Chapter 2
James
It was Saturday and the first years had completed two days at Hogwarts. Term had begun on Wednesday, the 1st of September. James was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Sirius, Remus and a small boy called Peter, who had recently taken to following them around like a faithful pet. James helped himself to bacon and poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. Across from him, Peter was staring adoringly at Sirius, who was attempting to balance his juice on the end of his knife, which he had stood upright on the table. James raised his eyebrows and snorted when the experiment came crashing down, slopping bright orange liquid across the table. He glanced up at Remus and his brow creased into a frown.
"You ok? Remus?"
"What? Oh, yes I'm fine. Just a bit tired and I didn't…but I'll just…" His babbling broke off as the other two boys looked up too. Remus looked awful. His skin was pale, except the dull red rising in his cheeks, he had dark purple smudges under his eyes and he was very jittery, jumping at every small noise.
"Are you sure?" asked Sirius, his usual carefree grin replaced with a look of concern.
"Well yes. No. Actually, I need to tell you something. I have to go home tomorrow."
"WHAT?" chorused the others, horrified.
"Only for a few days! My mother's sick and I have to visit her every month or so. I'm sorry, I should've told you sooner…"
"That's alright mate." Said James "We're really sorry about your mum, is it serious?"
"Not really, she just likes to see me when she's feeling particularly bad." Remus was spared any further interrogation as-
"Oh look! Post's here."
Lily
Alice suddenly stopped mid-sentence and looked up. Owls were streaming into the great hall and dropping all manner of packages on their recipients. Lily had only seen this once and she was very excited when two owls broke off from the rest, sailing down towards where she sat with Alice and Marlene.
"Finally, Mum's answered me!" exclaimed Marlene, opening the letter attached to a large brown box. "Oh good, she's sent my blue jumper and the bedside clock that I left behind."
Alice laughed. "Are you always this forgetful? Or is it just the start of term rush!"
"Oh, always!" Marlene answered, launching into a tale of some of her worst mishaps. Lily stared down at the letter in her hands in silence. It wasn't that she wasn't pleased to have received an answer to the letter she sent to her parents, but she had hoped there might be another one with it. After all, she had written to Petunia as well. Maybe Tuney really had meant what she said on the station platform. The weekend chatter around her faded to a dull hum as the word rang louder and louder in her ears. Freak.
James
My Dearest James,
I'm so glad that you are enjoying school and have made some friends already. In your letter you sounded a bit worried that we wouldn't accept your friendship with Sirius Black. James, I will be completely honest with you; you know our views on the Black family and all that they stand for, but never ever doubt that I have complete faith in you and your judge of character. If you wrote to me telling me that you wanted one of the Malfoys to come and stay with us for Christmas then I would- well I might have to draw the line before then, but joking aside, I trust you and therefore I trust your choice of friends. Besides, if the rumours are anything to go on, the poor child may need somewhere to stay in the holidays!
James snorted at his mother's choice of words. 'Poor child'? Sirius was older than he was, shaking his head, he continued reading.
Apparently Orion and Walburga Black are absolutely furious that their oldest son has been made a Gryffindor. Congratulations on that matter, by the way, we knew you would be in your father's house, but we are both terribly proud of you anyway. On a different matter, the elves want to know if they can give your room a deep cleaning now that you're away at school. I told them that I'd check with you, but I expect they'll go ahead anyway so be warned. Twill misses you; he hasn't said anything, but I've found him in your room twice now, he misses being bossed around. He's currently making a treacle tart for me to send to you, so I'll put it in the box with the rest of the stuff I'm sending.
I know that you won't have had many lessons yet, but do write and tell me what subjects you're enjoying, I expect that you'll take after your father and enjoy transfiguration! What are you up to this weekend? Your father and I are going to visit your aunt and uncle, they just got back from visiting your cousins in America. I'll write and tell you all about their trip soon.
I've sent on your spare scarf as it's getting colder and also some more socks because the elves, and I agree, don't think you took enough. I'm going to pack up the treacle tart now and also a bag of chocolate frogs, so I want you to share the food with your new friends.
The house is very peaceful without you, but your father and I miss you very much. Dad sends you his love and says he'll write to you on Monday, but he's currently out at a sales meeting for Sleekeazy's.
All my love,
Mum xx
James was grinning by the time he finished the letter. It had been stupid to worry about whether his parents would mind Sirius being a Black. He was glad to hear from his mother and although he would never admit it, he missed them too and would look forward to his father's letter. Smiling even more widely, he opened the box of goodies.
Lily
Dear Lily,
Did you know that an owl delivered your letter!? Daddy and I were so excited when it tapped on the back window! Hogwarts sounds amazing, I'm so glad that you have made some friends already; Alice sounds like she's your closest friend so far, we'll have to meet her when we pick you up at Christmas. Marlene and Mary sound great too and I don't think you told us the name of the last girl in your dorm so be sure to put that in your next letter. How are your classes so far? Tell us everything, what's your favourite lesson? Petunia wanted to write, but she's been very busy at school, she sends her love. Margaret from up the road has just arrived, so I'm going to hand over to your father, but I'll write again soon.
All my love,
Mummy xx
There was a break in Lily's mother's sloping script and then the letter began again, this time in her father's untidy scrawl.
To my very grown up Lily,
How are you enjoying school? I bet Hogwarts is very different to my boarding school! You sounded very happy in your letter; don't worry too much about being in a different house to Severus, you sound as though you've made some great new friends. You can still see him.
Lily wasn't fooled, her father had never liked Sev very much.
I've got to get out to work soon, so I can't write much; I've got a new client who could get my sales target right back up, which would be great, so you can stop worrying about that. I'll let you know how it goes. Grandma and Grandad are coming down at the weekend so we're going to have to put the grammar school story into play then. Anyway, write again soon munchkin.
I love you Lily-petal,
Daddy
Feeling much cheered up, but not convinced by the 'Petunia's busy' line, Lily finished her breakfast happily, joining in Marlene and Alice's conversation. She was relieved that her father had some work coming in; he was right, she had been worried. Just then, Mary came rushing up, her hair still wet from a shower, muttering about oversleeping. The three girls all laughed.
"Why didn't you wake me?" She grumbled.
"Chill, it's the weekend!" Laughed Marlene.
"Is it? Oh no, I could've stayed in bed!" Mary looked so dismayed that the other three girls all fell about laughing again.
Author's Note
Before I say anything, thank you so much to (I can't put your name in, but you know who you are!) for posting my first ever review, you're the reason I tried to hurry with this chapter; I hope you liked it!
I wasn't sure about this chapter as I was writing it, but I ended up quite liking it, so I hoped you did too. I was going to go straight to third year after chapter one, but I had this really sweet idea about Lily and James receiving their first letters from home. I am really looking forward to getting into the story properly though so I think I will move on now!
Reviews are the sound of rain on windows when you're all warm and cosy in bed ;-)
Bee xx