Chapter Eleven - Letters
Summer continued in a normally paced speed, which was perfect for everyone.
Peter returned home for the summer and was instantly suffocated by his Mother's hugs. "Petey, you're home!" She cried.
"Obviously." He said, rolling his eyes. However, he privately liked the attention. As long as he attended Hogwarts (and probably afterward too) he would constantly live in James and Sirius' shadows.
"What do you want to eat dear?" Mgrs. Pettigrew asked him. She pointed her wand at the kitchen table and every food you could imagine appeared; it was not different from a Hogwarts feast.
"Nothing, actually," Peter said.
His Mother looked as though she were experiencing a heart attack. She rushed to his side immediately, pressing a hand to his forehead; cheeks and under his chin. He tried to twist from her grip.
"Are you sick? Why don't you want to eat? What's wrong?" she fretted.
"I'm not sick, Ma, calm down."
"Then why won't you eat?"
"I'm not hungry. Plus, I don't want to get fat. If I'm fat I'll never get a girlfriend and never get married and I'll probably die alone. Do you want me to die, Ma?"
"Don't be melodramatic! If you don't want to eat, go unpack," his Mother said, eyeing him closely.
Peter grabbed a piece of toast off the table and headed down the hall to his bedroom to unpack.
Remus returned from Hogwarts to be greeted by his parents.
"Hello, dear," his mother said. She was a muggle and his father was a Wizard. Every time the boys came over, Sirius would hit on his mum. Remus thought back on a conversation of this topic.
"Hello, dear." His Mother said, hurrying to embrace her son. She was a Muggle, while Remus' father was a Wizard. Unfortunately for him at least, Sirius had a rather irate habit of flirting with his Mother each time he visited. Remus recalled a conversation regarding this topic.
"Will you stop flirting with my mother every time you come over?" he'd said to Sirius.
"She loves it," Sirius grinned.
"She's happily married," Remus pointed out.
"She's hot, too." Sirius said, laughing.
"That is gross. Do you mind? This is my Mother you're talking about." Remus said, scrunching his nose in revulsion.
"Sirius told me she's a M.I.L.F," James added with a rogue grin.
"Prongs, I told you not to tell him that!"
"M.I.L.F? What does that stand for?" Remus asked hesitantly, dreading the reply.
James' smile grew even wider. "Mother I'd like to Fu-"
Remus threw a small trinket off the dresser at Sirius and James' heads.
"You are messed up," Remus sighed, caught between amusement and disgust.
"Remus, Remus?" Mgrs. Lupin said, waving her hand in front of his face. "You still there?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking," he said.
"Sirius wrote to me," Mrs. Lupin smiled.
"What?" Remus said angrily. He'd kill that Black when he got the chance. "What did he say?"
"He told me you have a girlfriend," his Mother said, laughing softly at his dignity.
"Oh." Remus relaxed, although still a little weary. "Yes, I do."
"So, what's her name? What's she like?"
"Her name is Grace, and Mum- you have to see her. She's beautiful," Remus smiled.
Grace was sitting in the study, reading a book. A groan escaped her lips as she reached a rather dense paragraph; she was as bored as a Witch could be.
"I think I'll write to Lily," she muttered to herself.
She pulled out a piece of parchment from the desk drawer, plus her favourite Emerald Quill that she had placed there. She began to write;
Dear Lily,
I miss you already! You are coming to stay with me next week; no objections. If you don't want to come, I will kidnap you. Understand? It's so boring here! The only other Wizard I know is James, whom I met up with the other day at the park. He continually asked me about you; we'd be walking, and he'd ask "How's Lily?" I'd reply that I hadn't heard from you and then five minutes later he'd ask again! It would have been very cute if it hadn't been somewhat annoying. Alright, I'll change the subject; I know you become mad with any mention of Potter.
When you come to stay, make sure you bring heaps of clothes, because we are definitely going to go out every day. I cannot stand one more minute confined within this house! Please don't be angry, but I've also made arrangements to meet James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. It won't be anything extravagant; just a few Muggle Movies. Don't worry! I've already admonished James that if he flirts with you in the cinema, I'll curse him; Statue of Secrecy or not.
Please, please write as soon as you receive this!
Love,
Grace.
Grace sighed and rolled up the note. She carefully tied it to her barn owl's leg and set it loose out of the window.
Lily sat at the dinner table beside her Mother and across from Mgrs. Dursely; Vernon and his parents had come to the Evans' household for dinner. Mrs Evans had barely placed the food on the table before Vernon dug in. His face was blotchy and large, topped by a thin layer of brown hair. Mrs Dursley stared down her nose at everything, and Mr Dursley acted as though he were superior to everyone else.
These people are worse than Potter, Lily thought bitterly. Of course Petunia was no different, firing into her own theory, which had not been discussed with the family, when Mgrs. Dursley asked Lily where she went to school.
These people combined are worse than Potter, Lily thought bitterly. Of course, Petunia was no different; she instantly fired into a rather horrible theory of hers (which she had not, coincidentally, discussed with the family) when Mrs Dursley asked with a raise of the eyebrow where Lily attended school.
"Oh, don't talk to her. I don't think she even understood the question," Petunia said with a sneer worthy of Severus Snape.
"Oh Mrs Dursley, you don't want to talk to her." She said, with a sneer worthy of Severus Snape. "I don't think she even understood the question."
"What do you mean?" Mrs Dursley asked, leaning forward in her chair to frown at Petunia.
"You see, my sister attends a school for those who are - well, mentally impaired." Petunia spoke the last word in a carrying whisper.
"Petunia!" Mgrs. Evans snapped.
"It's perfectly fine, Mum; they're family now, and have a right to know." Petunia said, as though she were doing everyone a favour by being malicious.
"My name is Mrs Dursley. I am Vernon's Mother. What is your name?" Mrs Dursley asked slowly, exaggerating each word with a pathetic hand gesture and staring at Lily.
Lily narrowed her eyes. "My name is Lily; I do indeed know who you are. I gathered as much for myself when you arrived and Vernon and Marge addressed you as 'Mother.'"
There was no way she would play along with Petunia's game.
"Got a mouth on her, that one." Marge sneered, swallowing a large mouthful - she had continued eating throughout the conversation. "Speaks well for someone from a loony bin, as well."
"Marge, be quiet." Mr Dursley snapped. "You don't call someone from a different school that. It could mentally upset their feelings and cause them to do things inappropriate."
Lily's face flushed with fury and Petunia grinned, obviously delighted.
"Mother if you don't mind, I'd like to leave the table." Lily said standing and collecting her plate. Her hands were shaking.
"Freak," Petunia mouthed at Lily.
"Bitch," she muttered on her way out of the dining room door.
Once Violet had returned to her bedroom, after exchanging hurried greetings with her Family, she emptied her Hogwarts Bag and pulled out a slip of parchment. With a sigh of relief, she saw that it was blank.
However, a picture soon appeared on the parchment's surface. There was no one else it could be apart from herself; a stick figure with a violet streak in her hair, being brutally attacked by two figures with masks and hoods. They shot a spell in her direction and she fell. Moments later, another figure appeared crouched at her side; judging by the scruffiness of the hair, it was either Regulus or Sirius. As the present situation indicated the latter, she guessed it was that person.
More letters became inscribed on the parchment, materializing into the words: Mudblood. Murder. Watch yourself.
Violet, infuriated and frightened, tore the parchment into shreds and threw them into the Fire Place, watching with relief as they crumbled and became indistinct.
However, the image re-printed itself on the other pieces of parchment. She let out a long, pained sigh.
It was quarter to two in the morning when Sirius was walking through Godric's Hollow, his trunk dragging behind him. He walked past the playground and the quiet homes, envying all of the happily settled families insides. He couldn't help but wonder how different his life could have been if his family weren't prejudiced of anything but their kind.
He sighed as he reached his destination; the place he had been walking for hours to reach. He strolled into the front garden and grabbed a handful of pebbles from the flower-bed. Now that he was inside their boundaries, he could perform magic again; he levitated the luggage over the picket fence.
He quickly located the window he'd been searching for; the one above the tree. Gently, he began to throw the pebbles at it, until the window was pulled open.
James had been exhausted, and fell asleep the instant his head hit the pillow. What felt like moments later, he heard a tapping at his window. He sat up, glanced at his clock and realised he'd been asleep for three hours. He turned on his lamp and slid his glasses on before climbing out of bed and pulling open the window.
He poked his head out of the window, oblivious to the fact that he was wearing nothing but boxers. He glanced down to where Sirius was and squeezed his eyes shut, before opening them again. Perhaps he wasn't imagining things, after all.
"Sirius?" he said.
"Hey, can you come down here for a minute?" Sirius called to him.
James nodded and crouched on the windowsill, then leapt off it, catching hold of a tree branch before gracefully dropping to the ground.
"You're going to fall and break your neck when you do that one day," Sirius grinned, shaking his head.
"Well when I do, then you can say I told you so," James laughed. "Not to sound rude or anything, but I don't know how else to say it- what are you doing at my house in the middle of the night?"
"Well, I kind of ran away. Do you mind if I just sleep on your couch for tonight? I'll be gone by morning, I swear," Sirius said quickly.
"That's fantastic! You can stay as long as you like, Padfoot!"
"Thanks, but I won't stay too long," Sirius said, smiling.
"Come up stairs!" James said, motioning for Sirius to climb the tree after him.
Sirius hesitantly climbed after him and slid through the window.
James grinned at Sirius as he appeared through the window. "This is great! What happen-"
He was interrupted by a knock on his bedroom door. "James?" Dorea Potter, James' Mother, called through the door. "Who are you talking to?"
"Sirius, through the - err mirror," James said nervously.
"Is he in your room?" Mgrs. Potter said, unconvinced by her son.
"No," James called back.
"James, don't lie to me!" Mgrs. Potter said.
James walked forward and opened the door slightly, just enough so his mother would see him.
"Oh, don't lie? Santa? Easter bunny?" James said, raising his eyebrows.
"The other parents told their kids that, too," Mgrs. Potter said.
"If the other parents jumped off a cliff, would you?"
After a moment, Mgrs. Potter smiled. "Touché. I've taught you well," her eyes twinkled. "I just want to know if Sirius is here. I'm not going to kick him out; in fact I'll make up the guest room."
James sighed in relief. "Yes, he's here." He said, opening the door wide.
This chapter was siriusly long, but you all deserve it.
Thanks to Lauren who made this STORY amazing and J.K Rowling who created my childhood and most characters from this story.
Hopefully it was a good enough chapter! I'll be sure to post the next one soon!
-Aleynah
