Going Nowhere
They’d been researching for almost two weeks. Every library, museum, art gallery, they could get to and from in a day had been combed through. Still no clues about how to get Willow and Tara back to their own time. Pandora had returned with some ideas but they had fizzled out when tried. Everyone was feeling despondent. Even Willow who always did her best to look at the world positively.
“We’re going to need Gloriana aren’t we?” James asked one rainy afternoon in late November. The gray skies of London were doing nothing to help his mood.
Pandora shook her head. “This is not something she will do. She also doesn’t want to be found just yet.”
“You stay in touch?” Willow asked
“Oh no.” Pandora grinned. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Pandora just knows things.” James said
“Sometimes she’s even right.” Lily teased ducking a cushion. They were back in Kennington, having reached the conclusion that Lily’s flat was a too small for the seven of them.
James watched the interaction with a mix of genuine delight and pang of sadness. Lily had blossomed again in the last couple of weeks. She had gone back to work at St Mumgos and helped with the research when she could.
“I realized that life was too short. I’ll never stop loving Sam. Sam was my first. Sam was amazing. Sam has gone. I’m here now. I want to live and love again. And I think, no, I know, Sam would want that too. So I am.” Lily had explained one evening when James had commented how happy she seemed to be these days. “And yes Pandora has most definitely helped. Do I love her? Probably. We haven't got to that stage. Yet.” She added to the questions in James’s eyes. James had hugged her so fiercely she laughed, which set his heart soaring. Lily was back.
Remus had also pulled back on the research excursions. He was frantically finishing assignments before the Christmas break, determined to achieve his usual standard of academic excellence.
“Studying?” James had questioned “I thought he worked for the ministry as chief werewolf consultant and liaison officer.”
“Yep.” Sirius answered, proud of his boyfriend’s commitment to the wolf packs. “He’s also decided that he wants to open a school for the pups who are unable to fit into regular schools, so he’s gone back to get his teaching degree.”
James was blown away. Remus was a born teacher and had struggled with schooling until Dumbledore decided to offer him a place at Hogwarts. Something no one had ever done for a werewolf before. Now Remus was going to offer his own brand of care to others like him. James would definitely sign up for that when Remus was ready. Maybe he could help fund it too. That was a conversation for another day.
For now, James was content to see his friends all together, talking and laughing even with such a perplexing problem to occupy them. Part of him hoped Willow and Tara could stay. He’d grown very fond of the older women and they added a good balance to the group. Marlene and Dorcas would be back for New Year before heading off to America where Marlene had a contract to play with one of the teams over there if she didn’t get selected for the national UK team. Maybe he could find a way to get hold of Peter and see if he could come home. Mary had met a young Australian and was spending Christmas and New Year enjoying the summer sunshine in Melbourne so she wouldn’t be able to make it this year. Could be good to have all the marauders together again though. James refused to think about asking Regulus to join them. No. Regulus had made his decision. James thought it was wrong but would respect it. Of course if Regulus just turned up then he was fair game. James grinned to himself.
“Ouch.” He said as another cushion hit him in the face. “What was that for?”
“Wherever you were, you were having too much fun without us.” Sirius said unapologetically.
“Fair enough.” James laughed. “I was thinking we should spend Christmas at our place. Marlene and Dorcas will be home briefly, maybe we can get hold of Pete and drag him back to see his mum, and we could have a bit of a New Year’s Eve bash. Maybe send Mum and Dad away for the night.”
“Brilliant idea .” Sirius bounced “We could see if the Prewitt twins are back from their tour, and maybe Molly and Arthur, and ….”
“Hey slow down. It’s just an idea.” James laughed, buoyed by Sirius’s enthusiasm. “We need to make sure Mum and Dad don’t mind.”
“Mum will be easy. She loves a good party and excuse for a holiday,” Sirius said
“Monty might take persuading.” Lily said
“Nah. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of muggle whiskey for him either way. Monty loves the good stuff.” Sirius said.
“What about us?” Willow asked
“If we don’t get you home by then, you will be guests of honour.” Sirius declared
“Is the house big enough?” Tara said looking at the group sprawled all over the room.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. We’ll simply add as many rooms as we need.” James said completely forgetting that this was not easy to do without magic and money. Tara gasped.
“It’s a wizard thing. A simple two person tent on the outside can have four rooms with furniture and carpets on the inside. Houses are harder, but some magic users are powerful enough to turn a modest four bedroom house into an eight bedroom, three living room, five bathroom mansion” Lily said
“Remus, Lily’s picking on us.” James whined unable to hide his grin. “And a practice quidditch pitch where the villagers think there is an unused field.” He added smugly.
“What’s quidditch? You’ve mentioned it several times. Is it like soccer or football or basketball or ice hockey?” Willow asked
“Quidditch. It’s the best game in the world. You play it on brooms. There’s seven a side - three chasers, two beaters, 1 keeper and 1 seeker. You’ve three hoops, two balls - a quaffle and a bludger, and the golden snitch. You score points by throwing the quaffle through one of the hoops, you have to dodge the bludger cos they really hurt when they hit you, and the game ends when a seeker catches the snitch.” James said, his face lighting up with excitement. “It's so much fun. A great team works hard, works together, has excellent reflexes, balance, strength, coordination, endurance - that’s really important because some of the professional games have been know to go for hours - stamina, communication. I could go on … “
“And will if we give him half a chance” interrupted Sirius
“You’re as bad, anyway we have guests and the best way to understand the game is to watch one.” said James. “I think there’s a practice match between the Chudley Cannons and Holyhead Harpies first weekend in December. Wonder if there’s any tickets left.”
“Tomorrow's problem James. Tonight the girls are going out so it’s time we went home and got ready.” Said Lily standing up and holding out a hand to Tara. “The quick way.”
“What about us?” Sirius pouted and instantly got a whack on the leg from Remus. “Ouch. Oh! Yep. Good point. Have fun.”
Lily laughed. Pandora and Willow joined hands and the four of them disappeared