Here's chapter 21. I hope you guys enjoy it. I don't usually like books that are written in letter or diary format, but this is really similar, weirds. Please read it and review.
Chapter 21: Letters
Lily sat in her room the day after she arrived. That first night home Petunia had been at her house with Vernon so Lily and her mum watched some of their favorite movies with popcorn, soda and pizza. Lily hadn't really been paying attention to the movie though, instead she'd been regretting not asking James to visit.
Lily's room was small, overlooking the park across the street. The walls were white, but covered in pictures of her friends and family, some moving some still. Her dresser stood inside her closet because her full sized bed took up much of the room. Lily had considered using the Undetectable Extension Charm, but didn't because so many muggles traipsed through the house, most of them family. But at any rate, she couldn't do it.
She sat her desk under the window with a piece of parchment and quill in hand. So far the paper said:
James,
She didn't know how to continue or if she wanted it to say dear James,. She looked at the bag of candy he'd given her at the train station. Promising it wasn't the gift, but it did have sentimental value. When she asked what sentimental value a bag of candy could have, he reminded her of their first date and the meeting on the astronomy tower. Lily smiled to herself.
I hope you're holiday is going well. My sister hasn't arrived yet, so it's been pleasant. My family is due to be here by Wednesday though. Petunia, however is showing up tomorrow with her husband. You should see him eat, it puts you and Sirius to shame. I never thought that was possible, but he's proved me wrong. I'm not sure why, but he reminds me of rabid grizzly. I think it might have something to do with the way he bares his teeth when he's angry, but then a bear's face doesn't turn purple. Now that I think about it, a bear for Vernon would be an upgrade.
~Wish you were here,
Lily
Lily tied the parchment to her owl's leg.
"Take this to James." She instructed. The small owl hooted happily before soaring out the window. The sun was already setting outside, while smells of her mother's cooking filled the house. Lily could see the Snape house from her window. On just the other side of the park. His holidays were always miserable. Back when they were friends Severus might have come over, or they would have met at the park to play games.
"Lily!" her mum called up to her. "Could you come down here?"
"Coming." Lily yelled back. She left her room to find her mum at the bottom of the stairs with a basket of laundry under her arm.
"Petunia's coming tomorrow, could you make the bed and do something about the bathroom?" Mrs. Evans asked handing the basket of bedding off to Lily.
"Sure." Lily agreed. She went to the guest bedroom just off the kitchen. Lily made the bed the muggle way. Then she cleaned the bathroom. By the time she was done an hour had passed. The house seemed gloomy without her dad's booming voice cracking jokes or watching the television in the living room. It reminded her too much of the funeral. They way the house sounded. So quiet.
-o-O-o--o-O-o--o-O-o-
"Here's your gift mum." Petunia said the morning she arrived. Petunia had given their mother a kiss on the cheek, a quick hug and then the small box wrapped in green paper with a silver ribbon tied around it.
"Oh, thank you Petunia." Their mother replied. Petunia had inherited the skinny, horse like face from her mother while Lily received her dark red hair and slim figure. Lily had her father's more childlike face and eyes though.
"What are you doing here?" Petunia asked Lily.
"I'm here for the holiday." Lily answered.
"Oh. Well, I didn't know, so I didn't get you anything." Lily knew Petunia just refused to get her a gift, not that it mattered, and was only being nice for their mother's sake.
"That's okay." Lily replied. There was a silence. "Mum, could I go to the store. I still need to go gift shopping."
"But its a Monday night. Christmas Eve is Wednesday." Her mum said.
"I know. But I've been at school. There's really no shopping there."
"Are you sure you'll be safe?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"I'll be fine. I have a wand."
Lily didn't miss her sister mutter, "Freak."
"Alright. Take it with you and take some money from the jar." Lily nodded. She kept her wand with her at all times so all she had to was get was some money from the jar in the kitchen.
The store was three blocks away, but gave Lily a good excuse to get as far from her sister as possible. She walked there with the little bit of money in her pocket and her wand in her hand, hidden under her sleeve. At the market Lily found a disgusting smelling purple candle in a jar for Petunia, a locket for her mum, and she figured she could save some money by conjuring up some flowers for her aunt and transfigure a sheet of parchment into a quilt for her grandmother. The only grandmother still alive was her father's mother and even she was widowed. But she loved a good quilt. As for her uncle, she could always just wish him a merry Christmas, but she bought him a watch anyway.
On the way back home it began to snow, Lily hugged her jacket closer to her against the cold. She liked the look of snow, and it was fun to play in, but the cold that came with wasn't one of it's finer points. Lily didn't want to walk the full three blocks, so about four houses away from the store Lily apparited back home.
She wrapped the gifts in her room before placing them under the tree then going to sleep.
When Lily woke on Christmas Eve it was because there was a tapping at her window. She opened the window without getting out of bed. Immediately she recognized the bird, it belonged to Jamie. Lily took it from the bird offering it an owl treat.
Happy Christmas Lily! I'm on my way to visit my Gran's as I write this, I won't have time to write much, but I hope you're enjoying the holiday at any rate. Let me know what James gets you!
-Jamie
P.S. Gift exchange when I get back.
P.S.S. Have you heard anything from Mary yet?
P.S.S.S. What do you want for Christmas?
P.S.S.S.S My Gran's house smells funny, any suggestions?
P.S.S.S.S.S Don't kill Petunia.
Or her husband.
Now I'm done. -Jamie
And wish James a Happy Christmas for me!
Lily smiled as she read the letter. Jamie was always adding things onto letters when she thought she was done. It was always really funny watching as she would sign her name, remember something, say 'oh' write a P.S. Then what she remembered only to add a few more P.S's adding an extra S to each.
Lily pulled out a fresh piece of parchment.
Happy Christmas Jamie!
I haven't heard anything from anyone but you. I'll let you know when I do, although you could write them yourself. I would love some of you're Gran's cookies, they're always the best. I'll try not to kill Petunia or her husband, although I can't guarantee that I won't jinx them, but only if necessary. You could use the bubble head charm for the house, but it might be noticeable. Sorry. I'll be sure to pass on your holiday greeting to James as well. It's really early as I write this, so you'll have to excuse the slop and bad flow.
Love Lily
And try to cut down on the P.S. use
Lily tied the letter to Jamie's bird, offering him another owl treat before it left. Lily still hadn't received a reply from James, which she was trying not to think about. Her family was arriving that day. So she took a shower, got dressed in her favorite jeans, sweater and socks.
Down in the kitchen her mum was checking on the deserts she'd prepared. Everything seemed to be ready. All she had to do was wait and clean until the rest of the family arrived with the side dishes. Lily made herself a bowl of cereal, no milk.
"You have mail." Her mum told her.
"From who?"
"I don't know Lily. It's over there." Her mother indicated a small stack on the counter near the window. There was one from Mary, another from Jamie, Ivy and Sirius. Lily had to raise her eyebrows at Sirius' letter. But there was nothing in James' unique scrawl. She read the one from Jamie first.
I forgot to mention in my last letter that Sirius' letter is a howler. Open it away from muggles, the picture that comes with it cute though.
-Jamie
P.S. it's loud.
Enjoy your Christmas.
Lily put the howler at the bottom of the pile, noting to open it in her room. She ate her cereal as she opened the other letters.
Dear Lily,
In case no one warned you, Sirius sent howlers. I tried to tell him not to, but he won't listen to me. Happy Christmas, I hope you like what James got you, tell me what it is when you receive it. It's really bothering me that he kept it a secret from everyone. Sirius didn't even know! And they tell each other everything. Once again Happy Christmas. And plug your ears & enjoy the picture.
Mary
Lily,
You have to let me know what James got you! Mary sent me a letter warning me about the howler, I hope she warned you as well. I disregarded her warning and my dad nearly had a stroke hearing the thing. He's okay now, but he wants to kill Sirius. I do too actually. That boy must have a death wish or something.
I hope you're enjoying your Christmas anyway. My mom wanted me to tell you that your in her prayers and that with God's grace your sister will get over herself. She said it differently of course, but that's my abridged version. Personally I think Petunia should be thankful that with her attitude she still found a husband (pig or not) who hates magic just as much as she does. Who knows, one day they might end up divorced, or with a horrible child to make their life miserable. Wish your family a Happy Christmas for me, sent a hug to your mum and if you don't mind terribly give that pig a snout or something!
~Love fondly Ivy
Beneath this letter was a small note Lily had missed the first time she'd gone through the stack.
Merry Christmas
From: Ambre
It was on a small sheet with a snow flake pattern in the background, it was cute and simple. Lily smiled at the stack of holiday cards. She finished her cereal, rinsed out the bowl then went to her room to open Sirius' card. But first she cast the Imperturbable charm on her door so that no sound would leave the room.
She opened the card, and sure enough it was a howler.
"I just wanted to say HAPPY CHRISTMAS LILY!" It shouted in Sirius' voice. Then it began screaming Deck the Halls. When it finally blew up nothing was left but a photo on the floor. Lily picked it up to see a shaggy black dog with a wreath around it's neck. The dog's tongue lolled out of his mouth, his tail wagging behind him. In the background there was a fire place with socks hanging from it and a Christmas tree standing off to the side. The dog's eyes followed a small Santa Clause on a broomstick that flew around his head.
Lily removed the charm from her door before replying to her friends letters. Just a lot of 'I haven't received James' gift yet' and 'Happy Christmas to you too' and 'thanks for the warning about the howler. You were right, it was loud.' ending with 'see you soon, love Lily.'
"Lily!" Her mother's voice called from downstairs. "Could you please get dressed!" Lily looked down at her comfy clothes. Sighed then went to her closet to pull out a skirt and festive sweater. But before she could even remove her shirt the door bell rang.
"LILY! Could you answer that?" Lily didn't bother asking about Petunia, because now her sister was a guest and her mother was busy, so it was up to Lily to manage opening the door, changing, helping in the kitchen and doing whatever else her mother needed. The holidays were stressful.
Lily went down to the door, trying to fix her hair so she looked a little decent for whatever relative stood on the other side. But when she swung the door open it wasn't her aunt, uncle or grandmother. It was so much better.
"JAMES!" Lily shrieked throwing her arms around him. He laughed hugging her back. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"You don't mind do you?"
"No! I'm glad your here." Lily said.
"Is there a but?"
"Well. See, my family's about to be here any second. And...Oh! Merlin! I have to change, I'll be right back." Lily went to run up the stairs but then stopped.
"Um, do you...? Er, come here." she took his hand dragging him to the kitchen. "Mom,"
"Hmm?" Mrs. Evans asked her head in the oven.
"You remember me telling you about James right?" Lily asked. She'd mentioned him in a few letters.
"Who?"
"James, Mum."
"James? Oh! James." She turned to her daughter.
"Mum, this is James."
"It's nice to meet you James." She said nicely.
"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Evans."
"Yes. I'm sorry, I really don't mean to be rude, but I'm very busy. You're welcome to stay of course."
"Thank you?" James replied.
"Yeah." Lily said pulling him back to the living room. "I'm sorry about her. She kind of gets mental around the holidays. What with the stress of family and the food and the mess."
"That's alright."
"I really am glad your here though." Lily assured him. "Really."
"Well good." He smiled.
"Um, I do have to get ready though." Lily told him. "We can talk in a minute." He nodded so she ran up the stairs quickly changing into the skirt and sweater. When she was done she brushed through her hair, so it looked nice. Figuring that was as good as it was going to get she went back down to the living room. Where James was sitting in an arm chair across from Vernon and Petunia.
"I'm back." Lily announced. Petunia looked like she just bit into a particularly sour lemon while her husband looked as if he was calmly choking on a piece of steak. His face bright red. James stood up awkwardly. Lily smiled at him. "I see you met my sister Petunia and her husband, Vernon Dursley."
"Yes." James answered. "They're um, just as you described."
"Aren't they though? And um, this is my boyfriend, James." Lily told her sister and Vernon. There was a long silence. Lily bounced on her toes while the Dursley's sat on the couch glaring at them. It was eventually broken by the doorbell ringing, loud and clear.
HA! James showed up! Check out my polls & Review & don't forget to wash the dishes. (Just kidding about the last one, but really REVIEW! And check out my polls)