Ok you guys I hope you are happy. I am sorry that this took so long but I
will be posting the next chapter either now or shortly after this. I know
some parts don't make sense but that's why I'm not JK! Lol well please r/r!
tell all of ur friends 2 r/r!! and please keep coming back. THANKs!!
~natalie
~*~
Harry got up and looked at the clock. 6:00. Five minutes until Quidditch tryouts. He had slept through all of his classes! He grabbed his Firebolt and ran out. He went through the halls, knocking over students walking to their classes. He made it to Dumbledore's office. He said the password (which he had learned last week) and ran up the oak staircase. He opened the door to find Moody, Tonks, Mr. Weasley, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Remus, McGonagall, Snape, and a few other members of the Order.
Harry stood there gasping for his breath.
"Harry, what's wrong? What are you doing here?" asked Remus.
"What do you want Potter," snarled Snape.
"Voldemort." said Harry.
He held up his hand to tell them to wait. After a minute or so, he started talking.
"I guess I fell asleep this morning. I had a dream, no I saw it," said Harry.
"What?" asked Tonks.
"They were at Azkaban. The death eaters killed all the aurors. He took over Azkaban. And he had the torch, like in my other dream. He did exactly what he said," said Harry drifting off into his own thoughts.
"Potter, what in world are you talking about?" said Moody, amazed.
"Well, during the summer, I was in Voldemort's mind again. He was talking to Wormtail about getting some torch and that they were going to Azkaban," said Harry.
He looked at the worried yet amazed Order sitting in front of him, to the clock. 6:10! He had to go. He turned to run out the door.
"Harry, exactly where are you going? We need to know more," said Dumbledore.
"I can't," said Harry, "Quidditch tryouts," and before anyone could object he was gone.
"My goodness, he is just like James, them and Quidditch," said Kingsley Shaklebolt, frustrated.
"Yes, and as stubborn as Lily," said Remus and they all laughed.
~*~
Harry ran to the Quidditch pitch to find everything going hectic. Everyone was screaming and yelling, and flying around everywhere.
"Ok now everyone-," but no one listened.
"Excuse me."
"HELLO!" yelled Harry and everyone stopped moving.
"I'm sorry I'm late but I was talking to Professor Dumbledore," said Harry.
"Now, all of the Beaters over here," sad Harry and some of them followed.
They all lined up and started practicing as Harry sat down to watch with Ron.
"Hmm.she's not too bad Harry," said Ron and just then she almost got knocked off of her broomstick.
"Never mind," said Ron.
"He missed too many," said Ron, pointing to a boy with blonde hair.
"Yes, but the Creevey brothers are pretty good," said Harry.
For the next half hour, he and Ron watched all of them get half knocked off their brooms and others doing pretty well. Finally, it was over.
"Ok everyone. We have decided on our team. Our beaters are Colin and Dennis Creevey and our Chasers are Penelope Johnson, Courtney Bell, and Ashley Spinnet.
The three girls screamed and hugged. They were happy to have made the team. They all made their way back inside and Harry went up to take a shower. He came out afterwards and sat on his bed. His seeker skills made his eyes catch glimpse of his practice Snitch. "Gold," he thought. The galleon! Tomorrow, he decided, would be the first DA meeting. He ran over to his trunk and grabbed out his gold coin, set the date, and got out two pieces of parchment. He scribbled two notes on them and sent them off. He couldn't wait until tomorrow.
~*~
That night wasn't coming quick enough. Harry was bored and wanted to go to the DA meeting. Finally, classes were over and Harry rushed up to the common rooms. The DA meeting wasn't until 8:00. He still had an hour. He then started thinking about Quidditch. Oh no! The match was tomorrow. He decided to have an emergency Quidditch meeting.
Though it was only ½ an hour, he thought they could use it. He had high hopes for his team. He KNEW that they would win against Slytherin tomorrow. And Ron had gotten especially good. He had made up so many new strategies and plays that he was excited. He needed to go over them one more time.
Everyone meet in the locker rooms and they went over their plans. They knew exactly what they were doing.
"Ok everyone, we're going to win tomorrow, right?" said Harry.
"YEA!" screamed the team.
Harry looked at his watch. 15 minutes until the DA meeting. He ran upstairs to get his map and cloak. He wanted to be there early to plan everything. He was sitting there when two students walked in. after that, everyone started to come and Harry couldn't have been more aware of what he was going to find.
~*~
When everyone finally got there, Hermione stood up to talk and suddenly the room became quiet.
"Ok, since I don't have our list anymore, I thought we should make a new one that will NOT be jinxed," said Hermione.
Everyone signed it and sat back down.
"Ok, I thought we would start with the stunning spell," said Harry.
He demonstrated on Hermione when e thought he heard a snicker or whisper.
"It must have been my imagination" said Harry to himself.
Everyone else started practicing and Harry went around to check no everybody. After about 20 minutes, Harry knew something was wrong so he blew his whistle and everyone stopped. He stood there for a moment, puzzled.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Hermione, as everyone was staring at him.
"I'm just not quite sure exactly where they are," said Harry, still pondering.
"Who?" said Ron.
They stood there in silence for a few minutes. Harry ha d a good grip on hi wand at his side. Suddenly, he flicked it up and muttered a spell.
Ropes suddenly wrapped around two mysterious, invisible objects.
Everyone gasped and Lavender screamed.
"Ha-h-harry, h-how did you know someone was there?" said Parvati very quietly.
"I could feel someone was watching me," said Harry.
"Now, take off your invisibility cloaks," said Harry, anxiously waiting along with the rest to see who it was.
Nothing happened.
"Ok then, I'll find out myself," said Harry.
He pointed his wand at the desk and said, "Accio," and a parchment flew into his hands.
He studied the map and said, "Ahh, I see that Professor Moody and Professor Lupin have decided to join us."
Everyone was surprised and started whispering.
"Well, I guess our meeting is cut short. Don't forget your galleons. Keep an eye on the," said Harry, and everyone started to file out. After everyone had left, Harry looked at them angrily.
"Lets go," said Harry, "I think we need to have a chat with Dumbledore."
Harry levitated the two and went up the staircase to Dumbledore's office. He opened the door and once again saw the same people sitting there (minus Remus and Moody.)
"Potter, what are you doing here?" asked McGonagall.
He crossly looked at them and levitated in Remus and Moody, still tied up with their cloaks on. Some people gasped. Harry dropped them and the floor and glared at Dumbledore.
"WHAT were they doing in there?" yelled Harry.
"We had to just check on you to see if anyone was spying," said Dumbledore.
"No one was there," said Harry irritated.
"There was," said Remus.
"Two Slytherins under an invisibility cloak in the back of the room" said Moody.
They all looked at Harry, speechless.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself Potter?" said McGonagall.
"OOOHHH, you want to know what I have to say now? Well if you would have asked I could have TOLD you that I KNEW that they were there because they were under MY invisibility cloak because I INVITED them," said Harry impatiently.
They all looked at him, rather surprised, while Dumbledore smiled.
"Yes Harry, well I am sorry for the mistake. I guess we will ask you next time," said Dumbledore.
Harry turned to leave when Remus started to talk.
"Oh and Harry, what did you mean by keep an eye on your galleons?" asked Remus.
"Nothing that concerns you!" said Harry and stormed out.
Harry went up to the common rooms to find everyone waiting there, wanting an explanation. He was too tired so he just waved them off and went up to sleep. As he lay down, he remembered about the Quidditch match and got excited again.
~*~
Harry got up and remembered the game. He was nervous but went down to sit at the breakfast table with Ron and Hermione. Ron was there, pale as ever. Hermione was trying to make him eat something.
"Come on Ron, we went through this last year. You have to eat," said Hermione.
Ron just sat there, with no expression on his face. After about ten minutes, Harry and Ron made it towards the locker rooms and changed. Soon, others were arriving and within a few minutes, everyone was there, just as nervous as Ron.
"Ok everyone," said Harry, "I know we are going to win. We have practiced everything so many times. No on has ever seen ANY of this because I made all of this up myself so we will be UNDEFEATABLE!" said Harry.
"But Harry, what if we don't do good? We don't want to let you down," said Penelope Johnson.
"Oh don't worry, all three of you are just like your sisters and they were great so you are just as good as them, if not better, but don't tell them I said that," said Harry and smiled, "so lets go out there and beat those Slytherins!" and everyone cheered.
They were all standing there and flew out as their names were called out.
"Good luck Ron," said Harry as he flew off.
"And now, Gryffindor team captain and seeker, Harry Potter!"
Harry flew out and felt the cheers deafen his hearing. Soon the balls were released. Harry flew up to watch his team.
".Penelope Johnson shoot.and Gryffindor score!"
The crowd cheered. Harry was Courtney and Ashley looping up and down as the crowd oohed and aahed. The Creevey brothers distracting and twirling around the Slytherin beaters and Ron blocking all of their goals.
"And Ms. Spinnet shoots out of her twirl and.SCORES! Wow, Gryffindor is on a role leading 150-0! Harry obviously knows what he's doing! He has an awesome team here!"
Just then, Harry was the snitch and dove upwards in a spin. He had almost had it when it suddenly dove away. Harry heard the crowd moan. He looked over and saw that the three girls were taking the score to their advantages and talking to Ron, leaving the hoops open. Harry was about to go yell at them when he saw the snitch glittering between the hoop. He was behind the hoop so he started zooming towards the hoop. At the same time, the Slytherins threw the ball and were going to make their first goal. Harry stood up on his broom and stretched out his are towards the Snitch. He flew through the hoop, not only catching the Snitch but the ball as well.
Everyone saw and started screaming and cheering.
"Harry Potter not only catches the Snitch but the ball as well just before Slytherin scored. Gryffindor wins, 300-0!"
Before he knew it, Ron was hugging him and they were soon heading towards the ground.
Hermione came up to them and joined the group hug.
"You guys were wonderful! Harry, where did you come up with all of those tactics? I've never seen anything-"
"Potter, that was amazing. I guess I will be seeing that cup in my office after all. I guess I shouldn't have doubted you pick," said McGonagall.
Harry and Ron headed towards the locker rooms to rest. Then they headed up to the common rooms along with the rest of the team and were jumped and screamed and cheered at by their fellow Gryffindors.
Harry saw Dean, Neville, and Seamus.
"Guess what? Since the game went so long, classes for the rest of the day are canceled!" said Neville, "Lets go eat some lunch!"
"We had to keep Fred and George's tradition going," said Seamus, smiling.
They ate for a while then Harry slipped out and decided to take a walk. His Quidditch outfit kept him warm. He ended up sitting by the pond, leaning against the tree, his feet propped up onto the rocks. His hand was on the trunk when he felt something. He looked and saw something carved into the trunk. JP+LE. James Potter. Lily Evans. His parents. He wished his parents were there to have seen him play. He started to cry. Why did everything have to happen to him? It wasn't fair.
"I wish my parents were here," yelled Harry, weeping at the same time.
Just the, a bright glow appeared that made Harry shield his eyes. When he opened them, there stood his parents.
Harry stood there gaping with his mouth hanging open.
"Mm-mum." said Harry.
There stood his parents, as real as ever, smiling back at him.
He got up and gave his mom a hug.
"Oh Harry," she said, "you look exactly like your father, so handsome, especially with that horrible hair," she said laughing.
"Harry," said his dad, "playing Quidditch?"
"Yea, seeker and team captain, we just won 300-0 against Slytherin," he said grinning.
"Oh my, James, he's a mini you," said Lily smiling.
"But why, how are you here?" asked Harry puzzled.
"We can be here for you, but only when you really need us," said Lily, "for 30 minutes."
"Oh, then you have to see Remus. He's teaching Defense Against Dark Arts class and Ron and Hermione," said Harry.
"Sure, why no," said his dad and he led them inside.
The Great Hall was busy with chatter. He led them up to the teacher's table to Remus. They all looked up and gasped.
"James.is that you?" whispered Remus.
"Good to see you Moony," said James and Remus ran down to give him a hug.
By then the whole hall was dead quiet. He led his mom to Ron and Hermione, who were staring in amazement.
"Ron, Hermione, I'd like you to meet my mum," said Harry.
They sat there for a moment until Hermione finally spoke.
"Hello, nice to meet you," said Hermione.
"Umm.no offense Harry, but isn't your mum dead?" said Ron.
"RON!" said Hermione.
Lily laughed.
"No, it's quite alright. I still am dead. I can still see Harry though. It's a long story," said Lily, "Harry, we only have ten more minutes left."
The two went back to where James and Remus were.
"Lily," said Remus and gave her a hug.
"But.how?" said Remus.
"Harry will explain," said Lily.
"So Moony, do we have a Marauder in training?" said James grinning.
"Well, he sure gets in a lot more trouble than we did Prongs," said Remus.
Suddenly, Snape and McGonagall walked up. They stood there in disbelief.
"How many more surprises do you have in store for u?" said McGonagall as she walked over and hugged Lily.
"Potter," snarled Snape, "I see you've managed to come back somehow."
"Oh yea, I had to come see you," said James batting his eyelashes.
Harry laughed.
"Well, we better get going. Goodbye Harry," said James and he and Lily hugged him.
"Bye," said Harry.
But no one noticed what James was doing. Suddenly, Snape was lifted off his feet and his hair was pink in pigtails.
"POTTER!" yelled Snape.
The Great Hall erupted with laughter.
"Love you to Snivellus!" said James and blew him a kiss and with a bright glow, the two were gone.
Harry was on the ground rolling with laughter as Remus was holding his sides to keep from falling.
"Oh Prongs, you forgot something," said Remus and with the flick of his wand, Snape's robes were pink polk-a-dotted as well.
Harry could barely breath anymore from laughing so hard. He managed to drag across the floor to Ron, who also was rolling around. Soon, Dumbledore had brought him down and cleared his throat for silence.
"Well, after this welcoming surprise, I have some for you as well."
There was whispering and excitement among the tables.
"Not only will our Hogsmeade trip be next week but Our Halloween Ball will be on the 31st."
"Also, one more exciting announcement. This year, the school has been running low on supplies and we need more money. So with approval of the Ministry, from now on we will be holding our Quidditch games at the Quidditch Cup Stadium and we will be selling tickets so all may come!"
Applaud was heard throughout the hall followed by chatter.
Harry was headed towards the dormitories to rest when Dumbledore stopped him.
"Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?"
They went up the moving staircase to the oak door with the griffin doorknob. Dumbledore muttered the password as the gargoyle sprung aside. They sat down.
"Harry, what a lovely surprise to see your parents," he said smiling, "but unfortunately, (Oh no, Harry hated those words) though it was good to see them, how on earth did they get here?"
Harry sat there for a moment then responded.
"Well, I was down by the pond after the Quidditch game and I wished my parents were there and then they were. They told me that whenever I really needed them, they would be there."
"How very odd indeed. So at you command, they could be there for you?"
"No, well."
"Yes Harry?"
"Well, I was sort of sad that my parents weren't there to see me play Quidditch earlier and I was starting to feel down and blame everything on myself. I knew I was probably going to do something stupid. But then they came, because I really needed them."
They sat there in silence for a minute before Dumbledore started talking again.
"Well, hopefully, we wont be seeing them again because then it will mean that you are ok," said Dumbledore.
"Well, goodnight Harry."
Harry went up to the common rooms and sat by the fire. He sat there for a while, thinking. He wasn't tired but had nothing to do. Or did he? He ran up, got his cloak, pensieve, and map and went to the Room of Requirements.
~*~
AS he headed towards the room, he decided to take a different way because Filch was near by. He happened to pass the trophy room. He looked at them all and suddenly had an idea. He conjured some things and soon left. In the light shone the biggest, goldest award ever. It read:
????????????????????????????????????????????????-????? ????? ??????? ??????
???
Harry got there and slipped inside. Since he wasn't practicing spells, the room was different. There were many couches and tables along with a flickering fireplace. Harry got out the pensieve and stepped in.
~*~
"He said it was the best broom there is for flying and I know he wants it. He just refuses to ask for it," Lily commented as she and Savannah were staring at the Z-4 Rollerball in the window of the broom shop later that day.
"Lily, it costs way too much! How are you going to pay for it?" Savannah asked.
"I do have money, Savannah, and I'm getting a job soon. It's all going to work out."
Savannah rolled her eyes with a grin. "You love him that much to spend your savings on him?"
"No.I love him more," Lily said. She just wanted to make him happy so that telling him she had to move halfway across the country would be easier. She started fishing for excuses. "It's the first birthday we've celebrated as a couple ever and I just want to make him happy."
"It can't be the first birthday."
"It's true. It always seems that whenever we're broken up it's always around his birthday.or Halloween, for some reason. And we've been going out for officially a year, our longest relationship come June 1. It was our first anniversary and hopefully our last," Lily said, smiling, remembering last year.
~ ~ ~ ~ F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
Lily was alone on June 1 of 1980 (a year before now) trying to forget their anniversary considering they weren't going out at the time and she figured they wouldn't ever date again since she hadn't spoken to him since a year beforehand at Remus' family's reunion barbecue, to which Remus' friends were all invited to. Lily was humming to herself, while vacuuming the living room, happy that it was finally Saturday and she could forget about the internship for a while. The internship was so much fun and she was learning a lot about writing and publishing she ever thought was possible, but it was always fun to have a weekend to herself. Especially this weekend, which brought her thinking about how glad she was that Sirius had a teacher's convention in Vienna, Austria this specific weekend. She was keeping herself busy, mainly because she didn't want to remember that six years earlier to that date was when James and Lily realized they were meant to be. Snape pushed Lily into the lake and James went in after her, although they still despised each other at the time. They both got out, water dripping to the ground and that's when they realized that they never hated each other but that they've always had feeling for each other. He asked her out right then and there, and she said yes. Very romantic.and quite wet, as well. She frowned at the thought, suddenly remembering that they weren't dating anymore and they probably weren't going to be dating again.
She wasn't sure of her feelings towards James anymore. If he wasn't being sweet, then he was being stupid and she often found herself yelling at him for doing dumb things. She sighed at herself for about the hundredth time that day. She hasn't seen him since last July, and even though they weren't dating, they didn't exactly hate each other and it would have been nice to see him occasionally. She sighed again, and tried to get her mind off of him for a while. She kept dusting and vacuuming, until she heard a knock at the door. She turned off the vacuum, and went to the door and opened it.
Her mouth dropped open when she saw who was there. "J-James!" she gasped.
"Hey, Lily," was all he said.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked, still extremely confused. She would have thought he'd be anywhere but there at the moment.
He kind of looked at the ground for a second. "Actually.I'm not quite sure."
"Oh.well, Sirius isn't here," she said, saying the only thing that really came to mind.
James gave Lily a look-over for a split second and hesitated before talking. "Um.I know. I.I didn't come here for him."
"You just said you didn't know why you were here."
"Well, I do and I don't."
"Then why don't you tell me what you do know?" Lily asked, getting frustrated. She wasn't exactly thrilled that James was standing on her front stoop on their ex-anniversary and he wanted to talk to her. Any other day and she might have considered giving him a welcoming smile or whatnot, but this just felt awkward.
"Well." James said breathlessly. He pulled out his hand behind his back and brought forth a huge bouquet of yellow roses-Lily's favorite. "Um.Happy Anniversary?" he said, looking as if he wasn't sure why he just did that.
Lily gasped. "Th-thanks, James," she said, now completely puzzled, taking the roses and smelling them. She held them in her hand using them as an excuse not to say anything. She eventually looked over the roses to where James was standing. "I didn't get you anything." "I didn't expect you to. Actually.I'm not sure why I got them in the first place."
Lily looked up at James with hesitation in her eyes, but she said what she wanted to say anywise. "James, I don't mean for this to sound rude, but why are you doing this? I mean, I haven't seen you for almost a year now and we've been perfectly happy with our living arrangements since then and I know that I haven't exactly thought about you much lately, and here I am standing across from you with yellow roses in my hand that you gave me for our Anniversary that happened five years ago. I don't know about you, but I'm just a little confused."
James looked at her for a second, before realizing what he really came for. "Lily, do you want to know the real reason why I'm standing here across from you?"
"Yes, that would be nice."
"I'm here for this," he answered, pulling her in for one of his special, sweet, mysterious, soft, gentle, loving, daring, unique kisses that she hasn't felt for about a year and a half now. And you know what? She melted right into it and realized that her and James were always meant to be.
~ ~ ~ ~ E N D O F F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
And they've been together ever since, and neither one of them regretted any second of it.
"It's the perfect gift, Savannah," Lily repeated.
"You know he'll love anything you get him, right?"
"Yes, but he'll love this even more."
Savannah smiled gently. "You know he has the best girlfriend ever, right?"
"No.I just have the best boyfriend ever."
*~*~*~*~*
"I just need to stop in and talk to Lily for a few minutes," Sirius said.
"Why? You see her everyday," James commented.
"No, I haven't seen her since yesterday morning because I spent the night with Remus yesterday and today we went to Diagon Alley for some.fun," Sirius said mysteriously.
"Fine, whatever. If we don't hurry though, we're going to be late to the movie," James pointed out.
Sirius walked into his cottage, and flickered on the lights.
"SURPRISE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES!!!" everyone cried.
James practically jumped out of his skins. "Holy shit!" he screamed. Everyone in the room laughed.
"Hey, sweetie," Lily said, coming up behind him and giving him a kiss.
"I can't believe it. I didn't think you actually knew my birthday!" he said.
"I know what you mean," she said, remembering her conversation with Savannah the day before.
"Who put it all together?" he asked.
"Sirius and I planned it, but Savannah, Peter, and Remus helped with everything today," she replied.
"Aww, thank you! I've never had a surprise birthday before," he said, giving Lily another kiss and giving Sirius a hug.
"Thank God you kissed her and you hugged me," he muttered, and all three of them laughed.
"It seems like a Hogwarts reunion in here!" James cried.
"Hey, James!!!" Eden Gauche said, giggling. "It's been too long. We simply must hang out next time I'm in London," she said with her rich, snobby voice.
"Yes, that would be simply marvelous," James replied mocking her, which Eden didn't get at all. She left with a swift wave of her wrist and all three of them laughed. "I swear if you tell me Snape is here, I might have to kill you guys."
"Um.could you possibly kill Lily first so I have time to run?" Sirius joked.
"Excuse me! He loves me! You're just his friend," Lily teased.
Sirius turned towards James. "Your friend? Is that all I am to you, James? Is this true?" Sirius asked, clutching his heart. "Please, it can't be! I'm too young to die!"
"You're also too stupid for us to love you," Lily said jokingly.
"Tell me again.why do I live here?" he asked, and all three of them laughed.
"Happy birthday James," Remus said as he and Peter made their way over to them.
"Thanks," he said. He was about to say something else, but someone else came up behind him and tapped on his shoulder.
"Happy birthday, man," Foster Jenkins said. "I heard you were going into the Auror business. Is it true?"
"Well, I'm majoring to be an Auror at London University for Dark Art Magic and I have a pretty good shot at hopefully finding an Auror job soon, but nothing's definite yet."
"That's awesome. I always knew you'd become an Auror," he said, walking off to mingle with everyone else in the room.
*~*~*~*~*
"Okay, and one last birthday song from the birthday man and his band itself!" Lily said into the microphone. She was glad that the living room was enough space for the Marauders to play and for everyone else to dance after she cleared everything out.
(A/N: Yes, the Marauders have a band...somewhat. If I want them to have a band, then they'll have a band J Actually, it just makes the next part a little more emotional than it already is..)
With Remus jamming on the drums, Peter playing on the acoustic guitar, James playing a bass guitar with back-up singing usually, and Sirius playing a bass quitar and singing, and occasionally they have Savannah singing for them, they were actually very excellent and have had gigs here and there to which they've gathered tons of money to pay for plenty of things that they've needed to pay for, including school, rent, and bills and of course the occasional spending money!! Now, doesn't that sounds fun!?
"The next song, I wrote inspired from my beautiful girlfriend, Lily Evans. In fact, she inspires me everyday, and I just wanted to write a song to show how much she means to me. So this next song, is brand new but I hope you all enjoy, and I'm sorry if it's too slow for your tastes and too mushy, but that's what love is," he said laughing. Everyone in the room laughed or groaned. "I also want to thank Savannah Turner for singing with us tonight. Let's give her a big round of applause!" Everyone in the room started cheering, clapping, whistling, and hooting for her. "So, here it goes, 'End of Time.' Lily, I love you, babe, and I hope you'll never forget it," he said winking at Lily. "A 1.a 2.a 1 2 3 4!!" "Waking at the crack of dawn," James sang this time. "I know you'll always love me Just staring down at the incoming sunrise I realize that I'm lucky" Together, him and Sirius harmonized, "You're my girl, let's always keep it that way We're perfect, and that's the way it should stay Hold me forever, we'll be together Until the end of time" Savannah started singing, "Still awake at midnight We'll never be apart Just staring at the beautiful, shining stars You'll always be in my heart" Savannah, James, and Sirius all sang a harmonized trio, "You're my girl, I will love you 'til I die We're perfect, up until we say good-bye Kiss me forever, we'll be together Until the end of time" They continued on with their harmonization, "You're my girl, and we'll always make it through We're perfect, through no matter what we do Love me forever, we'll be together Until the end of time" The world seems so small, when we're in love You are the one I'm always thinking of With you in my heart, nothing can go wrong With you in my arms, our love will stay strong "Hold me forever," Sirius sang. "Kiss me forever," Savannah sang. "Love me forever," James sang, staring right at Lily. Together, they finished the short, but sweet song, "Until the end of time." Everyone in the room was yelling and cheering them on and congratulating them on doing such an excellent job as Lily stood in the back with the tears springing to her face. That was one of the most romantic things he's ever done to her and here she was feeling guilty that she hadn't told him yet about her big move yet. She sighed, knowing there was never going to be a right time for it. She knew she had to get it over with. And she wanted to tell him first so the longer she waited, the longer everyone else would find out.
*~*~*~*~*
"Thanks for coming, Marissa. Bye Zach. Bye Henry," Lily said, holding the door open for the few remaining guests who were finally leaving. "Bye Gessica! Talk to you later, Mandarin." She closed the door. "Whew! Finally, some peace and quiet."
"Nope, with me around, there's never peace and quiet," Sirius said.
Lily laughed. "Okay, that's it. Get out!" she cried, and they both laughed.
"Yeah, do us all a favor, and listen to her," Savannah said, who was helping Remus put back the couch.
They all laughed. Remaining in their house was Lily, Sirius, Remus, Savannah, James, and Peter and they all helped put back the furniture and helped clean up the huge mess left in Sirius' and Lily's cottage.
"I know I already thanked you all like a thousand times, but thanks again, guys," James said, with his arm around Lily's waist in the entranceway after everything was cleaned up, the trash was taken out, the room was back together, and they were all sitting back, or standing up, admiring their hard work for the past hour.
"It was fun. I'm glad we could have a party here," Lily said smiling up at him.
"I'm also glad I played today. I haven't picked up my guitar in so long!" he cried, and they all grinned up at him.
"Yeah, and you did so terribly today for not playing in a while," Sirius said sarcastically. They all laughed again, and Lily and James plopped on to the couch next to Sirius.
"You have to open our gifts now, James!" Savannah said energetically from sitting on the ground.
"Whoa, if you stop being so hyper, then maybe I'll open the gifts!" James said, laughing.
"If I didn't stop, would you not open your gifts?" she said laughing.
"No, I definitely still would," James replied, and they all laughed.
*~*~*~*~*
He opened Savannah's gift which was a book, The Art of Aurorism and Dark Arts, and Remus' and Peter's gift which was a Zonko's gift certificate and a 50-pack of Filibusters and Dung Bombs, and Sirius' gift, 1,000 Ways to Annoy Your Girlfriend Using Charms.
"How about I take this?" Lily said, trying to grab it away from him.
"No way, this could be useful!" James said, and Lily had to laugh, as did everyone else.
"Here," Lily said handing him a huge package.
He look interested, and started to unwrap it. He took of the top of the huge box and instantly gasped. "Oh, my God, Lily!"
"I knew you'd like it," Lily said with a huge grin on her face.
"I-I do love it.but it must have cost a fortune!" James said with a confused look on his face.
"It was worth it," Lily said smiling.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, interested in what must have cost her a fortune. James took the broomstick out of the box, and Remus, Sirius, and Peter gasped as well.
"Lily, I.I.I don't know what to say," James said. He didn't want to say it, but even though she was getting a job soon, he knew she spent way too much for him and as much as he had wanted the broomstick so much, he felt a little guilty. He never would have expected anyone to get it for him and wondered why she did it.
"James, I know you're thinking I shouldn't have bought it for you, but I'm not broke or anything! And I know you deserve it and that's all that matters," Lily explained.
"Thank you so much, Lily," James said breathlessly, turning towards her and giving her a short, but sweet, kiss on the mouth. Lily kissed him back, still feeling guilty that she hadn't told him yet. She knew he must be a little suspicious to why she bought it for him.
*~*~*~*~*
"I'll see you tomorrow night, right guys?" James said to Remus and Peter.
"I can't," Peter said. "I.I have to go back to Scandinavia to resolve some business issues."
"What about you, Remus?" Sirius asked. "Movie tomorrow night?"
"I'm not sure if I have to work yet. They're still trying to figure out if Igor's cancer is contagious and if it is then I might have to go into the lab."
"Igor has cancer? That's so sad!" Sirius said. "Wait.do I know an Igor?
They all laughed. "He was hatched on Friday in Argentina with liver cancer and bladder irritation, so they brought him back to London so he could be with the experienced professionals and I'm helping in the lab," Remus explained.
"Okay, well, just call us tomorrow," James said.
"Okay," Remus said. "Talk to you later!"
"Hey, James, do you want to take a walk around the block with me?" Lily asked, coming up behind him.
"A walk? Is that what it's called nowadays?" Sirius muttered, and they all laughed.
"It's two o'clock in the morning," he pointed out.
"A perfect time to go walking!" Sirius cried, laughing.
"Then why don't we go for a walk?" Savannah asked Sirius with a grin on her face.
"Now, when you say walk, is that like a James-and-Lily walk, or.just a regular walk?" Sirius wondered.
"It's a Sirius-and-Savannah walk," she replied with a grin.
"Is that the same thing as a James-and-Lily walk?"
"No," Savannah replied.
"Can we make it a James-and-Lily walk?" Sirius teased. "Nope," Savannah replied with a grin. "You're no fun.but just because you're you, let's go for an S-and-S walk," he said, and they both left. James and Lily laughed at them as they walked down the stairs and on to the street.
Lily closed the door to the cottage, and grabbed James' hand to walk in the opposite direction of Sirius and Savannah. They just walked hand-in-hand in silence for a few minutes, before Lily finally sighed and decided to get it over with.
"James, I have something really important to tell you," she started.
"What is it, Lily? What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely worried.
"Nothing's wrong.I don't think. I-I'm not sure. This is one of the hardest things I've ever really had to tell anyone," she continued.
"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" James asked, alarmed.
Lily laughed. "No..Well." she trailed off, thinking about the situation. She didn't want to break up, but what if James wanted to? She shook away that thought. "No, I'm not."
"You're not dying, are you?" he asked.
Lily laughed again. "No, James!"
"You're not pregnant, are you!?!?"
"James!!" she cried, laughing. "I'm not any of those, so don't worry! Just let me tell you what I have to tell you!"
He laughed. "Okay, okay. Continue."
"Well, the good news it that I've got a definite job with Random House for Wizardry," she started.
"Lily, that's great!" James said, as he stopped walking and gave her a hug.
"-In America," she ended, as James wrapped his arms around her.
He immediately pulled away and gave her a look. "What?" he asked surprised.
"Yeah, the job is at Random House for Wizardry in California," she explained.
"But then.then you'd have to move to California?" he asked.
Lily simply nodded, since she couldn't speak due to the huge lump formed in her throat and the tears already forming in her eyelids. She thought it would have been a little easier to tell him, but now she's realizing that she won't be able to see him much that much during the year.
James wasn't sure of what to say so he started walking ahead of Lily.
"James, wait," she said, catching up to him.
James didn't say anything. He faced forwards, still in shock.
"James." Lily said, grabbing his arm.
"You can't move to California!!" he cried unexpectedly.
Lily was taken aback that he said something. "Wh-what? Why? I have to, James. I don't want to, but I have to."
"No.you can't," James said, with a shaky voice, blinking away the tears that were starting to form. He didn't want Lily to see him to cry. "I won't get to see you, Lily!"
That's when Lily started to cry. "I know, James!! That's the worst about it all, but this is my future! I can't just give this up for my boyfriend. I can't let anything stand in my way of my dream, James!" "But.well, when are you leaving?"
"May 24. We still have about a month."
"No we don't. Considering I still have school and you still have the internship, we have probably two days to hang out between now and then."
"What about my birthday? You said you'd take up that weekend to come down and see me!"
"Fine, four days then!"
"James, I've wanted this for years now and this could be my big break!" "But, what if it isn't? What would you do then?"
"I'd move back to England and start over again."
"But.why can't you just stay in England and find another job?"
"James, Random House for Wizardry is the best publishing company in the world! There's nothing better than this!"
"So are you saying there's nothing better enough so that you get everything you want?" James said, a bit too crossly.
Lily started crying more, realizing that he wasn't upset, he was angry and that it was probably hurting him more than it was hurting her. "James, I just want you to understand that I love you so much and I don't want to hurt you, and-"
"It's a little too late for that, isn't it, Lily?" James cried angrily. "My girlfriend moving halfway across the country isn't supposed to hurt me?"
Lily couldn't believe how selfish he was being, but she didn't want to start a fight with him. "James, this is my career! This is what I'm good at! I can't give that up!"
"Not even for me?" James asked selfishly, knowing he was crossing the line.
"No, not even for you, James! James, you're going to become a famous Auror and everyone in the magic world is going to look up to you! If you had to move to America to uphold that reputation, I'd completely understand! It would completely and utterly suck, but I know that it was your job and that's it's one of the most important things to you! I'd totally support you wherever you'd go!"
"Yeah, but I'd take you with me, Lily," James pointed out. "You can't take me with you because my job's here in England and this is where I belong!"
"Yeah, let's just blame this all on the fact that I can't take you with me, James! Let's blame me for this because you know exactly how ecstatic I am to be moving half-way around the world!!" Lily cried, a little too harshly.
"Hey, don't yell at me! I'm not the one who's moving to California!"
"Yeah, but I'm not the one who's being a selfish jerk!!!!" Lily cried.
James turned to look at her with an angry look on his face. "I don't need this right now, Lily. It's my birthday and I'd like to have a happy one. I guess that was too much to ask for," he said, hitting Lily right where it hurt. "I'm apparating home. Tell Sirius thanks for the birthday party," he said crossly. And two seconds later, he was gone and Lily sat on the curb of the road bawling her eyes out. She was not expecting it to go that way at all. She at least thought he'd be a little supportive.
"So what do you think they're talking about?" Savannah asked about five minutes down the road.
"Talking?" Sirius asked. "Is that what it's called?" They both laughed and walked for a few seconds in silence.
Savannah sighed out loud, not realizing it and Sirius noticed. "What's wrong, Vannie?" he asked.
Savannah smirked slightly. "Why do you call me that, Si-Si?"
"Why do you call me that?"
"I'm not sure. I think it was.second time we went out? Or the second break-up, should I say. I called you my little baby, Si-Si, and you said it sounded like a girl's name, and because I was mad at you.it just stuck. And after we became friends again.it still stuck."
"Well, I remember when you found me talking to Daniella Goodwin, you told me I wasn't even worthy of speaking your name, so I tried sweet-talking you with the name Vannie, and it just.stuck, like you said. I do remember that you laughed when I came up with it."
Savannah laughed. "Wow, that seemed so long ago."
"It was six years ago. That is pretty long."
"Yeah, it is.but if you think about it, it's not really. I mean we already lived twenty-three years of it, with seven years of it spent at Hogwarts, which seems like a lot.but it really wasn't."
Sirius turned to look at 'Vannie.' "Savannah," he started. Oooh, it meant seriousness; he just called her Savannah!! "It might have been only seven years to you.but it was the best seven years of my life. It will never be only seven years to me; it will be thee seven years. Hogwarts is where I have all of my memories. It was a second home to me. In fact, it was my home. After my mother died, I really had nowhere to go besides James' house, and as much as it felt good to go somewhere where I was wanted, it wasn't.my home. It wasn't where I belonged. And up until my seventh year of Hogwarts, I never really knew where I belonged."
Savannah turned towards Sirius. "Oh, really? How and when did you realize it?"
And to Savannah's surprise, Sirius started to blush like mad. Even in the dark with the streetlights gleaming down, she could tell he was. "What? You're bright red!!! What did I say??" she said, laughing.
Sirius turned towards Savannah without laughing. "Vannie, when I started dating you at the end of our seventh year.I knew I had a chance to fit in somewhere."
"You mean.I changed your perspective?" Savannah asked surprised.
"You didn't change just that, you changed everything about me that year. I realized that, even though we've had our disagreements, we were meant for each other. Or.at least that's what I thought for the remaining time of that year. Graduation happened and we went our separate ways. I guess I thought wrong." Sirius said, shaking his head as if he was just realizing that.
Savannah stopped and grabbed Sirius' arm. "Si-Si, don't do this to yourself. You are a wonderful person that at least belongs with me.and I know you belong with James and Lily and Remus and Peter, too!!"
"It's not that I don't know I belong with you guys.it's the fact that you're all I have."
"And that scares you?"
"Hell yeah!! What happens when I become older and I can't depend on you guys anymore?"
"What are you talking about? You can always depend on me!"
"How do you know that?"
"I-I don't, Si-Si, but I don't want to have the thought of not having you around stuck in my head."
"You were always there for me, Vannie," he sighed. "I mean, you were always there for me! And now I feel that maybe.maybe you're not always going to be there for me in the future. I can't just wish for something and have it happen. Like you said, it scares me. I.I don't even know how to explain it. It's a feeling of."
"Emptiness?" Savannah said, mostly talking to herself, thinking the same exact thing.
"Exactly. I'm happy with my life right now, but there's a part of me that's empty and lonely and.and afraid. I just don't know if I'm ready to take on the world myself."
"You may not know you're ready.but I know you're ready. You were always ready, Sirius Black, you just never knew it.and maybe you were afraid to admit it."
He smiled at her and looked over at her. And for some reason, this one time when he looked over at her, she looked different to her. Every other time he looked at her, it was out of friendship, but now he felt the sudden urge to kiss her. He tried to shake away the feeling knowing that their friendship was more important then ruining it again, but it wouldn't go away. And then he realized that the absolute perfect girl has been under his nose the past eleven years and he's never fully realized it.until now. He stopped, and grabbed Savannah's arm and turned towards her.
"What, Sirius?" she asked.
"Look, it's a shooting star," he said realizing it for the first time. He knew it was fate.
"Oooh, make a wish," Savannah squealed.
Don't let me make a fool of myself in about a second, Sirius wished.
"What did you wish for?" Savannah asked for, not really expecting him to answer.
He paused and said, "This." And he gave her a short, gentle, loving kiss.
He pulled away, and Savannah was completely stunned. She didn't expect him to do it.but she realized that she liked it. At first she thought maybe she liked it because she hadn't kissed a guy for so long. But then she realized that it felt good to be kissing Sirius, and not just any old stranger. It always felt good to kiss him for some reason. I mean. There were old boyfriends.and then there was Sirius.
"I-I'm not sure why I did that," Sirius stuttered.
"I'm not sure why you did it either," Savannah said, realizing that sounded insensitive. "No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that.we've tried dating before and it always ended up with me crushed. I don't want to get hurt again, Si-Si."
Sirius looked directly into his eyes. "I never meant to hurt you, Vannie."
"I know you didn't, but you did and I can never shake that feeling off. I'm just.I'm just afraid that's all."
"What are you afraid of?"
Savannah turned towards him and hesitated before answering. "Admitting that I'm falling in love with you."
Sirius smiled. "Don't be," he said, leaning in and giving her another kiss that they both enjoyed this time. If heartaches and tears And shadows of doubt Are parts of the deal You can count me out If you're talking about the game of love I can win You can count me in
When the pulled apart Sirius said, "Hey you realize we just made this a James-and-Lily walk so I was right."
"Except for now it's also a Savannah-and-Sirius walk," Savannah said softly and then kissed Sirius again.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily sat on the couch watching some movie on television. She had no idea what the movie was about, though, considering all she could think about was James. She started to cry thinking about him. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help it!! I mean, she's the one who's leaving! She's the one who has to make the change! Why should he be angry with her for following her dreams!? She stopped crying and suddenly became aware that she wasn't upset at him! She was pissed at him!! She didn't want to be mad at him, but she had to be considering he was being so selfish about it the whole thing!
The door suddenly opened and in walked Sirius and Savannah with Sirius' arm around Savannah's waist.
Lily raised her eyebrows. "And what exactly happened on your walk?" she asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," Savannah said a little too quickly, with a huge grin on her face.
"Is that why Sirius' arm is around you?"
"Uh.yes?" she replied unconvincingly.
"Okay, spill it," she said.
"Well.we decided to take our friendship to the next level," Sirius said sophisticatedly. "We discussed it, and we both realized that we have feelings for each other that sparked out of an interesting conversation of emptiness and where we belong in life." Lily looked from Sirius to Savannah and noticed the cheap smiles and eyebrows raised.
"You practiced that speech, didn't you?" Lily asked.
They all laughed. "Busted," Savannah said. "Basically, we're back together."
"How many is that? Six times? And, I hate to be the one to mention this but.five ended in failure."
"Yeah, but I realized that even though I've been hurt before, isn't is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all? And isn't it better to forgive and forget than never to have forgiven at all? And then isn't it better to pick your life back up with someone new?" Savannah asked.
"I don't think it counts when you pick your life up with the same person you lost and loved and forgave and forgot," Lily pointed out.
"Eh, who cares? It's all for the best now! I'm just going to forget about Hogwarts and start thinking about the future.with Vannie."
"Awww. How sweet," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "But I already got the Hallmark card." They all laughed.
"I figure, if we have the courage to turn around after our messy break-ups and date again, then so be it," Savannah commented.
"At least someone's dating," Lily muttered.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Yeah.where's James?" Savannah asked.
"Who knows.who cares?" Lily mumbled, getting off the couch and turning her back on them to walk into the kitchen.
"Lily." Sirius said slowly, walking quickly behind her.
"What?" Lily asked, without turning around.
"What happened between you two?"
"We just had a dumb argument," Lily said, a little too harshly.
"Dumb? Is that why you're so angry?"
"So it was a big argument! A huge, stupid argument! And it was all his fault! And I plan on never speaking to him again, which won't be hard since I'm moving soon!" Lily cried quickly covering her mouth, realizing she had said too much. "Oops."
"Moving? What? What are you talking about?" Savannah asked walking into the kitchen when she heard what Lily said.
Lily sighed. "Ugh, I didn't want you guys to find out this way."
"And find out what? In what way?" Sirius asked.
Lily grabbed a Diet Coke from the refrigerator and sat down in the chair at the kitchen table. "I got a job with Random House for Wizardry and-"
"That's so great!" Savannah cried.
"Alright will anyone let me finish?" Lily asked.
"Huh? What's so not great about it?" Sirius asked.
"At the end of May, I.I, well, I have to move to California.as in America. The job's there."
"What?" Sirius said breathlessly.
"Yeah. Trust me, it surprised me too," Lily explained.
"But.you can't move. Everything is here! Your friends, your home, your internship!" Savannah cried.
"And me!" Sirius yelled out. Lily and Savannah rolled their eyes.
"That would be a reason to move sooner," Savannah said.
"Hey!" Sirius said. "Yeah, okay, it's true." They all laughed.
"What about your internship, Lily?" Savannah asked.
"There's a Daily Prophet headquarters in San Diego so I'll still be able to get my journalism degree and my Daily Prophet editor rights there."
"Well.wow, this is huge!" Savannah cried with a smile on her face.
"But.but.but." Sirius stuttered.
"God, please don't start saying things like this may not be your big break so stay here in England or anything along the lines of 'oh, no I'm more important so stay here,'" Lily muttered.
"What? No, I wouldn't say that," Sirius said in shock. "It's just.it's a huge surprise. And it sucks. But this is publishing. This is what you've always wanted to do, Lily," Sirius continued. Suddenly his face lit up. "Lily, this is a huge opportunity for you! This is going to be so great! I can't believe it! I'm so proud of you!" Sirius cried, running over to her and giving her a huge hug. "This calls for some champagne. I know I have some hidden somewhere for a special occasion."
To Sirius and Savannah's amazement, Lily burst into tears.
"Okay.skip the champagne," Sirius said slowly with a confused look.
"No, it's not that. It's the fact that you guys are so supportive and James was exactly the opposite!" Lily bawled.
"What? That's crazy," Savannah cried.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lily remarked, crying harder. "But he said that because he was here in England and his job was here in England that I should stay here for him and how I was hurting him. I just don't get it. I mean, he's basically saying that he can have the great job and the money and he can be the best but I have to life a half-life just doing boring desk jobs always wondering what would have happened if I had taken the Random House for Wizardry job! He's just being so.ugh! He's being so.so self-centered!" Lily cried. "Whatever, I don't care anymore. I'm leaving at the end of May and I can forget about him for as long as I want to."
"James is just upset, Lily. He just didn't want to admit that without you, his life is pretty much pointless. He doesn't want to lose you. He almost lost you last year and he doesn't want it to happen again," Sirius explained. "He just took it out on you because you were right there telling him you were moving across the globe. He'll eventually realize he was being selfish and stupid and he'll come home for your birthday and we'll all be happy, maybe throw you a Going Away Party or whatnot. Oops, I said too much."
That got Lily to laugh.
"Ha! You're laughing," Savannah said, winking at her.
Lily turned towards Sirius. "I just.I just don't like being mad at him. And I hate it when he's mad at me! And I'd apologize, but there's nothing for me to apologize for. He was the one that was totally out of line."
"Just forget about it now and remember that you are going to be a part of Random House for Wizardry!! This is a HUGE opportunity for you, Lils!!" Sirius cried, grabbing her and swinging her around. Lily couldn't help but get a little excited.
"Okay, even though it's about three in the morning, let's go celebrate," Savannah cried, grabbing her coat and Lily's, and throwing her coat at her.
Lily laughed. "Fine, I give up. Let's go get drunk."
"Yes! That's the spirit!" Sirius cried, and they all laughed, as they trudged out of the door and out to an all-night bar.
*~*~*~*~*
The next night, Sirius knocked on the Potters' front door and Mrs. Potter answered.
"Why, hello Sirius!" Mrs. Potter cried. "James is in the den. And maybe you could possibly cheer him up. He's been in there all day sullen and depressed but he won't tell me or his father why he's like this. In fact, he hasn't spoken a word all day."
Sirius sighed, knowing perfectly well why James was being like this. He walked through the dining room and into the den. "Hey, James."
"Oh, hey Sirius," James said lethargically, staring at the television and not even look up at Sirius. James was slumped in the couch with an empty bag of potato chips, a half-empty bag of pretzels, a half- eaten turkey sandwich, three cans of soda, and a half-empty bottle of beer by his side.
"What are you watching?" Sirius asked.
"I'm not sure. I think they're speaking Spanish.or maybe Japanese," James said, obviously not caring.
"James, this is pathetic," Sirius said, talking about his situation.
"No it's not. Can't a twenty-two year old guy just sit at home watching television for a day?" James asked, still not looking up.
"Not when that twenty-two year old guy has unresolved issues."
"Hey, that twenty-two year old guy just wants a break."
"James, I need to talk to you about Lily."
James was immediately standing up, with the television off, ready to walk out of the room. "I can't," he said, fishing for excuses. "I'm going out tonight and I'm not ready yet," he explained, as he walked by Sirius.
"James, you're going out tonight with me!" Sirius pointed out.
"Oh." James stopped and turned to face Sirius. "Right."
"So you obviously know what this is about."
"Yes, I know exactly what you're going to say to me, and I don't need to hear it right now," James pointed out.
"So.what? You're just going to sit at home for the rest of your life watching television and pigging out?"
"No.I'm just going to do that for the next couple of months until I get over her."
"James, you and I both know that you're not going to get over her," Sirius stated. "So my suggestion is just get under her!" Sirius was trying to make James smile but it didn't quite work.
James glared at him. "Shut up, Sirius."
"Listen, I think we both know that you didn't mean any of what you said to Lily, but instead you were just upset that she was leaving. But it's not the end of the world. You can still apparate to go see her, and same goes for her. Yeah, it's true that you can't apparate on school grounds, and usually big companies don't let you apparate there either, but on holidays and during the summer, you'll be able to see each other. Now, you're my best friend and I'd never want to hurt you in any way-wow, is this starting to sound mushy or what-but Lily is one my closest friends and my roommate and I don't like it when she's hurt also. I understand that you hate that she's leaving, but I kind-of have to agree with Lily when she said you were being totally selfish and not thinking about how this must feel for her."
"Sirius, I know I was being selfish. I was being stupid and self-centered and I should've been supportive and I should've understood that this is a huge opportunity for her and she's finally gotten what she's always wanted, but I snapped!!!! I'm standing there thinking about how.how." James said, choking up. He tried to push back the tears that were coming, not wanting to have Sirius see him crying, ".how much I'm going to miss her. I mean.I love her more than words could express and I'm realizing that I'm not going to see much of her at all. And.and it sucks, for lack of a better word. Holidays aren't enough for me! I want her more than that, Sirius. I.I just can't handle it anymore."
Sirius knew his best friend was on the verge of tears, but he didn't let that stop him from saying anything. "But you need to; if not for you, for her. She needs your support, James. I think she knows you love her.she just needs to hear it."
James sighed. "I messed up, didn't I?"
"Big time, Prongs," Sirius said sympathetically.
"I know we missed the movie last night, but could we possibly miss it again?" James asked. "I-I kinda got to go talk to Lily."
Sirius laughed. "We'll catch the movie tomorrow night."
"We can't, we're going out to dinner with the rest of the group," James explained.
"Oh.maybe Friday?" Sirius suggested.
James sighed. "Can't, I'm meeting up with my cousins, Stephina and Zara and Stephina's husband and we're probably going to dinner maybe something else. I'm not sure what we're doing. How about Saturday?"
Sirius laughed. "I've got a meeting."
"Okay.fine, we'll go in the afternoon sometime!" James said laughing.
"We're obviously so popular that we're busy!"
James rolled his eyes with a grin on his face. "You keep believing that, Sirius, and maybe it will come true."
"Hey!!!" he cried. They both laughed.
"See ya later, Prongs, "James said. He was about to apparate, when he decided to tell Sirius one other thing.
"Are you going to Lily's?" Sirius asked.
James sighed and took something out of his back pocket and threw it towards Sirius, who barely caught it. "There's something else." James said hesitantly.
Sirius opened the little black box and gaped at what was inside. "James.this is a ring."
He sighed. "I know."
"Now, I hope you're not proposing to me, James, because I don't think Lily would approve of that," Sirius said with a laugh.
James cracked a smile. "Hardy har har," James said, rolling his eyes.
"Were you.are you going to ask Lily to marry you?"
James sighed. "I'm not sure," he said. "I was in Diagon Alley with Peter on Saturday, and while he went to Gringotts, I was in Three Broomsticks and I saw Allie Reiner and Josh Matthews, and-"
"Seriously?? Wow, I haven't spoken to them since your Christmas Party two years ago," Sirius asked. "How are they??"
"Engaged," James said.
Sirius gasped. "No way! Allie and Josh?? They hate each other!!" Allie was an Honorary Marauder in their group, along with Lily and Savannah and another one of their friends, and Allie was a best friend to Savannah and Lily. Unfortunately, they somewhat lost touch over the last two years, although occasionally they'll send a letter to each other or whatnot. Josh was a Ravenclaw who annoyed the hell out of Allie, Peter, and Savannah, but who the other four didn't mind and actually became friends with him and Allie and Josh graduated from Hogwarts their year.
James laughed. "Hated. Past tense. But I know. I was surprised when I even saw them together, but it turns out that Allie's mom and Josh's uncle got married last Spring, so they've seen each other more often, which I guess turned into some kind of romance. And it lasted."
"Wow," Sirius said shaking his head. "I never would have guessed."
"I'm happy I saw them, though. I think I convinced Allie to come to dinner with all of us on Thursday night.but don't tell anyone. I'm not sure if she's coming, yet, and I want it to be a surprise."
"So, you tell me?"
James laughed. "I tell you everything, Padfoot."
"Awww, that's so touching," Sirius said pretending to choke up. "I think I'm going to cry now."
"Cry for your own sake. You need it," James said rolling his eyes with a grin on his face.
"Okay, is it me or did we get from Lily.to crying?"
"No, it's just you," James teased.
"Okay, back to your story. You saw Allie and Josh in Three Broomsticks."
"And they told me they were engaged and for some reason, it hit me. I mean, I've known Lily for about eleven years and I've been seriously dating her for almost a year now and I love her so much, more than words can describe, and for a second I stood there and I realized, I wanted to marry her. And not at any old time. I wanted to do it as soon as possible. So after Peter went back home, I went to Gringotts, emptied most of my vault, and headed straight for Darla's Diamonds. It took me hours to pick the right ring-"
"And you sure did pick the right one," Sirius said breathlessly staring at the gold-banded ring with a simple diamond-shaped premium cut diamond at the top, with two tiny square diamonds on the side of that diamond.
James grinned. "I hope you'd say that."
"But when are you giving it to her?" Sirius asked.
James sighed. "I.I'm not sure if I am anymore."
"What!?!?" Sirius cried. "Are you NUTS!?!?"
"Well, if we got married, either I'd have to move to California or she'd have to stay here and I don't think either one of us can do that, so I'm just going to wait for the right time. Maybe in a few years when our lives will begin to change, maybe then I'll start thinking about giving proposing. But right now, our lives are too different."
Sirius nodded. "Either I've known you too long, or that all just made sense."
James laughed. "It's both, Sirius. I've known you for twenty- two years, and I always make sense."
Sirius laughed hysterically but stopped short. "Oh, you were serious?"
"No, I've always been James," he answered. "Okay, okay, it was lame. I'm going now before I become even more lame while hanging around you." He was about to apparate when he stopped short and turned back to Sirius. "You know what else? On our walk, I was about to tell her I got the Auror job working under Sir Sephilia with Alastor Moody, but then she sprung up her job. That's another reason I was selfish. Because I wanted to be happy for her and her new job because I wanted her to be happy for me even though I know I'd be busy twenty-four/seven."
"You got the job??" Sirius cried.
"Okay, you are so not helping right now," James said with a grin.
"Oh, right, right. Lily, California, selfishness, jobs, blah, blah, yada, yada, I get it, I get it," Sirius said waving his hands in the air.
James stared at him. "Yeah, thanks for caring, Padfoot," he said sarcastically with a grin on his face.
Sirius laughed. "I do care, but I think Lily would care even more!!"
"I'm going, I'm going!!!"
They both laughed as James apparated to Lily and Sirius' cottage and knocked on the door. Quickly he conjured up a dozen yellow roses for her, and hid them behind his back.
Lily opened the door with a smile, but when she saw James, she immediately frowned and crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?" she asked, as if she didn't care he was there.
"I want to talk to you."
"Well, I don't want to talk to you," Lily said, turning around, about to slam the door closed, but James caught it with his hand.
"Lily, wait. I need to talk to you."
"Listen, James, I'm not exactly in the mood to talk to you right now, okay?"
"I know, that's what I need to talk to you about."
Lily groaned. "Fine, what do you have to say."
"You mean.you're going to listen to me?"
"I just said that, didn't I!!" she cried with aggravation.
"Okay, okay. Lily, I'm so sorry for being such a selfish jerk. I should've supported you, and I do, I.I was just upset and scared and confused and everything rolled up into one. I didn't know what to say and I acted completely self-centered. All I thought about was me and not you and that's who I should've been thinking about. I-I'm just going to miss you so much, Lily, and it hurt too much to know I wouldn't be able to see you much."
Tears sprang to Lily's eyes. "James, it's not that I want to move halfway across the country, but I have to. I need to. This is such a huge opportunity for me and this is everything I've always wanted and as much as I love you to death and I always will, I need to do this.for me."
James choked up seeing Lily about to cry. Lily just didn't know that he was about to cry mostly because he knew that he'd basically never see her with his new job.but he didn't want to mention it then. "Lily, I-I don't know how to react to this, but I'm trying the best I can."
Lily started crying, and James, on instinct, went to put his arm around her. "Don't cry, Lily.because you're going to get me started and I don't want to cry."
"I-I can't help it," Lily sobbed. "I'm just going to miss you and England and Savannah, and Sirius, and Remus, and Peter, and Diagon Alley, and Alphamstone, and this house and.and.and you," Lily said, crying even harder.
"Shhhh, Lily, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. I'll miss you so much, but I'm not going to forget you and that's all that matters. I love you Lily and I hope you never forget it."
"I love you, too, James," Lily said, giving him a soothing hug.
He pulled out the yellow roses after breaking away from the long hug. "I was going to give you these if things didn't work out between us.but I guess I didn't need them. You probably don't want them anyway," he teased.
"No, no, I'll still take them, they're still my favorite," Lily said, and they both laughed.
"AGH!" Savannah cried when someone appeared at her doorway.
"My movie date was cancelled," Sirius said, grinning with a wink. "You want to go out and do something?"
"So, you're dating other people now?" Savannah asked, knowing perfectly well whom he was going to go with.
"Yes, I admit it. You weren't satisfying my needs and I snapped and started dating.guys!" Sirius cried. They both laughed.
"I wasn't satisfying your needs for.a day?" Savannah asked. "So you became.gay?" She hesitated, ready to crack up. "Well my work in life is done!"
Sirius laughed. "Come on, let's go to Diagon Alley or something and just walk around."
"And flaunt the fact that we're back together?" Savannah asked.
"Hmm.exactly!" Sirius said, and they both laughed. "Come on, Vannie sweetheart, you're leaving on Friday, which only leaves us three more days to hang out."
Savannah sighed, got off her bed, put away her back and grabbed a sweater. She wasn't really in the mood to be reminded that she'd be going back to Canada in less than a few days. She was having such a great time, and knowing it was coming to end soon made her frustrated and upset. "Fine, I'm convinced. Let's go make fools of ourselves in front of our former classmates."
"YES!! I win," Sirius said.
"For the first and last time," Savannah said.
"Not if I can help it," he said grinning, grabbing her hand and apparating them to Diagon Alley.
"Three Broomsticks?" Savannah suggested.
"Fine, but I'm paying."
"No way," Savannah said.
"Yes way!"
Savannah laughed. "I'm thinking.no."
"I'm thinking yes."
"You won the last time, let me win this time."
"Why don't you want me to pay for you, Vannie?"
"Because I'm not old-fashioned."
"Just old," he said. "Oops! Did I say that out loud?" he said sarcastically and they both laughed.
"Yeah, insult me. That's gonna make me wanna stay," and they laughed again.
"I was the one who asked you to come to Diagon Alley with me."
"Yeah, spontaneously."
Sirius walked inside with a sigh, knowing that with Savannah as stubborn as ever he'd never win.. "Rosmerta! How's it going!?" he asked the young, popular waitress at the bar.
"Are you always here?" she asked.
"No.I wasn't here on Sunday!"
"Oooh, the thought of you not being here absolutely blows my mind away," she said, rolling her eyes. Savannah laughed at the twenty year old woman who seemed not to care about Sirius Black just wiping the countertop. It was probably the first and last woman not to care, also.
"You know, I'm starting to like you a lot," Savannah said with a laugh.
"Who are you? No, wait, you always come in here with that red- headed girl with the green eyes who always talks about the Auror guy."
Savannah laughed. "Yeah, that's me, and that would be Lily Evans in love with James Potter."
Rosmerta grinned. "James Potter.wow. He doesn't come in here as much as I'd like him to."
Both Savannah and Rosmerta laughed. "Yep.the wonderfully popular James Potter," Savannah said.
"A-hem! What about the wonderfully popular Sirius Black?" Sirius asked jokingly.
"Please to God don't be talking about yourself!" Rosmerta said.
"What other Sirius Black's do you know?" he asked.
"I wish I didn't know any Sirius Blacks!" she cried.
Savannah and Rosmerta cracked up as Sirius rolled his eyes. "Now, what would you do without me?" he asked.
"Celebrate," she replied, rather quickly. "Now, are you going to order or do I really have to stand here all day talking to you?"
"Two butterbeers, I'm paying," Sirius said, already whipping out his money.
"Si-Si!!! I already told you not to!"
"Oooh, Sirius Black is paying. Sounds like a date," Rosmerta said.
"Yeah, a spontaneous one," Savannah muttered.
Rosmerta sighed. "He may be cute, but don't get attached. He's rather annoying," Rosmerta said to Savannah and they both laughed.
"Well, at least I know you think I'm cute," Sirius said grinning at Rosmerta.
"Oh, please. Don't act surprised," she said. "You get that from everybody every day."
Sirius grinned. "Yeah, I know."
"Is there such thing as taming a wizard?" Savannah asked, ruffling his hair up and Sirius gave her an annoyed face. She knew how much he hated it when she did that.
"Oh, shit," Rosmerta muttered, looking beyond Sirius and Savannah.
They both looked up at her confused, wondering why she just cursed. "Huh?" Sirius asked.
"I know this is hard to believe but there are two wizards even worse than you who just happened to walk in here."
"There's someone more hated than I?" Sirius said blessfully and jokingly, turning around. Both he and Savannah groaned. "Now I know why."
"Ugh, they hit on me every time they get the chance and they play jokes and they annoy the living hell out of me and I can't stand it anymore!" Rosmerta grumbled, not really caring who she was complaining to.
"That's the only way they even get near women," Savannah pointed out and groaned as Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy walked towards them.
"Well, well, well. Lookee here," Snape sneered. "It's the loser prankster and his ditsy girlfriend.oh, no wait! She's not your girlfriend because you broke up five times."
Savannah smirked at Snape. "Is that the best you can do?"
"At least I've had the chance to break up with someone," Sirius sneered.
"If you must know, Miss Rosmerta Shannon and I are together now," Snape lied.
Sirius, Savannah, and Rosmerta all cracked up. "Yeah, in your dreams," she muttered. "And that's where I'll stay."
"Besides, she's dating James Potter now, and I don't think after him she'd stoop that low for you," Sirius lied, turning towards Rosmerta giving her a look to play along. It took all of Savannah's strength not to laugh.
"James Potter?" Malfoy snickered. "Whatever happened to that Mudblood girlfriend of his?"
Savannah held in her anger, gritted her teeth and muttered, "She is not a Mudblood, and they.they just went separate ways and if you don't bug off maybe we'll get James Potter back here to kick your ass for the millionth time!"
"Oh, please. James Potter couldn't kick my ass if there was a target sign on my ass," Snape muttered.
"You want to count how many times he already did?? But maybe I'll give him a break for once so I can kick your ass!" Sirius cried.
"Guys! Although my.boyfriend is extremely strong and could beat you two to the ground in a second, I do not want any fuckin' fighting in this restaurant!" Rosmerta cried, ready to laugh.
"Oooh, watch that language Rosie, or I might have to change my mind about dating you," Snape said.
"Fine! Change your fuckin' mind because it ain't ever going to happen!!"
"So get the fuck out of here and leave us the fuck alone," Savannah cursed.
"Yeah, that's going to make us leave," Malfoy sneered.
"Don't you have other people to annoy?" Savannah said harshly.
"We do, but what fun is that when I haven't annoyed you for the last four years?"
"Listen, we just came in to get some butterbeer, not to start a fight," Sirius said, putting his arm round Savannah's waist.realizing too late that it was a bad idea.
"Oh, my God! Are you and Virgin Mary back together again?" Malfoy asked, trying to act surprised, while rolling his eyes.
"Now, who would've thought that you two would end up dating.oh, wait it's happened five times before," Snape sneered.
"Jealous, are you?" Savannah asked.
"Of you two?" Snape cried, bursting into hysterics. "Never in a million years!!!"
"Twenty galleons says that you two are living on the street with no jobs, money, or women right now," Rosmerta grumbled to Snape and Malfoy
"Twenty galleons says that I'm becoming the Potions Master at Hogwarts starting in two years," Snape snapped back.
Savannah and Sirius stared at him in awe, thinking the same exact thing. Dumbledore gave him a job!? They both thought in disgust. *~*~*~*~*
For the next three days, Lily hardly saw much of Sirius or Savannah at all, even though Sirius lived with her and Savannah was staying with them. They were always at Diagon Alley or on some spontaneous visit to Martha's Vineyard in America, or Hong Kong in China, or Paris in France. Not for very long-just to see the sites and to eat lunch or breakfast or dinner. In fact, she realized that she hadn't cooked for Sirius in five days! Not including James' party in which Sirius helped cook.well, he tried at least. He blew up the kitchen twice before Lily kicked him out do help rearrange the living room. No wonder Lily was the cooker in their place.
Considering Savannah and Sirius were much older and sophisticated than they were in Hogwarts, they definitely acted older with their relationship. At Hogwarts, it was a surprise if you didn't see them pressed against a wall with their tongues down each other's throats or if you didn't see them-actually.hear them-screaming at each other in the middle of the Great Hall. Yeah, in the Great Hall for everyone to watch and know that Sirius was found kissing another girl or Sirius wasn't ready for a big commitment or Sirius (who else?) liked how their friendship was going at the time and didn't want to ruin it or SIRIUS (catch my drift?) again wasn't ready for the big commitment they put themselves up to.and then came the hardest moment of their lives. Graduation. What were they to do then? ~ ~ ~ ~ F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
"--And as your proud and satisfied Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Magic and Ministry, I'd like to present the now graduated class of the year 1977!! Congratulations to all of you!" Dumbledore's final words were on graduation night before they all threw their hats into the air and started smothering their friends with hugs.
"We made it, Allie!!!" Savannah cried to one of her best friends, Allie Reiner who was closest to her. They engaged in a long hug that they both couldn't let go of.
"Allie! Savannah!" a voice cried from behind them, and they turned around and saw Kaitlynne Young, running towards them, giving them both a hug. Kaitlynne was another best friend of Lily's, Savannah's, and Allie's that only Allie has been keeping touch with after graduation. It seemed as if Kaitlynne disappeared into the world without leaving a trace behind her.
"Group hug!!!" a voice said from behind them. They couldn't see who it was, but the voice they all knew it was Daniel Marx, Minnie Juniper's fianceé (yea already; they were completely in love at age eighteen and have been ever since they second year Christmas Eve!!). Minnie was a good friend of theirs, but was somewhat bossy and acted better than everyone else. Neither Savannah nor Lily really had the intention of staying friends with her after graduation.
"Major orgy is more like it." another voice said.
"JOSH!" they all cried in disgust, suddenly dispersing.
"You're such a jackass," Allie cried angrily, starting to stomp off to go find some of her other friends. "At least I'm a jackass with a girlfriend," he cried.
Allie immediately turned around ready to explode at him, but she calmed down a bit. "I don't want a girlfriend, first of all," she cried back staring at him with flames shooting out of her ears. "Besides, I hardly qualify Hannah Rutherford as a girlfriend. More like a one-night stand."
"Yeah, well at least I'm having a one-night stand. Tell me, when was the last time you had a boyfriend? Or even a date?? Hmm.oh, was it the summer before fifth year with Paulo whats-his-face?"
"I swear if we weren't at graduation right now, I'd tear you to pieces."
"Well, go ahead! Nothing's stopping you!"
Allie gritted her teeth together and pled her hands into a fist, not wanting to give in to his badgering. "Unlike you, who's a self- centered bastard who really needs to get his head examined, I'm not going to ruin my graduation talking to you."
"I think you just did."
Allie threw her hands into the air. "Listen, I'd love to listen to you from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my ass," she snapped, as Savannah and Kaitlynne both burst into laughter as Allie whipped around and walked into the crowd to find her friends.
"Tell me again: Why am I supposed to be sad that I'm leaving?" Josh asked to no one in particular, staring at Allie disgustingly and incredulously.
"SAVANNAH!" Lily cried, trying to emerge from the crowd towards her.
"Lily!" Savannah squealed, running towards her and giving her a huge hug that they stayed in for a long time. "I figured you'd be with James by now."
"Nah, I just saw him and we did our graduation celebration."
"What was that? Making out for everyone to see?"
Lily was about to object, but closed her mouth and thought about it. "Well, yeah, pretty much. I thought you'd be doing the same with Sirius."
"I haven't seen him yet," Savannah said with a shrug.
"You don't seem to care."
Savannah sighed. "The truth is, I don't know what's going to happen to us after we both get on the train tomorrow and go back to our separate lives. He means the world to me.but our lives and our future plans are too different."
"Don't tell me this, tell him that."
"I think we both feel the same way.but let's not talk about this now, Lily!! We're graduating!! Let's celebrate!!!!!!"
"VANNIE!!!" a voice cried from the stage.
Savannah looked up, along with basically everyone else in the crowd and laughed. "SI-SI!!" she cried back, and Sirius literally jumped into the crowd right in front of Savannah, who ran to him.
"Hey, sweetheart. Happy graduation," he said with a sweet and, surprisingly, innocent smile.
Savannah smiled back and leaned in to give him a sweet, satisfying kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I can't believe it's all almost over," Sirius whispered into her ear.
"I'm gonna miss everyone," she whispered back giving him a long, passionate, and satisfying kiss.
"I never want to forget this moment," he whispered into her ear.
She nodded in agreement and gave him another hug, a longer one. "Sirius.what's going to happen to us, now?" Savannah asked in a serious manner.
"I-I don't know," he said with a slight pause, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
Savannah looked into his deep, sorrowful eyes and knew that as they got older, everything between them would change.including distance. "I'm afraid to know what our future is going to bring us."
Sirius nodded knowingly. He ran his fingers through his jet- black hair full of wonder and confusion. "Things are going to be different now. We're not going to see other every day like at Hogwarts. We're going to be adults now and things are going to change. You're going off to college in a year, I'm looking for a place to live with Lily while trying to find a job and.after Hogwarts, things get hectic. They don't get easier. They get more difficult, which sucks, but that's adult life."
"Sirius, I care about you so much and I don't want to hurt you, but don't you think the best things for us right now is just to.just to slow us down for a bit and let our lives lead us to where we need to be and what we need to do? Isn't that what's important now?"
Sirius smiled at her. "I think we both need that.as long as we remain friends and don't become distant this time."
Savannah smiled. "Who would've thought that we'd break up again?" Savannah said with a smile. "No, who would've thought that we'd break-up and stay friends?" he said as they both laughed. "Vannie, can I just do something before we move on?"
"Anything, Si-Si."
Sirius leaned in closer to her and gave her the kind of kiss you always dreamed about having with a movie star.except that her movie star was Sirius Black.
"There you are Sirius!!!!!" a voice cried from behind him, after they pulled away. Savannah and Sirius turned around, both sighing and grasping the concept that they just broke up. I think they both knew it was for the best.it just wasn't exactly what they both wanted.
"Hey, Remus," Sirius said. "Congratulations, man!"
"You, too!" Remus said, giving Sirius a small hug. "Yeah, who would've thought that you'd be graduating?" James said to Sirius from behind Remus.
"Hey, Dumbledore made you Head Boy. Obviously he was having brain complications this year," Remus commented, and they all laughed. Behind James were Lily, Allie, Kaitlynne and Peter and next to him (obviously) was Savannah .
"Aww, come on. Let's get the original group into a group hug!!" Sirius cried, smothering Savannah, James and Remus, who grabbed the other four people, and there they all stood: the four original Marauders who successfully completed seven years full of pranks and fun and trouble.and the Map and the Animagi potion, which the girls knew nothing about, and there stood the four Honorary Marauders who successfully completed seven years also full of pranks and fun and trouble.and all- nighters and spying on the guys. And as we go on, we remember All the times we had together And as our lives change, from whatever We will still be friends forever There stood Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, Allie Reiner, Savannah Turner, and Kaitlynne Young. The eight best friends who won the Inseparable Friends Award at Hogwarts that year. All eight of them stood there realizing that this may be one of the last times they'd all be together and one of the last time they'd be on Hogwarts grounds. As much as they didn't want to admit it, they'd miss it. They'd miss it all, but they also all realized that it was the best seven years of their life.and that's what truly matters. ~ ~ ~ ~ E N D O F F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
And from then on, Sirius and Savannah had stayed friends up until now. And now, they actually acted like a couple saying all the mushy stuff and actually being in a room longer than five minutes without breaking out in a kiss. They were always smiling at each other and sharing some new secret that they refused to share with everyone else. Lily found herself rolling her eyes at them more often with a playful grin on her face than staring at them in disgust.
Lately, Lily started remembering all of the fun times she's had with all of her friends, mostly everything that's happened at Hogwarts, including graduation. She just started reliving everything, mostly because she was sad to be leaving her home country where everything she ever knew was. On Wednesday night she climbed into bed, after a wonderful evening with James, and after realizing she wasn't tired, she stared thinking about everything he could even begin to remember: all the Yule Balls, and the Quidditch games, and the late-night talks she had with her friends, and Hogsmeade trips which were always fun with the guys around, and definitely the pranks, and definitely the summers in between school when the eight friends hung out almost every week when they could, and then there was graduation and of course the graduation dance, which she'd never forget; I don't think her or Savannah would ever forget that night. Lily had a framed picture on the wall by the stairs of James, Savannah, Sirius, and her, all dressed up, with James' arm around Lily's waist and Lily's arm around his shoulder, and same goes for Savannah and Sirius, and even though they were all smiling, she could remember that just an hour later all four of them were out on a long by the lake, all crying that Hogwarts was over.
By now, in bed, Lily was soaking her pillow with her tears as she started to think about everything that happened after graduation. All of the Fourth of July picnics, the Labor Day picnics, Halloween parties, Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas parties, New Years Parties, Valentine's Days, Easter weekends, summers, Savannah's birthdays, Remus' birthdays, Sirius' birthday, Allie's nineteenth birthday, James' birthdays, Lily's birthdays, Peter's birthdays.
But mostly she remembered the summer after graduation. That summer, all eight of them spent basically every living moment together. They went on a summer trip to Bermuda for two weeks where they became even closer than they thought was possible. For the rest of the summer, they did crazy and spontaneous things that Lily would always remember. They played pranks on basically every waitress they met that summer at every restaurant possible, and they went skinny-dipping in Kaitlynne's neighbors' pool every night they had a chance, and they played pranks on Snape at his house when they had the chance, and they went to the beach, and to Diagon Alley, and to Knockturn Alley, and they went to Canada, America, France, Germany, Australia, Luxembourg, Spain, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Austria, Asia, Africa, Japan, China, Jamaica, South America, and anywhere else they decided to go spontaneously.
Unfortunately for all of them, that summer couldn't last forever, and in the fall Kaitlynne disappeared off to Germany, looking into colleges there to which that summer was the last time they had heard from her, not including when Allie told them about her.
Savannah left for a cruise to Atlantis with her Aunt Susie and her Aunt Kris.
James lived in England for a while after that summer, busy looking into Auror colleges, but in December he eventually headed towards Germany and France, looking for good Auror colleges there. He was avoiding Lily after they broke up again both agreeing it was for the best even though they wouldn't admit it that neither one of them really thought it was for the best but instead it was just so they'd stop aching to see each other.
Remus and Peter went up to Scandinavia to stay with Peter's Uncle Lou, where they both tried looking into colleges, though neither one of them ended up going to college and just ended up getting jobs that lead them somewhere great and ended up moving in together in a nice apartment about half an hour away by broom.
Allie ended up on a plane to Australia with her twenty-one year old sister, Angela, and her twenty-five year old brother, Jesse and his wife, Samantha Vernon and she ended up staying there for about six months living with her brother and his new wife, playing on the Australian Quidditch team, the Renegade Razors. Eventually, she quit the team and she was off touring the world, looking for anywhere for work, although she ended up back in England and became a Charms Major at the Peony College for Witchcraft and Wizardry in southern England. The last that they had heard from her was at James' Christmas party a year later when she said she wasn't going to college anymore, because it wasn't the right thing for her, and instead was looking for a job somewhere.
Sirius and Lily were often together, looking for places to live, and because they both remained in England and they weren't busy looking for colleges, just substantiate jobs, they were often together hanging out. So technically, they were the only two that truly had the chance to stay in touch all of the time. Sirius went into the teaching business, and Lily applied for the internship, and after that year, with Lily living with her sister, which was the most disturbing year with her ever, and Sirius still living at the Potters, they moved into their house in Alphamstone just as Sirius got a teaching job at the school and Lily was accepted into the internship program.
As Lily sat in bed looking up at the ceiling, she had the sudden urge to write to Kaitlynne and see how she was doing considering she hasn't seen her or spoken to her in four years. Lily got out of bed, looked at the clock, realizing it 3:00 a.m. and walked downstairs in her pajamas. She sat down at the kitchen table with a brownie and some milk and started writing to Kaitlynne. Hey Kaitlynne!!
I know, this is completely out of the blue and I'm probably one of the last persons you expected to get a letter from, but I couldn't sleep and I decided to write to you because I haven't talked to you or seen you in four years. Actually, I'm moving to California in a month, so I started thinking about all of the memories I've had, and just thinking about you made me curious about how you were doing. So how are you doing??? Allie told us two years ago at James' Christmas party that you were engaged. Is that still holding up?? I've been keeping myself busy. I'm sure Allie told you, but I'm living in Alphamstone with Sirius (odd, isn't it?) and I'm in an internship program at the Daily Prophet, although, like I said, I'm moving to California because I got a job there. I'm still together with James, if you were wondering, still happy with him, hoping I'll always be happy with him. The past year has changed us both in good ways and it's going to be hard once I move to America, but if we really love each other, this will prove it. Sirius and Savannah are going out now.again and they are cuter than ever. I just hope that they'll realize they belong to each other and eventually get married. James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, Savannah, and I have been keeping in touch over the years since Hogwarts and although it's not the same as the eight of us, it's good to know that our friendship still lasts. Okay, well there's not much else to say at the moment.actually, there's tons to say but if I wrote down everything I could tell you it would be about a hundred pages and I'm sure you don't want that!! I do have one thing else to say, though. Tomorrow the six of us are having dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant, Le Soleil Levant, in London tomorrow night (Friday night) at seven o'clock for a good-bye celebration to Savannah who's going back to Canada on Monday morning. And I know this is kind-of sudden and probably completely unexpected, but I was wondering if you'd like to join us. It would be great to see you again and I'm sure everyone would love to see you again as well, so just owl me back with some news and an answer!
Love you forever and ever, Lily Evans She went outside, where Vivian, her acorn-colored owl, sat in her cage. "Hey, Vivian. Send this to Kaitlynne, wherever that may be," she said, stroking her owl and giving her the letter.
Lily walked back inside watching Vivian fly into the night and heard a creaking sound as the front door opened. She turned off the kitchen light hastily, and hid behind the kitchen wall, wondering who the hell was trying to break in.
The person walked in, and unfortunately, it was too dark to tell who it was, but she grabbed an umbrella on the kitchen counter and jumped out. "Hold it right there!!!!" she yelled.
"HOLY SHIT!!" he cried.
"Sirius?" Lily said, realizing who it was. She flicked on the entranceway lights and started laughing. "Oops."
Sirius started laughing, as well. "It's a good thing you didn't have a gun or I might have jumped out of the window."
"I decided not to use the gun today," she replied, and they both laughed. "Why were out so late? And where's Savannah?"
"Uh." he stuttered.
"Oh, wait. Did you and Savannah have sex in a restaurant again?" Lily teased. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Lily cried, "No, wait!!! I don't want to know the answer to that question!!"
Sirius laughed and simply said, "Savannah met up with her aunt in Lisbon, and-"
"You were in Lisbon?"
Sirius laughed. "Yes. She wanted to see her Aunt Susie, so we went to Lisbon and hung out for a while, and she went to her aunt's house as I went to James' at around midnight. I figured you'd be there but obviously I was wrong."
"I probably just left."
"Yeah, I figured. What are you doing up at three in the morning?"
"Uh.just sending letters to a few people," she said. She didn't want to tell him who or he might have thought she had gone insane.even though he probably already thinks she has. J
"At three in the morning?"
She laughed. "I couldn't sleep!"
"Ohhh.so, like everyone else, you decided that it was the right time to write letters to a few people."
"Exactly! You understand me perfectly."
"Perfectly? No. Strangely, yes." They both laughed.
"Are you going up to bed now?" Lily asked him.
Sirius turned to her. "I don't know. I'm not tired at all."
"Lemme guess. You and James went to the bar again tonight."
"Of course we did! What else would we do?"
"Not get drunk?"
"Now what fun is that???"
Lily rolled her eyes at him. "You are one funny guy, Sirius.funny-looking, that is."
Sirius pouted. "Hey!" They both laughed. Sirius wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator as Lily took a Diet Pepsi and they sat down on the couch laughing and talking about everything.
"Hey, Lily, why couldn't you sleep?" Sirius asked about fifteen minutes later after talking about the sixth-year Yule Ball where Sirius spiked the punch and everyone, including the professors, got drunk and had an extremely fun time, with Dumbledore standing off to the side, wondering what the heck was going on.
Lily must have looked confused because Sirius laughed and said, "Tonight. You said you couldn't sleep. Why not? And please don't say because you and James had sex in his bedroom."
Lily laughed. "I already used that one with you and Savannah, you have to pick another joke."
Sirius laughed. "Okay, please don't say it's because you were making out with your boyfriend's best friend in the closet in his room," Sirius changed.
"Sirius, you're his best friend."
"Damnit, nothing's good enough for you!" Sirius joked and they both laughed. "So are you going to answer the question?"
Lily sighed, not really wanting to discuss it. "It was nothing. I just couldn't sleep."
"Lily, I've lived with your for three years, and you could sleep through a volcano, tornado, and hurricane all happening at once even after having a nasty break-up with James and after you were sleeping for forty-two hours!! Don't tell me now you just couldn't sleep. I may look dumb, but I'm not as dumb as people think I am.well, I'm not that dumb at least."
Lily cracked a weak smile and tried to forget about the upcoming move to California, but she couldn't help it. I mean, it would change her whole life! And it wasn't that she didn't want to tell Sirius because she knew that if she told Sirius about everything that was going through her mind, he wouldn't tell anyone. She and Sirius had occasional late-night talks, one about Animagi and werewolves after Lily found out about Remus and the other three being Animagi. Then there was a late-night talk about another break-up of hers and James. Another brought up the subject of Savannah and her boyfriend at the time. There were a few about the future and where their lives were heading. Their last one was about the memories at Hogwarts and mostly about Allie and Kaitlynne, who they hadn't seen for the longest time. Every time they talked, they kept it to themselves and never told anyone, and no one even knew they talked late at night and/or early in the morning. They respected each other more than everyone thought. Sirius always knew what was on Lily's mind, and vice versa. It was as if they were brother and sister.or as if they shared the same mind-frame. They always admitted that it was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't their current partner. Actually, their talks usually get around to trouble in paradise.
"Lily." Sirius said. "Listen, you don't have to tell me anything, but I'm always here and you know I'll listen and you know that everything we say is confidential."
Lily turned towards him and suddenly burst into an explanation. "Sirius, when I move to California, everything's going to change. My whole life will be different! England has been my home for the past twenty-two years. This is where I belong. I don't want to move to America." she mumbled. "And yet I do. I'm just.I'm going to miss everything here. This morning I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about every single memory possible from Hogwarts and then graduation and the graduation dance. And then there was that summer afterward in which was probably some of the best memories I'll ever have. And then all the parties and get-togethers and everything after Hogwarts up until now. It sucks, Sirius, realizing that this will be the last months I'll be living in England," Lily said, breaking down and eventually sobbing hysterically.
Sirius moved over closer to her to give her a soothing, relaxing hug and let her lean back into his arms while he comforted her. "Yes, there have been so many memories here, but you're going to have tons in California, also! Lily, it's definitely going to be different here without you, and we're all going to manage, and you're going to manage in California. You're going to become a famous publisher one day and I'm going to be able to tell people 'Hey! That's Lily Potter, and-"
"Potter?" she questioned.
"Oh, please, you two are going to get married one day," Sirius said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and they both laughed. "Anyway, I'll be saying 'Hey! That's Lily Potter and I used to date her!'" Sirius cried.
Lily looked up at him with a strange look on her face. "What?? We never dated!"
"Yeah, I know, but it would make me more popular to have dated a famous publisher."
Lily cracked up. "Oh, so all in all, you're the one who benefits?"
"Well, duh. I'm all that ever matters!"
They both laughed and Lily said seriously, "Um.I don't really want to think about this, but what are you going to do about the house? Are you going to try to find someone else to live with? Or.are you going to move to an apartment? Or.what?"
Sirius thought about it for a few seconds. "You know, I didn't think about it until now."
"Yeah, I didn't think about it until about an hour ago."
"Maybe James or Savannah could move in after their last year of college or something. I don't know; I'll think of something. For now, let's not think about it."
"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Lily said, shivering because of the breeze that suddenly swept through the room.
Sirius grabbed the blanket draped over the couch and gave it to her. "Here."
Lily smiled. "Thanks. Sirius, I'm never going to find anyone as good as you to move in with."
"I know," he joked, and Lily hit him playfully. "And what happened to not thinking about it?" he teased.
Lily sighed. "I can't help not to think about it. I mean, what else am I going to think about? The beautiful birds chirping outside?" she asked sarcastically.
Sirius hesitated before answering. "There are no birds chirping outside now."
Lily laughed. "I know. It's not even four a.m. Sirius. I would hope that there weren't any birds awake."
Sirius laughed. "Do you remember the time we accidentally turned the pincushions into porcupines during Transfiguration class.what was it, second year?"
"It was third year, and what are you talking about 'accidentally??'" Lily accused.
"Okay, okay it was purposely. What's the difference!?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Lily asked, and they both laughed.
"Lily, what's one of your favorite memories at Hogwarts?" Sirius unexpectedly asked.
"I have to pick one?" she said laughing. "Let's think.well, graduation of course, then there was the graduation dance, then the time James asked me out for the first time and our first date, then there was the second year snow-in, then there was the time I found out about you guys being Animagi, and-"
Sirius burst into laughter, remembering the time that Lily was almost bitten by Remus in the Forbidden Forest and was saved by a stag and a black dog. She was screaming and James and Sirius transformed themselves back into humans, forgetting they were transformed into their Animagi, and had to explain the whole situation. In the end, they were all laughing and Lily swore not to tell anyone.
Lily paused before continuing. "No, you know what? Besides graduation, of course, my favorite memory was the time that the eight of us all first met.and became friends."
"That was different times, though. You hated us in the beginning," Sirius pointed out.
"I know, but I can't choose just one."
Sirius laughed. "And how is us throwing water balloons at you your favorite memory?"
Lily shrugged. "It was just a reminder of how stupid and idiotic you were back then."
"HEY!"
"Sirius, you thought that turning a girl's hair green and putting a dungbomb in their books was a turn-on in your first and second year."
Sirius laughed. "Well, I thought the color green was rather attractive!"
"We're not dinosaurs!"
"Oh.my mistake."
"SIRIUS!" Lily cried, laughing. ~ ~ ~ ~ F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
"Oh come on! I know you like Tim. Admit it," Lily said laughing at Kaitlynne during their first year in the commons room two hours before Christmas dinner at Hogwarts. Lily, Kaitlynne, Savannah, and Allie all stayed that Christmas with three other Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws, two Slytherins and five Hufflepuffs.
"Tim is.nice. But he's just a friend!" Kaitlynne explained.
"Well, you spend an awful lot of time with him for just friends," Savannah accused.
"Well, I spend an awful lot of time with you guys but I hope I'm not dating one of you!" she replied, and they all laughed. "And what about Allie! I swear she's in love with Josh Matthews."
Allie started gagging. "Are you kidding me??? The first time I laid eyes on him, I knew he was trouble."
"Aww, come on. You two are always flirting," Lily pointed out.
"Flirting??? He turned my hair puke green the first time I met him! How is that flirting?"
"He wants you," Savannah said.
"I don't want him to want me! In fact, I'd die perfectly happy just to see him humiliate himself in front of the whole damn school!! I'd die perfectly happy knowing if I never had to see him or speak to him ever again!"
"Do you know of a little thing called 'denial?'" Lily questioned.
"Yeah, it's a river in the Amazon," Allie muttered, and they all laughed.
Kaitlynne opened her mouth to protest, when suddenly she was splashed directly in the face with a water balloon. "EEEK!!" she squealed, jumping up behind the chair as Lily was suddenly hit with one and Savannah was hit with two. They both jumped behind the couch before being able to see who was throwing the balloons.
"What's going on!?" Allie cried, crawling under the stone table, after being smashed directly in the back with a water balloon.
Lily immediately pulled out her wand and whispered, "Florenzio." A mirror suddenly appeared, and she put it at an angle so she could see who was throwing them. She saw the three faces, which belonged to three guys, and they were all laughing. Two of them had messy black hair, one with glasses, the other shorter, and another guy who had blonde hair and who was about a head taller than the other two guys. She had no idea who they were, though she figured they were Gryffindors and she guessed they were first years, maybe second years.
"I have an idea," Kaitlynne whispered. "Tormos!" she whispered, and she ended up with a patch of snowballs by her side. She grabbed one, slid behind the table and threw it over at one of them.
"HEY!" the short black-haired guy cried. "That wasn't part of the plan!"
"Sirius, grab that cushion!" the tall blonde called out. So the first one was Sirius, the girls all made mental notes.
"Remus, there are three cushions!" Tall blonde is Remus, the girls made another mental note.
"Grab them all!!" another voice cried.
"James, I have three water balloons in my hand! I can't carry three cushions!" Sirius cried. And last is James! their last mental note for the evening.
"Use your wand!!" James cried. The three boys all laughed as Sirius did what they told him to do.
Allie started throwing snowballs at them, one after the other, hitting the black-haired glasses guy smack in the face with two.
Lily started laughing as her head formed an idea. "Islamio!" and a second later, a HUGE pile of snow fell from the ceiling and on to the three boys, who were now covered from head to toe in snow and couldn't see a thing. Kaitlynne, Savannah, Lily, and Allie all climbed out of where they were hiding laughing at the image of the three boys covered in snow.
"Nice one, Lily," Savannah said.
"You should know not to mess with us because we always win," Allie smirked, walking right by them towards the girls' dorm to change into nicer clothes for the Christmas feast.
Once the girls all left and James, Sirius, and Remus wiped off the snow and cleaned it all up using magic. "I can't believe we were outsmarted by a bunch of girls!" Sirius cried.
"Don't worry. We'll get them back," James said, an idea forming in his head already. "Tonight, the plan is going into action," he continued, as he described what he thought they should do. ***** Later that evening..
"Why, hello ladies. How are you on this lovely Christmas evening?" James said with a gentleman voice to Lily, Savannah, Allie, and Kaitlynne.
"Why, hello, jackass," Kaitlynne replied with a fake smile.
"Now, there's no need to be nasty to a poor fellow like me."
"Weren't you the one who hit us with water balloons? Or is your memory that bad?" Allie asked.
"Oh, I remember that, but don't you remember smothering us with snow?" he replied.
"Oh, we certainly do remember that. I don't remember the last time before that when I laughed so hard at three foolish-looking guys.although, I guess you get laughed at all the time," Lily snapped.
"Could we please just go down to dinner without you or any of your friends bothering us?" Savannah sneered.
"Good evening, Savannah!" a voice cried from behind her.
"Too late," Savannah mumbled, turning around to face Sirius Black. "How the hell did you know my name?"
"I have my ways," he said with a wink. "Now may I escort you down to the feast?"
"No, but you can kiss my ass," she replied. They girls all laughed, and, ignoring the guys, walked out of the Gryffindor House towards the Great Hall. About two minutes later, they realized they were being followed by the jackasses, but ignored them and continued on. They got to the entrance and then Savannah, Allie, and Kaitlynne all walked in and before Lily knew what she was doing, James grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she cried, trying to pull away from him.
"Look above you," he said, pointing up to where mistletoe was.
Lily burst into laughter. "Now if you actually think I'm going to let you kiss me, you really have to get your head examined. In fact, just get your head examined no matter what you think."
"No, you can't ruin the mistletoe tradition!" James insisted, gripping her arm tighter.
"Watch me," she sneered, trying to pull away from him, but his grip was too strong.
"I'm watching, but you're not going anywhere," he said with a grin on his face.
"Oh my God, you planned this didn't you," Lily said disgustedly.
"Now, what makes you say that?" James said innocently.
"You are such a bastard! Now get your arm off of me before I embarrass you in front of everyone," Lily sneered.
"Yeah, right. I doubt that's going to happen," James said rolling his eyes.
"Oh, really?" she said, getting a mischievous grin on her face. "NO, I WILL NOT HAVE SEX WITH YOU, JAMES POTTER!" Lily cried before plunging her knee into a.er.non-favorable spot of James' who was already red of humiliation and was now bending over in uncontrollable pain. All the students there were in a fit of laughter, including Sirius and Remus who were trying to stop and Kaitlynne, Allie, and Savannah were holding their sides, with tears running down the sides of their faces and were practically rolling on the floor in high-pitched laughter.
Lily walked over to her friends, pretending like nothing happened recognizing the fact that everyone was looking at her, still laughing. She took a seat at the table and innocently asked, "So, when's dinner?"
"Hey, how about later, you come up to my room.and we do the opposite of what James and Lily are doing," Josh Matthews said to Allie from behind her.
Allie groaned. "Get lost, loser. I wouldn't be caught dead in your room in a million years and if you ever come near us again I might have to see to it that you, too, are humiliated."
"Awww, it's nice to know you care," he responded.
"I don't care, and I never will," she snapped, as he turned his back on her and walked away.
"Why are guys such assholes?" she wondered.
"Oh, you love us, you just don't know it," Sirius said, sitting directly next to Savannah.
"Oh, that's funny, because the last time I checked I didn't," Kaitlynne said from the other side of Savannah.
"Now, can't we all just be friends?" James asked with a silly Cheshire cat grin on his face.
"Maybe in the next lifetime when you're a dung beetle or something," Lily answered, and all of the girls laughed.
"Now, what makes you thinks I'm going to be a dung beetle in my next lifetime?"
"Well, I heard that in the next lifetime, people become things that sorta resemble them already," she responded, and the girls laughed again.
"Ohhhhh!!! So.you'd just be dirt?" James said, before flashing a smile and walking to the other side with the rest of his friends.
"UGH!!! I hate him and I don't even know who the hell he is!" Lily cried. ~ ~ ~ ~ E N D O F F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
"We have some great memories at Hogwarts," Lily said with a smile.
"Yeah, and you're going to get some great memories in California."
"But they won't be with you guys."
"They'll be with other people. New friends, who you will like almost as much as you like me.I mean, us," Sirius said innocently, and they both laughed.
*~*~*~*~*
The next night, the night they were all going to Le Soleil Levant, Lily was in her room getting ready when suddenly a snow-white owl flew into her bedroom and threw a letter on to her bed. Lily went to retrieve it, hoping that it was from Kaitlynne. HEY LILY!!
Wow, I was not expecting a letter from you, but I'm sure glad you wrote me!!! I'm so happy for you and James and for Savannah and Sirius. And you're right. They are meant for each other and I do hope that they end up getting married. And same goes for you and James. And I bet you two become even more in love, if that's possible, once you move to America. California is gorgeous!! I know you'll love it!! I lived there for about four months with my older cousin, Andy, working with Random House for Wizardry, but I'm moving out soon and am working for the London Ledger. I just do the photographs, but it's awesome and the job is great! Actually, I'm trying to find an apartment somewhere close to their headquarters, so if you have any suggestions just let me know!
You mentioned me being engaged, but it didn't work out. About a month before we were to be married, Jarod got a job in Columbia, and because my job was in Los Angeles, I couldn't move with him and we ended up realizing that we weren't meant for each other. I'm fine though and we still talk, so we're okay.
I'm so glad that at least a few of the original eight are still friends and I only wish that I could have kept in touch. But, I am free tonight and I would be so thrilled to have dinner with the six of you! I'm so excited and I can't wait to see you guys again after four years and hear what has been up with you!!
Well, like you said, if I wrote down everything I'd want to tell you, you'd be reading over five hundred pages, so I will just tell you and the rest of the group tonight! I will see you then!
Love you always,
Kaitlynne Young
Lily laughed out loud, realizing that she'd be working where Kaitlynne worked, and maybe even at the same job. Then she thought about trying to move in with Andy, who she vaguely remembered. He was a few years older than Kaitlynne and herself, and the last time she saw him, summer before fifth year, she remembered him being tall with blonde semi-spiked hair with an earring. Actually, she remembered thinking that he was very good-looking and if he wasn't already dating someone, she'd be interested even though he wasn't a wizard. Basically his whole family was, though, so he knew everything about magic.
She suddenly thought to herself that maybe Kaitlynne could move in with Sirius, as well, and Lily smiled, realizing how funny the situation really was. "Hey, Lily," Savannah cried bursting into Lily's room with a black, silky, thin-strapped cocktail dress on and a silver shawl wrapped around her shoulder.
"Wow, you look beautiful," Lily said, wearing a short, green and gold strapless dress that matched her eyes perfectly.
"So do you," Savannah replied. "Are you ready to go?"
"We still have time," Lily pointed out, making note of the clock on her bed-stand.
"I know, but James just called from his house and he's meeting us at the restaurant along with Sirius, Remus, and Peter and he said he had a surprise for us.and surprises are enough to make me hurry."
"Oooh, what is it?"
Savannah laughed. "I don't know. Hence the word 'surprise.'"
Lily laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Actually, I have a surprise as well, but before you ask me what it is I'm going to say until we get there."
"Awww, why not?"
"Because I say so," Lily said with a grin.
"Friends aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other!" Savannah whined playfully, batting her eyes at Lily angelically.
Lily swatted her on the nose with a teasing grin. "Yeah, well no one said that friends couldn't keep 'surprises' from each other!"
Savannah pouted and leaned against the bed-post. "I think it's one of those unwritten rules."
"And rules were meant to be broken, babe," Lily teased, running her brush through her hair gently.
Savannah sighed and hopped on to the bed joyfully. "I've been so antsy lately and I don't know why!" Savannah cried giddily, changing the subject unexpectedly.
Lily looked up from her vanity mirror and slightly turned to get a better look at Savannah. "Does the word 'Sirius' mean anything to you?"
Savannah bounced on the bed lightheartedly and looked up at the ceiling self-evidently and full of wonder and bewilderment, deep in thought about Lily's previous words. "Well.yeah, but it's never been like this before. He's just been that humorous, witty guy in my life who was always there to make me feel better about myself and about life. I never realized it until recently that he wasn't one of those regretted teenage relationships. He meant more to me than I thought. I just never realized it until now."
"And that explains why you're so giddy," Lily pointed out, staring intently on Savannah's confused fixation.
Savannah smiled and turned back to give Lily a long, hard, understanding stare. "Oh.well, I guess you're right."
"See? You just don't know things until they're told to you."
"Is that some sort of subtle way of telling me I'm clueless?"
Lily laughed, and grabbed her small black purse from the closet handle. "No.I'm just saying you're clueless when it comes to you and Sirius."
"Oh.but that's still an insult!!"
"Not necessarily. Because I'm the same way with James. I love him so much it kills me sometimes, but at times when I'm angry or frustrated or jealous, I ignore that and act as if he and I were never meant to be together."
"Awwww."
"Shut up, Van," Lily smirked with a slight grin. "Come on. We're already late."
"For those guys that we're meant to be with, right?"
Lily threw back her head and laughed. "You're just going to throw that back in my face, aren't I?"
"Of course."
"Yeah, well you're clueless!"
"But so are you.and you admitted it, so you can't deny it!"
"I hate it when you're right."
"It's funny because I love it when I'm right!" *~*~*~*~*
"Yeah, and when was the last time you had a date, Wormtail?" Remus teased Peter.
"Same goes for you!" James cried to Remus and they all laughed.
"Hey, I dated Vicky Steilberg for a while," Remus replied. "That was last year. Besides, it's not like you've had a lot of dates besides Lily! It's either you're going out with her or you're moping around because you're not dating her."
"I've been around," James responded stiffly.
"Oh, really?? And with who?" Sirius questioned.
James paused to think about it. "Er.."
"Exactly."
"Okay, fine, you caught me."
"Who was the last girl you dated besides Lily?" Peter questioned.
"Um.er.I guess Lareesa Muccolloch," he answered with a sigh.
Sirius burst into laughter. "That was three and a half years ago.for about two weeks!!"
"I know. It's not my fault that I've found the perfect woman."
Remus, Peter, and Sirius surprised James by smiling instead of gagging. "Is she going to stay your perfect woman?" Remus asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, after she leaves for California. What's going to happen then?" he continued.
James sighed and started fiddling with his silverware. "Good question. I.I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, I-I didn't tell you or Peter this, but on our Anniversary, I was going to ask her to marry me. I-"
"What?" Peter gasped.
"Really??" Remus cried happily.
"Don't get your hopes up, though. It's not going to happen now." Remus and Peter opened their mouths to speak, but James stopped them. "I know you're going to ask me why, but it's for the best."
"I've heard that one before," Sirius muttered.
"What?" Peter asked with a confused look. Both Remus and James looked bewildered.
"Oh.did I say that out loud?" Sirius joked.
"Yeah, so now you have to tell me what you meant by it," James commented.
Sirius sighed. "I'm not trying to pressure you into going for it, because you already gave me reasons why not and they were good ones, but think back to graduation," Sirius explained. "Me and Savannah?"
"Oh," Peter simply said.
"Yeah, 'oh' is right. We broke up and it was for the best.or so we thought. We both didn't want to break up, but it happened and it kind of tore us apart again. And yes, we're going out now, but that's my point. We ended up realizing it never was for the best. We were both just stupid to try to do something harder than usual. And I know you're going to say that you can't move to California and she can't stay here, but being engaged doesn't mean you have to get married right away!" Sirius explained.
"It's true, James," Peter agreed.
Remus commented, "You're probably thinking that it would be too hard because you'll be living so far away from each other and the change would be too hard for both of you and things would become even more difficult, but that's life!!"
James sighed. "Yes, but this isn't your decision. It's mine.and it's.well, it's hard, for lack of a better word. I don't know what to do! I love Lily and I want to marry her.but at the same time, I don't. I.I just have to wait a few years until things get straightened out between the both of us."
They all three nodded, understanding what he was saying and not trying to disagree with what he had to say. "Okay, now either we can stay grumpy and annoyed the rest of the night or we could have fun and celebrate a wonderful last evening with Savannah.wherever she may be!" Sirius cried, picking up his champagne glass.
"Did I hear my name?" a voice said from behind Sirius as Savannah wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Vannie," he said, this time giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
"Sirius was just saying how much he wanted to murder you tonight," James said. "Oops, was I not supposed to tell?"
They all laughed and James turned to Lily. "Hey, sweetheart," he said grabbing her arm and kissing her on the cheek. "Wow.you look absolutely beautiful."
Lily smiled at him. "You don't look half-bad yourself," she replied with a grin and a wink as they chuckled.
"So I see you ordered some champagne without us?" Savannah accused, taking a seat across from Sirius and next to Lily, who took a seat next to James who was on the end, sitting next to Peter. On the other side of Sirius was Remus.
"Oh, there's plenty for you," Sirius said laughing.
"So is there a reason why there are two extra chairs at the end of this table?" Peter asked.
"Actually-" both James and Lily started. They laughed, and James signaled for Lily to continue.
"As I was saying, actually I have a surprise for all of you," Lily said with a grin.
Sirius and James laughed considering they knew that they had a surprise also. "Actually, so do I," James remarked, and all six of them laughed.
"I was-" Lily started, but she heard her name being beckoned from behind her.
"Lily!?" a woman's voice cried.
Lily turned around and jumped out of her seat. "KAITLYNNE!!!!!" Lily screeched, immediately jumping out of her seat to run over to her. "It's been so long!!!! I can't believe I haven't seen you for about four years!!!!"
Savannah, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all gasped and literally jumped out of their seats. "Ooooh, Kaitlynne!!! I can't believe it's you!" Savannah squeaked grabbing her into a huge hug with a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Hey, Baby Girl," Remus said giving her his nickname he used to call her by, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug and a squeeze.
"Hey, Sweetstuff," she said with a wink, calling him by his nickname.
"Kayti, Kayti, Kayti," Sirius said giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug, like everyone else.
"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius. It's been way too long," Kaitlynne replied, giving him a hug back.
"Kaitlynne Trylin Young, how dare you change without letting me know," James accused, giving her a tight squeeze.
"And what about you? You look.taller," she said laughing.
"Gee, thanks. What a compliment," he said sarcastically as they all laughed.
"Hey, Kate," Peter said with a smile and a hug.
"Hey Pete. Wassup?" she said with a laugh, returning the hug.
"I've been keeping it real," he replied, and they all laughed.
"Wow, it feels good to have the seven of us back again," Remus said with a smile, pulling out a chair for Kaitlynne.
At that moment, Sirius and James turned to look at each other and burst into uncontrollable laughter, slapping the table, holding their sides, and whenever they tried to stop, they just started up again.
"Okay, so I'm guessing they haven't changed a bit," Kaitlynne said with a laugh.
"Was that supposed to be a surprise?" Savannah joked chuckling. "Could you ever see Sirius not being.well, not being Sirius- like?"
They all laughed as Lily said, "As.amusing as it is to see you two looking like fools, why are you two laughing so hard?"
Eventually, after they calmed down, James explained, "It's just that.well, as good as it is to see the seven of us again.I think my surprise will make us all feel a hundred times better than we are right now."
"Is that possible?" Remus asked with a huge grin stuck on his face.
Kaitlynne started to laugh as well. "I think I know what they're talking about," she said catching eye-contact with James, and he grinned at her, knowing that she probably knew about Allie. Speaking of Allie. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Marauders and the Honorary Marauders reunited once again," a voice said from behind James.
This time, Peter, Remus, Savannah, and Lily all gasped and literally jumped out of their seats. They knew that the whole restaurant was probably staring at them with confusion and suspicion, but at that moment they didn't care. "ALLIE!!!" both Savannah and Lily cried, suffocating her with a double hug.
They all called out her name and gave her a hug, just like with Kaitlynne, and after ten minutes of excitement, they finally calmed down and took a seat and got their glasses of champagne.
"I would like to propose a toast," James said from one end of the table raising his glass. They all raised their glasses and listened to him. "To us. The eight of us back together after four years of separation. The four Marauders and four Honorary Marauders reunited once again. I love you guys," he finished with a smile and a wink.
"To us!" they all cried, clinking their glasses.
Lily grinned wide, glancing around the table at all of her friends. It was so good to be a group again.but being with all of them there just reminded Lily about how soon she'd be gone from them all.. *~*~*~*~*
"Now Kaitlynne, I hear you're a photographer now," Remus said. "Is that true?"
"Actually, yes. The last couple of months I was working in Los Angeles in publishing, but there, I learned all about photography and it got me interested. So I applied to the London Ledger as a photographer and they gave me a beginning job. So I'll be in London now!" she explained gleefully.
"Ooh, where are you living?" Savannah asked.
Kaitlynne cringed. "Actually.nowhere at the moment. Well, actually I'm staying at a hotel in London for a little while. But I haven't had time to look, which wasn't a smart decision on my behalf. I'll have to find a place fast. Or even a temporary place," she described.
Both Sirius and Lily turned towards each other at the same time and immediately started laughing, as everyone else gave them a weird look.
"What's so funny?" Allie asked.
"I'm moving to California at the end of the month, actually," Lily explained to Allie and she turned towards Kaitlynne again. "Actually, I got a job in California at Random House for Wizardry, Kaitlynne. Anyway, Sirius needs a roommate temporarily."
"It would be so much fun rooming with you!" Sirius cried.
"A-hem!" Lily cried.
"Well, not as much fun as you, of course," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kaitlynne started laughing. "That's so great!!! This is working out perfectly, because my cousin is looking for a roommate, and you'd be perfect, Lily!"
Lily squealed with delight as she jumped out of her chair and ran to give Kaitlynne a hug. "This is so excellent!!!!! I'll go check it out next week!"
They all calmed down a bit and suddenly Lily asked, "Hey, Allie, what about you? What's going on in your life?"
"Well, I bet James told you, but I'm engaged now, and-"
"You're kidding!!" Savannah and Lily cried in unison.
"No one told us!" Remus cried.
Allie grinned. "Well, then what I'm about to say next is going to be a big surprise."
"What?" Lily asked anxiously.
"I'm engaged to Josh Matthews."
Peter, Remus, Savannah, and Lily all gasped in complete shock. "But you hate him!!" Savannah cried in confusion.
Allie laughed. "I did, yes, but my mother and his uncle got married last Spring, so we were often stuck hanging out with each other, and I guess one thing led to another and we started becoming friends.then a little more than friends.then a little more than that, and he proposed to me in January. We're getting married in October, and you're all invited. Actually.Kaitlynne's my maid of honor, but.Lily, Savannah, you guys will be my bridesmaids, won't you?"
They both squealed. "This will be so much fun!!!!" Savannah screeched.
*~*~*~*~*
Sunday night, two days after Savannah left and a day after Peter left, James and Lily were at the airport saying their good-byes, after James said good-bye to Sirius and Remus at the house.
"I don't want you to go," Lily whined to James, giving him another hug that evening.
"I don't want me to go either, sweetheart," he commented, kissing on her forehead.
Lily looked up into his eyes and tears started brimming in her eyes. Not just because James was leaving, but also because she knew she wouldn't have much chances to see James after that week and the weekend of her birthday. She knew that there wouldn't be much time to hang out with him over the summer, either. Just thinking about leaving him made the tears fall down her cheeks.
"Oh, honey, don't cry. Don't make this harder than it already is," James whined.
"I can't help it. I love you so much and now you're leaving!"
James couldn't help laughing. "Loving me isn't a crime, hon. We'll still be able to talk and write, and I'm definitely coming back for your birthday."
"You promise?" Lily asked.
"Of course I'll be there! Cross my heart and hope to die," James said.
"Nuh-uh. Don't hope to die," Lily said and they both grinned.
"Okay, cross my heart, and hope to live."
They both laughed. "Better, but I still don't want you to go now." James laughed.
"Lily, I have to. Unless you want me to get expelled, and I know you don't want that. I promise I'll be back and don't worry about going to California. It'll be fine," James said. "If you don't stop crying then I'll start crying and that won't be good. There are still a few weeks."
"I'm sorry. I really don't know why I'm crying. I've never done it before when you've left," Lily said.
"I know why," James whispered in her ear sincerely understanding her fear of leaving him for America. "And I think you know why." Lily looked up at him and at that moment she realized that she's got everything she's always wanted: someone to love. After Petunia turned on her when Lily was eleven and Petunia was sixteen and old enough to stop babying her little sister and realizing that Lily was now a freak, Lily turned towards her parents. After Lily left for Hogwarts, she depended on her friends. After graduation, Lily turned back towards her parents. After they died, Lily turned towards James. Unfortunately, four months later, they broke up and Lily had no one to sincerely love. And now, as she stood staring up at James, she realized that she's finally happy.and it scared her.
"THIS IS THE LAST BOARDING CALL FOR FLIGHT 245," came over the intercom.
"I really gotta go sweetie," James said.
"I know," she said with a sigh. "I love you." Lily kissed him once more and gave him a huge hug that lasted for so long and then he was off. She brought her hands to her face as the tears streamed down in her cheeks as she watched him turn around for one last good-bye wink and a wave and he walked through the runway.
A part of her wanted to run after him telling him that she was going to stay in England, and that she couldn't move to California just for James, who was the one thing that was certain in her life. But the other part, the stronger part and the self-motivated part, was telling her to stay put and that she was doing the right thing even though it didn't feel like it. Unfortunately.the second part always seems to win.
*~*~*~*~*
"Hi, I'm Lily Evans," Lily introduced herself to Andy two and a half weeks later, on May 4. "Um.you probably don't remember me, but-"
"Oh, my God," Andy said slowly, interrupting. "I.I can't believe it. Wow.uh.oh!! Come on in. Please, have a seat," he said in complete shock.
"So I'm guessing you do remember me then," Lily said with a grin on her face.
"Of course I do! You were the cute redhead at Kaitlynne's sixteenth birthday party that one summer I was staying at her house."
Lily laughed. "Yeah, that was me. I didn't expect you to remember me, actually. I.I just came here hoping I wouldn't make a fool of myself."
Andy laughed. "How could I not remember you? I remember staring at you the whole time you were there! You were absolutely gorgeous.and I see you haven't changed."
Lily blushed and covered her cheeks with the palms of her hands. "You obviously didn't see Savannah Turner at the party."
He threw back his head and laughed. "I remember her, also. She was a funny person, but not half as beautiful as you."
She blushed again. "Thanks."
"You were going out with some.Jamie guy? Or Jimmy? Something like that, weren't you? I remember that because I probably would have walked up to you and said something if you were attached to someone else at the party."
Lily laughed. "James Potter, yeah. And you still could've walked up to me."
Andy laughed. "I could tell he was the jealous type."
Lily laughed again. "Still is," she commented with a smirk.
Andy looked up at her surprised. "You're still friends with him?"
Lily smiled at the ground uncomfortably, not looking up at Andy. "Actually, I'm still dating him. Well.not still dating him, because we've been on-and-off for the past seven years, but this last year, we've been completely serious about each other," she explained, getting carried away. "But why am I telling you this? You don't care."
"Sure I do! We've got a lot of catching up to do! Almost eight years worth!"
Lily laughed. "Well, maybe we'll have more time to do it," Lily hinted.
"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.
"Well, I talked to Kaitlynne last night and she told me that you were looking for a roommate and I need a place to live and it needs to be quick.in about three weeks actually."
Andy clapped his hands together excitedly and smiled. "Well, Kaitlynne was right. I do need a roommate, and you'd be perfect. And the only offerings I've gotten so far were a drug addict, a jail breakaway, and a sadistic thirteen-year-old girl living out on the streets. So you coming here was obviously a miracle. If you don't mind me asking, though, why are you looking here? I mean, why are you moving to California?"
"Well, I'm going to be working with Random House for Wizardry starting May 26 here in Los Angeles and-"
"Kaitlynne worked there!"
"Yeah, I know. We've been talking a lot lately about it. It seems that she'll be moving in with my old roommate, Sirius," Lily said with a grin. "Anyway, I'm getting off-topic. She told me how wonderful it really was."
Andy smiled and patted her shoulder. "Random House is totally an excellent place to work. I worked in the Muggle Random House, about forty minutes from here, two years ago in the Arts and Liberal department for about half a year. But then I was offered the job of head professor at the University of Los Angeles in the Drama department, so now I'm the musical instructor and I also coach junior varsity football."
Lily grinned. "That sounds so great! Have you been working there since?"
"Yep. And I hope to be working there for much longer."
"Well, I hope you do, as well," Lily said with a smile, incredibly grateful that she had a place to live now. At least she could stop worrying about that.
"Okay, so we need to get things straight."
"What things?" she asked.
"Well, when will you be moving in here and do you have any hott friends that I don't know about?"
Lily threw back her head and laughed. "The end of May at sometime, and I think my grandmother is free," Lily teased.
Andy laughed. "I think we'll have plenty of fun living together."
"You and my grandmother?"
Andy laughed and winked at her. "Well, you'd be my second choice for a roommate."
*~*~*~*~*
RIIIIIIIIIING!!
Lily was sleeping on the couch two weeks later when she was interrupted by the telephone. "Ugh," she groaned, scrambling off of the couch and towards the kitchen phone.
On the fourth ring, she picked it up. "Hello?" she muttered.
"Lily??" a voice said from the other side.
"Uh.yeah," she said, not sure who was on the other line.
"It's Savannah!"
"Savannah!!" Lily squealed. "I haven't heard from you in so long!! But why are you calling me? Why didn't you owl me?"
"Because I couldn't wait to tell you!"
"What? What?"
"I'm coming home next Wednesday now instead of Saturday to celebrate your birthday!"
"REALLY!?" Lily screeched, jumping around with the cord wrapping around her body. "Oooooh, I can't wait!!!!"
"I know!! Our school is having some sort of festival concert type thing for the whole week, and I switched my concert hours with a few friends so that instead of working Monday and Friday, I could work Monday and Tuesday! So if I can, I'll either fly by broomstick depending on how much stuff I need to bring back or I'll catch an early flight on British Airways, or whatnot."
"This is so great! I can't wait, I can't wait!!!" Lily shrieked.
Savannah laughed out loud. "Is Si-Si there?"
"Actually, no, I'm sorry," Lily replied. "He'll be home soon though, if you just want to wait."
"Actually, I'm going to be late for class anyway, but tell Si- Si I say hi and I'll see him next Wednesday. Luv ya, hon!"
"I'll tell him and I luv ya too!" Lily cried before hanging up the phone. Already, she couldn't wait until her birthday. She just wish that James was coming home sooner as well so she could spend as much time as possible with him before leaving for California.
"I'm hooooooooome!" a voice called from the living room as the door slammed about five minutes later.
"Hey, Sirius!" Lily said gleefully, literally hopping into the living room.
"Wow, why are you so peppy?"
Lily laughed. "I have some news for you that will make you incredibly happy."
"Uh-oh. Please don't tell me you and James eloped," he joked.
Lily laughed. "No! But we were planning on eloping tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"
"You're not supposed to tell me!" he gasped. They both laughed.
"But I call best man!"
"When you elope you don't have a best man," Lily pointed out.
"Well, I'll be the nonexistent, invisible best man."
"How about just the invisible man?"
Sirius laughed. "I'll have to think about that after you tell me the great news you have."
"Savannah is coming home next Wednesday now."
He gasped. "REALLY!?" he squealed.
"You sound like a girl."
"No, I don't!" he insisted.
"Now, come here my little Sirius baby, and maybe we'll paint your nails or something. Change your hair a bit? Do your make-up? Style up your clothes a bit?" she said laughing. "Your choice."
"How about I just leave and pretend like I never walked in here?" he suggested, creeping back slowly.
Lily laughed. "Okay, make-up it is!" she chose, and they both laughed.
"Oh, my God!" he gasped, suddenly realizing something.
"Uh-oh, what?"
"I don't think I have anything to wear when she gets here!" he said in a girly, sarcastic voice. *~*~*~*~*
"Lily, come down here!!!" Sirius cried urgently from the bottom of the stairs, the following Tuesday, May 18, four and a half days before her birthday.
"What is it? I'm about to take a shower!" she cried from her room.
"Trust me, this is much more important that your shower.though you could come down in your towel if you wanted to!"
"SIRIUS!" she cried, laughing.
"Or not! Whatever works for you!"
They both laughed, as Lily scurried down the stairs, jumping the last two. "What?"
"Come in here and look at the T.V.," he said, grabbing her hand.
"Sirius, I told you! Britney Spears' boobs are not real!"
Sirius laughed. "No, it's not that! Though, I swear to it, they are. But anyway, this is more serious than Britney Spears."
Lily leaned against the doorframe and looked on the television just as a news reporter was talking about a special report.
"For all of you just joining us here on Channel 406 News, unfortunately it has finally happened," the reporter began. "You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, The Lord Voldemort has attacked again after ten years of disappearance and abandonment. But Lord Voldemort has not just attacked in one specific place like the last time in northern England. Lord Voldemort has not just killed a few innocent people like his last attack. Unfortunately, it's worse than before and there's nothing we can do to stop him except pray for our spectacular Aurors to do their job. The details up-to-date are simply that over the past two hours, he has been violently striking hundreds of wizardry schools, including mostly colleges, but some beginning schools, all over northern England, southern Germany, all of Luxembourg and Africa, Lebanon and Cambodia, parts of Australia, Canada, the northern states of America and Scandinavia and a few schools in western France and northern Spain. So far there have been four hundred and fifty-two.no fifty-three deaths and over a thousand injuries. Please, in a few moments a list of schools that have been hit by Lord Voldemort will run down your screen. Take a few moments and pray for all of those brave souls that have lived a fabulous life up to this point and pray for their families and their friends and pray for those who are injured. Pray that they only will get better in the days to come. And pray to those kind souls who were able to get away and run for help and for safety.
"Now to a more serious matter on this part, for all of the witches and wizards in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, America, parts of South America and parts of Canada, there is a lock-down occurring at the moment. To ensure everyone's safety, there will be no broom riding, no Floo Powder, no apparating, no phone-calling, no owling, no plane rides or any traveling at that matter, and NO MAGIC will be of use to any witch or wizard. There have been many restrictions already made and the Ministry is finishing up with the rest of the apparating confinements in the next few hours. The Ministry is emphasizing these restrictions enormously, and guards, Aurors, policemen, and Dementors have been spread throughout mostly England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Africa to guarantee the safety of everyone in the magic world. Please, don't try to use any kind of magic because you will be imprisoned for even trying in the least bit. All sources of travel has been shut-down and you'll be hit with the Cruciatus Curse and sent to Azkaban for the time-being and a certain undecided sentence. This has been a warning to every witch and wizard out there and the Ministry refuses to let up on anyone!
It is uncertain to the extent of this lock-down, but the ministry guarantees that it will be no less than a week and no more than a month. We are sorry for any inconveniences that this may initiate, but it is for the better of the people and for you. Now, here is the list of schools that Lord Voldemort has already struck."
Harry stepped out. Just then, he heard an owl pecking at the window. It was one he had never seen before. He opened the window and it soared in, dropping a parchment in his hands. He opened it up and read it.
Harry- How have you been? I heard about your breathtaking Quidditch game. You must be training your team hard. I am the new captain and Keeper for the Chudley Cannons. It is hard work but it is what I love to do. You should come see us some time. I have sent you and Ron 2 tickets. I will be coming to your next game and will tell the team to come as well. My seeker doesn't believe me when I tell him you were born to be seeker and that you are better. I can't wait. See you soon.
-Oliver Wood.
Harry couldn't believe he had gotten a letter from Wood. And the tickets. He had to show Ron. He knew how much Ron loved the Cannons. He started towards the door when he saw the clock. 1:00 AM. He decided to just sleep on the bed in the room and tell Ron in the morining.
~*~
PLEASE R/R THANKS!!!!!
~natalie
~*~
Harry got up and looked at the clock. 6:00. Five minutes until Quidditch tryouts. He had slept through all of his classes! He grabbed his Firebolt and ran out. He went through the halls, knocking over students walking to their classes. He made it to Dumbledore's office. He said the password (which he had learned last week) and ran up the oak staircase. He opened the door to find Moody, Tonks, Mr. Weasley, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Remus, McGonagall, Snape, and a few other members of the Order.
Harry stood there gasping for his breath.
"Harry, what's wrong? What are you doing here?" asked Remus.
"What do you want Potter," snarled Snape.
"Voldemort." said Harry.
He held up his hand to tell them to wait. After a minute or so, he started talking.
"I guess I fell asleep this morning. I had a dream, no I saw it," said Harry.
"What?" asked Tonks.
"They were at Azkaban. The death eaters killed all the aurors. He took over Azkaban. And he had the torch, like in my other dream. He did exactly what he said," said Harry drifting off into his own thoughts.
"Potter, what in world are you talking about?" said Moody, amazed.
"Well, during the summer, I was in Voldemort's mind again. He was talking to Wormtail about getting some torch and that they were going to Azkaban," said Harry.
He looked at the worried yet amazed Order sitting in front of him, to the clock. 6:10! He had to go. He turned to run out the door.
"Harry, exactly where are you going? We need to know more," said Dumbledore.
"I can't," said Harry, "Quidditch tryouts," and before anyone could object he was gone.
"My goodness, he is just like James, them and Quidditch," said Kingsley Shaklebolt, frustrated.
"Yes, and as stubborn as Lily," said Remus and they all laughed.
~*~
Harry ran to the Quidditch pitch to find everything going hectic. Everyone was screaming and yelling, and flying around everywhere.
"Ok now everyone-," but no one listened.
"Excuse me."
"HELLO!" yelled Harry and everyone stopped moving.
"I'm sorry I'm late but I was talking to Professor Dumbledore," said Harry.
"Now, all of the Beaters over here," sad Harry and some of them followed.
They all lined up and started practicing as Harry sat down to watch with Ron.
"Hmm.she's not too bad Harry," said Ron and just then she almost got knocked off of her broomstick.
"Never mind," said Ron.
"He missed too many," said Ron, pointing to a boy with blonde hair.
"Yes, but the Creevey brothers are pretty good," said Harry.
For the next half hour, he and Ron watched all of them get half knocked off their brooms and others doing pretty well. Finally, it was over.
"Ok everyone. We have decided on our team. Our beaters are Colin and Dennis Creevey and our Chasers are Penelope Johnson, Courtney Bell, and Ashley Spinnet.
The three girls screamed and hugged. They were happy to have made the team. They all made their way back inside and Harry went up to take a shower. He came out afterwards and sat on his bed. His seeker skills made his eyes catch glimpse of his practice Snitch. "Gold," he thought. The galleon! Tomorrow, he decided, would be the first DA meeting. He ran over to his trunk and grabbed out his gold coin, set the date, and got out two pieces of parchment. He scribbled two notes on them and sent them off. He couldn't wait until tomorrow.
~*~
That night wasn't coming quick enough. Harry was bored and wanted to go to the DA meeting. Finally, classes were over and Harry rushed up to the common rooms. The DA meeting wasn't until 8:00. He still had an hour. He then started thinking about Quidditch. Oh no! The match was tomorrow. He decided to have an emergency Quidditch meeting.
Though it was only ½ an hour, he thought they could use it. He had high hopes for his team. He KNEW that they would win against Slytherin tomorrow. And Ron had gotten especially good. He had made up so many new strategies and plays that he was excited. He needed to go over them one more time.
Everyone meet in the locker rooms and they went over their plans. They knew exactly what they were doing.
"Ok everyone, we're going to win tomorrow, right?" said Harry.
"YEA!" screamed the team.
Harry looked at his watch. 15 minutes until the DA meeting. He ran upstairs to get his map and cloak. He wanted to be there early to plan everything. He was sitting there when two students walked in. after that, everyone started to come and Harry couldn't have been more aware of what he was going to find.
~*~
When everyone finally got there, Hermione stood up to talk and suddenly the room became quiet.
"Ok, since I don't have our list anymore, I thought we should make a new one that will NOT be jinxed," said Hermione.
Everyone signed it and sat back down.
"Ok, I thought we would start with the stunning spell," said Harry.
He demonstrated on Hermione when e thought he heard a snicker or whisper.
"It must have been my imagination" said Harry to himself.
Everyone else started practicing and Harry went around to check no everybody. After about 20 minutes, Harry knew something was wrong so he blew his whistle and everyone stopped. He stood there for a moment, puzzled.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Hermione, as everyone was staring at him.
"I'm just not quite sure exactly where they are," said Harry, still pondering.
"Who?" said Ron.
They stood there in silence for a few minutes. Harry ha d a good grip on hi wand at his side. Suddenly, he flicked it up and muttered a spell.
Ropes suddenly wrapped around two mysterious, invisible objects.
Everyone gasped and Lavender screamed.
"Ha-h-harry, h-how did you know someone was there?" said Parvati very quietly.
"I could feel someone was watching me," said Harry.
"Now, take off your invisibility cloaks," said Harry, anxiously waiting along with the rest to see who it was.
Nothing happened.
"Ok then, I'll find out myself," said Harry.
He pointed his wand at the desk and said, "Accio," and a parchment flew into his hands.
He studied the map and said, "Ahh, I see that Professor Moody and Professor Lupin have decided to join us."
Everyone was surprised and started whispering.
"Well, I guess our meeting is cut short. Don't forget your galleons. Keep an eye on the," said Harry, and everyone started to file out. After everyone had left, Harry looked at them angrily.
"Lets go," said Harry, "I think we need to have a chat with Dumbledore."
Harry levitated the two and went up the staircase to Dumbledore's office. He opened the door and once again saw the same people sitting there (minus Remus and Moody.)
"Potter, what are you doing here?" asked McGonagall.
He crossly looked at them and levitated in Remus and Moody, still tied up with their cloaks on. Some people gasped. Harry dropped them and the floor and glared at Dumbledore.
"WHAT were they doing in there?" yelled Harry.
"We had to just check on you to see if anyone was spying," said Dumbledore.
"No one was there," said Harry irritated.
"There was," said Remus.
"Two Slytherins under an invisibility cloak in the back of the room" said Moody.
They all looked at Harry, speechless.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself Potter?" said McGonagall.
"OOOHHH, you want to know what I have to say now? Well if you would have asked I could have TOLD you that I KNEW that they were there because they were under MY invisibility cloak because I INVITED them," said Harry impatiently.
They all looked at him, rather surprised, while Dumbledore smiled.
"Yes Harry, well I am sorry for the mistake. I guess we will ask you next time," said Dumbledore.
Harry turned to leave when Remus started to talk.
"Oh and Harry, what did you mean by keep an eye on your galleons?" asked Remus.
"Nothing that concerns you!" said Harry and stormed out.
Harry went up to the common rooms to find everyone waiting there, wanting an explanation. He was too tired so he just waved them off and went up to sleep. As he lay down, he remembered about the Quidditch match and got excited again.
~*~
Harry got up and remembered the game. He was nervous but went down to sit at the breakfast table with Ron and Hermione. Ron was there, pale as ever. Hermione was trying to make him eat something.
"Come on Ron, we went through this last year. You have to eat," said Hermione.
Ron just sat there, with no expression on his face. After about ten minutes, Harry and Ron made it towards the locker rooms and changed. Soon, others were arriving and within a few minutes, everyone was there, just as nervous as Ron.
"Ok everyone," said Harry, "I know we are going to win. We have practiced everything so many times. No on has ever seen ANY of this because I made all of this up myself so we will be UNDEFEATABLE!" said Harry.
"But Harry, what if we don't do good? We don't want to let you down," said Penelope Johnson.
"Oh don't worry, all three of you are just like your sisters and they were great so you are just as good as them, if not better, but don't tell them I said that," said Harry and smiled, "so lets go out there and beat those Slytherins!" and everyone cheered.
They were all standing there and flew out as their names were called out.
"Good luck Ron," said Harry as he flew off.
"And now, Gryffindor team captain and seeker, Harry Potter!"
Harry flew out and felt the cheers deafen his hearing. Soon the balls were released. Harry flew up to watch his team.
".Penelope Johnson shoot.and Gryffindor score!"
The crowd cheered. Harry was Courtney and Ashley looping up and down as the crowd oohed and aahed. The Creevey brothers distracting and twirling around the Slytherin beaters and Ron blocking all of their goals.
"And Ms. Spinnet shoots out of her twirl and.SCORES! Wow, Gryffindor is on a role leading 150-0! Harry obviously knows what he's doing! He has an awesome team here!"
Just then, Harry was the snitch and dove upwards in a spin. He had almost had it when it suddenly dove away. Harry heard the crowd moan. He looked over and saw that the three girls were taking the score to their advantages and talking to Ron, leaving the hoops open. Harry was about to go yell at them when he saw the snitch glittering between the hoop. He was behind the hoop so he started zooming towards the hoop. At the same time, the Slytherins threw the ball and were going to make their first goal. Harry stood up on his broom and stretched out his are towards the Snitch. He flew through the hoop, not only catching the Snitch but the ball as well.
Everyone saw and started screaming and cheering.
"Harry Potter not only catches the Snitch but the ball as well just before Slytherin scored. Gryffindor wins, 300-0!"
Before he knew it, Ron was hugging him and they were soon heading towards the ground.
Hermione came up to them and joined the group hug.
"You guys were wonderful! Harry, where did you come up with all of those tactics? I've never seen anything-"
"Potter, that was amazing. I guess I will be seeing that cup in my office after all. I guess I shouldn't have doubted you pick," said McGonagall.
Harry and Ron headed towards the locker rooms to rest. Then they headed up to the common rooms along with the rest of the team and were jumped and screamed and cheered at by their fellow Gryffindors.
Harry saw Dean, Neville, and Seamus.
"Guess what? Since the game went so long, classes for the rest of the day are canceled!" said Neville, "Lets go eat some lunch!"
"We had to keep Fred and George's tradition going," said Seamus, smiling.
They ate for a while then Harry slipped out and decided to take a walk. His Quidditch outfit kept him warm. He ended up sitting by the pond, leaning against the tree, his feet propped up onto the rocks. His hand was on the trunk when he felt something. He looked and saw something carved into the trunk. JP+LE. James Potter. Lily Evans. His parents. He wished his parents were there to have seen him play. He started to cry. Why did everything have to happen to him? It wasn't fair.
"I wish my parents were here," yelled Harry, weeping at the same time.
Just the, a bright glow appeared that made Harry shield his eyes. When he opened them, there stood his parents.
Harry stood there gaping with his mouth hanging open.
"Mm-mum." said Harry.
There stood his parents, as real as ever, smiling back at him.
He got up and gave his mom a hug.
"Oh Harry," she said, "you look exactly like your father, so handsome, especially with that horrible hair," she said laughing.
"Harry," said his dad, "playing Quidditch?"
"Yea, seeker and team captain, we just won 300-0 against Slytherin," he said grinning.
"Oh my, James, he's a mini you," said Lily smiling.
"But why, how are you here?" asked Harry puzzled.
"We can be here for you, but only when you really need us," said Lily, "for 30 minutes."
"Oh, then you have to see Remus. He's teaching Defense Against Dark Arts class and Ron and Hermione," said Harry.
"Sure, why no," said his dad and he led them inside.
The Great Hall was busy with chatter. He led them up to the teacher's table to Remus. They all looked up and gasped.
"James.is that you?" whispered Remus.
"Good to see you Moony," said James and Remus ran down to give him a hug.
By then the whole hall was dead quiet. He led his mom to Ron and Hermione, who were staring in amazement.
"Ron, Hermione, I'd like you to meet my mum," said Harry.
They sat there for a moment until Hermione finally spoke.
"Hello, nice to meet you," said Hermione.
"Umm.no offense Harry, but isn't your mum dead?" said Ron.
"RON!" said Hermione.
Lily laughed.
"No, it's quite alright. I still am dead. I can still see Harry though. It's a long story," said Lily, "Harry, we only have ten more minutes left."
The two went back to where James and Remus were.
"Lily," said Remus and gave her a hug.
"But.how?" said Remus.
"Harry will explain," said Lily.
"So Moony, do we have a Marauder in training?" said James grinning.
"Well, he sure gets in a lot more trouble than we did Prongs," said Remus.
Suddenly, Snape and McGonagall walked up. They stood there in disbelief.
"How many more surprises do you have in store for u?" said McGonagall as she walked over and hugged Lily.
"Potter," snarled Snape, "I see you've managed to come back somehow."
"Oh yea, I had to come see you," said James batting his eyelashes.
Harry laughed.
"Well, we better get going. Goodbye Harry," said James and he and Lily hugged him.
"Bye," said Harry.
But no one noticed what James was doing. Suddenly, Snape was lifted off his feet and his hair was pink in pigtails.
"POTTER!" yelled Snape.
The Great Hall erupted with laughter.
"Love you to Snivellus!" said James and blew him a kiss and with a bright glow, the two were gone.
Harry was on the ground rolling with laughter as Remus was holding his sides to keep from falling.
"Oh Prongs, you forgot something," said Remus and with the flick of his wand, Snape's robes were pink polk-a-dotted as well.
Harry could barely breath anymore from laughing so hard. He managed to drag across the floor to Ron, who also was rolling around. Soon, Dumbledore had brought him down and cleared his throat for silence.
"Well, after this welcoming surprise, I have some for you as well."
There was whispering and excitement among the tables.
"Not only will our Hogsmeade trip be next week but Our Halloween Ball will be on the 31st."
"Also, one more exciting announcement. This year, the school has been running low on supplies and we need more money. So with approval of the Ministry, from now on we will be holding our Quidditch games at the Quidditch Cup Stadium and we will be selling tickets so all may come!"
Applaud was heard throughout the hall followed by chatter.
Harry was headed towards the dormitories to rest when Dumbledore stopped him.
"Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?"
They went up the moving staircase to the oak door with the griffin doorknob. Dumbledore muttered the password as the gargoyle sprung aside. They sat down.
"Harry, what a lovely surprise to see your parents," he said smiling, "but unfortunately, (Oh no, Harry hated those words) though it was good to see them, how on earth did they get here?"
Harry sat there for a moment then responded.
"Well, I was down by the pond after the Quidditch game and I wished my parents were there and then they were. They told me that whenever I really needed them, they would be there."
"How very odd indeed. So at you command, they could be there for you?"
"No, well."
"Yes Harry?"
"Well, I was sort of sad that my parents weren't there to see me play Quidditch earlier and I was starting to feel down and blame everything on myself. I knew I was probably going to do something stupid. But then they came, because I really needed them."
They sat there in silence for a minute before Dumbledore started talking again.
"Well, hopefully, we wont be seeing them again because then it will mean that you are ok," said Dumbledore.
"Well, goodnight Harry."
Harry went up to the common rooms and sat by the fire. He sat there for a while, thinking. He wasn't tired but had nothing to do. Or did he? He ran up, got his cloak, pensieve, and map and went to the Room of Requirements.
~*~
AS he headed towards the room, he decided to take a different way because Filch was near by. He happened to pass the trophy room. He looked at them all and suddenly had an idea. He conjured some things and soon left. In the light shone the biggest, goldest award ever. It read:
????????????????????????????????????????????????-????? ????? ??????? ??????
???
Harry got there and slipped inside. Since he wasn't practicing spells, the room was different. There were many couches and tables along with a flickering fireplace. Harry got out the pensieve and stepped in.
~*~
"He said it was the best broom there is for flying and I know he wants it. He just refuses to ask for it," Lily commented as she and Savannah were staring at the Z-4 Rollerball in the window of the broom shop later that day.
"Lily, it costs way too much! How are you going to pay for it?" Savannah asked.
"I do have money, Savannah, and I'm getting a job soon. It's all going to work out."
Savannah rolled her eyes with a grin. "You love him that much to spend your savings on him?"
"No.I love him more," Lily said. She just wanted to make him happy so that telling him she had to move halfway across the country would be easier. She started fishing for excuses. "It's the first birthday we've celebrated as a couple ever and I just want to make him happy."
"It can't be the first birthday."
"It's true. It always seems that whenever we're broken up it's always around his birthday.or Halloween, for some reason. And we've been going out for officially a year, our longest relationship come June 1. It was our first anniversary and hopefully our last," Lily said, smiling, remembering last year.
~ ~ ~ ~ F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
Lily was alone on June 1 of 1980 (a year before now) trying to forget their anniversary considering they weren't going out at the time and she figured they wouldn't ever date again since she hadn't spoken to him since a year beforehand at Remus' family's reunion barbecue, to which Remus' friends were all invited to. Lily was humming to herself, while vacuuming the living room, happy that it was finally Saturday and she could forget about the internship for a while. The internship was so much fun and she was learning a lot about writing and publishing she ever thought was possible, but it was always fun to have a weekend to herself. Especially this weekend, which brought her thinking about how glad she was that Sirius had a teacher's convention in Vienna, Austria this specific weekend. She was keeping herself busy, mainly because she didn't want to remember that six years earlier to that date was when James and Lily realized they were meant to be. Snape pushed Lily into the lake and James went in after her, although they still despised each other at the time. They both got out, water dripping to the ground and that's when they realized that they never hated each other but that they've always had feeling for each other. He asked her out right then and there, and she said yes. Very romantic.and quite wet, as well. She frowned at the thought, suddenly remembering that they weren't dating anymore and they probably weren't going to be dating again.
She wasn't sure of her feelings towards James anymore. If he wasn't being sweet, then he was being stupid and she often found herself yelling at him for doing dumb things. She sighed at herself for about the hundredth time that day. She hasn't seen him since last July, and even though they weren't dating, they didn't exactly hate each other and it would have been nice to see him occasionally. She sighed again, and tried to get her mind off of him for a while. She kept dusting and vacuuming, until she heard a knock at the door. She turned off the vacuum, and went to the door and opened it.
Her mouth dropped open when she saw who was there. "J-James!" she gasped.
"Hey, Lily," was all he said.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked, still extremely confused. She would have thought he'd be anywhere but there at the moment.
He kind of looked at the ground for a second. "Actually.I'm not quite sure."
"Oh.well, Sirius isn't here," she said, saying the only thing that really came to mind.
James gave Lily a look-over for a split second and hesitated before talking. "Um.I know. I.I didn't come here for him."
"You just said you didn't know why you were here."
"Well, I do and I don't."
"Then why don't you tell me what you do know?" Lily asked, getting frustrated. She wasn't exactly thrilled that James was standing on her front stoop on their ex-anniversary and he wanted to talk to her. Any other day and she might have considered giving him a welcoming smile or whatnot, but this just felt awkward.
"Well." James said breathlessly. He pulled out his hand behind his back and brought forth a huge bouquet of yellow roses-Lily's favorite. "Um.Happy Anniversary?" he said, looking as if he wasn't sure why he just did that.
Lily gasped. "Th-thanks, James," she said, now completely puzzled, taking the roses and smelling them. She held them in her hand using them as an excuse not to say anything. She eventually looked over the roses to where James was standing. "I didn't get you anything." "I didn't expect you to. Actually.I'm not sure why I got them in the first place."
Lily looked up at James with hesitation in her eyes, but she said what she wanted to say anywise. "James, I don't mean for this to sound rude, but why are you doing this? I mean, I haven't seen you for almost a year now and we've been perfectly happy with our living arrangements since then and I know that I haven't exactly thought about you much lately, and here I am standing across from you with yellow roses in my hand that you gave me for our Anniversary that happened five years ago. I don't know about you, but I'm just a little confused."
James looked at her for a second, before realizing what he really came for. "Lily, do you want to know the real reason why I'm standing here across from you?"
"Yes, that would be nice."
"I'm here for this," he answered, pulling her in for one of his special, sweet, mysterious, soft, gentle, loving, daring, unique kisses that she hasn't felt for about a year and a half now. And you know what? She melted right into it and realized that her and James were always meant to be.
~ ~ ~ ~ E N D O F F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
And they've been together ever since, and neither one of them regretted any second of it.
"It's the perfect gift, Savannah," Lily repeated.
"You know he'll love anything you get him, right?"
"Yes, but he'll love this even more."
Savannah smiled gently. "You know he has the best girlfriend ever, right?"
"No.I just have the best boyfriend ever."
*~*~*~*~*
"I just need to stop in and talk to Lily for a few minutes," Sirius said.
"Why? You see her everyday," James commented.
"No, I haven't seen her since yesterday morning because I spent the night with Remus yesterday and today we went to Diagon Alley for some.fun," Sirius said mysteriously.
"Fine, whatever. If we don't hurry though, we're going to be late to the movie," James pointed out.
Sirius walked into his cottage, and flickered on the lights.
"SURPRISE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES!!!" everyone cried.
James practically jumped out of his skins. "Holy shit!" he screamed. Everyone in the room laughed.
"Hey, sweetie," Lily said, coming up behind him and giving him a kiss.
"I can't believe it. I didn't think you actually knew my birthday!" he said.
"I know what you mean," she said, remembering her conversation with Savannah the day before.
"Who put it all together?" he asked.
"Sirius and I planned it, but Savannah, Peter, and Remus helped with everything today," she replied.
"Aww, thank you! I've never had a surprise birthday before," he said, giving Lily another kiss and giving Sirius a hug.
"Thank God you kissed her and you hugged me," he muttered, and all three of them laughed.
"It seems like a Hogwarts reunion in here!" James cried.
"Hey, James!!!" Eden Gauche said, giggling. "It's been too long. We simply must hang out next time I'm in London," she said with her rich, snobby voice.
"Yes, that would be simply marvelous," James replied mocking her, which Eden didn't get at all. She left with a swift wave of her wrist and all three of them laughed. "I swear if you tell me Snape is here, I might have to kill you guys."
"Um.could you possibly kill Lily first so I have time to run?" Sirius joked.
"Excuse me! He loves me! You're just his friend," Lily teased.
Sirius turned towards James. "Your friend? Is that all I am to you, James? Is this true?" Sirius asked, clutching his heart. "Please, it can't be! I'm too young to die!"
"You're also too stupid for us to love you," Lily said jokingly.
"Tell me again.why do I live here?" he asked, and all three of them laughed.
"Happy birthday James," Remus said as he and Peter made their way over to them.
"Thanks," he said. He was about to say something else, but someone else came up behind him and tapped on his shoulder.
"Happy birthday, man," Foster Jenkins said. "I heard you were going into the Auror business. Is it true?"
"Well, I'm majoring to be an Auror at London University for Dark Art Magic and I have a pretty good shot at hopefully finding an Auror job soon, but nothing's definite yet."
"That's awesome. I always knew you'd become an Auror," he said, walking off to mingle with everyone else in the room.
*~*~*~*~*
"Okay, and one last birthday song from the birthday man and his band itself!" Lily said into the microphone. She was glad that the living room was enough space for the Marauders to play and for everyone else to dance after she cleared everything out.
(A/N: Yes, the Marauders have a band...somewhat. If I want them to have a band, then they'll have a band J Actually, it just makes the next part a little more emotional than it already is..)
With Remus jamming on the drums, Peter playing on the acoustic guitar, James playing a bass guitar with back-up singing usually, and Sirius playing a bass quitar and singing, and occasionally they have Savannah singing for them, they were actually very excellent and have had gigs here and there to which they've gathered tons of money to pay for plenty of things that they've needed to pay for, including school, rent, and bills and of course the occasional spending money!! Now, doesn't that sounds fun!?
"The next song, I wrote inspired from my beautiful girlfriend, Lily Evans. In fact, she inspires me everyday, and I just wanted to write a song to show how much she means to me. So this next song, is brand new but I hope you all enjoy, and I'm sorry if it's too slow for your tastes and too mushy, but that's what love is," he said laughing. Everyone in the room laughed or groaned. "I also want to thank Savannah Turner for singing with us tonight. Let's give her a big round of applause!" Everyone in the room started cheering, clapping, whistling, and hooting for her. "So, here it goes, 'End of Time.' Lily, I love you, babe, and I hope you'll never forget it," he said winking at Lily. "A 1.a 2.a 1 2 3 4!!" "Waking at the crack of dawn," James sang this time. "I know you'll always love me Just staring down at the incoming sunrise I realize that I'm lucky" Together, him and Sirius harmonized, "You're my girl, let's always keep it that way We're perfect, and that's the way it should stay Hold me forever, we'll be together Until the end of time" Savannah started singing, "Still awake at midnight We'll never be apart Just staring at the beautiful, shining stars You'll always be in my heart" Savannah, James, and Sirius all sang a harmonized trio, "You're my girl, I will love you 'til I die We're perfect, up until we say good-bye Kiss me forever, we'll be together Until the end of time" They continued on with their harmonization, "You're my girl, and we'll always make it through We're perfect, through no matter what we do Love me forever, we'll be together Until the end of time" The world seems so small, when we're in love You are the one I'm always thinking of With you in my heart, nothing can go wrong With you in my arms, our love will stay strong "Hold me forever," Sirius sang. "Kiss me forever," Savannah sang. "Love me forever," James sang, staring right at Lily. Together, they finished the short, but sweet song, "Until the end of time." Everyone in the room was yelling and cheering them on and congratulating them on doing such an excellent job as Lily stood in the back with the tears springing to her face. That was one of the most romantic things he's ever done to her and here she was feeling guilty that she hadn't told him yet about her big move yet. She sighed, knowing there was never going to be a right time for it. She knew she had to get it over with. And she wanted to tell him first so the longer she waited, the longer everyone else would find out.
*~*~*~*~*
"Thanks for coming, Marissa. Bye Zach. Bye Henry," Lily said, holding the door open for the few remaining guests who were finally leaving. "Bye Gessica! Talk to you later, Mandarin." She closed the door. "Whew! Finally, some peace and quiet."
"Nope, with me around, there's never peace and quiet," Sirius said.
Lily laughed. "Okay, that's it. Get out!" she cried, and they both laughed.
"Yeah, do us all a favor, and listen to her," Savannah said, who was helping Remus put back the couch.
They all laughed. Remaining in their house was Lily, Sirius, Remus, Savannah, James, and Peter and they all helped put back the furniture and helped clean up the huge mess left in Sirius' and Lily's cottage.
"I know I already thanked you all like a thousand times, but thanks again, guys," James said, with his arm around Lily's waist in the entranceway after everything was cleaned up, the trash was taken out, the room was back together, and they were all sitting back, or standing up, admiring their hard work for the past hour.
"It was fun. I'm glad we could have a party here," Lily said smiling up at him.
"I'm also glad I played today. I haven't picked up my guitar in so long!" he cried, and they all grinned up at him.
"Yeah, and you did so terribly today for not playing in a while," Sirius said sarcastically. They all laughed again, and Lily and James plopped on to the couch next to Sirius.
"You have to open our gifts now, James!" Savannah said energetically from sitting on the ground.
"Whoa, if you stop being so hyper, then maybe I'll open the gifts!" James said, laughing.
"If I didn't stop, would you not open your gifts?" she said laughing.
"No, I definitely still would," James replied, and they all laughed.
*~*~*~*~*
He opened Savannah's gift which was a book, The Art of Aurorism and Dark Arts, and Remus' and Peter's gift which was a Zonko's gift certificate and a 50-pack of Filibusters and Dung Bombs, and Sirius' gift, 1,000 Ways to Annoy Your Girlfriend Using Charms.
"How about I take this?" Lily said, trying to grab it away from him.
"No way, this could be useful!" James said, and Lily had to laugh, as did everyone else.
"Here," Lily said handing him a huge package.
He look interested, and started to unwrap it. He took of the top of the huge box and instantly gasped. "Oh, my God, Lily!"
"I knew you'd like it," Lily said with a huge grin on her face.
"I-I do love it.but it must have cost a fortune!" James said with a confused look on his face.
"It was worth it," Lily said smiling.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, interested in what must have cost her a fortune. James took the broomstick out of the box, and Remus, Sirius, and Peter gasped as well.
"Lily, I.I.I don't know what to say," James said. He didn't want to say it, but even though she was getting a job soon, he knew she spent way too much for him and as much as he had wanted the broomstick so much, he felt a little guilty. He never would have expected anyone to get it for him and wondered why she did it.
"James, I know you're thinking I shouldn't have bought it for you, but I'm not broke or anything! And I know you deserve it and that's all that matters," Lily explained.
"Thank you so much, Lily," James said breathlessly, turning towards her and giving her a short, but sweet, kiss on the mouth. Lily kissed him back, still feeling guilty that she hadn't told him yet. She knew he must be a little suspicious to why she bought it for him.
*~*~*~*~*
"I'll see you tomorrow night, right guys?" James said to Remus and Peter.
"I can't," Peter said. "I.I have to go back to Scandinavia to resolve some business issues."
"What about you, Remus?" Sirius asked. "Movie tomorrow night?"
"I'm not sure if I have to work yet. They're still trying to figure out if Igor's cancer is contagious and if it is then I might have to go into the lab."
"Igor has cancer? That's so sad!" Sirius said. "Wait.do I know an Igor?
They all laughed. "He was hatched on Friday in Argentina with liver cancer and bladder irritation, so they brought him back to London so he could be with the experienced professionals and I'm helping in the lab," Remus explained.
"Okay, well, just call us tomorrow," James said.
"Okay," Remus said. "Talk to you later!"
"Hey, James, do you want to take a walk around the block with me?" Lily asked, coming up behind him.
"A walk? Is that what it's called nowadays?" Sirius muttered, and they all laughed.
"It's two o'clock in the morning," he pointed out.
"A perfect time to go walking!" Sirius cried, laughing.
"Then why don't we go for a walk?" Savannah asked Sirius with a grin on her face.
"Now, when you say walk, is that like a James-and-Lily walk, or.just a regular walk?" Sirius wondered.
"It's a Sirius-and-Savannah walk," she replied with a grin.
"Is that the same thing as a James-and-Lily walk?"
"No," Savannah replied.
"Can we make it a James-and-Lily walk?" Sirius teased. "Nope," Savannah replied with a grin. "You're no fun.but just because you're you, let's go for an S-and-S walk," he said, and they both left. James and Lily laughed at them as they walked down the stairs and on to the street.
Lily closed the door to the cottage, and grabbed James' hand to walk in the opposite direction of Sirius and Savannah. They just walked hand-in-hand in silence for a few minutes, before Lily finally sighed and decided to get it over with.
"James, I have something really important to tell you," she started.
"What is it, Lily? What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely worried.
"Nothing's wrong.I don't think. I-I'm not sure. This is one of the hardest things I've ever really had to tell anyone," she continued.
"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" James asked, alarmed.
Lily laughed. "No..Well." she trailed off, thinking about the situation. She didn't want to break up, but what if James wanted to? She shook away that thought. "No, I'm not."
"You're not dying, are you?" he asked.
Lily laughed again. "No, James!"
"You're not pregnant, are you!?!?"
"James!!" she cried, laughing. "I'm not any of those, so don't worry! Just let me tell you what I have to tell you!"
He laughed. "Okay, okay. Continue."
"Well, the good news it that I've got a definite job with Random House for Wizardry," she started.
"Lily, that's great!" James said, as he stopped walking and gave her a hug.
"-In America," she ended, as James wrapped his arms around her.
He immediately pulled away and gave her a look. "What?" he asked surprised.
"Yeah, the job is at Random House for Wizardry in California," she explained.
"But then.then you'd have to move to California?" he asked.
Lily simply nodded, since she couldn't speak due to the huge lump formed in her throat and the tears already forming in her eyelids. She thought it would have been a little easier to tell him, but now she's realizing that she won't be able to see him much that much during the year.
James wasn't sure of what to say so he started walking ahead of Lily.
"James, wait," she said, catching up to him.
James didn't say anything. He faced forwards, still in shock.
"James." Lily said, grabbing his arm.
"You can't move to California!!" he cried unexpectedly.
Lily was taken aback that he said something. "Wh-what? Why? I have to, James. I don't want to, but I have to."
"No.you can't," James said, with a shaky voice, blinking away the tears that were starting to form. He didn't want Lily to see him to cry. "I won't get to see you, Lily!"
That's when Lily started to cry. "I know, James!! That's the worst about it all, but this is my future! I can't just give this up for my boyfriend. I can't let anything stand in my way of my dream, James!" "But.well, when are you leaving?"
"May 24. We still have about a month."
"No we don't. Considering I still have school and you still have the internship, we have probably two days to hang out between now and then."
"What about my birthday? You said you'd take up that weekend to come down and see me!"
"Fine, four days then!"
"James, I've wanted this for years now and this could be my big break!" "But, what if it isn't? What would you do then?"
"I'd move back to England and start over again."
"But.why can't you just stay in England and find another job?"
"James, Random House for Wizardry is the best publishing company in the world! There's nothing better than this!"
"So are you saying there's nothing better enough so that you get everything you want?" James said, a bit too crossly.
Lily started crying more, realizing that he wasn't upset, he was angry and that it was probably hurting him more than it was hurting her. "James, I just want you to understand that I love you so much and I don't want to hurt you, and-"
"It's a little too late for that, isn't it, Lily?" James cried angrily. "My girlfriend moving halfway across the country isn't supposed to hurt me?"
Lily couldn't believe how selfish he was being, but she didn't want to start a fight with him. "James, this is my career! This is what I'm good at! I can't give that up!"
"Not even for me?" James asked selfishly, knowing he was crossing the line.
"No, not even for you, James! James, you're going to become a famous Auror and everyone in the magic world is going to look up to you! If you had to move to America to uphold that reputation, I'd completely understand! It would completely and utterly suck, but I know that it was your job and that's it's one of the most important things to you! I'd totally support you wherever you'd go!"
"Yeah, but I'd take you with me, Lily," James pointed out. "You can't take me with you because my job's here in England and this is where I belong!"
"Yeah, let's just blame this all on the fact that I can't take you with me, James! Let's blame me for this because you know exactly how ecstatic I am to be moving half-way around the world!!" Lily cried, a little too harshly.
"Hey, don't yell at me! I'm not the one who's moving to California!"
"Yeah, but I'm not the one who's being a selfish jerk!!!!" Lily cried.
James turned to look at her with an angry look on his face. "I don't need this right now, Lily. It's my birthday and I'd like to have a happy one. I guess that was too much to ask for," he said, hitting Lily right where it hurt. "I'm apparating home. Tell Sirius thanks for the birthday party," he said crossly. And two seconds later, he was gone and Lily sat on the curb of the road bawling her eyes out. She was not expecting it to go that way at all. She at least thought he'd be a little supportive.
"So what do you think they're talking about?" Savannah asked about five minutes down the road.
"Talking?" Sirius asked. "Is that what it's called?" They both laughed and walked for a few seconds in silence.
Savannah sighed out loud, not realizing it and Sirius noticed. "What's wrong, Vannie?" he asked.
Savannah smirked slightly. "Why do you call me that, Si-Si?"
"Why do you call me that?"
"I'm not sure. I think it was.second time we went out? Or the second break-up, should I say. I called you my little baby, Si-Si, and you said it sounded like a girl's name, and because I was mad at you.it just stuck. And after we became friends again.it still stuck."
"Well, I remember when you found me talking to Daniella Goodwin, you told me I wasn't even worthy of speaking your name, so I tried sweet-talking you with the name Vannie, and it just.stuck, like you said. I do remember that you laughed when I came up with it."
Savannah laughed. "Wow, that seemed so long ago."
"It was six years ago. That is pretty long."
"Yeah, it is.but if you think about it, it's not really. I mean we already lived twenty-three years of it, with seven years of it spent at Hogwarts, which seems like a lot.but it really wasn't."
Sirius turned to look at 'Vannie.' "Savannah," he started. Oooh, it meant seriousness; he just called her Savannah!! "It might have been only seven years to you.but it was the best seven years of my life. It will never be only seven years to me; it will be thee seven years. Hogwarts is where I have all of my memories. It was a second home to me. In fact, it was my home. After my mother died, I really had nowhere to go besides James' house, and as much as it felt good to go somewhere where I was wanted, it wasn't.my home. It wasn't where I belonged. And up until my seventh year of Hogwarts, I never really knew where I belonged."
Savannah turned towards Sirius. "Oh, really? How and when did you realize it?"
And to Savannah's surprise, Sirius started to blush like mad. Even in the dark with the streetlights gleaming down, she could tell he was. "What? You're bright red!!! What did I say??" she said, laughing.
Sirius turned towards Savannah without laughing. "Vannie, when I started dating you at the end of our seventh year.I knew I had a chance to fit in somewhere."
"You mean.I changed your perspective?" Savannah asked surprised.
"You didn't change just that, you changed everything about me that year. I realized that, even though we've had our disagreements, we were meant for each other. Or.at least that's what I thought for the remaining time of that year. Graduation happened and we went our separate ways. I guess I thought wrong." Sirius said, shaking his head as if he was just realizing that.
Savannah stopped and grabbed Sirius' arm. "Si-Si, don't do this to yourself. You are a wonderful person that at least belongs with me.and I know you belong with James and Lily and Remus and Peter, too!!"
"It's not that I don't know I belong with you guys.it's the fact that you're all I have."
"And that scares you?"
"Hell yeah!! What happens when I become older and I can't depend on you guys anymore?"
"What are you talking about? You can always depend on me!"
"How do you know that?"
"I-I don't, Si-Si, but I don't want to have the thought of not having you around stuck in my head."
"You were always there for me, Vannie," he sighed. "I mean, you were always there for me! And now I feel that maybe.maybe you're not always going to be there for me in the future. I can't just wish for something and have it happen. Like you said, it scares me. I.I don't even know how to explain it. It's a feeling of."
"Emptiness?" Savannah said, mostly talking to herself, thinking the same exact thing.
"Exactly. I'm happy with my life right now, but there's a part of me that's empty and lonely and.and afraid. I just don't know if I'm ready to take on the world myself."
"You may not know you're ready.but I know you're ready. You were always ready, Sirius Black, you just never knew it.and maybe you were afraid to admit it."
He smiled at her and looked over at her. And for some reason, this one time when he looked over at her, she looked different to her. Every other time he looked at her, it was out of friendship, but now he felt the sudden urge to kiss her. He tried to shake away the feeling knowing that their friendship was more important then ruining it again, but it wouldn't go away. And then he realized that the absolute perfect girl has been under his nose the past eleven years and he's never fully realized it.until now. He stopped, and grabbed Savannah's arm and turned towards her.
"What, Sirius?" she asked.
"Look, it's a shooting star," he said realizing it for the first time. He knew it was fate.
"Oooh, make a wish," Savannah squealed.
Don't let me make a fool of myself in about a second, Sirius wished.
"What did you wish for?" Savannah asked for, not really expecting him to answer.
He paused and said, "This." And he gave her a short, gentle, loving kiss.
He pulled away, and Savannah was completely stunned. She didn't expect him to do it.but she realized that she liked it. At first she thought maybe she liked it because she hadn't kissed a guy for so long. But then she realized that it felt good to be kissing Sirius, and not just any old stranger. It always felt good to kiss him for some reason. I mean. There were old boyfriends.and then there was Sirius.
"I-I'm not sure why I did that," Sirius stuttered.
"I'm not sure why you did it either," Savannah said, realizing that sounded insensitive. "No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just that.we've tried dating before and it always ended up with me crushed. I don't want to get hurt again, Si-Si."
Sirius looked directly into his eyes. "I never meant to hurt you, Vannie."
"I know you didn't, but you did and I can never shake that feeling off. I'm just.I'm just afraid that's all."
"What are you afraid of?"
Savannah turned towards him and hesitated before answering. "Admitting that I'm falling in love with you."
Sirius smiled. "Don't be," he said, leaning in and giving her another kiss that they both enjoyed this time. If heartaches and tears And shadows of doubt Are parts of the deal You can count me out If you're talking about the game of love I can win You can count me in
When the pulled apart Sirius said, "Hey you realize we just made this a James-and-Lily walk so I was right."
"Except for now it's also a Savannah-and-Sirius walk," Savannah said softly and then kissed Sirius again.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily sat on the couch watching some movie on television. She had no idea what the movie was about, though, considering all she could think about was James. She started to cry thinking about him. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help it!! I mean, she's the one who's leaving! She's the one who has to make the change! Why should he be angry with her for following her dreams!? She stopped crying and suddenly became aware that she wasn't upset at him! She was pissed at him!! She didn't want to be mad at him, but she had to be considering he was being so selfish about it the whole thing!
The door suddenly opened and in walked Sirius and Savannah with Sirius' arm around Savannah's waist.
Lily raised her eyebrows. "And what exactly happened on your walk?" she asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," Savannah said a little too quickly, with a huge grin on her face.
"Is that why Sirius' arm is around you?"
"Uh.yes?" she replied unconvincingly.
"Okay, spill it," she said.
"Well.we decided to take our friendship to the next level," Sirius said sophisticatedly. "We discussed it, and we both realized that we have feelings for each other that sparked out of an interesting conversation of emptiness and where we belong in life." Lily looked from Sirius to Savannah and noticed the cheap smiles and eyebrows raised.
"You practiced that speech, didn't you?" Lily asked.
They all laughed. "Busted," Savannah said. "Basically, we're back together."
"How many is that? Six times? And, I hate to be the one to mention this but.five ended in failure."
"Yeah, but I realized that even though I've been hurt before, isn't is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all? And isn't it better to forgive and forget than never to have forgiven at all? And then isn't it better to pick your life back up with someone new?" Savannah asked.
"I don't think it counts when you pick your life up with the same person you lost and loved and forgave and forgot," Lily pointed out.
"Eh, who cares? It's all for the best now! I'm just going to forget about Hogwarts and start thinking about the future.with Vannie."
"Awww. How sweet," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "But I already got the Hallmark card." They all laughed.
"I figure, if we have the courage to turn around after our messy break-ups and date again, then so be it," Savannah commented.
"At least someone's dating," Lily muttered.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked suspiciously.
"Yeah.where's James?" Savannah asked.
"Who knows.who cares?" Lily mumbled, getting off the couch and turning her back on them to walk into the kitchen.
"Lily." Sirius said slowly, walking quickly behind her.
"What?" Lily asked, without turning around.
"What happened between you two?"
"We just had a dumb argument," Lily said, a little too harshly.
"Dumb? Is that why you're so angry?"
"So it was a big argument! A huge, stupid argument! And it was all his fault! And I plan on never speaking to him again, which won't be hard since I'm moving soon!" Lily cried quickly covering her mouth, realizing she had said too much. "Oops."
"Moving? What? What are you talking about?" Savannah asked walking into the kitchen when she heard what Lily said.
Lily sighed. "Ugh, I didn't want you guys to find out this way."
"And find out what? In what way?" Sirius asked.
Lily grabbed a Diet Coke from the refrigerator and sat down in the chair at the kitchen table. "I got a job with Random House for Wizardry and-"
"That's so great!" Savannah cried.
"Alright will anyone let me finish?" Lily asked.
"Huh? What's so not great about it?" Sirius asked.
"At the end of May, I.I, well, I have to move to California.as in America. The job's there."
"What?" Sirius said breathlessly.
"Yeah. Trust me, it surprised me too," Lily explained.
"But.you can't move. Everything is here! Your friends, your home, your internship!" Savannah cried.
"And me!" Sirius yelled out. Lily and Savannah rolled their eyes.
"That would be a reason to move sooner," Savannah said.
"Hey!" Sirius said. "Yeah, okay, it's true." They all laughed.
"What about your internship, Lily?" Savannah asked.
"There's a Daily Prophet headquarters in San Diego so I'll still be able to get my journalism degree and my Daily Prophet editor rights there."
"Well.wow, this is huge!" Savannah cried with a smile on her face.
"But.but.but." Sirius stuttered.
"God, please don't start saying things like this may not be your big break so stay here in England or anything along the lines of 'oh, no I'm more important so stay here,'" Lily muttered.
"What? No, I wouldn't say that," Sirius said in shock. "It's just.it's a huge surprise. And it sucks. But this is publishing. This is what you've always wanted to do, Lily," Sirius continued. Suddenly his face lit up. "Lily, this is a huge opportunity for you! This is going to be so great! I can't believe it! I'm so proud of you!" Sirius cried, running over to her and giving her a huge hug. "This calls for some champagne. I know I have some hidden somewhere for a special occasion."
To Sirius and Savannah's amazement, Lily burst into tears.
"Okay.skip the champagne," Sirius said slowly with a confused look.
"No, it's not that. It's the fact that you guys are so supportive and James was exactly the opposite!" Lily bawled.
"What? That's crazy," Savannah cried.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lily remarked, crying harder. "But he said that because he was here in England and his job was here in England that I should stay here for him and how I was hurting him. I just don't get it. I mean, he's basically saying that he can have the great job and the money and he can be the best but I have to life a half-life just doing boring desk jobs always wondering what would have happened if I had taken the Random House for Wizardry job! He's just being so.ugh! He's being so.so self-centered!" Lily cried. "Whatever, I don't care anymore. I'm leaving at the end of May and I can forget about him for as long as I want to."
"James is just upset, Lily. He just didn't want to admit that without you, his life is pretty much pointless. He doesn't want to lose you. He almost lost you last year and he doesn't want it to happen again," Sirius explained. "He just took it out on you because you were right there telling him you were moving across the globe. He'll eventually realize he was being selfish and stupid and he'll come home for your birthday and we'll all be happy, maybe throw you a Going Away Party or whatnot. Oops, I said too much."
That got Lily to laugh.
"Ha! You're laughing," Savannah said, winking at her.
Lily turned towards Sirius. "I just.I just don't like being mad at him. And I hate it when he's mad at me! And I'd apologize, but there's nothing for me to apologize for. He was the one that was totally out of line."
"Just forget about it now and remember that you are going to be a part of Random House for Wizardry!! This is a HUGE opportunity for you, Lils!!" Sirius cried, grabbing her and swinging her around. Lily couldn't help but get a little excited.
"Okay, even though it's about three in the morning, let's go celebrate," Savannah cried, grabbing her coat and Lily's, and throwing her coat at her.
Lily laughed. "Fine, I give up. Let's go get drunk."
"Yes! That's the spirit!" Sirius cried, and they all laughed, as they trudged out of the door and out to an all-night bar.
*~*~*~*~*
The next night, Sirius knocked on the Potters' front door and Mrs. Potter answered.
"Why, hello Sirius!" Mrs. Potter cried. "James is in the den. And maybe you could possibly cheer him up. He's been in there all day sullen and depressed but he won't tell me or his father why he's like this. In fact, he hasn't spoken a word all day."
Sirius sighed, knowing perfectly well why James was being like this. He walked through the dining room and into the den. "Hey, James."
"Oh, hey Sirius," James said lethargically, staring at the television and not even look up at Sirius. James was slumped in the couch with an empty bag of potato chips, a half-empty bag of pretzels, a half- eaten turkey sandwich, three cans of soda, and a half-empty bottle of beer by his side.
"What are you watching?" Sirius asked.
"I'm not sure. I think they're speaking Spanish.or maybe Japanese," James said, obviously not caring.
"James, this is pathetic," Sirius said, talking about his situation.
"No it's not. Can't a twenty-two year old guy just sit at home watching television for a day?" James asked, still not looking up.
"Not when that twenty-two year old guy has unresolved issues."
"Hey, that twenty-two year old guy just wants a break."
"James, I need to talk to you about Lily."
James was immediately standing up, with the television off, ready to walk out of the room. "I can't," he said, fishing for excuses. "I'm going out tonight and I'm not ready yet," he explained, as he walked by Sirius.
"James, you're going out tonight with me!" Sirius pointed out.
"Oh." James stopped and turned to face Sirius. "Right."
"So you obviously know what this is about."
"Yes, I know exactly what you're going to say to me, and I don't need to hear it right now," James pointed out.
"So.what? You're just going to sit at home for the rest of your life watching television and pigging out?"
"No.I'm just going to do that for the next couple of months until I get over her."
"James, you and I both know that you're not going to get over her," Sirius stated. "So my suggestion is just get under her!" Sirius was trying to make James smile but it didn't quite work.
James glared at him. "Shut up, Sirius."
"Listen, I think we both know that you didn't mean any of what you said to Lily, but instead you were just upset that she was leaving. But it's not the end of the world. You can still apparate to go see her, and same goes for her. Yeah, it's true that you can't apparate on school grounds, and usually big companies don't let you apparate there either, but on holidays and during the summer, you'll be able to see each other. Now, you're my best friend and I'd never want to hurt you in any way-wow, is this starting to sound mushy or what-but Lily is one my closest friends and my roommate and I don't like it when she's hurt also. I understand that you hate that she's leaving, but I kind-of have to agree with Lily when she said you were being totally selfish and not thinking about how this must feel for her."
"Sirius, I know I was being selfish. I was being stupid and self-centered and I should've been supportive and I should've understood that this is a huge opportunity for her and she's finally gotten what she's always wanted, but I snapped!!!! I'm standing there thinking about how.how." James said, choking up. He tried to push back the tears that were coming, not wanting to have Sirius see him crying, ".how much I'm going to miss her. I mean.I love her more than words could express and I'm realizing that I'm not going to see much of her at all. And.and it sucks, for lack of a better word. Holidays aren't enough for me! I want her more than that, Sirius. I.I just can't handle it anymore."
Sirius knew his best friend was on the verge of tears, but he didn't let that stop him from saying anything. "But you need to; if not for you, for her. She needs your support, James. I think she knows you love her.she just needs to hear it."
James sighed. "I messed up, didn't I?"
"Big time, Prongs," Sirius said sympathetically.
"I know we missed the movie last night, but could we possibly miss it again?" James asked. "I-I kinda got to go talk to Lily."
Sirius laughed. "We'll catch the movie tomorrow night."
"We can't, we're going out to dinner with the rest of the group," James explained.
"Oh.maybe Friday?" Sirius suggested.
James sighed. "Can't, I'm meeting up with my cousins, Stephina and Zara and Stephina's husband and we're probably going to dinner maybe something else. I'm not sure what we're doing. How about Saturday?"
Sirius laughed. "I've got a meeting."
"Okay.fine, we'll go in the afternoon sometime!" James said laughing.
"We're obviously so popular that we're busy!"
James rolled his eyes with a grin on his face. "You keep believing that, Sirius, and maybe it will come true."
"Hey!!!" he cried. They both laughed.
"See ya later, Prongs, "James said. He was about to apparate, when he decided to tell Sirius one other thing.
"Are you going to Lily's?" Sirius asked.
James sighed and took something out of his back pocket and threw it towards Sirius, who barely caught it. "There's something else." James said hesitantly.
Sirius opened the little black box and gaped at what was inside. "James.this is a ring."
He sighed. "I know."
"Now, I hope you're not proposing to me, James, because I don't think Lily would approve of that," Sirius said with a laugh.
James cracked a smile. "Hardy har har," James said, rolling his eyes.
"Were you.are you going to ask Lily to marry you?"
James sighed. "I'm not sure," he said. "I was in Diagon Alley with Peter on Saturday, and while he went to Gringotts, I was in Three Broomsticks and I saw Allie Reiner and Josh Matthews, and-"
"Seriously?? Wow, I haven't spoken to them since your Christmas Party two years ago," Sirius asked. "How are they??"
"Engaged," James said.
Sirius gasped. "No way! Allie and Josh?? They hate each other!!" Allie was an Honorary Marauder in their group, along with Lily and Savannah and another one of their friends, and Allie was a best friend to Savannah and Lily. Unfortunately, they somewhat lost touch over the last two years, although occasionally they'll send a letter to each other or whatnot. Josh was a Ravenclaw who annoyed the hell out of Allie, Peter, and Savannah, but who the other four didn't mind and actually became friends with him and Allie and Josh graduated from Hogwarts their year.
James laughed. "Hated. Past tense. But I know. I was surprised when I even saw them together, but it turns out that Allie's mom and Josh's uncle got married last Spring, so they've seen each other more often, which I guess turned into some kind of romance. And it lasted."
"Wow," Sirius said shaking his head. "I never would have guessed."
"I'm happy I saw them, though. I think I convinced Allie to come to dinner with all of us on Thursday night.but don't tell anyone. I'm not sure if she's coming, yet, and I want it to be a surprise."
"So, you tell me?"
James laughed. "I tell you everything, Padfoot."
"Awww, that's so touching," Sirius said pretending to choke up. "I think I'm going to cry now."
"Cry for your own sake. You need it," James said rolling his eyes with a grin on his face.
"Okay, is it me or did we get from Lily.to crying?"
"No, it's just you," James teased.
"Okay, back to your story. You saw Allie and Josh in Three Broomsticks."
"And they told me they were engaged and for some reason, it hit me. I mean, I've known Lily for about eleven years and I've been seriously dating her for almost a year now and I love her so much, more than words can describe, and for a second I stood there and I realized, I wanted to marry her. And not at any old time. I wanted to do it as soon as possible. So after Peter went back home, I went to Gringotts, emptied most of my vault, and headed straight for Darla's Diamonds. It took me hours to pick the right ring-"
"And you sure did pick the right one," Sirius said breathlessly staring at the gold-banded ring with a simple diamond-shaped premium cut diamond at the top, with two tiny square diamonds on the side of that diamond.
James grinned. "I hope you'd say that."
"But when are you giving it to her?" Sirius asked.
James sighed. "I.I'm not sure if I am anymore."
"What!?!?" Sirius cried. "Are you NUTS!?!?"
"Well, if we got married, either I'd have to move to California or she'd have to stay here and I don't think either one of us can do that, so I'm just going to wait for the right time. Maybe in a few years when our lives will begin to change, maybe then I'll start thinking about giving proposing. But right now, our lives are too different."
Sirius nodded. "Either I've known you too long, or that all just made sense."
James laughed. "It's both, Sirius. I've known you for twenty- two years, and I always make sense."
Sirius laughed hysterically but stopped short. "Oh, you were serious?"
"No, I've always been James," he answered. "Okay, okay, it was lame. I'm going now before I become even more lame while hanging around you." He was about to apparate when he stopped short and turned back to Sirius. "You know what else? On our walk, I was about to tell her I got the Auror job working under Sir Sephilia with Alastor Moody, but then she sprung up her job. That's another reason I was selfish. Because I wanted to be happy for her and her new job because I wanted her to be happy for me even though I know I'd be busy twenty-four/seven."
"You got the job??" Sirius cried.
"Okay, you are so not helping right now," James said with a grin.
"Oh, right, right. Lily, California, selfishness, jobs, blah, blah, yada, yada, I get it, I get it," Sirius said waving his hands in the air.
James stared at him. "Yeah, thanks for caring, Padfoot," he said sarcastically with a grin on his face.
Sirius laughed. "I do care, but I think Lily would care even more!!"
"I'm going, I'm going!!!"
They both laughed as James apparated to Lily and Sirius' cottage and knocked on the door. Quickly he conjured up a dozen yellow roses for her, and hid them behind his back.
Lily opened the door with a smile, but when she saw James, she immediately frowned and crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?" she asked, as if she didn't care he was there.
"I want to talk to you."
"Well, I don't want to talk to you," Lily said, turning around, about to slam the door closed, but James caught it with his hand.
"Lily, wait. I need to talk to you."
"Listen, James, I'm not exactly in the mood to talk to you right now, okay?"
"I know, that's what I need to talk to you about."
Lily groaned. "Fine, what do you have to say."
"You mean.you're going to listen to me?"
"I just said that, didn't I!!" she cried with aggravation.
"Okay, okay. Lily, I'm so sorry for being such a selfish jerk. I should've supported you, and I do, I.I was just upset and scared and confused and everything rolled up into one. I didn't know what to say and I acted completely self-centered. All I thought about was me and not you and that's who I should've been thinking about. I-I'm just going to miss you so much, Lily, and it hurt too much to know I wouldn't be able to see you much."
Tears sprang to Lily's eyes. "James, it's not that I want to move halfway across the country, but I have to. I need to. This is such a huge opportunity for me and this is everything I've always wanted and as much as I love you to death and I always will, I need to do this.for me."
James choked up seeing Lily about to cry. Lily just didn't know that he was about to cry mostly because he knew that he'd basically never see her with his new job.but he didn't want to mention it then. "Lily, I-I don't know how to react to this, but I'm trying the best I can."
Lily started crying, and James, on instinct, went to put his arm around her. "Don't cry, Lily.because you're going to get me started and I don't want to cry."
"I-I can't help it," Lily sobbed. "I'm just going to miss you and England and Savannah, and Sirius, and Remus, and Peter, and Diagon Alley, and Alphamstone, and this house and.and.and you," Lily said, crying even harder.
"Shhhh, Lily, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. I'll miss you so much, but I'm not going to forget you and that's all that matters. I love you Lily and I hope you never forget it."
"I love you, too, James," Lily said, giving him a soothing hug.
He pulled out the yellow roses after breaking away from the long hug. "I was going to give you these if things didn't work out between us.but I guess I didn't need them. You probably don't want them anyway," he teased.
"No, no, I'll still take them, they're still my favorite," Lily said, and they both laughed.
"AGH!" Savannah cried when someone appeared at her doorway.
"My movie date was cancelled," Sirius said, grinning with a wink. "You want to go out and do something?"
"So, you're dating other people now?" Savannah asked, knowing perfectly well whom he was going to go with.
"Yes, I admit it. You weren't satisfying my needs and I snapped and started dating.guys!" Sirius cried. They both laughed.
"I wasn't satisfying your needs for.a day?" Savannah asked. "So you became.gay?" She hesitated, ready to crack up. "Well my work in life is done!"
Sirius laughed. "Come on, let's go to Diagon Alley or something and just walk around."
"And flaunt the fact that we're back together?" Savannah asked.
"Hmm.exactly!" Sirius said, and they both laughed. "Come on, Vannie sweetheart, you're leaving on Friday, which only leaves us three more days to hang out."
Savannah sighed, got off her bed, put away her back and grabbed a sweater. She wasn't really in the mood to be reminded that she'd be going back to Canada in less than a few days. She was having such a great time, and knowing it was coming to end soon made her frustrated and upset. "Fine, I'm convinced. Let's go make fools of ourselves in front of our former classmates."
"YES!! I win," Sirius said.
"For the first and last time," Savannah said.
"Not if I can help it," he said grinning, grabbing her hand and apparating them to Diagon Alley.
"Three Broomsticks?" Savannah suggested.
"Fine, but I'm paying."
"No way," Savannah said.
"Yes way!"
Savannah laughed. "I'm thinking.no."
"I'm thinking yes."
"You won the last time, let me win this time."
"Why don't you want me to pay for you, Vannie?"
"Because I'm not old-fashioned."
"Just old," he said. "Oops! Did I say that out loud?" he said sarcastically and they both laughed.
"Yeah, insult me. That's gonna make me wanna stay," and they laughed again.
"I was the one who asked you to come to Diagon Alley with me."
"Yeah, spontaneously."
Sirius walked inside with a sigh, knowing that with Savannah as stubborn as ever he'd never win.. "Rosmerta! How's it going!?" he asked the young, popular waitress at the bar.
"Are you always here?" she asked.
"No.I wasn't here on Sunday!"
"Oooh, the thought of you not being here absolutely blows my mind away," she said, rolling her eyes. Savannah laughed at the twenty year old woman who seemed not to care about Sirius Black just wiping the countertop. It was probably the first and last woman not to care, also.
"You know, I'm starting to like you a lot," Savannah said with a laugh.
"Who are you? No, wait, you always come in here with that red- headed girl with the green eyes who always talks about the Auror guy."
Savannah laughed. "Yeah, that's me, and that would be Lily Evans in love with James Potter."
Rosmerta grinned. "James Potter.wow. He doesn't come in here as much as I'd like him to."
Both Savannah and Rosmerta laughed. "Yep.the wonderfully popular James Potter," Savannah said.
"A-hem! What about the wonderfully popular Sirius Black?" Sirius asked jokingly.
"Please to God don't be talking about yourself!" Rosmerta said.
"What other Sirius Black's do you know?" he asked.
"I wish I didn't know any Sirius Blacks!" she cried.
Savannah and Rosmerta cracked up as Sirius rolled his eyes. "Now, what would you do without me?" he asked.
"Celebrate," she replied, rather quickly. "Now, are you going to order or do I really have to stand here all day talking to you?"
"Two butterbeers, I'm paying," Sirius said, already whipping out his money.
"Si-Si!!! I already told you not to!"
"Oooh, Sirius Black is paying. Sounds like a date," Rosmerta said.
"Yeah, a spontaneous one," Savannah muttered.
Rosmerta sighed. "He may be cute, but don't get attached. He's rather annoying," Rosmerta said to Savannah and they both laughed.
"Well, at least I know you think I'm cute," Sirius said grinning at Rosmerta.
"Oh, please. Don't act surprised," she said. "You get that from everybody every day."
Sirius grinned. "Yeah, I know."
"Is there such thing as taming a wizard?" Savannah asked, ruffling his hair up and Sirius gave her an annoyed face. She knew how much he hated it when she did that.
"Oh, shit," Rosmerta muttered, looking beyond Sirius and Savannah.
They both looked up at her confused, wondering why she just cursed. "Huh?" Sirius asked.
"I know this is hard to believe but there are two wizards even worse than you who just happened to walk in here."
"There's someone more hated than I?" Sirius said blessfully and jokingly, turning around. Both he and Savannah groaned. "Now I know why."
"Ugh, they hit on me every time they get the chance and they play jokes and they annoy the living hell out of me and I can't stand it anymore!" Rosmerta grumbled, not really caring who she was complaining to.
"That's the only way they even get near women," Savannah pointed out and groaned as Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy walked towards them.
"Well, well, well. Lookee here," Snape sneered. "It's the loser prankster and his ditsy girlfriend.oh, no wait! She's not your girlfriend because you broke up five times."
Savannah smirked at Snape. "Is that the best you can do?"
"At least I've had the chance to break up with someone," Sirius sneered.
"If you must know, Miss Rosmerta Shannon and I are together now," Snape lied.
Sirius, Savannah, and Rosmerta all cracked up. "Yeah, in your dreams," she muttered. "And that's where I'll stay."
"Besides, she's dating James Potter now, and I don't think after him she'd stoop that low for you," Sirius lied, turning towards Rosmerta giving her a look to play along. It took all of Savannah's strength not to laugh.
"James Potter?" Malfoy snickered. "Whatever happened to that Mudblood girlfriend of his?"
Savannah held in her anger, gritted her teeth and muttered, "She is not a Mudblood, and they.they just went separate ways and if you don't bug off maybe we'll get James Potter back here to kick your ass for the millionth time!"
"Oh, please. James Potter couldn't kick my ass if there was a target sign on my ass," Snape muttered.
"You want to count how many times he already did?? But maybe I'll give him a break for once so I can kick your ass!" Sirius cried.
"Guys! Although my.boyfriend is extremely strong and could beat you two to the ground in a second, I do not want any fuckin' fighting in this restaurant!" Rosmerta cried, ready to laugh.
"Oooh, watch that language Rosie, or I might have to change my mind about dating you," Snape said.
"Fine! Change your fuckin' mind because it ain't ever going to happen!!"
"So get the fuck out of here and leave us the fuck alone," Savannah cursed.
"Yeah, that's going to make us leave," Malfoy sneered.
"Don't you have other people to annoy?" Savannah said harshly.
"We do, but what fun is that when I haven't annoyed you for the last four years?"
"Listen, we just came in to get some butterbeer, not to start a fight," Sirius said, putting his arm round Savannah's waist.realizing too late that it was a bad idea.
"Oh, my God! Are you and Virgin Mary back together again?" Malfoy asked, trying to act surprised, while rolling his eyes.
"Now, who would've thought that you two would end up dating.oh, wait it's happened five times before," Snape sneered.
"Jealous, are you?" Savannah asked.
"Of you two?" Snape cried, bursting into hysterics. "Never in a million years!!!"
"Twenty galleons says that you two are living on the street with no jobs, money, or women right now," Rosmerta grumbled to Snape and Malfoy
"Twenty galleons says that I'm becoming the Potions Master at Hogwarts starting in two years," Snape snapped back.
Savannah and Sirius stared at him in awe, thinking the same exact thing. Dumbledore gave him a job!? They both thought in disgust. *~*~*~*~*
For the next three days, Lily hardly saw much of Sirius or Savannah at all, even though Sirius lived with her and Savannah was staying with them. They were always at Diagon Alley or on some spontaneous visit to Martha's Vineyard in America, or Hong Kong in China, or Paris in France. Not for very long-just to see the sites and to eat lunch or breakfast or dinner. In fact, she realized that she hadn't cooked for Sirius in five days! Not including James' party in which Sirius helped cook.well, he tried at least. He blew up the kitchen twice before Lily kicked him out do help rearrange the living room. No wonder Lily was the cooker in their place.
Considering Savannah and Sirius were much older and sophisticated than they were in Hogwarts, they definitely acted older with their relationship. At Hogwarts, it was a surprise if you didn't see them pressed against a wall with their tongues down each other's throats or if you didn't see them-actually.hear them-screaming at each other in the middle of the Great Hall. Yeah, in the Great Hall for everyone to watch and know that Sirius was found kissing another girl or Sirius wasn't ready for a big commitment or Sirius (who else?) liked how their friendship was going at the time and didn't want to ruin it or SIRIUS (catch my drift?) again wasn't ready for the big commitment they put themselves up to.and then came the hardest moment of their lives. Graduation. What were they to do then? ~ ~ ~ ~ F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
"--And as your proud and satisfied Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Magic and Ministry, I'd like to present the now graduated class of the year 1977!! Congratulations to all of you!" Dumbledore's final words were on graduation night before they all threw their hats into the air and started smothering their friends with hugs.
"We made it, Allie!!!" Savannah cried to one of her best friends, Allie Reiner who was closest to her. They engaged in a long hug that they both couldn't let go of.
"Allie! Savannah!" a voice cried from behind them, and they turned around and saw Kaitlynne Young, running towards them, giving them both a hug. Kaitlynne was another best friend of Lily's, Savannah's, and Allie's that only Allie has been keeping touch with after graduation. It seemed as if Kaitlynne disappeared into the world without leaving a trace behind her.
"Group hug!!!" a voice said from behind them. They couldn't see who it was, but the voice they all knew it was Daniel Marx, Minnie Juniper's fianceé (yea already; they were completely in love at age eighteen and have been ever since they second year Christmas Eve!!). Minnie was a good friend of theirs, but was somewhat bossy and acted better than everyone else. Neither Savannah nor Lily really had the intention of staying friends with her after graduation.
"Major orgy is more like it." another voice said.
"JOSH!" they all cried in disgust, suddenly dispersing.
"You're such a jackass," Allie cried angrily, starting to stomp off to go find some of her other friends. "At least I'm a jackass with a girlfriend," he cried.
Allie immediately turned around ready to explode at him, but she calmed down a bit. "I don't want a girlfriend, first of all," she cried back staring at him with flames shooting out of her ears. "Besides, I hardly qualify Hannah Rutherford as a girlfriend. More like a one-night stand."
"Yeah, well at least I'm having a one-night stand. Tell me, when was the last time you had a boyfriend? Or even a date?? Hmm.oh, was it the summer before fifth year with Paulo whats-his-face?"
"I swear if we weren't at graduation right now, I'd tear you to pieces."
"Well, go ahead! Nothing's stopping you!"
Allie gritted her teeth together and pled her hands into a fist, not wanting to give in to his badgering. "Unlike you, who's a self- centered bastard who really needs to get his head examined, I'm not going to ruin my graduation talking to you."
"I think you just did."
Allie threw her hands into the air. "Listen, I'd love to listen to you from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my ass," she snapped, as Savannah and Kaitlynne both burst into laughter as Allie whipped around and walked into the crowd to find her friends.
"Tell me again: Why am I supposed to be sad that I'm leaving?" Josh asked to no one in particular, staring at Allie disgustingly and incredulously.
"SAVANNAH!" Lily cried, trying to emerge from the crowd towards her.
"Lily!" Savannah squealed, running towards her and giving her a huge hug that they stayed in for a long time. "I figured you'd be with James by now."
"Nah, I just saw him and we did our graduation celebration."
"What was that? Making out for everyone to see?"
Lily was about to object, but closed her mouth and thought about it. "Well, yeah, pretty much. I thought you'd be doing the same with Sirius."
"I haven't seen him yet," Savannah said with a shrug.
"You don't seem to care."
Savannah sighed. "The truth is, I don't know what's going to happen to us after we both get on the train tomorrow and go back to our separate lives. He means the world to me.but our lives and our future plans are too different."
"Don't tell me this, tell him that."
"I think we both feel the same way.but let's not talk about this now, Lily!! We're graduating!! Let's celebrate!!!!!!"
"VANNIE!!!" a voice cried from the stage.
Savannah looked up, along with basically everyone else in the crowd and laughed. "SI-SI!!" she cried back, and Sirius literally jumped into the crowd right in front of Savannah, who ran to him.
"Hey, sweetheart. Happy graduation," he said with a sweet and, surprisingly, innocent smile.
Savannah smiled back and leaned in to give him a sweet, satisfying kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I can't believe it's all almost over," Sirius whispered into her ear.
"I'm gonna miss everyone," she whispered back giving him a long, passionate, and satisfying kiss.
"I never want to forget this moment," he whispered into her ear.
She nodded in agreement and gave him another hug, a longer one. "Sirius.what's going to happen to us, now?" Savannah asked in a serious manner.
"I-I don't know," he said with a slight pause, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
Savannah looked into his deep, sorrowful eyes and knew that as they got older, everything between them would change.including distance. "I'm afraid to know what our future is going to bring us."
Sirius nodded knowingly. He ran his fingers through his jet- black hair full of wonder and confusion. "Things are going to be different now. We're not going to see other every day like at Hogwarts. We're going to be adults now and things are going to change. You're going off to college in a year, I'm looking for a place to live with Lily while trying to find a job and.after Hogwarts, things get hectic. They don't get easier. They get more difficult, which sucks, but that's adult life."
"Sirius, I care about you so much and I don't want to hurt you, but don't you think the best things for us right now is just to.just to slow us down for a bit and let our lives lead us to where we need to be and what we need to do? Isn't that what's important now?"
Sirius smiled at her. "I think we both need that.as long as we remain friends and don't become distant this time."
Savannah smiled. "Who would've thought that we'd break up again?" Savannah said with a smile. "No, who would've thought that we'd break-up and stay friends?" he said as they both laughed. "Vannie, can I just do something before we move on?"
"Anything, Si-Si."
Sirius leaned in closer to her and gave her the kind of kiss you always dreamed about having with a movie star.except that her movie star was Sirius Black.
"There you are Sirius!!!!!" a voice cried from behind him, after they pulled away. Savannah and Sirius turned around, both sighing and grasping the concept that they just broke up. I think they both knew it was for the best.it just wasn't exactly what they both wanted.
"Hey, Remus," Sirius said. "Congratulations, man!"
"You, too!" Remus said, giving Sirius a small hug. "Yeah, who would've thought that you'd be graduating?" James said to Sirius from behind Remus.
"Hey, Dumbledore made you Head Boy. Obviously he was having brain complications this year," Remus commented, and they all laughed. Behind James were Lily, Allie, Kaitlynne and Peter and next to him (obviously) was Savannah .
"Aww, come on. Let's get the original group into a group hug!!" Sirius cried, smothering Savannah, James and Remus, who grabbed the other four people, and there they all stood: the four original Marauders who successfully completed seven years full of pranks and fun and trouble.and the Map and the Animagi potion, which the girls knew nothing about, and there stood the four Honorary Marauders who successfully completed seven years also full of pranks and fun and trouble.and all- nighters and spying on the guys. And as we go on, we remember All the times we had together And as our lives change, from whatever We will still be friends forever There stood Sirius Black, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, Allie Reiner, Savannah Turner, and Kaitlynne Young. The eight best friends who won the Inseparable Friends Award at Hogwarts that year. All eight of them stood there realizing that this may be one of the last times they'd all be together and one of the last time they'd be on Hogwarts grounds. As much as they didn't want to admit it, they'd miss it. They'd miss it all, but they also all realized that it was the best seven years of their life.and that's what truly matters. ~ ~ ~ ~ E N D O F F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
And from then on, Sirius and Savannah had stayed friends up until now. And now, they actually acted like a couple saying all the mushy stuff and actually being in a room longer than five minutes without breaking out in a kiss. They were always smiling at each other and sharing some new secret that they refused to share with everyone else. Lily found herself rolling her eyes at them more often with a playful grin on her face than staring at them in disgust.
Lately, Lily started remembering all of the fun times she's had with all of her friends, mostly everything that's happened at Hogwarts, including graduation. She just started reliving everything, mostly because she was sad to be leaving her home country where everything she ever knew was. On Wednesday night she climbed into bed, after a wonderful evening with James, and after realizing she wasn't tired, she stared thinking about everything he could even begin to remember: all the Yule Balls, and the Quidditch games, and the late-night talks she had with her friends, and Hogsmeade trips which were always fun with the guys around, and definitely the pranks, and definitely the summers in between school when the eight friends hung out almost every week when they could, and then there was graduation and of course the graduation dance, which she'd never forget; I don't think her or Savannah would ever forget that night. Lily had a framed picture on the wall by the stairs of James, Savannah, Sirius, and her, all dressed up, with James' arm around Lily's waist and Lily's arm around his shoulder, and same goes for Savannah and Sirius, and even though they were all smiling, she could remember that just an hour later all four of them were out on a long by the lake, all crying that Hogwarts was over.
By now, in bed, Lily was soaking her pillow with her tears as she started to think about everything that happened after graduation. All of the Fourth of July picnics, the Labor Day picnics, Halloween parties, Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas parties, New Years Parties, Valentine's Days, Easter weekends, summers, Savannah's birthdays, Remus' birthdays, Sirius' birthday, Allie's nineteenth birthday, James' birthdays, Lily's birthdays, Peter's birthdays.
But mostly she remembered the summer after graduation. That summer, all eight of them spent basically every living moment together. They went on a summer trip to Bermuda for two weeks where they became even closer than they thought was possible. For the rest of the summer, they did crazy and spontaneous things that Lily would always remember. They played pranks on basically every waitress they met that summer at every restaurant possible, and they went skinny-dipping in Kaitlynne's neighbors' pool every night they had a chance, and they played pranks on Snape at his house when they had the chance, and they went to the beach, and to Diagon Alley, and to Knockturn Alley, and they went to Canada, America, France, Germany, Australia, Luxembourg, Spain, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Austria, Asia, Africa, Japan, China, Jamaica, South America, and anywhere else they decided to go spontaneously.
Unfortunately for all of them, that summer couldn't last forever, and in the fall Kaitlynne disappeared off to Germany, looking into colleges there to which that summer was the last time they had heard from her, not including when Allie told them about her.
Savannah left for a cruise to Atlantis with her Aunt Susie and her Aunt Kris.
James lived in England for a while after that summer, busy looking into Auror colleges, but in December he eventually headed towards Germany and France, looking for good Auror colleges there. He was avoiding Lily after they broke up again both agreeing it was for the best even though they wouldn't admit it that neither one of them really thought it was for the best but instead it was just so they'd stop aching to see each other.
Remus and Peter went up to Scandinavia to stay with Peter's Uncle Lou, where they both tried looking into colleges, though neither one of them ended up going to college and just ended up getting jobs that lead them somewhere great and ended up moving in together in a nice apartment about half an hour away by broom.
Allie ended up on a plane to Australia with her twenty-one year old sister, Angela, and her twenty-five year old brother, Jesse and his wife, Samantha Vernon and she ended up staying there for about six months living with her brother and his new wife, playing on the Australian Quidditch team, the Renegade Razors. Eventually, she quit the team and she was off touring the world, looking for anywhere for work, although she ended up back in England and became a Charms Major at the Peony College for Witchcraft and Wizardry in southern England. The last that they had heard from her was at James' Christmas party a year later when she said she wasn't going to college anymore, because it wasn't the right thing for her, and instead was looking for a job somewhere.
Sirius and Lily were often together, looking for places to live, and because they both remained in England and they weren't busy looking for colleges, just substantiate jobs, they were often together hanging out. So technically, they were the only two that truly had the chance to stay in touch all of the time. Sirius went into the teaching business, and Lily applied for the internship, and after that year, with Lily living with her sister, which was the most disturbing year with her ever, and Sirius still living at the Potters, they moved into their house in Alphamstone just as Sirius got a teaching job at the school and Lily was accepted into the internship program.
As Lily sat in bed looking up at the ceiling, she had the sudden urge to write to Kaitlynne and see how she was doing considering she hasn't seen her or spoken to her in four years. Lily got out of bed, looked at the clock, realizing it 3:00 a.m. and walked downstairs in her pajamas. She sat down at the kitchen table with a brownie and some milk and started writing to Kaitlynne. Hey Kaitlynne!!
I know, this is completely out of the blue and I'm probably one of the last persons you expected to get a letter from, but I couldn't sleep and I decided to write to you because I haven't talked to you or seen you in four years. Actually, I'm moving to California in a month, so I started thinking about all of the memories I've had, and just thinking about you made me curious about how you were doing. So how are you doing??? Allie told us two years ago at James' Christmas party that you were engaged. Is that still holding up?? I've been keeping myself busy. I'm sure Allie told you, but I'm living in Alphamstone with Sirius (odd, isn't it?) and I'm in an internship program at the Daily Prophet, although, like I said, I'm moving to California because I got a job there. I'm still together with James, if you were wondering, still happy with him, hoping I'll always be happy with him. The past year has changed us both in good ways and it's going to be hard once I move to America, but if we really love each other, this will prove it. Sirius and Savannah are going out now.again and they are cuter than ever. I just hope that they'll realize they belong to each other and eventually get married. James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, Savannah, and I have been keeping in touch over the years since Hogwarts and although it's not the same as the eight of us, it's good to know that our friendship still lasts. Okay, well there's not much else to say at the moment.actually, there's tons to say but if I wrote down everything I could tell you it would be about a hundred pages and I'm sure you don't want that!! I do have one thing else to say, though. Tomorrow the six of us are having dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant, Le Soleil Levant, in London tomorrow night (Friday night) at seven o'clock for a good-bye celebration to Savannah who's going back to Canada on Monday morning. And I know this is kind-of sudden and probably completely unexpected, but I was wondering if you'd like to join us. It would be great to see you again and I'm sure everyone would love to see you again as well, so just owl me back with some news and an answer!
Love you forever and ever, Lily Evans She went outside, where Vivian, her acorn-colored owl, sat in her cage. "Hey, Vivian. Send this to Kaitlynne, wherever that may be," she said, stroking her owl and giving her the letter.
Lily walked back inside watching Vivian fly into the night and heard a creaking sound as the front door opened. She turned off the kitchen light hastily, and hid behind the kitchen wall, wondering who the hell was trying to break in.
The person walked in, and unfortunately, it was too dark to tell who it was, but she grabbed an umbrella on the kitchen counter and jumped out. "Hold it right there!!!!" she yelled.
"HOLY SHIT!!" he cried.
"Sirius?" Lily said, realizing who it was. She flicked on the entranceway lights and started laughing. "Oops."
Sirius started laughing, as well. "It's a good thing you didn't have a gun or I might have jumped out of the window."
"I decided not to use the gun today," she replied, and they both laughed. "Why were out so late? And where's Savannah?"
"Uh." he stuttered.
"Oh, wait. Did you and Savannah have sex in a restaurant again?" Lily teased. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Lily cried, "No, wait!!! I don't want to know the answer to that question!!"
Sirius laughed and simply said, "Savannah met up with her aunt in Lisbon, and-"
"You were in Lisbon?"
Sirius laughed. "Yes. She wanted to see her Aunt Susie, so we went to Lisbon and hung out for a while, and she went to her aunt's house as I went to James' at around midnight. I figured you'd be there but obviously I was wrong."
"I probably just left."
"Yeah, I figured. What are you doing up at three in the morning?"
"Uh.just sending letters to a few people," she said. She didn't want to tell him who or he might have thought she had gone insane.even though he probably already thinks she has. J
"At three in the morning?"
She laughed. "I couldn't sleep!"
"Ohhh.so, like everyone else, you decided that it was the right time to write letters to a few people."
"Exactly! You understand me perfectly."
"Perfectly? No. Strangely, yes." They both laughed.
"Are you going up to bed now?" Lily asked him.
Sirius turned to her. "I don't know. I'm not tired at all."
"Lemme guess. You and James went to the bar again tonight."
"Of course we did! What else would we do?"
"Not get drunk?"
"Now what fun is that???"
Lily rolled her eyes at him. "You are one funny guy, Sirius.funny-looking, that is."
Sirius pouted. "Hey!" They both laughed. Sirius wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator as Lily took a Diet Pepsi and they sat down on the couch laughing and talking about everything.
"Hey, Lily, why couldn't you sleep?" Sirius asked about fifteen minutes later after talking about the sixth-year Yule Ball where Sirius spiked the punch and everyone, including the professors, got drunk and had an extremely fun time, with Dumbledore standing off to the side, wondering what the heck was going on.
Lily must have looked confused because Sirius laughed and said, "Tonight. You said you couldn't sleep. Why not? And please don't say because you and James had sex in his bedroom."
Lily laughed. "I already used that one with you and Savannah, you have to pick another joke."
Sirius laughed. "Okay, please don't say it's because you were making out with your boyfriend's best friend in the closet in his room," Sirius changed.
"Sirius, you're his best friend."
"Damnit, nothing's good enough for you!" Sirius joked and they both laughed. "So are you going to answer the question?"
Lily sighed, not really wanting to discuss it. "It was nothing. I just couldn't sleep."
"Lily, I've lived with your for three years, and you could sleep through a volcano, tornado, and hurricane all happening at once even after having a nasty break-up with James and after you were sleeping for forty-two hours!! Don't tell me now you just couldn't sleep. I may look dumb, but I'm not as dumb as people think I am.well, I'm not that dumb at least."
Lily cracked a weak smile and tried to forget about the upcoming move to California, but she couldn't help it. I mean, it would change her whole life! And it wasn't that she didn't want to tell Sirius because she knew that if she told Sirius about everything that was going through her mind, he wouldn't tell anyone. She and Sirius had occasional late-night talks, one about Animagi and werewolves after Lily found out about Remus and the other three being Animagi. Then there was a late-night talk about another break-up of hers and James. Another brought up the subject of Savannah and her boyfriend at the time. There were a few about the future and where their lives were heading. Their last one was about the memories at Hogwarts and mostly about Allie and Kaitlynne, who they hadn't seen for the longest time. Every time they talked, they kept it to themselves and never told anyone, and no one even knew they talked late at night and/or early in the morning. They respected each other more than everyone thought. Sirius always knew what was on Lily's mind, and vice versa. It was as if they were brother and sister.or as if they shared the same mind-frame. They always admitted that it was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't their current partner. Actually, their talks usually get around to trouble in paradise.
"Lily." Sirius said. "Listen, you don't have to tell me anything, but I'm always here and you know I'll listen and you know that everything we say is confidential."
Lily turned towards him and suddenly burst into an explanation. "Sirius, when I move to California, everything's going to change. My whole life will be different! England has been my home for the past twenty-two years. This is where I belong. I don't want to move to America." she mumbled. "And yet I do. I'm just.I'm going to miss everything here. This morning I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about every single memory possible from Hogwarts and then graduation and the graduation dance. And then there was that summer afterward in which was probably some of the best memories I'll ever have. And then all the parties and get-togethers and everything after Hogwarts up until now. It sucks, Sirius, realizing that this will be the last months I'll be living in England," Lily said, breaking down and eventually sobbing hysterically.
Sirius moved over closer to her to give her a soothing, relaxing hug and let her lean back into his arms while he comforted her. "Yes, there have been so many memories here, but you're going to have tons in California, also! Lily, it's definitely going to be different here without you, and we're all going to manage, and you're going to manage in California. You're going to become a famous publisher one day and I'm going to be able to tell people 'Hey! That's Lily Potter, and-"
"Potter?" she questioned.
"Oh, please, you two are going to get married one day," Sirius said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and they both laughed. "Anyway, I'll be saying 'Hey! That's Lily Potter and I used to date her!'" Sirius cried.
Lily looked up at him with a strange look on her face. "What?? We never dated!"
"Yeah, I know, but it would make me more popular to have dated a famous publisher."
Lily cracked up. "Oh, so all in all, you're the one who benefits?"
"Well, duh. I'm all that ever matters!"
They both laughed and Lily said seriously, "Um.I don't really want to think about this, but what are you going to do about the house? Are you going to try to find someone else to live with? Or.are you going to move to an apartment? Or.what?"
Sirius thought about it for a few seconds. "You know, I didn't think about it until now."
"Yeah, I didn't think about it until about an hour ago."
"Maybe James or Savannah could move in after their last year of college or something. I don't know; I'll think of something. For now, let's not think about it."
"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Lily said, shivering because of the breeze that suddenly swept through the room.
Sirius grabbed the blanket draped over the couch and gave it to her. "Here."
Lily smiled. "Thanks. Sirius, I'm never going to find anyone as good as you to move in with."
"I know," he joked, and Lily hit him playfully. "And what happened to not thinking about it?" he teased.
Lily sighed. "I can't help not to think about it. I mean, what else am I going to think about? The beautiful birds chirping outside?" she asked sarcastically.
Sirius hesitated before answering. "There are no birds chirping outside now."
Lily laughed. "I know. It's not even four a.m. Sirius. I would hope that there weren't any birds awake."
Sirius laughed. "Do you remember the time we accidentally turned the pincushions into porcupines during Transfiguration class.what was it, second year?"
"It was third year, and what are you talking about 'accidentally??'" Lily accused.
"Okay, okay it was purposely. What's the difference!?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Lily asked, and they both laughed.
"Lily, what's one of your favorite memories at Hogwarts?" Sirius unexpectedly asked.
"I have to pick one?" she said laughing. "Let's think.well, graduation of course, then there was the graduation dance, then the time James asked me out for the first time and our first date, then there was the second year snow-in, then there was the time I found out about you guys being Animagi, and-"
Sirius burst into laughter, remembering the time that Lily was almost bitten by Remus in the Forbidden Forest and was saved by a stag and a black dog. She was screaming and James and Sirius transformed themselves back into humans, forgetting they were transformed into their Animagi, and had to explain the whole situation. In the end, they were all laughing and Lily swore not to tell anyone.
Lily paused before continuing. "No, you know what? Besides graduation, of course, my favorite memory was the time that the eight of us all first met.and became friends."
"That was different times, though. You hated us in the beginning," Sirius pointed out.
"I know, but I can't choose just one."
Sirius laughed. "And how is us throwing water balloons at you your favorite memory?"
Lily shrugged. "It was just a reminder of how stupid and idiotic you were back then."
"HEY!"
"Sirius, you thought that turning a girl's hair green and putting a dungbomb in their books was a turn-on in your first and second year."
Sirius laughed. "Well, I thought the color green was rather attractive!"
"We're not dinosaurs!"
"Oh.my mistake."
"SIRIUS!" Lily cried, laughing. ~ ~ ~ ~ F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
"Oh come on! I know you like Tim. Admit it," Lily said laughing at Kaitlynne during their first year in the commons room two hours before Christmas dinner at Hogwarts. Lily, Kaitlynne, Savannah, and Allie all stayed that Christmas with three other Gryffindors, two Ravenclaws, two Slytherins and five Hufflepuffs.
"Tim is.nice. But he's just a friend!" Kaitlynne explained.
"Well, you spend an awful lot of time with him for just friends," Savannah accused.
"Well, I spend an awful lot of time with you guys but I hope I'm not dating one of you!" she replied, and they all laughed. "And what about Allie! I swear she's in love with Josh Matthews."
Allie started gagging. "Are you kidding me??? The first time I laid eyes on him, I knew he was trouble."
"Aww, come on. You two are always flirting," Lily pointed out.
"Flirting??? He turned my hair puke green the first time I met him! How is that flirting?"
"He wants you," Savannah said.
"I don't want him to want me! In fact, I'd die perfectly happy just to see him humiliate himself in front of the whole damn school!! I'd die perfectly happy knowing if I never had to see him or speak to him ever again!"
"Do you know of a little thing called 'denial?'" Lily questioned.
"Yeah, it's a river in the Amazon," Allie muttered, and they all laughed.
Kaitlynne opened her mouth to protest, when suddenly she was splashed directly in the face with a water balloon. "EEEK!!" she squealed, jumping up behind the chair as Lily was suddenly hit with one and Savannah was hit with two. They both jumped behind the couch before being able to see who was throwing the balloons.
"What's going on!?" Allie cried, crawling under the stone table, after being smashed directly in the back with a water balloon.
Lily immediately pulled out her wand and whispered, "Florenzio." A mirror suddenly appeared, and she put it at an angle so she could see who was throwing them. She saw the three faces, which belonged to three guys, and they were all laughing. Two of them had messy black hair, one with glasses, the other shorter, and another guy who had blonde hair and who was about a head taller than the other two guys. She had no idea who they were, though she figured they were Gryffindors and she guessed they were first years, maybe second years.
"I have an idea," Kaitlynne whispered. "Tormos!" she whispered, and she ended up with a patch of snowballs by her side. She grabbed one, slid behind the table and threw it over at one of them.
"HEY!" the short black-haired guy cried. "That wasn't part of the plan!"
"Sirius, grab that cushion!" the tall blonde called out. So the first one was Sirius, the girls all made mental notes.
"Remus, there are three cushions!" Tall blonde is Remus, the girls made another mental note.
"Grab them all!!" another voice cried.
"James, I have three water balloons in my hand! I can't carry three cushions!" Sirius cried. And last is James! their last mental note for the evening.
"Use your wand!!" James cried. The three boys all laughed as Sirius did what they told him to do.
Allie started throwing snowballs at them, one after the other, hitting the black-haired glasses guy smack in the face with two.
Lily started laughing as her head formed an idea. "Islamio!" and a second later, a HUGE pile of snow fell from the ceiling and on to the three boys, who were now covered from head to toe in snow and couldn't see a thing. Kaitlynne, Savannah, Lily, and Allie all climbed out of where they were hiding laughing at the image of the three boys covered in snow.
"Nice one, Lily," Savannah said.
"You should know not to mess with us because we always win," Allie smirked, walking right by them towards the girls' dorm to change into nicer clothes for the Christmas feast.
Once the girls all left and James, Sirius, and Remus wiped off the snow and cleaned it all up using magic. "I can't believe we were outsmarted by a bunch of girls!" Sirius cried.
"Don't worry. We'll get them back," James said, an idea forming in his head already. "Tonight, the plan is going into action," he continued, as he described what he thought they should do. ***** Later that evening..
"Why, hello ladies. How are you on this lovely Christmas evening?" James said with a gentleman voice to Lily, Savannah, Allie, and Kaitlynne.
"Why, hello, jackass," Kaitlynne replied with a fake smile.
"Now, there's no need to be nasty to a poor fellow like me."
"Weren't you the one who hit us with water balloons? Or is your memory that bad?" Allie asked.
"Oh, I remember that, but don't you remember smothering us with snow?" he replied.
"Oh, we certainly do remember that. I don't remember the last time before that when I laughed so hard at three foolish-looking guys.although, I guess you get laughed at all the time," Lily snapped.
"Could we please just go down to dinner without you or any of your friends bothering us?" Savannah sneered.
"Good evening, Savannah!" a voice cried from behind her.
"Too late," Savannah mumbled, turning around to face Sirius Black. "How the hell did you know my name?"
"I have my ways," he said with a wink. "Now may I escort you down to the feast?"
"No, but you can kiss my ass," she replied. They girls all laughed, and, ignoring the guys, walked out of the Gryffindor House towards the Great Hall. About two minutes later, they realized they were being followed by the jackasses, but ignored them and continued on. They got to the entrance and then Savannah, Allie, and Kaitlynne all walked in and before Lily knew what she was doing, James grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she cried, trying to pull away from him.
"Look above you," he said, pointing up to where mistletoe was.
Lily burst into laughter. "Now if you actually think I'm going to let you kiss me, you really have to get your head examined. In fact, just get your head examined no matter what you think."
"No, you can't ruin the mistletoe tradition!" James insisted, gripping her arm tighter.
"Watch me," she sneered, trying to pull away from him, but his grip was too strong.
"I'm watching, but you're not going anywhere," he said with a grin on his face.
"Oh my God, you planned this didn't you," Lily said disgustedly.
"Now, what makes you say that?" James said innocently.
"You are such a bastard! Now get your arm off of me before I embarrass you in front of everyone," Lily sneered.
"Yeah, right. I doubt that's going to happen," James said rolling his eyes.
"Oh, really?" she said, getting a mischievous grin on her face. "NO, I WILL NOT HAVE SEX WITH YOU, JAMES POTTER!" Lily cried before plunging her knee into a.er.non-favorable spot of James' who was already red of humiliation and was now bending over in uncontrollable pain. All the students there were in a fit of laughter, including Sirius and Remus who were trying to stop and Kaitlynne, Allie, and Savannah were holding their sides, with tears running down the sides of their faces and were practically rolling on the floor in high-pitched laughter.
Lily walked over to her friends, pretending like nothing happened recognizing the fact that everyone was looking at her, still laughing. She took a seat at the table and innocently asked, "So, when's dinner?"
"Hey, how about later, you come up to my room.and we do the opposite of what James and Lily are doing," Josh Matthews said to Allie from behind her.
Allie groaned. "Get lost, loser. I wouldn't be caught dead in your room in a million years and if you ever come near us again I might have to see to it that you, too, are humiliated."
"Awww, it's nice to know you care," he responded.
"I don't care, and I never will," she snapped, as he turned his back on her and walked away.
"Why are guys such assholes?" she wondered.
"Oh, you love us, you just don't know it," Sirius said, sitting directly next to Savannah.
"Oh, that's funny, because the last time I checked I didn't," Kaitlynne said from the other side of Savannah.
"Now, can't we all just be friends?" James asked with a silly Cheshire cat grin on his face.
"Maybe in the next lifetime when you're a dung beetle or something," Lily answered, and all of the girls laughed.
"Now, what makes you thinks I'm going to be a dung beetle in my next lifetime?"
"Well, I heard that in the next lifetime, people become things that sorta resemble them already," she responded, and the girls laughed again.
"Ohhhhh!!! So.you'd just be dirt?" James said, before flashing a smile and walking to the other side with the rest of his friends.
"UGH!!! I hate him and I don't even know who the hell he is!" Lily cried. ~ ~ ~ ~ E N D O F F L A S H B A C K ~ ~ ~ ~
"We have some great memories at Hogwarts," Lily said with a smile.
"Yeah, and you're going to get some great memories in California."
"But they won't be with you guys."
"They'll be with other people. New friends, who you will like almost as much as you like me.I mean, us," Sirius said innocently, and they both laughed.
*~*~*~*~*
The next night, the night they were all going to Le Soleil Levant, Lily was in her room getting ready when suddenly a snow-white owl flew into her bedroom and threw a letter on to her bed. Lily went to retrieve it, hoping that it was from Kaitlynne. HEY LILY!!
Wow, I was not expecting a letter from you, but I'm sure glad you wrote me!!! I'm so happy for you and James and for Savannah and Sirius. And you're right. They are meant for each other and I do hope that they end up getting married. And same goes for you and James. And I bet you two become even more in love, if that's possible, once you move to America. California is gorgeous!! I know you'll love it!! I lived there for about four months with my older cousin, Andy, working with Random House for Wizardry, but I'm moving out soon and am working for the London Ledger. I just do the photographs, but it's awesome and the job is great! Actually, I'm trying to find an apartment somewhere close to their headquarters, so if you have any suggestions just let me know!
You mentioned me being engaged, but it didn't work out. About a month before we were to be married, Jarod got a job in Columbia, and because my job was in Los Angeles, I couldn't move with him and we ended up realizing that we weren't meant for each other. I'm fine though and we still talk, so we're okay.
I'm so glad that at least a few of the original eight are still friends and I only wish that I could have kept in touch. But, I am free tonight and I would be so thrilled to have dinner with the six of you! I'm so excited and I can't wait to see you guys again after four years and hear what has been up with you!!
Well, like you said, if I wrote down everything I'd want to tell you, you'd be reading over five hundred pages, so I will just tell you and the rest of the group tonight! I will see you then!
Love you always,
Kaitlynne Young
Lily laughed out loud, realizing that she'd be working where Kaitlynne worked, and maybe even at the same job. Then she thought about trying to move in with Andy, who she vaguely remembered. He was a few years older than Kaitlynne and herself, and the last time she saw him, summer before fifth year, she remembered him being tall with blonde semi-spiked hair with an earring. Actually, she remembered thinking that he was very good-looking and if he wasn't already dating someone, she'd be interested even though he wasn't a wizard. Basically his whole family was, though, so he knew everything about magic.
She suddenly thought to herself that maybe Kaitlynne could move in with Sirius, as well, and Lily smiled, realizing how funny the situation really was. "Hey, Lily," Savannah cried bursting into Lily's room with a black, silky, thin-strapped cocktail dress on and a silver shawl wrapped around her shoulder.
"Wow, you look beautiful," Lily said, wearing a short, green and gold strapless dress that matched her eyes perfectly.
"So do you," Savannah replied. "Are you ready to go?"
"We still have time," Lily pointed out, making note of the clock on her bed-stand.
"I know, but James just called from his house and he's meeting us at the restaurant along with Sirius, Remus, and Peter and he said he had a surprise for us.and surprises are enough to make me hurry."
"Oooh, what is it?"
Savannah laughed. "I don't know. Hence the word 'surprise.'"
Lily laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Actually, I have a surprise as well, but before you ask me what it is I'm going to say until we get there."
"Awww, why not?"
"Because I say so," Lily said with a grin.
"Friends aren't supposed to keep secrets from each other!" Savannah whined playfully, batting her eyes at Lily angelically.
Lily swatted her on the nose with a teasing grin. "Yeah, well no one said that friends couldn't keep 'surprises' from each other!"
Savannah pouted and leaned against the bed-post. "I think it's one of those unwritten rules."
"And rules were meant to be broken, babe," Lily teased, running her brush through her hair gently.
Savannah sighed and hopped on to the bed joyfully. "I've been so antsy lately and I don't know why!" Savannah cried giddily, changing the subject unexpectedly.
Lily looked up from her vanity mirror and slightly turned to get a better look at Savannah. "Does the word 'Sirius' mean anything to you?"
Savannah bounced on the bed lightheartedly and looked up at the ceiling self-evidently and full of wonder and bewilderment, deep in thought about Lily's previous words. "Well.yeah, but it's never been like this before. He's just been that humorous, witty guy in my life who was always there to make me feel better about myself and about life. I never realized it until recently that he wasn't one of those regretted teenage relationships. He meant more to me than I thought. I just never realized it until now."
"And that explains why you're so giddy," Lily pointed out, staring intently on Savannah's confused fixation.
Savannah smiled and turned back to give Lily a long, hard, understanding stare. "Oh.well, I guess you're right."
"See? You just don't know things until they're told to you."
"Is that some sort of subtle way of telling me I'm clueless?"
Lily laughed, and grabbed her small black purse from the closet handle. "No.I'm just saying you're clueless when it comes to you and Sirius."
"Oh.but that's still an insult!!"
"Not necessarily. Because I'm the same way with James. I love him so much it kills me sometimes, but at times when I'm angry or frustrated or jealous, I ignore that and act as if he and I were never meant to be together."
"Awwww."
"Shut up, Van," Lily smirked with a slight grin. "Come on. We're already late."
"For those guys that we're meant to be with, right?"
Lily threw back her head and laughed. "You're just going to throw that back in my face, aren't I?"
"Of course."
"Yeah, well you're clueless!"
"But so are you.and you admitted it, so you can't deny it!"
"I hate it when you're right."
"It's funny because I love it when I'm right!" *~*~*~*~*
"Yeah, and when was the last time you had a date, Wormtail?" Remus teased Peter.
"Same goes for you!" James cried to Remus and they all laughed.
"Hey, I dated Vicky Steilberg for a while," Remus replied. "That was last year. Besides, it's not like you've had a lot of dates besides Lily! It's either you're going out with her or you're moping around because you're not dating her."
"I've been around," James responded stiffly.
"Oh, really?? And with who?" Sirius questioned.
James paused to think about it. "Er.."
"Exactly."
"Okay, fine, you caught me."
"Who was the last girl you dated besides Lily?" Peter questioned.
"Um.er.I guess Lareesa Muccolloch," he answered with a sigh.
Sirius burst into laughter. "That was three and a half years ago.for about two weeks!!"
"I know. It's not my fault that I've found the perfect woman."
Remus, Peter, and Sirius surprised James by smiling instead of gagging. "Is she going to stay your perfect woman?" Remus asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, after she leaves for California. What's going to happen then?" he continued.
James sighed and started fiddling with his silverware. "Good question. I.I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, I-I didn't tell you or Peter this, but on our Anniversary, I was going to ask her to marry me. I-"
"What?" Peter gasped.
"Really??" Remus cried happily.
"Don't get your hopes up, though. It's not going to happen now." Remus and Peter opened their mouths to speak, but James stopped them. "I know you're going to ask me why, but it's for the best."
"I've heard that one before," Sirius muttered.
"What?" Peter asked with a confused look. Both Remus and James looked bewildered.
"Oh.did I say that out loud?" Sirius joked.
"Yeah, so now you have to tell me what you meant by it," James commented.
Sirius sighed. "I'm not trying to pressure you into going for it, because you already gave me reasons why not and they were good ones, but think back to graduation," Sirius explained. "Me and Savannah?"
"Oh," Peter simply said.
"Yeah, 'oh' is right. We broke up and it was for the best.or so we thought. We both didn't want to break up, but it happened and it kind of tore us apart again. And yes, we're going out now, but that's my point. We ended up realizing it never was for the best. We were both just stupid to try to do something harder than usual. And I know you're going to say that you can't move to California and she can't stay here, but being engaged doesn't mean you have to get married right away!" Sirius explained.
"It's true, James," Peter agreed.
Remus commented, "You're probably thinking that it would be too hard because you'll be living so far away from each other and the change would be too hard for both of you and things would become even more difficult, but that's life!!"
James sighed. "Yes, but this isn't your decision. It's mine.and it's.well, it's hard, for lack of a better word. I don't know what to do! I love Lily and I want to marry her.but at the same time, I don't. I.I just have to wait a few years until things get straightened out between the both of us."
They all three nodded, understanding what he was saying and not trying to disagree with what he had to say. "Okay, now either we can stay grumpy and annoyed the rest of the night or we could have fun and celebrate a wonderful last evening with Savannah.wherever she may be!" Sirius cried, picking up his champagne glass.
"Did I hear my name?" a voice said from behind Sirius as Savannah wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Vannie," he said, this time giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
"Sirius was just saying how much he wanted to murder you tonight," James said. "Oops, was I not supposed to tell?"
They all laughed and James turned to Lily. "Hey, sweetheart," he said grabbing her arm and kissing her on the cheek. "Wow.you look absolutely beautiful."
Lily smiled at him. "You don't look half-bad yourself," she replied with a grin and a wink as they chuckled.
"So I see you ordered some champagne without us?" Savannah accused, taking a seat across from Sirius and next to Lily, who took a seat next to James who was on the end, sitting next to Peter. On the other side of Sirius was Remus.
"Oh, there's plenty for you," Sirius said laughing.
"So is there a reason why there are two extra chairs at the end of this table?" Peter asked.
"Actually-" both James and Lily started. They laughed, and James signaled for Lily to continue.
"As I was saying, actually I have a surprise for all of you," Lily said with a grin.
Sirius and James laughed considering they knew that they had a surprise also. "Actually, so do I," James remarked, and all six of them laughed.
"I was-" Lily started, but she heard her name being beckoned from behind her.
"Lily!?" a woman's voice cried.
Lily turned around and jumped out of her seat. "KAITLYNNE!!!!!" Lily screeched, immediately jumping out of her seat to run over to her. "It's been so long!!!! I can't believe I haven't seen you for about four years!!!!"
Savannah, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all gasped and literally jumped out of their seats. "Ooooh, Kaitlynne!!! I can't believe it's you!" Savannah squeaked grabbing her into a huge hug with a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Hey, Baby Girl," Remus said giving her his nickname he used to call her by, giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug and a squeeze.
"Hey, Sweetstuff," she said with a wink, calling him by his nickname.
"Kayti, Kayti, Kayti," Sirius said giving her a kiss on the cheek and a hug, like everyone else.
"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius. It's been way too long," Kaitlynne replied, giving him a hug back.
"Kaitlynne Trylin Young, how dare you change without letting me know," James accused, giving her a tight squeeze.
"And what about you? You look.taller," she said laughing.
"Gee, thanks. What a compliment," he said sarcastically as they all laughed.
"Hey, Kate," Peter said with a smile and a hug.
"Hey Pete. Wassup?" she said with a laugh, returning the hug.
"I've been keeping it real," he replied, and they all laughed.
"Wow, it feels good to have the seven of us back again," Remus said with a smile, pulling out a chair for Kaitlynne.
At that moment, Sirius and James turned to look at each other and burst into uncontrollable laughter, slapping the table, holding their sides, and whenever they tried to stop, they just started up again.
"Okay, so I'm guessing they haven't changed a bit," Kaitlynne said with a laugh.
"Was that supposed to be a surprise?" Savannah joked chuckling. "Could you ever see Sirius not being.well, not being Sirius- like?"
They all laughed as Lily said, "As.amusing as it is to see you two looking like fools, why are you two laughing so hard?"
Eventually, after they calmed down, James explained, "It's just that.well, as good as it is to see the seven of us again.I think my surprise will make us all feel a hundred times better than we are right now."
"Is that possible?" Remus asked with a huge grin stuck on his face.
Kaitlynne started to laugh as well. "I think I know what they're talking about," she said catching eye-contact with James, and he grinned at her, knowing that she probably knew about Allie. Speaking of Allie. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the Marauders and the Honorary Marauders reunited once again," a voice said from behind James.
This time, Peter, Remus, Savannah, and Lily all gasped and literally jumped out of their seats. They knew that the whole restaurant was probably staring at them with confusion and suspicion, but at that moment they didn't care. "ALLIE!!!" both Savannah and Lily cried, suffocating her with a double hug.
They all called out her name and gave her a hug, just like with Kaitlynne, and after ten minutes of excitement, they finally calmed down and took a seat and got their glasses of champagne.
"I would like to propose a toast," James said from one end of the table raising his glass. They all raised their glasses and listened to him. "To us. The eight of us back together after four years of separation. The four Marauders and four Honorary Marauders reunited once again. I love you guys," he finished with a smile and a wink.
"To us!" they all cried, clinking their glasses.
Lily grinned wide, glancing around the table at all of her friends. It was so good to be a group again.but being with all of them there just reminded Lily about how soon she'd be gone from them all.. *~*~*~*~*
"Now Kaitlynne, I hear you're a photographer now," Remus said. "Is that true?"
"Actually, yes. The last couple of months I was working in Los Angeles in publishing, but there, I learned all about photography and it got me interested. So I applied to the London Ledger as a photographer and they gave me a beginning job. So I'll be in London now!" she explained gleefully.
"Ooh, where are you living?" Savannah asked.
Kaitlynne cringed. "Actually.nowhere at the moment. Well, actually I'm staying at a hotel in London for a little while. But I haven't had time to look, which wasn't a smart decision on my behalf. I'll have to find a place fast. Or even a temporary place," she described.
Both Sirius and Lily turned towards each other at the same time and immediately started laughing, as everyone else gave them a weird look.
"What's so funny?" Allie asked.
"I'm moving to California at the end of the month, actually," Lily explained to Allie and she turned towards Kaitlynne again. "Actually, I got a job in California at Random House for Wizardry, Kaitlynne. Anyway, Sirius needs a roommate temporarily."
"It would be so much fun rooming with you!" Sirius cried.
"A-hem!" Lily cried.
"Well, not as much fun as you, of course," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kaitlynne started laughing. "That's so great!!! This is working out perfectly, because my cousin is looking for a roommate, and you'd be perfect, Lily!"
Lily squealed with delight as she jumped out of her chair and ran to give Kaitlynne a hug. "This is so excellent!!!!! I'll go check it out next week!"
They all calmed down a bit and suddenly Lily asked, "Hey, Allie, what about you? What's going on in your life?"
"Well, I bet James told you, but I'm engaged now, and-"
"You're kidding!!" Savannah and Lily cried in unison.
"No one told us!" Remus cried.
Allie grinned. "Well, then what I'm about to say next is going to be a big surprise."
"What?" Lily asked anxiously.
"I'm engaged to Josh Matthews."
Peter, Remus, Savannah, and Lily all gasped in complete shock. "But you hate him!!" Savannah cried in confusion.
Allie laughed. "I did, yes, but my mother and his uncle got married last Spring, so we were often stuck hanging out with each other, and I guess one thing led to another and we started becoming friends.then a little more than friends.then a little more than that, and he proposed to me in January. We're getting married in October, and you're all invited. Actually.Kaitlynne's my maid of honor, but.Lily, Savannah, you guys will be my bridesmaids, won't you?"
They both squealed. "This will be so much fun!!!!" Savannah screeched.
*~*~*~*~*
Sunday night, two days after Savannah left and a day after Peter left, James and Lily were at the airport saying their good-byes, after James said good-bye to Sirius and Remus at the house.
"I don't want you to go," Lily whined to James, giving him another hug that evening.
"I don't want me to go either, sweetheart," he commented, kissing on her forehead.
Lily looked up into his eyes and tears started brimming in her eyes. Not just because James was leaving, but also because she knew she wouldn't have much chances to see James after that week and the weekend of her birthday. She knew that there wouldn't be much time to hang out with him over the summer, either. Just thinking about leaving him made the tears fall down her cheeks.
"Oh, honey, don't cry. Don't make this harder than it already is," James whined.
"I can't help it. I love you so much and now you're leaving!"
James couldn't help laughing. "Loving me isn't a crime, hon. We'll still be able to talk and write, and I'm definitely coming back for your birthday."
"You promise?" Lily asked.
"Of course I'll be there! Cross my heart and hope to die," James said.
"Nuh-uh. Don't hope to die," Lily said and they both grinned.
"Okay, cross my heart, and hope to live."
They both laughed. "Better, but I still don't want you to go now." James laughed.
"Lily, I have to. Unless you want me to get expelled, and I know you don't want that. I promise I'll be back and don't worry about going to California. It'll be fine," James said. "If you don't stop crying then I'll start crying and that won't be good. There are still a few weeks."
"I'm sorry. I really don't know why I'm crying. I've never done it before when you've left," Lily said.
"I know why," James whispered in her ear sincerely understanding her fear of leaving him for America. "And I think you know why." Lily looked up at him and at that moment she realized that she's got everything she's always wanted: someone to love. After Petunia turned on her when Lily was eleven and Petunia was sixteen and old enough to stop babying her little sister and realizing that Lily was now a freak, Lily turned towards her parents. After Lily left for Hogwarts, she depended on her friends. After graduation, Lily turned back towards her parents. After they died, Lily turned towards James. Unfortunately, four months later, they broke up and Lily had no one to sincerely love. And now, as she stood staring up at James, she realized that she's finally happy.and it scared her.
"THIS IS THE LAST BOARDING CALL FOR FLIGHT 245," came over the intercom.
"I really gotta go sweetie," James said.
"I know," she said with a sigh. "I love you." Lily kissed him once more and gave him a huge hug that lasted for so long and then he was off. She brought her hands to her face as the tears streamed down in her cheeks as she watched him turn around for one last good-bye wink and a wave and he walked through the runway.
A part of her wanted to run after him telling him that she was going to stay in England, and that she couldn't move to California just for James, who was the one thing that was certain in her life. But the other part, the stronger part and the self-motivated part, was telling her to stay put and that she was doing the right thing even though it didn't feel like it. Unfortunately.the second part always seems to win.
*~*~*~*~*
"Hi, I'm Lily Evans," Lily introduced herself to Andy two and a half weeks later, on May 4. "Um.you probably don't remember me, but-"
"Oh, my God," Andy said slowly, interrupting. "I.I can't believe it. Wow.uh.oh!! Come on in. Please, have a seat," he said in complete shock.
"So I'm guessing you do remember me then," Lily said with a grin on her face.
"Of course I do! You were the cute redhead at Kaitlynne's sixteenth birthday party that one summer I was staying at her house."
Lily laughed. "Yeah, that was me. I didn't expect you to remember me, actually. I.I just came here hoping I wouldn't make a fool of myself."
Andy laughed. "How could I not remember you? I remember staring at you the whole time you were there! You were absolutely gorgeous.and I see you haven't changed."
Lily blushed and covered her cheeks with the palms of her hands. "You obviously didn't see Savannah Turner at the party."
He threw back his head and laughed. "I remember her, also. She was a funny person, but not half as beautiful as you."
She blushed again. "Thanks."
"You were going out with some.Jamie guy? Or Jimmy? Something like that, weren't you? I remember that because I probably would have walked up to you and said something if you were attached to someone else at the party."
Lily laughed. "James Potter, yeah. And you still could've walked up to me."
Andy laughed. "I could tell he was the jealous type."
Lily laughed again. "Still is," she commented with a smirk.
Andy looked up at her surprised. "You're still friends with him?"
Lily smiled at the ground uncomfortably, not looking up at Andy. "Actually, I'm still dating him. Well.not still dating him, because we've been on-and-off for the past seven years, but this last year, we've been completely serious about each other," she explained, getting carried away. "But why am I telling you this? You don't care."
"Sure I do! We've got a lot of catching up to do! Almost eight years worth!"
Lily laughed. "Well, maybe we'll have more time to do it," Lily hinted.
"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.
"Well, I talked to Kaitlynne last night and she told me that you were looking for a roommate and I need a place to live and it needs to be quick.in about three weeks actually."
Andy clapped his hands together excitedly and smiled. "Well, Kaitlynne was right. I do need a roommate, and you'd be perfect. And the only offerings I've gotten so far were a drug addict, a jail breakaway, and a sadistic thirteen-year-old girl living out on the streets. So you coming here was obviously a miracle. If you don't mind me asking, though, why are you looking here? I mean, why are you moving to California?"
"Well, I'm going to be working with Random House for Wizardry starting May 26 here in Los Angeles and-"
"Kaitlynne worked there!"
"Yeah, I know. We've been talking a lot lately about it. It seems that she'll be moving in with my old roommate, Sirius," Lily said with a grin. "Anyway, I'm getting off-topic. She told me how wonderful it really was."
Andy smiled and patted her shoulder. "Random House is totally an excellent place to work. I worked in the Muggle Random House, about forty minutes from here, two years ago in the Arts and Liberal department for about half a year. But then I was offered the job of head professor at the University of Los Angeles in the Drama department, so now I'm the musical instructor and I also coach junior varsity football."
Lily grinned. "That sounds so great! Have you been working there since?"
"Yep. And I hope to be working there for much longer."
"Well, I hope you do, as well," Lily said with a smile, incredibly grateful that she had a place to live now. At least she could stop worrying about that.
"Okay, so we need to get things straight."
"What things?" she asked.
"Well, when will you be moving in here and do you have any hott friends that I don't know about?"
Lily threw back her head and laughed. "The end of May at sometime, and I think my grandmother is free," Lily teased.
Andy laughed. "I think we'll have plenty of fun living together."
"You and my grandmother?"
Andy laughed and winked at her. "Well, you'd be my second choice for a roommate."
*~*~*~*~*
RIIIIIIIIIING!!
Lily was sleeping on the couch two weeks later when she was interrupted by the telephone. "Ugh," she groaned, scrambling off of the couch and towards the kitchen phone.
On the fourth ring, she picked it up. "Hello?" she muttered.
"Lily??" a voice said from the other side.
"Uh.yeah," she said, not sure who was on the other line.
"It's Savannah!"
"Savannah!!" Lily squealed. "I haven't heard from you in so long!! But why are you calling me? Why didn't you owl me?"
"Because I couldn't wait to tell you!"
"What? What?"
"I'm coming home next Wednesday now instead of Saturday to celebrate your birthday!"
"REALLY!?" Lily screeched, jumping around with the cord wrapping around her body. "Oooooh, I can't wait!!!!"
"I know!! Our school is having some sort of festival concert type thing for the whole week, and I switched my concert hours with a few friends so that instead of working Monday and Friday, I could work Monday and Tuesday! So if I can, I'll either fly by broomstick depending on how much stuff I need to bring back or I'll catch an early flight on British Airways, or whatnot."
"This is so great! I can't wait, I can't wait!!!" Lily shrieked.
Savannah laughed out loud. "Is Si-Si there?"
"Actually, no, I'm sorry," Lily replied. "He'll be home soon though, if you just want to wait."
"Actually, I'm going to be late for class anyway, but tell Si- Si I say hi and I'll see him next Wednesday. Luv ya, hon!"
"I'll tell him and I luv ya too!" Lily cried before hanging up the phone. Already, she couldn't wait until her birthday. She just wish that James was coming home sooner as well so she could spend as much time as possible with him before leaving for California.
"I'm hooooooooome!" a voice called from the living room as the door slammed about five minutes later.
"Hey, Sirius!" Lily said gleefully, literally hopping into the living room.
"Wow, why are you so peppy?"
Lily laughed. "I have some news for you that will make you incredibly happy."
"Uh-oh. Please don't tell me you and James eloped," he joked.
Lily laughed. "No! But we were planning on eloping tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"
"You're not supposed to tell me!" he gasped. They both laughed.
"But I call best man!"
"When you elope you don't have a best man," Lily pointed out.
"Well, I'll be the nonexistent, invisible best man."
"How about just the invisible man?"
Sirius laughed. "I'll have to think about that after you tell me the great news you have."
"Savannah is coming home next Wednesday now."
He gasped. "REALLY!?" he squealed.
"You sound like a girl."
"No, I don't!" he insisted.
"Now, come here my little Sirius baby, and maybe we'll paint your nails or something. Change your hair a bit? Do your make-up? Style up your clothes a bit?" she said laughing. "Your choice."
"How about I just leave and pretend like I never walked in here?" he suggested, creeping back slowly.
Lily laughed. "Okay, make-up it is!" she chose, and they both laughed.
"Oh, my God!" he gasped, suddenly realizing something.
"Uh-oh, what?"
"I don't think I have anything to wear when she gets here!" he said in a girly, sarcastic voice. *~*~*~*~*
"Lily, come down here!!!" Sirius cried urgently from the bottom of the stairs, the following Tuesday, May 18, four and a half days before her birthday.
"What is it? I'm about to take a shower!" she cried from her room.
"Trust me, this is much more important that your shower.though you could come down in your towel if you wanted to!"
"SIRIUS!" she cried, laughing.
"Or not! Whatever works for you!"
They both laughed, as Lily scurried down the stairs, jumping the last two. "What?"
"Come in here and look at the T.V.," he said, grabbing her hand.
"Sirius, I told you! Britney Spears' boobs are not real!"
Sirius laughed. "No, it's not that! Though, I swear to it, they are. But anyway, this is more serious than Britney Spears."
Lily leaned against the doorframe and looked on the television just as a news reporter was talking about a special report.
"For all of you just joining us here on Channel 406 News, unfortunately it has finally happened," the reporter began. "You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, The Lord Voldemort has attacked again after ten years of disappearance and abandonment. But Lord Voldemort has not just attacked in one specific place like the last time in northern England. Lord Voldemort has not just killed a few innocent people like his last attack. Unfortunately, it's worse than before and there's nothing we can do to stop him except pray for our spectacular Aurors to do their job. The details up-to-date are simply that over the past two hours, he has been violently striking hundreds of wizardry schools, including mostly colleges, but some beginning schools, all over northern England, southern Germany, all of Luxembourg and Africa, Lebanon and Cambodia, parts of Australia, Canada, the northern states of America and Scandinavia and a few schools in western France and northern Spain. So far there have been four hundred and fifty-two.no fifty-three deaths and over a thousand injuries. Please, in a few moments a list of schools that have been hit by Lord Voldemort will run down your screen. Take a few moments and pray for all of those brave souls that have lived a fabulous life up to this point and pray for their families and their friends and pray for those who are injured. Pray that they only will get better in the days to come. And pray to those kind souls who were able to get away and run for help and for safety.
"Now to a more serious matter on this part, for all of the witches and wizards in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, America, parts of South America and parts of Canada, there is a lock-down occurring at the moment. To ensure everyone's safety, there will be no broom riding, no Floo Powder, no apparating, no phone-calling, no owling, no plane rides or any traveling at that matter, and NO MAGIC will be of use to any witch or wizard. There have been many restrictions already made and the Ministry is finishing up with the rest of the apparating confinements in the next few hours. The Ministry is emphasizing these restrictions enormously, and guards, Aurors, policemen, and Dementors have been spread throughout mostly England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Africa to guarantee the safety of everyone in the magic world. Please, don't try to use any kind of magic because you will be imprisoned for even trying in the least bit. All sources of travel has been shut-down and you'll be hit with the Cruciatus Curse and sent to Azkaban for the time-being and a certain undecided sentence. This has been a warning to every witch and wizard out there and the Ministry refuses to let up on anyone!
It is uncertain to the extent of this lock-down, but the ministry guarantees that it will be no less than a week and no more than a month. We are sorry for any inconveniences that this may initiate, but it is for the better of the people and for you. Now, here is the list of schools that Lord Voldemort has already struck."
Harry stepped out. Just then, he heard an owl pecking at the window. It was one he had never seen before. He opened the window and it soared in, dropping a parchment in his hands. He opened it up and read it.
Harry- How have you been? I heard about your breathtaking Quidditch game. You must be training your team hard. I am the new captain and Keeper for the Chudley Cannons. It is hard work but it is what I love to do. You should come see us some time. I have sent you and Ron 2 tickets. I will be coming to your next game and will tell the team to come as well. My seeker doesn't believe me when I tell him you were born to be seeker and that you are better. I can't wait. See you soon.
-Oliver Wood.
Harry couldn't believe he had gotten a letter from Wood. And the tickets. He had to show Ron. He knew how much Ron loved the Cannons. He started towards the door when he saw the clock. 1:00 AM. He decided to just sleep on the bed in the room and tell Ron in the morining.
~*~
PLEASE R/R THANKS!!!!!
