One hour later, the Potters found themselves back in Grimmauld Place. Still a bit angry with her brothers, Lily had gone up to her room, locking the door behind her.
She was about to open her new spell book, in hopes of getting a bit ahead in her class before the school year even started, when she noticed an irritating tapping noise coming from the front of her room. Glancing up from the book's table of contents, she saw a pretty, white barn owl pecking away at the small window above her bookshelf.
Lily dropped the new textbook down on her bed and opened the window, letting the owl into her room. As soon as she got up close to the owl, she recognized it as Athena, Rudolph's owl. Quickly, for she knew that Athena liked to bite anything that looked remotely like food, Lily undid the letter from its skinny leg and moved her fingers away from her. Getting a fair distance away from the owl, she read the letter; it was the date and time that Rudolph wanted to have the gang over. Lily smiled, knowing that he had taken her advice.
Grabbing a spare corner of parchment from her desk, Lily scribbled a note to Rudolph, letting him know that she had received his letter and would send word out to the others immediately. She tied the letter to the owl's foot and prayed that it wouldn't bite her as she did. Lucky for Lily, it didn't even attempt to before it flew out of the window and into the midday sunshine.
Lily sat down at her desk and examined the letter once more, checking the date, time, and place of their meeting again. It would be a week from that day, and they were to arrive at about noon and stay overnight in his grandparents' house in Ireland.
Knowing she had a fair amount of time before she left for the Burrow, Lily decided to write letters to her friends about this at that moment, so she wouldn't have to do it later. She pulled out a nice pad of parchment and dipped her quill in a jar of black ink, which she had just purchased in Diagon Alley an hour or so ago. She decided to write the first of the letters to her cousin, Hugo Weasley.
Hugo,
It's me, Lily. Rudolph just sent me an owl about having all of us spend the night at his grandparents' house. He didn't want to send Athena out multiple times, so he asked me to spread the word. He wants to have us over on Thursday of next week at noon and have us sleep over at his grandparents' house. Anyway, if you're interested, write back to me, so I can send a list to Rudolph of who can make it. His grandparents are Muggles, so a bunch of owls coming up to their house might cause some suspicions.
See you soon,
Lily
Lily copied the letter down verbatim three more times for Eli, Cassie, and Nora. After asking to use the family owl, Merlin, she sent the great horned owl out with the four letters, hoping that he'd return soon with four accepting responses.
"What are you using Merlin for?" her father asked as they watched the owl fly out of the kitchen window.
"Rudolph wants to have all of us over, so I sent the letters with the date and time out to Hugo, Eli, Cassie, and Nora. Is it alright if I go?" she asked.
Her father shrugged, "I don't see why not. I suppose we could Apparate there. When is it?"
"Next Thursday at noon, and he wants us all to sleep over there, too."
"It's fine by me," her dad nodded. "Why did you have to send out the invitations?"
"His grandparents are Muggles, so he doesn't want to be sending his owl out a bunch of times. I don't even think his grandparents know he has Athena with him."
"WE'RE LEAVING NOW!" a voice yelled through the house, eliminating whatever chance that her father had to respond to Lily's explanation.
"I guess we're ready to head out to the Burrow," her dad said. "We're flooing over there, so get your things together."
Following his instructions, Lily quickly slid on a pair of her sandals, which were sitting in the corner of the kitchen, and ran over to the hearth in the den with her father, where her mother and two brothers were waiting.
"Ready to go?" her mother asked, handing over some Floo Powder to Lily.
She nodded and carefully moved her hands around, so the powder wouldn't fall all over the carpet.
"James, you first," her mother nodded, pushing her oldest child towards the hearth.
"THE BURROW!" he yelled, throwing the Floo Powder at the ground and being engulfed by a wreath of green flames.
"You next, Lily," her father said, nudging her towards the fireplace.
Lily ducked into the opening and took a deep breath before repeating James's actions and being taken away by the green fire.
A few seconds passed by, and before she knew it, Lily was spat out onto the floor of the Burrow's living room, still lacking any sort of grace.
"You really aren't getting any better with using the Floo Network, are you, Lil?" James asked as he helped her to her feet; Lily could tell that he was stifling a laugh.
"Evidently, practice doesn't make perfect," she sighed, flicking some of the ash off of her t-shirt.
"Are you alright, Lily?" an old, worrisome voice asked.
Lily looked up from her dirty shirt to see her friendly-looking Grandma Weasley entering into the living room. The wrinkles in her face seemed to have deepened, and her hair seemed to have grown a little less flaming orange since the last time Lily had seen her grandmother.
"I'm fine, Grandma Weasley," Lily smiled, giving her aging grandmother a tight hug. "I'm not spectacular when it comes to using the Floo Network is all."
"Everyone who's here is out front; you and James should head out there," she smiled, ruffling James's hair much to his distaste.
Obeying their grandmother, the two siblings left the living room of the Burrow and started towards the front door. They were about to step outside when Lily spotted the familiar Weasley Wall as her family had begun to call it affectionately.
The Weasley Wall chronicled everything in their recent family history, and though it was mainly photographs, the wall also included a few newspaper clippings and copies of awards, which Weasleys had won. The most recent addition looked to be a copy of Victoire Weasley's Hogwarts diploma as well as a photograph of her walking off of the Hogwarts Express for the final time.
"Grandma and Grandpa are so nostalgic," James commented, shaking his head. "It looks like you gained that gene as well, Lil."
"There's nothing wrong with being sentimental, James," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "I really love looking at all of this. Like look, there's a picture of you, Freddie, and Dom in a timeout when you were little."
Sure enough, in a small frame, there was a photo of the three cousins, all about six years old, pouting on a couch that had once sat in the Burrow before a seven year old Roxie had accidentally lit it on fire after a screaming match with her mother.
"I remember that day," James laughed. "Freddie, Dom, and I had tried to put a frog in Molly's soup, and Grandpa Weasley caught us. We were in so much trouble."
"It's not nearly as bad as the time when Roxie burnt the couch down," a voice laughed from behind the two siblings.
They turned around to see a bemused Fred Weasley II along with his irritated-looking younger sister standing beside him with her arms crossed.
"Freddie, I was seven," Roxie groaned. "I couldn't control my magic yet."
"I was actually just thinking about that," Lily giggled. "How are you guys?"
"Pretty good, considering my O.W.L. year is over," Freddie smirked at James. "It was a terrible, terrible year, James. I don't envy you, my little cousin."
"Freddie," James began, obviously slightly bothered by his cousin's remarks, "I am a year younger than you."
"But I'm taller," Freddie smirked once more, patting James on the head.
James recoiled and chased Freddie out the front door, yelling some choice words that could probably land the pair of them in a timeout on a sofa once more.
"Boys are so strange," Roxie sighed, shaking her head of black dreadlocks. "I can't believe those two."
"Just wait until they meet up with Dom, then we'll all be in for it," Lily laughed. "We should probably head outside, Roxie. Grandma Weasley said that most everyone else was out there."
"Just a minute," she shrugged. "So are you excited for this year at school? I hear that there's going to be a new Headmaster."
"Well considering Smithers left before classes ended last year, I would assume that there would a be new Head of the school," Lily sighed.
After the events that had taken place in the Forbidden Forest at the end of Lily's first year, she had woken in the hospital wing only to be told that the school's headmistress had left the school in haste. Lily had known that she was in on the debacle that was Neoma's Trance.
"Who do think is going to be the new headmaster? My bet's on Flitwick," Roxie gossiped. "I heard from Yolanda, you know her, right? She said that she heard from Henry, who heard from..."
Lily then tuned her cousin out. Roxie absolutely loved to gossip while Lily couldn't stand the thought of spreading rumors that were probably completely false. She was more of an intellectual than a brainless speaker of gossip.
"Do you want to head outside?" Lily asked again quickly, ready to shut up her cousin.
"Yeah, let's go!" Roxie smiled, grabbing her hand and leading the slightly irritated Lily outside. "Almost everyone is here already!"
Being dragged out the backdoor by Roxie wasn't Lily's idea of making an entrance to the family party, but she let her cousin pull her past the adults and over to where the rest of the Weasley-Potter cousins stood happily in conversation.
"Lily!" Hugo called, running over to her from a conversation with their cousin, Louis. "I thought you'd never get here!"
Hugo was Lily's cousin, although he was mistaken as her twin brother often enough due to their similar red hair and pale complexion. Lily was mere weeks older than Hugo, and that lead to a close bond between the two of them. Never was there a moment at a family gathering when the two weren't together.
"Hugo!" Lily grinned, walking away from Roxie to her favorite cousin; she couldn't be happier to see him, partially because he freed her from the chatterbox that was Roxie. "How've the past couple of weeks been?"
Hugo groaned, "So bloody boring. Rosie's been studying and studying for who knows what."
"And you've been sleeping and sleeping until who knows when," someone interjected with a sarcastic voice.
Lily glanced up from Hugo to see her cousin and Hugo's sister, Rosie, standing behind him with a smirk on her face, shaking her head at her little brother.
"Hi, Rosie," Lily smiled, seeing another of her favorite cousins. "Ready for your fourth year?"
"I've been ready since we left," Rosie laughed. "I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts already!"
"You and me both," Lily nodded.
"Rosie, come on!" Al shouted, running over and grabbing her arm. "Hey, Hugo!"
After exchanging hellos, Al and Rosie ran over to join the Lovegood twins, Lorcan and Lysander, as well as Alice Longbottom.
"Does Rosie still like Lysander?" Lily asked Hugo as they watched the fourth and fifth years chatting away under a big oak tree.
"Like?" Hugo laughed. "It's more like an obsession. Lysander, this. Lysander, that."
Lily giggled, "That's just like Al and Alice. Anyway, did you get my owl?"
He nodded, "Yeah, Merlin was at my window just before we flooed over here. I read it and sent him back with my response."
"Well?" Lily asked. "Can you go?"
"Yeah," he answered. "I can't wait; it's about time we all got together."
"Talking about Thursday at Rudolph's, are we?" another new voice asked from behind Lily.
Lily saw Hugo's smile grow brighter, and in turn, hers did as well. Both of them knew who the question had come from, and neither of them could be happier that the owner of the voice had come to the party.
-+-
And finally!!! I'm sorry for the wait; I'm awful, I know.
-aquaseahorse