Chapter 14
The Funeral
After Kayla, Sirius and James returned from the Evans', they seemed to be mellower than they had ever been; barely pulling pranks on the Slytherins, or anyone else, and they were actually quiet! The whole school was starting to worry at their silence. And Lily Evans was missing too, what happened to her?
The school was abuzz with speculation when they heard Kayla Cameron being appointed Quidditch Captain for the Ravenclaw team. Many people were wondering if there had been a fight between the two best friends and maybe Lily moved away? But what was with Kayla hanging on Sirius Black? Were those two dating?!
For their part, the Marauders, Kayla and Aria ignored the rumors that people confronted them with in the halls or at meals, and tried to live their life, always holding their breath in anticiapation when Lily's letters came, which now, a month after she had gotten the first letter, were every other week, waiting for the news that Nicholas Evans was dead.
Christmas decorations were up, and people started to get in the Christmas mood, but the five friends found it hard to, knowing that one of their friends Father was sick. It was even harder for James, Sirius and Kayla, for Nicholas was the one who showed them what Christmas really was. He showed them the beauty of the season, the joy in giving, and the meaning of the season.
"It feels weird," James commented one day as they all sat in the Gryffindor Common – Kayla and Aria there because they didn't want to go back to the Ravenclaw Common room just yet. "Having Lily gone."
"Yeah, it does," Kayla sighed as she leaned into Sirius' chest and looked around at her friends.
Aria and Remus were sitting on the couch curled up together with a red blanket wrapped around their bodies, and Aria had curled her feet under her body as she snuggled closer to Remus. James was sitting in a armchair close to the fire, staring at the flames endlessly, thinking about Lily probably, and Kayla was sitting in between Sirius' legs, leaning against his chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms secured around her waist, and his chin resting on her shoulder, looking at the fire too.
"You know what I noticed?" Sirius asked, speaking up for the first time in the past couple of hours.
"What?" Remus asked as he petted Aria's hair.
"It doesn't feel like Christmas," Sirius said. "Not with Lily gone, and us not planning on visiting the Evans' on Christmas day. No Nicholas to joke with, to tell us past adventures, or stories. No Hot Chocolate before the Christmas tree as we all sing carols before opening our presents. This isn't Christmas," he ended softly.
"I know. I'm not as close to Mr. Evans as you three are, but in the past five years, I've gotten so used to that, that it's odd not doing all of that this year," Aria admitted with a sad smile.
"Aradriana's right," Remus sighed. "All of you are right. This isn't going to be a Christmas for us. It just doesn't have that same . . . joy as it usually does."
"Yeah," the group chorused.
^*^*^*^*^
A week later, it was Christmas.
But this year, it was different. There was no Sirius slamming into the room screaming presents, making the girls hurry and get dress so that they could floo over to Evans' Manor and try to hurry the process of singing so that he could get to the presents, even though everyone knew that he really didn't care about them.
This year, Sirius walked calmly into the room, still in his blue and white plaid pajama pants, a white wife beater, and a dark blue terry robe, and sat on Kayla's bed.
Remus came in after Sirius, wearing much the same, except that his pants were red and green, and his robe was black.
Then James walked in, wearing the same thing as Sirius was except his shirt was a white long sleeved shirt. He walked in slowly and sat on Lily's bed before looking at everyone.
Kayla threw her covers off her body, gave Sirius a quick good-morning kiss, and walked over to James.
"I miss her too," she whispered as she hugged James.
"Nothing is the same this year," James sighed as he hugged her back.
"Yeah, true, but we have to realize that she wouldn't want us suffering right now," Kayla smiled ironically. She was giving off advice that she didn't want to follow.
"You guys just want to open presents?" James sighed as he looked at everybody.
"Might as well," a resigned Sirius sighed as he got up off of Kayla's bed and walked over to her, picking up the robe that was draped over her chest as he walked to her. "Here you go," Sirius smiled as he handed her the gray silk robe.
"Thanks," Kayla smiled back as she put it on.
They all decided that they were going to celebrate in the Gryffindor boys' room instead of the Ravenclaw Girls', because they didn't feel right about celebrating – if you could call it that – Christmas where they always did.
The group sat in a circle in the middle of the room with a pile of presents in the middle of them. They had always given each other their presents this way. Whether it be for a birthday or Christmas. They had never given their presents out in front of anyone else. None knew why, but it had become a tradition. One that was broken for the first time in their lives. At least in James, Sirius, and Kayla's.
"How about we start with presents from other people first," Sirius commented as he pulled Kayla closer to him.
The rest nodded, and did as he suggested. Then, they were down to the presents from each other.
"Wait you guys," Kayla demanded as she looked at the pile of presents. They all looked at her questioningly, and she explained. "Anyone else notice that Lily didn't send presents? I mean that sounds shallow, but she wouldn't forget a present if the world was ending."
"That's because I'm here to give them to you guys," a musical voice sounded from the doorway.
Kayla looked at James, whom was across from her, and he looked towards the door.
"Lily!" Sirius, Aria, and Remus yelled as they jumped up and ran to hug her.
Kayla and James got up slower than the rest and made their way over to her. Kayla walked up to her first, and hugged her with all her might. 'God I missed her being here so much,' Kayla thought as she backed away and let James have her.
Lily ended up sitting in James' lap because he wouldn't let go of her, and she giggled. 'It's good to hear that sound again,' Kayla smiled.
"Here, Pouncy," Lily smiled as she thrust a present in her way.
Kayla un-tied the orange ribbon, and ripped the silver paper, and gasped as she saw the matching pair of white tiger stuffed animals that appeared to be real because of their tendiacy to purr, curl into things, play with things, and snuggle with you when you sleep. "They're beautiful, thank you, Huntress," Kayla sniffled as she got up on her knees and embraced Lily in a hug.
"You're welcome. Here's yours Sirius," Lily grinned.
"What could it be?" he wondered as he took the heavy present out of Lily's grasp. Truth be told though, he didn't care. He was just glad that they wouldn't be ruing their tradition, and that they got to spend at least some of the holiday with her.
Lily, thank her intelligence, didn't put a ribbon on it, knowing that Sirius usually whined when he had to find a way to get the stupid things off, so all Sirius had to do was rip through the sparkling gold paper.
Sirius blinked in astonishment. "Lily!" he gasped in shock as he looked at his present in amazement. She had gotten him a bra!
"What'd she get you?" Kayla asked as she leaned closer to Sirius to get a peak, but he was too fast and moved the offending thing out of her view.
"Read the note you buffoon," Lily laughed, clearly enjoying the panic that flashed across Sirius' face as Kayla leaned even closer.
Sirius shot a glare in Lily's direction, and nimbly opened the note that came along with the piece of clothing.
Sirius,
Yes, I know that you are ready to kill me now, but before you do, keep in mind that this is Kayla's bra. I figured that you might want one.
Happy Christmas,
Lily
"Really?" Sirius asked gleefully as he finished reading the letter.
Lily smiled and nodded her head. "But there's more in there if you look underneath it."
"Wait! What'd you get on the top part!" Kayla demanded as she tried to get another look.
"Oh, nothing," Sirius told her before he looked at the bottom of the box and gasped.
"Wow. How did you get this?" Sirius asked as he took the black photo album with 'Kayla and Sirius' printed on the middle of the cover in silver calligraphy.
Sirius flipped through the pages, and saw pictures of the two of them from when they were only a few months old up to now.
"A lot of asking around," Lily said, and smiled when Kayla snatched the album from Sirius's fingers to look through it.
"Thank you, Lily Billy!"
"You're welcome, and don't call me that," Lily replied as she handed Remus his present.
Remus got three books on Mage magic, and two on the Dark arts from Lily, and a few other books from Aria, and Kayla, while James and Sirius gave him sweets.
Sirius got a gift certificate for Zonko's from Remus and James, and Aria gave him a broom servicing kit, and Kayla gave him a old-style pocket watch that had 'You have my heart forever more Black, don't hurt it. Love Always, Kayla.' That he automatically loved.
Aria received books from James, Sirius, Kayla, and Lily, but she received a locket that looked like a fairy from Remus.
Kayla received a pillow from Aria – Kayla has too many pillows for her own good, she loves them – that had a saying on it: 'One of these days that temper of yours is going to be your downfall young lady,' which is something Professor McGonagall is forever telling Kayla, and she got a humongous bag of candy from James, a gift-certificate to Honeyduke's from Remus, and from Sirius she got a ruby and diamond bracelet that had their names inscribe on the back.
James got a broom servicing kit from Kayla, a gift certificate from Aria to Zonko's, and a pile of books about Quidditch and techniques from Remus. And from Lily, he got a mahogany wood box from Lily that had the inscription, ' For a place to keep the memories of those you care for. I love you James, and I always will. Love Forever More, Your Lily.'
Lily got white Jaguar stuffed animal exactly like Kayla from Sirius, a bottle of her favorite perfume, along with bath salts, bubble bath, and bath gel in the same scent from Kayla, and she got a box of different kinds of smelly candles from Aria – Lily loves to light candles, and she blames it all on Kayla because of her fascination with flames and candles. Remus got her a gift certificate for Flourish and Blotts, and James gave her a glass music box that had the inscription, 'To the one who holds my heart forever more. Love Always, James,' inside the lid.
After their presents were opened, Lily didn't stay long before she had to leave.
But the group of friends decided that just because of her presence for at least two hours, their Christmas was a little better.
^*^*^*^
After Christmas came, Easter did, and then came May. During this time, the group started hearing less of Lily, then towards the end of May, they got the news that they had been dreading.
On May 21, Nicholas Evans died.
^*^*^*^*^
Kayla stepped out of the fireplace, and looked around the familiar Entrance Hall, then looked at her friends.
The house didn't feel the same.
Simultaneously, the five friends looked down at their black attire and brushed off the soot that had managed to get on them.
Kayla glanced up at James as she brushed the skirt of her long, black dress. "James," she whispered her voice hoarse from crying so much. "I think that you better be the one to go and see Lily first.
"I think," she broke off, her voice starting to crumble. Kayla took a deep breath, determined to finish what she wanted to say before she started to cry again. "I think that she'd appreciate it more if you were there to comfort her more than anyone else."
James looked up from his sleeves at the sound of his name and looked straight into Kayla's eyes. He nodded his agreement to what she had to say and looked gravely at the winding marble stairs that he knew led up to Lily's room.
He released a sigh and began walking towards them.
"I'm going to see Alexandra, okay?" Kayla asked as she made her way to the sitting room where she knew that Alexandra would be.
"Oh, God, Kayla," Alexandra sniffled as she enveloped Kayla, whom was like a second daughter to her, in her arms and cried.
Kayla clung on to Alexandra like her life depended on it. She had never felt so helpless, so weak in her whole entire life. Not even we she got raped. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't keep her feelings to herself, and she needed someone. For once in her life, she needed someone. She felt as if her whole world was crumbling beneath her feet, and if she didn't keep running, that she'd fall into a hole. Nicholas Evans had always been there for her, always comforted her. Always made her smile. He was her savior. And now, now he wasn't there anymore. Now, she had to start looking out for herself even more than she already did so that she didn't end up scorched.
"Why him?" Kayla choked, mourning the lost of the one man in her life who she had always loved.
"I don't know dear," Alexandra whispered, her voice hoarse from all of her crying. "But I need you to go up to Lily's room. It's almost time."
Kayla stayed in the room with Alexandra for close to ten more minutes before she headed up to Lily's room.
Kayla stopped in front of the door and just looked at it. 'What do I do now?' she wondered as she stared stupidly at the wood. Sirius had followed her up, but she hadn't noticed until he knocked on the door for her.
"Come in," a small voice sounded, and Kayla opened the door a crack and stuck her head inside.
"Lily?" she called out when she couldn't find her.
"Over here on the bed," the small voice sounded again. Kayla had never heard Lily sound like that in all of her life.
Kayla stepped away from the door, made sure that Sirius was following her, and began to make her way towards the bed, hoping that everything was how it was normally so that she didn't end up tripping on anything. 'Sirius,' she thought, 'can find his own way around, and trip all he wants.'
Kayla came to a stop in front of Lily and squinted in an attempt to see her. She sighed and walked over to a curtain and opened it an inch, just enough to let a ray of light into the otherwise dark room.
She then turned her attention back to her friend, her sister, and gazed at her. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, she had tear stains on her cheeks, but other than that and the pallor of her skin, she looked clean and proper in her knee length black dress with a square cut bust line, and two inch thick shoulder straps, black shoes, and her hair up in a French twist.
Kayla then walked back over to Lily, knelt before her, and laid her head on Lily's knees as she always had when she needed comfort from something.
"God," Kayla whispered as she felt tears prick her eyes again. She fought them, and when she was sure that she had won the battle, she stood back up and faced Lily again.
Lily looked at Kayla, and saw the tears shimmering in her eyes, the red, puff skin around them, and the deathly white color of her normally tan skin. She ignored the loud "omphf" that came from Sirius as he was still trying to find his way across her room, and concentrated on Kayla.
She was wearing a long, full-skirted dress that had a slit that went to mid-thigh on one side, a scoop neckline, and long fit sleeves. Her black, curly hair was in a low, sophisticated bun, and her feet, to Lily's shock, were incased in heels.
"Lily," Kayla said, and with that one word, she knew why Kayla had come here. It was time. It was time to go and say her final good-byes.
Lily started to cry again, and got up, leaning on James for help when he slid an arm around her waist and steered her towards the door. As they reached the door, Lily, without turning around, reached out behind her and waited for Kayla to grasp her hand.
As soon as Kayla's fingers twined with Lily's, Sirius put an arm around her waist, and they began walking down the hall, no one talked, and no one tried to talk. Lily and Kayla were silently crying, while Sirius and James looked at their black tux sleeves thinking about how much better things would be if Mr. Evans were there.
Before any of them had even noticed that they had begun to walk outside, they were inside of the small, intimate church that was placed on the grounds of the manor. They all began to make their way up front to the seats that had been saved for them. Lily sat next to her crying mother, and James sat next to Lily, pausing to kiss Alexandra on the cheek before sitting down. Sirius and Kayla sat down on the pew across from them along with Aria and Remus.
As soon as everyone took their seats, the priest begun the ceremony. It seemed like it took an eternity until he asked for people to come up and share their experiences with the others.
Lily went up first. She stood up shakily and made her way up to the podium.
"Even though God chose him to part,
He'll always be with us inside the heart.
He's not gone forever though;
We'll be with him again, this I know.
He's in a whole new world now,
And he'll send us, he'll show us how.
He'll show us how to live on strong.
He's in Heaven, where he belongs.
We'll never know why God chose him to go;
It was just his time and he let us know.
The angels were calling on him that night,
And he felt safe to give up his fight.
He's at peace now forevermore;
We have to remember he'll never again be sore.
He's not in any pain at all;
He's up in Heaven, standing tall.
Just one last thing before I end,
One last message I have to send.
I love you, Dad, with all my heart.
I always have, right from the start." Lily began, her voice breaking with the last two verses.
"My Father was everything to me, he was my role model, he was my friend, he was . . .well, my Father. I loved him, with everything I had, and I never thought that I'd love another like him until nine months ago, but that is neither here nor there in this speech.
"I remember when I was about twelve years old, I had just gotten home from school, and he was waiting for me by the door. He didn't even give me time to put my things away, all he did was pick me up, throw me over his shoulder and walk out towards the beach. Turns out that he only wanted to throw me into the water, but I remember just feeling like I was on top of the world for ten seconds before I hit that water. Then he came in with me, and that feeling returned. I knew, I knew that he loved me, that he missed me, that he'd do anything for me in that moment.
"He was always trying to protect me, save me from anything and everything, most commonly boys – which got on my nerves very often – and I really don't think that I ever got to thank him for that," she said, her voice starting to hitch with emotions.
"One thing that I am glad of though, is that the last thing that he had heard coming out of my mouth is, 'I love you so much Daddy, and I always will.' Some kids let their parents go and their last words to them were mean, or they left things unsaid, or they whished that they could have muttered those three words at least one more time, I'm not one of them. I know that he would come back from the dead and beat me silly with a frying pan if I ever even thought about wanting to change how things have already turned out. Wait," Lily said as an after thought. "Maybe I should think about it. Hear that Dad? Now, will you pop up with that frying pan now?" she asked on a sob, and received a few chuckles from some people.
"But anyways, my Father has to be the most . . . loving, caring, sweet, nice, decent person that I know. I will always remember sitting by the fire having a marshmallow fight with him because he decided that he wanted to steal one of my many pillows. And I will always remember him trying to suck up to mom when she caught us with marshmallows in our hair, in the fire, on the couches, everywhere. That didn't work mind you, but I remember the four hours that it took us to clean that stupid room up, and falling asleep in his arms when we became too tired to get up and move off of the couch. Those are the things that I've decided to remember about him, and I've decided to try to wipe out all of the memories of him shooing my boyfriends away, of him telling me no, and of him making me mad at him in any way.
"This speech might not have helped you get what I'm trying to talk about, so I'll tell you. You'll never in a million years, find another Nicolas Tristian Evans. If you do, please make sure that it is not my Father. Now, if it is, please send him back so that I can make sure that he learns his lesson.
"I do have one thing that I will always regret," Lily said after the chuckles died down, and everything became silent in the intimate and packed church. "I will always regret that he will never be able to play, and be able to teach my children what he has taught me. That, is something that I will always wish that I could change," she said, then broke down and cried as she sat back down in between her mother and James.
As soon as Lily sat down, Kayla got up and made her way up to the podium to talk. She looked at everyone in the Church, which was filled to the brim, and sniffled. He was loved by many.
"The first time I started to think of Mr. Evans as Dad was when I was about 10. I had been staying over with Lily and her family because my parents were on a trip, and this particular night, I was reading a book in his library. This was a place you quickly learned to stay out of unless you wanted to get your head cut off. But anyways, I was reading a book, 'Oliver Twist' to be exact, but I was having some troubles understanding some of the words. So Mr. Evans walks in and looks at me with his brow raised in a question that you just knew meant, 'What are you doing?' I smiled at him and asked him if he could help me finish reading that book, since I liked it and wanted to finish it.
"I thought that he was going to say no and get out of my library, but all he did was smile at me, walk over to the couch and sit next to me. He then threw his arm on the back of the couch, over my head, and told me to read. That night, I fell asleep in his lap reading. The next morning I woke up on the same couch, in the same position. It seems as if he had a fondness for falling asleep on the couches, for that was what he was doing.
"I remember just looking at him, and wishing that he was my Father, that just for once I could call him my Father." She whispered, but it was still heard due to the microphone that was on the podium. "He woke up, and I remember him looking at me, and before I could stop myself I had called him, 'Father'. I was so horrified! What would he do, what would he say? But, all he did was smile at me and say, 'I'd love to have you as a daughter. It seems as if you're here enough to be thought as one.' And ever since that day, that's what he has been to me. My Father.
"He might not have been the person responsible for my being here, but in many ways, he is my Father. He taught me how to love, he taught me right and wrong, he taught me everything worth knowing. And he saved me and sheltered me, and nourished me back to health in my darkest hour in my life. He is the one that I will always remember being there." She said as she swiped away the tears the insisted on falling down her cheeks and made her way back to Sirius, who kissed her temple and got up.
James, Sirius, Remus, Richard – Mr. Evans friend, William- Sirius' Dad, and James' Father Michael, all stood up and walked over to the coffin and lifted it up. As they walked down the hall, people began to file out of their seats and follow. Lily, Kayla, Alexandra, and Aria being in the lead.
As everyone reached the gravesite, the tears became heavier, the sobs louder, and the gloomy atmosphere gloomier.
As everyone said their last good-byes, the clouds began to come in and drip rain on the occupants around the grave. Slowly, one by one, friends and family began dropping flowers by his coffin. Then, as a team, Tiffany Potter – James' Mother, Lily, Alexandra, Kayla, Aria, and Dianna Black – Sirius's Mother, all walked up to the coffin itself, looking almost as if this was planned before hand, and placed a single flower on it.
Lily's was a single white Lily.
Kayla's was a white tulip.
Aria's was a sprig of Lavender.
Lastly, the respected Mother's all held a vibrant red rose and placed it on the coffin and Alexandra then withdrew another rose, this one white and laid it upon them also.
With this done, the lady's stepped back, one by one into the arms of loved ones.
Everyone watched as the coffin was slowly lowered to the ground, then just as slowly started to leave. Soon, the only ones left were Kayla, Sirius, Lily, James, Aria, Remus, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Alexandra, Mr. and Mrs. Black, and the couple who had remained quiet the whole time, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin.
They all looked down at the newly turned ground and then back up, into the eyes of others before turning as a group for the house.
^*^*^*^
Authors Note:
Hello people!
I'm sorry that it took me a while to get this chapter out. But I had to keep on pausing as I was writing this chapter. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if my Daddy died. I'd be crushed. I kept on crying while I wrote this chapter. But it was meant to be sad, sorry. But you should be proud of me. This is 35 pages long!!! The most I have ever written.
That poem was not mine, but I found it in a book. It's called, "Dad," and it's by Katrina Eileen Kirk.
Well, I hope that you liked it! I added some things in here that aren't in 'Entranced, like the Christmas things.
Well, Review!!!!
Mistress del Mare