What a Waste of a Winter Break
To '...': YES! I am in Sirius Denial. I went crazy for a while after the third film- just ask any of my friends. He is/was my favorite character.
Five days before Christmas, the term ended, and alongside James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus, I rode the Hogwarts express back to London. We had agreed to go to James's house for the night before the term began, and to exchange gifts there.
My mother met me at the train station. My mother, according to my stories, was a witch, yet she was dressed in Muggle clothing, and, taking my trolley, immediately began pestering me with questions:
"Were those boys the friends that you told me about?"
"Yep," I said shortly, not feeling too talkative.
"What are their names again?"
"Peter, James, Sirius, and Remus."
"Get to know any girls?"
Not this again. "Uh... yeah. One Lily Evans. She's in Gryffindor too."
"Any homework over the break?"
"No, none." Now for my question: "How are we getting home?"
"We're flooing from the Leaky Cauldron, of course!"
"Oh, yeah. How could I have forgotten?"
The village was... odd. And small. Brockenstown as it was called, was the only pure wizarding village in Ireland. It seemed entirely unfamiliar... but at the same time as if I'd lived there for years. I knew where everything was, and our house was not a shock- I was sure that I'd seen it before. The inside was the same- new yet old, and I could find everything in it. Including my own room.
My room looked the same as the one I remembered from my, shall we call it, old life. The furniture was the same- and it was in the same places. The books were different, though. I couldn't remember buying "Simple Spells for the Learning Witch" or "Fun With Potions"- but reading the titles, I came to the conclusion that my mother bought these for me. I could see myself reading, though, "100 Spells to Fool Your Friends" and "Useless Charms That Might Come in Handy Some Day, You Never Know". Somehow I knew that there was a book shop in the village. My world map with the pins of where I'd been was there, on my wall, but my Harry Potter poster was missing, of course. It was like a very odd dream.
I decided that I would change out of my school robes, though, and opening my closet, I found both robes and jeans hanging in it, and decided on a set of dark blue robes (my favorite color). While telling my mother I was going out, I stuffed a few coins in my pocket, and walked out the door. Somehow, I knew were everything was in the village, and I knew where I wanted to go for my friend's presents. I bought a book, "Hairy Snout, Human Heart" for Remus, a huge box of Peter's favorite candy, Chocolate Frogs, for him, and for Sirius and James, Chudley Cannons hats, scarves, and trading cards.
When I walked out of The Sweet Cauldron, some idiot ran headlong into me. I dropped my bag, and hoped that the Chocolate Frogs weren't set loose. "Idiot!" I said, "I just bought that!"
"Juliet?" said the boy, helping me up. "Juliet Reilly?"
"Yes?" I looked at him, and a name came to mind: Mark Weasley. He did have red hair... "M-Mark?"
"How was Hogwarts?" he shouted gleefully, not noticing my slight confusion. "I can't wait to go!"
He's eleven in two months, my brain told me. "Hogwarts is great... um, how are you?"
He launched into a speech about his family, and I learned that he was Arthur Weasley's cousin's son, but I can't remember if he told me, or if the information came out of my head again. Eventually, he let me go, and I walked back to my house.
Christmas was quiet- me and my mother exchanging gifts, with cards by owl post from the Marauders. Until then, my break had been normal, reading and walking trough the village, but I decided to do something with my remaining time- something entirely school like. What a waste of a winter break.
My task was to write down everything I could remember from the books I was, I suppose, living in. Details were slipping away, and I became more... inclined to say what I would have said if I didn't know the future. I hope that makes sense, because it was a very odd feeling, saying one thing and thinking another. Plus, what kind of impact would I have on the future? A good one, I hoped. I did want to save my friends, including Lily, even though she wasn't my friend... yet. Or maybe she never would be. The point is, I felt like I needed to remember these details.
Every day, I'd write down what I remembered: character details, and even some whole quotes from the books. It was long and boring work, but I think it helped me, later on. I was shocked that I had forgotten major details, like half of the first book
While I was doing this, I realized something: four Marauders made it possible for them to be Animagi in fifth year... but what about five?
Would that be good... or bad?
One day left... one day until I met up with my friends again... then... what? Would we trying to be Animagi? I hoped not- I'd already wasted my winter break with work.