Author's Notes- Ok, first off, I'm sorry about last chapter being so short! So, thanxs to everyone who reviews for me, I luv ya all! This just might be for only those who reviewed, or open to the public, I'm not quite sure yet. I hope you'll like this, it's the part where Lily moves into her new apartment with her friends, goes to the important meeting, blah blah blah. So, please be a good reader and R&R! Thanxs!
Disclamer- How many times must I say this? I own nothing! It all belongs to the great Harry Potter people, unless you don't reckonize it from the books, then, chances are, it's mine. I'm not getting paid (just look in my purse, proof enough!). Blah blah blah!
P.S.- Sorry to anyone who's name is "Antoinette" or "Elizabeth", those are not bad names. It's not my fault Netta hates them. Gets jabbed in the stomach (Through clenched teeth) Ok, maybe it is…
Lily's Lake
Chapter 21
I sat in my room, looking around. It was mostly bare. Most of my things were packed, and pilled on one side of my room. Vi was still stuffing a bunch of my stuff in a box.
"Vi, Vi, can you keep that out?" I asked, pointing to the picture she was about to put in.
"Yeah, sure," Vi said, and left it out.
I walked over and put it atop the album that was resting on my bed along with the stuff I was packing in my backpack.
In two hours my friends were coming over so we could leave for London to sign the closing papers.
"What about this? Keep it out, pack it?" Vi asked.
"Pack it," I answered.
Vi put it in the box, and finished with the pile. She closed the box and walked over to the bed, and sat next to me.
"You promise you'll come back to pick me up?" Vi asked.
"I promise. What, do you think I wouldn't let you see my new apartment? Your crazy, sis," I said.
"It's going to be strange, not having you around. Not the same kind of strange as when Petunia left, that was a good strange, but you're the best sister I could have asked for, and your leaving," Vi told me.
"You can visit whenever you want. That's why we got a pullout couch, so whenever you want to, you can come over and spend a night. You can travel by floo powder," I answered.
"I know, I know," Vi whispered.
Aunt Lucy appeared in the doorway.
"Lily, Violet, time for lunch. Mellie and Dan are waiting," Aunt Lucy said.
Aunt Lucy was real sad. Not only was I leaving, but Mellie was moving in with her fiance a week after me. Aunt Lucy was losing her live-in-neice and her daughter in one month.
Mellie was in a very-talkative mood that day, blabbing on and on about tons of stuff.
I heard a car horn honk.
"Lily, your ride's here," Aunt Lucy said, looking out the window.
"I'll be back soon," I said, grabbed my backpack, and ran out the front door.
Anya, Andrea, and Netta were waiting in the car, each with a backpack. I checked my backpack to make sure I had the checkbook. I had recently opened a Muggle Money account at a bank in London, separate from the one in Gringrotts. This one held only Muggle money. That way I could pay in muggle shops.
"Ready, Lil?" Anya asked.
"Yeah. I promised I'd be back a soon as I could, to pick up Vi and some of my stuff. She'll be camping in the apartment with us tonight," I explained.
"Great! The more the merrier! We're going to order pizza, then, when we're settled in we can go shopping and get some food!" Andrea said.
"Oh, how nice," I said.
We drove off towards London, a half an hour ride.
Ms. Wartholler was waiting for us outside the apartment. After we signed our papers she would travel the block to where the boys were waiting to sign their papers.
"Hurry, girls, I have a schedule to keep!" she cried.
She opened the door and we entered to find 2 men standing inside, with papers spread all over a kitchen counter.
"Here are the papers you must sign," Ms. Wartholler said.
A half and hour later, we were alone in OUR apartment. Ms. Wartholler had gone to the boys.
Anya and I went into our room, and dropped our backpacks on the floor, while Andrea and Netta went into their room, to do the same. Then we got back in the car for the rides back to our old homes.
They dropped me back off at Aunt Lucy's, so I could take my own car. Everyone helped me load my stuff in the trunk and the back seat, and agreed I would have to make a whole lot more trips.
"Ready, Vi?" I asked.
"Yeah. Bye, guys, see you tomorrow," Vi cried, waving to Aunt Lucy and Mellie.
"Goodbye, girls!" Aunt Lucy answered.
We were the only ones there when we got back. Everyone else was still off somewhere. We carried my stuff into my room, and then went to plug in the phone so we could order a pizza.
As we were plugging it in James walked in.
"Hey, Lil! Hey, Vi!" James said.
"James! What are you doing here?" Vi asked.
"Aren't I allowed to visit. It's kinda lonely at our place. Remus fell asleep, and Sirius and Peter are out. I tried waking Remus, but he didn't like it very much," James said, displaying the swat mark on his head.
"Aw, poor Jamesie," I said.
"Where's ANA?" James asked.
"Getting their stuff. Vi and I got here before the rest of them," I said.
"She's trying to plug in the phone. Notice the 'trying' bit," Vi told him, smiling at me.
"It's hard, reaching behind this thing. You'd think they'd put the phone jack somehwhere other than in between the refridgerator and the stove," I cried, then added, "No help to Vi."
"I offered to help, but you just told me to watch to see if the phone was working!" Vi protested.
The door opened and Anya, Andrea, and Netta walked in, each with their own stuff, argueing.
"Hi," I said.
"Ok, Netta wants to paint the living room purple, Andrea wants it pink, and I want it blue! What are we going to do?" Anya asked, throwing her hands in the air in mock anxiety.
"How about perriwinkle. That's a nice color," I answered.
"Perriwinkle? Hum... could work…" Andrea said.
They went to stow their own stuff, and we ordered a pizza. James left with the promise of bringing the other guys over for pizza. Andrea fussed over Vi, saying that she really should wear her hair down more, like mine, and that she should try green eyeshadow.
The boys arrived and joined in the pizza party, and around ten they left, and we got into our sleeping bags on the living room floor and talked late into the night. And so we spent our first night in our new house.
I looked at the paint chips, trying to decide between blue and purple for my half of the room. Anya, Andrea, and Netta were off somewhere in the shop. We were all moved in, and deciding on paint and stuff.
In my pocket was the check Aunt Lucy had given to me right before I left her house for good. She told me to buy some stuff for the apartment with it.
"Hey, Lil', I found some really cool light fixtures," Netta said, walking up.
"What do you think, blue or purple?" I asked.
"Purple, Anya's doing blue, so purple would look really nice," Netta answered, pointing out a paint chip.
"Speaking of Anya, where is she? Where's Andrea?" I asked.
"Anya's looking at carpets, and Andrea's over looking at curtains," Netta said, shrugging, then added, "We don't need new carpets, the ones in there are perfectly good."
"We have to get going," I said, looking down at my watch.
"I'll go find them. You order the paint and we'll meet you up front to pay," Netta said.
Around eleven o'clock we sat in the living room on the new couch, watching the new TV. Everyone was twitchy. Tonight was our first night in the resistance.
No one paid attention to the TV.
"I'll go make us some popcorn," I offered.
Everyone agreed. I went into the kitchen and began to pop some. I glanced out the window. London looked dark and eerie. It sent a chill through me. Tomorrow we would start up our new jobs. Andrea was getting a job in a dress shop in Diagon Alley. Netta was a photographer for another shop in Diagon Alley. I was a secretary for the Ministry (located in London, not far from Diagon Alley). And Anya was getting a job working in a joke shop (with who else but Sirius). Then, the four of us had also got jobs as waitresses in a coffee shop.
"Is that popcorn almost done?" Anya asked.
"Yeah," I said, and took the bowl out.
"What do you think it will be like?" Andrea asked.
"No different then it is right now, I should guess. We are still, afterall, wanted. But this way, maybe we'll be safer," Netta answered.
As the bells rang eleven thirty there was a knock at the door.
"They sure are punctual," I whispered.
Anya got the door. A person dressed in all black walked in, and hurridly shut the door. They glanced around and took their hood off. It was a woman in her forties.
"Are you ready?" she asked.
We all nodded, grabbed our cloaks and walked over.
"Wait, your names?" she asked.
"Lily Ann Evans."
"Anya Maria Jones."
"Andrea Carmen McKinnon."
"Netta Prewett."
"You're full name," the woman reminded Netta.
"But I hate my full name! I never use it! Never, not since I was born!" Netta protested, but finally responded, "Antoinette Elizabeth Prewett. Happy?"
Anya snorted in effort to hold back a giggle, "Antoinette?"
"Shut up if you like your nose the way it is," Netta told her.
The woman shot them daggers. We put our cloaks on and put the hoods up, and followed her outside. She pulled out a small stone.
"Ok, everyone touch it," she said.
We all did so, Anya using her other hand to cover her mouth for fear of laughing. Netta poked her in the ribs, and the next thing we knew we were being pulled away.
We landed on top of each other in the woods on the hard ground.
"Ouch!"
"Dang, Antoinette! Get off my leg… Ouch! Ok, nevermind Ant…Netta!" Anya cried.
"Sh!" the woman cried.
We all got up and followed her through the woods. She led us down a twisting path, onto another twisting path, onto another. We stopped.
"Here we are," the woman said.
"Are we like, early or something?" Andrea asked.
She walked over to a piece of ground, and swished the dirt and grass around, until she found what she was looking for, a latch. She pulled on it and a trap door opened.
"Or maybe I was wrong," Andrea whispered.
There were stairs leading down. We went down the stairs and appeared in a room. It was rather small, with some chairs and a stage. The boys were already there, well, James, Sirius, and Remus were.
"Hah, we got here a whole TWO minutes ago!" Sirius cried when he saw us.
The woman left us, and we walked over to them.
"We would have gotten here sooner if Anya hadn't thrown a fit," Netta said.
"It's not MY fault Ant…Ouch! Never mind…" Anya argued, rubbing the shoulder where Netta had just hit her.
"What did we miss?" James asked.
"Nothing," Netta snapped before Anya could say anything.
* * *
Same Time
As told by Albus Dumbledore
I stood in the back room with Adrine Speck, the head of this chapter of the resistance. We looked out the door, at the young people.
"Albus, are you sure they're ready?" she asked.
"Everyone in this room would give their lives, I trust them with my life," I answered.
She gazed at them again.
"I'm sure you do, Albus," Adrine whispered. "But the fact is they are acting like children."
"They can handle it. I have confidince in every one of them," I answered.
* * *
Same time
As told by Lily Evans
"Ok, what's with the 'Ant'?" Sirius asked.
"Nothing, nothing, nothing," Netta answered.
"Netta's real name is Antoinette," Anya told him, and was then kicked in the shins by Netta. "OW! OW! OW!"
"Antoinette?" Sirius asked, laughing.
"My mom is really into the whole 'a good name', but NO ONE, not even ANYA, has called me by it since I was a baby, huh, Anya Maria Jones?" Netta asked.
"Maria?" Sirius asked.
"My mom's middle name. It's been passed down in the family for a LONG time," Anya answered, kicking Netta in the back of her leg.
Netta started jumping around in pain.
"Hah! Now you know how it feels!" Anya announced in victory.
"When do you think they'll start?" James asked.
"Soon, I hope. I don't want to spend the whole night here," I answered, looking around the room.
Other than us there were 11 other teenagers-young adults. I reckognized quite a few from school, but the rest were complete strangers.
"Look, there's Dumbledore!" Andrea pointed across the room to where Dumbledore stood with a woman.
Sirius and Anya started to wave like their hands were on fire.
"Who's the woman?" Netta whispered.
"I don't know. I've never seen her before," Remus answered.
"She looks really mean," James said.
Dumbledore and the lady walked up onto the platform/stage, and the room fell quiet.
"Welcome! Welcome, all of you!" Dumbledore announced, smiling at us. But his smile faded, and he continued, "We have brought you here in an effort to fight the Dark Forces that are slowly distroying the magic and muggle worlds. You are in the headquarters of the homefront chapter of our orginazation. You are all members of the homefront orginazation, in charge of keeping our part of the world safe. But I won't get into that too much. I'd like to introduce the head of your chapter, Ms. Adrine Speck!"
The woman walked up and stood in front. She looked through the crowd.
"I won't waste time on welcomes, and I will warn you. This isn't something to be taken lightly. This must be our life! We must be dedicated to stopping Lord Voldemort in his tracks! Each of us must stand beside each other, and work together in everything. Team work is a very important factor, as is courage. This will be no walk in the park. From this day forward there will be danger at every moment, and all of it will be real," Ms. Speck said.
There was silence over the room. Suddenly, Sirius held up his hand.
"To defeating the Dark Lord!" he yelled.
We all held up our own hands.
"To defeating the Dark Lord!" everyone else yelled.
I woke early the next morning to my little sister standing over me.
"Hey, Vi," I whispered.
"Sorry, did I wake you? I just got here," Vi said.
"No, you didn't wake me," I answered, and looked at the clock, "I have to get up now anyway."
Vi waited in the living room while I changed. I was wearing green robes, since I had to work today in the wizard world. Then Vi sat on the counter while I started breakfast.
"Do you want to go wake up everyone else?" I asked.
Five minutes later Andrea and Netta were up and out, but Vi was still trying to wake up Anya.
"Ow!" I heard Vi cry.
"Oh, hi, Violet. Did I hurt you?" I heard Anya ask.
Vi came out and said, "Anya slapped me aside the face when I tried to get her up."
"It was an accident! I'm still mostly asleep!" Anya yelled in protest from the bedroom.
"Yeah, well, asleep or not, you have an hour to get to your job, and Sirius will be here soon!" I yelled to her.
"DANG!" Anya cried, and ran towards the bathroom.
Rather she hopped, trying to put her socks on at the same time.
"I take it she's not a morning person," Vi whispered.
We laughed.
"She's not a morning anything. Mostly she perfers to stay in bed during the morning," Andrea said.
The door opened and Sirius walked in.
"Hey all," Sirius said.
"Anya just got up. Anya! Sirius is here!" I yelled.
"DANG!" Anya cried, and ran from the bathroom to the bedroom, stopping in the doorway to say, "Hi, Sirius, lovely morning. I'll be ready in a minute."
"More likely an hour," Netta whispered.
"Better not be. We'll be late," Sirius answered.
Anya ran out, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.
"Ready," she announced.
"Let's go," Sirius said.
"Wait," I told Anya, and handed her a piece of toast.
She held it in her mouth while she put a sweater over her robes, and muttered, "Phanks."
Then they left.
"Vi, feel gree to stay here as long as you want, but I have to get going," I told her.
"G'luck!" Vi said, and hugged me.
I took my sweater, and put it on, then left the apartment.
The ministry building isn't too far from Diagon Alley. It's hidden the exact same way the Leaky Cauldron is: Muggles can't see it but witches and wizards can. I walked in and noticed that almost everyone else chose to Apporate to work. I would do that soon, I had my test in a week.
I walked up to the front desk.
"Um, I'm Lily Evans I was wondering where…" I started.
"Lily Evans, Secretary in the Commitee of Experimental Charms. They're in meeting right now, but I'll take you to your desk," the witch behind the desk said.
And I soon found out that being a secretary was at both times very boring and very active. While they were in meeting I sat there, twirling a quill around. Then, when they were out of meeting they each had something they wanted me to do. But when they went back in meeting, I was bored again.
The day ended at six o'clock. I walked to Diagon Alley were Anya, Andrea, and Netta were waiting.
"How was your first day?" Netta asked me when I walked up.
"Boring and tiring at the same time," I answered, rolling my eyes, "Come on, we have to work at 8:30 tonite in the café."
"Oh joy," Anya whispered.
"Hey, Lil, how you doing?" James asked.
"What are you doing here? I didn't know you liked this café," I asked, pouring a drink of soda for the table who was about to bite my head off because they're food wasn't out yet.
"It's not all that bad. So, how was your first day?" James asked.
"Boring, and tiring. They were in meeting half of the day, and I found out that there are five different ways to twirl a quill around, using a wand," I answered.
"Hey, James," Anya said, sweeping past me to get a drink for another table.
"Hey, Anya," James said, and Anya left.
"I'll be right back," I told him, and carried the tray over to the table that was about to bite my head off.
"What took you so long? Where is our food? We're hungry here!" the lady spat at me.
"It's on it's way, ma'am," I answered.
"Well, it sure is taking long enough. Tell them to hurry!" the woman responded in a huff.
I walked away, mimicking her.
"Bad customers?" James asked.
"The worst," I answered, rolling my eyes.
* * *
Somewhere else
As told by the narrator
"Wormtail! I told you not to come back until you had information for me!" a cold voice spat.
"I…have…information… Master! About Evans!" Wormtail cried.
"Tell me, and we shall see if your informmation serves any value," the cold voice said, taking out a wand.
Wormtail cringed, and hesistated, "She has a weakness, Master! Get hold of the weakness, and you shall have her! And if you have her, you shall have Potter as well!"
"And what is this weakness you speak of, Wormtail?" the cold voice asked.
* * *
As told by Lily Evans
"Lily!" my little sister Violet cried, stepping off the hearth.
"Hey, Vi," I said, shortly followed by greetings from my friends. "Ready to go back to Hogwarts?"
"Yep. And this year I'll be a Second Year!" Vi anwered, cheerfully.
Tomorrow Vi was returning to Hogwarts.
"You promised you'd come with us to see me off. Are you?" Vi asked, sitting on the couch.
"'Course. I'll be there first thing in the morning," I answered.
"Good. Because Aunt Lucy wants to see you," Vi told me.
"Ready, Violet?" Aunt Lucy asked, checking to make sure, "All your clothes? Your books, and your homework?"
"Yes, Aunt Lucy. I already told you that, in the car, remember?" Vi answered, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, yes, of course," Aunt Lucy said.
"I gotta go now. Lily can walk me through the barrier, okay?" Vi asked.
"Yes, of course. Good bye, Violet, dear. Have a great year, I'll see you in the summer," Aunt Lucy said.
"Bye, Aunt Lucy," Vi said, and hugged Aunt Lucy.
"I'll leave straight from the platform. So, I'll see you soon, Aunt Lucy," I said, and hugged her as well.
"Goodbye, Lily, dear," Aunt Lucy answered.
I walked Vi through the barrier, and helped her with her stuff.
"I gotta go, Vi. But promise you'll write lots?" I asked.
"Of course! And I'll see you over the summer," Vi told me.
"It's a date then," I answered, "Bye, Vi."
"Bye, Lil," Vi answered.
"Make sure Hogwarts is still standing after we left for me, kay?" I asked.
"Sure," Vi answered.
The whistle blew and I waved until the train was out of sight, and Disapperated.
Author's Note- Ok, this chapter was short, I know. Next chapter's probably going to be short too, and sad. Don't expect to laugh, but I'll see if I can fire up my ability to make people cry (refer to "Born to Make You Happy" my songfic and the reviews for it). Please, all, review. And if you really want to get on my good side, read my other L/J fic, "Yours Hating James Potter". Merci.
For additional comments email me at either Starlighteve88@aol.com or tiff637@yahoo.com.