Chapter 26- The Portkey and Potter Manor
Emilia and Thomas waited for Charisse and Hayden to close the front door before ushering Lily and James, their trunks, and James’ owl down the street.
“The Portkey is over here,” Thomas called from the hill. He was holding an old grimy popcorn bag.
“You guys used portkeys?” James asked with a disappointed expression. “I was hoping we could just use Floo Powder.”
“Well, dear, Muggle houses can’t be connected to the network, you know that.”
James sighed. “I suppose. Okay, Lil, have you ever traveled by Portkey?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. All you have to do is place a finger on the object, and at the arranged time, it will take you where you want to go, in this case, the Potter Manor.”
“A-alright.” Lily slipped her duffel over her arm, so that her hand was free, and carefully laid a delicate finger on the popcorn bag.
James followed suit, and soon there were two adults and two teens clustered around a popcorn bag, on a hill, for no apparent reason. What an interesting sight it was.
At the arranged time, which turned
out to be
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She felt her feet finally hit something solid. James caught her before she hit the floor. “Yes, Lil, you’ve definitely never traveled by Portkey before.”
Lily got up, dusted herself off, and felt her temper flare up again. “So WHAT?! I haven’t traveled by some stupid form of transportation that’s useless in the Muggle world anyway?! Because I’m not JAMES POTTER, the GOLDEN GOD!” She said all of this scathingly, with bitter anger filled in her voice.
James recoiled, really hurt by what she had said. Normally she would jokingly be angry with him, but he could tell that she wasn’t joking right now. Her emerald eyes were alight with fury.
“Fine…have it your way.” James looked furious now. He dropped Lily’s bag next to her (he’d been carrying it for her), and stalked off. He called slowly after, “Lily will show you to your room.” With that, James had disappeared in one of the many seemingly endless caverns of James’ house.
What
the hell did I just do? James asked himself. Lily’s everything to me…she’s got every right to be angry…I always get
my way…and it must be so annoying to her that all those stupid Hufflepuff girls
follow me around all the time…
Oh
no! What have I done?! Lily thought to herself. James is leaving me here…alone…and it’s all my fault. What did he mean
about “Lily” anyway?
Lily’s question about “Lily” was answered soon enough, as she saw a house-elf standing impatiently at her feet, trying *with no avail* to jerk her out of her thoughts.
“MISS!!!!” it screamed in its high-pitched voice. Lily looked down at “it” to notice “it” was actually a “she”.
“Hmm?” Lily asked, dazed.
“I is supposed to show you to you’s room, I is,” the house-elf stated quietly.
“Oh…thank you.”
Lily followed “Lily” through corridor after corridor, through paintings and such. James’ house was a castle, Lily noted. This family sure was rich…dear god.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Lily got to her room, the house-elf quickly tidied things up; fluffing the pillows, checking the flowers for freshness, making sure everything was in order. Soon “Lily” turned to leave.
“Lily?” the human Lily called after the house-elf.
“Y-yes…miss?”
“W-why are you called ‘Lily’?”
“I was born a couple years after Master James was accepted to Hogwarts…Master James names all of the house-elves. I tend specifically to him or any of his guests, and he is always sayin’ I was his favorite, so he named me ‘Lily’…after you, I thinks, Miss,” the house-elf finished solemnly.
Lily burst into happy tears and ran to hug the house-elf. “Lily” backed away in fear, but eventually let Lily hug her and thank her for all of her help.
“Is there anything I can get you, Miss?”
“W-well…a hot cocoa would be nice.”
“Of course, Miss. Anything else?”
“Well…could you…might you…would you send for James, please? I must talk to him.”
“Of course…it’ll be a couple minutes.”
“Thank you, Lily,” human Lily smiled at the house-elf. The house-elf blushed and scurried off.
Lily walked around the room…it was really a gorgeous room.
“Wow,” she breathed as she looked at the ceiling. It had a dome ceiling, hand-painted no doubt, with flowers and angels. She then looked at the bed, it was a velvet four-poster, like the one she had at school, except it was colored in blue. She walked to the vanity, and on it were fresh flowers. Lilies. A card was there as well.
Lily saw that it was a note written in James’ hasty scrawl. It had been written very quickly, there were ink blotches everywhere. It said-
My Lovely Lily-
I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean to snap; I know you’re tired and you didn’t
mean to say those things. Please forgive
me; I don’t know what I’d do without you!
-JBP
Lily laughed as she read it. Of course I’ll forgive you! I just sent Lily to get you to do the exact same thing though…pity I didn’t read this first!
“What’s so funny?” James asked, looking hurt while standing in the doorframe. Oh, so she thinks my apology note is FUNNY!
I knew she’d be mad, but I thought she’d have the sense to forgive me!
“You are,” Lily answered with a smile. “I was laughing because…well…nevermind.”
James’ eyes suddenly filled with compassion. “What is it, Lils?”
Lily looked up murderously at him from her spot across the room. “WHAT have we established since Day One?!” Lily suddenly took on the scolding and superior air of Professor McGonagall.
“Sorry Lily, I didn’t mean to call you…you-know-what. It just…slipped out.”
“Fine. Well, what I was laughing at is that I sent Lily…house-elf Lily…for you so I could apologize, then I noticed your note. I thought it was rather funny, anyway.”
James laughed and his features softened. He strode across the room, right up to Lily. “So we’re…good, right?”
Lily leaned over and gave him a light kiss. “We’re VERY good.”
James smiled with relief, and asked, “So, do you like your room, dear?”
Lily excitedly grinned, “It’s AMAZING!! I’ve never seen such a pretty room in my life!”
James laughed, “It’s my favorite one…I knew you would like it.”
“So you put the lilies in here?”
“Of course. Do you like them?”
“I love them!”
James laughed again, and asked, “Are you hungry at all, hon?”
“A little,” she answered. “Lily’s bringing me cocoa!”
“Ooh, yummy…I’ll call down there; ask her to make it two!”
James stepped to the wall, and pushed a button. His voice was magically magnified, and it said, “Lily, could you please bring up two cocoas, one for me and one for Lady Lily? Thank You!”
Lily looked curiously at him as he let go of the button. “Is that…an intercom?”
“A what?”
“Oh…it’s a muggle thing.”
“Well, this is a Location Operative Sensing System, or as Sir and I call it, a LOSS. All it does is magnify your voice, and speak specifically to the location that you have in your head. Useful for when Sir and I are on opposite sides of the house.”
“Exactly…h-how big is your house?!”
“Um…I’ll give you a tour after the cocoa.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lily whined as they continued walking. She wasn’t very athletic, and this tour was taking forever!
James looked back at her and laughed. “Honestly…it’s not much farther.” He took her hand, and interlaced it with his, looking up into her bright eyes. “I promise,” he continued.
“Fine,” Lily sighed, willing herself to walk more.
“Okay,” James said, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “This is it. These are the kitchens, and these are all the house-elves.”
They were in a huge room, and tons of house-elves were swarming around everywhere.
“Wow…how many are there?” Lily wondered aloud.
“One-hundred and fifty-eight,” James answered precisely. “Now, continuing on our tour, let’s go to the Library.”
“You have your own bloody library?!”
“Yeah…my dad uses it mostly,” James said, blushing, trying to make Lily feel better. He was embarrassed he had money…at least he was with Lily. She was his equal in everything else; she should be equal in income as well. But life was sadly unfair sometimes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After the exhausting tour, which showed all fifty-two rooms of the Potter Manor, and thirty-three of the secret passages, James took Lily back to her room. He was tucking her in to bed when her stomach started to grumble.
“Oh, NOW I’m hungry…I should have eaten more at dinner, but with Petunia’s incessant babbling, I didn’t really feel all that hungry,” Lily said apologetically.
James laughed, “I know how you
feel…I’m hungry too. Up for a
“Let them sleep. Besides, if you page them, you’ll probably wake up your parents.”
“I…doubt…they’re home, Lil. But we’ll walk down there anyway.”
Soon enough, they were standing in front of the phoenix statue that leads to the kitchens. “Does it have a password?” Lily asked curiously, completely forgetting how they had entered earlier that day.
“Well, sort of,” James said, taking her hand. He used her hand to pet the phoenix, and the phoenix seemed to smile up at Lily. Soon, the fiery bird jumped out of the doorway, allowing them to pass.
“Wow,” Lily breathed.
“Yeah, it’s no big deal. It allows people the family trusts to pet it….and if we trust them, that person gets into the kitchen.”
“W-what does it do to people you don’t trust?”
“Burns them in a pit of fiery hell,” James said simply.
“WHAT? H-has that ever happened?”
“Nope…it’s pretty hard to break into Potter Manor, and if you did, why would you go for the kitchens anyway?”
Lily had to admit that James had a point. She still took the fact that the phoenix trusted her so utterly as a real compliment. It meant that the Potter family themselves greatly trusted her, and that meant the world to her. She looked up to see James’ chocolate eyes (yes, I’m changing it because they are supposed to be brown) staring into hers. “What do you want to eat?” he asked.
Lily looked around the empty kitchen to see mounds and piles of food. The house-elves used their magic to create mini-barriers around the food so it wouldn’t spoil, but those charms were simple enough for any wizard to break. “Hmm…”she said thoughtfully, looking over the many different types of food. “Ooh! Mince pie! Yum!!”
“Alright,” James said with a laugh, bringing it over to her, and then getting up again to retrieve her fork.
“Thanks, dear,” she said with a smile. “What are you going to have?”
“Well, mince pie, of course!” James said, grabbing a fork and digging in.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Later that night, James and Lily sat in her bedroom talking. Suddenly Lily realized something.
“Hey…you never showed me your room.”
“Y-yes…I did,” he said in a hushed undertone.
“No, you didn’t,” Lily insisted quietly. “I saw guest rooms, your parents’ room, dining room, living room, study, library, planetarium, many closets, many bathrooms, the billiard room, game room, kitchens…and many others…but I never saw yours.”
“Yes, you did,” insisted James. “You’re in it.”
“Oh,” Lily said. Now it made sense…that desk was where James did his homework…the ceiling was painted that way…why was the ceiling painted that way? “Flowers and angels?” she asked with a laugh. “Not usually your style.”
“Well, my mother wanted them…this has been my room since I was born, so I have plenty of secrets in here….my mother figured that since I was her only child, I was her ‘angel’…but I never understood why she added the flowers. She always mentioned that I would find out in time.”
“H-hey, what is that?” Lily asked, upon further inspection of the ceiling. There was a small poem in the corner of domed ceiling, written in sparkling gold paint.
“James, get me a chair to stand on,” she whispered. Lily got up onto the chair and with a hushed reverence, read the poem.
Flower and Angels,
Both so alike
Wait for the Day
When they Meet…
Understanding,
Yet Not,
What Future Holds
For them Both,
They go On
In Hushed Silence
Until the Day
When Understanding
Becomes Friendship…
When Friendship
Becomes
Love.
Lily looked up from the poem with a somber expression. “Did she write this when she painted the ceiling?”
“Y-yes, I think so…I mean, I’ve never noticed it before. But look, its paint is cracked, like some parts in the rest of the ceiling.”
“James, is your mother a Seer?”
“I think so…she said she was always very good at Divination…they offered her the teaching position at Hogwarts, but she always said she was busy…she’s always got things going, Mum.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dun Dun DUNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!! And James’ Mum
is a SEER!! What will my quirky brain come up with next? Review, I wanted it to
be one of those stupid tiffs that couples get into, just to prove that Lily and
James are real, and not COMPLETELY perfect. Just MOSTLY perfect.
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!