IMPORTANT NOTICE: READERS PLS READ! I am in need of a beta-reader. I love
writing but have trouble with grammer, comma's & quotations especially. I
am hoping to continue posting my stories on fanfiction.net but also on
Fictionalley. However my grammer is not up to par, and so I am asking my
faithful readers to please beta-read for me! You will get to read the
story first, you will get to make suggestions and help you devoted author
make this story better. If you want to beta-read for my Lily & James story
review and say that you want to and leave ur e-mail and I will get back to
you about it very soon! If I get more than one volunteer than I have no
problem having two beta-readers & I have started a Bellatrix story which I
wont start posting until I get a beta-reader for it. My Bella story wont
interfere with this one both fanfictions will be updated regulary but if
you want to Beta-read for my Bella story too or if you onyl want to beta-
read for that story make sure you say so in your review, Enjoy the chapter-
April
CHAPTER NINE: THE ORDER OF THE PHEONIX "Oh Lily! We are so proud of you!" My mom exclaimed as we climbed in the car to drive home.
"Its so wonderful to have a witch in the family." My father said appreciatively.
"Yeah, its great to have a freak running around." Petunia murmured so only I could hear.
"So tell us everything, Lily! What happened in school this year?" dad asked .
"Well there is this Lord Voldemort who has been killing people all year." I blurted out. To my astonishment my mom and dad laughed.
"Good one honey. Now what REALLY happened this year?" My dad asked still chuckling.
"Oh, not much." I said forcing a smile.
"You should invite one of your friends over sometime, Lo or Bernadette, you always speak fondly of them." My mother suggested.
"Good idea mum, they should be sending me owls soon." I replied staring out the window.
"Owls carrying mail...the wizarding world certainly is fascinating." My father said more to himself then anyone else.
"Yeah, the wizarding world is amazing." I said thinking about James. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Supper that night was a dull affair. Petunia kept sending me dirty looks. She was a year older than me and would be starting her final year at her high school in the fall when I would be beginning my sixth year at Hogwarts. After refusing a second helping of banana bread and vanilla ice cream I excused my myself the kitchen and bounded up stairs to my room. To my surprise Petunia followed me.
"Lily?" she asked and for once her face wasn't narrowed with dislike, but scrunched up in confusion.
"Yeah?" I asked motioning for her to come sit on my bed.
"Were you serious...about...about that Lord Voldemort?" Petunia asked looking a little pale.
"Yes, I was serious but I don't need to warn mum and dad, they have enough on their plate." I said.
"Would this Lord Voldemort ever want to kill you?" she questioned looking worried.
"When I become an auror." I said a faint note of pride in my voice.
"A what?" she said perplexed.
"A dark wizard catcher." I explained smiling and continued "That's what I'm going to be after school."
"Lily, isn't that dangerous?" she asked seriously.
"Yes, but, its worth it if I catch a death eater." and seeing her looking completely confused again I added "They are Lord Voldemort's followers...they do a lot of his dirty work."
"Well, just be careful all right?" she said briskly and stood up.
"I will." I responded softly as she shut the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Okay Lily, Petunia doesn't want her boyfriend to know about your wonderful gift, so no magic talk at the table, all right dear?" mother asked me as she set the table for the dinner when Petunia's boyfriend would be meeting the family.
"All right mum." I said lighting the candles.
"Why don't you just use magic?" Petunia snapped as I failed at lighting the match.
"Why don't you? Oh that's right you aren't magical..." I retorted annoyed. She stalked out of the room and I stared after her shaking my head. Blonde with pale blue eyes and horse teeth we looked nothing alike.
"Lily have you lit those candles yet?" Mum asked just as I successfully struck the match and added fire to each taper.
"Yes mum." I replied sitting down at the table wearing one of my nicest dark green dresses. Petunia was dressed in lilac and was despreatly trying to do something special with her stringy blonde hair. I couldn't have cared less how I looked and was only in nice clothes to keep mum happy.
"You look marvelous Petunia." My mother said offhandedly watching my sister frown at the mirror. Just then the door bell rang and Petunia jumped up so suddenly I thought she had sat on a pin. I heard muffled voices from the other room and then I saw Petunia's boyfriend.
"Everyone, this is Vernon Dursley." Petunia said staring at him the same way Peter stares at James. Vernon Dursley was tall and beefy with very little neck and the beginnings of a mustache...not good looking...not in slightest.
"Er...Its a pleasure." I said untruthfully. He responded in a curt nod and shook my fathers hand in a rather business like fashion and said "Good evening." To my mother.
"Vernon wants to work for grunnings drill company when he graduates!" Petunia said approvingly as mum served the salad and Vernon discussed drills (The most boring topic in the world) with my father. When we finally began the main course it felt as though I had sat through eight full course meals...that is how dull Vernon Dursley was.
"So Lily, what school do you attend?" Vernon asked me being awkwardly formal. I had absolutely no idea how to reply I sent a pleading look at my parents.
"Eton." Mum said at once.
"Oh really? Very good, very good." He said to me before turning back to my father to exchange racist jokes about Americans, Japanese, Polish, Irish and Germans while I picked lazily at my chicken wanting only to be excused.
"I'll serve the coffee and dessert!" I offered after mother had cleared the dinner plates.
"Thank you Lily!" mum said grinning as she sat down and eager for a reason to leave the table I went into the kitchen taking as much time as I could making coffee and slicing the carrot cake. I took everything out on a tray and sipped coffee and ate cake rather then join in the conversation, now about the uselessness of pets. 'Well look at the time. I must be going." Vernon finally said at half past nine.
"Thank you Mr., and Mrs. Evans, Lily." he said nodding as Petunia walked him to the door and up snuck upstairs before they could ask me to do dishes. Vernon Dursley had to be the worst person I'd ever met and thats including Snape, Avery and Nott...maybe not Bellatrix. Feeling as though the entire night had been a complete waste of my time I sat on my bed putting on my pajamas and didn't even notice the owl standing on my desk until it hooted as I was about to turn the light off.
"Hello Griffin." I said recognizing it at James's faithful owl. It hooted softly dropping a letter on my bed I opened it not sure what I should be expecting.
-Dear Lily Evans- How has your summer been? Mine has been good. Sirius is here he says "Stop writing the letter to Lily, she already knows your obsessed with her.." opps that was to me not you, sorry. Anyway I wanted to write to you to see how your getting along without magic? Because you see I would rather eat bubtuber pus than live with muggles, but I'm sure its different for you since you love your family. Have you told them about Voldemort? My parents are worried to death about me being an auror. I was wondering if you thought about me at all? You know what a great seeker I am, how cute I am...anything? Anyway send your letter back to me with Griffin, I told him to peck you if your response wasn't long enough, just joking...half joking. anyway write back soon. -James Potter-
Rolling my eyes at his letter I picked up a quill, dipped it hastily in the ink bottle and began writing,
-Dear James Potter- My summer has been all right. Tell Sirius he is and idiot. Your an idiot too, no I haven't thought about how cute you or or what a great seeker you are. I miss magic, but I can do without it, its better than eating bubtuber pus. I told my parents about Voldemort and they laughed they thought I was joking. I think they found the name "Voldemort" funny more than anything else. My sister, Petunia she is 17, was worried though, she didn't laugh anyways. I just had dinner with my family and her boyfriend. His name is Vernon and he wants to work for a drill company, need I say more? I'm guessing this letter is long enough seeing as Griffin isn't pecking me. Best regards, -Lily Evans-
I signed the letter and handed it to Griffin as I plopped into bed wondering about whether or not I liked James and whether or not It would be worth it to Kill Vernon just so I wouldn't have to listen to him whine about drills anymore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tap, tap, tap...
"Go away." I said groggily to whatever was tapping.
Tap, tap, tap...
"Leave me alone!" I murmured burying my face in the pillow.
Tap, tap, tap.
I looked up and saw an owl pecking at my closed window.
"If your griffin, I'm killing James." I said yawning as I opened the window. The Owl that flew into my room wasn't Griffin, but a handsome dark brown owl with shiny feathers and amethyst eyes.
"Hello, Beau." I said stroking the shadow family owl. He hooted softly stick out his leg. I pulled off the letter and sat on the bed glancing at the clock "3:04" thanks Bernadette, lets wake Lily up at three in the morning. I thought annoyed as I opened the letter.
-Dear Lily- The Order of the Phoenix is accepting underage trainees. It is the secret organization fighting against who-know-who They need more members! I want you to join up with me, I've sent owls to you, Haven, Lark, Lo, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter. Send return owl right away, if your going to sign up you will be needing to come to my house ASAP! -Love from, Bernadette-
I re-read the letter several times to make sure I understood it correctly. And then after reading it for the 11th time I felt a surge of emotion. Hatred to whoever had killed Bernard. Savage satisfaction that I could do something to help the good side. Excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, restlessness. I didn't want to be sitting here right now I wanted to be where the order was! Now! but I'd have to wait. I lay down on my bed eyes wide open and staring fixedly at the ceiling, I'd never be able to sleep tonight,or ever again! I could be a trainee! I wondered whether the rest of us would accept. I hoped so! I stood up and started pacing my muscles aching to rest but my mind racing faster than ever before. I could do something, I could play hero, risk my life, help the cause, catch a death eater! Oh I'd love to catch Snape or Bellatrix! All the things I could now do filled my head making it impossible to keep track of time and four hours until it was 7:00 flew by like 10 minutes and before I knew it it was 7:30 and I was fully dressed,packed and begging my mom to let me stay at Bernadette's I didn't explain why...she'd probably laugh again.
"Of course you can stay at your friends house, tell them to pick you up whenever they can, Lily darling." Mother said smiling and flashing her huge grin I ran up the stairs and write back to Bernadette
-I'm coming! Pick me up soon! SOON!!! Lily- I scrawled on the paper and handed my letter to Beau who hooted sweetly before flying into the clear blue summer sky.
"What's going on?" Petunia asked suspiciously. I tossed her the letter. She read and looked at me, was she worried?
"Be careful Lily." she said and then she walked out of my room. I didn't know whether to be happy she told me that or wonder if she wanted money or something. Either way I paced all day in my room until at long last Beau came soaring through my wide open window.
"Thank you Beau!" I said happily and tore open the letter my heart pounding madly in my chest.
-Lily, we will pick you up tomorrow, calm down. Everyone accepted and we will all be at my house getting our instructions in less than 24 hours. Get some sleep. Bernadette-
I laughed. Sleep? Hahaha like I could sleep! I wrote a one word reply "Great!!!" and sent it off with Beau.
I finally got to sleep at about 6 in the morning and when I stirred, opening my eyes yawning, sunlight was streaming in through my windows and my clock read 11:30. I never slept that late! But now that I was up I immediately dressed and double checked my packing, I was taking everything with me. I was finally going!
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" My mother teased.
"Your guests are here!" she added gesturing towards Mrs. Shadow and Bernadette standing by the fire place.
"We are traveling by floo, Lily, You have done that before to get to ours and Lo's house right?" Mrs. Shadow asked smiling.
"Yes, Mrs. Shadow." I said politely accepting the power she handed tome, and with a heave of my trunk and quick kissed to my parents and Petunia, I was standing in the Shadow family manor.
"Lily!" Lo said throwing her arms around me.
"Jeez, Lo calm down." I said grinning she rolled her eyes impatiently.
"I'm happy to see you! and even happier to get a chance to kick death eater ass!" she said standing on the balls of her feet, she seemed even more excited then me. Haven and Lark hugged me next and James opened his arms wide for a hug an instead I gave one to Sirius to stuck his tounge out at James.
"Welcome!" Mrs. Shadow said to us as she and Bernadette entered their foyer from the fireplace.
"Welcome." said another voice, this one male. Albus Dumbledor was standing in the door way smiling, a twinkle in his light blue eyes. My stomach fluttered with undesirable excitement. THIS WAS IT! IWAS GOING TO JOIN THE SECRET ANIT-VOLDEMORT ORDER!!!!! YAY!!!! Those thoughts were screamed inside my head on the outside I held my breath waiting...
"Come right this way." Dumbledor said leading us up a flight of lush carpeted stairs and into a tower room.
"You all are invited to enter training to prepare you for work in the order after Hogwarts." Duimbledor said and a wide collection of witches and wizards stood behind him. I recognized two of them as the Longbottoms whom Voldemort had tried to attack on Christmas. Another was the famous Alastor Moody, his slightly scared face and beady black eyes were very intimidating, he was an auror, one of the best. Ben and Betham, Bernadette's siblings who gave me a cheery smile, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, who had just become aurors and many, many others I didn't know, and HAGRID! I caught his eye and he winked at me smiling.
"Now being and order trainee, of sorts there are some tasks that require courage and a risk. You will not face the same dangerous you will come across if you decide to fully join the order after school, but it is dangerous all the same." Dumbledor explained.
"You will all take a separate assignment!" Moody growled.
"Yes, yes Alastor we will get to that in a moment." Dumbledor said quickly.
"Here is your chance. Leave if you don't want to join." Dumbledor said firmly pointing to the door. No one moved and inch. We were all in this together.
"Excellent." Dumbledor beamed at us.
"Lily, your working with the Longbottoms. James, your working with Hagrid, so are you Sirius. Lo, your with Gideon and Fabian. Haven, you will work with Emmaline Vance. Lark your with Deladus Diggle. Remus, and Peter your will be working with the Bones and Bernadette will be working with Alastor." Bernadette looked slightly perturbed by this. I tried my best to keep my face straight.
"Your guides will lead you into a seperate room and you will receive your instructions and training." Dumbledor said and vanished with a sharp CRACK.
"Well, your Lily aren't you?" Mr. Longbottom said smiling.
"Yes, that's me." I replied following them into a side room and sat on one of the comfy armchairs arranged by the fire. Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom sat down on either side of me.
"We are only three years older than you Lily, we know how you must feel. We were the same way when we became trainees right before our seventh year. Don't be nervous now" Alice assured me smiling.
"We are going to teach you a bit about magic. Occulmency (SP?), and how to block and stun and very crucial. We are in auror training as well so we can teach you some things we learn from that." Frank explained.
"You don't have any missions yet, just lessons. Can you stun?" Alice asked me giving me an encouraging smile.
"Yes and do the shield charm." I answered feeling a bit more confident.
"Great! Then we can start with the conjunctivitis curse and rictusempra curse. Conjunctivitis will affect your opponents eyes and the rictusempra curse will tickle them, a good way for you to get away." Frank said as we began our practicing. We worked for almost four hours before I managed to master both curses, and so telling me they were proud of my progress the Longbottoms disaperated and I wandered downstairs to see who else had finished with the days training.
"Hey Lily." James, Remus, Sirius and Lo were all gathered at Bernadette's kitchen table.
"Hey." I said grinning and sitting next to Lo, and across from James.
"This is pretty amazing, isn't it?" I asked sighing,
"It is." Lo agreed smiling.
"Think we can make a difference?" I asked frowning.
"We know we can." Sirius said with complete confidence...or arrogance.
"Hi!" Bernadette had just walked down the he stairs.
"Hey, Bernadette, how was your lesson?" I asked pulled out the chair next to me.
"Tireding, Moody is trying to see if I can resist the imperious curse and he put it on me like 8 times! I can't resist it though." She said miserably.
"Don't worry about it, very few wizards can." James consoled her.
"Yeah, calm down Bernadette." Lo agreed.
"Who is still missing? Peter, Haven and Lark?" I asked staring at the three empty seats at the table.
"Yeah." James scratched his head apparently deep in thought.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Nothing,' He said quickly flashing me a grin as a formation of owls swooped in the kitchen dropping a letter stamped with the Hogwarts crest on each of our laps. Holding my breath I stared at the letter and whispered what we were all thinking
"OWL grades." I pulled open the seal and took out the two letters. The first was a list of supplies I hastily pushed aside ad the second I opened and shut my eyes and when they were opened again they saw my grades and smiled "DADA-Outstanding, Potions-Exceeds expectations, Charms-outstanding Divination-Outstanding Transfiguration-Exceeds expectations Care of Magical creatures-Exceeds expectations Herbology-Exceeds expectations History of Magic-Exceeds expectations Astrology-Acceptable. A feeling of great accomplishment flooded through me I had received 9 OWLs.
"9 OWLs and three outstanding!" I said floating on air.
"7 owls and 2 outstandings." Lo said frowning.
"10 OWLS and 5 outstandings. Remus flushed with pride.
"9 OWls and 9 outstandings Sirius said lazily.
"9 OWls and 8 outstandings James smirked.
"8 OWls and 1 outstanding Bernadette frowned deeply.
"We all did great!" I said grinning so broadly I thought my face might crack. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I hate diagon alley. Its no where near as fun as Hogsmeade." Sirius complained the next week when we all went to get our school supplies.
"Just because it doesn't have a Zonkos, doesn't mean its a boring place to be." I said
"Your right Evans. Because it doesn't have Honeydukes or Zonkos it is a boring place to be," Sirius corrected himself.
"Your a prat Sirius." Lo said rolling her eyes as we entered Florish and Blotts.
"That hurts Lo...that really hurts." He said sarcastically, picking up "A standard book of spells grade 6"
"Hey James! Oh James its a quiddich book about famous seekers! I bet you'll be in a book like this one day!" Peter squeaked excitedly.
"Yeah, I bet your right." James said closing his eyes and envisioning himself in a quiddich book.
"Stop encouraging him, Peter. You keep this up and you will be the on writing the book about James." Sirius snapped paying for his new NEWT level text books.
"I have my books." Lark said getting inline behind Sirius. Haven followed suit and got behind Lark.
"Here Lily! I found our new divination books!" Lo said calling me over.
"Thanks Lo." I grinned and we all finished paying for our books before stepping out from the shops and into the warm sunlight.
"How about we go for ice cream?" Sirius suggested counting his change before adding "On me!"
"This is why we hang out with you Sirius." James teased flinging his arm around his best friends as we stopped at Fleoren Fresctue's ice cream parlor and sat down at one of the circular umbrella tables.
"I'll have one chocolate rasberry." Sirius said to the waiter.
"A peanut butter banana." James added promptly.
"A vanilla mocha with extra sprinkles." Peter licked his lips.
"Two Vanilla caramel swirls." Remus said smiling at Lo who nodded happily.
"A Strawberry peanut butter." Lark grinned.
"A Chocolate walnut." Haven said oddly wistfully.
"Um...What do you all recommend?" I asked unsure of what to get.
"We will have two peanut butter bananas." James told the waiter who nodded and walked away.
"You love the flavor, Lily." James assured me. I looked around at everyone else at the table and my eyes rested on Haven who was crying silently.
"Haven! What wrong?" I asked startled. Everyone else was staring at her too.
"J-Justin. He graduated a-and d-d-d-" she broke down completely and began to bawl.
"He dumped you?" Lo asked rolling her eyes as Haven's sobs intensified. I shot Lo a dirty look for being very unsympathetic. She just shrugged.
"Um, Haven every guy who have ever dated has broken up with you and you act this way every time! You think you would be used to it!" Lo said unhelpfully.
"Haven, he wasn't that great anyway. Now you can pick someone new!" I urged brightly. She sniffed and nodded as the ice cream came. James was right, peanut butter. banana was good.
"Like it?" James asked while licking his own.
"Yes, its surprisingly good." I conceded.
"I knew you would like it! Sometimes you just have to give things a chance." He said with a wink and I got the distinct feeling he was talking about more than just icecream. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Excellent work Lily!" Frank, oh i mean Mr. Longbottom praised after our last practice session a month later. I was due for my return to Hogwarts the next day so we finished the afternoon with one more new spell.
"You can continue training next summer, we will be delighted to help you." Alice, opps i mean Mrs. Longbottom said smiling.
"You guys are great teachers! One of you should teach defense against the dark arts. Last years teacher got killed by a mandrake in the greenhouse." I said sadly.
"No, we couldn't Lily dear. We're in auror training remember?" Mrs. Longbottom reminded me.
"Oh yeah...You two would still be great though. Do you know who Dumbledorr has hired this year?" I asked eagerly.
"Yes, actually we do know." Mr. Longbottom admitted.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"It's Gideon Prewett. Became an auror just last year with his brother Fabian, but Gideon agreed to teach for one year before returning to his auror duties." Mrs. Longbottom explained.
"Excellent!" I grinned.
"You'll like him. He knows his stuff." Mr. Longbottom said smiling.
"Oh Lily we almost forgot!" Mrs. Longbottom went into her bag and pulled out a wrapped little box.
"It's a gift to you. For being such a wonderful trainee. You have become like a best friend. We will miss you Lily." Mrs. Longbottom's pleasant round face was shining with happiness as I took the gift and unwrapped it. Inside the box there was a dark blue ring.
"It changes colors when there is danger...Its like an alarm bell ring. When it's royal blue, like that, there is no danger." Mr. Longbottom said smiling.
"If it's green you should be on the lookout. If is becomes orange or yellow prepare for an attack. If it is red your in mortal peril and if its black..."Mrs. Longbottom trailed off.
"I'm dead." I finished still smiling. I placed on the ring which still glowed dark blue and Mrs. Longbottom gave me a hug.
"Don't for get us Lily." she said pinching my cheek affectionately.
"I wont." I promised. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N:BETA-READERS!!! now you can review to be my beta! I explained all about it up top!! This chapter was pretty long, sorry it took it little longer than usual to update. I can't wait to start their sixth year. Now while LIly & James hook up in the 7th year does not mean that I can't add a little romance in the sixth year. I have things planned, trust me ;)~ I look foward to hearing from ppl who want to beta-read!!! pls respond!! READ & REVIEW! REVIEWS WILL MAKE SURE I POST THE NEXT CHAPTER AND POST IT SOON- April.
CHAPTER NINE: THE ORDER OF THE PHEONIX "Oh Lily! We are so proud of you!" My mom exclaimed as we climbed in the car to drive home.
"Its so wonderful to have a witch in the family." My father said appreciatively.
"Yeah, its great to have a freak running around." Petunia murmured so only I could hear.
"So tell us everything, Lily! What happened in school this year?" dad asked .
"Well there is this Lord Voldemort who has been killing people all year." I blurted out. To my astonishment my mom and dad laughed.
"Good one honey. Now what REALLY happened this year?" My dad asked still chuckling.
"Oh, not much." I said forcing a smile.
"You should invite one of your friends over sometime, Lo or Bernadette, you always speak fondly of them." My mother suggested.
"Good idea mum, they should be sending me owls soon." I replied staring out the window.
"Owls carrying mail...the wizarding world certainly is fascinating." My father said more to himself then anyone else.
"Yeah, the wizarding world is amazing." I said thinking about James. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Supper that night was a dull affair. Petunia kept sending me dirty looks. She was a year older than me and would be starting her final year at her high school in the fall when I would be beginning my sixth year at Hogwarts. After refusing a second helping of banana bread and vanilla ice cream I excused my myself the kitchen and bounded up stairs to my room. To my surprise Petunia followed me.
"Lily?" she asked and for once her face wasn't narrowed with dislike, but scrunched up in confusion.
"Yeah?" I asked motioning for her to come sit on my bed.
"Were you serious...about...about that Lord Voldemort?" Petunia asked looking a little pale.
"Yes, I was serious but I don't need to warn mum and dad, they have enough on their plate." I said.
"Would this Lord Voldemort ever want to kill you?" she questioned looking worried.
"When I become an auror." I said a faint note of pride in my voice.
"A what?" she said perplexed.
"A dark wizard catcher." I explained smiling and continued "That's what I'm going to be after school."
"Lily, isn't that dangerous?" she asked seriously.
"Yes, but, its worth it if I catch a death eater." and seeing her looking completely confused again I added "They are Lord Voldemort's followers...they do a lot of his dirty work."
"Well, just be careful all right?" she said briskly and stood up.
"I will." I responded softly as she shut the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Okay Lily, Petunia doesn't want her boyfriend to know about your wonderful gift, so no magic talk at the table, all right dear?" mother asked me as she set the table for the dinner when Petunia's boyfriend would be meeting the family.
"All right mum." I said lighting the candles.
"Why don't you just use magic?" Petunia snapped as I failed at lighting the match.
"Why don't you? Oh that's right you aren't magical..." I retorted annoyed. She stalked out of the room and I stared after her shaking my head. Blonde with pale blue eyes and horse teeth we looked nothing alike.
"Lily have you lit those candles yet?" Mum asked just as I successfully struck the match and added fire to each taper.
"Yes mum." I replied sitting down at the table wearing one of my nicest dark green dresses. Petunia was dressed in lilac and was despreatly trying to do something special with her stringy blonde hair. I couldn't have cared less how I looked and was only in nice clothes to keep mum happy.
"You look marvelous Petunia." My mother said offhandedly watching my sister frown at the mirror. Just then the door bell rang and Petunia jumped up so suddenly I thought she had sat on a pin. I heard muffled voices from the other room and then I saw Petunia's boyfriend.
"Everyone, this is Vernon Dursley." Petunia said staring at him the same way Peter stares at James. Vernon Dursley was tall and beefy with very little neck and the beginnings of a mustache...not good looking...not in slightest.
"Er...Its a pleasure." I said untruthfully. He responded in a curt nod and shook my fathers hand in a rather business like fashion and said "Good evening." To my mother.
"Vernon wants to work for grunnings drill company when he graduates!" Petunia said approvingly as mum served the salad and Vernon discussed drills (The most boring topic in the world) with my father. When we finally began the main course it felt as though I had sat through eight full course meals...that is how dull Vernon Dursley was.
"So Lily, what school do you attend?" Vernon asked me being awkwardly formal. I had absolutely no idea how to reply I sent a pleading look at my parents.
"Eton." Mum said at once.
"Oh really? Very good, very good." He said to me before turning back to my father to exchange racist jokes about Americans, Japanese, Polish, Irish and Germans while I picked lazily at my chicken wanting only to be excused.
"I'll serve the coffee and dessert!" I offered after mother had cleared the dinner plates.
"Thank you Lily!" mum said grinning as she sat down and eager for a reason to leave the table I went into the kitchen taking as much time as I could making coffee and slicing the carrot cake. I took everything out on a tray and sipped coffee and ate cake rather then join in the conversation, now about the uselessness of pets. 'Well look at the time. I must be going." Vernon finally said at half past nine.
"Thank you Mr., and Mrs. Evans, Lily." he said nodding as Petunia walked him to the door and up snuck upstairs before they could ask me to do dishes. Vernon Dursley had to be the worst person I'd ever met and thats including Snape, Avery and Nott...maybe not Bellatrix. Feeling as though the entire night had been a complete waste of my time I sat on my bed putting on my pajamas and didn't even notice the owl standing on my desk until it hooted as I was about to turn the light off.
"Hello Griffin." I said recognizing it at James's faithful owl. It hooted softly dropping a letter on my bed I opened it not sure what I should be expecting.
-Dear Lily Evans- How has your summer been? Mine has been good. Sirius is here he says "Stop writing the letter to Lily, she already knows your obsessed with her.." opps that was to me not you, sorry. Anyway I wanted to write to you to see how your getting along without magic? Because you see I would rather eat bubtuber pus than live with muggles, but I'm sure its different for you since you love your family. Have you told them about Voldemort? My parents are worried to death about me being an auror. I was wondering if you thought about me at all? You know what a great seeker I am, how cute I am...anything? Anyway send your letter back to me with Griffin, I told him to peck you if your response wasn't long enough, just joking...half joking. anyway write back soon. -James Potter-
Rolling my eyes at his letter I picked up a quill, dipped it hastily in the ink bottle and began writing,
-Dear James Potter- My summer has been all right. Tell Sirius he is and idiot. Your an idiot too, no I haven't thought about how cute you or or what a great seeker you are. I miss magic, but I can do without it, its better than eating bubtuber pus. I told my parents about Voldemort and they laughed they thought I was joking. I think they found the name "Voldemort" funny more than anything else. My sister, Petunia she is 17, was worried though, she didn't laugh anyways. I just had dinner with my family and her boyfriend. His name is Vernon and he wants to work for a drill company, need I say more? I'm guessing this letter is long enough seeing as Griffin isn't pecking me. Best regards, -Lily Evans-
I signed the letter and handed it to Griffin as I plopped into bed wondering about whether or not I liked James and whether or not It would be worth it to Kill Vernon just so I wouldn't have to listen to him whine about drills anymore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tap, tap, tap...
"Go away." I said groggily to whatever was tapping.
Tap, tap, tap...
"Leave me alone!" I murmured burying my face in the pillow.
Tap, tap, tap.
I looked up and saw an owl pecking at my closed window.
"If your griffin, I'm killing James." I said yawning as I opened the window. The Owl that flew into my room wasn't Griffin, but a handsome dark brown owl with shiny feathers and amethyst eyes.
"Hello, Beau." I said stroking the shadow family owl. He hooted softly stick out his leg. I pulled off the letter and sat on the bed glancing at the clock "3:04" thanks Bernadette, lets wake Lily up at three in the morning. I thought annoyed as I opened the letter.
-Dear Lily- The Order of the Phoenix is accepting underage trainees. It is the secret organization fighting against who-know-who They need more members! I want you to join up with me, I've sent owls to you, Haven, Lark, Lo, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter. Send return owl right away, if your going to sign up you will be needing to come to my house ASAP! -Love from, Bernadette-
I re-read the letter several times to make sure I understood it correctly. And then after reading it for the 11th time I felt a surge of emotion. Hatred to whoever had killed Bernard. Savage satisfaction that I could do something to help the good side. Excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, restlessness. I didn't want to be sitting here right now I wanted to be where the order was! Now! but I'd have to wait. I lay down on my bed eyes wide open and staring fixedly at the ceiling, I'd never be able to sleep tonight,or ever again! I could be a trainee! I wondered whether the rest of us would accept. I hoped so! I stood up and started pacing my muscles aching to rest but my mind racing faster than ever before. I could do something, I could play hero, risk my life, help the cause, catch a death eater! Oh I'd love to catch Snape or Bellatrix! All the things I could now do filled my head making it impossible to keep track of time and four hours until it was 7:00 flew by like 10 minutes and before I knew it it was 7:30 and I was fully dressed,packed and begging my mom to let me stay at Bernadette's I didn't explain why...she'd probably laugh again.
"Of course you can stay at your friends house, tell them to pick you up whenever they can, Lily darling." Mother said smiling and flashing her huge grin I ran up the stairs and write back to Bernadette
-I'm coming! Pick me up soon! SOON!!! Lily- I scrawled on the paper and handed my letter to Beau who hooted sweetly before flying into the clear blue summer sky.
"What's going on?" Petunia asked suspiciously. I tossed her the letter. She read and looked at me, was she worried?
"Be careful Lily." she said and then she walked out of my room. I didn't know whether to be happy she told me that or wonder if she wanted money or something. Either way I paced all day in my room until at long last Beau came soaring through my wide open window.
"Thank you Beau!" I said happily and tore open the letter my heart pounding madly in my chest.
-Lily, we will pick you up tomorrow, calm down. Everyone accepted and we will all be at my house getting our instructions in less than 24 hours. Get some sleep. Bernadette-
I laughed. Sleep? Hahaha like I could sleep! I wrote a one word reply "Great!!!" and sent it off with Beau.
I finally got to sleep at about 6 in the morning and when I stirred, opening my eyes yawning, sunlight was streaming in through my windows and my clock read 11:30. I never slept that late! But now that I was up I immediately dressed and double checked my packing, I was taking everything with me. I was finally going!
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" My mother teased.
"Your guests are here!" she added gesturing towards Mrs. Shadow and Bernadette standing by the fire place.
"We are traveling by floo, Lily, You have done that before to get to ours and Lo's house right?" Mrs. Shadow asked smiling.
"Yes, Mrs. Shadow." I said politely accepting the power she handed tome, and with a heave of my trunk and quick kissed to my parents and Petunia, I was standing in the Shadow family manor.
"Lily!" Lo said throwing her arms around me.
"Jeez, Lo calm down." I said grinning she rolled her eyes impatiently.
"I'm happy to see you! and even happier to get a chance to kick death eater ass!" she said standing on the balls of her feet, she seemed even more excited then me. Haven and Lark hugged me next and James opened his arms wide for a hug an instead I gave one to Sirius to stuck his tounge out at James.
"Welcome!" Mrs. Shadow said to us as she and Bernadette entered their foyer from the fireplace.
"Welcome." said another voice, this one male. Albus Dumbledor was standing in the door way smiling, a twinkle in his light blue eyes. My stomach fluttered with undesirable excitement. THIS WAS IT! IWAS GOING TO JOIN THE SECRET ANIT-VOLDEMORT ORDER!!!!! YAY!!!! Those thoughts were screamed inside my head on the outside I held my breath waiting...
"Come right this way." Dumbledor said leading us up a flight of lush carpeted stairs and into a tower room.
"You all are invited to enter training to prepare you for work in the order after Hogwarts." Duimbledor said and a wide collection of witches and wizards stood behind him. I recognized two of them as the Longbottoms whom Voldemort had tried to attack on Christmas. Another was the famous Alastor Moody, his slightly scared face and beady black eyes were very intimidating, he was an auror, one of the best. Ben and Betham, Bernadette's siblings who gave me a cheery smile, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, who had just become aurors and many, many others I didn't know, and HAGRID! I caught his eye and he winked at me smiling.
"Now being and order trainee, of sorts there are some tasks that require courage and a risk. You will not face the same dangerous you will come across if you decide to fully join the order after school, but it is dangerous all the same." Dumbledor explained.
"You will all take a separate assignment!" Moody growled.
"Yes, yes Alastor we will get to that in a moment." Dumbledor said quickly.
"Here is your chance. Leave if you don't want to join." Dumbledor said firmly pointing to the door. No one moved and inch. We were all in this together.
"Excellent." Dumbledor beamed at us.
"Lily, your working with the Longbottoms. James, your working with Hagrid, so are you Sirius. Lo, your with Gideon and Fabian. Haven, you will work with Emmaline Vance. Lark your with Deladus Diggle. Remus, and Peter your will be working with the Bones and Bernadette will be working with Alastor." Bernadette looked slightly perturbed by this. I tried my best to keep my face straight.
"Your guides will lead you into a seperate room and you will receive your instructions and training." Dumbledor said and vanished with a sharp CRACK.
"Well, your Lily aren't you?" Mr. Longbottom said smiling.
"Yes, that's me." I replied following them into a side room and sat on one of the comfy armchairs arranged by the fire. Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom sat down on either side of me.
"We are only three years older than you Lily, we know how you must feel. We were the same way when we became trainees right before our seventh year. Don't be nervous now" Alice assured me smiling.
"We are going to teach you a bit about magic. Occulmency (SP?), and how to block and stun and very crucial. We are in auror training as well so we can teach you some things we learn from that." Frank explained.
"You don't have any missions yet, just lessons. Can you stun?" Alice asked me giving me an encouraging smile.
"Yes and do the shield charm." I answered feeling a bit more confident.
"Great! Then we can start with the conjunctivitis curse and rictusempra curse. Conjunctivitis will affect your opponents eyes and the rictusempra curse will tickle them, a good way for you to get away." Frank said as we began our practicing. We worked for almost four hours before I managed to master both curses, and so telling me they were proud of my progress the Longbottoms disaperated and I wandered downstairs to see who else had finished with the days training.
"Hey Lily." James, Remus, Sirius and Lo were all gathered at Bernadette's kitchen table.
"Hey." I said grinning and sitting next to Lo, and across from James.
"This is pretty amazing, isn't it?" I asked sighing,
"It is." Lo agreed smiling.
"Think we can make a difference?" I asked frowning.
"We know we can." Sirius said with complete confidence...or arrogance.
"Hi!" Bernadette had just walked down the he stairs.
"Hey, Bernadette, how was your lesson?" I asked pulled out the chair next to me.
"Tireding, Moody is trying to see if I can resist the imperious curse and he put it on me like 8 times! I can't resist it though." She said miserably.
"Don't worry about it, very few wizards can." James consoled her.
"Yeah, calm down Bernadette." Lo agreed.
"Who is still missing? Peter, Haven and Lark?" I asked staring at the three empty seats at the table.
"Yeah." James scratched his head apparently deep in thought.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Nothing,' He said quickly flashing me a grin as a formation of owls swooped in the kitchen dropping a letter stamped with the Hogwarts crest on each of our laps. Holding my breath I stared at the letter and whispered what we were all thinking
"OWL grades." I pulled open the seal and took out the two letters. The first was a list of supplies I hastily pushed aside ad the second I opened and shut my eyes and when they were opened again they saw my grades and smiled "DADA-Outstanding, Potions-Exceeds expectations, Charms-outstanding Divination-Outstanding Transfiguration-Exceeds expectations Care of Magical creatures-Exceeds expectations Herbology-Exceeds expectations History of Magic-Exceeds expectations Astrology-Acceptable. A feeling of great accomplishment flooded through me I had received 9 OWLs.
"9 OWLs and three outstanding!" I said floating on air.
"7 owls and 2 outstandings." Lo said frowning.
"10 OWLS and 5 outstandings. Remus flushed with pride.
"9 OWls and 9 outstandings Sirius said lazily.
"9 OWls and 8 outstandings James smirked.
"8 OWls and 1 outstanding Bernadette frowned deeply.
"We all did great!" I said grinning so broadly I thought my face might crack. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I hate diagon alley. Its no where near as fun as Hogsmeade." Sirius complained the next week when we all went to get our school supplies.
"Just because it doesn't have a Zonkos, doesn't mean its a boring place to be." I said
"Your right Evans. Because it doesn't have Honeydukes or Zonkos it is a boring place to be," Sirius corrected himself.
"Your a prat Sirius." Lo said rolling her eyes as we entered Florish and Blotts.
"That hurts Lo...that really hurts." He said sarcastically, picking up "A standard book of spells grade 6"
"Hey James! Oh James its a quiddich book about famous seekers! I bet you'll be in a book like this one day!" Peter squeaked excitedly.
"Yeah, I bet your right." James said closing his eyes and envisioning himself in a quiddich book.
"Stop encouraging him, Peter. You keep this up and you will be the on writing the book about James." Sirius snapped paying for his new NEWT level text books.
"I have my books." Lark said getting inline behind Sirius. Haven followed suit and got behind Lark.
"Here Lily! I found our new divination books!" Lo said calling me over.
"Thanks Lo." I grinned and we all finished paying for our books before stepping out from the shops and into the warm sunlight.
"How about we go for ice cream?" Sirius suggested counting his change before adding "On me!"
"This is why we hang out with you Sirius." James teased flinging his arm around his best friends as we stopped at Fleoren Fresctue's ice cream parlor and sat down at one of the circular umbrella tables.
"I'll have one chocolate rasberry." Sirius said to the waiter.
"A peanut butter banana." James added promptly.
"A vanilla mocha with extra sprinkles." Peter licked his lips.
"Two Vanilla caramel swirls." Remus said smiling at Lo who nodded happily.
"A Strawberry peanut butter." Lark grinned.
"A Chocolate walnut." Haven said oddly wistfully.
"Um...What do you all recommend?" I asked unsure of what to get.
"We will have two peanut butter bananas." James told the waiter who nodded and walked away.
"You love the flavor, Lily." James assured me. I looked around at everyone else at the table and my eyes rested on Haven who was crying silently.
"Haven! What wrong?" I asked startled. Everyone else was staring at her too.
"J-Justin. He graduated a-and d-d-d-" she broke down completely and began to bawl.
"He dumped you?" Lo asked rolling her eyes as Haven's sobs intensified. I shot Lo a dirty look for being very unsympathetic. She just shrugged.
"Um, Haven every guy who have ever dated has broken up with you and you act this way every time! You think you would be used to it!" Lo said unhelpfully.
"Haven, he wasn't that great anyway. Now you can pick someone new!" I urged brightly. She sniffed and nodded as the ice cream came. James was right, peanut butter. banana was good.
"Like it?" James asked while licking his own.
"Yes, its surprisingly good." I conceded.
"I knew you would like it! Sometimes you just have to give things a chance." He said with a wink and I got the distinct feeling he was talking about more than just icecream. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Excellent work Lily!" Frank, oh i mean Mr. Longbottom praised after our last practice session a month later. I was due for my return to Hogwarts the next day so we finished the afternoon with one more new spell.
"You can continue training next summer, we will be delighted to help you." Alice, opps i mean Mrs. Longbottom said smiling.
"You guys are great teachers! One of you should teach defense against the dark arts. Last years teacher got killed by a mandrake in the greenhouse." I said sadly.
"No, we couldn't Lily dear. We're in auror training remember?" Mrs. Longbottom reminded me.
"Oh yeah...You two would still be great though. Do you know who Dumbledorr has hired this year?" I asked eagerly.
"Yes, actually we do know." Mr. Longbottom admitted.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"It's Gideon Prewett. Became an auror just last year with his brother Fabian, but Gideon agreed to teach for one year before returning to his auror duties." Mrs. Longbottom explained.
"Excellent!" I grinned.
"You'll like him. He knows his stuff." Mr. Longbottom said smiling.
"Oh Lily we almost forgot!" Mrs. Longbottom went into her bag and pulled out a wrapped little box.
"It's a gift to you. For being such a wonderful trainee. You have become like a best friend. We will miss you Lily." Mrs. Longbottom's pleasant round face was shining with happiness as I took the gift and unwrapped it. Inside the box there was a dark blue ring.
"It changes colors when there is danger...Its like an alarm bell ring. When it's royal blue, like that, there is no danger." Mr. Longbottom said smiling.
"If it's green you should be on the lookout. If is becomes orange or yellow prepare for an attack. If it is red your in mortal peril and if its black..."Mrs. Longbottom trailed off.
"I'm dead." I finished still smiling. I placed on the ring which still glowed dark blue and Mrs. Longbottom gave me a hug.
"Don't for get us Lily." she said pinching my cheek affectionately.
"I wont." I promised. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N:BETA-READERS!!! now you can review to be my beta! I explained all about it up top!! This chapter was pretty long, sorry it took it little longer than usual to update. I can't wait to start their sixth year. Now while LIly & James hook up in the 7th year does not mean that I can't add a little romance in the sixth year. I have things planned, trust me ;)~ I look foward to hearing from ppl who want to beta-read!!! pls respond!! READ & REVIEW! REVIEWS WILL MAKE SURE I POST THE NEXT CHAPTER AND POST IT SOON- April.