A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!! Didya miss me? …..I'm just going to answer 'yes' for all of you and get that over with!! (As you can tell, I'm extremely energetic right now!) Hmm…well I think this chapter is very informative. It tells you more about their Hogwarts' days, including graduation. It's a bit depressing…but everything turns out okay. But when Lily starts to reminisce her past, it becomes a bit more depressing than I expected. But it's all for a good cause. And I'm sorry this chapter is a bit short…or at least, I think it is.
And thank you to Anna Chelle, Laina, and Surely Sagittarian for reviewing!!
Disclaimer: Whatever you recognize belongs to the lovely J.K. Rowling who I idolize!! And everything else, including Savannah Turner, Kaitlynne Young, Allie Reiner, Josh Matthews, Minnie Juniper, and Daniel Marx (who are basically just mentioned…).
MEMORIES
CHAPTER 4: The Past vs. The Present
Written by Foxy
"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 rememberAll the times we had together
And as our lives change, from whateverWe 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.
A/N: Okay, so how did you like it? Well whatever you thought just write it down and send me a review!!! And I'll love you forever!!
