Unplottable Island
Chapter 6:
October 31
A/N: This entire chapter takes place 16 years
before the rest of Unplottable Island. I tried to make this a more original rendition of this day than some of
the others…tell me whatcha think!
Laura sat back, holding her steaming mug of hot chocolate close to her face. It was a chilly fall day, perfect for sweaters and fireplaces and warm mugs of cocoa. She watched outside as the big oak tree in the front yard sprayed it's golden leaves together in the brisk wind that ruffled the hair and clothing of the passerby. Laura watched enviously for awhile, then decided that it wasn't worth the effort. She knew that if she left, then the charm on the house would be broken and Lily, James, and her young nephews would be found.
Besides, she though dreamily, It's only been what—four months? Some of those poor Jewish Muggles in the World War had to stay hidden for years, and they probably didn't complain. She curled up a little tighter on the sofa, watching the leaves falling outside.
"Laura? Laura?"
"Down here, Lily," Laura called, setting her cup aside. She could guess what her sister-in-law wanted.
Lily dashed though the door, nearly slipping on a pile of building blocks in one corner. Her red hair, the color of autumn leaves, was pulled back with a rubber band from that morning's paper, and her face was white from too much time indoors. She was wearing her own jeans and a patched, huge sweat shirt that had belonged to her father. Her feet were bare. "Can you help me? I don't know what to do, they just woke up and started wailing and I'm just not enough person to deal with both of them at their most…Argh!" she dug her hands through her hair, look very much like a stressed young mother.
Laura got up and neatly brushed the blocks out of the way with her foot. Unlike her sister-in-law, she was well-kept, unruffled, and very cool under all circumstances. "Which one do you want me to get?"
"Ummm…Timmy. He's just hungry, but I think Harry had a poo-poo," she muttered half to herself, chewing on a fingernail.
"Okay," Laura said, walking into the room. "Oh, and Lily?"
"What?" she asked, still chewing on her fingernail.
"Please don't do that."
Lily snatched the offending finger out of her mouth and picked up Harry, cooing to him as she laid him on the changing table. She smoothed his hair and reached for the stack of extra diapers. Still babbling baby talk, she began to make funny faces, whether for her son's amusement or from the stench nobody could tell.
Laura chuckled to herself and picked up Tim, who fussed until he saw that they were headed to the kitchen. "Ooo, you're a bright young thing, aren't you," Laura cooed. "Bet you're a Ravenclaw, just like your auntie and your mom." Tim wrinkled his nose and cackled in baby talk.
Tim struggled down and toddled over to the refrigerator. "M'cooneee! M'cooneee!" he shrieked happily.
"You little monster, why do you want that horrible stuff again," she said, pushing a few full boxes of macaroni and cheese where they couldn't be seen by the one-year old. "It's bad for you."
"M'cooneee!" he cried, smiling up at her with his pearly white baby teeth. His blue eyes crinkled into little slits, and he hugged her leg in a tight bear hug.
Laura sighed and pulled out a pot, clearing a small space on the counter. "Fine. Macaroni it is!" she poured a cup of the dry noodles into the pan, throwing in the cheese and water quickly. She was so sick of macaroni and cheese. But it was hard to resist when Tim smiled at her with that adoring look in his eyes. Tim bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, babbling incomprehensibly.
James came downstairs, holding that day's paper. His glasses were in his hands, in the midst of a cleaning. He was dressed like any other twenty-year old male in fall: jeans, polo, sweat shirt, sneakers. His hair stuck up at odd angles, raked there by restless fingers. He had blue eyes, just like Laura, though at the moment they were unfocused. He slipped his glasses back on and smiled as the room came into clearer focus.
"Hullo, Laura! Oh, and looky here! Who's a big boy? Yes, you are!" he scooped up Tim and held him above his head, laughing. "Look, you're even taller than Daddy!"
Tim burbled happily, then shrieked "M'cooneee!"
James made a face as he returned his son to the ground. "Macaroni? Again?" he moaned, comically sad, then checked the pot on the stove. "Laura, you forgot to light the range."
Laura blushed. It wasn't often that James caught her in a mistake. "Sorry," she said, then lit it with a poke of her wand.
"Thorry!" Tim mimicked.
James smiled, then addressed his sister "You should go see if Lily needs help. I've got Tim now."
"Kay."
Lily was still upstairs, trying to get Harry to let go of the toy broomstick his father had bought him. "I swear, Laura, you'd think he knew what he was going to do when he grew up, the way he's got this thing in such a deadlock!" She finally wrenched it away, and Harry began to scream piercingly.
Laura winced, then picked him up by the back of his shirt and his feet and 'flew' him around the room as Lily hastily hid the broomstick. Harry giggled happily, shouting "Zoom, zoom!" at the top of his voice as Laura spun him around in a circle.
Lily straightened, and the rubber band that had feebly been holding her hair snapped, sending her hair, the same color as Tim's, falling down her back as she shouted exasperatedly. "This just isn't my day," she remarked as she repaired the band so that she could put her hair back up.
"Oh, don't be silly, Lily," James quipped from the doorway. "Any day you're in is a wonderful day."
Lily smiled, embracing her husband. James pecked her on the end of the nose, staring deep into her big green eyes, then headed lower as they engaged in some good old-fashioned tonsil hockey.
Laura, suspecting that they wanted to be left alone at the moment, went downstairs with Harry perched on her shoulders. She crouched low as they entered the kitchen. Harry struggled down, then went over to Tim, who sat in his high chair. They babbled to each other in baby talk.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you two knew what the heck you were saying," Laura muttered to herself as she stirred the contents of the pot. Harry and Tim both made a snorting noise. Laura wrinkled her nose. She didn't really understand the rapport between the twins—well, she could understand if they were identical—which they weren't—but sometimes it was as if the brothers just knew what was happening to the other. Weird. Maybe it had to do with the birth complications. Whatever.
"Hey boys! Macaroni!" she called. Turning around, she faced only the empty seat and it's swinging straps. "Accursed twins!" she groaned, then set down the food and went off to find the two little boys, praying that they hadn't wandered out of the house. If they had then the whole household was in big trouble. "Big trouble," she muttered to herself.
"Therius! Therius!" two little voices shrieked.
Laura ran to the sitting room, were Sirius Black stood, shaking water from his short black hair. "Sirius! How are you here? Why? Has something gone wrong?" she asked in a rush, wondering what had possessed him to break the spell now, instead of at a time when it could be renewed. "This is so stupid, Sirius, now we'll have to redo the spell!" she said, poking him in the side as she tried to herd the two little boys together.
"Laura, there's no time. Something's happened to Peter, and I'll bet my motorcycle that Voldemort's involved in this. You've got to clear out of here within the hour." Sirus scooped up a little boy in each of his big hands. "Quick, start packing some clothes and food. I'll go tell James and Lily, but I've got to go—maybe I can delay Him if He decides to pay a visit."
Laura stared at him, knowing what he was suggesting. "Please don't get yourself killed, Sirius," she begged, hugging him as tightly as she could. "If you do, I'll never, ever speak to you again. Not even if I die too." She tried a weak smile, knowing that this might be the last time she ever saw Sirius again.
Sirius drew her face to his, and they kissed warmly. It was he who broke away first, panting a little. "I love you Laura, and even if it mean facing a eternity of hell I'll stand between you and Voldemort."
Laura buried her face in his shirt so that he wouldn't see that her eyes were brimming with tears.
***
"Laura!" James called from upstairs. "Laura, I need to talk to you. Get your broom." Laura raced upstairs, holding her knapsack in one hand and her Sliver Arrow in the other. James stood in the corridor leaning against the wall, his hair more ruffled that usual, his brow wrinkled like a man of twice his age. "Tim's in his bed. Take him and go."
"Are you ready already?" Laura asked, searching her knapsack. Good thing it was magical, she'd never managed to fit everything in otherwise. Clothes, robes, a few treasured spell books, an extra pair of shoes, a hair brush, several bottles of water, lots of granola bars and a few precious pieces of fruit and her family album. "Lily isn't exactly a fast packer by my standards."
James tried a smile, but failed. He rested a hand on Laura shoulder and licked his lips. "We need you to go ahead. Take Tim and leave…we'll catch you up."
Laura swatted his hand from her shoulder. "Oh no, James Potter. I'll leave with you or not at all."
"I have my duty, and I will not abandon my post as an Auror by running away like a coward!"
His sister's jaw dropped. "Running away is cowardly sometimes, James—not now. If we stay here we'll be killed!"
"You and Lily are the treasures of my life," James replied hotly. "I will not run and have you two killed later."
"James, that doesn't make any sense. You and Lily can with me when I leave, but I will not leave with out you."
"Now whose not making sense?" You can be so god damned stupid, why can't you see why you need to do this?" James shouted.
"If you weren't so brave and bold you'd see why, James!" Laura shrieked back. "I may be two years younger than you but at least I can see when it's futile to resist!"
"Just go! I love you and I don't want you to die!" he spat. "You're only eighteen."
She pounded her fists into the wall, then yelled "And you're only twenty, James Potter. A vast difference indeed. You need to come!"
"I will not abandon my post as an Auror! You have no such responsibility!"
"I have a responsibility to keep you from taking yourself too seriously, James! You love me, you love Lily—why can't you see that I'm only saying this because I love you!" she screamed, poking his chest. "I won't leave you here!"
"Laura, I'm asking you only to go ahead." James's voice dropped to normal speech, though fire burned in every word. "Go, then I'll send Lily, then I'll come."
Laura sighed and rested her head on his chest. "James, please…"
"Three people leaving at once would cause a stir," James pointed out, appealing to the woman's practical side.
"I know," she whined, "But god, James, if anything happened to you and I was the one running away while you stayed here being brave, I could never, ever forgive myself. Ever."
James kissed her on the top of her head. "Tim's in his room, Harry's with Lily. I love you, and Godspeed." He entered the next room.
Laura felt the tears she'd been suppressing leak out over her cheeks, dripping down the front of her sweater. She pulled on a weather-proof cloak, grabbed her broom, and got Tim. Almost unconsciously she attached him to her back, and exited the house for the first time in four months. The cool autumn day that had looked so perfect from inside now had flaws—bare branches stretching over the sky like bars, the dead expanses of grass, the harshness of the cold sun which even now was being covered by dark storm clouds. Tears still streamed down her cheeks, bitterly cold in the brisk wind. She looked at the small house, with it's red bricks and blue siding, and wondered if she'd ever see this wonderful, happy house again.
Laura sighed, wiped the tears from her face, and set her course for the Unplottable Island.
