The inevitables

I kept my promise to James and sat with him on the ride home. It wasn’t very exciting, Sirius spent the time anxiously bouncing in his seat, Remus just sat and watched the window, Peter began planning his summer trip to France. I offered for my friends to sit with us too, but Mary promised Marlene no more boys and Lily wanted to sit with Snape. We figured it was better to keep Snape and the marauders as separate as possible.

“I can’t believe you’re taking runes next year.” James and I played thumb wars and made small talk.

“I’ll take muggle studies with you, don’t worry.” I shrugged.

“But you already know three languages, why do you want another?”

“I like languages. Latin is the base of almost every language, although I really don’t know that one much. Spanish and English use similar words; the only difference is the sentence structure. Both French and Spanish give their words genders as another way to classify it. Runes is like what the ancient Egyptians used: symbols and portraits instead of words and letters. I like how each language is different but we’re all just trying to get the same message across.” I pressed James’s thumb against his fist and won the war. We started again.

“And what are we saying?” Sirius looked at us and grinned for the first time.

“That you look a lot shorter in person.” I smiled and the boys chuckled. Their laughs seemed half sincere and half bittersweet.

“We’re the same height!” Sirius defended himself.

“Aren’t your family supposed to be better than me or something?” I teased him. Normally it’s better not to bring up his family drama, but when making fun of their ideas, Sirius is all for it.

“Well I suppose that’s just another way I’m a disappointment!” Sirius smiled.

“Ah yes, you’re our little disappointment!” James messed up Sirius’s hair and Remus and Peter laughed.

When we arrived at the train station I ran to my parents first. I knew I would find Lily and her family, but I needed to see mine. My parents squeezed me and held me like they hadn’t seen me in years. In one embarrassing moment, I questioned if I even wanted to go to Lily’s. I missed my parents so much, and I loved spending time with them. For the first time I realized that I was actually fine without having friends for the first part of my life because I had my family.

“Now you be good to the Evans’s and remember your please and thank you’s. I don’t want any owls home saying you’ve caused havoc.” My mum brought me back to reality and kissed the top of my head. This summer would definitely be exciting in the muggle world, but also exciting in two weeks when I’m back home.

“I don’t think the Evans have an owl mum!” James laughed.

“Well then the toast thing the muggles use!” My dad grinned the same way that James did whenever he saw Lily. That must be a boy thing because I had no idea what that meant. My parents hugged me again and again, I was having trouble breathing.

“Hi Evans!” James announced and practically charged the girl.

“Hello James.” Lily sighed, the only reason she didn’t roll her eyes was because my parents were there, “my parents are on the other side of the border, they don’t like running at a wall. Um, I assumed you would want to talk with them.” Lily noticed my father. I realized this was the first time she had met my parents. I then realized I had no idea what her parents looked like. My father looked like James if he was fifty years older, I looked like them too but no one noticed because I was a girl. If James took an aging potion, he would look exactly like my father right down to their eyes. Lily was studying my father almost in shock at how similar they were.

“Of course dear, lead the way.” My mum smiled and rubbed my arm. Lily led us through the border and her parents and sister stood there waiting. Her sister had her arms crossed and looked at us disgusted. She had light brown hair and brown eyes, she looked a little bit taller than me so I assumed she was a few years older. Lily’s mum was strawberry blonde with green eyes just like Lily, her hair wasn’t as red as Lily’s but it was closer than her fathers. Her father was tall with light brown hair and blue eyes. Our parents shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

“We’re so excited the girls get to get together over the holiday!” My father smiled. James stared at Lily who purposely ignored him.

“We are too! We’ve got the car out in the lot, don’t worry it’s a six seater!” Mr. Evans said. Car…? What was a car?

“Car?” James and I looked at each other. I was just glad I wasn’t the only person unaware.

“What? Never heard of it before freak?” Lily’s sister looked at the two of us like she wanted to vomit or move across the country.

“Petunia!” Mrs. Evans chastised her oldest daughter.

“That’s alright, I haven’t a clue what a car is!” I smiled, petunia stared at me even meaner. I didn’t think that was possible.

“Is it a broom?! A six seat broom imagine that! We could all fly to Diagon alley!” James asked in wonder, a small grin appeared on Lily’s face.

“A car is how muggles get around. It’s like the train but smaller and only fits six people.” Lily explained. I imagine it was like the knight bus but smaller.

My parents and brother hugged me one last time and said goodbye to the Evans. With one loud *CRACK* they were gone.

“Eww!” Petunia remarked at my families apparation was the grossest thing in the world.

“My word, what was that?!” Mr. Evans asked, but in more wonder and awe than his daughter.

“They apparated. It’s where you think of a place and just transport there. You have to be 17 years old to do it though so my parents apparate for James and me.” I explained. The Evans parents looked both confused and intrigued.

****
The muggle world was by far the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Cars were different sizes and colors and each were filled with muggles! On the inside were seats like the train but they were leather and separate. In the front there were two seats and one had a wheel in front of it. Mr. Evans used the wheel for something, I’m not sure but he turned it around a lot. I spent the entire time looking out the window. People were walking pets and walking around and even running like that was their best way of transportation. The houses and building were all close together, there were stores everywhere, and these weird red boxes everywhere.

“What are those?” I pointed to the red boxes.

“Telephone booths.” Lily answered and smiled. She seemed to take my vast interest as comical like I did when she first came to Hogwarts.

“Telephone booths?”

“Muggle owls.”

“Wicked.”

“What’s that?” I pointed to this weird small red thing close to the road.

“Fire hydrant.”

“What does that do?”

“Put out fires.”

“Muggles rely on that to stop fires? How many places burn down?”

“Surprisingly enough, the hydrants hold a lot of water.”

“What do wizards use for fires? Your unnatural little freak show just simmers it down?!” Petunia turned to join our conversation. She reminded me a lot of Snape except she hated wizards and Snape just hated me.

“We use auguamenti. It conjures water from our wands and can grow to any size.” I said quieter to she-Snape.

“Auguamenti is that a spell or potion or…?” Mrs. Evans tried to understand. I never knew that Lily’s parents wouldn’t understand wizard life. My parents started training me before I ever got to Hogwarts. I think I assumed muggle parents would just know wizard things. But if I entered a muggle school, my parents would be lost. Maybe James would be calling me a freak for using telly-phones and fire hydrites.

“It’s a spell mum.” Lily sighed. She seemed to know that her family would never know what it’s like to be a wizard. This was my chance to understand what it’s like to be a muggle.

“This is so cool!” I whispered to Lily who looked at me skeptically.

“Really?” She whispered back.

“Yes!” I smiled and so did she. I was glad that I was learning about her life. I hope one day I can master it and I can help relate to her.