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Chapter 7- Exams and Vacation

The next months were pretty much uneventful, except for the series of pranks coming from the Marauders and the girls, Quidditch games(the muggle-borns had found this games very interesting), flying classes(the boys bewitched the brooms to dance a weird little dance), and Remus's misterious disappearings once month(His aunt Riley died at least three times). The Gryffindor first years had become very popular, since they were constantly asking older students to help them with spells and potions. The only good thing the pranks were doing was helping them academically.

Lily soon became top on charms class, as she was always researching new spells. Esther was excellent in Potions, although Prof. Pryde didn't give her the credit she deserved, since he was always favoring Snivellus. Ellen wasn't very good at Transfiguration, but she had managed to become McGonagall's favorite. Carrie was very good in Astronomy, therefore giving the girls excuses to be out of bed at ten. Alex was perfect in DADA, being the top at class, closely followed by Remus.

The boys, however, also had their advantages. Sirius and James were the top students in Transfiguration. Remus was an excellent student in every class, and most teachers favored him. Peter, well, Peter had some talent in Herbology, but it wasn't much.

Most of the students in Hogwarts were staying for X-mas, some for safety, since everyone was afraid of Voldemort, or others, like the girls, just wanted to spend more time in Hogwarts.

Lily, ashamed to realise that she hadn't written to her parent, wrote a huge letter about what was happening in Hogwarts and asking if she could stay for X-mas. She borrowed an owl from Hogwarts, and on the next day, during owl post, receive a reply from her parents, teeling her she should write more, and that yes, she could stay in Hogwarts. They also told her that the Langley's had moved out and that a new family, the Thatchers, had moved in. They had a son Lily's age and they were wizards. Lily's mother told her that she would borrow their owl to send Lily her X-mas present.

Anyway, Christmas was approaching, and the girls were having a little meeting in the Gryffindor common room.

"I think we should stop it," Carrie was saying as she tried to paint her nails.

"Yeah, I'm kinda sick of all these pranks and things," Lily said, while she tried to write a Potions essay.

"Done then. We'll tell the boys today that we're sick of pranking each other, and we'll stop doing so," Alex said, doing nothing.

"But what if the boys don't stop pranking us?" Ellen asked.

"We won't do nothing. They just prank us because they want to see our reactions, but if we don't do anything..." Alex replied, yawning.

"Speaking of the devils," Carrie muttered, as Alex called the boys, who had just entered the common room.

"Yes, ladies?" Sirius said galantly.

"We wanted to tell you that we won't be fighting the little prank war anymore. We're sick of it, and we'd appreciate it if you didn't prank us," Lily said.

"What? But-but...."

"No more pranks?"

"You can't do that!"

"Er, isn't that a bit drastic?"

"No more pranks?"

The marauders had started speaking at the same time, each one of them with a devastated look on their face.

"Yeah, yeah. No more pranks, no, it isn't a bit drastic, and we can do this," Carrie said, clearly annoyed at the boys.

"Very well. We'll leave you alone. But you girls better not come begging to us for us to prank you," Sirius said, pausing a bit to see if any of the girls would say something. When they remained silent, with a questioning look on their faces, he 'hmphed', muttered something about not knowing the fun of life and walked away.

"Good-bye, girls!" Remus said in a departing tone, and a stunned James followed him as he left the common room. Peter looked at them, then ran to catch up with James.

"Now that that's done, who want's to play chess with me?" Alex said, and smiled as Esther said she'd love to.

The Marauders spent a whole week not speaking to them, and when X-mas arrived all they said was, 'Good-morning, and happy X-mas.' The girls looked at each other but procceeded to opening presents.

Lily received all kinds of wizard candies from Carrie, Ellen, and Esther, a package of dungbomb from Sirius, which said, For the old times, a package of nosebiting teacups from James, which Lily didn't find very amusing, but maybe she could use them in her house. From Remus, she received a charms book, and Peter gave her a box of chocolates. Alex's present was perhaps one of the most creative. It was a box of Chocolate Frogs which spelled out 'I'm sorry for having been false!' Lily smiled at Alex, who grinned back at her, and said, "You better take a picture of that, it took me forever to bewitch them."

Her parents present was a silver necklace with the letter L, and Petunia's was a thimble. She grinned, and remembered her own present for Petunia, a stick.

All in all, they had a great time opening presents. The marauders forgave them for their 'betrayal' and they had a snowball fight, which the boys won. They all went to bed happily late at night, not wanting the day to ever finish.

The rest of the holiday flew past them, and they were all groaning at the beginning of classes, except for maybe Lily and Remus, who were eager to begin the more difficult things.

The next couple of months were uneventful, but soon the dreaded exams were upon them. Even the Marauders were found studying, though they weren't doing it very well, since they spent most of the time trying to figure out what Remus was doing once a month. The girls were going crazy. During a little study session, Alex started reciting all the names and compostions of the potions she knew, and Lily muttered, "If she's like this during our first years exams, imagine during the OWLs." To which Alex retorted, "Well, Pryde doesn't like me too much, so I better study the best I can to pass the test!"

Lily had to agree with her. During the potions exams, which they were supposed to be brewing a Forgetfulness Potion, and they weren't allowed to ask the ingredients. Lily saw Peter sweating profusely, and felt pity for him. Maybe if I whisper the ingredients to him... Lily thought, but immediately dismissed the idea when she saw Prof. Pryde telling Bellatrix off for trying to cheat.

When the bell rang, Lily panicked for a minute. Her potion was a strange, acid green colored potion. It was actually supposed to be a pasty, purple potion. She looked at Alex's and saw hers was the same color. She shrugged and poured a bit of potion in a vial. Prof. Pryde snorted when he saw the girls potions, and Alex smiled at him.

Their next exam was charms, which Lily was sure she did very well. After that, they had DADA, which Lily wasn't sure she had done so well, but knew she'd pass at least. All in all, Lily thought she'd done well, except in Potions, where she was almost sure she'd failed.

Finally, the last day of school arrived. Everyone was happy since they had all passed. The girls, however, weren't too happy, for they would each go to a different place; they'd become very close friends during the past year, so it was almost unbearable to be away from each other.

Lily was going to spend her vacations in a tour around Italy, because her mother had recently discovered she was related, although very distantly, to some Italian family. Alex was going to France(She was very excited, because she was going to go alone, with her sister and brother, since her parents were going to stay there working), to visit her mother's relatives in Nice, Ellen and Esther were going to Belgium, and Carrie was going to Austria. The Marauders were all going to be in the same place, Denmark.

When the Gryffindors arrived at King's Cross, Alex and Sirius removed the Spellotape which bound both Lily's and James mouth; they'd spent the whole trip fighting. They exchanged good-byes, and each one left, only to see each other again on the beginning of the second year.

A week later, Lily woke up suddenly, realising that if she didn't get ready quickly she'd cause her family to be late on their way to the airport. She quickly took a bath, brushed her hair and hurried downstairs to eat breakfast.

There, she met an extremely irritated Petunia, who had tried to do everything she could to her hair, but it still looked like it Petunia had stuck her fingers inside an outlet and had been electrocuted. A minute later, Marisa and Nathan Evans joined them, both extremely well groomed.

"Are you all ready, girls?" Marisa asked cheerfully, helping herself to a buttered toast.

"Yes, Mum," said Lily's thirteen-year-old sister.

"Me too," Lily piped in, earning a glare from Petunia, who in turn received an equally evil glare.

"Girls, you've been together for only a week and you're already fighting!" Nathan said, irritably.

"Sorry, Daddy," Lily said innocently. Apparently, after spending an year with Alex, her uneasiness about lying had slipped away.

Finally, when everyone had eaten breakfast, checked everything, Lily had gotten Achilles, who was now very big, and stopped bickering, the Evans went to the airport. The whole trip was filled with anxiety, and Marisa's remark about how her relatives were. When they finally reached Rome, they found a small group holding a little sign with 'Evans' on it. Marisa nearly shrieked with delight.

As they got closer to the group, Lily analised the people curiously. There was a couple, the lady had dark red hair and emerald eyes, just like Lily's, and the man had dark brown hair and emerald eyes, just like Marisa. (Marisa had dark brown hair and green eyes, just like Lily's.) Three boys were standing nearby, and they all had dark hair and eyes. The tallest one, who looked like he was about Petunia's age, was looking bored, even though he was incredibly handsome. The other two were about six and seven, and were the cutest.

When the Evans got closer to them, they smiled at them, including the older boy, and Lily was sure she heard Petunia sigh. The man then said:

"You must be the Evans family, right? I am Agostino Domani, this is my sister, Belladonna Domani, and my sons, Giorgio(the oldest one), Luigi,(the seven-year old one) and Giovanni. We are very pleased to meet you," Agostino said in a slightly accented English.

"Hello! I'm Marisa, this is my husband, Nathan, and my daughters, Lily and Petunia," Marisa said excitedly as the Domanis smiled.

"They are all beautiful girls! Well, come on, let's go home, since you are probably all very tired," Belladonna said. Her English wasn't accented like her brother-in-laws.

The whole way to the house Marisa and Agostino talked about everything they could think of. Lily and Nathan looked at each other when Marisa started speaking very fastly, causing Agostino to stare blankly at her from the rearview mirror. When they arrived at the house, Lily looked out the window and saw Artemis, Alex's owl. What was strange was that she wasn't holding any letters. Apparently she'd know Lily wanted to write Alex a letter. Obviously needed privacy, since she didn't know if the Domani's knew about wizards, Lily excused herself, took out a piece of parchment and her quill and ink, made sure she locked the door and that Achilles was inside, and began composing a letter to Alex.

Dear Alex,

Hi! I just arrived in Rome, and met my long lost relatives.... Mummy was going crazy during the trip. When we arrived at the airport, (it's the place where the airplanes land, remember when I told you about airplanes? No, of course you don't, but still, try, I'm not in the mood of explaining things.) the Domani's were waiting for us with a little sign that said 'Evans.' Belladonna, my aunt, I guess, has dark red hair and green eyes, isn't that curious? I thought Italians had dark hair and eyes! Agostino, her brother, also has green eyes, but he has dark hair. His sons, Giorgio, who is very handsome, Luigi, and Giovanni all have dark hairs and eyes, and they haven't said a word since we arrived, which makes me think they don't speak English.

Anyway, I'm not sure if they know about the existence of wizards, so if you want to send me a letter, and I would appreciate that, please tell Artemis that she shouldn't be as noisy as she usually is. By the way, Artemis must be really smart, because she was waiting for me when I arrived, and I'm sure my family, not even Petunia, saw her.

That's about it, then. Whenever I have more news I'll try to send you owls, okay?

Kisses and Hugs,

Lily Evans

Lily sealed the letter and gave it to Artemis. After waiting until Artemis disappeared, she left the room, to find her family in the kitchen, trying to learn some Italian dishes. Petunia looked completly desperate, since Giorgio had done his spaguetti perfectly. Marisa looked just as desperate, and Nathan looked completly out of place in the homely kitchen. She grinned to herself, and went to her mother's rescue.

Meanwhile, Alex was having much more fun than Lily. Her grandmother, who was just like her mother, had taken them to her beach-house in Nice, where the whole French side of the family was reunited. Alex, her sister, Audrey, and her brother, William, were the center of attention, just like Alex liked. The family was constantly remarking at how similiar to Viviane Audrey was, how Alex's blue eyes were a Beauregard trait and how William's smile was the most charming smile they'd ever seen. The only problem was the tiny detail that none of the Owens children spoke French very well.

The next day, they all went to Paris, 'four zee cheeldren to see aww ov zee beetiful places in Paris', as Alex's aunt had explained in broken English. After a lot of sightseeing, they went to Versaille, (Apparently the Beauregard family had a lot of influence over the French so they easily got to see it) and everyoned awed at the castle, including the Beauregards.

They went back to Nice a few hours later by Floo Powder, and Grandmère Annabelle promised them she would take them to the all-wizarding city as soon as Alex and Audrey(it would be Audrey's first year at Hogwarts) received their letter.

After bidding everyone good night, which took quite a long time, Alex ran to her room and began writing, just as Artemis arrived with a letter on her beak. She put the quill down, and ran to Artemis, who was dramtically pretending to be dying. Laughing, she got Lily's letter and smiled when she finished reading it. She began writing again, though it wasn't for Lily:

Dearest Carrie,

How are you? I hope you're having a wonderful time in Austria! I'm absolutely loving my family and France! It's perfect here! Today we went to Paris, and I got to see the Eiffel Tower, it's fantastic! And later on we went to Versailles, which is just as perfect as Paris... Anyway, I'm kind of lost here, because my French is horrid, and my family's English is horrid, and we simply can't communicate with each other... Also, I don't have any young cousins! All of my cousins are about twenty years older than me! How unfair is that?

Oh well, I guess I'll have to live with that, right? Tomorrow we're going to go spend the day on the beach, and I hope I see someone young, or else I'll go mad! Oh, yes, and when I receive my letter my grandmother will take me to the all-wizarding city here in Nice. Don't ask me the name, it's a little complicated French word that I can't even dream of writing. No more news, sorry! Send you more letters when I can!

Love,

ïï²ï¡ï€ ï‰ï²ï©ï³ï€ ïï·ï¥ï®ï³

Carrie shrieked with delight when, two days later, she saw Artemis gliding down the air, holding a letter for her, from the hotel room. As soon as Carrie got the letter, Artemis took off, without a glance at Carrie's own owl, Aeneas. Smiling, Carrie carefully opened the letter. When she finished reading, she was roaring with laughter at Alex's sillyness. Twenty years older than her! Ha! They must be at least five years older than her, Carrie thought, acknowledging Alex's exaggeration.

She didn't have time, though, to reply to Alex's letter, since her mother was calling her frantically from downstairs, so that they could go sight-seeing around Vienna. Sighing, Carrie left the room, after hiding her letter so that the cleaning woman wouldn't find it. When she reached the lobby, she found her mother, short lady that had short black hair and small black eyes, accompanied by her father, a tall man with red hair and black eyes. Her mother smiled at her, and they left the hotel.

"I wonder, Jack, if there's a little wizarding alley here in Austria too, just like in England?" Her mother asked her father as they passed through a few alleys.

"I don't know, Rose, darling, do you, Carrie?" Her father replied.

"No, I don't know, but they probably have, since they have one in France too."

"Oh, how do you know about France?" Rose Williams asked.

"A friend of mine from school is in France, and she mentioned it on her letter."

"Ah..."

The Williams spent the rest of the day looking at interesting places, and whenever they saw a strange thing they asked Carrie if it was from the wizarding world, just to hear a bored no.

Finally, they reached the hotel, and Carrie excused herself to her room. She took out her writing materials, which she'd smuggled in her trunk under her clothes on the airport and began:

Hullo Ellen and Esther!!!

How are you two doing? Vienna is ok, if my parents didn't keep asking me if every strange thing was wizarding. I'm pretty bored here, though I guess that must be the kind of feeling we all have after an year at Hogwarts. I hope I'm not beeing an idiot to my parents, it's just that I keep wanting to do magic and stuff like that, and I can't! It's frustrating, you know? I hope you're having a much better time than me, over in Belgium. Sorry, not much to write about, and I don't have time, got to go!

Yours,

Carrie Williams

Indeed, the twins were having a much better time than Carrie. They were eating as much chocolate as they could, sight-seeing as much as they could, and doing just about everything. Her parents were giving them treats every second because they missed them a lot. One thing, however, they felt just like Carrie, was in the aspect of wanting to do magic every second.

After a lot of tiny adventures, which included getting lost all over Brussels a few times, they decided to write a letter to Lily:

Dear Lily,

How are you? Brussels is the best place! We're having the best time ever. And it's almost like being back to Hogwarts, because we've got lost quite a few times.... Mum and Dad are sick of it, though, so we're going back in a few days. A pity really, but it'll be good to go back to good old England. And because of that we won't be going to France(Mum and Dad had been thinking of letting us go to Nice, so we could meet Alex, and it had been okay with her family, but Mum was furious last time we got lost, so she said no) but that's life, right? So, how's Italy? We've received your other letters, and you still didn't show us a picture of handsome Giorgio! We do hope that at least when we get to Hogwarts you'll have a picture of him! Oops, Mum is shrieking at us! She wants us to get to the lobby immeadiately, so that's it!

XOXO,

Ellen and Esther Schlotsky

Lily received the twins letter happily. She smiled when she read that they would be going back in a few days, because she was also going back in a few days. Lily also knew that Alex and Carrie were also going back in a few days. It would be interesting if they all arrived in the same days. She laughed histerically when the twins complained about not having a picture of Giorgio, which reminded her of how she had asked him why he was so quiet in a broken Italian(Lily always had been good with languages, and soon enough, she spoke a bit of Italian.) and he had laughed, and answered in perfect English, "Your Italian is funny, but it's good for someone who has been here for so little time. The reason why I'm quiet is because there isn't much to talk about, no?" She also remembered that she had almost murdered him on the spot when she heard him mocking her Italian.

A few days after receiving the twins letter Lily was packing her trunk, about the same time as Alex, Carrie, and the twins were. The Domani's drove the Evans to the airport and they all said good-bye. When Lily was leaving, Giorgio touched her arm and said, "I hope you have a good year in your school, Hogwarts." She whipped around and asked him how he knew about Hogwarts.

"Well, I'm a wizard too, and when I saw the owl on the first day you arrived, I knew you had to be a witch too. Petunia isn't one, is she?"

"No, I'm the only witch in the family, and you?"

"Me too. Next week I'll be going to the Italian wizarding school. Good-bye, Lily. I'll keep in touch."

"'Bye Giorgio. I'll keep in touch too." Lily smiled and turned. When she caught up with her family, Petunia glared at her and asked:

"What were you doing with Giorgio?"

"Talking."

Meanwhile, Alex was having some problems with her trunk. It was filled with her old books, so she could do her homework, and the new ones, since she'd bought everything in Granville, the all-wizarding town(Alex's thing about the name was mere exaggeration), her new clothes, her old ones, and all the new stuff she'd bought. She was about to scream in frustation, when her aunt Angelique appeared and made a spell that made things smaller and she was able to fit her stuff in the trunk.

"Alex, darleeng, pleez remember zat your parentz are both Aurors, and zat zey may be a leetle stressed out, especially your papa, since he 'as to wourk with that awful Meester Moody. Your papa is in ze verge of promotion, and he 'as been wourking 'ard for zat. If he is promoted, than he'll have to wourk 'arder steel, so pleez Alex, explain it to your leetle brothers zat your papa won't be around as much as he always is. Okay?" Aunt Angelique said all that in a very broken English, so it was a little difficult to understand what she said, not to mention that it didn't make much sense. Ever since she could remember her parents had always been busy, and it had been the same for her brothers. Surely they wouldn't notice a difference, unless...

"Aunt Angelique, has someone close to our family died?"

"Well, not yet, but..."

"Who?"

"I don't know. Viviane only told me that someone was in danger, and that she couldn't say anything else."

"Oh. Don't worry, Aunt Angelique, we'll be okay," Alex smiled and went back to packing her stuff, as Aunt Angelique left the room.

Carrie, however, wasn't having the same problems Alex was. Instead, her trunk had a huge empty space, right beside her clothes. She sighed, and remembered what the space belonged to. Her books, which she hadn't been able to smuggle her books.(Her mother forbade her, by telling her that they wouldn't be able to explain the magic books if a muggle found it.) Sighing once more as she remembered she had to do her homework still, she got all of her things and went to the lobby, where a taxi was waiting, among with her parents, who were saying good-bye to an Austrian couple.

She boredly got inside the taxi, sighing loudly and impatiently, until her parents became aware that they were taking to long and they hurried inside the taxi. When they reached the airport Carrie gave Vienna on last look, and turned around.

Ellen and Esther were running around the room looking for forgotten clothes and books while their mother shrieked for them to go quicker. Finally, when they were sure they hadn't forgotten anything, they ran to the lobby and into the taxi. The taxi rushed to the airport and the Schlotsky's ran to their gate.