"Lily can we get some of these." April asked as they walked through the small corner shop. She picked up a packet of incredibly fatty crisps.
"No April" Lily said smiling. "Those will make you blow up like a balloon." Lily was referring to the amount of fat that the food contained but April took it literally and put the food back looking at it slightly scared. Lily had to laugh and pulled April to the fridge where the Milk was.
"What about these?" April asked picking up a can of Cola.
"Ok." Lily said. "Put it in the basket." April put a few cans of cola in as Lily put in two cartons of Milk. They went to the counter and Lily was surprised to see there was a slight queue.
"Did we have any homework?" April asked as she looked at a muggle magazine.
"Yeah, Transfiguration essay and we had to write about the theory behind veiraserum." Lily said.
"I think Grout set us something as well." April said. Lily looked at April slightly stunned
"Since when have you cared about homework anyway?" Lily asked.
"Anything to keep my mind from wandering" April said. Lily looked at her slightly confused.
"I think Sirius has changed you." Lily said. "No, that's a lie."
"Excuse me, have you finished with this magazine?" asked the man behind them. Lily and April looked at him and April nodded.
"Yes, here." April handed him the magazine.
"Thank you. I'm Dr. Granger, I own the dentist practice down the road" He said smiling.
"Lily Evans." Lily said. "And this is April Marsden"
"Evans? Have you got a sister called Petunia Evans?" Dr. Granger asked.
"Yes."
"So you're the other daughter, I've just moved next door to your house." He said.
"Oh, ok." Lily said. She glanced at April, who had picked up another magazine.
"I haven't seen you around very much"
"I go to boarding school somewhere up north. I'm home for the holidays" Lily told him
"Oh yes, I vaguely remember your parents telling me, You're head girl?" Lily smiled and nodded.
"The whole world knows." April said. "You are to clever for your own right" April said pointing a finger at Lily.
"Next please" the man at the counter said.
"That us. Nice speaking to you Dr. Granger." Lily said. She put the basket on the counter, paid and left with the drinks.
"That was so weird." April said as they left the shop.
"Yeah," Lily glanced around to make sure that no one was around and went down a small alley way and with a small pop both Lily and April disappeared.
* * * *
The lead up to Christmas passed quite quickly for Lily. She spent a lot of time helping April get her spells up to scratch. She found it weird because April had this sudden urge to work hard and she appeared to want to be as smart as Lily. Fortunately they were now old enough to do magic out school.
"No, April this is the wand movement" Lily said giving her wand a flick and then swiping it down. It was Christmas Eve and they were going through a few spells that even Lily found a little difficult but she managed them quite fine. April practiced and the door shattered. April and Lily both stared at the door in shock and surprise. Petunia was passing and she was stock still.
"What are you doing, you freak?" Petunia asked terrified.
"Reparo" Lily said pointing her wand at her now non-existent door. The shards and splinters gathered where the door was and the door reformed.
"Lets stop for a while" Lily said putting a hand on April's hand.
"Yeah." April put her wand on the desk as Lily tucked hers into her clothes but within easy reach.
"Why are you suddenly into studying?" Lily asked April.
"Well I just realised it's NEWT year and if I want to have the same Job as you or Jenny then I have to work harder." April said.
"You don't need to work more, you'll get a good job" Lily said.
"Not unless I study. You and Jenny are like the smartest students in the school and you know what you want to do. Jenny wants to become Minister of magic and you want to work in Muggle relations or you want to be an auror and I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm not clever or -- AH!" April was cut off as two bodies bounced on the bed with two loud pops, surprising her.
"Good day mon Cherie" Sirius said. April had a hand at her chest and she was breathing quickly on her make-shift bed. Lily was holding onto the chair of her desk.
"My god, could you give a girl some warning next time you do that." Lily said. "What are you doing here?"
"We got a bit bored." James said. April looked at Lily uncertainly then got to her feet.
"Ok, I'll tell mum." Lily said. She got out her wand and a few seconds later she was standing in the kitchen.
"Hello Lily." Said her mum without moving from her cooking.
"Mum, we have two extra people for dinner. Two of my friends from school have just…turned up." Lily said. Mrs. Evans looked up.
"Oh, who?" Mrs. Evans was always interested in Lily's life at school. She had been so proud when Lily had been accepted into the school
"The head boy and his best friend." Lily said slightly uncertainly. Lily wasn't sure how her parents would react to her having boys around. They had always been a bit over protective with Lily. Mrs. Evan frowned when James came down the stairs
"Good morning Mrs. Evans. I'm James Potter" James said holding out his hand. Mrs. Evans took it pleasantly surprised and shook it.
"Where's Sirius?" Lily whispered
"With April." James whispered back.
"I suppose that you can have them round but they have to be gone by the time Vernon comes." Mrs. Evans said.
"Who's Vernon?" Lily asked.
"Petunia's fiancé, he's going to stay the night in the spare room." Mrs. Evans.
"Oh." Lily said as her face fell. "Come on James, we'll go into the living room." Lily said. James smiled at Mrs. Evans politely and followed Lily into the Living room. The Living room was nicely decorates with warm earthy colours. There were photos scattered around the room, on the mantle piece, on shelves and on the coffee table. Lily sat on the sofa and watched James look at the pictures. He picked one up of Lily last summer standing with her mum. James prodded it with his finger.
"It's not moving." James said. Lily smiled.
"It's a Muggle photo." Lily said getting up and taking the photo from James and putting it back down. "The Wizard photos have been put away because Vernon is coming for a few days." James smirked.
"You don't sound you like him" James said putting his hands on Lily's waist.
"Well I haven't met him" Lily said looking at James. James pulled her slightly closer and their faces came closer. "So I don't really know what he's like." Lily made the first move and closed her eyes and kissed James gently. Lily felt the normal tingle run through her body at the touch of James' lips. After a few moments she felt his tongue in her mouth and she pulled away quickly.
"Sorry" James said sincerely.
"No, it's ok" Lily said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, almost shyly. "Just got me a bit by surprise." She smiled and kissed James again.
"And they call us bad" Sirius said from the door. Lily opened her eyes and looked at the door where April and Sirius were giving them both strange looks.
"What?" Lily asked.
"Nothing." April said innocently. She pulled Sirius to a chair and Sirius sat on it and pulled April onto his lap. James and Lily sat on the sofa and Lily picked up the TV remote.
"Are you sure you're not a couple?" April asked. Lily gave her a small smile.
"Oh yeah, Lily, I've been meaning to ask you something" James said. Lily looked at him interested. "Will you go out with me?" James asked. Lily grinned and nodded.
"Took you six and a half years and you've finally done it." Sirius said. April giggled and put her arm around Sirius.
"What's on TV?" April asked. Lily pressed the on button on the remote and the TV came on. James and Sirius both jumped slightly when the TV came on.
"What is that?" James asked.
"It's called a TV" April said knowledgeably, "It's a form of Entertainment that Muggles use. It's actually really cool." Lily nodded and flicked through the channels.
"Oh look Grease is on" Lily said.
"What?" Sirius asked, "Grease? What the hell is Grease?" Lily looked at Sirius surprised then remembered he didn't have a muggle upbringing like she did
"It's a musical that every single Muggle child knows about." Lily said.
"I like musicals." James said without thinking. The other three in the room looked at him.
"He's turning into a Poof" Sirius whispered. April started giggling again and Lily tried not to laugh.
"I mean, they're alright." James corrected, "My mum takes me to see quite a few at the theatre just off Diagon Alley." Lily took his hand and patted his arm.
"It's alright dear, I understand" she said. Her face cracked up into a grin and she started laughing. James looked at the three in slight disgust and crossed his arms slightly annoyed.
"Have you two heard anything about you-know-who?" April asked suddenly.
"Yeah," James said. "Dad told me that the ministry is finding even more supporters and they're getting younger."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Cole Benson is a deatheater" Sirius snarled. Lily flinched slightly at the name but stayed quiet.
"Also, the dementors are getting restless." James said.
"Dementors?" Lily asked. "That word is really familiar." The three others looked at Lily.
"You don't know what dementors are?" April asked. Lily shook her head.
"You've probably read the entire library six times since you've been at Hogwarts and you've never once come across Dementors?" Sirius asked.
"What are they?" Lily asked them.
"Dementors are the guards of Azkaban, the wizard prison, they sort of suck all the happiness out of you and then suck you soul out through your mouth if they kiss you." James said. "They would be more then happy to join you-know-who but the ministry is offering them some kind of deal to stay." James told Lily. Lily shivered at the thought of having all the happiness sucked out of her.
"So, do they kiss everyone who goes into Azkaban?" Lily asked.
"No, just the ones who are the most dangerous" James said.
"How do you know all this?" April asked.
"When you're parents are Aurors and you're one of the most troublesome boys in school, you learn to eavesdrop without getting caught." James said with a smile.
"Did you know Joni Simmons' family was attacked by you-know-who a few days ago" Sirius told them.
"Joni Simmons? The fourth year?" Lily asked. Sirius nodded, "I though she was from an all magic family."
"Her granddad was a muggle. Her entire family was killed in their sleep, She's at school for the holidays so she's safe" James said. "You know, your family is in more danger? You know how much the Slytherin's hate you and I'm more then willing to bet at least half of them are in league with you-know-who" James said.
"I've told my parents, they're being as careful as they can" Lily said. James nodded.
* * * *
Petunia Evans stood outside the door of the Living room. She didn't know what had possessed her to listen to her sister and her friends talk about their freak world. She did catch a few things though. Her family was in danger and other families were being killed. Petunia shook herself and came to her senses. She went into the kitchen and got a glass of water.
She was not going to let this family get killed by some freak person, well she wasn't going to let her parents get killed. Petunia couldn't care less what happened to her sister. She didn't like those boys either that her sister had invited over. They seemed very arrogant and Petunia recognised them from the summer when they had crashed her party for the hell of it. Why was her sister so kind to them when in the summer she was fuming. Petunia decided that her sister must be dating one of them and then she let the thoughts drift out of her mind.