Chapter 103: Break
"So far we've already gone for our first tryout two weeks ago." James was chairing his prefects' meeting as usual. "It wasn't successful, as all of you can tell. So if you've suggestions for improvements, don't hesitate to voice it out."
"I've a suggestion." Severus said from the back of the classroom.
"Yes??" James answered, fully expecting some stupid suggestion.
"Cancel it."
"No way." Murmurings were heard all over the classrooms, resisting the idea.
"I'm afraid that's not possible." James said coolly. The Slytherins had never been happy with the whole event; especially since Dumbledore and McGonagall gave permission that all the seventh-year Gryffindors would be co-opt to help to organize the event. "We had all put in so much effort in it. And I'm sure most of us are looking forward for the actual day."
"That's right." Students were mumbling among themselves.
"Okay, thanks for the suggestion, Severus." James said in his most unbiased voice. "Let's get back to the meeting." The prefects silenced down gradually. "So we shall have our second try-out somewhere in the week after when we return after the Christmas holidat. We've to make sure that it's safe enough even for the first-years."
"I would like to say something." Remus raised his hand and James nodded for him to continue. Since it was going to be discussing about the school event, the rest of the co-opt members were allowed for a sit-in. "Since the main problem that night was about not being able to see one another is solved, there's something else I would like to point out. It's the skill in night flying. I'm not saying you all are not good fliers, I'm saying along the lines of stamina and confidence." He paused to make sure the rest are listening. "Some of you had fears; some lost track; some gotten very tired; and problems with brooms as well. If that happened to about thirty of us, it will definitely happen when there's a hundred people flying out during that actual night. There will definitely be a lot of unexpected happenings, so just be prepared. We're supposed to be the ones to guide them, like the way we guided all of you through the night. I'll be telling lie if I said we were not exhausted halfway. This will be a challenging event for all of us, so just be prepared to expect the unexpected. Don't be surprised if a third year asked for a toilet somewhere in mid-air." The group laughed at Remus' little joke. "It might sound funny now. But when it really happened, what do you think you should do??"
"We can stop for a toilet break??"
"What happen we're flying above a forest??"
"Pee from the tree-top??"
"What happens if it's a girl??"
"We can all stop for a toilet break??"
"It is virtually impossible to stop in mid-air." Remus spoke about his rationale. "Certain things regarding the biological human are unfathomable. One way is that you inform any of us then we will take them to the next stopping point first and wait there for the rest of you."
"The possibilities of what might happen are unlimited." James said. "This is a new thing for all of us. So we're taking this challenging together."
"Bravo!!" A fifth-year Gryffindor commented jokingly and started clapping. The rest of the prefects followed suit.
"I got this query about the Disillusion Charm, although I know we're not going to use it anymore." A fifth-year Ravenclaw asked.
"Shoot." James replied.
"How did you guys managed to see us when we can barely see anything??"
"Actually we can't see who's who either. But you can see the slight refraction of the person's image. So we roughly know who's straying or what's happening. At least that's what we learnt during our lesson on the Disillusion Charm." James answered the fifth year that replied with a nod. "I think that will end our meeting for tonight. The next one will be the Wednesday after the break." James said. The prefects dispersed off from the classroom and headed back to their respective dormitories.
"I'm just so energized over this whole event." Sirius was back to the jumpy hyper-excited personality.
"That was fast!!" Lily teased.
"I was threatened that if I made a single noise during this meeting, your boyfriend is going to kick me out of this thing." Sirius replied in a teasing tone.
"Well, continue being the good boy you was in the last hour." James interrupted the two and walked between them.
"Big boy is here to save his damsel in distress." Sirius had been teasing James and Lily as long as anyone could remember. There seemed to be nothing else to make fun in the last week.
"I'm no damsel in distress, okay." Lily told him. James placed an arm over her shoulders.
"Well, you are a damsel, and all damsels are in distress." James told her teasingly in a loving way.
"Now I see why you two can be such great friends." Lily rolled her eyes. The two guys laughed at Lily's annoyed look.
"You took a long time to figure that out." James grinned.
"Same sentiments exactly." Sirius said and both guys gave exchanged a high-five. Even Lily could not help but laughed at the two guys.
33333333333333333333
"CHEERS!!" The five seventeen-year-olds shouted and they clinked their mugs of butterbeers together. They had gathered for a little Christmas celebration at the Room of Requirement on Christmas Eve since Dumbledore would definitely made everyone who stayed behind for the holiday to eat the Christmas dinner together. The usual three Marauders along with Lily and Stefanie were the only seventh-year Gryffindor who stayed behind for the break.
"Although this is not the actual Potter's dining room, it looks similar enough." Sirius commented. They had made the room to resemble some sort like part of the Potter's Manor.
"Sirius!! You really don't have to remind us, you know." Stefanie told him. "We're trying to convince ourselves that we're having some fun – outside – if your brain caught what I meant."
"Of course I know what you mean!!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'm not that dense."
"That's difficult to say." James added. "Sometimes our Padfoot here is known to have some non-commonsensical rationale."
"Let's not talk about Padfoot, it's kinda ego boosting for him." Remus changed the topic. "We don't really want to spend the whole Christmas Eve with someone who has a larger head than the body can take." The whole group laughed as they slurped down their butterbeers.
"Are we going to touch the food or just using them for décor??" James asked, eyeing the big turkey in front of him.
"I'm getting hungry before Sirius. That's terrible." Lily joked, with her silverware ready on her hands.
"Lily, admit it, you've caught the James' virus." Sirius told her. He sliced several huge portion of the turkey and placed on the others plate.
"Thanks!!" Lily raised her brows. "I'm surprised you didn't eat them first." The rest laughed together.
"I gotta help Prongs to make Lily the fattest pig in Hogwarts ever."
"Oh – thanks a lot." Lily wrinkled her nose teasingly and started helping her slice of turkey.
"Have you forgotten about me??" Stefanie poked Sirius' side.
"How could I ever forget my dearest most beloved Stefanie??" Sirius scoped two slices of turkey, with some salad and chicken wings onto Stefanie's plate.
"Ooo – not so much for round one." Stefanie laughed as she arranged her slightly overflowing food on her plate.
"Don't you dare to overfeed her!!" Remus teased. "She looks better this way."
"I was only thinking of making her the roundest girl around Hogwarts." Sirius continued taking bit of food from various plates and piled on Stefanie's. "Nothing much, really."
"Aahhh!! Enough!!" Stefanie took her plate and shielded it from Sirius while Remus pretended to protect her.
"Moony!!" Sirius said in a reprimanding tone. "Make sure Stefanie is well-nourished and well-fed always. Look at her, in skin and bones."
"I would have been happy if I'm slightly slimmer." Stefanie regained her composure by the table once Sirius helped himself with his food, onto his plate this time. "Remus had been feeding me with stuffs he gets from the kitchens now and then."
"You frequent the kitchens without us?!?" James said in a mocking tone. "How could you?? We starve together and we eat together!! And you – you forgot about us."
"Prongs, you look so funny trying to be dramatic." Sirius was laughing so hard at James' expression.
"I agree!!" Lily added and both of them gave each other a high-five with James in between.
"This is so humiliating!! One is my girlfriend and the other is my best friend." James pouted a little.
"Okay my dear." Lily tried to stifle her laughter a little. "Open your mouth.. Aaahhh.." She sent a piece of turkey into his mouth. "How's that??"
"Aaww.. that's so sweet.." Sirius was being over-reactive again. "I want that too."
"That's for you.. my ddearr.." James poked a piece of carrot from his plate and stuffed it into Sirius' opened mouth.
"Mmmhhhmmm.." Sirius closed his eyes and
was savoring the taste of the plain baby carrot in his mouth, chewing slowly
and licking his lips for extra effect. "Ddddelicious!!"
"Of course it's delicious." James helped himself with the food, and at the same time feeding some to Lily. "It was filled with my, ahem, love."
"I knew it!! James loves me!!" Sirius was giving James a look of adoration and admiration, grasping onto his fork close to his chest. "Lily, I knew James loves me right from the beginning. The way he looks at me.. The way he talks to me.. The way he -" Sirius jumped up suddenly. "Ouch!!"
"Padfoot, cut the crap. We're trying to eat here and please don't ruin our appetite by showing your effeminate side, or should I say gay-like characteristics." Remus elbowed Sirius' side to stop him from continuing.
"Why is it always me acting stupid and trying to entertain everyone??" Sirius was talking normally as he continued eating. "You two never seem to have any entertainment genes."
"We're not natural entertainer like you, you see." Lily was the only one who answered Sirius while the rest continued to feast on their sumptuous dinner.
"Lils, ignore him." James told her. "Otherwise you'll never get to eat properly."
"Prongs!! So now everything Lily huh??" Remus teased.
"Precisely. What about me??" Sirius whined a little.
"Sometimes I wondered if the guys are gay or something." Lily told Stefanie across the table with heaps of food.
"I was wondering too. Perhaps we, the girlfriends, are used to hide their real sexual preferences."
"We can be lesbians too, can't we??" Lily winked at Stefanie.
"Definitely. By the way, did you guys know we're bisexual??" Stefanie asked as innocently as she could muster.
"No!!" James and Remus had answered simultaneously. Both girls reacted by bursting into hilarious laughter.
33333333333333333333
"Lily, how long do you think we can last??" James asked Lily. The two of them were hanging out together at the boys' dormitory on a sunny afternoon on Boxing Day. Both of them had gone to shop for a Christmas present at Hogsmeade together earlier. Though it was a normal white tee-shirt, it was special because t was their first 'couple' shirt.
"Hmm.. Why did you ask that??" Lily looked at him in surprise.
"Just asking. I don't know." James shrugged. "So tell me what you think now that we've been together for a few weeks."
"Don't go and bother about it, let nature takes it course, I supposed." Lily settled comfortably on James' bed while he was sitting by his armchair. "Sometimes it backfires when we try too hard."
"You hasn't answer my question still."
"I certainly hope we'll be together forever until the end of our life. But things do change along the way. Feelings do change."
"At least now you can be sure things won't."
"Yeah, so I'll cherish you while you're still mine." Lily got up and gave James a quick soft kiss on his lips and returned to the bed once again.
"I just want you to know that I really love you a lot."
"It doesn't sound very sincere."
"It is. I meant it."
"Guys are guys. They never mean what they say."
"What are you trying to say??"
"Shall we not argue??"
"Who started it first??"
"Forget it."
"Fine."
"Hello!! You're throwing your temper at me for nothing."
"Sorry."
"Okay." Lily turned away from James and just closed her eyes. Sometimes James is really driving me nuts!! How did I ever end up in this mess??
"Sometimes little quarrels can add some spice into a couple life to make it more interesting." James suggested.
"Really?? Who told you that??"
"No one. I guessed that only."
"Okay." Lily replied. "I'll remember you say that the next time we quarrel."
"Fine." Both of them just remained silent, not knowing what to say next.
"James, am I such a lousy girlfriend??" Lily asked suddenly after a prolonged period of silence, not having eye contact.
"No."
"You sure??"
"Yes."
"You seem to be really bored."
"I'm not." James looked at Lily with an obvious face of boredom.
"I really don't know how to understand you if you're not speaking the truth to start with." Lily sighed. "Sometimes you're really nice and sweet, but sometimes we're together for don't know what reason."
"You regretted??"
"Some sort."
"Oh." James was upset at that comment. Having Lily was one of the best things that had happened to him but it was only a one-sided feeling.
"But I really like you too." Lily quickly added upon noticing James' rather dejected look.
"Thanks."
"Do you have anything else to say??" Lily turned to face James. He shook his head. "Do you prefer me to leave you to rest or anything??"
"Stay here. Don't go, please." Lily nodded and continued lying on his bed. It had been an awkward afternoon indeed.
33333333333333333333
Rising of the Dark Lord
It had been known to everyone that Voldemort had been rising in power in the past few years. But lately, it seemed like he had reached his goal. Muggle killings, or in his term, "Mudbloods abolishment" had been getting more frequent than before.
Just in the last two weeks, his group of Deatheaters using the Unforgivable Killing Curse had cruelly killed more than a hundred muggles and half-blood families.
Our very own Minister of Magic had said: "We had been trying our best to capture the Deatheaters, and Voldemort ultimately. I can assure everyone that this group of evildoers would be eliminated in no time. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who had suffered directly or indirectly to all these evildoings."
"This Minster is like shit." Sirius yelled. "He can't do anything." A few scattered students turned around to look.
"Seriously who can do anything to Voldemort??" Remus asked. The owls had just delivered the Daily Prophet to those who subscribed to it.
"No point making such a big fuss either. What can we do about it anyway??" James said. It was one of the duller days of the Christmas holiday because Christmas was over and New Year was still two days away.
"Remus, since you can travel, you know, through time, do you think you can tell us what happen??" Lily asked in a softer voice to avoid others from eavesdropping.
"I never had been far enough to see him truly defeated, for some reason or other." Remus frowned. "But there was a period where he seemed to have disappeared, though I don't really know why."
"The seventh person still hasn't appeared. It had been so many years." Stefanie reminded them. "I wonder who he or she is."
"We're as clueless as you. No one, absolutely no one of that ability had crossed our path." Lily thought for a while.
"Besides Tom Riddle, that is." James said. "He's supposed to be the seventh person afterall. And we're here to kill him."
"There must be someone else out there, right??" Lily tried to sound more optimistic. None of them were able to reply her.