James and Lily potter: Fourth Year

Chapter 24: summer of fourth year

What are they doing here?" hissed Sirius venomously.

"Sirius!" Mrs. Black smiled at she saw him. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, just shopping with my friends, Aunt Tricia," he spat.

Mrs. Black didn't look at all taken aback by her nephew's attitude; in fact, she sneered at him.

"Why, hello, Mrs. Potter," she said coldly.

"Mrs. Black," said Mrs. Potter shortly.

Mrs. Black's gaze fell onto the girls. "Since when did your family befriend Mudbloods, half-bloods, and half-Squibs?" she asked rudely.

Mrs. Potter reddened. "For your information, Tricia, they are neither of those descriptions."

"Oh?" Her gaze then fell on Violet. "You're Evelyn Thatch's daughter, aren't you? You look like your mother all over again, girl." To their great surprise, she actually smiled. "Your mother was a good friend of mine, she was."

Violet looked affronted. "Yes, ma'am," she said respectfully.

"What name do you take? Violet Thatch?"

"Violet Walker, ma'am," she replied, horrified at the very thought of having a name like Violet Thatch.

Mrs. Black's warm expression changed. She glared coldly at her. "Eve give you that lousy name of Walker, did she? Well, well, she has changed since I've last seen her. How is your mother?"

"She's fine, ma'am."

"Has she punished you?"

"F-For what?" stuttered Violet nervously.

"For being a Gryffindor, of course." She stated it like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"N-no."

"No? And why ever not?"

"Mum's proud of me being a Gryffindor, ma'am." Violet was now an extremely shade of red. Mrs. Potter glanced nervously at her.

Mrs. Black sighed. "Not the Evelyn I used to know. Does she love that no-good father of yours?"

Violet couldn't stand the questions anymore. "My mother can be whatever she pleases to be, thank you. My mum loves my dad, so you needn't say anything ill about her at all!"

Everyone was stunned. Only Lily and Sirius were grinning like there was no tomorrow, while Mrs. Black's lips tightened.

"We'd better go now," said Mrs. Potter hurriedly, ensuring that there was no need for another world war, "It's nice meeting you, Tricia."

"Indeed," said Mrs. Black wryly, as she steered her daughters away.

"You really needn't be anxious, Potter," said Mrs. Snape, sniggering. "After all, you Potters have always been quite powerful."

"I'm sure," said Mrs. Potter coolly. "Come along now, dears, we don't need to stick around here any longer."

When they got back to the Potter Mansion, Mrs. Potter collapsed into the nearest chair and sighed.

Mr. Potter looked worriedly at her. "Are you all right, Sarah?"

"I'm fine, Dan, I'm fine. We just met some—er—unfortunate people along the way."

"The Snapes and the Blacks," said James quickly.

Mr. Potter looked angry. "What did they do?"

"Nothing," said James truthfully. "Just made a few nasty comments about—" He looked over at the girls hesitantly.

"She called me a Mudblood, Jennifer a half-blood, and Arabella a half-Squib," provided Lily.

"It's all right, though," said Arabella at once. "I'm used to insults."

"People say you're a pureblood," said Sirius curiously.

"Well, my mum's a Squib," she said, without a trace of embarrassment.

"Who said all this?" thundered Mr. Potter, still furious.

"My aunt," said Sirius heavily.

The Potters gave him looks of great sympathy.

"We'll be at the pool, Mum, Dad," said James quietly, as he motioned the others to follow him.

"I hate my family," said Sirius, as they got comfortable within the pool. "You saw them today. Go ahead, go say something bad about them."

"Well, I won't pretend I like them," said Lily boldly. "But they're not too bad, I guess."

"Lily, they're terrible," corrected Sirius bluntly.

"All right, they are," admitted Lily.

"Sirius, stop moping," ordered Arabella. "Summer is for fun, not for moaning and groaning."

Lily suddenly gasped.

"What?" Bella looked at her strangely. "Did I say something wrong, Lils?"

"Our O.W.L.s are coming up this year!"

"So?"

"So? They decide our whole future, practically. We should study right away."

"Are you mad?" exclaimed James in alarm. Studying during the summer did not appeal to him. "We have the whole year!"

"It's only a matter of time," said Lily, feeling mortified at not remembering.

"Lily," said Remus gently, "calm down. Life isn't for studying, you know. You need to have some fun in life."

"Oh, really?"

"Of course."

"Lily," said James seriously, "Violet and I will give you your best summer yet. We'll take you to every place in the Wizarding world, and you'll soon be fresh and ready to start our fifth year at Hogwarts."

Lily smiled. "You seem to make it sound so easy, Potter."

"But of course. I am a Marauder, after all, and we Marauders know our fun. We promise, Lily, that you'll have the best summer yet."

"Yes, Lils, we promise," chorused everyone else.

"But—" She thought for a minute. "All right, then. But we'd better still get time to do our holiday homework."

"Well, obviously. McGonagall would bury me alive if I didn't do my homework, and Hurst would give me a month's worth of detention."

"We're trying to break the detention record, James," said Sirius, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, of course. We always welcome detention. Never mind then, I'm skiving off Potions homework."

"Well, I'm not," said Lily rather huffily.

"Then don't. I don't care what you do."

"Lily," said Arabella, exasperated. "Just enjoy yourself, will you?"

Lily sighed. "Oh, fine, I'll take a break. Happy now?"

"Yes."

Sirius suddenly grabbed Arabella from behind, and the two went plunging into the water, laughing. He took her face gently in his hands and kissed her passionately. The two were oblivious to the rest of their friends goggling at them.