Thank you to PanicTheNarglesAreComing22, JenUpsideDown and everyone who has followed or favourited this story! I feel like a very lousy author as I'm pretty sure it has been 10 months since my last update… I am so sorry! As always please read and review, any comments, long or short, good or bad! x
Laughter met their ears as Teddy and Victoire stepped through the portrait.
"Hey! That's not fair; your chess set is crooked!" Sirius complained
"Don't be such a sore loser" Lily laughed
"I don't know Evans, you sure you didn't cast a charm on the knight?" James raised an eyebrow
"Of course Potter, because in order for me to beat the enchanting, brilliant, attractive, best at everything, Sirius Black, I'd have to have cheated." Lily crossed her arms
James shook his head "Now why don't you say things like that about me?"
Lily sighed dramatically and slumped in the settee, "I don't know…" Lily looked about her, as if the answer would appear out of the air. "maybe I don't see you often enough" she flung her arm to the back of the settee.
"Alright" James wiggled his eyebrows "go on a date with me"
"Not what I meant James" Lily laughed and glanced behind her as Victoire walked forward pulling Teddy's arm.
"Hey" she smiled warmly
"Hi," Victoire said and fell down next to Lily. Teddy sat on the armrest.
"So, what're we talking about?"
"Well, James is lucking out with Lily yet again, and Sirius seems to be losing chess" said Remus with a small smile.
"Maybe we should find a different game to play?"
Sirius barked out a laugh "I'm up for that" and swept all the chess pieces back into his bag.
"So, what do you suggest?" James asked
"We could play the muggle game trumps…" Teddy offered "though I don't have any cards with me…"
"Oh! I do" Lily, raced up the stairs and reappeared a moment later
"Sure, what are the rules?"
"So we each get an equal amount of cards, and one card is put in the middle. And we play 'hands' and whoever has the most tricks at the end of that 'hand' wins. Ace is highest card and two, is lowest."
"And the card in the middle determines the upper hand suit. For example if the middle card was hearts, then whoever plays the highest number heart card, wins that hand" said Victoire.
"Whoever hasn't won any tricks by the end of the round is out." Teddy finished and looked up at the others blank, slightly confused faces.
"Don't worry" he smiled, "you'll understand it as we go along, it's quite simple"
.
"YES!" James exclaimed and raised his hands in the air. "Another trick to me"
The others sighed James had won the past two rounds "Alright Prongs, let's make this a bit more interesting"
"What are you proposing?"
"The winner has to strip a piece of clothing and run around the grounds"
Lily threw her arm out over the table and pointed her finger at him "no."
"Actually I think that sounds like a great idea Moony"
"You just want everyone to see you with your top off" Lily accused
James grasped his hand to his heart "Evans, you wound me"
"What about you?" Lily turned to Victoire and Teddy with imploring eyes "please say you don't think that isn't a good idea"
They exchanged glances, "how about we have to tell a story?" Victoire said, Teddy smiled.
"What kind of story?" Remus said laughing
"Anything" teddy replied with a grin "absolutely anything that has happened to you in or someone else in the group in the past"
"Teddy!"
"What?" Teddy turned to her with a twinkle in his eye
Victoire mock glared "you know what I'm talking about"
"Not sure I do…" Teddy smirked "shall we start?"
.
Sirius threw his last card in top of the pile "I do believe that this round has a victorious King."
"Alright then" Lily scoffed "Lay your story on us"
Sirius stretched his arms up above his head and took a deep breath "I guess I'll start out with the heavy stuff, but only if you don't talk about it to me, for today at least"
"Alright" Victoire said, head resting in her hands.
"My family aren't the nicest people." Sirius shook a hand through his hair "scratch that, they're awful. They're dark and they absolutely do not like me. All who came to Hogwarts were Slytherin, 'cept for my cousin Andromeda, she and her family are fine, they're also outcasts 'blood traitor's…' She married a muggle-born" he explained
Victoire glanced at Teddy, who to her surprise wore a small smile, enraptured with Sirius' story. Content with his reaction she aimed her attention back to Sirius.
"Anyway… I used to do all sorts of things to annoy them, stuck up Gryffindor banners and pictures of muggle girls in bikini's on my wall with a permanent sticking charm. The old bat tried everything she could to get them off."
"Last year I left home, went to live with James and his family" Sirius lightly punched James in the arm with a smile "my mum then disinherited me, burnt my name off of the family tree. But my Uncle Al, he sympathised with me, gave me a huge inheritance" Sirius grinned, though his eyes remained dull "and I'm now financially independent. So hey," Sirius waved his arms "no downside right" his smile fell once again " 'course, then dear old mother blasted Uncle Alphard's name off as well." Sirius leaned back on his chair before fall forward again before the seat could topple over. "Anyway, that's the only dull story I'm going to tell"
Victoire opened her mouth to say something sympathetic but felt a pressure on her foot, she looked across at Teddy who shook his head 'oh right, Sirius didn't want us to make a comment today', she gave Teddy a small smile.
"Alright, who's dealing?"
.
Lily and James stared intently at each other and the table was deadly silent.
"And it all comes down to this" Remus whispered in a mock 'snooker commentator's' voice. "Whichever person has the highest card shall be the Trumps winner of this round… will it be Evans or will it be Potter?"
Teddy, Victoire and Sirius all drummed their fingertips against the edge of the table as the two turned their cards over and a triumphant cry emerged from James.
"YES! Oh Evans, better luck next time aye" he winked
"Of course James, you know I'm only warming up" her lips twitched into a small smile "Go on then, tell us your embarrassing story"
"Embarrassing story? We all agreed that it was whatever story you wanted to tell" James' brows furrowed beneath his rectangular glasses.
"Oh go on mate, we could all do with a laugh, and I know one story that's absolutely perfect"
"Oh yeah, best friend" James said between his teeth "and what's that then?"
"Adrian-,"
"No" James cut him off "I am not telling that story"
"What's this about Adrian?" Lily grinned
Remus started "Adrian caught-,"
"No! We don't know anything about Adrian"
"Well I'd hate to see how you'd react if you did know something" Victoire teased "come on tell us"
James mock glared at her before humphing "fine, fine"
He sat up in his chair whilst clapping his hands in front of him before placing them on the table
"Last year at some point I was in the common room and doing my homework"
"Ha" Sirius barked out a laugh "o'course mate"
James shoved Sirius' shoulder tilting this chair
"Anyway," James said pointedly "I thought I was alone so I flicked the on the Wireless of the Beatles, you know, that Muggle band?" James asked Victorie and Teddy, who both nodded
"Anyway, I thought I'd make the use of the common room being empty and started-," James start coughing
"Go on mate" Sirius taunted
"Singing" James mumbled
"What?" Lily grinned
"I started singing okay?" James shrugged his shoulders
"What song was it?" Lily grinned
"Hey Jude" James grinned
"I love that song!" Lily laughed "Want to give us a rendition?"
"No, thank you!" James scoffed
"Oh come on Potter, where's your sense of courage?"
"Went right out of the window when Adrian came down the stairs"
"Oh, so he caught you singing?" Teddy asked
"I wish that was only it… he had his bloody camera with him, and thought it would be funny to catch me in the act"
Peter chuckled, his cheeks turning red; James flicked him in the arm
"Hey! It wasn't funny alright. He caught the whole thing on film"
"What happened?" Victoire asked, leaning in
"I got the film, in return for a dare"
There was a moments silence before Lily started laughing "Oh Merlin! The rumours were true then?"
"What rumours darling?" James wiggled his eyebrows
"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Lily crossed her arms and leaned back casually
"Alright" James smirked "Adrian, the sly fox, said that he would give me the film if I did whatever he said next. Within reason of course" he nodded to Lily
"So, within the next hour I found myself walking to the quidditch pitch in my pants only. I unlocked the shed retrieved my broom and flew into the air and around the circumference of the castle…" James sighed wistfully "it was actually very relaxing, very freeing… until I landed" James coughed and sat up straight again.
"I had just put the broom away and was walking back up to the castle when I saw a shadow approaching in front of me. I tried to find a place to hide but the closest thing was a tree about ten metres away..."
"Who was it?" Victoire asked
James muttered incoherently
"I'm sorry…" Lily leaned forward with a hand to her ear "I didn't quite catch that"
"Professor McGonagall" James said loudly, "Gryffindor's head teacher" James explained to Victoire and Teddy
The entire table burst into laughter except for Sirius and Remus who had obviously heard the tale before but still bore grins
"Anyway… that's my story… can we continue on with the game now"
"Prongs, you know that isn't everything"
"Yeah" Lily added "w-what did she say?" she stuttered through choked laughter
James groaned "I think the interaction went a little like this… As she approached me she frowned and asked me what on earth I was doing… I said…"
"I needed some place to think... and clothes generally constrict my thinking... and feeling the wind fly through my hair over the castle I feel I can think a lot better and fly at my best, you know… ugh… less weight dragging me down"
"Oh I'm sure" James mimicked Professor McGonagall
"Her face was a mask, still had tight lips which showed me she had some emotion running through her… I'll tell you, that Lady should play poker for England. Anyway…" James carried on re-enacting the scenario
"Perhaps you would find it more fitting to wear this attire at the next quidditch match Mr Potter?"
"Oh, um… I'm not quite sure that that would be…"
"It might distract the opposition a bit"
"It was then that I caught a slight twitch of her mouth trying to hide amusement at my expense. She turned around walked back to the castle before saying over her shoulder"
"Back to bed, Mr Potter, and if I ever find you wandering school out of bounds dressed like this again I might assume something else has been happening"
Lily started to uncontrollably laugh, and had to stand up "oh my gosh, she thought…" hiccup "that you-," hiccup "had been…" she pointedly looked at James before falling into the arm chair gladly accepting the glass of water Remus has produced.
After she had calmed down somewhat Lily spoke "what I wouldn't give to see that… you're lucky Adrian didn't follow you down there you know. Just because he was giving back one bit of film didn't mean he couldn't film another"
"Ah, that is where you're wrong Evans, girls don't only appreciate me for my looks you know" he tapped his head "it was in our agreement that he could not film the said dare"
"Oh, that's a shame"
"I know that one of your goals in life Evans is to see me in my underwear, but I didn't think you'd state it so readily in front of me"
Lily grabbed a pillow and smacked him over the head with it, "whatever Potter" with blushing cheeks she grinned "can we keep playing the game now? I think I'm getting the hang of it
.
After a few more rounds James suddenly straightened up
"Hang on"
The group went silent, confused faces looked back at him
"What's wrong?" Peter asked, looking around nervously
"Evans, what was the rumour you heard about me?"
Lily straightened slightly and scratched her nose "What do you mean? I heard the pants story"
"No, you didn't" James leaned forward so his knees pressed up against hers "you laughed too much, you definitely hadn't heard that story before"
"Of course I had, it was just more amusing having you say it" Lily's face slowly grew pink
"I don't believe you" James placed his hand next to Lily's elbow entrapping her between the armchair and him.
Lily went slightly breathless "well that's-," she swallowed "your problem"
"Come on Lily" at the sound of her name she glared nervously into his eyes "what other story did you find so amusing?"
Lily placed her hands against James' chest and pushed giving her a little space to race around to the other side of the common room which was now empty due to the late hour
"If there was nothing to hide then why are you running away?" James smirked before walking slowly over to her
Lily smiled and laughed "not hiding, just really feel quite tired now…" James was almost by her when she waved to the group at by the fireplace watching intently "night!" and bolted up the stairs
"Evans!" James sprinted up behind her, hand outstretched
.
A quarter of an hour later Victoire went up to the girls' dormitories to find her bed, as she opened the door she found Lily sitting on her bed chatting with a girl with thick blonde hair. She looked up as Victoire closed the door.
"Hey Victoire, I'd like to you to meet someone" she stood up and pulled Victoire to sit with them on the bed.
"This is Marlene Mckinnon, also known as the only girl in Hogwarts who can antagonise Sirius Black" she chuckled
Marlene out-stretched her hand with a grin "very nice to meet you Victoire"
Victoire shyly shook her hand before saying "I've got to see you in action then, it's hard to imagine Sirius rumpled by anyone"
Marlene laughed "ah, it's a gift. Anyway, I'm probably the only person who thinks he is still a womanising pillock"
"Oh Marny, I honestly don't think he is like that anymore, or even if he actually was ever like that. Sure he flirts a lot, but…"
"Don't try to defend him Lil, you've seen how he acts around me"
"Well, you two have a strange relationship"
"Excuse me; I don't have any relationship with Black" Marlene crossed her arms and leaned back against a pillow.
"Okay, okay" Lily put her hands up by her head in mock surrender, laughing she turned to Victoire "so I was meaning to ask you, what story was Teddy hinting at when we decided to tell tales as a forfeit for winning?"
"Oh" Victoire laughed "um, let's save that for another day yeah?"
"Oh, but-,"
"Anyway, I have something even more pressing to ask you"
"Alright?" Lily asked cautiously
"What happened when James came up here?"
"WHAT!" Marlene shouted "Potter was up here?"
"Calm down Marn, you very well know that boys can't get up the staircase." Lily stood up and went to her bed beside Marlene's and stretched "I ran up the staircase and reached the dividing one before James could reach me..." she frowned "though before he went up the boys staircase, he did call up… he said that I wouldn't be able to hide this way for much longer"
Victoire sat down on the empty bed beside Lily's assuming it was meant for her "what do you think he meant by that?"
"Perhaps he meant he'd get the story out of me another time?" Lily bit her lip
"I don't think so, those boys are scheming…" Marlene said
"Well you've got that right"
"I bet Potter was meaning that the staircase isn't going to be a barrier for him much longer"
"What? How would they do that Marn? The enchantment on the staircase has been here for years"
"I don't know, but if they manage to overcome the enchantment and think they can come up here they have another thing coming." Marlene lay back on the bed and kicked her feet in the air
"Well let's hope for all our sakes that the enchantment stays in place!" Lily laughed
"I don't suppose you know where I can get some pyjamas do you?" Victoire asked
"Oh sorry, completely forgot." Lily jumped up and reached beneath Victoire's bed "Professor Dumbledore sent this over a couple of hours when you and Teddy went out for a bit"
She pulled out a trunk onto the bed "it seems your family sent your luggage separately!"
"Yes" Victoire laughed uneasily "that was probably wise, it was quite overwhelming arriving here"
"I can imagine" Lily said before noticing the girl on the bed next to Marlene's, "oh before I forget," Lily gestured to the sleeping form beneath the quilt "this is Mary Macdonald… Hey Marn?"
"Hmm?"
"Was Mary alright earlier? She seemed a bit upset when I came up"
"Oh, yeah, I noticed that too!" Marlene sat up and frowned "when I came up it looked like she had been crying and when I tried to ask her what was wrong she insisted she was fine"
"That's weird" Lily bit her lip softly
"We'll ask her in the morning" Marlene smiled "we'll make her tell us what's wrong, if anything is, don't worry"
.
Teddy sat back on his bed and settled under the covers closing his eyes and listened to the soft undertones of Sirius and James talking quietly. Remus had fallen asleep just before and Teddy tried to ignore anything Peter was doing.
He slightly opened his eyes and looked across at Remus' bed, whose covers were rising slightly up and down in the rhythm of his breathing. Teddy huffed and buried his head into his pillow, feeling a mixture of emotions. Perhaps I do need to embrace this time together, he thought back to Victoire's words. Sighing he sank into the mattress, a small smile on his lips in comfort with the knowledge that his dad was alive and with him, if only for this time…
I'm really enjoying this story, I can see it all before my eyes and I love these characters so much! Very excited we have now met Marlene and Mary!