Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not.
Highlights of the last chapter: James and the boys learn the difference between being drunk and the aftereffects of being drunk (Oh my gosh, I SO wanted to use that quote from School of Rock but I couldn't fit it with the flow of the conversation), Janine and Sirius had another fight which seems to be even more long-lasting than the last, Snape sees a side of Janine that he hasn't seen before and doesn't really want to see (I'm talking about the hysterical side, folks), and as a result he gets some ACTION (Woohoo, go Snape!), everyone's in a pissy mood (and for the record, they're ALL still in bad moods in this chapter, with the exception of James and Lily – now there's a switch), Lily throws James's journal at his head, and he placates her using flattery and by making a deal that you KNOW he's going to regret but thus far hasn't had a reason to yet.
Author's note at the end, like always.
X-X-X-X-X
Sirius and Janine's fight lasted even longer than the last one had. The pair of them just couldn't seem to overcome Sirius's little tryst with the brunette from the bar.
James was too busy agonizing over what Lily would make him do to worry about that, though. It had been almost three weeks since his birthday – he'd finally gotten around to opening his gifts, to discover he had gotten so many gifts from Zonko's that he could probably open his own Zonko's, if he could have been bothered.
Most of the presents were satisfactory, with the exception of Sirius's – his best friend had given him a pair of toy antlers attached to a headband and a bright red clown nose, proclaiming him to be 'Rudolph,' to which he replied…
"Who the hell is Rudolph?"
"Oh, Remus told me about him. Interesting bloke, that Rudolph. You wouldn't believe half the stuff he's done…"
Fortunately, McGonagall never managed to find out about their outing – rather, she simply assumed they were skipping class to goof off, and had given them all two weeks of detention, which has passed rather quickly, at least for James.
In any case, Lily hadn't bothered to ask anything of him – in fact, she hadn't bothered to speak to him at all, save this morning.
"Oy, Potter." Lily approached him at the breakfast table, sitting down smartly across from him. "Janine's auntie is going to meet us Hogsmeade tomorrow. So cancel whatever date you've got, because we've got some detective work to do."
She then proceeded to turn away from him, talking to Alyssa, the only other girl in the vicinity, as the others were further off down the table, talking to some other Gryffindors. James wished very much that he could interrupt Alyssa and Lily's conversation to talk to her – maybe he could persuade her to have a Butterbeer with him before they met Janine's aunt – but Lily would not take it kindly if he interrupted her discussion, and besides, Sirius was waxing on enthusiastically about 'gumboots and private ears.'
"First off," Remus finally interrupted in a voice of annoyance – he'd been cranky since the full moon a few days before – "They're gumshoes and private eyes. Secondly, it's not just James, you know. You're going to have to break off your date, too."
"Dates, you mean," Peter corrected. "As in, plural."
"What, Wormtail, are you keeping tabs on my love life?" Sirius demanded nastily. Sirius, too, had been cranky as of late – well, since James's birthday, actually. "Can't get a date of your own, so you spend your time analyzing mine? And anyway," he added arrogantly, "what's the big deal? So I'm meeting up with a few girls – so what? It's not like I've got a girlfriend to take on a real date." He shot an angry look down further down the table, where Janine was steadfastly ignoring him and chatting with Benedict Rennet. "Rennet is such a traitor. What sort of friend is he?"
"Well, for starters, he's not really your friend," James admitted pointedly. "We all just happen to be on the same Quidditch team. And anyway, what makes you think he's chatting her up? Maybe they're just talking about the Hawkshead Attack Formation." At this point, Janine leaned over and rather flirtatiously ran her hand over her Benedict's bicep. "Oh. Well, maybe he is chatting her up."
"Looks the other way around to me," Peter mumbled.
"Traitor," Sirius intoned irritably.
"He's a real Benedict Arnold, all right," Remus muttered under his breath. Peter snorted into his milk at this, and to James's surprise, Lily happened to turn her head at this point and giggle. James blinked.
"I don't get it," Sirius and James said in unison. James glanced at Alyssa; she, too, looked confused.
"What's so funny?" she wanted to know.
"Forget it," Lily said, covering her mouth with a hand, her eyes dancing with laughter. "Just a bit of Muggle humor, that's all." She exchanged glances with Peter and began to laugh again, and Remus attempted a half-hearted smile. James felt a bit put out – how come she never laughed like that at his jokes? And for Merlin's sake, Moony was cranky and he wasn't even trying to be funny, and Lily still laughed. Life was so unfair.
After what seemed like ages (but was really about fifteen seconds), Lily stopped laughing just as Janine left her seat and squeezed into one across from him, between Lily and Remus (Remus shot her a disgruntled look when she pushed him over and snagged a roll from his plate). "Did Lily tell you?" she asked out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes flickering now and then to other tables.
"Relax, Janie, I doubt anybody would flip out of if your aunt met us in Hogs-mmph!" James scowled at Janine as her hand came down hard on his mouth, and then flicked his tongue out to touch her palm. With a screech of disgust that attracted the attention of those nearby, she hissed, "Potter, that's disgusting! You licked me!"
"Whatever works," he replied unsympathetically. He glanced around; everybody had already returned back to his or her breakfast. He ignored the fact that Sirius was now glaring at Janine, and Janine was alternating between glaring back and fixing her eyes on James's face.
"So? Are you coming, or what?"
"Well-"
"He doesn't have a choice, Janine," Lily interrupted impatiently. "We're in this one together. Still… don't go around talking about it too much, all right? And we can't all wander around Hogsmeade in a group; it will look unusual."
"Why? It's not like anybody's going to care if we're going to meet her, and we're all Gryffindors, we're all friends-" Alyssa paused, and glanced at Janine and Sirius, who were again scowling at one another, "-well, most of us are," she continued hastily, "so…?"
"Use your brains, Alyssa," Janine snapped. "My auntie is a Quidditch player. She's practically famous. If we go around shooting our mouths off about our meeting with her, everyone's going to know and want an autograph, and we'll never get to talk to her. Besides, if one of the teachers finds out we're investigating this…"
"I don't see why the teachers would care," Peter finally said. "I mean, so what, we're a little curious, we-"
"Pete, you know teachers," James replied reasonably. "They think we all ought to stay out of 'grown-up business' and keep our noses clean. Nonsense. As if it's not my right to know."
"We have no idea what the details of this are, remember?" Lily shrugged. "They could be bad details. Anyway, judging by the letter we read, it's not something that's talked about often – Janine's mum kept stressing the need for never telling anyone."
"Then it stands to reason she might not have told her own sister," pointed out Jen morosely. "And this might be for nothing."
"That's possible," agreed Remus; Jen glanced away sullenly as he spoke. He watched her for a few moments, perplexed and not a little irritated at her behavior, and then returned his eyes to the group at large. "But we could be wrong. Sisters tend to tell each other things. Don't they?" he added, looking at Alyssa. "You have an older sister, right? Didn't she ever telling you anything?"
Alyssa looked thoughtful. "Well, Brianna and I are about four years apart," she finally said. "And suffice to say she thought I was annoying, always butting in whenever she was with her boyfriends…" She shot a grin at Janine suddenly. "She was particularly irritable whenever I caught her and Jeff snogging." Janine snorted into her breakfast potatoes at this (actually, they were Remus's, but never mind), while Alyssa continued. "Anyway, she always thought I was too young to tell me things. Of course, it's changed now."
"Changed? How?" James leaned closer curiously. He'd never had a sibling, much less a sister. Sirius and Janine were really the closest things he'd had.
"Well, I'm sixteen now," replied Alyssa confidently. "Since I was about fourteen, she started talking to me, and she talks to me even more now. About everything, really."
"There, you've proven my point," Remus proclaimed, satisfied, but Janine had also leaned forward, demanding, "What does she say about Jeff?"
"That he has a cute arse." Janine pulled a horrified face at this bit of news. "Well, he does," replied Alyssa fairly. "I mean, you're his sister, right? Surely you've seen it."
"Ew! Alyssa, that's so wrong on… so, so, so many levels."
"Well! He does have a cute arse you know, but never mind. Oh, and she also says that he's a very good snogger."
"God, I hope you don't expect me to tell him any of this. He has a big enough head as it is."
"Yes," Lily agreed, standing up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "From what I've seen so far, that seems to be a common affliction among the Garnets." She wisely ducked out of the hall before Janine could think of something particularly nasty to shoot back. James hesitated only a moment, and then raced after her, leaving his breakfast only partially finished. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius dig into his meal, and rolled his eyes, running to catch up with Lily.
X-X-X-X-X
"Hey – Lily! Lily!" Lily turned in surprise, and saw James panting as he finally caught up with her.
"You're an awfully fast runner for someone who supposedly isn't into sports," he huffed. "Did you know that?"
"If I didn't before, I do now," she replied, her face puzzled. "What can I do for you, Potter?"
You can do a lot of things for me, James thought, but I think I'll get slapped if I mention most of them aloud. "That was pretty funny, what you said to Janine back there," he finally said, unsure of how to start. "I never would have thought of it."
She smiled, briefly. "No, I suppose you wouldn't," she remarked dryly. What does that mean? "So did you chase me down here to tell me that, or was there something else?"
"Um… yeah, there was something else, actually. Just curious," James explained. He was really delaying for time, not wanting to broach the subject he'd really approached her for. "But what did you tell Janine's aunt to get her to meet us? Or, more specifically, us guys? Mean, I know she's like a huge feminist, or something – I heard she concussed her husband when he proposed-"
"Oh, she did," Lily said offhandedly, and then said, "Well, I didn't really tell her that we'd be meeting her – more like us girls would be. She'll be surprised to see you guys, but I'm sure she'll get over it." I hope, Lily added silently.
"So what did you tell her, then?"
Lily grinned wolfishly, and James stepped back. It was not a look he was accustomed to seeing on her face, and he was grateful when it soon faded into a simple smirk, an expression he was used to. "I told her that we were having boy trouble."
"You're not, are you? Because, if you are, I could help you out or something-"
"Believe me, Potter," she told him dryly, "if I were having boy trouble, you'd be the last person I'd come to, particularly seeing as any boy trouble I have generally is synonymous with James Potter trouble."
Now what's that supposed to mean? James wondered, and he shook his head to clear it. "Walk you to class?" he offered.
Her eyes narrowed. "Potter, we've been over-"
"As friends," he explained hastily. "And there's something I wanted to ask you, too."
"You could ask me right here."
"Yes, but-" He saw a group of Ravenclaws headed their way, chatting animatedly. "I'd rather do it in private, if you don't mind."
He could see that she was intrigued. "All right, then." Instead of walking to class, though, she caught his arm and dragged him up to the next floor, before going into an empty classroom and whirling to face him. "Talk," she ordered.
"Er…" This so was not what I had in mind… "When are you going to make me pay?"
She looked puzzled. "Pay? You don't owe me money…"
"Not that sort of pay," he interrupted impatiently. "You know – for the whole journal thing." He saw realization dawn on her face.
"Oh, that. Right. Well…" She tapped her mouth thoughtfully with a finger, and James felt his gaze drawn to it. "How about never asking me out again? Oh, no, that's no good… mm…" She sighed. "Well, you've put me in a fix, Potter. I can't think if anything."
"I could do your homework," he suggested, thinking that wouldn't be too awful.
"Potter!" she cried in surprise. "I'm a prefect! I can't let you do my homework, that would be cheating!"
"Oh, right." Moony's done my homework for me before, though… hmm… maybe it's a just a girl thing? No, couldn't be, Janine begs me to do her Transfiguration homework all the time… "Er… how about I tutor you in something?"
"Like I need tutoring," she retorted. "I mean, really, Potter, what would you tutor me in? Flying?"
"Why, can't you fly?"
"Not to save my life. I hate flying."
James snapped his fingers. "Well, that's it!"
"What is?"
"I can teach you to fly!" He saw the surprise on her face, and plowed ahead eagerly. "Honestly, Lily, you have no idea! It's the funnest thing ever!"
"Funnest isn't a word, Potter. You're supposed to say 'most fun.' And no, I'm not going to have you to teach me to fly. First of all, I don't think that's adequate payment for writing all that nonsense about me in your diary, and secondly, I already told you. I don't like flying."
"I bet you would, if you had a good teacher!"
"I don't want to! And even if I did, I'd get Janine to teach me! She's just as good a flyer as you are-"
James scoffed. "Rubbish! I'm the best and everybody knows it!"
"Potter…" she sighed, exasperated. "I really don't like flying, and I would rather not use up that favor you owe me by having you teach me to do something I wouldn't like."
"Well, how about this?" he went on excitedly. "I'll teach you to fly for free, and I'll still owe you something!"
"No, that's really quite all right." She started towards the door. James frowned thoughtfully. If he could get her to allow him to teach her, it would certainly put him in her good graces – he hoped – and it would give him some alone time with her.
And he knew the perfect tactic to get someone like her to agree – and when he said someone like her, he really meant: Gryffindor. "Well, if you're too scared…"
Predictably, she whirled, dropping her bag, eyes flashing. "I'm not scared! I just – I just don't like flying, that's all!"
"Why?" he goaded. "Are you scared of heights? I mean, it's all right if you are, Lily, loads of people are, I mean, not in Gryffindor of course, home of the brave and all that…" He fought to keep from grinning as she pulled herself up to her full height (5'3" or 5'4", he'd guess) and stormed up to him, scowling fiercely.
"Potter. Hear me. I. Am. Not. SCARED!"
"Well, then why won't you let me teach you?" She scowled even more deeply. "Admit it, Lily," he said in the smuggest tone he could. "You're scared."
She was practically spitting fire at him now. "Tomorrow night. Quidditch pitch, ten o'clock at night, and don't get caught sneaking out," she snapped. "I'll see you then."
"Great," he said happily. He watched her storm off. It was worth having her angry with him now for the chance of seeing her later. "See you."
X-X-X-X-X
One thing Remus noticed the next morning was that James, who was decidedly not a morning person unless there was an early-morning Quidditch practice, was in an obnoxiously cheerful mood. Remus was still a little sore from the full moon five days ago, as it had been particularly bad (he and Sirius had been romping and Sirius had been oddly aggressive, possibly due to his and Janine's ongoing tiff, and Remus had woken up several bruises the size of his hand and Madam Pomfrey exclaiming, "Mr. Lupin! What did you do last night?") and thus he was decidedly uncheerful and not in the mood to deal with James's cheerfulness.
"Prongs, you sodding prat, shut the bloody hell up!" Remus bellowed, banging on the bathroom door as James's off-key voice floated from the showers. "You're giving me a bloody migraine!"
He turned to face Sirius, who was sulkily buttoning up his trousers. "I don't want to," he mumbled sullenly. "Don't want to meet Janine's bloody aunt, don't want to go to bloody Hogsmeade with you bloody lot, don't want to cancel my bloody date with Noelle…"
"Cheer up, Pads, there'll be other dates," Peter offered sympathetically. He was on his knees, reaching as far under Sirius's bed as his stubby arms would allow, before pulling back with an exasperated look. "No go," he finally grunted. "I can't find it. Sorry, mate."
"Oh, move!" Sirius growled, dropping to his knees and pulling out a green sweater. He brushed the dust off and crinkled his nose. "Ye Gods, this smells disgusting." He thrust it in Remus's nose. "Smell it, Moony."
Remus coughed and backed away. "How long has that been under there?"
Sirius was about to reply when James burst out of the bathroom, a towel loosely knotted about his waist, bellowing, "TOMORROW! TOMORROW! I LOVE YA, TOMORROW! YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAAAAYYYY!"
Sirius flung the jumper at James in a manner that it ended up twined about his head for a moment, before dropping to his feet. James wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Eww, Padfoot, that's disgusting."
To which Sirius replied with some very rude words, all said under his breath. James heard them anyway and blinked in surprise. "What crawled up your arse and died, eh?"
"James, shut up." Remus rubbed his head. "Why are you in such a bloody good mood, anyway? Get laid last night?" he asked sarcastically.
"Give me a break," Sirius retorted. "Wanking off in a closet does not count as 'getting laid.'" James blinked around at all of them now.
"Merlin's beard," he said, looking bewildered, "You really are in a bad mood, aren't you? All of you. Well, not you, Pete," James replied. He seemed unaware that his towel was slipping, affording Remus a look he really didn't want. "Peter, you're my honorary best friend for the day!"
"Oh. Er… what does that make me the rest of the time?"
"Well, it makes you-"
"James!" Remus snapped. "Either pull that bloody towel up or put on some pants!" James flushed, looking embarrassed, and yanked his towel back into position.
"I can't find my trousers," he admitted. "Will you help me?"
"No. Walk out in your bloody towel for all I care," snapped Remus. "Come on, Sirius." The pair stalked out, Remus muttering all the way. "Why in Merlin's name is he so damn cheerful, anyway?"
"Why are you so damn cranky?" retorted Sirius.
"Well, gee, I don't know, if someone hadn't been so damn rough five nights ago-"
"Well, that's kinky," interrupted a new voice. Both Remus and Sirius turned to scowl at Jennifer King, who was halfway down the stairs from her own dormitory. "I didn't know you swung that way." She pursed her lips. "Which would explain a lot of things."
"Piss off," Sirius said, just as Remus demanded, "What things?"
"Oh, I don't know, like how you've been avoiding me since we-"
"I've been avoiding you? You're the one who won't bloody talk to me!" Her eyes flashed.
"Oh, what, you mean you've noticed? Look, Lupin, you can't toy around with someone's emotions like that! Either you break up with her or forget about me!"
Remus didn't even notice that Sirius had moodily slunk away as he snapped back, "Look, you're the one that kissed me! It's not my bloody fault you have no self-restraint!"
"You arrogant, self-obsessed, egotistical-"
"Sorry," Remus shot back, "but it doesn't due to confuse me with Sirius, Jen!"
"I'm so sick of you! You know, I've mooned over you for years, and just because I had the courage to finally do something about it – and you know something, it wasn't all me! You kissed me back!"
"Listen, you-"
"Hey, do you mind?" Jen's tone shut him up for a moment, and then she blinked in surprise, muttering, "Er… this isn't what it sounds like," although she looked furious and not in the mood to be interrupted. Remus heard a sniffling behind him, and dreading it, turned.
Oh, it figured that Alexia would walk up just then. She sniffled, her eyes watery. "You… what do you mean you… you were kissing? Have you… were… you were… you've been cheating on me, Remus?" she sniffled. "I mean… why? Am… am I not good enough…?"
"Oh, piss off," snapped Jen suddenly. "What are you, some bloody sort of Hufflepuff? Why are you even in Gryffindor, anyway?" she continued in a waspish voice. "You haven't really got an ounce of bravery, do you? Just – just go away!"
Alexia fled, to Remus's surprise. He whirled on Jen. "That was awful! You should apologize to her-"
"You're the one who broke her heart; you go fix it!" She pushed past him and stomped downstairs. Remus watched her go, fuming.
It had already started off as an awful day.
X-X-X-X-X
James walked down the streets, whistling cheerily. His friends were in a cranky mood, so he'd left them to it. Not to mention half the house had heard Jen and Remus's shouting match in the staircase, and gossip was flying around everywhere. In their group of friends, insults were flying instead.
As a result, James decided to head to this meeting on his own, and was not the least surprised to find that most of the others had separated as well, either to sulk or to get away from their sulking friends. He didn't blame the latter group, which more or less consisted of him. (Well, Lily wasn't particularly cranky, was she? And Peter was only cranky because everyone else was cranky. And he hadn't seen Alyssa all morning…)
"Hey, Potter!" James turned, and saw a curly-haired fifth year – Joanne Gainsborough, he remembered, that girl who didn't like Janine much – run after him. "Lily Evans was looking for you by Gladrags," she informed him, and then fixed him with a dirty look. "And just so you know," she continued in a conversational tone, "your mate Lupin's a real jerk, you know. Alexia wouldn't even come to Hogsmeade today – she's in the bathroom, crying her eyes out."
James blinked for a moment. "Well, that sucks," he finally said, "but I'm sure she'll get over it. I mean, it's not like they were married, or anything."
"Well, he certainly hurt her feelings."
James shrugged. "I'll tell him that, if you like."
"I doubt it would do much good."
"Then why tell me?"
"I just thought you should know." She shrugged and stuck her hands in her coat pocket. "So, is it true? Janine Garnet and Sirius Black are really broken up – for good?"
James shrugged again. "It seems that way. I doubt it'll last, though, it never does."
"It certainly seems to be, this time. It's been three weeks, hasn't it?"
"I guess," James replied dubiously. "Why?"
"Just wondering," she responded evasively. "Anyway, you'd better go find Lily. See you." She waved to someone behind him, and ran off after them. James watched her go, and shrugged. Jo was a strange character, to be sure. And anyway, what did she have against Janine?
Well, all right, he supposed Janine was a bitch to anyone who wasn't her friend, but really, she wasn't so awful a person – if you looked past the snobbishness, the general sense of looking down on everyone else, the way she went from boy to boy, the way she seemed to think the world should bend to her will…
Hang on, I think Jo might actually have the right of it. He blinked. Then… Am I like that?
Maybe not anymore, but was I before?
Hmm…James turned and headed off down the street towards Gladrags. He found Lily there, examining a floaty sort of pink skirt that would clash horribly with her hair. He decided to tell her so. "If you bought that, it would look awful with your hair. Besides, it reminds me a bit of this hideous birthday cake my mum made me for my seventh birthday, when she wanted to prove that she could do anything a house-elf could do."
"Oh, I know," she said absently.
"Er… you do?"
She suddenly snapped to attention. "About the skirt being hideous, I mean. And clashing with my hair. No, I was thinking about buying it for my sister's birthday. It's coming up this month, you see."
"Er… did I mention that it was hideous?"
"The skirt? Well, yes, you did, and I completely agree." She smirked. "Which is precisely why I think I'll get it. Besides, if I tell Petunia it came from the magical world, she'll probably scream."
"…Petunia's your sister, yeah?" She nodded. "Why would you want to make her scream?"
She gave him an incredulous look. "Because it's funny, that's why. What sort of quest- oh. Potter, I forgot. You don't know about my sister."
"What's to know?"
Lily shrugged. "Well, for starters, she hates me. Thinks I'm a freak and all that, is always teasing me in this high, screechy sort of voice." Lily pursed her lips. "Mum keeps telling me it's because Petunia's a bit jealous of me, and Janine says that it's because I'm smarter prettier than she is. Not that it's difficult, or anything – Petunia looks a bit like a horse, you know? Acts a bit like one sometimes, too…" James snorted; Lily reddened. "Oh, that's such a terrible thing for me to say. She is my sister, after all-"
James cocked his head. "Why does she think you're a freak?"
"Because I'm a witch. Magical, and all that. I suppose it creeps her out, and though I've never admitted it before, I do believe that the reason she's so angry about it is because she doesn't have it. Besides, Mum and Dad love anything magical, so on their birthdays, they do then to pay a bit more attention to my presents than they do to hers." Lily said it as though it were a simple fact, without arrogance or irritation or even smugness. Lily sighed. "Anyway, I've got to get Petunia a present, and she gave me the most awful thing for my birthday last year, so I thought to return the favor… although really, if I bought this, it wouldn't be such a bad present… the skirt's just ugly, that's all. She'd probably only take it as another thing to insult about me – atrocious fashion sense, on top of all the freakishness."
"What did your sister get you?"
"Two books. One on witch burnings, and the other a written memoir of a monk who despised witches and believed they should all rot in hell, or something to that effect. I read them – and well, the first one was rather informative, but the second one was rubbish so I binned it." Lily looked thoughtful. "No, I don't think this skirt would quite compete with that."
"Well, I suppose if it looks awful on you, it stands to reason that it would look awful on your sister too, right?"
"Oh, no. Petunia and I look nothing alike." Lily shrugged. "She's taller, thinner, got straighter hair, and she'd blond. Oh, and she has blue eyes, too, just like Mum's but a bit more watered down." Lily sighed. "Crikey, I wish I had blue eyes."
James stared at her in surprise, not just because she's said 'Crikey' and it was such an un-Lily-like thing to say, but also because of what she'd actually said. "Why?"
"Mine are so ugly, that's why! I mean, really, bright green eyes – Dad has green eyes too, but they're not so bright. And mine mess up all my clothes, you know – everything either clashes with my hair, my eyes, or both!" Lily sighed. "I wish I were blond, too." She pursed her lips. "Or a brunette, like Janine. She has the most lovely hair, you know?"
James looked mutinous. "I think you're prettier than Janine is."
"Well, you're on crack, then."
"Crack?"
"Never mind."
"I still think you're prettier."
"Well, you're the only one who does, then," Lily replied with a shrug. Again, it was simply a statement of fact. "I still wish I looked like her, though. You know, I can never do anything with my hair because it's so curly? And so red, too. Yuck."
"I like your hair," James replied honestly. "I think you've got beautiful hair, and I think your eyes are the prettiest I've ever seen."
Lily gave him a half-surprise, half-amused look. "Well, thanks, Potter. I appreciate the flattery."
"It's not flattery; it's truth. You know, I bet if you asked anyone, they'd say you have the prettiest eyes," he persisted when she rolled her eyes. "Really! I've heard Janine say how jealous she is of your eyes, I swear. Go ask her."
"Well I would, if she weren't in such a cranky mood." Lily sighed. "I think we ought to kill Sirius, or Janine." She paused. "Maybe both."
"Definitely," James agreed. "Oh, and about your sister?"
"Hmm?"
"You're not a freak, Lily, and if you really want to give her a good birthday present, I suggest going to Honeydukes and getting the acid pops, or maybe the blood ones – or how about some cockroach cluster? Does she like peanuts? Because Sirius once convinced my mum that they were peanuts, and she ate a bit and then got furious when we told her what it was…"
Lily shot him an amused smile. "Maybe I should come to you whenever I have to get Petunia something, then. But no; I really do want to be a good sister, you know." She sighed. "It's just a bit sad that Petunia and I don't get on well anymore. We used to, very well, when were younger – up until I was about ten, anyway, and all the weird things that I did when I was little started to happen a lot more often." She sighed. "And then I came to Hogwarts, and, well… things haven't been the same since."
"Oh," James said awkwardly. "Well… that's too bad." Lily shrugged.
"It doesn't bother me so much, not anymore. Anyway," she added, smiling slightly, "we would've gotten distant, anyway, what with me getting such great friends here. They may as well be my sisters, the way I tell them everything."
"I never even knew you had a sister," James muttered.
"Well, you know now, don't you?" She glanced at her watch. "Goodness, we're going to be late if we don't hurry! Come on, then." She brushed her curls from her face. "This is going to be interesting."
X-X-X-X-X
Well, it certainly was interesting, James had to admit that. He'd entered the Hog's Head – what had Lily picked this place for – only to hear, "I thought you said you were having boy trouble!"
"Not exactly, Auntie," Janine tried placatingly, although she shot a disgruntled look in Sirius's direction. (James felt that this did not help their case any). "This is James," she added quickly. "Do you remember James?"
"Sure," Gwendolyn Morgan replied grudgingly, adding, "Katy's boy. Sure. I remember him."
James gulped and slid into a seat as far from her as possible. "The rest of them are… well, you know Alyssa and Jen," Janine continued, looking as though she were in a better mood than she'd been lately, "and this is Lily and Marlene. Oh – and Peter, Remus, and… er… Black."
"Black?" Janine's aunt's eyebrows shot up. "That's an interesting name."
"It's Sirius Black," bit out Sirius, "and I'm her boyfriend."
James thought it very wise that Janine's aunt decided not to comment on the unlikelihood of that. "So… this isn't about boy trouble, then," she began.
"No," Lily said. "We just had a few questions."
"Well, good! Because if you need boy trouble, I'm not the person to come to. After all," she added with a roll of her eyes, "I'm married to Rudolf Brand, aren't I?"
"Yes," agreed Jen with a grin, "and you only married him after you concussed him for proposing marriage."
"Yes, I did," she admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. "Well – he did do it in front of all those people, didn't he? Besides, I didn't want people thinking that he'd thrown the game because… er… well, we hadn't even been dating! I didn't even know him!"
"I notice that you still married him about a year later, though," Alyssa replied with a sly smile.
"Anyway," interrupted Lily, "we had a few questions."
"And these boys had to be present for it?"
"It involves all of us," Marlene told her earnestly. "Um, sort of, anyway."
"Questions," she said quietly. "What sort of questions."
"About my mum, actually," Janine muttered, examining her fingernails.
"Ones you couldn't ask Meg, eh? Well, fire away."
"Aunt Gwynnie," Janine finally said, "d'you know somebody my mum used to date… somebody named Tom?"
Well, we must've touched a nerve, James though, as Janine's aunt knocked over her bottle of Firewhisky. Fortunately, Lily was quick thinking and managed to stop its descent with a quick Impedimenta spell.
"I don't know anybody by that name," she replied stiffly, taking a long draught from her bottle as Lily handed it back to her. Nobody said anything for a moment, and she added with a sigh, "Or if I ever did, I've forgotten it, and I'd advise you too as well."
"Auntie…" Janine scooted her chair a bit closer. "Auntie, I've really got to know. Mum's left a few odd things slip. D'you remember that attack on Diagon Alley?"
"Yes," her aunt muttered.
"Well, Mum mentioned something about Tom then," she explained.
"And when Hogsmeade was attacked," added James, "Dumbledore mentioned a Tom, too."
"We did some research," finished Lily. "Here." She slid a book – a yearbook – over towards Gwendolyn. "Class of 1994, Tom Riddle. What do you know about him?"
She massaged her temples for a moment, before saying quietly, "He was a third year when she was first. They were in different houses, but since she was a Ravenclaw, it was all right. It certainly wasn't unheard of for a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin to date."
To James's amazement, Lily had a quill and a parchment out, and was taking notes. "What was he like?" she asked curiously.
"Well, I was a bit younger than Meg, you know that, right?" Lily nodded. "The first time I saw this Tom fellow was my first year. He was… sixteen, I think, and quite impressive. Tall, dark, and fairly handsome. He had his fair share of admirers, let me tell you. He was frightfully intelligent, and athletic enough, though he was no great shakes as Quidditch. He was the Keeper of his team fifth and sixth year, I heard, but he quit seventh year when he became Head Boy. It wasn't such a great loss, because, like I said – he was no great shakes at it.
"Anyway, he was awfully polite to me – I first met him when he was giving Meg a flower in the courtyard. They weren't officially dating, not until she was a fifth year, but something about him… unnerved me. The first time I met him, like I said, he was awfully polite, but he was always so… withdrawn, and quiet. Don't get me wrong, he was quite the leader and had his own little group of followers, Meg included, naturally, though she was one of the few Ravenclaws."
"When did he start… er… changing?"
Janine's aunt turned sharp eyes on Lily. "Now see here, young lady, there's something about that question I don't like. How much exactly do you know about Tom, anyway?"
"I know that he pushed Mum down the stairs and she broke her collarbone, although that's not what she told everyone else," Janine replied firmly.
"Your mother told you about that?"
"No! I just… I just know. Aunt Gwynnie, is he You-Know-Who?" she demanded. "Tom, I mean. Is he?"
"Now, that's ridiculous, love." Her aunt sat back. "Let me finish the story. So you know he was… er… rather violent, yes? I suppose it came from an unstable childhood. Meg told me his father left him before he was even born, and his mum died young. Anyway, with the help of Will – your father," she said to Janine, "and Eddy and Katy, she began drawing away from him, especially over the rest of that year. He graduated, and they went into the summer – and then he left. Went to Albania, Meg told me. Well, he sent her letters, and she wrote back, but eventually, she sent him this letter, and the way she told it, she really gave him what-for and that sort of thing. I reckon Will, Eddy, and Katy – I'm certain they were the only ones who knew about him at that point – helped her with it. He never wrote back."
"What happened then?" Lily asked breathlessly.
"Well, about ten years or so after that, Meg finally got a letter, but not from him. From some old witch there, said she was his landlady, and that a certain young man named Thomas had up and died on her. Said he was dabbling in all sort of experiments, and that he finally got himself killed, but before his final one, he'd asked that she tell a girl named Meg Morgan about it – though, of course, she was Meg Garnet by then – and send her a letter he'd written just before his final experiment."
"And the letter?" Remus asked suddenly. He'd been quiet during the whole meeting, but now he spoke up. "What happened to the letter? Where is it? What did it say?"
Janine's aunt fixed him with a firm look. "I've no idea, and that's the truth of it. Meg never showed it to me, and she told me she burned it." She looked at her hands. "But I don't believe that for a moment." She sighed and leaned forward. "But about him being this Dark Lord – well, that's just silly. Tom died years ago." She pursed her lips. "Before you all were born, in fact. 1956, the year was. I still remember it."
"Thanks, Ms. Morgan – or Mrs. Brand, do you prefer that?"
"God, no. Ms. Morgan will suit me fine, if you insist on being polite about it."
"Ms. Morgan, then," Lily said, and she leaned forward. "Now, you told us a lot about what Tom was like and all that – but what happened after he… er… changed? What did he seem like?"
She frowned for a moment. "He didn't seem much different on the outside," she replied slowly, "but he was a bit scary, to tell you the truth, his seventh year. I mean, the only evidence I ever had of him changing was years later, when Meg told me how violent he was. But outside… well, he was… he seemed so… powerful, really. Full of presence and all that. It's no wonder he made Head Boy. Of course, he had the smarts to go with it. I saw him in the library in the library quite often, reading books. And I'm certain I saw him sneaking into the Restricted Section, more than once. I never thought much of it, but… well, like I said, he was always reading, and that sort of thing. Taking lots of notes in these notebooks of his – and he almost always had one around."
"Anything else?"
"Don't rush me, now." She pursed her lips. "Well, I wasn't in any of his classes, naturally, I was only a second year, but I'd heard some of the seventh year girls in Gryffindor – my house, you know – talking about him. He never seemed to be listening in class, always looked half-asleep and as though he was relaxing, but he never every answer to every question, and then some. He was… too smart, they said. It was a bit odd…" She trailed off thoughtfully. "He was very intense," she said quietly. "Very ambitious. A right Slytherin to the core, that's for certain."
There was a tense silence around the room, and then Janine asked, "Aunt Gwynnie?"
"Yes, love?"
"Was Mum sad? When he… er… when he died?"
"Well, I don't know, to be honest. She did look a bit worried when she received the letter from Albania, and she certainly seemed sad after reading the letter from the old lady, but then she went off and read Tom's letter. When she came back, she said she'd burned it, but she didn't seem sad anymore. She seemed… thoughtful. And anxious."
"I wonder what he wrote," Janine murmured quietly, chewing his lip.
"So do I, actually. But, that's all in the past, and it hardly matters now." She stood up. "Now, listen here, all of you," she said sternly. "I've no idea why I bothered telling you all that, but you're smart children – I would hope so, anyway – and if you know Janine and have met her mum, you know that Meg's a private person. I want you to keep your mouths shut and not ask questions. I've been good, answering those questions to you though Merlin knows why I did… I've trusted you with information, and now I'm trusting you to do something else. All right?"
They all nodded mutely. Finally Janine muttered, "Thanks, Aunt Gwynnie."
Janine's aunt did not look pleased, and did not answer with a "You're welcome." Rather, she said, "I still have no idea why I told you all that. But you are Meg's daughter, and I suppose I owe you that much." She sat up. "I'll floo from the back room of the pub," she said quietly, "and I suggest you don't all leave at once, all right? And I'm sure Abe will let some of you escape through the back room."
"Yes, well, thanks again," Alyssa finally said, her first comment. "I'm sorry we didn't get to talk to you more often."
"Quite fine; I always manage to see you and Jennifer over the summer, and I trust I'll be seeing the rest of you over the summer." Her eyes bored into Sirius's. "And you, boy, you treat my little niece right, understand? Particularly sensitive, that girl is," she continued, despite Janine's growing glower. "Very sensitive in fact, and she needs a good man to fuss over her. Take care of her, understand? Or you'll have me to deal with." She left the pub.
As soon as the door shut behind her, Sirius muttered, "Sure, I'll take care of her, all right."
"Oh, piss off," Janine said irritably, and sat back with a sigh. "Well, that was useless. We didn't learn anything."
"What are you talking about?" James asked, confused. "We learned a lot."
"Sure, about his personality. But that doesn't tell us much, does it? According to her, this Tom fellow died nineteen years ago."
"I wonder…" Lily pulled at her lip. "It doesn't add up. Your mum and Dumbledore mentioned him being this Dark Lord fellow… so what does it mean?"
"Maybe they were talking about somebody else," Peter said glumly. "Or maybe they're wrong and they're thinking of the wrong person."
"Bollocks," James and Janine said in unison. "Dumbledore's never wrong," Janine mumbled.
James shrugged. "What I was going to say is that they can't both be wrong. Besides, you didn't see my mum's reaction when we mentioned it to him, did you? She obviously was agitated."
"So was her aunt," pointed out Jen reasonably. "Doesn't mean a thing."
"It was informative, I suppose," Lily finally murmured. "But you know what we really need, don't you?"
"That letter," Janine said suddenly. "And you know, I think Aunt Gwynnie is right. Mum never burned it. It's probably somewhere around the manor."
"For all the good that does," Marlene said tiredly. "Your manor's bloody huge, Janine. Four floors of clutter. There's no way we'd ever find it."
"Oh, we wouldn't," Janine replied slowly. "But a house-elf would."
X-X-X-X-X
Author's Note: So I didn't get everything in this chapter that I wanted to. I know everyone was in a bad mood, and I wrote them like that because I was in a bad mood when I started writing, so… yeah. I tried to at least provide reasons for them being in a mood… and yeah, I wonder why Alexia's not in Hufflepuff too… 'Aunt Gwynnie' was supposed to be a lot more feminist than she came out, but that's okay. I didn't get to mention Sirius's birthday, but I will next chapter (I hope). I wanted to include the first flying lesson in this chapter, too, but it was long enough as it was so I didn't see the point. Um… I had so much to say about this chapter and now I can't remember any of it. Poopie…
Oh, right! If you want a glimpse of how I picture Janine's manor looking (not that it looks like a manor, but we'll pretend it does…) go to and look at the houses section for Sims 2, then look at the biggest houses, page 3… it's the Hidden Lake Monastery one… Yeah, I know it totally doesn't look like a manor, but it's the coolest thing I could think of. Wait until the summer after sixth year, when we get a better description of James's house, which is going to be KICK-ASS… as soon as I find a picture worthy of it. Just a note: the picture will probably be one of the Sims houses because Sims is the COOLEST GAME EVER! Yeah!
Okay… sooo… yeah. Nothing else to say, I think. I hope you enjoyed this chapter – I'm really proud of myself for shooting it out this fast, but I figured you guys deserved it because I've been sooo lazy lately… but I'll be a lot happier if you guys leave millions and millions of reviews for me because it really inspires me to update faster. I always want to put off updating because I'm hoping that I'll get more reviews – so tell EVERYONE about this story because I will be so happy if you guys review!
Last thing – I wrote this silly little one-shot called "Black to the Core" about a Narcissa Black/Malfoy who's very different from the one in this story… she's not as whiny, and I like her better that way, so we'll just pretend she's done some MAJOR growing up, 'kay? It's set right after the events of OotP and is canon-compliant, so please go look and review! It's a little… weird, especially the layout but please-please-please-please read it and tell me what you think!
Okay, that's all for now – I'm working on "What It Takes," for those of you who read it, but that's a little painful to update because I keep running out of ideas… for both stories. So if you guys want more of where this chapter came from, send me titles for REALLY GOOD, BELIEVABLE LJ fics and I'll take a look if I have time! Thanks again, and I love you all – so drop me a review and tell me you love me back :) Peaches