Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 37: Temporary Asylum

Chapter 37: Temporary Asylum

The next few weeks following Snape's near-execution and Lily and James' revelation of their deepest secrets passed uneventfully for the Gryffindors, the next weeks filled with nothing more dramatic than homework, NEWT practice tests, and, of course, the occasional Marauder prank, which saved life from becoming unspeakably dull.

The Easter holidays were fast approaching, which was causing mixed feelings among the Gryffindor seventh years. Lily for one was somewhat less than enthusiastic; Mrs Evans had written to Lily to inform her that Petunia would be staying with them for a few days after Easter while Vernon was away on a business trip; Petunia's hatred of Lily was eclipsed only by her fear of staying alone, it seemed.

The Marauders, on the other hand, could barely contain their excitement at the prospect of the coming holidays. In their second year, James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus had made a pact to take their Apparition tests together, and, finally, they were all seventeen and eligible for the test. Remus and Peter were both enthusiastic at the prospect of being able to Apparate from one place to another without having to bother with Floo powder, Portkeys, or other less convenient forms of transportation. Sirius was positively gleeful considering all of the fresh trouble the Marauders could get themselves into once they could Apparate and was in fact already planning it, and James, when he wasn't helping Sirius plan various forms of mayhem, was blissfully contemplating the surprised, admiring look on Lily's face when he Apparated to her house after passing his test with flying colours.

Having agreed not to tell anyone that they were taking their Apparition tests, the Marauders prepared for it in secret for a few hours every night, spending most of their time helping Peter, who struggled with it as he seemed to with almost everything.

Unbeknownst to the Marauders, Alice, Dorcas, and Kathleen were all preparing for the Apparition test as well. Kathleen had made the appointments for them after Morwenna had taken it during the last Hogsmeade weekend. Much less arrogant than the Marauders, who naturally assumed that there was no doubt that they would all pass, the girls all agreed not to tell anyone in case, as Alice reasonably pointed out, they failed it. Then they wouldn't have to explain to anyone why they didn't have their Apparition licenses. Lily had decided to wait to take hers because it would cause too many complications with Petunia in residence.

In spite of all of the time James was spending preparing for his Apparition test in secret, things were going extremely well between Lily and James. Sharing secrets inevitably brings people closer together, and Lily and James were no exception to this. They spent even more time together than they had before, which was amazing with their busy schedules, and each received a good amount of ribbing from their respective friends about their sickening state of happiness, which really was a bit rich coming from Frank, Alice, Remus, and Kathleen.

Refusing to be parted from Lily for an entire week, James had invited her to tea with his parents on Tuesday and had promised to take Lily, who was eager to escape Petunia as much as possible, to Diagon Alley at least once later in the week. Sirius complained loudly and often that Lily was stealing his best mate and the one prank-playing companion who was his equal, this last statement causing much indignation on Peter and Remus' parts, but neither Lily nor James paid Sirius any attention.

Sirius was still saying it on the Hogwarts Express a week later when James refused to smoke the Slytherin first years out of their compartment with Sirius in favour of staying with Lily in the Head compartment. Muttering under his breath about short leashes and lack of balls, Sirius nonetheless subsided into a corner of the Head compartment to play chess with Dorcas. James roundly ignored his best friend; he was too wrapped up in Lily to care overmuch, and Sirius was mostly joking anyway.