The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Forty Four

“No I just meant… Oh Merlin you’re an idiot. Well I’m not about to just let you wander off by yourself, am I?”

“Why not?”

“Well I need you to come to dinner with me and it won’t make the best impression if you’re not there because you’ve been carted off to Azkaban will it?” she laughed.

“Oh don’t worry Lily, none of us are going to end up in Azkaban, don’t be stupid! Anyway we should go. Where are we aiming for?”

“It’s a small side street called Sewell Lane; not very interesting, mostly just red brick houses in a bunch of massive terraces.”

“Right.” James squeezed her hand in his before shutting his eyes and both of them turned around on the spot where they stood. Moments later there was nothing to show that they had once been there apart from two pairs of footsteps which vanished without leaving the alley and a startled cat which meowed at the place where the enormous cracking noise had engulfed the two teenagers.

The street which they arrived on was barely any different from the one that they had left; darkness still hovered around them like a predator waiting to strike and the windows of the empty houses looked on vacantly as they hurried towards the lively crowds which filled the main street, illuminated by the cheerful lights of the buildings on New Street.

It only took them about five minutes to reach the restaurant but it took nearly as long for James to convince Lily to go inside. Eventually, however, the pair of them headed through the heavy wooden door and peered around the room, searching for Petunia and Vernon among the other guests. After loitering conspicuously by the entrance for a few minutes, during which time Lily tried to convince James that her sister had stood them up and that they should leave before anyone noticed them, a rail thin girl approached them and stood awkwardly to one side. “Lily,” the stick like blonde muttered.

“Oh Petunia,” she exclaimed, “there you are.”

“Yes, here I am,” Petunia replied, sounding like it was the last place she wanted to be. “Well er… we’re over here.” That was the last thing she said before she turned away from them and began to wind her way through the tables which were scattered through the gloomy room. When she stopped it was at a table where a man as large as Petunia was small was seated, successfully taking up half the table and blocking out their view of anything but him and his bulk. Lily, resolved to be polite, proffered her hand to him but he ignored it in favour of a sniff which twitched his entire enormous moustache and grunted, “You’re late.”

Lily’s hand hovered uncertainly in the air for a moment as she studied him before she withdrew it and sat down. “Sorry about that,” she said, addressing Petunia instead, “Mum wouldn’t stop fussing.”

Vernon harrumphed and shook his head, muttering something to himself as a waiter appeared with four menus. “Can I get you any drinks?”

“Some white wine would be great please,” Lily said, cringing when she felt Vernon and Petunia’s disapproving gazes fall onto her.

“I’ll bring a bottle,” he said before disappearing quickly.

A heavy silence fell over them as they each looked resolutely in different directions; Lily almost wished that the napkin in her lap was paper so that she could rip it as she studied it.

“This place is a nightmare,” Vernon finally complained, “we couldn’t find anywhere to park.”

James inclined his head slowly and shot a panicked look at Lily.

“What about you?” Petunia tried. “Where did you park?”

“We didn’t drive,” Lily muttered.