Fanfic
The Marauders – Book One
Disclaimer: All main characters and settings belong to J K Rowling
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially Pyrate Rose who was my first ever reviewer.
Chapter Two – VisitorPetunia broke the silence. 'You have to tell Mum, now.'
Lily was reluctant. 'It's probably not real. You said yourself yesterday that it was only a bad joke.'
'I'm not saying it is real.' Petunia replied indignantly. 'But whether it's real or not, it looks like we're going to have some loony turning up at our house on Sunday morning to try and prove it is. We have to warm Mum.'
Lily couldn't argue with her older sisterslogic, so she ran upstairs to find the letter in her jumper pocket. She walked back down the stairs and nervously entered the kitchen. Petunia and their mother were sitting at the table. They looked up as Lily entered.
Placing her mug of tea on the table, her mother spoke. 'Petunia tells me that you have received two strange letter claiming that you are to go to a magic school.'
Even though it wasn't technically a question, Lily knew that she was meant to answer and show the letters. But it all sounded so much more far-fetched when her mother said it, and all her flourishing hopes were being squashed again. Instead of speaking she just handed the letters over, the first one on top. The girls sat and waited anxiously at their mother read and re-read the letters. Lily almost felt that she was in trouble.
Eventually their mother looked up with a smile. 'I don't think there is anything to worry about. This is just some joke from someone who doesn't know when the joke ends. We will ignore it and just keep an eye out for visitors on Sunday. If someone arrives and starts trying to do anything strange then I will simply call the police.'
Simple adultreasoning worked wonders. Lily ran the letters back upstairs and then the family sat and had breakfast together. Nothing more was mentioned about the letters or Hogwarts or magic, but there was an icy tension coming from Petunia that Lily could not miss.
However, Lily didn't have time to question her before Becky turned up. Yelling goodbye to her family Lily left and the girls headed out to the park. There wasn't much for two girls to do in Little Whinging, and they usually ended up in the park. Becky was Lily's next-door neighbour, and was two years younger. There weren't many children in her area, so Lily had to make do with younger company.
They opened the metal gate and walked onto the path. On their right was a stretch of grass with trees dotted throughout. On their left was the children's area, with a couple of old swings, a rusty round about, a broken seesaw and some monkey bars. The girls headed over to the swings and sat down. Lily, rather then swinging, twisted on the swing, thinking. They sat in silence for a while on the already hot day. All was quiet except for the slight creak of the swings.
'What are you thinking?' Becky asked.
Lily blinked and shook her head, coming out of a daydream. 'Oh, nothing.' She said vaguely. Alone and in silence in the empty park, Lily's thoughts had infact turned to the letter, and she had been wondering what magic school would be like. But somehow she didn't feel like telling Becky about the letters. If she told her it would seem even less real in her mind. She couldn't help but think, as she twisted on the swing, that it would be exciting to go to a magic school.
Lily was startled out of her thoughts for a second time by a stone hitting her in the back of the head and the sound of laughing and jeering. She stood up and spun around, only just managing to not get tangled in the chains. The bullies from her school, a gang of thugs who were completely bored, had just entered the park. Spotting the two girls sitting alone on the swings their day had just got more interesting. The fact that they recognised Lily didn't help.
'Hey Lily. Who's your little friend?' One of them asked. In normal conversation it would have been perfectly polite, but Henry managed to make it sound menacing.
'Go away Henry.' Lily snarled.
'Ooo.' The five boys said, making stupid comments like, 'She's a feisty one.'
'I said bog off!' Lily snapped.
Becky had stood up beside Lily, and looked as if she thought running away would be a good idea. But Lily didn't feel like being pushed around today, not when she had things to think about.
The boys were approaching, and it was only Lily's anger that stopped her from backing off. The boys were surrounding them, so they couldn't run away. A breeze was picking up, swirling around their ankles and disturbing the previously still day.
'You shouldn't talk to us like that.' Said Henry, their leader. 'Cos we don't like it, do we lads?' There was a murmur of agreement. 'You should treat us with the respect we deserve.'
'None then.' Lily snapped, before she should stop herself.
It took a second for Henry to realise that he had been insulted. The wind was picking up, becoming stronger as Lily seethed. She knew she was in for it now, and was sorry that she had got Becky into trouble. But she wasn't going to go down without a fight. Henry scowled at her, insulted at her lack of awe at his thuggish-ness.
'Someone needs to be taught a lesson.' He growled. Then he swung his fist at Lily's stomach. Lily had just enough time to wonder what had happened to the un-written rule about boys not hitting girls. Just as the fist was about to strike her, a huge gust of wind roared through the park, knocking the five boys over and sending them tumbling back up the path, but leaving the two girls completely untouched. The wind died completely as Lily stared at the boys lying on the path, amazed that she was not lying there with them. Her eyes met Becky's, and by unspoken agreement they turned and ran.
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The next day Lily woke at eight. She sat up and saw the letters on her desk. A fluttery feeling entered the girl's stomach as she remembered the letter promising a representative would come today at ten. Her parents both agreed that it was unlikely that anyone would turn up, but they would stay at home and keep and eye out just in case. Still, Lily couldn't help hoping that someone might come and prove that this was real.
Downstairs Petunia had already finished her breakfast and was reading a schoolbook at the kitchen table. She didn't look up as Lily entered the room and started cutting the bread. Lighting the oven and opening the grill, Lily tried to make conversation with her usually friendly sister.
'Morning. Did you sleep well?' She enquired.
There was a vague 'Hmm.' from the blond girl as she turned the page of her book.
Lily was surprised by this brushing-off. She tried again. 'What book are you reading?'
Petunia didn't bother replying. She just twisted around in her seat and held up the book so that Lily could read the title.
'Pride and Prejudice. Is that for school?'
Petunia nodded, eyes fixed firmly on the book, face emotionless.
'So, are you doing anything interesting today?' Lily asked lamely, feeling entirely put off by her sisters unusual display of moodiness.
Petunia looked up at last, but her expression was iron. 'No.' She said angrily, speeding up and growing louder with each word. 'I have to stay at home waiting in case some loony shows up, trying to take you away to some fake magic school. You may think it's only a joke, but it's NOT FUNNY!'
Lily stepped back under the angry onslaught. 'Petunia, I didn't ask…'
'I DON'T CARE!' Petunia yelled.
Lily turned and ran out of the room, followed by the smell of burning toast.
It wasn't until years later that she realised that her sister was scared.
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The tension in the house grew as the morning wore on, even though there was no further mention of the letters. Petunia had retreated to her room. Their parents, Margaret and Tim, were sitting tensely in the living room. Tim was trying to read the newspaper and Margaret was just sitting tensly next to the phone.
Lily didn't know what to do. Normally if she was worried about something she would go to Petunia and they could talk. She wished that Petunia wasn't acting so strangely; she could do with her company. But she didn't dare to go into her sister's room at the moment. Hopefully after today Petunia would realise that it was all a prank and she was being angry about nothing and the girls would be friends again. Lily couldn't believe that two letters could cause all this.
At ten to ten Lily could be found standing in her room and looking out of her window and onto the road, watching for any visitors approaching. She was filled with a nervous energy, even though she knew that she was getting excited about nothing as no one was going to turn up anyway. And even if someone did turn up it wouldn't prove anything because they would just be a nutter would didn't understand when the joke stopped.
The church bells started tolling ten o'clock. Lily tensed, as if she expected someone to suddenly appear at their gate. She made herself relax as the last peal faded out. No one had come. Lily turned around and headed to her door.
A scream sounded downstairs. Lily was sure it was her mother, screaming from the living room. Without stopping to think Lily wrenched open the door, leapt down the stairs and sprinted along the corridor into the living room. She halted in the doorway and took in the scene.
Margaret and Tim were both cowering behind the sofa on which they had previously been sitting. They were both looking aghast at the woman who seemed to have appeared in the middle of the room. She had short black hair and alert dark eyes, which constantly scanning the room. Probably in her late twenties, she was not much taller then Lily was, and although skinny looked like she could look after herself. Strangely enough she was dressed in a kilt and a woolly jumper, even though it was the start of August.
At the moment the woman was trying to reassure the two panicking parents, and stop them from phoning the police. She had a stick in her hand,and was pointing it at the phone, which was infact floating. Lily gasped. The woman was holding a wand!
'It's all right! Honestly, I'm not going to hurt anyone. I'm just here to make sure that Miss Evans understands about Hogwarts.' She glanced to the side and noticed Lily. 'Oh, and this must be her now.' She smiled kindly, moving her wand so that the phone soared across the room and landed neatly on a shelf far out of everyone's reach. 'All right everyone.' He said, as if addressing a class of noisy children. 'Lets just sit down quietly and I'll explain.' She noticed Lily's parents eyeing her wand suspiciously. 'How about I put this on the coffee table?' She laid it there, then sat on an armchair and gestured the adults back onto the sofa rather as if she was the host. Lily tentatively sat on the other armchair.
'Right. Now that we have calmed down a bit…' Lily wasn't so sure about this. Her father was still eyeing the phone and her mother looked scared stiff. 'My name is Professor Amy Lerta. I teach defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. I assure you that magic does exist. Witches and wizards live around the world, co-existing secretly with muggles, what we call non-magic folk.'
Lily couldn't help interrupting. 'If witches and wizards exist, why don't they show themselves? Why do they hide?'
The black eyes fixed a very penetrating gaze on Lily. She shifted uncomfortably under the assessing look. 'Because,' Professor Lerta replied carefully, 'Muggles would never leave us in peace. They would continually want magical solutions to things, and that is the best-case scenario. Non-magic folk would likely be scared of us, or jealous, or a mixture. You know of the medieval witch burnings…?' She enquired vaguely. Lily nodded.
The teacher smiled and turned back toLily's parents. 'Most wizards come from magical families, with witches and wizards for parents, grand parents, sisters and brothers. However, some are born to non-magical families, such as Lily here. But it does not matter what parentage the child has. If he or she can perform magic, they are entitled to go to a magical school. Mr and Mrs Evans, your daughter has been invited to one of the best schools there is.' She finished grandly.
There was a pause, where everyone absorbed these words. The adults were dubious, but they had just seen a phone fly across the room, and were secretly beginning to feel proud of their daughter. Lily, however, was suddenly feeling very unsure. A sneaking doubt was worming its way into her mind, although she didn't dare to say it.
Almost as if she had heard her thoughts, Professor Lerta turned to Lily. 'I know what you are probably thinking. But you can do magic, or you wouldn't have received a letter. Has anything strange every happened around you when you were angry or upset? Things that don't make sense?'
The girl paused. Her mind went back years to her fifth birthday party. They had been outside and she had been about to blow out the candles on her cake when the wind blew them out. She cried but mysteriously they had re-lit for her. Then, when she was eight, a girl had pushed her over in the playground. Then somehow the girl had tripped over and landed in a very muddy puddle. And only yesterday those bullies had been knocked over by that mysterious wind, which had left Lily, untouched. Slowly Lily nodded.
This seemed to satisfy the teacher. 'Term starts on the 1st September. I have your ticket here, it says every thing on it.' She pulled a large parchment ticket out of her bag and started to hand it to Lily.
'Hand on a minute.' Stuttered Tim, finding his voice at last. 'We haven't even said if she's going yet. We have her all booked in for the local school! You haven't told us if this school costs a lot, which I'm sure it does if it is one of the best. I mean, we don't even know if it exists!'
The teacher looked surprised. 'I thought we had already been through all this. There are no school fees; you just have to pay for your daughter's equipment. And I just explained to you all about magic and witches and wizards and so on. But if you need proof, I am willing to show you a bit of magic. Nothing dangerous or anything that will cause any damage, but I know that seeing is believing.'
Without waiting for an answer, Professor Lerta picked up her wand and swished it through the air. A stream of bubbles burst from the end, and Lily fought a childish urge to pop them. Then Lerta floated a vase across the room, and encouraged the adults to inspect it to satisfy themselves that it really was flying. One armchair was turned into a pig, then back again quickly at Margaret's scream. She shot a spell at an empty plant pot whished smashed into tiny pieces. Margaret was horrified as Lerta got her to inspect that it really was broken. Then, flicking her wand and muttering a few words, the Professor put the pot back together again.
After the display, there was no doubting the truth of her words. 'Are you saying that our Lily could really do stuff like that?' Tim asked, completely in awe.
'With a bit of teaching, yes.' Lerta replied.
From then on it was decided that Lily was going to Hogwarts. The Professor explained that she would have to go to a secrete place in London to buy all of her school things, and she would be able to takeLily theretoday. In the end only Lily could go, because both of her parents were busy.
'Be good.' They commanded her. 'Be sensible with the money. Only buy the things you need for school, and you are allowed one extra thing, but not too expensive.'
After much discussing and goodbyes, Lily walked out of the front door with the professor. She was positively glowing. She was a witch, and she was going to Hogwarts.
End Chapter Two
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter, and the Defence Against the Dark Art's teacher. It took me ages to work out how to persuade Lily that she was really a witch and then to get her to Diagon Alley. What do you think, readers?
Reth