Semele Perdita

Many, many thanks to my amazing beta, Tammy. She makes my writing look good. ;-) Sorry it's been a while, it's been crazy with me coming and going on vacation and trips and with school starting, but things are calming down I think. :-)

I hope that everyone had a great summer. ;-)

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Semele Perdita

Chapter 23: A Preoccupied Summer

Author: LadyAkako

Rating: PG-13

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[ James ]

Almost the moment we had sat down at the table a frantic bell went off near our front corridor, meaning someone was disturbing the wards around the house. All three of us looked up in surprise, and my father rose solemnly to go see who it was. My mother suddenly looked drawn and tired. Putting my hand bracingly on her shoulder, she reached up to grasp it, watching my father retreating towards the door to peer outside.

As soon as she lost sight of him she breathed out, “I wish we didn't have to worry about such things. These wards are so troublesome.” I didn't know if she had meant for me to answer or not, so I kept silent and just looked over to the seat I had abandoned when the bell had sounded.

“Eat, James,” she said, regaining some of her normal composure, “there's no reason to upset yourself over a silly bell ringing. I'm sure it's nothing.” I know she had said that more for herself than me, but nevertheless I was seated again and picked at my food diligently until I heard the familiar footsteps of my father, accompanied by another set of a more muffled steps. I looked up and my mother caught my eyes in a moment of confusion. She must have caught sight of my father and the mysterious guest already because she had jumped out of her chair so suddenly I would have sworn there was something in it.

“Why, John! What's going on?” she said anxiously and I turned around and jumped myself. Sirius stood uncomfortably behind my father with his clothes torn and his face bedraggled. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes glinting fiercely with their usual pride. He nodded briefly at me before coming to sit silently next to me in an empty chair.

My father smiled grimly at my mother and answered simply that we would be hosting Sirius at our house for the rest of the summer. I looked at Sirius in question at the vague announcement and at once understood that something drastic had happened with his family to be here so suddenly on the first night back from school.

I slid my plate over to Sirius and he eyed it with distant hunger, as if he had forgotten he was hungry until that moment. He finished off the remainder of the plate and slouched in the chair, glancing warily at my mother whose surprised look from a few minutes ago had melted into a more sympathetic, fonder glance.

I rose and announced I was going upstairs, sure that Sirius would follow suit, and left. Once I had closed the door behind us, I turned on my best friend.

“What happened?” I asked without any pretense. He looked at me balefully and gazed around the room to ascertain his things had been brought up by the house-elves. Of course they had. He was stalling as he always did when he didn't want to talk about something.

“None of your business,” he said sharply.

“Why?” I prodded.

“Because it isn't, okay? Just leave it,” he answered icily, shedding his strangely dirty clothes and exchanging them for his normal spotless wardrobe. Taken aback, I let it be for the moment and withdrew from the room, seeing that Sirius was still in the reckless mode that he got in after something very bad had happened. Soon he would transgress into a darker mood until finally he bounced back into his normal, glib self.

I walked down the hallway into the room that had been used as the meeting room for many of the Marauder's most ingenious summer plans. I looked wistfully out the window to see the makeshift Quidditch pitch, which I had been told on no uncertain terms was to not be used this summer at all because of heightened security measures the Ministry was imposing on all of its high-ranking officials.

The faded hoops were all leaning to one side or another and a few old, beaten-up quaffle balls lay abandoned on the field. The broomstick shed stood not too far off and was itself a little worse for wear, but it was still standing and my father said that was all that mattered. Nearer to the house was a small garden that my mother kept where there were always gnomes to be found and weeded out. Usually one of the house elves managed to find them before they tripped someone walking through the garden.

My mother used to always have someone over here showing off the lovely flowers and herbs that grew so freely in the little plot of land, but now the once colorful patch lay forgotten. There hadn't been any guests to the manor for some time, I knew. No one visited anyone else's house anymore for fear of attack from the much feared Death Eater's that seemed to cast such a large shadow over the wizarding world of Great Britain.

“Hey, Prongs?” Sirius' voice behind me startled me from my reverie and I looked to the doorway to see him leaning casually in the doorjamb but looking considerably troubled.

“Yeah?” I asked, trying not to let my resentment for being pushed away earlier creep into my tone. I propped myself against the windowsill and took in my friend's appearance fully for the first time that night. I was shocked to see how much he had changed after only a few hours of us being apart.

His hair looked crumpled, like he had run his fingers through it too many times, and his eyes had large protruding bags that I was sure hadn't been there this afternoon. They made his face look sallow and less aristocratic than usual. His eyes were guarded and not twinkling with their usual good humor and a frown was set stubbornly on his features.

Although now his clothes were as pristine as usual except for a few wrinkles here and there like they had been packed in a rush, earlier they had been rumpled and disheveled which was entirely out of character for his usually polished appearance.

“Sorry,” he muttered quietly, kicking at the floor with his foot. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked a bit sad as he stared down to see his foot picking at the wooden floorboards.

Surprised at his apology since he usually didn't say anything when he snapped at someone, I was stunned. Collecting myself, I nodded, but realizing he wasn't looking at me I cleared my throat and quickly mumbled, “It's fine. Don't worry about it.”

He nodded himself and crossed the room to sink into one of the four armchairs that were arranged around a single table with a worn chess set atop it.

He idly moved one the knights forward and I took it as my cue to take a seat and engage myself in a game with him. An hour and three games later, we called it quits and retired to my room to go to sleep, both of us exhausted.

Over the next few weeks, Sirius was almost silent on what had happened that first night back from school and I stopped questioning him about it myself. He told me simply that he had had a disagreement with his mother and had been told not to come back. He minutely explained that he had been left `a bit' of money by some uncle or other only because it was necessary to account for the appearance of a polished, black as night, enchanted motorcycle that suddenly showed up one day.

When Remus arrived a month into our summer, Sirius dropped back into the icy exterior he had sported when he first arrived and I almost gave up hope of ever getting the full story from him. We were all restless, not being able to play Quidditch and virtually confined to the inside of the manor. We spent the days playing chess and when we got bored of that, trying to tweak the map into perfection. When we tired of that too, we all took to staring listlessly out the window to our usual summer retreat wishing desperately we could go outside for even one game.

Remus took to retreating to do his homework and Sirius was always brooding in the corner, glaring at some unknown presence. They left me to my own devices and I often found my thoughts wandering back to a certain red-haired Prefect and that train wreck that I had read about. Was it one and the same? How would she react if I told her the wreck wasn't really an accident, it was an attack? Should I tell her? My mind whirled with the possibilities, trying to rehearse every possible situation that could accompany telling her such a horrible thing.

The three of us went on in this mode for some time until finally Peter arrived from vacation and broke the tension that reigned over the house. He was cheerful despite the fact he had had to spend the most of his summer with his parents and brought new chatter into the room. He actually got Sirius to laugh a few times despite himself and Remus to put down his book.

We doubled our efforts to finish the map and finally after two more weeks, Sirius put the last touches on it with a flourish. He grinned and announced to us, his eager audience, that our magnum opus was complete.

Remus laughed, asking, “Do you even know what `magnum opus' means?”

Sirius pretended to look wounded, I noticed gladly that he was the most upbeat he had been all summer, and responded, “Of course, I know what it means, Moony. Who do you take me for? Peter?”

“Hey!” Peter protested loudly, lightly punching Sirius's arm with a playful grimace.

I jumped into the conversation with the glib remark of, “You know it's true.”

“You still don't have to point it out.” Now it was Peter's turn to be dramatic and pretend to be offended. He pulled a long face until we were all rolling on the ground in laughter. A pecking at the window of the room brought us all from our cheerful interlude to look at window where a regal looking owl was tapping politely at the pane. I jumped up from my chair and walked casually to the window as possible, knowing exactly what the owl was carrying. Our Hogwarts letters.

Swinging the window open, the owl flew over and perched itself delicately on the table, holding its leg primly out to Remus to take the letters from it. He unburdened the owl and it went on its way with nary a blink in our direction. Remus immediately began to distribute the letters, holding mine suspiciously as he weighed it in his hand. He grinned suddenly, meeting my eyes as I walked over to him.

“I think this letter might be a stroke of luck for you, Prongs,” he said with a knowing look. I took the letter from his grasp quickly and under the gazes of all three of them hurriedly opened the letter with my thumb, already anticipating what the letter contained.

To my gratification, a shiny badge slid out easily from the envelope onto my palm, reading boldly `HEAD BOY'. I breathed a sigh of laughter and shook my head in disbelief. The old fool had actually made me Head Boy. Impossible.

“Congratulations, Prongs!” Peter said enthusiastically, looking down at his own letter with a small cloud of disappointment at its bland contents. “Who do you think is Head Girl?”

“Oh I think he knows exactly who the Head Girl is,” Sirius answered before I could get a word in edgewise. He reclined in his chair with a smirk without even touching his letter.

“Or at least who he hopes it will be.” Remus caught onto Sirius' innuendo quickly and joined in the teasing. He waggled his eyebrows at me wolfishly and I rolled my eyes despite myself, feeling a blush creeping onto my complexion.

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[ Lily ]

It had been a peaceful summer so far but by two months into it, I was ready for Hogwarts to be in session again. I missed the magic of the place even though I had been staying at a wizarding house. The Riley's house had barely a whisper of magic in it anymore and was only kept clean by Meara's and my constant efforts. Although she was able to do magic, she rarely ever did, in the house at least. It was almost as if she didn't want to remember that the house had once been almost bursting with it, but now was devoid because of the loss of her parents.

Meara's older brother Richard only popped in occasionally to see how we were doing and make sure the wards around the house were properly reinforced. I heard horrific stories of what was happening in the wizarding world from him that Meara grew pale and drawn at.

We spent our time mostly in relative silence, reading or doing homework, until at last our letters arrived heralding the arrival of our last year at Hogwarts. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Head Girl badge emerge from envelope and was dizzy with happiness when I realized what that meant. Dumbledore had meant it when he had hinted I was on the right track for Head Girl, I suppose.

Meara and I celebrated that night by going into London and having dinner at the same little pub we had visited on her belated birthday dinner. We laughed and joked, as lighthearted as we had been the whole summer, and decided that tomorrow we would go into Diagon Alley to gather up the supplies we would need for the coming year.

We went back to her house and chatted late into the night over everything that came to mind.

“Who do you think we'll have classes with this year?” Meara asked, curiously, examining her book list. She marked neatly the books that she already had in her library thanks to Richard's duration at Hogwarts.

“Hopefully not too many Slytherins,” I shuddered at the thought even though I knew it was a strong possibility.

“And hopefully a few more Gryffindors?” Meara asked slyly, giving me a long look laden with meaning. I smiled with responded and shook my head in denial. She dropped the subject by biting her lip in what I knew was only suppressed laughter.

The night passed quickly and when we rose in the morning, we quickly dressed and set out for Diagon Alley with excitement not only for the school year to start but also for a chance to get out of the house.

We arrived in London without mishap and repaired to the Leaky Cauldron swiftly, fighting our way through early morning shoppers in the streets of the Muggle side of London. Entering through the front, the cool breeze of the inside of the pub was met by us gladly and we collapsed thankfully into a booth. After ordering some drinks and downing them, we set out once more this time to fight our way through the streets of Diagon Alley.

Meara and I wandered aimlessly at first, just taking in the familiar sights of the Alley and comforting ourselves that most of the shops were still open despite the fearful atmosphere of the wizarding community. First we had to stop at Gringott's, where Meara had to withdraw money under the suspicious looks of the goblins. The ride in the tunnels was nauseating to me, who had never done it before, and by the end of it I was more than thankful to be on my way.

Next we stopped at the Apothecary where Meara picked out the few things she had to stock up on for Herbology, which only she was taking, and I picked out the supplies we would both need for Potions. Pooling it all together, we must have confused the old witch who was running the tab for us. She looked confusedly from Meara to me and kept mumbling to herself.

Taking a break briefly from our errands we stopped at the ice cream parlor on the corner of the Alley. Putting our bags to the side, we each ordered a different flavor and waited patiently, planning out the rest of our day. We were joined unexpectedly by Marlene McKinnon, a Gryffindor in our year who I had befriended in one of my classes last year.

“So what have you two old `Claws been doing this summer?” She asked, in her usual chipper manner. Her hair was bleached blonde by the sun and her bright blue eyes shone with all the energy you would expect for someone in Gryffindor. She was tall, at least a whole head above me, but for some reason her presence was never imposing like most people were that towered above me.

“Oh, nothing,” I said as offhandedly as possible. I'm sure she wouldn't find it exciting that Meara and I had wheedled away the summer reading or studying.

“Oh come off it, you had to have done something…” she cajoled me good-humoredly.

Meara cleverly dodged the question by commenting flippantly with a slightly devious look that I had made Head Girl. Marlene's eyebrows shot up quickly and she swiveled to face me eagerly.

“You know who the Head Boy is right?” she asked, her words tumbling out so quickly I could barely answer “no” before she broke in saying, “James Potter! Not who you'd expect, eh? But I suppose he'll do just grand once you whip him into shape.” She winked at me and grinned suggestively.

I laughed and, having just taken a small mouthful of my ice cream, swallowed hard, inducing an instant rush. I leaned back in my chair, speechless. Why did everyone insist on me being involved with James Potter all of a sudden? Okay, not everyone, but two people were enough.

“Umm, who'd you hear that from?” I asked, trying to sidestep the actual subject. I fiddled with ends of my hair that spilled playfully onto my shoulders from the ponytail I had pulled it into this morning, staring at the way the soft light reflected against the red tones of the strands.

Marlene clicked her tongue impatiently and began rattling off a list of people who had heard from so-and-so who had heard from Remus Lupin who was apparently staying with James Potter over the summer. I nodded patiently, pretending to listen and exchanged a knowing glance with Meara. Once Marlene got into this mode, she never shut up. We let her go on for a few more minutes at the table before parting with her to finish up our shopping.

I pondered silently what it would be like to be a Head with James Potter. He had almost seemed mature by the end of last year and I couldn't even deny to myself that he was at least slightly attractive. He was funny when he wasn't trying to impress someone and his friends weren't the unbearable pricks I had thought them to be either…

Meara jolted me out of my thoughts by suggesting we go to Flourish & Blott's. I nodded complacently and followed her, looking distractedly for the books that I would need for the year.

After finishing up the last of our shopping, we made our way slowly back to the quiet house where we sat in silence, alone with our own thoughts. Meara stared distractedly at the pictures on the wall that moved nostalgically with images of her family and I was absorbed in my predictions for what this final year at Hogwarts would entail.

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Enjoy? I hope so.

Next installment will be about a little more summer and then by the end of it they'll be on their way to school. ;-) Good enough for y'all?

So how's everyone been doing? ;-) I went back to school last Thursday, but I know some of you people don't go back for a while yet…lucky:-)