I Solemnly Swear by Mila Zakharov
Chapter Notes: A million thank yous to Alyssa, my beta-reader, for making this readable. And, also, thank you so very much for ther reviews :D
Chapter Two
Chances
James woke up, startled by a sudden and loud noise on his window. He scrambled out of bed quickly, without even looking for his glasses, and listened. The night was dead-quiet, only disturbed by the rustle of the leaves or by an occasional cricket. He scratched the back of his head, confused. There was not even a trace of the loud banging sound that had brusquely woken him up. Had it all been just a part of a dream? He couldn’t even remember what he was dreaming, or if he was dreaming at all.
“I must be going mental,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head.
With a sigh, James climbed back into his bed and buried his face on his pillow, moving it from side to side, trying to find some comfortable position, just as sleep took over him again the sound came again. CLUNK!
There it was again, something had definitely hit his window pane. Cautiously, James turned around, grabbing his glasses and put them on. He walked slowly to the window and peered outside. There was not a sound to be heard, but James could distinguish there was someone standing beneath his window. James smiled.
Forgetting it was past midnight and that his parents were sleeping and wouldn’t be much pleased if he disturbed their sleep by accidentally breaking something, James rushed down the stairs to the front door, ruffling his hair before opening up.
“Took you long enough.” James grinned. “I nearly thought you weren’t coming!”
“I nearly didn’t,” Sirius replied sombrely.
“What?” James’s grin faded slowly. “Why? What happened?”
“Mind if I tell you once I’m inside?”
“Oh.” James moved aside, realising he was practically blocking his friend’s way in. “Sure.”
Sirius picked his trunk and lifted it with a grunt. “Care to help, Prongs?”
James apologised and grabbed one of the handles at once. As they dragged it inside, the trunk made a monotonous sweeping sort of noise. “You know,” said James, closing the door behind him. “I would’ve been a lot more diligent if it wasn’t after midnight.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sirius said softly, casting his eyes downwards, staring vacantly at the Potter’s chessboard tiles.
“Hey, Padfoot,” chuckled James. “I was only joking, cheer up!”
At this, Sirius laughed bitterly. “I’m afraid that won’t be happening anytime soon.”
James observed his friend cautiously. Sirius was usually in a good mood when he arrived at James’ house for the holidays, especially because he was glad to be away from his pure-blood obsessed family, but now Sirius seemed miserable. “Something wrong?” James asked.
Sirius let out another mirthless chuckle. “Yeah,” he said simply, drowning them in silence again.
“Care to elaborate?”
Sirius sighed. “Let’s go somewhere,” he said out of the blue. “Let’s go outside.”
“But we’ve just only come inside. See?” joked James. Sirius eyed him darkly. “Let me get my jacket.”
James hurried upstairs to his room, questions swarming his mind, fetched the first jacket he saw rumpled inside his wardrobe and grabbed his precious broom carefully, before Sirius and he, quietly, made their way into a small shed in the backyard where James took out a spare broom he always kept for Sirius’ use when they played Quidditch over the holidays.
A soft breeze rumpled their hair as they moved further away from the Potter’s home and reached the very end of the backyard where they were secluded from prying eyes by dense and tall trees. Sirius and he mounted their brooms and exchanging glances, they both kicked hard on the ground, soaring into the air. The night was still warm, despite how late it was and the cool breeze felt soothing against James’ face as he flew upwards alongside Sirius. After flying for a little over fifteen minutes, they reached a small and half- forgotten bridge just outside London. Sirius landed on it first and dismounted, followed by James, who sat beside him, water ran undisturbed beneath their dangling feet, the city around them asleep.
“I left home,” said Sirius, abruptly. “I ran away, picked up all the stuff I could and left. For good.”
James didn’t know what to say. He knew Sirius was unhappy at his parents’ house, that he couldn’t stand Mr and Mrs Black’s pure-blood fanaticism...why was this making Sirius miserable? “Er,” James mumbled after a few seconds. “That’s great.”
Sirius scoffed. “Yeah, right, for me it is,” he said. “But what about Regulus...who’s going to tell him that anything that comes out my parents’ mouths is bollocks? Now he’s lost for sure, isn’t he? I don’t have a home or money anymore. I’m in deep, mate. My only choice is to go back to good ol’ mum, tail between my legs, begging for forgiveness, until I find a place to live.”
James turned around to face his friend. “Well, then you won’t have to go back at all.”
“I’m not following...”
James smiled, standing up. “Let’s go home, we’ll talk things over tomorrow after my mum has cooked us a hearty English breakfast.”
Sirius’ eyes met James’ as he comprehended what he had just implied. “I...thanks,” he said with certain difficulty. For a moment James feared Sirius was about to cry and he took a mental note to tease him about it afterwards.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll always have a place in my home.”
James hesitated on how to finish his letter. He had thought writing something like ‘Truly yours’ but Sirius, after teasing him on how sappy that sounded, suggested it would probably annoy Lily. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed and decided to sign his letter just like the previous one: Cheers, James Potter.
James got up from his chair and walked towards his owl, Winifred’s, cage. The owl extended his leg almost mechanically so that James could wrap the letter around it. “Take this to Lily,” he instructed unnecessarily. Winifred had been delivering letters to Lily almost exclusively for the past two weeks.
The owl hooted in exasperation as James opened the window and quickly flew out before his owner could remind him, once again, where the Evans lived.
James sighed miserably and slumped on his chair in a defeated manner. Thirty seconds, and twenty-five sighs later, Sirius snapped, “Mate, why don’t you just tell her?”
James scowled at him.
“Look, if you don’t tell her, how do you expect her to know? I’m afraid not everybody possesses the inner eye!” he quipped, imitating Professor Grimsby, their Divination teacher.
“You mean, telling her again? Like last year, Padfoot? Yeah, that worked bloody brilliantly, didn’t it?” said James, his tone dripping sarcasm.
“Right. Forgot about that,” Sirius apologised, remembering how upset James had been at the end of the previous year, after Lily said she’d rather go out with the giant squid. Still, the thought of James being rejected for a squid was quite comical.
“I’m never going to get her, mate,” James whined.
“Come on, Prongs. You could have any girl at Hogwarts, why does it have to be Evans?” Sirius grumbled. “Lucretia Summers is kind of good looking.”
“And she went out with Peter.”
“Details, just details!” assured Sirius, patting a fuming James on the head. “Hmm, let me think....” James sighed impatiently as his friend mentally recounted the girls he’d been involved with. “Oh, I know, there’s this girl, a Hufflepuff, you know curly hair, pretty face...”
“Abbot? Marie Abbot?” inquired James raising his eyebrows in amusement.
“Yeah, oh...wait, no, I went out with her.” Sirius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Don’t worry about it, Prongs, we’ll solve this.”
James rolled his eyes, starting to feel slightly frustrated. “I want Evans!” he bellowed.
“Chill out, Prongs,” cackled Sirius.
“I’m serious, Padfoot,” growled James.
“Anyway,” said Sirius, continuing with the subject of James’ obsession. “You’re friends with Tabitha, aren’t you?”
James smiled. Yes, he was friends with Tabitha, but it hadn’t been like that until their third year at Hogwarts, and it had taken a Potions assignment gone very wrong followed by a month of detention to get them to be friends. Soon enough, Remus and Peter, were friends with her too, but Sirius was a whole different matter. Ever since first year, he and Tabitha had loathed each other, so much that each time Sirius talked about her, his face contorted slightly and his left eye twitched involuntarily. “Yes, so?” continued James.
“So? Think, Prongs, think. Who’s Tabitha’s”” Sirius’ lips stretched into a thin line. “”best friend?”
“Er, Evans, I guess.”
“Evans!” exclaimed Sirius. “So if she’s your future bride’s best friend””
“She can hook us up?” asked James with fake enthusiasm. “As if I hadn’t tried that before. Tabby has tried””
“What did you just call her?” Sirius groaned.
“Er, Tabby?”
“Please call her Tabitha, or better yet, refer to her as she when you’re with me, thank you very much.”
James burst into laughter, and Sirius frowned, pretending to be gravely offended. “What’s so funny, you dimwit?” he scoffed.
“I just don’t get why you hate each other so much.” James chuckled. “She’s a great girl, you know.”Sirius snorted in response. “She is!”
“She’s the one who started it...remember first year?”
“You were eleven! Let it go already, that happened four years ago, Padfoot.”
“Learn your numbers Prongs, that happened five years ago,” corrected Sirius.
“See?” James insisted.
“No, Prongs, I don’t see anything...or anyone.” Sirius smiled mischievously. “Maybe you have a temperature, let me see...” He touched James forehead.
“I mean, don’t you see?” continued James, slapping Sirius’ hand away. “You think about Tabby“er, I mean, her“ an awful lot, you even have the years counted.” He paused, thinking. “You like her, don’t you?”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Now I’m sure you have a temperature,” he snorted. “Yeah, right, I love her, and Snivellus is my new best mate.” He grimaced at that last thought. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually fancy girls who want me dead.”
“Don’t exaggerate,” said James.
“Exaggerate?” Sirius echoed, looking at his friend in outrage. “She nearly drowned me in pumpkin juice last year!”
“Well, you did turn her hair green...”
“I could take that kind of crap from pretty girls,” Sirius continued, pretending he had not heard James, but James knew him all too well to be certain he had. “Well, for a while, anyway.”
“And?”
“And, Tabitha is not pretty. I mean, she’s not a troll, she could resemble Snape-- god, that would be awful-- but she’s just a girl, with a lousy personality, who I wouldn’t look at twice, James.”
“Tabby’s all right and, trust me, you’d love her if you knew her,” James tried to reason. “But anyway, I was only joking.” He smiled. “So, care for some one-on-one Quidditch?”
Dear Lily,
Hello! How have you been? How’s your summer so far? Mine’s been incredibly, extremely and completely...dull. That’s life in a cruise, boring! Really, Lily, it’s awful...but I guess the weather’s nice, and the food is quite good, too!
It could be worse though. I’m happy to say, I’m more than 5000 miles away (okay maybe not, but far anyway) from that conceited twit -and no, I don’t mean Black this time- Broderick. He’s that arrogant, pure-blood idiot I told you about before. I swear I sleep better at night knowing I’m far, far away from him. Of course, mommy dearest still insists he’s a good ‘suitor’ and reminds me every day how pleasant, good-mannered and handsome that plonker is. She even implied that if she wasn’t married to my dad, she’d shag Broderick senseless! No, I’m joking (freaked you out there, didn’t I?) but she made sure to let me know she found him yummy... I don’t know what goes on in that woman’s head!
This cruise will end with my death, I swear. I’ll slowly die of boredom. Lily? Write back okay? Soon please? Before I go mad or throw myself into the ocean!
Hugs,
Tabitha.
PS: I got my OWLs yesterday...I got an E in Defence Against the Dark arts!
Lily finished reading Tabitha’s letter with a huge smile on her face. She had laughed out loud several times, making Petunia, who has painting her nails in the kitchen, jump out of her chair a good five times before she stomped out, livid, and shut herself in her bedroom.
Lily’s summer had been uneventful, but she was used to that and wasn’t really bothered by it. She had sent owls to her friends, read novels and ate chocolate bars, just like the previous summer. She had gone to the cinema a couple of times and when her OWL results arrived, she’d gone out to a fancy restaurant with her parents and Petunia to celebrate. She actually felt rather sorry for Tabitha. Under regular circumstances, Lily would’ve been jealous”sailing away on crystal clear waters wasn’t something to complain about”but Tabitha was stuck on a ship full with snobby, smug wizards. They were all representatives from foreign Ministries of Magic attending a summit, organized by Tabitha’s father, who worked in the Department of International Magical Co-operation. But snobby wizards were like a girly slumber party compared to Mrs Specks. To say Tabitha and her mum didn’t get along was an understatement. Mrs Specks, like many other wizards and witches, was fixated on blood status and badgered Tabitha constantly, assuring her that happiness could only be found in a good marriage. That is, marrying into a wealthy pure-blood family.
As Tabitha’s best friend, Lily felt compelled to do something.
Dear Tabby, she wrote.
Hello, Lily’s here to save your day, like always. I’ve asked my mum if you could come over till school starts and, after much begging from my part (no, you know she and Dad adore you), she said you could! So pack your bags and get your arse over here! Oh, but do ask your mother first, we don’t want her reporting you as a missing child. We definitely don’t want that happening again.
In other news, my summer’s been good. I mean, besides the fights and bickering with Petunia (who is dating someone, a real person!), it’s been quite a normal summer. I’ve written to Ashley, but she hasn’t replied yet. I’ve also written to Remus Lupin, who tries to convince me Potter is a ‘decent bloke’, but I think he’s not quite sure of that himself. And speaking of Potter, that twat wrote me just two nights ago, and no, I didn’t and will not answer his letter.
Lily took out her ink and dipped her quill in it. A tiny drop fell to the parchment, expanding into a small black circle.
And don’t go ‘oh, give him a chance Lily’, she continued,because that won’t happen any time soon! I hate him! Even more after what happened last year! Even thinking about it makes me grumpy, so I better stop. So, anyway, ask your mum if you can stay here, and write back soon! You have to come, Tabby. We’ll have a blast, and you’ll meet Petunia’s Vernon (her boyfriend), such a sweet, delicate man. Beg your mum if it’s necessary!
Hugs, Lily.
Lily reread her letter and quickly added a postscript: Congratulations on your grade! See? All that studying did pay off.
Lily opened the door and she was nearly knocked down by Tabitha, who had lunged herself at the redhead almost desperately.
“Lily, it’s so good to see you!” squealed Tabitha, hugging Lily tightly. “Thanks for saving me.”
“Tabitha,” Lily reproached her. “Your mother isn’t that bad....”
“Right,” Tabitha laughed as she put down her heavy luggage. Lily cocked her head and observed her friend fixedly. “What? Do I have something on my face?” asked Tabitha, noticing Lily’s eyes were anchored on her. “I was eating some chocolate frogs on the way here...”
“No,” retorted a smiling Lily.
Just then, Lily’s mum, a strong looking woman with brown eyes and fierce red hair, came in beaming as she approached Tabitha. “Oh my, how much you’ve grown!” She hugged Tabby and then stepping backwards to take a better look at Tabitha, she said, “You’re very pretty, my dear, and very tan. Have fun on your holidays?”
“Hmm,” thought Tabitha. “Not really.”
“Pity,” Mrs. Evans said, nodding knowingly. “Well, you better go unpack. Dinner will be ready in no time.”
The girls went up the stairs into Lily’s room, and once inside it, opened Tabitha’s trunk at once, staring at the mess inside it for a few a seconds before they began unpacking. “So,” chimed Lily, as she rummaged through several robes, extracting from the bottom a pile of books held together tightly by a leather belt.
“So?” Tabitha repeated, giving her friend a quizzical stare.
“Er, you’re pretty,” observed Lily, wondering if Tabitha didn’t already know this or simply chose to ignore it.
“Oh?” she said with a hint of indignation in her tone.
“It’s not like you weren’t pretty before, Tabby, it’s just that you look, I don’t know, different,” Lily clarified.
Tabitha chuckled. “I don’t know, it just sort of happened,” she said. “And Lily, I wasn’t pretty before and I know that, so don’t worry.”
“You’ve always been cute!” protested Lily, in disagreement.
“I was ugly, and fat...”
“You were not fat! Just not twig skinny,” noted Lily. “But you were definitely not ugly!”
“Lily, my eyes were too big, my nose too flat, and I had a fringe that I just don’t dare remember for fear of throwing up.”
“Nonsense, you were adorable! Really, you were one of the cutest kids I ever saw.”
“Lily...”
“You were always cute,” Lily insisted. “I’ve always thought so. Mark my words, Tabby, even that dimwit Sirius will be drooling all over you!”
“Who?”
“Sirius, Sirius Black?”
“Please refer to him as Black, or better yet only as he.” Lily looked at her puzzled, fearing for her mental sanity, but before she could ask her friend about this peculiar request, Tabitha said, “Speaking about men...” Tabitha smirked. “What about James?”
Lily rolled her eyes. Her friend could be very persistent when she felt like it. If only she’d put as much dedication to her studies as she had done to getting Lily and James together, she wouldn’t suffer nervous breakdowns by the end of every term. Unfortunately for Lily, Tabitha had the rare talent of persisting and ultimately achieving her original goal.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about Potter,” Lily admitted, proving her friend’s success. “I still think he’s an arrogant, self-absorbed idiot, especially since what happened last year with Sev“” Lily paused, “Snape.”
Tabitha sighed. Lily knew her friend didn’t understand why she was so fond of Severus Snape. She had tried to explain Tabitha why she had befriended him in the first place, but Tabitha saw no sense in it. To Tabitha, Snape was a quiet student who hated everyone with no reason and befriended people only if they were useful to him. Once they stopped being useful, he discarded them, just like he had done with Lily, Tabitha had told her, concluding that Lily was simply too kind and blind to see what kind of friend Snape was.
“Don’t even want to remember,” gagged Tabitha, as mental images of Snape, hanging from his ankles as if held by an invisible hand, with his underwear on display, threatened to invade her head.
“Anyway,” continued Lily. “I figured there’s always the chance that Potter grows up and acts his age, not like an eight year old.” Tabitha grinned guessing where her friend’s speech was going. “And since I’m not bitter, and willing to leave the past behind, I’ve decided to give him a chance.”
“Really?” asked Tabitha excitedly.
“Yeah, only as friends and only if he proves he’s changed,” Lily warned.
“You won’t regret it, Lily. James is a great guy, you’ll be amazed,” asserted Tabitha, confidently.
Sometimes Lily felt as though James was a shabby product Tabitha had to persuade her into buying. She smiled doubtfully. Was he a great guy? Half regretting her decision to give him a chance, Lily thought that James was still quite arrogant. Pranking people here and there, just because he could, as if people where props for his entertainment. Would a great guy, as Tabitha had claimed James was, play a prank so cruel to a person who hadn’t done anything to annoy him, except existing? He’d been doing things like that since first year, why would he change this time? People can change, she reminded herself. She knew this from first hand experience. Friends could change, even those who you thought would last forever could become enemies in the blink of an eye. Besides, his letters were rather nice.
Chapter Endnotes: I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have time review, please!