That night, Lily tossed and turned in her sleep. She was having the strangest dream: moonlight, and somebody whispering "I'll be waiting." It was such a familiar voice that she jolted awake and looked over at Alli, expecting her friend to have spoken. To her surprise, the sun was blazing and the dormitory was empty. 'Mmm, Saturday,' she thought. Pulling on some muggle jeans and a sweatshirt, she quickly brushed her hair and teeth and went downstairs to the common room. She made her way to where Alli and the Marauders had taken over a corner of the common room, lounging over chairs and couches, looking over their books. At first she was uncertain whether she should sit next to Alli or James; they were seated on love seats across from each other. She did a teetering dance until she chose the sofa between the two of them. Unfortunately, she sat right between Sirius and Remus.
"So, Miss Evans," Sirius said, smiling. "You slept in awfully late today. Long night? Or just tiring?" He laughed at his own joke, but the only companion to his laughter were Peter's guffaws.
"Sirius, you are insufferable," Remus said tiredly. Then he turned to Lily. "Don't listen to him. Seriously, Sirius is never Serious. If he were, it would surprise me. Seriously." he stopped and blinked at whatever verbal vomit had just erupted from his mouth and shook his head. "Anyway, he's only grumpy because Arisa Galloway is going out with his brother."
"Wait," James said, looking up from the fire, where his gaze had previously landed. "Arisa, as in Sirius's ex-girlfriend Arisa? As in, last week's flavor?" the other boys nodded. "I didn't like her anyway," James continued. "Besides, you have that Ravenclaw girl now.. What's her name?"
"I forget.. Aimee or something." Sirius was barely paying attention, as some girl was trying to catch his eye from across the room. "Excuse me, kids," he said with a grin, and walked away.
Alli spoke up from her place on the floor, where she was begrudgingly doing her Transfiguration homework. "Lils.. What's the incantation for that spell.. Oh dang, what was it.. To transform toads into bits of paper?"
"Ribithoja," Lily said absently, still thinking about her dream.
Sirius walked back over indignantly. "She just wanted to talk about Anna! Which, by the way, is her name. Honestly, women! But I must say, I love when Anna wears her hair in those braids. She looks so innocent, I just want to... corrupt her."
"SIRIUS!" Alli hissed.
James watched his friends in amusement. Sirius was laughing, Alli looked perturbed, Remus was frowning slightly while a grin was fighting its way onto his face, and Peter looked like he didn't get the joke. The only still person was Lily, who was frowning at the carpet, lost in thought.
"Is something wrong?" he asked her gently. She looked so confused, though not in the same way as Peter. James doubted she had even heard what Sirius said.
"I was just thinking about this dream I had last night. And I have the most amazing feeling, like a certainty, that I've had it before."
Peter perked up. "You should tell Professor McKinley about it! She totally knows about that stuff." Everyone gave him blank stares. "Well.. She does." he stammered.
"You're so gullible," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "So, what's the dream about?"
"Well," Lily said, still staring hard at the carpet. "It's dark, and there's this silver moonlight. And you can literally feel energy pulsing through the air, like something big is happening. And someone whispers 'I'll be waiting,' and I wake up. I don't get it, the voice is so familiar, yes so foreign."
Had Lily not been staring at the carpet, she would have seen the significant look passed between James and Sirius. If she looked up, she would have seen the shock on her "one date" almost-boyfriend's face. But she didn't look up, so she missed James give Sirius a quick signal.
"Um.. I have to go see Dumbledore about... curtains," James said suddenly, jumping off the love seat.
"What? Why?" Lily asked. "Did you hear what I said? About the dream? What do you think? James?" He was already out of the portrait hole, so Lily turned to Sirius. "Curtains?"
Sirius flashed her that assuring grin. " Lily, let's go for a short walk."
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"Curtains?" Lily asked as the exited the portrait hole.
"Yeaahh, Um, the ones in our dorm are full of doxies," Sirius said, "And good 'ol James didn't want to bother the house elves. He's asking Dumbledore for his own supply of the repellant.. Stuff. That's our boy! Anyway, Lily, I wanted to talk to you about James. He really likes you, you know."
Lily blinked. "Er, yeah, I know." she said brilliantly.
"Did James tell you where he lives?" Now Sirius looked anxious.
"Just some place called.. Well I forget. Gilbert's Hollow or something."
"Godric's Hollow," Sirius clarified. "Did he ever tell you why he lives there?" she shook her head. "Well, the Hollow, as it was once simply called, was where none other than Godric Gryffindor himself lived. That's how it got it's name. Anyway, only certain people were allowed to live there; people he could trust. His closest friends and descendants. Do you see where I'm headed with this? No? Ok, well this means that James is.."
"..a descendant of Godric Gryffindor!" Lily finished, putting her hand over her gaping mouth.
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Argus Filch, Hogwarts's caretaker, was on his way to the hospital wing when he heard muffled voices coming from behind a tapestry. He knew a secret passage was behind it, but he wasn't aware anyone else knew. He stopped to listen for a moment.
"..are you sure?" a muffled voice asked.
"Yes," a second one replied. "What is it? What's going on, Professor?" The second voice was young and male, and extremely anxious. "You said to come to you if something like this happened, and I think it's time all was explained to me, don't you?"
"In due time," the first voice answered. "As for what it is, it is a memory. A Once Upon a Time, from a real fairy tale. And as legend demands, not all fairy tales have Happily Ever Afters."
Fairy Tales? Happy Ever Afters? What was this, a bedtime story? Filch had no time for this nonsense. He didn't even waste time on busting the students, he simply carried on his way.
A/N: OK, ok, ok, "What the hell is going on?!" haha you'll find out, I promise. I'm going to introduce some more original characters soon, and fill in the plot more. But when will James tell Lily what's going on? Hmmm, could it be that Hogsmeade date that's approaching? As for the curtains remark.. Haha only James could spit out "curtains", and only Sirius could find an excuse for it. Those boys.... :0) gotta love 'em.
-Ria