SUMMARY: Lily goes to Hogwarts, and James goes to Beauxbatons. They've been writing letters to each other since their 3rd year. What happens when James gets transferred to Hogwarts?
A/N: *sighs blissfully* I've just been on vacation for the last half a month, and I'm finally home. It's crazy how much you end up missing it! Of course, another reason I could be so happy right now is because I'm listening to Clay Aiken's (in case you don't know who he is, he came in 2nd on American Idol) two singles, "Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "This Is The Night" I love Clay though, he rocks my socks! Oh yeah, and for anyone who has read the 5th book, e-mail me or if you have MSN Messenger, add me. And even if you haven't read the fifth book, e-mail me or add me to MSN Messenger, I love having people to talk to! Sweetness_grrl@hotmail.com for anyone who's too lazy to look at my profile. Hehehe, anyways, here's the next installment of Meeting Lily.
Chapter 5: Fifth Year
Lily sat in the back of her mother's car, not anxiously awaiting the trip to her Fifth Year of Hogwarts at all. She had made Prefect somehow; she didn't know how she had made it with her ditsy exterior. Lily was, however, happy to leave her house. Petunia loathed her as much as ever, and her parents had finally gotten a divorce, making her mother very unhappy and depressed. Besides the fact that Lily's mom stayed in her room for days at a time, sulking, the divorce was mostly a good thing. The bickering that last year had filled the house day in and day out had almost completely ceased, except for the arguments between Lily and Petunia.
"Almost there," Lily's mom said dully, carelessly swerving into the next lane and almost getting them in an accident.
"Mom, be careful!" Lily said through clenched teeth, holding onto the hand rests for dear life. "I'd like to get to Hogwarts in one piece!"
"Why, couldn't your friends at your freak school put you back together?" Sneered Petunia from the front seat, looking quite proud of herself for coming up with such a clever joke.
Lily stared at her for a moment, shaking her head. She opened her mouth several times as if to tell her sister just how big of an idiot she was, but finally, not being able to come up with words of just how she felt about Petunia, she rolled her eyes and looked out the window. Walking down the sidewalk she saw a happy couple holding hands, both smiling happily and not seeming to be able to take their eyes off each other. Lily sighed deeply, feeling very lonely. Earlier that summer Orion had told her how he felt about her and how he thought he was in love with her, and they had been long-distance dating for the better part of two months. Lily wanted nothing more then to be able to see him, touch him, hear his voice, but as long as she lived in England and he lived in France, it was highly unlikely that they would be meeting.
"Here we are," Lily's mother said, swerving up onto the sidewalk by the entrance of Kings Cross. "Bye." She said as Lily got out of the car and headed for the trunk, where her belongings currently were. The second she had taken out her suitcase, her mom drove off, leaving Lily feeling very angry and sad on the curb. Couldn't she have at least gotten out of the car and hugged her daughter? Before she could even move, however, a second car drove up just where her mothers had been seconds before, and the person she loathed beyond anyone stepped out.
"Potter," she said coldly, glaring daggers at James. The boy had made her fourth year a living hell at Hogwarts last year, and everything about him bugged her, down to his messy hair and goofy grin.
"Evans," he said, smirking at her slightly. "Where are your giggling group of bimbos?"
"Maybe they're shoved up your--"
A batty-looking old lady with thick round glasses, which magnified her eyes by about ten, cut her off. She was wearing one snow-boot and one sandal, a bright orange dress mostly covered by a fluffy pink apron with the words "Kiss the Cook" flashing across it. Her hair was white and flying all over the place, reminding her strongly of one of the clouds currently hovering over them. "Mr. Moo Moo!" she said, smiling and crying at the same time as she rushed over to give James a big kiss. "I'll miss you so much while you're gone--" she paused for a moment, spotting Lily. "Aww, Pookie, you never told me you had a lady friend!" She raised her eyebrows at him and nudged him in the ribs, and it was all Lily could do to keep from bursting out laughing.
"I'm Lily." She said, smiling at the old lady.
"Lily, it's wonderful to meet you!" she exclaimed, and began walking towards Lily. Lily stuck out her hand, expecting to shake it, but she enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug.
"I was starting to worry about my little Cozy-boy here!" she said, smiling at James, who was beet-red with embarrassment. "He hadn't mentioned one girl this summer, I was beginning to worry he liked, well... " She leaned forward. "Boys."
Lily burst out laughing, but quickly turned it into a cough. "Yes, well, you can never be too sure." She said after she recovered, though her mouth kept twitching, trying to hold in the laughter fighting to come out.
The old lady looked as if she was about to say something, but James cut her off. "Well Grams, I'd better be going, I can't miss the train," he said, face still flaming red.
"Oh, my little poopoo, I'll miss you so much!" Said James's Grandmother, giving him a huge hug and kissing him all over his face, leaving orangey-red lipstick marks all over his cheeks and forehead. "Write me bunches, sweetiebooboo!"
"I will," James said, grabbing his trunk quickly and walking away as fast as he could possibly go.
"Oh wait, Mr. Moo Moo!" Lily called after James in a baby-voice, mocking his Grandmothers.
"Evans, if you say a word of this to anyone--" James started, trying to wipe the kiss-marks off his face.
"What, worried you might lose your new popular reputation if everyone finds out you're often called Poopoo?" Lily asked innocently, though she had her brilliant green eyes narrowed, just daring James to push her.
James glared at her, turning red once more, but this time out of fury. He opened his mouth to say something, but someone calling his name interrupted him.
"James!" A very familiar voice called, and moments later Remus, Peter, and Sirius emerged from a large crowd of people, waving.
"Hi!" James said, shooting Lily one more look before turning his attention to his friends.
"Like-see you on the train, Mr. Pookiepoopoo!" She said, flipping her hair before flouncing off, looking proud of herself.
"Mr. Pookiepoopoo?" Sirius asked him, holding back a smile. "I thought you said only I could call you that!"
Peter stood with a puzzled look on his face for a moment before gasping and looking at James and Sirius with a look of horror on his face. "You-you two--" He started.
"Oh yes, Pete, we're flaming gay." Said Sirius sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"G-Gay?!" Peter squeaked, eyes bugging out. "You mean I share a room with two—two gay people?"
"He was joking, Wormtail," said James, wondering how Peter could be so dense.
"Oh—right… I knew that… " Peter said, blushing.
"Come on, lover boys," Remus said, shaking his head at the two, laughter in his hazel-gold eyes. "We're going to miss the train."
"Oky Doky," James said, and the four Marauders walked across Kings Cross, all speaking happily of their summer adventures. As they reached Platform 9 and 3/4, it was 10:56; they'd have to hurry if they wanted to get on the train and find a compartment before they were all taken. They all got on the train and headed as far back as they could, hoping their usual compartment was still free. There was only one problem: Remus was headed in the opposite direction as the other three were going.
"Oy! Remmy!" Sirius yelled, causing half the train's compartments to slide open and dozens of faces popping out the door to peek out and look at them. "Where are you going?"
Remus looked flustered for a moment and mumbled something inaudibly.
"Err--sorry?"
Remus mumbled a bit louder. They could now hear "mm uh prhect."
"What's that?"
"I'M—A—BLOODY—PREFECT, DEAF BOY!" Remus yelled across the train, causing whoever wasn't already looking out of their compartment to look out.
Sirius was so shocked he dropped his bags. A moment later he let out a laugh and walked across the train to where Remus was currently standing, bright red. "I'm sorry, I thought I heard you say Prefect!" He said, laughing jollily. "How crazy is that?"
"Not very crazy, actually." Remus said, running his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair and sighing as though he knew this moment had to come eventually. "I am a Prefect."
Sirius stared at him for a moment, as though he didn't know what to say. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out.
"Sirius, close your mouth or say something, you look like a goldfish." James said, joining Remus and Sirius at the front of the train.
Sirius opened his mouth one more time, but not being able to say anything, clamped it shut and stared at Remus as if he were meeting him for the first time and he didn't know what to think.
"Congratulations, mate!" James said, slapping Remus on the back as Remus gave a sigh of relief. "I suppose they need someone to keep us in check!"
"Right-o!" Piped up Peter in his squeaky voice. He had followed James up to the front of the train and looked eager to say anything to be a part of the conversation.
"Well, hopefully I only need to be at the front of the train for a little while," said Remus, looking mostly comfortable once more, though he kept glancing at Sirius, who was still looking at him with a look of shock on his face. "Then I can join you three in a compartment."
"Bye Remus!" Peter said, waving his rather large arm energetically as Remus went through the door that obviously led to where the Prefects were supposed to meet.
Remus turned around and gave a short smile and wave before heading into a part of the train he had never been nor expected to go. He pulled a gold badge out of his pocket and put it on before turning a corner and meeting the other Prefects. He was obviously the last one; there were four tables with six chairs around each room, each one a different color for each different house. The royal blue, green, and yellow tables were all full, and five of six of the chairs on the maroon table were taken. Feeling slightly foolish for being the last Prefect in the room and silently cursing Sirius, Remus quickly sat down on the last remaining chair, not paying much attention to anyone and hoping they weren't paying any attention to him either. It wasn't until the person sitting next to Remus said anything that he realized just who she was.
"Like—Hi!" Lily Evans said energetically, leaning towards him, smiling. "I didn't like—know you were a Prefect!"
"I'm surprised you didn't with all the noise my friends were making outside the compartment," said Remus, feeling both very confused and awkward. Lily had always been nicest to him out of the other three Marauders, as he usually stopped them when they were getting too out of control with their pranks (including ones on her), and he didn't want to be rude. James had told Sirius, Peter, and him about Lily's pretending to be stupid last year so he wasn't as surprised as he would have been about finding out she was a Prefect.
"James?" She asked, bubbly voice gone. For a moment, she looked normal, though she had an almost sad and hurt look in her eyes. However, a second later she was back to her flouncy, stupid self. "He is like—such a total sweetheart!" She said, bouncing in her seat.
"Er... yeah... " Remus said, wondering how much longer he would be stuck here with Lily. It had always bugged him that she didn't admit she was faking to be a ditz.
Fortunately before Lily could talk to Remus anymore, Tina Florek, who last year as a 6th year Ravenclaw Prefect, and Dann Fitzsimmons, who was a 6th year Hufflepuff Prefect last year went to a small platform in front of the tables and cleared their voices so everyone could be quiet. "Hello," Tina said after everyone had quieted down, and Remus noticed a rather large golden badge on her chest, as well as on Danns. It wasn't until then he realized they were the new Head Boy and Head Girl. "Welcome Prefects! Okay, now that everyone is here," she paused and glanced at Remus, who turned red and slunk down in his seat, "we can get on with your instructions. Now one person from each year in each house needs to be on watch of the train at all times, to make sure nothing against the rules or bad is going on. Once you get to the school, after the feast make sure you lead the 1st years up to the Common Room so they don't get lost. Dann has all the new Passwords to get into your separate Common Rooms, and he's passing them out now. Once you get your password, you may leave." She stepped off the platform and helped Dann pass out the remainder of the passwords. As they were waiting to get the slips of paper, Lily turned to Remus once more.
"Sweetie, you don't have to worry about patrolling that halls, I'll totally do it!" She said, smiling eagerly. "You go ahead and hang out with your adorable little friends and make sure you have a good time!" Said Lily, winking.
"Err—I will... " Remus said slowly. How could someone possibly be this stupid? Before having any more time to ponder on it, Dann came by and gave all the Gryffindor's their passwords. Unfolding the piece of paper, Remus saw the new password was 'CLAY AIKEN IS SHAKIN'. Wondering who on earth Clay Aiken was and why he was "shakin'", he barely listened to Lily as she said goodbye to him and went off to patrol the train. Remus followed Lily out of the Prefect Compartment and headed to the very back of the train, where the Marauders usually spent the train ride to and from Hogwarts. He checked the last five compartments, and on to the third from the back compartment, he saw Peter, James, Sirius, and Frank Longbottom, a fellow fifth-year Gryffindor.
"Hi," said Remus as he entered the compartment, and noticed a fourth person who usually didn't join them in the section. Frank Longbottom was looking quite cross and shaking his finger at Sirius and James, both of whom were slouched down in their seats, arms folded, glaring at Frank. The second Remus walked through the door, James and Sirius jumped up and said hi while James mouthed "Help us!" looking over at Frank and back to Remus.
"Hello Remus," said Frank as Remus settled himself down beside Peter, who was currently sleeping in the corner of the train, completely unaware of everything going on around him. "You're just in time. Since you're a prefect, I was thinking that you could help me teach these two a lesson about how they shouldn't disrupt the school this year and how they need to study for their O.W.L.s instead. They're coming up this year, you know.
"Er--" Remus started, but just then, the compartment door opened and Lily Evans walked in.
"Like, hi!" She said cheerfully, plopping herself down next to Frank, grinning. "What's up guys?"
"You're a PREFECT?" Sirius asked rudely, noticing the badge on her chest with a raised eyebrow. "How the hell --"
"James, can I like--talk to you for a millisecond?" She asked, cutting Sirius off.
"Me?" Asked James, looking puzzled.
"Of course you, silly goose!" Lily said, speaking to James in half her ditsy voice, and half a mock baby-voice, looking as if she were about to pinch James' cheek.
"Err--okay, so ahead." Said James, eyebrows furrowed, wondering what on earth Lily would want to do with him. Maybe it was something to do with the incident with his Grandmother earlier that day.
"Like-outside!" She said, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the compartment and slamming the door behind them, leaving the four remaining boys looking at the closed door with their eyebrows furrowed in confusement and surprise. Lily had always appeared to hate James the most, why on earth would she want to talk to him? The second the door had closed, however, and she had checked no one was wandering the hall; she immediately stopped flouncing and looked at James, green eyes looking at him with no sparkle or sign of amusement.
"I've been thinking, Potter." She said, sighing as if she would rather be doing anything but saying what she was about to say. James opened his mouth grinning, to make some wisecrack, but looking at the expression on Lily's face, he decided against it. "I know it probably doesn't matter to you if I call you 'Pookie-Poo' or 'Honeybunchkins' since you can just cover it up with me wanting to be your girlfriend or something, but if you do something for me I swear you will never hear any name besides Potter directed at you come from my mouth."
"What might that be, Evans?" Asked James, a smirk slowly forming on his mouth. "Need help with your Transfiguration? I am the best in that class, you know."
"Please." Lily said, rolling her eyes. "If you'd take two seconds to notice, I'm barely behind you, and ahead of you in practically the rest of the classes we have together."
"Oh. Right." Said James, looking slightly disappointed at not being able to show off his wonderful Transfiguration talent. "What is it then?"
"No more pranks on me this year." She said, and if James didn't know any better, he'd think she was pleading. "I won't bother you at all if you don't bother me. I'll tell my friends to leave you alone even though they're convinced you're in love with me--"
"WHAT?!" James cut off Lily, yelling. "ME? In love with YOU?"
"Unlike me, they really are that stupid." She said, shrugging it off. "Now are we agreed?"
"Agreed?" Said James, thinking the matter over. "Hmmm, shall I agree? Now, it would be nice not to have to worry about seeing Evans at all this year... but I love my pranks... " He said to himself as if Lily had suddenly disappeared. "Sorry Evans," he said after a moment. "My friends told me we couldn't possibly do that."
"Friends? Look around, Potter, you have no friends out here! It's just us!"
"And how would YOU know?" James said, folding his arms and looking at her knowingly. "But sorry, we say that the pranks are just to funny and precious for us to abandon them. Besides that, Frank Longbottom--" He jabbed a finger in the direction of the compartment. "Would think that Sirius and I had actually listened to his lecture."
"Ass," Lily muttered under her breath, exercising all her self-control not to punch the smirking face in front of her. "I hate you Potter. You and your conceited big head." She turned around and stalked off, not even waiting for a reply.
James smirked at the back of Lily's fiery auburn head and turned back to the compartment. Frank was still going on about how horrible pranks were, and, although grateful he had missed some of it, he wished to be anywhere but this compartment... maybe on Nuria's compartment. He couldn't explain the feeling, but because he knew they were on the same train he almost felt content, peaceful. Though he wished he could be with her right now, enjoying her company, James knew that was impossible. His parents were still in hiding, and he hadn't heard from them since he had said goodbye to them over a year ago. He sighed, wondering if they were going to spend the rest of their lives in hiding, if he would ever see them again. James felt a lump in his throat and immediately knew it was time to stop thinking about his parents. He did the best he could to listen to Franks lecture, who was now talking about his study schedule for the O.W.L.s and how they should all do as he was and study at least five hours a night early on. James slouched down into his chair, knowing it would be a very long trip to Hogwarts.
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When they finally reached Hogwarts three hours later, James was wondering how he made it. Frank had talked non-stop the whole journey, and though Sirius had tried to kick him out of the compartment numerous times, Remus wouldn't let him.
"Be nice," he muttered to Sirius as he stood up and began
to tell Frank exactly what he thought of his new and improved study plan. "Only five minutes left, you'll live."
"He's been talking for four bloody hours!" Sirius muttered back, plopping back down in the seat and scowling unpleasantly.
"Deal with it!" Remus said, and Frank, who was currently rambling about the importance of writing down everything you were going to do, looked at Remus.
"What was that?" He said, looking quite angry with someone disturbing his speech. "Do you have anything to add?" Frank glared at Remus, giving him quite a resemblance to their evil Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Professor Halterman, who was a very cranky old man.
"No, nothing," said Remus, giving Frank a very unpleasant grin. "Please continue on with your lovely speech, Frank." He then plopped down next to Sirius, looking equally as dejected and sullen.
"Thank you Remus," said Frank as if Remus had just introduced him to a large crowd and he was giving a speech where people actually cared what he was speaking about. "Now, after you have your study schedule written down, the next step is putting it into action. First you'll want to— "
The train slowing down and a male voice echoing through the compartment cut off Frank. "We are now arriving at Hogwarts. For those of you here for your first time, there are no need to grab your belongings, they will be brought in separately. Have a fun year everyone!" The second the voice cut off, Sirius let out a loud whoop of joy and put his fist in the air as if to declare victory.
"What?" He asked innocently as everyone stared at him. "I'm just agreeing with the person who said to have a great year!"
James rolled his eyes. He knew very well that Sirius's burst of excitement had been because they were at Hogwarts and would no longer need to hear Frank droning on about studying, not because he was agreeing that this year would be great. He knew exactly how Sirius felt, however. Frank's tedious talk had been possibly the worst way to start off the year, and James was extremely happy that it was over too. Peter seemed to be the only one not bugged by the lecture. Somehow last year he had found out how to sleep with his eyes opened, and that was exactly what he had been doing the last four hours.
Sirius crept silently up to Peter as Frank left the compartment, laughing silently, and as soon as he was a close to him as he could be without touching, began screaming as loud as he could.
"Mommy!" Peter yelped as he landed on the compartment floor with an unpleasant thud. He looked around wildly for a second before spotting Sirius, doubled over with laughter. "What was that for?" He asked, standing up and rubbing his tush.
"Sorry Wormtail," he said after he had recovered. "I figured you deserved some punishment since you could sleep through Franks fun little talk." He gave a small shudder, remembering just what he had been through in the past four hours.
"Still," Peter mumbled softly. The train began slowing down, and he looked around, surprised. "We're almost there?"
"Yup," said James. "If you had been awake," he paused for a moment before continuing. "Then you would have known."
"Oh... right... " Said Wormtail, looking slightly sheepish. There was a somewhat awkward silence in which the train slowed down the last little bit. James looked at Remus, Peter, and Sirius, and realized just how much they had changed in the past year, Sirius especially. He had no idea why, but last year Sirius came back from Christmas Vacation a completely different person. He had stopped being the charismatic, hyperactive person James knew before. Instead, a cool, slightly depressed and jealous Sirius took his place, leaving the other three wondering what had happened, though once in a great while they saw a spark of the old Sirius.
James had also found out Remus was a werewolf, and Sirius and Peter had been working on becoming Animagi, though they weren't getting very far before he had come along. James, with his excellent Transfiguration skills that he prided himself on had immensely helped the arduous task, and when school was let out last year they almost had it completed.
The train came to a complete stop and Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus headed out of the compartment to the horseless carriages that carried them up to Hogwarts each year. They clamored into a thankfully Frank-free carriage and began talk of the many pranks they would be pulling this year. James noticed that Remus had gone unnaturally quiet and seemed to be fighting with himself on whether or not to say something.
"One definite thing though, more pranks on Evans," said James with a sinister smile. "I want to make her crack this year."
Sirius joined James in the evil smile, rubbing his hands together, what he usually did when plotting an especially nasty prank. The Marauders had made it their goal last year to make Lily crack and admit to everyone that she wasn't a ditz. They had played quite a few pranks on her last year, but she hadn't fallen apart yet. This year, they hoped things would be different. Sirius figured that if Lily was going to had figured that as it was an O.W.L. year she would be under enough stress already, and if you add in a few pranks, she was sure to crack under all the anxiety.
"Um… " Remus said, and as everyone turned to look at him, he glanced at everyone unsurely, as if he was regretting saying anything. "Maybe… " He said slowly, "We shouldn't prank Lily this year… " He glanced at everyone, and seeing no one blow up, added onto it. "Or anyone, for that matter… "
No one spoke for a moment, looking at Remus as if he were crazy. All was silent until Sirius voiced his opinion. "Are you daft, Moony?" He asked. "The Marauders, stop their pranks? I think that Prefect meeting you went to brainwashed you… or Frank… "
"No, I'm not daft or brainwashed." Said Remus exasperatedly, now looking as if he was regretting what he had said immeasurably. "I just think it would be a good idea if we kind of lightened up on the pranks a bit… and Lily is perfectly nice, I don't think she deserves all the pranks we pull on her."
"We don't need another lecture, Remus." Sirius said, rolling his eyes and looking slightly angry. "We'll pull all the pranks we feel like, and no one, not you, not Frank, is going to stop us."
"Yeah, no one can stop the Marauders!" Peter squeaked, grinning like an idiot.
"It was just a suggestion," Remus muttered to the ground, looking quite embarrassed.
James opened his mouth to speak to Remus, but before he could get a word out the horseless carriages came to a sudden halt, and Remus practically jumped out and began walking towards the castle at a fast pace. James began to hop out after him, but Sirius stopped him.
"Leave him," he said, glaring at the back of Remus's head. "He had no right to say that to us, just because he's a Prefect." He rolled his eyes and casually leapt out of the carriage, then looked behind him at James and Peter to follow him. The two shrugged at each other and also got out of the coach to go join Sirius to the Great Hall.
As they entered the castle, despite their blossoming problems with Remus, James couldn't help but smile. Though he had only been here for one year, he had so many great memories of the things he, Remus, Sirius, and Peter had done in the past year. They entered the Great Hall, and James remembered last year, when he had followed Lily and her friends up to their little secret Portrait, and how he had found doubt Lily really wasn't a ditz. He felt someone looking at him and turned around to see Lily giving him the ugliest look he had ever seen. It was a look of pure hate, and James didn't notice, but also great hurt. She and her giggling group of friends were passing by the doors, no doubt on their way up to their secret portrait room. He rolled his eyes at them, wondering why Lily was being so rude to him all of a sudden. He shrugged it off and joined Sirius and Peter, who were sitting near the front of the table; as far from Remus as they could get. Remus was sitting alone at the very back of the table, staring down at his hands, looking regretful. James felt a pang of sympathy, but immediately shrugged it off. Sirius had a point; what authority did Remus have to say those kinds of things to them? He may have been Prefect, but the pranks were funny and most of the time the people on the receiving end deserved what they got.
They sat there for about five minutes, allowing everybody else to file into the Great Hall. After an additional five minutes of waiting, the doors to the Great Hall opened, and tiny first years made their way through, all looking terrified. James smiled, wondering what stories their older brothers and sisters had poured into their heads. He remembered in Beauxbatons all the first years had been told they would be would be thrown into a pit with ten of the world's deadliest magical creatures, and if they survived they would be able to attend school there. He turned his attention back to the sorting, where "Weasley, Billius" had just been sorted to Gryffindor. "Zerkle, Matt" was sorted into Hufflepuff, and then Dumbledore stood up, beaming at everyone.
"Welcome, welcome!" He said. "Welcome to Hogwarts everybody. As I'm sure some of you are starving I will try to make this short. Because of the incident last year," he glanced over to the Gryffindor table and a 16-year-old boy named Davy Gudgeon smiled, slightly embarrassed, at him. "Nobody is to go anywhere near the Whomping Willow. The forbidden Forest is also off limits. Now everybody tuck in!"
With those words the tables filled with food, and James realized just how hungry he was. His mouth watered as he filled his plate with a bit of everything, finally realizing he hadn't eaten hardly anything decent this summer. His grandmother, unlike most grandmothers, enjoyed experimenting with odd tastes. To be blunt, she was a horrible cook. Her "specialty" was Peppered Yams; marshmallows, salsa, limejuice, and cilantro were a few of the things he had seen her add to them before serving them up. He shuddered, and continued helping himself to the chicken; thankful he wouldn't have to taste his grandmothers cooking for 10 months. Sirius had also seen what her cooking was like. He had spent all but the three last days of summer at her house; James didn't know a lot about his family, but once last year Sirius had mentioned that his family was best friends with the Malfoy's, and that was plenty enough explanation for him.
As everybody finished their meals, Dumbledore stood in front of everyone once more. "I hope all your meals were as enjoyable as mine," he said, smiling at everyone. "Now Prefects, please lead the first years to your respectable common rooms, and everybody else have a wonderful first night back."
The Great Hall was instantly filled with clatters of chairs and noisy chatter as everyone headed back to their Common Rooms. James yawned sleepily; the welcome back fest usually had that effect on him, as did everyone else. He quickly made his way up to the Portrait of the Fat Lady and recited the password Remus had told him, Sirius, and Peter on the train. As he entered, it looked as if he was the first person in. He made his way up to the boys Dormitories, and realizing just how tired he was, flopped into bed without bothering to take off his robes.
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Wooh! It's done! Nice long chapter for all of you, you'd better be grateful! Hehe, no, just kidding, but for some reason this chapter gave me many problems. I just couldn't find a place to stop it, which is the reason for the slightly weird ending, but that's okay. Okay, after reading the fifth book I figured this story was the one I could make most sense with the new information, so my other fics will probably be taking a backseat for a while. Also, I find this story much better than any of my other ones, yet it gets less then half the reviews, which is why I'm asking for 75 reviews before I update again. I'm sorry, I hate it when writers do this, but I really think this deserves more reviews! Anyways, my internet it being REALLY stupid right now (it hasn't been working for a freaking month) so as soon as it gets working again I'll get this up. Also, since my Internet isn't working, I won't be able to thank my reviewers. I'll just thank twice as many people next time, okay? Okay.
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!