Authors note: this, as you probably guessed, is
the next part of the Five Friends Series, which, yes, will be a series. All
feedback is always welcome.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters that you might recognise. I do own the plots
and some of the professors, all the Marauders families, (bar Petty), and most
of their school friends. Thank you for reading this far.
Dedication: I want to offer my deepest sympathy for all those affected by last
Tuesday's terrible events in America, and say that everybody in Britain feels
the same.
Chapter 1: Happy Summers
James was annoyed. Come to think of it, he had been
annoyed for the entire summer. He had only been at home and hour when he had
been told that the entire family wee jetting off to Poland for the whole
summer. POLAND! He thought angrily, why not somewhere warm? Or at least a
popular tourist destination where there might be some other kids to play with.
Poland was just cold and wet, there wasn't even any snow, and it seemed to be
empty of people under thirty. Consequently he had been forced to spend the
entire summer with David and Luke, and the three of them had been at each
other's throats constantly from the very start. The only person who had shown
the ability (or the will, for that matter) to separate them was his
grandmother, and she hardly spent a lot of time with them. And what was this
all for? James thought bitterly. For his father to improve wizarding ties
between Poland and England, and his mother to see about the possibility of
opening a shop there. All his parents fault, his parents who had seen each
other twice since they arrived. So much for his plans of having Lily and Sirius
to stay for the summer.
An owl flew through his window. It was chancery,
Lily's owl. He smiled; his friend's letters were the only things that had
brought him joy that holiday. But wait, what was the owl carrying? It looked
like a cat basket.
Chancery dropped his load on James' bed. James looked
into the basket, then grinned. It was Remus' cat, Toots, and around her neck
was a note saying "I knew you were miserable, so I came to cheer you up!" James laughed out loud for the first time
since Luke had pushed David into a dustbin on the very first day of the
holidays. He reached for the letter tied to Chancery's leg and settled down for
a good long read.
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Back in England, Remus wasn't having a very good time
either. With James away he had to spend his time with Peter, who was very
boring to be around. Peter didn't exactly jump with exciting ideas, and he
couldn't invite Lily and Sirius to stay, because his mother had said it wasn't
fair on poor James, isolated in Poland. Bah! Remus had thought angrily. What
about poor isolated Remus? But then, his mother always sis have a soft spot for
James, she (quite rightfully) felt sorry for him.
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In the middle of Muggle London, Sirius felt just as
bad as his friends. He was being dragged around clothes shops by Esmerelda, who
was supposed to be babysitting him. His baby brother was with his parents in
Ireland and his older brother was staying with friends, so at least twice a
week for the entire holidays he got dragged into what seemed like every clothes
shop in London. Ever since Esme had dumped David Potter just after school had
broken up, she had been desperate to attract the attention of a new boyfriend.
So far they had been to Regents St., Oxford St., Sutton, Kensington High St,
Putney and many more.
"Esme, are you ever going to stop shopping?" Sirius
whined. Esme ignored him, so he tried again. When she didn't respond, he pushed
her over.
"Sirius!" she shrieked.
"Stop it or I'll tell Mum and Dad!" Enforced companionship had worsened their
already bad relationship to revulsion. Sirius was convinced he was having the
worst summer possible.
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