Chapter 15
Letters from Christmas Break
The following are selected letters which were written by the 9 teens in the days between December 27th, the day after the battle, and Monday January 5, when they were scheduled to return to Hogwarts once again on the Hogwarts express.
Lily to James December 27
James,
I woke up screaming last night. Like, really screaming. Like my mom had to come in and check on me. Yeah, like I was a kid. A kid like that poor little 8 year old who had to watch his parents die and then was tortured. And then we forgot about him. The dream was about me, when I was 8, only my parents were magical. Petunia wasn't there. She probably ran away because she couldn't stand magic, who knows. Not important. Anyway, death-eaters killed my parents, and then started torturing me, and then you, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, as old as you are now, came and fought the death-eaters and took them away, but left me on the ground hurt and sobbing. Do you think that's what we would have done to that poor kid had Chloe not been there? If it'd only been the four of us, do you think we'd have beat the death eaters and forgotten about the poor kid? I mean, how the bloody hell could we forget about that poor kid? Now I'm just sitting on my bed feeling guilty about it, which is worse than the nightmare. I need a hug, James. From you, not from my mother or father. I didn't tell them what we did... what we forgot to do... They wouldn't understand. Only you could. And Marietta and Sirius. I'm not going to have to wait until the train to see you, am I?
From
Your Lovely Lonely Lily-Flower
From Andrea to Christine December 27
Dear Christine
So, I get home last night, 8 o'clock after all that rubbish being questioned by the aurors and other officials to document the case, I get home and find a letter from Neville! Talk about a roller-coaster of a day, right? I mean, I'm all for them prosecuting the death-eaters to the best of their ability, and I know that's why they had to question us, but hadn't we been through enough already yesterday? I mean, especially James, Lily, Sirius, and Marietta. Well, and Chloe, too, getting that boy back to consciousness. I sure as hell know I couldn't have done something like that. Even the medi-wizards seemed surprised when they got there that he was up and walking around, once we told them what had happened to him. Anyway, Neville wants to see me tomorrow night. Date in Diagon Alley, I feel so mature! At a "little restaurant called Pennington Pub," according to his letter. So apparently he has money. I mean, I've heard of the place but never been inside... Whatever, I won't hold his galleons against him. Cool, eh? By the way, are you ok after last night and everything? I mean, I know we were basically just watching, but you know as well as I do that even watching can be hard when it's your friends out there. As another side-note, when did it stop being weird that we're friends with the bloody marauders? I mean I can't even count the number of times I laughed oatmeal up my nose over breakfast because of pranks they'd pulled on the Slytherins overnight. Oh well. Life's crazy, I guess.
Love,
Andrea
Christine to Andrea December 27
Dear Andrea,
Damn straight life's crazy! Take yesterday afternoon as a for instance. Damn I wish we'd gotten to get into the action. I mean, I know James made the right choices and all, only... I don't know, there's a certain adrenaline to getting into a battle like that... Anyway, really cool about Neville, and really cool that he's taking you to the Pennington Pub. We went there as a family in my third year when my brother got his head-boy letter. Best food I've ever had, honestly. But judging from the number of galleons my Dad handed over at the end of the meal, not the sort of place you go every day. Neville must really want to impress you. Which is natural, of course. You're pretty much the coolest person I know. Now I'm just kind of being protective of you... Like, I hope he's good enough for you. Geez, I never get all mushy like this. I dunno, just... You're a good friend, Andrea. Well, hey, I'm going to end this letter before I continue to embarrass myself, but think about this as a topic for conversation tomorrow night at dinner (I recommend the crab, by the way... disturbingly tasty), is Neville going to be in Dumbledore's club? I've never thought to ask him.
Love Christine
James to Lily December 27
Dearest Lily-Flower,
All right, I've got a plan. I remember you said you live near Durham. Well, my Dad knows someone in Durham, and he just popped his head over by Floo and asked if it would be ok for me to go use his fireplace to get closer to you. I'm going to take my owl with me through the Floo network (I talked to my Dad about this, and he says it'll be ok just so long as i keep the owl in its cage for the trip), so this will get to you fast. Then you can send my owl back and tell me where the hell you actually live specifically, because I doubt I can tell a cab-driver "near Durham" and get there. It's ok if it's not really close. My Dad has some Muggle cash for weird situations like this, and he gave me a good bit of it. He says to take you out to dinner with it too, if I have enough left over. He really likes you quite a bit. But how about I finish this letter up and floo myself to Durham so I can talk to you in person quicker?
All love,
James.
Remus to Chloe Decemember 27
Dear Chloe,
I'm not sure I can put into words what I'm feeling right now, it's early in the morning, and I didn't sleep well last night for the same reasons that you probably didn't either. Still, I just wanted to tell you, you're amazing. I could never do what you did yesterday... When I was there kneeling next to you and the boy, waiting to see if you could... well, what it seemed like was bringing him back to life. Did you even check for a pulse before starting, or were you just hoping for the best? Anyway, it was amazing that you were able to get him from being unconscious to up and walking. I was serious before about thinking you would be a great healer, but I'd never seen you in action until yesterday, and now I'm just ten times more convinced.
Love,
Remus
Chloe to Remus December 27
My beloved Remus,
Don't you ever feel like writing 'Dear' at the beginning of every letter starts sounding a little trite? Not that I'm criticizing you... just explaining my deviation from the norm above. Of course, you're dear to me, too, so I suppose it would have fit. Anyway, I slept well last night. I'm a really good sleeper, actually, especially when I'm as dead tired as I was last night. I'm pretty good at pushing things out of my mind when I have to. I think I slept from 9 at night to 9 in the morning... And probably wouldn't have woken up then if your owl hadn't knocked on my window. Anyway, mostly to make sure you're not feeling bad about yourself, I want to make sure you realize that there's a lot of things you can do better than me, like Defense Against the Dark Arts. But I feel like we've been over this. And... I wasn't trying to bring the boy back from the dead. I couldn't let myself think that he might be dead, that's why I didn't check for a pulse. I just didn't want to know. So I tried to bring him back to consciousness. It's what any healer would have done, I know that, and I didn't think there was any point in waiting for us to call one to get there. Trauma from torture can often cause insanity, and the longer people have been unconscious, the worse the outlook is. And it's worse for kids all around. So I had to get him conscious and talking to us, put him out of as much of his pain as I knew how, and then get him walking to a place where we could get a healer. I couldn't bear to let him stay unconscious and have him floating limply behind us like a corpse. So that's all I was thinking about. Just what I had to do. It's the kind of adrenaline I've never felt except for on our Halloween encounter with the Death-Eaters. So you don't have to feel like I'm missing out on the action being a pacifist. I'll still have my battles to fight.
Love you like a niffler loves shiny things,
-Chloe.
Marietta to Sirius December 28
Oi, Black!
Look, I think you and me both know after the battle two days ago that I am not a vulnerable little girl or anything, but for Merlin's sake a "hey, how ya doin' with all this?" note would have been appropriate. I mean, James paired us up with each other because we're "a couple," whatever that means... Well, I thought it meant that you... hell, i don't know, "liked?" me quite a bit? Or something? Like enough to write me a letter after a traumatic experience. Merlin, I sound... Shit, I don't know how I sound. The long and the short of it, Sirius, is that I'm not very pleased with you, and I'd also like to know more about what it does mean that we went on one date to Hogsmeade together and snog up a storm on a regular basis if it doesn't mean that you're going to be there for me, even in the form of a letter, when I need you.
Peeved,
Marietta
Sirius to Marietta December 28
Dear Angry Marietta,
Okay, no, look, I totally understand why you're mad, but there's a redeeming explanation: James up and scuppered to go be Lily's knight in shining armour and he took his owl with him. I don't have an owl, so usually I borrow his, or if his is gone he'll ask his parents to borrow one of theirs. But I don't ask. I feel embarrassed asking for extra favors from them, especially when James isn't around. I mean, they've done enough for me, you know? And honestly, I couldn't think of any other way to get to you. Since your father doesn't like magic, I knew I couldn't floo over, and since I've never been to your house, I couldn't apparate to a nearby forest or something because I wouldn't know it well enough to picture it in my head. And if it means anything, I've been here for you, wishing you'd apparate over here so we could talk and I could make sure you're all right. Because I love you. All right? That's why James paired us together. Because I love you. Now if you apparate over here tomorrow (I figure the owl won't get there 'til then, it's already 5 in the afternoon as I'm writing this), we can take a walk and talk about our feelings... our feelings about each other, or about the battle the other day, or about unicorns for all I care. It's been too long since I've seen you.
Love,
Sirius
Peter to Remus, December 28
Hey Moony,
James was supposed to come by and help me with my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework today. Any idea where he is? Also, you're good at Defense Against the Dark Arts, too, right? Any chance I could maybe have you come by instead?
-Wormtail
Remus to Peter December 28
Peter,
I'm kind of booked for today. James is over at Lily's house, from what Chloe tells me. He probably forgot all about your tutoring session. No offense or anything, but Lily does that to him. Anyway, what if I swing by tomorrow around 10 in the morning?
Andrea to Christine December 29
Dear Christine,
Ooooh, so. Your friend Neville. Not as cool as we all thought. Or. Well, as you and me thought. I'm not sure everyone else had a chance to form an opinion on the matter. Anyway, lets just say I won't be going on expensive dates again in the near future. By which I mean I won't be dating Neville again. Because he's um... well, let's just say he's the type of Ravenclaw who's closer to being a Slytherin than a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor. Like... the bad kind of Ravenclaw. Not saying there's a lot of bad ones... Anyway, he thinks its safer to remain neutral than to join either side in the war. Safer, cleverer, smarter, whatever it was he said. Actually almost made me feel dumb for standing up for Voldemort. But we're totally right, right? I mean... I almost need confirmation from another Ravenclaw. Neville says that 'cause I'm a pure-blood I don't need to worry about anything and all that. But there is something to worry about. Like that poor kid Chloe saved. It's not all about self-interest. Except for for rich prats like Neville.
Warmly, Andrea
Lily to James December 29
Dear James,
James, I just wanted to thank you so much for spending the past couple days with me. I hope it wasn't terribly awkward sleeping in Petunia's old room. Hell, I couldn't even sleep in there. But maybe that's because I know her. Haha, maybe sometime you'll get that pleasure. I mean. You will. Unless Petunia and I become estranged. Which oddly enough I think is more likely than becoming estranged from you. Which is weird, I guess. I'm sorry, maybe it's me whose being weird. I'm a little goofy because of getting to spend so much time alone with you. Lot of good snogging, I daresay. Anyway... I don't know if this is me being weird, but doesn't it seem like we've been boyfriend and girlfriend for so much longer than we have? I mean... maybe battles with death-eaters will do that to you. I've never felt so alive as I've felt fighting alongside you, I'll tell you that. I mean... It's weird, cause I totally wish that this war would just go away and we wouldn't have to fight anymore but... I almost look forward to the next battle.
Love Lily
James to Lily December 29
Dear Lily,
Yeah, you're a little bit weird, but I think I already knew that and have decided that I love you for it. Yeah, that's what happened. And, your sister's room was fine except for the color scheme. You're um... not also a fan of bright yellow and baby-blue, are you? By the way, have you noticed that we have night watch duty together during the second week of term? Not that I look at the list ahead of the time and find where are names are paired. No. Definitely I don't do that. It's really too bad that I won't get to see you again until term starts. I mean, ok, I mean, I know it's only just over a week until the train, but still. Can't wait to see you again. And. Yeah, I get a thrill out of dueling, whether it's against death-eaters against anybody else. And the thrill's bigger with death-eaters because the stakes are higher. I almost feel guilty for enjoying it.
Love James.
Christine to Andrea December 30
Hey, sorry for not getting back to you right away... Your owl didn't get to me 'til late, I was getting ready to get into bed early... Anyway, yes, definitely, look there are logical reasons for us not wanting to live under Voldemort, even though we're pureblood. I mean, let's say, best case scenario, we both turn death-eater right now, and get up there in the food chain, we're still living in constant fear of Voldemort's arbitrary wrath. He's got nothing controlling him. The Minister of Magic can't just go around killing anyone he wants. Voldemort can, and does. And what if you were to fall in love with a muggle-born. Or, Voldemort forbid, an actual muggle? Voldemort would kill you even for mentioning the thought. I mean, I know you're not thinking about changing sides, but you wanted a rational reason for fighting against Voldemort, and I think that's the main one. Totalitarian regimes suck. Even if Neville thinks he can thrive under one. And hell, maybe he can. All he'd have to do would be to give Voldemort some money every once in awhile, through Death Eaters. Maybe he or his father already have. People are doing all kinds of things to hedge their bets. But not us. We're putting our cards on the table and letting whatever happens happens, 'cause the stakes are too high to play the game any other way. And having exhausted my quota for loosely related gambling metaphors for this letter, I think I'll end it and send it off.
Affectionately, Christine
Peter to James December 31
James,
Hey, so is anyone doing anything for New Years Eve this year? I remember last year we didn't last year because my Mum didn't want to host because Sirius illegally used magic and accidentally set the couch on fire. My Mum, unfortunately, has not warmed up (like the couch did), to the idea of having the Marauders over for another New Years, so I was just wondering whether anyone has any plans.
-Peter
James to Peter December 31
Well, my parents are really only up for one big party a year, and even if we just invited the Marauders and the girls, it would be getting pretty big... Remus never hosts anything, and Lily would have told me if anything was going on on the girls' side, so... nope, looks like we're all celebrating separately this year. By the way, sorry about having to skive out of helping you with your homework the other day, but, well... Lily comes first, when she's in a state like she was the other day. Sorry mate.
See you on the train,
James.
Marietta to Sirius January 1
Dear Sirius
So, of course, I've been loving our daily walks that we've instituted lately, but I have bad news. As my father has insisted on making our house a muggle one, I have access to this thing called a weather forecast on the evening news. And tomorrow it's going to rain. Like bad. So, I was wondering if maybe you or James could ask the Potters if it would be ok for me to come over and visit tomorrow. It's cool if James third wheels the event and all. Actually I'd kind of like to see him, unless he has other plans. Anyway, I've told my owl to wake you up by tapping on the window whenever it gets there, so... sorry for waking you up, but I want you to write back to this letter early enough that I have time to come over.
Love Marietta.
Sirius to Marietta January 2
Dear Marietta,
So, flaw in your plan, honey: Your owl woke me up at four o'clock, but the Potters don't generally wake up until seven. So, I had the owl, but not a response. And your owl wouldn't leave without a response (I believe this must also have been part of your instructions), so the owl was flying around the room the rest of the night while I tried to sleep. My success was limited. Anyway, I asked the Potters over coffee (the owl now anxiously flying around the kitchen) if it was all right if you came over. They said, "Yes, of course, she's a delightful girl," so, really anytime your ready is fine. But, I'm just saying, think about the instructions you give your owl in the future. 'Cause this time was a disaster. And James isn't up yet so I haven't had a chance to ask him if he wants to be our third wheel. But I can't imagine him having any other plans, so count him in, as far as I'm concerned.
From a drowsy-because-of-your-owl Sirius
Chloe to Marietta January 3
Dear Marietta,
I've already talked to Remus about this, but I feel like he'd side with me no matter what. Not that that's necessarily a bad quality in a boyfriend, to an extent anyway, but I want to know someone's honest unbiased opinion. And I'm not asking Lily, 'cause she'd just be too nice, too, but I know that you'll give an honest answer. Am I a coward for not wanting to fight in battles, but just heal people instead? I mean, I'd only heal our side, of course. If a Death-Eater came to me with so much as a broken nose I'd tell him to shove it up his ass. But I'm still not out there on the battle lines, risking my life. Does that mean I shouldn't be a Gryffindor?
-Love Chloe.
Chloe to Marietta January 3
Dear Chloe,
Of course you should be a Gryffindor. And look, we need healers. People are going to get hurt, like that little boy. And if we have somebody who we all know and trust, who can operate out of someplace other than St. Mungo's that would be amazing. If that's you, then you're of as much value to our side as anyone else. And you know what, it's a courageous choice to decide that you're not one of the ones who's going to duel, if that's what your principles are. You're not going to end lives, you're going to save them. And that's great. And you know I wouldn't lie to you. So you're just as much as a Gryffindor as me, or James, or bloody Godric Gryffindor himself. Don't doubt yourself, it's a waste of time.
-Sincerely Marietta.
Lily to James January 4
Dear James,
Being apart from you has been harder than I thought it would be. It's going to be amazing to get back to school and be able to see you every day again. Funny that it wasn't too long ago when "seeing James Potter every day" would have been one of my only reasons for not wanting to go back to school. But I guess life's funny like that. Anyway... I'm going to kiss you very hard on the platform before we get on the train. Just wanted you to know.
-Love an excited Lily.
James to Lily January 4
Dear Lily,
I certainly do love an excited Lily. And I'm very much looking forward to that kiss on the platform. Funny, though, I can't sympathize with you on the change of heart about wanting to see me, since I've always been excited to get to see you, even when you weren't so fond of me. To put it lightly. But this term should be good. Can't wait to see what Dumbledore's club is like.
Love James.
A/N: So yes, it took forever and a day, but there's the new chapter. I hope it was entertaining. And if you've liked this story so far, the least you can do is go to www dot freerice dot com and win some rice for hungry people, then write me a review in which you tell me how much rice you've won for my story. This is in connection with a group I'm a part of called Fanfictioners Against World Hunger. For more info, see me profile or the profile of the penname "freerice" Of course, all reviews are welcome.