Parts of a whole
by shana
chapter 8.
POV: Andrea, James, Lily
James's house is nice. It's right in the middle of a Wizard community, so every other house has pure-wizard blood flowing through. Ooo, bad vision...gutters...
Anyway, James's mother had fixed up their guest room with really bright, and pretty, yellow shades and bedspreads. Luckily, the guest room and James's room were on opposite sides of the second floor. The only thing was that we had to share the upstairs bathroom. Nothing embarrassing happened. The weirdest thing was that Mrs. Potter knew that my favorite color was yellow and had arranged for everything mine to be yellow. There was even a huge painting of a sunflower on the wall of my room—my favorite flower. Freaky.
The Potters' backyard was probably as big as Platform 9 and 3/4. It was huge! A professional Wizard gardener came once a week and put various charms on the lawn. I have to admit, it was pretty green and springy if you jumped on it. And Mrs. Potter even had a beautiful garden in a corner of the yard with daffodills, violets, petunias, and the prettiest roses. I'm pretty positive an awful lot of magic is definitely involved.
People were always coming over and doing everything from playing Quidditch to futball to just hanging out in the Potter backyard—some sixth years even practiced and put on a play there over the course of the summer. It was a cool play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. Personally, I thought the plot was way better than Romeo and Juliet; I'm not into the whole obsessive romance scene. And they actually had rain and lighting and fire and a flying Ariel. It was so cool.
The absolute best part of the whole summer was when James's cousins, Daniel and Julia came over. They are soooo nice and kind and courteous and basically everything James isn't. Well, what Lily's taught me to believe James isn't. If I didn't spend so much time around that girl I'd be one of his worshippers—and I'm sure some of the boys who come to the backyard believe that. (I've thrown most of them off with a classic 'James-you-idiot!', made famous by Lily the Great.) But, since I've spent so much time around Lily, I know what kind of guy James really is—a basic loser who wants face from the girls. Yeah, that's pretty much sums it up. But, between you and me, I think I would think it great opportunity to be in James Potter's house for the whole summer if I did not know Lily at all. Of course, I didn't tell her that in any of the 87 phone calls she made to James's house, which she made only because she knew I was there. Too bad James never picked up.
Back to Dan and Jul. They stayed at the Potters' house for the whole month of July. It seems they visit every summer for a month. Both Dan and Jul go to Beaubaxtons, since they live in the heart of France—Pah-ree. (Hee hee, non-French people talk for Paris.) Dan just turned 15, and Jul is 13 like James. They call James 'Jam' because they're reffered to by the first three letters of their names too. They also love to annoy their cousin, just like someone I happen to know a little too well.
Most of my summer with Dan and Jul was spent tormenting James and learning how to play Quidditch. Jul thinks I'm the best girl to set foot on a broomstick, not counting herself. She is pretty funny, I guess. She even accused Dan and James of hitting on me, which made Dan grin and James turn ballistically red. Jul and Dan even took me to the local mall—which I hadn't been to but started going to with some girl neighbors after they left. Jul and I went clothes and guy shopping, but Dan got stuck in the CD store tailing a brunette. Although, I am unbelievably glad Lily didn't show up at James's house during July; just thinking of Dan, Jul, and Lily in the same room makes me shiver.
My summer without the sanity of Dan and Jul holding me together went by pretty slowly. Mrs. Potter was an avid reader and got me hooked on some new horror books—I never was much of a reader, and I don't actually read the things we have to read for classes; I just skim it in about a minute. Still, my new favorite book is this one called Final Destination, about this boy who sees future deaths. Scary, isn't it? And the author describes it all so good. Really.
The weirdest thing was that I never, ever saw Mr. Potter live or in person. He was never home. The only reason I know what he looks like is there are a lot of family pictures around. I wonder how James survives without seeing his dad. Of course, he actually has two parents to look forward to seeing at all.
But, the scariest thing and the thing that kept me wondering the most was: why the Potters?
**********
The summer was better than I thought it would be. Living with Andi was not that hard. Mum had put Andi on the other end of the floor, but we still had to share the bathroom. She woke up way earlier than me, so it didn't mess up my schedule. By the time I did wake up, Mum had taken her to the bookstore or something and they didn't come back until I was eating breakfast.
Most of the time, Andi was reading so I didn't really worry about her when I went out and played Quidditch or something with the other guys who live in the neighborhood. Usually, she came outside and laid on the grass wearing sunglasses, reading a book and drinking a glass of lemonade. Though, I have to admit, she did look kind of cute in tank tops and shorts. Hey, I'm a guy. What do you expect?
My cousins Dan and Jul came in July like they always do. They taught Andi how to play Quidditch and went to the mall with her. I think they were actually better hosts than I was, but I see Andi every day at Hogwarts so I didn't really care about what she did. Except after they left they guys who came to play Quidditch and futball [soccer] started asking about her. I think Jul did something to her—even I was attracted to her. Once, I got confused when going to the local mall with this guy named Chris to buy a new futball [A/N u know, soccerball] and asked him who the 'hot blonde chick in front of us' was.
Chris, of course, just eyed me like I was some sort of crazy person."Your guest, you idiot—that Andi girl who's staying in your very house. You do know her, don't deny it. Didn't you say you went to school with her, too?" he had asked.
"No," I replied, "I said that she went to school with *us*. Hogwarts. And she's also best friends with that Lily kid." Chris is just too stupid sometimes, even now.
"From what I hear about Lily at school and from you, I think I'd like her."
I'd stared at him. "Christopher, my man, get a brain. And a life to go with it. You can NOT LIKE LILY EVANS! At all. It's against the guy code of honor." And then Andi had turned around and gotten invited to play Quidditch with us magically. Which, incidentally, started the whole 'Damn, James, that girl in your house is hot!' thing that I had to explain to everyone that her best friend was my archenemy.
I'm still convinced Jul had done something. And that was probably what made me call Jul and ask if she had done anything to Andi. "No, James," she said, "I didn't do anything. I think she just needed someone to hang out with."
"Nah," I'd told her, "I think she just needed someone who doesn't know Lily Evans." And then I had hung up on her. I concluded that my hormones were raging since I am a teenager after all. Okay, unlikely. I think I was just attracted to Andi—no, seriously.
So, that was my whole summer in brief. Life went 'wake up, eat, go outside, eat, go back outside, take a shower, eat, sleep'. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Except for the fact that Dad didn't show up AT ALL the whole summer. I am still mad at him, and now it's August 31st.
**********
James and Andi came to King's Cross together with James's mother. Andi looked sort of different to me, but maybe it was because I hadn't seen her for three months. Either that or the fact that she had stayed at James Potter's house for the past three months. The latter must have killed her and she was reborn when September 1st appeared. I know, not realistic.
Actually, if you ask me, Andi looked a lot happier than usual, if that's possible. She had this like weird happiness with her and everyone around her noticed it too. I think James was just as confused as me when all these older guys approached them as soon as they walked on the platform. Most of them said hey to James and then started up conversation with Andi.
Believe me, I was surprised and a bit shocked. You'd think after staying *there* for a month she's be out of it, but this was a little over the top. Okay, I'll stop thinking that the Potter house damaged her head. But still, I was usually the popular headstrong one and Andi was always right behind me. Sort of a switch happened, I guess. Then again, I was in the train saving a compartment so I couldn't really do much or say much. Unfortunately a slightly grinning James happened to stroll by my compartment before Andi did, so he put all his stuff in it. I did wonder why he was grinning while I tried to yell at him, but he was already gone. Doing a simple spell, James's things found themselves sitting on top of the train. They must have had fun.
Andi finally showed up at my door. I could see the gladness register, but ignored it. "Lily! I missed you soooo much! How are you? How are the twins! How is—"
"Listen, sister," I said, "what is wrong with you? What did you do over at James's house to make him so happy? And why are YOU so happy? There's like an—oh, I don't know, an aura around you that goes 'I am so happy!'. Enlighten me here, Andi."
"Whoa. Um, I still have to register that spurt of energy." Normal Andi; telling me to relax without really saying it.
"Give it up. I know something happened." I wonder what it was... new friends, a new hobby, a new religion, a new—boyfriend? It was possible.
"Like what? Do you think James's house did something to me?"
"No, not really." Lie. "Why are you wearing so much yellow?" She was wearing a yellow tank top and jean shorts with a yellow jelly belt. Plus the yellow tinted sunglasses. Weird if you ask me.
"It's my favorite color. Nothing happened, Lily. James was James: annoying. Trust me."
"I trust you, Andi. You're my best friend!" We grinned at each other, and I sort of relaxed. Andi finally sat down and put her trunk next to mine. I don't have to know everything about her life, I figured. "Sorry I snapped. It's just—well—ithoughtsomethinghappenedlikewithyouandaguyknowwhatimean."
Andi looked way confused, but smiled, showing super white teeth I had never really noticed before. "Um, smile and nod, smile and nod. I'm lost, Lily dear."
"Nah, it's nothing."
"Come on, you can trust me. Hey, we're best buddies, right?"
"Right. Okay, I said I thought something happened between you and someone, maybe a boy." I know I was sort of turning red. Try strawberry-outsides red.
"Nothing happened, Lily. If anything did, you would be the first one to know. After me, of course." I could tell she was hiding a grin and biting her tongue.
"I believe you, Andi. So, tell me everything that happened. Every single juicy thing." I grinned, imagining my kind of juicy info.
"Fine. I'll tell you the funniest thing first. I was at the mall with some of these girls who live by the Potters, and James is behind us asking his friend who the hot blonde chick was. They were all brunettes and redheads. I was the blonde one!"
I laughed out loud. "James thought you—man, that's classic!"
"What is?" an unmistakable voice said. We turned and looked at James, which made us laugh harder. "What? What's so funny?"
"Remember—remember the hot—blonde chick?" I said between laughs. We looked up enough to see him turn dark red.
"You—Andi! Jeez, girls are just too much. Hey, I thought I put my stuff in here!"
"Your owl wanted some fresh air. So I put it on the roof, along with your trunk." I shrugged.
"YOU WHAT?! MY STUFF IS ON THE ROOF?"
I'm sure the whole train heard him.
**********
The train trip went successfully—after James retrieved his trunk and owl cage from the roof. Lily, Andrea, James, and Sirius were in the same compartment. The girls chatted the whole trip away, having been away from each other for three full months. The boys, since they had seen each other in James's backyard, played Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess for most of the train ride. They tried to ignore the girls, but eventually left the compartment to find some quieter people—or people who talked about something normal, like West Ham futball or the latest Quidditch standings. Whichever came first suited them. They ended up going into Chris's compartment and playing mini-Quidditch, where they were on two teams on opposite sides of the Quidditch board and each of them used their wand to control a player. [sort of like foosball] They reached Hogwarts without any bruises, broken bones, or major arguments.
**********
A/N yeah, yeah. the 8th chapter. i'm so happy. actually, i like the summer. the one i created and the one that's goin on. :-) as long as school doesn't show up until august 30th. wow, it will! i mean wont. u know what i mean. review!
by shana
chapter 8.
POV: Andrea, James, Lily
James's house is nice. It's right in the middle of a Wizard community, so every other house has pure-wizard blood flowing through. Ooo, bad vision...gutters...
Anyway, James's mother had fixed up their guest room with really bright, and pretty, yellow shades and bedspreads. Luckily, the guest room and James's room were on opposite sides of the second floor. The only thing was that we had to share the upstairs bathroom. Nothing embarrassing happened. The weirdest thing was that Mrs. Potter knew that my favorite color was yellow and had arranged for everything mine to be yellow. There was even a huge painting of a sunflower on the wall of my room—my favorite flower. Freaky.
The Potters' backyard was probably as big as Platform 9 and 3/4. It was huge! A professional Wizard gardener came once a week and put various charms on the lawn. I have to admit, it was pretty green and springy if you jumped on it. And Mrs. Potter even had a beautiful garden in a corner of the yard with daffodills, violets, petunias, and the prettiest roses. I'm pretty positive an awful lot of magic is definitely involved.
People were always coming over and doing everything from playing Quidditch to futball to just hanging out in the Potter backyard—some sixth years even practiced and put on a play there over the course of the summer. It was a cool play, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. Personally, I thought the plot was way better than Romeo and Juliet; I'm not into the whole obsessive romance scene. And they actually had rain and lighting and fire and a flying Ariel. It was so cool.
The absolute best part of the whole summer was when James's cousins, Daniel and Julia came over. They are soooo nice and kind and courteous and basically everything James isn't. Well, what Lily's taught me to believe James isn't. If I didn't spend so much time around that girl I'd be one of his worshippers—and I'm sure some of the boys who come to the backyard believe that. (I've thrown most of them off with a classic 'James-you-idiot!', made famous by Lily the Great.) But, since I've spent so much time around Lily, I know what kind of guy James really is—a basic loser who wants face from the girls. Yeah, that's pretty much sums it up. But, between you and me, I think I would think it great opportunity to be in James Potter's house for the whole summer if I did not know Lily at all. Of course, I didn't tell her that in any of the 87 phone calls she made to James's house, which she made only because she knew I was there. Too bad James never picked up.
Back to Dan and Jul. They stayed at the Potters' house for the whole month of July. It seems they visit every summer for a month. Both Dan and Jul go to Beaubaxtons, since they live in the heart of France—Pah-ree. (Hee hee, non-French people talk for Paris.) Dan just turned 15, and Jul is 13 like James. They call James 'Jam' because they're reffered to by the first three letters of their names too. They also love to annoy their cousin, just like someone I happen to know a little too well.
Most of my summer with Dan and Jul was spent tormenting James and learning how to play Quidditch. Jul thinks I'm the best girl to set foot on a broomstick, not counting herself. She is pretty funny, I guess. She even accused Dan and James of hitting on me, which made Dan grin and James turn ballistically red. Jul and Dan even took me to the local mall—which I hadn't been to but started going to with some girl neighbors after they left. Jul and I went clothes and guy shopping, but Dan got stuck in the CD store tailing a brunette. Although, I am unbelievably glad Lily didn't show up at James's house during July; just thinking of Dan, Jul, and Lily in the same room makes me shiver.
My summer without the sanity of Dan and Jul holding me together went by pretty slowly. Mrs. Potter was an avid reader and got me hooked on some new horror books—I never was much of a reader, and I don't actually read the things we have to read for classes; I just skim it in about a minute. Still, my new favorite book is this one called Final Destination, about this boy who sees future deaths. Scary, isn't it? And the author describes it all so good. Really.
The weirdest thing was that I never, ever saw Mr. Potter live or in person. He was never home. The only reason I know what he looks like is there are a lot of family pictures around. I wonder how James survives without seeing his dad. Of course, he actually has two parents to look forward to seeing at all.
But, the scariest thing and the thing that kept me wondering the most was: why the Potters?
**********
The summer was better than I thought it would be. Living with Andi was not that hard. Mum had put Andi on the other end of the floor, but we still had to share the bathroom. She woke up way earlier than me, so it didn't mess up my schedule. By the time I did wake up, Mum had taken her to the bookstore or something and they didn't come back until I was eating breakfast.
Most of the time, Andi was reading so I didn't really worry about her when I went out and played Quidditch or something with the other guys who live in the neighborhood. Usually, she came outside and laid on the grass wearing sunglasses, reading a book and drinking a glass of lemonade. Though, I have to admit, she did look kind of cute in tank tops and shorts. Hey, I'm a guy. What do you expect?
My cousins Dan and Jul came in July like they always do. They taught Andi how to play Quidditch and went to the mall with her. I think they were actually better hosts than I was, but I see Andi every day at Hogwarts so I didn't really care about what she did. Except after they left they guys who came to play Quidditch and futball [soccer] started asking about her. I think Jul did something to her—even I was attracted to her. Once, I got confused when going to the local mall with this guy named Chris to buy a new futball [A/N u know, soccerball] and asked him who the 'hot blonde chick in front of us' was.
Chris, of course, just eyed me like I was some sort of crazy person."Your guest, you idiot—that Andi girl who's staying in your very house. You do know her, don't deny it. Didn't you say you went to school with her, too?" he had asked.
"No," I replied, "I said that she went to school with *us*. Hogwarts. And she's also best friends with that Lily kid." Chris is just too stupid sometimes, even now.
"From what I hear about Lily at school and from you, I think I'd like her."
I'd stared at him. "Christopher, my man, get a brain. And a life to go with it. You can NOT LIKE LILY EVANS! At all. It's against the guy code of honor." And then Andi had turned around and gotten invited to play Quidditch with us magically. Which, incidentally, started the whole 'Damn, James, that girl in your house is hot!' thing that I had to explain to everyone that her best friend was my archenemy.
I'm still convinced Jul had done something. And that was probably what made me call Jul and ask if she had done anything to Andi. "No, James," she said, "I didn't do anything. I think she just needed someone to hang out with."
"Nah," I'd told her, "I think she just needed someone who doesn't know Lily Evans." And then I had hung up on her. I concluded that my hormones were raging since I am a teenager after all. Okay, unlikely. I think I was just attracted to Andi—no, seriously.
So, that was my whole summer in brief. Life went 'wake up, eat, go outside, eat, go back outside, take a shower, eat, sleep'. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Except for the fact that Dad didn't show up AT ALL the whole summer. I am still mad at him, and now it's August 31st.
**********
James and Andi came to King's Cross together with James's mother. Andi looked sort of different to me, but maybe it was because I hadn't seen her for three months. Either that or the fact that she had stayed at James Potter's house for the past three months. The latter must have killed her and she was reborn when September 1st appeared. I know, not realistic.
Actually, if you ask me, Andi looked a lot happier than usual, if that's possible. She had this like weird happiness with her and everyone around her noticed it too. I think James was just as confused as me when all these older guys approached them as soon as they walked on the platform. Most of them said hey to James and then started up conversation with Andi.
Believe me, I was surprised and a bit shocked. You'd think after staying *there* for a month she's be out of it, but this was a little over the top. Okay, I'll stop thinking that the Potter house damaged her head. But still, I was usually the popular headstrong one and Andi was always right behind me. Sort of a switch happened, I guess. Then again, I was in the train saving a compartment so I couldn't really do much or say much. Unfortunately a slightly grinning James happened to stroll by my compartment before Andi did, so he put all his stuff in it. I did wonder why he was grinning while I tried to yell at him, but he was already gone. Doing a simple spell, James's things found themselves sitting on top of the train. They must have had fun.
Andi finally showed up at my door. I could see the gladness register, but ignored it. "Lily! I missed you soooo much! How are you? How are the twins! How is—"
"Listen, sister," I said, "what is wrong with you? What did you do over at James's house to make him so happy? And why are YOU so happy? There's like an—oh, I don't know, an aura around you that goes 'I am so happy!'. Enlighten me here, Andi."
"Whoa. Um, I still have to register that spurt of energy." Normal Andi; telling me to relax without really saying it.
"Give it up. I know something happened." I wonder what it was... new friends, a new hobby, a new religion, a new—boyfriend? It was possible.
"Like what? Do you think James's house did something to me?"
"No, not really." Lie. "Why are you wearing so much yellow?" She was wearing a yellow tank top and jean shorts with a yellow jelly belt. Plus the yellow tinted sunglasses. Weird if you ask me.
"It's my favorite color. Nothing happened, Lily. James was James: annoying. Trust me."
"I trust you, Andi. You're my best friend!" We grinned at each other, and I sort of relaxed. Andi finally sat down and put her trunk next to mine. I don't have to know everything about her life, I figured. "Sorry I snapped. It's just—well—ithoughtsomethinghappenedlikewithyouandaguyknowwhatimean."
Andi looked way confused, but smiled, showing super white teeth I had never really noticed before. "Um, smile and nod, smile and nod. I'm lost, Lily dear."
"Nah, it's nothing."
"Come on, you can trust me. Hey, we're best buddies, right?"
"Right. Okay, I said I thought something happened between you and someone, maybe a boy." I know I was sort of turning red. Try strawberry-outsides red.
"Nothing happened, Lily. If anything did, you would be the first one to know. After me, of course." I could tell she was hiding a grin and biting her tongue.
"I believe you, Andi. So, tell me everything that happened. Every single juicy thing." I grinned, imagining my kind of juicy info.
"Fine. I'll tell you the funniest thing first. I was at the mall with some of these girls who live by the Potters, and James is behind us asking his friend who the hot blonde chick was. They were all brunettes and redheads. I was the blonde one!"
I laughed out loud. "James thought you—man, that's classic!"
"What is?" an unmistakable voice said. We turned and looked at James, which made us laugh harder. "What? What's so funny?"
"Remember—remember the hot—blonde chick?" I said between laughs. We looked up enough to see him turn dark red.
"You—Andi! Jeez, girls are just too much. Hey, I thought I put my stuff in here!"
"Your owl wanted some fresh air. So I put it on the roof, along with your trunk." I shrugged.
"YOU WHAT?! MY STUFF IS ON THE ROOF?"
I'm sure the whole train heard him.
**********
The train trip went successfully—after James retrieved his trunk and owl cage from the roof. Lily, Andrea, James, and Sirius were in the same compartment. The girls chatted the whole trip away, having been away from each other for three full months. The boys, since they had seen each other in James's backyard, played Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess for most of the train ride. They tried to ignore the girls, but eventually left the compartment to find some quieter people—or people who talked about something normal, like West Ham futball or the latest Quidditch standings. Whichever came first suited them. They ended up going into Chris's compartment and playing mini-Quidditch, where they were on two teams on opposite sides of the Quidditch board and each of them used their wand to control a player. [sort of like foosball] They reached Hogwarts without any bruises, broken bones, or major arguments.
**********
A/N yeah, yeah. the 8th chapter. i'm so happy. actually, i like the summer. the one i created and the one that's goin on. :-) as long as school doesn't show up until august 30th. wow, it will! i mean wont. u know what i mean. review!