Macy's Day Parade
When I was a kid I thought
I wanted all the things that I haven't got
Oh but I learned that hardest way
Then I realized what it took
To tell the difference between thieves and crooks
Lesson learned of me and you
Give me something that I need
Satisfaction guaranteed
Cause I'm thinking bout a brand new hope
One never knows
Cause now I know it's all that I wanted
What the consolation prize?
Gonna need side dreams of hope
Give me something that I need
Satisfaction guaranteed
Cause I'm thinking bout a brand new hope
One never knows
Where it goes
And I'm thinking bout the only road
One never knows
Where it goes
And I'm thinking bout a brand new hope
One never knows
Cause now I know that's all I wanted
Jaimie woke up that day with an unusually clear head. She sat in her still unfamiliar room in the Lupin's household and stretched. The entire family had already sat down to their morning meal and were discussing about the arrival of someone that day, when she walked in, their attentions redirected to her arrival.
She was greeted with Aunt Charlene's usual doting welcome of "Jaimie, darling, good morning! Did you sleep well?"
"Yes Auntie," Jaimie said automatically.
"Good, well come sit down for some breakfast. We're going to have a visitor today." She said, as if visitors come all the time. Which, Jaimie reminded herself, probably did before she came to live with them.
"Oh. Really? Who?" She asked, a little scared as to who it would be.
"Oh Jacob Emmeline." She said, placing two pieces of sausages on Jaimie's plate before getting some eggs.
"Um. Pardon, but who?"
"Goodness, don't you remember Jacob?" Uncle Alan answered, "That American bloke, saved your lives! Thought of him as something of a hero myself. I'm surprised you don't remember."
"Oh. He's alive?! Of course I know him! I just . . . didn't know his last name. Threw me off there."
"Oh right." Aunt Charlene said, coming back with her egg and accidentally missing her plate and dropping it on the table.
"Mum!" Remus said, as a bit of egg flew toward him, "Watch where you're aiming!"
"Oh sorry, Remus dear." Aunt Charlene said absentmindedly and began cleaning it up.
"So where is Jacob staying anyway?" Jaimie asked, still curious about Jacob.
"Well, he was staying at a the headquarters as a trainee, but his training is over now. And well, you know . . . " Aunt Charlene finished vaguely as she sat back in her seat.
Figuring that she wasn't going to get a straight answer from her, Jaimie focused her attention to her food. Then, having been struck by a brilliant idea, suddenly burst out, "So he's staying at the headquarters still, right?"
All three looked at her with thoughtful expressions, but it was Remus who said, "Yes, oh strange one. Why?"
"Well that would mean he's still staying over with James and Sirius."
"And what in blazes has that got to do with anything?" Uncle Alan said, utterly perplexed.
"Well . . . " Jaimie started.
"Oh, Alan isn't it obvious? She wants James and Sirius to come, too. Isn't that right dear?"
Jaimie nodded.
Aunt Charlene smiled and said, "Of course dear. Go ahead, call them." she nodded her head toward the fire place where Jaimie darted to without losing a beat.
She took a fistful of the glittering floo powder, cast it into the fire, which turned the familiar green, stuck her head in and called, "Um . . . um . . . " She thought hard of the paper she was told to memorize by Mimi and chanted, "Lorrance Shack!" Instantly, she saw different chimney grates zooming and moving around her, until she found a red-bricked one and rocketed right into it, where she saw the feet of James and, startlingly, Jacob sitting placidly in the study.
Apparently they didn't notice her until she said, "James!" Which caused him to turn his head down at the fire, stare at her floating head for a few minutes and said, "Other James!"
"Hi to you too. Have you seen Sirius?"
"Oh he's taking a shower right now I think. A rather long one," then all three of them heard a rather muffled voice saying, "Breakfast!"
"Right, let's go Jacob, my lad, I'm quite ravenous." They got up to leave but Jaimie gave an indignant cry.
"Oh right, Jaimie! Sorry forgot. Hey it's easy to forget a floating head you know!" James cried defensively, from the skeptical look on Jaimie's face. "Well it is. Especially if its you." He gave a derisive laugh.
"Well, now, now, James don't make fun of the pretty girl. Who could forget such a gorgeous face?" Jacob said, with a roguish smile.
Jaimie and James stared at him for a few minutes which caused him to say, "Right. Works better in America. I'll just be over here then?" He pointed to the far corner and walked over to it.
"Well I really can't wait long so can you just tell Sirius that he's invited to come over today?"
James gave her an offended look.
"And you, too James." Jaimie replied dully.
"Oh but I can't come."
"Why not?" Jaimie asked, surprised.
"I'm spending the day with someone."
"Well tell Sirius he can come."
"Will do, captain!" James said with a hearty salute.
"Thanks, James." Jaimie said giggling, then she turned to Jacob and said, "Nice seeing you again Jacob. I'm really glad you're alright. I suppose we'll talk again later." Jacob smiled and nodded.
Jaimie returned the smile and retracted her head from the grate.
She didn't return to the kitchen but headed straight for the bathroom to get ready.
The trip to the Lupin house was rather uneventful and for Sirius, it couldn't end soon enough. However glad he was that Jacob had managed to come back to them safe and unscathed, he still felt a twinge of frustration whenever her opened his mouth, which he didn't refrain from doing throughout the entire journey through the forest. At long and (in Sirius' case) beautiful last, the hedge which separated the forest from the house emerged through the thinning copse of trees. They only had one problem however, and it wasn't solved the easy way.
"There's the house!" Sirius said breathily, having gotten a lecture on how Jacob had defeated some lake monster in America, "Finally!"
"Aw man, we've arrived already?! And this walk was starting to get good!"
Sirius gave him a look of pure disgust and appall. He turned his head away, cleared his throat and said, "So . . . how are we going to get to the house?"
Jacob shrugged and said, "I'd be damned if I knew. I've never been here before."
"Whaddya mean you've never been here before?" Sirius asked incredulously.
"Well, even though I am an Order member, I still haven't been to all the key members' homes yet, including the Lupins'." Jacob explained with a shrug.
Sirius slumped over. He'd been to the Lupin house before many times, but apparently it wasn't enough to know the entire layout of the lot. There was a hidden gateway through the hedge that was marked by a tin watering can at the base of the opening. However, they didn't know this.
"Do you know a way?" Sirius asked, after a minute of pondering the possibilities.
"Well we could feel around the hedge for a way in . . . " Jacob started slowly.
"That would take too long. There probably isn't a way in anyway, there's a wall in between this hedge and a hedge in their backyard." Sirius said, then, "Just-I don't know-give me a boost and I'll climb over."
"Dude, that could be dangerous." Jacob said.
"Do you have any other ideas?" Sirius snapped.
"Alright . . . " Jacob said, with a sigh.
Jacob crouched down and placed his hands one on top of the other so that it would cradle Sirius' foot. "Ready." He said with a sudden tone of machismo in his voice.
"Shut up." Sirius said placing his foot on the nook of Jacob's hands and lifted himself up, using Jacob's head to steady himself.
It took him a while to keep his balance in Jacob's hands. After a few seconds of teetering on the verge of collapse, Sirius managed a steady position and looked at the hedge wall in front of him. Suddenly the hedge seemed very far away and he seemed very high up.
"Any day now, Sirius, man." Jacob grunted, below.
"Can't you wait?!" Sirius snapped. He took a deep breath, relaxed, then tensed his muscles as he sprung away from Jacob's hands, causing Jacob to fall to the ground, and caught the edge of the wall.
"Hey you ok?" Jacob asked, from the ground.
"Yeah I'm great," Sirius replied, sarcasm dripping in his tone, as he barely clung to the wall, "I always hang from ten foot walls covered in spiky hedges."
"Can you climb up?" Jacob asked, ignoring this comment.
"I'll try." Sirius placed his foot into the hedge and used it to climb up. His clothes snagged and tore, but Sirius still climbed up until he was sitting on the wall.
"Great! Now jump down!" Jacob called enthusiastically.
"Easy for you to say." Sirius mumbled under his breath.
He looked down at the ground which seemed to be spinning before him. "Here goes," He mumbled before he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, opened them, and slid off the wall.
Jaimie was sitting in the living room, trying not to watch the grate expectantly for any sign of activity. Remus sat with her, watching her amused.
"Jaimie, he'll be here, don't worry. Now can we please do something else?!" Remus pleaded, bored.
"No! I have to wait here."
"Can I please go then?" Remus begged.
"No, you have to stay. You have to divert Jacob."
"Why can't you and Sirius just go somewhere to talk?" Remus said monotonously.
"Aunt Charlene won't let me." Jaimie replied.
Remus gave a huge sigh. Jaimie ignored him. She was trying very hard to be happy for Sirius' sake. After all, he had been there for her many times and because she felt guilty for lying to him. She was just thinking about what they were going to do once they arrived when they heard a loud thud from the backyard followed by a loud yell.
Jaimie and Remus looked at each other for one moment before racing off to the backyard. They were intercepted by Uncle Alan and Aunt Charlene who stared at them for a moment, before dashing off ahead of them. They slammed the door open and stood in awe as they saw Sirius at the base of the hedge, seemingly unconscious. Sirius opened his eyes when he saw he had an audience and smiled at them, giving a little wave as well.
"Sirius?!" Jaimie cried, running to his side. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Trying to get to your house." Sirius said, smiling weakly. "I'm alright," He said suddenly, as he saw Mrs. Lupin coming over with her wand at the ready. He sat up slowly, wincing and said, "We tried to get over the hedge by climbing over."
"Why didn't you just send us a note or something, or go through floo powder?" Remus suggested, as he collapsed beside Jaimie.
"Not allowed to." Sirius answered simply.
"Yeah, sorry Mrs. Lupin, my fault!" Jacob called from the other side.
"Jacob? What in blazes . . . I thought you could apparate!" Mr. Lupin cried incredulously.
There was a tense silence in which Jacob seemed to be thinking about this possibility. Then he said, "Oh. Right."
Sirius made a fist with his hands, closed his eyes tightly, and yelled in a loud voice that seemed to scare several spiders from its ceiling homes a couple of blocks away, "JACOB!"
The Lupin's backyard was never before filled with so many curse words and angry yells before.
Later in the day, when they had managed to keep Sirius from mauling Jacob more than the Death Eaters had, they were all inside, Sirius lying down, though a bit stiffly. Mrs. Lupin had fixed him right up with AcheAway potion, which left a cooling sensation on the aching body part, in Sirius' case, his back, as it was relieved of pain. Jacob was sitting as far away as possible from Sirius because he was put there, and he didn't like to face Sirius' wrath when he was angry. Jaimie was tending to Sirius who didn't seem to mind the attention he was getting from the girl.
"Are you feeling better?" Jaimie asked gently.
"Yeah, loads better." Sirius darted a poisonous look at Jacob, who replied defensively, "I'm sorry, Sirius, I forgot! Its those damn Death Eaters-"
"Let's not talk about Death Eaters today." Aunt Charlene said, smiling and carrying a tray of cookies and tea and setting it down on the the table. She then handed a cup to Jacob, Remus and Sirius and Jaimie. She set the plate of cookies on the table and took a small plate of cookies and a cup of tea to the office where Uncle Alan had barricaded himself.
There was an awkward silence that followed. And Remus, not used to such silences said, "Nice conversation we're having, huh."
No one answered.
"Right," Remus said to himself.
More silence.
"Oh for the love of pantyhose, can someone please speak?!" Remus cried.
The others looked at him strangely. There was a moment of perplexed silence, which was then broken by Jacob's suppressed snickers which then gave way to laughing and then the entire room broke into laughter.
"Pantyhose?" Sirius asked, between fits of laughter.
"Remus you're such a weirdo." Jaimie said.
In the office, Aunt Charlene was listening to their conversation which was often broken with laughter, and she smiled contentedly and said, "Don't you miss this, Alan?"
Uncle Alan, who was writing upon a piece of parchment looked up and said, "Miss what, dear?"
"Being a kid? Being with your friends and just having fun?"
"What on earth are you going on about Charlene?" Uncle Alan said.
Aunt Charlene turned to him and said, "Oh Alan, stop that for a minute and dance with me."
Uncle Alan just gave his wife a funny look.
"I'm serious!" She turned a dial on the Wizarding Wireless Network to a station that was playing a soft tinkling song, and started dancing along as if she were with an invisible partner.
Uncle Alan watched her go around a few turns before Aunt Charlene came to him, took his hands and pulled him up to dance with her.
Even from a distance you could hear the house ringing with the sound of laughter, music and adolescence. Sounds that echoed the people inside.
A/N: Man its summer!!! It feels so great!!! Hope you like this chapter! Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed I love you all!!!!! mwahs mwahs mwahs!