~*Fragments of Yesterday*~
Chapter Eight: Home for the Holidays
I'm baaaaaaaack! How was everyone's Christmas? I haven't had a chance to write Christmas in this ficcy yet (next chapter, I swear), but I'm still completely in the spirit, so… well, I'm sitting in a condo in Breckenridge, Colorado, overlooking the peaks and a frozen over lake, with snow falling thick and soft… I love winter weather. I'm on vacation, can you tell? Finally. I needed a break. I'll try to get the Christmas chapter started while I'm up here, too… To all my reviewers, thank you! Let's make this story the most popular MWPP ever, shall we? Advertise! Hell, get it niffled if you can! To inquiries, I respond that the idea of a letter chapter is certainly open for kidnapping, and that my disclaimers are also free to the public. They're not particularly clever, I don't think, but if you like them… er. Anyway! In this chapter, we see the Knight Bus, the Marauders study (Yes, all of them. Shocked, are you?), Lucius is creepy, Severus is sulky, Narcissa is resigned, and there is a small Hufflepuff scene as promised. Oh, and, back by popular demand, it's Alanna, Brenna, Molly, and even Petunia. Enjoy it!!!
Disclaimer: There's a really cool thing called reality. I try to ignore it.
This chapter is dedicated to Erica, aka Amelia Burke, who is awesomely cool. Keep Christmas in your heart all year ^_^.
The week before the thirteenth of December stretched long and boring, rather like the lectures the students were receiving in History of Magic classes. There were fewer explosions and strange occurrences due to the fact that James and Remus had somehow browbeat Sirius into studying (a heretofore unmanageable feat) instead of engaging in his customary practice of causing chaos. On the girls' side of the spectrum, Lily and Abigail had, in turn, subdued Lottie. That she wasn't studying was no surprise to anyone concerned-getting Lottie to study would have been nothing short of a miracle, and while miracles were relatively abundant in Hogwarts, the first year Gryffindor girls didn't try particularly hard. It was enough that Lottie stayed quiet while the two of them worked, which was achieved by many death glares, and in Lily's case threats to tie her to a broomstick and throw her out the window.
Thus, the week passed without incident. Davey Gudgeon breathed an enormous sigh of relief after the last dinner before the students were to go home, for he had stayed unenchanted, uninjured, and generally unbothered for over a week, and that in and of itself was a rare and wonderful occurrence. He had been plagued with nightmares over the last few days, most of which involved him going home to his mother with goat horns or webbed feet. It was rather unlucky for him just how good James Potter was proving to be at Transfiguration.
As the students dispersed, sleepy and satisfied that the half-year exams had ended (all except Madoc Gwyn, who seemed quite bent on not going anywhere, vacation or no), conversation was light and moods were merry. That is, they were for everyone but James Potter, who was brooding silently, something even Sirius Black knew wasn't a safe thing to interrupt.
The cause for James' decidedly foul humor had come from the morning paper, which had been expounding yet another bout of Dark magic which had cropped up in Yorkshire. There were a minimum of three dead and countless injured by what the press was calling a "rogue manticore". The fact that manticores were not native to that part of Yorkshire aside, it was simply worrying that Muggles were seeing this-the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad had their hands full with Memory Charms. When James attempted to question his father, a Ministry official, in letters, Matthew Potter invariably replied with "it really doesn't concern you," as though James were still a little child barely out of swaddling clothes and anything mildly disturbing was to be kept at an arm's length, rather as it was for Sabrina. James would have appreciated the loving parental sentiment much more if he didn't feel rather like he was being handled, which never failed to get his spine up.
"Jamie, d'you reckon we can have a final lark before we leave? You know, seeing as exams are over and all…" Sirius looked hopefully at his best friend, risking his possible outlash of temper in hopes of getting his mind off of whatever was eating him.
James' eyes flashed with anger behind his glasses for a moment before he replied in a cool tone, "No, you can go ahead without me. I believe I'll go to bed."
With that, he headed up the stairs to the dormitories, leaving Sirius, Remus (who had just returned from yet another family funeral looking positively worn out) and Peter to stare at his back with varying degrees of unease.
"It's only six-thirty," Remus said, shaking his head. "That's just not…"
"Normal," Peter finished. "Think he's sick?"
Sirius shook his head, more in tune with James' mindset after years spent growing up together. "Just let him mope a while, lads. I thoroughly recommend leaving him alone until morning. You'd rather not be on the business end of his wand if he gets upset." He rubbed the back of his head, wincing reminiscently.
"In other words, he's a spoilt child with a nasty temper," Lily said from across the room where she was gathering up her books and watching Lottie slaughter Candy at chess yet again.
There was no one to venomously reply "And you aren't?" For some reason she couldn't name, Lily was mildly disappointed.
***
The children who were going home for the holidays rose with the sun. Lily actually spent several minutes grinning stupidly out the window as it rose, for it had snowed overnight, and the sight of the Quidditch pitch and the grounds beyond was really quite remarkable. Even the Forbidden Forest looked somehow friendlier and more inviting.
After her requisite time watching the sunrise and generally communing with nature, Lily pulled aside the curtains of Lottie's bed (taking a sadistic sort of pleasure in the fact that her friend was still sleeping) and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Oy, Sirius! Fancy seeing you here in this state of… of… stateness!"
Lottie was already up by the end of this, frantically patting her hair into place and quite obviously fighting a losing one-handed battle against the long, unruly locks which seemed inclined to go in every direction but where she wanted them to. At the same time, she was holding her sheet up with her other hand. That didn't hide her pink, fuzzy pajamas. "Sirius! You're… Lily, where's Sirius?"
Lily grinned at the flabbergasted Lottie, wishing she had a camera to capture the ridiculous moment. "In your dreams," she said cheerfully, and ducked into the bathroom, narrowly avoiding the large feather pillow which followed.
***
One couldn't see the dawn from the darkness of the dungeon rooms of Slytherin, but Amanda rose just past sunrise anyway. She yawned, stretched, and pulled aside her curtains, intent on taking possession of the bathroom. Her good mood soured immediately when she looked in that direction, for Narcissa Caligo, already perfectly dressed in robes of ice blue with white fur trim had gotten there first. She was drawing a brush through her very long hair, and in the mirror, Amanda could catch her small, delicately pink lips counting strokes. Looking down at herself, her plaid winter nightgown wrinkled, her hair tickling her nose from where it had escaped from the ponytail she had meant it to stay in overnight, she felt suddenly quite miserable. She sneered down at her bare feet. "Nearly done, Princess?" she asked, letting sarcasm drip from her words. It was too bloody early for courtesy.
"Just about," was Narcissa's quiet reply as she brushed the eighty-third stroke.
Ke Wang's bed was empty-no large surprise. She was staying the holidays at Hogwarts, and had gotten herself a reputation as something of a lone wolf, and certainly a night owl. She'd drift in and collapse in bed in an hour or so. But Veronica stuck her overly large nose out of her bed curtains (and into Amanda's affairs, where it had no business being, at least according to Amanda) and glared through half-lidded, sleepy eyes. "Leave her alone."
Amanda stuck out her tongue. The way she figured it, she could be childish if someone else had started being childish first. "I'm not going to hurt her, for Merlin's sake. She's not made out of porcelain."
Narcissa turned from the mirror, putting her silver brush aside, and smiled, almost shyly, at Amanda, despite, or perhaps because of the fact that she had certainly heard. "I'm finished."
"Narcissa, could I-" Desdemona's voice was heard from behind as-yet drawn green curtains.
"No," Amanda said peevishly, going into the bathroom and shutting the door with a loud bang. She really, really hated Narcissa Caligo.
It was perhaps a bit ironic that Narcissa, at that very moment, was thinking that of all the girls in her dorm, the only one she could stand to be around was Amanda.
But being well-bred and proper (to a point, in any case), neither would ever say so.
***
Breakfast was only about half-full that morning, being served much earlier than usual, owing to the fact that the children had to leave quite early to catch the Hogwarts Express into London and still get home in time for dinner. There were yawning, sleepy faces interspersed among the brightly cheerful ones. "Bloody morning people," Severus muttered under his breath as he stared with little interest at the plate of eggs and sausages before him. "They all need to be shot."
"Shot?" Lucius Malfoy raised an elegant brow at him. This evidently did not serve to improve Severus' mood.
"Cursed beyond all recognition," he substituted. "Several times over. Preferably hexed as well, and deprived of caffeine and sugar for the rest of their natural lives."
Across the table, Ian Rookwood sniggered. Lucius allowed himself a sneering little smile (all he ever wore, really) and sipped his coffee. He had been the only Slytherin first year to come in with a love for the potent drink. Naturally, seeing as this was Lucius, the fad had spread like wildfire, and now, at least half of the Slytherin population was hopelessly addicted to coffee.
Lucius put aside his cup and carefully patted his mouth with a cloth napkin. "Most of the filth here deserves that in any case," he said mildly. "Ah, hello Narcissa." As he did every morning, he lifted her small white hand to his mouth. Narcissa stood through the morning ritual with her eyes lowered to the floor. "You look lovely," he complimented her as he did every morning without actually looking at her, gesturing to the chair next to him. Valentine Parkinson immediately jumped out of his seat to pull it out for her.
"Good morning, Lucius," Narcissa replied softly. "Thank you." She continued to stare down as Edan and Rock served her a little of everything. She ate delicately, never letting her gaze rise to meet anyone else's. It was like every other morning, really.
Severus, looking over at the Gryffindor table, winced. Why did Lucius get to spend his winter holidays with her when he would be stuck next door to the Gryffindor harridan? Lottie caught his look and stuck out her tongue, then returned to warring over a particular rasher of bacon with Velvet.
Lucius, meanwhile, watched Narcissa eating with that same sneering little smile of before, and a bored sort of look of possession in his eyes. She was a tame little kitten, which she certainly should have been after all these years. Lucius smirked across the hall to the Gryffindor table as well. So tame… almost… boring. Pale and perfect and utterly broken. They were always less entertaining once you broke them. Narcissa, too, had had something of a temper, and oh, he had enjoyed his childhood with her, bringing her to heel… too bad it was over. But of course… there were other toys out there to reach out and take. Steel glinted in his cool gray eyes, and his whole demeanor was rather that of a very large cat amusedly stalking a very small, very oblivious mouse. There was always that sort of air about Lucius-of violence carefully concealed by breeding.
Lily Evans, quite unaware of his scrutiny, was shouting, quite red in the face, at James Potter. For a change. Lucius smiled, but the smile, as ever, didn't reach his eyes.
There was a promise of violence in that gaze. No one noticed it except Narcissa, who watched him from below her lashes. But Narcissa would never say anything at all.
***
The sleigh ride through the snowy landscape towards Hogsmeade and the train station was an utter treat. Laughter seemed to freeze in the crystalline air, tinkling on and on long after the sleighs, ornamented by cheerful bells, had passed. Girls were wrapped up in warm cloaks and the occasional coquettish fur hat among the more daring older students. The boys in turn wore rakish expressions, bright scarves and, more often than not, snow. Bethany Keller of Hufflepuff, riding along with a fully recovered Marcus Welch and Amelia Burke, couldn't help but smile. "It looks like something out of a painting. Or a really nice dream…"
A messy snowball thrown from a neighboring sled by Todd McCullough (he had excellent aim, drat him) hit Marcus in the back of the head. "A very cold dream," he amended.
"You haven't any sense of the Christmas spirit, Marcus!" Amelia reprimanded. "It's about love, and happiness and-"
"Bitter, bone-chilling cold," Marcus finished. "Complete with ice storms, and faulty heating, and all sorts of other unpleasant things."
"Well I think it's beautiful," Bethany said dreamily, leaning her chin on the arms she had crossed on the edge of the sleigh, eyes sparkling. "Just like a fairytale, cold or no."
"Now you're supposed to say 'Bah, Humbug!'" Amelia instructed.
Marcus shook his head helplessly at the two girls. "I love Christmas! I just hate this miserable, wet, clingy…" he grimaced as another snowball hit him. "Stuff. I'm moving to Maui."
Amelia smiled craftily. "You know, Marcus," she pointed out, "as long as it's snowing, no one will make you try to fly."
Marcus' eyes got wide as he considered this for a moment. "Long live snow!"
"Thought so," Amelia giggled.
Meanwhile, on another sled entirely Lottie and Abigail were having the age-old argument, also about flying. "I am not afraid of heights!" Lottie said, looking hurt. "I tell you again like I've told you before!"
"She does sit on that window ledge whenever she can," Lily pointed out. "I mean, even I'm scared to do that! Would she do that if she were afraid of heights?"
"See?" Lottie crowed victoriously. "I'm not! For Merlin's sake!"
"Then why exactly have you somehow weaseled out of every flying lesson we've had so far this year?" Abigail asked, a small smile on her face. She carefully smoothed her red cloak, which was lined with black fur. "Somehow I doubt it's fear of Madam Hooch, although that may very well play into it."
"That woman…" Lottie growled, looking murderous. "She doesn't have a shred of compassion! Marcus Welch has been in the Infirmary at least four times so far due to her lessons! Doesn't she feel at all for that poor boy?"
"In the Infirmary, where you have also been, lately because you convinced one of the boys to curse or hex you so that you simply couldn't go to class," Lily said. "Really, Lottie, I know those moose antlers were James Potter's work! You'd think you had a little pride."
"You're ganging up on me again," Lottie accused. "Pathetic excuse for friends, really."
Lily, quite used to Lottie's temper, just smiled charmingly and patted Lottie on the back through her purple cloak. "All right, you're not afraid of heights," Lily said soothingly.
"Thank you!"
"What are you afraid of?" Lily asked just as calmly.
Lottie sighed. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, you won't leave me alone, will you? I'm not afraid of heights! I'm afraid of being high up on something smaller around than me which moves." She looked down into her lap, looking quite humiliated. "There."
"Broomsticks? You're afraid of broomsticks?" Abigail asked incredulously.
"Oh, go on then, laugh," Lottie said sullenly. "Reckless Charlotte Eve Christianson, afraid of broomsticks. I can see the Daily Prophet headlines now."
"Well, I think flying is horrid anyway," Lily said staunchly. "So there." Lottie looked up, smiled at her, and hugged her tightly. "Be glad that Potter and his cronies aren't around, or they'd joke," Lily added.
"If Sirius found out, it'd be highly unfavorable for you, wouldn't it?" Abigail asked. "He's aiming for the Gryffindor reserves next year, you know."
Lottie sniffled. "Oh, all right. I'll learn how to fly. But I'll hate every moment of it!"
"In the end, love conquers all," Abigail smiled beatifically.
"I believe I shall strangle you," Lottie said sweetly.
"Please do it when I'm not around," Lily requested. "The sight of your dead body might put me off my dinner."
All three laughed as the sleighs pulled into Hogsmeade.
The platform seemed rather different now than it had in September, snow-covered as it was. The Hogwarts students weren't the only ones on the platform. Trickling in from town were several older witches and wizards, one of them with a kneazle on a leash, many of them carrying shopping bags. "Diagon Alley, do you think?" Lily asked.
"It's like a regular train station!"
"Well, of course they use this station more than twice a year!" James laughed from where he had sidled up next to the group of girls, his friends following. "The train's reserved for Hogwarts students when we come to school and when we go home. The rest of the time, you buy tickets just like for a normal train." He shrugged. "It costs less than the international floo rooms do, anyway."
"Floo?" Lily asked, momentarily distracted enough not to snap at him.
"The best method of travel outside of the good old broomstick," Sirius piped up.
"Naturally, this is because it involves fire and explosions?" Abigail asked.
"Naturally," Sirius nodded.
"I hate the floo," Peter said. "It takes forever to get the ashes out of my hair."
"Ashes?" Lily asked, more flabbergasted than before.
"Pathetic," James said disdainfully.
Abigail, calm and collected Abigail, glared icily. "I'd have thought you would be the last one to look down upon Muggle-born wizards, James Potter," she said coolly. "I could be wrong, of course. Your lineage is impeccable, I've no doubt."
James looked stricken and turned white. "I'm… sorry, Evans," he said. Then he walked away, his friends following. Sirius looked apologetic, but didn't say anything. Peter and Remus just looked very uncomfortable.
Lily blinked. "He actually sounded sorry," she said, eyes wide in amazement.
"He should." Abigail's voice was clipped-Lily had never heard her so obviously distressed before.
"Yes," Lottie nodded. Her voice, too, was strained. "Get on the train, Lily."
Lily didn't understand, but she wordlessly followed her two friends onto the train anyway, where Lottie proceeded to curl into a ball in the corner of the compartment under her cloak, not saying anything. Abigail, her lips a bit pinched, pulled a book out of the folds of her cloak, opened it, and tried to read. Which was rather difficult, as it was upside down.
Lily shook her head at her friends' odd behavior, absentmindedly petting Splotch, who had jumped up in her lap and began to purr thunderously, thereby giving Lily notice that it was time to pay attention to her. The little black kitten had grown much larger, now being very fluffy with a very long bottlebrush tail. She closed her bright yellow eyes and purred contentedly as Lily watched the snowy landscape in the window go by.
***
"Five of hearts."
"Clubs."
"War!"
Remus leaned back against the seat. "Boring," he said as Peter and Sirius duked it out with a deck of cards on the floor.
James sighed. "Well, Professor Mizuhara took the Wizard's Chess away."
"And my Exploding Snap," Sirius sighed. "Yes!" He took all the cards on the floor and grinned at Peter.
"And mine too," Peter said.
"And the fireworks," Remus sighed. "And I think she got that nose-biting teacup, didn't she, James?"
"Yeah," James said. "She was drinking tea out of it yesterday. It didn't bite her."
"It wouldn't dare," Remus sniggered.
James shook his head as Sirius collected again. "This is pathetic. Deal me in, Sirius." He sighed and plopped on the floor. "Five card draw, Aces wild."
"We were playing War," Peter said.
"Have a little respect for my intelligence, will you?" James said. "Come on, Sirius."
"I can't play poker, James."
"You'll learn," Sirius said cheerfully.
"My mum'll kill me," Peter whined.
"Enjoy your last few hours, then," James suggested. "Deal me in, Sirius."
"You're the boss," Sirius shrugged.
"Remus, are you in?" James asked.
"I play chess," Remus said with as much dignity as he could muster. "Not that."
"Remus gets out," Peter sighed. "How come I don't?" He picked up his cards like one resigned to his fate.
"Oh, that's easy," Remus said with a grin. "I can beat him up."
"That only happened once!" James said. "And I wasn't expecting-"
"See ya!" Remus said cheerfully. "I'm going to look for someone who can play an intelligent game." He walked out of the compartment, sliding the door shut behind him, grinning in a manner eerily akin to Sirius'.
There was silence in the compartment, then. "Remus? Remus beat you up?"
"Shut the hell up, Sirius."
***
The train pulled into King's Cross Station just as it was beginning to get dark. The students spilled out into snow-covered London, merry and cheerful now that school was behind them for a month. Lottie, her hair messy around her face, seemed to have her temper much improved by her little nap. "All right, make sure you cause as much chaos as possible, and turn your sister into something nasty at least once," she instructed Lily.
"You are such a very bad influence," Abigail said, but she was smiling. "I'll miss you. Both of you, despite the many times you have attempted to get me killed, expelled, enchanted, or something else equally nasty."
Lottie impulsively hugged both of them. "Let's get our luggage and get going," she said.
As they pulled their trunks from the train, Splotch weaving between their legs and mewing disdainfully at the snow, and Athena hooting impatiently, flying around their heads, they were silent, as if not quite sure what to say. Molly O'Malley ran up to them, nearly slipping on the ice, her trunk floating behind her, her yellow and black scarf flying. "Lily! Come on, Lily!"
Lily quickly hugged both her friends. "Happy Christmas," she said. "Owl me, will you? Petunia's certain to drive me to distraction."
"We'll send plenty of Howlers. Addressed to her, naturally."
Lily giggled. "Thanks Lottie. For some reason I can't name, I actually find that reassuring."
"This," Lottie said, "is because I have corrupted you."
Severus Snape came up to them then, scowling quite ferociously. "Your mother's sick," he said, looking as though he'd rather have teeth pulled than be here. "Mum says, get your things, she'll take you home."
Lottie grimaced. "I have to put up with you the whole way?"
"You could walk," he suggested. "In fact, please do." He swept away, looking rather like a bat.
"Er… Happy Christmas!" Lottie called, then took off after him. "Severus, damn your greasy hide, wait up!"
Lily, Abigail and Molly went through the barrier together, and into a crowd of parents, quite cleverly arrayed so that the barrier would be invisible to anyone else. Abigail looked torn for a moment, then smiled faintly at Lily. "Happy Christmas," she said, but didn't hug her. Two tall men dressed all in black had already picked up her trunk. She followed them away without greeting, and the crowd closed around them.
"I wonder what-" Lily didn't get to finish her sentence, for just then, she caught sight of grinning faces and two heads of bright red hair. "MUM!" She flew into her mother's arms, ignoring Brenna and (why did she have to be there, anyway?) Petunia as her mother picked her up and hugged her tightly.
"Lily! Oh, I missed you…" She pulled away, kissed both her cheeks, and promptly teared up. "Oh baby, you're even prettier than you were before."
Petunia snorted softly. Lily ignored her. "So're you, Mummy," she said. She grinned at Molly, who was getting the same treatment from Brenna. "Hello, Mrs. O'Malley." She looked disdainfully up at her sister, who had grown yet taller. "Oh, Petunia. I didn't see you there." With a bit of a smirk she had picked up from a few of the Slytherins despite herself, she linked her arm with her mother's. "Mummy, I'm so glad you came to get me!"
"Well, my little girls are important to me, even when they are being very unkind to each other," Alanna said cheerfully. Brenna snorted, then pointed at the trunks and muttered something. They promptly vanished. "Now then, I'll bet you're hungry."
"Yes!" With a grin on her face, Lily grabbed Athena out of the air, settled her on her shoulder (with glares aplenty from the direction of Petunia) and asked, "Where are we eating? Are we staying in London tonight then?"
Brenna shook her head. "No, actually, we'll catch something in a café, and then we'll go home."
"But… it's so late!"
Alanna grinned. "Watch."
"I quite amazed her with my resourcefulness earlier," Brenna grinned. "Pity Petunia slept right through it."
"I hope I sleep through it again," Petunia grumbled. "Abnormal insanity, all of it just-"
"Now, Petty, be nice," Alanna admonished. "Come on, girls. Let's get some hot soup in us, shall we?"
Over a hot meal in a small café just outside the station, there was laughter, stories, and jokes. Despite Petunia's obvious dislike and distrust for all things magical (thus, the other occupants of the table), she certainly didn't want to upset her mother, so she behaved to a point. It meant she was unnaturally quiet, but that was all right by Lily, who chattered away about her friends, her lessons, and her intense dislike for the pranksters of her school. "We tied in finals, can you imagine?" she told her mother. "I didn't think someone that… stupid… actually studied. But we tied for second place behind Abigail, and even though I think it was just dumb luck, I'll just have to work harder, anyway. I've got the highest Charms mark in the year, in any case."
Alanna just laughed. "I'd like to meet this James Potter of yours someday, Lily."
Lily blushed furiously down into her napkin. "Mummy! How can you call him 'my' anything? He's cruel and careless, and he makes fun of my hair and of my temper-"
"Well, you have my hair and my temper," Alanna said with a grin. "Irish to the bone. He'd be a fool if he didn't notice it."
"He's horrid, Mummy."
Alanna smiled the kind of smile which clearly stated she knew something that her small daughter didn't. "Of course he is, darling."
"Ready to go?" Brenna asked, returning from the counter where she had just paid the bill. "Let's get going, girls, or we won't be home for afternoon tea after all."
Alanna grinned like a child anticipating a treat. Petunia winced and tried not to look scared (she managed to look like she had a bad stomachache). Molly and Brenna looked nonchalant. Lily giggled and grinned.
They walked out of the café, and Brenna led them around back where the trashcans stood in the small alleyway and there were no people at all.
"What-" Petunia said uncomfortably.
Brenna lifted her wand to the sky. There was a bang, and then, "Is that a purple bus?" Lily asked, eyes wide. "And where did the wall go, Mrs. O'Malley? It's just gone! What about the people inside the café? What happens to them if half of it disappears?"
"I don't see any bus," Petunia said.
"Of course you don't," Brenna said. "Wait just a moment."
Lily blinked. There was a purple bus where half of the café had been. The door opened. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, transportation for the stranded witch or wizard," intoned a bored voice from inside. "I'm your conductor, Barry Carlson. Please come in and make yourselves comfortable." He looked down and his wrinkly face split into a grin which seemed to hide his eyes in the folds of his face. "Hiya there, Miz O'Malley. You just get prettier every time I sees you."
"Barry, you flatterer, I've got five. Two Muggles again."
"Mummy, who's she talking to?" Petunia asked fearfully. "I only see the wall! Why is she-"
"Hush, Petty," Alanna said. "You slept through this last time. Just wait a minute."
"Mummy, I'm cold!"
"You keep bringing them Muggles on my bus, I'm likely to get in trouble, you know, Miz O'Malley."
Brenna smiled charmingly. "One last time, Barry, please. Alanna missed her little girl too much for me to just leave her at home while I picked her up. Hogwarts, you know."
He nodded. "Well, seeing as you won't let up, get on in. And I'm the first to appreciate motherly feelings, but I won't have that little tow-headed one making a fuss. She looks like she's about to."
"Petunia will behave," Lily grinned. "Otherwise, I'll have to do something drastic to her. I've learned all sorts of dangerous and entertaining things from my best friend at school."
Brenna shook her head, laughing. "Lily, do remember that there's no magic allowed outside of school. Come on, Alanna. Bring Petty over here; let's get her on the bus."
Petunia, being Petunia, protested. "There's nothing here!"
"Just step up, honey," Brenna coaxed. "There's a step right here."
"There isn't either!" She looked revved up for a good fit.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Brenna sighed. "Have it your way. Mobilicorpus!"
Petunia shrieked as she lifted into the air, then floated into the bus. As soon as she was through the door, she stopped struggling. "Where did this come from? This wasn't here before!"
"Step up, Alanna," Brenna said. Alanna, unlike her oldest child, stepped willingly onto what appeared to her to be thin air, and in short order, all of them were on the bus, Molly and Lily following them, Brenna paying the fare once again.
"Take the beds near the back," Barry instructed. "It'll be a bit before we can get over to Ireland. I've got a couple to take over into Yorkshire first."
"We'll be all right," Brenna said, shooing the little group to the rather comfortable-looking beds at the back of the bus. They spent a minute shaking out their cloaks and coats. The snow vanished the moment it hit the floor, and soon they were dry and warm.
"Ready to go?" Barry asked.
Brenna nodded.
"Let 'er rip, Charlie." This was obviously directed at the driver behind the partition.
They settled down, Petunia looking as though she expected her seat to disappear out from under her at any moment. The bus shook violently as the alleyway vanished. Petunia fell off of her bed.
Lily sniggered. "I love being a witch." The bus rattled again, and Petunia barely managed to stay on the bed, where she had just managed to climb between tremors. Grinning, Lily leaned back, holding onto the headboard for balance, feeling quite on top of the world. Christmas was going to be wonderful.