A/N: Oh, my god. I cannot believe this story has been here since 2001. I wrote that stuff when I was… 11! Now I've heavily revised it, but most of the same plot is still there. My writing has greatly improved (I hope!) and I hope you enjoy. Please remember to review, I love feedback of any kind – criticism, flames, or praise… I take it all! :) Now… on with the story!
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Harry Potter, why bother put one here in the first place?
After All These Years
Chapter One – Ah, Mr. Potter… We Meet Again.
"Lily! WAKE UP!" 20-year-old Arabella Figg bellowed into her best friend, Lily Evans' ear.
Lily stirred a bit in her sleep, but to Arabella's disappointment, she just started to snore again… and quite loudly, too.
"Oh god…" Arabella said, heaving a sigh and rubbing her temples in frustration. Not only was her roommate/best friend a lazy git, she was also a pig.
"This definitely calls for drastic measures," Arabella murmured to herself. She got out her wand and magicked out a bucket of water. Arabella smiled and poured it on Lily. Still nothing.
"God dammit, LILY!!" Arabella screamed in frustration, stamping her foot.
"Huh, wha--? Oh, hey, Bell…" Lily said sleepily. Her eyes were half closed, her red hair was in ringlets, and it was tousled and wet from the bucket of water. She had dried spit on the side of her mouth. It was not a very pretty sight when Lily Evans just woken up.
"Did you know you are the biggest pig I have ever met?" Arabella asked, annoyed.
"Yes, you remind me, what, 20 times a day?" Lily mumbled, dragging the covers over her head and turning over sleepily, mumbling, "Bell, sometimes you're worse than my own mother for god's sake."
"Now get up before I get out my broom and whack you with it," Arabella said, whipping out her wand and preparing to summon it.
Lily grinned. "Fine. But why am I all wet?" Lily asked, eyeing herself. Her black shorts and T-shirts were soaking with water.
"I was trying to wake you up with a bucket of water, but it didn't work, did it?" Arabella replied, shooting Lily a glare.
"Oh, use hot water next time," Lily yawned, then shot Arabella a knowing grin. "It works better."
Arabella rolled her eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Gee, thanks, I'll keep that in mind for next time, which there better not be one."
Every morning, something like this happened. Lily always overslept and Arabella had to think of ideas to wake her up, which, frankly, never quite worked. She and Lily had been best friends for a few years now. Both girls were reporters for the Daily Prophet and that was basically how they met – through work. Arabella had attended Hogwarts, too, like Lily, but Arabella had been in Gryffindor, while Lily had been in Ravenclaw, and they never noticed each other.
A sickly, pale green owl swooped down and tapped the window of Lily's room. She sleepily stood up to let the owl in, which was clutching a letter in its foot, and revived it with some water from her owl's cage. Lily sat down on her bed and read the letter to herself quietly.
Arabella-
Darling! I haven't seen you in ages! I can't bear not seeing you! (At this point, Lily snorted and Arabella shot Lily a glare.) Meet me at Diagon Alley in the Leaky Cauldron today at 12 o'clock, if you can. I'd love to have lunch with you. Oh, and James and Sirius want to come to. You know they love following me. Peter's busy visiting his mother, so he can't come. Reply soon!
All my love,
Remus
Lily groaned. It was Arabella's "Lover Boy" – Remus Lupin. He was part of a little group of pranksters called 'the Marauders'. They had been the most popular boys Hogwarts has ever seen. Girls fell to their feet. James Potter and Sirius Black were the leaders of this group. They pulled pranks on teachers and they were considered "every girl's dream of a man."
"Arabella!" Lily nagged, raising her eyebrows. "You have a letter from Lover Boy!"
Arabella suddenly looked up and said, "Remus? Where? GIVE ME!"
Lily smiled and handed the letter over to Arabella and when she finished, she had a dreamy look on her face.
"Aww...isn't Remus the sweetest?" Arabella sighed.
"Yeah! He is, like, oh, so, like, HOT!" Lily said, twirling her hair, voice thick with sarcasm. "So you're going to lunch with Remus, then?
"Shut up. You're ruining 'the moment'," Arabella snapped. Lily snorted with laughter. "And, yes, I plan to eat lunch with him today at noon at the Leaky Cauldron. Is there a problem with that, Miss Evans?"
"Oh, no, Miss Figg – not at all, not at all!" Lily exclaimed. "I just thought that we had plans for today's luncheon."
"Oh, yes… that is right," Arabella muttered to herself. "You can come along if you'd like."
"Ew, and watch you two do stuff you should be doing in a room?" Lily scoffed while looking disgusted. "I think I'll pass, dearest. Just leave me 100 galleons as a fine for breaking our luncheon date."
"100 galleons?!" Arabella exclaimed. "I think not! Oh, just come! It's not like you have anything better to do!"
Lily looked at Arabella, trying to look hurt. "Bell," She said softly. "That hurt."
"I was joking," Arabella rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you act like a 5 year old."
"But I'm 20!" Lily sang. "And I'll come with you, if you want. Just don't expect me to be a chaperone or whatever. Also, I don't have to make small talk with Lover Boy's guests, alright?"
"Agreed," Arabella replied while penning a reply back to Remus. She made sure to take her time filling her signature with little hearts. She fastened it to the owl's leg and he flew off.
"So, naturally, you want me to choose your outfit for you, don't you?" Lily asked, looking in the mirror and brushing her teeth.
"Yes," Arabella grumbled. "You and your damned fashion sense."
"What did you say?" Lily asked, cupping her ear for better listening. "I didn't like what I heard."
"Yes," Arabella said in a forced tone. "I would love it if you picked out an outfit for me because you're so dreadfully wonderful, best friend."
"Thank you," Lily replied simply, rinsing out her mouth now.
"You are welcome," Arabella replied, walking into her closet. "Are you done yet, Lily? I need help!"
"I'll be there in a moment, don't rush the master!" Lily yelled from her room.
"What master? I don't see any!"
"Shut up."
"I will not."
"Bloody hell."
Arabella grinned.
"Okay, let me go into your closet now," Lily said, walking in. The closets were designed pretty cool. It looked like a small room, but it actually could hold 200+ articles of clothing. Quite nifty.
Lily started throwing various articles of clothing to Arabella, who tried them on one-by-one. Nothing in her closet seemed to work, so Lily went to hers and found some nice clothes. Finally, after what seemed like years, Arabella picked one.
"I think I did a great job," Lily said, commenting to herself. She helped Arabella picked out the "plain-but-cute-and-sexy" outfit. Her long blonde curls were in a tight bun and she was wearing a lavender halter top, which showed off her purple irises, along with a white miniskirt which fell about a few inches above her knee cap, which were muggle clothes, borrowed from Lily.
"So what are you wearing?" Arabella asked curiously.
"Jeans, white shirt, hair up. You know, just – blah." Lily smiled. "That's me!"
"Oh, that sounds dreadful," Arabella commented, looking pained. "Please, look nice, Lils!"
"You know me," Lily replied. "Absobloodylutely fucking no. I'm too lazy."
Arabella glared. "Please."
"Alright, alright!" Lily replied. "I'll wear something decent. Trust me on this, okay, Bell? I won't disappoint you."
"Oh god," Arabella replied, laughing nervously. "Now I'm definitely worried."
"One shan't be worried," Lily replied.
"Fine, just be on time, okay? I'll Apparate there first. Meet you in the Leaky Cauldron, okay?" Arabella grinned and Lily nodded. Arabella apparated with a Poof!
Oh god, what was Lily going to wear? She finally decided on a pair of jeans and a white, knitted cardigan over a white tank top. Perfect! She thought to herself.
*****
"Ah, Mr. Potter… we meet again!" Lily said in a mysterious voice.
"…" was James's reply. "Um, hi. Who are you?"
Lily laughed. She had already Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron and so far, James Potter was there, saving the table for everyone. She loved that freaked out effect that she could give people. "I'm Lily Evans… Arabella's best mate and room mate."
"Catchy," James commented. "Did you go to Hogwarts? I think I would've remembered such a beautiful face."
"Why, as a matter of fact," Lily said. "I did go to Hogwarts."
"You did?" James asked. "I don't remember dating you."
"That's because you didn't date me, genius," Lily replied dryly. James Potter was definitely getting on her nerves.
"What? Huh?" James looked confused.
"Look, I'm Lily Evans. I was Head Girl with you. We had the top grades. Ring a bell?" Lily said everything slowly, as if James was retarded or something.
"Oh…" James said, realizing everything. "But Lily Evans was fa… Oh, I mean… um, you look so different!"
"Thanks," Lily said, rolling her eyes.
"Yo, James!" A voice behind Lily shouted. "We're all here, I found the lovebirds smooching behind Gringotts of all places! They really need a room!"
James cracked up. "Gringotts? Damn, you two!"
The owner of the voice walked up next to Lily. "Oh, and who do we have here?"
"I'm Lily Evans," Lily replied, extending a hand. "Pleased to meet you…?"
"Sirius Black," He supplied, taking Lily's hand and giving it a kiss. "And the pleasure's all mine."
"Well, well, well," Another voice said. "Isn't Sirius being the gentleman today!" Remus and Arabella walked in, looking quite unruly.
"Hey Lil," Arabella said, greeting her. "I've seen you've already met Sirius and James. Remember Lily, you guys?"
"Yes, but I was quite shocked," James replied. "I still can't quite believe it."
"Believe what? What? What happened?" Sirius said, bouncing around.
"This girl was the Head Girl along with me as Head Boy, Padfoot," James explained to Sirius. "You know the fa… I mean, the… smart one."
"Oh my gosh!" Sirius exclaimed. "Are you serious?"
Lily laughed. "I haven't changed that much, have I? I'm still the same person… you two haven't changed much either. Still attracting the ladies, hm?"
"You could say that," Sirius said. "But Jamesy on the other hand…" Sirius shook his head and mouthed 'gay'.
James socked Sirius in the arm. "I am not gay, thank you very much!" He yelled furiously. The whole bar stared at James.
Sirius started laughing very hard while James looked utterly pissed off.
Soon, everyone in the bar started paying attention on what was happening with them and lost focus of James. "Thanks a lot, Sirius!" He grumbled.
"You're welcome, dear," Sirius replied. "I love you, too!"
"Damn," James exclaimed. "What is up with all the gay comments today?" He cracked a smile, indicating he wasn't really mad.
"I don't know, I feel kind of gay today," Sirius announced.
"Uh, okay, Sirius…" Remus replied, raising an eyebrow. "That's nice to know."
"Feel free to holler, Remie," Sirius winked.
"I'm with Arabella!" Remus exclaimed.
… Sirius still winked back.
"Anyways," James said, trying to change the subject before his best friend turns gay on him. "I've already pre-ordered everything, according to what Remus told me to order, so no worries."
"That's a relief," Remus replied.
"I agree," Sirius nodded. "When's the food going to come? I'm starving. I could eat all of you right now, I'm serious."
"…Another nice thing to know about you, Sirius," James said, looking like he found out some horrible truth. "I'm just learning oh so much today!"
"Anyways," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes at James. "What is up with you, Lily? What happened? You changed so much!"
"Oh, well… as you mature, you change, I guess. I didn't do much. I guess it was because I was finally free of my horrible family – which consists of my Muggle sister, Petunia. My parents died when I was in 5th year, and Petunia had to look after me ever since," Lily sighed. "It was a horrible life living with her."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Sirius replied. "Muggles just don't understand us wizards. Well, some muggles." He added, not wanting to offend Lily.
"Yeah, you've just changed so much…" James said in awe. "It's… weird."
"James dear, stop gawking at poor Lily. If you want flies in your mouth, you're doing the right thing. If you want something to stare at, stare at me. I am, after all, oh so sexy," Sirius teased, motioning to himself. A tinge of pink colored in James' cheeks while he muttered something like 'shut up'. Before James could kill him, Sirius changed the subject. "Anyways... have you heard? The Wimbourne Wasps totally sacked their beater, Ludo Bagman," Sirius said solemnly, as if something tragic just happened.
"No way!" James exclaimed. "He was the bloody best beater ever!"
"No he wasn't. Archie Davis was!" Remus argued.
The three boys then got into a heated argument over who was the best beater.
"Boys," Lily and Arabella muttered darkly while rolling their eyes.
*****
A/N: So how was it? By the way, this is the revised Chapter One. I've improved the writing a LOT (in my point of view) but, yes. Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll revise the whole story and hopefully finish it in 2 chapters. :) Hope you enjoyed it, and please review!