Priori Incantatem [HARRY POTTER FANFICTION]

Chapter 57: Trials, Traditions, and Tribulations

Chapter 57: Trials, Traditions, and Tribulations

December 1980

In the days since the Evanses' death, Lily and James' flat had become very quiet. Or so it seemed to James, anyway. There'd always been noise before – Harry's babbling, Sirius' laughter, Peter's squeaks, and of course, James and Lily's half-teasing arguments. But it seemed as though all of that had stopped lately. Of course, James knew that there was still noise in their flat – it just didn't feel the same.

It was because Lily wasn't the same. She'd said very little since she'd found out about her parents' death; in fact, when the police had come to tell her, she hadn't spoken a word for fully five minutes. Finally she'd managed to form the words to ask the police some questions, James holding her cold hand all the while, and then when the policemen had left, she'd gone straight to their bedroom and shut the door. James and Harry sat outside the door for a long time, but James hadn't heard any crying coming from the other side.

Then the next day, Lily got out of bed and went about the business of planning her parents' funeral, which turned out to be no small task since Lily and Petunia were forced to collaborate. Lily went through the motions of behaving normally; she managed to speak to her sister without shouting, (which James wasn't sure he could have done) took care of Harry, accepted their friends' sympathy, and arranged the funeral details, but James wasn't fooled.

He knew better than anyone did how close Lily had been to her parents. Estranged from a never very warm relationship with Petunia at the age of eleven, Lily had focused all of her love and affection on her parents instead. And Mr and Mrs Evans had adored Lily in return, James knew, and had protected her from the worst of Petunia's vindictiveness. Her parents, Lily had told him once, had never been anything but supportive of Lily's magical abilities, had encouraged her constantly and were always interested in and amazed by her studies. Having witnessed first-hand the sort of treatment Muggle borns received in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds, James could guess how much her parents' support had meant to Lily.

The funeral took place the first week in December at a church in London, with, after much heated debate, a reception at Petunia's house in Surrey afterward. Lily, James, and Harry squeezed awkwardly into a pew at the front of the church with Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley, the two families taking extreme caution not to touch each other any more than necessary. Petunia kept darting glances over her shoulder at the witches and wizards who had come to the funeral and then glaring at Lily, who pretended not to notice.

But as soon as the service was underway, Petunia gave herself over entirely too loud, theatrical tears, soaking through three dainty black-trimmed handkerchiefs in the process. Lily remained dry-eyed throughout, her cold, clammy hand squeezing James' for dear life. Harry, discomfited by his aunt's wailing, had buried his head in James' shoulder and peered over at Petunia occasionally with a sort of fascinated horror.

Dudley, on the other hand, screamed bloody murder until his mother stuffed a sweet in his mouth with astonishing speed and accuracy, especially considering that Petunia's face was buried in her handkerchief at the time. He continued to cry at intervals throughout the service as he finished one sweet and waited for his mother to bung him another one. Vernon chuckled at this, muttering something about a lusty pair of lungs and a boy who knew what he wanted, but James, staring down at the fat, red-faced, squalling baby, could think of several other adjectives for the little bugger, none of them complimentary.

All in all, everyone was relieved when the service was over and they could all escape, most of them with Petunia-and-Dudley-induced headaches, to a place that didn't echo. James, holding onto Harry and Lily for all he was worth, made a beeline for the exit, afraid of what he might do to Dudley and Petunia if he didn't get away from them soon.