A/N: Hey, I'm baaaaaack!  Okay, not much to say here except that I now know how to work my computer!  So everything is gong to be good!  More updates!  Yay (be happy!)!!  Anyhow, thanks to those who reviewed, and let's move on to the story!! 

Disclaimer: See previous chapters (I'm too lazy to write anything longer…)

MEMORIES

CHAPTER 10: Out of the Loop

Written by Foxy

            The next morning, Savannah and Sirius apparated to Daniel and Minnie's house in Godric's Hollow and were surrounded by hundreds of people they didn't even know.  Luckily Sirius spotted Josh and Allie talking to a group of young-looking people about the same age as them and they walked over to where they all were.

            "Allie!" Savannah cried, giving her a hug.  Savannah turned to Josh and punched him lightly on the shoulder.  "How could you make me worry about Allie like that??"

            "Oh, so you don't worry about me, you worry about Allie," Josh said rolling his eye with a silly grin on his face.  He and Savannah both knew that they never really liked each other much in Hogwarts, but things have changed.  If Allie could find the good deep down inside of Josh, then so could Savannah (she hoped…).   Savannah and Josh both wanted to forget their differences.

            "Weren't you the one who made fun of me graduation night for breaking up with Sirius?" Savannah smirked.

            Josh laughed.  "Oops?  Yeah, but you were the one who made my pants fall down in the middle of my speech at dinner that night!"

            They all laughed.  "Oops?" she mimicked.

            "Okay, okay, okay.  We're even," Josh said.  "Friends?"

            Savannah grinned.  "Fine, but no more making fun of me…besides I'm dating Si-Si now."

            He groaned.  "Again?" he said.  Savannah gave him a look.  "I mean…great!!!"  They all laughed again.

            "Um…so why is everyone crowded in this tiny house today…everyone meaning people I don't even know?"  Sirius dared to ask.

            Josh and Allie exchanged awkward glances.  "Y-You don't know?"

            "Didn't know what?" Savannah asked slowly, afraid of what was coming next.

            "We just came by because Daniel asked us to last night," Sirius pointed out.

            "Oh," Josh said uncomfortably, fidgeting with the buckles on his khakis. 

            "What happened?" Sirius asked, afraid to know the answer to that question.

            "Um…this morning…uh…they…well…"Allie started, but tears sprang to her eyes.

            "No…" Savannah said slowly, dragging it out.

            Josh nodded.  "They found her body this morning," he said barely audible as lump formed in his throat.  "Buried under mountains of dust, boulders, bricks, and…and other bodies."

            "Oh, no!" Savannah cried shaking her head forlornly, as the tears spilled down her face.  "Where's Daniel?"

            "In the kitchen surrounded by relatives.  Good luck getting through there," Allie explained.  "No one has been able to talk to him for over an hour now."

            Savannah and Sirius walked into the kitchen where, sure enough, he was surrounded by grandparents and aunts and uncles and parents and cousins. 

            "Danny?" Savannah whispered quietly.

            He looked up and broke away from his crowd, finishing the conversation abruptly.  "Oh, Savannah," he said, tears already spread all over his cheeks. Daniel and Savannah used to be neighbors and knew each other ever since first grade. In Hogwarts, Daniel and Savannah had been the best of friends, going everywhere together and doing everything together. At the time, if Daniel wasn't dating Minnie, and Savannah wasn't 'dating' Sirius, then people would've sworn they would have gone out by their seventh year.  If Savannah wasn't hanging out with Sirius, she was hanging out with Daniel.  If she wasn't hanging out with Daniel, she was hanging out with Lily, Allie, and Kaitlynne.  Unfortunately, after graduation, Minnie and Daniel moved to France, and Daniel and Savannah had separated and lost touch for a while.

            "I'm sorry," Savannah kept repeating.  "I'm so, so sorry."

            They held on to each other for a long time and Sirius snuck out to go find Allie and Josh again, knowing that Savannah and Daniel would be there for a while.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

            Savannah and Sirius got home late that afternoon, after spending seven hours at Daniel's house, even after everyone left.  Savannah sat by Daniel's side for comfort for as long as he needed it and Sirius refused to leave them there alone.  Daniel needed friends, and Savannah and Sirius gave him that.

            Savannah and Sirius walked into Sirius' house around five o'clock, exhausted and depressed.

            "I can't believe this has happened," Savannah mumbled mournfully.  "She was so young.  She doesn't deserve this!"

            "No one ever deserves to die, Vannie," Sirius pointed out, throwing the keys on to the table beside the front door.

            "I know," Savannah muttered.  "But…but…it's different when it happens to someone you know."

            Sirius nodded in agreement.  "I know."

            As Sirius walked into the kitchen to grab a couple of sodas, Savannah watched him closely as she plopped on to the couch.  She didn't know what she'd do if Sirius ever died.  She didn't want to think about it, but for some reason, that's all that was going through her mind.  Sirius was her life and her reason for living.  He was always there for support and always did things that made Savannah know they were completely in love. 

            She sighed and suddenly there was a knock on the door.

            "I've got it, Si!" Savannah cried, getting up and walking towards the door.

            When she opened it, she frowned deeply.  "What are you doing here?"

            "Savannah, I'm so sorry," James apologized sincerely, ready to get down on his hands and knees for forgiveness.

            "Why?  Aren't I just a snot-nosed, spoiled brat?" Savannah replied crossly.

            "No," James urged earnestly.  "You're everything but that.  You're one of my best friends and I wish I could take back everything that I had said to you yesterday!  I never intended on hurting you and I hate it when you're mad at me!  If I—"

            "James, I'm not mad," Savannah said quietly.

            "—could do anything…wait, what?  You're not?"

            "No."

            "But…but…I had a whole speech planned!  I'm not even half-finished!   I was getting ready to grovel at your feet and kiss your toes!"

            Savannah grinned.  "Well, if you really want to grovel at my feet, I wouldn't mind that."

            James laughed.  "Savannah, I really do deserve your anger.  I said some things that I never should have said.  Especially to you.  You have always been there for Lily and me, and what I said was just stupid!"

            "James, you can be an idiot sometimes," Savannah smirked, chuckling to herself.  "But I realized today that you were just defending yourself.  Listen, right now, you and I aren't the issue.  Daniel needs us, and I can't bear to live with you mad at me at this time.  I spent almost half a day with Danny and I realized that you almost died last week!!  I should not be screaming at you!  I should be hugging you!  Kissing you!  Praising you!  Celebrating!  I should not be scolding you!  If that was you who had died, I never would have been able to live with myself."

            "But it wasn't me," James said softly.  "I'm not going anywhere.  I will never hurt you again like I did yesterday, Savannah.  Thanks for understanding."

            "So do we agree to disagree with this whole Lily situation?" Savannah said.

            "Yes.  And let's just leave it at that."

            Savannah smiled widely and gave him a very unexpected hug.  "Welcome home, James."

            "Thanks," James whispered back, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.  "It's good to be back…"

            James walked away after that and Savannah smiled again as she closed the door and turned back to where Sirius was leaning against the kitchen door with an all-knowing smile on his face.

            "Don't say 'I told you so,'" Savannah said, walking over to him with a smile on her face.

            "Hey, I never get to be right!" Sirius complained.  "But this time I told you that you two would make up, and I was right!!"

            "Don't get used to it," Savannah muttered.

            He laughed as he leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss.  "I told you so…"     

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

            Four days later, they had the funeral and everyone was there.  Daniel's parents, brothers, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, Minnie's parents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, neighbors, co-workers, Sirius, Josh, Remus, Peter, James, Savannah, Allie, and Kaitlynne. 

            Halfway through the service, both Savannah and Sirius noticed that Lily wasn't there, and wondered why but didn't say anything until afterward. 

            ……Actually, James noticed from the beginning, but he wasn't about to admit to that.

            At the reception, back at Daniel's house, Savannah asked Sirius, "Where's Lily?"

            He was taken aback.  "I thought you'd know!"

            "But…"  Savannah looked at him speechless.  "Oh, my gosh!  No one told Lily about Minnie."

            Sirius took a long sigh and drawled it out.  "Could this day get any worse?" he groaned.

            James came up from behind them, knowing what they were talking about already, but asked, "What are you guys talking about?"  

            Savannah and Sirius exchanged looks and hesitated before answering.  "Lily," they both said.

            "Oh…why isn't she here?" he asked, trying to act casual.

            Savannah sighed.  "Because no one told her."

            "Wh-what??"

            "Yeah.  We were so caught up with everyone that I guess we all forgot," Sirius explained.

            "She's not going to like the fact she missed this," James pointed out.

            "How do you know that?" Sirius asked.

            James sighed.  "We may not be dating now, but I knew her better than anyone, and I still do.  She's going to feel so out of the loop now.  She's going to feel like everyone forgot about her since she's moved out to California."

            Savannah sighed.  "I know…I know."

            "Soooo," James said casually.  "I'm guessing you haven't heard from her lately."

            Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend, who was still obviously in love with her.  "No, we've been too busy.  I talked to her June 1, which was the last time."

            James nodded and Savannah agreed with Sirius.  "Yeah, I haven't exactly been the best of friends with her at the moment," she sighed.

            "Don't worry about it, Vannie," Sirius said, rubbing her neck.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

            "Where the hell have you been these past few days?" Lily screamed into the phone when Savannah answered Sunday afternoon, as she was getting ready to fly back to Canada to go on tour with the Silver Snitches.

            Savannah felt incredibly guilty and didn't want to tell her, but she knew she had to.  "Well, I'm staying with Sirius for this week as the lock-down cools down and I got a leave of absence for it and-"

            "How did you manage that?" Lily asked.  "You just told them you wanted to be with your boyfriend?"

            Savannah sighed, knowing it was the moment of truth.  "Not exactly.  My reason for Monday was that my friends' spouses weren't found yet and I wanted to be there."

            "Oh, my God!  That's right!  What happened with Josh and Minnie?" Lily suddenly remembered.

            "Well…I was able to get another leave of absence for the rest of the week because…" she trailed off.

            "Oh, no.  Don't do this to me, Savannah Lydia Turner!" Lily scolded.  "What happened!?!?"

            "Uh…Josh came home," she said plainly.  "And…"

            "SAVANNAH!" Lily screamed again, making Andy paranoid in the other room.  "WHAT HAPPENED!?"

            Savannah sighed.  "Minnie died, Lily."

            There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Savannah wasn't sure Lily heard her until Lily suddenly said, "Oh, my God.  How's Danny??  How's he doing? And how is everyone else dealing with it?  Oh, and when's the funeral??"

            Savannah went silent this time, knowing that Lily was about to blow up in her face.  "Danny's going to be okay.  And I'm fine, and Sirius and Remus and Kaitlynne and Peter and Allie and Josh are all dealing with it." 

            "What about the funeral?" Lily asked.

            Savannah hesitated again, "Lily, I've been so busy with Danny lately, and so have Allie and Josh, and Sirius had been supportive with everything.  He's always there to run out to the store to get something or be by anyone's side. Then there's Remus who was still worried about his sister—she's fine now—and Kaitlynne was staying with him helping him out and Peter only swung by everyone's place on Wednesday and since then he was just everywhere helping out with everyone, and he's gotten no sleep lately.  In fact I haven't slept a wink in days and I've been staying over at Danny's house a lot lately and Kaitlynne and Remus were caught up with Charlotte, his sister, so they've been pretty out of it.  And Sirius has been in and out of everyone's house, sleeping whenever he got the chance wherever he got the chance and Peter had to work through most of the nights and-"

            "Savannah?  What are you talking about?" Lily asked slowly, realizing that in her long lecture she never once spoke of James. 

            Savannah sighed, realizing there wasn't any good explanation for this.  She took a deep breath in and then out and said, "The funeral was yesterday morning."

            Again, there was silence on the other end of the phone, but Lily didn't say anything.

            "Lily?" Savannah said.

            "Soooo….basically, you were all too busy to write Lily a letter or call Lily to explain that Danny needs support and that there's a funeral going on that I should be at?" Lily cried crossly.

            "Lily, I'm sor-"

            "No, don't say you're sorry," Lily snapped.  "If you were sorry you would've realized that there's someone in California who can't just pop back to England whenever she likes and doesn't know what's happening unless she's informed!  If you were sorry you would've thought about how your best friend would feel to find out another friend's wife is dead…a day late!  If you were really sorry, you would've picked up the phone in a second and called me to explain the situation!  You're not sorry, you're just unbelievably short-winded!"

            "Lily-"

            "No, you have no right talking to me right now, Savannah!  Nor does Sirius or Remus or Kaitlynne or Peter or Allie or Josh or whoever!!!  I'm stuck in California, and I have no idea what's even happening with my goddamned friends!  And you call this a friendship!" she sneered.  "Tell Sirius that he was obviously mistaken when he said that we'll always keep in touch!  And tell Sirius that his girlfriend should be more observant of her best friend who is completely oblivious to everything going on in England!! Oh, and tell Danny that I'm sorry and that I'll call him later when I calm down and I'm done yelling at my pathetic excuse for a best friend!" Lily finished, before slamming the phone down, understanding that she was a little too harsh and shouldn't have taken out her built-up anger on Savannah.

            Savannah was hurt by what Lily said, but she realized she felt more guilty than anything.  Yes, Lily had been a little harsh on her and she thought she'd be more angry, but she wasn't.  She was more angry at herself than she was at Lily. 

            "Who was that?" Sirius asked walking downstairs.  He had slept late, until noon and then had taken a long, satisfying shower.

            Savannah sighed.  "Lily."

            "And I'm guessing she did not take the whole missing-the-funeral-thing so well."

            Savannah shook her head.  "She called me a pathetic excuse for a best friend and short-winded.  She said I shouldn't be sorry for what happened because that it shouldn't have happened at all.  Oh and she tells you that the whole 'keeping in touch' thing is not working and you were obviously mistaken and to tell your girlfriend that she should be more observant of her best friend who was oblivious to everything happening in England."

            Sirius sighed, and walked over to her, giving her a kiss on the forehead.  "Oh, honey, she's not mad at you, she's just angry that no one bothered to tell her about Minnie.  Don't feel bad."

            Savannah shook her head.  "But that's the thing…I don't feel bad.  I feel guilty.  I feel stupid.  I feel worthless.  I feel pathetic.  I feel disloyal.  I feel horrible.  The list keeps going.  But mostly…I feel angry with myself.  She's right.  I shouldn't be sorry because it shouldn't have happened.  I just…got caught up with everything and forgot about her for one measly second in my life." 

            "Vannie, if anyone should feel guilty and horrible, it shouldn't be you.  You have been of much obliged help to Danny, and he needed it.  He needed your support and you gave him that.  Dealing with death is painful…trust me, I've been there.  All he needed was a good friend to be there, and that was you.  You did a good thing this week, Vannie, and here I am realizing that I haven't done much at all to benefit anyone.  I've just been around, helping out with you and Danny, and with Remus and Kaitlynne and Peter, and James, and basically worthless things.  They didn't help anyone.  I'm the worthless one here!"

            "No way.  I might have been there for Danny, but I've been there all week.  You've been helping everyone, and that's what they need!  As long as they have your support that's great!  I only gave my time to one person.  Besides, Lily's my best friend!!!  I'm the worthless one!"

            "No way!!!  You-"

            Savannah interrupted him by erupting with a loud, hyena-type laugh which made Sirius stare.  "Sirius, we're arguing over who's more worthless.  This argument is worthless!!!"

            Sirius laughed with her.  "You're right, Vannie.  Let's just agree that we're both worthless," and they both laughed.

            "Okay…but I'm more worthless," she muttered.

            "Not if I can help it," he muttered back, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

            "I'm leaving in two hours and that's all I get?" she asked.

            "Oh, no way.  I'm just waiting for the right time in this two-hour period to give you more," he said with a playful grin.

            "Fine, how about we go upstairs and do the packing?" Savannah said expressionless.

            "Packing??  Is that my new nickname?" he asked with a wink and Savannah laughed.  "Let's just hope there aren't tons of clothes sprawled out on your bed," he teased.

            "No, I made sure that stayed clean," she said with a grin before dragging him upstairs.

*~*~*~*~*

            Sirius heard a knock on his door the next night and after putting down the remote and the popcorn he had in his hands, he went to see who it was.

            "Hi, Sirius," Lily said slowly.

            "Lily!" he cried, sounding very surprised.

            "I know you're wondering why I'm here, right?"

            "Well…uh…yeah, kinda."

            "I was just wondering if Savannah was still here."

            Sirius winced.  "She left last night," he said with a straining face as if he already knew why she wanted see her.

            "By the look on your face I'm guessing Savannah had told you what I said."

            Sirius put on a guilty look.  "Well…yeah."

            "Maybe…maybe I'll just send her a letter or something to her dorm," Lily thought out loud.  "Well, I'm sorry to bother you."

            "You're not.  I was just watching a movie alone on a Saturday night.  Pathetic, right?" he grinned. 

            "Yeah, well I better go anyway."

            "Why?" Sirius asked.

            Lily sighed.  For some reason, it just felt uncomfortable standing there with him.  Mostly because of what had happened with Savannah and her, but also because of the fact that she couldn't help but remember that she didn't live there anymore.  California was her home and that's where it was going to be.  She felt out of the loop with everyone…especially standing in from of her former house.    "I-I just don't belong anymore," she whispered.

            "What are you talking about?!" Sirius cried, trying not to laugh.

            "I don't live here anymore, Sirius.  Everything has changed and I just feel…out of the loop," she said miserably.

            "But you're not out of the loop…at least, I won't let it happen.  You do belong because you're my friend.  That's all that matters, Lily."

            "Will I always be?"

            "Yes.  I don't care if you become a penguin and live in Antarctica!!  I'd still come visit you.  I'd have to wear ten jackets and twenty pairs of gloves and thirty pairs of socks and get a pair of those snow pants and it would be pretty hard to find you considering you'd look like everyone else on the damn continent, but if I had to spend the rest of my life searching for you on that damn piece of sheer ice, so be it.  I refuse to lose a friendship with you just because you moved to California."

            Lily couldn't help but smile.  "A penguin?  Couldn't I be a koala bear or something where I don't have to live in the freezing cold?"

            "You are totally missing the point here."

            "No, I got it.  I just don't want to be a penguin."

            "I'm sorry, why am I your friend?" he teased.

            "Quack."

            "Penguins don't quack!!" Sirius said with a laugh.

            Lily laughed.  "I know.  But it would just sound stupid if I said, 'Waddle, waddle.'"

            They both laughed.

            "Okay, well I got to get home now, but if you talk to Savannah before I do, just tell her I was looking for her," Lily said, turning around.

            "Savannah isn't mad at you, if that's what you were wondering."

            Lily stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around.  "What?  How could she not be?"

            "She claims it was all her fault because she never told you.  Actually, we all feel really bad.  Both Savannah and I feel horribly guilty for not going to you right away.  We're really sorry, and we promise to stay in touch with you about everything that happens."

            "You shouldn't feel guilty.  You both had a lot on your minds, what with Minnie and all, and I do understand a little, but I don't want this to happen every time something terrible or something excellent happens."

            "It won't.  I refuse to let that happen again.  Trust me; I've learned my lesson and so has everyone else."

            "I just…I just felt so bad when I found out…too late.  I wanted to be there for Daniel and I wasn't. He needed all the support he could get, and I wasn't there giving him any."

            "I'm so sorry, Lily."

            "So am I.  I shouldn't have yelled at Savannah the way I did.  I was just frustrated with the whole moving to California situation."

            "So are the rest of us," Sirius said wearily.         

            Lily sighed.  "Speaking of California, I guess I've got to be getting back.  I've got a lot of stuff to do."

            "Don't," Sirius urged.  "Stay here.  I haven't spent much time with you since you left."

            "But-"

            "Please?  I'm asking you as you fellow penguin!"

            Lily laughed.  "Fine, fine…as long as I don't have to watch any nature videos about penguins."

            Sirius laughed as he closed the door behind her…he knew that this would be just like old times!

A/N:  REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Okay, this was a strange (and kinda long…) chapter.  Very sad and hard to write.  But this WILL lead to other things happening in the future!  YAY!!  So review……….