Thanks for the reviews, PintoNess, Kankananime123, Madmad237, Snarkilicious, Sarah Liz B, Weasleytwinslover87, and xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx! :D
Double header today! Two chapters, relatively long ones! Chapter 25 is going to be a humorous one. :]
Hint about Deleted Scenes: There will be one or two scenarios that are a cross between this story and my first story.
It'd be mighty nice of you if you reviewed... ;]
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!
CHAPTER 24
The next morning…
"G'morning." Audrey said, stretching and walking into the kitchen. Remus sat at the head of the table, reading the morning Prophet.
I have always been greatly amused by how mature Remus always looked in comparison to his friends. It wasn't as though he was trying to be that way, he just simply was…
Peter was munching on some toast, James was pouring himself some water, and Sirius sat at the table next to Remus with his hands behind his head.
"Morning." James said, uncharacteristically skipping back to the table. Peter stared at his toast, a smirk on his face. Remus continued to read, and Sirius wore his usual grin, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Audrey raised an eyebrow at the four, but sat down at the table anyway.
"So Audrey, how did you sleep last night?" James asked, casually.
When you knew James Potter well enough, he always bore this one facial expression that told you instantly that he knew something or that he was up to something. He wore that expression a lot when we were around the others, and I knew they all were thinking about something…
Audrey gave a tiny shrug, figuring she'd be honest.
"Not to well, I had some dream that someone was talking to me, after that I had repetitive nightmares of screaming and flashing red and green lights."
It was true, for a good portion of the night I had the same nightmare. There were indiscernible yells and screams, and flashes of red and green light. My heart raced every time I woke up and I could feel my stomach tying into nervous knots even though I knew it had been a dream…
One by one, Audrey watched as the boys expressions changes. Sirius frowned first, Remus looked up from the paper, he gave Audrey a stare as if to say 'You and I will talk about this later.' James rubbed the back of his head, looking awkward and guilty. Peter looked down, sad.
"Well, I'm sure it was just a dream." Sirius said soothingly, after a few moments of awkward silence.
"I suppose so…" Audrey replied, taking some toast. "It just felt so real."
Crack.
A burst of green smoke erupted from the fireplace, someone was arriving at the house.
"MARLY!" Audrey squealed, sliding on the kitchen floor to her friend who had landed on her behind in James' kitchen.
"AUDWEE!" Marlene squealed as Audrey tackled her friend into a hug. "Oh god, I've missed you so much."
"How was Step camp?" Audrey asked.
"Like I said." Marlene replied, rolling her eyes. "I've missed you terribly. Some of the girls there…ugh."
"That bad?" Audrey asked.
"So arrogant. Magical and muggle alike…if only we were allowed to use magic outside of school…" Marlene said, sighing with her friend.
"I swear to Merlin, you two are like twins sometimes." Sirius snorted, as the boys walked over to greet Marlene one by one.
"Don't be jealous, Sirius." Marlene said in mock arrogance. "We've got better twin telepathy than you and James."
"I highly doubt that, Marly." James said, hugging her.
"So, did you lot just wake up?" She asked, surveying the five. They nodded.
"Figures." Marlene grinned. "You all look awful…except for my twinny of course."
"Can't argue with that." Sirius mumbled, exchanging a glance with James.
As the six sat around the table, Marlene popped out of her chair and pointed at Audrey.
"WAIT!"
"What?"
"You need to give me some further details about Russia!" Marlene said, wiggling her eyebrows.
I wasn't sure why every one of my friends in England insisted on saying the word Russia with a fake Russian accent.
"Oh, Marly…you didn't hear? Audrey's got a boyfriend." James cooed, grinning.
Marlene snorted. "Of course I knew about Karl! It was inevitable. I called this last year practically, right Remus?"
"Right, Marley." Remus smiled.
"You told her, before you told us?" Sirius was incredulous.
"Da, Sirius." Audrey's accent coming through. "She is my bliznets!"
I always found it really, really, really sexy when she spoke in Russian. James made fun of me for it all the time.
"I'll take it that's Russian for twin…" James said, cocking his head. Audrey nodded with a grin.
"Well, if she's such a good twin, wouldn't she have the telepathy to know that you had a boyfriend?" Peter questioned.
"It doesn't work long distance." Marlene replied easily. Audrey nodded.
"Touche." Remus replied, impressed with their quick wit. They really did give James and Sirius a run for their galleons.
"So…" James said awkwardly.
"Let me guess, you want to know if Lily's coming?" Marlene gave him an all knowing look.
James bore a striking resemblance to a puppy when Lily was a conversational topic.
James nodded, his eyes bigger than usual, and it wasn't because of his glasses.
"Yes-"
James interrupted her by whooping.
"Lily is coming, Sarah is coming with her-"
"PUFFER!" The boys cheered, Sarah, being their only friend in Hufflepuff, had several affectionate nicknames that were varied from her house.
"Can you gits let me finish?" Marlene sighed.
The boys nodded excitedly.
"Sarah and Lily will be coming either later today or tomorrow. Lily said she'd send an owl when they figured it out. They'll floo from Sarah's."
James was grinning like an idiot.
"Well, now that I've made James' day-"
"More like life." Sirius mumbled, shooting a smirk at Remus.
"…Audrey, where are the pictures?" Marlene said, crossing her arms.
Audrey sighed and stood up, she stretched out for a moment, and then burst into a speedy jog. Remus was timing her for laughs.
As quickly as she'd left, she came back, holding the stack of photos.
"Twelve seconds." Remus grinned.
"That's faster than last time!" Peter's eyes widened.
Audrey waved them off, she could have run faster anyway. She gave Marlene a few of the photos from the stack. There were tons of her and Karl, the boys just didn't see.
"Oooh, Audrey." Marlene cooed. "You told me good things, but…wow."
"I'm glad you approve." Audrey's eyes bore a mischievous glint of another kind. Marlene knew very well what she meant.
I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, reach across the table, and shred those photographs to bits. But I held myself together, I would rant to my friends later, just as I had the previous night.
After Sirius had tip toed out of Audrey's room and shut the door, he quickly made his way downstairs to where James, Remus, and Peter sat, still on the couches in the living room.
"What took you so long?" Remus raised an eyebrow.
"Just…talking." Sirius said awkwardly. It was the truth.
"You're grinning." James pointed out, shifting forward on the couch.
"Alright! Alright!" Sirius put his hands up in surrender. "I just asked Audrey some things…that's all."
"But she was fast asleep." said Remus, suspicious.
"Yes, Moony." replied Sirius. "She was, but she stirred a bit on the way up the stairs, she was half conscious."
"Alright then, well what did you ask her?" James said.
"Get on with it!" chimed in Peter.
"So I set her down in her bed, right? And I was about to leave, when I turned around and I asked her if she really hated me." Sirius began.
"And?" Remus asked, curious. Sirius shot him an odd look.
"She said she didn't, and that I'm a good friend but I get on her nerves sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Remus snorted, James laughed.
"Oh shut it!" Sirius said, waving them off. "Anyway, I asked her how and she said 'I don't know, I just thought you'd be happy for me about the Karl thing…"
James, Remus, and Peter made faces. They all knew Sirius wasn't happy at all, he had made that point pretty clear whenever he could in the previous hours.
"Well how did you respond to that?" Peter asked, giving him a knowing look.
"Well, you all know what I really wanted to say, but instead I just told her I was but I'm overprotective." Sirius shrugged, sitting down next to Peter.
"I can't believe you didn't tell her, she was practically asleep!" James exclaimed.
"She was coherent enough to understand what I was saying and recognize my voice, James." Sirius shot him a look.
"So the beast is more subdued when she's slumbering?" James raised an eyebrow, Remus threw a pillow at him.
"She's not a beast, James." Remus said, indignant. "And she'd be so upset if someone she considered her friend called her that."
"I was joking, Moony!" James said, putting his hands in the air in surrender.
"You better be." Remus shook his fist.
The boys then broke into laughter.
"Can I bombard you with questions?" Marlene asked.
Audrey shook her head. "Not here, I don't want any of them to vomit-"
"Aw, thanks, Audwee." Sirius grinned.
"stupidity." Audrey finished, smirking.
James jaw dropped and he whined. "What? We don't vomit stupidity!"
"Well, let me correct myself, big brother. You and Sirius vomit stupidity-"
"And occasionally rainbows." added Marlene, remembering the prank the girls had pulled on Sirius and James last year.
"But Peter and Remus are the common sense of the group." Audrey said, grinning.
"Ta!" Peter and Remus said together.
"I hardly think that we vomit stupidity." James replied. "Granted we've done some odd things, but none of them were stupid."
Marlene and Audrey both put their hands on their hips, skeptical. At that moment, a tawny owl came flying through the open kitchen window and landed on Marlene's shoulder.
"Niko!" Audrey cooed, stroking the owl as he dropped a letter into Marlenes hand.
"Liiiiiiily?" James grinned.
"Well who else owns an owl named Niko?" Marlene snorted, opening the letter. "Lily and Sarah are coming in a few hours!"
The boys let out a whoop.
"Aw, I missed Huffapuffer. She's the only sane one out of your lot." Sirius said, pointing to Audrey and Marlene.
"Sarah is hardly sane, she just appears to be." Marlene grinned.
"Wasn't her camp not too far from yours?" Audrey asked, remembering one of Sarah's letters to her.
"Yeah, her camp was in South Yorkshire." Marlene nodded.
"Can't wait to exchange some steps then." Audrey grinned. "Darcy taught us something whacky and I can't wait to show you."
Marlene grinned at her, about to say something when James yawned loudly and yelled "I'M BORED!"
"Just like a Quidditch obsessed boy." Marlene clucked.
"Y'know what? That's a good idea, Marly. I'm going to go for a fly." James said, finishing his bowl of cereal.
"I second that!" Sirius slammed his hands on the table enthusiastically and got up.
"Thirds!" Peter yelled.
"Eh, fourth I guess." shrugged Remus. "Someone's gotta make sure these three don't do anything stupid."
As the boys had run upstairs, changed, and got their brooms, Mrs. Potter came bustling into the kitchen.
"Oh! Good morning, Audrey." Elly smiled kindly, and then turned to Marlene. "And you must be Marlene McKinnon!"
Marlene nodded, kissing Mrs. Potter on the cheek. "My mother sends her regards, and is wondering when you'll be playing cards with her and Mrs. Abbott again?"
"Oh of course! Sometime next week, I think. We're still working out the finer details, dear." Elly smiled. "Audrey, Marlene's room is right next to yours, would you like to show her where it is?"
"Sure, Elly!" Audrey grinned, taking one side of Marlene's trunk as she took the other.
"This way, Madame." Audrey said, imitating a hotel bellhop. She led the way, walking backwards up the stairs, while Marlene faced forward on the other side.
Audrey nearly jumped when she felt two hands wrap around her hips once she reached the hallway. She looked up.
"SIRIUS!"
"AUDREY!" He mimicked.
"Such a git." Marlene mumbled.
"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Audrey asked, horrified. She could feel his muscles only slightly, thanking Merlin for her long hair.
"Yes, Sirius." Marlene glared daggers at him, knowing what he was doing. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
"Well, I was just brushing my teeth and getting ready. That's all." Sirius said, innocently.
"And you're latching onto my hips because?" Audrey asked, trying to wiggle away from his grip, but she was a bit distracted having to hold Marlene's trunk and most of the weight in it.
And she knew that I knew that it was an opportune moment. The thing was, with Audrey, you'd have to get her when she's preoccupied…otherwise, she'd try to break all of the bones in my body.
I felt him shrug, his skin was warm, his breath tickled my neck. I tried to walk backwards, to finally help Marlene get her trunk to her room, but of course he wouldn't release me.
"Sirius, if you're going to walk with us, the least you can do is help with the trunk." Marlene hissed, annoyed.
Marlene was the incredibly cunning best friend, she had called me out a few times privately on my antics with Audrey. She would call me out later that day about trying to tempt Audrey. And so the famous "Stop Trying To Tempt Her, She Has A Boyfriend" lecture would begin.
"Can't do that, Marly." Sirius grinned.
"Why?" Audrey asked, looking up at him. She could only see his chin at his hair.
"Because I don't feel like it." Sirius replied smugly, as they had made their way to Marly's door.
Finally…some relief...
Crash.
Or so I thought.
"Oof." Audrey groaned, she was sandwiched between Marlene's trunk and Sirius, and he still wouldn't let go.
"Sirius?" Audrey asked, looking up at him.
"Yes, love?"
"Can you let me go?"
"Nah."
"Why?"
"Don't feel like it, Russia."
"Sirius." Audrey whined, getting annoyed.
I could feel his chest rumble with laughter, my heart fluttered a bit.
"Sirius!" Marlene whined, impatient. He said nothing, but wore a smug grin. A grin that told Marlene 'What, are you going to say it right here?'
Audrey, however, decided to try another approach. She had never done any magic without her hands, she couldn't…but she figured she'd give it a try.
I remember silently thinking to myself about the wind knocking Sirius out of our way…
The hallway window flew open quickly, Sirius, Marlene, and even Audrey looked at in in surprise. Then, out of nowhere, a huge gust of wind and a few leaves had flown directly at them. It skirted around Marlene, causing her hair to fly. It was coming directly at Audrey, but side swiped at the last moment, knocking Sirius off balance.
And so I was free.
Audrey pushed open Marlene's door with ease, and returned to her hotel bellhop voice.
"Your room, m'lady!" Audrey bowed in the doorway. Marlene laughed and closed the door behind them.
At the very same moment, James Potter walked into the hallway finding Sirius on the ground.
"All right there, mate?" James grinned.
"Of course." Sirius had a stupid grin on his face, a grin James wore when he saw Lily.
"Well then, let's go play some Quidditch, eh?"