A/N: Okay, so this chapter is a bit longer than I usually write, but I do like it. Hope you have fun reading it. Please review and tell me what you think. Enjoy!
Chapter Seven: An Offer or Two…
Lily woke up early the next day, as always. The sun was just starting to stream into the dormitory, and Lily couldn't help but smile to herself. It was a lovely sight, she thought, the dormitory this early in the morning. Everything was silent and a peaceful calm swept over the room. In the weak early morning light, the crimson blankets and drapes were colored a dusty rose and gave the room the feeling of an old, colonial, English bedchamber, the types she had seen in muggle movies with her parents.
She leaned against her headboard, thinking about home, back in the windy little hamlet of Breckenshire. It was a tiny little thing, but her parents were right proud of it and always kept it cozy and neat. She remembered the way that it always smelled of something cooking, and how her father was always in the kitchen, experimenting on some new recipe. In the winter times there was always a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg in the air. Her mum would always poke fun at her father's cooking as she sat at the kitchen table, sewing and stitching her latest project. Between the two parents, the Evans family barely made enough to afford the house rent, food, and schooling for their two girls. But they were a happy family and Lily felt terribly homesick and sad in the large dormitory with its plush décor.
She pushed herself out of bed, shuddering as her feet touched the freezing marble floor. She quickly slipped into her silk slippers, a gift from Sora a few years ago. As she walked past her bed, something on her bedpost caught her eye. There, taped on the dark wood, was a red paper. Lily sucked in her breath, thinking that it was a red notice.
"Aren't we pat this stage already?" she said to herself, taking the paper off the bedpost. On it, she saw was a flower, etched beautifully in gold ink. Confused, she turned it over. There was something written in scratchy writing on the back.
"10 a.m., the room of requirement" she read aloud, confused even further. She went to the bed beside hers, where Sora lay, still in a deep sleep. Lily noticed that she too had the red paper on her bedpost and shook her until she woke up.
"You better have a bloody good reason for waking me up this early" Sora grumbled, rubbing her eyes. Lily ignored her friend and literally thrust the paper in her face. Taking it, Sora scanned over it, threw it on the ground, and fell back down on her pillow.
"Sora- what does this mean!" Lily cried.
"Obviously that they want to meet us at 10 in the room of requirement" Sora said groggily.
"Aren't you the least bit worried?" Lily asked her friend.
"No. Let me sleep" Sora said. Lily frowned.
'How can you not be even a little anxious?" Lily asked.
"Because I know we'll be safe" Sora answered. Lily thought about what she said for a minute.
"How can you be sure?" she asked. Sora turned around and glared at Lily.
"Lily, if you don't shut up and let me sleep then I cannot be sure about how safe you will be" she said. Lily pouted and slid off Sora's bed. So much for asking for advice. Lily made a mental note to never bother Sora before 6 ever again.
At ten, Lily and Sora left the common room and headed towards the room of requirement. They stopped along the way because Sora insisted on sending a letter at that exact moment, so they reached the room about ten minutes late. Both of the walked past it three times and then entered.
The Marauders were already there, looking intimidating and tailored in matching red cloaks. Sora recalled that she had only seen them wear those cloaks once before, and that was when they had delivered their first red notice.
"You're late" James said to the two girls. Lily shuddered a bit, James sounded very angry. Sora on the other hand, couldn't care the least.
"You're lucky we even showed up considering what happened last time we were in this room" Sora said coldly. James blushed to his roots, which just egged Sora on even more.
"Where are the beauty products, James? I do feel it's about time for a touch up" Sora said, eyebrows raised.
"Listen, Kaito- I did not ask you to come here to fight" James said, trying to calm himself. Lily scoffed.
"Then what did you invite us here for?" Lily asked James.
"I was just about to get to that" James snapped, clearly angry at the way things were going. He was James Potter, he called the shots, he dictated the way things ran!
"I am going to make both of you an offer" James said, causing Sora and Lily to grimace.
"I thought you learned you lesson, James" Lily stated.
"Hear me out on this" James said to the two girls. Lily, confused, looked up at Sora.
"This better be worthwhile, Potter" Sora said to James, her tone taught yet bored at the same time. James smiled to himself. The first step of the plan was convincing the girls to listen to him; and that went without a hitch. The second, step though, would be a bit trickier. He took out a scroll from his pocket.
"You wrote a speech?" Lily asked. The rest of the Marauders looked surprised as well. Nobody had seen James put this much effort into anything before.
"It's more official" James answered, handing the paper to Sirius. "You read it" he whispered. Sirius nodded gently.
"We, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew hereby announce that on this day of November 2nd in the good year of 1971, Mistress Lily Evans and Mistress Sora Kaito are formally invited to join the group commonly known as the Marauders" Sirius read, trying very hard not to laugh.
"You wrote that yourself?" Peter asked James. James shot the boy a quick, nasty look.
"Wait a minute. You're inviting Lily and me to join your group" Sora said, shocked.
"Yeah- that is what was written" James answered, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why in heaven's name would we do that?" Lily asked. James just nodded his head.
"Sirius read Contention 1, sub point A" James said very formally. Sirius just shook his head and scanned the paper, finding the line.
"James, I can't read this" Sirius said
"Why not?" James asked, his voice icy.
"Because it doesn't make sense. Did you even understand what you were writing down?" Sirius asked.
"Just read it, Sirius" James said, his eyes cold. Sirius just shrugged.
"Have it your way" he said, picking up the scroll. "The Marauders are willing to end their dauntless exchange of blows with the aforementioned parties timely and cohesively upon initiation into aforementioned group containing to and strictly following all laws, rules, and regulations herby proclaiming." Sirius read. Everybody just stared at him with blank faces.
"What in the world does that mean, mate?" Remus asked. James just sighed.
"You're supposed to be the smart one, Moony" James said.
"Yeah, but that wasn't even grammatically correct. You can't end a sentence with the word proclaiming" Remus retorted. Sora rolled her eyes.
"James, just translate it for us" she asked. James nodded.
"Basically it states that the Marauders will surrender in this war if you and Lily would be willing to join our group" James said. Lily's mouth dropped.
"You'll really surrender?" she asked. James smiled
"Of course, it was written in the speech, wasn't it?" he asked.
"Possibly" Peter said, earning him another glare from James. Lily turned to Sora, her eyes questioning. Sora, though, looked straight ahead. She suddenly grabbed Lily be the shoulder and pulled her so that they were out of hearing range of the Marauders.
"Are we going to accept?" Lily asked Sora.
"I think we should" Sora answered. Lily frowned a bit.
"But why would we want to be part of the Marauders?" Lily asked.
"Well for one, it would be the perfect revenge on Grace, Molly and Emily, they've been trying to become part of the group for ages" Sora said. Lily nodded.
"But it seems a bit like giving up" Lily said. Sora grinned wickedly.
"Not if we make them an offer of our own" she said. Lily's eyes lit up as Sora bent down and whispered something in her ear.
"You are quite evil, you know" Lily said. Sora just nodded her head. "I know" she answered. Both of the girls walked back to the boys.
"So have you decided?" James asked. Sora nodded her head.
"We'll join- as long as you follow a few certain conditions" Sora said, causing James to frown a bit.
"What conditions?" James asked.
"First- you have to let us have friends outside of the group" Lily said.
"Done" James said.
"Second- you have to consult both of us and get our approval before you pass out any red notices." Sora said. James faltered a bit.
"Done" he answered, though this time not as happy. "How many more of these do you have?" he asked.
"Just a few more" Sora said. James groaned.
"Third- all four of you have to announce very publicly that you surrender to us" Lily added. James paled a bit.
"Only if you let us also announce that you two joined our group" James said. Lily looked at Sora and both of them shared a tight nod.
"Done" Lily said.
"Fourth- you will never attend any of Molly, Grace, and Emily's parties ever again" Sora said. James nodded quickly.
"More than happy to comply with that" he said.
"And lastly- you will have to change the name of the group" Lily said, causing a bit of an uproar.
"What's wrong with the Marauders? It's a fine name!" Remus said sullenly.
"It took us ages to come up with it in the first place!" Peter said.
"We're girl, we can't be Marauders" Sora stated plainly.
"How about we call you the Marauderettes?" James suggested.
"The Marauders and Marauderettes" Sirius said "sounds like a horrible rock band".
"Plus that's what Molly, Grace, and Emily call themselves" Lily added in.
"They do have a bit of a point" Sirius said. James looked devastated.
"But we've always been the Marauders!" he whined.
"Yeah, but we have also always been four boys. Now we're adding two girls. I guess a name change is in order" Remus said, thinking deeply. Sora and Lily nodded.
"But what in the world are we going to be called?" James said "I hadn't planned for this" he added.
"How about the H6?" Peter suggested. Everybody looked at him.
"H6?" Sora asked him.
"Yeah, as in Hogwart's six." He said "The six most powerful people in the school" he added.
"I kind of like it" Remus said. Sirius, Sora, and Lily nodded in agreement.
"Okay then, I guess we can be called the H6" James sighed. "Though the Marauders was a much cooler name" he added.
"Get over it, James" Remus said. James frowned.
"Okay, now that this is in place- we do the initiation ceremony and we'll all be on our way" James said.
"You didn't mention anything about an initiation ceremony" Sora said quickly.
"It's nothing big. We just get into a circle and we all tell one secret about ourselves. That way, if one of us betrays the group we have dirt on them" James said.
"That's evil" Lily said. James shrugged.
"Welcome to the H6, love" he said Lily frowned.
"Don't call me love" she pouted. James matched her frown.
"Let's just get this over with" Peter said, interrupting James's and Lily's spat before it escalated.
"Wonderful, Peter why don't you start us off then" James said. Peter rolled his eyes.
"Fine. My secret is that I am adopted' Peter said. "My real dad's a drunkard who lives in main city London. My real mum was a whore who died about six years ago when she lost a duel" he said. Lily and Sora stifled gasps. So Peter wasn't really born into a high, wealthy family after all.
"You next, Sirius" James said.
"My secret is that I play the violin. I've played it ever since I was a little child" he said. James looked up at him.
"You forgot one little part" James said. Sirius glared at him.
"Fine, if James insists. When I was younger I was the head singer in the London children's opera" Sirius added, blushing a bit. Lily couldn't hold in her small laugh. She could just imagine a younger looking Sirius in a suit singing opera. Sora, too, found it amusing, though she was better at hiding it than Lily.
"Okay, Remus- you're up" James said. Remus took in a deep breath. His secret was a bit more serious that the others'.
"I'm a werewolf" Remus stated out flat. There really was no need to try to dodge the fact. Lily gasped. Sora on the other hand smiled.
"Really?" she asked. Remus looked surprised and nodded back. He hadn't expected Sora to look pleased over it.
"I guess I'll go next then" Sora said. James looked a bit sour. He was the one who called the shots. But he decided to let Sora have a chance.
"My father is a werewolf" Sora said, her voice sounding a bit proud. "And my mum's great grandma is half-vampire" she said.
"That's wicked" Sirius said, impressed not by the girl's lineage, but by the pride she had in her voice for them. It was obvious that Sora wasn't a person who discriminated often.
"That's amazing" Remus said. He hadn't really known any other werewolves except himself.
"I guess I'll go next" James said, trying to bring the attention back to him. "I can't read anything without my glasses on" he said. Lily and Sora burst out laughing.
"You wear glasses?" Sora asked. James look flustered.
"Only when I need to read something!" he said.
"I guess that's why you never read anything when the professor calls on you in class" Lily said, grinning "This whole time I thought you were just daft" she said. James frowned deeply.
"Well let's hear your secret, Miss high and mighty" James said. Lily sobered up immediately.
"Well, I don't have many secrets" she said "my parents are both muggles, as well as my sister. We aren't the richest family, but we get along fine. I do have a stupid little collection of miniature bird figurines that I keep in my room. It's very tacky, but I do love it" she said. James raised an eyebrow.
"Miniature bird figurines?" he asked. Lily blushed.
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you, mister blind!" she said. James puffed up.
"At least I don't collect retarded trinkets" he retorted.
"At least I don't need help to see what I'm reading" she answered back.
"It's not like it's my fault!" James said, turning red with anger.
"It's going to be a long four more years" Sora said to herself, shaking her head.
A/N: Okay, so what did you think? Next chapter the Marauders (or should I say H6?) will officially announce in front of the school that they surrendered and that Lily and Sora had joined their group. Wonder how our three favorite Ravenclaw girls will take it….