Chapter 10:The Potters
Lily sighed deeply as she stepped of the train. She could hardly believe that she'd finished her first term at Hogwarts, and that Christmas was almost upon them.
"C'mon Lil! IF you don't get a move on, we won't get to James' before tea!" shouted Sirius over the whistling of the train.
Shaking herself quickly from her thoughts, Lily grabbed her trunk and hurried after her five friends dragging her trunk behind her.
By the time she caught up with them, they were already in deep conversation with Caty and her friends.
"I thought you weren't coming home this holiday?" asked James curiously.
"Change of plans" replied Caty lightly, before reaching out to ruffle his hair, "Cassie's coming too, so is Lucas." She added tucking her arm into her boyfriend's.
A commotion near the entrance to the platform quickly drew the group's attention. Craning her neck, Lily quickly spotted a tall elderly man with messy greying hair and a friendly smile, a smile that reminded her strongly of James's.
"Mickey!" shouted James as he ran towards a young man, who had manoeuvred his way out of the crowd, and was coming toward the group.
"About time!" greeted his brother, before scooping him up, and flinging him over his shoulder, as if this eleven-year-old boy weighed no more than a feather.
Smiling Caty rolled her eyes, before greeting her brother with a swift hug.
"Good to see you Cat" announced Michael Potter before ruffling her hair and setting James back down onto his feet.
As Caty stood there, revelling in the fact that she was home again, she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her, and smelt the familiar male scent of her long-time boyfriend Lucas.
"Lucas! Good to see you man." Greeted Michael Potter with a smile at one of his long time friends, and quidditch ex-team-mate. "Nice to see you too Cassie" he added, to his sister's oldest friend.
"Hello all" interrupted a new voice, starting the youngsters out of their greetings.
"Hi Daddy" greeted Caty, before she was swept into a hug along with James.
"Your mother's already got the whole household cooking, so I better get you all home soon." He announced. "Maybe you ought to introduce your friends James," he added to his youngest son.
"Oops. Sorry dad. Ok, well you know Remus and Peter." Reminded James.
"Ahh yes. I believe my wife invited your parents round for dinner tonight Remus. It's good to see you both again."
"It's a pleasure to see you too Minister," replied Remus, while Peter nodded in agreement.
"Now, now, no need to call me Minister, please call me Mr Potter." Smiled James' father, "And you must be Sirius and Lily" he added turning to the pair. "My wife's told me a lot about the pair of you. Which of course, means you are Adriana." He added smiling at the final member of the group.
Having met all of James' friend, he then turned to his daughter's friends.
"Its nice to see you again Mr Potter" greeted Lucas, shaking the elder man's hand warmly, before a loud beeping noise prevented Mr Potter from replying.
Lily glanced around rapidly for the source of the intrusive sound, and watched with surprise as Mr Potter drew out a small black object that was glowing brightly.
It seemed to Lily that no-one except her was even vaguely surprised by this object, or that when Mr Potter tapped it lightly with his wand, the face of an elderly man appeared in mid air.
"Sorry to interrupt Minister, but we have Mr Ivanovitch, the MOM of Russia in the floo port. Seems he wants to speak to you."
"Not to worry Dalewood" replied Mr Potter with a sigh, "Michael could you arrange a portkey for his lot, in fact you might need two. I'd better go quickly, the faster I get this done, the sooner I'll be home." He added before turning to the rest of the group.
"Well, it was nice to meet you all, and I'll se you all at dinner kids." Before he disappeared in a jumbled chorus of "bye dad" and "goodbye Mr Potter."
"Right" announced Michael Potter, when his father had left. "We're going to have move out of everyone else's way before I set up the portkeys, so follow me."
He glanced around the group quickly, reaching over to take Adriana's and Cassie's trunks before starting off towards the back of the platform.
Lily started off with the rest of the group, but the constant need to manoeuvre her heavy trunk around other students and their families quickly tired her out.
Having just managed to escape being trampled on by a large red haired family, Lily glanced up to realise that she had lost sight of her whole group. Resisting the urge to just sit down on her trunk until they found her, Lily desperately searched the busy platform for any sign of her friends.
She was so absorbed in doing so that she nearly jumped when a vaguely familiar face appeared at her elbow.
"Need some help?" asked the blonde haired boy, and without waiting for a reply he reached over and secured the trunk's handle firmly in his free hand.
"Thanks" replied Lily, slightly embarrassed that she appeared so helpless. "Which way did they go?"
"Just over there." replied Lucas with a slight nod of his head.
Somehow, despite the fact he was now carrying two trunks Lucas managed to gently guide Lily through the milling crowd, and to the corner of the station where their group were now standing.
"Oh good wondered where you two had got to." Announced Michael, when he spotted the pair of them. From his pocket he produced two gold keys. Holding them in one hand, he removed his wand and tapped them lightly, before whispering "Portus."
"Right Catty, Lucas, Adriana, Peter and Cassie will take one key, after the rest of you have left on the other key." He announced, glancing around at the group. "That ok everyone? Oh, and Catty you'd better take one of the trunks from Lucas, I don't think, even being the strong quidditch man that he is, that he can handle both trunks." He added with a smirk, as Catty reached over to take one of the trunks.
" Ok then, James you hold this key in your palm. The rest of you only need place on finger on it," he explained, mainly for the benefit of Lily, who he correctly suspected had never travelled by portkey before.
Following his instructions lily reached out and placed her index finger against the cold metal of the key.
5…………4……..3………2…….1…..
Lily felt a tug behind her navel, as the portkey set into motion. The world spun briefly forcing Lily to shut her eyes tightly in order to quell the nausea. Luckily though, after just a few seconds she felt her feet settle on firm ground.
She opened her eyes but before she could glance around, a heavy weight slammed against her shoulder, sending her into James who promptly fell over his trunk, resulting in the whole group sprawled across the floor.
"OW! Lily what in Merlin's name was that for?" demanded James
"Hey! Don't blame me," replied Lily, "Its not my fault Sirius has no sense of balance.
"ME, It wasn't me, blame Blondie over here! Interjected Sirius, jabbing the actual culprit in the shoulder.
Before Remus had the chance to reply however, a whooshing sound announced the arrival of the other members of the group.
To the amusement of the four first years, this second group experienced much of the same arrival as they had, with Peter immediately losing his balance, knocking Adriana over, who very nearly unbalanced Caitlin. Luckily for Caitlin however she was saved from embarrassment and a considerable amount of pain by her boyfriend, who with reflexes born of quidditch caught her before she hit the floor.
Carefully her placed her back on her feet, though his arms remained wrapped around her waist.
"You ok?" he asked her softly, concern gracing his handsome features.
"I'm fine," she replied with a smile, before leaning forward to press her lips to his.
"The boys, who had been watching them with interest, promptly turned away, disgust on their faces, while Cassie merely rolled her eyes. She was clearly a lot more mature than the boys.
"Eurgh Caty! Cut that out!" cried James, " You're embarrassing me"
"Caty broke her kiss, before chuckling at the look on her brother's face.
"OK OK. Where's Michael anyway? I thought he was apparating here." She asked
"He's upstairs. Carmen decided to visit." Replied a familiar voice to Adriana's left.
Adriana turned to a see Professor Potter surveying the group.
"Hey mum." Greeted James and Caty in unison, before Caty went over to give her mum a quick hug.
"Hi professor" greeted Adriana, "Thank you for inviting us to stay"
"It's a pleasure dear, and you mustn't call me Professor while you're here. That goes for all of you" she added, smiling at the group.
Lily settled in quickly to life in the Potter household, where house elves were always around to lend a hand, and there were frequently visitors from the ministry to see Mr Potter. The Lupins had been a really nice couple, and Lily could quickly see where Remus had got his good-natured ness as well as intelligence from.
At the first opportunity she got, she thanked Mrs Potter for the dress, she had bought for her for the Ball.
"It was very nice of you to buy it for me, I really appreciate it, especially since you won't allow me to pay you back."
Mrs Potter, had smiled down at the petite red head, that was one of her son's friends.
"It was a gift Lily, and it was a treat for me to get the opportunity to go shopping." She had said. "Anyway it can't be easy for you, being of muggle heritage. I understand you've had some problems with some students, particularly those from a certain house" she'd added with a look of concern.
"It's not that bad. Most people are really nice, and as for those who aren't, well I just ignore them." Lily had pointed out matter of factly, touched by the lady's concern.
"Well you take care of yourself Lily, though I'm sure my son and those friends of his will get you into a lot of mischief, I know they will also look after you. Anything you need, from the wizarding world, you just come to me all right?" she added before she'd swept Lily into a quick hug.
Lily could hardly believe one week had passed since then, and that tomorrw was christmas.
"Lily!" called James, waving a hand in front of her face. " You in there?" he asked before rapping her lightly on the head with his knuckle.
"OWW! James!"
"Oh La La" interrupted Adriana in an exaggerated French accent. "You muss not hurt pooor Leely" she cried before bursting into laughter along with the rest of the group.
"err… I'm not even going to ask." Announced Michael when he discovered them a few minutes later. "Dinner's ready."
After dinner, during which much to Adriana's annoyance, Sirius ate at least half of her meal, before Peter knocked his glass over, drenching not just the remainder of her food, but her clothes as well, the whole group went straight to bed.
Ok that's it! Christmas is just around the corner. I know this chptr has been a long time coming! Im soooo sorry! But pls pls pls review and I really will try to get the nxt chptr up soonn. The real storyline is coming up soon ( really!) so review, flames are welcome! And critiscms or questions just press that button! OK.. the continuation of this fic has been placed under a new title, as I feel it's a bit of a turning point. The next parts called "the art of grief" … please check it out!
Luv
Tripletrouble
xxx