AUGUST
Dear Diary,
You remember that trip to Diagon Alley I was talking about? Well, it turned out to be one of the scariest afternoons of my life.
It all started out pretty normally, I walked to the cave where I found James and Remus waiting. Sirius wasn't there, but he's normally a bit late for anything. Even ice cream, amazingly enough.
We waited, playing Cheat with the cards Remus had thoughtfully brought (to make sure that nobody got bored if it rained or if Sirius was extra late). A whole hour passed, but still there was no sign of him. That's unusual. He normally tells us if he suddenly can't come. We shrugged, thinking he had forgotten and would be here soon. Another game of Cheat passed, and one of Blackjack (using real money, the three of us had already pooled our resources and were sharing it all anyway) but still Sirius wasn't anywhere to be seen. After a while, we decided to go and look for him.
James headed towards Sirius's house. He had introduced himself to Sirius's parents, who thought James was a normal kid just trying to do what he could for their delinquent son.
Remus took a different route. He would stay near the cave and see if Sirius arrived. "After all," he reasoned, "Who knows what Sirius might get up to if he is here an hour late all by himself? He might go into town all by himself, thinking we're not coming."
So I was left to travel towards my own house, and hope that Sirius hadn't passed and that I could stay out of sight. It must have been that sixth sense that guided me towards the one place where I would have sight of the area just inside my front gate. I had planned to bypass my house and cross the road, but I didn't. Lucky for Sirius. He was on the garden path, trying to struggle away from boy-crazy Petunia.
[Lily and James looked up as something wet licked them.
"Hallo Sirius" James grinned. The dog wagged its tail.
"Sirius, if you're looking up my skirt again I will kill you!" Lily screamed. Sirius transformed, laughing.
"What're you looking at?" He asked
"This," Lily answered, showing him the diary, "You might be interested, we've reached the day I had to rescue you from Petunia."
"I still owe you from then," Sirius smiled, "but can't we go downstairs? It's hot and stuffy up here."
Without waiting for an answer, Sirius bounded onto the steps, tripping on one and rolling down the stairs. Landing in a heap on the bottom he groaned, then jumped up and laughed. Lily raised an eyebrow at James and followed Sirius, taking far more care on the steps.
Once everyone was comfortably seated in the pillow corner James had insisted on investing in, James turned to Lily.
"Tell me a story, Lee-lee." He whined, sounding exactly like a five-year- old.
"All right, all right." Lily laughed.]
~Flashback~
Lily carefully parted the leaves of the hedge. She didn't want to be caught by her parents or Petunia if she didn't have to.
Staring out at the footpath, she had to stifle a giggle. Petunia, who'd just got over being grounded for the first time in living memory, was molesting a very scared Sirius.
"Come here, cutie-pie" Petunia was purring, making kissy noises at Sirius, who was trying to escape the vice-like grip on his arm. Lily couldn't hold it in any longer; she burst out laughing and tumbled out of the hedge, banging her fists on the lawn.
~Interruption~
"Hey! It wasn't that funny!" Sirius protested.
"Yes it was, now can I continue with the story?" Lily asked.
"How would you feel if you were molested by a big blonde elephant crossed with a draught horse?" Sirius argued.
"Shut it, Sirius" James groaned.
"Anyway." Lily said forcefully, causing both James and Sirius to sit up straight and listen eagerly.
"That's better." Lily smiled, and continued the story.
~End Interruption~
"Lily!" Sirius screamed, "Help me!"
Unfortunately, at least for Sirius (though it was another few minutes entertainment for Lily) Petunia took this opportunity to stick her tongue down Sirius's throat. Sirius tried desperately to escape, twisting this way and that, hitting Petunia, spitting in her mouth, but to no avail. Eventually, Lily took pity on him. Marching up to Petunia, she poked her.
"Get your filthy paws off of MY boyfriend!" Lily screamed, trying to wink at Sirius so he'd get the hint and disappear. It didn't work. Sirius remained exactly how he was, though that was more due to him going into shock than love of Petunia.
"If he's your boyfriend, how come you were laughing?" Petunia asked Lily smugly, knowing there was no answer. Lily glanced at poor Sirius, to Petunia, then back at Sirius. She knew what ordeal Sirius would suffer if she found no answer, she'd seen Petunia bring other boys home. There was only one way out, though Lily knew she'd pay dearly later.
"RUN!" She screamed, then spun around and started to run, grabbing Sirius as she passed. Petunia tried to follow, but she was very slow at running, due to her unhealthy habit of staying inside talking on the phone so Lily and Sirius escaped easily.
"Phew, that was close" Lily sighed in relief as they reached the safety of the cave.
"I noticed." Sirius groaned.
~End Flashback~
"See, Sirius, it was funny!" Lily gasped through laughter.
"Help-I-can't-breathe!" James squeaked through fits of choking laughter. Sirius groaned as Lily joined James in rolling around on the floor in hysterical laughter.]
I managed to pry her away from Sirius and we escaped to the cave. I didn't count on Mother being home, or that Petunia might tell her I was going out with a boy. I also forgot she saw which way we ran. We'd just finished sharing out Sirius's money and boarded our bus when a car drew up beside the pavement. Inside was Mother and Petunia. It was too late to hide, but I ducked under the seat anyway, and I pulled Sirius down too as a precaution, feverently hoping I hadn't been seen (or that Petunia didn't take a fancy to James or Remus).
Just my luck. Not only did they both see me, but they also saw me pull Sirius down. I can easily imagine what both Mother and Petunia were thinking, after the amount of times Petunia has disappeared to her room with the flavour of the month. Worse, still, they saw I was with two other boys. That was bad in itself; I was already going to be grounded until the end of the holidays. Now I might as well never think about leaving the house in daylight again.
If I thought that was the worse it could get, I was completely wrong.
Petunia took an exception to James and Remus, Remus especially.
The world is doomed.
Ok, so maybe I overreacted a little. The bus slowly pulled away from the kerb, and I was safe. The one problem I could have encountered was getting off, but luckily it was bus driver changeover time, and I managed to sneak off into the crowd of passengers quite easily, the boys hurrying behind me. I had explained their danger of becoming victims of Petunia, and they had quickly realised we all needed to reach the safety of Diagon Alley immediately. We decided that although Diagon Alley was fairly close by, we needed to shake the two pursuers off our tail. Running to the nearest useful bus, we jumped aboard and bought tickets. None of us noticed someone with narrowed eyes watch us depart.
We arrived outside the Leaky Cauldron without mishap, but there, leaning casually on the door, was Petunia. Whether she knew what she was doing, or it was just a coincidence, she was there. We climbed off the bus very cautiously, trying to avoid her gaze for a long while. Creeping around the back of the bus, Remus had an idea.
"If we did that vision spell on her -" he never finished his sentence. At that instant, my psychiatrist walked by. Of all the luck. She's Sirius's psychiatrist also, but for another reason. She's also friends with Petunia, who was asking her if she'd seen me. She had. She pointed to me and Petunia began to run towards us.
"Lily mum says you're grounded until next summer!" she screamed, as we dashed for the door of the pub. She followed us, so we had to try and get to Diagon Alley. If we were any more than ten seconds ahead of her, the archway would close in her face. Once in the courtyard, we locked the door to the pub and opened the arch. We just managed to catch a glimpse of Petunia opening the door before the arch closed. We'd won the battle. But definitely not the war.
You see, diary, as soon as we had bought all the books and potion stuff we hadn't got already and had huge heavy bags, we realised we needed robes for school. We also wanted a dress insignia or something for our group, so we headed to a clothes shop. Madame Malkins, I think. The insignia we chose was a picture of some animals moving around in the wood. A dog, stag, wolf and rabbit. The lady at the counter says that we can add people (animals) as we wish, but they can't be removed. In other words, choose your friends carefully.
I went first to get my robes. That was a good thing for the boys next to me on the stools. The closest one looked as though he had an obsession with hair gel. His hair looked so slippery and ugly, I'm just surprised he hasn't had to have it chopped off yet. Believe it or not, he was trying to hit on me. At age 11. I just can't believe some people. The other guy also had some weird obsession with gel, but not to the same extent. His hair was really white. I'm not joking. White. He was insulting me and it was all I could do to stop James flying at him and punching him.
Fortunately Madam Malkin finished with me quickly and I was able to prevent a fight.
We were winning! We just had to get to our respective homes safe and sound and I had to talk Mother and Petunia into believing nothing was wrong. I thought it was all going to be ok.
How very wrong I was.
We managed to get home all right. Mother and Petunia were still out looking for me, so I had just enough time to pack everything I would need into my trunk, except my wand. I used that to make my trunk really small and light, just in case I didn't have time later. What a good idea. Petunia burst into my room and dragged me downstairs. She threw me outside and told me never to come here again.
I doubt my parents wanted to disown me just yet, but somehow Petunia had managed to talk them into believing they didn't want to see me again until next summer. I had been expecting it, so I wasn't all that surprised, but I was hurt. I walked back to the cave with my trunk in my pocket and placed my things in a small alcove I had claimed as my own. We all had one.
All of a sudden I just sat down and cried. I don't know why, I hate my sister and I hate my parents for this. But I couldn't stop. I didn't hear footsteps behind me, or see James come in, but I did notice when he gave me a hug. He couldn't take me back to my house, or his, but he will give me a lift to the station tomorrow. Then I will stay at school until next summer.
I hope school is a nice place.
Love,
Lily.
(Author's Note: I am really really really really really really sorry that I was so late with this. I know it's been nearly 2 months, but I was so busy with school and my other hobbies I forgot about the story. I can't promise it won't happen again as I get more and more homework, but I will try and keep up.
Sorry about any inconvenience :)
The Invisible Stranger
PS: I have decided to place all reviewers in a separate chapter at the end when I finish the story, so if you want to be in the "Hall of Reviews" I suggest you click a button that's somewhere near the bottom of your screen.)
Dear Diary,
You remember that trip to Diagon Alley I was talking about? Well, it turned out to be one of the scariest afternoons of my life.
It all started out pretty normally, I walked to the cave where I found James and Remus waiting. Sirius wasn't there, but he's normally a bit late for anything. Even ice cream, amazingly enough.
We waited, playing Cheat with the cards Remus had thoughtfully brought (to make sure that nobody got bored if it rained or if Sirius was extra late). A whole hour passed, but still there was no sign of him. That's unusual. He normally tells us if he suddenly can't come. We shrugged, thinking he had forgotten and would be here soon. Another game of Cheat passed, and one of Blackjack (using real money, the three of us had already pooled our resources and were sharing it all anyway) but still Sirius wasn't anywhere to be seen. After a while, we decided to go and look for him.
James headed towards Sirius's house. He had introduced himself to Sirius's parents, who thought James was a normal kid just trying to do what he could for their delinquent son.
Remus took a different route. He would stay near the cave and see if Sirius arrived. "After all," he reasoned, "Who knows what Sirius might get up to if he is here an hour late all by himself? He might go into town all by himself, thinking we're not coming."
So I was left to travel towards my own house, and hope that Sirius hadn't passed and that I could stay out of sight. It must have been that sixth sense that guided me towards the one place where I would have sight of the area just inside my front gate. I had planned to bypass my house and cross the road, but I didn't. Lucky for Sirius. He was on the garden path, trying to struggle away from boy-crazy Petunia.
[Lily and James looked up as something wet licked them.
"Hallo Sirius" James grinned. The dog wagged its tail.
"Sirius, if you're looking up my skirt again I will kill you!" Lily screamed. Sirius transformed, laughing.
"What're you looking at?" He asked
"This," Lily answered, showing him the diary, "You might be interested, we've reached the day I had to rescue you from Petunia."
"I still owe you from then," Sirius smiled, "but can't we go downstairs? It's hot and stuffy up here."
Without waiting for an answer, Sirius bounded onto the steps, tripping on one and rolling down the stairs. Landing in a heap on the bottom he groaned, then jumped up and laughed. Lily raised an eyebrow at James and followed Sirius, taking far more care on the steps.
Once everyone was comfortably seated in the pillow corner James had insisted on investing in, James turned to Lily.
"Tell me a story, Lee-lee." He whined, sounding exactly like a five-year- old.
"All right, all right." Lily laughed.]
~Flashback~
Lily carefully parted the leaves of the hedge. She didn't want to be caught by her parents or Petunia if she didn't have to.
Staring out at the footpath, she had to stifle a giggle. Petunia, who'd just got over being grounded for the first time in living memory, was molesting a very scared Sirius.
"Come here, cutie-pie" Petunia was purring, making kissy noises at Sirius, who was trying to escape the vice-like grip on his arm. Lily couldn't hold it in any longer; she burst out laughing and tumbled out of the hedge, banging her fists on the lawn.
~Interruption~
"Hey! It wasn't that funny!" Sirius protested.
"Yes it was, now can I continue with the story?" Lily asked.
"How would you feel if you were molested by a big blonde elephant crossed with a draught horse?" Sirius argued.
"Shut it, Sirius" James groaned.
"Anyway." Lily said forcefully, causing both James and Sirius to sit up straight and listen eagerly.
"That's better." Lily smiled, and continued the story.
~End Interruption~
"Lily!" Sirius screamed, "Help me!"
Unfortunately, at least for Sirius (though it was another few minutes entertainment for Lily) Petunia took this opportunity to stick her tongue down Sirius's throat. Sirius tried desperately to escape, twisting this way and that, hitting Petunia, spitting in her mouth, but to no avail. Eventually, Lily took pity on him. Marching up to Petunia, she poked her.
"Get your filthy paws off of MY boyfriend!" Lily screamed, trying to wink at Sirius so he'd get the hint and disappear. It didn't work. Sirius remained exactly how he was, though that was more due to him going into shock than love of Petunia.
"If he's your boyfriend, how come you were laughing?" Petunia asked Lily smugly, knowing there was no answer. Lily glanced at poor Sirius, to Petunia, then back at Sirius. She knew what ordeal Sirius would suffer if she found no answer, she'd seen Petunia bring other boys home. There was only one way out, though Lily knew she'd pay dearly later.
"RUN!" She screamed, then spun around and started to run, grabbing Sirius as she passed. Petunia tried to follow, but she was very slow at running, due to her unhealthy habit of staying inside talking on the phone so Lily and Sirius escaped easily.
"Phew, that was close" Lily sighed in relief as they reached the safety of the cave.
"I noticed." Sirius groaned.
~End Flashback~
"See, Sirius, it was funny!" Lily gasped through laughter.
"Help-I-can't-breathe!" James squeaked through fits of choking laughter. Sirius groaned as Lily joined James in rolling around on the floor in hysterical laughter.]
I managed to pry her away from Sirius and we escaped to the cave. I didn't count on Mother being home, or that Petunia might tell her I was going out with a boy. I also forgot she saw which way we ran. We'd just finished sharing out Sirius's money and boarded our bus when a car drew up beside the pavement. Inside was Mother and Petunia. It was too late to hide, but I ducked under the seat anyway, and I pulled Sirius down too as a precaution, feverently hoping I hadn't been seen (or that Petunia didn't take a fancy to James or Remus).
Just my luck. Not only did they both see me, but they also saw me pull Sirius down. I can easily imagine what both Mother and Petunia were thinking, after the amount of times Petunia has disappeared to her room with the flavour of the month. Worse, still, they saw I was with two other boys. That was bad in itself; I was already going to be grounded until the end of the holidays. Now I might as well never think about leaving the house in daylight again.
If I thought that was the worse it could get, I was completely wrong.
Petunia took an exception to James and Remus, Remus especially.
The world is doomed.
Ok, so maybe I overreacted a little. The bus slowly pulled away from the kerb, and I was safe. The one problem I could have encountered was getting off, but luckily it was bus driver changeover time, and I managed to sneak off into the crowd of passengers quite easily, the boys hurrying behind me. I had explained their danger of becoming victims of Petunia, and they had quickly realised we all needed to reach the safety of Diagon Alley immediately. We decided that although Diagon Alley was fairly close by, we needed to shake the two pursuers off our tail. Running to the nearest useful bus, we jumped aboard and bought tickets. None of us noticed someone with narrowed eyes watch us depart.
We arrived outside the Leaky Cauldron without mishap, but there, leaning casually on the door, was Petunia. Whether she knew what she was doing, or it was just a coincidence, she was there. We climbed off the bus very cautiously, trying to avoid her gaze for a long while. Creeping around the back of the bus, Remus had an idea.
"If we did that vision spell on her -" he never finished his sentence. At that instant, my psychiatrist walked by. Of all the luck. She's Sirius's psychiatrist also, but for another reason. She's also friends with Petunia, who was asking her if she'd seen me. She had. She pointed to me and Petunia began to run towards us.
"Lily mum says you're grounded until next summer!" she screamed, as we dashed for the door of the pub. She followed us, so we had to try and get to Diagon Alley. If we were any more than ten seconds ahead of her, the archway would close in her face. Once in the courtyard, we locked the door to the pub and opened the arch. We just managed to catch a glimpse of Petunia opening the door before the arch closed. We'd won the battle. But definitely not the war.
You see, diary, as soon as we had bought all the books and potion stuff we hadn't got already and had huge heavy bags, we realised we needed robes for school. We also wanted a dress insignia or something for our group, so we headed to a clothes shop. Madame Malkins, I think. The insignia we chose was a picture of some animals moving around in the wood. A dog, stag, wolf and rabbit. The lady at the counter says that we can add people (animals) as we wish, but they can't be removed. In other words, choose your friends carefully.
I went first to get my robes. That was a good thing for the boys next to me on the stools. The closest one looked as though he had an obsession with hair gel. His hair looked so slippery and ugly, I'm just surprised he hasn't had to have it chopped off yet. Believe it or not, he was trying to hit on me. At age 11. I just can't believe some people. The other guy also had some weird obsession with gel, but not to the same extent. His hair was really white. I'm not joking. White. He was insulting me and it was all I could do to stop James flying at him and punching him.
Fortunately Madam Malkin finished with me quickly and I was able to prevent a fight.
We were winning! We just had to get to our respective homes safe and sound and I had to talk Mother and Petunia into believing nothing was wrong. I thought it was all going to be ok.
How very wrong I was.
We managed to get home all right. Mother and Petunia were still out looking for me, so I had just enough time to pack everything I would need into my trunk, except my wand. I used that to make my trunk really small and light, just in case I didn't have time later. What a good idea. Petunia burst into my room and dragged me downstairs. She threw me outside and told me never to come here again.
I doubt my parents wanted to disown me just yet, but somehow Petunia had managed to talk them into believing they didn't want to see me again until next summer. I had been expecting it, so I wasn't all that surprised, but I was hurt. I walked back to the cave with my trunk in my pocket and placed my things in a small alcove I had claimed as my own. We all had one.
All of a sudden I just sat down and cried. I don't know why, I hate my sister and I hate my parents for this. But I couldn't stop. I didn't hear footsteps behind me, or see James come in, but I did notice when he gave me a hug. He couldn't take me back to my house, or his, but he will give me a lift to the station tomorrow. Then I will stay at school until next summer.
I hope school is a nice place.
Love,
Lily.
(Author's Note: I am really really really really really really sorry that I was so late with this. I know it's been nearly 2 months, but I was so busy with school and my other hobbies I forgot about the story. I can't promise it won't happen again as I get more and more homework, but I will try and keep up.
Sorry about any inconvenience :)
The Invisible Stranger
PS: I have decided to place all reviewers in a separate chapter at the end when I finish the story, so if you want to be in the "Hall of Reviews" I suggest you click a button that's somewhere near the bottom of your screen.)