Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 44: Frog Spawn
"You sure you don't want to join me and Padfoot at my house for the holidays, Moony?" asked James.
"For the thousandth time Prongs, thanks but no thanks," replied Remus. "How would you explain to your mum my transformation? Where would you even put me?"
"We'd figure something out," said James.
Remus smiled and shook his head. "I'm afraid you and Padfoot are on your own."
Sirius smiled sheepishly and said, "Too bad. It would've been good to have an extra Marauder around. We're going to go visit James' relatives on Christmas Eve and I doubt that Gideon and Fabian will be too thrilled to see us after what we pulled on them last year after their NEWTs."
"What about Peter?" asked Remus.
Sirius snorted and said, "Wormtail against two auror trainees? That would be amusing to watch!"
James smiled and said, "He has to go visit his family for the holiday."
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"Miss Evans! Could you wait for a moment? I'd like to speak with you!"
Lily turned to her friends and said she'd catch up with them in Charms. She turned back to Professor Kettleburn while drawing her cloak around her tighter. The mid-December frost had worked its way into her bones after a few hours outside during the Care of Magical Creatures class.
"Yes, Professor? Is something wrong?" Lily asked.
"No, absolutely not," reassured Professor Kettleburn. "I'm in need of your assistance, if you're willing."
Lily smiled and said, "What can I help you with?"
"Last month Zonko's Joke Shop asked me for a batch of frog spawn for their frog spawn soap. I agreed, however I was just asked to join my niece and her family for the holiday. Visiting them will make it difficult to tend to such a large batch of frog spawn. I was hoping you might take half of them and watch after them during the holiday?" he asked.
Lily thought for a moment. She wondered how her parents would react to her bringing home a bundle of magical creatures. "What's involved in caring for them, sir?"
"They will need feedings every 7 hours and they prefer a warm dark environment. I will supply you with the necessary supplies to feed them," he explained.
"I suppose my parents wouldn't mind, especially since it's for a professor," Lily said.
"I will, of course, award you extra credit as well as house points for your effort," said Kettleburn. He pulled out a small bag and from the outside Lily could see tiny movements from within the pouch. He handed it to her and suggested that she keep it in her pocket for the time being. He then handed her a bag that held all the necessary supplies to care for frog spawn, along with a sheet of parchment that listed the instructions. Kettleburn thanked Lily again and excused her to go to her next class.
As Lily sat down in Charms, Marlene leaned over and asked, "What did Professor Kettleburn want?"
Lily grinned and vaguely said, "Oh, he just wanted to offer me a project to earn extra credit."
Marlene eyed her suspiciously before noticing movement coming from Lily's pocket. Her jaw dropped a little before replying, "I don't even want to know."
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"James! Sirius! Over here!" called Marianne Potter.
The two boys had just crossed the barrier from Platform 9 ¾ and looked up to see James' mum waving at them. As they reached her Marianne drew James into a tight hug and gave him a big sloppy kiss on the forehead.
"Geez, Mum!" whined James.
Sirius snickered for a moment until Marianne noticed his presence and drew him into a tight hug. James laughed at the expression on Sirius' face. He wasn't sure if his friend was embarrassed or touched by Marianne's gesture of affection. James knew that Sirius wasn't exposed to much in the way maternal affection. James felt a pang of guilt at his embarrassment a moment ago at his mother's hug and kiss. He realized he should be grateful for the loving mother he was blessed with.
Marianne noticed the odd look on James' face and asked, "Everything okay, James?"
James nodded and said, "Yeah, just missed you, I guess."
Marianne's face formed a large smile, one that reached her eyes. It had been a long time since James had seen her smile like that. "Wait until you see the house," she said. "It's all decked out for Christmas. As soon as Joseph heard you were coming home for the holiday he instructed Perchy to go all out with the decorating."
As Marianne continued with her descriptions, James exchanged a worried glance with Sirius. He knew that his mum found comfort in the portrait of his dad but it almost seemed like she believed Joseph was alive.
When they reached the house James noticed that his mum had not exaggerated about the decorations. Even though the house was big enough to put Sirius in a guest bedroom they boys had decided to set up an extra cot in James' room. The boys decided to throw their things in their room and rush outside for a quick game of Quidditch before being summoned inside for dinner.
James soared around the yard allowing himself to get closer to the Snitch before letting it speed away. At the same time Sirius decided to practice as Beater, sending Bludgers at James one after another. James was able to expertly dodge most however by the time they made their way back inside James had a nasty bruise forming on the side of his face.
As they walked through the kitchen James was ruefully rubbing his cheek while Sirius sheepishly tried to apologize.
"Sorry, mate," he said. "You shoulda ducked!"
James sent him a scathing look before smirking and sarcastically replying, "Gee, I wish I'd thought of that."
Sirius smiled and said, "I was trying to go easy on you, your being my friend and all."
James shook his head and said, "If that's how you treat your friends I can't wait to see what you do to Malfoy on the Quidditch pitch next year!"
They heard a chuckling coming from ahead of them. At this point the boys had reached the dining room and when they looked up they saw the portrait of Joseph Potter chuckling at them. They noticed that Perchy had managed to charm a Santa hat onto his head along with a bright red cloak trimmed in white.
"James! Sirius! It's good to see you home," he said.
Sirius stood there for a moment waiting to see how James responded.
"Hi Joseph," said James.
"Hi…erm…Mr. Potter," said Sirius.
"Please, Sirius, call me Joseph."
"James!" cried Marianne. "What on Earth happened to you outside?"
James smiled and replied, "Just a friendly game of Quidditch, Mum!"
Marianne shook her head and muttered, "I should know by now to have all my Healer supplies at hand when you two are home!" She marched out of the dining room, ordering the two boys to clean up before dinner. James and Sirius did as ordered and by the time they returned Marianne had some salve to put on James' bruise. As soon as the ointment touched James' cheek he could feel the ache subside.
As they ate supper Joseph plied the boys with questions about the happenings at Hogwarts. He let out a whoop of congratulations as James explained their victory against Slytherin. Joseph demanded every detail from the beginning of the game to James' nearly knocking Malfoy off his broom before chasing down the Snitch.
As Perchy brought out dessert Sirius decided to change the subject. He glanced at James before turning to the portrait. "Sir," he asked, "have you ever heard of someone named Lazarus Peurom?"
The face of the portrait froze while James noticed his mum's fork pausing halfway on its journey to her mouth.
"Why do you ask?" asked Joseph.
Sirius smiled and in his best nonchalant voice he said, "He's teaching our Defense Against the Dark Arts class this year and I heard he used to work for the Ministry."
James added, "Professor Dumbledore said he was an Unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries."
As Joseph was about to reply he noticed a cautioning glance from Marianne and said, "I met him once or twice, but I did not know him very well."
"Do you know what it was he was working on?" asked Sirius.
James noticed the grip on his mother's fork tighten.
Joseph saw this and said, "The work done in the Department of Mysteries was highly classified."
"But surely you would know since you were a higher level Ministry official…" Sirius continued.
Joseph and Marianne exchanged a glance before he replied, "Some things are too classified to discuss."
"It's getting late, boys," said Marianne. "You should get ready for bed." She got up to direct them out of the room. Before they left she added, "James, I'll need to put some more salve on that bruise before you go upstairs."
James and Sirius looked at each other, realizing that the subject was closed, at least for the time being.
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Lily sighed as she settled into her room at home. She had a wonderful reunion with her parents at the train station, and when she had returned home she thought she saw a glimmer of happiness in Petunia's eyes to see her. Lily had not received any letters from her older sister since she had left for her third year at Hogwarts. She knew it would take Petunia time to forgive her for choosing the school over her.
When she had walked into the house Petunia was standing at the top of the stairs looking down upon her sister, torn about her feelings of Lily's return. She slowly made her way to the base of the staircase and looked into her sister's eyes.
Lily could see the internal battle in her sister's eyes. She could see that Petunia was afraid to allow herself to care for Lily when she would be leaving in a few weeks.
Lily smiled into her sister's eyes and hugged her. She initially felt her sister tense at the display of affection but after a moment Petunia relaxed and hugged her back. As they drew apart Petunia started to smile, that is until she noticed movement coming from Lily's coat pocket.
Petunia backed up with wide eyes and said, "WHAT is that?"
Lily looked confused until she realized that Petunia was pointing at her pocket. Lily smiled and said, "I'm doing a favor for one of my professors." She reached into the pockets and drew out a handful of small green wormlike creatures with beady black eyes.
Petunia shrieked and backed up, stumbling over the first step of the staircase behind her. "You brought…THAT…into
this house?!"
Harold Evans came into the house carrying Lily's trunk and smiled at his youngest daughter. He turned to Petunia and said, "I already said it would be alright, Petunia. Lily is doing a favor for her professor that will earn her extra credit." He gazed at the creatures for a moment before saying, "Fascinating little creatures. I always felt a little sad that we couldn't share in your magical education, Lily. This way, we'll get to have a glimpse."
Petunia felt like she was going to be ill. She couldn't believe her father not only agreed to allow the filthy abnormal creatures to stay in the house, but he was proud of Lily for bringing them!
"What did you say those were, Lily?" asked her father.
"Frog spawn. They're used for a soap made by the joke shop in Hogsmeade," replied Lily.
"Where are those…things…supposed to stay?" spat Petunia.
"I'll probably keep them in my pockets," replied Lily. "Professor Kettleburn said they prefer a warm dark environment. Besides, I have to feed them every 7 hours. It will be easier to do if I have them with me at all times."
Whatever warmth Petunia felt at Lily's return was forgotten as she glared at the sight before her - her father doting on Lily for her freakish abilities. Petunia had had enough. She snorted in displeasure and stormed up to her room, slamming the door behind her.
A few minutes later she heard a light knocking on the door. Petunia ignored it, but the knocking persisted and eventually the door inched open and Lily hesitantly stepped inside. Petunia silently cursed her parents for not allowing her to have a lock on the door.
As Lily stepped further inside Petunia shrieked, "Do NOT come in if you have those…CREATURES with you!"
Lily shook her head and said, "Mum and Dad have them right now. They won't harm you, you know."
"No, I don't know," said Petunia. "Just keep them away from me!"
Lily stared at her sister with sad eyes for a few moments before saying, "I've missed you, 'Tunia."
Petunia stood as still as a statue, refusing to look at her little sister.
"I've missed getting your letters. Did you at least receive mine?" asked Lily.
Petunia nodded but said nothing.
"Did you read them?" asked Lily.
At first it did not seem like Petunia would reply. Lily almost gave up, ready to turn and leave, but Petunia finally said, "I read them…some of them."
"I missed hearing about you and what's happening in your life," said Lily.
Petunia suddenly turned toward Lily with hurt in her eyes and said, "If you wanted to know what was happening in my life then maybe you wouldn't have been so hasty in your decision to return to that…PLACE!"
Lily felt a pang of annoyance at what Petunia said. "You think my decision was hasty?! It took me more than a year to come to that decision! Something happened to me, 'Tunia, something horrible! You'll never understand…" Lily felt her voice catch and took a shuddering breath before continuing, "I thought that by returning more horrible things could result, and I struggled with that thought. You can't possibly understand how much that has plagued me! Last summer I still didn't know how to decide. Even though I still feared for what could happen I had spent a year there without anything bad happening. I developed strong friendships and loved what I was learning.
"Then I came home and spent the summer with you. You reminded me of why I wanted to stay home, and I saw the hope in your eyes as you spoke about my return to Muggle school. I just didn't know what to do…what to decide. Then I got my Hogwarts letter and it kept popping up where I least expected. I thought it was plaguing me by following me, but looking back I wonder if it was me that caused it to show up wherever I went. I realized that night at dinner that my destiny was at Hogwarts and that I had to return. It broke my heart to leave you!"
By this time there were tears welling in Petunia's eyes. She didn't want to let them fall but when she glanced at Lily and saw that her face was wet she couldn't hold them in any longer.
Lily, seeing Petunia's tears, approached her sister and tentatively hugged her. "Please say that you don't hate me for leaving, 'Tunia. I want to be your sister, I want you to be my sister!"
Petunia sniffled, and said, "Just keep those creatures away from me, alright?"
Lily looked up at her sister and realized that Petunia would make an effort, though Lily realized that a part of their relationship had forever been lost the day Lily had stepped out of the house last fall to leave for her third year at Hogwarts.
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A/N: So there you have it - the 'memory' Petunia will mention to Harry. In the first book, she complained about Lily 'coming home with pockets full of frog spawn'. As far as 'turning teacups into rats', I'm not sure if I'll do that one - there was a part I wrote about Lily's Transfiguration book and how Petunia saw the image of a teacup on the cover turn into a rat (before Lily left for her first year). I think I'll just leave it at that.
It's good to see you're trying to work out what's going on with Professor Peurom. Bonus points to whoever figures out the derivation of his last name.
Many thanks to my latest reviewers: sweetie513, mystical cah (wow! - thanks for the whole bunch you wrote!), Hermione Rules, Anonymous (multiple thanks), nanopy, mani12191, likediamondrain, Jo Bob, Alicia, delpheena, Watermelon!, Golden Phoenix, and James love. Hope I didn't miss anyone. I'm so thrilled at the response I've gotten. Really - thanks!
Next chapter: Find out what James and Sirius got in trouble for during the holidays - this will also be somewhat of a memory that was mentioned fleetingly in one of JKR's books.