Yeah I have a lot of extra stuff in my chapters that isn't really necessary except as character development so I keep it. :P
Thank you for everyone who reviewed! I really really really really really really like reviews!
Oh and my friend and I made a Harry Potter Romance Award! We need nominees and voters! More information is on the webpage. To get to the website, go to my profile page. The link is at the very top.
I swear I'm not drunk, high, or anything else! Even if I do act like it, look like it, smell like it, taste like it, and feel like it! Nah I'm just sleep deprived!
Disclaimer: Uhh…uhh….uhh… I got nothin'. I didn't really get the point of these things anyways…
Lily Evans stopped into a high-ceilinged room decorated with flashes of blinding white and paler tones of ivory. Chairs were placed all around the room and matched perfectly with the upholstery. The chairs looked inviting yet no one sat in them. Lily looked around nervously. There were twenty or so people filling the giant room. The others looked nervous too. They all paced around or stared into space. Lily wondered what was wrong with the chairs. James stepped up behind her.
"Relax Lily. We're not going to take a test!" joked James.
"I am not that nervous before tests!" protested Lily. James just smirked.
"What are you here for?" interrupted a nervous looking young man.
"The Council called us," said James shortly. He didn't like the look of this man.
"Honey! Be nice!" said Lily. "Don't mind him. He's just... well he just get's jealous easily."
"What! I do not!" said James. The man eyed the two nervously.
"I'll just be going then," said the man hesitantly.
Lily tried to smile kindly at the man but it turned out to be a weird grimace. The man edged away from the two. "Now look what you've done!" accused Lily rounding on James.
"Me?" asked James, eyes wide, pretending innocence. Lily growled at him, showing just a bit of teeth.
"I love it when you're mad," whispered James softly in Lily's ear wrapping his arms around her waist. Lily wiggled trying to get out.
"Stop it!" growled Lily wiggling even harder. James just laughed.
"James and Lily Potter!" called a voice at the end of the hall. James let go of Lily and the two walked forward towards a pair of wide, double doors. They stepped through and faced the Council of the Dead. The Council sat on raised benches in a semi-circle around the room. One member sat in the center and higher than the rest. He was the chief.
"We, the Council of the Dead, have decided to allow you, James and Lily Potter, revisit the mortal world in order to see your son Harry Potter," announced the Chief Councilor. Lily and James smiled happily. "But," announced the man direly, "there are rules. Lily stopped smiling, and after a moment, so did James.
"W-what rules?" asked Lily timidly after a few moments silence.
A women a few seats to the right of the first man leaned forward. She had a motherly look about her. "Don't worry my dears. Nothing to worry about. Just some basic, simple guidelines." The women smiled at the two Lily smiled hesitantly.
"They aren't just guidelines," admonished a elderly stern looking gentlemen a few seats to the left of the first. "These are important guidelines! If you break these, you'll break the order of the cosmos! Everything will fall," he growled. Lily shifted nervously.
"Talk about pressure," whispered James cheekily. Lily elbowed him in the stomach. He just grunted, and then grinned cheekily back at her. She sighed. Boys would always be boys.
"There are guidelines you must follow," continued the first man. "If you do not, there will be punishments."
"Severe punishments" added another Councilor warningly.
"First off," said the first Councilor, "you must never under any circumstances tell anyone in the mortal world of what happens after you die." He paused.
"Why," asked James unafraid.
"Because," said the woman who spoke earlier, "if you tell the mortals what happens, they will no longer be afraid of death and will become reckless. We can't have the after life being overfilled with souls."
"The punishment for breaking this rule," said the second gentleman who spoke, "is that you will be immediately pulled back into the after life with no chance to go back and with the removal of your mortal world glass." Lily gasped. A mortal world glass was a mirror that allowed you to see the movement of those still in the mortal world. The removal of this glass meant that she could no longer see her son Harry.
"The second rule is that you are not to draw attention to yourselves in a way that will make people suspect that you are really the "deceased" Lily and James Potter."
"What would that include," asked Lily who was beginning to relax.
"No talking about your past life. No acting like James and Lily Potter around those who used to know you. Just don't draw that kind of attention to yourselves."
"The punishment for this is immediate withdrawal from the mortal world with no chance to go back. We don't want suspicious wizards and witches. Especially smart ones who might be able to break through the barrier of life and death and mix the two entities," said the second man. James noticed he always gave out the punishments and dubbed him Punishment Giver inside his head. The man reminded James of a certain snotty boy in his year by the name of Severus Snape. Snape would never pass up a chance to tattletale or punish anyone he could get his greasy paws on.
"The third rule is that you must act like you are both the age of seventeen."
"Failure to do this will first result in a reprimand. With a repeated offence, you will be brought back to the afterlife," said the Punishment Giver.
"From now on, you will no longer be addressed and Lily and James Potter. You must choose new names. You are allowed to pick these new names but you must respond to them. Also, don't pick names of people you know. That just makes it confusing. So what will these new names be? You must pick both first and last."
They both stopped and thought for a bit. Finally, Lily reached a decision.
"How about Lorali? Lorali Taylor." She looked at James. "Is that alright with you honey?"
James stared at her. "Lorali. That does have a nice ring to it. I think I like it."
"So what's yours honey?"
"Mine? I'm still not sure. Does Aidan sound good? How about Daron?"
"Aidan sounds good. That's a very different name though," mused Lily. "Will you be able to remember?"
"I remember everything!" said James striking a heroic pose and looking at Lily smugly. Lily poked him hard in the stomach and he deflated.
"Everything huh? Do you remember my name?"
"Of course I do! It's." James paused.
"I knew it! Come on James. We have to remember. I don't want our one chance to see Harry ruined because you forgot my name!" cried Lily desperately.
"It's in there somewhere. Laura? No, that's not it." James looked at Lily pleadingly. "Please tell me?" he begged sending her the puppy eyes. Lily glared daggers at him.
"It's Lorali! Lorali Taylor!"
"Laura, Lorali, same dif," said James casually. Lily sighed. "I still think Aidan is a good name though," continued James. "Aidan Black. Now that's a nice name."
"You cannot use any name that belongs to anyone you know," said the Punishment Giver.
James growled under his breathe. He had always been close to Sirius. They were like brothers. He would have liked to take his surname. It's not like Sirius would have minded. "Fine. I'll be Aidan Prest. Prest isn't a name taken by someone I know now is it?" he asked sarcastically.
"No it is not," said the Punishment Giver without any hint of emotion.
"A few more rules and you will be done. Don't act like you know each other unless you are introduced by others. Don't act like you know anybody for that matter unless you are introduced by others."
"Failure to follow these rules will be a warning and then withdrawal to the after life."
"Also, you appearances will be changed so no one can recognize you as teenage Lily and James. To go along with these changes, you need to make up believable stories about your past. Start with where you moved from and go from there. One last thing," said the Chief Councilor, "if anything goes wrong, you will not receive any help from the after life. That means that if Voldemort gets his hands on you and destroys your soul, we will not be there to prevent it."
Lily gulped nervously. She had forgotten about how dangerous Voldemort was in the comfort and safety of the afterlife. Now going back to a world poisoned by the terror he caused would be hard.
"From this moment on, you two are on your own," said the Chief Councilor dismissing the pair.
"Good luck," said the motherly Councilor before Lily and James turned to leave.
HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP
A soft thud broke the morning air as a pair of great doors shut on the heels of the departing Lily and James Potter, not Lorali Taylor and Aidan Prest. Birds twittered in song overheard as they greeted the morning. Dew still hung in delicate sparkling drops on gently unfurling buds and fresh green leaves. The sun shone merrily down on the picturesque morning and a soft, questing breeze blew through the world gently ruffling Lily's hair. With a small flutter, chirp and hop, a baby bluebird in the high arching trees leaped up in the air and hovered for a few moments above it's protective nest. As gravity called, a natural instinct awakened in the baby and it flutters it's bright blue wings taking the first ungraceful yet beautiful flaps of flight. On this morning, Lily and James were too busy with their individual thoughts to notice the beauty and wonder of nature.
"We have to make up stories," said Lily breaking the silence.
"Stories. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lily Evans. Now this girl was very," Lily elbowed him in the stomach successfully shutting him up.
"Hey! I was making up a story! What was that for?" he protested rubbing his tender stomach.
"You know what they mean! We have to make up lives for ourselves."
"Oh that's easy. Me, Sirius, Remus, and Peter always do that."
"It's Sirius, Remus, Peter and I, James."
"Oh who cares! The thing is, we just need to make up a few parts and the rest will fall right into place." He smiled cheekily. "It's easy. How do you think me and Sirius got all those girls to chase us? We weren't really that interesting!" Lily glared at him.
"Did you make things up with me too?"
"You? Never!" exclaimed James playing the innocent. His eyes gave him away with a slight flicker that luckily, Lily didn't catch. James had lied to Lily about one thing. When they went out, Lily had made him promise to stop harassing Snape. What she didn't know was that he still hexed Snivilus. Just not in front of Lily anymore.
"So what do we need to make up?" asked Lily.
"Oh just a few things," said James for once actually serious.
HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP HP
Author's note:
How was it? Sorry it took me so long to type up! I was having trouble thinking of rules and their new names. I don't like the ones I wrote down but I made myself accept it or else you guys would never get your story. :D