Chapter Four - Dudley?
Lily dropped her butterbeer. The crash echoed through the room, as the liquid splashed all over the floor.
A House Elf ran over to the shattered bottle, and with a snap of his fingers, the mess disappeared.
As the elf shuffled over to the others, everyone turned their eyes to Lily.
Lily's heart pounded. Her pulse twitched, and her breathing quickened. Her mouth absorbed the stale taste of saliva, and the room became silent, all except the thrashing sound of chewing coming from James, Sirius, and Ron.
"How did you know their names? Petunia and Vernon?" Hermione prodded, eyeing Lily intently.
Lily blushed. "I'm Muggle-born," she rasped, her tongue dry. "And my parents knew the Dursleys. They’re not ones of… particular interest to me, atleast."
Hermione's arms were folded, her eyebrows raised. "Sure. And you didn't know Harry, then?"
Lily bit her lip. "I'm Muggle-born," she repeated.
"Yes, but then how did you not know Harry?" Ginny asked, as she gathered skepticism. Her brown eyes narrowed.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Lily's eyes flickered to her butterbeer, and she took a hasty sip.
"Harry lives with them."
Lily's heart pounded.
Her son - the son that she had never met, she had never know she would have - lived with her sister and her raving lunatic of a husband.
And who was Dudley? A cat? A dog, possibly? No. That wasn't an option. Petunia would never own a pet.
What else could it be? A child? No. Petunia could never stand a child.
Besides - who named a kid Dudley, anyway?
But who was Dudley? Lily wasn't related to anyone named Dudley...
Oh, yes! Vernon was always blabbing about his father, Dudley. But would old Dudley Dursley have lasted that long?
"He does? How strange," Lily said finally, in regards to Ginny's remark.
Harry shrugged. "You may have come when I was at school, possibly. Was Dudley there?"
Why would it matter if Dudley Dursley was there? Wouldn't he be home always? Maybe he only came over in the mornings on weekdays or something.
Lily frowned to herself. "Uhm, yes, Dudley was there."
"Then where was I?" Harry frowned in thought.
Ginny suggested, "Taking a walk, maybe?"
"Well, Harry they used to send you to your room when they had company. Maybe they would have done it then, too?" Hermione said.
"Oh." Harry sighed. "Of course. How could I forget? They probably didn't want me 'ruining their chances of a proper life with their stunning little Dudders!'"
Odd.
Would big, fat old Dudley Dursley be considered "little"? Maybe he had gone on a diet?
"Little? He was huge!" Lily found herself say out loud.
Hermione, Ginny, and Harry began laughing hysterically. Ron's began choking, and James and Sirius weren't sure how to react.
Lily forced a laugh. James and Sirius just kept on eating.
"Uhm, so, Harry," Lily said slyly after Hermione had helped Ron regain oxygen, and the chorus of laughter had calmed down, "Maybe we should get to know each other." James looked up at Lily.
Harry stiffened. "Like what?"
"Well, what kind of stuff do you enjoy?" Lily asked.
"Well, I play Quidditch..."
James looked up from his half-empty plate. "Quibbift?"
Harry nodded. "I play seeker."
Ginny added, "He's Gryffindor Captain."
James looked impressed. He looked as if he was going to ask Harry something, but he heard Sirius and Ron's loud gnawing, which reminded him of his bet. He began consuming his food hurriedly.
"Oh!" Lily said. "That's wonderful! At my school, I was sort of a behind-the-scene manager. I cleaned up before and after the games, and sort of... redid the locker rooms. Do they st - do that here?"
Pleased that she didn't slip up again, Lily gave a quiet sigh.
Harry shook his head. "Nah, just me and the team."
"Oh, who's on the team?" Lily pressed. She looked at him with an interested smile.
"So far, only me, Ron, and Ginny. We haven't held tryouts yet," Harry explained.
"Oh, when - " Lily began.
"I'M FINISHED!"
Six heads whipped around. Ron's eyes were wide and his plate was licked clean. His six butterbeers were drained, and his mouth was covered in grease.
James spit out a chicken bone in his mouth. "Damn!" His eyes wandered to the chicken wing laying innocently on his plate.
Sirius was flustered. His quarter bottle of butterbeer was sitting absently on the table and a tiny pile of mashed potatoes was thrown in the corner of his bowl.
"Great job, Ron!" Hermione shrieked. She leaned over for a kiss, pressing her lips against his. When she pulled back, her mouth was covered in grease.
"Ick! How absolutely revolting!"
Everyone began laughing.
Hermione wiped off her mouth with a napkin and threw it at Ron.
Ron shrugged and tossed it on his plate. He grabbed another and began cleaning himself off.
"So are we going to spend a night in the Forbidden Forest anyway?" Sirius asked. Everyone's eyes strayed from Ron's vigorous cleaning to the brown-haired boy.
"Not tonight, Garrett," Lily snapped. "We haven't even been here one night and you're already scheming."
"Yes, Mum." Sirius snorted. He laid his head on the table.
"Don't mind him," James said, handing his plate to the elves, "he's just upset that he didn't win the food race."
Sirius snapped his head up. "I am not!"
"Is everyone finished eating?"
A band of House Elves were standing at the table, their eager eyes dancing with a need to please.
As a murmur of "yes" spread through the table, the dishes disappeared.
"Dessert?"
"No, thank you," Lily said. The rest all agreed; James, Sirius, and Ron were too full to have dessert, and the three others were simply exhausted.
Harry yawned. "I'm exhausted."
"Should we go to bed, then?" Hermione suggested.
After everyone agreed, the seven trudged to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Clabbert," Harry said in a bored tone.
After climbing into the portrait hole, Hermione said, "Harry and Ron will show you both to the dormitory. Ginny and I can show you yours, Erin."
After a few bored nods and goodnights, Lily followed Ginny and Hermione up to the dormitory.
Not much has changed, she realised, looking around at the marble staircase.
Lily saw her things at the end of a bed near the window. Hermione motioned to two three other beds.
"Ginny should be in the sixth year dormitory," Hermione explained, "but there were only two of us, because..."
Lily wasn't listening. She was looking around the dormitory, inspecting the new wallpaper and examining the ceiling.
"... and so basically Ginny got bumped out by the five other sixth years. Is something wrong?" Hermione asked.
Lily looked up. "Oh. No. Nothing. I'm fine. Just, tired is all."
"Well, the bathroom is that way if you need to get ready for bed," Ginny said, pointing to a door in the back of the room.
After returning, Lily said goodnight and laid down to sleep. She lay awake for a long time, just thinking about classes, school... and Harry.
She shivered, pulling the covers up closer to her chin. Was he safe? And what happened to James and her?
A/N: There you go! So sorry about the major wait, by the way! Also, I hope you all notice that Lily is basically the main character in this. Her, James, and Harry, really. But mainly Lily.
Also, the best freview of this chapter gets a credit, like Sammie did!
WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN? Everyone will get to know eachother -- they will find out how they died, why Harry's so famous, they will get assigned people to watch, Sirius lets out a minor clue that could lead to the other's knowledge, and they might just spend a night in the Forbidden Forest...
Meet the - Children? by Winged Artemis
Chapter Notes: Thanks to all of my reviewers! Special thanks to MissSammiekins, whose lovely reviewing has earned herself a note. Thanks, Sammie! Also, thanks again to Schmergo! Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own it. If I did, I would have published Deathly Hallows already. I wouldn't be writing this right now; I'd be reading my book over and over and be debating a sequel. Mwhahahahaha....
Also - because I'm cool like that, I'm adding a Recap and Preview to each chapter (AKA "what's happened?" and "what's gonna happen") so look back at each chapter, I am going to put them in.... so...
WHAT HAPPENED? The Trio meets all of the Quartet: Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. The seven of them go down to lunch. Lily/Erin slips up a few times, and reveals that she knows the Dursleys. Ron and Sirius/Garrett and James/Conner have bet money on who will win the ten galleons.
WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN? We will find out who will win the competition, Lily/Erin will save her slip up (again), the three of them will get ready for their first night in the future, and there is a mild Quidditch reference.
Now, without further ado...