were two familiar faces of two familiar girls.
Lily and Sora made their way up the stairs, their gait casual and uncaring. They had changed quite a bit from the gawky teenagers they had been four years ago.
Lily had grown out her flaming red hair so that it lay in perfect curls to the middle of her back. Her eyes were large and bright green and the freckles that she had a few years before were greatly reduced. She was a person who would be best described as cute or adorable.
Sora, on the other hand, was neither cute nor adorable. The exotic beauty that had been hinted at when she was thirteen had not disappointed anybody. Her hair was long, sleek and jet black, falling to her waist in silky strands. Her almond shaped eyes were still a sparkling sapphire shade and her ruby lips were always wearing a sort of secretive half smile. She was a beautiful girl, in a dangerously striking way.
Both girls too had an air of confidence that they hadn't seemed to half back when they started Hogwarts. But of course, the events of the past years could have been cause for that. Their relationship with the rest of the H6 had improved in some ways, and worsened in others.
James had declared his undying love for Lily the first day of fourth year, and despite her constant rejections, wouldn't give up. Sora thought the whole thing was quite noble, but there was no way she would tell James that. His head was big enough as it was. As for the rest of the three boys, Lily and Sora had become quite close to them. They learned to understand Sirius's sullenness, comprehend Remus's dry sarcasm, and frequently joined Peter in poking fun at James. In short, they had gotten to be good friends.
"Sora, Lily, bonjour!" Sora and Lily turned their heads to see a familiar girl with soft brown curls running up to them.
"Alice!" Lily said, smiling at the girl. In the past two years, Alice Catton had become Lily and Sora's very good friend. Since the two of them spent most of their time with four immature boys, they found it refreshing to have a close friend who was a girl. That summer Lily and Sora had visited the girl in her house in Paris. It was an amazing week and all three girls had a great time.
"Feels great to finally be seventh years, doesn't it?" Alice asked, grinning.
"Of course!" Lily answered "No more having to stay up until three in the morning to write potions papers or memorize charms" she added.
"Lily, only you stay up that late, the rest of us are normal, average slackers" Sora said.
"Yes, but Lily is the top of our class, she has a reputation to uphold" Alice said. "Especially now that she's our head girl" Lily groaned at that comment.
"Please don't remind me of that!" she said. Alice looked at her, surprised.
"But it's a great honor to be head girl, isn't it?" she asked, confused. Sora shook her head slightly.
"It is, but haven't you heard who the head boy is?" she asked. Alice shook her head.
"It isn't the creeper is it?" Alice asked, causing Sora to grin. The creeper was the nickname that the H6 (and Alice) had created for Severus Snape, the chilling Slytherin boy who hated the H6 with a passion.
"I would have rather preferred being partnered with the creeper!" Lily cried, causing Alice to gasp.
"It can't be all that bad!" she said.
"It's not really. The head boy is James" Sora said. Alice put on a strange expression for a second, but replaced it quickly with a smile.
"Aw, Lily, James isn't all that bad at all" Alice said, in a lame attempt to try to cheer the girl up. Lily just looked blankly at Alice.
"Of course it's bad. I can't stand that boy!" Lily cried.
"Who can't you stand, my dear?"
Lily, Sora and Alice spun around to find the four boys standing behind them. They too had changed quite a bit in the past years.
James, whose nose in the past had always seemed too long and narrow and, had grown into his features. Combined with his glittering hazel eyes, James had become a rather fetching young lad.
Remus was the only one in the group who hadn't changed much. His hair was still sandy blond and cut very neatly. His eyes were a light, warm colour and time had only made him look more warm and approachable, two things that he usually tended not to be to anybody outside of the H6.
Peter had lost much of his baby fat and his features became clearer because of it. His eyes were a bit too small and his nose was a bit too pointy, like a rat's; but he still contained a good amount of boyish appeal that could charm any lady he chose.
Sirius was the one who had changed the most out of the boys. His hair was still as dark and messy as ever, but he didn't bother to style it anymore, preferring to let it fall naturally, messily down. He had lost a bit of weight so his dark eyes seemed a bit larger and his features more prominent. He was still as handsome as sin, even more so now, and couldn't walk down the hall without turning a few heads.
Sora looked up at the group of boys and smiled. Just four years ago, these had been the boys that she hated. Now, she couldn't even remember life outside of the H6. Sure the boys were conceited, arrogant snobs; but they were her conceited, arrogant snobs, and besides, they needed someone to keep them in line.
"Lily was just ranting about her extreme misfortune" Sora said, answering James's question. James looked worried.
"Why? What happened?" he asked, concerned. Lily just glared at the boy.
"What happened was that you had to ruin the only one thing that I had wanted since my first year!" she cried. James frowned. He knew exactly what Lily was talking about, she had been ranting about it all summer long.
"Evans, I don't see what the big problem is here! It's not like your going to have to marry me or something like that" James said. Lily paled just thinking about that.
"No but I'll have to share a dormitory with you and eat every meal with you for the rest of the year!" she cried.
"Lily you've been sharing a dormitory with James since first year and eating with him every meal for four years" Remus pointed out.
"But it's not the same! You know that the Head students' dormitories are separate from the normal dorms" Lily said. Sora nodded her head, Lily did have a point. James just frowned deeper.
"Lily, I really don't see why you're still so mad at me. I haven't given a red notice in two years; I've tried to be more mannerful to other people; and I've promised to stop hexing people, even creeper just to make you happy!" James said.
"Mannerful isn't a word" Lily said tightly, choosing to ignore everything else James said. James just sighed. He took a box from his bag and gave it to her.
"Well, anyways, I found this when my parents and I went to Africa over the summer. I thought you would like it" he said, his voice tinged with a hint of sadness that softened Lily up a bit.
"Thank you James" she said. James just nodded and walked away. The rest of the three boys lingered around to see what the gift was. Lily carefully opened the package and gasped when she saw what was inside.
"Oh my" she said softly. Inside, nestled in newspapers written in some sort of African language was a perfect little miniature bird figurine carved out of wood. It was beautifully made with little pieces of emeralds for the eyes. Sora looked at it and raised her eyebrows.
"He remembered" she said, causing Lily to feel horrible.
"I am going to go thank him" Lily said, rushing off in the direction that James had left in, leaving Sora, the three boys and Alice.
"Um, I've got to leave too" Alice said quickly "Professor Sparks asked me to help her round the first years up to take them to sorting" she explained, saying goodbye to Sora and the boys and leaving.
"So then, I guess we should move on to the great hall as well" Sirius said.
"I guess so" Sora answered. Sirius bowed down formally and extended his hand.
"Does the Mistress need an escort to take her to the hall safely?" he asked. Sora laughed and shook her head.
"Doesn't she always?" she answered, though instead of taking Sirius's hand, she slapped it and ran. Sirius cursed under his breath. Ever since their fourth year Sirius and Sora had raced to the great hall on the first day of school, and every year Sora had, by some way or another, won. Sirius ran right after the girl, determined to finally beat her.
Peter and Remus just stared after the two, shaking their heads.
"They totally fancy each other" Peter said.
"Completely" Remus added.
"Wonder how long it will take them to figure it out?" Peter asked.
"Not long, I'm guessing" Remus answered, slowly starting to make his way to the great hall.
"Which couple do you think will get together first, Sirius and Sora or James and Lily?" Peter asked.
"Sirius and Sora, hands down" Remus answered. Peter ginned sensing a bet coming on.
"I'll bet you two galleons on it" Remus answered. Peter shook his head.
"No money bets, those are too boring. How about we say that whoever loses has to walk around school dressed up as a girl for one day" Peter said, his eyes shining wickedly. Remus shook his head, laughing.
"It's a bet then" he said, silently praying that Sirius and Sora would hurry up and get together already. Peter, on the other hand, was thinking the exact same thing, only about James and Lily.
Lily meanwhile had caught up to James as he was crossing the hall. Ashe stopped right behind him, out of breath from chasing after him. James turned around to see her doubled over clutching her stomach.
"All right there, Evans?" he asked her. Lily just waved her hand at him.
"Just a bit out of breath, that's all" she answered.
"A bit out of shape too, buy the looks of it" James said, causing Lily to kick him in the shins. James winced at the dull pain.
"Did you come here to abuse me?" he asked her. Lily straightened up, finally catching her breath.
"No, I came to tell you thank you for the gift. It was very thoughtful and sweet. I also came to apologize for complaining so much about you being Head boy" she said. James frowned for a moment, thinking that she had ulterior motives.
"What do you want from me?" James asked her.
"Nothing! I really just wanted to thank you and apologize" she said. James thought she sounded and looked sincere and nodded.
"It was no problem" James said modestly. He grinned at Lily "I guess this means that you won't kick me out of the dorm?" he asked her. Lily laughed at him.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that yet" she answered, grinning back. Lily noticed that James had gotten quite handsome over the summer. Of course, he wasn't as handsome as Sirius, that boy was just gorgeous. But Lily knew that she and Sirius had no chance. It was clear that he saw her in a totally sisterly, buddy type of way. Lily had decided that year that she would finally give up on Sirius for once and for all. It had been a bit of a school girl crush anyways.
"Do I have something on my face? You're looking at me odd" James said, Lily just shook her head.
"Let's get to the great hall, why don't we?" she asked. James nodded and they both walked towards the hall. Lily had never walked alone with James before and she found the whole experience to be a lot less traumatic that she had always thought it would be. James kept talking and he was so animated in his speech that Lily just wanted to laugh out loud. Maybe James wasn't so bad after all, he seemed to have matured greatly over the past year and he had been nicer to people. Lily decided at that moment, as both of them stepped into the hall, that she would give James a chance this year.
"James" she said to him.
"Hmm" he answered his eyes scanning the hall for the rest of the H6.
"I'm glad you're the Head boy" she said, James looked down at her.
"I know" he said "because if it wasn't for me then you'd be stuck sharing a dorm with the creeper" he said. Lily grinned at him, deciding not to say anything else. Besides this whole situation was scaring her. It was the first day of her seventh year and she was starting to form a crush on the boy who had been her worst enemy for so long. She knew right then that it would be an interesting year.
Meanwhile, Sora and Sirius were at the Gryffindor table, slouched over, out of breath.
"I can't believe we tied!" Sirius cried
"I know, and after I had a head start and everything" Sora moaned. It had been a mad dash to the great hall and Sora had put in everything that she had. But Sirius had decided to play dirty and set up some exploding snaps in front of her to distract her.
"You're a dirty cheater" Sora said to Sirius.
"Spare me, miss. I was desperate" he groaned. Sora grinned.
"It's pretty sad, you know. Having to resort to cheating to beat a girl" she said to him. Sirius raised his head.
"Yeah, but it's different when the girl spends her summers studying in her uncle's dojo" he said. Sora's eyes sparkled.
"Ah yes, I did forget to mention that part" she said. Sirius grinned at her and she grinned back and at that moment they both knew that they liked one another. Not that they would ever say it, both of them were just way too stubborn.
James and Lily joined the Sirius and Lily and both pairs took their seats, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Peter and Remus slowly ambled up to them, eyeing the pairs, both rooting for their own couple to win. Already Remus was creating a plan to hook up Sora and Sirius while Peter was devising a way to get Lily and James together. Little did they know that both of their work was already half way done.
In Okinawa Japan, Yuki Kaito and Marissa Potter were sitting in the formal room of the sprawling, beautiful Kaito manor. They had both come together to talk about the plan that they had started seventeen years ago.
"This is a perfect way to merge our two businesses together, but I worry" Yuki said, looking over the papers laid out on the tables before him. Marissa looked at him with her cold, piercing green eyes.
"And why is that?" she asked, her tone formal and rather detached, as it always was.
"I worry about the children" Yuki said "I don't want to hurt Sora, she is the only daughter I have" he said softly. Marissa scoffed.
"Their children, who cares about their feelings?" she asked. Yuki glanced up at her.
"Don't you have any worries for your son, Potter-san?" he asked. Marissa smirked at him.
"James will do as I tell him to, as is expected" she said. Yuki shook his head slightly. Marissa's viewpoint seemed very cold and harsh, but maybe that was the ways of western parenting. His mother, and Italian woman, had dies before she could engage in real parenting, and Yuki was only used to the Japanese style. He hoped he wasn't harming his daughter with his constant worry.
"Are you sure this is the best way to go about this?" Yuki asked. Marissa tapped her finger impatiently.
"Listen Master Kaito, we arranged this seventeen years ago" she said.
"I know, but it seemed common then. Now, with how the times have changed I do not know if it is still the best option" he said.
"These situations happen in the business world every second" Marissa said. Yuki looked at the papers one last time.
"Yes, but will the children agree to this?" he asked. Marissa looked at him coldly.
"As I already said, my son will do whatever I tell him to do. I hope that your daughter has enough discipline and respect to do so as well" she answered. Yuki nodded. Marissa had used the two words that were most common in a Japanese household, discipline and respect.
"All is in order then" Marissa said, taking her copy of her papers back.
"That is how it seems" Yuki answered. Marissa nodded her head.
"Don't you go worrying yourself. The Potters and the Kaitos have been trying to marry into one another for generations. Sora and James's wedding will be just what we need." she said.
"I just feel like we should inform the kids about it first" Yuki said. Marissa scoffed.
"Like I said, if your daughter has discipline, she will listen to you." She said.
"But this is a matter love and marriage" Yuki retorted. Marissa shot him her coldest look yet.
"Love and marriage have nothing to do with one another. Our children will get married. They won't love each other but they will be rich. Children are so materialistic anyways. They don't need love, only wealth to be happy" she said, gathering up her skirts and marching out of the room.
A/N: Ha, so how was that for unexpected? But don't worry, that's only a little preview of the drama that's about to unfold. It's going to be loads of fun from here on, I promise you that.
