I HAD A SNOW DAY! WHOO! I'M SO HAPPY!
Plus, tsk, tsk, you lot! You're supposed to be reviewing! It makes me write faster! I've been doing well, y'know, long chapters, and stuff!
Poem of the day- I Sit and Think by J.R.R Tolkien
I sit beside the fire and think Of yellow leaves and gossamer I sit beside the fire and think For still there are so many things I sit beside the fire and think But all the while I sit and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
Enjoy!
"Ah," Dumbledore looked up at the Marauders, Lily and Rella, "I thought I would be seeing you soon."
After waking up and borrowing some clothes from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Rella had made their way to Dumbledore's office. Leaving the red and gold Gryffindor common room, discussing the questions they would ask him, they wondered if his office was still in the same place as before. They decided they would go to where it usually was, and if it was not there, then they would go to the teacher's lounge and give them a visit from dead people.
"Well, Professor," Lily started, "We wanted to ask you a few things."
"I figured that much," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he surveyed them, "I assume you know what a Horcrux is," he raised his eyebrows at them.
"A piece of soul concealed, kept, or hidden in an inanimate, or animate object," Lily said immediately.
"Creating one is extremely difficult and horrible. One must commit an act of murder, or something as bad as that. Once the soul is separated from the body, it depends on its 'home', unlike a joined soul, which is unaffected, even be death," Rella said, much to everyone's surprise.
"What?" she asked, noticing their looks.
"How do you know that?" James asked incredulously, while Sirius nodded vigorously in agreement.
"I read," Rella replied, as if it was obvious.
"Since when?" Sirius asked.
"Since always!"
"Harry told us a bit about them," Remus started, ignoring them, "But he said he didn't know much."
"That is true," Dumbledore said. They waited for him to continue, but he just looked at them.
"So…" James trailed off.
"What are they?" Sirius asked impatiently.
"Sirius," Rella scolded lightly.
"Right, sorry," Sirius turned to Dumbledore again, who was watching this exchanged with a smile, "Professor, I was wondering if you could possibly save us from the suspense that is currently killing us, and tell us what the Horcruxes are. Please."
Rella glared at the back of his head. Sirius felt it, but thought it would not be wise to turn around just yet.
"Well, Mr. Black," Dumbledore said, "That is an excellent question. As you already know, they are in the form of a diary, belonging to Tom Riddle, a ring, and the snake, Nagini," he took something out of his desk, "I have the diary and ring here," he showed them the two cracked, and broken objects.
"And the others?" Lily prompted.
"One is a locket, and currently resides in a cave where Tom Riddle used to spend his field trips. I, unfortunately, do not know what, or where the others are, but I do have a vague idea. Tom Riddle loved this school-"
"He'd be a first," Sirius and James snorted.
"As I was saying," Dumbledore glanced at James and Sirius, "he loved this school. He also thought that he knew all there was to know about it."
"So Voldemort is hiding a Horcrux in Hogwarts?" Rella looked concerned.
"There is a possibility," Dumbledore conceded, "But his Horcruxes could also be objects to do with Hogwarts."
"Like what?" James asked.
"There was Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem," Remus said slowly, piecing it together.
"And Hufflepuff's Cup," Lily said.
"What about Slytherin?" Rella asked.
"That would be the locket, Miss Potter," Dumbledore answered.
"And there are seven," Sirius stated.
"No, Mr. Black," Dumbledore said, "There is a piece of soul inside Voldemort himself."
"So six," James said, "Well, we've got them all then, if we're right."
"Yes, I suppose you have," Dumbledore mused.
"You knew what they were," Rella said, looking at Dumbledore.
"Yes, I did," he said, "But it is better if one thinks for oneself. I find that it increases self-esteem."
"Oh please don't," Lily said, "James has enough of that."
"Hey!" James replied indignantly.
"Well," Dumbledore interrupted, "Now that we have established that, maybe you would like to know how to destroy them?"
"That would be nice," Sirius said conversationally.
They spent another hour in the office, discussing ways to destroy Horcruxes, when they would return home, what they would take from the future to the past (Lily had said nothing, thinking of the dangers when the future meets the past), and finally the result of their mission.
"If you succeed," Dumbledore began, "then all your futures will change. Harry will finally have a family, and many lives will be saved."
"I'll be a mum," Lily muttered.
"And I'll be a dad," James smiled at Lily and took her hand. She looked at him gratefully.
"I wonder if I'll have any kids," Rella mused, "And who I'll be married to."
"Me too," Sirius peeked at Rella. He had a sudden image of her walking up the isle in a white dress, with Mr. Potter, to a faceless stranger. Then, her surrounded by kids who looked just like her. He felt a surge of jealousy towards the stranger.
"And all those people who will have another chance," Remus said. Immediately, the rest of the group felt embarrassed at having just thinking of themselves.
"That will all be possible if you complete the task ahead of you," Dumbledore reminded them.
"So," James said, "We leave today?"
"Yes," Dumbledore replied, "We want to complete what's ahead of us as soon as possible."
"Of course," Lily said sadly. They knew that they might die doing this task, and though they were all Gryffindors, and ready to face danger in a second, they still wanted to savor every moment they had without a sword hanging over their heads.
"Well," Dumbledore clapped his hands together, "I think that's enough, you can all get back up to the common room to gather your stuff, and say your goodbyes. But," he added as an afterthought, "Please be sure to send an owl to me to explain everything. My younger self might be more of a help."
"Of course, Professor," Lily assured him.
"You'd best get going. If all goes well, I will see you in the near future. The password is Godric. Good luck," he bestowed them all with a small, sympathetic, smile, and turned back to his work. Just before they stepped out of his office, he said, "And whatever you do, don't trust Peter Pettigrew. You know what he does, and we don't want that to happen anytime soon. And make sure that he doesn't know where you are going. We have no idea when he turns himself over to Voldemort."
They nodded in response, with sounds of agreement.
As they walked back to the Gryffindor common room, they all wondered how he could be so calm about the whole situation. As they reached the door, Remus said the password, and Harry and Hermione looked up from a game of chess.
"How'd it go?" Harry asked.
"Oh, it was lovely," Rella said mock enthusiastically, "We discussed our deaths, Voldemort, and the risks we had to take to save the majority of the people we know. Yep. Pretty fantastic," she flopped back on the couch.
"Don't worry," James said in response to their slightly alarmed looks, "She's being a little Drama Queen."
"Hmph," Rella sniffed and stuck her nose in the air.
"So what do you have to do?" Hermione asked.
"Destroy bits of Voldemort's soul," Sirius said shrugging, "Nothing big. Everything is dandy." He let himself fall onto the space next to Rella.
"And now we have our Drama King," Lily said.
"So," James said conversationally, "What's been going on with you two?"
Sirius and Rella tensed up, and looked at each other, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you haven't been arguing so much lately, and you're quite polite to each other, and don't think I've forgotten the sneaky little glances that have been going on all morning."
"What? Like you and Lily?" Rella said snidely, immediately regretting the comment.
"HA!" James pointed at them, "So you admit it!"
"Admit what?" she asked.
"That there's something going on with you two!"
"Well, not really," Rella said carefully.
"Not really?" James' face scrunched up with confusion.
"It is like you and Lily," Sirius said, "Except that I haven't been stalking Rella for a couple of years, like you."
"You're going out with my sister!" James' voice went up a few octaves, "But you dropped her down a staircase!"
"So?" Sirius failed to see what logic James had in this statement.
"She doesn't forgive easily," James said.
"She is right here you know!" Rella glared at the two men.
"Sorry," they said carelessly together, in a fashion that reminded Harry of Fred and George. Then they went back arguing.
"How long has this been going on?" James demanded.
"Since two days ago," Sirius said.
"How come I was never informed?"
"Because we only sorted it out last night!"
"Prongs," Remus tried to say, "I don't see what's wrong with it."
James rounded on him, "That's because you've never had a sister!"
"James," Lily intervened, "Let them date."
He was lost for words, "What!"
"Rella willingly let her brother date her best friend," Lily said, then she added, "And I'm still waiting for that date to be booked, thank you very much, so I think you should extend the same courtesy to Sirius."
James didn't stand a chance when Lily Evans ganged up on him. Especially when a very temperamental and finally willing to date him Lily Evans ganged up on him.
"Fine," he slumped in defeat, but pointed to Sirius, glaring, "If you hurt her in any way, best friend or not, I will personally tear you to bits."
"Understood, mate," Sirius said, cautiously grinning at him.
"Good."
Harry and Hermione looked at Sirius calculatingly. They found it extremely disturbing to see the man that had shown no sign of being in love before, fighting for a date with Harry's aunt.
"Where's Ron?" Remus asked, desperate to change the subject, and noticing for the first time that he wasn't here.
"He's gone out-"he was cut off by Hermione, who said, "He's gone to snog Colour Girl."
"Colour Girl?" Lily tried to contain her giggles.
"Lavender Brown," Hermione said distastefully.
"Right," Sirius said, still grinning.
"When do you leave?" Harry asked. He had worried about this the most. He wanted his parents to stay.
"Today," Remus said.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"We need to get going as soon as we can, right Lils?" Rella grinned.
"Yes, we do, Rella," Lily smiled, "I want to get this over with so I can get on that date with James."
"It seems you're going to be doing more than dating," Sirius wiggled his eyebrows.
"Shut up," Lily blushed.
"Yeah, Sirius," James said, "Shut up."
That was a pretty long chapter, if I do say so myself.
I just want to give you a sneak peak for a chapter somewhere in the future.
It's set just two months before Peter turns Lily and James in.
"What are we going to do?" James whispered to Sirius.
"I don't know," Sirius was obviously very scared of his very pregnant wife. At eight months pregnant, Rella still had her fiery temper when someone pushed her too far, and at this time, it was ten times worse.
"You should go in," James suggested, "To see what she's mad about."
"No way," Sirius shook his head, looking a lot like the dog he transforms into, "It might be something to do with me! For some reason, she seems to get mad at me more than you."
"But you're the father of her future child," James protested, "She won't hurt you!"
"Yes, she will," Sirius said, "You have absolutely no idea how much she can damage me without actually killing me!"
"Trust me, I know," James said, "I'm her brother, she's done absolutely everything she can think of to me! It's your turn."
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Sirius suggested.
"Okay," James agreed.
"OH!" Sirius moaned as he lost to the paper.
"Ha!" James grinned evilly, which reminded Sirius of what was to come if he crossed Rella.
Peeking round the door, he saw the back of Rella, and thinking it was semi-safe, stepped in.
"Rella?" he asked tentatively.
"What?" she snarled.
"What's up?"
"You should know!" she yelled, and threw the nearest thing, which was a clock, at him. She then stormed out, yelling at James on the way.
"Epic fail, dude," James said, shaking his head at Sirius.
Thank you! Review!
