A/N: I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out. It's been finished for a while, but I haven't had time to transfer it from paper to hard-drive and then post it. Thank you so much for waiting patiently.
Disclaimer: You know the usual drill, I own nothing save for the plotline and characters you don't know.
Illicit Love
Chapter Eleven
Back to School
Lily kissed her mother, father, and sister goodbye before walking head-on to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. She slipped right through, sliding sideways, and stepped out onto platform nine and three-quarters. Her heart rate increased immediately knowing and feeling the magic all around her, so strong, she could smell it. It was wonderful.
"Lily!" A voice called. She turned and was attacked by Alisa Leone and Louisa Jamison, her dorm mates for the last six years. She smiled happily at them.
"'Morning Alisa, Louisa, isn't this exciting?"
Alisa scowled. "Going back to school, exciting? Never."
"Only she would say something like that," Louisa commented.
"Of course she would, she's Head Girl."
Lily giggled, hugging her friends.
"So, how're James and the rest of the boys?" Louisa asked. "What did you guys do?"
"Oh, not much. I visited the Bahamas and hung out in Diagon Alley. James and I had a lot of fun."
"I'm sure you did, you lucky hag. You of all people shouldn't be liking him," Alisa said, shaking her head.
"I don't like him because he's got money and he's handsome," Lily informed. "I like who he is."
"So the fact that he's loaded and totally sexy hasn't even the teeniest bit to do with it?" Louisa pressed.
Lily chuckled and blushed. "Well, maybe just a little. I've got to go find them. I'll come back and see you two later."
Lily pushed her cart down the train corridor, waving goodbye to her friends. She then entered the compartment that her boyfriend and friends were in. Remus and Sirius were playing wizard chess and James was reading a book about Quidditch.
"The Head Girl has entered the compartment," she stated. The three boys looked up.
"Lils!" James cried, jumping up and embracing her.
"Good morning, Lily," Remus said politely. "Checkmate."
Sirius scowled as he watched Remus' queen take his own king, then grinned handsomely at Lily.
"Lily-bear!" he exclaimed. He too jumped up and embraced Lily, who was still entangled with James. "Group hug! Remus, get in here!"
Remus rolled his eyes good naturedly but hugged the group anyway.
"We're all together again," Sirius said, pretending to cry. "If only Peter was here."
"You're a strange man, Sirius," Lily said, pushing James, Remus, and Sirius off of her. "Now, who wants to help me stow my trunk?"
"We'll do it; you just relax – we'll need your level head later on, I don't doubt it," Remus said.
"You guys are too good to me."
"You're too good to us. We like it," Sirius replied.
"Good, because if you didn't, I'd start being a bitch, then you'd be sorry."
Sirius wrapped his arms around Lily's neck. "Lily-bear," he said, "I think I'm in love – with her." Sirius had been looking out the window into the corridor. Lily turned to see what he was watching.
There was a young woman out in the corridor who was wearing tight leather trousers. Her blonde hair flowed to the middle of her back and she was approximately the same height as Lily. She was reading the Train Rules posted on the wall.
"Look at that arse," Sirius said, letting go of Lily. Remus nodded in agreement.
"Very nice," James said. Lily smacked him on the shoulder. "Ow! What?"
"That's Nicole Shaker," Lily said quietly.
"Oh, right, Nicole Shaker," Remus said. "Who is she and why don't we know her?"
"She's Joseph Levine's half-sister. She graduated last year from Aboriginal Alliance of Magical Arts Training. She's teaching the art workshop every Thursday – like it said on the paper that was in the Hogwarts letter." The three looked clueless. "Oh, come on guys! You didn't even look at the schedule for workshops so you can know what you want to do in life?"
"I know perfectly well what I want to do," Remus said. "That's the only workshop I looked at. I didn't read the others."
"I don't even think I got a letter," Sirius said. "I think McGonagall isn't sending them trying to discourage me from going to Hogwarts. But I'm not stupid. I know that the train leaves from platform nine and three-quarters on September the first at eleven o'clock a.m. I swear, every time she sees me the new year, she looks so disappointed."
"Oh rubbish," Lily said. "Professor McGonagall would never do that. Maybe your owls get lost or your house in unplottable or maybe you forget to open it all the time."
"Well, maybe it's the fact that most my mail comes to me as Sean Delaney."
"Sean Delaney?" Lily asked.
"Sean's my first name, Sirius is my middle name. I liked Sirius better. Or at least my mum did, she's been calling my Sirius for as long as I can remember except for when she's upset with me. And Delaney's my mother's maiden name."
"Well, where did Black come from?"
"Black was my grandmother's maiden name. I don't know how it came to be mine. I should have taken Delaney or Delacruz." He shrugged. "Yeah, usually I don't answer owls with 'Sean Delaney' on them."
"Maybe that's why you haven't gotten your letters, you moron!"
The four laughed then started a game of exploding snap. After a several hours, tey arrived at the large Scottish castle that housed the many students. To both Lily and James, Hogwarts was more than school, it was Home.
The Welcoming Feast was spent eating delicious foods and chatting with friends. Peter had met the four at the table and they all sat together. Dumbledore announced James and Lily as Head Boy and Girl and there was a tumult of applause and whoops. Both Lily and James beamed around the hall at their peers.
The students left the hall, the prefects leading them to their dormitories. James and Lily met in the common room and kissed each other goodnight before climbing up the separate staircases to their dorms. Being Head Boy and Girl, they were privileged to have their own rooms, but as it was the first night back at school, they were asked to stay in Gryffindor Tower in case anyone needed the head prefects for any reason.
Both Lily and James stayed up late chatting with their friends in their own dorms. They discussed what the year would be like. It was all very exciting and they couldn't wait to start up again.
* * *
The next morning at breakfast the five tiredly ate their eggs. They picked up their timetables and headed for their first class.
"I feel like a wrung sponge," Peter commented once lunchtime came. He plopped down and started piling mashed potatoes on his plate. "Thank Merlin I haven't forgotten how to eat."
"I aced all my memory pretests and tests," Sirius said. "Except for when McGonagall made me change that rabbit into a tulip. It wiggled its stamen. Not good at all."
"Thank my lucky stars that I remembered all the...er...stars in the constellations."
"Uh, James, we didn't have Astronomy," Remus informed.
"I know, I just felt like I should add something in." He started stuffing his mouth full of chicken and ham pie. "Lily, don't you have next hour off?"
Lily nodded, sipping strawberry tea. "I think I'm going to the library."
"For your hour and a half off on the first day?" Peter asked.
Lily shrugged. "I happen to like the library. I'm not an obsessed studier; I just love it in there."
"Well, I have the hour off too," James said. "I can go to the library with you."
"That would be lovely."
"Yeah, 'cause we all know what's going to happen in there," Remus said, nudging James's shoulder.
"Hush," Lily said, blushing slightly. "It's school hours and I'd rather not publicly display my affection to Madam Pince."
Sirius shuddered. "Gross!"
Soon the bell rang and the three boys were off to their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. James and Lily were nearly the only people left in the hall. James stood slightly and leaned across the table to kiss his girlfriend. He pulled away, looked her in the eyes and then kissed her again. He sat back down and smiled softly.
"That was unexpected," Lily said, smiling back.
"I just felt like being sly today," James replied. "So, you want to head to the library?"
Lily nodded. The two got up and walked to the library with their arms around each other's waists.
They entered the large room and went their separate ways to pick out books. Lily sat down at a table and started reading a science fiction book that came out of the Muggle Literature Section. James came from a quiet corner, holding a large leather-bound book.
"That's not from the Restricted Section is it?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm Head Boy – it's legal," he replied with a shrug. "I need this. Contains vital information, it does." He said nothing more, but flipped though the pages, writing things down on a piece of parchment as he went. After a while, Lily started getting suspicious.
"What is it you're doing?" she asked, trying to see what he was doing.
"Nothing really," he said, shifting the book and parchment so that Lily couldn't see their contents. She knitted her eyebrows.
"Come on," she said. "Tell me what that is!" She got up and walked around the table to James's side. He closed the book with the parchment inside it. Lily tried tickling him to get out the secret, but James ended up attacking her, tickling her in all places. She shrieked and giggled like mad. James growled incoherent things at her, something about secretive.
Madam Pince glared evilly in their direction. Her vulture-like eyes were showing disapproval and anger. Lily looked around, a few other students who had off hours were staring at them too.
"Er...sorry," Lily said, her cheeks a deep crimson. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, everyone turned back to their work. Lily and James grinned at each other then kissed before Lily returned to her chair. James smiled at her affectionately before opening his book again, figuring Lily had forgotten about her curiosity.
But unbeknownst to James, Lily filed away the curiosity in the back of her brain. She would find out what was going on, no matter what it took. Was it right for him to keep secrets from her? she wondered. Well, she'd find out.
* * *
Lily was sipping a mug of hot chocolate in her room, trying to do her Transfiguration essay, but the warm night kept her distracted. She set her mug and book down and stretched. She looked out the window at the glowing silver orb of the full moon. She wondered what James and the rest of the guys were doing. She checked her watch, it was near one in the morning on a Saturday night. As it wasn't too late, she decided to visit her guy friends. She pulled on a dressing gown and some slippers and walked down short cut that took her to the portrait of the Fat Lady. She whispered the password and stepped into the dark common room.
She reached the door to the seventh year boys' dormitory and knocked, but there was no answer. She entered the room, calling, "Wake up, guys. It's me." No answer again. She lit the torches with her wand then checked the beds. They were all empty.
How strange, she thought. Maybe they had gone to play a prank. It was only a few weeks into the school year and they had been talking about it for quite a while. Well, they had been planning something at least, that much she knew.
She sat on James's bed, thinking that they would return soon. She lied back upon the pillows and quickly fell into a slumber.
"Classic, that was."
"Did you see the look on Barton's face? What was he doing out so late last night anyway?"
"It was early this morning."
"Did you see how scared he was? Look, my arm just barely stopped bleeding. Did you see how hard Remus bit me?"
"That was great – just gr – "
The noise stopped and the sleeping redhead stirred in the bed that was not her own.
"Lily?" James asked. She opened her eyes then looked positively horrified.
"Oh my god!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry! I just came in here to see what you were up to last night and I must have fallen asleep."
James smiled at her. Her eyes widened when she realized all three boys (where was Remus?) were in their underwear. James's smile turned into an embarrassed one and he pulled a pair of trousers over his Quidditch-patterned pants. Peter and Sirius followed suit.
"That's okay. I know you missed me so much that you had to be in my bed," James said, leaning down to kiss his girlfriend on the forehead.
"Where were you anyway?" she asked, stretching and moving over so to let James in the bed with her.
"Just out and about, then we all slept in my room."
"I should have gone there. I just imagined that you'd be in here with all the beds." She shrugged, then yawned. "I would have slept better if you were in the bed with me."
He grinned and kissed her lips.
"Urgh. Get a room," Sirius said.
"I have one," James said. "All my own to do whatever I want to do in it – until McGonagall walks in."
Peter wrinkled his nose. "Gross."
"That's what wards are for," Sirius said. "So you don't get interrupted."
"Stop making everything sound so dirty," Lily said. "We weren't talking about – er – that to begin with."
"Maybe you weren't," Peter said, "but I've known these guys for over six years, I know they mean sex."
Lily suppressed a smile, thinking a teenage boy was a teenage boy wizard or not. "Well, then," she said. "Maybe I should just leave you guys to your dirty minds. Where's Remus, by the way?"
A look passed between the three boys that made Lily think they were suspicious of something. The same kind of suspicious energy emanated from James a few weeks ago when they were in the library.
"He's not feeling well," Sirius said. "He got sick after dinner, so we took him to the hospital wing; that's why we all stayed in James's room."
"I hope he's okay. He can't get rid of his nasty illnesses. His whole family is like that too, eh?"
Their eyebrows knitted, and James answered, "His mum and his brother often get sick too."
"I didn't know he had a brother."
"And a sister," Peter said. "But she's married."
"Hmm...I wouldn't have thought.... Anyway, I'm going to my room. If anyone needs me, I'll be there."
"The life of being a Head Girl," Sirius said, shaking his head mockingly. "You help so many people with their problems." He grinned. "If you twisted that in the right way, that could have sounded dirty."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You and your dirt minds. I'm getting out of this filth."
Lily kissed James's cheek before leaving the room and going to her own personal one.
"You gave us quite a scare, Miss Evans."
Lily jumped and turned to see Professor McGonagall sitting in a high backed chair by the fireplace.
"I- I'm sorry, Professor. I fell asleep where I shouldn't have and slept all night."
"Quite all right, m'dear," the woman said. "Please, sit down, there's something I need to tell you."
Lily sat in the other armchair and looked quizzically at her Head of House. She tried to smile but there was an aura of unusual negativity around the older woman.
"Dear, you see," she seemed to be struggling for the words. "Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but your father's been involved in an accident – er – attack at his place of work. I'm – I" – Lily could see the tears in McGonagall's eyes – "I'm afraid he didn't make it."
* * *
A/N: So sad, I know. I didn't know that was coming. Wow.
Thank you again for waiting patiently. It seems that reviews have reached an all time low. But, hey, that's okay; at least I know that there are people still out there reading my stuff! Makes me feel loved. I know how it is to be in the school year again and the winter here and everything slows down so much that it seems like you've got a ton to do. Yeah...
Anyhoo, thanks to all those who have reviewed since I last posted! I hope I can get the next chapter posted sooner. What I'm really hoping is to get Falling into Grace posted. If anyone knows any way I can get rid of writer's block, would you be kind enough to inform me? Even if it's a superstitious incantation or spell! I need everything you've got! *grins*
**THANK-YOUS**
Agent Idiot – LOL! Your reviews are funny! You've been to Thorn & Buck? Great place, that it. I love it, but I haven't had much time to be over there lately. I was named Sirius's Disco Dancin' Groupie. We wear Union Jack bikinis and try to create cunning plans to get Sirius and Remus naked in a hot tub. : D I'm glad you liked Pierre. I hope there will be more from him. Maybe someday I'll have to write a little cookie about him and Hannah. Yes, the foreshadowing applies with Peter. You like Doritos in chocolate too? Maybe I should try it sometime... It seems that everyone likes it anyway, I might as well just on the Bandwagon. Then again... I'm writing this story, which is not only jumping off the bandwagon, but attempting suicide in the world of fanfiction. But hey, readers seem to love the dangerous side... I like it too. All my stories contain the proverbial jumping off and suicide.
Ma'hi – Yes, usually writer's portray the Potter family as sweet and loving. Not my Illicit Love Universe Potters. They're mean and nasty and the only thing that makes them different from the Slytherins is that they're Gryffindors and they don't really have evil in their intentions. You want to be a Sirius groupie? Yay! I'm not alone! It's quite fun wearing the disco-dancin' outfit, trying to get Sirius to dance with you. *grins*
Marzoog – You want to dance with Sirius? Jump right in and start groovin'! Nice singing, by the way. : ) I'm glad you liked Pierre. Was there that much to like about him? He was always the dreamer of the family. Always had his head in the clouds. *shakes head* Are you in high school? Sorry about my asking, you just mentioned something about high school, so I thought I'd ask.
Zetta – You reviewed! Wow, you never review. Strange for a stalker not to, really. But I know you're unique! Thanks!
Jess the Great
Emily Woodmark
Uknowwhoslittleprincess – Great joke! LOL!
Iluvoliverwood – I looked around at Thorn and Buck the other day. Man, oh man have I missed a lot. I couldn't think of anything to say to leave a message, so I didn't. I hope to get back there soon, though. I better hurry!
Pilikika – Me, taking French? I wish! I got stuck with Spanish. That's not a bad thing – I love Spanish; but I really wish I could speak French. It's not fair! If you think I did a decent job speaking the little French that I knew that was probably totally wrong, thanks! I can catch phrases and such, but as for speaking, not me. I've just been prone to interpreting languages since I was young. I've got the gift. *grins* Er...probably not, but I can pretend that I'm something greater than a fanfiction writer, can't I? Let's see, James was not a Seeker. JKR said that he was a Chaser, but the movie got all twisted. Grr... And you got your romance – just for you!
Mariana Maiz
Majestyic
Ruby – Like I said in my author's note, I've got the worst case of writer's block ever on Falling into Grace. If you have someway you can help, let me know!!!
Zebragurl – Er...I meant "jaws" and I don't know how it came out as "draws". It must have been one of those late-night writing adventures. That happens to me a lot.
Topaz Lily – Thanks for the pics of Sirius. He's not a bad looking guy. I just thought that Sirius was supposed to be dead sexy. Look at me, I've run away with false ideas again. Silly me.
Punkkittin01
* * *
Well, sadly, that's all the thank-yous for this time. I'm lucky I got any at all. Have I gone to an all time low in my story or is everyone just busy? Oh well, no worries....
Let's see...for all those who review, you will receive all my homework for the rest of the year. Just kidding! I don't think you'd want me to burden you like that. But, if you think about it, I'd be able to get a lot more writing done. Hmm...
All reviewers will receive a tour of the legendary Hogwarts castle.
Me: "We are now in Scotland. Here is where the Hogwarts castle stands."
You: "Umm... I don't see anything."
Me: "Of course you do. There's the castle, there's Gryffindor tower, and look, there's the Quidditch pitch."
You: *squints, trying to find all the things that she's pointing to* "Uhh...No..."
Me: "Oooh look! A special treat, there's James and Sirius riding around on their broomsticks. Wave to them!" *waves*
You: *looks around again* *decides that Lavender's gone loony* *doesn't want to admit it* *waves to the imaginary people*
Me: "See, isn't this nice?"
You: *Nods, still waving*
* * *
Happy Reading!
Loves from Lavender