Chapter Two – Hogwarts Letters
At the sound of high pitched shrieking, Lily's eyes snapped open. She rolled over in bed, the tickle of a migraine coming to visit her head. She sighed and let out a big yawn, turning to see that James had just woken up as well.
"Morning," he said, his voice muffled by his pillow.
"Morning," Lily repeated, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek before getting out of bed.
Another squeal of delight issued from down below. Lily rolled her eyes at the sound; obviously something good happened for their kids to be so… excited.
Lily wasn't going to think much of it but when another whoop of joy was heard, it clicked in her mind.
"Hogwarts letters," she said, just loud enough for James and her to hear.
She and James glanced at each other before making a tooth-and-nail fight down the stairs. Actually, James practically dove off the landing and down the stairs as if he was diving into a swimming pool; Lily rolled her eyes and walked slowly and maturely down the stairs.
"Okay, let's see 'em," Lily said slowly, stifling a yawn as she entered the kitchen where Harry and Kathleen had obviously tried to make pancakes.
Kathleen leapt up from her spot at the table and brandished her own Hogwarts letter happily in her mother's face. She beamed from ear to ear, gazing at the tattered letter: she had obviously read it over and over again.
Lily congratulated her daughter then turned to look at her son who was blanching at his own letter.
"What is it, mate?" James asked, clapping Harry on the shoulder as he turned to look at the letter.
"I – uh – um," Harry stuttered, obviously not believing it. "I – uh – I – um – I – I – I got made – I got – made – I got made – uh – I got made prefect," he got out finally.
It was Lily's turn to squeal.
"Prefect!" she exclaimed, nearly choking her son in a hug. "Oh my Merlin! Prefect! Oh you're taking after me more than I thought you would! Oh! Prefect! Oh I'm so happy! Aren't you happy, Harry? Oh this makes me so PROUD! Oh! Prefect, prefect, prefect!"
"L-Lily," James said tentatively, attempting to pry Lily off their son. "Lily, I think you should get off Harry now. He – uh – I think he's choking."
And indeed he was choking. Her son had turned blue from so much hugging. He began to massage his throat as his mother finally let go of him, almost scared she'd do it again.
"Prefect!" Lily exclaimed to James, wrapping her arms around him this time.
"I was never prefect," James said, obviously thinking back to his own Hogwarts Days. "So… sorry, mate," he said, once again clapping his son on the shoulder, "but you're not a marauder anymore."
"What?" Harry asked, just a bit hurt by his father's statement.
"Remus was a marauder and he was prefect," Lily said reassuringly to Harry – and in an I-told-you-so sort of way to James.
"Well… true," he said after a minute and not able to come up with a reasonable excuse. "Alright, Harry, you're still a marauder, but you're better than your dad, that's for sure."
Harry smirked at the comment.
"Okay!" Lily said, clapping her hands. "School starts in less than a week! We need to go get Hogwarts robes, spellbooks, quills, parchment, potion ingredients, the works! So we're going to Diagon Alley again today!"
"You're going where again today?" a voice asked.
"Sirius!" Kathleen exclaimed, running up to her godfather.
"Hey Kath," he said, hugging her. "Where are you going again today?" he asked again.
"Diagon Alley," James said, picking up the list of supplies from both his kids' envelopes. "Wanna come?" he asked.
"Of course I want to come!" Sirius said a bit too happily. "Just – er – you're not going like that – are you?" he asked, studying Lily and James's appearance: they were still in their pajamas and robes.
"No," Lily said crisply. "C'mon James, lets go change quickly as not to waste the day."
"We'll be ready when you're ready!" Sirius exclaimed.
Ten minutes later the group was ready to go. They flooed once again to Diagon Alley, ready to begin their latest shopping extravaganza.
"Right," James said, taking lead for once. "Books first, I say."
They all followed James into Flourish and Blotts to gather books. Harry ran into his friend Hermione Granger as they weaved through the shelves, delaying the group as they said their hellos, introductions of Kathleen (and saying she was starting Hogwarts this year), and goodbyes. After they found Harry and Kathleen's spellbooks – and other necessary books – they set off for robes.
Walking into the shop, Lily felt James tense beside her.
"What is it dear?" she asked as Sirius and the kids wandered off to look at the many colors of robes.
"Steinhart," he growled, looking at a man who appeared to be of their age, standing beside a young boy who was trying on robes.
"Logan!" Lily said, recognizing the man and striding forward, much to James's disgust.
The man, Logan Steinhart, turned around at his name.
"Lily!" he exclaimed, seeing her and beaming. Lily greeted him with a friendly hug and stood back to admire his appearance.
"You haven't changed a bit!" she said, wagging her finger playfully at him.
"I can't say the same for yourself," he said, noticing Lily and James's kids – they looked exactly like the pair, how could anybody not? "Keeping busy, I see," he said with a wink.
"Yes, indeed I have been," she said. "You remember James, right?" she asked, pulling James – who was rather reluctant – by the sleeve over to her side.
"Oh, yes! I remember. James Potter. How could I not? Stole my woman fair and square," he said, laughing at the last bit.
"Yes," James said with a bite. "And I did a pretty decent job of it."
"Oh, James, hush," Lily said, pretending to be playful. She knew where this could go: a fistfight. And she really didn't want it to go there.
"I see you've been keeping busy yourself, Logan," Lily observed, nodding towards the boy trying on robes. "When did you get married?"
"Oh… almost twelve years ago, Elaine and I. You remember Elaine, don't you? She was a Ravenclaw. Yes, we got married. And this here is Jeremiah," he said, indicating the boy, "our son; he's starting at Hogwarts this year."
"Oh, I'm so happy for you," Lily said, smiling warmly at Logan. "That there," she said, pointing to Harry, "is our son Harry – he's entering his fifth year at Hogwarts this year – he just got made prefect. And that there," she said, indicating Kathleen, "is our daughter, Kathleen. She's our youngest and she's just starting at Hogwarts, too!"
"Well, you're children do show a remarkable resemblance to the both of you," he said, noticing their red and black hair and very precise resemblance to their parents. "I'm sure the professors have had a great deal distinguishing Harry from James – now they'll have more with Kathleen looking so much like you!"
Lily chuckled appreciatively.
"Well," she said, "maybe Jeremiah and Kathleen will be in the same house. Do you expect him to be a Gryffindor?"
"Oh, I'm not sure. He might be, seeing as he takes after me so much. Is Harry a Gryffindor?" he asked after a moment.
"Oh yes, he is," Lily said, smiling over at her son who was talking to a boy he obviously knew from Hogwarts. "We were so thrilled when we found out. I do hope Kathleen is a Gryffindor too," she said after a gaze at her husband.
"Well, I'm sure she will be with such magnificent parents."
"Oh, Logan, you're too kind," Lily said, punching him playfully in the arm.
"Well," Logan said after glancing back at his son, "we'd better get going. We need to get these robes and other things to buy and places to see. See you later, Lily, James," he said as they walked over to the register to pay for Jeremiah's robes.
"Lily," James hissed as soon as the door of the shop closed.
"Yes, dear?" she asked after telling Madam Malkin that they wished to buy school robes.
"Why did you have to talk to him?" he asked.
"He was here and it'd be rude not to. Besides, I haven't seen him in ages," Lily replied, beckoning Harry over to be fitted for new robes.
"Yes, but you really didn't need to talk to him," James pressed, looking around to make sure no one was listening in.
"James," Lily said exasperatedly, putting her hands on her hips. "Just because he's my ex-boyfriend doesn't mean I can't talk to him ever again. Besides," she said, leaning in closer to James so their faces were just inches apart, "even he said you stole me away from him – which you did."
"Well, just because he's married doesn't mean he's not going to look," James replied defensively, looking his wife right in the eye.
"True," Lily nodded her head in agreement. "But I'd have to be a fool to leave you – or to even look at another man."
"I'm a pretty lucky bloke, being able to be married to such a talented – not to mention," he dropped his voice, "sexy – witch."
"Yes, you are very lucky," Lily said, their foreheads now touching.
James grinned and kissed Lily on the lips before turning back to talk to Sirius.
They carried on through the day to finish getting robes, books, potion ingredients and many other supplies for Hogwarts. They got cauldrons, parchment, quills, ink, reading material, magazine subscriptions ("I wouldn't have made it through Hogwarts without Quidditch Weekly, Lily," Sirius said), stuff from the local joke shop ("How else is Harry going to have a bit of fun as Prefect?" James asked), a cat for Kathleen ("Mum, Mr. Wicker will be in the Owlery the entire time, I need someone in my dorm with me!" Kathleen exclaimed) and a new broomstick for Harry ("For making Prefect, you deserve a new one," Lily had said).
After a long and tiresome (made tiresome by James and Sirius's constant pranks) day, they all retired – once again – to the Potter estate. Lily shoved the kids into bed at nine, and Sirius left at nine thirty, fifteen minutes or so after Lily had escaped up the stairs for a long hot bath. With her nose just peaking out from above the water, Lily was at peace, in complete and total bliss. That is, until:
"Mind if I join you?" a voice asked in her ear.
Lily started violently and whipped around – her heart beating faster than normal – to see James grinning at her, crouched down on his knees by the bathtub.
"James!" she exclaimed in loud whisper. "Don't do that! You scared me!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you – this time," he said, still smiling at her. "Mind if I join you?" he asked again, indicating the bath. His grin was so mischievous she knew exactly what she had in mind.
"And why should I let you join me?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in question.
"Because I'm your exceptionally handsome husband who is better than anyone at Quidditch of whom you love and have had two children with," he said, already starting to undress.
"And what," Lily asked, putting her wet and soapy palm against James's soon-to-be-bare chest, "do you intend to do once you've joined me?"
James smirked. "Well," he said in a low and 'seductive' growl, "I think you know what I'm planning on doing, and," he said as an afterthought, dropping his voice to a near whisper, "I'm almost positive you like it."
Lily rolled her eyes and dipped down lower in the water, allowing James to get undressed and join her in the tub.
"I can't believe they're both leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow," Lily sniffed from her place next to the stove.
"Oh, c'mon, Lily," her friend Alice Longbottom said. "It's okay! Look at this way – you'll have more time to 'spend' with James," she said with a very large wink.
"Oh, Alice," Lily said as she flipped over the French toast in the skillet in front of her, "don't think that way. We're not always like that."
"And that's the key, isn't it?" she asked with a James-like-smirk. "'Always.'"
"Alice!" Lily snapped, looking around frantically. "Besides," she said, "its gets boring when you do it a lot."
"Oh you bad girl, Mrs. Potter!" Alice exclaimed, grinning at her best friend.
"Still, 'spending more time with James' doesn't make up for not having the kids around anymore," Lily said, dumping the French toast onto a plate and sprinkling powdered sugar on them.
"C'mon, Lily, you saw me when Neville left a couple years back. You had to hold on to me to prevent me running after him and pulling him off the train!" Alice said, remembering the memory.
"Yes, that's true," Lily said, also remembering that day.
"So you've got nothing to worry about. They'll be back in a little over four months for the Christmas holidays. Besides, with that new policy Dumbledore's got, you'll see the kids on Monday anyway," she said, examining her fingernails.
"What policy?" Lily asked, conjuring the rest of breakfast and placing it on the table.
"You didn't read the other letter?" Alice asked, confused.
"No," Lily said, still not catching on. "What letter?"
"It came with the Hogwarts ones – didn't you get it?"
"No, I didn't get any letter."
"It's probably here," Alice said, glancing around the kitchen for it. "Is that it?" she asked, pointing to the messy counter where all the Potter's important papers were scattered, the envelope perched on top of a high tower of other letters.
"Maybe it is," Lily said, wiping her hands off and striding over to the counter. She picked up the envelope and read:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Potter,
Due to new school regulations, we believe it necessary that each parent meet with his/her child's new professors to become acquainted with that professor, their teaching style and, of course, the curriculum.
This meeting will take place on Monday – the day after students arrive on the Hogwarts Express. Due to the meetings, students will not partake in lessons until Tuesday, when they officially begin.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact either myself or Minerva McGonagall – Deputy Headmistress.
Yours,
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Headmaster
"Why did they make a new rule to meet with the professors?" Lily asked, stumped.
"I'm not sure, but we have to be at Hogwarts day after tomorrow to meet with them," Alice said, biting into a piece of French toast.
"Well… this is interesting," Lily said, taking a bite of French toast as well.
"Don't read too much into it, Lily," Alice said, her mouth full. "Frank said it was most likely a parent complained about their kid's detentions or something, so now they have to meet with each professor. At least we get to spend the day with our kids."
"Yeah," Lily said, thinking it was more and more likely to be Franks' story. "And we get to see Hogwarts again!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna hafta look around Gryffindor commonroom again. I wonder if anythings changed."
"Yeah, me too. I bet the Marauders will be having a field day, dashing around Hogwarts again."