This Time Around

Sequel to Lily Evans

by Dorthey Star

Chapter 6: The Bones

            For Savannah just because.

"I have never had a vote and I  have raised hell all over this country. You don't need a vote to raise hell; you need convictions and a voice!"

-- Mother Jones, 1914

            "What happens when someone fails their final exams?" Lily asked Maria as they were walking alone the lake one day in early March, a week before the next Quidditch match.

            "I dunno. I don't think it's actually happened before," Maria said thoughtfully. "I guess they stay in that year. Why?"

            "Oh, no reason. I just always wondered," Lily said nonchalantly.

            "You want Peter to fail…am I right?" Maria said, a sly grin appearing on her lips.

            "Actually, no," Lily said, looking surprised. "I can't believe that thought didn't come in to my mind."

            "I'm surprised it didn't, too!" Maria laughed. For the past four or five months, Lily had been trying to figure out ways to deal with Peter.

            "Erugh! Who are we playing next Saturday?" Lily changed the subject as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her bronze colored cloak.

            "Slytherin," Maria sighed.

            "At least Malfoy isn't on their team anymore."

            "Yes, according to Hauffle the Awful, he's the best Quidditch player Hogwarts has seen in a long time," Maria said sarcastically.

            "Who took his place?" Lily asked.

            "Their Quidditch team is David Anderson, Edward Lewis, and Greg Davis are Chasers. Ellis Wicks and Ange Goodrich are Beaters and Ange is captain. Olivia Brookes is seeker, and Jennifer Sims is Keeper," said a cheery voice from behind them. Maria and Lily turned around simultaneously to see Sirius standing behind them with his usually goofy grin on his face.

            "Oh, its you. I thought it might have been someone important," Lily said and started to turn around to leave, but Sirius spoke first.

            "I have some news for you that you might enjoy hearing," Sirius said.

            "Oh, and what is this? Is James moving away?"

            "Nope. It's about Peter." Sirius said carefully, knowing this was not the topic to be discussing with Lily.

            "I don't want to hear it." Lily said stubbornly.

            "Yes you do," Sirius insisted.

            "If you are telling me for the hundredth time that-" Lily started, but was cut off by Sirius.

            "Peter doesn't like you anymore," Sirius said cheerfully. Lily stopped in mid-step and mid-sentence.

            "What?" she asked, hardly being able to believe her ears.

            "Peter. Does. Not. Like. You." Sirius spoke slowly as if he was talking to someone a few cards short of a deck.

            "Now you don't have to drown him, Lily!" Maria said, sounding as relieved as Lily felt.

            "Drown poor Peter? You wouldn't!" Sirius said, sounding shocked.

            "I wasn't going to you twit!" Lily said rolled her eyes. Suddenly, it started to snow.

            "Great," Maria moaned. "The Quidditch match is either going to be canceled or we'll have to play in this weather!" At that moment, James came running out of the castle just as the winds picked up and it started to snow harder.

            "Maria!" he called. "They're having a meeting. All the Quidditch players in the Great Hall!" He ran up to them.

            "Right now?" she asked.

            "Yes!" he said, adjusting his cloak to make him warmer. "Hey, weren't you supposed to get a plain black cloak?" he asked her.

            "Yeah, but this one was so pretty…besides, I have a black one. It doesn't mean that I wear it all the time," Lily said. James and Sirius exchanged a shrug and Maria and James headed back to the castle.

            "You weren't really going to drown Peter were you?" Sirius asked, trying to make conversation as they continued to walk by the lake.

            "What do you think?" Lily asked dryly. Then, she asked, "Do you think they'll play Quidditch if it snows a lot?"

            "I dunno. I mean, the only thing they use to ground for is to kick off of and to land on. I guess it really depends on what the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams want." They lapsed into silence again. Lily shook her hair to get the snow off of it.

            "We should be getting back inside, Si," Lily shivered.

            "Yeah, you might be seen wearing non dress code clothes and get, the horror of it, a detention!" Sirius gasped in mock horror.

            "You shut up, or I won't help with your illegal acts," Lily said smartly and Sirius clapped a hand over her mouth.

            "If someone hears anything about that, we'll get expelled for sure!" Sirius hissed into her ear.

            "Sorry." They walked along in a comfortable silence until they reached the castle. Then Lily spoke again. "Hey, Sirius, I'm really sorry for avoiding you and Remus, but I really couldn't stand anymore of that taunting," Lily sighed.

            "I understand. What about James and Peter? Did you not miss their company, too?" Sirius grinned. Lily was about to explode on him, but she caught the smile in his eyes.

            "Oh yes, I was just languishing over it," she said sarcastically.

            "You want some hot cocoa?" Sirius asked.

            "Sure, but where-" Lily started, but was cut off.

            "You'll see," Sirius said mischievously.

            "Where, Sirius," Lily demanded, "are you taking me? Tell me!"

            "Trust me," he said slyly.

            "That is something I've never done," Lily said in a cynical tone of voice. Then after a moments thought added, "but it's possible I might someday…in the far off future, of course." They walked in silence, except for Sirius humming some song, until they reached a large picture of a fruit basket. He reached up and tickled the pear. Lily was about to ask what he was doing when a doorknob appeared. Sirius opened the door and there was the kitchens. Hundreds of tiny creatures were hurrying about.

            "House elves," Sirius said and stepped into the kitchens.

            "I know what they are, twit. I read about them in a book once," she informed him.

            "Sirius Black," one house elf said excitedly.

            "They know your name?" Lily asked with one eyebrow cocked.

            "Sirius Black and James Potter are always here," Sirius said, mimicking a house elf.

            "Three meals a day at this place aren't enough for you two elephants?" Lily asked giggling.

            "Nope," Sirius said, then he turned to the nearest house elf, "Hot cocoa." The house elf rushed away and returned with two steaming mugs a second later. Lily sipped hers contentedly. The cocoa was perfect; it had just the right amount of flavor and it was neither too hot nor too cold.

            "House elves come with large manors, right?" Lily asked Sirius.

            "Yup. Jamie's  family has a couple of them. The Malfoy's have some, too," Sirius said.

            "What about your family?" Lily asked, fascinated.

            "We used have one, but Mum let it go when she was fighting with Dad. It was funny, really. Its name was Bauble or something like that. Mum gave it her silk blouse that Dad brought from Muggle Paris for her. She really regretted it later."

            "Why did she give it the blouse?"

            "In order to let house elves go, fire them in other words, you have to give them a piece of clothes. That's why all the house elves you see here are wearing tea towels. Once they are given even a sock they're free to go. They have very powerful magic." Sirius concluded. Lily nodded.

            "There's just so much to learn about the Magical World. I think I shall always be ignorant about some things," Lily sighed.

            "Ignorant?" Sirius asked.

            "It means uninformed. If you are ignorant on a subject, then you are uninformed about it, you know nothing about it," Lily explained.

            "Too bad you couldn't be ignorant about Voldemort," Sirius said darkly.

            "What did he do now?" Lily asked. She had been cut off from the magical world all summer and over Christmas break.

            "He's killed more people. The Bones this time. Angelica Bones and Paul Bones were two of the most powerful witches and wizards in the world. They had a little girl named Caitlin. She was just a few months old. Angelica and Paul…I knew them, but not that well. You see, they are- were- James's aunt and uncle."

[Untimely Author's Note: you know, I almost cut the story off here and left it at a cliff hanger, but then I'd have to snap my pen in half and it really is a nice pen…a blue one with a grip. Ergo, I will continue….]

            "His aunt and uncle?" Lily gasped.

            "Yeah. Angelica was James's mum's younger sister. But Mrs. Potter and Angelica never got along. They hated each other. The only good thing about Paul was that he didn't go over to the dark side. I supposed that the only reason he didn't was because he like Mrs. Potter too much. Every time they were around, he tried to seduce her. I remember that from one of the few time I met him. I never saw Caitlin."

            "Poor James," Lily said, not caring that she was feeling pity for her enemy, "He didn't even let on that part of his family was killed."

            "I guess he doesn't want too many people to feel sorry for him. If he finds out that I told you, he'll kill me," Sirius said cheerfully as they finished off their hot cocoa.

            "Well, I for one will help keep his life normal by ignoring him as usual," Lily declared as they walked back up to Gryffindor Tower. When they got inside the Common room, James and Maria, along with the other members of the Quidditch team, were sitting by the fire, all with grim looks on their faces.

            "David Anderson quit the team. Apparently, Malfoy had a younger sister. Her name is Lucinda. She's the new Chaser." James said.

            "Lucinda and Lucius. Ha. That's kind of…cute in a way. So what's this got to do with anything?" Lily asked, forgetting that she was supposed to be ignoring James.

            "Nothing, really. He just is disappointed because the moment we walked in, he said 'Whoa, she's pretty!' then he found out she's a Malfoy and a Slytherin. It broke the tiny heart I'm sure he has somewhere inside there…deep down," Maria said perfectly cheerfully. James only glared at her. Lily and Sirius sat down on the couch between Maria and James's chairs.

            "So are you playing tomorrow?" Sirius asked. Shadow jumped up into Lily's lap and she stroked her, causing the cat to purr loudly.

            "Unfortunately, yes," Maria said and sighed, remembering why she had been so upset in the first place.

            "Bloody Slytherins," James muttered.

            The day of the match dawned white and cold. There was no wind to speak of, and it had stopped snowing. The sun was out and bright-that could be good or bad. Lily didn't want to get out of bed. The sheets had become magically warm, and Shadow was curled up right against her, making it very comfortable indeed. But Lily knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep in. Just as she predicted, moments later Maria pulled apart Lily's curtains to wake her friend up.

            "Wake up, sleepyhead!" Maria said cheerfully and then sat down in front of the mirror to take down her curlers.

            "Do you ever go a day without those curlers?" Lily asked, yawning as she got up.

            "Nope. Nobody here knows what I look like with straight hair. I like my hair curly better, but my mum won't make it permanent. She says that using magic on looks is just a waste of perfectly good magic, so I'm to do it the Muggle way, with curlers."

            "Why don't you just get a perm?" Lily asked as she got dressed.

            "A perm? What's that?" Maria asked excitedly. Ever since spending Christmas with Lily's family, she was very interested in Muggles and Muggle things.

            "It's where chemicals are put in your hair to make the curls permanent. Petunia got a perm once. Curls didn't suit her at all," Lily said, shuddering from the memory of it. They finished getting dressed and walked down to the great hall in silence. They took seats across from James and Sirius.

            "Perfect day for Quidditch, eh, Lily?" Sirius grinned, earning himself a glare from both Maria and James.

            "I love the winter, don't you, Sirius? All the snow and wind and coldness…" Lily said, catching on to the game.

            "C'mon, Maria. We don't have to take this," James said, standing up. He and Maria left the Great Hall while all Lily and Sirius could do was laugh hysterically.

            "It's about time for the game, Si. We should head on down there," Lily said after they'd been eating in silence for a while.

            "Okay. You gonna sit with me? Remus is sick, and Peter is boring company," Sirius said.   

            "Sure." The two got up and walked out of the castle and down to the Quidditch pitch. Lily wrapped her Gryffindor colored scarf around her as the cold wind hit him.

            "You know, Sirius, I do feel sorry for them, having to play in this weather. It's freezing!" Lily said, her teeth chattering, as they sat down on the seats that had been magically warmed.

            "I know. At least they'll both be moving around a lot. Maybe it'll warm them up," Sirius said. 

            "And their off!" yelled Trevor Bell, a sixth year Hufflepuff that was doing to commentary (Professor McGonagall had forbidden Sirius from doing it again until he was "more mature" as she put it). "Slytherin in possession, Malfoy to Lewis, Lewis back to Malfoy. Malfoy attempts a score and SAVED by Douglas! Gryffindor in possession. Potter to Lemmings, Lemmings to Jennings. Jennings attempts and SCORES! 10-0 Gryffindor. Slytherin in possession…" Lily stopped listening to the commentary and just watched the game. An hour and a half later, Kate Lynn caught the snitch and Gryffindor won, 380 to 140. Lily and Sirius, after screaming wildly and hugging each other, ran down on the field to meet James and Maria.

Disclaimer: you know what's mine and what's JKR's right:? Right.

Author's Note: yay! I finally finished it! I figured I owed it to you. I mean, I haven't uploaded in so long…anyways. I'm getting tired of writing Quidditch matches, you know? They get boring after a while. I guess you could tell I was tired of writing them with this one, no? Also, I'm very disappointed that no on noticed a major error. I said that Lucius's dad was Prof. Hauffle's son, right? Well, it couldn't be because her last name should be Malfoy then. Well, we're going to pretend that Hauffle had remarried, k? k. Puhlez review? Also, if you have any good Draco/Hermione or Draco/Ginny fic suggestions for me to read, I'm all ears! Er, eyes? Ta ta!