Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter… get the picture?
The Book of Prophecies
Chapter 6
As Lily fell out of the fireplace, she felt someone catch her. She had always had a bit of motion sickness, so moving that fast had deprived her of sense. She slowly came to and tried to stand on her own, with little luck, but she pushed off of the person holding her and found a little footing and, combined with the sturdy bookshelf she was leaning on, was able to stand. She now looked around to see who was here and where they were.
A little further off, two girls were arguing with one another. They both had long, silvery hair, but one had left it down and the other put it up in what looked like an extremely complex design. They had bright, periwinkle eyes though one's, it seemed, were a shade darker that the other's. There was no doubt that they were identical twins, but, from looking at them, they seemed complete opposites.
A bit closer to Lily was an ill-looking boy. He had bags under his eyes and, overall, didn't seem to be in the best condition. If he wasn't so sick, though, Lily thought he just might be cute. He had dirty-blond hair and pale blue eyes. He was looking at her with concern while talking with Sirius.
Suddenly, James ran out of the fireplace, crashing into both Sirius and the new guy. They wound up in a tangle on the floor and were still trying to get out of it when Sarah come through, quickly followed by Evelyn.
"Sirius! That's my foot!" New guy.
"It is? I thought it was mine." Sirius.
"Remus, would you mind letting go of my arm?" James.
"Only if you get off of my leg." Apparently Remus.
"I WANT ICE CREAM!!!" Sirius, of course.
"SHUT UP!!!" The girls, including Sarah.
"Are you guys coming or not?" Evelyn.
'I wonder who that girl is. She looks like she's sick, almost as bad as Remus. I think I should go talk to her, but… better take Aphrodite as well.' It was the girl with the slightly darker eyes, and Lily was positive she hadn't spoken aloud. It was then she realized that the sun glasses Sarah had given her were gone. Not wanting to have another overload, she panicked.
"SARAH!!!" Lily's scream nearly drowned out all the other noises in the shop, and as soon as it was out, they all stopped talking. Sarah turned away from the boys to see what the problem was, but, in her annoyance, completely missed the problem.
"What?" Lily looked at her, exasperated and trying very hard to prevent eye contact. When Sarah remained oblivious, Lily gave her a hint and pointed to her eyes. A light-bulb could almost be seen turning on in Sarah's mind.
"Oooooooooooooooooooo… not good, not good, not good at all. Ummm…" She looked around the shop, but, considering they were in a bookstore, had no luck in finding a something to help. "Well what do you expect me to do?! I'm not the one who has the problem. It's not like I carry around spare sun glasses. I normally expect one pair to work!"
"Don't get mad at me! Ummm… er…" She was attempting to keep her eyes down and not look at anyone, but the voices seemed to be seeping through her barriers.
'What on Earth are they talking about?'
'Who is she?'
'What's wrong with her?'
'Uh oh… not good.'
'Lil?' Lily looked at James, knowing that he could tell that the voices were breaking through, and she didn't dare leave the shop for fear that all the voices out there would be too much. 'Calm down, you're shaking. Try to imagine a brick wall, separating yourself from others. If that doesn't help… I don't know what will.'
She nodded, sitting down and closing her eyes in order to concentrate better. Brick by brick she mentally built the wall as James had told her, checking over every bit of it afterwards to make sure there were no weak points. When she finished, she stood up and looked James directly in the eyes, but heard nothing. There was a little quiver as though the wall was being put under great strain, but it soon stopped, leaving her head empty except for her own voices. A slow smile spread over her face before she jumped James, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! It worked! It worked, it worked, it worked!" She was jumping up and down, repeating herself as the others, aside from James who was also jumping for joy, looked at them strangely, sharing looks that clearly said they thought them insane. Sarah had the strangest look of all.
"Um… okay. Now would you care to explain to us what has you so joyous?" Lily stopped jumping, but still had a large grin plastered on her face.
"They're gone! The voices are gone! James told me to try building a wall, so I did! And THEY'RE GONE!!!!" Realization soon dawned on both Sarah and Sirius and they quickly joined in the very strange dance. The others all looked at each other before, very slowly, edging toward the door.
"Hey," Remus's mother said, sliding in their way. "Where exactly do you think you're headed? We still need to buy books!" She smiled at them in that motherly way that gave the message: "Don't even think about it or there'll be hell to pay". "Hello Evelyn," she added cheerily as a sort of afterthought. James' mother smiled.
"Hello Aurora," she laughed, looking around at her still dancing charges. "Perhaps some introductions are in order… and, possibly, some explanations. I have to admit, that dance is kinda creepy." The mothers laughed, pushing the kids fully into the shop, pulling out school lists. When the dancing quartet still failed to notice what was going on she turned to extreme measures. "Oh kids, by the way, they're enforcing a new rule that no student is to have a wand before the third year." It was barely a second before the reaction came.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!" The majority of the yelling came from Sirius and James, though Sarah pitched in slightly and Lily, having been slightly paying attention, giggled at their expressions.
"Okay, now that we've all returned to Earth, lets get on with introductions," Evelyn said, still holding back her laughter. "The messy-haired, glasses-wearing one is my son James; the mischievous, immature, yet somewhat calm-looking and observant one is Sirius; the girl with the brown hair is my niece Sarah; and the red-haired one who sort-of caused all this is Lily… She can tell you the reason if she wants to, but first I think you should introduce yourselves… Yes Sirius, I know Remus knows you, but the girls do not, so get that look off your face." More giggles.
"Well," Aurora started, "the only boy is my son Remus, and the twin girls are our neighbors, Artemis and Aphrodite… and, truthfully, I can't tell the difference, so they're going to have to introduce themselves, sorry." The twins just smiled.
"I'm Artemis," said the one with the lighter eyes and complex hair style.
"And I'm Aphrodite," replied her twin, who was having a hard time keeping her grin in. Lily, on the other hand, having heard a little of her thoughts, grinned for her, especially when Remus gave them a slightly confused look.
"No you're not," she laughed. The girls turned to look at her strangely, and the other three that had been dancing took one look at her knowing grin and started laughing as well. "You can't fool me. I'm all knowing!"
"Hey wait!" Sirius paused. "Isn't that my line?" To which Sarah responded by backhanding him. "What? What did I do? Why do people keep hitting me?!"
"The truth is," Lily said as the mothers started stacking books in each child's arms," I have a slight problem with reading people's minds. It's not like I try to, but when I look in someone's eyes their voices is in my head. I had one time, when it first started happening, where I heard hundreds of voices… it really hurt." Artemis nodded in understanding, but Aphrodite looked a little worried.
"Are you sure that's something you should really be telling people freely? Aren't you putting a little too much trust in the goodness of man-kind? I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of people who would just love to take advantage of your powers," she pointed out. As that thought reached Lily's mind, she got a little worried, but wasn't given much time to think it over as the books were transferred to bags and the kids were pushed out the door.
The sight took Lily's breath away. It was even better than she had imagined, with cozy shops and imposing shops. People on the street selling animals, potions, herbs, and she swore she saw a fairy fly past. It was amazing. There were so many people… so many people… and she felt her wall start to crack.
"Can we hurry?" she pleaded, though she wished it didn't have to be so. "My wall's cracking." Evelyn nodded in understanding and led them down the street to a towering white building that carried the label Gringotts.
"Well, here we go," she said.
"I hate white," was the mumbled reply.
***
"Seriously, Bella, you don't need to yank my arm off!" Aaron sighed, trying to pry his sister's fingers from his wrist. His hand was beginning to tingle and turn purple from loss of circulation.
"If you'd hurry up I wouldn't have to pull… come on! I think they're in Gringotts!" his sister replied, getting very excited as she pulled him through the street and up the stairs of a big white building that gave him the creeps.
"Where the hell are you getting this from?" he asked, his voice relaying his confusion. He didn't think he would ever understand Arabella… and he didn't think she would ever give him a chance to understand her.
"Walk now, talk later. Come on, come on, come on… You're too slow… oof!" Arabella was cut off from her whining as she bumped into someone, causing them to bump into another person… which happened to turn the attention of a rather large group to her. Turning around to see the person who dared keep her from her mission, she grew even more excited.
"Peter!"
"Umm… yes?"
"Arabella."
"Nina!"
"Huh?"
"Arabella."
"James! Sirius!"
"What?"
"I didn't do it, I swear!"
"Arabella!"
"Sarah!"
"Who're you?"
"Arabella!!!"
"Lily!!"
"Arabella!"
"ARABELLA!! Wait… how do you know her?" Aaron asked as Lily caught his sister's attention the same way that he had been failing to. Evelyn, Aurora, and Alice (Peter's mom) just watched on, equally confused.
"Umm… would someone mind explaining?"
***
"This is severely messed up," Sirius muttered as the whole big group sat in the living room of the Potter's house after finishing school shopping.
"I would have to agree," Aaron sighed, attempting to rest his overworked mind.
"I think it makes perfect sense," Lily quipped, still having energy left over, as she fiddled with her wand.
"You would," Sarah laughed. It was quiet for a few minutes as everyone either collected their thoughts or fell asleep... or else, they just didn't know what to say.
"Soooo… Any one want some ice cream?" Evelyn offered, a little uneasy in the silence.
"ICE CREAM!" Sirius screamed, dashing for the kitchen.
"Sure," Nina replied, speaking for the first time since Gringotts. "What flavor?"
"I'm sorry, but we only have vanilla." The response to that statement woke any who had been foolish enough to fall asleep, and it came from the two, least likely girls.
"I HATE WHITE!"
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Okay, so there's the chapter that should have been out… well over a year ago. Forgive me! I realize that since it took me so long it should have at least been a good chapter, but I promise that I will try extra hard to keep writing, but it's even harder now… I've got so much I need to work on… Sorry!!!!
EP