Author's Note:
SunnyDay- I'm glad you stumbled upon my story and I'm glad you like it. I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Ascafeniel- I'm glad you like it.
Bell- Glad you liked this chapter. hope you like the next one.
The Elfin Child- Heh, I'm working on updating. It will probably be going on for quite a while as I've only gotten to page 54 on my hand written pages. so theres quite a bit left. hope you like it!
Celine- Yup, you're picking up on the hints so far. hehe.
Annie- That is the best compliment I have ever received. Thank you very much! *bows*
Pumpkin Juice- Glad that I have another stumbler. heh. I'm glad you like it.
Isis Stormwing- I was gonna have Dumbledore wearing green or purple but I felt like using Magenta. I guess its Rocky influence. Yes, Voldie is at the height of his powers or damn near it.
SAKURAnTOKYO- I say everyone is silly. Yes, the "green room" and you'll just have to read how Lily takes it.
CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur- James' parents left it to him when they died. so when he graduated he moved in. He'd been living with his Uncle Frank. can you guess his last name? *Laughs*
EmeraldDream- Heh, I'm glad Sirius entertains you because in a few chapter's James is going to want to harm him. heh. And that clairvoyant didn't get a chance to tell Voldie something very important, that she had been holding back in hopes of saving her life. good thing Voldie's an idiot. haha. sorry. Other then that things are still brewing in my head.
Chapter Eleven: Tiptoe Through The Tulips or Enlightening Lily
Lily sat cross legged on the rug in front of the fireplace in her room reading a book waiting for James to return, probably with Sirius Black who had unexpectedly turned up looking for James and called out loudly something that sounded like "Prongs." Lily had gone into the hallway looking annoyed and wondering why James hadn't told her to expect a guest. "Who are you?" Lily had called when Sirius came out of James' room looking slightly shocked.
"Sirius Black and you would be?" Sirius asked recovering and using a charming manner that caused Lily to just raise an eyebrow at him. "Please tell me your name?" he asked kindly removing the charm just a tad.
"Lily Evans, why are you here?" Lily asked calmly though she was still annoyed for being drawn out of her book.
"James, I'm looking for him," Sirius said eagerly.
"He's at Bella's," Lily said and it was the one thing that Sirius wasn't expecting.
"Arabella Figg?" Sirius asked his eyes going slightly soft at her name and Lily felt sorry for him.
"Yes," Lily said quietly, wanting for some strange reason to walk over and give him a hug and tell him that everything would be okay, but she didn't of course because she didn't know him at all, just snippets from Arabella about their relationship and enough from each of them to know they loved each other dearly.
"Well, then I'll leave you be and go find James, though I will probably be returning for the night at least," Sirius said having recognized a woman's touch earlier in James' room and believed Lily to be the caretaker that James had been searching for. "You're the one who applied to James' ad right?" he asked before he turned to go.
"Yes," Lily said and felt liked chuckling at Sirius' political correctness. "Which room would you be staying in?" she asked before he could turn.
"Er, the one with the black and white motif," Sirius said and smiled at her as she mentally searched for the room which was just a door down from James'. "See you later then, Lily Evans," Sirius said and walked downstairs.
Lily found it strange that she didn't hear the door open or close but decided to make sure that the room Sirius was staying in was taken care of. She set down her book on her desk and walked down the hallway to the room Sirius had described. One look and she knew it suited him. The bed was made from iron bars and was a four poster. The comforter was black with randomly done patterning on it in thin white lines. There was an ebony dresser and wardrobe combination near the closet door between it and a wide bay window. The side tables were done in ebony as well and on the right one was a silver picture frame that held a picture of Sirius and Arabella holding hands wearing identical robe-like uniforms, they were looking at the camera smiling brightly and looking as if they were waving. For a brief second Lily thought the picture had moved but she shook her head and went back to looking around. Across from the bed there was a sitting area with ebony framed chairs and off-white embroidered cushions to the sides of a large sofa in the same motif surrounding a large ebony coffee table; all resting on a large oriental style rug.
Lily knew that the bathroom was through the door on the other side of the room and she walked over to it and looked inside all the while taking inventory on what needed to be cleaned or replaced. She walked out of the room and to the laundry to make sure that there were no towels or anything that needed to be cleaned for Sirius' room and then walked back and quickly freshened up the room opening a window to get fresh air into the room. She fluffed the pillows on the bed and decided to put some fresh flowers in the room.
Lily walked downstairs and outside to look for a garden as a house like James Potter's should have a garden. She didn't find one. This exasperated Lily and she stood outside for a moment realizing that she was glad she had the choice to go back inside. She smiled and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky was blue without a cloud in it. Suddenly Lily had the uncomfortable feeling of being watched and looked around quickly. There was a man standing at the end of the street looking in her direction. He was around her age, with dark hair and a bad air about him. He gave Lily a brief nod before he turned and walked down the street, long black robes sweeping behind him. Lily shuddered and walked back into the house.
Just as she got into the door she heard James' voice calling from upstairs, "Lily? Where are you?!"
Astonished Lily ran up the stairs and spotted James coming out of her room. "James? I was just outside I didn't see you get back," she said looking confused.
"Er. I'll explain later, come with me," James said quickly as he grabbed her hand and led her into his room where three other people were standing patiently.
"Arabella? Why are you and your grandfather here? What's going on James? This looked like an intervention," Lily said wondering at Dumbledore's strange attire.
"Well, Lily, we have something very important to talk to you about, you might want to sit down," Dumbledore said stepping forward as he spoke.
"So important that you came in pajamas?" Lily asked finding the sight before her fairly ridiculous.
"They're not pajamas, they're robes and as a wizard I chose to wear them," Dumbledore said bluntly finding that the best way to make Lily aware of what she was was by shock value.
"Right, a wizard. Do you think I'm that naïve? If this is some kind of practical joke just tell me," Lily said beginning to fall into denial that she didn't understand that stemmed from years of living with Petunia who denied any existence or possibility of anything magical or unusual.
"Lily, it's not a practical joke, we are wizards, James, Sirius and myself and Arabella is a witch; they all went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where I am headmaster," Dumbledore said patiently.
"Right, if Hogwarts is a school of witchcraft and wizardry then why were you asking me if I had heard of it?" Lily asked looking confused and angry at the same time.
"Because you should have attended, but you never received you letter and because of that your powers never has a chance to relieve themselves and since that happened you have become a sort of time bomb. The longer you are untrained the more likely it is that you will explode, either killing yourself or someone else," Dumbledore explained seriously.
"So you're saying I'm a witch?" Lily asked impatiently.
"Yes, and you need to be trained immediately," Dumbledore said importantly.
Lily shook her head, "You're all crazy," she said her voice becoming high pitched with panic and had the distinct impression that she was on fire.
"Lily, listen to me, calm down," James said going over to her and holding her against him tightly when he felt that Dumbledore's line of persuasion wasn't working as the man had hoped. "Have you ever done something when you were angry or scared that you couldn't explain?" James asked flattening her hair against her head, feeling an extreme amount of heat radiating from her.
Lily breathed deeply and closed her eyes trying to calm herself as she inhaled James' scent and thought about his words. She began to remember the night she'd gone to her sisters. She'd been staring beyond Vernon wishing everything was all a dream when the lamp on the table crashed onto the floor and she realized that she'd made it happen. "Yes, and more then once," Lily whispered realizing that shed didn't feel as if she was on fire any longer but as if she was swimming in a lake in the middle of nowhere.
"You believe us now?" Sirius asked quietly as he watched his best friend and Lily still holding each other.
"Yes. The night I found out my parents had died I went to my sisters and while I was wishing it was all a dream and was getting angry at everything a lamp across the room with no one near it crashed to the floor and shattered. It had been in the middle of the table, I had been staring at it, I made it break," Lily said quietly after pulling away from James somewhat reluctantly.
"That's not uncommon, especially since you should have been at Hogwarts by then," Dumbledore said kindly to Lily.
"What am I doing to do about this? I can't very well go to Hogwarts now," Lily aid starting to wonder why she hadn't gotten her letter in the first place.
"James, Arabella, Sirius and a few mutual friends of theirs will teach you everything you need to know, and I'm sure James will understand if you forego laundry to work on this," Dumbledore said smiling at the two of them.
Sirius chuckled, Arabella smacked Sirius, James muttered, "Just like the good ole days my arse," while Dumbledore smiled good naturedly at the show.
"I have two questions. Why didn't I get my letter and who exactly are you because I'm fairly sure you're not Arabella's grandfather," Lily said quietly and two things that were bothering her the most.
"Well the second question is easily answered. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the other is mostly guesswork," Dumbledore said before explaining. "There is one thing you must understand first, and that is that not all wizards are good. One wizard who goes by the name of Lord Voldemort is presently terrorizing the wizarding community as well as randomly killing muggles, non-wizards, like your family. He for some reason or another decided that you posed a threat to him and decided to keep you out of Hogwarts. Why he didn't kill you I have no idea, but I'm sure once he finds out you've been introduced to the wizarding world he will try to get to you, I'm sure of it," he said longwindedly that caused Lily to get pissed off again and James to unconsciously take her hand.
Sirius raised his brow at this but at a look from Dumbledore refrained from commenting. "I have to go, I will leave you to contact Remus and Peter, if you must, but maybe it would be best for him to look after his grandmother and one of you to take up teaching Lily Herbology. If you need anything owl and I will get it to you as soon as possible. Oh, and take her into Diagon Alley tomorrow as I'm sure she'll want a wand," Dumbledore said before bidding them farewell and apparating.
Lily jumped at Dumbledore's disappearance before saying, "That explains why I never heard a door close when one of you took off somewhere," and she laughed loudly and hysterically.
"Shock, she should rest," Arabella said.
James nodded said goodnight to Arabella and led a laughing Lily down the hall to her room. "C'mon, you should rest. We'll start working tomorrow when you've had time to think and accept what we've told you," James said gently nudging her towards the bed.
"I feel like I'm dreaming James and I'm hoping that I'm not. Nothing unusual has ever happened to me, not once until I ran from Petunia's," Lily said rambling, her laughter had died off as she realized exactly what had been explained to her and that she was desperate for it all to be true.
James only nodded and helped her climb into bed and kissed her forehead gently. "Go to sleep, it will all be okay in the morning," he said and Lily nodded and closed her eyes.
Author's Note: FINALLY! Ha, I hope you guys are happy. I got Lily's finding out all down now. I hope you liked it. Please Review! ~Frankie~
SunnyDay- I'm glad you stumbled upon my story and I'm glad you like it. I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
Ascafeniel- I'm glad you like it.
Bell- Glad you liked this chapter. hope you like the next one.
The Elfin Child- Heh, I'm working on updating. It will probably be going on for quite a while as I've only gotten to page 54 on my hand written pages. so theres quite a bit left. hope you like it!
Celine- Yup, you're picking up on the hints so far. hehe.
Annie- That is the best compliment I have ever received. Thank you very much! *bows*
Pumpkin Juice- Glad that I have another stumbler. heh. I'm glad you like it.
Isis Stormwing- I was gonna have Dumbledore wearing green or purple but I felt like using Magenta. I guess its Rocky influence. Yes, Voldie is at the height of his powers or damn near it.
SAKURAnTOKYO- I say everyone is silly. Yes, the "green room" and you'll just have to read how Lily takes it.
CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur- James' parents left it to him when they died. so when he graduated he moved in. He'd been living with his Uncle Frank. can you guess his last name? *Laughs*
EmeraldDream- Heh, I'm glad Sirius entertains you because in a few chapter's James is going to want to harm him. heh. And that clairvoyant didn't get a chance to tell Voldie something very important, that she had been holding back in hopes of saving her life. good thing Voldie's an idiot. haha. sorry. Other then that things are still brewing in my head.
Chapter Eleven: Tiptoe Through The Tulips or Enlightening Lily
Lily sat cross legged on the rug in front of the fireplace in her room reading a book waiting for James to return, probably with Sirius Black who had unexpectedly turned up looking for James and called out loudly something that sounded like "Prongs." Lily had gone into the hallway looking annoyed and wondering why James hadn't told her to expect a guest. "Who are you?" Lily had called when Sirius came out of James' room looking slightly shocked.
"Sirius Black and you would be?" Sirius asked recovering and using a charming manner that caused Lily to just raise an eyebrow at him. "Please tell me your name?" he asked kindly removing the charm just a tad.
"Lily Evans, why are you here?" Lily asked calmly though she was still annoyed for being drawn out of her book.
"James, I'm looking for him," Sirius said eagerly.
"He's at Bella's," Lily said and it was the one thing that Sirius wasn't expecting.
"Arabella Figg?" Sirius asked his eyes going slightly soft at her name and Lily felt sorry for him.
"Yes," Lily said quietly, wanting for some strange reason to walk over and give him a hug and tell him that everything would be okay, but she didn't of course because she didn't know him at all, just snippets from Arabella about their relationship and enough from each of them to know they loved each other dearly.
"Well, then I'll leave you be and go find James, though I will probably be returning for the night at least," Sirius said having recognized a woman's touch earlier in James' room and believed Lily to be the caretaker that James had been searching for. "You're the one who applied to James' ad right?" he asked before he turned to go.
"Yes," Lily said and felt liked chuckling at Sirius' political correctness. "Which room would you be staying in?" she asked before he could turn.
"Er, the one with the black and white motif," Sirius said and smiled at her as she mentally searched for the room which was just a door down from James'. "See you later then, Lily Evans," Sirius said and walked downstairs.
Lily found it strange that she didn't hear the door open or close but decided to make sure that the room Sirius was staying in was taken care of. She set down her book on her desk and walked down the hallway to the room Sirius had described. One look and she knew it suited him. The bed was made from iron bars and was a four poster. The comforter was black with randomly done patterning on it in thin white lines. There was an ebony dresser and wardrobe combination near the closet door between it and a wide bay window. The side tables were done in ebony as well and on the right one was a silver picture frame that held a picture of Sirius and Arabella holding hands wearing identical robe-like uniforms, they were looking at the camera smiling brightly and looking as if they were waving. For a brief second Lily thought the picture had moved but she shook her head and went back to looking around. Across from the bed there was a sitting area with ebony framed chairs and off-white embroidered cushions to the sides of a large sofa in the same motif surrounding a large ebony coffee table; all resting on a large oriental style rug.
Lily knew that the bathroom was through the door on the other side of the room and she walked over to it and looked inside all the while taking inventory on what needed to be cleaned or replaced. She walked out of the room and to the laundry to make sure that there were no towels or anything that needed to be cleaned for Sirius' room and then walked back and quickly freshened up the room opening a window to get fresh air into the room. She fluffed the pillows on the bed and decided to put some fresh flowers in the room.
Lily walked downstairs and outside to look for a garden as a house like James Potter's should have a garden. She didn't find one. This exasperated Lily and she stood outside for a moment realizing that she was glad she had the choice to go back inside. She smiled and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky was blue without a cloud in it. Suddenly Lily had the uncomfortable feeling of being watched and looked around quickly. There was a man standing at the end of the street looking in her direction. He was around her age, with dark hair and a bad air about him. He gave Lily a brief nod before he turned and walked down the street, long black robes sweeping behind him. Lily shuddered and walked back into the house.
Just as she got into the door she heard James' voice calling from upstairs, "Lily? Where are you?!"
Astonished Lily ran up the stairs and spotted James coming out of her room. "James? I was just outside I didn't see you get back," she said looking confused.
"Er. I'll explain later, come with me," James said quickly as he grabbed her hand and led her into his room where three other people were standing patiently.
"Arabella? Why are you and your grandfather here? What's going on James? This looked like an intervention," Lily said wondering at Dumbledore's strange attire.
"Well, Lily, we have something very important to talk to you about, you might want to sit down," Dumbledore said stepping forward as he spoke.
"So important that you came in pajamas?" Lily asked finding the sight before her fairly ridiculous.
"They're not pajamas, they're robes and as a wizard I chose to wear them," Dumbledore said bluntly finding that the best way to make Lily aware of what she was was by shock value.
"Right, a wizard. Do you think I'm that naïve? If this is some kind of practical joke just tell me," Lily said beginning to fall into denial that she didn't understand that stemmed from years of living with Petunia who denied any existence or possibility of anything magical or unusual.
"Lily, it's not a practical joke, we are wizards, James, Sirius and myself and Arabella is a witch; they all went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where I am headmaster," Dumbledore said patiently.
"Right, if Hogwarts is a school of witchcraft and wizardry then why were you asking me if I had heard of it?" Lily asked looking confused and angry at the same time.
"Because you should have attended, but you never received you letter and because of that your powers never has a chance to relieve themselves and since that happened you have become a sort of time bomb. The longer you are untrained the more likely it is that you will explode, either killing yourself or someone else," Dumbledore explained seriously.
"So you're saying I'm a witch?" Lily asked impatiently.
"Yes, and you need to be trained immediately," Dumbledore said importantly.
Lily shook her head, "You're all crazy," she said her voice becoming high pitched with panic and had the distinct impression that she was on fire.
"Lily, listen to me, calm down," James said going over to her and holding her against him tightly when he felt that Dumbledore's line of persuasion wasn't working as the man had hoped. "Have you ever done something when you were angry or scared that you couldn't explain?" James asked flattening her hair against her head, feeling an extreme amount of heat radiating from her.
Lily breathed deeply and closed her eyes trying to calm herself as she inhaled James' scent and thought about his words. She began to remember the night she'd gone to her sisters. She'd been staring beyond Vernon wishing everything was all a dream when the lamp on the table crashed onto the floor and she realized that she'd made it happen. "Yes, and more then once," Lily whispered realizing that shed didn't feel as if she was on fire any longer but as if she was swimming in a lake in the middle of nowhere.
"You believe us now?" Sirius asked quietly as he watched his best friend and Lily still holding each other.
"Yes. The night I found out my parents had died I went to my sisters and while I was wishing it was all a dream and was getting angry at everything a lamp across the room with no one near it crashed to the floor and shattered. It had been in the middle of the table, I had been staring at it, I made it break," Lily said quietly after pulling away from James somewhat reluctantly.
"That's not uncommon, especially since you should have been at Hogwarts by then," Dumbledore said kindly to Lily.
"What am I doing to do about this? I can't very well go to Hogwarts now," Lily aid starting to wonder why she hadn't gotten her letter in the first place.
"James, Arabella, Sirius and a few mutual friends of theirs will teach you everything you need to know, and I'm sure James will understand if you forego laundry to work on this," Dumbledore said smiling at the two of them.
Sirius chuckled, Arabella smacked Sirius, James muttered, "Just like the good ole days my arse," while Dumbledore smiled good naturedly at the show.
"I have two questions. Why didn't I get my letter and who exactly are you because I'm fairly sure you're not Arabella's grandfather," Lily said quietly and two things that were bothering her the most.
"Well the second question is easily answered. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the other is mostly guesswork," Dumbledore said before explaining. "There is one thing you must understand first, and that is that not all wizards are good. One wizard who goes by the name of Lord Voldemort is presently terrorizing the wizarding community as well as randomly killing muggles, non-wizards, like your family. He for some reason or another decided that you posed a threat to him and decided to keep you out of Hogwarts. Why he didn't kill you I have no idea, but I'm sure once he finds out you've been introduced to the wizarding world he will try to get to you, I'm sure of it," he said longwindedly that caused Lily to get pissed off again and James to unconsciously take her hand.
Sirius raised his brow at this but at a look from Dumbledore refrained from commenting. "I have to go, I will leave you to contact Remus and Peter, if you must, but maybe it would be best for him to look after his grandmother and one of you to take up teaching Lily Herbology. If you need anything owl and I will get it to you as soon as possible. Oh, and take her into Diagon Alley tomorrow as I'm sure she'll want a wand," Dumbledore said before bidding them farewell and apparating.
Lily jumped at Dumbledore's disappearance before saying, "That explains why I never heard a door close when one of you took off somewhere," and she laughed loudly and hysterically.
"Shock, she should rest," Arabella said.
James nodded said goodnight to Arabella and led a laughing Lily down the hall to her room. "C'mon, you should rest. We'll start working tomorrow when you've had time to think and accept what we've told you," James said gently nudging her towards the bed.
"I feel like I'm dreaming James and I'm hoping that I'm not. Nothing unusual has ever happened to me, not once until I ran from Petunia's," Lily said rambling, her laughter had died off as she realized exactly what had been explained to her and that she was desperate for it all to be true.
James only nodded and helped her climb into bed and kissed her forehead gently. "Go to sleep, it will all be okay in the morning," he said and Lily nodded and closed her eyes.
Author's Note: FINALLY! Ha, I hope you guys are happy. I got Lily's finding out all down now. I hope you liked it. Please Review! ~Frankie~