Standing There By You
Ch. 6- Frantic Friends and Farewells
Disclaimer: Let it be known... I hearby declare that by legal binding matters, any recognizable material belongs to the infamous J.K.Rowling.
a.k.a- it's not mine.
A/N (#1): Now, remember, I took a poll, so don't yell at me for moving the story along so quickly. Okay, now, on with the story...
The excitement of the new environment gradually died down, and the new students began to settle in and feel quite at home. Soon spectacular blankets of white spread across the grounds, giving Hogwarts a mystical holiday feeling and filling it with Christmas cheer. Remus had to leave for break several days early, announcing his mum was once again sick- it seemed to be a rather common occurrence, and his mates were getting a bit worried. While most students enjoyed the relaxing break greatly, there were few who came back without so much as a little bit of Holiday Spirit. Lily and Sirius in particular seemed a bit perplexed, Lily at having to spend an aggravating week with her antagonizing sister, and Sirius at facing the wrath of the malicious Black family. Nonetheless the first years arrived back at Hogwarts fresh and ready to finish the year. They had more homework then they could ever imagine, which consumed most of their time. Before they knew it spring had come and gone, and final exams arrived. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter lightened the mood a bit with an occasional prank on the Slytherins, which were gladly accepted (by most) disruptions from their studies.
"Wake up!" Lily's enthusiastic voice rang throughout the first year dormitory. She skipped over to both of her friends' beds, yanking open their bed hangings.
"Lily..." Julie mumbled groggily.
"Come on," Lily cried, pulling out her brush and running it through her hair. "It's exam day!"
"Mhmph," Grace groaned, pulling her covers over her head.
Lily looked over at her motionless friends and gave a loud, frustrated sigh.
Wearily opening one eye, Julie groaned inwardly as she saw Lily put her hands on her hips, as she always did before beginning a long lecture.
"You know," Lily began, tapping her foot impatiently, "The Guide to Excellent Studying clearly states that one must wake up within the range of three to four hours before said tests, to ready the mind and open components of the brain used for writing and verbal skills. Further more, a light breakfast consisting of no salts and plenty protein and fiber should be consumed no more or less than precisely one hour and 20 minutes before the examination. If- argh!"
Lily's spiel was abruptly cut off as Grace's pillow hit her smack in the face. "Lily," Grace said, her voice muffled by her mattress (her pillow now lay on the floor next to Lily), "It's five in the bloody morning. Come back in two hours, and then we'll pretend to listen to you."
"Fine," Lily huffed, grabbing her bag and schoolbooks, "suit yourselves." Julie and Grace gave sighs of relief as they heard her shut the door and clamber down the stairs.
About an hour or so later Grace and Julie entered the Great Hall, to find Lily surrounded by books and notes. They took two seats across from her, scooping eggs and bacon onto their plates. Peeking over her book, Lily acknowledged her two friends.
"Morning. Do you know if Rew Sanubrooks is going to be on the History test?"
"No, he's not Lily," Grace replied in a tired voice, "Professor Binns told us we weren't going to be tested on the Sanubrooks family until at least third year." She began to pick up some of her bacon.
"Hmm.." said Lily, grabbing the piece of bacon out of Grace's hands, and putting it back on the dish, "Better look over it just in case."
"Hey!" said Grace, going to pick up the bacon again. Lily snatched it away, and fed it to one of the Morning Post owls.
"I told you," said Lily sternly, still leafing through her book, "no salt."
Grace gave a frustrated sigh, looking sadly at the owl that had just swallowed her bacon. Looking down, she spotted a rather yummy looking piece laying on Julie's plate. Before Julie had time to defend her food, Grace made a grab for it and stuffed it into her mouth. Lily looked up as she heard Julie yell at Grace. Spotting crumbs of bacon on Grace's face, Lily shook her head at her guiltily smiling friend, and then went back to her last minute studying.
"It's not my grade," Lily mumbled. Before Grace could respond, Lily gasped and stood up quickly. "C'mon, let's go. We've only got 35 minutes until the exam, and Muhstrum and Bloye say you should be there at least..." Lily dragged Grace and Julie off before they had a chance to protest, continuing her talk on 'correct examination procedures'.
By the end of exam week, Grace and Julie had heard enough of Lily's lectures to recite them. They were exceptionally happy after their last test, Transfiguration, not so much that the exams were over, but more so that they wouldn't have to hear Lily rant on like this for a whole year. Sitting on the ends of their beds, they took advantage of the free day they had between the last exam and the last day of school. Looking over at their unpacked trunks, they grudgingly got up and started putting things away.
Over in the boys' dormitory, James began throwing things into his trunk, not bothering to fold or strategically place anything. His friends weren't around, he'd slept late and figured they had gone down to breakfast. James wasn't all that hungry, so he decided to get his 'packing' out of the way. Just as he had crammed in his last sock, he realized that he forgot to put in his broomstick. Groaning, he began to dump everything out again, and in doing so he found a folded piece of parchment mixed in with his robes.
"James, you in-" Sirius swung open his dormitory door, to reveal James standing above his trunk, reading a letter. A letter that looked suspiciously like...
"Hey, where did you get that?" Sirius asked, his eyes widening as he recognized the writing.
"It was in my trunk." James told him. He was about to ask if it was a joke, but the look on his friend's face gave him his answer. "Why didn't you ever tell me--,"
"Because it's not important, that's why," Sirius said briskly, grabbbing the letter from James.
"Yes it is, it- your family, they really care about that kind of stuff?"
Sirius gave a dry laugh. "Evidently."
"You should of told me," James said, staring at the back of the letter. "I could of done something."
Sirius crumpled the letter in his fist and sat down on James's bed. "Like what?"
"Well I don't know, my dad-"
"What would he have done?" Sirius asked. "My parents wouldn't give a flying gillywig if some guy came over and told them what to do."
"Oh," James sat next to his friend, unsure what to say. "They sound absolutely horrid."
"They are." Sirius looked down at the crumpled parchment and forced a smile. "But, what are you going to do? Come on, let's go to lunch. It's probably started already."
Sirius stood up and walked towards the stairs. Frowning after him, James made to follow but then stopped suddenly. "Er, you go down, Sirius. I'll be right there, I just have to do something." Sirius looked at him curiously, but then nodded and left the room without him. James pulled out a spare piece of parchment and began writing furiously. His best friend was not going to spend all of summer miserably, if he could help it.
The next day at breakfast James looked up eagerly as the morning post arrived. Searching through the owls in the air, he grinned as he spotted his chocolate brown one.
Sirius looked over at James. "You expecting a letter?"
James nodded as his owl landed on his plate. He untied the letter from the owl's leg and hastily unfolded it. Scanning it quickly, he gave a whoop of joy as a grin spread wide across his face.
"What is it?" Sirius asked curiously, as he leaned over to see James' letter.
"My dad says you can stay with us, if you'd like," James informed him, grinning.
"Really?" Sirius asked incredulously. "Are you sure, just like that?"
"Yup. So what do ya say?"
Sirius smiled. "That'd be great! Well, hopefully my parents will say yes; I'm sure they won't mind getting rid of me for a couple of weeks."
"All right. I'll write you when I arrive home, and then you can tell me what your parents think. My dad says anytime's fine, and you can stay as long as you'd like."
"Great," said Sirius sincerely. "Thanks a lot, James."
"Sure. You didn't think I'd let you stay with those jerks-sorry-"
"Don't be."
"-all summer, did you?"
The Hogwarts Express thundered down the tracks, gradually coming to a halt as it reached The King's Cross Station. The students departed, promises of keeping in touch, and calls of goodbye ringing throughout the station.
A/N (#2): Hooray! Year One is officially over! Year Two will be up in a couple of days, and in it you will find..."And this," a smile grew wide across James's face as he pushed open the back door, "is our quidditch pitch."
Loads and loads of quidditch"Oh what havoc we shall wreak," James proclaimed excitedly, his mind already filling with schemes and ideas.
Tons of pranks"Well, is it just me, or does she look perfectly healthy?" Sirius's eyes narrowed as he examined Mrs. Lupin, who did indeed look far from ill.
Suspicions of Remus"We can't let her get away with this," James said, pacing the room. "We've got to do something. Something big."
And oh, so much more
A/N (#3): Yes, I'm fully aware that would have been a nifty ending, capturing your attention and leaving you hanging for more, but I couldn't forget to thank my reviewers, now could I?
RavenSiriusBlack- Heyhey! Oh my, you spoil me with your lengthy reviews (which i love by the way), and YES i definitely agree Gary Oldman should NOT play Sirius, and John Travolta would be a quite bit better...but I was thinking more along the lines of Johnny Depp. (How perfect? One sexy sexy man portraying another sexy sexy man. The world would be good.) Oh yeah, and i know people do Remus/Sirius fics, lol i read the one in your fav. file : )
Reggaeshiko-tama- Hey, thanks for the review!... I'm in irishlass's L/J journal? awesome! um... what exactly is that? hm. oh well, sounds good : ) Oh yeah, and, this year is mostly Lily's point of view, but you'll see next year will be mostly the guys. Overall I do the POV of everyone and anyone, so you won't miss out on anything : )
Avalon64- Yay! You make me extremely happy with your enthusiasm... you keep reviewing, and I'll keep writing!
Oksana- I'm glad you like it! Thanks bunches for checking it out, and for reviewing : ) Oh, and for future reference, could you list MY name before Angie's? We'd like to show the true order of importance here.; )
Aerandir- smooches. smooches smooches smooches... ahh second year! k, i don't know what that was all about, but thanks for the great reviews, and for stickin w/ me through the 'boring' years : )
And last but not least to Magical Muggle- You're awesome: ) but really, thanks bundles for the fantastic review, you make me feel grrrrrreat!
By the way, it says I have 5 more reviews than I have actually recieved, or that are shown in the reviews, so if you reviewed and I have not thanked you above, it means your review is MIA. And... if you have the chance, could you pretty please re-review it? I'm goin nutty about this... i really luv my reviews! Thanks : )
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