Chapter 60: What Lies After Fun
"Voldie, come here!!" James called out. It was their final day at the Potter's Hawaii resort and they were packing their stuffs, preparing to floo home.
"I can't believe you guys name him Voldie. Wait till Voldemort hear it. He'll probably flip." Fion teased as she carried Voldie up.
"Hey, you can't be bias with Voldie. Why don't you take a look at Giant??" Sirius called out from behind, leaving his suitcase at the staircase unattended and went to take a look at his beloved squid.
"Well, the name Giant seems rather inappropriate. But well, it's your squid." Fion laughed good-naturedly. "Poor Giant look seriously malnourished."
"I feed it all sorts of things at least three times a day." Sirius claimed and looked at the rather tiny looking squid. "It's probably homesick."
"I'm not surprised. You're treating it as if it's an experiment." Lily teased, carrying her suitcase down with Arabella and Stefanie at the back.
"I agree with Lily totally. Did you know what Sirius fed Giant for dinner last night??" Stefanie said, shaking her head. "Pizza toppings."
"I don't know what his fave food is, so I'm just testing. Anyway Giant finished up the stuffs I fed it." Sirius said, not looking away from the small one feet tank, which Giant lives in.
"I must say it's very becoming of Sirius to take such great care of Giant." James joked.
"I gotta get some seaweed for it. The tank look horrifyingly bare." Sirius said, apparently not hearing what James had just commented about him.
"Hey, I think you kids better get heading home soon. I shrunk your suitcases." Fion offered and shrunk all the suitcases to credit cards size and each of them took their respective 'card' and kept in their pockets.
"I better get going first." Remus said starting to look a little tired especially the full moon is only about two days away. "See you tomorrow." Remus whispered to Stefanie, who made her blushed a little. Lily and Arabella exchanged a knowing look while James and Sirius were too busy with their respective pets.
"Bye Remus, see you tomorrow at my place." James called out to Remus as he walked towards the fireplace. "Voldie, come here." James called Voldie the Chiwawa who was yapping around and running around, as if it knew that it was time to return.
"Lupin Villa." Remus said loud and clear and with a whoosh, he disappeared in the green flames.
"Hey, where's Remus??" Sirius suddenly called out upon looking away from his squid.
"He left already." Stefanie said. "Brother dear, are you ready to go home??"
"Coming." Sirius gathered his stuffs and poured the tank of water and squid into a plastic bag and hugged it before heading towards the fireplace.
"Let's go first." Lily said, holding onto Stefanie's right hand, Arabella holding her left. The three girls walked towards the fireplace.
"Three, two, one." Stefanie counted. "Black's Mansion." The three girls chorused and disappeared in green flames.
"Argh. They left without me." Sirius complained and went into the fireplace. "Bye Jamesie, bye Fion. Black's Mansion." In green flames, Sirius disappeared along with his precious squid tied in plastic bag.
"Hey James, get Voldie and return now. I get the house elves to clear up the mess." Fion told James. He carried Voldie in his arms and headed towards the fireplace. "See ya later then. Potter's Manor."
"Sounds cool." James commented after Dumbledore went into a lengthy detail on the process of learning apparation and why they had to master the skill before they even can graduate from Hogwarts.
"Can't wait to give it a try." Lily remarked.
"There would be a basic paper first, then an advanced paper before you can start apparating practical." Dumbledore told the six of them. "Here are a couple of books to read about it to prepare for the basic and advanced paper."
"What's the point for separating both the papers??" Sirius asked.
"The basic paper will be taken before you even start any practical. The advanced paper would be somewhere after the fifth practical. Remember, no practicing outside class. It's dangerous magic when not done properly." Fion warned. Since she was a freelancer, she volunteered to assist Dumbledore in managing their apparating lessons along with Professor McGonagall.
"No wonder." Arabella said, starting to flip the thick books in front of her.
"The test will be in three days time." Dumbledore said. "I don't expect anyone of you to fail. Then we'll have intensive trainings every day for three hours here. Fion, Minerva and myself would be here to guide you for the next twenty five days."
"That left us not much time for other activities." Remus commented.
"Daily practical will be from nine to twelve." Dumbledore instructed. "You six better get started in studying. Remember, I don't expect anyone to fail this test. It's basic." The six of them looked at one another with a rather horror-stricken face. It was only one day after they returned from their holiday and now they had to face something like this.
Cccrackkk!!
"Watch it!!" Fion called out to Sirius but was too late. James and Sirius fell down to the floor with their limps tangled together.
"What the hell are you trying to do by apparating on my shoulders??" Sirius untangled himself from James and stood up.
"I can't help where I want to apparate to. This room is too small." James commented and he stood up.
"Small is such an understatement." Lily said to Arabella who just apparated beside her from the other end of the room. The group was having their tenth Apparating practical lessons in Potter's Manor Drawing room with Fion on a sunny Saturday morning.
"James is used to big rooms." Remus teased.
"Jamesie, my boy. This is one of the biggest and emptiest room in your house in case you haven't notice that." Fion joked. The Potter's Drawing room was a big empty room with barely anything more than a sofa and carpet with a stretch of big windows.
"James, here I come!!" Sirius said and with a loud and prolonged 'crack', he apparated on James shoulders.
"Aaahhh!!" James apparated quickly with a loud 'crack' and ended up at the other side of the room knocking Remus over.
"Ouch!!" Sirius fell onto the hard floor butt down because James had apparated away.
"Guys!! Pay attention!!" Fion called out. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were apparating together from one corner of the room to the next corner.
"We're experts at this. Look at me." James said and with a 'crack', he apparated onto the sofa lying down.
"Well, I'm equally good at it. If not, better than James." Sirius said and appeared sitting on James' stomach on the sofa.
"Ouch!!" James yelped. "Get your butt of-" Before James could finish his sentence, Remus apparated on James with his butt covering his face.
"Good job, Rem!!" Sirius and Remus high-fived with a struggling James below their buttocks. "Don't suffocate him with your fart."
"Good idea." Remus agreed. "But unfortunately I don't have the farty feeling."
"Awww." The three girls said from another corner of the room.
Ccrackk!!
"My two friends are trying to kill me and you are standing here laughing." James said to Fion the moment he apparated beside her. Sirius and Remus now fell onto the sofa knocking onto each other and laughing away.
"Sorry, brother dear. I thought it was a good idea." Fion shrugged with a cheeky grin.
"When can we start apparating out of this room??" Lily asked after apparating in front of Fion.
"In one to two days time then we can apparate from room to room." Fion said as a matter-of-fact. "I think about ten more practical, you guys can go Ministry of Magic for the test."
"It's a pity that we can't apparate to school." Arabella spoke out.
"But at least next time we can apparate home instead of traveling the muggle way or via floo network." Stefanie added.
"One great thing about apparation is that we can travel faster than any other mean of transport." Lily commented.
"I can't agree with you anymore." Fion said whole-heartedly. "I try not to travel via floo network unless absolutely necessary."
"But the bad thing is that apparating require lots of stealth."
"That's the problem why you should never apparate unless you can concentrate fully." Fion warned them. "You don't really want the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to come and help you now and then. I've friends there who told me about some of their regular 'customers'."
"Tell us about it."
"Nothing much actually. Just some people who do not heed their advice and apparate without concentrating fully. Hence, often appeared elsewhere without half their body." The six of them laughed at the thought of some half-bodied people. "It's not supposed to be funny especially if half the body at one continent and the other half at another. Finding it isn't the problem here. It's the combining the two parts together which is the difficulty."
"The Apparation Test Center should not give them the license in the first place."
"They passed the test. It's just that some people aren't concentrating hard enough. Partially also because of the great traveling distance. Apparating in this room isn't a problem. Try apparating to another room, somewhere which you can't see your landing."
"I can't wait to try that." James said with a cheeky grin.
"Neither can I." Sirius caught James eye and winked.
"I'm tired." Lily commented and sat onto a large comfy armchair in their bedroom at the Black's Mansion. The six of them had been practicing their quidditch at Potter's Manor's Pitch for six hours.
"I bathe first then." Stefanie said and gathered fresh clothes from her wardrobe.
"At least we know we can get our Apparating License tomorrow." Lily remarked, re-energized.
"That's the good thing." Arabella said. "Then we can apparate to Diagon Alley next time."
"Yeah, school is starting in about three days time."
"Maybe we can apparate to King Cross on September first."
"Next one to the bathroom." Stefanie called out.
"That's fast." Lily said and gathered her stuffs to the bathroom.
"How are things going on between you and Remus??" Arabella asked suddenly.
"Everything's great!! Remus is really sweet and nice." Stefanie said in a dreamy tone.
"That's brilliant." Arabella said encouragingly.
"Can you tell me a bit of the future??" Stefanie hesitated but still asked.
"I tell you and Lils all I know tomorrow. After the test." Arabella said in a final tone of voice.
"Ok." Stefanie caught the hint and started preparing to bed.
"Next." Lily said, fetching her wand to dry her hair magically. Arabella went in next without saying much. "What's going on??" Lily mouthed to Stefanie.
"Talk tomorrow night." Stefanie mouthed to Lily and shrugged.
"That was simple!!" James boasted arrogantly as they walked towards the fireplace at the atrium of Ministry of Magic.
"Yeah, because we were well-prepared." Lily pointed out. Professor McGonagall and Fion had been brilliant teachers for their apparation lessons although they were not fully trained but yet authorized.
"We're just brilliant students." Sirius boasted.
"Don't make your head swell even bigger. It's already ugly in this size." Arabella commented.
"Aww, baby, you're just jealous of our intelligence." Sirius teased. Stefanie and Remus were walking behind the group talking animatedly between themselves.
"Let's go to my place for another round of quidditch game." James suggested.
"Not again??" Lily said.
"It's such a brilliant sport." James said excitedly.
"It's probably the only wizard sport I know." Lily remarked.
"It isn't, but the others are nothing compared to quidditch."
"I've realized that."
"Hey Rem, are you coming with us??"
"Stef and I are going to Diagon Alley for a walk. Catch you guys later." Remus said and they headed towards another fireplace together and disappeared in the green flames.
"That left us." Sirius said in dramatic disappointment. "One of my best friends and my only sister eloped into a fireplace."
"Do you know that statement would sound really funny if you're a muggle??" Lily said laughing.
"It sounded perfectly normal to me." Sirius said.
"Well, to you and only you perhaps." James commented. "So where shall we go??"
"Let's go for quidditch." Sirius suggested
"Same sentiments exactly." James agreed
"Alright then." Lily agreed a little unwillingly and Arabella just shrugged and followed them into the fireplace.
"So what was it that you wanna tell us tonight??" Stefanie asked Arabella.
"Ok, I shall summarize everything on what's gonna happen to each of us. But there's no way we can change the facts." Arabella said. The three girls had locked themselves in Stefanie's room and soundproofed it. Lily had put an anti-apparation charm in the room so no one could enter and hear their conversation.
"I'll become a squib." Arabella said simply.
"Why??"
"How??"
"Details not really important at this point." Arabella said and continued. "Lily, you and James will die someday by Volcano's unforgivable curses."
"I know."
"You two will have a son name Harry James Potter." Lily nodded because she already knew those stuffs.
"Stef, you'll be cursed and become an owl." Arabella said.
"Erm.. Ok." Stefanie said, not knowing how to answer.
"After a long cycle, you'll end up becoming Harry's owl." Arabella tried to make the whole thing sound more optimistic.
"Better than being dead." Lily said optimistically.
"I supposed so." Stefanie muttered.
"James will die on the same day as Lily. Sirius will suffer twelve years in Azkaban, two years as an escaped prisoner and die after that." Arabella said when Lily and Stefanie gave her a horrified look.
"He better not know about that." Stefanie said.
"He isn't taking it very well for the fact he's going to spend twelve years in Azkaban." Lily added.
"I'm not going to tell him about his fate of course." Arabella said. "Remus will become the DADA professor. I would get that post as well although I'm a squib." Arabella paused. "Basically that's the outcome of us in twenty years time."
"It sure doesn't sound good." Lily said darkly.
"There is only one thing till today I don't understand." Arabella said. "How Volcano is going to be destroyed."
"What do you mean??"
"There's going to be prophecies on his downfall over the years. But you know the children's story?? That's the oldest prophecy of all. I don't know how that's going to happen."
"You don't know then who know??"
"No idea either. Because I'm going to lose my seer powers soon, as well as magical ability."
"How??"
"You'll find out someday." Arabella said finally. The three girls stopped talking and just laid in the king-sized bed, not looking or talking until they drifted to sleep.
"AHH!! We pass!!" Lily cheered happily.
"Hooray!!" Stefanie said, jumping in joy with Lily and Arabella.
"We can apparate legally!!" Arabella said as the three girls hugged one another.
"What's that outburst for??" James asked in bewilderment as the three girls were jumping up and down hugging one another. Six owls had just delivered their results as well as their license from the Ministry of Magic.
"So now we can apparate instead of boring old floo." Sirius said, putting his results aside.
"Well, since it's such a joyous occasion, why don't we apparate over to Diagon Alley for a change??" Remus suggested. They all agreed it was a good idea and the six of them apparated to Diagon Alley for the first time.
Crack!! Crack!! Crack!!
The six of them disappeared from Potter's Manor and appeared one after another at the entrance of Diagon Alley.
"That was fun." James said after he appeared with a 'crack'.
"Hey Stef, don't apparate so close to me." Sirius said and took a step back from his sister.
"Not that I want to apparate next to you, its coincidence." Stefanie said.
"It's really a great coincidence that you're my twin sister." Sirius said but Stefanie did not reply. The six of them started heading down towards Diagon Alley. The three boys had rushed off towards Quality Quidditch Supplies first because there was a new broomstick out not too long ago.
"Shall we go for ice-cream??" Lily suggested.
"Life's short, why not??" Stefanie said. They understood the meaning behind it and headed towards the Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
"So this shall be our present for Lily this year??" James said as they stirred the cauldron of shimmery red liquid. The three boys were in James' bathroom on Friday morning concocting a potion, which they had intended to make it as their belated present for Lily when they returned to Hogwarts.
"It's a great idea, I must say." Remus agreed as they waited for the potion to cool and pour into a few glass bottles.
"It should be ready in about ten minutes time." Sirius checked the state of their potion and referred to the recipe. "When it turned to metallic red and cooled to the touch, we can transfer them over."
"I think she would love the present."
"Not everyone can get a present that last for a week."
"Well, we can make all our birthdays special this year since we got no more OWLs to worry about."
"Yeah, we barely played any major pranks last year."
"Only gotten like seventy detentions. Totally below Sirius' standard."
"Don't worry, we can make the birthday special. Lily first, then Bell, then Me, then Rem and finally you and Stef."
"Sounds cool."
"Did anyone hear some cracking sound from outside??" James whispered to his two friends.
"I think someone apparated into your room." Sirius said in a soft voice.
"I bet it's the girls. I go out and keep them off the bathroom while you two clear up this mess." Remus said and stood up.
"What a smart move." James said as he magically transferred the potion into four glass bottles and cleared up the mess with a wave of a wand.
"Don't put this in the bathroom. I don't know how to think if you use it." Sirius joked.
"We're going to use it anyway. Just hide it somewhere below the sink or something." James said as he kept the bottle as though it was toilet detergent below the sink.
"Where are the guys??" Stefanie asked as the three girls apparated into James' bedroom and landed on his king-sized bed.
"What brings three gorgeous beauties here??" Remus asked the three girls who were sitting on James' bed at the moment.
"Read the papers and you know." Lily said and passed the paper to Remus as he read.
The Minster of Magic had confirmed that there was a dark wizard among us in the magical community. This Dark Lord, namely Lord Voldemort, had his first-ever killing spree. Over fifty muggles and a hundred witches and wizards were killed with the most feared Unforgivable Curse, the Killing Curse.
"We met face-to-face and he had forced me to do his bidding which I've declined." Said Minster Harry Potter who had suffered some major injuries from the Wizard Duel with Voldemort himself. A team of Aurors had arrived before Voldemort and his Deatheaters could cause any more harm in the Ministry of Magic building.
"We urge the magical community to remain alert and report any news regarding Voldemort and his Deatheaters as soon as possible." Head Auror, Jason Black advised the public.
"Volcano erupted." Remus said after reading the first two paragraphs. "It happened last night at the Ministry."
"What brings you girls here??" James asked as he apparated to Remus' side to read the papers. "Oh Merlin!!"
"What??" Sirius asked as he apparated to Remus' left side to read the papers. "Ooh."
"This is getting serious." James said to no one in particular.
"They had new laws as well." Lily added. "Go page ten to check."
Remus flipped to page ten after reading the headlines. There were about five pages regarding Voldemort and his killings.
There would be new laws enforced to make sure certain charms and spells would never again be used. If one found guilty of using the forbidden magic, the highest punishment could be a year in Azkaban.
First Law: The Invisibility Charm and Potion would be banned. If anyone caught using, the consequences would be at least six months in Azkaban. Only the Invisibility Cloak could grant invisibility because every cloak is registered with the Ministry.
"Now we're going to have some problems going to Hogsmeade." James commented.
"Well, it's a matter of time before it's get ban anyway." Lily said. "We're not supposed to know it in the first place."
"Are you trying to say you're the only one who is good at Charms??" James teased.
"I don't mean that." Lily said. "It was stated in those books that the usage of this charm is highly forbidden."
"I think it's about time we need to do something." Sirius said suddenly.
"What can we do??" Arabella said.
"We're here to get rid of Voldemort, aren't we??"
"Yes, but do you think we're that powerful to do so??"
"At least we can try??"
"And lose your life trying??"
"Then you mean we should sit down and wait??"
"I'm sure Dumbledore have something in mind already."
"Like what??" Sirius taunted Arabella but she kept quiet after that, not knowing what to say.
"We need to work together." James said, breaking the silence.
"Like how??" Lily asked.
"Wait till Dumbledore give his instructions." James said. "I trust he knows what he's doing."
"For once you're saying something right." Remus commented.
"I'm always right." James said.
"Your ego seems to be getting bigger." Lily commented.
"Bell, are you alright??" Lily asked her friend out of concern.
"Well, in short, a lot of events will happen soon." Arabella said in a foreboding manner.
"Like what??" Stefanie asked, sounding a little fearful.
"Happiness is going to be short-lived now that the Volcano is getting in power." Arabella said in a hushed tone. "Look at the number of people he killed in one night."
It was the night before they returned to Hogwarts to start their sixth year. The usual excited school restarting feeling seems to be replaced with a dark and fearful one. The three of them laid in the bed in silence for a long time.
"Are you sleeping already??" Lily asked in a soft voice, which broke the silence between them.
"No, I'm thinking." Stefanie said.
"What about you, Bell??"
"Just seeing whatever I can see before I lose all the ability to do so."
Silence covered them once again, not knowing what to say. After what felt like hours, they finally drifted to sleep, not really looking forward to what might happen the next day.