Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Twenty ll Seven More Random Acts
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"Oh good Lord, this is really, really BAD!" came Lily's muffled yell, as she trashed her bedroom. It was, indeed, very bad. Well, to her anyway.
"If I don't find it..." Lily threw off the covers of her bed, "Then I am so dead!"
"What is it?" Petunia asked, hearing her younger sister's yells and leaning against the doorjamb.
"My favourite green hoodie!" Lily yelled, coming out from her almost walk-in wardrobe.
"You brought it back from your school?" Petunia said incredulously, poking at Lily's messy laundry basket in hopes to find the jumper.
"Yes! Of course I did. I mean, generally, I don't have to pack too much, but--!" the redhead dived under her bed, "It's my favourite piece of clothing and I'm not going anywhere without it!"
Lily was packing all the Muggle clothes she had brought back from Hogwarts, back into her suitcase. She was going back to school the next day, but Rose had insisted she finish her packing before twilight.
"Stupid -- JUMPER!" Lily yelled, in a flary temper. Not finding her things always made her moody.
Petunia grinned, "It's not a stupid jumper. When was the last time you wore it, anyway? Wasn't it when you went to visit your boyfriend?"
Lily jumped up and glared at her sister, "HE IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND! HE IS -- SOME -- PRAT! AHHH, PETUNIA YOU'RE SO MEAN!" She began throwing cushions and stuffed animals at her.
Petunia continued to laugh as she escaped from her angry sister.
"Lily! What in heaven's name are you doing up here?! I declare, you're louder than a stampede of elephants. And your room!" Rose exclaimed, as soon as she had gone up to see her daughter.
"Mum!" Lily shrieked, ignoring everything her mother had just said, "Where is my hoodie?!"
"You mean the green one?" Rose said with a little sigh. Her daughter was very attached to that jumper.
"Yes!"
"It's in the wash--"
"In the wash?!" Lily shrieked, sounding hysterical, "WHAT IS IT DOING IN THE WASH?!"
"Lily, calm down!"
Lily huffed and slumped down onto her bed. It was just a jumper, but still...
"Hey Inferno!"
The latter turned her head and looked out of her bedroom window, which in turn, looked directly through James' window. Not a very comfortable position, according to Lily.
"Go away!" Lily yelled, feeling her temper flare right up again. Stupid Potter. She slammed down her window and shut the curtains.
"Lily!" Rose exclaimed, looking shocked.
"Sorry mum, but he's so -- annoying!"
Rose rolled her eyes, "That's no way to treat a guest."
"A guest?!"
"Yes Lily, a guest."
"He's not a guest!" Lily spluttered, "He's some random-- some random--!"
"That's quite enough. Your jumper's in the wash, so that's all settled. I want your room tidy, spotless, Lily. And also, have you finished your packing?"
"No!"
"Well, then do so. And hurry yourself up Lily, I want a good family dinner before we let you off again."
Lily rolled her eyes.
Rose intercepted the look and smiled, "Now don't give me that look, miss."
"Alright, alright."
Rose left her bedroom, as Lily walked around it, throwing stuff back to their original places.
On her bed was a black suitcase, open, and inside was a messy clutter of coloured garments.
Hanging, neatly and freshly ironed, on the handle of her wardrobe, was her Hogwarts uniform, ready to be worn the next day.
Lily threw the last of her belongings into her suitcase, mentally noting to get her jumper back the next morning, and shut her suitcase. Well, that was one task off of her mind.
She tidied her room up to Petunia's standards (which was really saying something, as Petunia was a neat-freak and hated all kinds of messes) and then started down the stairs.
Once Lily had reached the bottom of the stairs, she immediately took note of where the rest of her family were. Dad in the den, Petunia in the living room and mum in the kitchen.
As the redhead walked to the living room, she heard voices. She decided that Petunia had company. It had better not be Vernon, but that didn't seem too promising as it was a male voice.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Heya Inferno," said a familiar messy black-haired boy.
"What -- what are you doing here?!" Lily cried, looking aghast.
Petunia smiled some more, "He came over. Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone..."
"Noooo!" Lily ran up to her sister and grabbed her knees, "You're staying here!"
"Lily, let go," said an impatient Petunia, "I'm making dessert tonight."
"Pet!"
Petunia couldn't hide her smile, "If you let go, I'll make my special chocolate sundaes."
Lily groaned; she loved Petunia's sundaes. They were her favourite.
"Fine," she grumbled, letting go.
"How do you do?" James said, as soon as Petunia had left.
"Perfectly well," Lily answered back elegantly, though she was tired and -- angry.
"That's lovely," James replied.
"Are you staying for dinner?" Lily asked, just to make conversation.
"No. I'm just visiting."
"How's you arm?"
"It's fine."
"How's your parents?"
"Is this twenty questions?"
"Hey, I'm doing the asking. How's your parents?"
"They're good."
"That's nice."
"Is this twenty questions?"
"Not anymore."
"Okay."
"I'm hungry."
"I'm not."
"Have you heard from Sirius and the others?"
"Sirius and Remus, yes. Not the others, though."
"The end of Christmas is sad."
"That it is," James agreed.
"Potter, are you gay?"
"WHAT?!"
Lily began laughing, "That conversation was just too dull."
"Well, if you had to stretch to those limits, then I suppose you must've been really bored," James said uncomfortably, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Lily just continued to chuckle.
"Are you gay?"
"I'm happy," Lily smiled, showing her teeth.
"But do you swing the other way?" James asked cheekily.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yup."
"I don't think you are."
"Oh, shut up."
...
"Guess what?" James piped up.
"What?"
"We go back to Hogwarts tomorrow."
"I knew that."
"No you didn't."
Lily sighed as James just grinned. Annoying Lily -- one of his hobbies.
--Platform Nine And Three-Quarters--
"Take the Knight Bus home... but take the Hogwarts Express back to school. Only during Christmas and Easter breaks. How odd is that," Lily mumbled, as she slipped onto the bright scarlet steam train. James was closely following her.
"It's nothing too odd," James said matter-of-factly, plopping in a seat opposite Lily's once they had found an empty compartment, "It's quite natural."
"Well, I guess," Lily said doubtfully.
They were about to return back to dear old Hogwarts. Their parents had driven them to King's Cross, after a frenzied morning of eating and packing and finding random missing items, then had said their tearful and practical goodbyes, then had crossed to the sacred platform. And now they were on the train.
"I wonder where Paige and Anna and the others are," Lily wondered out loud.
"They're on the train somewhere, I guess. If we hadn't come so late, then we would've seen them on the platform," James said practically.
"Excuse me, it's not my fault we came about fifty seconds before the train was about to take off," Lily retaliated.
"Or maybe it was..." James said sneakily.
"Argh. You're impossible."
Little smidges of interested conversation happened between the two, all the way to Hogwarts. James almost bought out the trolley with food, which he ended up sharing most of with Lily.
Finally, they had reached the castle.
First destination, like usually, was not the Great Hall, but the common-room.
"Hehe, we're back we're really back," James grinned, looking like a maniac.
Lily began giggling at his face, "Merlin, you look as if you've just won the lottery!
"The what?!"
When they had walked into the common-room, Lily could just remember seeing the familiar scarlet room briefly -- before someone knocked her out.
"LILY!"
It was Paige.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" the brunette squealed, "Lily!"
"Paige!" Lily imitated her best friend, grinning hugely.
"Hey girl!" Anna greeted, coming up to Lily as well.
"Anna!" Lily hugged her other friend. Honestly, it was wonderful seeing them, despite only being apart for a week.
"Look at the Marauders," Paige sniggered. The girls looked across the common-room just in time to see Sirius yell "Group hug!", and him pulling his friends into a brotherly hug.
Lily and Anna both smiled, it was certainly a comical act.
"When did you guys get here?" Lily asked them, feeling excited.
"Oh, ages ago," Paige brushed the subject away, "There was the choice of catching the Hogwarts Express or the Knight Bus. My parents wanted me to take the Knight Bus, and Anna came along the way."
"And Remus and Sirius," Anna added.
"Well if I had known, I would've caught the bus too, instead of being stuck on the Hogwarts Express with no one but Potter," Lily said in disgust.
"Oh come on Lil, we can see your little tete-a-tetes are showing," Anna teased, "You and James..."
"Why does everyone say that?" Lily wondered out loud.
Lily had her share of hugs with the boys, before they all sat in their usual-group-way, talking about their Christmases. And as Lily sat there in Gryffindor common-room, chatting and laughing with her friends, she smiled inwardly.
She was home.
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---->A/N: I like Christmas. Lol. Thank you for reviewing! --MSQ.