A/N - May contain small spoilers for the book 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy. It's a really great book, and one of my favourites! I hope you enjoy the chapter! xoxo
Lily:
Mwahahaha!
You know what, 'Anna Karenina' seems like an awfully long book, but in reality it is excellent. I mean, I read it in three days! And I actually do believe that James will enjoy this book - if he can look past the long Russian names and intricate detailing.
It is one of my favourite books, and it can really get you thinking. Also, it has divided many people, and many people feel pity for Anna, while others just hate her! Personally, the character I pity most is Anna's husband, Alexei Alexandrovich, and I really detest both Anna and Count Vronsky.
I really want to know what James thinks of some of the characters!
The books James gave me is a Quidditch Autobiography. I love muggle sports autobiographies, but I've never read a magical one before, so this should be interesting!
'Ok! Here I go!' I think to myself as I begin reading...
Chapter One
When I think back over my life, I think of the ups and the downs, and how each and every game and practice made me who I am. I am Connie Chang, and this is my life.
I was born in Hertfordshire in 1917, to a rather wealthy family. My mother was a half-blood witch, and my father came from the newly established pureblood Chang family. I had a brother, Darren Chang I, however he sadly passed away a couple of years ago.
I started playing Quidditch in my back garden with my father and brother. In those days, nobody really approved of a girl playing Quidditch, but I still did it anyways. I played all throughout my childhood, but my first ever game came while I was at Hogwarts.
I arrived at Hogwarts in 1928, and was sorted into Ravenclaw just like my moter and father, and eventually my brother. I played my first game against Hufflepuff...
Honestly, why the hell would anyone want to read this over a beloved classic like 'Persuasion' or 'Wuthuring Heights'! I glance over at James to see him looking at his book with great confusion and frustration.
"What?" I giggle, and he glares at me and whines, "Lily! None of these names make any sense!". I laugh and walk over to where he is seated on the sofa. "James!" I say with an eye roll, "You didn't read the characters page! Read that, and it'll make more sense!". "Ok." he mumbles, and I sit down beside him on the sofa because I'm getting cold and the sofa is closer to the fireplace.
I continue reading the Quidditch autobiography while still out of the corner of my eye keeping an eye on James and his progress. "Why'd he cheat on her? Stupid prick!" he mutters when reading about the Oblonsky's marriage. Oh, wait until he finds out that isn't even nearly the worst of it!
At about half eleven I decide to turn in, and James says, "I'll head to bed once I finish this chapter!". "So, you're enjoying it then?" I ask, resisting the urge to giggle. "It isn't as bad as I thought it would be." he admits, and with that I head up to bed.
Just as I nestle down under my covers, my comfy pyjamas on me, I hear a yell. "What? Why'd she turn him down? No!" James shouts angrily, and hear him throw the book down and stomp up the stairs, muttering, "Damn you, Kitty! Damn you!". Aw, he got to the part about Kitty and Levin! Wait until he sees how that turns out!
The next morning I wake up and have a shower. I then get dressed into my uniform and head down to enjoy (or not enjoy) a regular Tuesday morning. I'm so, so glad that James and I are back on good terms again, and that I told him my history with Snape and my sister.
We walk down to breakfast together, and I just take a bite of my banana when the post arrives. "Post is here!" Sirius sing-songs, and we begin to sort through the pile that has landed in front of the nine of us (Frank included - he's part of our group now). "Here's your newspaper, Frank." I say, passing it to him. "Thanks!" he replies, opening it and beginning to read. "Lily you have two letters, Pads here is one for you. Wait - Oh shit! It's a howler!" James says, carelessly passing out the letters but then we all start to panic when Sirius receives a howler. Well, the Marauders don't, but the rest of us do!
"Oh! Don't worry! It's just my usual howler - have you noticed that I receive one every year? Yep, probably something about Christmas - I don't know and I really don't care. Oh look, it's exploding!" Sirius says, as if he is actually looking forward to this. The howler explodes, and a horrible, ringing voice sounds all over the hall. I see Sirius look straight at someone, and so I turn around to see who. Regulus.
Regulus, upon hearing his mother's screams, stands up and leaves the Great Hall, a sad look on his face. "You disappointment! You muggle lover! You are lucky that we are giving you one last chance to return to this family, and make up for your horrible mistakes! Do you hear me boy - we are giving you one last chance to recover yourself!" Sirius' mother shrieks, and with that the howler tears itself up and the Great Hall is silent.
Then, Bellatrix Black, over at the Slytherin table, bursts out laughing, and then stands up and leaves the great Hall with her so called 'friends'. "Love you Bella!" Sirius shouts as she leaves, and then bursts into laughter. "Here, here! Bella! I love you as much as I love my wonderful mother, dear cousin! Mwah!" he yells again, and Bellatrix just sneers at him before flouncing off.
"Back to your food everyone!" Sirius shouts to the entire Great Hall, and whispers break out everywhere. "Oh! Did you hear - my dear cousin Cissy just got married! Yay!" Sirius then says to us, and we laugh at the sarcasm in his tone.
"Merlin Pads! I HATE your family!" James says, laughing. "You and me both, brother. You and me both." Sirius says, clapping James on the shoulder as the rest of us turn back to our mail or breakfast.
"Oh! I got a letter from my mum! And...I can't tell who sent this!" I say in surprise, and firstly open the letter from my mum.
Hello sweetheart,
I hope that you are having a great week at school! You must tell me all about this ball - you wrote me about it a couple of weeks ago and I need to hear more details! I am, however, writing this letter to tell you some bad news. Your father is quite ill, and is in the hospital. It's nothing too serious we hope, but it does meant hat you shall be unable to come home and see us at Christmas like we planned. I'm so sorry darling! But, to make up for it, if your father is feeling better, we hope to have you home at Easter! We'll send you your Christmas presents by post (or the ummm...owl thingy!) and we'll hopefully arrange a telephone call as well.
Lots of love,
Mum xoxo
I feel tears burning at my eyes as I learn about my dad's illness. A couple of years ago he got pneumonia, and was in critical condition for quite some time, and that illness greatly weakened him, so he is more vulnerable and susceptible to diseases. I really hope that it isn't too serious! It's also a bitter blow that I won't be going home for Christmas, but I do see the reasoning behind it. It's ok. I'll be ok.
I open the second letter, not knowing what to expect. This is what it says:
To Freak,
Are you enjoying yourself at your little freak school? Dad's sick, which isn't good, but what is good is that you won't be able to come home and spoil the fantastic Christmas I have planned with Vernon. Anyways, Mum told me to write this letter to 'apologise' for not inviting you to my wedding, but I'm not sorry for anything. So, goodbye.
Petunia.
Ugh, why does she have to be so cruel and kniving all the time! I will always remember what she said to me the day I found out that I was being made Head Girl...
"Oh honey! That's brilliant!" Mum says as I read out my letter. She wraps her arms around me and pulls me into a big hug. "I'm so, so proud of you!" she whispers in my ear before letting me go. I hear angry footsteps coming down the stairs and that only means one thing: Petunia. She enters the living room, where Mum and I are celebrating, and rudely asks, "What's going on?". "Lily's been made Head Girl!" Mum says, full of pride and happiness. "Isn't that just lovely!" Petunia says sarcastically. She turns to me, "So you're Head Freak now? What a thing to be proud of!". With this she flounces off, and a lot of my previous happiness about my new position is forgotten. "Petunia Evans! Apologise!" Mum shouts after her, and I hear a small mumble of, "Sorry.", but she obviously doesn't mean it. I just want things with my sister to change, but they never will...
A solitary tear trickles down my face, and I hastily wipe it away before anyone sees it. I look up from my letter and begin to try and eat my breakfast, though I have completely lost my appetite. I notice James look at me strangely, concern plastered all over his handsome face, but I smile to try and show him that I'm fine.
I'm not sure if it worked though...
The day passes quickly enough, though I am completely exhausted! I have to try and stay awake in some classes, which is a big challenge as today seems to be the day that all the professors have chosen to try and bore us to death!
By the time the afternoon rolls around, I am sorely tempted to just stay off in the afternoon and try to have a nap, but Charms is the class that prevents me from doing just that. I really want to see Mar and Alice's Patronuses, and Frank's!
After a nice lunch, I walk down to Potions with Sirius, James and Marly, with Frank and Ali walking not far behind. We enter, and I sit down in my seat beside one of the very few people that can make me even more angry that Petunia. I don't even look at his sallow face as I take my things out, and then Slughorn begins the lesson.
"Good afternoon everybody! Now, I should hope that you are roughly at the half way stage in your Amortentia, yes?" he booms, and most of the pairs nod. "Excellent! I am sure that some of you have read all of the instructions and can see that we shall have to leave the potions for two weeks before they are fully ready. This means that in about half a month's time you should hopefully be finished your Amortentia, and we shall hopefully be ready to investigate it by December 23rd. So, with this in mind, the homework I set you tonight is to find a potion that you shall brew in that two week period. You may begin!".
With this we start the next instruction, and have completed another three by the time Slughorn announces that the lesson is over. Next; Charms class!
Marly, the boys and I sit back in our corner on the chairs set there as the other students begin to try and perform their Patronuses.
About half way through this lesson, a Hufflepuff gets their Patronus, and comes and joins us on the chairs. Then, Darren Chang produces a kangaroo Patronus, and also joins us. By this point, I can visibly see how frustrated Mar and Ali are getting, so me and Marly, along with the boys, go to help them.
James dishes out similar advice to what he gave me, and within minutes a stunning lioness is produced from Mar's wand, closely followed by a bunny from Ali's. Frank produces a Hippogriff Patronus.
"Oh, Mr Longbottom! See here everyone - this is a very rare occurence. Magical creature Patronuses are extremely rare, so well done Mr Longbottom!" Flitwick cries, and Frank blushes faintly. Alice, filled with pride and happiness reaches up and kisses him, earning a couple of 'Ooohhhs' from the class, which makes her turn crimson.
After all of our classes, the lot of us return to the Head's common room, which is delightfully warm now thanks to the House Elves. "Well, nobody could say that today wasn't very exciting!" Marly remarks as she flops down on to the floor by the crackling fire. "Nope!" we all chuckle, and my face and mood drop ever so slightly at the memory of this morning.
Ali notices this, and with curiosity all over her face kindly asks, "Hey Lils - are you all right?". "Oh! Ummm...yes, I'm fine. But I can't go home for Christmas." I say, and Mar asks, "Why not?". "My dad's ill - it's nothing too serious, but it means that it would just be too hard for me to go home. He is in the hospital, but I think that it is only because of his past illness, which makes him more fragile. ".
"Oh Lily! I'm so sorry!" Alice says, rushing over to give me a hug. The girls all join her, and dur to my already much improved mood I chuckle, "Girls, I'm fine!". Once we break apart, Marly says excitedly, "Well, there is one good thing that comes out of all of this!". "What?" I ask, and she grins. "We both have to stay here over Christmas! My parents are so busy right now, I said that I can stay here so as to not trouble them. So yay!".
"Same with mine!" James remarks, and I smile at him. This is definitely working out better than I could ever have expected, and at this rate it looks like I will actually enjoy my Christmas! "That means I'm staying too!" Sirius says, cheekily grinning as he sits beside James. Just like brothers.
"I stay every year!" Remus says, and Ali adds, "I'll stay too!". "Me too!" Pete says, though I do wonder whether or not it is just me who notices the reluctance in his tone. "Same here!" Frank adds, looking happily at Alice. "So it is all settled then? We all stay here for our Christmas holidays!" Mar confirms, and we all nod. "Oh this will be great! It means that all of us will be able to relax after the Christmas ball! Did you know that if you were going home for the Christmas holidays you would have to leave the ball like two hours early?" I say, and we all grin with fondness at the thought of the Christmas about to come. The best Christmas ever.
After this we start on our homework, and due to the fact that I didn't get any from Ancient Runes today I finish before the others. I walk upstairs to my bedroom to leave my books off when I spot something sitting on my cabinet.
It's a picture of Petunia and I, when we were kids. We were happy, carefree...we knew nothing of what was to come. I let the tears fall freely now and, taking the picture out of it's frame, I wipe them away only as I descend the stairs, heading back down to the main area.
"I'm going for a walk." I say to my friends hastily, not even giving them the chance to reply before I head out of the common room.
Slowly I walk down to the lake, breathing in the fresh air, the remnants of my tears still lingering on my pink cheeks as I stop and look around me. There is a sharp winters breeze today, nipping at me. I shiver slightly as I open up my hand and straighten out the photograph.
We can never be the same again. There is no point holding out for something...something that could never, and will never happen. I take a deep breath, and a harsh ripping sound fills the peaceful air as I rip the photograph from my childhood, so precious to me, in half. It's my closure - my way of ending things with my sister. There is no point in me being completely miserable over her, because she doesn't deserve that much. She ruined things with us, and this is me ending them once and for all.
I tear the photograph into little pieces, and then blow them into the air. An icy gust of wind begins to carry them, and I watch the small fragments whirl and spin through the air alongside the last leaves of Autumn.
With a sigh, I watch as the pieces leave my sight, and then I turn and walk back up to the Head's common room.
I feel...at peace with myself, and the world. Free.