Gah! I seem to be on a writing frenzy this month! It must be the heat or something! KTSweep08 had the first correct answer for the trivia question (Define "Flour For A Flower", Flour baking cake w/ flour, Flower "Lily" Potter), so thank you!
Disclaimer: "LaRohaZeta-does-not-own-rights-to-the-Harry-Potter-series-or-any-of-its-characters-so-please-stop-trying-to-sue-her," says Announcer Man in his special Announcer Man Voice.
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"Ta da!" Lily said, pulling a lopsided pound cake out of the oven with flourish.
"What is that?" Dudley asked reproachfully. His question surprised Lily, who thought that her nephew would have eaten the cake-like thing right away, regardless of its resemblance to a large ball of bean curd. His parents, sitting on either side of him at the dinner table, had similar distasteful expressions on their faces, and were staring at the cake as if something was going to pop out of it and attack them.
"Pound cake." Lily plastered a smile on her face, and cut Dudley a large slice. The large boy leaned into his plate and sniffed the cake suspiciously. Then, shrugging, he forked the whole thing into his mouth and gobbled it down.
"Gimme some more." Dudley demanded rudely.
"Certainly." Lily gave him another piece, grinding her teeth in irritation. This boy cannot get any ruder!
Petunia and Vernon each took a piece as well, and finished their dessert speedily. The Dursleys left their kitchen not long after; Dudley to watch television in the drawing room and his parents to their bedroom. Lily cleaned up and washed the dishes, then retired to her own room to read before going to sleep.
She was pleasantly surprised to find Peine waiting for her on her bed. The brown owl didn't seem too upset to see her either, as she flew over to Lily straight away and wouldn't leave her shoulder perch for a full minute.
Laughing quietly, Lily managed to tug Peine off of her and carry her over to her – much too small – cage.
"Sorry girl. You're back to being a parakeet again, for now."
Peine hooted bleakly.
"I know you don't like it, but it looks suspicious, a Muggle keeping an owl as a pet. Besides, you look rather lovely as a parakeet." Lily tried to reason with the bird.
Peine tilted her head and narrowed her eyes questioningly, as if to say, "Are you just flattering me to get me into that cage?"
"It's not a trick or anything, honest!"
Rather heatedly, Peine nipped Lily's index finger.
"Ow! Crazy bird!"
Peine rubbed her feathery head against her finger as an apology. "Sorry."
"That's quite all right. Now, hold still." Lily tapped her with her wand. Peine slowly shrunk to the size of her palm. Her feathers shortened and brightened, instantly becoming worthy of a tropical bird.
"There, now. In you go." Lily popped the tiny bird into the cage, ignoring twitters of protest, and closed the door. She then turned to her bed and picked up the letter that Peine had brought in.
I wonder who it could be from… Lily wondered sardonically.
Tabitha-Interesting new development in regards to the Sopravivus Charm side-effect-reversal. Would like to discuss it with you in person. Can you be at the castle at 12:00 tomorrow afternoon, the 20th? Will send Fawkes to take you directly to the passageway outside my office. Reply in haste.
AlbusRolling her eyes at Dumbledore's abrupt code-talk, Lily sent back a mocking answer.
Will be there. Much to speak about. Need Dursleys' permission first.
T.R.
"Sorry Peine, I need you again." Lily stroked the parakeet's feathers through the tiny bars in her cage.
Peine tweeted softly in objection, which, in bird language, could have been translated to, "Make up your mind! Do you want me to sit quietly in this matchbox-sized excuse for a cage, or go flying off to every end of the country to deliver letters for you?"
"Now, now, no need to be grumpy. Just bring this note to Dumbledore. You know where he is."
"Of course I know where he is. He's the only human you ever write to!" The bird stuck out her leg anyway."Thank you, Peine." Lily smiled sweetly at her newly-transformed owl.
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't go complaining to me when you find parakeet droppings in your slippers."
o-o
Lily reentered her bedroom the next morning after making and serving breakfast for the Dursleys. Harry had helped her cook, but hadn't stayed to eat for himself, explaining that he was going to a friend's house for the day. Lily was rather happy about this, hoping that whoever her son was going to see could cheer him up a bit.
She filled up the few hours' time before twelve, when, sure enough, a beautiful fiery phoenix appeared from nowhere in a rush of flames. Grabbing onto Fawkes by the tail, Lily felt the room spin and herself falling. Except she wasn't landing on the hard bedroom floor; in fact, she wasn't landing at all. She was purely spinning and falling, watching the room disappear in a blur of color. The experience was somewhat like using a Portkey, which Lily had never liked, with the slight improvement of holding onto a gorgeous bird instead of a rotten piece of rubbish (the last Portkey item she had used, over fifteen years earlier).
After a short while, Lily's feet made contact with solid stone ground, and she found herself standing in the middle of a moderately lit corridor in Hogwarts. Lily spun around to make sure she was where she was supposed to be. Yes, that the statue that guards Dumbledore's office. And there's that painting of the Four Founders. Haven't seen that one in a while.
Lily amused herself for a while by watching the Founders in their enormous, wall-sized portrait. Godric Gryffindor seemed to be in deep discussion with Helga Hufflepuff. Both parties looked very involved – using exaggerated hand gestures, pointing, that sort of thing. Rowena Ravenclaw was reading a book, apparently oblivious to her companions' conversation. Salazar Slytherin was conspicuously absent, probably having walked out of the portrait a long time ago.
Lily was so absorbed in the picture that she didn't hear the statue behind her slide open and close shut, or see the man that walked out of the secret door behind it. He was looking at his feet, and, as Lily turned, ran straight into her.
"- Oof!" Stars spun in front of Lily's eyes.
"Oh! I'm terribly sorry! I didn't see you there, are you alright?" The man grabbed her elbow to keep her from falling.
"Thank you –" Lily looked up into the man's eyes and stopped mid-sentence. She knew those eyes – regardless of how clouded they were, and that face – despite its haunted look…
"Remus?" Lily whispered disbelievingly.
Remus Lupin looked puzzled. "I'm sorry, have we met?"
Lily could have smacked herself. Idiot! Stupid, forgetful, no-good cow! Forgetting the plan entirely, just in a moment of shock…
"Oh, er – not personally, at least I don't think. We…we went to Hogwarts together. I was a few years behind you, in Gryffindor." Lily covered her mistake hastily.
Luckily, Remus seemed to accept her story. "What's your surname? I may know you after all."
"Er – Royce. Tabitha Royce." Lily replied automatically. Then horror sank in.
Oh, sod it! What if Harry owled him and mentioned that name? I would be ruined, the cover would be blown; it would all be over! And all the work Dumbledore's put in, over fifteen years of experiments and tedious notes, all because I was stupid enough to give my real false name! Oh damn…
Remus looked thoughtful for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, sorry. I don't know you."
Thank Merlin.
Lily nodded and smiled. "That's not surprising. You and your friends were very popular, and I – well, I wasn't. We didn't mix in the same circles, you see."
Remus offered her a small, strained smile. "Well, good day, then." He turned and walked away, towards the west end of the building.
"Good day!" She called after him. He waved, and disappeared behind a corner.
Lily cringed and rubbed her temples irritably. That was such a close call – she had been just seconds away from giving herself away – yet, she was so surprised at meeting her old friend again, whom she hadn't seen in fifteen years…
He must have been so upset with Sirius gone. It quickly dawned on Lily that Sirius and Remus had only had each other for the past two years. Sirius, obviously, had been on the run from the law, and couldn't have made many friends in his position. And Remus, being a werewolf, was shunned by most wizards. Now with Sirius dead, Remus must surely be facing more misery than he had since 1981.
Poor Remus, Lily thought sadly as she gave the password for the Headmaster's quarters and climbed the chilly stone steps. He thinks he's the only one left now.
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This chapter's a bit longer. And as you can see, there's very little Harry. The next chapter will similar – just about Lily's meeting with Dumbledore. Chapter 18, though, is all Harry!
As you can see above, I changed the genre of this story. There's a lot more humor in it than I expected, so I kicked out the mystery. You all know who Tabitha Royce really is, anyway.
Poll Question: Not really a trivia at all, just a question. Which ship/ships would you like me to use in this fic? Know this, however, before you get too excited: THERE WILL NOT BE A LARGE AMOUNT OF ROMANTIC CONTENT. It will only be mentioned a couple of times, and will not have any significant part to the plot. The ships are:
-Harry/Hermione
-Ron/Hermione
-Harry/Ginny
-Hermione/Other Weasley Brother
-Hedwig/Errol (I'll try my best with this one!)
This is a reward for being such great reviewers! If you guys review even more, I'll ask you for your input on other aspects of the story as well!
Review replies are on my profile!
Cheerio!
LaRohaZeta