Disclaimer- If it was mine, don't you'd think I'd been running down the street screaming with glee right about now?
Authoress' Note- Hi! How is everyone! I apologize for the lack of updating, but I got to a really good part in Summer with Arrogant Prat and felt the need to get two new chapters out for that before I got Chapter 21 out for this story! This chapter was one of the funniest (most fun, but I digress) and interesting chapters to write! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Ta! E.D.J.
P.S. I felt so stupid after a review told me that Andromeda was a terribly incorrect age, so I HAD to change the bit of the chapter that she makes an appareance in!
Thanks for the pretty reviews! Send me more!
Constructive Criticism-
Hello again. I realize that all aspiring writers receive criticism and advice at one point, so I suppose I have to take it all in stride.
I realize the characters don't sound quite their age, but I feel no need to apologize for that. I believe that if I start to write them that way, my story will only appeal to a thin margin of readers: 11 year olds. And since the rating is PG-13, 11 year olds should NOT be reading this in the first place and I really don't wish to tone down the story to make it acceptable for them. Live with it.
I would also like to ask HOW do we have proof that James didn't like Lily first through fourth year? I don't recall Ms. Rowling ever saying that and we have no glimpses to the Marauders' lives during those years from the five books. We really have nothing that says James DIDN'T like Lily back then, only that he fancied her in fifth year. The book doesn't say, "James started liking Lily in fifth year." It merely shows a scene from fifth year where James DID fancy Lily. Also, for my story, I believe James will be pushing that fact to the back of his mind for a while. Denial, as I could so eloquently put it.
I realize that we have no proof for the whole Lily smiling thing, but in my opinion it's very clever foreshadowing on J.K.'s part. I realize other people have different opinions on the whole OoP episode between L/J, but in my interpretation of it, Lily felt strongly about her dislike of JAMES POTTER, not her dislike of pranks. She doesn't say, "Oh I hate pranks! Pranks are evil!" She gets pissed off at JAMES. I'm not saying that Lily will continue pranking people in the future (she will be receiving a prefect badge, so she'll have to set an example) and she will change as she gets older, but everyone is allowed a good joke on someone once in their life. I don't think Lily's THAT much of a prude.
I apologize if you found my particular James/Transfiguration scene offensive. I found it slightly amusing because of course that wouldn't happen! I realize you said nothing about any of that and I apologize. I also still believe that Charms isn't James' weakness and that he merely had trouble with the first class. Everyone has bad days when you can't possibly understand what the professor's trying to teach you. Believe me, I know. I will be incorporating Lily weaknesses, so bear with me, and as I said before, James is obviously better at flying and Lily would lose anything broomstick-related against him. I also can't seem to recall any other big weaknesses James has shown besides the Charms thing, but I'm sure you'll enlighten me.
I find it offensive that you think Lily is Mary-Sue-like. In my opinion, a Mary-Sueunnecessary added character (one who somehow enters in fifth year or so) who all guys drool over, despite the fact that she has only half a brain and is again somehow related to all of them. Also she's someone with a barely visible personality that basically consist of so much perkiness, you want to Avada Kedavra her the second she opens her mouth to talk about, you guessed it, fashion and/or how powerful she is and how she defeated Lord Voldemort single-handedly, despite of the fact that it could be possible that Harry's the only one who can kill him. I again realize you said none of this, but that's just my opinion of what a Mary-Sue is. AND I realize that I am basing this on my interpretation of a lot of things, but I am merely trying to show how points of view can differ. I'm not trying to force you to think like me either.
As I said to Miss Anonymous hp, I consider Lily a key part of the Marauders' lives and focusing on her less would again, yes in my OPINION, it wouldn't be realistic. As for saying Lily isn't realistic, I must ask you, what in particular isn't realistic? You haven't ever met someone who can get good grades AND have a sense of humor? Please explain although if it's because she's "perfect", I must say that there are plenty of people whose lives seem "perfect" who really aren't. Celebrities for instance. They've got the money, the cars, the career, but between all that they're smoking crack and are cheating on their spouses. No one is perfect, despite what the outside may portray.
NOW I would like to say that I don't have the time or patience to write such long responses to someone who obviously has problems with my story. I would suggest you read a fic you DO enjoy and review them on how much you like their story to your heart's desire. If you want something Lily/James, I would suggest any of the ones under my favorites list.
Romulan Empress- I'm so glad you liked the ending! I thought it was particularly amusing. Yes, blackmail is always entertaining and I'm sure Peter will start hiding his diary better in the years to come. LOL
anonymous- Glad you like the story!
ThelovelyladyLily/Amelia Blibson- Thank you so much for the support! I haven't let the upset people keep me down yet, but I am getting a bit frustrated with it! I'm so glad you think Lily's realistic and that you liked the self-insertation as unrealistic as it was!
La Conquistadora- But Conquistadora! The prat is really hot! Why would she want to be rid of him? I don't think we'll ever be rid of our prat/man-whore either. NOT that anyone will ever end up dating HIM. He's too self-centered for his own good! I can't believe he didn't know what we were spelling at the football game! (I won't mention what we were actually spelling because I don't want people to find out where we live and then they'll stalk us! Gasp!)
zumanity57- Oh no laughing at every chapter IS a compliment! I laugh at random stuff too so I do take it as compliment! I do know J.K. Rowling! (complete lie!) We're tight and I know all about what's going to happen in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Did you know that Harry's going to become an Animagus and he'll be a monkey and he'll have all sorts of monkey adventures! (NOTE THE SARCASM PLEASE!) Yes, I'm American and I'm so glad you think I can pass this off as being written by a Brit!
Ch. 21- Scenes of Summer
"MUM! LILY'S DOING IT AGAIN!" shrieked sixteen-year-old Petunia, racing down the stairs and trying to hide behind her mother as Lily entered the kitchen, looking more than a little upset.
Mrs. Evans sighed. "Surely you can handle your twelve-year-old sister, Petunia?"
"She's acting all unnatural," whimpered Petunia as Mrs. Evans dislodged her daughter's hands from her arm and sat her down.
"I only tried to show her a picture of my friends!" protested Lily, waving a photograph in the air.
"It was moving," said Petunia through clenched teeth. "They aren't supposed to move."
"Moving?" said Mrs. Evans, interested.
Lily nodded and handed her the photograph, which Mrs. Evans stared at, fascinated.
"That's Emmeline and Bella," said Lily, her voice shaking slightly as she pointed out her waving friends. She whirled on Petunia. "Wizarding photos are supposed to move."
Petunia opened her mouth to retort, but was silenced by a look from their mother.
"Petunia, off with you," said Mrs. Evans, waving her away. "Isn't Maude arriving in an hour, dear?"
At the mention of her best friend's visit, Petunia shrieked and frantically jumped up. With a last glare at Lily, she said, "If you have anything of yours lying around the house, get rid of it now. I won't have Maude thinking we're anything, but respectable, normal people." With that, Petunia disappeared in a whirl of cleaning supplies.
"And it's only June," muttered Lily, going to retrieve her wand and Exploding Snap cards from the parlor. "That's a lot of Petunia."
Meanwhile, at the Potter residence, James was being told off by the housekeeper Fiona.
"Dungbombs in the kitchen, spiking the maids' dinner to make their hair grow abnormally, sneaking off to Diagon Alley whenever you choose! What will I tell your parents when they get back from Bermuda tomorrow?" Fiona demanded, her face quite red.
James gave her an innocent grin. "What you always tell them, Fio. That I was a good little boy and I was a delight for the staff to take care of for a week!"
"I most certainly won't tell them that!" she snapped. "I'll tell them you were a terror, like always."
"No you won't," said James, smirking slightly. "That's what you always say. Even last year, when I accidentally set the neighbor's cat on fire, you told Mum and Dad that I was an angel."
"James Potter! How many times do I have to tell you not eavesdrop?" Fiona scowled at him.
"Maybe once more," said James nonchalantly. My skull's pretty thick."
"Fine!" said Fiona flatly, throwing up her hands. "I'll tell them you were a bloody delight."
"Now, now Fio. No swearing in front of the impressionable twelve-year old," said James, shaking a finger at her.
Fiona gritted her teeth. "You are impossible. I will tell your parents 'Oh James was completely wonderful!' And don't call me Fio."
"Alright, Fio," said James agreeably. Fiona glared at him. James simply shrugged. "It slipped. They won't believe you anyway. Mum and Dad know me too well to be fooled by those wonderful lies you tell when their come home from their holidays."
"And with good reason too!" snapped Fiona. "I can't imagine having James Potter for a son. They're made of stronger stuff than me."
"You know you love me, Fio," cooed James, hugging her.
"Geroff me, you little terror!" yelped Fiona, feeling herself soften slightly.
James grinned at her and ran off, ignoring Fiona's order to 'Not run in the house!'
Sirius sat drumming his cutlery against the dining table as he anxiously sat inside Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Mrs. Black shot him a withering look, which Sirius returned with an eye roll.
"When are we going to eat?" whined ten-year-old Regulus from where he sat across from Sirius. He tugged at the collar of his itchy, new black dress robes.
"As soon as your cousins come, dear," said Mrs. Black, beaming at her favorite son. "With three girls, it takes awhile for Auntie Andrina and Uncle Casimir to get to dinner on time." (A/N- Casimir is pronounced KAZ-i-meer and means "to destroy peace" Very fitting, don't you think?)
"I'd Avada Kedavra myself with three daughters," muttered Mr. Black darkly. "It would be a nightmare."
"It can't be worse than having one ungrateful Gryffindor son," snapped Mrs. Black, shooting a glare at Sirius.
"Don't mind me, Mum," said Sirius bitingly. "I didn't choose to be born into a family of crazed, pureblood fanatics."
Mrs. Black made a violent gesture and reached for her wand. But, just then, the doorbell chimed eerily and she was forced to answer it. "Blood-traitor," she hissed as she left.
"I love you too, Mum!" Sirius shouted at her retreating back.
Mrs. Black soon returned, leading Mr. Black's brother's family inside the dining room. Andrina and Casimir seated themselves by Sirius's parents. Eighteen-year-old, icily blonde Narcissa and dark-haired Bellatrix, who was unfortunately still Sirius's own age, sat on either side of Regulus. Only nineteen-year-old Andromeda seated herself next to Sirius, beaming at him through her dark brown curls.
"'Lo Andromeda," said Sirius, smiling at his favorite cousin.
"How was your first year of Hogwarts?" asked Andromeda. "I highly doubt Slytherin House misses me."
"It's because you were halfway decent," growled Sirius. "You're the only respectable Slytherin to ever come through the school. Kids are still talking about you two years after you've graduated!"
"Really?" asked Andromeda, wide-eyed as the two families tucked in to their dinners. "I didn't think people noticed me that much. Has Bellatrix been showing the side effects of 'the disease' at school?"
'The disease' was what they referred to as the obsession with a wizard's blood that seemed to infect their entire family, not to mention those other families that dated back as far as anyone could remember.
"Enough of it that it makes me want to pummel her on sight," Sirius stated, shooting a glare at Bellatrix who merely ignored him.
Narcissa had taken in this whole conversation in and saw an opportunity for Sirius's undoing. She cleared her throat. "Aunt Odessa, Uncle Devereux, did you know that Sirius has befriended the son of Jonathan and Arleen Potter?" (A/N- Devereux is pronounced DEV-u-ruu, but it doesn't have a fitting meaning. It means "from Evreux" so yeah...)
Her words hung in the air for a moment, and she could see her aunt and uncle's faces getting quite furious-looking, so she pressed on gleefully. "And he's friends with a halfblood named Remus Lupin."
Sirius leaned back in his chair and looked entirely unconcerned. "I'm not ashamed of my friends," he stated with a slight yawn in Narcissa's direction.
"You are friends with a blood-traitor and a halfblood?" said Mrs. Black slowly, her grey eyes glinting angrily.
"Oh course! What else would you expect to find in dirty old Gryffindor?" said Sirius sarcastically.
"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" shrieked Mrs. Black.
"Gladly," shouted Sirius, ducking the antique salt cellar that had been thrown at his head.
With that, he disappeared up to his room and began secretly packing.
Late that night, someone shook James awake.
"What do you want?" he asked blearily, fumbling for his glasses. Once he found them, he saw a small bat-eared house elf standing next to his bed, wringing her hands. "Hol... Holly, what are you doing here?" asked James, stifling a yawn.
"Holly is sorry for disturbing you, young master, but there is a... a boy at the door who insist that he see you right now," said Holly, her voice clearly distraught. "He say he cannot come back in the morning because he... cannot go home."
"What the..." grumbled James, slipping on his dressing gown and padding down the stairs to the front hall. "SIRIUS?" he yelped.
"Hello, Jamesie!" said Sirius cheerfully.
"What are you doing here?" asked James.
"Oh well, you said I should visit sometime this summer, so here I am!" said Sirius brightly.
"I meant when I invited you," sighed James.
"Minor detail," said Sirius casually. "Actually, I got into a bit of a spat with my mum and dad, and I thought they might hex me into oblivion if I stayed at home, so I came here."
"A spat?" asked James. "About what?"
"They weren't too approving when cousin Narcissa told them who my friends were," said Sirius with a slight eye roll. "No offense to you, Jamesie, but your family isn't the best example of an upstanding pureblood family, at least not in my parents' opinion. They also weren't too happy about Remus's grandmum being a Muggleborn."
James snorted. "Upstanding pureblood family? I don't think such a thing exists. Either you're a crazed fanatic who thinks we should bar all Muggleborns from society or you couldn't give a wit and half who's standing next to you as long as they aren't going to put some odd jinx on you."
"Too true, too true."
Suddenly two loud knocks came on the front door. James turned to Sirius with raised eyebrows.
"Oh..." said Sirius sheepishly. "Did I mention that I invited Peter and Remmy over too?"
"WHAT?" yelped James. "When? How?"
"I owled them before I left," said Sirius with a shrug. "'Said that you had left it to me tell them that you were inviting us all over to your home for Merlin knows how long."
"And they believed you?" asked James, gaping.
"Apparently."
"Mum will murder me," groaned James, going to answer the door.
A tired, looking-worse-for-wear Remus and a wide-eyed, slightly green-looking Peter stood on the doorstep.
"Quaffle pajamas, James?" asked Remus wearily. "Only you." He tossed a bag at James and dragged his trunk inside before collapsing on the sofa. "Sirius, remind me again why you were stupid enough to tell us to take the Knight Bus?" Remus asked through gritted teeth.
"It's the fastest and only legal way for underage wizards to travel!" protested Sirius.
"And it's also the only way to travel which makes you heave up your dinner," said Remus pointedly.
At the mention of 'heaving up your dinner', Peter was sick all over the Potters' floor.
"Oh damn," swore James. "Loo's down the hall, Pete, if youthink you need to upchuck something else, I have to go find someone to clean this up."
James disappeared down the hall.
Sirius stared at Remus with interest. "Are you going to feel the need to be sick too? I don't think anything can beat that mess Peter's made."
Remus elbowed Sirius weakly and grumbled something incoherent. Peter had already disappeared to the loo.
By the time James had returned with the house elf Holly, all three of his friends were asleep; Sirius in an armchair, Remus on the sofa, and Peter... well Peter was asleep in the loo.
Did you like it? I did, but that's my opinion! It was particularly fun to write the insight into Sirius' family. Evil buggers. Sorry about the lack of Lily's summer, but what do you think a Muggle-born's summer would be like? EXACTLY like how all our own nonmagical summers are! Sigh... Please review! E.D.J.
P.S. I would advise you all to check out the two MuggleNet links I've added to my authoress' page or whatever it's called. They are high-freaking-larious (Props to La Conquistadora for getting that into my head)! One is a hilarious bunch of scenes involving EVIL HARRY and the other is 101 Ways to Annoy Lord Voldemort! Most fun!