The Prince and the Pauper
(A Marauder Story)
Chapter Twelve: Quiola Quillons, New Year's, and the Dream
~*^*~
Lily stormed up to her room. Hot tears were streaming down her cheeks. How could they not have told her? How could that-that thing kill her parents? She crawled up on her bed and cried, wishing she'd never been born. She hardly ever cried, but she figured this could be the exception.
She angrily wiped away the tears. She didn't deserve them. Her parents died because of her. She hated it so much. Lily started punching her pillow, like Sari had told her to do when she was younger. Of course, the only things she was upset about when she was little was not getting her favorite ice cream (chocolate-marshmallow swirl, of course).
Lily heard a knock on the door. She took a deep breath and quickly wiped away any tears left on her face.
"Come in," she said calmly. She obviously couldn't lock out these people in their own house.
The door opened and James stood there.
"May I come in?" he asked her, ever the polite boy due to having an important father.
"You already are," she pointed out to him, managing a tiny smile.
"Actually, Li, I haven't stepped out of the hall, wood floor and into your cream-colored carpeted room. So technically, I'm not," he teased her, but stepped into her room anyway.
He walked over to her and sat on the bed. He looked at her closely, and she fidgeted slightly under his stare. Finally he sighed.
"Not doing to well, eh?" he asked her gently.
"No, not really," she agreed and nodded her head.
"Now, I know you aren't going to believe me, but…it's not your fault. You didn't ask to be made magical," he said, and when she started to cut in continued quickly, "Or at least you didn't ask realizing that magic isn't fantasy."
She started to object half-heartedly, but he interrupted her.
"No, it's not your fault. And please, don't stay here wallowing in self-pity. It started to snow, and Sirius and Andie challenged me to a Sibling Snow Ball War, and I haven't a sibling, but other than Sirius you're the closest to it. So, would you be an honorary sister of mine?" he asked her, holding out his hand.
Lily smiled. She didn't know what she'd done (other than practically murder her own parents) to deserve such a great friend.
"Okay," she agreed, and giggled a bit.
"What, is my hair sticking up? Don't answer that," he mumbled, turning red.
She laughed, "Actually, I was going to say….let's go kick some Black butt!"
~*^*~
After James and Lily emerged victorious (only Andie would admit that, grudgingly, mind you; Sirius was convinced they cheated), they went inside for a round of hot chocolate and then to bed.
The end of vacation was approaching fast. Lily spent most of her free time diddaly-dattaling and playing with James, Sirius, and Andie. She was going to be upset when she had to leave Andie behind and go back to Hogwarts. The plan was that she was going to stay with Mr. Potter until absolutely necessary for her to go elsewhere. Over the summer Edward was set on trying to gain custody of her and Sirius to stay at the Garden.
On New Year's James' father threw his annual New Year Celebration at the Garden. Charles and the cast of fifty people hired to make the bash perfect were to be seen consulting Mr. P with certain issues ("Shall we have shrimp cocktails or is that too formal? Pigs in a blanket?") and non-stop ruckus was mainly taking place at the Potters Residence.
After being warned numerous times not to do anything that could possibly ruin the party, Mr. Potter (however reluctantly) agreed to let James invite five more friends. Therefore, four envelopes were addressed to Miss Arabella and Miss Cassidy Figg, Mr. Remus Lupin, Mr. Peter Pettigrew, and Miss Melodia Noches. As planned, they all RSVPed and were coming.
"So, what're we going to pull on that old, fat Belgium official?" Sirius asked James the night before the party.
"Wait! Sirius, James…Mr. P. said not to do anything! We promised!" Lily said.
"My dear Lily, we promised not to ruin the party! Never once did we say we wouldn't…how shall I put it?…add some flavor to the party," Sirius said matter-of-factly.
"Sirius Leo Bartholomew…" Lily started on his names, and he quickly said, "Lily, I won't sabotage anything!"
Andie started to crack up, "So he finally told you his names?"
Lily filled her in on the…er…Quidditch episode, and she burst out laughing.
"Yes, well Andromeda Daniella Alexandria Georgina Black, you'd better watch out!" Sirius said.
Andie looked at him, "What? You think that's bad? I have three middle names, Siri, you have seven-SEVEN!"
"Yeah, well...I'm going to go owl Remus," he said and ran off.
Lily and Andie took one look at each other and exploded with giggles. James, who they had forgotten he was still there, sighed and ran after his best friend.
~*^*~
The next day was New Year's Eve. Cass, Bella, Melodia, Remus, and Peter came over at five o'clock. The rest of the guests (mainly everyone important) were arriving in an hour. After being warned again not to cause trouble (to which Lily glared at Sirius) Mr. Potter was off, busy with preparations.
Meanwhile, the Marauders had preparations of their own to make.
"Green slimy stuff?" Sirius asked.
"Silly string, Sirius," Lily corrected, still glaring at him.
"And check!" Melodia chirped helpfully.
"Traitor," Lily muttered darkly before glaring at her.
"Can't you do anything other than glaring? It's starting to freak me out," Cass said, and when Lily only glared at her, she winced, and then her face lit up.
"Glare Bear!" Cass giggled.
The others just stared at her as she burst out laughing. When she eventually gained her composure, she said, "Glare Bear! Lily's new nickname! Glare Bear, Glare Bear, Glare Bear…" she started humming, and Melodia finally couldn't take any more.
"Glare Bear!" she said, and Lily started to glare at her, but then realized what she was doing.
"I'm not glaring, I'm scowling!" she said grumpily, and the rest of them (minus Bella, who was reading the new Daily Prophet Best Seller, Hogwarts, A History) started to crack up.
"Sure, Lily," Cass nodded sympathetically, "Glare Bear, dear, why don't you toodle along and find out if James bought enough confetti from that Muggle place?"
"I'm not Glare Bear," she murmured, before walking out of the room (amiss laughter).
Later that evening, all the guests had come. Lily thought Sirius might've agreed to call off the prank when he saw John Kelibister, the best Keeper in all of the IQL (International Quidditch League). Sadly, she was proven wrong at exactly 9:20 and four seconds.
The dining room, living room, and hall were covered with guests chatting noisily when all of a sudden the lights dimmed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen…I give you…Sirius and the Rain Dancers!"
Bright lights started flashing different colors throughout each of the large rooms. Red, orange, green, purple, pink, blue, and a bright white one. Water started dripping from the ceiling and little creatures (Lily found out they were the children house elfs who couldn't resist obeying Sirius) started doing a rain dance around the room.
Of course, they were led by Sirius.
He led them around the room, dancing with tiny drums in their hands, singing nonsense at the top of their lungs. A bright light flashed, the kind of light at a disco, and it looked as if the parade of creatures (plus Sirius) were moving in slow motion. The water grew steadily harder and harder until the guests were drenched. After a long while, the parade ended with a loud "RAIN!" and with a flash of light, the rain stopped and the house elfs left, leaving Sirius still banging on the drum in front of everyone.
"Rain! Give us the RAIN, the Rain, pouring, trickling, WATER!" he sang, and then stopped as he realized it had gone quiet. At least 150 sets of eyes were looking directly at him.
"Um…funny, right?" he asked, and Mr. Potter slowly walked up to him and pressed his right hand on his shoulder. Hard.
"I am very sorry folks for this small," he emphasized the small, "incident. Feel free to hurt this one in any way possible."
The guests laughed, but Lily could tell Mr. Potter had been serious.
"Thank you all for coming, I'm afraid we have some damage-control to do. I hope you had a good time, other then getting…drenched. Good evening," he finished, and with a meaningful look at the group of kids, walked up the stairs.
~
"That was completely irresponsible, James!" Mr. Potter shouted angrily after the guests had left.
"I'm sorry Father," James answered quietly.
"Sorry? You're sorry. Hey, praise the Lord, he's sorry!"
The 'Marauders' winced.
"Mr. P, it was my fault," Sirius said.
Mr. Potter snorted, "Obviously. Which is why, if your parents had been alive and you had somewhere to go, you'd be temporarily suspended from the Garden. Apparently you're in luck," he finished dryly.
They all winced again, and lowered their heads.
"We are sorry, Mr. Potter, and we hope you'll forgive us," Lily said, and motioned for the others to follow her.
When they got in the hall, she turned on Sirius.
"Well, I hope you're happy! James will get in more trouble, Mr. Potter won't invite us back, you are completely irresponsible!" Lily shouted, and got out the Floo Powder for the twins, Peter, Melodia, and Remus.
~
After the incident, the rest of vacation went by quickly. Soon Lily, James, and Sirius were once again boarding the Hogwarts Express.
The majority of people coming home from the holidays were surprised to find a subdued group of Marauders on the train.
Which is why Deana Slater was walking with a definite bounce in her step, whistling a tune under her voice, happy that she for once might win a bet.
And because of her carefree mood, she never saw it coming.
~*^*~
An hour later, the Marauders were diddley-daddling in their compartment. Sirius was insisting that quills do indeed deserve to have names. He took out his 24 Quiola Quillons. 24 different colors, and unfortunately for the Marauders minus Sirius, 24 different names.
"See, Mel," he started, and dodged a slap by Melodia for that "annoying" nickname.
"Y'see, this red quill? His name is Lawrence. And this blue one? Her name is Dominique. And this yellow one? His name is Ricky Ricardo. And this green one? Her name is-"
"SHUT UP!" Melodia screamed and started smacking her head into the wall.
"Ouch!" Smack. "Ouch!" Smack! "Ouch!" Smack! "Ow-" she started again, but all of a sudden the lights on the train flickered and went out.
"Ah!" a voice shrieked, and they all jumped in their compartment. Remus finally gained control, and whispered, "Lumos." The pale light illuminated his tired, gaunt face.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," Most of them muttered. Cass being the exception, was hiding her face in Lily's lap, whispering, "I don't like this…definitely do not like this…."
"Um…you're afraid of the dark?" James guessed.
Peter and Bella gave him a Look.
"No really, Captain Obvious," Melodia rolled her eyes, but just then the lights came back on.
"I wonder what that was?" Lily asked them, voicing the question almost everyone on the train was wondering.
They all shrugged, having no idea what had happened, and Sirius quickly got back "on topic."
"And y'see, Mel, this turquoise one? His name is Ernesto. And this aquamarine one? Her name is Sally Francine. This macaroni-and-cheese one? His name is BJ. And this magenta one? Her name is Persephone," he stated manner-of-factly.
"Persephone?" Cass asked weakly, having regained her composure, slightly.
"Greek goddess," Bella said, and went back to her reading.
Lily observed her friends. Bella was reading, Cass, staring out the window, obviously still feeling the effects of the darkness. Melodia was trying desperately (and failing) to try and get Sirius to be quiet about his Quiola Quillons. James and Peter were deep in conversation (most likely about Quidditch). Remus though…something was wrong with him, Lily was sure of it. He looked so exhausted, and now that she thought of it, he tended to get like this every so often.
Making a mental note to confront him (or maybe James) about this, she laid her head down and fell into a light slumber.
~*~
The room was dark.And cold, now that she thought of it.
And now that she had, she couldn't forget the cold, miserable feeling.
A silvery mist was swirling around, and a black hooded monster appeared in the doorway.
She didn't know what this-thing-was, but she knew she was afraid of it.
"Kiss her."
The Thing started gliding towards her. He wasn't going to stop, and although she didn't know what 'Kiss' meant, she knew it wasn't a friendly peck on the cheek.
It reached out its disgusting, rough arm and pulled her towards him.
The last thing she could remember was the stench of misery.
And then the world was black.
~*~
"Lily! Lils, c'mon, wake up!" Cass was leaning over her, her face serious for once.
"W-hat?" she stammered, before swallowing and looking at her surroundings.
"Where's that thing? Where is she?" Lily demanded, and jumped up, panicked.
"Where's what, Lils?" James asked her.
"No time to explain! Follow me!" she said quickly.
"What's the matter, Lily?" Bella asked, struggling to keep up with her redheaded friend.
Lily ignored her and raced through the compartments. Finally she reached her destination.
"Are you Benny Weasley?" She rounded on a kid far taller than she was, but her tone left him cowering away.
"Y-yes, why?"
"Have you seen Deana lately?" Lily asked.
The Marauders exchanged puzzled looks. What's she talking about? Sirius mouthed to James, who shrugged back to him.
"Deana Slate, Deana?" he asked her.
"Yes, her," Lily said impatiently.
"Not recently," he replied slowly, "But she left over an hour ago to explore the train.
Lily's eyes widened in momentary fear, and quickly bolted out the door and continued through the train in the opposite direction of their compartment.
Her friends followed her as quickly as they could, Sirius and James leading the race of kids, which is why when she stopped dead in her tracks, they nearly crashed into her.
When they looked up to wear Lily was frozen in her steps, they gasped.
There, gliding over towards Deana, was a black hooded creature.
~*~
A/N: Well, I'm sure we all know what *that* is, but I thought I'd just leave you all there. Sorry about the time this took to get out…I had Writer's Block. Sorry to all of you who kept up with this, even though I've been horrid with updating. I have a quick announcement:
·I will be rewriting chapter 1 of this story, hopefully including a prologue. After that, if all goes well, I'll probably be editing the first few chapters after that, because quite frankly, I've made some embarrassing errors and I'd feel much better continuing with a better written beginning. Any suggestions or help will be extremely useful and appreciated.
Disclaimer: JKR's creations belong to her. Enough said.
Thank you to:
~*Crystal Lily*~ *^* Thanks for reviewing again! I appreciate it a lot and hope you like this chapter!
Cquill13 *^* Hey! Have you updated recently? If you have, please let me know! Thanks as always for reviewing! I appreciate that comment so much, about how I (supposedly) capture readers emotions…it means so much to me, so thank you!
Destiny Phoenix *^* I'm glad you still like this! And that the challenge is going well-have you gotten many responses? Thanks so much for sticking with this, it means a lot to me! 3
Diana Snape *^* Here it is, finally! You're very welcome for the dedication. Sirius' sister wasn't going to be nasty, actually. That was a new development. I need her though…who knows, maybe she'll turn up in a later fic? About visiting hospitals on Christmas – my aunt was in one for an operation, it was horrible. Thanks for reviewing! Love ya!
Dre *^* I'm glad you love it! Hope you love this one too! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Erin *^* The box thing was meant to be confusing, glad it worked ^_^ Thanks for the review! And the 75 thing I meant to use as an excuse – if I didn't get close to 300, I could take as long as I wanted with this, but I would've anyway. Thanks again!
Heart2Heart *^* Thank you so much for that nice long review! I really appreciate it. Once again, I feel stupid that I didn't know LMAO, but I'm not that bad, I know lol and ROFL and stuff…lol I'm pitiful. Thanks again!
Hi *^* Original name! J/k Why did Sirius' parents die? To tell you the truth, *I* don't know…though after this chapter I'm sure you'll just be adoring me…coughNOT. Lolz
Jeanne *^* It's the brilliant author that puts my writing to shame! Lol Thanks for reviewing again! Yes, we take the small victories…eventually they'll get bigger, we hope. Hope you like this!
Kaydid *^* Thanks for the review! I'm so glad you liked this! Hope this is good as well! ^_^
Lee *^* Thanks for reviewing, and for pointing out my Andie/Andy error. It was supposed to be 'Andie' and I went back to fix it, so thanks!
Ley *^* And an email you will get when I update! Promise! Thanks for reviewing this story! And ANV! Hope you like this chapter, it's…odd. ;)
Martini Addict *^* Thanks for the translation…for someone online so much, you'd think I'd know that by now *sigh* I'm glad you like this so far! And that my story kinda sucked you in…I've always wanted to do that to someone!
Naavi *^* Hey girlie! Oo, long review! You spelt 'weird' wrong. Lolz sorry, couldn't help myself. Thanks as always for reviewing, and I will review LP soon, I swear! Hehe I liked the hamburger thing…amusing. Luv ya lots! Mwaz!
Puddles *^* There's 2 of you! So here's Puddles ID number: 192454* Thanks for reviewing! I agree, more Remus (should happen soon) and Peter must die (all in good time – unfortunately, he has to betray L&J before I kill him off).
Puddles *^* Since there are 2 of you, here's Puddles ID number: 126193* I'm glad I'm updating again, finally. I'm also glad you like my story! Thanks for the review!
Sakurantokyo *^* Well that took a bit to type out…*smiles* Thanks for the review! I don't like cherries, but here's more…way too long, but hey, I try :)
Sierra *^* Thanks so much for the review! Glad you're happy! I like that idea on your bio…cold-hearted murderer Lily! Lol extremely…creative. Thanks again!
Sierra Charm *^* Hey future best-selling author! ^_^ Thanks sooo much for reviewing, I've told you about a dozen times at the very least how much it means to me. I'm glad you liked this so far…and…Harmony…Turtle…uh interesting…lol Thanks again! Luv ya!
Star*Dust *^* Hey S*D! What's new? I haven't spoken to you in a bit. Here's the long-awaited chapter ::sorry bout that wait:: Update TLL soon, please? Pretty please? Thanks for the review, and for letting me know about that Andie/Andy mistake (which I fixed, thank god). Luv ya!
Thanks to all of you! Oh, and one more note:
Anyone who wishes to be emailed with updates to this story or my other one, just tell me in a review and give me your email address and I'll add you to my list…unless you already get the email, of course. Thanks!
Luv ya,
Britz