I'm so sorry it took so long! I've been so absolutely busy lately that it's been tough to get anything done, let alone this story. Plus it didn't help that even when I did find time to write, I couldn't get anything out. My brain hasn't really been working so well lately.
Incidentally, that's also why this chapter is so short. I was going to make it longer, but I think at the rate I'm going, it would have taken at least another year and a half just for another page! So anyway, hope you like it…although there are no guarantees… I haven't even reread this, so it might suck, I'm not sure.
Well, enough from me, here you go… hope you like it!
Chapter 14
Madness
"And your name is?" Sirius' mother asked James, looking down her nose at him as if he were something
foul and dirty.
"Umm… my name is James. It's nice to meet…"
"No," she interrupted. "I meant your surname."
James paused. He hadn't expected this at all, and in all honesty, he was stunned at the way he was being treated by Sirius' mother. "Potter," he said quietly.
"Ah, well, I've heard of your family," she muttered. "Welcome to our home." And, almost regally, she turned and walked back to the sitting room, mildly satisfied with the answer she had been given.
Sirius sighed. "Don't mind her. She's nutty," and then, picking up James' trunk, he added, "Come on, we can put your stuff in my room," and James followed Sirius hesitantly up the stairs.
*
Lily was sitting by the window, looking out into the empty street. She couldn't wait until Marlene arrived. She and Petunia had always shared the same friends, and Lily knew she would love Marlene, even if she had been rather distant lately.
Actually, distant didn't begin to describe how Petunia had been for the past few days. She would leave any room that Lily entered, and refused to say anything nice to her. But Lily knew everything would be better once Marlene arrived. It was just jealousy, and it would all disappear once Petunia realized that Marlene wasn't a threat.
Still looking out the window, Lily realized that she hadn't the faintest idea how Marlene would be getting to her house. Did wizards drive? Or did they just appear wherever they wanted to go? Lily had never given wizarding travel a thought, and now she was feeling utterly baffled.
But that feeling only lasted a moment, for just then, a bloodcurdling scream came from downstairs, and Lily leapt up and ran downstairs as fast as her legs would carry her. What she saw when she reached the living room was definitely not what she had expected.
*
Peter's father was looking at him expectantly, and his mother was looking quite frantic. "Well," she said, on the verge of hysterics.
The blood was just about completely drained from Peter's face, but he still tried to save whatever it was that wasn't already ruined. "Well, umm, you see, well, they're not really so bad…"
Whatever space there had been between Peter's mother and untamed hysterics was now entirely lost.
"NOT SO BAD?" she shrieked, and then practically collapsed on the couch, fanning her face.
Peter's face fell. How had he gotten himself so deeply into trouble? He had only wanted to make his parents a part of his new life. But now they hated his friends, and who knew what his mother would do.
His father sighed, massaging his temples. "Son, go up to your room and let your mother and I discuss the situation.
Peter rose slowly, dread growing inside his as he walked to his room. Situation. They had called it a situation. A situation that they would discuss. Great.
*
"So…" James said slowly as he put his bag on the guest bed. "Your mum's nice…"
Sirius laughed awkwardly. "You know, she really is ok, once she gets past the whole blood-thing."
Uncomfortable silence.
So how does she feel about you being sorted into Gryffindor?" James said slowly, watching Sirius' reaction carefully.
Sirius sighed and gave him a small smile. "How do you think?"
"That bad, huh?"
"Worse," Sirius said slowly, and then paused, before continuing quietly, "They want me to leave Hogwarts."
"WHAT?" James yelled. "Leave Hogwarts? That's mad! What would you do?"
"They want me to go to Durmstrang," Sirius continued, sighing heavely and falling backwards onto his bed, "because apparently there I won't have to worry about what my friends are. Can you believe it? What they are."
James just stared incredulously at him for a few seconds. "So what are you going to do?"
"Do? I guess I'll try to talk them out of it," he said softly, and then pausing, he laughed, "or I could always just come and live with you!"
James and Sirius burst into fits of laughter at this, imagining Sirius moving into the Potter house. It was utterly ridiculous.
*
Lily had been expecting a horrible violent death scene by the way she had heard her sister screaming. What she saw was much different.
Marlene McKinnon was stepping out of the Evans' fireplace, hands up in an "I surrender" position, and eyes as wide as saucers.
Petunia was standing in the middle of the room, screaming her lungs out, and staring at Marlene like she had just done some kind of Satanic ritual or something. She stopped to take a breath, looking wildly around her like the world was out to get her, and then passed out on the floor.
Lily sighed, on the verge of tears, but bravely holding them back. "Petunia-Marlene. Marlene-Petunia."
*
Peter sat quietly in his room, waiting for his parents to finish discussing the situation. It just wasn't right. His friends were good people.
His mother walked slowly in, and sat resolutely on the opposite side of the room. As if she were afraid of him. As if pureblood mania was a communicable disease. As if being a werewolf was contagious. And she looked at him as if to say, "Yes Peter, we still love you, but you've made an awful mistake becoming friends with those people."
And he realized that he didn't care what she had to say. She took a deep breath, and began talking to him about "mistakes" and "bad decisions," and Peter came to the conclusion that she was a moron. And he didn't care what she had to say, because she didn't have any idea what she was talking about.
She could go to hell for all he cared.
Thanks for reading!
Review! (I swear they make me write faster…)
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