Chapter 4: Have You Heard of Knocking?
DISCLAIMER-Everything is J.K Rowling's!
Every day it's a-gettin' closer goin' faster than a roller coaster, love like yours will surely come my way! -Buddy Holly "Everyday"
Breakfast and lunch, and packing in-between, on the last day of the year seemed to drag by slowly-no matter what anyone said, we would all miss Hogwarts, no matter how excited we all were to leave at the moment. We had all day to pack and say goodbye, until the Hogwarts Express left at four o'clock.
And the very next day, Marlene and I would leave for Greece, and I was so excited I could barely contain myself from tap-dancing on the rooftops! Alice was the only other who was originally allowed to go, but at the last moment her parents had sent her news of her gran falling deathly ill, and they were going to be spending most of the summer with her instead.
As a common idea among Quidditch-loving students, my friends and I raced down to the Quidditch pitch to snatch up the school-owned brooms before they would all be gone. We wanted to spend our last few hours of sixth-year Hogwarts along with the half of the school-in the air. Even Emmy managed to overrule her fear of heights, although she didn't hover far above the ground. Dorcas stayed low with her, circling the pitch, but Marlene, Alice and I couldn't stay anchored to the ground for long.
It was a beautiful day, although cursedly hot-everyone seemed to be pulling black robes away from sweaty skin, but the three of us found a different remedy to the heat-the wind.
"Think about it," Alice was saying after she left Frank, leaving him to his male friends. "This is our last final day at Hogwarts where we can think we'll see it next year. Seventh year, we can't think that."
"Unless we teach here," I contradicted, and she rolled her eyes at me. We had been floating up higher and higher, almost to the top of the highest stands. Out of the shade, the noon soon bore down on us with full force.
"Oh-it's them," I remarked glumly, eying the four troublesome boys as about ten females flocked around them, particularly James and Sirius. I looked down at my broom intently, trying to avoid James's searching gaze. I knew he was looking for me. He had been in a constant state of full on stalker-mode ever since the hexing incident. I didn't know why I was so disappointed-and still was-what was I expecting? It was James Potter, after all.
"What happened, exactly? You seem more annoyed with them than usual," Marlene looked down on them with me.
"What? Nothing. It's a long story."
And I hadn't told anyone else about it either, not even Marlene.
"Well if it's a long story, it certainly can't be nothing," Marlene observed, but dropped the subject after I threw her an imploring look.
"I think we should race," Alice suggested.
"Of course you do," I grinned, nudging her broom handle with my own. "You'd beat us by miles, with your fancy broom. Marlene and I are on school ones."
"Exactly!" she beamed, stretching her arms up into the sun. "So, to the Great Lake, then?"
"Let's go!" I agreed, imagining my broom making revving sounds like a muggle motorcycle's as we all faced the lake that is nothing more than a black sheet of glass in the distance.
"Ready!" Marlene was practically shaking with excitement. "Set, go!" We all screamed the last two words together and shoot off. Of course, Alice pulled quickly ahead, her broom being the fastest, but I smiled into the wind, content with my own broom at the moment. I did a sloth grip roll, hanging upside down from my broom for a moment like a koala, limbs wrapped securely around it.
"Whoooo!" I whooped, righting myself once more and shooting past Marlene. This was bliss. We race toward the lake, the air growing cooler as it pushed back my clothes and hair, letting them stream behind me. I relaxed on my broom, unclenching my muscles. I let one hand off the broom, and then the other, lifting them both above my head, and hanging onto the broom with just my legs.
A quick wobble sending my stomach into my throat reminded me that this is a school broom and I wrapped my hands securely back around it, leaning forward to make it go faster. We slowed as we skimmed over the lake, glad for the weather-repellent charms on the brooms. It was much cooler out here, the air mingling with the water's mist.
"Look!" Alice pointed, exclaiming in an excited whisper. For just a moment, the outline of the giant squid is visible-no matter its name, the size of it was still a shock when you saw it.
"Please don't eat us," Marlene murmured; I didn't know if she was joking. It lazily stuck a light purple tentacle towards the surface, almost waving at us. It blinked its large eye before swimming away, folding itself under the depths of the water.
"I've never seen it so close," I breathed. "Besides the time it threw me back up out of the lake when I had the misfortune of falling in…but even then I didn't really see it, it happened so fast."
"Nor have I," Alice agreed, and Marlene nodded her consent. It was almost as if it was wishing us a farewell from Hogwarts-little did I know how accurate the squids goodbye was; I had no idea that I would not be seeing my beloved school for a very, very long time, save one more short, sinister visit.
After the Train Ride; King's Cross Station
"See you tomorrow!" I replied, waving to Marlene after a longer goodbye to our other friends. We all went their separate ways, losing each other in the bustling crowd of good-byes and reunions.
"Bye, Lily! I'll write!" I turned toward the voice of Marcus Blewstry. I nodded and smiled, waving and wondering what could have caused him to suddenly put the awkwardness behind him.
"Bye Lily, see you next year!" Two breathless girls in the year below me whose names I didn't know ran past, darting through the crowd. To my right I watched a heartfelt reunion between James and his parents. He didn't see me staring. His mum and dad enfolded him in a hug; both of them look quite a bit older than my own parents. James grinned adoringly at them, and they invited Sirius into the hug as well. Soon enough a gaggle of students and parents obscured my view, and when they finally struggled past with their heavy trunks, the Potters had vanished. Grabbing my trunks from the pile I searched for my own parents-I told them that I could have just apparated, but they insisted on coming-they could never melt through the magical barrier enough to be satisfied. It was one of those things that would never lose it's magic.
"Mum! Dad!" I cried, jumping to my toes as I saw a flash of my father's dark red hair that I seemed to have inherited exactly, and my mother's blond that Petunia had gotten.
"Lily!" My father rushed forward, picking me up in an exuberant hug and spinning me around completely before letting me back down.
"I've missed you guys!" My grin was huge-but I noticed with a pang they were unsuccessful in dragging Petunia along. My mother gathered me into a hug as well, smiling in her motherly way at me as she gently pushed back a tendril of hair that had escaped out of my ponytail, floating to the side of my face.
"I can't believe we only get a day with you before you leave for practically the whole summer," my mother moaned.
"I'll write and floo tons, don't worry," I smiled at them as we began to walk. We melted through the barrier, the sounds of wizard chatter replaced by muggle pagers beeping, the steam of many trains hissing, and shouted conversations over the noise of train pistons.
My father's face turned dark at the mention of Petunia. "We're not happy about your sister's scorn of magic, Lily," he assured me, taking my suitcase and lifting it into the trunk of the car once we step out of the station and into the sunlight. It was one of those rare cases-completely sunny, but drizzling just the same.
"But it's nothing personal, darling," my mother promised, closing the door behind her. "Now, dear," she turned to face me as my dad starts the car up, pulling out of the train station. "I want to see some magic. You're of age now," her eyes lit up excitedly, the child in her coming out.
"Mum, don't you think Petunia will be upset?" I asked hesitantly, although fingering my wand anxiously, excited to try it out in an area that wasn't school.
"That's why she wants you to do it in the car, Flower," my father chuckled, looking at me in the rear view mirror. "Best get it out of your system now so Petunia doesn't get upset. She told Vernon, you know, about magic," he laughed, seeming to remember something funny. "That man's face turned shades of purple I didn't even know existed. Even though she didn't tell him in front of us, I mean-he was still purple when they got home. I don't even think he believed Petunia until she showed him some of those moving-picture things you left scattered in your room last Christmas," he winked.
"Maybe just a simple levitation spell, if you take the long way home and not the highway, so no muggles can see. Besides yourselves, of course," my mother clapped her hands.
"Alright, as requested, the back road," my father pulled off the exit and onto a
bumpy road surrounded on either side by muggle housing.
"Wingardium Leviosa," I pronounced clearly for effect. My dad's wallet, my mum's sunglasses, and a few other trinkets were released momentarily from gravity, leaping into the air and floating there.
"Wow," my mum breathed. "That's incredible. You won't get in trouble for that, will you-CHARLES!"
The car swerved, one side of the car in the dirt, tires spinning-spinning the wheel furiously my dad righted us, and soon we were back on the road again, albeit driving slower and a lot more cautiously than before.
"Eyes on the road," my white-faced mum chastised him, one hand on his arm.
My heart was still beating like a jackhammer and I turned to look behind us, where there lay black skid marks that had originated from the tires that had faithfully carried us so many kilometers.
"Sorry, ladies," my dad didn't spare a glance in the mirror this time; his eyes were locked on the road in front of us. "Some of my daughter's wonderful magic distracted me."
"That was first year stuff," I told them proudly. "Mum, watch this-" with a swish of the wand I transfigured her sunglasses into a hedgehog, and it let out a small squeak, scampering off the divider between the two front seats and into her lap, but before she could manage to do much more than shriek in fright I put them back to their original shape.
"That," I chuckled at my mum's open mouth and green eyes wide, and my father's crooked smile- "That was sixth year magic."
Back in Cokeworth, The Evans' House
"It's so good to be home!" I cried, running and jumping onto the couch in our living room, burying my face in the colorful quilt hanging off the back.
"Mum? Dad? Is that you?" Petunia came down the stairs, nose in the air. "Petunia!" I exclaimed, scrambling up to wrap her in a hug, to which she protested.
"Dear grumpy sister, not even you can soil my mood," I grinned at her disgusted and terrified face at the look of my luggage floated behind me. My owl hooted indignantly in her face and she let out a small shriek, jumping with surprise. "Because I am going to Greece tomorrow!" I unwrapped my arms from her slender waist, scampering as loudly as I could up the rest of my stairs to my room.
My tiny room filled with white-wood furniture sat waiting for me exactly as I had left it, almost-though I hadn't left the windows open for months, that must have been mum's doing. A warm breeze pushed back my white curtains with tiny blue flowers onto my window seat, where Marlene's owl drew attention, the darkness of her feathers contrasting with the light, summery feel of my room. I took the letter from her beak, dropping myself down on the seat and bringing my knees up to my chest. Six short words graced the entire paper in an obvious message-
Unpack from Hogwarts, pack for Greece! Grinning, I sent back a quick reply- Oh, I am! and sent the dark owl off, floating into the evening sky.
I managed to unpack in three minutes flat.
Alright...maybe I used a bit of magic. There was something amazing about using magic outside of school, watching the contents of your trunk get up and march to their original places of the closet and room. It reminded me of my favorite childhood movie-Mary Poppins.
Anyway, I was completely unpacked and had just started to repack by the time I was called down for supper.
"Lily!" Mum's voice floated up the stairs. "Supper!" I threw my swimsuits down on my light-blue quilt, deciding to decide after my belly was full. Without realizing it, my wand was tucked very obviously out of my shorts pocket. I ran down the stairs, hair flying behind me. Four heads were visible sitting over our various living room chairs-
Wait...four?
"Hello, Liliana," Vernon showed my his teeth and I forced myself not to take a step back. It seemed he had put on weight since last time-if that was possible. He and Petunia were stark opposites-she with her petite bony-ness and long neck and he with his...well, walrus-ness, really. And no neck. There was no other way to put it.
"Actually, it's just Lily," I reminded him for the umpteenth time. "Nice to see you." But his eyes weren't on me, nor were Petunia's. They were both focused furiously on the wand in my pocket. "It's just my wand," I couldn't resist saying. "It won't do anything unless I make it, and I won't." That didn't ease Vernon's look of horror of anything out of the ordinary. Petunia was glaring, her furious eyes have traveled up to my face, silently demanding that it put it away and not call attention to my 'freakiness.' I shook my head, almost imperceptibly.
My mum cleared her throat, and I threw her a grateful look. She beckoned me over to her chair and I perched on the armrest while she linked her arm through mine.
"Lily has just returned from her school, Hogwarts, as I'm sure Petunia has told you, Vernon," she said conversationally.
"Hogwarts?" he spit the word like it was a terrible curse. Which was funny, because he has no objection to actual curse words. "Your school is named Hogwarts?"
"Yes it is, and the forest surrounding it is full of werewolves and other things that muggles such as yourself think are 'not real,'" I laughed to myself a bit on this last statement. "And when you're a first year, they throw you in and see how well you fight them, and that determines what group you're sorted into for the rest of your Hogwarts stay," I struggled to keep a completely straight face. Vernon went pale, looking to Petunia uncomfortably.
"She's just joking, aren't you Lily?" My mother gave me a look-the don't push it look.
"No, I am kidding, don't worry. It's actually a singing hat that reads your thoughts and personality," I amended my statement, totally unaware that this truth disturbed him just as much as the other exaggeration. "Although there are werewolves in the forest," I added, much to Petunia's repulsion. I spared a glance at my father who seems rather involved in the design of the hardwood floors-his fist is pressed casually enough against his mouth, but his crinkled eyes give him away-he was trying just about as hard as he can not to burst out laughing. My father was the exact opposite of Vernon Dursley, if there ever was one. Either him or James Potter.
That thought had popped into my head unaccounted for. I blushed furiously, hoping no one would notice. It was true, though-if the two ever met, it would end in furious lawsuits from Vernon and maybe a couple bat-bogey hexes from James.
"She's going to Greece tomorrow with her friends, at one of their vacation homes." I was shocked that Petunia had added to the conversation-but I would have been even more shocked if she had said it without the tone of loathing. "And she'll be gone until later this summer," Vernon relaxed.
Ah. Now I saw why she brought up Greece. A pinch of hurt made my chest contract, and I excused myself into the kitchen.
I finished up the odds and ends that mum had left for me; putting away clean dishes, stirring the salsa, adding the last few ingredients...I let the repetitive work absorb my mind, not letting myself think of anything but cooking and the overheard bits of conversation from the living room that started up again once I'd left.
Pop.
"Ah!" I yelped, clamping my hand over my mouth once I saw who had made the noise. "J-James Potter, what are you doing here? Have you heard of knocking?" I hissed, closing the door to the living room completely, but not before-
"Lily dear, are you alright?"
"Yes mum, I'm fine, don't worry!" I shouted back.
"Marlene told me what you were stuck with all day and I thought I'd come liven it up," he grinned. "Vernon the Terrible, huh? And is Petunia as pretty as her sister?" He winked at me.
"Potter, I'm still mad at you for hexing Marcus," I turned my back on him, stirring the pot on the stove madly.
"Want me to get that for you, love?" He offered, taking out his wand.
"If you want. And don't call me love. And quiet down!" I whispered as a last demand.
"Nice place you got here, Evans," James spun around-now the dishes were drying themselves, the pots and pans stirring without human assistance-
"Not bad, Potter. If you actually tried in school now, I might have some competition," I looked in amazement at the rather complicated household charms he set in motion.
He swept himself into a deep bow, bringing a grin to my face. I wiped it off before he pulls himself back up, remembering that I am mad at him. "Why thank you, your majesty!" He grinned his crooked grin-this time I couldn't resist. I grinned along.
"Did you even apologize to him?" I sighed, crossing my arms.
"Who? Marcus? Of course!" He looked at me like I was crazy. He was dressed casually in muggle clothes, jeans and a wizarding band T-shirt-so, not completely muggle, I ammended my earlier statement.
"Flower, please accept my most humble apology! I shall never do it again!" He begged, sliding toward me on his knees, clasping his hands up toward me and pouting
slightly.
"Potter," I laughed. "Stop it, or I might actually forgive you."
We grinned at each other for a few seconds.
"You know Lily, I really am changing," he said quietly.
"-And with the pay raise from the drill factory, of course-ah!" Vernon jumped about a mile, and James scrambled to his feet, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose and anxiously running a hand through his black hair. With a double take, I realized that it was a nervous habit.
"AHH!" Vernon exclaimed again once he glimpsed all of the floating utensils. Petunia and my parents followed Vernon, who was looking around in absolute horror, face going beet red.
"Lily Evans, stop this abomination right now!" Petunia hissed through clenched teeth, barely sparing a look at James, who quickly waved his wand, and everything went back to normal.
"Lily, do you want to introduce your friend?" My mother pushed past Vernon and Petunia, standing in front of James and looking slightly frazzled.
"Hi, Mrs. Evans!" A goofy smile plastered James's face as he stuck his hand out. "I'm James Potter!" A look of knowing crossed my mother's face-she had endured six years of my complaints about him, and at the moment he wasn't living up to those standards. He was actually being polite.
"Ah, the very same James my daughter has been talking about since her first letter home from Hogwarts?" My father grinned broadly, striding forward. I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand, my whole face glowing red, I'm sure.
"Da-ad!" I protested, drawing the word into two syllables.
"Do I risk shaking your hand, Mr. Potter? If you're going to live up to my daughter's wild descriptions of all your pranks, should I risk my safety?"
"I save the pranks for the second meeting," James was grinning from ear to ear.
"Is he-another one of..you?" Vernon spoke, shrinking back from him and pushing Petunia behind him, as if there was a need to shield her, as if James and I were dangerous.
"You can say the word, you know," I told him. "Wizard. And he has a name."
Petunia looked at me in astonishment; the smile was slowly shrinking on James's face.
"Well," my mother cleared her throat. "Would you like to stay for dinner, James?"
"Oh no, I really must be going, my parents are probably already inventing the worst possible scenarios of where I could have gotten to, and I'm afraid if I send a patronus, or another type of magical message, my good old fellow here will faint," he jovially clapped Vernon on the shoulder, who shrank back even further, as did Petunia.
"Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, thank you for the invitation," he shook both of their hands one more time. "See you tomorrow, Lily," the crooked smile came back, and I smiled with him, a bit sadly.
"Bye, James." He disappeared.
"Could you have been any ruder?" I immediately turned on my sister and her fiancee. "He's a human being, you know! We're all human beings!" I exploded at Petunia and Vernon. "And it's time you both started treating us like so!"
I stormed out of the house, slamming the screen door behind me harder than I intended, and walking out into my backyard. I didn't even realize my eyes were wet until I had circled around the house and begun to walk across the practically house-less street, walking until I come to the park Petunia and I used to play in before she despised my every fiber of being. Where I met Snape, and where I was hoping I wouldn't see him again.
I turned back to my house, the only one on its side of the lonely street-Cokeworth was a town who's population was less than Hogwarts, and we lived on the very edge of it.
I angrily brushed at my eyes, ashamed of the tears that were pooling there. Petunia was in no way my sister, only by blood. She had made that quite clear. And I didn't give a damn about what Vernon Dursley thought. So why was I so upset?
Once I found my way to the park in almost pitch blackness, I made my way to one of the swings, half-heartedly pumping my legs to get me into the air a bit, but mostly just sitting there to think. I remembered coming here and making a flower blossom bloom in my palm. Of jumping off this very swing-staying in the air far too long and landing far too lightly for Petunia's liking. All of this, in turn, cued Snape to the fact that I was a witch. And from then on, there was no going back to normal life, the life Vernon and Petunia were so sure of as being the right way to live.
I finally made it back to my house long after everyone had finished eating-Vernon and Petunia were taking a walk around the backyard, which I was thankful for. I ate my dinner and my parents sat with me.
"Why does she have to marry him?" I asked bitterly, feeling suddenly cold and crossing my legs. "Why does she despise magic so?"
"She's simply jealous, Lily," My mother explained softly, my father taking the hand I wasn't eating with. "And she thinks she can channel that jealousy something else-hatred for magic, so she can be happy without a magic of her own, by secluding herself from it...by marrying a man who is the epitome of normal."
"And now, this Potter boy," my father said sternly, squeezing my hand. "He isn't nearly as bad as you made him out to be in your letters."
"You're good at changing the subject, dad," I commented, smiling at him.
"No, I want to know!" he protested, laughing. "Does this young man hold my Lily's heart?"
"Absolutely not!" I practically choked on my milk. "He's just-well, kind of, if you can call him that-a friend," I reassured him. "I promise."
"He's handsome," mum wiggled her eyebrows at me.
"I guess he is," I kept my eyes down on my plate. "Maybe just a bit."
The Next Afternoon
"Swimsuit?" Mum was sitting on my bed, going through a mental list of things she was sure I'd forget, and my dad was watching us both, leaning against the doorway of my closet. Petunia was in her room, and, now that Vernon was gone, was sulking.
"Got it, Mum. I have everything, you both don't need to worry," I promised them.
"I still don't understand how you got half your closet-" he gestured behind him to the lone articles of clothing left after my furious packing section "-or more than half, by the looks of things-into that tiny suitcase," he pointed to my innocent looking muggle suitcase sitting on my bed, not even as big as my Hogwarts Trunk.
"Extension charm, dad," I reminded him. "And it even makes it lighter," I demonstrated by pulling it off the bed with ease, letting it drop onto the floor with a light thud.
"Impressive," Mum dubbed the magic. "Sunglasses? Sunscreen? I don't want a tomato for a daughter when you return," she remarked sternly, reminding me of how easily I burn. Like paper in a flame, my dad always said. Which I inherited from him, of course.
"You can look that way to thank that particular gene," I pointed to my dad, who holds his hands up, laughing.
"Your mother helped, if I remember right." He laughed and my mother threw a pillow at him, blushing.
"Please, Dad," I laughed, plugging my ears. "No details!"
"Oh, I suppose," he strode forward, kissing the top of my head. "What time are you supposed to be there again, Flower?"
"Two. So we have half an hour."
"Are you sure you don't want to be driven?" Mum asked for the fifth time this morning.
"Apparating is much more convenient," I reminded her, also for the fifth time. "Besides, they live almost two hours away."
"Petunia," I knocked on my sister's door, minutes before I have to leave. I had said my final good-byes to my parents, hoping she would surface before then. She hadn't, so I decided to go after her. When she didn't answer, I jiggled the knob-locked, of course.
"Petunia, please," I sighed. "I just want to say goodbye-I could use a spell, you know, to get in here."
"But you won't, you know that? You won't!" Petunia emerged, red-faced. I was shocked to note that her eyes were red, like she had been crying. "You won't because you're Miss Ever-so-polite, and perfect and magical, Lily! How do you think it feels, being shunted to the side all these years?" Her eyes burned with something stronger than anger.
"Shunted to the side?" I wasn't sure I heard her right. "I'm gone for nine-almost ten-months out of the year, Petunia," I told her slowly. "If you wanted to be more liked, then maybe you should think about curbing this act!" I gestured wildly to everything. "You weren't even going to say good-bye to me, were you?" I stated accusingly and suddenly we were the eleven and thirteen year old children again, and I was leaving for Hogwarts for the first time. "Do you even love me anymore?" I whispered, defeated.
"You're my sister," Petunia told me dully. But she didn't answer the question. "What do you think?" She snapped with more emotion.
"Alright, alright, don't get your wand in a knot," I muttered.
Her eyes grew wide. "See?! See?! THAT is exactly what I was hoping you WOULDN'T DO! Even-even if you're not using magic, you're still a freak!" She promptly slammed the door on my face.
"I want my sister back, Tuney," I said calmly through the door. "I know she's in there somewhere...I just wish I knew how to find her." With that I left, pulling the suitcase behind me, relishing every thump it makes down the stairs. I don't use magic this time.
"Bye, Lily!" Mum rushed forward once more, pulling me into a hug. My father joins in, and we stand there like that for a moment.
"I'll visit, you know," I promised into Dad's chest.
"You better," Mum scolded sternly. From upstairs, an almost imperceptible squeak of the door sounded. Petunia's door. I looked up and saw her, sitting on the last step, eyes fixed on me.
"Tuney!" I rushed up the stairs, hugging her wether she wanted to or not. I closed my eyes, not knowing if I could bear it if she wore a look of disgust. But she wrapped one arm around my waist, letting the other stroke my hair, not saying anything.
Now I could leave happy.
Marlene's House-er,Mansion
I landed with a pop in Marlene's perfectly manicured front yard, staring in awe at the humongous, down-to-the-last-shingle sculpted houses of the small wizard community that Marlene and James's family inhabited. Every time I came here, I was still shocked at the sheer size of everything. I ran up to the front door, but before I could knock Marlene pulled it open, revealing the lofty interior.
"Lily!" She cried, pulling me into a hug. "Come in! Sorry about James coming over last night, that was completely my fault, I was telling him about Vernon and Petunia," she apologized. "Mum, Lily's here!" She called up the grand staircase to her mother who was levitating down two suitcases-they floated elegantly along behind her.
"Hi, Natalie!" I beamed at the lady who was a second mother to me.
"Lily!" She grinned, waving joyfully. She was the spitting image of Marlene-sleek black hair, elegant way of walking, skin almost as pale as mine. "How nice that you could come!"
"Natalie, did I hear you say Lily?" Another voice drifted down.
"Yes, Daisy. Come down and see the lovely woman your son swears he's going to marry," Natalie winked at me.
"That's James's mum," Marlene whispered helpfully.
"I figured so," I whispered back.
"Ah, there she is!" An older woman with James's eyes and facial shape glided down the stairs, enfolding me in a hug.
"I'm sorry, dear," she apologized for the hug, but I really didn't mind. She was one of those people that you liked right away. Her hazel eyes twinkled, telling of mischievous tales, like her son's. "I just feel like I've known you as long as James has, with all his talking about you!" She finger-combs the hair back from my face. "You're just as lovely as he tells me you are, Lily," I blushed at the compliment. She pulled Marlene into her as well, kissing her forehead. "Did my son apparate into your house with no warning whatsoever last night, by any chance?" Her voice took on a sterner tone.
"Yes-but it was perfectly fine, really. He was just apologizing for something," I tried to reassure her.
"Alright, as long as he wasn't too much trouble...oh, where has he and Sirius gotten to now, those boys aren't even packed!" She cried, exasperated. "James! Sirius! Remus!" She called, face turned up toward the ceiling.
"Yes, mum?" James's voice bellowed, and what I assumed was three pairs of stomping feet (or a large herd of hippogriffs) bounded down the stairs, stopping in front of Mrs. Potter.
"Have you even packed at all, dear?" She sighed, walking forward and attempting to smooth down her son's hair, to which James protested vehemently. She then tried to do the same to Sirius and Remus, the former of which stood with his eyes squeezed shut like it was torture, and the latter of which bore it, smiling contentedly.
"Hey Lily," Remus acknowledged me as Mrs. Potter whacked at Sirius and James until they were scurrying up the stairs, presumably to pack as fast as they possibly could.
"I assume at least you're done, aren't you, dear?" Mrs. Potter looked affectionately toward Remus as he descended the stairs toward us.
"Yes, have been since yesterday," Mrs. Potter nodded satisfactorily at his answer, then began to skip up the steps.
"She raised James?!" I whisper-yelled.
"Yes, he got his pranking from his dad, if that's what you're wondering," Remus admitted. "I better go help Padfoot and Prongs pack, or they won't remember the basics, like underwear," he snickered. "I'll see you both later."
"We can't let them have all the fun this summer, can we?" Marlene began to smile devilishly.
"What do you mean?" I asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.
"I've enlisted James's dad to help us with revenge pranks," she whispered unnecessarily-there was no one around. "And not even Sirius and James can stand up to the master of all pranks," she promised with a wicked gleam in her eye.
Within the next few minutes everyone was together, and we were ready to go.
Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Office
"Are you sure about this, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall paced the Headmaster's office, irritating many of the portraits.
"Quite sure, my dear lady," Dumbledore consented grimly, bowing his head as he stroked the neck of Fawkes the phoenix.
"But-but this could be a trap, Trelawney could have been faking it, you know her! She could have been lying!" The Professor objected.
"I fear she wasn't. I wish to allow Miss Evans this summer vacation with her friends as much as anyone, but with thousands of lives hanging in balance..." he shook his head regretfully. "We shall give her a few more weeks, Minerva, before we are forced to take action. Because as much as we wish to convince ourselves otherwise, the prophecy is not fraud, a trap, or any sort of conspiracy. And unless acted upon, thousands will die at the hands of Lord Voldemort."
The room seemed to grow darker, colder, at the mention of his name.
Here is a slightly longer chapter for the slightly longer wait. J Please review!
-Cassia