An Unexpected Visitor

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I lazily got out of bed, and assuming it was early I sat in my window just staring out at the sky. It was hard to believe I was looking at the same sky as my mother, many kilometers away. The sunlight streamed in and danced along the wooden floor. I drifted into a state of serenity and peace, like I was back home with my mom and not in some cold castle with strangers.

"What are you doing there?"

I turned around to see the redhead brushing her teeth while rummaging through her trunk for clothes.

"Oh, I was just, ummm. I was just… oh nothing. I was just taking my time be- because it's so early." I said trying not to sound like a complete idiot on the second day.

"Time, yeah right. We have five minutes to get down to breakfast or we'll both be late. I would get out of the window and start getting ready if you don't want to get in trouble," said the redhead spitting into the sink.

I quickly got dressed and brushed my teeth. Even with our short time together I still didn't catch her name. Hopefully at breakfast I would. Maybe knowing someone's name would make me feel more accepted. I dashed out of the room after her. I was so glad to have someone to follow the Great Hall. I'm hopeless even in my own neighborhood, goodness knows how lost I'd get here!

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"There she is. Our little beauty queen. Did you over sleep or were you late stressing about your hair?" said a boy in glasses.

"Oh bugger off. I over slept that's all. I'm not the only one either," she said while nodding toward me.

Suddenly all eyes turned on me. It was the scariest thing of my life. It was like they all expected me to say something witty and creative, make up a reason why I was late as well.

"What's the big deal? It's just breakfast, who cares if we're late. Those bloody prefects didn't wake us up. If we get in trouble it's all their fault. They've got their heads so far in the clouds they can't even see down and give us 1st years a bit of help." I swear I was shaking the entire time I talked.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm James. This is Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Your fellow over-sleeper here is Lily. Wanna sit and join us for what's left of breakfast?" said James.

"Sure." I was so relieved. I finally knew some peoples names and they invited me to eat with them. My worst fears were over.

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After a grueling schedule of Potions and Charms we all went out to the lake to hang out. It was such a gorgeous day outside. I wished that I was with my mother, or at least people I knew better. Then maybe I could enjoy myself more. I sat quietly under a tree and took out my diary. I figured it'd be okay to write in it now if I wrote in invisible ink. One of the many trinkets I bought in Diagon Alley.

Dear Diary,

It's the second day and things are going well so far. I woke up late, but it turned out okay. I ended up learning a bunch of Gryffindor first years' names and found myself a group to hang out with. Potions if definitely the hardest class so far. How am I supposed to know how to make a sleeping draft? I heard all the Slytherins are really good at it, but it's only the first day of lessons so I don't know yet. Then came Charms. It was okay. Lily's really good at it. She knew a bunch of stuff that the teacher asked and it's only the second day! Of course I didn't say anything. I knew one answer, but I was too shy to raise my hand in case I got it wrong. I'll try to be braver; I know Mom would want me to. I'll talk to you later.

~Evelyn~

"Hey Evelyn, you wanna come hang out with us?" Lily yelled from a neighboring tree.

"Sure." I put away my diary quickly and walked over to them. Lily sat on the ground next to Remus while James and Sirius lounged up above them in the tree, showering them with leaves.

"So, we were just talking about our first prank. You have any ideas?" asked Remus.

"Not really, but I'll try to think of some." I said timidly.

"Well, we need something that will get us noticed. It's only the second day but we want to establish ourselves here," said James from the tree.

Just then a bunch of 3rd years walked over as Sirius jumped down from the tree branch.

"Hey Lily," yelled one of them.

"Hey Duncan!" Lily got up and ran over to her friend.

"How's my little sweetie?" Duncan said affectionately.

"Oh, just fine so far. I've had potions and charms. Charms was so much fun. I'm so glad I read some of our material over the summer to get ready. This year's gonna be hard," said Lily with a sigh.

"Charms should be no problem with you 'cause you have so many already," said Duncan with a smile.

"I just hope I can make it through the year," replied Lily.

Sirius was getting annoyed at the conversation and cleared his throat, maybe too loudly.

"Oh, hi Sirius. I didn't see you there," said Duncan coldly. "Well then Lily, I have to go. My friends and I wanna go visit the kitchens before late. See you 'round!"

"Bye Duncan!" said Lily.

"Bye," said Sirius.

"Good-bye Sirius. Have a great year if I don't see you sooner Lily," replied Duncan as he walked away.

"Well, that was nice. Him saying hi and all," said Lily as she settled back into a shady patch of grass under the tree.

"Did you even notice the way he was flirting with you?" said Sirius with a disgusted look.

"Guys, lets try to stay on track here. The prank? Anyone remember what we were talking about?" asked Remus sensing tension.

"Okay, so we need a prank that will get as noticed. A reputation. Not necessarily a bad one, but one that establishes us as funny guys who are still good at heart," said James as he climbed down the tree to sit on the grass.

"Yeah, you guys don't want Duncan beating up on you the whole year," Lily said with a smirk.

"I thought we'd try NOT talking about him this year?" said James not wanting to bring him up again.

I was sick of not knowing things and finally got up the nerve to talk, "Who's Duncan anyway?"

Lily and Sirius looked at each other as if to ask who should explain. Finally Sirius spoke up, "Duncan is one of the guys we know here. He's in his 3rd year, but we all used to be friends. We would all hang out together when we were younger. He was really cool. Then when he came here two years ago he just kinda left us. He made new friends his age and never talked to us again."

"Yeah, then a few weeks ago we all saw him in Diagon Alley when we were all shopping for supplies-" said Lily as she was interrupted.

"And he acted like a total prick to us," said Sirius.

"Oh stop. He's not that bad. He's always been nice to me," Lily commented.

"Yeah, that's because he likes you smarty!" yelled Sirius looking Lily straight in the eye.

"NO! Why would he like me? I'm 11 and he's 13, I'm not interested in guys let alone a guy I've known since I was 2! Maybe if he likes girls he should like one his age. But seriously, I don't even think he likes me, he just doesn't want to be mean to a girl 'cause it looks bad," replied Lily. "Look, I don't want to hear you bad mouthing Duncan. I think he is a perfectly nice boy who is just acting like a 13 year old boy should act toward an extremely thick 11 year old boy."

"Okay, so lets pretend that he doesn't like you. Even though it's extremely obvious he does. That shouldn't even matter, its also the fact that he's in another house in another year! I mean, you talk about him being 13 and us being 11, maybe you should spend more time with people your own age!" spat Sirius.

"Look here, just because we're the same age doesn't mean I have to be friends with you and not friends with Duncan. He might have left you, but I still cherish the friendship I have with him. As for age goes, we may be the same age, but right now you're acting 5 years younger!" yelled Lily.

"Guys, calm down. It doesn't matter. Lets get back to the prank," pleaded James.

"It does matter James. You weren't really there before Duncan left, so don't try and tell us it doesn't matter!" said Lily getting red in the face.

"Yeah James. There's so much about him you don't know. About what a scumball he is, that slimy little git. Don't tell us it doesn't matter. It does. She shouldn't feel the need to go to him!" screamed Sirius.

"Why can't you just get over yourself and talk to him! I'm sure he wants to be your friend again but is just to shy to talk to you," said Lily.

"Lily you don't know how it feels to have a best friend one day and as soon as you become friendly with another guys you lose your best friend. You'll never know how it feels. And then to have someone you consider a friend support the guys that hurt you so much, you'll never understand this," said Sirius.

"I might not know how it feels like but I do know what it feels like to be torn between two friends in a fight. Let me tell you, it sucks. Why can't you get over the past and talk to him like a human? Maybe you can even be friends again?" Lily said.

"NO! I can't understand you! How can you still think there's even a chance of the two of us being friends again?" yelled Sirius who was back to a heated argument instead of a healthy feud.

"I know you Sirius, that's how. I know how much you value friends. James never really replaced Duncan for you, you still miss him. You may deny it, but I know the real you," said Lily taking a step closer to him every time she spoke so they were face to face.

"I don't miss him! I never did and I never will. James, Remus, and Peter are my friends now. They're all I need. I don't need a friend who supports my enemy!" shouted Sirius.

With that Lily got up and walked away. Sirius just stood there and watched her walk away.

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I followed her all the way to the castle, but then she started to run once she was out of sight of the guys. I followed her all the way to our dormitory where she completely broke down.

She collapsed in a chair of the common room and cried for what seemed like forever. All I could do was sit there next to her and try to calm her down. It didn't work though.

"I can't believe him," she finally said through the sobs. "I didn't mean to offend him, I just want to be friends with Duncan. I just…" her emotions took over and she bawled for another ten minutes.

"I don't know what to do now. James and Sirius were my best friends. Now that Sirius hates me and James probably doesn't like me for hurting his friend, I have no one. Peter is just gonna go along with them too. Remus might talk to me, but it's a long shot. I don't know what to do," sighed Lily.

"Why don't we do something else to take your mind off it?" I suggested.

"Yeah, we can start on our work," said Lily half-heartedly.

"I can't believe Prof. Hasley gave us an entire essay on the first day. Does he actually think we even know where to find stuff on Root of Grandisin, let alone wrote a one and a half foot essay on its uses in the magical community. God, if all the other classes are this hard I'll have absolutely no free time at all." I said trying to get her to focus on something else.

"I know, I'm just glad we got to the library to check out these books right after class, if we had waited until now, they'd be all gone." Lily said opening and closing a few.

Finally after about half an hour of silence I got sick of the looming awkwardness and asked about the fight.

"I don't really know this Duncan guy, but it sounds like he didn't something really bad. If you don't mind my asking, what did he do?" I asked Lily.

"Duncan, Sirius, and I have been friends for a long time. I've known Duncan almost as long as I've known Sirius. Duncan and he were best friends, until James came along. And then a year later Duncan went to Hogwarts and everything fell apart. They didn't see each other very often and when they did James was there as well. Duncan had a hard time getting used to someone new in the group. Then he made some new friends at school and saw less and less of Sirius," said Lily

"So it was just a distance issue? No big fight, right?" I asked.

"Not exactly. After Duncan made new friends at Hogwarts and was finally getting to be okay with the situation a bunch of James's relatives were murdered. Not just a few, a lot. All he had left was his parents and his friends, especially Sirius. James and Sirius spent all their time together after that. James had to move a lot to avoid trouble and Sirius followed him around like a dog. Duncan just got jealous of having totally lost his best friend and left him completely," said Lily.

"Wow, I had no idea that happened to James. He seems so up-beat and carefree." I said thinking about how bad it must have been for him.

"It was hard for him alright, but he was nine so I don't think he realized everything going on then. He still had his parents, so he had someone. I still don't understand it all, maybe we will when we're older. He acted okay with it mostly. Of course he was hurt, and during the following months it showed. But he was just nine, so most of it didn't even register with him yet. I don't think it even has now," said Lily. "We all expected Duncan to be there for James as well, but I guess he was just used to having Sirius as a best friends exclusively. James wasn't trying to steal Sirius, he just needed someone and Sirius was the first to reach out. Duncan never explained to Sirius, that's why he gets so annoyed by it all. I tried to stay close with Duncan, and we have. He told me everything, but I can't tell Sirius. It's so hard knowing other peoples feelings and not being able to tell the person they affect the most. I'm sure if Sirius knew he'd apologize and they'd be friends again."

"Maybe if I tell Sirius. I don't know Duncan and he never told me I can't tell." I said with a devilish grin.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. See, Duncan trusted me with his feelings, so you can't tell anyone either. Promise?" asked Lily.

"Yeah sure. I don't want to get involved." I said.

"Come on, lets get back to the potions essay," suggested Lily.

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"The nerve of that girl. How dare she protect him! I thought she was our friend," exclaimed Sirius.

"Whatever guys, it doesn't matter. We can't exactly choose who she wants to be friends with," said Remus re-entering the conversation now that it was calmer.

"We can't choose for her, but I wish she'd make the right choice. Duncan is no good. I mean, what does he have that makes her want to be all defensive for him that we don't have?" asked Sirius.

"Awww, it seems that our young Sirius here has himself a little crush!" laughing James fell out of the tree right onto Sirius.

"No I don't! I just don't want our FRIEND to hang around the wrong sort of people. That's all," exclaimed Sirius.

"Guys guys, can we not argue like you did with Lily? Please, let's not turn into a bunch of 1st year girls 'You like him! No I don't! Yes you do. No I don't. Yes you do. No I don't'. Please guys; can we focus on some guy things? Like what our prank is actually gonna be?" said Remus insightfully.

"Wow, you do make us sound like a bunch of girls," said Sirius.

The many students who had also taken advantage of the cool fall afternoon were now staring at the boys. Remus's imitation of girls earned him some very disgusted looks from a bunch of 5th year girls and earned a bunch of laughs from all the guys.

"Guys I suggest we move inside to the dormitory seeing as many people have come and invaded out secluded area," James said.

With that the boys went off in the same direction as Lily and Evelyn to discuss their prank without distractions.

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Sorry for the long wait. I really mean it. I promise I'll have another chapter within the next week before I go to camp. So please review this chapter, it would make my day! =)