Chapter 79: Season Greetings
"BELL!!" Lily and Stefanie shrieked and rushed towards Arabella who just appeared at the doorway. It was the first day of the Christmas break and the group of five, excluding Peter, was all gathered together at the Potters' Manor.
"Woooh..!!" The three girls got into a hug and started jumping excitedly together.
"Girls." James muttered to his friends whom all three were sitting calmly in their respective couches.
"Don't forget you were once a girl as well." Remus reminded teasingly.
"How could I forget that humiliating incident??" James asked in a pretended dramatic voice.
"At least we can declared that we were once a girl." Sirius added, keeping his eyes glued on Arabella.
"Thanks, but I don't really like the idea of everyone knowing I was once a girl for a week." Remus commented.
"Moony, I'm with you for this." James gave Remus a high-five.
"It's a privilege to be a girl." Lily commented. The three girls finally finished their hugging and turned back to the group in the den.
"Bell, it had been a long time!!" James gave Arabella a hug.
"It had been a long time indeed." Arabella grinned and returned the friendly hug.
"Great to see you." Remus smiled warmly and hugged Arabella.
"Nice to see you. Looking good, huh??"
"Yes, my dear old Bell." Sirius leaned forward to give Arabella a hug.
"Actually I'm not that old yet." Arabella remarked.
"So you admit that you're Sirius' dear??" James teased.
"Voldemort had attacked again." The six teenagers gasped.
"Who was the target??" James asked, in fear of what the response would be.
"Several muggleborns from Gryffindor." Dumbledore said grimly. He had apparated over to the Potters to break the news to the group. "Unexpected attack as always."
"We need to do something about it." James said angrily.
"Yes, we need to do something for sure. But whatever to be done is no simple task."
"To defeat Voldemort, we're willing to do anything." Sirius said with determination.
"It's no easy task." Arabella reminded Sirius.
"We need a fail-proof plan. Otherwise more and more muggleborns are going to suffer." Lily said with a tinge of vengeance in her voice.
"Is it possible to travel through time in order to defeat Voldemort??" Remus asked. Everyone turned to face him.
"What do you mean??" Dumbledore asked, his brows rose slightly.
"Well, it's obvious that James and Lily will be killed by him and they're gonna have a son who would defeat him, but then, he would rise again after fourteen years. And how is Harry, I mean James' son, going to defeat a dark wizard all by himself?? We would be the ones who would defeat him according to the prophecy, but how could that be possible when our fate seemed to be death in Voldemort's hand??"
"That's a very good question." Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "But time is not something we can control, as well as destiny."
"Does that mean we can't come up with a plan to defeat him before he even kill us??" James asked.
"There is bound to be a reason why would he kill the two of you in particular. But what's the reason??" Stefanie asked.
"We're all trying to find out. But remember, all these happenings are predestined."
"So in conclusion, we are still powerless to do anything." Sirius said bluntly. He had voiced out all their thoughts though none of them felt right about saying it out.
"I would be lying if I say I'm not afraid of Voldemort." Lily admitted.
"But seriously, what can we do??" Stefanie asked.
"Did someone call my name??" Sirius tried to lighten the mood but to no avail. It was an old joke and no one felt it was funny anymore.
"My gut feeling tells me that this whole episode won't end so soon." Dumbledore said monotonously.
"What do you mean, Professor??" Remus asked.
"Well, as you all know he would be defeated and rise and defeated somehow. But Voldemort powers are beyond our knowledge. He had been an excellent student when he was in Hogwarts. I'm not lying when I say his grades and capability beat all of you combined together." The six faces appeared defeated at Dumbledore's statement.
"There must be something we can beat him in." James said while his fists clenched together tightly.
"We're good and he is evil. The good will win." Lily commented.
"That's a very good point. But the specificity isn't there."
"We need the power of goodness to defeat the power of evil." James rephrased Lily's statement.
"Yes, but how??" Sirius asked.
"There is a plan, though not necessary foolproof. But time will tell." Dumbledore said finally. "It's about time I make my move."
"Bye Professor."
Professor Dumbledore stood up and with a 'pop' and disapparated.
"So, now what??" Sirius asked.
"Even Dumbledore is having doubts, what do you think we can do??" Remus pointed out rationally.
"We can travel to the future to see how we're going to defeat Voldemort, then we continue on with the plan." Sirius said simply.
"What happen if Voldemort kill the six of us when we're there?? Then there's totally no hope for Voldemort defeat."
"Have anyone forgotten we've all these pendants that are supposed to be able to reflect magic??" Arabella commented and touch the pendant on her neck, which sparkled in the light.
"Bell, we've indeed forgot about that." Sirius exclaimed.
"Another thing is that, we can't meet up with our future self."
"We can hide."
"What if Voldemort defeat is in the middle of the desert?? Then where are we going to cover ourselves??"
"Then, we shall dig a hole in the sand and hide??"
"That's such a brilliant idea, Sirius." Lily rolled her eyes. Sirius had always managed to lighten the mood after those dark and gloomy discussions they usually had with Dumbledore.
"Yeah, we're going to be buried alive. Voldemort can save his powers in killing us, because we're simply digging our own grave." James commented. The six of them laughed, for the first time since Dumbledore's visit earlier.
"Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to Arabella!! Happy birthday to you!!"
"Thank you!!"
"Make a wish!!" Sirius said excitedly.
Arabella closed her eyes and put her hands together entwining her fingers together. I wish that one day I'd regain my magical ability. She opened her eyes and blew off the sixteen candles on the napoleon ice cream cake.
"Thank you!!" Arabella said gratefully. It was Christmas day and just in that morning, they had exchanged their Christmas presents.
"Let's dig in!!" Sirius said with a greedy laugh, having a metal fork and spoon on hand.
"You don't need fork and spoon to eat a cake." Stefanie teased.
"We need fork to eat cake and spoon to eat the ice cream inside. I've every intention of eating both of them."
"We noticed that." James commented. "But we're not losing to you either." With that, James and Remus had their fork and spoon in their hands and started to dig in.
"We mustn't lose out to them." Lily said, grabbing the fork and spoon on the table.
"I want to eat my birthday cake too." Arabella said, trying to scoop some cake up.
In a chaotic exchange, six growing teenagers finished the one-kg ice cream cake within five minutes. Obviously it was not a clean cake-eating session as most of them had specks of ice cream and icing around their faces and even their hair, not to mention some stained onto their clothes as well.
"The cake is too small!!" Sirius complained after the cake was finished, to the last drip of ice cream.
"Are you kidding me?? You guys ate three-quarters of the cake!!"
"We're growing boys."
"Padfoot, I don't know about you. But I believe I've already outgrown the boy, into a man." Remus teased.
"Well, I still feel young, and hence, I'm still a boy."
"Yeah, you'll have to face the real world soon."
"Let's forget about serious stuffs today. Shall we go for a game of quidditch??" Arabella asked. The five turned to face her. "I mean you five play, I watch along the sidelines. It had been a long time since I last watched a quidditch match."
"I keep you company." Both Lily and Stefanie offered.
"It's no fun to watch just three guys playing."
"I keep you company instead. Let them go two-versus-two." Sirius suggested.
"It wouldn't be nice to watch if the star beater is not in the team."
"It's alright because the other star beater isn't in the game either." Arabella gave Sirius an appreciative smile for the sensitive statement he made.
"Let's go before the sky gets dark." James suggested. With their usual enthusiasm, they headed towards the quidditch pitch at the back of Potter's Manor.
"Bell, what have you been doing all these while actually??" Lily asked Arabella. The three girls were laying in the king sized bed in their bedroom. It was their last night of their Christmas break before they were supposed to return to their respective place for the rest of the year.
"Huh?? I thought I told you that earlier??" Arabella said in confusion. "I'm still staying at the orphanage, helping out with stuffs there. And in the day I go to a local school."
"I saw you and Dumbledore exchanging some sort of look during our brief discussion that day."
"You're seeing things."
"I'm quite sure. It's like there's something you two know but the rest of us don't."
"Lils, don't always have so many questions. When the time comes, you'll learn them."
"But I'm curious."
"So am I. What are you hiding from us??"
"Don't be so paranoid, alright?? Everything is doing fine. Let's not talk about something so serious."
"We can't write down in letters for fear of interception either."
"Lils, Stef, I'm not lying or anything okay?? Trust me. I'm doing fine. Though I must admit I missed Hogwarts a great deal. Besides that, there's really nothing."
"Well, we can't force you either."
"Thanks Stef."
"Let's not talk about that, shall we??"
"Then find another topic soon??"
"The topic will be – how are you and James getting along??"
"What??"
"His birthday coming soon."
"Yeah, in January, I know."
"Then what do you intend to do??"
"What do you mean what do I intend to do??"
"How would I know??"
"Given the Marauders, they will make a big deal about it."
"Yeah, like getting the Slytherins to sing him the birthday song everytime they're ten meters in his radius."
"So, what are you getting him??"
"Aren't we sharing the present as always??"
"You should get something personally for your boyfriend."
"Ahem, let me make this clear, he's not my boyfriend or husband or any relationship besides a friend."
"He'll be your boyfriend soon, your husband in the future."
"Haha, thanks a lot for that compliment."
"Everyone is dying to be his girlfriend."
"Well, he can get everyone then."
"But he wants you."
"Oh, wow!! So I'm supposed to be very flattered, huh??" Lily said in pretended excitement. "Now it's my turn to suggest if we can change the topic to something not related to Lily and James story. Thank you."
"What do you mean by you hasn't do anything yet?!?" Sirius exclaimed loudly.
"Would you mind keeping you voice down??" Remus said.
"First, it's nearly midnight. Secondly, the girls' room is just next door."
"The more we should let Lily know how you feel towards her??" Sirius said in a even louder voice.
"Thanks but I don't think that's necessary."
"Prongs, don't be stubborn. You can't get her by yourself. You need our help."
"Seriously Sirius, thanks for your offer but I think I prefer to do it alone."
"How could you reject my kind offer??"
"I would prefer lesser interruptions in this case."
"Padfoot, just leave James and Lily alone,
they will get together eventually, without your help."
"Moony, do you know something I don't??"
"Actually I know a lot more things which you don't know."
"Like what??"
"A good example is I have more commonsense."
"I've that as well."
"Not as much as mine."
"Moony, since when are you as self-obsessed as Prongsie here??"
"Padfoot, I must say you're the most self-obsessed among us here." James pointed out and both Remus and him burst into laughter, with Sirius joining in after awhile.
"We're going to miss you so much!!" The three girls got into a hug together once again. But this time they were leaving and who knows when they would meet again.
"Girls, we need to send Bell off first before we head down to King Cross." Helen Potter said in her ever so patient tone despite the girls had been reluctant to separate from one another for the last half hour.
"We better get going or we're never going to reach Hogwarts." James said.
"Alright then. I better set off now or else you all are going to be late." Arabella released herself from the entanglement and went into the muggle cab that Mrs. Potter had called for her to take her back.
"Take care." James and Remus gave her a short hug before Sirius.
"Yeah, you too." Arabella replied, releasing herself from Sirius' strong arms.
"Miss you lots!!" Lily called out before the Arabella entered the cab. She turned and gave her friends a last look and wave before the cab turned right and lost sight of her friends.
"We better get going or else I don't know how I'm going to send you all to Hogwarts." Mrs. Potter said good-naturedly. The five teenagers climbed into their family limousine and drove towards King Cross.