Disclaimer: Although I know this is a stupid question, I'll ask it anyway. Do we really need disclaimers? I mean we alllllllllllll know that we don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff that goes with it. We're just crazy maniac people who (only in my case really) think the can write. Unless, you know, you really think you're J.K. Rowlings or something. Cause if you do then ummmmm get some help.
Gosh I haven't posted in the longest time!!! Sooooooo sorry!! I've been so busy. I was barely at my house last weekend. Went shopping all day Saturday, had a horrible soccer game on Sunday where there were only 8 of us and we lost 11 to 2, worked on a project after that. It was all very annoying. And to top it off I had a science test on Monday which I now know I got a C on which really ticks me off cause I never get anything below a B. But hey that's life for you. Only 5 more days til HP 3 for me!! Soooooooo excited! Of course I can't even see it on the 4th cause of Relay For Life. It's all very sad but I'm seeing it on Saturday!!!
Chocolate Monkey(aka Miss Lady Padfoot): You should feel proud. Lol. Yah I like that part too cause I kinda imagined myself doing it. I'm sooooo afraid of heights but I think it would be awesome to learn how to fly. Thanks!! I'm on your favorites list! gets up and does a little dance. Sits back down AWESOME!! Lol. Of course I'll continue writing this story!! Wouldn't dream of not. Luv ya lots!!
Zeldagrl436: Wow. Lol. Of course I love everyone who reviews my story!!!!!!!
Queen of Zan: Wow, you're lucky you even have that many. Lol. Thanks! Don't worry about it, schools a drag.
Chelles: Oh they're up to something alright....lol. God I wish I was in your Spanish class. Lol. I think there are still 17 more days for me. Lucky bug. You get out earlier. You must live somewhere southern of me. My cousin in Florida is already out of school. Grrr her. Lol. Thanks for reviewing.
JKR: I know! Sorry it was such a long wait. Lol. Ummmmm... can't exactly answer your question. All I know is this is going to be a really looooong story. I'm kinda winging it at this point. Omg, see I wasn't sure about that cause I thought that England was in like the same latitude as I am but now I'm like o wait they're in Scotland. DUH! Lol. I looooove you!! I'll be sure to get your help if I need it which will probably be a lot. I'm totally clueless when it comes to stuff in England. Thanks a bunch!
I already babbled enough in the beginning so I won't bore you with the mindless ramblings of a fifteen year old. Here's the update!
Chapter 11: An Absence and a Fight
It was nearing the end of September and James had never felt more at home in Hogwarts. Sometimes he couldn't even remember not being at Hogwarts. He was doing great in all his classes (except History Of Magic, but that's to be expected), he had the best friends in the world, and he had become one of the most popular first years. Life couldn't be better. It seemed everything was going great. Until...
"Guys, I have to go home."
Silence. Sirius's chair fell with a loud thump. More silence. "What?!"
It was Tuesday and the group of eight friends was busy doing their homework in the Common Room before dinner when Remus, who was being awfully quiet, had suddenly blurted out this. James had noticed Remus was looking a lot paler, like he had the day they'd met him. Remus looked around at them dejectedly.
"Why?!"
"What did you do?"
"Are they expelling you or something? Was it because of that singing armor?"
"I can't believe this!"
"I'm going to Dumbledore!"
"Hold it!" Remus exclaimed, pulling Sirius back from where he'd gotten up. "I'm not expelled. I didn't do anything." He paused for a second. "It's because of my Mum. She's sick."
James mouthed formed a big "O" and Sirius sat down again. "Is it serious?" Lily asked, looking at him sympathetically.
"I'm afraid it is. She gets sick like this almost every month," Remus replied. James couldn't help but notice that he looked a little nervous and his eye was twitching. He dismissed as being anything but Remus being concerned about his mum. Remus continued. "Professor Dumbledore's agreed to let me go and see her."
"When are you leaving?" Peter asked.
"Right after dinner," Remus responded. "I'll be back on Thursday morning."
"You know Remus? Are you sure you're not the one who's sick?" Kelly inquired worriedly. "You look totally knackered."
"I'm fine," Remus told her smiling weakly. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes, though. James supposed that Kelly had a point. Remus did look awfully tired and he'd become a lot paler in the past couple of days. Remus looked to Lily. "Hey Lils will you take notes for my and get my homework?"
"Of course Remus. Just go and look after your mum," Lily reassured him, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. Remus smiled at her gratefully.
"Hey Remus, how come you didn't ask us to take notes for you?" Sirius asked indignantly, trying to lighten then all up.
Remus snorted. "You think I trust you to take notes for me? That's a laugh."
Sirius gave him a mock-hurt look and James hit him on the back of the head. "Good choice Remus. We all know that Lily's the only one of us that can stay awake in History of Magic."
"I guess that's true," Sirius admitted reluctantly. "Anyway! Come on Remus my buddy, we'll help you pack!"
"Is this just an excuse to get away from doing your homework?" Remus asked him warily.
"What do you think? Of course it is!" Sirius exclaimed energetically. He shot a look at the girls. "And we have things to discuss."
"What kind of things?" Melissa asked, arching one of her eyebrows.
"To put it bluntly," James told them, catching Sirius' drift. "Things we can't discuss in front of you girls."
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Lily cried huffily at him.
James looked at the angry girls sheepishly. He then glanced at Sirius and tried to get help from him. Sirius grinned and made a motion to the girls that James interpreted as "they're all yours now". James glared at him before turning back to the girls. "Well you see we have some stuff to go over-,"
"Stuff?" Lily interrupted. "You hear that girls, they've 'stuff' to do?"
"¡Como no! Stuff! Why didn't I think of that before?" Melissa said sarcastically.
"Come on girls let's go upstairs and do stuff without the boys," Shannon suggested, picking up her books.
"Great idea, Shannon. See you at dinner boys. If we decide to sit near you," Melissa told them coldly.
As the girls went up their staircase the boys sat there staring at each other with confused expressions on their faces. James ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he had taken up even before he came to Hogwarts. "What just happened here?" he asked his friends.
"Reading between the lines, mate, I'd say they're mad," Sirius informed him mockingly.
"Why the bloody hell are they mad? What did I say?"
Peter snorted. "You basically told them to go away and that you don't want to include them in anything."
Remus nodded, but James was still stupefied. "But I-I didn't mean, I mean I don't, oh bloody hell!"
Sirius patted James' shoulder in what could have been a reassuring way if Sirius wasn't laughing hysterically. "It looks like James needs a little help with birds like them. It's a good thing I'm here for you, mate, or else you'd truly be lost."
"Well what do I do? I don't want them all to be mad at me, they're my friends," James said sincerely, glancing at the girls' staircase.
"Not to worry. All you have to do is apologize to them. But make sure to use our trademark, though," Sirius reminded him.
"Of course," James nodded. He looked at Remus who had been pretty quiet. "Anyway, let's go help Remus pack. And we still need to talk about stuff."
"Oh, so we're back to that stuffthing again," Sirius teased him.
"Oh hardy har har, shove off Sirius before I hex you," James warned him. He got up and went up the boys' own spiral staircase, his three friends following him. He opened the door to their dormitory and immediately flopped on his four-poster bed. He took off his stuffy black robes and loosened his Gryffindor tie. Sirius and Peter did the same while Remus pulled his trunk out from under his bed and began packing away some of his clothes. Once he was done he sat on his own bed and looked around at them.
"What do you think you blokes'll get up to tonight?" Remus asked.
"Well," James started, sharing a glance with Sirius, "we were going to go exploring in the castle tonight-,"
"But seeing as how you're leaving, we won't," Sirius finished for him.
Remus shook his head. "You don't have to stay in tonight just because of me. Go out and have some fun," He ordered them.
"Are you sure?" Peter asked. "I mean we can go when you come back and-,"
"Nonsense!" Remus exclaimed. "You just make sure that you find some cool places that I can come and see when I get back."
"Of course we will," James assured him. "We plan to at least find some secret passageway or a room tonight."
"Oh I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" Sirius exclaimed in a little girl's voice, jumping up and down on his bed.
For a while the boys just sat in their dormitory talking and watching Sirius jump up and down on his bed. He finally bumped his head on the ceiling and stopped. It was then that they decided to go down to dinner. When arrived down in the Common Room it was mostly empty and the girls were nowhere to be found. With a sigh James lead them down to the Great Hall where the food had already appeared on the tables and their peers were stuffing their faces.
The girls had abandoned the group's usual spot and had taken places at the other end of the table. The boys, being the true brave Gryffindors they were, sat down next to them. James took a spot next to Lily, who pointedly looked away from him. He began arranging food on his plate and for awhile no one spoke. James could feel the slight tension that was cackling in the air.
Finally he couldn't take it anymore, and he slammed his goblet of pumpkin juice down. Lily jumped but continued ignoring him. "You know, you didn't have to get so angry," James told the girls, his friends nodding in agreement.
"Melissa did you hear something?" Lily asked the brown-haired girl next to her, in an airy voice.
"Nope, I don't think I did," Melissa replied using the same tone. "How 'bout you Shannon?"
"Yeah know I heard something, but I think it was just the wind," Shannon told her, continuing to eat her food. "Kel?"
"I didn't hear a thing. Of course, I don't hear a lot of things."
"Too right you are, Kelly," Lily agreed, taking a sip of her drink.
"Alright, alright, we get the picture!" James cried, tired of the way they were talking like the boys weren't there. "We're sorry okay?"
"Pardon me? I'm not sure I heard that. Could you speak up?" Lily asked him sardonically, finally looking at him.
"I said that we're sorry. For, you know, making it seem like we didn't want to include you," James muttered loudly. He looked into Lily's emerald eyes. "Can you forgive us? What can we do to make it up to you?" James asked, laying it on thick. He used his and Sirius' trademark puppy dog eyes. They had used them to get out of trouble with James' parents and had recently started using them with their professors. It seemed to work amazingly on Lily.
Her hard expression softened and she shared a quick look with Melissa, Shannon, and Kelly, whose anger also seemed to dissipate. She turned back to James. "Oh of course we forgive you. We weren't really that mad at you in the first place. You guys are kind of hard to stay mad at."
"Oh we know. We're just so lovable," Sirius said, putting an arm around Melissa's shoulders.
She pulled away automatically and said sarcastically, "You keep telling yourself that, and maybe it'll be true one day."
They group laughed at Sirius' mock-hurt expression and things were back to normal once again.
After an enjoyable dinner, the group headed back into the Common Room, where the atmosphere around them became much more solemn as they remembered that one of their number was leaving. Remus was looking worse and worse as the evening wore on. At around 6:00 Remus sighed heavily before standing up. "Well, I guess I have to go know. I have to go meet Professor McGonagall in the Entrance Hall."
The rest of them stood. "Do you want us to walk down with you?" Peter asked.
Remus shook his head. "No, I'll be alright. I'll see you lot on Thursday."
"Right," James confirmed.
Remus took one last look around the Common Room before exiting through the portrait hole. The seven of them were quiet for a while before James remembered something. "Did Remus have his trunk with him?" he inquired quietly to Peter and Sirius.
"Hmm, no I don't think he did," Sirius responded confusedly. "I think it's still upstairs."
"That's odd," Peter observed. "Why would he go through all that trouble to pack if he was just going to leave it here?"
"I dunno," James replied, just as bewildered as the rest of them.
Soon James and Sirius got half-heartedly involved in a game of chess, while the Peter watched and the girls talked quietly in a corner by one of the windows.
"Wow," Lily said all of a sudden. "Look at the moon tonight. It's gorgeous!"
James glanced up and noticed that it was a full moon that night. Lily was right, the moon was beautiful. Somehow that managed to send shivers up James' spine.
A/N: OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO.....I wonder what's happening. Hmmm. Lol. I hope you people liked this chapter! I like writing it. It gave me a chance to show that you should never make a girl made unless you want to face the consequences. Lol. Okay...so the next post won't be for a while cause I have Relay For Life this week and I'm the captain of my own team. I definitely should have never been captain. Too much work. I'm a very lazy person too. Lol. And then after that I have to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It's my favorite book out of all of them! I'm soooooooooo excited. Anyway...expect a post a while after Harry Potter comes out! Chapter 12 is called A Midnight Excursion! Please review!!
Edit: Just remembered something...can anyone give me the name of a Quidditch team. Preferable one from England if there is one. My mind's sort of blanking out here! Thanks a bunch people!