Disclaimer: Well…. not mine? Well, Ashey, Cai, Steph, and the goldfish are my characters… besides that? Nah. JKR's.
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James smiled as he looked at the picture in his hands. The picture James grinned back at him, and then went back to persuading Lily to do something. Real James guessed either what happened over the holidays, or to go out with him. However, picture Lily did not yell at him, or curse him into the starry skies, but only shake her head slightly and smile.
Real James sighed. It had taken four years, and at least she wasn't cursing him. Give him another four, and maybe she would go out with him. Another four, and maybe she'd kiss him- Oh wait, she already did that, even if she did only kiss him on the cheek. James smiled, and went back to looking at the picture that had been taken while they were at the carnival, right after Sirius had won the goldfish. Picture Sirius was shoving the bag of fish into Ash's face, and Ash was trying to hide behind Remus, who was in turn trying to cower behind James. However, Picture Sirius just ambled over to the four before jumping up and down in front of them. Picture James and Lily just blinked at him before taking a few steps to the other side of the picture, where James continued asking Lily whatever he was asking. And the process repeated itself.
"Wotcher doing, Prongs?" Sirius asked.
James almost fell out of his seat. "Padfoot, don't do that!"
"Don't do what?" A third voice chimed in, and James groaned.
"What, is everyone waking up early today? You two should be taking your time to sleep in. There's only a few days left of vacation, and-" He broke off as Sirius suddenly turned and fled to the dorm. James turned to Lily, and asked, "Where's he going?"
She shrugged. "Probably to feed those goldfish. At least they've lasted three days. I think it's a record for goldfish all over the world," She added mournfully. James chuckled at the look on her face, and then looked up the stairs.
"Is Ash awake yet?" Lily shook her head, and James grinned.
"Oy, Black!" He yelled, and Sirius stumbled back down the stairs with a box of fish food in his hand.
"What Jim-bob… I was feeding the fish, and-"
"Ash isn't awake yet," James said, trying not to laugh. Sirius' eyes lit up.
"Why didn't you tell me in the first place?" And with that question, Sirius flew around the corner to the stairs.
"How does he get up there?" Lily asked. Seeing James' grin, she answered her own question. "Ah, his animagus form. What is it again?"
"A dog," James replied, grinning, but then hit his forehead and turned to Lily. "Flower- Lils, don't tell anyone I just told you that. Don't tell anyone anything about what you know. We all promised each other we wouldn't tell anyone, not even our girlfriends… the guys would kill me if they knew that you know." Lily rolled her eyes.
"James, I'm not your girlfriend," She told him gently, and he smacked his forehead again.
"I knew there was something wrong with my logic," He said jokingly. In a more serious tone, he added, "Will you go out with me?" He was a bit shocked when Lily just shook her head no instead of cursing him into oblivion. Very conscious of this fact, James got up and started doing a victory dance.
"Er, James?" Lily asked hesitantly, "I said no. You do realize that, right?" James nodded, but kept dancing.
"Yes," He told her, "I know that. But you said 'no' kindly. It's a big improvement. I think you're warming up to the Potter Charm," He added with a grin. Lily just shook her head and laughed.
"You never change, do you?" She said with a slight tone of laughter in her voice.
He seemed to think for a second, then bowed over her hand, brushing it gently with his lips. "Why no, Madam, I do believe I changed for you." With his head down, he missed Lily's blush, which she was very glad he didn't see. She cleared her throat after a moment, and James raised his head. "Yes, Flower?"
She coughed nervously into her hand before giggling softly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but… friends." He cocked his head slightly to the right.
"Friends?"
She sighed. "Yes. Friends." When he didn't seem to catch her drift, she added, "James, I'll be friends with you." He smiled, and then enveloped her in a hug, which Lily was quite angry to find took her breath away, and made her heart pound louder. Shaking her head, she tried to think of anything except the fact that James was hugging her, and she was enjoying it.
Aha, Lily thought, and carefully pulled out her wand from her pocket before muttering an incantation.
"What did ya say, Flower?" James asked, taking his head from Lily's shoulder, where he had rested it.
She smiled. "Oh, I was just saying, I don't know what I got myself into." He laughed, but the sound of the Fat Lady banging open and shrieking at someone interrupted their conversation. Lily snickered as James got up; the words 'Kick Me!' were flashing in different colors on his back, mostly keeping between maroon and gold. She followed him to the portrait, still laughing, and as the Fat Lady came into view she saw a tall blonde fervently apologizing to the now hysterical Lady.
"I'm really, really, really sorry," She said, "And I know you've told me at least a hundred times-"
"At least a thousand," The Fat Lady interrupted.
"Right…" She said slowly. "But yes, I know you've told me at least a thousand times to watch where I was going, but in my defense my arms were full, and-" She broke off as a scream was heard in the vicinity of the girl's dormitory. Turning towards Lily and James, she cocked an eyebrow and said, "Let me guess. Ash." James nodded, but before he could speak they heard Ash yell,
"SIRIUS BLACK GET BACK HERE!" Pounding feet proceeded the arrival of Sirius, and as he ran away from Ash he yelled,
"Oh, hullo Cai! Jolly seeing you here. Could you, er- Well, move!" She just stood there with her hands on her hips.
"Now, now, now Sirius, what did you do this time?" He stopped running, and grinned.
"Cold water on her face." Cai shook her head.
"Really, Sirius, and you call yourself the Prankster Prince. That prank is so old, my- Well, it's old." Sirius rolled his eyes.
"I'm not only the Prankster Prince. I am the King of Kings. The God of Gryffindor. The Apple of Minnie's eye. The Keeper of the Carp. The-" He broke off as he caught everyone looking around the room. "What?"
"Sirius, why was the room echoing what you were saying?" Cai asked.
He shrugged. "Oh, handy little spell I learned. I figured it makes me seem oh so important. Now, if you'd move-" However, he was too late, for Ash came around the corner and crashed into him.
"Sirius Black I'm going to kill you!" She shrieked, and Sirius started running in circles again..
"Save me!" He yelled, and then ran behind Lily. "Go Lily, go! Attack!" Lily just shook her head, and pointed Ash in the direction of Cai.
"Guess who finally showed up," She said cheerfully, and Ash grinned.
"Cai! Finally! Now you can help me get Sirius!" Cai grinned back, but the trunk at her feet, the broomstick in her hands, and the bags on her arms hampered her movement. Finally remembering them, she yelled to the boys,
"Oi! Lads! Help me carry this stuff up!" Lily rolled her eyes and muttered Wingardium Leviosa, accompanied by a swish and flick of her wand, and the bags as well as the trunk started to float up the stairs towards the dormitory, although Cai kept a hold on her broomstick. "Oops," She said sheepishly. "Keep forgetting that one… it's a lot to get used to."
"Really, Cai," Lily said sternly, while trying to hide a smile, to Cai Brown, another 7th year Gryffindor. "You've gone to school here for what, seven years? You learned the spell in first year. As a matter of fact, I made you learn it when I told you Peter was going to get the charm faster than you were." Cai shrugged.
"All right, so the reason sounded better in my head… anyone hungry?" Sirius grinned, and offered his arm to Cai.
"Shall we?" She laughed, but before she could leave Ash suddenly grabbed Cai's arm and started dragging her towards their dorm, grabbing Lily's arm as well.
"No, no, no!" Ash said excitedly, "Come tell us about your holidays!" Cai grinned, but James asked,
"Why, didn't she just have Christmas dinner with her family, like she does every year?" Ash glared at him.
"No," She said patiently, "This time she went to Spain with her cousins. Her extremely cute cousins, who went to La Escuela de Los Artes Magicos, and-"
Cai shook her head. "I only stayed with them for a few days. I had to go back home to Abuela, because-" She suddenly broke off as she remembered something, and spun out of Ash's grip before turning to Lily.
"Lils, are you all right?"
"All right?" Lily asked nervously. "Why wouldn't I be fine? I mean, really, hanging out here with the Marauders and then only getting rescued by Ash a few days ago wasn't a picnic, but-"
Cai searched Lily's eyes intently, and Lily sighed as she remembered who Cai's grandmother was. After a few seconds, she asked quietly, "You didn't tell them?"
"Tell us what?" Ash piped up. Cai turned to look at the other three in the room. Ash had a look of slight confusion on her face, but Sirius and James seemed to know what Cai was talking about. She made a mental note to ask them about that later. Turning back to Lily, she just laughed shakily.
"Ah, just Tuna-face is getting married. Lily'll have to leave for dress fittings in a few weeks. My sympathies, dear. The dresses are hideous. I caught a glimpse of them when we were at the Purple Man- Vernon's house for… for the planning party."
"Planning party?" Sirius and Ash echoed.
"There's a such thing as a planning party?" Sirius asked. Cai nodded fervently as Lily sighed. Cai was never good at coming up with excuses.
"Now, Lils, could I talk to you for a second?" Lily nodded, but made no move to leave the vicinity of the other three. "Alone." Cai added forcefully, and Lily sighed before following her out of the portrait. Ash and Sirius made to follow them, but James stopped them.
"No, leave them alone for right now. Right, Sirius?" Catching Sirius' eye, James realized that Sirius had gotten the message when he pulled Ash back, and conjured up a towel.
"Here, Ashey, dry off. They're probably talking about wedding plans."
"Sure you two don't want to talk about wedding plans of your own?" James asked jokingly, referring to, as always, the snogging session that Sirius and Ash had had when they were in fifth year. Conveniently, they were both drunk, but it was still a snog.
"What, discussing wedding plans without Uncle Remy? Really, Sirius, Ash, I thought you two were better than that. Or do you two want to go off for some 'alone' time," Remus said as he came down the stairs, raising his eyebrows. He dodged the towel that Sirius threw at him, and managed to find his way to one of the sofas in the common room without being tackled by Ash. James laughed, and settled into the big squashy armchair. Luckily almost no one was in the tower because of Voldemort. All of their parents had wanted them home for the holidays. James sighed. He would have gone home, but with his father constantly being called out, and his mother completely worried, plus Lily staying at Hogwarts, it was a better idea to just stay. He sighed, and started listening to the conversation between Sirius, Ash, and Remus, where the latter was cajoling them into realizing their true feelings, and the two former were adamantly denying everything. James laughed. Around them, nothing got dull.
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"Now where was it," Cai muttered as she dragged Lily through the halls.
"Where's what?" Lily asked. Cai seemed to pay no attention, and immediately whirled around and dragged Lily in the opposite direction.
"I should have remembered, opposite side of the school…" She sped up until they practically ran across the school, and Lily was relieved when they eventually stopped at what appeared to be their destination. Lily glanced around her, but seeing nothing besides a moving tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and a few odds and ends, she asked Cai,
"Is this where we're going to talk? Because really, I could have just suggested going out on the grounds or something-" She broke off as Cai put her hands on Lily's shoulders and guided her to a spot next to the moving tapestry.
"Stay here," She commanded, and then set out to walking back and forth in front of the blank wall.
"Er… Cai?" Lily asked hesitantly, when as the second time Cai walked in front of her she could be heard muttering,
"Place to talk… quiet… silencing charm… comfy… food…" Lily gasped as Cai walked in front of the wall a third time, and a door appeared. Cai looked up and down the hallway and after only seeing a seething group of trolls learning how to dance, dragged Lily through the door.
Lily gasped softly as she looked around the room. A squashy set of arm chairs were placed in front of a roaring fire located in a fireplace, while on a table close to both chairs stacks of butterbeer bottles and all sorts of food were located. Cai gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs, and took a few bottles of butterbeer and a plate of cookies before settling herself in another chair. Lily smiled softly.
"Hungry, Cai?" She asked, and Cai rolled her eyes.
"What do you think? With two brothers, one of whom who decided to play for the Magpies, there's not much food to be had. Ever. Any chicken fingers over there?" Lily chuckled, and handed a plate of the food to Cai. After letting her stuff her face for a few minutes, Lily asked hesitantly,
"How did you find this place?"
Cai half-heartedly smiled. "Remember that time last year after the holidays, when mum sent all those letters trying to get me to go to that other school? And then she sent a Howler to Minnie-"
"I don't understand why you can't call her Professor McGonagall like everyone else." Cai shrugged.
"It's more fun. But anyway, I needed a place to cool off, because I was ready to send about a hundred howlers right back at her. And the boys came upon me trying to trash our dormitory-"
"Ah, so that's why when I came up all the books were all over the place and the window was broken…"
Cai chuckled. "I thought Remy had cleaned all that up. So they dragged me here- more like covering me with that cloak of theirs and throwing me over Sirius' shoulder, but what's the difference- and let me scream and throw stuff to my hearts content. Of course, they left after I decided James' head would make a good punching bag…" Here she got the wanted laugh from Lily, and then rolled right on talking. "So they told me how to get here by myself, and I've come back a few times whenever mum sends letters. Like those ones after exams last year, after I nearly failed the Potions final. Besides Snape lording it over me that I should have fun in Spain this year, I had letters from my mum telling me that I'll never pass the N.E.W.T.S., and that I'll never get a good job.
"Plus the whole quidditch thing… she's completely insane about that. Ever since I told her in third year that I wanted to play for the Cannons and whoop them into shape, she's been harping on me to buckle down and, in her words, 'Find a nice Catholic wizard who has no interest in quidditch, is preferably of Spanish descent, and wants to be Minister of Magic.' Now of course, Dad thinks the complete opposite. He built me a pitch in our backyard, and went and got me a new Cleansweep, and-"
Lily sighed. Luckily, the discussion she knew was coming was averted for the time being. She half-listened to Cai's conversation, nodding at the appropriate moments, when Cai smacked her forehead.
"You got me off track!" Lily nodded sheepishly, and Cai started muttering, "Now what was I going to talk about…"
After a few moments, with Cai pacing around the room before sitting back down in the chair, Lily sighed again and broke the ice.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about? Are the dresses really hideous? Because really, I-"
"No, Lils. Not about the dresses. Why didn't you tell them?" Cai interrupted.
"Tell them what?" Lily said, while twiddling her thumbs. Cai sighed.
"About your parents. They died Lily, and you're just keeping it all inside?" Lily clutched the arms of the chair, but released her grip slowly and turned to face Cai.
"Please don't mention it."
"Why not? Are you trying to act as if it never happened? Because believe me, Lily, it happened. Your house is burned to the ground, your parents are dead. And if I'm not mistaken, you didn't get a chance to apologize," She put it bluntly. Cai sighed as she thought, Well, I was never one for softening the blow…
Lily glared at her. "I told you not to mention it!" She said angrily, but still in a quiet tone.
"Well what am I supposed to do? Follow along with your stupid plan? Really Lily, usually I'm the one on the end of the stupid plan ideas, but this one takes the cake."
"Would you stop talking about it!"
"Your parents being dead? No! I won't. You need to talk about it, Lils."
"No I don't," She replied stubbornly. "I am fine with it. You clearly have some issues with how I handle problems."
"How you handle problems?" Cai asked. "How you handle problems! If you haven't noticed, Lily, this isn't just a fight between two first years. Or even a fight between you and James. Your parents are dead."
Lily stood up and stormed away from her. "Stop talking about it!" She said furiously. She strode over to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Lily kicked the door in fury, and then glared at Cai. "Open the door."
Cai shook her head. "Lils, you need to talk about it. Abuela wanted to come and make sure you were all right, but I said that I would owl her."
"Well tell your grandmother to mind her own business!" As soon as those words left Lily's mouth, she instantly regretted them. "I'm sorry, Cai, it's just-"
"Oh no, I understand," Cai replied. "You're just being extremely stupid. You don't want anyone's help. Why, for the life of me, I could not tell you. You're just-"
"It's my fault." Lily interrupted. "It's all my fault. They died because of me." To say Cai looked shocked would have been an understatement.
"Lils, how could you say that?"
"How could I say it's my fault?" Lily replied angrily. "I'll tell you how. Because it is my fault. They died because I'm a witch. Because I'm muggle-born. That idiot Voldemort killed them, Cai. Because of me." She almost whispered the last part, and Cai stood and then moved in front of Lily. Kneeling in front of her, she murmured,
"Lily, it's not your fault."
"Yes it is," She replied tearfully.
"Lily, it's no-"
"Would you stop telling me it's not my fault? It is. It's because I'm a wi- it's because I'm a freak." Cai seemed to get the gist of Lily's thinking.
"Petunia," She spat out. Lily blinked owlishly.
"What?"
"Petunia," Cai repeated. "That stupid sister of yours. I'll kill her! She's- you- your- Argh!" Cai stood and started pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. "You think that- You won't listen to anyone of us, your friends, your other family, yet you'll listen to that poor excuse of a sister!"
"No I don't," Lily replied, wiping her eyes. "I don't listen to her at all."
"Lils, you just called yourself a freak. Believe me, hun, she doesn't know what she's talking about. It's not your fault, and you are not a freak. Lils, would you just let it out?"
"No!" She roared. "I won't! Because I don't deserve any pity." Cai sighed.
"You're not going to listen to me, are you?" She asked hesitantly.
"It's my fault," Lily just repeated, over and over again. Cai sighed again, and settled back into the armchair.
"Lily-"
"Would you stop? You don't know what you're talking about. Stop trying to convince me it's not my fault. It is."
"Fine, Evans. Be that way. I'm just trying to help. Oh, but let me just continue on the mind-set that I think you're following. Let's see. You're believing Petunia, and not believing me. Who you've known since you were born. Brilliant idea, not believing one of your best friends over the sister whose hated you since age 11. But still, you believe her. It was her fault you got in a fight with your parents, for Merlin's sake!
"And now let me guess. The only person who you will believe when they tell you it's not your fault will be darling Petunia. Because you've tolerated her calling you freak and saying that you were responsible for everything that went wrong in any part of your lives, and now you're agreeing with her. Well, Lily Marie Evans, that is some messed up thinking. Do you want to know why?"
Lily shook her head, and then went back over to the door, trying to open it.
"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. Lily, she already had it. Them. Whatever you want to call it."
"Had what?" Lily spat out.
"The blasted funerals, Evans."
Lily looked shocked. "Wha- what are you talking about?" She spluttered. " 'Tuna- 'Tunia would wait for me. She wouldn't-"
"Well she did, Lils. The funerals were two days ago." Lily shook her head.
"No."
"Lily, why won't you believe me?" Lily just tried the door again. "Lily, listen to me, please."
"No!" Lily shouted, but stopped trying the door and sank to the ground. Petunia wouldn't have help the funeral… she couldn't have blamed me for this… she couldn't have… She trailed off on her thoughts as Cai crouched next to her.
"Lily, she did. Abuela didn't get invited, but she showed up anyway. Almost cursed Tuna face into oblivion. It was pretty sweet, actually. I would've done something, but she took my wand before I could. I…" She trailed off as a tear slipped down Lily's cheek, followed by multitudes of others. "Lils-"
She broke off as Lily, with a yell, punched the doorway. "Ow…" She muttered, and clutched her fist, which was bleeding slightly.
"Lils, you need to go to-"
"No!" Lily shouted, and stood up, trying the door one last time. Cai sighed, before muttered Alohamora, and watched as Lily fled the room in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room.
Lily got halfway to the common room before she realized where she was headed. She sighed, and started to turn back to go to the Head's room, but then felt that she should go to the Gryffindor Common Room. Wiping her eyes, she walked to the portrait with a much slower pace than before.
Muttering "Blibbering Humdinger," to the Fat Lady, she quickly walked through the portrait and into the common room. She came upon Ash chasing Sirius around, shouting something to the extent of,
"Sirius Black, get that scrawny ass back here now!"
To which Sirius replied, "However, you think this ass," He pointed to the end in question, "Is quite hot and rather good looking." However, that must not have been the best reply, for Ash just screamed in fury and kept chasing Sirius. Noticing Lily's scared look, Remus murmured,
"Sirius found her diary… started reading bits out loud. He's at third year now."
Lily smiled slightly. "Just wait till he gets to fifth year. Every other sentence is either, 'I hate Sirius Black so much!', or 'Sirius Black is an-'" She broke off as Cai slammed the portrait open, and then quickly came over to Lily.
"Lils, I'm really sorry. But you had to know. And you have to change your opinion about it, because-"
"Stop telling me what to do!" Lily yelled at her. Sirius and Ash stopped their chasing, and James and Remus looked a bit shocked. It was the first time that anyone had yelled at the blonde that way- if you didn't count the time Lily yelled at her for not studying, and Cai replied that Lily should get off her high horse and play some quidditch. Or the time that Cai casually remarked that Lily should just drag James into a broom closet and get it over with already. Or the time… all right, so there was quite a few times that Lily had yelled at Cai that way. But no one else had. And that is the point.
"Lils-" Remus started, but Lily whorled around to face him.
"Remus, stay out of it!" She said forcefully, and that was when it hit James that Lily had been crying.
"Flower," He said softly, standing up from his perch on the windowsill, which was out of range of Sirius and Ash, "Why were you crying?"
This time Lily turned on him. "Would you all stop!" She yelled. "It's my business, and I don't need some- some big headed prat sticking his nose into my business!" James just stared at her, not wavering, before asking calmly,
"Are you done?" Lily sniffled, and then nodded slightly. James just shook his head before opening his arms and enveloping Lily in a hug. She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling oddly safe and protected. However, during this she missed the gasp that escaped Cai, as well as the stares of Remus, Ash, and Sirius. He led her over to the armchair where he sat down, and then dragged her into his lap. Lily just put her head back on his shoulder, and slowly the other four found spots around the room.
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About half an hour later, during which Sirius and Ash had resumed their chasing and Cai was staring moodily at the fireplace, with Remus trying to cajole her into talking, or better yet studying, a brunette of average height ambled into the common room. Taken aback by the sight of Lily sitting in James' lap, all she could think to say was,
"I hope you six realize that the train just arrived, and everyone will be coming up soon. They just all went to the feast. And- well, bloody Merlin's beard, I'm never going on vacation again! What did I miss this time?"
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Well, hope you all liked it. It was quite hard to write this chapter… yeah, that's about all the excuses I have. Sorry it took awhile, it's just that I had finals and crap, and then yelling by the parents… oh, and my dad works from home mostly, so he takes the computer a lot.
But anyway, hope you enjoy. Now go and review, please! xD Even if you just leave a "Hey, I read this story. look forward to more!" It would be appreciated xD
Tuts: Lol xD Yeah, the goldfish ARE Totally awesome. I think I have to kill them off soon, though. Goldfish never live this long xD Granted, it has been like, three days... oh well xD
Ashey: Make your darn account already! xP
FanFictionFantom: Yeah, Sirius was totally awesome.. -sighs- I really really hope taht in Book 6 JKR puts in a whole lot more flashback scenes... I want more younger, joking, funny Sirius! xD
Blue mariposa: Lol, yeah, I love summer xD And the Swahili thing is a joke between me and some of my friends... for some reason we started calling this guy Swahili as a code name, and every time we say it we say it in this really odd deep voice... it's pretty funny, actually xD
Oh, and if you're looking for a great laugh, go read Hand in Hand by Procrastinator-starting2moro. Hillarious piece, really xD