Chapter Six: A Christmas Crisis
Author's note: this was supposed to be all angst filled and sad, with Lily/James romance in it too. I'm getting off track and it's driving me insane! So here comes Mr. Plot again, say hello to him and I'll try not to kill him off. Thank you for the reviews, also! Very encouraging! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or anything related to it. I made up a few characters to add spice, but they aren't making me any money either.
Christmas Morning, Lily Evans woke up tired. It was cold out and she didn't particularly want to get out of the warm bed, so she shut her eyes tighter and rolled over, not bothering to find out what had actually woken her up in the first place.
"Lily." A voice called. Petunia? Ginger? Dad?
"What…leameelone." She said. Surely it wasn't time to get up yet, the room was still dark. She heard muttering, then again,
"Lily! It's Christmas! We have presents!" Christmas? Lily sat up, suddenly excited, and screamed.
James and Sirius were standing over her in their pajamas. James wore red striped flannel and Sirius matching blue striped flannel, neither was wearing a shirt. Both were very handsome, with a tousled just-got-up look. James didn't have his glasses and looked incredibly young, even Sirius looked younger, normally impeccably cool hair in complete disarray.
"G'morning." She tried to hug James, but was pulled unceremoniously out of the room and down the stairs instead.
"Presents first! Mum won't let us open them until everyone's down there. Of course she's taking her time getting dressed."
Sirius shrugged. He knew Mrs. Potter was taking her little bit of revenge on her impatient son by forcing him to wait. It was kind of amusing.
The living room was lit dimly in the early morning, the Christmas tree overflowing with packages. Lily sat down on the floor cross-legged with James and Sirius, and was reminded of when she and Petunia used to sit and wait for their parents, examining presents and guessing who got what. Times long ago, she thought wistfully. Petunia wouldn't be caught dead speculating anything with her sister, even on Christmas.
The second Mr. and Mrs. Potter appeared at the top of the stairs, James dived into the pile of presents and began unwrapping the first one he could find with his name on, tossing presents at the other two periodically.
"Wow, thanks Lily!" James had discovered her present, the shocking pink socks, and was putting them on happily. Lily laughed as he wiggled his toes. "They'll be perfect for Quidditch!"
Lily made her way through her own pile, smiling every second. She got a book called "Studying for Newts—the easy way" from Saraline, a collection of poison antidotes from Peter (home made from the look of them), a very good, warm, pair of gloves from Remus, and some more interesting prank tools from Sirius. Even her roommates Ginger and Morgan had given her some useful notebooks and some nice magical shampoos for ultra shine.
Lily opened a large package from her parents, and was pleasantly surprised to find a new set of dress robes, dark green and very finely made. They must be making up for not getting her any last year when she wanted them.
Finally all that was left was a letter from Petunia and a something that James was impatiently hounding her to open.
Lily:
This is not a gift to you, it is to Mother and Father. The only thing they wanted was for you to be invited to my wedding. So you are. Not by my choice, mind you, but because as mother said, you are my sister after all. Just promise you won't bring that boy. I couldn't stand for everyone to see you as one of them.
Petunia
Not bring James? One of them? Who were they?? Lily ripped the letter in half and threw the pieces across the room. Who ever said that Lily wanted to go to Petunia's stupid wedding?! That Vernon guy was so thick and stupid; she couldn't stand to think of watching him with Petunia for an entire wedding ceremony.
"Alright James!" Lily said finally acknowledging her boyfriend's persistent nagging at her to open his gift. He had obviously already opened all his, besides violent pink socks, he was wearing a new scarf, a shirt that said "Quidditch Captain" on it in large bold letters, and had numerous empty candy wrappers in with his other stuff.
She took the small box and opened it. She gasped.
It was a beautiful necklace, silver and sparkling, with a small diamond shaped stag pendant.
"Oh…." She fastened it around her neck and moved her nightgown down a bit to see it shine from her chest. "Thank you James! Hey—" she shoved him away so that he didn't have such a view of her chest, and smiled. "Its gorgeous. How did you get it?"
"Bought the stone and shaped it, darn hard it was too, seeing as that charm to make diamonds soft was a pain, not the mention actually making it look like a stag."
"I thought it was a deer." She said, examining the pendant again.
"Stags are male deer, Lily." Sirius called. He didn't look as happy as he should on Christmas, maybe because his pile of gifts was smaller than the others, or maybe because he was reading something and was quite absorbed.
"Oh." She watched James look at his friend sadly. "Do you like your book?" she asked. He nodded, but didn't look up.
"C'mon Lily, lets go." James took her hand and led her to the kitchen. He gave his parents a disgusted glare as they fed each other chocolate frogs.
"Outside?" She asked.
"Yeah. It's not that cold."
"Yes it is!" but they stepped out onto the frosty back porch anyway, Lily warming her hands in her new gloves.
"I got some stuff to tell you." James said. "It isn't all happy either. I had to ask everybody, and they finally agreed, but that's part of the reason Sirius is put out. You're going to know some stuff that could put me and my friends in serious situations."
"What?" Lily knew that James, Remus, Sirius and Peter did things that weren't exactly morally correct, but would playful James ever really do anything that would make him so solemn?
"Well, it started with Remus. I asked him and he said I could tell you, so here goes. He's a werewolf."
Lily was silent, but her heart sank. Remus was the sanest of the marauders…the smartest, the nicest, the least troublesome…he was a prefect. She went over all the times she had ever talked to him. He was her friend, someone she cared for and trusted, she was even hoping that Saraline, her best friend would hook up with him…
"Don't let that change the way you see him, please Lily. He's still the same guy." Lily nodded, but tears swelled in her eyes. That was why he was always sick, why he didn't have many friends, why so many people hated him, why he was always a bit bitter at the world… "Poor Remus." She whispered. "He doesn't deserve something like that." James nodded in agreement, but he wasn't finished.
"Because of that, Sirius and I made a decision, and you may not like what you're going to hear. It is illegal and I could go to jail for it. I didn't think it would be such a big deal at the time…but now…" He trailed off, shook his head, and continued. "Sirius, Peter and I are illegal animagi." Lily gasped.
"What...?" Then her hand went to the pendant on her chest, and she whispered. "Prongs…" the miniature diamond stag poked her palm with its antlers. She put it all together.
"Well…I'm impressed. That's very difficult magic."
"I know," James grinned. "Peter almost got himself blown up multiple times."
"Is that all the news?" she asked. James shook his head.
"My dad is in the ministry. Lately, they've made a new department for defense, consisting of a lot of people allied with Dumbledore to defeat Voldemort. He's an auror, or a dark wizard catcher. As soon as I graduate I'm joining up with them, in an organization led by Dumbledore called The Order of the Phoenix."
"I…I don't know what to say…"
"You don't have to say anything. I know some others who are doing the same as me. Longbottom, for example. He'll be a valuable asset. And of course Remus and Sirius and Peter. Some of us…have already lost people to them. To the death eaters." Lily knew there was a danger, and that Voldemort wanted to "cleanse" the world of people like her, muggle born witches and wizards, but she had no idea that it was such a threat already. Sure there had been a few deaths and disappearances, but no one she knew personally or had ever met. James was silent for a second, and then grinned at her cheerfully.
"Don't worry about it though, okay Lily? I'll protect you."
Lily didn't look remotely like not worrying, until suddenly a magnificent stag appeared next to her where James had been.
"Oh!!" she exclaimed, but the stag didn't flinch or run away. It nuzzled her softly, breathing warm breath onto her neck, and then suddenly it was James again, holding her tightly.
"I'll always be here." He said. And Lily knew that he would.
Later that day there was a Christmas turkey, and everyone ate and ate until they were completely stuffed. It was, in Lily's opinion, better than the school food, and she told Mrs. Potter so. The lady blushed and smiled proudly until James asked her if she had had too much wine, when she glared at him angrily.
Finally it was time to go home, and Lily hugged everyone goodbye. Somehow the idea of Petunia seemed a bit more bearable with the little diamond stag around her neck, and she didn't dread it quite as much as usual. Besides, soon she would be back at Hogwarts studying for the Newts with Saraline and her friends; too busy to think about all the disturbing things she had heard about today. Mr. Potter drove her home, and James and Sirius amused her by telling embarrassing stories about each other, Mr. Potter putting in his bit every now and then.
They were almost like brothers, Lily thought wistfully. What was it that had made Petunia and her fight so often? She always assumed it was because she was a witch and her parents favored her, but really, the first of the Big Fights wasn't until Lily was in the third year and Petunia's boyfriend Roald came over and ripped her doll's heads off. From there things went downhill. Petunia began to yell at Lily, and Christmas after Christmas holiday her birthday was forgotten between Lily's homecoming and all her achievements. Lily assumed that this was because Petunia was a snobbish brat, (which she was) but could Lily have been nicer to her? No. She thought stubbornly at first, then…yes. Maybe. It didn't justify her sister's behavior in the least, but maybe it explained it. They used to be sisters, best friends like Sirius and James. And now? Petunia was forced into inviting her to her own wedding, and Lily wasn't even going to go.
Lily didn't tell her parents about Voldemort. She didn't think they needed to know to survive. She didn't want them to worry their heads off about something that they couldn't stop or help. She didn't think that it would matter in the least if they understood why she was anxious and worried. She decided then and there however, that she was going to do something about it. After graduation she would join Dumbledore in his fight against evil. Actually, from far away it seemed courageous and adventurous. That was what Gryffindor was all about wasn't it? It was every kids dream to grow up and be a superhero anyways. The happenings of he next few weeks changed her mind, however.
