AN: there's one thing I realized: there's no peter Pettigrew in this story. Ah, well, who cares, he's a git anyways. Just pretend he's there, but he's disappeared or something. He's no loss.
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
A thank you to Jegan. And another thank you to Nelly Potter for reviewing. Here's the next chapter.
SEVENTH YEAR ROLLER COASTER
Chapter 4: arrival and complications
"Lil, when are Hugh and your dad coming?" asked Maggie at breakfast the next week.
"Next week" said Lily miserably, "and they're staying till the end of the year. Lovely, isn't it?" she added sarcastically.
"Good morning, Lily," said Sirius loudly, bouncing into his seat. Lily smiled.
"Morning" said Lily and Maggie together, as James and Remus slid into seats across Sirius.
"Hey Remus, James" greeted Lily.
"What exactly are you so happy about?" asked Maggie of Sirius, who was grinning widely.
"well, last night I came up with some pranks," he said, "for Lils' fiancé, and my planned pranks and calculations show that Hugh will be spending around two or three days of the second week of his stay in the hospital wing."
"Why the second two weeks?" asked Remus.
"Because, Moony, "said Sirius, sighing dramatically. With an air of 'you're- supposed- to- be- the- smart- one- here' around him, "we want the first week to show Mr. Evans how very natural pranks at Hogwarts are.
"Hey Lil," asked Maggie, "if you are – engaged, erm… where's your ring?"
Lily sighed.
"It's in that locked drawer up in our dorm. I don't want to look at it. It's not too shabby actually, but I've always preferred emeralds to diamonds. I suppose I'll have to wear it all the time that they're going to be here."
Maggie frowned. "Don't worry, Lils, we'll get you out of this mess," she said comfortingly, "all of us"
"I know you guys will," whispered Lily, "but my father's a determined personality and, well… I keep thinking, when I have to leave Hogwarts, I'll have to marry Hugh. I'll have to be Mrs. Hugh Dursley. And I don't like that one bit."
A week later…..
Lily straightened her tie nervously.
"They said they'd be here at two" she said to Maggie.
Maggie and Lily were waiting to 'welcome' Mr. Evans and Hugh to Hogwarts. Sirius, Remus, and James had wanted to come, but Lily said that her father would not like it.
"Oh come on Lils," Jams had said pleadingly, "pleeaase can we come? We'll keep quiet and behave, promise."
Lily pondered for a few moments.
"Alright," she said finally, "but keep under the cloak at all times. No noise."
The three boys cheered.
So, Lily and Maggie were waiting, while the marauders were under the invisibility cloak, a little distance apart.
Suddenly, the doors flew open, and a man wearing a suit came in.
"Lily," he said, "how are you? And this is..." he looked at Maggie.
"Maggie," said Lily, "Maggie Seltzer. She's my best friend."
"Pleased to meet you," said Mr. Evans, "ah, here's Hugh"
A boy wearing gray pants, a tie, and a shirt came in. he had high cheekbones, dark hair, and stood quite tall, about five feet eleven inches, slightly shorter than Remus, James, or Sirius. Even through his good looks, you could tell this guy was arrogant.
"Lily darling," he said, walking over to Lily and scooping her up into his arms, "so long since we have seen each other. You look as pretty as ever, of course" he kissed her. Lily cringed at the close contact, and wiggled gently out of Hugh's arms.
James had balled up his hands into fists, and was shaking from anger. 'How dare that guy touch Lily' he thought.
"You haven't met Maggie have you?" asked Lily of Hugh, "Maggie, this is Hugh Dursley, my-" her voice quivered as she said it, "f- fiancé. And Hugh, this is Maggie Seltzer, my best friend."
"Charmed" said Hugh, kissing Maggie's hand in spite of her icy glare.
"It's my pleasure," she said frostily.
"I'll show you to your rooms," said Lily, "Dumbledore showed me them yesterday."
She led the way to the third floor, and stopped in front of a painting of a woman with several birds fluttering around her.
"The password is simple, 'non- magic'," she said, "I have to go. I'll see you at dinner." she made to move ff, but Hugh stopped her and kissed her again.
"See you at dinner," he whispered, and went inside with her father. Lily waited until they were out of sight, and then wiped her mouth.
"Ugh," she said, "I wish he would stop doing that. Let's get back to the common room," she said to Maggie, "I want to see what the guys thought."
"I don't like him" said James immediately, as they pulled the Cloak off themselves in their dorm.
Remus sighed, "of course you don't"
James ignored him.
"He was touching Lil! No one's allowed to do that!" he said.
Sirius was fuming too.
"That guy thought he was all cool and that, going all catanosa on them. Who does he think he is?"
"It s Casanova Sirius," corrected Remus.
"Whatever!" snapped Sirius.
"What do you think Moony?" asked James.
"Well," said Remus thoughtfully, "he seemed pretty confident about going all over Lily. But you can see he's not in love with her. He's just-"
"Infatuated!" said Sirius.
"Lustful," said James.
"both." answered Remus, "its not love, its lust. And he'll do a lot to get his way. He'll go to extremes. It doesn't look like this guy is going to be as easy as we thought, mates. Not as at all."
At dinner, Hugh sat next to Lily, one arm around her. Mr. Evans sat at the top table, conversing with Dumbledore. James sat across Lily, scowling constantly, looking up at Hugh every now and then. Maggie, Sirius, and Remus gazed pensively from Hugh to Lily, each lost in their own troubled thoughts.
The next morning, classes had to be attended. Hugh walked Lily fro one class to another, never leaving her side, much to the anger of James, whose job it usually was. Maggie kept sending glares at Hugh. Remus and Sirius, meanwhile, were pranking the Slytherins left, right, and center, to convince Mr. Evans that pranking was, indeed, an everyday affair.
It was on Mr. Evans' and Hugh's third day of visit that anything actually happened.
Hugh had gone to his rooms, deciding to go to bed. Lily, James, Maggie, Remus, and Sirius, were working on their homework in the common room, when an owl flew in with the Evening Prophet, and landed in front of James. He removed the newspaper, paid the owl, and opened the front page. He flipped through the next couple of pages until he found anything of interest.
"WHAT?" he yelled. The common room went quiet. He turned around, glaring at them all. "Nothing to see here," he snapped, "go back to what you were doing! - guys, look at this," he added in an undertone to the other four, all who were looking curiously at him.
He spread out the sheet on the table. They gathered around, reading the article silently.
MUGGLES AT HOGWARTS
Hogwarts' school of witchcraft and wizardry, as the name suggests, a school of magic, was a place no muggles entered. However, your Evening Prophet reporter, Rita Skeeter, has found out otherwise. Two muggles are currently residing at Hogwarts, namely Jonathon Evans, and Hugh Dursley.
Hugh Dursley, age nineteen, happens to be engaged to Lily Evans, current Head Girl of Hogwarts. On questioning, Albus Dumbledore, headmaster, said that the Evans and Dursleys had been contributing to magical organizations for years, naturally resulting in the fact that they wanted to see where it was going.
Developments in this incident at Hogwarts, which I am sure has never happened before, will be reported immediately, seeing as your reporter has the privilege of being on the spot.
"That old cow1" said Lily angrily, "I remember her at Hogwarts. She was a couple of years above us. Best friend of Bertha Jorkins. And she hated me. She used to spread rumors about us, Maggie, remember?"
"Yeah," said Maggie, "she didn't like the fact that we were so close to you guys" she looked at the marauders.
"Another girl to fall for the marauder charm, I suppose," said Sirius.
Remus shot him an annoyed look." she was a couple of years older than us, Padfoot. And it's just your charm. And maybe James'"
"Hey" protested James
"Sorry James," said Maggie, "but it's true" she suppressed a smile.
James ignored her and turned to Lily, who was still looking at the article.
"What's wrong Lils?" he asked.
"You see this last bit over here," she questioned.
James read aloud, "Developments in this incident at Hogwarts, which I am sure has never happened before, will be reported immediately, seeing as your reporter has the privilege of being on the spot?"he finished incredulously.
Lily nodded. "She's going to come to Hogwarts" she said, "and I bet she won't leave without digging up some stuff. On all of us."
AN: well, there's a new complication. I sure hoped you liked it. Please review!
Dolphin
