Chapter 26 Disaster
Lily yawned and stretched, glancing round her. Considering it was a Friday night, there were a surprising number of people in the library. But they, like her, were trying to get their homework in order before the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. The approaching holidays had led to a veritable avalanche of homework for the entire school and most of the Hogwarts student body hadn't been keeping up with it as they should have, leaving them buried in work at the weekends.
Finishing her perusal of the library, Lily turned her attention to the person across from her. She'd been completely shocked when James had offered to come to the library with her and had been even more shocked when he hadn't immediately suggested that they sneak off and snog somewhere. He had actually been completely engrossed in 1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi, of all things, for two hours now. How had she not known that her boyfriend was so interested in Herbology and why did she find that so hard to believe?
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily noticed some movement coming from the general direction of the Defense Against the Dark Arts shelves. Turning, she spotted Kathleen waving frantically at her. What in Merlin's name?
Making certain that James was still engrossed in herbs and fungi, Lily casually made her way over to her friend.
The moment Lily left, James pulled out the book he had hidden behind the Herbology text and studied the cover again. Muggle Like Me: One Wizard's Experiences in Muggle London was proving to be quite helpful, but James found some of it to be a bit far-fetched. A man who went about in a truck delivering people's post indeed. And why would anyone buy little pieces of paper to lick and stick on their letters so that this mythical postman could carry their letters about when they could just buy an owl? Probably this postman was some sort of story told to Muggle children, like Santa Claus.
And the sports! Why would anyone want to play, let alone watch, this football thing? Only one ball that stayed on the ground while teams of men kicked it about? What did you even need an entire team for if there was only one ball? There weren't even any Bludgers to stop the teams from scoring. Who did stop them, other players? Who in their right mind would allow that? He wondered if Lily had ever played football.
Shaking his head at these peculiarities, James returned to the Muggle Studies section to do some more research. As long as he didn't have to send a letter by "the postman" and Mr. Evans wasn't a football fan, he should be all right.
* * *
As soon as Lily got close enough, Kathleen reached out and yanked her out of sight between the shelves.
"Kathleen!" Lily exclaimed. "What are you on about, for Merlin's sake?"
"Lily - Lily -" Kathleen was clearly distraught. "I've been in here since four reading and reading and I think - I think - "
"Slow down," Lily said patiently. "Start from the beginning. Why have you been reading in here since four?"
Kathleen took a deep breath, trying to be calm. "I came to do some research about Remus. Lily, I know he told me that he caught a cold from his mum, but the way he looked in the hospital - I just wanted to - check. So I looked up his symptoms in this Symptoms of Magical Illnesses book - the paleness and sweatiness, and lack of energy and from there I looked up MORE things and I've narrowed it down." Kathleen indicated the sheaf of papers in her hand.
"Of course, it could be loads of things, but all the symptoms combined together and the way he's been sick so often -" Kathleen broke off, looking tense.
"Just say it," Lily urged, feeling terrible that her friend was so upset and that she couldn't tell her the truth.
"Lily, I think Remus is a werewolf," Kathleen opened her eyes and regarded Lily worriedly.
"What?" sputtered Lily, astonished that Kathleen had guessed.
"I know it sounds ridiculous," Kathleen said apologetically. "But, Lils, just THINK about it. He gets sick or goes away round the same time every month, round the time of the full moon. I checked the lunar charts," Kathleen indicated a chart on the floor with notes scribbled all over it. "It all fits. And the symptoms fit too, those symptoms only fit a few things, but I really don't think he has glandular fever, and as far as I know he's never been anywhere NEAR a veela -" Kathleen broke off, looking at Lily expectantly.
"Er- " Lily really had no idea what to say. She certainly wasn't going to deny it, but it wouldn't be right to reveal Remus' secret either.
"Why wouldn't he tell me something like this?" Kathleen sank dejectedly to her knees to gather up her books and charts. "But then, maybe he's not a werewolf, I haven't got any proof, just a hunch and a lot of research. Maybe he did catch something from his mum but it's not a cold like he thinks, maybe it's glandular fever - "
"Kathleen," Lily interrupted gently. "I think that you really ought to go and talk to Remus. Just tell him what you've noticed and then give him a chance to explain." Kathleen nodded, a pensive expression on her face.
"Just out of curiosity," Lily blurted impulsively, "what would you do if Remus IS a werewolf?"
"I dunno," Kathleen said reflectively. "I mean, I wouldn't be thrilled that he kept this massive secret from me obviously, but other than that I honestly don't know." Kathleen gave herself a mental shake. "But I don't need to worry about that because I'm just being paranoid, right Lily? I mean, probably nothing's wrong with Remus."
"I really think you should go and talk to him," Lily repeated, not meeting Kathleen's eye. Merlin, but she was bad at this.
* * *
The Marauders waited about in front of Honeydukes the next morning, waiting for Lily, Morwenna, Kathleen, and Dorcas to join them. Sirius wore his customary coolly indifferent expression and Peter's usual nice-but-a- bit-thick expression was in place, but Remus seemed a bit off to James. "What's wrong with you, Moony?" James, curious, set aside his latest volume, Muggles Behind the Myth, and turned to face Remus. Sirius and Peter looked round attentively as well.
Remus glanced meaningfully round him and without any further prodding, the Marauders slipped round the corner of the building. Assured of privacy now, Remus opened his mouth. "I think Kathleen suspects - something," he whispered. James, Sirius, and Peter exchanged glances. James had told them about Lily's conversation with Kathleen in the library the night before and the three had agreed with Lily that they needed to do their best to persuade Remus to come clean.
"Why do you think she suspects something?" James asked reasonably.
"I can tell when people do," Remus shrugged, but it was clear that it bothered him. "She may have even figured it out by now, I don't know."
"You have to tell her," Sirius stated firmly. "It'll be the worse for you if you don't."
"She's bound to be upset if she has to figure it out for herself," Peter put in.
"I've tried, honestly I have," Remus' tone wasn't quite calm. "But - well - the thing is... " Remus paused, struggling to fond the right words. "Almost all my life, certain people have treated me differently because of - what I am. It was hard at first, but I've more or less accepted it by now. Some people will always fear me or treat me differently because I'm a werewolf and I've learned that those people don't matter, it's my friends and family that I care about," Remus shifted a bit, looking round at each of his friends.
"The thing is," he continued, "I really don't think I could stand it if Kathleen turned out to be one of those people because I think I might love her and I can't just tell myself that her opinion doesn't matter because it does."
Silence. No one knew what to say to that, really. "Tell her," Sirius said finally. "Not knowing has got to be worse."
"I'm not so sure about that," Remus smiled wanly.
"Padfoot's right," James put in his vote. "You've got to tell her. I know what it's like when your feelings for a girl have got you by the balls; it's bloody scary to be honest in case they end up hating you. But you've got to do it."
"You can't hide forever," Peter squeaked.
Remus looked intently at each of the Marauders in turn, indecision plain in every detail of his face. "All right then," he said finally in a determined tone. "I'll tell her."
And in that moment, James was sure that Remus was the bravest person he had ever known.
* * *
A few hours later, James, Lily, Sirius, and Peter sat waiting in The Three Broomsticks for Remus and Kathleen to join them. Dorcas, Morwenna, Frank, and Alice had been with them earlier and had gone on to go Christmas shopping, but the others had stuck around, wanting to find out how Remus and Kathleen's talk had gone.
The Marauders passed the time by asking Lily about this "postman" system James had described which Peter and Sirius found just as ridiculous as James had.
"But Lily," James was arguing, not for the first time, "why would anyone have a man deliver the post when there are owls?"
"It a bit creepy," Peter put in in his squeaky voice, his watery eyes round. "What does he DO with the mail when he has it?"
"You were right Prongs," Sirius chimed in. "This "postman" bollocks does sound like some sort of Santa Claus story that Muggles tell children. 'Behave, children, or the postman won't give you any mail.'" Sirius mimicked in an uncanny impersonation of James' mother.
"It's not a story," Lily sighed, feeling extremely put upon. "I'm telling you, there really ARE postmen. Lots of them."
"But you've never seen yours, have you?" James asked her triumphantly.
"No," Lily admitted. "He comes very early in the morning."
"Sure he does," Sirius nodded sagely.
Before Lily could respond to this latest round, Remus and Kathleen entered the pub, both of them looking thoroughly worn out, and made their way to the table.
Realizing that this could potentially be a very awkward situation, Lily caught Kathleen's eye and nodded toward the loo in the back. Kathleen nodded back and the two made their way to the ladies' room.
"How did it go?" Sirius asked once Lily and Kathleen were out of earshot.
"I'm not really sure," Remus slumped into a chair. "She saw me in the hospital wing after the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match and guessed what it meant, so she wasn't surprised really."
"But was she upset?" Peter pressed.
"By the - problem - itself, not really. She seemed more interested in that than anything else and she had more or less guessed," Remus replied, then added with some effort: "But by the secret-keeping, yes. Very."
So now what?" James wanted to know.
Remus rubbed his eyes tiredly. "She needs some time to think about everything, she says, and decide whether or not she can trust me enough to be in a serious relationship with me. Because we both agreed that if there's going to be any kind of relationship at all, it's going to be a serious one."
The Marauders were silent, processing this information.
"It could be worse," Sirius offered eventually.
"Much worse," Peter agreed.
"After all," James pointed out, "she didn't say no."
* * *
The week between Hogsmeade and the start of the holidays passed by very quickly for the seventh year Gryffindors. With homework and the falling out between Remus and Kathleen, their time was almost completely occupied.
Of course, only Lily and the Marauders knew what exactly had brought about this situation. The rest of the seventh years were in the dark and, when they tried fishing for details received only the vaguest of replies.
Naturally Remus was dejected by this turn of events, but he seemed hopeful that he and Kathleen could work things out; as James had pointed out, Kathleen hadn't said no, just maybe, and Kathleen and Remus were still going to the Marchbanks' party together. Kathleen had said she might have an answer by then and wanted to go with Remus regardless.
It wasn't a terribly happy start to the holidays, but the seventh years boarded the Hogwarts Express cheerfully enough the following Saturday and, at Lily and James' invitation, piled into the Head compartment at the front of the train. All except Remus and Kathleen anyway, who both went to sit with other people rather than run into each other.
The train ride passed uneventfully enough. James and Sirius bought nearly all of the candy on the trolley and they played Exploding Snap until they were all singed. Remus came after a bit and stayed for a few minutes, but he didn't want t stay long in case Kathleen appeared.
When the train arrived in King's Cross Station, the seventh year Gryffindors filed off the train with everyone else and called good-byes to each other as they spotted their parents with promises to see each other on the 31st and to write.
Lily and James were some of the last to say their farewells. Standing on the platform, Sirius waiting impatiently for James so that they could go together to meet Mr. and Mrs. Potter, both Lily and James were a bit reluctant to go.
"I'll see you on Wednesday," James said for the third time, holding both of Lily's hands.
"I know," Lily replied, smiling. "I really should go, my parents will be waiting," she said for the fourth time.
"I - er - I got you something," James said a bit sheepishly, letting go of one of Lily's hands to root around in his pocket.
"What did you do that for? I didn't get you anything," Lily exclaimed, pleased in spite of herself.
"It isn't much," James mumbled, shoving an envelope at Lily and running a hand through his hair.
Lily tore the envelope open, her grin spreading from ear to ear, and pulled out a wizard photo of James, who waved enthusiastically at her and blew her a kiss.
Turning the picture over, Lily saw that there was a note on the back.
"Lily -" The note read.
"I know how desperately you'll miss me over the holidays, so here's a little something to remember me by. Only 432,153 seconds till we see each other again.
"Missing you already,
James"
"It's perfect!" Lily threw her arms round James, feeling more than a bit touched by the gesture and torn between a desire to cry and to kick James in the shin for being so bloody arrogant. "It's just as sweet and self-centered as you are."
"Well, that was the idea," James grinned. From his post by the platform wall, Sirius cleared his throat pointedly, causing James to throw him a filthy look, but neither of them moved.
"Will you lot just kiss already so we can get out of here?" Sirius complained.
Lily and James glared at Sirius in perfect unison for his lack of sensitivity.
* * *
The time between Saturday and Wednesday passed by unbearably slowly for both Lily and James. For James, the time was unbearable because he missed seeing Lily every day. For Lily, the time was unbearable partly because she missed James and partly because The Wedding of the Century was a mere ten days away.
The Evans household seemed to be bursting at the seams and threatening to erupt and rain pink taffeta on them all at any moment. Everywhere Lily looked she was confronted by cotton-candy pink taffeta, usually adorned with bows and/or ruffles. Until this point, Lily had never known that her sister had such a fondness for bows. She pitied Petunia's children, really she did.
Petunia was even more unbearable than usual, running mad through the house muttering under her breath about things like gravy boats and string quartets and refusing to eat anything unless absolutely forced. Lily was constantly tempted to pick up the nearest pink item and bludgeon Petunia with it every time she opened her mouth.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans took the approaching wedding and their daughter's erratic behavior calmly. They asked Lily hundreds of questions about James: what they should serve for tea when he came, how he did in school, how he had come to be Lily's boyfriend, etc.
Thankfully Petunia and Vernon left for Surrey on Monday and some semblance of order was restored to the house. But the order was short- lived as Mrs. Evans began preparing in earnest for James' visit, enlisting Lily's help in trying to stuff all of the pink taffeta out of the way.
By the time Wednesday arrived, Lily was feeling a bit nervous. But only a bit; her parents were very supportive of her magical abilities and would doubtless ply James with thousands of questions. And James could be quite charming when he tried, as she knew all too well, he should have no trouble captivating her parents.
It was round three forty-five, with only fifteen minutes to go till James' arrival, that disaster struck.
Lily, upstairs getting ready, heard a knock at the door and voices in the hallway. James is early, she thought as she prepared to go downstairs. I wonder if he had any trouble getting here without magic.......
"......bloody foreigners..........can't understand the road signs.......don't know where they're going .......SHOULD BE SHOT!"
Lily's blood ran cold as she froze in place. She knew that bellowing voice. Lily fumbled with the door handle and peered over the banister into the entryway, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She hadn't really needed to look, but there was the proof in front of her eyes. Petunia and Vernon had returned from Surrey early, and were just in time for tea.
* * *
Author's Note:
Ack! Sorry for the cliffhanger, everyone! I didn't mean to, but I ran out of time and wanted to post this now. Never fear, the next chapter will be up very soon, possibly tomorrow if I have time, and definitely before Christmas (I'm not a complete Scrooge).
Thanks for the reviews with special thanks to James Potter09, Em Starcatcher, random reviewer, Pittsy, pixeedust42, witch@heart, vizzy, Candidus-Astrum, Ljstagflower4e/Jctigerwolf4e, Logical Raven, Incognito 00, padfoots-alive, and Darkwool Dragonblade
Keep reading and reviewing!
Lily yawned and stretched, glancing round her. Considering it was a Friday night, there were a surprising number of people in the library. But they, like her, were trying to get their homework in order before the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. The approaching holidays had led to a veritable avalanche of homework for the entire school and most of the Hogwarts student body hadn't been keeping up with it as they should have, leaving them buried in work at the weekends.
Finishing her perusal of the library, Lily turned her attention to the person across from her. She'd been completely shocked when James had offered to come to the library with her and had been even more shocked when he hadn't immediately suggested that they sneak off and snog somewhere. He had actually been completely engrossed in 1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi, of all things, for two hours now. How had she not known that her boyfriend was so interested in Herbology and why did she find that so hard to believe?
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily noticed some movement coming from the general direction of the Defense Against the Dark Arts shelves. Turning, she spotted Kathleen waving frantically at her. What in Merlin's name?
Making certain that James was still engrossed in herbs and fungi, Lily casually made her way over to her friend.
The moment Lily left, James pulled out the book he had hidden behind the Herbology text and studied the cover again. Muggle Like Me: One Wizard's Experiences in Muggle London was proving to be quite helpful, but James found some of it to be a bit far-fetched. A man who went about in a truck delivering people's post indeed. And why would anyone buy little pieces of paper to lick and stick on their letters so that this mythical postman could carry their letters about when they could just buy an owl? Probably this postman was some sort of story told to Muggle children, like Santa Claus.
And the sports! Why would anyone want to play, let alone watch, this football thing? Only one ball that stayed on the ground while teams of men kicked it about? What did you even need an entire team for if there was only one ball? There weren't even any Bludgers to stop the teams from scoring. Who did stop them, other players? Who in their right mind would allow that? He wondered if Lily had ever played football.
Shaking his head at these peculiarities, James returned to the Muggle Studies section to do some more research. As long as he didn't have to send a letter by "the postman" and Mr. Evans wasn't a football fan, he should be all right.
* * *
As soon as Lily got close enough, Kathleen reached out and yanked her out of sight between the shelves.
"Kathleen!" Lily exclaimed. "What are you on about, for Merlin's sake?"
"Lily - Lily -" Kathleen was clearly distraught. "I've been in here since four reading and reading and I think - I think - "
"Slow down," Lily said patiently. "Start from the beginning. Why have you been reading in here since four?"
Kathleen took a deep breath, trying to be calm. "I came to do some research about Remus. Lily, I know he told me that he caught a cold from his mum, but the way he looked in the hospital - I just wanted to - check. So I looked up his symptoms in this Symptoms of Magical Illnesses book - the paleness and sweatiness, and lack of energy and from there I looked up MORE things and I've narrowed it down." Kathleen indicated the sheaf of papers in her hand.
"Of course, it could be loads of things, but all the symptoms combined together and the way he's been sick so often -" Kathleen broke off, looking tense.
"Just say it," Lily urged, feeling terrible that her friend was so upset and that she couldn't tell her the truth.
"Lily, I think Remus is a werewolf," Kathleen opened her eyes and regarded Lily worriedly.
"What?" sputtered Lily, astonished that Kathleen had guessed.
"I know it sounds ridiculous," Kathleen said apologetically. "But, Lils, just THINK about it. He gets sick or goes away round the same time every month, round the time of the full moon. I checked the lunar charts," Kathleen indicated a chart on the floor with notes scribbled all over it. "It all fits. And the symptoms fit too, those symptoms only fit a few things, but I really don't think he has glandular fever, and as far as I know he's never been anywhere NEAR a veela -" Kathleen broke off, looking at Lily expectantly.
"Er- " Lily really had no idea what to say. She certainly wasn't going to deny it, but it wouldn't be right to reveal Remus' secret either.
"Why wouldn't he tell me something like this?" Kathleen sank dejectedly to her knees to gather up her books and charts. "But then, maybe he's not a werewolf, I haven't got any proof, just a hunch and a lot of research. Maybe he did catch something from his mum but it's not a cold like he thinks, maybe it's glandular fever - "
"Kathleen," Lily interrupted gently. "I think that you really ought to go and talk to Remus. Just tell him what you've noticed and then give him a chance to explain." Kathleen nodded, a pensive expression on her face.
"Just out of curiosity," Lily blurted impulsively, "what would you do if Remus IS a werewolf?"
"I dunno," Kathleen said reflectively. "I mean, I wouldn't be thrilled that he kept this massive secret from me obviously, but other than that I honestly don't know." Kathleen gave herself a mental shake. "But I don't need to worry about that because I'm just being paranoid, right Lily? I mean, probably nothing's wrong with Remus."
"I really think you should go and talk to him," Lily repeated, not meeting Kathleen's eye. Merlin, but she was bad at this.
* * *
The Marauders waited about in front of Honeydukes the next morning, waiting for Lily, Morwenna, Kathleen, and Dorcas to join them. Sirius wore his customary coolly indifferent expression and Peter's usual nice-but-a- bit-thick expression was in place, but Remus seemed a bit off to James. "What's wrong with you, Moony?" James, curious, set aside his latest volume, Muggles Behind the Myth, and turned to face Remus. Sirius and Peter looked round attentively as well.
Remus glanced meaningfully round him and without any further prodding, the Marauders slipped round the corner of the building. Assured of privacy now, Remus opened his mouth. "I think Kathleen suspects - something," he whispered. James, Sirius, and Peter exchanged glances. James had told them about Lily's conversation with Kathleen in the library the night before and the three had agreed with Lily that they needed to do their best to persuade Remus to come clean.
"Why do you think she suspects something?" James asked reasonably.
"I can tell when people do," Remus shrugged, but it was clear that it bothered him. "She may have even figured it out by now, I don't know."
"You have to tell her," Sirius stated firmly. "It'll be the worse for you if you don't."
"She's bound to be upset if she has to figure it out for herself," Peter put in.
"I've tried, honestly I have," Remus' tone wasn't quite calm. "But - well - the thing is... " Remus paused, struggling to fond the right words. "Almost all my life, certain people have treated me differently because of - what I am. It was hard at first, but I've more or less accepted it by now. Some people will always fear me or treat me differently because I'm a werewolf and I've learned that those people don't matter, it's my friends and family that I care about," Remus shifted a bit, looking round at each of his friends.
"The thing is," he continued, "I really don't think I could stand it if Kathleen turned out to be one of those people because I think I might love her and I can't just tell myself that her opinion doesn't matter because it does."
Silence. No one knew what to say to that, really. "Tell her," Sirius said finally. "Not knowing has got to be worse."
"I'm not so sure about that," Remus smiled wanly.
"Padfoot's right," James put in his vote. "You've got to tell her. I know what it's like when your feelings for a girl have got you by the balls; it's bloody scary to be honest in case they end up hating you. But you've got to do it."
"You can't hide forever," Peter squeaked.
Remus looked intently at each of the Marauders in turn, indecision plain in every detail of his face. "All right then," he said finally in a determined tone. "I'll tell her."
And in that moment, James was sure that Remus was the bravest person he had ever known.
* * *
A few hours later, James, Lily, Sirius, and Peter sat waiting in The Three Broomsticks for Remus and Kathleen to join them. Dorcas, Morwenna, Frank, and Alice had been with them earlier and had gone on to go Christmas shopping, but the others had stuck around, wanting to find out how Remus and Kathleen's talk had gone.
The Marauders passed the time by asking Lily about this "postman" system James had described which Peter and Sirius found just as ridiculous as James had.
"But Lily," James was arguing, not for the first time, "why would anyone have a man deliver the post when there are owls?"
"It a bit creepy," Peter put in in his squeaky voice, his watery eyes round. "What does he DO with the mail when he has it?"
"You were right Prongs," Sirius chimed in. "This "postman" bollocks does sound like some sort of Santa Claus story that Muggles tell children. 'Behave, children, or the postman won't give you any mail.'" Sirius mimicked in an uncanny impersonation of James' mother.
"It's not a story," Lily sighed, feeling extremely put upon. "I'm telling you, there really ARE postmen. Lots of them."
"But you've never seen yours, have you?" James asked her triumphantly.
"No," Lily admitted. "He comes very early in the morning."
"Sure he does," Sirius nodded sagely.
Before Lily could respond to this latest round, Remus and Kathleen entered the pub, both of them looking thoroughly worn out, and made their way to the table.
Realizing that this could potentially be a very awkward situation, Lily caught Kathleen's eye and nodded toward the loo in the back. Kathleen nodded back and the two made their way to the ladies' room.
"How did it go?" Sirius asked once Lily and Kathleen were out of earshot.
"I'm not really sure," Remus slumped into a chair. "She saw me in the hospital wing after the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match and guessed what it meant, so she wasn't surprised really."
"But was she upset?" Peter pressed.
"By the - problem - itself, not really. She seemed more interested in that than anything else and she had more or less guessed," Remus replied, then added with some effort: "But by the secret-keeping, yes. Very."
So now what?" James wanted to know.
Remus rubbed his eyes tiredly. "She needs some time to think about everything, she says, and decide whether or not she can trust me enough to be in a serious relationship with me. Because we both agreed that if there's going to be any kind of relationship at all, it's going to be a serious one."
The Marauders were silent, processing this information.
"It could be worse," Sirius offered eventually.
"Much worse," Peter agreed.
"After all," James pointed out, "she didn't say no."
* * *
The week between Hogsmeade and the start of the holidays passed by very quickly for the seventh year Gryffindors. With homework and the falling out between Remus and Kathleen, their time was almost completely occupied.
Of course, only Lily and the Marauders knew what exactly had brought about this situation. The rest of the seventh years were in the dark and, when they tried fishing for details received only the vaguest of replies.
Naturally Remus was dejected by this turn of events, but he seemed hopeful that he and Kathleen could work things out; as James had pointed out, Kathleen hadn't said no, just maybe, and Kathleen and Remus were still going to the Marchbanks' party together. Kathleen had said she might have an answer by then and wanted to go with Remus regardless.
It wasn't a terribly happy start to the holidays, but the seventh years boarded the Hogwarts Express cheerfully enough the following Saturday and, at Lily and James' invitation, piled into the Head compartment at the front of the train. All except Remus and Kathleen anyway, who both went to sit with other people rather than run into each other.
The train ride passed uneventfully enough. James and Sirius bought nearly all of the candy on the trolley and they played Exploding Snap until they were all singed. Remus came after a bit and stayed for a few minutes, but he didn't want t stay long in case Kathleen appeared.
When the train arrived in King's Cross Station, the seventh year Gryffindors filed off the train with everyone else and called good-byes to each other as they spotted their parents with promises to see each other on the 31st and to write.
Lily and James were some of the last to say their farewells. Standing on the platform, Sirius waiting impatiently for James so that they could go together to meet Mr. and Mrs. Potter, both Lily and James were a bit reluctant to go.
"I'll see you on Wednesday," James said for the third time, holding both of Lily's hands.
"I know," Lily replied, smiling. "I really should go, my parents will be waiting," she said for the fourth time.
"I - er - I got you something," James said a bit sheepishly, letting go of one of Lily's hands to root around in his pocket.
"What did you do that for? I didn't get you anything," Lily exclaimed, pleased in spite of herself.
"It isn't much," James mumbled, shoving an envelope at Lily and running a hand through his hair.
Lily tore the envelope open, her grin spreading from ear to ear, and pulled out a wizard photo of James, who waved enthusiastically at her and blew her a kiss.
Turning the picture over, Lily saw that there was a note on the back.
"Lily -" The note read.
"I know how desperately you'll miss me over the holidays, so here's a little something to remember me by. Only 432,153 seconds till we see each other again.
"Missing you already,
James"
"It's perfect!" Lily threw her arms round James, feeling more than a bit touched by the gesture and torn between a desire to cry and to kick James in the shin for being so bloody arrogant. "It's just as sweet and self-centered as you are."
"Well, that was the idea," James grinned. From his post by the platform wall, Sirius cleared his throat pointedly, causing James to throw him a filthy look, but neither of them moved.
"Will you lot just kiss already so we can get out of here?" Sirius complained.
Lily and James glared at Sirius in perfect unison for his lack of sensitivity.
* * *
The time between Saturday and Wednesday passed by unbearably slowly for both Lily and James. For James, the time was unbearable because he missed seeing Lily every day. For Lily, the time was unbearable partly because she missed James and partly because The Wedding of the Century was a mere ten days away.
The Evans household seemed to be bursting at the seams and threatening to erupt and rain pink taffeta on them all at any moment. Everywhere Lily looked she was confronted by cotton-candy pink taffeta, usually adorned with bows and/or ruffles. Until this point, Lily had never known that her sister had such a fondness for bows. She pitied Petunia's children, really she did.
Petunia was even more unbearable than usual, running mad through the house muttering under her breath about things like gravy boats and string quartets and refusing to eat anything unless absolutely forced. Lily was constantly tempted to pick up the nearest pink item and bludgeon Petunia with it every time she opened her mouth.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans took the approaching wedding and their daughter's erratic behavior calmly. They asked Lily hundreds of questions about James: what they should serve for tea when he came, how he did in school, how he had come to be Lily's boyfriend, etc.
Thankfully Petunia and Vernon left for Surrey on Monday and some semblance of order was restored to the house. But the order was short- lived as Mrs. Evans began preparing in earnest for James' visit, enlisting Lily's help in trying to stuff all of the pink taffeta out of the way.
By the time Wednesday arrived, Lily was feeling a bit nervous. But only a bit; her parents were very supportive of her magical abilities and would doubtless ply James with thousands of questions. And James could be quite charming when he tried, as she knew all too well, he should have no trouble captivating her parents.
It was round three forty-five, with only fifteen minutes to go till James' arrival, that disaster struck.
Lily, upstairs getting ready, heard a knock at the door and voices in the hallway. James is early, she thought as she prepared to go downstairs. I wonder if he had any trouble getting here without magic.......
"......bloody foreigners..........can't understand the road signs.......don't know where they're going .......SHOULD BE SHOT!"
Lily's blood ran cold as she froze in place. She knew that bellowing voice. Lily fumbled with the door handle and peered over the banister into the entryway, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She hadn't really needed to look, but there was the proof in front of her eyes. Petunia and Vernon had returned from Surrey early, and were just in time for tea.
* * *
Author's Note:
Ack! Sorry for the cliffhanger, everyone! I didn't mean to, but I ran out of time and wanted to post this now. Never fear, the next chapter will be up very soon, possibly tomorrow if I have time, and definitely before Christmas (I'm not a complete Scrooge).
Thanks for the reviews with special thanks to James Potter09, Em Starcatcher, random reviewer, Pittsy, pixeedust42, witch@heart, vizzy, Candidus-Astrum, Ljstagflower4e/Jctigerwolf4e, Logical Raven, Incognito 00, padfoots-alive, and Darkwool Dragonblade
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