Mugglephobia
Summary: In order to cure their friend of his ridiculous fear of Muggles, the Marauders ship Sirius off to spend Christmas with a Muggle family. The lucky host family? None other than Lily Evans and her family, of course!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters…blah blah blah…I own the plot…blah…the rest belongs to JKR. Any questions?
Chapter Two: Meeting the Muggles
"You'll be fine."
James felt like he had said that over a hundred times already, but Sirius still wouldn't believe him.
"I don't want to go!" Sirius shouted, causing several second years to cast him odd looks.
"Get on the train!" Lily snapped finally.
Sirius knew better than to disobey. Lily was a stereotypical redhead known for her bad temper. He did not want to see how angry he could make her.
"Do I have to go?" Sirius asked one more time as the Marauders found a compartment.
"You know, Padfoot," said Remus. "Prongs is right. You will be fine. Lily's family can't be as horrible as you seem to think. Lily turned out fine, didn't she?"
Sirius thought about it for a moment.
"Well," he said. "I guess so."
"And she wouldn't let anybody hurt you."
"No, I guess not."
"So why are you so scared?"
Sirius inhaled deeply.
"Straws," he whispered.
Remus dropped his head in defeat.
"Forget about the straws, Sirius!" James exclaimed. "I made that up, but Merlin knows I now wish I hadn't."
"You're a liar," Sirius said simply.
He didn't speak for the rest of the train ride.
When they arrived in London, Sirius reluctantly gathered his belongings and got off the train.
He looked over the heads of the many people on the platform and searched for the familiar red. He didn't see it.
"I'm behind you," came a voice.
He spun around to face Lily Evans. She looked like she was slightly amused at something, but didn't say anything more before leading him through the barrier separating platforms nine and ten.
There, Sirius found himself surrounded by hundreds of people with no magical abilities to speak of. There, he was surrounded by Muggles. His breathing involuntarily stopped and he did not hear a word of what Lily was saying to him.
Suddenly, he found himself back on platform 9 ¾ and breathing once again.
"Are you alright?" James was saying.
"I'm fine," Sirius replied, gasping for breath.
"What happened?" Lily asked, following them back through the barrier.
"I told you he's afraid of Muggles," answered James. "The initial shock of being in the middle of all of them out there made him stop breathing."
Lily looked worried. "I never thought his fear was that serious. I thought it was just another prank or that you were exaggerating. He doesn't go near Muggles very often, does he?"
"No," Sirius replied. "Not often at all. I always apparate with my parents to and from the platform, we only shop in Wizarding shopping areas, and the Muggles who live in our area usually don't come out of their houses to bother us. I have a nice Muggle-free life. My parents like it too, but for different reasons."
"So, you've never been around big crowds of them?"
"Not like the crowd out there."
Lily looked very surprised to find that the task ahead of her would be a lot more difficult than she had originally expected.
"Well, good luck with that, Evans," James said, patting her on the back. "Have a good holiday!" And he turned and left them.
"Okay," Lily sighed, trying to think of what to do next. "My parents are out there waiting for us. We have to get out there somehow, but we also want you to keep breathing. Close your eyes."
Sirius did as he was told.
"Now, concentrate on something else."
He thought about how he would much rather be anywhere else. He would rather be at the Potters' house where he usually spent Christmas. He actually wouldn't mind being at school either. At least he knew there weren't any Muggles there. And for once, he wouldn't hate being at home. He could tolerate his mother's screaming and complaining about him. It couldn't be half as bad as almost passing out every time he got near a group of Muggles. But no, he wasn't at any of those places. He was standing only a short distance from the largest group of Muggles he had ever seen before in his life.
"Open your eyes," Lily called to him.
He did, and was surprised to find that he was no longer standing on the platform or in the station at all, for that matter. He was in a car with Lily and two people he had never seen before in his life.
"Where am I?"
"These are my parents," she said cheerfully. "They know all about your problem and have agreed to help."
"They're Muggles," Sirius whispered loudly, finding it difficult to raise his voice any louder.
"I know," Lily whispered back. "And so do they, but they won't hurt you. I promise."
Sirius sat back in his seat, but was not comforted very much by her words.
"How did I get here?" he asked.
"I distracted you," she replied, fiddling with her wand.
"Oh."
"Oh, you're awake!" the woman in the front seat said suddenly, turning around to get a better look at him. "I'm Mrs. Evans. How are you?"
"I'm Sirius."
Mrs. Evans laughed. "I know that, dear. I asked how you were, not who you were."
"I'm fine."
"We're here!" the man Sirius assumed to be Mr. Evans exclaimed.
Sirius got out of the car behind Lily. He glanced up at the house in front of them. It was a small two-story house with a small garden in front surrounded by a white picket fence.
"It's…quaint," he commented, unable to think of any other way to describe it.
"It's home," replied Lily as she pulled her trunk out of the car and began hauling it to the front door.
Sirius followed.
The inside of the house was warm and welcoming, but it was cramped and a lot smaller than the houses he was used to staying in. Lily's family obviously didn't have a lot of the luxuries that he and James had. That would take some getting used to.
"Petunia!" Mrs. Evans called up the stairs. "We're back! Come say hello to your sister!"
"I didn't know you had a sister," Sirius muttered to Lily.
"She's not exactly the topic of discussion in the Gryffindor common room, no," Lily replied. "I don't talk about her much for obvious reasons. You'll see," she added, noticing the look of confusion on his face.
"Mum, I was on the phone," a whining voice called down the stairs. "Couldn't you have waited two more minutes before bothering me with requests to socialise with that- Oh hello, Lily."
A tall, thin girl with blonde hair appeared at the top of the stairs. The moment she had realised that her sister could hear every word she was saying, she had begun acting nice, but Sirius had heard enough to know exactly what Lily had been talking about before.
"I am so glad you're home, dear sister," the girl continued in a pseudo-cheerful voice. "Oh, and I see you've brought a friend."
Lily rolled her eyes and introduced them. "Petunia, this is Sirius. Sirius, this is my sister Petunia."
Sirius made a mental note that she did not acknowledge him as her friend, but did not comment on it.
"It's nice to meet you," Sirius said politely.
"Indeed," Petunia replied. "How do you know my sister?"
"From school."
Petunia immediately stopped smiling and once again became the girl Sirius had heard when he first entered the house.
"Oh." She now observed him like he was something dirty and disgusting. "You're like her. You're one of them. Mum!"
Mrs. Evans hurried back into the room.
"Yes, dear?"
"Why didn't you tell me Lily was bringing a friend over?" Petunia asked.
"I didn't think it would make a difference if you knew or not," replied Mrs. Evans.
"Of course it makes a difference!" Petunia cried. "I don't want him here!"
And with that she stormed back up the stairs.
"Well," Mrs. Evans said with a smile. "Lily, why don't you show Sirius where he'll be sleeping?"
"Good idea."
Lily led the way up the staircase to a small guest bedroom.
"You can stay here," she said, almost as if there was another room he could stay in if he wanted to, but this one should be good enough.
"This is nice," Sirius commented. He wasn't sure if he meant it or not, but he felt like he needed to be nicer to Lily, especially after meeting her family. "You know, I understand what it's like to not get along with your family."
Lily looked up from the floor.
"You do?"
"Yeah," he continued, not really understanding why he was being so open with her. "My parents and I don't really get along. We were fine until I started Hogwarts. I guess because I didn't know any better. And then I started doing everything wrong, at least in my parents' eyes."
"You do tend to cause a lot of trouble."
"No, they didn't care about that. That's not what I did wrong. The first thing I did was to become friends with James. The Potters aren't exactly the kind of people my parents like. And then, to make things even worse, I was sorted into Gryffindor. You see, my entire family has been in Slytherin since before anyone can remember. Does that explain enough?"
Lily nodded but remained silent.
"You've met my brother I'm sure," he pursued. "Regulus Black. Our relationship is a lot like yours with your sister. There's a lot of screaming, name calling, and choice words involved. It's not very pleasant."
"Regulus Black?" Lily said, frowning. "Is he the little Slytherin who goes around insulting Muggles and bragging about his parentage?"
"Yeah, that's him. You'll notice how he doesn't even mention he has a brother. I'm a disgrace to the entire family, but I'd rather be a disgrace than a Slytherin."
"You're parents aren't Death Eaters, are they?"
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.
"Of course not! That would be doing something productive with their lives. They sit home all day and complain about how Muggles are overpopulating the earth and how they should be destroyed, but they would never actually do anything about it. That could be dangerous."
He paused, and shook his head.
"No, they aren't Death Eaters," he continued. "But they definitely support Voldemort. They think what he's doing is great. I think it's terrible. I'm scared to death of Muggles, but I don't think anyone deserves to die."
Lily nodded and was about to speak when they were interrupted by the slamming of a door somewhere down the hall. It was soon followed by stomping on the stairs.
Lily and Sirius walked cautiously out of the room and down the stairs. Petunia was standing by the front door with a suitcase in her hand preparing to make a scene.
Mrs. Evans had already arrived to calm her eldest daughter down, but was failing miserably.
"I'm old enough to make my own decisions, Mother," Petunia said loudly. "I'm leaving, and I'll bet you're wondering why. It's all because of her." She pointed to Lily. "She's a freak! I don't know why you don't see it. I simply can't stand living in the same house as her anymore. I'm going to stay with Vernon."
Mrs. Evans looked panicked.
"Lily, go get your father," she muttered. Then, she turned back to Petunia. "Petty, please! Don't be so dramatic. Just stay here for Christmas and then we'll discuss it further."
"No! I will not be treated like a child anymore! I'm leaving!"
Lily and Mr. Evans came rushing into the room just and Petunia was leaving.
"Go after her!" Mrs. Evans told Mr. Evans. "She says she's going to stay with Vernon."
Mr. Evans hurried out the door after Petunia. Sirius silently hoped he wouldn't be able to convince her to come back.
Mrs. Evans covered her face and hurried away to the kitchen.
Sirius remained silent, unable to think of anything appropriate to say.
"So," Lily said after a while, breaking the awkward silence. "You've met my family."
- - - -
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I have an excuse though (and it can be found at my live journal as it is rather long and I doubt many people care). I don't know when chapter three will be up. My beta seems to have disappeared, taking chapter three along with her. I'll post it as soon as possible though.
Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! They were lovely. Feel free to leave more. I'll work on replying to them this time, too. I usually do, but I've been very busy (again, see my live journal for excuses).
Until next time,
Cat