Author's Note: Hey everyone! Yes, yes, I'm finally back! I have been able to get on the computer and get this uploaded and I know that the next chapter will be uploaded soon as well! I'm sorry that it has been taking me so long, but thanks for putting up with me anyhow! Well there's nothing else I really need to say now, so let's just move on and start reading and enjoying!
Disclaimer: See previous chapters (because I'm sure you all know…)
MEMORIES
CHAPTER 8: Halfway 'Round the World
Written by Foxy
Three hours later, they still hadn't heard from James…or Remus, Kaitlynne, Allie, or Peter at that matter. And unfortunately, Lily could not worry about them anymore, because she was going through with the move to California. She didn't want to move to America at the moment, but Douglas Cowing had called her later that afternoon to explain the situation and he ended up making a decision that because the lock-down had substantially been officially over for four hours, that the move and the job shall still proceed because the flight was nonrefundable…besides, he claimed, Lily wouldn't even have to start her job until Wednesday.
Lily sat on the floor with a picture of her and James in one hand and a picture of Hogwarts graduation with all eight of them packed together tightly to fit in the picture. Lily sighed, not realizing Sirius was standing behind her as a tear fell down her cheeks and onto the picture of her and James.
"Lily," he said again this time putting his hand on her shoulder.
She jumped a little and wiped away the tears quickly. "Oh, hey Sirius."
Sirius sighed. "Lily, everything's going to be okay. I'm sure that James is fine and that he's just busy with all of the finishing touches he has to do with the whole Auror business."
"I'm not worried about that as much as I am about moving," Lily confessed.
"What do you mean?"
"It's just that…well, once I move, I realize that everything is going to be exactly how it was the past week. And I'm afraid that it's just going to bring us all farther apart."
"That's not going to happen unless you want it to happen, Lils."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm not going to let it happen."
Lily smiled and put the two picture frames on top of her other things in her suitcase. "Okay, fine. Let's just get this over with."
Sirius laughed. "Are you all packed?"
"I think so," she said, scanning the room. "No, wait."
"What?"
"Can I pack you with me?"
Sirius laughed. "No, I'm afraid not."
"Then, yeah, I'm all packed," she said, sighing.
Time, sometimes the time just slips away
And you're left with yesterday
Left with memories
I'll always think of you and smile
And be happy for the time I had you with me
Though we go our separate ways
I won't forget so don't forget the memories we made
Sirius gave her a reassuring smile and gave her a short, but sweet, hug. "Lily, you're going to be an amazing publisher and you're going to have a great time in California. Don't worry about anything else but that, okay?"
"But-"
"No, no buts."
"But-"
"Okay, you obviously aren't listening to me."
"However-"
"Hey! That's just a fancy but!"
"Sirius-"
"Okay, I know you're just going to try to make a point, but don't."
Lily sighed. "Fine."
"HEY!!!"
"What?" she cried alarmed.
"I don't know, I just felt like yelling."
Lily laughed. "Sirius, I'm never going to find anyone else in America who can make me laugh as much as you can."
"Okay, don't you know yet that there is no one in the whole world who is funnier than me?"
"Just funny? Or funny-looking?"
"Things are going to be so different without you around," Sirius confessed.
"A.k.a. no dinner?"
Sirius laughed. "I'm being serious, Lily."
She gasped. "Oh no!! Alert the media!!!"
Sirius gave her an exasperated look.
Lily felt a bit guilty. "I'm sorry. I-I just don't want to think about it."
"I know but I'm really going to miss you, Lily."
"I'm going to miss you more," she teased.
"You can't forget me, either," he warned.
"I'd never forget you," Lily replied. "You were the best roommate a girl could ask for."
Sirius blushed. "Thanks."
Please remember, please remember
I was there for you
And you were there for me
Please remember, our time together
The time was yours and mine
While we were wild and free
"You always have to remember me, Sirius. And not just me as a roommate, but me as a person. I know we'll see each other, but it won't be the same. I won't be coming home to a place where I know I can count on cracking a smile. I won't be coming home to a place where I know will still be dirty unless you became so incredibly bored that you decided to dust the furniture…which happened once in a full moon. Thanks Sirius…for everything," she whispered.
"No, thank you for making me who I am today. If you weren't my roommate, I'd be a totally different person. Thanks," Sirius whispered again, giving her a small, gentle hug, trying not to let the tears gathering up in the back of his eyes be noticed.
Lily squeezed him tighter as a tiny tear fell down her cheek helplessly.
Sirius smiled at her, and swiped his eyes lightly "C'mon, we need to go, or else you're going to be late."
"I'll be right down, Si," Lily said taking another glance around the room as Sirius grabbed two of her suitcases and started to bring them downstairs.
Lily sat down in the empty room looking at her bed that was just a mattress at the moment, up to her desk that was a just a piece of wood with a chair in front of it towards her two wooden dressers that were completely cleared off and empty and her closet which was just two white doors, one half-open to reveal nothing but dust.
Good-bye, there's just no sadder word to say
And it's sad to walk away
With just memories
Who's to know what might have been
We'll leave behind a life and time
I'll never know again
She tried not to make leaving a big deal, but she couldn't help but sniffle and cry a little. I mean, her bedroom has been her home for the past three years. The room gave her many memories that she'll never forget. The room was there when she needed to be alone. The room was there when she needed a quiet place to read and rest. The room was there when she needed a cozy place to bring her friends. The room was there when she and James, or she and Savannah, or she and Remus, or she and Sirius needed some privacy away from the rest of the world. The room was there when she needed to get the anger off of her chest. The room was there when she needed comfort. The room was there when she simply needed a place where she could cry her eyes out until she thought that there were no more tears inside of her. The room was where she belonged.
And then there was her house that belonged to her and Sirius for the last three years. The house that was now just Sirius' and the house that she'd be leaving for God-knows-how-long. The house where she could truly call home…up until now. She descended down the stairs with her last suitcases and two big bags full of her stuff in her hands and her purse slung over her arm as she simply took one good look around, making it seem as if she'd never return again, even though she knew she'd be returning to celebrate Kaitlynne's birthday on August 3, and maybe even for a visit beforehand if she wasn't too busy.
And how we laugh and how we smile
And how this friendship was yours and mine
And how a dream was out of reach
I stood by you, you stood by me
We took each day and made it shine
We wrote our names across the sky
We ride so fast, we ride so free
And I knew that you cared for me
She walked towards the door where Sirius stood with a supportive smile on his face, taking the suitcase under his arms and one of the bags in his other arm as Lily turned around to face the house for one last look until next time.
She felt Sirius' hand on her neck, soothing her, but it just made her want to cry even more. She sighed for the millionth time that evening and threw the last bag into the car. She just wish that she could have apparated to California or gone by broomstick to make it quicker and to help ease the pain, but unfortunately she had too many bags and the arrangements were already made at the airport.
Lily was about to climb into the car when both she and Sirius heard the telephone ring. They looked at each other and Lily cried, "We have to get that!"
"But what if you miss your flight? You-"
"I DON'T CARE! I'M ANSWERING THE DAMN PHONE!" Lily cried laughing as she dropped her purse, screaming "Alohomora!" towards the house lock, and scrambled for the kitchen telephone, completely out of breath. "Uh…hello?"
"Bonjour? Mademoiselle Mona? Comment ca va!? C'est moi, Monsieur Gaston! Sont-elle-"
Lily sighed as more tears sprang to her eyes. "I don't speak French!!" she said crossly. "You've got the wrong damn number," she cried, yelling at the person on the other line slamming down the receiver, when she knew it wasn't fair. She was just angry that it wasn't James, Remus, Kaitlynne, Allie, or Peter.
"A little harsh, don't you think?" Sirius asked with a grin.
"Easy for you to say. Your girlfriend already called," Lily said, not trying to sound so mean, slumping down towards the floor.
"Lily, I-"
"Let's just go," Lily said, standing up and walking out towards the car.
Sirius waited and watched her go out and sit in the car staring at the street the whole time before he walked out and got into the driver's side. But he didn't put the keys in. He turned towards Lily, who turned away and looked back at the house.
"Lily, please just-"
"Sirius, I just…" she started full of sorrow. She sighed before continuing. "I just don't want to think about it."
"Think about what?"
"I don't want to think about James or America or my job or You-Know-Who or the lock-down or whatnot. I just want a nice, peaceful drive to the airport as if I was going on vacation or something. I'm just tired of everyone being sympathetic or unhappy or angry around here. I don't want that and I sure don't need it. Please, Sirius, just drive."
Sirius hesitated before nodding and granting her wish. He put the keys in the ignition and started out of the driveway.
"Good-bye Alphamstone," she whispered so Sirius couldn't hear her. "Good-bye…home."
And even though she tried to get him out of her head, James was the only thing she cared about right at that moment.
Halfway 'round the worldDoesn't stop me from loving you
Halfway 'round the world
Can't keep me from feeling the way I do
I want to hold you baby
'Cuz I'm gonna miss you like crazy
Even if I'm halfway 'round the world
*~*~*~*~*
"Um…do I know you?" Andy said, answering the door Tuesday night to a stranger.
"Um…does Lily Evans live here?"
Andy nodded. "Yeah, she lives here. And who are you?"
"I'm Remus. I-"
"Remus!!" Lily cried, coming to the door to give her visitor a hug. "Oh, my gosh! I'm so glad to see you!"
Remus grinned, and embraced her tightly. "I know. I'm really glad to see you, too, Lily. It feels like it has been forever."
Lily nodded. "I know."
"Happy Birthday, by the way."
"Aww, thanks," Lily said, giving a quick kiss on the cheeks. "So, how'd you find me here!?"
Remus laughed. "Kaitlynne told me."
"What? Kaitlynne?"
"Yeah. She and I were stuck together during the lock-down."
"What?? Why were you two together?" Lily asked suspiciously.
He laughed. "I was at her hotel last week after finishing an early lunch with her when we heard the news."
"Why didn't you call us yesterday!?"
"Because I went back to my place to see if Peter was there, which he wasn't, so we went to Allie's for a little while…and we ended up staying the night," he said sighing.
"You don't sound so happy about that."
"I'm not," he said sadly.
"Oh, no. What happened?"
"Josh."
Lily gasped. "What happened!?!?"
"We don't know. He goes to London Arts University of Witchcraft and Wizardry which was unfortunately struck by You-Know-Who and Allie hasn't heard anything from him since the lock-down."
"Oh, no," Lily said full of desperation. "Is she okay?"
"Not really."
"I wish I could do something..."
"But your job starts tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah," she said glumly.
"It's alright. I just wanted to tell you. If you can, try to get to Allie's on the weekend or something if we haven't heard from him. She'd appreciate all the support she can get and I'll keep in touch."
"What else have you heard?"
"Well, actually Minnie Juniper, remember her?"
"Yeah," Lily said. "Uh-oh. What happened with her?"
Remus chuckled. "Nothing yet, but she goes to the same school as Josh."
"Oh, no."
"Yeah, I think Kaitlynne or Allie are going to try to get in touch with Daniel and see what's going on with that."
"Okay."
"Yeah, so that's all I know."
Lily nodded again. "Hold on…why'd you come here, though? Why not Alphamstone?"
"I did at first and I thought you'd still be there, but when I went looking for you and Sirius this afternoon, I found an empty house…literally. Sirius wasn't there and neither was any of your stuff. So I figured you'd be here. And Kaitlynne gave me this address last week so I decided to come here instead."
Lily nodded. "What about Sirius? Where was he?"
Remus laughed. "Funny story actually. I went back to my apartment to see if Peter was back yet and there he was…with Sirius. So, actually I had a chance to ask him if you were here. And that all happened about thirty minutes ago before I apparated here."
Lily nodded again, understanding it all…except for one thing. "Um…have you heard from…" but she stopped due to the lump in her throat.
"James?" he asked, and Lily nodded with agreement. "No," Remus sighed. "No one has but I'm betting he's still at the Auror office, straightening everything out and making sure You-Know-Who isn't coming back for any reason."
Lily sighed, figuring that was the answer she was going to get. "Okay."
"Don't worry about it, Lils. I actually have to leave in five minutes, but I came here to drop off your birthday gift," he said with a wink, giving her a wrapped present, which happened to be a pair of emerald green dress robes that she had wanted for a long time.
"Awww, thanks Remus. They're beautiful. And maybe I'll see you over the weekend if I have time to get out to England."
Remus smiled. "I'll keep in touch," he said, before apparating back to England.
"Was that a friend?" Andy asked, coming up behind her, making her jump a little.
Lily laughed. "Yeah. He just came by to talk to me about the lock-down, which I'm sure you heard of."
"Oh, definitely. I get a few wizardry channels here and a bunch of my friends are wizards," he explained. "And it did not look good. I hope everyone that you know is okay."
Lily just nodded, not sure as to what to say at this point. Oh, well my boyfriend could be dead somewhere and this guy that used to be my enemy but is now my friend's husband could be dead and this snobby, know-it-all prick could be dead as well. Oh, and there's nothing I can do about any of that, but you know, everything's great!! So Lily just said nothing.
*~*~*~*~*
The next few days were hectic for Lily, but at the same time they were great. She started her job early the next morning, still preoccupied with thoughts of James, but when she walked into the Random House for Wizardry building, she immediately forgot everything else except for publishing. She couldn't wait to get started, and after being showed around and after meeting her boss and her fellow workers and after being told what to do, she started doing small odd jobs for Dr. Rhonda Fleischer, her boss. The whole week was fun and she immediately fell in love with her job and with her co-workers.
Unfortunately, the nights were a different story.
Angel, I can feel it's not you
Angel, I wish it were not true
And as I walk to the beat of my heart inside
I feel like letting go
Oh darling, in my dream, you'll be tonight
Every night she'd go to bed hoping that a letter would appear for her or a phone call would be made just so she could know that James was okay…unfortunately, for the next five days, it was exactly the opposite. Everything was quiet and none of her friends had heard anything about him. She would take a last glance at the picture beside her bed of him before turning off the light and would cry herself to sleep every night holding on to the necklace Sirius and Savannah gave her.
Oh Mr. Postman
Give me a sign
Tell me you've a letter, to make me feel fine
Oh don't you know I am waiting here for you
Tell me it will be here tonight
On very early Sunday morning, May 30, two days before Lily and James' one-year anniversary, she had received a phone call from Sirius at two in the morning. It disturbed and woke up both her and Andy, but she knew it wasn't good if Sirius Black was up before ten o'clock in the morning, which she figured he was considering the time differences.
"Lily? Um…Savannah called me a few minutes ago."
"Yeah?" Lily said, barely audible and still groggy.
"Um…" he muttered.
Lily was now fully awake. "Oh, no. What happened, Sirius??"
He sighed. "This is really hard to say."
"Oh, God," she whispered breathlessly. "Just tell me and get it over with."
He sighed again. "Lily…Twenty-two out of thirty-four Aurors in Sir Sephilia's office died trying to protect the world from You-Know-Who, and seven of the eleven alive are all of the advanced Aurors, including Sir Sephilia and his Senior Advisor, Sir Raoul Torrington. They won't reveal the names of the living to us yet, but…well, I just wanted to tell you that a.s.a.p. before you found out from somebody else."
Lily didn't say anything back as she tried to hold in all the tears and unhappiness that was built up inside of her. She leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor as the tears rolled down her cheek and as she sobbed into the phone.
"We're here for you, Lily," Sirius said softly before hanging up the phone and giving Lily some time and privacy. She immediately wished that she could go back to England to see Sirius and Savannah and all of her friends, and she might have if she didn't have work to do later that morning.
That night, Sunday night that is, she had a sinking feeling at the bottom of her stomach that he wasn't ever coming back. And she couldn't help thinking about what a lousy anniversary it was. She didn't want to admit it, but every time they got close to a one-year anniversary, something always happened to prevent it and she never expected death to be a factor.
She tried to stop thinking about it, but that made it worse and everywhere she went she would see his face and see his memories. That night she didn't cry herself to bed or even shed one tear for him. She held the picture frame in her arms, and silently prayed that everything was working out for him wherever he was…in heaven, she thought not saying it out loud. She slowly took out the picture from the frame and said softly, "I love you James, but if I can't have you here…I don't want any of you," and with that she slowly ripped up the picture and threw the pieces into the trash, making most of the pieces just scatter across the floor around the waste basket. She thought she'd be bawling by then but instead she stared at the empty picture frame and sat on the floor for hours, just thinking of all of their memories together. She woke up the next morning still sitting on the floor and still in the clothes she had on the day before.
She didn't tell Andy anything, even though he could sense something was wrong. Savannah, Sirius, Kaitlynne, Peter and Remus had all called her Monday morning, but Lily shook her head at Andy when he offered the phone to her.
That evening she had an interview with her new internship manager, and had tried to put away all of the thoughts of James for that one evening so she wouldn't seen distracted, and it somewhat worked until Mrs. Goldman, her manager, had asked her what she missed most about England.
"Oh…" Lily said. "Um…I-I don't really know. My…er…friends, I guess," Lily said, trying not to cry.
"Oh, anyone in particular?"
Yes, Lily thought, as the tears sprang to her eyes. "Not really," she lied instead.
She went back to Andy's apartment—it was still too hard to call it her home at the time—on Saturday night in a strange, awkward mood, and walked in to find five strangers sitting around the living room drinking and laughing.
"Um…hello?" she said with a confused smile.
"Oh, hey, Lily," Andy said. "I would've told you about this, but I didn't know until about thirty minutes ago that they'd be here," he explained, laughing. Lily grinned at him, and at them all.
"Okay, you did not tell us you had another woman roommate," one of the guys said who was by far the tallest (and the cutest, she noted), about six feet two inches, with cute blonde spiked hair, very muscular and had the most gorgeous blue eyes she had ever seen. He winked at her. "And you never mentioned she was cute either."
Lily laughed, realizing it felt good to laugh after not laughing for a whole day. "I'm taking that as a compliment."
"You should," he said, winking again.
Andy rolled his eyes. "That's Shane Taylor."
"Nice to meet you," he said with a welcoming smile.
Andy pointed to another guy, who was leaning against the wall with a beer in his hand who looked older than the rest with dark hair and dark chocolate brown eyes. "That's Brett McAlester."
"Hi," he simply said, giving her a strange look as if he knew her already.
"That's Brad Holton," Andy said, pointing to a guy with spiked brown hair and brown eyes.
"Hey," he said with a warm smile.
"That's Erik Bremmington," Andy said pointing a guy with red, curly hair and green eyes and who was obviously older than her and Andy, and he smiled at Lily.
"And I'm Callie Bremmington," the only woman in the room, besides Lily, said. She was short with long, straight golden-blonde hair and she somewhat reminded her of Savannah, though definitely a little older.
"And this is Lily Evans," Andy introduced.
"Wait, did you go to Hogwarts?" Brett asked.
Lily nodded, surprised that he even knew about it. "Um…yeah."
"That's where I know you from. I went to Hogwarts my last two years of wizardry school. Weren't you friends with the Marauders?"
Lily nodded as it made her think of James, but she immediately pushed him out of her mind, just wanting to have a good time. "Yeah. Still am."
"Really? That's awesome. I never really got to know anyone there and right after graduation I moved out here to work at my father's company, where I met Shane and Erik who knew Andy…and I, of course, met Callie through Erik. She kinda came out of nowhere…too bad she's still not there," Brett teased laughing.
"Yeah, well at least I'm married happily and you're still living in that dump you call a home," Callie shot back, laughing.
"Hey, at least I'm not living with the dump," Brett fired back nodding at Erik, and they all laughed, including Lily.
"One of my good friends is Andy's cousin, who also attended Hogwarts," Lily explained to Brett.
"Which one? Vera, Jacob, or Kaitlynne?" he asked.
"Kaitlynne."
"Oh, good. I like her best anyway," he said, and they all laughed.
"Which is why you dated Vera for two months?" Shane said with a half-smile.
"Yeah…terrible mistake," Brett said with a laugh, which made them all laugh.
"Okay, so you're probably wondering why they are all here, but we're just celebrating Brett's birthday, which was actually yesterday," Andy explained.
"Oh, happy birthday," Lily said to Brett.
"Thanks," he said with a grateful smile and a wink.
"Lily's birthday was last weekend," Andy informed.
"Oh, happy birthday!" they all cooed, and Lily couldn't help but blush for some unapparent reason.
"So how long have you been in California?" Brad asked Lily.
"Since about…very, very early Tuesday morning, like three o'clock or whatnot," she explained.
"Oh, not that long, then," Shane said.
Lily shook her head. "Not at all. I got a job at Random House for Wizardry and I started on Wednesday, and I was glad that Kaitlynne had told me that Andy needed a roommate. And here I am."
"I work at Random House, also," Callie said. "What division do you work under?"
"Publishing with Dr. Rhonda Fleischer."
"Oh. I worked there for a year before I moved up on the Board with Dr. Fred Severns as my boss now."
"Really?" Lily said, truly interested.
"Okay, is it just me or is this starting to sound really boring?" Brad asked faking a yawn, and they all laughed.
"Well, I'm sorry that we're more advanced than you technology junkies," Callie teased, and she and Lily roared with laughter.
"I don't think we're wanted," Brett commented.
"I think you're right, Brett," Brad said.
Callie whispered to Lily conspiratorially loud enough for them all to hear "These five should have been rocket scientists. Nothing gets by them."
Erik's mouth was playfully agape. "I think she just insulted us."
"I think you're right, Erik," Shane said.
"See what I mean?" Callie said, nodded as if her point were proven. "Rocket scientists." And they all laughed simultaneously just as there was a knock on the door.
"Hmm…I wonder who that is?" Andy thought out loud, just as Lily stood up to grab a beer from the kitchen.
"I'll get it," Andy offered, placing down his beer and walking towards the door. The person knocked again, and Andy yelled impatiently, "Hold on! I'm coming!"
He opened the door slightly so that the door was hiding everyone in the room from the person at the door and he saw someone who looked vaguely familiar, but he still didn't know who it was. "Um…can I help you?"
"Does Lily Evans live here?"
"Uh…yeah. And who are you?"
"A friend," the person said smugly. "Is she in now? I really need to talk to her."
"Yeah, she's here," Andy said, opening the door further.
"Thanks, Andy," the person said, walking into the room to see six other people there drinking and laughing and playing around. "Oh…hello."
Andy didn't even realize that the person said his name until Brett pointed it out. "How did that person know your name?"
Andy stood there stunned. "I-I don't know. I don't know who that was."
"Okay, this is just too horror film-like for me," Erik complained.
"How is this like a horror film?" Shane asked with a smirk.
"Oh, come on. Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer? They were stalkers!" he cried, laughing. [a/n: okay, I know these movies didn't come out until the nineties, but I didn't feel like looking up the names of horror movies that were shown in theater before the eighties! J]
"Why did I ever marry you?" Callie wondered, grinning at him.
This is when Lily got her head out of the refrigerator and turned around to go back towards the living room, figuring that another one of Andy's friends was going to be there, but instead she dropped the beer bottle in shock, making it spill all over and shatter into a thousand little piece and she gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth.
The 'stalker' was about to say something, but when he opened his mouth he found that he couldn't talk. But they both found that they didn't need words to describe what had just happened.
Lily literally jumped over the kitchen chair to get to the person. "James!" she gasped, before pulling him into a long, gratifying hug where they both ended up shedding a few tears for each other and there they stood in each other's arms, not talking, not moving, not making a sound except for an occasional sniffle, and yet…completely satisfied.
Author's Note (and disclaimer…): Yay!!! James is back!!!!! But what happened to Minnie? Hm….and what is going to happen between Remus and Kaitlynne? Hm…oh and those three songs didn't belong to me. "Please Remember," is by LeeAnn Rimes. "Halfway 'Round the World," is by A-Teens (don't ask how I know this song…). "Oh, Mr. Postman," is by B*Witched (again, don't ask…). Also, those movies I mentioned weren't mine (but you probably knew that!). There was a line from FRIENDS also, that's not too obvious but it isn't mine. There was a conversation in there that was from a Nicholas Sparks book. If anyone can guess which part of my story is from that book and guess that book, I'll add your name(s) into the next chapter!! I hope you enjoyed and pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez R/R!!!
