Let's celebrate the German Reunification! Two days no school! And the best thing is: While the poor Swiss students are sitting in their boring lessons, we can infest Basle - I live about 5 minutes from the frontier (did you know that a quarter of the whole world's money can be found in this city?). Anyway, that won't interest you. *g* So let's go on with the story!
Nail a pudding on the wall!
Part 9
With pride on their faces, James, Sirius and Remus watched Lily, who was looking much better than she did the whole week. They could tell that she wasn't back to her normal cheerful self yet, but she was smiling and obviously enjoying the dancing teachers and the exitement of her fellow students.
"Congratulations, Prongs!" Remus grinned at his friend. "That was one of the best ideas you've had so far."
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, your love seems to like it, really. I think she's back. Not completely, but it won't take long anymore."
For nearly half a minute, James didn't react, he was too busy watching Lily, who was in conversation with the Ravenclaw Quidditch seeker. Then, when Sirius' words finally worked their way through to mind, he winced and glared at him. "She's not my love, Sirius."
"Then why do you go around telling every girl that you're in love with someone?"
"Oh, it's just... it's only a good way to get rid of them."
Sirius made a doubtful face, but James was grateful that he didn't ask any further in front of Jessie, who had approached Remus and somehow succeeded in convincing him to dance with her. But the moment they were out of hearing, Sirius grinned at James, a wicked spark in his eyes.
"Jamsie, why don't you take a leaf out of Jessie's book and ask Lily to dance?"
"I don't dance, Padfoot!"
"Oh, really? That's odd... I was sure that I've seen someone dancing on the Ball, and this person didn't look as if he wasn't enjoying it..."
"That's not the same." James explained hurriedly. "On the Ball, everyone dances with his date, but here, only the couples are dancing. It's different!"
"So? Is it?" Sirius couldn't suppress a smile at the sight of his unusually shy and unsure friend, but gave it up quickly after a glance at the dance floor. "Er, James, let's go to the common room, we could get some Dungbombs in Snape's dorm while everyone's busy."
Suspicion on his face, James eyed his friend who was suddenly so keen on leaving the Great Hall, avoiding James' eyes as well as the dancing and laughing couples. "What's the matter, Padfoot?"
"Nothing! Nothing, really. Can we go?" Sirius was practically dragging him to the next exit, trying to prevent him from looking back at the floor, but that made James only more determined to find out why his friend was behaving like this. He pressed against Sirius' grasp and turned around to have a better view. Everything was looking completely normal. Okay, maybe 'normal' wasn't the right word to describe the scene, but it was looking the way James expected:
The teachers, on the opposite of the room, hadn't gained back their self-control yet. No surprise there, the potion the boys had mixed in their drinks would last for three more hours, and so a few were jumping up and down, throwing their hands in the air, others were probably trying to dance a Ziataki (A/N: It's a sort of dance, but I don't know how to spell it), but as they couldn't reach an agreement about when to put their feet back on the ground, it wasn't really looking graceful. Meanwhile, McGonagall had stopped singing, she was now holding the hand of Professor Wendylan, who taught Defense Against The Dark Arts, and the two youngest teachers of the staff were spinning around, both with slightly green faces, but unable to stop themselves. Near them, Professor Jenkins was clapping her hands to the rhythm of a song only she could hear, occasionally stamping one foot to emphasize the beat of her hands. The only one who remained sitting was Professor Dumbledore. Either the potion didn't affect him or he hadn't drunk anything, anyway, he was watching the happenings with an amused expression, winking at some students who were cheering on the teachers. On the table that had been the Hufflepuff house table the quarter of an hour ago, the school band had arranged their instruments, from bagpipes to transverse flutes, almost everything was found. Considering the fact that the band was new-founded this year, they were rather good, playing their own versions of Wizard Networks greatest hits. On the quickly emptied floor of the Great Hall, about half the students were standing, dancing, talking or trying to figure out from which point a photo would have the best effect. James couldn't see Sarah, maybe she was fetching her camera, but Remus had his arms around Jessie, both were laughing, looking in direction of their Divination teacher, who was about to climb on the teacher's table while singing loud (and rather false) along with the song the band was playing at the moment. James grinned broadly, then discovered Peter. The little boy was talking to a girl who James remembered to be in Hufflepuff. She threw back her blonde hair and seemed to be thinking of a good excuse to get away from him (A/N: We can't blame her, can we?), but for the moment, she was stuck with him, to polite to just turn away and look for a more pleasant company. And then, James jaw dropped: Lily was dancing with this seeker of Ravenclaw, he had his arms around her waist and she seemed to have a good time. James instinctively clenched his fists, shooting angry glances at the Ravenclaw, but he didn't struggle against Sirius' attempt to drag him out of the Hall.
As soon as they reached their common room, James collapsed into a chair, still looking furious. "How can she dance with him? He's three years older than she. Besides, he's a complete idiot who has as much brain as a pea who was just squashed by a fork!"
Sirius sat down on the floor and looked up at his friend. "Keep cool, Prongs. There's no reason to be so upset. She was just dancing with him. That means nothing, really."
"She shouldn't fall for a brainless looker, he's not worth it."
"Of course, Jamie. Stop worrying." Sirius looked at him reassuringly and was relieved that his friend actually seemed to calm down a bit. His strained face relaxed and he leaned back, still wearing a gloomy expression.
"It's just... I don't want her to get hurt, Sirius..." He wasn't sure if his friend had understood the words he had whispered, but was thankful that Sirius made none of his usual remarks.
***
"Finally!" Jessie stared at Lily, who had just entered the girl's dorm, with concern in her eyes. "Where have you been? We haven't seen you for hours! We thought Snape had kidnapped you!"
"Oh... I was just... outside, at the lake. No reason to worry about me, really."
"Alone?" Sarah glanced at her friend's tousled hair and her flushed cheeks.
"Er... No?"
Both Jessie and Sarah grinned broadly. "So James was with you?"
Lily's face was blank. "James? Why James?"
Her friends exchanged a glance. "You were not with James? But... Who was with you?"
"Oh... Steven. Steven Dunnill."
"But... You said that he was just some show-off!"
"Well, yeah, but I was wrong. And now I'm going to bed, it's late, really. Night."
***
Dear Diary
I can barely concentrate myself, I am staring holes in the air, I
am sitting in my lessons and yet the only think that keeps ringing
in my head is just one question: Why? Why mum and dad, why my
parents? I want to cry, to scream, to flood the Slytherin common
room, but most of all I want Voldemort to feel my hate... And yet
I know that it's impossible. That I need to move on. They would have
wanted it that way and I'll do everything to fulfill their wishes, no
matter how hard it might be. Thank God my friends are there for me
whenever I need them, and maybe, Steven will help me as well. Even
if it's only to get my mind to other things.
Sorry so pathetic.
Lily
***
[Four days later. James' diary]
Losing you?
Losing you
to your luck
or your misfortune
And not knowing
which one it is
Losing you
to you
or to what is not you
And how deciding
what you is or not you
Not wanting to lose you
for your or our sake
or only my sake
And the less answer
the more often I ask
Not having to lose you
Maybe if we're stronger
than this misfortune
that gains power
from your and my love
***
Looking back, Lily could barely remember the next few weeks. It was as if she was living in a dream and tried to recall it after she woke up. There were some tests and somehow she managed to get rather good grades. There was Jessie, who was talking or being silent with her, Sarah, who tried to cheer her up, James, who was there whenever she needed someone, Sirius, who set prank after prank to make her laugh, Remus, who often seemed to be reading her mind, Nero, who was purring in her bed at night, and even Peter tried to comfort her. And there was Steven. Lily knew that she didn't love him, but he took her mind off her worries. Lily was acting like a sleepwalker, automatically saying or doing what she was expected to do. She had always been quite a good actress, and that's why nobody noticed that she was wearing a mask. Inside, she was empty, sometimes even wondering if the reproaches of her sister weren't justified, although she knew in her heart that it wasn't her fault.
And so the time passed, and soon it was time for the Christmas holidays. None of the seven friends was staying in the castle, they all went home for the two weeks - or to the place they were supposed to call home from now on. Lily wasn't sure how her grandmother would welcome her. What if Petunia had convinced her that their parents' death was Lily's fault? What if the old lady was just as afraid of magic as Petunia? Lily had had good relations to her, but things can change, and so she was anxiously awaiting to see her grandmother's face when she left the train. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the old woman waving and smiling at her.
"Lily! Come here, love. Are you alright?" She hugged her tightly and examined her afterwards. "You look as if you haven't slept enough, and you've lost weight. But we'll get along with it."
"I'm okay, Granny. But what about you?"
"Oh, never mind, dear. I might be old, but that doesn't mean I'm going to die the next moment. Now, say goodbye to your friends and then let's go, all right?"
***
Lily sat down, just plopped on the ground. She didn't notice the snow that melted and penetrated her clothes. She didn't freeze. She just stared at the tombstone of her parents. For a long time, she wasn't moving, only tears were running down her cheeks, dropping on her jacket or in the dazzlingly white snow, leaving behind tiny circles.
Remember, Daddy? We were visiting the tomb of your mother, three years ago. I can still remember the burning sun and the cloudless sky. Some bees were buzzing and you told me to sit down in the grass and to listen, and if I was listening good enough, then I could hear Granny's voice in my mind as if she was standing beside me, you said. I couldn't. But maybe I can hear you. You or Mum if I'll concentrate hard, and perhaps you'll tell me what to do...
Lily sat there, her eyes burning with tears she didn't notice, and slowly, very slowly, her head emptied, thought after thought disappeared until there was nothing but the sounds around her. A blackbird was chirping quietly, the snow was crunching and the trees were swaying slightly in the icy wind, whispering words she couldn't understand. Lily blocked out everything else, only listening to their whispers, until she had the feeling that she heard her mother's voice, repeating a sentence she told her once, a few years ago: Go to where your heart carries you.
Then there was only silence. The blackbird had flown away, the wind had blown over and when Nero started to wash her hand with his tiny little tongue, Lily became aware of how cold and wet she was. Blinking her last tears away, she got up, gently laid down the flowers she had brought along with her and smiled at her parent's tomb. Not a forced smile, not one of those she had smiled for what seemed to be ages. It was a real smile. Her heart felt much lighter now, it was as if a heavy burden had been taken from her. She knew that this wasn't a goodbye. Her parents were still living in her memory.
Death is not final. There are always memories.
Lily left the cemetery, not looking back since her parent's weren't behind her. They would be in her heart no matter where she would be going to.
***
When Lily arrived at her grandmother's house, Petunia wasn't there yet. Not that it was really a surprise, but secretly, Lily had hoped to see her sister before going to bed. She knew that Petunia wouldn't come to meet her at the station, but that she was gone out with some guy was more than she had expected. Obviously, her sister tried to avoid Lily, and even if it was the first day of her holidays, Lily was sure that they would be awful.
She was right. The next morning, when Lily went down to the kitchen for breakfast, her sister sat at the table. The only sign that Petunia noticed Lily's presence was an angry glance in her direction, then she went on with the description of this really wonderful and handsome guy with whom she had spent the last evening.
"He's great, Granny. Wants to found a drill factory."
"A drill factory?" Mrs. Raiden - Raiden was the maiden name of Lily's mother - made a doubtful face. "Sure that this is what you want?"
"Oh, yeah. He's so smart! And that moustache of him!"
"You've always said that you'd never go out with a guy who wasn't - quote: 'even able to shave properly.' Unquote." Lily gaped at her sister in confusion.
"Well, sister. Not everyone has as much admirers to choose from."
And these were the last words Lily heard from Petunia for the whole next two days. Lily knew that she should ignore her, but it became quite difficult and a few times Lily had to stop herself in counting from ten to one as slow as possible. Otherwise, she would have violated this new law for the Restriction Of Underage Wizards or something like that. Really annoying, this law. No magic over the holidays! Luckily, she still had left some stuff of Zonko to get revenge on her sister and so Petunia woke up with blue hair twice, once she wasn't able to see colors any longer and when she got home from another rendezvous with this Dursley-guy on Christmas eve, she found her room covered with fast-growing climbers.
Lily was keen on seeing her sister's lover, but Petunia was careful to avoid a meeting. But on Christmas Day, it couldn't be helped any longer: Mrs. Raiden told her to invite him, and although she tried to find several problems - which Lily solved as quick as possible -, Petunia finally ran out of new excuses and had to invite him for lunch. Lily grinned happily, curious to find out how a man who wanted to found a drill factory would look like, then she opened her parcels and went up to her room afterwards to while away the time until Mr. Perfect Vernon Dursley was supposed to appear. She would have helped her grandmother to prepare the lunch, but the old woman told her to do her homework. When the bell rang a few minutes before the time they had fixed, Lily quietly opened the door to her room and sneaked down the stair to watch her sister welcome her boyfriend.
"Who are you?" This did definitely not sound like a friendly greeting, judging by Petunia's words and the sound of her voice.
"Er... We're some friends of Lily's, from school... Is she there?" Lily bounced down the stair and rushed towards the door the moment she heard James' voice.
"Hey! James! Sirius! Remus! Merry Christmas to you!"
Sirius winked at her and grinned while he and the other two boys were hugging her. "Hi Lil. How have your holidays been?" Then, with an evil look at Petunia: "So, I guess this is your sister? Petunia?"
Lily nodded, just when her grandmother came around the corner and looked at the unexpected guests. "Oh, you're at Lily's school? Nice to have you here, boys."
Petunia didn't look as if she was thinking the same, but as the boys were taller than she and only a year younger, she decided to keep her mouth shut. Besides, it was quite a difference to face four wizards instead of one.
Remus made half a bow and introduced Sirius, James and himself to Mrs. Raiden.
"Why don't you stay for lunch, you three? I think we've got enough for everyone."
The boys nodded, smiling at the old woman with evident sympathy. Nobody noticed the look of horror in Petunia's face or the man that was approaching the door until he knocked. Everyone stared at him for a second, then Petunia rushed towards him, kissed him on the cheek and whispered something in his ear. He grunted, then looked at Mrs. Raiden, forcing a smile on his face.
"I'm Vernon Dursley. Thank you very much for your invitation."
He was stocky, seemed to have no neck, and when he spoke, Lily had a hard fight not to burst out with laughter at his shivering moustache. The boys seemed to think the same, the four exchanged amused glances and quickly turned away, Lily led them in the living room after she had greeted her sister's lover rather shortly.
"We've always known that your sister's weird, Lil, but that weird?" Now that they were out of sight, Remus didn't even bother the tears of laughter running down his face.
Although she could hardly stifle her own laughter, Lily looked at them, concern in her eyes. "Hey, don't annoy him, please. Pet would kill me for sure. Besides, he doesn't know about magic, so be careful, okay?"
They nodded their agreement and sat down at the table when the other three persons came in, taking chairs and looking at the meal in amazement.
"Mrs. Raiden, that looks just as good as the food at Hogwarts, and you're..." Sirius trailed off, noticing now that he shouldn't have mention the name of their school as Petunia was staring at him with an expression that could only be murderous. The only one who didn't seem to have noticed anything was Vernon Dursley, who helped himself to food.
Mrs. Raiden was a bit irritated about his behaviour, but covered it up and smiled at her guests and her two granddaughters. "Right. Help yourself and tuck in."
"So..." Lily was looking at her sister's boyfriends with the same interest she had in Hagrid's pets: A mixture of curiosity, disgust and fascination. "Petty" - her sister flashed her an angry look, she hated this nickname, and that's why Lily used it as often as she could - "said you were about to found a drill factory or something like that?"
He looked up at her, eyeing her with unspoken mistrust in his tiny little eyes and grunted to show his agreement. The moment he had emptied his mouth, Lily wished she hadn't asked: For the next thirty minutes, the only one talking was Vernon Dursley. About power drills in every color, from every country, why the ones from China weren't as good as those from Japan, but that it didn't matter if they were good or bad because the only real drills were made in Great Britain, where you could get the stuff you needed for producing them and how mean it was from the Government to make it so difficult to found a new factory and so on. After the first five sentences, Lily and her friends exchanged glances, clearly thinking the same: Wow! Professor Binns grandson!
Soon, they busied themselves in watching the moustache shivering, an unnoticed noodle rocking up and down to the beat of his words, finally loosing its balance and ending up in his cup. But you can't watch a noodle forever, and so they decided eventually to stop him talking. With glances, winks and half-hidden signs, they came to an agreement.
Lily turned suddenly pale, swallowed and began to cough loudly. While everyone was looking at her and James and Remus were slapping her on the back, both faking concerned looks, Sirius managed to get some of the hiccups potion he always had in his pocket in the glass of the man sitting next to him. As soon as they saw his grin, Lily stopped coughing, only gulping one more time. When Vernon Dursley lifted his glass to his lips - talking makes thirsty! -, they watched him all out of the corner of their eyes, the corner of their mouths twitching when he emptied the glass with one gulp.
They didn't have to wait long for the potion to work. Two minutes later, Petunia's boyfriend was in a long monologue about how he would change everything if he was sitting in the Government, he stopped for a moment - and wasn't able to speak anymore since he had the worst hiccups he'd had in his whole life so far.
Half an hour later, Lily, Sirius, James and Remus finally managed to get up and set off for Lily's room where the boys collapsed on chairs or on her bed.
"D'you think he's embarrassed enough to break up with her?" Sirius grinned his famous wolfish grin.
"Nah." Lily shook her head. "I don't think so. But if he does, Petunia will kill me."
"She'll be thankful afterwards." Remus gazed at James, who was laying on Lily's bed, head on her pillow, eyes closed. "James?"
"Er... He's not asleep, is he?"
Sirius shook his friend gently, but James only stirred, turning his face away from him. "Guess our little walk last night prevented him from sleeping.... I hope you've got another cover, Lil? Otherwise you might share with Jamsie..." Only his eyes reflected the enormous amusement he felt.
"Why? Do you want to go so soon?"
Remus nodded. "Yeah. It gets dark early, you know..."
She smiled at him. "The moon was full yesterday, wasn't it?"
"..."
"It's okay, Remus, I know about it, it's not a problem."
"Sure?"
"Absolutely."
Remus sat there for a moment, looking out of the window, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Somehow it's good that you know... Maybe I should tell Sarah as well? - Anyway, how have you found out?"
"Coincidence. I was on the balcony one night and saw you together with - er, Prongs and Padfoot. I guess Peter was there as well, but I couldn't see him."
"So you also know..."
"Yes. And now let's decide how we can wake him" - she pointed at James - "up."
Sirius shook his head emphatically, grinning broad enough to eat a banana crosswise. "No, we won't. Come on, Moony, let's get our brooms. We'll come to fetch Jamsie tomorrow, we're taking his broom with us. Not that someone's able to steal it. Bye, Lily!"
He ran out of the room, dragging Remus along with him who was smiling and giving her an apologetic look at the same time.
Lily tried to seize Sirius' arm, but it was too late. He and Remus were out of the room and down the stair before she even knew what they were doing, and when she ran after them, they opened the front door, waved at her and mounted their brooms, Sirius carefully holding James' broom.
She stared after them until they were nothing more than tiny black dots in the sky, then she walked slowly back in the house. "Great. And how am I supposed to break this gently to Granny?"
*****
Yup, done with another part! Sorry if it was boring sometimes, but I decided that I couldn't make Lily get over her parent's death so quickly... Oh, and I'm also sorry that this was almost a sort of cliffhanger I wrote. I don't like them, but I had to end it, I haven't done any of my homework till now, and actually, I wanted to go out this evening. So please, don't flame me for that, I'll try to upload the next part as soon as possible. Friday? Saturday?
Disclaimer: Not again! Yeah, nothing's mine. Thanks for making me say it over and over again, it makes me feel better, really!
Elfie: Thanks! ;-)
RavenNat: Yeah, I liked this sentence, too... *g*