Chapter 26-The End of the Year
There's no feast like a Hogwarts feast, is what Wizards say. And there truly isn't, Ally could barely contain her excitement. She was happy and sad at the same time, happy to be going home and sad to be leaving the home that she had known for the past year. Lily had sympathized, she felt the same way.
The banners on the wall were decorated in Ravenclaw colors. Ravenclaw had won the house cup for the first time in five years. The Gryffindors didn't mind losing, at least it wasn't Slytherin.
Flint, it turned out, was caught using potions to enhance his team's performance in the Quidditch finals. Gryffindor was awarded the cup by default. Hufflepuff had come in second, and Ravenclaw was third. Fourth place was not given to Slytherin, since they had been disqualified.
Dumbledore arrived a few moments after Ally and Lily had. He stood and the talk died away instantly.
"Another year is finished," Dumbledore said happily. His demeanor was cheerful and tired. "Let me first; offer my congratulations to all of the seventh years who have just completed their N.E.W.T.s. They are, of course, graduating this year, and we will all miss them sorely."
A storm of applause and cheers broke out from the seventh years.
"Look, there's Alice!" Ally whispered.
Alice was sitting next to Frank and they were both clapping very loudly. Alice was cheering. As it turns out, they are one of the few students at Hogwarts who had completed there O.W.L.s with full marks. Several Ministry officials had come to offer them jobs. They turned each and every one down except for Alastor Moody, who they had at least listened to.
"And now," said Dumbledore. "a round of applause for all the fifth years that have just completed their O.W.L.s."
A rush of cheering came from all the fifth years. It had been a harsh time for them; their testing had been around when Hogsmeade had been attacked. Several students from Ravenclaw alone had fainted during the Defense Against the Dark Arts section.
"Ah, what a year it has been." Dumbledore continued once the applause died out. "We've made new friends...
"And new enemies... I believe you all know the danger that lies outside these stone walls. It's been a hard year. It's been a long year. But in the end, all one needs is friends from all over..."
His eyes wept the four tables in front of him.
"Friends who are brave, friends who are loyal, friends who are ambitious, and friends who are intelligent, together, we can defeat the dark days ahead of us. Count your friends, for some will not be there in the end."
A mummer rose up in the house tables. Dumbledore said odd things... sure, but how often does he give away warnings. Ally looked at Lily. Lily's one friend... she glanced at Sam, who met her eyes and she smiled. Sam's two. She looked down the Gryffindor table. Sirius is three, James is four, Remus is five... She looked at the other tables. I don't know any Hufflepuffs... That left the Slytherin table. Severus is six... I have six friends.
Ally looked up at the Headmaster. He bent his head at the students who were looking up at him. It was almost as if he was saying Are you sure...?
Ally nodded, even though the gesture was unnecessary. She saw several other students nod to. Dumbledore had that effect on you. He straightened up and raised his hands to draw all attention to him again.
"And now," his eyes twinkled, "Onto lighter subjects. I believe that we still have the house cup to award! So far, in fourth place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred ninety two points, Slytherin stands in third, with four hundred ten points. Gryffindor landed in second place, with four hundred forty three points.
"And Ravenclaw is in the lead with four hundred seventy points."
Large applause broke out from the Ravenclaw table. They stamped their feet and clapped their hands. All the other tables clapped politely, Slytherin the least of all. They wee still mad that they were disqualified from the cup. Flint looked sour.
"And now, time for dessert. I've said my part. It's time for you to do the rest."
Dumbledore sat down while the students applauded. It was confused applaud, yes, but he was still clapped for. Ally wondered if she should count her friends again.
(A/N Cookies awarded to anyone who could possibly figure out what's happening... This next part is a big hint, if you're smart enough to look for it.)
Hogsmeade Train Station...
Ally and Lily stood in the mass of students at the Train Station. The scarlet engine gleamed brightly in the morning sun. Smoke billowing from it's top. Ally turned to see Lily saying goodbye to a few of the students that Ally didn't know.
Ally watched Severus board the train, far away from them, and near the end of the train. He waved slightly and Ally and Lily, simply to be silly, ran and gave him a goodbye hug. He couldn't resist rolling his eyes and hugging them back... slightly. The last time he had said goodbye, at the previous Dueling Club, Lily and Ally wouldn't let go of him.
"You are going to let me board the train," he told them as less of a request, more of an order.
Ally shook her head childishly.
"Nonsense, not until you promise to write to us about how horrible life is without us."
"Fill us in on all the dramatic details!" Lily said.
"Don't leave a depressed comment out!"
He sighed and finally agreed to write. Lily and Ally had threatened that if he didn't, they would send thousands of pink letters with hearts on them. Ally and Lily left Severus alone after that, figuring he needed to recover. They went to find Sam.
Sam was easy to find, she was talking to Peter quietly near the middle of the train, about to board.
"Sam!" Ally cried and ran to give her a hug.
Lily joined her and also gave Sam a goodbye hug. Sam laughed it off and returned the gesture.
"We'll miss you!" Ally said. "You should come visit us!"
"I can't sorry." Sam said, not really sounding sorry. "My family wants to go on vacation. Were visiting an aunt I have in London. I'll be busy all summer."
"That's too bad." Lily said, and then whispered in her ear. "You'll miss the Animagi transformation!"
"I know! I'm sorry, but it is illegal..." she pouted. "You're not mad I hope!"
"Of course not," Ally and Lily said.
"Good," Sam smiled and then waved them goodbye. She boarded the train with Peter, waving as she did.
Ally turned around. Alice was coming toward her, waving a letter.
"Al!" she said. "Hey, Al!" Ally waved at her and met her halfway. Alice came running and shoved the paper under her nose.
"Read it." she said cheerfully. "You'll never believe it."
Ally looked at her curiously and then cast her eyes down to the paper. Ally shrieked happily as she read it and enveloped Alice in a hug.
"You're an Auror!" she said happily.
"Frank too! We're going to be trained by Alastor Moody himself. He's brilliant Ally! A little bit off, sure, but brilliant! I can't wait, I start this summer! The Ministry's already called me in."
"That's great!" Lily said, smiling. "Who'd have thought it? I always knew you had a thing for Dueling."
"Thanks Lily." she said. "I have to go meet up with Frank now; we're going to go say goodbye to Professor McGonagall. I'll see you sometime!"
In a blur of robes, Alice disappeared into the crowd. Ally missed her already; she had been so nice all those times, always very patient with Ally's lack of common sense. Ally turned to see Lily watching over to the left of her.
"What is it?" Ally asked.
"They found us." she said.
Ally didn't need her to explain who it was. Before Lily could protest, James had swept her up in a hug and twirled her around.
"James! James! Put me down!" she shouted. "This isn't funny!"
It must have seemed funny to James though, because he was laughing as he set her back down. "Ah, Lil." he said fondly. "I'll miss you."
"I won't miss you."
"No, I think you will."
"No I won't."
"Yes."
"No."
Ally rolled her eyes and said goodbye to each of the Marauders. Once again, she thanked Sirius for the watch she had been given. James and Lily were still bickering when Ally had to break them up. They said their last goodbye's to the Marauders and finally boarded the train, after dropping their luggage off, of course.
Ally and Lily found a compartment near the back of the train, far away from prying eyes and settled into their seat.
"Make sure the door's locked." Ally said.
Lily stood and shut the door, sliding the lock into place she took out the book that they had been studying from for the past half year. Lily placed the book in front of them.
"Do you want to go through the incantation one more time?"
Ally could sense that she was nervous, Ally was nervous too. But she didn't want to jinx her chances by studying to fiercely.
"No, I'm good," Ally said. "I think I'll be happy with what I've got. If I get a bunny tail, who cares? It was going to happen eventually."
Lily laughed lightly and flipped through the pages to where they were. She left the book open and handed it to Ally.
"You know what would be really funny?"
"What?"
"If Tom Riddle has a bunny tail."
Ally laughed at the image of Lord Voldemort hopping around and took the book.
"Do you want to go first?"
"It doesn't matter to me, either way; I'll have to do it eventually. You can go first if you want to though; I'm not in a hurry."
"Thanks!" Ally said happily and took the book.
Following the instructions, she held her wand up high and took a deed breath, hoping that her Latin would pull through.
"Ostendo mihi ut ego sum, pondero in bestia Regnum."
Lily tensed and watched as Ally continued with her incantation, biting her lower lip in worry.
"Exsisto ego no, ego volo, vel ego run."
Ally felt her thoughts clear rapidly; she was getting cold and numb. Her mind was rapidly drifting off. The noise of the train faded from her ears. The light in the room was disappearing. Dark spots clouded her vision and slowly took over her eyes. She could barely felt the wand on her finger tips.
"Ostendo mihi ut EGO sum in lux lucis of meus macula. Ostendo mihi ut EGO sum castimonia planta quod physics ut an bestia."
Lily watched as Ally slumped backward and closed her eyes as she muttered the final sequence of the incantation.
"Muto mihi quod plumbum mihi obviam a simplex vita. Dimidium vir , dimidium bestia."
Lily breathed a sigh of relief as Ally slumped back on her seat, in a trance. She said everything correctly, what a relief. Not a word out of place and not a word out mispronounced. Lily waited with her fingers crossed as Ally left this world and journeyed to her own subconscious to learn what her Animagus form was.
Ally's mind...
"...dimidium bestia..." Ally finished. Her vision was already gone and she could hear and feel nothing around her. The train faded from around her and she sat up.
She was surrounded in a surreal atmosphere. It was foggy and white. She could see water beneath her and the fog was cold. Slowly, ever so slowly, she stood up, her wand gripped in her hand tightly. She couldn't see anything beyond the fog, and her thoughts were getting away with her.
Had she said the Latin correctly, had she missed a phrase or—or even changed a word? Will she be stuck in here? Will she be unable to transform? What if she didn't even have and Animagus form... what if she was never meant to become one?
Worse case scenario... she was a fish... there was water beneath her...
Ally panicked and screamed for Lily.
"LILY! HELP! I THINK I'M A FISH!"
A shadow behind her jumped and skittered slightly. Ally jumped to and spun around to face...a distant shadow.
The shadow was running around in circles, clearly startled by Ally's scream. She could clearly see four legs and Ally breathed a sigh of relief. I'm not a fish... what am I?
She peered closer, through the fog, she could make out a skittish animal that stopped abruptly and stared at her in curiosity.
Ally stepped closer.
The beast stepped closer.
Ally took one more step...
She could see it now. It had pointed ears and black, spotted, glossy fur that covered its entire body. It pounced forward and trailed around Ally, Ally noticed that it was smaller than a normal beast of its kind. But it was true that Ally was shorter than most other people. They seemed to get along rather well. Ally sat down and petted the animal. It purred in its throat and sat down next to Ally.
She rubbed its head fondly. I'm glad it's this animal; I think I would die if I was a fish or bird. A bird would be hard to be, because you would have to learn to fly.
The last thing that Ally saw was her own blue eyes staring back at her before she was snapped back to reality.
The Compartment...
Lily watched as Ally tired and sat up abruptly. It was still light out, and Ally was glad that she hadn't taken long. Lily sat up eagerly and faced her friend.
"So...?" she asked.
"I'm not a fish!" Ally let out a jubilant yell and bounced in her seat. "Now it's your turn! I have to know what you're going to be, it's killing me to know!"
"Not so fast!" Lily said, laughing. "What exactly are you. You haven't told me yet."
"In a second," Ally looked at her watch, it was showing a dazed face that said 'Time to tell Lily' on it.
"How long was I out of it? It can't have been that long. It felt like only two minutes..."
"It was far longer than that..." Lily said lightly. "Try two hours."
"Two hours!" Ally exclaimed. "What am I going to do for two hours while you find out what your Animagus form is!"
"I read a book."
"I don't read books."
"You could research your Animal."
Ally considered this for a moment. She did want to know more about what she was going to become, it wouldn't hurt to get a little more information. How fast it was... what it can do...
"Alright," Ally said. "On one condition."
"What?"
"We don't tell each other our Animagus transformation until you're finished with your trance. I don't want to tell you mine yet."
"Fine," Lily said and crossed her arms. "But I'm going to need my book back when you're finished with it."
Ally took the book from the seat next to where she had been in a trance for the last two hours, and handed it back to Lily. Lily took the book and raised her wand.
The words rolled off her tongue easily and smoothly. It was more accurate and less halting then when Ally had done it.
She watched Lily slump back in her seat and she knew what was happening. Lily had probably already lost her sense of sight and feeling. Her eyes were still open. They were pale and distant.
"...dimidium bestia..." Lily finished. Her eyes rolled back and she slumped in her chair. She hand fell and her wand gave of a burst of spectacular white light. Ally blinked her eyes several times and shook her head; spots were still in her vision.
Lily forgot to mention that... Ally bent down and picked up the spell book. She closed it with a snap and then stopped when she was about to put it away.
Isn't there an index of animals...? she trailed off and opened the book again. Sitting down she flipped to the back of the book. She quickly found the animal she was to become and began to read.
...temperamental...
Ally remembered the time she had screamed murder when she had turned into Lily. Yeah, this is the animal for me...
The more she read the more she could identify with the beauty of the animal she was about to become. She smiled happily and closed the book. She liked what she was about to become. It was a good match for her. She was also glad, that, despite it all, the animal that she was going to change into was very capable when it came to fighting. She didn't want an animal that couldn't fight. That would mean that all her time at Dueling Club had been wasted.
Ally rested in her seat and continued reading. Time passed, and Ally grew impatient as the entranced Lily made no sign of movement. Distantly, she heard footsteps and voices.
"Where are they? We've checked every compartment from here down."
That was James' voice. Ally looked over at Lily, still slumped in her chair, in her trance. Then she looked at her watch that told her 'still fifteen more minutes...'
She started to panic. The footsteps got closer. If James sees this what will he say? Will they catch us and question us this is illegal! I can't believe this! I've go to hide Lily!
She frantically looked around her. Book, book, I've got to hide the book first. Ally stashed the book in an overhead compartment next to a blanket. Then took the blanket and threw it over the book. She just hoped the Marauders weren't going to notice anything.
She slammed the overhead compartment shut and noticed too late that she had made too much noise.
"I think I heard something."
"Is that them?"
"I think it came from this one."
Ally could hear the door turning and then a click. She tensed and froze where she was, eyes drifting to Lily.
"It's locked."
Ally breathed a sigh of relief. She gave a 'thumbs up' to the unconscious Lily and grinned to herself. They wouldn't be caught today. Ally was glad that they had decided to do this on the train.
"Well."
"Well, what?"
"Well, are you a wizard or not?"
"Oh, right. Alohomora."
Ally stopped, a mortified expression on her face, before she slammed her body against the door and refused to budge. She drew out her wand and locked the door again.
"Someone's on the other side."
"Who is it?"
"Hey! Who are you?"
Ally stopped and thought for a moment. She had to have some leeway with the Marauders. They would go when she told them too... right? Maybe if she asked nicely...
"It's Al," she called through the door.
"Al! Is that you? Open the door."
"Sorry," Ally said, while holding the door closed. "I can't do that. Go away now."
"What?" that was Sirius. "You can't do that to us, we've been looking for you for an hour! Open the door, Al, or we'll barge right in!"
"You guys!" Ally said pleadingly. "I really can't open the door! Please trust me when I tell you to go away!"
"Alright..."
Ally breathed a sigh of relief. They were going to leave. She knew the Marauders had to have some sort of decency, no matter how well they hid it.
"I guess that means we're breaking in."
Ally stood, shocked, and mentally slapped herself. Leeway with the Marauders, very funny, Ally, laugh it up, now, they'll find us out. She stopped and a light bulb turned on in her head.
"Wingardium Leviosa." she whispered. Lily's body, still in a trance, floated up and Ally gently placed her into the overhead compartment. She still held the door with all her might as she heard the Marauders counting down.
"Three..."
Ally levitated a blanket over Lily. She closed the compartment using her wand and Lily was obscured from anyone's view.
"Two..."
Ally kissed her wand and jumped back onto the seat, safely out of the way that the Marauders were soon to come.
"One..."
All four boys ran into the door. Wearing a shocked expression Ally saw each Marauder run into the window and fall down. Ally was bent over laughing at the look on Peter's face. Every boy looked confused and bewildered. James was rubbing her nose tenderly. Sirius had a red bump on his face, and Peter had a welt just above his lip. Remus was the least beat up; he had been in the middle and received the least damage.
By now that Marauders were looking at Ally murderously, but that only caused her to laugh more, their glared burning a hole in her head.
"What's so funny about causing us pain?" James said spitefully.
Ally was laughing to hard to answer and the Marauders picked themselves up from the floor. Sirius and Peter sat next to Ally and James and Remus sat opposite her. Together, they waited for her to stop laughing. Eventually she calmed down and began to talk to them.
"So what did you guys want?" Ally asked, wiping a tear from he eye.
"We just wanted to see how you guys were," James rubbed his nose again. "I didn't think that you would be apart though."
"What?" Ally asked, clueless.
"Where's Lily, aren't you two riding the train together?" Remus repeated for Ally.
"Oh," Ally thought for a moment. "We were, but then I drifted off, tired from the feast last night, and she left. Probably went to say goodbye to a few friends."
"Oh."
Darn it... I thought that would get rid of James... Perhaps he's thinking that she'll come back. I have to say something that will motivate him to leave, the Marauders will follow. It has to be something that's more important to him then Lily...
"She probably will even say goodbye to some of her Slytherin friends."
"Okay." said Remus and James.
"Slytherin, why does Lily have friends in Slytherin!" Sirius shot up from his seat in protest.
Yes...! Ally thought. I knew that that would get him, I just thought James would get riled up too.
"Well, I have friends in Slytherin too."
Sirius stopped as a look of horror crossed his face. Then he started to seethe and twitch a little. Ally was delighted to see the look of fury on his face.
"You... have friends... in Slytherin?" he snarled.
"Of course," Ally said lightly. "That whole... Gryffindor hate Slytherin thing is so over. Remember what Dumbledore said?" she waved her hand carelessly.
"A—what—"
Ally smiled triumphantly. She looked down at her watch. 'Almost time! Hurry!' She looked at the overhead compartment that contained Lily and the book. It was time to put the topper that would send Sirius over the edge.
"Of course," Ally said slyly. "I'm great friends with Severus."
"WHAT!" roared Sirius. "THAT SLIMY LITTLE--!"
"SIRIUS!" called Remus. "Calm down!"
James and Remus pushed Sirius back down into his seat. Ally noticed with a grim expression that her watch now said. 'Cutting it close, aren't you?'
She tried to persuade them to leave again. This time she was getting a little frantic. "You know—she won't be back for a while. She probably won't even be back, I mean, how do you know she isn't looking for you! You should go now."
"What are you talking about?" James asked. "She has to come back sooner or later. And if she's looking for us, she'll look here."
Ally looked down at her watch in alarm. It flashed 'GETTING REALLY NEAR!' she jumped and turned back to the Marauders.
"What about your friends—surely you have to say goodbye—somebody must miss you. You should really get going now."
"Nope!" James said.
Ally looked at her watch again. 'SHE'S GOING TO WAKE UP!'
"We've already said goodbye to every one we know. We just wanted to catch you two before you went. Why do you want us to le—?"
THUMP!
Lily tumbled out of the overhead compartment. She screamed and landed on the seat below her, the seat that James happened to have been sitting in. She landed on his lap and sat, shocked for a little while.
"Lily!" Ally said cheerfully.
The Marauders looked shocked, especially James, whose mouth was open. Every one was staring at Lily and Ally in turn. Remus started to laugh at how ridiculous it all was. Lily looked mortified. Sirius was still angry that Lily and Ally knew his arch enemy, and Peter was giggling quietly to himself.
"How nice of you to drop in," Ally said. "Though, I do think your timing was rather bad. Normally you're very punctual Lily."
Lily looked up at James and shrieked. She jumped out of his lap and brushed her self off. She looked from Ally to the four Marauders in confusion. Then she flipped her hair back and quite coolly said.
"I don't think my timing was well either, but what can one do? I see the Marauders came to see us off the train, how nice of them."
"Didn't you just come out of the overhead compartment?" Remus asked with a smile.
Lily and Ally looked at each other, a silent conversation passed, and then they answered in unison.
"No."
Platform Nine and Three Quarters...
The train came to a slow stop at Kings Cross Station. Ally and Lily could see the large crowd of parents and relatives waiting for the students to disembark. Throughout the entire trip, Lily and Ally, had not been able to get rid of the Marauders, who had made it their job to bring up every subject imaginable and talk for hours about it. Lily and Ally stood up and said goodbye to them as they left the compartment. Ally was glad to see the backs of them. There were really pushing her good mood.
She turned to look outside. There was no sign of their parents yet. The crowd was thinning and Ally could make out a clear path through.
"Let's get our bags." Lily said.
Ally agreed and they grabbed all their things, including the hidden book about Animagi, and left the train. The train station was still crowded, to say the least. Ally and Lily found a small spot next to a stone column to put down their things and sit down.
"Alright," Lily said. 'On the count of three... We say it."
"Okay."
"One...two...three.."
"Tiger."
"Panther."
Ally stopped and squealed in happiness. She hugged Lily. Ally and Lily laughed and joked about how they were both cats. She was happy that she had waited for them both to tell each other. This was going to be hard, they knew, but it was definitely worth it. She was relieved that Lily had gotten something like she had.
"What are we going to do about the summer?" Ally asked. "We have to arrange a meeting of some kind, and we have to start meditating now."
"You could stay at my house," Lily suggested. "I'm going to need all the company I can get. Petunia's inviting her boyfriend over. It's getting to be serious. I don't know if I can stand it."
"I'll ask my mum."
"Good, and remember, meditation starts early tomorrow. Then at lunch—"
"Then at dinner. I know." Ally sighed.
"Just be happy you don't have to endure Petunia's gossip."
Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust and stood up.
"I think I see your uncle."
She pointed toward the wall. Ally's uncle had just passed through the barrier and was waving jovially toward Ally. Ally waved back.
"And I think I see your family."
Far away from the others, two red heads were talking happily to another wizard that Ally recognized as the Arithmancy professor. The woman looked very nice and pleasant, a lot like Lily looked. Next to her, her husband, was wearing a suit and talking rapidly. Beside them looked like a very sour teenager. She was doing her lip gloss and sneering at anyone who passed her by. Ally could see her muttering under her breath.
Petunia Evans was wearing a hot pink shirt and a tight red top that could have used an extra yard of fabric. Ally couldn't have called her pretty, she was just plain... plain faced and plain looking. She was holding up a small hand held mirror with the word 'Petunia' inscribed on the back of it. Her face looked like it held at least five pounds of make-up.
The hair she had was tied up tightly to avoid clinging to her face, different from Lily's, who always had her hair down. Ally wondered if Lily was adopted, there was no way that Lily could be related to that monstrosity in the train station. Her high heels clicked in impatience and she shot Lily a glare that clearly said, 'keep my waiting, I dare you...'
Lily nodded glumly. "Please tell me you're coming."
"After seeing that beast," she nodded at Petunia. "I think I may have to for moral reasons. We're turning seventeen this summer."
"No longer restricted from using magic..."
"This summers' going to be great." Ally said, standing up.
The Evans' finally walked to where Lily and Ally still stood; a second later they were joined by Ally's uncle.
"Dave Pierce." her uncle said, grinning happily from ear to ear. "I assume that you are Lily's parents?"
"Why yes!" Lily's mother said. "Are you Ally's father?"
"Uncle." he said gruffly.
Ally's uncle and the Evans' chatted lightly about summer plans. Ally was delighted to hear that Lily's plan to invite her over was already going smoothly. Then, Ally turned to see Petunia's face three inches from hers. Ally's face blanched at the smell of her overpowering perfume.
"So..." she sneered. "I suppose you're one of them?"
"Er—" Ally said. "Sorry, what do you mean?"
"You." she pointed at Ally, though Ally thought that was unnecessary. "Are one of Lily' friends from that school of hers... Hogwarts."
Ally immediately began to realize that Petunia Evans would, in no way, ever be kind to her. She spat out the name of Hogwarts like it was venom. Ally turned to look at the Hogwarts express. What was the point of this question if Petunia had just seen Ally disembark?
"Well," Ally said slowly. "Yeah..."
Lily soon saw what was happening, and she also saw the look on Petunia's face. She quickly stepped over to intervene before her sister said something that would anger her friend, she had a knack for doing that.
"Not now, Petunia," Lily said. "Later..."
"Fine." Petunia stepped away a little. "Just tell that little... thing... to stay away from my Vernon." she fingered the necklace that was hanging down her front. Ally had just enough time to make out the words 'My Sweetheart' before her uncle appeared at her side.
"I'm afraid you are going to get acquainted with Lily's sister later, Ally." her uncle said, smiling. "But it's time for us to leave, lots to do. You have to see your new house!"
Ally was reminded of how her parents had moved while she was away at Hogwarts. She sighed and suddenly wondered if they had gone through her things while they moved, she hoped they hadn't.
"Oh," she said dejectedly. "Yeah I forgot."
She turned to her best friend and put on a sad face. Even though Ally and Lily knew they would see each other in a few days, at the most, in a week.
"Bye."
"Bye."
Ally saw her friend disappear into the crowd, along with her family. Petunia shot Ally one last glare and Ally's uncle steered Ally away from the crowd.
"There's one in every family." he said offhandedly. Ally knew what he meant as they passed through the barrier. Though, she wondered how her uncle had picked up on Petunia's attitude.
She sighed inwardly, wondering what was going to happen. Summer would be one thing, but their lives would be another. How long will it be until the war affects them? How long will it be until the war hurts Hogwarts? How many layers of lip gloss will Petunia put on?
(A/N I'm still trying to decide if I should put another small chapter in about a letter from Lily that tells her where to go and when to come. It also would set up the sequel... Hmm.
And that reminds me. This is THE END of this fic. I have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. Now I'm starting another story about their summer. It'll be the sequel. This is what I'm thinking will happen; it could change at any moment. (Not in any particular order...)
Ally meets Evans...
Lily and Ally work on meditation.
Vernon... need I say more?
Dinner with Vernon.
Vernon Propose... gasp
Something BAD happens... not telling you, though.
Vernon speeds up wedding.
Something happen between James and Vernon. Why? You have to find out...
Wedding, something happens between Petunia and Lily.
Meditate more... blah, blah, blah... and the grand finale.
(Optional) Diagon Alley scene. Not sure about this one... I may fit it in somehow. It's sort of sketchy... but has potential.