Lily Chapter 43: Good Byes, a harry potter fanfic

Lily

Chapter 43

Sirius stuck two French fries up his nose and sneezed. The fries flew across the table and hit Remus in the forehead. Sirius roared with laughter. "I've always - haha! - been kind of allergic to potatoes!"

James, Peter, and Lily joined in the laughter, but Remus was too busy scrubbing furiously at his forehead with a napkin. "Why couldn't you have turned around for that?"

James shook his head. "You don't seem to get it. It is so strongly against Sirius's nature to turn around when he's about to sneeze fries that it approaches impossibility."

Sirius calmed down and tapped his goblet with a fork. "Okay, okay. If you think that was amusing, prepare to die with laughter." He popped a rather gross-looking Brussels sprout into his mouth and, seconds later, had passed it through his nose.

"Ew!" Lily made a gagging noise and covered her mouth nauseously while Peter and Remus laughed.

James pushed his plate away. "There goes my appetite."

"Come on! It's the Christmas Eve feast, James, and it's your sacred obligation as a Marauder to not only stuff yourself now, but to party late into the night with plundered goods!" Sirius held a large tureen of beef stew up to James and began ladling it into his bowl. "Eat up, little Jimmy!"

"Oh, get off it." James stared disgustedly at the Brussels sprout that lay on the tablecloth. "Could you just...move that off the table? It's kind of making me sick."

Sirius nodded and flicked the offending object off the table, sending it flying onto Professor Lollio's hat. This caused even more merriment among the friends, as Professor Lollio seemed not to notice it.

That night in the common room, the Marauders disappeared (literally) and returned with their pockets full of little petit fors and sweets of all sorts. The remaining Gryffindors held a small but noisy celebration, and James transfigured a tall candle into a waxy-looking Christmas Tree. Everyone chipped in to decorate it: Remus conjured up some faintly glowing orbs and hung them from the branches, Peter added strings of popcorn, Lily charmed the tree to sparkle and change color with the mood of the person looking at it. Sirius added an angel at the top, which, on closer inspection, was found to be rather short, pudgy, and wearing thick glasses with black rims.

At around 1:30, their sugar highs finally fading into exhaustion, the students dragged themselves up to the dormitories with visions of large fizzing whizbees dancing in their heads.

Lily's last thought before dropping into sleep was uneasy. She, again, was the only one occupying a room with three beds in it.

Lily awoke from a dream she didn't remember, only to find a veritable forest of gifts at the foot of her bed. She picked up the one closest to her. It was wrapped in crinkly gold paper and a red lace ribbon. The tag read, "To Lily, from Amelia." Lily quirkily unwrapped it, being very careful not to rip the paper. It was a book entitled, "Muggle Legal Practices and Why We Care." There was a bookmark inserted in one page, and Lily opened up to that page and read it aloud. "It is common Muggle knowledge that it is a severe crime to withhold information from the proper authorities, especially when another crime has occurred and has not been punished." Lily sighed and put the book aside, not wanting to feel worried.

The next one was just an envelope with a Christmas tree pattern on a white background. She opened it to find a bell-shaped card that contained a message written in sloppy but readable handwriting:

Dear Lily,

Merry Christmas! Sorry that this was all I could get you, but I'm running low on cash, and you've guilted me into swearing off illegal doings. If you are unsatisfied, remember that you brought this on yourself.

Sufferingly,
Sirius

Lily rolled her eyes and shook three Every Flavor beans out of the envelope. "Verrrrry funny." She moved on to the other gifts, and unearthed a box of Chocolate Frogs from Remus, a book of advanced Charms from James, an insensitive card from Peter, and, to her vast surprise, a letter from Petunia.

Dear Lily,

Don't ask me how I got this to you, because I don't know how your mail works. I got a letter from your stupid "Minister of Magic" telling me that I should really send you a letter in the Christmas spirit, and my boyfriend told me that it would be a good idea to listen to them. You never know what your kind will do if you make them angry.

Sincerely,
Petunia

P.S. Don't write back.
P.P.S. I don't suppose you've got a boyfriend.

Lily crumpled the letter and threw it across the room into the dustbin. It was Christmas, and she wasn't going to allow a stupid letter ruin her morning. She rose and got dressed for breakfast.

Sirius and James were already wolfing down hotcakes and syrup like nobody's business, and didn't stop for Lily.

"Merry Christmas," Lily said cheerily. There was no response. "I said, 'Merry Christmas!'"

James kicked Sirius under the table, and both of them stopped eating. "Sorry, Lil. I've got a bet that I can eat more pancakes than Sirius, and he's betting that he can eat more than I can."

"How much have you eaten so far?"

They each pointed to their own stack of plates. Both of the stacks were the exact same height. "I don't think anyone's going to win this bet," Sirius remarked.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to thank you for your lavish gift," Lily said, her voice oozing sarcasm. "How about you re-start the contest on three? One...two...THREE!"

The two boys dove into their plates and started eating at high speed. It was five minutes until Remus and Peter came into the Great Hall, and James and Sirius were still at it. "Jeez!" Remus yelled as a rogue drop of syrup landed on his nose. "Why can't you eat like the rest of the world?"

"How's that, Remus?" Lily asked drily.

"Without spraying innocent bystanders with syrup," he muttered irritably as he mopped the sticky goo off of his nose.

The contest raged on for at least another ten minutes. The plates stacked higher and higher until finally, both James and Sirius simultaneously set a plate off to the side...and collapsed. Lily walked behind them and held up both of their fists. "I hereby declare this contest a tie! Both of you numbskulls can keep your money!"

"Good," sounded Sirius's weak voice from the tablecloth. "I don't have ten Galleons, anyway."

"Fine with me," said James, equally muffled. "I wasn't in the mood to pay up."

It took about fifteen minutes for both of them to return to their normal states. Well...the term "normal" used loosely in the general sense, but it was normal for James and Sirius.

"Hey, want to see if I can hit McGonagall's glasses with this Brussels sprout?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Yeah! Let's see if you can break them!"

Sirius lined up and took careful aim, when a cloud of owls interrupted his concentration. One of them actually dropped a letter in front of him. "Hmm. Wonder who sent me a letter. I bet it's a Howler from Amelia."

James groaned. "No more bets!"

Sirius laughed and tore open the letter, looking relieved that Amelia's shrill voice didn't resound through the Great Hall. However, as he read the letter, the smile faded from his face. He clutched the edges tighter and tighter as tears filled his eyes, finally ripping it in half and running out of the room.

Remus picked up the ragged-edged letter and scanned it. When he finished, he set it down and ran his fingers through his hair distractedly. "Oh, man. I can't believe it."

"What happened?" asked Lily, a terrible sinking feeling starting in her stomach.

In response, Remus read the letter aloud. "'Dear Mr. Black, It is with deepest regret that we must inform you of this. Last night, Lord Voldemort arrived at your home accompanied by several of his followers. He and the Death Eaters Disapparated before Ministry officials had a chance to intervene. Your father, mother, and sister have been pronounced dead. Sincerely, Cyril A. Pillory.'"

James stood up and walked out of the Hall after mumbling, "I've gotta go talk to him."

Peter and Remus appeared to not quite know what to do with themselves. They sat in silence for awhile, blinking and trying to absorb the information fully. Eventually, Remus stood up, shaking his head. "Full moon tonight. I'd better go."

When he left, only Peter and Lily remained. Lily's vision was blurring with tears, though she couldn't bear the thought of crying in front of Peter. He reached across the table and took her hand comfortingly. She gulped back tears and stared at him with as much defiance as the curse would allow. His face was the picture of grief as he whispered to her, "You know why."

And Peter left, leaving Lily in trembling rage.