A/N- Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews, I usually don't get that many!
People, I know I'm a bad speller in general, but especially in English, since it's my second language and I've only been speaking it properly for three years, and am not studying it properly at school, so I am using this story to improve. I don't know if you've noticed but I have less mistakes then earlier chapters. Anyways, that probably doesn't interest you, I just pointed it out because I got a few reviews saying I need to learn how to spell, so, yeah…
Enjoy the chapter! R&R! GG
Chapter 11: Merry Christmas, Mrs. Potter.
Someone came from behind him and pointed a wand at his neck "Let her go." He said harshly.
Lily recognized the voice to be Frank Longbottom's. She felt the grip on her hand loosen a little and managed to pull herself free, turning to face the man who attempted to drag her away to marlin knows where. She gasped, recognizing the face of the man standing there with a wand to his neck.
It was her stepfather.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lily walked back in horror, stumbling to the ground as she saw the wand in the tall man's hand.
"Put the wand down, boy." Robert said in a low dark voice. Frank lowered his wand as he felt the wand of the man pointing at his stomach.
"But you- you c-can't b-be a…a…." Lily stuttered in fear, unable to finish the sentence.
"Can't be what? A wizard? Why ever not?" her stepfather replied, dark humour in his voice.
"You- you are a… a muggle, y-you can't come h-here." Lily muttered, shaking her head.
"I am here, foolish girl. Now get to your feet at this instant, your mother is waiting, you are to meet the Frenchman." Robert ordered.
"No!" Lily exclaimed, feeling her courage coming back to her. She pointed her wand at him. "I won't come!"
"What are you going to do with that? Poke me in the eye?" He laughed coldly. "You are underage." He finally pointed out.
"Then do you intend to kidnap me with a hundreds of people around as witnesses?" Lily demanded.
"Kidnap is a harsh word for a father taking his daughter." Robert said.
"You are not my father and you were not taking me, you were dragging me without my free will. That is not what I call fatherly gesture." Lily informed.
"I am your stepfather and parents don't always do what is according to their children's free will." The man replied icily.
"Yes, so they drag them around when they are six, not sixteen! I won't come with you and if you try it is would be called child abuse, would it not?" Lily tested.
"You come with me young lady, I am losing my patience with your nonsense." Robert ordered.
"As I said, I'm not going anywhere." Lily replied.
"You'll regret this." He warned.
"Would I?" Lily challenged.
Robert did not answer; he just glared at her for a few moments. "This isn't over." he finally said, then turned and left the alley.
The crowd that gathered started to break away. Lily walked towards her friends shakily.
"Was that your stepfather?" Frank asked in dismay.
"Unfortunately." Lily replied shortly.
"A nice guy." Came the sarcastic voice of Sirius Black from behind them. They all turned to face the marauders.
"Did you enjoy the show then?" Lily asked Sirius coldly, pushing past him on her way to the Leaking Cauldron.
"Wrong move, padfoot." Remus muttered.
"What did I do?" Sirius asked in wonder, staring as they and walked past him, shaking their heads.
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"Lils, calm down!" Alice exclaimed.
Lily was walking back and forth across the room muttering things to herself like a madwoman. They were back in the Potter's Mansion, and it was about eleven at night.
"How can I?!" She retorted in frustration.
"It's over, you're safe now!" Alice reassured.
"No! Don't you see Alice, he can come and get me. I thought I was safe in the magical world, but I'm not! He is part of it!" Lily snapped, and then went back to her muttering, "How come I didn't notice? How did he hide it so well?"
"Lily- I-" Alice didn't know what to say, she knew her friend was right and she was also scared herself
"Go, I need to sleep it down, I might be nicer in the morning." Lily said. Alice did not argue and left, shutting the door behind her.
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Lily did not get out of her room the next day. A house elf brought her food, but when he came to take the tray, he found it untouched on the place he left it.
She refused to talk to anyone, and whenever someone knocked on her door they were greeted by silence and when they to open the door, they found it looked.
The next day was not much different. The only one that got some sort of acknowledgment form her side was Sirius, who woke up to find a gigantic present wrapped in gold wrapping paper at the foot of his bed. It had a matching gold birthday card that read-
"Dear Sirius,
Happy Birthday!
I hope you like it, use it well.
Love, Lily.
PS don't you dare use it on me,
because I will revenge."
He ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box to see its contents. It was full with every kind of Muggle prank item from rubber chickens and vomit to a handshake buzzer and a fart balloon.
Sirius was so happy he forgot everything and started pranking anything in sight for the rest of the day, adding black powder to Emily's tee so her teeth turn black, putting fake worms in Peter's breakfast, putting itching powder in Donna's closet, adding a rubber chicken into the soup and creating a rain of sticky snowflakes in the main hallway.
"Sirius!" Emily screamed when she found out that the black wouldn't come off her teeth until New Years Eve. It was Just before Sirius's birthday dinner when he was to get his presents from his friends and frm the Potters.
"What?" Sirius asked innocently.
"You know what! Change them back!" Emily exploded in anger.
"Change what back?" he asked sheepishly.
"My teeth!"
"I rather like them that way. Anyway, I can't change them back, it's not magic." He said victoriously.
"Then what is it?" Emily demanded in rage.
"Muggle." Sirius shrugged.
"How did you get mu… Lily!" Emily shouted.
At that moment Lily walked I the room, pale, with black circles under her puffy red eyes from lack of sleep. When she saw her friends black teeth, she cracked up and started laughing uncontrollably.
When at last she calmed down, trying to catch her breath, she pointed out "I see you did put my present into good use."
Sirius smiled like a child pleasing his proud mother. "I did! Did you see the sticky snow in the hallway, or how Donna's itching all over from the itching powder, and you should've seen Wormtail when he found the fake worms in his food!" Sirius blurted out, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the main hallway.
They were stopped when Emily took hold of her other hand and demanded "I want my teeth back white today!"
"But I think they're lovely!" Sirius retorted.
"I don't care what you think!" Emily exclaimed.
"Shut up!" Lily interrupted. "Come with me and I'll help you take it off."
"But it's my prank!" Sirius complained.
"I wouldn't do it normally, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and there's the ball, so it's not fare for Emily. Though it would match your dress…" Lily faded off.
Sirius gave a sigh of defeat and walked over to the dining room.
After giving Emily the proper mouthwash for the black teeth, telling her she would have to wash it for ten minutes that night and ten minutes the next morning, Lily went downstairs to the dining room to join her friends or the birthday dinner.
"Well hello to you." Mrs. Potter said kindly "Are you feeling any better my dear?"
"Yes, thank you." Lily said quietly and took a sit at the end of the table, next to Alice.
"Sorry." She mumbled so only Alice would hear.
"'S alright. You were right to be worried. Glad you're here." Alice smile, adding "You shouldn't worry, we're here for you."
"Thanks." Lily replied.
"Lilikins!" Sirius exclaimed. "Let's see if any of them got me as good a present as you did." He winked at her.
"Padfoot, do us all a favour and open the presents." James, who was sitting next to him, cut the flirting out.
"Jealous much, Jamesy?" Sirius asked him cheekily in a low voice so that only James could hear.
James did not answer and resisted the urge to hit the birthday boy on the head.
Sirius grinned and went to his presents. The top one was from Remus. He opened it and found. "A book." He said, looking at it oddly.
"Open it." Remus said.
Sirius did so, looked, and saw animated pictures of people with skin in every colour from dark blue to bright pink in all kinds of patterns, animal ears and tails. Under each picture he found instructions as to how to create the potion or do the spell for it.
"You like it?" Remus asked.
"It's bloody awesome!" Sirius exclaimed. "Hey Prongs! This is the spell Lilikins used on you at the beginning of the year!" James went bright red with embarrassment when he saw the picture, recalling how hard it was to get rid of the purple skin and donkey ears.
"I thought it looked nice on you." Lily shrugged and her friends burst in laughter at the memory.
"Thanks Evans." James huffed.
"Not at all." She replied sweetly.
"Did you know the spell itched?" James demanded.
"It doesn't itch, liar! If you need proof, there!" she pointed at the part of the instructions where it said the spell does not have any side affects.
"Well it did itch!" James defended.
"Okay, next present." Sirius said quickly, leaving the two to their stupid argument and snatching the next one off the pile. It was from Alice. He did not waste time and ripped the wrapping paper to reveal a camera. Sirius immediately snapped a shot of James and Lily arguing about the spell she put on him so long ago.
"That's a good one." Alice smiled, knowing Sirius would put her present into good use.
"Yeah, I like it too. Thanks." He said, and then took another shot of Alice smiling before moving to the present from Mr. and Mrs. Potter. He opened the box and took out a pair of fine Quiddich gloves.
"Thanks, Mum. They're perfect!" Sirius said happily, putting the gloves on. Isabelle smiled in satisfactory at her right choice for a present.
Sirius went to the rest of his presents. The pile was very big, but most of it was from his fan club, all wrapped in pink, so he dug through and found another present from his friends.
"A bottle." He said in disappointment, turning it around to see what was written on the front "Shampoo and conditioner 2 in1 against flees for dogs." It also had a picture of a great black dog with silky fur.
"You always say that it's annoying to use shampoo and then conditioner because of your long hair." James shrugged.
"But Jamey," Mrs. Potter said, "this is for dogs. Why ever would you get Sirius a shampoo for dogs?"
The marauders burst in laughter at the woman's wonder.
"Don't worry mate, you'll get a great present from me on Christmas." James clapped Sirius on the back.
"Open my present now." Peter said eagerly, handing him a small badly wrapped package. Sirius took it and inside he found a strange black electrical item with a black plastic handle.
"Wormtail, what is that?" Sirius asked.
"It's for the hair. The shopkeeper said it's good for long straight hair." Peter said excitedly.
"Yyes, but how do I use it." Sirius required.
"I- well, I don't know." The plump boy answered
"Peter, that's a hair curler." Lily pointed out, adding "For girls."
"A- a what?"
"An electrical hair curler. It's what muggle girls use to curl their hair." Lily explained.
"Oh…" Peter said.
"Yeah… let's move to the next present." Sirius muttered. He got all his favourite candy from Donna, and a set of the newest prank items in England completed with a dozen dung bombs from Emily.
After eating their dinner and enjoying a nice pointless conversation by the fireplace, the group went to sleep.
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"Come on Emily!" Donna exclaimed. "The ball started ten minutes ago!"
Emily was applying her last minute make-up. "Don't rush me! Besides, it's good to be a little late, it makes a great entrance."
"Fine." Donna huffed and sat down next to Lily and Alice. Alice's hair was down and straight, while Lily put her red locks up in a simple hair-do with stands of little curls falling at the sides of her face and on her shoulders. Donna put little emerald butterfly clips in her short curls and Emily did her hair up in an elegant French twist.
"Okay, I'm done." She announced, getting up to leave the room.
"Finally." Donna muttered, getting up and leading the way downstairs. Half way down the stair case, Lily noticed that one of her earrings was missing.
"I lost my earring in your room Em. I'm going to go fetch it. Don't wait for me." She hurried back to the room and found the missing earring. Slowly she walked down the staircase again. Fear started taking over her, and something inside of her told her she mustn't enter that room- that she must go back to her room and stay there. She had just turned to head back to her room when a voice from behind stopped her.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked.
"I- I don't feel very well." Lily muttered, turning to face her fake boyfriend.
Sirius smiled when he saw her snow white dress from the front. "You look great. Glad to see you have a good taste."
"What do you mean?" Lily looked puzzled.
"Alice didn't want me to see how you looked in the dress, so I just had to trust you." Sirius pointed out. "She made me leave before you got out of the changing room."
"You mean, it was you! You payed for it!" Lily exclaimed in astonishment.
"Rumus and me. Think of it as a Christmas present, well, part of your Christmas present from us."
"Thank you!" Lily grinned and hugged her date for the ball.
"Come on, we better get to the ball room." Sirius broke off and took her hand in his.
They walked down the rest of the stairs and entered the grand ball room. It was a magnificent room with a high ceiling and great glass doors leading to a beautiful snow covered garden and a frozen forest beyond.
"Would you like to dance?" Sirius offered.
"I'd love to." Lily smiled.
They twirled around the dance floor, chatting and laughing. To the people around them, they seemed like a sweet, happy couple, but they knew that all there was and ever will be between them is a good brother-sister friendship.
After a few songs, James interrupted. "Sirius, do me a favour and dance with Jess for a while. I can't take it for much longer." He hissed.
Sirius looked around and caught sight of Jessica. She was wearing a pink strapless dress with a low sweet heart neckline, a white fur trim, a mermaid hem and a long split along her left leg reaching almost to her hip.
"Um… no thanks, I'm good here with my Lilikins." Sirius said but changed his mind when he saw the glare he was receiving from James.
"Fine…" He sighed and walked over to Jessica, who looked confused but not at all disappointed or mad.
"Hey Siri!" She squealed, taking his hand and starting to dance immediately. "So what do you think of my dress?"
"It's… um… eye catching." Sirius said.
"Oh, thanks! It's real fur from an English Magical white fox." She explained proudly.
"Aren't those endangered?" Sirius asked in disgust.
"Yes, it was so hard to find this dress. It cost a fortune too…" Sirius blocked her voice and glared at James, thinking of how to revenge.
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In the mean while, James and Lily danced in silence slowly at the outskirt of the dancing floor. "You look beautiful." James whispered softly in her ear, his warm breath upon her bare neck. Lily blushed slightly and rested her head on his shoulder.
After two songs James sighed, "We better go back to Sirius and Jess. She might get suspicious."
"With that bird brain of hers, I'm surprised she recognizes you when you walk past." Lily muttered.
James chuckled at the comment but broke apart from her unwillingly, saying, "Come on, Sirius and I still have to introduce you to the family."
They wandered around the room looking for Sirius, smiling and greeting the people they passed. Finally, Sirius appeared, followed by a mad Jess. She did not see James dancing with Lily, but she was mad when she saw them standing together. "What were you doing?" she demanded.
"What were you doing with my boyfriend?" Lily demanded in return.
"Dancing." Jessica huffed "What's wrong with that?"
"Then I don't see why it was wrong for me to dance with James." Lily said coldly.
Jess did not know what to say, so she just stared at Lily angrily.
"Sirius, James, why don't you introduce me to your family?" Lily suggested.
"Okay, let's go." Sirius said hurriedly, taking her hand and walking as fast as he could from Jessica.
"I hate her!" he exclaimed when she was out of earshot.
"Don't we all?" James, who had just caught up with them, said.
The first person they ran into was Mr. Potter, a man in his middle age who looked exactly like James, with dark messy hair and mischievous hazel eyes that seemed to know everything, completed with round wire glasses.
He gave them a cheeky grin and asked, "Who might the beautiful lady be?"
"Lily Isabella Evans." Lily said in a confident voice, though a small blush flattered her cheeks.
"She's my girlfriend." Sirius added, putting an arm around her shoulder. It was more a brotherly gesture then a romantic one.
"I'm James's father, George Potter." He said.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter." Lily stretched out her hand to shake his. He took her hand, whispering so only she and Sirius could hear, "You don't fool me."
Lily looked at him in puzzlement while Sirius smiled knowingly.
"Well, goodbye for now." Mr. Potter said.
The three walked around the room, showing Lily the rest of Potter family and relations.
"What about your grandmother?" Lily asked James after some time.
"Do you really want to meet the old hag?" James sighed.
Lily nodded.
"Fine…" James said, walking over to table area.
James and Sirius led the way to a table they have been avoiding all night. At the table sat three people, an old woman with greying hair done up in a tight bun. She was slim and even though her youth had long since passed, she had a beautiful, undying look on her face. She had plenty of fancy jewels and wore an expensive black dress with a reddish brown fur trim.
Opposite her, with their backs to the three approaching teens, were two middle aged men in fancy suits, with dark hair striked by silver.
"James, my dear, I was just discussing your up coming marriage to dear Ms. Smith." She said in firm yet affectionate voice.
"Oh, um, it's kind of far off." James said.
"Yes, well, there have been some changes that we will discuss later, but first I'd like you to meet these two gentlemen over her." She said, singling for him to come and stand next to her. James did so reluctantly and looked at the two men facing his grandmother. His expression changed into a horrified look as he saw the familiar face.
"James, these are Mr. Jack Duboit from France and Mr. Robert Williams."
A/N- I hope you liked it. I'm sorry but I'm not going to update for a month or so, because I'm going to have to put more effort into my school work for the final exams that I'm having right now, but I will try and update as soon as they are over.
Sorry again
GG
