DISCLAIMER: I only wish I owned this! Anything you may recognize belongs to JK Rowling, and I ain't makin' a dime off of this. Wish I was though, and then maybe I could move out of this spacious cardboard box, lol!
A/N: I'm trying something new with this chapter, that's why it's a little later than normal, hopefully it'll be a little longer than normal as well. If it works then updates should be back to normal as when I get them up but should start getting longer, but as always I do not make promises. Hope you enjoy the chapter!
'Mind Speech'
"Phoenixus"
"Atlantian"
Chapter 7:
Harry, Eliz, and the Marauders were taking advantage of the fact that some of the last really warm days were upon them before winter came as they lounged under an oak tree near the lake watching the giant squid float lazily. They had just reached the oak not more than five minutes ago, and most of them were still trying to regain the breath they lost, with the obvious exception of Harry and Eliz, before starting any decent conversation. Once it was obvious that most of them had their breathing under control, Harry decided that he'd open up discussions about the prank they'd just completed.
"I only wish we could have waited around to see their faces," he told them all while laughing.
"I know, it would almost be worth whatever punishment they give us," James admitted.
"Prongs, I'm ashamed of you, saying that you wouldn't mind getting in trouble," Sirius said in mock outrage.
"I said 'almost' Padfoot," James replied with a laugh which caused everyone else to chuckle at Sirius' behavior.
"I have to say it's quite refreshing to get the whole school instead of just the Slytherins every once in a while," Remus commented.
"What are you talking about Moony? Pranking Slytherins is the best," this time there was nothing 'mock' about Sirius' voice. He was being completely serious, well as serious as he could be when practically shouting gleefully that he loved pranking Slytherins.
"It is, but it's nice to get one over on everyone too, including the staff," Remus replied calmly.
"Too right Moony," James replied before laying back, looking up at the sky.
"This past week has been the most fun I've had in quite a while," Eliz commented as she cuddled with Harry, their backs to the giant oak.
"Speaking of which, why did you two start the prank war with us in the first place," Sirius asked innocently, which didn't fool anyone anymore.
"Well, the first day we were in the school," Harry began.
"After we had just finished teaching the Headmaster that caution and paranoia are not the same thing," Eliz continued.
"Quite right, we were on our way towards the entrance hall, when we were swept up in the throng of students, when low and behold," Harry paused for dramatic effect.
"Our robes were flashing the words 'Gryffindor Rules' and our skin had changed to maroon while little golden lion outlines running and jumping all over," Eliz picked up where he left off leaving the Marauders somewhat confused as to how they were switching off flawlessly.
"And only just before that we had seen James here, although we didn't suspect you four until we heard about your reputations," Harry told them with a mischievous grin. The Marauders thought back and then burst out laughing as they remembered that prank.
"That was you two? I had completely forgotten about that," James replied while shaking in laughter.
"Well, that's not too surprising James, I mean, it is you we're talking about," Harry remarked with a grin.
"True…Hey! Wait," he cried indignantly only to be drowned out by the laughter of the others due to his agreement before he realized his mistake. They spent the next several moments cracking up several times, as James attempted to redeem himself, before a shadow fell over their little party.
"Potter," the person standing over the spat.
"Yes Evans," James asked.
"When will you and your little cohorts grow up and stop with your pranks? There's more to life than cursing Slytherins," she began, and Harry could tell she was gearing up for what he'd heard was one of her 'infamous' speeches about treating the Slytherins better.
"With all due respect Ms. Evans we didn't only target the Slytherins but the entire school," Harry interjected as she took a breath.
"And you two! You are both grown ups! You should know better, and you are only encouraging these miscreants to misbehave and bully the other students," she spat.
"Ms. Evans," Harry replied coolly, "Do not judge too quickly for you do not know all aspects and motivations."
"What else than for their own twisted amusement," she sneered before Harry could say anything else. Harry could see the fire in her emerald green eyes burning bright with passion while she was defending her position.
"Have they ever told you that? Have you ever seen all angles that leads up to one of their pranks? I don't think so, because that would mean you were included in the planning of the prank," Harry replied. He had been talking so forcefully that had she wanted to she wouldn't have been able to interrupt.
"I don't need to be included in the planning to see the effect on the recipient," she replied with a lot less confidence now.
"Then I take it you have never heard of acting. I've heard you are a muggleborn Ms. Evans so I'm sure you are familiar with movies and the concept of acting. Slytherins are known for their cunning and slyness, do you think they are going to let someone know they are guilty of something especially if they are getting their comeuppance for it," He asked. Lily was silent for a moment before she turned heel and ran back into the school. Harry lowered his head feeling he had gone a little far with the last remark since he had insulted her intelligence, but he felt that he needed to point out some things to her that she might not be seeing.
"Don't worry Harry, I'll talk to her," Eliz told him before giving him a quick kiss and hugging him.
"Thank you my love," he responded burrowing his head into the crook of her neck. Luckily for them they had spoken quietly enough in Atlantian that not even Remus' werewolf hearing could pick up their conversation, of course that could be due to the fact that he and Sirius were outright gaping at the silly expression on James' face.
"Oi Prongs," Sirius yelled to no effect, "Hey Moony, I think our little Prongsies is in love!"
"I think you're right Padfoot," Remus replied.
"JAMES AND LILY LOCKED IN A CUPBOARD S-N-O-G-G-I-N-G," Sirius yelled successfully getting James attention, which wasn't necessarily a good thing, as Sirius was then tackled and made to beg for mercy while James was tickling him. Remus quietly explained to Harry and Eliz the expression James had on his face, which he called the 'love-sick puppy dog' face, that James usually wore whenever Lily had finished yelling at him. Both Harry and Eliz burst out laughing when they heard this and immediately knew why James liked getting Lily angry, it was the same reason Harry liked to get Eliz peeved. She'd asked him about this once and he'd told her quote 'You're sexy when you're angry!'
"I'm going to go track down Lily and see if I can't stay on her good side, as much as I like you guys it's nice to have some girls to talk to," she told them before kissing Harry and getting up.
"Good luck love," Harry replied before turning to watch the entertaining fight between James and Sirius.
(Break)
Eliz made her way towards the library knowing that's where Lily liked to spend most of her time since she believed in getting good grades nearly above all else. As she walked she went over the conversation that she and Harry had had about the girl that she was going to go and attempt to reconcile with.
Flashback
"Harry," Eliz called out when he entered after his class.
"Yes?"
"Did your Aunt ever tell you anything about your mother? Anything we could use to figure out who she is," Eliz asked hoping to help him learn more about his parents. They knew a way to get in good with his father, but his mother was a different story as they didn't know whom she was.
"All I know was that my Aunt's maiden name was Evans…wait…there was a time, I think I just turned 11 and she said 'At least he isn't as much of a freak as Millie was' but I can't be sure as she only muttered it so I don't know," he replied.
"Well, there is a Lily Evans in James' year, maybe she said Lily and you heard wrong," she suggested.
"That's probably who it is," Harry replied excitedly. He had always wanted to learn more about his parents, and although he was getting the chance with his father somewhat who was warming up to him during the prank war they were raging, he had no idea who his mother could be…until now.
"I could try and make friends with her and introduce her to you after that," Eliz suggested as she had mostly nothing to do with her days except read.
"Thank you," he said gratefully before scooping her up in a hug and swinging her around.
End Flashback
They'd only been tentative friends for a few days, and even then it was difficult for her to gain what trust she had in the beginning.
Flashback
"Hi, I'm Eliz Samiz," Eliz said when she approached Lily in the library later that same day. It had taken a while for Lily to finally be alone, but she was. After she had introduced herself she realized how bad her name sounded and really couldn't wait until they got to Harry's time so she could introduce herself as Eliz Potter.
"Lily Evans," Lily responded coolly, "What can I do for you?"
"I just thought I'd come over and introduce myself. With only Harry taking classes I don't have much to do so I thought it'd be nice to make some friends," Eliz remarked brushing off the cold manner. She knew it wouldn't be easy as she had spent the majority of the week in a prank war.
"I don't make friends with people who prank those who have done no wrong," Lily commented even more coolly.
"Are you telling me that the Marauders are innocent? Because if you are then Harry and I will apologize to them for starting the prank war, but they're the only ones we've pranked since we got here," Eliz said in defense.
"Who's to say that you won't go pranking someone else next week besides the Marauders when you get sick of being pranked back," Lily shot back.
"Who's to say I will," Eliz returned, "Look, if I need to do something to get you to trust me I will. I just want to be your friend."
"Why do you want to be my friend so badly?"
"From what I've heard you're a really nice person, and you're not judgmental about anyone no matter their background. On top of that you look like a younger version of me," Eliz joked, although it wasn't far from the truth though Lily didn't need to know that. Lily seemed to ponder the offer for a moment before coming to a decision.
"What can you do for me," Lily asked.
"You like to learn new things don't you," Eliz asked waiting for a nod of Lily's head, "I can teach you how to do some wandless magic. You won't be able to do complex spells with it, but probably through third year spells once you've mastered it."
"Wandless magic is impossible," Lily snapped before regretting her harsh words when Eliz conjured a chair wandlessly in front of her.
End Flashback
It was the beginning of a tentative friendship which Eliz only hoped she hadn't screwed up too badly with the school-wide prank they had just played a short while ago. She was only a short-way from the library now so Eliz began to think up different ways to try and talk her way out of the mess she had gotten into. She may not side with the Marauders, as Harry does, but she knows why they prank the Slytherins most often. She spotted Lily at her normal table, not too far from the charms section of the library, but unfortunately for her she wasn't alone. With Lily were her other three friends which rounded out the anti-thesis to the Marauders. Lily was the proverbial ring-leader, while Alice was the stand in for Sirius (comic relief of the group when tensions were high), Harmony was the quiet and shy one which almost mirrored Remus, and Heather was Peter's complete opposite. While the other girls might consider dating their counter-parts (Lily would never admit to that though, and Alice had already begun dating Frank) Heather would rather swallow a flobberworm than even contemplate dating Peter Pettigrew. She was strong magically, not shy in the least, courage abound, and quite intelligent. Eliz knew that with these three girls sitting with Lily things would get much worse, but she made her way over regardless knowing how much it meant to Harry to know more about his mother and hopefully get to know her as a friend.
"Lily," Eliz said quietly when none of them acknowledged her.
"What do you want," Heather sneered.
"Can I talk to Lily for a moment," Eliz asked tentatively.
"She doesn't want to talk to you," Alice answered, "She told us how you lied to her about not pranking innocent people only to turn around and help prank the whole school."
"I will admit to pranking the school," Eliz replied, "But I never actually said that I would never prank someone who was innocent. I believe our conversation went like this she said 'Who's to say that you won't go pranking someone else next week besides the Marauders when you get sick of being pranked back' and I replied with 'Who's to say I will' so I never said I wouldn't just implied it," Eliz defended herself. "The school-wide prank was just a way to cap off the end of the prank war, it was a joint prank between me, Harry, and the Marauders."
"The Marauders actually let you work with them," Harmony asked quietly with a small blush. She'd had a crush on Remus for a few years despite the lycanthropy, which the girls had figured out in first year, but she never acted on it and the rest of the girls doubted she ever would.
"Well, everyone except Peter," Eliz remarked, "He doesn't quite like us, but the others consider us unofficial Marauders considering Harry's past history of pranking."
"So Harry's been pranking innocents for a while then," Lily asked scathingly.
"No actually, he only pranked bullies when he was a teenager," Eliz said in defense of her 'husband', "He wasn't trained in magic at the time so he did things the muggle way and was able to deter the muggle bullies in the area." The girls seemed to contemplate this new piece of information they had been given.
"I'll forgive you on one condition," Lily replied.
"And that is," she asked apprehensively, although on the inside she was dancing with joy.
"You have to tell me one of the Marauder's secrets," Lily told her smugly. Eliz gulped and racked her brain for something that would be suitable before taking a seat at the table with the girls deciding on something that would be quite amusing to tell Lily, especially with the other girls present.
"Tell me Lily, have you ever noticed the way James looks after you have finished berating him for pranking someone," Eliz asked.
"Of course not," Lily replied indignantly trying to figure out what that had to do with anything.
"We got to see it today. According to Remus, he and Sirius have dubbed it James' 'love-sick puppy-dog' face. He likes it when you yell at him, because he gets to see you in most likely his favorite mood. It's the same way with Harry, I asked him about it once, he likes to rile me up quite often and he told me and I quote 'You're sexy when you're angry!' I wouldn't doubt it's the same with James," Eliz explained. Lily flushed when she realized what Eliz was telling her while the rest of the girls erupted in giggles as they remembered the number of times it seemed James had gone out of his way to get yelled at by Lily.
"Probably," Heather agreed.
"Most definitely," Harmony remarked quietly.
"I could've told you that," Alice said almost too loudly for the library risking the wrath of Madam Pince, the new librarian.
"What do you mean," Lily asked in horror to Alice.
"I noticed that quite some time ago," Alice replied smugly, "Although I would probably name that face 'daydreaming ferret'." This caused all the girls to laugh quietly.
"Well, since Alice figured that one out I guess that one doesn't count does it," Eliz remarked in mock-desperation.
"No," Lily said in hopes of getting off the topic.
"Alright, since that one wasn't good enough would you like to know how James and Sirius act when they aren't trying to uphold their image? I've been around them enough for them to drop their act, it's quite a change," Eliz remarked. All of the girls nodded that this new piece of information was a good enough piece offering as it was something that they most likely wouldn't find out on their own anytime soon.
"I'll start with Sirius then shall I? He's like a brother to James, loyal to the last. As you already know he doesn't take his studies seriously, but he does his best to make sure that nobody gets too down or is in danger. Why do you think there are so many pranks? They're morale boosters for the school, well, that's only half of the reason for them," Eliz explained, "He's a lot like Alice in the respect that he tries to make sure that things don't get too serious, but he knows when to act mature. He just doesn't show it to the rest of the school."
"I can't believe it," Heather commented.
"What do you mean by 'morale boosting' is only half of the reason for the pranks," Lily asked suspiciously.
"Do you notice the main targets of the pranks," Eliz asked instead of outright explanation.
"Sure, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus LeStrange, Bellatrix Black, Crabbe, and Goyle," Heather replied.
"Now, have you noticed their attitude towards other houses, or rather anyone other than purebloods," Eliz prodded.
"Of course, we've been on the brunt end of more 'mudblood' comments than we care to remember," Lily responded, "Where's this going?"
"What if I were to tell you that rude comments weren't the only thing those guys did?"
"What do you mean," Harmony asked.
"The younger, less experienced, witches and wizards who aren't purebloods have been the target of those gits for quite a while," Eliz explained, "I've even caught them casting low level Dark arts on them!"
"Why didn't you take this to the Headmaster," Lily asked disbelieving.
"Even if he believed me, it's my word against theirs, plus their fathers are either influential or have influential friends. If anything happened with out definitive proof it wouldn't be good. Why do you think the Marauders pick on them so much," Eliz asked. The four girls nodded solemnly at this acquiescing to this new-found knowledge, although they wouldn't quite believe it until they saw it with their own eyes.
"So, tell us what James is like," Alice prodded to embarrass Lily.
"James is actually quite a bit more reserved and intelligent than you see, although he still doesn't like to act it much of the time. He takes his studies much more importantly in private, especially Transfiguration," Eliz began, "He treats all of the other Marauders as if they're his brothers and he's the proverbial glue that holds them together. While you may not notice it, or take his looks for plotting, while he's looking around say the great hall, he's actually making sure that all the students he's seen being bullied in the past are accounted for and all the usual bullies are there. He does a good job of masking his features, as does Sirius, and you wouldn't even know that he has students from the first four years coming to him asking him for help from bullies."
"When," Lily asked disbelieving.
"They mostly come to him either late at night or they'll catch him between classes. He's asked them not to draw attention, and usually the other Marauders will make a screen so the student isn't caught snitching on the bullies," Eliz told them. She could see the light click on in all their heads as they remembered times when the four Marauders seemed to take up a corner in the hallway for no apparent reason.
"You've given us quite a bit to think about," Harmony remarked to which Eliz just nodded in understanding.
"Tell us what married life is like," Alice said excitedly. All the girls became giddy again and began their interrogation of Eliz about the ins and outs of married life.
(Break)
Albus sat in his office reflecting on the little information that he had been able to gather in the past week. Not much was known at all about Harry or Eliz Samiz, and there was no marriage certificate on file anywhere for the pair. Albus still couldn't figure out how a 21 year old man knew a language that died out nearly 6,000 years ago! It was supposedly impossible to learn, and traveling even a day back in time was not even possible with magic! There was no way possible to learn the language of Atlantis without actually being there, and as all the inhabitants had died when the island sank, and those left that even knew how to speak the language after the island nation sunk had no reason to speak the language or teach it, it died out and was forgotten relatively fast.
"Fawkes," Albus spoke aloud into the office calling his familiar. The immortal bird of flames burst into life in the office in his traditional red and gold fashion directly in front of the old wizard. "Fawkes, I don't suppose there is any way you could tell me how our guest knows Atlantian?"
'No, it is not mine to tell,' Fawkes replied, which quite frankly startled the Albus as the phoenix had never shown one ounce of telepathic abilities in the past.
"How is it that you can mind speak, and why didn't you tell me before," Albus asked.
'As to the first question, I just recently acquired the ability. As to the second question, you hadn't asked me anything since I learned,' was Fawkes' cheeky reply. Albus merely chuckled at the response he got from his familiar. He had known it was possible for some familiars to get the power of mind-speech, but normally if they didn't show it right away they never did. Albus had tested Fawkes immediately for that talent and it had come up negative, which meant that someone unlocked that ability.
"How did you attain telepathy," Albus asked.
'Alas, that question I cannot answer yet, I will tell you when you're older,' Fawkes answered in all seriousness.
"How old are you now," Albus asked curiously.
'I will be 5,783 on December the 3rd,' Fawkes replied quite proudly. Albus nearly fainted when he heard the age. They spent the remainder of the afternoon getting to know one another better, with Leos, or Fawkes, as Albus called him recalling past adventures in his long life.
A/N: I'm seriously starting to consider holding chapters hostage for reviews, lol! Either the quality of my story has seriously dropped (though I wouldn't doubt it) or people just don't want to review anymore. Anywho, I've already started on the final chapter which should be up in two days hopefully. Then I'll start on the final story of this trilogy! Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Review responses:
Kaaera: I'm glad you enjoyed the prank, I tried to think of something I hadn't read before, not sure if I pulled it off or not though. Maybe you should get some lemon flavoured cough drops? Feeling alright? LOL! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As things look the wedding will need to be imagined because I have gotten no submissions in. Oh well, it's not that rare for things I write. : o )
TuxedoMac: I'm glad that my prank seemed original, quite tough to do these days, lol. Next chapter will be the last one, I hope you have enjoyed the story so far!
Jbfritz: Thanks!
Night-Owl123: Sorry it took so long.
Gaul1: Glad you liked it, the second book was a charms text, and Fawkes may meet some other phoenixes, but I'm not sure. I'm glad you've liked the chapters, and thank you for the reviews!
Athenakitty: Not really, not a chance, not sure. Thanks for being a faithful reviewer!
Shadowmonk: No, they technically know how Harry's parents died, they only know Harry was about a year old. Plus I never planned on having Harry save his parents with this story, I might with a different story, but not this one. James and Lily won't find out that Harry is their son, Harry is too noble to change the future no matter how much he hates how he grew up. Plus, would he give up what he's got now for what he could have and not even be sure what he could possibly have? I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
THANK YOU TO ALL MY FAITHFUL REVIEWERS! YOU MAKE WRITING THIS STORY WORTH IT!