--0o0o0—
Sirius closed the door lightly and sighed. Tears were threatening to fall- and he barely ever cried. He had probably cried only 3 times in his lifetime.
"Ready to-"Harry stopped. He saw Sirius' glassy eyes shining with tears.
"Let's go." Hermione said quietly. She rubbed his back a few times to comfort him.
With Harry and Hermione between Sirius, they walked to Harry's rooms in silence.
They sat down on the couches and drank tea. They were silent for a little while until Harry couldn't take anymore silence.
"So, who is Raye, exactly?" Harry asked Sirius.
"It's… complicated," Sirius started, "I fancied her- maybe as much as James fancied Lily. I finally got her to go out with me, and soon found out about her real self, and who her father was. All of my friends did. Now that I think back to it, I don't know why Peter didn't hand her over to Voldemort. You know, she was always nice to him… more than she needed to be. But anyways… once Lily and James' lives were in danger, we decided to cool it, just stop everything for now. But after I went to Azkaban, I never saw her again. Dumbledore said she disappeared soon after I got sent to Azkaban."
"D-do you… think she's… alive? In our time, I mean." Hermione asked hesitantly.
"I really don't know." Sirius muttered. He put his hands over his face. "This really sucks." His voice was muffled by his hands.
"Let's go to sleep. We're going to have to wake up early. Lily and Ginny are coming tomorrow." Hermione said.
Harry saw a pair of pajamas lying on his bed. He changed into them and got into bed. Once he fell asleep, he immediately saw a black swirl, and he fell into a dark setting. He looked around and saw stone walls surrounding him, and one large door. Everything was bare except for one chair. In that chair sat Lord Voldemort.
That scared the shit out of Harry. But he soon realized that Voldemort couldn't see him. Neither could the dozen Death Eaters in the room, cowering at Voldemort's feet.
"Where are Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle at this moment? They should be here." Voldemort hissed. "Black!"
Harry looked around the room and was surprised to see someone that wasn't a Death Eater. It was Raye! She had a short white nightgown on and a look of pure hatred as she stared at Voldemort. Raye didn't know Harry was there. He slowly walked towards her and touched her shoulder. She jumped a foot in the air. When she saw Harry, she sent him an incredulous look and her face paled. He sent her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and faced the Death Eaters. He did too.
"They were not seen since yesterday when they were to attack the Potter's house, and they've just come back a few hours ago. It looked like they've been through hell, My Lord, so we had them take a sleeping potion. Once they revived, we were going to have them speak to you of what happened." It was Bellatrix's voice.
"What happened to them?" the Dark Lord demanded.
"We do not know, My Lord, but I suspect it is the Hogwarts professor, Donovan."
"We have to do something about him. We will kill him…" Voldemort hissed.
"There's going to be a ball after the holidays, Master. We can kill him then." Bellatrix suggested. Harry rolled his eyes at her.
"Black!" Bellatrix winced. "Excellent idea." She looked relieved. "I believe you will serve me well in the future. You all can do whatever you want at the raid on that Ball, but Donovan's mine- and don't touch the mudblood Lily Evans or James Potter. I've got special plans for them. They have escaped from me and will not escape again! They will die." Voldemort hissed menacingly.
As the Death Eaters and Voldemort cackled evilly, the scene clouded away and Harry awoke, with sweat running down his face and his hair sticking to his head unattractively.
Harry put on his glasses and glanced at the clock. It was 5:30 in the morning. Harry was shaking madly. For the first time in two years, he had a vision.
'Raye was there! I've got to talk to her.' Harry thought. He shoved on his clothes from yesterday and apparated to the Gryffindor common room. He saw one person in there reading a book, and to his fortune, it was Raye.
"Raye!" Harry called. He swiped a hand across his forehead to wipe away the sweat.
Raye turned. She frowned slightly. She was in her short, satin white nightgown and had put on a peach colored silk robe over it. "Yes?"
"What happened?" Harry asked, walking over in a quickened pace.
"What do you mean?" Raye asked. She was slightly pale.
With all his manners gone, he said, "You know what happened, damn it! I haven't had one of those sickening visions for two years, and I just did last night. I know it had something to do with you- you were there too!"
"Harry? Is that you that's making all that unattractive noise?" a voice called from the portrait door.
"What?" Harry turned to see Sirius1 and Hermione. He ruffled his hair out of habbit.
Hermione's eyes widened. "H-Harry… y-your forehead! It-It… Merlin…" she whispered shakily.
Her knees gave away, but Sirius caught her before she fell.
"What now?" Harry asked, frustrated. He conjured a hand mirror and his eyes flew to his forehead. Harry received a huge shock.
His scar was back.
((Cliffy? No, I won't be mean!))
"… N-no… no!" Harry whispered, mortified. He was truly frightened now.
"Harry… what does this mean?" Sirius1 asked slowly.
"I'm the Boy Who Lived again." Harry said quietly.
"Helllllo people!" Sirius chirped as he, Remus, and James stepped down the stairs.
"Good morn- Harry what the hell is that thing on your forehead?" James asked.
"Holy shit!" Sirius exclaimed. "It looks just like a lightning bolt! Wicked!"
Remus frowned as he observed it. "It doesn't look like an ordinary scar. It's a Curse scar."
"It-it's my scar… the one I had from when I was the Boy Who Lived." Harry answered.
There was a moment of silence.
"It's my fault, isn't it?" Raye said quietly, standing up.
"No, it isn't." Sirius1 immediately said.
Sirius was staring at Raye's nice figure. He robe was opened and her nightgown was snug around her body. James hit him over the head and rolled his eyes.
"It was nobody's fault but Tom's." Harry said firmly.
"Er… we should get to James' house soon. I expect they'll be coming around 8." Remus said uncertainly, looking at his watch. Harry looked at the clock. It was 7:15.
"Food first, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed. To prove his point, his stomach growled loudly and he pointed at it. "See!" James and Remus sniggered.
"Watch it! I'm hungry!" Sirius warned.
"Let's go to the kitchens. Breakfast won't be out yet." Sirius1 said.
"We'll see you after the holidays, Raye." James said. Raye nodded.
"Yeah, have fun." Remus added. She nodded again.
"Good byeeee, Honey!" Sirius said loudly, with a grin plastered on his face.
Raye mildly glared at Sirius. Then she gave Sirius1 a tiny smile to reassure him that she wasn't mad at his past self, seeing that Sirius1 didn't want her to get mad at him.
"Wanna give me a good bye smooch?" Sirius asked hopefully.
Raye just rolled her eyes at him and went back to her book.
As the group was walking to the kitchens, Harry absentmindedly rubbed his reformed scar. Sirius reached up and tickled the pear and a door formed into the painting and they went inside. They were greeted by hundreds of house elves who shoved platters of food in their faces.
They had breakfast and flooed to James' house. In the kitchen, there was a note:
James,
We've left for work already. Fix some lunch. We might not be able to come back until very late tonight. The girls can stay overnight if the session goes on for a long time. We would love to meet that Lily you're always talking about! We love you, and be careful. Stay out of trouble.
Love, Mum and Dad
"Tell me, James, how often do you talk about our lovely Lilykins?" Remus asked, grinning.
"Every minute of every hour of every day." Sirius spoke up, grinning also.
Hermione looked highly amused. "You really like her, don't you?"
James nodded helplessly. Two pops were heard in the entrance room.
"We're heeere!" Ginny's voice sang from the room.
Harry nearly broke the kitchen door trying to get to Lily and Ginny. He stopped by the door, looking at Ginny looking around the house. Ginny spotted him and ran and jumped on him. He twirled her around and kissed her lovingly. He was grinning like mad. Harry got a good look at her. Her hair was slightly wavy. She was wearing light jeans and a sweatshirt.
"Hi, Lily." Harry said, his smile still on his face.
"Hello, Professor Donovan." Lily said with a warm smile.
"Hey, Lils." Remus said from behind. He walked forward.
She forgot he was one of the Marauders for a moment. "Remy!" Lily squealed. She rushed over and gave him a big hug.
James gave Remus a jealous look, and Remus grinned.
"Hello, my lovely Lilykins." Sirius said, grinning.
"Black." Lily acknowledged Sirius' presence.
"Er…" James started nervously. "H-hey, Lil-Evans."
Lily blinked. James Potter never stuttered.
"Okay, look, Potter. I'm willing to accept you as my," Lily gritted her teeth, "friend, but if you do one thing to mess it up, then forget it." Lily glanced at Ginny.
James' mouth fell open and he couldn't help but stare at her with wide eyes. Lily raised her eyebrows.
"Uh-uh… er, right." James managed to get out.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Are we going to get started?"
"Yes, follow me." Harry went to the basement into the dueling room and the rest followed him.
"We'll be using this room. As you can see, I have placed objects in here." Harry started.
There was silence and nobody said a word. Then, there was a snort, then some chuckles, and a few giggles. The whole room erupted with hysterical laughter.
"Merlin, what happened?" Sirius wheezed.
Everyone was on the ground, lying down and breathing heavily. They were all exhausted from laughing.
"You think we should start now?" Sirius said, "For real?"
Harry stood up reluctantly, and the rest sat up on the mats.
"Right, so, wand less magic is pretty much the hardest branch of magic. Not many witches and wizards can master it. It requires full concentration and a lot of patience. You need to concentrate on what you want to do, think of the spell, and make it happen." Harry explained. Everyone was hanging on to his words, except for Sirius1 who had learned it long ago. "Like this."
"Peur Domite!" Harry said. Sirius1 was now in a toga. He really didn't look that bad in it because he had a sturdily built body.
"That was easy, wasn't it? Very simple." Harry said.
"Easy for you to say… you're powerful." Sirius muttered.
"But sometimes I can't control my power, and that gets me in trouble… I could blast you off your feet if I was angry enough. Anyways, I'm going to give each of you an empty plastic gallon to practice on. For those who get it will move on to a full gallon." Harry said.
Once everyone got working, Harry walked around. Sirius1 accomplished it in about a minute, and Sirius was not far along behind. Remus got it done a little bit later, then Lily, Ginny, and Hermione. James was struggling a bit, but in the end, he got it. After they did full gallons, they were all exhausted.
"It takes a lot of your energy, eh?" James stated.
Harry chuckled. "Just rest for a few minutes, then we'll levitate each other with the Wingardium Liviosa." He said to everyone.
After five minutes or so, Harry had them all sit down so he could pair them up.
"Er… Remus and Sirius." Harry picked.
They got up and Remus easily lifted Sirius.
"Wheeee! I can fly, I can fly! I'm invincible!" Sirius shouted gleefully. Remus raised an eyebrow at him and Sirius fell to the ground with a soft thump, and Remus smirked at him.
Sirius had no problem levitating Remus. He was a natural at wand less magic.
"James… and Lily." Harry said with a slight smile.
Lily looked warily at James as they walked up to the mat.
"I'll do you." James suggested. Lily nodded.
James spoke, "Wingardium Liviosa!" it didn't work.
"Try again." said Harry.
James tried and tried nearly fifteen times. He grew really frustrated and roughly ran a hand through his mass of tangles.
"Just hurry up, will you?" It's easy!" Lily finally said, throwing her hands in the air.
"I will, if you weren't so damn heavy!" James said through gritted teeth.
Lily's eyes widened and her face got slightly red. She had angry tears in her eyes. James saw her glassy eyes.
"Lily-Lily, I'm-"
"Just stay away from me, Potter." Lily said emotionlessly.
Harry slapped his forehead at James' pure stupidity.
Lily rushed out of the room and hurried up the steps. James immediately followed. Harry and Ginny both followed them hastily.
Ginny caught James' arm as he walked across the entrance room and shook her head. James hung his head down and dragged himself into the living room.
Harry made a move to follow James, but Ginny held him back. Harry looked at her questioningly.
"I think I should talk to James… I know exactly what Lily's feeling right now, so I can explain the situation to him. You should talk to Lily and explain James' er, behavior." Ginny explained quietly.
Harry smiled and caressed her cheek gently. She always knew what to do. Ginny smiled slightly and walked into the living room to talk to James.
--
"Hey."
James turned around, expecting it to be Harry or Sirius, but not Ginny.
"Hi." he replied. Ginny sat close beside him.
"Do you understand why she got so angry?" Ginny asked him.
James shook his head. "I just knew I did something wrong because her eyes got all watery. I thought she was going to cry."
"James…" Ginny started, wondering how to explain this, "Girls, they tend to get really emotional and offended easily, especially about their figures and how they look. They liked being called beautiful and basically perfect, and they get angry or sad when someone, a guy especially, tells them they're fat, or ugly-"
"I didn't call her fat or ugly!" James protested.
"Well, to us, it's the same thing, anyway. When you said she was heavy, she thought you said she was fat, or weighed too much. Girls are sensitive about these things."
"But I was just so frustrated that I couldn't do it. And why does she care if I called her that? She doesn't care what I think." James wondered.
"Because you're a guy." Ginny said simply. She looked at him cautiously, "Now, try to be understanding if she's a bit angry with you for a few weeks-"
"But then she won't go to the Christmas Ball with me!" James said.
"Look, I'll try my best to help you out with Lily. But in the meantime, leave her alone. I promise you, you will go to the ball with Lily and she'll have fun." Ginny said firmly, inwardly wondering what she was getting herself into. She looked at him straight in the eye. Soft brown eyes met warm hazel.
At last, James cracked a smile.
"Thanks, Ginny, you're great." James said warmly.
"No problem. It's what I do best." Ginny said, grinning. They leaned in for a hug.
"I can't believe I'm going to marry Lily Evans!" James exclaimed after they parted from the hug. Ginny laughed.
"You know…" James said with evident hesitation. "You… have my approval and best wishes for you and Harry, even if I'm, you know, dead, and all."
Ginny stopped laughing. "Who said anything about marriage?" she asked seriously.
"You two seem serious enough, though. You and Harry are perfect." James said, smiling a bit.
Ginny half shrugged. "Well, I'm only 17."
"Yeah, I know, but later, when you're old enough." James replied.
Ginny nodded thoughtfully. "Well, then, if that ever happens, then thanks." she cocked her head at James. "You know, you should think about deflating your head a bit… you know, down with the ego, and up with the modesty."
James looked at her surprised. "Really? Lily said the same thing. Just a bit more harshly… but if two people say the same thing, then… maybe I will. Just a little."
"Well, let's go. The others will be waiting for us."
- - - - -
Harry walked to the door, got a cloak from the hook by the door, and stepped out into the snow. It was pretty chilly, but it was warm with his sweatshirt on. Harry couldn't see much, so he just let himself roam around, hoping to spot Lily somewhere. A few minutes later, he found Lily sitting on a large rock by a big pond that was coated with thick ice. She was shivering, as she only had a long sleeved shirt on. Harry jogged over to her and gently placed the cloak over Lily's shoulders. Lily turned around sharply, but relaxed when she saw Harry. Harry sat down beside her, staring out for a while.
"Thanks, Professor. For the cloak." Lily said quietly.
"Call me Harry." He offered insistently.
Lily slowly nodded.
"He really hurt your feelings, didn't he?" Harry asked. Hesitant to talk about this with her Professor, Lily tilted her head into a nod.
"Try not to take it personally-"Lily coughed abruptly, "-okay, er, he was just frustrated about the whole thing, he probably forgot who he was talking to- he didn't mean it. He would never in his right mind say that to you intentionally, that boy's crazy about you. He would probably understand if you ignore him for a while… it was his last chance, too." Harry said gently.
Lily stayed silent for a while. "I really don't know what do do." She finally said.
"Er, well… do you like him?" Harry asked cautiously.
"No. Not like that. I can't. But…but sometimes, he's decent enough. But at other times-" her voice hardened, "he's an egotistical, big headed prat."
"Ah, well, I guess you'll find out in time… are you still mad at him?" Harry asked.
Lily bit her lip. "I don't know… I guess I shouldn't take this too seriously. I don't want to act like a drama queen. But he's not my friend or anything." Lily said.
Harry nodded. "Let's go inside. The rest are undoubtedly waiting for us." He got off and jumped off the rock and held out a hand to help Lily down.
"Thanks, prof-Harry." Lily said. She smiled up at him shakily.
"No problem. I always like helping out… a student." Harry said, inwardly feeling sad that the only way he could talk to her was as a school professor.
Okay, another chapter finished. Not a very grand ending, but I had to stop somewhere. I think this will be a long story. There's going to be filler chapters, if you know what I mean. Like they don't have a significance in the story. Well- maybe a little. But anyways, hope you liked it! R&R!
